NFL: Week 4 Power Rankings
Posted by Eric Engberg on September 25, 2008
ESPN’s power rankings are out and once again it has some flaws. Apparently it is the NFC East’s world and everyone else is just living in it as the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles all claim the top 3 spots in this week’s poll. The TItans, Steelers, Bills, and Broncos claim the next 4 spots as the top teams the AFC has to offer.
I have an issue with the Steelers being listed as the #2 team in the AFC. The Steelers have some serious flaws to deal with in terms of their offensive line and they were thoroughly dominated by Philadelphia’s defense on Sunday. The Titans and Bills are currently playing the best football in the AFC. I would also move the Broncos ahead of the Steelers on the basis of them being unbeaten though they cannot seem to stop anyone defensively.
The Chargers move back into the top 10 on the heels of kicking a mediocre Jets team up and down the field on Monday. What’s more is they move ahead in the rankings ahead of a 2-1 Carolina Panthers team despite the fact the Panthers beat them on their own field. Does it make sense to rank a team with a lesser record ahead of a team with a better record that has beaten them?
The Colts and Pats both fall out of the top ten for what is probably the first time in several seasons. Given the Colts have two home losses to a pair of teams currently 1-2 how is it they are still 12th. Furthermore how is it that those two other teams, the Bears (20th) and the Jaguars (14th), are ranked behind the Colts when they have the same record and own victories against them?
The 2-1 Redskins are ranked behind three teams with two losses.
Once one gets past the Redskins it is tough to quibble too terribly much and honestly one can randomly sort those teams and not have too much to argue. The lower tier two win teams are there because they have beaten bottom feeders and lost to the only real competition they have played and the one win teams are higher for playing tougher competition to-date.
However, the one team I wonder about is the Oakland Raiders. Granted they did lose this past week, but after being run out of the building by the Broncos in week one they have rebounded to beat the Chiefs and took an undefeated Bills team to the wire in Buffalo this past weekend. They deserve some credit for that and should certainly be ranked ahead of winless teams like the Bengals, Browns, and Texans.
