NFL Fun Power Rankings, week three: Can Baker Mayfield's Browns hunt down the Chiefs for first place?
We’re being spoilt this year, aren’t we? What a great three weeks to start the season. The Bills destroyed the Vikings! The Lions took out the Patriots! BAKER MAYFIELD!
All this drama means there are a lot of big movers in this week’s Fun Power Rankings, including a very new look top 10, and a new team at the bottom too.
32. San Francisco 49ers (down 15)
The San Francisco 49ers’ hopes of a revival all hinged on Jimmy Garoppolo - we knew as much last season when he turned their fortunes around within seconds of entering the line-up. Now he’s gone again - taken by the cruel ACL gods - and the Niners are back to being an unwatchable team with one eye already on next year’s draft. Gutting.
31. Arizona Cardinals (up 1)
Josh Rosen has been named the starting quarterback for week four, all but ending Sam Bradford’s career as an NFL starter. The rookie gives this toothless offense a layer on intrigue, but making them exciting all on his own may be a step too far.
30. Tennessee Titans (down 7)
The Titans are getting very good at grinding out wins - great news for their chances of playing January football this season, terrible news for everyone who has to watch them. Marcus Mariota’s use of his legs is the most interesting thing about this team right now.
29. Oakland Raiders (down 1)
The Raiders’ total inability to close games out is driving me up the wall a little bit, so I can only imagine what it’s doing to their fans. After ripping it up last week Amari Cooper only managed 17 yards against Miami, instead letting Jordy Nelson take centre stage with a huge 173-yard and a touchdown performance.
28. Dallas Cowboys (down 1)
Ezekiel Elliott has his biggest game of the season, but still Dallas look sluggish on offense and their defense wasn’t able to pull off enough stops to halt a pretty limited Seahawks attack. The NFC East isn’t exactly on fire right now.
27. New England Patriots (down 2)
Sunday against the Lions was the first time the Patriots recorded three straight three-and-outs to start a game since people starting collecting that data in 2000. They never even looked like beating what had been a pretty poor Detroit team. I bet they still win the Super Bowl.
26. Houston Texans (down 4)
There’s so much potential in this Texans team - the trio of Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller is up there with the league’s most exciting, and they have JJ Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Tyrann Mathieu on defense, but it’s just not quite coming together.
25. Detroit Lions (up 4)
Matt Patricia really, really needed that win. Maybe he was so desperate to beat his old employers he just didn’t bother preparing for the opening two weeks? It would explain a lot.
24. Seattle Seahawks (up 2)
A team quarterbacked by Russell Wilson should be so much more fun than this. Thank god Earl Thomas decided to come back to Seattle - he’s carrying this franchise at the moment.
23. New York Giants (up 7)
Finally the Giants show us something! Eli Manning looked more like his old, Patriots-conquering self, Saquon Barkley racked up more than 100 all-purpose yards and Odell Beckham Junior and Sterling Shepard both made some big plays out wide. More of the same against a leaky Saints defense next week, please.
22. New York Jets (down 7)
To be fair to the Jets, there was nothing they could do this week. Had they won they would have destroyed the most interesting narrative in the NFL, but by losing they, well, lost. Isaiah Crowell wiped his bum on the ball and threw it at the Browns fans though! That was fun!
21. Philadelphia Eagles (up 3)
Carson Wentz is back. Once Alshon Jeffery is back too this team might start cooking with gas. Despite a less than thrilling start to the season the Eagles are still one of the complete teams in the NFL.
20. Washington Redskins (up 1)
The Redskins are looking like a classic Alex Smith team, which means they’re probably destined to sit no higher than number 20 for the rest of the season. Prove me wrong.
19. Jacksonville Jaguars (down 5)
Well that was a reality check. After comprehensively putting away the Patriots last week, with Blake Bortles looking like Tom Brady and Keelan Cole making outrageous OBJ-like catches, they go and lose 9-6 to the Titans in a game that was only slightly more appealing than having to scrape out your own eyeballs with a rusty spoon.
18. Denver Broncos (down 7)
When I picked out rookie running back Phillip Lindsay as one of the players to watch out for on RedZone this week, I didn’t say it because I expected him to get ejected for throwing punches. The Broncos failed to score after the first quarter in Baltimore, letting the game drag out to a pretty limp conclusion.
17. Buffalo Bills (up 14)
I have no idea what happened in the Vikings-Bills game on Sunday. None of it makes any sense. It’s making me question everything about the NFL and for that reason Buffalo makes a stratospheric jump this week. This is probably still an awful team, but we can’t be certain anymore.
16. Indianapolis Colts (down 8)
A fair drop for the Colts who struggles against a strong Philadelphia defense this week. It’s games like these where Andrew Luck’s lack of weapons will hurt them, and it’s what will stop them making the playoffs too.
15. Miami Dolphins (up 5)
The Dolphins are a really odd 3-0 team. Putting them down at 16 feels a little unfair, but then they’ve been more workmanlike than electrifying. Miami have been faced with three pretty average teams and seen them off respectably, but they’re not getting anyone hot in the pants just yet.
14. Los Angeles Chargers (up 4)
The Chargers are more promising than their 1-2 start suggests. They have the 49ers and Raiders next up - a good chance for Philip Rivers and company to start chasing down the Chiefs.
13. Cincinnati Bengals (down 8)
This big drop is more down to other teams making big jumps - sorry, Cinci. This is still easily the most enjoyable iteration of Andy Dalton since that great 2015 team, and the Bengals look like a decent shot at an AFC wildcard spot. A game that should they get there they will of course lose.
12. Baltimore Ravens (up 4)
The Ravens are more efficient than they are exhilarating, but they do have a 100% success rate in the red zone so far this season - something no other team can boast. Joe Flacco continues to give Baltimore no reason to chuck Lamar Jackson into the lineup before he’s ready.
11. Green Bay Packers (down 7)
Aaron Rodgers looks banged up - turns out there’s only so much even a genius like he can do on one leg. He was still able to throw for 265 yards and two touchdowns against the Redskins, including a big scoring hit to Geronimo Allison, but you have to wonder how far he can take the Packers without full mobility.
10. Carolina Panthers (up 9)
The Cam Newton-Christian McCaffrey tandem is one of the most exciting in the NFL. McCaffrey blew up for 184 yards against the Bengals while Newton ran for two touchdowns, taking the record for the most rushing touchdowns in league history at the age of just 29. The fact all four NFC South teams are the in top ten shows once again that it’s the most watchable division in football.
9. Minnesota Vikings (down 6)
Congratulations to the Vikings for somehow managing to find themselves 27-0 down to the winless Buffalo Bills entering the fourth quarter. They managed just 14 yards rushing all game without Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins couldn’t find any of his receivers on big plays either. Let’s just chalk this one up to some bizarre juju.
8. Chicago Bears (up 1)
They say defense wins championships, which isn’t always true, but what it does do is make this Chicago Bears team more exciting than they’ve been in years. They had four sacks (two from Khalil Mack, surprise surprise) and three interceptions against the Cardinals on Sunday. Who knows, maybe this unit will be good enough to claim the NFC North.
7. Atlanta Falcons (up 6)
It’s always a tough break when you throw for five touchdowns and still end up on the losing side, but don’t worry Matt Ryan, at least you’re back in the top ten of the Fun Power Rankings! Falcons fans have to giddy about rookie Calvin Ridley - he followed up his breakout game against the Panthers last week with a 146-yard, three-touchdown performance against the Saints. Yikes.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (up 6)
Life isn’t exactly calm in Pittsburgh, but winning their first game of the season should help soothe some tempers a little. Ben Roethlisberger has gone over 300 yards in each of the Steelers’ three games this season, and JuJu Smith-Schuster is quietly becoming a stud.
5. New Orleans Saints (up 5)
All this offense really needed to put it over the edge was Drew Brees pulling off outrageous spin moves. Obviously he delivered. Michael Thomas needs more respect as one of the league’s very, very best receivers. Alvin Kamara is the number one running back in the league right now. The defense is… not good, which only makes Saints games more fun.
4. Los Angeles Rams (up 3)
If you had to take a punt on a team to win the Super Bowl this season, most people would probably pick the Rams. That’s despite losing both their star cornerbacks to injury - Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters will be huge losses and makes this defense less exciting to watch, but there’s no doubt Los Angeles ae one of the best teams to watch this season.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (down 1)
The Fitzmagic Express, destination Super Bowl hit a slight bump in the tracks against Pittsburgh, but the former Harvard man still threw for more than 400 yards and three touchdowns (just with three interceptions to boot). Is there a better receiver corps in the NFL right now? I’m not sure there is.
2. Cleveland Browns (up 4)
How can you not love Baker Mayfield? Or Myles Garrett? Or Denzel Ward? This is suddenly a Browns team stocked with young, exciting talent who play aggressive and believe they’re good enough to finally turn this franchise around. The game against the Jets changed in an instant when Mayfield entered the fray, and Hue Jackson has confirmed this is now his team. I can’t wait to see what he does with it.
1. Kansas City Chiefs (-)
The record for the number of receivers to catch touchdowns for a single team in one season is 13 - Patrick Mahomes has currently thrown scores to nine in just three games. Andy Reid’s playcalling has been a step ahead of his opponents’ all season - he’s tended to get found out in the later weeks, but in Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt and co. he may well have built an offense that can last the duration.
