NFL Power Rankings: A look at Week 4

We’ve seen three weeks of football, and it feels like we still don’t know anything. The Raiders lead the AFC at 3-0 along with the Broncos, the Bengals would have the 2 seed if the playoffs started today while the Chiefs currently hold the 11 and the Colts sit dead last at 16 due to tiebreakers. In the other conference, we have a new consensus number one team, joining the Cardinals and Panthers as the undefeateds. But there’s plenty of time for all that to change…

Below, you will find our collective Broadway Power Rankings for all 32 NFL teams, along with some analysis for certain teams that stand out amongst the pack.

Biggest Risers: After handing the Chiefs their second straight loss, the Chargers have vaulted 12 spots this week.

Biggest Fallers: There were some big fallers this week as teams start to reveal who they really are – the Steelers fell six more spots, while Washington and Seattle dropped seven spots. No team fell further than the Patriots though, who we have nine spots lower this week.

As will happen every Tuesday until the offseason, nine of our contributors — Zach Lyons, Shaun Caulderon, Justin Melo, Jimmy Morris, Robert Greenlaw, Wes Wisley, Austin Nelson, Easton Freeze, Justin Graver, and TreJean Watkins — have submitted their power rankings. Below is the aggregate results of those rankings.

Here’s where we landed as we head into Week 4…

TreJean: How about those Rams huh? Big time matchup against the defending champions, at home, and on national television. All the factors were in place for a huge party at SoFi stadium, and Sean McVay’s team capitalized.

They remain high in our power rankings, this week they’re slotted at 1. The offense looks great, Raheem Morris has done a good job with the defense, all seems well in Los Angeles.

Justin G: The Chiefs have stumbled into their first two-game losing streak since October of 2019 and currently sit two games back of the Raiders and Broncos in the AFC West. In both losses, it was turnovers that doomed the Chiefs, with Clyde Edwards-Helaire fumbling away the game against Baltimore two weeks ago, and on Sunday, it was a barrage of turnovers that allowed the Chargers to pull off the upset. Kansas City lost the turnover battle 4-0 and still nearly came out on top, showing just how dangerous they can be.

It’s only a matter of time before this Chiefs team starts taking care of the football and starts to look like the Super Bowl competitors we know they are. The defense has real problems, but the offense can still score with anyone, and now they’ve added Josh Gordon (time will tell if this means anything at all). Andy Reid appears to be doing okay after his precautionary trip to the hospital, and the Chiefs should be okay, too.

Zach: The Tennessee Titans are sitting alone atop the AFC South trash heap, but they do that on the backs of Titans stalwarts like Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Chester Rogers, and Jeremy McNichols.

All offseason long, we talked about how the Titans have one of the best 53-man rosters in the NFL, and it showed up on Sunday. Divisional games always have extra juice, especially against the Colts. You can’t just discount that team who wants to smack you in the mouth, and their backs were against the wall. So this, in all honesty, was a very big win for the Titans.

The Titans have the Jets and Jags over the next two games, and they need to get healthy but also dominate both of those games for some extra confidence as they head into the more brutal part of their schedule.

Shaun: To the surprise of many, the Carolina Panthers are one of the five remaining undefeated teams through three weeks. Head coach Matt Rhule has built most of this team’s foundation from the ground up and it’s starting to flourish in year two.

The Carolina defense is phenomenal, they have playmakers on every level with Brian Burns, Haason Reddick, Shaq Thompson, and Jeremy Chinn leading the way. On the other side of the ball, Sam Darnold appears to be the next quarterback thriving once he leaves the grasps of Adam Gase and the New York Jets. The Panthers did lose Christian McCaffery to a hamstring injury, and he’s considered week to week, so that bears watching on how that affects their ranking going forward.

Austin: The Broncos are off to their best start since Peyton Manning was at the helm. They have played the Giants, Jaguars and Jets. Those teams probably pick in the top 5 of next year’s draft, so it’s not saying much. Courtland Sutton looks like his old self and Teddy Bridgewater is off to a good start to the season. The Broncos host Baltimore this Sunday, so this is their first real test. Let’s see how legit this team is.

Easton: The Vikings have some real fight in them, and I think they’re quietly in the race for their division. Their record of 1-2 is deceiving, as they were a Dalvin Cook fumble and a missed 36-yard field goal away from a 3-0 start. Looking more polished each week, if Mike Zimmer can get his defense in relative shape, this Viking offense can carry this team to the playoffs. Oh, and Kirk Cousins looks fantastic so far, by the way.

Justin Melo: Are the Panthers for real? I’ll admit I didn’t pay much attention to them after they beat the lowly Jets by one score in Week 1, but a 26-7 win over the Saints in Week 2 has my full attention. This underrated Panthers defense held the Saints to 128 yards of total offense. Carolina is for real, and they officially have piqued my interest.

Robert: This team continues to play fairly competitive football despite having a coach who is straight out of the plot of “The Spy Who Knew Too Little”.  A head coach hired potentially on accident, for a job he was certainly not qualified for, but is authentic to who he is and the team is rallying behind that. Will it hold up? I doubt it. He has made poor coaching decisions on a weekly basis and I think that’ll wear on the team at some point. The talent isn’t there to prop up inadequate coaching and eventually, poor David Culley will be fired for a job that was impossible from the start. 

Melo: Things went from bad to worse for the Giants this week. Many expected them to beat a hapless Falcons team in New York, but it wasn’t to be as Arthur Smith’s Falcons came out victorious by the score of 17-14. Jason Garrett’s offense only managed 14 points and 346 total yards of offense against an Atlanta defense that gave up 32 and 48 points in Week 1 and 2 respectively. I’m not sure there’s light at the end of the tunnel for this Giants team.

Wes: The Jets are off to an abysmal start to their 2021 campaign. While the defense has played admirably so far, the offense has been atrocious.

With a league worst 6.7 points per game average, one of their main issues is the offensive line. Per David Wyatt-Hupton, Zach Wilson’s average time to either get a pass off or for the pocket to collapse is 1.7 seconds. He’s been sacked 15 times (most in NFL), hurried 14 times (2nd most) pressured 33 times (most) – his pressure % is 27% (2nd most among three-game starters).

Now with a home game against Corey Davis’ former team, they will attempt to turn things around. Unfortunately for the Jets, all signs point to this game being a fairly easy win for the Titans.

Who is too high? Who is too low? Drop a comment down below!

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Author: Zach LyonsWith over 17 years experience of losing Fantasy Football games, Zach has been a Titans fan since moving to Nashville in 2002. A die-hard Alabama fan, but he doesn't let that cloud his judgement of the Elite Players they have put in the NFL. Players like Derrick Henry, Julio Jones, and AJ McCarron. You've heard him on Football & Other F Words giving his Unfiltered Opinions as facts and that won't change. He's always 100% right even if he has to revise earlier statements. Lawyered.