NFL Power Rankings: Simon Veness rates the teams after Week Four

It’s our unique Sky Sports Power Rankings, in four soccer-style divisions, and with ‘promotion’ and ‘relegation,’ as ranked by our US columnist Simon Veness.

It was a great week to have a bye for those at the top of our Power Rankings. Very few of the other top-flight contenders improved their positions (Detroit and San Francisco being the shining exceptions), while plenty of teams went into reverse in a big way (that would be you New Orleans, New England, Atlanta and Chicago). We also have to make sense of wins for Minnesota and Tampa Bay, and real head-scratchers from Pittsburgh and Washington. So, let’s get to this week’s ranking rampage…

Champions League – True Super Bowl material

1. Seattle (no change) – Looking at the other so-called contenders this week, the Seahawks can afford a sly smile while they put their feet up. Next up, the Washington Thinskins and their excuse for a defence.

2. Cincinnati (no change) – Looking at the other so-called contenders this week, the Bengals can afford a sly smile while they put their feet up. Next up, a real test from the Patriots.

3. Denver (no change) – Looking at the other so-called, etc. OK, OK, but you get the picture. Our top three all looked better than anyone else by simply not playing.

4. Detroit (up 3) – Pop quiz: Which quarterback holds the record for the highest yards-per-game average (with a minimum of 1,500 pass attempts)? Peyton Manning? Tom Brady? Drew Brees? Maybe Dan Marino? Nope to all four. It’s Lions passer Matt Stafford, with an amazing 286.6. Brees is next at 274.8 while Marino has a mere 253.6 (good enough for seventh all-time). And Stafford riddled the Jets for 293 without Calvin ‘Megatron’ Johnson for most of the game.

5. Arizona (up 1) – Way to jinx your team, Phoenix. Knowing that no team from the Super Bowl host city has ever reached the big game, the local news station spent the weekend speculating about how much visiting economic revenue Phoenix would lose if the 3-0 Cardinals became the first. Cue the collapse.

6. San Francisco (PROMOTED, up 8) – Amazing how a win will quieten all rumours of discontent behind the scenes. The 49ers’ defence put on an absolute clinic against Philadelphia, but they’ll need more as they face the suddenly prolific Chiefs as well as the Broncos in the next three weeks.

7. Philadelphia (down 3) – The Eagles grabbed a 21-10 lead at San Francisco after less than 22 minutes without their offence scoring a point. And that high-powered offence promptly managed to go another 38 minutes without scoring, too. The total eclipse of LeSean McCoy remains the biggest mystery of the season

8. Green Bay (PROMOTED, up 2) – The NFC North pecking order is now firmly established. But the Packers have to prove they can prosper against a team with a genuine defence, which certainly isn’t the Bears right now.

Premier League – Those most likely for promotion

9. Indianapolis (up 4) – The Colts have scored 85 points against two of the league’s biggest patsies but they are still behind the 3-1 Texans, who they face in Week Six after the visit of Baltimore. The next fortnight will show if they deserve promotion – or if this is realistically as high as they go.

10. Baltimore (up 1) – If the Ravens could somehow pretend they are playing Carolina every week, ex-Panthers wideout Steve Smith (7 catches, 139 yards, 2 TDs) could be a truly unstoppable force.

11. San Diego (up 5) – Whisper it quietly, but the 3-1 Chargers might finally be firing on most cylinders. Philip Rivers leads all starters for quarterback rating (114.5) and 9 players have caught at least four passes. The one sore thumb? A running game that rates a miserable 31st in the league.

12. Dallas (PROMOTED, up 6) – Want to know the simple answer to the 3-1 Cowboys? DeMarco Murray is on course for 2,136 yards and 20 touchdowns, which is only slightly less than his previous THREE seasons put together. It would also beat Eric Dickerson’s single-season NFL record of 2,105 in 1984.

13. Chicago (RELEGATED, down 5) – Jay Cutler is now 1-10 lifetime against the Packers. And the bad news is he has to play them again on November 9 in the icy wastes of Lambeau Field. The Bears will have to hope they get SOME of their injured defence fit again by then.

14. Houston (PROMOTED, up 6) – The Texans have come through the ‘soft’ part of their schedule at 3-1 but now it gets serious, with road games at Dallas, Tennessee and Pittsburgh and the visit of Indianapolis.

15. Kansas City (PROMOTED, up 7) – Is the Chiefs’ defence really that good or has the Patriots offence sunk to a Belichick-era low? All will be revealed this week as Andy Reid’s men travel to San Francisco. And New England face a Cincinnati ‘D’ giving up just 11 points per game.

16. New England (RELEGATED, down 11) – Bill Belichick has suffered only one heavier loss during his 15-year reign (31-0 to Buffalo in 2003) but this felt worse as the Patriots only narrowed the massive gap in garbage time. Garbage is pretty much how you’d describe most of their work on offence and defence.

The Championship – Teams with a lot of work to do

17. Miami (up 2) – The Dolphins might have mis-handled their knives and forks at the pre-game team dinner, but that was the only thing they did wrong on their trip to London.

18. Atlanta (RELEGATED, down 9) – The Falcons may still own part of the NFC South lead but only two teams have given up more points so far this year. Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. Gulp.

19. New Orleans (RELEGATED, down 7) – Rob Ryan’s defence has now given up 110 points in four games and the Saints sit at 1-3 in a fairly weak division. Sean Payton will need some serious Big Easy voodoo to break his team out of this downward trend.

20. New York Giants (up 3) – A handful of Fantasy League owners are practically doing cartwheels at the exploits of Larry Donnell against Washington (and I just may be one of them!). But where had THAT Eli Manning been for the first three weeks of the season?

21. Carolina (RELEGATED, down 6) – Outscored 75-29 in the last two games, the Panthers still top the NFC South, somehow. But this could be the NFL’s new Sad Sack division.

22. Minnesota (PROMOTED, up 7) – Ready, Teddy, GO! The Vikings had 351 yards of offence (and 24 points) at half time at home to Atlanta. They had 247 in the whole GAME the previous week at New Orleans and just 217 at home to New England. You would imagine young Bridgewater now has the starting quarterback gig all the time he can stay healthy.

23. Pittsburgh (down 6) – Many people are still wondering how the Steelers lost at Tampa Bay after winning everywhere except on the final scoreboard. Here’s a clue – they also won on the penalty count, with no less than SIX 15-yard penalties among the THIRTEEN flags they piled up.

24. Buffalo (down 3) – Now we’ll find out if EJ Manuel really was the problem for the 2-2 Bills or if Doug Marrone is just setting himself up for a painful reality check.

The Conference – Those in rebuilding mode

25. Tampa Bay (up 7) – The Buccaneers were utterly shambolic at times at Pittsburgh (including barely 70 yards of offence in the first half) but the Steelers allowed them to hang around and, somehow, Tampa managed to do enough in the fourth quarter to pull off the greatest ambush of the season. Do it again and they might be promotion worthy.

26. St Louis (no change) – Rams back-up Austin Davis currently has the best completion percentage of any starting quarterback while Shaun Hill is sidelined by a calf problem. Jeff Fisher may now have a tricky decision to make for the trip to Philly after insisting Hill is his starter if fit.

27. Cleveland (no change) – Fresh from their bye, the 2-2 Browns are quietly relishing their next month, against teams with a combined 3-13 record. Yes, they get the Titans, Steelers, Jaguars and Raiders in quick succession. What price 6-2?

28. Washington (RELEGATED, down 4) – Just when you think Kirk Cousins might be the answer, he throws in a stinker of a FIVE-turnover day and Washington are firmly up the Potomac without a paddle. Quarterback. Controversy. Over.

29. Tennessee (down 4) – Only Jacksonville and Oakland are scoring fewer points per game than these Titans, so at least Ken Whisenhunt knows where the main problems lie. Fixing an offence that ranks 28th in passing and 17th in rushing may not be so easy, though.

30. New York Jets (down 2) – Geno Smith may have significantly over-stepped the mark in his f-word blast at a heckling fan in the home loss to Detroit, but a better response would be what the heck was he doing still in the game after seven turnovers in just four outings so far?

31. Jacksonville (no change) – You know your fans have got little to cheer when they get excited about a 19-point defeat. But Blake Bortles completely re-energised a moribund offence. Now, can the Jags defence actually stop someone?

32. Oakland (down 2) – Was your journey really necessary? It certainly wasn’t for Dennis Allen, who is now the sixth Raiders ex-coach in the past 10 years.