The NFL Blog: 2010 Power Rankings (After Week 2)

Power Rankings After Week 2

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

-Previous week’s rankings in parenthesis;

Who is the best team right now? It’s kind of hard to say. Maybe there isn’t one. I was sitting there watching the 2nd half of the Monday night game and wondering who I would have as my #1 team if the Niners went on and won that football game. Finally I decided that I’d probably have to go with Green Bay. But the Saints once again proved to be masters of the art of the answer. They pulled it out, and I think they still look like the team to beat. That being said, they aren’t the clear cut top team in the NFL right now. In fact, there is no such team.

What’s up with this year’s 2-0 teams? The Saints at 2-0 makes perfect sense. The Packers at 2-0 was also expected. But the rest of the 2-0 teams (there are only 8 total remaining) are all a bit surprising. The Steelers of course wouldn’t be a surprise 2-0 team under normal circumstances, but considering that they were going to start the year off with Big Ben Roethlisberger serving a suspension, some thought they might get off to a bumpy start. Houston has been on the verge of becoming a contender in recent years, but they also have to be considered a surprise because of the fact that they’ve knocked off the Colts (who they never beat) and gotten a win on the road (which they rarely do). As for the Dolphins, I certainly didn’t have them beating the Vikings at the Metrodome. Then there are the Chiefs. Some people were talking up KC this summer but I mostly pooh-poohed it. Yet they have upset the Chargers and won a road contest in the season’s first 2 weeks.

Of all the 2-0 teams, the most annoying for me is Chicago, mostly because they aren’t special, yet anytime they have any sort of success every person with a tie to the Midwest starts acting like they are Super Bowl favorites. They lucked out and beat the Lions at home. Great. Granted they did win on the road at Dallas on Sunday, but it’s clear at this point that the Cowboys are a mess. A reminder that the Bears started off 3-1 last year and ended up 7-9.

Finally we have the Tampa Bay Bucs, whose 2-0 record is largely a product of the schedule. Yes, the Bucs are better, and they did actually have to go out and take both of the winnable games they’ve played so far, but beating Cleveland and Carolina is not the same as beating the Colts and the Redskins. It’s not even as impressive as beating the Jets and losing to the Bengals. I’m not even sure it’s as impressive as losing close games to the Saints and Dolphins.

What’s up with the 0-2 teams? I’m referring mainly to Minnesota and Dallas. I don’t think the fact that Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Carolina are a combined 0-10 is worthy of much discussion. The Niners are the only other winless team but they showed me a lot in their heartbreaking loss to the Saints on Monday night. The Niners will be fine because of the division that they play in. The Cowboys and Vikings don’t have anything like that to fall back on.

The Cowboys seem to go through a period similar to this on an annual basis, with some of those stretches lasting longer in certain years than in others. If they don’t come out of their current funk pretty soon I think Jurah may act rashly and ax Wade Phillips (which would certainly be a positive in the long run and perhaps even the short run). There is no Peyton Manning or Hines Ward or Ray Lewis on this team. There is a lot of talent but you also need leaders. If you don’t have any captains, you need a field marshal. The Boys are lacking in that area as well. Wade Phillips is more like a substitute teacher who was asked to fill in when the regular teacher had to go on extended sick leave a week before school started, and the school board still hasn’t gotten around to finding a full time replacement 4 years later.

I think the Vikings are actually in better shape. Favre should eventually get going, they should get some of their injured players back in the weeks to come, and they always have Adrian Peterson and a solid defense to rely on. The problem for the Vikings is that they are already 2 games back of both the Bears and Packers in the division. Strange as it may sound, it might actually be better to be 0-2 in the NFC East right now.

Risers and Fallers: The Texans made the biggest climb in my rankings this week, jumping 7 spots from 12th to 5th. Two different teams plunged 9 spots in my power rankings this week. The Giants were pathetic on Sunday night against the Colts. I dropped them 9 spots from 7th to 16th. They probably never should have been in the top 10 to begin with. I also dropped the Vikes 9 spots from 5th to 14th after their surprising loss to the Fins at home.