Power Rankings: Week 2

I think that went about as poorly as most people expected from the Browns. What was shocking to me was the lack of a defense. Their defensive unit was top 10 in a lot of metrics last season, but they struggled mightily to get a stop against the Jaguars. I think we expected the offense to struggle, but the saving grace of this team, their defense, didn't show up whatsoever.

For what it's worth, this may have been the easiest game on the Titans' schedule, and they lost by 2 scores. I was really hoping they would be able to show some promise, especially on defense, after bringing in Saleh, but they got gashed pretty hard. I think they need to involve the pieces they added on offense way more than they did.

To be honest, I don't think the Dolphins looked terrible at all for the first 3 quarters. I thought Willis looked pretty solid considering the weapons he has to work with on offense, and the defense wasn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be. That being said, the game got away from them in the 4th quarter, and they never showed a high-caliber drive on offense that would get me excited. I still think Willis is solid, and the run defense was also solid.

The Falcons simply lost any chance at winning this game when Cooper Rush was named the starter. You can't move the ball with a QB who can't throw it 5 yards downfield. As for the defense, it looked pretty solid, but I'm unsure if that is a product of the defense being good or, more so the Steelers offense being bad.

I was thoroughly impressed by the Jets in week 1. I thought the offense looked like it was incredibly competent, and all their weapons were utilized. Last week I wrote about how good this offense could be at its full potential, and we may have seen a glimpse of that. Omar Cooper was great, Sadiq had a good TD, and they were really good on the ground. Combo that with a defense only giving up 10 points on the road, perhaps the ceiling is a bit higher for this team than many had previously thought.

The Raiders had equal good and bad in week one in my opinion. I thought the defense, and more importantly the pass rush, looked amazing. I thought the offense scored a good amount of points without their best weapon Bowers. However, I think Kirk Cousins looked pretty bad. He could not push the ball downfield, and when he did he turned it over. That will be an issue in the weeks to come when they aren't playing the Dolphins. They also didn't run the ball extremely efficiently. Jeanty had a lot of yards, but it was more so from a lot of attempts.

Without a doubt, the Steelers had the ugliest win of week one. I think going against Cooper Rush, a QB who was having back spasms the day before and had zero reps with the second team, let alone the first team, I expect a victory. The Steelers defense was great, as you would expect any defense to be in that scenario, yet the offense was terrible. They scored the same amount of points on offense as the Cooper Rush led Falcons did. The difference in the game was a TJ Watt pick-six, and two missed field goals from the Falcons. dangerously close to a loss, so I'm left with no other choice but to drop them.

The Bucs weren't horrible in week one, but the amount of turnovers on offense combined with the lackluster defense concerns me a bit. Sure, it was against a talented offense, but an exploitable one. The score made this one look closer than it actually was thanks to some garbage time points.

Honestly a good loss for the Commanders. The offense looked pretty proficient against a stout Eagles defense, and their own defense showed glimpses from their young pieces. I think overall they still were lackluster in many ways throughout the game, but they showed plenty of fight to almost tie the game with a two point conversion. Not entirely sure what to expect from them moving forward, but I don't feel comfortable moving them down or up after that one.

Trying not to overreact here, but damn that was one impressive win. The Cardinals looked well coached, and executed amazingly in all three phases of the game. I think the offense looking pretty good isn't too surprising, but the defense being as shutdown as it was is pretty shocking. Again, not going to put a ton of stock in it, but they certainly have my attention.

The first few drives of the game they looked like the 2025 Jones led Colts. Running the ball well, passing efficiently. Then their defense couldn't get a stop, and the offense stopped moving the ball well. I wouldn't sound the alarm on this team just yet, the Ravens are a pretty well-rounded team, but the floor is looking more reachable than the ceiling for this team.

Honestly, if I were a Panthers fan, I'd be pretty excited. I get it, they lost, and the Bears nearly hung 60 on them, but Bryce went toe-to-toe with hi for most of the game. The entire offense was firing on all cylinders, and looked like a well balanced offense. Sure the defense gave up all those yards and points, but this is simply what Ben Johnson does in week one, and it dates back to his Detroit days. (seriously, go look up all of Ben Johnson's week one performances) The defense still has the pieces to put itself back together into a solid unit.

Saints are in the same boat as the Panthers, as that was a good loss. They were a 2-point conversion and a scoop and score (wrongfully) getting called back from beating the Lions in Detroit. The defense made that offense look average, and the offense turned it on in the second half, and had over 500 yards of offense. I think New Orleans showed a lot of good despite the loss.

I'm pumping the brakes on the Giants hype train just a little bit. Firstly, I think the offense humming the way it was, is more likely to do with the poor play from Dallas defense. Secondly, their defense was still not very good. Oustide of Dallas's first possession and the interception, they also could not stop the Cowboys offense. It's good for the win column, but in terms of answering questions or silencing my doubts for this team, that remains unproven.

Undoubtedly a bad loss for the Chargers, but I'm not going to drop them any further than this. It was a poor job on offense and defense, but I think some rust needs to be knocked off on both sides of the ball. It sounds like I'm making excuses, but do you really believe that this team is going to play like that all season long? I highly doubt it, so I'm not tanking them on power rankings this week. Upset losses happen all the time, look at the Cousins led Falcons beating the Rams last year. It happens.

Same with the Chargers, I'm not selling Cowboys stock just yet, for a couple reasons. Firstly, the offense was still really good. Outside of an uncharacteristic interception, and a George Pickens drop (that would've likely been a TD), they were an elite offense, rushing and passing the ball. Secondly, I think the defense will figure it out. It's a first time play-caller on that side of the ball, and I think the team is well aware that the defense is an issue, so I expect it to not be that bad moving forward, especially since the talent is there, along with the ability to stop the run. This is still a solid team, and despite the upset loss, I still have them above the Giants.

Frustrating. That's what the Packers last four games they've played have been. The offense has looked so good... at times. The thing is, we know how good the players on this team are, the question for this team is if they are under the correct leadership. Blowing leads is a coaching staff issue. The ceiling is high for the team, but it feels like they consistently underachieve.

Overall a pretty good debut for the 2026 Bengals. Defense looked much better than years past, and the offense obviously put up a lot of points. Weird how little Chase was getting involved though. Watching the game he was open many times, and Burrow didn't look his way. Something to monitor.

A pretty weird, but good game from the Vikings. The defense looked great, and despite the injury to Kyler, they were able to score 30+ points on offense. The ceiling for this team is high, especially if they can feed Jefferson like that for the rest of the season.

Honestly, this team moves up simply off teams above them sliding down. I wasn't blown away by the offense, but the defense stepped up pretty well. As the game went on the defense got a little worse, but overall they looked balanced. Analytically, depsite giving up 500 yards they were solid on defense and we know how good the offense can be, so I see no issue with them sliding up.

As much as I thought this team was slightly overrated, I did not expect that kind of loss on Monday night. Losing by double digits is not the norm for this team either, as they usually play everyone within one score. It's slightly a result of making little to no additions in the offseason, regression can happen. The offense was lacking someone making a big play to put them back in the game, whether it came from a QB, RB, or WR, someone needs to step up on offense to carry the load. The defense played poorly in the second half, but they were put in a bad position by the offense. I'm not going to tank them crazy low, because it's only one week, so number 12 feels fair to me for this week.

The Pats aren't doing much to help the fraud allegations. If you would have told me that they lost a close game to the Seahawks beforehand, I would've told you that means they probably looked much better than they did in the Super Bowl. However, they played against Drew Lock, and a Seattle team without any safeties, and didn't take advantage. They also lost AJ Brown for the next 4 weeks. Not a lot working in their favor, but playing a Mike McDonald defense 2 games in a row would make anyone look bad on offense.

Look, it was an impressive win for Kansas City in week one, but I'm already hearing people overrate this team. Yes, Kenneth Walker was great, but that kind of usage with a running back that is as fragile as him, is worrisome. They'll need to lighten the workload for him, if they want him to play at that level late in the season. Mahomes looked healthy, which is great, but I wouldn't say he played amazing. He had a rushing TD, but he was efficient, nor did he push the ball down the field well with his arm. The defense got a lot of turnovers, but Delane got hurt and it was more the Broncos offense malfunctioning than the defense truly overwhelming them. It's a good win, and the prospect of giving Mahomes a running game can be scary, but I still need to be sold on everything else.

A relatively ugly win on the scoreboard, however I thought Hurts played great. He still had his deep ball, he was excellent rushing the ball, and was clutch. He genuinely impressed me, and the defense was solid. It may be an ugly win, but I think Philly should feel pretty good about their QB right now.

Maybe I'm a Texans glazer for some reason, but this is a good loss. Think, they ran the ball extremely efficiently, and Stroud played very well. The most shocking thing was the defense letting them down, giving up 36 points, but I trust this defense more than I trust almost any other unit in football. The Texans delivered what I thought they would on offense, so overall, I feel good about this team moving forward.

I mean, this was almost to be expected from Ben Johnson. Great stuff on offense. I would say the defense looked poor, but I think Bryce Young just played a great game.

They beat up on the Browns, which was to be expected, but they looked great on both sides of the ball. Not much else to it.

A couple things about the Rams: I'm not going to drop them very far here. There are a million excuses in the book as to why they played so poorly in week 1, but I think the simplest one was that they weren't ready for such a fearsome 49ers team, a fellow consensus top 5 team in football. The only things that really concern me about the Rams, is that Stafford looked old, and that Myles Garrett is going to miss a good chunk of time. Other than that, I do expect them to bounce back.

It could be a stretch to put them here, but the Ravens were one of the few teams in week one to be elite both on offense and defense. They really only let Taylor gash them for a drive or two before they took control of the game. They also have Lamar Jackson.

That defense looked really, really good. It was a full team effort, as Purdy and the whole offense executed well, but the defense stole the show. Warner, the pass rush, the secondary, it was spectacular. Mike Evans looked great, and Deebo looked 5 years younger. This team felt like those 49er teams that would make the Super Bowl.

Perhaps it's jumping the gun, but the Bills are my number two team. I feel like there isn't a clear second best team in football, so I just went with the best QB in football. It wasn't necessarily pretty analytically, but Josh Allen got one of the monkeys off his back. This was a Texans defense that tourmented him last year, and he just dropped 36 and gashed them, all without turning it over. The defense wasn't great, giving up 31 points, but there was a pass rush, and they were clutch when they needed to be.

I don't think there is a single QB in the NFL that wants to face this Seattle defense. Seattle has clearly the most talented defense, the deepest roster, and the best coach in the league. They just beat the AFC Champions with Drew Lock under center. It almost makes you wonder, would it have been another blowout if Darnold didn't get hurt? I don't really mind keeping them at one even with Lock, as now he gets to have reps with the first team in practice. They are the defending champs for a reason, and until there is a reason to dethrone them, they will remain here.