October 27, 2015

NFL power rankings: NFC Hierarchy/Obituary after Week 7

By Jimmy Kempski
PhillyVoice Staff

Bob Leverone/AP

The Panthers are legit.

Week 7 of the NFL season is in the books, and we have our fifth obituary of the season, leaving just 11 teams in the hunt in the NFC. Here's this week's NFC Hierarchy/Obituary:

OBITUARY

DEAD - Buccaneers

Through six games, the Buccaneers are allowing 29.8 points per game. That is the worst in the NFL, and they've allowed those points to a collection of teams that otherwise average 20.9 points per game against their other opponents. The conclusion that I've drawn from this -- the Buccaneers give up a lot of points.

The Bucs' records the last 5 years:

Buccaneers	W	L
2011	4	12
2012	7	9
2013	4	12
2014	2	14
2015	2	4
TOTAL	19	51

That would be a winning percentage of 0.271. (That's bad). After building a 24-0 first half lead to the Redskins last week, the Bucs were outscored 31-6 the rest of the way. The Bucs should be drafting highly again in the 2016 NFL Draft, but at least they don't have to worry about taking a quarterbacks.

GRAVEYARD

HIERARCHY

11) Redskins (3-4)

The Redskins beat a team that, as mentioned above, has won 8 games since 2013. Should we like that? Kirk Cousins, what do you think?

Last week: 11

10) Cowboys (2-4)

Last week: 9

9) Rams (3-3)

In Week 1, Nick Foles came out hot against the Seahawks, throwing for 297 yards, a TD, no INTs, and a QB rating of 115.8. He has not thrown for more than 200 yards in any game since. Foles' last 5 games:

Opponenet	Foles passing yards
Redskins	150
Steelers	197
Cardinals	171
Packers	141
Browns	163

The Rams, however, are rushing for 5.0 yards per carry behind rookie running back Todd Gurley, who has been a stud in his first three starts in the NFL:

Todd Gurley	Rush	Yards	YPC	TD
Cardinals	19	146	7.7	0
Packers	30	159	5.3	0
Browns	19	128	6.7	2
TOTAL	68	433	6.4	2

Gurley will not be able to run like that all season, but if the Rams can be effective with the run, they can be a crappier version of one of those "old school run the ball and play good defense" teams like the Seahawks and Panthers, who actually have good quarterbacks.

Last week: 10

8) Eagles (3-4)

CATCH. THE. BALL.

Last week: 6

7) Giants (4-3)

Even when the Giants win, they just don't look very good. For example, their game stats against Dallas last week:

Stat	Cowboys	Giants
First downs	27	13
Yards	460	289
Passing	227	157
Rushing	233	132
T.O.P.	38:04	21:56

But... The Giants got a kick return TD, Matt Cassel kept throwing the ball to the wrong team, and the Giants won the turnover battle 4-0, so they won, but only by 7 against a team missing its two most important players.

Last week: 8

6) Seahawks (3-4)

The Seahawks defense is coming back. Last Thursday, they held the Niners to 8 first downs, 142 total yards, 3.2 yards per play, and under 22 minutes possessing the football.

They'll get to pick on Matt Cassel this Sunday on a few extra days of rest.

Last week: 7

5) Vikings (4-2)

If the season ended today (it doesn't, to be clear), the Vikings would be in as the 6 seed in the playoffs. Let's take a quick snapshot of what the NFC looks like in that regard:

Wildcard	W	L	GB
Falcons	6	1	-
Vikings	4	2	-
Rams	3	3	1
Redskins	3	4	1.5
Seahawks	3	4	1.5
Eagles	3	4	1.5
Saints	3	4	1.5

The Vikings' ultra-easy schedule chugs along the next three weeks as they'll face the Bears, Rams and Raiders.

Last week: 5

4) Falcons (6-1)

I was in Charlotte this weekend for the Eagles-Panthers game, and the game on TV here for the early games was the Falcons-Titans 10-7 shootout. That's three hours I'll never get back.

The Falcons have played well through the first seven games of the season, and if you eliminate the two games against the Panthers that could ultimately decide the division, the Falcons face a schedule of teams with a combined record of 18-28.

But after watching both the Falcons and Panthers closely this season, I like what the Panthers are doing quite a bit more.

Last week: 4

3) Cardinals (5-2)

Despite only carrying the ball 15.9 times per game, Cardinals running back Chris Johnson is second in the NFL with 567 rushing yards.

Player	Rush	Yards	YPC	TD
Devonta Freeman, ATL	131	621	4.7	9
Chris Johnson, ARZ	111	567	5.1	3
Doug Martin, TB	109	541	5.0	3
Adrian Peterson, MIN	120	530	4.4	3
Le'Veon Bell, PIT	103	511	5.0	3

The Cardinals signed him on August 17th, a few weeks deep into training camp.

Last week: 3

2) Panthers (6-0)

Heading into the Eagles-Panthers game, there was an argument to be made that the Eagles run defense had been the best in the NFL through the first 6 weeks of the season. The Panthers didn't care. They're built to run the ball, so that's what they did, to the the tune of 204 yards and 2 TDs on 33 carries (6.2 YPC).

In the locker room after the game, Malcolm Jenkins said that the Panthers offensive line simply moved the Eagles defense in the second half, which is something that nobody has been able to do so far this season.

The Panthers are the only team in the NFL that has run the ball more than they have passed. Opposing defenses know they're going to run it, and they're effective anyway. This is a legitimately good "old school" type of team that can run the ball and play good defense. They aren't going away.

Last week: 2