Arizona Cardinals: Power Rankings Round Up – Week 6

What say the experts after another 40+ point dominating effort by the best one-loss team?

After the Arizona Cardinals laid an offensive and defensive egg against the St. Louis Rams at home in Week 5 there were two schools of thought. One, jump off the bandwagon as fast as you can without breaking your ankles, and, two, it was a fluke game, every team has an off week, they’ll bounce back.

Bounce back they did.

While many thought that Detroit would be highly motivated to make a statement after questionable officiating and a questionable rule cost them their first win against Seattle earlier in the week, the team went the opposite direction and rolled over to a Cardinals team that feasted on Matthew Stafford and six turnovers.

So, did everyone jump back on the bandwagon? Did the team successfully bounce back?

Frank Schwab at Yahoo!’s Shutdown Corner has the Cardinals firmly entrentched at six, the same as last week:

"Chris Johnson had 103 yards. David Johnson scored two touchdowns. Andre Ellington returned with a 63-yard touchdown. A really good passing offense also has a lot of running back options now."

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk has the team at six as well, the same place as last week:

"With a trip to Pittsburgh up next, Bruce Arians gets a shot at the team that “retired” him."

After all the talk the last two years about the defense keeping the team in games, and winning close ones, all the talk this season is about the offense and the number of points the team has scored. Pete Prisco at CBSSports.com has the team at seven, the same as last week as well.

"They have scored 190 points in five games, which is top 10 all time in the first five games of a season. It is an offense that is rolling."

Those are some ridiculous numbers when you also think about how balanced the attack has been, none so evident as week 5 against the Lions where Carson Palmer only threw for 14 passes, 161 yards and three touchdowns, but David Johnson had two touchdowns as well, and Andre Ellington a 63-yard scamper from scrimmage.

FoxSports.com has the Cardinals at five, moving up three spots from eight last week.

"The Cardinals used Week 5 to prove that they are capable of negating a respectable opposing pass rush thanks in part to their invigorated running game behind veteran running back Chris Johnson."

ESPN, somehow, has the Cardinals moving down two spots from four to six. Explain that to me?

"Carson Palmer has been great, but the Cardinals are averaging an NFL-best 5.0 yards per rush this season. The Cardinals ranked last with 3.3 yards per rush last season."

Finally, if that wasn’t enough, be sure to check out our Power Rankings where the Cardinals are firmly entrenched at number five. Our Fansided mothership has the team ranked fourth, the highest of any ranking, up one spot from last week.

"Domination. Just pure and utter domination. That’s what the Cardinals did to the Lions on Sunday, as they added to the woes of Detroit."

The Cardinals prep in West Virginia to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers early Sunday. The Steelers just eked out a win last night against San Diego on the road, it should be an interesting matchup.