ESPN Rankings or weekly proof they are idiots

I have no problem ranking teams at week 0 or week 1 with how they finished last year. I understand coaches, rosters, heck even players change in a few months but week one should be a reminder of what they did at the end of last season. There is no rhyme or reason how ESPN comes up with their rankings other than former players turned staff throwing their biases around and trying to even scores of teams who cut them or didn't bother calling during their FA period. Given that here they are.

1-5:
Seattle
Pitt
Pats
Cards
Panthers

No real problem here. These teams should be good and until they play each other, it's really splitting hairs.

6-10
Packers
Bengals
Broncos
Chiefs
Jets (Lol, jets as a top 10 team. NY bias showing up strong here)

11-15
Raiders (I was at the raider titan game, the titans 1s were whooping the raiders ones in a bad way)
Vikings (replacing starting QB 1 week before the start of the season will have a minimal impact apparently)
Houston
Redskins
Ravens

16-20
Buffalo (the staff at ESPN is currently petitioning the government to remove Buffalo from the state of NY. Just can't spin them)
Giants
Colts
Jags
Lions

21-25
Dolphins
Falcons
Cowboys (dak prescot already better than drew brees and the saints)
Bucs
Eagles (I guess losing Bradford really hurt)

26-30
Chargers
Saints
Rams
Bears
Titans (Mariotta is good. I watched him throw into some really tight spots vs the near top ten raiders. Their o line were blowing the raiders off of the ball. Still trying to figure out how the titans are ranked 30th with a decent running game and QB)

31. Browns (somehow better than the 49ers)

Last but not least, our own 49ers. I would really put us in the middle of the pack until I see how our o line gels with our new QB and offensive scheme. Hard to justify the browns as better than us right now.

? Only thing I can agree with you on is the Titans should be ranked higher. And I would say Ravens should be lower and Houston. Other than that ESPNs picks make sense.

Originally posted by Hysterikal:
? Only thing I can agree with you on is the Titans should be ranked higher. And I would say Ravens should be lower and Houston. Other than that ESPNs picks make sense.

That's cool. I think it will be fun to see how some of our posters feel about teams and how everything turns out by the end of the year.

as a niner fan i wish we are higher but its hard to make an arguement of us being anything but a bottom 3 team as of now

Originally posted by PacTiger:

Originally posted by Hysterikal:

? Only thing I can agree with you on is the Titans should be ranked higher. And I would say Ravens should be lower and Houston. Other than that ESPNs picks make sense.

That's cool. I think it will be fun to see how some of our posters feel about teams and how everything turns out by the end of the year.

Yeah. But plenty of things can change rankings in a heartbeat. Carson Palmer goes down and so do the Cardinals. If Adrian Peterson blows his Achilles and Vikings are ranked 32. Just as far as week 1 power rankings I agree with most of their ranks.

Originally posted by harryj:
as a niner fan i wish we are higher but its hard to make an arguement of us being anything but a bottom 3 team as of now

I agree. And while I can understand being optimistic about various aspects of our team.... it's preseason -- every team has things they are optimistic about.

We can't say "well, if the d-line and o-line gets better and so-and-so develops as expected, we're sitting good", because almost every other team can say the same thing about different aspects/players of their team.

Originally posted by theduke85:

Originally posted by harryj:

as a niner fan i wish we are higher but its hard to make an arguement of us being anything but a bottom 3 team as of now

I agree. And while I can understand being optimistic about various aspects of our team.... it's preseason -- every team has things they are optimistic about.

We can't say "well, if the d-line and o-line gets better and so-and-so develops as expected, we're sitting good", because almost every other team can say the same thing about different aspects/players of their team.

True but the lines are probably some of the most important positions in football and our improvement on them both will be dramatic. So I see the 49ers ranking somewhere between 15 and 20. I don't know what they see in the ravens but oh well

Originally posted by elguapo:

Originally posted by theduke85:

Originally posted by harryj:
as a niner fan i wish we are higher but its hard to make an arguement of us being anything but a bottom 3 team as of now

I agree. And while I can understand being optimistic about various aspects of our team.... it's preseason -- every team has things they are optimistic about.

We can't say "well, if the d-line and o-line gets better and so-and-so develops as expected, we're sitting good", because almost every other team can say the same thing about different aspects/players of their team.

True but the lines are probably some of the most important positions in football and our improvement on them both will be dramatic. So I see the 49ers ranking somewhere between 15 and 20. I don't know what they see in the ravens but oh well

Pump the brakes. Buckner isn't even starting. Our best defensive lineman last year is on injured reserve after playing every game in 2015 (Ian Williams). Armstead should be better, but the defensive line overall isn't much better since we likely got worse at NT.

We replaced Boone and Tiller with Beadles and Davis. That's a downgrade at LG and an upgrade at RG. Kilgore will help for as long as he's healthy, Brown should be a little better, and we have a little more depth, but this still may be a below average line in their first year together. It's certainly not good enough to mask our issues at QB and WR on offense.

We should probably be 31st like we are in most rankings ahead of the Browns. They probably have a little more talent on offense (especially once Josh Gordon comes back), but we have the better defense.

I agree with most of those picks actually. Minnesota has always relied on their running game so losing Teddy won't hurt too much. Although he is better than Bradford.

The Jets are a good team and if Fitzpatrick cuts down on the interceptions and passes for over 30 TDs again they easily get into the playoffs.

Seeing one preseason game doesn't automatically mean the Raiders suck. I think the Raiders compete for a playoff spot this year if their defense holds up.

The Saints are garbage outside of Brees that's why the Cowboys are better. They have more talent.

Eagles are rebuilding so it's no surprise seeing them so low. Probably would have been at the same spot with Bradford.

Titans should be higher. Theyre starting to put pieces together and Mariota is gonna be special.

Browns and 49ers are both garbage so it really doesn't matter who is 31st and who's 32nd.

should ranked in the 20's if we are being objective

Originally posted by elguapo:
True but the lines are probably some of the most important positions in football and our improvement on them both will be dramatic. So I see the 49ers ranking somewhere between 15 and 20. I don't know what they see in the ravens but oh well

the ravens were the most injured team last year they lost 7 offensive starters to IR last year including flacco and they had one of the best drafts

those make sense.

Jets are a strong team, one of the best defenses and their offense is also good, easily top 10.. Titans are also garbage, they have potential to be better, but right now they are still a bad team. Cowboys are a better team than the Saints, their defense is awful and so is their run game. Raiders have a strong defense and offense, even though young, and Vikings have a great defense and a run game. Bridgewater's 14 TDs arent the reason they went to the playoffs last year.

my only issue is that the Bears should be higher and the Dolphins lower.

OP, why are you going at the Jets like that? They were a 10 win team last year that improved on paper. I have seen them ranked anywhere from 10-14 in every power ranking I have seen. Its not just ESPN.

Originally posted by SteveWallacesHelmet:
OP, why are you going at the Jets like that? They were a 10 win team last year that improved on paper. I have seen them ranked anywhere from 10-14 in every power ranking I have seen. Its not just ESPN.

they may ben top 5 if fitz wasnt there best qb