The seven writers at Around the NFL have released their power rankings and surprisingly the Panthers are fourth.
Some one smart should’ve said “preseason rankings are 100% useless, half the time”. It’s true they are often wrong but there is usually some truth in their predictions. Despite their arguments, the experts should of ranked the Panthers first.
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According to Gregg Rosenthal at ATNFL all the staff writers voted and power rankings are aggregate of the writers votes. The experts were Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler, Kevin Patra, Conor Orr, Chris Wesseling, Colleen Wolfe and Dan Hanzus. Five of the writers agreed that the Seahawks were the number one team, Colleen Wolf had the Panthers first and Hanzus had the Packers in that spot.
The first five teams are:
Seattle Seahawks
New England Patriots
Arizona Cardinals
Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers
The writers agreed on the top five teams only Hanzus had the Steelers in fourth. The Panthers ranked fourth behind two teams that they beat in their run in the playoffs and a team that will not have it’s Hall of Fame quarterback for 25% of the season.
The Seattle Seahawks come into this season after losing to the Panthers in the divisional round of the playoffs 31-24. The Seahawks showed a ton of poise to make the game close after the Panthers blew a 31 point halftime lead. The loss ended their 10-6 season.
The Seahawks are returning many of their starters including Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin and defensive stars Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman. Jimmy Graham should be healthy in the first few weeks of the season. The departure of Marshawn Lynch however, is a bigger loss than many people admit. Thomas Rawls is a capable replacement. He had season ending ankle injury last year but is expected to be 100% for the season opener. Rawls could a be good, even great running back, but Lynch was a unique talent. His run against the Saints in the 2010 wild card game was special and can not be replaced.
It’s a bit surprising that the Patriots rank so high. The Patriots are an elite organization that has earned a playoff bye for the past six seasons. Of course much of their success it due to head coach Bill Belichick but you cannot overestimate the contribution of Tom Brady. Brady serving a four game suspension is huge. The writers seemingly ignore the suspension of Brady in their rankings. If any of the other top five teams were missing their starting quarterback for 4 games their power ranking value would drop considerably. The ATNFL’s ranking of the Patriots is based more on their history than the team’s current roster.
The Panthers went 15-1 last year and the offense is better. Cam Newton continues to improve and he now has a great weapon with the return of Kelvin Benjamin. The defense is good and the special teams is of a pro bowl caliber. Consequently, the Panthers are the NFL’s most complete team.
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