NFL Week 5 Power Rankings

Five Quick Hits

* It seems pretty obvious that NFL referees have a different definition of "indisputable visual evidence" than the rest of the world.

* This week, I'm thinking specifically of Jeff Triplette, who reversed Hines Ward's touchdown run, and Pete Morelli, who thought the first tuck rule was so great that we needed a second one.

* At least two separate announcers referred to Edwin Moses when NFL players hurdled opponents this weekend.

* Curtis Martin wants to break Emmitt Smith's career rushing record. This season, he's on pace for 912 yards, and he's averaging 2.7 yards per attempt. That's no way to get to 18,000.

* How can any announcer call umpire Garth DeFelice "as tough as anyone out on that field today" with a straight face, while Rod Smith and John Lynch are on one sideline, and Jon Jansen is playing with both his thumbs broken and hitting someone on every play?

***

It's not uncommon to hear that to get to the Super Bowl, a team has to be lucky as well as good. Bad luck is starting to pour in for some teams, and some preseason contenders are starting to look pretty beaten up. This Sunday, the Saints, already down on their luck, lost Deuce McAllister for the rest of the season. The Patriots, trying to defend their Super Bowl title, have lost a host of players, most notably Rodney Harrison and Matt Light. Green Bay has a constantly-shifting offensive line, and Javon Walker suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the year.

Injuries can be the difference between good and great, or sometimes even great (the NFC champion 1998 Falcons with Jamal Anderson) and terrible (the 5-11 1999 Falcons without Anderson). Injuries are starting to mount, and good teams like the Colts are starting to distance themselves from the field. Let's jump right to the rankings. Brackets indicate previous rank.

1. Indianapolis Colts [1] — Weirdest stat of the young season: New England's defense has given up 107 points more than the Colts'. I don't buy the hype that Indianapolis suddenly has the league's best defense, but it's clearly capable of pulling its weight this time around, and a renewed emphasis on the running game is keeping the defensive unit fresh. If there's cause for concern, it's that Peyton Manning's interception percentage is 37% higher than it was last season. At this point, though, that's picking nits. The Colts appear to be the NFL's most solid, balanced team, and Peyton Manning does not count as a glaring weakness.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers [2] — I'm writing this on Monday night, and all I know about Ben Roethlisberger's injury is that it looked a lot like Willis McGahee's in the Fiesta Bowl. If he's out, which seems likely, they should probably be lower. On the bright side, every player on the roster was a college quarterback, so I think they'll be able to fill in. Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu must be wondering what they have to do to get on John Madden's trailer.

3. Cincinnati Bengals [3] — I don't like keeping them here after a loss, and they still haven't beaten anyone, but there's no one to move up. The four teams Cincinnati has beaten have a combined record of 4-12, which is actually a pretty Bengal-like record. It's worrisome that the team seemed so lost when the Jaguars were able to contain Chad Johnson, but I like the balance I see on this team: obvious holes simply aren't there. It'll get a chance for redemption in two weeks when the Steelers come to Ohio with first place in the AFC North on the line.

4. Atlanta Falcons [4] — Each of the last two weeks, I raved about the pass defense, and this week it made the Patriots look like the 1950 Rams. Sunday was a rough day for Atlanta fans, who lost a tight football game and an epic elimination game in baseball. They're ranked here partially on the assumption that Michael Vick will be back next week, and partly on the assumption that Vick is the team's best quarterback.

5. New England Patriots [7] — Statistically, 2002 was a career year for Tom Brady. He had career-highs in completions, passing yards, touchdowns, and rushing yards. The Pats finished 28th in rushing offense and 21st in total defense, going 9-7 and missing the playoffs. This year's team reminds me a little of that group. It's encouraging that Corey Dillon got going on Sunday.

6. San Diego Chargers [9] — Most years, Shaun Alexander and Edgerrin James would be all-pro front-runners at this point. Instead, LaDainian Tomlinson — though he skipped directly from unnoticed to overhyped — has a pretty strong case as the best RB in the NFL. Antonio Gates made a couple of pretty amazing plays on Monday night, too. This is one of the best 2-3 teams you'll ever see, but a brutal schedule leaves it easy to imagine the Chargers missing the postseason.

7. Denver Broncos [8] — Came up with big plays when they needed them, but Washington outplayed them at Mile High. Mark Brunell looked like a superstar, with 18 passing first downs and no sacks or interceptions in 53 attempts. Clinton Portis had his first 100-yard game of the season. Jake Plummer completed 40% of his passes. No Bronco receiver had more than two catches. Denver was lucky to escape with a win.

8. Jacksonville Jaguars [10] — Could be higher than this, and if they beat Pittsburgh next week, they will be. If Byron Leftwich doesn't start completing some passes, though, I'll have to kick them out of the top 10 because of my Week 2 decision that "teams in the top 10 must have an offense". Leftwich was 10-for-24 against Cincinnati.

9. Philadelphia Eagles [5] — Last season, they allowed only one opponent to score 30 points before the meaningless final week of the regular season. This year, it's already happened twice. The Cowboys' offense is clearly better than expected, but it's been held to 13 points twice this season — by Washington, which has an exceptional defense, and Oakland, which does not. The Eagles need to seriously regroup during their bye week, because their first three games coming back are going to be awfully tough.

10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [6] — I still don't understand why Ronde Barber wasn't ejected from this game after he hit umpire Butch Hannah in the face. This is a different team without Cadillac Williams, and it's scored fewer points each week, with the exception of two weeks in a row at 17. That's a bad trend.

11. Washington Redskins [11] — Santana Moss continues to impress me. In the late 1990s, all Cris Carter did was catch touchdowns. This season, all Moss does is make first downs. The offense is coming together, and the defense is probably the best in the league, although I'd like to see it come up with more big plays. The kicking unit could stand to improve its blocking — Nick Novak has had a field goal blocked in consecutive games.

12. Seattle Seahawks [12] — FOX seems to believe that my top priority as a football fan is to avoid watching teams that play West of the Mississippi. First, I got Jets/Bucs, and when that game ended early, they switched to Browns/Bears instead of the NFC West grudge match in St. Louis. I watched a lot of CBS and a little of ESPN and FOX.

13. New York Giants [13] — Bye week, and I don't have anything interesting to say about them, but doesn't it seem like there are more clock errors than usual this season? What's up with that?

14. Carolina Panthers [14] — Stephen Davis averaged under three yards per carry for the third game in a row. The Dolphins have a pretty good defense, but the Packers and Cardinals aren't really known for their run-stuffing.

15. Kansas City Chiefs [16] — After Washington, they have four road games in five weeks. From Miami to San Diego, back to KC, then northeast to Buffalo before going southwest to Houston. That's a lot of travel after their bye.

16. Dallas Cowboys [21] — Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn are playing like it's 1996. This team is all about breaking up streaks. First, it loses to Washington for the first time since the Jimmy Carter administration, then it wins against the Eagles after losing nine of the previous 10.

17. Detroit Lions [17] — A totally different team at home. They're hopeless on the road, but in Detroit, they've got a shot against almost anybody. Joey Harrington took a lot of shots on Sunday.

18. Oakland Raiders [20] — I'm sure he'd like to see a little more consistency from Kerry Collins, but Norv Turner has to be pretty pleased with what he's seen from his offense so far. Lamont Jordan has lived up to the hype, especially as a receiving threat out of the backfield. Courtney Anderson is a legitimate receiver out of the tight end position, which is key in Turner's scheme, and of course, Randy Moss is stretching the field vertically. Even Collins has done well, showing his arm and avoiding interceptions. A 55% completion percentage is a little low in today's NFL, though, even for a downfield passing game.

19. Miami Dolphins [18] — "Historically a team that struggles on the road, so if they can win at Buffalo in Week 5, they're probably for real." And so it continues. I actually think they're a good upset pick at Tampa in Week 6, but I worry that the return of Ricky Williams may hurt the team. Williams was a good back once, but he's through, and Ronnie Brown has shown a lot of promise the last two weeks.

20. Minnesota Vikings [19] — The NFC North is wide open, and Minnesota hasn't had any division games yet, so if they can turn things around, the Vikings could still win. I've gotten used to ignoring owners who claim they won't fire the head coach, but Zygi Wilf seems genuinely committed to Mike Tice for the time being. I normally hate replacing coaches midseason, but if I ran the Vikings, assistant head coach Ted Cottrell would be in charge of the team right now.

21. Buffalo Bills [23] — J.P. Losman seems like a nice kid, but switching to Kelly Holcomb clearly gave the offense a boost. What I keep hearing, though, is that the Dolphins beat themselves. Five turnovers and 18 penalties will do that. The Bills have reason to be encouraged, but I'd like more proof than a win over a team Buffalo usually beats at home.

22. Baltimore Ravens [15] — What an ugly, vicious game in Detroit. I heard Mike Ditka trying to apologize for the Ravens, but I saw this game, and the officials called it correctly. It wasn't just that Baltimore had 21 penalties — a lot of them were personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct calls, and two players were ejected. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team lose its self-control the way the Ravens did. They did make a terrific goal-line stand in the third quarter, stopping the Lions seven times before, with some penalty help, Detroit finally punched it in on the eighth try.

23. Cleveland Browns [25] — Came up with some big plays, but really struggled on run defense. The offense has looked lively with Trent Dilfer under center.

24. St. Louis Rams [24] — I think Mike Martz is a terrible head coach, but that doesn't mean his absence in the middle of the season will help St. Louis. I've actually been surprised by how worried I find myself about Martz's condition. The Rams' defense is atrocious.

25. New York Jets [27] — Not to rain on the Vinny Testaverde parade, but he had a 72.9 passer rating on Sunday, and the Jets had their fewest points at home all season. Vinny brings leadership and confidence that the team had been lacking, but the real credit for Sunday's win goes to the defense that kept forcing Tampa Bay to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns.

26. Tennessee Titans [26] — They've allowed more than 30 points three times already, and have the second-worst scoring defense in the AFC (New England, believe it or not, is last), but the defense is the strength of this team. Kyle Vanden Bosch is tied for the NFL sack lead (6), and Keith Bulluck remains one of the game's premier outside linebackers. Only the Colts and Falcons have more sacks this season.

27. New Orleans Saints [22] — Inconsistency was a Saints trademark even before they became a permanent road team dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is a slightly above-average team on its good days, but when it is bad, it is horrid.

28. Arizona Cardinals [29] — Clearly a better team with Josh McCown throwing the passes, but he shouldn't be the leading rusher, too.

29. Green Bay Packers [30] — The depth chart is getting awfully thin at running back and wide receiver, and there are still a ton of problems on defense, but they’re right back in the thick of the NFC North title hunt.

30. Chicago Bears [28] — The defense is strong, and I feel bad about having them so low. They had a chance against Cleveland on Sunday, and just couldn't close the deal. They'll miss Thomas Jones while he's out.

31. Houston Texans [31] — It just wouldn't be Sunday without David Carr being sacked seven times.

32. San Francisco 49ers [32] — Could easily be ranked second. The Niners beat St. Louis earlier this season, and St. Louis beat Tennessee. The Titans beat Baltimore, and the Ravens defeated the Jets. The Jets knocked out Tampa Bay, who beat Buffalo, who topped Miami this weekend. The Dolphins beat the Broncos, and the Broncos have beaten San Diego (who beat New England), Jacksonville (who beat Cincinnati), and Washington (who beat Seattle). The Patriots toppled Pittsburgh, and the Seahawks dropped the Falcons. Using this logic, I could deduce that San Francisco would beat the Steelers by 110. And that is why I don't use formulas or base my rankings on a single game.