Arizona Cardinals: Power Rankings – Week 6
By Erich Becker
The top remains locked in, but the bottom continues to churn
While the top five teams didn’t move an inch after this weekend, the bottom continues to churn with teams like Chicago and the New York Giants moving out of the muck and Houston, Jacksonville and Detroit settling in for the long haul at the bottom of our rankings.
This was a week of dramatic finishes and overtime upsets with Seattle losing to Cincinnati in the extra period and Atlanta coming out on top to stay undefeated as well. Six undefeated teams remain in the league as we enter Week 6, two from the NFC South where something will have to give shortly.
The Arizona Cardinals come off a dominating win of the Detroit Lions (who remain the only team without a win) to put up their third 40+ point scored game in five weeks. And it isn’t just the passing game getting it down, Carson Palmer only threw 14 passes and didn’t play most of the fourth quarter (Drew Stanton completed one additional pass). The ground game has come alive with the Cardinals averaging nearly 5.0 yards per carry, up from a league worst 3.3 yards last season.
We’re still early in the season but you can really start to see the separation.
Detroit Lions. 32. team. 50. Things went from bad to worse for the Lions against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 5, not only did the team commit six turnovers, it also got the starting quarterback benched and was only able to put up points during garbage time aside from a touchdown in the first quarter. The seat has to be red hot in the motor city.. (0-5). Previous: 18th
(1-4). Previous: 32nd. Houston Texans. 31. team. 10. The Texans just don’t have the talent to compete this year, a 40-year-old, sick-as-a-dog QB managed to pull one out against them, if that isn’t demoralizing enough, a 1-4 record at this point in the season still has the division within view, but its so unlikely to happen.
team. 48. The Bucs didn’t win so much with offense, they won because neither team in this matchup wanted to play defense. Jacksonville put up 31 points in a game and lost. Ouch.. (2-3). Previous: 31st. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 30
29. team. 52. See above, you put up that many points against a team that refuses to play defense and you lose the game? And maybe your starting QB as well? That’s a tough week, something has got to change in Jacksonville.. (1-4). Previous: 29th. Jacksonville Jaguars