Its Just about halfway through the NFL season and the teams are starting to settle into their spots. As such, there aren’t wholesale changes from my rankings last week, but certainly some tinkering is needed. Let’s first look at the Bottom 5.
28 . Tennessee Titans – They’re back in my bottom 5 after the loss to Indianapolis. That’s no knock on the Colts, I just think they’re a very bad team and their league worst – 95 net points and league worst 257 points against definitely help my case.
credit: Erik Daniel Drost via photopin cc29. Cleveland Browns – Big win against San Diego! Still, for whatever reason they seem to want to win football games. Puzzling. I hope they keep up the good work and win some more – at least they have heart (unlike some others upcoming)! They also have Trent Richardson who is a huge bright spot for the Browns this season.
30. Carolina Panthers – The Panthers are in shoddy shape! That said, they almost took down the mighty Bears, and more importantly put up some points on that stingy defense. If they can score 20 on Chicago maybe they have some offense brewing! Nah. Get a new coach and we’ll talk.
31. Kansas City – This was their chance. Coming off the bye, and playing a very beatable Raiders squad, they still managed to blow it! If it weren’t for Jacksonville being so horrible they would be at the bottom.
Did I foreshadow the 32nd team in my last statement? Nope.
32. Alabama Crimson Tide – The NCAA’s top-ranked team would probably be a -2.5 spread playing the Jags on neutral ground. I’d go with Roll Tide!
Having Tennessee at #28 was a tough call, considering other candidates like St.Louis and the Jets. Who knows, next week there could definitely be a shake-up at the bottom (maybe Alabama will climb my rankings with a dominant win against LSU…never know). Oh, sorry about the #32 joke, Jags fans. Wait, are there Jags’ fans?
Nearing mid-season, who are our favourites for the ultimate prize in football? Again, the song remains the same to me…
5. Chicago Bears – Still awesome, but less awesome. They still have to give Cutler more protection, and they were lucky to beat the poor Panthers on a last second Robbie Gould field goal!
credit: Mike Morbeck via photopin cc4. New York Giants – Still winning football games at the end, however the last two weeks were won in large in part due to opposition’s errors, or else things could have gone the other way. Take nothing away from them (wait, I just did?), this team is definately clutch, and just seems to always find a way to win. You really can’t argue with the results they’ve put up, not just this year, but throughout the recent past.
3. Houston Texans – Coming off the bye week they are hosting the Buffalo Bills and their terrible defense. The Texans should definitely win again and keep that stranglehold on homefield advantage right through to the Conference Championship game.
2. San Francisco 49ers – The Niners are running away with the division with no signs of being caught. Randy Moss was in the mix, which could make things more explosive, but more importantly did anyone see Alex Smith’s numbers??? 18-19 232 yds with 3 touchdowns. That jagged puzzle piece is looking more and more snug.
1. Atlanta Falcons – The Dirty Birds are 7-0 – ’nuff said. They beat Philadelphia in Philly, but for some stupid reason they were underdogs on the spread. I didn’t quite understand that, perhaps Vegas can’t tell the difference between birds. Anyway, the Falcons did what they have done all year – win football games.
It would take a couple slip-ups for one of these teams to drop out of the top 5, but Green Bay, New England and Baltimore are great teams that would challenge this elite group.
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