NFL Power Rankings – Week 10

by Michael DeLuca

The Titans remain undefeated,  The Brady Quinn era begins in Cleveland, and Jason Campell finally throws an interception…and then another one.  Many questions to be answered: Can the Titans duplicate last year’s miraculous Patriots feat?  Are the Dolphins the class of the AFC East?  What the heck is Al Davis doing now?  Here are your NFL Power Rankings heading into week 10 of the NFL season.     
1.  Tennessee Titans (8-0) – Great defense plus dominant running game equals #1 status in the power rankings.

2.  New York Giants (7-1) – The defense continues to carry the defending Super Bowl Champions. 

3.  Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) – They’ve played phenomenal football thus far and somehow have masked some glaring deficiencies on the offensive line.  Nice victory in the home-AWAY-from-home game against the Washington Redskins.

NFL Power Rankings: Week 8

by Michael DeLuca

The craziest season in recent memory continues as the Cowgirls get spanked sending Jim Haslett to a 2-0 record as head coach of the Rams.  Trend seems to be “if you get blown out one week, you’ll blow somebody else out the next…and vice versa”  Just ask the Panthers, Jets, Giants, Buccaneers, and Colts.  Here are your NFL Power Rankings heading into week 8 of the NFL season.     

1.  Tennessee Titans (6-0) – Did what they had to do in Kansas City and did it impressively.  Albert Haynesworth is a beast and Cortland Finnegan is gaining prominence as one of the league’s top cover corners.  Chris Johnson is a lightning bolt.  Kerry “Cocktail” Collins makes this offense more stable, allowing the defense to do what it do.

2.  New York Giants (5-1) – Cleveland was coming off a bye, was at home, and was due to break out of their offensive slump last Monday Night.  The G-Men were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  As I mentioned last week, this game was an aberation, and the Giants got the job done in the Meadowlands against the 49ers.

3.  Buffalo Bills (5-1) – Trent Edwards was knocked out on the third play of the game and replaced by JP Losman in week 5.  Losman clearly cannot lead the team like Edwards.  Luckily for the Bills, Edwards was back this week and the Bills were able to take it to the San Diego Chargers.  They’re a solid all around team and will have their ups and downs. 

NFL Week 7 Power Rankings

by Michael DeLuca

Last week, these rankings were the only ones to have the balls not to jump the gun and throw Washington into the top 3 spots.  I took some heat for it, but was vindicated on Sunday.  This week, lots more shakeups with upsets galore over this past weekend.     

1.  Tennessee Titans (5-0) – With KC on the horizon, following a bye week, I can’t see this one changing.  Albert Haynesworth is a beast and Cortland Finnegan is gaining prominence as one of the league’s top cover corners.  Chris Johnson is a lightning bolt.  Kerry “Cocktail” Collins makes this offense more stable, allowing the defense to do what it do.

2.  New York Giants (4-1) – Cleveland was coming off a bye, was at home, and was due to break out of their offensive slump on Monday Night.  The G-Men were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Eli Manning looked terrible, but overall these types of games happen and by the end of the season, you’ll see that it was an aberation.

3.  Dallas Cowboys (4-2) – I’m going to take some heat for this one too, especially after the week from hell that Dallas has just been through.  First they lose to Arizona (which I predicted), then they find out Tony Romo will miss 4 week with an injured vagina (pinkie finger), and then to top it all off, Pacman Jones is suspended indefinitely.  They did finish on a high note by snagging Roy Williams from the Detroit Lions just before the trade deadline.  Brad Johnson will be able to hold down the fort until Romo returns and the offense has no choice but to be explosive.  Their secondary is now their weekness and we might see some shootouts in the weeks to come.  As I said, I may take some heat on this one, but let’s be honest…are you really going to take Pittsburgh or Buffalo on a neutral field against them?  Didn’t think so! 

Week 5 NFL Picks

by Tom Peters

Last week was a killer week for me. Last minute decisions to sit key people (Westbrook) overestimations of the injury impact (anyone in Pittsburgh) and terrible teams being given games (Jets, Broncos) led me to a record of 8-5 last week (I don’t bet the spread, it’s a superficial figure). For the season I now sit at 38-22.

Without further ado, here are my picks for Week 5:

Tennessee Titans (4-0) vs. Baltimore Ravens (2-1)

The main question is “Will there be an offensive TD in this game?” The answer is yes, by Tennessee. The Ravens offense looked its best last week and wasn’t that impressive against a banged up Steelers squad. The Titans are for real. LenDale White may not play, but Chris Johnson will hold his own and Kerry Collins will manage the game well enough to bring memories of Trent Dilfer back to Ravens fans. The Titans have the sicker defense.

Week 3 – Things I think I now know…

Its easy to see Cutler is the man in Denver.

By Mike Gill

Its another edition of things I now know and this week the picture gets a little more clear.  The haves and the have-nots are starting to separate themselves as we approach the quarter-pole.  Lets take a look at what I now know.

1. The Steelers are in trouble – Pittsburgh is beat up and the schedule isn’t getting any easier.  They will miss Willie Parker this week and I think I now know that the Steelers week one victory was a bit of a fraud.  Keep in mind, they struggled at the end of last season and I think they will again  with a touh schedule of games coming up.

2. St. Louis is fighting KC for the worst team in the state and the league – The Rams decided to make a QB switch, while the Chiefs have already used three QB’s.  Marc Bulger isnt the problem in St. Louis, the defense and O-Line are.  But you can’t replace 16 people, so they changed one.  KC is just a mess and I now know these are the worst two teams in the league – sorry Detroit your number three on that list.

Things I think I now know…

By Mike Gill

There are random things about the week in sports I think I now know, check back each week.

Each year it seems the NFL is full of surprises – this year looks to be no different.  If there is one thing we do know is that the Tom Brady injury will be talked about more then the Michael Vick dog fighting incident.  So after week one in the NFL, here are some things I think I know after watching all the games (but the Monday night games, which are on now).

Also, the baseball season is coming to a close, with 19 games left, I think I know some things about baseball as well.

1. New England will be 9-7 if they are lucky.  Their defense wasn’t that good to begin with and now they will have to rely much more on their suspect running game.  Cassel will get good protection, but I want to see him make the same check-downs that made Brady so good.

Madden NFL 09 Predictions: NFC

by Kevin Collins

“The most accurate football simulation ever.”  This is what the new NFL Madden 09 video game boasts.  I figured, if this is the case, why not preview the entire NFL season simply through Madden.  The skeptic may think, “well Kevin, Brett Favre is on the Packers, not the Jets in Madden 09 amongst other roster flaws, how is this accurate?”  Well let me tell you, at the time simulation, the rosters were downloaded straight from EA Sports most recent update.  They are as accurate as possible.

As seen above, this is the first part in a 3 part series of entries.  Today I will preview the NFC.  One of the great things about Madden is that it calculates MVPs, Pro-Bowlers, etc.  These too will all be listed in this and the upcoming articles.

Before we start, let me just reassure the reader I did absolutely nothing to interfere with the outcomes of games, trades, etc.  I simply pressed the “sim entire season” button.  Here’s how the NFC stacked up…