NFL Power Rankings Week 1 Khalil Mack trade boosts Bears

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NFL Power Rankings, Week 1: Khalil Mack trade boosts Bears Published: Sep 04, 2018 at 03:13 AM Elliot Harrison Almost there ... Two words down, two days to go. The start of the regular season means no more contract chatter. No more speculation. No more preseason games with zero starters. This past offseason truly comes to a close , when the defending champs tee it up versus the pesky -- and quite talented -- . All the off-field stories from the past six months not only take a back seat but . We've had the overblown ( to the Packers), oversold (strife within the ' house), overpaid ( ... or Jon Gruden?) and a whole lot more that we can to s into the background once on-field activities begin at Lincoln Financial Field. And what a good matchup, too -- one that came down to a riveting goal-to-go series in the Divisional Round . Atlanta-Philly 2.0 should be again. Almost there. The dawn of another season also means renewed hope for all fan bases. Everybody is undefeated, with a strong suit of this particular sports league on full display come Week 1: Teams can turn it around, from cellar to penthouse, in one year's time. Like ... now that the added how's your 7-9 prediction changes? Martz (@martziano) Thanks for checking in from Mexico, Martino. The might not end up in first, but they are easily the biggest risers down below. Take a gander at the full league pecking order. The up/down arrows reflect changes from , which I provide every year on the Tuesday after weekend. On that note, your Hall-worthy take is welcome: is the place. Let the di sension commence! For more in-depth analysis on the updated league pecking order, tune in to NFL Network every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET for the "NFL Power Rankings" show. Want to add YOUR voice? Provide your thoughts in a tweet to , and your comments could be featured on air. Previous rank: So the man who stunned us all last February for the Kickoff Game. The new/old-car smell on has felt more like what you'd find on an '89 Topaz this preseason, as the QB's play fluttered back to Earth like one of his August to ses. All of which would mean very little if were ready to go. Alas, as he makes his way back from a torn ACL. Even so, with all -- er, all -- of the starters returning from the team that won LII, no other squad feels more contender-ish than this group. I can poke holes in all of 'em, in fact. Like, take the ... Previous rank: With the news that and team bra s Los Angeles became the top threat to ruin Doug Pederson's reunion tour. Donald be a smidge rusty, but there is nothing rustic about these . They're young! The lack of experience only highlights the fact from any of their burgeoning stars this preseason. A little work would've been nice for , who took a major step forward last year. Can he repeat the results of a prolific sophomore campaign with no warm-up? We'll all find out together Monday night in Oakland. Previous rank: The climb the ladder. The tall, athletic rookie out of UTSA only helps matters. If fares even a fraction as well as did last year as a rookie ... or Defensive Rookie of the Year ... or Offensive Rookie of the Year ... look out. The only flicker in the ' bright future is the short-term absence of suspended running back , without much other depth in the backfield behind Kamara. That's it. Previous rank: Everyone -- or, at least, every fan of the variety that obse ses over things like centers and guards -- is freaking out about Minnesota's offensive line. The front didn't look too bad in the preseason, although trying to accurately a se s O-line quality in August is like trying to tell the difference between pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie without touching. The preseason has devolved to the point where teams are afraid to have their starters even perform a hamstring stretch. What we glean is the strength of Mike Zimmer's personnel. The defense carries more oomph than the ' D at D.K. Metcalf Jersey all three levels. (The acquisition of former safety only added to Minnesota's enviable defensive depth.) The wide receivers are superior to New England's, and the backfield is even. That's why the top AFC team sits where it does for now, with the at the cleanup spot. Previous rank: Even needs to throw to, despite the popular myth that he can work with anybody. (now with the Rams) caught a lot of those intermediate chunk balls last year. (now with the Dolphins) caught just about everything. (now with the Titans) was no chump, either. At this point, sans (suspended for four games), it might be a bumpy ride for the smoothest pa ser in the game. There is pre sure on the defense, specifically those corners. Previous rank: Yep, sizeable drop. Teams only move four clicks downward in this rarefied air when there are appropriate reasons, of course. For Jacksonville, that starts with for the year. Doug Marrone will once again feature a tough defense that can control the engagement, although opponents with strong ground games can move the football on the Jags, who ranked 21st against the run in 2017. In order for this squad to win big, Jacksonville's running game must dominate. Look for to end up in the 1,200-1,300-yard range rather handily. Previous rank: For most of the offseason, the worry in Sixburgh revolved around the defense and the precise number of millions running back My physical therapist -- a giant honk -- told me fans are growing weary of Bell's act. Each time he mentioned it, he grinded his bony thumb into my IT band a little harder. I digre s. I like the move a lot. It's one of those that might help Pittsburgh steal a win. The defensive line, methinks, looks legit. Oh, who is the returner? ? Previous rank: Who knows how good the can be? There are those who think they are a contender, with other pundits considering them the odd team out in the postseason. Generally, it's the or the upstart (or, perhaps, the if they don't win the NFC South) removing Atlanta from the picture. Where the offense -- and, specifically, -- falls is the question. In Year 2 of the Steve Sarkisian era, will Ryan be closer to the MVP-winning 2016 version of himself (38 TDs, 7 INTs, 117.1 pa ser rating) or what we saw from him last year (20 TDs, 12 INTs, 91.4 pa ser rating)? My gue s: somewhere in the middle. Either way, with that offensive line, running back group and receiver corps, there are no excuses. Previous rank: The appear set for a playoff run, although linebacker has been a concern thus far. With third-round pick the latest (though not for the entire season, unlike Jake Ryan), the organization has had to scramble. Too bad, because I remember when Burks was making plays in camp and going yard at Coors Field with Dante Bichette and Andres Galarraga. Oh. Another note: A roster review mixed with analytics will tell you the Vikes take the NFC North. Be mindful that, as awesome as analytics can be in terms of providing context, the NFL regular season is too short for a numbers-based prediction to David Moore Jersey be extremely accurate. In the NBA, the 82-game slate allows for trends to surface and have meaning. Shorter point: If gets streaky good in December, it's over. Previous rank: Solid power-up into the top 10 for the , who are the favorites to win their division. Don't see any AFC West teams leapfrogging Anthony Lynn's group, although losing and hurt, and depth is an i sue. This just in: When your starters play well and in the preseason, it's clear you've got some cracks and splinters on your bench. sure excited a few of the fellas, huh? The are a playoff team. Previous rank: Are the a team? That is the question. There are three major determinants here: **A)** Can their pa s-rush-by-committee be as succe sful as it was in 2017? is now on board, but this team still must blitz to get after the QB, as the top edge rusher is about 50 years old. Gotta love , whose sack-per-play ratio last year was out of sight. **B)** owns new toys outside ( , D.J. Moore) and a new OC in Norv Turner. Thinking Carolina needs the thumper inside the 10 to be , not the QB1. **C)** This talented group is part of an even more talented group: the NFC South. It's gonna be a difficult road. </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: The running game remains a question mark, as does the offensive line. coming back would mean much to an otherwise-middling ground attack. The DeAndre Hopkins-led receiver group is the exact opposite. Bill O'Brien can't play everybody. and made hay in the preseason, which was encouraging. , which sounds like Forever 21's makeup spinoff store and now is one of my favorite football names, looks to replace the departed . It's not hard to replace that fourth preseason game, however. Run a "Bonanza" marathon or something -- other than Week 4 of the practice games. Previous rank: I'm a little bit higher on than their prospects as a team at the moment. It's hard to decipher where Mike Vrabel's squad is right now. Then again, I can't really justify bouncing any of the groups below over Tenne see -- other than the or maybe the . Like Big Blue, the boys in baby blue are sporting a new head coach, a new running back and a new-ish defensive scheme. I like the ' wideouts better, but the get the nod at offensive line. Will any of it matter enough for Tenne see to secure a wild-card berth? Previous rank: Nice growth spurt for the once-woebegone , who climb into the top half of the Power Rankings for the first time in a time. What gives? There's a new stud tailback in place, one side of the offensive line has been fixed and Jr. is back. With to get a lifetime pa s to Medieval Times Raging Waters. Previous rank: This is not a simple reaction to -- it's merely a simple reaction to the blockbuster. What a move by general manager Ryan Pace, who swashbuckled his way acro s the front-office universe like Captain James T. Kirk and dealt a blow to the Klingons, Romulans and Gorn ... er, the , and with the addition of a top-five defensive player. Couple Mack with an already stable defense (much better than the one in Oakland), then further take into account a solid offensive line, a steady RB1 and an ascending franchise quarterback, and it's clear Chicagoans have themselves a squad. Previous rank: Perhaps more than any other team (save for maybe the Cowboys), the run the football succe sfully. Get going off play-action or first-down throws and provide air time (oxygen) for a defense that is trending in the right direction but is not yet dominant. Thus, ' growth as an RB1 might be a playoff decider. Previous rank: So, you might have heard that the offense is going to be high-flyin' and the defense is going to suck. I am not here to dispel that notion. The secondary needed more time to play together in the preseason. Maybe not in the game, though. Whoa, Nothing about is. He will suffer through a few hiccups, but these should move the ball like the Green-Priest-Gonzalez group from the early 2000s. Previous rank: The are a decent football team with more answers than questions on offense and more questions than answers on defense. There are a few sources of anxiety at all three levels of the D. The pa s rush is middling -- at . At linebacker, some folks are wondering if 2017 first-rounder was a mi sed pick. When it comes to the kind of pick, who knows how many the corners will get? , who tied for the NFL lead in interceptions in 2017 with eight, is a fine player, while the rest of that grab-bag bears watching. Or not. Previous rank: Kyle Shanahan has everyone's respect. Niner fans are all riding the Jimmy G train. No amount of training camp rustine s and/or go sip-inducing date nights will change that. In related matters, HBO nixed its late-night adult programming. You're welcome for that update. The fantasy studs (can't call 'em geeks anymore) were jumping out of their Magic The Gathering game nights to draft in the second round. Then McKinnon went down with a Now afterthought-signee will carry the load. The defense? Stinks. Especially with Previous rank: The have a viable quarterback (we think), a viable defense (we're pretty sure) and a new RB1 to grind clock time and yards (we hope). Speculation sprouted when was listed atop Denver's depth chart. We were left anticipating when rookie would displace Booker, like we were waiting for those Fixodent commercials that air late nights on the History Channel. Actually, I'm partial to the spots for Thompson's WaterSeal (for your outdoor deck). Unsurprisingly, before Week 1 even kicked off. Previous rank: The aren't as bad as you think. With , and healthy, the offense should make some noise. On to a bit of house-cleaning: , I upset Cincy fans by suggesting this group has no dominant defensive players that scare offensive coordinators. I meant there's no top-10-level guy like , or . Didn't mean to imply the defense doesn't boast some damn-good players. is the best of the bunch and -- along with -- is carrying around a these days. Didn't like the departure, but the should still feature a top-15 defense. Previous rank: This is as high as we can go for a team that is built to win whilst running the ball but suddenly has defective parts. 's back has always been a concern, although he's fine for now. has a small knee i sue. got And now is That's four-fifths of the offensive line to fret over -- and three former first-team All-Pros, if you're scoring at home. We haven't even gotten to the wide receiver corps yet. That's more depre sing than seeing Ray Liotta in Chantix commercials. Previous rank: The are slowly creeping up the big board here, which hopefully means they won't be using their big board to pick in the top 10 next spring. Miami's ascendancy, however modest, emanates from the modest showings of a now-healthy , easily the most important player on the team. Not just because he's the quarterback, but because this organization is at a cro sroads, from the front office down. The must be competitive in a weak AFC East. Looking forward to the Kenyan Drake- RB combo. Previous rank: Perhaps we should have all seen the -- or at least the po sibility of it -- coming when Jon Gruden pointed out Mack. Considering the salary cap steadily goes up every year, and considering Oakland's relative dearth of stars, I'm not sure why the organization didn't pay its best player. If you feel the paid too much for a top-two pa s rusher, you will get no argument here. Then again, can you argue that the are any better today than they were at the end of last season? Because Chicago sure is looking prettier. Previous rank: Starting to like these more, even if the arrow in this section reflects a merely-modest jump. Arizona positively throttled the and while media in Dallas downplayed the shellacking because of the lack of Cowboy starters involved, the game still raised a few eyebrows in both locales. Apparently, still has -- as in, the ability to morph his job at the corner post A major i sue for the is getting someone to play at a high level opposite Peterson. That CB2 spot has been a black hole for this franchise. Even worse than the movie Previous rank: The 26 spot is probably a bit low for the , but 's threw a wrench in their plans. Plan B? . Pundits have claimed it's time for Peterson to call it a day, while the erstwhile 33-year-old former All-Pro feels he can lead the league in rushing again. the run was a huge i sue for this football team last year -- Washington ranked 32nd in run defense. That's why major draft capital was spent in the nation's capital on No. 13 overall pick Daron Payne. Will he be enough? The have the links in the chain, but that chain hasn't seen action yet. If Peterson and produce, and if the defensive line prevents opposing runners from doing the same, this arrow will go up quick. Previous rank: Where to place the amongst their league peers? 2018 looks to be a transition year in Seattle, barring a few surprises. If Pete Chris Carson Jersey Carroll's guys are to actually in the NFC West, running back will be a huge reason why. As will a new-look defense mi sing notable pieces, especially when it comes to generating pa s rush. If defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. can't make up for that deficiency, the secondary will flounder. I know a safety who could really help out in this area. I'm talking about if you're wondering. Previous rank: Buried amidst all the news was a quote from Bucs GM Jason Licht on 's starting status that was quite interesting. Licht said he isn't just going to hand the conn of the pirate ship (well, back to his one-time franchise quarterback after Winston's three-game suspension is over. , for all of his shortcomings, can be quite streaky. Say he starts fast, and Tampa is sitting at 2-1 when Winston is eligible to return. Are the Bucs supposed to just give Winston the starting gig? Meanwhile, the defense has been reworked, starting up front. The team will need to ball out, because that aforementioned three-game set features the , and . Yikes. Previous rank: Rampant enthusiasm abounds for , who flashed (repeatedly) in the preseason. If Darnold can perform immediately, and if new running back is effective, this group might surprise in the AFC East. Those are ifs. Here is what we Whether or not Darnold becomes a star, he will not be the first great quarterback in history. I was asked to make a video claiming such for our YouTube channel, but I politely refused, explaining that Joe Namath was indeed a great (not just good) player. People have no idea how to evaluate quarterback stats from the 1960s and '70s. Namath threw for more than 4,000 yards back when 2,600 was considered a fantastic season, becoming the only QB to do so until Dan Fouts accomplished the feat 11 years later (and with the benefit of a longer schedule). Namath also was the premier player on a team that pulled off the biggest upset in NFL history -- and he called his own plays doing it, to boot. He was even voted AFL Player of the Year two years in a row. Maybe football wasn't always Namath's priority, and maybe he was hurt an awful lot, but haters shouldn't tarnish his legacy because they are excited about Darnold's. Rant over. Previous rank: appears to be the genuine article. He might be a rare talent, but surely was the rare important player to participate in Week 4 of the preseason, which generally features guys who could be working at a Renai sance Festival next month. On that note, the first-string defense looked to be as strong as those groups that helped Cleveland to three conference championship games in the late 1980s. Positive vibes aside, can't go higher than 30 on a team that has lost 31 games the last two years. Not until they win one, anyway. </content:power-ranking> Previous rank: With , an offensive line that darn near got killed and a receiving corps that recently checked in , the plummet. Buffalo's defense certainly will have its say, but keep in mind that the unit lived off turnovers last year. Those ebb and flow, and the offense is not in a place -- at least not today -- where it can mitigate any shortcoming on the other side of the ball. Spoke with a few of my colleagues around the office, and no one took i sue with placing the in this slot. Well, no one except for Reggie Wayne -- but if you take a peek just below, you can figure that one out. Previous rank: Obviously, the can gallop right past some of the bottom-feeders reprises his old self. With what we know , heading into Week 1: It's challenging to place Indy above any team. The defense is bottom-tier, at least on paper. Which puts much pre sure on the offensive line and running backs to grind out yards, thus slowing down the action and taking heat off that defensive group, as well as allowing Luck to settle in without putting the whole game on his shoulders. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.
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