Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The NFL Blog: 2009 Week 9 Power Rankings

Power Rankings After Week 9

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

-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;

Moving Up: The Cowboys and Titans were the biggest climbers in my rankings this week, each moving up 5 spots. Dallas has now won 4 straight after their impressive win in Philly on Sunday night. Their only losses on the season are by 2 points against the Giants and by 7 at Denver. The Boys moved up 5 spots from 12th to 7th this week. The Titans won their 2nd straight game last week, this time winning on the road at San Francisco. They moved up 5 spots from 24th to 19th. Carolina gained 4 spots in my rankings this week despite losing by 10 to the Saints. This was mostly due to the poor performances of a number of teams in front of them. The Panthers rose 4 spots from 22nd to 18th this week.

Going Down: The 49ers and Packers took the biggest fall in my rankings this week, both dropping 5 spots following bad losses. Admittedly, Green Bay’s was far worse, as they lost to the Buccaneers—a team that appeared destined for 0-16 infamy—at home by 10 points. The Packers dropped 5 spots this week from 18th to 23rd. San Fran’s loss at home to the Titans was no beauty either. The Niners dropped 5 spots from 17th to 22nd this week. The Broncos fell 4 spots from 4th to 8th following their 2nd straight blowout loss, this time at home to the Steelers. The Ravens fell off 3 spots this week from 8th to 11th after they were soundly beaten by the Bengals.

The Divide: It seems that over the last few weeks the bottom third of the league has shown signs of rejoining the rest of the NFL. Either that or the middle of the pack has fallen down closer to the dregs. It’s probably a combination of both. Either way, we are about halfway through with the season and it seems like the NFL can be halved as well. There are about 16 teams that could reach the Super Bowl if they made it to the postseason and about 16 teams that would be no threat to reach the Super Bowl even if they were placed into the playoffs.

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