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.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (+2)
C.J. Henderson looks like a good pick so far with an interception and several pass deflections, and the 2020 NFL season is going to be one where the development of young players and rookies matter more than the final win-loss record.
Still, it is hard to argue that the Jaguars looked like a team that wanted to win badly and show that they can win around Gardner Minshew and a locker room that doesn’t include Leonard Fournette. Now, a real test will be what they look like next week going on the road against a team with tape on them and who isn’t coming off of an extended period of no contact.
Congratulations to the Jaguars and if they can keep this up they will shoot up these power rankings.
29. New York Giants (+0)
The New York Giants play against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, so their spot on the power rankings is reflective of where they ranked before the season.
28. Miami Dolphins (+0)
The Miami Dolphins looked pretty good in their first game of the season, and sometimes a team is going to win or lose and they won’t move in these power rankings. As such, the Dolphins aren’t going to move this week because I think they are the 28th best team in the NFL right now.
I understand you can’t really do this, but if you take away Ryan Fitzpatrick’s performance, the team didn’t look bad. Knowing that this team is going to be graded on how well they do once Tua Tagovailoa takes over, the most important thing to pay attention to right now is the supporting cast.
27. Atlanta Falcons (-3)
My biggest concern with the Falcons is that I just don’t think they are good on defense despite resources being spent on it and a head coach who got his job on that side of the ball. In fact, this is what I said last week:
"“Defensively, there has to be a way to get Grady Jarrett, Dante Fowler, Takk McKinley, and Marlon Davidson on the field together in an effective way and Dan Quinn should be spending all night making sure that he finds the perfect way to use them together. There is no reason this team should be in the bottom half of these rankings based on their talent.”"
And those guys did well with Fowler, Jarrett and McKinley combining for 3 sacks, but that didn’t stop the Seahawks from going to the air early and often and attacking the defensive backs. If they can’t slow down a one-dimensional offense like they say today, then they are in trouble.
26. Washington (+1)
This team is going to win games based on their defensive line and EDGEs, and today that was in full force. Early in the game Washington was down and couldn’t really generate any sort of offense, however as the game progressed the defense slowly started being more and more effective.
Finally, the hydra of pass rusher started to get home more and more frequently. When the game was over they had 8 sacks and 14 quarterback hits, headlined by the future Hall of Famer Ryan Kerrigan’s 2 sacks, the 1st round rookie Chase Young with 1.5, and the always underrated Matt Ioannidis with 1.5 sacks and 4 QB hits.
Ron Rivera wins his first as the head coach, and maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel in the DMV.
25. Indianapolis Colts (-9)
I was lower than most on the Colts before the season, but this confirmed every concern I had about them. This isn’t a coaching staff that is going to bend Phil Rivers to their will, but the other way around. They ended up passing nearly 50 times today despite lies of this still being a run-first team.
There is no more demoralizing thing for Colts fans than losing to the Jaguars in a game where your offensive line kept Rivers clean and he still ended up throwing two interceptions that looked bad. Also, the stud rookie tandem that people fell in love with during the offseason ended up with Michael Pittman having 2 catches for 10 yards while Jonathan Taylor had 9 rushes for 22 yards.
24. Detroit Lions (-2)
This is much nicer than I could have been because any time you are that far up on the Chicago Bears and you don’t finish the job, it is almost illegal to keep you from being pushed into the bottom five.
But, I said I wasn’t going to be reactionary in my power rankings right now so let’s talk about the Lions. When Kenny Golladay is back, the combination of him, Danny Amendola, Marvin Jones, and T.J. Hockenson is going to be deadly. The problem is that their defense can barely stop a nosebleed and if they don’t tighten that up quickly they are going to spiral and potentially look for a new coach and quarterback next season.
23. Cincinnati Bengals (+3)
The Bengals lost against the L.A. Chargers, but I put all of the blame for that loss on the shoulders on A.J. Green. He just didn’t see to be the same player at all and in the redzone he had an OPI call that turned a touchdown into a penalty which immediately led to a missed field goal.
Was Joe Burrow great? No, but I thought he distributed the ball well enough and he had to deal with a bad offensive line and up and down receivers.
There were some teams that looked much worse to me than the Bengals this week and I really like this defense and what they did even without Geno Atkins for the first time in a decade.
22. Las Vegas Raiders (+3)
I thought we would see more aggressiveness on offense and there was some of that, but as soon as Henry Ruggs went out that fell off. I still think that the offense needs to prove that it can do that if we are going to push them into the top-20 on these power rankings.
Defensively, I expected to see more from guys like Maxx Crosby and Clelin Ferrell but I am going to ignore that because everyone is getting back into full contact football shape. Still, they have to be more effective if they are going to compete with the Broncos, Chiefs and Chargers going forward.
21. Chicago Bears (+2)
Are the Bears good? Well, Akiem Hicks and Khalil Mack are both good, and so are Anthony Miller and Allen Robinson are good, but there is so much on this team that could go either way. Right now I am going to say they are good at positions that matter like WR, EDGE and CB, but Mitch Trubisky is far from redeemed and I want to see the offensive line play against a defense with talent.
Still, it is hard not to be encouraged with the fact that even when Trubisky is terrible for a stretch, he still has it in him to come in and flash some great throws and win a game.
20. L.A. Chargers (+1)
The Chargers struggled a lot more with this game than I thought they would, especially against an Bengals team with a hobbled A.J. Green and without Geno Atkins.
What concerns me the most is that the Chargers refused to use Austin Ekeler in the passing game and they looked like idiots for it. Maybe that would help Tyrod Taylor have a better completion percentage than the ugly 55% that he mustered up today.
Defensively I think that it was the best game that I have ever seen from Jerry Tillery and Joey Bosa looked like he was in peak form already. I don’t know how many other people will say this, but the Chargers remind me a lot of Washington.
They are a team that will win or lose based on the performance of their DL and EDGE, but the major difference is that the Chargers have a lot more talent at receiver. However, the flaws at OL, QB, and LB are eerily similar.
19. Denver Broncos (+1)
The Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans play on Monday Night Football, and their changes in these power rankings will be reflected next week.
18. Arizona Cardinals (+1)
I hate it when people say this, but this was a win that looked more like a game where the 49ers lost more than the Cardinals won. But, that doesn’t mean that the Cardinals didn’t do some impressive things.
You can’t talk about this game without talking about how bad the Houston Texans look for trading away Nuk Hopkins, who had more receptions than every receiver on the Texans combined.
DeAndre Hopkins had more catches today (14) than all #Texans WRs had combined on Thursday Night vs. Kansas City (13).
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 13, 2020
Kyler Murray didn’t look as comfortable as I thought he would, but that is sort of washed away when you look at the incredible plays he can make with his legs. That improvisation and his connection with Nuk Hopkins will carry them a long way.
I liked the way young guys like Budda Baker and Byron Murphy played alongside veterans like Patrick Peterson and Chandler Jones, which bodes well for their chances to continue to move up these power rankings.
17. Houston Texans (-3)
Speaking of dumb things the Texans did, just think about the fact that the Texans invested 3 first round picks and 2 second round picks in the trio of Laremy Tunsil, Tytus Howard and Max Scharping. Oh, and they also made Tunsil the highest-paid lineman in the NFL.
The Texans looked bad, and if not for nice days by J.J. Watt, David Johnson and (if you squint) Will Fuller, then the Texans would be plummeting down these power rankings.
16. New England Patriots (+2)
So far so good with Cam Newton and it was good to see the Patriots using Newton as a runner. If you are going to build an offense around him you can’t be afraid to put him on the front lines and use his legs.
Defensively the Patriots are a team that always makes the opposing offense look foolish because they always seem to be in the right place. They aren’t flashy, but it is so hard to move the ball on the Patriots effectively and that makes it much easier on the offense as they try to figure out how to move on post-Brady.
15. Cleveland Browns (-2)
Again, I am picking and choosing where I am going to overreact in these power rankings, but I am going to try to keep my powder dry here.
Jarvis Landry and David Njoku are still exactly what I thought they would be, but Odell Beckham continues to disappoint and so does Baker Mayfield whose commercials become a little less funny every time he throws an interception.
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt looked great on the ground, but it is hard to give them the ball consistently when you mess up fake punts and find yourself down two scores so quickly.
Next week the Browns will take on the Bengals and then we will find out if they just had a bad day against an offense that is hard to simulate without the ability to tackle in training camp, or if they are just a team that doesn’t have it again this year and who could be in for a QB change just a few years into Baker Mayfield’s career.
14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-5)
Whew. So, you know how everyone thought that adding old players to this roster was going to make them better? Well, I have some bad news and it turns out that if Bill Belichick doesn’t want you around and you are a future Hall of Famer, then it is probably because you don’t have it anymore.
The defense flashed a lot, and they really turned the screws in the middle part of this game, but that isn’t what anyone wants to talk about.
We need to admit that Tom Brady looks washed right now and the offense around him looks bad as well. The offensive tackles looked overwhelmed and Tom Brady and Mike Evans weren’t where I thought they would be from a chemistry standpoint.
This is something that is more likely to get worse than it is to get better, and this spot in the power rankings is just a place holder because they don’t have the talent to support an offense without a passing game. They are either going to be really good on offense or really bad, but I have a hard time imagining a season where Tom Brady is just average.
13. Minnesota Vikings (-2)
This hurts Vikings because I really like the way your team is built. Maybe when Danielle Hunter is healthy this defense evolves, but this is just not what I thought I would see with Eric Kendricks, Yannick Ngakoue, Anthony Barr, Harrison Smith, and Anthony Harris.
Offensively, I thought Dalvin Cook was in a position to absolutely expose the Green Bay Packers and their linebackers but he only had 13 touches all game long. You can’t pay a guy the kind of money they just doled out to him and not make him the focal point of your offense.
I had almost penciled the Vikings into the top-10 of my power rankings headed into Sunday’s game, but now I am concerned that they don’t believe in their own identity.
12. Philadelphia Eagles (-4)
The Eagles had a tough day Sunday, and injuries are a big reason why the lost the war of attrition with the Football Team. That would be forgivable most weeks, but when watching Carson Wentz it just looked clear that this team is going to have to focus on investing heavily around Wentz for his entire career.
The offense doesn’t look bad, but there is just something missing and maybe that changes when they are healthy and they have their left and right tackle, their starting running back, and one of their top-3 receivers back, but for now, I have to grade on what I saw.
11. Green Bay Packers (+4)
The Packers seemed like an offensive juggernaut today and they did it without a real threat on offense other than Davante Adams. Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams were fine, but they were the only players to carry the ball more than 5 times and they averaged less than 3.8 yards combined.
This was the Aaron Rodgers show in all of its glory and that is the most important and exciting thing for Packers fans. What should be concerning is that the defense looked largely overwhelmed throughout the day and despite being in a positive game script all day long, they couldn’t punish Kirk Cousins behind a bad offensive line.
That is the difference between the Packers and the top-10 in these power rankings.
10. San Francisco 49ers (-6)
This was such a disappointing performance from the 49ers, but I will say that we could look back on these power rankings in four weeks and talk about how much of a fluke it was.
For some reason, the 49ers never found a way to deal with Nuk Hopkins and that ultimately killed them. What they did do, was constantly fluster Kyler Murray who never looked comfortable and ended up resorting to his feet instead of making plays down the field.
Jimmy G just wasn’t able to consistently threaten every part of the field and as soon as George Kittle was banged up the offense ground to a halt.
9. Buffalo Bills (+3)
The Buffalo Bills were just outside the top-10 in my power rankings before the season started, but that probably was negligent on my part. I won’t say that I doubted the Bills to win against the Jets this week, but it was good to see them come out and dominate early on offense in a game where they should do just that.
Going forward, Josh Allen looks like a QB who will continue to make weird mistakes but this team is good enough to stay in the top-10 if the rest of the team keeps playing as well as they have.
8. Seattle Seahawks (+2)
Man, it is going to be really hard to stop the Seattle Seahawks if they intentionally expose their weak offensive line to a game plan where 70% of the plays are passes and they still win by double digits.
Jamal Adams looked very good in his debut and it looks like he and Bobby Wagner are going to make life hard for opposing defenses, with a caveat. As long as the offense keeps them in a position to get on top early and stay on top, then the Seahawks can play vs the pass and do what they want. However, if they are asked to stop the run consistently, I’m not quite sure they are built to do that.
Still, hard to argue that this offense isn’t good enough to carry this team as long as they let Russ cook.
7. Dallas Cowboys (-1)
It is too soon to jump off of the Cowboys bandwagon, but I think today showed us that maybe we all need to take a step back in our expectations for this offense.
Dallas looked good in spurts, but the offensive line clearly struggled to limit Aaron Donald, and despite all the fun cut ups that the Sunday Night Football crew showed, the offensive line was getting worked on a routine basis and the times where they won were times where Donald wasn’t on the field or where he was tired.
The good news is that the defense was a few missed plays away from winning this game and holding the Rams to 17ish points, and a lot of those missed plays came from rookie CB Trevon Diggs. If he can just get his head around and make two pass breakups in that game, we are all raving about how good he looked (because he did) and throwing a welcome party for Aldon Smith and Everson Griffen.
Still, they didn’t fall far in these power rankings because I think the L.A. Rams will be very good this season after seeing that game.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (+1)
The Pittsburgh Steelers play against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, so their spot on the power rankings is reflective of where they ranked before the season.
5. L.A. Rams (+12)
This is a huge jump, but let me sell you on why this win was so huge for the L.A. Rams.
When I listed them so low in my power rankings initially, it was because I had no confidence in the Rams defense to be able to consistently stifle an opposing offense for an entire game. I figured that if they were able to do that, it would have to be an offense that focused on a single target and that would need to be a big game from Jalen Ramsey.
The Rams just beat the Dallas Cowboys who have been a team defined by good offensive line play (even though it isn’t as good as some people believe) and Ezekiel Elliott, and if that were the team that we saw today then it wouldn’t be that big of a win.
What makes it so interesting is that the Cowboys have morphed into a team that should be the blueprint for defeating the Rams. Adding this trio of wide receivers to the offensive line and Zeke, should neutralize the impact that Ramsey and Aaron Donald can have respectively.
However, the Rams were in control all day on both sides of the ball and there were clearly points left out on the field. If this is the starting point for the Rams, they could be dangerous by the midpoint of the season.
4. Tennessee Titans (+1)
The Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans play on Monday Night Football, and their changes in these power rankings will be reflected next week.
3. New Orleans Saints (+1)
There were a lot of things to take away from what should be the penultimate matchup between Drew Brees and Tom Brady.
The biggest takeaway was that Drew Brees isn’t what he used to be and he has lost a lot off of his fastball. Having said that, his timing, precision and understanding of this offense can make him effective through at least this year.
Beyond that, Cameron Jordan and Trey Hendrickson are an outstanding pair on the EDGEs for New Orleans that make that defense terrifying on passing downs. Throw in Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins in coverage as well as Demario Davis and Alex Anzalone, and you have layers of talent on a defense that is slept on around the NFL.
Sure, this team is going to be defined by Brees, Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, but don’t sleep on a supporting cast that includes those monsters on defense, a great offensive line, and Emmanuel Sanders who always seems to add juice to any team he is on.
These guys are dangerous if they can keep Brees clean and out of situations where he has to do too much.
2. Baltimore Ravens (+0)
I’ll put my hand up. I thought that the Cleveland Browns were going to give the Baltimore Ravens a run for their money on Sunday and I was 100% wrong.
The Ravens toyed with the Browns and they never really felt like the got out of 3rd gear and they still walloped them 38 to 6. The game felt like it was going according to plan the entire time and the Ravens looked like they had an argument for the top spot in these power rankings.
Maybe the Cleveland Browns are paper tigers again and this win isn’t as impressive as I think, but it is hard to come away anything less than impressed with the Ravens.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (+0)
Just so that everyone understands how dominant the Chiefs are, they brought out a rookie running back in Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and they put on a show against the reigning AFC South champs.
Trotting out a rookie running back and doing that to a team of Houston’s (perceived) caliber is one thing, but it is the way that they used him that was a complete slap in the face.
To make sure that everyone in the NFL knew that you couldn’t predict the Chiefs’ next move, they used him as an inside runner early and often, contrary to his perceived role as a receiving back that can’t do that.
The Chiefs used the Texans like this was a preseason game, knowing that all it would take is two-quarters of focus to blow them away. The final score isn’t an accurate depiction of their dominance. Not only did Kansas City play with one hand tied behind their back, but they let the Texans put up some garbage time points after they scored 31 unanswered to all but seal the win.
They have earned the top spot in these power rankings.