NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Houston Texans and More Teams Who Are Heating Up Fast

The Houston Texans are picking their game up at just the right time. Don't expect them to lose this week.

The Texans are coming off a thrashing of the Tennessee Titans and meet the Jacksonville Jaguars next. That's good news for the Texans, who are going to win their second straight game.

The Jaguars were quite impressive on Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens, who were quite unimpressive.

This week's game will feature a clash between an elite offense and an elite defense. The Jags have a top 10 defense, while Houston boasts a top 10 offense. On the other hand, the Texans also have a very underrated defense.

Houston's defense is currently ranked in the top 10 against both the run and the pass, so don't expect the lowly Jags offense to do much.

Jacksonville's passing game has been terrible this year, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. They rank dead last in the NFL in passing yards per game, averaging less than 130 yards. That's not going to cut it against a Texans offense that has been lights out this year.

New Orleans Saints

The Saints are getting hot and drawing an easy schedule at the right time. It doesn't get much better than playing the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams in back-to-back weeks.

After dismantling and embarrassing the Colts last week, the Rams are lucky enough to fall victim to the punishment this week.

The Rams were run out of the building last week by DeMarco Murray and the Dallas Cowboys, and the same will happen to St. Louis this week. Steve Spagnuolo's team is giving up over 400 yards of offense for the season, that's not going to cut it.

New Orleans has a top 10 rushing attack and the No. 2 ranked passing offense in the NFL this season, which should absolutely explode against the Rams.

Sam Bradford may be missing another week for St. Louis, which means A.J. Feeley will be at the helm this week for the Rams. After shutting down Curtis Painter last week, the Saints should have no problem with A.J. Feeley in this one.

This will get ugly quick, as the Saints continue to climb in the power rankings.

Buffalo Bills

The Bills are coming off the bye week at exactly the right time. They face the Washington Redskins this week, who are seemingly down to their B-team.

Washington is devastated by injuries as they will be without five starters on the offensive side of the ball. Trent Williams, Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, Kory Lichtensteiger and Tim Hightower will all miss the game. While DeAngelo Hall, London Fletcher and O.J. Atogwe are all dealing with injuries on the defensive side of the ball.

Could things get much worse for the Burgundy and Gold? Probably not.

Buffalo should have no problem dominating the Redskins this week. The Bills do a terrific job on offense of both running the ball and throwing the ball as they are in the top half of the league in both categories.

On the other side of the ball, the Bills have struggled, but they do a terrific job of creating turnovers. They are in the bottom three in yards given up against both the pass and the run, but they have forced 16 turnovers already this year, while Washington has given the ball away 14 times already this year—good for second most in the NFL.

Look for Washington to move the ball better than expected, but Buffalo will force plenty of turnovers and let Fred Jackson run the Burgundy and Gold back to the nation's capital.

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