Week 2 Power Report

Oh no! The Ravens are terrible, Bills and Lions are headed to the Super Bowl, and Cam Newton is bound for the Hall of Fame.

Overreactions are too easy to fall into after only 1 or 2 games. Remember last week, when the Steelers and Falcons were embarrassed, Tony Romo couldn’t win a game, the Chargers yielded only 28 passing yards, and the Chiefs and Colts were awful? Oh yeah, those last two are still true.
There are things we continue to learn, but we don’t know everything, and we are certain to be surprised next week. But here I go.

Yes, the Bills are the big surprise team at 2-0. But just remember this, we are a 4th down catch in the endzone with 15 seconds or a jump ball hail mary (that was close enough to be reviewed for ten minutes) away from saying the same thing about Raiders instead. And Bills other win was against the Chiefs.

By the way, I believe in justice and forgiveness. Michael Vick committed a horrible crime and he went to jail for it. He lost millions (hundreds of millions) of dollars for it. He has paid his debt to humanity. From now on, days after he made his return to Atlanta as a starting quarterback, I don’t ever want to hear about what he did and that should not be attached to his persona. He’s a good person and an unbelievable athlete. The end.

Things we learned:
a. Colts, Chiefs, and Seahawks are bad, really bad.

Stats o’ the Week:
a. 0 – kick returns for touchdowns (compared with 8 in Week 1)
b. 1.8 - Jags’ Luke McCown’s quarterback rating
c. 5 – consecutive 2nd half drives by the Bills for touchdowns
d. 9 – turnovers for the Chiefs in two games
e. 11 – sacks on Jay Cutler in two games
f. 1126 – total yards for the Patriots’ offense

Power Report

Top 10
1. Patriots. Defense has given up a lot of yards but they make big stops when they need to. They also completely shut down the Chargers’ best receiver. Send this year’s MVP trophy to the engraver already for Tom Brady.
2. Packers. Aaron Rodgers had one of the prettier passes of the week. The offense is well balanced.
3. Saints. Drew Brees also threw a picture-perfect pass.
4. Chargers. Too many turnovers and missed opportunities.
5. Texans. Big test in the Big Easy this weekend. Will they rise up or get blown out?
6. Lions. What’s not to love? One of the most potent offenses and a defense that creates a lot of quarterback pressure.
7. Eagles. Kafka looks serviceable, but they need Vick (or Vince) if they want to win the East. The offensive line is terrible and the linebackers are struggling, too. They gave up way too many big runs up the middle. If Maclin doesn’t drop that ball on 4th down they may have won.
8. Ravens. Flacco looked inconsistent like usual, and the defense was surprisingly generous.
9. Bears. They’ve got to protect Jay Cutler. Despite their loss, they are a better team than I thought and they have a real shot to upset the Packers next week.
10. Steelers. I’ve always said Big Ben is a statue in the pocket, and he’s in big trouble behind that offensive line.

Good, But Still in the Middle of the Pack
11. Falcons. If Vick stays in the Falcons are 0-2. Matt Ryan led a good comeback but I still think he is overrated. This team is not as good as I thought they were, at least not yet.
12. Jets. Good game, but not much to learn from it.
13. Cowboys. More and more injuries to important players, including Romo and Miles Austin. Kudos to Tony Romo for playing through the pain and being a hero. It was surprising that he had to in a game against the lowly 49ers.
14. Bucs. Josh Freeman leads a big comeback once again and LeGarrett Blount finally made an appearance.
15. Giants. Not much to say.
16. Titans. Finally the offense looks explosive. Surprising that Chris Johnson has done next to nothing. Don’t expect that to continue.
17. Raiders. The defense could not stop the Bills. In a league where passing is king, Darren McFadden is still a monster running the ball.
18. Bills. Hard to believe that Raiders/Bills was the most dramatic game of the weekend. It is also surprising to see how many weapons that Ryan Fitzpatrick has found on that team. But hey, he’s from Harvard; smart guy.

Below Average
19. Dolphins. Not much to say.
20. Redskins. 2-0, but not much to say. Let’s see what they do against the Cowboys.
21. Cardinals. They do have the best (offensive) player in the division in Larry Fitzgerald so maybe that makes them the favorites.
22. Rams. They’ve looked pretty bad. Sam Bradford had the most unimpressive 331 passing yards ever. But at least they don’t play in the NFC East.
23. 49ers. Showed some life.

Bad Teams
24. Vikings. Not much to say.
25. Jaguars. I bet they regret cutting David Garrard in place of Luke McCown.
26. Broncos. Not much to say.
27. Bengals
28. Browns
29. Panthers. Cam Newton is on pace to throw for 6,800 yards and the Panthers are on pace for 0-16.

Suck for Luck Frontrunners
30. Colts. Embarrassed by a team that lost the Bengals. Is Curtis Paynter a better fill-in than Kerry Collins?
31. Seahawks. Compare those 1126 Patriots yards to the Seahawks’ 385.
32. Chiefs. In two games they have lost their best player on offense, their best player on defense, and been outscored 89-10.