2008 NFL Top 12 Power Rankings
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 2:36 pm
Before I begin, if any of you are getting a bit tired of this 'monster' of PRs threads I've created, just say the word and I'll make this the last one I do for a while. They're a bit hard to resist and different than 'what-ifs'. As Chris stated in the '85 one, they simply cause you to look at "what really went on" in a regular season. Quite a few regular seasons sprinkled throughout history where certain playoff teams are debatably lesser than either lower-seeded teams or teams not making the playoffs at all.
2008 is an excellent example as well! Despite everyone knowing who my team is, and what they ultimately ended up accomplishing (and that historic D of theirs; at least statistically), not only will I not place them at #1, but not #2 nor #3 either. G-men being the defending-Champs, even better than they were a year prior (top-seeded 12-4 to wild-card 10-6), and beating Steelers at the Burgh if however barely, ought to place them #1 with everyone myself included. Colts also beat Steelers at Heinz and the top-seed Titans beat them at LP penultimate week albeit Steelers shooting themselves in feet with 4 turnovers to Titans' zero (end of game 83-yard INT-for-TD making score seem more lopsided than it actually was). A win is a win though. Plus, in the only game between the two that mattered (of course not the finale when they already clinched 1st-seed), Tennessee did beat Indy. That ought to give Fisher and the gang the consensus #2.
And then you got another 12-4 team in Carolina along with four 11-5s; one of them, of course, not making the playoffs! All-but-definitely, that Brady-less squad barges into everyone's list and likely finishes above all teams mentioned so far this very paragraph, even division-champ Dolphins. Chargers at 8-8 all-but-definitely boxed-out and that very 9-7 SB-participant-to-be can't feel safe at all! Not only getting slaughtered at snowy Foxboro penultimate week, but letting Favre's Jets put up a 56-burger on them. Not just Mangenius's troops winning that one, but beating the Pats followed immediately by not only averting a 'let-down', but hammering Titans at LP! Is that enough to keep them afloat for that 12-spot despite collapsing down-the-stretch? Not too sure the other 9-7s have a case, or do they? As I mentioned on a previous thread, "The Football Outsiders" FWIW called the 9-6-1 Eagles the best team in 2008 "play-for-play". Beating Steelers & Falcons, Giants on the road, destroying both the Cards and later Dallas in that 'play-in' finale making for some nice artillery in these rankings.
What are your takes? This won't be easy deciding each and every position.
And, again, I'll chill-out a bit if any of you think these PRs are getting to be too much. In fact, I'll ease up a bit even if I don't hear from any of you.
2008 is an excellent example as well! Despite everyone knowing who my team is, and what they ultimately ended up accomplishing (and that historic D of theirs; at least statistically), not only will I not place them at #1, but not #2 nor #3 either. G-men being the defending-Champs, even better than they were a year prior (top-seeded 12-4 to wild-card 10-6), and beating Steelers at the Burgh if however barely, ought to place them #1 with everyone myself included. Colts also beat Steelers at Heinz and the top-seed Titans beat them at LP penultimate week albeit Steelers shooting themselves in feet with 4 turnovers to Titans' zero (end of game 83-yard INT-for-TD making score seem more lopsided than it actually was). A win is a win though. Plus, in the only game between the two that mattered (of course not the finale when they already clinched 1st-seed), Tennessee did beat Indy. That ought to give Fisher and the gang the consensus #2.
And then you got another 12-4 team in Carolina along with four 11-5s; one of them, of course, not making the playoffs! All-but-definitely, that Brady-less squad barges into everyone's list and likely finishes above all teams mentioned so far this very paragraph, even division-champ Dolphins. Chargers at 8-8 all-but-definitely boxed-out and that very 9-7 SB-participant-to-be can't feel safe at all! Not only getting slaughtered at snowy Foxboro penultimate week, but letting Favre's Jets put up a 56-burger on them. Not just Mangenius's troops winning that one, but beating the Pats followed immediately by not only averting a 'let-down', but hammering Titans at LP! Is that enough to keep them afloat for that 12-spot despite collapsing down-the-stretch? Not too sure the other 9-7s have a case, or do they? As I mentioned on a previous thread, "The Football Outsiders" FWIW called the 9-6-1 Eagles the best team in 2008 "play-for-play". Beating Steelers & Falcons, Giants on the road, destroying both the Cards and later Dallas in that 'play-in' finale making for some nice artillery in these rankings.
What are your takes? This won't be easy deciding each and every position.
And, again, I'll chill-out a bit if any of you think these PRs are getting to be too much. In fact, I'll ease up a bit even if I don't hear from any of you.
But if you decide to take a break I won't be heartbroken.