Dan’s Power Rankings.

It’s been a while since someone’s called me an idiot I thought. So why not put a power rankings together and hurry up the process.

In all seriousness, I thought it was time to start the power rankings, as we begin to figure out what most teams actually are. I’d love to know your opinion, so feel free to hit us up on twitter. It’s important remember that this is just the opinion from one of the gents (Dan) not all of them.

Right. The easy choice for no. 32 is….

 

32) Oakland Raiders: The team is frankly hard to watch. It’s the perfect trio of bad play, bad coaching and bad front office choices. One positive though. Key and Hurst look great.

31) New York Giants: Any team that can’t generate an offense deserves to be low on a power ranking. Saquon is dynamite, but dysfunction, tied with an Eli Manning that is struggling to make passes longer than 5 yards, makes this team predictable and perhaps a bit dull.

30) Arizona Cardinals: This is by no means a good team, just not as awful as the two teams above. Steve Wilks gets a year of the “rebuild” card before we need to see results. Christian Kirk and Josh Rosen look like the nucleus of the offense going forward. Rosen just needs to stay upright.

29) San Francisco 49ers: Heartbreaking loss for Niners fans in the game against the Packers (trust me, I know how that feels). There are elements of this team that have exceeded expectation and with the sheer volume of injuries they’ve suffered, that should give the Niners some comfort for future seasons.

28) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Mike Smith is gone after taking a unit with some serious defensive talent and putting it into a nose dive. All replacement DC, Mark Duffner has to do is keep the score low enough for the offense to win shootouts. That will require a complete change of ethos however.

27) Buffalo Bills: I have a lot of faith in Sean McDermott, who I think has been put in a very difficult position. That being said, the amount of times they rushed Josh Allen, it was a matter of time before he suffered an injury. Now it looks like Peterman will take the field against the Colts. The Bills will have some tough decisions to make about personnel and coaching.

26) Tennessee Titans: The Titans are a hard team to trust. 11 sacks on Mariota is obviously a concern. The 10 completions is even more so. I didn’t like Mularkey as a head coach, I thought that the last season we saw the ceiling of what they could achieve. Now though the offense can’t get any traction and puts the defense in a difficult spot. I have little to no faith in this team.

25) Indianapolis Colts: Indy are still suffering from years of neglect. Even without injuries this roster is paper-thin. Currently the team are entirely reliant on a resurgent Andrew Luck and a group of very talented rookies. The future is bright for the Colts, but this season might be tough for the fans.

24) Denver Broncos: Lets change things up and start with the positives. The Broncos picked up some great rookies. Phillip Lyndsey, Royce Freeman, Courtland Sutton and Bradley Chubb have all made an immediate impact and look to be centre pieces for the team in the future. The negatives… The Broncos need to find a way to close the door thats been left open for running backs as a matter of urgency.

23) Atlanta Falcons: It’s heartbreaking looking at this Falcons team this year. Matt Ryan is spreading the ball around and running up ridiculous scores. The defense loses a key piece every week. The 2018 Falcons will be known as yet another “could have” team.

22) Houston Texans: Oh I dunno… okay, okay I’ll go a little more in-depth. They seem to at least be getting some form together, however a poor secondary and poor offensive line seem them crashing towards an inevitable 7-9 season. I still don’t really know what they are.

21) Cleveland Browns: The Browns up until this week have kept games close. This week though they suffered their first blow out and the difference in quality was evident. I still think this team is on the up, but they definitely need to iron out a few kinks.

20) New York Jets: This Jets team has struggled to put together consistent results, but when they do win, they look convincing. I especially think the future is bright for the secondary. The Jets will move down this list if they can’t recreate this week consistently.

19) Detroit Lions: Another team I just can’t really suss out. They make silly mistakes, but on their day can beat anyone. One thing is for certain however, in Kerryon Johnson they’ve got a decent running back.

18) Washington: This team has 8-8 written all over them. I don’t think we’ll see a whole lot of excitement this year in Washington. A good win on Sunday however.

17) Miami Dolphins: I considered putting them higher, but couldn’t do it till we see some consistency from this team. That being said, what Gase was able to do with an offense that had a ton of injuries against a dominant Bears defense, deserves some credit.

16) Seattle Seahawks: It’s been a process for Seattle, but they finally seem to be getting some form going. Last week we saw the return of the passing game featuring a refreshing performance from Doug Baldwin. Despite injuries to the Seattle defense, there is still a ton of talent in there.

15) Chicago Bears: A game full of errors against the Dolphins last week, hasn’t worried me too much about this team. I think they’re probably just good enough to miss out on a playoff spot in a competitive NFC North.

14) Carolina Panthers: Much like the Bears above, I loss at the weekend hasn’t worried me too much about this team. I still think they could run their way into a playoff spot.

13) Dallas Cowboys:  Exceeding my expectations at least, not just as a team that stands a decent chance to make the playoffs, but being considerably more watchable than I expected. Zeke is reminding everyone why it’s okay to draft a running back in the first round. 

12) Jacksonville Jaguars: Another performance like last week and they’ll start to plummet on this. Really concerned about a team who’s Super bowl window is wide open.

11) Philadelphia Eagles: It was only a win against the Giants, but it feels like it’s all coming together for the Eagles. There are still some concerns, but the Eagles still seem like one of the more resilient teams in the league.

10) Pittsburgh Steelers: A bit low perhaps? Maybe. I just still don’t trust them. I think if the Bengals and Steelers played 10 times, it’d end 5-5, these games are just weird. I do think the AFC North is going to be a close run affair this year…

9) Baltimore Ravens: Which should be demonstrated by the way I’ve got them lined up. The Ravens are very close to moving up this list, but I need to see a little more. I still think they’re just behind the Bengals.

8) Cincinatti Bengals: A close loss to the Steelers doesn’t phase me too much. Right now I think this is the best team in the division, but that could change week to week. The AFC North is a really fun division this year.

7) Green Bay Packers: Weirdly I think I’m higher on this team than most people. I think the Packers have the ability to win any game thanks to Aaron Rodgers ability to put the game on his back. I still think the coaching is a mess, but this team can give any defensive coordinator nightmares.

6) LA Chargers: The rise of this year’s Chargers team has been fun to watch. Rivers seems ageless and is connecting with a variety of receivers. Add in a solid defense (that still doesn’t have Joey Bosa) and a running back that will hopefully get the credit he deserves this season and you’ve got a Chargers team that looks set to challenge for a playoff spot.

5) New Orleans Saints: It feels like we still haven’t seen the Saints final form yet, but what we see week to week is getting more and more impressive. With improvements in the pass rush come improvements in the secondary, which should compliment the white-hot offense nicely.

4) Minnesota Vikings: It doesn’t quite feel as solid as last year’s team of destiny, but the talent is definitely shining through. Adam Thielen and Stephon Diggs are almost certainly the best receiving duo in the league, giving Cousins a number of options. The Vikings can hang in a shootout and slow down offenses in closely contested defensive battles. The best is yet to come from this team.

3) Kansas City Chiefs: There is no shame in losing to the Patriots when we hit this time of the season. I’d imagine we’ll see this matchup later in the year again. One criticism… the defense still can’t keep games controllable. The offense however, might be the best in the league.

2) New England Patriots: Only the Patriots can start the season with what is considered a poor wide receiver group and turn it round into a strength by week 6. The Pats seem to have got it together and go up against a wounded Chicago Bears this week.

1) LA Rams: Explosive offense? Check. Stifling defense? Check. Fun to watch? Check. I love this Rams team and they have to stay no.1 until we see a team that can hang with them. Good work Mr McVay!

That’s it! As I said at the start, we’d love to know your opinion, but remember this list is just the opinion of mine (Dan), not all of the gents. Anyway hit us up on twitter and we can discuss all the teams and where they are on the list.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to download this week’s pod!