NFL Power Rankings 2016: Week 5 Edition

The fourth week of the 2016 NFL schedule is over. Now it’s time to see how all 32 teams stack up. Let’s dive right in to this week’s edition of NFL Power Rankings. For reference purposes, here’s a link to last week’s order.

WEEK 5 POWER RANKINGS

1 – Denver Broncos (Last Week: 1) – Weekly reminder: the reigning Super Bowl champions are still undefeated. Paxton Lynch played relatively well after starting quarterback Trevor Siemian left the game early with an injury.

2 – Minnesota Vikings (LW: 4) – The Vikings’ defense is very impressive. Head coach Mike Zimmer has done a great job with that unit. Sam Bradford is doing enough to manage games and avoid big mistakes. Sammy Sleeves hasn’t turned the ball over once through four games.

3 – Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 3) – The Birds are at full health coming off the bye week. The Eagles have a real chance to go 4-0 if they can take care of business against an unimpressive Lions squad.

4 – Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 8) – Mike Tomlin’s team was on a mission after getting embarrassed by the Eagles in Week 3. The Steelers absolutely smoked the Chiefs. Getting Le’Veon Bell back is a nice boost for Pittsburgh.

5 – New England Patriots (LW: 2) – The Patriots were shut out in Gilette Stadium for the first time ever. The good news for the Pats is that Tom Brady guy comes back this week. His return should help the offense just a little bit.

6 – Seattle Seahawks (LW: 9) – Seattle’s offense has rebounded nicely after only combining for 15 points in their first two games. The Seahawks have scored 64 points over the last two weeks.

7 – Atlanta Falcons (LW: 17) – Julio Jones is ridiculous. The freak receiver had 12 receptions for 300 yards (!) and one touchdown against Carolina’s defense. Atlanta’s offense is averaging 38 points per game through the first quarter of the season.

8 – Green Bay Packers (LW: 6) – The Packers are coming off the bye to face the Giants at Lambeau this weekend.

9 – Oakland Raiders (LW: 12) – Michael Crabtee came up big with three touchdowns in a one point win on the road. Derek Carr has thrown nine touchdowns to one interception in 2016. He’s pretty good.

10 – Buffalo Bills (LW: 13) – Shutting out the Patriots in Foxborough is quite an accomplishment, even if Brady wasn’t playing. Rex Ryan’s job suddenly seems more secure after the Bills have won their last two games.

11 – Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 14) – A.J. Green had a big game against Miami to lead the Bengals to their second win of the year.

12 – Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 6) – Oof. The Chiefs got absolutely shellacked in Pittsburgh. Andy Reid wasn’t joking around when he said the Eagles did Kansas City no favors by blowing out the Steelers around in Week 3.

13 – Baltimore Ravens (LW: 11) – The Ravens are a one-point loss away from being 4-0. With that said, they haven’t been overly impressive.

14 – Houston Texans (LW: 15) – After getting shut out in Week 3, the Texans got back on track this week with a win against a bad team.

15 – Los Angeles Rams (LW: 22) – Maybe Jeff Fisher was right when he said he wasn’t going 7-9 this year. The Rams are somehow 3-1 with legitimate wins over the Seahawks and Cardinals despite starting Case Keenum at quarterback. Crazy to think L.A. is first in the NFC West.

16 – Dallas Cowboys (LW: 19) – The Cowboys needed help from the officials to beat a bad 49ers team by only one possession. Dallas was really fortunate to get an undeserved flag for a “late hit” on Dak Prescott. With that said, the rookie quarterback has played well.

17 – Carolina Panthers (LW: 7) – What happened to the 2015 NFC Champions? Carolina’s defense has allowed the fifth most points in the league. Not a great look for former Eagles defensive coordinator Sean McDermott.

18 – Arizona Cardinals (LW: 10) – What happened to the 2015 NFC West Champions? Bruce Arians‘ team isn’t looking like a contender. Making matters worse for the Cardinals is the fact Carson Palmer suffered a concussion in Arizona’s loss to the Rams.

19 – New York Jets (LW: 16) – Ryan Fitzpatrick has thrown nine interceptions in his last two games. That’s bad.

20 – New York Giants (LW: 18) – The G-Men have lost their last two games after starting out 2-0. Odell Beckham Jr. has had a quiet start to the season. Now the Giants have to play on the road against the Packers, who are coming off their bye, on a short week. 2-3 is a real possibility.

21 – Washington Redskins (LW: 24) – Washington is back to .500 after getting a home win over the Browns.

22 – New Orleans Saints (LW: 28) – The Saints have allowed 130 points, which is the highest total in the NFL. That’s 32.5 per game.

23 – San Diego Chargers (LW: 21) – The Chargers have the 10th best point differential in the league despite being 1-3. They’ve got to find a way to win these close games.

24 – Indianapolis Colts (LW: 20) – Keeping Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson didn’t seem like a good idea at the time. Now it only seems worse.

25 – Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 30) – Gus Bradley saved his job by escaping London with a close win over a divisional rival. The Jags are on the board.

26 – Chicago Bears (LW: 29) – Chicago is now 4-14 in their last 18 home games. Improvement!

27 – Detroit Lions (LW: 23) – How did the Lions manage to lose to a bad Bears team led by Brian Hoyer? Detroit could be staring 1-4 in the face with a game against the well-rested Eagles.

28 – Miami Dolphins (LW: 25) – The 28-year-old Ryan Tannehill just isn’t showing the makings of a good franchise quarterback.

29 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 26) – The Buccaneers own the worst point differential in the NFL. They’re 0-3 in their last three.

30 – Tennessee Titans (LW: 27) – Former Eagles quarterback Marcus Mariota is struggling to succeed under Mike Mularkey, which doesn’t seem all that surprising.

31 – Cleveland Browns (LW: 31) – The Browns haven’t got blown out since Week 1 against the Eagles, so I guess there’s that. They’re showing some fight.

32 – San Francisco 49ers (LW: 32) – Chip Kelly’s squad blew a 14-0 lead to the Cowboys. San Francisco got hosed by the refs to some extent but they didn’t do themselves any favors by being unable to stop the run.