Green Bay On Top Of AP Power Rankings
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Green Bay Packers remained the top-rated team in The Associated Press NFL power rankings heading into the regular season, while the Indianapolis Colts escaped the bottom spot in the AP Pro32.
Green Bay earned five first-place votes from a panel of 12 media members who regularly cover the league, and had 373 points overall to edge New England and the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. The Patriots got two first-place votes and 367 points, while the Giants were No. 1 on five ballots and totaled 363 points.
The top eight are the same as in the previous poll conducted just before preseason games. San Francisco, Baltimore, Houston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia followed the Giants.
Indianapolis was the bottom-feeder in the first-ever AP Pro32, but moved up to No. 27 this time. Cleveland dropped to No. 32.
AP RANKINGS
1. Green Bay Packers (5)
2. New England Patriots (2)
3. New York Giants (5)
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Baltimore Ravens
6. Houston Texans
7. Pittsburgh Steelers
8. Philadelphia Eagles
9. New Orleans Saints
10. Atlanta Falcons
11. Denver Broncos
12. Chicago Bears
13. Detroit Lions
14. Cincinnati Bengals
15. Dallas Cowboys
16. San Diego Chargers
17. Kansas City Chiefs
18. Carolina Panthers
19. New York Jets
20. Buffalo Bills
21. Tennessee Titans
22. Seattle Seahawks
23. Oakland Raiders
24. Washington Redskins
25. Arizona Cardinals
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
27. Indianapolis Colts
28. Minnesota Vikings
29. St. Louis Rams
30. Miami Dolphins
31. Jacksonville Jaguars
32. Cleveland Browns
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VOTING PANEL
Chris Berman, ESPN
Clifton Brown, Sporting News
Cris Collinsworth, NBC Sports
Rich Gannon, CBS Sports/SiriusXM NFL Radio
Bob Glauber, Newsday
Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News
Clark Judge, CBSSports.com
Ira Kaufman, Tampa Tribune
Pat Kirwan, SiriusXM NFL Radio/CBSSports.com
John Lynch, Fox Sports
Alex Marvez, Foxsports.com
Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune