3rd and Long Power Rankings for Week 7

I'm in the process of coming up with a mathematical way to calculate power rankings...until then here are my updated rankings.

1. New England Patriots (1)- It's pretty crazy when a team with this much talent plays with a chip on their shoulder.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2)- BIG test Monday night at Jacksonville.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (4)- They're playing Denver off a bye week...may get ugly.

4. Dallas Cowboys (3)- New England exposed some of their weaknesses. That game was a good in-season reality check for the 'Boys.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars (6)- We'll see how good this team really is Monday night.

6. Green Bay Packers (7)- Nice hard fought victory over an emerging Redskins team.

7. San Diego Chargers (8)- LT is back...Rivers is regressing.

8. Washington Redskins (10)- They should feast on the Cards this weekend.

9. Tennessee Titans (9)- Tough loss in Tampa Bay after Vince went down.

10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11)- At Detroit. Fantasy owners should definitely start any Buccaneer.

11. New York Giants (14)- They're on fire and it should continue this weekend when they host San Francisco.

12. Seattle Seahawks (5)- Huge disappointment. They better not lose to St. Louis.

13. Philadelphia Eagles (13)- Ugly win against the Jets. They host the struggling Bears.

14. Chicago Bears (16)- They have to shut down Westbrook if they want a chance to win.

15. Houston Texans (12)- Injuries are killing them.

16. Carolina Panthers (15)- Vinny Testaverde is immortal.

17. Arizona Cardinals (17)- Bring on Tim Rattay!

18. Detroit Lions (18)- No Clue.

19. Denver Broncos (19)- Javon Walker is out indefinitely. Cutler looks bad. Can't stop the run.

20. Baltimore Ravens (21)- Matt Stover is their biggest scoring threat...hmmm.

21. Cleveland Browns (24)- Interesting squad. They will get a reality check soon.

22. Minnesota Vikings (25)- Adrian is a freak. Let's see how he fares against the Dallas D.

23. Cincinnati Bengals (20)- This team is bad. They will be terrible if they lose to the Jets.

24. New York Jets (22)- Still no Kellen?

25. Oakland Raiders (23)- Ehhh...they're decent.

26. New Orleans Saints (30)- Improving...but they have to beat Atlanta.

27. Kansas City Chiefs (28)- Deceivingly decent.

28. San Francisco 49ers (26)- They will get their butts kicked Sunday.

29. Buffalo Bills (29)- Boring.

30. Atlanta Falcons (27)- Finally...BYRON!

31. Miami Dolphins (31)- They have to win eventually...

32. St. Louis Rams (32)- They have to win eventually...

That does it for my updated Power Rankings. PLEASE, share your thoughts. Either comment or e-mail: chris@3rdandlongblog.com

Peace,

3rd and Long

3rd and Long Power Rankings for Week 6

Here are my updated Power Rankings...

1. New England Patriots (1)- Still dominant. They have a big test in Dallas this weekend.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2)- Without five starters they still beat Tampa Bay 33-14. As long as they have Peyton, they will win a lot.

3. Dallas Cowboys (3)- Hmmm...that was ugly and beautiful at the same time. Romo got a reality check. They need to step it up at home against New England.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers (5)- The Steelers showed the AFC's superiority in their 21-0 shutout of Seattle.

5. Seattle Seahawks (4)- Still one of the best teams in the NFC.

6. Jacksonville Jaguars (8)- They're progressing fine on the offensive side of the ball and the defense is still great. They should get a nice division win over Houston this week.

7. Green Bay Packers (6)- Not having a running game caught up with them against the Bears. You have to be able to sit on a 10 point lead.

8. San Diego Chargers (16)- They finally looked like last year's team. Nice and much needed 41-3 victory over Denver.

9. Tennessee Titans (9)- Definitely their worst game of the season against Atlanta, but Vince is a winner.

10. Washington Redskins (12)- Big test against Green Bay this weekend. I think they can pull it off.

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7)- Even though they took a beating, they're still a pretty good team. Still need to find stability in the backfield.

12. Houston Texans (10)- Kris Brown for MVP!!!

13. Philadelphia Eagles (13)- Just had a much needed bye week. Good chance to heal up, regroup and prepare for the Jets.

14. New York Giants (14)- Nice victory over the Jets. Offense looks good. Defense looks good. We'll see if they can keep it up in Monday Night showdown in Atlanta.

15. Carolina Panthers (15)- Vinny Testaverde to the rescue!

16. Chicago Bears (21)- Huge victory at Green Bay. Still have some offensive issues.

17. Arizona Cardinals (18)- Leinart is gone for the season. Kurt Warner will set in. This should be interesting.

18. Detroit Lions (11)- I'm speechless.

19. Denver Broncos (17)- Way too many offensive issues to win consistently. Maybe this bye week will help.

20. Cincinnati Bengals (20)- They couldn't be more excited to play a banged up Damon Huard and LJ.

21. Baltimore Ravens (19)- Horrendous offense. Declining defense. Please bench McNair.

22. New York Jets (22)- K - E - L - L - E - N. KELLEN KELLEN KELLEN!

23. Oakland Raiders (24)- I think they can compete against San Diego and yes, they are first in the AFC West.

24. Cleveland Browns (25)- This team isn't that bad. They should beat Miami and improve to .500.

25. Minnesota Vikings (26)- They need a couple years and a couple wide receivers.

26. San Francisco 49ers (29)- Too many offensive woes.

27. Atlanta Falcons (27)- Joey or Byron? Please decide, this isn't college.

28. Kansas City Chiefs (28)- They're just flat out terrible.

29. Buffalo Bills (30)- I know they almost beat Dallas, but their offense only scored three points.

30. New Orleans Saints (23)- They have to win eventually...

31. Miami Dolphins (31)- They have to win eventually...

32. St. Louis Rams (32)- They have to win eventually...don't they?


That does it for my updated Power Rankings. PLEASE, share your thoughts. Either comment or e-mail: chris@3rdandlongblog.com

Peace,

3rd and Long

College picks...

Will it be Saturday loaded with upsets? This has been a crazy year so far. There are quite a few upset opportunities tomorrow including Mizzou at Oklahoma and LSU at Kentucky just to name a few. Hopefully, it will be a good day of football. (As I am writing this, Hawaii is losing 35-21 in the 4th quarter. Another possible upset.)

Now on to the picks...

Purdue @ Michigan.

-Play Purdue +5.5 for 20 units

Virginia Tech @ Duke.

-Play Duke +14.5 for 20 units

Washington State @ Oregon.

-Play Oregon -19 for 20 units

Boston College @ Notre Dame.

-Play BC -14 for 30 units

Missouri @ Oklahoma.

-Play Over 61 for 20 units

Oregon State @ California.

-Play Over 57 for 20 units

Let's get another winning Saturday. Enjoy.

Peace,

3rd and Long

College picks...

This is going to be quick...

Here are my picks for tomorrow.

Wisconsin @ Illinois (-3)

-Play Illinois -3 for 20 units

Kansas @ Kansas State (-3)

-Play Kansas State -3 (buy the hook) for 30 units

Georgia (-1) @ Tennessee

-Play Georgia -1 for 20 units

Colorado (-9) @ Baylor

-Play Colorado -9 for 30 units

Ohio State (-7) @ Purdue

-Play Ohio State -7 for 30 units

Nebraska @ Missouri (-6)

-Play Missouri -6 for 20 units

Should be a good day...

Peace,

3rd and Long

3rd and Long Power Rankings for Week 5

Pretty crazy weekend. Five of the top 10 college teams lost. I thought OU was untouchable and they lost on a last second field goal to Colorado. Florida lost in the the swamp to an Auburn team that until Saturday, could barely get a first down. USC squeaked by Washington and the greatness of Jake Locker. Texas lost, Rutgers lost...heck, half the teams in the nation lost! (I thought it was funny.) It was a Saturday to remember. Alright, on to my post Week 4 Power Rankings.

1. New England Patriots (1)- Still unbelievably good. They embarrassed Cincy.

2. Indianapolis Colts (2)- Peyton is one of a kind. The Colts are unbeatable in September.

3. Dallas Cowboys (4)- Pay Romo. If you haven't seen Romo's 4 yard run that was really 37 yards, check it out.

4. Seattle Seahawks (5)- They played very well in their victory over division-foe San Francisco.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers (3)- Yet another victim of a former coordinator versus former team. They're still a top tier team.

6. Green Bay Packers (7)- How are they 4-0? You tell me. Great D, no running game.

7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13)- This is an interesting team. They looked great in their victory over Carolina. We'll see how they do against Indy.

8. Jacksonville Jaguars (10)- They had a bye in Week 4. David Garrard looks pretty good. Nice D. They have a good matchup against KC this weekend.

9. Tennessee Titans (14)- They also had a bye. Tennessee has a game this weekend that they should win against Atlanta. If they want to be a playoff contender, they need to win games like this.

10. Houston Texans (18)- I know they lost to Atlanta, but they were pretty banged up. The Texans have a chance to be decent this year.

11. Detroit Lions (21)- Very soft D, but an amazing offense. They hung 37 on the Bears, 34 of those points were scored in the 4th quarter alone.

12. Washington Redskins (19)- This team has some potential. We'll see how they fair against Detriot. Good test for the D.

13. Philadelphia Eagles (9)- Wow. How bad did they look Sunday? The O-line got owned and Donovan looked very immobile.

14. New York Giants (17)- They're a weird team. I can't tell if they're good or bad.

15. Carolina Panthers (16)- David Carr is not what this team needs. Hopefully, Delhomme is back soon.

16. San Diego Chargers (8)- Who do you blame more, Norv Turner or A.J. Smith? I say A.J. Why fire a 14-2 head coach?

17. Denver Broncos (11)- Cutler isn't performing like he should be. They have an interesting game against San Diego this weekend.

18. Arizona Cardinals (25)- This D is very underrated. They should win this against a injury plagued Rams team.

19. Baltimore Ravens (6)- This offense looks bad and the D isn't as dominant as they have been in recent years.

20. Cincinnati Bengals (12)- Very dysfunctional. Poor D and regressing O.

21. Chicago Bears (15)- This D looks a little slow this year. Grossman. Griese. Maybe it's time for Kyle Orton.

22. New York Jets (20)- Is this the same Thomas Jones that was on the Bears last year?

23. New Orleans Saints (22)- Hmmm. Maybe they can turn it around after a bye week. Maybe...

24. Oakland Raiders (28)- Daunte's knee looked healed. He was good on the ground, but a little rusty through the air.

25. Cleveland Browns (31)- Bring back Frye! This team looks too good with Derek Anderson. Every Cowboy fan knows what I'm talking about.

26. Minnesota Vikings (23)- Great job drafting Adrian Peterson, but someone needs to teach this guy how to not take so many hard hits.

27. Atlanta Falcons (29)- Joey looked productive. Wow. Joey Harrington, I'd like you to meet Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch.

28. Kansas City Chiefs (32)- They beat the Chargers. Hmmm.

29. San Francisco 49ers (27)- I know Alex Smith has struggled, but this team has no chance with Trent Dilfer.

30. Buffalo Bills (30)- Trent Edwards, meet DeMarcus Ware. Wait...I already used that one.

31. Miami Dolphins (26)- This team looks old.

32. St. Louis Rams (24)- Wow. This team is one big fantasy blunder.

That does it for my updated Power Rankings. Please, share your thoughts. Either comment or e-mail: chris@3rdandlongblog.com

Peace,

3rd and Long

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