NFL Top 10 Power Ranking (After Week 5)

Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle

Moving on to Week 6. There is a decent amount of shake up from last week’s rankings, but I am going to try my best to conjure up a good Top 10 for you this week.

10: Dallas Cowboys (3-2)

I had the Cowboys take a pretty big drop after their embarrassing loss to the Niners. Not that I didn't expect them to lose, but they didn’t even make it a contest. Their whole team looked awful and on primetime national TV. I still think the Cowboys have one of the most talented rosters in the league, but they certainly didn’t show it against one of the league’s best on Sunday night.

9: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1)

The Bucs are blessed with the fact that they had a bye week in Week 5. The upcoming next 3 weeks do not look great for Tampa, so don’t be shocked if they’re not included in the Rankings after Week 6.

8: Seattle Seahawks (3-1)

The Seahawks are in a similar boat as the Buccaneers, but I think they have the ability to keep afloat. The Seahawks aren’t a team that you can take lightly and I think they will be bordering the Top 10 all season long. They have a tough test against the Bengals up next, so depending on which Bengals team shows up, they may or may not be in next week’s rankings.

7: Jacksonville Jaguars (3-2)

The London Jaguars won 2 in a row and have moved themselves into the Power Rankings. I decided to over rank them just a little this week, but they did have a huge win agains the Bills. They clearly had the advantage, because they never left London after their win against the Falcons. At the end of the day, they still have to play, no matter the circumstance, and they ended up winning. Travis Etienne had a monster game and it appears that he may be finding his groove. They will finish off their season series against the Colts next week and they’re no slouch of a team either. If the Colts win, they could find potentially themselves in next week’s rankings.

6: Buffalo Bills (3-2)

I dont think I can really rank them any lower. They got beat by a good team on foreign soil. It is a tough situation any way you look at it. The Bills are still a very, very good team and they are going to be in and around the Top 5 all season long, so they will move on after the 5-point loss to the Jags in London. They have the Giants and the Patriots coming up in the next two weeks, so expect them to get back to normal pretty quickly.

5: Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)

The Chiefs have been winning this season, but they have looked awful doing it. Other than their game with the Bears, they have won in the ugliest ways possible. I think they may be taking some pointers from the Tennessee Titans. They barely squeaked by a struggling Vikings team in Week 5, and next week they will face the Broncos. Speaking of the Broncos, the Chiefs have only scored 1 more touchdown than the Broncos this season, if that tells you how bad the Chiefs offense has looked. If you take away the Bears game, they have only outscored opponents by 17 points combined. Chiefs have been bad, but I can’t ever count them out as long as they are winning games.

4: Miami Dolphins (4-1)

After the humbling game against the Bills, the Dolphins showed up against the Giants and got back to their old ways. They have the Panthers on the slate next week and they should take care of business at home in Week 6. De’Von Achane has looked like a beast in the last few weeks, but it appears that he will be missing some time. That will be a blow to them coming up, especially considering that the Eagles and Chiefs are coming up in the next 4 weeks.

3: Detroit Lions (4-1)

The Lions were missing their star wideout and rookie runner this week agains the Panthers, but it didn’t seem to phase them. Despite missing St. Brown and Gibbs, they really took it to our hometown Carolina Panthers. The rest of their games are mostly winnable, so don’t expect the Lions to be moving away from the Top 10 anytime soon. It is really unbelievable how easy the rest of their season is going to be. They have the Bucs, Ravens, Raiders, Chargers, Bears (twice), Vikings (twice), Packers, Saints, Broncos, Cowboys. I could see them being 50/50 on about 3 of those matchups.

2: Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)

There are still two unbeaten teams in the NFL and the order of those two haven’t changed. The Eagles, much like the Chiefs, haven’t made things look pretty, but they sure know how to win football games. They have the Jets coming up next and that should be another W, but don’t expect a blowout by any means.

1: San Francisco 49ers (5-0)

There isn’t much to say about San Francisco. They are far and away the best team in the NFL. No doubt about it. They embarrassed the Cowboys and at this point, they look like they may only lose 1 or 2 games all season long. Heck, they may not lose for the rest of the season. The Niners are the best in the league and it is not a debate.

Yacs