Post by Cincinnati Bengals (Chris) on Oct 10, 2019 2:23:32 GMT -5
1. Miami 0 (6-0)- Staying undefeated, the Dolphins managed an impressive 152 points in a blowout win over Cleveland. Three offensive performers topped 20 and Reggie Nelson led the way with a 25-pointer. MIA stays atop the PRs for another week.
2. New England 0 (6-0)- New England continues as the second unbeaten. Not to be outdone, the Patriots also eclipsed the 150-point mark this week, despite only 35 points from offense and kicker combined. 116 points from a defense, correct me if I’m wrong, is the highest total all season. Praise be to J.J. Watt for his 33-point game. NE stays in the penultimate spot.
3. Philadelphia 0 (5-1)- Despite a sub-10 point game by Russell Wilson, Andrew’s Eagles stayed on track with a 136-point effort. Not quite the 154-point performance from a week ago, but it’s hard to move them down based on the body of work, so PHI still holds onto the #3 spot, barely edging the dominant Lions.
4. Detroit 0 (5-1)- DET’s 196+ point league sits atop the scoring weeks on the season. It’s hard not to rank the Lions higher, but as long as other teams above them keep winning and performing well, the Lions will have to stay put at #4.
5. Jacksonville +2 (5-1)- Solid if unspectacular performances all-around (minus Aaron Rodgers 30+ point game) for Jacksonville led to a 142-point week and a win over the now sliding Chiefs. The Jags have won 5-straight and are running away with the AFC South, climbing two places to #5.
6. Arizona +2 (5-1)- Arizona’s week wasn’t nearly as good as the previous, scoring over 50 points fewer. But even with a missing LB due to a bye and some pretty poor performances by several players, it was enough to hold off the Bears with over 20 points to boot. The Cards are 5-1 and move up to #6 this week.
7. Dallas +2 (4-2)- Tom Brady’s 39-point game and Tahir Whitehead’s 21-pointer led the way for Dallas, perhaps the most impressive 4-2 team considering the road Aaron had to take to get here. As it turns out, the Cowboys wouldn’t have needed either performer to win, as they more than double the Falcons’ effort. The 157 points and 4-game winning streak are turning some heads, and DAL is now up to #7 in the PRs.
8. Denver +2 (4-2)- Also among the league’s hottest teams, Denver has won 4-straight, and is in a three-way tie for tops in the AFC West. Solid all-around performances without any one standout got the Broncos through this week unscathed, even with several players not meeting their weekly totals. While this week’s victory was a squeaker, the 135+ points were more than healthy, and a good indication of how far Steve’s team has come. Up 2 spots goes DEN.
9. Cincinnati +3 (4-2)- Climbing 3 spots and back in the top-10, Cincinnati’s puzzling two-week funk ended with a 20-point victory over the Bills. Gio Bernard and Antoine Cason (who led the team in scoring) did the heavy lifting and picked up for some underachievers in Week 6. That 143-point total is more like the CIN we saw in the first three weeks than the last two when the Bengals were hovering around 100.
10. Seattle +4 (4-2)- Another club with a 100-point defensive week, Seattle really got back on the right track, blowing out the Packers by 68 points. Offense was pedestrian relative to SEA’s usual production, but defense was unreal, as the only two players who did not score 10 points scored 9.6. That will equal a win on any week. SEA is up 4 places and back in the top-10 with RGIII’s return just around the corner.
11. Pittsburgh 0 (4-2)- Pittsburgh won this week, but only managed 97 points. Despite a bye from Alex Smith, that’s a pretty anemic total, and thus keeps the Steelers at #11 for this week’s PRs. Without reading too much into the situation, we’re also not rewarding Garrett’s team for that kind of play.
12. San Diego +1 (4-2)- Only four players scored over 10 points this week for the Bolts, but Arian Foster insured a win with a 27-point game. Matt Stafford continues a strange fantasy year, and defense seems to be feast or famine for the Chargers up and down the lineup, but the victory over Indy propels SD ahead one spot this week.
13. Kansas City -8 (4-2)- Following their worst week of the season to date, the Chiefs fell even further off the pace, compiling a paltry 81+ points, though injuries did play a part. For sure, KC doesn’t look as untouchable as they did at the beginning of the season or even two-three weeks ago. After their 60-point beating at the hands of JAX, the Chiefs drop out of the top-10 for the first time this week to #13.
14. Minnesota -8 (4-2)- Von Miller was unable to prop up a disgustingly bad (by his standards) Minnesota defense this week, despite another wonder game from Andrew Luck and a 70-point offensive effort. That Cordarrelle Patterson has only reached 10 points once this year is a reflection on virtuoso Minny OC Norv Turner and what he’s doing with the Viking offense. That guy should be a weekly 10-15 player. As a result of the 115-point game and other teams winning around him, Matt’s Vikes fall 8 places this week.
15. New York Giants +1 (3-3)- Beating up on Carolina has become commonplace this season, and the Giants did exactly that this week, making it back to .500 with a 65-point laugher. Peyton Manning did his bit, and Jarvis Landry, Rob Ninkovich and Justin Durant all upped their games too to help the NYG claim a spot higher in this week’s PRs.
16. Baltimore -1 (3-3)- Baltimore made it much closer than expected, but NE weathered storm with the superior defensive effort. Still, Baltimore is one of the league’s hard-luck teams, and at 3-3, has probably outperformed this ranking by a smidge. The production looks good, but the Ravens fall a spot with the loss.
17. Washington +8 (2-4)- Torrey Smith’s best game of the year and a solid defensive performance kept things rolling for the resurgent Redskins, who now sit at 2-4.The offense must be better, but with a Reggie Bush return not too far off, those problems might be addressed internally. WAS jumps 8 spots to #17.
18. Tennessee -1 (2-4)- Much better than last week’s less-than-full-strength effort, the 131+ point effort the Titans put up in Week 6 still wasn’t enough to edge out a tough Denver team. Mohamed Sanu led the way with an uncharacteristic 20-point game, but several defensive stragglers and Matt Asiata coming back to Earth might have lost the Titans the game. TEN only slips one spot, however, because of the point total.
19. Buffalo -1 (2-4)- Blake Bortles rebounded nicely, and many players made solid contributions to Buffalo’s effort. But only two players topped 18 points, and none eclipsed the 20-point mark. In fact, only four players in total were over the 10-point threshold. In a week where BUF was matched up against a strong Bengals team, they needed more big games the likes of which are required to beat top-teams in this league. Unfortunately, Sal’s Bills didn’t get those games, and they fall one spot to #19.
20. Houston +9 (2-4)- For the second time in as many weeks, Houston won a close one over a mediocre opponent. The 20-point game from Kyle Orton, and the 75-point offensive game propelled the Texans to a 7-point victory. HOU is up 9 spots this week.
21. Green Bay -2 (3-3)- With a new GM who appears to be more attentive, the Packers played much better this week with a 112-point scoring effort and two 20-point offensive performers. Losing half of the Patriots starting running back tandem for the rest of the year hurts, but Josh made one of the savviest new-GM trades I’ve seen, ensuring his future at wideout while picking up one of the league’s best linebackers to shore up a position of need. The present, however, looks daunting, and the Packers continue to be the league’s worst winning team. They fall 2 spots this week.
22. San Francisco -2 (2-4)- The Niners spent their second-consecutive week of outperforming their expectations and losing in the process, as they ran into an absolute beast this week in DET. The 86-point loss belies how well they played, but now at 2-4, they’re fading fast in the NFC West discussion. If this production can become a weekly thing, there’s no reason to believe they’ll keep losing at this rate, but they fall two spots to #22 this week.
23. Tampa Bay -2 (2-4)- A stronger than normal 121 points by the Bucs was reassuring, and right now, they look to be the best team in the league’s most wide-open division. Philip Rivers might be carrying them quite a bit with his historic level of play, but this week there were significant contributions from all but a few members. Unfortunately, that effort came against one of the league’s best teams, the Eagles. Tampa only drops 2 spots, however.
24. Cleveland -2 (2-4)- Cleveland suffered three zeroes on offense this week, but performed pretty admirably on both defense and in the kicking game, combining for nearly 60 points. If Kevin can trade for some offensive impact players, perhaps the rebuild to contention can truly begin. For this week, CLE falls 2 spots after the blowout loss to #1 MIA.
25. Oakland -2 (2-4)- A slate of average performances on both sides of the ball dropped Oakland this week, as behind Anquan Boldin’s 17, no other player came closer than 13. More explosive performances will be needed to do any kind of serious challenging in a competitive division. The Raiders drop 2 places.
26. Carolina -2 (2-4)- Very seldom if ever does a team lose ground with a win, but very seldom if ever does a team win a game with 67+ points either. Four 0’s, or effective 0’s, on top of only one player who scored over 10 points heavily influenced the final score. No starting QB and very little help from the offense around him means CAR is going to be struggling for points every week, which is indicated by the fact that they are only 11 points clear of last place in points scored this season. But they’re still in a tie for the lead for the NFC South despite falling one place this week.
27. St. Louis +5 (1-5)- Previously the league’s worst-team, the Rams jumped out of the cellar with a 137-point week and their first win of the season. Joe Flacco won’t score 40+ points often, but it was nice to get that first one out of the way, and against a Minnesota team that only had one loss at the time. STL climbs 5 places to #27.
28. Indianapolis -1 (1-5)- The Colts’ regression to the mean has turned into a full-on drop to the bottom so far this season. J.R.’s defense put up a measly 36 points, and the offense, minus a running back (which might’ve proved the difference this week) was spotty as well. At least Geno was more competent this week. The ceiling for IND is higher, but as long as the sporadic play continues, the Colts will continue to drop, like they did 1 spot this week.
29. Atlanta -3 (1-5)- With a defensive lineman missing and only three players topping 10 points, Tim’s Falcons scored only 75 points against Dallas, and stayed a game off the pace in a wretched-looking NFC South. Despite being a pre-season favorite, ATL has been about the most disappointing, and falls all the way to 29 this week.
30. New Orleans -2 (1-5)- A 100+ point game is always nice from N.O. in 2014, but aside from three 10+ point scorers in Week 6, there wasn’t a lot to sing the Saints praises for. Eli Manning screwed the pooch and his value took a hit with the loss of his best receiver. The defense was also too spotty, and indicates how variable the week-to-week results can be. The Saints drop 2 spots with the loss to WAS.
31. Chicago -1 (1-5)- Chicago had a desperation zero from Matt Schaub against Arizona and two more defensive zeroes. Only two players in the lineup eclipsed 10 points, and only barely did so. The Bears are dead last in the NFC North by two games and only next-to-last in the league this week.
32. New York Jets -1 (0-6)- The 55 total points this week by the Jets were a new league-low for the year (I believe), and for the second week in a row, they represent the least number of points scored in this week’s action. Pittsburgh nearly doubled them up in a week where they were not at full strength, and the Jets remain the only winless team and are the only logical choice for last.
2. New England 0 (6-0)- New England continues as the second unbeaten. Not to be outdone, the Patriots also eclipsed the 150-point mark this week, despite only 35 points from offense and kicker combined. 116 points from a defense, correct me if I’m wrong, is the highest total all season. Praise be to J.J. Watt for his 33-point game. NE stays in the penultimate spot.
3. Philadelphia 0 (5-1)- Despite a sub-10 point game by Russell Wilson, Andrew’s Eagles stayed on track with a 136-point effort. Not quite the 154-point performance from a week ago, but it’s hard to move them down based on the body of work, so PHI still holds onto the #3 spot, barely edging the dominant Lions.
4. Detroit 0 (5-1)- DET’s 196+ point league sits atop the scoring weeks on the season. It’s hard not to rank the Lions higher, but as long as other teams above them keep winning and performing well, the Lions will have to stay put at #4.
5. Jacksonville +2 (5-1)- Solid if unspectacular performances all-around (minus Aaron Rodgers 30+ point game) for Jacksonville led to a 142-point week and a win over the now sliding Chiefs. The Jags have won 5-straight and are running away with the AFC South, climbing two places to #5.
6. Arizona +2 (5-1)- Arizona’s week wasn’t nearly as good as the previous, scoring over 50 points fewer. But even with a missing LB due to a bye and some pretty poor performances by several players, it was enough to hold off the Bears with over 20 points to boot. The Cards are 5-1 and move up to #6 this week.
7. Dallas +2 (4-2)- Tom Brady’s 39-point game and Tahir Whitehead’s 21-pointer led the way for Dallas, perhaps the most impressive 4-2 team considering the road Aaron had to take to get here. As it turns out, the Cowboys wouldn’t have needed either performer to win, as they more than double the Falcons’ effort. The 157 points and 4-game winning streak are turning some heads, and DAL is now up to #7 in the PRs.
8. Denver +2 (4-2)- Also among the league’s hottest teams, Denver has won 4-straight, and is in a three-way tie for tops in the AFC West. Solid all-around performances without any one standout got the Broncos through this week unscathed, even with several players not meeting their weekly totals. While this week’s victory was a squeaker, the 135+ points were more than healthy, and a good indication of how far Steve’s team has come. Up 2 spots goes DEN.
9. Cincinnati +3 (4-2)- Climbing 3 spots and back in the top-10, Cincinnati’s puzzling two-week funk ended with a 20-point victory over the Bills. Gio Bernard and Antoine Cason (who led the team in scoring) did the heavy lifting and picked up for some underachievers in Week 6. That 143-point total is more like the CIN we saw in the first three weeks than the last two when the Bengals were hovering around 100.
10. Seattle +4 (4-2)- Another club with a 100-point defensive week, Seattle really got back on the right track, blowing out the Packers by 68 points. Offense was pedestrian relative to SEA’s usual production, but defense was unreal, as the only two players who did not score 10 points scored 9.6. That will equal a win on any week. SEA is up 4 places and back in the top-10 with RGIII’s return just around the corner.
11. Pittsburgh 0 (4-2)- Pittsburgh won this week, but only managed 97 points. Despite a bye from Alex Smith, that’s a pretty anemic total, and thus keeps the Steelers at #11 for this week’s PRs. Without reading too much into the situation, we’re also not rewarding Garrett’s team for that kind of play.
12. San Diego +1 (4-2)- Only four players scored over 10 points this week for the Bolts, but Arian Foster insured a win with a 27-point game. Matt Stafford continues a strange fantasy year, and defense seems to be feast or famine for the Chargers up and down the lineup, but the victory over Indy propels SD ahead one spot this week.
13. Kansas City -8 (4-2)- Following their worst week of the season to date, the Chiefs fell even further off the pace, compiling a paltry 81+ points, though injuries did play a part. For sure, KC doesn’t look as untouchable as they did at the beginning of the season or even two-three weeks ago. After their 60-point beating at the hands of JAX, the Chiefs drop out of the top-10 for the first time this week to #13.
14. Minnesota -8 (4-2)- Von Miller was unable to prop up a disgustingly bad (by his standards) Minnesota defense this week, despite another wonder game from Andrew Luck and a 70-point offensive effort. That Cordarrelle Patterson has only reached 10 points once this year is a reflection on virtuoso Minny OC Norv Turner and what he’s doing with the Viking offense. That guy should be a weekly 10-15 player. As a result of the 115-point game and other teams winning around him, Matt’s Vikes fall 8 places this week.
15. New York Giants +1 (3-3)- Beating up on Carolina has become commonplace this season, and the Giants did exactly that this week, making it back to .500 with a 65-point laugher. Peyton Manning did his bit, and Jarvis Landry, Rob Ninkovich and Justin Durant all upped their games too to help the NYG claim a spot higher in this week’s PRs.
16. Baltimore -1 (3-3)- Baltimore made it much closer than expected, but NE weathered storm with the superior defensive effort. Still, Baltimore is one of the league’s hard-luck teams, and at 3-3, has probably outperformed this ranking by a smidge. The production looks good, but the Ravens fall a spot with the loss.
17. Washington +8 (2-4)- Torrey Smith’s best game of the year and a solid defensive performance kept things rolling for the resurgent Redskins, who now sit at 2-4.The offense must be better, but with a Reggie Bush return not too far off, those problems might be addressed internally. WAS jumps 8 spots to #17.
18. Tennessee -1 (2-4)- Much better than last week’s less-than-full-strength effort, the 131+ point effort the Titans put up in Week 6 still wasn’t enough to edge out a tough Denver team. Mohamed Sanu led the way with an uncharacteristic 20-point game, but several defensive stragglers and Matt Asiata coming back to Earth might have lost the Titans the game. TEN only slips one spot, however, because of the point total.
19. Buffalo -1 (2-4)- Blake Bortles rebounded nicely, and many players made solid contributions to Buffalo’s effort. But only two players topped 18 points, and none eclipsed the 20-point mark. In fact, only four players in total were over the 10-point threshold. In a week where BUF was matched up against a strong Bengals team, they needed more big games the likes of which are required to beat top-teams in this league. Unfortunately, Sal’s Bills didn’t get those games, and they fall one spot to #19.
20. Houston +9 (2-4)- For the second time in as many weeks, Houston won a close one over a mediocre opponent. The 20-point game from Kyle Orton, and the 75-point offensive game propelled the Texans to a 7-point victory. HOU is up 9 spots this week.
21. Green Bay -2 (3-3)- With a new GM who appears to be more attentive, the Packers played much better this week with a 112-point scoring effort and two 20-point offensive performers. Losing half of the Patriots starting running back tandem for the rest of the year hurts, but Josh made one of the savviest new-GM trades I’ve seen, ensuring his future at wideout while picking up one of the league’s best linebackers to shore up a position of need. The present, however, looks daunting, and the Packers continue to be the league’s worst winning team. They fall 2 spots this week.
22. San Francisco -2 (2-4)- The Niners spent their second-consecutive week of outperforming their expectations and losing in the process, as they ran into an absolute beast this week in DET. The 86-point loss belies how well they played, but now at 2-4, they’re fading fast in the NFC West discussion. If this production can become a weekly thing, there’s no reason to believe they’ll keep losing at this rate, but they fall two spots to #22 this week.
23. Tampa Bay -2 (2-4)- A stronger than normal 121 points by the Bucs was reassuring, and right now, they look to be the best team in the league’s most wide-open division. Philip Rivers might be carrying them quite a bit with his historic level of play, but this week there were significant contributions from all but a few members. Unfortunately, that effort came against one of the league’s best teams, the Eagles. Tampa only drops 2 spots, however.
24. Cleveland -2 (2-4)- Cleveland suffered three zeroes on offense this week, but performed pretty admirably on both defense and in the kicking game, combining for nearly 60 points. If Kevin can trade for some offensive impact players, perhaps the rebuild to contention can truly begin. For this week, CLE falls 2 spots after the blowout loss to #1 MIA.
25. Oakland -2 (2-4)- A slate of average performances on both sides of the ball dropped Oakland this week, as behind Anquan Boldin’s 17, no other player came closer than 13. More explosive performances will be needed to do any kind of serious challenging in a competitive division. The Raiders drop 2 places.
26. Carolina -2 (2-4)- Very seldom if ever does a team lose ground with a win, but very seldom if ever does a team win a game with 67+ points either. Four 0’s, or effective 0’s, on top of only one player who scored over 10 points heavily influenced the final score. No starting QB and very little help from the offense around him means CAR is going to be struggling for points every week, which is indicated by the fact that they are only 11 points clear of last place in points scored this season. But they’re still in a tie for the lead for the NFC South despite falling one place this week.
27. St. Louis +5 (1-5)- Previously the league’s worst-team, the Rams jumped out of the cellar with a 137-point week and their first win of the season. Joe Flacco won’t score 40+ points often, but it was nice to get that first one out of the way, and against a Minnesota team that only had one loss at the time. STL climbs 5 places to #27.
28. Indianapolis -1 (1-5)- The Colts’ regression to the mean has turned into a full-on drop to the bottom so far this season. J.R.’s defense put up a measly 36 points, and the offense, minus a running back (which might’ve proved the difference this week) was spotty as well. At least Geno was more competent this week. The ceiling for IND is higher, but as long as the sporadic play continues, the Colts will continue to drop, like they did 1 spot this week.
29. Atlanta -3 (1-5)- With a defensive lineman missing and only three players topping 10 points, Tim’s Falcons scored only 75 points against Dallas, and stayed a game off the pace in a wretched-looking NFC South. Despite being a pre-season favorite, ATL has been about the most disappointing, and falls all the way to 29 this week.
30. New Orleans -2 (1-5)- A 100+ point game is always nice from N.O. in 2014, but aside from three 10+ point scorers in Week 6, there wasn’t a lot to sing the Saints praises for. Eli Manning screwed the pooch and his value took a hit with the loss of his best receiver. The defense was also too spotty, and indicates how variable the week-to-week results can be. The Saints drop 2 spots with the loss to WAS.
31. Chicago -1 (1-5)- Chicago had a desperation zero from Matt Schaub against Arizona and two more defensive zeroes. Only two players in the lineup eclipsed 10 points, and only barely did so. The Bears are dead last in the NFC North by two games and only next-to-last in the league this week.
32. New York Jets -1 (0-6)- The 55 total points this week by the Jets were a new league-low for the year (I believe), and for the second week in a row, they represent the least number of points scored in this week’s action. Pittsburgh nearly doubled them up in a week where they were not at full strength, and the Jets remain the only winless team and are the only logical choice for last.