Grading each NFL team halfway through the season
We are halfway through the NFL season — 24 of the 32 teams have played exactly 8 of their 16 regular season games — and a clear picture is forming regarding who’s good enough to make noise in the playoffs and who should start looking ahead to April’s NFL Draft.
Some teams are vastly outperforming expectations, while others are leaving a lot to be desired. Some can dream of a Super Bowl appearance, while others who had big ambitions this season are already starting to piece together what went wrong.
With that in mind, we’ve graded all 32 NFL teams at what is the midway point of the season for most. Preseason expectations and quality of play and opponents have been taken into account here, as some teams have had a tougher curve than others.
Arizona Cardinals — C-
Carson Palmer going down with a potentially season-ending broken arm was just insult to injury at this point. David Johnson has been out since the season opener, meaning the Cardinals have been playing without two of their big three offensive players. In that sense, their 4-4 start is not completely their fault, but they’re near the bottom of the NFL in both points for and against. The passing game was the biggest thing they had going for them, and now with Drew Stanton under center, that advantage is also gone.
Atlanta Falcons — C-
A disappointment, for sure. After a 3-0 start, the Falcons looked like they’d shrugged off the disappointment of their Super Bowl loss. They promptly lost three in a row and four of five, and now find themselves in third place in the NFC South. Matt Ryan hasn’t been nearly as good, they’ve been average in most statistical categories, and they managed to lose to the lowly Miami Dolphins. The saving grace is that at 4-4, they’re still in the playoff race.
Baltimore Ravens — C
The Ravens have lost five of seven and, up until a 40-0 trouncing of the Miami Dolphins, their offense had not been good. They’re still in the AFC North race, but they’re quickly losing ground to the Pittsburgh Steelers. A big part of why they still have a shot at all is their traditionally sturdy defense, which, aside from a 44-7 drubbing at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been very good and given them a chance in most of their games. Still, given talent and expectations, 4-5 feels like a disappointment right now.
Buffalo Bills — A
Despite a disappointing loss to the Jets, the Bills may be the surprise of the season to date. They’re 5-3, and their first two losses came by a combined ten points. Their success has been built on a surprisingly excellent defense that is allowing just over 18 points per game, good for fifth-best in the entire league. Coach Sean McDermott has clearly turned things around here, and while there are still some reasons to be skeptical that this can keep up — they have yet to play the Patriots — this season has been an unqualified success so far.
Carolina Panthers — B
It’s tough to tell what to make of the Panthers sometimes, as they oscillate between looking like a legitimate contender to an inconsistent mess. At the heart of this is the mercurial Cam Newton, who can turn in a dominant performance one week — see what he did against the Detroit Lions — and then follow it up with an error-prone day. Still, they’re 6-3 and firmly in the hunt in the NFC South, so they’re at least well-positioned to make a run at the playoffs.
Chicago Bears — C-
Not much was expected of the Bears in 2017, and it’s fair to say that, at 3-5, they’ve actually surpassed expectations. They’ve beaten three decent teams in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Carolina, which is more than could reasonably have been expected of them. Mitchell Trubisky clearly needs a lot of work to become a quality NFL starting quarterback, but the Bears’ defense has been good. This hasn’t been a great season for the team, and it won’t be in the end, but it’s also nowhere near as bad as it could have been.
Cincinnati Bengals — C-
An awful start has been salvaged by three wins in five, as the Bengals took advantage of the part of their schedule that matched them up with the lowly Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts to sneak back into relevance. Still, this is a team that had playoff aspirations, and they still look like a long shot to achieve them. Andy Dalton still hasn’t proven that he’s a playoff-quality quarterback, and there are genuine questions about Marvin Lewis’ future at this point. They’ve been disappointing.
Cleveland Browns — F
This one isn’t hard. No matter how low your expectations are or how bad you’re expected to be, if you’re 0-8, you get a failing grade. Cleveland’s been close to getting in the win column a couple times, but they’re still not there. Coach Hue Jackson has spent much of the season benching and reinstating rookie quarterback Deshone Kizer. He’s batted away questions about his job security, all while the guy they passed on, Deshaun Watson, flourished in Houston. Life is hard as a Cleveland Browns fan.
Dallas Cowboys — B
Dallas’ season has somewhat been overshadowed by Ezekiel Elliott’s off-field issues, but the fact of the matter is they’ve been middling. Compared to last season, what Dallas is doing probably is not good enough. A blowout loss at Denver looks worse and worse as the Broncos become mired in offensive problems, and they really shouldn’t have fallen to the Los Angeles Rams, either. Win those games and you’re looking at a 6-1 team. That said, a big win over the Chiefs has boosted them to 5-3. They’ll have a legitimate chance at catching the Eagles — though possibly without Elliott’s assistance.
Denver Broncos — D
The Broncos have lost four in a row after a 3-1 start, leaving them scrambling to try and get back into the playoff race. The biggest problem has been at quarterback, where neither Trevor Siemian nor Brock Osweiler look like adequate quarterbacks. For now, with no other options, the 3-5 Broncos are swimming upstream despite an extremely talented defense. The offense is bad, and the losses have been worse — this team should not be dropping games to the Giants and Chargers.
Detroit Lions — C-
The Lions are 1-4 since news leaked of coach Jim Caldwell’s contract extension, and while it may be a coincidence, it certainly reflects poorly on a team that came out of the gates very well. They’ve run into all sorts of problems. The defense has been porous when the offense has scored, and when the defense has gotten it done, the offense hasn’t been able to punch the ball into the end zone. Matthew Stafford hasn’t quite lived up to his big new contract, either. After last year, and how they started this year, Detroit’s 2017 can only be viewed as a big letdown so far.
