Post draft power rankings

Seahawks at 4 I think is fair.

Loved the line about Carson Palmer. "He went full Delhomme in the playoffs."

4. Seahawks
5. Cards
26. Rams
31. 49ers

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15493 ... ers-behind

JSeahawks":2cdxvvuh said:

Seahawks at 4 I think is fair.

Loved the line about Carson Palmer. "He went full Delhomme in the playoffs."

4. Seahawks
5. Cards
26. Rams
31. 49ers

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15493 ... ers-behind

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The niners are ranked way too high.

The comment on the Bengals was pretty funny too.

It's kind of wild how many NFC teams are at the top

rideaducati":1fqij8dm said:

JSeahawks":1fqij8dm said:

Seahawks at 4 I think is fair.

Loved the line about Carson Palmer. "He went full Delhomme in the playoffs."

4. Seahawks
5. Cards
26. Rams
31. 49ers

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15493 ... ers-behind

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The niners are ranked way too high.

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I think they're about right. Ranked at the bottom of the NFL. Cleveland getting honorable mention at #32 as the highest ranked semi-professional team.

That is pretty much what I would expect ESPN to say. Here's how I would rank to the top five.

1. Seattle. They looked, both to the eye test and statistically, like the 2007 Patriots during the second half of the 2015 season. That is, when field conditions weren't a glaring problem. Their schedule is more favorable this year than it's been in ages. If Seattle stays healthy and can overcome their issues in poor game conditions, a perfect season is in play. Nobody else even comes close to being as good in all three phases as Seattle.

2. Pittsburgh. Seattle was one of the hottest teams in NFL history and playing at home when they faced Pittsburgh last year. Pittsburgh managed 102 more yards of offense and if not for a great catch and run by Doug Baldwin, probably would have won the game. Pittsburgh's offense is among the elite of the elite, and their defense is improving towards competency. They were white hot at the end of last season, and even put a scare in Denver with a badly injured Big Ben. They are currently Vegas co-favorites to win the Super Bowl along with Seattle and New England.

3. Green Bay. Eddie Lacy isn't fat anymore, Jordy Nelson is coming back, which is also great news for Randall Cobb. Green Bay also benefits from the league's easiest schedule on paper. Green Bay isn't the 3rd best team in the NFL, but they are exactly the kind of team that can dominate an easy sched. They also get Seattle at home in December.

4. Arizona. Can Palmer turn the page after an embarrassing playoff loss? And as always, we have to wonder if Palmer can stay healthy all year. He turns 37 this season. This is still a very good team, and even if Palmer is likely to decline some from last year, I'll never underestimate Arians. Arizona had a fantastic free agency period. Arizona will also benefit from a full year of David Johnson, who is a very good player.

5. New England. Will a pissed off Tom Brady still be a force to be reckoned with at age 39? New England can easily survive his 4 game suspension given the cupcakes they face early in the year. I have major issues with the pass defense for New England, and Brady showed signs of decline over his last several games in 2015. I don't really understand why Vegas (or ESPN) has them so high. I liked their free agency period but they are depending on a very old QB to remain MVP caliber.

Off the list: Carolina. They massively overachieved in 2015, thanks in part to what was the easiest schedule in the NFL. Their schedule this year is the 12th toughest. They also face a significant SB hangover and now have some big holes in their secondary with Norman leaving. They are about to go through what Seattle went through last year.

I definitely feel you on Pittsburgh. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see them come out of the AFC.

I'm not sure why Vegas has Pittsburgh so high since Vegas uses purely statistical analysis. My gut has them very high since they ended last year on a bit of a tear.

HawkGA":2jjm74i4 said:

I definitely feel you on Pittsburgh. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see them come out of the AFC.

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God I'd love to beat them in LI.

Like your rankings Kip though I might put GB first and definitely second because of their schedule and because they get the Hawks at home. Completely agree with your take on Carolina.

hawksfansinceday1":3pe5k5zx said:

HawkGA":3pe5k5zx said:

I definitely feel you on Pittsburgh. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see them come out of the AFC.

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God I'd love to beat them in LI.

Like your rankings Kip though I might put GB first and definitely second because of their schedule and because they get the Hawks at home. Completely agree with your take on Carolina.

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I guess that depends on what power rankings measure. Is it a measure of who is the best team, or who is most likely to have the most successful season? The Packers are a weak team outside of Rodgers and Nelson. I couldn't possibly consider them the best team in the NFL. However, they do have a nicely set up schedule, so I could see them getting the #1 seed and winning the Super Bowl (but I still like the Hawks chances better).

Erebus":2j86mx1u said:

hawksfansinceday1":2j86mx1u said:

HawkGA":2j86mx1u said:

I definitely feel you on Pittsburgh. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see them come out of the AFC.

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God I'd love to beat them in LI.

Like your rankings Kip though I might put GB first and definitely second because of their schedule and because they get the Hawks at home. Completely agree with your take on Carolina.

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I guess that depends on what power rankings measure. Is it a measure of who is the best team, or who is most likely to have the most successful season? The Packers are a weak team outside of Rodgers and Nelson. I couldn't possibly consider them the best team in the NFL. However, they do have a nicely set up schedule, so I could see them getting the #1 seed and winning the Super Bowl (but I still like the Hawks chances better).

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Good question.

I would have the Panthers at 1, they lost Josh but every team lost something. They won 15 games last year and to me 15 games is 15 games. They were also the only NFC team to beat all the other top NFC teams they played (Hawks, Packers , Cards and Skins) last year.

I am also not as high on the Packers, they looked bad the second half of the season. Maybe Jordy will turn it all around for them but I think they had some other issues. Also I think they are a good regular season team but they seem to fall off in the post season (at least Aaron does). They will probably make the playoffs because of the weak schedule.

As of today, my top 6-7 based on best overall team, in no particular order - Hawks, Panthers, Steelers, Cardinals, Broncos, Bengals, Vikings? and I guess Pats,

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I added the link to the NFL.com rankings
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... riots-fall

1. Panthers
2. Cards
3. Steelers
4. Packers
5. Broncos
6. Patriots
7. Seahawks
26. Rams
31. Niners

kearly":1jiz9sfq said:

I'm not sure why Vegas has Pittsburgh so high since Vegas uses purely statistical analysis. My gut has them very high since they ended last year on a bit of a tear.

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Because you already said the exact reason and it's one I buy. That offense is likely the NFL's best with the devastating injuries it sustained and make no mistake that defense will be league average at the worst and I'm willing to put actual money down that it will be better. Elite? No, but they don't need that to be a 1st tier team.

I'd keep an eye on Oakland they're young, primed and loaded for bear much like us in 2012. Like NFCW the AFCW is going to be nasty and somebody is going to bleed.

LolaRox":2hxzhvh7 said:

Erebus":2hxzhvh7 said:

hawksfansinceday1":2hxzhvh7 said:

HawkGA":2hxzhvh7 said:

I definitely feel you on Pittsburgh. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see them come out of the AFC.

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God I'd love to beat them in LI.

Like your rankings Kip though I might put GB first and definitely second because of their schedule and because they get the Hawks at home. Completely agree with your take on Carolina.

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I guess that depends on what power rankings measure. Is it a measure of who is the best team, or who is most likely to have the most successful season? The Packers are a weak team outside of Rodgers and Nelson. I couldn't possibly consider them the best team in the NFL. However, they do have a nicely set up schedule, so I could see them getting the #1 seed and winning the Super Bowl (but I still like the Hawks chances better).

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Good question.

I would have the Panthers at 1, they lost Josh but every team lost something. They won 15 games last year and to me 15 games is 15 games. They were also the only NFC team to beat all the other top NFC teams they played (Hawks, Packers , Cards and Skins) last year.

I am also not as high on the Packers, they looked bad the second half of the season. Maybe Jordy will turn it all around for them but I think they had some other issues. Also I think they are a good regular season team but they seem to fall off in the post season (at least Aaron does). They will probably make the playoffs because of the weak schedule.

As of today, my top 6-7 based on best overall team, in no particular order - Hawks, Panthers, Steelers, Cardinals, Broncos, Bengals, Vikings? and I guess Pats,

******************************************************************************************************************
I added the link to the NFL.com rankings
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... riots-fall

1. Panthers
2. Cards
3. Steelers
4. Packers
5. Broncos
6. Patriots
7. Seahawks
26. Rams
31. Niners

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They really should consider flipping that top seven. It wouldn't be exact but it'd map better with reality. They probably have the 49ers spot on or near enough and they have the Rams far too low to be taken seriously. And remove Carolina and Denver entirely and then you may have something realistic.

You know the saying it's funny cos it's true?

Great news, 49ers fans! Sure, Chip Kelly was a huge flop in Philadelphia. But the current Niners roster doesn't have many really good players for him to trade away because he doesn't like them.

MizzouHawkGal":39kyk2sj said:

kearly":39kyk2sj said:

I'd keep an eye on Oakland they're young, primed and loaded for bear much like us in 2012. Like NFCW the AFCW is going to be nasty and somebody is going to bleed.

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Yes, I could actually see the AFCC being Oakland vs Pittsburgh/New England. For Oakland, they have a decent coach, a boatload of talent all over, guys on D able to dish out car-accident hits, and QB Carr who I think is savvy enough to win playoff games. That D, though -- I watched a replay of last year's game vs Jets and was a bit surprised at the ferocity of some of the hits their D was delivering.

I feel like everyone, including myself, probably has KC too low. They are a team on the rise even with Alex Smith at QB. I thought they quietly had a very good offseason too.

kearly":potwx55a said:

I feel like everyone, including myself, probably has KC too low. They are a team on the rise even with Alex Smith at QB. I thought they quietly had a very good offseason too.

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Not myself, that division is Kansas City's this year like in 2012 the NFCW was San Francisco's but just like then the future belongs to the second place team with a bullet and for the forseeable future because like us with Wilson it's Oakland that has the quarterback in that division for years coming. Not Kansas City or San Diego. (The AFCW equivalent of San Francisco and Arizona circa 2012).

UK_Seahawk":2q5t7esm said:

You know the saying it's funny cos it's true?

Great news, 49ers fans! Sure, Chip Kelly was a huge flop in Philadelphia. But the current Niners roster doesn't have many really good players for him to trade away because he doesn't like them.

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Bowman is skuh-rood!

kearly":3tlosxgr said:

I feel like everyone, including myself, probably has KC too low. They are a team on the rise even with Alex Smith at QB. I thought they quietly had a very good offseason too.

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"Team on the rise" and "Alex Smith" don't belong in the same sentence. Alex Smith is what will hold them back again. The team around him was good enough to beat the easy teams, of which there were many, on their schedule the last couple seasons, but with Alex Smith, they will always come up short when it really counts.

Laloosh":2tdpnzwb said:

UK_Seahawk":2tdpnzwb said:

You know the saying it's funny cos it's true?

Great news, 49ers fans! Sure, Chip Kelly was a huge flop in Philadelphia. But the current Niners roster doesn't have many really good players for him to trade away because he doesn't like them.

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Bowman is skuh-rood!

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Most players would welcome being traded away from the niners. Bowman has hope now.

kearly":71ni7v1w said:

I'm not sure why Vegas has Pittsburgh so high since Vegas uses purely statistical analysis. My gut has them very high since they ended last year on a bit of a tear.

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You mean the Vegas Super Bowl odds?

If that's what you mean, Vegas uses statistical analysis sure, but all they care about is making money, and the Steelers have one of the largest fan bases in the NFL, so people are going to be betting on Pittsburgh no matter what every season. Same reason you will always see Dallas with inflated Vegas odds.