NFL Power Rankings: Week 4

Is that Plax?!

Still no Illustrator! This week the only undefeated teams to come out alive were the Bears, Steelers and Chiefs. Who would have thought? Does that make them the best teams in the NFL? Find out after the jump.

1. Saints - As they look for a new kicker since their old one ruined their chance at going 3-0, the Saints need to regroup the whole team. The offense doesn't have the same explosiveness 24/7 and the defense is weaker than last year. 
2. Packers - To quote Steve Young, "This was black and blue because they were punching themselves in the face all game." They need to improve special teams and stop beating themselves.
3. Colts - The Broncos doubled Wayne and Clark all game. Without Garcon in the game, Peyton still made it look easy and tossed it Austin Collie all game. Their defense is in decline though, let's see if they can step it up or they will step down from the #3 spot soon enough.
4. Ravens - They have a great defense, but their offense is averaging something like 13 points per game. They have faced a tough defensive schedule though and I think Flacco and Boldin are going to hit a nice stride.
5. Jets - Make the Jets 5a. and the Dolphins 5b. As long as Sanchez can keep up this miracle of a streak they can be a dominating force, but once he settles down into mediocrity and since the team is so uncontrolled and undisciplined, the Jets could have a hard time staying at the top.
6. Dolphins - Marshall showed his worth, but they couldn't move the Jets defensive line at all. Mind you, the Jets also were without Revis. That being said, I think the Phins can figure out the Jets next time they play, even with Revis. 
7. Falcons - They always play the Saints really well, and this time they got the luck they needed to win. Any random day the Falcons could lose or win so I don't think they are going to move up any further, but they should hover around the top 10 and be a playoff contender all year.
8. Steelers - They are a top 10 team with anyone at QB. Now I'm not saying Big Raplesberger is an amazing QB, but he's solid and dependable so the Steelers have a lot to look forward to.
9. Texans - I'm still in shock they played that poorly and lost to the Cowboys. When they are prepared and well coached they are a scary offensive team and okay on defense. This game they weren't ready for and they got dominated on both sides of the ball. Andre's ailing ankle isn't good either.
10. Bears - Da Bears got the win handed to them in many spots, but they still played amazing on defense vs the Packers. Their defense is back into Bear form, but at some point all these dropped INTs from Cutler will turn into real INTs and things could get tough. He threw 4 including some in the redzone, and I believe before this game he had 7 easy INTs dropped in 2 games. Fortunately they have a super easy schedule coming up so don't be surprised to see them 7-0.
11. Patriots - It's strange talking about the Pats and calling them inconsistent. Their offense is obviously good, but if you can pressure Brady and stop the pass they have no running game. That's why the Jets won so easily. This week they made the game close vs. the Bills and gave up a ton of points. Their D needs to improve.
12. Bengals - The Bengals are like the poor mans Bears or Ravens or Jets. Their defense is good, and their offense is mediocre. 
13. Vikings - They got their first win, but it was vs. the Lions. AP ran well and the passing game continued to struggle. This could last for a while with their star WR out.
14. Eagles - Vick looks better than he has ever been. These 3 weeks have been his best played in his career. Beyond that, the defense is where the problems lie. They were awful vs the Packers, and almost lost to the Lions. They look confused out there.
15. Cowboys - Another team who got their first win this week and it was much more impressive than the Vikings win. They fall 2 spots back though because the Vikings have things to look forward to as health and players improve. I don't know about the Cowboys. No matter how good they look in a certain game, they still will never win anything important.
16. Titans - Let's be honest, the Giants had every chance to win that game. The Titans just played okay and were able to run the ball and let the Giants ruin themselves.
17. Chiefs - The 3-0...Chiefs? Wow. Their offense is improved immensely with Charles, Jones and McCluster and providing diverse talents. Their coaching staff is very well tenured and knows what they are doing and I think that has been the difference. 
18. Chargers - Nice loss. Chargers offense is fine but they can't run it very well, just okay. I know I say this too much but their defense is very bad. The Chargers and the Cowboys are very similar. They start slow, play good on offense, make flashy plays and get picked by ESPN to win the Super Bowl, then fail come winter time. They also both kill themselves with turnovers and dumb plays.
19. Broncos - They did all they could vs. the Colts offense and still came up very short. Tim Tebow is now 3rd string so don't expect  to ever see him this year, Orton is playing well though. They are just meh.
20. 49ers - Jesus Christ Singletary. The Niners were the big pick to win the West and make a deep playoff run. On paper they should be. Somethings wrong, very wrong, and it's not the Offensive Coordinator. 
21. Redskins - As of now they are not the worst team in the NFC East. The Giants could actually try to coach and turn some things around and that would make the Skins the worst. McNabb is playing pretty well but he really has no talent around him. Their defense stepped up vs. the Cowboys in week 1 but have been poor since then.
22. Giants - They are the worst coach/disciplined team in America. They have even worse discipline than the Jets, and their players drive drunk and grope reporters. They literally would have lost that game if they were playing no one. 
23. Seahawks - The Hawks got really lucky. They were outplayed by the Chargers a whole lot but still came out on top. Let me guess what gave them the win, maybe the 2 kick returns from Leon, and the 5 turnovers by the Chargers. Yeah that seems right. 
24. Buccaneers - The Bucs finally play a good team and they get WRECKED. They aren't as bad as the last 2 seasons since they can beat the other bad teams, but they aren't good yet.
25. Jaguars - Sometimes Garrard looks good and sometimes he leads the offense to put up 3 points against the Eagles. I don't know what to think of this team. They will be a bottom 12 team all year, thats all I know.
26. Panthers - The best running team from last year just can't seem to get things going with the same 2 feature backs. I don't know why, it's not like their passing game is really any worse since Delhomme left. Their defense is abysmal too without Peppers. I mean they gave up a ton of points to the Giants in week 1 and since then the Giants can't even get a first down.
27. Raiders - I think the Raiders will get a few more wins soon. After the Texans and Chargers they get the 49ers, Broncos and Seahawks. If Bruce can keep throwing it decently and Janikowski can remember they just signed him to a big kicker contract because he is reliable, they could push for 6 or 7 wins this season. That's basically good news for Raiders fans. 
28. Cardinals - The Cards are pretty bad nowadays. Luckily though, Beanie Wells did look good in his comeback game. Other than that there's nothing to be happy about here. 
29. Lions - Poor Lions, they came so close in the first 2 games. Against the Vikings though they couldn't stop AP. They should get their first win soon enough. After the Packers they play the Rams, Giants, Redskins and Bills. They could go 2-2 there. 
30. Browns - The Browns really played the best game they could have. Seneca Wallace was pretty efficient, and Peyton Hillis really ran all over a good Ravens D. They were just clearly the worse team. If they can play like that, they will definitely prove to be better than the Lions, Cardinals, Raiders, etc. in the coming weeks.
31. Rams - Sam Bradford's first NFL win! Not too bad for a rookie on the Rams. They played alright, but that injury to Steven Jackson is not going to make getting another win very easy.
32. Bills - Fitzpatrick played pretty well and they finally found a good use for Spiller since they can't run the ball well. He had a receiving TD and a kickoff return TD. They also let the Patriots run all over them, and the Pats don't even run the ball so I don't know how that even happened.