NFL Power Rankings after Week 2: Eagles win Super Bowl rematch, Packers make statement, injuries bug hits QBs

Week 2 was headlined with a Super Bowl match up, and the reigning champs doubled down in Arrowhead against the Chiefs. The Bills stayed at the top of the Power Rankings with a bludgeoning of the Jets and Baker Mayfield led the Bucs to another late win in Houston on Monday night. The big story, or stories coming out of Week 2 were injuries to star quarterbacks around the league, and that will of course have an affect on our latest edition of Power Rankings.

1) Buffalo Bills (2-0) last week: 1

If there was any thing you could nit pick about the Bills after their Week 1 instant classic against the Ravens, it was the defense. They had a tough time slowing down Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore offense until late in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. On Sunday in New York they held an offense that put up 32 against the Steelers D to just a field goal for the first 55 minutes of the game. With the defense rolling like they were, Josh Allen didn’t need to play like an MVP. Instead it was James Cook leading the way on a day that the Bills rushed for 224 yards. Two weeks into the season, the Bills look far and wide like the best team in the AFC and at the moment like the top team in the league.

2) Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) last week: 2

The Super Bowl rematch from Arrowhead looked a whole lot different from the game back in February from New Orleans. Jalen Hurts had just over 100 yards passing and Saquon Barkley was contained by the Chiefs defense for the most part, but like in Week 1, the Eagles figured out a way to win just like we grew accustomed to seeing the Chiefs do over the last few years. Last week it was a forced fumble in the red zone that changed the game. This week it was the red zone interception by Andrew Mukuba. Philly can’t always rely on the defense to force red zone turnovers, and at one time the offense will have to wake up. Remember that Kevin Patullo is in his first year as offensive coordinator at Philly. So once everyone is on the same page, this team is going to be even more dangerous.

3) Green Bay Packers (2-0) last week: 3

Two weeks of great football isn’t enough to get you to the top of the Power Rankings, but it’s pretty damn close for the Cheeseheads. They have beaten two really good teams and they have done so in convincing fashion. Jordan Love looked like the star that he is expected to be this season, and not just a game manager. Meanwhile Tucker Kraft looked like Rob Gronkowski on career night under the Lambeau lights. On the other side of the ball, Micah Parsons and the defense had Jayden Daniels running for his life on Thursday night. Now it’s time to bring this show on the road after back to back games in Green Bay.

4) Baltimore Ravens (1-1) last week: 4

After a tough game to open the season, the Ravens started slow against the Cleveland Browns for whatever reason. Could be because it was a division game against a familiar foe. Could be because they were brushing themselves off from a long game against the Bills to open the campaign. Whatever the case may be, once Lamar Jackson got rolling there was no slowing him down. He tossed 4 TD passes, and most importantly the Ravens closed the game out after building up a double digit lead. That’s been a real problem for the Ravens lately.

5) Los Angeles Chargers (2-0) last week: 5

Monday night’s win was a very 2024 Chargers performance from Coach Harbaugh’s guys. Herbert came out and played efficient, mistake free football. The offense built up a lead and then let the defense do the heavy lifting from there. They forced four turnovers including three picks had 15 pass deflections against Geno Smith as the Raiders failed to even sniff the end zone. There aren’t many teams that have looked more complete than the Chargers through the first two Weeks of the season, but we need to see a little more longevity before we move them up with the heavy hitters.

6) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0) last week: 9

Ain’t nothing wrong with a little Mayfield Magic, and there’s been more than a little magic in the first two weeks of the season. After coming up with a game winning drive on the road against a division rival, Mayfield did it again in primetime from Houston. It looked like it was going to be a shootout in Texas through the first quarter of an hour, but things slowed down for the rest of the night. Tampa looked in control but the Bucs special teams opened the door for the Texans to steal a win with a blocked punt and a big run back in the fourth quarter. Mayfield had to come to the rescue again, and it did it with a spectacular two minute drive to deliver a second straight road win to start the season.

7) Detroit Lions (1-1) last week: 10

The Lions were my lock of the week after getting flattened by the Packers last week. Dan Campbell always gets his guys geared up after a loss, and that’s exactly what happened on Sunday in Mo Town. The questions surrounding the new offensive and defensive coordinator were silenced as the Lions looked like the dominant force that they were last year. This was a perfect tune up for the massive Monday Night matchup against the Ravens. That game is going to tell us a whole lot about both teams.

8) Indianapolis Colts (2-0) last week: 19

Who would have thought that Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts would have made NFL history, becoming the first team ever to score in their first 10 drives of the season. More importantly, they won the kind of game that has the ability to make an unproven team believe in itself. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of luck involved in their win over the Broncos, but you have to be good to be lucky and the Colts are proving to be much better than a lot of people would have thought two weeks ago.

9) Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) last week: 7

For as hard as Patrick Mahomes might try, and as good as he might be, he’s not able to carry the entire offensive load on his back and lead raw Chiefs to victory. With no Rashee Rice or Xavier Worthy, he looks like a QB who has very little faith in the weapons around him. That’s why he had almost 70 rushing yards in the first half of the Super Bowl rematch. Once again he put the super hero cape on, doing anything and everything to put KC in a position to take the lead, and what happens? Travis Kelce has a ball pop off his hands in the end zone leading to the game changing interception, and things fell apart from there. The defense is fantastic and they showed that again against the Eagles. The offense will be good once every one is healthy and back from suspension. The question, how much magic will Mahomes have in the tank once he has everyone available?

10) San Francisco 49ers (2-0) last week: 14

No Brock Purdy, or George Kittle, but the Niners did have one thing going for them on Sunday: they played the New Orleans Saints. There were a lot of people wanting to see Mac Jones’ debut in the Kyle Shannahan offense, and for good reason. Jones had 279 yards and three TDs in his first game as the Niners starter. McCaffrey had another big day, with 20 touches and 100+ total yards for a second straight game. He’s going to need to be a clutch for Jones as he grows more comfortable with the offense, and so will the defense which took over late and closed the game out in New Orleans.

11) Los Angeles Rams (2-0) last week: 12

Thirty minutes into the Rams game against Tennessee there was cause for concern. Not only were they losing to the Titans, but for a second straight week they struggled to move the ball and even more to score TDs. That all changed coming out of the halftime break. LA looked like a new team, dropping 20 straight points and avoiding an embarrassment to last year’s worst team in the league. Stafford is just finding his groove after missing all of the preseason and Devante Adams is getting more and more comfortable in LA as the Rams get used to life in the post-Cooper Kupp era.

12) Washington Commanders (1-1) last week: 6

Those in the nation’s capital are looking to move on from Thursday’s game against the Packers as soon as possible. That’s going to be hard to do if Jayden Daniels sprained knee keeps him out for any extended time. He’s currently listed as day to day, but there is such a thing as a sophomore slump, and the Commanders are hoping Daniels can avoid that like the plague. Daniels struggles had more to do with the constant pressure, and lack of run game than his poor play, but Washington look completely outmatched by the Packers. The only consolation in D.C.: it was a short week, on the road, against maybe the league’s best team.

13) Seattle Seahawks (1-1) last week: 22

When you look back at the Seahawks win in Pittsburgh one play will come to mind. The Steelers boneheaded “non-return” that turned to a TD for Seattle was the turning point in the game, but that shouldn’t be the only thing we remember from the Week 2 win. Last week it was Sam Darnold depending on Smith-Njigba way too much. JSN still had a big day with 103 yards, but Darnold spread the ball out to five different receivers who combined fo 192 yards and two TDs. The defense kept Aaron Rodgers under constant pressure and threw the four time MVP off his game. Going on the road after losing a division game at home to open the season isn’t easy. Seattle showed guts, and they showed character in the Steele City.

14) Denver Broncos (1-1) last week: 13

Losing is never easy to deal with, but when you had a game won and you gift it to the other team, that’s a hard pill to swallow. The most glaring mistake was the leverage personal foul penalty that gave the Colts a second chance at a game winning field goal from 15 yards closer, but it goes deeper than that. A fourth quarter Bo Nix pick, a missed field goal a couple of costly penalties dropped Denver to 1-1 on the season and raised some questions about just how ready this team is to compete in the AFC.

15) Atlanta Falcons (1-1), last week: 17

The strategy was clear from the start for the Atlanta Falcons. Get the ball to Bijan Robinson and let him cook. After getting just 12 carries last week, he let loose with a couple of big runs on the first drive of the night. He ended the night with 143 yards on 22 carries, but it was Tyler Allgeier Jr. who punched in the only TD of the night for either team. Penix Jr. was less than stellar, and the Falcons came up with just one TD in five trips to the red zone, but the defense did their job keeping McCarthy under constant pressure and sacking him six times, the same amount of points that they allowed to the Vikes. Penix is still in a growing phase and he’s going to need time to get this offense rolling on a consistent basis.

16) Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) last week: 8

I’ve seen a lot of crazy ways to lose games, but this may be the craziest way. I get it, there have been a lot of rule changes to the modern kickoff over the last few years, and the returner who made the mistake is a rookie. While it probably won’t happen again, it still directly cost the Steelers the game, but there are more problems to deal with than just a silly special teams mistake. The defense that has been the identity of this team has given up 31 and 32 points in the first two weeks. Rodgers needs more protection because he has been flat out bad against pressure over the first couple games. This is the first bump in the road for the Steelers, but it was a worrying one especially in the home debut of a team meant to compete for a Super Bowl.

17) Minnesota Vikings (1-1) last week: 11

The Vikings were brought back down to Earth on Sunday night against the Falcons following their comeback win to start the J.J. McCarthy era. It looked a lot like the first three quarters of the Bears from Week 1, except there were no late game heroics to save the day. McCarthy was under pressure all night, and was sacked six times as the rookie got rattled, and eventually suffered an ankle injury that will keep him out for a few weeks. That hurts the Vikings because they don’t have their starting QB, but the really hurts McCarthy who needs these early season games to get some experience under his belt.

18) Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) last week: 15

DUVALLLL! DUVALLLL! I’m not making fun of Jags coach Liam Coen, but he didn’t exactly come into the Jags facility commanding the respect of the room with that intro. When I saw Trevor Lawerence brush off whatever Coen was saying on the sideline after an errant pass, I went right back to that initial press conference with Coen back in January. Add that to the fact that he opted to go for it on 4th and 5 inside the CIN 10 yard line instead of kicking a FG to stretch the lead to six with under 4:00 to go, and you can see a potential storm brewing in North Florida.

19) Arizona Cardinals (2-0) last week: 23

There isn’t a team in the NFL that has been favored by the scheduling gods more than the Arizona Cardinals over the first two weeks. First the Saints in New Orleans and then Carolina at home. They jumped out to a quick 10-0 start, then were up 27-3 but they took their foot off the gas, and almost paid a hefty price. On their final defensive drive, they committed two penalties to keep the Panthers alive but Carolina are who we thought they were, and they let them off the hook.

20) Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) last week: 16

One step forward and three months back. The Bengals beat the Jags to move to 2-0. That’s the subtitle. The headline is Joe Burrow’s toe that will likely keep him out for the next three months. All that money invested this offseason was meant to fund a Super Bowl run with Burrow leading the charge. Now the Bengals are going to be fighting to stay alive in the playoff hunt with Jake Browning under center until December.

21) Dallas Cowboys (1-1) last week: 24

Seeing Jerry Jones and the rest of AT&T Stadium celebrate an overtime win over the New York Giants like they just won a playoff game tells you all you need to know about the state of affairs in Dallas. Was it fun? For sure. Was it dramatic? Absolutely. But needing a 64 yard field goal just to push the Giants to overtime, and allowing a team that didn’t score a TD last week to put up 37 on you, plus watching Russell Wilson throw for 450 yards should give those in Big D way more to worry about than to smile about. It’s a win, but not one anyone is going to take seriously.

22) New York Jets (0-2) last week: 20

The poor Jets. Coach Aaron Glenn talked about no moral victories after a narrow loss to the Steelers. On Sunday against the Bills the Jets weren’t even given a chance to consider moral victories, and fans felt an all too familiar pit at the bottom of their stomach. Justin Fields left the game with a concussion, but even before his injury he and the offense were stagnant against the Bills D.

23) Houston Texans (0-2) last week: 21

On one side, you have to applaud the way the Texans defense played for most of the Monday night game against the Bucs. They allowed very little in the passing game for most of the evening, and kept Tampa off the board once they got their feet under them. The problem is on the other side of the ball. CJ Stroud’s rookie year seems to have cast a cloud of pressure that he can’t shake and now the one time rookie QB that was welcomed as a hero is getting booed at NRG Stadium. They had three chances to score from the 1 yard line, and couldn’t. They had to settle for a field goal after the special teams blocked a punt deep in TB territory, and scored their only TD of the second half after a brilliant punt return gave them the ball at the 26. If Houston is going to dig themselves out of this 0-2 hole their offense has to be much more autonomous.

24) Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) last week: 18

There was reason to be happy with how the Raiders started the season last week, but there wasn’t much reason to believe in this team just yet. Monday night’s performance should be a reminder of that. Opening the game with an interception on the first snap is never a good sign, and things only got tougher from there. Geno Smith tossed three picks, first round pick Ashton Jeanty only go 11 carries, and the offense didn’t score a single touchdown. The Chargers are a good team, and Monday night we saw the Raiders have a long way to go to even enter that conversation.

25) New England Patriots (1-1) last week: 27

The Pats have a history with Tua and the Dolphins and it’s not a pretty one. But in that recent history the Pats haven’t had a quarterback that is ready to lead this franchise into a new era. Now it’s Drake Maye time in Foxborough, and he might have had the best game of his young career. The second year QB went 19/23 for 230 yards and two TDs, but even with that it took a kick return to turn the tides in South Beach. Had it not been for the run back, the special teams would have cost the Pats the game after Borregales missed a couple PATs and the punt unit allowed a TD return in the 4th quarter. The defense was far from what coach Vrable is expecting, but they came up with a pick and a fourth down stop when the game was on the line and that was just enough for the first win of the season.

26) Cleveland Browns (0-2) last week: 25

I’m not sure what was uglier, the first half the Browns had against the Ravens, or the second half. Six possessions to start the day, and six punts, one of those were blocked. Some how, the defense kept the Browns in the game until the third quarter, but the offense continued to cough up the ball, and at a certain point the defense ran out of gas. Baltimore put up 21 points in the fourth quarter, and the final score of 41-17 did the Browns defense no justice after a heroic effort for the first 45 minutes.

27) New York Giants (0-2) last week: 30

Hold the phone. Don’t think that Russell Wilson didn’t hear the entire nation imploring Brian Daboll to bench the NYG QB1. Wilson dropped 450 yards, just a few yards short of his career high and he did it on the road against a division opponent. This certainly bought him some time and cut coach Daboll some slack. He stuck with Wilson after Week 1, not just because he was protecting his rookie but because he believed Wilson gave his team the best chance to win. On Sunday Wilson may not have won the game but he won himself a few more starts under center in the Big Apple. Having said that, the Giants still stink.

28) Chicago Bears (0-2) last week: 26

Ben Johnson made his return to Detroit, and it will be a homecoming he won’t soon forget, as hard as he might try. The offense he used to be in command of put up 500 yards on the Bears D and Jared Goff threw 5 TDs. Chicago collapsed in the quarter of Week 1, but at least they were in that game. In Detroit, they were toast in the first 20 minutes of the game. All that hope Chicago fans came into this season with is quickly disappearing after the first two weeks.

29) New Orleans Saints (0-2) last week: 28

With the QB problems that the Saints have, I myself have been quick to write them off, and perhaps with good reason. If you don’t have a QB, you will struggle to score but the defense has been much better than expected and that has kept the Saints in each of the first two games of the season. That seems to buy the offense time to turn on, which they have done in Week 1 and Week 2, but by then it’s too late. Spencer Rattler has shown he can put the ball in the end zone but he has to do so earlier to avoid the Saints from having to climb uphill just to pull even with much better teams.

30) Miami Dolphins (0-2) last week: 31

Mike McDaniel is not worried about his job. That’s either optimistic or delusional, but either way the Dolphins are in trouble. Tua looked like prime Tua of a couple years ago but not even that was enough to keep the Fins from flopping at home. The defense is no good. The offense looked better, but obviously not good enough to make up for the defensive mistakes and special teams mistakes that are becoming all too common in South Beach. This has been a soft team for a long time, and that problem only seems to be getting worse as the McDaniel era continues.

31) Tennessee Titans (0-2) last week: 29

It was far from perfect for Cam Ward in his home debut, but there were some flashes of brilliance that will make fans in Nashville hold on to hope for a brighter tomorrow. Unfortunately for Tennessee the Rams caught fire, and there wasn’t much that the Titans could do to combat that. The offense came to a halt after the break, and fans have to be prepared for those growing pains throughout the season. There were improvements from Week 1 to Week 2 for Ward, and right now that’s all you can hope for if you are Tennessee.

32) Carolina Panthers (0-2) last week: 32

The Panthers are going to have a tough enough time winning games this year. They don’t need to be spotting people 10 point head starts in the first few minutes of the game, but that’s what they did in Arizona. A fumble for a TD, and an interception before the Cardinals offense even touched the ball had the Panthers battling up hill from the very start. They almost made a miraculous comeback once Bryce Young got his bearings, but each of their three TD drives took 10+ plays, and when you’re trying to make a comeback you need some big play ability that the Panthers just don’t have.

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