SI Power Rankings: Patriots Continue To Slide Down Following Week 8 Loss

With the New England Patriots continuing to lose, they are also continuing to slide down Sports Illustrated's NFL Power Rankings.

New England Patriots fans were hoping that Week 8 would be a turning point in the season for the team. But the result only confirmed how the mighty have fallen. This is even more evident when looking at Sports Illustrated's latest power rankings.

The Patriots used to be a team that consistently was in the top 10. Now they are barely in the top 20.

New England is currently ranked 19th in the NFL, according to SI. The Patriots' last-second loss to the Buffalo Bills only confirmed that it's hard to trust New England in 2020.

The explanation for the ranking also paints a picture of just how bleak the situation is in Foxboro

This was a better performance by Cam Newton, until the devastating fumble with the Patriots in-range of a game-tying field goal in the game’s final minute. The Patriots still had five division games left entering this past weekend, so we weren’t ready to write them off yet, but this loss to the Bills puts them in a hole that might be too large to emerge from, especially with the flawed roster that frustrated even Tom Brady last season.

New England is now 2-5 and if it wasn't for the New York Jets' historically bad season, they would be at the bottom of the AFC East. With the loss to the Bills, it appears that the Patriots will have no way of winning their division.

The good news for New England fans is that the team's Week 9 game will be difficult to lose. The six-time Super Bowl champions will face off against the Jets in a game that they will likely win.  

New England's next divisional matchup should give them a slight increase in next week's rankings, but not enough to get them into the top 10. For the rest of the season, it seems as though the Patriots will be hovering between 15th-20th in the rankings.

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