Week 6 True Power Rankings: Chiefs stay in second place

In Week 6, the Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars moved the needle with the number-crunchers, but the team remains in second place overall behind the Los Angeles Rams. And for the second consecutive week, the Chiefs will be playing the team right behind them — this time, the New England Patriots.

Here’s how we get there. We start with how the number-crunchers see the NFL in Week 6:

The Chiefs have moved back to the second spot in the average of the cruncher rankings.

Elo still has the Chiefs first, with the Rams — the other undefeated team — right behind them. DVOA held the Chiefs steady, while the 16-point victory over the Jaguars gave the Chiefs upticks in both PE and SRS.

Do you notice how the Chicago Bears are close to the top with all the crunchers except for Elo? This is because they started the season ranked way back in the pack — based on last year — and Elo hasn’t been all that impressed with their victories against the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Furthermore, the Bears were on their bye in Week 5, which gave the rest of the teams a chance to move up.

The Cleveland Browns have the same Elo problem — but worse. In Elo, a 0-16 record hangs around your neck for a while. And while the Browns have won a couple of games, they’ve both been narrow victories, which isn’t helping them gain ground in that rating system.

Now it’s time for the Week 6 True Power Rankings — the average of the Pundit Power Rankings from Tuesday and this week’s Cruncher Power Rankings.

As you can see, the Chiefs are still ranked second in the Week 6 True Power Rankings — still tops in the AFC, and getting further ahead of their division rivals.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets and Browns are the biggest risers this week. The Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos took the biggest falls.

The biggest disagreements between the pundits and the crunchers this week are about the Jets and the Minnesota Vikings. The crunchers have the Jets at 12th, but the pundits have them at 26th. The pundits have the Vikings at ninth, while the crunchers have them at 19th.

Now let’s have our weekly reality-check, and take a look at the cruncher grades:

According to the crunchers, the Chiefs and Rams are on now on the same plateau. And while the Patriots are right behind the Chiefs in the overall rankings, here we see that in the estimation of the crunchers, the Chiefs are a significantly better team. The Patriots are in the mix with three other teams the Chiefs have already defeated.

This isn’t to say the Patriots will be a pushover in Foxboro on Sunday night — any more than the Steelers, Jaguars or Los Angeles Chargers were. But it might give you a spring in your step — at least until kickoff, anyway. Then it’ll be completely appropriate to be nervous about it again. I highly recommend spending that time with a support group of like-minded individuals — for example, those at the Arrowhead Pride Watch Party at The Other Place in Overland Park.

One thing is for certain: the result of that game is going to shake things up. On Tuesday, we’ll start figuring it out again.