NFL Power Rankings after the first quarter of the 2020 season

25. Minnesota Vikings (1-3)

Even though it took the Vikings until this past Sunday to pick up their first W of the season, they have put up some impressive numbers on offense. They are tied for fourth with Buffalo in yards per play (6.4), despite running the ball on a little over 50 percent of the snaps and they have the league’s current rushing leader in Dalvin Cook (424 yards and six TDs). Where they struggle is when they get to third down, where they convert only 37.8 percent of those attempts and only Carson Wentz has thrown more picks than Kirk Cousins (six). On the other hand, the Vikings surprisingly have the second-best third down offense, allowing opponents to convert on only 31.9 percent of those situations. That shocked me considering they pressure opposing QBs on slightly under 20 percent of the snaps and they have only forced three take-aways through four weeks. Now with Danielle Hunter potentially missing the whole year and Yannick Ngakoue being their only real difference-maker so far, that is concerning.

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26. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-3)

The Jaguars offense is fun to watch with QB Gardner Minshew running around making, rookie running back James Robinson living up to my high draft ranking with his physical running style, and now receiver D.J. Chark is back, making big plays through the air. To me, they get away from the run game too much and they come out of the locker room slow usually, scoring 3.5 and 2.5 points in the first and third quarter respectively. Defensively they are just making things way too easy for opposing quarterbacks with their predictable zone defenses, allowing a ludicrous 77 percent of their passes to be completed and only the Lions allow more yards per attempt (8.0). And they also only have four sacks on the season (tied for second-fewest in the NFL). I think a lot of my positive opinion on the Jaguars comes from that Week 1 upset win over the Colts, but Indy was clearly the better team that day and gave it away, and Jacksonville has been outscored by a touchdown on average since then.

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27. Denver Broncos (1-3)

For the Broncos, things really started going south before the season even started, with Von Miller suffering a likely season-ending injury in practice and starting right tackle Ja’Wuan James opting out. In Week 2, their second-year QB Drew Lock – who was expected to make a big jump – was knocked out for a couple of games and his top WR Courtland Sutton was lost for the year with a torn ACL, which is why they needed to lean on the rushing attack. It may not seem that way because of the big day Melvin Gordon had against the Jets this past Thursday night, but even with that the Broncos are averaging just 3.8 yards per rush and they converting an NFL-low 17.3 percent of their attempts into first downs. Denver’s defense has actually been the bright spot despite injuries, as they are top 10 in yards per play and third-down percentage right now. The Broncos might only in the middle of the pack in total penalty yardage, but they have gifted the opposing 16 first downs through it. So they have to clean that up.

We do know when we're playing.We don't know who will be at QB.But we're ready regardless.

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) October 9, 2020

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28. Atlanta Falcons (0-4)

As I mentioned in my Week 3 recap, the Falcons became the only team to surrender multiple games where they once led by 15+ points and they did it in consecutive weeks. In Week 4 they at least never even made it close, as they lost by 14 in Green Bay. Calvin Ridley has been spectacular until getting shut out this past Sunday, but Julio Jones has not looked right since Week 1. Todd Gurley is a shell of himself and this offense just doesn’t pick up first downs when they really need to. However, it is their defense that keeps them from winning games, as they allow the second-most points of any NFL team at 34.5 points and they would be dead-last if we didn’t live in a world where the Cowboys defense played flag football. Their secondary now consists of third-stringers at all but one of those spots and they allow an NFL-high 665 yards after the catch. Dan Quinn’s clock is ticking.