Are these Week 2 Power Rankings or Week 1 Power Rankings? I am going to say that they are Week 1 rankings because that is the week that has passed. Perhaps the proper way to say it would be Post Week 1 but that sounds stupid so we’ll stick with Week 1 Power Rankings and build from there.

The first weekend of NFL games brought a couple of good games, several unpredictable games and a handful of bad games. I think I will write that sentence again and again this season because every weekend you can say that. I really enjoyed watching the Saints @ Packers. It was worth it if you stuck it till the end to see an enormous goal line stop. The Packers defence were more ferocious on that play then the sharks In Shark Night 3D! I felt really bad for Ingram.

Best game of the weekend was hands down the Cowboys @ Jets game. That was fun even if it ruined me for work the next day. Dez Bryant looked good in the game and I thought the Cowboys had the game in hand but the Jets relied on their defence as they have all through the Mark Sanchez era. Creating two turnovers in the fourth quarter keeping the game close finally Nick Folk kicked a beauty to win it for New York.

Most impressive victory this weekend was Washington over the New York Giants. That took me by surprised. I knew Eli Manning wasn’t great but he was outplayed by Rex Grossman! I don’t expect Washington to keep this up but its looks like they are not as bad I thought they would be.

Anyway, I shall now overreact to Week 1 wins and losses and proceed to the Lowdown Power Rankings.

1. Green Bay Packers (Last Week #2)
Great season opening win for Green Bay. The offence was, not surprisingly, clicking on all cylinders. The most impressive part of the Packers game in my mind was the play of their lines. Rodgers had plenty of protection to throw almost at will and the running game also rushed over 100 yards. The goal line stand at the end of the game was impressive but the earlier stand was almost as important and equally impressive. Green Bay gave up a lot of points but I’ll chalk it up to Drew Brees (who was phenomenal) and an aggressive Saints offence. Also Randall Cobb says special teams still matter. That flip run was may be the highlight of the season.

2. New England Patriots (Last Week #1)
Nothing against New England but the Packers had a more impressive win. Still Brady looks like Brady and the defence looks good enough to let the offence win the game. This was an impressive week 1 performance for the Patriots for sure.

3. Philadelphia Eagles (Last Week #5)
The Eagles did what they needed to do. They needed to send a message and they did. They demolished St. Louis. Vick looked impressive as a pass thrower and DeSean Jackson looks like he is playing for a new contract. The most impressive performance though in my mind was by LeSean McCoy who rushed for 122 yards while scoring 2 touchdowns. The Eagles showed they have talent on defence but injuring three St. Louis stars seemed like taking it too far.

4. Baltimore Ravens (Last Week #7)
That was impressive. Flacco looked great but Ray Rice was the real story. Terrible in his previous starts against Pittsburgh he absolutely thrashed them. If he stays healthy (no indication he won’t) then Baltimore could go far.

5. New Orleans Saints (Last Week #6)
I thought that the Saints would have a chance to win the game against the Packers and they did. Brees will play at an elite level all season but I am a little worried about the run game and the offensive line. It didn’t look too strong and Payton will almost certainly ruin all fantasy value of the backs this season. That being said, Darren Sproles is looking like a pretty smart pick up right now and Pierre Thomas and he were used pretty effectively as receivers. Sproles’ punt return was impressive (nice blocking) and he seems to have moved into the Reggie Bush role flawlessly. Defence looked better in the second half but remains a concern. But it’s still early and they were playing the Packers. We’ll see how they do against a lesser team before judging so harshly.

6. New York Jets (Last Week #10)
Their defence will win them games. They won’t get many blocked punts returned for a touchdown again but they will be in every game because of their special teams and defence. Romo gave them 1 but they still took the reins and won it. Sanchez still worries me.

7. San Diego Chargers (Last Week #8)
Ugh, it was a weak effort by the Chargers this week but I still think that the Chargers will be an elite team. Beating a McNabb led Vikings team was not a great accomplishment but the fact that they were able to do it while shooting themselves in the foot was something. They are only going to get better.

8. Pittsburgh Steelers (Last Week #3)
Don’t want to knock them too hard because it was the Ravens at home but the Steelers didn’t look good and I am somewhat worried about their defence. They better run over Seattle next week otherwise they might be in real trouble. The O-line also looks terrible and it doesn’t appear it will get much better.

9. Houston Texans (Last Week #18)
That was a nice win over Indianapolis. The health of Arian Foster will be a big question mark going forward (especially for fantasy owners). But the offensive line appears to be quite strong enabling many running backs to perform well. The defence needs a real test to see if they have actually improved though.

10. Chicago Bears (Last Week #16)
Wow Chicago played as if they went to the NFC Championship last year. Apparently the Bears did not appreciate that I thought they were a terrible team. Cutler is anything but consistent but if he plays at this level all year then the NFC North may be the most interesting battle of the year. No doubt the Bears will be terrible this week after I praised them. They are nothing if not spiteful.

11. Dallas Cowboys (Last Week #9)
Tough loss that I think the Cowboys will rebound from. The tools on offence are there and the concerns about a young O-line appear to be somewhat a little overstated. They should get better providing they get over this game as quickly as possible. Romo won’t be that bad in late game situations again.

12. Atlanta Falcons (Last Week #4)
Tough loss for the Falcons, a team I was all in on during the preseason. I want to question either their play calling or Matt Ryan here because they didn’t go long very often. The Falcons have some talented wide receivers but Roddy White’s longest reception this game was 14 yards! Air it out sometime. White is one of the best WR is the league. Put it up there for him.

13. Detroit Lions (Last Week #15)
Great win by the Lions. They are slowly living up to their preseason sleeper hype. Stafford looked mature and confident and his receivers looked amazing. The defence was strong and aggressive and was able to keep Josh Freeman off his game. There was an overreaction to Stafford’s cramping on the weekend by Lions fans though.

14. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Last Week #11)
I’m worried about the Bucs. I think the fact that they didn’t spend money on this offseason will really come back to bite them. Their offence was sputtering and their defence was shredded by Stafford. I still think there is talent but it might only be shown against the weaker teams.

15. New York Giants (Last Week #12)
A disheartening loss for the Giants last week and while I am not quite ready to write them off yet but a loss next week to an equally injured Rams team may find them falling down the Power Rankings.

16. Jacksonville Jaguars (Last Week #19)
Nice win for the Jaguars on the weekend. Not sure how many more they will get but it’s a nice start. MJD is a beast and the Jags will go as far as his legs carry him.

17. Arizona Cardinals (Last Week #17)
That secondary looks pretty weak, given that Newton managed to throw 422 yards against them. The Cardinals themselves looked ok. Kolb had a decent game and every time I had the gamecast on my computer they seemed to have a 50-70 yard play. Their defence will be a problem for them but that’s much better than a quarterback being a problem for them.

18. Washington Redskins (Last Week #32)
Awesome win by the Redskins and obviously they jumped up the rankings the most. Rex Grossman had a fairly impressive game but it’s hard to be positive about a team with Grossman at QB. If their defence continues to play at such a high level than the Redskins may not quite be the worst team in the NFC.

19. Oakland Raiders (Last Week #22)
The Raiders played Raider football and with an extremely long (super impressive) kick managed to knock off the Broncos in terrible weather. That’s two years in a row where the Monday Night game had a crazy rain. The Raiders won’t win the division but they should once again be a tough and inconsistent out.

20. St. Louis Rams (Last Week #13)
I’m worried about the Rams. The lost to Philadelphia wasn’t horrible but the number of injuries that they had was pretty significant. Bradford while expecting to play has a bruised finger which is better than Amendola and Jackson who are out and possibly for a long time. The rising star of the Rams appears to be blinking out pretty early this season.

21. Miami Dolphins (Last Week #14)
Henne looked better than most people thought he would but the defence wasn’t quite as sterling. That was probably because they were playing Tom Brady. Brady’s no huddle offence was ridiculously impressive and tired the Dolphins quite quickly. Was this the first sign of the lock out or poor conditioning by the Dolphins? Next week against Houston will be another test for their defence.

22. Buffalo Bills (Last Week #25)
Loved Grantland’s article on Ryan Fitzpatrick last week especially the part where he talked about how the NFL was the only place a Harvard degree is a knock against you. Fitzpatrick gave Bills fans something to cheer about and Scott Chandler was probably picked up by more than a handful of Dallas Clark fantasy owners. Sadly this team can’t play Kansas City every week. It should increase the optimism for the Bills in Buffalo though who may have a tough year drawing.

23. Cincinnati Bengals (Last Week #31)
The Bengals are a curious team. Apparently Andy Dalton didn’t look terrible prior to being hurt and truthfully the Bengals team did put him in a position to succeed. They surrounded him with a ton of talent at WR and frankly Cedric Benson continues to prove he’s a competent running back. Cincy won’t win many games this year but they may not be as bad as I thought they would be (not that that counts for anything).

24. San Francisco 49ers (Last Week #27)
Nice win by the 49ers but (it comes with a big but) it was against Seattle who has probably the worst back up quarterback in the league starting. The Niners did look good though and with an injured Rams team they may have a shot at the NFC West title (what a terrible division).

25. Carolina Panthers (Last Week #28)
Good game by Cam Newton against a weak secondary. He clearly won’t be as bad as I thought he would be. Cam carried himself really well in his first game and I will give him this, he clearly believes that he should be there and confidence can be contagious. I think Carolina has a better season than I was thinking they would have.

26. Denver Broncos (Last Week #23)
A depressing loss for Bronco fans as they were beaten at home by the dreaded Raiders. John Fox’s vaunted running game couldn’t have looked less impressive. I am worried that the Broncos will be relying on the pass too much. Their defence didn’t look great as well and may not be up to the task this season. It was pretty obvious that the Raiders would be running the ball a lot given the conditions and the quarterback and yet they couldn’t slow McFadden at all. Looks like it could be a bleak year for the Broncos.

27. Kansas City Chiefs (Last Week #20)
That was a discouraging loss for the Chiefs. It started and ended badly. Cassel threw terribly and looked hurt and after dominating the Bills on the ground last year, they couldn’t get anything going. Not a lot for the Chiefs to build for after that loss.

28. Cleveland Browns (Last Week #24)
I thought the Browns would be better than this. Losing to Cincinnati was a terrible start. They looked utterly unimpressive. Colt McCoy may be a good quarterback but he needs more talent around him. Another long year in Cleveland wouldn’t be surprising.

29. Tennessee Titans (Last Week #26)
Chris Johnson rushed for 24 yards. They need more from him. That’s pretty obvious.

30. Minnesota Vikings (Last Week #29)
McNabb is the quarterback and threw a pick on his first pass attempt, not much more to say truthfully. They are not as good as the score indicated against San Diego.

31. Indianapolis Colts (Last Week #21)
No Manning = No Chance. Houston is good but without Manning its tough to see the Colts going anywhere fast.

32. Seattle Seahawks (Last Week #30)
Suck for Luck is on in Seattle. Believe it or not, the Seattle Seahawks won a playoff game last year.