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Dr. Z's NFL Power Rankings

Week 11

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Don't get me wrong, I love upsets. It's just that when six of my top 10 teams get knocked off, four of them by clubs that weren't in my top 20, it plays pure hell with the rankings. You have to salute the achievements of the lowly, but if you raise them too high, innocent bystanders get caught in the squeeze and find themselves lower than they should be through no fault of their own. Well, it was a crazy set of games, topped off by a sports-highlight hall of famer on the last play of the weekend, although my scouts in Green Bay tell me that the Packers have been practicing it since training camp. And all that's left for me, as I sit here and rank outsiders, is to pour a cup of coffee, cut myself another piece of pie and do the best I can.

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CNN/SI Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 1 Tennessee Titans 8-1 I am told that the Titans have brought in a noted hamstring specialist from Bavaria to treat Carl Pickens and Yancey Thigpen (remember them?). 2 4 Oakland Raiders 8-1 They had a couple of contests last year in which they started off as they did in the Kansas City game, only to slip on a banana peel. But these are the new Raiders. They don't screw things up any more, right? Here's my long-range prediction: Flushed with their own success, they lose in Denver, lose in New Orleans and Bay Area journalism is aflame with What's-wrong-with-the-Raiders? epics. Whereupon they sweep the board in their last five and enter the postseason as 13-3 home teamers for the first playoff game. How do I handicap their AFC Championship game at Tennessee? Depends on the injury situation for both clubs. 3 6 Miami Dolphins 7-2 Well, they sent a good guy, Bobby Ross, to the showers. For shame! Careful work by Jay Fiedler, and a running game that is no longer a mere annoyance but something that must be taken seriously, is a formula that works for a while -- until the Dolphins have to try to outscore one of those point machines. 4 3 Minnesota Vikings 7-2 This spot was up for grabs between the Vikings and Rams, and I awarded it to Minnesota only because it's a sounder team right now. Forget the last play in Green Bay. If Mitch Berger only would have spiked the ball instead of trying that cockamamie pass, then the Vikings could have lined up for another field goal and won the thing. If, if, if. If wishes were fishes -- or knishes. 5 2 St. Louis Rams 7-2 The party line out of St. Louis was that the Rams would lose very little with Trent Green replacing Kurt Warner. Now we know different, right? Of course, having Marshall Faulk defunct puts a whole different slant on things, and if the winds and weather are kicking up in the Meadowlands Sunday, I think the Giants could hand them loss No. 3. 6 10 Buffalo Bills 5-4 Beating New England in Foxboro, in overtime, is a feat not to be taken lightly. OK, maybe I raised them too high, from last week's 10th-ranked spot, but the 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th positions were all occupied by teams that lost. 7 14 Denver Broncos 5-4 And they're gonna go higher. Having Terrell Davis back changes Denver's whole complexion, not the Terrell Davis who went through the motions early in the season but the real Terrell, ripping and slashing and picking up those back-side yards (somehow that doesn't sound right). 8 5 New York Jets 6-3 Why didn't Vinny Testaverde get four more inches on his pass to Richie Anderson and send the Broncos game into OT? Because he's almost 37 and playing with a bulging disc in his spine (an orthopedist I know tells me he's taking a hell of a risk even playing at all), and his body starts tiring out in the late stages of a game. And even if it went into overtime, who's to say the Jets would have won? 9 7 Indianapolis Colts 6-3 They're writing off the first-half murder the Bears committed on them to overconfidence going in. This neatly avoids the issue of how spotty their defense really is. 10 8 Washington Redskins 6-4 An early fumble run back for a TD, a pick that sets up a field goal and they're 10-0 short-enders with Jeff George, T&E (Talented and Enigmatic), running things. Didn't work, and if Danny Boy gets his way and George is in for the long haul, that's what their season's gonna look like. 11 11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5-4 Throwing Chris Chandler to the Bucs was like throwing meat to hungry dogs. They've bloodied the noses of a lot of quarterbacks, and now Brett Favre, working behind a pair of rookie tackles, comes to town. 12 13 New York Giants 7-2 They put away a team they were supposed to when they could have been playing look-ahead to the Rams. 13 18 New Orleans Saints 6-3 I can't remember the last time the Saints won a game by scoring on all four first-half possessions, on four long drives no less. The answer is they never did. This is a team that must be taken seriously, I tell you. They must! How could people ever have doubted them? 14 17 Pittsburgh Steelers 5-4 Their defense stood tall in defeat. Their offense stood small. In Kordell's defense, the wideouts don't really work hard enough for him. 15 9 Kansas City Chiefs 5-4 Are these the Chiefs that beat the mighty Rams? Is this the face that launched a thousand ships? Do they think that running the ball four times in the first half will impress hard-eyed critics such as your faithful narrator? 16 16 Baltimore Ravens 6-4 Stand over there next to Pittsburgh. That's the place reserved for defensive monsters who can't move the ball. Oh, you're telling me that they gained 378 yards against the Bengals? Well, maybe if we were talking about the bengals in the Bronx Zoo ... 17 12 Detroit Lions 5-4 I've written many times that this is the team that puzzles me most. Now I guess Bobby Ross agrees. Capable of beating anyone, or being beaten by anyone. Which should place them somewhere near the middle of the pack, wouldn't you agree? 18 21 Green Bay Packers 4-5 OK, they beat the Vikes on a freakie, but with 1:40 left in regulation time and the ball on their own 20 and one of the great money QBs in history running things, they call two dive plays, heave the ball into Nowhereville, punt and give Minnesota a chance to almost beat them. Something radically wrong here between coach and quarterback. 19 19 Jacksonville Jaguars 3-6 A passing thought. Has anyone ever said "badbye" instead of goodbye? Getting tired. More coffee, please, Linda. 20 20 Philadelphia Eagles 6-4 I guess their OT victory over the Cowboys in the Vet should be noted in the rankings, but which team above them would you lower? 21 25 Carolina Panthers 4-5 I hate to admit this, but I was watching their game against the Rams intermittently while I was concentrating on Oakland-K.C. on the tape. Every time I looked, though, Carolina's D-line was punishing the Rams' front five. I will have more to say about this when I study my tape of this game. I tape everything: the Redhead, the dog, the Canada Geese outside, you name it. 22 28 Chicago Bears 2-7 OK, now the secret is out. Jim Miller can run the Gary Crowton offense, Cade McNown can't. And how will Dick Jauron handle this rather obvious situation? He did take a course in logic at Yale, did he not? 23 15 New England Patriots 2-7 I would have bet anything that they'd have beaten the Bills on their home turf on a wind-weather day. My heart is now broken. I am officially off the Patriots and from now on they're on their own. 24 22 Dallas Cowboys 3-6 Did Randall Cunningham avenge himself on the team that let him go? Write me your answers. I didn't watch the contest. 25 29 Arizona Cardinals 3-6 I am looking very hard at Pat Tillman for my All-Pro strong safety. Nothing I love more than picking a guy a year or two before the world discovers him. 26 23 Atlanta Falcons 3-7 Once I get by Chandler and Jamal Anderson and Dan Reeves and the injuries, I can never think of anything to say about this team. 27 27 Seattle Seahawks 3-7 I have sent our research staff scurrying after information as to when a Mike Holmgren-coached club ever gained fewer than 128 yards. I suspect that the answer is never, but I could be wrong. Write-ins appreciated. 28 24 San Francisco 49ers 2-8 Eddie DeBartolo is on the first ballot as a Hall of Fame candidate. I will have more to say about it in this week's column. This is what is known as a teaser. 29 26 Cincinnati Bengals 2-7 The never-ending battle to stay out of the cellar. Keeping the Bengals propped up is the 407 yards rushing they gained against Denver. Or is it, "are the 407 yards?" Help me out, someone. 30 30 San Diego Chargers 0-9 "At 0-9, they never lost their will to win." What school immortalized those words? A fiver to the person who answers it right. A hint -- it was a school I went to. No, no, it wasn't Columbia. New Yorkers know how to deal with stuff like that. It was Stanford, the earliest college of my choice. It was one of the cherished legends, referring to the 1947 team that nearly upset Cal in the finale. Framed, those words hung on the wall in the gym, right near our freshman football locker room. First day I saw it, I scratched my head and remarked to the guy next to me, in my best Bronx accent, "Wotta bunch of freakin' losers." He was from some place in California named Rancho Sante Fe or something like that. He looked at me as if I were a bug, even worse, a New York bug. It was at that point that I realized I might be in the wrong place. This long-winded bit of history sets off the fact that I respect the effort the Chargers bring to the table every week, but why does it have to go on year after year? 31 31 Cleveland Browns 2-8 Yep, it's a swell job of personnel management that Carmen and Dwight have put together.

Finally, my promise from last week. The Web site of that outfit that gave my wife round trip air fare to Paris, six nights in a hotel, plus transportation to and from DeGaulle -- all for $499. The name is go-today.com. Don't forget the hyphen. The Internet is very fussy about things like that.

To send a question or comment to Dr. Z, click here.

 

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