The Washington Redskins received a lot of love from CBS Sports' Pete Prisco in his Week 5 NFL Power Rankings. Specifically, Prisco spent his introduction praising the Redskins' much-improved defense. Then, he ranked the Redskins' No. 8 overall, the highest of any prominent list to date.
Here's what Prisco wrote about the Redskins' defense:
The Redskins defense that started in their 17-10 victory over the Rams on Sunday featured five new starters from a year ago, including two important down linemen in Barry Cofield and Stephen Bowen and a pass rusher in rookie Ryan Kerrigan.
The addition of the players has enabled Haslett to do more of the things that he likes to do. He can be more aggressive. With Kerrigan complementing Brian Orakpo on the other side, teams are more reluctant to double or slide protections to Orakpo, who leads the team with 3 1/2 sacks. Kerrigan has 2 1/2.
The only teams in front of the Redskins on the list are the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans.
For more NFL Power Rankings, visit SBNation.com.