Power Rankings: The Big Three and the Flawed 29
By Pete Prisco
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Updated Oct. 9
Aside from the Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, is anybody really any good in the NFL this season?
And after Monday night's razor-thin victory over the Buffalo Bills, some might wonder if the Cowboys are an elite team either.
I'll chalk up Monday night's Tony Romo pick-fest to a team caught looking ahead to their game this week with the Patriots. The Cowboys are still an elite team.
Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne and the Colts? Hard to argue with the champs. (Getty Images)
As for outside the top three, I've been wondering about the rest of the league for a while. But it really hit me the past two days while compiling the latest batch of CBS Sports.com Power Rankings.
Look at the rest of the teams in the top 10. They all have issues.
In my top 10 is a team (Tennessee Titans) that turned it over five times Sunday and still won, a team (Jacksonville Jaguars) that is averaging 15.7 points per game -- 28th in the league -- and a team (Green Bay Packers) that blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead at home Sunday night.
We also have the crippled Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Ravens that struggle way too much to score, the Arizona Cardinals playing rotating quarterbacks until one of them went down with a broken collarbone and the New York Giants, who opened 0-2 and had many pegging their coach for the firing line.
Of that group, do we really know if any of them are really any good? What we do know is the Colts, Patriots and Cowboys are all really good.
The Colts showed that they can win without four key starters. The Patriots continue to blow people out and the Cowboys can score on anybody -- even when Romo isn't playing well. Hey, he did lead them to that late score and winning field goal.
Those three are the three remaining unbeaten teams and by 8 p.m. Sunday we will be down to two since the Cowboys and Patriots meet in Game of the Season/Decade/Century Part I this Sunday at Texas Stadium.
Peeking ahead, the Cowboys learned Monday night, can be a real danger, but somehow they escaped.
The Colts don't play this week, but their unbeaten status will be tested in two weeks on a Monday night at Jacksonville against the Jaguars.
At any rate, it's evident those three are above the rest, making this season's early motto: Three and Out.
We still have a lot of time left to go before the playoffs start, which is why it's too early to jump to conclusions. It's way too simple to pick either the Colts or the Patriots to play the Cowboys in Super Bowl XLII.
We know better.
One of the other top 10 teams -- or maybe even the San Diego Chargers -- might emerge as a real player before we hit November. It will likely be the one that cures its ills first.
That means the Jaguars scoring more points or the Titans taking care of the ball better or the Steelers getting healthy or the Ravens getting Steve McNair to find his old magic and Kurt Warner doing the same in Arizona or the Giants showing the 0-2 start was just a fluke.
Fix it, and you can win it. Don't, and you won't.
For now, we're still left wondering which team can do it, and the obvious question:
Is anybody outside the Big Three any good?
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Updated Oct. 9
Aside from the Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys, is anybody really any good in the NFL this season?
And after Monday night's razor-thin victory over the Buffalo Bills, some might wonder if the Cowboys are an elite team either.
I'll chalk up Monday night's Tony Romo pick-fest to a team caught looking ahead to their game this week with the Patriots. The Cowboys are still an elite team.
Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne and the Colts? Hard to argue with the champs. (Getty Images)
As for outside the top three, I've been wondering about the rest of the league for a while. But it really hit me the past two days while compiling the latest batch of CBS Sports.com Power Rankings.
Look at the rest of the teams in the top 10. They all have issues.
In my top 10 is a team (Tennessee Titans) that turned it over five times Sunday and still won, a team (Jacksonville Jaguars) that is averaging 15.7 points per game -- 28th in the league -- and a team (Green Bay Packers) that blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead at home Sunday night.
We also have the crippled Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Ravens that struggle way too much to score, the Arizona Cardinals playing rotating quarterbacks until one of them went down with a broken collarbone and the New York Giants, who opened 0-2 and had many pegging their coach for the firing line.
Of that group, do we really know if any of them are really any good? What we do know is the Colts, Patriots and Cowboys are all really good.
The Colts showed that they can win without four key starters. The Patriots continue to blow people out and the Cowboys can score on anybody -- even when Romo isn't playing well. Hey, he did lead them to that late score and winning field goal.
Those three are the three remaining unbeaten teams and by 8 p.m. Sunday we will be down to two since the Cowboys and Patriots meet in Game of the Season/Decade/Century Part I this Sunday at Texas Stadium.
Peeking ahead, the Cowboys learned Monday night, can be a real danger, but somehow they escaped.
The Colts don't play this week, but their unbeaten status will be tested in two weeks on a Monday night at Jacksonville against the Jaguars.
At any rate, it's evident those three are above the rest, making this season's early motto: Three and Out.
We still have a lot of time left to go before the playoffs start, which is why it's too early to jump to conclusions. It's way too simple to pick either the Colts or the Patriots to play the Cowboys in Super Bowl XLII.
We know better.
One of the other top 10 teams -- or maybe even the San Diego Chargers -- might emerge as a real player before we hit November. It will likely be the one that cures its ills first.
That means the Jaguars scoring more points or the Titans taking care of the ball better or the Steelers getting healthy or the Ravens getting Steve McNair to find his old magic and Kurt Warner doing the same in Arizona or the Giants showing the 0-2 start was just a fluke.
Fix it, and you can win it. Don't, and you won't.
For now, we're still left wondering which team can do it, and the obvious question:
Is anybody outside the Big Three any good?
posted by The Gryphon at 7:45 PM
<< Home