Five teams remain unbeaten through six weeks: Patriots, Packers, Bengals, Panthers and Broncos. With the way the Patriots and Packers have played, each team could easily win an argument as the NFL’s best team through six weeks.
But the Cincinnati Bengals should be a part of that conversation, especially after completing a feverish comeback over the flawed-but-talented Seahawks. The Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos also would expect to be included and rightfully so, considering each team’s unblemished record.
As mentioned during Thursday Night Football on CBS, the five undefeated teams (following Week 6) are the most since 1970. It should also be noted that we’ll see at least one undefeated team into the second week of November.
Green Bay, Denver and Cincinnati are all on byes this week, so that pushes us to Sunday November 1st, with at least three teams in the mix. The Packers and Broncos face off in Week 8, so that leaves one for sure and there obviously could be more.
But onto the NFL Power Rankings, where many feel the Patriots and Packers deserve top billing. The Wife Hates Sports awards the Bengals with the top spot. Here are a few bullet points to explain some of the reasoning and not just for the Bengals, but for each of the five undefeated teams.
Plus/Minus on Remaining Undefeated Teams:
- MINUS: The Patriots are 21st in rushing offense and 22nd in rushing defense
- PLUS: New England is 2nd in pass offense and the Bengals are 6th
- MINUS: Denver’s offense has struggled, in particular the run game, which is ranked 30th
- MINUS: The Panthers are 30th in passing offense, averaging 201.4 ypg
- PLUS: New England has the 2nd ranked offense and the Bengals are 3rd
- MINUS: Denver’s point differential (+37) is the lowest of the undefeated teams
- MINUS: Carolina’s opponents faced: Jaguars, Texans, Saints, Bucs and Seahawks
- The Bengals actually receive a higher offensive grade than New England (50-43)
Andy Dalton has quietly led the Bengals to a 6-0 record
Anyway, you get the idea, to the point where I’m not revealing everything that is graded. For what it’s worth, these NFL Power Rankings are something that can easily be run and posted, though I’d prefer to focus on more ground-breaking stories, opinion pieces, stat cases and humor posts. The curiosity of the five undefeated teams was just too much, in this case.
Overall, here’s where each team lands in KP’s latest NFL Power Rankings (after Week 6):
KP’s NFL Power Rankings: October 20, 2015
*Stats, records and information through Week 6 of the 2015 NFL season
- Cincinnati Bengals (176 points)
- Green Bay Packers (168 points)
- New England Patriots (167 points)
- Denver Broncos (166 points)
- New York Jets (166 points)
- Arizona Cardinals (161 points)
- Carolina Panthers (153 points)
- Atlanta Falcons (147 points)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (108 points)
- Philadelphia Eagles (96 points)
- Buffalo Bills (80 points)
- Minnesota Vikings (73 points)
- Seattle Seahawks (65 points)
- New York Giants (56 points)
- Indianapolis Colts (52 points)
- Dallas Cowboys (48 points)
- Houston Texans (44 points)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (42 points)
- Oakland Raiders (41 points)
- Miami Dolphins (40 points)
- Tennessee Titans (36 points)
- St. Louis Rams (32 points)
- San Diego Chargers (29 points)
- Washington Redskins (26 points)
- Baltimore Ravens (26 points)
- Cleveland Browns (22 points)
- Chicago Bears (13 points)
- Kansas City Chiefs (6 points)
- New Orleans Saints (5 points)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (-9 points)
- San Francisco 49ers (-11 points)
- Detroit Lions (-18 points)
* All stats per NFL.com
The Wife Hates Sports NFL Power Rankings system has a method to its madness, attempting to be different and not just rank by popularity and record. It mixes a secret formula of eight completely separate categories, meshed into a points system. The categories don’t just include team results regarding record, but how each team has performed on the road, as well as incorporating some statistics from both a team’s offense and defense, too.
