Sorry ... gotta pat myself on the back for saying that -- with a mildly sober witness on hand -- now that Week 1 is in the books and, well, it was unpredictably nuts.
The AFC's big three -- Patriots, Colts and Chargers -- either lost to decidedly inferior opponents, or lost their two-time Super Bowl MVP and 2007 season MVP quarterback.Enter the NFC East, which now houses three of the best teams in the NFL ... at least for the time being (like, if the Giants somehow manage to lose to the Rams in Week 2).
While the Cowboys and Eagles were supremely impressive on Sunday, the defending Super Bowl champion Giants managed a rather boring win over the Redskins (but, that's kinda how the Giants won it all last year, and it should be noted that there are no style points in the NFL). This triumvirate should make the NFC East competition very, very interesting.
For the time being, let's have a little bit of fun here and take a look at how the NFL power rankings would look like if it were like the BCS (well, kinda ... it has much less controversy).
Important note!: The Just-Totally-Made-Up NFL BCSTM rankings include three very basic components: overall win-loss record, how good teams did against other good teams, and my own profound opinion. Each component will count one-third (more or less or so) of a team's overall Just-Totally-Made-Up NFL BCSTM score in the Just-Totally-Made-Up NFL BCSTM standings.
Here are the latest Just-Totally-Made-Up NFL BCSTM rankings of the season (just the top 12, or the number of teams that would make the playoffs if the playoff teams were based totally on the Just-Totally-Made-Up NFL BCSTM formula, which isn't really a formula at all) ...
1. New York Giants (Trend: -) -- Eli Manning orchestrated an impressive opening drive, Brandon Jacobs made LaRon Landry feel some serious shame, but their win over the Redskins was sorta-kinda
meh!"
2. Dallas Cowboys (Trend: +) -- It pains me say that this team is probably pretty good.
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (Trend: +) -- The series of unfortunate events to befell the aforementioned big three of the AFC suddenly makes Pittsburgh look like the team to beat in the conference.
4. Philadelphia Eagles (Trend: +) -- Pennsylvania pro football teams outscored their opponents 76-20 on Sunday.
5. New England Patriots (Trend: -) -- Does Tom Brady's injury also mean the end of the Patriots as we've known them for the past few years? Tune in next season.
6. Chicago Bears (Trend: +) -- Kyle Orton could be the 2008 version of Trent Dilfer, circa 2000 ... just don't do anything silly and let that amazing defense do its thing.
7. New Orleans Saints (Trend: +) -- Getting a game up on an opponent expected to compete for the title in the same division as you play in is a big deal.
8. Green Bay Packers (Trend: +) -- Rooting for Aaron Rodgers to have a good game Monday night was an easy thing to do.
9. Buffalo Bills (Trend: +) -- Team management sent an email to the other 31 teams following Sunday's rout of the Seahawks asking, "So, who wants to play us?" Nobody replied.
10. San Diego Chargers (Trend: -) -- This is a big drop from last week (No. 3), but they lost to a Panthers team that was a double-digit 'dog going in. Also, throw in this fun fact ... the Chargers had lost only one of their previous 16 home regular-season games. Not a good start to 2008.
11. Indianapolis Colts (Trend: -) -- This is another big drop (No. 4 last week), but the Colts were expected to beat da Bears. There's still hope, as Peyton Manning was just a bit off on a few key passes and he will theoretically get it straightened out.
12. New York Jets (Trend: +) -- Jets fans got their first good glimpse of Brett Favre's on-the-field magic on Sunday.
Teams in danger of relegation if the NFL were like European soccer ...
30. Oakland Raiders -- Remember the 1970s when the Raiders were really, really good? Oh wait, the '70s are ancient history in the wide world of sports. "Raiders" and "among NFL's elite" is so "plaid suit" and "great thing to wear to a wedding."
31. Kansas City Chiefs -- Blew a chance to beat the Matt Cassel-led Patriots.
32. St. Louis Rams -- Is it too early to put the Rams on 0-16 watch?
Week 2 predictions:
Panthers over BearsTitans over Bengals
Packers over Lions
Bills over Jaguars
Chiefs over Raiders
Colts over Vikings
Giants over Rams
Saints over Redskins
Seahawks over 49ers
Buccaneers over Falcons
Cardinals over Dolphins
Broncos over Chargers
Texans over Ravens
Jets over Patriots
Steelers over Browns
Cowboys over Eagles
Week 1 record: 9-7 (sure, Week 1 was a big nuts, but this is really bad and we promise to do better the rest of the way)
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