1. Denver Broncos (5-1, LW-1) (-)
When you put up 42 points against the 49ers and blow them out on national television all while your quarterback throws four touchdowns, passing Brett Favre for sole possession of the most TD passes in league history, you're doing something right. Unfortunately, they get a true test. After playing on Sunday night, the short week is even shorter. They play division rival San Diego on Thursday.
2. Dallas Cowboys (6-1, LW-3) (Up1)
DeMarco Murray is the only player in NFL history to rush for over 100 yards in seven straight games to start the season. Through seven games, Murray has 913 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns. The Giants even did a good job containing him to start the game this week, and yet he still wound up cracking the century mark. Those early season comparisons to the 90's Cowboys teams are looking less and less ridiculous as the season goes on.
3. Arizona Cardinals (5-1, LW-6) (Up3)
The Cardinals are quietly off to their best start in decades, even if their latest win did come against a winless Raiders team.
4. San Diego Chargers (5-2, LW-2) (Down2)
Phillip Rivers is still putting up MVP numbers, but losing to the Chiefs in the manner that they did is concerning. Of course, it just as easily could have been a trap game for their matchup with the Nugget Blog's best team in football on Thursday night.
5. Philadelphia Eagles (5-1, LW-5) (-)
Andy Reid was the King of the Post Bye Week during his tenure in Philadelphia, and he showed why with his win over the Chargers last Sunday. Chip Kelly won his first post-Bye Week game last season, so he is 1-0 during his tenure with the Eagles. In order to keep up with Dallas, their going to need win number 2 for Chip this week.
6. Indianapolis Colts (5-2, LW-8) (Up2)
The Colts have won five in a row, the offense is hitting on all cylinders and the Colts might wrap up the AFC South before Halloween (sorry Texans fans). If only they could get more out of Trent Richardson, remember when he was good?
7. Green Bay Packers (5-2, LW-9) (Up2)
Aaron Rodgers! The Packers are blowing out everyone these days, folks, Green Bay plays New Orleans this weekend, which should be a good game at least since it is down south. But really, the Saints are the 29th best defense in terms of defensive efficiency, which could be the equivalent of playing three canons and a horse in Risk with your lone solider. Aaron Rodgers!
8. New England Patriots (5-2, LW-10) (Up2)
The Patriots are also blowing everyone out, with the exception of their Thursday night hiccup against rival Jets. Jets-Pats games are generally close, with the shitty Jets even pulling off some upsets in recent years. But the fact is that Tom Brady needs to be in the conversation about this season's MVP because he is doing more with less than anyone in the league.
9. Baltimore Ravens (5-2, LW-12) (Up3)
Baltimore's offense is clicking, behind unlikely heroes in Justin Forsett, Bernard Pierce and even the ageless Steve Smith. Even Owen Daniels had a touchdown against the Falcons. The Ravens lost to the Bengals pretty handily in Week 1 and they get their chance at redemption this week, and it could potentially be coming at the right time. The Bengals are 2-2-1 since that Week 1 win and they can't seem to stop anyone.
10. Seattle Seahawks (3-3, LW-4) (Down6)
This is a sign of respect and a sign of faith in what the Seahawks can manage to turn around this disappointing 3-3 start and this harrowing loss to Austin Davis and the Rams. Seattle is still the best team on football, although I have less confidence in saying that now that Percy Harvin is gone.
11. Detroit Lions (5-2, LW-12) (Up1)
Matthew Stafford and the Lions play the slumping Falcons this week who seem to have given up on defense. The Lions could find themselves at 6-2 through the first half of the season with minimal input from their best player, Megatron.
12. San Francisco 49ers (4-3, LW-7) (Down5)
Given the fact that they lost 42-17, there is a silver lining in that performance. The defense was riddled with injuries, and it came at the hands of probably the most efficient and dangerous offense in the league. Regardless, sitting at 4-3, losing out on the tiebreaker to the Cardinals, the Niners need to dust themselves off quickly.
13. Kansas City Chiefs (3-3, LW-21) (Up8)
Wow! Up 8 spots and leapfrogging the Bengals in the process! Jamaal Charles is back, putting up numbers, the defense is aggressive and they just beat the San Diego Chargers to add to their impressive resume of victories this season. If this team, sitting at .500 on October 22, can make the playoffs in the division they play in, watch out for them come January.
14. Cincinnati Bengals (3-2-1, LW-11) (Down3)
Well, rock bottom hurts, Bengals fans. Cincinnati just got shutout 27-0, albeit by a red hot Colts team. But they didn't register a first down on their first eight drives of the game. The Bengals were fresh off a game where they scored 37 points the week before. 0-2-1 since their 3-0 start, the Bengals are not just struggling and inconstant, they are also now in second place in the AFC North and in real danger of falling into last place after this weekend.
15. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3, LW-20) (Up5)
But if we're talking inconstancy, Pittsburgh needs to be mentioned. They did score three touchdowns before your bag of popcorn was ready in the microwave right before half-time on Monday night, and they did put up 30 points on a decent Texans defense. But beyond Le'Veon Bell and the occasional throwback Big Ben game, the Steelers aren't scaring anyone.
16. Buffalo Bills (4-3, LW-22) (Up6)
Again, the middle of the NFL is about as rocky as a Taylor Swift relationship. The Bills looked dead behind EJ Manuel, comatose behind Kyle Orton, and than Sunday came and went and now Orton has two game winning drives as a Bill. He has only started three games for them. Huge blow though potentially losing CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson for the remainder of the year.
17. Miami Dolphins (3-3, LW-24) (Up7)
The Dolphins have some talent to keep us coming back for more. But Ryan Tannehill is not a franchise quarterback and for the time being, the middle of the pack is the apex for this team.
18. Carolina Panthers (3-3-1, LW-14) (Down4)
I read a stat the other day online that really jumped out at me. The Panthers have given up 24 touchdowns this season, through seven games in the books. Last season, guess how many touchdowns the Panthers defense gave up. Did you guess 21? Because the answer is 21.
19. Cleveland Browns (3-3, LW-15) (Down4)
I picked the Brownies in my Crystal Ball Picks, but I pointed out that I didn't have much faith in that pick. This is exactly why. They just lost to the Jaguars, becoming the victim for Jacksonville's first victory. The Browns have a shot at being Oakland's first win this week. If Cleveland thinks that anything can come from the team they are rooting for right now, they need to win this week.
20. Houston Texans (3-4, LW-16) (Down4)
Ryan Fitzpatrick was loving DeAndre Hopkins, and they looked like a Peyton Manning-Marvin Harrison duo on Monday night, lol. But really, Arian Foster looked very alive, the Texans just caught a few bad breaks with turnovers, and they played too little of defense late in both halves.
21. Chicago Bears (3-4, LW-17) (Down4)
Thank God I'm not actually a Bears fan because I would lose my mind on a weekly basis. Last week, the Bears played their best game all season. This week, they probably played their worst. It is a roller coaster ride that I hope doesn't last all season for the heart rates of the Chicago faithful. There seems to be some conflict on the offense and in the locker room. Hopefully it lights a fire in everyone.
22. New York Giants (3-4, LW-19) (Down3)
The Giants played a solid game against the best team in the conference, and almost came away with a victory in Dallas. But between the running game continuing to struggle without Rashad Jennings and the doors being opened by Jerry Jones and essentially blinding Eli Manning and his offense in the first half (conspiracy?), the Giants came up short.
23. New Orleans Saints (2-4, LW-18) (Down5)
10-0 at home and 3-9 on the road since the beginning of the 2013 season, something has to chance before this team can win a championship or let alone win the crappy division they play in. This Saints defense is soft and Drew Brees needs to channel his inner leader that I know he has and bring home some wins when the Saints aren't in New Orleans.
24. St. Louis Rams (2-4, LW-26) (Up2)
The Rams just knocked off the Super Bowl champions! Imagine if injuries hadn't knocked this team off course and if the pass rush even remotely looked like they did last season. The Rams might be fifteen spots higher.
25. Atlanta Falcons (2-5, LW-23) (Down2)
Well, at 2-5, is it even possible for me to run a Falcons bandwagon anymore? It's kind of like running a milkman business. My Falcons let me down, my Bears let me down. We need a little bit of this to keep us going this week.
26. Minnesota Vikings (2-5, LW-25) (Down1)
The running game is bleak, Teddy Bridgewater is playing like a blind bat, Cordarelle Patterson has screwed my fantasy team over to the point that I am looking at any possible trade for him. The Vikings are 2-5 and the future isn't bright.
27. Washington
Sure, they beat the Titans, but is that really impressive? What's impressive was Colt McCoy, who knows makes his first career start on Sunday. Three quarterbacks in and only seven games played, when do the Redskins make phone calls to trade one of them?
28. Tennessee Titans (2-5, LW-27) (Down1)
The Titans just got burned by Colt freaking McCoy. What was potentially supposed to be a season where the Titans at least contended for a playoff spot has quickly turned into a season where the Titans are looking at a top five draft pick.
29. New York Jets (1-6, LW-29) (-)
Hey, the Jets typically play the Patriots well and even in the middle of this crapshoot season, they still pulled off a nice looking game on a Thursday night. Could the Percy Harvin trade have enough impact to turn around a 1-6 team? A guy who really never fit in in Seattle now has a chance to start over in a big market.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-6, LW-32) (Up2)
The Jaguars win 24-6 against a decent Browns fan! Key word, win! It was enough to propel them two spots and they are now actually only two games out of second place in the vaunted AFC South.
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-5, LW-31) (-)
Did you realize Tampa was off this week? I think they only was someone would have noticed was when they didn't see a team with a score of 63 pop up on the ticker while watching football on Sunday.
32. Oakland Raiders (0-6, LW-30) (Down2)
Things are ugly in Oakland amidst their 12 game losing streak. The last time Oakland won a game, November 17, 2013 against the Texans, I was still in college and wasn't engaged yet. I am now coming up on the year mark from my graduation and I am getting married in about two months. Sorry Raiders fans, 2014 hasn't been too fun.
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