2018 NFL Power Rankings: Week 7
Teams Ranked 22nd to 13th
| Rank | Team | nERD | Rec | Playoff Odds | Off. NEP Rank | Def. NEP Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | -2.67 | 2-3 | 18.7% | 9 | 29 | 2 |
| 21 | New York Jets | -2.12 | 3-3 | 20.3% | 27 | 9 | -1 |
| 20 | Washington Redskins | -1.86 | 3-2 | 42.0% | 22 | 15 | -3 |
| 19 | Atlanta Falcons | -1.76 | 2-4 | 19.4% | 7 | 31 | 0 |
| 18 | Jacksonville Jaguars | -0.33 | 3-3 | 48.3% | 29 | 6 | -14 |
| 17 | Green Bay Packers | -0.09 | 3-2-1 | 32.5% | 13 | 23 | -2 |
| 16 | Denver Broncos | -0.02 | 2-4 | 5.6% | 11 | 19 | 7 |
| 15 | Dallas Cowboys | 0.2 | 3-3 | 36.7% | 19 | 11 | 10 |
| 14 | Cleveland Browns | 0.47 | 2-3-1 | 11.4% | 30 | 2 | -1 |
| 13 | Philadelphia Eagles | 0.8 | 3-3 | 61.2% | 24 | 10 | 3 |
The Cowboys experienced a big jump thanks to their blowout win over Jacksonville on Sunday, but the Dallas defense had been surprisingly good even before this.
As I mentioned before the season, Dallas struggled both with turnovers, third downs and red zone performance, in addition to posting a poor Success Rate. Normally, we would expect the first three areas to regress to the mean since they did tend to be inconsistent, while the latter figure is more problematic.
The turnovers are still not there -- the Cowboys are just 23rd in turnovers forced per drive -- but Dallas has improved from 29th to 20th on third down and from 22nd to fourth in red zone scoring rate.
Perhaps more sustainably, Dallas has climbed into ninth in Success Rate allowed. This is largely on the strength of their run defense, which is seventh in Success Rate. The pass defense has lagged a bit behind, coming in at 21st, but for the second year in a row the Cowboys have excelled at clamping down on big plays through the air. This has helped them tie for eighth in net yards per pass against.
Unfortunately for them, this defensive improvement has coincided with a step back for the offense, which is 29th in passing Success Rate. They can still run the ball efficiently, but passing the ball is the most important part of winning in the NFL, so despite the improvements on defense and Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas remains in the middle of the pack.
