NFL Power Rankings Week 2

By: James Watkins

1. Kansas City Chiefs (last week’s ranking: 1): Atlanta and Oakland fans might have something to say about this, but the Chiefs still remain the most impressive 2-0 team by a fair margin. Kareem Hunt picked up his second straight 100-yard outing, confirming that an already dangerous Chiefs offense has a real threat in the backfield. The defense is going to feel the loss of Eric Berry eventually, but they’ve got plenty of star power in the front 7 to pick up the slack.
2. Oakland Raiders (3): The urge to make fun of Marshawn Lynch’s sideline dancing is almost overwhelming. On the bright side, this offense is no joke. Derek Carr completed a pass to 9 different receivers on Sunday, including 3 touchdown passes to Michael Crabtree alone. The one-two punch of Lynch and Jalen Richard is absolutely lethal. The one thing holding this team back is the other side of the ball. There’s clear improvement on defense from last season, but they made the Jets passing attack look competent, and that’s not going to fly moving forward.
3. Atlanta Falcons (7): Last week I said the Packers were contenders and Atlanta would suffer a season-long Super Bowl hangover. I’m sure Dan Quinn used my week 1 rankings as bulletin board material, because the Falcons gave Green Bay what can only be described as a beatdown. What’s even more impressive is how balanced this victory was. Atlanta’s defense looked just as dangerous as its offense, and even scored a touchdown to boot.
4. Denver Broncos (12): This is what a championship defense looks like, folks. Dallas boasts one of the more high powered attacks in the game, and the Broncos made them look like a pee wee team that hadn’t been able to schedule a practice in weeks. Trevor Siemian continued his great start to the season by passing for 4 touchdowns, and C.J. Anderson added another hundred-yard game. The defense has already proven itself to be elite. The offense is starting to catch up, and that should be terrifying to the rest of the league.
5. New England Patriots (5): Oh look at that, Tom Brady bounced back by throwing 3 touchdowns in the first quarter (something he’s never done before). Gee whiz, the Patriots racked up 555 yard of offense with a 40 year old under center. It’s almost as if the talk of Brady falling off a cliff was completely ridiculous and reactionary. Imagine that. (Sarcasm aside, the defense is still not where it needs to be in order to properly defend the title.)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (4): These are power rankings, not standings. I have no qualms with dropping this team two spots after a win. Pittsburgh just doesn’t look like the serious contender that it has the talent to be. Le’Veon Bell still looks sluggish, but the offensive line isn’t helping much either. They certainly performed better this week than they did in Cleveland, but too many other teams have looked far more impressive during the start of this season. The injury to T.J. Watt certainly doesn’t help my confidence in this team, as he was one of the few players who has looked motivated to play his best.
7. Detroit Lions (9): They haven’t beaten the most daunting of teams to reach 2-0, I know. There is something to Detroit’s success that bodes well for the future: they finally have some semblance of a run game with Ameer Abdullah. Matt Stafford, Golden Tate, and the rest of the passing attack have always been dangerous, but the added threat on the ground makes this offense that much more frightening. This was also the second straight week for the defense/special teams units to pitch in a touchdown of their own. Don’t look now, but this team could make serious noise in the NFC North.
8. Green Bay Packers (2): Green Bay suffered the worst defeat of the week regardless of margin of victory. There are week 2 road losses, and then there are week 2 road losses that expose every single flaw your team has been able to cover up with Aaron Rodgers’ stellar career. This team is a mess on the defensive side of the ball. Their linebackers and secondary cannot hope to match up with the likes of Julio Jones or Dez Bryant in the playoffs. The offensive line couldn’t even give Rodgers enough time to make plays with his mobility. Any team with Rodgers at QB is a threat, but he’s only one player. The other 21 starters have to at least try to compliment his talent.
9. Dallas Cowboys (6): Speaking of losses that show the cracks in a team’s façade, say hello to America’s Team, everybody. Ezekiel Elliot had more carries than rushing yards in this game. Tom Brady had more rush yards (9) than Zeke did (8) this past weekend. Cowboys fans shouldn’t panic about him or Dak Prescott, who also had a lackluster performance. Young stars have bad games. It happens to the best of them. No, the real issue is a secondary that made Trevor Siemian look like the second coming of John Elway. This team was always going to live and die by its defense. Now we know what happens when the offense doesn’t have a great day.
10. Seattle Seahawks (8): It’s a fierce competition between Seattle and the Giants to see who can field the more porous offensive line. It’s almost too close to call at this point. Twelve points at home against San Francisco is unacceptable for any team with Super Bowl aspirations. Luckily, there is a major difference between the Seahawks and the other teams sporting below average offensive lines: an undoubtedly elite defense. If that unit doesn’t play lights out, then we’re discussing an 0-2 start in the state of Washington.
11. Philadelphia Eagles (11): A loss is a loss, but a close defeat in Kansas City is no reason to penalize a franchise on the rise. Carson Wentz is 4^th in the league when it comes to pass yards, and I see no reason to doubt his ability to lead this team to a 2-0 division record with the Giants coming to town in week 3. The Philly pass rush should eat the New York o-line for breakfast.
12. Baltimore Ravens (14): There’s nothing wrong with relying on your defense to win games, especially when you’ve got one as dominating as the Ravens have been so far. But domination against two of the sorrier offenses in football in Cleveland and Cincinnati isn’t the most impressive feat in the world. Jacksonville shouldn’t be much of a challenge either, but then Big Ben and the Steelers come to town. That’s when we’ll find out the true mettle of this unit. In other news, Jeremy Maclin remains one of the more dangerous receivers in the game.
13. Carolina Panthers (10): How long can the defense prop this squad up, especially in a division with so much offensive firepower? Hint: not very long. Cam Newton and the offense need to find their rhythm ASAP. It has to start with Newton’s most reliable target: tight end Greg Olsen. If anyone can stabilize the passing attack, it’s him. What’s that? He’s out long-term with a broken foot? Uh oh…
14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (16): The most successful teams are often those that beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. Jameis Winston and the young Bucs did just that by walking all over the Bears at home. Tampa Bay are expected by many to take a huge step forward and compete for the NFC South division title this season, and they passed their first test with flying colors. A much tougher challenge comes in the form of Xavier Rhodes and the Minnesota defense, who return home after shutting down both Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell in the same game.
15. Minnesota Vikings (13): Ah, speak of the devil. Yes, the defense played pretty well against arguably the hardest offense to cover in all of football. They’re the real deal, and certainly good enough to compete against any team in the NFL. Like so many other teams, though, their season will come down to quarterback play. The offense looked painfully average without Sam Bradford under center, and his availability is still very much up in the air. Case Keenum can’t lead this team to the playoffs.
16. Tennessee Titans (17): Now that’s more like it! After a seriously disappointing home opener against the Raiders, Marcus Mariota and the Titan’s offense finally came alive in the second half in Jacksonville. Derrick Henry hung 92 yards Jag’s defense, which looked like a shell of it’s week one self in this contest. Tennessee can build on this first division victory in an AFC South that is ripe for the taking.
17. Los Angeles Rams (15): This week was a pretty glaring step backwards for Jared Goff. He had a chance to win a close game at home against a quality opponent and what does he do? Stares down his receiver for about 5 minute before delivering a strike right into the hands of Washington linebacker Mason Foster. That’s a rookie mistake from a player who isn’t in his rookie season anymore. Todd Gurley gave another tough, gritty performance on the ground, but the story of LA’s season begins and ends with Goff.
18. Miami Dolphins (19): This time, Kenny Stills didn’t drop the touchdown pass. Jay Cutler has more toys to work with offensively than he ever did in Chicago, and he got contributions from pretty much all of them against the Chargers. The defense is still suspect in the passing game, and they have to generate more pressure off the edge if they want to make it back to the postseason.
19. Kirk Cousins and the Fun Bunch (20): Solid victory over the Rams in LA. The real story here is a running attack that produced 229 yards on the ground. Robert Kelley, Chris Thompson and Samaje Perine represent one of the most eclectic backfields in the entire league. This team has a clear recipe for success if it can continue to win the turnover battle and establish the run early so Kirk Cousins and his Fun Bunch can go to work through the air.
20. Jacksonville Jaguars (18): So much for the vaunted Sacksonville defense. Oh yeah, that’s what the fans were calling this team after their 10 sack performance during week one in Houston. This week they actually faced an NFL caliber offensive line and they got to the quarterback only once. Nearly giving up 40 points at home isn’t the best look either for an extremely young unit. Blake Bortles turned the ball over three times. Back to the drawing board, I guess.
21. Los Angeles Chargers (21): No ability to finish a game, no luck on special teams, no fans in the stands. No surprises here. There’s not much more to say.
22. Arizona Cardinals (24): The offense looks pretty lost without David Johnson in the lineup. Go figure. J.J. Nelson did a remarkable job of shouldering the load in Johnson’s absence with a 5 catch, 120 yard performance that kept the Cards in the game. Still it took overtime and a bad Jacoby Brissett interception to beat a hapless Indianapolis Colts team. Arizona is still in good shape in terms of competing in the NFC West, but that could change very fast with how this team has played so far this season.
23. New Orleans Saints (22): The defense is still an issue. Will it ever be fixed? Will this team get left behind in an increasingly competitive division? For Pete’s sake, will Adrian Peterson ever get the amount of snaps he signed up for? Tune in next week to find out. Maybe. Probably not.
24. Houston Texans (28): Deshaun Watson is the starter, end of story. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, stick with him and let the defense continue to carry the team. J.J. Watt and his comrades are good enough to let Watson make mistakes and develop as any young quarterback should: without obscene expectations heaped on their shoulders. The offense needs work, but the Texans already have their best option under center since Matt Schaub forgot how to complete a pass.
25. Buffalo Bills (23): That offense doesn’t look so explosive when they’re playing a competent defense. They don’t have any game breaking weapons outside of LeSean McCoy, and it showed against Carolina. Breaking 400 total yards against New York turned into barely scraping together 176 this past week. The defense continues to perform at a high level, but the offensive struggles aren’t going away any time soon.
26. Cleveland Browns (27): DeShone Kizer showed some of those growing pains I mentioned last week, but we can probably chalk most of that up to the migraine headaches he suffered throughout the game. Still, this team is trending in the right direction. There’s a competitive attitude in Cleveland that hasn’t been seen in nearly a decade, and that’s a testament to Hue Jackson’s continued success in gaining the trust of his young team. Their next three games are against Indy, Cincy, and the New York Jets. This team could potentially be above .500 after week 5.
27. Chicago Bears (26): Ah, there’s the Mike Glennon we all know and love. Tarik Cohen was a disappointment, with 13 yards on 7 carries. The defense played like a defense with absolutely zero star power, which is exactly what they are. Tampa Bay is a young and talented squad. Chicago simply got whipped by a better team. Those chants for Mitchell Trubisky are only going to get louder from here on out.
28. New York Giants (25): It was naïve to expect Odell Beckham Jr. to instantly fix all the problems facing the Giants offense, but who would have predicted things getting this bad? The passing attack didn’t improve much at all, and Beckham’s presence did nothing to open up the run game (62 total rush yards) or free up Brandon Marshall (1 catch, 17 yards). The defense is still good enough to keep them in games, but as we saw on Monday, they aren’t perfect. The offensive line is the root of pretty much everything wrong with this team, but there isn’t a lot of help coming from other parts of the team.
29. Cincinnati Bengals (29): I’m giving this team the benefit of the doubt on offense for one more week. They’ve got a stable of talented players on that side of the ball, and I believe they got pretty unlucky by facing two stout defense in back-to-back weeks. Houston in particular has a unit that can make any team look pedestrian. But if they fail to show up for the third straight game, especially against Green Bay’s defense, then this team will be facing the bottom of the rankings.
30. San Francisco 49ers (30): Like the Bengals, this team has yet to score an offensive touchdown. Unlike Cincy, they really don’t have the type of explosive playmakers that can change that. Carlos Hyde is 4^th in rushing yards in the entire league so far, but he can’t carry the offense by himself. The good news is the defense has kept them competitive in their first two games, both of which were against playoff teams from a year ago.
31. Indianapolis Colts (31): Jacoby Brissett established himself as the starter until Andrew Luck comes back. That is, if Andrew Luck comes back. The team certainly looked better with him in at QB, but he still threw a rather ugly interception that directly led to Arizona kicking the winning field goal in overtime. No matter who’s under center, this team just isn’t up to snuff on either side of the ball.
32. New York Jets (32): Not a terrible performance by the offense on the road in Oakland. Who would have guessed that Jermaine Kearse would actually be joining a more explosive offense when he was traded from Seattle to The Big Apple? However, the defense is still getting carved up like a Christmas ham, and they still haven’t established anything in the run game. Somebody desperately needs to tell Bilal Powell that the season has started.