NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Gauging Which Teams Keep Losing Ground

Sometimes, a team is able to right its downward decline and start making its way back up the rankings by notching win after win (the Kansas City Chiefs come to mind), but others just cannot handle the pileup of losses, and it just begets more failure.

For example, the Washington Redskins. The team started the season at 3-1 through four weeks, but has dropped its last three games.

The downward trend began when Rex Grossman, the team's starting quarterback at the beginning of the season, was benched after throwing four picks against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6, but continued even after John Beck began appearing under center.

Injuries sealed the rest of the deal, losing starters on both sides of the ball for anywhere between a few weeks and the rest of the season, while measures meant to mitigate those losses fell woefully short.

The result for the Redskins is a slide down the power rankings, where they sit at No. 25 heading into their Week 9 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

The same goes for the Dallas Cowboys, though their path has been far more circuitous. They're one of the most unpredictable teams in the NFL.  In a league where consistency is key with so few games played, that's certainly not a compliment.

Dallas had a semi-impressive defeat of the St. Louis Rams in Week 7 (I say semi- only because the Rams were winless at the time, though I say impressive because it was a 34-7 blowout), but then fell to the Philadelphia Eagles the following week, with the exact same 34-7 score.

The Cowboys, more than any other team, seem to shoot themselves in the foot year after year. Quarterback Tony Romo takes the majority of the blame for this.  While he has in fact been responsible for some of the gaffes that have cost the team wins, the entire team shares the blame for their inconsistencies.

Their loss to the Eagles cost them their standing in my power rankings, dropping from 17 in Week 8 to 21 in Week 9.  If Dallas struggles with—or loses to—the Seattle Seahawks this week, there's little doubt they will drop even further.

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