Just When We Thought We Knew These Teams...

In a league of uncertainty, it is certain that Blaine Gabbert still can't play.

If you follow my pick em blog on Spin It! you'll know that I have been getting rather cocky about my picks and my pursuit of embarrassment over ESPN experts. Well for the second time in this six week season, conventional wisdom over where teams stand in the league this year has been blown to bits. Vengeful were the football Gods this weekend. We were on the cusp of death knells for the likes of the Packers and Lions while ready to anoint the Houston Texans as the team to beat in the league. Now as week 7 looms, no one knows what to think once again, so I'll try to stream some consciousness together in hopes of clearing up a muddy NFL picture.

Bears = Best in the League?

Has any team in the history of the league had a better bye week than the Chicago Bears? Usually teams can move up during a bye week because a team or two in front of them embarrasses themselves. However, with the majority of the top 5 looking downright awful this weekend (49ers, Texans, Falcons, Patriots, Ravens) one has to start considering the Bears as one of the best teams in the league. The Jay Cutler stink bomb against the Packers still rings clearly in my head, but now at this point in the season, every elite team has had an egg laying performance, so that game can no longer be held so starkly against them. If the offensive coaching staff just lets the smokin' Jay Cutler do his thing, the Bears will put enough points on that board for that defense to be downright unbeatable.

So who is the worst team in the league?

Conversely for the Jaguars, as good as the bye week was to the Bears, it was similarly unfriendly to the Jaguars. I was ready to say that the Titans and the Browns would be battling it out for worst in the league, they went out and handled business this week. While I think the Browns are heading in the right direction (that offense actually looks like it has some life to it now), the Titans and Jaguars will be battling it out for that first pick come April. They are horrendous on defense, and they have offenses that can score 14 points on an explosive day. And when you don't have a defense like the Bears, Texans, and 49ers, 14 points is never enough to win games in today's NFL.

Stumbling Out the Gates.

Is it just me, or is everyone following the Giants blueprint? I feel like teams are laughing at the Falcon's 6-0 start. When you consider that out of the last 4 years, only the Saints in 2009 were the only true wire to wire dominant team to win the Super Bowl, it seems like teams don't value looking like real contenders in the early part of the season anymore. Obviously, you can't win championships starting 1-5, but I don't think teams panic over 1-3 early season losses, it's all about how you play come November and December that. Remember this, Falcon fans still looking for playoff success under Matt Ryan.

Who do I like Thursday Night?

I'm riding high off my Seattle upset pick, but I don't think I'm ready to double down on them just yet. I like what Pete Carroll is doing with this team defensively, but I just think San Francisco will just come ready to play after getting their pants pulled down by the Giants on Sunday. COunting on the 49ers to end my current Thursday Night Cold Streak.

Remembering Al and Honoring Drew; Looking ahead to Week 6.

It was a great week in the NFL. Things seem like they are happening the way people expected them to play out. The wild surprises are over with for now, and the so called "surprises" from last week didn't even really seem that surprising. One thing I love about this season is the regression of the passing offense. Nothing bothered me more than the obliteration of age old passing records. To me, it seems like we may as well throw out the record book and have one for each generation. Last year, Eric Dickerson's record of 2,105 rushing yards never seemed safer. This year, the idea of a 2,000 yard rusher doesn't seem that foreign.

Congratulations Drew Brees

Sometimes, things happen in the NFL that are so convenient that they just had to have been staged. As a very young conspiracy theorist in 2001, I felt the same way about the Patriots. You mean to tell me a team that was 5-11 the year before, with an (at the time) mediocre head coach and a second year 6th round QB went all the way to the Superbowl and defeated a team that was on the verge of a dynasty in the Rams? That's sort of how I felt when Drew Brees found Devery Henderson covered by absolutely no one for his record breaking TD pass. Drew Brees passed the famous number 19 Johnny Unitas with a pass to number 19 Devery Henderson. Now, everyone here knows me as an unabashed Saints fan, but I think Drew Brees really has to stretch this record out to account for the pass wackiness that this league has evolved into. Of course, you won't find me taking away anything from the man who helped really get this city going after Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. Hopefully, the excitement of the record and the Saint's first win will carry over into a snowball effect for Saint's wins in 2012.

Remembering one of the greatest greats in league history.

Al Davis....the badass of the NFL. Started as an owner of the AFL Raiders, his first signals of his badass take no names nature was in 1965 when he essentially iced out two other majority owners to get a grasp on the team that he would build in his image. His Raiders were perennial contenders in the late AFL and the post-merger NFL. With John Madden as coach, the Raiders made six AFC championship games, losing to dynasties in Miami and Pittsburgh. His crowning achievement came in 1976, when his Raiders laid the rest of the NFL to waste en route to their first championship. Even more impressive in his commitment to excellence was his two Super Bowls under Tom Flores while the Raiders were mired in litigation over a move to Los Angeles. The Raiders proved that sometimes dysfunction can lend itself to the functions of a championship roster. And although I only knew the crazy Al Davis who ran the Raiders into the ground until the day he died, I respect no man who helped build this game more than Al Davis, for he did things his way. No matter what commissioner, coach, or  owner did to stop him, Al Davis found a way to "just win, baby."

Looking ahead to Week 6

I'm looking forward to seeing the 49ers and the Giants play in a rematch of last year's NFC title game. While the Giants haven't looked particularly dominant this year, they always find a way to be in the game at the end with a chance to win. To me, that is far more a championship quality than being able to drub the Jets and Bills by a combined 78-3. I'm also looking for the Eagles to show that they deserve to be looked at as a contender by putting the Lions away. As opposed to the Giants, who managed to stay in games and find a way to finish the opponent off at the end, the Eagles stumble to the finish line and accidentally win games in the face of turnovers and suspect play calling. It's also do or die time for elite QB's Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers as they face pivotal matchups against the Chargers and Texans.

My Thursday Night Pick

Pittsburgh demolishes Tennessee, who overnight have turned from AFC sleeper, to worse than the Browns.

Quarter of the Season Power Rankings!!

At the quarter pole, the Browns are battling the Saint's ofr the number one draft pick.

Doing power rankings weekly is about the dumbest thing one can do. When any team can win on any given Sunday, the rankings will flip flop like hot cakes. Therefore, you'll only see me ranking teams every four weeks. So lets get to it!

32. Cleveland Browns
Cleveland is one of the best worst teams in the league I have seen in a while. All the losses have been close, but with a rookie QB, a rookie RB, and receivers who have stone hands, this is probably where they will spend the rest of the year.

31. Jacksonville Jaguars
Blaine Gabbert at the helm. This team will go as far as he goes. Even with a Houston like defense, I think this team probably only wins 6 games. A Houston defense needs 17 points to guarantee victory, and Jacksonville can't be counted on to do even that.

30. Oakland Raiders
This team is sunk at Quarterback, had to give up all their defensive talent due to cap limitations, and has very few draft picks heading forward. And that's about all there is to say about this team.

29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers  
This team doesn't look like it has much of a direction. I can't tell how sold they are on Josh Freeman, and I just feel like a team that has been high in the draft in recent years coupled with a spending spree this past offseason should be doing much better.

28. Miami Dolphins
 Plays very inspired ball at times, but just not nearly talented enough to win a lot of ball games this year. Dol-phans should be relieved to see signs of life in Ryan Tannehill.

27. Tennessee Titans
They were bad with their starting QB, now that the starter is out, expect a lot more Texans games than games against the Lions.

26. Buffalo Bills
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the league. If they can't decide whether they are good or bad, I'll just stick them at the bottom tier of the rankings and forget about them.

25. Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton is sophomore slumping. And when the team lives and dies by their QB, the team falls into a slump with him.

24. Kansas City Chiefs
Its alarming to me how bad the AFC has gotten. A few years ago, they were the premier conference by far. Wasn't Kansas City one of the more talented teams in the AFC going into this season. But it shows what a QB league this has become, seeing as how Matt Cassel's poor play is a huge reason this ship is sinking so rapidly.

23. New York Jets
I can't believe we are at game 4 and Tebow time hasn't even started. I felt like Tim Tebow would have gotten in had Sanchez performed well. Now that it seems like there is nothing to lose, why not make the switch, at least Tebow can be somewhat entertaining to watch.

22. Indianapolis Colts
This Colts team isn't about this year, they are about the future. But the fact that they haven't been dreadful this year has to have Colts fans excited.

21. New Orleans Saints
I think this is the best 0-4 team in league history. Head Coaches DO matter in the NFL.

20. Detroit Lions
I expected this team to slip behind this year. They lack discipline which is a surprise since Jim Schwartz is a pretty no nonsense guy. The passing game is operating at the high volume of last year, but there are no touchdowns to finish drives, and that is hurting this team the most.

19. Dallas Cowboys
The Monday Night game told me everything I need to know about this team. In that, they are going nowhere at the speed of light.

18. St. Louis Rams
Another team I was delighted to be right about. They aren't great, but they aren't the dredge of the league everyone was expecting them to be.

17. Washington Redskins
RG3 has me believing in the Redskins for the first time in my entire lifetime. The cynic in me still believes Daniel Snyder is plotting how to ruin his career during late nights in his office.

16. Seattle Seahawks
A team that runs hot and cold in the tough conference will find themselves on the outside looking in come playoff time.

15. Cincinnati Bengals
The definition of mediocre. Beats all losing teams, loses to all winning teams.

14. Pittsburgh Steelers
Mainly they are just playing well enough to where we aren't nitpicking every single one of their flaws yet. The nitpicking will come as the losses pile up.

13. San Diego Chargers
Needs to prove themselves against a quality opponent before I begin noticing them.

12. Minnesota Vikings
A team that will most likely fade down the stretch, but the fans will continue to make the Metrodome loud so long as the team keeps winning. I told everyone last year Christian Ponder was a keeper, glad to see he isn't making me look like a dummy.

11. Chicago Bears
 A team that looks like they have as high a ceiling as anyone, but they're also a Jay Cutler injury/meltdown away from serious trouble land. Again, I think this has become too much of a QB league.

10. Denver Broncos
Peyton will find his swagger. And when he does...watch out NFL.

9. New York Giants
A team that knows how to win any game in any way is a very dangerous team come January. The trick is making it to January, Tom Coughlin.

8. Arizona Cardinals
I can't say for sure if this team is here to stay, but if the defense keeps playing like its the Ball So Hard University defense, this team will be a part of the playoff picture.

7. Green Bay Packers
Mike McCarthy is too good a head coach to allow his offense to play as timid and sloppy as it has this year. Expect a late season surge ala 2010.

6. Philadelphia Eagles
See Giants, New York.

5. New England Patriots
When you have Tom Brady, it doesn't matter what goes on with the rest of your team. This is also the best Patriots defense we have seen in years too. If this unit gels by the end of the season, watch out Baltimore and Houston.

4. San Francisco 49ers
3. Atlanta Falcons
2. Baltimore Ravens
1. Houston Texans

In a season chock full of middling teams and just flat out bad teams, these teams have already established themselves as bonafide contenders in week 4, a rare feat in a league built on parity. You'll never hear this out of my mouth in any other season, but you can lock these 4 into the top 2 spots of their conference today.