NFL: Week 4 Power Rankings

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?

NFL: Week 3 Rookie Recap

The third week of the NFL season saw a pair of rookie runners show off their blazing speed and the top QB taken in the draft rebound from an abysmal outing to post another solid start.  We also saw another rookie quarterback make his pro debut and the top tight end taken in the draft score his first career touchdown.

Steve Slaton, Houston – Week three was Slaton’s time to shine as he cruised to 116 yards on 18 carries including his first career touchdown against a stout Tennessee defense.  For the year Slaton has 159 yards and is averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

Felix Jones, Dallas – Continues to use his elite speed to deliver big plays for the Cowboys.  Jones was rather ineffective aside from his 60 yard touchdown run.  Jones compiled a career-high 76 yards on six carries.  For the season he has 148 yards on 18 carries for a whopping 8.2 yards per carry.  Jones has also made a major impact for the Cowboys as a kick returner.  In 3 games he has two returns of 40 or more yards including a 98-yarder for a touchdown against Philadelphia.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – Ryan rebounded from an abysmal outing against the Buccaneers to post another solid game against the Chiefs completing 12 of 18 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown.  It is tough to gauge just where Ryan is along the developmental process as his two best games have come against two of the worst teams in the league while his only game against a potentially playoff caliber team was not good.  For the year Ryan has completed 53.1% of his passes for 511 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions.

NFL: Week Two Rookie Recap

Darren McFadden, Oakland – McFadden had a breakout game this week piling up 164 yards on 21 carries against the hapless Chiefs.  McFadden showed everyone why he was considered the top talent available in the draft.  The only real knock on his performance is that he put the ball on the ground twice which was main knock on his game coming out of Arkansas.  McFadden’s performance made him the second leading rusher amongst rookie backs this year with 210 yards and 5th in the NFL.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Continued to shine for the TItans posting his first 100 yard game of his career piling up 109 yards on 19 carries.  Johnson’s 202 yards rank him third amongst rookie runners.

Johnathan Stewart, Carolina – Stewart came up big for the Panthers scoring two second half touchdowns to go with a career high 77 yards.  Stewarts 130 yards rank 4th amongst rookies and his two touchdowns are the most amongst all rookie running backs.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – Jackson posted another 100 yard recieving against Dallas hauling in 6 balls for 110 yards.  Jackson’s 12 catches rate second amongst rookies and his 216 yards are tops amongst rookies and 4th in the NFL.  He is quickly emerging as the top wideout in the 2008 rookie class.

NFL: Week One Rookie Recap

The first week of the NFL season featured some impressive debuts from the class of ‘08.  We saw two rookie quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, win their pro debuts for the first time since 1971 when Archie Manning and Jim Plunkett won their debut games.  We also saw a back go for 100 yards rushing a reciever catch over 100 yards worth of passes, and another back compile 100 yards of total offense.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta – Ryan played about as well as could be expected for a rookie making his first start in the NFL.  The Falcons game planned this one perfectly to a tee relying heavily on the running game which has plenty of quality depth with Micheal Turner and Jerious Norwood toting the ball for the Falcons.  Ryan simply delivered when asked to.  His ability to complete passes downfield kept the defense honest allowing Micheal Turner to rack up 220 yards on the ground.  Ryan looked sharp completing 9 of his 13 passes for 161 yards and no interceptions.  He made a couple of big time throws and did not make any of the dumbs ones that rookies are wont to do.  

Joe Flacco, Baltimore – Flacco was essentially good enough to get the job done.  The positives are that he did not turn the ball over and showed some wheels in taking a 38 yard scramble to the house.  The negatives are he only completed 51.7% of his passes against a bad defensive team in the Bengals and did not complete one throw over 15 yards.  Basically he did not do anything to screw it up and Coach Harbaugh was willing to utilize a dominant running game to monopolize the ball.

Matt Forte, Chicago – Forte was the league’s top rookie rusher piling up 123 yards, including a 50 yard romp to the end zone, leading the Bears to a 29-13 blowout of the Colts.

Chris Johnson, Tennessee – Some folks snickered when the Titans selected Johnson in the first round, especially when they desparately needed to find someone for Vince Young to throw the ball to.  Johnson proved his crtics wrong yesterday by racking up 127 yards of offense (93 rush, 34 rec) and a touchdown.  Johnson was one of the lone brights spots on offense in what was an otherwise pedestrian game.  Ultimately the Titans needed to get a playmaker on offense and it appears as though they have one in Chris Johnson.

DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia – The lone rookie wideout to catch more than 2 balls and had about as good of a debut as one could have expected catching 6 balls for 106 yards including two that went for over 20 yards.  He also gave the return game a shot in the arm with a 60 yard punt return.

Ray Rice, Baltimore – A rather lackluster debut of 64 yards on 22 carries including a fumble.

Felix Jones, Dallas – Scampered his way to 62 yards on 9 carries including a TD run the first time he touched the ball.

Jonathan Stewart, Carolina – Gave the Panthers exactly what they wanted with 53 yards on 10 carries in relief of DeAngelo Williams. 

Steve Slaton, Houston – A so-so debut of 43 yards on 13 carries in a game that Houston was never really in from the start.

Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh – Mendenhall managed just 28 yards on 10 carries in a game that saw teammate Willie Parker go for 138 yards and 3 scores.

John Carlson, Seattle – The rookie tight end caught four passes for 52 yards in a solid debut outing.

Keith Rivers, Cincinnati – The top rookie tackler of the week recording 10 tackles against the Ravens.

Antoine Cason, San Diego – The rookie corner recorded six tackles including a forced fumble that led to a Chargers touchdown.

Derrick Harvey, Jacksonville – Drafted by the Jaguars to bolster the pass rush the rookie defensive end was ironically the only rookie to record an interception this week.  He also managed to knock down two other passes but failed to record even a tackle.

NFL: Week One Thoughts

One initial thought as the Bears maintain comfortable lead with just under ten minutes to play: Is the balance of power finally shifting back to the NFC?  Consider that the Carolina Panthers, considered to be a marginal playoff team, stunned the San Diego Chargers at home with a last second touchdown and the Bears coming off of a 7-9 season and not considered a serious threat are handling the Colts quite easily.  The Chargers and Colts were two teams heavily favored to make deep playoff runs this year.  In fact the Chargers and Colts were second and third respectively in ESPN’s preseason power rankings while the Bears and Panthers were 25th and 20th.

Living in Durham I hear a lot of Panthers fans say Delhomme has to go, but after the throw he made to win that game today I wonder what they think now.  It is amazing how much better the Panthers are with Delhomme under center and they won this game without Steve Smith, their best player.  Carolina was able to basically run the ball at will racking up 142 yards getting 4.9 per carry, however, without Smith in the lineup the passing game suffered from untimely drops and a costly fumble that eventually led to a Chargers touchdown.

The defense held its own.  It allowed only two touchdowns on sustained drives while the Chargers other score came on a 28-yard drive following a D. J. Hackett fumble.  The one negative to take away was San Diego was able to get deep a few times and the pass coverage broke down in the middle of the field a few times.

Watching DeAngelo Williams carry the ball yesterday I could not help but wondering why DeShaun Foster go the bulk of the carries the past two seasons in Charlotte.