Week 11 is over, and teams are actually becoming increasingly harder to rank. After starting off the season with the most equal start ever, having 20 teams at 1-1 after week two, the league has now become one of the more lop-sided leagues out there. A lot of teams are fighting for the top 5 and a lot of teams crumbling to the bottom 5. Like always, let’s start at the bottom.
28. Oakland Raiders – They’re terrible! There is no in-between, they just get beaten badly almost every game. But so as to confuse us, they’ll win a game before going right back to getting beaten badly. There is no progression at all, as the ship has sunk, and the Raiders are done this season.
Credit: Wiki Commons
29. Philadelphia Eagles – The team nobody would have thought could be in this category coming into the year, but they’re on a six-game losing streak. Their star QB Mike Vick has been having a rocky season and now out of action due to injury, and replacement QB Nick Foles isn’t making things any better. Suddenly those single-point victories at the beginning of the season have saved them from being 1-9 as opposed to 3-7.
30. Carolina Panthers – They lost a game that I thought they would actually win for some reason. No, I wasn’t drunk, really. I know it went to OT, but it’s another loss at home to a beatable opponent. There is no spark to this team at all, just failure.
31. Jacksonville Jaguars – Every week it seems to be a contest with the Chiefs as to who loses with less embarrassment. Well this week the Jags took the Texans to OT, which is very impressive, but still doesn’t get them credibility. That said, they do look better than K.C this week.
32. Kansas City Chiefs – They really can’t get much worse. 28-6 to the Bengals?! At home?! Chiefs faithful watched the Bengals eat them alive in their own building. What the heck is going to happen when Peyton Manning rolls into town? The Chiefs should ask to play in Denver just to save the embarrassment of being throttled again in their own back yard.
If you noticed I bounced Cleveland out of the bottom five because they continue to play close games and show some desire to play football. I guess I have a soft spot for the dogpound.
Finally we’re done with that painful review of trash… it puts me in such a pissy mood. But there are a lot of teams firing on all cylinders right now, and some of the big name teams that started a bit slow are showing their usual colours while some of the teams that were looking great are starting to show why they don’t deserve to be amongst the big boys.
5. New England Patriots – Five wins in a row, and the highest scoring team in the league, so making the “Top” is obvious. Just when they started to show a bit of decline, they are right back near the top, and that’s where they belong and always will be with Belichick and Brady running the show.
4. Denver Broncos – You might argue this one because New England beat the Broncos earlier this season, but I took a different angle. The Broncos have had a TOUGH schedule. They have played the Falcons, Texans, Patriots and Saints (if you consider them “good” now). Denver may have lost 3 of those 4 matches but it they were early and I knew it would take time for the offense to adjust to Peyton Manning. They still are adjusting, but they are also on a 4-game winning streak and look to have wrapped up the AFC West. Watch out! The beauty of Power Ranking teams is that they are not static lists – rather, they are ever-changing living documents.
3. San Francisco 49ers – The Niners demolished the Bears on Monday Night Football (taking Chi-town right off my list) and are still very healthy and ready to keep going. They also have won their division, though catching Atlanta and staying ahead of Green Bay will not be easy.
2. Houston Texans – Survived a very big scare at home against Jacksonville. It left us all scratching our heads, that game was supposed to be a slaughter. I keep mentioning their easy schedule but they do play @ Foxborough week 14 and that will be the game that shows us all what Houston has got!
1. Atlanta Falcons – To be honest I don’t like how they match up with teams like SF, Houston, and New England. But they seem to really know how to win games, and besides we are not ranking them on particular match-ups, but on what they have shown in ones that are now history. They have the ability to adapt to their opponents, and that is a very big playoff quality to have. They have got to keep winning and must clinch home field for the playoffs, and believe me, they are teetering on the brink of falling in these rankings.
Those were some tough picks, and it’s hard to leave out teams like Green Bay, Chicago, the Giants, and Baltimore. I think we are setting up to see some of the best playoff football – ever! The quality of teams is very high this year, I can’t wait!
