This week, something a little different: organizational rankings for the long-term rather than the usual list that hasn't changed much.For what it's worth, here's the present list for the power rankings: 1. Ravens, 2. Saints, 3. Giants, 4. Jets. 5. Colts, 6. Vikings. (Minnesota should have won more easily at home against a team that lost its best offensive player on his first carry.)
At the bottom, Detroit is out for the first time since forever: 27. Washington, 28. Oakland, and then any order you'd like among Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Cleveland and St. Louis.
Now to the long-term rankings, the reasons some teams remain a contender annually in a league designed for parity -- and why others always are at the bottom. No, the good teams don't always win in the short term (Pittsburgh and Tennessee are early examples this season.)
But look at the last decade, and the same teams usually make the playoffs and win the titles.
It's not luck If there's one common thread for the good organizations -- it's continuity in the front office and coaching staff and good drafts.
If there's a common thread for the bad ones, it's lack of continuity and bad drafts.
Top 6
1. New England: OK folks, start with the rants. Yes, they cheated, but so do other people. Don't argue with three Super Bowl titles since 2001 and an unbeaten regular season in 2007. Bill Belichick has built by taking players who fit his system over one-dimensional stars. Yes, they've been a little less successful drafting lately, and there's a brain drain -- Scott Pioli to Kansas City, Thomas Dimitroff to Atlanta, Josh McDaniels to Denver, Eric Mangini to New York and Cleveland, and (whoops) Charlie Weis to Notre Dame.
2. Pittsburgh: Continuity means three coaches over 40 years, with a record six Super Bowl wins. Dan Rooney, his son Art and the rest of the front office has hired superbly and drafted well. They know luck plays a part -- if the Giants hadn't been able to trade for Eli Manning, they would have drafted Ben Roethlisberger and maybe the Steelers wouldn't have won two titles in four years. But they get premier players with low picks and develop talent -- when it doesn't gel at first, it still seems to work in the long-run, like with James Harrison, cut and re-signed a bunch of times until he developed into the league's most dangerous pass rusher.
3. Baltimore: One title this decade and little change at the top, other than the dismissal of Brian Billick after the 2007 season. Who replaced him? John Harbaugh, who fans didn't know and wasn't on anyone's "hot list.'' Record so far: 16-6. The continuity comes from Ozzie Newsome, who has been running the personnel operation since 1996 after going straight from a Hall of Fame career on the field to the front office. Twenty-five teams passed on Ray Lewis before Newsome took him and 23 passed on Ed Reed. Joe Flacco looks like the next great QB (if Matt Ryan isn't already it).
4. New York Giants: The same philosophy since George Young became general manager in 1979. He hired Ernie Accorsi as his successor and a young scout named Jerry Reese. He wanted to hire Tom Coughlin as his coach in the mid-90s but Coughlin went to Jacksonville instead. The Giants draft consistently well, especially in the second round (Michael Strahan, Amani Toomer, Tiki Barber, Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, Steve Smith). All eight players from the 2007 draft are still on the roster. 2005, when they had no first-rounder and just four picks because of the Manning trade, was a classic: 2. Corey Webster, 3. Justin Tuck, 4. Brandon Jacobs.
5. Philadelphia: Does anyone want to argue with five conference title games in nine seasons? Philly fans have been pretty brutal to Donovan McNabb, but he's the only real star QB from the six-QB first-round in 1999 and has been among the NFL's elite for almost a decade. Again, it starts with good drafts: Brian Westbrook in the third round, DeSean Jackson in the second in a year when Washington managed to get two big and slow WRS in the same round. Continuity is Andy Reid in his 11th season.
6. Indianapolis: You could put the Colts higher but you could do the same with the Ravens, Giants and Eagles. Luck figures in, as it did in 1998, when they had the good fortune to have the No. 1 pick the year Peyton Manning came out. But credit Bill Polian for NOT using it on Ryan Leaf. And for finding free agents and low-round picks like Gary Brackett, Raheem Brock, Pierre Garcon, etc. Polian built the Buffalo teams that went to four straight Super Bowls under Marv Levy and the Carolina team that went to the NFC title game in its second season.
Latest NFL Images
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick listens to a reporter's question during a media availability at the NFL football team's facility in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday morning, Sept. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick smiles, just a bit, as he answers a reporter's question during a media availability at the NFL football team's facility in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday morning, Sept. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) talks with members of the media during an availability in front of his locker at the NFL football team's training facility in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday morning, Sept. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, right, talks with members of the media during an availability in front of his locker at the NFL football team's facility in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday morning, Sept. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick speaks about dogfighting at Covenant Baptist Church in southwest Washington, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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In this Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009, photo, St. Louis Rams linebacker David Vobora leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers in St. Louis. The NFL has suspended Vobora without pay for the next four games for violating its policy on performance enhancing substances. The NFL made the announcement Tuesday, Sept. 29, and said Vobora's suspension begins immediately. He can return to the active roster Oct. 26. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick listens during his introduction to speak about dogfighting at Covenant Baptist Church in southwest Washington, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, left, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, clap during the introduction for Vick to speak about dogfighting, at Covenant Baptist Church in southwest Washington, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, left, signs an autograph for Khristen Avery, 18, of Indian Head, Md., second from right, after speaking about dogfighting at Covenant Baptist Church in southwest Washington, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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New York Giants running back Brandon Jabobs presents boxers Kelly Pavlik, left, and Paul Williams, right, with jerseys at a news conference in East Rutherford, N.J. Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, to announce their world middleweight championship fight on Dec. 5, 2009, in Atlantic City, N.J . (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
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Bottom 6
27. St. Louis: After the success of 1999-2001, Jay Zygmunt, a non-football guy, wrested the football operation from Charlie Armey, who brought us the Greatest Show on Turf. It undercut Mike Martz, who later undercut himself. St. Louis' drafts have been awful -- Tye Hill, No. 1 in 2006, was traded to Atlanta before the season for a seventh rounder.
27b. Washington: Since Dan Snyder bought the team, they are 77-89, Snyder is a fantasy owner, constantly overpaying for overrated names and name coaches, then hiring a coach who had never even been a coordinator. The loss to Detroit last week is, of course, the low point.
28. Kansas City: Carl Peterson built the Chiefs into a consistent playoff team under Marty Schottenheimer. Then his ego got in the way, his drafts got worse and the team, especially the offensive line, aged badly. Scott Pioli has the brains to turn it around, but it will take a while, especially if his first big move -- the trade for and re-signing of Matt Cassel -- doesn't work out.
29. Cincinnati: Mike Brown doesn't like to spend money. And, he says, he likes to give troubled young men a second chance. Nice thought, but troubled young men also come cheaper than untroubled young men.
30. Oakland: For nearly 40 years after becoming coach in 1963, Al Davis was an innovative thinker. Now he's an embittered owner, repeating out-of-date slogans, wasting money on players nobody else wants and letting his staff intimidate critics. If he let his CEO, Amy Trask, hire a football guy, it could be consistently better. The Richard Seymour deal was Snyderesque, mortgaging a first-round pick for a declining star. .
31. Cleveland: Why did Randy Lerner jump so quickly to hire Mangini, who treats his players like high school kids? The Browns are are 54-110 since returning to the NFL in 1999. Enough said.
32. Detroit: Matt Millen is a very good broadcaster.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-30-2009 @ 8:11PM
Geezer said...
Well, it would be awfully difficult to complain about New England as cheaters when #2 Pittsburgh encouraged steroid use in the '70s and paid off the refs in SBXL, and #6 Indy's quarterback steals other team's signals and uses them.
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9-30-2009 @ 11:06PM
mrbsbio said...
I highly doubt that the Steelers were the only team that was doing steroids back in the 70's. They were just the only team winning consistently. In XL your claims of paying off the refs is baseless. I vividly recall Jeremy Stevens actually fumbling and Farrior recovering the fumble to only have it called an incomplete pass instead. Did the Seahawks pay the refs for that call but decide play fairly the rest of the game? If Manning steals signals then obviously the opposing team's coaches aren't bright enough to figure out a better code.
New England got caught red-handed and your homerism is just plain laughable. Good luck explaining to your kids the asterisk the will always be on those 3 super bowls.
10-01-2009 @ 11:09AM
Sosomething said...
How in the deal does a quarterback "steal other teams signals and use them??" And if they could, how could this be considered cheating?? Your post is the dumbest thing I've read in weeks.
10-02-2009 @ 10:13AM
americanhammer said...
I live in mass so I know the pats but I also read ESPN magazine.In that previous months' article on Belichick it revealed that his proteges have trouble with drafts and scouting because Bill doesn't let them in on his philosophies and decision making.So the fact that the Pats haven't drafted well falls on the shoulders of Belichick himself,not because he lost so many assistants.
10-01-2009 @ 12:25AM
DB said...
I think maybe the fact that the Steelers had no less than 10 Hall of Famers from that '70's dynasty -- including Chuck Noll -- had something to do with their dominance.
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10-01-2009 @ 11:12AM
adam said...
I'm no Steelers fan - but the fact that their organization has more SB rings than any other team in the league and multiple decades of dominating performance should have put them at #1 on this list. NO team in the NFL has been as consistently good for as long as Pittsburgh.
10-01-2009 @ 1:51AM
reikilight said...
Funny how Detroit is strikingly absent from the worst list ... Wonder why that is ... their winning percentage has been sickly for years and years. The media bias is so predictable!
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10-01-2009 @ 3:19AM
hockeytread said...
Get your eyes checked dude. They're at the bottom, #32? Media bias? Bias towards who? Bad football teams?
10-01-2009 @ 3:23AM
leebo said...
detroit is on the list #32 read the whole article
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10-01-2009 @ 12:49PM
drewpatz1 said...
Nothing infuriates me more than Steeler fans that call the Pats cheaters.
(a) What the pats did was not cheating. It is not cheating to use a camera on the field to steal a signal when it is legal to do the exact same thing from a press box. Read the NFL rules. Stealing signals is part of the game and EVERY team does it and every team uses cameras to do it. BB got in trouble because of the location of the camera. He did it from the field because it made the analyzing of film much quicker and easier after the game, but it was a miniscule edge and the information he got was readily available from other angles.
(2) The closest thing to actual cheating in the history of the NFL is the rampant steroid use of the late 70s and early 80s, which the Steelers were notorious for.
That said the Steeler fan on here makes a great point: They all were doing it, the STeelers were just winning so people use it against them.
Thats exactly what is true about the Pats. And thats why some of these Steeler fans are so dumb. Their hypothesis seems to be generally that the Pats were the only one stealing signals, but the Steelers of the 70's did steroids because everyone was doing it. Thats foolish.
The truth is in no way does what happened in the 70s tarnish what the Steelers did. Maybe there opponents were using twice as much juice as they were. Nobody knows. The problem is that when something like that gets into the media some people are just dumb enough to believe that the one person they heard about is the only one who did it. The fact is they all bend the rules at times, and if they don't they arent doing their job. When the winners bend the rules people take notice. When the Broncos were accused of filming the Raiders practice, something much worse than spygate, in the early 2000's no one cared because they stunk.
So stop throwing rocks at the castle and respect the Pats and the Steelers achievments. Everything in this world is a little tarnished it does not invalidate the achievement. The fact is if you arent doing everything you can to get an advantage than thats on you.
PS- As an aside what is more impactful anyway: Using an illegal camera angle to steal a signal you could have stolen anyways with a little more difficulty from a legal angle, or taking a drug that makes you bigger, faster and stronger than your opponent. Any reasonable person knows the Answer is the latter.
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10-01-2009 @ 12:52PM
drewpatz1 said...
Also there is no way the Pats should be number one on this list. Steelers should be number one.
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10-01-2009 @ 1:21PM
rcaporali said...
I'm really tired of hearing "The Steelers cheated because some of their players used steroids". The fact of the matter was they were not illegal back then, and several players from different teams used them (Raiders and Cowboys to name a few).....just the typical whining of jealous fans toward a successful franchise.
How the Pats are #1 ahead of the Steelers is mind boggling. You mention the Patriots cheated, but other teams do too....that must make it alright! Cuz, I seem to remember a pretty big investigation, and the Patriots being stripped of draft picks and fined a large sum of money for cheating....that right there should remove them from the list...let alone #1.
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10-01-2009 @ 1:52PM
A. J. said...
Oh my goodness, I can't beleive this rant about steroids and cheating is still going on. Grow up.
I would have to say the Superbowl wins say it all and Pittsburgh should be #1. But that's the thing with opinions, everybody has one and no one is necessarily correct.
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10-01-2009 @ 1:47PM
drewpatz1 said...
I love the circuitous argument here. It seems like your argument is that because they got punished than it must be cheating. That is redicoulous. So a parking ticket is cheating? A late fee?
They got punished because they broke a rule and because BB brazenly defied commissioner Goodell after a league memo, but no reasonable person can look at the facts of that case and say it gave them a huge advantage. Signal stealing is part of the game and the ability to do it with a camera is not illegal on normal game film.
A defensive coordinator makes his signals in broad daylight, in front of 70,000 people, with several cameras recording what he does routinely. What the Pats did was record him and then the scoreboard and then the play so they wouldn't have to splice information together later. They eliminated hours of work for the scouting department and got information that would have taken a decent amount of time and effort to prepare on one film. Is that an advantage? Maybe a small, small one.
Now taking a drug that makes you faster, bigger and stronger than your opponent: THATS REAL CHEATING. And because it technically was not illegal does not mean it was not a HUGE advantage. But like the guy said they all did it so whose to say who has the advantage and who doesn't.
Just don't dare call the Pats cheaters for recording from the wrong locale in the stadium, when your beloved steelers took a ton of juice on the way to four rings. And oh by the way how about that Steelers team doctor who lost his license because he was getting HGH by the bucket.
EVerything is a little tarnished. They all do shady things to get ahead. And the eventual winners were better in the first place they just get more scrutiny because they win.
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10-01-2009 @ 2:20PM
faceetious said...
True of many teams, the Colts for instance. But Not Pittsburgh. 6 rings - No Cheating! The Steelers are perennially strong contenders year in and year out despite tough schedules, lack of recognition and bad calls.
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10-02-2009 @ 12:36PM
Glenn said...
Pittsburgh has a perenially tough schedule? What? Have you ever watched football before? With the division they play in, Pittsburgh has an automatic bye into the playoffs every year. The reason Pittsburgh has 6 titles is that their schedule is (at most) 4 games long (wildcard, division playoff, AFC championship, and Super Bowl). Granted, they do typically have a decent team every year, but all they have to do is have better record than the Bengals, Browns and Ravens and they get into the playoffs by virtue of being the division champion. Then, they just have to get on a run in the playoffs to make it to the Super Bowl.
The Ravens are a good team this year, but typically have just a mediocre team with a great defense. If Pittsburgh didn't have such an easy schedule (due to their weak division), they would NOT have 6 super bowls since they wouldn't have even made the playoffs most years. With the easy schedule Pittsburgh plays every year, they should have at least twice as many Super Bowl titles.
10-01-2009 @ 2:38PM
Brad W said...
No Cowboys?!
2nd most Lombardi trophies.
Best stadium.
Largest Fan following.
Most Valuable Franchise.
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10-01-2009 @ 3:41PM
drewpatz1 said...
Well I am a Pats fan obviously and I can't believe they are ahead of the Steelers. Also the cowboys should be on there as well.
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10-07-2009 @ 4:02PM
DBouw said...
I don't know how the Raiders couldn't be the worst franchise.
If either the Browns or the Lions were to make some prudent front office moves, they could begin the process of rebuilding their franchise. Basically, the only way the Raiders can improve themselves is if their owner dies.
Al Davis has basically orchestrated through his own dementia, the destruction of a once proud franchise. The Browns were an expansion team and the Lions were pretty terrible, even before Matt Millen, however the Raiders went to the Super Bowl 6 years ago and now are the most dysfunctional franchise, where marginal prospects get drafted in the first round, where coaches punched in the face, where players from other teams dread the words, "You've been traded to Oakland." This is not a franchise in dissarray. This franchise is the definition of "dissarray."
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10-01-2009 @ 7:01PM
dirt_master said...
Ah, the cheater two step... Step one: denial. "We didn't cheat!" Act extremely indignant, this is important. Step two: point at others. "Everyone cheats!" Continue to act extremely indignant!!
Now, just go back and forth! It's easy! And don't blame those Pats and their fans... they're just better dancers than you!
So... #1 football organization? Ok... but perhaps like this:
"1. New England(*)"
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