Week 13 Power Rankings
by Marima on Dec 1, 2010 4:38 PM EST
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PrintDon Banks ranks them 1st: I suppose the Jets can go ahead and study the tape of their Week 2 game against the Patriots for whatever they might glean from it, but that New England offense really doesn't exist any more. In that 28-14 New York win, Randy Moss scored a touchdown, Kevin Faulk was the Patriots' leading rusher, and Stephen Gostkowski was doing the kicking for New England. Then again, I don't blame the Jets for not being eager to watch what the Patriots of recent vintage just did to the Steelers, Colts and Lions the past three weeks.
SB Nation ranks them 1st: New England fans were worried on Thanksgiving -- for a quarter at least. The Patriots dominated the Lions and Tom Brady looked like an All-Pro. Biggest game of the year coming against the Jets on Monday Night Football.
NFL FanHouse ranks them 1st: While Randy Moss toils away in mediocrity, New England's pass offense has started to heat up. Tom Brady torched Pittsburgh and most recently Detroit over the past three weeks, but his biggest test awaits on Monday night in the Jets -- a team that made the future Hall of Famer look pedestrian back in Week 2.
WEEI ranks them 1st: The Patriots have scored more points this season than any other team in the NFL. Tom Brady and the offense are ranked third in the league after completing 45 percent of their third-down conversions. On the other side of the ball, Bill Belichick should be concerned about the amount of yards his defense has given up. The Patriots rank 31st in the NFL in total yards allowed. This team has relied on their ability to force turnovers. Their 15 interceptions lead the AFC.
Pro Football Weekly ranks them 1st: Maybe Bill Belichick's best coaching job since 2001.
National Football Post ranks them 1st: Tom Brady made it look easy against the Lions secondary on Thanksgiving as the Pats kept rolling.
Cold Hard Football Facts ranks them 1st: Jerod Mayo has 132 total tackles for a 9-2 team, which makes him the leader of a great defense, right? Well, maybe not – the Pats are 31st in total defense, and of the seven top tacklers in the league, Mayo is the only one playing for a winning team. So maybe tackles aren’t a great indicator.
ESPN ranks them 2nd: The Patriots enter their game against the Jets playing their best football.
Yahoo! Sports ranks them 2nd: If Danny Woodhead helps the Pats beat the Jets next Monday night, how many F-bombs will Ryan hurl in his own direction?
The Sporting News ranks them 2nd: With a struggling young defense and a reshuffled receiver corps, this might be the greatest trick yet for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
Peter King ranks them 2nd: Still a bit worried about its defense holding down a top offense, but less so after seeing the magnificent Devin McCourty besting Calvin Johnson Thursday in Detroit.
USA Today ranks them 2nd: Need to beat Jets to avoid giving tiebreaker to rival.
NFL.com ranks them 2nd
Fox Sports ranks them 2nd: That loss at Cleveland in Week 9 seems to have actually lit a major fire under the Patriots. No team has played better over the past three weeks. But we'll get a real idea of where they stand in the AFC East against the visiting Jets on Monday night.
CBS Sports ranks them 3rd: If they beat the Jets, they will be sitting pretty to win the AFC East. They better tighten up that defense. They give up too many big plays.
Pro Football Talk ranks them 3rd: Who do the Patriots play next week? I haven’t heard.
AVERAGE RANK: 1.7
The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.
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i like being ranked between 2 or 3....being 1...puts a bigger target on our backs
Non Sibi Sed Patriae &I love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Toy Story wears no. 39 100x better than D.D.R
Pat McAfee -Colts punter-"@StampedeBlue I hope your website gets exposed for a complete joke. There’s no reason for you to do that, and its completely ridiculous."
CBS Sports is a little off
The pats give up alot of yardage but RARELY have let a big play happen. 10-20 yards? Sure. 40+ yard bomb, not so much.
man were slowly creeping toward #1
1.9 in week 12 1.7 in week 13. but i definitely hope we put the smack down on the jets. let everyone know whose the best and what a real dynasty looks like
No I'm not the best, I just live life like it.
Formerly Moss81
The Jets are similar to the Vikings
They dumped a load of money into the off-season to try to buy a Super-Bowl.
They have a load of folks that are hitting free agency next year, so this year’s Jets have very little to do with next year’s Jets.
They backed into the playoffs last year. They’ll likely make it this year, and next year is a complete question mark. No dynasty there until they get a Lombardi that’s dated in the 21st century.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 3, 2010 11:00 AM EST up reply actions
Don Banks has been spot-on with these for the past few weeks
And that little ditty is sort of like the headline you used, Marima. This isn’t the Week 2 Patriots…as much as Jets fans and players want to believe they are. The offense has improved gradually and is still tops in the league. The defense is making key adjustments and stops when needed/necessary. No, everything isn’t complete and everything isn’t being done to perfection….but what team is personifying perfection this year?
Sigh. This wait sucks.
I don't think so. Homey don't play dat.
Creator of the moniker "DDR©"
I have been one of the critics of this defense.
But to be fair, a lot of the statistical evidence that they are poor is misleading. Many of those yards and points were gained against them after a big lead was in place. I think if the numbers were more favorable for them the team would be #1 hands down. The bottom line is they have usually played fairly well when it has mattered.
At this point, anyone with insight would have to rate them #1.
The glass is at 50% of capacity.
..
I have been one of the critics of this defense.
Shocking
lol
Non Sibi Sed Patriae &I love my ZX-6r Kawasaki.
I bleed Scarlet and Grey...A Buckeye for Life
Toy Story wears no. 39 100x better than D.D.R
Pat McAfee -Colts punter-"@StampedeBlue I hope your website gets exposed for a complete joke. There’s no reason for you to do that, and its completely ridiculous."
I certainly have had plenty of company in that.
Not here, but you know, in the real world.
The glass is at 50% of capacity.
I was thinking 8-8 would be a feat at the beginning of the year.
Now we’re 9-7 worst case.
I’d much rather they finish the season strong, than start strong and peter out in December. You can make it to January either way, but the second way tends to lead to years like last year with the Ravens.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 4, 2010 10:00 PM EST up reply actions
I thought they would at least be in the mix for a playoff spot.
They have a Hall of Fame QB who is arguably the greatest clutch QB ever. And it isn’t like last years rag-tag collection of scrubs on D were all that hard to replace.
The defense has been a problem for quite a few years. They did have some very respectable numbers in the recent past but just were not the clutch D from the glory days. Oddly, this young D puts up some awful numbers, but has looked so far more clutch than some of their statistically prettier predecessors. The jury is out, but the kids are giving it a helluva ride.
This D reminds me of Asante Samuel. They aren’t really that good, but they can burn you; and because of that, they are actually not bad.
The glass is at 50% of capacity.
by BabeParilli on Dec 6, 2010 3:04 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
Interesting perspective.
This D reminds me of Asante Samuel. They aren’t really that good, but they can burn you; and because of that, they are actually not bad.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 6, 2010 11:32 AM EST up reply actions
But OMG we hate Shamuel so much because he can't tackle!
Wait. I just had to channel my inner Ninja.
The defense is good in certain areas. They’re bad in certain areas. They might not put up amazing numbers, but they don’t have to because there’s a top flight offense with a great QB. So…is the defense merely average as a whole? I would say so. But as far as position players go, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better rookie CB than McCourty, a better NT than Wilfork, a better young S than Chung and a better young LB than Mayo AND get them all on the same team.
Wisconsin, Big Ten Champions for the first time since 1999...
Can Abbrederis shoot the long three and effectively distribute the ball to his big men?
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Dec 6, 2010 7:07 PM EST up reply actions
I'd say the MNF game was good defensive play.
Small sample size, though.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 7, 2010 12:20 AM EST up reply actions
It would be really hard to argue
that this defense is not getting better. I have consistently claimed THE problem since the dynasty was clutch play from the D. These young guys show strong signs of doing just that. And seeing that, I am more optimistic than I have been for a long while.
Not only was it good defensive play, it was an hellacious ass beating.
The glass is at 50% of capacity.
And the guys people have been down on occasionally played well
Butler, Arrington, Banta-Cain, Ninkovich, Chung, Meriweather. No major missteps or errors.
Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Maybe glass is now 50.5% of capacity?
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 7, 2010 12:11 PM EST up reply actions
It's always at 50% if it's halfway.
At this point our team has as good a shot at winning it all as most that have a shot at all. It does appear we may have the edge on them because Brady is back to his unbelievable high level of play that was retarded by his devastating injury. Since 2007 if you subtract the year he was out and the comeback year (understandable), he is playing better than any QB has ever played. At this point it is like watching Ted Williams hit or Bobby Orr skate. It just has never been better than this.
The glass is at 50% of capacity.
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