NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Bills on top, Eagles and NFC East continue to surge, Rams and Bengals sinking fast

We are past the month mark in the NFL season, and some things are starting to clear up, while many others leave us with more questions than answers. One thing is for sure, there are two teams that are a cut above the rest in their respctive conferences. After that it gets kind of murky as this season proves anybody can beat anybody in any given game. NFC East teams bounced to the top of the rankings after a big week that saw some top teams fall. Here are this our most recent Power Rankings after an eventful Week 5 in the NFL.

1) Buffalo Bills 4-1, last week 1

The Bills had a job to do, and they had it done in the first 20 minutes of the game. It was a no nonsense performance from a team who was supposed to beat Pittsbugh, and did with ease. Good teams don’t just play well in big games, good teams bury bad teams early. After a Sunday stroll in the park over the Steelers, Buffalo can focus all their energy on the Chiefs next week.

2) Kansas City Chiefs 4-1, last week 2

The Kansas City Chiefs battled back from 17 points down in a tough divisional matchup against a desperate one win Raiders team. Patrick Mahomes showed that he is the early season MVP favorite throwing four touchdowns, all to the ageless the wonder Travis Kelce. Andy Reid’s team may not be the most complete team in the league, but Mahomes has proven time after time that he can make the difference late in the game.

3) Philadelphia Eagles 5-0, last week 4

There were all the ingredients necessary for the Eagles to have a let down game against the Cardinals in Arizona this weekend. Road game, against a struggling team in need of a win and a big game against the Cowboys coming next week. But the Eagles went into State Farm Stadium and came out firing in the first half. They went up 17-0, showing a let down game was not an option. They held off a late charge form the Cards, and have a chance to go in to their Week 7 bye undefeated if they can come out on top of the NFC East showdown against Dallas next week.

4) Dallas Cowboys 4-1, last week 9

The Cooper Rush show continues in Dallas as he keeps his record as a starting quarterback squeaky clean. It wasn’t as much Rush winning it for the Boys on Sunday in LA. He completed just 10 passes for 102 yards, but when you have a defense that not only keeps teams off the board, but puts points on the board, that takes a heavy burden off of the shoulders of their quarterback. Mike McCarthy is going to have some real thinking to do when Dak Prescott is recovered from his finger injury in the next week or two.

5) New York Giants 4-1, last week 13

Sure the Giants went into Sunday’s game in London not having beaten any one with a winning record going into Week 5. Sure the passing game has looked a bit suspect at time. Sure Saquon Barkley is coming off a couple injury plagued seasons, but the Giants are a team that believes in their coaches recipe for success, and it is paying dividends for the boys in blue early in the season. Barkley is the anchor of the offense. When he gets going, it makes Daniel Jones’ life that much easier. The NY QB completed 21 of 27 passes for 217 yards and even ran for 37 yards on a bummed ankle. Brian Daboll has this team rolling in the right direction, the only trouble is that they are in the stacked NFC East, and despite having a 4-1 record they are third in the conference.

6) Baltimore Ravens 3-2, last week 8

In their first AFC North game of the season, the Ravens finally looked like an AFC North team. They ran the ball well (170 total yards) which is no surprise when you have Lamar Jackson on your team, but perhaps the most comforting thing to come out of Sunday Night’s win over the AFC Champion Bengals was their defense. The secondary held Burrow to 190 yards, and if they can continue to limit other teams in the passing game, the Ravens are going to be a difficult team to keep up with in the AFC North.

7) Green Bay Packers 3-2, last week 3

There was a point in the first half where it looked like the Packers were going to run away with the game against the Giants on Sunday from London. The Packers did the same thing two weeks ago against the Bucs, but were lucky enough to survive the Tampa Bay come back in the final seconds despite getting shut out in the final two quarters. There was no such luck against the Giants in Tottenham Stadium on Sunday as Packers scored just 2 points in the second half.

8) San Francisco 49ers 3-2, last week 11

The Niners beat the defending champions, and their bitter rival on Monday night, and had to make a cross country trip on a short week. Luckily for them, they were playing the Panthers, and the game turned out even easier than expected. Jimmy G looks like he’s finally settled into the offense after not having a preseason, and the defense is making a habit of scoring a touchdown on a weekly basis. The San Fran’s offense gets going there is not much that can stop this team.

9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2, last week 7

The Bucs might have gotten away with one on Sunday. The Falcons were on the comeback trail and Tampa Bay got bailed out with a VERY questionable roughing the passer call late in the game. Listen, it was a long week for Brady and the Bucs after reports came out concerning the QBs personal life. There are still loads of concerns on the offensive end, but  the most important thing for the Bucs to do was end their mini losing streak and move on to the next one.

10) Los Angeles Chargers 3-2, last week 12

The Chargers got away with one in Cleveland on Sunday. Going across the country for a second week is always a challenge when you are an east or west coast team. It’s especially difficult when you have to play the top ranked rushing team in the league. LA saw Cleveland’s Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and raised them Austin Ekeler. Ekeler had 173 of the Chargers 238 rushing yards, but on a late 4th and 1 Brandon Staley elected to pass the ball instead of run it. After the failed attempt they had to rely on a missed field goal from the Browns as the time ran out.

11) Minnesota Vikings 4-1, last week 14

Kevin O’Connell has given us no choice but to love the Vikings. With Dalvin Cook looking healthy, or at least fooling us all into thinking he’s healthy, this Minnesota is a different beast. A seven minute, 17 play TD drive to take the lead was followed by a game winning defensive play by Cameron Dantzler who striped Ihmir Smith-Marsett on the final drive of the game. This team still has a lot to prove, but at 4-1 they have come a lot further than anyone would have expected, outside of Minnesota. Forgive me for the ranking Vikings fans, I’m just not convinced yet.

12) Cincinnati Bengals 2-3, last week 10

The quality of the Bengals two wins is starting to become a cause for concern. They had a chance for a statement win against the Ravens on Sunday Night, but were downed in the final seconds of the game by a Justin Tucker field goal. They beat the Jets with out Zach Wilson and the Dolphins without Tua Tagovailoa. It’s true their three losses have come by a combined total eight points, but Cincy’s inability to close out games a year after getting to the Super Bowl has Bengals fans uneasy.

13) Los Angeles Rams 2-3, last week 5

The defending Super Bowl Champions are under .500 after the first five weeks of the season. LA is fading and fast. The Rams went up against one of the worst teams they could have matched up against in the Dallas Cowboys over the weekend. LA already had a problem protecting Matt Ryan, and the Cowboys are one of the best teams in the league at getting to the quarterback. The Rams gave up 5 sacks, including a forced fumble that was taken back for six on their opening drive of the day. Ryan is a classy guy so he won’t show how frustrated he has been to start the season, but if he keeps getting banged around he may not be able to hide it, or stay healthy for much longer.

14) Miami Dolphins 3-2, last week 6

As if it wasn’t bad enough for the Dolphins with their starting quarterback out for who knows how long, back up Teddy Bridgewater stepped in as the starter on Sunday against the Jets. Bridgewater was hit hard on his first throw of the day and entered concussion protocol and missed the rest of the game. Miami was still in the game despite their third string quarterback playing almost the entire four quarters. Tua was not placed on the IR, which makes you think he should be returning sooner than four weeks from now.

15) Tennessee Titans 3-2, last week 15

It’s three straight for the Titans, who had everyone in Nashville up in arms after losing their first two to the Giants and Bills. Those early season losses don’t seem too bad after seeing how good both of those teams are. Really for the first time this season we saw Derek Henry use his patented blend of force and finesse to reach 100 yards for the second straight game. Tennessee doesn’t overwhelm you with how they play, but when they get in the red zone they are frightfully efficient. They have a 92.3% success rate on punching it into the end zone when they get past the 20 yard line. It’s a win that is not going to impress anyone, but those are the games you have to win on the road if you want to be a playoff team. Tennessee now leads the division after their bumpy start to the season.

16) New York Jets 3-2, last week 24

This young team is starting to not look so young anymore. No one was really sure how the Jets would respond when their second year QB Zach Wilson came back under center. In the two games since his return, the Jets have scored 64 points. Don’t look now, but the Jets have a winning record and are brimming with confidence with their young gun slinger back in the huddle.

17) Indianapolis Colts 2-2-1, last week 22

On the road, in a short week, facing desperation, the Indianapolis Colts went into Mile High Stadium and beat up the Denver Broncos. And they did it without their star running back, Johnathan Taylor. Indy held the Broncos without a touchdown on their four trips to the red zone, but that’s nothing to brag about considering everyone does that against Denver. All jokes aside, despite flirting with disaster, the Colts are a half game out of first place in the AFC South.

18) Las Vegas Raiders, 1-4, last week 18

Call me crazy, but this Raiders team is much better than their record would suggest. The game against Kansas City should prove that. They went into Arrowhead and had every chance to win that game. They went up 17, gave up the lead but then were a careless special teams penalty and a two point conversion away from potentially winning a Monday Night road game against one of the best teams in the league. We still have to see the Raiders prove they can win these types of games, but they better get moving before they fall to far behind the rest of the teams competing for playoff positioning.

19) Arizona Cardinals 2-3, last week 19

If you can’t start games well and don’t know how to finish games, then it becomes incredibly difficult to win in the NFL. The way the Cardinals finished Sunday’s game against the Eagles paints a picture of a team that isn’t ready to be taken seriously. Kyler Murray slides a half yard before the marker on 3rd second down and is forced to spike it on 3rd and 1 to stop the clock with 22 seconds left. The field goal was makable, but if they handled things different they could have got one or two shots to the end zone before relying on Matt Amendola, who ended up missing the game tying field goal.

20) New England Patriots 2-3, last week 23

Did Bill Belichick’s Patriots have the performance of Week 5 when they shut out the Detroit Lions in Foxborough? From what we had seen from the Lions through four weeks, they do one thing well and that’s get into the end zone. Matt Patricia’s defense goose egged Detroit, on a day where they forced two turnovers and five turn over on downs. Third string quarterback Bailey Zappe didn’t have to have a stand out performance with the way his defense and running game was playing, but he went 17/21 with 188 yards, one TD and one INT, while Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for 161 yards on 25 carries. We shouldn’t be surprised Belichick came up with a game plan in a must win game with his third string quarterback under center.

21) Denver Broncos 2-3, last week 16

When the schedule makers saw Russell Wilson go to Denver in the offseason, they had visions of must-see primetime games, full of fireworks. They have been on primetime in three of the first five weeks, but have scored just two touchdowns in those games. The defense can’t do much more to win games, and the offense can’t be doing much less. Nathaniel Hackett looks like he’s in over his head. After not trusting Wilson in the Week 1 loss to the Seahawks, he trusted his QB too much to make a play with two minutes left in the fourth. Instead of running the ball on 3rd down and settling for a field goal to make it a six point game on a night full of field goals, Wilson threw a pick allowing the Colts to tie it up at the end of regulation.

22) Chicago Bears 2-3, last week 21

The baby Bears were physically dominated for four quarters, but despite being out gained 429-271 and allowing twice as many first downs against the Vikings they had a chance to tie it up on their final drive of the game. If it wasn’t for a fantastic hustle play by Cameron Dantzler to rip the ball out of Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s hands, who knows what kind of magic Justin Fields could have come up with in the final two minutes.

23) Jacksonville Jaguars 2-3, last week 17

The same people who hopped aboard the Jags train after the first three weeks, are probably the same pepole jumping ship after the Jacksonville has lost two straight games. Trevor Lawrence and the Jags racked up 422 yards of total offense, but went 0-3 in the red zone, and Lawrence had two picks in the 13-6 loss. The Jags are in a fragile spot right now. All the momentum they built up in the first three weeks of the season could fly out the window with a third straight loss next week.

24) Cleveland Browns 2-3, last week 20

If the Browns are going to have a chance to be in the playoff picture once Deshaun Watson returns from his suspension, they need to win games like the one against the Chargers on Sunday. The running game was reliable as always as Nick Chubb went for 134 of the 213 rushing yards, but Cleveland’s defense has done Jacoby Brissett no favors. Despite that Cade York still had a chance to win the game at the end of the fourth, but missed a 52 yard field goal and the Browns dropped to under .500.

25) Atlanta Falcons 2-3, last week 26

The Falcons are a team that are going to need some breaks throughout of the season, especially on days where they don’t have their star running back, Cardarrelle Patterson. Unfortunately on Sunday, they didn’t get the break they needed to make the difference in the game against the Bucs. Atlanta looked like the team we expected to see before the season started during the first three quarters, but then they turned into the Falcons team we have grown used to seeing this season in the final 15 minutes. They battled back from 21-0 down to have a chance in the final minutes, but a controversial roughing the passer penalty ended those comeback chances.

26) New Orleans Saints 2-3, last week 27

The Saints secret weapon finally got a chance to show what a game changer he can be, and didn’t disappoint in a shootout against Seattle. Why it’s taken Taysom Hill so long to be an integral part of the offense is beyond me, but against the Seahawks he had three rushing touchdowns and a passing TD. I truly believe this is a better team without Jameis Winston, who impedes Hill from being used as he should in this offense.

27) Pittsburgh Steelers 1-4, last week 25

I understand why Mike Tomlin swapped Mitchell Trubisky for Kenny Pickett last week against the Jets. The Steelers had scored six points and the offense could barley move the ball. But perhaps it was a rush to judgment as Tomlin wasn’t considering this week’s matchup against the Buffalo Bills. You want to protect a rookie quarterback, and having him make his first start against the league’s second best defense is not an ideal situation for the rookie. Pickett threw the ball 52 times, and was picked off just once, but the game was over before it started. Time for Pickett to put that loss in the rear view and try to make the most of this early season opportunity.

28) Seattle Seahawks 2-3, last week 28

The Seahawks struggles do not fall on the shoulders of their Quarterback Geno Smith. Smith is looking like Peyton Manning through the first three weeks of the season. He has the best completion percentage of any starting QB in the league, and if the Seahawks defense could only stop Taysom Hill then Seattle would have a winning record right now.

29) Detroit Lions 1-4, last week 29

You had to be wondering when the Lions offense was going to slow down. As exciting as they were to watch in the first month of the season, the offense couldn’t keep that pace for the whole year. What was unexpected was the Lions not scoring a single point on Sunday in New England. They go into their bye week after the worst of their four early season losses. Dan Campbell has this team believing they can compete, but if they continue to lose that belief will quickly fade, and the Lions will go back to being the Lions we’ve grown to know over the last decade.

30) Carolina Panthers 1-4, last week 30

It took just five weeks for the Panthers to pull the trigger on Matt Rhulte. After a 1-4 start and an offense that is at the bottom half of the league the front office has made it’s move. Baker Mayfield’s struggles don’t just fall on to his shoulders. The play calling over the first month of the season has been questionable at best. When you have a struggling quarterback in a new system, you need your running back to add another dynamic on the offensive side of the ball, especially if that running back is Christian McCaffery. Through the first five weeks of the season the Panthers RB1 is getting 14 carries a game. Carolina need a lot, but let’s see if a change on the sideline starts to turn the tide in Charlotte.

31) Washington Commanders 1-4, last week 31

It was the moment of the NFL season so far as Brian Robsinson made his debut after being shot twice in a home invasion earlier this year. The emotional moment couldn’t carry the Commadners to victory at home. Washington piled up 385 yards but only managed to get into the red zone once. The Commanders are quickly losing ground in a division that looks to be the best in footbal.

32) Houston Texans 1-3-1, last week 32

We no longer have a winless team in the NFL! Throughout the first month of the season we talked about Lovie Smith and the Texans going through tough moments that a young team has to go through to mature and win games in the future. Has that time come already? The defense showed up against the Jags, holding them to just six points and coming up with two picks including one in the red zone coming right out of the half time break. Going into the Jacksonville game they had an average margin of victory of 5 points. Well deserved win for a team that is trying to turn things around in Houston.