NFL Rankings - 5 Oct

Another undefeated has gone down, but it wasn't the one I expected. The Green Bay Packers remained unblemished, but their division rivals from Detroit have managed to keep pace with them through 4 games. The Philadelphia Eagles continued their disappointing start to the season, but there are plenty of surprising teams displacing them closer to the top. Here are the rankings through 4 games for every team:

TW - LW - Team - Record
1. (2) Green Bay (4-0)
2. (7) Baltimore (3-1)
3. (5) New Orleans (3-1)
4. (8) New England (3-1)
5. (10) Tennessee (3-1)
6. (9) Detroit (4-0)
7. (4) Buffalo (3-1)
8. (11) Houston (3-1)
9. (3) NY Jets (2-2)
10. (1) Oakland (2-2)
11. (16) Chicago (2-2)
12. (6) Dallas (2-2)
13. (15) Cincinnati (2-2)
14. (13) San Francisco (3-1)
15. (22) NY Giants (3-1)
16. (14) Washington (3-1)
17. (17) Carolina (1-3)
18. (12) Denver (1-3)
19. (21) Pittsburgh (2-2)
20. (18) Arizona (1-3)
21. (29) Philadelphia (1-3)
22. (19) Jacksonville (1-3)
23. (27) San Diego (3-1)
24. (20) Tampa Bay (3-1)
25. (26) Atlanta (2-2)
26. (23) Miami (0-4)
27. (25) Cleveland (2-2)
28. (24) Minnesota (0-4)
29. (28) Seattle (1-3)
30. (30) Indianapolis (0-4)
31. (32) Saint Louis (0-4)
32. (31) Kansas City (1-3)

Saint Louis had a big week despite losing, moving out of the cellar and passing their in-state rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Rams nearly beat the NFC East-leading Washington Redskins on Sunday, and their previous two opponents, the Giants and Ravens, both had huge victories, making the Rams' losses to them look a little better. Don't expect them to end the losing streak this week, since they're visiting the Packers, but I wouldn't rule out a win over Dallas in week 6.

Baltimore beat up on the Jets this weekend, which looks very nice next to their season-opening blowout of the Steelers, and their only loss came on the road at Tennessee, another team with only one loss so far. This is not the purely defense-dominated Baltimore team that we've seen for a decade or more, because they seem to have grown an offense as well, scoring at least 34 points in all 3 of their victories this season.

After a close loss to a very good Buffalo team and a big win over the Jets, it looked like the Raiders were going to put up a fight against New England, especially playing on their home turf in Oakland, but the Patriots never let them really feel like they were in the game, and Oakland has now fallen to 2-2, and nearly left my top 10 after spending a week at #1.

The Jets were looking good after two early home victories, but then they went on the road and had to face some top 10 teams, and the result was back-to-back games where they gave up 34 points and lost by double digits, a pattern which will likely continue this week when they play New England, again on the road. If there was ever a team in need of a victory in the first half of the season, it's this team from New York.

Prediction Results

NFL: 9-7 (.563) 41-23 overall (.641)
Upsets: 0-5 (.000) 15-27 overall (.357)