12thManRising Preaseason NFL Power Poll Rankings

I realize that the first game was in fact played last night, but because it was played a day earlier than normal, I’m going to give myself a pardon. This season the staff writers of 12thmanrising.com are participating in a weekly power poll.  The results will typically be posted before the Thursday night game and reflect rankings based on the previous week’s games.

Now, without further ado, I give you the preseason polls.

Quickly looking at the top ten, you might see a few surprises.  The Eagles are only ranked 15th, while the Seahawks are 10th.  This might be due to the focus and nature of the sight, but I also think it reflects how difficult it is to beat the Seahawks.  They might not win, but they are not a team that gets pushed over. Especially at home.  The Giants are at 6th which I believe accurately reflects their status.  They won the Super Bowl last year but barely made it into the playoffs.  The last team anybody wants to see on their schedule at this point is clearly Green Bay who are sitting at the top of the list.

The Rams, Dolphins, and Vikings all very much out of favor and have a lot to prove this season.  The Cardinals were also not very well ranked, coming in at 25th.  There is definitely some stratification in the NFC West according to our writers.   The Niners are the highest ranked team in the division (8th), which after going 13-3 last season, I think is justified.

I imagine after the first few weeks, there will be some significant changes in the list as teams sort each other out.  Teams that have question marks at quarterback or other key parts of their offense obviously fell down the list (Raiders, Bills, Cardinals, Browns, Colts, Dolphins, Rams, Jaguars, and Redskins).  You might wonder why the Seahawks are not included, and I can say at least for my part, even though they are starting a rookie quarterback, they have veterans starting in most of the other offensive positions and a proven defense that can help them stay in games.  That being said, I have no doubt that the Hawks would quickly tumble down the rankings if they don’t take care of business against the Cardinals and Cowboys in the first two weeks.