Sporting Joe NFL Power Poll: Preseason

The first weeks of the NFL season always reveal the most about all 32 teams.  The tea-leaves are hardest to read at the beginning of the NFL’s 523 game journey to crown a champion.  The red herrings fill the preseason and one big injury can instantly change the course of a season (See Brady, Tom in 2008).  Despite those potholes, Sporting Joe has evaluated the off-season and preseason NFL action and now unveils his initial top ten for 2014. 

                                                 

1)      Seattle- Arguably Russell Wilson and the Seahawk’s receiving corps have dramatically improved from last season in the form of a temporarily healthy Percy Harvin and rookie wideout Paul Richardson.  Losing Golden Tate to Detroit will be a non-issue.  That is a scary thought for the rest of the NFL.

               

2)      Green Bay- Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback in the NFL right now.  Per Peter King in the September 1^st, 2014 issue of Sports Illustrated, “Rodgers is 7.7 career passer-rating points better than Manning, 2.4% more accurate than Brady, and has a higher touchdown percentage and lower interception percentage than Drew Brees.”

  

3)      Denver- Theoretically, every off-season move was the right one.  Emmanuel Sanders is better than Eric Decker is and Demarcus Ware is an upgrade to the pass rush.  Adding Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward to the secondary will solidify Denver’s weakest position group.  There is only one question.  How often does a preseason super team stay super all season?

4)      New Orleans- On paper losing Darren Sproles was a setback but Pierre Thomas appears poised to fill Sproles’ role as well as his own.  Coupled with another season of experience in Rob Ryan’s defensive schemes and the Bayou may well host an NFC Championship Game this season.

5)      New England- Tom Brady’s numbers may be down but he continues to win games.  On offense, solid if unspectacular playmakers, aside from Rob “Am I cleared to play?” Gronkowski, surround Brady and that is all he needs. 

6)      Chicago- Jay Cutler, Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall, and Alshon Jeffrey will provide points.  If Chicago’s defensive line stays healthy, they will improve.  The off-season focused on beefing up a unit that allowed 161.4 yards rushing a game.

     

7)       Indianapolis- The Colts will win plenty of games and appear to be poised to take the next step in the playoffs.  However, their offensive line is still a weak point and Andrew Luck’s brilliance will only hide that most of the time.

8)      Philadelphia- No reasonable person expects Nick Foles to duplicate last season’s twenty-seven touchdown against two interceptions line.  The key in Philly will be continued defensive growth.

    

9)      San Francisco- The Santa Clara enigma.  That is the 49ers heading into the regular season.  Myriad off the field problems (arrests, suspensions, holdouts) and injuries to key players (Navarro Bowman, Anthony Davis, Antoine Bethea) combine with an underwhelming preseason to raise doubts.  Yet, this is an amply talented team with a nasty streak and a chip on their collective shoulders.  Expect Jim Harbaugh to channel that experience and toughness back to the playoffs.

10) Miami- A sneaky talented and deep defensive line plus the steadily improving Ryan Tannehill has the Fish poised for a jump.  Their Week 1 showdown with New England will determine how long they occupy a spot that several other teams (San Diego, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Arizona, Tampa Bay) can justifiably claim.