The NFL Blog: 2009 Week 2 Power Rankings

Power Rankings After Week 2

1. New York Giants 2-0 (2nd)
2. Pittsburgh 1-1 (1st)
3. New Orleans 2-0 (14th)
4. Baltimore 2-0 (13th)
5. Minnesota 2-0 (6th)
6. Indianapolis 2-0 (8th)
7. Atlanta 2-0 (9th)
8. New York Jets 2-0 (17th)
9. Philadelphia 1-1 (4th)
10. San Diego 1-1 (5th)
11. Dallas 1-1 (11th)
12. San Francisco 2-0 (18th)
13. Arizona 1-1 (15th)
14. Houston 1-1 (16th)
15. Tennessee 0-2 (7th)
16. Chicago 1-1 (25th)
17. Buffalo 1-1 (19th)
18. Miami 0-2 (22nd)
19. New England 1-1 (3rd)
20. Washington 1-1 (10th)
21. Carolina 0-2 (21st)
22. Seattle 1-1 (20th)
23. Cincinnati 1-1 (26th)
24. Denver 2-0 (27th)
25. Green Bay 1-1 (12th)
26. Oakland 1-1 (24th)
27. Jacksonville 0-2 (23rd)
28. Kansas City 0-2 (30th)
29. Tampa Bay 0-2 (29th)
30. St. Louis 0-2 (32nd)
31. Cleveland 0-2 (28th)
32. Detroit 0-2 (31st)

-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;

Explanation: Yeah, so as good as I felt about my power rankings after 1 week, I feel as conflicted about my rankings after week number 2. Too much noise. Too many strands to keep in ol’ Duder’s head. Too many injuries. Too many “hollow” victories. Too many “positive” losses. Say hello to parity in week 2.

There was a new #1 team atop my rankings this week. The Giants moved up a spot from 2nd to 1st after their Sunday night win in Dallas. The Steelers fell out of the top spot down to 2nd after their loss in Chicago thanks in large part to missed field goals by kicker Jeff Reed. But the Steelers actually appear to be vulnerable without Troy Polamalu and with little run game to speak of.

I attempted to keep from drastically moving teams up and down my rankings but inevitably failed to refrain from doing so. There was no real way around it. New Orleans made the biggest jump in my rankings this week, vaulting 11 spots from 14th to 3rd. They have been an offensive juggernaut (as usual) during the first 2 weeks but we still don’t know if their defense is much better this season. Their first victory was at home against the Lions—possibly the single easiest matchup an NFL team could have at this point—and their last victory was in Philly but came against a banged up Eagles team led by Kevin Kolb. I just don’t know how good the Saints really are yet but who else was I going to put at #3?

I really didn’t know about moving Baltimore 9 spots up from 13th to 4th, but again, who else could I put in front of them? Their first win was at home against Kansas City, and the fact that it was close for most of the game was not a good sign in my opinion. But last week they went to San Diego and beat the Chargers which is without question a quality victory.

I don’t particularly love the Vikings or the Colts either. The Vikings haven’t played anybody yet. They have won both games on the road, but will the Brown and Lions combine for more than 4 wins? The Colts could easily be 0-2.

I was also loath to move the Jets to the front of my power rankings this quickly but I didn’t have much choice. The Jets climbed 9 spots in my rankings this week from 17th to 8th. They are 2-0 with decisive wins at Houston and against the Patriots. I mean you can’t deny how impressive their start has been. But I’m just a little leery of the Rex Ryan hype. I mean if their coach was some non-descript, skinny guy named Mike James I don’t think there would be anywhere near the attention paid to their quick start.

Another team making a large jump in my rankings this week was San Fran, who beat the Seahawks handedly to improve to 2-0. I don’t know how good the Niners really are but I’m pulling for Samurai Mike. I didn’t at all mind moving the Niners up the board 6 spots from 18th to 12th. But I had just the opposite feeling moving Mike Singletary’s former team up the board. There was no escaping it, however, as the victory by Jay Cutler’s Bears over the Steelers forced me to move them 9 spots up from 25th to 16th.

Although they lost at home to fall to 0-2, I ended up moving the Dolphins up 4 spots from 22nd to 18th. I wanted to believe that they would drop right back to below mediocrity this year but it sure doesn’t seem like they have any plans to do so. They took it to the Colts last week and were a Ted Ginn catch away from knocking them off.

The Bengals had the most stunning win of week 2 in my opinion, knocking off the Packers on the road. They could easily be 2-0 and I still have them ranked 1 spot higher than the 2-0 Broncos. I moved both the Bengals and Broncos up 3 spots this week to #23 and #24 respectively.

Of course there were just as many teams dropping in my power rankings this week. The Eagles and Chargers were 4th and 5th respectively in my power rankings after week 1, but I dropped both teams 5 spots down to 9th and 10th respectively after injury marred home losses in week 2. I had to move the Titans way down this week even though I still think they are a good team. The Titans got knocked off at home by the Texans to fall to 0-2 and they don’t look anything like the team they were last season. I moved Tennessee down 8 spots from 7th to 15th in this week’s rankings.

Although the Redskins earned their first win of the season in week 2, I actually lowered them 10 spots in my rankings from 10th to 20th, as their win came by just 2 points over the Rams at home. That’s as bad as a loss for me. And the Redskins look lost.

The team I was most disappointed with in week 2 was Green Bay, who somehow got upset at home by the Bengals. I dropped the Packers 13 spots in my rankings from 12th to 25th.

Then there are the Patriots. After seeing them play the last 2 weeks I’m convinced that there’s something very, very not right with that team. They should be 0-2, plain and simple. They’ve been pushed around on defense and harassed and hampered on offense. New England was my top team going into the season and I kept them near the top after week 1, but after their loss to the Jets last week I couldn’t ignore the obvious anymore. They have some problems right now. The Pats took the biggest tumble in my week 2 power rankings, sinking 16 spots from #3 to #19.

There was a shake up at the bottom of the rankings as well. Though they lost at home to the Raiders to fall to 0-2, I bumped the Chiefs up a couple of spots from 30th to 28th, as they have been competitive both weeks. The Rams lost just 9-7 to the Skins on the road and that caused me to move them out of last. I moved them up a couple of spots from 32nd to 30th. Cleveland has been absolutely dreadful in their first 2 appearances and I moved them down from 28th to 31st. Brining up the very bottom spot this week are the Detroit Lions. They’ve been beaten by 14 points or more in each of their first 2 games and they’ve now lost 19 games in a row. They moved down a spot from 31st to 32nd in this week’s rankings.