2024 NFL Week 6 Power Rankings: Dallas Cowboys back inside the top 10

Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

Fresh power rankings are here and the Dallas Cowboys are moving back up.

We are firmly into the month of October now and major league baseball is doing its best to keep us all entertained with non-football activities. Every matchup in the division series is tied up at 1-1 which means we are in for quite the sporting festivities as fall weather makes its proper way through.

As far as the NFL is concerned, we are deep enough into the season that the morning of this post’s release saw the first head coach fired of the season. The easiest money made on an annual basis is betting on any non-Mike McCarthy person to be the one in question and this year it was Robert Saleh from the New York Jets.

Clearly the Jets are in an interesting place as a franchise, but where is everyone else? As we always do we have put together a power ranking of every single team in the NFL. We have also curated where outlets across the league have the Dallas Cowboys.

You can view last week’s power rankings right here.

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1 - Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 1)

They are undefeated through five weeks and on their bye just in time for the Royals to return to Kansas City to continue their series against the New York Yankees. Life as a fan of this area sure is hard.

2 - Baltimore Ravens (LW: 2)

It is unbelievable that they were 0-2 to begin the season. They look unstoppable for so much of their games now and when they don’t the other team, in last week’s case the Cincinnati Bengals, is incapable of putting them away. Lamar Jackson remains unreal. Derrick Henry, we haven’t talked about him all too much, as well.

3 - Minnesota Vikings (LW: 4)

They are easily the story of the season so far. Also on their bye with an undefeated record at their backs, Kevin O’Connell has to be very proud of the coaching job he has done.

4 - Houston Texans (LW: 9)

When seasons end we forget the tiny details of how things came to be. A win is a win and by no means am I taking it away from the Texans because they are a tremendous team, but the Bills just about handed this to them in the end. It goes to show you have to be able to capitalize on your moments (as noted with the Bengals and Ravens). C.J. Stroud is the truth.

5 - Washington Commanders (LW: 10)

We are well past the point of needing to panic about Jayden Daniels. Dan Quinn has the Commanders looking like a real and proper NFL team which isn’t exactly surprising. What is shocking though is how dominant they are on offense and porous they’ve been on defense.

6 - Detroit Lions (LW: 6)

We will see them on Sunday, likely looking for some revenge based on how last season’s game ended.

7 - Buffalo Bills (LW: 3)

They are extraordinarily talented, mostly because of the quarterback. But my goodness what a botching of things at the very end in Houston. Losing two in a row is tough, but doing so against teams you will be competing with for seeding in your conference makes them feel worse.

8 - San Francisco 49ers (LW: 5)

We have learned not to doubt this team for obvious reasons, but it certainly feels like this is the least dominant version of Kyle Shanahan’s Monstars that we have ever seen. To be clear, missing key players obviously hurts, but they threw the game away on Sunday. Maybe this is the year that they fall off a bit.

9 - Dallas Cowboys (LW: 12)

You won’t find anybody who thinks that Sunday was pretty. But winning games like that and stacking them together is how you find yourself in the playoffs on an annual basis. They are above .500 and are surviving with so many stars injured. Serious kudos there.

10 - Green Bay Packers (LW: 13)

Jordan Love had one of the worst pick sixes you will ever see in their win, but they pulled it out in the end. It seems like they are kind of building the plane as they fly so to speak, but they have earned the benefit of the doubt in the overall.

11 - Atlanta Falcons (LW: 16)

It is so cool to see Kirk Cousins thriving. Last week was awesome.

12 - Arizona Cardinals (LW: 22)

I’ve been a believer in the Cardinals for much of this season and it was fun to have that validated a bit last week. There is no question that when Kyler Murray is on that they can be very dangerous. Now it is about that holding from game to game.

13 - Chicago Bears (LW: 20)

Are we starting to see Caleb Williams put it all together or did they just play the Panthers? Either way last week was a very positive step for the Bears and that is what matters the most.

14 - Seattle Seahawks (LW: 7)

I’d have dropped them further if they did not look so solid last Monday night. How do you lose to the Giants in general, but specifically when they don’t even have Malik Nabers? This was a catastrophe for Seattle.

15 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 8)

It is a shame that teams have to lose games when they play the way that Tampa did last Thursday night. They are very much for real and a threat to win the NFC South yet again. Baker Mayfield’s resurgence is such an amazing story.

16 - Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 17)

This week has them hosting the Browns and if they find a way to lose that one... goodness gracious.

17 - New Orleans Saints (LW: 11)

As noted last week, they are winless since trouncing the Cowboys.

Interesting.

18 - Los Angeles Rams (LW: 14)

At some point injuries just become too much and we are certainly seeing that with the Rams. No Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp stand out, it is just a tough time right now in L.A.

19 - Denver Broncos (LW: 21)

Maybe they are finally starting to find their footing in the Sean Payton era. It only took a season and a quarter for that to happen, but hey, he is super amazing and going to fix everything right away. That’s what people said at least.

20 - Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 15)

Like with the Bucs, it is a real shame that the Bengals had to lose a game where Joe Burrow was on fire. But the fact is that they did lose and are now 1-4 and in some serious trouble.

21 - New York Giants (LW: 29)

It is them who will see the Bengals next and while I think I am very ready to write the Giants off, it doesn’t feel totally impossible that they could steady the ship a little bit. It does feel incredibly improbable, though.

22 - Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 32)

If they hadn’t won on Sunday then maybe Doug Pederson would have been joining Robert Saleh this week. They did everything in their power to lose, but Joe Flacco couldn’t quite pull it off. It feels far from anything like a reality where the Jaguars are back now.

23 - Indianapolis Colts (LW: 18)

Give me all the Joe Flacco we can have in 2024. That was so much fun.

24 - Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 19)

Benching Gardner Minshew is a pretty whatever move, but why was there such a commitment to him in the first place? This whole Antonio Pierce era feels very flawed.

25 - Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 23)

They should have won on Sunday.

But they didn’t!

26 - Tennessee Titans (LW: 25)

This is another team floating in the wind right now. Welcome back from the bye, I guess.

27 - Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 26)

Also returning from a week off.

28 - Carolina Panthers (LW: 28)

The kind of purgatory they are in feels never-ending. At what point can things get even moderately nice for them? It is hard to imagine.

29 - New York Jets (LW: 24)

Firing Saleh with a 2-3 record and only five real games into the Aaron Rodgers era is insanity. This organization remains a mess. It can always be worse.

30 - Miami Dolphins (LW: 30)

Pretty sure this is the lowest that we have ever ranked a team who won the week before. The Dolphins are just kind of in that sort of spot right now.

31 - New England Patriots (LW: 27)

This is the team they beat!

32 - Cleveland Browns (LW: 31)

The offense is so bad. Beyond bad. Free Amari Cooper.

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NFL.com: 13 (LW: 17)

Moving up!

With the weather delay and all the mistakes the Cowboys made along the way, I figured there was no way the football gods would let Dallas win on Sunday night. But the Cowboys somehow found a way to complete their Sisyphean challenge on fourth down in Pittsburgh. They won’t win too many more games where they turn it over twice in the red zone, have a field goal blocked, lose a challenge and have potential takeaways slide through their grasp. But on the flip side, winning a game without Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence and Brandin Cooks — and then losing Marshawn Kneeland and Tyler Guyton midgame — also deserved proper due. The end result is what matters most, and the Cowboys eked out a road win against a tough team in less-than-ideal conditions. It’s either a rallying point or mirage victory. Time will tell.

ESPN: 10 (LW: 15)

They also listed a fantasy surprise for each team.

Fantasy surprise: WR CeeDee Lamb

Although Lamb finished last season as the top fantasy receiver and was the consensus No. 1 WR in this season’s drafts, he ranks 13th after five weeks. For Lamb to be an elite fantasy receiver, he needs to be heavily involved in the Cowboys’ offense, and that hasn’t happened enough this season. In 2023, he led the NFL in targets and catches, but he is currently tied for 11th in targets (41) and 15th in receptions (25). Lamb hasn’t had a 100-yard game after posting eight last season, but it’s safe to assume his time will come. — Todd Archer

USA Today: 14 (LW: 22)

Some love for Rico Dowdle here.

Maybe they’ve found something with RB Rico Dowdle. Maybe a defense fielding so many backups found a rallying cry. Maybe we’ll know more in a week after they try to win their first home game of 2024 against a Detroit squad that lost at AT&T Stadium under dubious circumstances late last season.

Yahoo: 12 (LW: 15)

Another slight bump.

It’s still not perfect for Dallas, to say the least, but the biggest step on Sunday night was the defense. Pittsburgh had just 92 rushing yards on 26 attempts. Dallas’ run defense looked really bad in September, but perhaps it has turned a corner.

CBS Sports: 9 (LW: 13)

Everyone agrees a win is a win.

At 3-2, that was a big-time road victory over the Steelers on Sunday night. It wasn’t pretty, but the defense showed up despite all the injuries, which was big.

The Athletic: 9 (LW: 14)

Same spot here.

The disastrous fate of McCaffrey fantasy owners is providing some cover for the almost-as-bad issues with CeeDee Lamb. The Cowboys wide receiver was taken No. 2 on average in drafts, but he’s just 48th in scoring (15.26), being outscored by, among others, Jauan Jennings and Brian Thomas Jr. Lamb is ninth in the league in receiving yards (378) after catching five passes for 62 yards on Sunday night.

Sports Illustrated: 13 (LW: 17)

That’s that.

I think that the play of Dallas’s season was Dak Prescott’s fumble recovery before he threw a dart of a touchdown pass. Amid the relentless conversations about mood in Dallas, there’s a no-doubt exhibition of Prescott’s commitment to the Cowboys and his willingness to throw his body on the line. Remember, not all QBs dive for that ball.

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Dallas Cowboys Movement Week To Week

Every week (per suggestions from you wonderful BTBers) we will update this graph to note how the Cowboys moved in power rankings according to each of the outlets that we curate.

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