DD's Power Rankings, Pre-Week 6

DiamondDave · 10-09-2007, 11:30 AM

Sorry for the week off last week on my rankings.... it was a VERY busy week

So without further delay...

1) New England Patriots - On a roll. Not really challenged yet, but the players don't make the schedule. But the challenge is there this week in a matchup .vs undefeated Dallas and their high powered offense.

2) Indianapolis Colts - Also undefeated and has done it against a bit tougher competition. A little banged up in week 5, but still had no problems getting a victory. But looking forward, Addai and Harrison need to be back and healthy for more tough matchups are looming on the schedule.

3) Dallas Cowboys - I was all ready to move them down for losing to a bad team in Buffalo, when all the sudden the gut factor kicked in for Romo and crew. That series of events led by Romo and the offense at the end of the Monday game showed a LOT. The horrible performance was put behind them and they played with determination, and that is what you need in this league.

4) Pittsburgh Steelers - Seattle was handled easily as a drunken prom date. After a disappointing loss in week 4, this team rebounded with a statement game. This defense can carry this team along way as long as the offense stays efficient AND keeps opposing defenses honest with the ability to hit the occasional deep play.

5) Jacksonville Jaguars - Impressive showing against a pretty stout KC defense. Jones-Drew finally showed up this season. Taylor can't do it by himself, nor can Gerrard, so if this team is to continue its winning ways, Jones-Drew must change the pace occasionally on offense.

6) Tennessee Titans - This team is starting to have a common problem seen with young teams. Playing to the level of the opponent, and it almost cost 'em against the lowly Falcons. Hopefully it teaches a lesson and build character. If not this team could pull some upsets but also lose games it should not.

7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Yes, they lost... But most teams will to the Colts. I really don't hold this loss against them. A lot will be seen in the match up against the titans this weekend. This is a statement game for both teams and with this defense and the resurgence of some wily vets on offense, I think this team rebounds for a win on the back of a RB that people watching the game will be asking "what's his name again" about 6 times during the game. Earnest Graham.

8) Washington Redskins - Impressively manhandled the Lions offense on Sunday (I actually owe a six pack because I never thought that defense would slap around DET's offense like Rick James on coke in a strip joint). Campbell is showing signs that he could be the real deal, Joe Gibbs is a pretty happy man.

9) Baltimore Ravens - McNair looks worse than he ever has, but when you hold the opposition to 6 first downs, chances are you are going to win. Until Billick and crew learns to involve McGahee even more to open up the passing game deep, the defense is going to have to come up that big time and time again. This defense CAN do it, but can they do it regularly until a fire is lit under the offense's arse?

10) Green Bay Packers - The lack of a running game has finally caught up with them Favre can't do it all on guts alone. The defense will keep things close with the talent they have, but until a RB emerges with the ability to run 25 times a game for 90-100 yards, opposing defenses will sit back and wait for Favre to force the issue and capitalize.

11) San Diego Chargers - I guess they finally got tired of hitting the snooze button and woke up. That was a thumping. The kind of thumping this team is capable of in any game. With the AFC West as messed up as it is, this could be the beginning of their rise back to the first place slot.

12) Arizona Cardinals - The best thing that could have happened, happened. Leinart is out, leaving the QB that has been more productive as the starting QB. As long as the O-Line keeps Warner from looking like a pancake, he will move that ball. The defense is adequate enough to keep them in games.

13) Seattle Seahawks - They were top 10 in my rankings, and then they show just what I thought about them in the pre-season. Not the MOST overrated team, but certainly not one that is worthy of most of the hype. The unfortunate loss of one of the best FB's in the game is not going to help things for the future either.

14) New York Giants - Ever since the 2nd half comeback against the Skins, this team seems to be playing up to potential. I think the RB combo of Ward and Jacobs will pay some huge dividends in terms of ball control and the ability for an occasional huge running play because of the drastically different styles. When Shockey starts producing more over the middle, look out. They have 3 more very winnable games up next on the schedule too.

15) Chicago Bears - Is this when they begin to turn it around? They better hope so because the timing is right with the defeating of GB and the loss by DET. Cedrick Benson is the key. He better start running like he is expected to. What happened to the deep balls to Berrian?

16) Carolina Panthers - Call me crazy, but I like David Carr starting for this team. I think this could be an emergence for him. If Carr remembers 2 simple things, hand the ball off to Foster to tighten up the front 7 and air it out to Smith, they will score some points. With this defense playing like it is, they will need 24 points a game on offense to win enough games to contend with TB for a playoff spot.

17) Houston Texans - playing pretty tough without some key players in Green and Johnson. Until their return, this team will have to play ball control behind Ron Dayne and rely on the defense and the uber-leg of Kris Brown to win some games. Easier said than done though.

18) Detroit Lions - To slightly change some Diamond Dave lyrics from Van Halen... Where has all the offense gone? There was no reason for this team to only put up a measly 3 points against the Redskins. This amount of weaponry and they should be able to put up at least 17 against even the best defenses. 17 won't usually get them a win with that defense, but at least it would have looked better.

19) Cleveland Browns - I am going to give them a little credit here. The offense has come alive a bit and shows that their stock of weapons actually is loaded. We all expected them to lose big against the Pats, because frankly, the Browns are not at that kind of level. But this team can surprise a few teams that hover on the lip between 1st and 2nd tier, and can put up enough points to pretty regularly beat the poorer teams in the league. They're probably going to end up with more wins than I thought they would have this season.

20) Cincinnati Bengals - Let's see how they emerge from the bye week. I think it will be a turning point in their season. I look for an offensive surge against the good KC defense. If they would put as much effort into their in the field defense as they do in their court room defenses, this team could go somewhere.

21) Oakland Raiders - The *GASP* first place Oakland Raiders. OK, the matchups against Miami and Cleveland are not going to be there every week, so expect that this is their last week at the top of their division. There are some flashes of good on this team, and they are not going to be God awful.... just bad enough to have another top 5 draft pick next year.

22) Denver Broncos - What the hell happened? Did the Travis Henry fiasco distract them that bad? Did a cheerleader continually lose her top? Did Henry's "Baby Mommas" try to all get knocked up by other players and try and file paternity suits? Granted their victories have been close ones at the last minute, but this team should not be putting up that kind of bad performance. They better find a way to not have a 61 point difference in what they give up to what they score over the next 5 games, or else this team is in major trouble.

23) Kansas City Chiefs - Larry who? Running what? I guess they are trying to play for ties, because you're not playing for wins with that kind of offensive philosophy. I said it over and over again. They are so reliant on Johnson and that is bad because RB's usually do not follow up workhorse seasons like he had in 2006, with good performances.

24) Buffalo Bills - They played with some heart, and that heart was broken in the last few minutes of the Dallas game. When was the last time a team had 2 defensive return TD's and a kick return TD and LOST??? The rookie QB is looking poised, and Lynch is looking good as a runner, too bad the receivers and TE's look about as good as a love child resulting from the mating of Rosie O'Donnell and Keith Richards.

25) Atlanta Falcons - Who would have thought that this would be about the best we have ever seen Harrington? He has no real weapons and is playing better than he did when he had weapons around him. Maybe that is all it took. Granted he looked bad early against Tennessee and got yanked, but Leftwich looked even worse. If they yank Harrington for Leftwich now, this team could sink back to the bottom of the power rankings real quick.

26) San Francisco 49ers - The 3-4 defense looks good, better than I expected. The offense looks about as flat as Herman Munster's head. 6 first downs, are you kidding me?!? It is Gore and a bunch of crap that could not make it in a Pop Warner league. Batten down the hatches, this is going to be some rough sailing for this team.

27) Minnesota Vikings - No QB, no WR's but they have Peterson and a decent defense. It's not enough to win games, but it is good enough for them to actually have 1 or 2 SportsCenter highlights and good enough for fantasy footballers to occasionally pay attention to this team.

28) Philadelphia Eagles - So much for me thinking they were the team to contend against Dallas at the top of this division. One positive thing you can say about them is "Hey... at least they play the Jets this next weekend".

29) New Orleans Saints - Talent is there, the will is not. bush is not fitting into a primary back role yet, and for them to have any hope at all, he better get the alterations done and fit in quick. No running game means Brees is not going to be able to air anything out. The defense is not going to stop anyone, so the offense best start scoring like the team they were last year.

30) New York Jets - I've said it over and over and over again. The most overrated team in the entire league. They did not deserve to be in the playoffs last year, and there is no chance in hell they will even sniff at a playoff spot this year. Pennington is done. The receivers can't catch a cold. Jones would have been better off sharing carries in Chicago. And the defense is working about as well as a gauze net trying to stop a speeding semi-truck. look forward to more disappointment for the rest of the season.

31) St Louis Rams - From 'Greatest Show on Turf' to 'Might as well field some Smurfs'. No Jackson, no Bulger, no defense, no wins. Holt is the only thing resembling a football player on this team.

32) Miami Dolphins - hey... at least you get one of the top 2 players in the draft. That may be the next thing this team has to look forward to. Could this be the team that has the only perfect record in both directions? Undefeated as well as winless and no ties....!!!

*************

Got a different outlook? Think I am wrong? tell me about it.....

TexasSports22 · 10-09-2007, 12:25 PM

Confused about your Philly placement. They had a bye last week.

DiamondDave · 10-09-2007, 01:02 PM

And if I would have put out my rankings last week... I would have had them in the mid 20's there as well... I had them at 19 before their terrible loss to the Giants, which is why I would have moved them down to the mid 20's after that loss

bedir than average · 10-10-2007, 08:09 PM

Dave,
I think you are either under ranking the Seahawks, or over ranking them depending on your methodology. If you are ranking based on performance so far, the Hawks are too low. If you are ranking them based on how the team will finish, then the Hawks are too high.

The loss of Mack Strong will DEVESTATE this team.

DiamondDave · 10-10-2007, 09:09 PM

It is a combination, as always... of what I have seen, what I expect, and the outlook of the next couple of matchups... so I must be OK if I am right in the middle

unreal654 · 10-11-2007, 02:53 PM

DD,

Thank you for giving the Browns some credit for their 2-3 start. I think 19th is about right for them.

Keep up the good work.

10-09-2007, 11:30 AM	#1 (permalink)
DiamondDave Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: MD, on the Potomac River Posts: 5,390	DD's Power Rankings, Pre-Week 6 Sorry for the week off last week on my rankings.... it was a VERY busy week So without further delay... 1) New England Patriots - On a roll. Not really challenged yet, but the players don't make the schedule. But the challenge is there this week in a matchup .vs undefeated Dallas and their high powered offense. 2) Indianapolis Colts - Also undefeated and has done it against a bit tougher competition. A little banged up in week 5, but still had no problems getting a victory. But looking forward, Addai and Harrison need to be back and healthy for more tough matchups are looming on the schedule. 3) Dallas Cowboys - I was all ready to move them down for losing to a bad team in Buffalo, when all the sudden the gut factor kicked in for Romo and crew. That series of events led by Romo and the offense at the end of the Monday game showed a LOT. The horrible performance was put behind them and they played with determination, and that is what you need in this league. 4) Pittsburgh Steelers - Seattle was handled easily as a drunken prom date. After a disappointing loss in week 4, this team rebounded with a statement game. This defense can carry this team along way as long as the offense stays efficient AND keeps opposing defenses honest with the ability to hit the occasional deep play. 5) Jacksonville Jaguars - Impressive showing against a pretty stout KC defense. Jones-Drew finally showed up this season. Taylor can't do it by himself, nor can Gerrard, so if this team is to continue its winning ways, Jones-Drew must change the pace occasionally on offense. 6) Tennessee Titans - This team is starting to have a common problem seen with young teams. Playing to the level of the opponent, and it almost cost 'em against the lowly Falcons. Hopefully it teaches a lesson and build character. If not this team could pull some upsets but also lose games it should not. 7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Yes, they lost... But most teams will to the Colts. I really don't hold this loss against them. A lot will be seen in the match up against the titans this weekend. This is a statement game for both teams and with this defense and the resurgence of some wily vets on offense, I think this team rebounds for a win on the back of a RB that people watching the game will be asking "what's his name again" about 6 times during the game. Earnest Graham. 8) Washington Redskins - Impressively manhandled the Lions offense on Sunday (I actually owe a six pack because I never thought that defense would slap around DET's offense like Rick James on coke in a strip joint). Campbell is showing signs that he could be the real deal, Joe Gibbs is a pretty happy man. 9) Baltimore Ravens - McNair looks worse than he ever has, but when you hold the opposition to 6 first downs, chances are you are going to win. Until Billick and crew learns to involve McGahee even more to open up the passing game deep, the defense is going to have to come up that big time and time again. This defense CAN do it, but can they do it regularly until a fire is lit under the offense's arse? 10) Green Bay Packers - The lack of a running game has finally caught up with them Favre can't do it all on guts alone. The defense will keep things close with the talent they have, but until a RB emerges with the ability to run 25 times a game for 90-100 yards, opposing defenses will sit back and wait for Favre to force the issue and capitalize. 11) San Diego Chargers - I guess they finally got tired of hitting the snooze button and woke up. That was a thumping. The kind of thumping this team is capable of in any game. With the AFC West as messed up as it is, this could be the beginning of their rise back to the first place slot. 12) Arizona Cardinals - The best thing that could have happened, happened. Leinart is out, leaving the QB that has been more productive as the starting QB. As long as the O-Line keeps Warner from looking like a pancake, he will move that ball. The defense is adequate enough to keep them in games. 13) Seattle Seahawks - They were top 10 in my rankings, and then they show just what I thought about them in the pre-season. Not the MOST overrated team, but certainly not one that is worthy of most of the hype. The unfortunate loss of one of the best FB's in the game is not going to help things for the future either. 14) New York Giants - Ever since the 2nd half comeback against the Skins, this team seems to be playing up to potential. I think the RB combo of Ward and Jacobs will pay some huge dividends in terms of ball control and the ability for an occasional huge running play because of the drastically different styles. When Shockey starts producing more over the middle, look out. They have 3 more very winnable games up next on the schedule too. 15) Chicago Bears - Is this when they begin to turn it around? They better hope so because the timing is right with the defeating of GB and the loss by DET. Cedrick Benson is the key. He better start running like he is expected to. What happened to the deep balls to Berrian? 16) Carolina Panthers - Call me crazy, but I like David Carr starting for this team. I think this could be an emergence for him. If Carr remembers 2 simple things, hand the ball off to Foster to tighten up the front 7 and air it out to Smith, they will score some points. With this defense playing like it is, they will need 24 points a game on offense to win enough games to contend with TB for a playoff spot. 17) Houston Texans - playing pretty tough without some key players in Green and Johnson. Until their return, this team will have to play ball control behind Ron Dayne and rely on the defense and the uber-leg of Kris Brown to win some games. Easier said than done though. 18) Detroit Lions - To slightly change some Diamond Dave lyrics from Van Halen... Where has all the offense gone? There was no reason for this team to only put up a measly 3 points against the Redskins. This amount of weaponry and they should be able to put up at least 17 against even the best defenses. 17 won't usually get them a win with that defense, but at least it would have looked better. 19) Cleveland Browns - I am going to give them a little credit here. The offense has come alive a bit and shows that their stock of weapons actually is loaded. We all expected them to lose big against the Pats, because frankly, the Browns are not at that kind of level. But this team can surprise a few teams that hover on the lip between 1st and 2nd tier, and can put up enough points to pretty regularly beat the poorer teams in the league. They're probably going to end up with more wins than I thought they would have this season. 20) Cincinnati Bengals - Let's see how they emerge from the bye week. I think it will be a turning point in their season. I look for an offensive surge against the good KC defense. If they would put as much effort into their in the field defense as they do in their court room defenses, this team could go somewhere. 21) Oakland Raiders - The GASP first place Oakland Raiders. OK, the matchups against Miami and Cleveland are not going to be there every week, so expect that this is their last week at the top of their division. There are some flashes of good on this team, and they are not going to be God awful.... just bad enough to have another top 5 draft pick next year. 22) Denver Broncos - What the hell happened? Did the Travis Henry fiasco distract them that bad? Did a cheerleader continually lose her top? Did Henry's "Baby Mommas" try to all get knocked up by other players and try and file paternity suits? Granted their victories have been close ones at the last minute, but this team should not be putting up that kind of bad performance. They better find a way to not have a 61 point difference in what they give up to what they score over the next 5 games, or else this team is in major trouble. 23) Kansas City Chiefs - Larry who? Running what? I guess they are trying to play for ties, because you're not playing for wins with that kind of offensive philosophy. I said it over and over again. They are so reliant on Johnson and that is bad because RB's usually do not follow up workhorse seasons like he had in 2006, with good performances. 24) Buffalo Bills - They played with some heart, and that heart was broken in the last few minutes of the Dallas game. When was the last time a team had 2 defensive return TD's and a kick return TD and LOST??? The rookie QB is looking poised, and Lynch is looking good as a runner, too bad the receivers and TE's look about as good as a love child resulting from the mating of Rosie O'Donnell and Keith Richards. 25) Atlanta Falcons - Who would have thought that this would be about the best we have ever seen Harrington? He has no real weapons and is playing better than he did when he had weapons around him. Maybe that is all it took. Granted he looked bad early against Tennessee and got yanked, but Leftwich looked even worse. If they yank Harrington for Leftwich now, this team could sink back to the bottom of the power rankings real quick. 26) San Francisco 49ers - The 3-4 defense looks good, better than I expected. The offense looks about as flat as Herman Munster's head. 6 first downs, are you kidding me?!? It is Gore and a bunch of crap that could not make it in a Pop Warner league. Batten down the hatches, this is going to be some rough sailing for this team. 27) Minnesota Vikings - No QB, no WR's but they have Peterson and a decent defense. It's not enough to win games, but it is good enough for them to actually have 1 or 2 SportsCenter highlights and good enough for fantasy footballers to occasionally pay attention to this team. 28) Philadelphia Eagles - So much for me thinking they were the team to contend against Dallas at the top of this division. One positive thing you can say about them is "Hey... at least they play the Jets this next weekend". 29) New Orleans Saints - Talent is there, the will is not. bush is not fitting into a primary back role yet, and for them to have any hope at all, he better get the alterations done and fit in quick. No running game means Brees is not going to be able to air anything out. The defense is not going to stop anyone, so the offense best start scoring like the team they were last year. 30) New York Jets - I've said it over and over and over again. The most overrated team in the entire league. They did not deserve to be in the playoffs last year, and there is no chance in hell they will even sniff at a playoff spot this year. Pennington is done. The receivers can't catch a cold. Jones would have been better off sharing carries in Chicago. And the defense is working about as well as a gauze net trying to stop a speeding semi-truck. look forward to more disappointment for the rest of the season. 31) St Louis Rams - From 'Greatest Show on Turf' to 'Might as well field some Smurfs'. No Jackson, no Bulger, no defense, no wins. Holt is the only thing resembling a football player on this team. 32) Miami Dolphins - hey... at least you get one of the top 2 players in the draft. That may be the next thing this team has to look forward to. Could this be the team that has the only perfect record in both directions? Undefeated as well as winless and no ties....!!! ************* Got a different outlook? Think I am wrong? tell me about it..... __________________ Reagan in 08... Even though he's dead, he's the better choice! Superdelegates - Because even the Democratic party knows it's base is too stupid to make really important decisions.

10-09-2007, 12:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
TexasSports22 Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 293	Confused about your Philly placement. They had a bye last week. __________________ In Internet terminology, a Fanhomer is one who has an irrational love for his team/genre of music/political views and an irrational hate for the rival team/other genre of music/differing political views and shares these thoughts in an established online community such as an online discussion forum to kill time at work. They may also talk about their job, food, wine, and coffee, and ask a mysterious "Grandstander" the answers to life most important questions. Don't feed the Fanhomers!

10-09-2007, 01:02 PM	#3 (permalink)
DiamondDave Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: MD, on the Potomac River Posts: 5,390	And if I would have put out my rankings last week... I would have had them in the mid 20's there as well... I had them at 19 before their terrible loss to the Giants, which is why I would have moved them down to the mid 20's after that loss __________________ Reagan in 08... Even though he's dead, he's the better choice! Superdelegates - Because even the Democratic party knows it's base is too stupid to make really important decisions.

10-10-2007, 08:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
bedir than average Administrator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Starbucks Posts: 8,256	Dave, I think you are either under ranking the Seahawks, or over ranking them depending on your methodology. If you are ranking based on performance so far, the Hawks are too low. If you are ranking them based on how the team will finish, then the Hawks are too high. The loss of Mack Strong will DEVESTATE this team. __________________ US Men's National Team World Cup Qualifying \| Democracy in Sports Meets My First Campaign "You're only so sure you're right because they're so sure you're wrong." Orson Scott Card in Xenocide

10-10-2007, 09:09 PM	#5 (permalink)
DiamondDave Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: MD, on the Potomac River Posts: 5,390	It is a combination, as always... of what I have seen, what I expect, and the outlook of the next couple of matchups... so I must be OK if I am right in the middle __________________ Reagan in 08... Even though he's dead, he's the better choice! Superdelegates - Because even the Democratic party knows it's base is too stupid to make really important decisions.

10-11-2007, 02:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
unreal654 Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 332	DD, Thank you for giving the Browns some credit for their 2-3 start. I think 19th is about right for them. Keep up the good work.