AFC North Power Rankings Week Two
By Brett Foote
Sep 11, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) shakes hands with players after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-6 at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Week two of the NFL season is in the books, at least for the four teams playing in the AFC North. It was a turbulent weekend in what is proving to be a quickly changing landscape, as both the Browns and the Ravens bounced back from tough losses to record upsets this week.
The Browns knocked off perennial Super Bowl favorites in their last second win over the New Orleans Saints, and did it in dramatic fashion with a last second completion to former Bengal wide receiver Andrew Hawkins. And they did it without Johnny Manziel, who actually saw two worthless snaps in the game.
There was no doubt who the better team was on Thursday night (at least on that particular night), as the Ravens recorded a critical and decisive win over the Steelers. The offense was efficient and controlled the clock, while the defense showed up and generated just enough pressure to keep the Steelers off balance.
The Bengals, meanwhile, continued to look like the best team in the division while racking up a fairly dominant win over the Falcons. The big story here is the defense, which held the Falcons high powered offense to ten points and made Matt Ryan look ordinary.
So we saw a shake up in the standings, which means we will also see a shakeup in the power rankings. But the standings don’t always tell the whole story, as teams face schedules of vastly different degrees of difficulty. Click “next” to see how these teams fall in our weekly power rankings.