Vito Stellino's power rankings

1. Green Bay: Brett Favre's off-season problems are a nonfactor.

2. San Francisco: The key is keeping Steve Young healthy.

3. Dallas: It's too soon to write off Cowboys.

4. Pittsburgh: Ditto.

5. Kansas City: Chiefs roll in the regular season.

6. Buffalo: Marv Levy never shows his age.

7. Denver: Broncos finally have a defense to help John Elway.

8. Miami: Jimmy Johnson is almost as good as he thinks he is.

9. San Diego: Bobby Ross is better than he'd ever admit.

10. Minnesota: Dennis Green's problems don't affect Vikings.

11. Indianapolis: Marshall Faulk can't stay healthy.

12. Carolina: Panthers don't play like an expansion team.

13. Chicago: Bears couldn't follow up on the Dallas win.

14. Houston: Eddie George could be Rookie of the Year.

15. St. Louis: Rams picked Lawrence Phillips over George?

16. Detroit: Will Lions get ambushed in Philly again?

17. Washington: Responded when Norv Turner got uptight.

18. Ravens: Lack of leadership may haunt them.

19. Jacksonville: Played like an expansion team last week.

20. Philadelphia: Will Eagles recover from Packers drubbing?

21. New England: It's time for Drew Bledsoe to earn his money.

22. Seattle: Ditto for Rick Mirer.

23. Atlanta: The run-and-shoot is shooting blanks.

24. Oakland: Whatever happened to Al Davis?

25. New Orleans: Ravens can't wait to play the sad-sack Saints.

26. Cincinnati: It wasn't like this for Ki-Jana Carter at Penn State.

27. Tampa Bay: New stadium, same old team.

28. Arizona: Buddy Ryan doesn't miss this job.

29. N.Y. Giants: Rodney Hampton keeps seeing nine-man lines.

30. N.Y. Jets: Does Neil O'Donnell miss Pittsburgh?

Pub Date: 9/13/96