| Rank |
Up/Down |
Record |
Team |
| 1 |
– |
4-1 |
NY Jets – Coupled with an elite offense, Mark Sanchez’s ability to stretch the field without last year’s bad decisions makes this Jets team awfully tough to beat. |
| 2 |
2 |
4-1 |
Baltimore – Offense is starting to click, and Ed Reed coming back to make this defense even better. Scary. |
| 3 |
2 |
3-1 |
Pittsburgh – Ben Roethlisberger returns, and assuming his game hasn’t dropped off, the Steelers could be lethal. |
| 4 |
2 |
4-1 |
Atlanta – Great season so far, but a win this week in Philadelphia would really solidify their spot in the NFC’s top tier. |
| 5 |
3 |
3-1 |
New England – Baltimore’s visit this week will give us a very good idea about where this Patriots team stands post-Moss. |
| 6 |
3 |
3-2 |
Indianapolis – Much-needed solid effort by the defense last week against Kansas City. Manning will have to be better this week at Washington. |
| 7 |
5 |
4-1 |
Chicago – Defense is so good that it held Carolina to just six points despite four interceptions by Todd Collins. As long as Cutler can stay healthy and keep playing smart this year, Chicago could stay atop the NFC North. |
| 8 |
6 |
3-2 |
Green Bay – Injury after injury keeps decimating this team. Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews were both dinged up last week, and both will need to be 100% quickly for the Packers to avoid disaster. |
| 9 |
6 |
3-2 |
New Orleans – Super Bowl hangover whispers are now becoming shouts. Will last week’s ugly loss to Arizona be their wake up call? |
| 10 |
– |
3-1 |
Kansas City – Great game by the defense against Indianapolis, but offense couldn’t get the job done. Do they have enough magic left in the tank to win at Houston this week? |
| 11 |
6 |
3-2 |
Washington – Green Bay may be beat up, but that doesn’t make beating one of the NFL’s best teams unimpressive. Donovan McNabb has breathed serious life into this team. |
| 12 |
6 |
3-2 |
Tennessee – The Titans keep trading off big wins and bad losses. If they can bring their A-game a bit more consistently, they can clearly play with just about anyone. |
| 13 |
7 |
3-2 |
NY Giants – Two straight big wins over tough opponents, in the wide-open NFC the Giants are starting to rise to the top. Can’t afford to sleep on Detroit this week. |
| 14 |
5 |
3-2 |
Philadelphia – Kevin Kolb did just fine on the road in a critical win over San Francisco. Huge game against Atlanta this week that would give the Eagles a huge boost with a win. |
| 15 |
8 |
3-2 |
Houston – The Giants are looking great, but you can’t get blown out at home too often if you are trying to prove you are a playoff team. Need a bounce back this week against Kansas City. |
| 16 |
2 |
2-2 |
Miami – Hopefully used the bye week to sort out special team woes; six straight tough games ahead (@GB, Pit, @Cin, @Bal, Ten, Chi) will make or break their season. |
| 17 |
6 |
3-1 |
Tampa Bay – Cincinnati gift-wrapped the game late, and Tampa Bay was happy to accept. Have already matched last year’s win total. |
| 18 |
5 |
3-2 |
Jacksonville – Buffalo isn’t too tough, but still a nice win in avoiding a letdown after the Indianapolis game. Can they keep surprising at home against Tennessee this week? |
| 19 |
8 |
2-3 |
San Diego – Ugly loss to an Oakland team they’ve dominated for years. Annual 2-3 start out of the way, time to hit the on-switch… will spotting the league three losses keep working? |
| 20 |
5 |
1-3 |
Dallas – Is it time to hit the panic button yet? Team is still loaded with talent, but it needs to start translating into wins immediately. |
| 21 |
5 |
1-3 |
Minnesota – Almost mounted a comeback in the second half Monday night, but eventually fell short. Wonder if the Vikings are still glad they begged for Favre’s return? |
| 22 |
9 |
2-3 |
Cincinnati – As if the offense hasn’t been bad enough to start the season, last week they simply give the game away in the closing minutes. Up seven at home with the ball with under three minutes to go? Playoff teams don’t blow it. |
| 23 |
3 |
3-2 |
Arizona – Who needs a touchdown pass or run? Not Arizona last week against the defending champs. Great effort by the defense, and this team keeps finding quirky ways to win. |
| 24 |
4 |
2-3 |
Oakland – Great win for Oakland last week who finally break San Diego’s stranglehold. Four straight winnable games ahead (@SF, @Den, Sea, KC), nothing from 0-4 to 4-0 would surprise me. |
| 25 |
4 |
2-3 |
Denver – Didn’t put up much of a fight against Baltimore, and things don’t get much easier at home against the Jets this week. |
| 26 |
2 |
2-3 |
St. Louis – Completely blown out at Detroit last week, it will be interesting to see how Bradford and the Rams respond at home against San Diego, who has struggled on the road. |
| 27 |
2 |
2-2 |
Seattle – Tough spot to come off the bye at Chicago, but they’ve had an extra week to try to solve that defense and their road woes. |
| 28 |
2 |
1-4 |
Detroit – Feeling great after a huge win over St. Louis, but excitement could be short-lived with a daunting trip to New York (Giants) this week. |
| 29 |
2 |
1-4 |
Cleveland – Going with Colt McCoy this week. I’m all for the youth movement, but sending the kid out there at Pittsburgh? Brutal. |
| 30 |
1 |
0-5 |
San Francisco – Remarkably, even at 0-5 the 49ers aren’t out of the playoff hunt in the NFC West. Oakland provides best chance at a win yet. |
| 31 |
– |
0-5 |
Buffalo – Defense gave up 34+ points for the fourth straight game last week. Not many offenses can keep up with that; certainly not Buffalo’s. |
| 32 |
– |
0-5 |
Carolina – This offense is completely hopeless. When four defensive interceptions only lead to six points, even against a defense like Chicago’s, you are in really bad shape. |
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