2011 NFL Power Rankings: Week 6
Once again, there were surprises all around as some teams continued to rise and others continued to fall in the rankings after Week 5 of the 2011 NFL season. One of the biggest surprises may be the Philadelphia Eagles–who dropped their fourth-straight game after a 31-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Here’s a look at the 2011 NFL Power Rankings for Week 4–with the team’s previous rank listed in parenthesis.
1. (1) Green Bay Packers 5-0: The argument can be made this was the most impressive win for the Packers this season–mainly because it looked like their perfect record was in jeopardy at the beginning of the game. Not only did Aaron Rodgers (26 of 39 passes for 393 yards with two touchdowns) display another impressive performance, but he showed how many weapons this team has on offense. The fact that Rodgers threw to 12 different receivers shows how dangerous this team can be each week. Not to mention the defense should be pleased for holding the Falcons to just 14 points on offense–all of which came in the first half.
2. (2) New England Patriots 4-1: Another strong outing for Wes Welker (five catches for 124 yards), but it was BenJarvus Green-Ellis who led the way for the Patriots in Week 5 after rushing for 136 yards against the Jets to along with two touchdowns. Considering how well the Bills are playing this early in the season, every win is important for the Patriots and they will need all of the division wins they can get. Nobody wanted to beat the Jets more than Tom Brady after what happened last postseason and it’s safe to say he enjoyed this one even more with the rest of his teammates.
3. (3) New Orleans Saints 4-1: Obviously, how far this team will go relies heavily on Drew Brees–but the defense needs to get their act together if the Saints have any chance of being a legitimate threat in the NFC. While the Panthers deserve credit considering how impressive Cam Newton has looked over his first five career games, the Saints are clearly the better team on paper and there was no reason for this game to be as close as it was. New Orleans should consider themselves lucky considering how close Carolina was to pulling off the upset.
4.(4) Detroit Lions 5-0: They got off to a shaky start, but the Lions eventually came around and continued their hot start with a big division win over the Bears on Monday night. Calvin Johnson continues to prove he’s one of the best wide receivers in the NFL and now has nine touchdowns over his first five games of the season–which is an NFL record. At this rate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Matthew Stafford found his name in the mix with Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees when discussing who deserves MVP for the 2011 season.
5. (8) Buffalo Bills 4-1: There were still a few doubters about whether or not the Bills were for real after their Week 4 loss to the Bengals–but it’s safe to say they are now believers after an impressive win over the Eagles. This team had no issues exposing the weaknesses of the “Dream Team” and knew Fred Jackson–who finished with 196 yards from the line of scrimmage to go along with one touchdown–would be the key factor for their fourth win of the season and used him as much as possible. Not only has this team already matched their win total from 2010 heading into Week 6, but Buffalo looks like a legitimate contender with big wins over the Patriots and Eagles so far this season.
6. (5) Baltimore Ravens 3-1: The Ravens hope the bye week pays off after dealing with injuries on both sides of the ball–but the main factor heading into Week 6 is which team will show up against the Texans on Sunday. Despite their impressive 3-1 start, Baltimore has plenty of questions still on offense and Joe Flacco needs to work on his consistency. They may have an advantage over a Texans team in Week 6 that will be playing without two of their stars in Andre Johnson and Mario Williams–but it certainly won’t be easy.
7. (14) San Francisco 49ers 4-1: Be honest–how many people expected the 49ers to look this impressive through the first five weeks of the regular season? Their come from behind win over the Eagles in Week 4 was impressive, but Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers was a statement for how much talent this team actually has. After six years of criticism, Alex Smith–who has thrown just one interception through five games–seems to have finally found a head coach in Jim Harbaugh that knows how to get the best out of him and his chances of sticking around in San Francisco beyond this season may be just fine after all.
8. (12) San Diego Chargers 4-1: The Chargers continue to find new ways to win games each week despite the struggles of Philip Rivers–but none of that matters as long as they keep winning. For a team that has been known to get off to shaky starts, the fact that San Diego is 4-1 heading into Week 6 is a great sign and they should be considered the favorites in the AFC West. Still, Rivers needs to figure out a way to get his turnover problem under control if this team has any chance of returning to the playoffs this season.
9. (6) Houston Texans 3-2: Losing Mario Williams for the season hurts, but the Texans are still talented enough to win the AFC South without their defensive superstar. Once again, Houston found themselves in a situation where they could have easily won the game–only to come up on the losing end. Matt Schaub choked on the final play of the game when he was five yards away from the end zone and threw an interception when he was wide open to run the ball in on his own. This team should be 5-0, but instead–they’re tied with the Titans for the lead in the AFC South.
10. (16) Pittsburgh Steelers 3-2: Now this looked like the dominant Steelers team from the last couple of seasons and it was good to see Ben Roethlisberger–who completed 24 of 34 passes for 228 yards with five touchdowns and one interceptions–have his first big game of the 2011 season. Considering Tennessee had yet to allow an opponent score more than 16 points through the first four weeks–this was the type of win Pittsburgh needed. Now, the question is whether or not they can stay consistent with favorable matchups over the next two weeks against the Jaguars and Cardinals before a key game against the Patriots in Week 8.
11. (19) Oakland Raiders 3-2: After the tragic news of Al Davis passing away, the Raiders wanted to win more than anything against the Texans and came through for their beloved owner with one of the most emotional wins ever witnessed in sports. Hue Jackson deserves all of the credit in the world for coaching his players through this difficult process and Oakland continues to look like a contender after an impressive road win in Houston. As crazy as it sounds, this team could be sitting at 6-2 heading into Week 10 with favorable matchups against Cleveland, Kansas City, and Denver over their next three games.
12. (11) Washington Redskins 3-1: It’s still difficult to imagine the Redskins on top of the NFC East this early in the season after all of the criticism taken by Rex Grossman during training camp–but this team continues to impress each week. Washington finds themselves in the perfect position to make a statement in Week 6 with Philadelphia coming to town. With all of the problems surrounding the Eagles’ offensive line, there’s no reason why the Redskins’ defense can’t display a similar performance like they did against Sam Bradford and the Rams in Week 4.
13. (10) Tennessee Titans 3-2: The Titans were one of the biggest surprises over the first four weeks of the regular season and it’s difficult to determine whether or not they should be considered a threat. Tennessee looked phenomenal against Baltimore in Week 2, but their blowout loss to Pittsburgh showed plenty of reasons to be concerned–especially since they failed to take advantage of a terrible Steelers’ offensive line. If this team has any chance of competing with the Texans in the AFC South, Chris Johnson needs to get out of his slump–or the Titans may be heading towards another collapse in the second half of the season.
14. (7) New York Giants 3-2: One week after getting lucky for a questionable fumble by Victor Cruz, the Giants will look back to this Week 5 game against the Seahawks and realize how they gave the game away. Giving up 14 points in the final three minutes of the game is nothing but embarrassing for New York and there’s no reason why this team should have lost to Seattle–even if they were playing without Brandon Jacobs. However, if there has to be a positive taken away from this loss–it would be Victor Crus (eight catches for 161 yards with one touchdown) continues to step it up in the passing game.
15. (9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2: What happened to this team in Week 5? After three-straight impressive wins, the Buccaneers looked like they were ready to contend with the best in the NFC–only to be embarrassed by the 49ers 48-3. There wasn’t anything positive to take away from this game and it’s difficult to determine what to expect from Tampa Bay after a disappointing outing like this. Josh Freeman’s two interceptions give him six on the season–which is how much he had in all of 2010.
16. (18) Dallas Cowboys 2-2: As bad as it sounds, this team could be sitting at 4-0 coming off the bye week if it wasn’t for two second-half collapses in both losses to the Jets and Lions this season. With all of the questions surrounding Tony Romo, the quarterback will get a chance to prove himself in a tough matchup against Tom Brady and company in New England–who ranks 31st in passing yards allowed per game–on Sunday. The fact that Miles Austin–who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury–was able to practice on Monday is a good sign considering Dallas will need all of the weapons they have for any chance at leaving Foxboro with a win.
17. (21) Cincinnati Bengals 3-2: Forget all of the hype surrounding the Bills in the AFC–the Bengals have been one of the biggest surprises in 2011 after another impressive win against the Jaguars. The defense looked solid once again and Andy Dalton did just enough to help his team pick up their third win of the season. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Cincinnati considering all of the key departures during the offseason–but that’s clearly not the case as they are one win away from matching last season’s total.
18. (15) New York Jets 2-3: What do you think Rex Ryan will have to say this week about his team’s Super Bowl chances? The Jets seemed to hang around for most of the game against the Patriots, but that doesn’t change the fact this team has now lost three-straight games after opening the season 2-0. Lucky for New York, they receive a favorable matchup in the national spotlight against a Miami team that has yet to win a game in 2011 next Monday night. If they can’t get things going then–it may be time for the Jets to hit the panic button.
19. (13) Chicago Bears 2-3: Once again, there was absolutely zero protection for Jay Cutler from the Bears’ offensive line and the defending NFC North champions appear to be in trouble now that they’re officially three games back from both the Packers and Lions in the division. It’s hard to win ball games when a team converts 14 penalties and Chicago struggled with false starts thanks to a fired-up Detroit crowd excited for an opportunity to play on Monday Night Football. The worst stat of the game–the Bears allowed Jahvid Best to rush for 163 yards on just 12 carries.
20. (17) Atlanta Falcons 2-3: Even if they were playing against the defending Super Bowl champions–there’s no reason why the Falcons couldn’t come up on the winning end Sunday night. Atlanta jumped out to an early 14-0 lead only to completely shutdown for the rest of the as they failed to put up a single point in the second half. This is clearly not the same dominant team from a year ago and everybody expected them to be strong contenders in the NFC this season. If that has any chance of happening, Matt Ryan and company better figure out a way to start winning more games–or they’ll be watching the playoffs from home in January.
21. (24) Seattle Seahawks 2-3: Call it luck, call it whatever. Either way, the Seahawks came up with a big win on the road against the Giants thanks to 14 points in the final three minutes of the game–including a 94-yard interception returned for a touchdown by Brandon Browner. With the status of Tarvaris Jackson–who suffered a petoral injury–up in the air, it should be interesting to see if Seattle decides to go with Charlie Whitehurst in Week 7 considering he looked impressive in the second half against New York.
22. (28) Kansas City Chiefs 2-3: All of a sudden–it appears there may be some life in the Chiefs after a rocky 0-3 start. After getting off to a rough start against Indianapolis, Kansas City bounced back thanks to impressive performances by Matt Cassel, Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston, and Jackie Battle. Of course, this team still has plenty of work to do considering the Chargers are off to a 4-1 start. Not to mention the Chiefs still have to play the rest of the season without star running back Jamaal Charles and safety Eric Berry.
23. (23) Cleveland Browns 2-2: It’s difficult to determine what to make of the Browns–who are coming off a bye week–as they head into a tough Week 6 matchup against the Oakland Raiders. Colt McCoy continues to show potential each week, but he’s still far from being the type of franchise quarterback Cleveland hopes he turns out to be. Considering the lack of options he has at wide receiver, McCoy has performed fairly well so far–but there’s no way he can afford to throw for 61 passes again like he did against the Titans in Week 4 if the Browns have any chance against the Raiders this weekend.
24. (20) Philadelphia Eagles 1-4: Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for the City of Brotherly Love–a road game against the red-hot Bills happened and the Eagles season is slowly beginning to slip away. There’s absolutely no excuse for this team to have four losses this early in the season and Andy Reid’s decision to promote Juan Castillo from offensive line coach to defensive coordinator has obviously backfired. Philadelphia knew their areas of weakness were on the offensive line and at linebacker–but nobody could have predicted things to be this bad.
25. (22) Carolina Panthers 1-4: Give this team credit–the Panthers are playing at a much higher level than anyone could have expected at this point in the season and they are certainly better than their record indicates. All four of Carolina’s losses have been by seven points or less and they were on the verge of upsetting New Orleans on Sunday if it wasn’t for Drew Brees leading a late touchdown drive. Forget all of the doubts about Cam Newton–this kid is the real deal and has a bright future as quarterback for the Panthers.
26. (32) Minnesota Vikings 1-4: After four weeks of frustration, the Vikings finally picked up their first win of the 2011 season–but they still trail the undefeated Packers and Lions by four games in the NFC North. While Donovan McNabb continues to struggle (10 of 21 passes for 169 yards), it was Adrian Peterson that stepped it up on offense after rushing for 122 yards to go along with three touchdowns. Still, Minnesota was playing a weak team in Arizona–so there’s no reason to make a big deal over this win.
27. (25) Arizona Cardinals 1-4: So far, the Kevin Kolb trade has not worked out the way Arizona thought it would through the first five games. All five of Kolb’s touchdowns were thrown over the first three games and he’s struggled to take advantage of having Larry Fitzgerald as one of his targets. Expectations weren’t high for the Cardinals to begin with for this season–but this team seems like they could be performing at a higher level than they have over the first five weeks of the season.
28. (27) Denver Broncos 1-4: If John Fox were smart, he would give Tim Tebow a chance at the starting job considering the spark he provided to the Broncos’ offense in the second half against the Chargers. At this point in the season, there’s no reason for Denver to continue playing Orton since he hasn’t performed at a certain level to set himself apart from Tebow. Who knows–maybe Tebow is just what this team needs to finally get things going after a disappointing 1-4 start to the season.
29. (26) Jacksonville Jaguars 1-4: What is going on with this team? It’s understandable they’re going through growing pains with a rookie quarterback in Blaine Gabbert–but this team seems to just collapse in the second half of games. There’s no reason why the Jaguars should have allowed the Bengals to score two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game on their own field–but that’s the type of season it’s been so far for these guys. Don’t be surprised if Jack Del Rio’s seat heats up even more over these next few weeks.
30. (29) Indianapolis Colts 0-5: Considering they built up a 24-7 lead in the first half, it seemed like the Colts were going to record their first win of the 2011 season after falling just short the previous two weeks. Instead, this team completely shutdown in the second half and had no answers for the Chiefs’ passing game. This team is clearly not the same without Peyton Manning, but this was one of those games where they should have come up on the winning end. On the bright side, at least Curtis Painter has looked impressive in his first two career starts.
31. (30) Miami Dolphins 0-4: As bad as it sounds, these next few weeks could determine what happens with Tony Sparano as head coach for the Dolphins. After four tough losses to start the season, things don’t get any easier for the Dolphins with matchups against the Giants, Broncos, and Jets over the next three weeks. Not to mention this team has to adjust to life without Chad Henne–who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4 against the Browns–at quarterback.
32. (31) St. Louis Rams 0-4: No team was looking more forward to having a bye week than the Rams considering all of the injuries suffered over the first four games. While their 0-4 start is obviously disappointing considering all of the offseason hype after a surprise 7-9 finish in 2010, there’s a good chance St. Louis could be looking at an 0-7 start with their next three games against Green Bay, Dallas, and New Orleans. Too bad this team has no interest in the Andrew Luck contest considering they may be right there with the Dolphins for the worst team in the NFL when the season is done.
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
Be sure to follow Dan on Twitter @DanParzych
Email Dan: [email protected]
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