NFL Power Rankings: San Diego Chargers and More Teams with Untapped Potential

With every week that goes by in the NFL, we tend to learn a thing or two. In Week 7, we learned a lot about who the league's elite teams are.

Hint: the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens don't seem to be among them.

Nevertheless, there is still a lot of football to be played this year, and you just know that there are a couple of teams out there that have yet to play their best.

By my reckoning, three teams still have plenty of untapped potential. If they can tap it, they might just elevate themselves into the discussion of the league's elite teams.

Philadelphia Eagles (No. 21 overall)

I know, I know. The last thing any of us want to hear is another pundit/blogger telling everyone that the Eagles are bound to start playing better at some point. Shoot, I know I'm tired of hearing it.

But it's true. I'm not entirely sure that Philly's defensive issues can be fixed, but you have to think that the Eagles' turnover issues can be cured. Thanks in large part to Michael Vick's carelessness, the Eagles turn the ball over a lot. That means their bad defense has to spend more time on the field than it should.

If the Eagles can limit their turnovers in the coming weeks, look out. You have to think their offense will find its stride, in which case the Eagles will pretty much become the team we expected them to be.

San Diego Chargers (No. 12 overall)

I've been accused of being a Chargers hater, but I'd actually say the exact opposite is true. On the contrary, I really want to like the Chargers this season. They're just not making it easy to like them.

As they usually do, the Chargers look just fine on the stat sheets. They're playing solid defense, and they have solid offensive totals. Nevertheless, the eye test reveals them to be a severely flawed team.

The play of Philip Rivers has a lot to do with this. He's one of the league's elite quarterbacks, but he just hasn't been sharp this season. A QB as good as him has no business throwing more interceptions than touchdown passes.

My guess is that Rivers will turn it around before the season is over. He's too good to be this bad.

If and when Rivers does turn it around, the Chargers should be able to retain control of the AFC West. I want to have faith in the Oakland Raiders, too, but it's nigh impossible to have any after watching them in Week 7.

Atlanta Falcons (No. 11 overall)

With consecutive wins over the Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions, the Falcons seem to be turning a corner. They're not quite as good as they were in 2010, but they're getting there.

Defensively, I highly doubt the Falcons are going to be great any time soon, but I think they still have room to grow offensively. They're currently 18th in the league in scoring, and that's nowhere near good enough for a team with as many weapons as they have.

The trick will be finding a suitable balance once Julio Jones comes back. He did okay, but Matt Ryan seemed a little too eager to force it to him. Meanwhile, the offense as a whole looked out of whack.

If the Falcons can find a way to keep giving Michael Turner carries while giving Jones and Roddy White equal touches, they're going to be a very hard team to defend.

That's when they'll be as good as they were in 2010. Maybe even better.

Zachary D. Rymer's Week 8 Power Rankings

Rank	Team	Record
1	Green Bay Packers	7-0
2	New England Patriots	5-1
3	San Francisco 49ers	5-1
4	New Orleans Saints	5-2
5	Pittsburgh Steelers	5-2
6	Buffalo Bills	4-2
7	New York Giants	4-2
8	Detroit Lions	5-2
9	Baltimore Ravens	4-2
10	Houston Texans	4-3
11	Atlanta Falcons	4-3
12	San Diego Chargers	4-2
13	Cincinnati Bengals	4-2
14	New York Jets	4-3
15	Chicago Bears	4-3
16	Oakland Raiders	4-3
17	Dallas Cowboys	3-3
18	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	4-3
19	Washington Redskins	3-3
20	Kansas City Chiefs	3-3
21	Philadelphia Eagles	2-4
22	Tennessee Titans	3-3
23	Cleveland Browns	3-3
24	Carolina Panthers	2-5
25	Jacksonville Jaguars	2-5
26	Seattle Seahawks	2-4
27	Denver Broncos	2-4
28	Arizona Cardinals	1-5
29	Minnesota Vikings	1-6
30	Indianapolis Colts	0-7
31	St. Louis Rams	0-6
32	Miami Dolphins	0-6