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The two best teams in the NFL just got company after the San Diego Chargers laid the wood on the pathetic New York Jets, but it wasn't enough to unseat either the Seattle Seahawks or Denver Broncos after a couple of impressive performances by both of those teams in Week 5 of the 2014 regular season.
I took a Bye from power rankings along with the Denver Broncos, but I am back this week with some scintillating commentary from yours truly.
Check out last week's rankings, but there is a column to track how the teams changed from last week.
RNK |
TEAM |
INSTANT ANALYSIS |
1 |
Seattle Seahawks |
Record 3-1. Russell Wilson ran hog wild against the Washington Redskins and the Seattle Seahawks are still the best team in football. My only worry here is that the Seahawks are the 90s version of the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos the 90s version of the Buffalo Bills. That would totally suck! On a positive note, we can make fun of the Bleacher Report here. (H/T to Scotty Payne for digging this gem up!)
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2 |
Denver Broncos |
Record 3-1. We finally witnessed a complete game from Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos offense, but more important, the Broncos defense came alive after some early miscues. That one 81 yard touchdown in the second half was a fluke completion that would probably never get completed in a 100 more attempts just like it. Outside of that, the defense was dominant holding the Cardinals to just 118 yards passing and 37 yards rushing for the game. In fact, Logan Thomas was 1/8 with that one completion being that fluke 81 yard touchdown pass. Things certainly seem to be coming together for the Broncos. I like that. Plus Von Miller is back, baby!![]() |
3 |
San Diego Chargers |
Record 4-1. Oh nelly. Philip Rivers is playing out of his mind right now and the San Diego Chargers actually look like a Top 5 team in the NFL. I have not been this excited for a Broncos-Chargers game since that Monday Night Football game in Peyton Manning's first season with the Broncos. It's not going to be easy, but it should be incredibly exciting either way. And until the Chargers slay the Manning dragon, they cannot rank above them here. |
4 |
Philadelphia Eagles |
Record 4-1. Is there another 4-1 team in the league that you trust less than the Philadelphia Eagles? For a little while, they look like the Denver Broncos on offense. Unbeatable. Then they'll go on a stretch that makes you think you are watching the Kansas City Chiefs. Which team is the real one? |
5 |
New England Patriots |
Record 3-2. Picking Tom Brady to go into full-on "FU" mode against the Cincinnati Bengals was such an obvious pick, that I was shocked when more than half my opponents in the 40+ person pick'em league I am went with Andy Dalton and the Bengals. Easy pickings for me as the New England Patriots obliterated the upstart Bengals on Sunday Night Football. In fact, I am already looking forward to the overreaction to the Bengals loss for next weeks pick'em challenge. With this quality win, the Patriots edge back into the Top 5. |
6 |
Indianapolis Colts |
Record 3-2. Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts after a rough 0-2 start have ripped off two forty-burgers and a defensive slugfest against the Baltimore Ravens to claw back into a first place tie in the AFC South with the Texans. Whom they just happen to play this Thursday. I know who I am picking and it ain't the bearded wonder down in Houston. |
7 |
Cincinnati Bengals |
Record 3-1. With the embarrassing let down on national television, the Cincinnati Bengals drop back to where I originally thought they would be. Just outside the top 5, but solidly within the top 10. Dalton needs someone other than A.J. Green to rely on in the passing game, but I just don't see where that might come from. Although, the Bengals handling of the Devon Still deal is nothing short of inspiring. My prayers are with that cute little girl. I hope the treatments are 100% successful. |
8 |
Arizona Cardinals |
Record 3-1. The Arizona Cardinals were barely competitive, but thanks to some Broncos miscues and one heck of a lucky catch the game was a lot closer than it should have been before the Broncos exploded on offense late. The Cardinals are a borderline playoff team though, but its only a matter of time before the Seattle Seahawks overtake them for the division lead. |
9 |
Green Bay Packers |
Record 3-2. Dayum! Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are going hog wild all of a sudden scoring 80 freaking points over a span of five days. Now they get a mini-Bye to prepare for a trip down to Miami to keep things rolling after consecutive punkings of NFC North rivals. Hopefully, they aren't due for another "let down" game. |
10 |
San Francisco 49ers |
Record 3-2. If the San Francisco 49ers can't figure out how to score touchdowns, its going to get rough for them. Right now, I am licking my chops for Week 7 because I just don't see how they beat the Broncos with field goals. Colin Kaepernick appears to have little trust in the red zone from his own coaching staff, but that could just be a casual biased observation from someone with very little skin in their game. Either way, touchdowns win games. It also helps to have Jedi mind powers like Frank Gore who made Dee Ford run the opposite direction on this play. It's okay to laugh. > |
11 |
Dallas Cowboys |
Record 4-1. Tony Romo seems to be having a Philip Rivers-like rresurgence in 2014 and it could be due to Demarco Murray being in full-on beast mode through the first five games. I expected this team to be as bad or worse than the Washington Redskins in the NFC East, but here they are hanging right there with the Philadelphia Eagles for the top spot. |
12 |
Carolina Panthers |
Record 3-2. Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers showed a ton of resolve against the Bear. Enough so, that the defense was able to spring the final leg of the comeback to ensure victory. Newton appears to have realized that his greatest red zone weapon is none other than Greg Olson. I'm still not sure if the Panthers are going to get to 10 wins. |
13 |
Baltimore Ravens |
Record 3-2. There is no cherry coating this, but the Baltimore Ravens were dominated until the final quarter where they made the game much closer than it should have been. Part of that is credited to Joe Flacco, but that Ravens defense has been so good at keeping games close enough for these kinds of comebacks. I'll be curious to see if they can keep pace with the Bengals. |
14 |
New Orleans Saints |
Record 2-3. What is up with Drew Brees and these New Orleans Saints? I know the defense is absolutely terrible, but the offense hasn't really been in sync all season so far. If they had lost at home against the hapless Buccaneers I think the wheels would have completely come off this team. They won in overtime, which could become a galvanizing moment for this talented, but struggling football team. We'll see... |
15 |
New York Giants |
Record 3-2. The New York Giants are on fire over the last three weeks, scoring thirty twice and forty-five once. It's not just the offense getting it done either, the defense has stepped up holding teams to just seventeen points per game. Eli Manning doesn't suck anymore either. Just in case you were still believing in that narrative. |
16 |
Houston Texans |
Record 3-2. This one hurt. I was one of two people in my pick'em league to pick the Houston Texans to go into Dallas and come out with the win. Their rough overtime loss ensured that my week went completely to shit after that when it came to picks. It was nice to see them feed the rock to Arian Foster all night long, because that is the only way they are going to find wins with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. |
17 |
Buffalo Bills |
Record 3-2. With the Buffalo Bills win, it could mean they are a 9-win football team since Matthew Stafford never beats winning teams. I totally made fun of Kyle Orton and his difficulty handling wet balls, so his pick-six was something that made me drool like Homer Simpson. I even thought of Tim Tebow for a moment. But then he went all Peyton Manning on the Lions with 300 yards and comeback win. Sigh...Tebow Time has to wait another week! lol |
18 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
Record 3-2. Okay, so the Pittsburgh Steelers are not the 2013 version of the Kansas City Chiefs. Why? Because they can't even beat the cup cakes. Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers play at the Browns next week then both the Texans and Colts on the road. Something tells me this team will be 3-5 at that point and exactly where I thought they would be - at or just under a .500 football team. |
19 |
Atlanta Falcons |
Record 2-3. Guess how many road games the Atlanta Falcons have played so far? Yep, that would be three. All losses. They play at home next week though, so I bet they'll bounce back from their two game skid on the road. Matt Ryan needs to be told that you have to win at least half of your road games if you want to really make a push for a playoff berth. |
20 |
Chicago Bears |
Record 2-3. Oh Jay Cutler, I pretty much knew this was going to be the outcome of this game and yet, I picked you to win. Stupid me. It was nice of you to throw a perfect ill-timed interception to seal the impressive comeback win for the Carolina Panthers. Chicago Bears fans still love you though, but us Broncos fans know exactly what kind of quarterback you are. Have fun with another 8-8 season, folks! |
21 |
Detroit Lions |
Record 3-2. The Detroit Lions are a joke. They will win eight games, but if I were a Lions fan, I would put a brown paper bag on my head immediately. All that talent. Wasted. |
22 |
Cleveland Browns |
Record 2-2. The Cleveland Browns are really surprising me this season and they could be on the verge of doing some serious damage in the AFC North. Here is the margin of defeat/victory in all four of their games in 2014: 3, 2, 2, 1. If you believe in trends, I think we are about due for a tie game here pretty soon. These guys do remind me a heck of a lot like the Cleveland Indians from that movie Major League. I love that! |
23 |
Kansas City Chiefs |
Record 2-3. Alex Smith did not get to enjoy revenge against his former team last week, joining every other number one overall pick ever to face their former team. Even Peyton Manning lost in his return to Indianapolis last year. The Kansas City Chiefs are playing hard, but obviously I'm not going to give them any respect. Beat the San Diego Chargers, then we'll see about that respect thing. This is how you celebrate losing, I guess.![]() |
24 |
Miami Dolphins |
Record 2-2. The Miami Dolphins had a Bye Week this week, but their dismantling of the Oakland Raiders was fairly impressive. Still, they were also dismantled themselves by the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. I'm not sure how much stock I can put into this club. If you wanted my guess on where the Dolphins end up I would probably say 7-9 or 6-10. |
25 |
Washington Redskins |
Record 1-4. I don't care about record when it comes to the Washington Redskins. With Kirk Cousins, the wins will start to come here soon. They fought the defending Super Bowl champions hard and even though their own home stadium was filled with fair weather bandwagon Seattle Seahawks fans, they took the defending champs to the limit. I think this team fights its way back to .500, but the big question is whether Robert Griffin III is given back the starting job when he returns from injury. If that happens, all bets are off. He has regressed fairly badly and him starting will result in plenty of losses. I'll be curious to see what they do for 2015 and beyond. |
26 |
Minnesota Vikings |
Record 2-3. The Minnesota Vikings sure got steamrolled on Thursday Night Football. Somehow they have 2 wins this season, but I would take a gander and say they are trending downward. They can't seem to get anything going without the threat of child beater Adrian Peterson attacking the opposing defensive lines. Then again, Peterson seems to enjoy laundering his charity money to support his work in the field of family-friendly orgies. Seriously. WTF... |
27 |
St. Louis Rams |
Record 1-4. The St. Louis Rams have been far more competitive with their third string quarterback than the other two guys and I'm starting to think they might be due for a win soon. I'll probably balk at picking them because their "strength" is supposed to be the defense, but that defense is getting scortched over and over again. |
28 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
Record 1-4. Since their 56-14 embarrassment as the hands of the Atlanta Falcons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have played their butts off. That's two games in a row now that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have woken up to play ball. They are still only a one-win team, but they are no longer the embarrassment they were on Thursday Night Football three weeks ago. The nearly went into New Orleans and won that game. |
29 |
Tennessee Titans |
Record 1-4. Seriously. You were up 28-3. Brian Hoyer is not Peyton FREAKING Manning. How did this happen? Not only did you screw me in my pick'em league, but you BLEW A 25 POINT LEAD AT HOME. And lost. This isn't quite as bad as Josh McDaniels and Kyle Orton's 59-point disaster at home to the Raiders, but its still a fireable offense if you ask me! |
30 |
New York Jets |
Record 1-4. Geno Smith is a elite! Oh poor New York Jets fans. They just can't seem to see that the quarterbacks their franchise selects are not really that good. They need to start listening to the rest of us who are immediately saying "bust" when the pick is made. We actually know more about talent evaluation than your front office, unfortunately. Michael Vick could provide a nice spark though. |
31 |
Oakland Raiders |
Record 0-4. Well, now its Tony Sparano's turn to coach the Oakland Raiders for a bit before getting fired and blamed for what can only be a ownership problem after a decade of embarrassment. Dennis Allen probably wasn't ready to be a head coach, but he performed admirably considering the organization gutted the team and tried to spend as little money as possible to rebuild in the interim. Allen was screwed from the get go. Derek Carr is surely going to be a ruined quarterback four years from now as the coaching carousel will likely continue in 2015 and beyond. |
32 |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
Record 0-5. Blake Bortles is playing pretty well for a rookie quarterback, especially when considering how deficient in talent the Jacksonville Jaguars are. It's going to be a long season for this franchise, but they should sneak a win or two before its all over. Number one overall draft picks can fix their talent problems over time. |