NFL Power Rankings Week 9: Lions, Bengals, and Eagles, (and Bears) Oh My

Time  for the weekly power rankings. Some shocking (to me wins) have changed up the power rankings. The Miami Dolphins finally get on the board, does it move them up any?

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32.  Indianapolis Colts (Previously Colts)

The biggest question now should be, does Jim Caldwell get to keep his job when the Colts draft Andrew Luck first overall next year. We’ll actually they might win a few late season games if the Colts let Peyton Manning back onto the field. Anyone who ever questioned anything about Peyton Manning looks just silly.

31.  St. Louis Rams (previously Dolphins)

The  lost to the Cardinals with John Skeleton. The Rams are not very good. Their schedule in the second half of the season is pretty “easy” so they should be able to pull out a few victories

30. Miami Dolphins (Previously Cardinals)

I’m beginning to think that Matt Moore isn’t a bad option as a backup quarterback, really good game vs the Chiefs up in Kansas City, which is not an easy place to win. The Dolphins have played a few good games in a row and I’m going to

move them up one spot because of their victory and the Rams bad loss to the Cardinals.

29.  Seattle Seahawks  (previously Seahawks)

The Seahawks  lost a game to the most underrated team in the league the Cincinnati Bengals so I can’t really knock them much. The Seahawks have some obvious talent, but also some really glaring weaknesses.I still wonder why kind of effect Pete Carroll’s insistence on mass roster change has on this team’s continuity and ultimately success.

28. Arizona Cardinals (Previously Denver Broncos)

The Cardinals beat the Rams to get their second victory of the season one week after putting up an inspired performance (especially in the first half) vs the Baltimore Ravens. Patrick Peterson hasn’t been great in coverage all year, but what a difference maker he has been on special teams. A 99 punt return touchdown! Oh my!

27.  Jacksonville Jaguars (previously St. Louis Rams)

The jaguars were on a bye here’s what I said about them last week:

The Jaguars have now played pretty well in two weeks in a row, but they are not a good football team. Blaine Gabbert looks terrible. That’s not to say he can’t become a good N.F.L. quarterback (though I don’t think he will). Maurie Jones Drew is probably one of my favorite players in the N.F.L. to watch. How good is this guy? It’s hard to get a good read on how talented this team could be over the next two seasons.

26.   Washington Redskins (previously Jacksonville jaguars)

And there are the Redskins we expected at the beginning of the season. A good quality defense undermined by terrible quarterback play. They have lost four games in a row and have dates with the Patriots, Giants, Cowboys, Eagles, and Jets remaining this season. Not pretty. Luckily three winnable games with the Seahawks (in seattle), Miami (in Miami, which is actually a better place to play the Dolphins), and Minnesota.

25.  Cleveland Browns (previously Carolina Panthers)

I expected the Browns to put forth a good effort and keep the Texans within ten points, but they did not. The Texans absolutely demolished the Browns. Real questions are emerging about whether or not Colt McCoy can be the franchise quarterback. I think he lacks the horses to be a franchise quarterback to begin with, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they make a run at one of the top quarterbacks that could be available for the 2012 NFL draft.

24.  Carolina Panthers (previously Cleveland Browns)

The Panthers were on a bye here’s what I said about them last week

The Panthers are this year’s Detroit Lions, next year the Panthers are going to win a lot of games, this year they are not quite ready. At some point though they have to be knocked for losing, they are 2-6 and I can’t put the Vikings here after they just beat the Panthers in Carolina.

I’ll tell you one thing though, when the Panthers don’t play it seems like some excitement is missing from the league.

23. Minnesota Vikings (previously Carolina Panthers)

The Vikings were on a bye last week, here’s what I had to say about them

The Vikings get a little boost because of how talented they are and because they have played well the last month. Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen can win games by themselves at times. Also, Christian Ponder looks much better than Blaine Gabbert, very, very early in their careers. I’m interesting in seeing how Jake Locker looks if/when he gets a chance this year.

22. Denver Broncos (previously Titans)

meh. I don’t like putting them this high to be honest. Just a weird circumstance of events. They played their best game of the season on Sunday absolutely dominating what is suppose to be a plus front four. Tim Tebow is starting to get some believes that he can be a franchise quarterback. Has there even been a more polarizing player? There such adamant supporters who believe in his greatness and others who think he’s the worst quarterback in the league. On Sunday he looked like one of the best running backs in the league.

What happened to the Raiders? I thought they were supposed to be tough in their front four.

21.Oakland Raiders (Previously Redskins)

The Oakland Raiders made a big time move to grab Carson Palmer who looks ok for just getting back into football shape. But what has been lost is the Raiders front seven which looked so good early in the season. The Broncos absolutely just ran all over the Raiders on Sunday. If their front seven doesn’t play well they don’t stand a chance because their secondary is lacking. I was hoping this year we’d see  Bills, Lions, and Raiders playoff apperances. But week by week the Bills, Lions, and Raiders are losing their grips on potential playoff apperances

20. Tennessee Titans (Previously Cowboys)

It must be absolutely maddening to watch the Titans play this year. One week they’ll give a good team all it can handle the next week they will play absolutely awful. Their saving grace is that they play in the second worst division in football (The N.F.C. West is the first). They won’t make the playoffs, but they should get a few more victories.

19. Kansas City Chiefs (previously Raiders)

The Oakland Raiders were on a bye, but move down a spot because of impressive performances by the Chiefs and Eagles. Here’s what I had to say about the Raiders last week.

I’ve been their biggest supporter all season as a quality team and this is how they repay me? They looked like garbage. I think they threw more pick sixes then they completed passes. That’s not good. The injury to Daren McFadden completely changed the dynamics of the game and should relay to everyone how good an important he is to their success. M.V.P. like good.

18.  Tampa Buccaneers (Previously Kansas City Chiefs)
This is why everyone should hold their horses when declaring the new young quarterback the greatest thing since sliced bread. Josh Freeman is very talented, but has been so inconsistent this year it has really hurt the Buccaneers. The Season ending loss of Gerald McCoy (again) won’t help matters. The Buccaneers are a very young and exciting team, but still might be one more year away from seriously competing.

17. Philadelphia Eagles

On twitter ( @NFLmocks ) I tweeted that “The Eagles are the Chargers of the NFC. They dominate the game, but then you look up and see that they are losing on the scoreboard”. They have now lost four or fives games in the fourth quarter this season. The high flying Eagles offense wasn’t able to put up enough points on the Bears. The Eagles really hurt themselves with that loss. The Eagles are three full games behind the Giants (with one loss to them already) and also lost the tie-breaker to the Atlanta Falcons if they need that for the wild card berth. Even though they are down, they are not out yet. Their schedule the rest of the way out goes like this: vs Arizona (win), @NYG (tough game), With New England (tough game), @ Seattle (win),  @Miami (win),  vs the New York Jets (tough game), @Dallas (tough game), with Washington (win).

Of course by “win” I mean they should be favored and are the better team.

16.  Buffalo Bills (Previously Eagles)

Poor Buffalo Bills. I’ve been waiting. very long for them to get into the playoffs (wife’s a Bills fan and I live in Rochester, NY so I see them every week), but their offense came out and played pretty poorly. The Jets defense is pretty good at limiting yardage, but that was a poorly played game by the Bills on a few different levels. They weren’t able to capitalize on some early Sanchez mistakes which could have really turned the game. Chan Gailey is getting a lot out of the Bills roster, but they just don’t have the depth yet to stick with the Big Boys when injuries occur. They are much closer, faster, than anyone could have expected.

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