1. New York Giants: First major win for Eli without Plax even bigger than it seems.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers: Narrow loss on road doesn't tarnish them in our eyes.

3. Baltimore Ravens: We hear you, Ray Lewis. You're still among game's best.

4. Minnesota Vikings: Took some time to get going, but once it did, no stopping A.P.

5. New Orleans Saints: Brees and Co. not tired of cruising on (Big) Easy Street.

6. Indianapolis Colts: Defense couldn't stop Dolphins, but Peyton did his thing.

7. New England Patriots: Brady looked flustered vs. Jets' "organized chaos."

8. Atlanta Falcons: Hard to stop when air, ground games both are clicking.

9. New York Jets: Numbers nothing special, but Sanchez's command sure is.

10. Dallas Cowboys: Hey, at least the stadium's all it's cracked up to be.

11. Philadelphia Eagles: Kolb will be the fall guy, but this one on Philly's "D."

12. San Diego Chargers: Bolts no longer L.T.'s team; torch officially passed to Rivers.

13. Chicago Bears: Huge win. No, HUGE win.

14. Green Bay Packers: Once again, we learn preseason hype means nothing.

15. San Francisco 49ers: Hill? Smith? Doesn't much matter with this defense.

16. Tennessee Titans: Not the way Super Bowl hopefuls laid out the blueprint.

17. Arizona Cardinals: Fitting that Warner tosses NFL's all-time most accurate game.

18. Denver Broncos: Maybe there is something to this McDaniels kid, after all.

19. Houston Texans: This just in: Chris Johnson is fast.

20. Seattle Seahawks: Wallace just simply no replacement for Hasselbeck.

21. Washington Redskins: Got to learn how to stick it in the endzone.

22. Cincinnati Bengals: Character win for Cats. Yeah, the Bengals have character.

23. Buffalo Bills: Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt's tremendous work deserves praise.

24. Carolina Panthers: Delhomme buys himself another week.

25. Miami Dolphins: We'll reserve judgment until the division slate.

26. Oakland Raiders: Won in spite of Russell, McFadden, Heyward-Bey.

27. Jacksonville Jaguars: Offense shows life. Defense barely puts up fight.

28. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Leftwich at least putting up rock-star stats.

29. Kansas City Chiefs: You knew it was going to take time, Pioli.

30. St. Louis Rams: Rams hope progress is measured by more than wins and losses.

31. Detroit Lions: Outscored Vikings ... for first half.

32. Cleveland Browns: Cavaliers season is just around corner.  

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