There is no reason to assume anything else at this point, but the drama of Week 9 in the NFL was above and beyond. Some of the top teams in the NFL fell for the first time in a while, two bitter AFC rivals took things down to the last play, and there were plenty of late-game heroics.
And of course, a handful of mind-boggling special teams blunders, which has become the norm in the NFL this season.
In our NFL Power Rankings ahead of Week 10, we’re not only recapping the week that was, but assessing each team based on how well they’ve passed the eye test at this point. We’ll also be factoring in some head-to-head matchups and ranking teams a bit based on their projection going forward. But as always, these are also very much an “in the moment” sort of ranking, similar to how it might be if this were a college football-style ranking system. Who were the biggest risers and fallers this week?
NFL Power Rankings, Week 10: Rams take top spot; Lions & Chiefs fall
32. New Orleans Saints
Things went about as predictably for the Saints on the road against the Los Angeles Rams as you could have possibly imagined. Although there was maybe some initial excitement over Tyler Shough making his first start this season, the luster wore off almost immediately. The Saints were clobbered against the Rams, who were not only coming off of a bye, but getting one of the best offensive weapons back (Puka Nacua).
And now we wait. What will the Saints be doing at the NFL trade deadline? Is this team going to sell a bunch of veterans or are they going to hold firm? Mickey Loomis better have multiple cell phones attached to him at all times, because regardless of what he ends up doing, he’s going to have to take a lot of calls.
31. Tennessee Titans
We had a feeling the Titans would lose in Week 9, but also had a little bit of a feeling they’d at least keep it close. And they definitely did that against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9. That Titans’ defense – shorthanded at this point, to be fair – just couldn’t get off the field late in the game to keep the comeback alive, and they couldn’t hold onto the early lead they sprinted off to.
The toughest thing for the Titans is we’re just not seeing much from the offense week-to-week, not a ton of improvement, and not many building blocks for the future around Cam Ward right now. The Tennessee offense was a brutal 1-of-9 on third downs against the Chargers, and they completely spoiled an early pick-six and defensive touchdown.
Just like many teams at the bottom of this list, the Titans are a team to watch at the NFL trade deadline as a seller, as we’ve already seen them move off of a number of players.
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