After a bunch of teams made a mockery out of my Week 5 power rankings, here’s my latest shot. As much as it upset me when I first heard that my Super Bowl team from the NFC (Washington) got embarrassed against St. Louis, I must say I love the parity in the NFL this year. We have the makings of what could be a great season ahead of us.
Top Five
Is Tennessee the best team in the league? They come off their bye with a 5-0 record in a schedule with a league-low opponent win percentage. They’ll get tested against Indianapolis after they breeze through the LJ-less Chiefs this week.
It was popular for teams at the top to choke last week while the Steelers, Titans, and Bills sat at home and got healthy. Before the Jacksonville game I wondered if this was really a team that had a shot at making a run or if they were just pretenders posing as a threat. They carry a 2-game lead in the division into Cincy. Parker is out, but Moore and Najeh should be able to carry them. Cleveland’s upset of the Giants could seem troublesome down the road. The Steelers need to maintain their high level of play.
Yes, the top 3 in my power rankings are all from the AFC. Are the Bills really this good? We’ll find out this week against the Chargers, who they get at home. Trent Edwards ability to rebound from his concussion will be key for this team moving forward. Even if he can’t, they still might have enough talent to hang on and win this division.
Since their Week 1 loss to New Orleans, Tampa is 4-1 with a 2-0 mark in the division with convincing wins against Atlanta and Carolina. Their defense is playing great right now and their offense seems to be coming around again after Griese went down and Garcia took the helm. This division is going to be a fight all season, though I have the feeling Atlanta is going to fade towards the second half.
Is there any better home team in the league than Arizona? They have beaten Dallas, Buffalo and Miami (combined 10-6 record) by a combined 51 points at home while losing to Washington and the Jets by a combined 28 points on the road. With their main competition in the division being San Francisco, Arizona might be able to win the division with 7 wins, which they can get to if they sweep their 3-game stretch of division games in November.
Just Missed: New York Giants
Bottom Five
Detroit almost pulled the upset of Minnesota last week and turned around and traded their top receiver (Roy Williams) to the Cowboys for draft picks. This team is obviously thinking for next season. With Kitna on the IR, it might be time to give Drew Stanton his shot. Things certainly can’t get any worse.
Cincy has played their last three opponents tougher, but they still haven’t racked one up in the win column, landing them in the second spot on my bottom five. Hopefully they’re still waiting after the matchup this week against the Steelers.
They needed the bye week, but with LJ out, this team is in trouble. They don’t play a team with a record below .500 until they get Oakland on November 30. It’s going to be a long year in Missouri with the Chiefs and Rams bookending the state. Sadly for people in Missouri, during the bye week they got to watch Chase Daniel blow his Heisman hopes and Mizzou’s national championship hopes against Oklahoma State. They still have a shot at a BCS bowl, but with their showdown against Texas this week, things might go even further downhill for the Tigers.
The Rams are playing bad, but for all intents and purposes, the Seahawks haven’t won in over a month. Now with Hasselbeck out, this team has no quarterback and no wide receivers. Ouch. The big problem here is the defense. Where did they go? They’re not stopping anyone.
Coming into this season, the Raiders seemed to have the looks of a team that could turn it around. After six weeks, the national media is taking the side of an ex-coach saying that Al Davis needs to move on. The team is a mess. Darren McFadden and JaMarcus Russell need some blockers up front. It all begins and ends with the line.
Just Missed: St. Louis Rams
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