NFL Power Rankings 2009: Week 6

The power rankings were actually pretty easy this week; a lot of things seemed to fall into place. The huge mover was the Jets, who I still had optimistically high after their showing against New Orleans. I could have kept them ahead of the Dolphins on the premise of a completely fluke win, but watching that game last night, the Dolphins looked every bit the team that the Jets did. Hope you enjoy ...

1. New York Giants (last week's rank: 1; change: 0): Ho hum, a 37 point win by the Giants. There are a lot of great teams in the league, but starting here is as good of a place as any.
2. Indianapolis Colts (2; 0): I haven't seen a lot of the Colts this year, because they always play in primetime against teams I know they're going to crush. Have they clinched the South already?
3. New Orleans Saints (3; 0): Sorry Colts fans. If the Saints beat the Giants this week in what could be the game of the year so far, the Saints are taking the top spot.
4. Minnesota Vikings (4; 0): Brett Favre has been known to be egregiously confident in his arm. He'll throw it anywhere. That could either translate to a Viking blowout victory this week or a multiple interception day for Ed Reed. Based on the Ravens play this week, the former is more likely.
5. Denver Broncos (8; +3): After hating on Josh McDaniels earlier this summer, he's making me eat my words. I find myself rooting for him more every week.
6. Philadelphia Eagles (9; +3): Donovan sure looked rusty after missing a few weeks, didn't he? (sarcasm) They have one of the fastest wide receiving corps ever.
7. Cincinnati Bengals (13; +6): A truly impressive 3-0 sweep of the AFC North the past three weeks. Carson Palmer is playing some of the best fourth quarter ball you will ever see.
8. New England Patriots (6; -2): New England is really good, but didn't it just look like Denver wanted that game a bit more?
9. Atlanta Falcons (11; +2): That was a beat-down. Atlanta played like it used the bye week very well. With only one loss, they're obviously right in it for the NFC South race.
10. Chicago Bears (10; 0): NBC's getting a good one on Sunday night. Chicago-Atlanta should be a great, high-scoring game.
11. Pittsburgh Steelers (14; +3): They move up three not for how they played against Detroit but for how much better they instantly become now that Troy Polamalu is back.
12. Baltimore Ravens (7; -5): Cam Cameron's lack of mid-game adjustments has crippled the offense two weeks in a row. He gameplans as well as anyone. He's being outcoached during the game, though.
13. Miami Dolphins (20; +7): This is a completely different team with Henne as their quarterback. I still think last year's 11-5 was a fluke because they had Chad Pennington, but with a strong-armed quarterback back there now, it looks like the playoffs are realistic again.
14. New York Jets (5; -9): This is absolutely the pick that most experts would disagree with me the most. They're 3-2, but they've lost 2 in a row, and they lost the first one because of their offense and the second because of their defense. They don't look like the team that beat New England in week 2.
15. San Diego Chargers (15; 0): Not to make too much of a game in mid-October, but who knew that the Denver-San Diego matchup on Monday night would mean 10 times more to San Diego than Denver?
16. Dallas Cowboys (16; 0): They go into the bye week scratching their heads as to why they needed overtime to beat the Chiefs. They have to love getting an extra week to prepare for Atlanta.
17. Green Bay Packers (17; 0): They have must-wins against Detroit and at Cleveland before they "welcome" back you-know-who.
18. San Francisco 49ers (12; -6): Ouch. That was about as humbling of a loss as there is. It's going to be a long bye week for them.
19. Arizona Cardinals (21; +2): You had to love watching Fitzgerald on one side of the ball and Andre Johnson on the other. In the end, though, the Cardinals defense won the game.
20. Seattle Seahawks (23; +3): If you believe MVP actually means the most valuable player to his team, Peyton Manning would obviously win the award. Matt Hasselebeck might be number two.
21. Jacksonville Jaguars (18; -3): In a savage beating, the Jags (number 21) lose by 41 to the Seahawks (number 20). There should really be more separation than this, but they already beat Houston and then you get into Carolina and Detroit. It gets thin down here.
22. Houston Texans (19; -3): Deion Sanders may not make sense most of the time, but you have to agree with him here: Why was Andre Johnson not on the field for either the 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 at the end of the game?
23. Carolina Panthers (24; +1): Draw an imaginary line between 22 and 23. The 10 worst teams in the league - starting here at Carolina - are all fantastically awful.
24. Detroit Lions (25; +1): In fact, they're so bad that you can lose by 8 at home to a team without its best player and move up one.
25. Washington Redskins (26; +1): In fact, they're SO bad you can lose to an 0-3 team and still move up one.
26. Tennessee Titans (27; +1): They're 0-5. They've lost their past two games by a combined 42 points. And they're not one of the six worst teams in this league.
27. Cleveland Browns (29; +2): You know what else gets you a promotion down here? Completing two passes in a game!
28. Buffalo Bills (22; -6): Tyler, I'm fascinated to hear your defense for Trent Edwards after this week.
29. Oakland Raiders (28; -1): Have you read the allegations on Tom Cable? Oh, only in Oakland. (quote is almost at the bottom of the page)
30. Kansas City Chiefs (30; 0): Will Washington give Kansas City their first win of the season, too?
31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31; 0): I love football. A lot. And you would actually have to pay me to willingly watch the Panthers-Bucs game this weekend.
32. St. Louis Rams (32; 0): Insert Rush Limbaugh joke here.

Division Rankings: The AFC East took a hard fall this week, going 1-3 (including a loss to the Browns.) The rest stayed the same, with the exception of an NFC South/AFC South flip flop.
1. NFC East (last week: 1): 12.00 average rank amongst the four teams
2. NFC North (3): 13.75
3. AFC North (4): 14.25
4. AFC East (2): 15.75
5. NFC South (6): 16.50
6. AFC South (5): 17.75
7. AFC West (7): 19.75
8. NFC West (8): 22.25