ESPN put out its first NFL power rankings for 2010 today and they have the Eagles sitting at number 13.¬† They‚Äôre the second highest rated team in the NFC East. The Dallas Cowboys are the top rated team in the division and they sit at number five, which seems about right for where they finished and their moves in the offseason. I‚Äôm tired of people rating the Chargers up near the top of the league every year and they get to the playoffs and fold up.¬† I would put the New York Jets up higher than number eight because of the moves they’ve made since the season ended. I don‚Äôt see how they have the Arizona Cardinals at 12 despite losing future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.¬† I think they‚Äôll be a bigger drop off from Warner to Matt Leinart than the drop from Donovan McNabb to Kevin Kolb. I think with the additions the Giants made in ther secondary, I would rate them higher than 17th. The Redskins have quite a few holes to fill before they could make a run for the playoffs. Check it out and tell us what you think.
- Saints
- Colts
- Vikings
- Chargers
- Cowboys
- Packers
- Ravens
- Jets
- Patriots
- Falcons
- Bengals
- Cardinals
- Eagles
- Texans
- 49ers
- Titans
- Giants
- Panthers
- Steelers
- Broncos
- Bears
- Dolphins
- Redskins
- Raiders
- Jaguars
- Seahawks
- Browns
- Bills
- Chiefs
- Buccaneers
- Lions
- Rams
Falcons and Cards seem to high. Cards had a lot of losses on both sides of the ball this offseason and I just don’t get the love for the Falcons. People made way to big a deal about Ryan as a rookie (he’s the next Tom Brady) and I think that’s a factor for them being to high and do they have a defense yet? I haven’t really followed them this off season other than they signed the CB from the Texans who I don’t remember being really considered a difference maker. Just from what I know of the Texans their secondary wasn’t the strength of their team so poaching a guy from them doesn’t scream big move to me. He was the only guy out there and that explains his pay check but for them being that high…I don’t see it.
Cardinals are way too high.
Redskins at 23? With their defense and an upgrade at QB I think they should atleast be in the top 15.
Watch out for those 49ers.
PEter King in his MMQB column noted that last year he had New orleans at #24 in the pre-season – and commented they couldn’t win 8 games. This is nothing more then a list of how the teams finished last year.
I have some different thoughts as well,
Here are teams that are ranked too high..
#11- Bengals-(lets be honest the AFC North was not at it’s best last year)
#12- Cardinals-(losing K Warner,Dansby,Rolle will be tough to overcome,not sold on QB M Lineart
#16- Texans- (A C Johnson hold-out, V Young will not sneak-up on anyone this year,no RB L White)
#28- BIlls and #30 Buccanears I think will end up battling it our for the Basement and next years #1
overall draft pick
Teams I think are going to be better than their initial rankings..
#10 Falcons- (if they remain healthy and get off to a good start, they will compete with Saints,Vikings,Cowboys,have some good young talent and some excellent coaching)
#15 49ers – (will compete in a weak NFC West and if QB A Smith just plays above average,they will be the team to beat out west..a great draft in selecting OL A Thomas & ,M Iuapati and S T Mays)
teams like the Radiers,Browns,Lions & Chiefs will all be better teams this year and will end up a few spots higher,,
#29 Chiefs – ( will be much better offensively and maybe get to 7-8 wins as they continue to build a solid nucleaus for the future)
Teams that are hard to get a good read right now and can go either way from either being a playoff team or finish at 6-10 ..
#13 Eagles
#17 Giants
#18 Panthers
#19 Steelers
#21 Bears
#22 Dolphins
Thats it for now
Keep 5
It should be noted that its not like they’re bringing back the same defense they had last year in Washington that was so good. They’re switching to a 3-4 and to me that sounds like recipe to step back in effectiveness since you don’t necessarily have the right players and have to have the entire group learn a new system. The best defenses tend to be ones that are together for a few years and everyone knows what they have to do and what the others have to do so they’re working as one. Washington won’t have that this year and you have a few players that aren’t your proto-typical 3-4 player. Haynesworth being the most prominent and one who does not want to play in that system at all.
hahaha the pats? yeah right! they’re a shell of their former selves.. i mean, tom brady can DEF. prove me wrong, but i just don’t know w/ that team anymore… and while i think the birds will end up higher than 13 by the end, i think that’s fair for now
I don’t think the Bucs and Bills should be ahead of the Lions. I also agree with you that the Chargers are too high, the Jets are too low, and the Cardinals are way to high.
It’s hard to judge the Eagles but I think the 10-15 range seems right
@gibson
You might be right but I don’t think a change to the 3-4 automatically means their defense will struggle. Also I don’t think they have to go through a complete overhaul of the front 7 to be competitive b/c there are various versions of the 3-4. For example Andre Carter had 11 sacks last year rushing the passer from the the DE position. In my opinion Andre Carter still rushes the passer just like last year, the only difference is he’ll be in a standing position as opposed to being in a 3 point stance.
Good point though. We’ll see what happens.
I keep thinking that 13, ie middle of the pack and on the edge of the playoffs, is just the average of the two possible seasons the Eagles have. If Kolb is good, they compete for the NFC East and more. If Kolb stinks, they’ll be lucky to get 8 wins. The “expected value” for those two results is 13… sounds about right.
Who cares about the rankings…
Ranking the teams now is just as accurate as picking the second round of the draft.
Paulman’s Top 10 Picks (as of now)
#1) Saints (lost a few players,but resigned both O/L and had a nice draft,also have one of the strongest
def-secondaries, but could a little help along the Def/Line)
#2) Jets (best CB tandem in the league with Revis and Cromartie,added pass rush w/J Taylor,get the injured K Jenkins back at NT/DT, on offense added S Moss,L Tomlinson,if QB Sanchez continues to mature at his present pace, they can play with anyone..have the NFL best O/Line and also have that swagger just like the Eagles sid when Rex’s Ryans father (Buddy) coached the Eagles.
#3) Chargers – Best all-around Offensive Team in the NFL, can run and pass and quality players up
and down their line-up, could use some help along the Del/Line and Def Secondary
#4) Colts – Have Peyton Manning still playing at a high level with many weapons at his disposal,
Pierre Garcon has taken over for M Harrison and thier offense doesn’t seem to miss a beat,They have gotten bigger across the Def/Line and their defense is stronger than years past..
#5) Vikings – with Farve coming back, anything less than a Super Bowl run will be a disappointment,Team is built to win now and has a stud RB in A Peterson and the best Defensive Front 7 in the NFL
#6) Cowboys – Very deep,young and talented, best RB group in the NFL with F Jones,T Choice & M Barber, and Romo have many options w/Whitten,Austin,Crayton,Ogletree and rookie D Bryant. Their Defensive front 7 is very good and extremely athletic and active.. Do need to figure out FS position
#7) Patriots — time to retool but still have Brady,Moss and Coach Belichek, lots of youngsters on Defense, and WR Welker may not return to 100% by Oct/Nov and their offense will need other players to step up at WR and still have to find some younger RB’s
#8) Packers – Have a dynamic Offense led by QB A Rodgers and some very good WR’s,have a young and athetic Defense but do have some age at CB in A Harris and D Woodson and need a little more big-play capability out of their RB position
#9) Ravens – another young,improving QB in J Flacco who will not have A Boldin,D Stallworth,D Mason as well as the best all-around RB in the NFL in Ray Rice, their defense is not what it used to be but is still physical and causes turnovers..
#10) Falcons – expect QB M Ryan, RB M Turner, WR R White and TE T Gonzales put some points on the board, they have some young promising defensive players and have added Pro-Bowler CB D Robinson but still need to address pass-rush and safety play..
That’s it for now..
Ranked 13 after trading or dropping away everybody taking up space..Not bad. Cant wait for the season!
The Patriots are way too high for this year. They are in a worse position than the Eagles having pushed multiple Pro-Bowlers out of town over tha last couple of years. It’s time to pay the piper and probably this year will be the year they probably fall-off. The Jets should be rated higher, the 49ers should be rated higher and the Bears should be rated higher…all 3 of those teams are on the way up. If Favre doesn’t come back that’s at least 4 loses more than last year, so they’re rated too high as well.
Man I dont see how the Redskins, Titans, and Broncos arent higher then the birds. The Eagles have to many question marks. QB??? CBs??? LBs???C???
The Skins are gonna be alot better then alot of people are thinking. There defense is still really good and Dmac will make a huge difference along with having Portis, Johnson and Parker.
And the Titans were the leagues hottest team the hole second half of the season.
I think McGiggles is gonna suffer the worse year since his rookie season and the Eagles F.O. will be proven right in dishing off the garbage..Word to yo mutha sucka..DJax representing the future of the Eagles! Get on board or get goin’..
Just read a blip about the Eagles not being interested in John Henderson? I don’t know why. At 6’7″ 335 lbs.+ and being a guy that’s never had a zero sack year getting a tackle of that size could only help one of the DEs. If the Eagles put that guy next to Trent Cole Cole would probably have a 20 sack season.
…oh I forgot he’s 31 and the Eagles don’t want Cole to have a 20 sack season if it means bringing old wheel chair bound type guys in.
Butch 007
Is this what you were referring to:
“While on paper the move makes some sense ‚Äì at a generous 335 pounds, ‘Big John’ would give the line some bulk ‚Äì the Eagles don’t appear interested,” Raanan wrote. “They have not had any contact with the free agent, according to an NFL source. Part of the reason is the Birds’ high hopes for 2008 second-round pick Laws.”
The Eagles have two outstanding starters in Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson. Laws was inactive for most of 2009, but he’s been praised for his work this off-season by general manager Howie Roseman. There’s also Antonio Dixon, who took Laws’ spot in the rotation and wasn’t even with the team in training camp last year. Dixon is expected to improve with an off-season in the team’s conditioning program. And the Eagles drafted Jeff Owens from Georgia, who had the second-most reps in the bench press out of all participants at the Scouting Combine with 44