Sluss's 2007 AFC Rankings (Week 2)

[Sluss]

Looks like that 5 spot is going to be a bit rotating, with the war that will be the AFC North.

1. New England Patriots: Well you could crown their asses and wouldn't be that far off. Betweeen the offseason and the first two weeks the Patriots are head and shoulders above the rest of the NFL. The linebackers are playing out of their mind and really making up for missing Harrison &amp; Seymour. It's really scary how good the defense will be when they come back. This Tom Brady guy doesn't look to bad either. I hear he is throwing to some guy a certain poster called washed up this year. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] <font color="blue">Next Week vs. Bills </font>

2. Indianapolis Colts: The Colts schedule keeps getting tougher and tougher as the AFC South becomes tougher and tougher. Their defense played well again this week. Giving up 141 yards to a good Titans run attack is not all that bad considering last year they might have given up 241. Peyton Manning seems like he is in even more control this year. Even when you see the pick he threw it has everthing to do with Wayne not being where he should have been. <font color="blue">Next week @ Houston </font>

3.San Diego Chargers:The cross country trip is always a tough one for the Chargers, but you would have expected them to be up to make the trip to the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. No dice. Instead they spent the week trash talking the Bears? Which made no sense. Then Phillip Rivers goes out and completly justifies Norv Turner protecting him against the Bears. The good news for the Chargers is they started off with two tough games against two tough defenses and walked out 1-1. Now Tomlinson should have some good weeks the next couple which could re-energize their offense and get Rivers more comfortable and playing like he did for most of last year. Right now though they look like a highly talented, poorly coached team with some real leadership problems. <font color="blue">Next week @ Green Bay </font>

4.Denver Broncos: The Broncos escape another one. Right now they are playing well on defense. Most of the rushing yardage they gave up against the Raiders was on the last few drives and overtime. They still have the best two corners in football. Travis Henry continues to look good. Their question mark still is at QB. Cutler plays well, but he makes one or two blunders at the wrong time and kills drives. It has stalled them out a bunch of times this year and is keeping games closer than they should be. <font color="blue">Next week vs. Jacksonville </font>

5.Pittsburgh Steelers(up 2): The Steelers roll through another one. This is the part of their schedule they really do need to beat up on. It's starts easy and finishes hard. I'm still having problems getting my head around this Steeler's offense. They are still throwing the ball too much for their personel and I'm not sure how it will work against teams with a real secondary. The defense though is in fine form and looks like the Steelers of old. <font color="blue">next week vs. San Fran </font>

6.Baltimore Ravens (up 1):Right now the biggest weakness this team has is Brian Billick. His "I'm smarter than everyone just let me show you" rountine is really going to hurt this team. It already lost them a game against the Bengals and going into a prevent for the whole fourth quarter put them within a dropped pass of losing to the Jets. If they stick to running the ball and playing aggressive attacking defense they are one of the top teams in the AFC. If they continue to spread it out and try to put up a bunch of points they fall down on their face in a really tough AFC North. <font color="blue"> next week vs. Arizona </font>

7.Cincinnati Bengals (Down 2)Well that was a pretty dismal defensive effort. The Bengals have been a big time bipolar team the last few years and it looks like they still have yet to figure it out. When the defense is forcing turnovers they look good. When those chances do not come they can't stop giving up points. The offense is obviously going to score alot. They have two tough games in a row having to head to the northwest to Seattle this week is not going to be easy between the trip and how well the Seahawks play at home. Then New England the week after is not going to be fun. This team can easily be 1-3 heading into their bye. <font color="blue">next week @Seattle </font>

8.Jacksonville Jaguars: This could be the last time the Jags sit this high in the rankings if they don't start playing up to their potential. That game on Sunday was straight up painful to watch. Their offense was stagnant. They are trying too hard to get Garrard to throw the ball and have no rhythm or reason to their run game. I know they want to get both Taylor and Jones-Drew the ball, but they seem to have both of them lost and confused and neither one has been able to get going. The team is tough, but tough isn't going to cut it in a divison where everyone is tough. <font color="blue">Next Week @ Denver </font>

9.Tennessee Titans : The Titans continue to be an enigma. They get outplayed for entire games. Then you look up at the scoreboard and they are down or up by three with a minute left in the game. Vince Young looks confident in the offense. The defense plays solid and disciplined does not make mistakes and keeps the team in the game. They have taken over the trophy as the team you do not want to play. <font color="blue">@ Saints </font>

10. Houston Texans (up 2):There is something about this team I really like. They look much better on offense, at this point you can't say Matt Schaub was overhyped. They play good on defense. They are an improving team right now and if they really start to believe they are going to be moving up and up. This is a team that could be playing over their heads for the whole year. <font color="blue">next week vs. Colts </font>

11. New York Jets (down 1): If the Jets are going to move the next couple of weeks are going to be critical for them. They play 0-2 teams the next four weeks and if they are going to to anything besides crash and burn this year they need to win at least three and probably all of them. Kellen Clemens did not look that good last week. All I keep hearing about is how he might have won the job in the fourth quarter. More of that was the Ravens defense than the Clemens being great. He might be the Jets QB of the future, but he is not their best chance to win now. They need to get Chad Pennington back into the line-up if they want to fulfill their dreams of getting back to the playoffs. <font color="blue">next week vs. Miami </font>

12. Buffalo Bills (down 1): The Bills keep losing defensive backs. And with the bear of a schedule they might keep losing games for a while. Lee Evans has been non existent in their offense. Marshawn Lynch has looked good and they keep on pounding him. JP Losman has to continue to show progress. He looked good towards the end of last year, but if he is going to be "the guy" for that team in the future he needs to start playing better. <font color="blue">next week @ NE </font>

13.Miami DolphinsThe Trent Green experience has to be giving Dolphins fans motion sickness. He gave away that game last week against the Cowboys. Right now they are a team without an identity. Are they rebuilding or are they playing for right now? The roster is set up to "make a run" with alot of veterans in key spots, but they are not preforming well enough to win too many games this year. They will jump up and bite some good teams this year, but they just do not look well run enough to make any sort of consistent move. <font color="blue">next week @ Jets </font>

14.Oakland Raiders: Well the Raiders are making progress they have been able to come back and make games close the last few weeks. This is better than last year when they would get beat up on early and then quit. The defense has regressed a bit, but the offense looks much more competent this year. <font color="blue">next week vs. Browns </font>

15. Cleveland Browns (up 1) Good news you scored 51 points last week. Bad news you got lit up for 45 points. The Browns do this now and again. They show up for a game and you think hey maybe this team isn't all that bad. Then go and be bad for three or four games. If anything this should settle down the Browns fans for one or two weeks on the we want Brady chants. <font color="blue">next week @ Raiders
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16.Kansas City Chiefs: Dwayne Bowe looks like he is going to be good. Derrick Johnson is a beast. The Chiefs really need to just realize they are going nowhere this year and get Brodie Coyle some experience. Sure he's going to get beat up, but they are gaining nothing with Damon Huard @ QB. This team is still too many parts away from winning many game this year. <font color="blue">next week vs. Vikings </font>

[Toro]

San Diego is too high. You like everybody else is basing it on last years's team. With new HC and 8 new assistants they are a different team. In football, more than any other sport, coaching is critical.

[PokerFink]

*cough* ripoff! *cough*

Anyway, agreed with Toro about the Chargers. I'd probably put Pittsburgh 3rd, San Diego 4th and Denver 5th. Looks pretty good otherwise.

Oh, and I'd switch Tenn and Jax.

[MacGuyV]

[ QUOTE ]


Anyway, agreed with Toro about the Chargers. I'd probably put Pittsburgh 3rd, San Diego 4th and Denver 5th.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yah definitely.

I'd probably put Houston ahead of both Jax &amp; Tenn too. Maybe that's an overeaction, but I like how they came from behind twice on the road &amp; pwn3d the Chiefs worse than the Bears did. It really sucks for them that Johnson is doubtful for the Colts game.

Maybe move the Jets up a little too. I guess my expectations for Clemens were insanely low for that game, but I half-expected a QB making his 1st ever start to get outscored by the Ravens defense.

[commish223]

The Broncos should not be 4th. Two way too close wins against the bottom of the conference puts you higher than a team with two convincing wins over the bottom of the league (Pittsburgh)?

[prohornblower]

Broncos are too high!

Texans should be above Tenn/Jax

Browns are probably a spot too low.

[Needle77]

Sluss,

Good job so far with the rankings. I'm just gonna make a comment on something you said about Jax.

[ QUOTE ]
They are trying too hard to get Garrard to throw the ball and have no rhythm or reason to their run game. I know they want to get both Taylor and Jones-Drew the ball, but they seem to have both of them lost and confused and neither one has been able to get going.

[/ QUOTE ]

It should be noted that their best offensive lineman is injured at the moment(brad meester) and will return during the season. Another thing to note is the team was #2 in rushing last year. But, through the first two games last year they only had 188 yards rushing, wow. But...wait, they have 188 yards rushing this year through 2 games?

Run attacks take timing and when a center is the one that gets hurt timing does disappear for some time. I have a feeling there might be a rushing attack to fear coming 4:30 sunday afternoon all the way up in Denver.

[challenger84]

The Broncos are #1 in total offense and #2 in total defense in the entire league. They are not too high.

[capone0]

Too bad their scoring O isn't that great.

[Nez477]

[ QUOTE ]
The Broncos should not be 4th. Two way too close wins against the bottom of the conference puts you higher than a team with two convincing wins over the bottom of the league (Pittsburgh)?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are two ways to look at those games

We are absolutely racking up the yards, we are outplaying teams in every sense

Except getting into the endzone and scoring points

Cutler has made 2-3 very costly mistakes, Elam has missed manageable field goals, and overall I feel that those are things we will right and will not continue

Narrow victories yes, but they were anomalies in terms of how close they were