Welcome to my first NFL power poll of the the 2011 season. My poll is purely based on what I saw week 1 of the season. I didn't look at preseason rankings or take in to consideration who was expected to be good or bad. This is purely based on their week 1 body of work. Going forward all previous weeks will be taken into consideration so teams, like Pittsburgh, who I have towards the bottom have a chance to rebound quickly. Moral of the story is this power poll will be very fluid the first few weeks. Please enjoy. All comments are welcome.
1) Baltimore Ravens- Absolutely dominated the Steelers at home. Haven't seen Pittsburgh look that bad in a very long time.
2) Philadelphia Eagles- I still refuse to call them a dream team, but they did look good against the Rams who many had as an up and coming team. Plus quality road wins will always help you in my poll.
3) Chicago Bears- Very close to putting them number 1. Defense played great, Forte and Cutler looked great. Offensive line still let Cutler get hit too much. The Bears made Atlanta look awful.
4) Buffalo Bills- Yes the Bills at #4. They went on the road to KC which isn't an easy place to play and destroyed the Chiefs. Every year there is that team or two who nobody expected to be good and maybe this is Buffalo's year.
5) Houston Texans- I know the Colts didn't have Peyton Manning. Last time I checked Manning didn't play defense though. Texans played great on all sides of the ball and won big in a game they should have won big.
6) Detroit Lions- Everyone has the Lions being a good team this season it seems like. They looked good getting a quality road win in Tampa. If Matthew Stafford can make it through a season this team has the potential to be special.
7) New England Patriots- Tom Brady looked fantastic. Defense didn't. Brady alone makes this a tough team to beat.
8) Green Bay Packers- I'm sure most power polls have the Packers in the top 3. Not me. Sure they had a great first half offensively, but New Orleans moved the ball at will against the Green Bay defense. Packers are still a good team who will have a great season, but after week 1 other teams looked better.
9) San Diego Chargers- For a little while it looked like the Chargers would be off to a bad start once again. They did rebound though and go on to win a game they really should have.
10) Washington Redskins- Great opener by the 'skins. Grossman and Hightower played well and the defense made key plays at just the right time. Lets see where they go from here.
11) New York Jets- Jets struggled for most of the game Sunday, but made a nice comeback to earn the win. They should also thank Tony Romo for his struggles.
12) San Francisco 49ers- In a bad division they played the best in week one. Special Teams was huge and Alex Smith wasn't horrible.
13) Oakland Raiders- Still dominating the AFC West. Just keep giving the ball to McFadden and let Janikowski kick whenever they get to midfield or better and they will be just fine.
14) Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Lost at home to the Lions, but they will still be a force this season.
15) New Orleans Saints- Offense was great, defense stayed at the French Quarter. Came down to the final play at Lambeau which isn't horrible. They can only get better from here.
16) Cincinnati Bengals- This will probably be the highest the Bengals get this year but hey a road win isn't easy to come by in the NFL so nicely done.
17) Jacksonville Jaguars- Escaped to get a win. Not overly impressive, but they won a game at home that they should have.
18) Arizona Cardinals- See Jacksonville.
19) Miami Dolphins- Defense was rough, but they did move the ball against a normally solid defense. Hung in for a while but too much Tom Brady.
20) Atlanta Falcons- Who was that team in Chicago? As good as the Bears looked, the Falcons looked as bad. It'll be interesting to see where they go from here.
21) New York Giants- Too much talent to play that bad.
22) Dallas Cowboys- Played well for most of the game against the Jets until Romo did his Favre impersonation and made some terrible decisions.
23) Carolina Panthers- Looked better than most expected and Cam Newton was incredible.
24) Seattle Seahawks- Could be a long year in Seattle.
25) Minnesota Vikings- Wow did McNabb look bad. Harvin and the defense looked ok. Might need to go with Joe Webb.
26) Tennessee Titans- I'd say Matt Hasselbeck is missing Seattle but they are just as bad.
27) Denver Broncos- Never a good sign when playing Tim Tebow would be a better option.
28) St Louis Rams- Very disappointing opener for the Rams.
29) Cleveland Browns- Thought they would at least beat the Bengals at home.
30) Pittsburgh Steelers- When you commit seven turnovers and don't show up for your opener you get ranked low.
31) Kansas City- Blown away at home by Buffalo. Enough said.
32) Indianapolis- I know how important Peyton Manning is but it shouldn't be this bad.