NFL Power Rankings, Week 3: Texans, Bills enter top five; surprising Saints vault 16 spots to No. 8

The Chiefs have become known for not just winning, but for how they win. Sunday was the latest magic act, with the Bengals also having a lot to do with how the game played out. The Chiefs are fortunate to be 2-0, but their résumé is just too good and too well-established to tarnish a perfect record too much. This is what they do: occasionally win games they shouldn’t have won. But I’m wondering where Travis Kelce is right now. He had a quiet Week 1 and an even quieter Week 2, despite a 41-yard gain that was called back on a hold. The Chiefs’ game plan early felt a little off, and the defense wasn’t closing out on some key downs. I spent a year pointing this stuff out on a near-weekly basis in this very space, and you know where we ended up. But with the news that Isiah Pacheco suffered a broken fibula, Kelce’s reintroduction to the stage has to happen soon.

The 49ers seemed sleepy early on Sunday, having a punt blocked, turning the ball over on downs twice and surrendering a 97-yard TD pass before getting back in the game a little. Brock Purdy was sacked six times and had two turnovers, but I am far more concerned about the defense. Fred Warner was his usual Superman self, and Nick Bosa had two sacks, but the rest of the unit played uninspired ball against a Minnesota offense missing several key characters by game’s end. The Vikings kept killing San Francisco with third-down conversions, and the game might have been uglier had they converted two more red-zone trips into touchdowns. When their defense is up against it, too much of the 49ers’ formula depends on Purdy being robotically efficient, and that just didn’t happen on Sunday.

The Texans blitzed Caleb Williams and won the game with a slew of disruptive defensive plays. They saw the rookie quarterback getting comfy early and decided to upend that right away. It was good coaching and execution. However, the sloppy Texans also committed 12 penalties, settled for four long field goals and lost a fumble inside the Bears’ 5-yard line with a chance to put the game away. On the one hand, it was nice to see Houston’s defense take over a game, but on the other, it was disappointing that the Texans allowed the Bears to stay in a game they had little business being in after a certain point. The C.J. Stroud show keeps rolling, and Nico Collins is a legit star, but the Texans have more to clean up before they’re in that truly elite tier.  

If there has been an unsung element of the team’s 2-0 start, it’s probably the offensive line. I feel like the defense got the proper credit for how it played from about the fourth series of Week 1 all the way through Thursday’s statement victory in Miami. But the O-line deserves its flowers, too, as it kept Josh Allen (and his banged-up left hand) clean and opened a few freeways in the run game. Watching the recently paid Spencer Brown stonewall Miami’s Jaelan Phillips in space while Allen hit a 33-yard pass to the 1-yard line was impressive. Through two weeks, almost every team has shown a little sign of weakness. The Bills remain as dangerous as they have been until something dramatically changes.

Things are not humming the way you’d expect offensively for this group. Yards are one thing; execution is very much another. Jared Goff is off to a slow start to the season, missing too many throws and not connecting on enough chunk plays. The first-throw INT against the Buccaneers sort of set the tone for the game. The Lions moved the ball up and down the field, but the red-zone execution (1 for 7) was awful. Detroit’s defense did its job, especially in the fourth quarter with a chance to steal the game. It’s too early to say things don’t look quite right because the Lions didn’t really start cooking until later in the season in 2023, but with the plucky Cardinals and Seahawks up next on the schedule, they’d better figure out their issues right quick.

Everything appeared poised for a get-right finish on Monday night, with Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith doing enough without A.J. Brown (hamstring), who said he'll be out a few weeks. And then Barkley dropped a wide-open third-down pass that could have iced the game. Was it the best-odds call throwing the ball in that spot? I might have run it twice with Hurts and kept the clock rolling. But Barkley simply must make that catch. Hurts' heroic night goes down as a loss. He showed emotion. He took over at times with his legs. There were clutch, on-schedule throws most of the evening. But Hurts' final desperation ball was picked in the waning seconds, and Lincoln Financial Field was church quiet. Philadelphia's defense generally needs to clean things up -- tackling, run fits, penalties wiping out negative plays. The late fourth-down stop was encouraging, but the lack of pressure or coverage on Atlanta's final possession -- when the Falcons marched 70 yards in just over a minute for the game-winning touchdown -- was wild.

Among the signs that things are different under Jim Harbaugh: The team has allowed 13 points through two games and has run the ball three times for every two passes attempted. On the first part, playing the Raiders and Panthers has a little something to do with that, but there’s no question the defense is playing a different brand of ball than it has in some time. To the second point, recent iterations of the Chargers’ offense had it at an inverse pass-run ratio, often putting way too much on Justin Herbert’s plate and not taking advantage of the team’s strength on the offensive line. This squad might not be special in many ways, but it’s absolutely maximizing its strengths and minimizing its likely weaknesses. That’s been a big part of the 2-0 start. Now, with the unbeaten Steelers and Chiefs on deck, we’ll find out how good this Bolts team really is. 

It was one thing to throttle Carolina at home. Good job there. But it was quite another for the Saints to go into Dallas and thrash the Cowboys for the better part of four quarters. I promise I am not making excuses for having them 28th to start the season, but I can't imagine too many people outside the building were expecting this. Derek Carr is now 30-for-39 passing (76.9%) on the season for 443 yards -- a stunning 11.4 yards per attempt -- and five TDs, with only a late pick Sunday in a game his team was winning by 22 points. I'd love to be Klint Kubiak's agent right now. The Saints' new offensive coordinator has come in and improved the company's efficiency immeasurably. At this rate, he'll have his choice of head-coaching jobs in four months. In a season where passing efficiency is close to a 20-year low through two games, New Orleans is scoring at a historic rate -- 91 points, tied for the second-most in a team's first two games of a season since the 1970 merger.

The Ravens are 0-2. The only time they’ve been in this spot under John Harbaugh was in 2015, when the team collapsed to a 5-11 record. But that Ravens team had a beat-up Joe Flacco as its leading passer, Justin Forsett as its leading rusher and Kamar Aiken as its leading receiver. This team has Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Zay Flowers, not to mention others who could have been statistical leaders on that 2015 squad. The Ravens led 23-13 with less than 10 minutes left and couldn’t beat the Raiders -- the fourth time since 2022 that Baltimore has coughed up a double-digit fourth-quarter lead. The Ravens were bound to take a step back defensively after a huge coaching brain drain on that side of the ball, but they're leaving too many points on the field.

What an improbable scene it will be in Week 3, with Malik Willis coming back to Nissan Stadium as the expected starter for the Packers while Jordan Love continues to work his way back from injury. Willis was starting for the Titans back on Aug. 17 in their second preseason game, just a little over a week before he’d be traded to Green Bay. I love stories like this. But the Packers will love it even more if Willis can play the kind of composed, refined game -- albeit with guardrails -- that he did against the Colts. Credit Matt LaFleur for designing an excellent game plan, loading up with the ground attack early and letting Willis settle in with higher-percentage passes. The third-year pro even stung the Colts a few times, too. The Titans may have some tells on Willis, and he might have some butterflies, but this past Sunday, he did what he needed to do.

One step forward, one big step backward. The end of the Cowboys’ regular-season home winning streak (16 games) felt a little anticlimactic to me, considering what the Packers did to Dallas at AT&T Stadium in the playoffs, but it’s nonetheless stunning that a team that has been terrific in its own building for two years was throttled from the jump by the visiting Saints. You don’t have to remind Cowboys fans that the team had a disastrous loss early last season, and that group ended up going 12-5. But the defense looked worse than it did in almost any outing we saw a year ago. The 49ers dismantled the 'Boys last season, and this Saints offense is a derivative of that type of system. Still, shouldn’t it be concerning that this kind of scheme has given Dallas’ defense so much trouble? It worries me.

Baker Mayfield is not the same quarterback he was years ago in Cleveland, maturing in ways I don’t know that I could have foreseen prior to last season -- and maybe even well into last season. He took a beating on Sunday (five sacks) but escaped from plenty of other pressures and made some gutsy throws. The whole offensive operation slowed way down, and the Bucs could help themselves with a little more drive-to-drive consistency, but this team has shown some real grit under Todd Bowles. Despite playing with a secondary ravaged by injuries, the Bucs went into Detroit and won an ugly brawl, even with the Lions more than doubling them in yards gained. That counts for a lot in my book. 

We haven’t seen many gems from Aaron Rodgers in the first two weeks, but there have been enough positives that I feel relatively decent about where the Jets' offense is at. That third drive in Week 1 opened my eyes. Rodgers’ 5-for-5 showing on the game-winning drive in Week 2 kept them open. He made a beautiful TD toss to Breece Hall, and the emergence of Braelon Allen has added a dimension to the backfield. The rookie back looks like he deserves weekly touches. The rest of the operation still needs fine-tuning, and the Jets’ defense hasn’t suddenly been absolved of its Week 1 sins. The loss of Jermaine Johnson II is likely to sting, but getting three sacks from Will McDonald IV was a welcome development. Now, if there was only one more pass-rushing source New York could try to tap into ...

They’re 2-0 and the only NFL team with two road victories, all while playing with their backup quarterback. Justin Fields hasn’t been incredible, but he’s been functional enough to have led nine scoring drives versus 11 punts, with only one turnover (which came on downs). Should I mention they’ve scored only one touchdown? I should. Penalties were a big problem Sunday again on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense, with seven flags for 63 yards -- and Pittsburgh had 83 yards worth of offense and a TD wiped out on those plays. How much longer can the defense keep this up? We saw signs in the second half at Denver that it might be a unit being stretched to its limits. A massive test arrives in Week 3 with the resurgent Chargers coming to town. Will it be Fields or Russell Wilson? Only Mike Tomlin knows, but he’s pulling the right strings so far.

This one was a coaching gem. Brian Flores' defense repeatedly hit Brock Purdy and sacked him six times, requiring the quarterback to complete lower-percentage passes just to keep the 49ers in the game. To Purdy's credit, he did connect on a few. But the Vikings were willing to take their chances because the pressure got home, so the approach paid off. Offensively, Kevin O'Connell called a game like a man who trusted his quarterback. The 2024 plan might been defenestrated when J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury in August, but Sam Darnold is throwing the ball like a confident passer right now. Despite the Vikings losing nearly half their offense by game's end, Darnold kept firing passes, completing 9 of 11 after halftime for 97 yards and a score, striking a great balance between aggressive and smart. He has a pick in each game, but looks nothing like the guy who was seeing ghosts a few years ago, and the Vikings are a surprising 2-0 because of it.

For most of Sunday’s Bengals-Chiefs game, I was working up some clever retorts to my social media naysayers, who said I was in way over my head putting Cincinnati at No. 10 last week. Those retorts evaporated with the Bengals' lead late in the game, though. Even if they had won on Sunday, I could have pointed out enough flaws to admit I should have ranked them lower. We can hum along with the early-season blues thing for another week or two, tops. At some point, they’re going to have to play better in late-game situations and not keep shooting themselves in the foot. It’s too bad, because Joe Burrow was back to big-game form. Andrei Iosivas stepped up. The defense played some inspired ball for stretches. But Ja’Marr Chase’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and Daijahn Anthony’s pass interference penalty were two absolute killers. Avoid either one, and they’re probably not 0-2.

The concussion suffered by Tua Tagovailoa creates a lot of questions, including where to place the Dolphins in this pecking order. Tua's status undoubtedly affects things. Where will the Dolphins be mentally for their trip to Seattle in Week 3? Skylar Thompson has the temperament to handle the moment if he’s called on to start, and he’s capable of a few plays to rally the team. But we saw Thursday what happens when you can’t get the ball to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle at least a dozen times in a game, and it’s not great. Can De’Von Achane keep up this workload behind a beat-up offensive line? There are myriad worries for Mike McDaniel’s team right now, with these next weeks and months surely a massive test of his coaching skill.

It was by no means a masterpiece, but the Browns found a way to get what they could from Deshaun Watson (and Jameis Winston in the short-yardage package) to eke out a road win in Jacksonville. The offensive rhythm was at least tangible, although the Browns tried their best to stunt that with a slew of late penalties, including four on one drive alone that wiped out three gains of double-digit yards and set them back 40 yards total. Those flags didn't cost Cleveland the win, but they could have against a more disciplined opponent. That's now 24 combined penalties through two games for the Browns, five more than any other team. The Browns tied for the second-most flags in the league last year, and it still took them until the fourth quarter of Week 4 to reach that total in 2023. The schedule lightens a bit the next few games, so we'll see if Cleveland can stop with the self-inflicted wounds.

A sign of good coaching is the ability to adjust, and the Seahawks' staff has shown that skill in spades thus far. Seattle switched up a stagnant game plan at halftime of Week 1, and there were even more adjustments in Week 2's dramatic victory. The deep shot to DK Metcalf was a welcome development, even if it came on a busted coverage. What's kept the Seahawks mostly on schedule has been the steady, cool play of Geno Smith, who has come up big two weeks in a row. The 'Hawks aren't even running Ryan Grubb's complete offense yet, at least not the prolific version he used in Washington over the past few years. I consider it a good sign that Grubb and Mike Macdonald do not appear to be forcing an identity on this team; better to let it develop and grow at the proper pace. Right now, the Seahawks are chipping away at opponents and working with what they have. Next, Seattle catches the Dolphins at an opportune time in Week 3. The Macdonald era is off to a nice start.

After Saquon Barkley dropped what would have been the game-clinching pass on Monday night, the door was left open for Kirk Cousins to author a game-winning touchdown drive that was absolutely stunning -- both in its efficiency and in the fact that the Falcons have a quarterback capable of doing this again. Cousins lined up under center more often against Philly, which looked more natural, but early in the game, the 36-year-old's deeper passes were dying on him. Even a few completions were badly underthrown. However, Atlanta's offensive line looked good early, paving the way for a wicked run game and keeping Cousins' pocket mostly clean. You certainly can point the finger at the Eagles for coughing this one up after it looked over more than once, but you also have to credit Cousins and some clutch plays from Darnell Mooney, Drake London and Ray-Ray McCloud III. This was the biggest win for the Falcons in a few years.

The Caleb Williams experience for Bears fans could end up being very similar to what Packers fans experienced with Jordan Love last season. Remember, GM Brian Gutekunst spoke last Nov. 1, saying that the following 10 games would be “very important” for Love’s future in Green Bay. Two months later, he was leading a road playoff win. Six months after that, he signed a four-year, $220 million contract extension. The point is, Love had his share of very shaky moments, much like the ones Williams has endured through a trying 1-1 start. And with Keenan Allen out and the offensive line struggling, this thing might not look entirely right for a bit. Hang in there, Bears fans. Sunday night had to be a tough watch, but Williams kept fighting while taking an absolute clobbering. 

Top to bottom, Sunday's win over the Rams was the best performance of the Jonathan Gannon era, even better than the win over Dallas in Week 3 last year or either of the gutsy December road wins in Pennsylvania. Kyler Murray played a nearly perfect game. Marvin Harrison Jr. broke out. The rushing attack kept doing its thing behind Hjalte Froholdt and the boys. And after a year-plus of some hard-to-watch defense, the Cardinals were terrific on that side of the ball, even taking into account the fact that they caught a beat-up Rams team at just about the best time possible. The Week 1 loss to Buffalo showed the work that was needed, but Week 2 was a big exclamation point -- to the point where we might soon have to begin re-evaluating Arizona's ceiling this season.

I truly believed that the Jaguars were going to come back from a 16-3 deficit to Cleveland, as they appeared to shift the momentum late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The offense showed some life. The defense was making plays. But they settled for a field goal down 16-10 and paid the price for their earlier mistakes. In Week 1, the Jaguars owned the first half but couldn't build a big enough lead to hang on against Miami. In Week 2, they fell behind by two scores early and couldn't make it up over the next two-plus quarters, despite the defense dominating after halftime. Right now, this team badly needs a strong four-quarter effort to dig itself out of its 0-2 hole. Jacksonville has lost seven of its past eight games, going back to last season, with five of those Ls coming by one score or less. Doug Pederson and Trevor Lawrence must be feeling the heat.

I realize DeForest Buckner is a big piece on the Colts' defensive line, and that he hasn't exactly been healthy this season. But Indy's defense has now been dominated up front for two straight games, leading to post-loss questions for Shane Steichen about his confidence in Gus Bradley's unit. The D did adjust well enough to give the Colts a shot at beating the Packers, miraculously, but Anthony Richardson and the offense had five drives end up in a giveaway of some sort -- turnover, turnover on downs or missed field-goal try -- plus a few three-and-outs. Richardson has 26 completions and 10 rush attempts so far in 2024. If he can't overcome the Colts' flaws, this thing isn't going to work as hoped. 

EDITOR'S UPDATE: Buckner was placed on injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.

After such a gutsy effort from Los Angeles in Week 1, nearly pulling out an all-timer in Detroit with so many players injured, I kept pretty firm on the Rams’ ranking last week. Now, reality has set in. Sunday was the showing I truly didn’t think they had in them, even as crushed as they’ve been by health issues. Matthew Stafford barely had a chance against the Cardinals, and I can’t imagine his chances will improve with Cooper Kupp out for an extended period. I marvel at how Sean McVay schemes up touches to guys other teams look past, like Tyler Johnson and Demarcus Robinson. But McVay has to do that with a hurting offensive line, a struggling run game and a defense that was gashed by the run on Sunday. The early, Week 6 bye feels like a gift now, but the Rams still have to get through the 49ers, Bears and Packers first. 

Through six quarters of the season, the Raiders had fewer than 350 yards of offense and a mere 16 points. Questions started swirling in my head about the decision to start Gardner Minshew over Aidan O'Connell. Then Minshew remembered where he was: Baltimore, where he pulled off a similarly wild upset a year ago with the Colts. With one big throw after another, Minshew found Davante Adams, Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers, offsetting an anemic run game and taking advantage of the Ravens' mistakes. The result was five productive second-half drives, only one of which ended without points, while the Raiders were able to keep Lamar Jackson under wraps and pull off the late stunner. What this ultimately says of Las Vegas' potential, I'm not sure, but Antonio Pierce's team mounted a stirring rally right when it most needed one.

When Antonio Gibson ripped off a 45-yard run midway through the fourth quarter on Sunday, it pushed the Patriots' chances of beating the Seahawks to 85 percent, per Next Gen Stats. From there, the Pats bashed the ball into stacked boxes, took a bad sack and had a go-ahead field-goal try blocked. Then things fell apart to an even greater degree, as Seattle dominated the end of regulation and overtime. New England was a few snaps away from being 2-0, with some winnable games up next on the schedule. Instead, Jerod Mayo and crew dropped to 1-1. After halftime, Geno Smith was 17 of 25 passing for 158 yards and one sack. The Patriots' Jacoby Brissett was 4 of 8 for 32 yards and two sacks in that same timeframe. New England's pass defense can (and should) be called out for this defeat, but the Patriots' limitations throwing the ball -- which is the method by which some of the best teams close out games -- are pretty clear right now. 

Dan Quinn's first victory in D.C. won't earn him a ton of style points, but the Commanders got it done. A strong run game helped pick up Jayden Daniels and the lagging pass game. If Brian Robinson (who had the two longest runs of his career Sunday) and Austin Ekeler can be as efficient as they were against the Giants, it'll be a big boost for Daniels while he figures out the necessary timing (he took five sacks) and touch, and while the staff tries to generate big plays through the air. The problem is that the Commanders don't face the Giants again until Week 9. In between then, Washington goes up against some defenses that range from respectable to very good. Quinn's team also has to figure out its coverage issues on defense and knock out the silly penalties. But a win's a win.

For two games in a row now, a rash of Will Levis turnovers significantly stunted the Titans' chances of winning. Though it was not as bad as the fourth-quarter meltdown in Chicago, Levis' silly pitch/fumble thing on Sunday cost his team points, and on his very next play out there, he threw a bad interception on first-and-10 in a game his team was leading 7-0. It's time we nix the hero ball. I loved watching Levis compete in college; he was a warrior out there. But he must develop some better game-awareness instincts, or this is going to be a long, trying season. Levis also made some very impressive plays, as did Calvin Ridley and Tony Pollard. The defense looked pretty darned good for stretches, led by Harold Landry's hot start, but the Titans' margin of error is too small for them to lose the turnover margin, especially in high-leverage situations.

The Broncos have taken a step back offensively with Bo Nix starting instead of Russell Wilson, which isn't a shocking development after two games. But they've fallen hard in two big categories: red-zone conversion rate and turnovers. Last season, they ranked slightly below average in those areas; this season, they're dead last in both. The identity of this unit feels unknown now. Too often, it seems like they're trying to keep Nix's head above water in the first half before he's forced into scramble mode in the fourth quarter. Denver has lost two close ones, and a few more tough defenses lie in wait to take their crack at Nix. "We've got to start really looking at who we're asking to do what," Sean Payton said after the game, and I agree. There were not enough touches for Courtland Sutton or Marvin Mims, and there was not enough patience early with the run game.

If you showed nothing but Daniel Jones highlights against Washington, a casual viewer might think he's a pretty darned good QB. And positive things apparently happen when you force-feed the ball to Malik Nabers. Eighteen of Jones' 28 pass attempts went the rookie's way, and Nabers responded with 10 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown that put New York up at the break. He had catches for double-digit yards in all four quarters and came down with several big third- and fourth-down grabs. Even with that performance, the Giants were obviously limited in a game where they crossed midfield on six of their seven possessions but only finished with 18 points. The defense was great in the red zone (allowing the Commanders to score zero TDs in six trips) but didn't truly stop Washington once all day, not counting the end-of-half kneeldown. Big Blue needs an almost perfect script to win a game right now.

With just under four minutes left in the first half Sunday, the Panthers -- trailing 13-0 -- gained their first first down of the game. Then, on the next play, Bryce Young forced an interception into traffic. Three plays later, J.K. Dobbins somersaulted into the end zone for a 43-yard TD, pushing the Bolts' advantage to 20-0, and that was all she wrote. The Panthers mustered two 40-yard drives on Sunday; the rest came in at 13 yards or fewer. Carolina crossed the Los Angeles 43-yard line on exactly one possession. The Panthers ran one red-zone play, and it ended in an incompletion. This offense is somehow worse than last year's so far, averaging fewer than 15 yards per possession. On Monday, Dave Canales made a massive switch, benching Young and turning the ball over to Andy Dalton. It's a bold call that also might be the right one. Young looks underwater for the first three quarters of every game, and he's barely treading by the end. This might mark a setback in Young's already-slow development, but this team can't score with him right now.