via Blogger Shutdown Corner NFL Power Rankings: Figuring in Carson Palmers injury Bruce Arians thinks the Arizona Cardinals can still win the Super Bowl with Drew Stanton at quarterback. Im not so sure. Carson Palmers season-ending ACL injury changes the NFL picture. Palmer had a 95.6 rating in his six starts. He was very comfortable in Arians offense. He had played good football from the middle of last season until he blew out his knee. Now things change for the Cardinals. Stanton has played fairly well this season, and the Cardinals looked good with him at quarterback when Palmer missed three starts with a shoulder injury. He also has completed just 49.5 percent of his passes this season. He has a 69.2 career rating. He isnt some hot-shot young quarterback who just needed a chance either. Stanton is 30. Maybe this is his breakout moment, but it would be fairly unprecedented. To believe there is no drop-off from Palmer to Stanton is a remarkable leap of faith. One might even say its a bit delusional. The Cardinals are going to be a different team without their starting quarterback; almost any team would be. The question is, if you assume theres a drop-off at quarterback, whats the drop-off for the Cardinals as a whole? We have to look at the Cardinals going forward, with Stanton at quarterback the rest of the season. Its not just a list of teams based entirely on their record to date, those rankings can be found here. The Cardinals have shown they can win some games with him, but are they a Super Bowl contender anymore? Are they a top-three team anymore? Here are my thoughts on the Cardinals: And here are the post-Week 10 power rankings: 32. Oakland Raiders (0-9, Last Week: 32) Before the Raiders final drive, quarterback Derek Carr had 23 completions for 96 yards (he had 96 yards on the final drive). I know the Raiders dont have a lot of skill-position talent, but when your quarterback averages 4.2 yards per completion, thats miserable for his development. The coaches need to get him out of his checkdown comfort zone, or hell regress badly. 31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-8, LW: 31) Josh McCowns postgame press conference summed up how depressing the Buccaneers play has been this season. 30. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-9, LW: 29) I try to keep it positive with the Jaguars, but I can only come up with so many things to say about Denard Robinson. 29. Tennessee Titans (2-7, LW: 28) Rookie quarterback Zack Mettenberger is able to put together flashes of good play. He was very good in the first half at Baltimore and pretty bad in the second half. Thats fine for now. The Titans have some time the rest of the season to see what side he ultimately falls on. 28. New York Jets (2-8, LW: 30) Great win. Heres a concern: Their first-round pick, safety Calvin Pryor, was basically benched on Sunday. A report from ESPN said has been late to multiple meetings. For a team thats in a full rebuild, thats terrible news. 27. Atlanta Falcons (3-6, LW: 27) Steven Jackson has been to the playoffs once, at the end of the 2004 season. This will be the 10th straight season of a remarkable career without a playoff game at the end. 26. Washington Redskins (3-6, LW: 26) DeSean Jackson has 784 yards and is averaging an incredible 21.8 yards per catch despite working with three quarterbacks already. Going into Monday nights game, nobody else in the top 27 in receiving yards was averaging more than 17.6 per catch. He has nine catches of 40 or more yards. Before Monday night, nobody else had more than five. 25. Chicago Bears (3-6, LW: 22) Total meltdown. Its not all Jay Cutlers fault, though he has a ton. Its not all the defenses (or defensive coordinator Mel Tuckers) fault, though it has a ton. Its not all Marc Trestmans fault, though he has a ton. When youre running this bad in the NFL, its not one thing. 24. New York Giants (3-6, LW: 25) Rookie receiver Odell Beckham was matched up with Seattles Richard Sherman a lot on Sunday, and he had seven catches for 108 yards. Sherman called him a great player. He might be. 23. Carolina Panthers (3-6-1, LW: 21) Completely independent of any Cam Newton criticism (and he deserves his share lately), I think we can all agree that the offensive line thats protecting him is so bad that general manager Dave Gettleman should apologize for putting it together. 22. St. Louis Rams (3-6, LW: 23) Leading the team with the best record in football into the fourth quarter and then managing to get blown out pretty much sums up the Rams. 21. Minnesota Vikings (4-5, LW: 24) It was a risk when the Vikings gave such a big contract to defensive end Everson Griffen this offseason. They banked on talent over a track record. With nine sacks, its clear the Vikings were right. 20. Houston Texans (4-5, LW: 20) I dont have a ton of faith in Ryan Mallett as an NFL quarterback, but its the right move going to him. Better to figure it out now than wonder later. 19. New Orleans Saints (4-5, LW: 19) The Saints are in a weird spot the rest of the season, because it would take a lot more losses to start to believe they wont be hosting a playoff game in January. 18. Cincinnati Bengals (5-3-1, LW: 10) The talent is there. The early-season domination seems like a long time ago. A lot of this falls on Marvin Lewis. 17. Buffalo Bills (5-4, LW: 16) They played well enough to win, but if youre going to break a playoff drought that dates back to 1999, you have to actually win. I dont know how they get to 10 wins now, and I dont think nine will be enough. 16. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4, LW: 12) Theyre good. Theyre bad. Theyre OK. Theyre great. Theyre terrible. Thats how their season has gone. I dont know what they really are. Do you? 15. San Diego Chargers (5-4, LW: 15) Their last five games are really tough (at Baltimore, vs. New England, vs. Denver, at San Francisco, at Kansas City). Theyre going to have to take care of business against the Raiders and Rams the next couple weeks, then maybe win three of those last five to get in the playoffs. Thats the spot this three-game losing streak has put them in. 14. Miami Dolphins (5-4, LW: 13) Since Sept. 21, both losses have come when theyve led in the final half-minute of the game, to Green Bay and Detroit. Its too bad coming close wont factor in when playoff spots are handed out. And now left tackle Branden Albert is out for the year. Things can change, but this is looking like the NFLs tragic case this year. Theyre a good and unlucky team. 13. Cleveland Browns (6-3, LW: 18) I need to keep repeating this because it is not being said enough: After one more game, a 6-3 first-place team will be adding the most productive receiver in the entire NFL over the 2013 season. No playoff contender is making an addition like Josh Gordon. Not even close. 12. San Francisco 49ers (5-4, LW: 17) The last two weeks, rookie Chris Borland has put up 18 and 17 tackles (how did he fall so far in the draft again?). So youre the 49ers, and Borland, Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman are healthy, in 2014 or beyond that. What do you do? 11. Baltimore Ravens (6-4, LW: 14) The defense looked great in the second half. Next three games: at New Orleans, vs. San Diego, at Miami. If they navigate that with two wins, maybe even just one, theyll be in the playoffs. 10. Kansas City Chiefs (6-3, LW: 11) it wasnt the most dominant performance at Buffalo, but the win was enormous in this crowded AFC. The Chiefs havent had a really bad result since Week 1. 9. Detroit Lions (7-2, LW: 9) If you believe that close wins are better than dominant outcomes, character building and whatnot, then I guess this is your team. 8. Seattle Seahawks (6-3, LW: 8) The Giants were right in that game for almost three full quarters, until Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas combined on a great interception in the end zone. The game turned at that moment. Maybe thats all to be ignored because the Seahawks absolutely dominated the fourth quarter, Im not sure. 7. Dallas Cowboys (7-3, LW: 7) A lot of people missed the point: Yes, the Cowboys were supposed to beat Jacksonville. Seeing Tony Romo look healthy and like himself is far more important to the rest of the season than the win itself. The opponent doesnt matter for that aspect of Sundays game. 6. Arizona Cardinals (8-1, LW: 3) Patrick Petersons fourth-quarter interception and touchdown was an absolutely marvelous play. 5. Indianapolis Colts (6-3, LW: 5) So, who covers Rob Gronkowski next week? 4. Green Bay Packers (6-3, LW: 6) Clay Matthews looked on Sunday night like he was born to play inside linebacker. He moved from outside linebacker in a tweak to help the run defense. First, thats the sign of a great player. Second, we might have to reevaluate the entire Packers defense, if they stick with this plan. it looked a lot different, and better, against the Bears. 3. Philadelphia Eagles (7-2, LW: 4) The difference between this quarterback situation and Palmer/Stanton is this: Nick Foles wasnt playing well when he got hurt. And Sanchez has some natural talent that might have been obscured by the Jets tire fire. I actually think the 2014 Eagles are a better team with Sanchez. 2. Denver Broncos (7-2, LW: 2) Hope you didnt invest in the Broncos running backs in fantasy, because they do seem intent on this hot hand approach. 1. New England Patriots (7-2, LW: 1) Fascinating matchup on Sunday night at Indianapolis. If the Patriots win that, its practically inevitable that the Pats and Broncos will be the top two AFC seeds, in some order. - - - - - - - Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab from Yahoo Sports ift.tt/1xocp0B ift.tt/1oEO5ah
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 05:29:08 +0000