Mid-Season Power Rankings

1) Giants
First of all, let me say that there are three or four other teams that I'd be quite happy to put here. That aside, I don't see any side with more potential to dominate than the Giants right now. Exhibit A: last weekend, when faced with a trip to Seattle - a team who is showing a lot more Jekyll than Hyde of late - and whose twelve man had been talked about in the build up as a potential game-breaker. Did they flinch? No. They stormed into a three touchdown lead before the first quarter was over and didn't concede a point until the game was long dead and buried. And since I'm quite the believer that Pete Carroll and the Seahawks are going places, I only applaud the Giants. They've come a long way from the last time I watched a full game of theirs - MNF against Chicago when they took until the 4th quarter to score a touchdown...

2) Jets
As we all know, the Jets were Rex Ryans preseason pick for the Superbowl, and they were mine too. Week 1 odds of 18/1 quickly dimished to as little as 7/1 and they've certainly done all the right things to claim their stake as a Superbowl contender. They're strong in all positions, which is why there are so many questions over whether Sanchez is good enough at QB. What is comes down to is this: they may not be as strong at QB as they are in most other areas of the field, but when they're as good as they are, they don't need to be.

3) Steelers
I'm not a fan of the Steelers, but I can't help but admit that their season so far has been ridiculously impressive. They seem to dodge every obstacle thrown in their path with ease. Take the first few weeks, Charlie Batch in for Big Ben, with people thinking they'd be lucky to escape 2-2, but much to the contrary, they breeze it! Then Big Ben comes back, and although he seems a little out of practice, they still manage to get through. Even with Troy Polamalu playing way below his best they're still pretty hot on defense.

4) Falcons
Along with the Philli, Atlanta are the team that I can't stop watching; they're just so good. I've had a moan about how they're stressing Matt Ryan too much and relying on their ungodly high 3rd down percentage, but they're winning games, and Matt Ryan is enjoying a sickening good run of form. My only worry is their dependancy on Ryan, and whether this is just him being great, or him in a good run of form...

5) Eagles
Of all the quarterback controversies I've seen, the Eagles have the best. The talk over these past few years is that Kevin Kolb is shaping up to be a really good QB, and that he is. But in terms of the best QB in the league right now, there are fewer as good as Vick. Much like the Falcons though, the Eagles rely on Vick to be the unstoppable which they've been of late. With Kolb, they're strong, but with Vick they're unstoppable. For me the question is whether he can keep it up and stay injury free until the end of the season. If he can, then the Eagles are the team to watch.

6) Titans
Three words: Fisher, Moss, and Young. Vince Young is on great form. And while Moss didn't work in Minnesota (this time around), Fisher and Chilli are different coaches. One has an AFC Championship under his belt and is the longest tenured coach in the National Football League; the other has four years of head coaching experience and is one loss away from being sacked. Moss will show some respect.

10) Vikings
Yes, I put the Vikings tenth despite them being one defeat away from playing golf in January (i.e. no playoffs). But, for me, what these rankings are about is how good a team is - not what their record is. If we take away their crazy loss to Miami back in week two, we're looking at a 4-4 football team (and everybody seems to be hopping back onto the Chargers bandwagon now that they've managed to get things back to 4-5). But wins and losses aside, this is a strong football team. Jared Allen, Peterson, Favre, Rice when he's healthy, the Williams wall... I could go on.