Tavern Talk: Blue Power Rankings

National Football Post

In this final blue-chip list, I gave five NFL head coaches blue status, which is valued at 12 points. They are:

Bill Belichick: Clearly one of the game’s best.

Tom Coughlin: Great game manager; his teams are prepared.

Jeff Fisher: He’s outstanding.

Andy Reid: Struggles with game management, but his 107 wins deserve blue status.

Mike Tomlin: Young, but his staff helps him and the players believe in him. He’s won me over, and the Lombardi Trophy in the case helps.

Just a quick reminder: Be sure to check out my man Matt Bowen tonight at 8:00pm eastern here at the NFP for our first Monday Night Football Live Chat.

Now, some teams have new head coaches whom we won’t be able to evaluate until after the season.

THE BLUE POWER RANKINGS

1. New England              97
2. Pittsburgh                  82
3. New York Giants       77.5
4. Philadelphia              72.5
    Minnesota                72.5
    Carolina                   72.5
7. Green Bay                 71
8. San Diego                 70
9. Indy                          65.5
10. Dallas                     64.5
     Tennessee               64.5
12. Arizona                   58.5
13. Washington             56
14. Houston                  51.5
     New York Jets          51.5
16. Buffalo                     50
17. Atlanta                     49
18. Chicago                   48
19. Baltimore                 46
20. Tampa Bay              36
21. Jacksonville             35.5
22. Seattle                    34.5
23. New Orleans            33
24. Miami                      32
25. Cleveland                31.5
     San Francisco          31.5
27. Oakland                  25.5
28. Cincinnati                 24
29. Denver                    21.5
30. Detroit                      20
31. Kansas City             11
32. St Louis                   10

Coming tomorrow: a few more observations on this project. Let me know what you think so far. Remember, I moved Brandon Marshall off the list completely, so Denver is lower than even I expected. Also, this list does not include some of the young players who may have breakout seasons, which teams like Baltimore and Atlanta might expect.

Here’s the grading code and the breakdown by team. We’ve checked our math three times:

BLUE

QB 13
HEAD COACH 12
Lt. OT 11
PASS RUSHER 11
CB 10.5
ALL OTHERS 10

ALMOST BLUE

QB 8
Lt. OT 6
PASS RUSHER 6
CB 5.5
ALL OTHERS 5

Blue Chips, by team

Arizona—58.5

BLUE CHIP: QB, Warner (13); WR, Fitzgerald (10); DT, Dockett (10); S, Wilson (10).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Boldin (5); OLB, Dansby (5); CB, Rodgers-Cromartie (5.5).

Atlanta—49

BLUE CHIP: RB, Turner (10); TE, Gonzalez (10); WR, R. White (10); DE, Abraham (11).

ALMOST BLUE: QB, Ryan (8).

Baltimore—46

BLUE CHIP: DT, Ngata (10); OLB, Suggs (11); S, Reed (10).

ALMOST BLUE: FB, McClain (5); OC, Birk (5); ILB, R. Lewis (5).

Buffalo—50

BLUE CHIP: WR, Evans (10); Specialist, McKelvin (10).

ALMOST BLUE: RB, Lynch (5); WR, Owens (5); Specialist, Parrish (5); DT, Stroud (5); ILB, Posluszny (5); S, Whitner (5).

Carolina—72.5

BLUE CHIP: RB, D. Williams (10); WR, S. Smith (10); OT, Gross (11); DE, Peppers (11); ILB, Beason (10); CB, Gamble (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: OT, Otah (5); DT, D. Lewis (5).

Chicago—48

BLUE CHIP: QB, Cutler (13); RB, Forte (10); Specialist, Hester (10).

ALMOST BLUE: K, Gould (5); ILB, Urlacher (5); OLB, Briggs (5).

Cincinnati—24

BLUE CHIP: None.

ALMOST BLUE: QB, Palmer (8); WR, C. Ochocinco (5); CB, Joseph (5.5); CB, L. Hall (5.5).

Cleveland—31.5

BLUE CHIP: OT, J. Thomas (11); Specialist, Cribbs (10).

ALMOST BLUE: OG, Steinbach (5); CB, Wright (5.5).

Dallas—64.5

BLUE CHIP: QB, Romo (13); TE, Witten (10); DE, Ware (11); DT, Ratliff (10).

ALMOST BLUE: RB, F. Jones (5); OG, L. Davis (5); OC, Gurode (5); CB, Newman (5.5).

Denver—21.5

BLUE CHIP: OT, Clady (11).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Royal (5); CB, Bailey (5.5).

Detroit—20

BLUE CHIP: WR, C. Johnson (10).

ALMOST BLUE: K, Hanson (5); OLB, Sims (5).

Green Bay—71

BLUE CHIP: QB, Rodgers (13); WR, Jennings (10); DE, C. Jenkins (11); OLB, Kampman (11); CB, Woodson (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Driver (5); ILB, Barnett (5); CB, Harris (5.5).

Houston—51.5

BLUE CHIP: RB, Slaton (10); WR, A. Johnson (10); DE, M. Williams (11).

ALMOST BLUE: TE, Daniels (5); OG, Pitts (5); ILB, Ryans (5); CB, Robinson (5.5).

Indianapolis—65.5

BLUE CHIP: QB, P. Manning (13); TE, Clark (10); WR, Wayne (10); DE, Freeney (11); S, Sanders (10).

ALMOST BLUE: DE, R. Mathis (6); CB, M. Jackson (5.5).

Jacksonville—35.5

BLUE CHIP: RB, Jones-Drew (10); DT, Henderson (10); CB, R. Mathis (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: S, Nelson (5).

Kansas City—11

BLUE CHIP: None.

ALMOST BLUE: RB, L. Johnson (5); OT, Albert (6).

Miami—32

BLUE CHIP: OT, Long (11); OLB, Porter (11); RB, R. Brown (10).

ALMOST BLUE: None.

Minnesota—72.5

BLUE CHIP: RB, Peterson (10); OT, McKinnie (11); OG Hutchinson (10); DE, Allen (11); DT, K. Williams (10); CB, Winfield (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Berrian (5); DT, P. Williams (5).

New England—97

BLUE CHIP: HC, Belichick (12); QB, Brady (13); WR, R. Moss (10); OG, Mankins (10); Specialist, Welker (10); DT, Wilfork (10); ILB, Mayo (10).

ALMOST BLUE: OT, Light (6); K, Gostkowski (5); DE, Seymour (5); OLB, A. Thomas (6).

New Orleans—33

BLUE CHIP: QB, Brees (13); ILB, Vilma (10).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Colston (5); WR, Moore (5).

NY Giants—77.5

BLUE CHIP: HC, Coughlin (12) OG, Snee (10); DE, Tuck (11); DE, Umenyiora (11); ILB, Pierce (10).

ALMOST BLUE: QB, E. Manning (8); OC, O’Hara (5); CB, Webster (5.5); S, Phillips (5).

NY Jets—51.5

BLUE CHIP: OC, Mangold (10); Specialist, L. Washington (10); DT, K. Jenkins (10); CB, Revis (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: ILB, Scott (5); OLB, Pace (6).

Oakland—25.5

BLUE CHIP: P, Lechler (10); CB, Asomugha (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: K, Janikowski (5).

Philadelphia—72.5

BLUE CHIP: HC, Reid (12); QB, McNabb (13); RB, Westbrook (10); OT, Peters (11); DE, Cole (11); CB, Samuel (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, D. Jackson (5).

Pittsburgh—82

BLUE CHIP: HC, Tomlin (12); QB, Roethlisberger (13); DT, A. Smith (10); OLB, Woodley (11); OLB, Harrison (11); S, Polamalu (10).

ALMOST BLUE: WR, Holmes (5); K, Reed (5); DT, Hampton (5).

San Diego—70

BLUE CHIP: QB, Rivers (13); RB, Tomlinson (10); TE, Gates (10); P, Scifres (10); OLB, Merriman (11).

ALMOST BLUE: DT, J. Williams (5); CB, Cromartie (5.5); CB, Jammer (5.5).

San Francisco—31.5

BLUE CHIP: ILB, Willis (10); CB, Clements (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: OT, Staley (6); P, Lee (5);

Seattle—34.5

BLUE CHIP: OT, W. Jones (11).

ALMOST BLUE: QB, Hasselbeck (8); DT, Mebane (5); ILB, Tatupu (5); CB, Trufant (5.5).

St. Louis—10

BLUE CHIP: None.

ALMOST BLUE: RB, S. Jackson (5); P, D. Jones (5).

Tampa Bay—36

BLUE CHIP: WR, Bryant (10); ILB, Ruud (10).

ALMOST BLUE: TE, Winslow (5); OT, Penn (6); S, T. Jackson (5).

Tennessee—64.5

BLUE CHIP: HC, Fisher (12); RB, C. Johnson (10); OT, Roos (11); CB, Finnegan (10.5).

ALMOST BLUE: DE, Vanden Bosch (6); DT, T. Brown (5); OLB, Bulluck (5); S, Griffin (5).

Washington—56

BLUE CHIP: RB, Portis (10); CB, C. Rogers (10.5); DT, Haynesworth (10); S, Landry (10).

ALMOST BLUE: TE, Cooley (5); WR, S. Moss (5); CB, Horton (5.5).

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