NFL Power Rankings entering Week 8: How should these fun Cowboys be measured vs. other playoff contenders? And what to make of Broncos after miracle win?

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/nfl-power-rankings-entering-week-8-how-should-these-fun-cowboys-be-measured-vs-other-playoff-contenders-and-what-to-make-of-broncos-after-miracle-win-053213256.html

No team has gained more yards than the Dallas Cowboys this season. Also, no team has given up more yards than the Cowboys.

Figuring out the Cowboys and their place in the NFL pecking order isn’t easy. Dak Prescott is playing as well as any quarterback in the NFL, and Sunday’s return of CeeDee Lamb makes the offense even better. They had little trouble in a 44-22 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday, a win that brought Dallas back to 3-3-1 for the season. Prescott had three more touchdowns and has had a passer rating of at least 124 in four straight games.

The Cowboys are fun and they’re going to continue to score a lot of points. But before talking them up as contenders to win the NFC East or even make the playoffs, their defense has to be addressed. Dallas is just a week removed from giving up 30 points to the Carolina Panthers and losing a game it could have won. The Cowboys haven’t given up fewer than 22 in a game this season and four of seven opponents have scored 30. Dallas can outscore teams but it’s hard to win that way over a full season. Its defense is bad and there’s no way to ignore that.

Maybe the trade deadline can help (insert any Micah Parsons jokes here). Maybe it will improve as the season goes on. Something has to happen though. It’s hard to believe a team with a defense as bad as the Cowboys can make the playoffs in a deep NFC. The NFC North and NFC West have at least three playoff contenders each. Other second- and third-place teams, like the Panthers, Commanders and Falcons, are capable of being in the postseason race. The Cowboys’ offense is clearly playoff caliber. Ask the 2024 Bengals if that’s enough.

Here are the NFL Power Rankings after Week 7:

32 (previous ranking 32): New York Jets (0-7)

Justin Fields hasn’t broken 100 yards passing in the Jets’ past two games combined. He only played a half on Sunday because he was benched, and Aaron Glenn is deciding if that move will be permanent. It should be; the Jets can’t keep starting Fields.

The Titans might have had a really good fourth round of the draft. They picked receivers Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and tight end Gunnar Helm in that round. Dike and Helm combined for 106 yards and a TD on Sunday and Ayomanor has 225 yards this season. Hey, it’s something positive.

The Dolphins are sticking with coach Mike McDaniel, which is a little surprising considering how bad they looked in a loss to the Browns. It’s probably putting off the inevitable. There might only be a handful of individuals who deserve to survive this mess and remain with the franchise in 2026.

Chris Olave has 98 yards in back-to-back games, and had two touchdowns on Sunday. There has been trade speculation with him, but the Saints need to get an extension done with him instead. He is one of their very few young players who actually looks like a long-term keeper.

It’s hard to play an NFL game and only manage three first downs, but somehow the Raiders pulled that off on Sunday. Even accounting for injuries, that’s putrid. The Raiders paid a lot of money to hire Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator, and the results are not close to being acceptable.

Kyler Murray is averaging 192.4 passing yards per game this season. In two starts, Jacoby Brissett is averaging 299.5. And that was against the Colts and Packers, two strong teams. Let’s just say that coach Jonathan Gannon has a tough decision to make when Murray is healthy.

Quinshon Judkins is a great find. It didn’t look great when he missed all of training camp with a legal issue, but he obviously didn’t need it. He has 467 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He looks like he could be one of the best backs in the NFL for a while.

The Broncos’ comeback was a great story, but the Giants’ collapse was a big story too. How could the Giants blow that game? It seemed impossible. The good news is Jaxson Dart continues to look very good, though his fourth quarter interception was a massive turning point Sunday.

At least the Bengals’ offense looks viable again. Joe Flacco is capable of getting Ja’Marr Chase the ball. It’s very hard to believe Flacco plays all season like he did last Thursday night, or that the Bengals will be a playoff contender, but at least they’re watchable again.

Bryce Young’s injury is a concern, as he’s expected to miss at least one game. But the Panthers can get by without him, and there is some momentum building in Carolina. Back-to-back games against the Bills and Packers will test how good the Panthers really are.

We found out Monday night that the improvement the Texans’ offense showed was simply due to facing the Titans and depleted Ravens. What we saw against Seattle was the same bad offense we saw in the first three games. It seems unlikely to get much better.

There’s not much positive to come out of Sunday’s game. Carson Wentz’s two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, cost them dearly. The defense, the strength of the team, allowed Jalen Hurts to post a perfect 158.3 passer rating. The Vikings seem to be fading.

The Commanders have a ton of injuries and that matters, even if Dan Quinn said that wasn’t a factor in Sunday’s loss. That’s obviously not true. But the schedule won’t stop for them to get healthy, and their next game is on the road at the Chiefs. Not good.

Few teams looked worse in Week 7. The gap between the Jaguars and Colts in the AFC South continues to grow. The Jaguars have lost any momentum they gained from what looked like a breakthrough win over the Chiefs in Week 5.

Now we get to see what the Ravens will be this season. The Steelers’ loss in Week 7 helped them. Getting Lamar Jackson back for Week 8, if he’s ready, is a bigger help. Baltimore is 1-5 but might quickly move up the ratings.

The Steelers weren’t as good as their record when they were 4-1, and things unraveled a bit against the Bengals. The good news is Aaron Rodgers looks like he’ll be solid all season. The bad news is the defense has had some spectacularly awful performances, and that might not be fixable.

The Falcons are impossible to figure out, especially on offense. They got shut out by the Panthers, then blasted the Commanders and Bills with two 400-yard performances, then had a season-low 292 yards against a depleted 49ers defense. That inconsistency will ruin their playoff hopes.

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ passing game gets all the attention, but the Cowboys hit big on a bargain signing of running back Javonte Williams. Williams had 116 more yards on Sunday. He’s on pace for 1,438 yards this season. Nobody saw that coming.

Caleb Williams had 172 yards and an interception and the Bears still won. Part of that is playing the Saints, but it’s a good sign that the running game was dominant. Chicago had 222 rushing yards. That’s a Ben Johnson influence, too.

The Chargers lost, but rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II had a massive game. He had seven catches for 164 yards and a touchdown. It’s his second straight game with seven catches. He might be an absolute smash of a fifth-round pick.

Robert Saleh is a masterful defensive coach. The 49ers were without Nick Bosa and Fred Warner on Sunday night and shut down the Falcons. There still are questions about the defense’s long-term viability without those two stars, but Saleh will get the most out of what he has.

Matthew Stafford leads the NFL with 17 touchdown passes and has only two interceptions. He’s 37 years old and seems to be getting better somehow. And it’s not like he has ever been bad. The Rams’ upside is as high as any team in the NFL, especially if Stafford keeps playing this well.

K’Lavon Chaisson, a 2020 first-round pick, looked like a bust. Did you see his breakout coming? His career-best season was five sacks; he has 4.5 sacks already this season. He had two sacks and a fumble recovery touchdown on Sunday. What an unexpected boon for New England.

Losing on Monday night wasn’t great but it happens. Losing Mike Evans for most or all of the rest of the season to a broken collarbone is a much bigger problem. Tampa Bay will have a tough time replacing him. Suddenly they’re more vulnerable in the NFC South.

Seattle’s defense might be the most underrated unit in the NFL. It’s very good. The Texans might not be good on offense, but Seattle had a big part of their struggles on Monday night. The offense has to clean up those mistakes, though.

If the Broncos could bottle up their fourth quarter offense, which led to wins over the Eagles and Giants, they’d have something. Both of their losses came with no time on the clock at the Colts and Chargers. They’re close to getting on a roll, but the offense has to find consistency.

The Packers got three sacks out of Micah Parsons and beat the Cardinals on a gutsy call by Matt LaFleur to go for it on fourth down late in the fourth quarter. Still, it has been a few weeks since the Packers have looked anywhere close to elite.

The Bills get the Panthers, and then comes a game that might define the AFC. They host the Chiefs on Nov. 2. That’s a huge game, but before that, the Bills need to make sure they don’t look past Carolina.

The Eagles are very good. They’re one step from being great, and that’s getting Saquon Barkley going. Barkley had 42 total yards on Sunday. Did last season’s workload catch up to him? Maybe. The Eagles are still 5-2 without Barkley doing much yet.

The Colts just keep winning. Jonathan Taylor might be an MVP candidate. Daniel Jones has been solid all season. They have quality wins. It’s a little disrespectful to not have them No. 1. But would you pick them on a neutral field over the Chiefs?

Jahmyr Gibbs takes the Lions’ offense to another level. He had 218 yards on in a stress-free win over a Buccaneers team that had just one loss before Monday night. Having a player who can break a touchdown from anywhere on the field is a rare and special asset.

Why the big jump for the Chiefs? They had been too low due to their record. But now we see what the Chiefs look like at close to full strength, and they look like the best team in football. Ask yourself: Do you have more trust in any other team to be in the Super Bowl?