National Power Rankings: Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropping down

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a game by 45 points, and everyone decides to drop them in their national power rankings. Well, that's hardly a surprise. The Buccaneers are ranked 16th on average this week, which means they dropped six spots in the eyes of the nation. Or at least that part of the nation producing power rankings I'm looking at.

SB Nation - 12th (down from 8th):

A team that wins 10 games last year, and three of their first four this year, gets routed by 45 points against the 49ers. Any given Sunday...

ESPN - 16th (down from 11th):

All's well if the Bucs rebound to beat the Saints following their horrific showing against the 49ers.

Fox Sports (Brian Billick) - 13th (down from 8th):

Wow. Losing by 45 to a team that was averaging only 23 points over the first four weeks is a major concern, and it doesn't get any easier with New Orleans on the docket two out of the next three games.

CBS Sports (Pete Prisco) - 15th (up from 13th):

The tough Monday night-West Coast turnaround proved to be too much for this young team. Now comes an important division game with the Saints.

NFL.com - 16th (down from 9th):

I don't want to rub any salt in the wound. Then again, I don't want to rub Hydrogen Peroxide in there, either. So these words won't make things better. Tampa fans were fired up two weeks ago when their team sat under Pittsburgh, Dallas among others in the rankings. Some were even disappointed that the Bucs were below San Diego last week. I hesitated to put the Bucs as high as I did (ninth), but so many teams in the middle ground like the Steelers, Jets, Cowboys, and Eagles were dreadful, so I had little choice. But after a complete breakdown on offense and the run defense, the Bucs are the biggest droppers.

Pro Football Weekly - 19th (up from 15th):

Completely unraveled in San Francisco.

The Big Lead - Tier Five (down from Tier Four):

The Bucs have won three close games against teams that are a combined 3-12. They just got destroyed at San Fran 48-3. Yeah, Bucs fans aren't going to like me again this year when I rank them as the lowest team with a winning record.

Sporting News - 16th (down from 10th):

Class of '05: P Michael Koenen

Unfortunately for the Bucs, Koenen is set to become a whole lot busier, now that their struggling offense is looking like it will be without LeGarrette Blount for a while.

National Football Post - 18th (down from 9th):

Maybe we dropped the Bucs too far here, but you can't lose by 45 points on Sundays in the NFL.