Cubicle GM NFL Power Rankings: Week 2

Welcome to the Week 2 edition of the Cubicle GM NFL Power Rankings. Every Tuesday you can look forward to our composite rankings, as well as a bit of brief insight and analysis about each of the 32 teams.

The rankings are determined by simply taking the average of each of the contributors here at The Cube.  For Week 2, we have a full complement of rankings from the entire Cubicle GM team, including me, Gideon, Mickey, Joey, Walker and the addition of Smokey to the mix.

Each contributor has their own methodology to the rankings, as you can see in greater detail in the backup data here.  It’s clear that some of us are skeptical of a few of the 2-0 teams, and that a team’s record isn’t necessarily indicative of their rank.

As such, teams like Miami and Carolina moved up despite losses to good teams, while teams like Denver, Buffalo, and Washington dropped in the ranks even though they won.

For those of you who feel strongly about a certain contributor's ranking, we’ve added a new feature on the site, and you’ll now be able to track the individual standings of each of the contributors.  Using a simple system where the road team is given a three-spot cushion, each week we will see who did the best job of ranking by looking at how many times the higher ranked team won the matchup. We will also keep overall standings for the season.

Last week, we took a bit of heat about the lofty placement of the New Orleans Saints, whose aggregate ranking was third in our Week 1 rankings.  After a second straight week of dominance, this time on the road in Philadelphia, the Saints have ascended to the top spot in the ranks, receiving four of six first place votes.  It’s hard to argue with an offense that put up the most points in their first two games of any team in over 40 years. Apparently Joey knew what he was doing last week.

The bottom of the ranks have become a bit clearer, as the St. Louis Rams garnered five of six last place votes to finish at the bottom for a second straight week.  The bottom four of Cleveland, Kansas City, Detroit, and St. Louis might move amongst themselves, but they will be hard pressed to crack the Top 28 this season.

As we still are figuring out who is for real in the NFL and who simply played two awful opponents to start the campaign (Denver), so there is going to be plenty of movement in our rankings. Of the top 30 teams in the rankings, 29 of them moved at least one spot, with only the Minnesota Vikings staying put at No. 6.

Eight teams moved at least five spots up or down the ranks. Of those, the Jets were the biggest climber, moving up eight spots to No. 7 after defeating the Patriots. Philadelphia and Seattle moved the most in the opposite direction, each dropping eight spots after losses last week.

As it’s still early in the season, there is bound to be plenty of disagreement between the contributors here.  Seventeen of the teams saw a gap of seven or more in the rankings, with 12 teams again having a gap of double digits. The main detractors this week were newcomer Smokey and last week’s culprit Joey, as at least one of them was involved in every double digit dispute.

San Francisco 49ers (14)—Mickey 9, Smokey 23

Carolina Panthers (14)—Mickey 16, Joey 30

Tennessee Titans (13)—Smokey 9, Joey 22

Arizona Cardinals (12)—Joey 10, Walker 22

Philadelphia Eagles (11)—Smokey 3, Joey 14

Chicago Bears (11)—Gideon 10, Smokey 21

Seattle Seahawks (11)—Joey 16, Smokey 27

Minnesota Vikings (10)—Joey 2, Smokey 12

New York Jets (10)—Joey 4, Smokey 14

Atlanta Falcons (10)—Gideon/Mickey 5, Smokey 15

Miami Dolphins (10)—Gideon 17, Joey 27

Washington Redskins (10)—Mickey 19, Joey 29

On the divisional side, the NFC led the way again, and thanks to Da Bears victory over the defending champs, the North regained its top spot with an 8.50 average.  Coming in second was the NFC East at 9.33, which was hurt by Dallas’ loss and Washington’s close win over the Rams. 

The AFC West remains clearly at the bottom with an even 21.00 average rank, thanks in large part to the stinkfest that was the KC-Oakland game. Second to last was the NFC South, improving to 18.50 thanks to New Orleans’ rise to the top.

As a reminder, you can check out all the backup data here.  Without further ado, onto the rankings.  As always, last week’s ranks are in parentheses.

1.  New Orleans Saints (3) 

Drew Brees and Co. proved that their Week One performance wasn’t due solely to their opponent being the Lions.

2. Baltimore Ravens (9) 

Another big day from the Ravens offense and a solid day from the defense has Baltimore as one of just four undefeated teams in the AFC.

3. New York Giants (5) 

The Giants spoiled the Cowboys’ big home opener thanks to great performances by Eli Manning, Steve Smith and Mario Manningham.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (1) 

The Steelers definitely missed Troy Polamalu in a tough road loss to the Bears, but missed the real Jeff Reed most of all.

5. Indianapolis Colts (10)

The Colts improve to 2-0 despite having the ball for less than one quarter of the game in Miami.

6. Minnesota Vikings (6) 

Brett Favre is eventually going to need to average more than 6.7 yards per completion for the Vikings to keep winning.

7. New York Jets (15) 

Are they for real?  The Jets have climbed 15 spots in the last two weeks after Rex Ryan backed up his pregame talk with a big win over the Patriots.

8. Atlanta Falcons (11)

The Falcons get off to a 2-0 start with a divisional win over Carolina, but will be tested next week when they travel to New England.

9. San Diego Chargers (7) 

The Chargers fought valiantly without LT in their home opener, but ultimately fell short despite solid efforts from Philip Rivers and Darren Sproles.

10. Philadelphia Eagles (2) 

The Eagles’ biggest problem isn’t Kevin Kolb playing QB, it’s figuring out what went wrong with their defense in their home opener.

11. New England Patriots (4) 

The Patriots failed to score an offensive TD for the first time in over two full seasons.

12. Green Bay Packers (8) 

The Packers were the victims of the upset shocker of the week in a home loss to Cincinnati. A big factor was early drops by Packers receivers.

13. Dallas Cowboys (12) 

The Cowboys had injury added to insult in their loss to the Giants when Marion Barber went down with a quad problem.

14. Chicago Bears (18) 

A home victory over the SB Champs was just what Jay Cutler needed to win over the Chicago faithful.

15. Arizona Cardinals (22) 

Another win, another NFL record for Kurt Warner, who completed 92 percent of his passes on Sunday.

16. Tennessee Titans (13) 

The Titans are easily the most surprising 0-2 team, losing to the Texans despite 284 yards and three TDs from Chris Johnson.

17. San Francisco 49ers (16) 

A 2-0 start in the division is mostly thanks to a career day from RB Frank Gore.

18. Houston Texans (21) 

There is not much doubt anymore that Andre Johnson is the best wide receiver in football.

19. Buffalo Bills (17) 

Fred Jackson is tightening his grip on the starting role, even with Marshawn Lynch due back in two weeks.

20. Denver Broncos (19)

Unfortunately for the Broncos, they can’t play teams from Ohio every week.

21. Cincinnati Bengals (25) 

Who knew Cedric Benson still had a pulse?  The Bengals rebounded nicely from last week’s stunning loss to pull out a win in Lambeau.

22. Seattle Seahawks (14) 

The Seahawks drop to 1-1 and will likely have to do without QB Matt Hasselbeck who fractured a rib in the loss.

23. Miami Dolphins (24) 

The Dolphins blew four leads against Indy on Monday night and lost despite having the ball for over 45 minutes.

24. Carolina Panthers (26)

Despite the loss, the Panthers have to be encouraged by the performances of Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith.

25. Washington Redskins (23) 

There wasn’t much positive for the Redskins on Sunday outside of the final score, as they failed to reach the end zone against the lowly Rams.

26. Jacksonville Jaguars (20) 

At least the fans in Jacksonville can’t watch this 0-2 team on TV thanks to the blackouts.

27. Oakland Raiders (28) 

It’s not often a team wins when their quarterback’s line is 7-for-24 for 109 yards.

28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (27)

Another week, another 30-plus points allowed from the once vaunted Tampa Bay defense.

29. Cleveland Browns (30) 

Cleveland is not going to win many games when they get nine yards rushing in the second half.

30. Kansas City Chiefs (29) 

Mr. Irrelevant is perfect so far in his short career.  I couldn’t think of anything else positive to say about KC.

31. Detroit Lions (31) 

The Lions have led at halftime of their last two meetings against Minnesota.  Unfortunately that doesn’t stop a losing streak.

32. St. Louis Rams (32) 

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for St. Louis, second overall pick Jason Smith will miss up to two weeks with a knee injury.

This article originally posted on Cubicle GM.