NFL Power Rankings: Week 3
16 – Atlanta Falcons (2-0)
Bijan Robinson is as good as advertised. If you haven’t seen that aerial highlight video with him juking out defenders left and right, go find it. Not going to lie, I’ve probably watched it 20 times now and it’s just as good every single time. Robinson might be the missing piece to this offense.
15 – Green Bay Packers (1-1)
Some of you might think I’m crazy putting the Packers ahead of the team they just lost to in the Atlanta Falcons. Let me give you some context here – The Packers were up by double digits to start the 4th and they did it all without WR Christian Watson, RB Aaron Jones and LT David Bakhtiari and they only lost by 1 point. The week 1 win has shown me enough to keep them in the top 16.
14 – Washington Commanders (2-0)
If you listened to my offseason preview about the Commanders, I told you guys that the Commanders were going to be a decent team this year. They have a great defense and can win games if their offense can muster up some points. Well, QB Sam Howell is a revelation. He threw for 299 yards and 2 TDs in his 3 ever NFL game. I think it’s time we give OC Eric Bieniemy his flowers. He has completely changed this offense around in the best way possible.
13 – New York Jets (1-1)
I honestly still have the Jets up here because of their culture, their defense and the fact that they beat the Bills in week 1. QB Zach Wilson still looks bad. He finished going 12 for 27 for 170 yards and 3 interceptions. 67 of those yards came on a slant catch and run to WR Garrett Wilson. The Jets need to trade for someone competent to be their QB because there is no way this defense can out defend their offensive insufficiencies.
12 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0)
Is it time for Tradon to issue another apology to QB Baker Mayfield? Mayfield has been more than adequate this season thus far and his connection with WR Mike Evans is stuff dreams are made of. Can’t give all the credit to the offense though. The defense has been a sack machine and had 6 against the Bears.
11 – Los Angeles Rams (1-1)
Speaking of apologies, I think we all need to apologize to the Rams (it’s hard for me to say that). They actually look like a good team! QB Matt Stafford looks like his old self (interceptions and all) and the passing game is booming with WR Puka Nacua. 15 targets in week 1 and 20 targets in week 2 is unheard of but the fact that he turned 15 of those targets into catches against a stingy 49ers’ defense is probably the most impressive thing I heard of all season. Oh, and bye bye Cam Akers.
10 – Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1)
The Jags have a major offensive line issues. Letting your QB get sacked 4 times is never good. Trevor Lawrence is good, but he is not good enough to overcome OL issues like this. He needs time to throw, read the defense and figure out where they made a mistake. He can’t do that right now and it’s hurting this team.
9 – New Orleans Saints (2-0)
Defense is this teams’ calling card. They have a great one and have a dominant defensive line. They added 2 more sacks against the Panthers to bring their season total 4. This may seem like a modest amount but the amount of pressures they have is a much higher number. The WR corps look good but QB Derek Carr just needs a little more time to throw it to them.
8 – Detroit Lions (1-1)
The Lions really should’ve won that game against the Seahawks. Their defense fell hard in the 4th quarter though, giving way to 3 touchdowns. They have to figure out a way to being more sound as the game goes on but that gets so much harder with S CJ Gardner-Johnson missing the rest of the season with a torn pec.
7 – Baltimore Ravens (2-0)
They may have changed up their offensive scheme to be more pass heavy, but QB Lamar Jackson is still as savvy a runner as ever. He got them out of tough situations with the use of his legs and bailed out this oft injured team more times than I can count. The medical staff needs to figure out a way to keep this team’s injury report from looking like a CVS receipt.
6 – Buffalo Bills (1-1)
Josh Allen looked bad in week 1 but looked like he was back to his old self in week 2 as he threw for 274 yards and 3 TDs. He spread the ball out to his receivers and looked calm and collected in the pocket. Even the run game was working. Every facet of this offense was working in sync. If they can keep this up then they’ll be right back to where they were as Super Bowl contenders.
5 – Miami Dolphins (2-0)
In two weeks, the Dolphins have shown that they are a complete team. Week 1 had Tua throw for 466 yards and week 2 had their defense pressure Patriots’ QB Mac Jones 20 times for 4 sacks. Now, they just have to get both parts of the ball to be great at the same time. Shouldn’t be a problem right?
4 – Kansas City Chiefs (1-1)
I think the Chiefs are really missing former OC Eric Bieniemy right now. Their offensive number are down in every aspect when comparing to last year. I get that it’s only been 2 games but when you’re talking about Mahomes and Super Bowl contention, it is a little alarming. OC Matt Nagy was horrendous as the head coach of the Bears. Is he bringing that bad juju to Kansas City?
3 – Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)
The Eagles are 2-0 and by all stats and indications, they are a great team. But after watching them for 2 weeks, something just seems off. They aren’t as confident as they were last year. Scratch that. QB Jalen Hurts doesn’t look as confident as he did last year. There were multiple stretches during the game against the Vikings where they just ran the ball because Hurts was struggling. Oh, and that big blow up argument between Hurts and AJ Brown is something that we should all be looking into. Trouble brewing in Philly.
2 – Dallas Cowboys (2-0)
So they have a +/- of +60. That’s incredible. Their defense looks godly and their offense looks explosive. BUT lets look at who they played - A horrendous New York Giants team that didn’t score a point until 7 quarters into the season and a New York Jet’s team that had QB Zach Wilson as the guy. Don’t get me wrong, this a good team but lets pump the brakes here a little bit.
1 – San Francisco 49ers (2-0)
Why are the 49er’s number 1? Because I’m a homer that’s why. And because they are legitimately the best team in the league after 2 weeks. They just had one of their worst games since Brock Purdy became the starter. Purdy missed 4 throws that would have led to TDs and the defense looked lazy and lackadaisical. I mean how do you let a guy catch 15 passes? All this and they still beat a Rams team that we all agree should no longer be slept on.