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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Tim Weaver

NFL Power Rankings Week 7: Lions dethrone the 49ers, Texans and Jets rising

USA TODAY Sports NFL Lions USA TODAY Network Christian McCaffrey Jamie Germano Jared Goff Kirby Lee Maria Lysaker Michael Hickey

Parity is the name of the game in the NFL this season. Heading into Week 7, every single team in the league has suffered at least one loss.

That includes each of the last three teams to be placed at the top spot in our power rankings.

Another new team at the top

The latest to fall are the San Francisco 49ers (-1), who lost on a missed field goal against the Cleveland Browns (+3) and also suffered injuries to Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey. To be fair, Cleveland’s defense is going to make a lot of teams look really bad this year, but the new No. 1 spot belongs to a team that should be more than comfortable with a little bit of bad luck.

The Detroit Lions (+2) look like the most impressive team in the league this year not counting the Niners and are a deserving No. 1 team after dismantling a relatively tough Tampa team (-3) on Sunday.

Detroit is winning thanks to excellence in all three phases, but it would all be for nothing if not for a massive rise by quarterback Jared Goff. Over the last 17 games – or the equivalent of a full season – Goff has posted nearly 4,500 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and just four interceptions, while the Lions have gone 13-4 in that stretch. Those are legitimate MVP-type numbers and speak to a stunning coaching job by Dan Campbell and his staff.

Giants fall to No. 32

There’s also another new team at the bottom of our power rankings. While the New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears are all pretty pathetic this season, nobody looks worse right now than the New York Giants (-2). While they almost managed to beat an ailing Buffalo Bills team (-2), they’ve also fallen to dead last in total DVOA and when Tyrod Taylor looks like an upgrade over your $160 million quarterback it’s not a good sign for the future.

This week’s biggest jumps and drops

The Philadelphia Eagles also suffered a significant drop (-5) after losing for the first time ever to the New York Jets (+5), who are winning on the strength of a magnificent defense.

The New Orleans Saints (-4) also slid several spots after losing to the Houston Texans (+8), who are much better than anybody expected this season. Much of the credit should go to C.J. Stroud, who looks more polished than any rookie quarterback in the NFL that we can remember. He’s up to 1,660 yards, nine touchdowns, just one interception and a 55.5 QBR that ranks him right into the middle (No. 15) of all 32 starters.

Seahawks fall three spots

As for Seattle, the loss to Cincinnati proved that this team is ready to compete with the best either conference has to offer. However, we still had to drop them three spots in the rankings. The Seahawks are now back down to No. 12 after spending a couple of weeks at No. 9. Thanks to their win, the Cincinnati Bengals rose three spots into the top 10.

Here’s how we rank all 32 teams heading into Week 7 of the 2023 season…