NFL Power Rankings roundup: Where do the Browns stand after their bye?

Coming off their bye week, the Cleveland Browns record of 2-6 for the season remained unchanged.

However, risers and sinkers around them meant that Cleveland didn’t necessarily hold the same spot in all eight of the most prominent NFL Power Rankings after Week 8.

Out of the eight major media outlets consulted every week, five let the Browns keep the same ranking they had the week before. ProFootball Talk and USA TODAY Sports still have them at 26th in the league, while Fox Sports, NFL.com and CBS Sports maintain them at 28th.

The biggest surprise among the eight outlets, however, has to be ESPN which dropped the Browns two spots to 29th, even though they didn’t step on the field this week.

Nevertheless, not all news was bad. Sports Illustrated and Yahoo! Sports had Cleveland rising one position each on their respective Power Rankings. The Browns are now at 29th according to SI -- tied with ESPN for their worst placement among the eight lists -- and 26th according to Yahoo! Sports -- tied with PFT and USA TODAY Sports for their best.

As for the rest of the division, it shouldn’t shock anyone that the Ravens and Steelers are on the rise, after winning handily their respective Week 9 matchups. Baltimore climbed on all eight Power Rankings, while Pittsburgh did so on seven of them; only USA TODAY left the Steelers in the same spot (12th) as the week prior.

The Bengals, however, are a different story. After yet another inexplicable meltdown, Cincinnati only lost positions in three of the eight lists. Sports Illustrated punished them the hardest for letting the Bears walk away with the win, dropping them six rungs on their ladder, while PFT saw them falling two spots and Yahoo! Sports one. The other five let them stay in the same place they occupied the week before.

The Browns’ next game is critical, a visit to the Jets, another team perpetually occupying the basement on this season’s weekly Power Rankings. What’s at stake? Quite possibly a Top-5 pick in the first round, and with it the potential selecting the top quarterback prospect in next year’s NFL Draft, whomever it may be.

The Browns will arrive at next Sunday’s showdown with a significant change, though. It’ll be offensive coordinator Tommy Rees calling the shots, instead of head coach Kevin Stefanski. In front of him, a defensive unit that just shed its two best players: cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive lineman Quinnen Williams, shipped off in trades right before the league deadline.