Week 3 NFL Power Rankings: AFC shakeup creates major changes

After a huge week of games, the Chiefs are securely atop the NFL. What about the rest of the league? Who is up and who is down? We discuss.

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens in an unexpected and dominant fashion. Lamar Jackson was held under a hundred yards passing and Patrick Mahomes had as many yards passing in the first half than many quarterbacks given an entire game. It was a dominant win for the Chiefs in Baltimore, and now Kansas City is securely at the top of the power rankings. But what about everyone else?

The AFC had a shakeup with the Ravens losing and the Buffalo Bills having a big win against the L.A. Rams. The Pittsburgh Steelers held on to win their game over the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans have managed to stay undefeated.

In the AFC West, the Chiefs emerged as the only winner this week. Denver and their injury-riddled roster was defeated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Las Vegas was out-schemed by Bill Belichick and the L.A. Chargers were stunned by the Carolina Panthers.

With all of this in mind, here are our Week 3 NFL power rankings.

After making a statement against the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football, the Chiefs have pushed themselves head and shoulders above the competition. Mahomes was brilliant as he outplayed Jackson and threw for a whopping 260 yards in the first half. The Chiefs look poised and ready for a repeat of last season.

On the NFC side of things, Aaron Rodgers has been smoking. The Packers look virtually unstoppable on offense. While they will not wow you with their capabilities on defense, they are so dominant offensively that it doesn’t matter. Every week a new playmaker emerges offensively. This week, it was Allen Lazard who caught multiple deep balls to keep New Orleans out of reach. The Packers and Seahawks are about even, but Green Bay likely has a slightly better defense.

Russell Wilson is “Mr. UNLIMITED.” Whatever that means… Wilson is leading the MVP race at this point in the season. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett have looked like the best receiving tandem in football. Although Seattle couldn’t slow the Cowboys down, they came up with the victory late in the game. Seattle will be a tough out down the stretch.

Again, we will ask the question: “Is Josh Allen good?” It appears as though he really, truly is. Even though the Bills allowed the Rams to come back and take a late lead, Allen was able to put his team over the top in the end. With the help of Stefon Diggs, the Buffalo offense looks highly capable and the defense has very high potential. If the Bills can get it all together, they could challenge for the 2 seed in AFC.

Baltimore was rolling until they ran into the brick wall that was the Kansas City Chiefs. While Baltimore is not going to fade out of the top tier, they did not look as though they belonged on the same field as the Chiefs. It was not a good week, but Baltimore is still dominant.

Pittsburgh has yet to hit their stride. While they have won every game, they have not truly dominated a game. While they were projected to have a top defense in football, that has yet to materialize. That being said, the Steelers are moving in the right direction to be in it until the end. Mike Tomlin is among the best coaches in the NFL and the offense is ahead of schedule.

The Saints beat Tampa Bay to start the season, but have now lost two straight. While losing to the Packers is not a big deal, a loss to the Raiders is. The Saints have been out of character. Sean Payton is known for having his teams play mistake free. For the last two weeks, the Saints have been amongst the most penalized team in football. While they have not lived up to their potential yet, we will learn a lot about them in the coming weeks.

The Bucs are winning games, but they have not had much of a challenge after the first week. Tampa Bay defeated the hapless Denver Broncos with ease. The Broncos are a uniquely awful mess, which showed us very little about how good the Buccaneers are. They are 2-1 and look like they are in great shape, but have yet to show anything that looks anywhere close to top five.

Tennessee keeps eking out wins. While it is Mike Vrabel‘s M.O. to muddy the waters and win games in an ugly fashion—and that may eventually catch up with him—for right now, the Titans are winning games. In what is typically a competitive division in the AFC South, the Titans will need every win that they can get early in the season.

Arizona finally experienced a hiccup against the Detroit Lions. Kyler Murray didn’t look quite as dominant and the Lions snuck out a win over the Cardinals. There is still a lot to like about Arizona. They are tough defensively and can push defenses down field with the Murray to Hopkins connection. Look for Arizona to bounce back soon.

The Rams gave the Bills all they could handle, but it wasn’t quite enough. It seems like the Rams are for real and Sean McVay is having a bounce back kind of year but they have a lot to prove. They have looked decent on both sides of the ball, but could see some growth in the coming weeks. LA is in good shape headed into Week 4.

Somehow the 49ers are still beating up on teams. This week it was the miserable New York Giants, but they didn’t seem to lose a step despite playing a large number of second-string players. While they still have a lot to prove going forward, they are playing at a high level for now.

The Pats are showing their flexibility. Cam Newton has shown the ability to run and throw in a dominant fashion to this point. Bill Belichick is still showing his ability to out-scheme opponents despite the team being without Tom Brady. The Patriots look good and appear to improving as time goes along.

Despite winning the first two games of the season, the Bears benched Mitch Trubisky and opted for former Chief and Eagle, Nick Foles. Foles looked more willing to push the ball down the field and the offense looked more capable of moving the ball once he was brought in. Although it was an awkward timing for the replacement, it was not totally unexpected. The Bears somehow keep winning and we are all surprised. The question now is, can it last?

After a big win against the Saints in their home opener, the Raiders sputtered against the Patriots. The Raiders looked functional offensively, but were incapable of slowing down the Patriots rushing attack. So far, they look interesting but unpredictable. We will learn a lot about Jon Gruden’s football team in the coming weeks.

The Colts are confusing. Like all Philip Rivers-led teams, they seem good, but you never really know one way or another. The defense for Indy is inconsistent and Rivers throws a bunch of picks. The Colts are trying to keep up with the Titans, but that will be a tough task if they cannot find some consistency.

The Chargers have some talented defenders, but they constantly get out-schemed. Justin Herbert is young and inexperienced but has shown some potential thus far. Despite the top-tier play from the defense, the Chargers have lost their last two games.

The Cowboys should be winless at this point. Don’t let Skip Bayless or Michael Irvin tell you anything differently. Despite having big names on both sides of the ball, the Cowboys look like they cannot slow anyone down on defense. Dak Prescott throws for a bunch of yards when they are behind, but it’s always a little too late to matter. Dallas could turn it around, but they look like they are lacking big plays on every level.

Gardner Minshew‘s magic was not as strong as Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s on Thursday night. The Jaguars looked like a shell of themselves from previous weeks. The team has some grit, but seriously lacks playmakers. Jacksonville is not one of the worst teams in the game or one of the best. They could be headed for a 7-9, 8-8, or even a 9-7 season, which is more than they were expecting to start the year.

Cleveland had a good win against the Washington Football team on Sunday, which prompted Baker Mayfield to put some swag in his step. The real test for the Browns will come next week when they take on the Cowboys. In some ways, we could learn more about the Browns and Cowboys next week than at any other point in the season. If Cleveland can be a run-first team, they can be successful. The Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt duo is very difficult to contain.

The Panthers pulled off a win against the Chargers which was relatively unexpected. Carolina has a deceptively capable offense and their defense has improved since Week 1. With a ton of young potential, they could win some surprising games this year.

The Lions got a much-needed win on Sunday against the Cardinals, who up to that point, looked dominant. Matt Patricia’s defense came through and Matt Stafford moved the ball downfield for Detroit. They still have time to turn it around and with Kenny Golladay back on the field, they might just do that.

It has to be rough to be a Texans fan right now. They have not played a team that they were expected to beat. They also have not put up much of a fight in any of their first three games. There was a moment during this week’s game against the Steelers that they looked like they may have turned a corner, but they certainly didn’t. Bill O’Brien and company look outmatched by everyone.

The Dolphins got a win over the Jags on Thursday night, but have not looked very stable. The defense has been shaky. The offense has as well. It’s almost as if every player on the roster is a version of Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins are a team to watch, but who knows what level they will be playing at from week to week.

Dwayne Haskins is not great. He is not even good to this point. Now, with some injuries to the defense, it seems as though they may have a tough road forward. Washington is a bottom tier team that has played above its level to this point. Ron Rivera is a great coach inspiring enough to keep his team in it.

The Bengals are just not quite there yet. Joe Burrow looks good and the receivers on the team look solid, but after that they are subpar. Joe Mixon has long been touted as an NFL feature back and perhaps he could be, but the offensive line is putrid. The defense is below average. Cincinnati could be good eventually. They just aren’t there yet.

Denver is having a season from hell. They were projected by many to push for a playoff spot out of the AFC West, but they now appear to be headed for a top ten pick in next year’s draft. With what seems like a million injuries, Denver seems to be headed for an unexpectedly horrendous year.

Minnesota is very different than a season ago. While it is hard to put your finger on the reason for this, they seem completely out of sorts. Offensively, Kirk Cousins has taken a step back to his old self. Defensively, they have not been able to cover anyone. The Vikings are not playing well now, but have about as much potential as anyone to turn it around.

Philadelphia is somehow still in the thick of their divisional competition. They have looked as bad as anyone, but the Giants have been worse, the Washington Football team has been below average, and Dallas has been playing worse than expected. Carson Wentz has been worse than ever and something has to give for the Eagles. It can’t get much worse than what we have seen from them thus far.

The Falcons are somehow still not the worst team in the power rankings. The Giants and Jets have found a way to look more pitiful. Atlanta can put up points, but have now shown in consecutive weeks that they are unable to hold a lead. They have blown HUGE leads to the Cowboys and the the Bears. Dan Quinn is reportedly on the hot seat and should have been a long time ago.

Whatever wind the Giants had in their sails was taken out after the season-ending injury to Saquon Barkley. The Giants had no rhythm offensively and looked unable to slow down an injury-riddled and Nick Mullens-led 49ers offense. If the Giants are going to win a game this season, it is growing more difficult to see where. New York may be “the greatest city in the world,” but that definitely does not apply to the city’s football teams.

Adam Gase looks like he needs to be where former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley is: coaching a high school football team. The Jets look like they are already quitting on the season and got blown out yet again. While the Colts are a decent team, the Jets managed to make them look like Super Bowl contenders (which they aren’t).