Top 5 NFL Teams Heading Into Week One
Week one is rapidly approaching - meaning it's not too early for some NFL power rankings. Here they are, from top to bottom:
1. Seattle Seahawks
The reigning Super Bowl Champs have done nothing over the offseason that would lead one to believe that they aren't headed for another Championship run.
First, let's take a look at some of the question marks heading into this year for Seattle:
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, their strengths include:
- Intelligent, dynamic, explosive quarterback
- Running back that could easily be confused for a locomotive
(Oh yeah - that run literally caused an earthquake)
- Bruising, physical, aggressive defense that cheats on every play and is incapable of silence
With all those positives, how could they go wrong? Unless, of course, their coach is preoccupied with finding out who is really responsible for 9/11.
The only thing keeping the Broncos from the top spot in the rankings is their thumping at the hands of Seattle in the Super Bowl. They boast a Hall-of-Fame quarterback that's surrounded with all-pro-caliber weapons and backed by a smothering defense. If that's not enough, they dumped high-quality wideout Eric Decker and replaced him with a more explosive threat in Emmanuel Sanders.
3. San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers might occupy the second spot on this list if they played in the AFC. Their showing in the NFC Championship Game in Seattle was probably the most exciting game of the year and ended up making everyone that's not a Seahawks fan pretty much wish that the season ended with that grueling deathmatch. It's been a long offseason for the Niners, who have spent the last several months trying to ignore that this didn't happen. Or this. Or, again, this.
Positives: they still have a terrorizing defense, a physical offensive line, the most explosive quarterback in football, and one of the best coaching staffs in the league.
4. New England Patriots
Simple formula in New England: top coach, top quarterback. In fact, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick most successful coach/QB combo in league history. As long as those two are together, you can pencil them in as a Super Bowl contender.
32. Oakland Raiders
Look at this dude they drafted in the first round:
My goodness. Unfortunately, the rest of the team is composed of broken retreads, broken homegrown guys, and a quarterback that can't figure out which jersey his team is wearing on any given Sunday.
But hey, at least they have David Carr's brother.