Welcome to BTB, may we take your order please? A Power Ranking/Fantasy Football Combo? That will be free, please pull around to the window.
We'll start things off with the Top 10 of the Power 25 Rankings, then reveal the full list with PFF grades and notes on each after the jump. From there, we'll round up some fantasy football resources to help you make your decisions as matchups start to become more involved in the process.
Defense rules the day in the week four player power rankings, holding down the top spot and six of the top ten. Led by DeMarcus Ware, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's troops are getting ready to face their stiffest test of the young season when the Detroit Lions come to town on Sunday.
Opinions expressed here are mine alone, and this isn't a list of who is the best Cowboys player, though that is part of the discussion. It's who is playing the best at the moment, mixed with future forecasts, mixed with their playing history. Feel free to add your commentary to the discussion.
| Position | Player | Stock |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeMarcus Ware |
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| 2 | Tony Romo |
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| 3 | Jay Ratliff | |
| 4 | Sean Lee | |
| 5 | Jason Witten |
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| 6 | Miles Austin | |
| 7 | Dez Bryant | |
| 8 | Anthony Spencer | |
| 9 | Mike Jenkins | |
| 10 | Terence Newman | |
PFF Cumulative = Pro Football Focus' cumulative scores from all snaps in 2011.
| Position | Player | Last Wk | PFF Cumulative | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeMarcus Ware (100th game on Sun.) | 1 | +10.2 | Might have 9 sacks instead of 6 if the refs ever made WAS pay for holding |
| 2 | Tony Romo | 3 | +1.8 | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1l87Wzselg |
| 3 | Jay Ratliff | 6 | +5.9 | The Rat is back, improving each week as he shuts down the run and gets in on the QB pressures. |
| 4 | Sean Lee (NFC Def. Plyr of Sept) | 5 | +4.6 | Many years ago Chuck Norris and a brown bear had a fight. The loser had to go live in the north pole. |
| 5 | Jason Witten | 4 | -2.4 | Witten's grades are down due to a shockingly bad start to the season in the blocking department |
| 6 | Miles Austin | 2 | +2.6 | After seeing the confusion in the passing game without him, was tempted to elevate him. |
| 7 | Dez Bryant | 7 | +2.6 | Talk radio in DC said Monday's game will forever be remembered as '3rd and 21' |
| 8 | Anthony Spencer | 8 | +2.8 | 3 sacks and 9 QB pressures in 3 games with a game winning strip sack |
| 9 | Mike Jenkins | 9 | +1.3 | A big bounce back game for the injured corner, Rex is lucky he had oven mitt syndrome Monday. |
| 10 | Terence Newman | 14 | +1.8 | The return of T New and Dallas has their first game of the season with two corners graded green |
| 11 | Felix Jones | 16 | +1.5 | Felix' fantasy owners want to strangle Martellus Bennett for his lack of effort blocking |
| 12 | Tyron Smith | 10 | +1.3 | Gave up multiple QB pressures (4) for the first time of his short career |
| 13 | Jason Hatcher | 11 | +0.8 | Calf strain interrupts an intriguing start to the season. See you after the bye. |
| 14 | Mat McBriar | 13 | Another great game by the Aussie | |
| 15 | Kenyon Coleman | 32 | +2.0 | Had a surreal +2.9 run rating on less than half the team's defensive snaps against Skins |
| 16 | Dan Bailey (NFC Rook of Week) | NR | SIX! Remember Six from the TV show Blossom? Just me? Moving on… | |
| 17 | DeMarco Murray | 15 | +1.9 | Has a higher cumulative grade than Felix on a third of the snaps |
| 18 | Orlando Scandrick | 18 | +0.3 | I wonder if Rob Ryan has had him studying Wes Welker for the last month. That's what I would've done. |
| 19 | Sean Lissemore | 28 | +3.9 | RR knows how substitute. PFF grade is on only 34 snaps on the season. That's right, 34. |
| 20 | Kyle Kosier | 25 | -0.4 | Finally played the part against WAS with his first green game grade |
| 21 | Doug Free | 12 | -5.7 | He has to be injured, right? +3.3 against the Jets, -5.6 vs SF, -3.4 vs WAS |
| 22 | Danny McCray | 22 | +1.3 | Special teams ace, and the occasional safety blitzer takes advantage of opportunities |
| 23 | Jon Kitna | 19 | +1.0 | With a passing game this smoking hot and efficient, even Quincy Carter could… nevermind. |
| 24 | Jesse Holley | 20 | +0.9 | Only 8 snaps starts to snap him back to reality, especially in light of Ogletree's confusion. |
| 25 | Marcus Spears | 23 | +1.4 | The supposed run-stop only guy tallied 3 QB pressures in just 32 snaps against WAS |
Rotoworld's Target Watch breaks down who was targeted and how many times in week 4 for all 32 NFL teams.
Rotoworld's Player Update: The consummate location for breaking player availability news.
CBS RB Sleepers/Busts: Video
Yahoo! Sports Week 4 Rankings: Quarterback and other positions
KFFL.com Week 4 Sleeper RBs
Here's an extended note. It's the time of year where disappointing players once thought to be untouchable, become less so. Who should you target? Well to determine that, you should look at the strength of schedule for the rest of the season. FFToolbox.com summarizes everything for you here.
SB Nation's Fantasy Football page.
As always, present the community with your lineup, trade and FA questions and we'll all pool together to help you out.
Maclin is playing, Knox is starting for Roy Williy, Frank Gore is playing, downgrade Kendall Hunter, Pats 2nd and 3rd corners out, maybe Ford isn't a bad Flex play if you have no other options. Beanie is playing.