Week 4 NFL Barometer

This week a couple of winless teams that were better than their record got that first win like the Chargers and Vikings. Several undefeated teams like the Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Panthers, and Cardinals got knocked down a peg this week. We are now a few weeks in and teams are gelling into what they will be for the 2008 season. How do our rankers see these teams now after a tumultuous week of teams winning and losing their first games?

After each week of the NFL season, several active Cafe members get together and rank the 32 NFL teams from first to worst. The Barometer is an average of the rankings submitted by these members. To maintain consistency, the high and low scores have been removed.

Rank	Change	TEAM	Avg Rank	C o u g s	L a m b s k i n	J o e l	4 P a c k	h o o k	A m u k	t r e a t
1 (1)		Dallas	1.0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
The Cowboys are making it look all too easy. Could they go undefeated?
2 (4)		NY Giants	3.2	2	3	5	2	2	4	3
The champs are proving last year was not a fluke.
3 (7)		Philadelphia	3.5	5	5	2	3	3	3	4
“Big Ben, meet turf, turf, meet Big Ben” - m16a
4 (6)		Denver	3.8	4	2	6	5	4	2	2
This offense is near impossible to stop, especially fantasy superstar Brandon Marshall.
5 (3)		Green Bay	5.3	7	4	7	6	5	5	5
Aaron Rodgers looked decent against a good defense. Maybe the kid is for real.
6 (2)		Pittsburgh	6.3	6	6	4	4	6	10	6
“Pittsburgh puts the offensive in offensive line.” - steelersfan513
7 (10)		San Diego	7.2	10	9	3	8	8	7	7
The Chargers have been putting up a lot of points; that win-loss ratio should right itself in short order.
8 (11)		Tennessee	8.3	3	12	9	9	9	6	8
Behind a great defense and rookie Chris Johnson, this team hopes a trip to Tampa is in their winter plans.
9 (8)		Indianapolis	10.2	15	8	16	7	7	8	17
At least one more ranker has now seen the light. The Colts are not good, mosty due to having many offensive line injuries. If the Vikings had made a quarterback change one week earlier, the Colts would be 0-3.
10 (12)		Buffalo	10.8	8	13	8	12	14	9	9
The Bills defense and strong running game make them a tough competitor in every game.
11 (13)		New Orleans	11.7	16	11	14	11	11	13	10
Reggie Bush is proving to be tough to contain.
12 (9)		Carolina	12.7	9	10	13	15	17	11	18
The Panthers have relied on their running game in the first couple games. That doesn’t work against the Vikings.
13 (14)		Arizona	14.7	17	16	11	18	13	12	13
Arizona had previously beaten the 49ers and Dolphins. They couldn’t stand up to a tough Redskins team.
14 (17)		Jacksonville	14.7	18	19	15	10	12	19	12
The vuanted Jags running game came to life this week against a very soft Indianapolis team.
15 (5)		New England	14.8	14	7	17	14	10	18	16
“You guys didn’t hear about the secret contest today? Whichever NFL team performed the best impression of Detroit’s Defense this weekend gets a new set of cameras from commisioner Goodell.” - Cleokatrah
16 (19)		Tampa Bay	14.8	11	17	19	13	15	14	14
As long as the Buccaneers keep winning, Griese will be the guy.
17 (21)		Washington	15.8	12	15	10	20	18	15	15
The Redskins aren’t even a shell of the team they looked like in the season opener.
18 (16)		Minnesota	16.2	19	14	12	16	19	17	11
The final score didn’t tell the tale of this game. The Vikings kneeled on the goalline 4 times to give the ball back and could have easily won 27-10 or even 30+ to 10.
19 (22)		Baltimore	19.5	13	21	21	21	23	16	19
The week off gave McGahee a week to heal and the Ravens have a three headed monster at runningback.
20 (18)		Chicago	20.5	22	20	20	19	22	23	20
The Bears defense played it tight for 3 quarters and then let the game slip away in overtime.
21 (15)		NY Jets	21.0	21	18	22	17	21	23	21
Favre, in a typical Favre day, throws several touchdowns and interceptions. Sometimes he wins them, this week he didn’t.
22 (25)		San Francisco	21.8	20	23	23	23	20	22	23
Frank Gore is a beast and JT O’Sullivan is actually a good quarterback. They should easily eclipse their win total of last year.
23 (24)		Seattle	23.0	23	22	24	25	16	20	24
When your best passing option is a rookie TE from a college team that went 3-9 last year, you are in trouble.
24 (26)		Atlanta	24.2	24	26	18	22	28	25	22
Michael Turner got out of LT’s shadow and into the limelight of Hotlanta.
25 (23)		Houston	26.0	25	28	25	26	26	27	25
Matt Schuab has to get it together for the Texans to win any games, Slaton did everything he could.
26 (28)		Cincinnati	26.3	27	25	27	29	24	26	29
What has happened to Carson and Co.
27 (20)		Cleveland	26.5	26	24	28	28	25	28	28
Where did 2007 Derek Anderson go?
28 (29)		Miami	26.5	28	27	26	24	27	29	27
“When the person who made up the word ‘awesome’ first said it, he was looking into the future at this game.” - biju
29 (27)		Oakland	28.5	29	29	30	27	30	24	26
Even though they lost, the Raiders showed good defense and strong running against a good team. In the end, they will win more games than they will lose like that.
30 (30)		Detroit	30.0	30	32	31	30	29	30	30
The end of the Millen era has finally arrived. Can it lead to some wins?
31 (31)		Kansas City	31.0	31	31	29	31	32	31	31
Larry Johnson came alive for the first time in quite awhile, but it still wasn’t enough.
32 (32)		St. Louis	31.8	32	30	32	32	31	32	32
They have one of the best runningbacks in the league, but he can’t carry the team.

Thanks to everyone that helped make these rankings happen!

(4 votes, average: 5 out of 5)  Loading ... Questions or comments for Scott? Post them in the Cafe Forums! Want to see your own fantasy wisdom published? Check out the Cafe's Pencil & Paper section!