NFL Power Rankings (5-10)

Well, after several bye weeks spent away from the blogging world, I have returned for one reason and one reason only - to spark an argument.

This marks my initial attempt to provide my very own (I know you were eagerly anticipating such an entry) NFL Power Rankings (5-10, for now) at the completion of Week Seven.

The Shield's lone undefeated team does not sit atop my standings and a 3-3 team checks in at No. 10 while a pair of squads with winning records do not crack the vaunted list.

Sit back, enjoy my take, and let the debates begin...


*Note: This first entry only includes my rankings from No. 10 to No. 6. Standings for teams 1-5 will follow in a post tomorrow.


10. Denver Broncos (3-3) - Hear me out before you erupt. Denver finds itself in a unique situation. Peyton Manning, one of the league's all-time greatest signal-callers, has only been in the Mile High City for a few months. Regardless of what you might think, the Broncos are very much a work in progress. Furthermore, they will continue to be such a project for the remainder of the 2012 campaign and into the offseason. Even still, Manning has become increasingly comfortable throwing to Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, former Colts teammate Brandon Stokely and others. John Fox's club opened the season with a win against Pittsburgh, it doesn't get much better for a team undergoing a face lift. The defense, led by resident stud Von Miller, will continue to improve throughout this process. Overall, not only does Denver crack this list at No. 10, but you could see it much higher in weeks to come. Losses to the Texans, Patriots and Falcons - which sport a combined 16-4 record - do little to fog my Orange and Blue shades. After a solid first two months for a team stitching new names onto jerseys just days before the initial regular season snap, there's no telling how much Denver will improve from October to November, and so on. With Manning at the helm, I can't help but think the Broncos will buck their way towards the top very shortly.

9. Minnesota Vikings (5-2) - I'm not a believer, yet. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've ever felt worse about a 5-2 squad that plays solid defense and runs the ball effectively. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly a Christian Ponder fan and have been since the Vikings' controversially selected him in the 2011 draft earlier than anyone predicted. However, he isn't quite ready to lead the Purple People Eaters 2.0 into a deep postseason run and this is the reason for skepticism. Right now, Minnesota is doing just enough. Yet, it's a matter of time before Ponder and a hapless passing attack lose games in which the sophomore quarterback throws for 58 yards and two interceptions as he did Sunday in a WIN against Arizona. Yeah, yeah, the Vikes won the game. But Ponder completed one pass for four yards in the second half and has thrown a pair of picks in his last three contests. Sooner rather than later, a team which runs the ball as well as Minnesota (ranked 7th in the NFL in rushing yards per game) and plays solid defense will fall flat if its QB throws away possessions. With all that said, the Vikings are finding a way to win ball games. 5-2 is 5-2 no matter how you slice it. As Ponder improves, so too will Minnesota.

8. New England Patriots (4-3) - The Patriots have found their names on lists such as these since they drafted that frail kid from Michigan years ago. What was his name? Brady, Tom Brady. That's it. This year is no different, despite a few red flags (no, not challenge flags) that have caused me reason for concern through the first seven tilts. Namely, the Pats have no wins against teams with a record above .500. To be fair, New England did hand Denver a 31-21 defeat and controlled the game from the opening kickoff. As you can tell, I think the Broncos have a solid team, thus I'm not discrediting the win over Denver. At the same time, these 2012 Patriots do not look like the championship teams from the previous decade. The offense utilizes the aerial attack with greater frequency, making it more difficult for the Brady bunch to convert red zone opportunities into touchdowns. The defense often times leaves the Foxboro faithful wondering if Tedy Bruschi has anything left in the tank, made evident by the Jets' fourth-quarter offensive explosion on Sunday. Had it not been for a Stephen Hill drop on New York's final drive of regulation, the Pats could have easily lost yet another game in which it held a late lead. Red flags, yes, but reasons to predict New England's 2012 is doomed? Absolutely not. For starters, the Pats have Brady. That alone causes defensive coordinators across the league to cringe. New England also possesses one of the deepest offensive arsenals in football. Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez, Brandon Lloyd, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski complement Brady in the passing attack while Danny Woodhead continues to emerge as a favorite target, especially on third downs. The emergence of running back Stevan Ridley has made the Patriots even more difficult to contain. The second-year back out of LSU averages over 19 carries per game and ranks seventh in the league in rushing yards per contest (84.1). Most of the questions must be answered on defense, where the Patriots rank among the league's worst in yards allowed per game (23rd) and pass yards allowed per game (29th).

7. Baltimore Ravens (5-2) - I must make an admission. This slot for Baltimore made it difficult for me to pull the trigger. I have never been one to put too much stock in one performance, good or bad. However, Houston's beatdown of the Ravens on Sunday made it impossible to place the Ray Lewis-less squad any higher than No. 7. And since I've already mentioned it, let's discuss the loss of Lewis, destined for Canton, the face of the Baltimore franchise and perhaps the NFL. This is the equivalent of the Yankees losing their Captain, Derek Jeter. We saw how that panned out. But seriously, it doesn't matter how well-coached and disciplined a team is - and the Ravens are both - you can't just lose your middle linebacker and expect the unit to thrive as it has for so many years under Lewis' direction. The "next man up" adage is a darn good one by which to live, yet when your next man up is tasked with filling a void the size of Baltimore left by Lewis, it just doesn't hold much weight. Consequently, the team was still reeling from the hangover it sufferered upon the loss of its emotional leader on Sunday when the Texans - coming off a loss and hungry - steamrolled an overmatched Ravens club to the tune of 43-13. Ray Rice only carried the rock 10 times last week - never a good recipe for this team, one built on running the football and playing aggressive, ball-hawking defense. Additionally, the play-action passing game is completely ineffective when Baltimore fails to even attempt establishing the running game. Again, I try not to base the rankings on this week's result alone. Despite yielding 29 and 43 points the last two weeks, respectively, Baltimore is having a great year. The offense, led by the widely-criticized Joe Flacco, is more explosive than in years past, thanks largely in part to the play of receiver Torrey Smith. Rice is, in my opinion, the league's most versatile running back, and John Harbaugh continues to solidify his reputation as one of the NFL's best head coaches. The defense has no choice but to pick it up without Lewis. The return of Terrell Suggs will help, but it'll take a lot more than his infusion into the lineup for the unit to "sizzle."

6. Chicago Bears (5-1) - Chicago's vaunted defense struck again Monday night, forcing the Lions into three red-zone turnovers as the Bears claimed a 13-7 victory. At this point, the Bears almost look more like the 49ers of 2011 than the 49ers do. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the sample size is quite large enough to catapult the Beats ahead of San Francisco just yet. I still want to see Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall co-exist for a few more games. I approach the Bears with potentially-unfair reservation because of Cutler and Marshall alone, quite honestly. If the former Vanderbilt quarterback continues to trust the running game and the defense to win games while patiently selecting the right time to take shots through the air, I think this team could go all the way. He just hasn't proven, at this point in his career, that he has the ability to consistently avoid costly turnovers, which puts his team against the 8-ball as a result of his own careless decisions and recognition that the gunslinging mentality isn't always the best one. But, for this list's sake, he has been much improved in the turnover department through seven games. Cutler did a marvelous job on Monday night of taking what the defense gave him, not turning the football over, and taking chances when the opportunity presented itself. Chicago once again sports a defense that is championship-caliber and with Marshall's big-play ability on offense, the sky is the limit for this club. It's a fairly simple formula - don't commit turnovers, force turnovers, win the special teams battle, hand or throw it to Matt Forte as often as possible, and force opponents to come-from-behind to beat you, which will allow the likes of Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher to pin their ears back and go get quarterbacks. In a nutshell for Bears fans? So far, so good.

5. Green Bay Packers (4-3) - I know, I know. The Packers are ranked higher than the Bears. Rather you agree or disagree, I have my reasons. Most importantly, and perhaps the only explanation I need, is this - Green Bay beat Chicago (23-10 in Week 3) in the head-to-head meeting. Additionally, barring arguably the worst call in professional sports history, the Pack should be 5-2. Regardless of the '4-3' beside their name listed above, GB should be 5-2. Granted, Aaron Rodgers spent most of the night in Seattle before the botched call on his backside and it was probably the worst game of his professional career, the Packers still deserved to win. Fast forward a little bit to the loss three weeks ago in Indianapolis. Green Bay didn't close the Colts out and as is the case so many times in the NFL, it came back and bit, hard. Andrew Luck led an impressive comeback and the Green Bay secondary couldn't solve Reggie Wayne as Indy scored late and shocked the Cheeseheads. I'll use the term repetitively throughout the rankings, but that's not what championship-caliber teams do in the second half. And I firmly believe if the Packers have a team down big at halftime in the weeks to come, they will continue to press the gas and this time win convincingly. Furthermore, Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and James Jones wasted little time in responding to the second-half collapse as they hit the road for a Sunday night showdown in Week 6 at Houston. Previously unbeaten, the Texans had absolutely no answer for a dangerous, explosive Green Bay offense. More importantly, the Packers were hungry for a win, 2-4 with a pair of shocking losses at the hands of Seattle and Indy. Rodgers erased all doubt and answered any questions anyone had about the capabilities of his team as he tossed six touchdown passes and led his team to a 42-24 win over Houston - and the score is closer than the score indicates. Honestly, placing the Packers ahead of the Bears was probably the toughest decision I had to make, so I looked at it this way. If the teams played tonight, who would win? I think Green Bay is better. And oh yes, Chicago already had the chance to beat its archrival and could only muster 10 points in a defeat. The nod goes to Mike McCarthy's squad, for now at least.


I'd love to hear your feedback as I prepare tomorrow's entry, which will reveal the power rankings for what I have deemed NFL's best four teams. Did your squad crack the list?