Last year every week, I would check Fox Sports' power rankings and every week the Redskins consistently was ranked in the top 10. Even when they were 5-6, the Redskins would be ranked high enough to make the playoffs. People questioned how this could be, and Fox consistently wrote, "We use a system based off this and that and some other stuff so how the Redskins got ranked that high every weekend, well, we have no idea..."
Sure enough, the formula was right and not only did the Redskins make the playoffs, they even won a game vindicating Fox Sports' power ranking system.
So, I checked them out recently to get an idea of what the HAL of NFL rankings thinks so far, and sure enough, there's been a change of heart. The disappointing thing is that the Redskins are ranked 25th. But there is some good news. The Houston Texans are ranked 31st!
The complicated formula is based a lot on previous games, but not all of them. It's something like the last eight. Since we're only two weeks into the season, maybe the formula is just getting warmed up. So, I checked out CBS Sportsline. They have the Redskins ranked two places higher at number 23, but they have the Texans tanked three spots better than Fox does, coming in at 28th.
Well, let's take it to those who really know football. Those who put money where their mouth is. I checked out Covers.com to see what they think. And slowly but surely we're moving up the rankings already. They have the Redskins ranked at number 20 and the Texans at number 29.
Power rankings are supposed to give you an idea of what a team's season is going to look like when the dust settles and not how it looked in the previous games. Perhaps many people think the Redskins are that bad. They also forget that football is a 16 game season. They're also probably the same ones who predicted the Redskins to win the division during the offseason. After a few victories, we'll revisit the rankings and see who finally decided to base their rankings off how the season is going to end and not how it looks right now.
