Yes, its true. The power ranks are actually being posted before any games start in a week where we have a Thursday night game…
This week saw a lot of movement at the top of the ranks. The former #1 Steelers so-called impervious defense took a beating from New England on Sunday night. As a result, the Steelers fell to #7 in the ranks while the Patriots climbed to #5. Taking the Steelers place at the top of the ranks are the 7-2 Falcons. To celebrate, Matt Ryan is holding up a Falcons jersey showing that they are #1….at least I think that is why he has it… The Jets narrow win over the red-hot Browns moved them up 3 spots to #2, while the idle Packers also moved up 3 spots to #3, taking advantage of the Pittsburgh, NY Giants, and Tennessee losses. Also moving up into the top 5 this week are the Colts, who jumped 6 spots to #4. The former top 5 teams, the Giants and Titans, are now ranked #10 and #9, respectively.
On the low end of things, some of the pathetic teams actually won this week, while other teams looked even more pathetic. The Bills got their first win of the season, and as a result jumped up to #30. The Broncos stomped the Chiefs to move out of the bottom 5. The Cowboys also won, but even though they beat the #3 Giants, they are still sitting in the bottom 5 at #27. As a result of these wins, the Panthers moved down to #32 and the Bengals fell to #28. Replacing Denver in the bottom 5 is Arizona, who fell all the way to #31. It’s pretty bad when a 3-6 team is below a 1-8 team in the ranks, but the Cardinals are flat out awful. It’s hard to believe they actually won 3 games this year.
This week’s biggest gainer was the above-mentioned Colts, followed by the Dolphins and Seahawks, who each jumped 5 spots. The biggest losers were the Giants, who lost to awful Dallas, the Ravens, who sunk in the ranks behind a bunch of other 6-3 and 5-4 teams, and the Redskins, who got murdered by the Eagles on Monday night. They each fell 7 spots
Playoff Projections:
NFC
First Round Byes: #1 Falcons, #3 Packers
#10 Giants @ #6 Eagles
#8 Saints @ #18 Rams
Top 5 Out: #12 Buccaneers, #13 Bears, #19 Seahawks, #22 49ers, #23 Redskins
AFC
First Round Byes: #2 Jets, #4 Colts
#9 Titans @ #7 Steelers
#5 Patriots @ #11 Raiders
Top 5 Out: #14 Ravens, #15 Chiefs, #16 Dolphins, #17 Chargers, #20 Browns
Here are the full ranks:
1. Falcons – 74.47 – +1
2. Jets – 73.13 – +3
3. Packers – 70.48 – +3
4. Colts – 70.42 – +3
5. Patriots – 70.35 – +3
6. Eagles – 68.09 – +3
7. Steelers – 63.61 – -6
8. Saints – 62.73 – +3
9. Titans – 61.17 – -5
10. Giants – 60.85 – -7
11. Raiders – 60.73 – +1
12. Buccaneers – 60.14 – +2
13. Bears – 57.32 – +2
14. Ravens – 57.06 – -7
15. Chiefs – 55.16 – -2
16. Dolphins – 48.78 – +5
17. Chargers – 47.45 – +2
18. Rams – 46.64 – -1
19. Seahawks – 49.95 – +5
20. Browns – 45.84 – -2
21. Jaguars – 44.94 – +2
22. 49ers – 42.31 – +4
23. Redskins – 41.42 – -7
24. Texans – 40.70 – -2
25. Lions – 38.66 – -5
26. Broncos – 36.06 – +3
27. Vikings – 31.79 – -2
28. Cowboys – 29.64 – +3
29. Bengals – 28.02 – -1
30. Bills – 24.41 – +2
31. Cardinals – 23.18 – -4
32. Panthers – 22.38 – -2
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