Ending the Drought … with NFL Power Rankings

It’s been a very long, extremely dry summer for lots of folks all across the Midwest and much of the United States. And much like that moisture drought, it’s been a long time since this blog has seen any kind of significant activity. That’s my fault. We’re here to fix that.

I’m cranking it back up starting today as the NFL season is close enough that us diehard fans can begin to taste it. All team training camps are in full swing, and the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton takes place this Sunday. That’s right football junkies … the best time of the year is almost here.

With that, I thought I’d kick it all off with a pre-season ranking of all 32 NFL teams. Some of this is based on other experts so-called opinion, some research and some gut. Let me know where you think I’ve got it right but especially where you think I really dropped the ball (pun intended).

1. Green Bay – Top to bottom, still the best talent.
2. New England – Brady and Gronk hard to stop.
3. NY Giants – Defending champs have to be near the top.
4. Baltimore – Always play tough defense. Can Flacco and the O deliver?
5. Pittsburgh – Big Ben is hurt. Wallace holding out. Haley’s a wild card.
6. San Francisco – Not sure they can repeat 13-3 with Alex Smith.
7. Houston – Texans lost key pieces, but play in a weak division.
8. New Orleans – Despite everything, they’re still dangerous.
9. Detroit – Lots of firepower and off-field issues.
10.  Atlanta – Good team still trying to prove it is great.
11.  Philadelphia – Vick says dynasty. Let’s see it on the field.
12.  Chicago – Cutler. Forte. Marshall. And a good D.
13.  Dallas – Sooner or later, they have to live up to the hype … right?
14.  Kansas City – The ACL trio returns. Solid D. It’s all on Cassel.
15.  Buffalo – Great offseason, but can they compete in AFC East.
16.  Denver – Everybody love Peyton, but he needs more tools.
17.  Cincinnati – Great young core. Insanely tough division.
18. San Diego – Promise big every year. It’s do-or-get-fired time.
19. Carolina – Big dreams in PantherLand after Cam’s rookie year.
20.  NY Jets – Their mouths outpace their talent this year.
21.  Tennessee – Steady team. Big decision on the QB.
22.  Seattle – Pete believes. No one else is sure. Pick a QB, please.
23.  Washington – RGIII has the town by the tail. But can he win?
24.  Arizona – Solid by not spectacular anywhere.
25.  Tampa Bay – Lots of moves to improve the roster. And a new coach.
26.  St. Louis – Fisher is the new sheriff in town. Sam has to rebound.
27.  Oakland – Reggie has some work to do in the post-Al era.
28.  Miami – Philbin takes over. Still need a QB.
29.  Jacksonville – MJD and Blackmon holding out. Khan can’t like that.
30.  Cleveland – New owner. New QB. New RB. Big hill to climb.
31.  Indianapolis – His name is Luck, and he’ll need it this season.
32.  Minnesota – AP is still recovering. Is Ponder the guy?

With the NFL, that’s the end of the dry spell. Poet and didn’t know it. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading.

Steve

Top of the Brain: Thursday

Here’s what bouncing around my brain on this Wednesday night … and draining into Thursday morning …  (sorry, just couldn’t come up with any better introduction than that).

Crazy Opening NFL Weekend – We couldn’t have really asked for much more in an opening weekend. The defending-champion Packers looked great in beating the Saints at Lambeau on Thursday. The Ravens defended home turf by absolutely destroying the Steelers (a massive surprise, actually). The up-and-coming-Lions beat the young Bucs in Tampa. Mike Vick and the Eagles whooped the Rams, and in the process put half the team on the injury list. Tom Brady put up 500+ on the helpless Fins. Oh yeah, and the Chiefs got steamrolled at home by the Bills of all teams.

Injuries Galore – In the NFL’s grand wisdom, I guess they don’t think professional football players need much of an offseason anymore. No rookie camp, no mini-camps, no OTAs … no problem, they say. Well, the insane rash of injuries suffered by players scattered all across the league sends an entirely different message. Players (and their bodies) do need the extra work and conditioning and preparation to get ready for the pounding of the NFL season. And let’s hope the reduction of training camp practices and the elimination of two-a-days don’t make this into a trend for future seasons.

Cards Making A Charge – We don’t talk baseball much here on MTSS, but the St. Louis Cardinals are trying to make the NL Wildcard interesting. They have pulled into 4.5 games of the Braves with a recent mini-charge to the finish line, but I just don’t know if they have enough gas left in the tank to pull it off. And Matt Holliday’s recent bizarre hand injury doesn’t help. About the only drama left is whether Albert will get to .300/30/100 again this season, and if Tony can do enough here at the end to warrant being asked back for 2012. Let’s hope not.

Bad Weekend for Missouri Football – I’m not sure the weekend for football fans in Missouri could have been much worse. Mizzou plays at Arizona State on Friday night, gets outclassed for three quarters and then loses in OT. The Chiefs host the laughable Buffalo Bills (4-12 last year) and get trounced at home. And the Rams stumble and fall and get hurt throughout a winnable game against the supposedly high-powered Eagles. Three good teams. Three winnable games. Three losses. I hope we don’t have to get used to this again.

Jaws Drops S-Bomb – And finally, a word or two on the ridiculous circus that erupted in the sports media after ESPN Broadcaster Ron Jaworski drops a barely discernable “sh**” during the Monday Night Football game. It was silly really … the reaction, that is. Mixed in among scantily-clad cheerleaders, Bud Light and Viagara commercials, and guys beating each other’s brains in is this teeny tiny barely-noticeable drop of the S-Bomb. Seriously … that’s a big deal? Come on, people. Most kids hear worse than that at the dinner table.

As always, I’d love to hear your take on any of these stories or something else you think is more interesting. Until next time, thanks for reading.

Steve

Top 10 Storylines Heading into the NFL Season -- Part I

We are almost to the halfway point in the NFL pre-season schedule, and from what I can tell, we don’t really know that much more than we did two weeks ago. The pre-season – which just about everyone (including coaches and players) agrees is pretty worthless other than conditioning – really only gives us football-starved fans a glimpse into the season. The results mean nothing. And we should remember that as we watch games and look ahead longingly to the real deal. The Redskins beat the Colts on Thursday night, for example. Zero significance.

As we endure the rest of the pre-season, I wanted to offer up some thoughts on the Top 10 storylines for the upcoming season. These are the big-ticket items of interest we’ll be talking about for weeks.

10. The Pack: Can anybody beat the champs? – Scores of prognosticators picked Green Bay to be in the Super Bowl last year, but many of them lost faith when a number of key players went down with injuries during the season. Despite the setbacks, the team finished 10-6, claimed a wildcard playoff spot and rolled on the road to the championship. Can they do it again? The chances are good.

9. Peyton’s Pain: Will his pain in the neck end the consecutive starts streak? – Peyton Manning has started 227 consecutive regular season games for the Colts. But, for the second time in as many years, he has undergone neck surgery; this time it was a minor procedure to fix a disc-related issue. Last year it was to relieve pain from a pinched nerve. Colts Owner Jim Irsay tweeted Saturday that the Colts are preparing to start the season without him. I seriously doubt that. Until we see it, I won’t believe it.

8. NFC South: Which team wins it this year? – This division, more than any other, seems to have a knack for having one of its worst teams rise up and win it the next year. In 2003 the Panthers went from 7-9 to the Super Bowl; in ’05 the Bucs went from 5-11 to 11-5; and in ’09 the Saints went from 8-8 to 13-3 and won the whole thing. Last year, the surprising young Buccaneers went 10-6 and barely missed the playoffs. This year … Carolina maybe? All the other teams appear to be loaded.

7. Jet Stream: Can the team’s play finally match Rex’s talk? – Ever since the flamboyant Rex Ryan was named as Jets head coach in January 2009, he has constantly run his yapper. Last year he signed the ESPN NFL Training Camp tour bus with “Next Super Bowl Champs.” How did that work out? I’m all for being confident, but the dude just never shuts up. And the team has to try and cash the checks his mouth writes. They are a good team, going to the last two AFC Championship games … just not that good.

6. Flying Philly: Are the Eagles really a dream team? – Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel, Ronnie Brown, Dominique Rogers-Cromartie … this is just the beginning of the list for the so-called “Dream Team” Eagles assembled by Head Coach Andy Reid in Philly this year. The Miami Heat proved that you need more than the best players. We’ll see if the chemistry is there. I say they win the NFC East.

I originally intended for this whole thing to be posted at once, but after drafting the first half and seeing how long it was getting, I decided to break it into two pieces. Part II will post tomorrow.

To Be Continued …