1. Tennessee Titans (last week: 1; change: 0): I'll do you a favor. If the Titans lose at the Colts tonight, flip them and the Giants. That's all I will drop them.
2. New York Giants (2; 0): Well, that settled the number 2 team debate. They beat the Steelers at Heinz Field, and with a little better red zone play, it wouldn't have been close.
3. Carolina Panthers (7; +4): They leapfrog the Steelers, Bills, and Bucs, who all lost. They also leapfrog the Redskins, for reasons explained below.
4. Washington Redskins (5; +1): They won, but in ugly fashion - again. They have to play better if they want to beat the Steelers this week.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (3; -2): Big Ben has to take care of the ball better for this team to succeed. He has grown dramatically as a quarterback, but this should still be a ball-control offense.
6. Buffalo Bills (4; -2): A setback against the Dolphins this week. They're now tied with the Patriots, who seem to be getting more and more momentum. They have a big divisional matchup against the Jets this week.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6; -1): They don't deserve to be this high; I know. I just have problems punishing a team too much for one individual game.
8. Green Bay Packers (8; 0): Don't expect me to drop the Packers too low after next week if they lose at Tennessee.
9. New England Patriots (19; +10): So they gained 10 in one week. A culmination of them destroying Denver on Monday night and them beating the Rams, who were my upset special of the week, convinced me. They're not championship caliber, but they're certainly playoff caliber.
10. Philadelphia Eagles (10; +2): How much of a difference does Brian Westbrook make on this team?
11. Chicago Bears (11; 0): They have a trap game versus Detroit this week before Tennessee comes to town.
12. Arizona Cardinals (12; -2): That was a loss in Carolina that validated them. Were it not for some shoddy special teams play, they could have won that game.
13. Atlanta Falcons (13; -4): A loss that drops them four, but you have to give them credit for playing with the Eagles. Roddy White is spectacular.
14. Dallas Cowboys (16; +2): I cautiously move them up 2 after a victory against a good Tampa Bay team. Why are they now the same the record, but Dallas is still 7 spots behind them? If Romo were their quarterback right now, I would think differently.
15. Indianapolis Colts (15; 0): Win or lose tonight, they wouldn't move within two places either side of this until they show me some consistency.
16. Baltimore Ravens (16; +2): You have to love it when Flacco and Smith are on the field at the same time.
17. Jacksonville Jaguars (13; -4): They confuse me. A lot. This is very similar to the Tampa-Dallas situation, where Team A and Team B have the same records. Team B just beat Team A at home. Team B is still a ways behind Team A, though. I do this because Jacksonville's been in every game, and Cleveland's only played two good games all season. I have no qualms.
18. New Orleans Saints (20; +2): A win huge for them to get right back in it in the NFC South. I'm not sure the English really cared, though.
19. Denver Broncos (14; -5): They move down 5 spots (which might be friendly) after their Monday night debacle.
20. San Diego Chargers (17; -3): They're still in okay position to make the playoffs because of their division. This has to be a disappointing year for them nonetheless.
21. New York Jets (21; 0): I couldn't figure out where to move them, so I didn't. They won, which I can't punish them for. (Ignore the fact I punished Houston for it last week.) I will tell you, though, the following three teams really pushed them for this spot.
22. Miami Dolphins (22; 0): They got a big win to preserve their playoff chances. If they get a couple wins in coming weeks, they're right in the middle of it.
23. Cleveland Browns (26; +3): I'm stunned they beat Jacksonville at Jacksonville, but maybe I shouldn't be. They could be getting on a roll. We'll have a better assessment after they host Baltimore this week.
24. Houston Texans (27; +3): Their last two games have been against the worst two teams in the league. At least they played better against the Bengals.
25. Minnesota Vikings (23; -2): They drop two in their bye week because of how impressive the Browns and Texans were last week.
26. St. Louis Rams (24; -2): Is Jim Haslett a good head coach, or was Scott Linehan just that bad?
27. Oakland Raiders (25; -2): The Raiders still have ways to go. But I'm impressed with Russell.
28. Seattle Seahawks (29; +1): They bump up one for beating the 49ers. Just because.
29. San Francisco 49ers (28; -1): More on the Mike Singletary rant on this blog later.
30. Kansas City Chiefs (30; 0): Larry Johnson should be ashamed. Talk about a waste of talent.
31. Cincinnati Bengals (31; 0): I don't care how bad they played against the Texans, or how close the Lions came to the Redskins.
32. Detroit Lions (32; 0): The Lions are still my pick to go winless.
Division Standings: No change in the top 4, though the AFC East almost took number 3 this week. A couple flip flops from there, as Cleveland and Baltimore's jumps move the AFC North into 5th. The AFC West unseats the NFC West for last; it hurts when your best team is ranked 19th.
1. NFC East (average rank: 7.50)
2. NFC South (10.25)
3. AFC South (14.25)
4. AFC East (14.50)
5. AFC North (18.75)
6. NFC North (19.00)
7. NFC West (23.75)
8. AFC West (24.00)
No comments:
Post a Comment