Power Rankings After Week 6
1. New Orleans 5-0 (2nd)
2. Indianapolis 5-0 (3rd)
3. New York Giants 5-1 (1st)
4. Minnesota 5-0 (4th)
5. Denver 6-0 (12th)
6. Pittsburgh 4-2 (6th)
7. New England 4-2 (11th)
8. Atlanta 4-1 (8th)
9. Cincinnati 4-2 (7th)
10. Baltimore 3-3 (9th)
11. Philadelphia 3-2 (5th)
12. Houston 3-3 (17th)
13. Arizona 3-2 (18th)
14. New York Jets 3-3 (10th)
15. San Diego 2-3 (13th)
16. Chicago 3-2 (14th)
17. Dallas 3-2 (15th)
18. San Francisco 3-2 (16th)
19. Green Bay 3-2 (19th)
20. Miami 2-3 (20th)
21. Carolina 2-3 (23rd)
22. Buffalo 2-4 (18th)
23. Seattle 2-4 (21st)
24. Kansas City 1-5 (28th)
25. Jacksonville 3-3 (22nd)
26. Tennessee 0-6 (24th)
27. Cleveland 1-5 (29th)
28. Tampa Bay 0-6 (30th)
29. Oakland 2-4 (31st)
30. Washington 2-4 (27th)
31. St. Louis 0-6 (32nd)
32. Detroit 1-5 (26th)
-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;
Comments: Like most people’s power rankings, there was a change atop my rankings this week, as New Orleans took over the top spot following their beat down of previous #1 New York. A number of teams made dramatic jumps in my rankings this week and other teams fell way down. The Broncos rose 7 spots in my rankings after their victory over rival San Diego on the road on Monday Night Football. The Broncos are now 6-0 and it isn’t luck. The Pats jumped up 4 spots from 11th to 7th following one of the biggest blowouts of the modern era. The Eagles plummeted 6 spots in my rankings this week, dropping from 5th to 12th after their “what the hell was that?” loss at Oakland.
For me there is a major drop off after the top 11. Houston became my #12 team this week, rising 5 spots from 17th after a road win over the Bengals. But the Texans being ranked 12th is a good indication of how down right mediocre most of the NFL is right now. Arizona also rose 5 spots this week from 18th to 13th after their blowout win in Seattle. But both Houston and Arizona are just the least bad of the mediocre teams. The Jets, Chargers, Bears, and Cowboys are all in the same boat: they are talented teams that haven’t really performed consistently yet. What is it about the Jets that makes people take their smallest successes and project them as Super Bowl contenders?
I see Green Bay as the back end of the group of teams in the middle that could potentially put it all together and be a serious playoff threat. The next group of teams begins with the Dolphins at #20. These teams could end up having decent seasons if they beat up on the worst teams and get a little lucky but their ceiling is somewhere around the .500 mark. The Dolphins, Bills, and Panthers are all too limited at QB to be serious contenders. The Seahawks have once again had their chances snuffed out early by insurmountable injuries.
There is a large group of bottom feeding teams this year. There are just more awful teams this year than there usually are. This group of teams begins at #24 with the Chiefs. From 24th to 32nd there are a few teams that don’t really fit in with this group but they have somehow found themselves at this level. Jacksonville dropped from consistent playoff contender to the bottom of the league last season and they have not bounced back this year, though their record is 3-3. Don’t be fooled: the Jags are capable of being awful on any given Sunday and it is their schedule that has allowed them to go .500 through their first 6 games. The most surprising team in the NFL may be the 6-0 Broncos but the 0-6 Titans have to be a close 2nd. Things hit rock bottom last week when they were on the wrong end of a 59-0 score. The Titans have a bye this week, yet amazingly, things have gotten even worse due to Jeff Fisher’s oddly unaware behavior at a speaking engagement. Tennessee can not possibly have become this bad this quickly and yet somehow they are. Washington has actually won 2 games but those wins and their 4 losses have been awful. And with Jim Zorn’s situation becoming a sad joke the Skins have somehow managed to sink to #30 in my rankings. The other teams in the bottom third of the league actually belong there. Kansas City, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Oakland, St. Louis, and Detroit are the dregs of the NFL these days. These teams have competed occasionally but even against weak competition they find it hard to steal wins. And on the worst days these teams are downright minor league. Of these 6 teams, I think the Chiefs have the best chance of winning 6 games or so, even though they’ve already lost 5. They have been competitive in a number of games and they at least have a QB who we know is capable of success. The Raiders are capable of putting up a fight as they showed in a loss in week 1 and showed again in victory last week. But they are also apt to lie down on any given Sunday. I think that is actually part of what allows them to pull off surprising wins because teams have a tendency to go into games against them expecting a push over. Regardless of their win over Philly last week, we know the Raiders will almost certainly not rise from their current state until Al Davis dies. Considering that vampires are said to live hundreds, even thousands of years, I’m not expecting the Silver and Black to lose less than 10 games in a season again during my lifetime. I think the Lions have the most talent of the bottom feeders but their two franchise players (Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson) have been sidelined with injuries and thus they have almost no chance. That’s why they dropped 6 spots in my rankings this week to once again claim the bottom spot at #32. The Rams are the most hopeless of this bunch in my opinion. They have the least amount of talent. The Bucs may actually be a weaker team overall because their coaching staff is so overmatched. The Browns are a complete mess. They are benching their pretty boy QB in order to keep him from earning another $11 million. Their coach is hated by his players, the fans, and just about every other living creature on the face of the Earth. They have a reasonably decent defense but the offense is totally impotent.
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