Year: 2013

New England Patriots: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#6)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Patriots, Uncategorized

Last week: 3

Tom Brady completed under 50% of his passes in a game last week for the first time since 2009 and it took a perfect storm for that to happen. It was a combination of the worst receiving corps he’s ever worked with, a Thursday Night game, and terrible weather. The good news is the Patriots don’t play any more Thursday Night Games and that terrible weather won’t be a regular thing. Meanwhile, his receiving corps can’t get worse as his young receivers will eventually get it together and Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, and Shane Vereen are all due back this season at some point, probably in that order. The Patriots have had just 1 three game stretch without a 7+ point win since 2006 and I expect them to bounce back with a big win on long rest against an 0-2 Tampa Bay team, especially if Gronk plays. As for the long term, this season really reminds me of 2006.With a new receiving corps, Brady started the season completing 50% of his passes, even less than this year, in near upset losses to the Bills and Jets, but the Patriots eventually got their act together and went 12-4, before eventually losing in the AFC Championship to Peyton Manning. That narrative could repeat itself.

Week 2 Studs

RT Sebastian Vollmer

LE Rob Ninkovich

FS Devin McCourty

Week 2 Duds

DT Vince Wilfork

LT Marcus Cannon

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Dallas Cowboys: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#7)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Cowboys, Uncategorized

Last week: 7

Kansas City is a good team that’s going to the playoffs so there’s no shame in losing by 1 in Kansas City. Dallas is only going to get better as Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff return from injury, along with Brian Waters, signed out of retirement, taking over as the starter at right guard. He didn’t play last year and he’s definitely over the hill in football years, but he was one of the best guards in the NFL in 2011.

Week 2 Studs

RT Doug Free

DT Jason Hatcher

Week 2 Duds

C Travis Frederick

LOLB Bruce Carter

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Detroit Lions: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#8)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Lions, Uncategorized

Last week: 9

No shame in losing a close game in Arizona. The Cardinals are a sneaky team this year. The Lions still have the talent to make the playoffs. Reggie Bush might miss this week with injury, but I’m not so sure that Joique Bell isn’t just as good. Bell was 2nd in the NFL in yards per route run among running backs last season, behind only Darren Sproles, and also averaged 5.0 yards per carry on 82 carries. This year, he had 10 catches for 105 yards on 13 targets and 37 routes run, along with 56 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries.

Week 2 Studs

LT Riley Reiff

C Dominic Raiola

RE Ezekiel Ansah

DT Ndamukong Suh

Week 2 Duds

CB Dwight Bentley

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Chicago Bears: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#9)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Bears, Uncategorized

Last week: 10

Beating the Vikings by 1 isn’t that impressive, but they did it despite losing the turnover battle, something that only happens 20.9% of the time. The NFC is tough, but the Bears have a chance to be right in the playoff hunt. They aren’t dominating the turnover battle like they were last year, as could be expected, but they have an improved offense thanks to a very impressive rookie right side of the offensive line with Kyle Long and Jordan Mills. Along with fellow newcomers Jermon Bushrod and Matt Slauson, they’ve fortified an offensive line that has allowed just 1 sack all season, despite facing Minnesota and Cincinnati, two of the better sack teams in the NFL a year ago.

Week 2 Studs

C Roberto Garza

TE Martellus Bennett

LOLB Lance Briggs

Week 2 Duds

None

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Baltimore Ravens: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#10)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Ravens, Uncategorized

Last week: 11

The AFC North remains clear as mud after 2 weeks. Cincinnati and Baltimore are the only two teams that have won games and between them I’d still pick my pre-season pick of Baltimore because of Cincinnati’s recent inability to beat playoff caliber opponents. They don’t seem to be much of a Super Bowl contender, however, in a conference mostly devoid of them.

Week 2 Studs

QB Joe Flacco

LOLB Elvis Dumervil

ROLB Terrell Suggs

DT Haloti Ngata

Week 2 Duds

RB Ray Rice

LT Bryant McKinnie

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Atlanta Falcons: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#11)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Falcons, Uncategorized

Last week: 12

The Falcons built a big early lead against the Rams and eventually won, improving to 1-1, but the way they played after they lost regulars with injuries has to be concerning going forward. Asante Samuel will probably be back this week, but Steven Jackson, Kroy Biermann, and Sean Weatherspoon are all expected to be out for an extended period of time. With a sneaky tough trip to Miami and a game against the Patriots next on the schedule, they could be in trouble.

Week 2 Studs

RG Garrett Reynolds

Week 2 Duds

LT Sam Baker

LE Malliciah Goodman

DT Jonathan Babineaux

MLB Akeem Dent

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Houston Texans: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#12)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Texans, Uncategorized

Last week: 13

The Texans pulled another win out of their ass, winning in overtime at home for Tennessee. They are now 7-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less since the start of last season. That’s not going to be unsustainable and it’s concerning that 3 of those wins in 2012 came against teams with poor records and the 2 wins this year came against teams that were supposed to have poor records. They could have a lot of trouble with contending caliber teams. I don’t understand how they’re favored in Baltimore this week.

Week 2 Studs

WR DeAndre Hopkins

LT Duane Brown

C Chris Myers

LE JJ Watt

Week 2 Duds

LG Wade Smith

LOLB Brooks Reed

MLB Joe Mays

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Kansas City Chiefs: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#13)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Chiefs, Uncategorized

Last week: 14

The Chiefs have already matched their win total from a year ago with their 2-0 start. The lesson, as always, fire Romeo Crennel. The upgrade from Crennel to Andy Reid is enormous as is the upgrade from Brady Quinn to Alex Smith. Smith isn’t the greatest quarterback in the world, but he’s stabilized their turnover margin, as the Chiefs have gone from a league worst -24 last season to 0 total turnovers through 2 games thus far this season. That’s allowed their supporting cast to shine, a supporting cat that has been further improved by what looks like the start of a 2nd year breakout year by 2012 1st round pick Dontari Poe.

Week 2 Studs

Studs

Week 2 Duds

CB Brandon Flowers

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Carolina Panthers: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#14)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Panthers, Uncategorized

Last week: 5

The Panthers are now 2-14 since 2011 in games decided by a touchdown or less. Part of my reasoning for them having a big season was that their record in close games would even out, as it always does in the long run, but it’s very possible that won’t happen this year. They need to fire Ron Rivera. They should have done it last off-season (can you imagine how good they’d with be Chip Kelly, you know his #1 choice would have been working with Cam Newton?). You can’t put the entire 2-14 record in close games on him, but he has to take the blame. This week, the reason they lost on their final drive was because they only had 4 healthy defensive backs, but you could also blame Rivera for opting to kick a field goal to push the lead to 6 rather than trying to ice it on 4th and 1 late. Instead of putting his faith in his expensive running game or his great short yardage quarterback, he put his faith in a defense that literally didn’t have enough healthy bodies to be successful.

Week 2 Studs

TE Ben Hartsock

DT Star Lotulelei

Week 2 Duds

QB Cam Newton

RT Byron Bell

LOLB Jon Beason

ROLB Thomas Davis

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Cincinnati Bengals: 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings (#15)

stevenlourie 2013 NFL Power Rankings, 2013 Week 3 NFL Power Rankings, Bengals, Uncategorized

Last week: 17

The Bengals beat the Steelers this week, but I wasn’t that impressed by them, especially if Pittsburgh is really as bad as they’ve looked in the first two weeks of the season. It was a close game and I feel like the Steelers would have won if it were in Pittsburgh. Dalton continues to struggle against top level defenses, completing 25 of 45 for 280 yards and a touchdown. He managed the game well and avoided the back breaking turnover that cost him in Chicago the week before, but he also missed open receivers and was very reliant on his receivers’ abilities after the catch. Fortunately, the AFC North is as clear as mud right now so the Bengals could easily be a playoff team when all is said and done.

Week 2 Studs

LT Andrew Whitworth

LG Clint Boling

RE Michael Johnson

Week 2 Duds

TE Jermaine Gresham

LE Carlos Dunlap

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