2011 NFL Power Rankings: Where Did ESPN Go Wrong with Preseason List?

The Worldwide Leader that is ESPN recently released their 2011 NFL Power Rankings for the upcoming season, and they misfired on a few teams.

The voters are comprised of ESPN's NFL bloggers, and often times they get it right. However, there are a some teams they gave a little too much love to and others not enough.

The NFL free-agent frenzy made a few teams much stronger heading into the 2011 season, but some clubs lost key players that will have a big impact this year.  

ESPN ranked the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers are at No. 1, and the the New England Patriots at No. 2.  

Bill Belichick and the Patriots fixed a few needs this offseason, particularly on defense, and now they are even more poised for a Super Bowl run.

The Packers didn't do much at all this offseason, and not many teams are talking about them, which is a good thing.

These are the top teams in the NFL, but I'm not here to talk about what ESPN did right.

Here is where they went wrong in their power rankings. 

Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons come in at No. 6 behind the Patriots, Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers. With the offseason acquisitions this team put together, they are clearly a top-five team in the NFL. 

They took a gamble trading multiple draft picks for Julio Jones, but it will pay off. They ignored the fact they needed help at the defensive end position and drafted offensive weapons for quarterback Matt Ryan.

Atlanta filled their DE need by signing Ray Edwards, who will be a great complement to John Abraham. The Falcons are very upset at the result of the 2010 season, and they are hungry to win a Super Bowl. This team deserves to be in the top five, especially over arch rival New Orleans.

New York Giants

The Giants were voted in at No. 11, which is too high for Tom Coughlin and Company. They need to be more toward the mid-teens. Eli Manning lost one of his weapons in Kevin Boss, and he will be very tough to replace.

New York surprisingly was able to re-sign Ahmad Bradshaw, but this offense will only go as far as Manning takes them. 2010 wasn't his year, and 2011 won't be either. The Giants will finish third in their division. 

The Chicago Bears (No. 13), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 12), Houston Texans (No. 17) and Dallas Cowboys (No. 16) should be ranked ahead of them. 

Minnesota Vikings

The new addition of Donovan McNabb will greatly help this team. ESPN has them at No. 25, but they should be at No. 20 or No. 21. The are definitely a better team than the Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars.

McNabb will lead this team to a much better season than what the Vikings suffered in 2010. With Adrian Peterson behind him and a healthy Percy Harvin, this team is going to be dangerous. Don't sleep on the addition of wide receiver Michael Jenkins, who has extra motivation to perform well after the Falcons cut him.

The Vikings have a tough defense, and even though they lost Ray Edwards, they will still be able to stop the run and get after the quarterback, which is crucial in the NFC North. McNabb may be 34 years old, but he will win games for Minnesota.

Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins were voted in at No. 29, which is far too generous for a team without a legit starting quarterback. There is no way John Beck or Rex Grossman would start on any other team in the NFL except for maybe the Cincinnati Bengals, who were voted in last place. 

The Redskins should be at No. 31, but barely above the Bengals, who will be starting a rookie quarterback. Both teams will be downright awful this year, and I'm convinced the Redskins are just throwing away 2011 to get the No. 1 draft pick and select Andrew Luck. The Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers deserve to be higher than the Redskins. 

Washington had a few good pickups this offseason by re-signing receiver Santana Moss and adding running back Tim Hightower, but without a good quarterback this team is doomed in 2011.

The ESPN bloggers did a good job of ranking the NFL teams post-free agency, but these are the teams they messed up on, and the 2011 season will prove it.