ESPN’s Power Rankings have finally been released for the start of the 2011 NFL season. While these rankings have very little effect on the outcome of a team’s season, they provide an accurate view of how each team is expected to fare by the media’s standards.
The Houston Texans landed at number 17 in the season’s first rankings. This is a jump from where they ended last season, up four spots. Many critics are skeptical of whether or not this will finally be THE year for the team that’s been in contention at the midway point of the season for the past three seasons.
Houston landed this spot because no professional sports writer has the guts to call it either way – the basement and ceiling for the team are so vast, it’s impossible to identify how the Texans’ record will look at the end of the year. As AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky writes, “Always a darling preseason pick. Could it be the year? Sure. Could it be another failure with people getting fired? Sure.”
By the media’s standards, the Houston Texans are entering the 2011 NFL season expecting to finish in the middle of the pack.
by Trey Lanthier
Contact me at treylanthier@gmail.com.