We’ve reached the quarter-mark of the season, essentially (17 game schedule be damned) and we’re starting to get a better feel for who is a contender and who is a pretender. This week was filled with blowouts, something we don’t often see in the NFL. I’d give some actual stats regarding this week’s slate, but I’m currently 35,000 feet in the air without wi-fi. And while I can remember who each team played, I can’t remember all of the scores. But it sure feels like there were five or six games decided by close to 20 points.
Week 5 not only starts the month of October (the greatest month of the year for sports fans), it also signals the start of bye weeks. That’s right, this is the time where the great fantasy football managers separate themselves from the good ones, and the good ones separate themselves from those who don’t bother to replace players on their bye.
In terms of the rankings, it was a good week for the NFC West, as the Rams and Seahawks made the biggest jump of the week, each moving up five spots. It was not a good week for teams associated with divisions in the North, as the Bengals and Steelers in the AFC, and the Packers in the NFC, all dropped five spots.
The Prime Time Pick’em has been en fuego this season as I went undefeated for the second time in the past three weeks. The overall season record is now sitting at 11-3 (if only I still gambled!). This week, we have the potential for a real stinker on Thursday night as the Bears take on the Commanders. However, both teams had impressive performances on offense in Week 4, so maybe we’ll get lucky and get a shootout. Even though Chicago is winless and the Commanders are favored by a touchdown, in my eyes this game is a pick’em. I really want to take the Bears but I just can’t do it – so give me Washington. Sunday night is the complete opposite of a stinker, as we get arguably the two best teams in the NFC. We know the 49ers are one of the best, but the question remains as to whether Dallas is for real. I think they are – but I’m still taking San Francisco to get the win. And finally, the Monday night matchup favors a pair of teams trying to find their way. As we learned last week, I rarely pick my team to win, but I’m going to break that trend this week and take the Packers to win a close one over the Raiders.
Here are the rankings as we head to Week 3. Teams’ previous ranking in ( ).
1. San Francisco 49ers (1): Christian McCaffrey has proved that when healthy, he is the best running back in football and it’s not really debatable.
2. Buffalo Bills (5): After a rough Week 1, the Bills have bounced back in a big way the last three weeks and have proven that not only are they still a force in the AFC, they may just be the clear-cut favorites in the conference.
3. Philadelphia Eagles (3): The defense didn’t play the way they would have liked but the offense was able to carry the load in a hard-fought division game. Teams that lose in the Super Bowl often struggle the following year but that is certainly not the case for these Eagles.
4. Kansas City Chiefs (4): Patrick Mahomes rarely has a poor game – but when he does and the Chiefs still find a way to win, you have to wonder if we are witnessing the next great dynasty in the NFL.
5. Miami Dolphins (2): I certainly didn’t expect them to hang another 70 on the board this week, but I absolutely thought they would give the Bills a game, and they didn’t. Perhaps this defense isn’t quite as good as we originally thought.
6. Detroit Lions (6): The Lions put an absolute beatdown on the Packers on Thursday night and are officially the clear favorites in the NFC North. And oh, by the way, they get perhaps their best offensive weapon back this week from suspension. Lions fans haven’t been this pumped in decades.
7. Dallas Cowboys (7): Cowboy fans have to be excited with how the defense bounced back after a miserable week in Arizona. The question is, can this defense be consistently dominant, or are they going to fail to show up on occasion and force Dak and the offense to win some games?
8. Baltimore Ravens (9): I’m not overly excited about any team that wins against a backup quarterback, particularly one that has never started in the NFL. Nonetheless, the Ravens offense was able to put up points against what was potentially the best defense in football, and that is something to get excited about if you’re a Ravens fan.
9. Seattle Seahawks (14): Not one, not two…not nine, not 10… but 11 sacks on Monday Night Football. Incredible performance by a team who I fully admit I was not a believer in at the beginning of the season (despite their success last season). Give Pete Carroll credit, this team appears to be a legitimate contender to make a deep playoff run.
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13): Most NFL fans love to hate on Baker Mayfield but they are feeling a bit foolish after the first month of the season. Mayfield has led the team to a 3-1 start and sure looks like a guy that can lead this team to a big season.
11. Cleveland Browns (11): They’ve shown they can survive the loss of Nick Chubb, but that they absolutely cannot afford to lose Deshaun Watson for any significant period of time. If they do, they’re going to have a hard time competing on a weekly basis.
12. Los Angeles Chargers (16): Back-to-back wins in which Brandon Staley opted to go for it on 4th down in his own territory late in the game, and failed both times. Charger fans may be happy with the wins but also may not complain if they found themselves with a new head coach at some point.
13. Green Bay Packers (8): Falling behind 27-3 at halftime at home against a divisional opponent is not ideal. Missing three offensive linemen, including two all-pros is also not ideal. Sticking with the worst defensive coordinator in football for multiple years is the least ideal of all. This team is loaded with young talent but is a rather large mess at the moment.
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (17): Jacksonville got a much-needed win across the pond against the Falcons and will try to do the same once again this week.
15. Pittsburgh Steelers (10): Just when you (ok, I) put a little belief into this team and move them into the top 10, they crap the bed with a 24-point loss to the Texans (who appear to be better than we thought). I’m a believer in Mike Tomlin though, so I’m not giving up on them yet.
16. New Orleans Saints (15): This team is struggling to score points despite having a great compliment of weapons. They face the Patriots in Week 5, who are missing two of their best defensive players, but nonetheless could still pose problems for this Saints offense.
17. Cincinnati Bengals (12): As we’ve said before this team is notorious for slow starts, but this season just feels different. Joe Burrow’s calf injury is certainly playing a role but it’s not the whole story. I’m not jumping off the bandwagon yet, but at this rate it won’t be long until I do.
18. Los Angeles Rams (23): Is Puka Nacua the best wide receiver of all time? Maybe not, but with over 500 yards after his first four games (and that’s without Cooper Kupp in the lineup) he has opened eyes all across the league as Matt Stafford’s new favorite target.
19. New York Jets (19): Zach Wilson played one of his best games as a pro, clearly outplayed Mahomes, and yet the Jets still couldn’t get the win. Nonetheless, I believe he is still the quarterback that gives them the best chance to win, and with that defense I believe they will still find themselves in contention come December.
20. Washington Commanders (20): Washington bounced back in a big way after getting boat-raced last week, but they came up just short of what would have been an enormous division win against the Eagles.
21. Tennessee Titans (25): I’ve said for years the Titans are one of the hardest teams to figure out, and that continues to be true through the first four weeks of this season. Are they good? Maybe. Could they be great? Possibly. Could they be a bottom 10 team? Absolutely. I really have no idea. Perhaps after the next four weeks we’ll know more.
22. New England Patriots (18): Bill Belichick is only about 30 wins away from the all-time record. But at the rate things are going he may need to coach another five seasons to get it.
23. Indianapolis Colts (22): They may not have gotten the win, but forcing overtime after trailing 23-0 shows this team has completely changed the culture from a year ago. Anthony Richardson absolutely appears to be a franchise quarterback. Oh, and they could get Jonathan Taylor back in the coming weeks. In a relatively soft division – who says the Colts can’t make a run?
24. Minnesota Vikings (27): They finally got their first win of the season, though it came against a team that was also winless so does that really count? This week they get the Chiefs so all signs point to a 1-4 start.
25. Houston Texans (28): I don’t want to overreact to back-to-back wins, but all of a sudden this team looks really impressive behind rookie head coach Demeco Ryans. After starting 0-2, they’ve got a legitimate shot to get to 3-2 as they face the Falcons this week.
26. Atlanta Falcons (21): I don’t want to say I saw this coming – but I saw this coming. Desmond Ridder is just not a guy that is going to win you games. If I’m Atlanta, I start the tank job now and hope I can get a top 3 pick to go try and find an actual franchise quarterback.
27. New York Giants (24): This team is so bad at football. Saquon Barkley might just be thanking his lucky stars he didn’t get a long-term deal – so that he can go sign with another team this off-season; you know, a team that actually has an offensive line that can block.
28. Arizona Cardinals (26): If these rankings were based on how hard a team plays, Arizona would be in the top 5. They’re currently 3-point underdogs this week against the Bengals and while I don’t normally give betting advice, I really like them to cover this week.
29. Las Vegas Raiders (29): Davante Adams faces his former team this week for the first time since being traded. I don’t think it matters who his quarterback is, something tells me he’s going to have himself a big day. Oh, and did I mention it happens to be on Monday Night football?
30. Denver Broncos (31): Congratulations to the Broncos for getting their first win against the only team in the NFL that is a bigger dumpster fire than themselves.
31. Carolina Panthers (30): There’s no reason to panic yet in Carolina as it has only been a month, but Bryce Young has certainly not developed in the same way that CJ Stroud or Anthony Richardson have in the same period of time.
32. Chicago Bears (32): By losing, the Bears may actually be winning. Thanks to their off-season trade with the Carolina Panthers, the Bears currently own both the #1 and #2 pick in next year’s NFL draft. If it stays this way, the biggest storyline will be whether they stick with Justin Fields or trade him and draft a QB in what is being talked about as one of the best QB draft classes in recent memory.
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