NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Miami coming off the bye

The Miami Dolphins were not on the field for the only time this year, taking their bye week as a chance to get healthy, reinforce the gains the team has made the last couple of weeks, and use the opportunity to send players, cheerleaders, and executives to Haiti and The Bahamas to assist in Hurricane Matthew relief efforts. The team not being on the field should mean most of the Power Rankings from around the web keep the Dolphins ranked similarly to their 22nd ranking from last week.

Will that bye-week plateau actually happen in this week’s rankings? Each week, we take a look at some of the various NFL Power Rankings from around the web, seeing where the Miami Dolphins are ranked and what other sites are saying about the team. Here is the Week 9 version of the Power Rankings review:

SB Nation

Week 9: 19
Last Week: 20
Comments: No team specific comments.

Fox Sports

Week 9: 23
Last Week: 22
Comments: Miami spent the week off hoping to continue the momentum it's built behind Jay Ajayi.

USA Today

Week 9: 20
Last Week: 23
Comments: Sunday will be telling test for Jay Ajayi, who will face a top-ranked Jets run defense that’s allowed 100 yards only once this season.

Yahoo!

Week 9: 27
Last Week: 26
Comments: The next time the Dolphins play a team with a winning record? Jan. 1 against the Patriots, in Week 17. The Dolphins aren’t very good, but the schedule is easy.

CBS Sports

Week 9: 20
Last Week: 19
Comments: Coming out of their bye, they have a soft part of this schedule the next five weeks. They can get on a roll.

NFL.com

Week 9: 22
Last Week: 22
Comments: Can Jay Ajayi keep this Larry Csonka, circa 1973 thing up? Shoot, Zonk never even put up one 200-yard outing, let alone two in back-to-back contests like Ajayi. In fact, the Hall of Famer's career high was 145, posted in Super Bowl VIII (an appropriate time to do that). For all those who were impatient with Ajayi, it might be helpful to know that Csonka didn't earn his first 100-yard performance until his 17th career regular-season game. This week will be Ajayi's 16th. Tough for the now-stud RB and crew to have the Week 8 bye come after the Dolphins had built up so much momentum.

ESPN

Week 9: 28
Last Week: 26
Comments: Even consecutive 200-yard rushing performances by Jay Ajayi can't get the Dolphins back to their original ranking following Miami's 1-4 start. The Dolphins averaged 72 rush yards per game during that start, so if Ajayi keeps up with the big gains and the wins start happening, Miami could make a move in future weeks

PFF

Week 9: 23
Last Week: 19
Comments: No Comments.

Bleacher Report

Week 9: 21
Last Week: 20
Comments: The Phighting 'Phins stayed in the same rankings neighborhood after a Week 8 bye.

Looking forward: I’m interested to see how this offense reacts to its break against the Jets. Does the offensive line regress to pre-Week 6 form? Or can young players such as Ja’Wuan James and Laremy Tunsil continue progressing? The answer—plus the continued hard running of Jay Ajayi—will determine the magnitude of Miami’s midseason turnaround.

Sports Illustrated

Week 9: 20
Last Week: 19
Comments: The combined win percentage of the Dolphins’ remaining opponents is .442. Take out Weeks 16 and 17, though, which include a trip to Buffalo and a home game with New England, and that number drops to .356. None of that will mean much if the Dolphins keep ebbing and flowing the way they have for the past, ohhhh, eight years. But the opportunity is there.

Niners Nation

Week 9: 22
Last Week: 23
Comments: No comments.

Averages

• Week 9 Average: 22
• Week 8 Average: 22
• Change: NC
• Highest Week 9 Ranking: 19 (SB Nation)
• Lowest Week 9 Ranking: 28 (ESPN)
• Highest Single Site Weekly Ranking: 19 (CBS Sports/PFF/SI - Week 8; SB Nation - Week 9)
• Lowest Single Site Weekly Ranking: 31 (NFL/USA Today - Week 5)
• Highest Average Weekly Ranking: 22 Week 8 / Week 9
• Lowest Average Weekly Ranking: 28 Week 5