Team Rankings

A lot has changed in the NFL since New England defeated Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Patriots have to compensate for the loss of two key coaches, while the Eagles are coming off an off-season worthy of a day-time soap. Meanwhile, the league’s other thirty teams are all itching for a chance to knock the defending conference champions off their perches. Which teams will be contenders this season, and which will be mere pretenders?

We asked ten Cafe members who know their football to preview the upcoming season for us by ranking the NFL’s 32 teams from worst to first. Combining these rankings allows us to take an early look at each team’s prospects for the 2005 NFL campaign.

Average rank indicates the average of the scores assigned to a team by each person; the lower, the better. Each ranker’s individual list can be seen in the ten columns at the right.

TEAM	Avg Rank	m s b	m o o c h	T u r n	k a s h	Z i m m	S w i p e	m a d d	M C G	p o r t	M e r c
New England	1.13	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1
Philadelphia	2.25	2	4	1	2	3	4	2	1	2	2
Indianapolis	3.13	5	2	7	3	2	2	3	3	3	4
Pittsburgh	3.88	3	3	3	4	4	5	7	5	4	3
Baltimore	5.38	4	5	10	6	8	3	4	4	6	6
San Diego	7.38	13	6	12	7	6	8	5	6	7	7
Atlanta	8.13	7	7	23	5	7	6	18	10	5	5
Carolina	8.63	6	8	4	13	10	9	6	11	9	10
Minnesota	9.50	9	10	19	10	5	15	8	7	8	9
New York Jets	10.00	11	9	13	9	9	10	10	12	10	8
Kansas City	10.38	10	17	11	8	13	7	9	9	12	11
Denver	12.75	8	11	14	11	11	14	26	13	16	12
Cincinnati	13.13	12	16	8	14	12	13	11	14	13	16
Seattle	13.50	15	13	6	16	14	11	12	18	14	13
Buffalo	15.88	20	20	9	12	16	20	15	8	23	15
Detroit	16.25	14	12	25	17	18	16	14	15	18	18
Jacksonville	17.88	22	14	20	22	15	12	20	19	11	21
St. Louis	18.38	16	15	18	23	17	17	25	20	19	17
Dallas	19.00	17	19	15	19	22	19	13	21	25	20
New Orleans	19.88	18	21	17	18	23	25	21	22	17	19
Oakland	20.25	21	24	29	20	19	23	16	17	15	22
Green Bay	20.25	23	18	28	15	21	21	24	16	24	14
Arizona	22.00	19	23	30	25	24	18	19	23	20	23
Houston	22.50	24	25	16	21	20	22	22	25	21	27
Tampa Bay	23.88	25	27	5	26	25	24	17	28	22	25
New York Giants	25.50	29	28	21	24	27	26	23	26	26	24
Washington	27.50	28	22	26	28	26	28	29	30	27	26
Chicago	28.00	26	29	27	29	28	27	30	24	29	29
Miami	29.13	27	30	24	31	29	31	27	31	28	30
Tennessee	29.25	31	26	22	30	30	29	32	29	31	28
Cleveland	29.75	30	31	32	27	31	30	28	27	30	31
San Francisco	31.88	32	32	31	32	32	32	31	32	32	32

Legend
msb = mutantseabass
mooch = moochman
Turn = Turnip
kash = kashikis
Zimm = M_Zimm
Swipe = SwiperNoSwiping
madd = maddog60
MCG = MCG321
port = portisfan24
Merc = Mercer Boy

Thanks as always to the football experts who contributed to these rankings!