The Big Lead

NFL Week 5 Power Rankings

By Jason Lisk

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It’s impossible at this point to rank the teams in an order that would have every team ahead of the others it defeated, so I just try to do the best I can within reason.

Pittsburgh still holds the top spot.  I feel the quality of work was good enough through three weeks to keep them there despite a close last-second loss to another good team. That result, though, did shoot the Ravens up the charts, as they set aside lackluster performances against the Ohio teams and now have two great road wins. The Jets claim the third spot with their destruction of Buffalo and 3-game winning streak in the division.

The biggest fallers were Chicago, based on their dreadful performance, and Philadelphia, which lost a second home game and may have Vick out for a few weeks. The biggest risers (besides the Ravens) were the Broncos with a good road win, and the Giants, Browns and Rams.

People will probably ask what is wrong with the Colts, but I would focus more on the Saints, who are ranked too high here if we are just looking at this year. So far, they have won against two of the worst teams in the league in the final minute, and were unable to put away a Vikings team at home that had major secondary injuries and a rusty Favre in the opener.

The middle is a jumbled mess, as about ten teams are in the early running for the Jekyll and Hyde team of the year, with wild swings in performance.  Chicago, the entire NFC East, Miami, Seattle and Jacksonville have all had performances where it’s hard to recognize those teams from week to week.

  1. Pittsburgh (3-1)
  2. Baltimore (3-1)
  3. NY Jets (3-1)
  4. Green Bay (3-1)
  5. Atlanta (3-1)
  6. New England (3-1)
  7. Kansas City (3-0)
  8. San Diego (2-2)
  9. Houston (3-1)
  10. Indianapolis (2-2)
  11. New Orleans (3-1)
  12. Denver (2-2)
  13. Tennessee (2-2)
  14. Philadelphia (2-2)
  15. Chicago (3-1)
  16. Dallas (1-2)
  17. Cincinnati (2-2)
  18. NY Giants (2-2)
  19. Cleveland (1-3)
  20. Minnesota (1-2)
  21. Washington (2-2)
  22. Miami (2-2)
  23. Saint Louis (2-2)
  24. Tampa Bay (2-1)
  25. Seattle (2-2)
  26. Jacksonville (2-2)
  27. Detroit (0-4)
  28. Oakland (1-3)
  29. Arizona (2-2)
  30. San Francisco (0-4)
  31. Buffalo (0-4)
  32. Carolina (0-4)

[photo via Getty]