Power Rankings

[brncs_fan]

ESPN

3 (2) Chargers 0-1-0 The Chargers are too good to keep squandering games in the first month. (BW)

19 (22) Broncos 1-0-0 The Broncos couldn't have had a better start to the season. They dominated Oakland on both sides of the ball and they introduced a new weapon in rookie receiver Eddie Royal. (BW)

29 (31) Chiefs 0-1-0 The Chiefs hung with the Tom Brady-less Patriots. Yes, the team lost quarterback Brodie Croyle but there seem to be some reasons to be encouraged. (BW)

30 (27) Raiders 0-1-0 What a horrible start to the season for a team with high aspirations. Nothing went right for Oakland as it was embarrassed at home by Denver. (BW)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking?season=2008&week=2

CBS (Prisco)

11 Chargers (4)
There was some good to come out of the loss, mostly that Philip Rivers can rally his team. But the concern has to be with the defense. It got handled.

12 Broncos (21)
If Jay Cutler plays the way he did against Oakland, the Broncos will push the Chargers in the division. Maybe Mike Shanahan can still coach, eh?

29 Chiefs (32)
They showed well after Tom Brady went out, but that made it a lot easier. They need to get the running game going.

32 Raiders (27)
That was pathetic against Denver. Just Sin, Baby. That's what the Raiders did Monday night. Gross would be a compliment.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/10968862

FOX

~Not yet updated~

Yahoo!

7. San Diego Chargers: Is this team destined to repeat its poor start of 2007 – and isn’t that kind of a dangerous way to live?

9. Denver Broncos: How many of you are sleeping on Jay Cutler and this team?

26. Kansas City Chiefs: Will Bernard Pollard have to hire a bodyguard – to protect him from angry fantasy owners?

30. Oakland Raiders: Commitment to impotence?

Link (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ar1GyjEpMNYVpd1dw4sOcZ9DubYF?slug=ms-32questions090908&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

NFL.com

5. San Diego Chargers 0-1 Tough loss, but this team still has all of the ingredients to be a major factor in the wide-open AFC.

12. Denver Broncos 1-0 A win's a win, but how much can you really gauge from beating up on an opponent as pathetic as the Raiders were Monday night?

KC, Oakland (Need Work)

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80aabf38&template=without-video&confirm=true

[bronco militia]

not just the broncos, but all of espn's board made no sense

[dbfan21]

not just the broncos, but all of espn's board made no sense

In essence, they are saying that 18 teams are better than Denver based on what has taken polace in the preseason and Week 1. I don't put any substance into these things (they are entertaining to track), but come on...19 out of 32 teams. East coast bias hard at work!!

[v2micca]

I'm okay with the Broncos only moving up a couple of spots in the polls. I prefer teams to continue to underestimate us. Now, if we beat both San Diego and New Orleans and don't manage to ascend to the top 5, then you can chalk it up to the East Coast bias in full force.

[broncocalijohn]

If we win the next two games, I would see us hitting top 7. You have other good and great teams going at it also so it would be tough to leap frog them. I wont say we will beat the Chargers but I am sure they are taking this team more serious now and I believe the HO will be packed with great Broncos fans. Nice to go into this game with the team and crowd gleeing with confidence.

[Rulon Velvet Jones]

I hate when a win is docked because of your opponent. You can only play your schedule - isn't that the old mantra? Who care who they beat? What's more valuable is the way they were dismantled.

[NYBronco]

In essence, they are saying that 18 teams are better than Denver based on what has taken polace in the preseason and Week 1. I don't put any substance into these things (they are entertaining to track), but come on...19 out of 32 teams. East coast bias hard at work!!

Good point WRT San Diego...

[Williams]

I dont think Oakland is really as terrible as the "experts" are making them out to be. I think it may be more a case of Denver is just that good. A couple of these power ranking lists have Dallas at #1. Didnt the Bronco starters school their first team in the preseason? ???

Whatever though, I'm all for flying under the radar. Not sure how much longer it'll last though.

[Kaylore]

This happened to us in '05. Every time we beat someone the talking heads would discuss what was wrong with that time, like they just got beat by a special Olympics team. I really don't care about these too much other than chatter. They don't "mean" anything.

[Rock Chalk]

IF Denver pastes SD next week in similar fashion to what they did to JOkeland the experts will say "San Diego just isnt as good as we thought".

IF Denver does the same to NO the week after, the experts will say "New Orleans just didnt play well on the road".

HOwever, IF Denver gets to the mid point and has a big fat donut in the L column, bet your ass the experts will be taking notice.

[telluride]

Listen, let's take all this step by step. Our goal is to be one of the top six teams in the AFC. When/if it becomes clear that we are going to meet that goal, then we worry about the division title, and then home field advantage.

But let's not worry about rankings just yet. The next critical step comes this Sunday. Worry about that.

[Popps]

IF Denver pastes SD next week in similar fashion to what they did to JOkeland the experts will say "San Diego just isnt as good as we thought".

IF Denver does the same to NO the week after, the experts will say "New Orleans just didnt play well on the road".

HOwever, IF Denver gets to the mid point and has a big fat donut in the L column, bet your ass the experts will be taking notice.

That's about what it would take, and like someone else said... I'm fine with that. Let's sneak up on these ****ers.

[maher_tyler]

In essence, they are saying that 18 teams are better than Denver based on what has taken polace in the preseason and Week 1. I don't put any substance into these things (they are entertaining to track), but come on...19 out of 32 teams. East coast bias hard at work!!

Without having looked...i bet they have the Jets ahead of us?? Cause Favre was "outstanding" LOL

[Kaylore]

IF Denver pastes SD next week in similar fashion to what they did to JOkeland the experts will say "San Diego just isnt as good as we thought".

IF Denver does the same to NO the week after, the experts will say "New Orleans just didnt play well on the road".

And lets hope they do. I would rather the media diss this team so they keep playing with a chip on their shoulder than get sucked off like the Chargers have been. I would bet at least some of the Boltz woes has been them believing all their press from the offseason.

[maher_tyler]

I dont think Oakland is really as terrible as the "experts" are making them out to be. I think it may be more a case of Denver is just that good. A couple of these power ranking lists have Dallas at #1. Didnt the Bronco starters school their first team in the preseason? ???

Whatever though, I'm all for flying under the radar. Not sure how much longer it'll last though.

We'll have to go 3-0 before we get noticed!!

[DomCasual]

not just the broncos, but all of espn's board made no sense

It's ESPN. They don't really know all that much about sports.

[colonelbeef]

I thoroughly enjoy watching the prognosticators eat their hats. Jeremy green said the Broncos were 27th best in the NFL; John Clayton said 25th, and both said there was no offseason improvement whatsoever, no mention of the draft at all.

This is going to be fun as hell watching Shanahan and the Broncos forcefully work their way into the national AFC contender discussion.

[Atlas]

If we win the next two games, I would see us hitting top 7. You have other good and great teams going at it also so it would be tough to leap frog them. I wont say we will beat the Chargers but I am sure they are taking this team more serious now and I believe the HO will be packed with great Broncos fans. Nice to go into this game with the team and crowd gleeing with confidence.

If Denver beats SD and NO they should be a top 5 team.

[MechanicalBull]

Denver will not get credit from anyone in the media until they beat a few of the so called good teams. If they score 28+ pts next week and beat SD with Cutler having another great game then I think they will all change their tune and say this division will go down to the wire.

My question is that according to the media we were supposed to beat the Raiders on the road and San Diego is so far above us then by their thinking shouldn't they have beaten an average Panther team at home minus Steve Smith?

[Kaylore]

Bump

[Darkdoc]

If we beat the Chargers this week, it'll be the old refrain we heard ad nauseum 2 years ago- "The Chargers are the best 0-2 team in football."

Below the radar is a very nice place to live.

[worm]

I dont think Oakland is really as terrible as the "experts" are making them out to be. I think it may be more a case of Denver is just that good. A couple of these power ranking lists have Dallas at #1. Didnt the Bronco starters school their first team in the preseason? ???

Whatever though, I'm all for flying under the radar. Not sure how much longer it'll last though.

I think Dallas is the 1st or 2nd best team in the NFL right now. As hard as that is to say...They ARE good. VERY good. That preseason game meant nothing.

Outside of the Denver game....their game next Monday is the one I am most interested in watching this week.

[Kaylore]

Fox has theirs up:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/powerRankings

[gyldenlove]

Denver will not get credit from anyone in the media until they beat a few of the so called good teams. If they score 28+ pts next week and beat SD with Cutler having another great game then I think they will all change their tune and say this division will go down to the wire.

My question is that according to the media we were supposed to beat the Raiders on the road and San Diego is so far above us then by their thinking shouldn't they have beaten an average Panther team at home minus Steve Smith?

Nope, it will take more than that. If we really wail on the chuggers next week we will hear a lot of "The Chargers started 1-3 last year, I am not ready to write them off yet." and a lot of "Jay Cutler looks like he is coming of age, and could maybe carry this team to the playoffs." and we will still struggle to break the top 10 in rankings and the Chargers will still not fall out of the top 10.

[TotallyScrewed]

IF Denver pastes SD next week in similar fashion to what they did to JOkeland the experts will say "San Diego just isnt as good as we thought".

IF Denver does the same to NO the week after, the experts will say "New Orleans just didnt play well on the road".

HOwever, IF Denver gets to the mid point and has a big fat donut in the L column, bet your ass the experts will be taking notice.

If Denver beats San Diego, (I'm not on the team so I don't use terms like "We" and "Us"....just saying), the experts will say .... Wow, who knew the impact that losing John Merriman would have?? Like the Pats losing Brady.

Denver will have to string two to three more unexpected wins together before the "experts" will notice. But who cares?? The experts are full of crap 99.99% of the time.

[broncocalijohn]

If Denver beats San Diego, (I'm not on the team so I don't use terms like "We" and "Us"....just saying), the experts will say .... Wow, who knew the impact that losing John Merriman would have?? Like the Pats losing Brady.

Denver will have to string two to three more unexpected wins together before the "experts" will notice. But who cares?? The experts are full of crap 99.99% of the time.

I am on the team so I use we and us. All fans can use it. Just dont stop using it when your team goes into the tank. I dont think John Merriman will have an impact being out for the year but i do think Shawn Merriman will be missed.

[Paladin]

Let's not all get woodies at the same time. It would seriously deplete the livable space in the US. My point is that it is way too early to get all hot about a ranking from some half baked TV pundit. Or a half baked writer, for that matter. I'd prefer to see the rankings after week 17 of the season....

[BroncoMan4ever]

how can beating up on the Raiders not show that Denver is a lot better this year than in years past.
Think about it, for the last 5 years Denver had the habit of playing down to the level of their competition, which led to close games and losses that shouldn't have happened.
Monday night showed this season will be different. Not only did the come out and get a lead, but the second half wasn't about playing not to lose. Denver showed a killer instinct that has been missing for a long time. They kept the gas pedal down and destroyed a team that everyone knew they were better than.
I just hope Denver keeps that mentallity al season and not just against Oakland

[Punisher]

The power rank system is Bull ****

[BroncsRule]

The power rank system is Bull ****

What "system"? Bunch of drunk monkeys throwing darts?

[Kaylore]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/09/10/week.2/index.html?eref=T1

Doctor Z has us in front of the Chargers.

[Tombstone RJ]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/09/10/week.2/index.html?eref=T1

Doctor Z has us in front of the Chargers.

I'm sorry, but what the hell is rambling about?:

ESPN had a hard time believing that us slobs on the East Coast were not mobbing the TV set to see the Broncs squash the Raiders in Game Two of the Monday night twinner. And as the three Mikes droned on late into the a.m. hours, your faithful narrator felt the arms of Morpheus gently encircling him, until...Holy Hell! I've missed two...three...how many plays on the chart? Oh my God! And then the magic words, "I got them for you. I didn't want to wake you up." Sure enough, charted in Linda's nice, clear, legible hand. Anyone still wondering why I married this lovely Redhead?

[brncs_fan]

Almost all of Z's takes are him ranting and raving about nothing.

[Punisher]

When the cowboys get above average everyone lables them the best team in the NFL.

[s0phr0syne]

good thread, I like how he consolidated the rankings into one instead of having a new thread for each one. They're (power rankings) pretty worthless, but fun to see for some reason anyway...

[TheChamp24]

I bet we could go 19-0, and everyone would say "Yeah, but they aren't that good. I mean, they got lucky in the Super Bowl to win 48-17."