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Apparently, the Steelers' minicamps and subsequent knee surgery of its quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, has made the team better in the month of June.
According to NFL.com writer Elliott Harrison, the Steelers moved up a spot in his power rankings from 19 to 18.
The Patriots dropped three spots, from five to eight, even though I have a sneaking suspicion fans will put them down a bit further than that. To be fair, Harrison wrote this before Aaron Hernandez was arrested, although it was still in full-tilt of the investigation.
As far as the Steelers go, Harrison appears to be advocating holding Roethlisberger back throughout training camp in an effort to give third-string quarterback Landry Jones more reps. Such an action seems more worthy of dropping the Steelers further back, instead of promoting them ahead of such juggernauts as New Orleans and Tampa Bay.
As for the rest of his rankings, Seattle leap-frogged San Francisco in the top spot, with the defending NFC Champions taking the second position (was very tempted to write "taking No. 2"). Denver and Atlanta stayed at three and four, respectively. Green Bay replaced New England at five.