Week Nine power rankings

1. New Orleans Saints: Losing ­underrated FB Heath Evans(notes) is tough.

2. Indianapolis Colts: Caldwell’s last loss as a head coach was in 2000 at N.C. State.

3. Minnesota Vikings: What a ­homecoming for Ryan Longwell(notes).

4. Denver Broncos: Got into Ravens ­territory only three times.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers: No practice during the bye? Is Mike Tomlin going soft?

6. New England Patriots: What has happened to James Sanders(notes), Adalius Thomas(notes)?

7. Philadelphia Eagles: McNabb: “I think we’re just kind of touching the surface.”

8. Cincinnati Bengals: Last time J.P. ­Foschi had scored was at Georgia Tech.

9. Dallas Cowboys: Don’t overlook them. Any other year that statement is ridiculous.

10. New York Giants: Isn’t the angry Tom Coughlin just so much more fun?

11. Baltimore Ravens: Hoping the Haloti Ngata(notes) injury is not serious.

12. Atlanta Falcons: Rookie class won’t come close to last year’s performance.

13. Houston Texans: Who had Ryan Moats(notes) in their fantasy lineup Sunday?

14. Arizona Cardinals: Kurt Warner(notes) turned in a positively Delhommian performance.

15. Green Bay Packers: They got away from the game plan, it appeared, quickly.

16. San Diego Chargers: Merriman went nearly two years between two-sack games.

17. Chicago Bears: Bad opponent shouldn’t obscure the problems that still remain.

18. Miami Dolphins: They’ll need more ­offense than that in Foxborough.

19. New York Jets: Turns out, Rex Ryan is even more entertaining after losses.

20. San Francisco 49ers: 3rd-and-long proved to be their undoing at Indy.

21. Carolina Panthers: Games like this remind you that this team has talent.

22. Jacksonville Jaguars: MJD: nine touches, 173 yards. All others: 157 yards.

23. Buffalo Bills: Another week, another two picks for Jairus Byrd(notes).

24. Seattle Seahawks: Can this David Hawthorne(notes) play or what?

25. Washington Redskins: So what happens now that they start to play good teams?

26. Tennessee Titans: Can’t argue with this: Vince Young(notes) has 19-11 record as starter.

27. Oakland Raiders: Did they know of Cable’s anger problems when he was hired?

28. Kansas City Chiefs: Some think L.J. could be 1,300-yard rusher elsewhere.

29. St. Louis Rams: A bit of good news heading into the bye.

30. Detroit Lions: At least 10 dropped passes Sunday, probably more.

31. Cleveland Browns: Embarrassing what they are doing to Brady Quinn(notes).

32. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Hey, rookie: Five road games, no softies left on schedule.  

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