NFL Week 4 Power Rankings (Taylor’s Version): Dolphins Rise to the Top
Action Network Design. Pictured: Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Tua Tagovailoa and Dak Prescott as we dive into the NFL Week 4 power rankings.
Week 3 of the NFL season was Kitchen Sink Week, with nine 0-2 teams staring at a lost season, fighting to stay alive and avoid the dreaded 0-3 hole.
Five of those teams succeeded and moved accordingly in our NFL Week 4 power rankings, with the Cardinals and Texans pulling off huge upsets and the Bengals, Chargers, and Patriots getting their first wins, too. A couple other teams — looking at you, Broncos and Bears — washed down the garbage disposal instead.
Monday night left the most notable 0-2 team fighting for its season as a decision on Joe Burrow came down to the final minutes before the game. Burrow appeared to play the whole game without re-injury, but it wasn't pretty. The Bengals held on to beat the Rams 19-16 and get into the win column in one of those wins you describe with words like grit, tenacity, and toughness. The Eagles also won a similarly ugly game, using defense and a run game to get to 3-0.
But you weren't the only one watching football this weekend.
Taylor Swift also attended a football game Sunday — maybe you heard. Swift was seen with Travis Kelce's mother cheering raucously when Kelce filled a Blank Space in the end zone to put the Chiefs up 41-0, and the rumored Traylor relationship is the talk of the NFL.
I figured if Taylor could bring herself to the football, why not bring the football to Taylor, too? So with the help of my friend Lydia, I dialed up my best T-Swizzle puns and song references, one for every team, as we dig into this week's rankings and pore over all 32 NFL teams.
This is for you, Swifties: the NFL Week 4 Power Rankings — Taylor's Version.
NFL Week 4 Power Rankings
(To skip directly to a specific team, click on the team's name in the table below!)
| 1 | 17 | ||
| 2 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 19 | ||
| 4 | 20 | ||
| 5 | 21 | ||
| 6 | 22 | ||
| 7 | 23 | ||
| 8 | 24 | ||
| 9 | 25 | ||
| 10 | 26 | ||
| 11 | 27 | ||
| 12 | 28 | ||
| 13 | 29 | ||
| 14 | 30 | ||
| 15 | 31 | ||
| 16 | 32 |
TIER I — LOVE STORY
When you're one of the last three unbeaten teams, score 70 points in a single game and effectively break football, you get the No. 1 spot for the week. Sorry, I don't make the rules.
The Dolphins scored the second most points in regular season history and could've broken the record but decided to kneel in field goal range with under a minute left. Maybe Denver should've given Mike McDaniel that coaching interview after all.
I could write an entire column about the wild things Miami's offense did on Sunday — in fact, I already did! Call me crazy, but I'm starting to wonder if the Dolphins might be the Golden State Warriors of the NFL.
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That Opening Night loss feels like an eternity ago.
The Chiefs are back and better than ever, so what else is there to say? In honor of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, let's just leave a Blank Space.
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Like Kansas City, the Bills blew the opener against the Jets but have been lights out since.
The defense has been particularly great. Buffalo has allowed 22, 10, and three in its three games, and you might recall the 22 included a walk-off punt return and 10 short-field points after Josh Allen turnovers. This is a unit allowing under 10 PPG to opposing offenses and one that just racked up four interceptions and nine sacks on Sam Howell.
Don't let Week 1 throw you off the scent. The Chiefs and Bills are in this for the long haul.
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TIER II — YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN
Brock Purdy remains undefeated, and the 49ers have now won 13 consecutive regular season games, nine of them by at least 13 points.
Purdy racked up 310 yards against the Giants despite a 4th percentile 4.7 ADOT, which is basically the essence of this Kyle Shanahan offense. Wink Martindale's defense blitzed on 33 of Purdy's 39 dropbacks (85%), a record blitz rate per Next Gen Stats, so what did Purdy do? He dumped it off all night to Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey on screens and just let them do the work for him.
Death By a Thousand Cuts, induced by the team being sliced and diced. Who needs a QB?
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This still doesn't feel quite like last year's Super Bowl squad, but it's hard to argue with the results.
The Eagles are grinding out wins. Monday night was a similar script to Thursday against Minnesota, with 40 runs for 201 yards as Philadelphia ran 78 plays to only 44 for the Bucs. The Eagles are just slowly sucking the life out of opponents, winning with defense and smash-mouth football, plus some occasional A.J. Brown dominance sprinkled in.
Is it a good or bad sign that the Eagles have had to grind out ugly wins against the Patriots, Vikings, and Bucs? Depends on your perspective. A win is a win, but we need to see more from Jalen Hurts at some point.
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Well, so much for all those good Cowboys vibes. Three weeks at No. 1 in the Power Rankings come to a Swift end as Dallas loses star corner Trevon Diggs for the season, then goes out and lays an egg in Arizona.
So just how troubling was this loss?
Ehh, a bit of a downer for sure, but not much to see here. Dallas repeatedly went on long drives and moved the ball all game but couldn't finish the job. The Cowboys went 1-of-5 in the red zone, turning it over twice and settling for a couple field goals. That's at least 10 to 14 points left on the board and that was the difference, though it's a major opportunity lost for this team either way.
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TIER III — WILDEST DREAMS
This Browns defense is starting to look pretty darn special.
Cleveland entered Sunday without allowing a single opponent play in the red zone. That streak ended when the Browns fumbled on their own 17 — for a single play, as they tackled Derrick Henry for a three-yard loss on the very next play. The Titans made it back to the 11 just before half before Myles Garrett sacked Ryan Tannehill as time expired into halftime. Tennessee finished the game with five red zone plays for -19 yards.
The Browns defense has led the league in Success Rate in all three weeks. Cleveland's defense has allowed fewer TDs (1) than its offense (2). That defense has allowed three, 12, and three points to a trio of teams (Bengals, Steelers, Titans) most expected to compete for the playoffs.
Turns out if your defense allows 6.0 PPG, even Deshaun Watson can lead your team to victory. This is the sort of defensive unit that can win games on its own all season, even without Nick Chubb.
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Todd Monken's offense was always going to take some lumps, but Sunday was pretty disappointing.
Baltimore's offense did very little outside of Lamar Jackson running the ball, which sort of feels like the same old story, not this new exciting offense we were sold. Jackson had another worryingly low 5.9 ADOT and -0.21 EPA per play as a passer, and that was a poor enough performance that Baltimore blew a golden opportunity go to 3-0 against a hated rival missing its starting QB.
Did the Ravens deserve to win? That pass interference non-call in overtime was pretty questionable, but so was the play call. Baltimore wins this game most of the time, but there's something weirdly poetic about the GOAT Justin Tucker missing a 61-yard winner to end regulation only for Matt Gay to hit a record fourth 50-yarder for the Colts in overtime instead.
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The Chargers could not afford to drop to 0-3 and held on for dear life thanks to career games from Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen. Herbert completed 85% of his passes at 40-for-47 for 405 yards and three scores, slicing apart Minnesota's relentless blitz.
Allen was Herbert's go-to target with 18 catches for 215 yards, plus a 49-yard TD throw himself. He'll be more important than ever with Mike Williams out for the season with a torn ACL. I put in a bet for Allen as an OPOY sleeper at +12500. He could threaten the receptions record at 150+ if he stays healthy.
LA's defense was not great but did just enough late, and the run game was poor for a second straight week, but Kellen Moore gets credit for going away from the run with as well as the pass was working.
The Chargers also get credit for their late decision to go for it on 4th on their own 24 up four with 1:51 left. That's the right analytics call every time. Make a yard and the game is over; miss and you still give your defense a chance to keep the opponent out of the end zone. The alternate is punting to gain 40 yards your No. 32 ranked pass defense will likely give back three plays later — and now, if you give up a go-ahead TD, you have less time left to respond. The play call was terrible, but the decision was sound.
The Chargers are a supremely talented team, capable of beating anyone any time. They had to have this one and are back in the mix at 1-2. At least for now, they're Out of the Woods.
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The Lions defense looked good on Opening Night before we saw the Chiefs struggling, but after a few more weeks of data, it's starting to look like this unit is coming together.
Rookie S Brian Branch has been awesome. He led the team in tackles with 11, three for a loss. Rookie LB Jack Campbell had his first sack. Sophomore Aidan Hutchinson had two sacks of his own and a fumble recovery. Detroit shut down the run and bottled up the exact sort of offense built to give it trouble.
It's still early, but this Lions team is starting to look legit. They won a close road game against a top opponent, and now they won a game with a dominant defense. Sounds like a contender to me.
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Well, it wasn't exactly Better Than Revenge in the Super Bowl rematch, but the Bengals slogged through and got their first win of the season. Survive and advance, right?
It's pretty clear that Joe Burrow remains very limited after his Cruel Summer injury. His EPA per play and ADOT both ranked 27th percentile or below, and his 26-of-49 passing (53%) was especially poor for a QB known for his accuracy attempting such short throws. Burrow barely moved much in the pocket and got everything out quick, and the Bengals struggled on third down at 5-of-17.
But it was just enough. Cincinnati's defensive line was the star, and Ja'Marr Chase put up a big 12/141 line on talent alone. I'm not sure we should be particularly enthusiastic about this Bengals performance, but hey, they're 1-2 and only a game back in the division after all that. Take what you can get.
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TIER IV — SHAKE IT OFF
I've been Atlanta's No. 1 cheerleader all year, but it's pretty troubling how Delicate this team looked the moment it got off script.
Desmond Ridder might not be an NFL quarterback. It's probably too soon to tell, but Ridder does not seem to have the trust of his coaching staff, and he's lost mine too. He was sacked seven times and remains dump-off city as a passer, and his accuracy is an issue too.
Atlanta tallied just 183 yards against a supposedly subpar defense, an ugly 2.8 yards per play. The Falcons called 18 run plays to 45 passes, absolutely not the winning script for this team. The offensive line hasn't been as good as expected, and Arthur Smith doesn't seem to have a great rhythm calling plays yet. Atlanta's defensive improvement and talent should help them stay in the mix, but Ridder might cap the ceiling.
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Green Bay's 18-17 win over the Saints was 100% a coaching victory. This is a win this team had absolutely no business getting, missing its top RB, WR, CB, LT, and LG and down 17-0 with 11 minutes left. But they got the win anyway, and Matt LaFleur is playing all the right cards for the Packers.
LaFleur has been aggressive from the jump. He went for it on 4th and short near midfield on the opening drive (calling a throw-back pass that failed when Jordan Love slipped), but the big decision was the analytically astute choice to go for two after scoring a TD down 17-3. The Packers converted to make it 17-11, and that meant Green Bay's late touchdown and extra point was enough to win by one.
The Packers gave away a winnable game a week ago, but they stole one back this week.
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The Seahawks are another team that may have thrown us off the scent in Week 1. Seattle's played two good games since and established itself as the best rushing team in the league by EPA per play, despite missing both bookend tackles.
Seattle demolished the Panthers. The Seahawks went only 3-of-13 on third down and settled for five field goals from the 25 or closer and still led by 17 until a late garbage time TD. It's a little worrisome that the defense got lit up by Adam Thielen and D.J. Chark, but this was a dominant performance either way.
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The Rams remain my biggest riser from before the season, and I'm not sure Monday night's loss should discourage that. This was just the case of Los Angeles running into a more talented team.
Poor Matt Stafford was sacked six times, and it probably felt like 60 the way his offensive line collapsed play after play. Between Stafford on offense and Aaron Donald on defense, it felt like what we expected coming into the season — a one-man show on each side of the ball with no help around them.
Sean McVay and the coaching staff have done an excellent job raising this team's floor, but the ceiling remains limited. The Rams had a very real chance to steal a win, yet 1-of-4 in the red zone and a pair of interceptions sealed their fate. Still, I'm intrigued even after a 1-2 start.
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TIER V — YOU BELONG WITH ME
The Patriots got off the 0-2 schneid with a classic Bill Belichick win.
The offense didn't do anything particularly exciting, like usual, but New England held the Jets to 157 yards and more than doubled New York up by yardage. We know the Patriots can always get wins like this, but with the toughest schedule in the league, we still need to see this team punch above its weight at some point.
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Pittsburgh's offense remains mostly disastrous, but darn it if I can't quit this Steel Curtain defense.
The Steelers baited the Raiders into 48 passing plays, then intercepted Jimmy Garoppolo three times and added four sacks, a second straight week the team eked out an ugly, narrow victory with all defense and just enough offense.
Matt Canada's offense was saved by another long TD and the 3-0 turnover margin, but Kenny Pickett will make mistakes most weeks, and this was a pretty disappointing offensive showing against the Raiders. Coming into the week, it was easy to talk yourself into Pittsburgh's offense being mostly the product of facing elite 49ers and Browns defenses. At this point, you have to believe it's just the Steelers.
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The Jets lost to the Patriots for a 15th straight time, and the offense is just zilch under Zach Wilson. He completed half of his 36 passes for only 157 yards, and the run game was nonexistent with 22 carries for 38. New York finished the game at 2.8 yards per play, a dismal number not even this elite defense can save.
Why are we still doing this Wilson thing? Surely the Jets coaching staff knows what the rest of us can see clear as day. Wilson isn't leading this team anywhere. New York needs to find a quarterback worthy of this defense before this season turns into Would've, Could've, Should've with a four-play Aaron Rodgers cameo.
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The Saints blew a golden opportunity to go to 3-0, but this team does not deserve to be undefeated. New Orleans continues to underwhelm offensively, and that was with Derek Carr out there. It sounds for now like Carr avoided a serious injury, but don't be surprised if that AC sprain in his throwing shoulder keeps him out at least a few weeks.
Jameis Winston is one of the league's better backups but still a clear downgrade, and the upcoming stretch against the Bucs, Patriots, Texans, Jaguars, and Colts are all losing games against tough-looking defenses. With Winston in the lineup instead of Carr, I downgrade the Saints offense from 13th to 17th. Not a huge drop by the numbers, but it just makes the Saints even more mediocre.
The definition of mid. This week's game against the Bucs suddenly looms large.
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A final surprise 2-0 team bit the dust Monday night, although it felt like the Bucs were respectable enough.
The defense held its own for the most part but just couldn't get off the field, allowing the Eagles to convert on 12-of-19 late downs. It seemed like the pass defense was a fingertip away from a couple deep balls that ended up putting the game out of reach, but the truth is that Tampa Bay's offense never really showed up.
So It Goes. The Bucs join the tier of defensive stalwarts stuck just outside the top half of the league, and that's already a step forward from expectations coming into the season.
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TIER VI — BAD BLOOD
The three teams in this tier are all fighting for the top of the AFC South, so there might be some Bad Blood.
It's still early in the Shane Steichen era, but initial signs are looking very positive. Remember, one year ago this franchise was firing its head coach to hire an ESPN analyst, a laughingstock of the league with a vanilla roster and little reason to tune in. Now it feels like Everything Has Changed.
Anthony Richardson looks like a star in the making, a QB worth tuning in to watch every single game. But even with Richardson out, the Colts went to Baltimore and took care of business in overtime anyway. Steichen has raised this team's floor dramatically. The defense is playing well, and Steichen is making those aggressive little in-game decisions to give his team extra 2% edges all over the place. And if Zack Moss can run 30 times for 122 yards on a good defense, what will Jonathan Taylor do once he's back?
I loved what the Colts were building with Steichen and Richardson this offseason but thought it was at least half a season too early. If Richardson is ready, this team could make a playoff push immediately. Check the schedule and the division. This is winnable now. I'm loving the over 6.5 and keeping an eye on playoff and division odds (+280, FanDuel).
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Of course I can't go all-in on the Colts in the AFC South, not after MY Texans showed out! Texans Island, baby!! All it took was three tries and completely giving up when the entire offensive line and secondary went in the hospital.
The Texans have Jacksonville's number, now winners of 10 of the last 11 meetings, and Houston won this game with special teams dominance and another breakout game from C.J. Stroud. Stroud looks like the real deal after another two TDs and 280 yards. He's standing in the pocket and delivering down the field at 9.3 YPA, and Nico Collins and rookie Tank Dell are starting to look like a real receiving duo, too.
Houston has stayed competitive in all three games despite the 0-2 record, and this win temporarily saved the season. The Texans still need to survive while they wait to get Laremy Tunsil, Derek Stingley, Tytus Howard, Jalen Pitre, and Juice Scruggs back, but going 1-2 without most of that group is not nothing.
The Texans still inexplicably have a win total of 5.5, and you can buy into the division odds at +1100 (DraftKings) if you want to join me on Texans Island.
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Of course, all this Colts and Texans hype is only possible because the Jaguars have been so disappointing. Trevor Lawrence is making the throws, but he's not getting much help — not from his line, his receivers, or his play caller, Press Taylor. Jacksonville was not as bad as 37-17 to the Texans made it look, but I'm not sure the Jags were ever as good as everyone thought, either.
And now the Jaguars start a brutal schedule stretch with two weeks as London Boy. They head to England to face the Falcons and Bills but then return from two weeks overseas without a break to immediately face the Colts, then a Thursday night short-rest game in New Orleans — effectively a schedule loss. Then it's still one more game in Pittsburgh to face that brutal defense before a long-awaited bye… and the 49ers, Bengals, Browns, and Ravens are all waiting after that.
NFL teams have the option to take a bye after returning from overseas. I don't understand why the Jaguars did this to themselves. Even if you can't decide which AFC South team to back, you might consider taking Jacksonville to miss the playoffs at -110 (DraftKings).
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TIER VII — I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE
The Cardinals are on the board! A team that many thought might go 0-17 is now a couple late collapses away from a stunning 3-0 start, all against NFC East foes.
Arizona is actually trying, and this downtrodden roster is giving opponents all they can handle. Would you ever have expected the Cardinals to leave No. 32 in the Power Rankings, let alone the bottom 25%? And yet, if we throw out priors and just go by what we've seen through three weeks, you can argue the Cards are probably 5 to 8 spots too low. Josh Dobbs has been surprisingly solid, and the run game has shown up.
Ever since the Cardinals went to Dallas and embarrassed Troy Aikman's guys in the 1999 playoffs, the Cowboys have struggled visiting Arizona. The Cards are now 8-2 when Dallas comes to town with seven one-score wins, three of them in overtime, and this one that might end up the upset of the season. Something weird just seems to happen when the Cowboys visit the desert.
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Another week, another close, goofy Vikings ending. Like any Minnesota fan expected anything otherwise.
Kirk Cousins is leading the NFL in passing yards and TDs through three weeks. So why did every Vikings fan reading that think to themselves, "Ooooh, pretty Kirk, Jets fans… come on, you know you wanna!?"
The Vikings were just as good as the opponent a third straight week, but striking out twice late in the red zone doomed them, and of course the game ended on a tipped jump-ball interception. Every break the Vikings caught a year ago, they're missing now, buried at 0-3. Nothing New for Minnesota fans.
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Welp, so much for that feel good 2-0 start.
Sam Howell can make some throws, but until he cuts down on all the mistakes — four picks and NINE sacks?! — this team can only go so far. The Bills may have had 37-3 on Sunday, but Mark Rypien and Washington won the one that mattered, am I right?
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TIER VIII — WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER
Am I sad I couldn't find a reason for the Titans to Stay Stay Stay at No. 25 a fourth consecutive week? Yes.
But do they deserve to rank that high after tallying six first downs and 94 yards on 45 plays in an actual NFL game? No. Ryan Tannehill and his five sacks and 4.2 YPA are officially on washed watch.
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Fire Josh McDaniels into the sun.
McDaniels chose to have his team kick a field goal on 4th and 5 down eight with three minutes left, saying his team would need two possessions anyway because he apparently forgot overtime was a thing. Then when a bad Steelers penalty saved McDaniels from himself, the Raiders did nothing for three plays, and this idiot ran his kicker back out there to repeat the same moronic mistake!
Jimmy Garoppolo cost the team on the field and entered concussion protocol after the game. I think I'd put McDaniels in protocol with him.
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It's hard to get too upset about a Giants blowout loss when they were missing Saquon Barkley and much of the offensive line, but 150 yards all night is pretty disastrous either way.
Remember when this team won an actual playoff game? Giants fans wish they could go Back to December.
(Fine, January, but you know what? Taylor Swift doesn't have a song called Back to January! What do you want from Me! I'm not Superman. This Is Me Trying…)
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It's already looking like a lost season for the Panthers, and the worst part is Carolina doesn't even own its first-round pick next year — finally some good news for Bears fans!
Still, it was never about this year. It's a rocky start for Frank Reich and the new coaching staff, and you hope to see Bryce Young back out there soon enough, but this is about building toward the future and seeing what you have in that No. 1 pick you traded past Stroud and Richardson to move up for.
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TIER IX — LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO
The Broncos narrowly avoided being on the wrong end of history Sunday — at least on the scoreboard. But the stank of Sunday's embarrassing loss could hang over this franchise and put defensive coordinator Vance Joseph's job in serious jeopardy.
I have 39 lines of notes about the 70-20 drubbing Miami put on this team, and not one word mentioned the Broncos. Technically, though, you don't score 70 without the other side being very involved in very bad ways.
For all the talk about Denver's offensive Success Rate, this was an absolutely pathetic performance defensively. It's one thing to give up a couple long runs and some Tyreek Hill plays. It's another thing entirely when the defense can't get off the field the entire second half against backups running the ball.
I mean, look at this picture. You're telling me that seriously isn't Photoshopped? Even the Nathaniel Hackett era never hit this low.
I don't think any photo covers the Miami/Denver game better than this one. McDaniel had the Broncos in hell. pic.twitter.com/p0MX57XjbG
— Jake Burns (@jake_burns18) September 25, 2023
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Hey, you know the only thing worse than giving up 70 points?
Being a home underdog of more than a field goal to a team that just did.
Pathetic.
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NFL Week 4 Power Rankings
- Miami Dolphins (Last week ranking: 3)
- Kansas City Chiefs (2)
- Buffalo Bills (6)
- San Francisco 49ers (4)
- Philadelphia Eagles (7)
- Dallas Cowboys (1)
- Cleveland Browns (10)
- Baltimore Ravens (5)
- Los Angeles Chargers (11)
- Detroit Lions (12)
- Cincinnati Bengals (14)
- Atlanta Falcons (8)
- Green Bay Packers (9)
- Seattle Seahawks (15)
- Los Angeles Rams (13)
- New England Patriots (19)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (18)
- New York Jets (20)
- New Orleans Saints (17)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (22)
- Indianapolis Colts (24)
- Houston Texans (28)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (16)
- Arizona Cardinals (31)
- Minnesota Vikings (23)
- Washington Commanders (21)
- Tennessee Titans (25)
- Las Vegas Raiders (26)
- New York Giants (30)
- Carolina Panthers (29)
- Denver Broncos (27)
- Chicago Bears (32)
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