Raul Vazquez | October 8th, 2019
Week five was a weird week with a ton of close games and some unexpected winners. The Patriots still hold the top spot but there was a ton of movement throughout the rankings.
1. New England Patriots (+0)
The Patriots have had a really soft schedule to open the year but all you can do is win the games that you have on the schedule and they have done that in dominant fashion. The soft schedule rolls on with games against the Giants and Jets up next.
2. New Orleans Saints (+0)
Have a day, Teddy Bridgewater! The backup quarterback completed 76% of his passes on his way to 314 yards and four touchdowns. Bridgewater has not only kept the Saints alive while Drew Brees is out but they have been undefeated with him under center. The decision to make Bridgewater the highest-paid backup has worked out tremendously.
3. Green Bay Packers (+1)
That was a statement game, to say the least. Green Bay announced itself as one of the top five teams in the league with an absolute dismantling of Dallas. Aaron Jones had a day with four touchdowns while Aaron Rodgers has yet to truly look like the dominant quarterback that he is. The final score was a ten-point score but the game was not that close
4. Kansas City Chiefs (-1)
Kansas City is undefeated no more and for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era they looked, pedestrian. The loss puts the first blemish on their record but make no mistake, the Chiefs are still one of the best teams in the league.
5. Seattle Seahawks (+9)
The world has to give Seattle more respect and I will finally start to do so. The Seahawks needed a rare missed field goal from Greg Zuerlein to get the job done but they got a big-time win over the defending NFC champs. The win puts them squarely in contention to win the NFC West and right up there to come out of the NFC.
6. Buffalo Bills (+2)
Buffalo sits at 4-1 after week five and are the front runners for an AFC wild-card spot. Their defense has been absolutely special. A week after limiting Tom Brady and the Patriots, the Bills held the Titans to just seven points. If Josh Allen can play better this team has a chance to be special.
7. San Francisco 49ers (+2)
If there were questions about whether or not San Francisco was legit, the 49ers answered those questions with a resounding yes. Nick Bosa and the defense were constantly in the backfield making Baker Mayfield’s day a nightmare. They are now one of only two teams left that are undefeated which nobody would have predicted.
8. Philadelphia Eagles (+3)
The Eagles are a top ten team when healthy. They are loaded with talent but severely need help at corner. They need to find a way to pry Jalen Ramsey away from Jacksonville for whatever it takes. Other than the hole at corner this is a complete team. They can bounce back from two early losses with wins over the Vikings and Cowboys these next two weeks.
9. Dallas Cowboys (-4)
That was ugly. The Cowboys were destroyed at home against a Packers offense that was without Davante Adams. Critics have woken up with Dallas losing back to back games to the first two good teams they have played. They are still certainly a top ten team but Dak Prescott needs to be better against elite competition.
10. Detroit Lions (+0)
Detroit enjoyed a bye before getting into a tough stretch of their schedule. Much like the 49ers, they face questions over whether or not they are truly a good team. They have the chance to shut those people down with the Packers coming up in week six.
11. Indianapolis Colts (+4)
The Colts came into the season with easily the most adversity. Their star quarterback retired just weeks before the start of the season. With Jacoby Brissett under center, they have proven that they are still in the thick of the playoff hunt. They held the dynamic Chiefs offense to just 13 points and that was without Malik Hooker and Darius Leonard. Their next game is a pivotal divisional matchup against the Texans.
12. Los Angeles Rams (-5)
That is a brutal way to lose. In a quick turnaround from the loss to Tampa Bay the Rams did all they needed to do to pull off a win over the Seahawks but lost on an unusual miss from Zuerlein. The Rams fall to 3-2 and will now be in a tight divisional race with San Francisco and Seattle.
13. Chicago Bears (-7)
The Bears must have experienced serious jet lag. Josh Jacobs was able to have his way for most of the afternoon on the way to opening up a 17 point lead. A strong third quarter gave the Bears the lead but a late Chase Daniels interception cost them the game in Khalil Mack’s revenge game. An NFC battle with the Saints is up next. Next week is almost a must-win to keep up with the Packers in the North.
14. Baltimore Ravens (-1)
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have fallen off from the fast start they had. The Ravens nearly fell to 2-3 after needing overtime to beat the Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges led Steelers. This was a big win to begin to separate themselves in the race for the division.
15. Houston Texans (+6)
The Texans just showed what they can be whenever they manage to give Deshaun Watson protection. Watson was not sacked once on Sunday and the result was 53 points. The AFC South seems like it will come down to the Colts and the Texans.
16. Cleveland Browns (-4)
The worst performance of week five goes to Cleveland. The Browns are off an abysmal 2-3 start after Mayfield got whacked by the 49ers defensive line. They get the Seahawks and Patriots over the next two weeks which could very well spell a 2-5 record.
17. Oakland Raiders (+7)
Are the Raiders good? A team that many thought would win five games at best is now coming off of wins over the Colts and Bears. If they can string some wins together, they might be able to steal a wild card spot.
18. Carolina Panthers (+2)
The Panthers record with Cam Newton is 0-2 and their record with Kyle Allen is 3-0. They have turned it around quickly and now head to London for a divisional game with the Buccaneers.
19. Minnesota Vikings (-2)
Minnesota bounced back from an awful showing against the Bears last week with a dominant win over the Giants. The Vikings and more specifically Kirk Cousins still need to prove that they can defeat playoff teams rather than just beat up on bad teams.
20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-2)
Tampa Bay is a scrappy squad. They certainly have the talent to compete with anyone and showed just that this past weekend against the Saints. Tampa Bay was in it the whole game and nearly knocked off another NFC powerhouse after beating the Rams last week but ran out of time.
21. Jacksonville Jaguars (-5)
The Gardner Minshew show came to a halt but they had a chance at the end to tie it up. I had the Jaguars at 16 last week which was rather high. The drop down five spots is not necessarily a result of the loss this week, but rather a result of having them too high last week.
22. Los Angeles Chargers (-2)
The Chargers join the Falcons in terms of being the biggest disappointments of the 2019 season. With the loss to the Texans, they now fall to 2-3 and are falling behind to the surprising Raiders and the Superbowl contending Chiefs. The Chargers have the talent to come out of the AFC but have not looked the part to start the year.
23. Tennessee Titans (-1)
Inconsistent Tennessee continues to be just that. A week after blowing out Atlanta, the Titans followed that up by only putting up seven points at home against Buffalo. Marcus Mariota played one of the best games of his career last week but only threw for 183 yards and no touchdowns this week. The Bills are proving that they are legit but the Titans flopped in what was a winnable game.
24. New York Giants (-1)
After winning back to back games, the Giants came back to earth against Minnesota. Daniel Jones had a rough outing completing just 55% of his passes on the way to an ugly 28-10 loss. The Giants travel to Foxboro next week where Tom Brady escapes a matchup against his kryptonite Eli Manning.
25. Denver Broncos (+2)
The Broncos are winless no more. After opening up an early 17 point lead, Denver almost gave up the lead in the second half but got it done with a late Brandon McManus field goal to seal it. Vic Fangio gets his first win in his Broncos tenure and avoids the first-ever 0-5 start in Denver.
26. Pittsburgh Steelers (-1)
The injury bug struck again in Pittsburgh. The Steelers lost their franchise signal-caller in Ben Roethlisberger in week two and now three weeks later have lost Rudolph. Now starting at quarterback will be the Samford alum, Hodges. Not many in the football world have heard of Hodges and now Pittsburgh will have to rely on him to keep their playoff hopes alive.
27. Atlanta Falcons (-1)
The disappointing Falcons roll on. After falling victim to the Watson show, Atlanta has fallen to 1-4. Atlanta has the talent of a ten win team but has failed to live up to any and all expectations.
28. Arizona Cardinals (+0)
Arizona got its first win of 2019 but needed all sixty minutes to get it done. They nearly managed to give up a two touchdown lead in a little over seven minutes but a win is a win. The win is the first of what the Cardinals faithful hope will be many for the Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray tandem.
29. Cincinnati Bengals (+0)
The Cardinals versus the Bengals was a game all about draft position and the Bengals “won”. In all seriousness, Cincinnati nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback on the arm of Andy Dalton but fell short. The road doesn’t get any easier with a trip to Baltimore up next.
30. Washington Redskins (+0)
Washington kept up with the Patriots longer than anyone could have expected. The score was 9-7 with New England up with the first half about to close but a terrible Colt McCoy interception granted New England a field goal and the Redskins wouldn’t score again. With the ugly 0-5 start, the Redskins let go of Jay Gruden and might try to pry Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, but reportedly Riley would never consider joining the Redskins. Who can blame him?
31. New York Jets (+0)
Forget Luke Falk being the quarterback, the Jets offensive line has been awful. They gave up ten sacks to the Eagles. Sam Darnold might not be the answer to the problem for the Jets but he will be back this week. New York will hope to finally be 100% next week when they welcome back Chris Herndon, Brandon Copeland, C.J. Mosley and hopefully Jordan Jenkins.
32. Miami Dolphins (+0)
Can’t move up when you are on a bye. Miami has a chance to get a win in a tank bowl next week against the Redskins, but do they want to win?
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