Pyrite Gal Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I have always had my doubts about the ESPN Power rankings. IMHO, the network is too caught up in promoting individual players as stars so they can sale commercials rather than taking a more cold-hearted analytical assessment of teams. They get too caught up in pushing large market teams (the Favre hype) and old winners (If Brady was around ranking the Pats at 6 would be low but without him this strikes me as too high). Still, looking at their rankings and our schedule I hope they are right in their rankings as only one of our future 08 opponents is ranked higher than us in the ESPN rankings. And this team is the Pats who I think they rank so highly because of what they have done in the past and their #6 ranking (4 above the Bills) simply does not reflect how much trouble they are in with the loss of Brady. Not only do I feel like they have the Bills ranked too low, but still every single Bills opponent for the rest of the season is ranked by ESPN as being less powerful than the Bills. In particular, when you consider that we have 6 games of our remaining 14 against teams that rak in the lower quarter of their rankings, that this does not even include NYJ who they have overhyped with Favre, I think things bode well for us. In fact the three weakest teams in the NFL in their judgment are the Rams, Chiefs and Fins whom we face twice. When one considers of that of the games they see as "tougher ones" for us we actually will get both the Chargers and the Browns at our house things bode well for us if ESPN is right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheChimp Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Well said. But I really wish I had a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrite Gal Posted September 17, 2008 Author Share Posted September 17, 2008 Well said. But I really wish I had a link. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking...2008&week=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 How can they rate the Fish as high as 30th??? FishFan --> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew in CA Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I think you might have a point there. I really like Michael Silver over at Yahoo! Sports. He's a great writer and doesn't fellate pro bowlers or the cowboys every article. Since Yahoo! doesn't broadcast games, it does not have to push certain agendas and can provide more accurate analysis than a website that is increasingly devoted to making sure we all watch MNF. Tim Graham not included- he's pretty fair handed in covering all the AFC East teams at espn.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I agree about the potential of the Bills schedule, based on the general ranking of teams. Looks promising. And I agree, I like power rankings, I think they're fun, but it all gets settled on the field which is nice. It's been said hundreds of times, but I'm sure the Giants were ranked somewhere in the low-20's last season after week 2. Don't forget, ESPN has a MNF game to hype, and I'm sure they are very conscious about each week's matchup when compiling their rankings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans4e64 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I can't understand how the Colts are that high up on the list and ahead of us. They are 1-1 and lost to a bad bears team, and were getting beaten by the Vikings the whole game until they barely pulled it out at the end. With all the trouble Manning and Harrison has had this season, combined with losing their best DT and Bob Sanders, I don't see how they can be in the top 10 ahead of us. Their 1 win was against the Vikings, who are a middle of the pack team, and it took every second in that game to beat them. People need to stop living in the past and actually think about this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveRalph Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I can't understand how the Colts are that high up on the list and ahead of us. They are 1-1 and lost to a bad bears team, and were getting beaten by the Vikings the whole game until they barely pulled it out at the end. With all the trouble Manning and Harrison has had this season, combined with losing their best DT and Bob Sanders, I don't see how they can be in the top 10 ahead of us. Their 1 win was against the Vikings, who are a middle of the pack team, and it took every second in that game to beat them. People need to stop living in the past and actually think about this year. Why? The Colts have a decade of excellence. The Bills have a decade of incompetence. Don't let two weeks of action force a decision either way. Both teams came from behind to win tough road games. If the Bills show up for the next three weeks like they have in the first two, the opinion rankings will take care of themselves. Manning is coming off an injury, so is Harrison. They will get their timing back. He has played 10 years. Edwards has played about 10 games. Let the Bills prove something before we cry about our national perception. Looking at the schedule, the Bills won two difficult games...But looking at the actual games, the Bills probably SHOULD'VE beaten both of those weakened-by-injury opponents. So essentially, what have they proved? That they're a top-10 team in the NFL?? Well that's where they're ranked. Doesn't seem so absurd. And I think the Colts have earned the benefit of the doubt. After week 2 in '03, the Bills were a top-5 (and in some cases top-2) team across all of these rankings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dean Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Why? The Colts have a decade of excellence. The Bills have a decade of incompetence. Don't let two weeks of action force a decision either way. Both teams came from behind to win tough road games. If the Bills show up for the next three weeks like they have in the first two, the opinion rankings will take care of themselves. Manning is coming off an injury, so is Harrison. They will get their timing back. He has played 10 years. Edwards has played about 10 games. I agree. BTW, in case it hasn't been mentioned, Bob Sanders is out for 4-6 weeks: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqZ0vZl...BIDiMgD938F1NO0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ans4e64 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Why? The Colts have a decade of excellence. The Bills have a decade of incompetence. Don't let two weeks of action force a decision either way. Both teams came from behind to win tough road games. If the Bills show up for the next three weeks like they have in the first two, the opinion rankings will take care of themselves. Good post, but these first couple sentences are exactly what erks me. This is a new season, it doesn't matter one bit what these teams have done in the past decade, IMO. Through the first two weeks, for the reasons above, the TWO Bills wins are more impressive than the Colts ONE win. As the weeks go on, obviously the rankings should change according to additional wins and losses. Also, we were winning that game at the half mark, and were only down in the scoring for a quarter or so. The Colts were getting pounded all game long until they came back on the very last play of the game. There's a HUGE difference. Manning is coming off an injury, so is Harrison. They will get their timing back. He has played 10 years. Edwards has played about 10 games. Personally, I am one who thinks they will all come around and their offense will be fine. But, until they actually do "get their timing back", start winning some games, and look good doing it, you can't say that they are a better football team. Let the Bills prove something before we cry about our national perception. Looking at the schedule, the Bills won two difficult games...But looking at the actual games, the Bills probably SHOULD'VE beaten both of those weakened-by-injury opponents. So essentially, what have they proved? That they're a top-10 team in the NFL?? Well that's where they're ranked. Doesn't seem so absurd. And I think the Colts have earned the benefit of the doubt. Keep in mind, these are rankings after the first two weeks of the season and that's it. So, for two weeks, we DID prove something. You are absolutely right about the two Bills wins, but I believe I am right about the two Colts games, and the Colts ONE win is not better than our TWO. Regardless of where we are or should be in the rankings, the Colts should not be in front of us. After week 2 in '03, the Bills were a top-5 (and in some cases top-2) team across all of these rankings. And they should have been. This is exactly what I'm taking about. This is only the first two weeks, and these performances are all we know from the teams so far. After the first two weeks in '03, the Bills were a top 5 team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StupidNation Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 The Bills were #2 when Bledsoe just came over and there was all that buzz and we beat the Pats and Jags. Who the hell cares? I only care if we get better coverage of how our team is developing. A freaking power ranking is worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santoro770 Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I have seen the Patriots ranked all over during the last couple of days and to be honest with you I don't have a problem with any of the rankings - I think the bottom line for me is, they haven't lost a regular season game yet.... Let them lose one regular season game and then we'll see where they are ranked. It's only going to take one horrible showing before people are jumping off that bandwagon saying that this is the real Patriots without Brady. I could care less where the Bills are ranked, although the Wednesday power rankings are a definite guilty pleasure of mine and it does make me all giddy when they are ranked as high as they are. I have opinions of my own on my rankings and stuff about each team, just wish I got paid for writing it down. Great initial post though, thanks for the insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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