The Super Bowl champions have lost, which means that despite not having the smoothest of victories, the Denver Broncos look like the team to beat at the moment, followed by a very solid Cincinnati Bengals who lost their best wide receiver. At the bottom of the tower stand the pathetic Oakland Raiders, getting a strong competition from the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
1. Denver Broncos (2-0): Not the smoothest of wins, but the Broncos made big plays on both ends of the field to pick up a 24-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, including a goal-line stand at the end of the game.
2. Cincinnati Bengals (2-0): It’s quite a worry for the Bengals that A.J. Green is going to be out for at least one game, but anyhow they looked very impressive in yet another win, this time beating the Atlanta Falcons 24-10.
3. Seattle Seahawks (1-1): Arrogance? Playing on the road? A combination of things cost the Seahawks, shedding blood for the first time since their Super Bowl victory, losing 30-21 to the Chargers.
4. Carolina Panthers (2-0): Back in the lineup, Cam Newton looked ready for a new season, leading his team to a 24-7 win over the Detroit Lions.
5. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0): Not a great game from the Eagles again, but Darren Sproles made up for it and the officials did the rest in a 30-27 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
6. San Diego Chargers (1-1): No center bad snap this time, Philip Rivers had no problem dissecting the Seahawks offense, leading the Chargers to a 30-21 win at home.
7. Houston Texans (2-0): J.J. Watt learned something from Mike Vrabel, the team’s linebacker coach, who caught 10 touchdown passes in his NFL career. The Texans beat the Raiders 30-14.
8. Baltimore Ravens (1-1): Winning against the Pittsburgh Steelers (26-6) sure changed the impression of their opening game, as Joe Flacco focused on short passes instead of riskier long-range ones which were dropped too many times.
9. San Francisco 49ers (1-1): A terrible performance from Colin Kaepernick and the secondary, but the 49ers rarely look so bad two weeks in a row. Their 28-20 loss to the Bears is a wake up call.
10. Green Bay Packers (1-1): A very slow start for the Packers, but at some point Aaron Rodgers gets going, especially at home, and enough to pull off a 31-24 win over the New York Jets.
11. New England Patriots (1-1): Playing against the Minnesota Vikings without Adrian Peterson and a lot of anger built up made the Patriots too difficult, beating the Vikings 30-7.
12. Buffalo Bills (2-0): Excellent pass rush and focusing on keeping EJ Manuel from throwing too much is working well for the Bills, beating the Miami Dolphins 29-10 in Miami, while finally getting a glimpse of how good Sammy Watkins can be.
13. Chicago Bears (1-1): A huge fourth quarter with some surprising magic from Jay Cutler got the Bears past the 49ers in San Francisco, winning 28-20 despite losing by 17 points early on.
14. Atlanta Falcons (1-1): Following their 24-10 loss to the Bengals, the Falcons have given up more than 450 yards of total offense for two consecutive games, a first for them since 2010.
15. Indianapolis Colts (0-2): Not quite sure how they managed to lose 30-27 to the Philadelphia Eagles, but it’s put them in a very tough spot.
16. New Orleans Saints (0-2): Not the best day for Brees and co., especially on the defensive end, losing to the Browns 26-24 on a field goal with 3 seconds left.
17. Arizona Cardinals (2-0): Drew Stanton played badly, and the Cardinals still got away with a win for a second straight week, beating the Giants 25-14.
18. Detroit Lions (1-1): Nothing worked for the Lions when they tried going deep in the 7-24 loss against the Panthers, completing just 1-of-7 passes for over 10 yards intended to hit Johnson.
19. Miami Dolphins (1-1): Ryan Tannehill won’t be able to do well against teams with a very good defensive line, as he was sacked four times while losing to the Bills 10-29.
20. Dallas Cowboys (1-1): A very different Cowboys team than in week 1, beating the Titans 26-10. That’s what happens when you don’t make too many turnovers, while your running back runs wild with 167 yards.
21. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1): Looked terrible in their loss to the Ravens (26-6), suggesting their offensive line problems of protecting Roethlisberger haven’t gone away. They have scored only nine points, no touchdowns, over the last six quarters of football.
22. New York Jets (1-1): Managed to make all the possible mistakes midway through the second quarter in the loss to the Packers, including calling a timeout to cancel their own touchdown.
23. Cleveland Browns (1-1): This time a game-winning field goal went in their direction, picking up the first win under a new head coach (something that’s happened quite a lot for the Browns in recent years without follow up success) with a 26-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints.
24. New York Giants (0-2): The Giants turned the ball over four times, which made it impossible for them to beat a bad Cardinals team, losing 25-14 and giving up 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
25. Washington Redskins (1-1): It’s hard to say, but maybe Kirk Cousins becoming the starting quarterback will work wonders for this team, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-10.
26. Minnesota Vikings (1-1): Looked very sad, bad and everything in between during their home loss 7-30 to the Patriots.
27. Tennessee Titans (1-1): Jake Locker was awful (two interceptions) in the 10-26 home loss to the Dallas Cowboys, meaning his breakout season might not be happening just yet.
28. Kansas City Chiefs (0-2): The magic of Andy Reid’s arrival has passes, and right now the Chiefs look less than mediocre in pretty much every aspect. The lost 24-17 to the Broncos.
29. St. Louis Rams (1-1): A team with Austin Davis at quarterback won! It was mostly due to field goals (19-17 over the Bucs), but who cares?!
30. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-2): Maybe making Josh McCown a starting quarterback wasn’t such a great idea. The Bucs lost 17-19 to the Rams, although McCown did run for two touchdowns.
31. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2): The offensive line is terrible, and so is the defense, which means it won’t matter if Chad Henne or Blake Bortles start. Losing 41-10 to the Redskins is about as bad as it gets.
32. Oakland Raiders (0-2): Derek Carr doesn’t make much of a difference from the usual crowd, as the Raiders look terrible again in a 14-30 loss to the Texans.