NFL Power Rankings: Week 3
Through 2 weeks, one thing is clear — there are very few good teams in the NFL. I truly struggled finding teams that remotely resemble playoff-caliber football teams, but the rules say 14 teams will make it, so here we go:
The top two teams are clear as day to me. The Bills are going to be very difficult to beat unless they shoot themselves in the foot. Offensively, defensively, in every way, this is as complete of a team as I can remember being assembled. In the NFC, the Eagles showed me in Week 1 that they’re the favorite with how explosive and dynamic their offense is along with how fast their defense is. They merely solidified that with a dominating performance on Monday Night, led by Jalen Hurts and Darius Slay on their respective sides of the ball.
This next tier probably deserves to be in the “True Super Bowl Contenders” tier, but there’s a clear gap in my eyes between all of them and the top two and then also them and the rest of the league. I might need to change my tier titles. The Chiefs beat the Chargers on Thursday Night, earning them the 3–4 spots respectively. To me, however, it was clear that the Chiefs have issues, particularly on offense. Mahomes was picked off multiple times, only to be saved by a couple calls. The Chargers then dropped a few more. They needed a 100-yard pick 6 to win that game. The Chargers have their own issues, mostly on offense, but to me appeared to be the equal of, or slightly better than, the Chiefs. In the NFC, the Rams, Packers, and Buccaneers round out this tier mostly because of their pedigree. The Rams nearly blew it this week. Stafford continues to throw picks, their defense doesn’t look nearly good enough, and even their special teams had problems. The Packers got a convincing win, but they still need a WR (or two) to really step up to convince me they can be a great team. And the Buccaneers can’t score points.
Great comeback by the Dolphins against the Ravens. But I need to see Tua and Miami look like that again before I join their hype train. I’m more down on Baltimore after a despicable collapse. The 49ers actually see a bump in my opinion going from Trey Lance to Jimmy G, but after an offseason of them making it known that they didn’t want him, I don’t see this working out well for them. The Vikings fooled me in Week 1 into thinking they may be different than what we’ve come to expect of them, but that quickly straightened itself out this week with that embarrassing display on Monday Night. They’re an 8 or 9 win team. The Saints have looked surprisingly incompetent for two weeks, mostly offensively. Their defense should keep them in most games though.
The Cardinals have been atrocious for 7 of 8 quarters plus an overtime through two weeks, but find themselves with a little momentum after making a miraculous comeback, which to me was more of the Raiders simply blowing it. I’m still enamored with the talent on the Raiders though, but they better straighten things out quickly. The team in this tier I actually like is the Lions, but it’s tough to truly buy in to them after just one win. Their offense does look unstoppable though, along with Aidan Hutchinson. The Bengals look like they’ve either been reading the hype following their Super Bowl last year or just really needed preseason snaps. Awful start for them. Nathaniel Hackett may not make it to the bye week for the Broncos, despite them getting their first win. The Steelers need to turn to Kenny Pickett if they want a real shot at competing. They couldn’t do anything offensively against the Patriots, who also don’t look good. And the Giants are 2–0, but they remind of this year’s Panthers (coincidentally the team who they beat this week, but also the team who got off to a 3–0 start last season and finished the season with 5 wins).
Hats off to the Cowboys for winning their first Dak-less game of this season. I simply can’t see that continuing. I have no words for the Browns collapse. That’s the most Browns thing that has ever happened. The Colts are an embarrassment. Through two weeks, that’s the single most surprising thing about the season. Fortunately for them, the other team that was supposed to contend in that division is the Titans, and they also stink. The team I actually like and can see making some noise in that division is the Jaguars. But that doesn’t mean I actually think they’re good. First to 7 wins in that division will host a playoff game. Rounding out this tier to me is the Commanders, who looks positively inept for a half this week, only to have an inspired comeback attempt fall short.
The bottom tier will likely continue to rotate throughout the season as I don’t think there’s a clear worse team in the league. Not yet at least. The Seahawks and Bears came back to earth this week following Week 1 wins. Neither of these teams will score much. The Jets wild comeback is a fun story. But that’s about it. The Falcons nearly had a wild comeback of their own, only to fall short. They’ve played much better than I thought they would through two weeks, but I don’t see that continuing. The Texans continue to fight, but they have no talent on their roster. And the Panthers disappointed yet again, claiming the bottom spot this week.
