I’m waiting until after at least next week to start any sort of NFL power rankings, simply because I wanted to see how everyone did in the first month or so of the season before really making any judgments one way or another as to who the best of the best is.
I considered waiting until Tuesday to post this up, but considering neither the Jets or the Chargers are unbeaten after the first couple of weeks, they’re not in the discussion.
10 teams entered Sunday with 2-0 records, while Baltimore (Week 2 game vs. Houston postponed thanks to Ike) won their opener, so 11 teams started Week 3 with unblemished records.
At the end of Sunday’s action, six teams remain unbeaten, two from the NFC East and four from the AFC – Dallas, New York, Buffalo, Baltimore, Tennessee, and Denver.
I must say that I’m a little surprised with how New England got blown out by the Dolphins at home, but that‘s something that I‘ll be discussing in greater detail in another post today.
So who’s the best of the unbeaten?
Denver looks like they’re going to live by their offense, which has worked so far, as they’re averaging 38 points through the first three games after putting 34 up on New Orleans in a 34-32 win on Sunday.
Their offense is good enough to win them plenty of games, but their defense is going to have to really step up and shut down some really good teams at some point, and until I see them do that, I’m still going to be a skeptic.
Baltimore’s first two opponents haven’t been anything to write home about, but the Ravens defense has looked a lot like its old self in holding Cincinnati and Cleveland, two teams that aren’t short on offensive firepower, to 13 total points (Cincinnati got a defensive touchdown in their 17-10 Week 1 loss to the Ravens).
Offensively, you always have to wonder about how a rookie starting quarterback will do over the course of the season, and you’d like to see how Flacco performs in those clutch situations that will inevitably come up, but if the rushing attack continues to churn up yardage and the defense continues to play strong, he’s in a good position.
Right now, I’d have to consider Buffalo and Tennessee as the two best teams in the AFC.
Tennessee has been terrific defensively, and that’s set the offense up in a position to not have to carry the load. You have to wonder if the reins are going to automatically be turned back over to Vince Young when he’s healed up, because if the Titans are still rolling, Jeff Fisher might not want to make that change until/unless he knows he can count on VY to get the job done.
Buffalo has translated potential into production so far, and while it took a last-second field goal on Sunday to beat Oakland, the Bills are 3-0 and back to doing something they haven’t done a lot of since Jim Kelly retired – winning. It’s going to be quite a test for them to stay on top of the AFC East, but I like this team a lot.
Trent Edwards threw for a career-high 279 yards and led the Bills to 17 points in the last eight minutes, and he, Marshawn Lynch (83 yards, 2 TD), and the offense are only going to get better over time, and the defense looks to be good enough to get the job done.
Some may want to cast their lot with someone else as the best team in the conference, but you’ve got to be greatly impressed with both teams’ body of work thus far (both have a win over Jacksonville to their credit). Like Buffalo, Tennessee will face quite a test in staying atop their division, but having a two-game lead over Jacksonville and Indianapolis after only three weeks is a dream start.
It’s a lot simpler in the NFC, where it looks like a lot of roads (NFC home-field advantage, NFC title, Lombardi Trophy) might lead through the NFC East, where the Cowboys and Giants are both 3-0, with the Eagles and Redskins both at 2-1 after recording impressive wins over teams that entered Sunday 2-0.
Divisional games are going to beat up the records at least a little bit, and unfortunately, at least one of those four is assured of sitting home in January, what with only two wild-card spots being available and all, but the division has definitely asserted itself so far.
The Giants have gotten their Super Bowl defense off to an unbeaten start. They pulled it out in OT against the Bengals on Sunday, with Eli stepping up in helping rally the team (though the defense allowed Cincy to take a late lead and then send it to OT). You already know what this team is capable of, so there are no questions about what they can do if they’re at their best.
It’s fair to say that they’re neck and neck with Dallas, because really, we’ll have to wait until Week 9 when they play at Giants Stadium to say who’s better. The Cowboys might be the most talented team in the league, and they’ve done well to back it up so far, with their three wins coming against teams who had a combined record of 31-17 (Browns: 10-6, Eagles: 8-8, Packers: 13-3) last season.
The offense is running smoothly so far. Tony Romo is off to a very good start, while Marion Barber ran for a career-high 142 yards in Sunday’s win over Green Bay. The addition of Felix Jones looks to be paying off so far, as Jones has made an impression one way or another in all three games so far – 62 yards and a touchdown vs. Cleveland, a 98-yard kick return vs. Philly, 76 yards and a 60-yard touchdown run vs. the Packers.
The one big chink in Dallas’ armor might be defensively, where their talent level is unquestioned, but as long as they just bend and don’t break (and Jessica Simpson stays out of view), they’re good to go.
While those two look to be the best, the Eagles might have a say in the matter in the end. They gave the Cowboys all they had in Week 2 and rebounded from their disappointing loss by shutting down the Steelers in a 15-6 win on Sunday, and they look like a much, much better team than the up and down Eagles that we saw in 2007.
Meanwhile, the Redskins certainly haven’t been left in the dust, coming back from a season-opening loss to the Giants to win back-to-back games against New Orleans and Arizona. Jason Campbell has been terrific in the last two weeks (43 of 66, 514 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT), and if he can keep this up against pass defenses that are better than the last two he’s faced, it’s all the better for Washington’s hopes to make a run in the NFC East.
Week 4 will likely see another unbeaten team or more go down, and maybe after that I’ll decide to debut my power rankings with September coming to an end.
But, I have a pretty good feeling that when my first power rankings are revealed, the team(s) atop them will be from the NFC East, who might be too good for its own good right now.