6. Las Vegas Raiders (+0)
There are no moral victories in sports, but there are some in my power rankings.
For weeks I have been talking about how the Raiders have shown that they can hang with any team in the NFL and they proved that again on Sunday night. They did lose to the Chiefs but remember they had already beaten them before this season.
In a game that came down to the Chiefs needing a 2-minute drive from Patrick Mahomes, the Raiders couldn’t close it out.
I think the Raiders are really well-coached and know exactly what they do well, but the problem is that they are sitting at 6-4 and looking at the playoffs from the outside right now. To close out the season they have the Falcons, Jets, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, and Broncos.
They could definitely go 4-2 over that stretch and make it to 10-wins and be safe, but they are going to have to stay laser-focused, or else they could just miss out.
5. Indianapolis Colts (+10)
This may be too big of a jump, but consider it a tax for having them so low in my power rankings before. I think the Colts are right outside of the Super Bowl favorite tier, but right now they have a defense and an offensive line that is making Philip Rivers look like a functioning NFL quarterback.
It is hard to argue with the team and while I think they are going to be in trouble once they find a defense who knows how to rush the quarterback, their remaining games see them play the Titans, Texans (twice), and Jaguars, and none of those teams know how to get to the QB.