Three weeks in and Houston, Atlanta and Arizona are the only unbeaten teams left. Oh, and New Orleans is one of only two winless franchises. Just as we all expected, right? How do you not love this league?
I usually stray from the standings pretty dramatically here, but I actually believe that those three perfect teams have earned the top three spots. Beyond that, it's literally a 29-team gong show.
1. Houston Texans (3-0, 1st last week): With Tennessee and the Jets on deck, Houston's likely to be 5-0 when it hosts the Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 6.
2. Atlanta Falcons (3-0, 6th last week): That defense is finally doing what it's had the capability of doing for years. And kudos to the Falcons for being road warriors, especially on the west coast.
3. Arizona Cardinals (3-0, 12th last week): And Seattle, New England and Philadelphia are no slouches. The Cardinals will give San Francisco a run for their money in the NFC West.
4. Green Bay Packers (1-2, 5th last week): For the purposes of power rankings, it's really hard to view them as 1-2. That said, they didn't play very well in Seattle anyway.
5. Baltimore Ravens (2-1, 11th last week): I think you could argue that Joe Flacco outplayed Tom Brady yet again.
6. San Francisco 49ers (2-1, 2nd last week): OK, every team has hiccups. That was just timed a little strangely. The rest of the division is bringing heat.
7. New York Giants (2-1, 16th last week): A lot has changed in two weeks. Suddenly, the Giants are deeper than they realized. Maybe they're again the faves in the NFC East.
8. New England Patriots (1-2, 4th last week): Fun fact: New England is under .500 for the first time since 1923.
9. Philadelphia Eagles (2-1, 3rd last week): Just like San Francisco, they laid an oddly-timed egg. Philadelphia's on pace to turn the ball over 64 times this season. And unlike my comment in regard to the Patriots, I'm not exaggerating this time.
10. Dallas Cowboys (2-1, 10th last week): Flat effort but still a victory. That's a good sign, but the Dallas offense has been off since the Giants game.
11. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2, 7th last week): A close road loss across the country isn't the end of the world, especially with the defense depleted.
12. Denver Broncos (1-2, 9th last week): Putting 25 points up on the Houston defense is pretty impressive, but it was a too-little-too-late situation.
13. Seattle Seahawks (2-1, 13th last week): So that's what they mean by the 12th man….
14. Carolina Panthers (1-2, 8th last week): Easily the most disappointing team of the week. Already two games back of the Falcons.
15. San Diego Chargers (2-1, 14th last week): A 24-point loss at home, and now they have to leave the state of California for the first time all year to battle a very difficult Kansas City team at Arrowhead.
16. Minnesota Vikings (2-1, 27th last week): Christian Ponder is suddenly Tarkentoning everyone in sight.
17. Detroit Lions (1-2, 15th last week): The defense has continually been roasted since midway through the 2011 season. And just like we all figured, the Lions and Packers are tied in last place in the NFC North.
18. Cincinnati Bengals (2-1, 23rd last week): Carlos Dunlap returns and so does that defense that rocked in 2011. They still gave up a lot of points, but the Redskins are no slouches on offense.
19. Chicago Bears (2-1, 19th last week): I dunno, it was St. Louis….
20. Washington Redskins (1-2, 17th last week): Like I said, no slouches on offense. On defense, it's a different story. #Slouches
21. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-2, 21st last week): Vice versa for these guys.
22. New York Jets (2-1, 18th last week): Darrelle Revis down for the year after a too-close-for-comfort loss in Miami, eh? Well, see ya in 2013….
23. Kansas City Chiefs (1-2, 26th last week): They're back, as is Jamaal Charles. And the division looks as though it'll be up for grabs.
24. Buffalo Bills (2-1, 25th last week): They've turned it around in impressive fashion, but now it's New England followed by San Francisco followed by Arizona. The goal's to avoid 2-4 and smile if you're 3-3.
25. St. Louis Rams (1-2, 22nd last week): There's the Sam Bradford opponents knew and loved in 2011….
26. Oakland Raiders (1-2, 31st last week): Thirteen unanswered fourth-quarter points to put a cap in the Steelers and maybe save the season. I didn't see that coming.
27. Tennessee Titans (1-2, 28th last week): Detroit-Tennessee will go down as the greatest game in NFL history that nobody outside of Detroit and Tennessee watched. You owe it to yourself to check out the replay on NFL Network this week.
28. New Orleans Saints (0-3, 20th last week): They've lost three games to three teams who have yet to win outside of those games. Season. Over.
29. Cleveland Browns (0-3, 24th last week): Thought they'd do more at home against the beatable Bills.
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2, 32nd last week): If Maurice Jones-Drew can just keep doing that, they'll be golden.
31. Indianapolis Colts (1-2, 29th last week): Another tough break with Austin Collie going down. It's going to be a long year.
32. Miami Dolphins (1-2, 30th last week): The team Peyton Manning left has a slight edge over the team Peyton Manning spurned. Although at the end of the day, both teams have the same win total as Manning's Broncos.
