Toro Times Weekly Power Rankings: Houston Texans Climb a Spot
By Joe Owens
This week’s power rankings are fresh off the presses. The Texans climbed a spot after two weeks of solid showings against bad teams. The Texans true tests will come in the following weeks but with a solid run game, run blocking and a defense that has made tremendous strides from last year the Texans are poised to come out of the next four games with a winning record.
1. Seattle Seahawks- 12th man or not it’s looking grim for a superstar-less team. Held scoreless inPittsburghthis weekend shows the ineptitude of this offense.
2. Cincinnati Bengals- Bengals and Andy Dalton will have his growing pains. Losing Jordan Shipley for the season and then losing to the Denver Broncos keep the Bengals low on our rankings.
3. Denver Broncos- Billboards inDenvertrying to get fan favorite Tim Tebow on the field only succeeded in getting the second year player on the field as a wide receiver. The Broncos still managed to beat the Cincinnati Bengals.
4.San Francisco49ers- The 49ers lost a game they probably should have won over a beat up Dallas Cowboys team. New Coach/New staff will take some time to turn it around inSan Francisco.
5. Carolina Panthers- Cam Newton opened eyes opening day and then again this last Sunday throwing for over 400 yards against theGreen Baydefense also throwing for 3 interceptions.
6. Minnesota Vikings- Leading both games at half time the Vikings have given up a total of 41 in the second half of games this year to eventually lose both games this season.
7. Indianapolis Colts- Without Peyton Manning the Colts are just not very good. The Colts continue their slide down power rankings.
8. Kansas City Chiefs- No longer a powerful running game. With the most recent victim to the injury bug, Jamal Charles tore his ACL and is out for the season.
9. Jacksonville Jaguars- The Jags have some young talented players in key positions but that’s just it they are young and need to learn to play in the NFL.
10. Tennessee Titans- The feisty Titans surprised a lot of people by beating a very good Baltimore Ravens team. Kenny Britt seems to be back to last year’s pass catching form.
11. Miami Dolphins- The Dolphins have the potential to finish higher than this and as a team they are not as bad off as the popular consensus may feel that they are. After a 0-2 start this season the potential may not show itself this year.
12. Arizona Cardinals- Kevin Kolb and Larry Fitzgerald seemed to be on the same page Sunday and it showed but a costly turnover late in the game prevented the Cardinals from making a statement.
13. Oakland Raiders- Up 21-3 at halftime the Raiders allowed the Buffalo Bills and Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw three second half touchdowns to eventually lose 38-35.
14. Washington Redskins- Scrapped by at home against an Arizona Cardinals team that is still trying to figure things out with Kevin Kolb but Washington has a solid defense that is still maturing.
15. Cleveland Browns- Colt McCoy and the Browns beat up on a Manning less & very bad Indianapolis Colts team
16. Dallas Cowboys- The Cowboys and Tony Romo finally get a win but at what cost? Romo suffered a fractured rib and collapsed lung along withWitten, Jones, andAustinall getting injured as well. TheDallasbye week can’t get here fast enough for the Cowboys.
17. New York Giants- New York did beat a mediocre Rams team but one still feels as if the Giants will have a down year.
18. Buffalo Bills- There’s a lot of excitement about this year’s team in B-Lo and with plenty of reason for there to be. Fitzpatrick has thrown 7 TD’s in two weeks.
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Young quarterback Josh Freeman is poised to be a star in this league and the rest of the Buccaneer team is ready to follow. The Bucs came back from 17 down at halftime against the Minnesota Vikings.
20. Detroit Lions- Calvin Johnson is a beast and the defense looks to be even better this year. And Matthew Stafford has remained healthy up to this point.
21. Chicago Bears- Worst offensive line in the NFL & it showed this last Sunday.
22. St. Louis Rams- Expect some sophomore slump bumps and bruises for Sam Bradford.Bradford& the Rams still take the NFC West this year.
23. New Orleans Saints- Dominated the Chicago Bears by sacking Cutler 6 times hitting him a total of 15 times.
24. Pittsburgh Steelers- Could offseason issues be catching up with the aging Steelers? Beat up on a hapless Seattle Seahawks team on Sunday.
25. Atlanta Falcons- This past Sunday Matty Ice and the offense out played a Michael Vick/Kafka combo and a top ranked Eagles team.
26. Houston Texans- This weeks match-up with the Saints will be the teams first real test along with the following three weeks after that when they are set to face the Steelers, Raiders and Ravens.
27. New York Jets- After being out played in week one the Jets bounced back and owned the Jacksonville Jaguars this past Sunday which isn’t saying much.
28. San Diego Chargers- Tops in defense and one of the top teams offensively. The Chargers lost to a very solid Patriots team this past Sunday.
29. Baltimore Ravens- The Ravens were caught looking past aTennessee Titans team on the road.
30. Philadelphia Eagles- Mike Vick’s ability to escape from the pocket was on display Sunday. Eagles will get back to the playoffs.
31. New England Patriots- After a 500 yard passing performance by Tom Brady the Patriots had another solid showing against the San Diego Chargers.
32. Green Bay Packers- Defending Super Bowl champs & Aaron Rodgers…Still enough said!
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