Baltimore #1, New England #7 in Latest Power Rankings

[QB12]

"The Ravens will have their supremacy tested in a visit to the No. 7 New England Patriots."

For the Patriots, Clayton writes: "Tom Brady might not have his offense in sync yet, but you can see it's coming."

NFL Power Rankings Week 4 - National Football League - ESPN

What do you think?

QB12

 

[Baltimorefan06]

Or you could look at Fox Sports, which has the Ravens as the 7th best team in the league, with the Patriots, Jets, Eagles, Colts, Giants, and Saints as all superior teams.

Baltimore was 10th last week.

 

[jmt57]

CBS: Giants first, Ravens 4th, pats #7

Here's another power ranking, this one from CBS Sports. They have the Giants first, followed by the Colts, Saints, Ravens, Jets, Vikings, Pats (up one from #8 last week), Falcons, Eagles and Chargers. On the Pats Pete Prisco says "Tom Brady is starting to show signs of coming to life. That's bad news for the rest of the league. Fred Taylor is running the ball well, which helps."

 

[PatsSox363804]

I know they have to do the power rankings and people eat it right up but it's too early to judge 90% of the teams in this league, certainly too early to judge which ones are the best. We were consensus number 1 after 3 weeks in 2002, look where that got us.

 

[SyN65]

Ravens at #1 sounds about right. Other options include the Saints, Colts, or even the Jets.

 

[spacecrime]

I know they have to do the power rankings and people eat it right up but it's too early to judge 90% of the teams in this league, certainly too early to judge which ones are the best. We were consensus number 1 after 3 weeks in 2002, look where that got us.

Miss your morning coffee? No need to grump out if you don't like to see where people slot teams. Power rankings do not predict who will win the superbowl, so I don't know what you are complaining about. They are only an opinion as to which team is better THIS week. Like point spreads, they are good for this week only.

I disagree, though, about not being able to tell which team is better at this point. It is pretty easy to see which team is better after 3 games.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Ravens at #1 sounds about right. Other options include the Saints, Colts, or even the Jets.

Giants and Saints deserve 1/2. They have both won tough road games.

Interesting comments on our offense.

Where is the "Pats will score 70 points per game" and "Brady is finished, Pats are done" comments?

Who would have ever thought winning a game by 3 scores with a 2 to 1 TOP/yardage gained could create such mass hysteria.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Baltimore has found an offense which reeks danger for the rest of the NFL

They deserve #1 and hopefully won't stay there long..as early as next monday morning

 

[sbpatfan]

Baltimore has found an offense which reeks danger for the rest of the NFL

They deserve #1 and hopefully won't stay there long..as early as next monday morning

LOL! Any team would have an offense to be feared if they had only played the Browns, Chiefs, and Chargers.

 

[Kontradiction]

Well Clayton is right for once. This offense is a sleeping giant that's beginning to wake up. This should be a great game this weekend. Now, all I want to know is why it isn't on in South Florida when the Dolphins don't play until 4:00? Makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[Ring 6]

Baltimore has found an offense which reeks danger for the rest of the NFL

They deserve #1 and hopefully won't stay there long..as early as next monday morning

They 'reeked' danger against the Chiefs, Chargers and Browns. The next good defense they do well against will be the first.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Well Clayton is right for once. This offense is a sleeping giant that's beginning to wake up. This should be a great game this weekend. Now, all I want to know is why it isn't on in South Florida when the Dolphins don't play until 4:00? Makes no sense whatsoever.

Fox has the double-header. With Oakland and SF in my market, I've got all the TV rules ingrained.

Regards,
Chris

 

[PatsFanSince74]

thanks for posting that. i think this early in the season, Power Rankings don't mean a whole lot since even most HC's, if they're being honest, will tell you they don't know what they have yet.

so, the best we can do is get a range. right now i'd probably say there are four or five teams that can make a case for being the best: Colts, Giants, Ravens, Saints in a top tier. But, who knows. The Steelers are marked down now because they lost to the Bungles, but in two weeks people could be saying they're invincible.

 

[Baltimorefan06]

They 'reeked' danger against the Chiefs, Chargers and Browns. The next good defense they do well against will be the first.

For rhetorical purposes, assuming the Ravens win, I guarantee that people will say that Baltimore has only faced CLE/SD/KC, and a young, inexperienced, weak NE defense. Count on it.

In the end, examining the strength of schedule's impact on playoff success doesn't yield any results as there are many examples of teams playing powder-puff schedules and winning the Super Bowl, but likewise, you can find a ton of teams that were "conditioned" during the regular season by facing murderers row, and ended up going on to win the championship.

 

[Kontradiction]

For rhetorical purposes, assuming the Ravens win, I guarantee that people will say that Baltimore has only faced CLE/SD/KC, and a young, inexperienced, weak NE defense. Count on it.

In the end, examining the strength of schedule's impact on playoff success doesn't yield any results as there are many examples of teams playing powder-puff schedules and winning the Super Bowl, but likewise, you can find a ton of teams that were "conditioned" during the regular season by facing murderers row, and ended up going on to win the championship.

Your run offense doesn't scare me. Our defense has proven that it's mighty good at stopping the run this season. Freddie Jackson gained most of his yards in the passing game, Leon Washington and Thomas Jones didn't have good games on the ground by any stretch, and Michael Turner was stifled as well. It's your passing offense that scares me. The question is, can Flacco beat this team? We shall see.

 

[Baltimorefan06]

Your run offense doesn't scare me. Our defense has proven that it's mighty good at stopping the run this season. Freddie Jackson gained most of his yards in the passing game, Leon Washington and Thomas Jones didn't have good games on the ground by any stretch, and Michael Turner was stifled as well. It's your passing offense that scares me. The question is, can Flacco beat this team? We shall see.

Are your CBs that bad?

 

[JSn]

Are your CBs that bad?

I trust 4/5 of them to win 80% of 1-1 battles with your WR's.

 

[Baltimorefan06]

I trust 4/5 of them to win 80% of 1-1 battles with your WR's.

That's not saying much.

Kontradiction said that our running game wouldn't be a problem for New England, implying that it will be our WRs/Flacco who pose the biggest threat.

If you completely shut down our running game, then we'll lose.

 

[JSn]

That's not saying much.

Kontradiction said that our running game wouldn't be a problem for New England, implying that it will be our WRs/Flacco who pose the biggest threat.

If you completely shut down our running game, then we'll lose.

And our Run D has been getting better by the week.

Even in the first two games, the play-by-play tells a lot more than the stats.
Surely you aren't going to imply the Falcons have no run threat...

 

[Baltimorefan06]

And our Run D has been getting better by the week.

Even in the first two games, the play-by-play tells a lot more than the stats.
Surely you aren't going to imply the Falcons have no run threat...

No, I'm just trying to dispel this notion that our pass game is suddenly elite and the facet of our team to "fear."

We don't have a Roddy White or Tony Gonzalez; our WRs are horrendous, but greatly benefit from a very good o-line, a very good running game, and an apparently very good quarterback.