Pats No. 2 in ESPN rankings
Written by Andy Hart on May 26, 2009 – 4:29 pm -ESPN.com has come out with its May edition of the offseason power rankings and the Patriots are in the No. 2 slot, trailing the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers. I have no problem with the ranking. I agree with the bulk of the 12-man ESPN panel in that Pittsburgh and New England are the two best teams in football at this point.
I think the most interesting part of the voting — which can be found on ESPN.com — is that 11 of the 12 voters picked the Steelers for the top slot. The only guy who didn’t have Pittsburgh No. 1 was Len Pasquarelli. That’s fine. The problem is that he had the Steelers ranked ninth. Are you kidding me? Ninth? What does he think happened in Pittsburgh — I haven’t seenthe motorcycle accident involving the QB this time around? On the positive side, for Patriots fans at least, Pasquarelli has the Patriots in the top spot in the rankings. Of course he also has Carolina as the third-best team in football. Really Len?
Have you seen the ESPN rankings? What do you think of them? And where, as an objective Patriots fan, do you think New England belongs in the rankings at this point in the process? Let us know with a comment below!
Posted in General |
May 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I see the Pats as being either 1 or 2. Its tough to say. I think Pittsburgh has a better defense, but the Patriots have the superior offense and a better coaching staff. I’d probably rank the Colts as number 3. As long as Peyton Manning is there they always have a chance and the defense seems to have gotten fairly better over the last 2 years.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Andy, you Steeler rump swab! Figures you’d be good with the rating…
How are the Steelers improved from last year? Mendenhall, ridiculous!
May 26th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
i think 2nd is fair
May 26th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
It isn’t too often that a defending champ gets to add a young franchise running back to the mix the next season. Not to mention the continued growth of their young linebackers. To be the man you have to be the man. Right now, for what it’s worth, the Steelers are Da Man.
May 26th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Pats should be number one but it means nothing right now. 19 and 0
May 26th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
It’s so tough to gauge things like this without watching them play. It’s easy to say the Steelers are the best, because they were the best last year, and very little of their team has changed since then. The Pats will have a totally different look this year, with Brady back in action (will he be rusty? or motivated and better than ever?), an unproven linebacker core, and a totally revamped secondary.
We won’t know how good they are together until we see them play. I, for one, can’t wait.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Thought it was odd that he had the Steelers ninth, but wasn’t surprised at all that he picked the Pats for first. What’s not to like about New England on top?
May 26th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
I don’t think you can rank teams from 1 to 32 this early, at best you can sort them into tiers. That said, the pats and steelers to me are in the uppermost tier.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
In a kinda of unrelated but the madden ratings are in for a few top players and tom Brady is rated a 98 this year behind Peyton who is 99.
their stats are as followed
Manning: Overall = 99
Throw Power = 95
Throw Accuracy Short = 96
Throw Accuracy Mid = 98
Throw Accuracy Deep = 85
Awareness = 99
Speed = 60
Brady: Overall = 98
Throw Power = 97
Throw Accuracy Short = 93
Throw Accuracy Mid = 90
Throw Accuracy Deep = 88
Awareness = 97
Speed = 63
I think that Brady seems rated pretty low on a lot of categories including awareness and short/ medium passes since Welker gets so many passes and since this team used to basically be a screen pass team. What do you guys think?
May 27th, 2009 at 1:19 am
I think 2nd is a bit high. I know, I know. I’m a disgrace to Patriots Nation. But lets be fair here. The Steelers are defending Champs. Until they’re beaten, they’re the top team. The Pats missed the playoffs, and while Brady’s knee is “fine”, we know nothing of how well he’ll be mentally when 250+lb linebackers rush him at full speed trying to kill him. Right now, on paper, I’m worried about the Steelers and Giants. The Dolphins improved too. The Pats definitely are underdogs. They’re gonna have to fight an uphill battle to regain respectability. I love it that way, because in my opinion, that’s when they play their best.
May 27th, 2009 at 4:20 am
i understand that tom brady holds many records(regular and post-season), but how is there high expectations for his return form the injury(seeing how an all-star carson palmer rebounded so horribly)?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Andy, what does this mean? To be the man you have to be the man, (shot at Eric?) So if you are a man, you are a man???? Is that like if my Aunt was a man she’d be my uncle…?
To be the man, you have to beat the man?
Ridiculous! Oh King of orange fire water!
I get it! I still think the Patriots are better and when Tom is healthy, have had the Steelers number! They’re D is better today, but at the end of the year is when it counts, so we’ll see? GR365
May 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
It means to be the man you have to prove it. It’s what I like to call an Andy-ism. Yogi has his and I have mine. To be the man you have to be the man.
Either that, or it’s a typo with a couple letters missing from a too-hastily typed response. You decide. Either way, Steelers deserve the top spot at this point my friends.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Whilst I understand why the steelers are No 1 overall (the champions do deserve respect), if i had to choose a team to stake my life on it would be the Pats. Whilst some may question Brady’s knee, the same can be said of an untested Mendenhall. As for the Pats being an underdog hank I think thats a little bit of a stretch. And the only thing you have in common with Yogi, Andy, is that your both enjoy steeling things from people picnic baskets!
May 31st, 2009 at 3:06 am
Patriots.
Giants.
Steelers.
Who cares what happened last year, its all over. They are the defending superbowl champs so what? Does that mean you have to wait until the superbowl until they drop fromt he number one spot. I dont like that retarded logic. Bradys back, We dont have to watch Hobbs anymore. Give them the number one spot. Heres another Andy-ism, To be the man, You have to have three superbowl rings and be piledrivin’ a supermodel.
May 31st, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Check this from Len P. ESPN
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation/0-7-879/Double-Coverage–Steelers-or-Pats-as-No–1-.html
May 31st, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Fox says Patriots….
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9601836/Ranking-the-NFL:-Insider-grading-on-every-franchise