Power Rankings Compilation, Week 5

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On to this week's power rankings. My guess would be Vikings at 18.

First up, the good news. USAToday.com says:

18. Hosting the Lions could be a good springboard into following week's visit to Chicago.

Yay! Lions! It's like a bye week that gets you a win.

Yahoo.com's Michael Silver says:

16. Along with handing out game balls, shouldn’t Coach Chilly be sending thank-you cards to his players for bailing him out Monday night?

Nah, Chilly told Kevin Williams to block that kick. That's why he did it. And he drew it up so KW would knock the ball right to Antoine Winfield. That's expert coaching and a cunning game plan. Stop knocking my boy.

SportingNews.com's Vinnie Iyer says:

22. Everyone knows running back Adrian Peterson is the Vikes' MVP, including every defense that gangs up to try to stop him. That's why it was so huge for Gus Frerotte to deliver through the air when No. 28 was stuffed. Monday's wild win may end up being a big spark.

Wanna bet the Lions don't know it? Last year, the Vikes ran for 339 yards in two games against Detroit.

SI.com's Dr. Z says:

15. They're dysfunctional, but they still won a big one in the Superdome on Monday night. The QB's marginal. The receivers are catch-one, drop-one, at least Berrian, their top guy, is. Jared Allen is not the pass rushing demon they figured he'd be. I see him taking an outside rush and continuing on his own track, after the train has left the station. Their special teams got destroyed. And yet, they're up five spots. OK, you emailers, let's hear it. And you'll have the pleasure of hearing me whine about how I had to adjust some other teams.

Regarding Jared Allen: That's the same observation I made last week, too. On nearly every rush, he seems to continue on his outside path and just get taken past the QB. As soon as I realized this, he sat out a play, replace by (I think) Otis Grigsby. His replacement pushed outside, then made an inside move, diving at Brees' leg and grabbing onto his foot just as he threw and forcing and incomplete pass.

ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert says:

19. The Vikings saved their season Monday night -- with a big assist from the Saints.

Covers.com's Bryan Leonard says:

24. Won a game in which they were thoroughly outplayed offensively. Down field passing game is improving.

Fox Sports' Adrian Hasenmayer says:

22. Minnesota definitely escaped against the Saints Monday night, but give them credit for fighting to stay in the game long enough to steal it. Plenty of folks were ripping Brad Childress for playing too conservatively at the end of the first half, but the way New Orleans was moving up and down the field Childress was wise to keep Drew Brees on the sideline.

So, even if those two runs on the last drive of the first half were the right call, we should give Childress a break for making the right call for about two minutes of the game, thus ignoring the other 2,218 minutes that he's been an awful coach (yes, that's actually two years + four games + 58 minutes)? That's like saying that Tarvaris Jackson will be a great QB in 2008 based on about half a quarter in the last game of 2007 against Denver, when he looked good. Which is what people were saying going into this year.

Oh, and Adrian still ranks the Cowboys at #1 overall. Not bad for a one-loss team that can barely beat the Bengals at home.

CBS SportsLine's Pete Prisco says:

17. That move to Gus Frerotte just might get them to the playoffs. That was a huge road victory Monday night at New Orleans.

I was frankly stunned -- OK, maybe I shouldn't be, considering the source -- at how much Tony Kornheiser and, to a lesser extent, the other talking heads in the MNF booth, were questioning the decision to replace T-Jack with Frerotte. It's a classic case of reverse age-ism. People think Baltimore and Atlanta are making mistakes by playing rookie quarterbacks because they have veteran options at the position. So what? If the rookie's better, play him. On the same note, just because one guy's 25 (and bad) and the other's 38 (and at least mediocre) doesn't mean you should play the younger guy just because he's younger. Tarvaris Jackson is not the "quarterback of the future," as Tony put it. Neither is Gus Frerotte, granted, but at least he's a better "quarterback of the present."

Average ranking: 19.25

Finally, I don't have a "WTF" message with regard to the team rankings, but rather with quarterback rankings, specifically the overwhelming voice in the sports media that is now ready to anoint Eli as the better Manning brother (over Peyton). Everywhere I looked this week, the talk was about how Eli has surpassed Peyton and is clearly the better of the two right now.

OK, taking into account that Eli has had a pretty good run -- eight straight victories (going back to last year's postseason) and 12/2 TD/Int. ratio in those games, it's eight games. And there are still 12 left this season. That gives a lot of time for him to regress back to his 75.2 career passer rating. His last three years, he's thrown 17, 18, and 20 interceptions. Chances are he finishes somewhere in the teens this year, too.

But hey, what's eight good games versus 164 good games? Yeah, sure, not all of Peyton's have been that good, but I'll take Peyton's 164 over Eli's 8 any day. Including right now.