NFL Power Rankings 2009: Week 5

My bad for not posting too much other than power rankings lately. I have a few ideas lined up for the week to do about one a day until next Tuesday. Here's hoping I can actually get to it. Without further ado, the quite difficult week 5 power rankings (I really felt like a prisoner to my own rules this week; you'll see):

1. New York Giants (last week's rank: 1; change: 0): There just aren't many holes in this team. In what could be a crowded NFC championship race, they have just as many weapons as anyone.
2. Indianapolis Colts (2; 0): While Brett Favre and Drew Brees are getting all the hype, Peyton Manning's having a career year. That's saying something.
3. New Orleans Saints (3; 0): You can really just label them "1c." They've won with passing, running, and now defense. Darren Sharper is the free agent acquisition of the year.
4. Minnesota Vikings (6; +2): If Brett Favre's arm actually does hold up this year, the NFC is in trouble.
5. New York Jets (5; 0): Ugh. Just two weeks ago, the Jets beat the Patriots. Since then, I think New England has gotten their groove back and the Jets' suspect offense has been discovered. Nonetheless, ranking laws are ranking laws.
6. New England Patriots (7; +1): They're just so good at maintaining time of possession. They always could with their short passing game; now they have that and a running game.
7. Baltimore Ravens (3; -4): Things are looking up in Baltimore when you can play a mistake-plagued, horrid-luck game and still come within a drop of winning at Foxboro.
8. Denver Broncos (9; +1): The offense isn't anything special. Overrated. At this point in time, I don't think we can say the same thing about the defense.
9. Philadelphia Eagles (8; -1): The bye week really screws with you doesn't it? I feel like the Eagles haven't played in a month. They have a great chance to be 5-1 heading into their showdown with the Giants.
10. Chicago Bears (14; +4): After the ugly beginning in Green Bay, Chicago has won a quiet 3 in a row. The less you hear about Jay Cutler, the better this team is doing.
11. Atlanta Falcons (12; +1): They took the bye week to hopefully improve their run defense. Huge game at San Francisco this week.
12. San Francisco 49ers (15; +3): Good teams dominate inferior opponents in all three phases of the game. The 49ers did that to the Rams.
13. Cincinnati Bengals (13; 0): I let the Bears and 49ers leapfrog them because of how inept they looked at times against the Browns. They need to learn to play four quarters of football.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers (17; +3): Speaking of playing four quarters of football, it's not like the Steelers to give up all of those late points. The mojo of this team isn't there right now.
15. San Diego Chargers (10; -5): I knew they were horrid against the run, but that was just embarrassing.
16. Dallas Cowboys (11; -5): All of a sudden the Cowboys have gone from the team with all the talent in the world that couldn't get it done to a team that's just not that good.
17. Green Bay Packers (16; -1): The defense isn't that good. Ryan Grant doesn't look that good. The offensive line just looks bad. Aaron Rodgers is the only thing keeping this season from being a disaster.
18. Jacksonville Jaguars (19; +1): The Jags rebounded nicely from 0-2 with 2 wins against divisional opponents. It'll take a lot to catch Indy, though.
19. Houston Texans (20; +1): The Texans played like they were supposed to stomp the Raiders, and they were. This week's game at Arizona may be fun to watch.
20. Miami Dolphins (24; +4): Fantasy note: If Ricky Williams is a free agent in your league, take a look at his numbers. I think you'll be surprised.
21. Arizona Cardinals (21; 0): They needed the early bye about as much as anyone could. With the way San Francisco is playing, they're going to need to turn it around soon.
22. Buffalo Bills (18; -4): That was ugly. Both scoring only 10 against Miami and giving up 38 to Miami are not good things.
23. Seattle Seahawks (23; 0): You gotta feel bad for Matt Hasselbeck and the Seahawks. The NFC West race would be a lot more fun with him in it.
24. Carolina Panthers (25; +1): Perhaps I'm too nice to Carolina, but I just think they have too much on offense to be that bad this season.
25. Detroit Lions (26; +1): Not that I condone giving up 48 points in a game, but I'm bitter at Tennessee, so they get the bump up despite the loss.
26. Washington Redskins (28; +2): You do realize they get Carolina and Kansas City the next two weeks, right? They could be 4-2 at that point. Unless they beat Philadelphia after that, they stay down here.
27. Tennessee Titans (22; -5): Tennessee, I can't rank on talent alone. You're down here with the dredges of the league because you started playing like them.
28. Oakland Raiders (27; -1): Is there anyone in the NFL you would want to play for less than the Raiders?
29. Cleveland Browns (32; +3): Derek Anderson gives them a better shot at winning than Quinn does, that's for sure. Derek Anderson is really, really bad, by the way.
30. Kansas City Chiefs (29; -1): If I'm Todd Haley, I'm convincing my guys this is the week they get in the win column. They're not better than Dallas, but they'll probably play harder.
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (30; -1): Fun fact: The Bucs have dropped one spot for the third week in a row. Does this mean the Rams are getting lucky this week?
32. St. Louis Rams (31; 0): They're playing Minnesota. I highly doubt this is the one.

And, of course, the division rankings. Only one change this week: the AFC North and AFC South flip flop.
1. NFC East (last week: 1): 13.00 average rank amongst the four teams
2. AFC East (2): 13.25
3. NFC North (3): 14.00
4. AFC North (5): 15.75
5. AFC South (4): 16.50
6. NFC South (6): 17.25
7. AFC West (7): 20.25
8. NFC West (8): 22.00