SmashMouth

The NFL will officially kickoff its march to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII on Wednesday night when the Dallas Cowboys travel to the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

We, at The Times-Picayune, are kicking off our march today with the release of our Week 1 NFL power rankings, where the Giants - until they lose - will remain No. 1.

The top teams in our weekly rankings offer few surprises, as the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens all figure prominently on the list.

Who Dats might not be happy with the New Orleans Saints' No. 8 ranking, but the Saints have some proving to do after a tumultuous offseason and massive scheme changes on defense.

Anyway, enough with the chatter, here are the rankings:

Rankings, (last week), team, record,

1. (--) New York Giants 0-0 We're not sure they're the best team. But until someone beats the reigning Super Bowl champs, they'll remain No. 1.

2.(--) Green Bay Packers 0-0 Packers still have enough talent to play in the Super Bowl.

3. (--) New England Patriots 0-0 Pats have the type of schedule and QB that could easily give them the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

4. (--) Baltimore Ravens 0-0 The defense is getting old, but QB Joe Flacco appears ready to take the next step.

5. (--) San Francisco 49ers 0-0 The additions of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham should have a major impact.

6. (--) Houston Texans 0-0 The Texans again are an early season sexy pick to contend for the AFC crown.

7. (--) Philadelphia Eagles 0-0 Philadelphia flopped a year ago. But the Eagles remain one of the most talented teams in the NFL.

8.(--) New Orleans Saints 0-0 Until Saints defenders master Spagnuolo's defensive schemes, they'll remain outside top 5.

9. (--) Pittsburgh Steelers 0-0 The Steelers enter the season with an unsettled offense and some aging veterans on defense.

10. (--) Detroit Lions 0-0 Detroit should take another step toward closing the NFC North gap between them and the Packers.

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Utah_Saint

Seems fair enough. I'd rather be ranked lower and move up than the other way around.

We should keep up with all these pre season rankings and predicitons to laugh at at the end of the year. Especially the 7-9 ones, like Greenberg and Cowherd.

Utah_Saint

The ESPN rankings are brutal. Just my opinion but I believe most of those writers are more concerned with being popular than in knowing the NFL. They look at the rankings as some kind of award that they hand out, not in who they believe the best teams are.

Profootballfocus has the Saints much higher.

TheOak

YHGTBFKM!

Under the Eagles?
Flacco taking the next step? After 5 seasons?
How in the heck are the Lions in this list? They were 10-6 last season


Sigh!!!

xan

Power rankings are back. It's like Clint Eastwood talking to a chair.

Mental illness is sad.

Danno

Fortunately the writers opinion isn't being forced upon all the teams against their will by law.

Elitism is destructive.

CharityMike

I actually would have been less aggrevated if they would have put the Lions one above us but the Eagles??? Give me a break..what have they proved?

homerj07

Ok someone is full of poo!!