Ranking the NFL - Week 8

Steeler fans, you may officially hang your heads in shame.

How about them Raiders? Two wins in a row! If we win the rest of the games, we will be 11-5. And Jessica Alba will be waiting for me under the Christmas tree too...

Anyway, I may tweak the rankings after tonight's Patriots-Vikings game, but for now, here they are:

THE ELITE
BEARS: Love those orange uniforms. But, I also used to like the old Buccaneers' uniforms too, so take that compliment for what it is worth.

COLTS: A HUGE win over Denver. It is now time to give the Colts credit. they are elite. They have just enough defense to keep them in close games, and more than enough Peyton Manning to win.

THE "ALMOST" ELITE
BRONCOS: It is hard to watch the Broncos and not wonder: If Jay Cutler were starting...

SAINTS: The Saints are hanging here by a thread. Losing to the Ravens is not the end of the world.

THE GOOD
CHARGERS: Just taking care of business by beating the Rams. When they lose Shawne Merriman to suspension, that will hurt.

PATRIOTS: Tonight vs. Minnesota.

SEAHAWKS: Since they were playing without Matt Hasselbeck, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. For now.

RAVENS: It is easy to see the Ravens are good, but hard to tell just how good. They beat the Saints and Chargers, but also lost to the Panthers and Broncos.

GIANTS: Spanking the Bucs is a good sign. Their game against Chicago in two weeks looms large. But the game coming up against Houston this week yells "trap game".

FALCONS: I saw "The Prestige" a week ago. Mike Vick reminds me of it. Like a magician, he tells us he will do something, and we watch sceptically as he goes out and does it. But I have to wonder what the trick is...

BENGALS: Which Bengal team will show up next week? Stay tuned...

PANTHERS: Ouch! Dominated by Dallas. This shows those losses earlier this season without Steve Smith in the lineup were not flukes.

CHIEFS: Beating the Hawks minus Matt Hasselbeck proves nothing. Also, their loss to the Steelers a couple of weeks ago hangs over them like a cloud.

THE AVERAGE
EAGLES: A three game losing streak? Considering the best team they have beaten was Dallas, the Eagles are wearing the label "overrated" quite proudly.

COWBOYS: The Tony Romo era has begun. The true test comes in three weeks against Indy.

BUCCANEERS: Don't feel bad Buc fans. Better teams than yours have lost to the Giants. Like Atlanta...

VIKINGS: Tonight vs. New England.

JAGUARS: Don't read too much into their victory over Philly. The Jags could easily turn around and lose to Tennessee next week.

STEELERS: Open trap, insert Steelers. If they cannot beat the Raiders, they can only be average, at best.

RAMS: The Rams should lose to San Diego, and they did. 'Nuff said.

REDSKINS: Oh merciful bye week.

BROWNS: Poor Cleveland. When they get a weak team on their schedule, they beat them, as evidenced by their victory over the Jets. With their upcoming game in San Diego, they remind me of Kevin Bacon in "Animal House": "Please sir, may I have another?"

JETS: Losing to the Brownies proves the Jets may be the worst 4-4 team in the NFL.

THE BAD
BILLS: Bye week.

TITANS: Now if Vince Young could just look this good against a REAL team (not the Texans).

TEXANS: Smart move putting Sage Rosenfels in yesterday. But don't think for a second that this is the start of the Rosenfels era in Houston.

49ERS: Remember that scene from "Monty Python" where the big foot comes out of the sky and stomps somebody? That was the Bears-49ers game, with the 49ers under the foot.

RAIDERS: The Raiders rule! Hey, they beat the Super Bowl champs. Ok, so maybe the Raiders are not great, but we can at least say they are not the worst of the worst.

PACKERS: Favre got to do his first "Lambeau leap". Enjoy it Brett. You won't be playing against Arizona every week.

DOLPHINS: Bye week.

LIONS: There were a lot of bad teams with bye weeks this week. Detroit was just one of them.

CARDINALS: You smell something burning? That is just the hot seat under Dennis Green. On a side note, Matt Leinart is starting to look like what he is: a rookie quarterback. 14 completions in 35 attempts against Green Bay is NOT impressive.