NFL Power Rankings: Identifying Teams That Have Fallen Most from Start of Season

What a difference half a season makes. Heading into the 2011 NFL season, there were certain assumptions we all had to work on, with a truncated training camp and just four preseason games providing us with few indications of exactly which teams would be dominant and which would fall flat.

Now that we're at the season's halfway point, it's easier to understand the makeup of the league. Three teams that I placed in the top half of the rankings have slipped considerably since that fateful Week 1 list: the Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys.

The Eagles entered the season with all the hype in the world. Their flashy offseason acquisitions had everyone bellowing about the team's nearly guaranteed appearance in the Super Bowl. However, through seven games, they sit at 3-4, starting the season 1-4 with just a Week 1 win over the St. Louis Rams to their name before seemingly righting their ship enough to win their last two games.

Though Philadelphia appears to be in an upswing after defeating two divisional opponents, the Washington Redskins in Week 6 and the Dallas Cowboys in Week 8, it hasn't been enough to raise them higher than No. 14 in my Week 9 power rankings, though they started out the season at No. 5.

It's quite possible they've finally found the chemistry they lacked in the first half of the season to see them climb in the second half, but for now, they're still well below their Week 1 projections.

The St. Louis Rams had a great deal of promise heading into this season, with all signs pointing to a marked improvement over their 7-9 2010 record. With a solid quarterback in Sam Bradford, a tough defense that was poised to only get more intimidating and a bruising run game led by Steven Jackson, they were the clear favorites to win the NFC West.

Instead, they started their season 0-6, causing them to drop to the bottom five in the power rankings as their defense gave up the most points of any team in the NFL while their offense became the lowest-scoring in the league.

They've improved their position in Week 9, on the merits of their surprising 31-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 8. They showed that even without starting quarterback Sam Bradford, they're still capable of pulling together on offense, especially considering that Jackson was able to run for 159 yards on the Saints' shaky run defense. Add to that what was easily St. Louis' best defensive performance of the year that saw Saints quarterback Drew Brees sacked six times, and it was enough to elevate the team to No. 25 in the Week 9 power rankings.

However, that's a far cry from the No. 14 ranking they started the season with, and at 1-6, they have a long way to go not only to rise even further in the power rankings but also to seriously contend with the NFC West-leading San Francisco 49ers.

The Dallas Cowboys, at 3-4 on the season, still have a chance to win the NFC East despite their inconsistent play so far this year, as the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles sit at 3-4.

But the Cowboys and the Redskins are slipping, while the Eagles and the division-leading New York Giants seem to have the clear advantages at this point in the season. While in a division as tight as theirs, things can change drastically in a week, but one thing is clear: Dallas has major problems.

Consistency is the most important trait a football team strives to achieve—or rather, being consistently good. The only thing the Cowboys appear to be consistent at is inconsistency, with one promising performance never carrying over to the following week.

Dallas' Week 7 34-7 win over the St. Louis Rams stands in perfect contrast to their Week 8 34-7 loss to the Eagles, with everything Dallas did right in the former game going completely wrong in the latter. That loss was enough to drop the Cowboys from No. 17 in last week's rankings to 21st in this week's, and the team has steadily declined from their No. 12 ranking when entering the 2011 season.

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

*Subject to change pending the outcome of tonight's Chargers-Chiefs contest