The NFL Power Rankings were adjusted pretty heavily last week to adapt to an increasing sample size, injuries, and context in terms of weighing early-season wins and losses. There’s much less movement this week as a result. However, that doesn’t make the league any less interesting. Even as some things are becoming more clearer, other aspects are still very much up in the air. The NFL season is like a road trip: it’s best to expect detours along the way. So it’s not so much a question of if a team will hit some turbulence, but how they handle it when they do.
Week Six NFL Power Rankings, Tier One: (Still) Alone at the Top
- Kansas City Chiefs
The defensive dropoff after Eric Berry’s injury hasn’t been nearly as drastic as expected; the offense continues to rank as one of the (probably the most) explosive. At this point, the Chiefs are clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the NFL.
Tier Two: The Best Teams Not Named the Chiefs
- Atlanta Falcons
- Green Bay Packers
- Carolina Panthers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Denver Broncos
The Falcons should have a big week this week against the Dolphins. Not only can Atlanta take advantage of an underachieving Miami team, but the Falcons are coming off a bye week, which gave them a much-needed chance to get some of their impact players healthy.
Aaron Rodgers. That is all. Moving on …
Carolina and Philadelphia meet on Thursday night, in one of the most intriguing matchups of the year. Because of the strength of both, the loser probably won’t move down the NFL Power Rankings as much as the winner will move up.
The Denver defensive front seven has to be licking their chops in anticipation for the New York Giants on Sunday night. #PrayForEli
Tier Three: Finding Their Way
- Los Angeles Rams
- Buffalo Bills
- Detroit Lions
- New England Patriots
- Washington Football Team
- Minnesota Vikings
- Dallas Cowboys
- Seattle Seahawks
- Houston Texans
In year’s past, the Rams have played the Seahawks pretty tough even when Seattle was a heavy favorite. The two played in Week Five, and the Rams were the favorite for a chance. They had a chance to win late, but Jared Goff couldn’t connect with an open Cooper Kupp in the end zone. Los Angeles moves down slightly, but still, a team to keep your eye on.
If someone would have predicted that through five weeks the Bills defense would allow roughly half the points the Patriots defense have, those people might have been dismissed as crazy. That’s the case though, as Buffalo has allowed 74 points to New England’s 142.
The Lions game in New Orleans this week has the potential to be a really exciting shootout. Even though the Saints aren’t Super Bowl contenders by any means, the Saints offer an interesting test for Detroit.
It’s really tempting to move the New England Patriots up. They’re past successes make it hard not to give them every bit of benefit of the doubt. But a five-point victory over Tampa Bay neither answers the biggest questions surrounding the team nor was enough to move them up. The number of hits Tom Brady is taking this year has to keep New England personnel and fans awake at night.
Washington is coming off a bye week and should pick up a win in Week Six against the 49ers. However, the team in D.C. is still only plus-two in point differential. That would suggest 2-2 is a precursor to 8-8.
Although they won, needing a last-second field goal to beat the Bears was more discouraging for the Vikings than anything. It seems like forever ago when Minnesota looked like one of the best teams in the NFL. The uncertainty at quarterback as well as a few other question marks has this team teetering between holding steady and falling apart.
It wouldn’t be surprising if there is more than a few players in the Dallas locker room feel ostracized by their owner. Jerry Jones used the team as a publicity stunt when he made himself the focal point of the entire team taking a knee before the national anthem on national TV. Now Jones is (allegedly) telling the team any player who takes a knee during the anthem will be benched. This only adds to a team who must be wondering how they let the game against the Packers get away from them. If all that wasn’t enough, it looks like the Ezekiel Elliott suspension is a thing again(?).
BREAKING: Federal appeals court clears way for NFL’s 6-game suspension of Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott in domestic case.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 12, 2017
Seattle got a tough and impressive win against the Rams in Week Five. And that was enough to move them up in the NFL Power Rankings. But the offense still has shown no signs of improving on its pretty stagnant play thus far. They may be biding their time until they make their seemingly annual late-season run. But until that comes to fruition, it’s hard to rank the Seahawks any higher than a middle-of-the-road team with considerable upside.
Houston played remarkably well against the league’s best team but ultimately lost. Plus, a late, garbage-time touchdown made the game look closer than it was. More importantly, the Texans lost two of their three most important defensive players in J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus. Now the team so dependent on an elite pass rush has to rely on a superhuman effort by Jadeveon Clowney the rest of the way to avoid a defensive collapse.
Tier Four: Teams Dealing with Identity Issues
- Oakland Raiders
- Tennessee Titans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- New Orleans Saints
- Baltimore Ravens
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Miami Dolphins
- New York Jets
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Raiders have a chance to get back on track now that they should get Derek Carr back and have an upcoming schedule of the Chargers, Titans, and Jets. Still, Oakland appears to line up as most likely to finish third in the loaded AFC West behind the Chiefs and Broncos. That is going to make it awfully hard for the Raiders to get into the playoffs. Especially because they still have three games against Kansas City (two) and Denver (one).
Tennessee managed only ten points in a loss to the lowly Dolphins. That’s not a very good endorsement of what lies ahead for the Titans as they deal with the injury to quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Despite the struggles of Blake Bortles, Jacksonville feels like the favorite to win the weak AFC South. It also helps their cause that all the other teams in their division are dealing with significant injuries in Marcus Mariota (Titans), J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus (Texans), and Andrew Luck (Colts).
With the Panthers and Falcons in their division and a healthy amount of competition for the wild card spots in the NFC, it looks like the ceiling for the Saints is a third-place finish in the NFC South.
Somebody’s going to have to win the AFC North. It’s going to have to be one of the Steelers, Ravens, or Bengals. But all three have looked really bad with few bright spots. None of them deserve to be ranked higher than this, but for now, they’re all jumbled together in the NFL Power Rankings until one shows any sign of significant improvement.
The Miami Dolphins have scored 41 points in their four games thus far this season. Teams have matched that total or better in nine games this season. The Chiefs alone have scored 42 points in two separate games. In terms of defining the talent gap between the top and (relative) bottom of the league, there’s your stat.
Landry is fired up about those who called for a QB change last Sunday. Called it “embarrassing.”
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) October 12, 2017
The Jets move up by virtue of the fact they sit tied for first in the AFC East. They’ve won three straight, but New York is hugely unlikely to have any sort of staying power when you adjust for their wins coming against the Dolphins, Jaguars (in overtime), and Browns. They might run into a buzzsaw this week against New England, which might start their descent back down to the bottom of the NFL Power Rankings, which was where they were expected to end up, anyway.
Tampa Bay played New England pretty tough. But fairly or unfairly, pro sports is a win/loss record. The Buccaneers have talent, but they’re in last place with not a lot going for them. They’ll be running on fumes late due to a Week One bye, their defense has given up more points than division-rival New Orleans (whose defense is hardly the ‘85 Bears), and after the Cardinals this week, they’ve got the Bills and Panthers coming up.
2017 NFL Power Rankings, Tier Five: Things Are Only Getting Worse
- Arizona Cardinals
- Chicago Bears
- Indianapolis Colts
- Los Angeles Chargers
- New York Giants
- San Francisco 49ers
- Cleveland Browns
Considering they’ve gotten wins over the putrid Colts and 49ers, the Arizona Cardinals are extremely lucky to be sitting at 2-3. Additionally, they play the teams they’re looking up at in the NFC West (Rams and Seahawks) twice apiece yet this season.
Mitchell Trubisky’s first game as Bears starting quarterback went about as expected. The Bears played the Vikings tough in Week Five, but the few highlights of Trubisky’s game were dampened by a late interception that led to the eventual game-winning field goal that swung the game in favor of Minnesota.
Indianapolis got a win, but against San Francisco, any win is graded on a heavy curve. They needed overtime to do it, and the season continues to look like a lost cause for the Colts, whether Andrew Luck comes back sooner rather than later or not. Even with Luck in uniform, it looks like this is where the Colts will settle for the 2017 season in the NFL Power Rankings.
The Chargers managed to beat the Giants in a somebody-had-to-get-off-the-schneid Week Five game. However, the win doesn’t necessarily change who the Chargers are as a team. At 1-4, they still belong among the depths of NFL irrelevance. And as far as the NFL Power Rankings are concerned, irrelevant is pretty much what they are.
If you’ve ever caught a football before and are eligible to work in the United States, you may want to send a résumé and cover letter to the New York Giants. However, be aware there are a fair amount of hazards in this particular workplace. Seriously though, the Giants are an absolute mess. #PrayForEli
The 49ers weren’t expected to do very much good this season. But even for them, a loss to the Colts had to be demoralizing.
If nothing else, it looked like the Browns had a starting quarterback for the time being in DeShone Kizer. Well, even that proved out to be fool’s gold. (Or whatever it would be in Cleveland, since “gold” would be giving their situation way too much credit … fool’s charcoal, maybe?)
