Week 2 Power Rankings - updated
by Marima on Sep 15, 2009 6:29 PM EDT
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Don Banks at SI ranks them 1st: How come the Patriots always play with urgency and know what the situation calls for, and the other team seems to have some bonehead like Leodis McKelvin singing "I Gotta Be Me'' at the absolute pivotal moment of a game? Watching New England beat Buffalo in the final five minutes Monday night, doing everything right when it had to, was like a flashback of that AFC Divisional playoff heist the Pats pulled at San Diego in 2006. I don't know if the better team won Monday night, but I know the smarter team did.
Peter King at SI ranks them 1st: I don't care if Tom Brady has to take a bunch of Aleve tonight for that shoulder, I bet he's never looked forward to a game more than tonight's against Buffalo.
CBS Sports ranks them 1st: It wasn't what we expected, but Tom Brady pulled out a win after a shaky start. The defense didn't play that well. They should send flowers and a case of steaks to Leodis McKelvin for his fumble.
Vic Carucci at NFL.com ranks them 1st: You have to cut Tom Brady some slack for playing his first full game since Super Bowl XLII, although problems created by the many changes in the Patriots defense could be an issue.
Fox Sports ranks them 2nd: GLASS HALF FULL: After some understandable rust during the game's first 55 minutes against the Bills Monday, Tom Brady officially returned. Did you see the sideline shot immediately after Buffalo took a 24-13 lead with 5:32 left? Brady pulled his John Wayne, with a "Hey! We're gonna win this game!" Thanks for letting us share the same oxygen, Mr.
ESPN ranks them 2nd: Tom Brady is magic in the final minutes, but the Pats' defense appears shaky.
ProFootball Weekly ranks them 2nd: This Brady character looks like he's got some game.
USA Today ranks them 2nd: Focus is back on reclaiming the AFC East title.
National Football Post ranks them 3rd: When this team needed a play, QB Tom Brady delivered yet again. It wasn’t pretty, but style points don’t count in the NFL.
WEEI ranks them 3rd: On Monday night, Patriots fans left Gillette Stadium happy — but shocked. The Patriots looked very shaky against a mediocre team. The Bills did a great job of getting pressure on Tom Brady, and I think everyone agrees Tom Brady didn’t play to the level we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. But all that being the case, check out these numbers: 378 passing yards, 39 completions and 2 TD’s. It will be scary when Brady is back at the top of his game. Any other team would have lost that game, but the Patriots are the exception. They get the key turnovers and produce under pressure.
The Sporting News ranks them 4th: Tom Brady made clutch plays to beat the Bills, but the offense was not totally in sync.
Yahoo! Sports ranks them 7th: Should we be awed by their unrelenting grit, or concerned that they needed a Bills meltdown to prevail over Buffalo at home Monday night?
AVERAGE RANK: 2.31
The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.
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I'd say 2nd is right
But not behind the Steelers, behind the Giants.
The thing that worries me the most about the Pats is the defensive speed to the outside. Jackson was consistently able to turn upfield without Mayo in there. If the Pats D can contain better, I’ll feel a lot better.
Giants
They lost one of their RB stable, who just happened to be a stud. Add to that, they lost their WR contingent (how many catches between them, 50 total career catches?). And while their defence is very good, it’s the same as last year – and therefore one year older, with all that entails.
I’d rate the Steelers above the Giants – they didn’t really lose anybody, they effectively have not one but two first-round picks joining them this year (given that Mendenhall barely played last year), and they have continuity in all their playmaking positions. It also helps they know how to win.
by Comedic.Sans on Sep 15, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions
agreed, the giants didnt do very much to make themselves better… if anything they got worse without ward, burress, and toomer.
The steelers will have some probs without palumalu, and an ineffective run game…
its only week 2 however, and i think judgements are still premature. I think that after week 3 we can start getting pretty accurate measure of a teams worth.
Number 2 isnt bad tho, gives us something to work for.
In Kobe we trust!
I was assuming Polamalu would be out 'only' 3 weeks
He’s played injured before, and he’s a very tough individual, so I figured it’d be at the shorter end of that expected time bracket of 3-6 weeks. And even then, they’ve got enough playmakers around to force things to happen in defence, so as long as they can put in a guy who does his job, they’ll be fine. If you’re using week 3 as the time to make an evaluation, the Steelers could well have Polamalu back by then.
by Comedic.Sans on Sep 16, 2009 2:16 AM EDT up reply actions
The defense is a little different this year with Umenyiora back, as well as Canty and Bernard in the mix. The one-year older bit actually helps out a young-ish secondary.
Their RB problems are something to keep an eye on, particularly because I’m not sure Jacobs is 100% after his timid performance against Washington. Bradshaw looked good, though.
Yep, Nicks is out, but Barden and Manningham looked pretty good and Eli’s 3rd down insurance, Steve Smith, looks as reliable as ever.
The Steelers don’t have Polumalu and that’s huge. Their O-Line is very suspect and the running game looks lackluster. That said, I don’t think the Steelers are far away from #1. In my opinion, Giants, Pats and Steelers are all within a hair of each other.
I'd be tempted to throw the Ravens into that top bracket
They’ve got similar playmakers on defence to the Steelers – Ed Reed, Lewis, Suggs, Ngata – they’ve got a strong stable of running backs, like the Giants – Rice, McGahee, McClain – and they’ve got a second-year QB who reminds me a lot of Roethlisberger in Joe Flacco.
Arguably, the ‘weak’ point here is Flacco, because he’s inexperienced – but he had a stellar year last year running the same system, and this week he outperformed, among others, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Kurt Warner and Phillip Rivers. That’s impressive.
by Comedic.Sans on Sep 16, 2009 2:34 AM EDT up reply actions
Good point
The Ravens did look good on offense and I was impressed with Flacco’s poise on that first touchdown. I’m going to be at the Ravens-Pats game and it’s going to be a brutal game, for sure.
they would
have had to be totally awesome some time in the past to be totally awesome again.
Warm up the Duck Boats!!!
by BabeParilli on Sep 15, 2009 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions
well
i thought they looked the best in week one. hopefully they have injuries to key players- it would be cool if eli was decapitated in some kind of freak accident during an oreo-eating contest
Michael Silver for yahoo is the idiot's idiot.
He thinks the Jets are better than the Chargers and Vikings. He thinks 9 teams are better than Indy. This guy gets more crazy every year.
Warm up the Duck Boats!!!
Go goes for "Shock and Awe" in his predictions
It gets more people to read his stuff and write him hate mail.
That’s a far cry from reality, however.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Sep 16, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions
7th sounds about right
based on week one performances. I’m confident the Pats will get better, but right now I see a number of teams ahead of us in the official jump-to-conclusions week.
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