Arizona Cardinals: Week 5 Power Ranking Roundup

After the Arizona Cardinals drop their first of the season, how does that affect their standing with the experts online?

The Cardinals experienced the loss for the first time this season, the same time as last season when a then-ageless Peyton Manning showed Drew Stanton and the Cardinals how it was done in Week 4. However, this time, the team just felt off, at home, and they paid for it. But all the streaks and hype and hyperbole that had been following the team since last season are gone.

The media bandwagon has unhitched (for now) and the Cardinals can focus on what they need to do. Beat Detroit. Beat Pittsburgh. Beat Baltimore. Beat Cleveland. Bye. That should be the motif they are working with for the next month.

In our own Power Rankings the Cardinals remain in the top 5 conversation, even good teams have bad days, at number five, dropping two spots from number three last week. A stretch of winnable games, three against the AFC North and Detroit  could have the team at 6-2 or 7-1 going into the bye.

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk drops the team from four to six, but has this to say:

"We’ll know a lot more about this team after back-to-back games at Detroit and Pittsburgh."

Three of the next four are on the road, with only a Monday Night Football matchup with the Ravens in two weeks in the mix. This was going to be one of the hardest parts of the schedule for the Cardinals, if they can make it to the bye in first place, or tied, and with 1-2 losses, things will be right where Bruce Arians wants them, but you need to win winnable games on the road.

From four to seven, Pete Prisco at CBSSports.com has the Cardinals falling the lowest of all rankings this week, but he does have a good point:

"That was a major dud against the Rams. They just didn?t look right, especially on defense."

Elliot Harrison at NFL.com drops the team three spots from three to six with the loss at home to the Rams, but there is a silver lining:

"For now, Arizona is 3-1 with a clear lead in the NFC West. The Cards have the Lions, Steelers, Ravens and Browns heading into their Week 9 bye. When they travel to Seattle in Week 10, Bruce Arians could be 6-2 and fighting for first place. Don’t want to look ahead, but we’re looking ahead."

The Arizona Cardinals stay in the top two was shortlived, but ESPN only dropped them two to number four:

"Sunday’s loss to the Rams was Carson Palmer’s first since Week 17 of the 2013 season."

After peaking at number five last week, Frank Schwab at Shutdown Corner has the Cardinals dropping only down to number six with Seattle trailing just behind them at seven:

"The Cardinals are a good team, but I hope the plane tickets Arizona fans were buying to the Super Bowl last week are refundable. The hype machine got a little bit out of control last week."

Schwab does has have a point, after all, who couldn’t beat the 49ers?