NFL Power Rankings '09

[Cujo]

As you all know, we are just days from Kickoff 2009. You guys know the drill....

OPENING WEEKEND

1 » Pittsburgh Steelers

2 » New England Patriots

3 » San Diego Chargers

4 » Philadelphia Eagles

5 » Arizona Cardinals

6 » Indianapolis Colts

7 » Tennessee Titans

8 » New York Giants

9 » Atlanta Falcons

10 » Baltimore Ravens

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

28 » Oakland Raiders

29 » Cleveland Browns

30 » St. Louis Rams

31 » Denver Broncos

32 » Detroit Lions

[Sguse1]

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

2. New England Patriots

3. Minnesota Vikings

4. Baltimore Ravens

5. San Diego Chargers

6. Indianapolis Colts

7. Arizona Cardinals

8. Carolina Panthers

9. Philadelphia Eagles

10. New York Giants

------------------

28. Kansas City Chiefs

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

30. St. Louis Rams

31. Detroit Lions

32. Denver Broncos

[buzzcut]

1. Patriots

2. Steelers

3. Cardinals

4. Eagles

5. Vikings

6. Chargers

7. Giants

8. Colts

9. Falcons

10. Ravens

------

28. Chiefs

29. Buccaneers

30. Bills

31. Broncos

32. Florida Gators

33. Lions

[NEW.ERA]

Week 1 Power Rankings

1. Steelers (Defending champs are back and so is there defense.)

2. Eagles (Fell a game short of being in the Super Bowl last season, McNabb has quite the arsenal of speed at his disposal including Michael Vick.)

3. Patriots (11-5 and missed the playoffs with Matt Cassell as QB, with Brady they should have been a shoe in at 13-3 or another undefeated season hopefully Brady isn't prone to injury now)

4. Vikings (Adding Hall of Famer Brett Favre to the an already potent offense and a great front 7 to back them, Viking football is back.)

5. Chargers (A down year by LT's standards last season but he battled some injuries, P-Riv and the rest of the Bolts should be poised to grab their 4th consecutive AFC West crown.)

6. Ravens (The one thing that has changed the most is the exit of Rex Ryan as Defensive Coordinator, but it's not like Rex had a bunch of rookies to deal with the Ravens defense is experienced and mean and to go along with a young Joe Flacco the Ravens could be back.)

7. Giants (All three of the Big receiving targets that Eli had in Super Bowl XLII are gone plus the hero David Tyree, but other than that everyone is mostly there from that team and they know how to win, Eli just has to be more consistent.)

8. Titans (Kerry Collins took over this team in Week 2 of last year and led the Titans to the best record in the whole AFC the loss of Albert Haynesworth will hurt but the Titans already have a stable core at defense the Titans should contend in the AFC all year if they can stay healthy.)

9. Falcons (Last years Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan is back and he has arguably the best Tight End ever to play the game in Tony Gonzalez if that Defense can play consistent and last year shouldn't be just a fluke)

10. Dolphins (The Dolphins had the NFL's greatest turnaround and we saw the Wildcat offense run to it's ability to leave opposing defenses scrambling and Chad Pennington has had his career revival in Miami.)

--------------

30. Broncos (Josh McDaniels sent Jay Cutler to the windy city and there best receiver has had a roller coaster of an offseason it will be a long season in the Mile High city.)

31. Rams (Rams have a new coach but nothing really has changed well they don't have Orlando Pace or Torry Holt anymore.)

32. Lions (Worst team in the NFL till other wise noted.)

[Saintsfan]

Top 5

1 Steelers- Gotta have the Champs at Number 1 before things get going again

2 Patriots- The Brady Bunch have their talisman back, hard to back against a team with the best QB and best coach

3 Eagles- with McNabb back and Vick as back up, possible wild cat maybe as well, good defense, whats there not to like??

4 Titans- Really underrated Franchise. Good defense, experienced QB, good coach.

5 Cardinals- Mostly all back from last year- just have to get over the Superbowl hangover

Bottom 5

32 Lions- Some definite signs of improvement, but need to prove it on the field. Rookie QB, rookie coach, a lot of question marks.

31 Buccaneers- Went into meltdown in the summer. Broncos only lost a QB, Tampa Bay lost a defense.

30 Rams- another team with too many question marks to put any higher really.

29 Chiefs- A year ago Matt Cassell was a little known back up QB, now he is the savior of a franchise??

28 Browns- Sacked coach as a savior of a franchise? No clear QB? Tooo many unanswered questions again.

Just in the Broncos, what has really happened to them? They have replaced there QB and coach, fair enough, but Cutler hadn't exactly set Denver on fire, and Orton led the Bears to a winning record, and a better season than the Broncos managed. I don't think that change makes the Broncos suddenly a baaaad team.

[epper]

1? Patriots

2? Steelers

3? Eagles

4? Titans

5? Giants

6? Chargers

7? Colts

8? Packers

9? Ravens

10? Bears

-----

28? Raiders

29? Buccaneers

30? Lions

31? Browns

32? Rams

[Brave-Bird 08]

1) Steelers

2) Eagles

3) Patriots

4) Giants

5) Titans

6) Chargers

7) Falcons

8) Vikings

9) Colts

10)Packers

28) Buccaneers

29) Lions

30) Browns

31) Rams

32) Raiders

[tBBP]

1.) Brat

2.) Freaking

3.) Farve

4.) Tom

5.) Brady's

6.) shoulder

7.) Pats

8.) Colts

9.) Chargers

10.) Steelers

11-32.) everyone else can get in where they fit in...except possibly...)

39.) Rams

(based off the espn hype machine)

[philly97flyer]

I can see why everyone nationally would rank the Eagles so high because of their performance last season. But this team has had a rough off/preseason. All kinds of injuries, and most importantly, a really banged up offensive line. Since the NFC championship game loss, they have lost Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson to cancer, LB Stewart Bradley to injury, Brian Dawkins to Denver and so on. I love the respect theyre getting, but I cant see them winning more than 9 games.

[KevinMcD]

1.Steelers

2.Pats

3.Colts

4.Eagles

5.Giants

6.Chargers

7.Ravens

8.Panthers

9.Falcons

10.Cowboys

-----

22-Bills

-----

30.Raiders

31.Lions

32.Rams

[STL FANATIC]

I won't be too bold, but I think the Rams will surprise some people this year.

[Billy B]

1) Steelers

2) Patriots

3) Colts

4) Eagles

5) Giants

-----

30) Raiders

31) Lions

32) Rams

No, Kevin, I did not copy yours.

[BigBlue22]

1. Patriots

2. Steelers

3. Eagles

4. Giants

5. Vikings

6. Chargers

7. Colts

8. Ravens

9. Titans

10. Bears

29. Raiders

30. Broncos

31. Lions

32. Browns

[HedleyLamarr]

1. Arizona

1. Atlanta

1. Baltimore

1. Buffalo

1. Carolina

1. Chicago

1. Cincinnati

1. Cleveland

1. Dallas

1. Denver

1. Detroit

1. Green Bay

1. Houston

1. Indianapolis

1. Jacksonville

1. Kansas City

1. Miami

1. Minnesota

1. New England

1. New Orleans

1. NY Giants

1. NY Jets

1. Oakland

1. Philadelphia

1. Pittsburgh

1. St. Louis

1. San Diego

1. San Francisco

1. Seattle

1. Tampa Bay

1. Tennessee

1. Washington

[BBTV]

As much as it pains me to say it, most of y'all are dead wrong about the Eagles (at least at this point of the season.) I don't see how they're any higher than 9 right now, and could be worse. They made great moves, but then things totally fell apart.

[ZapRowsdower8]

I won't be too bold, but I think the Rams will surprise some people this year.

I've seen the Football Outsiders magazine has them as a surprise team this year. Probably not making the playoffs, but still a lot better than people think.

1) Steelers

2) Patriots

3) Colts

4) Chargers

5) Vikings

6) Giants

7) Ravens

8) Titans

9) Bears

10) Eagles

30) Lions

31) Broncos

32) Buccaneers

[Cujo]

1. Atlanta

Homer!

[capsfan1000]

1.Stealers

2.Patriots

3.Chargers

4.Ravens

5.Colts

6.Eagles

7.Bears

8.Vikings

9.Packers

10.Giants

--------

28.Bucs

29.Bills

30.Lions

31.Broncos

32.Raiders

[Saintsfan]

I can see why everyone nationally would rank the Eagles so high because of their performance last season. But this team has had a rough off/preseason. All kinds of injuries, and most importantly, a really banged up offensive line. Since the NFC championship game loss, they have lost Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson to cancer, LB Stewart Bradley to injury, Brian Dawkins to Denver and so on. I love the respect theyre getting, but I cant see them winning more than 9 games.

My way of thinking abut power rankings is that its really hard to take into account a klot of off season moves, and that the baseline has to start out as last seasons performances, short of a team imploding, as I have judged the Buccs have and I assume many have judged the Broncos have (though I still disagree with that for now). You can see more changes after the week 1 games than you will in the whole of the off season, in my view.

[Jigga]

1. Arizona

1. Atlanta

1. Baltimore

1. Buffalo

1. Carolina

1. Chicago

1. Cincinnati

1. Cleveland

1. Dallas

1. Denver

1. Detroit

1. Green Bay

1. Houston

1. Indianapolis

1. Jacksonville

1. Kansas City

1. Miami

1. Minnesota

1. New England

1. New Orleans

1. NY Giants

1. NY Jets

1. Oakland

1. Philadelphia

1. Pittsburgh

1. St. Louis

1. San Diego

1. San Francisco

1. Seattle

1. Tampa Bay

1. Tennessee

1. Washington

This literally made me laugh out loud. I nominate this for post of the day!