After I failed to post the rankings last week, I'm back at it. You're still going to hate my Miami ranking, but I'm telling you, the Dolphins are dangerous. There was actually some shake-up on the back end this week, too, so don't stop reading after number 10. Oh, and the "last week" and "change" categories are actually talking about last week. Remember, I had them done, but couldn't get them up here. So, here we go ...
1. New Orleans Saints (last week's rank: 1; change: 0): They've been living on the edge the past two weeks, but still managing to win nonetheless. The defense isn't great, but with that offense, it doesn't need to be.
2. Indianapolis Colts (2; 0): Many other teams with they were in the position where a "bad game" consists of beating a desperate, motivated team without playing that well.
3. Minnesota Vikings (7; +3): The Vikings leapfrog three teams with byes with their impressive win in Lambeau. Is you-know-who's arm going to hold out?
4. Denver Broncos (3; -1): This is a temporary one point fall, but don't you get the feeling this is only the beginning of the deluge?
5. New England Patriots (4; -1): By the end of the next four weeks (games against Miami, Indianapolis, New York Jets and New Orleans), it's not unrealistic to think New England could be at the top of these rankings.
6. Cincinnati Bengals (5; -1): The Bengals are 1-4-1 coming off of bye weeks under Marvin Lewis. If they make it 1-5-1 this week, the 2009 Bengals doubters will return in full force.
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (6; -1): Denver didn't look very good against Baltimore, but Pittsbugh fans would be foolish to think that going into Denver on a Monday night will be an easy win.
8. Philadelphia Eagles (9; +1): Philadelphia's "A" game is better than anyone else in the league's "A" game. They don't bring it consistently during the regular season, but it's something to watch for come playoff time.
9. Dallas Cowboys (10; +1): I hate to be that guy, but it's no surprise Dallas is moving up in the top 10: it's November, not December.
10. Baltimore Ravens (14; +4): That was a season-saving victory against the Broncos this week. Now they just need another one in Cincinnati.
11. Atlanta Falcons (11; 0): On NFL GameDay Final on the NFL Network, Deion Sanders said that Joe Flacco is starting to leave Matt Ryan behind. After watching the Falcons-Saints game, I think I believe him.
12. Green Bay Packers (12; 0): There's no need for them to be upset about their 4-3 mark after week 8. If they win the games they're supposed to win (starting this week at Tampa Bay), they'll be fine.
13. Miami Dolphins (15; +2): Ted Ginn, Jr. What a game. It's great to see guys get bounce-back games like that. Maybe Miami's running game will have one against New England this week.
14. Houston Texans (18; +4): See "Stat of the Week 3." I really, REALLY, can't wrap my head around that.
15. San Diego Chargers (19; +4): An average ranking for an average team. 4-0 against sub-.500 teams, 0-3 against +.500.
16. Arizona Cardinals (13; -3): Arizona, I just don't understand. As the rest of the NFC West continues to be terrible, I suppose their bad losses don't matter that much, though.
17. New York Giants (8; -9): And the Giants get dropped into the bottom half of the league. Their defense hasn't been showing up and their offense isn't good enough to compensate.
18. Chicago Bears (20; +2): The Bears hope that their blowout against Cleveland got them back on track, and wasn't just an abberation because it was against Cleveland.
19. New York Jets (16; -3): And now New York fans are starting to feel a little bit of the pain Baltimore fans have felt for the past four years ... Just shut up, Bart Scott.
20. Jacksonville Jaguars (17; -3): That was a bad loss for Jacksonville to take. How could Maurice Jones-Drew only get eight carries in that game?
21. San Francisco 49ers (21; 0): Alex Smith played fairly well in San Francisco's tough loss to the Colts. Their defense sure played tough, tough.
22. Carolina Panthers (23; +1): Don't look now, but the Panthers are 3-4. You don't want your team to face them when they have their running game going.
23. Buffalo Bills (22; -1): Buffalo could have made a big statement against Houston, but they didn't. It's a shame Trent Edwards can't ever seem to stay healthy.
24. Seattle Seahawks (25; +1): Yea, they moved up one after losing by double digits to Dallas. I couldn't stomach Oakland being above them.
25. Tennessee Titans (30; +5): I respect Jeff Fisher for pulling the plug on Kerry Collins and I respect Vince Young for - at least temporarily - seeming to get it all together. I respect the Titans organization in general.
26. Oakland Raiders (24; -2): Donovan McNabb has 1/6 of the number of pass/catches to himself as Russell to Heyward-Bey.
27. Kansas City Chiefs (27; 0): I'll be sick if Larry Johnson gets another chance. Jamaal Charles has promise and should be playing.
28. Washington Redskins (29; +1): They get moved up one A) because the Browns are the Browns and B) because there's a resemblance of talent there that gives you a fleeting suspicion they could play better after their bye.
29. Cleveland Browns (28; -1): What good will firing your GM during the middle of the season possibly do? Someone find me this answer.
30. St. Louis Rams (32; +2): Their victory was overshadowed by one of the dumbest plays I have ever seen in professional football.
31. Detroit Lions (26; -5): Oh, Lions. You better pray Tampa goes winless or else you'll take your usual perch back.
32. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (31; -1): Dumbest call I've ever seen that I knew was going to be the dumbest call I would ever see when it was made: Jon Gruden, during the preseason, saying the Bucs would win 9 games.
Division Rankings: Woah! After three NFC divisions took numbers 1-3 a few weeks ago, this week, it's thee AFC divisions. There are a bunch of big interconference games the next few weeks that will be bound to shake this up.
1. AFC North (last week: 1): 13.00 average rank amongst the four teams
2. AFC East (3): 15.00
3. AFC South (6): 15.25
4. NFC East (2): 15.50
5. NFC North (4): 16.00
6. NFC South (5): 16.50
7. AFC West (7): 18.00
8. NFC West (8): 22.75
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