Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dark Horses in NFL Week 7 Rankings to Keep on Watch

With six weeks in the book, it's amazing how many unsolved questions there are surrounding the start of this 2011 season.

Typically, by this point, we can tell which teams are contenders and which are pretenders.

With the earlier lockout, it leaves a much larger margin for error when trying to pick out these teams. It's still unclear in most situations which of these teams are for real.

Here are three teams that are dark horses in this weeks ESPN Power Rankings.

No. 9 Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders ninth place ranking is rightfully deserved. They shouldn't be any higher, and they shouldn't be any lower.

Although they are ranked ninth, it still doesn't seem like they are taken very seriously.

This is an offense with the second best rushing attack in the league. That's going to be important when the weather cools down.

The defense isn't spectacular and neither is the passing offense, although that could change with Carson Palmer coming to town.

The AFC West is completely up for grabs. The Raiders could easily take it from the Chargers. Just keep an eye out for the Raiders coming down the stretch.

No. 12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all the way down at the 12th place spot in the rankings. Last weekend, they beat the fifth ranked New Orleans Saints 26-20.

That actually puts the 4-2 Buccaneers as the leaders of the NFC South.

So why are they so far down the rankings?

Well, they have been extremely inconsistent. Just a week before the win, the Buccaneers were stomped 48-3 by the San Francisco 49ers.

That said, the Buccaneers are a team being overlooked. They do deserve a spot somewhere in the top 10 of these rankings.

No. 18 Cincinnati Bengals

I don't care about strength of schedule or margin of victory. Before everything else, winning is what matters.

At the end of the day, the Cincinnati Bengals are 4-2 and sitting second in the AFC North.

The Bengals are behind the Titans, Bears, Redskins, Jets and Texans despite having a better record than all of them.

This defense is allowing 278.5 yards per game, a total that is second in the league.

The Bengals may not be a top 10 team. They may not even be a playoff team, but they are being disrespected by a ranking below teams they have outperformed.