Welcome to week 2! With so much happening in week 1, it’s hard to know what to talk about first. Lots of great games and some heartbreak (mainly for the Jets) made week 1 very fun to watch. With that we will start out with our updated power rankings for this week.
Power Rankings
#32 Arizona Cardinals - This shouldn’t be a big surprise. They showed some fire against the Commanders, but it’s the Commanders. They will stay here until they win something.
#31 Houston Texans - No match for the Ravens (big shock), they will stay put also until they win.
#30 Indianapolis Colts - They surprised a few people and at times it seemed like they might even beat the Jags, but they couldn’t close it out. They are likely in this place for a while as well.
#29 Tennessee Titans - They played a fine game against the Saints, but with the Saints likely winning a very bad division this year, I’d say it’s a pretty disappointing performance. We’ve gotten used to the Titans being good, but they really aren’t right now.
#28 Tampa Bay Buccaneers - They are the first team in the list to improve their position, as they started out 29th. They beat what everyone thinks is a good team in the Vikings, however, I think these teams are very equal (unpopular opinion). This win impressed everyone else, but not me.
#27 Chicago Bears - They seemed on the edge of winning very often last year and I think everyone anticipated them bringing the heat this year. Nothing could be further from the truth at this point. They are the first team in the list to lose ground, dropping from #26.
#26 Los Angeles Rams - They jump from #27, swapping with Chicago after (what I would call) an upset over Seattle. They thoroughly dominated Seattle and this may be the first instance when my data fails us. I had Seattle as just missing out of the playoffs and the Rams no where near the playoff. Time will tell, be the poles may be switched on these two.
#25 Denver Broncos - Sean Payton has everyone excited about how good Denver can be. At times, Russell looked like the Russell of old, so the possibility still exists. But, they couldn’t close out an aggressive and equally matched opponent in the Raiders (at home). I predicted 6 wins for this team and this should’ve been one of them.
#24 Carolina Panthers - They are no match for the Falcons and the Falcons are much better (I think) than most people are going to admit. However, there is no excitement around this team and it leaves most of the fan base saying “at least we’re not the Cardinals”.
#23 Atlanta Falcons - While the Falcons are much better than people think, they still are not great. They will have a chance to win a weak division with the Saints and may even make the playoffs if they don’t, but that doesn’t mean they are super good. They move up from #25, but I’m skeptical on how much higher than can go.
#22 Washington Commanders - They beat the Cardinals and looked pretty good doing it. It’s a long way to go in a division with Philly and Dallas, so I think this is a very accurate data prediction ranking. It’ll be a toss up between them and the Giants as worst in the division.
#21 New Orleans Saints - The preseason data has the Saints winning their division (big deal) and winning 13 games (not likely). However, the math works in their favor with the match ups they have. They meet everyone at just the right time and gets some wins that most people won’t expect. This is the right spot for now in the rankings.
#20 New York Giants - Before everyone gets all over me for the Giants being ranked higher than the Commanders, since they got blown up this week…hear me out. They are on their way down from their #17 preseason ranking and if they don’t pick up the pace from that 40-0 blowout, they are on their way to compete with the Cardinals for the bottom of the chart. However, the Cowboys are that good and will easily win the division, so while I didn’t expect this big of a blowout, I never expected them to win.
#19 Las Vegas Raiders - The Raiders played better than I thought, but they played an equal match in the Broncos. These two will be fighting over the last spot in the division this year (according to the data) and this is a pretty good ranking for a mediocre team.
#18 Minnesota Vikings - I’m going to get plastered for this (side note: I live in Minnesota), but the Vikings are not the playoff team they were last year. At the time of this writing they have already lost their second game (not tabulated in this ranking) and the data suggest they will win ~7 games. They outplayed my predictions last year, but I think they will not repeat that this year. They move down from #16 after losing to the lowly Bucs.
#17 Green Bay Packers - The Packers are my dark horse this year, as the data has them winning the division and (hold on to your hat) the #2 seed. This seems contradictory, but I think that Jordan Love will play well within the team to make this happen. This is something that Rodgers could never do, it was his way or the highway, which tended to leave the Packers coming up short every year. Young, smart coach. Very capable QB. Get ready to be surprised. Their thrashing of the Bears was expected either way, so we’ll keep watching.
#16 New England Patriots - Few non-football fans can experience the kind of joy that all of us non-Pats fans get when they lose. However, they did lose to Philly, who are in contention for the division, if they can beat Dallas. So, all that loss does is ensure us we are correct about where the Pats are at this point. They will win about 6 games and not make the playoffs, then big changes will come next year when they kick Mac Jones to the curb.
#15 Cleveland Browns - Talk about the shocker of the week, they took it to Cincinnati HARD. Needless to say, the data did not predict this one, but I am anxious to see what happens here. I have them as a 7-win team and they just beat the Bengals. I don’t know, maybe they’ve got it, we’ll see.
#14 Pittsburgh Steelers - They move down from #13 after a loss to the 49ers, and a pretty big loss at that. However, the 49ers are a Super Bowl contender and I expected this kind of loss, especially with a young QB. I think this will be one of the most unpopular predictions I have, but I have Pittsburgh at 12 wins and making the playoffs, even after this loss.
#13 Seattle Seahawks - They move down after a very surprising loss to the Rams. We anticipated they would be much better, but maybe Geno Smith has run out of gas. I have Seattle at around 9 wins for the year, but that may have been over-selling it. We’ll see.
#12 New York Jets - What can we even talk about here? They lose Rodgers after 4 plays, but still win the game. They are a very good team, but I don’t think anyone expects them to win anything now. It pains me to admit that I actually predicted the Jets to win 5 games, even with the HOFer. They may be on their way to that for sure now, but they built a very good team beyond Rodgers, so they might just surprise everyone. They move up 2 spots from #14 last week.
#11 Los Angeles Chargers - They had a thrilling game against Miami and came out on the losing side. However, that encourages me that my predictions are pretty close here. While I did have them winning this game, Miami is a very good team. The loss pushes them down from #8, but they will be back. I have them at 10 wins and making the playoffs again this year.
#10 Detroit Lions - They move up from #11 from #10 last week after a shocking win against the Chiefs. It was a diminished Chiefs team, missing a few players, but I don’t think I was that shocked. I have them at 12 wins, and while this wasn’t one of them, they are serious contenders this year and if you disagree, you might be surprised every week until December.
#9 Jacksonville Jaguars - First, they will win their division VERY easily. They had a competitive games against a questionable team in Indy, but they played very well. They have a tough matchup coming with the Chiefs, where we will see what they are made of, but this is the same spot they occupied last week, with a very nice win.
#8 Baltimore Ravens - They beat the life out Houston this week, but that shouldn’t be worthy of jumping up more then the 1 spot this week. Frankly, I thought they would beat them by more. I have them as taking the AFC Super Bowl spot against Dallas, they are that good, I think, so we’ll see them climbing the charts all year.
#7 Cincinnati Bengals - That was a brutal loss to what everyone thought would be their opening statement. I don’t know how much stock to put into it considering that Burrow has been out for most of training camp and preseason, but a loss is a loss. I (my data) had them at 8 wins (even before this loss) and missing the playoffs. That will be an unpopular opinion, but time will tell if it’s correct. This loss pushes them down from #5.
#6 Miami Dolphins - They win in impressive fashion against a good Chargers team, which in turn moves them up from #7. Nothing much to say here, I have them with 11 wins on the year and a wild card spot, but that may be underselling it.
#5 Buffalo Bills - I know it’s early, but they have to be bummed to lose to a Rodger-less team in the Jets. I had them winning this game easily with Rodgers playing. I also had them at 13 wins, but that seems to be waning fast. Still, it’s one game and they have been a very dangerous team and will remain so, they drop from #4 last week.
#4 Dallas Cowboys - My pick for the Super Bowl win absolutely destroyed the Giants, as expected. They move up 2 spots from #6 and continue on. I reserve judgement on my preseason prediction until they play a playoff contender.
#3 Kansas City Chiefs - The Chiefs were diminished without Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, and Kelce was a sort of last minute loss. However, a loss is a loss, but arguably to a very good team. They came out slow against the Lions, but still almost were able to win with horrible offensive play. I don’t think anyone believes they are done. They still win the division, likely and will be a contender, likely. However, they are down from #1.
#2 Philadelphia Eagles - At times, they struggled with the Pats, but the better team won out. I do not have them winning the division, but right now, they’ve had the better win. They move up from #3.
#1 San Francisco 49ers - Shocking news, they are still good this year. And they better be, their window is closing to get this team a Super Bowl win. It was a very good win for them against the Steelers, but hardly a surprise. I have them at 13 wins and taking the division, thus competing for the #1 seed.
This week’s locks
Giants beat the Cards
San Fran over the Rams
Chargers beat the Titans
This week’s shocks
Ravens over Bengals
Bucs beat the Bears
Cleveland rolls Pittsburgh
AND Houston will finally win one over Indy
JLD’s Games to Watch
Baltimore-Cincinnati
Detroit-Seattle
Denver-Washington