NFL Power Rankings

To the teams in question from Week 1.

As it stands at the halfway point of the NFL season.

1. New England Patriots.
They still have a solid preparer in Bill Belichick. They have Tom Brady clicking again. The passing game is very solid spreading it around to Wes Welker, Randy Moss and others. The running game is satisfactory but they pass first. They have the #2 ranked D in terms of points allowed (PA's ol' "bend but don't break excuse."). Also, they have the 7th ranked D in terms of yards allowed a game.

2. Minnesota Vikings
They're always liable to lose a game with uber-conservative play caller Brad Childress at the helm. Statistically, they're not very good-anywhere! Shocking, I know. The Packers are ranked in front of right next to the Vikings in numerous categories that I looked at.

However, they've gotten spectacular play from Packers legendary quarterback Brett Favre. With the current stats this team has and someone other than Favre at QB this team would be 5-3 at the halfway point. Favre and the Vikes lead the league in team passing/passer rating. However, with their beast Adrian Peterson running the ball they're only 12th in the league in rushing yards per game. Not great, considering AP's goal was to surpass 2,000 yards rushing this year! Haha, that's where I will always stress realistic and maybe slightly more conservative goals for the rest of my life. Though he is still on pace for 1,568 yards and a great year it's been proven he can be slowed or neutralized as a result of two Packer games. In fact, this stud has only rushed for 100 yards twice this year.

The Vikings are relying too much on Brett Favre. At the half way point, his 106 passer rating will only digress, if not a ton, slightly. Meaning, that will result in L's in the standings.

What happened to the Vikings defense? Overall: 17th in yards allowed. 18th in yards allowed per game. 16th in points allowed and tied for 17th in points allowed per game. None of those stats are very impressive. They're 9th in 3rd down percentage allowing a first down 35% of the time. They're only +5 in the turnover ratio.

What say you about these facts?

Might I say the Vikings will slip a bit this second half of the year. Their schedule isn't considerably tough however.

Was it the Vikings plan to throw considerably more with Favre in the first half of the year and rely on a "fresh" Adrian Peterson to carry them down the stretch?

3. Green Bay Packers
Head coach is decent with Mike McCarthy. He needs to step up his game though. Offensively they're fine. Rodgers gets the ball to his guys. I would like a better running game, though they average more rushing yards per game than the Vikings. I would like Rodgers to stop taking so many sacks! They have a sieve for an offensive line. It does nothing to stop the likes of Antwan Odom or Jared Allen.
Their defense is having some troubles adjusting to the 3-4 defense. I would have liked to keep the 4-3 to have Aaron Kampman more effective. However, they're adjusting. Their secondary thinks they're better than they are. Harris and Woodson might be good but Bigbie and Collins aren't great. (Though Collins is fast and tracked down Percy Harvin on a kick return in the second game versus the Vikings)
Clearly the Packers problems don't come from production or stats. They're good. They just have a horrible offensive line and their defense isn't meshing into the new system as well as they could. Also, it might result in some coaching mistakes.

This was going to be very short. But I kept writing.

Mark it down though. Count on a couple brutal losses for the Vikings though. Maybe even in the post season.