We are through one week of the season, always some good and bad things to see. Always toughest to rate the league after 1 Week, especially when strange things always happen but I’m going to try my best, so here we go.
32. Jets 0-1
Joe Flacco is not the answer as it’s still incredible to believe he won a Super Bowl 10 years ago. Zach Wilson has become a meme and has been hurt in each of his first two seasons (not to mention ineffective when on the field). Robert Saleh has coached 18 games and we aren’t sure if he can make it past 25 games if this team doesn’t show any progress this year, stay tuned.
31. Jaguars 0-1
The Jags had the worst record in the league the past two seasons and even though they are a sexy pick to be a shocking team this year all I saw in Week 1 was them miss opportunities and lose to another bad team (allegedly but who know’s it’s freaking Week 1). I think Trevor Lawrence will make the leap this season but I have to see it to officially believe it, stay tuned to this team.
30. Falcons 0-1
It’s going to be a long season in the dirty dirt. The Falcons are already a rebuilding roster but Marcus Mariotta and company dominated their hated rival for 45 minutes only to crap all over themselves in the 4th Quarter in a 27-26 heartbreaking loss. This team is probably going to lose about 12-14 games. I say play Desmond Ridder in the 2nd half of this season to see if he is the guy moving forward.
29. Cowboys 0-1
People are going to hate me having the Lone Star’s this low but the Cowboys as they stand to me are one of the five worst teams in football. They lost their Quarterback for two months. They don’t have a viable backup. Ezekiel Elliott hasn’t been good for three years now. They couldn’t pass protect against you and I rushing the passer. The defense is average at best, you get it, this is a bad team.
28. Texans
I told you Davis Mills can play football. His ceiling is Kirk Cousins but Kirk Cousins is the toast of the league right now (yes I do like that!!). The defense is frisky as well. Could the Texans win this terrible division? Probably not, but even though Iusually don’t agree with passive decisions but Lovie Smith punting and playing for the tie was the right move. Was more devastating result to Indy there.
27. Lions 0-1
The Lions were every bit as frisky as they were at the end of last season. D’Andre Swift is an excellent young running back. Jared Goff is more than competent behind center. But this one concern remains true for me. They are very weak in the front seven and in a division with excellent running attacks like the Packers and Vikings I may have oversold this team being ready to win now, stay tuned.
26. Patriots 0-1
Well what we feared in the preseason came true in Week 1. This team may have the worst offensive personnel in all of football. They are about as dynamic as sloth and Bill Belichick is more rigid than a 35 year old piece of ply wood. The Pats aren’t just going to be bad in 2022, they might be the most boring watch in all of football. At least some of these other bad teams have something dynamic.
25. Panthers 0-1
Man oh man did Baker and the Panthers ruin an opportunity. I still think this could be a team that gets to 9 wins and sneaks into the playoffs but in order to do that they must pass protect at least a little bit. The defense is still underrated but allowing Jacoby Brissett to get into field goal range in a got to have it moment was very discouraging. I still think this is a better team than last couple of years.
24. Bears 1-0
This might be the highest I rank da Bears this year but that was an impressive second half to steal what appeared early to be a blowout home loss to the 49ers on Sunday. I know that the element helped as that field was more sloppy than grandma’s beef stew but Justin Fields made some big time plays with his arm and legs when the Bears needed it most, plus defense may be sneaky good, stay tuned.
23. Commanders 1-0
I need to see it more consistently but Carson Wentz is still better than people think. He had a passer rating above league average and a TD-INT ratio of 27-7 (which is almost 4-1 which is upper echelon). so the 311 and 4 TD’s he had in Week 1 against the Jags wasn’t too surprising to me. Washington is going to be better than you think. Better than the Eagles overall? Not sure but competitive.
22. Seahawks 1-0
Well that was wild, the Donkeys were clearly the better team on Monday night but the Hawks sneaked by with a 17-16 win on Monday night in one of the most emotional season openers you will ever witness. Pete Carroll is the biggest soccer dad in the world by the way. Wonder what kind of mini van he drives, I know but cliche’s are cliche’s for a reason.
21. Giants
I have to give the Giants credit. They played like the 2016-2021 Giants in the first half but in the second half they played like a real football team. Saquon Barkley was the catalyst as he proved when healthy there isn’t a more talented running back in football. That is not an exaggeration, looked at what he did on that game winning two point conversion to pull the upset in Tennessee, maybe a surprise
20. Browns 1-0
The Brownies sure do have a ton of talent on this roster. I also have to give it Jacoby Brisett who did just enough to have rookie kicker Cade York kick a game winning field goal from 58 yards out that was kicked so far and straight the kick would have been good from Wilmington. Well see if this team can stay afloat until their new shiny upstanding citizen of a Quarterback returns in Week 13.
19. Cardinals 0-1
Well that was brutal. The Cards lost a game about as badly as any team did in Week 1 and even though the Chiefs are a juggernaut that reminded us that they are a juggernaut and the Cards defense was more banged up that I am after a ball pit fight if the Cards are truly to be a top team in the NFC they have to make sure that disaster of a performance in Week 1 was an anomaly and not the norm, or ouch.
18. Steelers 1-0
Nice win by the burgh in Week 1 but there are two extremely concerning things to come out of the the Burgh even though they maybe had one of the best wins in Week 1. 1. T.J Watt injury might be the biggest loss any one team could have in the NFL (sans a QB of course). 2. They won the turnover battle 5-0 and needed a ton of luck just to win in overtime. Smoke and mirrors I see, eh.
17. Titans 0-1
For a team with a brutal schedule, all the AFC West, Packers (they’ll be fine) and Bills still to go this isn’t the way you would draw it up to start the year. A 13-0 halftime lead at home over a team led by Daniel Jones only to still blow it late. Why are all makeable (under 55 yards) missed field goals at end of games seem to be from 47 yards out. Sorry Bills fans it’s been 32 years, still too soon??
16. Raiders 0-1
For turning it over 3 times and giving up 7 sacks there was a lot to like about the Raiders narrow loss in Englewood in Week 1. DeVante Adams is still arguably the best receiver in football and still going to put up crazy good stats even with Derek Carr instead of Aaron Rodgers. The defense also played well in the second half and has a good pass rush, interesting matchup against AZ in Week 2.
15. 49ers 0-1
The field was sloppy I know, but what the hell was that from a team that led 10-0 early over the (allegedly) hapless Bears. Jimmy Garoppolo is not just strikingly handsome, but is by far the most capable backup in the NFL. If this upcoming game against the Seahawks is anywhere in doubt in the second half I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Jimmy G is in the game for Trey Lance late.
14. Broncos 0-1
I think the Broncos are going to be good in 2022 but I cannot overlook how many chances they blew in a dumbfounding 17-16 Monday night loss to the Seahawks. But let’s talk about head coach Nathaniel Hackett for a minute. He literally decided to kick a 64 yard field goal in one of toughest places to kick in football instead of go for a 4th and 5 with your new 250 million dollar Quarterback, #dumb!!
13. Bengals 0-1
The Bengals I picked to have a Super Bowl hangover in 2022. It appeared I was right in a stupidfying 23-20 overtime loss to the Steelers in which the Bengals was minus five in turnover differential yet still needed an extra point to be blocked and 29 yard field goal to be shanked in order for them to lose. Well at least they are playing Cooper Rush in Week 2, so maybe world isn’t that bad.
12. Colts
I am going to give the Colts a small pass for the slow start as they did rally to at least tie against the Texans in Week 1. But the schedule is about to get AFC West heavy here very shortly so I highly recommend Indy not go winless in their Houston, Jacksonville road trip to start the season. Does Matt Ryan take the most ill timed sacks? I think he does, it’s a sixth sense of his I must say.
11. Saints 1-0
Maybe I’m rating the Saints too high here but there is a chance the Saints could be good in 2022. I am still skeptical of Dennis Allen as the is clearly a huge downgrade from Sean Peyton but there is a ton of talent all around this roster. A word to wise would be not to fall down by 16 points like they did to a plucky Falcons team in Week 1. A monster game against the fighting Brady’s await next, good stuff
10. Dolphins 1-0
I’m cautiously putting the Dolphins at the bottom of the top ten for right now but I do think the Phins have one of the best rosters in all of football. The defense is top 10 and they have speed all over the place on offense. Plus the O line is vastly improved. The big question for all of league is simply Tua. There are very few holes on this roster, if he performs well they will win a lot of games.
9. Eagles 1-0
I do like this team. I like a team who knows who they are and what they are not. The issue here is Philly last season beat up on bad teams and lost to good ones. I am not 100 percent sure if the Vikings are a good team (more on them shortly). Regardless, Monday nights game against the Vikings might be the most fascinating game of Week 2 and a huge litmus test for both football teams.
8. Vikings 1-0
Oh speaking of the Vikings, I told you they would kick the depleted Packers ass in Week 1. I also said I am not going to overreact about it. I think the Packers will still win the NFC North this season by at least two games. That being said this could be a 10 win wildcard team and I think Week 2’s matchup against the Eagles will be a test of that. Justin Jefferson is an absolute stud, btw.
7. Packers 0-1
Remember last year when the Saints throttled the Packers yet I still put G.B ahead of them on my Power Rankings. Yeah who had the number one seed while the other team missed the playoffs? I am a little more bullish on the Vikings this year then I were the Saints last year but the Packers are going to be fine. This is still one of the best teams in the NFC and Rodgers is still the Quarterback.
6. Rams 0-1
The highest ranked team to lose in Week 1 is the former Super Bowl Champs. They did get rolled in the second half on opening night against the Bills. They certainly could not block and Matthew Stafford did look very rusty. But come on everyone the Rams are still one of the best teams in all of football and I fully expect them to show that on Sunday against the visiting Falcons, Kupp is awesome.
5. Chargers 1-0
Man they could be a fun team but what I saw is the same ol Chargers. I think they could have some of the best stats in football as they are just loaded all over the field, especially on the defensive edges and skill positions, but I just can’t get out of my head how they dominated the Raiders for 3 hours and still somehow almost lost. We’ll find out just how good they are on Thursday night in K.C
4. Ravens 1-0
Lamar Jackson could still play some football. The defense is still pretty awesome when healthy. This team has a potential to go 14-3 or a maddening 9-8. I think the most fascinating Sunday game of Week 2 is Dolphins at Ravens. If the Ravens blow the doors off a talented Dolphins team. Lamar and company have a great chance of running away with the AFC North this season.
3. Bucs 1-0
The defense sure looked good in Week 1. If this defense continues to dominate like this the Bucs will run away again with the NFC South and likely stroll to the number one seed. They play what appeared to be a difficult NFC non division slate with the NFC West and the Cowboys on the schedule. Well the Cowboys were not what we thought they were and the NFC West might not be either, oh Tom!
2. Bills 1-0
The Bills were going to be the number one team in these rankings at about 1:20 PST on Sunday but that changed in a hurry. I would say though no player has improved more dramatically since the beginning of the 2020 than Josh Allen. There literally is nothing he can’t do on the football field and if his accuracy is what it was on opening night. He is Patrick Mahomes only competition for best in the game.
1.Chiefs 1-0
That was the most impressive performance in Week 1. Not saying this because I am a Cardinals fan and maybe they will stink this year but the way the Chefs took over from the jump was more than a statement. I think the Chiefs will win 13 games and the AFC West by at least two games this year. But let’s see if I’m proven right on Thursday night, one of the best early season matchups await.