Nine teams are ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC standings after their Week 8 collapse against the New York Jets.

Monday's win over the Buccaneers catapulted the Lions' playoff chances, and put Detroit in the mix for the NFC North. Detroit has losses to Green Bay and Kansas City and has a brutal schedule remaining, but the Lions are one of the more talented teams in the NFL .

Vrabel added that he has daily conversations with executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden and vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher regarding the roster.

Week 9 NFL power rankings change with Texans, Ravens, Dolphins, Jets wins, Titans, Saints, Browns, Giants, Bengals, Cowboys, Vikings, Falcons losses.

Seven games into the season, the Broncos are currently the No. 3 seed in the AFC, and seven teams from the conference will reach the NFL playoffs. And if Denver wasn't leading the division, its 5-2 record would make the Broncos the top Wild Card seed.

The Jaguars are 4-3 on the season and will enter Sunday's games as the seventh seed in the AFC playoff picture. So naturally, the games that will have our attention are the ones that impact the playoff standings, along with the race for the AFC South title.

At least three AFC teams are expected to be at the forefront of potential trade discussions for Eagles star A.J. Brown.

We're putting the league into four buckets: the inner and outer circles of contenders, fringe playoff teams and draft preparations. Those tiers are below with the teams in them listed alphabetically.