NFL Power Rankings – After Week 5
So, here we are, 4-ish months since my last blog entry. As it turns out, writing about the silver lining in a Blue Jays season destined for failure is a lot easier when they’re exceeding expectations and atop the division in May compared to when they’re occupying your summer evenings losing by single run after single heartbreaking run. Plus, it was kind of fun to check here every so often and see what search terms people used to find my Eckersley post (my personal favourite was some lonely soul looking for “Heidi Watney f*cking”… here’s hoping you found an Internet site that better satiated your urge)
In all seriousness though, I do want to try and take my blogging more seriously, so am considering this a turning of a new leaf, of sorts. My apologies (and thanks) for anyone that’s bothered to regularly come by, I will try to be better!
In Case You Forgot the Beauty...
And now… on a more Super Bowl-defending note, we are officially around the quarter-way mark of the NFL season, so I’ve got another sport I can write about! I figure now’s a good a time as any to attempt to quantify the zany NFL season to this point, via the age-old Power Rankings format! Here goes… and I’ll probably have less to say about teams as we get further down, because those teams suck:
1. Indianapolis Colts
This seems like a no-brainer choice for me right now. Peyton Manning is somehow playing as well as he ever has, with a receiving corps that’s largely unknown after Reggie Wayne (and Tight End Dallas Clark). Watching him lead the Colts offense is starting to give me that “one of the best athletes in his sport ever at his peak” feeling that I get from watching Tiger or Roger Federer in the groove, which is probably even more impressive in Peyton’s case, considering he’s playing a team sport.
2. New York Giants
I debated skipping #2, and instead going with a tie at #3 because I’m not really sold on the Giants at #2, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else to put there. The Giants are playing well despite a wealth of injuries (and in the process are showcasing their depth in a lot of key positions), and can only get healthier. However, I do have concerns about Eli’s ability to play at his highest level if his foot injury nags him throughout the season, so we’ll see how they respond when they get their next tough opponent. Speaking of which…
3. New Orleans Saints
The expectedly-juggernaut offense has been well-documented. The unexpectedly-juggernaut defense has now been well-documented. As such, that leaves me with nothing of note left to add about the Saints. Which makes me wonder if the degree of sports media we currently have is approaching excessive (see: the story last week wondering if Braylon Edwards’ trade to the New York Jets might impact LeBron James’ hypothetical signing with the New York Knicks. I can just imagine the headline: Cleveland Was Too Big For The Both Of Them… What About New York?
4. Philadelphia Eagles
This feels like one of the teams I’m rating higher than most – however, I still think that on paper they have the most talented roster in the NFC (and arguably the NFL). If they’re able to continue integrating some of their younger guys (see: Jeremy Maclin catching 2 long TD passes last Sunday against Tampa Bay) into their game, this feels like a team that’s built to win in January.
5. Minnesota Vikings
Thus far, the Vikings have had the seemingly ideal mix of blowout wins against bad teams, miracle plays that (if you believe the gushing) no other quarterback in NFL history could pull off, and beating a hated rival to have people plenty excited about the Vikings (or perhaps it’s the disproportionate number of good friends of mine that are Vikes fans). But (despite the obvious improvements in supporting cast), I still remember people gushing about the 8-3 Jets last year before their collapse – I’m interested to see if Favre will be able to sustain his play throughout an entire season, and against tougher opponents. Luckily, we won’t have to wait long, with the Vikings sporting a gruesome schedule the rest of the way, starting with Baltimore on Sunday.
6. Denver Broncos
I really like Josh McDaniels, and remember saying I thought he was going to be one of the best coaches in the NFL immediately upon his hiring. This was before his handling of the Jay Cutler saga, and the Brandon Marshall mini-fiasco, which had me, like everyone else, starting to question the Wunderkind manager. So far he’s had the last laugh on all of us, what a remarkable job of coaching thus far. Kudos.
7. Chicago Bears
This feels about right for a team whose only loss came on a last-minute gutsy play call (a 50-yard pass to Greg Jennings on 3rd and short in the season opener) in a game where Chicago had to unexpectedly adjust to losing their centrepiece on defense early in the game (I consider adjusting mid-game much tougher to do, as with a week to prepare, you can at least adjust your defensive schemes to account for the lack of Urlacher). Cutler’s starting to look more comfortable, and I think this team’s going to make some noise this season before everyone crowns Denver as the surprise winners of that deal.
8. New England Patriots
I hate the Patriots, and love seeing them at 3-2 right now. They seem to be missing that capability to score early and often this year, and in a Bizarro kind of way, they remind me a lot of my Steelers thus far this year (lack of a running game hurting them, seem to be in close every game they play). Up to and including the fact that I’d be absolutely terrified of facing them at any time, regardless of their record.
9. Cincinatti Bengals
10. Pittsburgh Steelers
11. Baltimore Ravens
Who would’ve thought that the first team with 3 teams in the power rankings would be the AFC North? Not too many – in the “surprises of the season thus far” category, the Broncos and Bengals are a combined 9-1 this year, with that only loss coming on a fluke play when the 2 teams played each other. The Bengals somehow have had all their games decided in the last minute of play this season as well. I absolutely hate that they’re a pleasant surprise/easy to cheer for this year – I’m supposed to hate division rivals!
I think Pittsburgh and Baltimore are still amongst the toughest teams to play in the NFL on a given week, but both have shown weaknesses that need to be addressed if either team wants to make a jump in this suddenly competitive division.
Without attempting to pretend this isn’t biased, I do think Pittsburgh’s game will return to form in a large way once Troy Polamalu returns, as he’s accounted for their only interception all season in his one half of football.
12. Atlanta Falcons
Call it gratuitous if you will, but I just needed to split up some text...
The Falons are slowly becoming my “second favourite” team (as I like to say, it becomes necessary to cheer for another team, when you already know your main favourite team is going to win the Super Bowl every year), and their trouncing of the 49ers in San Francisco proved to me that the pieces are all falling into place for them this season. And I have a ravenous man-crush for all things Matt Ryan.
13. San Diego Chargers
Probably a better team than this ranking suggests, but they need to win some games.
14. Green Bay Packers
Green Bay feels like a team that could up or down as much as 10 spots in either direction in their next 4-5 games. One thing that does surprise me though is their insistence on staying with a new 3-4 defensive scheme despite having players that seem to fit much better with a 4-3 scheme (aggressive corners, a middle linebacker, and an all-Pro former defensive end in Aaron Kampman).
15. San Francisco 49ers
16. Seattle Seahawks
I know it’s way too early to start forecasting, but are we starting down the road where one of these teams might end up facing the Eagles or Giants in a first round playoff game? Yikes. Regardless, I think both teams (the with-Hasselbeck Seahawks, at least) have played well this year amidst mixed expectations, and you need to give both teams some credit when they’re ahead of a Super Bowl finalist in their division.
17. New York Jets
18. Miami Dolphins
If the first quarter of the NFL season had to be broken up into smaller sections (see: the excessive coverage/analysis of sports media), the Jets and Dolphins have to be 2 teams on seemingly opposite trends, as the Dolphins now look to be gaining momentum while the Jets have sputtered in their last two games. Nevertheless, these are 2 fun teams to watch, and with the Patriots at 3-2, either have a chance to make a move in the AFC East.
19. Dallas Cowboys
Gorgeous new stadium aside, isn’t it weird to think of the Dallas Cowboys as a middle of the road, average football team?
20. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals this regular season look eerily like… the Cardinals from last regular season. People seem to have forgotten that this was the team that won the awful NFC West last season, and somehow morphed into an improbable juggernaut at exactly the right time. It looks like the division will put up more of a fight this year though, so we will see if they can compete at a higher level for an entire season
21. Jacksonville Jaguars
22. Houston Texans
23. Tennessee Titans
Yyyyyyep…
The Last of the Old Guard...?
Although seeing the Titans here does make me wonder about a sub-plot of the NFL season that I’m going to find interesting to follow, as it may have larger implications for football and pro sports as a whole moving forward. If the Titans continue at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jeff Fisher let go, in a move reminiscent of Mike Shanahan being let go more to shake things up than anything else last year. At which point, do other teams looking to fill coaching vacancies look to some of these established successful coaches to fill the spots, or continue with the recent successful trend of putting young/inexperienced coaches into place (Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Josh McDaniels)? Maybe I’m the only one, but I’m curious to see how this plays out…
24. Washington Redskins
25. Carolina Panthers
26. Detroit Lions
27. Kansas City Chiefs
28. Buffalo Bills
29. Cleveland Browns
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
31. Oakland Raiders
32. St. Louis Rams
And here lies the NFL ineptitude. Special mention goes to the Detroit Lions, who, despite occupying a spot down here, have risen a fair amount from their lock on the 32-spot last season, and have shown some fight this season.
And there we have it! My thoughts at this point of the season, now documented for virtual eternity so all can look back and point out my retroactive stupidity. Glad to be back!
