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Week 4 of the 2011 NFL regular season is officially in the books, which means it is time to reassess where the NFL stands at the quarter mark of the season. Some teams remain legit (Green Bay), others are proving they're legit (Detroit), and others have just enough question marks to keep it interesting (Buffalo).
The league is starting to settle down a little bit, which means fewer sizable increases and decreases like we saw in my week four power rankings. This week, we had three teams tie for biggest drop of four spots. I dropped the Steelers because in spite of only losing by seven, they continue to look fairly abysmal. I dropped the Jets four after their loss at Baltimore in part because their two game losing streak has revealed plenty of holes.
I chose to also drop the Raiders four spots, even though it's possible that might be seen as a bit harsh. They lost to a strong Patriots team at home, but it was not exactly a shocking loss. However, their relatively poor second half performance was enough to drop them.
On the positive side of things my biggest rising team is the Tennessee Titans. Even after losing Kenny Britt they went out and took care of business at Cleveland. The Browns aren't fantastic, but it was a solid win for the Titans nonetheless. I really wasn't expecting them to jump out to this kind of hot start and I still don't know what to expect of them by season's end. But they remain an interesting team that is going to battle Houston for that division title for at least part of the season.
I moved up my 49ers a couple spots from No. 18 to No. 16. They grabbed a huge win at Philadelphia, but I couldn't really justify to myself moving them up further. I could have moved them past Dallas given the Cowboys 2-2 record, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. Now, if the 49ers are able to knock off Tampa Bay at home this coming weekend, we'll likely see a more significant rise by the team.
On to the Week 5 NFL Power Rankings (previous weekk in parenthesis). As always, feel free to tweet your disagreements to @sbnbayarea:
1. (1) Green Bay Packers (4-0)
2. (2) Detroit Lions (4-0)
3. (4) New England Patriots (3-1)
4. (5) New Orleans Saints (3-1)
5. (3) Buffalo Bills (3-1)
6. (6) Houston Texans (3-1)
7. (8) Baltimore Ravens (3-1)
8. (10) New York Giants (3-1)
9. (9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1)
10. (11) San Diego Chargers (3-1)
11. (7) Oakland Raiders (2-2)
12. (13) Washington Redskins (3-1)
13. (14) Atlanta Falcons (2-2)
14. (20) Tennessee Titans (3-1)
15. (12) Dallas Cowboys (2-2)
16. (18) San Francisco 49ers (3-1)
17. (17) Chicago Bears (2-2)
18. (15) Philadelphia Eagles (1-3)
19. (19) Cleveland Browns (2-2)
20. (16) New York Jets (2-2)
21. (22) Arizona Cardinals (1-3)
22. (23) Carolina Panthers (1-3)
23. (24) Cincinnati Bengals (2-2)
24. (25) Denver Broncos (1-3)
25. (21) Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2)
26. (26) Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3)
27. (31) Kansas City Chiefs (1-3)
28. (29) Seattle Seahawks (1-3)
29. (28) Miami Dolphins (0-4)
30. (27) St. Louis Rams (0-4)
31. (32) Indianapolis Colts (0-4)
32. (30) Minnesota Vikings (0-4)