2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings

Arizona Cardinals: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#21)

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Last week: 23 (+2)

The offense is significantly improved this season, but the defense is now the problem and it’s not going to get better as they’ve lost 3 of their top-4 rush linebackers for the season with injury in the past week. Sam Acho, Lorenzo Alexander, and Alex Okafor, a 4th round rookie in line for a bigger role, are all out and they are left with John Abraham, who is showing his age, Matt Shaughnessy, and Dontay Moch, the latter of whom was recently signed off the street. Fortunately, they get talented middle linebacker Daryl Washington back from injury after one more game and we’ll see if he can play as well as he did in 2012, before the suspension.

Week 3 Studs

C Lyle Sendlein

LE Darnell Dockett

Week 3 Duds

LT Levi Brown

ROLB John Abraham

MLB Jasper Brinkley

SS Yeremiah Bell

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Pittsburgh Steelers: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#22)

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Last week: 22 (-4)

The Steelers had 21 first downs, 2 punts, and 459 total yards to 15, 6, and 258 for the Bears, but lost by 17 because they committed 5 turnovers, 2 which went for touchdowns, without forcing a single turnover. They are now -9 in turnovers on the season, tied with the also 0-3 Giants for worst in the NFL. Fortunately, that kind of thing tends to be inconsistent in the long run. Also fortunately, they return Le’Veon Bell from injury this week and get safety valve Heath Miller back at full strength after he returned in limited fashion last week. That’s not going to be enough to push them from 0-3 into the playoffs, but they’re going to be overlooked going forward. They can still play defense and it’s only a matter of time before they start forcing takeaways (0 on the season).

Week 3 Studs

WR Antonio Brown

LOLB LaMarr Woodley

MLB Lawrence Timmons

SS Troy Polamalu

Week 3 Duds

LT Mike Adams

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Philadelphia Eagles: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#23)

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Last week: 20 (-3)

With the exception of the first half against the Redskins, one of the worst defenses in the NFL, the Eagles’ have really not played that well this season. I still believe in Chip Kelly as an NFL coach, but there’s only so much he can do given how bad their defense is and how flawed Michael Vick is as a quarterback. They aren’t moving the ball as well as they were early in the season, as they’ve been facing tougher defenses, they don’t catch teams by surprise, and Michael Vick is missing open guys and turning the ball over. This is putting so much pressure on their defense, as a result of the faster pace, and they just don’t have the talent to handle that.

Week 3 Studs

WR Jason Avant

LG Evan Mathis

RE Fletcher Cox

CB Cary Williams

Week 3 Duds

WR Riley Cooper

RT Lane Johnson

RG Todd Herremans

MLB DeMeco Ryans

MLB Mychal Kendricks

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Washington Redskins: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#24)

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Last week: 21 (-3)

Their defense continues to make it near impossible for them to win games and that’s not something that’s going to change going forward. They’re too young and don’t have another talent. Unfortunately, they won’t get their pick this year, what will probably be a top-10 pick, to fix their defense, but I don’t think they’d trade Robert Griffin and the promise he still has going forward for their 3 picks back if they could.

Week 3 Studs

LG Kory Lichtensteiger

C Will Montgomery

LOLB Ryan Kerrigan

DT Barry Cofield

Week 3 Duds

QB Robert Griffin

RG Chris Chester

SS Brandon Meriweather

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New York Jets: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#25)

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Last week: 29 (+4)

The Jets have plenty of problems, but they have one of the best front 7s in football. The 8 sacks they had against the Bills were no fluke. Damon Harrison and Demario Davis have broken out as first year starters, while David Harris, who was at one point a great player, is having a huge bounce back year. And that doesn’t even include recent 1st rounders Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, and Quinton Coples, who returned from injury last week. They still need another edge rusher and could grad one with a high pick in 2013 to make their front 7 even more talented, but this is a very talented bunch.

Week 3 Studs

QB Geno Smith

RT Austin Howard

LE Muhammad Wilkerson

DT Damon Harrison

MLB David Harris

Week 3 Duds

TE Jeff Cumberland

LG Vladimir Ducaase

C Nick Mangold

ROLB Calvin Pace

MLB Demario Davis

CB Kyle Wilson

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San Diego Chargers: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#26)

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Last week: 24 (-2)

Philip Rivers is enjoying a resurgent season this year, completing 70.0% of his passes for an average of 8.0 YPA, 8 touchdowns, and 1 interception. This is despite the fact that he doesn’t really have a lot to work with in terms of receivers, offensive linemen, and running backs. The impact of Mike McCoy can’t be overstated. However, their defense has been even worse than their offense has been good. They have allowed 71 first downs and forced a league worst 9 punts. That’s what keeps this down here.

Week 3 Studs

RB Danny Woodhead

TE Antonio Gates

MLB Andrew Gachkar

Week 3 Duds

ROLB Dwight Freeney

MLB David Harris

LG Chad Rinehart

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Buffalo Bills: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#27)

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Last week: 27

How do you lose to a team that commits 20 penalties? Justin Rogers played one of the worst games by a defensive back in recent memory, getting torched with ease by Geno Smith, no matter whether he was covering Stephen Hill or Santonio Holmes. The 2011 7th rounder out of Richmond allowed 6 catches on 8 attempts for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns and it’s not like Smith, Hill, and Holmes are Manning, Thomas, and Welker. They really need Stephon Gilmore and Jairus Byrd back.

Week 3 Studs

LT Cordy Glenn

ROLB Manny Lawson

MLB Kiko Alonso

Week 3 Duds

QB EJ Manuel

RB CJ Spiller

LG Colin Brown

C Eric Wood

LOLB Mario Williams

CB Justin Rogers

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#28)

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Last week: 26 (-2)

Every game, Josh Freeman looks more and more like a lame duck quarterback. He’s completing 45.7% of his passes for an average of 6.1 YPA, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions this season. In his last 8 games, he’s completed 174 of 356 (48.8%) for 2210 yards (6.2 YPA), 8 touchdowns, and 12 touchdowns, winning just one of those games. It was in their best interest to start Mike Glennon as soon as possible to evaluate him for the future and determine whether or not they’ll need to draft a quarterback with what is starting to look like a top-5 pick. Credit them for making the move.

Week 3 Studs

LT Donald Penn

RT DeMar Dotson

Week 3 Duds

RE Adrian Clayborn

LE Daniel Te’o-Nesheim

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Cleveland Browns: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#29)

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Last week: 30 (+1)

Poor Browns. They can’t even tank right. Brian Hoyer became the first quarterback to throw for 3 touchdowns in a game for the Browns since Brady Quinn in 2009, while punter Shane Lanning also threw a touchdown, giving him as many as Brandon Weeden has this season. The presence of Josh Gordon clearly helped and it’ll be very interesting to see if they’re really trying to shop him like reports have said. Teams like the Patriots, 49ers, and Ravens should send the Browns a 3rd rounder for him in a heartbeat.

Week 3 Studs

LG John Greco

RG Oniel Cousins

RE John Hughes

ROLB Jabaal Sheard

SS TJ Ward

Week 3 Duds

MLB Craig Robertson

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Minnesota Vikings: 2013 Week 4 NFL Power Rankings (#30)

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Last week: 28 (-2)

The Jaguars might have “won” the Teddy Bridgewater bowl when they lost to the Raiders week 2, but the Vikings might have “won” the Tajh Boyd bowl by losing to the Browns last week. It’ll be interesting to see if they actually pull the trigger on a quarterback early in 2014. Head Coaches are usually very stubborn when it comes it giving up on quarterbacks they drafted in the first round (see Ryan, Rex) and it’s very doubtful that Leslie Frazier gets fired, no matter how badly the Vikings do this season. At the same time, reports have said that the Vikings are closer to benching Ponder than anyone knows. We’ll see what they do.

Week 3 Studs

RG Brandon Fusco

CB Marcus Sherels

ROLB Desmond Bishop

Week 3 Duds

TE Kyle Rudolph

LG Charlie Johnson

RE Jared Allen

CB Josh Robinson

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