Texans are rising, but they're not number 1 yet. John McClain, UltimateTexans via Chron.com
After the first three weeks of the season, the Texans are the best team in the AFC, perhaps the best in the NFL.So McClain's rankings aren't truthfully based on what's happened on the field, but where he sees each team based on pre-conceived notions about what types of teams they're supposed to be, despite not spending much time following in real time.
But in this week’s NFL rankings, they’re second behind the Atlanta Falcons.
And I apologize to the NFL’s other unbeaten team, the Arizona Cardinals. What the Cardinals have done — beating Seattle at home in their opener, winning at New England and mauling unbeaten Philadelphia 27-6 — is more impressive than what the Texans and Falcons have done.
Why not Arizona? Truthfully, I thought the Cardinals might be among the three or four worst teams after preseason, so I rated them low in my first ranking. Even though they were red-hot over the second half of last season, I thought their quarterback issues would contribute to their being among the worst teams.
Part of me wants to tell you that ALL NFL power rankings are worthless, but there are some that are stats based and come just about as close as you can come to objectivity However, even those fall way, way short. There was no power ranking that I saw last year which had the NY Giants anywhere NEAR the top position. I heard some analysts say that the Giants were scary, and a team that could make a deep run, but no one was seriously placing them number 1.
The problem with McClain's ranking system is that it doesn't appear that real-world results mean much to him. He's decided to base everything on his extensive tenure covering the NFL. In other words, he's fallen victim to the "longevity equals experience" fallacy, the idea that since someone has been around a long time they know what they're talking about. You see this a LOT in the media, where reports who have covered an issue for a long time are considered "experts". They're not, of course, they're just experts on writing about the subject matter.
In some way this could be McClain's desperate attempt to stem the tide of "rah rah" coverage emanating from ChronBlog when it comes to local sports teams. That's admirable, but misguided when the facts don't back up your assertions.
The fact is that the Texans are currently one of the top three teams in the league. It appears (to many National observers) that they are number one. This appearance is entirely based on what's happened on the field, and the analyst's opinions regarding talent, coaching etc. In some sense they all do what McClain is doing, but most are savvy enough to alter their perceptions when conditions warrant. To be clear, my beef is not that McClain has the Texans at #2, it's his incredible justification for doing so.
Now's where I tell you that these NFL power rankings are ridiculous. In College football the Top 25 is a necessary evil to provide some structure for the B(C)S. In pro football we find out who is the real number one, as decided on the field in February.
As it should be.
As such, I vow to not pay any attention to any NFL power rankings. It's just an excuse to drive page hits to a media outlet's website to comment on information that has no practical use whatsoever in determining which teams are good or bad.
