PokerFink's NFC Rankings (Week 1)

[capone0]

[ QUOTE ]
Leinart didn't look great in week one, but the Cards looked way better in all the area's they were awful last year. If Leinart's play is their biggest concern this year it probably means they are going to be a winning team...

/edit I also thought they completely outplayed the 49ers, in SF...

[/ QUOTE ]

Running wise they did. Passing wise, special teams they didn't. They also did a lot of stupid stuff on the field to create way too many penalties. Defensively, I was impressed by both teams. Offensively, especially the passing games, I wanted to throw up.

Opinions of the game.

Wilson-Really good safety.
Dansby-Well played.
Smith, Leinert-Looked bad.
Clements, Harris-Top 10 or maybe top 5 CB combo.
Gore-Looked slow, some blame needs to goto the O-line.
Davis-Looked lost.
Jackson-Improvement over previous but needs to step it up, I expect more against other teams especially St Louis.
Boldin, Fitz-Shut down.
James-Better than expected.
Arizona Pass Blocking-Bad.
Arizona Run Blocking-Suprisingly Good.
9er Run Block and Pass Blocking-Bad
9er Special Teams-Suprisingly Good.
Willis-Amazing.
Lawson-Suprisingly good.
9ers D-line-Suprisingly effective.
9ers Safeties-nothing of note.

[Needle77]

[ QUOTE ]
Stop putting the Eagles so high, they are not that good. Carolina is way too low.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just wondering. I was listening to the Jax game, but the Iggles game was on TV and I was with 4 Iggles fans that watched it. It sounded to me that Philly was the better team just two muffed punts cost them the game. Special teams is a huge part of football, but I'm not going to bury a team because two different punt returners couldn't catch/shouldn't be near a ball.

BTW, Fink, I don't follow NFC that much but it looks pretty spot on, I wouldn't change a thing.

[CharlieDontSurf]

[ QUOTE ]
The Cardinals are cursed.

Also did anyone think it was dumb to run it up the gut on 3rd and long with over 3:30 left. They have giant exceptional recievers, shouldn't they be able to convert that.. The Monday night team was saying how smart it was to run, and then later after they were about to lose were second guessing it. I thought that was a stupid play since the 49ers will have time enough either way.

Also Seahawks are too low, should be #1 because they have the best team overall in the conference. The defense has looked better than it did in their super bowl year, and much better than last year in the secondary and at defensive end. Add healthy SA (still runs like a girl when not near the endzone) and hasselback and they are really good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think given how shaky ML had looked and the great job 9ers secondary had been doing it made sense. A reverse with Boldin or a screen, dump pass to the RB might have made a bit more sense.

The one thing Wiz needs to do is get a bit more creative with his play calling esp when you have a weapon like Boldin.

Can't wait to see how they do vs. Seahawks.

[Sluss]

[ QUOTE ]
Who cares about the NFC. Their "top" tier teams are basically 9-7 teams in the AFC.

[/ QUOTE ] I've been thinking about doing an AFC version of this, maybe this afternoon.

[ QUOTE ]
1. SEATTLE
Defense looked good, Alexander looks like he's back.
2. CHICAGO
Defense looks good, Offense does not look improved over last year.
3. CAROLINA
Defense looked good, Steve Smith looks like he has fully recovered.
4. NEW ORLEANS
Horrific 2nd half against the Colts. They should look much better against Tampa Bay.


[/ QUOTE ]
These are really bad imo.

On to Fink,

I think your pretty close. I have it as:

1.Chicago: Played one of the top three teams in the AFC to the wire. They got one break (Tommie Harris being faster than light) and the Chargers got two breaks (22 yard punt off of a TV wire and then off of a blocker on a punt and Lorenzo Neal ending Mike Brown's career with a horse collar). My whole take on the game is in the Bears' thread.

2.Eagles:They struggled with a good Green Bay team. I guess promoting Harbaugh was a bad idea because their special teams looked pretty bad. I still think they are the second best team in the NFC.

3.Seattle: sneak in ahead of the Cowboys. They looked like the old Seahawks. Serviceable on defense, solid on offense. They will win games at home and struggle on the road.

4.Cowboys: I'm still thinking they are the third best team in the NFC, but they obviously still have some problems with deep balls. I'm thinking that will be fixed when Newman comes back. Also how nice was it for Tony Romo to face a team with no pass rush and no secondary.

5.Panthers: They look like the old Panthers. I'm not sure if they are consistent enough, but they might be best in that divison.

6.Saints: What I've been saying all along. Their secondary is not improved, their linebackers are not good and Sean Payton thinks he is an offensive mastermind and needs to show everbody how smart he is.

The next three should just be tied.
7.Redskins: Campbell scared me at times, but they were able to run the ball well. Their run defense is okay, I'm really going to have to see their pass defense against a team with a QB who looks like he knows where it is to say that it is improved.

7.Packers: Great D no O get the Giants this week. Hey they have no pass rush and a bad secondary Brett Favre!!!!

7.49ers: The offense looks like it has not improved. Patrick Willis is a beast. The defense does look a bit better.

10. Lions: Great O no defense they almost blew it to the Raiders offense.

11. Rams: Great O no defense they lost Orlando Pace.

12. Vikings: Defense looked great. I'm not 100% on if Adrian Peterson can stay healthy or if he was just faceing a porous run defense. Tavaris Jackson exceeded my "he will be awful" expectations.

13.Cardinals: I thought Whisenhunt was an offensive mastermind? They looked inept last night in all phases of their offense. The defense was better, I think.

14.Bucs: Right now too many injury questions. They did not look bad for most of that game. Once Caddy and Garcia went down though the offense fell apart.

15.Giants: Defense might be worse than I thought. If Eli is really out for a month and if Jacobs is out for a while. Man are they screwed.

16.Falcons: Defense is not as tough as I thought. Petrino needs to figure out what kind of offensive team they want to be. Right now they look pretty lost in all three phases of the game.

[Assani Fisher]

Always enjoy reading your writeups, PF. My disagreements:

-I think we'll always disagree on the EAgles, so I'll just leave that alone for now. But notice that they are running away with your poll choice for "ranked too high", so maybe just maybe you're being a bit of a homer there, no?

-Green Bay is not that good. Their offense is bottom 5 in the league. Their defense is good but not great enough to carry them.

-Carolina is majorly underrated. They won a road game against a decent team going away. Much of the time they have the best player on the field regardless of whether they are on offense or defense.

-Your Dallas ranking is just baffling to me.

[nation]

i just started reading so i'll comment more later but i'd just like to say that it's painfully obvious that you put in that note about how these are *projected* rankings solely because of where you ranked the eagles.

[nation]

Ok. Good reasoning for most. I do think the Eagles are high, but not by much. They're clearly a good team and outplayed the Pack, but those special teams mistakes are inexcusable and until they fix it they have to drop.

I also don't like Chicago at one. Their defense is admittedly downright dominant...just a nasty group. However their offense is equally bad. Rex Grossman is awful.

I'm really high on Seattle, they're injury free and looking good.

I would go:

1. Seattle
2. Chicago
3. Philly
4. Dallas

Rest is too early to tell but thats how I felt after week 1.

[Bork]

[ QUOTE ]
3.Seattle: sneak in ahead of the Cowboys. They looked like the old Seahawks. Serviceable on defense, solid on offense. They will win games at home and struggle on the road.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the hawks will be a lot better than servicable on defense this year. Look for them to beat up Leinart and force some turnovers next week.

They beat up Garcia (much more mobile than Leinart) and bruised Cadillac Williams ribs. They look very sharp and are hitting hard. Granted they were playing the Bucs, but the first team D looked sharp in the preseason as well.

[lastchance]

It's week 1. Clearly Fink is pretty much going off his preseason projections and injuries and, for the most part, ignoring what happened here.

And it's perfectly ok, because it's week 1.

http://www.pro-football-reference.co...rdpress/?p=372

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
i just started reading so i'll comment more later but i'd just like to say that it's painfully obvious that you put in that note about how these are *projected* rankings solely because of where you ranked the eagles.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's painfully obvious you're dumb.

that note is at the top of every one of PF's NFC rankings going back to the start of last year