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

#17 Cleveland Browns (2-2)

Cleveland Browns v Atlanta Falcons

Continuing our trend of offense flowing through the run game, the Browns have been absolutely dominant on the ground once again this season. They’re currently second only to the Giants with 187.3 rushing yards per game. They’ve picked up a league-high 46 first downs on the ground and eight 20+ yard carries, with Nick Chubb averaging 5.7 yards per attempt.

Jacoby Brissett has done a great job of managing games, whether it’s about standing tall inside the pocket and drilling throws over the middle or being automatic on QB sneaks in short-yardage situations.

He’s currently top-10 in EPA per play among quarterbacks (0.152), while the offense is top-six in percentage of drives leading to points (46.3%) and turnovers (7.3%). They're also comfortably number one in time of possession, by nearly two minutes (35:38).

There’s also a lot to like about Cleveland’s defense, despite being banged up along the front, with unproven commodities on the interior. They’re also 30th in DVOA on that side of the ball right now.

#18 Tennessee Titans (2-2)

It’s hard for me to get really excited about this Titans team winning back-to-back games, when those have come against a couple of one-win teams. Moreover, both of those teams nearly came back after slow starts.

What it comes down to is that they’re 21st in yards per play on offense (5.2) and 30th on defense (6.3). We’ve seen the Derrick Henry we're typically used to these past two weeks (50 touches for 290 yards) and they lead the league with a red-zone touchdown rate of 90%.

So if they can lean on that and then see rookie receiver Treylon Burks grow into a guy they can hit on digs and crossers, they should be alright on that side of the ball if the defense plays at the level they have done in the past.

Unfortunately for them, without Harold Landry, they haven’t been able to rush the passer nearly as effectively, with a pressure rate of 24.5% (14th in the NFL). Their corner group has been shockingly bad, allowing 7.2 net passing yards per attempt (tied for fourth-most).

They allowed a run and pass play of over 60 yards to the Giants, the Bills laid 41 points on them, Raiders receiver Mack Hollins more than doubled his previous career-high in receiving yards (158) and even broken-down-looking Matt Ryan averaged 9.6 yards per pass this past Sunday.

They do, however, have a weapon in rookie punter Ryan Stonehouse, who leads the league with an average 56.2 yards per boot.

#19 Denver Broncos (2-2)

Denver Broncos v Las Vegas Raiders

There’s no way around the fact that the Broncos offense has been incompetent considering the pieces they have theoretically. The bulk of the blame has to go to Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett for putting together this monstrosity of a merge between a Shanahan/West Coast-style and the Russ offense.

They don’t ever seem to gain any easy yardage, because they spread the field only to take shots down the sideline anyway. The open looks they can create through horizontal spacing, Russ isn’t comfortable with.

Under Hackett, they’ve been the most-penalized team in the league (37 for 286) and their offense has easily converted the lowest rate of red-zone possessions into touchdowns (30% - three out of 10). They've also lost their most promising player on that side of the ball, in second-year running back Javonte Williams.

The defense looked good through three weeks, when they allowed just 36 combined points, and still is promising, but they just let the Raiders score a season-high 32, nearly match their previous season total with 212 rushing yards and get their first W.

At least on special teams, Montrell Washington has given Denver a true difference-maker in the return game, after they ranked 20th and 32nd in punt and kick return yardage respectively last season.

#20 Arizona Cardinals (2-2)

Unlike popular belief would tell you, this is not an explosive Cardinals offense. Only the Commanders have averaged less than their 4.8 yards per play and Kyler Murray actually is dead-last with just 6.0 intended air yards per pass attempt.

However, they are tied with two NFC East teams – the Eagles and Cowboys – with a league-low two giveaways. And thanks to the defense going after the ball, they are third in the NFL overall with a turnover differential of +4.

The season-opener against the Chiefs was a huge factor, as Patrick Mahomes had a nearly perfect game dicing up Arizona’s blitz-heavy approach. But opponents had scored on a league-high 57.1% of drives against them, before facing the worst offense in the league in the Panthers.

A big factor in that has been the lack of negative plays created, being tied with the Saints for a league-low 12 TFLs and alone at the bottom with just four sacks. We’re two weeks away from DeAndre Hopkins returning, which is huge for Kyler. However, a cause for concern is James Conner averaging a miniscule 3.2 yards per carry and there’s nothing Kliff Kingsbury does from a design perspective that gives his quarterback any lay-ups.