Week 6 Power Rankings

Top Ten in the NFL After Six Weeks:

Updating our power rankings. As the league plays a high stakes Holdem poker game with the players over hits, suspensions, and fines it is ironic and perhaps appropriate the hard-nosed tough teams are on top of the current power rankings.

We stated last go around until the Saints lose the top spot was theirs. Well, they lost. So too did every other team in the NFL, but the Saints injuries problems are enough to keep them out of the top spot for now. Instead that honor goes too…

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (5 -1, previously 5^th): Ben Roethlisberger is back at the helm, not like he was all that missed and the Steelers are riding their proud, hard-hitting defense to what may be another trip to the Super Bowl.

2. New York Jets (5-1, previously UR): Mark Sanchez is becoming Mark Franchise (nine touchdowns to two interceptions), and the Jets, like the Steelers and Ravens continue to win with tough defenses. Rex Ryan, son of Buddy Ryan, doesn’t just share his daddy’s affinity for cussing, he also knows how to build a stout defense, and get his guys to get him to the Super Bowl.

3. Baltimore Ravens (4-2, previously UR): Yes, that’s two previously unranked teams in a row in the top three. Seems when we thought the class of the NFL was in the NFC East we actually meant the AFC North. Ray Lewis and the Ravens, like the two teams above them have a quarterback (Joe Flacco) who does just enough and a little more to win in January.

4. Tennessee Titans (4-2, previously 8^th): Jeff Fisher has made a career out of producing hard-nosed winners. These Titans fit the mold. The defense will pound you and Chris Johnson will wow you. Vince Young does enough at quarterback for the Titans to win.

5. New Orleans Saints (4-2, previously 1^st): Finally, an offensive team. The Saints secondary has more wounded than a V.A. hospital but it’s getting healthy. The backfield is similarly disabled but Chris Ivory came out of nowhere on Sunday to make New Orleans fans think it’s not all doom and gloom until Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas get healthy. Brees will do enough to keep the Saints competitive until healthy and after that they are probably Super Bowl bound again.

6. Indianapolis Colts (4-2, 7^th): Peyton Manning seems to have no idea about the curse of the Super Bowl loser. His offense seems to be humming along as it does every season and the defense is doing just enough. The Colts and Saints last year disproved the maxim defense wins championships when clearly offense gave them the AFC and NFC. Could there be a rematch in the works?

7. New England Patriots (4-1, UR): They have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. That’s enough to be in the top ten in just about every season. As usual they are undefeated at home. They will be tight on the Jets heels all season long.

8. Houston Texans (4-2, UR): There is a logjam atop the AFC South standings. With all but one of the top 8 teams in the NFL, the playoff spots will be as tightly contested this year in the AFC as they’ve ever been. The Texans are improving with every game and every season. After a convincing win against the Colts and a comeback against improved KC, it looks like they are finally for real.

9. Kansas City Chiefs (3-2, UR): Even in their losses the Chiefs have looked like a different team than last year. This team will only improve as the season progress and in a down division may have the best shot at the playoffs in the AFC.

10. Philadelphia Eagles (4-2, 9^th): The Eagles have a QB controversy of a different sort. Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb like each other, defer to one another, and are playing better because of one another. If these guys keep alternating injuries the Eagles will continue to rise in the rankings.