Outside Looking In

Titans (8-5, Previous ranking: not ranked)

With three weeks to go, a Ryan Tannehill-led team is in firm control of its own destiny. Yes, the Titans can win the AFC South as they’ll face the Houston Texans, the team they’re tied with, twice over the next three weeks.

Now, that’s something you would’ve never thought after Tannehill took over for the benched Marcus Mariota, but all he’s done is gone 6-1 over the past seven weeks. Plus, add in Derrick Henry averaging nearly 150 yards on the ground the past month and that’s a recipe for a team no one wants to see in round one.

10.

Steelers (8-5, Previous ranking: 11th)

The Duck is doing damn good things in Pittsburgh. Yes, Devlin Hodges is guiding the Steelers to a possible playoff berth my friends.

Sure, he’s flanked by a dominant top 5 ranked defense and good special teams, but considering the fact that he’s played the past few weeks WITHOUT his two best weapons in running back James Conner and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and what Hodges has done is downright amazing. Good news for Pittsburgh: both Conner and Smith-Schuster should be back against Buffalo Sunday night.

9.

Bills (9-4, Previous ranking: 7th)

The Bills had a chance Sunday against Baltimore. Despite an underwhelming performance by quarterback Josh Allen (146 yards passing and 9 yards rushing), Buffalo still had a red zone opportunity to tie the Ravens in the final seconds.

Now, they’ll face Pittsburgh and New England within a six-day stint with their playoff lives on the line. Win out and they could unseat the Pats atop the AFC East. Lose out and the team’s sudden success could go by the wayside in a hurry.

8.

Patriots (10-3, Previous ranking: 5th)

My how things have changed. The defending Super Bowl Champions have now lost to three of the AFC’s biggest rivals (Baltimore, Kansas City, and Houston) and now they have another cheating scandal at the forefront for taping the Bengals, of all teams. Yes, the 1-win Bengals. Could the Pats seem more desperate? No matter what the explanation is, the team will face some sort of penalty coming from the league office in New York.

On the heels of another sub-par offensive performance by Tom Brady’s team (278 yards in total offense, 184 yards passing), New England is in danger of losing its hold on a first-round bye unless it can handle the final weeks of the season and find some kind of offensive rhythm. In the past four weeks, the Patriots have scored 17, 13, 22 and 16 points – not exactly your father’s Patriots offense there my friends.

7.

Vikings (9-4, Previous ranking: 10th)

These are NOT the Vikings that blew a chance at the playoffs last season in week 17 with a loss to the Bears.

With an eye towards a week 16th date with Green Bay that could decide the NFC North Championship, Minnesota has work to do this week in LA against the Chargers. Getting a healthy Adam Thielen back from his hamstring will help Minnesota. So will keeping up their fourth-ranked rushing offense fueled by Delvin Cook that averages over 135 yards a game.

6.

Chiefs (9-4, Previous ranking: 9th)

Even though they only scored 23 points in New England Sunday – just 3 in the second half – the Chiefs got a HUGE monkey off their back by beating for Patrick Mahomes first victory vs. Tom Brady & Bill Belichick.

They dodged an even bigger bullet when Mahomes didn’t suffer any major damage to his hand while falling to the ground in the first half against the Patriots. An injury to Mahomes would certainly put a damper on the AFC’s top-ranked passing team at 288 yards per game.

Don’t sleep on this KC defense either! It suddenly has a pass rush and can handle the run much more effectively than in the past few years.

5.

Packers (10-3, Previous ranking: 6th)

Green Bay’s walk in the park continued as they sleepwalked their way past Washington 20-15. The Bears, Vikings, and Lions await next and you have to wonder if the Packers will be playoff-tested come January against the likes of the 49ers, Saints and Seahawks. But don’t tell that to quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“Winning is the only thing that matters. Even in the midst of some of these games that aren’t great flow the entire time, we are winning. We expect to win games when the defense holds them to less than 20 points,” said Rodgers. 

4.

Seahawks (10-3, Previous ranking: 2nd)

Are we sure that was really Russell Wilson playing for the Seahawks Sunday night in Los Angeles against the Rams? As the Rams looked like their defending NFC Champion selves, the Seahawks looked off as they saw themselves fall from 2nd seed in the NFC to 5th seed.

Wilson threw for just 245 yards while scrambling for only 28 yards. Unless Seattle can take out San Francisco, the Seahawks may be heading out on the road for a difficult playoff ride come January.

3.

Saints (10-3, Previous ranking, 3rd)

If you had told us that Drew Brees would throw for five touchdowns and run for another and the Saints would lose, we probably would’ve laughed.

Yet, there is was Sunday in the Superdome as the Saints squandered an early double-digit lead for a 48-46 loss. Now, have no fear, losing to the Niners this season is no cause for concern, but giving up 48 points just maybe especially now that they’ve lost defensive end Marcus Davenport for the rest of the season with a foot injury.

2.

49ers (11-2, Previous ranking: 4th)

Big ones! Down 1, final minute, on the road and facing a fourth-down conversion, the Niners got their Mr.Clutch, George Kittle the ball and he delivered! Kittle’s courageous catch, run and 15-yard facemask inducing play rallied San Francisco to move down for a Robbie Gould game-winning field goal that reinvigorates them back into the top spot in the NFC after last week’s last-second loss in Baltimore.

The road ahead does continue to get steep with injuries to cornerback Richard Sherman and pass rusher Dee Ford that will keep them out for possible a game or two down the stretch in addition to losing center Weston Richburg for the rest of the season.

1.

Ravens (11-2, Previous ranking: 1st)

Ho-hum. The Ravens beat up on another AFC challenger. Yawn! The Ravens have only gone 9-0 against some of the best of the best this 2019 season.

Seattle, Houston, New England, Pittsburgh, LA Rams, San Francisco and now Buffalo have all failed to derail the Ravens offense. Get this - Baltimore hasn’t lost since back-to-back setbacks against the Chiefs and Browns back in September. Really the only question is have the Ravens peaked too soon or do they have another couple of layers left to reveal to the rest of the NFL.

A Thursday nighter against the Jets, followed by the Browns and Steelers will tell that story. If they do, watch out! Baltimore could be bringing another Super Bowl Championship back to mid-Atlantic. Quote the Raven(s) nevermore!