Week 4 Power Rankings

As promised, my NFL Power Rankings are here, for the first time this season. I'm still not sold completely on any of these rankings, but at least through 3 weeks of football, this is how I see the teams stacking up.

In case you missed it from last year, I will be separating the teams into 4 categories: The Elite, The Contenders, The Mediocre, and The Garbage (new name this year). The names should be pretty self explanatory, then their will be a few words on the teams in each category and why they are where they are, especially if a team was a significant mover from the previous week.


So here we go, the first Power Rankings of the year commences...

The Elite

No one.

That's right, going a little unprecedented here, but there have been no elite teams in the NFL this season. Had the Packers not used 18 penalties to beat themselves against the Bears, they would have made this list, but they totally derailed their Elite status in the Monday Nighter.

The Contenders

1. Pittsburgh Steelers
2. Green Bay Packers
3. New Orleans Saints
4. Indianapolis Colts
5. Tennessee Titans
6. New York Jets
7. Atlanta Falcons
8. Chicago Bears
9. Houston Texans
10. Baltimore Ravens
11. Miami Dolphins
12. Kansas City Chiefs

Twelve teams make the cut as contenders for week 4, with Pittsburgh on top. They have simply outperformed everyone, with a difficult schedule, and without their starting quarterback. That, folks, is ridiculous. How have they done it? With a defense that is simply other-worldly. Like I have said before, Troy Polamalu might just be the MVP of this league.

The other two undefeated teams are also surprise contenders, the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs. I think its safe to say that no one saw these teams opening the season 3-0, but they certainly have to be considered contenders now. Jay Cutler has looked really sharp in Mike Martz' offensive system, and could be a fantasy juggernaut for anyone who trusted him. And he might just lead this Bears team to a run at the Super Bowl. I'm not quite so high on the Chiefs, because I don't trust Matt Cassel as much, but they do have some serious weapons in Thomas Jones, Jamal Charles, and rookie Dexter McCluster. Add an improved defense and this team has to be considered a contender.

The rest of the teams are more or less the same teams I expected to contend for this year's title, so we'll get into them more as the weeks go on.

The Mediocre

13. Philadelphia Eagles
14. New England Patriots
15. San Diego Chargers
16. Cincinnati Bengals
17. Dallas Cowboys
18. Seattle Seahawks
19. Minnesota Vikings
20. Denver Broncos
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
22. Washington Redskins

There are a couple teams in this group that come as a shock to me. First, the Dallas Cowboys, who currently sit at 1-2. If they hadn't pulled off a huge, season-saving win over Houston, they wouldn't even make the mediocre list. They have played overwhelmingly poor considering their level of talent. Wade Phillips seat could not be hotter, and if they don't continue to gain steam in this weak division, he will be fired mid-season.

The San Diego Chargers have also failed to impress in the early going, and need to get a move on because, as I mentioned, KC are true contenders. It would help if their stud rookie Ryan Mathews could get healthy, or if they had Vincent Jackson. I am not terribly worried about this team, as the division still isn't terribly strong with the Raiders and Broncos in it, but they need to get it together, and fast.

The New England Patriots are nothing more than a mediocre football team at this point. Their offence is great, but their defense is worse than I thought. They gave up 30 points to Buffalo, the worst team in football! That is startlingly bad. I don't see how a team with their defense can compete with any team that has some decent talent, as they showed in their loss to the Jets. These are not the Patriots of their glory years. Those 3 Super Bowls are in the rear-view mirror, and I don't think they are coming back any time soon.

There are two teams that should be glad to achieve mediocre status, the Seahawks and Buccaneers. I thought both of these currently 2-1 teams would be horrible, but Seattle is in the driver seat in the NFC West (not that that is saying much) and Tampa Bay has shown some fight. Will be interesting to see if either can keep it up.

The Garbage

23. New York Giants
24. Arizona Cardinals
25. Oakland Raiders
26. Cleveland Browns
27. St. Louis Rams
28. Detroit Lions
29. San Francisco 49ers
30. Jacksonville Jaguars
31. Carolina Panthers
32. Buffalo Bills

Many of these teams are no surprise. The Raiders, Browns, Rams, Lions and Bills have been cellar dwellers for a few years now. However, teams like the Giants, Cardinals and those damn Niners were certainly not expected.

I've been hailing the New York Giants as a mediocre team at best for two years now. But now? They are just plain Garbage. They have the single most over-rated defense in all of football. Eli Manning is not the superstar quarterback the New York media would have you believe. this team is very far removed from its Super Bowl victory of 2007.

Arizona has fallen so far this season it is staggering. Now, it was not difficult to see this coming, but by season's end they might be the league's worst team. Kurt Warner was just so valuable for this team, and losing one of the league's best receivers (Boldin) doesn't help either. The two losses they have already grabbed may be their last for some time.

And then their are the San Francisco 49ers. My mortal nemesis. I predicted this team to be horrible last season, and they played very well and surprised me, costing me money. This season? Of course I translated the impression they left on me last year into a leap forward this year and a division win. So what does San Francisco do? They come up and start 0-3 and look absolutely horrible. Alex Smith goes back to the old Alex Smith. Michael Crabtree, who looked like a star down the stretch last year, has been useless. The division is terrible, so they still have a good chance to bounce back, probably better than anyone else on this list because of the schedule, but it needs to happen soon. Are you listening Mike Singletary? Your seat is hotter than Wade Phillips'!

And then there's Buffalo... poor poor Buffalo. Andrew Luck anyone?