Neil Reynold's Power Rankings Week 4
Another week is in the books and there is more movement in the power rankings with the Green Bay Packers making the biggest leap, while the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers are the biggest fallers. Keep reading to see where I have your favourite team!
Matthew Stafford is on fire, Cooper Kupp cannot be covered, DeSean Jackson is as fast as ever and the defensive unit is very physical indeed. No wonder head coach Sean McVay is running around like an eight-year-old.
The Bills have woken up after thinking their Week 1 clash with the Steelers was the fourth preseason game that no longer exists. With Josh Allen firing and the defense very good again, this is a true contender.
No major concerns over the Bucs losing on the road to an NFC powerhouse. They are the Rams will likely meet again. But I would be a little bit worried about the fact that Tom Brady was their leading rusher on Sunday.
It is starting to look like that opening weekend loss to New Orleans was a freak result. That was definitely a quality win in San Francisco on Sunday night and Aaron Rodgers remains an elite thrower of the football. No surprise there.
The Raiders are the first team in NFL history to win three games to start a season by beating 10-win teams from the previous year in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Miami. It’s rarely perfect, but Jon Gruden’s men keep finding ways to win.
Turnovers and being too careless in general are issues with these Chiefs at the moment. They’ve been playing close games since the second half of last season. They’ve won a lot of them. But not this season and they’re in the AFC West basement… for now.
Out-gaining the Chicago Bears by over 200 yards and recording nine sacks should have resulted in a more comprehensive win last weekend. But Cleveland will take a 2-1 start knowing they are going to be in the thick of the AFC playoff race.
Justin Herbert is truly special and I have no problem with seeing the Chargers put games on his talented shoulders rather than rely on the less-than-steady foot of Tristan Vizcaino. As bad as New York football is right now, LA’s teams are rolling!
“Good teams find ways to win.” Those are the words Calais Campbell uttered to me just days before the most dramatic of victories in Detroit, sealed with Justin Tucker’s NFL record 66-yard field goal.
Kyler Murray has scored at least one rushing touchdown in every game this season and he will be present quite a different challenge to the Los Angeles Rams defense than the one put forward by Tom Brady last week.
The Cowboys have a good thing going on offense and their defense continues to be very opportunistic. I really like the two-headed running back attack of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard.
This feels a tad harsh to drop San Francisco as much as this as they could very easily have taken down Green Bay on Sunday evening, advancing to 3-0 in the process. I’m just not a big Jimmy G believer and that impacts my grading.
The loss of Christian McCaffrey for a few weeks hurts the Panthers but I’m trusting Matt Rhule and a young and impressive defense to keep Carolina on track. Sam Darnold is also playing his part at quarterback.
The defense is playing well, the offensive line and running game is good but I do have some concerns over a passing attack that just cannot get anywhere near the kind of yardage we expect to see from this team.
Load up Derrick Henry and make the necessary plays in the passing game once the defense focuses on the big-bodied back. It was the recipe for success in recent years and has been once again over the past two weeks.
The Broncos are 3-0 but a mounting injury list has me worried. Can Teddy Bridgewater keep it going at quarterback? And how will this team fare once tougher opposition than the Giants, Jags and Jets presents itself?
Seattle’s defense is not getting fixed. It’s getting worse! The offense is also far too inconsistent. Seattle have started their last couple of games very well indeed and then been out-scored, out-played and out-coached after the half.
Joe Burrow to J’Marr Chase is a sight that has Bengals fans dreaming of good times ahead. Cincinnati have opened the year 2-1 and while I don’t see them as a playoff team this season, they have a chance to lay a foundation for future glories.
Alexander Mattison’s effective subbing for the injured Dalvin Cook allowed Minnesota to continue to operate their play-action pass attack led by a man who is genuinely putting up MVP-type numbers in Kirk Cousins.
Those who win the offseason do not win in the autumn. We should know this by now. New England spent big on the likes of tight end Jonnu Smith and receiver Nelson Agholor in the spring and both let the team down on Sunday.
The faces may change from one week to the next, but I think these Dolphins will always put forward a great effort all the while Brian Flores is in charge. While not the finished product, Miami are a battling, scrapping team.
Big Ben looks 49 and not 39, the running game remains one of the worst in the NFL, too many passes are going short to running backs and the defense has key injuries. When it goes wrong in Pittsburgh, it all goes wrong at the same time, it seems.
Chase Young insists Washington’s defense has to improve. Never has a truer statement been spoken because this unit, so promising in 2020, ranks 31st and that is in no way misleading. The offense is not good enough to withstand a defensive breakdown.
Young quarterback Jalen Hurts said of the game film from Monday’s loss to Dallas that he was “going to flush it” and not watch it back. I would think a young passer should watch every possible piece of film that is going to help him.
The Falcons fought hard down the stretch to get their first win of the season in New York on Sunday. I don’t expect this team to be in the playoff mix this term, but I still maintain they can be dangerous on their day given their offensive talent.
Chicago’s offensive line is a mess. That’s not exactly a news flash, coming just days after they shipped nine sacks to the Cleveland Browns. Andy Dalton is hurt and Justin Fields may not want to go back out there. Will Nick Foles be the sacrificial lamb?
Davis Mills looked solid enough in his first NFL start and some prideful veterans such as Mark Ingram, Phillip Lindsay and Brandin Cooks are preventing this season from going completely off the rails in Houston.
The Colts might be the biggest disappointment of the season so far. Carson Wentz invites far too much pressure and everything looks so frantic, the line is a problem and where are the difference-makers in the passing game? This could end up being a long season.
I’ll give it to the Lions, they have found some interesting ways to lose over the years. Now they can add being on the wrong end of a 66-yard field goal to that list. Dan Campbell can at least take comfort from the fact his team played hard and the defense looked good.
It’s been a rough start for the Giants and there were a couple of games in there which they would have fancied heading into the year. But at least Daniel Jones has enjoyed some moments which suggest he can turn this into a good building season in his career.
The Jags have now lost 18 games in a row and things unraveled fast for them last week. A promising lead soon became a 12-point deficit after another Trevor Lawrence interception. Good teams have some room for such errors, bad teams do not.
The Jets are going to get the kid hurt if they don’t block better or scheme up some passes that don’t hang Zach Wilson out to dry. The arm talent is there, but getting sacked 15 times in three games is messing with Wilson’s thought processes.