Blaze Review

1.) Detroit Lions (10-1)

Nothing has changed at the top of the rankings this week. The Lions are flying offensively and defensively. While they didn’t score 50 this week, they only allowed 6 points (zero touchdowns since week 10). 

2.) Buffalo Bills (9-2)

Enjoying a late BYE, Buffalo is enjoying the hottest start to Josh Allen’s career (9-2). 

3.) Philadelphia Eagles (9-2)

It seems to be a weekly occurrence we talk about how incredible Saquon Barkley is. He’s currently on pace to smash the single season rushing record (17 game season). With Hurts, Brown and the rest of the team hitting their stride, Philly looks primed to challenge Detroit for the NFC.

4.) Kansas City Chiefs (10-1)

The Chiefs found a way to win, late against Carolina. In weeks past, KC has been rewarded for finding ways to win. But this week, against Carolina, The Chiefs need to play better if they expect to threepeat. The offense looked better than they have almost all season, but in return the defense has given up 27 points for the 2nd week in a row.

5.) Minnesota Vikings (9-2)

The Vikings don’t lose credit for almost blowing the game against The Bears over the weekend, but they won’t earn any style points from us. The Bears did their best to take away Justin Jefferson (2 catches 27 yards), but that was in exchange for Jordan Addison and TJ Hockenson combining for over 280 receiving yards. Minnesota won 3 in a row on the road, now they have 3 in a row at home.

6.) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3)

The Pittsburgh Steelers 5 game win streak came to an end due to Jamies Winston and The Cleveland Browns. In what’s being dubbed “The Snow Globe Game”, Pittsburgh was out dueled 24-19. Pittsburgh will not be happy with a win but the silver lining is the elements played a big factor in the game and there was a questionable intentional grounding not called. Pittsburgh will want to rebound against Cincinnati. 

7.) Baltimore Ravens (8-4)

Baltimore got back to their winning ways on Monday night. John Harbaugh was on the winning end of the Harbowl again, on the back on his MVP quarterback, and a defense that stepped up against a stout opponent.

8.) Green Bay Packers (8-3)

Despite the heavy injuries to San Francisco, Green Bay throttled them on Sunday. Getting their revenge over them from the divisional round playoff game last season surely felt great. They were lead by Josh Jacobs and his 3 touchdowns. Despite being 8-3 they’re still in 3rd place in the NFC North. With games against Detroit and Minnesota still to come, there’s ground to be made up.

9.) Los Angeles Chargers (7-4)

Jim can never seem to get the edge on big brother, John. The Harbaugh Brothers faced off for the first time in over a decade. Unfortunately for LA, their Harbaugh was on the losing end.

10.) Denver Broncos (7-5)

The 2024 Denver Broncos have overachieved in my eyes. Depending on the source, Denver had a 5.5 over/under for wins coming into the season. They reached 7 wins, with 5 games left to play for them. The team is far ahead of schedule in their rebuild/retool. They might even be able to make a little playoff run.

11.) Seattle Seahawks (6-5)

After starting 3-0, then losing 3 in a row, then going 1-2, Seattle finds themselves back in 1st place of the NFC West. The ascendance of Jaxon Smith-Njigba has elevated the team, plus Mike MacDonald’s defense taking form. Seattle is in the drivers seat for the division.

12.) Washington Commanders (7-5)

It might be time to start worrying about Washington. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has garnered a reputation for not adjusting stuff down the stretch of the season. We saw it often in Arizona, a hot start gets wasted. I hope we’re not beginning to see that with Jayden Daniels and co, but after 3 straight losses, it’s worrisome.

13.) Houston Texans (7-5)

I jokingly called Houston the “frauds of the year” a few articles ago, it was in jest but it still could ring true. Slipping up, and losing a game won’t affect their chances at winning the division, likely. But Houston doesn’t look likely to win a playoff game this year, at all.

14.) Arizona Cardinals (6-5)

Coming out of the BYE, Arizona looked primed to take a solid lead in the tightest division in football. They lost an ugly game to The Seahawks, allowing them to jump them in the standings. Arizona will travel to Minnesota to play the souring Vikings, they’ll need to get back to their winning ways to stay in the fight for the West.

15.) Atlanta Falcons (6-5)

A late BYE in the season might’ve been what the doctor ordered for Atlanta. After starting 6-3, they dropped 2 in a row. With Tampa on their heels, Atlanta needs to get back into rhythm.

16.) Miami Dolphins (5-6)

Miami is currently one of the hottest teams in football, after getting Tua back, they’ve won 3 in a row. If they keep winning, they’ll likely make the playoffs. They got out to a 31-0 lead before ultimately winning 34-15 this past weekend.

17.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-6)

Coming out of their BYE, Tampa got back on track with a dominant win over The snowballing Giants. They’ve had some rough losses over the past month, now that they’re getting back on track, they could still win their division.

18.) Los Angeles Rams (5-6)

LA ran into the buzz saw that is The Eagles. They were in it until Saquon took a 70 yard run to the house on the first play back from halftime. Luckily for them, their division is super tight, so they can still get back into things.

19.) San Fransisco 49ers (5-6)

In The Rams section, I mentioned the division is tight enough to still be alive. It technically applies to The Niners too, but they feel beaten down. After multiple years of making the NFC Championship game, and Super Bowl, The Niners feel gassed, and some injuries have derailed them.

20.) Indianapolis Colts (5-7)

After winning a huge game last week against The Jets, Indy took a step back this week. While it was always going to be tough against Detroit, mustering only 6 points was never going to win the game.

21.) Chicago Bears (4-7)

Fighting back to force OT won’t save Matt Everflus’ job, but it will show the next head coach the players have fight in them. It’s continued progress from the struggling team. But they do need to finish these games out.

22.) Cincinnati Bengals (4-7)

Cincy had their BYE week during week 12. It gave them the chance to rest up before the final 6 games, which they’ll need to win all of if they want to make the playoffs.

23.) New Orleans Saints (4-7)

After winning 2 in a row, New Orleans got a chance to rest up before the final stretch of games. Darren Rizzi will get a chance to remove the interim tag from his title if they can gather some momentum.

24.) Dallas Cowboys (4-7)

Dallas looked like they would begin to free fall after the blowout against Houston. But going on the road against a divisional rival and winning in the fashion they did was admirable. Cooper Rush looked the 2022 version of himself too.

25.) Carolina Panthers (3-8)

Carolina became just the 3rd team this season to score more than 25 points on the defending Super Bowl Champions. Since re entering the starting lineup, Bryce Young has started to look like the guy Carolina invested so much in. We thought Carolina would be in the 30s all season long. But they’ve managed to turn the ship around and look encouraging.

26.) Cleveland Browns (3-8)

Playing spoiler to your division rivals is typically the best thing you can do when it’s later in the season and you know you don’t have a chance at the postseason. That’s exactly what Cleveland was able to do on Thursday against bitter rivals Pittsburgh. 

27.) Tennessee Titans (3-8)

In one of the more shocking results from the weekend, Tennessee picked up their 3rd win of the year, over their division rivals Houston. Unlike Cleveland, the upset victory won’t matter much in the race for the division. But for a struggling team a win always helps.

28.) New York Jets (3-8)

Going into their BYE week, The Jets moved on from their general manager, Joe Douglas. The Jets are and have been cooked. It’ll be interesting to see what they do with Rodgers for the rest of the season.

29.) New England Patriots (3-9)

New England looked like a revitalized team after putting Drake Maye into the starting lineup. Unfortunately for them, they ran into one of the hotter teams in the AFC, The Dolphins. After going down 31-0, they were able to salvage 15 points to make it look slightly more respectable. Everything moving forward is about getting better for 2025 in New England.

30.) Las Vegas Raiders (2-9)

With Gardner Minshew suffering a season ending injury, any hope of turning their season around has vanished. With a matchup at Arrowhead on Black Friday, maybe they can get back in a groove (won there on Christmas Day last season).

31.) Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9)

A BYE week prevented Jacksonville from urinating down their leg any further, they’ll try to get back in the win column against Houston.

32.) New York Giants (2-9)

Things are going from bad to worse for The Giants. It has snowballed for Big Blue since benching Daniel Jones, which turned to releasing Jones, to bring down 30-0 in the 4th quarter. The Giants need to do something quick, before Daboll loses the entire locker room.