Week 3 Power Rankings

by Marima on Sep 22, 2010 3:20 PM EDT

Yahoo! Sports ranks them 5th (-4): How much scarier is the Patriots’ offense with rookie tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski making plays?

National Football Post ranks them 7th (-4): The Patriots stalled out in the second half at New York, but they aren’t going anywhere.

Fox Sports ranks them 7th (-3): I'm still stunned that WR Randy Moss didn't record a catch after injured CB Darrelle Revis left last week's game. How is that possible? I would expect the Patriots to bounce back in a big way this week. Expect the Bills to be a sacrificial lamb on Sunday as they were last week against the Packers.

The Sporting News ranks them 7th (nc): The cracks in their defense started to show against the Jets, so they'll just turn around and lean more on Tom Brady. Up next: Two more division games.

NFL Fanhouse ranks them 8th (-6): The two biggest problems with the 2009 Patriots were their inability to win games on the road and their failure to close teams out in the second half of games. After Sunday's loss to the Jets, we have to wonder if those will continue to be their biggest concerns this time around.

Don Banks ranks them 8th (-4): It's a tricky little knot we're trying to untangle at the bottom of our Week 3 top 10. The Jets just beat the Patriots, and they're both 1-1, so New York has to be ranked at least one notch higher than New England. But the Patriots beat the Bengals soundly in Week 1, so they get the nod over Cincy. The Bengals just beat Baltimore, so you want them at least one slot better than the Ravens. But the whole thing gets complicated because Baltimore beat the Jets in Week 1, and I happen to think the Ravens are going to the Super Bowl. See what I'm dealing with here?

CBS Sports ranks them 9th (-6): Some of the flaws in their defense showed up against the Jets. They have to be better than that if they are to win the division.

USA Today ranks them 9th (-5): Have been outscored 39-14 in the second half this season.

WEEI ranks them 9th (-4): The Patriots team that showed up in New York last Sunday looked very familiar to the one we saw in 2009. Last year the Patriots struggled to win on the road and they gave up too many first-half leads. New England’s secondary couldn’t make a stop in the second half and was exposed. I can only imagine what will happen when quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Philip Rivers challenge the Pats secondary.

ESPN ranks them 9th (-5): Bill Belichick won't let the Pats panic after losing a road game against the Jets.

Pro Football Weekly ranks them 9th (-5): Two pass-interference calls were killers.

NFL.com ranks them 10th (-6)

What If Sports ranks them 10th (+3)

Peter King ranks them 11th (-9): "It's going to be a long week," said Brady. Sure will be. Foxboro won't be a fun place to work this week.

Cold Hard Football Facts ranks them 11th (-7): The Patriots have been outgained in their last four games, including playoffs; they’d outgained their opponent in 42 times in 53 games before this latest run.

AVERAGE RANK: 8.6 (-4)

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.

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agree w. the usa today.ranking....outscored 39-14 (1 td.is.a.KO TD)

Peter King is an idiot!

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by NinjaZX6R on Sep 22, 2010 3:48 PM EDT reply actions

He never says anything substantive in his rankings.

A week after having them ranked 2nd, he has them ranked 11th….and all he has to provide is a quote from Brady about how Belichick is going to stick it to them in practice? Come on, PK. ANALYSIS. IT’S YOUR JOB!

by nbradley07 on Sep 22, 2010 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Peter King...

was MADE to be parodied, ripped apart, and generally trash talked.

I’m sorry, the BEARS in the Super Bowl? That’s about as improbable as Mark Sanchez being named regular season MVP and Braylon Edwards winning the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award…

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 24, 2010 2:14 AM EDT up reply actions

The Bears do have Bryan Urlacher back and making plays...

He’s only one guy, but he’s as key to that defence as Troy Polamalu is to the Steelers. The last time Urlacher was truly healthy, they made the Superbowl, so I wouldn’t write them off quite yet. (If he gets injured, then their hopes rest on Jay Cutler’s arm, and he’ll throw a billion picks and they’ll be screwed. It’s on Urlacher).

Urlacher in 2 games – 14 tackles, 2 assists (16 total); 1 sack for 9 yards; 5 stuffs for 8 yards (leads NFL in stuffs). He’s made 15 solo tackles and 6 of them were for a loss – that’s 40% of his tackles for negative offensive yardage. The guy’s a beast, and he puts opposition offences on the back foot all by himself.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 24, 2010 2:26 AM EDT up reply actions

It depends on health.

They could flame out ala the 2008 and 2009 Broncos. Remember when they were penciled in as wild-card favorites? Well, they lost in humiliating fashion in 08 and got flushed out of the playoffs in 09.

It’s too bad Denver didn’t make it in last year. That would have all but guaranteed no Jets in the playoffs.

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 24, 2010 2:47 AM EDT up reply actions

And Cutler is actually playing inspired football

Martz looks to be a godsend for them.

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by Farorefox on Sep 25, 2010 1:26 PM EDT up reply actions

When he's good, he's good

Much like Favre. But when he’s bad… ugh. If that Bears D picks up injuries and Cutler has to carry the team like Brady or Manning, season over.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Sep 25, 2010 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I actually e-mailed King.

I offered to link him to a vid clip showing the hands to the QB’s head that should have been called on the “Tuck Rule” play. He had been moaning what a bad call it was on his column. He probably was taken aback at my suspicion that he was not interested in the truth and rather was interested in selling his punditry. I didn’t hear back from him ;-).

Bob Kraft describing the first time he met Tom Brady: "He looked me in the eye and added, 'I'm the best decision this organization has ever made."

by BabeParilli on Sep 24, 2010 8:09 PM EDT up reply actions

10th or 11th seems about right.

I find it hard to believe some of the players who performed so poorly in the second half of the jets game are lacking ability. So it has to be mental and they had ought to get their head together if they want to play for this team. It will take quite a bit of good football to change the perception that this defense just does not have what it takes to seriously threaten for a championship. Words cannot express how much Sunday did to reinforce fears that the draft picks on defense are more of the same ho hum picks we have been seeing for far far too long.

Bob Kraft describing the first time he met Tom Brady: "He looked me in the eye and added, 'I'm the best decision this organization has ever made."

by BabeParilli on Sep 22, 2010 5:47 PM EDT reply actions

I'm willing to give them some time.

Butler got destroyed, but he was physically outmatched and not getting any help over the top on Edwards. As a result, he couldn’t attempt to make any plays on the ball because he knew that if he missed or bit on a fake, he’d be toast. The scheme didn’t do anything to help him, and he needed the help based on the matchup.

Chung is a beast, and he really seems to grasp his role on the defense. He’s got the tenacity and power you want from a safety.

Brace is the potential bust from 09 – we’ll know by season’s end.

In terms of the other defensive draftees from this year, McCourty, through both games, has always had lockdown coverage on his receiver every time he’s been targeted. When his receivers have caught the ball, it’s been because the passes were indefensible or the play was out of his control (i.e. he gets picked on a crossing route by his own teammate).
Spikes looks solid against the run, excellent when rushing and mediocre against the pass – exactly what they expected of him. It’s the job of the coaches to keep him from getting mismatched on a TE or WR. Cunningham looked good at DE, never getting manhandled by the O-line.

On offense, Gronk and Hern-dog seem like the real deals, especially if B O’B can learn to use them properly. Tate is a threat to break every kick or punt return and shows some real nice speed and quickness when given the opportunity. Edelman was a lucky catch so late in the draft. We don’t know about Price yet because so many WRs are already entrenched.

Overall, I’m much more optimistic about the ‘09 and ’10 classes than any class since maybe ’05. I think we should be largely impressed with what we’ve seen from these guys so far. My cause for concern is the offense more than anything else. When your “elite” unit can’t get a first down in the second half, you’re in trouble no matter how good your defense is.

by nbradley07 on Sep 22, 2010 7:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Last year, we also lost to the Jets...

And everyone instantly proclaimed them Super Bowl champions…

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 24, 2010 2:50 AM EDT reply actions

...and they made the AFC Championship game.

Look- they are pretty good. I don’t think they are great, but they go out and compete every week. That’s all you can really ask of a team.

Matchups in the NFL are bizarre, especially in rivalry games. Week one: Pats beat Bengals, Ravens beat Jets. The next week: Jets beat Patriots, Bengals beat Ravens. Just makes you shake your head sometimes.

True wealth is a shelf full of unread books.

by Hometown Gyro on Sep 24, 2010 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions

The transitive property is a total fail in the NFL.

I think Weeks 1 and 2 proved it.

Still, of the undefeated teams, who’s going to keep it up and make the playoffs? I don’t know if Tampa can hold it together against NO, or KC can hold up in QualComm…

On the other hand, the way the Vikings have played of late, they’re going to be very lucky to win more than just their games against the Lions.

Maybe Koa Misi and Jared Odrick would be Patriots if Bill Parcells wasn't Comedic.Sans's father...
"I looked at BN once. I got banned." -the immortal words of JShufelt

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Sep 24, 2010 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

TB has a middle range schedule

If they can play like I think they can, they could go 9-7.

by Farorefox on Sep 25, 2010 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't write the Vikes off yet!

I hear Brett Favre is going to unretire for week 3!

I actually like KC in the plucky underdog role. Their rookies look sharp on special teams, and if Cassel can stay a situation where he doesn’t have to do too much, they’re going to be dangerous, especially at home. (I may be totally over-rating this team just because they are Patriots-West).

True wealth is a shelf full of unread books.

by Hometown Gyro on Sep 24, 2010 1:50 PM EDT reply actions