http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/powerranking?season=2008&week=0 The first nfl power rankings are up and the texans are...20th!! wow...i honestly didnt think we would be this low!!! this makes me want the season to start even sooner so we can prove these "experts" wrong!!!!
I was jsut going to post this in the offseason thread. The disrespect (although not surprising) continues. What has Tennessee done to improve? Heck, what has Indy done? Yes, like the comment says, continuity means a lot. It also means they've gotten a year older. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the standings played out this way... Jacksonville Indy Texans Tennessee Then to rank the Bills, Cardinals, and Panthers ahead of the Texans? Seriously? I'm not one to get mad at these rankings as they are simply useless. This only proves that theory.
It's not like it's easy to rank the teams at this point. That should be obvious because the Rams are ranked 28th, but it talks about them contending for a playoff spot. I think the Falcon and Dolphins are the only teams that will be terrible without doubt. Likewise I think the top 4 teams are the sure bets for the playoffs. With Jags & Steelers being extremely likely.
Eh, they had the Giants at 9th at the end of the regular season last year, and look how that ended. Power rankings are fun to read, and they kinda give you an idea of what the national media thinks of your team relative to everyone else, but other than that, they mean absolutely nothing. It's always a good feeling to see your team on top of those things though, I will admit.
i think it has more to do with the strength of our division. the other three were, for better or tenne-- i mean worse, playoff teams last year. therefore, while i agree, the titans haven't gotten appreciably better on paper, they were still 2 wins better than the texans last year, and i don't think off-field moves are enough to make up that difference on paper (though they may once the games start). so it's not inconceivable that the texans will be much improved... and still go 1-5 in their division. aren't they like, 3-21, combined, against the colts and titans in their history? even if they go 2-4 - again, very likely; it’s what they did last year - they have to go at least 8-2 against the rest of the league if they want to be in the playoff mix and that's gonna be tough to do. unless the titans really regress and the jaguars prove overrated (or, less likely: the colts fall apart), and houston can win 3-4 division games - i think the texans are going to once again struggle to win 8 games, which makes them a middle of the pack team.
This means about as much to me as a certain rookie fumbling twice in mini camp. ESPN can shove it anyway, but will give them props for hiring Hanna Storm (Houstonian) for the new live AM SportsCenter (as report on air today on 610am)
I think the Panthers will be pretty good next season assuming Delhome can stay healthy. They still have Steve Smith and I think Stewart is gonna be a big time pickup for them. The Bills and Cards are overrated IMO.
Total BS...The Chargers ahead of the Cowboys...WTF are they thinking...oh wait... Yes, the Texans should be higher than 20...I say about 15, so I hope they beat the crap out of Indy, Tenn, & Jax to shut the critics up...Have the Texans done enough to improve? The jury is still out IMHO...
There is a lot of error especially for the middle 16 teams. I see nothing wrong with the ranking of Texans considering: 1. the O-line may have 3 new starters 2. the OLBs are still weak 3. the Texans only have one DE 4. the best CB is down for a good portion of the season 5. RBs are iffy (I'm not sold that Alex Gibbs can break bread and get Earl Campbell just yet.) Slaton is the best hope 6. Demps needs some help at safety 7. Can Schaub stay healthy? Will Sage still be a Texan by week 1? 8. Will the Texans get good production from DTs? That said, I think Texans will do fine but have a tough time considering Jags and Colts are in the division.
The NFL has the most impossible "power ranking" system. The fact that the season is only 16 games, plus the fact that the schedules are incredibly unbalanced, makes it virtually impossible to rank teams. The Texans are partially screwed because of their division. If the Texans were in the NFC, they'd be in the 10-15 range.
check the schedules. ARZ has 7 games against teams that won 5 or fewer games last year; BUF 8. they each get 5 playoff teams from last year. they each could (probably should) win at least 8 games. HOU, otoh, plays 8 playoff teams and only 3 teams that won 5 or fewer games. the texans were 1-5 in their division last year. even if they can improve by 2 games and go 3-3 (which would be a major, major accomplishment), they still have to go 6-4 against the rest of the league to finish above .500. until either the other three teams regress or the texans progress, they're stuck in a ridiculously difficult division. so expecting anything beyond 7-9 wins is wishful thinking at this point, imo.
While I do see your point, what a team's record was last season is a little irrelevant. Every year there are teams that are expected to be terrible and are good/great and there are teams that are expected to be good/great that are terrible. For all we know, the Jets and Rams could be playoff contenders and Peyton Manning could get hurt.
they went over the power rankings on NFL live the other day where they broke the list up in sections of 10's and in each section they talked about who was ranked too high and who was ranked too low. For our section they did a piece on how the Texans were ranked too low and that we definately should have gotten more respect on this list
Buffalo is really good under the radar team. I wouldn't be surprised if they went 9-7/10-6. They won games last season with a rookie qb, rb, and a depleted back seven on the defense (especially LBs).
not right now, not if you're going to try and rank the teams in may. the entire excercise is needless for (among others) the very reason you cite. but if you're gonna do it anyway............ then last year's record is very much relevant.
About 11 teams on that list strike me as being probably better than the Texans. There are about 14 that I feel certain we are better than. So if I had to rank us tomorrow I would go optimistic and rank us about 13th. Which probably puts us in playoff contention. If we didn't play in the Brutal AFC south..I would say we were a probable instead of possible playoff team.
