Week 11 AP NFL Power Rankings: Chiefs, Steelers clearly best; Saints top NFC

Week 10 of the NFL season offered a rare treat: Sunday’s games were the most evenly scheduled they’ve been since 2001. In the opening window we saw exciting games in New York, Detroit and Green Bay. Not a bad return from a bunch of games for which almost everyone had low expectations. On paper, the second window should have been a better watch, but they largely failed to deliver — but the scenes in Arizona more than made up for it!

This week’s voters were Matt Stagner, Pete Sweeney, Ron Kopp and myself.

1. Kansas City Chiefs (1st)

Judging from their social media activity, the Chiefs players enjoyed watching some Sunday football.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (2nd)

The Steelers clearly heard about people downplaying them — because this week, they definitely didn’t let a bad team hang around.

3. New Orleans Saints (5th)

Drew Brees’ injury will result in either Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill starting for the foreseeable future. It’s down to Sean Payton to decide which will be the lesser of two evils.

4. Green Bay Packers (6th)

Put it this way: their very unimpressive win against the Jaguars wasn’t the reason for them moving up.

5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9th)

I just don’t understand this team at all. Are they good... or not?

6. Seattle Seahawks (3rd)

Russel Wilson’s first-half interception was one of the stranger decisions you’ll ever likely to see. Someone has been watching too much Mahomes tape.

7. Baltimore Ravens (4th)

Last week, Lamar Jackson expressed concern that teams know their plays before the snap. That has to be a huge concern.

8. Buffalo Bills (8th)

Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs spectacularly paired up for what should have been a winning touchdown. Someone else had other ideas.

9. Arizona Cardinals (11th)

And that someone else happened to be DeAndre Hopkins, who continues to remind Texans fans that Bill O’Brien made one of the worst sports personnel decisions of all time.

10. Miami Dolphins (10th)

The Dolphins are on a really hot streak right now. Contender or pretender?

11. Tennessee Titans (7th) | This week’s big faller

Fortunate to be this high up the rankings after Thursday Night football.

12. Las Vegas Raiders (12th)

The wheels on the Raider bus go round and round.

13. Los Angeles Rams (16th)

Fresh off the bye and straight into joint ownership of first place in the NFC West.

14. Indianapolis Colts (13th)

On a night when people were talking about his ‘Hall of Fame’ candidacy, Philip Rivers edged closer to his first division title in 12 years.

15. New England Patriots (18th)

Bill Belichick is a weather God.

16. Cleveland Browns (17th)

Put your hands up if Nick Chubb cost you a bet on your fantasy matchup!

17. San Francisco 49ers (15th)

They started the game OK, but fell away quickly. One thing to like is that they’re not giving up any time soon.

18. Carolina Panthers (14th)

They couldn’t play with the same juice that they showed in Kansas City last week. The playoffs are probably out of reach now.

19. Detroit Lions (26th) | This week’s high riser

Matt Patricia is now 13-26-1 as the head coach of the Lions.

20. Chicago Bears (19th)

Remember when they were 5-1? Now, that seems like a very long time ago.

21. Minnesota Vikings (20th)

Three straight wins for the Vikings. In the hunt for sure.

22. Los Angeles Chargers (21st)

They’re now 2-7 and are in contention to take the first non-QB of the 2021 draft.

23. Atlanta Falcons (25th)

The bye came at a bad time for them. They were just starting to play well.

24. Cincinnati Bengals (22nd)

This felt like Joe Burrow’s ‘Welcome to the NFL’ game.

25. Philadelphia Eagles (23rd)

Despite success on the ground, the Eagles were found wanting against an improving Giants team.

26. Denver Broncos (24th)

If Drew Lock continues like this, John Elway will be looking for another QB in next year’s draft.

27. New York Giants (29th)

They’re are getting better, no doubt.

28. Houston Texans (27th)

This team is so bad — and probably the least watchable.

29. Washington Football Team (30th)

Matt Prater didn’t read the script. How dare he deny Alex Smith his first win in two years!

30. Dallas Cowboys (28th)

They’re probably dreading coming back from their bye.

31. Jacksonville Jaguars (31st)

For a minute there, it looked like the Jaguars might win in Green Bay.

32. New York Jets (32nd)

Can’t lose if you’re not playing.