NFL Power Rankings – Week 3

Pierre runs the Saints to the top

Welcome to the Week 3 edition of the Cubicle GM NFL Power Rankings.  Every Tuesday you can look forward to our composite rankings, as well as a bit of brief insight and analysis about each of the 32 teams.

The rankings are determined by simply taking the average of each of the contributors here at The Cube.  For Week 3, we have rankings from five members of the Cubicle GM team, including me, Gideon, Mickey, Joey, and Walker.

The top three teams in last week’s rankings each improved to 3-0 on the season, and as a   result remained in the same spots as last week.  The only team to move into the Top 10 this week was the New England Patriots who made their way back to No. 7 with their defeat of formerly 2-0 Atlanta.

The bottom of the ranks are littered with 0-3 teams, but the Redskins have found their way into the bottom five after their loss to the lowly Lions, who jumped all the way to No. 27 after their first victory in well over a year.

As it is still early in the 2009 season, the rankings are still volatile for the time being.  This week, 24 teams changed spots in the rankings, but only two moved five or more spots.

There were four teams tied for the biggest upward movements, as the Patriots, Broncos, Bengals and Lions all moved up four positions after their respective wins.  Two teams suffering disappointing losses tied for the biggest move in the opposite direction, as Pittsburgh and Tennessee both dropped six spots in the ranks this week.

While there is still plenty of movement, the disagreements between the contributors in the ranks have dropped significantly.  Just six of the teams saw a gap of seven or more in the rankings, with only three teams having a gap of double digits.

Denver Broncos (12) – Walker 11, Gideon 23

Miami Dolphins (11) – Gideon 17, Joey/Jacob/Mickey 28

Carolina Panthers (10) – Gideon 22, Joey 32

San Francisco 49ers (8) – Mickey 12, Joey 20

San Diego Chargers (7) – Gideon 6, Walker 13

Atlanta Falcons (7) – Walker 17, Everyone else 10

On the divisional side, the NFC East leads the way despite the drop from Washington with an average score of 10.15.  Coming in second was its counterpart from the AFC, which scored a 14.20 thanks to jumps from the Pats and Jets.  At the bottom sits the NFC West, checking in with a 21.30 average rank.  Thanks to the Buccaneers, Falcons and Panthers losses, the NFC South is still second from the cellar with a 20.05 average.

As a reminder, you can check out all the backup data here.  Without further ado, onto the rankings.  As always, last week’s ranks are in parentheses.

1.  New Orleans Saints (1) – No TDs from Brees is not an issue for the Saints, as the defense stepped up against Buffalo.

2. Baltimore Ravens (2) – The defense has been great as usual, but a big part of the success has been Joe Flacco and his 280 passing yards per game.

3. New York Giants (3) – There’s no need for a 2-minute drill when the defense holds their opponent to 86 total yards.

4. New York Jets (7) – The Jets D finally allowed a TD, but Sanchez has led his team to a 3-0 start.

5. Minnesota Vikings (6) – The Vikings proved they can win without a superhuman day from Adrian Peterson.

6. Indianapolis Colts (5) – Peyton doesn’t need a No. 2 WR as long as he has Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark.

7. New England Patriots (11) – Talks of Brady’s downfall might be premature after having a solid day against Atlanta even without Wes Welker.

8. San Diego Chargers (9) – Without LT and Sproles shut down by Miami, Rivers leads the Chargers to 2-1.

9. Philadelphia Eagles (10) – Michael who?  Kevin Kolb became the first passer in NFL history to record 300+ yard games in his first two starts.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers (4) – The defending champs struggled again on the raod, late, allowing another game winner in the final minutes.

11. Atlanta Falcons (8) – An offensive pass interference call negating a TD swung the momentum in their loss to NE.

12. Green Bay Packers (12) – The Packers should have scored even more than 36 points in their rolling of St. Louis.

13. Dallas Cowboys (13) – Tony Romo stepped up on the big stage, doing enough to get the Boys their first home win.

14. Chicago Bears (14) – Another week, another 4^th quarter comeback for Jay Cutler and the gang.

15. San Francisco 49ers (17) – Injuries are a part of football, but the 49ers might have been able to run out the clock with Frank Gore in the backfield.

16. Denver Broncos (20) – The 3-0 Broncos have allowed just 16 points on the season, easily the least in the league.

17. Cincinnati Bengals (21) – Another big upset by the Bengals, who beat the Steelers at home for the first time in nine years.

18. Arizona Cardinals (15) – A poor Sunday night showing has the Cards sitting at 0-2 at home to start the season.

19.  Buffalo Bills (19) – You can’t expect to win games when your only points come on a fake FG.

20. Houston Texans (18) – The Texans were inches away from tying the game with 2 minutes left, but instead are 1-2.

21. Seattle Seahawks (22) – Coach Jim Mora criticized his kicker for missing 2 FGs, but also wasted a crucial timeout with a bad 2^nd half challenge.

22. Tennessee Titans (16) – No matter whom or how well you’re playing, 0-3 is still a tough hole to climb out of.

23. Jacksonville Jaguars (26) – MJD finally broke free (yes I know that rhymed) as the Jags picked up their first win of the campaign.

24. Miami Dolphins (23) – Miami’s first place schedule is proving too much to overcome, and Chad Pennington’s injury spells doom for the Fins.

25. Carolina Panthers (24) – John Fox will have a lot of work in the bye week ahead if Carolina wants to be the fourth 0-3 team ever to make the playoffs.

26.  Oakland Raiders (27) – It’s tough to win a game, let alone find the end zone when your QB has 61 yards passing.

27. Detroit Lions (31) – W.  That’s all Detroit cares about this week.

28. Washington Redskins (25) – Jim Zorn’s plane is getting ready to depart after the Skins loss to the Lions.

29. Kansas City Chiefs (30) – It’s never a good thing when two of your top receivers are rejects from the Chicago Bears.

30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (28) – This wasn’t how Derrick Ward (9 total yards) pictured playing against his former team for the first time.

31. Cleveland Browns (29) – Playing Derek Anderson for the first time while trailing against Baltimore probably wasn’t the best idea.

32. St. Louis Rams (32) – They may have lost, but the Rams showed signs of life with Kyle Boller under center.

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