NFL Power Rankings: Week 8

Another week goes by and the Titans are still undefeated and Vince Young is still on the sideline. Kerry Collins only had 123 passing yards, but Chris Johnson had 168 rushing yards and LenDale White chipped in with 149 of his own.

The Cowboys and Broncos went from contenders to big-time pretenders with disappointing losses. The Buffalo Bills, fresh from their bye week, rebounded from a loss to defeat the San Diego not-so-super Chargers 23-14 and move up a few spots.

Many of the top and bottom teams remain mostly unchanged since last week although the middle is so close that teams seem to easily take a tumble with a loss. This is the most wide open the NFL has been in years. There really is no clear cut favorite, and that’s really exciting.

Last week’s rankings in parentheses.

1. (1) Tennessee Titans [6-0]: Still only undefeated team. They’ve given up the least amount of points in the NFL so far.

2. (2) New York Giants [5-1]: Looking very much like the team that won the Super Bowl. 2nd ranked offense and 4th ranked defense. That’ll do nicely.

3. (3) Pittsburgh Steelers [5-1]: The Steelers took over the top spot in the defensive rankings, but their offense is still in the bottom half of the league.

4. (6) Buffalo Bills [5-1]: Nobody circles the wagons like Trent Edwards.

5. (5) Carolina Panthers [5-2]: Nice romp over New Orleans; big test against the Cardinals this week.

6. (7) Washington Redskins [5-2]: Who knew that in the stacked NFC East the Redskins and Giants would be battling for the top spot?

7. (8) Chicago Bears [4-3]: It’s only a matter of time before Kyle Orton is the Mayor of Chicago.

8. (10) Tampa Bay Buccaneers [5-2]: All the bandwagon Tampa Bay Rays fans don’t even notice how good their Bucs are playing (says bitter Red Sox fan).

9. (11) Arizona Cardinals [4-2]: Sixty-Three year old Kurt Warner appreciated the bye week after a big win. Rumor is he had a big canasta tournament.

10. (4) Dallas Cowboys [4-3]: The ‘Boys have lost three of four after a 3-0 start. This team has Titanic written all over it.

11. (12) Atlanta Falcons [4-2]: The Atlanta Falcons, proving they can win without Mike Vick since…’08.

12. (20) New England Patriots [4-2]: Matt Cassel isn’t so bad. There, I said it.

13. (9) Denver Broncos [4-3]: The Broncos loss to the Pats was more surprising than Ari Gold being offered the studio head job on Entourage.

14. (18) Green Bay Packers [4-3]: Two wins in a row. We’ll see how good the Pack is in two weeks when they visit Tennessee.

15. (13) Jacksonville Jaguars [3-3]: Could be ranked way higher than this. It’s up to them.

16. (16) Philadelphia Eagles [3-3]: DeSean “Action” Jackson maxin’ and relaxin’ during the bye week. I’m as surprised as you that I didn’t delete that right away.

17. (23) Baltimore Ravens [3-3]: Joe Flacco finally had a good game. The defense dropped to 2nd, but still pretty darn good.

18. (13) New Orleans Saints (3-4): Have fun flying to foggy London without Reggie Bush.

19. (15) Indianapolis Colts [3-3]: Colts 3-3, what is this, bizarro world?

20. (19) San Diego Chargers [3-4]: How many losses do the Bolts need to have before announcers stop referring to them as “one of the best teams in the AFC”?

21. (21) New York Jets [3-3]: Looking more and more like last season’s Jets every week.

22. (17) Minnesota Vikings [3-4]: Kevin Williams and Jared Allen have combined for eleven sacks already, that’s better than nine team totals.

23. (25) Miami Dolphins [2-4]: Wow, I wonder how the ‘Fins feel about passing up on Brady Quinn for Ted Ginn now?

24. (22) Cleveland Browns [2-4]: Weren’t the Browns supposed to be a playoff team this year? Whoops.

25. (29) St. Louis Rams [2-4]: Isaac Bruce is starring for the ‘Niners and Torry Holt is doing nothing in Arch-city. What gives?

26. (24) San Francisco 49ers [2-5]: Possibly could have handled the firing of Mike Nolan a little bit better.

27. (27) Oakland Raiders [2-4]: Find me a kicker cooler than Sebastian Janikowski in NFL history. Seriously, find me one. Now.

28. (26) Houston Texans [2-4]: The Texans have won their last two games, but they beat Miami and Detroit. Yuck.

29. (28) Kansas City Chiefs [1-5]: The Chiefs quarterback situation is so bad that people are actually excited at the possibility of seeing Daunte Culpepper strap on the KC helmet and throw some interceptions.

30. (30) Seattle Seahawks [1-5]: The Seahawks are horrible. It’s ok. That’ll give people more time to root for the Supersonics this year. What? They moved to Oklahoma City? Whoops.

31. Texas Longhorns [7-0]: Pretty sure they could beat Cincy and Detroit.

T32. (31) Cincinnati Bengals [0-7]: Do you think players are starting to ask to be put on injured reserved so they can say that they weren’t part of this?

T32. (32) Detroit Lions [0-6]: The Red Wings are 3-1-1 after five games.

Chris Osburn is a 26 year old freelance writer and The Father Life‘s resident beer columnist. On top of that, he writes about professional lacrosse for insidelacrosse.com. He’s also written for Genesee Valley Parenting Magazine, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and ESPN.com. “Osburn on Tap” appears monthly in THE FATHER LIFE. For questions, comments, or if you have a story idea for Chris, visit his website http://www.chrisosburnwrites.com.

Article image by: Paige Foster, SXC