NFL Power Rankings Summary (Week 7): Can Cowboys Crack The Top 10?

There are twelve teams in the NFL with a better record than the Cowboys. For power rankings that are based in large part on W/L records, that means the Cowboys probably won't rise much beyond the No. 13 spot in this week's rankings.

Thankfully, not all of the 24 power rankings we've surveyed below base their rankings on W/L records. Find out in our power rankings summary how the Dallas Cowboys and the other NFC East teams are ranked heading into Week 7 of the 2013 NFL season.

Major Media Networks & Affiliates

Week 7 (previous rankings in parenthesis)

CBSSports (Kirwan): 12th (9th): "Monte Kiffin did a great job playing all the man-to-man defense on the Redskins receivers and getting after RG3 with so many critical starters missing with injuries. The Cowboys offense needs DeMarco Murray back on the field."

Peter King: 12th (11th): "The Cowboys are playing on offense (79 points in two games) the way Chip Kelly hoped his Eagles would be producing by now. Dallas at 3-3 Philly, Sunday at 1, for the NFC East lead. Looks like a Romo-Foles duel."

Foxsports: 12th (12th): "Dallas beat Washington despite being outgained by 220 yards and allowing 216 rushing yards. That isn't going to happen very often."

ESPN: 13th (15th): "Five touchdowns, 506 yards and a pick had Romo vilified last week in a loss. Now? His 170 yards, touchdown and interception in a win somehow was better. Go figure."

CBSSports.com (Prisco): 14th (16th): "The defense came up big against Washington, but it is a banged-up unit that heads to Philadelphia for a first-place battle with the Eagles."

NFL.com: 14th (16th). "Up on the Redskins 24-16 in the fourth quarter on Sunday night, the Cowboys sacked and stripped Robert Griffin III with the following players on their defensive line: George Selvie, Drake Nevis, Nick Hayden and Kyle Wilber. Selvie excepted, the latter is the gold-star player of the group, and, uh, he was drafted in the fourth round in 2012. Hayden and Nevis, meanwhile, are castoffs from other teams. That's a menacing unit right there -- if you're playing Yale, that is. Dallas needs to get healthy, quick."

Blogs & Other Media

WEEI.com: 11th (13th): "The running game is key to Dallas’ success on offense. If DeMarco Murray misses extended time, this team could be in trouble."

Shutdown Corner: 12th (12th): "Injuries to DeMarcus Ware and DeMarco Murray are a bit concerning, but come on ... write them in with pen as NFC East champs and the No. 4 seed in the playoffs."

Drafttek: 12th (13th). "The Cowboys' defense limited the Deadskins' offense despite injuries along the defensive line that led to a rotation including Larry, Moe and Curly Joe. A win is a win is a win, especially against a division foe . . . Philly up next, as 4 of the next 5 games are OTR."

Newsday.com: 13th (13th). "Tony Romo takes a lot of grief, but there was no complaining about what he did against Washington. With zero threat of a running game after DeMarco Murray’s injury, he put the Cowboys on his back in the second half and got the win. "

ProFootballTalk: 15th (21st): "The best way to avoid Tony Romo blowing a game late? Make sure the game isn’t in doubt late."

SB Nation blogs

Blogging The Boys (That's us): 11th (16th). "Like it or not, the Cowboys have scored over 30 points in four of their six games so far this season, and are a better team than people think. They are the second-highest scoring offense right after the Broncos, and two of their losses were to the 12-0 Chiefs/Broncos - by a combined 4 points."

Big Blue View (Giants): 12th (13th). "Dallas is definitely the best team in the NFC East this season."

SB Nation: 12th (14th): "Tony Romo didn't throw for 500 yards this week, and the media somehow hasn't found a way to skewer him about it. The lack of hot takes in the NFL right now is America's most underreported crisis. Of course, there wasn't much to dislike about the way Romo played; it just wasn't as eye-popping on the stat sheet. His lone touchdown pass, to Terrance Williams was a beauty. He rolled out to his right, shook off a pair of oncoming rushers and hit Williams with a perfectly placed pass in the corner of the end zone. If Dallas can stick it out through injuries to DeMarcus Ware and DeMarco Murray, they're a lock for the NFC East at this point."

Bleeding Green Nation (Eagles): 16th (19th). "Romo and the Cowboy's offense struggled but their special teams got them a win over their divisional rival."

Statistics, Computer & Vegas rankings

Covers.com: 7th (10th). "Cowboys supporters have been laughing all the way to the bank this year, as the Cowboys have notched an NFL best 5-1 ATS mark to open the season."

Sagarin NFL rankings: 8th (11th). These are rankings based on W/L record, points differential and schedule strength.

Pro Football Reference: 9th (14th). PFRs Simple Rating System (SRS) takes only two factors into account: strength of schedule and adjusted margin of victory.

WhatIfSports.com: 10th (7th). These guys simulate every possible match-up in the NFL 100 times, and use the winning percentages from those nearly 50,000 games to evaluate every team, with updated rosters and depth charts.

Football Outsiders: 11th (13th). FO have the Cowboys with the 8th-ranked offense, the 21st-ranked defense and the 4th-ranked special teams.

Teamrankings.com: 11th (21st). This site measures the relative strength of all teams using team performance, home/away status, margin of victory and other factors.

ColdHardFootballFacts: 12th (10th). This indicator ranks teams based on their average ranking across a range of CHFF's Quality Stats.

Oddsshark: 12th (12th). Oddsshark use a multitude of stats to establish an offensive and defensive power ranking, which they then adjust for the strength of schedule.

BeatGraphs.com: 14th (21st). BeatGraphs provide rankings that cannot be defeated by a chain of A beat B beat C scenarios. In the end, when all ambiguity is removed, if A has beaten B, A will be ranked above B.

The table below summarizes the power rankings for the four NFC East teams. We will update the remaining power rankings when they are published.

	Week 7	Week 6	Week 7	Week 6	Week 7	Week 6	Week 7	Week 6
WEEI	11	13	16	16	30	30	22	22
Shutdown Corner	12	12	18	20	30	31	28	26
Foxsports	12	12	17	22	31	30	28	25
Drafttek	12	13	17	23	30	30	28	28
SBNation	12	14	17	23	30	30	28	27
Newsday	13	13	18	22	30	30	25	25
ESPN	13	15	17	21	31	31	28	27
CBSSports.com	14	16	15	20	30	30	29	27
NFL.com	14	16	18	23	31	31	27	27
Pro Football Talk	15	21	14	20	31	31	27	28
Avg.Opinion-based	12.8	14.5	16.7	21.0	30.4	30.4	27.0	26.2
Covers.com	7	10	14	19	27	29	20	20
Sagarin	8	11	19	23	31	31	23	24
Pro Football Reference	9	14	18	25	31	31	23	28
Whatifsports	10	7	15	22	30	28	21	25
Football Outsiders	11	13	15	21	31	31	30	28
Team Rankings	11	20	17	22	31	32	23	25
Cold Hard Football Facts	12	10	15	17	31	31	22	24
Oddsshark	12	12	28	30	30	29	15	11
Beatgraphs	14	21	21	15	30	32	28	27
Massey Peabody	- -	6	- -	26	- -	25	- -	20
Avg. Stat-based	10.4	12.4	18	22	30.2	29.9	22.7	23.2
Total	11.6	13.4	17.3	21.5	30.3	30.1	25.0	24.7

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