With half of the NFL holding a 1-0 record and the other an 0-1 record, there isn’t much way to distinguish between the good teams and the bad teams right now. On paper there are some really, really good teams, and some really, really, bad teams, but it’s hard to identify where the rest may fall with so little information.
Thus we come to the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders, teams few would claim are terrible while even fewer may claim are elite. Where do you put them in the power rankings? Well, ESPN took a stab at it, placing both teams towards the bottom half of the league.
Oakland moved up from 22nd to 18th after they edged the Broncos out in Denver, making a mess of it in the rain with abundant penalties, ultimately hanging on thanks to a Sebastian Janikowski record tying field goal. The AFC West doesn’t seem as strong as it was last year, and the Raiders could have a legit shot at making the playoffs. But what do I know; this is the NFL, and it’s been one friggin’ game. Anything could still happen in this division.
San Francisco jumped from 26th to 22nd, taking over the Raiders spot from last week. It was looking like Jim Harbaugh and the Niners might let one slip to his arch-nemesis Pete Carroll and his Seahawks, but thanks to Ted Ginn Jr. catching lightning in a bottle twice with two kick return TD’s, they managed to cruise to a victory. Are there 21 teams in the NFL right now that are better than the Niners? Possibly. Do I think there are? No.
For more on the Raiders head over to Silver and Black Pride. For more on the 49ers, check out Niners Nation.