The NFL Blog: 2012 Power Rankings (After Week 1)

Power Rankings After Week 1

1. New England 1-0 (1^st)

2. Houston 1-0 (2^nd)

3. San Francisco 1-0 (5^th)

4. Baltimore 1-0 (8^th)

5. Chicago 1-0 (9^th)

6. Dallas 1-0 (10^th)

7. Denver 1-0 (11^th)

8. New York Giants 0-1 (3^rd)

9. Green Bay 0-1 (4^th)

10. Philadelphia 1-0 (6^th)

11. Pittsburgh 0-1 (7^th)

12. Atlanta 1-0 (13^th)

13. Detroit 1-0 (14^th)

14. Washington 1-0 (25^th)

15. New York Jets 1-0 (17^th)

16. New Orleans 0-1 (12^th)

17. San Diego 1-0 (15^th)

18. Kansas City 0-1 (16^th)

19. Seattle 0-1 (20^th)

20. Carolina 0-1 (21^st)

21. Tampa Bay 1-0 (22^nd)

22. Arizona 1-0 (23^rd)

23. Buffalo 0-1 (18^th)

24. Cincinnati 0-1 (19^th)

25. Oakland 0-1 (24^th)

26. Cleveland 0-1 (26^th)

27. Tennessee 0-1 (27^th)

28. Minnesota 1-0 (28^th)

29. St. Louis 0-1 (30^th)

30. Jacksonville 0-1 (32^nd)

31. Miami 0-1 (29^th)

32. Indianapolis 0-1 (31^st)

Comments: With only one week of results it’s hard not to construct the rankings so that they reflect the outcome of head-to-head meetings (particularly when the road team wins). For example, it would be difficult to argue that it makes sense to rank the Giants ahead of the Cowboys, considering that Dallas just beat New York fairly convincingly on the road. Even if I still thought the Giants would end up being a better team than Dallas this season it wouldn’t make any sense to place NYG ahead of the Boys at this point. 

You may notice that I did not follow this rule in regards to the Carolina/Tampa and Seattle/Arizona games. This is because I view all 4 of those teams as being essentially equal in strength, and in both of those cases the home teams won close contests, so nothing happened to make me change my mind. 

My NFL rankings are always fairly volatile from week to week and this year starts off with 27 of the 32 teams moving up or down in the rankings at least 1 spot. 15 teams moved up at least 1 spot, while 12 teams moved down. Of the 15 teams going up, 8 moved up more than 1 spot. Of the 12 teams going down, 10 went down more than 1 spot. 

The Redskins made the biggest move up the rankings this week, climbing 11 spots from #25 to #14. 4 teams fell 5 spots in my rankings this week (New York Giants, Green Bay, Buffalo, and Cincinnati). 

New England and Houston stayed at #1 and #2 respectively. Meanwhile, the Colts dropped 1 spot to take over the bottom spot in my rankings. The Jags moved out of the #32 spot, climbing 2 places to #30. 

The G-Men are my highest ranked team with a loss at #8, while the Vikings are my lowest ranked 1-0 team at #28.