Last week: 4 (+3) Record: 4-1 I normally don’t comment on teams on bye, but I feel like this ranking requires a write up. I didn’t want to put a #1 team because I don’t know if anyone is deserving of that title, but I had to and I think Chicago deserves it more than [...]
Last week: 1 (-1) Record: 5-1 Like I said, Atlanta might be better than Houston, but I needed an AFC representative in the top-2. Houston didn’t show up on Sunday Night Football. It happens to everyone. Everyone is allowed 1. You’d think they’d want to make a statement against the Packers on national TV, but [...]
Last week: 2 (-1) Record: 6-0 I know what you’re thinking. Atlanta is the last undefeated team in the NFL. Why are they #3? Well, they simply haven’t been impressive enough. They haven’t beaten a single team with a winning record. They’ve won their last 3 games by a touchdown or fewer against teams that [...]
Last week: 3 (-1) Record: 5-1 The Ravens might have won the battle, but lost the war last week, losing Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb for the season from an already struggling defense. They rank 22nd against the pass and 13th against the run already, which is unheard of for this defense, but this won’t [...]
Last week: 5 (+0) Record: 3-3 I already talked about the Patriots’ recent inability to close at length here so now I’ll focus on the good. They may be 3-3, but they’ve lost 3 games by a combined 4 points, all against good teams. The AFC sucks and the Patriots, given their easy schedule, should be [...]
Last week: 13 (+7) Record: 4-2 The Giants making a big jump this week is more indicative about how tightly packed this league is than it is indicative of anything else. If they lose to an underrated Washington team who could easily catch them off guard this week off a huge win, they could be [...]
Last week: 6 (-1) Record: 4-2 Last year, the San Francisco 49ers had a turnover differential of +28, 4th highest in NFL history. I said all offseason that would be unsustainable, mentioning that since 2002, teams with a turnover differential of +15 or more, on average, have a turnover differential of +2.1. 6 games into [...]
Last week: 8 (+0) Record: 3-3 Last week, Norv Turner was the 1st Head Coach to lose to an Interim Interim Head Coach and this week, he was the first to blow a 24 point halftime lead since 1992. And yes, I have the Chargers 1 spot ahead of the Broncos even though the Broncos [...]
Last week: 9 (+0) Record: 3-3 In the first half against San Diego, you had to wonder if Peyton Manning was questioning his decision to join this team. He was meeting or exceeding his career averages across the board and yet his team was 2-3. He was playing a good game and yet he was [...]
Last week: 15 (+5) Record: 4-2 Wow this team is tough at home. Since 2007, they are 15-4 ATS as home underdogs and this might be their most talented overall team ever in that stretch, having knocked off Dallas, Green Bay (sort of), and New England. They might not lose a single game at home [...]
Last week: 11 (+0) Record: 4-2 Was their loss to the Redskins a bump in the road or a sign that they weren’t for real? I think it’s more the latter. The Redskins are an underrated squad who hasn’t lost to anyone by more than a touchdown. It’s not an easy place to go into [...]
Last week: 18 (+6) Record: 3-3 Are the Dolphins the 12th best team in the NFL? Maybe not, but someone has to grab that 6th seed in the AFC. After Houston, Baltimore, and New England, the AFC is really lacking good teams and I don’t even know how good those 3 teams mentioned are. The [...]
Last week: 14 (+1) Record: 3-3 I’m not saying the Packers are the 13th best team in the league. They didn’t deserve to lose to Seattle or Indianapolis. However, they did and I’m doing this based on what record I think a given team will finish with. Every year, one team goes from a 1st [...]
Last week: 7 (-7) Record: 3-3 Firing defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and replacing him with underrated defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, previously the secondary coach, will make a difference. Bowles coordinated the league’s #6 defense in Miami last year and was named interim Head Coach after Tony Sparano was fired. The biggest issue is still Michael [...]
Last week: 12 (-3) Record: 2-3 Well, at least Jason Garrett didn’t ice his own kicker this time. However, he repeated one mistake from that infamous icing his own kicker game. In that game against Arizona, I would argue the biggest mistake was not making sure the Cowboys could run another play to at least [...]
Last week: 10 (-6) Record: 2-3 Since 2009, the Steelers are 7-9 in games without Troy Polamalu and allowed 21.9 points per game. With him, they are 27-8, allowing 14.4 points per game, with him. That’s not all him, but a lot of that is him. He’s their only irreplaceable defensive player and his mere [...]
Last week: 17 (+5) Record: 3-3 The Redskins might be a little underrated right now. They haven’t lost any of their 3 games by more than a touchdown and in all 3 losses, they lost a significant player to injury mid game who is now healthy. Against St. Louis, they lost top cornerback Josh Wilson. [...]
Last week: 18 (+1) Record: 3-3 I’m moving the Rams up despite their loss because I think I underrated them last week. I thought Sam Bradford would struggle without several starting offensive linemen and without Danny Amendola like he did last year. It sure looked like he would after he finished 2 of 9 against [...]
Last week: 17 (-2) Record: 2-3 The Colts are incredibly banged up defensively and that was clearly evident against the Jets as they couldn’t stop the mediocre Shonn Greene, who rushed for 161 yards and 3 touchdowns on 32 attempts, after combined for 217 yards and a touchdown on 76 attempts in his previous 5 [...]
Last week: 20 (+0) Record: 3-3 I take schedule into account with these power rankings, which is why I always have the Bills higher than most of higher than their level of talent. They’ve be fortunate enough to be in the AFC East and play their non-divisional games against the AFC South and the NFC [...]
Last week: 16 (-5) Record: 4-2 It was also a matter time before Kevin Kolb broke. An injury prone behind that offensive line with an offense that passes that often, it was inevitable. Fun fact about that offensive line (or not so fun if you’re a Cardinals fan): offensive tackles D’Anthony Baptiste and Bobby Massie [...]
Last week: 23 (+1) Record: 2-3 The Lions finally won last week, but the NFC is loaded. The NFC is 19-9 against the AFC this year. You’re going to have to assume, as an NFC team, that you’ll have to at least win 10 games to get into the playoffs and maybe 11 to be [...]
Last week: 21 (-2) Record: 3-3 My preseason pick to be this year’s team that goes from in the playoffs to 5 wins or fewer, the Cincinnati Bengals, took another step forward towards that last week, losing to the Browns. Their 3 wins have come against Washington (3-3), Cleveland (1-5), and Jacksonville (1-4) and the [...]
Last week: 29 (+5) Record: 2-3 I had the Buccaneers as a preseason underrated team for reasons I’ll repeat in a minute, but I had them overrated and picked against them last week because they ranked dead last in the league in yards per play differential. Now, after just one week, they rank 22nd because [...]
Last week: 28 (+3) Record: 3-3 The Jets’ win last week was impressive, which is why I’m moving them up, but it’s important to look at how they won. They won by running the ball and playing great defense. The defense I expect will continue to be at least decent. Darrelle Revis is gone, but [...]