Mac's End of Week One NFL Power Rankings

The opening weekend of the 2008 NFL season is complete and once everyone comes out of their foxholes on Wednesday, looking through the smoke and destruction, they will see an NFL that is very, very different than they're used to seeing. As it stands today, the AFC South, East & West, along with the NFC West and North that are all wide open affairs. Unusual teams sit atop the division alone, or with some company.

The NFC North could very well be a three team race and not just the two many were expecting. And in the NFC South, the Carolina Panthers join the Saints and Bucs as a teams to deal with, but the Atlanta Falcon running attack may just make for a very explosive offense that appears to be ready to cause a few problems.

Yes, it's all a-jumble early one, while we wait to see if injuries linger and how the braintrusts go about making the necessary adjustments to keep from going down 0-2 at the outset of a new season. Now in my power rankings, I always rank MOST of the winners ahead of losers during the first two or three weeks in order to be fair. After all, if New England loses to KC, no way at all you can drop the Pats, right?
However, since Brady is out for the year and they only beat the KC Chiefs, there might be justification for lowering their ranking. Or, on the other hand, it was pretty impressive to see Cassel come in for Brady and toss 2 TD's to hang a W in the column. It's a rule I like to follow early on, but not a rule completely set in stone.

So now that we face the possibility of a season without Brady, a rather skittish Peyton Manning or Carson Palmer, two rookie QB's who won their opener and the guy replacing a legend at Lambeau, here's a look at my Week Two NFL Power Rankings to see what teams moved up, down or stayed the same.

Current ranking of the teams are on the far left, last week's rankings are in parenthesis.

1. (6). Pittsburgh - They ripped one of the tougher defensive teams in the AFC and made it look easy. Willie Parker and the offensive line made quite a few folks eat some crow as well. With their stout defense and the offensive attack they displayed against the Texans in game one, this team moves to the top of the charts after week one.

2. (4.) Dallas - A mostly well-oiled machine in the season opener, with just a few hiccups. The Cowboys showed Cleveland just how far they have to go in order to be a factor in post-season play. This is just one game, but if they can stay healthy it looks as though they should have the chance to make amends for two consecutive years of disasterous playoff losses.

3. (10.) Carolina - Unbelievable, superb effort by the Panthers in a never-say-die manner by coming back to finally pull out a huge win - on the road, in San Diego - against the AFC team many have picked to go to the Super Bowl. Excellent defensive effort and the offense has a budding star in tight end Dante Rosario.

4. (2.) New England - Brady going down is a huge story and the Patriots will be handicapped without him. However, if Randy Moss is on the field - and on his game - it may not matter so long as the ball gets in his vicinity and New England can run the rock effectively. They escaped with a "W" against a weak KC team, so we'll find out just how effectively Matt Cassel can carry the responsibitly usually handled by Tom Brady.

5. (13.) Green Bay - Okay, I'm a believer - for right now. Aaron Rodgers has some chops. All the pressure in the world on #12 in a nationally televised Monday Night Football game against one of the NFL's top defensive teams. Oh yeah, he also would supposedly crumble trying to live up to the ghost of a living legend who is now a New York Jet. Didn't happen. The Packers looked pretty good on both sides of the ball vs the Vikings and sent a message to all the opponents on their 2008 schedule: Our goal is the Super Bowl. Wonderful "debut" for Rodgers and the Packers.

6. (8.). New Orleans - The Saints pulled out a thriller in the midst of a great effort by Drew Brees and Reggie Bush. The offensive line needs some harsh punishment for all the penalties and the defense still has some work to do if they want to go deep in the playoffs.

7. (1.) San Diego - It sure seemed to me like San Diego looked eerily similiar to the Indy Colts yesterday, only not as much of a walking wounded team. LT didn't look completely right. Antonio Gates was running his routes pretty carefully. And Shawn Merriman didn't really make his normal impact. So perhaps there are some lingering ailments yet to be completely remedied before the Chargers are back to their old selves. Right now, they're not the #1 NFL team.

8. (15.) Philadelphia - Donovan McNabb found his groove and he found it early. What great hope Eagles fans must have seeing the job done by Hank Baskett, Jason Avant and DeSean Jackson. But before the champagne is chilled for a division title victory celebration, it's good to keep in mind this was only the St. Louis Rams.

9. (11.) Tennessee - Having a veteran like Kevin Collins probably saved the day for the Titans - but what's the deal with Vince Young? Wierd. The defense on this Titan ballclub is simply stout. They played a solid game and showed why they are going to have something to say about who wins the AFC South title, and ultimately, the AFC playoffs. They find themselves in first place in the AFC South after week one. Kerry Collins has the helm for two to four weeks while Young heals.

10. (14.) NY Giants - They sure didn't look like they had lost 6 members of last year's championship team. Although it looked a little uneven at times, the Giants threw down the gauntlet stating they aren't relinquishing the crown easily.

11. (16.) Buffalo - Great overall effort by the Bills on opening day, topped off by wonderful trickeration on a field goal. But the story early is the potent offensive attack led by Trent Edwards and Marshawn Lynch, punctuated by a much more stout defense than Buffalo has had in many years.

12. (26.) Chicago - While the Bears faced a very rusty Peyton Manning and an unhealthy Colts ballclub, they dealt out some serious defensive punishment. Meanwhile rookie Matt Forte is everything the Bears could've hoped for in a rookie runningback. Kyle Orton did a solid job and made no mistakes, while keeping the threat of intermediate and occassional long passes alive just enough to keep the defense guessing. I'm not ready to elevate them into the top 10 just yet, but they let it be known they aren't the same team as a year ago.

13. (7.) Minnesota - Interesting performance from the team nearly everyone has tabbed as one of the teams to challenge for the NFC Championship. Tavaris Jackson was a bit of a Jeckyl and Hyde QB last night, but his receiving corps let too many passes drop onto the field. Adrian Peterson looked great and should have probably received more carries to the outside. The Vikings have a chance to bounce back with a matchup next vs Indianapolis - and they better, because the players talked a bunch of smack about how they were going to be a force in the league in 2008.

14. (3.) Indianapolis - 56 straight weeks atop the AFC South comes to a crashing halt in the debut regular season game at new Lucas Oil Stadium. Many Colts fans are wanting the Dome back. It was quite obvious the Colts have still have a rash of health problems. Manning is rusty, the offensive line injuries prompted a young, inexperienced set of lineman to face a ravaging Bears front seven and then they lost Dallas Clark in the 2nd quarter, then watched Joseph Addai go to the sidelines with a head injury. Meantime, the defense could not get off the field on 3rd downs. Until everyone gets healthy and Manning is 100% himself, the Colts are average at best, and that means the AFC South is wide open - for now.

15. (5.) Jacksonville - The Jags battled in a defensive struggle all day long but I kinda figured they'd have some trouble on the line after the shooting of Collier last week. However, Jack del Rio and the Jags can use no excuses for this team. 31 yards total rushing between Taylor and Jones-Drew? Seven allowed sacks on their QB? It was picked to be a Super Bowl contender, and when the starting QB for Tennessee went out with an injury in the 2nd half, it should have been "lights out". But it wasn't. Like Indy and New England, injuries have dealt a serious blow to this team early on.

16. (9.) Seattle - The coaching staff should be kicking themselves over allowing a guy to stealthily stand along the sidelines awaiting a surprise pass from the Buffalo holder on what seemed to be a regular field goal. This team has some serious problems and will need to guard against an 0-2 start next week against division rival San Francisco.

17. (12.) Cleveland - They found out quickly how outmatched they really are against the more powerfull teams in the NFL. This was an NFC team which is suppposed to be from the "lesser" conference. Not today. The Browns have some serious repair to do on that defense, while the offense needs Jamal Lewis at 100%.

18. (17.) Washington - Rough opening game and Jason Campbell has a long way to go in order to get that offense clicking. The defense played well most of the night and showed why the Skins will have to be reckoned with in the NFC East.

19. (21.) Denver - Eddie Royal has been quite a pleasant surprise for the Broncos and helped offset the loss of Brandon Marshall for the first game. Marshall, serving a one game suspension, watched as the rookie caught a TD pass from Jay Cutler on the opening series and ended up with most receiving yards of any Bronco in their first game - ever. it was all over but the shouting from that point on. Meantime, Mike Shanahan's running back factory keeps on moving right along. Selvin Young scored aTD, Michael Pittman added two more and Andre Hall had a 6.1 rushing average on 10 carries.

20. (19.) Houston - They ran into a buzzsaw in Pittsburgh, but didn't fold. They kept their heads up and kept punching, even though the Steelers had one of their better games in a long time. The Texans can take comfort in the fact that the top two division teams (Indy & Jacksonville) lost.

21. (20.) Arizona - The Cards get a leg up on the competition in the West division, slipping past San Francisco to grab the early lead in the division. Warner was effective and Arizona was helped by a couple of costly miscues by the 49ers. The Edge picked up another 100 yards while the 'Zona defense played well.

22. (23.) NY Jets - That game between the Jets and Dolphins was pretty fun to watch, and I felt as bad for Pennington as I would've felt for Brett had Chad ultimately brought the Fish back for the win. It certainly bodes well for New York that they start off with a win AND may not have to face Tom Brady next week in a division showdown.

23. (24.) Baltimore - Nice job by Joe Flacco in his first game, but it was against a Bungle defense, so he will no doubt have some rocky times coming up. That's assuming he still starts once Troy Smith is healthy again. As usual, the Raven defense makes it happen for this ballclub.

24. (31.) Atlanta - Matt Ryan got off to a simply stunning start, but credit this blowout to one Michael "Burner" Turner. So many teams are kicking themselves ( as well they should ) for not paying that man good money. Imagine the New Orleans Saints with Turner? Or the Bears. Or the Jets, etc., etc. The defensive effort for the Falcons was good too, and that combined with the running game made this look like a picnic for Matt Ryan's first game. It won't be that easy all season of course.

25. (18.) Tampa Bay - Pretty good defensive effort except for the first defensive series and the game-winning toss to Reggie Bush. Losing Derrick Brooks didn't help anything at all defensively. Hats off to Jeff Garcia for playing a gutsy game.


26. (25.) San Francisco - Well, Frank Gore looked pretty good at times, and O'Sullivan had spurts. But mistakes and the inability to put points on the board when they had the chance crippled the effort. The 49ers meet up with another division foe (Seattle) next week, which will put one of those two in an early 0-2 division hole.

27. (32.) Kansas City - Excellent effort to try and upend the Patriots in New England. Is it just me or did Dwayne Bowe seem to come to life after Brodie Croyle went down with an injury that took him out of the game? Maybe it was just me. And though Bernard Pollard's tackle of Tom Brady wasn't an attempt at injury, nothing good usually comes out of going after the leg of a QB from a prone position with a guy riding your back. But that's football.

28. (28.) Oakland - The Black Hole is a perfect name for not only the crowd in Oakland, but also what seemed to be in the hands of the Raider wide receivers in their home opener on Monday night. Jamarcus Russell did a pretty good job at the helm, but had countless passes dropped that could have impacted the game. Hopefully this won't effect his outlook on his job as a QB, and the wideouts will fare better in coming games. The defense for Oakland looked okay at times, but gave up way too much to a team without a significant veteran presence at wideout, running back or tight end. Oakland also needs to pray Darren McFadden's injury is not severe.

29. (29.) Miami - Gotta tip the hat to Chad Pennington and the Dolphins. They're trying to dig out of a 1-15 hole last season, have a young ballclub in many areas and are working to right the ship for the future. They battled throughout and had a chance to win on the last drive of the game, but Pennington's pass was off the mark and intercepted. Moral victories compare to grabbing that beer on the endtable, taking a swig, and realizing someone had just used it for an ashtray. ( Old college experiences seeping through with that analogy!)

30. (23.) Cincinnati - Horrible, horrible game for the Bengals. Now we all know why Ocho Johnson wanted out of Cincy so bad, and why Marv Lewis went back on his word to not re-sign Chris Henry. They need all the help they can get. Hey Marv - you need even more help that we all thought on defense, and Perry isn't the answer at running back.

31. (27.) Detroit - The Lions have only 15 more games to reach that 10 win mark that QB Jon Kitna's reiterated prior to this season. I do give him/them credit for not rolling over and giving up after they found themselves down 21-0 to a rookie QB starting his first game. Rod Marinelli, can you hear that ice cracking? Matt Millen? Oh, his job is safe.

32. (30) St. Louis - Yikes. That looked pretty bad Sunday. Two things on the bright side: 1) There's nowhere to go but up, and 2) They could end up with another top pick in next year's draft. Okay, maybe my description should've said something "a little less gloomy".