Views on Power Rankings

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Everyone has a different take on the Cardinals and the rest of the NFL when it comes to ranking them in power rankings or when deciding what kind of team they really are.  I think a lot of people are waiting to see the outcome of the game this week against the Dallas Cowboys to see what kind of team the Cardinals really are.

In the most recent espn.com power rankings, they had the Cardinals at number 14.  The thought is with a victory over Dallas would most likely propel them even higher.

Yesterday morning on Doug and Wolf on KTAR-AM 620, they did their weekly power ranking segment.  Doug and Wolf have differing opinions on how the rankings should go.  Doug ranks his teams based on how they are playing now.  Wolf, whom I actually really enjoy listening to, makes his picks on an overall look on how a team should be and expects them to be.  For instance he ranked Washington behind Dallas.  Now, I’m no Dallas fan be any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, other than the Raiders, I don’t know if there is a team I hate more.  However Dallas is a good team.  They lost to Washington though.  The purpose of a power ranking is to pick teams on how they are currently doing, not on where they should or will be because of the talent they have.  That’s why we have weekly rankings.

If we went based on Wolf’s criteria, then we might as well rank New Orleans (2-3), Indianapolis (2-2), and Philadelphia (2-3) at the top.  That makes no sense.  Now he didn’t go out and do that, but he ranks Dallas ahead of Washington because he feels Dallas is the better team.  I’m still not sure if he noticed that Dallas lost to Washington.  I know Doug did.

Arizona is just about in a right place in the middle of the pack at 14.  They looked really good against Miami, a team now that is looking better by the week after a road victory in New England and a home victory against San Diego.  Then they looked awful against the New York Jets, even though the offense was able to put up 35 points and still lose by 21.  Then they came out and crushed the then undefeated Buffalo Bills.  So, at 3-2 and still searching for the team they are going to be, 14 is about on the nose, with a winning record, slighty above the exact middle mark.

All I can say is people better drop Dallas like a rock in their rankings if they lose here in Arizona this weekend.  They almost lost to an awful Cincinnati team and are really just a couple of plays away from being 2-3, not 4-1.  Normally you could say that about Arizona, but no game has finished with less than a 7 point difference, with losses coming by 7 and 21 points.  Victories have been by 10, 21, and 24.  The Washington game was the only really competitive game from start to finish.  So 3-2 is where they should be right now, although when the schedule came out one could argue for a 4-1 start in the first 5 weeks.

Go Cards and crush the Cowchips!!!

Scott Allen

AZScott