A Trio Battling for the AFC North.
In yesterday’s L.F. Dubb (Late For Work), I pointed out that ESPN blogger James Walker wondered if the AFC North was the best division in football. There’s no official formula for determining which division is the toughest; it’s mostly based on perception. But, it seems the perception of the national media (at least for this week) is that the AFC North is the best.
After reading today’s power ranking results, I had to reopen the debate. In all the grades I found this morning – ESPN, Fox Sports, NFL.com, USA Today and CBS Sports – the AFC North is the only division with a trio of teams cracking the top 10. You know the three; obviously it doesn’t include the Browns. The next closest division is the NFC East with two teams in the top 10: the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Below is a listing of the rankings of the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals (last week’s rankings in parentheses).
ESPN: Ravens 10(14), Steelers 7(7), Bengals 6(6)
Fox Sports: Ravens 8(8), Steelers 7(7), Bengals 6(6)
NFL.com: Ravens 10(13), Steelers 3(4), Bengals 9(9)
USA Today: Ravens 10(13), Steelers 3(4), Bengals 7(7)
CBS Sports: Ravens 10(14), Steelers 7(7), Bengals 6(6)
Secondary still has something to prove.
Mike Preston of the Baltimore Sun believed that part of the reason why the Ravens secondary had an improved performance last Sunday was because Denver failed to challenge the Ravens’ cornerbacks with long passes.
“I still find that hard to believe because the Ravens had given up a lot of big passing plays this season,” Preston said. “Also, Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton became the Kyle Orton we’ve seen play when he was with the Chicago Bears.”
Ravens’ stock on the rise.
The Ravens made a clean sweep in ESPN AFC North blogger James Walker’s rising stock list after their 30-7 win against the Broncos. Both the Steelers and Bengals had a bye last week, making it easier to dominate the division’s list. The Browns played on Sunday and swept the falling stock list.
Stock Up: The Ravens’ defense for getting back to their nasty brand of play, Joe Flacco for completing a franchise best 80 percent of his passes, and Lardarius Webb for his 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Rumors fly of a postseason strike.
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk said that while the chances are ridiculously small, there are rumors that the NFLPA is considering the possibility of launching a walkout once the 2009 regular season ends. The hope would be to coax the league into displaying a greater sense of urgency regarding negotiations of a new labor deal.
“The strike would be illegal,” Florio said. “The players would face multi-million-dollar fines and damage awards, if the action ultimately were to disrupt the postseason and prevented playoff games from occurring.
“The mere fact that the rumor is being floated — not necessarily by union leadership — speaks to the level of frustration that many of the players currently are feeling.”
Despite meeting Browns owner, protest is still on.
I’ve been following it all week, so here’s the update on the Browns fans who are organizing a protest for the Ravens-Browns Nov. 16 nationally televised matchup.
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers reported that Mike Randall and Tony Schafer are going forward with the “Brown out” protest despite their meeting with Browns owner Randy Lerner. They will consider canceling it if Lerner agrees to speak to Browns fans, who walked out by the thousands during the second half of a recent home loss to Green Bay.
Hauschka vs. Stover
On the Yahoo! Sports NFL landing page, there is a fantasy football “Who’s Hot?” section. If you click on the “hot” kickers, you’ll find Steve Hauschka listed at No. 2. And who’s nipping at his heels at the No. 3 position? You guessed it. Matt Stover. Stover is owned by 50 percent of their fantasy pool, while Hauschka is owned by only 12 percent.
