NFL: Week 4 Power Rankings From A Packer Fan

Aaron Rodgers told Packer fans on Tuesday on his weekly radio show (via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com), “Five letters here just for everybody in Packer-land: R-E-L-A-X. Relax. We’re going to be OK.”

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I love Aaron Rodgers, but I am not relaxed. I believe him that HE is going to be okay, but the woeful offensive line, questionable play-calling by coach Mike McCarthy, and significant decline in Eddie Lacy‘s production are factors I can’t relax about.

In my rapid reaction to the embarrassment of a game against the Lions on Sunday, I asked why in the world did James Starks not get more work? McCarthy was giving DuJuan Harris the majority of the work in the fourth quarter, despite a predominantly productive game from Starks thus far (38 yards on eight carries). I understand going away from Lacy as it was clearly the worst game of his career, but why revert to Harris?

I respectfully disagree with our quarterback, I believe Packer fans have cause for concern. To relax would be to blind ourselves from what we’ve seen on the field this season. This concern is reflected in my week 4 ranks.

To clarify, the way I do power rankings is looking at every team and asking myself a series of questions (In order of importance):

If this team played all other 31 NFL teams today, how many games would they win?
How good are the teams this team has beaten so far, and how convincingly did they beat them?
What do I believe is the potential of how far the QB can take this team? Bad QB’s on good teams will ultimately lose playoff games (Andy Dalton), while good QB’s on bad teams can sometimes propel the otherwise poor personnel to the Super Bowl (Tom Brady 2001, best receiver was Troy Brown)

There are, of course, other factors (injury potential, coaching, home/road splits) that go into ranking teams, but these are the most important factors of ranking a team over another. With that, this unrelaxed (sorry, Aaron) Packer fan submits his Week 4 power rankings.

Highest Rise: Arizona Cardinals (+8)

Lowest Fall: Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins (-6)

Coming out later in the week I will be writing a column with my picks against the spread, as well as bold(ish) predictions for each game. In order to stay fair my pick for the Thursday night game is Washington (minus-3.5) over the Giants. Kirk Cousins throws for more than 300 yards again for the second week in a row and Rashad Jennings rushes for less than 60 yards against a stout Redskins rush defense.

Thanks for reading, and let me know where I’m wrong/where I’m right in the comments below!