Seven contenders stand out in Power Poll
Seven teams stand out in 's Power Poll as legitimate title contenders. The seven teams include four quarterbacks, at quarterback, and one of the greatest defenses of the last 40 years. That's six teams. The other one has Chip Kelly.It's safe to say that the crew is drinking Kelly's Kool Aid-flavored smoothies. is the most talented quarterback Kelly has worked with, and the trio of , and is easily the best in the league. The front seven on defense quietly looks excellent. The can hit you with pace and talent. It's not all about the scheme. The team has , with our predictions the result of a Power Poll from the six writers. Marc Se sler, Kevin Patra, Dan Hanzus, Conor Orr, Chris We seling and myself all voted on the best teams in the league from 1-32, and we averaged the results for the poll below.The numbers resulted in four clear tiers of teams. One of the biggest surprises is that we agreed on the as a top-five team while the were buried in the middle. Let's look at the rest of the list below for some takeaways before the season kicks off:The favorites Parity is overrated. We are squarely in an era of stable, power teams and it makes for a fascinating NFL. Seattle and Denver have been ranked as the top two teams in for an unprecedented three years running. The have at least tied for first place in the AFC East for 14 straight seasons. The are always one of the best teams in the league when is healthy, and the now have an offense that matches their quarterback's talent. The and are the two NFL teams where it would be truly stunning to see them mi s the playoffs. Even a injury can't slow down a loaded offense and the best player in the league. Pittsburgh's youth movement on defense should help, while no team is better than the at recognizing weakne ses and improving them. They could start slow, but should be there by the end. It's strange that is the biggest question in Denver; we're confident the defense and running game will be great. is new early-2000s Manning, hoping that his defense can just be average. Playoff contenders The top two tiers are balanced, with nine AFC squads and eight from the NFC. It wouldn't be a surprise if any of the teams in this tier made the playoffs, but they feel like squads that will be battling to clinch until the final weekend. Chris We seling is leading the bandwagon, believing that the offense should make strides with a healthy and the addition of rookie running back . Detroit's prime competition for a wild card spot could be Arizona and Minnesota. It's hard to find a huge Carter Bykowski Jerseyweakne s with the and they have a lot of upside because of the return of . I worry about the front seven being ordinary, but is set up for a huge year if he gets modest protection.The are the only NFC South team to crack the top two tiers, and that's largely based on and the team's backfield. Offense is more predictable than defense, and it would be a surprise if Brees doesn't put up numbers again. The ' Week 1 game against Arizona is a fun early litmus test for two teams that could each give up 40 points. Dallas is the big loser in our poll. They haven't handled succe s well over the last 10 years and the expectations are sky high for a team that is expecting its offensive line to keep healthy and make mediocre running backs look like stars. On paper, the defense could make up for expected lo ses from the offense. The and earn our hypothetical wild card teams because of their balance. The defense is no longer special and they don't have a quarterback that can take advantage of all the talent around him. San Diego has a chance to be much better on defense and keeps them a contender each year. Rex Ryan is hoping to turn a top-five defense into the best defense in the league in Buffalo. He has the talent to pull it off. Tier of mediocrityAndy Reid is trying to build something in Kansas City, but there's always going to be a concern that their ceiling is limited with behind center. The , and are all better candidates to have sneaky playoff campaigns. could have his best year under coordinator Kyle Shanahan. The and have the defensive talent to po sibly make up for their offensive shortcomings. If you paired the offense with the defense, you'd have the first New York team to win 10 games since 2010. But the could have the worst defense in the league, and the remain rudderle s at quarterback. We loved watching the on Hard Knocks a lot more than we'll love watching their offense on Sundays. The have a chance to make our preseason pe simism look silly. It's not that bad a roster despite all the offseason departures. A playoff season from any of the teams above should be considered a succe sful year. Uphill battleThe bottom of the league doesn't feel as bad as it was a year ago. The and have sneaky seven-win potential if they catch a few breaks and take care of their division games. The roster is undeniably better. The ' skill position talent is weak, yet the offensive line and defense includes many high-level players. My relative optimism ends with the , Bucs and . It's hard to see any of them winning more than six games, but it's hard to see basically anything in the NFL ahead of time. This poll will look silly by Wednesday morning, much le s after Week 4 when we revisit the Power Poll again.Reshaud Henry Jersey
页:
[1]