What a crazy NFL Sunday it was with two of the NFC’s highly-spruiked teams in the Cardinals and Panthers both slipping to 1-3. Read on for our Stars NFL Power Rankings: Week 5 edition.
**Please note that the rankings are out a day early this week. Normally we’ll aim to get them up straight after the Monday night games to help you prepare for the coming week.**
The top tier of the Stars NFL Power Rankings hasn’t changed at all with our top four teams remaining the same. A little shuffle after that though with the Cardinals, Chiefs and Panthers all dropping a spot or two.
| Position | Team | Comment | |
| no change | 1 | New England | Despite losing 16-0 against the Bills they get their King back this week and basically played without a quarterback on Sunday. Gronk almost ready to go. They are the team to beat. |
| no change | 2 | Pittsburgh | Back to their dominant best when they crushed KC. Bell averaging 8 yards per carry and also lining up as a receiving made them look very good. Can score in a hurry with the weapons and Ben’s deep ball. |
| no change | 3 | Seattle | The defense is outstanding as we know and Wilson looked very good in New York Sunday. Glimpses of a New Orleans type of Jimmy Graham helps the offense greatly. Rawls still to return as well. |
| no change | 4 | Denver | They just keep winning. The defense force turnovers and give the offense some really short fields that they’ve taken well so far. |
| Up 1 | 5 | Green Bay | Went up a spot in the bye week because we had to penalize the struggling Cards and Panthers somehow |
| Down 1 | 6 | Carolina | Cam’s just not himself at the moment, the run game isn’t really there and the O-Line has some gaping holes. We thought their defense was a tad overrated last year and now is the time to prove us wrong. They desperately need to grind a few wins to get back on track. |
| Down 2 | 7 | Arizona | It’s only Week 4 but it’s almost time to panic in the desert. Carson Palmer just doesn’t look good anymore. This stems back to Week 16 last season and he doesn’t seem to have gotten over it. Also looking for Arians to mix things up with the playcalling this week. |
| Up 2 | 8 | Cincinatti | Back to close to their best against the Fins. Defense is above average when they are on song. To rise up the list they need to find a running game and address their redzone issues. |
| no change | 9 | Minnesota | Depending on how tonights game goes they could take a nice little leap. Defense is great but Bradford could start being Bradford at any stage. |
| Down 2 | 10 | Kansas City | The Chiefs started poorly last year and rallied to be one of the best teams in Football. We aren’t convinced this years team is as good. Can’t give up early leads and expect to win with that offense. |
“We’ve been in this situation before. Four games does not make a season”
? | https://t.co/RRgDmnJd2B pic.twitter.com/Ckx4Kb0zSy
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) October 3, 2016
“There’s too much talent on this [@AZCardinals] offense to remain stuck in the mud all season long.” https://t.co/lwRjTKqXP1 pic.twitter.com/ttX9WbsIJH
— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2016
The mid-tier
The next group of the Stars NFL Power Rankings sees a couple of fringe contenders, some overrated teams and the entire NFC East!
| no change | 11 | Philadelphia | Coming off a Bye week, they’ve been overrated everywhere but here it seems, do have an ‘easy’ game at Detroit coming up. |
| no change | 12 | Houston | Well, they won against the Titans but it was far from convincing. Osweiler again looked shaky, this division as a whole appears sub-par. |
| no change | 13 | New York Giants | Huge game for the Giants against Minnesota tonight. They got their wings clipped against the Redskins and with the Cowboys and Eagles ahead in division they need a W. |
| no change | 14 | Dallas | They are 3-1 but are yet to beat a good team and were lucky on a couple of crucial calls in San Fran. That being said, Elliot looks good and Dak is taking care of the ball. The defense against a good team will melt though. |
| no change | 15 | Atlanta | We’d love to get them higher but it’s only Week 4 and they are already seven spots higher than what they started the season at. Matt Ryan is looking really good but that looked a pretty pour Panthers team on Sunday. |
| Up 1 | 16 | Oakland | Really good win in Baltimore for the Raiders who roll on. However have only played one team above them on our power rankings, a game in which they lost. |
| Up 2 | 17 | Los Angeles | The defense is verging on elite and will keep them in games all season long. Can the offense/coaching hold up their end of the deal? Time will tell! |
| Down 2 | 18 | Baltimore | They’d be dissapointed with the home loss on Sunday to just an ok team. The defense was average on the day as well. Those are their two staples, home field and strong defense.. |
| Up 1 | 19 | Washington | They weren’t really convincing against the Browns but the Browns as we’ll mention later are an odd team to match up with. Back to 2-2 now, scope to improve further but not a contender. |
| Down 2 | 20 | New York Jets | Their pass rush was smoked by Wilson and the Seahawks on Sunday and Fitzpatrick is having issues. The upside is, he probably can’t play any worse. They need to go back to a heavy Forte dose and not give up early leads. |
Changing @nyjets QBs?@BMarshall‘s not interested.
“I am going down in the boat with Ryan Fitzpatrick.” #SEAvsNYJ https://t.co/zH9L6rWuko
— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2016
The bottom-tier
As it stands, from the group below Buffalo look the only team likely to push up into the mid-tier anytime soon. They are 2-0 after firing offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
| no change | 21 | Buffalo | Big win against the Patriots but they stay buried at 21st on our rankings. That looked every bit a Patriots concession. The Bills are improving though, scope to jump a few spots this week with another good performance. |
| no change | 22 | Indianapolis | They are living on borrowed time this high on the rankings. Lucky for them teams around them were so poor this week. At home in the Dome this week against a bad team = no excuses |
| no change | 23 | Tampa Bay | Slow starts are haunting the Bucs who are then making mistakes playing from behind. They could really use Doug Martin and a healthy defense, when it all clicks they are still decent. ENORMOUS division game vs Carolina this week followed by a pretty easy month. |
| no change | 24 | Miami | They are very lucky not to have dropped any spots after the dismal performance at Cincinatti. Tannehill looks all at sea, Foster returning may help and they need their pass rush to step it up over next month as they have four straight home games! This week hosting the Titans is a must win. |
| Up 1 | 25 | San Diego | They are 1-3 but all three losses came after they were leading inside two minutes. Brutal trend for the Chargers that has been an issue for years. |
| Up 1 | 26 | Detroit | They were very poor at Chicago. At best they could probably get to 18-20 range, at worst 26-28. |
| Down 2 | 27 | Tennessee | Could they have beaten the Texans if they’d used DeMarco Murray on the final drive? We think so. They are 1-3 but have been in every one of their games in the fourth quarter. Still need to see more from Mariota! |
| no change | 28 | New Orleans | They ran the ball more than usual in big situations at San Diego and did enough to grind out a win. A bye followed by the Panthers, Chiefs and Seahawks… |
| no change | 29 | Jacksonville | No change despite beating the Colts in London. This team is still very average that’s for sure. At home they are clearly a better team. |
| no change | 30 | Chicago | They are a bit feisty and they can cause a few mini-upsets particuarly at home. Potential to leap a spot or two soon. |
| no change | 31 | San Francisco | This team is so close to making a leap three or four spots but just are not quite there. At times Kelly looks to be asking too much of Gabbert. |
| no change | 32 | Cleveland | They are fun to watch and have been coached very well by Jackson. The team just lacks talent across the board. |
Did we get this weeks rankings wrong or right?
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Bring on Week 5!
