After eight weeks of football, we have a handle on what teams are doing well and what's still a concern. The Saints cracked the top three of our ESPN NFL Power Rankings for the first time, but the play of their 28th-ranked secondary has been, well, frightening for much of the season. But no team is perfect. In honor of Halloween, we had NFL Nation come up with scary first-half trends for all 32 NFL teams. How we rank: Our power panel -- a group of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities -- evaluated how teams stack up through the first eight weeks of the season. Previous rankings: 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Preseason Record: 8-0 Week 8 ranking: 1 The Rams are the lone undefeated team in the NFL, but they are convinced that there's plenty of room to improve. And they're correct, starting with the defense. The D has come through in the clutch on several occasions, notably in victories over the Chargers and Vikings. But it is the 13th-ranked defense in the league, and at times it has been susceptible against the run and more recently against the pass. -- Lindsey Thiry Record: 7-1 Week 8 ranking: 2 The Chiefs have had trouble finishing some of their games. They've had to sweat at the end of wins against the Chargers, Steelers, 49ers and Broncos after having big leads. Not all of this is on their defense, which played well down the stretch in some of those games. Mostly, the Chiefs haven't been good enough at killing the clock. They've had the disturbing tendency to go three-and-out when they need to maintain possession. -- Adam Teicher Record: 6-1 Week 8 ranking: 4 The Saints' defense came up big in Sunday night's win at Minnesota, forcing two game-changing turnovers. But it still ranks 28th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game, 30th in passing yards per attempt allowed and 30th in opponents' passer rating. They need to continue their recent improvement -- especially with the Rams' potent offense coming to town in Week 9. -- Mike Triplett Record: 6-2 Week 8 ranking: 3 The Patriots entered their Monday night game against Buffalo having not played a game without a turnover on offense. For a team that traditionally is among the league leaders in turnover differential, it is an area of concern that has been noted weekly by coach Bill Belichick. -- Mike Reiss Record: 5-2 Week 8 ranking: 5 Can the Chargers be road warriors? With four of their next seven games on the road -- including two straight to start -- they will have to earn some victories away from L.A. in the second half of the season in order to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2013. The Chargers are 9-18 on the road since the start of the 2015 season, which ranks 25th in the NFL. -- Eric Williams Record: 5-2 Week 8 ranking: 9 Aside from Sunday's win against Baltimore, the Panthers have been notorious for slow starts -- to both halves. And even against the Ravens, they fell behind 7-0 on the opening series. The two weeks before that, they fell behind 17-0. Although they're 5-2, they've been playing a lot of catch-up. -- David Newton Record: 4-2-1 Week 8 ranking: 8 The Steelers have been spooked into dropping the football too often. Pittsburgh's offense has 11 fumbles through seven games, including five for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and three for running back James Conner. The offense recorded 15 fumbles all of last season. Though many of the fumbles were recovered, coach Mike Tomlin values ball security above nearly all else. -- Jeremy Fowler Record: 4-3-1 Week 8 ranking: 6 The Vikings' inability to consistently win the turnover battle is becoming a concern. Whether it is Kirk Cousins' untimely miscues (he leads the league in fumbles and fumbles lost since becoming a starter in 2015) or the barrage of mistakes that occurred in the Vikings' loss to the Saints, Minnesota is 0-3-1 in games in which they are on the wrong side of the turnover differential. -- Courtney Cronin Record: 4-4 Week 8 ranking: 10 While offenses are scoring at an all-time clip, Philadelphia's has gone in reverse. The Eagles rank 21st with an average of 22.2 points per game, a decrease of more than six points from their Super Bowl season (28.6 PPG). They are getting high production out of Carson Wentz, Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz. The rest of the supporting cast needs to pick up their game if Philly is going to compete with the likes of the Saints and Rams down the stretch. -- Tim McManus Record: 4-4 Week 8 ranking: 7 Joe Flacco has struggled in throwing the ball deep. He has one of the strongest arms in the NFL, but the Ravens can't stretch the field. Over the past four games, Flacco is 1-of-13 on passes that travel at least 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The lack of explosiveness puts too much pressure on Baltimore to grind out long drives. His 5.89 yards per attempt in October is the worst in the NFL. -- Jamison Hensley play 2:12 Which Packers players will have the most fantasy production? Matthew Berry breaks down which Packers players will have the biggest impact going forward. Record: 3-3-1 Week 8 ranking: 12 The Packers can't win on the road. They've lost at the Redskins, Lions and Rams, and they have three of their next four away from Lambeau Field -- at the Patriots, Seahawks and Vikings. "We're 3-0-1 at home; we know we're tough to beat at home," Aaron Rodgers said after losing to the Rams. "Now we know we can play with anybody, if we didn't know that already, so we've got to go to New England and beat a really good football team." -- Rob Demovsky Record: 5-3 Week 8 ranking: 11 The Bengals have given up at least 480 yards of offense in each of the past three games, and they are on pace to break the NFL record for most yards allowed in a season. They continue to say they need to fix the little details and focus on doing their own assignments, but in the past few weeks, they haven't corrected the problem. That's going to be an issue with the Saints coming to town in two weeks. -- Katherine Terrell Record: 5-2 Week 8 ranking: 14 The Redskins have finished with less than 200 yards passing in each of their past three games -- all of which they've won. It's the first time in coach Jay Gruden's four-plus seasons that they've thrown for less than that total in three straight games. The Redskins' run game on both sides of the ball has been fantastic and the primary reason they're 5-2 and in first place. But at some point, they need the passing game to be more productive. -- John Keim Record: 4-3 Week 8 ranking: 13 Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is hit or miss. His inconsistency has been a trend almost the entire season -- the notable exception being his brilliant six-touchdown performance against the Bucs in late September. When Trubisky is on, he's really good. When he's off, he's really off. -- Jeff Dickerson play 1:02 Berry not ready to 'give up' on Baldwin Matthew Berry is confident that Doug Baldwin will start to have better days and improve his fantasy production. Record: 4-3 Week 8 ranking: 16 The Seahawks have done plenty of things right while winning four of their past five games, but they have yet to put their penalty problem behind them for good. They're averaging 7.4 accepted penalties per game, seventh most in the NFL. While that's an improved pace from last season, when they led the league and set a dubious franchise record with 148 accepted penalties (9.3 per game), it's still a concern. -- Brady Henderson Record: 5-3 Week 8 ranking: 17 At the midpoint of the season, the Texans' offensive line has allowed Deshaun Watson to be sacked 26 times.<doc-sep>Kirk Herbstreit takes an in-depth look at the Florida-Georgia game as well as the Florida State-Clemson matchup. (2:09) Who will win a rivalry matchup between No. 9 Florida and No. 7 Georgia in Jacksonville? Can Iowa beat Penn State in Happy Valley? Can Washington State stay hot at Stanford? Can No. 6 Texas keep climbing with a win at Oklahoma State? Our writers pick the winners, with scores, for those four contests.<doc-sep>The Chargers are rolling into Week 9 with some fresh bodies after coming off a well-needed bye week. They are now on the home stretch of the 2018 season, starting on the road against the Seahawks this Sunday afternoon. Despite not playing this past weekend, the Bolts remained within the top-5 in ESPN’s latest power rankings. L.A. is three spots behind the Chiefs, who are coming off of a victory against the Broncos. The Chargers are miles ahead of both Denver and the Raiders, though. Here is what ESPN’s Eric D. Williams had to say Tuesday morning as to why they decided to keep Los Angeles ranked No. 5 in the NFL heading into Week 9.<doc-sep>
The biggest takeaway from every Top 25 team in action in Week 9, including Georgia and Florida who played the most-anticipated game of the weekend. It was a bit of a quiet week in college football compared to the last two weeks. Last week saw No. 2 Ohio State upset by Purdue in one of the wildest outcomes of the season to this point. The week before that saw so much carnage with four teams in the Top 10, including then-No. 2 Georgia upset. With three of the top five teams idle and four of the top 10 off this week, there weren’t as many fireworks as they are on most Saturdays. Having said that, the middle class and the fringe Top 25 teams had poor weeks as 10 AP Top 25 teams lost. Alabama and LSU had the week off as they prep for this coming Saturday’s showdown in Death Valley. Michigan was off after their big win over Michigan State. Ohio State nursed their wounds. UCF took a week off from extending the nation’s longest winning streak. However, that didn’t leave us without plenty left to talk about the Top 25 after the Week 9 slate of games. After Oregon lost to Arizona, that meant 11 ranked teams lost. With five teams on a bye, that means, the Top 25 went 9-11. Takeaways for every Top 25 team after Week 9 1. Alabama – Idle. Crimson Tide will take on LSU in Death Valley on Saturday. The winner will be in the driver’s seat for the SEC Championship Game, and if Alabama wins, they might guarantee a berth in the College Football Playoff and have insurance should they lose the SEC Championship Game. I’m not saying they will, but a win vs. LSU gives them that insurance policy. 2. Clemson (W 59-10 Florida State) – The top challenger to Alabama embarrassed Florida State to give them a tie for the worst loss in their program history. The Tigers should be running the ACC for the next few years, especially with Trevor Lawrence getting better every week. The freshman quarterback threw for 314 yards and four touchdowns. He’s a future Heisman winner and potential 2021 No. 1 pick. 3. Notre Dame (W 44-22 Navy) – The Fighting Irish were barely tested against a bad Navy team. But looking ahead to next week, could Notre Dame get tripped up at Big Ten West-leading Northwestern? That would be something alright. Expect Brian Kelly to have his team ready for the upset-minded Wildcats. 4. LSU – Idle. The Bayou Bengals had the week off as they rest up and get healthy as they host Alabama on Saturday night. A win for LSU puts them one giant step closer toward the SEC West title. 5. Michigan – Idle. The Wolverines passed a big test last Saturday with their win over Michigan State. Coupled with Ohio State’s loss to Purdue, the Wolverines control their destiny in the Big Ten. They’ll have another big test next Saturday when they host Penn State. If they win that game, they should enter The Game with their championship lives on the line.