NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Initial Outlook After Steelers vs. Patriots

Isn't it great to have the NFL regular season back?

In a moderately entertaining first game of the 2015 campaign Thursday night, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots downed the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-21 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Steelers made things interesting in the second half after the Patriots stormed out to a 21-3 lead, but New England's tried-and-true passing game and timely defensive stands ultimately brought the team a win.

Suspensions to both teams' starting running backs, Le'Veon Bell for the Steelers and LeGarrette Blount for the Patriots, as well as Pittsburgh receiver Martavis Bryant, did take away some of the contest's intrigue and also reduced the amount of stock we can place in the contest. 

However, we did learn some things about both squads.

With one game under the 2015 season's belt, let's check in with where all 32 teams rank, discuss some takeaways from New England's and Pittsburgh's performances and explain the ranking of another AFC contender.

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

Notable Rankings

New England Patriots (No. 3)

Stephan Savoia/Associated Press

The Patriots' overall performance Thursday night was solid but unspectacular. They showed some really good signs, and some signs that weren't so good for a team expecting no less than another Super Bowl win in five months.

Most prominent among the positives were the performances of quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski. The two hooked up for three touchdowns, with Gronk catching five balls for 94 yards in total. Brady's overall performance included a crisp line of 25-of-32 passing for 288 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

So if you were worried about the star quarterback's rough preseason performance, you can stop doing so immediately.

Another bright spot was the way cornerback Malcolm Butler covered All-Pro Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, which went way beyond the statistics.

Brown got his numbers, with nine receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown, but he was targeted only 11 times and had to work hard to make almost all of his grabs. Before the game, you probably would have predicted even more involvement from Brown in the offense, considering the Steelers' suspensions.

So Butler, a first-time starter going against maybe the best wideout in football, definitely submitted a nice game.

On the negative side, New England's overall defensive performance wasn't great, especially at stopping the run. The squad failed to set the edge several times, and Steelers backup running back DeAngelo Williams ran for 127 yards on just 21 carries. It makes you wonder what Bell would've done had he been eligible to play.

The Pats' own running game was mediocre with Dion Lewis and Brandon Bolden, but Blount's return from suspension next week should at least partially fix the issue. 

Week 1 didn't really move the needle either way for the Patriots.

Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 12)

Those who doubted the Steelers defense this year without longtime coordinator Dick LeBeau and some key veteran stars are sitting pretty right now.

The unit got two sacks on Brady, but there wasn't much pressure on the 38-year-old quarterback overall. Pittsburgh's secondary couldn't stick with their marks and had some key communication errors, like forgetting to cover Gronkowski in the red zone, which you can see in the video below starting at the 0:09 mark:

New defensive coordinator Keith Butler certainly has his work cut out for him.

The play-calling was also poor from Pittsburgh. A botched trick play that made Brown the de facto quarterback failed miserably and helped stall the Steelers' first drive of the game. The team failed to score a touchdown on a 1st-and-goal situation starting on the 1-yard line.

There was more, too.

It was a game of missed chances for the Steelers, who actually gained 464 yards to the Patriots' 361. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a nice game outside of a badly underthrown deep ball that was picked off by Patriots safety Duron Harmon.

Kicker Josh Scobee missed two field goals, both from makable distances of 44 and 46 yards, respectively. His chances of staying with the team for the rest of the season seem slim.

Getting Bell and Bryant back from their suspensions will help the squad, but they can't fix the biggest problems we saw from Pittsburgh Thursday: defense, special teams and play-calling.

Indianapolis Colts (No. 4)

AJ Mast/Associated Press

The Colts seem like the Patriots' closest competitor in the AFC at the moment.

Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos are a close second to that title, but Andrew Luck's explosive Colts offense is more trustworthy than the Denver unit, which is still trying to integrate principles from new head coach Gary Kubiak.

Neither teams' defense is particularly good, but the final straw in Indy's favor is the advantage it receives from playing six games against weak AFC South competition. That is key to giving the squad home-field advantage in the playoffs.

So why are the Colts still behind the Patriots then?

Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press

It comes down to the dependability of New England's defense compared to Indianapolis'. We saw a mediocre performance by the Patriots defense Thursday night, but the team still allowed just 21 points against a pretty good offense. The secondary has lost some punch with Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner gone, but the linebackers and defensive line should be good enough to prop the unit up.

The Colts, on the other hand, showed a propensity to get manhandled last year when they played high-scoring teams.

The Dallas Cowboys beat them 42-7. Pittsburgh dropped 51 points on the Indy defense. And New England hung more than 40 points on the Colts both times the teams met.

Until Indianapolis proves it can contain the great offenses of the NFL, it will remain the AFC's second-best team, where it ended last season.