NFL Power Rankings Week 5: Looks like the Bills and Chiefs are the class of the AFC again

Last week’s rank: 30

Hey, Dameon Pierce seems really good as a full-time back! Also, Laremy Tunsil has gone back-to-back weeks with sterling play blocking Robert Quinn and Khalil Mack. Other than that, man, this Houston team doesn’t have a lot of positives, does it? Talk to us next October when there’ll be some more reasonable expectations.

Last week’s rank: 29

Bad.

Yesterday’s offensive performance (EPA/drive) by the Panthers was the worst of any team this season (126 games).

First 10 drives: 4 punts, 3 TOs, 2 fourth-down fails, 1 FG.

Panthers offense is 31st in EPA per drive and 30th in success rate.

— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) October 3, 2022

Last week’s rank: 32

There’s the Carson Wentz we know and love (to hate). With each successive week, the performance of the man in the red and gold (or black and gold?) No. 11 has dropped off noticeably. It’s hard to go from an opening 101 passer rating to a listless 56.6 (game by game) in a month, but by golly, Wentz appears to be up to the challenge. And with the NFC East, for now, resembling football’s best division: We’d recommend early scans of 2023 mock drafts in D.C.

Last week’s rank: 21

Bailey Zappe performed admirably after being thrown into the fire, and the Patriots gave the Packers all they could handle at Lambeau Field despite leaning heavily on their third-string rookie quarterback. Still, no head coach in the league is going to be more dismissive of moral victories, so New England lands here.

Last week’s rank: 25

After all the dismay of a challenging three weeks, Justin Fields actually looked kinda good against the Giants! Well, he only passed for 174 yards and was sacked six times, but for a Chicago coaching staff that confusingly wants to play 1970s ball every Sunday … that kind of output feels positively prolific. It’s not great when a desperate lateral bonanza might be the best offensive play on the afternoon. Fourteen more weeks and this franchise can start looking toward free agency and the draft because that’s clearly what they want to do now.

Last week’s rank: 22

Matt Ryan is the NFL’s fourth-leading passer, and the Colts are 1-2-1. If there were ever a team that epitomized empty stat-padding, it’d be this boring Indy squad with no discernible identity and a veteran QB failing at what will likely be his last hurrah.

Last week’s rank: 28

Derek Carr finally got a win with Davante Adams in his lineup, even if that red zone offense is a concern — the Raiders pushed five drives inside the Denver 20-yard line and settled for field goals on three of them. Still, beating the Broncos could loom large in the playoff race, and this offense managed to sustain drives even on a day where Carr had fewer than 200 passing yards.

Last week’s rank: 14

The Browns lost to a team that completed seven total passes and relinquished an opportunity to take a stranglehold lead of the AFC North. When we start to near January 2023, Cleveland will look back upon true stinkers like this with great pain and regret if/when it misses the playoffs.

Last week’s rank: 26

If Marcus Mariota is going to get through a game with only seven completions, you might as well throw Desmond Ridder into the fire. The Falcons have too many young playmakers to be this uninteresting.

Last week’s rank: 23

The Cardinals have beaten the Raiders and Panthers, two of the worst teams in the league, in the early goings. They’ve lost to the Chiefs and Rams, two of the best teams in the league, in the early goings. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a middling squad that wants Kyler Murray to figuratively do everything.

Last week’s rank: 24

Russell Wilson had his first multiple-touchdown game as a Bronco, which is good. Denver still gained fewer than 300 total yards and is currently the only team to lose to the Raiders, which is not.

Last week’s rank: 27

In his return to the lineup from injury, Zach Wilson had a rough go of it for most of the day against the Steelers. Then the Jets decided to put the ball in their rookie QB’s hands, and he went and won the game for them in a sparkling 10-point fourth-quarter comeback. They don’t write musicals on Broadway as good as a young Jets QB with a clutch performance in the crunch.

Last week’s rank: 16

The offense is great, which is not something I expected to say about a Lions team led by Jared Goff. The defense is not, which is less surprising. Detroit got thoroughly picked apart by Geno Smith and Rashaad Penny, which suggests there’s tremendous value in betting the over whenever you see Honolulu Blue on the field. Either way, few teams in the league are as fun to watch as Dan Campbell’s undermanned crew.

Last week’s rank: 18

New Orleans is learning a valuable lesson through this first stretch of this season: Without a prime Drew Brees under center or Sean Payton at the coaching helm, it’s tough to win games with a top-heavy roster. Even when Jameis Winston returns from a back injury, it’s hard to imagine Dennis Allen rallying the troops. On offense anyway.

Last week’s rank: 31

Russell who? After four weeks, Geno Smith’s enjoying one of the most accurate seasons in NFL history, and the Seahawks suddenly look like they’re a ton of explosive fun. A Smith career resurgence was admittedly not on our Bingo cards for the 2022 campaign, but we welcome it with open arms nonetheless.

Last week’s rank: 19

They’re taking advantage of a soft schedule and winning the games they’re supposed to, which was no gimme given the last two years of results under Joe Judge. Brian Daboll’s big offensive revelation against the Bears in Week 4 was just “QB BOOTLEGS,” and it somehow worked, lifting New York to a win in a game it finished with zero healthy quarterbacks.

Last week’s rank: 15

Don’t look now, but after two interconference AFC wins, Mike Vrabel’s Titans are back at .500. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry has almost 300 yards from scrimmage in that same time frame. Gee, does anyone have any idea why Tennessee got back on track?

Last week’s rank: 7

Matthew Stafford had quietly been ramping up his efficiency before cratering in San Francisco en route to .500. The 49ers held him to a litany of short passes Monday night (5.3 yards per attempt), leaving LA in dire need of playmakers downfield — and without a touchdown. LA’s blocking is officially a problem; Stafford was sacked seven times and hit 10 more in Week 4.

Last week’s rank: 12

What is this Chargers team? Are they the group a gassed Gerald Everett reception away from potentially upsetting the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium? Or are they the bums who got boat-raced by the Jaguars and then nearly biffed a 21-0 lead against the hopeless Texans? Los Angeles should be better than this, but eternal frustration is the birthright of Chargers fans, so here we are.

Last week’s rank: 17

This is what you get in the Jimmy Garoppolo era. Random beatdowns of the uber-talented Rams in nationally televised games, thanks to a talented set of playmakers and a dominant defense. Oh, by the way: That defense has allowed 46 points in four games.

Last week’s rank: 8

Jacksonville did exactly what’d you expect a young team to do in Philadelphia. It punched the contender Eagles in the mouth, jumping out to an early 14-0 lead. Then, the Jaguars couldn’t maintain their energy as Trevor Lawrence lost a handle of more than a few footballs in a collapse. A tough defeat now, but a good learning experience for the future for an inexperienced squad.

Last week’s rank: 13

Cooper Rush is 4-0 as a starter in his NFL career. I don’t know what to do with that information, but here we are. We should probably be talking more about the Dallas defense, which hasn’t allowed 20-plus points in a game yet this season. Granted, the Cowboys’ last two were against Daniel Jones and Carson Wentz, but it’s still a positive trend for a team whose offense lacks consistency.

Last week’s rank: 10

Maybe Minnesota should make the London trek more often. A thriller at Tottenham turned into a nail-biter where the Vikings scraped by the very skin of their teeth on a double-doink. This is a good thing because the end of the Mike Zimmer era saw Minny lose more heartbreaking games like this than win. So, maybe Kevin O’Connell is onto something.

Last week’s rank: 5

Well, that ended poorly. Lamar Jackson looked like 2022’s MVP frontrunner for two quarters and then went scoreless in the second half as his Ravens squandered a massive opportunity to send the Bills down to .500. Instead, Baltimore remains stuck in the ooze of the AFC North’s 2-2 franchises and has to wonder if its early defensive effort was a sign of things to come or simply an oasis in a desert of awful play.

Last week’s rank: 9

Tom Brady’s offense finally woke up with 31 points, but it still wasn’t enough at the hands of a true AFC powerhouse. At 2-2, in a weak division (and conference), previous Brady teams have been in worse positions. But something feels off about this squad that can’t seem to get complementary football rolling through a month of play.

Last week’s rank: 4

If Week 4’s game against the Patriots was an airplane landing, Aaron Rodgers would have limped away from a burnt-up chunk of wing holding the throttle and wondering just what the hell happened. Green Bay got a home win over Bill Belichick, but needed overtime to dispatch a fourth-round rookie quarterback who started 2022 in third place on the New England depth chart. The Packers knew what the Pats were going to do on offense and still struggled to contain it, allowing more than five yards per carry in the process.

Last week’s rank: 11

After a disjointed start to 2022, the Bengals appear to have found their rhythm and, perhaps more importantly, ceded no ground in the AFC North race. Knocking off the Dolphins in primetime — without Tua Tagovailoa for a good chunk of the game — was a statement win for a team in dire need of a message. Joe Burrow has five touchdown passes and zero interceptions in that two-game winning streak. Equally important: he’s only been sacked three times.

Last week’s rank: 3

Buffalo looked awful for 28 minutes in Baltimore before remembering why it’s the AFC favorite. The Bills overcame a 20-3 deficit and put the clamps on Lamar Jackson to rally for a 23-20 win. More importantly, they didn’t need much to spark a turnaround; Sean McDermott stuck to his game plan and trusted his players to execute. They did, and now they’re 3-1.

Last week’s rank: 6

The Buccaneers entered Sunday night with the NFL’s best defense in most relevant categories, and the Chiefs — mainly Patrick Mahomes — made the unit seem entirely irrelevant. By finally exorcising their Super Bowl 55 demons, Mahomes and Friends look rejuvenated, balanced, and dynamic in all three phases.

Last week’s rank: 1

The king remains the king after overcoming an early 14-0 deficit against an upstart Jacksonville team. The Jags’ defense not only limited James Robinson and Christian Kirk to season-worsts but also battered Trevor Lawrence en route to four fumbles. This proved Philly can win even if Jalen Hurts is merely OK behind center.