The Wiesguy is a newcomer to the handicapping scene. Hailing from Toronto, Canada he is always sweet on the underdogs and you can often find his thoughts, musings and picks at moneydogs.blogspot.com.
The Rice Owls are in a tough spot on Thursday night. They have lost their last two games and are out of it in Conference USA. Last year they jumped up and bit the Cougars at home but the last time they visited Houston they gave up a whopping 73 points, losing by 59.
Each week during the heart of the NFL season, and once or twice during the NFL Preseason, we’ll gather the troops around the roundtable and hash out the NFL Power rankings. We check out the stats, looks at the records, and, most importantly, we take a close, close look at the heart of each team.
Best performance from previous week
Its a tossup between Kansas City (28-0 against Oakland) and New Orleans (62-7 against Indy). For K.C. it was an upset and then some but that score from the Saints game was like watching a Big Ten team play a team from the MAC…a bad team from the MAC.
Worst performance form previous week
I want to give to to an entire game not just a team. Thank you very much Cleveland and Seattle for that 6-3 masterpiece. Good think contraction wasn’t on the agenda for the recently completed labour battle.
Honourable mention: Baltimore
Best Game This week
New England at Pittsburgh – A couple of serious contenders meet at Heinz Field. New England is coming off their bye week while the Steelers had little trouble with Arizona last Sunday. Both teams are in tight races right now and this one will help determine the order of things once the playoffs start.
The Rankings
Green Bay (7-0) – Don’t be fooled by the final score against Minnesota the game wasn’t really that close. The Pack are looking better and better but the yards Adrian Peterson put up were worrisome. If a team could get the lead and be able to run the ball they would be a threat…IF.
New Orleans (5-2) – The Saints might be a little high this week but after last weeks overwhelming performance I felt I had to bump them over teams that had the week off. Hopefully Ingram’s injury is just a nick because he just had his best game as a pro.
New England (5-1) – Patriots are looking good but it would help if they used their bye week to crank up their defense. It needs to get better if they want to maintain AFC favourite status.
San Francisco (5-1) – It is surprising to see them this high but it is hard to find reasons for them not to be. The key will be whether Alex Smith and can keep it up for a whole season.
Baltimore (5-2) – What a stinker on Monday night I had them in the two spot heading into the weekend and now I am wondering if this is still too high. There is no reasonable explanations for why the team was so incompetent.
Pittsburgh (5-2) – The start of the season is looking more and more like an aberration with each passing week. The defense is not as strong and the team has injuries but this is still a force to be reckoned with.
New York Jets (4-3) – They may be only 4-3 and in third place but they are playing much better. Sunday’s win was among the better in the league this year. When they get that running game going they are hard to beat.
Houston (4-3) – Totally didn’t see the Texans blowout of the Titans coming. They are a ½ game up on Tennessee at the top of the division and will get reinforcements when Andre Johnson comes back. AFC sleeper right now.
Chicago (4-3) – Bears keep winning forcing me to bite my tongue. They are definitely in the mix in the NFC right now with wins against Tampa Bay and Atlanta holding potential strategic value down the rod. I still don’t see how they keep it up though.
Atlanta (4-3) – Speaking of Atlanta, last week’s win was vital. This team has a higher ceiling than Chicago above but I didn’t feel right putting them on top of the Bears because they jumped them the opening week. I need to see more.
Detroit (5-2) – It might be unravelling in Motown. Two straight losses and now an injury to Matt Stafford. They have one more week to get through before the bye. Stafford or not, they should be able to beat Denver.
Buffalo (4-2) – Out of sight out of mind for the Bills. Their two losses are by only three points each but they didn’t play last week so I am reserving some judgment for now. They get the Redskins in a nice spot on Sunday.
San Diego (4-2) – Surprised to see them so low…so was I. This team has talent but still hasn’t shown it yet. They are in prime time and on the road at KC this week. Maybe that can shake them out of their slumber.
New York Giants (4-2) – The G-Men are at the top of the NFC East with an offense that keeps surprising. Look for them to jump a spot or two after playing lifeless Miami on Sunday. Beware bettors, this is the same team that lost at home to Seattle killing survivor poolies everywhere. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Tampa Bay (4-3) – The NFC South is nice and tight. The Bucs can’t seen to get on a good run and Josh Freeman was shockingly awful in London. They better use the bye wisely because you know the Saints will be looking for revenge in a couple of weeks.
Philadelphia (2-4) – The Eagles are still clinging to life support. After their bye they have back to back home prime time games against Dallas and Chicago. Most overreported stat of the week: Andy Reid has not lost after the bye as the coach in Philly. If they are 4-4 in two weeks then they might have a shot salvaging the season.
Cincinnati (4-2) – The Bengals are laying in wait and get back to business this week after last week’s rest. They are flying out to Seattle which is a nice soft landing spot so look for them to climb the rankings next week.
Tennessee (3-3) – The Titans just looked dead last week in their loss to division rival Houston. Speaking of dead, Chris Johnson has been awful most of the season averaging less than 3 yards per carry. This team is going to continue to sink as the year goes on.
Dallas (3-3) – Dallas has evened their record for now but a trip to Philadelphia looms. They have talent but haven’t been able to get it all going just yet. A road win next week would give them a big jump but I refuse to put them high on this based on preseason expectations. Its week 8 already.
Kansas City (3-3) – Lost their first three then won the second three. .500 seems like the right level for a team that overachieved last year and has injuries. Last week was impressive though against rival Oakland.
Oakland (4-3) – Even before he played many were questioning the merits of acquiring QB Carson Palmer. Now it is looking like the worst trade in NFL history. This team has a bye at the perfect time.
Carolina (2-5) – The Panthers are definitely building something with Cam Newton. They may not have more wins than some of the team below but they have the most promise…and they are exciting.
Washington (3-3) – All season long, even before they lost to Carolina, I didn’t like this team. On offense they are predictable and have no elite talent. Defense, same thing. I don’t know why people think they are good.
Cleveland (3-3) – They got the win last week over Seattle in what was one of the ugliest games I can remember. Next week they are at San Francisco, it might be a blood bath.
Jacksonville (2-5) – Where did that defensive effort come from on Monday night. The offense stunk but with defense like that they might get to 5 wins.
Denver (2-4) – Well the fans got what they wanted. Tebow is in and they won, in dramatic fashion. This is still not a very good team and Tebow’s overall performance was uninspiring. Detroit is next and they are going to be pissed.
Arizona (1-5) – Arizona, Seattle and St. Louis are a combined 3-15. The only reason I have this team at the top of that group is they have a couple of players you can actually like. However, there is talk of benching Kevin Kolb who has been horrible lately.
Minnesota (1-6) – There is a lot of competition at the bottom of this list this year. Minnesota is the only surprise team this far down…not to worry, they have earned this spot.
Seattle (2-5) – The only reason they escape the bottom three is because they actually have a couple wins this season. If they were gunning for the top spot in the draft they are going to have slow down a bit and lose to division rival St. Louis – both times.
Miami (0-6) – I don’t think anyone saw them being this bad when the season began. Essentially they have no offense. They have to get rid of their coach. He may not be the problem but something has got to give.
St. Louis (0-6) – With Bradford already on the roster it is hard to believe they are in the Suck for Luck sweepstakes. They are not losing on purpose they are just very bad.
Indianapolis (0-6) – Speaking of Luck it would be interesting to see what the Colts might do with the top overall pick. When the Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers and told him to hold a clipboard for a couple of years that worked out pretty well. Will this team even win a game this year?
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Week 7 in the NFL. The Weisguy takes over for Matt and offers up these recaps for your NFL viewing pleasure.
The Green Bay Packers are now the league’s only perfect team and the way they have been playing they might stay that way for a while. Most of their wins have been blowouts with the team that got the closest being the Panthers in week 2, they lost by just 7.
The Atlanta Falcons had to have a victory last week against Carolina and won by 14 despite being outgained for the contest. They are still behind the eight ball in the divisional and conference playoff picture and need to get away from their win one, lose one pattern after six games.
The Chicago Bears won on Sunday night against a horribly troubled Minnesota Vikings team.. At 3-3 they are staying alive in the early NFC playoff picture but they have a lot of work to do if they want to challenge the NFC North leaders Detroit and Green Bay.
This is going to be a tough week for Marshall, especially on the road, but thanks to a home upset of Southern Miss, they are currently at the top of the Conference USA East division standings.
Florida International hasn’t played in a couple of weeks which has made it seem like they have completely fallen off the college football map right now.
This is a great matchup between the two most pleasant surprises in the league this season. San Francisco had absolutely no letdown last Sunday after coming back to beat Philadelphia the previous week. They destroyed a pretty good Tampa Bay team, winning by their largest margin since 1987 I believe.
You wouldn’t have thought so at the beginning of the season but this is an important game in the ACC right now. Virginia Tech has to still be considered the favourite in their division but with one loss already they can not really afford another one.
This is the first Mountain West Conference game for the Broncos. Right now it is looking like they will slice right through the conference en route to another perfect season.
This is a huge game for the Knights. They are the only undefeated team in the Eastern division of Conference USA and they need to prove to themselves that they can beat some of the good teams on their schedule after losing to both FIU and BYU.
The Bears got back to winning last week, taking a close one against rookie sensation Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. It was somewhat of a stunning result given they were beaten big time in the stats.
Tennessee is the most pleasant surprise in the NFL season in my books. I thought this was a team that might win 6 games this year and heading into week 5 they are already half way to that total. Included among them was a victory over the Baltimore Ravens by 13 points, a Ravens team that beat Pittsburgh by 28 in week 1.
The Iowa State Cyclones have been flying below the radar in the Big 12 this season. Sure they got hammered against Texas last week but a home win over rival Iowa and road win at UConn are pretty good for a squad nobody thought much of coming into the season.
I was surprised to open the paper Monday and see the Michigan Wolverines sitting at #12 in the most recent rankings. Sure they did a number on Minnesota but that was just Minnesota right…although there was San Diego State and Eastern Michigan before that.
