FanPost

Arrowhead Pride NFL Power Rankings: Opening Day Edition!


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Welcome to the start of what will be your weekly Arrowhead Pride Power Rankings! After a successful dry run early in the preseason the Power Rankings are back and here to stay. The Power Rankings are meant to give a nice sample of how the fans of AP are viewing the teams this year.

We’ve assembled a panel of "experts" consisting of AP bloggers and front office folk. There are 8 AP members submitting rankings each week. Each "expert" is responsible for covering a division and providing a blurb for each team to accompany the rankings.

Here are your AP Experts:

J-Man AFC South

Paddy AFC North

Bansky AFC West

ChiefsFan85 AFC East

Craig in Calgary NFC North

Generic Brand NFC South

Mushin NFC West

Woodman212 NFC East

Rounding out the panel at an even 10 will be AP’s fearless leaders, Chris and Joel. A huge thanks to all of our experts for donating their time and effort to keep these Power Rankings going each week. Look for the weekly Power Rankings to appear every Thursday, so long as Woodman212 can manage to find a computer with excel before then.

Each AP "Expert" ranked each team 1-32. The rankings were averaged out so the number you see next to the team is the teams average ranking. In the case of a tie, which happened this time around with the Vikings (#8) and the Titans (#7) we take the best and worst ranking for each team, drop them, and re do the average. In this case both teams had an average rank of 8.4. From the Vikes we dropped a high of 4 and a low of 19 and for the Titans we dropped a low of 3 and a high of 19. When the dust settled, the Titans were more consistently ranked among our panel, edging out the Vikings 6.2 to 6.5.

The top spot still belongs to the Champs! The Pittsburgh Steelers had an average ranking of 1.3 with only one of our experts ranking them lower than 1. Joel favored the Patriots for his number 1 spot. The Pats come in a strong second with an average ranking of 1.9.

I’ll let you scroll down to see where our beloved Chiefs landed. We are excited to bring you these rankings each week and we are all looking forward to your thoughts and sure as I am typing this, criticisms! Enjoy!

P.S. Be on the lookout for our "Put Up or Shut Up" season predictions later today. This way you can look back and ridicule us for our ridiculous predictions after the season. We’re going on the record later today!

1.Pittsburgh Steelers (1.3)

The Steelers are Cesar until someone else stabs them.

2.New England Patriots (1.9)

Will continue to be one of the dominant teams. Especially with Brady's Return.

3. New York Giants (5)

Still have a dominant rushing attack and a ferocious defense. Their lack of a big-play threat keeps them out of the top 2.

4. Philadelphia Eagles (5.4)

There will be less drama between quarterbacks than forecast. They have the potential to dominate this season.

5. Baltimore Ravens (6.2)

Did the Ravens do enough to unseat the Steelers? I don't think so.

6. Indianapolis Colts (6.7)

They will miss Dungy a lot. When most coaches take over for a Hall of Fame coach it backfires.

7. Tennessee Titans (8.4)

Strong running game, solid D and Jeff Fisher grit.This team doesn’t make a lot of mistakes

8. Minnesota Vikings (8.4)

Well, the defending NFC North Champions added a legitimate vertical threat to a great running game and a Top 5 defense. This could be a potential Superbowl team.

9. San Diego Chargers (9.9)

The NFL's ultimate under achievers. They'll win a weak division, not much else, and the door is closing.

10. Chicago Bears (11.7)

GM Jerry Angelo mortgaged the future so he could win now with Jay Cutler. Perhaps he should have also gotten someone for Cutler to throw to.

11. Green Bay Packers (11.8)

Packers were instantly better when McCarthy hired Dom Capers as D-Coordinator. Assuming Aaron Rogers continues to progress, they could challenge the Vikes for a NFC North Title

12. Atlanta Falcons (11.9)

As one of last year’s biggest surprises the Falcons have to prove it wasn't a flash in the pan. The offense should be better and more balanced but they still have a lot of questions and holes on defense.

13. New Orleans Saints (12.2)

The Saints offense is just as explosive as ever and the defense has undergone upgrades the only question now is if this aging team can stay healthy.

14. Carolina Panthers (13.5)

The Panthers set out to shake the NFC South Champion curse and be the first back to back NFCS champ since the division was formed seven years ago.

15. Arizona Cardinals (13.8)

With a dynamic offense and adequate defense the divison is Arizona's to lose. Can they break the curse of the SB losers?

16. Dallas Cowboys (15.6)

It will be interesting to see their offense without a playmaker like T.O. Until then they are a middle-of-the-pack and unknown team.

17. Miami Dolphins (15.9)

They surprised us last year with their good playing abilities. Will be no surprise this year.

18. Houston Texans (17.9)

I think it is their time. Matt Schaub will be healthy and leading a great offense.

19. Seattle Seahawks (18.6)

The Seahawks have almost as much potential as they have questions. Seattle's biggest opponent is the injury bug.

20. Washington Redskins (20.4)

Haynesworth makes a "Good" defense "Very Good" but it is the offense that stalls every Sunday.

21. New York Jets (21.4)

We'll see if a rookie can lead this team to victory.

22. Jacksonville Jaguars (21.6)

The Jags are too reliant on the running game and their D is breaking down.

23. Cincinnati Bengals (22.6)

Is Carson Palmer's retun enough to make the Begals relevant again? We're about to find out.

24. San Francisco 49ers (23.8)

San Fransisco has a good running game, defense and coach. Is Shaun Hill good enough to get out of the way?

25. Buffalo Bills (24.7)

Can T.O. Help them out or bring down the team? I think he'll do just fine.

26. Kansas City Chiefs (25.3)

New blood, new attitude, new hopes. This will be the year a successful foundation is laid.

27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (27)

New quarterback, new coach, new players on both sides of the ball. It’s a rebuilding year in a tough division with a tough schedule.

28. Denver Broncos (27.1)

Great O-line, but nothing worth protecting. Do have the pieces for a bright and competitive future.

29. Cleveland Browns (27.3)

The Bowns will be tougher than people think this year. How tough depends on how much change their new coach has brought to what was a dysfunctional locker room culture.

30. St. Louis Rams (29.3)

When you're season goal is to be in close games, it doesn't look good.

31. Oakland Raiders (29.4)

Young and talented, but with a Sith Lord as an owner/operator/overhead projector collector, they'll fall flat. Needs a complete front office overhaul…starting with the owner.

32. Detroit Lions (30.8)

IMO naming Stafford week 1 starter was a big mistake. He doesn't have the personnel around him that Ryan or Flacco had last year….looks like another long year in Detroit

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.