BillsZone Power Rankings 2009: Pre-Season Week 1

by Devin Dombrowski

 

It's still hard to judge teams during the pre-season, but sometimes teams show enough to warrant some type of movement before the real season kicks off in September. I tried to follow as much action as I could in the first full weekend of pre-season action, but I'm sure I missed a thing or two during all those games.

1. New England Patriots (2): I don’t think the Patriots showed a whole lot in their first pre-season game to jump to number two, but the Giants showed me enough that they deserved a drop. I don’t expect much out of New England in the pre-season anyway, considering that most of the big stars rest before the games start to count.

2. New York Giants (1): I realize it’s only pre-season, so I’m being nice by only dropping the defending Super Bowl champs one spot, but Eli Manning didn’t look like the same guy who led the Giants to the title a few months ago.

3. Indianapolis Colts (3): The Colts are easily the worst pre-season team I’ve seen in recent history. I wish I could bet on pre-season games because I would bet the house against these guys every time.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars (4): Jacksonville’s defense looked solid for the first few drives, holding Chris Redman and Atlanta and forcing an interception. They left a little more to be desired once rookie Matt Ryan took the field, but I’m sure that will be corrected in time for Week 1.

5. Dallas Cowboys (5): The Dallas offense appeared to pick up where they left off…last regular season before giving way to the second string players. The game between them and San Diego probably would’ve been a great one in the regular season.

6. San Diego Chargers (6): San Diego should be a fun team to watch once they let LT suit up and take the field. I feel bad for the fans that pay full price for pre-season tickets.

7. Cleveland Browns (7): Derek Anderson looked efficient in his short time at quarterback. It’s a sign of things to come in Cleveland this season.

8. Washington Redskins (15): Washington looks like they will be tough in an already tough division. This could be a breakout year for Jason Campbell.

9. Pittsburgh Steelers (10): One thing I thought would be bad for Pittsburgh was the o-line, but it looked solid, as usual, against Philly. The one-two punch of Parker and Mendenhall is going to cause headaches for defensive coordinators.

10. Seattle Seahawks (9): Seattle could have a very tough running game. Maurice Morris looked sharp against Minnesota early. The competition between Julius Jones and Morris could be a good one.

11. Minnesota Vikings (8): I know it’s only pre-season, but that much improved defense of Minnesota didn’t look all that great in the first game. It will probably help when they have all their starters on the field though.

12. New Orleans Saints (11): Drew Brees looked solid in his first action of this season. If he returns to form, I’d look out for the Saints after a down year last season.

13. Green Bay Packers (12): Now that the Favre fiasco is behind them (kinda), the Packers can move on and, for their sake, hopefully Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make them look like fools once the games count.

14. Tennessee Titans (13): It’s too bad for Tennessee that they are stuck in the AFC South, because they have enough talent to be a very good team.

15. Philadelphia Eagles (16): Brian Westbrook got his new deal, which should be a big relief to the Philly faithful. Amazing how that works when the player comes to camp in good faith that a deal will get done.

16. Arizona Cardinals (20): Matt Leinart looked solid in his first outing this season. If he can give the Cardinals consistent QB play, they have enough weapons on offense to put up some good numbers.

17. Carolina Panthers (19): I think suspending Steve Smith is going to kill the Carolina offense in the first two weeks, but I love the decision. It’s not often that a team takes action before the league and handles things the right way.

18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (17): Tampa Bay continues to treat quarterbacks poorly. Jeff Garcia already wasn’t thrilled and he can’t be any happier after hearing all of the Brett Favre rumors. Time will tell if this affects the team. I’m guessing it will.

19. Buffalo Bills (14): The Bills offense looked exactly the same as last season, which doesn’t bode well. Granted, it was only one pre-season game, but Trent Edwards is going to have to play much better, and the stupid mistakes must stop on offense. The special teams' return game should be explosive though.

20. New York Jets (22): I personally don’t think Brett Favre will even make the Jets a .500 football team this season, but the addition of a sure hall of fame quarterback was enough to move them up two spots in my rankings, combined with the release of Noodle Arm.

21. Houston Texans (18): Houston looked like…well…Houston. Ahman Green is shaping up to be a free agent bust if he can’t stay healthy.

22. Denver Broncos (21): Denver has the potential to be a good team, but they seem to me to always be so inconsistent. I think it’s safe to say the CB duo of Champ Bailey and Dre Bly is the best in the league though.

23. Kansas City Chiefs (24): Kansas City could be a much improved team this season if Larry Johnson can stay healthy, and they get solid play from the quarterback.

24. Detroit Lions (23): I would like to make fun of Detroit, but it's hard seeing the team I root for.

25. Cincinnati Bengals (25): I don’t know what I can say about Cincy that I haven’t already said. Their window of opportunity is almost completely shut in what I predict as the last season of the Marvin Lewis era.

26. Baltimore Ravens (27): The best news to come out of Baltimore so far in the pre-season is word that Rookie Ray Rice is pushing the best running back in the league so far in camp. It doesn’t help that McGahee’s knee could be acting up.

27. Chicago Bears (26): Both Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman showed enough to prove that they will do everything in their power to hold the Bears back from winning for another season.

28. Oakland Raiders (28): In the horrible battle of the bay game, I guess someone had to win. And I highly doubt it was the fans.

29. Atlanta Falcons (32): Considering Atlanta is nowhere near a playoff team yet, I hope they start Matt Ryan right away and let him learn on the fly. I was impressed with his numbers against Jacksonville.

30. Miami Dolphins (31): So much for John Beck in Miami. I think the signing of Noodle Arm Pennington signaled the end of the short lived Beck era in Miami, bro.

31. St Louis Rams (29): The Rams didn’t show a whole lot in the first game. I don’t agree with hold-outs, but I think they might want to talk with Steven Jackson soon.

32. San Francisco 49ers (30): If it wasn’t for the Bills' near decade long playoff drought, I might actually feel bad for the 49ers fans.