NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Eagles In The Middle

The end of week 1 of the NFL season means the start of power rankings! This is part of the year where you kind of have to base your power ranks not just on what you saw in week 1, but also what your preseason expectations of a team were.

For instance, the Packers were pretty soundly beaten at home, but does that mean they worse than the Bucs, who won? No. But in 3 or 4 weeks that may not be the case. So after the jump are my ranks, which are pretty heavily weighted based on how I thought teams played, but still factor in how I saw teams prior to the season.

So you'll see teams like the Packers getting the benefit of the doubt, while the Redskins get the handicap(?) of the doubt. But like I said, in a week or two we could see wild shifts here.

1) 49ers - Hands down the most impressive win of week 1. The Niners have to be considered the early favorites in the NFC.

2) Ravens - Dominated the Bengals in Baltimore thanks to great defense and really good QB play. If they have the combo the rest of the season, this is the best team in the AFC.

3) Patriots - Scored a very methodical win down in Tennessee. The matchup with the Ravens in Baltimore 2 weeks from now could be an AFC title game preview.

4) Texans - Matt Schaub gets paid and delivers a blowout win over the Dolphins at home.

5) Broncos - You could see Manning get more and more comfortable as the game wore on. If the Peyton of old isn't back yet, he's very close.

6) Falcons - Put on a great performance in week one, but lost a big piece in CB Brent Grimes, who is done for the season.

7) Packers - San Fran could very well be the team that the Pack have to go through to win the NFC and they looked like they had no answers for them.

8) Bears - Big win at home against last season's worst team. We'll learn a whole lot more about the Bears next week in Green Bay.

9) Cowboys - If the 49ers had the best win of the weekend, Dallas probably had the second best. Beating the champs in their house on the night they got their rings? That's impressive.

10) Giants - This is the same Giants team from last year, which is a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.

11) Steelers - When is the last time we've see Ben Roethlisberger not only fail to lead a 4th quarter drive, but throw a pick 6 on it?

12) Eagles - Escaped Cleveland with a win, but the Eagles can't spot the Ravens 5 turnovers and hope to see the same result next week.

13) Lions - Very similar game to the Eagles. Turned the ball over too much and let a bad team hang around. Difference was Detroit did it at home.

14) Jets - They might be higher if it weren't for the low expectations coming into this season. However, if they beat Pittsburgh next week, those expectations will be forgotten and the Jets could find themselves in the top 10.

15) Saints - Over the past month or so, I think many of us have discounted the effect of the bounty scandal and the suspension on the Saints and assumed their talent would win out... But that sure looked like a team in disarray Sunday.

16) Redskins - Regardless of the situation facing the Saints, that was a great win for the Skins. They can build some momentum next week in St Louis.

17) Chargers - No one has been plagued by more disastrous special teams play early in a season than the Chargers, but the Raiders might be giving them a run for their money

18) Bengals - A very poor effort in Baltimore and the same questions about whether they can beat a good team remain.

19) Titans - All of those Chris Johnson fantasy owners hoping last year was an aberration... Things are not looking good.

20) Buccaneers - The Bucs may have had the best rookie debuts of the week with Doug Martin & Mark Barron both putting in solid efforts.

21) Raiders - Doubt the importance of the long snapper in the NFL? Watch the Raiders vs Chargers. Oakland lost their snapper and proceeded to both 3 punts.

22) Seahawks - The more I see and hear Pete Carroll, the more I get the feeling that he's just making this all up as he goes.

23) Panthers - Is a sophomore slump underway for Cam Newton? Threw 2 picks & wasn't a threat with his legs.

24) Cardinals - Has Kevin Kolb done what Michael Vick did to him and stolen the starting job 2 quarters into a season?

25) Vikings - Adrian Peterson looks healthy. Christian Ponder was good. They struggled way too much at home against a bad Jags team, but they might be laying some groundwork.

26) Chiefs - Gave up 40 at home and now head on the road for two straight weeks... KC could really be behind the 8 ball.

27) Bills - To say that the opener was a total disaster would be an understatement. If getting blowout by a division rival wasn't bad enough, they lose WR David Nelson for the season and RB Fred Jackson for up to a month.

28) Rams - Despite the loss, the Rams played the Lions well on the road. Interesting little "see who's for real" matchup with the Redskins next week.

29) Jaguars - A relatively encouraging start for Blaine Gabbert. But as arguably the worst QB in the NFL last year, there was nowhere to go but up.

30) Browns - This begins the disastrous rookie QB debuts section of our power ranks. Brandon Weeden threw 4 picks and finished with a QB rating of 5.1

31) Dolphins - Ryan Tannehill was a bit better only throwing 3 picks with a lofty 39 QB rating.

32) Colts - And finally Andrew Luck turned the ball over 4 times, but hey... he also managed to throw a TD. So best of the worst?