NFL Trade Rumors
Holy cow. What a Week 1 we were just treated to. That Sunday Night Football game between the Bills and Ravens is the best regular season football game I’ve ever watched. I’m not even exaggerating, it was incredible. Out of respect (and because I think it’s actually true), I moved them to the top of my power rankings this week.
But it wasn’t just that. Every primetime game was a tight, down-to-the-wire finish. The early Sunday window had a bunch of great games, and so did the late window. It was a fantastic weekend of football all around.
Overreactions are commonplace after Week 1, and I’ve tried to avoid doing that too much with this week’s rankings. Remember, this time last year we were talking about how dominant the Saints and Cowboys looked. But at the same time, this is the first real action we’ve had this season. We have real data points to look out now, no matter how small the sample size.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the rankings:
This tier is for the locked-in title contenders. Teams won’t move into (or out of) this tier very easily.
Last week: W 41-40 vs. Baltimore Ravens
What a game. What a comeback. Erasing a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit, QB Josh Allen put together a herculean effort to will his team to a victory. Critically, second-year WR Keon Coleman looked like a different player than he did as a rookie, coming through in big moments as a key piece of the offense. If he’s going to play like this more consistently, there’s no ceiling on this Buffalo offense.
Last week: L 40-41 vs. Buffalo Bills
The Ravens collapsed late in the fourth quarter again on Sunday night, losing to the Bills on a walk-off field goal in Buffalo. It’s hard to be overly critical of Baltimore’s performance, though CB Jaire Alexander did not have a good debut. The secondary will need to play better moving forward, although they won’t face many offenses that can do what the Bills did.
Last week: W 27-13 vs. Detroit Lions
The game wasn’t really this close, as the Lions scored a late touchdown to make it less ugly. This was a dominating performance by the Packers, validating those who said their offseason upgrades turned them into true contenders. New OLB Micah Parsons’ contribution was big, but QB Jordan Love being healthy to open the season is a game-changer for this team.
Last week: W 24-20 vs. Dallas Cowboys
They got the win on the season’s opening night, but there are reasons to be concerned in Philadelphia, particularly on defense. The Cowboys’ offense mercilessly attacked whichever corner was across from Quinyon Mitchell, whether it was Adoree’ Jackson or Jakorian Bennett. Their run defense was also suspect,...
