Redskins and the NFL top 15

I'm changing it up a bit this week. I'm putting my Redskins comments and NFL top 15 (which isn't this week... I'll explain later) in the same post.

I was going to write (like Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser did) that the 49ers are terrible. I was going to say that overpraising the Redskins win against the 49ers would be foolish. But I won't harp on those points. I'll just restate the obvious: this is exactly what they needed going into a tough stretch of the schedule. This is a good start... but it's just that, a start.

I found it interesting that in a post game interview, Gregg Williams made it sound like LaVar Arrington wasn't moving in practice as if he were 100% over the knee problems. It sounded like he was implying that his injury/surgery was the reason for not playing him. Not exactly buying it, but as long as he plays him now, I'm good.

Now on to my thoughts. You should know by now that I love complaining about Peter King and his top 15. He has two big problems. First, he overreacts to the past weekends happenings (for instance the Redskins were nowhere on his top 15 last week and this week he has them at #7). Second, he gets favorites (Chargers, Patriots, Eagles, Bill Parcells and therefore the Cowboys) and just won't give up on them. (I also want to point out that he is always biased towards his beloved New York Giants) I realize that I also keep teams ranked high that probably don't deserve being ranked so high (Patriots and Eagles) but at least I can say they both played in and won their conference title games last year.

In my ranking of King, we are going to keep him at "on crack." Nothing too crazy from King this week.

This is my quick reason why the NFC South stinks: the top 3 teams in the NFC South (Bucs, Falcons and Panthers) have a combined 14 wins, of which only ONE is against a team with a winning record (Falcons week 1 win against the Eagles).

I am really not happy with my ranking mainly because after the Colts I think its pretty even. In fact aside from a few changes I would make, I think the ESPN's Week 8 Power Ranking is pretty close. So I will just comment on teams #2-15 on their list.

2. Steelers. Only have two wins of note, against San Diego and Cincinnati, but neither is really that notable.
3. Falcons. One man team with just one impressive win in Week 1 against an Eagles team, who in hindsight isn't so great.
4. Broncos. 5 straight wins (bookended by loses), all against good teams, but I still don't trust Mike Shanahan or Jake Plummer.
5. Seahawks. Dangerous team, but probably won't be able to finish an important game when it is close (Remember the Packers overtime playoff game when Seattle won the toss and Matt Hasselbeck said "We want the ball and we're going to score!" only to throw the game winning interception for a touchdown? Yeah, Hasselbeck and Mike Holmgren are still there.)
6. Bucs. No impressive wins, (here comes the cliche) their Cadillac is in the shop and they don't seem to travel well.
7. Eagles. Lost too many players, can't and don't even try to run the ball and have two wins against good teams: one because Kansas City just shut it down after going up 17-0 on them, and this weekend after a lucky run back TD after a blocked field goal.
8. Jaguars. A team I like, that lost just 3-10 at Indianapolis in week 2. I am looking forward to their Dec. 11 rematch against the Colts in Jacskonsville.
9. Bengals. In a game they should have shown some mettle they reverted to their old selves against the Steelers. Plus as has been stated before, their record has alot to do with their weak schedule.
10. Giants. Only win of note was this past week's 4th quarter comeback against Denver. Like I said before their defense needs to be more consistent, then I'll believe.
11. Patriots. Still an interesting team because they can still beat teams with their jersey, if you know what I mean. Besides, I am not so sold on Tom Brady, because I believe they'ld have the same record with his backup. He's only been sacked 7 times this year. To me he is in the second tier of QBs behind the likes of Peyton Manning and Michael Vick.
12. Chargers. I wrote of their schizo tendancy last week. They are 3-4! How could you possibly rank them before the 4-2 Panthers, Redskins and Chiefs.
13. Panthers. They don't have a running game and their defense has only held one team (Patriots) under 20 points. No running game and a defense that doesnt scare anyone, isn't exactly a Super Bowl contender. Honestly does anyone on that team scare you?
14. Redskins. You know how I feel about them... their impressive wins were close calls, hopefully this weeks win changes things.
15. Chiefs. One win of note, against the Redskins, which was delivered on plate to them by a 3 to 0 turnover ratio (one for a TD) and a Redskins defense that broke (Priest Holmes's 60 yard TD) when it was trying to just bending. In other words ranked just about right.