NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 8

The Vikings' offense kinda stinks.
Chris Szagola/AP

We have no new obituaries this week, as the San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears remain the only teams in the graveyard. Let's just get right to it.

Graveyard

Hierarchy

14) Rams (3-4)

Case Keenum is second in the NFL in interceptions (with 10 of them), trailing only the Jets' Ryan Fitzpatrick. Against the Giants in London last Sunday, he was straight awful, throwing four interceptions and losing a game the Rams' defense set up the offense to win. The Rams are not going to overcome the assortment of teams vying for a wildcard in the NFC, and they're certainly not anywhere near as talented overall as the Seahawks or Cardinals within their own division. By that logic, my feeling is that the Rams are the least likely team in the NFC (graveyard teams aside) to make the playoffs.


MORE ON THE EAGLES: RECAP: Eagles chat with Jimmy Kempski | 'Neon' Deion Sanders takes shot at Carson Wentz's fashion sense | Report: Eagles talking to 49ers about deal for WR Torrey Smith | Eagles claim DL Taylor Hart off waivers, sign CB Aaron Grymes to practice squad | Report: Cowboys WR Dez Bryant will play vs. Eagles Sunday | The 2016 Eagles are really, really good. Except when they stink


The Rams have their bye this week, and then they'll face the Carolina Panthers the following week. If they lose that game, they're done, and Jeff Fisher can recycle his 7-9 speech again next training camp.

13) Panthers (1-5)

The bye week has become something of a storyline for the Eagles this season. The Birds were rolling with a 3-0 record, before a usually welcomed bye week may have helped impede their momentum. If you buy the whole "momentum thing," the Eagles may have been beneficiaries of the bye week slowing the previously undefeated Vikings' momentum this past Sunday after they had their bye.

The Panthers, on the other hand, may be on the other side of the argument. They went into their bye last week with a dreadful 1-5 record coming off a Super Bowl appearance. A season ago, the Panthers led the NFL with a turnover differential of +20. This season, they're second-worst in the NFL, at -8.

This week the Panthers play a very good Cardinals team at home. If they can't take care of business after having some time to figure things out, they're done.

12) Saints (2-4)

Drew Brees owns six of the top 15 single-season passing yard marks in NFL history.

Rank Year Player Yds
1 2013 Peyton Manning, Broncos 5,477
2 2011 Drew Brees, Saints 5,476
3 2011 Tom Brady, Patriots 5,235
4 2012 Drew Brees, Saints 5,177
5 2013 Drew Brees, Saints 5,162
6 1984 Dan Marino, Dolphins 5,084
7 2008 Drew Brees, Saints 5,069
8 2011 Matthew Stafford, Lions 5,038
9 2012 Matthew Stafford, Lions 4,967
T-10 2014 Drew Brees, Saints 4,952
T-10 2014 Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers 4,952
12 2011 Eli Manning, Giants 4,933
13 2012 Tony Romo, Cowboys 4,903
14 2015 Drew Brees, Saints 4,870
15 2001 Kurt Warner, Rams 4,830

This year, Brees is averaging 350.2 passing yards per game. If he keeps up that pace, he'll have 5603 passing yards, which would be a new single-single record.

And yet, the Saints are 2-4, because, you know, defense.

11) Buccaneers (3-3)

Three weeks ago, the Buccaneers were 1-3 with the worst point differential in the NFL. Two games later, after wins over the Panthers and 49ers, they're back to .500 with a 2-0 division record and only a half-game behind the Falcons.

And not only that, but four of their first six games have been on the road. The Bucs will now begin a three-game home stretch against the Raiders, Falcons and Bears.

10) Giants (4-3)

This comes as a bit of a surprise, but the Giants are dead last in the NFL in time of possession:

Rk Team ToP/G
1 Arizona Cardinals 33:37
2 Dallas Cowboys 33:09
3 Philadelphia Eagles 32:16
4 Indianapolis Colts 31:52
5 Minnesota Vikings 31:42
6 Seattle Seahawks 31:41
7 Green Bay Packers 31:36
8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31:27
9 New York Jets 31:26
10 Tennessee Titans 31:19
11 Baltimore Ravens 31:13
12 Carolina Panthers 31:02
13 Washington Redskins 31:01
14 San Diego Chargers 30:53
15 Cincinnati Bengals 30:42
16 Kansas City Chiefs 30:39
17 New England Patriots 30:28
18 New Orleans Saints 30:22
19 Houston Texans 30:18
20 Oakland Raiders 30:04
21 Los Angeles Rams 30:04
22 Atlanta Falcons 30:01
23 Detroit Lions 29:54
24 Pittsburgh Steelers 29:47
25 Denver Broncos 29:25
26 Cleveland Browns 28:53
27 Miami Dolphins 28:06
28 Buffalo Bills 27:32
29 Chicago Bears 27:24
30 Jacksonville Jaguars 27:15
31 San Francisco 49ers 26:10
32 New York Giants 25:57

They have faced 500 plays on defense so far this season, and have only run 428 plays on offense. A disparity of 72 plays after seven games is pretty significant. As you might imagine, the Giants are not winning on third down. They are converting just 35 percent of their third down attempts offensively, while opponents are converting 42 percent of their third downs.

9) Redskins (4-3)

The NFC East has the best point differential in the NFL:

Division Point differential
NFC East 109
AFC West 72
AFC East 51
NFC North 4
NFC West -33
NFC South -35
AFC South -83
AFC North -85

But it's all the Eagles and Cowboys:

NFC East Point differential  
 Eagles+68 
 Cowboys+52 
 Redskins-3 
 Giants-8 


The Redskins have a weird scheduling quirk upcoming in which they'll play the Bengals in London, followed by two home games (Vikings, Packers), followed by three consecutive road games (Cowboys, Cardinals, Eagles).

8) Falcons (4-3)

With a three-point lead and 3:41 left on the clock in the fourth quarter and the ball at the Chargers' 40-yard line, the Falcons had 1st and 10. And then...

False start (at home), another false start (AT HOME!), and then an interception.

That's the way the Chargers tend lose games, but the Falcons out-losered them. Atlanta will try to stop the bleeding this week at home against the Packers.

7) Lions (4-3)

Matthew Stafford's numbers the last three games:

Opponent Comp-Att (comp %) Yards (YPA) TD-INT Rating 
 Eagles19-25 (76%) 180 (7.2) 3-0 135.0 
 Rams 23-31 (74.2%)270 (8.71) 4-0 139.8 
 Redskins18-29 (62.1%) 266 (9.17) 1-0 103.5 
 TOTAL60-85 (70.6%) 716 (8.4) 8-0 127.4 


And not only that, he has led game-winning drives in all three games.

Those were all home games. It will be interesting to see if Stafford and the Lions can prove they're for real on the road the next two weeks in Houston and Minnesota.

6) Eagles (4-2)

The Eagles are fifth in yards allowed per game (307), third in points per game allowed (14.7), tied for first in sacks per game (3.3), and third in takeaways per game (2).

5) Packers (4-2)

The Packers don't have running backs, and so, Aaron Rodgers attempted 56 passes in what was a comfortable win over the Bears. Wide receiver Ty Montgomery was the Packers' leading rusher, with 60 yards on nine carries. WR Randall Cobb even chipped in 21 rushing yards on five carries. Here's some free advice: If someone offers you a Packers receiver in your fantasy league, strongly consider it because Green Bay is going to be airing it out.

4) Cardinals (3-3-1)

Bruce Arians is the biggest baby in sports.

3) Vikings (5-1)

The Vikings got exposed last Sunday. Their offensive tackles are an abomination and they're going to struggle protecting the quarterback all season long. Furthermore, they can't run the football, their weapons in the passing game are mediocre at best, and their quarterback is Sam Bradford. This is a way below average offense.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings' defense is outstanding. As we noted in our "10 awards" post, here is what the Vikings have done to opposing quarterbacks this season:

QB Comp-Att (Comp %) Yards (YPA) TD-INT Rating 
Marcus Mariota 25-41 (61%) 271 (6.6) 2-1 86.5 
 Aaron Rodgers20-36 (55.6%) 213 (5.9) 1-1 70.7 
 Cam Newton21-35 (60%) 262 (7.5) 0-3 47.6 
 Eli Manning25-45 (55.6%) 261 (5.8) 0-1 63.3 
 Brock Osweiler19-42 (45.2%) 184 (4.4) 1-1 56.1 
 Carson Wentz16-28 (57.1%) 138 (4.9) 1-2 52.4 


The Vikings' defense is great, but it's probably not so good that it can overcome its serious offensive deficiencies.

A week ago, the Vikings looked like a stone-cold lock for the playoffs, and perhaps even a No. 1 seed. I'm not so sure the playoffs are even a lock right now. There are nine teams in the NFC with at least four wins, and none of them have a losing record in conference play.

2) Cowboys (5-1)

Yeah, we'll be talking a little bit about this team this week. Let's pace ourselves.

1) Seahawks (4-1-1)

The Seahawks, like the Vikings, have major offensive line issues. Here's what Tyrann Mathieu had to say about the Seahawks' offensive line, via old friend Sheil Kapadia:

"Well, we've never had two edge rushers like Chandler [Jones] and Markus [Golden]," he said. "Let's call it what it is -- their offensive line is not that good. So we felt like we could get pressure on them, which we did a bunch of times tonight."

That's not really even trash talk. For anyone who saw the Seahawks-Cardinals game on Sunday Night Football, you'll know that Mathieu is pretty much just stating the obvious.

Still, while the Seahawks are built similarly to the Vikings in that they have a great defense, but an offensive line that is neither pass protecting nor opening up holes in the running game all that well, I'll take Russell Wilson over Sam Bradford any day of the week.


Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski

Like Jimmy on Facebook.