Week 10 NFL Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Steelers feel fake
By Will Lomas
2. New Orleans Saints (+4)
When you beat a division rival, it makes you look good because those games are always tough. When you beat a team at the top of your conference on the road, that makes you look great because that won’t happen many times all season. When you do both and it is such a comical beatdown that the other team never had a chance, then you make a massive move up the power rankings.
I think Drew Brees has lost some of his arm strength but give all the credit in the world to this system and the talent on this Saints roster because if he is lacking something then it is something that you clearly don’t need to be successful in the NFL.
The Saints play defense with their hair on fire and they have won five in a row despite the whole world knowing that you probably don’t have to worry too much about the Saints beating you vertically outside the numbers. Oh, and they have done most of it without Michael Thomas.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (+1)
Here is why the Chiefs are at the top of the power rankings. Right now, Patrick Mahomes isn’t quite on his normal “I’m the best player in the league and no one can touch me” level of dominance.
Despite that and despite getting nothing from the run game, the Chiefs still had two 100-yard receivers and won a game where they had to come from behind against a well-coached Panthers team.
On defense names like Chirs Jones, Tyrann Mathieu, and Frank Clark continue to show up enough to prevent shootouts from happening too often and I believe that the Chiefs are 15-1 in their last 16 regular-season games, and in between those regular-season games, they won a Super Bowl.
To me, the Chiefs feel like the Golden State Warriors of a few years ago where the regular season was about winning, but the goal was always to dominate in the postseason. If there were some bumps along the way, no big deal, the goal was the ring. That is how this season is playing out for the Chiefs.