NFL Power Rankings – Week 5

Who’s up, who’s down? Frank Schwab surveys the NFL landscape following the Week 4 slate.

As a whole the Cardinals looked better with Josh Rosen at QB, and a game at San Francisco next week gives them a decent shot at a win. (David Johnson)

C.J. Beathard threw for 298 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a long one to blossoming tight end George Kittle. (George Kittle)

They lost 47-3 in the opener, were behind 28-3 in Week 2, lost 22-0 in Week 4 at Green Bay and … absolutely blew out the Vikings in Minnesota a couple weeks ago. Huh? (LeSean McCoy)

It’s common to get a Week 1 result that doesn’t match up with anything else we see in Weeks 2-17, and this year’s wonky Week 1 game might have been the Jets’ win in Detroit. (Jordan Leggett)

Through four games, tight end Jared Cook has 26 catches for 370 yards and two touchdowns. Strangely enough his breakout seems to be happening at age 31. (Jared Cook)

Did the Browns get cheated on the reversal of what would have been a game-clinching first down? Maybe. But when you’re punting to a team with no timeouts, leading by eight points, with 1:38 to go, you still should win. (Baker Mayfield)

Saquon Barkley, a healthy Odell Beckham and new coach Pat Shurmur were supposed to fix NY’s offense, but that hasn’t happened yet. (Odell Beckham Jr.)

A lot of people in Houston, especially Bill O’Brien, should feel lucky this week that the heat is on Indianapolis for how Sunday’s game ended. (Bill O’Brien)

The difference between the Lions winning in Dallas and getting back to .500 after an 0-2 start, and blowing it in the final minutes, seems bigger than it should for Week 4. (Golden Tate)

There’s a difference between being bold and being reckless, and going for it on fourth-and-4 in your own territory late in a tied overtime game is on the reckless side of that line. (Andrew Luck)

Matt Ryan’s last two games: 55-of-74, 793 yards, eight touchdowns, zero interceptions, 144.7 passer rating. The Falcons have lost both games. (Duke Riley)

Ezekiel Elliott had 240 yards on Sunday and he’s a fantastic talent, but eventually opponents are going to give him the Rob Gronkowski treatment and refuse to let him beat them. (Ezekiel Elliott)

Earl Thomas’ injury is brutal for Seattle, drama notwithstanding. Now the Seahawks, who Sunday barely beat a team most would consider the worst in the NFL, move on without a Hall of Fame-level talent at safety. (Bradley McDougald)

Denver is not a patient place when it comes to quarterbacks, and Case Keenum isn’t off to a wonderful start. (Case Keenum)

The Ryan Fitzpatrick story was great, but it has always been in the best big-picture interest of the franchise to start Jameis Winston. (Jameis Winston)

The Steelers gambled on giving Bell another one-year deal. They lost that gamble because their one-dimensional offense is not the same without Bell. (Ben Roethlisberger)

The Dolphins probably shouldn’t have been as high as ninth last week, but you can’t justify putting one of three 3-0 teams too low.
(Frank Gore)

Washington is in first place and, with a favorable schedule, don’t be too shocked if we see an 8-3 Redskins team traveling to the Eagles for a big Dec. 3 showdown. (Josh Norman)

It’s not surprising, once his quarterback looked like he could throw the ball again, that Corey Davis had a big game. (Corey Davis)

The Vikings will get things turned around. But they also can’t afford to wait, especially since it doesn’t seem the Bears are going anywhere. (Xavier Rhodes)

Don’t forget the Bengals put up 37 points and got a big road win without Joe Mixon, who looked great to start this season. (A.J. Green)

Aside from one half at Buffalo this season, the Chargers haven’t played anywhere near their talent level. They should not be grinding out a two-point win at home against a 49ers team without Jimmy Garoppolo. (Melvin Gordon)

It hasn’t been pretty, but the Saints are in good shape after four games and have Mark Ingram returning. Alvin Kamara is a great player but Ingram provides the depth that was lacking. (Alvin Kamara)

In a weird scheduling quirk, the Bears have four games in a row against the AFC East after their bye. The good news is the AFC East stinks, and the one tough game against the Patriots is in Chicago. (Mitchell Trubisky)

On Sunday night, 11 different players caught a pass for the Ravens. Last season, and probably the season before, the Ravens barely had a handful of capable offensive players around Joe Flacco. (John Brown)

Through four weeks, Aaron Rodgers has 1,130 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception. Nothing wrong with that, but not exactly Rodgers-esque numbers. (Ha Ha Clinton-Dix)

It’s from last week but it should be repeated as often as possible: The story of Panthers defensive end Efe Obada is the best in the NFL this year. (Donte Jackson)

Just 10 catches and 105 yards for Rob Gronkowski the past three weeks. That’s usually a good day for him. Gronk hasn’t fallen off, but it’s clear teams won’t let him beat them. (James White)

They’re a fourth-down play in overtime from being 3-1, so it’s not like the Eagles are crumbling. But it’s not a surprise that a team that went 16-3 including playoffs is experiencing some regression. (Jordan Matthews)

Leonard Fournette’s health is becoming a big issue. Not every second-year player who has had some bad luck with injuries is destined to be nagged by injuries his whole career, but it’s concerning with Fournette. (Calais Campbell)

Patrick Mahomes looks like he’s going to be the face of the NFL for the next decade. I’m not sure what else can be said about him. (Patrick Mahomes)

It has been a while in these power rankings since the gap between the No. 1 and 2 team has been so large. There’s no realistic case you can make for any other team being No. 1.
(Brandin Cooks)