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Week Nine 2005 Power Rankings
Cold, Hard Football Facts for November 2, 2005
The Cold, Hard Football Facts Power Rankings are compiled by Steve Hatch and Chuck Robinson, two barely functioning members of society who are even bigger football geeks than you are.
Hatch, meanwhile, holds no such artistic pretentions. In fact, he represents just the second generation of his family to walk erect and has yet to develop a full command of fire and primitive stone-chiseling tools.
You'll notice two names conspicuously absent from our list. For the first time since the launch of Cold, Hard Football Facts.com in September 2004, NFL powers New England and Philly both failed to make our Top 10.
Unlike other ranking systems, the Cold, Hard Football Facts put a premium on quality wins, the single most accurate indicator of teams' relative strength. The Cold, Hard Football Facts define a quality win as any victory against a team that currently possesses a winning record.
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I
Denver (6-2; previous, 4) – After their 49-21 thrashing of defending NFC champion Philadelphia, the Broncos are 5-1 against quality teams and have outscored these opponents by nearly 12 points per game. Nobody in football comes close. Once again, it's the ground game carrying Denver. RBs Anderson and Bell are on pace to become just the fourth tandem to each surpass 1,000 yards in the same season. At their current pace, Anderson will rush for 1,208 and Bell will log 1,124. |
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II
Indianapolis (7-0; previous, 1) – After six weeks at the top, and following a week in which they didn't even play, the Colts tumble from No. 1. Talk amongst yourselves. In the last two weeks, we've seen a return to the Colts of old: the offense has started to light it up (83 points in last two games), but the defense has began to wobble, surrendering 28 points to St. Louis and then 20 to the woeful Houston offense. The Colts will have plenty of opportunities to prove they deserve their early-season accolades with meetings over the last nine weeks against Pittsburgh and San Diego at home and road dates at Cincy, Jacksonville, Seattle and, of course, Monday night at New England. That's six games in nine weeks against potential playoff teams.
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III
Pittsburgh (5-2; previous, 3) – Do the Steelers have a home-field disadvantage? With their last-second win over 2-5 Baltimore Monday night, the Steelers climbed to just 2-2 at home. They are, however, 9-0 away from Heinz Field in their last nine road games, and they head to Wisconsin to face lowly Green Bay Sunday. Cowher, meanwhile, is 11-0 at home on Monday night.
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IV
N.Y. Giants (5-2; previous, unranked) – Guess who leads the NFL in scoring? Yeah, that's right, it's the G-Men (29.9 PPG). But the most surprising numbers from New York's Week Eight 36-0 win over Washington came from the defense: The Giants pitched their first shutout in seven years by forcing four turnovers and registering five sacks. |
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V
Atlanta (5-2; previous, 8) – The Falcons offense is No. 1 in the league with 188.1 yards per game on the ground, which puts them on pace for 3,010 rushing yards, third best all time. The problems come when Atlanta is forced to pass the ball. The Falcons are 28th in the league in passing (138.9 yards per game) and dead last in completion percentage (50.9).
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VI
Jacksonville (4-3; previous, 2) – So much for the soft spot in the Jaguars schedule. Jacksonville went into 3-4 St. Louis, rushed for 221 yards and still managed to lose. It was Jacksonville's first loss in a game in which Leftwich threw for two TDs (9-1). You want another Cold, Hard Football Fact? C'mon, you know you do. Say please! The Jaguars have not scored 30 or more points since a 33-3 win against Minnesota in Week 15 of 2001 – a stretch of 57 games. |
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VII
Cincinnati (6-2; previous, 10) – The Bengals lead the NFL with 28 takeaways and are a ridiculous +20 in turnover margin, which is also No. 1 in the league. Their 20 interceptions this year already equals the number of passes they picked off all of last season and puts them on pace to shatter the single-season team record of 34, set in 1996. Cincy can thank its generous NFC North opponents: 15 of the 20 INTs have come against Minnesota, Chicago and Green Bay.
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VIII
Seattle (5-2; previous, 9) – Since 2003, the Seahawks are a spectacular 17-3 (.850) at home but just 7-12 (.368) on the road. They've held true to form this season, with a 4-0 mark in Seattle and a 1-2 record on the road. The Seahawks have five road games left this year but only one of those teams (4-3 Philadelphia) currently has a winning record. The combined record of the other four (Arizona, San Francisco, Tennessee and Green Bay) is a horrible 7-22 (.241).
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IX
Washington (4-3; previous, 8) – The Redskins are 1-3 in their last four games, with the only win coming against sad-sack San Francisco. However, the Redskins cling to a spot in the Top 10 when we look at their schedule: Washington is one of just three teams that have faced at least six quality opponents this season and has a respectable 3-3 record to show for it.
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X
San Diego (4-4; previous, unranked) – The Chargers are better than their 4-4 record might indicate. How do we know? We looked at the Cold, Hard Football Facts. The Chargers are the only team in football that's faced seven quality opponents, and for three straight weeks (Week 5-7), they faced an opponent coming off its bye week. It doesn't get any easier for San Diego in the second half of the season, with games at Washington, Indy and Kansas City, and a finale at home against Denver. If San Diego makes the playoffs, it will truly have earned it. |
* The Cold, Hard Football Facts define quality wins as any victory against a team that currently possesses a winning record.
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