The World's Most Prestigious Power Poll: Week 2

Well, one week of NFL games is
in the book, which means it is time to draw illogical conclusions, extrapolate
wildly, and celebrate if your team won or give up on the season if your team
lost. Did you know that less than 30% of all teams that lost their first game
last year wound up making the playoffs? If you liked that useless statistic,
we’ve got plenty more waiting for you. Just read on…

01. Pittsburgh Steelers [1-0]: We’ll see how they hang on
without Troy Polamalu. [NC]

02. New
England Patriots [1-0]: One of the luckiest wins I’ve
ever seen. Of course, there was that Denver-Cincinnati game the day before…
[NC]

03. San Diego Chargers [1-0]: Heresy it may be, but the
Chargers offense doesn’t seem to lose much with Darren Sproles playing instead
of LaDainian Tomlinson. [NC]

04. Indianapolis Colts [1-0]: The Colts have to tough out
every win against division rival Jaguars. [NC]

05. New York Giants [1-0]: It’s great to have Osi Umenyiora back
and the Redskins on the schedule. [NC]

06. Philadelphia
Eagles [1-0]: Donovan McNabb will do
everything possible to play on Sunday, with Michael Vick just one week away
from the active roster. [NC]

07. Minnesota
Vikings [1-0]: The best part
of the Vikings air attack is when Adrian Peterson leaps into the end zone. [+1]

08. Tennessee Titans [0-1]: Gave the world champs everything they
could handle in Pittsburgh.
[-1]

09. Atlanta Falcons [1-0]: Matt Ryan is the real deal and so are
the Falcons. [NC]

10. Baltimore Ravens [1-0]: Was that the real Ravens team
last Sunday? The offense was racing up and down the field, but the defense
couldn’t shut down Brody Croyle and the awful Kansas City Chiefs. [NC]

11. Dallas Cowboys [1-0]: Passing game looked fine
without T.O. but one concern is that the defense gave up 174 yards [5.6] on the
ground to the Buccaneers. [+3]

12. New Orleans
Saints [1-0]: I have Drew
Brees on my fantasy team and I gotta tell you — I think this is going to be a
good year. [+4]

13. Seattle
Seahawks [1-0]: Beating up on
the awful Rams doesn’t prove much, but Matt Hasselbeck sure looks a lot better
when he has some healthy NFL receivers on his team. [+5]

14. Green
Bay Packers [1-0]: Beat the
Bears, but didn’t seem to be in the same class as the Vikings in week one.
[+6]

15. San Francisco
49ers [1-0]: Shaun Hill just
keeps winning and proving that you should never under-estimate a Terrapin. [+6]

16. New York Jets [1-0]: Mark Sanchez looked
terrific in his NFL debut, but let’s see how he does when he isn’t facing the
Houston Texans pass defense. [+7]

17. Washington
Redskins [0-1]: Jason
Campbell completed 14 of 17 passes for 155 yards in the shotgun and only 5 of 9
for 55 yards and two sacks and an interception when he was not. Even accounting
for the prevent defense, that’s a startling statistic. Jim Zorn needs to chuck
out his biases and go with what works. [-2]

18. Arizona
Cardinals [0-1]: The
defending NFC champs should not lose to the 49ers. The Cards need to get the
Anquan Boldin situation sorted out because he caught only 2 passes for 19 yards
and that isn’t going to get it done. [-6] 

19. Buffalo
Bills [0-1]: Outplayed the
Patriots for 59 minutes and then coughed away the win in one of the worst ways
imaginable. I figured the suicide rate in Buffalo
was already pretty high… [+6]

20. Miami Dolphins [0-1]: The dream is over, welcome to
2009 and its tougher schedule.The talent on this team isn’t nearly good enough
overcome 4 turnovers. [-3]

21. Carolina
Panthers [0-1]: Jake Delhomme
is still in meltdown mode, but they can’t replace him because the backups are
even worse. Why did the front office allow Jeff Garcia to get to Philadelphia? [-10]

22. Chicago Bears [0-1]: Season went from promising to
nightmarish, as Jay Cutler throws 4 picks and Brian Urlacher is lost for the
season. FYI — the Bears’ record without Urlacher is 0-7. [-9]

23. Denver Broncos [1-0]: Okay, maybe THIS was the
luckiest win in a long, long time. Remember, Broncos fans — you were losing to
the Bengals with 30 seconds left. [+3]

24. Cincinnati
Bengals [0-1]: Losers just
find a way to lose, don’t they? [-2]

25. Jacksonville Jaguars [0-1]: Just move these guys to Los Angeles already!
Whose bright idea was it to put at an NFL team in Jacksonville? Certainly not anyone who has
ever been to Jacksonville.
[-1]

26. Oakland
Raiders [0-1]: Gave the
Chargers a run for their money, but Jamarcus Russell doesn’t look like an
accurate passer. [+4]

27. Kansas City
Chiefs [0-1]: Brody Croyle
looked like a real QB for a while. [+1]

28. Cleveland
Browns [0-1]: Adrian Peterson
shredded these guys like a soft piece of pork. [+1]

29. Houston Texans [0-1]: Allowed themselves to be routed
at home by a team starting a rookie quarterback in his first NFL game. [-10]

30. Tampa Bay
Buccaneers [0-1]: I watched
that loss to the Cowboys and I saw Dallas
receivers running free in the defensive backfield all day. Anyone could have
thrown 3 touchdowns against the Tampa
defense. Of all the changes the Bucs have endured this past offseason, the loss
of Monte Kiffin might be the worst. [-3]

31. St. Louis Rams [0-1]: Lost 28-0 to the Seahawks. My
advice to St. Louis
fans is to follow baseball. The local team is pretty good. [NC]

32. Detroit
Lions [0-1]:
Anything this team does resembling football is purely coincidental. [NC]