2009 NFL Power Rankings: Week 2

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Total Pro Sports - Look away now if tight defensive tussles are what rock your NFL boat. Week 2 just ended and points were the medicine of choice after a flat week 1; 8 teams broached 30 points, 9 matchups saw more than 45 points be scored, 2 running backs ran north of 200 yards and Kurt Warner broke the NFL record for completion percentage.

More offense than week 1, but there was the same prevailing theme: contenders dissapointing. Philadelphia, New England and Green Bay all faltered and took a backward step in their campaign to stamp authority on the NFL.

Player of the Week

Darrelle Revis - In the last 2 weeks Revis has lined up opposite Andre Johnson and Randy Moss, both locks in anyone's top 3 NFL receivers list. Johnson: 4 for 35. Moss: 4 for 24. Aged just 24, Revis has put the league on notice that if you're throwing his way, you're throwing to nigh on the best defensive back in the league.

Under the Radar Performance of the Week

Fred Jackson - David Diehl keeping DeMarcus Ware at bay deserves an honourable mention, but in 2 games Jackson has picked up 320 total yards and a TD, presenting an interesting dilemma to Dick Jauron who will see his provisional number 1 Marshawn Lynch return after week 3.

The Biggest Movers and Shakers

The biggest faller, was a winning team. How does that happen? Well, failing to beat the lowly Rams will do that to ya Washington.

San Francisco move up 6 slots after proving they're for real. Beating Arizona peaked our interest, crumpling Seattle affirmed our interest, but winning at Minnesota would call for a serious rethink of how we view the 49ers as a force in the NFC.

Here's how the rest of the NFL played itself out in week 2:

Rank	Record	Change	Comment
1	2-0	-	Everytime you think Eli Manning is a decent quarterback he burns you with a horrible underthrow or brutal innacurracy. Luckily for the Giants he put it together when it mattered, marching New York down the field for a game winning walkoff field goal. Up Next: @Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2	1-1	-	The Steelers lack an explosive offense and their run game is nowhere right now (Parker squeezed 29 yards from 13 carries) so they need their bread and butter defense and special teams to pull them through. The former is hurting without Polamalu, whilst the latter cost them the game as Jeff Reed missed 2 easy field goals on their final 2 drives. Up Next: @Cincinnati Bengals
3	1-1	-	Erm... Philly got straight up dummied. Kevin Kolb fell away badly after an impressive first quarter and Drew Brees totally outclassed their secondary despite Philly managing pretty good pressure all day. Up Next: Kansas City Chiefs
4	2-0	1	Ray Rice (8 for 36) is still waiting to put up good numbers against a defense not classed as abysmal, whilst their defense gave up multiple big plays - the tell tell sign of age affecting play. Up Next: Cleveland Browns
5	2-0	2	I tried not to read too much into their result last week since it was against Detroit, but rolling into #3 ranked Philadelphia and putting up close close to a half century of points is ridiculous. Drew Brees is untouchable right now, and he finally has the supporting cast to make a run at the Super Bowl. Up Next: @Buffalo Bills
6	2-0	-	Ronnie Brown: 24 for 136. Ricky Williams: 19 for 69. Same old problem stopping the run, same old Peyton Manning; 303 yards and a game winning drive. What more can you say? Up Next: @Arizona Cardinals
7	1-1	3	The modified West Coast system New England runs relies on short routes opening up the game for shots downfield. Without Welker the short game was lacking, and Tom Brady never got the time to go deep thanks to a porous and againg line. The Pats look long in the tooth. Up Next: Atlanta Falcons
8	1-1	1	San Diego should have won this game, but with zilch interior run game they faltered in the redzone and made some bonehead plays to boot. Legedu Naanee unsuccessfully tried to turn an easy 1st down into more, leaving San Diego requiring a 4th down conversion to win and 1 poor playcall later (yet another failed interior run), Baltimore sealed a 31-26 victory. Up Next: Miami Dolphins
9	2-0	3	We all know that the Jets are Baltimore 2009 edition; conservative offense, big run game and clampdown D, the big question is if Rex Ryan puts the ball in his hands can Mark Sanchez make the step from game manager to game winner. Up Next: Tennessee Titans
10	0-2	-	You know in the movies when the cop tells the woman her husband was just killed and she stumbles about in denial muttering "no... no... he's not dead"? "Albert Haynesworth is gone. I'm sorry to say you can't use 4 man rushes anymore Mr. Fisher". "No... no... I can... I'll show you!" Up Next: @New York Jets
11	1-1	3	Urgh! The Packers had a chance to take a stranglehold on the unruly NFC North with a string of early season wins, but all that hot preseason momentum was killed on Sunday as they succummbed to a mediocre Cincinnati. They might have a new system, but the same underlying problems of 2008 reared their head as Cedric Benson managed an easy 141 yards. Up Next: @St. Louis Rams
12	1-1	1	Removing his three homerun plays (57, 69 and 91) the Texans only gave up 67 yards to Chris Johnson and 147 to Kerry Collins, which isn't that bad. Yeah... they should probably just stick to offense. Up Next: Jacksonville Jaguars
13	1-1	2	I talked about the good, the bad and the ugly of Jay Cutler last week, so it was apropos that he should put in a very mature performance in a game Chicago probably should of lost had it not been for Jeff Reed muffing a pair of late field goals. Up Next: @Seattle Seahawks
14	2-0	-	Whilst other good teams falter, Atlanta make it 2 from 2. They're a well rounded team that's solid in all departments, but against top opposition (New England week 3, the Giants week 7, New Orleans week they may be exposed. Up Next: @New England Patriots
15	1-1	1	It took 1 and a half games for the Dallas defense to finally wake up but unfortunately it was half a game too late as 3 really poor Tony Romo turnovers gifted New Yorrk 21 points (despite an Yves Lavigne-esque early stoppage negating a Giants defensive touchdown). Wade Phillips needs to wake up and realise that Dallas have 3 great running backs, a patchy quarterback and nothing at receiver, and then gameplan accordingly. Up Next: Carolina Panthers
16	2-0	1	Dallas lose and go up, the Vikes win and go down. How does that work? Well, Power Rankings are not so much about what you do, but how you do it. Surrendering over 100 yards is uncharacteristic, 15 carries for the best player in football is down right criminal and afterall, I can beat up on Cleveland and Detroit. Up Next: San Francisco 49ers
17	2-0	6	San Francisco are a neat football team, not great, just neat. They said they wanted to run the ball hard and play solid defense and that's what they're doing, a tactic which funnels the football towards their two biggest assets Frank Gore and Patrick Willis. Mike Singletary has created a gameplan and he's executing well, many far more experienced coaches would be well served to follow suit. Up Next: @Minnesota Vikings
18	1-1	-	Corner Josh Wilson, Lofa Tatupu, Matt Hasselbeck, Ben Obamanu and Sean Locklear (plaing in reserve for the injured Walter Jones) all went down Sunday in their loss to "division" rivals San Francisco. Injuries, Julius Jones looking terrible and a loss. What is this? 2008?! Up Next: @Chicago Bears
19	0-2	-	Carolina are in freefall right now; they can't stop the run and Delhomme looks a liability whenever they go to the air. They need to get back to what they do best and run the ball behind their outstanding offensive line. 16 carries and 3 catches for 08's hottest commodity is suicide. Up Next: @Dallas Cowboys
20	1-1	-	The NFC West is looking worse than ever before, so you can't rule Arizona out. With that being said, they put up points on a terrible Jacksonville. So what? That doesn't erase the hiding San Francisco gave them week 1. Up Next: Indianapolis Colts
21	1-1	4	As I said last week, there is a nucleus of a good football team in Washington, but they're struggling to find consistency from play-to-play let alone from one game to the next. The Rams shouldn't have been this much hard work. Up Next: @Detroit Lions
22	0-2	1	Indianapolis ran 13 plays in the second half and had the ball for a record low 14.53 all game. Despite having all the possession, Miami couldn't get it done because honestly, they lack playmakers at every position. When they needed a big third down conversion, they fell short. When they needed an efficient final drive, they looked bloated and underpowered. This game was there for the taking. Up Next: @San Diego Chargers
23	1-1	1	Antwan Odom totalled a ridiculous 5 sacks on Sunday as he exploited an injured/untalented Green Bay tackle position. The defense is solid, and the offense is slowly returning. Last week I gave the Bengals 1 last weekk to attone, attone they did against top opposition. Up Next: Pittsburgh Steelers
24	1-1	2	Man... how unbelievably bad is JaMarcus Russell? Russell connected on just 7 of his 24 pass attempts and 5 of those completions were on the game winning drive. Oakland's 13-10 win was the epitomy of 'limping home'. Up Next: Denver Broncos
25	1-1	2	Trent Edwards looked incredibly streaky against Tampa. One drive he was 6 for 6 and looking tight despite being stuck behind a horrible o-line that lost another "starter" due to injury. The next, he's underthrowing Lee Evans and on the brink of an INT. There could be 5 first round QBs in next year's draft and I expect Buffalo to be amongst the suitors. Up Next: New Orleans Saints
26	2-0	2	I don't know how they're doing it, but Denver are winning games. Kyle Orton only completed 51% of his passes, again, I have no idea how they're winning. I'm sure playing against weak sauce opposition must help. Up Next: @Oakland Raiders
27	0-2	1	Byron Leftwich was an absolute disgrace. The time it takes for him to release the ball has to be a joke, whilst he displayed minimal pocket presence and threw off his back foot countless times. Their defensive line could only muster 2 sacks and they won't face a worse line all year. Up Next: New York Giants
28	0-2	3	Jacksonville have serious problems on defense and their run heavy offense isn't built to chase large point totals. Does. Not. Com-pute. Up Next: @Houston Texans
29	0-2	-	The Chiefs bullied the Raiders piling up 409 total yards to Oakland's 166. Unfortunately they were horrible on 3rd down and their 11 drives ended in the following: Cassel incomplete, punt. Cassel incomplete, field goal. Failed wildcat, punt. Underthrown pass, punt. Do I need to continue? The Chiefs have a little bit of life but need serious improvements. Up Next: @Philadelphia Eagles
30	0-2	2	Talk about false hope. The Rams hung in this game but stopped up 2 points short of Washington's lofty total of 9. Steven Jackson: good. Marc Bulger: bad. Since Jackson is currently healthy, you gotta smoke 'em while you gott'em and give him 25 handoffs. Up Next: Green Bay Packers
31	0-2	-	Detroit have signs of life and they're not absymal offensively so I considered moving them up... then I realised that they haven't won since December 2007. Up Next: Washington Redskins
32	0-2	2	Cleveland are on the floor right now. November 17th was their last offensive touchdown, so yes people, we are just 8 weeks from the saddest anniversary in professional football. Up Next: @Baltimore Ravens