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

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.

How ‘bout them Cowboys?! Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you certainly can’t ignore Jerry Jones’ men any longer, as they chalked up the season’s most significant win at Seattle and caused a seismic shift at the top of the rankings.

Almost everywhere else, it is ‘As you were.’ Cleveland have good cause to be content with things this week, though. Tampa Bay – not so much...

Champions League – True Super Bowl Material

1. Dallas (PROMOTED – up 11) – Yes, I’m deadly serious – this team is legit, and in a hurry. It’s their first five-game winning streak since 2007 and they just chalked up the biggest score in The Den of Din since 2011 (when the Seahawks went 7-9). Nobody goes into Seattle these days and dominates Pete Carroll’s men and, if it wasn’t for two horrible special teams miscues, this wouldn’t even have been close. Strong on defence, even stronger on offence, any doubts about Tony Romo and Co have been completely blown away.

2. Denver (no change) – The Jets scored their second touchdown with more than seven minutes left to pull back to just 17-24 down at home to the Broncos, and the visitors needed a last-minute INT to seal the deal. And the Jets’ top cornerback missed most of the game with an Achilles injury. Hmm. I’m not really seeing a Super Bowl winner yet.

3. San Francisco (no change) – After digging themselves into a 14-0 hole against the feisty Rams, the 49ers turned on the after-burners on both offence and defence. But they also needed a fortuitous call at 14-3 down (see No.24).

4. Philadelphia (no change) – There’s little doubt the Eagles are the Real McCoy when LeSean is running all over opposition defences. But, equally, Nick Foles is looking horribly mistake-prone and Real Teams will take full advantage. The current Giants definitely do not qualify.

5. Seattle (down 4) – The Seahawks know they just lost a major street fight, at home, on prime time, and it will hurt. But we could well see that match-up with the Cowboys again in the post-season. And it will register on the Richter Scale.

6. Detroit (down 1) – The good news for the Lions is that they kicked a field goal. The bad news is they still missed two more, and the ratio of only one in three remains. Fortunately, the defence are really turning it up and the offence survived another week without Megatron.

7. Green Bay (down 1) – Oh no he didn’t! That two-minute drill to the winning score in Miami by Aaron Rodgers had you rubbing your eyes in disbelief. But the Packers badly need to be able to keep cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Sam Shields on the field.

8= Indianapolis (down 1) – Pat McAfee has successfully executed three onside kicks in just six games this season. No other team has managed one. Can we say the Colts have got it down Pat?

8= New England (no change) – OK, so I’m cheating here in keeping nine teams in the top eight. So sue me. Nobody deserves to be relegated this week. And Tom Brady owns Buffalo. He is 23-2 against the Bills, the best record of any quarterback against a single opponent since 1972. Next up, another team he dominates, the Jets, with 18 wins in 24 games.

Premier League – Those Most Likely For Promotion

10. Arizona (no change) – Larry Fitzgerald fantasy owners everywhere rejoiced when Carson Palmer made a surprise return under centre – and the veteran wideout promptly had his best game since the end of last year.

11. San Diego (no change) – In their five straight wins, the Chargers have had a different receiver catch the most passes each time. Philip Rivers is having WAY too much fun so far this season

12. Cincinnati (down 3) – The Bengals have now given up 936 yards in just two games. If they repeat anything similar to the Colts this week, they are looking at three in a row without a victory, which, in this nip-and-tuck AFC North, is how you end up missing out on the play-offs.

13. Baltimore (no change) – Joe Flacco managed five touchdown passes in the first 16 minutes at Tampa Bay, and none in the next 44. Slacker.

14. Carolina (no change) – The Panthers were spitting fur at the antics of the Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict in Cincinnati, labelling him a “head-hunter”. Apparently, he went after the bad ankles of both Cam Newton and Greg Olsen. Um, that would make him an ankle-hunter, technically.

15. New Orleans (no change) – The severity of Jimmy Graham’s shoulder sprain is the main topic in The Big Easy this week. Being without their leading receiver at Detroit is not a proposition Saints fans are keen to contemplate.

16. Kansas City (down 1) – Only three quarterbacks have been sacked more often than Alex Smith so far this season, and two of those (Ben Roethlisberger and Matthew Stafford) have played a game more. The other (Chad Henne) plays for the Jaguars, who don’t do ANYTHING well, let alone protect their passer. So the Chiefs have had a clear mission on their bye week – stop their offensive line being so darn offensive.

The Championship – Teams With a Lot Of Work To Do

17. Chicago (up 2) – Only one team is giving up more yards per game than Atlanta, and that is the woeful Buccaneers. So the Bears’ feat in racking up 458 yards on the Falcons was barely holding serve. This week’s visit of Miami will be much more of a test of Jay Cutler’s new INT avoidance system.

18. Cleveland (up 6) – Brian Hoyer’s agent reached out to several companies about sponsorship deals in the summer, and was told by one “Call back when he’s named a starter.” With Hoyer now firmly cemented as the 3-2 Browns’ team leader, do you think his agent can start working the phones? 

19. Houston (down 1) – Take away that disastrous first quarter, and the Texans actually beat the Colts 28-9. But then again, when you’re 24-0 down, you look for every crumb of comfort.

20. New York Giants (down 3) – If the Giants did anything even passably well at Philadelphia, I must have missed it. A greater exercise in footballing futility is hard to imagine. Wait, I take that back. Steve Weatherford’s TEN punts averaged 47.7 yards, with a long of 71.

21. Buffalo (down 1) – The Bills are paying defensive lineman Mario Williams nearly $20m a year. Do you think he’d have been more useful on the field, then, during the Patriots’ final game-clinching drive?

22. Miami (down 1) – The Dolphins had the ball for just 8min 51sec in the first half but don’t blame the defence. They limited the Packers to just 166 yards and 10 points but Ryan Tannehill threw two killer INTs and utterly failed to get the offence in sync after two weeks to prepare. Miami also had just 10 rushing yards by the interval. Tannehill did lead three straight second-half scoring drives – but only once both Packers starting cornerbacks were off the field with injuries.

23. Pittsburgh (down 1) – With two minutes to go in the first half, Roethlisberger had just 16 passing yards. He finished with 228 but the Steelers were 21-3 down at half-time and this is not a team built to come from that far back.

24. St Louis (PROMOTED, up 1) – The Rams got out flat out robbed at home to the 49ers. Driving at the end of the first half at 14-3 up, they got called for a phantom offensive pass interference penalty after a long completion to Jared Cook that would have put them in at least field goal position. Instead, they had to punt and Colin Kaepernick threw an 80-yard TD pass to Brandon Lloyd and only a 14-10 half-time deficit. Jeff Fisher’s young team never recovered.

The Conference – Those in Rebuilding Mode

25. Atlanta (RELEGATED, down 2) – When the Falcons start losing home games, the jig is up for this Atlanta team.

26. Tennessee (up 3) – After blowing that 25-point lead against Cleveland, the Titans were a blocked field goal away from losing a 16-7 lead at home to the winless Jags. Not too much to feel good about in Tennessee.

27. Minnesota (down 1) – Pitting a rookie quarterback against the Lions’ defensive front was a mis-match on paper and even more so on the field. Teddy Bridgewater managed just 32 passing yards in the first half and his 3 INTs were the difference in the game.

28. Washington (no change) – Losing on the road at Arizona is no disgrace. Throwing a truly horrible pick-six on your last chance is. That’s seven INTs in the last 3 games for Kirk Cousins. And Robert Griffin III is unlikely to be ready before November, according to some estimates.

29. Jacksonville (up 1) – It’s baby steps for the Jaguars right now, but that’s two competitive games in a row and they were a blocked field goal away from a 17-16 win at Tennessee.

30. New York Jets (up 1) – OK, so the Jets had just NINE rushing yards through three quarters against Denver (which suggests their problems may not be ALL down to Geno Smith), but they gave Denver all they could handle for much of the time and there’s no sign of any quit in this team. Lack of real talent, yes; quit, no. 

31. Oakland (up 1) – Dennis Allen is probably wondering where THAT Raiders team was during their limp defeat to Miami in London. They led in the in-form Chargers 28-21 with little more than 5 minutes to go and just lost out to another classic display from Philip Rivers, who posted a 120 QB rating for a record fifth game in a row.

32. Tampa Bay (down 5) – And this week’s Sad Sacks are…the Buccaneers! OK, so they ‘won’ the second half 17-7 against Baltimore but, when you’re 38-0 down at half-time, (the biggest deficit for a home team since World War 2!) it’s all a bit immaterial.