KA-POWER RANKINGS after Week 4

KA-POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4
Down and Distance's exclusive KA-POWER RANKINGS are back for their fourth year. The product of a simple formula, the rankings have predicted 10 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners. Further, 14 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners finished the regular season No. 1 or No. 2 in the KA-POWER RANKINGS system. Unlike with other, lesser rating systems, no opinion is involved in formulating these rankings. None. Teams are ranked on a centigrade scale, with 100 representing the NFL's strongest team and 0 its weakest. Don't like where your team is ranked? Blame science. (Key: WK4 = This week's ranking. WK3 = Last week's ranking. POW = KAPOW-ER centigrade score)

WK4	WK3	TEAM	POW		WK4	WK3	TEAM	POW
1	1	Titans	100.00		17	7	Cardinals	60.68
2	3	Giants	93.42		18	26	Jets	58.66
3	5	Bills	88.02		19	14t	49ers	57.43
4	2	Ravens	81.13		20	18	Dolphins	57.41
5	4	Eagles	80.26		21	20	Seahawks	57.06
6	6	Cowboys	75.15		22	22t	Jaguars	55.18
7	8	Steelers	74.33		23	17	Vikings	51.36
8	11	Bucs	73.01		24	22t	Patriots	50.04
9	13	Chargers	70.36		25	25	Colts	45.51
10	14t	Bears	67.82		26	24	Raiders	45.25
11	21	Panthers	66.33		27	30	Chiefs	37.79
12	10	Broncos	66.04		28	27	Bengals	31.93
13	19	Saints	64.76		29	31	Browns	31.25
14	9	Falcons	62.50		30	29	Texans	29.16
15	12	Packers	63.24		31	28	Lions	25.21
16	16	Redskins	62.36		32	32	Rams	0.00

KA-POWER RANKINGS after Week 3

KA-POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3
Down and Distance's exclusive KA-POWER RANKINGS are back for their fourth year. The product of a simple formula, the rankings have predicted 10 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners. Further, 14 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners finished the regular season No. 1 or No. 2 in the KA-POWER RANKINGS system. Unlike with other, lesser rating systems, no opinion is involved in formulating these rankings. None. Teams are ranked on a centigrade scale, with 100 representing the NFL's strongest team and 0 its weakest. Don't like where your team is ranked? Blame science. (Key: WK3 = This week's ranking. WK2 = Last week's ranking. POW = KAPOW-ER centigrade score)

WK3	WK2	TEAM	POW		WK3	WK2	TEAM	POW
1	2	Titans	100.00		17	21	Vikings	60.33
2	8	Ravens	95.99		18	27	Dolphins	56.95
3	1	Giants	89.44		19	15	Saints	56.70
4	7	Eagles	86.35		20	25	Seahawks	56.63
5	5	Bills	80.76		21	14	Panthers	54.33
6	11	Cowboys	78.73		22t	6	Patriots	50.29
7	3	Cardinals	78.32		22t	24	Jaguars	50.29
8	4	Steelers	75.45		24	22	Raiders	48.97
9	16	Falcons	73.81		25	23	Colts	46.21
10	10	Broncos	73.27		26	18	Jets	43.17
11	13	Bucs	69.16		27	31	Bengals	33.89
12	9	Packers	68.92		28	26	Lions	27.89
13	17	Chargers	66.14		29	29	Texans	18.70
14t	12	Bears	65.95		30	28	Chiefs	17.73
14t	20	49ers	65.95		31	30	Browns	16.11
16	19	Redskins	60.99		32	32	Rams	0.00

KA-POWER RANKINGS after Week 2

Down and Distance's exclusive KA-POWER RANKINGS are back for their fourth year. The product of a simple formula, the rankings have predicted 10 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners. Further, 14 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners finished the regular season No. 1 or No. 2 in the KA-POWER RANKINGS system. Unlike with other, lesser rating systems, no opinion is involved in formulating these rankings. None. Teams are ranked on a centigrade scale, with 100 representing the NFL's strongest team and 0 its weakest. Don't like where your team is ranked? Blame science. (Key: WK2 = This week's ranking. WK1 = Last week's ranking. POW = KAPOW-ER centigrade score)

WK2	WK1	TEAM	POW		WK2	WK1	TEAM	POW
1	5	Giants	100.00		17	17	Chargers	55.92
2	9t	Titans	94.17		18	13	Jets	53.82
3	8	Cardinals	93.19		19	28	Redskins	53.38
4	6	Steelers	88.77		20	25	49ers	51.80
5	2	Bills	88.59		21	19	Vikings	48.78
6	9t	Patriots	82.97		22	30	Raiders	45.78
7	1	Eagles	80.76		23	26	Colts	42.83
8	9t	Ravens	80.65		24	22t	Jaguars	42.72
9	14	Packers	79.09		25	31	Seahawks	35.92
10	3	Broncos	76.53		26	21	Lions	33.39
11	4	Cowboys	74.57		27	20	Dolphins	26.51
12	7	Bears	72.37		28	22t	Chiefs	24.82
13	18	Bucs	70.48		29	27	Texans	24.60
14	16	Panthers	63.01		30	29	Browns	22.36
15	15	Saints	57.08		31	22t	Bengals	21.80
16	12	Falcons	56.00		32	32	Rams	0.00

You could say the Rams are perfect in the red zone in 2008: In two games, they have not run a single play inside the opponents' 20 yard line.

Have I gone to the dark side?

I think I may have finally turned into That Guy. You know, That Fantasy Football Guy? In Monday night's game between the Eagles and the Cowboys, DeSean Jackson made one of the greatest bonehead plays of all time, spiking the ball (sort of) before he had even crossed the goal line. As it became clear that, because the Cowboys didn't jump on the ball once Jackson dropped it, the Eagles would retain possession at the 1 yard line, my reaction was not so much "What a goddam look-at-me idiot!" as it was "Oooooh! This could mean another TD for Brian Westbrook."

Because I have Brian Westbrook on my fantasy team. 22 points on Monday!

KA-POWER RANKINGS after Week 1

Down and Distance's exclusive KA-POWER RANKINGS are back for their fourth year. The product of a simple formula, the rankings have predicted 10 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners. Further, 14 of the last 18 Super Bowl winners finished the regular season No. 1 or No. 2 in the KA-POWER RANKINGS system. Unlike with other, lesser rating systems, no opinion is involved in formulating these rankings. None. Teams are ranked on a centigrade scale, with 100 representing the NFL's strongest team and 0 its weakest. Don't like where your team is ranked? Blame science. (Key: WK1 = This week's ranking. '07 = final 2007 ranking. POW = KAPOW-ER centigrade score)

WK1	'07	TEAM	POW		WK1	'07	TEAM	POW
1	11	Eagles	100.00		17	5	Chargers	47.66
2	26	Bills	81.95		18	9	Bucs	44.68
3	21	Broncos	78.75		19	10	Vikings	43.19
4	6	Cowboys	77.74		20	30	Dolphins	39.66
5	13	Giants	72.92		21	22	Lions	36.16
6	4	Steelers	72.36		22t	17	Bengals	34.81
7	20	Bears	72.31		22t	7	Jaguars	34.81
8	16	Cardinals	66.27		22t	28	Chiefs	34.81
9t	1	Patriots	65.19		25	31	49ers	33.73
9t	25	Ravens	65.19		26	2	Colts	27.69
9t	15	Titans	65.19		27	18	Texans	27.64
12	29	Falcons	63.84		28	12	Redskins	27.08
13	24	Jets	60.34		29	14	Browns	22.26
14	3	Packers	56.81		30	27	Raiders	21.25
15	19	Saints	55.32		31	8	Seahawks	18.05
16	23	Panthers	52.34		32	32	Rams	0.00

Now, obviously, the rankings are going to be a little skewed with only one week's worth of data being fed into the formula. But you'll notice that only one team opens 2008 with the exact same ranking as at the end of 2007. You don't need a lot of data to determine the obvious.

Daunte's headlong dive into hell

Somewhat buried amid the fuss of the NFL's opening weekend was the news that quarterback Daunte Culpepper was retiring from football. The fact that the news passed with so little comment was amazing in itself: In 2004, Culpepper put up one of the best quarterback seasons ever and would have been the runaway league MVP had Peyton Manning not gotten in the way. Less than four years ago, the man was surrounded by talk of the Hall of Fame. Today he's puttering around in his kitchen wondering what happened. What happened was that he was betrayed by his agent.

Culpepper had spent the past two seasons with two different teams, dogged primarily by the knee injury that ended his 2005 season and to a far lesser extent by "character questions" like those that chased him out of Minnesota. How silly it is, then, that it was the character issue rather than the knee that ultimately drove him into retirement. Well ... more accurately, he drove himself into retirement, because -- that idiot agent we just mentioned? His name is Daunte Culpepper.

A lawyer who represents himself is said to have a fool for a client. I'd say the same about most athletes who choose to act as their own agents. There are exceptions, of course. For years, Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi negotiated his own contracts, and he did very well for himself. Then Bruschi had a stroke, and he got himself an agent. The stroke didn't weaken his intellectual ability to negotiate, but it did weaken his bargaining position. Whereas once he was dealing from a position of strength, now he was damaged goods, to an extent. Moving forward, he needed someone who cuts deals for a living.

Culpepper took a somewhat different tack. Since tearing up his knee in 2005, he has acted as his own agent. In those three years, he has been cut by three teams, the Vikings, Dolphins and Raiders, and he left on bad terms with all of them.

Coming into the 2008 season, you would think that if Culpepper wanted to remain an NFL quarterback, he would get a good agent to plead his case to team front offices -- tell, them: Look, I know this guy's been hurt a lot, but the knee's fine. Give him a shot to make the roster. It's not like clubs weren't interested. Green Bay offered him $1 million to back up Aaron Rodgers, and Pittsburgh reportedly offered him the veteran minimum (about $750,000) to fill in for the injured Charlie Batch as Ben Roethlisberger's primary backup.

And Culpepper said no to both offers. Why? Because I ain't no backup! Culpepper, who has appeared in maybe a dozen games over the past three seasons, insisted that he is, was and shall forever be an NFL starting quarterback and that any suggestion that he should wear a ballcap on the sidelines was an insult to his manhood. Or something. In announcing his retirement, Culpepper said that he didn't want to quit football, but that he didn't really have a choice because no team was going to allow him to compete for a starting job. In that statement, he revealed a stunning ignorance of a very well-known reality about life in the NFL.

And that reality is this: Unless he's backing up Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Brett Favre or maybe Carson Palmer, a quarterback on an NFL roster is already competing for the starting job. This league goes through quarterbacks like digital cameras go through batteries. One bad game, and the fans are calling for a change; two bad games, and the front office starts asking questions; three bad games, and the coaches are getting the hook ready. (Exception: Chicago, where each quarterback gets eight to 10 dismal games.) And those QBs who are immune to criticism aren't necessarily immune to injury. Two of the guys on the list I just gave didn't finish their games Sunday: Brady, who's out for the year, and Roethlisberger, who went to the bench with a sore shoulder. Playing in relief of Roethlisberger: Byron Leftwich, like Culpepper a former high-first-round draft pick who had lost his job as a starter and bounced around the league. The difference is that Leftwich has an agent who told him that the best way to get a good QB job in the NFL is to be willing to take a not-so-good QB job in the NFL.

Hey, here's another former high-first-round pick who accepted a job as a backup: Trent Dilfer. He ended up winning a Super Bowl ring, staying in the league an extra decade, and securing himself a lucrative TV career. How about Kerry Collins? He had started in the Super Bowl, and yet was willing to ride the bench in Tennessee behind the apparently fragile-in-more-ways-than-one Vince Young. Guess who's starting for the Titans this weekend?

News of Culpepper's retirement was met with a chorus of "How is it that (Brodie Croyle, J.T. O'Sullivan, Kyle Orton, etc.) can land a roster spot, but a former Pro Bowler like Daunte Culpepper can't?" Ask Culpepper's agent. He didn't want to "compete" for the starting job somewhere; he wanted to come in and be handed the starting job. Based on what? All those touchdowns he threw to Randy Moss in 2004? His 3-7 record as a starter in Miami and Oakland? He didn't want a "spot" on the roster. A NFL roster has 53 spots, and Culpepper wouldn't accept 52 of them.

Maybe he really is done with football, and if so, I wish him well. But maybe his tune will change when he finds himself on the couch every Sunday afternoon. Maybe he'll get to the point where, if the phone rings with an offer to be a backup, he'll jump at the chance. (You don't think the Titans wouldn't be interested in seeing if he can run some of the plays drawn up for Young?) But just as likely, such a call will never come, because Culpepper has slid too far down the NFL totem pole, to the dreaded distinction of "distraction." Every NFL quarterback wants to be the starter. Hell, every NFL quarterback thinks he should be the starter. But those who aren't starters have to know to keep it to themselves, say the right things, and don't do anything to split the locker room. Coaches would rather lose games than lose their teams. Any team that signs Culpepper now comes preloaded with a quarterback controversy. So his phone won't ring.

There won't even be a call from his agent, just to say hi.

What we learned from opening night

1. Eli Manning still throws a lot of interceptions. The guy isn't a bad quarterback. He's a good quarterback and will enjoy a long, successful career. But one solid stretch at the end of last season did not cure him of all his ills, chief among them being his unfortunate tendency, at least two or three times a game, to put a pass right between the numbers of a guy in a different-color shirt. He did it at least four times on opening night -- including once in the end zone -- but you're not going to hear about it because the Redskins caught only one of those passes. Great quarterbacks don't just rack up yards and TDs. They protect the ball.

2. Are they sure that's the West Coast offense? John Madden remarked on it at least once, and I've heard it elsewhere: The Redskins under Jim Zorn have installed a West Coast passing offense but are leaving intact the power running game from the second Joe Gibbs era. Wha ... ? This is the football equivalent of wearing brown shoes with a blue suit. There's nothing inherently wrong with either, but you don't put them together and call it anything but ugly. In the West Coast, short passes are essentially part of the running game. The passing and the rushing have to be integrated seamlessly. You can't separate them. Well, you can, but don't expect it to work. I'm not saying that this is the reason that the Redskins receivers kept running 8-yard curls on 3rd-and-10, but ... well, maybe I am saying that.

3. The Redskins have Joe Gibbs' running game, Jim Zorn's passing game and Herm Edwards' clock management. Because of their atrocious use of the clock and non-use of timeouts, Washington nearly ran out of time at the end of the first half, just when they were putting together their first sustained drive of the game. Then they did run out of time in the fourth quarter, when, with less than 4 minutes left and needing two scores, they ran more than a minute off the clock with two plays that gained a total of 6 yards. In the waning moments, in their own end of the field, they were still calling designed runs up the middle and 6-yard hitch passes to the numbers.

4. South Carolina's quarterback is named "Smelley." I had to watch something after the game, and I sure as hell wasn't going to hang around on NBC and watch a bunch of politicians sniff their own fumes.