Jesus...the number 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 teams all lost. This week is tough. Phiily got crushed. NE won but not very impressively against a Vickless Atlanta team. Cincy lost, but played fairly well. TB looked pretty anemic. Atlanta lost but played pretty well w/o Vick against a still dangerous NE team. Denver played well, but can they really jump all the way to #3 just because everyone lost? SD took a tough loss but played pretty well. This weeks rankings are based more on season long play and not necessarily this weeks action. Here goes.

1) Indy....no debate here

2) Pittsburgh......Im holding my breath to see if Rothlisberger is hurt badly. Beating SD on the road is a very nice win.

3) N.E......picking the #3 slot was very hard. Im not sure N.E. belongs here, but they did beat another very good team on the road even though Vick was out. They have big problems on defense. Theyre giving up points at record pace and they will lose several games that looked easy on paper but they keep winning the big games.

4) Denver....nobody has played better the past 3 weeks.

5) Cincy....his might be too high, but I cant make an argument for anyone being in this slot. Cincy lost in their first real test, but overall theyve played outstanding football so far. Pittsburgh coming up in 2 weeks.

6) SD...yeah they lost at home and yeah theyre 2-3, but theyve had a brutal schedule and beat NE and the Giants.

7) Atlanta....pretty good performance against NE considering they played a 2nd year QB.

8) NY Giants....bye

9) Jacksonville...theyve also played a brutal schedule so far. They plaed Denver, Indy, and Cincy already and are 3-2. Their defense is very good.

10) Dallas....yes, I said Dallas. Theyve beaten SD, and Philly and had Wash beaten until the last second. They could easily be 4-. Theyre much improved and Bledsoe is having a great year so far.

Where are my Bears then?

*Cue comedy music* Wa-Waa-Waaaaaaaaaaaa

Seb, good point about the Giants.

As far as SD's 2-3 record.....NE is a smidge away from being 1-4. There are alot of close games in the NFL. This is more of a power ranking where team strength is ranked. Anyone can just list the teams with the best records. The is the ICE rankings baby!

Is it just me or was the call on the fair catch fumble in the Pitt/SD game the wort interpretation of a stupid rule youve ever seen? The guy calls a fair catch...the ball hits his face mask and bounces away from him just out of his reach. Hes falling backwards and the ball is moving slightly forwards so theres no way he can catch it before it hits the ground. A Pitt player happens to be right there and catches it on the fly after it bounces away from the kick returner.

The ball is not only given back to SD but Pitt is called for 15 yeards for fair catch interference. The ref said the guy has to be given an opportunity to catch the ball since he called a fair catch. Does that mean if it hits his helmet and bounces 10 yards away that nobody can tough it until it hits the ground so the returner gets another shot at it. It was ridiculous. Not too mention that the refs apparently wanted some TV time because they threw a flag on every damned play. They werent biased either. They threw flags on both teams every chance they got. How about letting them play. You can call a penalty on every play if you wanted to. It was a physical game and there were alot of penalties but the refs got carried away.