2024 NFL Power Rankings Entering Week 3

Week 2 is in the books, and my gosh was it a doozy.

The favorites went a head-turning .500 last week. Key teams to get upset in Week 2 include the San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Hats off if you escaped unscathed in your survivor pool.

Injuries wreaked havoc on the league, too. Isiah Pacheco, Marquise Brown, and Christian McCaffrey were some of the names to join Jordan Love and Puka Nacua on the IR, while Cooper Kupp is expected to miss an extended period of time and could end up on that list. We also saw Tua Tagovailoa go down with another unfortunate concussion. Miami has yet to decide if he will join the injured reserve.

Our NFL Power Rankings -- which are powered by numberFire's nERD-based rankings -- have shown plenty of movement since a week ago.

The biggest jumpers in our Power Rankings include the apparently lethal New Orleans Saints (2-0), who moved up eight spots, and the Los Angeles Chargers (2-0), a team that galloped ten spots after their 26-3 win over the Carolina Panthers. Our biggest losers of the week include the Cowboys (dropped 14 spots), Dolphins (dropped 13 spots), and the injury-riddled, winless Los Angeles Rams (dropped seven spots).

How does everything shake out in the league heading into Week 3? Let's find out.

All NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook.

NFL Power Rankings (Week 3)

Teams Ranked 32nd to 23rd

It didn't take long for the Week 3 news cycle to kick into high gear. Yesterday, the Panthers announced the team is benching Bryce Young in favor of Andy Dalton. Despite being outscored by a massive 60 points through two games, this news still came as a pretty big shocker. They'll continue to be the laughingstock of the league until further notice.

The Washington Commanders (1-1) check in at the 30th spot, but they've nonetheless had an encouraging start to 2024. A win over the hapless New York Giants might not mean much, but Jayden Daniels has looked pretty dang good, something that cannot be said about any other rookie QB in his class thus far.

The Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans are each winless and have watched their respective signal-callers make some comically bad reads. Will Levis has faced a pair of tough defenses and has a chance to bring the Titans their first dub of the season as -158 moneyline favorites over the Green Bay Packers this Sunday, but it's hard to picture Bo Nix and Denver making a jump any time soon.

Should we check in on the Las Vegas Raiders? They mustered a big-boy upset win against Baltimore over the weekend and now head into a meeting with a pee-wee Carolina team. They'll draw a matchup against the Broncos in Week 5 and meet up with the Rams in Week 7, and Los Angeles could potentially still be without both Kupp and Nacua by then. There are some very winnable games ahead for Vegas. As sour as it feels, it might be apt to check out the over on their 7.5-win total, which comes at even money.

Speaking of the Rams, the team's landscape looks awfully dreary. An 0-2 start is bad enough, but losing both Kupp and Nacua for weeks on end has put a total damper on their season. Even worse, they'll head into a matchup with the Niners this weekend. Los Angeles held -105 preseason playoff odds but numberFire's metrics now give them just a 6.1% chance to reach the postseason. Watch out for some of our periphery NFC teams as it seems a potential Wild Card spot may have just opened up.

Teams Ranked 22nd to 13th

New Orleans stomped on Dallas by a score of 44-19 in Week 2 while the Eagles shot themself in the foot in last night's Monday Night Football loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Though neither team is high on my Super Bowl radar, we shouldn't let their 1-1 starts rule our opinion. Dallas will be just fine and Philadelphia's defense, while disheartening, probably won't hinder them too much in the regular season.

It's hard to even talk about the Dolphins at this point. Tua's concerning head injury and unknown timetable will force us to circle back to Miami at a later date.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers have both impressed with 2-0 starts. Tampa Bay for sure draws the most attraction here as Baker Mayfield has looked like a legit leader, and it's hard to take a win over Detroit lightly. They are starting to look like a 10-win team, especially since they'll draw a pair of matchups against Carolina this season and enter as -310 moneyline favorites against Denver this weekend.

Staying in the NFC South, I'm ready to forgive the Falcons' offense for their brutal Week 1 showing. Did Philadelphia's blunders play a huge role in Atlanta's victory last night? Sure. But we're looking at a team that has a lock-down defense, and Kirk Cousins looked pretty solid last night, so long as Cousins continues to beat the washed allegations, this otherwise young and talented offense can make some big moves this season. numberFire hands the Falcons a 60.5% playoff chance (ninth-highest), yet Atlanta's -140 playoff odds imply only a 58.3% probability.

Teams Ranked 12th to 1st

Can the Packers' faithful start to exhale? Not only did Green Bay pull off an upset victory over the Colts in Week 2, but Love's injury looks a lot less serious than initially anticipated. The Packers did not place him on the IR and listed him as questionable for this past Sunday's game before downgrading him to doubtful. Reports suggest that Love could return as soon as Week 4.

How concerned should we be about the Ravens (0-2) and Bengals (0-2)? FanDuel's AFC North odds have the Ravens (+200) and Bengals (+210) as the two favorites despite the Steelers (+280) sitting two games ahead of each of those groups in the division. If we sit back and rub our eyes, this makes total sense and presents an ideal buy-low spot if you're bullish on either Balt or Cincy. With that said, the first two weeks of the NFL season proved just how high we should be on the Buffalo Bills (2-0).

Buffalo earned the top spot in our Week 2 Power Rankings after hammering the Dolphins by a score of 31-10. Josh Allen has been Josh Allen, the run game has been superb, and they check in as numberFire's seventh-best defense in the league. Plus, Buffalo's OC Joe Brady has all the time in the world to figure out the muddled pass-catchers.

The Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) are and always will be the team to beat in the AFC, but Hollywood Brown is expected to miss the entire regular season while Pacheco (fibula) is set to miss six-to-eight weeks. We've learned time and again that an injury here or there won't stop Patrick Mahomes, but an early-season path has been paved for Buffalo to control the AFC in the regular season. I, at least, think that is of note.

Let's wrap up our Week 2 review by talking about the massive elephant in the room: the New Orleans Saints.

When New Orleans strangled the Panthers by a score of 47-10 in Week 1, we could only clap for Derek Carr and company too much given the competition. But an upset road rout over the Dallas Cowboys has fully forced the Saints onto our radar. The schedule that lies ahead for New Orleans is brutal: vs. Eagles, at Falcons, at Chiefs, and vs. Buccaneers. Past that, though, lies a schedule that is chock-full of very winnable games. If they can head into Week 7 with at least a 4-2 record, we're looking at a team that has a legitimate chance to win 11 or 12 games this season.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.