Week 8 power rankings: Lions knocking on the top-10 door

The perception of Matthew Stafford is undeniably changing across the league. He was once considered a run-of-the-mill quarterback sitting likely outside the top 10 of quarterbacks around the league, but is now not only well accepted as a top-10 quarterback, but is has seen many claim that he could be among the best in the league.

Is the perception of the entire Detroit Lions team the same? Well, obviously no one is claiming this team deserves to be in the conversation for best in the NFL, but they are creeping up near that top 10 conversation. That shouldn’t really be all that surprising at this point, either. Not only have the Lions won three straight against teams that were widely considered better than they were going into the game, but when you look at the standings, there are only nine teams with better records than Detroit, just five of those with more wins.

This is a league filled with a lot of mediocrity, and the Lions are right there in the thick of it. Here’s a look at where the Lions rank in Week 8’s power rankings.

• SB Nation: 16th (up 3)
• NFL.com: 14th (up 2)
• Yahoo! Sports: 14th (up 5)
• CBS Sports: 13th (up 6)
• USA Today: 9th (up 4)
• ESPN: 15th (up 6)

Detroit jumped in all six power rankings this week, and some outlets had Detroit jumping huge. CBS bumped them from 19th to 13, while Yahoo! jumped the Lions one less spot. Most surprising, however, is USA Today, who actually has the Lions in the top 10, above teams like the Chiefs, Raiders, Cardinals and Bills.

For the first time since playing the Bears, Detroit will be going up against a team that is universally believed to be worse than the Lions. The Houston Texans are coming off a bad loss to the Broncos, and their rankings show it, despite an identical 4-3 record to Detroit. Here’s where they land after eight weeks.

• SB Nation - 21st
• NFL.com - 18th
• Yahoo! Sports - 19th
• CBS Sports - 22nd
• USA Today - 18th
• ESPN - 17th