StainlessStill
09-28-2010, 11:07 AM
Some teams mixing and matching this week as well as teams cracking the top 10 while overlapping and stepping over some teams in the ranking process while some fall out of the top 10 due to poor- mediocre performances in week 3 against bad ball clubs that are up in the air.
StainlessStill's week 3 Power Rankings:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (5): I can't pin-point a better OVERALL team at this point in time. Everyone now knows of the return of the suffocating Steelers defense is instilling fear across the league and everyone is now taking notice. In 3 games, the Steelers D only gave up 2 lousy touchdowns, which both came in garbage time. They finally broke out on offense scoring 38 points with Charlie Batch leading the way and now have a huge divisional test with Baltimore coming into town for an AFC North showdown. Hines Ward said it best: "Noone wants us to be 4-0 with a mad Ben coming back."
2. Indianapolis Colts (4): How good is Peyton Manning? Answer: Damn good. The way he takes over a game is special to watch and watching him play pitch and catch with his supporting cast is a treat as well. The way Manning can manipulate a defense is amazing and if he can keep this up, which he will, then the Colts will be back on their way to another 12 win season and could possibly duke it out with Pittsburgh all season for early home field competition. A legit contender, even with Bob Sanders out of the defensive lineup.
3. NY Jets (6): What a difference a two week swing can make for this offense to show up. Mark Sanchez is proving to the league that he got the good and has matured way past his years dating back from a week ago. If he can limit his mistakes and take care of the football the way he's been doing in recent weeks (0 interceptions) and with Santonio Holmes coming back soon, the Jets will now have the balance they are looking for to go along with that mean defense on the other side of the ball. Winning on the road in Miami signified the arrival of putting their bite where their mouth is in the EAST.
4. New Orleans Saints (1): Tough break for this New Orleans team against a team that is poised to make some noise in their division. Missing a "gimmie" 20 some yard field goal in overtime surely is a letdown, esp in a big divisional matchup. Now New Orleans is down 1 to Atlanta in the division and now has to go to Atlanta down the road to which should set up some NFC South fireworks. 2 weeks in a row they caught the breaks to eek out wins against Minny and San Fran. This was bound to happen to the champs sooner or later but they should rebound fairly quickly. No panic in Nawlins.
5. Philadelphia Eagles (9): Michael Vick is completley shredding defense's this year, and to the horror of his opponents, it's not with his legs. Vick is playing like the Pro-Bowl quarterback he once was but is looking impressively accurate in doing so in going downfield with the football. He made atleast 6-7 throws last week that not many QB's could have made. I'm still holding off and personally not jumping on the Vick bandwagon just yet. He's started against 2 pathetic defense's in Detroit and Jacksonville and will now have a tough test this week with a aggressive defense against Washington, who's should be out to prove something after losing 2 in a row.
6. Green Bay Packers (3): Green Bay and Chicago matchups are always a hard nosed football game, but the Packers committed 17 penalties on Monday Night and 2 straight personal foul penalties back to back on the Bears game winning drive to seal their bad fortune. They played Chicago tough on the road and should have came up with turnovers, but their undisciplined nature cost them in a close divisional game. A bright spot though was Aaron Rodgers pin-point accuracy and that O-line keeping his jersey spotless.
7. Chicago Bears (N/A): The Bears, not the Packers OR Vikings, are the ones sitting atop the NFC North. They have a record of 3-0 and are 2 up in the division early. Jay Cutler had a okay game and got lucky on some Packer penalties, but through the most part, he got through the night and only threw one interception after throwing 6 last year in the season opener.Cutler got some breaks, but it was the Bears defense that allowed Chicago to pull away with the W forcing a late game turnover. The tandem of Urlacher, Peppers, and Briggs is looking mighty good.
8. Atlanta Falcons (N/A): The Falcons now have the early tiebreaker against the Saints, went into the Dome and punched Bree's and the Champions of the South in the mouth. Matt Ryan is starting to get into sync and Tony Gonzalez is still a valuable weapon in the passing game. If Atlanta can hold off the rest of the league for the time being and beat New Orleans at home weeks down the road, then could be poised to be the upset winner in the NFC South. Solid football team.
9. Houston Texans (2): The Texans, sitting at 2-0 coming back home after a thrilling come from behind victory in OT in Washington the week before, seemed to be out of gas against a fired up Dallas Cowboys team looking for their first win of the season. A tough task for any team to come home to but if they would of took it to Dallas to go to 3-0, then Houston could of been well on their way. Now, they must rebound and show the world they can come back and win after being defeated in convincing fashion.
10. Baltimore Ravens (10): Baltimore needed a breakout performance from Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin to beat the hapless Cleveland Browns by only a 7 point margin at home (Cleveland ALMOST answered my upset call this week.) Baltimore now has to limp into Pittsburgh this week for the game of the week, and they could be without their starting tailback in Ray Rice. Their defense is still playing tough ball, but they can be exploited this week with a revved up Pittsburgh team and the surging legs of Rashard Mendenhall on the radar.
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On the brink:
New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins
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Up for grabs:
Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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Turning some heads:
St.Louis Rams, Detroit Lions
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Disappointing efforts:
San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49'ers, N.Y Giants
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Work in progress:
Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers
StainlessStill's week 3 Power Rankings:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (5): I can't pin-point a better OVERALL team at this point in time. Everyone now knows of the return of the suffocating Steelers defense is instilling fear across the league and everyone is now taking notice. In 3 games, the Steelers D only gave up 2 lousy touchdowns, which both came in garbage time. They finally broke out on offense scoring 38 points with Charlie Batch leading the way and now have a huge divisional test with Baltimore coming into town for an AFC North showdown. Hines Ward said it best: "Noone wants us to be 4-0 with a mad Ben coming back."
2. Indianapolis Colts (4): How good is Peyton Manning? Answer: Damn good. The way he takes over a game is special to watch and watching him play pitch and catch with his supporting cast is a treat as well. The way Manning can manipulate a defense is amazing and if he can keep this up, which he will, then the Colts will be back on their way to another 12 win season and could possibly duke it out with Pittsburgh all season for early home field competition. A legit contender, even with Bob Sanders out of the defensive lineup.
3. NY Jets (6): What a difference a two week swing can make for this offense to show up. Mark Sanchez is proving to the league that he got the good and has matured way past his years dating back from a week ago. If he can limit his mistakes and take care of the football the way he's been doing in recent weeks (0 interceptions) and with Santonio Holmes coming back soon, the Jets will now have the balance they are looking for to go along with that mean defense on the other side of the ball. Winning on the road in Miami signified the arrival of putting their bite where their mouth is in the EAST.
4. New Orleans Saints (1): Tough break for this New Orleans team against a team that is poised to make some noise in their division. Missing a "gimmie" 20 some yard field goal in overtime surely is a letdown, esp in a big divisional matchup. Now New Orleans is down 1 to Atlanta in the division and now has to go to Atlanta down the road to which should set up some NFC South fireworks. 2 weeks in a row they caught the breaks to eek out wins against Minny and San Fran. This was bound to happen to the champs sooner or later but they should rebound fairly quickly. No panic in Nawlins.
5. Philadelphia Eagles (9): Michael Vick is completley shredding defense's this year, and to the horror of his opponents, it's not with his legs. Vick is playing like the Pro-Bowl quarterback he once was but is looking impressively accurate in doing so in going downfield with the football. He made atleast 6-7 throws last week that not many QB's could have made. I'm still holding off and personally not jumping on the Vick bandwagon just yet. He's started against 2 pathetic defense's in Detroit and Jacksonville and will now have a tough test this week with a aggressive defense against Washington, who's should be out to prove something after losing 2 in a row.
6. Green Bay Packers (3): Green Bay and Chicago matchups are always a hard nosed football game, but the Packers committed 17 penalties on Monday Night and 2 straight personal foul penalties back to back on the Bears game winning drive to seal their bad fortune. They played Chicago tough on the road and should have came up with turnovers, but their undisciplined nature cost them in a close divisional game. A bright spot though was Aaron Rodgers pin-point accuracy and that O-line keeping his jersey spotless.
7. Chicago Bears (N/A): The Bears, not the Packers OR Vikings, are the ones sitting atop the NFC North. They have a record of 3-0 and are 2 up in the division early. Jay Cutler had a okay game and got lucky on some Packer penalties, but through the most part, he got through the night and only threw one interception after throwing 6 last year in the season opener.Cutler got some breaks, but it was the Bears defense that allowed Chicago to pull away with the W forcing a late game turnover. The tandem of Urlacher, Peppers, and Briggs is looking mighty good.
8. Atlanta Falcons (N/A): The Falcons now have the early tiebreaker against the Saints, went into the Dome and punched Bree's and the Champions of the South in the mouth. Matt Ryan is starting to get into sync and Tony Gonzalez is still a valuable weapon in the passing game. If Atlanta can hold off the rest of the league for the time being and beat New Orleans at home weeks down the road, then could be poised to be the upset winner in the NFC South. Solid football team.
9. Houston Texans (2): The Texans, sitting at 2-0 coming back home after a thrilling come from behind victory in OT in Washington the week before, seemed to be out of gas against a fired up Dallas Cowboys team looking for their first win of the season. A tough task for any team to come home to but if they would of took it to Dallas to go to 3-0, then Houston could of been well on their way. Now, they must rebound and show the world they can come back and win after being defeated in convincing fashion.
10. Baltimore Ravens (10): Baltimore needed a breakout performance from Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin to beat the hapless Cleveland Browns by only a 7 point margin at home (Cleveland ALMOST answered my upset call this week.) Baltimore now has to limp into Pittsburgh this week for the game of the week, and they could be without their starting tailback in Ray Rice. Their defense is still playing tough ball, but they can be exploited this week with a revved up Pittsburgh team and the surging legs of Rashard Mendenhall on the radar.
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On the brink:
New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins
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Up for grabs:
Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turning some heads:
St.Louis Rams, Detroit Lions
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Disappointing efforts:
San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49'ers, N.Y Giants
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Work in progress:
Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers