Three Power Rankings, three different No 1 teams. So apologies are in order for cursing the Pittsburgh Steelers, this week’s new No 1 following an impressive win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Patriots did nothing to lose the top spot, but the uncertainty at quarterback until Tom Brady comes back from suspension in two weeks takes them down a notch for now.
As always, these rankings are purely opinion-based. Here are last week's, and below are how the teams rank top-to-bottom heading into Week 3.
1 Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0, Last Week No 5)
2 New England Patriots (2-0, LW 1)
• The Broncos could easily be in the top spot here, as well as the Patriots. But the team with Ben Roethlisberger coming off a decisive victory over their biggest division rivals gets the nod this week.
The Patriots are likely down to third-string rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett the next couple weeks before Brady comes back to take revenge on the league, so they’ll be fine. And the Broncos’ defence is downright scary. But neither team are better than Pittsburgh right now.
3 Arizona Cardinals (1-1, LW 3)
4 Denver Broncos (2-0, LW 9)
• NFL Sunday takeaways: Broncos, Pats and Steelers keeping old guard on top
5 Carolina Panthers (1-1, LW 10)
6 Houston Texans (2-0, LW 8)
• If this is truly to be the Texans’ year to finally put it all together, they couldn’t ask for a better situation than facing a Patriots team down to their third-string QB in Week 3. Another loss to their longtime betters, and they’re stuck in prove-it purgatory until the play-offs. Brock Osweiler memorably beat the Patriots with Denver last season. He’s an instant Houston legend if he leads the Texans to the same result. No team have a bigger monkey to get off their backs than the Texans this week.
7 Minnesota Vikings (2-0, LW 15)
8 Green Bay Packers (1-1, LW 2)
• Following Minnesota’s win over Green Bay Sunday night, a strong case could be made for the Vikings as the team to beat in the NFC. Certainly, the way Sam Bradford performed in his team debut combined with perhaps the best defence in the conference is a promising formula. But Adrian Peterson’s injury – to say nothing of his lack of production before getting hurt – gives cause to doubt their hot start will carry through the season at this pace. Arizona and Carolina were both downright dominant on Sunday and are still the class of the NFC, even with a loss apiece.
The Packers have their own reasons for concern. Somebody picked them to win the Super Bowl, and granted there's still plenty of time to figure out what's wrong with their offence before then. But Aaron Rodgers has been sub-elite for going on a full season's worth of games now, having not topped 100 QB Rating in 14 straight. Anything less than MVP-calibre for Rodgers is reason to take notice. Either he's actually regressing, or he's in a prolonged slump the likes of which we're just not used to seeing from Hall of Fame-type talents. It's bizarre either way.
9 Cincinnati Bengals (1-1, LW 6)
10 Kansas City Chiefs (1-1, LW 7)
11 New York Giants (2-0, LW 12)
12 Seattle Seahawks (1-1, LW 4)
• Fifteen points in two games. Not great! The only team with fewer are the Rams with nine, all of which just happened to be scored against the Seahawks and their three points in Week 2.
They’ll be fine. It’s in November and December when Seattle really start to look like the world-beaters we’re used to watching. And the defence is still stout, allowing a league-low 19 points through two weeks. For whatever reason, they just struggle with the Rams. This was Seattle’s fourth loss in the teams’ past five meetings.
13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-1, LW 14)
14 Philadelphia Eagles (2-0, LW 26)
15 Baltimore Ravens (2-0, LW 21)
• Baltimore’s tissue-soft opening schedule made it not entirely difficult to envision a 2-0 start, but it’s fair to say no one saw the Eagles being this good this early.
Rookie Carson Wentz wasn't supposed to even play this season. Now it looks like he'll be the Eagles' starting quarterback for a long, long time. Pro Football Focus has him as not just the best rookie through two weeks, but the highest-graded passer in the NFL. That will regress to the mean at some point, and it's still tough to see the Eagles competing for a play-off spot, even in the NFC East. But the early signs are extremely promising for Eagles fans.
16 New York Jets (1-1, LW 18)
17 Atlanta Falcons (1-1, LW 23)
18 Oakland Raiders (1-1, LW 11)
19 San Diego Chargers (1-1, LW 24)
20 Dallas Cowboys (1-1, LW 20)
21 Detroit Lions (1-1, LW 13)
• Any of these 16-through-21 spots are seemingly interchangeable. The Lions might be the best team of the bunch, but an inexcusable loss to Tennessee at home is just the type of game that keeps promising teams out of the play-offs and gets coaches fired.
22 Indianapolis Colts (0-2, LW 17)
23 Washington Redskins (0-2, LW 19)
24 Miami Dolphins (0-2, LW 25)
25 New Orleans Saints (0-2, LW 22)
• Roughly 10 per cent of 0-2 teams recover to make the play-offs. There are eight such teams this year, so maybe one of these teams makes it in, but history says they're basically all toast. The above four are the only in that group I could see doing so this year, and really only the Colts could do so without too many people batting an eye. That's all because of Andrew Luck. New Orleans are perhaps also capable of going on a tear with Drew Brees refusing to age, but that defence is awful.
26 Los Angeles Rams (1-1, LW 29)
27 San Francisco 49ers (1-1, LW 27)
28 Tennessee Titans (1-1, LW 32)
29 Chicago Bears (0-2, LW 28)
30 Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2, LW 16)
31 Buffalo Bills (0-2, LW 30)
• No team have been more disappointing thus far than Jacksonville. After holding their own in a Week 1 loss to Green Bay, the Jaguars were thoroughly thumped by San Diego in Week 2. It’d be shocking if head coach Gus Bradley lasts the season.
But Bradley isn’t the coach in most trouble of being fired mid-season. That dubious distinction belongs to Rex Ryan in Buffalo. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman was fired after Thursday’s bad loss to the Jets
32 Cleveland Browns (0-2, LW 31)
• If Cleveland’s ambitions this year were to get a bunch of young players playing experience while losing a lot and getting the top draft pick, this season is going according to plan. Rookie Cody Kessler probably takes over at quarterback this week and will probably hold the reigns the rest of a loss-filled season.
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