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

#21 New Orleans Saints (1-3)

New Orleans Saints v Carolina Panthers

The numbers all say I should put the Saints lower than this, but they were so close to going to overtime against a fully healthy Vikings team in London this past Sunday despite playing without their starting quarterback, running back and a top receiver.

New Orleans currently has the worst turnover differential in the NFL at -7, due to a league-high 11 giveaways. They also have a negative drive-start average compared to their opponents at -10.14.

Having seen Jameis Winston turn a 3-3 game with four minutes left into a 20-10 loss to the Bucs a couple of weeks ago, you understand that they are at risk of giving away games in that fashion.

However, in the past they’ve been able to bank on strong offensive line play, which they simply don’t have now, being dead-average in rushing yards and pressure percentage on dropbacks.

Defensively, only three other teams have actually pressured the opposing passer on a lower rate of dropbacks (14.8%). They’re still a top-10 run-stopping unit and have the players on the back-end to challenge offenses with press-man coverage or fitting the ball into cover-two holes, but without the rush to complement that, they won’t be able to reach those heights we’ve seen in recent years.

#22 New York Jets (2-2)

Talking about turnovers, only the Saints have given the ball away more often this season than the Jets (nine). Having led in games a grand total of seven minutes so far is definitely a huge factor in this, as they’re clearly number one in pass-play percentage at 70.2% – the next-closest team is the Bucs at 66.1%.

While they came just two yards short of it on Sunday and finally got into the end-zone that way, they have yet to hit the century-mark in rushing in any of their matchups so far.

They’ll need to support second-year QB Zach Wilson more in that regard. Wilson looked good working against static zone looks, but is still gaining confidence in his talented group of young receivers to win in man.

On the other side of the ball, despite losing their best run-defender in nose-tackle Folorunso Fatukasi, they’re currently number six in yards allowed per carry (3.7). Yet, they’re still second-to-last on third down percentage allowed (51.0%) and 25th in defensive DVOA (9.3%).

Robert Saleh may need to change up their looks a little bit, as they’ve used a ton of four-man rushes and zone coverage behind it. They have two rangy linebackers to mug up and bring some fire-zone blitzes, so they should look to take advantage of that.

#23 Detroit Lions (1-3)

Seattle Seahawks v Detroit Lions

Detroit’s offense averages a league-best 6.5 yards per play and 5.9 yards per rush in particular, which is very impressive considering the two closest teams – the Giants and Ravens – have legit running threats at quarterback, unlike Jared Goff.

To the quarterback’s credit, however, he also leads the league with 18 completions of 20+ yards so far. They’ve kept him clean, allowing sacks at the second-lowest rate per dropback (3.2%), and they’re behind only the Titans with an 88.2% rate of red-zone trips being converted into touchdowns (15-of-17).

So that’s all great. But why are they 1-3? Well, their defense couldn’t stop a runny nose right now. They have allowed 26 more points than any other team in the NFL and are currently on pace to shatter the record for most points surrendered in a season by 66.

Opponents are gaining a league-high 5.6 yards per rush against them, while also being dead-last in third-down (52.8%) and red-zone conversion percentage (86.7%).

They need to make some adjustments while playing less man-coverage, Aidan Hutchinson has to consistently create pressure and they need to have a better plan for scrambling quarterbacks in key situations.

#24 Las Vegas Raiders (1-3)

I didn’t expect Detroit and New Orleans to be 1-3 at this point, but at least for those teams injuries have played a major role and they’ve faced some tough opponents. The three Raiders losses have come by four, six and two points respectively, but we’ve already seen them start slow and finish badly, without a whole lot of great in-between that.

They’re actually the only team other than the Chiefs to score on exactly half of their offensive possessions, but thanks to the fourth-lowest TD conversion rate in the red-zone (44.4%) and their defense not getting the ball back, they’re somehow only 10th in points per game (24.0).

Other than Maxx Crosby making multiple splash plays every week, there’s just nothing to get excited about with that unit. Their run-defense has been surprisingly stout, considering all the new faces on the interior D-line (only 3.9 yards per carry), but opposing QBs average 7.3 net yards per pass (third-highest) and have a cumulative passer rating of 103.2 against them.

One way to put more pressure on opponents is by being more aggressive on fourth down. If you don’t count the Steelers converting their lone attempt this season, the Raiders are number one in conversion percentage (80% - four out of five).