Week 5 NFL Power Rankings: COVID strikes, favorites dominate

Week 4 of the NFL season was one like no other. The two biggest matchups of the week were postponed, one indefinitely and one on Monday night, a coach was fired only a month into the season and the Cleveland Browns blew out a team that could be a Super Bowl contender.

Here is a recap of an unprecedented week of football.

The plague takes its toll

Playing football in the year of COVID was always going to be a struggle. The NFL was fortunate enough to have teams avoid outbreaks up to this point — with no games being forced to be postponed for COVID through three weeks. Luck ran out this week, though, as two games were postponed.

The potential game of the week was postponed when the Tennessee Titans had an outbreak in the days leading up to their matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The battle of undefeated teams has been rescheduled for Week 7.

New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton tested positive this week as well, leading to the Patriots matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs being pushed to Monday night. While the game was played, a premier game was not quite as great as it could have been, as Brian Hoyer ended up starting under center for New England.

The Patriots defense came up huge, keeping the shorthanded team in the game. Unfortunately, the quarterback duo of Hoyer and Jarrett Stidham could not avoid shooting themselves in the foot, and the Chiefs inevitably won 26-10.

Top six hold their place

There is absolutely no shake up at the top of the power rankings this year, as all of the teams on top took care of business this week.

The top-ranked Chiefs beat a short handed Patriots team. The Baltimore Ravens bounced back big after a loss to the Chiefs last week, beating down the Washington Football Team for a 31-17 victory.

It was a little rockier than expected, but Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers outlasted Justin Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers winning a wild, 38-31 shoot out.

The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks both remained undefeated on the year, pummeling lesser teams in games that were much more one sided than the scoreboard would make it seem.