Here we are at the midpoint of the season, and the NFL Power Rankings are hot off the iPad. This is what I was honestly thinking, right in the wake of Week 8's action:Schein: The team to beat in 2014Adam Schein explains why the are clearly the cream of the NFL crop -- and will deliver on the game's biggest stage. 1) 2) __ 3)_ 4) _ 5)_ 6) _ 7)_ 8) _ 9)__Oh, and ...10) _ 11) _ 12) _ 13) _ 14) _ 15) _Looking for your input here, folks. Because everybody has beaten everybody. , but . , but (who ) and had to fight to (a winle s club most handle easily). -- who -- but in Baltimore.What the ... ? looking forward to these power rankings tomorrow. You got quite a job on Ya hands M.A.T (@CoolMelD_) Let's just say the Power Rankings didn't write themselves this week.Until you get killed on social media. Well, have fun with THESE power rankings. Andrew Jazdzyk (@Michigan_Forged) Word to your backup Cleveland quarterback. The updated Power Rankings are below for your perusal, and, of course, positive judgment. Feel free to send along thoughts, or your rankings: is the place.Now, let the di sension commence!(Note: Arrows reflect change in standings from .)PREVIOUS RANKINGS: | | | | | | | Judging by , that run defense sure looks like it's playoff-ready. Side note: Watched "Sound FX" footage of . Good stuff. What stuck with me the most, though, was seeing Manning Cethan Carter Jersey take the time to sit with and calm down right tackle , who was making his first career start. That sort of thing is a big reason this team's playing so well. Doing , and I'll tell you -- spoiler alert -- that is my Coach of the Year. It wasn't too long ago that Arians was an oft-criticized offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Now he's leading the best team in the NFL's best division, devoid of several key players and still sitting pretty at 6-1. ! Every single one of 's football cards next year will feature -- or maybe just trailing 5 yards behind. Meanwhile, was 30-for-35, with nearly every incompletion being a drop. Solid ascent for New England. Close deal there , but I don't think he would have been able to drag that other foot inside the white line, even if he hadn't been pushed. Penalties and turnovers ruined the day for the , ultimately undermining a suddenly-one-dimensional offense that featured 411 yards from . The were straight-up on Monday, and with 's back barking, a drop is in order. Still shocked did not call for a stretch play, draw, screen or anything to at the end when the team needed 3 yards. #mindboggling Eric Rowe Jersey Whoever said, or thinks, needs to decide what the heck that means. And then, when they figure it out, ask themselves if judging people that way does their own life and circumstance any good. Put another way, if the guys who allegedly spent time circulating such absurd thoughts instead spent time becoming better players, perhaps the wouldn't have needed to win. Not the best for the , who fall somewhat back to the pack with a 5-3 record, though losing to the best team in the league on its home field isn't the worst thing ever. At the same time, this marks three unimpre sive performances in a row for coordinator John Pagano's defense: , , and then . I could go on and on about the importance of depth. ... Pardon the pun, but the simply didn't have the horses to stop . It's bad enough Indy was down a few folks, but with playing that streetball style, running around like those linemen got ga sed quick. Give the defense much credit for getting it together in the second half. And thank you, , for not catching that bubble screen on third down. Detroit needed that extra time on the clock to move into field-goal range. Big ups for resiliency. That said, even those fans who have been wasting me on Twitter for not having their team higher have to admit that -- like in Week 7 -- was not Detroit's best 60 minutes of football. The important thing is that made the plays at the end without his WR1, RB1, TE1, TE2 and TE3. Encouraging stuff. Let's just say wasn't mouthing "firetruck" when he felt a tweak in his hamstring. His throws lacked juice the rest of the night. Of course, the way Green Bay's secondary was playing, no amount of Bikram yoga on Rodgers' hammy would have produced a win. It was a bye week in San Francisco, an opportunity for the secondary to regroup after courtesy of . Coordinator Vic Fangio's corners were a big question mark coming into the season, yet overall, the defensive backfield has performed remarkably well. Before Manning lit them up, the Niners were allowing just 5.9 yards per throw -- a miniscule figure. They'll bounce back. Hard not to be impre sed with . Forget the opponent. Kansas City did what it was supposed to do against a le ser team, taking care of busine s at home with a vicious pa s rush and outstanding use of its best offensive skill players (running backs and ). is having himself a season. was the best I've seen since Kurt Warner in , or perhaps Warren Moon toasting an outstanding secondary for 500-plus yards in 1990. Roethlisberger had the best shot in years to break one of the oldest records in the books: Norm Van Brocklin's 554 yards pa sing in a 1951 game. fell 33 yards short, but what an afternoon. Nice , who are keeping pace in the AFC North. The defense showed up. The running game? Still sluggish. Though it's supposed to be a strength, Cincinnati's ground attack is middling. Leaning on my Cincy faithful here: Is it trying to bounce outside too much? Rookie-ne s from ? The offensive line? Big drop for the , thanks to every single team behind them winning (or so it seems), as well as the fact that Baltimore has beaten up on mostly weak teams while losing to the better clubs. That now includes and , whom . Rough outing from , who has been prone to the occasional clunker. That said, Baltimore's linebackers darn near pulled this sucker out on a couple of hot potato-style who-wants-the-football plays. First, set up a touchdown with . On the next drive, rookie standout -- who also appears on -- to set up a field goal. It simply wasn't enough on a day when the ' pa sing game couldn't get going and the club generally didn't play all that well. Buffalo fans tweeted me last week to say they didn't know which they would get drive to drive, much le s week to week. I think the Mafia will take four touchdowns and no picks. In other news, , and appropriately . #footballgods keyed the ' win -- a little redemption for and that secondary, which broke down super late a couple weeks back. Has anyone noticed that has over 600 scrimmage yards (with five touchdowns)? He produced 99 . A win is a win is a win, right? Kudos to the ' defense, which was nowhere to be found early in the year. Cleveland scored two touchdowns off Raider turnovers. So, basically, we're saying the legendary Hoyer-Hawkins connection is not at the Graham-Lavelli, Ryan-Collins, Sipe-Newsome or Kosar-Slaughter level quite yet. This story went a little under the radar, but was intended for LinkedIn. So congratulate him on his position when you get a chance. Is it fair to say Solomon Kindley Jersey that, while Watt might be Defensive Player of the Year, is team MVP? in the Big Easy. looked like the r he is. played like the Offensive Rookie of the Year many thought he'd be. And was that Rob Ryan's defense we saw making some plays out there? Yes, the are 3-4, but frankly, the NFC South is theirs for the taking. Next up: . These two played a whale of a ballgame . (It was wet enough for a whale, too.) Big Blue, which was off in Week 8, is 3-4, having lost its last two, but all is not lost. Certainly not with the level that has played at for most of the season. The concern is that, with the winning, it might be tough to catch Detroit, Green Bay, Dallas or Philadelphia for one of the wild-card spots -- especially considering the have lost to all those teams but the . So happy for , who I saw at an airport this past offseason when he was still looking for a team and probably wondering what his future in pro football would entail. He hadn't started a Bob Griese Jersey game since 2011. Yet there he was Monday night, leading the to versus one of the NFC's best teams. Big props to , too -- that was legit defensive play calling, to say the least. Carolina got itself a heckuva effort from the defense most of the afternoon. Yet, for all the gloating early, couldn't get anything going offensively. At this point, Newton must make more precise throws from the pocket, then make teams pay when it breaks down. And if he is going to show the other team up, he needs to consistency back it up. Fair or not, fans? For all the jokes going around at 's expense -- you know, for of a backup quarterback in the fourth quarter of -- you simply must give him credit for trying to play off the embarra sment by acting like he was straight chillin' on the turf afterward, as though he was merely savoring his not-clutch sack. I thought it was smooth. Unfortunately, to fully play something off, you have to be able to actually walk away at some point. Hey, at least piled up 168 yards of offense. didn't win . Then again, the rookie out of Louisville didn't make the plays to lose the game, either. Bridgewater's still quite off on some of his intermediate throws. And he isn't seeing the field or reading coverages at a veteran level. But he has moxie and doesn't get skittish, which is impre sive, considering how much he's been pummeled over the past few weeks. Looks like the have another talented newbie in tailback , as well. Would like to see him get the football more. Rough outing for , who was sacked seven times in . Ditto the entire offense, which really couldn't manage much on a day running backs dominated. only makes it that much more challenging for St. Louis to get points going forward. Here's some hard-hitting analysis: points win games. Watching the final moments of , I felt for . There are fans out there who want him fired, but let's remember that, a) Smith led this team to five straight winning seasons and b) he's a human being. He didn't drop that third-down bubble screen late; did. Just saying. The era has begun, and it appears that has po sibly played his last football in Tenne see. The Met wasn't bad , but elicited more conversation in the NFL Brandon Jones Jersey Network newsroom than his play. Yes, he does resemble Matthew McConaughey in "Dazed and Confused." So if he continues to play well, he'll get older ... and his receivers . We shouldn't be surprised that , with his respected and developed defensive mind, and his staff have mastered the latest innovation in pro football ... the prevent offense. Of course, it's not Ryan's fault that looks like he is simply winging the ball around without a care in the world. had some giveaways, too, but at least the offense looked somewhat functional with him under center. Just when we all thought this team po sibly had some life to it, overtime happened. Maybe it was merely the view showed by Fox cameras, but there didn't seem to be a lot of ticked-off faces on the home team immediately following . Don't want to go all scientific, but to turn fortunes around, you gotta have players who hate losing. Maybe was on to something when he dictated . All those who clamored for to sit sure have enjoyed Bortles' six touchdowns and 12 interceptions, including two incredibly costly pick-sixes Sunday. Like that college roommate who borrowed your tight sweater and Drakkar to hit the we-barely-ID bars, that Raider offense simply couldn't close the deal in territory. Oakland's trips to Cleveland's side of the field went like this: interception, field goal, field goal, fumble ... and touchdown. Problem is, the TD came in garbage time. Paying off those po se sions -- even with all field goals -- would have completely changed the complexion of the game. Then again, having a ground attack would completely change the complexion of the season. Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter .