2021 NFL Week One Political Rankings

I don't usually do these Week One.  In fact, I usually wait until about 4-6 weeks before the end of the year.

And there still IS the chance that, "want to" pending, it may revert to that.

However, I do think a personal viewing of what I call the "rigged" rankings (the "kayfabe" ones being the ones in the papers -- and, of course, through one week, that's a useless exercise) might give an early idea as to what's going on, since it seems a lot of unexpected results might've occurred.

Everyone in the AFC and NFC West won.

Everyone in the NFC North lost.

We'll start in the AFC:

Buffalo, Baltimore, New England all lost.

1) Kansas City

I really blanch at the concept of this holding up for 20 weeks, as I said before.  Especially as the wheels of justice crank to a rusty halt with Britt Reid over the course of this year, I do believe Kansas City will EVENTUALLY rigged-eat it again.  But if we want to talk about Week 1, a lot of people really looked at Cleveland, somehow, as a contender in the AFC.

2) Miami

Pretty much because Buffalo, Baltimore, and New England all ate it and no one really needs to look at the likes of Houston, Denver, and Cincinnati with any degree of seriousness.

3) Cleveland

Pretty much the "best of the losers" in the AFC.  Acquitted themselves quite well against Mahomes and Company.

4) LA Chargers

4A) LV Raiders

Kind of a tie because of the (New Stadium here) Experiment angle, which all three teams appeared to benefit from this week.

DUD OF THE WEEK:  A three-way tie in the AFC, for my theories:

BUFFALO:  How do you go 10-0 up on Captain Fatfuck and Company and then lay THAT EGG in the second half?

TENNESSEE:  There were some corkers in the AFC South, but you took the cake with 38-13 at home to the Arizona Cardinals.  Yes, there are some people who think the Cardinals might amount to a hill of beans this year, I'm not one of them yet.

NEW YORK JETS:  Completely unwatchable in a 19-14 loss at Carolina.

NFC:

1) Tampa Bay

I know what some people are thinking (see #2), but I need to see the two games between these two teams first, before I make an idea whether this year is Katrina II or not.

2) New Orleans

You can't dispute the possibility, however, the NFL doesn't go ahead and replay the entire Katrina angle here -- and that exposure of the Green Bay Frauds just absolutely does the trick.  The two teams play in Week 8 and 15.

3 through 3C)  All four teams in the NFC West

I would probably, for the record, put Seattle a hair's-breadth past the other three (and, as I said above, I'm not sold on Arizona to any real degree, unlike some).  As I said above, New Stadium Experiment for the Rams as well.  And with Green Bay now officially out of the way, I think it's going to be these six teams to basically fight it out for the NFC.

DUD OF THE WEEK HONORABLE MENTIONS:

ATLANTA:  Good God, what was THAT?  32-6 to the Iggles at home, the only team from the NFC East or North to win this week!  Boys, you are the University of Michigan of the NFL -- completely irrelevant after one bonkers loss!  Since the Super Bowl rig-job 28-3 situation, you have had one 10-6 playoff appearance, two 7-9s, a 4-12, and THAT.

THE ENTIRE NFC NORTH BESIDES GREEN BAY:  I said "Honorable Mentions" here.  Green Bay wins the award for the entire league this week and lapped the field in doing so!  Detroit cock-teases their fans before Detroiting against the Niners at home.  Chicago meekly bows in the fans opener at SoFi (Good God, you threw away that defense in a heartbeat!).  And Minnesota couldn't even finish the job against Cincinnati.

DUD OF THE WEEK, NFL EDITION:  

THE GREEN BAY FRAUDS/SLACKERS/ETC.:  And this might take some doing to outdo this entire season.  Yeah, there was all the "Will he or won't he?", but this isn't something the Packers haven't dealt with before.  This was so bad, it got it's own article.  I mean, I get the concept that the team doesn't want to lose it's third NFC title game in a row, but there's losing and there's losing by FIVE RAPEIS WINSTON TOUCHDOWN PASSES.  The worst defeat for a conference-title loser in the next year's opener in NFL history, and a real question of sabotage (and I'm not just talking Rodgers here, though that's a start -- if they lay another egg like this in MNF next week with Detroit, the talking will REALLY BEGIN) mean that the Green Bay Packers were, and not close, the worst team in the NFL this week.  (Atlanta has little expected of them -- there's the main difference.)