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CNN SI Power Rankings

Discussion in 'Houston Texans' started by Rockets34Legend, Sep 10, 2003.

  1. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Contributing Member

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    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writers/dr_z/09/09/power_rankings/index.html

    25 Houston Texans (1-0)
    Oooh, are the Houston fans steaming. How could I rank the Texans 25th after the biggest upset in their history? Well, let's say "one of the biggest" because we still don't know how good the Dolphins will be. A win at New Orleans Sunday, and you'll see the Texans shooting up through these rankings like the A Train through 135th Street.


    The Top 5 and Bottom 5:

    1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0)
    As I suspected, Anthony McFarland, playing the nose, has made a big difference in this defense. OK, maybe not a big difference, since it was plenty good to start with, but his presence certainly was felt Monday night. Philly was unable to advance the ball by conventional means, i.e., handing off to a person paid to run. Add to that, Donovan McNabb had very little time to throw. Add to that, even when he had time, his receivers had trouble shaking the coverage. Guess that about covers it for the Bucs' defense. What's left? Defense against punts? They even blocked one of those. Top it all off with a QB, Brad Johnson, who ended the game 13 for 13 and you have a team worthy of the lofty assignation I have bestowed upon it.

    2 Tennessee Titans (1-0)
    I don't know how long this will last. Maybe not past the week's Colts game. Their kicker's down. Steve McNair has a sore knee. (Will this guy ever be healthy?) Yet, at this point I must recognize the Sunday night conqueror of the AFC's 2003 Super Bowl representative.

    3 Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
    This is an interesting spot in the batting order. If I wanted to go the nutso route I could have rewarded one of the upstarts -- K.C., Buffalo, Minnesota ... how about Houston, which upset the odds-makers' short-priced AFC Super Bowl team, the Dolphins? But this is an awfully high position, folks, so I'll go conservative and stay with the Steelers, who never even let the argument get started against Baltimore last weekend.

    4 Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)
    Now when last year's top-ranked offense starts showing some signs of life on defense, you have to be impressed. Green Bay import Vonnie Holliday had three sacks against the Chargers. And don't you just love the guys who take early stats and project them to the end of the season ... the end of a career, or whatever? ("At this rate, if he plays 10 more years, he'll have 12.4 million sacks when he retires.")

    5 Buffalo Bills (1-0)
    They thrived on high emotion from the imports -- Lawyer Milloy, Sam Adams, whom your faithful narrator once treated with disdain, Takeo Spikes, etc. Now things will start to settle a bit. Saturday's contest at Jacksonville is a classic trap game, with Miami to look forward to a week later, especially for a young team that already has itself in the Super Bowl.


    26 Detroit Lions (1-0)
    The Dan Wilkinson pickup could be better than it looks, because with 357-pound Shawn Rogers playing alongside him and eating up the double team, Biggy Daddy is scoring heavily against single-blocking. Or at least he did against the Cardinals. The Lions' secondary, though, is another matter.

    27 Baltimore Ravens (0-1)
    Kyle Boller, the rookie Q, needed the support of a strong defense. The Ravens' D took the pipe Sunday, which is why Baltimore is down here in this godforsaken neighborhood.

    28 Dallas Cowboys (0-1)
    The Falcons iced the game with an 8:26 scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Bill Parcells teams do that to other people, they don't have it done to them.


    29 Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)
    Mark Brunell put up terrific numbers against a really good Panthers defense. And let's give him credit, because every five minutes he had to read about how he was going to be replaced.

    30 Arizona Cardinals (0-1)
    Rookie Anquan Boldin caught 10 passes for 217 yards. I have a way-out bet for anyone interested. I'll bet even money that never again in his career will he have a day like that, which tells you how I feel about the Detroit secondary he faced. The trouble with a bet like this is that you have to wait about 10 years to collect. Nevertheless, anyone interested please call my financial advisor, whose name is Don Vito something or other.

    31 Cincinnati Bengals (0-1)
    Marvin Lewis is a defensive coach. His defense treated Denver's Jake Plummer to one of his all-time worst performances. I'm turning over a new leaf this year. I'm going to find nothing but nice things to say about my bottom feeders.

    32 Chicago Bears (0-1)
    Losing RG Chris Villarrial, which comes a week and a half after they lost their other guard, Rex Tucker, is just a crusher. Is that nice enough? What's that? It's not nice at all? OK, I'll work harder at this next week.
     
  2. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    doesn't upset me in the slightest....i hope everyone keeps underrating the texans...that makes it more fun when beat their teams.
     
  3. IROC it

    IROC it Contributing Member

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    Yep.:D
     
  4. Uprising

    Uprising Contributing Member

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    Exactly....

    by the way, how did A-Train get CNN to write about him? ;)
     

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