Ron Glover’s NFL Power Rankings: Week 5
TSF Family you know I hate to do this, but I wouldn’t be worth my salt as a writer or a fan of the game if I didn’t acknowledge Brett Favre as Player of The Week. He needed every one of his six touchdown passes in the Jets 56-35 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Things are starting to round into shape as refelcted in this week’s rankings. Slept on teams like Tennessee and Tampa Bay (Eric Daniels, I watched the game) looked impressive last week, Buffalo and Washington continue to surprise.
1. New York Giants (3-0) Last Week #2: The G-men were the beneficiaries of a bye week which landed them back in the top spot. I’m curious to see how the issues surrounding Plaxico Burress effect this team as the season goes on.
2. Tennessee Titans (4-0) Last Week #6: Can’t front on the Titans any longer, Albert Haynesworth is on his way to Defensive POY and a huge payday.
3. Buffalo Bills (4-0) Last Week #5: Beat the Rams going away in the 4th quarter.
4. Washington Redskins (3-1) Last Week #8: Jason Campbell is the most underrated player in football right now. They’ve come light years from that opening night loss in N.Y.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1) Last Week #7: Hurt and embarrassed the Steelers sucked it up and won in overtime against the Ravens. Unfortunately, the injury woes continue as Rashard Mendenhall is out for the season (fractured shoulder).
6. Dallas Cowboys (3-1) Last Week #1: It’s Thursday and no soundbytes from either Owens or Chad Johnson on this weeks matchup in Dallas. 
Johnson may be seeing stars if he tries kissing the star in Texas Stadium as he’s promised to do.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) Last Week #12: After watching Derrick Brooks all over the field Sunday I’m a believer in The Fountain of Youth.
8. San Diego Chargers (2-2) Last Week #11: The Bolts are starting to hit their stride, spotted the Raiders two touchdowns before scoring 28 second-half points.
9. Carolina Panthers (3-1) Last Week #13: The Panthers did what they were supposed to do last week against the young Falcons, so did Steve Smith. Keep an eye on rookie back Jonathan Stewart.
10. Philadelphia Eagles (2-2) Last Week #3: If the Birds are on the outside looking in at the end of the season, remember the Bears goal line stand Sunday night. Westbrook needs to get healthy ASAP!
11. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-2) Last Week #14: Got more than what they bargained for against a revived Texans team. Lucky to escape with a win
12. Indianapolis Colts (1-2) Last Week #15: The Colts need two weeks off to heal.
13. Denver Broncos (2-2) Last Week #5: Any team with a running game will give the Broncos problems.
14. Chicago Bears (2-2) Last Week #21: The goaline stand against Philly saved the game and possibly their season.
15. New Orleans Saints (2-2) Last Week #22: Drew Brees is hotter than crawfish gumbo, when one receiver goes down another emerges. Oh, and Deuce McCallister is back.
16. New England Patriots (2-2) Last Week #17: Gotta hand it to Randy Moss for keeping his cool this season (knock wood).
17. Green Bay Packers (2-2) Last Week #9: Good thing Aaron Rodgers’ shoulder injury isn’t as bad as it was Sunday. It gave us a glimpse of how bad the Pack will struggle without him.
18. Baltimore Ravens (2-1) Last Week #10: The Ravens played well enough to win this game and really should’ve. The veterans on this team won’t let too many of those slip away.
19. New York Jets (2-2) Last Week #25: The legend that is Brett Favre continues to grow.
20. Seattle Seahawks (1-2) Last Week #23: The Seahawks get Bobby Engram and Deion Branch back just in time to face the Giants minus Plaxico Burress.
21. San Francisco 49ers (2-2) Last Week #16: Drew Brees and his recievers beat the 49ers secondary up and down the field, the Niners never had a chance in this one.
22. Arizona Cardinals (2-2) Last Week #19: The Red Birds were never in this one, so much for spending the week on the East Coast. Must now face Buffalo and Dallas before the bye week.
23. Cleveland Browns (1-3) Last Week #27: I’m convinced that the Browns are a season, maybe two away from contending for anything.
24. Miami Dolphins (1-3) Last Week #24: Looking to pull of another shocker against the Chargers on Sunday.
25. Minnesota Vikings (1-3) Last Week #18: Five turnovers and their vaunted defense didn’t register a sack. What do you expect?
26. Atlanta Falcons (2-2) Last Week #20: It gets rough the next two weeks for the Falcons as they go to Green Bay before facing the Bears at home.
27. Kansas City Chiefs (1-3) Last Week #30: Get production like that out of Larry Johnson each week and your chances of winning improve greatly, regardless of who is under center.
28. Oakland Raiders (1-3) Last Week #26: Maybe someone should talk Al Davis into donating his brain to science.
29. Houston Texans (0-4) Last Week #28: Gave the Jags all they could stand, could win next three at home (Colts, Dolphins and Lions).
30. Detroit Lions (0-3) Last Week #29: The Lions always play the Bears tough at Soldier Field, expect anything Sunday.
31. St. Louis Rams (0-4) Last Week #32: No one will notice that they have a bye this week.
32. Cincinnati Bengals (0-4) Last Week #31: What do you want me to say???
Sphere: Related Content
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Chad - T.O.: Are you being funny? Chad said he’s going to score and kiss the star.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Of course.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
That’s hilarious - #32.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
The thing about the Titans that worth noticing (and I’ve only noticed because I have Bironas in an FFL) is that they’ve been scoring touchdowns in the Red Zone. Most years, I’d expect Bironas to have a ton of field goals…he’s kicking a lot of extra points this time around. The Titans have been converting 3rd downs in the Red Zone into touchdowns.
I’m giving Bironas one more week against the Ravens to see if they can slow Collins/Lendale, etc down a bit. If they don’t, I’ll have to get a new kicker because the Titans are going to start ROLLING people. If they score 3 touchdowns in this game, I’ll be a believer. The Ravens are coming off a short week and they’re banged up, but they shouldn’t give up more than 17 points.
BTW:
What did the Bears do to get ranked BEHIND the Colts? The Browns at #23? (Come on, bruh. They beat the Bungles without Palmer.) My Steelers have not played a solid game since beating the Texans. They’re on the edge. I think Denver’s too high. I think Tampa’s too high. I think the Chiefs might go on a run. Damon Huard, for whatever reason, knows how to run that team. He doesn’t put up huge numbers - but they play better when he’s in the game. I think Dallas is going to fall back to the pack — but it won’t happen until much later in the season.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Uh, scratch that last point…if they run Marion Barber, they’ll win.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
That’s the problem with bye weeks, do I punish the Colts for being off? The Bears defense played great but let’s not get ahead of ourselves that offense only had 2 first downs in the second half before the game was on ice.
As for the Browns they were #27 last week, only one team below them won last week (Chiefs). Are you really concerned about 23-32?
Tampa may be too high but I think Denver is right where they should be I dropped them 8 spots.
I know some of the teams in the top 10 may be pretenders, they just haven’t been put to the test yet. It will all even itself out.
As far as FFL kickers, is there a good one out there this season.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Not to say 23-32 don’t matter but the only way you’re looking at that is if the Steelers are that low.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
TBR,
I don’t think that Tampa is as good as their record.
Give my 49ers some more love.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I was telling Temple that they probably aren’t as good as the ranking but I was able to watch the game last week against GB and they were impressive. I’m going to have to sit down and make a criteria for the rankings, because for the most part I’ve been going on wins losses and performance.
You know I wanna show the Niners more love but they keep letting me down.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
The Bears beat the Eagles but are ranked lower? Indy (who should be 0-3) is at number 12? The Ravens drop to 8 spots to #18 with only one loss to a top 5 team?
I think Tampa is good (maybe #10) but definitely not #7. The Chargers and Panthers should be ahead of them.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
TBR,
Fair enough
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Read my previous post.
If we’re going on who beat who then the Eagles would be ahead of the Steelers, Miami would be in front of NE and so on.
I’ve seen some online power rankings that need to be flipped upside down.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
As I think about it there is only wins, losses and performances for that week that can be considered in the rankings. Unless I’m missing something. Injuries could be taken into consideration but that’s a part of the game.
We’re only 4 weeks in so there is going to be more movement in these spots as the season goes on. Ultimately, there will be some team that will move up, down and some that will stay in the same position.
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
That’s why October is my favorite month for sports.
I only put the Bears ahead of the Colts because Indy is a Visanthe Shincoe drop and refs call away from being winless…and they lost at home to Chicago. The Bears just beat Philly and lost 2 close games. The Colts no longer have Bob Sanders and the Jags ran all over them.
As for the 23-32, I have alot of interest in those teams. Ronnie Brown is on my league squad. The Raiders just hired a new coach and looked great vs. SD for more than a minute. Cleveland and KC have Black coaches. Minnesota’s in that group and you liked them enough to pick them over the Titans last week. I’ve got more, but I’ll hold it.
I read your pieces every week - so I’m going to hold you to what you write. Work that list, bruh. This makes the season for fun for everyone…thanks!!
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I definitely have my work cut out for me. Working on my predictions now. Trying to look for another upset special this week.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 am
Steve Smith and Mushin Muhammed are perfect compliments to each other. Delhomme is lucky.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 am
Moose is lucky, too. Getting out of Chicago may give him some legacy. BTW, Delhomme was very good in the SB. I thought they would win that game — but you may remember that after they scored to tie the game, the kicker kicked the ball out of bounds. The Pats took over at the 40 and Brady dinked and dunked for Vinatieri to win it.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Temple ,Grand, my Bucs killed the Packers and made their offense look totally suspect and they couldn’t stop Dunn and Graham and the defense got younger at several key postions. To run an efective Tampa-2 defense you must be strong staight up the middle in all three areas, well get younger on the front line and pass rush and our MLB Barrett Rudd is in his second year as the starter and a tackling mcachine and the secondary which was a weakness has gotten younger with Talib,(who will take Barber’s place) Picsatelli, and the offensive line is now a strength finally. Yeah we have QB problems but there are only about 8 teams who are totally happy with their starting QBS but we have depth at the postion unlike some teams.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Those are great comments re: the Bucs, Eric. The problem is that the Packers without Rodgers have a worse offense than the Bucs — and that offensive inefficiency creates a short field for your offense…which opens up your playbook and makes them better than they really are.
Ike Hilliard is still only a possession receiver. Galloway is out. Bryant is inconsistent (though immensely talented). Remember Michael Clayton? So, the Bucs are a run dominant team that has benefitted from playing teams that could not shut down the run because of field position.
We’ll see how they do when they play some squads who can reveal them for the 1 dimensional squad they are. The defense is carrying the weight. Denver should not be able to stop the Bucs from running, but if they score, Griese is going to have to do a better job of passing. I love the new additions on D. Talib was a great pick.