Post Week Three NFL Team Rankings

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1. Denver Broncos- There is no question here. Denver has blown out teams since being down to Baltimore in the first half of week one.
2. Seattle Seahawks- Seattle is 3-0 but needs to show it can win handily on the road before bumping out Denver in the top spot.
3. New Orleans- If the defense can play as a top twelve to fifteen unit, this is a team no one wants to play in January
4. Chicago Bears- Trailing or even with a big lead the Bears have made things interesting. Chicago has jumped out to great regular season starts the last few seasons only to fizzle. The defense’s age could be a detriment past the midway point of the season.
5. Houston Texans- The Texans couldn’t put touchdowns on the board early against Baltimore and it came back to bite them. Add a pick six and a defensive touchdown and the game took a turn for the worse. Houston gets their hands full this weekend against the Seahawks.
6. New England- Yes they’re 3-0 but I still rank them behind the Texans for now. Their wins have come against the Jets, Bills, and Buccaneers. Not the best of opponents in which they did not dominate as teams ranked above them have.
7. Baltimore- A non-talked about display from Sunday was the dominance of the Ravens defense against Houston. The team was flying from sideline to sideline. I don’t care if it was Tom Brady behind center instead of Matt Schaub, there would have been similar results.
8. San Francisco- They’ve got some work to do but it is too early in the season to believe the defending NFC champs are going to cave under the current circumstances.
9. Atlanta- Falcons fans have no reason to worry. They just need to fix their woes inside opponents territory to gain touchdowns instead of field goals. The Falcons could easily be 3-0.
10. Kansas City- It’s going to take half the season for me to be a believer in this Chiefs team. They haven’t been truly threatened to rely on Alex Smith in the fourth quarter playing from behind. It’s bound to happen soon. I can envision a three to four game slide before the season’s all said and done.
11. Cincinnati Bengals
12. Green Bay Packers
13. Indianapolis Colts
14. Dallas
15. Detroit Lions
16. Miami
17. Tennessee
18. San Diego Chargers
19. Philadelphia Eagles
20. Carolina Panthers
21. Arizona Cardinals
22. New York Jets
23. Pittsburgh Steelers
24. NY Giants
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
26. Washington Redskins
27. St. Louis Rams
28. Cleveland Browns
29. Buffalo Bills
30. Minnesota Vikings
31. Oakland Raiders
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Team Rankings Post Week Two

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1. Seattle Seahawks- I was one that gave the 49ers a probable chance to upset the Seahawks. Boy was I wrong. I still think there flaws on offense might come to bite them more than people would expect this season.
2. Denver Broncos- Manning is off to his typical red hot regular season start with a defense that hasn’t had to worry about tight games yet.
3. San Francisco- A regular season loss can be exaggerated at times, especially early in the season. San Francisco will be where they’ve been the last few years once the playoffs begin.
4. Green Bay Packers- As Stephen A Smith says, Aaron Rodgers is a baaaaaad man. His throws and how he is spreading the football around are incredible. They’ll get a tough test this week at Cincinnati.
5. Atlanta Falcons- Injuries are hitting this team early but they have enough talent to sustain through the injury bug. People worried about the Falcons without Steven Jackson just need to refer back to the Michael Turner days. Atlanta got it done with a back that should have been out of the league last year.
6. Houston Texans- Their carousel ways of coming back to win are not what people expected as heavy favorites in both games. This week is a true test for both Baltimore and Houston to see where their teams are at.
7. Chicago Bears- Though the Bears have also came back in their first two games of the season, it has been done in a different way. They’ve fought through turnovers and still managed to grab two wins over quality teams.
8. New England- Those thinking the Patriots are going to resort back to easily blowing out teams are mistaken. They’re downgraded at running back and receiver and it’s going to take patience to win every week.
9. New Orleans- The Saints have won two close games to start the year. They’ve done so by not looking as proficient offensively as we are accustomed to seeing. Will the defense give or will the offense get back to its old ways?
10. Cincinnati- With the Ravens still figuring out things, the Bengals could be ready to leap past the entire division. They’ll need a second receiver to step up to divert attention away from AJ Green if they’re going to do so.
11. Baltimore
12. Philadelphia
13. Miami
14. Dallas
15. Kansas City Chiefs
16. Indianapolis
17. NY Giants
18. St. Louis Rams
19. Arizona Cardinals
20. San Diego Chargers
21. Detroit Lions
22. Minnesota Vikings
23. Pittsburgh Steelers
24. Tennessee Titans
25. Washington Redskins
26. Carolina Panthers
27. NY Jets
28. Buffalo Bills
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
30. Oakland Raiders
31. Cleveland Browns
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week Two Team Rankings

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1. San Francisco- The 49ers fought off a strong effort from Green Bay in week one. More impressive was quarterback Colin Kaepernick who made several spectacular pocket passes.
2. Denver-They’ve had a long layover from their week one performance but had the best half of any team in week one.
3. Seattle- It took them nearly the entire game but they earned a hard fought road victory over Carolina
4. Houston- Credit the Texans for coming back on the stage of a Monday Night road game. They’ve always been a talented regular season team. They’ll need to show more come playoff time.
5. Atlanta- The Falcons are in a tough division and are going to need to try and win the other five games left against their NFC South opponents.
6. New England
7. Chicago
8. Cincinnatti
9. Dallas
10. Green Bay
11. Baltimore
12. New Orleans
13. Indianapolis
14. NY Giants
15. St. Louis Rams
16. Philadelphia Eagles
17. Miami Dolphins
18. Kansas City Chiefs
19. Washington Redskins
20. Pittsburgh Steelers
21. Detroit Lions
22. Minnesota Vikings
23. Carolina Panthers
24. Arizona Cardinals
25. Tennessee Titans
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
27. Buffalo Bills
28. San Diego
29. NY Jets
30. Cleveland Browns
31. Oakland Raiders
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week One NFL Team Rankings

Follow@cimini Rankings tend to give fans hope before the season starts. Week by week I’ll profile rankings based on performance and where teams are projecting. Going into week one the top tier teams hypothetic ally should be relevant most of the season----only if things worked out so smooth. Obviously large shifts will happen it’s the nature of the sport. Take a peek at where your team falls before week one of the NFL season begins. 1. San Francisco- The NFC Conference Championship two years ago and Super Bowl last season. The last stop for this team would be a championship. 2. Denver Broncos- They’ll have more struggles than people think 3. Atlanta- More pieces are in place. Steven Jackson should boost this offense significantly 4. Seattle- I’ll have to see how Russ Wilson responds in his second season before rating the Seahawks higher 5. Houston- They’ll likely race to another fast pace record but can they do anything in the playoffs? 6. New England 7. New Orleans 8. Green Bay 9. Cincinnati 10. Baltimore 11. Washington 12. Chicago 13. Dallas 14. NY Giants 15. Pittsburgh 16. Indianapolis Colts 17. St. Louis 18. Tampa Bay 19. Kansas City 20. Carolina Panthers 21. Arizona Cardinals 22. Miami Dolphins 23. Minnesota Vikings 24. Detroit Lions 25. San Diego 26. Philadelphia 27. Tennessee Titans 28. Cleveland Browns 29. Jacksonville 30. Oakland Raiders 31. Buffalo Bills 32. NY Jets

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Let’s just face it. Ranking defenses and special teams is growing harder and harder in fantasy football. Teams that you wouldn’t expect on a given week can jump off the board with a pick six or two, and propel a mediocre team to fantasy victory. It’s probably the one position you can get away with plugging in “any team” and getting rather lucky four to five times a year. I’m still under the belief that you want to accumulate the easy points as well and then hope for the better. Go after teams that will rank in the top ten in turnovers and sacks.

Here is a look at my new fantasy defensive rankings going into week three of the preseason. Be sure to check in during the fantasy football season for weekly fantasy football rankings.

1. Seattle
2. Cincinnati
3. Arizona
4. San Francisco
5. New England
6. Denver
7. Chicago
8. Cleveland
9. Houston
10. Pittsburgh
11. St. Louis
12. Green Bay
13. New York Giants
14. Philadelphia
15. Dallas
16. Buffalo
17. Atlanta
18. Baltimore
19. Miami
20. New York Jets
21. Tennessee
22. Washington
23. Detroit
24. Carolina
25. Tampa Bay
26. Oakland
27. Kansas City
28. Indianapolis
29. Minnesota
30. Jacksonville
31. San Diego
32. New Orleans

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The focus in Chicago and many other Bears fans in relocated cities for years has been their disdain for Lovie Smith. Nine years with Lovie Smith through all of the hot seat periods calling for his name seemed to be a little too long for the relationship to last. Frankly I thought he should have been let go a few years back. His coaching over the last few years actually was solid. Ultimately the front office decided it was just time for an overhaul of change. Change is good in the NFL ranks for coaches, and the time had come for Smith to depart.

Change though can be a period that players and coaching staffs undergo rough stretches. We all know how Jay Cutler has been portrayed by the media, and how he has a tendency to forgo making the right play with idiotic throws. His play will definitely be an adjustment for his new head coach in Marc Trestman. Cutler is not your ordinary temperament type of personality.

Trestman’s football background is there, and his success in the CFL convinced the Bears organization to take an unorthodox approach in hiring Trestman from the CFL.

A head coaching change was not the only big announcement the Bears had this offseason. They also did not retain Brian Urlacher at linebacker. The cornerstone linebacker had been with the team for 13 seasons. The Bears decision to only offer him a one year two million dollar deal at first drove Urlacher irate. He believed the offer was basically a cop out to tell him he was not wanted as a Bear anymore.

His plan to test the market as a free agent died quickly as he announced his retirement.

There were no mysteries that Lovie Smith was a defensive minded head football coach as a Bear and the team reigned and fed off his leadership defensively. Heck there style of play even got them to an improbable Super Bowl with Rex Grossman/Kyle Orton leading the way. That seems like many years ago, and it was. Chicago unlike most teams has retained quite a few players on the defensive side of the football.

This year is going to be a true test of their defense that has lost nine years of Smith’s coaching, and thirteen years of Urlacher at linebacker. A combined twenty two years of experience.

Looking at the Bears roster they have players such as Charles Tillman (11th season), Lance Briggs (11th season), Julius Peppers (12th season), Tim Jennings (8th season), and DJ Wiliams (8th season) all as starters. You definitely do not see as much age on a defense as you do in Chicago. Particularly their core stars in Tillman, Peppers, and Briggs who are all in double digit years in the NFL. Longevity has never been a friend to NFL players and you have to believe at least one or two of these players is going to hit the backside of their talent this season.

The Bears will have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and they’ll likely be just as tough as to how Urlacher’s ended. Baltimore made headlines the way it handled its championship defense and let them go via free agency. Their defense played solid in 2013 but was not elite at all. The key word for the Ravens is that they were opportunistic, but they gave up their fair share of points. As Ray Lewis said often, Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense was the reason the Ravens got as far as they did.

Bears fans be ready to embrace a down year in terms of defense.