Eighth Round Pick » Week One Power Rankings

Week One of the NFL season is in the books, so now ERP will debut our first Power Rankings of the season. We’ll post these every Wednesday.

As can be expected, after only one week, everybody is all over the map. ManInBlack, Doozer, and myself gave our rankings, and judging by our individual polls, we don’t agree on anything. When everything is calculated, though, a pretty accurate list is produced.

Sharkey kept New Orleans at number one, following his preseason quote that the champ is the best until they are beaten. ManInBlack moved New England up to first after their thrashing of the Cincinnati Bengals, while Doozer shocks everybody by moving the Tennessee Titans into the #1 spot. They certainly looked great against Oakland, but again, this is the Raiders we’re talking about.

Due to that, the Titans climbed 11 places from our pre-training camp rankings into our top ten, but amazingly, they weren’t the highest climbers. That belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs, who rose 16 spots to number 11. The Chiefs were our biggest disagreement of the weekend. MIB & Doozer both moved them into the Top 10 after their win over San Diego Monday night, while Sharkey moved them up a few spots to 23rd on his ballot.

Sharkey and MIB continue to agree on the top of the ballot, as far as the teams go, as they both had New Orleans, Baltimore, Green Bay, New England, and Indianapolis in the top five, although in different orders. Doozer, meanwhile, only had New Orleans and New England in his top five of those teams.

The Cleveland Browns, who lost to the mighty Tampa Bay Buccaneers, were the only team to lose a game and climb in our rankings this week. They moved up an entire spot, from 30th to 29th.

These rankings are based on the individual lists of all three of us, which have been combined and averaged out to give you ERP’s Power Rankings. Included with each team is how many places they rose or fell compared to ERP’s Pre-Training Camp rankings, what their record is, and a small blurb from one of the three of us.

Let us know how much you agree, or more likely, how much you disagree.

New Orleans Saints (1-0) – It’s only one game, and it wasn’t pretty, but an undefeated champion is ERP’s best team. (shark)

(+6) New England Patriots (1-0) – The Patriots scored on offense, defense, and special teams and dominated a Bengals team that most thought had improved. That’s scary. (MIB)

Baltimore Ravens (1-0) – Rumors of the demise of the Baltimore D have been greatly exaggerated. (MIB)

(+2) Green Bay Packers (1-0) – This year will be tougher without Grant. (doozer)

(+5) Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0) – Troy Polamalu was, is, and always will be more important to Pittsburgh than Big Ben. (shark)

(+7) Houston Texans (1-0) – Arian Foster shredded the Colts defense. And he didn’t fumble. Two surprises. (doozer)

(-5) Indianapolis (0-1) – One loss does not a doomed season make. Any team would be extremely ill-advised to overlook the Colts at any point this season. (MIB)

(+11) Tennessee Titans (1-0) – Are the Titans that good, or is Oakland still just that bad? (MIB)

(-5) New York Jets (0-1) – Half of New York City got real quiet real fast after Monday Night. These are the Jets, afterall. (shark)

(-5) Minnesota Vikings (0-1) – Holding the defending champions to 14 points on the night they raise their banner is an accomplishment. Don’t forget that. (shark)

(+16) Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) – This roster is loaded with SEC talent, so of course they’re going to be good, but not this year. After 1 week, they’re top 5 worthy though. (doozer)

(+3) New York Giants (1-0) – Scarier thought? Eli threw three interceptions? Or the offense still scored 31 points? (shark)

(-6) Dallas Cowboys (0-1) – In every sports movie, the underdog with heart topples the team with more talent but no heart. Which one do you think is the Dallas Cowboys? They’re like the NFL version of Cobra Kai. (MIB)

(-5) San Diego Chargers (0-1) – They’ll get it fixed, but Monday was pretty bad. (doozer)

(+7) Miami Dolphins (1-0) – A win is a win, but you should beat Buffalo by more than 5. (MIB)

(-5) Atlanta Falcons (0-1) – They couldn’t beat a Steelers team playing their 3rd string quarterback. They better get the offense going against Arizona next week, or the week 3 matchup against New Orleans may loom just a little too large. (MIB)

Washington Redskins (1-0) – A divisional win in the NFC East is always huge, but Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb weren’t brought in to score 6 points a game. (shark)

(+8) Seattle Seahawks (1-0) – Their thrashing of the 49ers was this week’s biggest shocker. Is this the new king of the NFC West? (MIB)

(-7) Philadelphia Eagles (0-1) – Once he’s healthy, this will be Kevin Kolb’s team. If he plays like Sunday, though, that may not be the case for the entire season. (shark)

Chicago Bears (1-0) – Chicago shouldn’t feel too proud about their week one win. (MIB) – They got lucky. (doozer) – Not a whole lot to write home about in this one. (shark)

(+3) Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) – Winning division games will go a long way toward convincing me that they’re not just a mediocre team who beats up on other mediocre teams. (MIB)

(-8) Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) – Coincidence? Or stroking of egos? Carson Palmer targeted T.O. and Ochocinco 13 times each. (shark)

(-2) Denver Broncos (0-1) – Poor Kyle Orton. Every time he wins, he doesn’t get any credit. Every time something goes wrong he has to look over his shoulder. (MIB)

(+5) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) – Count me among the masses who saw nothing of note in Tampa’s win over Cleveland. (shark)

(-9) San Francisco 49ers (0-1) – They won’t be here all season, but Sunday was pathetic and inexcusable. (doozer)

(-8) Arizona Cardinals (1-0) – Did Derek Anderson look good? Oh wait, no, they were playing St. Louis. And barely won. (shark)

(-2) Carolina Panthers (0-1) – Get ready for the Jimmy Clausen era. The Super Bowls are coming in fours. (doozer)

Detroit Lions (0-1) – They got hosed by a dumb rule, albeit the right call. They still suck. (doozer)

(+1) Cleveland Browns (0-1) – So begins week one of Eric Mangini’s 17-week farewell tour. (MIB)

(-7) Oakland Raiders (0-1) – And to think, just a few days ago I thought this team could challenge San Diego for the division crown. Looks like I hopped on the wrong AFC West bandwagon. (shark)