NFL power rankings: Chiefs move into top 5

The Chiefs played most/all of Sunday’s game without Alex Smith, Spencer Ware, Justin Houston and Jamaal Charles. They won on the road by 16 points.

Little scare followed by a bigger scare in Indy, with Alex Smith departing the game not once but twice. Umm, the play call on the second incident didn’t exactly keep the Chiefs quarterback out of harm’s way, did it? And Smith wasn’t even the most contacted QB on the Lucas Oil Stadium field. By game’s end, Andrew Luck’s pocket was collapsing seemingly every play. Give a third quarterback, Nick Foles, a ton of credit: 16 of 22 for 223 yards and two touchdowns ain’t bad for a guy a lot of people had written off. Or typed off.

Dee Ford had 3.5 sacks on Sunday. If Justin Houston returns and looks like himself, the Chiefs are going to have a really nice pass-rushing duo. The Chiefs could make huge strides in the second half, and they’re pretty good already.

The Chiefs are 5-2 this season and 15-2 in their past 17 games, so a dip in the rankings from Week 1 feels a little off here. However, the Chiefs will be put to the test in upcoming weeks, mostly because of uncertainty at quarterback and running back following recent injuries.

Nick Foles — remember him? — did a nice job filling in for the injured Alex Smith during Sunday’s victory at Indianapolis. It was far from a given that he’d be able to deliver when needed. He’d totaled 20 TDs and 20 interceptions over the previous two seasons for the Eagles and Rams, that after his 27-TD, two-interception masterpiece of a year for Philadelphia in 2013.