Chip Kelly is the talk of football and the Eagles make the biggest leap in Metro’s NFL Power Rankings.
1. San Francisco 49ers (1-0): Still worried about those receivers? Vernon Davis and Anquan Boldin were scary good against the Packers — and Colin Kaepernick is Randall Cunningham on acid. (Yes, that is a good thing).
2. Denver Broncos (1-0): Peyton Manning threw seven touchdowns against the defending Super Bowl champions. Seven. Wes Welker looks more comfortable here than he ever did in New England.
3. Seattle Seahawks (1-0): They escaped Carolina, barely. The rushing attack never found its stride, the offensive line gave up two sacks, but Pete Carroll’s group still got the win. Hey, when do we get to see rookie Christine Michael?
4. New England Patriots (1-0): The hits keep coming. Danny Amendola, Zach Sudfeld and Shane Vereen were added to the walking wounded. Rob Gronkowski isn’t coming back this week. Luckily, they have the Jets up next.
5. Houston Texans (1-0): Impressive comeback for Houston, the kind of win that sets the tone for the season. More importantly, Matt Schaub showed that he can beat you with his arm. Added dimension for suddenly versatile offense.
6. Green Bay Packers (0-1): Turns out, the concerns about Green Bay’s secondary were not overblown. The middle of the field was an open sieve. Still, Aaron Rodgers managed to put 28 points on the board and they were never out of it.
7. New Orleans Saints (1-0): This team just feels different under Sean Payton, doesn’t it? Drew Brees wasn’t his sharpest, but threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns. Saints are back in the championship mix.
8. Atlanta Falcons (0-1): There were many positives for Matt Ryan and Co. in a Week 1 loss. Steven Jackson looked revitalized running for 77 yards and Harry Douglas is an absolute burner. Atlanta was a tipped pass away from pulling out the W.
9. Chicago Bears (1-0): Jay Cutler looks like he’s embracing Marc Trestman’s offense. The new coach is allowing Cutler to let it rip — and he’s throwing from a clean pocket, possibly for the first time in his NFL career.
10. Cincinnati Bengals (0-1): Turnovers were the only thing stopping the boys in stripes. That Andy Dalton-A.J. Green connection looks downright unstoppable.
11. Philadelphia Eagles (1-0): Ahh, Chip Kelly is the toast of the town. His hyper-speed offense had one of the best defensive coordinators around dazed and confused. We’re not sure it can work for 16 games, but it sure is going to be fun to watch.
12. Baltimore Ravens (0-1): There are way too many question marks on offense — Brandon Stokley and Dallas Clark are not viable pass-catching options at this point in their careers — to pencil them in for a repeat. Make no mistake, John Harbaugh will keep them in every game.
13. Indianapolis Colts (1-0): We heard Andrew Luck was going to be using his legs this season. His 19-yard run secured another come-from-behind win for the man that led seven fourth-quarter comebacks in 2012.
14. Kansas City Chiefs (1-0): We figured Andy Reid would get the most of one of the most talented rosters in the league. They can fly on both sides of the ball. Wardrobe advice: Let’s get Reid out of that all red attire.
15. Detroit Lions (1-0): Reggie Bush is in the running for MVP, or at the very least Most Improved Player. He looks like he’s back at USC in this revamped offense. Very explosive.
16. Miami Dolphins (1-0): New receiver Mike Wallace is already complaining after being limited to one catch. He needs to get over it. The double coverage he endured freed up everyone else.
17. Dallas Cowboys (1-0): The Eagles aren’t the only ones with a new, no-huddle attack. Dallas stuck with short passes and a quick tempo and took advantage of six Giant turnovers.
18. St. Louis Rams (1-0): Tavon Austin didn’t make the immediate impact we thought he might, but it looks like the coaching staff is bringing him along slowly. Meanwhile, Jared Cook looks like a nice, nice weapon.
19. Tennessee Titans (1-0): Beating Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh is a good way to start the season, even if the Steelers are down. Are the Titans for real? Too early to tell.
20. New York Giants (0-1): Big Blue played like it didn’t want to win this one. We’ve seen better ball security out of high school teams. Silver lining was the wideouts looked healthy.
21. Washington Redskins (0-1): Don’t dismiss these guys after one bad game. It’s clear now that Robert Griffin III will need a few weeks to shake off the rust.
22. Minnesota Vikings (0-1): Adrian Peterson is human after all. Until Christian Ponder can make teams pay for loading up the box, the Vikes are stuck in neutral.
23. Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1): The Steelers look very, very old and incurred a bunch of injuries. The pessimist reminds you that this club has now lost six of its last eight regular-season games.
24. Carolina Panthers (0-1): A down afternoon for Cam Newton almost produced a win, thanks to an inspired defensive effort. Carolina could shock some people.
25. Arizona Cardinals (0-1): They showed flashes and overcame a non-existent porous offensive line. Carson Palmer is more than capable of getting the Cards to 8-8.
Best of the worst: 26. Buffalo Bills (0-1), 27. San Diego Chargers (0-1), 28. NY Jets (1-0), 29. Oakland Raiders (0-1), 30. Cleveland Browns (0-1), 31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-1), 32. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1).
