The second week of NFL action is in the books and we bring you our power rankings for Week 3. This week we saw the Baltimore Ravens flew too close to the sun and got burned. The Carolina Panthers and Cam Newton might just be legit but not legit enough to beat the Green Bay Packers. And in New England we were reminded of the Patriot power of the hoodie. Fear the hoodie.
So here we go, SB Nation Arizona's Week 3 NFL power rankings:
1. New England Patriots: When you drop 35 points on one of the better teams in the league, we don't care if you are at home, you earned a top spot. Enjoy and act like you've been here before.
2. Green Bay Packers: The Packers got down early to the Panthers but they pulled out their Super Bowl rings and showed a young and developing team how to get it done. But at least Cam Newton and friends made it close (and covered the spread).
3. New Orleans Saints: The Saints looked very good beating the Bears and hung tight with the Packers in Week 1. Drew Brees is still slinging it so we're gonna rank 'em high.
4. Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles lost Michael Vick to concussion (shocking) and lost a tight road game to Atlanta (not shocking).
5. New York Jets: The Jets are tough to rank because...feet!!
6. San Diego Chargers: The Chargers had a chance to keep things close in New England, but like so many others they fell victim to Hoodie Magic. How else do you explain this?
7. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens went from annihilating their hated rivals to getting punked by Tennessee. They're still good but not top five good.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers: Lost to the Ravens. Destroyed the Seahawks. We won't be able to get our hands around this avian erratic team until we see them next week against....wait, the Colts? Nope, that's not going to tell us anything either. We'll rank them high on history for now until we see more evidence one way or another.
9. Chicago Bears: The Bears beat the Falcons but lost to the Saints. We think they will be good but can't say quite yet at what. We also hope Jay Cutler has a good chiropractor and massage therapist.
10. Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons lost to the Bears but beat the Eagles. We think they will be a playoff team, don't you?
11. Detroit Lions: Yes folks, the Lions might be for real this time.
12. Washington Redskins: The Redskins might not be for real, but they much more real than they were last year.
13. Houston Texans: Wins over the Colts and Dolphins won't earn you much love but 2-0 is still undefeated.
14. Buffalo Bills: Are you starting to believe? We are.
15. Dallas Cowboys: Bonus points for playing with broken ribs and a punctured lung. That's worth at least two extra spots on the power rankings. Enjoy it!
16. New York Giants: Beat the Rams on Monday Night Football and showing some spunk. Good on you.
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josh Freeman deserves better and he'll probably get it soon enough.
18. Tennessee Titans: We don't really think the Titans are this good but they did beat the Ravens and no other team can say that (yet).
19. Arizona Cardinals: The Cards could have been about five spots higher had they been able to generate (or prevent) two more points.
20. San Francisco 49ers: We are now at the point where we go from mediocre teams to bad teams. The 49ers are on that cusp.
21. St. Louis Rams: You were supposed to win the NFC West. Instead you are 0-2. Sorry, try again next year week.
22. Carolina Panthers: This team is going places, they just haven't figured out how to get there yet. Expect to see them climb as the season moves on.
23. Jacksonville Jaguars: Did the Jaguars really think Luke McCown was going to get it done? We didn't.
The rest of these teams are technically still in the NFL so technically we have to rank them. We don't, however, have to say anything about them, so we won't. If you are fan of one of these teams you have our sympathies.
24. Miami Dolphins
25. Oakland Raiders
27. Seattle Seahawks
28. Cleveland Browns
30. Denver Broncos