NFL Power Rankings – Week Two


1. New Orleans Saints (1) – It won't always be pretty, but it doesn't have to be when you're the defending champs. It will be interesting to see how much they miss Reggie Bush in the next six weeks.

2. Green Bay Packers (3) – There might be some people doubting this because at halftime against Buffalo, it was only a 13-7 lead. Trust me; the Bills were never once in the game. The Packers just toyed with them a little bit before putting the hammer down. If it wasn't for a big Charles Woodson pass interference penalty, the Packers would've easily shut out the Bills. After seeing what their running game looks like without Ryan Grant, the Packers might seriously want to consider trading for Marshawn Lynch. Trading Lynch would make so much sense for both teams, but like usual, I expect the Bills to not do it for that very reason.

3. Houston Texans (6) – At one point on Sunday I thought the Texans bandwagon was veering off the road and headed for a cliff, but Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson quickly got it back on track. Houston needs to keep things in perspective but at this point; they look like the real deal, and have a handful of winnable games before their rematch with Indianapolis in Week Eight.

4. Indianapolis Colts (5) – For those people that might've thought they Colts were on the decline (Bill Simmons), they pretty much put that theory to bed Sunday night against the Giants. At one point, the Giants didn't even look like they belonged on the same field. I honestly thought Archie was going to come down on the field and ask Peyton to stop picking on his little brother.

5. New England Patriots (2) – I know the logic doesn't necessarily make sense, having the Patriots ranked ahead of the Jets even after they lost head-to-head, but hear me out. Last week I had New England at the two spot and still picked the Jets to win. The Patriots are still the better team but this game had Patriots loss written all over it. Now that the Patriots are nice and mad, they get to host the Bills in Week Three. Awesome.

6. San Diego Chargers (7) – I was in and out of the Chargers and Jaguars game but I swear every time RedZone cut it for an update, they were showing another turnover by either team. The score indicates a huge blowout but it was a lot uglier than that. The Chargers have some work to do.

7. New York Jets (9) – I was very impressed with the catch the slouch had on Revis Island. Of course, Revis immediately cried about his hamstring and ran off the field. Those seeds were planted early enough in the week though, so we pretty much all saw that one coming. Assuming his injury is legit, he deserves it for skipping out on training camp and all of the preseason.

8. Baltimore Ravens (4) – The Ravens are going to drop out quickly if they can't muster some sort of competent offense. Joe Flacco has been downright awful in the first two games. I chalked the first game up to him facing the Jets tough defense, but I'm not sure what his excuse was for yesterday. Throwing four interceptions is expected from someone like Brett Favre, not so much from Flacco. Through the two games, Flacco has one touchdown, five interceptions and a 41.2 rating. That is actually worse than Trent Edwards, if you can believe that.

9. Miami Dolphins (12) – Miami benefitted from Favre being Favre on Sunday, despite their best efforts in losing the game. The highlight for me had to be Tony Sparano wearing sunglasses for a game being played in the dome. We'll find out a lot about the Dolphins in the next two weeks and if they are for real or not. I still have my doubts.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers (15) – Pittsburgh is in the perfect situation right now. They'll be looking at 3-1 or even 4-0 when Ben Roethlisberger returns, but his replacement(s) have been so mediocre that he'll still be welcomed back with open arms. I'm pretty much in sports hell right now.

11. Chicago Bears (17) – I'm sure to me and everyone else outside of Chicago, the Bears 2-0 start has been a very big surprise. Even if they are for real, I see no way that they are going to beat Green Bay next Monday night.

12. Cincinnati Bengals (19) – Cincy got a big win on Sunday and now have a real good shot at running off three straight wins at the very least and having a nice 4-1 start to the season. This is all despite Carson Palmer's attempt to play like absolute crap even with Chad Ochocino and T.O. lining up for him. And here I thought he would be a decent sleeper in fantasy for my backup QB spot.

13. Washington Redskins (13) – I almost feel bad for the Redskins, who basically lost the game on a hokey timeout by Houston. I hate how they can call the timeout as the ball is being snapped, but hey, I guess rules are rules. Washington still finds themselves tied for first place so they aren't in bad shape by any stretch. They might want to look at their pass defense though.

14. Tennessee Titans (10) – The Titans had every chance in the world to win the game on Sunday and still found a way to lose. Tennessee turned the ball over seven times and still had a shot at the end of the game to tie. This was a textbook example of simply giving away the game. Awful effort by the Titans.

15. Minnesota Vikings (8) – Speaking of awful, Brett Favre ladies and gentlemen! His four turnovers yesterday were directly responsible for the loss and the Vikings 0-2 start. Favre has started the season off with one touchdown, four interceptions and a 56.1 rating. It's good to see things back to normal for the NFL's interception king.

16. New York Giants (11) – Granted I feel asleep for a bit of the first, second, third and fourth quarter; I never once saw a moment when the Giants were in the game. Their defense was chewed up by Peyton and the Colts' running game. I'm hoping the Giants and their fans are enjoying the Perry Fewell era so far.

17. Philadelphia Eagles (21) – The Eagles let Detroit hang around way too long and got chewed up by Jahvid Best and Shaun Hill, but they still got the win and should be encouraged by Michael Vick. Seeing that Vick is a free agent at the end of the season, they might want to consider trading him before the deadline to cash in on their investment. Of course, they'll need to know for sure that Kevin Kolb is healthy and not going to suck first.

18. Atlanta Falcons (20) – The Falcons took their opening day loss out on the lowly Cardinals to the tune of 41-7. Before we get too excited, please remember, they only beat up on Arizona. Their first real test will come next week at New Orleans.

19. Denver Broncos (23) – Wow. I hope Denver enjoyed their victory next week because the next four games are against Indianapolis, Tennessee, Baltimore and the Jets. That has 1-5 written all over it.

20. Seattle Seahawks (16) – Yesterday's loss to Denver was so predictable. After their opening day blowout of San Francisco, people were piling on Seattle, almost forgetting that they are still an NFC West team. I'll be shocked if anything better than 7-9 wins that division. I wish the Bills could make the switch.

21. Dallas Cowboys (14) – After seeing the Cowboys for the first two weeks, I'm fully convinced that people picked them for the Super Bowl strictly because they are hosting it this year. They have looked awful so far and I'm not sure if they'll get any better.

22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (26) – Since Tampa Bay was expected to be one of the worst teams in the league, I couldn't be more thrilled with the fact that they are 2-0 to start out the season. I'm pretty sure the Bills won't even get two wins, so that is just one less team competing with them for the first overall pick.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars (18) – With a handful of QBs playing horribly yesterday, David Garrard did his best to get into the action by playing like his usually horrendous self. Sometimes I'm baffled how the NFL, the most elite football league on the planet, can't even find 32 good QBs to start for each team. It's amazing.

24. Kansas City Chiefs (28) – What I said about Tampa Bay goes just as well for Kansas City. I just glanced at their upcoming schedule and realized they play Buffalo on Halloween. Talk about scary.

25. San Francisco 49ers (24) – All is not lost with the 0-2 start by the Niners assuming seven wins takes the West. To their credit, they lost in the last seconds to the top team and basically only lost because they repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with turnovers.

26. Carolina Panthers (25) – That took a long time. The Jimmy Clausen era is already set to begin this week. Kudos to Carolina for pulling the trigger early.

27. Detroit Lions (27) – I've gotta hand it to the Lions, even with them sucking, at least they are putting points on the board and keeping the games relatively close. If they are going to disappoint the fans, at least give them a show first. Jahvid Best has pretty much wrapped up the offensive rookie of the year award after only two weeks.

28. Oakland Raiders (29) – It's only two weeks into the season and Jason Campbell was already benched. Remember when I wanted Buffalo to trade for him? Yikes. Maybe I should stop talking.

29. Arizona Cardinals (22) – If Larry Fitzgerald needs any advice on what it's like to play for a garbage QB, I'm sure he can give Lee Evans a phone call. At least Fitz had the opportunity to play with Kurt Warner before being bombarded with garbage.

30. St. Louis Rams (30) – I need the Rams to get a win or two so that Buffalo can lock up the first overall pick. Luckily they do play in the NFC West so there is plenty of opportunities to get a win. At least there is promise in St. Louis with Sam Bradford. Must be nice.

31. Cleveland Browns (31) – I honestly see three wins at best for Cleveland this season, which isn't good news for the Bills. Luckily one of those three wins is against Buffalo so not only will it give Cleveland the victory, but also in the tie-breaker in the scenario where they both finish with the same record. Of course, that would be assuming that the Bills can even must one win at this point. And that leads us to….

32. Buffalo Bills (32) – I was watching an episode of Family Guy this weekend, the one with the android Miley Cyrus destroying all of Quahog. At one point, the Evil Monkey runs out and says, "Ms. Cyrus, I ask you to stop what you're doing. I don't just mean this, I mean everything: the show, the music--it's all just awful."

That about sums up my feeling on the Bills right now.

(Additional post-Edwards benching note: I give 10/10 stars to Chan Gailey for this move. Fitzpatrick isn't necessarily an upgrade, but Gailey recognized that Edwards was horrendous the first two games and made the decision quickly. This is a decision that would've taken Dick Jauron weeks or a decision he wouldn't have made it all. Cheers to being on the Chanwagon.)

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