NFL TOP 10 - 10/7/08

This weeks NFL Top 10 poll is for the week ending October 5th.

Dropped Out: SD (2-3)

#10 - Tampa Bay (3-2) Tampa drops three spots after a 13-16 loss to Denver. Now they have 4-1 Carolina coming to town this weekend. They need to find more offense if they want to be effective. Expect a hard hitting low scoring game once again from these two teams, and probably close to 70% run plays on offense.

#9 - New England (3-1) The Pats slide into the top 10 for the first time this season. They still have not faced a good opponent yet. Will have a tougher test against a struggling SD team this weekend. The question is are they for real when they need to play better teams, yet they only have four real hard games left (Buffalo-2 games, Denver and Pittsburgh).

#8 - Buffalo Bills (4-1) You knew the glass slipper would eventually fall off, you just didn't expect it to be to the Arizona Cardinals by 24 points. They are still a good team, just not elite! They as well as the Pats will benefit from a weak schedule this year. Lets see what they can do after their bye week against a desperate SD team.

#7 - Carolina (4-1) They move up three spots from #10 last week after dominating a pathetic KC team 34-0. Now comes their biggest test of the season so far with this week at Tampa and then games against two high powered offenses in New Orleans and Arizona. If they can keep up the will continue to move up.

#6 - Denver (4-1) Denver bounced back after an embarrassing loss against KC with a 16-13 win against Tampa. Next up Jacksonville and New England. They will need to find that powerful offense again to make an impact.

#5 - Steelers (4-1) You can describe this team in one word, RESILIENT! Does not matter who they have on the field, if you are wearing black and gold you will be in the game and most times come out on top. Third stringer Moore runs for over 100 yards and this team does not miss a beat. Now they get a week to rest and get healthy before playing Cincy.

#4 - Cowboys (4-1) Despite a 33-21 win over Cincy the Cowboys fall 2 spots from #2. Two reasons, they failed to put away a Cincy team that they had down big early and let them make it a game. Second, once again the secondary is still a problem letting too many yards and only have 1 interception on the year.

#3 - Washington (4-1) The Redskins after being down early at Philly dominated the rest of the game. Two straight weeks with wins at division rivals moves them up to #3. Now the ball is in their court. With three easy wins coming up (St.Louis, Cleveland and Detroit) can they keep up the intensity they showed the past two weeks?

#2 - Titans (5-0) The first time in franchise history this team has started 5-0 and they do it in style, hard nose football style. Nothing flashy in their 13-10 win over Baltimore, just good defense and they did not let their mistakes kill them. After their bye week the should easily make it 6-0 against the pathetic KC Chiefs.

#1 - Giants (4-0) They showed why they are #1 and a cut above the rest. Seattle came in and had no shot from the opening kick off, this is a team that dominates the teams they are suppose to even without their #1 wide-out. As said before they will have a rough second-half, so the next two weeks need to be must wins against Cleveland and SF.