LAS VEGAS -- The Green Bay Packers are back to the No. 1 spot in the NFL Vegas Rankings -- but just barely.
Three of the top four teams in last week's ratings (Arizona, Pittsburgh and Carolina) lost by double digits in Week 3, so that opened the door for the Packers, though they barely covered in their 34-27 win over the Lions after closing as 6.5-point favorites. However, Green Bay was ahead 31-3 at one point, so our panel still upgraded the Pack by half a point -- and that was enough to put them on top.
New England's 27-0 blanking of Houston on Thursday night moved them up into a tie for second with Arizona, against whom the Patriots played a coin-flip game in the season opener. Of course it's assumed our panel will increase the Patriots by enough to put them in the top spot next week when Tom Brady returns from his suspension. But that's in the future; the biggest debate currently in the ranking business is where to put the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, especially after their 34-3 rout of the highly rated Pittsburgh Steelers. ESPN's FPI upgraded the Eagles by 3.7 points, but Erin Rynning and I were more conservative and increased their power rating by only 2 points, so the average increase is 2.5 as the Eagles move into our top 10.
Here's a look at the other teams making the biggest moves up and down the rankings, as well as some Week 4 value plays (8-2 against the spread so far this season) using this week's power ratings: