NFL POWER RANKINGS – WEEK 10
Who would’ve thought after week 10 of the National Football League that the only thing standing between the Green Bay Packers and the top spot in the Hookscenter Power Poll would be the New England Patriots.
The Packers continued their spectacular play Sunday afternoon as they thumped the Minnesota Vikings, 34-0, in front of 70,945 fans at Lambeau Field.
Its was the first time in Green Bay history that they shutout the Minnesota Vikings. The last time the Packers defense pitch a shutout was on Dec. 22, 2002, when they put a goose egg on the board in a 10-0 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Green Bay joins the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks as the only three teams to record shutouts this year. The Steelers defense put a zero on the board on October 7th as they beat the Seattle, 21-0, at the Big Ketchup Bottle (Heinz Field) while Seattle hung an egg on San Francisco Monday night, 24-0, at Qwest Field.
The Packers snapped the NFL’s longest active streak without being shutout at 260 games when they blanked the Vikings. The last time Minnesota was shutout was on Sept. 22, 1991.
Here are some interestings facts regarding the resurgence of the Green and Gold:
6 - 300-yard passing performances by QB Brett Favre in his last seven games.
4,901 – Passing yards Favre is on pace to throw this season, which would break his all-time season record of 4,413 set in 1995.
1 – Shutouts in the 93 meetings between the Packers and Vikings before Sunday. Minnesota won, 3-0, on Nov. 14, 1971, in Bloomington.
4-0 – Coach Mike McCarthy’s record against the Vikings.
11 – In plays, the average length of the Packers’ six scoring drives.
The Packers play host to the slumping Panthers in their final non-division NFC game this season Sunday at Lambeau Field. Carolina has lost three straight, though all four of its victories have come on the road. Panthers QB Vinny Testaverde, who turns 44 Tuesday, might start again.
1. New England (9-0), 2. Green Bay (8-1), 3. Dallas (8-1), 4. Pittsburgh (7-2), 5. Indianapolis (7-2), 6. New York Giants (6-3), 7. Tennessee (6-3), 8. Jacksonville (6-3), 9. Detroit (6-3), 10. Cleveland (5-4), 11. Washington (5-4), 12. Tampa Bay (5-4), 13. San Diego (5-4), 14. Buffalo (5-4), 15. Seattle (5-4), 16. New Orleans (4-5), 17. Arizona (4-5), 18. Chicago (4-5), 19. Philadelphia (4-5), 20. Carolina (4-5), 21. Baltimore (4-5), 22. Kansas City (4-5), 23. Denver (4-5), 24. Houston (4-5), 25. Cincinnati (3-6), 26. Minnesota (3-6), 27. Atlanta (3-6), 28. Oakland (2-7), 29. San Francisco (2-7), 30. St. Louis (1-8), 31. New York Jets (1-8), 32. Miami (0-9).
November 13th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Hook you continue to drink the Packers Koolaid. There are 3 teams better and everyone should be afraid of Carolina coming to town.
Here’s how I see the top half of the league stacking up:
1. New England Patriots (9-0) — The Colts showed New England is beatable a week ago, but the Patriots are headed for 16-0. How would you rank their remaining opponents based on each team’s likelihood of pulling off the upset? Here’s how I’d list them: Steelers, Giants, Bills, Ravens, Eagles, Jets, Dolphins. The road games in that group are Buffalo, Baltimore and the Giants.
2. Indianapolis Colts (7-2) — Let me get this straight. Peyton Manning threw six intereceptions and Adam Vinatieri missed a game-winning kick on the same night? And you wonder why I struggle picking games each week. Anyway, it’s interesting how willing people are to excuse the Colts for this loss because of injuries. The truth is it’s tough to win games when you turn the ball over that many times AND give up two touchdowns on special teams. The Colts almost pulled it off.
3. Dallas Cowboys (8-1) — Since signing a contract extension, Tony Romo has completed 40 of 53 passes for 571 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions while leading the Cowboys to wins over the Eagles and Giants. More impressive than Romo might have been Dallas’ offensive line Sunday, which allowed just two sacks against the Giants. Did Patrick Crayton annoy anyone else by placing the ball just over the goal line on his touchdown catch?
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-2) — Before Sunday, Pittsburgh’s average margin of victory in six wins was over 22 points, and no ‘W’ had been by fewer than 11 points. It will pay off in the long run that the Steelers had to come from behind to beat the Browns in a close game. Ben Roethlisberger is showing that last year — not the Super Bowl season — was a fluke.
5. Green Bay Packers (8-1) — There was speculation in the offseason about Randy Moss going to Green Bay, but Brett Favre has some pretty good weapons in the passing game. Donald Driver led the league with 541 yards after the catch last season and had three straight seasons of at least 1,200 yards entering 2007. Meanwhile, Greg Jennings leads the NFC, averaging 19.1 yards per catch. And tight end Donald Lee has 409 yards receiving.
6. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-3) — I thought their season was over when David Garrard went down and the team had three straight road games on its schedule. But with Quinn Gray behind center, the Jaguars went 2-1 at Tampa Bay, at New Orleans and at Tennessee. Not bad at all. Now Garrard seems poised to return to the lineup with games against the Chargers, Bills and Colts looming.
7. San Diego Chargers (5-4) — The Chargers beat the defending Super Bowl champs Sunday night, but you’d probably be hard-pressed to find a San Diego fan ecstatic about the win. They almost blew a 23-point lead despite getting two scores on special teams and forcing Peyton Manning into six turnovers. Tough to explain how an offense that has so much talent can rank 25th in the league.
8. Tennessee Titans (6-3) — Four touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the season for Vince Young. Not good. The Titans ran for 282 yards in a Week 1 win against the Jaguars. They managed just 62 yards on the ground in Sunday’s loss.
9. Cleveland Browns (5-4) — I didn’t see all of Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, but I saw enough to realize Josh Cribbs is one of the best return men in the league. He’s averaging 32.4 yards per kickoff return, second in the NFL. You should never be happy with a loss, but the Browns were leading the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the fourth quarter. They’ll be in the playoff race until the end.
10. New York Giants (6-3) — I said a couple weeks ago I was waiting for this Cowboys game to take the Giants seriously, and they came up short. New York’s most impressive win of the season probably came in Week 3 at Washington. A three-week stretch against Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago should tell us if the Giants are mediocre or slightly above.
11. Seattle Seahawks (5-4) — Tough to give them a ton of credit after beating a 49ers team that looked like it would struggle to beat the nation’s top Pop Warner squads. Seattle is the league’s least penalized team. The Seahawks are always tough at home and all their remaining opponents are currently under .500. Looks like the NFC West will be their’s once again.
12. Buffalo Bills (5-4) — Guess who owns the league’s second-longest winning streak behind the Patriots? That’s right. The Bills have won four in a row, and it would be six straight if not for the Monday night disaster against the Cowboys. The competition hasn’t been great, but I like how this team plays. Buffalo’s turned the ball over 10 times on the season. Only New England has fewer giveaways. Another sign of a well-coached team: Buffalo’s 41 penalties are fifth-fewest in the NFL.
13. Detroit Lions (6-3) — Did Detroit really run eight times for minus-18 yards in its loss to the Cardinals? Wow. The Lions have already set their highest win mark since Matt Millen took over as president, but looking at their remaining schedule, I don’t see a playoff berth in their future.
14. Tampa Bay Bucs (5-4) — Losses by the Saints and the Panthers put them in first place after their bye week. By the way, how happy is Jon Gruden to have a real quarterback in Jeff Garcia? It’s like he had forgotten how much easier it is to coach when your QB doesn’t stink.
15. Washington Redskins (5-4) — Is there a worse second-half team in the league? The Redskins blew a nine-point fourth-quarter lead against the Eagles in a crucial NFC East matchup. Safety Sean Taylor is out at least two weeks, and the Redskins have trips to Dallas and Tampa Bay coming up. Things could fall apart quickly for Washington.
16. You tell me — I couldn’t really justify putting a team below .500 in the top-16 so you tell me who most deserves this spot. Is it the Eagles since they beat the Redskins? Should the Broncos get the nod for taking down the Chiefs? The Cardinals? The Bears? You make the call.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
After reading Braunies rankings he’s either smoking the same weed you are or he started doing nose candy.
November 14th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
The comments you made in your power rankings regarding the Packers and Steelers were posted on Nov. 13th. My question is did you sleep thru the Monday night Seahawks shutout of the 49ers. Let’s get the facts right, there’s three teams with shutouts.
November 14th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I apologize Watube for letting the Seahawks shutout of the 49ers slip my mind….I had to work Monday night and didn’t catch the game….Next time I will make sure that I have all my facts straight….I also agree with you that maybe the alcoholic-free boozer has hit the nose candy or maybe the Banzai has finally caught up to him.