Week 7 NFL Power Rankings - sportsnet.ca

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TW	LW	Team	Our Take
1	1		The Saints are so good right now that it is getting ridiculous. Drew Brees and the Saints overcame a 21-point deficit on the road in Miami and stunned the Dolphins with a 46-34 victory. After Drew Brees scored a touchdown just before the end of the first half, the Saints outscored the Dolphins 36-10 in the second half. Here’s the crazy thing about the Saints comeback: the Dolphins sacked Brees five times, they had three interceptions, and they still couldn't beat New Orleans. How sick was that Reggie Bush diving, 10-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter? That will be a staple on YouTube for years to come. The Saints have a huge NFC South showdown with the Falcons coming up Monday night at the Super Dome.
2	3		Ho hum, Peyton Manning threw three touchdowns as the Colts extended their regular-season winning streak to 15 games. Eight of those 15 wins have come on the road. You start looking deeper at the Colts remaining schedule and you realize that this team has the potential to win 12-14 games this year. Manning and the Colts offence is scary good. The Colts defence is no slouch either. About the only downside to the Colts' win over the Rams was the shoulder injury to their talented rookie running back Donald Brown. Reggie Wayne tweaked his groin and had an MRI on Monday. The team is saying he's day to day.
3	4		Coming off of the bye week, the Broncos get set to face the Ravens in Baltimore. The Broncos defence is led by the shortest sack master in recent memory, little Elvis Dumervil. There's a fascinating connection between Dumervil and ESPN football analyst and former Bronco great, Tom Jackson. Both Dumervil and Jackson stand five feet, 11 inches. Both men play outside linebacker. Both men played their college ball at Louisville. The only difference is that Dumervil's 10 sacks in six games is more than TJ ever had in an entire season.
4	2		While they won't be very happy, the Vikings shouldn't feel any shame about their first loss of the year. They were on the road in Pittsburgh and facing one of the most accomplished defences in the NFL. The one thing the Vikings didn't want to do in Pittsburgh is drop back and throw the ball too much, because that would give that Steelers defence more chances to make plays. Well, Brett Favre dropped back to pass 51 times and the Steelers ended up with two defensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter. In seven games, Adrian Peterson has had more than 20 carries only three times. Peterson is the best running back in the NFL; it's time to give the man a little more work. The Vikings will need a good running game Sunday at Lambeau when they take on the Packers in Brett Favre's much anticipated return to Green Bay.
5	6		Here's a strange stat: the Patriots had to go all the way to Wembley stadium in London, England, to get their first road win on the season. To be honest, the way Tom Brady and the Pats offence are rolling right now, I am not sure it really matters where the game is being held. With nine touchdown passes the past two weeks, the Pats have won their past two games by a combined score of 94-7. I was shocked to see Brady throw his first interception in the red zone since 2005. The Pats will now go on the bye week. After that, Brady and the boys will play the Dolphins in Week 9, then the big one, on the road against the Colts in Week 10.
6	9		In the build-up to Super Bowl XLIII, it really was remarkable to hear the Steelers defence make no bones about the fact they love their kind old co-ordinator, Dick LeBeau. In the Steelers win over the Vikings this past weekend, the defence played the kind of game LeBeau longs for. Led by LaMarr Woodley and Keyaron Fox, the Steelers scored two defensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Steelers have now won 10 straight at home since last season, including the playoffs. Rookie receiver Mike Wallace had another good game. In the Steelers four-game winning streak, Wallace is averaging 24.6 yards per catch.
7	9		Heading into Sunday's game against the Bears, Carson Palmer had thrown five touchdowns in his previous four games. Sunday, Palmer carved the Bears defence for five touchdowns as the Bengals won their fifth game and remain tied with the Steelers for first in the AFC North. But as great as Palmer was against the Bears, the real star of the Bengals offence was Cedric Benson. A former first-round draft pick of the Bears, Mr. Benson played with a chip on broad shoulders and it showed. Benson ran for a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown as his new team, the Bengals, stuck it to his old team in a good old-fashioned beat-down. The Bengals will now head into the bye week before their home game against the Ravens on Nov. 8.
8	10		Over the past two weeks, the Packers have pounded the Lions and the Browns. Over that time, they have allowed all of three points. It's not a coincidence when you consider that Aaron Kampman had eight tackles and two sacks in his past two games. Kampman and the Packers defence are really beginning to understand the nuances of Dom Capers' 3-4 defence. Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers tossed three touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of 155.1 in the Packers win over the Browns. Now it's time for "the game": the Packers and the Vikings, Sunday, Nov. 1 at Lambeau Field. Just a little FYI, on eBay right now you can buy four tickets in the upper level of the south end zone (section 346, row 3) for the upcoming Vikings game for US$900. That's not a bad price for a game with this kind of hype.
9	NR		There likely weren't a lot of people who thought the Cardinals were capable of walking into the Meadowlands and beating the Giants Sunday night. Even though they're the defending NFC champions, the Cards almost never win in the Eastern Time Zone and they almost never win in Giants stadium. Well, Ken Whisenhunt and the Cards had other ideas. The Cards defence did a number on Eli Manning, sacking him three times and intercepting three of his passes. Kurt Warner played a smart game and rookie running back Beanie Wells pulled off the rare "double stiff arm" on his 13-yard touchdown run. Up next, the Cards will try to make it four straight wins as they host the struggling Panthers.
10	5		Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Where has that Giants defence gone to? The once-feared Giants defence has now given up more points than any other team in the NFC East. Tom Coughlin has to be a little concerned with Eli Manning. Two weeks ago, Eli was snapping at teammates in their loss to the Saints. This week, he had nobody to yell at but himself as he threw three interceptions. So far, four of the Giants' five wins have come against the Raiders, Chiefs, Redskins and Bucs. The pressure is on in the Giants this week in Philadelphia to come up big against a team with a winning record. Especially playing a tough team from within in their own division.
11	NR		Hats off to Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin. An undrafted free agent, Austin has exploded the past two weeks with 16 catches for 421 yards and four touchdowns. All of a sudden Tony Romo is looking pretty good and the Cowboys have won two straight to improve to 4-2 on the year. Here's the stat that really jumps out for the Cowboys: they now have 14 sacks their past four games. DeMarcus Ware had two sacks against the Falcons giving him four in his past two games. As a reward, the Cowboys handed Ware a six-year, $40-million contract extension. Up next, Austin, Romo, Ware and the rest of the Cowboys will host the Seahawks. With the Giants on the schneid, this is a golden opportunity for the Cowboys to put the pressure on in the NFC East.
12 (tie)	12		Coming off a bye week, the Ravens will host the equally well rested Broncos. The Ravens are coming off of that heartbreaking loss to the Vikings and feel that they are a much better team than their 3-3 record would indicate. This will be an interesting chess match for Joe Flacco and the Ravens offence. Not only are Elvis Dumervil and the Broncos defence among the best in the AFC, they are led by former Ravens co-ordinator Mike Nolan.
12 (tie)	NR		For the past few seasons, the biggest tease in the NFL has been the Houston Texans. After years of failed expectations, the Texans are beginning to look like they finally might put it all together. After back-to-back wins over the Bengals and the 49ers, the Texans will face the Bills in Buffalo this week. Texans quarterback Matt Schaub leads the entire NFL with 16 touchdowns and 2,074 yards passing. Before this season, Schaub's personal best was 15 touchdown passes in a single season. Schaub has finally arrived, and so have the Texans.
The star of the week is really the "stars" of the week. As in, the Steelers linebacking crew of James Harrison, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley and Keyaron Fox. Add in Lawrence Timmons and Dick LeBeau’s linebackers combined for 35 tackles, three sacks, a fumble recovery, one interception and they scored two touchdowns in the Steelers big win over the Vikings. Jack Lambert and Jack Ham would have been very proud of that kind of effort. Take your pick this week, because either one is worthy of the dubious award. First there's Jake Delhomme of the Panthers and then there's JaMarcus Russell of the Raiders. Delhomme tossed three interceptions in Carolina's loss to the Bills and he now leads the league with 13 picks this season. Russell was a putrid 6-of-11 for 61 yards and two interceptions before finally getting pulled from the game by a frustrated Tom Cable. Russell is a young quarterback on a bad team, but seeing Delhomme play this poorly is a real head scratcher. The Panthers are doomed unless Delhomme snaps out of it. How about Jay Cutler and the Bears? Cutler tossed three picks in the Bears loss to the Bengals. Cutler has thrown five interceptions in his past two games. Kyle Orton has thrown one all year. The real culprit was the Bears defence as it got taken to school by Carson Palmer and the Bengals offence. The Bears defence couldn't stop the run and didn't have a single sack of Palmer. Maybe this week's game against the Browns will be what they need to get off the schneid. There were a number of talented teams who badly stumbled in Week 6 but looked great in Week 7. One week after their embarrassing loss to the Raiders, DeSean Jackson had a big night as the Eagles beat the lowly Redskins. The real test for the Eagles will come this week at the Linc when they host an angry Giants team. After their loss to the Broncos, Philip Rivers and the Chargers took out their frustrations on the poor Chiefs. Again, let's see if the Chargers can go on a run before declaring that they're back in the thick of things in the AFC.

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