Strong Side Sports

There were a couple…drastic movements this week. Did I over evaluate some teams after Week 1? Undervalue others? Or perhaps I’m being a bit too reactionary this week. I need to see some more tape to be sure, but here’s how I’m seeing things headed into Week 3:

Top 10

1. Chiefs – Kansas City was able to overcome their kryptonite in the form of the Cincinnati Bengals this week, so at the top they shall remain. Their Sunday night trip to Atlanta looks more appealing after the Falcons’ late game heroics on Monday night, but the Chiefs are still the Chiefs until proven otherwise.
2. Texans – I don’t necessarily feel like Houston put up a 2nd best in the league performance against the Bears, but they benefit from a lot of other top teams losing last week. They’ll square off with a surprising Vikings team this weekend for the right to be 3-0.
3. Bills – The Bills dismantled the Dolphins on Thursday, as they so often do. They’ll take on the Jags as the first to kickoff on Monday Night’s double header. This could be a potential upset lying in wait for Josh Allen and Co., but I’m not putting any money on it.
4. Niners – I don’t think anyone imagined the Niners would drop one in Week 2 to the Vikings, yet here we are. This is still a very good squad, and facing the depleted Rams this weekend is a great get-right game for San Fran.
5. Buccaneers – Don’t look now, but the Bucs are hot. I hate to call any game a gimmie (especially after how wrong I was about the Ravens last week), but the Buccaneers have been playing great and the Broncos offense is absolutely putrid. Chalk that one up for a dub.
6. Saints – It turns out that the offensive firestorm that was the Saints’ Week 1 outing against Carolina may have not all been smoke and mirrors. They hung an outstanding 44 on the Cowboys, and are currently averaging 45.5 points/game while only allowing 14.5 points/game. The Eagles certainly don’t want to start the season 1-2, but will they be able to slow down this seemingly prolific Saints offense?
7. Eagles – I’m not gonna bail on the Eagles quite yet, but if they fall to 1-2, it may be time to hit the panic button in Philly.
8. Cowboys – I’m thoroughly enjoying the beat down that Dallas received on Sunday. Things won’t get any easier when Lamar and the Ravens fly into AT&T Stadium on Sunday, hungry for their first win and probably pretty pissed off that they lost to the Raiders.
9. Lions – In retrospect, I probably should’ve had the Lions higher than Dallas and Philly, but I’m too far down the rabbit hole now. They fell victim to the Buccaneers’ revenge for last year’s playoff game, but I think they’re fine overall. A road trip out west to face the (dangerous) Cardinals is next on the docket for Detroit.
10. Jets – Do the Jets really deserve to still be up here? Ehhh. I’m riding the line between teams that have underperformed/over-performed and this kind of thing gets messy when you’ve got teams like the Ravens and Bengals starting 0-2, and teams like the Cardinals, Falcons, Seahawks, and Vikings possibly exceeding expectations thus far. The Jets have some issues, that’s certain. How will they address those issues against the Pats on what is sure to be a sloppy Thursday night game?

That’s Week 2 Power Rankings, come back tomorrow for the highly anticipated Week 3 picks.