2011 NFL Week 2 Power Rankings


I usually run my rankings like College Football's, but for the first few weeks I am more fluid in moving teams up and down the list, since we don't really know what we have yet. Enjoy!

1. (1) Green Bay Packers (1-0). The Packers offense looked completely unstoppable. The defense struggled to stop the pass, but there aren't many defenses on the planet that can stop the Saints when they have to play catch up and throw every down.

2. (2) New England Patriots (1-0). Tom Brady says take that Cam Newton. Those are my headlines. And unlike the Panthers, the Patriots actually won. They are the NFL's Utah Jazz, an explosive offense with a white running back, a white receiver, a white tight end, five white offensive lineman, and for good measure, a white kick returner.

3. (6) Baltimore Ravens (1-0). Sure, it was just week 1 of the NFL season, but Joe Flacco got that monkey off his back by finally defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers. And what a victory it was. The Ravens dominated in every fashion possible. It was a monstrous beat down.

4. (4) Philadelphia Eagles (1-0). The Eagles didn't play great, but the found a way to win. The way was to knock out every St. Louis Ram on the roster. I really worry about the health of Michael Vick going forward though, and that was the reason I picked the Eagles to lose their first playoff game. The offensive line might just get him killed.

5. (3) New Orleans Saints (0-1). I can't punish the Saints too much. One team was going to lose that game and still be in my top five. The Saints just had no answer for Aaron Rodgers. Then again, no one has had an answer for him any time in 2011.

6. (9) Chicago Bears (1-0). Everyone, including me, wrote off the Bears for no particular reason. I still had them in my top ten but gave them a mediocre record in my preseason preview. The problem with doing previews in the preseason is they are almost instantly outdated. No doubt in my mind I would have picked the Bears to make the playoffs over the Giants if I did my previews after preseason.

7. (10) Houston Texans (1-0). We have seen this before, so I won't get too excited. The Texans started last year in similar fashion before falling flat on their faces. But there is absolutely no reason they shouldn't walk away with this division.

8. (5) Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1). Call it Super Bowl hangover. Call it a product of off season distractions. Whatever the reason, the Steelers were absolutely embarrassed on Sunday. Steelers fans can hope they immediately went in and circled November 6th on their calendar.

9. (7) Atlanta Falcons (0-1). I thought the Falcons were pretty over hyped coming into the season. They have now been outscored approximately 398-20 in their last two games. The common theme for good teams reaching their full potential seems to be the offensive line. The Falcons, Steelers and Eagles are very talented teams with huge question marks up front.

10. (8) New York Jets (1-0). Ugh. As a Dolphins fan I was disgusted by Sunday night's game. Well, that was until I saw Monday night's. Dallas completely beat themselves, and I refuse to give the Jets any props.

11. (16) Detroit Lions (1-0). If Stafford can stay healthy, Lions fans will finally have a signal caller to be excited about. Calvin Johnson was unstoppable, and I think he is the best receiver in the league. No player in this league can hope to cover him, and even double teams often fail.

12. (13) San Diego Chargers (1-0). Kickoffs were moved up to the 35, and San Diego STILL gave up the opening kick for a touchdown? Wow. I wonder if any of the 8 West teams will have a winning record?

13. (11) Dallas Cowboys (0-1). Tony Romo is going to get eaten alive, but I can't put all of the blame on him. The fourth quarter dash to the end zone was a good idea, he just lost the ball. The interception was ugly, but he did not get a punt blocked. Overall, it was just a very fluky loss. Unfortunately, Dallas has been known to have those lately.

14. (21) Buffalo Bills (1-0). During my preview I said the Bills could flirt with .500 and a playoff berth. They looked great on both sides of the ball Sunday. They won't play teams as pathetic as the Chiefs every year, but Ryan Fitzpatrick is a guy who can win you some regular season games and keep you from being bad enough to draft his replacement.

15. (14) St. Louis Rams (0-1). You couldn't ask for much worse of an opening game then the Rams had. The score was close in the first half, but the Rams terrible receivers betrayed Sam Bradford with some pitiful drops, and then the injuries piled up. Steven Jackson, Bradford, Danny Amendola and Jason Smith among others all went down.

16. (12) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1). I don't think the Bucs are that good, as evidenced by the 6-10 record I gave them. I blame the overmatched Raheem Morris for this loss. You can't pass the ball 43 times and only give LaGarrette Blount 5 touches. Even if the Lions have a great defensive front.

17. (18) Arizona Cardinals (1-0). The Cardinals won the game but all anyone could talk about is how great Cam Newton looked. That should say something about the state of the Cardinals secondary. They are going to have to score a lot of points to win games.

18. (24) Washington Redskins (1-0). The Redskins were initially my pick for the Andrew Luck bowl, but as time went on I thought they were decent. Mike Shanahan has been known to turn turds to gold, and he may be doing so with Rex Grossman. Of course it helped that he played against a secondary ravaged with injuries.

19. (14) New York Giants (0-1). Eli Manning has been pretty bad for over a year, and his woes continued on Sunday. He was inaccurate all day. I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants quit on head coach Tom Coughlin soon and have a season like the Cowboys had last year.

20. (20) Miami Dolphins (0-1). This game was like a college game. The inferior Dolphins hung around for a while, but once they committed a couple mistakes it was over. I have seen my team play a lot of bad defense in my life, but I can't remember the secondary this overmatched. They refused to cover the tight ends and left receivers open deep all night. Brady was just playing catch all day.

21. (25) Minnesota Vikings (0-1). Adrian Peterson somehow churned out 98 yards despite the Vikings only having the ball for 22 minutes. Yes, he deserved a huge contract. The rest of the offense is miserable though.

22. (28) San Francisco 49ers (1-0). Some idiot on a website I post on called this the biggest Niners win in a decade. San Fran did not play well, especially on offense, but the Seahawks were just so much worse.

23. (29) Oakland Raiders (1-0). I underestimated the Raiders running game and offensive line. Unlike some other coaches, the Raiders realized they have a great running back and fed him all night long. It was against the pathetic Broncos run defense, however.

24. (17) Indianapolis Colts (0-1). Last year the Texans dropped 34 on the Colts to open the season, but this time feels so much different. Everyone on the team except Reggie Wayne (who had some simply amazing catches) looks like they have already given up on the season.

25. (27) Carolina Panthers (0-1). Everyone is salivating over Cam Newton's performance, and for good reason. But the Panthers still lost the game. Neither DeAngelo Williams or Jonathan Stewart found much running room. And bad news with Jon Beason suffering a potentially serious injury.

26. (30) Cincinnati Bengals (1-0). After a miserable preseason, Andy Dalton looked decent before leaving the game. I still think Bruce Gradkowski gives them a better chance to win (5 games instead of 3), but Dalton is the future. Unless Luck comes calling.

27. (19) Tennessee Titans (0-1). I am still trying to figure out why the Titans coaching staff decided it would be a good idea to run Chris Johnson 9 times. It is not like they were down by a ton of points. The AFC South is going to be crummy this year.

28. (23) Cleveland Browns (0-1). If an NFL game was only 3 quarters, the Browns would be a playoff team. Colt McCoy looked great in the preseason, but showed Browns fans that he still has a very long way to go.

29. (26) Denver Broncos (0-1). The Broncos hung on to Kyle Orton, but he is simply not very good without Josh McDaniels play calling.

30. (32) Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0). I'm not going to get too excited about this one. The Jaguars didn't play well, the Titans just played even worse. Still, a win is a win.

31. (22) Kansas City Chiefs (0-1). The Chiefs just got embarrassed at home by 34 points by a team that hasn't had a winning record in about 83 years. If there is a team that "deserves" to have that dreaded 32. to the left of their name more then these guys right now let me know who. Oh, and I hate to type more about Cassell and the Chiefs, but Jamaal Charles had a better yards per rush average (5.6) then Cassell had yards per completion average. Think about that for a second.

32. (31) Seattle Seahawks (0-1). To answer my previous question, the answer is the Seatlte Seahawks. Seattle is absolutely dreadful. I feel sorry for the very loyal Seahawks fans. How can a team charge over 100 dollars for tickets and expect you to watch Tarvaris Jackson and Marshawn Lynch all game?

Jonathan Carrano

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