NFL Power Rankings

As brutal as this past week was for NFL prognosticators like me, I have to admit that I am always in awe of how fickle the NFL regular season can be. As the saying goes ... anything can happen on any given Sunday!

Here are some of the surprises so far in this young NFL season.

The two teams who squared off in the NFC Championship last season and looked like strong contenders again this season are both 1-3 and were humiliated last week. The GE model did favor Atlanta to beat Carolina but not in the way they did last Sunday. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones put up Madden-like numbers. BOOM! Super Bowl hangovers last a while and I think it will take Carolina a while to shake off this hangover. Also, how on Earth did Arizona commit 5 turnovers at home?! The GE Model loved Arizona last week and without those turnovers, I think Arizona wins by at least a TD (the Cardinals outgained Los Angeles by 132 total yards). No Carson Palmer (he's in the concussion protocol) and a short turnaround before they travel to San Francisco (actually Santa Clara!) does not bode well for Arizona.
The Broncos D is solid as expected as well as Minnesota's but Philly' D ranks as the top right now. The sample size is small but we can't ignore what they have done so far and the Eagles will be well rested as they travel to Detroit.
No Romo and no Dez, no problem. The Cowboys are somewhat flying under the radar but they are a team to fear. They are playing mistake free football and easily have the best O-line in the league. They should be relevant later on in the season once Romo and Dez are fully healthy but I am not so sure you sit Dak Prescott. He looks great!
How the heck did the Patriots get shut out at home after shutting out Houston the week before and beating Arizona on the road to start the season?! Didn't New England get Gronk back, had three extra days of rest with no travel in between, win the last 15 games at home against Buffalo, and the Bills D allow 37 points to the Jets just a couple of weeks before?! Ay yay yay! Well Tom Brady is back and the Patriots travel to Cleveland next week. If the Patriots can't win there, then I don't know anything about football!

OK, enough reflecting on a wacky week of football. Here are the NFL Power Rankings for Week 5 based on the GE model.

Week 5

Total Performance

1 PHI 2.909741119 Same

2 MIN 1.536261242 Up 3

3 DEN 1.465334525 Up 5

4 ATL 1.459482889 Up 7

5 DAL 0.985962673 Up 4

6 SEA 0.670685608 Same

7 BAL 0.632814665 Up 6

8 ARI 0.628860675 Down 3

9 BUF 0.537995305 Up 3

10 NE 0.449463351 Down 8

11 PIT 0.418663866 Up 8

12 CIN 0.372992208 Up 2

13 SD 0.344382673 Up 3

14 OAK 0.09573582 Down 4

15 KC 0.019909346 Down 12

16 WAS 0.016274815 Up 4

17 CAR -0.091964566 Down 10

18 HOU -0.198403141 Same

19 NO -0.273368382 Up 3

20 GB -0.377069116 Down 5

21 LA -0.521521846 Up 6

22 DET -0.591983826 Down 5

23 JAX -0.602040496 Up 3

24 IND -0.616132344 Down 1

25 SF -0.760368609 Down 1

26 CLE -0.768053527 Up 2

27 CHI -0.873418731 Up 5

28 TEN -0.92556629 Up 1

29 NYG -0.951676316 Down 8

30 MIA -1.450383751 Up 1

31 NYJ -1.558093083 Down 6

32 TB -1.984516754 Down 2

Week 5

Offense

1 ATL 2.506809986 Same

2 PHI 1.314846501 Up 2

3 OAK 1.038718485 Down 1

4 DAL 0.952377135 Up 2

5 NO 0.747077042 Same

6 PIT 0.54513822 Up 11

7 DET 0.459053655 Same

8 WAS 0.446921109 Up 4

9 SD 0.431159376 Up 1

10 IND 0.3340505 Down 1

11 DEN 0.324145553 Up 8

12 CAR 0.10513085 Up 1

13 CIN 0.027982121 Up 1

14 NE -0.022797926 Down 11

15 BUF -0.039070053 Same

16 MIN -0.048420882 Up 5

17 GB -0.160156227 Down 6

18 SEA -0.189597597 Same

19 ARI -0.215429642 Down 11

20 CLE -0.267964267 Up 3

21 BAL -0.315195418 Up 4

22 KC -0.397892469 Down 6

23 NYG -0.416032862 Down 3

24 JAX -0.532679735 Up 6

25 SF -0.559249542 Up 3

26 CHI -0.663676431 Up 3

27 HOU -0.777035174 Up 4

28 TEN -0.778088555 Down 1

29 MIA -0.875670454 Down 5

30 TB -0.926736704 Down 8

31 NYJ -0.950381696 Down 5

32 LA -1.097334899 Same

Week 5

Defense

1 PHI 1.594894618 Up 2

2 MIN 1.584682124 Down 1

3 DEN 1.141188972 Up 5

4 BAL 0.948010083 Up 6

5 SEA 0.860283205 Same

6 ARI 0.844290317 Up 3

7 HOU 0.578632033 Down 3

8 BUF 0.577065357 Up 4

9 LA 0.575813053 Up 2

10 NE 0.472261277 Down 4

11 KC 0.417801815 Down 9

12 CIN 0.345010087 Up 10

13 DAL 0.033585538 Up 5

14 JAX -0.069360761 Up 2

15 SD -0.086776703 Up 6

16 PIT -0.126474354 Up 10

17 TEN -0.147477734 Up 5

18 CAR -0.197095416 Down 11

19 SF -0.201119067 Down 5

20 CHI -0.209742301 Up 5

21 GB -0.216912889 Down 2

22 WAS -0.430646294 Up 10

23 CLE -0.50008926 Up 3

24 NYG -0.535643454 Down 4

25 MIA -0.574713297 Up 3

26 NYJ -0.607711387 Down 11

27 OAK -0.942982664 Down 3

28 IND -0.950182844 Up 2

29 NO -1.020445424 Up 3

30 ATL -1.047327097 Up 10

31 DET -1.051037481 Down 4

32 TB -1.057780051 Down 3