NFL Power Rankings Week 7: Jets Win, But Aren’t Any Good, 49ers Are For Real
15. Chicago Bears (Previously Atlanta Falcons)
The Bearslaid a whooping on the Vikings on Sunday night. If you want to argue the Bears should be lower (and switch them with the Jets or someone) I’ll listen.
14. Buffalo Bills (Previously Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Two games vs the Dolphins should help the Bills with a few more wins. Their offense is very good, but their defense is simply opportunistic. The Bills defense must turn the opposing offense over to win football games, which is not a great thing to rely on. If they don’t turn the offense over their defense gives up a lot of yardage and points.
13. Oakland Raiders (Previously Oakland Raiders)
The Raiders are a good team, who are going to be undone by the loss of Jason Campbell for the season. Tough, tough break.
12. Atlanta Falcons (previously Tennessee Titans)
I’ve been down on the Falcons for having an identity crisis on offense. Well they finally got back to pounding the football and actually looked like a good team. Keep pounding the football.
11. New York Giants (previously Buffalo Bills)
Good news for the Giants: after the bye week they should be much healthier. They could see the return of a lot of their injured players. Justin Tuck, Prince Amukamara, Ramses Barden, Adam Koets. Bad news for the Giants, their schedule is getting much tougher.
Good news for the Giants: Jason Pierre Paul is awesome.
Bad news for the Giants: their defense is not
10. Tennesee Titans Previously Pittsburgh Steelers
They were on a bye week. Pretty good defense, pretty good passing game, pretty good running game. Pretty bad division. They have a good shot at making the playoffs.
9. New Orleans Saints (previously Washington Redskins)
The Saints are weak on defense, but have a powerful offense. I”m not going to knock them too much for their loss to the Buccaneers.
8. Detroit Lions (Previously Houston Texans)
Whew. That 49ers defense is pretty good. The Lions struggled with their back seven helping out in the run game and with their offensive line. These are issues that could continue to show up for the Lions vs good teams.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (previously Saints)
The Buccaneers had a nice bounce back win on Sunday. I like this team, and finally Josh Freeman looked like he did last year. If Freeman continues to play well, this is a good team.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (previously Detroit Lions)
They should have beat the Jaguars by more than they did, but how can you knock a team for winning? I love Mike Tomlin as a head coach.He’ll right the ship if it can be righted.
5. 49ers (Previously 49ers)
Unlike the lame stream media-I’ve been high on the 49ers for a few weeks. Why? They can run the ball well, they can stop the run well (the most consistent run stopping defense in the league), They have good special teams and Alex Smith is playing the clock manager well. They also play in a weak division. The 49ers have a realistic chance at winning 11 or 12 games this year based on their schedule. The 49ers could actually end up with a bye.
Remaining schedule: Cleveland, Washington, Giants, Arizona, Baltimore, STl, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis
let’s just say for kicks they lose to the Giants, Ravens, and Steelers. They should still be favorites in their remaining 6 games. Add those to their five wins and that’s an 11 win team. That’s IF we concede the game to the Giants, which they could easily win.
4. San Diego Chargers (Same)
They had a bye week. Here’s what I said about them last week.
1s, second, third, fourth, fifth? Who cares. As long as you’re one of the six that are in the playoffs in each conference you’re golden. The Raiders still don’t have the Quarterbacking to get them to the playoffs which is lucky for the Chargers because then they might have real competition in the division. As long as the Chargers don’t screw it up they should waltz into the playoffs this year, most likely with a bye. What’s scary for teams around the league is that the Chargers are actually winning games in September and October this year. Who knows how good they’ll be at the end of this season.
3. Baltimore Ravens (same)
The Ravens had a nice win on Sunday, with Joe Flacco playing well. They have a good defense, an excellent running back and when Flacco plays well they are tough to beat.
2. New England Patriots (Previously New England Patriots)
Tom Brady.
Do you need more?
1. Green Bay Packers (previously Packers)
Until they are unseated they remain King. Their pass defense has looked poor though early in the season and that bears watching as the season progresses. But when you have Aaron Rodgers, their offensive weapons, and a bright offensive minded coach you can win a lot of games by out scoring people.
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