ESPN NFL

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Rank Team 1 Steelers 1 1 1 1 2 Patriots 2 2 2 2 3 Giants 3 4 3 4 4 Eagles 6 3 4 3 5 Colts 4 5 6 10 6 Chargers 5 6 8 9 7 Titans 10 10 5 5 8 Falcons 8 11 7 8 9 Vikings 12 7 12 6 10 Ravens 9 9 9 12 11 Panthers 11 12 14 7 12 Cardinals 7 16 10 13 13 Bears 13 8 11 15 14 Cowboys 14 13 15 14 15 Dolphins 16 19 13 11 16 Texans 15 15 16 16 17 Packers 17 14 19 18 18 Seahawks 18 17 18 17 19 Saints 19 21 17 19 20 Redskins 22 20 20 20 21 Bills 23 18 23 21 22 49ers 20 23 25 22 23 Jets 21 26 21 25 24 Bengals 25 22 22 28 25 Jaguars 26 25 24 23 26 Bucs 27 24 27 26 27 Broncos 24 29 28 24 28 Browns 28 27 32 29 28 Chiefs 31 28 26 31 30 Raiders 30 30 31 27 31 Rams 29 31 30 30 32 Lions 32 32 29 32

The Steelers and Patriots were unanimous choices -- in that order -- atop ESPN.com's 2009 preseason power rankings.

The top five teams remained unchanged from our May rankings even though ESPN.com simplified the voting process by reducing from 12 to four panelists.

Senior writers John Clayton and Jeffri Chadiha will join AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky and me as power rankings voters for the 2009 season. I'll continue to shine light on how the voters voted.

Rising: The Vikings jumped five spots from 14th to ninth, the largest gain from our May rankings. The 49ers (26th to 22nd) and Seahawks (22nd to 18th) gained four places. The Falcons jumped from 11th to eighth. The Texans jumped two spots. Four other teams moved up one place.

Falling: The Ravens dropped four spots to 10th, the largest dip from May. The Cardinals were among three teams dropping three places. Kuharsky and I were the only panelists to rank Arizona among the top 10. 

Unchanged: Twelve teams' rankings remained unchanged from May, including the top five. Also staying put: the Dolphins (15), Packers (17), Bills (21), Browns (28), Raiders (30), Rams (31) and Lions (32).

Deadlocked: Voting produced one tie, with the Browns at Chiefs at No. 28. The Chiefs drew the highest ranking of the two, a No. 26 vote from Kuharsky.

Agree to disagree: The Cardinals generated the widest gap between highest and lowest votes. I ranked them seventh. Clayton ranked them 16th. Six other teams also generated high-low gaps wider than five spots:

• Cardinals (9): I ranked them seventh, higher than any voter ranked them. Clayton ranked them 16th, lower than any voter ranked them.
• Dolphins (8): Chadiha 11th, Clayton 19th.
• Panthers (7): Chadiha seventh, Kuharsky 14th.
• Bears (7): Clayton eighth, Chadiha 15th.
• Vikings (6): Chadiha sixth, Sando and Kuharsky 12th.
• Bengals (6): Clayton and Kuharsky 22nd, Chadiha 28th.
• Colts (6): Sando fourth, Chadiha 10th.

Ranking the divisions: NFC East teams ranked 10.5 on average, best for any division. AFC West teams ranked 22.9 on average, worst for any division. The chart below shows how each voter ranked teams from each division on average. Black shading identifies the highest rankings for a division on average. Red shading identifies the lowest for a division on average.

• Example: I ranked AFC West teams 22.5 on average, higher than any other voter ranked them. Chadiha ranked AFC North teams 17.5 on average, lower than any other voter ranked teams from the division.

Breakdown By Division Voter AFC East AFC North AFC South AFC West NFC East NFC North NFC South NFC West Mike Sando 15.50 15.75 13.75 22.50 11.25 18.50 16.25 18.50 John Clayton 16.25 14.75 13.75 23.25 10.00 15.25 17.00 21.75 Paul Kuharsky 14.75 16.00 12.75 23.25 10.50 17.75 16.25 20.75 Jeffri Chadiha 14.75 17.50 13.5 22.75 10.25 17.75 15.00 20.50 AVERAGE 15.3 16.0 13.4 22.9 10.5 17.3 16.1 20.4 RANK 3 4 2 8 1 6 5 7

Stock watch by voter

A look at changes of at least three spots since the May rankings.

Sando: Texans (+3), Ravens (-3), Saints (-4)

Clayton:  Packers (+6), Bucs (+6), 49ers (+3), Chiefs (-3), Jets (-3), Bills (-4)

Kuharsky: Seahawks (+3)

Chadiha: Vikings (+7), Titans (+7), 49ers (+5), Patriots (+4), Bucs (+3), Raiders (+3), Jaguars (-3), Cardinals (-8), Ravens (-8)