Tuesday, September 24, 2013

NFL Week 3 Power Rankings

1. Denver Broncos

They've dominated all of their games. This offense compares to some of the best of all time. And the Von-Miller-less defense is nearly elite as well. The Broncos are the class of the NFL.

2. Seattle Seahawks

The only other elite team in the NFL, it seems. As in, nobody else in the entire league looks impressive at all. You'll see when you look at who's #3. But back to the Seahawks. The passing game is dominant, the defense is great (the second string defense, not so much. It looked fairly well matched with the Jag's offense), and the running game is mediocre. After being the #3 rushing team in the league last year, their O-line is missing a lot of blocks this year, resulting in a bottom-10 ypc for the team that leads the league in attempts (They should probably pass it more). This is the biggest difference between 1 and 2. But it's not a small drop off. The Broncos are much better than the Seahawks.

3. New York Jets

They deserve this spot. Wilkerson and the defense have been as good as anyone this year, and the offense is starting to look reasonably good, too, with Geno Smith leading the way (and improving). I hate to make this comparison, but the Jets look reminiscent of last year's Seahawks.

4. Philadelphia Eagles

I've mentioned a lot that I don't care about turnovers. I'm much more impressed that they kept the game close despite the -6 TO differential. They were the better team out there. That offense minus the fluke plays still looks dominant.

5. Houston Texans

They had some bad luck against the Ravens, and the score ended up way worse than it should have been. The Texans still have the best defensive player in the world (by a lot), and they'll probably be the Seahawks' hardest game all year. That matchup looks as good as any next weekend.

6. New York Giants

They were bad. That loss wasn't bad luck: The Giants just played terribly (and the Panthers played really well). But one game doesn't make a season, and they still have the pieces in place to compete with anyone from here on out (except maybe those top 2).

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Surprised to see them so high? Maybe not, considering the team in front of them, but still. Their defense has been really good, and while the O looks bad, they've played against two of the league's best defenses. They could easily be 2-1 as well.

8. Pittsburg Steelers

More bottom feeders in the top 10! But that offense came alive on Sunday night. Now they just have to repeat it while not turning the ball over all the time.

9. Cincinnati Bengals

Good win for them in a really interesting game. Despite the hiccup in the middle, they dismantled the Packers' (admittedly bad) defense, and no one is expected to stop Rodgers and co. They beat the Packers the same way the 49ers did: in a shootout. But they won because their defense held up just enough.

10. New England Patriots

Week 3 was the first time they looked any good all season. Not to say their offense looked that good week 3. But they're winning the way they did back when they actually won Superbowls. Dominant defense. Let's see if they can keep it up.

11. Oakland Raiders

They played the Broncos pretty close. Kinda. But Pryor still looks like a game changer, and you can't blame them for failing to slow down an offense that nobody else has slowed down either. This team is not nearly as bad as people are making them out to be.

12. Green Bay Packers

This team has a fun game every week. As long as watching good defensive football doesn't matter to you. These guys are like a worse version of their 15-1 all-offense-no-defense team. Which still makes them pretty good.

13. Cleveland Browns

Despite the shootout nature of their last game, I'm still much more impressed with their defense than their offense. 6 sacks while holding AD to 3.5 ypc is impressive.

14. Carolina Panthers

They played really well on Sunday. Maybe the best of any team all season. Unfortunately, they didn't the first two weeks, so we still need to see a little more from them before we give start giving them too much credit.

15. Detroit Lions

I love this offense. Well, I love their passing offense. A lot. That alone can win you a lot of games in this league. And that alone is what they have. This is another team that will be in a lot of fun games.

16. San Francisco 49ers

God, how do you lose by 20 to the Colts??? To be fair, they didn't even get that badly outplayed, but the Colts, despite what the media will have you believe, are not a good team. I am worried about the passing game though. They just don't have the receivers to do damage against anyone (except for the Packers, who can't even defend a hail mary against a 5'10'' receiver).

17. New Orleans Saints

The defense (well, at least their passing defense) looked a lot better this week, and the offense looked pretty good, too. But not that good. They just throw the ball a lot when they're already up.

18. Dallas Cowboys

They finally looked good! On offense and defense! Then again, it's the Rams, who really aren't that good (you're going to have to scroll down this list a long way to find them). But beating any team as badly as they did is impressive (unlike the Cowboys' first 2 games).

19. Buffalo Bills

The game wasn't as close as they ended up making it, but the Jets are a good team, and the Bills played with them until the very end.

20. Atlanta Falcons

This team just isn't that good. Especially the defense. I still believe in Matt Ryan (to an extent), but I don't really trust Atlanta to beat anyone very consistently.

21. Baltimore Ravens

That was an impressive win against Houston, but it wasn't as impressive as the score would suggest. Their offense still hasn't looked good this season, especially their running game.

22. Indianapolis Colts

THIS TEAM ISN'T ACTUALLY THAT GOOD. But 22nd is better than they were last year, so I give them props for that.

23. Tennessee Titans

Jake Locker looked so good! Or maybe that was just the Chargers' defense. Either way, their offense looked a lot better than it did the first couple of weeks.

24. Miami Dolphins

See first sentence of #22.

25. Kansas City Chiefs

I want to point out how lucky they were in the turnover battle on Thursday. And then see #24.

26. San Diego Chargers

Their defense is so bad it made the Titans look good at offense. And their offense is good (Rivers seems to have turned it around), but it's just not good enough to make up for the D. This team could be like last year's Saints (best case scenario).

27. Washington Redskins

I'm still waiting for RG3 to look like the RG3 of old. It's going to happen. Just maybe not this season. Oh, and the defense sucks.

28. Chicago Bears

How are there so many bad 3-0 teams this year??? But the Bears have been outplayed in at least 2 of the 3 games they've played this year, and pretty badly at that. They have scored a lot on D though. That luck should even out. See #24.

29. Arizona Cardinals

I don't even want to talk about this team. There's not much to like, especially on offense, but they're not bad enough to be entertaining either.

30. Minnesota Vikings

Their D is so bad, they gave up 31 to the Browns. And the Browns offense is bad. Really bad. The Vikings offense isn't that great either. Even AD looks like a normal person.

31. Jacksonville Jaguars

They're not last! Give credit to the Seahawks' 2nd string for that. But they're close to last, and they don't look like they can win a game.

32. St. Louis Rams

This team just got dismantled by a Cowboys team that wasn't all that good. They have a win at least, and they're not actually as bad as the Jags, but it's time to give up on them. They can go suck for Clowney. Even though Clowney can't get off blocks or fit in their system. Maybe Bridgewater? No, they already have ridiculous amounts of money locked up paying for Bradford. Maybe they can trade their pick and draft a bunch of left tackles (and move them all inside).


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