Power Rankings: Pittsburgh Steelers and 3 Mid-Tier Teams That Will Ascend

After five weeks of the NFL season, it is beginning to become pretty clear which teams are contenders and which are pretenders. There are still several talented teams scuffling in the middle tier of the league, however.

Here are three mid-tier teams that will make a statement with wins in Week 6.

New York Jets

Things went from bad to worse for the Jets on Sunday when they suffered their third consecutive loss in a game against the New England Patriots. In many ways, the Jets have been victims of a rough schedule, though.

The Patriots, Baltimore Ravens and Oakland Raiders are all formidable opponents whom the Jets simply couldn't beat. If nothing else, the Jets were able to get the running game going a bit this weekend, and that should bode well moving forward.

The Jets have a very winnable game this week, however, on Monday night against the Miami Dolphins. At 0-4, Miami should be the antidote for New York's losing ways.

Atlanta Falcons

For at least the first half of play, the Falcons looked like a better team than the Green Bay Packers this past weekend. The Atlanta defense couldn't hold up, however, as the Packers scored 25 unanswered points.

The loss was Atlanta's third of the season, which matches the amount of losses it had all of last season. Even in a victory over the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago, the Falcons were very shaky and were barely able to hang on.

The Falcons will have another difficult game against the upstart Carolina Panthers this week, but Atlanta is simply too good of a team to start 2-4.

Pittsburgh Steelers

After a loss to the Houston Texans in Week 4, the Steelers were being left for dead. Despite a host of injuries, though, Pittsburgh routed the Tennessee Titans last week and currently sits at 3-2.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger answered a lot of questions by throwing for five touchdowns despite a bad wheel and Pittsburgh's defense came up huge as well.

With another week to get healthy and Jacksonville Jaguars on tap for Week 6, the Steelers should get fully back on track and be very much in contention in the AFC North.

Mike Chiari's Week 6 NFL Power Rankings	Previous Week's Ranking
1. Green Bay Packers	1
2. Detroit Lions	2
3. New Orleans Saints	3
4. Baltimore Ravens	5
5. New England Patriots	6
6. Buffalo Bills	9
7. San Diego Chargers	7
8. San Francisco 49ers	10
9. Oakland Raiders	18
10. Houston Texans	4
11. Washington Redskins	13
12. Pittsburgh Steelers	17
13. Dallas Cowboys	16
14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8
15. New York Giants	11
16. Tennessee Titans	12
17. Atlanta Falcons	14
18. New York Jets	15
19. Cincinnati Bengals	21
20. Chicago Bears	20
21. Carolina Panthers	22
22. Seattle Seahawks	25
23. Philadelphia Eagles	19
24. Cleveland Browns	23
25. Kansas City Chiefs	28
26. Jacksonville Jaguars	27
27. Minnesota Vikings	32
28. Denver Broncos	26
29. Arizona Cardinals	24
30. Indianapolis Colts	30
31. Miami Dolphins	31
32. St. Louis Rams	29