NFL Power Rankings, Week 5: Chiefs, Patriots win thrillers to remain perfect

23. Houston Texans (14)

By handing the Los Angeles Chargers a loss on the road in Week 3, the Houston Texans seemed like they would have little trouble getting by the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, especially with Cam Newton continuing to be out of the lineup due to an injury.

Unfortunately for the Texans, the team received a major wake-up call over just how solid the defense of the Panthers can be after only putting up 10 points.

What made this loss even more frustrating for Houston is their defense put together a pretty solid performance for the most part by only allowing Carolina to put up 16 points, and prevented Kyle Allen from tossing a single touchdown pass.

Between the results of this game on top of the heartbreaking loss to the New Orleans Saints in the opener, the Texans could easily have been sitting at 4-0 heading into their Week 5 meeting with the Atlanta Falcons.

But instead of remaining undefeated, the pressure is on the Texans against the Falcons to avoid falling below .500 again.

When looking at how the rest of the AFC South is shaping up, Houston needs to earn every win possible to avoid falling behind any of their rivals, especially the Tennessee Titans, who earned a statement win themselves in Week 4 over the Falcons.