NFL Power Rankings

The third week of the NFL preseason is supposed to be as close to the real thing as possible. Starters play at least half a game and not all the play calling is vanilla, giving you a pretty good indication of how the offense might look. Gridiron Experts has watched a lot of preseason this year (maybe too much) in anticipation of the upcoming season. With the final week of preseason pretty much a game of lawn darts avoiding all injury risk to starters in the days before the opener, we have assembled our preseason rankings.

1. Patriots – The offensive line doesn’t look like the same unit that once gave Brady enough time to smoke a cigarette while picking apart defenses for 50 touchdowns, but regardless of a few weak spots this Patriot team is loaded with talent.

2. Steelers - The Steelers have a tough match-up for the season opener, but with the Browns and Bengals in their division the Ravens are the only threat for not getting another free ticket to the playoffs.

3. San Diego Chargers – Tomlinson is in many fantasy owners bad books, but after seeing some action in the preseason LT should have more rhythm with his offensive line and could get the running game back on track early. Remember, LT was never a preseason guy and the Chargers started the season 3-5 last year and 1-3 the year before.

4. Philadelphia Eagles - The Eagles are a strange team to predict this year; with new personnel on the offense, defense, and even coaching staff changes, it’s anyone’s guess for how good or bad this team will perform. The Eagles (and McNabb) are notorious for slow starts; throw in a Wildcat offense that seems out of place and the Eagles could be a boom or bust. I might be buying into the hype, but after the miracle turnaround last year I’m sure the Birds will focus on a fast start.

5. Tennessee Titans – Last years top team, now with a chip on their shoulders after a disappointing playoff exit. The Titans have added a few more weapons to the passing game that should add extra punch to defense’s, but expect the same old power run game to rack up most of the wins.


6. Indianapolis Colts – A new coaching staff is only going to allow Manning to call more of what he wants in the huddle, which is not a bad thing as Peyton has more NFL experience in his pinkie finger than most of the new coaches combined. Throw in a 1st round rookie RB Donald Brown and the Colts should regain their top offensive prowess. The only concerns are injuries on the defensive side as many big names struggle to stay healthy.

7. Baltimore Ravens – Defense wins championships.


8. New York Giants – Power running game and insane pass rushing defense should do fine in the big apple. Oh, and the Giants also have the highest paid quarterback in the league.

9. Minnesota Vikings – Screw Favre, Adrian Peterson is God’s freak experiment of combining a cheetah with a velociraptor…wait this is a religious contradiction, ok replace the dinosaur with a bulldozer if you have to.

10. New Orleans Saints – The Saints are their own biggest rival. With a bendable defense and shaky road game performances (2-6 on the road in ‘08) the Saints lack respect from teams when anyone but Brees is near the ball.

11. Atlanta Falcons – You may have noticed that we have Michael Turner above ADP in our Fantasy rankings; this is based mainly on fantasy football playoff match-ups but is also because we believe he is going to perform at an even higher level this season. With a reliable check down tight end and a deep threat receiver there will be no chance of defenses loading up the box.
12. Chicago Bears – The addition of Jay Cutler is masking a lot of little problems with this team, including below average receivers and a sub par secondary.
13. Green Bay Packers – If the defense can improve, this team will challenge for the division.
14. Carolina Panthers – Insert boring off season comment here:_________
15. Dallas Cowboys – Love him or hate him, T.O. moved the chains and he will be missed.
16. Seattle Seahawks – The passing game looks strong along with a tough defense, but a lack of a running game and a tough schedule should result in an average season.
17. Miami Dolphins – Hardest schedule in the NFL will make this a frustrating season. The Wildcat could also be the death of them as defensive coaches did nothing but game plan for it all summer.
18. Houston Texans – Loaded with young talent but lacking leadership.
19. Buffalo Bills – The Bills can never break away from the .500 tier club, and this year is no different. Don’t like the idea of a hurry up offense either.
20. Jacksonville Jaguars - I fell for this team last year, not buying into the off-season repairs and running game.
21. Arizona Cardinals – Super Bowl  hangover.
22. Washington Redskins – NFC East is a killer and the Skins don’t look strong on offense.
23. Cincinnati Bengals - The whole season falls on Palmer’s injured bones.
24. St. Louis Rams - Sleeper team, may surprise a few but not enough for a good season.

Not worth a reason why:
25. San Francisco 49ers
26. Denver Broncos
27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
28. Cleveland Browns
29. New York Jets
30. Oakland Raiders
31. Kansas City Chiefs
32. Detroit Lions

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