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NFL Week 9 Power Rankings

1. Green Bay Packers
There is no denying the defending champ the top spot as the team has done everything that
has been asked of them. We all know how good their passing attack is but it’s scary to think
that James Starks is averaging more yards per carry then Arian Foster, Ray Rice, and Rashard
Mendenhall. When is it too early to start thinking about the chances they go undefeated?

2. Pittsburgh Steelers
They have looked great since being blown out by Baltimore in week 1. They are now going
into a stretch in which three of their next four games are against divisional opponents. To
secure their spot as the top team in the division they must win at least 2 of those divisional
games, none more important than the Sunday night matchup with the Ravens.

3. San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have done everything, they have beaten quality teams, they have handled bad
teams, they have come from behind to win games, and are just one overtime loss from being
undefeated. However, you still have to wonder whether or not this team can continue to get it
done with Alex Smith as their quarterback.

4. New England Patriots
The Patriots have a great offense as always, but their division has gotten a lot tougher this
year and they must improve on their pass defense if they want to win the division for the
third straight year.

5. Baltimore Ravens
This team keeps confusing everyone in the NFL. On some weeks they appear to be a Super
Bowl caliber team, beating teams such as the Steelers, Jets, and Texans, but then on other
weeks they look like a team that would lucky to make the playoffs with their losses
to the Titans and Jaguars. They have got to be more consistent if they want to be considered a
real Super Bowl threat. A win at the Steelers would sure help them achieve that.

6. Detroit Lions
The Lions have looked like a very good team at times and appear to have righted the ship by
destroying the Broncos after having lost two straight. Jahvid Best must recover soon, stay
healthy, and play as well as people believe he can, in order for this team to challenge the
Packers for the division crown.

7. Buffalo Bills
The defense played great in shutting out the Redskins last week and Fred Jackson continued
to play like a monster. If they manage to beat the Jets at home this week then the team will appear to be in control of a very tough division.

8. New Orleans Saints
We always hear people say that good teams always win against the bad teams they should
beat, but New Orleans was not able to do so against what was a winless team heading into
the game that didn’t even have their starting quarterback. People will start to worry in New
Orleans if the team doesn’t beat the Buccaneers.

9. Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals have only beaten one team with a winning record but they have a chance to
prove themselves in the following weeks as five of their next six opponents have a winning
record. The Bengals should be happy to go 3-3 during that span.

10. Houston Texans
The team is playing well both on offense and on defense with those units being ranked 3rd
and 7th in the league. It’s scary to think how good this team might be when Andre Johnson
comes back as the only game this season in which both he and Foster were able to play
resulted in a win over the Steelers.

11. New York Giants
Eli Manning has looked like the elite quarterback he said he is as of late. Beating the Patriots
would prove that this is also an elite team, however the Patriots are surely looking for
revenge after the Giants ended their miracle season in Super Bowl XLII.

12. Chicago Bears
Matt Forte has carried this team, as the defense doesn’t look as good as it was last year, and
should get paid accordingly. If the team can beat the Eagles on Monday night for a third
straight victory then Chicago will stay in position to fight for a wild card spot.

13. Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles appear to be back on track after a horrible start to the season, and if they manage
to get back to .500 against the Bears, then the team will be acknowledged as a contender
once again.

14. New York Jets
For a team known for its defense, the Jets have been struggling to stop the run. That could be hard to do against Fred Jackson. If the team wants to stay in the chase for
the division, then it must beat Buffalo this week.

15. San Diego Chargers
The Chargers still have a pretty good offense and a pretty good defense, but for some reason
the team overall hasn’t looked to good this season. Chargers fans better hope that the team
has a better second half of the season as they are accustomed to doing.

16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are 2-0 in the division and are looking to become 3-0 as they travel to New
Orleans. If the team manages to beat the Saints for the second time this season, then they
will take first place in the division, putting them in the driver’s seat. It helps that LeGarrette
Blount appears to be healthy again.

17. Tennessee Titans
Matt Hasselbeck has been surprisingly effective this season but unfortunately for the Titans,
Chris Johnson has been far from it. Unless Johnson finds a way to be as dominant as he has
been in the past, then I don’t think this team has what it takes to make the playoffs.

18. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons appear to be playing better football as of late. They should get an easy win over
the Colts this week before having a crucial game the following week against New Orleans.
The division appears closer this year so they are definitely not out of it yet despite being
behind the Saints and Buccaneers in the division.

19. Oakland Raiders
Everyone will be looking to see how Carson Palmer performs in his first start for the Raiders.
The fact that he will not have McFadden as his running back certainly doesn’t help him. He
must get the win for the Raiders against a bad Broncos team, otherwise even more people
will believe that the Raiders gave up too much for a quarterback that appears to be past his
prime.

20. Dallas Cowboys
DeMarco Murray has been playing great for the Cowboys, as have the receivers. The team
must make sure that the defense doesn’t fall apart again as it did against the Eagles or they
will be in trouble. If they lose to the Seahawks, then you can declare their season over.

21. Kansas City Chiefs
When they were 0-3, I thought that they were underrated. Now that they are 4-3, I think they
are overrated. They don’t face a real challenge until they play the Patriots in 3 weeks but I
wouldn’t be too surprised if they lost to the Dolphins or Broncos before that.

22. Washington Redskins
Washington is fortunate that there is only one team with a winning record in the division
right now and that they have beaten that team. The offense must find ways to put points on
the board if they want to stay alive in the division though.

23. Minnesota Vikings
Christian Ponder has played fairly well for a rookie that had to start midway through the
season. The Vikings know they can no longer compete for a playoff spot but the games they
play can be a very valuable experience for Ponder and could lead to a better team in 2012.

24. Cleveland Browns
The team has yet to beat a team with a winning record and the fact that the Madden Curse
has taken hold of Peyton Hillis certainly doesn’t help. The second half of their schedule is
also much harder than the first half so Cleveland would be lucky to finish the year with more
than 6 wins.

25. Carolina Panthers
Five of the team’s six losses were by a touchdown or less. If the defense was just a bit
better than this could easily be a team with a winning record. Still, Panthers fans should be
optimistic as for what this team can do next season.

26. Jacksonville Jaguars
Blaine Gabbert has really been struggling, which makes many question why the team
dropped David Garrard. Gabbert actually has a completion percentage lower than JaMarcus
Russell had during any of his years with the Raiders. Let’s hope Gabbert just needs some
time to adjust to the pro game and doesn’t turn out anything like Russell did.

27. Denver Broncos
Everyone knows that the Broncos aren’t making the playoffs and that Tim Tebow is really
the only reason to watch the Broncos. I personally believe people are being a bit tough on
Tebow and that he should get some time to adjust to starting in the NFL. He faces a tough
challenge with four of the next five games for the Broncos being on the road.

28. Seattle Seahawks
Believe it or not, the two-win Seahawks are second place in their division. The bad news is
that this team is still pretty bad and needs to improve on offense and defense if they want to
win more than 5 games this year. This team could still win the Andrew Luck sweepstakes
despite their being four teams with worse records at the moment.

29. St. Louis Rams
Can someone please explain to me what the Rams did last week. They had yet to win a
game and lost by an average of over 19 points per game and then somehow managed to beat
the New Orleans Saints without Sam Bradford. Could this be the real Rams team that is
emerging? Ok, who are kidding? We all know this is just an attempt by the Rams to not have
to choose between Bradford and Luck in the upcoming draft.

30. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals have been playing poorly in almost every aspect of the game, but they have
still almost managed to beat teams such as the Ravens and Giants. They now play the Rams
for the first time to fight for third place in the division.

31. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are coming off two consecutive games where they blew 4th quarter leads to lose by three points. Although I won’t suggest that the team is trying to intentionally “suck for
luck”, I will say that the atmosphere surrounding the team doesn’t seem to be all to positive
and it’s almost like the team has given up.

32. Indianapolis Colts
Oh how the Colts have fallen without Peyton Manning. Is it really possible that that one
player is actually worth 10 wins to the team? I don’t know if I would say that much as the
Colts had been declining as of late, but who would have guessed the Colts would be winless
after 8 games.