After beating the Chicago Bears in Week 5, the Denver Broncos may have proven that they are not, in fact, the worst team in the entire NFL. The latest NFL power rankings over at FanSided.com from author Russell Baxter have given the Denver Broncos a slight boost up the Week 5 rankings, and some much-needed love, but is it enough?
Here's what he had to say about Denver's effort in Week 4 against Chicago, and why he ranked them 30th out of 32 teams right now in the NFL.
"Off a 50-point thrashing at Miami, the winless Broncos were in the Windy City to take on the 0-3 Bears. Denver’s porous defense had no answers for most of the afternoon when it came to Bears’ quarterback Justin Fields. Sean Payton’s club surrendered 471 total yards and dug itself a 28-7 third-quarter hole. Then things got interesting.Russell Baxter, FanSided.com
Quarterback Russell Wilson and his team played turnover-free football. He connected on 21-of-28 throws for 223 yards and three scores. Wil Lutz’s 51-yard field goal with 1:46 to play was the difference in a much-needed win."
The Denver Broncos ranking 30th makes sense from the standpoint that this team has been horrendous defensively. I don't think you can argue that this is one of the worst teams in the NFL right now based on what we've seen them do defensively. But the fact that Baxter has the Broncos as the worst 1-3 team in the NFL right now is highly debatable.
I don't know that we've seen anything from the New England Patriots to think they are a better team than the Denver Broncos. They came in at 28th in the latest NFL power rankings. How about the New York Giants, who have the worst point differential in the NFL right now? They ranked an astounding 24th.
There's no chance I would be taking the New York Giants over the Denver Broncos right now in a head-to-head matchup, even as poorly as the Denver Broncos defense has played.
NFL power rankings fluctuate week to week, so we'll see the cream rise to the top eventually, but I can't get on board with the Broncos being 30th after what we saw this past week, and frankly, through three of the first four games. The Broncos have been bad defensively, but they've also been unlucky to lose at least two of their games.
Not only that, but the Broncos have a good offense and Russell Wilson ranks 2nd in the NFL in passing TDs and touchdown percentage. I think the Broncos would beat a number of the teams listed higher than them right now, and we'll see how much better they can get as the season goes along.