Rick McGlothlin, Senior Writer, Drafftek.com

Week One in the NFL is in the books and after much anticipation, the season is finally underway. Though the first week of play was void of any stunning upsets ( the 49ers over the Cardinals in Phoenix was a mild eyebrow raiser) the theme for the 2009 season may have already been determined: No dominating teams crushing lesser opponents. Well, at least not yet anyhow.

New England, SD, Indy, Minnesota, Baltimore and Dallas – all considered playoff caliber teams – had their hands full all day(or night) long. Now it’s just the opening week of the season and there are likely to be changes throughout the course of the season, but from the looks of things thus far, there will be chances of the supposed underdogs in the NFL taking it to the upper-echelon from week to week. And that’s a good thing.

Unless you’re trying to write a column on NFL power rankings each week.

So after one week of action, things will stay fairly the same, although I do have the Giants taking a , ugh, giant step up to # 4 from their pre-season #9. And there’s no doubt I’ll receive plenty of emails from my fellow Colt fans when I drop Indy behind Tennessee, even though the Colts won and the Titans lost. Hey, it’s early! Besides that, the Colts don’t have a running game and the Titans do. But I digress. Here now is week one of Mac’s Power Rankings.

1. Pittsburgh (1-0) – Big Ben didn’t start off all that great, but once he got going he was the determining factor in keep the Steelers in the win column instead of suffering a horrendous season-opening against an AFC opponent. But what has to worry the Steeler braintrust (still) is the offensive line and the running game. Nary a peep was heard from Willie Parker. 27 total rushing yards between Parker and Mewelde Moore. But Steeler defense and Big Ben kept them in the game and that is what will likely happen throughout the season, and so – for now, they remain at #1.

2. Philadelphia (1-0) – Blazing firepower on the offense, solid defensive and special teams play, and the WHAM, down goes McNabb. Again. While Donovan is going to continually say he’s ready to go, the Eagles get ready “just in case” by snatching Jeff Garcia… a very wise move considering the Saints are coming to Philly next week and they’ll need all the offense they can muster against the Drew Brees scoring machine.

QB Phil Rivers

3. San Diego (1-0) – Doesn’t it seem like the Chargers just can’t go out and win a game without a struggle? Yet win they did as Phillip Rivers led the game-winning drive to help SD topple the Raiders in Oakland. Excellent special teams play from Darren Sproles, but one has to wonder about the running attack for the Chargers. 77 yards total rushing? And if San Diego has their two offensive linemen out ( Vasquez and Harwick) for any length of time, that total could look worse. Not to mention the sack totals on Rivers. But for now, it’s a “W” within the division they are supposed to dominate convincingly. It just might take more time to convince us.

4. New York Giants (1-0) – Great effort by the defense and Eli Manning spread the wealth to seven different receivers as the G-men knocked off Washington open their season with a division win. The amount of receivers utilized is a bit surprising (and exciting to Giants fans, I’m sure) considering many felt there would be a huge void at the position with the loss of Plaxico Burress. The ground game was steady enough and if the Giants can continue to get production from the passing game like they did against the Skins, look out.

5. Minnesota (1-0) – Probably not as dominating a win as many had expected against the Browns, but as Favre still gets acclimated he now has witnessed for himself what the future holds. Lots of handoffs to Adrian Peterson. With that defense, the strong offensive line and the power of AP and Chester Taylor, Favre can pick and choose his moments downfield. It’s a pretty simple, yet deadly formula.

6. New England (1-0) – Like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, the Pats pulled the ball out of the hands of Leodis McKelvin and viola, a 14 point comeback in under 5 minutes is completed. Tom Brady threw the ball all over the place, but not down the field for most of the night until those last two scoring plays to Ben Watson.

7. Tennessee (0-1) – The Titan defense allowed over 360 yards passing but only 13 points before losing in overtime. And they completely stymied the running game for Pittsburgh. Rookie wideout Kenny Britt had a nice debut, but what happened with Rob Bironas missing 2 of 3? Looks like the running game and the field goal unit will be able to rebound with the Texans coming to town next week. If not, it could be an extremely frustrating year for Titan fans.

8. Indianapolis (1-0) – The Colts defense carried the day, stopping the Jags on several big 3rd and 4th down conversion attempts. But make no mistake, this offense (and especially the offensive line) need to do a much better job running the ball. Until they can gain a yard with a first down at stake, the Colts are playing with fire. Additionally, with WR Gonzales out for a few weeks, the offense will need an unproven commodity from within to step up and help out at the receiver position because it’s unlikely they’ll bring in a veteran wideout on a temporary basis.

9. Baltimore (1-0) – When was the last time a Baltimore Ravens team had 300 yards of passing offense? Well, it happened in week

Ravens QB Joe Flacco

1 and Joe Flacco gives this team a facet it hasn’t had before. (That would be a passing attack.) The running game is still the strength of the offense as Ray Rice and Willis McGahee proved with their effort. Meantime, the defense raises a bit of concern as they allowed KC’s Brodie Croyle to throw for 177 yards and 2 TD’s. We’ll get to see if they can improve on that when the Ravens travel out west to San Diego to face a much better quarterback (and running attack) next week against the Chargers.

10. Atlanta (1-0) – Solid day for Matt Ryan after a rough start, and the Falcon defense pitched a shut-out until the final quarter. Pretty quiet day from Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood, while Tony Gonzalez made his presence felt in the Falcon lineup. Next up is a big home game against a tough Panther defense.

Best of the rest:

11. New Orleans (1-0) – Drew Brees picks up where he left off last year, while the Saints defense looks to be improved. But we still need to keep in mind they were only playing the Lions.

12. Dallas (1-0) – The offense looks to be fine but there is reason for concern defensively, as the Cowboy D had trouble all day with a Tampa team that really has no passing attack. Yet Byron Leftwich of all people threw for 270+ and a TD.

13. NY Jets (1-0) – With a fine offensive line, solid running from Jones & Washington, steady play from rookie QB Mark Sanchez and a defense that kept a potent Texan offense under 200 total yards (183 to be precise), the Jets are looking to make a run at the playoffs and even a division title. We’ll see.

14. Green Bay (1-0) – The new 3-4 scheme looks mighty good on the Packers defense, forcing four picks and two sacks against Chicago. Did I mention the defense dropped two other would-be interceptions?

15. San Francisco (1-0) – Big props to Shaun Hill, who withstood constant pressure from the Cardinals and still led the team to a big win. And how ’bout that Niner defense? Held Arizona to 299 total yards, including just 40 on the ground.

16. Seattle (1-0) -  It wasn’t very promising early on for the Hawks offense, but then they suddenly remembered they were playing St. Louis.

17. Washington (0-1) – Stumbling out of the gate, the Skins steadied themselves but couldn’t quite complete the comeback.

18. Chicago (0-1) – Cutler couldn’t get untracked, Urlacher went down with a season-ending injury and the Bears have no true talent at the wideout position. Could be a long hibernation in the Windy City.

19. Miami (0-1) – Seems as if there was a “Wildcat Strike” on in the game between the Falcons & Phins. But only Atlanta struck.

20. Arizona (0-1) – If it wasn’t a penalty thwarting Cardinal drives, it was an interception. Defense played well. Offense, not so much.

21. Jacksonville (0-1) – Usual strong Jag defense did a nice job keeping Indy from moving the ball at will, but their offense sputtered.

22. Buffalo (0-1) Excruciating. Horrific. Mind-numbing. Pick your words, but none will get close to describing how bad the Bills (and more specifically, Leodis McKelvin) must feel after the loss in New England. Gut-wrenching. nausea-inducing. Devastating.

23. Houston (0-1) – There was absolutely no excuse for that performance. Playoffs? Playoffs?

24. Carolina (0-1) – Del Homme might be going home – and soon – if he keeps playing that way.

25. Tampa Bay (0-1) – Surprised the Bucs did as well as they did with so many voids on the team.

26. Denver (1-0) – Yes, they’re unbeaten, but c’mon….they almost lost to the freakin’ Bengals. But I do love Brandon Stokely.

27. Oakland (0-1) – Looked to be a stunning season-opening triumph, but quickly reverted back to script.

28. Cincinnati (0-1) – Losing like they did to Denver just reinforces the bad karma in that organization.

29. Cleveland (0-1) – Not a bad job for Cleveland against a tough playoff-caliber team with the league’s best running back.

30. Kansas City (0-1) – Glimmer of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel…but still a long, long way off.

31. St. Louis (0-1) – Yuck. Just yuck, that’s all that can be said about the Rams.

32. Detroit (0-1) – That makes 18 straight losses for the Lions…but I almost put them at #31 ahead of St. Louis. Almost.