NFL Power Rankings Week 1: 3 Playoff Teams That Will Suffer from Summer Changes

Continuity will be key to predicting an NFL team's success or failure in the 2011 season, particularly in the early going.

"The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons has been harping on it all summer and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. With the offseason so severely truncated by the lockout, those teams with the least turnover, both in terms of players and coaches, will be in the best position to succeed in Week 1.

Well, that should at least be true for good teams with minimal turnover.

Then, of course, there are teams that made the playoffs last year that will struggle to do so this time around after undergoing significant changes to their rosters this summer, like... 

Philadelphia Eagles

...the Eagles! Free-agent frenzies may be great for teams in the NBA and MLB, but not the NFL. Winning in football requires too many moving parts to fit together more perfectly than they ever could after just seven weeks of working together.

Philly picked up some great pieces on the open market, particularly on defense with the signings of Nnamdi Asomugha, Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins and the trade for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, but they will need more time to gel before they can be fully effective.

That's particularly true for the defensive backs and the Eagles' brand spankin' new offensive line, as success in those departments requires a certain degree of nonverbal synergy that can't be manufactured quickly or easily.

Those deficiencies, along with that of Philly's depleted linebacker corps, will come into sharp focus on the road, under the dome, against the St. Louis Rams, who have the sort of athletic pass rush to give the Eagles' O-line fits, and the running game, behind Pro Bowler Steven Jackson, to stomp right over the second level of Juan Castillo's defense.  

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens will regress this season as a result of changes both within and outside their own control.

Personnel-wise, Baltimore will stumble on account of an offensive line that GM Ozzie Newsome scrambled to supplement over the last half of August. He was lucky to have five-time Pro Bowler Andre Gurode fall into his team's lap but will regret plugging in 400-pound wonder Bryant McKinnie to guard Joe Flacco's blindside when Michael Oher, about whom The Blindside was written, was already at left tackle.

As far as changes to the kickoff rules are concerned, Baltimore figures to suffer as much as any team outside of Chicago. No longer will the Ravens garner much advantage, if any, from Billy Cundiff's touchbacks or David Reed's kickoff returns, which were the best on average in the NFL in 2010.

Expect both of these concerns, along with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed falling further into the twilight of their careers, to come into play when the Ravens host the AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in what should once again be a closely-contested slugfest.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks weren't any good last year when they survived just long enough to claim the NFC West with a 7-9 record, and will be even worse in 2011 after a summer of drastic roster upheaval.

Gone is Matt Hasselbeck, who, as marginally effective as he'd been in Seattle in recent years, is still head-and-shoulders above Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst as an NFL quarterback.

Gone is safety Jordan Babineaux and linebacker Will Herring, two cornerstones of Pete Carroll's defense who bolted for Tennessee and New Orleans, respectively.

Gone, then, are the Seahawks' hopes of defending their division title, even against the San Francisco 49ers, against whom they will open the season on Sunday.

Josh Martin's Week 1 NFL Power Rankings
1. Green Bay Packers
2. Pittsburgh Steelers
3. San Diego Chargers
4. New England Patriots
5. New Orleans Saints
6. Atlanta Falcons
7. Dallas Cowboys
8. New York Jets
9. Philadelphia Eagles
10. Baltimore Ravens
11. St. Louis Rams
12. Houston Texans
13. Minnesota Vikings
14. Tennessee Titans
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16. Cleveland Browns
17. Washington Redskins
18. Arizona Cardinals
19. Denver Broncos
20. Kansas City Chiefs
21. Detroit Lions
22. New York Giants
23. Chicago Bears
24. Cincinnati Bengals
25. Indianapolis Colts
26. Oakland Raiders
27. Miami Dolphins
28. Buffalo Bills
29. San Francisco 49ers
30. Carolina Panthers
31. Seattle Seahawks
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

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