2008 NFL Week 8 Barometer

There was really only one or two games this week had a huge impact on the rankings. St. Louis has won two straight and are dominating teams that they had no business even beating. If anyone had said 3 weeks ago that The Rams would destroy the Cowboys in week 7, people would have laughed. Fast forward a few weeks and Brad Johnson is throwing interception after interception and The ‘Boys have free fallen down the rankings. Just how far did they fall? How much did the Rams move up? Our rankers have an opinion on that.

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	h o o k	J o e l	A m u k	4 P a c k	t r e a t	D - L a m b	J a s o n
1 (1)		Tennessee	1.6	1	1	1	2	3	2	1	1
What a juggernaut of a one-two running back punch.
2 (2)		NY Giants	2.4	3	3	2	1	1	1	3	2
The Champs got back on the winning track this week after getting destroyed last Monday night. Next week they have a tough matchup against the 5-1 Steelers.
3 (3)		Pittsburgh	3.0	2	2	3	5	2	3	2	3
The Steelers got a great game from Mewelde Moore and easily beat the winless Bengals.
4 (7)		Buffalo	4.8	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	4
The Bills return from their bye with a healthy Trent Edwards and win to stay a game ahead of the Patriots in the AFC East.
5 (5)		Washington	6.0	5	6	5	3	4	5	5	6
Jason Campbell still has not thrown an interception this year. That is playing a big factor in why Washington is 5-2.
6 (11)		Carolina	8.0	7	11	6	7	6	7	6	7
The Panthers highly ranked pass defense did a fairly good job at stopping Drew Brees. This week they get another tough test in Kurt Warner and the Arizona passing game.
7 (12)		Tampa Bay	8.8	6	5	8	12	7	6	12	5
The Buccaneers are quitely playing some dominating football right now.
8 (4)		San Diego	12.6	8	14	7	15	11	11	11	8
This team is so hit and miss. It must be an AFC West thing.
9 (10)		Philadelphia	12.6	17	7	9	6	8	9	15	15
The Eagles took the week off and fell even farther behind in their division.
10 (14)		Green Bay	12.8	9	9	13	17	10	12	9	11
The Packers defense made the Colts offense look abysmal.
11 (6)		Dallas	14.2	13	12	17	10	13	10	13	9
“This just in. Reports that Brad Johnson was a decent QB were greatly exaggerated.” – tbagz
12 (17)		Chicago	14.8	10	17	15	9	9	13	10	18
“The Monsters of the Midway bring back memories of the Days of Ditka and Sweetness, scoring more points than any game in the last 22 years while defeating division rival Minnesota. QB Orton has seized control and made this his team, while rookie RB Forte has provided a long-missing spark to the running game.” – knapplc
13 (15)		Arizona	15.6	14	10	16	11	15	14	7	14
“Sarah Palin is a Vice-Presidential nominee, The Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series, and the Arizona Cardinals are the class of their division and a legitimate contender in the NFC. What’s next? Locusts? Frogs? Drew Rosenhaus taking a vow of silence?” – Kilroy
14 (13)		New Orleans	17.0	19	18	11	8	17	8	19	12
Losing Reggie Bush is a huge hit to this potent offense. It’s crazy to think Drew Brees might have to pass more now. This week the Saints lose a home game to play in London where Brees will face his former team for the first time.
15 (8)		Indianapolis	17.6	15	13	18	14	16	16	14	10
Manning and company couldn’t keep that magic from last week going. It’s weird that a game with an offensive outburst of scoring is the “fluke” game for the Colts this year.
16 (9)		Denver	17.8	12	16	19	13	18	17	8	13
Another hit and miss team, There are two games they could have, and probably should have lost. They could very well be 2-5 right now.
17 (18)		New England	18.2	11	15	12	21	12	18	18	16
The 2008 Patriots did their best impression of the 2007 Patriots on Monday night.
18 (16)		Jacksonville	19.0	18	8	14	18	14	15	16	19
The Jaguars got the week off and now it’s Maurice Jones-Drew’s time to shine.
19 (19)		Atlanta	21.4	16	21	10	19	19	19	17	17
Matt Ryan and company took the week off and are set to face a good Eagles team.
20 (21)		Minnesota	24.6	20	20	21	20	21	20	24	21
“Fire Chilly.” – treat24 “Every year is the year the Vikings break it big, until we find out a few weeks in they are broken down.” – Jason X
21 (20)		NY Jets	25.6	22	19	19	24	23	21	23	20
An amazing game out of Thomas Jones just wasn’t enough to get the Jets by the Raiders.
22 (22)		Baltimore	25.6	21	23	24	16	20	22	20	22
Other teams need to start putting bounties out on the Ravens players. Unsportsmanlike headhunting comments have been coming out of Baltimore for way too long.
23 (24)		Houston	27.2	23	22	27	23	22	23	21	23
Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson, and Steve Slaton are becoming one heck of a nucleus in Houston.
24 (23)		Miami	28.8	25	24	25	22	24	25	22	24
Just when you think Miami just might be turning things around, they play a game like this.
25 (29)		St. Louis	30.4	27	25	22	26	25	24	25	27
The Rams have won 2 in a row and just demolished a faltering Dallas team.
26 (25)		Cleveland	31.4	24	26	26	28	27	26	26	26
“Kellen Winslow revealed late Sunday that his “mystery illness” was a staph infection, making him the 2,347th Browns player to contract one. Seriously, fellas….Lysol. Ever heard of it?” – Kilroy
27 (26)		San Francisco	32.8	29	28	23	29	28	27	27	25
Nolan gets fired after the 49ers lose to the 5-1 Superbowl Champions and Frank Gore averaged 1 yard per carry.
28 (28)		Oakland	32.8	26	27	29	25	26	28	29	28
The Raiders run game looked great on Sunday and Javon Walker finally found the endzone for the first time in a Raiders uniform.
29 (27)		Seattle	34.2	28	29	28	27	29	29	28	29
“Long gone are the days the ‘Hawks could look forward to divisional games to pad their record – now, Seattleites simply hope for a rule change allowing the scheduling the Detroit and Kansas City every week. Any way they can play the Huskies and Cougars?” – WaCougMBS
30 (30)		Kansas City	36.2	30	31	30	32	30	30	30	30
They keep suspending their running game. Justly so, but they can’t really be upset about their record. Tony Gonzalez had more receiving yards last week than any of the 3 Kansas City quarterbacks had passing.
31 (31)		Cincinnati	37.2	31	30	31	30	32	32	31	31
Better than their record, but not by much.
32 (32)		Detroit	38.0	32	32	32	31	31	31	32	32
Ten games away from perfection.

Legend: Cougs = WaCougMBS hook = utility-hook Joel = joelamosobadiah Amuk = Amuk 4Pack = 4Pack treat = treat24 D-Lamb = Dan Lambskin Jason = Jason X

Thanks to everyone who helped make these rankings happen! If you would like to help with the rankings and give your own input as to where teams should be ranked you can do so here each week!

 
Scott is one of the growing number of fantasy experts who writes for the Cafe. He has been playing fantasy football since 1992 and and is now a hardcore fantasy football addict who lives at the Cafe. Seriously, he has a cot in back. You can find Scott posting in the Cafe forums as treat24.
 

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