1. New England Patriots (2-0; Last Week- No. 1)
After the Bills’ defense was the talk of the NFL after an impressive win vs the Colts in Week 1, Tom Brady shredded the Buffalo defense for 466 passing yards and three touchdowns (no interceptions). Brady has now thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions on the season.
First the deflategate stuff, then all of the talk about Rex Ryan and the Bills challenging the Patriots for the AFC East crown… this all seems to just be serving as more motivation for Tom Brady. Good luck, NFL defenses.
2. Green Bay Packers (2-0; Last Week- No. 2)
Aaron Rodgers is unreal. Five touchdown passes, no interceptions, and a 128.4 QB rating so far on the season (just further extending his lengthy gap for the NFL all-time QB rating leader). And a huge win over the Seahawks on Sunday night.
The Packers are the team to beat in the NFC, and it will be bad news for other NFC contenders if the road to the Super Bowl goes through Lambeau Field, where Rodgers hasn’t thrown an interception since December of 2012 (!).
3. Arizona Cardinals (2-0; Last Week- No. 5)
48 points on Sunday in Chicago, and the running game should improve with the eventual return of Andre Ellington, as well as the likely expanded role for David Johnson. Johnson is a dynamic player that already has a rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, and kick-return touchdown through the first two weeks of the season. The Cardinals know they need to get the 23-year-old involved more.
4. Denver Broncos (2-0; Last Week- No. 4)
What a huge, wild comeback win for the Broncos in Kansas City. Peyton Manning looked awful in the first half, but adjustments in the play-calling from Gary Kubiak and his staff got Manning looking more like the guy we’ve seen the last few years with the Broncos. Still, there’s no doubting that Manning’s velocity and accuracy (particularly on deep balls) are concerns, and the Broncos may need to find ways to work around those issues all year.
5. Cincinnati Bengals (2-0; Last Week- No. 7)
Andy Dalton is off to a terrific start (5 TD/0 INT/120.3 QB Rating), and we know the Bengals are an extremely difficult team to beat if he plays well. So far, that’s happening, and they’re 2-0 with impressive wins over the Raiders and Chargers.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1; Last Week- No. 12)
Goodness is the Ben Roethlisberger-Antonio Brown connection fun to watch. This offense could be downright scary with the return of running back Le’Veon Bell (suspension) in Week 3.
7. Seattle Seahawks (0-2; Last Week- No. 3)
0-2 isn’t how you want to start the season, but losses at St. Louis and Green Bay (in primetime) aren’t the end of the world. Safety Kam Chancellor finally ended his holdout and will be a huge addition to the Seahawks’ defense. They shouldn’t have any trouble getting their first win of the season vs Jimmy Clausen and the Bears in week 3. We know this is a very good team and it will show soon.
8. Buffalo Bills (1-1; Last Week- No. 9)
They turned what was looking like a blowout loss into a close game vs the Patriots, but the game showed the Bills are still a level below the Patriots in the AFC East. Progress is definitely being made, though, and Tyrod Taylor really is an intriguing dual-threat quarterback.
9. New York Jets (2-0; Last Week- No. 20; Biggest Riser)
What we said last week:
“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.”
Welp, the Jets definitely got our attention and then some, with a 20-7 road win over the Colts on Monday Night Football. Todd Bowles has this team playing rock-solid all-around football.
10. Dallas Cowboys (2-0; Last Week- No. 10)
What they’ve done on the field says they should be ranked much higher, but it’s impossible to not consider the impact of losing Tony Romo and Dez Bryant for at least eight weeks. The Cowboys also don’t have DeMarco Murray to rely on in situations like this anymore.
But, their defense is playing very well, and the offense didn’t miss a beat when Brandon Weeden replaced Romo on Sunday. They just need to hang in the NFC East race while Romo and Bryant are out, and you have to like their chances to do so. The Redskins are 1-1 but hardly scare anybody, while the Giants and Eagles are 0-2, so the Cowboys already have a two-game lead on those teams.
11. Atlanta Falcons (2-0; Last Week- No. 16)
Speaking of those NFC East teams, the Falcons have already beaten two of them, in the Eagles and Giants. The most recent victory was in comeback fashion, as the Falcons outscored the Giants 14-0 in the fourth quarter to come away with 24-20 road victory.
Julio Jones already has 14 receptions for first downs, and only 13 players in the NFL have at least 14 receptions total.
12. Carolina Panthers (2-0; Last Week- No. 18)
The Panthers continue to win games how they will likely need to all year: Play great defense and get enough done on offense. It will probably limit their ultimate ceiling, but they should be able to stay in contention for the NFC South crown all year with how weak the division appears to be.
13. Kansas City Chiefs (1-1; Last Week- No. 6)
That loss will sting for a long time. That would be the case no matter what team the meltdown loss came against, but vs the Broncos? Big-time ouch, both mentally and to their AFC West hopes.
It doesn’t help that they now have to follow that up with what may be the most difficult game on their schedule (vs the Packers at Lambeau Field).
14. San Diego Chargers (1-1; Last Week- No. 11)
Melvin Gordon averaged 5.5 yards per carry (16 carries for 88 yards) vs the Bengals and is showing why the Chargers selected him with the 15th overall pick of the 2015 draft. Have to think the Chargers will try to get Gordon more touches in the coming weeks, and the defense being aware of his talents may open up more for Philip Rivers in the San Diego passing game.
15. Miami Dolphins (1-1; Last Week- No. 13)
This team leaves you wanting more. The talent is there on both sides of the ball. Joe Philbin’s seat may be getting pretty warm soon if the Dolphins don’t kick it up a notch.
16. Minnesota Vikings (1-1; Last Week- No. 25)
After an embarrassing performance in a 21-3 Week 1 loss to the 49ers, the Vikings rebounded with a solid 26-16 victory over the Lions in Week 2. That looked much more like the Vikings team we expected to see in 2015. And Adrian Peterson looked like his old self.
17. St. Louis Rams (1-1; Last Week- No. 14)
Through two weeks, it’s much like what we’ve seen from the Rams in the Jeff Fisher era. A terrific win over a great team, followed immediately by a loss to a bad team.
This should be the new team logo for St. Louis: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
18. Baltimore Ravens (0-2; Last Week- No. 17)
What is the identity of this team? They look average (or worse) across the board.
19. Indianapolis Colts (0-2; Last Week- No. 8; Biggest Faller)
The biggest disappointment through two weeks of the season. It’s not just that they’re 0-2, but it’s how bad they’ve looked in each loss. They haven’t even scored a single point in the first half this year.
Really expected they would follow the Week 1 loss with a quality performance at home, but that was definitely not the case. There’s a long way to go in the season, but the Colts have a lot of things to clean up.
20. Detroit Lions (0-2; Last Week- No. 19)
0-2, and their next three opponents are the Broncos, Seahawks and Cardinals. They could be out of the playoff race before they get things together (if they do, that is).
21. New York Giants (0-2; Last Week- No. 22)
They should be 2-0, but are instead 0-2 thanks to blowing double-digit, fourth-quarter leads in both games. It has to be even more frustrating for them when you factor in the NFC East appearing wide open now given the Cowboys’ injuries.
22. Philadelphia Eagles (0-2; Last Week- No. 15)
The whole Sam Bradford-at-quarterback thing isn’t going so well. Bradford has two touchdown passes, four interceptions, and one fumble lost through two games as the Eagles’ starter.
23. Washington Redskins (1-1; Last Week- No. 27)
The Alfred Morris-Matt Jones running duo looks like a very good one. Both backs are top-eight in the NFL in rushing yards through two weeks. The question is whether or not the Redskins can keep it up on the ground at that pace, once teams start stacking the box and forcing Kirk Cousins to beat them.
24. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1; Last Week- No. 30)
Big win for the Jags in Week 2 over the Dolphins. Will they be able to hang with the Patriots in Week 3? Probably not, but there are some things to be optimistic about with this team on both sides of the ball.
25. San Francisco 49ers (1-1; Last Week- No. 24)
Followed up their surprising Week 1 performance by looking more like the (bad) 49ers team most predicted them to be. How about Carlos Hyde though? NFL’s leading rusher through two weeks with 211 yards, and his 14 first downs on the ground are three more than anyone else in the league.
26. Oakland Raiders (1-1; Last Week- No. 31)
We got a glimpse of the young talent Oakland has to offer, with Derek Carr slinging the ball all over the yard and Amari Cooper burning the Ravens secondary for a 68-yard touchdown reception. This team will likely be bad, but will have several entertaining moments mixed in at least. For once you may not roll your eyes when the NFL Red Zone goes to their games.
27. Cleveland Browns (1-1; Last Week- No. 29)
Is it really worth it to play Josh McCown over Johnny Manziel if you know the Browns are going to be a non-playoff contender regardless? See what you have in Johnny and evaluate if he’s a long-term option at quarterback.
Now, if the Browns belief that Johnny would just be exposed and playing him right now would only be detrimental to his development, then sure, play McCown for the time being. But if it’s purely on which quarterback may give a bad team the better chance to win right now? The value of playing McCown instead seems pretty minimal.
28. Tennessee Titans (1-1; Last Week- No. 23)
The ups and downs of a rookie season are already in progress for Marcus Mariota.
29. Houston Texans (0-2; Last Week- No. 28)
Getting Arian Foster back in the next couple of weeks will be big for the offense, but they still need someone that can throw the ball.
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-1: Last Week- No. 32)
If you saw their Week 1 game vs the Titans in Tampa Bay, you’d think they would have no chance for a road win a week later. It’s a good thing they were playing…
31. New Orleans Saints (0-2; Last Week- No. 31)
The Saints. Yikes. It’s looked bad enough, and now they will either be without Drew Brees or at best playing with their star quarterback at less than 100%. They’re probably at least a little bit better than this, but their concerns are real.
32. Chicago Bears (0-2; Last Week- No. 26)
The effort and coaching staff are a clear improvement over last year, but with the talent level of this team’s defense, it may not matter most weeks. The run defense isn’t looking much better than the last few years, and the secondary may be the worst in the NFL. 2014 first-round pick Kyle Fuller has no confidence right now at cornerback and things aren’t much better with the other defensive backs.
And now they have to go into Seattle to face an angry Seahawks team, while starting Jimmy Clausen at quarterback (as they will for at least two weeks due to Jay Cutler’s strained hamstring). A healthy Bears team is probably better than at least a few teams on this list, but right now, this is the worst team in the NFL.
