Thrill Shots

1. New Orleans Saints (1) – This beast is just steamrolling now.  And have a look at their next three games: Carolina, at St. Louis, at Tampa Bay.  I see no way they aren’t 10-0 headed into an epic November 30th battle with New England in the Superdome.  That could be the game of the year.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Okay, it wasn’t a great win against San Francisco, but it still counts.  They hit a bit of a rough road for the rest of November: Houston, New England, at Baltimore, at Houston.  I would target that Baltimore game as the end of the perfect season, but I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again.

3. Minnesota Vikings (3) – There was no way Old Man River would march back into Lambeau and not go wild.  For the record, I was right about Brett Favre being washed up.  He has only thrown 16 touchdowns and has an embarrassing 3 interceptions.  Shoulda stayed retired, old man!  Shoulda known when to quit!

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (4) – I actually think this outfit is better than the Vikings, but those early-season fuck-arounds with the Bears and Bengals are holding them down here.

5. Philadelphia Eagles (not ranked) – Fine!  I’m SORRY for disrespecting you guys all year!  Did you HAVE TO go out and systematically destroy my Super Bowl pick just to prove it?  I guess you did, otherwise I’d probably keep overlooking you.  Then again, you did lose to the RAIDERS a few weeks ago, so let’s not get all superbowly just yet.

6. New England Patriots (6) – Bye week.  Big-time stretch of games for them, however. Miami, at Indy, Jets, at Saints, at Miami.  Win three of those, and I’m going to have to start thinking number 4 for B&B.

7. Cincinnati Bengals (7) – I love mid-season bye weeks.  Better than that week 4 crap.  They needed the rest, too, because Baltimore comes to town, and then they travel to Pittsurgh.  Could get ugly for the bungalows.

8. Dallas Cowboys (not ranked) – I haven’t shown the Boys much love this year, because they looked really bad in their losses, and fairly bad in some of their wins.  But apparently they’re trying to get it together, and it’s about the right time to do so.

9. Denver Broncos (5) – Not exactly concrete proof of a fraud, but at least we know this team is human.  And I assure you, they will continue to display their humanity quite a bit this year.

10. New York Giants (9) – Ughhh… what the hell?  One more bad loss, and I may banish you to the hell from whence you came!

1. New Orleans Saints (1) – Okay, so they gave up some points in Miami.  It happens.  The fact that they expertly engineered a big comeback is just as important, since they hadn’t had to do it all season.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Oh, the poor Rams.  What a mismatch.  And here come the Cardinals – into Lucas Oil Stadium – for their beating… we think…

3. Minnesota Vikings (3) – A loss!  They’re HUMAN!  Not a lot of teams march into Heinz Field and come away with a win against the home team.  The bigger story is, did Old Man River start to show his age, just a bit?  The answer is YES.  I’ll be very interested to see how he looks in bad weather.  Unfortunately, they may not be challenged in a bad weather game until the playoffs.  Only a week 16 meeting in Chicago has frigid potential.  They may roll until then.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (10) – Quite a leap for the defending champs, who weren’t even on the list two weeks ago.  That’s what happens when you are as hot as anybody in the league, starting to get healthy, and knocking down one of the few remaining unbeatens.  Can they beat their second unbeaten in a row when they travel to…

5. Denver Broncos (5) – …who are coming off a bye, and hosting their toughest challenge to date.

6. New England Patriots (6) – No bump for beating the Bucs, even if they did have to travel all the way to London to do it.  Sorry, Brady.  I’m afraid I won’t be impressed until you throw six touchdowns in a quarter.

7. Cincinnati Bengals (9) – Well, welcome to the big boys club.  That was a statement game at home against a (previously) solid Bears team who needed a win.  Baltimore, and a rematch with the Steelers are on the agenda now.  Pivotal stretch.

8. Green Bay Packers (7) – They didn’t deserve a one-notch bump after doing as they should and disposing of the Browns.  But let’s face it, they should’ve won by eight touchdowns, not four.  Hell comes to breakfast this week though, with Old Man River returning to Lambeau for the first time without the green and yellow dress.  The reception should be interesting, but the game should be awfully tough for the home crowd.

9. New York Giants (not ranked) – I don’t know what I was smoking last week, dropping the Giants from the top spot in Week 6 to unranked after only one loss.  That was clearly an overreaction to the betrayal I felt after they laid down and died in the Superdome.  But with a little more time to think about it – and a tough loss to the Cardinals (?) – I remembered that I still think this is one of the best teams in football, and still expect them to play ball in February.  Mea culpa.

10. Atlanta Falcons (4) – A little premature, popping them into the top 4 last week after that win at home against the Bears.  But going into the JerryDome is nothing to sneeze at, even if Dallas hasn’t exactly played what you’d call Cowboys Football this season.  I like this team quite a bit, and I REALLY like the Falcons-Saints on Monday night; should be a wild one.

1. New Orleans Saints (4) – Margins of victory for their five wins: 18, 26, 20, 14, 21.  In other words, the Saints are destroying everyone they play, including blowing my Super Bowl pick out of the water on Sunday.  And the schedule is getting more favorable, with Miami, Carolina, St. Louis and Tampa Bay coming up.  Only the Falcons in the Superdome in two weeks look like a genuine threat to this beast.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Two bye weeks in a row, with the Rams up next.  This one will be ugly early.

3. Minnesota Vikings (3) – 31 points allowed at home on Sunday.  Eventually these tight games will catch up with them, you would think.

4. Atlanta Falcons (6) – Good win over the Bears, who couldn’t overcome too many miscues in key spots.  The birds fly to Dallas and New Orleans the next two weeks, which begins a stretch of 4 road games in the next 5 weeks.  By the time they finish up with the Giants toward the end of November, we’ll have a real good idea of just how good this team is.

5. Denver Broncos (5) – Three games into The Mid Season Schedule From Hell, and this shocking team remains undefeated.  I will never, ever, ever in my life believe that a team quarterbacked by Kyle Orton can contend for a title, but for the first six weeks of 2009, God bless the thumping Denver defense, fantastic O line, and top rate receivers and return game.

6. New England Patriots (not ranked) – 59-0 says it all.  And I think Tom Brady might just be healed up.

7. Green Bay Packers (not ranked) – Tore through the Lions, and now a really tough test: the Browns.  Yikes.  But after that, the Vikings come to town for a showdown with Old Man River.  I haven’t been sold on this team all year, and I continue not to be.  There is nothing they can do in Cleveland to change that, but in two weeks…

8. Chicago Bears (7) – They let a winnable game slip through their fingers against a good Atlanta team Sunday night.  A showdown with the upstart Bengals awaits this Sunday, and the loser is in danger of tumbling off this list.

9. Cincinnati Bengals (8) – Dropping one to the Texans isn’t great, but they could redeem themselves with a win at home against the Bears.  I still like this team, and it’s one of the few turnaround predictions of mine that isn’t turning out to be completely terrible.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers (not ranked) – Quite an accomplishment to put up 417 passing yards and only 27 points, but the Steelers pulled that off against the hideous Browns.  Trouble comes a-callin’ this week with Old Man River and the Vikings.

Here are my weekly power rankings, with the team’s previous rank in parenthesis.

1. New York Giants (1) – Another week, another blowout by the Giants. Eli Manning’s foot bears watching, but so long as he can stay on the field, the Giants can – and likely will – stay atop the rankings.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2) – Not only did they go to Nashville and put the final nail in the Titans’ coffin, but they did so in disturbingly dominant fashion.  Peyton Manning is on one of his out-of-control binges right now, which should almost be expected from the best quarterback ever to lace them up.  Expected or not, it’s still amazing to watch.

3. Minnesota Vikings (6) – What’s remarkable about the Rams game is that the vaunted Vikings defense actually gave up 400 yards of offense to the worst team in football.  But the four turnovers kept the lead a healthy four touchdowns.  And it wasn’t even that close.

4. New Orleans Saints (3) – Biggest game of the year coming off the bye for the Saints:  hosting the Giants in what could be one of the best games of the season.

5. Denver Broncos (10) – Fluke plays, crazy catches, etc. etc.  That was a big-time win against the Patriots, and a big-time performance by Kyle Orton.  I have no choice but to call them legitimate at this point, even as every instinct I have tells me that this is a .500 team that has caught a bunch of breaks and is playing good enough defense to capitalize on those breaks.  While Kyle Orton may remind the loony Peter King of 2001 Tom Brady, the Broncos remind me of the 2001 Chicago Bears; a fluky, lucky team with a pretty damn good defense who will have no impact on the playoffs other than providing some better team a first round opponent.

6. Atlanta Falcons (not ranked) – Was that slaughter of the 49ers out west evidence of the Falcons’ prowess, or are the 9ers a bit worse than we thought?  I’m inclined to believe the former, and look forward to what is going to be a huge match-up with the Bears on Sunday night in Hotlanta.

7. Chicago Bears (8) – A one-rank bump on the bye week primarily because Baltimore and New England keep messing around instead of being the top-tier teams I expected them to be.

8. Cincinnati Bengals (not ranked) – All righty, I’m fully aboard the Bengal Bandwagon.  Cedric Benson has decided that he’s interested in playing football (thanks, Ced.  Appreciate it.) and Carson Palmer is back to being Carson Palmer.  Wins over Baltimore and Pittsburgh mean something.  3-0 in their division means that until the Steelers get it together and the Ravens right the ship, the Bengals may well be the team to beat in a nasty AFC North.

9. Baltimore Ravens (4) – Two tough tests in New England and versus Cincinnati, two losses.  This weekend will be the toughest test to date in the Metrodome.  In fairness, they kept it dangerously close in both of their losses, and I still think this is one of the best couple of teams in the AFC, but if they can’t keep it close (or pull the upset) against Old Man Winter, they risk dropping off the map here, at least for a little while.

10. Philadelphia Eagles (not ranked) – Every week I display a complete lack of faith in this team, and every week they come out and punch somebody in the mouth.  Last week’s hapless victim was the woeful Buccaneers.  This week’s is the Raiders.  And I don’t care that it’s in Oakland; doesn’t matter.  This could be a three score game in no time whatsoever.

(Previous week’s rank listed in parenthesis)

1. New York Giants (1) – Blasting through the hapless Chiefs isn’t exactly impressive in and of itself, but it’s the rest of the G-Men’s body of work that makes them the best team in football.

2. Indianapolis Colts (3) – I heard some idiot a few weeks ago say that Drew Brees might be the best quarterback in the NFL right now, even better than Peyton Manning.  What kind of tard must that guy be?  Okay, it was me…

3. New Orleans Saints (4) – …even still, Brees is better than 30 other starting quarterbacks in the league.

4. Baltimore Ravens (2) – If Mark Claytin didn’t have bricks where most people have hands against the Pats on Sunday, the Ravens may be nudging Big Blue out of the 1 spot.  As it is, this is still a hellaciously good outfit that looks like it is fully armed for a Super Bowl run.

5. New England Patriots (7) – Hard to discount a Belichick-Brady team, but I do not feel the Patriots so far this season, win vs Baltimore notwithstanding.

6. Minnesota Vikings (6) – Number 4 will still pull the occasional great game out of his hind end thanks to the weapons surrounding him and the beastly line in front of him, as evidenced in the Dome versus Green Bay on Monday. This is a nasty bunch too.

7. New York Jets (5) – No shame in losing to the Saints. No shame in picking up Braylon Edwards and giving your rookie QB a sweet weapon.

8. Chicago Bears (9) – After three close games, the Bears needed a game where they could just run up the score on somebody.  Enter: Detroit Lions.  The Bears are a little under-appreciated right now, I think.  This is a team that can contend for the NFC crown.

9. Pittsburgh Steelers (not ranked) – They spent the first half of Sunday night’s affair dong-whipping the Chargers into submission, only to try and give away the game in the second half.  Either Mike Tomlin’s team is not making good in-game adjustments, or they’re wearing down as games go on.  In either case, I’d be shocked if the ship isn’t righted once Troy Polamalu comes back and the schedule gets more favorable.

10. Denver Broncos (not ranked) – Do I believe deep down in my heart that Denver is the 10th best team in the NFL?  Do I believe this is a better team than, say, San Francisco, Atlanta, Cincinnati, or Green Bay?  No.  In fact, I still anticipate a .500-ish record for the Broncos.  But with a 4-0 start and a points-allowed average of 6.5 per game, I couldn’t in good conscience  leave this overachieving bunch off the list.  Fret not, however, as they will be vanquished after next week’s loss to the Patriots.

I haven’t gotten around to my Week 3 recap as yet, but I’ll hit some of my talking points in this post.  I’ll probably forgo a full-on Bears post this week, and just blend a few notes in here and there.

Here are this week’s power rankings.  Last week’s rank follows the team name in parenthesis.

1. New York Giants (1) – Another dominant win for the best team in the game.  With the Chiefs and Raiders in their immediate path, I wouldn’t look for a drop-off anytime soon.

2. Baltimore Ravens (2) – Blowing out the worst franchise in the league does not a champion make.  However, this next stretch just may: at New England, vs. Cincinnati, at Minnesota.  If Baltimore is 6-0 after that stretch, we could be looking at something really special.

3. Indianapolis Colts (4) – Picking up one spot this week for knocking off the NFC champs from a year ago.  Arizona might not be the team they were last year, but the way the Colts imposed their will upon the Cards, I have a little more faith in them than I do in the Saints.

4. New Orleans Saints (3) – They didn’t deserve to lose one spot – that was about Indy, not them – but there was no reason not to do what they did (and more) against the Bills.  Here comes an interesting pair of home games for Nawlins:  vs. Jets, vs. Giants.  The true test looms.

5. New York Jets (5) – I gave them very little chance against the Titans, who should’ve been (and perhaps were) in desperation mode after an 0-2 start.  The Jets took care of business.  Now the test in New Orleans, followed by – get this – at Miami, vs. Buffalo, at Oakland, vs. Miami, vs. Jacksonville.  I still am not entirely sold on this team (I’m a little closer this week than I was last week), but at this point an 8-1 start wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

6. Minnesota Vikings (9) – Big jump for purple this week.  They squeaked by a tough 49ers team with a little Brett Favre magic.  There is a lot to like about this team’s chances, but not their sked:  vs. Green Bay, at St. Louis, vs. Baltimore, at Pittsburgh, at Green Bay.  Other than the Rams, there’s no gimmie in this stretch.

7. New England Patriots (7) – That’s a little more like it.  Solid win over the Falcons, heading into this fearsome match-up with Baltimore, which will really test their mettle.

8. Dallas Cowboys (8) – Facing Carolina seems like just the tonic a solid-but-not-great team would need after that heartbreaking loss to the Giants the previous week.

9. Chicago Bears (not ranked) – They’ve played three very solid defensive games, and if Jay Cutler doesn’t throw eight hundred interceptions in the first half of week one at Green Bay, this is a 3-0 team.  That said, the running game remains a concern, even if the defense is surprisingly not one.

10: Cincinnati Bengals (not ranked) – Okay.  The Bengals go into Lambeau and knock off the Packers in fine fashion.  A blowout at the hands of the Steelers looms, right?  Wrong.  Carson Palmer & Co are back in business, and this time, he appears to have a functional defense complimenting his talent.