Dirty dozen
The top six and the bottom six heading into Week 6:
| Team | Comment |
| 1. Indianapolis (5-0) | Could be 7-0 heading into Foxborough, its least favorite venue. |
| 2. Pittsburgh (3-1) | Would it surprise anyone if Charlie Batch looks good on this team? |
| 3. Denver (4-1) | Won ugly, often the sign of a good team. |
| 4. Dallas (3-2) | Maybe for a week or two. Certainly not this good. |
| 5. Philadelphia (3-2) | Nowhere near as bad as one game indicates (see above). |
| 6. New England (3-2) | Won’t go away. |
| 27. New Orleans (2-3) | Emphasis on “current level of play.” |
| 28. Arizona (1-4) | Back in its usual place. |
| 29. Baltimore (1-3) | Out of control with no fix in sight. |
| 30. Chicago (1-3) | How do you fix an offense when you have no replacement parts? |
| 31. Houston (0-4) | Dom Capers stresses takeaways. The Texans have none. |
| 32. San Francisco (1-4) | Not only struggling, but injured to boot. |
Source: Associated Press