Philadelphia Eagles get due credit in alternative rankings

Congratulations to the San Diego Chargers; you found a team in worse shape than you. Now there's a chance the Chargers might make a run in the AFC West. Yes, hold on to that thought when Vincent Jackson and the Buccaneers beat them this week.

In fairness, we give the Chargers a break here and they will now tumble out of the bottom six since, well, they do have four wins. (Even though two of those wins were against the Chiefs.) However, we will give them the benefit of the doubt this week. They have a pretty good chance to prove themselves as real contenders if they can travel cross country to Tampa Bay and beat a pretty good Bucs team.

Stranger things have happened.

Undaunted, we will continue our look at those teams competing to be the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, no matter who the top dog is. And until we have a better name, we will continue to refer to this space as the Fans for Barkley.

And without further ado ...

Dropped out: Oakland Raiders (3-6), Tennessee (3-6), New York Jets (3-5)

The Eagles simply don't get enough credit for being a bad football team. The Eagles have gone so far as to ignore their best player, LeSean McCoy. They don't block for their quarterback, and still, the media has refused to give the Eagles the discredit they so richly deserve. Well look here Eagles; I respect what you're doing. It's easy for a team like the Jaguars to be so bad. It takes true talent and a true commitment to be No. 1 for a team like the Eagles to be bad. And for that, I say kudos.

Phil Dawson is awesome. Love the guy. But when he becomes your biggest offensive weapon, well, you're not going to win a lot of games. I thought the Browns were going to beat the Ravens this week, but they just couldn't convert on the other side of the 50. And yes, I still believe a winning streak is coming.

The Panthers were a little more competitive this week against the Washington Redskins than in most games, but nearly blew the whole thing. Thankfully, the defense allowed the Panthers to drive down the field for the winning field goal as time expired to retain the team's lofty position.

The Redskins probably deserve a higher rank after Mike Shanahan threw in the towel on 2012 (though he did later recant his remarks). The only thing that will keep them from the top of the rankings is: a.) the first two teams are really, really bad. And 2.) Robert Griffin III won't let his team be that bad. The reason the Carolina players were upset was because RG3 led a late rally to make a blowout much closer than it should have been.

Things have become so bad in Jacksonville, there was once a thought Tim Tebow was a better option at quarterback. But wait, which way were they shooting for? Was that going to be a move to get them to the top of the rankings or the Alternative Rankings? Hmm, you have to wonder. But know this, the Jags look like they will be in the race for No. 1 for the long haul.

The Chiefs really pulled out all of the stops against San Diego. The Chargers teetered on the edge of a lost season. Norv Turner was rumored to have his job on the line if his team lost, and yet the Chiefs still found a way to pull it out. Where lesser teams would have gone out and beaten a weakened foe, the Chiefs took it a step further and lost to the wounded dog.

This is going to be a big week for both our top teams this week.

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