2014 NFL Power Rankings – Week 11
Eli Manning was almost benched late in the 2007 NFL season, as his performance was putrid over his first four years leading up to that game, causing Tom Coughlin’s face to grow redder than Stalin at his worst. A few heroics from Plaxico Burress, David Tyree, Michael Strahan, and Justin Tuck (along with major meltdowns from Asante Samuel and Rodney Harrison) brought the Giants four playoff wins, including a Lombardi Trophy that year.
Eli Manning was embarrassingly bad in 2011, as the roster saw a bunch of turnover following the Super Bowl winning season and Manning’s big contract. They squeaked into the playoffs at 9-7, promptly followed the heroics of Hakeem Nicks (and the meltdown of Wes Welker) to roll to four playoff wins and a second Lombardi Trophy for Manning and Coughlin.
The Giants will not make the playoffs this season, and will probably be bad next season. That’s the plan for good ol’ Eli. 16 bad games, 16 bad games, 16 bad games, 16 bad games but sneak into the playoffs and then bam! Eli plays horribly for four straight games but some other hero plays his ass off and Eli gets a Super Bowl MVP trophy. Well next year is the year the Giants have penciled in for Eli to be bad but for the Giants to sneak into the playoffs. Stan, don’t you have to keep Manning and Coughlin around on the off chance they experience a third set of miracles to overcome his bad play? Is the thought of God intervening and handing you another undeserved Super Bowl worth another six years of poor quarterback play and watching games like this past week? You tell me.
Stan
The “Laughable” Tier
The “So Many People To Blame” Tier
The “Don’t Get Crazy” Tier
22. Atlanta Falcons – Four wins and they’re tied for the lead in the division. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2014 NFC South.
The “Get Your Sh*t Together” Tier
The “Gingers Can’t Be Trusted” Tier
17. Cincinnati Bengals – Whats this world coming to? Black is white, up is down, the Bengals are beating the Saints on the road? Its like I don’t know myself anymore.
The “Scary Good or Scary Bad” Tier
16. St Louis Rams – Wow.
The “Who Are We?” Tier
The “Sleepers” Tier
The “Don’t Panic” Tier
The “Our T-Shirts Will Be Sent To Africa” Tier
The “Man, The Top Four Teams Are Surprisingly Balanced” Tier
Rob
The “Nothing’s Changed and Nothing Will” Tier
32. Oakland Raiders
31. Jacksonville Jaguars
30. Tennessee Titans
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
28. Carolina Panthers
27. Chicago Bears
26. New York Giants
25. New York Jets
These teams were the worst eight teams in the league in this order last week, and despite the Buccaneers and Bears getting wins, I just have no reason to think anything is different this week.
All of these teams really seem hopeless, without a ton of young talent across the roster or any obvious places that an upgrade will vault them towards mediocrity in 2015.
The “Things Have Gotten Worse, But Will Get Better (Maybe)” Tier
24. Washington Redskins
23. Minnesota Vikings
22. Cleveland Browns
21. Buffalo Bills
Yes all of these teams are taking a step back from what their expectations might have been a few weeks ago. The truth is, those expectations were a product of false hope, after they overachieved in stretches early in the season.
Still, these teams have young rosters and reason to believe that a good offseason will get them back in contention (because when you think of smart roster decisions, you think of the Bills, Browns, Vikings, and Dan Snyder-run Redskins).
If Robert Griffin III comes back to form and the defense continues to improve and if Teddy Bridgewater emerges from this season a polished passer, both those teams could see themselves turning into young and exciting groups of talent.
For both the Browns and the Bills, all they need is good quarterback play and the rest of the roster should take shape. The Bills will likely target a replacement for Kyle Orton this offseason. The Browns will give Brian Hoyer a shot to mesh with the returning Josh Gordon, but I suspect they will hand the reigns over to Johnny Manziel next season with a more complete roster.
Still, that hope that these teams have will likely be dashed away once again early next season, because they are the Bills, Browns, Vikings, and Dan Snyder-run Redskins.
The “Teams With Actual Hope” Tier
20. Atlanta Falcons
19. St. Louis Rams
18. Houston Texans
17. Cincinnati Bengals
the teams in the tier before this all have frisky and young, so they have some hope to cling on to. The teams in this tier are a little different. These four teams have powerhouse talent. These four teams have “Best Team in the NFL” type talent. They each just have major flaws that are blocking that talent from shining.
The Rams, Texans, and Bengals all have the full package. If you disagree, imagine Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, or Tom Brady was the starter in 2015 for some reason. You would immediately catapult them to Super Bowl favorites.
The Falcons have a thin but fixable roster themselves, and with just a few good draft picks and solid free agent signings, they could quickly go back to being NFC competitors, especially in a division that they are tied for first in despite only having four wins and being 0-6 outside their own division.
The “Just Sneak In” Tier
16. Philadelphia Eagles
15. New Orleans Saints
14. Baltimore Ravens
13. San Diego Chargers
12. Pittsburgh Steelers
11. San Francisco 49ers
10. Seattle Seahawks
These seven teams are all loaded with talent, but unlike the four teams from the tier above, none of them have the obvious flaw (except for probably the Eagles).
All of these teams look like playoff teams more Sundays than not, but have underachieved thus far (except for the Eagles).
Three or four of these teams will likely squeak into the playoffs, but any of them can get hot and take down the top teams that are not as invincible as the Broncos and Seahawks and 49ers were last year.
The “Starting To Look Scary” Tier
9. Miami Dolphins
8. Kansas City Chiefs
7. Detroit Lions
6. Dallas Cowboys
5. Arizona Cardinals
In a good way, these teams all look poised for deep postseason runs even though they haven’t locked themselves into the playoffs just yet.
They have the same flaws as the teams ranked 15 spots lower than them, but they have made sure to scratch and claw their way to likely playoff berths anyway. They might not have the star power or consistency of the next four teams, but they have the talent to compete.
The “Powerhouses” Tier
4. Indianapolis Colts
3. Denver Broncos
2. Green Bay Packers
1. New England Patriots
Luck. Manning. Rodgers. Brady. They would have catapulted the Rams, Texans, and Bengals up to these spots. I don’t know if they have any spots on the team that leave them vulnerable, but I know they have quarterbacks to cover their holes.