Week Two NFL Power Rankings

Instead of taking a look game by game, here are my updated NFL Power Rankings after two weeks along with what we know about each team. Some of the familiar faces remain up top, but two Super Bowl hopefuls in the NFC take a dramatic drop after poor performances at home dropped them to 0-2.

1. New Orleans Saints – The Saints take over the top spot pending their match-up at San Francisco tonight. What we know: Drew Brees and the offense are going to score points. (Editor's Note: The Saints keep their top spot after a hard fought road victory against a desperate 49ers team.)

2. Pittsburgh Steelers – Does any single unit in the NFL look better than the Steelers defense right now? Can three linebackers (Timmons, Woodley, Harrison) from the same team earn All-Pro? Should the Steelers play Antwaan Randle El at QB in week three if Dixon and Leftwich can’t go? What we know: The defense, if healthy, is Super Bowl good.

3. Green Bay Packers – Everyone’s chic pick for the Super Bowl looks that much better after watching Dallas and Minnesota stumble out of the gates. Clay Matthews looks like a one-man wrecking crew (six sacks in two games) and the Pack defense has 10 sacks already; can they keep that kind of pressure up? What we know: Aaron Rodgers is pretty good.

4. Indianapolis Colts – Peyton Manning and the Colts looked just fine last night beating up on little brother. What we know: The Colts will finish somewhere around the 12 win mark.

5. New England Patriots – With apologies to some of the 2-0 teams out there, New England still has the look of Super Bowl contender. What surprised me the most against the Jets yesterday was the vanilla defensive gameplan by Bill Belichick. Why give Mark Sanchez time? The guy has proven he is terrible right now under pressure, why oblige and send only three and four man rushes. What we know: Tom Brady had a fairly ordinary game in New York, he’ll bounce back just fine.

6. Houston Texans – Beating the Super Bowl favorites convincingly at home and following it up by completing a 17-point comeback on the road earns you the biggest jump in our rankings. What we know: The Texans offense can score points in a hurry.

7. San Diego Chargers – The Chargers sure looked like they didn’t miss Vincent Jackson in yesterday’s beat down of the Jaguars. What we know: The Chargers are a thunderstorm and a conservative play-calling series away from being 2-0.

8. New York Jets – Rex Ryan probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his defensive gameplans and play-calling. Anyone else notice that the Jets defense got better against the pass when Revis went out of the game? What we know: The Jets defense is terrific and Mark Sanchez can be effective with time.

9. Cincinnati Bengals – With the early struggles of the Cowboys and Vikings, the AFC looks even further superior to the NFC than what I had initially thought. The Bengals defense rebounded nicely from a terrible week one performance, but the offense has to find a way to put seven, and not three, on the board. What we know: The Bengals defense isn’t nearly as bad as they were against New England.

10. Baltimore Ravens – So much for that talk about the Ravens offense now leading the way in Baltimore. The Ravens need to find a way to kick start their running game which has looked ordinary in the first two weeks, albeit against two very good defenses. What we know: Ray Lewis looks 25-years-old and has this defense playing like a top five caliber unit once again.

11. Atlanta Falcons – Showed good offensive balance in their 41-7 drumming of the Cardinals. What we know: Matt Ryan needs to become more consistent week to week for the Falcons to become Super Bowl contenders.

12. Tennessee Titans – Don’t take too much from the Titans offensive performance against the Steelers as they usually struggle against a Pittsburgh defense that excels at stopping the run. Chris Johnson and Vince Young will be just fine. What we know: The Titans wide receivers are nothing to fear.

13. Miami Dolphins – The ‘Fins go to Minnesota for a big win and an opening 2-0 start with both victories coming on the road, a great recipe towards earning a playoff berth. What we know: The Dolphins still need more from their passing game, averaging less than 150 yards passing in their first two contests.

14. Minnesota Vikings – Minnesota’s passing game looks downright atrocious right now. What we know: The Vikings need to rely even more on Adrian Peterson until Favre gets going and Sidney Rice comes back (or they trade for Vincent Jackson).

15. Chicago Bears – If Jay Cutler performs the rest of the year the way he did yesterday, I have the Bears severely under-ranked at number 15. I have my doubts though. What we know: The Bears offense already looks significantly improved under Mike Martz after only two games.

16. New York Giants – I’ll give the nod to the Giants for now in what looks like a jumbled mess in the NFC East. If I could pick any one team or the field to win this division right now, I would most certainly take the field. What we know: The Giants plan to make Peyton Manning run the football last night didn’t work out too well.

17. Washington Redskins – Blowing a 17-point second half lead is the type of loss that can have a team watching the playoffs on television. There is no way that Mike Shanahan and company can allow that to happen at home. What we know: Donovan McNabb (along with Shanahan) has given this team instant credibility.

18. Dallas Cowboys – The Cowboys are off to a miserable start and with their brutal schedule must get it together before it’s too late. Luckily for Dallas the rest of the NFC East, and really the entire NFC, has shown obvious flaws as well. What we know: Wade Phillips seat is getting awfully warm.

19. Philadelphia Eagles – If Michael Vick was going to be the starter going forward I would probably have the Eagles a few spots higher. I don’t blame Andy Reid for playing Kevin Kolb, however, because if it were about this season only Philadelphia would not have traded McNabb. What we know: Philadelphia area sports-talk radio should be pretty darn interesting this week.

20. Kansas City Chiefs – Raise your hand if you had the Steelers, Texans, Dolphins and Chiefs as the only undefeated AFC teams after two weeks. I don’t understand the Chiefs’ strategy of not using Jamaal Charles more but it’s hard to argue with the job new coordinators Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel have done. What we know: The Chiefs have done a good job of acquiring good young talent.

21. Denver Broncos – I think Josh McDaniels is one of the better in-game coaches in football. His personnel decisions, however, can certainly be questioned. What we know: The Broncos are a completely different team at home and on the road.

22. San Francisco 49ers – I am very interested in seeing how the 49ers rebound tonight against the defending champs. Their performance could move them way up or way down these rankings. What we know: The Niners need a much better performance from Frank Gore tonight if they are going to have a chance to win. (Editor's Note: The 49ers probably deserve to be a few spots higher after their spirited performance Monday night. We'll keep them here for the time being as they are sure to move themselves up the rankings if they continue to perform at that level.)

23. Seattle Seahawks – The excitement from the beginning of the Pete Carroll era lasted a whole one week in Seattle. What we know: Much like the Broncos, the Seahawks are a completely different team at home than they are on the road.

24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The lowest ranked team among those still unbeaten deserves a ton of credit for finding a way to win football games. I think the Bucs’ start has a lot more to do with facing Jake Delhomme and Matt Moore at QB than anything else, however. What we know: Nobody had the Bucs and Steelers on a collision course of unbeaten teams going into week three!

25. Jacksonville Jaguars – It probably wasn’t the best day David Garrard has ever had on a football field Sunday after throwing four interceptions against the Chargers. What we know: The Jaguars are probably the best of the bad teams in the NFL, but that really isn’t saying much.

26. Detroit Lions – The Lions suffered another hard-fought loss to the Eagles after managing a late rally to pull within three. What we know: After so many years of complete incompetence from Detroit’s front office, things are finally going in the right direction for Lions’ fans.

27. Carolina Panthers – Carolina should have listened to my strategy of trying to win a game without attempting a single pass. Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen, who was inserted late for the ineffective Moore, finished a combined 13-29 for 159 yards, 1 TD, 2 interceptions, four sacks allowed and a lost fumble. Carolina fans might be asking for the return of Delhomme at this point…or maybe not. What we know: The Panthers need to find some semblance of a passing game.

28. Oakland Raiders – I said the Raiders needed to beat the Rams by four points at home if they are going to show any improvement this year. Well they would have, except for the terrible play-calling in the fourth quarter that allowed St. Louis to backdoor a cover. Jason Campbell was also pulled for Bruce Gradkowski, former midget football teammate of mine, in what clearly was a motivational ploy by head coach Tom Cable, and one that worked. What we know: Run DMC (Darren McFadden) looks like he may finally be realizing all of that potential he brought to the league after leaving Arkansas.

29. Arizona Cardinals – The Cardinals are probably lucky to be 1-1 at this point. What we know: Coach Whisenhunt and Larry Fitzgerald will probably watch Kurt Warner on Dancing with the Stars tonight and think, ‘you left us for this!’

30. Cleveland Browns – Cleveland has lost their two games by a combined five points. Unfortunately for them, there are no bonus points for close losses. What we know: You are not going to win many football games with Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace behind center.

31. St. Louis Rams – Say what you want about the Rams but the team has been very competitive in each of its first two games, already a big improvement from last year. What we know: Sam Bradford has a ton of promise but he still has a long way to go to get there.

32. Buffalo Bills – If you’re still reading this you already know how bad Buffalo is. What we know: The Bills should trade one of their three running backs to Green Bay.