Shutdown Corner NFL Power Rankings: Are the Patriots back? (Shutdown Corner)

If you want to believe that the New England Patriots are completely back on track, that they're back to being one of the Super Bowl favorites, that's fine. Maybe it's fair. The Patriots are an extremely well-coached team, and the core of the team looks great on paper. But 60 minutes of football doesn't change everything. It's impossible to disagree with anything NFL Films' Greg Cosell said about the Patriots here last week . The offensive line isn't good. There's still not a deep threat at receiver. The offense is not that diverse. It's impossible to fix all those things in six days, no matter if it looked like the Patriots did. They were extremely motivated for Sunday night's game against Cincinnati. You could see it on the first drive and it lasted the entire game. They played great and they badly needed that win. [ Make Sunday even more fun. Play in FanDuel's Week 6 fantasy football league, win cash ] I'm still not willing to proclaim the Patriots all the way back. There's a chance they get on a roll like last year, and there were some great signs, but it's also important to not overreact to one game. It's still the same team that was blown out by the Dolphins, barely beat the Raiders and were embarrassed by the Chiefs. There's still work to be done, although Sunday was clearly a good sign for them. Here are the post-Week 5 power rankings: 32. Oakland Raiders (0-4, Last Week: 32) It's hilarious to hear Jon Gruden, Mike Holmgren, Jim Harbaugh, et al. being tossed out for the Raiders job. They have the oldest roster in football, have had a few horrendous drafts (not the 2014 one, though) that will hamstring the franchise for a while, and last offseason they could not land one impact free agent despite a record amount of cap room. Why are all these reports trolling Raiders fans, getting their hopes up? No accomplished coach with any other options is taking this job. (But hey, they will offer a lot of money! No NFL team has ever thought of doing that before!) 31. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-5, LW: 31) I was way off on Toby Gerhart. I thought he'd be good with a full-time role. And the offensive line doesn't help at all. But 2.6 yards per carry is a big disappointment.



from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1xjS8sD

via IFTTT

---

Been Denied For A Loan? Call 866-978-3776 speak with a Paralegal