NFL power rankings after Week 4: Eagles soar to the top as Panthers spiral

#9 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-2)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Philadelphia Eagles

When Tom Brady announced his un-retirement this summer, I don’t think anybody expected the Bucs to need a couple of garbage time touchdowns in the fourth quarter (plus a few seconds) of week four against the Chiefs, to finally score more than 20 points in a game.

Considering Leonard Fournette gashed the Cowboys for 127 yards in the season-opener, it’s pretty shocking that they’ve gained the second-fewest yards on the ground as a team, as they’ve barely matched that total over the past three weeks combined (258 altogether now).

The issues through the air are more understandable, considering how banged up their receiving corp has been basically from the jump. Still, up until SNF, when they were quickly down by three scores and needed to catch up, only the Colts had averaged fewer points per drive offensively (1.25).

This, despite Brady being the least-pressured QB once again (10.5% of dropbacks). On the flipside, their defense was number one in the league, both in points allowed per possession (0.75) and DVOA, before Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs got revenge for their Super Bowl loss two years ago, shredding them for 41 points.

After that, they’ve slid down a few spots, but in terms of the ability to make offenses one-dimensional, the way they can pressure the passer with six legit rushers on any play and the tight coverage they can play on the back-end, they remain one of the toughest units.

#10 Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2)

The Jaguars lost their opener to Washington and had a 43-minute scoring drought after starting off 14-0 at Philadelphia, but I believe they are clearly the best team in the AFC South.

Let’s play a little game – Can you list the teams with a better scoring margin than the Jags? If you go by my rankings, you can stop after the top two in the Bills and Eagles, as they sit at +9.5 PPG.

Their youth certainly showed in their season-opener against Washington, but they’ve shown major growth already and went on to blow out the Colts and Chargers by a combined score of 62-10, before putting up a valiant fight at Philly.

Their offensive play-designs under Press Taylor have been highly impressive and creative, as they have scored at the highest and turned the ball over at the lowest rates in the NFL respectively, prior to playing in that Philadelphia rainstorm.

I love the combination of pieces defensively and how Mike Caldwell has brought it all together, throwing a bunch of different pressure looks at opponents and disguising the coverages behind it. This is how they’ve allowed opponents to score at the third-lowest (24.4%) and turned over at the third-highest rates (20.0%) respectively.

Having Doug Pederson at the helm has just taken them to a completely different level of competency.

#11 Los Angeles Chargers (2-2)

Los Angeles Chargers v Houston Texans

Don’t get me wrong – if this team can survive some of the early injuries and get to the playoffs at (close to) full strength, I believe they have the capability to take out pretty much anybody.

The Chargers lead the league with 307.3 net passing yards per game, while Justin Herbert has been sacked less than any other full-time starter (four). However, they are dead-last with just 64.5 yards rushing per game and 2.7 yards per attempt.

And while the rate of Herbert being allowed to attack down the field conceptually is starting to climb, too much of what Joe Lombardi has designed for him feels static and their receivers aren’t really allowed to catch the ball on the run.

On the flipside, as much as I lauded this improved defense, only the Lions have given up more yards per carry than them (5.4). I do like Brandon Staley’s willingness to change things up schematically for specific matchups though.

#12 Los Angeles Rams (2-2)

I almost want to move the Rams down a couple of spots further, because they’ve been so disappointing against the two actual contenders they’ve faced, losing by a combined score of 55-19 to the Bills and 49ers.

They still have some true star players and Sean McVay’s track record makes you feel good about their ability to get back on track, yet I’m just not excited about what the reigning champs currently are.

So far, their offense has just been a mess. Everything but Matthew Stafford hitting Cooper Kupp over the middle seems so hard for the Rams right now. Only Carson Wentz has been sacked more often than Stafford this year (16) and they’re rushing for an NFL-low 54.3 yards per game, which then makes him try to force the issue and lead the league in interceptions (six).

Plus, after they gushed about Allen Robinson all offseason, he’s caught nine passes for 95 yards so far. Defensively, they’re pretty average across the board, other than being the only team to pressure opposing quarterbacks on less than 10% of dropbacks.

That’s where I have belief in Raheem Morris continuing to mold his scheme around strengths of their players though, as they need somebody not named Aaron Donald to start creating more negative plays.