With all of the NFL games from Week 1 in the books, the weekly Power Rankings are starting to trickle in. How did the Minnesota Vikings fare after their thrilling victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars? Let's take a spin around the internet and find out.
We'll start, as we usually do, with the mothership at SB Nation. They've got the Vikings moving up three spots in their rankings to number 24 in this week's power poll.
Adrian Peterson is back, which means I can take Minnesota out of the running for the No. 1 overall pick next year.
With all due respect to those folks, I don't think Minnesota was ever going to be in the running for the #1 overall pick this year. But, again, I'm biased.
More after the jump.
Pete Prisco over at CBS Sports even noticed that the Vikings won, and he moved the team up three spots as well. Of course, in his rankings, that means they went from #30 to #27.Adrian Peterson has made an amazing recovery from knee surgery. But the key is how well Christian Ponder develops, and he showed well in the first game.
Ponder did, indeed, look pretty good in the opener, and I suspect that he will continue to improve as the season goes on. Sure, no touchdown passes, but who needs them when you've got AP in the backfield?
Brian Billick over at Fox Sports moved the Vikings up even more, jumping them four notches from 29 to 25. However, that doesn't mean he's thoroughly impressed.
Adrian Peterson made for a great storyline, but beating the Jags in OT at home is nothing to brag about. This team isn't very good and every other team in their division could make a case to win the division.
In a way, I suppose he's right. Beating the Jaguars in overtime at home might not be that big a deal. However, a loss (particularly in the fashion it appeared the Vikings were going to absorb it prior to the game-tying drive) would have been a disaster, so at least the team avoided that.
Another SB Nation site, our Philadelphia regional, has the Vikings at #25. Not sure how big a jump that is, because I don't see anything for them prior to this. Let's just assume it's a jump, shall we?
Adrian Peterson looks healthy. Christian Ponder was good. They struggled way too much at home against a bad Jags team, but they might be laying some groundwork.
Yep, when you're one of the youngest teams in the NFL, you have to expect baby steps. The Vikings took one on Sunday.
So, those are some of the Power Rankings for your Minnesota Vikings after the first game of the 2012 NFL season. If you find others, feel free to throw them into the comments and, time permitting, I'll probably add some more to the main post here as well.