Wo! Slow down there Mr. King - Patriots #1 in latest Power Ranking?!

[Rob0729]

I know there is no truly dominant team and the top teams have struggled the last few weeks, but even I can't agree with Peter King putting the Pats at #1 in his "Fine Fifteen" in his MMQB today. And people consider me a homer. From his MMQB:

1. New England (7-3). No Gronk for a while, but I'd be surprised if the Patriots don't score enough to beat the Jets Thanksgiving night. This is a ridiculously explosive team, with a defense that played better Sunday than it had in recent weeks. I had to think about the top of the rankings for some time Sunday night, and the fact that no one can stop the Patriots tipped the scales. In their last three games: nine takeaways, two defensive touchdowns (both Sunday), 47.0 points per game.

Read More: Rob Gronkowski, Andrew Luck, Andre Johnson, more NFL Week 11 thoughts - Peter King - SI.com

I don't think there is any team right now that is heads and shoulders above anyone. Houston was lucky to win yesterday and probably would have lost last week if Cutler was playing. San Fran went to a tie with a bad Rams' team. Atlanta barely won yesterday and lost last week. Green Bay gutted out a win yesterday against an average Lions' team. Baltimore looks like crap in wins and would have lost if Rothlisberger played.

The Pats have a good shot at being the #1 team at the end of the season, but I wouldn't be listing them as #1 right at the moment.

 

[CityOfChampions]

This guy goes from slydigging and hating us to this..... anyways though, if our offense is 90% healthy then I think the only people who can stop us is our defense.

 

[PatsFan2]

I know there is no truly dominant team and the top teams have struggled the last few weeks, but even I can't agree with Peter King putting the Pats at #1 in his "Fine Fifteen" in his MMQB today. And people consider me a homer. From his MMQB:



Read More: Rob Gronkowski, Andrew Luck, Andre Johnson, more NFL Week 11 thoughts - Peter King - SI.com

I don't think there is any team right now that is heads and shoulders above anyone. Houston was lucky to win yesterday and probably would have lost last week if Cutler was playing. San Fran went to a tie with a bad Rams' team. Atlanta barely won yesterday and lost last week. Green Bay gutted out a win yesterday against an average Lions' team. Baltimore looks like crap in wins and would have lost if Rothlisberger played.

The Pats have a good shot at being the #1 team at the end of the season, but I wouldn't be listing them as #1 right at the moment.

I woud have agreed with him if we had Gronk...but without him i would have to see.

 

[JackBauer]

I really don't know. I thought there was a solid chance HOU and SF could be better than the Patriots, but both have looked rather mortal of late. It's really a crapshoot across the league at this point.

 

[Kontradiction]

I know there is no truly dominant team and the top teams have struggled the last few weeks, but even I can't agree with Peter King putting the Pats at #1 in his "Fine Fifteen" in his MMQB today. And people consider me a homer. From his MMQB:



Read More: Rob Gronkowski, Andrew Luck, Andre Johnson, more NFL Week 11 thoughts - Peter King - SI.com

I don't think there is any team right now that is heads and shoulders above anyone. Houston was lucky to win yesterday and probably would have lost last week if Cutler was playing. San Fran went to a tie with a bad Rams' team. Atlanta barely won yesterday and lost last week. Green Bay gutted out a win yesterday against an average Lions' team. Baltimore looks like crap in wins and would have lost if Rothlisberger played.

The Pats have a good shot at being the #1 team at the end of the season, but I wouldn't be listing them as #1 right at the moment.

If the defense keeps playing like they did at the end of the first and most of the second half yesterday, I would whole hearedly agree with him. The offense is the offense. They can ring up points on anybody, and in a hurry. Give them the contributions like they got yesterday from the defense and special teams, and this team could be unstoppable.

As of right now, though. I'll temper my enthusiasm. Houston is still the team to beat in the AFC, but their struggles with the Jags yesterday should not go unnoticed. The Jags exploited a lot of the same things the Packers did earlier in the season. Block J.J. Watt (easier said than done), and that secondary can get lit up.

 

[dannydyn]

I really don't know. I thought there was a solid chance HOU and SF could be better than the Patriots, but both have looked rather mortal of late. It's really a crapshoot across the league at this point.

^^ This

Houston and ATL may have torched the league out of the gate, but it seems things are coming to a slowing screech for them as of late.

If our defense can step it up a couple of notches (or might as well play the rest of the season like they played last night), there is no reason we can't beat Houston or the Niners.... or reach the SB for that matter.

 

[thenepatsrule]

Maybe COLIN COWHERD hacked Kings account and posted this, as there is no way King ever writes such positive stuff about the PATS.Especially when Peyton Manning is playing in the league

 

[JJDChE]

Seems pretty reasonable to me. It's a tossup between about 5 teams IMO. You can call any of them #1. Most will go with the team with the best record as a tie breaker, King went with the team that is looking the best. Hey, he needs people to talk about him to keep the paychecks coming in, right?

 

[Deus Irae]

With no clear #1 this year, I can't really bag on any rankings that have

NE
TEX
SF
GB
ATL

in the top five, regardless of the order. To me, that's the clear top 5 in the league, with Baltimore ensconced at 6 (that's where King goes wrong, IMO), and NO, DEN and CHi battling for the next 3 spots, now that Roethlisberger is out.


Just my $.02

 

[manxman2601]

I'd rather be more than one game removed from that torrid Bills performance before I start thinking about the Pats being the best in the NFL. Last nights much improved defensive performance gives me some optimism, but it was just one game against a rookie QB.

 

[Fencer]

I hope and trust

the Gronk, Gronkle, Gronkie ... all nicknames NFLNet's Ian Rapoport is trying to trademark on Mr. Gronk

is just a metaphor.

And I still think I'm the one who coined the term "Gronkle".

 

[wistahpatsfan]

King says the Pats are #1, huh?
Then it looks like we still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the rest of the NFL pack.
Unless this is the first time he was right.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I really don't know. I thought there was a solid chance HOU and SF could be better than the Patriots, but both have looked rather mortal of late. It's really a crapshoot across the league at this point.

Well, we play them both in a two week period on our home turf; we'll know a lot more after that, I guess, as long as no one's looked past @Jets and @Fins to get to those games, of course.

 

[blackglass3]

I think Mr. King is trying the ol' Reverse Psychology. Good one, Peter. But it's not going to work with this well mixed group of youngsters and veterans.

I'd still put Houston at #1. The Jags are bad, but division games are always hard to figure out. If they have trouble with Detroit, then it's time for Houston to start worrying.

 

[Ive_Killed_People]

Speaking of Peter King : Did you guys see where he said he had to change his cell number? He accidentally tweeted his number trying to get in touch with an agent about a story. I screengrabbed the tweet and sent it to Deadspin and they ran with it.

Hey, David Canter? Peter King Is Trying To Get In Touch, So Here's His Phone Number

So basically I am why he had to change his number. Take that Peter!

 

[Fixit]

Speaking of Peter King : Did you guys see where he said he had to change his cell number? He accidentally tweeted his number trying to get in touch with an agent about a story. I screengrabbed the tweet and sent it to Deadspin and they ran with it.

Hey, David Canter? Peter King Is Trying To Get In Touch, So Here's His Phone Number

So basically I am why he had to change his number. Take that Peter!

You should definitely be proud of a massive douche move.

 

[blackglass3]

You should definitely be proud of a massive douche move.

Look at his user name...he's killed people! Screen grabbing a phone number is no big thing.

 

[IndianPat]

Pats were No.8 or so in his list last week. Suddenly, they rise to number 1 after a mediocre performance by the current leaders? Quite a stretch. I used to love reading his column years ago - the last two years his biases and pompousness has been rather transparent - might have to do something with his employment in NBC.
Personally, I think Broncos are shaping up to be the best team in the NFL. Their defense has been playing exceptionally well. The remainder of their schedule is cupcake and could easily end up 13-3. If Houston, Ravens and Pats have any hiccups along the way, they could easily end up the #1 seed in the AFC. That means the road to the SB goes thru the rarified air of Mile High Stadium.

 

[RIP#40]

Pats were No.8 or so in his list last week. Suddenly, they rise to number 1 after a mediocre performance by the current leaders? Quite a stretch. I used to love reading his column years ago - the last two years his biases and pompousness has been rather transparent - might have to do something with his employment in NBC.
Personally, I think Broncos are shaping up to be the best team in the NFL. Their defense has been playing exceptionally well. The remainder of their schedule is cupcake and could easily end up 13-3. If Houston, Ravens and Pats have any hiccups along the way, they could easily end up the #1 seed in the AFC. That means the road to the SB goes thru the rarified air of Mile High Stadium.

And we all know how well Peyton plays outside in the cold. Pretenders, IMO.

 

[ivanvamp]

This guy goes from slydigging and hating us to this..... anyways though, if our offense is 90% healthy then I think the only people who can stop us is our defense.

I wish this was true. Let's use 2007 as a launching point, because that's the year the Patriots started putting up Madden-like point totals. Here's what they averaged during 2007, 2009 (skipping 2008 for obvious reasons), 2010, and 2011:

2007
Regular season: 36.9
Post season: 22.0

2009
Regular season: 26.7
Post season: 14.0

2010
Regular season: 32.4
Post season: 21.0

2011
Regular season: 32.1
Post season:28.3

TOTAL (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)
Regular season: 32.0
Post season: 23.3

Only 1 time in 8 post-season games from 2007-2011 did the Patriots score more than 31 points (last year vs. Denver). Only twice did they score more than 23 points (2007 vs. Jax, last year vs. Den). Three out of eight times they scored 17 or fewer points.

In other words, as explosive as this offense has been during the past 5 years, they really have been handled by most everyone they've faced during the playoffs.

So I'd like to think it would be different this year, and I think a good running game and perhaps a better defense (he says, hoping) would contribute to that. But the pattern is not good for this team over the past 5 years, unfortunately.