Week 3 NFL Power rankings: Baltimore Ravens reach top 5
By Darin McCann
Goodbye, week 2 of the NFL season. Hello, week 3 Power Rankings. Where did the Baltimore Ravens land?
The Baltimore Ravens are 2-0. After another week of action in the National Football League, it’s high time we take stock of the league’s current pecking order — which is a roundabout way of saying we have more Power Rankings to fill your reading slate.
Ebony Bird’s Isaiah Stumpf set our initial rankings last week, and we’re going to go from there, with adjustments made after last week’s results. And, yes, the Ravens continued to climb the ladder after last week’s home-opening win over Arizona. But that’s the last teaser you get. We’re going to take you from 32 to 1, and include last week’s ranking in parenthesis.
32. Miami Dolphins (32)
This team… is not good. They lost 43-0 to New England, and that is actually progress following their 49-point beat down by the Ravens in the opener.
31. New York Giants (31)
A sound beating by the Buffalo Bills keeps them firmly in the 31st position. They are making the move to Daniel Jones at quarterback this week, so, yeah, they have that going for them.
30. Cincinnati Bengals (16)
Oh, they were feisty in the opener, narrowly falling to the Seahawks in Seattle. Then they became the Bengals again, getting drilled 41-17 at home by the 49ers.
29. Washington Redskins (28)
They lost to Dallas to drop to 0-2 on the season. There’s no shame in that. Lots of teams will probably lose to Dallas this year. The problem is finding wins on their schedule, and trying to find a left tackle. If only there was a good one they might know…
28. New York Jets (18)
This is a combination of an ugly performance on Monday night, following a gross loss in the opener, and the depletion of, you know, quarterbacks on their roster. That’s kind of a big deal. A lack of quality cornerbacks doesn’t help, either.
27. Denver Broncos (25)
Speaking of ugly losses, did you catch the end of that Broncos-Bears game last week? Yikes. Joe Flacco just doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break since his magical carpet ride through the playoffs following the 2012 season.
26. Carolina Panthers (15)
They drop bigly this week following that loss to Tampa Bay, as any self-respecting team would. The bigger problem might be star quarterback Cam Newton, and his health. No Cam = no offense in Carolina.
25. Arizona Cardinals (29)
Why, yes, they did move up after a loss. That is based on the fight they gave the Ravens on the road, and injuries and other situations that dropped some other teams. They’ve played both Detroit and Baltimore tough. Maybe they stink less than we thought?
24. Oakland Raiders (23)
After opening with a win, they got the joy of having to play Kansas City last week. To be fair, they basically won three quarters of the game by a score of 10-0. Also, if we’re being fair, they got dusted 28-0 in that other quarter of play.
23. Jacksonville Jaguars (27)
They moved up because they fought the Houston Texans within a few inches of stealing that win. A trade of Jalen Ramsey, however, would take away that small progress.
22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (30)
This is another team that has moved up largely because others have fallen down, but it was a nice win for them to beat Carolina, and we’ll let them have this one for the week.
21. Pittsburgh Steelers (21)
How did they stay the same, you might ask, after losing that game to Seattle and seeing their franchise quarterback go down for the season? Because I think they’re still better than the teams behind them, at least for now.