Posts tagged: NFL

With Week 6 of the NFL here we decided to do our Power Rankings of the NFL.

32. Jacksonville Jaguars – Realistically speaking I could see this team going 0-16 for the year. I don’t see anything that could possibly be good with this team.
31. New York Giants – I think Tom Coughlin has had great run but it seems like his time is up. When you can’t motivate your team anymore, they won’t listen, and aren’t fighting I don’t really think there is any turning around. While I do think the Giants still have talent on their team I don’t think they could make much of a push.
30. St. Louis Rams – While they did beat Jacksonville (big deal) there isn’t much hope in St. Louis. They devoted a lot of time and money into Sam Bradford who might be at best at this point a mediocre QB. While I do think they could put some more weapons around Bradford he must show improvement before he gets a Josh Freeman like scenario coming his way.

They wished they could go back to these days

29.  Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Honestly, I don’t find the Bucs to be as bad as a lot of people are declaring. In the majority of their games they’ve played a lot of teams close. Their trouble is closing games which could possibly change with a quarterback change. I still think the Bucs have potential to at least coming out 2 in the NFC South.
28. Minnesota Vikings – Even with the Vikings picking up Josh Freeman I don’t see that as the pickup that will improvement the Vikings. Their defense is going to have to shape up and they must balance out their offensive attack so that defenses can’t stack the line on Peterson. With the Bears, Lions, and Packers all being pretty decent I don’t know if they can get out the NFC basement.
 

27. Carolina Panthers – To be honest I don’t think its Cam’s fault. Since Cam’s been in Carolina what kind of players have they put around him? You have two severely overpaid RBs, an older Steve Smith, and a lot of 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th type receivers. Unless Cam goes back to having games like his first two games in the NFL this season is going to be rough. If they don’t make a change soon Cam might be out of Carolina sooner than later.
26. Washington Redskins – Well, coming off a bye week I think the Redskins have time to re-group and revise their offense.  Personally, I believe RGIII should have never come back so soon from his injury. With the Redskins being such an overall mediocre team in regards to talent I think he should of held out a little bit longer.  The extra time taken off looks like it helped D. Rose a lot.

25.  Pittsburgh Steelers – While their record isn’t that great I think the Steelers have the winning pedigree to where they could make some improvements.  If the Steelers can make some adjustments to their line and give Big Ben more time it’s possible that the Steelers can turn it around…at least on offense.
24. Philadelphia Eagles – The positives for the Eagles is that the running attack is pretty potent.  The bad is that with Vick going down with an injury and a very mediocre defense the Eagles probably will slip down the power rankings.
22. Buffalo Bills – With EJ Manuel being out I could possibly see the Bills falling down even further. While the Bills do have some talent on the roster, QB play is so important in the NFL and depending on an inexperienced QB could be bad.
21. Oakland Raiders – To be honest I didn’t expect the Raiders to be rated so high. They have been so bad for so long that it seems weird to have them rated even this high. To be honest I just think the Raiders have a lack of talent which causes them to have to fight so hard and in the end makes it hard to push out the victory.
 

20. Arizona Cardinals – The Cardinals are in the same position as the Raiders. When you are working Peterson to the point of him throwing the ball, running the ball, receiving the ball, defending the ball, and doing the punt returns you are going to run your best player into the ground. With the Cardinals having the Honey Badger on their roster maybe they should allow him to return a few punts just so Peterson could get a breather.
19. San Diego Chargers – Rivers is having a great season but the rest of the team has been pretty average. Depending on how the Chargers would have closed out games they would of easily had a better record and possibly be moved up the power rankings.
 

18.  New York Jets – The defense is good. Geno has been decent. If the Jets can improve their offense they have the potential to make the playoffs and even make a run. If they could find a breakout receiver I think it will make that transition a lot easier for Geno.
17. Atlanta Falcons – Man with the way the Falcons have been playing this year we might have to put them on “Bad Bag of Dope”.  The Falcons were hyped up as a Super Bowl Contender and right now at best they’ll be fighting for a Wild Card spot. The only thing that benefits the Falcons right now is that other than the Saints the NFC South is down.
16.  Cleveland Browns – While the Falcons are underachieving the Browns are overachieving. The Browns got rid of Trent Richardson and since then the Browns have been playing pretty solid. While everyone thought the Browns were mailing it in they decided to fight and could possibly make a push for the playoffs.

15. Houston Texans – Houston still has potential to be good but honestly if Schaub is going to be throwing TDs for the other team they’ll easily fall out the top 15.
14. Tennessee Titans – With Jake Locker going down and the Seahawks up next I don’t know if the Titans have what it takes to maintain this ranking. With the Texans right behind them and the Colts in front of them they will have to stay consistent in order to maintain or move up the power ranking.
13. Baltimore Ravens – Ravens are going to be an up and down team this year. The defense is still solid, but the offense might not be able to hold their end of the bargain.  Ravens might have peaked already at this spot.
12. Chicago Bears – When you make the Saints defense look that good that isn’t a good sign. While the Bears are a pretty solid team overall playing in one of the toughest divisions will make it hard for them to hold on. If they can protect Cutler better and get the ball to their playmakers (Marshall and Forte) they have a chance to sneak into the playoffs.
 

12. Miami Dolphins – Well, the Dolphins have shown great qualities this year and some much improvement. The only thing holding the Dolphins back is that they can’t protect the QB.
11. Detroit Lions – Losing key offensive players is not going to help the Lions. While I do think when their healthy they play great overall as a team and are exciting to watch I do think they lack depth at certain positions that they must have if they want to continue to make push to the playoffs.
10. Dallas Cowboys – Overall the Cowboys are just a real solid team. While I think Romo has the ability to choke at any second I do think that the Cowboys can actually do something this year. With the 49ers & Packers starting off slower than expected the Cowboys have the ability to move up the rankings. They have good playmakers on both sides of the ball, having decent coaching, and a GM who will spend in order to win. All they have to do is not choke the game away in the 4^th.
9. Green Bay Packers – The Packers are somewhat of an enigma. If the Packers can stay afloat, win out, and get to the playoffs the Packers can easily make another run for the Lombardi Trophy. As long as they have Rodgers as their QB they have a chance to win. Dynamic Quarterbacks often time cover up some of the holes in a team. If you can put up points and have a defense that won’t give the game away you always have a chance to win.
 

8. Cincinnati Bengals – Marvin Lewis has been doing this for a while now with the Bengals. They’ve pretty much rebuilt this team from to the Carson Palmer/Chad Johnson days. He has a young team and they’ve shown that they have some talent. If the Bengals can continue to play strong they have a chance of making it to the AFC Championship game.
7. San Francisco 49ers – Somebody other than Boldin is going to have to step up big time in that WR core. Last year there were a lot more options on who to throw the ball to, Gore had a lot more holes to run though, and the defense’s intensity was turned up a notch higher. I do think the 49ers can recapture this throughout the season but can they sustain that with injuries.
6. New England Patriots – As long as Belichick is their head coach and Brady is their QB they have a chance. While the Pats losing Vince Wilfork this will not help the Pats. History has shown when Wilfork is not playing the Pats run D suffers tremendously.

 
5. Kansas City Chiefs – Man what Andy Reid has done with this team is amazing. The Chiefs bringing in Alex Smith at the QB position looks like it has worked out pretty well. There isn’t anything extremely impressive about how they have been winning their games, but if they continue to play “Grind It Out” football they could make a run this season and have one of the biggest turnarounds in NFL history.
4. Seattle Seahawks – When the Seahawks beat up on the 49ers it appeared the Seahawks was the team to beat in the NFC. In the last two weeks it appears that while they have much heart the Hawks do appear to be vulnerable at times to where I don’t think they come off looking as impressive as they did at the beginning of the season.
3. Indianapolis Colts – Losing Manning doesn’t seem like it hurt the Colts too much. With Luck at QB he’s shown he has what it takes to be an elite QB in the league. Now, with Richardson running the rock this will open up even more for Luck. The Colts have been playing great ball on both sides and with a more balanced attack the Colts might match up pretty well with Peyton’s new team.
2. New Orleans Saints – To be honest, I’m shocked the Saints defense is playing so well. In the last two weeks the Saints have shown that they don’t have to score 40-50 points a game just to have a chance of winning.  If the Saints defense continues to play this well we might see another Brees-Manning Super Bowl.

1. Denver Broncos – Manning is playing better than anyone. He’s got exactly what he needs on offense and has a good defense which is something that would vary when he was in Indy. Broncos are easily putting up points and they still have key defense players who have yet to return so it is possible that the Broncos might be even better than they are now.