NFL Power Rankings, What a Sham!

Once again, and to absolutely no surprise, the Buccaneers are discarded to the bottom of the pile from another NFL analyst. Gil Brandt, a senior analyst at NFL.com, released his Power Rankings  for this year's NFL. Just a quick glance and you'll see the normal NFL darlings all ranked at the top.

Apparently, in his infamous wisdom, Brandt can see no draw backs to the New Orleans Saints off season and has ranked them 7th in the league:

" Obviously, this is entirely predicated on Drew Brees being behind center. Without him, this team is almost unrecognizable. That being said, I was extremely impressed with the Saints' focus during the practices I attended last week. This group's doing a remarkable job of handling a traumatic offseason. The Saints boast one of the NFL's young stars of the future in tight end Jimmy Graham and a huge matchup problem in running back Darren Sproles. The defense must be better than it was in 2011, though, and I think it will. It's a more sound approach under Steve Spagnuolo -- no more reckless blitzing like under Gregg Williams. One player who could break out: second-year hybrid defender Martez Wilson."


Brandt ranks the Atlanta Falcons as 11th in the league:

"Change is afoot in Atlanta with two new coordinators: Dirk Koetter on offense, Mike Nolan on defense, both upgrades for the Falcons. Matt Ryan needs to take that next step for his team to follow suit. This is a make-or-break season for tackle Sam Baker. Defensively, the Falcons still need to find a rusher. John Abraham turned 34 last month and Ray Edwards just isn't the impact player the Falcons thought they'd signed last offseason."


And Brandt ranks the Carolina Panthers as 18th in the league:

"Can Cam Newton improve from his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2011? The answer is yes. He'll be better with a year under his belt and a full offseason. Newton's dedication to the game is reminiscent of Peyton Manning -- he's always looking for ways to improve. The Panthers need to improve their defense, though, which ranked 27th in points allowed last year. Luke Kuechly will help, though -- he looks like one of the best linebackers to enter the league in the past five years."


Now of course I listed the teams that are within the NFC South for the purpose of illustrating that in Brandt's opinion, the Buccaneers are at the bottom of the division. But just to carry it a little further, in showing Brandt's opinion of the Buccaneers, he ranks the Miami Dolphins, with no established quarterback, no established wide receiver and only Reggie Bush worth mentioning in the back field, as the 25th ranked team in the league.

"This is the first head-coaching gig of Joe Philbin's career, but I think he's going to be pretty successful. Offensively, the Dolphins lack receivers. (Yes, even after the signing of Chad Ochocinco.) That means they'll need another productive season from running back Reggise Bush. I think they've finally found a quarterback of the future in Ryan Tannehill. Is he good enough to start this year? He just might be, but Miami shouldn't force the issue if he's not ready, as the Dolphins have a capable place holder in Matt Moore."


In Brandt's opinion, or maybe just the mere circumstance that he had gotten to the bottom of his list with all the darlings gone, he ranks the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as 27th in the league. Here is his massive, four-line explanation.

"This is an interesting team with a new coach in Greg Schiano. College coaches have not had a lot of success in the NFL in the past, but I think this one will. The free-agent signings of wide receiver Vincent Jackson and guard Carl Nicks were huge upgrades. But quarterback Josh Freeman must return to 2010 form for this team to compete in a loaded NFC South."

As always, it appears another national pundit has taken the opportunity to regurgitate the common rhetoric, behind the common NFL darlings and post it as their "rankings" once again. As soon as you get past the normal NFL Network's most hyped teams, you are left with four line-filler adds for the remaining black sheep teams. Then there are those teams that are just thrown in to finish the list, in no particular order, with a few sentences behind them, in a cheesy attempt to justify the placement. Outstanding journalism.