Final NFL Power Rankings

1. (12-4) NY Giants (1)
I don’t take this loss to mean much of anything.

2. (13-3) Tennessee (2)
Same for the Titans.

3. (12-4) Carolina (3)
John Kasay really saved their bacon at the end…a collapse like that would’ve surely signaled the end of their Super Bowl contention.

4. (12-4) Indianapolis (5)
I’m basically taking their first round road win for granted. Their next matchup against the Titans or Steelers is really what I’m interested in.

5. (12-4) Pittsburgh (4)

NFL Week 16 Power Rankings

I could truly see any of these teams in my top 8 winning the Super Bowl. This playoff year is much more wide-open than most.

1. (12-3) NY Giants (1)
Between the two #1 seeds, I have to say the Giants are the safer bet for the big game. Better offense, and more balance as a result.

2. (13-2) Tennessee (2)
Well, they’re officially the best bet to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Still, the conference is very wide open.

3. (11-4) Carolina (3)
Costly loss. They’d better recover in a hurry, because a loss to the Saints (a real possibility) could send their season spiraling out of control in a hurry.

4. (11-4) Pittsburgh (4)
The #2 seed might actually draw a more favorable matchup in the second round of the playoffs. I’m pretty sure I’d rather draw the AFC East champion than the Colts for my first playoff game.

5. (11-4) Indianapolis (5)

NFL Week 15 Power Rankings

So, who the heck is going to win this league? The winners of next week’s Giants vs. Panthers and Titans vs. Steelers games have to be considered the favorites, both by showing they can beat their top competitors head-to-head and by securing the all-important #1 seed. As vulnerable as all of the teams look though, I can easily see this being another year where a wildcard steps up to the plate and takes the Super Bowl down.

1. (11-3) NY Giants (1)
Well, they looked like a shoo-in for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, now they’re in a must-win situation to grab that hugely important spot. By default, I’ll call them the best team in the league, simply because I can’t convince myself that the other teams with top records are actually better choices right now. If they lose next week, I’ll drop them at least two spots…at least.

2. (12-2) Tennessee (2)
Cause for alarm? I’m not sure. It’s not good that the Titans are looking their weakest at this time of the year. I’m not a huge believer in momentum, but I do think that negative trends usually have a reason…and if teams are figuring them out now, that’s bad.

3. (11-3) Carolina (4)
They had a perfect home regular season. A win at the Meadowlands next week means that a perfect home playoff season means a trip to the Super Bowl.

4. (11-3) Pittsburgh (3)
Do these guys win any championships legitimately? Gross.

5. (10-4) Indianapolis (5)

NFL Power Rankings (Week 14)

I realize that I’m now “supposed to” jump the Titans back over the Giants, but…power rankings are about who’s better than who (if it was just on record alone, I‘d suggest you just look at the official standings), and I still tend to think that the Giants are the better team, Tennessee’s recent wins over Detroit and Cleveland don’t prove much. With that said, their schedule is about to get tougher, and if they keep winning I’ll be sticking them at #1 again.

1. (11-2) NY Giants (1)
That was a really ugly outing. Really ugly. No reason to panic yet, but they need to reassert themselves in a hurry at Dallas next week.

2. (12-1) Tennessee (2)
The way the playoff picture is shaking out, Tennessee’s first matchup in the second round might be a very dangerous one against a tough wildcard from Indianapolis. Not exactly what you look for when you earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

3. (10-3) Pittsburgh (3)
Aside from that pesky little detail that they would have to travel to Tennessee for a hypothetical AFC title game, their playoff draw might be the best one in the league if they can just shake off Baltimore once and for all.

4. (10-3) Carolina (5)
The Panthers are a really, really good home team. They get absolutely no talk, but they might do like they did in 2003 and sneak into the Super Bowl.

5. (9-4) Indianapolis (6)

NFL Power Rankings (Week 13)

The NFL doesn’t feel all that wide open this year…it looks like the Giants are the clear favorites overall, the Titans are the clear favorites in the NFC, and while anything can happen and I won’t be even close to surprised to see one or both fall short of the Super Bowl, it sure feels like a big drop-off from the top two to the rest of the league. Pittsburgh? Tampa Bay? Carolina? Good teams, but they make me feel like I should leave the #3 slot blank and start listing them off from #4 on.

1. (11-1) NY Giants (1)
As great as Tennessee really is, I can’t see dropping the Giants out of this #1 slot unless they lose another game. Let’s just say that it’s a lot easier to see Tennessee losing in the playoffs than it is to see New York doing the same.

2. (11-1) Tennessee (2)
That’s exactly the kind of drubbing that an elite team should put on the Lions.

3. (9-3) Pittsburgh (4)
The Steelers are in great shape for a first round playoff bye at this point, but they still haven’t shaken off the Ravens. The 12/14 visit to Baltimore is going to be very meaningful.

4. (9-3) Tampa Bay (5)
With Arizona’s loss, I think it’s become obvious that the winner of the South will get the second playoff bye in the NFC. Tampa Bay can pretty much seal up that division title if they can somehow sweep through their next two road games at Carolina and Atlanta.

5. (9-3) Carolina (6)

NFL Week 12 Power Rankings

1. (10-1) NY Giants (2)
It was already tempting to put them above the Titans in the rankings before today, but now I think it’s pretty easy to call the Giants the best team in the league.

2. (10-1) Tennessee (1)
It was bound to happen, the Titans just don’t have what it takes offensively to erase a huge deficit if they happen to fall into it. They’re still the heavy favorites in the AFC.

3. (8-3) NY Jets (8)
I’m pretty astounded by these guys. This is a way different team than the one that lost at Oakland not really all that long ago.

4. (8-3) Pittsburgh (4)
They need to find a way to beat New England; a loss could make for a head-to-head tiebreak that could cost them a bye if the Patriots can catch the Jets.

5. (8-3) Tampa Bay (5)

NFL Week 11 Power Rankings

1. (10-0) Tennessee (1)
I finally picked them to lose one, and it looked like I was going to be right…but they once again showed a ton of heart. Although I’m pretty sure they’re not going to go unbeaten, I doubt I’m picking against them again during the regular season.

2. (9-1) NY Giants (2)
For what it’s worth, I’d pick the Giants against the Titans on a neutral field…like, say, in a Super Bowl or something. These guys are fantastic.

3. (8-2) Carolina (3)
They’re only a game worse than the Giants in the standings, but you sure don’t get the sense that a trip to the Meadowlands in the playoffs would go well for the Panthers.

4. (7-3) Pittsburgh (4)
So ugly, but they have nothing to apologize for. Their nearly spotless AFC record gives them a nice leg up in the race for the second playoff bye.

5. (7-3) Tampa Bay (6)

NFL Week 10 Power Rankings

1. (9-0) Tennessee (1)
It’s becoming harder and harder to see someone coming into Nashville in the playoffs and knocking the Titans out. There’s a lot of season left, but I can’t readily see picking anyone but Tennessee to win the AFC this season.

2. (8-1) NY Giants (2)
A division that looked wide open a few weeks ago now looks to be clearly dominated by one team. The Giants look fantastic.

3. (7-2) Carolina (4)
Jake Delhomme struggled, but they did what it took and it was a road win. They should have no problem taking care of Detroit next week to set up a big division showdown with Atlanta.

4. (6-3) Pittsburgh (3)
Their offense is just a little bit too likely to fall short for them. I’ve long said that they were a lock in the North, but I guess that it’s time for even I to start taking Baltimore seriously.

5. (6-3) Washington (6)

NFL Week 9 Power Rankings

1. (8-0) Tennessee (1)
In a league full of parity and inconsistent teams, the Titans are as consistent as they come. They’re going to take a loss one of these weeks, because their offense is still just barely good enough to be on a great team, but I expect them to basically keep up an elite pace all year.

2. (7-1) NY Giants (2)
I’m not at all surprised that they destroyed the weakened Cowboys, but it was impressive as usual. The defending champions really look like a threat to repeat.

3. (6-2) Pittsburgh (3)
They’re looking like a strong bet for a first round bye in the playoffs.

4. (6-2) Carolina (4)
The schedule softens up for the next couple of weeks. With the Raiders and Lions up next, there would be no excuse for failing to reach an 8-2 start.

5. (5-3) Philadelphia (10)

NFL Week 8 Power Rankings

1. (7-0) Tennessee (1)
That was one heck of a statement game. The Titans, shockingly enough, have a flat-out stranglehold on the AFC South through only seven games.

2. (6-1) NY Giants (2)
Gutsy, gutsy win. The Giants are holding a lot steadier than their division rivals right now..

3. (5-2) Pittsburgh (3)
Nothing to hang their heads about, I still think the Steelers are an elite team after this close loss to the Giants.

4. (6-2) Carolina (8)
Took them a while to get going, but Carolina is looking incredibly tough to beat at home.

5. (6-2) Washington (5)

NFL Week 7 Power Rankings

1. (6-0) Tennessee (1)
The Titans are good and the Chiefs are bad. We already knew that.

2. (5-1) NY Giants (2)
It wasn’t all that pretty, but it was good enough. The schedule gets a lot tougher now.

3. (5-1) Pittsburgh (3)
They let the Bengals hang around longer than they should’ve, but a win is a win, and they kept pace in the race for a bye.

4. (5-1) Buffalo (7)
People try to denigrate the Bills, mostly based on their playoff drought, but a road win at Jacksonville and a home win over San Diego…these mean something. The Bills are good.

5. (5-2) Washington (4)
Against lesser teams, that kind of lethargy would’ve cost them. They get another easy one against Detroit, but they need to play better football.

6. (5-2) Tampa Bay (5)

NFL Week 6 Power Rankings

1. (5-0) Tennessee (4)
It had to be a little bit worrisome to see the Colts finally hit stride this week. The Monday night showdown in a couple of weeks looms large.

2. (4-1) NY Giants (1)
It’s no real shocker that the Browns had the talent to put together a performance like that. Not a terribly shameful loss, but still they fumbled away a great opportunity to create some distance in the NFC East.

3. (4-1) Pittsburgh (5)
The AFC North remains well in hand. The Steelers can already start talking about competing for one of the first round playoff byes.

4. (4-2) Washington (2)
Pretty brutal to lose a trap game to a team as weak as St. Louis. I don’t think it’s a sign that they’re not good, the big picture still shows a really good run so far, but you can’t give away games like that if you want to compete for the NFC East title.

5. (4-2) Tampa Bay (11)

NFL Week 5 Power Rankings

1. (4-0) NY Giants (1)
If their blowout win wasn’t impressive enough, their win over the Redskins looks better and better every week.

2. (4-1) Washington (2)
The toughest part of their schedule, their road division games, are already out of the way. The success of the Redskins is officially looking like the biggest surprise to me of this NFL season.

3. (4-1) Dallas (3)
Things haven’t been as pretty the last couple of weeks, they honestly only look like the third best team in the ridiculous NFC East, but that’s more of a compliment to the division than an indictment of the Cowboys.

4. (5-0) Tennessee (5)
The undefeated Titans take their spotless record into back-to-back bye weeks, as they’re idle next week and play the Chiefs the next. They have a very real chance to make it to November with a perfect record.

5. (4-1) Pittsburgh (7)

NFL Week 4 Power Rankings

1. (3-0) NY Giants (2)
The good news is that they’re alone in first place now. The bad news is that they are in a ridiculously good division that is going to have one really good squad missing the playoffs. We’ll see how they do without Plaxico this week.

2. (3-1) Washington (11)
I was quick to write them off before the season started, and thought my suspicions had been confirmed when they lost pretty easily in week one to the Giants. They have looked incredibly impressive since, and are following an arc similar to what we saw early out of the eventual champions last year.

3. (3-1) Dallas (1)
It’s been a rough schedule to open up, and they finally took a loss…but watching that game, nothing tells me that this team isn’t elite. They do need to shore up the pass defense a bit, though.

4. (4-0) Buffalo (5)
The Bills are showing a scary tendency to play down to the level of their competition. They were great the first two weeks, but seem to be believing their hype and the big point spreads the last two weeks. Still, they’re avoiding the upsets; this is a far cry from the team that was finding creative ways to lose last year.

5. (4-0) Tennessee (8)

NFL Week 2 Power Rankings

1. (2-0) Dallas (2)
The waters seem to be parting nicely for Dallas. They’re going to have a dogfight against their tough division, but I can’t see a better candidate for best team in the league at this point.

2. (2-0) Pittsburgh (1)
There’s nothing in the world ugly about any win on the road against your strongest division rival.

3. (2-0) NY Giants (5)
Expectations were played down for this team by everyone, myself included, but I see no reason that they couldn’t run out to a 6-0 start.

NFL Week 1 Power Rankings

1. (1-0) Pittsburgh (3)
With the AFC now wide open, I think the Steelers just became the new favorites to go to the Super Bowl.

2. (1-0) Dallas (5)
All of the things that those of us who don’t like the Cowboys were hoping to see go wrong? They didn’t show up in week one, even a little bit. Great road win to open up.

3. (1-0) New Orleans (8)
Beating (possibly) their strongest division rival, particularly at home, was very important. The offense definitely looked to be in fine form against a good defense.

Preseason NFL Power Rankings

It’s that time of year again…four days from our first NFL action of the season.

1. New England
No significant movement in the offseason means that the Patriots should be fantastic again. I don’t necessarily see them making another run at perfection, but  I’d say they’re the Super Bowl favorites again.

2. Indianapolis
Aside from losing Edgerrin James a couple of years ago, these Colts seem to have the same exact team every year basically since Peyton Manning first came into the league…and that team is really, really good.

3. Pittsburgh
I think the Steelers have everything in place for another run at the Super Bowl as well. A lot of people seem to think that Cleveland and Pittsburgh will be neck and neck in the AFC North, but I think the Steelers are easily the better team. The one question mark is the loss of Alan Faneca…he may be just a guard, but you can ask any Seahawk fan how much losing “just a guard” can matter.