NFL Power Rankings heading into 2018’s fourth quarter

#25 Buffalo Bills (4-8)

MAC Championship - Buffalo v Northern Illinois

The Bills, on the other hand, have been somewhat of a pleasant surprise. You might wonder why I would say that after a playoff appearance last season, but I really thought they wouldn’t win more than four games and they still have another four to improve on that mark. Offensively they have been dreadful without Josh Allen in the line-up, but at least they finally gave up on the Nathan Peterman experiment. All but one of their wins have come with the rookie starting games and he has looked like Cam Newton running around at times. More importantly, however, would the offense be at least average, Buffalo’s defense would absolutely be one of the top units in the league.

#26 Atlanta Falcons (4-8)

The Falcons are another team that has just been raddled by injuries. They lost running back Devonta Freeman and their two starting safeties for the year, plus their dynamic middle linebacker Deion Jones only just returned on Sunday, where he was mismatch anyway against that big Ravens front. Offensively they were putting up huge numbers early on and Matt Ryan balled out, but the defense just couldn’t stop anybody. They showed perseverance, winning three in a row after a 1-5 start, but that loss to the Browns, when one of their players even said they overlooked them, kind of sealed it, as they haven’t won since.

#27 Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8)

I don’t think there is a more disappointing team in the 2018 NFL season than these Jaguars. They were so dominant on defense and punished people with Leonard Fournette as their human sledgehammer last season on their way to the AFC Championship game. That’s why that performance of the defense in a 6-0 victory over the Colts felt so good to see, even though I had just talked about how bright Indy’s future was a couple of days prior. The Jags have finally seen that they need a change under center, but that contract with Bortles will hurt them. If they can get a top-half guy at quarterback, I think they still have the championship-caliber defense to support him

#28 Arizona Cardinals (3-9)

When the Cardinals look back at their season this win over the Packers is what will get them excited for the future. Josh Rosen is definitely not perfect, but he has shown traits to be a franchise quarterback as he is learning. Christian Kirk has looked like an electric deep threat and return specialist before he went on IR this week. David Johnson might have been running against a brick wall at times, but he is under contract until 2022. The defense is much better than the numbers would bear out. Steve Wilks is excellent at dropping defenders into spots that take away the staples of opposing passing attacks and they have some ballers in Chandler Jones, Robert Nkemdiche, Budda Baker and of course Patrick Peterson.