NFL Power Rankings, Week Two: Would ESPN, CBS, SB Nation Do Better Wearing Blindfolds?

by David Fucillo on Sep 14, 2011 6:01 AM PDT in San Francisco 49ers News

Later today, 49ers players begin their preparations for Sunday's showdown with the Dallas Cowboys. Since the 49ers wrapped up their victory over the Seahawks last weekend, one of the prominent topics for Jim Harbaugh has been the lack of respect the 49ers have gotten in the media. He also expressed the point that the 49ers can't whine about it, but rather need to do something about it. The motivational speeches are apparently ready and rolling.

In the meantime, we've got the latest power rankings for your entertainment and amusement. Everybody and their brother comes out with power rankings so each week I'll likely just take a look at three: ESPN, CBS Sports, and SB Nation NFL.

As the season moves along we'll see team settle into general ranges of the rankings, but for now I'd argue it's as much a stab in the dark for at least half these teams. Using our 49ers for an example, they rank 19, 20 and 22 in these rankings. Prior to the season those three ranked them 27, 26, 26. I think it's easy to see the pattern following their victory.

After the jump I've posted what each site had to say about the 49ers.

ESPN NFL Power Rankings

22. Two home games to open the season are helpful for new coach Jim Harbaugh.

CBS Sports NFL Power Rankings

20. It's too bad they can't play the Seahawks every week. The offense, especially the passing game, is still a concern.

SB Nation NFL Power Rankings

19. Anything can happen in the NFC West. Even the 49ers winning the division.

It's not exactly jaw-dropping commentary, but national coverage just hits the high or low notes for the most part. For those that are curious, the Cowboys are 13, 12 and 13 in those same rankings.

Both teams fit into the category of hard to assess at this point and really that includes much of the NFL for now. Are the Buffalo Bills really as good as they looked? Are the Chiefs as bad as they looked? We could really ask an endless array of questions about the league at this point. The power rankings don't mean much of anything, but it's still amusing to see how perception fits into reality.

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fox sports (Billick) has us 18th for what that's worth

and the Cowboys 14th

“The 49ers have the most talent in the NFC West, but 209 total yards of offense is not going to win many games. If not for two special-teams touchdowns, the outcome could have been different.”

by MattSFfrd on Sep 14, 2011 6:20 AM PDT reply actions

too early to care

by mrg80 on Sep 14, 2011 6:55 AM PDT reply actions

raiders put 12th

By that Ashley fox the espn analyst, with the other low rankings they still ended up being low but seriously?? She puts the raiders at 12 and she wants to be taken seriously? They barely beat the second worst team in the league last year, she’s a joke

by Clark_Kent on Sep 14, 2011 7:27 AM PDT via iPhone app reply actions

Why couldn’t these rankings be more like SB Nation’s baseball rankings?

If you're watching a blowout, you can pass the time by counting the double teapots.
Samurai Champloo > Macross

by doubleteapot on Sep 14, 2011 7:51 AM PDT reply actions

Nightmare... if Cowboys get ahead of us by 14 points or more

cause Im not convinced the 9ers offense can play catch up, what you say?

by BigMar on Sep 14, 2011 7:56 AM PDT reply actions

I hope they do, I want to see the 49ers cut loose and see what they have.

by whistlingmountain on Sep 14, 2011 8:04 AM PDT up reply actions

Personally I wouldn't go so far as to say I hope they are 14 points down to the Cowboys ever.

But I also hope they cut loose.

by madmatt on Sep 14, 2011 9:47 AM PDT up reply actions

The Bills/Chiefs situation is good comedy

but I mean, why do people care about power rankings?

Personal power rankings are good for gamblers as it forces them to recognize all 32 teams.

by whistlingmountain on Sep 14, 2011 8:04 AM PDT reply actions

I'm fine with it

We could be ranked 32nd and I would be ok with it. I’d rather the 49ers fly under the radar anyway. In the past, they have been predicted to win the division and ranked higher up because of it only to fail. Besides, it’s just a few peoples opinion. You know what opinions are like, right?

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." - Barney Stinson

by Haggardninja on Sep 14, 2011 9:18 AM PDT reply actions

hehe everybody has one!

by brundylop on Sep 14, 2011 10:41 AM PDT up reply actions

Power rankings make me think of a line from a U2 song

“A women needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”

No one needs power rankings but that doesn’t stop me from looking at them occasionally.

by madmatt on Sep 14, 2011 9:59 AM PDT reply actions

U2?

It’s a fairly common phrase

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Dunn#cite_note-7

by brundylop on Sep 14, 2011 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions

Well that's the only place I've heard it.

by madmatt on Sep 14, 2011 11:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Sounds like some fairly objective comments.

What would you expect them to say and where do you expect them to place us?

Low 20s is what we realistically project at. Getting above average this year will be overachieving – and would make me happy.

by Mindless on Sep 14, 2011 11:46 AM PDT reply actions

I think the insulting thing is not that the Niners weren't bumped high enough,

but that the Seahawks got moved down to LAST PLACE in many rankings after the loss to the Niners. It wasn’t that convincing of a win, and anyone with half a brain knew the Niners were probably going to win. The fact that the ’Hawks shut our running game down and stayed in the game so long is an indication that they are likely not in the race for Luck, especially since they were without a couple key players in week 1.

If any of you haven’t done so already, I’d encourage you to do some power rankings on your own. It’s interesting to think about what teams you really think the 49ers are better than, and where each team actually ranks in your opinion. For what it’s worth, I had the Niners at 18 and the ‘Boys at 15, although that will probably change if the Niners win this week. It’ll also give you an idea of how tough it is to rank teams, and how there’s a lot of fudging and gut decisions that go into it. I believe there are at least 10 teams worse off than we are, and I’m guessing we’ll be rising in the ranks and settling around 15 on the bye week.

by Rhombus on Sep 14, 2011 12:15 PM PDT reply actions

Also I'd like to say, Don Banks from SI.com is very, very bad at this.

At almost every turn he made horrible decisions, and this isn’t a homer thing.

Putting the Jets as 3rd in the league after scraping a win against a middling team?

Texans not cracking the top ten?

Redskins at 13 for beating the Giants??

Arizona going up 5 spots for what, barely scraping out a win against one of the worst teams in the league, and allowing a rookie to pass for over 400 yards?

Dolphins losing a spot in ranking because they lost to one of the best teams in the league, and looked decent (at least offensively) doing so?

Saying the Bengals may “author the league’s most surprising 2-0 start” by beating the Browns and the Broncos, possibly the #31 and #32 teams in the league?

Raiders at 17 for eking out a win against the Broncos?

I could go on, but I’m going to stop there. It’s just, these people are paid to do this sort of thing. I know rankings are absurd, but at least put some effort into it.

Here’s the link.

by Rhombus on Sep 14, 2011 12:31 PM PDT reply actions

So after explaining that

You want me to follow the link? I think you’ve done the work for me :).

Main ones that stick out to me are the Redskins. And then obviously the Cardinals, just terrible they’d be higher than the 9ers. At least 2 out of 3 units showed they can play at an NFL level, not sure the Cardinals showed much of anything. Same with the Rams (with all their injuries), it seems for those teams he ignored their performances and went off preseason thoughts/expectations, but for the 9ers he saw a somewhat sputtering offense and weighed it quite heavily.

by Virginia9er on Sep 14, 2011 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Wait a minute ... you have to understand Don Banks' world ...

for him (and many others like him), the western edge of the United States stops at about Cleveland, maybe even Pittsburgh. The “real United States” is composed of New York, New Jersey, Mass., Conn., Pennsylvania, and D.C.. Then there’s the hinterlands … anyplace else that is still east of the Mississippi River. West of the Mississippi? That’s still indian territory! To the born-and-bread east coasters, the importance of ANYTHING is directly proportional to its distance from Central Park, Manhatten, New York City. For the most part, these people have no concept of what a real country is and what it’s composed of.

by 49erFanSince1950 on Sep 14, 2011 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions

rankings and perception

i think either way our perception wont be good for atleast a cpl seasons even if we play well and win our division the fact that we are in the nfc west will plague us even with success. the seahawks won a playoff game but the story was more about the saints losing i think the same thing will apply to the niners say the niners win against the cowboys this weekend the story wont be niners and harbaugh impressive in win against cowboys it will read cowboys 0-2 is it panic time? its just the way the media works i dont think we will get our due until we put together a cpl winning seasons even then our division will be thrown in our faces but all they can do like harbaugh said is “do something about it” but in my opinion even when or if they do something about it we wont be getting the respect deserved until we give them no other option.

by mikec49 on Sep 14, 2011 2:19 PM PDT reply actions

Depends on how we get the wins.

Winning the division isn’t enough: we have to win outside the division on some consistent basis. If we beat DAL or the seahawks beat PIT, then the national media will be all over how they’re on the way down and ignore the NFC West. However, if we beat Dallas and the Eagles, the attention will start going our way.

by Rhombus on Sep 14, 2011 3:37 PM PDT up reply actions