Editor’s Note: The NFL Power Rankings this season at This Given Sunday are a collaborative effort between Matt Clapp and Jay Rigdon. Feel free to tell them how much they hate your team on Twitter (@Matt2Clapp; @JayRigdon5).
1. New England Patriots (2-0; Last Week: 1)
New England is down to their third-string quarterback this week, and possibly next week as well. Julian Edelman is apparently now the backup. But even if they suffer a few losses in the interim, Tom Brady’s upcoming return and the relative weakness of their division should mean good things. Plus, they really haven’t looked worse despite not having one of the top quarterbacks to ever play on the field. That’s generally a good sign. -Jay
2. Carolina Panthers (1-1; Last Week: 2)
With Kelvin Benjamin back, healthy, and looking like the wide receiver the Panthers had hoped he could be (13 receptions, 199 yards, two touchdowns), the Carolina offense may be even more difficult to stop than last year. -Matt
3. Denver Broncos (2-0; Last Week: 3)
Denver’s defense showed up against the Colts, scoring two touchdowns. If that unit reverts to 2015 form, look out. -Jay
4. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0; Last Week: 5)
We know the offense is a juggernaut, and the Steelers are even scarier if their defense keeps playing like it has through two weeks (32 total points allowed). They may ultimately be the Patriots’ biggest threat when talking the AFC playoffs. –Matt
5. Arizona Cardinals (1-1; Last Week: 6)
The Cardinals are going to be scary throughout the season. They flummoxed Jameis Winston all game, confusing him more than the concept of a checkout lane at a Publix. It was great. -Jay
6. Houston Texans (2-0; Last Week: 12)
This is looking like a balanced football team with an especially terrific defense (arguably one of the top-three units in the league). They’re clearly the team to beat in the AFC South, and they have a chance to make national statement vs the Patriots on Thursday night that they’re one of the teams to beat in the AFC. -Matt
7. Minnesota Vikings (2-0; Last Week: 11)
So, the Vikings are here for now, and they likely won’t miss AP too much. But it still hurts, and they might end up sliding back a few rungs if it turns out they did, in fact, need him. -Jay
8. Cincinnati Bengals (1-1; Last Week: 8)
Feel kind of like the Bengals of the last couple years, right? Probably around a 10-win team, but do we trust Andy Dalton and company to get to the AFC Championship? They just feel like they permanently belong in this 6-12 range of the power rankings. -Matt
9. Green Bay Packers (1-1; Last Week: 5)
Aaron Rodgers is already in “feisty anti-media mode”, which is always good for a few laughs. Imagine if Green Bay had a competent head coach that added value, as opposed to whatever it is Mike McCarthy does. -Jay
10. New York Jets (1-1; Last Week: 13)
The offense looks great… the defense? Not so much. And they’re going to need the defense to step it up with the next five games on the schedule: at the Chiefs, vs the Seahawks, at the Steelers, at the Cardinals, vs the Ravens. Yikes. -Matt
11. Seattle Seahawks (1-1; Last Week: 7)
Seattle can’t be as bad as they’ve looked the first two weeks, right? They just can’t be. They have to be better on offense going forward. (Almost by definition.) Defense has still played well. But Russell Wilson is going to have to wake up at some point. Jay
12. Kansas City Chiefs (1-1; Last Week: 9)
Basically what I said about the Bengals. The Chiefs should compete, win somewhere between 8-to-11 games, but their quarterback play will likely preventing them from reaching that next level. -Matt
13. Oakland Raiders (1-1; Last Week: 10)
The Raiders are a solid team, but they still might be a year of development and another good draft away from truly contending every week. -Jay
14. New York Giants (2-0; Last Week: 18)
The Giants have a great chance to go 3-0 (vs Washington at home), and it will still be hard to get too wild about this team given their opponents thus far. We’ll get a better opinion of what they really are in Weeks 4 and 5 when they have road games at Minnesota and Green Bay. – Matt
15. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0; Last Week: 20)
Carson Wentz…might be good? I don’t know. The Bears defense isn’t great, he hasn’t displayed consistent accuracy down the field, he takes stupid hits while running instead of just sliding, and though he opened the game 9-for-11 passing, causing everyone to freak out, it was for 49 yards, or 4.5 yards per attempt. That’s not actually good. But, it’s better to look decent than not. -Jay
16. Baltimore Ravens (2-0; Last Week: 15)
Like the Giants, the Ravens are 2-0, but taking advantage of a weak schedule. They get another opportunity to do that this week vs the Jaguars. -Matt
17. Atlanta Falcons (1-1; Last Week: 23)
The Falcons are still playing football. That’s about all I can say about them. Is there a more boring team out there right now than the Falcons? They play in like the generic dome stadium of Madden ‘99. Their quarterback is almost literally white bread. They have a few fun players, but they never do anything. 17 is just about right for a middle of the road team. -Jay
18. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-1; Last Week: 16)
Welp, it looks like this team is certainly going to have their ups and (very bad) downs this year, and no surprise with a young quarterback. A home game vs the Rams should get the Bucs some confidence back though. -Matt
19. Dallas Cowboys (1-1; Last Week: 27; Biggest Jump)
How ‘bout them Cowboys? No, seriously, how about them? Do you know anything about them? They beat Washington, which is better than losing to Washington, and now they take on the collapsing Bears in primetime this Sunday. -Jay
20. Miami Dolphins (0-2; Last Week: 20)
Most teams would be 0-2 after having to play at Seattle and at New England. Adam Gase has Miami looking better than their record indicates, and they should finally get in the win column this week vs the Browns. -Matt
21. Detroit Lions (1-1; Last Week: 14)
The Lions aren’t going to be good. Jim Caldwell is likely not surviving this season, which should have been obvious to anyone who’s ever seen Jim Caldwell coach a team for an extended period of time. (Including his exemplary 26-63 record at Wake Forest.) -Jay
22. Indianapolis Colts (0-1; Last Week: 14)
Three winnable games coming up (vs San Diego, at Jacksonville, vs Chicago), but with the way their defense is playing, nothing will be easy this year. -Matt
23. New Orleans Saints (0-2; Last Week: 21)
The Saints are still basically just Drew Brees and a bunch of other guys, which is only going to work for so long. They really haven’t been good for some time now, yet Sean Payton hangs on by virtue of his Super Bowl win over the Colts. -Jay
24. Tennessee Titans (1-1: Last Week: 30)
Great win for the Titans at Detroit. Marcus Mariota continues to impress and should keep the Titans in a lot of games this year. -Matt
25. Buffalo Bills (0-2; Last Week: 25)
The Bills are going to get Rex Ryan fired, which will in turn get Rob Ryan fired, which is probably fine as I’d imagine Rob didn’t buy in Buffalo. If he signed anything longer than a three-month lease I’d be shocked. (Frankly I’d be shocked if he qualified for a long-term lease.) -Jay
26. Washington Redskins (0-2; Last Week: 26)
Things are not looking good in DC, with several Redskins players reportedly unhappy with Kirk Cousins as their quarterback. If they fall to 0-3 and lose their second-straight game to an NFC East opponent this week (Giants), we may see a quarterback change for their Week 4 game vs the Browns. – Matt
27. San Diego Chargers (1-1; Last Week: 29)
The Chargers came out of nowhere to slap the Jaguars all over the field, which sounds impressive until you remember that it’s the Jaguars, who exist to get slapped all over the field for at least nine Sundays each fall. Phil Rivers used to be considered an exceptional quarterback. He’s now forgotten about routinely. -Jay
28. San Francisco 49ers (1-1; Last Week: 28)
Week 2 was a reality check for anyone that put much into the 49ers’ 28-0 win over the Rams. -Matt
29. Los Angeles Rams (1-1; Last Week: 32)
The Rams won a game! They wore their throwbacks for the first game in LA, and those things are about 50x better than their modern unis. If they wore them every week, they’d be worth about 2 extra wins a season. -Jay
30. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1; Last Week: 17; Biggest Fall)
They have more talent than a lot of teams on this list. I really thought they’d compete in the AFC South this year, or at least hang in there. But they were blown out by a depleted Chargers team and need to start showing a lot more. They must find a way to win at least one of these next two games at home (vs the Ravens, vs the Colts). -Matt
31. Chicago Bears (0-2; Last Week: 24)
The Bears are basically all injured. Jay Cutler is injured, which hurts worst of all, as now Brian Hoyer is getting the call. But the main problem is that the Bears are essentially, well, bad. They have no depth after years and years of horrible drafts, meaning that they are not built to sustain any injury issues at all. And, as it’s the NFL, people get hurt all the time. They might not win four games at this rate. -Jay
32. Cleveland Browns (0-2; Last Week: 31)
I mean, we all knew the Browns would find their way back to this spot eventually. -Matt
