Week 6 NFL Rankings

The game Sunday afternoon between the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots was definitely the most anticipated one of the week. It's pretty rare for two undefeated teams to face each other so late in the season. As it was, the Patriots were heavily favored coming in and ended up winning by 21 points, 48-27. In reality though, the game was much closer than that as the Cowboys did hold a 24-21 lead with just five minutes to go in the third quarter. All in all, the game went pretty much as expected, except that the Cowboys probably hung in there a lot longer than predicted. Consequently, the Cowboys keep their previous #3 ranking.

One team that's been severely hurt the past two weeks would be the Arizona Cardinals. They've lost both their first string (Matt Leinart) and backup (Kurt Warner) quarterbacks the past two Sundays. Tim Rattay is their third-stringer and isn't anywhere close to Leinart's or Warner's level. The Cardinals looked so very promising two weeks ago and reached #8 in the rankings last weekend. I think their only hope now is to give the ball to running back Edgerrin James as much as possible until Warner gets healthy from the torn ligaments in his left (non-throwing) elbow. Who was most responsible for the Cardinals' loss this past Sunday to the Carolina Panthers? While Rattay should get a lot of the blame, perhaps 43 year-old Vinny Testaverde of the Panthers should get some much-deserved credit for leading his Panthers to victory. For some reason, I'm having flashbacks to that Monday night game several years ago where Vinny led the New York Jets from 23 points down in the 4th quarter to an improbable overtime victory.

With the Patriots win on Sunday, everyone now is anticipating the November 4th game which will pit them against the Indianapolis Colts. It's very possible both teams will go into that week undefeated. The Pats should have no problem with the 0-6 and #31 ranked Miami Dolphins next weekend, but the #8 Washington Redskins could give them a tough battle. The Colts have a very difficult game this Monday night against Maurice Jones-Drew and the rest of the surging and #5 ranked Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts then face another surging team in the aforementioned #13 ranked Carolina Panthers the following week.

Here are this week’s rankings with last weeks rank in (). Record is only one consideration. I also take into account strength of schedule, strength of victory (or loss) and other intangibles…

1.(1) New England Patriots (6-0)
2.(2) Indianapolis Colts (5-0)
3.(3) Dallas Cowboys (5-1)
4.(4) Pittsburgh Steelers (4-1)
5.(10) Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1)
6.(5) Green Bay Packers (5-1)
7.(11) San Diego Chargers (3-3)
8.(6) Washington Redskins (3-2)
9.(9) Baltimore Ravens (4-2)
10.(12) New York Giants (4-2)
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11.(16) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2)
12.(7) Tennessee Titans (3-2)
13.(19) Carolina Panthers (4-2)
14.(21) Cleveland Browns (3-3)
15.(8) Arizona Cardinals (3-3)
16.(17) Philadelphia Eagles (2-3)
17.(18) Oakland Raiders (2-3)
18.(14) Houston Texans (3-3)
19.(13) Chicago Bears (2-4)
20.(15) Seattle Seahawks (3-3)
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21.(22) Kansas City Chiefs (3-3)
22.(29) New Orleans Saints (1-4)
23.(20) San Francisco 49ers (2-3)
24.(26) Minnesota Vikings (2-3)
25.(23) Detroit Lions (3-2)
26.(25) Buffalo Bills (1-4)
27.(27) New York Jets (1-5)
28.(28) Atlanta Falcons (1-5)
29.(24) Cincinnati Bengals (1-4)
30.(30) Denver Broncos (2-3)
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31.(31) Miami Dolphins (0-6)
32.(32) St. Louis Rams (0-6)
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