Football Power Report, Week 11

There's this thing called "It". Brady has it, Peyton has it, Favre has it, Ben Roethlisberger has it too. And then there's this guy who football critics don't like, they pick apart his mechanics, they say his style can't work in the NFL, laugh at his stats (completion percentage, QB rating, passing yards), even point to his lack of maturity. But there is no denying that Vince Young has "it" too. I've been listening to ESPN's Colin Cowherd, Steve Young, etc, and they say you can't build an NFL team around VY. Sure. But if you ignore VY's "it factor", you are missing out.

There are some good-to-great drop-back, pocket passers in the NFL that teams are built around. Jay Cutler, Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, Aaron Rodgers, and Donovan McNabb. Congratulations, they are good passers but not winners. They don't have "it". On a fourth quarter drive where you need a few points, I'll take Vince Young! 3rd and 5: Cutler will throw an INT, Romo and McNabb will throw an INT, Rodgers will get sacked. Schaub will get close but not close enough. Vince Young will run, and no one can stop it. He's done it his whole life. And oh, by the way, his passing has improved, and because of him Chris Johnson is unstoppable.

The Titans are the biggest story this year (neck-and-neck with Favre). For a team that started the season 0-6, all the talk has been "can they run the table?" That is amazing. Two players a month ago said they would win 10 straight and there is actually debate occurring about whether it's possible! Matt Millen and Steve Young actually made a bet about it on TV (even shook hands). Skip Bayless the hater thinks they can. They still have to play Arizona, the Colts and the Chargers, three of my Top 7 power ranked teams, and people are talking if they will win 6 more games. I love it.

Game o' the Week: So if you take the expectations for the game and compare it with the actual results of the game, the Lions vs. Browns game is the game of the year. You know, if you pretended the two quarterbacks were Montana and Elway, it was a good game. These two defenses are so bad it looked that way. I was nauseous when I saw the Browns, a team that hasn't scored 24 points all year, were up 24-3 in the first QUARTER. And yet Matthew Stafford comes back and leads a 4th quarter comeback line Montana himself. The biggest highlight of the game was the Browns calling a timeout before the last play, or at least the official claiming he heard a timeout called. Seeing Eric Mangini blow up really wraps up the Browns' season. Who else would have that luck: quarterback gets hurt so they bring in the backup, some phantom calls a timeout, giving Stafford an opportunity to jog out and give it one more shot. And he did it.

Crazy week: Raiders and Chiefs beat the Bengals and Steelers. Bad news for the Steelers; Big Ben got a concussion and his backup Charlie Batch broke his wrist. And more bad news: the physical Ravens are up next. Troy Palomalu is out for a while, they give up a big return score every week. Everybody expects them in the playoffs but I don't know... they play Baltimore twice and finish in Miami so don't punch your playoff tickets yet.

Speaking of playoffs: I am not a believer in the Colts, I think they are overrated, they get outplayed every week, had two chances to lose Sunday, they are very banged up, but if they win this week and the Jags lose, they clinch a playoff spot. All they do is win. I can't stand it.

How banged up are the Redskins? They have lost Cooley, Haynesworth, Portis, and Portis' backup Betts. Some of them will probably come back but it's getting hard to swallow. My bet is Jason Campbell goes down this week, but don't blame me if it does.

Here are my version of the Power Rankings.

1. Saints
2. Vikings
3. Patriots
4. Colts
5. Bengals
6. Cardinals
7. Chargers
8. Cowboys
9. Steelers
10. Giants
11. Eagles
12. Titans
13. Ravens
14. Texans
16. Panthers
17. Jaguars
18. Falcons
19. Packers
20. 49ers
21. Broncos
22. Bears
23. Jets
24. Seahawks
25. Chiefs
26. Redskins
27. Raiders
28. Bills
29. Bucs
30. Lions
31. Rams
32. Browns