NFL Power Rankings - Week 2

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last Week: 1

The reigning Super Bowl champs didn’t have a perfect beginning to the season by any means, turning the ball over four times and giving up 106 penalty yards. But nonetheless, they did what champions do and figured out a way to win against an underrated Cowboys team. Not to mention, Tom Brady is still playing like he’s 28.

2. Kansas City Chiefs

Last Week: 2

The Chiefs once again proved that no matter who they’re down against, they’re never out. The three-headed dragon of Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce dazzled as always and the new offensive line held up pretty well against the tough Cleveland front. The defense needs some tuning up as the Browns only had to punt once on Sunday, but a good week one showing all the same in Kansas City.

3. Los Angeles Rams

Last Week: 6

For NFL fans who only watched the Lions play on Thanksgiving, I introduce you to Matthew Stafford. Stafford had a league's best 156.1 quarterback rating with 321 yards and 3 passing touchdowns. As for the Rams defense, it was just another day at work shutting down NFL offenses. Boosted by big games from Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald, and Justin Hollins, the Rams held Chicago to 14 points and proved that they’re the best team in the NFC to dethrone the Buccaneers.

4. Cleveland Browns

Last Week: 5

Despite the loss this Sunday, the Browns proved they can hang. Cleveland went into Arrowhead and brought it to the Chiefs, leading 22-10 at the half. Of course, the Chiefs remembered how to play championship football at halftime and came back to win 33-29. That being said, for a while the Browns looked like the best football team in the AFC. The biggest question going forward will be what’s going on with Odell Becham Jr., as he may be the person to put Cleveland over the top.

5. Seattle Seahawks

Last Week: 8

Week one entailed a game that should satisfy everybody. Chris Carson had plenty of touches and Russell Wilson got the opportunity to make a big impact on the game with 254 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Seattle balanced attack and solid defense leaves them looking like a true contender going forward.

6. Arizona Cardinals

Last Week: 11

This team will be one of the most fun teams to watch in the NFL this season. Kyler Murray showed out with 289 passing yards and 5 total touchdowns. On the defensive end, Chandler Jones ended with an incredible 5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. The Cardinals are much better than many had originally expected.

7. Buffalo Bills

Last Week: 3

The Bills looked decent in the first half and then dropped it in the second. The Steelers didn’t blitz once in this game and still hit Josh Allen 8 times. That is something that must change if Buffalo wants any chance at contending this year.

8. Green Bay Packers

Last Week: 4

Not exactly the perfect opener to Aaron Rodgers possible farewell season in Green Bay. The Packers slept through this game and came out on the wrong side of a 38-3 blowout because of it. Aaron Rodgers didn’t seem too worried, though, saying, “If we’re starting to freak out after one week, we’re in big trouble.” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Rodgers say something like this, and he’s said it before some pretty big winning streaks in the past; so onto week 2.

9. San Francisco 49ers

Last Week: 10

The 49ers looked dominant in most of this game, leading 38-17 after three. That puts them up one spot, but they almost blew it in the fourth, making an 8 point win against the Lions look unimpressive. But, of course, we can’t forget how good San Francisco looked for the majority of this game; and a 4-0 division record leaves the entire NFC West in the top 10 after week one.

10. Baltimore Ravens

Last Week: 7

The injuries in Baltimore are evidently taking a toll. After losing both J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards, Lamar Jackson had to do as many of us expected and led the Ravens in both passing and rushing yards. On the defensive side, the loss of Marcus Peters left more holes for the Ravens. These injuries resulted in a 33-27 Monday Night Football loss in Las Vegas.

11. Dallas Cowboys

Last Week: 14

At the end of the season, a loss on the schedule is merely a loss on the schedule. But for the time being, this loss left a lot of optimism in Dallas. Dak played great, finishing with 403 yards and 3 touchdowns. They’ll need more from Zeke, who only had 33 yards; and they can’t continue losing games where they force multiple turnovers, but a two point loss against the Super Bowl champs isn’t a huge knock.

12. New Orleans Saints

Last Week: 18

The Saints looked great in week one, no doubt about that. They were balanced and dominated a very good Packers team on both sides of the ball. Jameis Winston looked fantastic, throwing the ball for 5 touchdowns, but I would like to see a little more action for him in week two, considering he only threw for 148 passing yards.

13. Pittsburgh Steelers

Last Week: 16

The Steelers will be a team that uses its defense to win ugly games this season, but that’s not a bad thing as long as they’re winning. Big Ben was slow to start, but picked it up as the game goes on; just as veterans do. They didn’t make many mistakes-finishing the game without committing any turnovers-and their defense made Josh Allen uncomfortable throughout the entire 60 minutes. It’s irrelevant to these power rankings, but for the record, this young team has a great future under Mike Tomlin.

14. Miami Dolphins

Last Week: 13

The Dolphins won a pretty non-memorable game this Sunday, 17-16. They moved down one spot despite the win, but that’s more so because of the strength of the competition this year rather than the showing they had this week. The Patriots don’t look strong this year, but it’s never easy to go to Foxborough and come out with a win all the same.

15. Los Angeles Chargers

Last Week: 15

The Chargers put on a good showing this week in Washington. It was a back-and-forth game, and Justin Herbert was great when the LA offense needed him against a good Washington defense. We’ll see if it can translate to wins in the AFC West this season, who also went 4-0 this week.

16. Tennessee Titans

Last Week: 9

The Titans might be in trouble. The Cardinals came into their house and blew them out. Ryan Tannehill struggled with 3 turnovers, Derrick Henry finished the game with only 58 yards, and the defense gave up 38 points to Arizona. We’ll see if this was a fluke loss or not next week, when they play another tough NFC West team in Seattle.

17. Philadelphia Eagles

Last Week: 30

Okay. Alright. Maybe I was wrong about the Eagles. Philly dominated against the Falcons in Atlanta, winning 32-6. Jalen Hurts looked like that guy, throwing 27/35 for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns. All the while, their defense shutdown a Falcons offense that I thought looked good going into the year. For that, the Eagles are our biggest mover, climbing 13 spots up the ladder after week one.

18. Indianapolis Colts

Last Week: 12

The Colts took a tough 28-16 loss to a good Seahawks team. On the upside, Carson Wentz looked pretty good, throwing 25 completions on 38 attempts, for 251 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On the downside, the defense looked underwhelming, giving up four touchdowns to the Seahawks.

19. Las Vegas Raiders

Last Week: 24

The Raiders did as they do, and won a big game to begin the season. They took a 33-27 game over the Ravens in overtime. Granted, Baltimore practically gave them the win in the final act of the game. That being said, they beat a team that I have in my top-10, so they earned a 5 spot move-up.

20. Washington Football Team

Last Week: 19

The Football Team move down a spot as they were on the unfortunate end of a tough game against the Chargers. Their defense looked solid, but still gave up 20 to Los Angeles. On the offensive side, questions are left on the table as Fitzpatrick goes out and Taylor Heinicke steps in.

21. Carolina Panthers

Last Week: 21

After seeing a 16-0 first half lead this week, I was ready to move the Panthers up a spot or two. But they nearly blew the entire game in the second half, and only barely escaped with a 19-14 win against the Jets. On the bright side, Sam Darnold-the biggest question for Carolina going into this season-played well and the defensive line for the Panthers looked great. It will be interesting to see how they fare against tougher competition, playing the Saints next week.

22. New England Patriots

Last Week: 20

Damien Harris ran for 100 yards this week, but fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter with the Patriots in field goal range, which shows up in players' nightmares in one-point losses. On the bright side for the Pats, Mac Jones looked good, throwing for 281 yards and a touchdown. Yet, it wasn’t enough to boost New England to a win against the Dolphins.

23. Denver Broncos

Last Week: 26

This week we saw the roster that we would have called Super Bowl contenders had Aaron Rodgers showed up in Denver. Even though Rodgers hadn’t done so, Teddy Bridgewater looks like a pretty good option, throwing 28/36 with 264 yards and 2 touchdowns. My biggest worry for the Broncos at the moment is Jerry Jeudy being out 4-6 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

24. Cincinnati Bengals

Last Week: 27

The Bengals began their season with a relieving win. Joe Burrow proved he has swagger, throwing for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Ja’Marr Chase proved that he can indeed catch the ball, finishing week one with 5 receptions for 101 yards and a touchdown. They might not be there just yet, but this Bengals team will soon cause trouble in the AFC North.

25. Minnesota Vikings

Last Week: 17

The Vikings came out on the losing side of that overtime game in Cinci. Kirk Cousins threw the ball 49 times, finishing with 36 completions for 351 yards and a couple of touchdowns. But the Minnesota defense didn’t look great, even with the returning veterans on that side of the ball.

26. Chicago Bears

Last Week: 23

For the first time in a while, the Bears offense was more fun to watch than their defense...which isn’t saying a lot. The Bears defense-which was supposed to be their bright spot-gave up 34 points to the Rams, with multiple blown coverages. Their “fun to watch” offense only put up 14. Andy Dalton looked decent, but there still isn’t much to look forward to in Chicago until Justin Fields is under the helm.

27. New York Giants

Last Week: 25

Daniel Jones fumbled again. That makes 30 in 26 career NFL games. The Giants offense looked slow, finishing with 13, and the defense looked worse than I had hoped they would be, giving up 27 to the Broncos.

28. Atlanta Falcons

Last Week: 22

So much for the potential of that top-10 offense, huh? The Falcons offense couldn’t get into the endzone the entire game, finishing with just two field goals. The Atlanta defense played about how I expected they would, giving up 32 points to the Eagles.

29. Houston Texans

Last Week: 32

Maybe the Texans do want to win. Tyrod Taylor played well, throwing for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns. Mark Ingram also came to play, rushing for 85 yards and a touchdown himself. The competition brought by the Jags wasn’t great, but a win is a win for this Houston team.

30. New York Jets

Last Week: 28

The young potential that I had hoped to see from the Jets didn’t really show up against Carolina. Zach Wilson struggled in his debut, but it’s hard not to struggle when you're running from linemen virtually the entire game. If the Jets want Wilson to succeed, they’ll have to have the patience to build a good team around him, the opposite of what they did for Sam Darnold.

31. Detroit Lions

Last Week: 31

We saw about what we expected from the Lions this week: taking a lot of punishment from the 49ers. Their fourth quarter looked good though, if that’s any silver lining. Jared Goff played well on a large volume of passes, with 338 yards and 3 touchdowns; something he’ll have to do a lot more of in order to convince Detroit not to take a QB in the upcoming draft.

32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Last Week: 29

Trevor Lawrence lost the first regular season game of his life this week. It will go with a couple of college football playoff losses, but the biggest loss of his career thus far may have been on April 29th, when he was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars. There wasn’t much bright side that came out of week one for Jacksonville, and Urban Meyer is already rumored to leave for the USC job. This rumor of course has no validity to it as of now, but a coach being rumored to leave the team after their very first NFL game typically isn’t a good sign.