1. New Orleans Saints (1) – Even though they have the most explosive offense in football, they’re playing with fire, letting teams jump on top early and having to rally in the second half. That stuff is okay against the likes of the Dolphins and the Panthers, but after the cream-puff stretch of their schedule ends (at St. Louis, at Tampa Bay), the Patriots won’t be so generous.
2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Peyton Manning is having one of the best seasons of his career. Think about how good a season has to be to be one of HIS best. Remarkable how the departure of Tony Dungy has done nothing to hurt this team.
3. Minnesota Vikings (3) – I haven’t checked the line on this week’s Lions at Vikings game, but I think it’s fair to say that this is a bit of a mismatch. Matt Stafford will be wearing Jared Allen like a jacket. This could be the ugliest game of the year.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (4) – The championship mojo seems to be working again. Big win in the Rockies on Monday night; a showdown with the Bungalows awaits. More on that below.
5. New England Patriots (6) – This week’s game in Indianapolis may decide home field advantage in the AFC playoffs. And, as always, it is certain to be a wildly entertaining affair; exactly the kind of game that makes the NFL great.
6. Cincinnati Bengals (7) – Thank God the Bengals are good this year. If we had to go through yet another season of the endless Patriots-Colts-Steelers rotation atop the AFC, I was going to lose it. This week’s rematch against the Steelers will tell us a LOT of what we need to know about how far the Bengals have or have not come.
7. Dallas Cowboys (8) – They walked into Philly and beat an Eagles team who had been crushing people of late. I was not on board the Dallas bandwagon before that game, but I officially declare them contenders. They now travel to Green Bay, to face the pre-season’s most overrated and over-hyped team (not by me, mind you… the Packers are EXACTLY what I thought they were. Mediocre.). I anticipate Dallas’ hot streak continuing.
8. San Diego Chargers (not ranked) – I have no idea what the hell has happened to the Giants, but their prior three losses notwithstanding, I gave Norv Turner’s crew absolutely no chance of going into the Meadowlands and winning the Eli-Phillip Bowl. I was wrong. Things are finally coming back to reality in the AFC West, where the Chargers are proving that they are still the best team, despite Denver’s fluky start.
9. Atlanta Falcons (not ranked) – Hard to decide if a win against the Redskins was enough to bump them ahead of the Eagles. But I guess I just did.
10. Philadelphia Eagles (5) – After all the good faith I showed in you last week, you take a spill at home? Losing to Dallas is hardly cause for embarrassment, but it’s plenty good enough cause for a five notch drop.