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PrintEach week throughout the NFL regular season, we’ll be providing our public perception rankings, a 1-through-32 look at the teams that might be overvalued or undervalued by Joe Public bettors.
The question, as always with these rankings, is: “If Team A were playing against Team B in a pick ‘em on a neutral field, which team would the majority of people bet on?”
There wasn’t a ton movement in the Top 10 this week as every team except Green Bay and Philadelphia won. It’ll be tough for the Packers to drop too far, but another loss this week could change that.
At this point, it’s looking like the Browns will never leave the bottom spot, but the Titans are doing everything they can to prove that theory wrong.
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On the Rise: Indianapolis Colts (27th to 20th). Was the Colts’ Week 5 come-from-behind victory over the Packers a fluke? According to most experts, no. Led by Andrew Luck and Reggie Wayne, Indy could become a popular team amongst bettors over the next few weeks given its favorable schedule. The Colts’ next five games are against teams with a combined 5-15 record, including a Week 6 meeting with the Jets.
Free Falling: Tennessee Titans (29th to 31st). The Titans were actually a trendy bet—which is rare for an underdog—catching 5.5 points at Minnesota last weekend. Instead, Tennessee fell 30-7, and now bettors appear to have had enough. Both the offense and defense need work and until they can start putting points on the board, the Titans will continue to fall. Tennessee has been outscored by a league-worst 93 points so far.
With another win … Bettors will have to take notice of the St. Louis Rams. If not for a late collapse in the season opener against the Lions, St. Louis would be 4-1 and tied with San Francisco and Arizona for the NFC West lead. With back-to-back victories against divisional opponents, the Rams are showing they may have been undervalued heading into the season. Time will tell, however, considering three of their next four games are against the Packers, Patriots and 49ers.
With another loss … Could Green Bay Packers find themselves outside of the Top 10? It’s hard to believe, but the Packers could be two games under .500 after their Week 6 matchup with the Texans. Green Bay has been anything but spectacular over its last three games, losing to Seattle and Indianapolis while barely hanging on against New Orleans in a 1-point victory. Even more pressure will be put on Aaron Rodgers’ shoulders now that running back Cedric Benson is expected to miss eight weeks.
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For people who like these rankings in plain-old text form, here ya go.
1. Texans (Last week: 1)
2. Patriots (2)
3. Falcons (4)
4. 49ers (6)
5. Ravens (3)
6. Packers (5)
7. Bears (7)
8. Giants (8)
9. Steelers (9)
10. Eagles (10)
11. Broncos (11)
12. Cowboys (12)
13. Chargers (13)
14. Saints (14)
15. Seahawks (15)
16. Bengals (16)
17. Redskins (18)
18. Vikings (19)
19. Lions (17)
20. Colts (27)
21. Jets (24)
22. Cardinals (21)
23. Dolphins (23)
24. Rams (25)
25. Panthers (20)
26. Bills (22)
27. Buccaneers (28)
28. Raiders (30)
29. Chiefs (26)
30. Jaguars (31)
31. Titans (29)
32. Browns (32)
