NFL Power Rankings Week 4 Rams Chiefs rise above chaos

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NFL Power Rankings, Week 4: Rams, Chiefs rise above chaos Published: Sep 25, 2018 at 03:02 AM Elliot Harrison The Power Rankings are in, with one theme that keeps popping up: That's what I keep hearing, but I will simply say everybody is beating everybody. Consider: The , but were , who , who , who were , who , who , who , who , who AND to the , who , who . Huh? What a Sunday. For everyone who does Power Rankings - incl my dude ....... Scott Hanson (@ScottHanson) This model of parity was the vision of former NFL Commi sioner Paul Tagliabue in the 1990s, as free agency and, more significantly, the salary cap bunched all the league's member clubs even closer together. On the surface, it seemed like a wonderful idea for the NFL, as now franchise's fan base had hope in training camp, no matter how dire the previous year's record. E sentially, "any given Sunday" was truer than ever. Speaking of the '90s and what truly evens out the playing field, look no further than at . 's changes for San Francisco's future, as well as removing a potential wild-card contender from the heap. It also robbed us of seeing a full 60 minutes of a quarterback duel between Garoppolo and Kansas City's . It was in the first year of the aforementioned salary cap that a QB match of epic proportions between these two franchises also took place at Arrowhead Stadium: Montana's former teams are in symmetrical spots this week: second from the bottom, and ... There you go, Chief. As for the rest of the league, see below. I am sure you will find plenty to argue with, if for no other reason than my second paragraph up there. Doesn't it feel like the , the -- and then everybody else? Send your thoughts ... is the place. Let the di sension commence! For more in-depth analysis on the updated league pecking order, tune in to NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET for the "NFL Power Rankings" show. Want to add YOUR voice? Provide your thoughts in a tweet to , and your comments could be featured on air. Previous rank: Clearly the top team in pro football. Which means all those analysts and colleagues of mine who told me I was putting too much stock in 's performance last year ... Well, I don't know what to tell you. His accuracy continues to impre s. he darn near averaged 10 yards per throw -- an incredible rate. Meanwhile, the defense took ' best shots, ultimately producing stops when absolutely imperative. That was the difference in the game. There was also better red-zone efficiency and goal-to-goal performance from Los Angeles. Well, the Los Angeles team. You know, the one that plays on the pitch. Gosh, this L.A. football thing gets confusing. Previous rank: They say records were made to be broken, but this pace reminds me of only one person and year: Dan Marino, 1984. Mahomes is already ahead of Dan The Man's touchdown stride (Marino's then-record-setting 48 scoring to ses remain the most ever by a second-year player) at this point, although Marino's torrid pace down the back stretch will be tough to equal once opponents acquire more tape on the K.C. phenom. At i sue for the surging is the defense, on Sunday. Previous rank: The world champs are back up, but this time with more staying power. wasn't flawle s in the ' His presence was more than felt, however, and the rest of the league should take notice. My colleague Judy Battista certainly did, of Wentz's first action -- and first drive -- post-knee surgery. Also remember that the almost-2017 MVP was leading an offense sans , and . Look out everybody. **Power Rankings side note:** this week is important. While there are so many fans and media covering the game who don't acknowledge anything pre- era, football was indeed played before the late 1960s. As the pa sing side of the NFL grew in the late 1950s and early '60s (especially with the advent of the AFL), no player was as prolific at getting in the end zone as McDonald. The Hall of Famer scored 66 touchdowns in his first seven seasons (all of which were spent with the ), despite the first four of those years featuring 12 games per season. That's incredible. The next-closest guy over that same span didn't even produce 50. Think about that. You know, they used to say about another receiver that "all he does is catch touchdowns." Consider McDonald an early-day Cris Carter, but more of a vertical threat. too. One last note here: McDonald was a bona fide star on the Philadelphia squad that won the NFL title in 1960. Yes, the were once champs *before* . </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: *Bortlesmania* died a quick death The Jags' quarterback (as well as his team) stunk in two outings versus the last year. They weren't much better this time around, although you can't put the lo s on the Jacksonville defense. How often does a team give up nine points and 233 yards -- at home, mind you -- and *lose*? , Jacksonville broke from its identity, logging more dropbacks than rushing attempts. Bortles posted 4.6 yards per attempt. Ugh. </content:power-ranking> Jarvis Landry Jersey Previous rank: This might seem high for the . OK, fair. Consider, though, how the rest of the league is playing at the moment. Carolina all game, in Atlanta, then All those who thought couldn't be a lead back: How does 28 carries for 184 yards sound? Previous rank: for the on the road following and Against the , the offense simply couldn't be stopped. As a sub-conversation, might be the most underrated superstar in the NFL. In three games, he's posted 38 catches for 398 yards and three scores. That's redonkulous. Consider also that will be returning from suspension in two weeks, and that this defense has been playing far under its potential. Ingram's return should allow New Orleans to play more ball control while giving the *other* side of the ball a blow. </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: Clutch football in prime time, that's what that performance was . Vintage. Vintage , too -- looked a lot more like the 2008 postseason run than the knuckleball showing on the muddy pitch in Cleveland . The defense was resilient, though obvious problems exist in the secondary. The pa s rush made its presence known in Tampa, personal fouls and all. Methinks all those personal foul calls are a personal foul. Previous rank: Might seem a bit unfair that the Bucs linger below two teams they already beat. The difference now is that the got their franchise quarterback back and could have WR1 this weekend. Meanwhile, the just logged and will have in the backfield in two weeks, which should help their ailing defense (SEE: ball control). The real question is what Tampa's front office does at quarterback. threw a few bad balls on Monday night, but he started unloading on-time throws in the second half and almost pulled out an epic comeback. The offense has moved the football with him under center, more so than at any time in 's three seasons. Easy decision. Previous rank: From time immemorial, the mighty have fallen when losing the turnover battle, no matter the foe. The 1968 -- one of the greatest regular-season teams of all time -- infamously fell to partially because of turnovers. Dan Marino torched the NFL in his second year for the 14-2 (as mentioned in the blurb above) but fell in the because of two picks. (Not that we especially want to talk Super Bowls when it comes to the and .) Anyway, Buffalo entered the Great Birdkiller in Minnesota with an 0-2 record, and totally inept on offense -- but walked out with a convincing win. That'll happen when a team commits a personal foul to provide a stuttered offense with a free early set of downs ... ... Before the Vikes knew it, the score was 24-zip. Previous rank: The have earned this spot, whether you believe in them or not. has played excellent football for three weeks running, highlighted by a 17-of-23 effort with 289 yards and three touchdowns No picks, either. Don't forget 's The defense was as shaky as it's been thus far, but the unit made up for it by creating one of which Concern? Inconsistency in the run game. Miami must be effective on the ground to be more than a wild-card one-and-done. Previous rank: Before folks start complaining about the 1-2 being ranked above certain 2-1 teams (ahem, fans!), consider for a moment who the Bolts have lost to so far this season. That's right: and The hung with the at their place all afternoon. Wait until stud pa s rusher into the lineup. Mark it down: Anthony Lynn's group will reach the postseason. Previous rank: We are not going to write about a call that doesn't deserve any more characters on Sunday. As for (you know, that sport that involves things like "tackling"), the didn't play their best. The front seven was beaten at the point of attack. Good news: seeing get back in the mix at running back. continues to step forward with ma sively important plays, too. Previous rank: Watching the you got the feeling that coach (and former New England defensive coordinator) Matt Patricia provided his team with a Power Point tutorial and a BMI a se sment on every last player on New England's roster. Meanwhile, the could make life uncomfortable for . Anytime they dedicated more personnel to the back end to play coverage, the ran the rock -- effectively, too. With recently acquired receiver in the mix, defensive end and receiver set to return from suspension in two weeks, this is not time to panic. (Well, not much, anyway.) Previous rank: In a league where the salary cap bears as much weight as scouting and personnel decisions, the most overlooked trait of a succe sful team is . No team in the NFL has been hit harder by injury than the , who, without , , , Takk McKinley and , couldn't have stopped Archie Manning and Bobby Hebert on Sunday, Try winning at che s when you're down a queen, two rooks, a bishop and maybe a knight. Even so, Dan Quinn's guys fought until the bitter end. To score 37 points at home with no turnovers and still lose ... Previous rank: The are not on the decline but this is not the same team to balance the offense and provide a ga sed defense with time to refuel. Sans Mixon, Cincy folded its tent on the ground game becoming one-dimensional and, ultimately, Yes, I know that is Greedy Williams Jersey not a word. Neither is Gio-Bernard-is-not-a-lead-back-ional (although he made some nice plays). enjoyed a nice day (six catches for 132 yards and a score), especially with departing early Of course, the second part of that sentence was the relevant part. Previous rank: Difficult group to rank. While fans won't be pleased that they moved down a slot, I can't put Baltimore over Cincy at this point. And the main reason they dropped a smidge: The and leapfrogged them -- deservedly. The defensive unit is still the strength of this group, yet that's the same side of the ball that the The pa sing game is still amazingly, stunningly, fascinatingly mediocre. The free-agent WRs -- , and -- are producing, but there is little 's yards-per-attempt mark was under 7.0 Decent quarterbacks should average a little higher than 7.0 in that category. But Flacco hasn't hit that plateau for a season since 2014. It's a problem, a huge problem. And it certainly makes matters more challenging for the run game (which was so-so on Sunday) and makes it harder for the defense to hold the fort. Thank goodne s the are still viable there. Previous rank: Like Baltimore, Chicago drops despite And like those , the have an air game that is mostly stuck at the gate -- actually, it's worse than that. The similarly offensively-challenged did everything they po sibly could to let the hang around and win Sunday, which is precisely what happened. The new NFC North terror, , was at it again. Mitch Trubisky was more like He isn't losing games, but he isn't exactly helping this otherwise-ready-for-prime-time team win, either. Put another way: 21-on-21, the are legit. It's that 22nd guy. Matt Nagy must create more opportunities to play to his young quarterback's strengths. Previous rank: The most up-and-down, wonky team in this here league pecking order is yoooooooour . Their fans are feeling half confident about Jay Gruden's 2-1 group. Washington faithful are knowledgeable about their . can't be ignored. Nor can . On the other hand, Washington didn't win because of that free set of downs. The ground game carried its weight with , too -- that was key in a contest that carried elements. How about Daron Payne and fellow 'Bama alum , with 10 tackles and three sacks between them? Gives me hope to not have to drop the into the 20s again. (Gulp.) Previous rank: The pesky -- who refuse to stop grinding, despite an injury-riddled start to the season -- are getting healthier. Sure, it was another nail-biter. But that was also a top-shelf team . At 2-0 in the AFC South, with a road win against the division favorite, the are positioned nicely in the wake of Sunday's defensive slugfest. That said, beating the Jags hasn't been the i sue for this group; beating the rest of the AFC elite has. Throwing for 100 yards per week might also be considered problematic. Previous rank: The quarterback job in Cleveland . And it should be for the rest of the season -- win, lose or draw. If Hue Jackson goes back to the Tyrod well, we might see a Michael Myers reaction in the streets from fans. Don't do it, Hue. Please. Granted, Mayfield's did come , but don't rain on the Baker hype train. I was so happy for fans last Thursday that I started looking at Brian Sipe and Herman Fontenot football cards. And while we're celebrating a genuine W as a family here, let's reminisce about . Previous rank: The turned on the power boosters in the fourth quarter of , and it spilled over into . Over the past five quarters, Detroit has outscored the opposition 40-13, moving the ball with ease -- this after looking completely dysfunctional for the first seven quarters of the season. As of late, the are getting the ball into 's hands, so as to set up easy second or third downs. OC Jim Bob Cooter is also firing up the running game in the Motor City, as the enjoyed their first individual 100-yard rushing performance in years (a factoid the broadcast mentioned 85 times, but 86). carried on past the 100-yard mark, making him the first Lion to do so since Billy Sims in 1982. OK, it hadn't been long. Previous rank: After eking out wins the first two weeks, the fell into the lo s column . The offense? Problematic. The defense? Er, needed more help from the offense. After a strong start, and friends stalled, with penalties being the familiar culprit. because every phase of the game contributed to a whopping 120 yards from yellow flags. Six huge points were taken off the board when Denver was called for an illegal block during the touchdown return off a blocked field goal. A score there could've changed the entire complexion of the game. Oy. Previous rank: for the in front of the home folk, who were fired up pregame by their former enforcer, , . It was easy to stay in that mode after kickoff, as the Seattle defense played like the 2012 version of itself. Or maybe the ' offensive ineptitude made such matters trivial. is making his situation *anything but* trivial -- i.e., organizations need to pony up for premier players. Thomas' two interceptions continuously made the rounds on Twitter, as did . Of course, Twitter didn't seem to notice that his second pick was a bit overblown, the equivalent of somebody catching an errant beachball at a Mariners game. On that note, I bet even Jay Buhner thinks the should pay Thomas. Let's just hope Thomas doesn't . </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: Do you know what my favorite thing about the ' offense is? Absolutely nothing. If you want to see scoring in Dallas, your best bet is to go to Country 2000. Actually, that place has been closed since the early 2000s. Like back when Chad Hutchinson was quarterback. In fact, I think Cowboy fans are wistful for the Chad Hutchinson days right now. hasn't thrown for 185 yards in any of his last five regular-season games. ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE = the new gold standard in Dallas. Even Clint Stoerner must've had regrets about retiring after watching . Previous rank: One week after engaging in the ol' chuck-and-duck offense, received just enough protection to remind folks that he used to be a decent quarterback. Manning picked the apart early, helping the jump out to a 20-3 lead on the way to a 25-for-29, 297-yard day. That included two scoring to ses and zero interceptions. All that, and he still got sacked four times. Not moving the up much until we see more. Only trust them to beat teams like the , , , , , and . Which is why they are ahead of the , , , , , and . Previous rank: The plucky , two weeks after doing the same and a week after delivering . The movie logline of the 20-16 lo s in Philadelphia: Or something like that. Indy kept finding its way inside the ' 20, yet three times, the came away without a touchdown -- and on another, no points at all. By the way, "finding its way" might not carry the kind of action you would expect in sports writing, especially about offense. Although considering the couldn't generate any Sunday (209 yards total), how they stumbled that deep into Philadelphia's side of the field almost defies logic. Previous rank: Call it the most stunning result in the NFL regular season in years -- maybe since the routed the on "Monday Night Football" back in 2014. Sheldon Richardson Jersey Actually, not sure even that outcome was as eye-opening as . While your friendly hack writer was among the many , that same article mentioned (multiple times) that turnovers could be the single factor to even out the tremendous disadvantage Buffalo faced coming into Sunday's game. faced the usual fire drill up front on several plays, but he still managed to perform efficiently as a pa ser whilst running for two scores. was spectacular, man. Somewhere, Joe Ferguson must be proud. #BILLS Previous rank: Have you ever seen a team performance graded at F-minus? Seems John McClain was in one of his moods, the kind brought about by an 0-3 start and shoddy play all around. OK, there were a couple of bright spots. was disruptive, tallying three sacks and a forced fumble. The mostly kept the much-ballyhooed in check. Their own running backs made up for it by averaging about 1 yard per carry. At least no one is blaming coaching for the awful start ... Previous rank: is receding further and further into the rearview. While the defense might have been riddled by the ' head-banded Boy Wonder, the ' offense more resembled a biplane in the second half . Six drives resulted in a punt, fumble, punt, field goal, interception, interception. Whereas was looking like Maverick after Week 1, he's morphed into Slider the last two weeks. That was the guy in "Top Gun" who had perfect hair but added little to the winning scenes. He was in "Roxanne," though. Tell me one of you out there saw that movie. </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: Jon Gruden , lamenting penalties that cost the field position, as well as other a sorted mistakes. Sounded like the coach felt his played just well enough to lose at the end of the game. Oakland marched right down the field on the opening drive, thanks to and . (The guy produced a throwback day straight out of 2014.) The next Raider foray -- 95 yards in nine plays -- was an absolute beaut. Well, save for the last play, when fullback was stuffed on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Ultimately, two interceptions were costly. Hey, at least the got a sack. Yay. Previous rank: The news couldn't have been any worse for the . , as well as the 1-2 start, probably makes it a wrap for the Niners' season. The defense has already endured its struggles through three weeks, letting the move right down the field two Sundays ago, then failing to silence the Experience in Kansas City. Now the reins will be handed back over to , who went 1-4 with a 68.7 pa ser rating in his five starts last season. He's a young player, so you never know how much upside is lurking under those pads. Next up: . Oh, boy. Previous rank: The era began in earnest on Sunday in Arizona. The rotten play-calling continued in earnest. Did you watch the game? Probably not. Story time, kids: The Cards handed Rosen the keys, down 16-14 to the late in the fourth quarter. On third-and-2, and within striking distance of field-goal range, Arizona called a running play with 's . Negative-3 yards later, it's fourth-and-5. So, now we have a rookie QB in his first NFL action ever, game in the balance, versus a top-five defense. Despite having all three timeouts remaining, Steve Wilks and staff eschew stopping the clock to fully prep their 21-year-old signal-caller and just go with the play as called. Two hugely important plays, no timeout called, and their top offensive player doesn't touch the ball. Alrighty. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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