Week 6 NFL Power Rankings - FedExPope's Blog

FedExPope's Blog

Week 6 NFL Power Rankings

Posted on October 8, 2014 at 04:32 PM.

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Now that ESPN's power rankings has become a random collectin of metrics and TQBR stats, I decided I could do better. So here we go...6 weeks after the start of the season.

1.Seattle � Russell Wilson is simply sublime. He has one pick on the year, 4 fumbles that his teammates have all fallen on (okay, so he�s a little lucky), and just broke the record for most rushing yards by a QB on MNF. And this is a pass first QB who happens to be very athletic�and one who slides and run out of bounds. His efficiency, athleticism and IQ are almost inhuman. He is without a doubt the leader in this 3-1 start, and will carry this team the length of the season.

2.San Diego � It could be argued that nobody is playing at a higher level than Phillip Rivers at this point. The defense is without a doubt the best in the NC State product�s career, and Rivers is playing at a similarly inhuman level as Wilson. Keep in mind that all of this has occurred without Keenan Allen getting on track yet. The sky is the limit for these Chargers, health permitting. Hop on the bandwagon while you can!

3.Denver � The defending AFC Champs and reigning MVP are off to a ho-hum, totally expected 3-1 start in which Peyton has moved the offense along in a ho-hum, totally expected, ridiculously efficient way. The defense is just good enough to be effective every week, and if they end up not being so, the offense will probably win in a shootout.

4.Green Bay � You just knew that the Packers would get back on track when Rodgers told his Green faithful to R E L A X. It helps that their latest victim were the de-Teddy�d Vikings. Still, there was potential for their defense to get gashed by the running game, but Ponder is so hopeless at QB that it didn�t matter if all 11 Packers defenders were hopping along on one leg. Regardless of the opponent�s struggles, the Pack have been very efficient in their new, relaxed mode, and look to cruise to another division title.

5.Dallas � NFC East fans were all dreading the day when the Cowboys realized 1.) What a ridiculous beast Demarco Murray is and 2.) The proper way to do the footballs on offense. That is, hand the dang ol� ball off to Murray. While his carries likely will decrease as the season goes on, that doesn�t mean that defenses will suddenly be able to key in on the passing game. Murray�s very existence is a threat for gashing, bruising run plays. Oh, and there�s this little stat: Murray, O.J. Simpson and Jim Brown are the only players to open a season with five straight 100-yard rushing games. Still, one can legitimately be concerned about the game against the 49ers, in which the Cowboys got Romo�d. At this point, however, that game is a distant memory.

6.Philadelphia � Seriously, people. Did you really think that McCoy was to blame for his own poor rushing stats? How exactly was he supposed to get production when 1.) He hardly got the ball, 2.) The offensive line failed to push and 3.) The defense practically did half the scoring for the last 3 games? Philadelphia is a weekly threat to destroy their opponent either through the ground, the air, or by their opportunistic defense. Dangerous team, them Eagles be.

7.New York Giants � A team that once would have owned the bottom of these rankings, the Giants over the last 4 weeks have seen their passing game and their defense get on track. Eli is proving he�s the ELIte QB we remember from a few years back, and McAdoo is proving that Green Bay has a heck of a system going on there. JPP may not be wowing with stats, but watching the defense play you can see him being the catalyst for this defense. He�s harassing and hitting the QB, and knocking passes at the LOS. And oh yeah, Odell Beckham Jr. finally played, and he is F-A-S-T, while possessing H-U-G-E hands. The rook may not have been too far off when he said in the preseason that the Giants could be the best offense in the NFL this year. Now that he�s playing, that certainly seems like a possibility. One caveat though � Rashad Jennings could potentially be out through the Giants� bye week, in week 8. Bad news for sure, but the Giants did draft a Heisman runner-up to back him up.

8.Indianapolis � Andrew Luck is having an amazing year, and nobody seems to be talking about it. That could be because it�s always been expected of him. Or it could be the competition � in their 3 game win streak, they�ve beaten Jacksonville, Tennessee and Baltimore. Not exactly a murderer�s row, especially on defense. Regardless, they�ve done what they have been expected to do, and their two losses were very close. This is a team that is a few plays from 5-0.

9.San Francisco � For the second year in a row, the Niners are recovering from a 1-2 start. Teams with as good a defense and run game as the Niners are bound to end up with a winning record at the end of the year. The concern for them is at QB, with Kaepernick being as inconsistent as he�s ever been. His TD pass against the Chiefs was a completely shameful miss by the refs, as Crabtree couldn�t have pushed off of the defender any more obviously than he did. The Niners should feel good about their improvement, and especially their comeback against the Eagles two weeks ago, but the less Kaepernick throws, the better.

10. New England � Really, now. There were two kinds of picks made for this past week�s SNF beatdown: a confident Patriots pick, or a Bengals pick made even though one knew deep down that the Bengals would absolutely lay an egg. It really was completely predictable. Brady had to listen all week about how either he was over the hill, or had a hopeless situation, or was the victim of management�s plans for the future. The game was a night matchup at Foxboro. The Bengals, coming off of their way-too-early bye week that clearly cooled them off, were and still are historically bad at SNF games. It was a perfect storm that every football fan saw coming, even if they picked the Bengals to win. New England, perhaps now back on track, can look forward to feasting on Buffalo, New York (the amateur team) and Chicago, before a big game vs. Denver. Don�t be surprised if this team finishes with 11 or 12 wins.

11.Cincinnati � What can be said about the Bungles? Their bye week was too early? It sure was. Their big-time players didn�t step up? They sure didn�t (looking at you, Mr. A.J. Green). Dalton may have finished with a good statline, but as the final score indicates, and as one could tell while watching the game, he simply was not up to the task of winning a game he was supposed to at night at Foxboro against an enraged Tom Brady. To be fair, nobody, absolutely nobody in that ballclub was capable of doing so. However, chin up Who Dey nation, because next up is 4 of the next 5 at home, a place where your defense plays very well. The next two are vs. Carolina and then at Indy. Tough games, but winnable ones for this squad, as they are both at 1PM.

12.Pittsburgh � Big Ben and Antonio Brown didn�t hook up for a TD against Jacksonville, but still did damage with a 16.8 yard average on the 5 hookups they did have. Pitt is now 6-7 historically at Jacksonville, so the Jags definitely have their number to a degree. A gift from Bortles sealed their victory, but it was anything but easy. Given the aforementioned record at Jax, this is not something to be ashamed of. The Steelers at this point should be considered the favorites to win the AFC North.

13.Carolina � The Panthers scored 31 points, but rookie Kelvin Benjamin only had 3 catches for 38 yards. Despite the attrition at running back, Cam is clearly capable of carrying this team without his favorite target tearing the field up, and all this without really being able to run. Carolina is the best team in the NFC South, but the NFL is doing all it can to sabotage its season. Their next six games are as follows: at Cincy, at Green Bay, vs Seattle, vs New Orleans, at Philadelphia, vs Atlanta. Envy you nobody does, Carolina. Perhaps Cam will heal up enough sometime soon and start running again, to make this stretch a bit easier.

14.Baltimore � ESPN�s Total QBR system has its flaws, but sometimes, it absolutely nails performances right in the head. Flacco finished with a 16. He was completely ineffective against a Colts defense that keeps exactly zero people up at night, in what has been a worrying trend these last two years. It seems to be more and more evident that Flacco�s Super Bowl victory was not only greatly aided by Kaepernick�s inability to score within the 5 yard line on 4 tries, but Anquan Boldin as well. Last week, he was again greatly aided by a completely fluke TD catch by Steve Smith, which TQBR probably ignored in its shining rating of Flacco�s performance. But, he has just enough genuinely good games to make up for the clunkers that he puts up, such as this last week. Baltimore is a good enough team to make the playoffs, but they aren�t wowing anybody anytime soon.

15.Cleveland � Powerrrr! The Browns� comeback this last week was the largest by a road team in NFL regular season history. That�s an awesome development for a franchise that has, since it�s reinstatement into the NFL, been even worse than the Raiders. Brian Hoyer is playing as well as he was last year in the 3 games he played before a self-inflicted ACL tear, seeming to prove that he�s no fluke. This seems to be a rare case of a veteran not getting injured/playing well enough to keep his job with a popular, high profile rookie behind him, a scenario that has not been replicated in Jacksonville or Minnesota. And the poor guy has no Josh Gordon to throw to, something that the undeserving QBs of last year had and took advantage of. Very well. Browns fans should be excited at the possibilities of Hoyer with Gordon�s return, even though it is rather far into the future.

16.Buffalo � They should lose a few spots simply for granting Schwartz�s rather pathetic request to be carried off in the event of a victory against his former team, as well as already giving up on E.J. Manuel and replacing him with an overpaid Kyle Orton, who was supposed to retire�but hey! They�re 3-2 people. While one should absolutely be bearish on Orton�s continued success (his first half was atrocious) the Bills have themselves a good defense and an effective running game, and an exciting WR corps, should Orton actually manage to get the ball into their hands. Realistically, the Bills could win 6 more games this year. 9-7 likely won�t be good enough to make the playoffs in the AFC, but a winning record is a winning record, something Bills fans have been deprived of for far too long.

17.Detroit � A bad, bad loss to Buffalo put a damper on the Lions� good start. And Calvin Johnson has been ineffective for two straight games, which has to be some kind of (negative) record for him. However, Golden Tate is playing very well in an offense that is more inclined to get the ball to WRs. Megatron would do well to sit until he�s healthy and come back for a playoff-clinching stretch. That defense is playing great this year. For the time being, it should be good enough to keep the Lions afloat until Megatron, Bush and Bell can get healthy. Were they not laughably bad at field goals this year (4-12, a rate that you usually see on bottom-of-the-barrel FBS teams in the NCAA) and had they not just lost at home to the Bills, they�d be ranked higher. For now, they get to be below the team that just beat them.

18.Atlanta � Everybody has heard of the Falcons� flailing efforts in road games the last two years. The game against the Giants wasn�t so bad, but the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 with more than 4 minutes left deep in their own territory was simply mind-boggling. Did Mike Smith think he had to after doing so and failing 3 times the last time he was at Metlife (the 24-2 playoff loss in 2011)? Whatever the reason, the Falcons seem to be simply lost outside the comfy confines of the Georgia-and-Mercedes-Benz Domes. Their remaining away games outdoors are: Baltimore, Tampa, Carolina and Green Bay. The good news? They�re a juggernaut within those aforementioned dome confines. And their final 3 games are indoors. Far into the future that is, but with Atlanta�s crazy splits away and home, it seems rather easy to predict them finishing with at least 10 wins.

19.New Orleans � That defense is a joke. But that offense is gang-busters. New Orleans, like their divisional twin Atlanta, are masters in the dome, but seemingly helpless on the road. However, no matter how good the offense is, Saints fans need to realize that their defense is just way too poor for them to win the division this year. That said, any team facing the Saints will likely have to outscore them to win, and even with the Saints bad defense there aren�t a lot of teams that, on paper at least, can do so.

20.Kansas City � Alex Smith is one of the nicest, smartest guys that the league has. The league is lucky to have a guy like him. Even so, there�s little doubt that he relished the opportunity to pull a Montana on the team whose coach pulled the plug on him at the apex of his career, in order to get said coach�s pet project in. On any given Sunday, Alex Smith is in another dimension from Colin Kaepernick. But that interception was, to put it lightly, deflating. Unlike many of the Chiefs� passing struggles this year, this last INT was all on Smitty. Be what may about Kaepernick�s performance, helped by a botched miss-call by the refs and that stellar defense + running game, Smith had to have that last drive. Since he didn�t, the clueless casual masses will continue to (errantly) believe Harbaugh made the correct QB decision. The Chiefs have still, two games each against Denver and San Diego. In order to make the playoffs, now that they�ve suffered this last setback, they need to sweep one of those two teams.

21.Arizona � A once-proud defense has seen an avalanche of injuries. Who knows when Palmer will be back. Larry Fitzgerald has barely had any impact this year, and it�s still not clear if it�s age and attrition, or the QB situation. Oh that�s right, the QB situation�that just got a LOT worse with Stanton�s injury. Logan Thomas came in and promptly threw a lucky-to-be-completed 81 yard TD reception that made a lot of Andre Ellington fantasy owners either very happy, or very sad. Thomas then proceeded to miss on every single pass afterwards. It�s not clear when Palmer will be back, nor Stanton. Things have derailed very quickly in Arizona.

22.Chicago � Look everybody, it�s the new and improved Jay Cutler! He�s put in so much work this offseason and is really going to tear the league up with his targets and-�oh, wait, it�s the old, stale Jay Cutler. Singlehandedly losing games and putting his team into huge holes is child�s play for this stud. And he�s in full Jay mode this year, baby! When the terrible defense is combined with the maddeningly inconsistent offense you get yourself one disappointing football squad. The Bears seem once again to be doomed to mediocrity, not terrible but not making the playoffs. This is the part where we say, �if Jay Cutler cuts down on those doggone turnovers, we got ourselves a real good team!� but by now, people, let�s get real. This is year number nine for Cutler and he still hasn�t taken the step forward that was promised five years ago. Throw out all the stats you want � rating, (94.9) TD-INT ratio (12-6) completion % (68%), but look at the 2 INT games, which are L�s, compared to the 0 INT games, which are Ws. The former is more common than the latter, and that�s no different from the rest of his career.

23. Miami � Ryan Tannehill�s last game was well-timed, but equally well-timed was when Oakland came up on the schedule. He will need to be consistent in order to keep his job next season. Can he? Smart money says no. But stranger things have happened. Lamar Miller is finally who-we-thought-he-were, and Mike Wallace�s game breaking potential can help any QB. With a good defense supporting him, the onus is on Tannehill to prove he�s an NFL QB. A good outing, maybe even a win, against Green Bay will go a long way to helping the perception of him to be positive.

24.Houston � A great defense is being hampered by a bad QB situation. The only hope Houston has to win games is their defense to play to its usual level, and have Arian Foster be healthy. Despite this, they still lost last week to Dallas. If Ryan Fitzpatrick is really the best option that Houston has at QB this season, then they truly are without hope, because he is simply incapable of being a full-time starter in this league.

25. St. Louis � Austin Davis. Austin Davis? Austin Davis. AUSTIN. DAVIS. AUSTINDAVIS?! AUSTIN. FREAKIN. DAVIS.

26. Tampa Bay � The Bucs have recovered well from their horrific TNF outing, winning last week at Pittsburgh and coming sooooooo close at New Orleans. There�s a common theme now with Glennon at QB, and that is Vincent Jackson�s receiving numbers. He had a TD last week, and 144 yards against the Saints. Encouraging, and absolutely necessary for the Bucs to have success on offense. Glennon had an impressive TD pass just before the half to Louis Murphy, who himself made an impressive catch. McCown doesn�t look to get the job back when he�s healthy again. Still, the Bucs will want him healthy ASAP in case something happens to Glennon. Judgment on the defense will not be meted out this week, given the team and venue they went up against.

27. Minnesota � Teddy Bridgewater said that if the Vikings past game with the Packers were on a Sunday, he�d have played. And boy what a difference it would have made. The Packers simply keyed in on the Vikings running game, and Ponder in response proceeded to be absolutely worthless. The pick six really wasn�t his fault, but he made enough bad plays besides that to get himself kicked out of the league. For some reason (likely because they completely reached for him in the 2011 draft) the Vikings organization seems committed to keeping him on the roster. Honestly, at this point, a one-legged Matt Cassell is preferable to Christian Ponder. Thankfully for everybody, not least of all Minnesota, Teddy will be back this week.

28. Tennessee � Eugh. The Titans opened up their season with an encouraging 26-10 win against the Chiefs, but then got that same score flipped against them the following week against Dallas, and since then have been in exactly one game�the 29-28 loss against Cleveland, in which they led 28-3 at one point. Jake Locker is seemingly one of the most unlucky fellas in the league. He got hurt, AGAIN, and Whitehurst had to come in, AGAIN. Perhaps more perplexing than Ponder�s still having an NFL job, is Charlie Whitehurst still having an NFL job. Seriously. This guy is one of the most fascinating NFL players in recent years, due to his complete lack of ability, yet his complete staying power in the league. Sure he had 2 TDs, after a laugh-worthy outing the week before against Indy, but exactly how many of those came in the second half? Exactly.

29. Washington � RG 3 can�t stay healthy, and Kirk Cousins is as inconsistent as he�s ever been. However, the Redskins certainly put up a fight on Monday night. Somehow, they managed to keep the game close until the very end, despite giving up 122 rushing yards to Russell Wilson. They seemed determined to stop Marshawn Lynch, which is a good strategy, but then if you ignore Russell Wilson, he can and will make you look like you have no strategy at all. Despite their best efforts, Lynch finished with 72 yards and 45 yards receiving to go with a TD catch. The defense did stiffen after the half, forcing a number of 3 and outs, but the offense couldn�t get going in that window of opportunity, sealing their fate. It should be noted: mad kudos to those fantasy owners who started DeSean Jackson this week. He rewarded them with a 157 yard, 1 TD performance. In a related story, many Percy Harvin/Russell Wilson owners are very much unhappy this week, as they had three, count em, three TDs called back by penalties. Wilson still had a monster outing, but seriously, to anyone who lost this week due to their opponent having Marshawn Lynch�the pain. The paaaaaaaaain.

30. Jacksonville � The growing pains continue. Bortles handed the Steelers a TD, but the coaching staff seemed to open it up a bit, with him throwing it 36 times. However, that only resulted in 9 points. Some boneheaded WR plays didn�t help. The Jags have an enticing matchup this week against the reeling Titans. They�re at least a year or two away from making the playoffs, but they have lots of young talent and a good coach to rebuild them. If they�d cut down on the bonehead plays, they�d make some progress sooner rather than later. It all starts this week.

31. New York Jets � The Jests aren�t in last place solely due to their one win, which seems dumbfounding at this point how they even got that win. To say that Geno Smith and Michael Vick were atrocious is to be putting it lightly. The more concerning problem, though, is that the blame really shouldn�t be on the QBs. The offense is so defunct of talent and quality, the retired former �laborers� of British Leyland are offended (look it up). The defense is, contrary to what we�ve come to expect from the superior Ryan brother, simply a medieval cesspit. The Jests will be lucky to win another game this year, and Rex Ryan won�t last the rest of the year.

32. Oakland � Well, Oakland, you�re the worst team in football. But hey, there�s a new coach now! Again! A guy who�oh yeah, got fired from the Dolphins. Hmm�good news good news�oh yes I have some good news. Derek Carr is practicing. Should he be unable to play, however, there is a chance Matt Schaub plays, who was the subject of an embarrassing offseason adventure when former Raiders coach Dennis Allen (that�s the one that they JUST fired, now) said he was in the same category as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Even after he proved he could barely throw 5 yards downfield in the preseason. Much was said about Charlie Whitehurst and Christian Ponder previously, but Schaub has to be in the race for THE worst QB on any roster in the NFL. How he managed to get a job at Oak-�ehh actually�nevermind. There was going to be a mention of how bad he was at Houston last year and how it�s mind-boggling he has a job now, but then it was realized, since its Oakland, it makes PERFECT sense! This team really could go 0-16.