My Power Rankings

[schmitty199]

POWER RANKINGS:

1. Chargers-Just wait till they get Merriman and Castillo back. Great balanced offense, tough run defense, one of the leagues best pass rushes. Secondary can be suspect but all around a great team and legit SB contender.

2.Colts- I would be surprised if they lose another game this year. Most of there tougher games are over with and should run the table and get the 1st seed in the AFC. Even if they get the 1st seed the way the Chargers are playing the Chargers are the best team in the AFC IMO.

3.Bears-Dominating defense with a offense that can score alot of points when grossmans on his game. Spearheaded by a tough running game makes them a team you dont want to play in the playoffs. Argueably the most physical team in the league. Other then the colts the only other team with a chance against them in the playoffs are physical teams like SD, Dallas, Ravens, Patriots. And well thats about it.

4.Cowboys-Some say there the best in the NFC but I want to see them beat the Giants at the Medowlands before put them there. Romo has them on a role. Argueably the most complete team in the league. Passing offense, Rushing offense, Rushing defense, Passing Defense, Pass rush you name it they can do it. The only real hole is surprsingly Vanderjack whos been a FA bust.

5.Ravens- Tough defense can shut down the run and the pass but offense is still suspect IMO. Alot better then previous years with McNair on board but how longs he going to stay healthy? There going to need some big games from Jamal Lewis in the playoffs if they want to contend for a SB.

6.Patriots- They take things away from Tom Brady every year and he just keeps winning. He's developed into more then a winner. Hes a great pure passer who doesnt need great Wr's to succeed. When Brady takes the field the patriots always have a chance. Maroneys going to be a heck of a back. Expect big things from him down the stretch.

7.Chiefs- In there last 9 games there 7-2. Herm Edwards has them on a roll. There playing solid defense and when/if Trent Green gets back to his old form they could make a bigtime run into the playoffs. LJ is just unhuman and shredding defensive fronts.

8.Panthers- They struggled early but the light seems to have come on a little after the Dallas loss. That was probably the wakeup call they needed to get back on track. There playing good defense and with Steve Smith they can put up a ton of points any gameday.

9.Jaguars- They are playing outstanding defense and are a serious contender for the 5th or 6th seed in the AFC. It really all comes down to Garrard. If he plays well and manages the offense that defense could win them alot of football games.

10.Broncos- They've lost 2 straight and a QB change is supposevly coming but there defense is enough to keep them in the top 10. Probably done contending for the AFC West after dropping a pair of division games back to back but still a playoff contender.

7 AFC teams 3 NFC teams........ The NFC has been a letdown this year. Theres going to be good teams in the AFC left out of the playoffs with a average team or 2 getting in the NFC.(NFC West division champs will be one of those average teams)


And heres my Cowboys vs Bucs Game Thoughts below.

Some quick notes on the Bucs.... Cadillac Williams is a heck of a RB.... he's running very tough. Eventually when the right pieces are around him, he's going to be a good one. Wasn't very impressed with Gradkowskie. The Bucs need some serious work in the offseason.

Romo continues to get better and impress. He's got the team on a roll and having the offense realize their true potential. If he keeps playing great football, Dallas will be as tough to beat as anyone down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Barber runs HARD. I've always preferred him to JJ and I think he's earned a chance to carry the load...especially from the way JJ's production has slowed down. I think the offense is just more setup for a power runner like Barber. We're trying to run power plays with Jones and it's just not working.

The receivers caught most of what was thrown their way and ran well after the catch. I would still like to see Witten get more involved. Loved T.O's TD celebration.... wonder if the media finds some way to make a story about T.O not being a good teamate out of that?

The o-line was awesome. They went from one of the worst pass blocking units with Bledsoe in there to one of the better pass blocking units with Romo in there. The run blocking was slow at 1st, but picked up in the 2nd half and was pretty good.

The front 7 was ok. Run defense could of been better, but they still did alright. Only sacked them once but had constant pressure and hands in the face of their QB. Ware is getting sooooo close on some sacks. Eventually he's going to get there and have a massive game.

Secondary was good except for that mixup on the Bucs 1st drive where Galloway had the big one. Roy Williams made a heck of a play on the ball. What a year he's having...Leading the league in takeaways with 5 INT's and 2 fumble recoveries.

Vandy almost missed that 22 yarder...... pathetic

Overall a good victory for Dallas. They're building momentum and are going to give the Giants all they want and more in the Meadow Lands.

[CNYSkinFan]

so first you copy Akh's thoughts...now you copy Spence's power rankings. What is next getting 3 friends and do the un-funky four?

[danny's stogie]

I want more thesis!!!

[RedskinsDave]

This may get deleted.

[csquared]

So did anyone fry a turkey yesterday?? If so how did it turn out?

[RedskinsDave]

So did anyone fry a turkey yesterday?? If so how did it turn out?

We will be frying one at the Giants game. It's fantastic. Only three minutes per pound too.

[CNYSkinFan]

So did anyone fry a turkey yesterday?? If so how did it turn out?
No instead I googled videos of other people frying turkeys and blowing up there house...cool stuff

[CNYSkinFan]

This may get deleted.

why stop there

:banhim:

[csquared]

Im going to have to try fried turkey.Taste like fried chicken?

[RedskinsDave]

Im going to have to try fried turkey.Taste like fried chicken?

No, it tastes like a normal turkey but it's perfectly juicy.

[csquared]

Oh ill have to try that then. By the way Dave How is the FIOS working out?

[RedskinsDave]

Oh ill have to try that then. By the way Dave How is the FIOS working out?

December 1st. I will rank the local cable companies once I try it out and start a thread on a Cowboys board for it.

[danny's stogie]

Secondary was good except for that mixup on the Bucs 1st drive where Galloway had the big one. Roy Williams made a heck of a play on the ball. What a year he's having...Leading the league in takeaways with 5 INT's and 2 fumble recoveries.



Hold on a sec, did you even watch that play? Galloway had 3 steps on Roy and even a decent throw would have been a TD. Gradkowksi underthrew the ball by 5 yards giving the ball to an out of position Roy. Same thing with the pass that Henry knocked away from Galloway. Roy was the deep safety on that play and Galloway was 10 yards past him. Another poorly thrown ball that gave Henry a chance to recover, but still, Roy should have been overtop on that play.

[CNYSkinFan]

Hold on a sec, did you even watch that play? Galloway had 3 steps on Roy and even a decent throw would have been a TD. Gradkowksi underthrew the ball by 5 yards giving the ball to an out of position Roy. Same thing with the pass that Henry knocked away from Galloway. Roy was the deep safety on that play and Galloway was 10 yards past him. Another poorly thrown ball that gave Henry a chance to recover, but still, Roy should have been overtop on that play.
dude try to stay on topic

Dave has fios.

[danny's stogie]

dude try to stay on topic

Dave has fios.

What is fios? is that like VD?

[RedskinsDave]

What is fios? is that like VD?

No, the VD was free.

[CNYSkinFan]

No, the VD was free.
snare drum!!!

[danny's stogie]

No, the VD was free.

...was it now. :rolleyes:

[RedskinsDave]

...was it now. :rolleyes:

It WAS. Valtrex is a helluva drug.

[esmith1790]

December 1st. I will rank the local cable companies once I try it out and start a thread on a Cowboys board for it.


Good Idea i need FIOS!

[akhhorus]

I want more thesis!!!

The Senator from Becky-land wants unanimous consent for a speech(AYE):

Most of history is black and white in its definition. Scholars cannot argue well-attested facts because they happened the way they did; what can be argued is the motivations and laying blame for the events at the feet of certain people. One of the biggest scholarly debates on the issue of the Provisions of Oxford comes down to how the two men who came to personify each side are seen. Simon De Montfort and Henry III and their lives are almost as important to the issue of the Provisions as the history of the document itself. The two men have ironically become joined in history and cannot be seperated. And depending on which side a scholar takes on the issue, it seems to be a requirement to attack either Simon or Henry III. The historiography splits into three groups. The Whig argument says that the Provisions of Oxford were a great step forward for the development of democracy and that Simon De Montfort, and his supporters, were completely justified in forcing their promulgation this because of Henry III’s malfeasence . Also, the move towards democracy by Simon De Montfort and the barons was somewhat intentional; they wanted to liberalize the country. The next major argument is the more conservative one: Henry III was not a great ruler, but the barons-especially De Montfort-had no interest in the development of democracy, they were interested in their power. Any political and social liberalization that came about from the enactment of the Provisions was completely unintended. In fact, some of the extreme conservatives reject completely the notion that the Provisions of Oxford had any real impact on the development of democracy and say that any linkage is revisionist history. In more recent years there has been a third argument in more embryonic stages that is a compromise between the two monolithic schools of thought. This third way is this: the Provisions of Oxford was an unexpected bedrock of democracy, Henry III was a bad or uneven king, and De Montfort and the barons had some justification to enact reforms, but they also seemed more interested in increasing their own power. All three arguments will be brought up in this next section when discussing the two figures involved.
Henry III is one of the figures of English history that has had his reputation get more tarnished as history progresses. In the final analysis, he did not do much for England directly. He is best known for three things: really losing the English possessions in France (more than his father did); the funding and early flourishing of Oxford University; and, of course, having the barons rebel against him and enact a document that strips him of power eventually. However, he was an extremely long serving King, reigning for 55 years. This makes him one of the longest serving English Kings ever . Queen Elizabeth I was less a monarch and more an institution for several generations of the English, and Henry III had over a decade’s longer rule. His reign touched many lives, and he is dismissed too quickly as a failure who could not properly hold on to the Crown and Scepter. Yes, he dealt with many dangers to his throne and power, but in the end, he succeeded in beating all his enemies.
Henry III wanted to institute a political tool that was being forged in Europe: centralization of power. This concept was contrary to feudalism, which set up an automatically de-centralized state with the King as the manager of the lords who actually controlled the lands. From these lands came taxes, and set up an offical pyramid structure: the money flowed upwards to the King. The problems would arise when the King asked too much from the next level of the structure in terms of money or military support, another cause of trouble would be when the King tried to replace or dilute the level below him. The rise of urban areas occured during this time in English history. And these cities were new political forces with landed common people and educated trade classes. Nobles had trouble managing them in the same ways they did with peasants on the shire farms. Enacted charters became more and more common and granted to the cities certain privileges and freedoms from the nobles if they sent taxes directly to the Crown or government. This diluted the power of the nobles with the Crown, since this was a new institution, generally free of their control. The nobles had little control on the cities since the charters came from the Crown, so any disputes between a major city and a nobleman would have it go to the King, who had more personal reason to rule for the city. And it was a major success that benefited the Crown with new taxation and led to large merchant cities that could expand economic influence and acquire new technologies and political intelligence for the state through trade. So an institution free of noble control, that would fill the treasury and provide information and technology to the state, was rising; it is no surprise that the Kings would want to encourage them. Centralizing power and bureacratic offices away from the nobles and directly to the Crown is the next logical step in this progression. The nobles were not the only ones who could lose in this struggle: the high clergy was also threatened. They would often take up positions of high administrative office and had Papal support if the secular authority wronged them. Henry III attacked this group in an essential way: he stopped appointing high Church officials to high adminstrative office . In fact he almost completely excluded any candidates for high administrative office if they were Church officials . This was a major sea change in administrative custom and alarmed the English clergy. What made this worse was that Henry III was extremely close with Rome. He was one of the closest English monarchs to the Papacy during this time. The English clergy felt that they had noone to turn to but the barons; the administrative offices were closed to them and the Popes did not want to upset their close relationship with Henry III, so Roman support would not be forthcoming. Early on, the English clergy supported the baronial movement, and even right before the Battle of Lewes, two major English bishops blessed De Montfort’s troops and charged them with a Holy Crusade against the Royalists. However, after the Papacy made it clear that the official position was one of opposing the Provisions and the baronial government, the clerical support dried up rather quickly. Quietly, they would still hope for their success, but since the Pope had weighed in for the King, they had to as well.
Henry III did not limit his centralization attempts to attacking the power of the English clergy, he also saw the barons as an area of the political life to be adjusted. The motivations for this are unclear. A case could be made that the King was doing this to reform the state, but an equally good one could be made that Henry III was being spiteful and going after the barons as a political entity because of his long minority and domination by the barons. Another possible reason could be the treatment of his father, King John, and their forcing him to agree to Magna Carta. Henry III could not simply get rid of the barons without provoking a civil war . His only option was to dilute their power by giving out titles to relatives and loyal supporters. It was a long term project for Henry III, but his goal was to ‘starve the beast’, the barons’ power and money by creating new titles that deprived the barons of their lands or by reassigning barons to places in which they did not have a power base . Then they could not mount an effective resistance to any of his policies. Good in theory, but bad in execution. There are three institutions that were the central pillars of the medieval English state: the Church, the Royalty and the Nobility. Henry III was attacking two out of the three, and while he secured his proverbial flank with the Church by getting in close with the Papacy, he did not do the same with the nobility. If he had secured the support of a few major barons before this, they could have stood as an obstacle to the remainder of the barons rebelling against him. He did not of course, and of the three institutions, the Royalty was the one under the most pressures and threat during Henry III’s reign.

[danny's stogie]

Oh be still my beating heart!

[RedskinsDave]

Awesome, no more need for Lunesta.

[BurgundyNGold]

Hehehe. Simon De Montfort makes an appearance.

[shally]

awesome, akh... what is that from? looks like a graduate thesis..