2023 NFL Week 3 Power Rankings

After two games, many teams have already revealed their identity while some still need to answer major questions.

With that being said, this week’s list is prone to have more drastic changes.

Here are my NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 3 of the NFL season:

1. Kansas City Chiefs (+2)
2. Dallas Cowboys (+1)
3. San Francisco 49ers (-2)
4. Philadelphia Eagles
5. Miami Dolphins
6. Baltimore Ravens (+7)
7. Buffalo Bills (+2)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars (-1)
9. Seattle Seahawks (+3)
10. Detroit Lions (-2)
11. Cincinnati Bengals (-5)
12. Pittsburgh Steelers (+4)
13. Atlanta Falcons (+8)
14. Green Bay Packers (-3)
15. Cleveland Browns (-1)
16. Los Angeles Rams (+4)
17. New England Patriots (+2)
18. New Orleans Saints (-1)
19. Tennessee Titans (+3)
20. Los Angeles Chargers (-10)
21. Washington Commanders (+3)
22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3)
23. New York Jets (-8)
24. Minnesota Vikings (+2)
25. Las Vegas Raiders (-2
26. Denver Broncos (-8)
27. New York Giants 
28. Indianapolis Colts (+2)
29. Arizona Cardinals (+3)
30. Carolina Panthers (-1)
31. Houston Texans 
32. Chicago Bears (-4)

Two teams shot up in the rankings this week, those being the Falcons and Ravens, who jumped up eight and seven spots, respectively. 

Starting with the Falcons, Arthur Smith, who was arguably on the hot seat going into the season, has his team sitting at 2-0 after a gritty win against Green Bay.

Atlanta has a clear identity and thus far, it’s been effective.

Smith is using Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier to control the game behind the offensive line and just asks Desmond Ridder to make a couple of plays in the red zone, which he’s shown he is capable of doing.

This offense has also been the defense's best friend with the amount of time it controls the ball, and when the defense has been on the field, it has done its job aswell.

Led by a strong interior and playmakers A.J. Terrell and Jesse Bates in the secondary, this defense is more than capable enough to win this division.

The NFC South does have three teams at 2-0, but it feels like Atlanta has the least amount of questions at this point and should be the favorites in that division.

Now, onto the Ravens.

WIll I admit I was wrong about the Ravens yet? No.

However, the week two win in Cincinnati was very impressive.

This was the first display of Lamar Jackson showing he can play well in Todd Monken’s offense.

Jackson looked comfortable as a thrower and felt in control of the game for all 60 minutes.

The defense also was really good in this game and while that may be somewhat due to Joe Burrow’s injury, Baltimore certainly deserves credit for what they did on that side of the ball.

Injuries are already beginning to pile up for the Ravens, and I still don’t fully trust Todd Monken over the course of a season, but I will say the Ravens look better than I anticipated after winning a massive road divisional game.

This week we have a little bit of history in the This Show First Power Rankings.

Until now, no team had dropped 10 spots in the Power Rankings in between two weeks.

The Los Angeles Chargers, however, are perfectly deserving of this honor.

Just when we thought Brandon Staley couldn’t get any worse after the Wild Card loss last season against Jacksonville, he has done just that.

Staley’s defense, which is the most expensive in the NFL, has given up over 31 points a game through two weeks and has been the primary reason for both losses.

This defense has plenty of talent, but the coach is completely incompetent, and the sooner he’s fired for Kellen Moore the better.

Now, pointing at the defense for these two losses and the Jacksonville loss is fair, but Justin Herbert deserves to have fingers pointed at him as well.

The Chargers gave Herbert a $52.5 million per year contract this offseason, and their return on investment hasn’t been where it's needed to be.

In week one, Jason Sanders missed the PAT that would’ve put Miami up by three points, leaving 1:45 on the clock for Herbert to get just a field goal to win.

With the opportunity to step up and go win the football game, Herbert took a horrible intentional grounding and the potential game-winning drive was over before it really even started.

The Chargers spent that $52 Million for those games to be won.

In week two, Herbert got the ball down by three with over two minutes left and led the Chargers to kicking a game-tying field goal.

Does that get the job done? Yes. But $52 Million should buy a touchdown there.

But, Herbert did get the ball first in overtime with the chance to end the game on his own terms with all the time in the world.

The result of that drive? Three-and-out.

Those are certainly not the outcomes the Chargers had in mind when giving Herbert the biggest deal in NFL history.

I do believe in Herbert as a talent, but he still hasn’t fully proven he can be trusted in clutch-time moments.

The one thing that I think can change that is giving him an offensive coach.

Herbert deserves some blame, but it all circles back to Brandon Staley and the fact that he’s not the right coach for a star QB. 

It’s time to see if Kellen Moore as the head coach can push Herbert over that last hurdle, which is necessary if the Chargers want to win anything with this core.