clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Redskins Week 8 NFL Power Rankings Round-up

A look at where the Redskins stand in various power rankings from popular sites.

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Time to take a look at where the Redskins rank among various power rankings around the league. This is always more enjoyable to do after the win as the Redskins definitely made some ground up in this game:

SBNation: 21st

Fanspeak.com: 16th

Washington Post: 17th

NFL Network: 18th

ESPN.com: 23rd

CBSsports.com: 22nd

Walterfootball: 22nd

Bleacher Report: 17th

Pro Football Talk: 19th

For the most part the Redskins rose a few spots in the various power rankings. Some kept them where they were or only bumped them up a spot or two. Personally I'm a bit more bullish mainly because of the division they play in. I'm not sold that any of these four teams "should" win the NFC East, which keeps the Redskins alive even if they aren't a complete football team. The Giants barely squeaking by the Cowboys (who are still without their two best players), might give them the nominal lead for the division, but it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. The Eagles can't seem to get out of their own way and constantly seem to take a step back every time you believe they are finally clicking. This keeps the Redskins alive and if they can improve on some things during the break they can make a run.

Now while the win was big and there is plenty of reason for excitement there is also plenty of reason for concern and it's understandable why some aren't as bullish on the Redskins prospects. The Redskins haven't been able to run the ball effectively since Shaun Lauvao went down week 3, while his loss isn't the only reason for the run struggles, it has a significant role. The Redskins aren't really built to win long term without a strong run game, so the longer this persists the more it will catch up with them. Another major issue is their inability to stop the run. The last three weeks quality backs have just run right through them. They'll face some really tough backs in the second half of the season and the Redskins can't afford to be so weak in an area they considered a strength coming in.

The other concern some sites and definitely plenty of fans had with the Redskins come from behind win over the Buccaneers, is the simple fact that they needed to come from behind versus the Buccaneers at home. Tampa is not a very good football team as they are experiencing their share of growing pains with their rookie QB. The fact that at home the Redskins played so poorly for the first 20+ minutes of that game is definitely troubling. The positive to take out of this is that they did have the resiliency to come back in this game and to do so when so many key areas weren't working. That's not something we've seen from the Redskins much in recent memory as, once they go down by double digits you can pretty much put it in the books as a loss. Also the Redskins have been so dependent on everything going according to plan in recent years that they haven't had many victories when they've been forced to be one dimensional on offense or their defense is struggling in a key area. The fact that they were able to comeback in those conditions from that big of a deficit is impressive regardless of who the opponent was.