NFL Rankings Week 8: Denver Broncos and Teams That Will Outplay Their Ranking

No matter how bad a team may appear to be on the surface, every NFL team can be dangerous in any given week. Every team is equipped with NFL-caliber players, and while some teams are obviously better than others, seemingly inferior teams win all the time.

Despite that, there are times when teams tend to take their opponents too lightly, and they end up paying for it. Here are three teams whose Week 8 performance will vastly surpass their low billing in the power rankings.

Seattle Seahawks

Few teams in the league are as up and down as the Seattle Seahawks. There have been games where the Seahawks have looked atrocious, such as their 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Browns last week, but they are also capable of looking great as in their upset of the New York Giants a couple of weeks ago.

With that said, Seattle is a far better team on home field, and that will be the case in Week 8 when it hosts the surprising 4-2 Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams have very solid defenses and hit-and-miss offenses, so this should be an awfully low-scoring affair.

Bengals running back Cedric Benson will be out, so rookie quarterback Andy Dalton may be adversely affected and could be forced into some turnovers. The Bengals are favored in this game, but I don't see it being decided by more than a field goal, so Seattle has a great chance since it should be able to hang around.

Minnesota Vikings

I was ready to bury the Minnesota Vikings after they were decimated by the Chicago Bears two weeks ago, but they surprised many, including myself, when they kept it close against the undefeated Green Bay Packers last Sunday.

While he is obviously going to experience some bumps along the way, the Vikings seem like they might have something in rookie quarterback Christian Ponder, who looked very poised last week. The Vikes will be facing a 2-5 Carolina Panthers team on Sunday that has actually been far more impressive than their record suggests.

The main reason for that has been dazzling rookie quarterback Cam Newton. While I don't expect Ponder to outplay Newton, I do expect Minnesota to win because of running back Adrian Peterson. The Panthers have an awful run defense that is easily exposed by good backs, and Peterson happens to be the best in the league.

Denver Broncos

Say what you will about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, but the guy just has that "it" factor that leads to winning football games. He looked terrible and wasn't being given a chance to do much for the majority of last week's game against the Miami Dolphins, but he ultimately led Denver to a stirring come-from-behind victory.

The Broncos will have a much tougher opponent this week, though, in the 5-2 Detroit Lions. The Lions have lost two straight and will be desperate to beat a lower-level team like the Broncos. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is banged up and may not play, though, so that could have quite a bearing on the result.

I'm not going to say that the Broncos are going to win, because I think Detroit will win a game that it has to win, but it won't be a walk in the park. The Broncos are becoming a tough team to play against, and Tebow and co. certainly won't just lay down. I think the Broncos will look extremely strong in a narrow defeat.

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