NFL Power Rankings after the first quarter of the 2019 season

#21 Indianapolis Colts (2-2)

The Colts have kind of been a mixed bag, even throughout games

The Colts have kind of been a mixed bag, even throughout games. They almost rallied back against the Chargers week one, then beat a Titans team that looked amazing against the Browns they went up early against the Falcons but could not stop them once in the second half and now they lost a game against the Raiders, where they were favoured by a touchdown.

The strength of this football team is the offensive line with four top-40 picks and a veteran guard, who really established himself once he entered the starting lineup last season. After Marlon Mack erupted for 174 rushing yards in the season-opener, they couldn’t really get the run game going against the Titans or Raiders, even though that last one had a lot to do with Oakland going ahead early on.

Jacoby Brissett has been excellent for the Colts up to this point, even if he was jumped for the game-sealing pick-six by the Raiders, but Indy definitely missed T.Y. Hilton versus the Raiders.

Defensively, they are giving up 5.5 yards per rush and they have allowed opponents to convert 49 percent of their third downs. While I like some of the pieces they have on that side of the ball, they have surrendered seven touchdowns over the last six quarters without Darius Leonard.

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#22 Tennessee Titans (2-2)

I just don’t know how you can’t rust this Titans. No one is more up-and-down, crushing a great team one week, but then not being able to win games where they are the favorites. Their defense right now is fourth in points allowed with 15.5 despite having faced potentially high-scoring offenses like the Browns, Falcons and to a lesser degree the Colts.

I have always been a big fan of Dean Pees and his ability to use a variety of defensive schemes to keep opponents off balance, plus Jayon Brown and Harold Landry are two young stars nobody really talks about.

Tennesse has the third-best turnover differential behind only Chicago and New England at +5, with Marcus Mariota being the only quarterback to start all four games and not turn the ball over. With that being said, the quarterback is also the biggest reason I can’t put this team any higher.

In his fifth year as a pro, Mariota is still primarily a one-read passer, who can run a simple offense but won’t stress defenses with his ability to scan the field. Second-round pick A.J. Brown has looked like a beast, Corey Davis is trying to find that consistency and I like Adam Humphries working the slot.

However, Derrick Henry has not really been able to carry that late-season success from a year ago, with the exception of that 75-yard touchdown on a screen pass in week one.

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#23 Oakland Raiders (2-2)

With a lot of the teams in this range it is very similar – I just don’t know who they are. On paper I don’t see a Raiders squad that should be 2-2.

Tyrrell Williams has looked pretty good after being a number two receiver for his entire career, Darren Waller has been one of the most-heavily targeted tight-ends in the league and Josh Jacobs looks like a true feature back with dual-threat qualities.

While Derek Carr’s number have looked pretty good, he is a really streaky passer at this point, including almost throwing a pick-six at Indy and missing an open Williams badly in the end-zone to put that game away.

When the offense has been successful, it has gone through the run game and short dump-offs within five yards, plus a few gadgets plays like end-arounds and reverses. Defensively Oakland has been better than they were in 2018, but they are still average at best in my opinion.

They have allowed an NFL-worst 21 passes of 20+ yards and they still only sit at five sacks for the year after being dead-last by a wide margin last season. Surprisingly enough, they have matched matched up pretty well with the big offensive lines of the Broncos and Colts.

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#24 New York Giants (2-2)

The Danny Dimes hype has taken over the Big Apple. After being named the starter over Eli Manning, Jones has won his last two games while being without superstar running back Saquon Barkley for most of that stretch.

The Giants offensive line has really improved, especially as a run-blocking unit, and I actually always liked Wayne Gallman, who I had as a day two prospect back in 2017. Jones’ two interceptions against Washington came on those deep crossers he loves, with one being jumped by the safety and the other one thrown slightly behind Sterling Shephard.

Opposing teams will continue to make him go away from those, but his ability to avoid the rush and pick up first downs with legs to go with a few big downfield throws, have made the difference. Evan Engram is about to blow up with the way he has already shown to be able to run away from people after the catch and Golden Tate is only coming back now.

The Big Blue defense plays with a different energy as well, with Markus Golden and Oshane Ximines getting after the quarterback and those big guys on the interior plugging up lanes against the run.