NFL Power Rankings: Broncos take huge jump as defense shines

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Sean Payton and co. reach their highest rank of 2024.

We’re fast approaching the midpoint of the season and it’s safe to say we have a pretty good idea of where teams are slotting in. There’s a near-perfect bell curve of team records, with nine teams having two or fewer losses, and 11 teams with two or fewer wins — while everyone else is stuck in the middle.

One team that has been stunning this year are the Broncos. At 4-3 it’s not like they’re blowing everyone out of the water, but it’s a much better result than many expected. This is compounded by the fact they simply don’t play like a Sean Payton team, with a premium being placed on defense, while Denver has a barely-good-enough offense to win games.

Here’s now our Power Rankings work: Our group each ranks the team from 1-to-32, with those scores averaged out to get our total number. In the event of ties it goes to the highest consensus pick, i.e. if two people have a team ranked 20th and one ranks them 21st the break goes to putting them at No. 20.

Without further ado, here’s our slate.