The champs looked bad, the runners up looked so-so and a couple of awful teams from last year looked surprisingly good. It’s time to reveal our NFL Week 2 Power Rankings 2017.
NFL Week 2 Power Rankings 2017
1- Oakland Raiders – They looked great in Week 1 and realistically could have been a deep playoff team last year had Carr not gotten hurt. I am giving them the top spot.
2- Green Bay Packers – It’s the defense that impressed me versus Seattle. If they can get this type of performance consistently then they will be an NFC favorite.
3- Minnesota Vikings – Sure, it was the Saints and their D is terrible. But Sam Bradford looked as sharp as you can look. Plus, rookie Dalvin Cook lit it up. The Vikes are well rounded.
4- Kansas City Chiefs – I am not about to anoint them just because of one week. But I do think they are confident and well-rounded. That said, this team notoriously runs into injury problems. So let’s see where they are in a few weeks.
5- New England Patriots – It may seem harsh to drop the champs this far down. But come on, that D was terrible in Week 1. Sure, they’ll get it together, but this is a temporary, snapshot kind of list.
6- Dallas Cowboys – Yes, they looked great on Sunday Night Football, but I think it was more a case of the Giants looking bad. Dallas is a good team. Let’s see how they do versus the Broncos this week.
7- Atlanta Falcons – I have this team going deep into the playoffs, but as I have said above, this is how they are looking in this moment. Atlanta will be fine, but they do have to shake off a little rust on both sides of the ball.
8- Philadelphia Eagles – Now that was a performance that had many taking notice. Were the Eagles that good or was Washington that bad? We’ll find out as the weeks go on.
9- Denver Broncos – Boy, the Broncos were awesome for three quarters, and then almost blew it in the fourth thanks to a couple of turnovers and a missed field goal. But they hung on to win, setting up an intriguing matchup with Dallas this week.
10- Jacksonville Jaguars – Okay, this is more of a symbolic ranking than anything else. the Jags won’t make this list the rest of the season, most likely, but in light of the hardships in that city right now, and that they are 1-0, we’ll give them a shoutout at number ten!
Honorable mentions: Pittsburgh Steelers (they were very sloppy in their win), Buffalo Bills (good D and running the ball effectively), Detroit Lions (okay, they should be on this list instead of the Jags, I’ll keep that in mind for next week), Los Angeles Rams (technically, they did win a game), Carolina Panthers (is Cam back? Could be)
Matthew Ross is a sports commentator and a radio host on TSN 690 Radio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Follow him @MatthewWords.