The Washington Redskins have predictably moved down in CBS Sports' Week 7 NFL Power Rankings. Two weeks after Pete Prisco put the Redskins as high as number eight, the Redskins tumbled to No. 14, thanks primarily to the quarterback situation. As Prisco writes:
Their quarterback issues showed up again. And they will some more. Until you fix it, they will show up.
Sound advice right there, Pete. Something tells me that Prisco doesn't believe John Beck is any more the answer than Rex Grossman was. We'll see if he is proven right.
Anyway, the Redskins' loss dropped them below the New York Giants, who surged to No. 8 on the list after defeating the Buffalo Bills. The Dallas Cowboys are at No. 18 after a loss to the New England Patriots, while the Eagles stayed where they were at No. 21 despite beating the Redskins.
Most NFL Power Rankings lists are dropping the Washington Redskins after a 20-13 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but I doubt we'll find a list that punishes them more than Brian Billick's for FOX Sports. The former Baltimore Ravens coach has the Redskins a whopping nine spots lower than he had them last week.
It is amazing how just one week in the NFL can completely change the fate of a season. The Redskins came into this week controlling the NFC East, but now are a game back and in the middle of a quarterback controversy. I still like this defense, and it should keep them in games late in the season, no matter who plays quarterback.
That's quite a drop. In fact, Billick has placed the Eagles higher than the Redskins on his list, despite the Eagles' 2-4 record. Billick also has the Atlanta Falcons (11), Houston Texans (13), New York Jets (14) and Chicago Bears (16) higher than the Redskins despite having worse winning percentages.
The drop probably took place because of the massive uncertainty at quarterback. Rex Grossman's benching exposed the Redskins' weakness at the most position on the field, and ESPN's panel probably felt that was enough to suggest that the Redskins' winning record was deceiving.
The only team to suffer a larger drop, ironically, was the Dallas Cowboys, who fell from No. 15 to No. 21 after a loss to the New England Patriots. The New York Giants moved up three spots to No. 14, while the Philadelphia Eagles moved up to No. 20.
SB Nation just came out with the latest edition of their 2011 NFL Power Rankings, and they still have the Washington Redskins ranked in the top half of teams after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Redskins were ranked ninth heading into the game this weekend, but after the loss, they fell all the way to No. 14.
The Redskins face an uphill battle so they have to win on the road against Carolina this week.
I honestly expected the Redskins to fall a little bit more than they did. They were considered overachievers after the first four weeks of the season, so I kind of thought that they would plummet down the rankings as soon as they showed that they weren't the surprise team we thought they were after the 3-1 start.
I guess they showed enough against the Eagles that the guys at SB Nation didn't want to drop them down that far. Pretty good to be ranked this highly considering what the expectations were heading into the Season, and the quarterback issues this team has faced.
For more on the Redskins, head over to Hogs Haven.
