Week 2 NFL Power Rankings: Colts and Buccaneers exposed
By Will Lomas
Latest NFL Power Rankings.
The first Sunday of NFL football has come and gone, and it feels amazing to be writing these NFL Power Rankings with actual games to analyze.
It is important not to overreact to one week, but there isn’t a lot of times for these teams to get better and adjust so it is good to see which storylines panned out and which ones didn’t from the offseason.
Let’s jump right in with a new team at the bottom of the rankings.
32. New York Jets (-1)
The Jets just seem like a team destined to fail this year, not because of outside influences but just because they don’t have any talent on their roster. Sam Darnold is perpetually overrated and his issues get explained away, but this was always going to be a tough matchup given the lack of talent on the Jets offensive line.
32nd feels like a place on these power rankings where Jets fans might want to get comfortable.
31. Carolina Panthers (-1)
The Panthers are Christian McCaffery and then a whole bunch of players trying to earn their spot on the 2021 roster. It may feel strange to see them drop a spot for a game where they were neck and neck with the Las Vegas Raiders, but there is more to it than that.
Las Vegas had to travel across the country to play this game which is always difficult, but it didn’t seem like they were troubled at all by the Panthers defense.
Frequently the Raiders offense did whatever it wanted and I don’t think the Raiders are even that good. What makes this especially troublesome is that the Panthers spent every pick in the 2020 NFL Draft on defense, and nothing you saw on the field suggested that was the case.