NFL power rankings Week 3: Where do Rams slot after trouncing Giants? - USA Today

1. Seattle Seahawks (1): Their 12 wins in a row − for the 12s − mark a new franchise record, overtaking the 2005 squad that was the first to represent Seattle in the Super Bowl. The current Seahawks are set to get QB Sam Darnold back, maybe this week, against a wounded Washington outfit. Baker's dozen?

2. Buffalo Bills (3): They've got the league's best player (Josh Allen) and, apparently, have paired him with the right coach at the right time. Also feels like an upgraded home-field advantage is already in (lake) effect.

3. San Francisco 49ers (2): Only three NFL players in history have scored 50 touchdowns with two different franchises. Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and Randy Moss and − now − Christian McCaffrey. End of list. Impressive.

4. Los Angeles Rams (5): Throwback uniforms, throwback DPOY. A forthcoming coach. All seems well after their Week 1 mulligan.

5. Kansas City Chiefs (6): It's early yet − way early, obviously − but the Super Bowl MVP backfield of QB Patrick Mahomes and RB Kenneth Walker III is on pace to pass for nearly 5,000 yards and rush for nearly 2,500, respectively.

6. Cincinnati Bengals (9): Who are these guys? The six points allowed Sunday tied for Cincinnati's fewest in a game over the past decade.

7. New England Patriots (10): If you hadn't heard, lifelong Seahawks fan Macklemore will not be allowed to perform at Gillette Stadium this week. The Pats have now won seven in a row … against teams not based in the Pacific Northwest.

8. Denver Broncos (13): The offense was twice as good in Week 2 under rookie OC Davis Webb, if only still moderately impressive. Double the output in Week 3, and this team will be cooking with Crisco.

9. Minnesota Vikings (16): Let's not lose sight of the fact that they were handling Chicago before QB Caleb Williams went down. The question now is should they go back to QB Kyler Murray simply because they can?

10. Detroit Lions (12): Just what they needed, S Avonte Maddox, who'd been pressed into the starting lineup himself, is out for the season with a foot injury. GM Brad Holmes needs to consider making a move or two to augment what is, by far, the NFC's worst pass defense through two weeks.

11. Jacksonville Jaguars (8): Hate to continue belaboring the point, but if you think CB/WR Travis Hunter has basically been invisible through two weeks … yeah.

12. Dallas Cowboys (15): You knew QB Dak Prescott was now the franchise's all-time leader in TD passes (249). But did you know he's one win from defeating NFC East rivals 21 times in a row at home, which would break Tom Brady's post-merger NFL record against divisional foes? However Prescott will have to wait until the Eagles visit on Thanksgiving to take aim at that TB12 standard.

13. Chicago Bears (4): Seems like the real 'Madden' curse here is that the Bears may have to wait at least another year for their first 4,000-yard passer.

14. New Orleans Saints (17): You better put them away before the fourth quarter, when New Orleans has outscored the opposition 25-3. However you also don't want to face the Saints in the Big Easy, where they will play all but two of their next seven games.

15. Baltimore Ravens (7): John Harbaugh may be gone, but fourth-quarter meltdowns are still as much a Baltimore staple as crabcakes. But it's all "White Noise" outside the building.

16. Philadelphia Eagles (18): It's hardly been pretty, QB Jalen Hurts under relentless fire from a seemingly inferior opponent Sunday. But give him credit − Philly is 2-0 nevertheless and in its customary perch atop the NFC East.

17. New York Giants (14): A vibes 180 in the wake of ... whatever happened to QB Jaxson Dart in Monday night's loss. But it doesn't seem like the G-Men are in an unrecoverable spin ... unless Dart is actually done.

18. Houston Texans (11): What, we worry? They've now dropped their first two games in three of QB C.J. Stroud's four seasons … and recovered to reach postseason in the first two instances.

19. Carolina Panthers (23): They'd never opened a season with scoring outbursts of at least 30 points in their first two games … until now. Remarkably, QB Bryce Young is also tied for the league lead in TD passes (6) and finally starting to justify why the Panthers picked him atop the 2023 draft instead of Stroud.

20. Green Bay Packers (22): They're back in the win column after suffering their first six-game skid since the pre-Favre years. It's helped that former first-round pass rusher Lukas Van Ness' 2½ sacks are already more than he had all of last season.

21. Las Vegas Raiders (29): Kirk Cousins joined Hall of Famer Ken Stabler (1976) as the only Silver and Black QBs to throw at least three TD passes in each of a season's first two games. You'll naturally recall that the '76 Raiders won the Super Bowl.

22. Cleveland Browns (31): An impressive Week 2 win amid disadvantageous circumstances in Tampa. But all due respect to Coach Monken, betting the "Browns are gonna Browns" when they roll out QB Deshaun Watson to start the team's home opener Sunday.

23. New York Jets (27): Take heart, NYJ fans − your team isn't going winless, has been highly competitive so far but hasn't sacrificed all that much QB draft position. Sunday was a perfect loss.

24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (19): The complexion of their season might look entirely different … if not for a league-worst four fumbles lost, at least twice as many as any other team.

25. Indianapolis Colts (26): Worst defense in the league so far − by numerous metrics. Good thing they added CB Sauce Gardner to it. Sunday's game against equally winless division rival Houston could effectively be a playoff elimination bout.

26. Arizona Cardinals (24): WR Marvin Harrison Jr., the fourth overall draft pick in 2024, has one catch − on four targets − in two games … and the Cards were playing from way behind Sunday against Seattle.

27. Pittsburgh Steelers (20): It's been 16 years since HC Mike McCarthy and QB Aaron Rodgers spearheaded an offense that … produced three points. It's also been 16 years since McCarthy and Rodgers won a Super Bowl together, so … embrace hope, Yinzers.

28. Los Angeles Chargers (25): It took 100 NFL games for Jim Harbaugh to experience an 0-2 start. He could be 0-8 in no time with the Bolts' next six games against the Chiefs and five 2025 playoff qualifiers. Six fumbles Sunday.

29. Atlanta Falcons (28):At least they'll have 2024 first-round QB Michael Penix Jr. back Thursday and, theoretically, a chance to finally leverage all of their offensive firepower after failing to score a touchdown in the past seven quarters.

30. Washington Commanders (21): They won't have 2024 first-round QB Jayden Daniels, not for Week 3 against Seattle anyway. Tom Brady summed up Washington's state of affairs pretty well Sunday.

31. Tennessee Titans (30): They played much better against Philadelphia but still don't have a player with 100 yards from scrimmage … for the season.

32. Miami Dolphins (32): Not sure why they practiced in Napa all week. Coulda gotten the same results by taking hot air balloon rides and hanging out at the wineries.