After another entertaining week in the NFL I will dissect the worst and best teams in the league as week 7 has come and gone with major injuries being dealt with teams affecting where they stand in the power ranks will certainly be discussed! To the leaky basement we start.
28 – Oakland Raiders – They are coming off a win, but the fact that it took them overtime to beat Jacksonville with Maurice Jones-Drew only having two carries due to injury, well that’s inexcusable! Something just doesn’t work in Oakland. They get another very winnable game this week against the struggling Chiefs, though I am not sold that they will win that contest.
29 – Cleveland Browns – The bottom of the standings at 1-6, but they seem to be the only team that hasn’t recorded a second win amongst teams still actually competing. A last-minute dropped pass stopped them from beating the Colts in Indy and would have been a second consecutive victory. Points for effort!
30 – Kansas City Chiefs – They are coming off of a bye week that gave newly named starting quarterback Brady Quinn some MUCH needed time to work on his game, and they do host Oakland in their next game. This is a great scenario and one that the Chiefs very badly need to work out in their favour – but for the love of God, keep your money in your pocket and don’t bet on this team! The Raiders and Chiefs are so bad they might both lose in this one. Seriously though, Romeo Crennell and company have their work cut out for them right now.
31 – Carolina Panthers – Each week I have a hard time believing this team is in this category and dropping no less! Their only answer to this five-game losing streak is to fire the General Manager? Really, we couldn’t come up with something more colourful? So they are blaming the man who had a major part in bringing Cam Newton into the squad, yet not the guys responsible for coming up with the game plans, nor the athletes charged with executing them. Also, check out their next three weeks and you can see they are beyond screwed! ( @ Chicago, @ Washington, vs Denver)
32- Jacksonville Jaguars – Are we at the point that we can start feeling bad for them? Maurice Jones-Drew is out. My advice: Start studying the draft because the first pick should be all theirs. They are so bad without MJD that we can’t even accuse them of dogging it for the pick.
After picking the garbage I must admit I only had trouble with the 28th spot… There are some other struggling teams like Tampa, and Detroit, and even that shootout between Tennessee and Buffalo didn’t really have me seriously considering them either. Really, it was Oakland who proved most difficult.
But now to the big dawgs, where the Baltimore @ Houston game really factored into my final decisions. So, let’s see how this plays out…
5 – Chicago Bears – At 5-1 and going strong, these Bears are LEGIT. Their Defense is ridiculous, forcing three red zone turn overs on Monday Night Football, and you just can’t mess with that! However, a couple of Detroit Lion dropped passes on third down did play a big factor in the win, and Cutler still gets hit a lot. There is still work to be done.
4 – New York Giants – Another late win for Eli Manning, yawn, but this time it was because of a Red Skin red zone fumble. They can’t continue to win every game at the end, can they?
3 – Houston Texans – They are 6-1, and not only did they destroy their biggest competition in the conference, but their biggest competition no longer has their biggest player. Baltimore played without Ray Lewis and it certainly showed Sunday afternoon. Also having the easiest division in football and with the Patriots continuing to disappoint, the Texans are slowly being handed home field for the playoffs on a huge silver platter (because everything is bigger in Texas).
2 – San Francisco 49ers – After the week six loss to the Giants and a not-so-great victory against Seattle, they are still my favourite team on paper and I think they are playing good enough to keep me thinking they have a great shot at the Super Bowl, but they surely need to beat Arizona this week and take a hold on the NFC West. Grab this division once and for all!
1 – Atlanta Falcons – Can anyone argue the Dirty Birds at #1? They carry a 6-0 record heading into their week seven bye. It was good timing for them to take a rest and get back to some tactics to keep the ball rolling. While they’ve had a few close calls (ahh, how good it is to have a “lights out” placekicker), as long as they stay undefeated they are easily the favourites and will retain my #1 spot.
A Few Notes: It was tough to just throw Baltimore out the window but those NFC teams who dominate much of my top 5 are just so strong and they clearly have lost a step on Houston. The Ravens can easily climb back up the ranks, but they will need to find a way to re-gain their swagger minus Ray Lewis, and I’m just not sure they have it in them. Also, I really like the Bears, but Cutler was knocked out of action for a few plays last night and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets knocked out again. The defense is going to dominate football games for them – it really is all about the team and Jay Cutler helping Jay Cutler.
