NFL Power Rankings Roundup: Ravens remain among the league’s elite

The Baltimore Ravens were able to stave off a late rally by the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday to pick up the 30-28 victory. They remained a unanimous top-five selection in this week’s power rankings.

The Ravens remained at number four in ESPN’s rankings. They also examined the impact of cornerback Tavon Young’s injury.

Since Young suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 2, the Ravens have replaced their top nickelback with the combination of Jimmy Smith and Anthony Averett. There’s no doubt Baltimore would be stronger if Young were covering the slot receiver. The Ravens believe he is one of the top nickelbacks in the NFL when healthy. But Baltimore also is used to not having Young, who has only played in one full game since the start of the 2019 season. If there is a position where the Ravens can absorb an injury, it’s in a deep secondary. — Jamison Hensley

CBS Sports moved the Ravens up one spot to fourth overall.

They are 5-1 heading to their bye and I still don’t think they have played close to their best. They have the Steelers coming out of that bye, so they better be ready.

Sports Illustrated moved them down one spot to fifth overall.

The Ravens seem to be quietly taking care of business, but have done most of what has been asked of them. Their offense has not quite clicked like last year, but they lead the league in point differential (and total points, though of course not every team has played six games), even after letting the Eagles climb back into things on Sunday. And of all the one-loss teams, their defeat is the easiest to excuse away. Their schedule is about to get more challenging, which should give us some fun games to watch. The Ravens have entered the realm where most fans will only care about what they do in the playoffs, but it’ll still be telling to see how they compete in potential previews against the teams they’ll meet when they get there.

Once again, Yahoo gave the Ravens their highest ranking of the week by keeping them at number two.

Had Sunday’s game ended with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, we’d be much more impressed with the Ravens. I’m not sure how they let the Eagles almost steal a game they mostly dominated. It’s probably best to shrug, chalk up another win and move on.

NFL.com expressed some concern about the Ravens offense and dropped them down to fourth overall.

The Ravens’ offense has been ... fine this year. Baltimore continues to put up points and win games, but this is not the same attack that ripped up the NFL last season. In Sunday’s 30-28 win over the Eagles (a strange game Baltimore almost let slip away through lack of attention), the Ravens logged just one drive of more than 50 yards and went three-and-out on five possessions, something that’s never happened in the Lamar Jackson era. There’s no reason to panic when a team is averaging nearly 30 points per game, but it’s something that you notice when you watch the Ravens this year. They’re ... fine. Just not unstoppable.

The Steelers were a unanimous top-three selection this week, and CBS Sports gave them the number one spot in their rankings. The Browns took a slight fall after their 7-38 loss to the Steelers. They received an average ranking of 13.8. The Bengals also trended down this week. They were ranked 27th overall by three outlets (ESPN, CBS Sports, and Sports Illustrated).