The World's Most Prestigious Power Poll: Week 1

It's that time of year -- when football stadiums are overrun with alcoholics forking over $10 for a bad beer and you get to indulge your crippling addiction to gambling and baby back ribs. More importantly, though, September marks the return of The World's Most Prestigious Power Poll. While the NFL continues mucking about with that Super Bowl thingie, hoping it'll one day catch on with the masses, you know what the rest of the world knows: the real competition is to be #1 in the The World's Most Prestigious Power Poll. 01. Pittsburgh Steelers [12-4]: The champs return most of last year's team and a great coaching staff. Repeating will be difficult, but don't under-estimate this bunch.02. New England Patriots [11-5]: A pretty good bet to win the Super Bowl, though the offense, which should easily be the best in the NFL, will have to carry an aging and overrated defense.03. San Diego Chargers [8-8]: The talent is there in abundance, but this team seems to under-achieve and I don't know how any decent team loses 8 games in the NFL's worst division.04. Indianapolis Colts [12-4]: The offense will have to carry the defense until Bob Sanders gets back. Fortunately, this offense can do that.05. New York Giants [12-4]: When healthy, the offensive and defensive lines are first rate, but will Eli Manning find a comfort zone with a receiver who isn't in prison?06. Philadelphia Eagles [9-6-1]: This McNabb/Vick thing ain't gonna work.07. Tennessee Titans [13-3]: The Titans will probably start slow with a brutal first 6 games, but the schedule gets easier after that and they'll breeze into the playoffs, as usual.08. Minnesota Vikings [10-6]: The team schism talk will dissolve once Favre starts leading the Vikings to victories, which he will.09. Atlanta Falcons [11-5]: They won't sneak up on anyone this year, but the talent is all there and they should win the NFC South.10. Baltimore Ravens [11-5]: I like the defense and the running game, but any passing game that is relying on Derrick Mason coming out of retirement isn't good enough to win the AFC.11. Carolina Panthers [12-4]: They need to shrug off Jake Delhomme's disastrous playoff meltdown and a fair amount of staff turnover in the offseason.12. Arizona Cardinals [9-7]: The running game should be improved, but I wonder about the defense. Keeping Kurt Warner healthy for 16 games will be the key.13. Chicago Bears [9-7]: This is a fundamentally sound team that is coached well, but where are the cryba -- Jay Cutler's receivers? 14. Dallas Cowboys [9-7]: Will need big seasons from Tony Romo, Demarcus Ware, Jason Witten and Roy Williams to improve on the 9 wins from last year.15. Washington Redskins [8-8]: Had the dubious honor of being the NFL's best last place team in 2008, which is rather like being the smartest member of the Lohan family.16. New Orleans Saints [8-8]: I love the offense, but the defense doesn't look better to me.17. Miami Dolphins [11-5]: With a tougher schedule, the Dolphins will do well to win more than 8 games this season.18. Seattle Seahawks [4-12]: The return of Matt Hasselbeck could propel the Seahawks back to top the NFC West.19. Houston Texans [8-8]: They need a health Matt Schaub and massive improvement on the defense to move beyond 3rd place in the AFC South.20. Green Bay Packers [6-10]: Everyone seems to love the Pack this year, but I'll need to see a big improvement in the defense before I believe Aaron Rodgers can pass these guys past the Vikings and Bears.21. San Francisco 49ers [7-9]: Mike Singletary will drag this team back to respectability by doing the unthinkable in San Fran -- focusing on a bruising rushing attack.22. Cincinnati Bengals [4-11-1]: Another long season of listening to Chad Ochoidiot running his mouth and waiting for the inevitable player arrests.23. New York Jets [9-7]: Mark Sanchez looked pretty good in the preseason, but wait until he sees actual defensive schemes and disguised blitzes.24. Jacksonville Jaguars [5-11]: I love Maurice Jones-Drew, but the passing game still doesn't have enough weapons for QB David Garrard. The early schedule is tough and I expect more losses than wins for a while.25. Buffalo Bills [7-9]: They just fired their offensive coordinator amid total panic. They're going to lose a lot of games this year and even playing for a contract might not be enough to keep T.O.'s mouth shut. Someone from Toronto remind me why you want this team?26. Denver Broncos [8-8]: A disastrous offseason will hurt this team, making Mike Shanahan look good by comparison and putting even more heat on Jim Zorn to win now in Washington.27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers [9-7]: They collapsed in December last year and I think the worst is still to come. Also fired their offensive coordinator recently and that doesn't bode well for a team with a new head coach, new offense and new quarterback.28. Kansas City Chiefs [2-14]: Seems like these guys have been awful since they fired Marty Schottenheimer -- and that was a while ago.29. Cleveland Browns [4-12]: Brady Quinn wins the nod over Derek Anderson, but it doesn't matter. This team has very little talent and I'm not a fan of new head coach Eric Mangini.30. Oakland Raiders [5-11]: I wanted to put these guys lower, but the two teams after them are so bad, I couldn't do it.31. St. Louis Rams [2-14]: It's going to take a new quarterback, new receivers, a better offensive line and a completely new defense to turn the Rams around. Welcome to hell, Steve Spagnuolo. Even working for Dan Snyder couldn't be worse than this.32. Detroit Lions [0-16]: The good news: They'll be better than last year. The bad news: Not much better.Follow DC Pro Sports Report on Twitter!Discuss this at the Warpath!