THE OTHER 31: NFL Power Rankings, Week 2
You once knew them as Power Rankings. Henceforth, they shall be known as THE OTHER 31. They are slanted, they are biased, they are a completely unfiltered look into the Jaguars’ competition around the NFL. I hope you love them. I hope you hate them. Care to argue or join in the heckling, I direct you to the comments section below.
#1. [1] Green Bay Packers (3-0): Rolling right through the schedule, illustrious defenses/fierce division opponents be damned.
#2. [3] New Orleans Saints (2-1): When they’re not playing Green Bay, they look damn good. Nice to see a team that’s used to playing with the lead pull off a come from behind victory.
#3. [2] New England Patriots (2-1): Yup, this defense is definitely a problem now. The Patriots picked like 14 RB’s in with their cornucopia of 2nd round draft picks this year – they couldn’t use one of those to bolster their crappy pass rush and crappy secondary that have persisted for years?
#4. [8] New York Jets (2-1): Not sure what got into Rex Ryan’s defense, but they vacuumed up everything Luke McCown put in the air, even while the Sanchize was doing his best to give the game away. As celebrated as they are, you forget how suffocating this defense is until you watch them tear your heart out for all 60 minutes.
#5. [10] Atlanta Falcons (1-1): A lot of people are going to say the Falcons weren’t impressive in their Sunday night win over the Eagles, citing Matt Ryan’s inability to get the WR’s involved, the secondary’s inability to contain Maclin (despite DJax being sidelined), or the fact that Vick was a fumble machine and went down early. I saw a Falcons team that put the hype behind them and stuck to their plan through a rollercoaster of a game. A solid “back on track” win for Atlanta.
#6. [5] Philadelphia Eagles (1-1): And then you have Philadelphia, whose offense is near-legendary in terms of speed and playmaking ability (aka Madden-ness), but there are definitely some weaknesses beginning to expose themselves. Namely, a very weak linebacking corps and a Michael Vick who at times Sunday looked like he was trying to recreate the freak athlete, highlight reel machine of yesteryear, rather than stick to what made him successful in 2010 – staying calm in the pocket, making reads, and running when it makes sense.
#7. [3] Baltimore Ravens (2-1): Someone forgot to show up on the gridiron after a very emotional win against Pittsburgh. Never underestimate an NFL opponent. Shame on you, Ravens.
#8. [4] Chicago Bears (1-2): Playing the Saints and the Pack in back to back weeks is somewhat unfortunate, since Chicago will still be in the playoff mix this year, but all of a sudden, the offense like it’s headed for a black hole. Obviously, Cutler is taking a weekly shellacking and the running game is just straight doodoo.
#9. [12] Detroit Lions (3-0): The Lions? One ahead of Pittsburgh? IS THIS A JOKE? No, it’s not. Because if the Lions played the Steelers right now, they would win. Definitively.
#10. [6] Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1): Yes, they dropped four spots in a week that they shut their opponent out. The Lions, Falcons, and Jets all proved their better than a Steeler’s squad that suddenly looks very old and yet again has a wretched offensive line.
