NFL Power Rankings – Week Three


1. Indianapolis Colts (4) – Through three games, Peyton Manning has thrown for 1013 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. Who loves having him on his fantasy team? This guy.

2. New England Patriots (5) – If I were a Patriots fan, I would be very worried about their defense. They pretty much made the Bills look great yesterday. They won't always have the benefit of facing the Bills so they might want to fix that real quick.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (10) – I'm sure some will argue that the Steelers should be in the top spot since they are one of the three remaining undefeated teams, but I'll hold off on that for just a little while. Pittsburgh's defense has looked like the best in the league for sure, their offense, not so much. I know they hung 38 points on the board last week, but they were also playing Tampa Bay. Let's not kid ourselves; the Bucs really aren't that good of a team. I'm sure the offense will improve with Ben returning from his rape suspension, but again, I'll wait and see. I'm pretty sure the two teams listed above along with the one listed below are still much better overall.

4. Green Bay Packers (2) – I hate moving Green Bay down because I think they are the best team in the NFC, if not the whole league. They lost on the road by three points to a team that benefited from 18 penalties. Some of which were awful calls. The pass interference call the Bears got in the last two minutes was an absolute joke. Jay Cutler had nowhere to throw the ball so he just heaved it up Favre style into double coverage and hoped for a penalty, which he got. All this aside, the Packers coaches also dropped the ball in the last minute. Instead of stuffing Matt Forte on the one yard line and letting Chicago bleed the clock down, they should've just allowed him to score and given Aaron Rodgers 50 seconds or more to tie the game. That is where the game was officially lost.

5. New Orleans Saints (1) – The Saints have really yet to look good in the first three weeks of the season so it was only a matter of time before they lost a close one. Luckily for them, they have four cupcakes coming up on their schedule and should be able to fix things rather quickly.

6. New York Jets (7) – Here is what I find amazing about Braylon Edwards and the lack of discipline from the Jets and the NFL. Edwards was forced to miss the first 17 offensive plays for the Jets after blowing twice the legal limit early Tuesday morning and getting a DWI. Wow, what a way to send a message to the kids who follow the game. Even more so, it's impressive on Edwards' part because he's a millionaire athlete that can afford transportation, especially since it happened New York City. You know, a city notorious for having a bazillion cabs at all times. But here is the most amazing fact. Edwards drank with Donte Stallworth the night Stallworth drove drunk and killed a man crossing the street. He literally learned nothing. How is this not getting more attention in the media?

7. Houston Texans (3) – It's very possible that the Texans bought into their own hype and fell flat on their face against their in-state rivals on Sunday. That's ok; they have the Raiders coming up this week which is the perfect bounce back situation.

8. Baltimore Ravens (8) – The Ravens won at home against the Browns. In other words, business as usual. They haven't really impressed me as much as I expected this year. It will be interesting to see how they do against Pittsburgh this Sunday. If they lose and allow Pittsburgh to start 4-0 without Ben Roethlisberger, it's uh-oh time in Baltimore.

9. Philadelphia Eagles (17) – I would have to say, this blog gives me a pretty open forum to look like an idiot. Ranking the Eagles is yet another example of that. I whined and complained when I said I was already starting Michael Vick on one of my fantasy teams in week two. Since that time, Vick has lit it up to the tune of 575 yards, five passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and zero interceptions in the past two games. I have to be honest, I would be thrilled if he was playing for the Bills right now. Talk about a flip-flop on my part.

10. Chicago Bears (11) – I'm reluctantly moving the Bears up because I'm pretty sure they shouldn't be 3-0. They won't always get the benefit of home field refs so they should really be enjoying last night's victory. Jay Cutler was average at best and the Bears' running game was non-existent. I'm not impressed.

11. Atlanta Falcons (18) – The Falcons got a huge road win and will surely be sending their thank you cards to Garrett Hartley. If Atlanta could've mustered ONE touchdown in week one, they would be sitting at 3-0 right now.

12. Miami Dolphins (9) – So let me get this straight. Miami wins their first two games by a combined score of 29-20 against two teams with a combined record of 1-5. Then they come home and face a good team and allow Mark Sanchez to shred them 256 yards and three touchdowns. You know what we call a team like this? A pretender.

13. San Diego Chargers (6) – I can't even believe I'm putting a 1-2 team this high in the rankings. I'm giving the Bolts one more chance to prove me right. They have this habit of starting out slow before ripping off a series of wins, so I have to assume they will do the same this season. If they happen to lose in the next three weeks (Arizona, Oakland, St. Louis), I'm dropping them for the foreseeable future.

14. Cincinnati Bengals (12) – The Bengals got the win to move to 2-1 but it wasn't exactly a pretty performance. I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but Carson Palmer is looking worse as each week passes. Wasn't he elite a few years ago? What happened?

15. Tennessee Titans (14) – I know it's not normal to drop a team after a win, but at this point it's simply a numbers game. I honestly feel that the 14 teams listed above are better, regardless of what happened yesterday.

16. Minnesota Vikings (15) – While the Vikings finally ended their losing streak and into the win column, it wasn't a performance that made me think they are anywhere close to a playoff team. They beat the winless Lions at home thanks to Adrian Peterson and his 160 yard, two touchdown performance. For the season, Brett Favre has two touchdowns and six interceptions. Name me a team that can win consistently with those numbers.

17. Dallas Cowboys (21) – The Cowboys finally got a win on the road against the previously undefeated Houston Texans. Who would've seen that coming? Oh yeah, I did. Dallas still has a lot of work to do if they are going to be a playoff team but they have two weeks to build on this win before they face the Titans in their next game.

18. Washington Redskins (13) – Washington dropped the ball big time on Sunday. I wrote about it in my picks but they basically had to win the game in St. Louis (a very winnable game I might add). They are now 1-2 and have four difficult games in the next four weeks. The honeymoon might be over in Washington real quick.

19. Kansas City Chiefs (24) – I learned a few years ago when the Bills started out 4-1 not to get too hyper and overreact to good starts. This is the exact reason why I still have Kansas City at 19 in the rankings. Fact is, they've beaten three teams with a combined 1-8 record so far in the season.

20. Seattle Seahawks (20) – Sure, the Seahawks won and moved to 2-1 and first place in their division. And I really don't plan on moving them any higher. Sorry, they are an NFC West team and I refuse to give any of those teams any credit whatsoever.

21. New York Giants (16) – For two straight weeks the Giants have pretty much rolled over on Sunday. It doesn't take a genius to know that you can't win games when you lose the turnover battle 3-0.

22. Denver Broncos (19) – As each week passes, I become more and more convinced that Josh McDaniels has no idea what he is doing in Denver. But hey, don't believe me. Maybe when they start the season out 1-5 you will start listening.

23. St. Louis Rams (30) – I've been saying for the first two weeks now that the Rams really don't look that bad. They are a young team with a rookie QB learning on the job. And with all of that in mind, it's still September and they have already matched their win total from the entire 2009 season. Yes, you just read that correctly.

24. Arizona Cardinals (29) – There really isn't much I like about Arizona, except Larry Fitzgerald. I really don't even know how I bumped them up this high, seeing that they only won because the Raiders can't convert easy field goals. Nevertheless, their up in the rankings for this week (until they play San Diego next week).

25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (22) – Thank you Tampa Bay. Because of you, Steeler fever is rampant where I live, which means I'm slowly slipping into a deep depression. For anybody that thought that Tampa Bay might be good, think again. They just made Charlie Batch look like a good QB. Yuck.

26. Jacksonville Jaguars (23) – Do you know what week I'm circling on my calendar? It's week five when Jacksonville makes a trip up to Buffalo. If the Bills play like they did on Sunday and the Jaguars play like they always do, we're looking at Buffalo's first win of the season. Book it.

27. Detroit Lions (27) – The Lions lack of running game combined with their lack of running defense is the main reason they lost this game. Detroit is making games competitive but sometimes that just isn't enough. Getting Matthew Stafford back will help, whenever that happens to be.

28. Carolina Panthers (26) – It wasn't exactly a good start to the Jimmy Clausen era in Carolina. Clausen finished 16/33, 188 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception and a 53.6 rating. I know it's one game but if that is what Carolina can expect from Clausen, then I totally understand why he dropped so far in the draft.

29. Oakland Raiders (28) – I still can't believe the Raiders lost this game. Of course, I suppose it's bound to happen when your field goal kicker goes 3/6 on the day. In an easy place to kick like Arizona, there aren't many excuses for Sea Bass on that one.

30. Cleveland Browns (31) – I'll give the Browns credit. They went on the road against one of the better teams in the league and actually had a 17-14 lead at one point. Against a top three defense in the league, Peyton Hillis ran for 144 yards and Seneca Wallace finished with 103 QB rating. There were a lot more positives than negatives for Cleveland in this game.

31. Buffalo Bills (32) – Yes, I'm moving the Bills up despite another loss to the Patriots. I'm moving them up because they finally looked like a professional football team. In the first two games, the Bills scored a combined 17 points and had 352 yards. COMBINED IN TWO GAMES. Yesterday on the road in New England, the Bills scored 30 points and had 374 yards of offense. This was due in large part to the switch at QB which really goes to show just how bad Trent Edwards is. In fact, the Bills recognized that and cut Captain Checkdown. Given the past history of the Bills, this move was actually quite a shock to most.

32. San Francisco 49ers (25) – Man, the 49ers are bad. I know they almost best the Saints at home but almost doesn't count. Truth is, the 49ers are 0-3 and have been outscored 88-38 in those three games. While winning their division is still a definite option, things aren't looking good. The team they are trailing by two games already hammered them once, 31-6. Maybe Mike Singletary isn't the great coach we all thought he was. Interesting.

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