POWER RANKINGS
Week 4 saw the Bills state their case as the team to beat in the AFC after throttling the Chiefs in Kansas City.
The Bills haven’t lost since Week 1, and the Steelers beating them then almost seems irrelevant. The Ravens, with a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Colts Monday night, and the Chargers, who out-slugged the Browns, also kept pace on the AFC leaderboard.
As for the Chiefs, they sit in the basement of the AFC West after losses to the Bills, Chargers and Ravens. Hard to believe they’ll stay there.
In the NFC, the Cowboys have come on strong after an openingweek loss. They’re in the upper echelon with the defending Super Bowl champion Bucs, Packers, and Cardinals, the lone remaining unbeaten team.
As for the Patriots, they survived Houston. Enough said.
So who sits at the top? Here’s our Power Rankings heading into Week 6:
1. Bills
(4-1):
They won their AFC Championship Game rematch with the Chiefs with incredible ease, at Arrowhead. It’s still October, but impressive nonetheless.
2. Cardinals
(5-0): They keep winning, but they keep losing key players. As long as Kyler Murray is standing, though, they have a good chance of surviving.
3. Rams
(4-1): Definition of a football player? Watching Matthew Stafford throw for 365 yards after getting his index finger popped back into place after a first-half interception.
4. Buccaneers
(4-1): Tom Brady throws for five TD passes with an injured thumb on his throwing hand. Where have we seen this movie before?
5. Packers
(4-1): Mason Crosby missed just two field goals the past two seasons. He missed three in four minutes Sunday before finally kicking the game-winner in OT.
6. Ravens (4-1):
Lamar Jackson simply refused to lose Monday night. He led the Ravens back from a 25-9 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Indy. Another eye-opening performance.
7. Chargers
(4-1): Justin Herbert was lights out in out-dueling Baker Mayfield. At this point, the Chargers believe they can win any game with Herbert at the controls, which is saying something for a 23-yearold quarterback.
8. Cowboys (4-1):
A mere 515 yards of offense, 26 first downs, and Dak Prescott crazy good against the blitz. The Cowboys have re-established themselves as a force in the NFC.
9. Browns
(3-2):
A mere 531 yards of offense, with 42 points on the board still wasn’t good enough against the Chargers.
10. Chiefs (2-3):
They’ve surrendered 29 or more points in five straight games. Six if you count the Super Bowl. The defense is a problem. Patrick Mahomes can’t pick them up every week.
11. Titans (3-2):
When all else fails, put the ball into Derrick Henry’s hands. Good things usually follow when that happens.
12.
Saints (3-2):
Sean Payton continues to ride the Jameis Winston rollercoaster. The bad? An opening-drive interception. The good? Four touchdown passes. The insane? A 72-yard Hail Mary touchdown strike at the end of the half.
13. Bengals (3-2):
The Bengals are good, but until they beat someone of note, they won’t make the jump to contender status.
14. Panthers (3-2):
With a leaky offensive line, Sam Darnold is starting to have flashbacks to his New York days. Worse, he’s also starting to resemble what he was as the Jets quarterback — a pickthrowing machine.
15. Broncos
(3-2): The evidence keeps pouring in that their 3-0 start was the result of a soft schedule as opposed to them being a legitimate contender.
16. Bears
(3-2): Ground and pound with a little Justin Fields mixed in. It’s been a winning formula the last two weeks.
17. Raiders
(3-2): A disgraced Jon Gruden is out after highly offensive emails he authored years ago came to light. The Raiders’ 3-0 start seems like eons ago, doesn’t it?
18. Seahawks
(2-3): Life without Russell Wilson. The Seahawks haven’t had to endure that scenario given Wilson had never missed a game during his 10-year NFL career. Can they stay afloat with Geno Smith the next month or so?
19. 49ers
(2-3) : The defense continues to rock. But the offense isn’t holding up its end with Trey Lance or Jimmy G.
20. Patriots: (2-3)
Not the best look when the secondary gets lit up by a rookie quarterback days after trading Stephon Gilmore. Worse? Dak Prescott and the Cowboys are on deck.
21. Steelers (2-3):
Rumors of the Men of Steel’s demise appear greatly exaggerated with the emergence of Najee Harris and the run game.
22. Vikings (2-3):
Struggling to get past the Lions doesn’t do much to change anyone’s mind when it comes to being a threat in the division.
23. WFT
(2-3): A picture of their defense is now officially on a milk carton. The unit has gone from great, to underachieving, to missing in action.
24. Colts
: (1-4):
Carson Wentz finally looked like the Carson Wentz of old. It just wasn’t enough to beat Lamar Jackson.
25. Eagles
(2-3): They still have a pulse thanks to Darius Slay, and their defense finally showing up. Slay had a two-interception game, the first by an Eagles’ cornerback in nine years.
26. Falcons (2-3):
The Matt Ryan-Kyle Pitts connection is starting to live up to its billing. Translation: Unstoppable.
27. Dolphins:
(1-4): They’ve lost four straight, and the thought of getting Tua Tagovailoa back next week doesn’t exactly make anyone feel confident the streak will end.
28. Giants (1-4):
They lost their quarterback. Their top running back. Their best receiver. Meanwhile, their starting left tackle and two other starting receivers didn’t play. Aside from that, all’s good with the G-Men.
29. Jets
(1-4):
Five games played. No points in the first quarter in any of those games. Even changing time zones in London, and playing against the NFL’s worst scoring defense didn’t help Gang Green from another slow start.
30. Texans (1-4):
The Texans were cruising and had all the momentum against the Patriots when for absolutely no reason at all, they decided on a trick play during a punt. That blew up in their face. So did the 13-point lead.
31. Lions
(0-5):
The Lions have been bad, but not quite this bad in starting out winless their opening five games for the first time since 2015. No wonder Dan Campbell is crying.
32. Jaguars
(0-5): They became the second team in NFL history — Tampa being the other — to lose 20 straight games. Wasn’t Urban Meyer brought in to stop the bleeding?