Week 3 is in the books, and what a crazy week it was, tons of close games, some surprising blowouts and as many blocked kicks as I’ve ever seen. The rankings have quite a shake up after this week’s slate.
1. Philadelphia Eagles (3-0) (+1)
2. Buffalo Bills (3-0) (-1)
3. Los Angeles Chargers (3-0) (+2)
4. Detroit Lions (2-1) (+5)
This is my top tier of teams this week. Philadelphia played the worst half of football in the Sirianni era but completely flipped the script in the second half, showing Jalen Hurts and the Eagles passing attack can take over a game if needed. Obviously the win wasn’t clean but showing a different side of themselves has allowed me to be more confident in them moving forward. Buffalo didn’t really do anything wrong but just simply didn’t impress me against Miami, allowing them to be jumped. The Chargers and Lions had two of the better wins this week propelling them into this tier.
5. Baltimore Ravens (1-2) (-1)
6. Kansas City Chiefs (1-2) (+1)
What a world we live in where both of these teams are 1-2 despite only losing to teams ranked ahead of them. Baltimore looked pretty good at times this week despite the loss. Kansas City was very rough but did what they needed to do to escape the Giants. The craziest part of all of this is that the Chiefs host the Ravens this week, so one of these teams is going to start the year 1-3.
7. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-0) (-1)
8. Washington Commanders (2-1) (+2)
9. Los Angeles Rams (2-1) (+0)
10. Indianapolis Colts (3-0) (+2)
11. Green Bay Packers (2-1) (-8)
12. San Francisco 49ers (3-0) (+1)
This is the tier of contenders with major question marks. I’m going out of order here, but lets start with Green Bay. What just happened…, what am I supposed to do with a team that holds two wins over top 10 teams but loses to the Cleveland Browns. The answer I decided on is drop them, so they are currently below 2 teams they’ve beat. With that being said, I’m not too worried about the Packers, the Browns defense is tough and they’re still the youngest team in the league, they’ll figure it out. Tampa was cruising to an easy victory against the Jets, but allowed a late score to make it a one possession game. No big deal, Tampa drives a bit then attempts a field goal to go back up by 2 possessions and put the jets away. Obviously, that didn’t happen and the Jets blocked the kick and returned it to take the lead. All of that being said, Tampa still won the game and looked really good for large parts of it. Washington took care of business and did it without Jayden Daniels which is extra impressive. The Rams looked great as a whole in the first half but couldn’t adjust to match the Eagles and crumbled down the stretch. The Colts look great again but have played 3 teams that have combined for 1 win on the year, so not going to overreact just yet. San Francisco keeps getting it done but how injured can 1 team be. Mac Jones, CMC and Ricky Pearsall is basically the whole offense right now and now Nick Bosa is out for the season as well.
13. Minnesota Vikings (2-1) (+6)
14. Seattle Seahawks (2-1) (+2)
15. Denver Broncos (1-2) (-4)
16. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) (+4)
17. Arizona Cardinals (2-1) (+1)
The defensive team performance of the year goes to the Minnesota Vikings with an added shoutout to Isaiah Rodgers who may have just played the best defensive game, ever? The offense still didn’t look great, this time with Carson Wentz at the helm. Not sure what the QB plan is going forward but neither seems to be the right answer just yet. Seattle’s offense flashed this week but it was against the Saints. Broncos lose another close game but still look like they could be a great team. Steelers and Cardinals look like classic middle of the pack teams that will stick around the playoff picture.
18. Chicago Bears (1-2) (+5)
19. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1) (+3)
20. Cincinnati Bengals (2-1) (-6)
21. Houston Texans (0-3) (-6)
22. Cleveland Browns (1-2) (+8)
23. Las Vegas Raiders (1-2) (-2)
Are the Bears finally legit? Time will tell, but for now they rank at the top of this tier. The Jaguars don’t pass the eye test but are 2-1. If the Vikings had the defensive performance of the year, that doesn’t bode well for the Bengals who couldn’t stop turning the ball over and miss Joe Burrow already. The Texans look average but just can’t buy a win so they continue to drop. Like the Packers, the Browns are very hard to rank, but ultimately I think their defense is good enough to put them in this frisky group. The Raiders just seem to be missing something even if they haven’t looked terrible.
24. Carolina Panthers (1-2) (+4)
25. Atlanta Falcons (1-2) (-8)
26. Dallas Cowboys (1-2) (-2)
27. New England Patriots (1-2) (-2)
The Panthers blew out the Falcons but haven’t looked like the better team over the course of the season, both teams have problems. The Cowboys have been competitive at times but just aren’t good enough to win these games. The Patriots had every opportunity to win their game this week, if only they could stop fumbling the ball.
28. New York Giants (0-3) (-2)
29. New York Jets (0-3) (+0)
30. Tennessee Titans (0-3) (-3)
The Giants can’t buy a win, this time special teams woes threw them off of their gameplan and led to a very winnable game falling out of reach. The Jets on the other hand, seemingly stumbled into a win, only to lose it at the last second. For Jets fans hoping for the #1 overall pick this year, it was a perfect combination of promising performance and still securing the loss. Beautiful. The Titans still look like they have high potential but Cam Ward’s first NFL win remains out of reach.
31. Miami Dolphins (0-3) (+0)
32. New Orleans Saints (0-3) (+0)
The true bottom tier, credit to Miami for keeping it interesting on Thursday against Buffalo for a little bit, but they aren’t good. The Saints did well to cement their spot here, quickly trailing by 30 this week against Seattle.
