NFL Power Rankings

[mweb]

My rankings:

1. Chargers: I continue to love the Chargers , I feel they are the best team top to bottom, new coaching staff is biggest question mark, WR's are 2nd, that's about it. Look for Rivers to step up his game.
2. Pats: Probably would have them first if Seymour wasn't hurt and I was more confident in Moss.
3. Colts: Can they stop the running game? Otherwise they're golden.
4. Ravens: Likely the best defense, I'm not as high on McGahee on most on here, but he is a solid upgrade, McNair is probably only an average QB at this point.
5. Saints: Elite offense last year, and Bush should only improve, possibly by a lot, defense is above average.
6. Bears: Great defense, I think Grossman and the pass offense should improve, however I think the running game will take a step back with the loss of Jones.
7. Seahawks: I expect a better year with Alexander healthy, Kerney will help a lot, this is an edit, had them at 11 before.
8. Cowboys: Were a very good offensive team, an average defensive team last year, I expect both of those aspects to improve.
9. Jaguars: 11th in offense, 2nd in defense last year, Garrard will probably be better for them than Leftwich
10. Broncos: Cutler should improve, rest of team is good.
11. Bengals: Hopefully less off the field distractions for them, an easier schedule, and a fully recovered Carson Palmer should lead to more wins.
12. Eagles: Overrated defense(20th last year), and people are making too big of a deal about McNabb coming back, they didn't fall off without him last year, and he's likely to be less effective than in the past since it takes 2 years to fully recover from an ACL injury.
13. Steelers: Good all around, Ben needs to cut down on the int's.
14. Panthers:: Need better QB play, otherwise a playoff team.
15. Rams: Jackson is a beast, I believe he lead the NFL in yards from scrimmage last year.
16. Redskins: Defense should improve a lot with additions of Landry, Fletcher, and Smoot, plus Springs back and Rocky starting. Will be better with turnovers and 3rd down defense which were both flukey bad last year, how much better is what will determine how good they're along with Campbell.
17. Chiefs: Average on offense and defense.
18. Jets: Big overachievers last year, 25th in offense, 18th in defense, Jones should help, but I expect a worse record.
19. Packers: Improved a lot last year, running game is big question mark.
20. Cardinals: Should improve a decent amount, defense not good enough to rank much higher though.
21. Dolphins: Very good D, offense probably not so much, depends mostly on how Green does with his new team.
22. Lions Offense should be much improved, but will the D also be improved? It was 27th last year.
23. 49ers A lot of people are picking them to make the leap, well I think they'll be more like last years popular sleeper pick: Arizona. In 2 years, I expect them to really step up, they really overachieved to get to 7-9 last year as they were 26th in offense and 28th on defense.
24. Giants: Losing Barber will hurt offense, I'm still not sold on Manning, although the offense should still be solid, D is poor.
25. Bills: Bad offense, average D, overachieved record wise last year.
26. Titans: Could easily see them outperforming this rank as Young and the running game have the potential to improve a good deal, however they had the worst D in football last year, doubt they'll have a huge boost there.
27. Falcons: D was actually below average last year, Harrington, offensive system, and Vick distractions are the big question marks. Could easily be much better than this, but it's hard to predict.
28. Bucs: Decent D, offense has potential to improve with Garcia leading them. Also could easily outperform this.
29. Raiders: Very underrated D, offense should improve, but probably still won't be average.
30. Vikings: Good D, good O-line, QB will likely bring them down.
31. Texans: We'll see if Shaub is an upgrade over Carr, I doubt he's much of one.
32. Browns: Have a few promising young skill players in Quinn, Edwards, and Winslow, but QB will be a big issue this year, as will the running game. D is bad as well.

I would break this into tiers:

Elite tier: 1-3
Very good tier: 4-6
Likely playoff tier: 7-12
Likely playoff contender: 13-16
Could contend, more likely to be average to poor tier: 17-24
Probably average at best tier: 25-31
Really bad tier: 32

[geschinger]

Excellent and well thought out list. I hope you are wrong about the Chargers even though I fear you are right. The more I read/see the more I think the wholesale coaching changes are going to be a non factor.

The Patriots are going to be there in the end and if they can fight through a tough early season schedule at less than 100% they will be tough to beat.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Colts defense. I just wish they didn't have to start the season against an offense the caliber of NO. Tough way to break in a lot of new guys.

[Dr. FLK]

I could never put a team with Norm leading them at #1.

[AgentOrange]

Skins are too high.

[Dr. FLK]

Skins are too high.

Leave my Skins alone!

[Danielos38]

Skins are too low.

You seem to be confused. I edited your post to help you out.

[Camden_yardbird]

The Raiders have to be last here. Russell wont make a difference this year even if he does get signed. They have two mediocre backs, and no elite WR. They are making Luke McCown their starter.

The D is improving, but I do not need this team getting anywhere. 3-4 wins max.

[mweb]

The Raiders have to be last here. Russell wont make a difference this year even if he does get signed. They have two mediocre backs, and no elite WR. They are making Luke McCown their starter.

The D is improving, but I do not need this team getting anywhere. 3-4 wins max.

The D was among the best in the NFL last year, the offense was just brutal. I do expect Culpepper to become the starter at some point, and the offense should improve. The biggest reason they'll be at least somewhat better is Art Shell is gone.

[mweb]

Skins are too high.

Reasons? Where should they be?

[mweb]

Excellent and well thought out list. I hope you are wrong about the Chargers even though I fear you are right. The more I read/see the more I think the wholesale coaching changes are going to be a non factor.

The Patriots are going to be there in the end and if they can fight through a tough early season schedule at less than 100% they will be tough to beat.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Colts defense. I just wish they didn't have to start the season against an offense the caliber of NO. Tough way to break in a lot of new guys.

Thanks Gesh.

Good points on those teams. Do you see any teams that are too high or low by a decent amount?

[geschinger]

Thanks Gesh.

Good points on those teams. Do you see any teams that are too high or low by a decent amount?

The two that stick out are that I think the Giants will be a lot better and the Cowboys won't be quite as good as you have 'em. But for the most part, outside of the top dozen or so teams I have to see 'em play a couple of games to have any idea where they might end up.

[mweb]

The two that stick out are that I think the Giants will be a lot better and the Cowboys won't be quite as good as you have 'em. But for the most part, outside of the top dozen or so teams I have to see 'em play a couple of games to have any idea where they might end up.

Why do you think the Giants will be good? The Peyton love extending to his brother? I do think they can be decent, 14-20 range, but I'd be surprised if they end up better than that. The teams in the tier I put the Giants in can mostly be flip flopped, there isn't a whole lot of difference there imo. What don't you like about the Cowboys? I hope you're right about them though.

[geschinger]

Why do you think the Giants will be good? The Peyton love extending to his brother? What don't you like about the Cowboys? I hope you're right about them though.

Heh, yes, kind of. The hiring of Chris Palmer was a superb one by NY. Look for Manning's accuracy to increase significantly. An accurate Eli is going to be a very good QB in this league. I don't think they're going to be great by any means but I think they'll be at least a middle of the pack team. I think the Eagles and not the Cowboys are going to be best team out of the NFC East.

[AgentOrange]

Reasons? Where should they be?

Eh, I think they are too low actually. I was just waiting to see if you would get pissed.

I think Campbell makes the jump this year. I like the running game and the secondary is looking very solid this year. You might have the best nickel coverage in the game this year.

I am high on the skins this year for some reason.

[mweb]

Heh, yes, kind of. The hiring of Chris Palmer was a superb one by NY. Look for Manning's accuracy to increase significantly. An accurate Eli is going to be a very good QB in this league. I don't think they're going to be great by any means but I think they'll be at least a middle of the pack team. I think the Eagles and not the Cowboys are going to be best team out of the NFC East.

Accuracy rarely gets much better at this stage of a QB's career, so I'm not expecting much there. Plus teams will be able to focus on the pass more with Barber gone.

I don't think the Eagles will be any better than last year, and possibly a little worse. Obviously I think the Cowboys will step it up this year, they have a lot of talent on D and it should be better, Romo will probably improve some, and TO is healthy and likely in a better state of mind this year.