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by Fooch on Jul 10, 2008 3:00 AM PDT in News
http://www.ninersnation.com/2008/7/10/568489/niners-nation-2008-communi
For the most part power rankings are more or less BS. Sites like ESPN and CBS.Sportsline put out rankings based more on intuition and general thoughts. We tried putting some together among the SB Nation sites last year and while interesting, they died a quick death.
In spite of all this, I want to try and create NFC power rankings here at Niners Nation. I specifically use the NFC because of two reasons. First, we play 3/4 of our games against the NFC and would be conceivably competing against just the NFC for any playoff berths. Second, with only 16 teams to rank, I'd like to think it will take less work for you guys to submit rankings and thus more people will choose to participate.
So here's how it will work. I'll post my rankings as a front page post and then in the comments, you guys make your own rankings. From that I'll use Excel to tally up the rankings and figure out the community power rankings. I bring it up now because I'd like to do the first rankings before training camp gets going. Right now, most major transactions are complete and teams are more or less set for training camp. We won't have rankings every single week during the offseason because that would just be insane. Instead, I'm thinking something like this first set now and then another set after the first week of preseason games. Following that I'm thinking of waiting until after the last preseason games to get our final preseason rankings.
Once the season starts I'd like it to then become a once a week thing. Everybody down with something like that? I'm not looking for a specific minimum of people to participate, but I would certainly like as many as possible. And of course, if you don't participate you're *****ing privileges are a little less when the rankings come out. Kind of like not being able to complain if you don't vote in the election.
You do not have to give any reasoning for your picks, although you're certainly more than welcome to if you want. So here we go. Fooch's pre-training camp rankings (2007 record in parenthesis) along with a small little bit of reasoning:
1. Dallas Cowboys (13-3): All the talent is back and even with the Super Bowl Champs in their division, Dallas is the team to beat in the NFC.
2. NY Giants (10-6): Defending champs normally get top billing, but I actually think this is still too high. Consider it a Super Bowl hangover ranking.
3. New Orleans Saints (7-9): I smell bounce back season if they stay healthy. There is a LOT of talent there.
4. Philadelphia Eagles (7-9): Another team looking to bounce back. I think McNabb will enjoy him some DeSean Jackson.
5. Green Bay Packers (13-3): If Favre comes back I don't know where to rank them. For now, I think there are just too many question marks, but could very well be proven wrong very quickly.
6. Seattle Seahawks (10-6): A backfield of Julius Jones, Maurice Morris and TJ Duckett just doesn't knock my socks off. I think they're getting a little too much love in the preview mags.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7): Jeff Garcia just keeps getting it done. If Cadillac stays healthy this team could do some damage.
8. Minnesota Vikings (8-8): Who'd have thought a Tarvaris Jackson-led team would be ranked this high. If they make the playoffs it's on the legs of AP and Jackson being at least average.
9. Washington Commanders (9-7): I think this offense will be a ton of fun to watch.
10. Arizona Cardinals (8-8): One preview mag has them #5 among NFC teams. I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals made the playoffs and I wouldn't be surprised if they crashed and burned.
11. Carolina Panthers (7-9): DeAngelo Williams gets his crack at starting. We'll see if he can carry this team with Delhomme.
12. San Francisco 49ers (5-11): I really do think they'll finish higher than this, but can't give them too much love before the unveiling of the new Martz-offense.
13. Chicago Bears (7-9): As long as Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton is QBing this team, they're not going anywhere (previous Super Bowl trip notwithstanding).
14. St. Louis Rams (3-13): I really think the Rams could surprise people if they're healthy. Big IF.
15. Detroit Lions (7-9): The Lions just don't do it for me. Maybe it's Matt Millen.
16. Atlanta Falcons (4-12): I actually think they could surprise some people this year. However, I think that's more likely after Matt Ryan has some NFL snaps under his belt.
http://www.ninersnation.com/2008/7/10/568489/niners-nation-2008-communi
For the most part power rankings are more or less BS. Sites like ESPN and CBS.Sportsline put out rankings based more on intuition and general thoughts. We tried putting some together among the SB Nation sites last year and while interesting, they died a quick death.
In spite of all this, I want to try and create NFC power rankings here at Niners Nation. I specifically use the NFC because of two reasons. First, we play 3/4 of our games against the NFC and would be conceivably competing against just the NFC for any playoff berths. Second, with only 16 teams to rank, I'd like to think it will take less work for you guys to submit rankings and thus more people will choose to participate.
So here's how it will work. I'll post my rankings as a front page post and then in the comments, you guys make your own rankings. From that I'll use Excel to tally up the rankings and figure out the community power rankings. I bring it up now because I'd like to do the first rankings before training camp gets going. Right now, most major transactions are complete and teams are more or less set for training camp. We won't have rankings every single week during the offseason because that would just be insane. Instead, I'm thinking something like this first set now and then another set after the first week of preseason games. Following that I'm thinking of waiting until after the last preseason games to get our final preseason rankings.
Once the season starts I'd like it to then become a once a week thing. Everybody down with something like that? I'm not looking for a specific minimum of people to participate, but I would certainly like as many as possible. And of course, if you don't participate you're *****ing privileges are a little less when the rankings come out. Kind of like not being able to complain if you don't vote in the election.
You do not have to give any reasoning for your picks, although you're certainly more than welcome to if you want. So here we go. Fooch's pre-training camp rankings (2007 record in parenthesis) along with a small little bit of reasoning:
1. Dallas Cowboys (13-3): All the talent is back and even with the Super Bowl Champs in their division, Dallas is the team to beat in the NFC.
2. NY Giants (10-6): Defending champs normally get top billing, but I actually think this is still too high. Consider it a Super Bowl hangover ranking.
3. New Orleans Saints (7-9): I smell bounce back season if they stay healthy. There is a LOT of talent there.
4. Philadelphia Eagles (7-9): Another team looking to bounce back. I think McNabb will enjoy him some DeSean Jackson.
5. Green Bay Packers (13-3): If Favre comes back I don't know where to rank them. For now, I think there are just too many question marks, but could very well be proven wrong very quickly.
6. Seattle Seahawks (10-6): A backfield of Julius Jones, Maurice Morris and TJ Duckett just doesn't knock my socks off. I think they're getting a little too much love in the preview mags.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7): Jeff Garcia just keeps getting it done. If Cadillac stays healthy this team could do some damage.
8. Minnesota Vikings (8-8): Who'd have thought a Tarvaris Jackson-led team would be ranked this high. If they make the playoffs it's on the legs of AP and Jackson being at least average.
9. Washington Commanders (9-7): I think this offense will be a ton of fun to watch.
10. Arizona Cardinals (8-8): One preview mag has them #5 among NFC teams. I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals made the playoffs and I wouldn't be surprised if they crashed and burned.
11. Carolina Panthers (7-9): DeAngelo Williams gets his crack at starting. We'll see if he can carry this team with Delhomme.
12. San Francisco 49ers (5-11): I really do think they'll finish higher than this, but can't give them too much love before the unveiling of the new Martz-offense.
13. Chicago Bears (7-9): As long as Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton is QBing this team, they're not going anywhere (previous Super Bowl trip notwithstanding).
14. St. Louis Rams (3-13): I really think the Rams could surprise people if they're healthy. Big IF.
15. Detroit Lions (7-9): The Lions just don't do it for me. Maybe it's Matt Millen.
16. Atlanta Falcons (4-12): I actually think they could surprise some people this year. However, I think that's more likely after Matt Ryan has some NFL snaps under his belt.
