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The NFL draft is critical, pivotal -- franchise-altering. The moves teams make generate strong reactions. Analysts quickly decide which teams filled needs, which teams got great value, which teams helped themselves the most and which teams could h...

The NFL Power Rankings published late last week treated NFC West teams the way they finished last season. The San Francisco 49ers were well ahead of the pack. The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks were some distance back and tied, with Arizon...

Crushing bounty-related penalties levied against the New Orleans Saints forced a re-vote in ESPN.com's first NFL Power Rankings looking ahead to the 2012 season. We planned to run the rankings after Peyton Manning signed with Denver, figuring that...

Take a bow, Green Bay Packers. You sailed through ESPN's NFL Power Rankings as the top team from Week 1 through the regular season. There was lots of movement beneath you, however. Our Power Rankings voters -- John Clayton, Paul Kuharsky, James...

Through the powers of Dan Orlovsky and Kellen Clemens, the St. Louis Rams have assumed the position as last-ranked team in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings through Week 16. Quarterback trouble marked the comeback victory Orlovsky led for Indianapolis aga...

Sorry, NFC West fans, but it's tough to blame East Coast bias for this one. A West Coast team, San Diego, bore responsibility for the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals losing ground in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings despite victories in Week 14. ...

The New Orleans Saints smacked around the New York Giants in memorable fashion Monday night, amassing 577 yards during a 49-24 victory. Their reward: a fall from third to fourth in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 13. What in the nam...

The San Francisco 49ers have held on to the No. 2 spot for a fourth consecutive week in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 12. Our panelists appear unsympathetic to their plight traveling across the country to Baltimore on a short week. I...

Here's a nightmare scenario for Arizona Cardinals fans: Kevin Kolb flounders while a reborn Matt Leinart leads the Houston Texans deep into the playoffs. The 7-3 Texans' outlook minus injured starting quarterback Matt Schaub framed the biggest deb...

Four teams ranked third through ninth in ESPN's previous NFL Power Rankings lost in Week 7. Three of them remained in the top nine anyway when John Clayton, Paul Kuharsky, Ashley Fox and James Walker joined me in casting ballots this week. As b...

The last season in which the San Francisco 49ers fielded a playoff team, they peaked at No. 2 in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings. That was way back in Week 11 of 2002, when Steve Mariucci, Jeff Garcia, Terrell Owens and Garrison Hearst defined the 49ers...

The West is not yet won in the NFL, but it's winning. Teams from the two Western divisions climbed a combined 13 spots from last week in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings, with teams from their Southern counterparts falling 23 places in all. NFL Po...

Stability at the top marked ESPN's NFL Power Rankings following Week 4. The top five teams, led by Green Bay, remained unchanged. The Packers have been No. 1 all the way, and that's not likely to change while they remain undefeated. Much has ch...

One of the NFL's more fascinating weekends shook up ESPN's Power Rankings. Voters agreed on the top (Green Bay) and bottom (Kansas City). A food fight broke out in between. New Orleans, New England, Detroit, Baltimore and Buffalo rounded out the t...

More than a few Buffalo Bills fans wanted to know what it would take for voters to give their team a little respect in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings. "Please tell me why you and your friends that do the power rankings have the Bills ranked below the C...

The St. Louis Rams open the 2011 regular season at No. 17 in ESPN's NFL Power Rankings, their highest Week 1 positioning since opening 2007 in the same spot. That 2007 team bottomed out at No. 32 by Week 5 and pretty much flatlined from there, fin...