2021 Week 7 NFL Power Rankings: Can the Raiders break into the top-5?

2021 Week 7 NFL Power Rankings: Can the Raiders break into the top-5?

No. 24 through 20

The good feelings from the beginning of the season for the Carolina Panthers have gone away, as the Sam Darnold experiment looks like a loss right now. He was benched in their blowout loss to the New York Giants this past weekend, and it remains to be seen if he is the long-term answer at the position for the franchise.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles went into Las Vegas looking to give the Raiders a loss before their bye week but were dominated on both sides of the ball. Running back Miles Sanders had to leave the game due to injury, the offensive line was dominated, and the secondary was picked apart by Derek Carr and company.

Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears were blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past weekend, and to make matters worse, head coach Matt Nagy came down with COVID-19. Nagy is likely not the answer in Chicago, and looking at this roster as a whole, it could be some time before they are a contender in the NFC North.

The San Francisco 49ers took on the New Orleans Saints in a monsoon on Sunday night, and one thing was for certain, Jimmy Garoppolo’s time as the franchise QB in the Bay Area is coming to an end. Head coach Kyle Shanahan was non-committal in terms of Jimmy G after the game, and when Trey Lance is ready, he will become the starter.

These rankings have been put together before the Monday Night Football outcome, but since Russell Wilson went down, the Seattle Seahawks have obviously not been the same team. The Seahawks are also without star running back Chris Carson, so until they get healthy, it is going to be hard for them to climb up the ladder.