Peter King/SI Rankings - Indy #1/Steelers #12

[Atlanta Dan]

Peter King of SI.com has his pre-season power rankings out.

No suprise with Indy & Pats at #1 and #2

King thinks the AFC is loaded, with Chargers at #3, Denver at #6 & Ravens at #7.

King ranks the Steelers as follows:

12. Pittsburgh: New coach Mike Tomlin won't be Mr. Popular with his players; he's scheduled 15 two-a-day practices, which I'm guessing is the most of any team in the league. But you know what I like? Tomlin doesn't care. The players have to adjust to him, not the other way around. The key here will be the resurgence of Ben Roethlisberger and Tomlin's ability to mold his 4-3 thinking on defense with Dick LeBeau's 3-4, zone-blitzing scheme. The 3-4 and the zone blitz have never been in Tomlin's defensive package. We'll see how seamless he can make the transition to them.

Other observations - King has the Bengals at a mediocre #17, which makes you wonder how King can still explain his mancrush on Carson Palmer, whom King has said would be taken above any other player in the league if an open draft was held today

In addition to overrating the Ravens, i also think King has the Saints and Bears too high at #4 and #5. I guess he has to throw a few bones to the NFC.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...16/mmqb/1.html

[fansince'76]

Broncos at #6? Sorry, no way, not this year, at least.

[xXTheSteelKingsXx]

What the.......... He's got Detroit ranked rught below us. Does he believe that John Kitna's 10 win promise is gonna be true????????

[tony hipchest]

hes had pittsburgh ranked #15 or #16 for right behind carolina for quite a while now, even late rankings last year after pittsburgh destroyed carolina. glad to see him come to his senses and atleast put us rightfully above them. odd that he puts bungles 17, and when he has ben ranked #17 the steelers rise.

i also thought the jets were a bit 2 high. but then again i think most writers consider mangini the next great coach to win 3 sb's.

[SteelCityMan786]

Originally Posted by fansince'76

Broncos at #6? Sorry, no way, not this year, at least.

The Stoncos are 25 at best in my opinion. NO WAY 2 playoffs teams are coming out of the west this year.

[The Duke]

I don't know why I keep reading King's articles, they just make me wanna kick him. Oh well, it's just rankings, when football comes and the steelers and kicking ass of the field he'll shut up

[ChronoCross]

Power Rankings mean nothing. Once football starts, the battles on the field whats count. I stopped looking at power rankings along time ago.

[fansince'76]

Originally Posted by SteelCityMan786

The Stoncos are 25 at best in my opinion. NO WAY 2 playoffs teams are coming out of the west this year.

My biggest problem with this ranking is the fact that while their D has improved with the signing of Bly and the drafting of two very strong DL prospects, Cutler hasn't proven ANYTHING yet. I mentioned in another thread how often I am forced to watch the Broncos by virtue of living in Denver - with all the hype locally about Cutler, I expected to be impressed fairly quickly by his ability. As of right now, I'm still waiting for him to even remotely impress me. He's nothing but another Jake Plummer at this point as far as I'm concerned - IOW, another overrated journeyman QB.

[boLT fan]

Originally Posted by SteelCityMan786

The Stoncos are 25 at best in my opinion. NO WAY 2 playoffs teams are coming out of the west this year.

C'mon people! Why are you going to make me defend the Broncos! They have a great defense, plenty of weapons for Cutler, and those cut blocking cheap ass lineman should protect him well enough. Now that he has a year under his belt he should be a lot better. Not to mention they also added Travis Henry, who is extremely underrated. Six is definately a good spot for them, and two teams could very well come out of the west.

With that said, Broncos suck, Cutler sucks, Henry sucks, and I hope they only win 3 games.

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

In addition to overrating the Ravens, i also think King has the Saints and Bears too high at #4 and #5. I guess he has to throw a few bones to the NFC.

All those teams were playoffs teams last year and have done nothing but improve, why shouldn't they all be in the top 10? Ravens should be switched with the Saints, IMO. They will be a force again this year.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by boLT fan

C'mon people! Why are you going to make me defend the Broncos! They have a great defense, plenty of weapons for Cutler, and those cut blocking cheap ass lineman should protect him well enough. Now that he has a year under his belt he should be a lot better. Not to mention they also added Travis Henry, who is extremely underrated. Six is definately a good spot for them, and two teams could very well come out of the west.

With that said, Broncos suck, Cutler sucks, Henry sucks, and I hope they only win 3 games.



All those teams were playoffs teams last year and have done nothing but improve, why shouldn't they all be in the top 10? Ravens should be switched with the Saints, IMO. They will be a force again this year.

I do not believe King is rating based on the best record but on the best teams.

Taking our apparent disagreements in order, I think the Saints will face tougher competition in their divison this season together with having to play a division winner schedule;

After the talk of "will the Bears go undefeated" simmered down they were mediocre in the second half of the year, unmasked as having a terrible QB in the Super Bowl (a QB is the straw that stirs the drink in the NFL) , and have a major pending problem with Briggs dissatisfaction with his contract;

Ravens improved at running back, but lost Thomas at LB - add in McNair, Ray-Ray, and the OL being another year older (McNair appeared to age 5 years during the Colts playoff game) + being in a competitive division where no team has won back to back division titles since the 2001-02 Steelers and FWIW I see a slide. Plus the Ravens are the one team in the league I absolutely despise and for which I wish nothing but the worst.