Thursday, September 5, 2013

AP NFL Poll: Week 1

The NFL season kicks off tonight.  Here are the top 10 teams, as ranked by the AP Poll:

1.  San Francisco 49ers:  0-0
T2.  Seattle Seahawks:  0-0
T2.  Denver Broncos:  0-0
4.  Atlanta Falcons:  0-0
5.  New England Patriots:  0-0
6.  Houston Texans:  0-0
7.  Green Bay Packers:  0-0
8.  Baltimore Ravens:  0-0
9.  Cincinnati Bengals:  0-0
10.  Washington Redskins:  0-0

The # 8 Ravens play the #2 Broncos tonight in the season opener.  On Sunday, the # 1 Niners will host the # 7 Packers.  Those are the only games featuring two top-10 teams.

The Dolphins start the season ranked 22d, just one spot behind the Kansas City Chiefs.

You will remember that we did our own poll in 2010 and 2011, and then the AP poll started last year.  Here are the teams that finished at the top of the poll in each of the last three years.  As you can see, the poll winners have struggled in the playoffs:

2010:  New England Patriots (beaten by the Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoffs)
2011:  Green Bay Packers (beaten by the Giants in the NFC Divisional Playoffs)
2012:  Denver Broncos (beaten by the Ravens in the AFC Divisional Playoffs)

19 comments:

  1. The placement of the Redskins, by the way, is a classic AP poll move. If you think about it, the Redskins are either really good (assuming that RG3 is healthy) or terrible (assuming that RG3 is not healthy). The AP guys have no idea which it's going to be, so they've put the Redskins in 10th to start off.

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    Replies
    1. For the record, it turned out that the Redskins were terrible. As were the Falcons.

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  2. As the Super Bowl Champion, the Ravens should get to open the season at home -- but the Orioles are in town tonight, and the O's and Ravens share the same parking lots. Since the NFL was unable to get the O's game moved, we're starting the season off in Peyton's back yard. This will not be Peyton's final lucky break of the year.

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  3. On the other hand, the Ravens were really lucky last year.

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  4. And now the kickoff has been delayed for 15 minutes due to lightning.

    Meanwhile, the Orioles are playing away in Baltimore.

    MAYBE WE SHOULD HAVE TRIED HARDER TO PLAY THIS GAME IN CHARM CITY!!!

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  5. Baltimore, by the way, is a very underrated sports town. Charm City has three World Series Titles (1966, 1970, 1983) and six NFL titles (1958, 1959, 1968, 1970, 2000, 2012). Plus the Baltimore Bullets reached the NBA Finals in 1971.

    Given that Baltimore is home to the 20th-largest metropolitan area in the United States (by population), and that Baltimore had no major league sports prior to the mid-1950's, that's a very good record.

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  6. It's 14-14 late in the first half -- just an excellent game. It's so great to have the NFL back.

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    Replies
    1. Lauren Tannehill ‏@LaurenTannehill 31 Aug
      FOOTBALL IS BACKKK, SO PUMPED #aggies #dolphins #letsgo
      12:23 PM - 31 Aug 13

      Delete
  7. Rich Brooks did a phenomenal job as football coach at UK.

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  8. Meanwhile, on the NFL Network, we're on break from NFL AM for a "Highlight Express" segment. Next up is The Aftermath. Later this afternoon, we have Around the League Live and, then, NFL Total Access.

    So, that's four shows. (Remember "Highlight Express" is just a little break-in segment and not an italicized show in its own right.) Here are the four descriptions that my cable provider lists for the programs:

    -- "The NFL Network's flagship program provides news on all 32 teams."

    -- "Writers from around the country discuss NFL issues. Also: press conferences and interviews."

    -- "NFL highlights, news, information and analysis; and a look back at all of Sundays games."

    -- "A weekday show featuring pro-football news and highlights."

    Can you match each differentiating blurb with the program that it describes?

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    Replies
    1. "Flagship program" -- NFL Total Access

      "Writers . . . discuss" -- The Aftermath

      "NFL highlights, news, etc." -- NFL AM

      "A weekday show" -- Around the League Live

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    2. Well, they should go with my names anyway.

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    3. You had NFL Total Access right. It's the flagship program.

      The "weekday show featuring pro-football news and highlights" is NFL AM.

      Then, The Aftermath switches gears to give us "NFL highlights, news, information and analysis."

      "Writers from around the country discuss NFL issues," then, on Around the League Live.

      Thanks for playing.

      Delete
  9. OK, here's how it appears that the 2013-14 playoffs will go:

    dolphins lose at texans
    rams lose at bears
    colts win at titans
    seahawks win at cowboys
    colts lose at broncos
    bears lose at saints
    texans lose at patriots
    seahawks lose at 49ers
    patriots lose at broncos
    saints lose at 49ers
    49ers over patriots

    ReplyDelete