My hope is to do this every week, but we'll see. Anyway, here are my top 10 in the NFL after week 1.
1. New England Patriots - The Patriots are obviously in some hot water right now, but they're still #1 on my list after a thoroughly dominating performance in week 1. We saw the aerial display (helped by a great effort by the O-Line), but the defense was also solid, even without Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison.
2. Indianapolis Colts - There will be no letdown in Indy after winning the Super Bowl last year. If the defense can play like it did against New Orleans, they might be pretty close to unbeatable.
3. San Diego Chargers - They get #3, but they were clearly a step behind on Sunday even accounted for the difference in competition level. Rivers looked average, and their WRs did not look good. The defense is excellent, but they are going to need more than LDT and Gates to compete with the top 2.
4. Denver Broncos - OK, they weren't that impressive on Sunday. But I do think the Bills are the 2nd best team in the division, and Buffalo isn't an easy place to play. I'll give Denver the benefit of the doubt this week. If they have another performance like that, they're dropping.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers - The Steelers were one of the teams I was really high on, and they didn't disappoint (granted it was against the Browns). But the offense looked explosive with Ben Roethlisberger becoming a larger part of it. I am even more convinced that they are the best team in the AFC North.
6. Chicago Bears - Finally, an NFC team! The defense was great (though loses 2 guys to season-ending innjuries in Mike Brown and Dustin Dvorachek), and the offense sucked. We've seen that before. Rex Grossman was his same old self... bad mistakes, inconsistent throws, etc. Though it speaks to how bad that the NFC is that even with Rex, they're the best team in the NFC right now.
7. Seattle Seahawks - The Seahawks weren't all that convincing in their victory against the Bucs, but it works. At the very least, it's a good sign that Alexander was able to get the ball so much and be so effective. The passing game will come, so as long as Alexander is healthy the Seahawks will be tough.
8. Cincinnati Bengals - A nice win. I still have some questions about this team in the long-run, but they've got to be up here after a nice win against the Ravens (even with a little help from the refs). Putting up 27 against Baltimore is no small feat.
9. Baltimore Ravens - If Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis are out for the year as has been speculated, well, the Ravens will have lots of problems. They may have lots of problems anyway with a tough schedule, but they're the 3rd best team in the division without those 2 guys. Would the Ravens be better with Kyle Boller at QB instead of Steve McNair (even when healthy)? I kind of think so.
10. Dallas Cowboys - I wasn't that impressed with the Cowboys. Well, the offense was fantastic (the Giants defense sucks, but still), but not such an inspiring effort by the defense. The secondary looked atrocious. But this is a positive site... they've got an extremely balanced offense. After 1 week they certainly look like the best team in the NFC East (I'm not even going to talk about the Iggles).
Your thoughts? What would you change?