The Colts played in an absolutely surreal game on Sunday Night. San Diego returns 2 kicks for TD’s in the first quarter (not totally unbelievable for the Colts terrible special teams), but beyond that, the extremely banged up Colts defense kept the on-again off-again high powered Chargers at bay and gave good ol’ Peyton some time to catch up. Piece of cake, right? Hell, the Chargers even missed an extra point to give the Colts the chance to win instead of just send it to overtime. They tried as hard as they could to keep the Colts at #1 in my rankings, but the Colts couldn’t cash in on their luck. In true “No f-ing way game” fashion, Manning threw 6 interceptions and despite all of that, gave the Colts a chance to win, only to see Mr. Clutch, Adam Vinatieri, miss a 29 yard field goal. The Colts are now #3, and not surprisingly, the Patriots are the new #1 team. Now that we are 10 weeks in, let’s take a look at the top and bottom 5 a little more in depth and see why they’re ranked where they are….
1. Patriots – 82.08 – +1 – When a team is performing above average, someone may say, “yeah, but its easy in that division” or “who have they beat?” That plays in to these rankings to separate the contenders from the pretenders. Even though the Pats look like they are far and away the best team, they are hurt by their schedule, and that’s why they are still barely on top. That’s the downside to the computer ranks I guess….are you listening, college football?
2. Packers – 81.04 – +1 – Let’s see…Patriots, Packers, Cowboys, and Steelers in the top 5. Is this 1996? Brett Favre is playing just shy of 1996 levels, and he’s playing much better this year than Drew Bledsoe, Troy Aikman, and Mike Tomczak. It’s not all about Favre though, despite what John Madden will tell you. A big reason why the Packers are up at #2 is because of their underrated defense (#3 in points allowed). They’ve also won 4 in row.
3. Colts – 73.65 – -2 – The Colts have fallen on hard times the past 2 weeks, but they are still one of the most well rounded teams in the league. Unlike the Patriots, they play in the toughest division in the league and using my strength of schedule method, have played the toughest schedule of anyone in the NFL this season.
4. Cowboys – 72.47 – +1 – Despite having a better record than the Colts, the Cowboys are not as balanced of a team. Their defense is below average, and even though they play in an equally tough division, have not faced extremely hot opponents this season. A win this week will probably shoot them up to 3rd, though.
5. Steelers – 71.54 – +2 – Statistically, they aren’t much different than the Colts, and they are becoming the new media darlings. Let’s not forget their 2 very ugly losses though. If they pick up another win this week, they will more than likely pass the slumping Colts as well.
(insert huge break here)
6. Titans – 65.48 – Even
7. Giants – 64.00 – -3
8. Jaguars – 62.98 – +1
9. Lions – 60.19 – -1
10. Bills – 58.24 – +6 (Top 10 Bills? believe it!)
11. Chargers – 57.79 – +2
12. Browns – 55.20 – -1
13. Buccaneers – 54.66 – +1
14. Eagles – 54.00 – +3
15. Redskins – 53.79 – -3
16. Seahawks – 50.88 – +7 (biggest gain this week)
17. Saints – 49.54 – -7 (losing to an 0-8 team = biggest loss of the week)
18. Bears – 49.18 – +2
19. Texans – 45.04 – +3
20. Bengals – 43.81 – +4
21. Chiefs – 42.95 – Even
22. Vikings – 41.59 – -7
23. Panthers – 40.56 – -5
24. Broncos – 40.42 – +2
25. Ravens – 39.65 – -6
26. Falcons – 38.95 – +1
27. Cardinals – 38.69 – -2
(insert huge break here)
28. Raiders – 24.99 – Even – We’ll call them the best of the teams with less than 3 wins. They have lost 5 in a row, and have not played too many impressive opponents. Maybe Daunte Culpepper can get some revenge on the Vikings this weekend to turn things around for them.
29. Rams – 23.26 – +3 – The last place team for many weeks, the Rams finally jumped up 3 spots this week when they got their first win of the year over the red hot Saints. They have the worst offense/defense combo statistically in the league, but surprisingly, they’ve played the 2nd toughest schedule after the Colts.
30. 49ers – 21.31 – -1 – Absolutely terrible. Losers of 7 in a row, the only thing keeping them out of last is the fact they have 2 wins. They have the worst offense in the league and play in the weakest division.
31. Jets – 18.30 – Even – They spent some time below the Dolphins despite having just 1 win. They’re only 1-8, but they’ve actually played the EASIEST schedule (tied with Detroit, Seattle, and Baltimore) this year, and neither their offense or defense is performing well.
32. Dolphins – 17.89 – -2 – They were actually out of last for a weeks when their offense showed some signs of life in some close games, but now, as the only 0-9 team, they’ve sunk back into the basement. I predict that when they finally get their win, they’ll shoot past the 2 teams above them. The race for the #1 pick is on!
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