The Eagles were just one more lead change away Monday night from remaining in first in the computerized power ranks, but now, this early in the season, they dropped down to number 10 behind the undefeated teams, except for one. It was the team they lost to, Dallas. So why are they ahead? It’s kind of an odd situation. The Eagles have a better momentum score than Dallas extending into last season, and the Eagles strength of schedule is better because they lost to Dallas, a still undefeated team. That’s the problem with evaluating strength of schedule this early in the year, but it will begin to become more of a legit factor as the weeks go on. Also, the Eagles are ahead of Dallas in scoring, defense, and turnovers (they won the turnover battle on Monday).
That leaves the door open for last week’s #2 team and defending Super Bowl champs, the Giants, to grab the top spot in the ranks after following the Eagles with a stomping of the pathetic Rams, who expectantly fell to #32 after the Raiders (#20) got their first win of the season over Kansas City (#29). The Cardinals moved all the way up to #2 after getting their 2nd dominant win over a bad team, while the Cardiac Cats moved to #3, the Patriots sneak into #4, and the surprising Bills are #5. The Colts quickly got out of the bottom 5 and placed this week’s victim, Minnesota, in their place. The Lions are the new #30 after almost beating Green Bay and somehow getting blown out in a span of about 5 minutes. Also, for I think the first time ever, neither Bay Area team is in the bottom 5, while 2 projected division winners fill those spots. Here are the ranks, with their change from last week:
1. Giants – 87.02 – +1
2. Cardinals – 81.77 – +10
3. Panthers – 75.32 – +2
4. Patriots – 72.98 – +2
5. Bills – 72.98 – -1
6. Titans – 72.23 – +8
7. Packers – 70.73 – +1
8. Steelers – 69.14 – +2
9. Broncos – 67.50 – +6
10. Eagles – 67.26 – -9
11. Cowboys – 67.02 – -2
12. Ravens – 62.69 – +4
13. Redskins – 61.85 – +4
14. Bears – 60.97 – -11
15. Buccaneers – 53.79 – +7
16. Jets – 51.05 – -5
17. Falcons – 50.16 – -10
18. Saints – 45.08 – -5
19. 49ers – 41.53 – +9
20. Raiders – 35.97 – +12
21. Colts – 35.53 – +8
22. Browns – 33.98 – -2
23. Bengals – 33.33 – -5
24. Chargers – 31.45 – -3
25. Texans – 30.13 – +2
26. Jaguars – 29.65 – Even
27. Dolphins – 25.00 – -8
28. Vikings – 24.52 – -5
29. Chiefs – 22.66 – -4
30. Lions – 22.42 – -6
31. Seahawks – 20.48 – -1
32. Rams – 14.52 – -1
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