2011 NFL Power Rankings

[Saintsfan]

My quarter time power rankings

Superbowl contenders: Green Bay, New England, New Orleans, Baltimore

Next best: Detroit, NY Jets, San Diego, Pittsburgh

Could still playing more than 16 games: Houston, NY Giants, Tennessee, Tampa Bay

Andrew Luck contenders: Indianapolis, St Louis, Minnesota, Kansas City

[DCDuck]

How can you put Pittsburgh in the "next best" category? Did you see how their O-line got torn to pieces by Houston? Their wins are over Seattle and Indy (barely). They haven't proven anything other than their ability to beat teams that everyone already knew weren't very good coming into the season.

[pmoehrin]

How can you put Pittsburgh in the "next best" category? Did you see how their O-line got torn to pieces by Houston? Their wins are over Seattle and Indy (barely). They haven't proven anything other than their ability to beat teams that everyone already knew weren't very good coming into the season.

The two reasons why I'm willing to give Pittsburgh some leeway is because a. they were in the Super Bowl last year and are returning virtually the same team, and b. they tend to be a slow starting team.

I wouldn't be nervous yet if I were a Steeler fan. If they can beat Tennessee I'd say all is well. If they can't be Tennessee then they may want to consider hitting the panic buttom.

[DCDuck]

The two reasons why I'm willing to give Pittsburgh some leeway is because a. they were in the Super Bowl last year and are returning virtually the same team, and b. they tend to be a slow starting team.

Except they aren't "virtually the same team" at all. Look at their O-line. Whether from injury or free agent departure, the O-line looks nothing like the O-line that anchored the running game and kept Roethlisberger protected for most of last season. And everybody is a year older. They were already one of the oldest teams in the NFL last season and age only serves to work against them.

At some point you'll have to start looking at what teams do this season as being more important than what they did last season.

[Gothamite]

And Week 5 is probably well past that point.

We've seen more than enough of this year's teams to judge them on 2011, not 2010.

[Saintsfan]

The reason to stick with Pittsburgh is that they are still a decent team, and without anyone obvious overtaking them yet. 2-0 at home, they ain't losing many at Heinz Field, so 10 wins is almost certain, and they have a ton of playoff experience.

At some point the defense will need to get younger and stay good, but honestly for me they are still one of the 8 teams that given a following wind could end up with the Lombardi Trophy.

[MEANS]

The Bucs jump six spots by barely beating the Colts? the Niners beat the Eagles in Philly yet gain 1 spot?

The Buccaneers are WAY better than the 49ers. This weekend will show that. Tampa should beat the hell outta the Niners, despite playing after a short week and traveling all the way across the country.

So would you like your crow baked, fried, or grilled? The 49ers DESTROYED the Bucs in EVERY facet of the game, and don't give the short week excuse or traveling to the WEST coast which nobody ever uses as an excuse, it's the west coast teams that fly east that actually makes sense for a team to be tired.

[bosrs1]

The Bucs jump six spots by barely beating the Colts? the Niners beat the Eagles in Philly yet gain 1 spot?

The Buccaneers are WAY better than the 49ers. This weekend will show that. Tampa should beat the hell outta the Niners, despite playing after a short week and traveling all the way across the country.

So would you like your crow baked, fried, or grilled? The 49ers DESTROYED the Bucs in EVERY facet of the game, and don't give the short week excuse or traveling to the WEST coast which nobody ever uses as an excuse, it's the west coast teams that fly east that actually makes sense for a team to be tired.

To be fair to him I'd rate the Niners as the surprise team of the season so far. No one could have expected Alex Smith to suddenly learn how to be a QB when he always seemed so inept the last few seasons to the point of being useless. Hell if you'd told someone 6 weeks ago the Niners would start off this fast you'd have been laughed at or committed.

[Gothamite]

The Bucs jump six spots by barely beating the Colts? the Niners beat the Eagles in Philly yet gain 1 spot?

The Buccaneers are WAY better than the 49ers. This weekend will show that. Tampa should beat the hell outta the Niners, despite playing after a short week and traveling all the way across the country.

So would you like your crow baked, fried, or grilled? The 49ers DESTROYED the Bucs in EVERY facet of the game, and don't give the short week excuse or traveling to the WEST coast which nobody ever uses as an excuse, it's the west coast teams that fly east that actually makes sense for a team to be tired.

Exactly. Travelling east means that you're playing games when your body thinks it's early in the morning. Knocks you off your routine. Traveling west means you play the game when your body thinks it's a little later in the afternoon. Not the same thing at all.

Besides, if a team is any good the East Coast swing maybe accounts for a score or two. Puts you a little off your game. You can't blame yesterday's debacle on anything other than the 49ers being better than the Bucs. Maybe they wouldn't be every Sunday, or even on average, but they sure as hell were yesterday.

You thought the Bucs would expose the Niners, but the inverse happened.

[FiddySicks]

The Bucs jump six spots by barely beating the Colts? the Niners beat the Eagles in Philly yet gain 1 spot?

The Buccaneers are WAY better than the 49ers. This weekend will show that. Tampa should beat the hell outta the Niners, despite playing after a short week and traveling all the way across the country.

So would you like your crow baked, fried, or grilled? The 49ers DESTROYED the Bucs in EVERY facet of the game, and don't give the short week excuse or traveling to the WEST coast which nobody ever uses as an excuse, it's the west coast teams that fly east that actually makes sense for a team to be tired.

Exactly. Travelling east means that you're playing games when your body thinks it's early in the morning. Knocks you off your routine. Traveling west means you play the game when your body thinks it's a little later in the afternoon. Not the same thing at all.

Besides, if a team is any good the East Coast swing maybe accounts for a score or two. Puts you a little off your game. You can't blame yesterday's debacle on anything other than the 49ers being better than the Bucs. Maybe they wouldn't be every Sunday, or even on average, but they sure as hell were yesterday.

You thought the Bucs would expose the Niners, but the inverse happened.

Personally, I think it showed a lot more about this Bucs team and their inabilities and youth than it did the Niners. Tampa looked AWFUL, there's no excuse to lose by that much to anyone. They flat out gave up like a bunch of girls when they got down and it snowballed into something completely awful. After watching both of these teams as much as I have I can't come up with an explanation that makes sense other than that. Call me crazy, but I still am not convinced about this Niners team. They'll win the division this season, no doubt. Part of that you can attest to playing a dreadfully easy schedule IMO. In fact, with who they have left to play, Rams twice, Cards twice, Seahawks, Browns, Redskins, Giants, Lions, Ravens, and Steelers, I could see them going as high as 12-4 or 13-3 and could even get a first round bye. But what I'll be really interested to see is when they play the tops of the NFC. Games against the Saints, Packers, ect, will really show where this team is. With as dreadful as they've been for so long, I just can't call this team a championship caliber team yet. I'm just not convinced that Jim Harbaugh and a resurgent Alex Smith can lead this team past the better teams in the division. They remind me of the Bears from last season. Sure they won the division, but I was NEVER convinced that they could really win in the crunch, and they didn't. They got the under .500 Seahawks, then got toppled by the Packers. I simply don't see this team walking off of the field with a win during the playoffs.

And, really. I don't say this just to blatantly hate on the Niners, and I have no hard feelings against the team. In fact, I have positive feelings about them and actually really hope they do well. I'm honestly trying to be as objective as I can. I'm glad they're doing well, I hope they continue to win, but I'm simply not convinced this team is one of the elites of the NFL. And Tampa is MOST CERTAINLY NOT.

Who knows? Five weeks from now the Niners could be in the toilet and Tampa could have pulled themselves up from their boot straps and won a few big games. That's why you play the game I guess...

[NEW.ERA]

Week 5, Yo!

1. Green Bay

2. Detroit

3. New England

4. New Orleans

5. Baltimore

6. Buffalo

7. San Diego

8. Houston

9. San Francisco

10. Washington

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

28. Denver

29. Arizona

30. Indianapolis

31. St Louis

32. Miami

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I think we've seen enough games to make a good judgment on who's where:

1. Green Bay

2. New Orleans

3. Baltimore

4. Detroit

5. New England

6. Pittsburgh

7. Buffalo

8. San Francisco

9. Cincinnati

10. San Diego

[DCDuck]

9. Cincinnati

Unfortunately the win over Buffalo has to be negated by the loss to Denver leaving us with a team that beat Cleveland and Jacksonville. I'm not impressed at all.

[pmoehrin]

(change from last week)

1. Packers (-)

2. Patriots (-)

3. Ravens (+1)

4. Saints (-1)

5. Steelers (+2)

6. Lions (-)

7. Chargers (-2)

8. 49ers (+10)

9. Cowboys (+8) (Improve mainly on SOS. Cowboys opponents are 14-5)

10. Texans (-1)

11. Raiders (+4)

12. Bills (+2)

13. Jets (-2)

14. Titans (-6)

15. Giants (+1)

16. Buccaneers (-6)

17. Falcons (-5)

18. Bears (-5)

19. Redskins (+1)

20. Eagles (-1)

21. Browns (-)

22. Bengals (+3)

23. Vikings (+3)

24. Panthers (-2)

25. Chiefs (+4)

26. Seahawks (+2)

27. Dolphins (-4)

28. Cardinals (-4)

29. Broncos (-2)

30. Rams (-)

31. Jaguars (-)

32. Colts (-)

[Sport]

9. Cincinnati

Unfortunately the win over Buffalo has to be negated by the loss to Denver leaving us with a team that beat Cleveland and Jacksonville. I'm not impressed at all.

I wouldn't put the Bengals 9th just yet, but having the #1 ranked defense has to count for something.

[pmoehrin]

9. Cincinnati

Unfortunately the win over Buffalo has to be negated by the loss to Denver leaving us with a team that beat Cleveland and Jacksonville. I'm not impressed at all.

I wouldn't put the Bengals 9th just yet, but having the #1 ranked defense has to count for something.

Teams the Bengals have played and their offensive rank.

Browns-21

Broncos-25

49ers-27

Bills-11

Jaguars-32

Not exactly shutting down the '99 Rams to get that rank. They're defense is good, but I'll bet almost anything they aren't ranked #1 by the end of the year.

[DCDuck]

15. Giants (+1)

19. Redskins (+1)

20. Eagles (-1)

Once again I have to ask if you actually watch the games. The Giants are 2-3 and just got punk'd by Seattle. The Eagles are 1-4, dead last in the division yet only fell one spot, one place behind the first-place Redskins.

How are the Cowboys at 9 but the Bills at 12? Your rankings make no sense at all.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The Bengals have won two of their games away and I think are beginning to jel as a team. Dalton is definitely coming along. I'm not a fan of the team by any means, but they look more impressive to me than, say, Washington (who I've admittedly not paid any attention to at all).

[DCDuck]

I'm not a fan of the team by any means, but they look more impressive to me than, say, Washington (who I've admittedly not paid any attention to at all).

You have to consider both teams were thought to be the front-runners for the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes entering the season.

The Bengals lost to the Broncos. I still can't get past that. I'm still waiting for them to beat someone like Baltimore or Pittsburgh before I start talking about them being "more impressive" than anyone. Dalton has looked good, though.

[cameroncrazie07]

15. Giants (+1)

19. Redskins (+1)

20. Eagles (-1)

Once again I have to ask if you actually watch the games. The Giants are 2-3 and just got punk'd by Seattle. The Eagles are 1-4, dead last in the division yet only fell one spot, one place behind the first-place Redskins.

How are the Cowboys at 9 but the Bills at 12? Your rankings make no sense at all.

Giants are actually 3-2 not 2-3. And if you look he said he was basing his Cowboys spot on strength of schedule, Cowboys opponents are 14-5 this year, every team that they played this year looks like they could compete for a playoff spot. I agree with the Redskins being the 3rd highest team in that division, just not that low. Redskins have played a ridiculously easy schedule. So far they are just a product of that schedule.