1. Buffalo Bills
The Bills are a machine. The offense looks unstoppable and the defense is still among the best in the league.
2. Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes still owns the Raiders. He tossed 4 touchdowns on Monday Night, all to Travis Kelce in their 30-29 win.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Another week, the Eagles are still undefeated. Once again, they took care of business against an inferior opponent, though it wasn’t super pretty.
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I do have some level of concern with the Bucs offense, but the way this defense is playing, this team can compete with anyone in the league.
5. San Francisco 49ers (+1)
Through 5 weeks, the Niners have the best defense in the league in EPA/play. And now with Garoppolo at QB, the offense is much more efficient.
6. Baltimore Ravens (+3)
That’s a tough win in primetime against a really good Bengals team, and although the offense struggled, the Ravens defense is beginning to figure it out.
7. Dallas Cowboys (+10)
The Cowboys are my biggest riser of the week with their 22-10 win on the road against the Rams. It’s not just about waiting until Dak gets back anymore, this is still a really good team with Rush in there.
8. Green Bay Packers (-3)
I don’t want to panic yet on the Packers, but boy do they need some receivers. And the defense, which was supposed to be elite, hasn’t been good at all so far.
9. Cincinnati Bengals (-1)
The Bengals offense looks to be up-and-down, but the defense consistently performs every week. If Zac Taylor could figure out the offensive play calling, Cincy could make a deep run yet again.
10. Los Angeles Chargers (+1)
I still have worries about the Chargers defense, particularly stopping the run, but the offense is humming, and they’ll be even better when Keenan Allen gets back.
11. Minnesota Vikings (-1)
I know they won, but I’m dropping Minnesota down a spot. A home game against Chicago should never have been that close.
12. Los Angeles Rams (-5)
What’s going on in Los Angeles?? I trust McVay to figure a lot of this out, but for now they’re clearly not the same team without OBJ, Von Miller, and Andrew Whitworth.
13. Las Vegas Raiders (+2)
Despite the loss, Vegas continues to climb in my rankings. Their record really isn’t indicative of their team strength. I expect them to have a really good second half of the season.
14. Miami Dolphins (-2)
It’s always tough out there with a 3rd string QB, but Tua or Bridgewater wasn’t going to stop the run on Sunday. The Jets ran all over them and hung a 40-piece on Miami.
15. Arizona Cardinals (-1)
Credit to Arizona for putting up a good fight against a great team, but at some point they need to not start a game with a 14-point deficit. Kliff needs to get his guys ready to play.
16. Tennessee Titans (+3)
The Titans have climbed back into the playoff picture, and while I don’t really believe in them as a legit contender, they’ll probably win the division and give themselves a shot to make noise in the playoffs.
17. New York Giants (+7)
So maybe I was wrong on the Giants. This is not a bottom tier team like I’ve been saying all year, Daboll has his guys playing very well and this looks like an average football team.
18. New England Patriots (+3)
No Mac Jones, no problem in New England. The Bill Belichick defense still has these types of performances every so often.
19. Cleveland Browns (-1)
The Browns need to figure out something to stop the run, because they have New England coming to town next week.
20. Indianapolis Colts
No movement from the Colts this week. I think that game was more about Denver being bad than Indy being good.
21. Denver Broncos (-8)
The Broncos are my biggest faller of the week, and what a disappointment that offense is. 26th now in EPA/play offensively.
22. Jacksonville Jaguars (-6)
Maybe I was too soon to proclaim that Trevor Lawrence had arrived. Back-to-back bad games for him now.
23. New York Jets (+3)
The Jets are now 2-0 when Zach Wilson plays, even though those wins were against Kenny Pickett and Skylar Thompson. I’m not necessarily buying New York as a playoff contender yet, but it’s nice to see this team be competitive.
24. New Orleans Saints (+1)
The Saints are probably much better off with Andy Dalton at QB as opposed to Jameis Winston. Playoff chances, while slim, are still alive.
25. Atlanta Falcons (+3)
I know they lost, but Atlanta ended up moving up 3 spots, mostly because some of the teams in front of them looked a lot worse and moved down.
26. Washington Commanders (-4)
What a disaster this season is for Washington. I now have no doubt that Rivera will be gone at the end of the season.
27. Houston Texans (+5)
Nice win from Houston, though in the long run it’ll only hurt their draft position. Mills wasn’t all that great, and we still expect this team to draft a QB in 2023.
28. Pittsburgh Steelers (-1)
Wow. At least put up a fight, will you? I’m seeing some rumors that Tomlin is on the hot seat, and honestly I’m not totally against it.
29. Seattle Seahawks
Defense is optional in Seattle apparently. I never thought we’d be saying this, but can Geno Smith get some help around there?
30. Detroit Lions (-7)
This was an excellent opportunity for Dan Campbell’s squad to pick up a win against a backup QB, and they laid an egg. Playoffs seem very out of reach for Detroit now.
31. Chicago Bears
The Bears are still a bad team, but the good news is that Justin Fields just played his best game of the season.
32. Carolina Panthers (-2)
It’s about time Matt Rhule got the boot. Where do the Panthers go from here? I don’t know. They don’t have a coach, and now their top 3 QBs on the depth chart are injured (Mayfield, Darnold, Corral).