NFL Week 4 Power Rankings

Rank	Team	Last Week	Off. Rank	Def. Rank
1	Green Bay Packers	-	8	29
The Packers have been giving up boatloads of passing yards on defense, but their red zone defense has been stingy. They just had their first turnovers of the season in last week’s game against the Bears. They will need Clay Matthews to get going on defense, though.
2	Baltimore Ravens	-	11	13
If Torrey Smith can keep taking the top off of opposing defenses the way he did last week in St. Louis, they will become an even better offense. They have had some issues against the pass, but I’m not worried about a secondary led by Ed Reed just yet.
3	New England Patriots	-	1	32
They can score with anyone, but so do their opponents. Tom Brady was a victim of Bill Belichick’s egotistical playcalling. They threw the ball too much despite leading 21-0. They let the Bills right back into the game. What are the odds Tom Brady has another 4 INT game the rest of the year? Less than 2%? Under 1%? If they don’t fix that defense, they could find themselves going home early in the playoffs for the 3rd straight year.
4	New Orleans Saints	-	2	21
Including the Week 1 loss to the Packers, they have blistered 3 solid opposing defenses in the first month of the season. Once they get Mark Ingram and their running game going, they’ll be even more unstoppable. I think they would do well to blitz less and help their secondary out more, instead of exposing them so often.
5	Buffalo Bills	-	3	26
They looked like the Bills of old when they fell behind 21-0 last week. You had to be wondering if they were a fluke, then the 2nd half happened. Wow. Chan Gailey is absolutely on fire as a playcaller and Ryan Fitzpatrick looks like Joe Montana right now. They have the offensive firepower, but their secondary has had major issues so far.
6	Detroit Lions	-	10	6
They passed the road test at the Metrodome last week and Matt Stafford has been dominant. They’ll go as far as he’ll carry them. The schedule has been kind to them as they still haven’t faced an elite QB.
7	New York Jets	-	16	11
Where is the running game? For a team that prided itself on smashmouth, “ground and pound” football, the running game has been pedestrian at best. Mark Sanchez can’t win games by himself, especially when he can’t get the ball into Santonio Holmes’s and Plaxico Burress’s hands on a consistent basis. Was the loss of Nick Mangold that devastating to their offense?
8	Houston Texans	-	9	14
So much for that top-ranked defense. Granted, New Orleans can do that to a lot of defenses. Unfortunately, there are a lot of good offenses in the playoffs, should the Texans make it that far. The offense’s red zone woes have to be fixed. It cost them last week.
9	Pittsburgh Steelers	-	13	2
Despite their god-awful offensive line play, they still remain one of the AFC’s elite teams. Sure, Warren Sapp would have you believe they’re too old to dominate on defense, but after the Ravens debacle, they’ve been merciless against opposing offenses.
10	San Diego Chargers	-	4	8
They haven’t impressed at all, barely beating two bottom feeders in Minnesota and Kansas City at home and getting whooped at New England, but a 2-1 start is miles ahead of where they usually are this time of year.
11	New York Giants	-	20	18
Beat them now, because that defense and Eli Manning are only going to improve as the year goes on. They dominated the Eagles last week.
12	Dallas Cowboys	-	5	5
The most-discussed team in the NFL silenced a few (but not all) naysayers with a nice comeback win on Monday night.
13	Tampa Bay Bucs	-	22	24
Their offense has been mightily struggling but the Bucs have played scrappy football well enough to start with 2 wins. The offsides penalty induced by Josh Freeman at the end of the Falcons game was one of the cleverest plays of the week. As he improves, the Bucs will. They need to do a better job running the ball, though.
14	Philadelphia Eagles	-	6	12
They can’t stop the run, Mike Vick can’t stay healthy, and their offensive line is a mess. Other than that, the Eagles are a solid team. The secondary had been playing well until they got shredded by Eli Manning and Victor Cruz last week.
15	Atlanta Falcons	-	19	22
1-2 wasn’t the start they were hoping for, but a schedule featuring the Bears, Eagles, and Bucs isn’t fun for any team, no matter how good. They need to get Michael Turner in a rhythm to help Matt Ryan.
16	Oakland Raiders	-	14	28
No team is more impressive when they step on the field for pregame warm-ups. They’ve got a ton of big and fast guys. Hue Jackson has been pushing all the right buttons so far and training camp sensation Denarius Moore has lived up to the hype in limited duty. They’re one defensive meltdown at Buffalo away from 3-0 and have to be causing shudders down south in San Diego.
17	Chicago Bears	-	23	25
I continue to hold out hope that the Bears will one day fix their offensive line, which has been truly offensive to Jay Cutler all year. So much for committing to the running game- Cutler was the leading rusher against Green Bay with a whopping 11 yards. Mike Martz needs to protect his quarterback, not get him killed. Must the defense do everything for the Bears?
18	Washington Redskins	-	15	16
THAT looked a little bit more like what we expected from Rex Grossman at the beginning of the year. Still, He’s worked well under Mike Shanahan and sudden QB development after age 30 isn’t unheard of- guys like Rich Gannon, Trent Green, and Brad Johnson all improved their accuracy well after the big 3-0. Maybe Rex is one of the next members of that group. If he is and can keep it up, that defense will keep them in the thick of the NFC East. The early win over the Giants could be huge down the stretch.
19	Tennessee Titans	-	17	1
Chris Johnson has been awful and Kenny Britt is done for the year. They’ve outperformed expectations on defense. They might’ve been good enough to sneak into the playoffs but the loss of Britt is devastating to their offense and I frankly wonder how they’ll move the ball if Johnson can’t get it going.
20	Carolina Panthers	-	7	17
Cam Newton is human, after all. And finally gotten that first win too. They are now his team. Jerry Richardson has to be thrilled about the youngster’s development and what he means for the team both financially and football-wise. DeAngelo Williams has proven to be totally unworthy of his big contract.
21	San Francisco 49ers	-	32	7
They are this close to being 3-0. That’s all with Mr. Checkdown at QB, too. Can Jim Harbaugh still play QB? The pass defense has been spotty, but overall their defense has been decent.
22	Arizona Cardinals	-	18	27
1-2 with losses to Rex Grossman and Tavaris Jackson. That’s not what the Cardinals expected when they traded for Kevin Kolb. He has to play better or someone else in the division will get hot and pass them by while they’re stuck in neutral.
23	Cleveland Browns	-	26	9
Quick, name any 2 of their WR’s. You couldn’t do it, either? They need to get Colt McCoy some weapons, and fast. Montario Hardesty looked pretty solid for a guy making his NFL debut last week.
24	St. Louis Rams	-	21	31
Is this too high for a winless team? Maybe, but their schedule has been brutal and they do have talent.
25	Miami Dolphins	-	12	30
Tick…tick…tick….the time-bomb attached to Tony Sparano’s coaching position keeps on ticking. When it’ll blow, no one knows!
26	Jacksonville Jaguars	-	28	4
How Jack Del Rio has stayed their coach is quite beyond me. They aren’t going to the playoffs so coddling Blaine Gabbert only hurts them more. Which is probably exactly what they’ll do. That’s why they’re the Jaguars.
27	Cincinnati Bengals	-	25	3
Classic Bengals- show some promise one week, then end up with your starting RB facing a suspension and your #2 WR facing a police investigation the next. I’m half-impressed, half-shocked that Marvin Lewis has managed to stick around as long as he has.
28	Minnesota Vikings	-	24	20
No team has been better for the first halves of games so far this year. Correspondingly, no team has been worse in the second halves of games this year either. You have to wonder why Adrian Peterson got 5 carries in the second half. You don’t see elite offenses taking the ball out of their best player’s hands.
29	Denver Broncos	-	27	15
The Tim Tebow debate is slowly killing this team. Although they haven’t shown it, John Fox and John Elway have to be privately steaming about the public relations mess it is making. The more they lose, the louder the pro-Tebow sentiment gets. The real loser in the whole mess is Kyle Orton.
30	Seattle Seahawks	-	31	10
The good news: they won a game! The bad news: Tavaris Jackson stays at QB for another week.
31	Indianapolis Colts	-	29	19
Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck might be the best timing for the release of a franchise QB in league history, should the Colts land the #1 pick. With this offense, they’re heading that way.
32	Kansas City Chiefs	-	30	23
They have put the suck in the “Suck for Luck” campaigns so common in the NFL right now, sadly.