NFL Power Rankings: Underrated Teams Ready to Take Off

As the Rams proved last week, it’s never too late in the NFL season for big surprises. This trio will make a push into playoff-contender territory after slow starts:

Kansas City Chiefs

It may have taken a four-game winning streak to get there, but Kansas City is in a tie for first place in the AFC West. Even better for the Chiefs, the schedule gives them two straight games against last-place opponents, starting with tomorrow’s home date with the winless Dolphins.

The Chiefs defense, which gave Philip Rivers fits a week ago, will make mincemeat out of the struggling Miami QB Matt Moore. Expect the Chiefs to win in a laugher, a prediction likely to work just as well for next weekend’s showdown with Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos.

Cincinnati Bengals

Neither Cincinnati nor their next opponent, the Tennessee Titans, has gotten a whole lot of respect this season. Both teams, though, are contenders in crowded divisions thanks to surprising efforts at the QB position.

Unfortunately for Tennessee, they may not get much of a chance to test Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton. With the league’s 27th-ranked run defense facing a punishing Cedric Benson, the Titans will fall into another of the low-scoring affairs that are becoming the norm for them.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Just three weeks after their surprise win over the high-powered New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs get a chance to prove it wasn’t a fluke. The Saints club they’ll face in New Orleans tomorrow afternoon is coming off an embarrassing loss to the previously winless Rams, one in which their run defense was exposed as a crippling weakness.

That being the case, it’s a good thing for the Buccaneers that RB LeGarrette Blount appears to be ready to return from his knee injury. With Blount back in the lineup, a win in New Orleans will put Tampa on top of the NFC West heading into a winnable home game against Houston in Week 10.