Before I get to the rankings, I have a question about the ESPN attendance numbers that they post. Where do they come up with these figures? Honestly, can someone tell me?

They have Philadelphia at 102.3%. How is that possible? Were people crawling in under the gates and standing in aisles the whole time? How can something be 102.3% full? They also have both Buffalo and Pittsburgh listed at 94.8% and 97.9%. I know for a fact that both games were sold out. I also know for a fact that Pittsburgh NEVER has empty seats in Heinz Field. Seriously, where do these numbers come from?

Alright, my rant is over. Now to the rankings.

1. New Orleans Saints (1) – The Saints struggled at times Thursday night against the Favres, but the game wasn't as close as the 14-9 score would indicate. Take back a dropped touchdown pass and a couple of easy missed field goals and the game could've easily been 27-9 at the very least. As always, defending Super Bowl champs + undefeated = top spot in the rankings no matter what. I know, it's a faulty formula. I don't care.

2. New England Patriots (7) – What the Patriots did on Sunday is exactly what I was talking about before the season. While everyone continues to hype up the Jets after their stellar 9-7 finish last season, the Patriots are just being ignored and flying under the radar. People, they are really good. I think many are guilty of forgetting about Tom Brady and sometimes forget that last season he was coming back from a major injury. Those types of injuries usually take a full season to come back from. He showed on Sunday that he's back to 2007 form.

3. Green Bay Packers (3) – The Packers could've been much better in their win against Philadelphia and I have no doubt they will be this Sunday against Buffalo. With crap for linebackers in Buffalo, I fully expect Aaron Rodgers and Jermichael Finley to eat the Buffalo defense alive. Good times.

4. Baltimore Ravens (9) – The Ravens defense is crazy good. I know Joe Flacco and the offense struggled, but they won't be facing the Jets defense every week either. The Ravens are no doubt the favorite to win the AFC North and nothing I saw on Monday night can convince me otherwise. They're only going to get better.

5. Indianapolis Colts (2) – The Colts finally fell to Houston and their head-to-head record against the Texans dropped to 15-2. I fully expect the Colts to bounce back though. I know it's tempting to jump on the Texans bandwagon but let's hold off on that for a little while. To the Colts this was just another game; to the Texans it was much more. I know I have the Colts still ranked above the Texans and one game in September won't force me to change it….yet. In other Colts news, Bob Sanders is hurt again. Shocking.

6. Houston Texans (13) – Houston takes a huge leap in the rankings but as I said before, let's relax a little bit before booking their plane tickets to Dallas. They still have 15 more games including another against Indianapolis. I've seen the Bills crush the Patriots at home 31-0 so I know almost better than anybody that opening day victories don't always translate to regular season success.

7. San Diego Chargers (6) – I'd like to thank the Chargers for already giving me a loss in my eliminator pool. On the positive side for the Chargers, the Chiefs only won by a touchdown and had two big plays, something that might not always happen every Sunday. I have no doubt the Chargers will bounce back and eventually reclaim the division again.

8. Minnesota Vikings (5) – Take it as a sign of things to come this season for Minnesota. This isn't going to be a fairy tale season like last year. Brett Favre is old and he'll show his age this year. They could very well finish under .500 if they play like they did on Thursday.

9. New York Jets (8) – I know I've been saying this over and over again, but I'll continue to say it until everyone finally admits it. Mark Sanchez sucks. He is a liability to an otherwise good Jets team. The games they won last year (they only went 9-7!) were games won on the ground. The games they lost last year were lost through the air. He isn't good. People need to stop pretending that he is.

10. Tennessee Titans (15) – The Titans/Raiders was the game I should've picked in my eliminator pool. For some reason I was tricked into thinking the Raiders would be improved and Chris Johnson wouldn't run all over them. I've learned from my mistakes.

11. New York Giants (16) – In what could've been the most frustrating thing about Sunday, I randomly benched Hakeem Nicks for Devin Aromashodu. The difference between the two was a staggering 17 points. Luckily my team cruised to an easy win or I'd be kicking myself today as I write this.

12. Miami Dolphins (12) – Granted I didn't see any other early game on Sunday, but I'm willing to say that there isn't a team that looked worse while getting the win than the Dolphins did. The Bills were horrendous in every sense of the word and still, they were only down by three in the fourth quarter. That says a lot about the Dolphins. There is no way they are finishing better than third in the AFC East. Chad Henne has done nothing to show me that he should be a starting QB in the NFL.

13. Washington Redskins (14) – I wasn't overly impressed with the Redskins but they got the win and that's all that counts. Not a bad way to start the Shanahan/McNabb era in D.C. I'll be interested to see how they handle Houston in Week Two. It will go a long way in showing whether either team is ready to take the next step.

14. Dallas Cowboys (4) – The Cowboys really looked bad on Sunday night. That couldn't have made Jerry Jones happy since he's somehow convinced everyone that the Cowboys will be playing a home Super Bowl game.
Again, Tony Romo crumbled in a "big" game (I put it in quotes because it's only opening day, but a national TV audience qualifies as big) and looked awful. I know he isn't a terrible QB but at some point he's gonna have to play well when it counts.

15. Pittsburgh Steelers (19) – Some fans in Pittsburgh might have been hoping for the Steelers to rape the Falcons, but alas, they barely pulled it out in overtime. To their credit though, if they can muster 2-2 or even better without Roethlisberger, the Steelers will be in good shape for the rest of the season.

16. Seattle Seahawks (24) – Seattle is on my list of surprises of the week. I didn't think they were going to do anything this year but I may have to rethink that. Granted they were playing another NFC West team, but they looked pretty good overall. Not a bad start to the Pete Carroll era in Seattle for sure.

17. Chicago Bears (22) – The Bears got a gift win on Sunday. Pretty sad state of affairs in Chicago when they need to win by a technicality at home against Detroit. Jay Cutler threw for 372 yards which reaffirmed the fact that he's a glorified fantasy QB and nothing more.

18. Jacksonville Jaguars (25) – Apparently David Garrard played very well in the Jaguars victory over the Broncos. It's such a shame that nobody was there to see it.

19. Cincinnati Bengals (11) – By the time the Bengals decided to play some football, the Patriots were already up 31-3. I'm no football expert but I think the Bengals better settle down with all the Super Bowl talk if that's the best they've got. There are lots of good teams in the AFC, not just New England.

20. Atlanta Falcons (10) – The Falcons were given a gift when Pittsburgh announced they were starting Dennis Dixon and still found a way to look bad in the loss. It won't get any easier for Atlanta this week as they face Arizona at home. Wait, never mind, it's going to get much easier for Atlanta this week as they face Arizona at home.

21. Philadelphia Eagles (17) – Kevin Kolb had a pretty rough start in Philly but it was to be expected when opening up against the Packers. I must admit, Michael Vick put up some pretty good numbers when he got on the field exclusively. Amazing that he can't be a full-time starter and Trent Edwards can. Vick will most likely get the start this Sunday against Detroit and if he plays well and gets a victory, look out, ESPN will be stirring up a huge QB controversy in Philly. It's always fun when it's not your team.

22. Arizona Cardinals (23) – The Cardinals squeaked out the win against the lowly Rams. Good times in Arizona. They're gonna love the Derek Anderson era.

23. Denver Broncos (20) – I try to not overreact after one week but I'm starting to get the feeling that Josh McDaniels is going to drive the Broncos into the ground. He's already made some questionable decisions and if Denver can't win a game against Jacksonville, I don't know if they'll even be over .500 this season.

24. San Francisco 49ers (18) – Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the 49ers were supposed to be improved this year. From everything I saw on Sunday, there is no way they're winning the NFC West. Then again, it's only one week and it can be easily corrected, but it isn't looking good for the Niners. Especially since they have the Saints coming to town next week with a few extra days to rest and prepare. This one is gonna be ugly.

25. Carolina Panthers (21) – I haven't seen the injury report but it looks like the Jimmy Clausen era is going to start sooner than expected in Carolina. Now will be the time to see if everybody screwed up by letting him drop so far or if it was warranted and the Panthers wasted a draft pick. I'm sure the Bills fans will take notice either way.

26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (28) – The Buccaneers are a bad team but a win is a win. Beggars can't be choosers and I know the Bucs fans won't be complaining about starting the season out 1-0.

27. Detroit Lions (27) – I refuse to drop the Lions since they should've won on Sunday. Saying that Calvin Johnson didn't have that touchdown is a total joke. And honestly, if anybody argues that point, they deserve to have bad things happen to them.

28. Kansas City Chiefs (30) – Forgive me because I slept through the majority of this game (yes, I'm getting old), but it seemed like the Kansas City crowd was a ridiculous level of loud on Monday night. Either that or I had my TV turned up way too loud. Every time I woke up and caught pieces of the games, it seemed like I was waking up because the crowd was in full force. Is it possible that Arrowhead is back to being a dominating home field advantage for the Chiefs? All they need know is Christian Okoye to come back and they're all set.

29. Oakland Raiders (26) – Same old Raiders. They didn't even look like they belonged on the same field as Tennessee. Luckily for them they have St. Louis at home this Sunday. If they can't win that game, they'll be competing with Buffalo and Cleveland for the top spot in next year's draft.

30. St. Louis Rams (32) – Thanks to the Red Zone Channel and a pretty shaky afternoon schedule, I saw a large majority of the Rams/Cardinals game. Not only were the Rams not as bad as I expected, but Sam Bradford looks like he's going to be the real deal. He'll have his struggles but he looked like he belonged. His numbers will no doubt suffer this season since the Rams refuse to employ any NFL caliber receivers, but once he has those, he's gonna be a good one.

31. Cleveland Browns (31) – I know this might come as a shock to you, but Jake Delhomme had a 2:1 interception to touchdown ratio on Sunday. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

32. Buffalo Bills (29) – That took a long time. One week. That's all it took and I'm absolutely disgusted with the Bills. Listen, I knew the Bills were going to be bad this season. I didn't think they would be first overall pick bad, but I most definitely thought they were going to be under .500 bad. But what the Bills did on Sunday take my expectations and run them over like an innocent pedestrian in Grand Theft Auto. Trent Edwards couldn't have been worse if he was literally wearing a skirt and throwing the ball left handed. Along with Edwards, the Bills offensive line (if you want to even call them that) was worse than a high school team's line. What a joke. I'm already counting down the days till hockey season. I've also started scouting Jake Locker. I'm dead serious.