NFL Power Rankings after Week One

A wild week of football has led to huge changes in the power rankings at both the top and bottom of the pile. Let’s take a look at how every team is getting on after Week One.

The Cardinals are awful and will be all year. Joshua Dobbs is a decent enough backup QB but when he was flown in with just a few days to prepare for week one expectations were low. The Cards did push the Commanders closer than expected, but that says more about Washington than anything.

The Texans are in rebuild mode so no one should be expecting much from a side featuring a first-time head coach and a rookie QB. C.J. Stroud looked solid in his first start and Will Anderson is going to be as good as advertised. Plenty to build on.

The Bears had some optimism going into 2023 but a week one shellacking by the Packers exposed them for what they are, a team with a lot of work to do.

The Panthers, much like the Texans, are in full rebuild mode but many expected them to be a little bit further along the path at this point. Bryce Young looked jittery at times and struggled with accuracy, if he can iron these issues out he’s got all the tools, though.

A team we expect to rise through these rankings over the course of the season off the back of Anthony Richardson’s undeniable talent. They pushed a very good Jaguars team close which was a surprise to many.

The first team making a big jump from our preseason rankings, moving up from 31 to 27 after a demolition job against the Seahawks. Sean McVay completely out-thought the Seattle D, slowly breaking them down off the back of Matt Stafford’s 334 passing yards.

Perhaps the Giants of 2022 were an aberration and this is them regressing to the mean? On paper, this team didn’t look talented but last year’s efforts and Brian Daboll’s coaching perhaps flattered to deceive. Losing 40-0 in week one is an inauspicious start for any team.

The Titans look like a team in need of a rebuild following an insipid loss to the Saints. Mike Vrabel is not one to give up but Ryan Tannehill’s time as an effective starting QB may well be over.

The Commanders snuck home against the awful Arizona Cardinals behind an excellent performance from Jonathan Allen and the defensive line. Elsewhere there is concern as Sam Howell looked scared for his life in the pocket at times and just a lack of overall talent.

Another team that won, so putting them this low could be seen as a little harsh but again, there isn’t much to get excited about here and it could well be the Broncos are just also really bad.

Baker Mayfield didn’t exactly set the world alight with his performance against the Vikings but he did enough to capitalise on his opposing quarterback’s mistakes. The Bucs aren’t especially good but the NFC South could well be ripe for the picking if they can find some consistency.

This is a big drop for the Vikings but they just didn’t look very good against the Buccaneers despite having what should be a better roster. Kirk Cousins’ stats look decent but his turnovers are costly. The Vikings’s luck had to run out at some point.

The Pats played the Eagles closer than many expected with Mac Jones looking mostly respectable under-center. This felt like a high watermark for the team and they still came up short, hence their relatively low ranking.

There’s an argument to be made the Broncos should be far lower on this list given they lost to the Raiders in week one, however, the performance of Russell Wilson left us with just a tinge of optimism. Both his TD passes were outside the pocket and reminded us a little of prime Russ. Perhaps we’re being a little hopeful.

There are a lot of teams that deserve to be lowly ranked after week one making this a tough exercise to do. The Steelers were absolutely dogged by the Niners at home with Kenny Pickett reverting to the worst version of himself. This could be a long season in Pittsburgh.

Getting blown out to a team seemingly mostly comprised of UDFAs is not a good look for a side many expected to have real playoff aspirations in 2023. They could well turn this around moving forward as not every opposing coach is Sean McVay but they better work it out quickly.

A brutal injury to Aaron Rodgers has probably ended any realistic Super Bowl aspirations in New York, hence the lowly ranking. Defensively they look incredible and Zach Wilson did enough against the Bills but they just took a brutal body blow so let’s see what they do next.

Tough to tell too much from their week one game against a rookie QB and a team that is still working itself out but the Falcons did enough. Desmond Ridder was efficient if not spectacular and they have a real chance of winning their division.

The Saints aren’t a particularly good football team, barely scraping by against the Tennessee Titans behind Derek Carr’s impressive debut, however, they do have the pieces to grow into a competitive side quickly. The wide receiver group is very impressive and Carr knows how to utilize his weapons for the most part.

Very few expected the Browns to stomp on the Bengals but that’s exactly what they did. In a rain-affected game, the Browns D took over limiting Joe Burrow to career lows in almost every statistical category. Certainly something to build on.

There is a caveat here that the Bears are very bad but what a performance from Jordan Love and the Packers. Defensively they looked very solid and Love was dishing out passes left and right to his receivers, in an open NFC North, the Packers now look well in the mix.

This was a tough one to gauge as the Chargers were mostly let down by their defense against an incredible Dolphins O, it’s just the Dolphins could do that to everyone they play this year. The Chargers’ offense looked a little more aggressive with Kellen Moore calling plays so I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

A big drop for the Bengals after struggling massively in week one. Joe Burrow couldn’t get anything going behind an offensive line that looked completely overmatched (yet again). At some point, this team needs to go all in for offensive line help.

The Bills remain a genuine Super Bowl contender with an absolutely loaded roster but a lot will depend on Josh Allen who looked to revert to his rookie-year form against the Jets. Erratic in the pocket and throwing YOLO balls into double coverage is not what Bills fans have come to expect from their All-World QB.

Trevor Lawrence is steadily proving himself to be ‘The Guy’ with some absolutely incredible plays against the Colts. On the other hand, the defense looks shaky with the Colts tearing them apart at times. The Jags will almost certainly win their division but beyond that they need to shore themselves up to have bigger aspirations.

The Ravens did enough against the Texans to get the win, with Lamar Jackson looking a little rusty in his return from injury. There is certainly no shortage of talent here and rookie wideout Zay Flowers looks the real deal immediately.

What a performance in week one, with Tua Tagovailoa throwing bombs everywhere and Tyreek Hill going for over 200 yards. The defense has its issues but honestly who cares? This is such a fun team to watch week in and week out.

The Lions just sneaked ahead of the Dolphins into the top five. Going to the home of the Super Bowl champs and winning in week one is impressive. It took a little luck to get there but what a performance from a team many were looking forward to watching this year.

The Chiefs will almost certainly work things out but having a team that is 0-1 in the top three felt wrong, so number four feels about right for now. Patrick Mahomes was still very good but if that is the level of performance we can expect from their receiving corps, the Chiefs could be in a little trouble.

The Eagles played pretty badly and still came away with a win which is usually the sign of a good team. Jalen Hurts looked rusty after very little football recently, a heavy downpour at kickoff certainly didn’t help. The other Jalen, Carter, looked made to play in the NFL in his first start, something all Birds fans will be excited about.

This was a demolition job against a Steelers side that had some optimism around it going into week one. Brock Purdy picked up where he left off pre-injury and Christian McCaffery continues to be the best running back in football.

Beating your divisional opponents 40-0 in the first game of the regular season, at prime time, is what dreams are made of for any NFL team. The Cowboys are just loaded with talent, especially on the defensive side of things.