NFL Combined Power Rankings Wk9: Denver #1. Seahawks #9

[byau]

For the statheads and analysis geeks like me, NFL combined power rankings for week 9:

Some teams doing really well had a loss (Cowboys, Eagles, Chargers) while a few others waiting in the wings got some huge wins (Lions, Patriots) so a lot of movement here.

That does leave the two 1-loss teams on top (Broncos, Cardinals)

In judging competitions, there are always "natural breaks": meaning there is a range of placements that could be re-arranged very easily depending on your criteria

Seems the natural breaks are

Natural Break #1: 1st. Denver Broncos, all alone at the top
Natural Break #2: 2nd. Arizona Cardinals, all alone at second
Natural Break #3: 3rd through 6th: Patriots, Eagles, Cowboys, Chargers
Natural Break #4 aka overachievers that should be losing that aren't, underachievers that should be winning that aren't. Roughly 7th through 15th including: Seahawks, Saints, Lions, Packers, Colts, Chiefs, 49ers, Ravens, Chiefs, etc.etc.


NFL.com
1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Patriots
4. Eagles
5. Cowboys

6. Seahawks


SBNation
1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Patriots
4. Lions
5. Cowboys

12. Seahawks


ESPN

1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Patriots
4. Cowboys
5. Eagles

10. Seahawks




CBS Sports
1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Cowboys
4. Patriots
5. Chargers

6. Seahawks

Fox Sports
1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Eagles
4. Patriots
5. Cowboys

7. Seahawks

Yahoo Sports
1. Broncos
2. Cardinals
3. Patriots
4. Eagles
5. Cowboys

9. Seahawks

Washington Post Fancy Stats
1. Broncos
2. Chiefs
3. Chargers
4. Cardinals
5. Seahawks


NFL Combined Power Rankings

1st: Denver Broncos (last wek 1st)
Votes: 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st

2nd: Arizona Cardinals (last week 6th)
Votes: 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 4th

3rd. New England Patriots (last week: 9th)
Votes: 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, novote

4th: Dallas Cowboys (last week 2nd)
Votes: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th, 5th, 5th, novote

5th: Philadelphia Eagles (last week 3rd)
Votes: 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, novote, novote, novote

6th: San Diego Chargers (last week 7th)
Votes: 3rd, 5th, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote

7th: Kansas City Chiefs (last week: 8th)
Votes: 2nd, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote

8th: Detroit Lions (last week: unrated)
Votes: 4th, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote

9th: Seattle Seahawks (last week: 9th)
Votes: 5th, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote, novote


A bit surprised New England made that big a jump, I'm thinking really just on reputation, because their latest win streak they haven't won against a really good team, just mediocre teams. Be interesting to see them against the Broncos this Sunday. I think Broncos win easily. They're rollin'

I won't make any Seahawks predictions because as I finally decided not to last week and they won..well, there you go.

 

[Cartire]

Thanks for another good gathering and analysis.

Extremely surprised Seattle jumped to 6 at both NFL and CBS.

Quick question. Is there a reason you only take Prisco's rankings and not Kirwins from CBS?

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Be interesting to see them against the Broncos this Sunday. I think Broncos win easily. They're rollin'

The game is at Gillette Stadium. The Pats don't lose there very often. I predict Denver will have its second loss of the season. That's not a stretch either.

 

[Cartire]

Be interesting to see them against the Broncos this Sunday. I think Broncos win easily. They're rollin'

The game is at Gillette Stadium. The Pats don't lose there very often. I predict Denver will have its second loss of the season. That's not a stretch either.

Its not a stretch by any means. But if Peyton was going to win in Foxboro, this would be the year.

 

[byau]

Thanks for another good gathering and analysis.

Extremely surprised Seattle jumped to 6 at both NFL and CBS.

Quick question. Is there a reason you only take Prisco's rankings and not Kirwins from CBS?

Yup, the jump was kind of interesting. It's a nice example of trying to compare subjective opinion from a number of analysts. Sure in the end, a Super Bowl is a win/loss proposition so this is just one of those "food for thought" kind of things.

For the jump to 6th in two rankings: seems pretty clear analysts have the Seahawks in that fourth natural break group (around 7th through 15th). Deservedly so. The plusses: Seahawks have a lot of potential, considering they won last year's Super Bowl. And they're the only team to beat Denver. The minuses: Seahawks have not played up to snuff though the last three weeks, and who knows how long that will take.

In this case, I'm guessing those who rank them higher are just placing a higher priority on the team's potential and them beating Denver. Those placing them lower are likely focusing on the last three weeks of so-so play, losing to Dallas, St Louis, and beating a .500 team. And not looking great in any of the games.

Interesting stuff.

As far as CBS rankings to use: to be honest, I didn't look whose rankings I used. I just did a google on "NFL Power rankings" the first time around and looked for the first links to show up from well known sites. In this case I saw the one from CBS Sports and used it and now every week now I look for the first link from CBS Sports. Didn't even check the author

And hey, thanks for the compliment ! I really get into this kind of thing comparing subjective judging and figured maybe some folks on here might find it interesting too Cheers!

 

[byau]

Be interesting to see them against the Broncos this Sunday. I think Broncos win easily. They're rollin'

The game is at Gillette Stadium. The Pats don't lose there very often. I predict Denver will have its second loss of the season. That's not a stretch either.

Its not a stretch by any means. But if Peyton was going to win in Foxboro, this would be the year.

I still think the Broncos win. They almost beat Seattle in Seattle, and that was when I think they were still getting their heads on straight. Since then I'm pretty sure they've won each of their games by at least two touchdowns (including the Cardinals and 49ers).

Be interesting to see for sure

 

[HawkWow]

I have a hunch this team enjoyed their celebrity a bit too much. Who could blame them, really? With that, I enjoy the 12 spot SBNation has us in and all things considered, don't feel much of a slight. But hopefully the players will feel just the opposite of myself and come out looking inspired (again), thrashing the hapless raiders by 35. Then carry that momentum into following weeks.

 

[Tical21]

We would still win 6 out of 10 against every one of those teams.

 

[kearly]

I won't call the Cardinals a paper tiger, but they are an average team statistically. You play almost every game close and you win all your close games, and it will make you look a look a lot better than you are.

I think Seattle just might sweep Arizona this year. Teams haven't beaten the Hawks with the blitz the last couple games in the new look offense, and if you take the blitz away from Arizona they fold defensively.

 

[hawkfan68]

I won't call the Cardinals a paper tiger, but they are an average team statistically. You play almost every game close and you win all your close games, and it will make you look a look a lot better than you are.

I think Seattle just might sweep Arizona this year. Teams haven't beaten the Hawks with the blitz the last couple games in the new look offense, and if you take the blitz away from Arizona they fold defensively.

I could be wrong but don't the Eagles rely on the blitz a lot too? A steady diet of feeding the ball to Lynch should curbstomp that problem.

 

[DavidSeven]

Arizona hasn't necessarily had an easy schedule, but I'm still putting them in the 2013 Chiefs/2012 Falcons category. It that the paper tiger category? Maybe. They're riding a wave of good fortune -- playing teams at the right time, consistently on the "plus" side of the general variance involved in any football game.

Doesn't mean they won't finish with a great record -- 2013 KC and 2012 ATL both finished with double digit wins. Arizona probably will, too. They might even win the division. I still don't think they're completely legit. Middle-of-the-road in DVOA sounds about right.