The NFL season is short. Sixteen games amounts to less than 20 percent of the NBA season, while a busy baseball team can knock out 16 games in two and a half weeks. With a compressed campaign, even five weeks in the NFL can be enough to move the needle. This time last season, nine of the 12 eventual playoff teams were already in position. There's still plenty to play for, of course -- the Broncos were in the playoff picture this time in 2017 -- but teams can do an awful lot to improve or hurt postseason chances in five weeks.
Ranking NFL's biggest playoff risers, fallers: Top 10 preseason changes
