THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

Sam Farmer’s NFL rankings with comments

1 Oakland

(5-1) Should end eight-game losing streak against Broncos.

2 St. Louis

(6-1) Offense might be loaded with gimmicks ... but it works.

3 Pittsburgh

(5-1) Coming off most complete game of the season.

4 San Diego

(5-2) Doug Flutie has amazing speed for 39, as his touchdown run showed.

5 Miami

(4-2) Dolphin defense needs an interception. It has been blanked since Week 1.

6 Green Bay

(4-2) Brett Favre got a week off, which should help him heal.

7 Chicago

(5-1) Anthony Thomas has 315 yards rushing in last two weeks.

8 New Orleans

(4-2) Beating the Rams was a huge ego boost.

9 San Francisco

(4-2) Frustration with safe offense is surfacing.

10 Baltimore

(4-3) Should Randall Cunningham be running the show full time?

11 Philadelphia

(3-3) Loss of Jeremiah Trotter is devastating to defense.

12 Cleveland

(4-2) Tim Couch thinks Browns are one win away from being a great team.

13 Denver

(4-3) League needs to look into leg-whipping offensive line.

14 Tampa Bay

(3-3) Finally, the Buccaneers’ offense is starting to click.

15 New York Giants

(3-4) With 10 sacks in final 10 games, Michael Strahan will break season record.

16 New England

(3-4) Loss to Broncos was sobering for high-flying Patriots.

17 New York Jets

(4-3) After going six games without an interception, Testaverde threw three last week.

18 Cincinnati

(4-3) There’s friction between Corey Dillon and Jon Kitna.

19 Indianapolis

(3-3) Without Edgerrin James, the pressure is really on Peyton Manning.

20 Atlanta

(3-3) Reshuffling the secondary helped this defense.

21 Minnesota

(3-4) Cris Carter made a fool of himself on the sideline. Again.

22 Seattle

(3-3) Shaun Alexander needs to get a better grip on the ball.

23 Tennessee

(2-4) Eddie George wasn’t himself last week ... then, he got hurt.

24 Buffalo

(1-5) Rob Johnson looked strong, even though his team lost at San Diego.

25 Arizona

(2-4) Can the Cardinals keep up their baffling edge over Philadelphia?

26 Jacksonville

(2-4) Jaguars can’t run, and they’ve lost four in a row.

27 Dallas

(2-4) Ryan Leaf experiment could begin at any time.

28 Washington

(2-5) Redskins have won two consecutive games and, hey, that’s a start.

29 Carolina

(1-6) Panther stars are turning out to be underachievers.

30 Kansas City

(1-6) Trent Green simply isn’t getting better.

31 Detroit

(0-6) Lions are on their way to a perfect season.