The 2019 regular season was wrapped up, but Sportsnet’s NFL Power Rankings aren’t going anywhere.
Ahead of every round of the playoffs, we’ll rank each of the remaining teams from best to worst and, like during the regular season, have a theme for each edition.
This week: An X Factor for each Divisional Round team, with an X Factor being – according to Merriam-Webster – a person “that has a strong but unpredictable influence.”
1) Baltimore Ravens
X Factor: Marcus Peters
The impact of Peters on the Ravens defence jumps off the stat sheet.
In the six games before acquiring Peters from the Los Angeles Rams, the Ravens gave up 1,617 yards passing (269.5 per game), allowed a 61.4 per cent completion rate and opposing QBs averaged a rating of 86.5.
Since Peters arrived in Week 7, Baltimore has given up 1,698 passing yards (169.8 per game), allowed a 56.6 per cent completion rate and opposing QBs have averaged a rating of 71.8. Peters also has three of the eight Ravens interceptions since arriving in Maryland, two of which he returned for touchdowns.
Oh, and the Ravens haven’t lost yet with Peters on the field. And if the Ravens are to win three more, Peters will most definitely play a part.
2) San Francisco 49ers
X Factor: Deebo Samuel
John Lynch’s 2019 second-round pick has unlocked something in Kyle Shanahan’s offence.
Not only is the former Ohio State Buckeyes wideout a major threat in the 49ers’ passing game – Samuel’s 802 receiving yards ranks fourth among rookie receivers – but the 23-year-old is also a factor in the run game. Samuel has three rushing touchdowns this season, and he averaged more than 15 yards per catch and 15 yards per run in a game three times in 2019.
Samuel’s a big-play threat anytime he’s on the field, and needs to be involved for the Niners to make a Super Bowl run.
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3) Kansas City Chiefs
X Factor: Mecole Hardman
Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill are the obvious game-breakers in the Chiefs offence, and Kansas City will need top-notch performances from both to make a playoff run.
But their MVP quarterback and All-Pro receiver aren’t the only players on the Chiefs with explosion in their game. Hardman racked up seven touchdowns in his rookie regular season (six receiving plus one kick return), averaging a distance of 55 yards per score and all of which were at least 20 yards in length. His kick-return TD in Week 17 against the Chargers gave K.C. the lead for good in that game and sealed home-field advantage for the Chiefs.
Hardman has a bright career ahead of him alongside Mahomes and Hill in Andy Reid’s offence, but he could be an X Factor for the team right now.
4) Green Bay Packers
X Factor: Allen Lazard
While Davante Adams is the clear No. 1 receiver in Green Bay, determining Aaron Rodgers’s No. 2 has been an issue for the Packers all season long.
Over the course of 16 games, Lazard has emerged as that guy. The second-year pro didn’t catch a pass until Week 6, but Lazard finished the season as the Packers’ second-leading receiver with 477 yards.
While his usage has been inconsistent throughout the season, Lazard was targeted by Rodgers nine and eight times, respectively, over the final two weeks of the regular season.
If Lazard can be a reliable go-to guy for Rodgers in the post-season, the Packers’ up-and-down attack could find some stability.
5) Minnesota Vikings
X Factor: Danielle Hunter
Hunter doesn’t exactly meet the X Factor criteria laid out above – he’s a bonafide star whose 29 sacks over the last two seasons trails only Aaron Donald and Chandler Jones – but the 25-year-old remains criminally underrated across the NFL, and a big post-season could mean a Vikings playoff run deeper than anyone imagined possible.
The move by head coach Mike Zimmer to shift Hunter and Everson Griffin from outside the Vikings defensive line to the inside altered the game in New Orleans on Sunday and played a big part in Minnesota containing a previously red-hot Saints offence.
If the wild-card impact of Hunter was a preview of what’s to come in these playoffs, the Vikings are a team to be feared.
6) Seattle Seahawks
X Factor: Travis Homer
Despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the game and what looks to be an emerging star receiver in D.K. Metcalf, the Seahawks are always going to be a run-first offence under Pete Carroll.
With Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny in the backfield, they did that well: Seattle was the fourth-ranked rushing offence in the regular season. But both Carson and Penny are done for the year and the backfield now consists of Marshawn Lynch and the aforementioned Homer.
We know what Lynch is – if No. 24 is on the field, the Seahawks are probably running the ball – but what Homer can bring to the Seahawks backfield is versatility. In Weeks 16 and 17, Homer was impactful on the ground and in the pass game, averaging 5.2 yards per carry and 5.1 per reception for 134 total yards.
In Philadelphia on Sunday, though, both Homer and Lynch were stifled, combining 49 total yards on 20 touches – granted, against a stout Eagles defence.
The Seahawks will obviously need more from both to have a shot at the Lombardi, but if Homer can get it going on the ground and through the air, the Seahawks will have a much more dangerous backfield duo than they could’ve hoped for.
7) Houston Texans
X Factor: Will Fuller
As inconsistent as the 2019 Texans have been all season long – their tale-of-two-halves wild-card win perfectly encapsulated their up-and-down regular season – there’s one thing we can say about Bill O’Brien’s team with certainty: the passing offence is exponentially better when Will Fuller plays.
We’re recycling this tweet used in last week’s edition of the power rankings because it applies again for the Divisional Round.
https://twitter.com/riversmccown/status/1212105655047335938
It sounds like Fuller will be back in Houston’s lineup for the first time since Week 16, which is good news for Deshaun Watson and the Texans offence after they struggled mightily for most of the first three quarters against Buffalo.
The Bills gave the Texans a pass for a wretched first half in the wild-card game, but the Chiefs won’t be so forgiving. Having Fuller in the lineup should open up the passing game for Watson and allow the Texans to get into a groove earlier in the game – something they’ll need to do to hang with Mahomes.
8) Tennessee Titans
X Factor: Jonnu Smith
Derrick Henry is the Titans’ most important player, and it’s really not a close contest.
Yes, Ryan Tannehill’s resurgence was vital to Tennessee getting to this point, but as we saw in wild-card weekend, the Titans don’t need Tannehill to be great to win – not when Tennessee’s six-foot-three running back is busting through tackles on his way to more than 200 yards from scrimmage.
But the Titans are going to need more on offence, and Smith can be a factor in Baltimore.
Like most Tennessee receivers, Smith had little impact on wild-card weekend but was a threat in the regular season – specifically with the ball in his hands. The 24-year-old racked up 439 yards on 35 receptions, more than half of that yardage coming after the catch. The Titans also featured Smith in the run game a couple times and saw success as he galloped for 78 yards on four carries, averaging a ridiculous 19.5 yards per run.
The Titans are going to have to find a way to manufacture some more offence if they’re going to make a deep run in these playoffs. Obviously, getting rookie wideout A.J. Brown more involved is essential, but Smith can play a big role both in the passing game and in some trickery against the Ravens… and maybe beyond.
