Week 1 of the NFL is in the books and according media pundits 16 teams are incredible and 16 are terrible. We keep it a little more real here at Fifth-Down and aren’t ready to write off the 16 losing teams just yet or crown the 16 winning teams. So here are this week’s rankings.

Still a Dumpster Fire but a fire with fight:

The Cardinals are terrible but the players do seem to care…at least for now. We will see what happens after they drop a few more games.

Still Suck:

Colts, Texans, Panthers, Bears.

None of these teams did anything to instill any confidence in them for this season. Colts and Panthers saw some good things from their rookie quarterbacks but not good enough to have a good year. Texans are still awful and Fields looked just as bad throwing as he always did.

Still Suck…but maybe suck a little less:

Broncos, Raiders, Commanders, Patriots

I know two of these teams won but it’s not like they dominated. The Commanders barely beat a team that is literally trying to lose and the Raiders and Broncos both had 10 penalties. The Raiders won by 1 point and the Broncos missed an extra point. Good call on dumping McManus. Patriots kept it interesting but I’m not buying it long term.

Woof…that was bad:

Giants, Seahawks, Steelers

These 3 teams had high hopes entering the season. It did not start well.

Boringly Bad:

Titans

I think Ryan Tannehill is out actually trying to lose his job.

Are going to win 9 games and also win their division:

Falcons and/or Saints

Neither looked great but 1 of them is likely going to win the South

Scrappy in week 1 but unsustainable:

Bucs and Rams

The Rams still have no depth and will get exposed next week. No team with Baker can sustain success.

Team who won, but their season is still over:

Jets

Aaron Rodgers got hurt on the Jets 4th offensive play. Enter Zach Wilson who is a complete disaster and only threw a td due to a miraculous catch by Garrett Wilson. And the Jets can’t pass block to save their lives. They are done.

Already finding ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory:

Chargers and Vikings

They are who we thought they were.

Team who proved me right:

I said the Packers wouldn’t suck. Hey, its only one week so I am not getting overly excited but everyone who wrote off the Packers might want to rethink it.

Team who proved me wrong:

Lions. They are a solid team. Granted if the Chiefs had anyone who would have decided to catch the ball in the second half, they would have lost. But they were in it the whole game and their rookies really stepped up. I’m still not sold on Jared Goff but I think the Lions will be in it most of the year.

Team that had a happy ending on Sunday:

Browns

Too soon?

Team that is going to be wrongly overhyped this week:

Cowboys D is solid but Dak is still suspect.

Team that will be good if their QB doesn’t turn the ball over at record pace:

Bills

Josh Allen might have had money on the Jets last night.

Team that is already on its way to running out of running backs:

Ravens

My conversation with my sister during our fantasy draft this year.

Ruth “I’m going to draft this Dobbins person, what do you think?”

Jeff “He is injury prone. He gets hurt every year.”

Ruth “Well maybe he is due to not get hurt this year.”

Ruth was wrong.

Team that is going to be really fun to watch if their QB stays alive:

Dolphins

I’m literally cheering each week for Tua’s safety.

Other team that is on track to prove me right:

Jaguars

I’ve been high on them since the middle of last year. They didn’t look dominant but they looked good enough and have a lot of weapons.

Teams that looked bad offensively but will play in the AFC Championship:

Chiefs and Bengals

Chiefs receivers couldn’t have caught Covid in 2020 the way they played last week. But Mahomes is still the man, Jones and Kelce will be back and there is no way the receivers can have as many drops as last week. The Bengals looked awful in the rain in Cleveland. But they always look bad against Cleveland and they always look bad at the beginning of the year. They will be fine and my money is these two will meet in Arrowhead twice this year.

NFC Champ potential:

Eagles and 49ers

The Eagles didn’t play especially well and still won. The 49ers played especially well and won.

My money is on the same 4 teams still being the 4 best teams at the end of the season.