12 weeks of the 2018 NFL season have passed, and by now we have a pretty good idea on which teams are good and which are bad, as we’ve seen them in almost every situation possible.
So let’s do the power rankings from #32 to #22 with five weeks of regular season to go.
#32 Oakland Raiders (2-9)
It seems Jon Gruden wasn’t worth the $100.000.000 and wasn’t worth a ten-year contract. The man quickly dismantled the Raiders and made them non-competitive on both sides of the ball.
Not even Derek Carr can fix this anymore, and this team should just tank the season and get the first draft pick. That’s what Gruden wants anyway.
#31 Arizona Cardinals (2-9)
The Cardinals are the worst offensive team in the league. They’re 32nd in total offense, 32nd in passing and 32nd in rushing. In defense they’re a bit better, 26th, but this rank is this low because offense can’t stay on the field long enough so defense suffers. Cardinals pass defense is still excellent, 4th with only 219.8 yards allowed per game, and Cardinals aren’t as disfunctional as some other teams at the bottom part of power rankings.
But their offense is so bad that they just can’t win a game at this moment. Arizona has a rookie quarterback in Josh Rosen, 10th pick in 2018 draft, but so far it seems Rosen is ruining Arizona and Arizona is ruining Rosen. He barely made it past 100 passing yards in each of his last two games.
#30 San Francisco 49ers (2-9)
The 49ers shouldn’t be ranked this low, and it seemed quarterback Nick Mullens can lead this offense in absence of Jimmy Garoppolo.
But the team just doesn’t manage to stay competitive, and it was Jimmy G magic that made them good in the first place. They also have a brutal schedule until the end of the season – Bears, Rams, Seahawks stand in their way.
#29 New York Jets (3-8)
The Jets didn’t manage to beat the Patriots but stayed in the game for a long time. Still, veteran Josh McCown can only do so much, as he was intended to stay in New York as a mentor to young Sam Darnold who was injured last week and who has talent but is struggling with completion rate.
The Jets are bad for a long time now, and their only hope is to coach Darnold into a franchise quarterback. He could be one some day, but this is a season of struggles for the Jets.
#28 New York Giants (3-8)
It’s unclear if the Giants should be #28 on this list or much lower, as they are a side that’s showing promise and a side that has hugely talented Saquon Barkley, probably among the best running back talents in the last decade. But sadly the team is led by Eli Manning and there’s no sign of a replacement in sight. If Giants get a good QB in draft next year they could be good, but at this current state the team is just disfunctional.
#27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-8)
The Buccaneers can’t settle on a starting quarterback, and are moving back and forth between Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick, benching the one who gets picked a few times in one game in this high-risk offense.
The quarterbacks have some of the most talented receivers in the league, and this team is first in air offense, yet nothing seems to work and Buccaneers aren’t able to control a game. They can beat the lowest teams on this list though.
#26 Buffalo Bills (4-7)
This is not a totally awful football team, they’re tough and they’ll beat you if you let them.
They started blocking well for running back Lesean McCoy, and young quarterback Josh Allen has one of the best wide receivers in Kelvin Benjamin. Still, it’s all too little to be competitive in this league.
#25 Miami Dolphins (5-6)
The record that’s close to .500 is misleading, as this is one poor football team that does have some stars like Ndamukong Suh, Danny Amendola or Kenyan Drake, but the problem is – Brock Osweiler is the quarterback. The game manager is holding this team back and there’s no way Dolphins can stay competitive until the end of the season, and no way they can reach the playoffs.
#24 Cincinnati Bengals (5-6)
There’s little difference between Dolphins and Bengals in terms of overall quality, but the Bengals should be the better team. Andy Dalton is not a bad quarterback but he has no one to play with, and the slow decline of this team will likely continue. They’ve lost five of their last six games.
#23 Detroit Lions (4-7)
Ironically, when the former Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia came to coach the Lions, the defense regressed and got even worse. At the same time, offense got worse as Patricia is no offensive mastermind. This team is beyond fixing and maybe Patricia manages to make them competitive next season, but in 2018 they have nothing to look forward to. Not with Matthew Stafford at quarterback, who can’t beat a winning team no matter how hard he tries.
#22 Atlanta Falcons (4-7)
Falcons were supposed to be one of the better teams in this season, in the top five at least, as they possess a fantastic aerial offense and a two-headed monster in the backfield, but somehow they imploded. Steve Sarkisian’s poor play calling eventually resulted in this team losing its identity, and now they’re a disfunctional unit which Matt Ryan is trying to save by passing 300+ yards in every game.
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