With the regular season set to begin this week for the NFL, weekly power rankings must also begin. Obviously it will be hard to really get a picture of how team stack up against one another when no meaningful games have been played. However, based on personnel moves and the performances in the preseason we can at least get an idea. ESPN released their latest power rankings and the Arizona Cardinals are not in the top 20, but are close.
Arizona is ranked 21st overall and second in the NFC West. The St. Louis Rams are the division team ahead of them at number 17. If you think of it, it is a little sad to realize that the entire division is considered to be in the bottom half if the entire league.
It isn't as though the teams deserve to be that low, though.
The rankings included a small blurb describing why they are ranked where they are. For the Cardinals, it simply says, "Kevin Kolb's arrival gives the Cardinals renewed hope following a 5-11 season." That basically sums it up.
The best and funniest line is regarding the Seattle Seahawks:
Decision to go with QB Tarvaris Jackson as starter has confounded NFL.
Luckily for the Cardinals they have the opportunity to show they are better than the worst teams. Their Week 1 opponent, the Carolina Panthers, are ranked 31st out of 32 teams.
The down side is that, even with a victory, due to the fact that it would be a victory over the Panthers, Arizona is unlikely to move up much in a week.
In a week, we will get to see if there is any real movement at all.