ESPN NFL

A weekly examination of the Packers’ ESPN.com Power Ranking.

Preseason: 5 | Last week: 12 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The bye week did nothing to change the Packers’ position in the Power Rankings, but it did see them lose ground in both their division and their conference. At 1-2 and still stinging over their Week 3 loss at Cincinnati, the Packers not only remain behind the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears -- both 3-1 -- in the division standings, but they also fell to third among NFC North teams in the Power Rankings. The Lions leapfrogged them, going from 16th to 10th, after beating the Bears, who fell from fourth to ninth. Among NFC teams, the Packers fell one spot, to sixth in the conference.

This week, the voters ranked the Packers anywhere from eighth to 16th. It is worth noting that both of the Packers’ losses have come against teams than stand ahead of them in the rankings. The San Francisco 49ers, who beat the Packers in Week 1, came in at No. 8, while the Bengals were 11th.

As always, you can rank the 32 teams yourself.

A weekly examination of the Jets' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 32 | Last Week: 18 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Jets dropped four spots. When you go on the road and get run out of the building by a team forced to play its backup quarterback for the last 26 minutes, what do you expect? The Jets' 38-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans was a back-to-reality check. Actually, the Jets are lucky they didn't fall into the mid-20s.

Not surprisingly, the Jets are second lowest among the 2-2 teams, ahead of only the Buffalo Bills (No. 23), whom they defeated in Week 3. Next up for the Jets are the Atlanta Falcons, still living off last season's success -- at least in the eyes of our distinguished panel of voters. The Falcons are 1-3, yet there they are at No. 16, the second-highest sub-.500 team in the rankings.

A weekly examination of the Falcons’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 4 | Last Week: 14 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Dropping another two slots in the rankings shouldn't be a surprise, as the No. 16 Falcons fell to 1-3 with a 30-23 home loss to the Patriots.

Issues remain on both sides of the ball. A 1-for-6 red zone performance against the Patriots showed the Falcons have a serious problem despite having one of the league's top quarterbacks. Even Matt Ryan admitted not helping the cause with some poor throws against a stingy Patriots defense.

Defensively, the Falcons continue to give up big plays at the wrong time. They surrendered a 47-yard touchdown run by LeGarrette Blount right after allowing the Patriots to convert a third-and-19 from their own 12-yard line. For the game, the defense allowed the Patriots to convert 54 percent (7-of-13) on third down.

Injuries haven't helped the Falcons' cause, either. Steven Jackson (hamstring) remains out while left tackle Sam Baker (knee) went down against the Patriots. Roddy White continues to recover from a high ankle sprain, while starting linebackers Akeem Dent (ankle) and Paul Worrilow (knee) are banged up too, as is cornerback Asante Samuel (thigh).

At least the Falcons have a chance to get back on track in their next two games: against the Jets (No. 22) and the Bucs (No. 31). A bye week in between those games should allow the Falcons to get healthier.

A weekly examination of the Lions’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 24 | Last Week: 16 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Welcome to the top 10, Detroit. The Lions haven’t been here since the last week of the 2011 season -- also the last season Detroit made the playoffs. Since then, Detroit has been as low as 28th (the end of last season) and mostly lived in the middle of the Power Rankings pack.

But a win over Chicago this past weekend gives the Lions an early first-place hold in the NFC North and some confidence heading into Green Bay on Sunday. The thing is, these Lions are appearing more legitimate by the week. They have two big-play threats on offense in Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush, an accurate quarterback in Matthew Stafford and an offensive line that is blocking well for both the running and passing games.

The key has been the Lions' defense. After failing to intercept a pass from Jay Cutler the past two seasons, they picked off the Bears quarterback three times on Sunday. The defensive line also allows for defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham to scheme well in the back seven. Detroit, more and more, looks like a playoff contender.

A weekly examination of the Jaguars’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 29 | Last Week: 32 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

There are four winless teams, but the Jaguars pretty much cemented their hold on the bottom spot in the ESPN.com Power Rankings with a dismal performance in a 37-3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Despite what Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says, the Jaguars are the NFL’s worst team.

They’ve been outscored by nearly 100 points, have scored only five points in two home games and rank 30th or worse in the three major offensive statistical categories. The bulk of their yardage (68.3 percent) and points (74.2 percent) have come in the second half when the games have already been decided.

Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said this week that the staff has already begun evaluating personnel and schemes to see what, if any, changes can be made. That’s a process that usually occurs during the bye week, but the 0-4 start has pushed it up a month. It’s not as intense an examination as they will conduct after the team returns from London at the end of this month, but it’s a start.

A weekly examination of the Redskins’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 10 | Last Week: 25 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Washington Redskins felt good about their win in Oakland. However, they know they could have played better and that heavy lifting remains. The ESPN.com voters clearly agree.

A win at the Raiders helped the Redskins inch up in the Power Rankings, moving two spots to No. 25. While the Redskins could feel good about the victory -- linebacker Brian Orakpo, nose tackle Barry Cofield and linebacker Ryan Kerrigan all had two sacks apiece -- it was not the sort of aesthetic victory that makes anyone forget about their play in the first three weeks. And while the defense did what it should against a backup quarterback, the fact is it still has to prove it can get it done against a legitimate starter.

There are two 1-3 teams ranked ahead of Washington: Atlanta (16^th) and Minnesota (24^th). The Falcons at No. 16 is debatable, but they’ve lost close games to New Orleans (by six), Miami (four) and New England (seven). Those three teams are a combined 11-1. The Vikings' three losses, by a combined 15 points, have come against teams with a combined 8-4 record. Meanwhile, the Redskins’ three losses have been by a combined 31 points against teams that are 5-6 combined.

Also, the NFC East continues to plummet as three of the teams are ranked in the bottom eight. That’s what happens when your division has a point differential of minus-126, and the next closest division, the AFC North, is at minus-37.

A weekly examination of the Titans' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 27 | Last Week: 17 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Their blowout win againstf the New York Jets served the Titans well in the AFC South standings and boosted them four spots to No. 13 in ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings.

The Titans have six games to come against five teams that rank ahead of them, including their next three. It starts with Kansas City on Sunday. The undefeated Chiefs stand fifth.

Here’s our weekly update on where the Titans stand:



In the AFC South, the Colts are sixth, the Texans are 15th, and the Jaguars are holding steady at 32nd.

Tennessee's win over the Jets dropped New York from 18th to 22nd.

A weekly examination of the Dolphins' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 20 | Last Week: 7 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

I must say, I’m shocked the Miami Dolphins didn’t move down in this week’s ESPN.com Power Rankings. Miami was lambasted on national television in a 38-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on "Monday Night Football."

This was a measuring stick game for Miami, and we pretty much knew who was the better team after two quarters. Sloppy play and four turnovers were too much for the Dolphins to make it competitive.

Are the Dolphins still the seventh-best team in the NFL? I didn’t feel as though I saw a top-seven team last night. The gap between the Saints -- ESPN.com's No. 3 team -- and Miami was large.

Dolphins fans have been screaming about more respect this year. Fans in Miami certainly can’t complain this week as ESPN.com's panel showed the Dolphins plenty of respect by not dropping them at all after losing by three touchdowns.

A weekly examination of the Steelers’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 16 | Last week: No. 28 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t the worst team in the NFL despite what quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said after the team dropped to 0-4. Roethlisberger, however, was not far off, according to the ESPN.com Power Rankings. The Steelers slipped another spot after their fourth-quarter rally fell short in a 34-27 loss to the Vikings, and they are ranked ahead of only the Giants, Buccaneers and Jaguars. Here is a voting breakdown:

Ashley Fox: 29

Mike Sando: 26

Kevin Seifert: 31

John Clayton: 28

Dan Graziano: 29

Jamison Hensley: 29

As stunning as it is to see the Steelers so low, it is hard to argue with their ranking. Yes, they have been in every game this season, but a team that always used to find a way to win is now finding ways to lose. The offense came to life in London but the defense collapsed, and so it goes for the Steelers, who have started a season 0-4 for the first time since 1968, the year “60 Minutes” was born. The Steelers have yet to put together a solid 60 minutes of football, and until they do so, they will continue to lag near the bottom of the Power Rankings.

A weekly examination of the Raiders’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 29 | Last Week: 29 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Raiders’ challenge coming into the Year 2 of the Reggie McKenzie-Dennis Allen regime under Mark Davis was to win games, obviously. The secondary, and probably more realistic, goal was to be more competitive than they were a year ago, when they finished 4-12 and floundered a bit in November.

Taking the glass-half-full approach, then, Oakland is more competitive, even if the Raiders have just one victory after the first quarter of the season.

“The positive is we’ve had opportunities to, probably with exception of the Denver game, we’ve had opportunities to win games,” Allen said. “We could easily be sitting here at 3-1.”

Indeed, the Raiders were eight yards from beating Indianapolis in the opener and jumped out to a 14-0 lead against Washington. Still, at 1-3, the Raiders are where many preseason prognosticators had them after four games. The challenge, then, is to keep moving forward, even if the rewards of victory are not in the offing. Besides, they moved up a spot in our Power Rankings after a loss, right?

A weekly examination of the Chiefs' ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 19 | Last Week: 9 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The Kansas City Chiefs continue their climb up the ESPN NFL Power Rankings. The 4-0 Chiefs, one of five remaining undefeated teams, are at No. 5, up from No. 9 last week.

I see no argument that supports putting any of the one-loss teams above the Chiefs in the rankings. Likewise, I see no argument that supports putting the Chiefs in the top two spots, currently occupied by Denver and Seattle.

But do the Chiefs deserve to be ranked No. 3 or 4? Maybe. Those spots are occupied by New Orleans and New England. The Saints have played three of their four games at home, with their only road game against winless Tampa Bay. They will get tested the next two weeks with road games against Chicago and New England.

The Patriots have road victories against Buffalo and Atlanta. That’s more impressive than the Chiefs, who have road wins against Jacksonville and Philadelphia. But the Chiefs have a point differential of plus-61, as opposed to plus-32 for New England.

My rankings would have the Chiefs at No. 4, behind the Patriots but ahead of the Saints.

A weekly examination of the Bears’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 13 | Last Week: 4 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

Chicago fell from the top five of ESPN.com’s Power Rankings but remained in the top 10 at No. 9 after Sunday’s 40-32 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Interestingly, the Lions check in at 10th, moving up six spots from 16, while the Green Bay Packers stayed at 12th and the Minnesota Vikings rose from 26th to No. 24 after their 34-27 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in London.

The Bears rank below the 49ers, Dolphins, Colts and Chiefs, who are eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth, respectively.

Chicago deserves to stay in the top 10. The Bears committed four turnovers, including a fumble returned for a touchdown. With 47 seconds left to play, remarkably, they still held a sliver of hope for tying the game when Robbie Gould lined up for the onside kick.

All but one of ESPN.com’s panelists voted for Chicago to remain in the top 10. The club received two seventh-place votes, one for No. 6, two for No. 10 and one for 12th.

The panelists put the Bears in the correct spot here. They overcame a horrid start, and too many turnovers in difficult circumstances on the road, yet had a chance at the end.

A weekly examination of the Chargers’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason ranking: 23 | Last Week: 19 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

The San Diego Chargers move up two spots to No. 17 after an impressive win at home against a talented but inconsistent Dallas Cowboys squad.

Now sitting at 2-2, the schedule continues to turn in San Diego’s favor. The Chargers face a dinged-up Oakland team on the road on Sunday, then return home to take on Indianapolis (Oct. 14), and close out the month on the road against hapless Jacksonville (Oct. 20) before the team’s bye week.

All three of those games are winnable. But the Chargers have to keep competing with the same urgency they played with against Dallas, particularly on the defensive end. Through four games, the identity of a Philip Rivers-led offense has been established. The Chargers need to create a similar type of mindset on the defensive side of the ball.

A weekly examination of the Ravens’ ESPN.com Power Ranking:

Preseason: 8 | Last Week: 11 | ESPN.com Power Ranking since 2002

A week after failing to move up after beating the Houston Texans by three touchdowns, the Ravens (2-2) dropped three spots after getting upset 23-20 at Buffalo. This is the lowest ranking of the season for the defending Super Bowl champions. The last time the Ravens ranked outside the top 12 was Week 14 in 2009, when a loss at Green Bay dropped Baltimore to 6-6.

The biggest surprise for me was seeing the Tennessee Titans ranked ahead of the Ravens. The Titans have a better record at 3-1, but they lost to the Texans, a team that the Ravens routed. As one of six voters on the Power Rankings, I had the Ravens at No. 10, but the others don't see it that way. The Ravens are the eighth-ranked team in the AFC in the Power Rankings.

As far as the AFC North goes, the Cincinnati Bengals dropped five spots to No. 11, the Cleveland Browns moved up five spots to No. 20 and the winless Pittsburgh Steelers fell another spot to No. 29.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Quarterback Mark Brunell will be back on the field with the Jaguars one more time.

The team will honor him at halftime of the Dec. 15 game against Buffalo at EverBank Field as the newest member of the Pride of the Jaguars. He joins offensive tackle Tony Boselli, running back Fred Taylor, and previous owners Wayne and Delores Weaver in the organization’s hall of fame.

"This is real special," Brunell said Tuesday. "The passing records, they get broken eventually. The other individual awards, Pro bowls and those things, big games, sometimes get forgotten. But the opportunity to be on the Pride, that goes on. That lives on."

Brunell played nine years in Jacksonville (1995-2003) and still owns or shares 23 franchise passing records, including career passing yards (25,698), single-season passing yards (4,367 in 1996), single-game passing yards (432 vs. New England in 1996), touchdown passes (144), and 300-yard passing games (six).

He led the NFL in passing in 1996 and helped guide the Jaguars on an improbable playoff run to the AFC Championship Game in just the franchise’s second season. Brunell led the Jaguars to a franchise-best 14-2 regular season and another appearance in the AFC title game in 1999. He is a three-time Pro Bowler and was the game’s MVP in 1997.

"I was very fortunate," Brunell said. "I’m a firm believer that to do well as a quarterback in the NFL you’ve got to have good people around you. From the first day that I stepped foot in Jacksonville I was very thankful that I had very good people around me, starting with the head coach in Tom Coughlin, a great coaching staff, and like I said, great teammates like Tony, Fred, and the list goes on and on."

This will mark the third consecutive season in which the team has inducted someone into the Pride of the Jaguars. Boselli was the first player inducted in 2006, followed by the Weavers in 2011 and Taylor last season.

"It has never been a question of whether or not Mark belonged there," Jaguars president Mark Lamping said. "It was only a question of when."