Week 2 NFL power rankings

Through one week of the 2015 NFL season, the league appears to be as wacky as ever.

The Seattle Seahawks entered the season as Super Bowl favorites, and they are 0-1 after losing to a St. Louis Rams team that went 6-10 in 2014.

The Indianapolis Colts had the fourth-best odds to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, and they are 0-1 after losing to the Buffalo Bills by 13 points.

The Minnesota Vikings were a sexy playoff pick, and they lost 21-3 to a San Francisco 49ers team that was expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL.

So, it’s hard to conclude too much about any teams right now, but let’s take a stab at ranking them heading into Week 2 anyway…

1. New England Patriots (1-0)

Following all the Deflategate hoopla, it was natural to assume Tom Brady would be extra motivated to play well this season. That sure seemed to be the case in Week 1, as Brady completed 25-of-32 passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns (and no interceptions). And Gronk was basically unstoppable (when isn’t he?), reeling in three Brady passes for touchdowns.

2. Green Bay Packers (1-0)

No Jordy Nelson? No problem so far for Aaron Rodgers. There’s no doubt Nelson will be missed to some degree, but Rodgers will still torch secondaries across the league no matter what pass-catching options he has to work with.

Even Randall Cobb looked nowhere close to 100% in the Packers’ victory on Sunday over the Bears, and Rodgers still completed 18-of-23 passes for three touchdowns and no interceptions. Heck, James Jones returned from the dead to catch four Rodgers passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns.

3. Seattle Seahawks (0-1)

Going to need more than one loss to believe the Seahawks aren’t one of the top teams in the NFL. They do need to resolve their situation with Kam Chancellor, though, as the safety is still holding out in hopes of a better contract. Chancellor’s replacement at safety, Dion Bailey, was burned for a 37-yard Rams touchdown pass that put the game in overtime (where the Rams would go on to win 34-31).

4. Denver Broncos (1-0)

The Broncos may be the most interesting team in the NFL so far. They’re looking capable of being as good as any Broncos teams in the Peyton Manning-led era, but possibly for very different reasons.

While the Broncos of the last few years were a team that won games primarily due to their offense, the strength of the 2015 team appears to be on the defensive side of the ball. This a terrific defense on paper, and with a highly respected defensive mind in Wade Phillips serving as the unit’s coordinator.

The offense, however, is a work in progress. Concerns about Manning’s velocity and increased amount of wounded ducks from the preseason proved to be fair concerns in the team’s regular season opener against the Ravens. The Broncos won the game 19-13, but without the offense scoring a single touchdown.

The Broncos may have to grind out wins this year, rather than getting it done in shootout-style games like the last few years.

5. Arizona Cardinals (1-0)

Even after going 11-5 last year, the Cardinals continue to fly under the radar in regards to talk of the NFL’s top teams. That’s likely due to some people still having doubts about Carson Palmer, as well as a running game that lacks a true No. 1 option (and Andre Ellington is now expected to miss 1-3 weeks due to injury).

But the defense is one of the better units in the NFL, and this is a very good overall team that figures to again be one of the top contenders in the NFC.

6. Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)

Impressive showing on the road in week one vs the Texans. The Chiefs have a huge game — and opportunity to make a statement — on Thursday night against the Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium. It seems crazy to call a game in Week 2 a must-win, but for the Chiefs’ AFC West hopes, this should be viewed as a must-win game at home.

7. Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)

Hey there, Tyler Eifert. The Notre Dame product blew up for a 9/102/1 line in the Bengals’ 33-13 victory over the Raiders. This is the kind of production the Bengals envisioned when they selected the tight end with the 21st overall pick of the 2013 draft.

8. Indianapolis Colts (0-1)

It’s just one loss for a team many predicted to go to the Super Bowl, but the defensive question marks definitely remain, and it’s unclear how much Indianapolis can count on aging offseason acquisitions Frank Gore and Andre Johnson on offense.

9. Buffalo Bills (1-0)

Coming into the season, everyone was a believer in the Bills’ defense, but it’s doubtful anyone expected them to hold Andrew Luck and the Colts to just 14 points in Buffalo’s first game under Rex Ryan. Perhaps even more surprising is that the Bills put up 27 points in Tyrod Taylor’s first start at quarterback.

The Bills will dominate the NFL headlines if they can follow up their win over the Colts with a win over the Patriots in Week 2.

10. Dallas Cowboys (1-0)

While the Cowboys’ comeback effort on Sunday night should not be discounted, the Giants’ goal-line playcalling and clock management in the fourth quarter definitely gets an assist in the Dallas victory.

Then comes the news that Dez Bryant will likely miss at least six weeks with a broken bone in his right foot. It will be interesting to see how much the Cowboys’ passing game is effected by the loss of their superstar wideout.

11. San Diego Chargers (1-0)

Very nice comeback win over the Lions, and a great start to the season for the Philip Rivers-Keenan Allen connection.

12. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1)

This defense has a lot of work to do, but a nice overall performance by this team at New England, especially with no Le’Veon Bell.

The running game actually didn’t miss a beat without Bell. Veteran back DeAngelo Williams ran for 127 yards on 21 carries, and Pro Football Focus credited him with breaking an NFL-high eight tackles on the week.

13. Miami Dolphins (1-0)

It wasn’t pretty for the Dolphins in week one, but you’ll gladly take any road victory you can get in the NFL. This is a team with a lot of upside and they should be more enjoyable to watch as the year goes on.

14. St. Louis Rams (1-0)

34 points in a victorious effort against the Seahawks? No one saw that coming.

And Aaron Donald is absolutely ridiculous. Example:

After being named the Defensive Rookie of the Year last season, the defensive tackle was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his incredible performance against Seattle. Donald had nine tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, and was Pro Football Focus’ second-highest graded player in the NFL on the week at +10.5.

15. Philadelphia Eagles (0-1)

While there were concerns about DeMarco Murray’s workload after getting an NFL-high 392 carries last year for the Cowboys, the Eagles need to hand him the ball more than eight times.

16. Atlanta Falcons (1-0)

New head coach and former Seahawks defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn, has clearly made an impact on this team already. They were flying around on defense against the Eagles unlike any Falcons team we’ve seen in recent years. If the defense keeps playing like that, this team could surprise.

17. Baltimore Ravens (0-1)

No offensive touchdowns scored and only 173 total yards on offense, the NFL’s lowest total in Week 1. The Broncos’ defense certainly had a lot to do with that, but not the best start for former Bears head coach Marc Trestman as the Ravens’ new offensive coordinator.

On the other side of the ball, Terrell Suggs suffered a torn achilles in the game and will miss the remainder of the season. It will be tough for the Ravens to replace the veteran’s pass-rush production; Suggs had 12 sacks in 2014.

18. Carolina Panthers (1-0)

The leaders in targets and receiving yards for the Panthers in Week 1- Ted Ginn Jr. and Jerricho Cotchery. Their defense will need to be great.

19. Detroit Lions (0-1)

Blowing an 18-point lead is not how you want to start the season.

20. New York Jets (1-0)

Winning by 20 points in the NFL is a very hard thing to do, but it’s also hard to take too much away from a win at home over the Browns. If they can at least hang with what will be an angry Colts team on Monday night in Indianapolis, that would have our attention.

21. New Orleans Saints (0-1)

The defense continues to be a big problem. The good news for the Saints is they play in an offensively-challenged NFC South.

22. New York Giants (0-1)

Terrible clock management and play-calling at the goal line late in the fourth quarter to blow a road game against the Cowboys, the team favored to win the Giants’ division (NFC East). About as devastating of a loss as you can have in the first week of the season.

23. Tennessee Titans (1-0)

Well that was quite the debut for Marcus Mariota (13-16, 209 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) and on the road vs the team that just passed him up months ago in favor of Jameis Winston. Mariota looks like he could be a special one, and if he keeps playing anything like he did in that game, the Titans will be tough to beat. As we know, it’s a quarterback’s league.

24. San Francisco 49ers (1-0)

Many had the 49ers as the worst roster in the NFL coming into the season, but that didn’t appear to be the case in their dominant victory Monday night over the Vikings. Quite a great start to the season for Carlos Hyde on the ground (26 carries, 168 yards, 2 touchdowns).

25. Minnesota Vikings (0-1)

They may move up quite a bit on this list in the coming weeks given the talent they have, but what the heck was that on Monday night? Awful.

26. Chicago Bears (0-1)

There were some good things to take away from the Bears’ performance against the Packers, albeit in a losing effort. This is clearly a better coached team, and the players are clearly buying into the coaching staff more.

27. Washington Redskins (0-1)

Kirk Cousins needs all the help he can get, so losing big-play threat DeSean Jackson for 3-4 weeks really hurts. There isn’t much to be optimistic about with this team right now.

28. Houston Texans (0-1)

The quarterback situation is a mess. JJ Watt deserves better than this.

29. Cleveland Browns (0-1)

Johnny Football time? Whatever the case, it may not matter who their quarterback is given their run defense.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)

Second-year quarterback Blake Bortles looked like he was making strides in the preseason, but really struggled (22-40, 183 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions) in a 20-9 loss to the Panthers.

31. Oakland Raiders (0-1)

Expect them to get better as the year progresses with some nice young pieces in place, but this game looked like the same old Raiders.

32. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1)

They’re off to a nice start to get the No. 1 overall pick again. The Jameis Winston development definitely looks like it’s going to take some time. It will be helpful if he can get wide receiver Mike Evans back this week, at least.

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