Buying or Selling Each Super Bowl Contender's Hot Start to 2023 NFL Season
Seventeen NFL teams have yet to lose, or have lost just once, this season. That places all of those squads in the way-too-early Super Bowl mix, with some slow starters still in the picture as well.
And while the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders are part of that 2-1 or better group, their scoring margins make it hard to claim they're off to hot starts.
Excluding those, let's look at the 10 teams that are 2-1 or better with at least plus-9 scoring margins and do some buying and selling on their Super Bowl LVIII aspirations.
Baltimore Ravens (2-1)
1 of 10
I'm not totally sold on a Baltimore Ravens team that barely got past a hurting Cincinnati Bengals squad and then lost at home to the rebuilding Indianapolis Colts. The Week 1 victory over the also-rebuilding Houston Texans doesn't count for much, either.
Still, they could easily be 3-0, and quarterback Lamar Jackson has completed an encouraging 73.3 percent of his passes to a receiving corps that has plenty of room to grow.
Ahead of a three-game road trip, the Ravens at least look to have an edge on the rest of their tough division. Victories in Cleveland on Sunday and Pittsburgh the following week could cement things, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt for now.
Buying tentatively
Buffalo Bills (2-1)
2 of 10
In outscoring their last two (half-decent) opponents 75-13, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills made it clear their Week 1 loss to the Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets was just a weird anomaly.
Yes, this team remains prone to the odd bad game, but those were two wildly dominant victories. They can now send a major message with a home win against the AFC East-leading Miami Dolphins come Sunday.
Considering the early struggles for the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, it's possible this is finally Buffalo's year.
Buying with enthusiasm
Cleveland Browns (2-1)
3 of 10
The Cleveland Browns are a break against the Steelers short of 3-0, but I still have my doubts despite the defense being stellar and a pair of 20-plus point victories.
For starters, quarterback Deshaun Watson still hasn't shined for an extended run, and it's possible he may never regain the form of his last full NFL season in 2020.
Maybe the 28-year-old turned a corner in a strong Week 3 performance against the Tennessee Titans, but he and the rest of the team will be tested by the visits of Baltimore and the San Francisco 49ers either side of a bye week.
They could have a lot of trouble in both spots, and a 2-3 start doesn't give Cleveland anything resembling contender status.
Selling but not bailing entirely
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Dallas Cowboys (2-1)
4 of 10
Everybody gets a blip here and there. The Bills had theirs in Week 1, while the Dallas Cowboys had theirs Sunday in Arizona.
It was a hiccup, but it's not one substantial enough to justify selling a team that outscored two decent New York sides 70-10 in the first two weeks of the season.
Dallas still ranks in the top five in scoring and points allowed, and the defense is so loaded with top-end talent that it should hang with the Philadelphia Eagles all season in the NFC East.
But it's still fair to be nervous about Dak Prescott's up-and-down start to the season, the offense's red-zone struggles and Mike McCarthy's play-calling in the post-Kellen Moore era. This team has a lot to prove in San Francisco on October 8.
Buying but nervous
Detroit Lions (2-1)
5 of 10
The Detroit Lions might have been better than their 9-8 record in a breakout 2022 season, and they'd be 3-0 if they hadn't choked at home in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Still, I'm far from sold. First, that choke was a classic one. They controlled the game for much of the first three quarters. Second, the shorthanded Chiefs practically handed them a Week 1 win. And lastly, I don't know what to make of a routine Week 3 win over the Falcons.
The defense looks stronger but hasn't been tested much yet; the offense is consistent but hasn't exhibited much balance. Altogether, they look like they're still at least a piece (or a year) away.
However, because the NFC North is wide open and they could easily be 3-0, this is only a soft sell.
Selling for now
Green Bay Packers (2-1)
6 of 10
The wide-open nature of the NFC North also means the Green Bay Packers have to be taken seriously following a promising start, but I'm still selling them because of a lack of trust in Jordan Love and his unsustainably-low completion rate of 53.1.
The 24-year-old did help the Packers secure a comeback victory on Sunday, but it's not a great sign that they needed Derek Carr to exit the game with a shoulder injury before they could overturn a 17-point deficit.
Talk to me when this transitioning Packers team has actually played somebody. I'm expecting them to have trouble at home Thursday night against Detroit and don't feel much better about their chances Week 5 in Las Vegas.
Selling
Kansas City Chiefs (2-1)
7 of 10
This year might present some unique challenges for the Chiefs because repeating is exceedingly rare in this league and they underwent some significant offseason changes.
However, you would be foolish to sell a Kansas City team that appears to have already gotten past what might go down as the toughest juncture of its 2023 season.
They had a commanding 41-10 victory over the Bears on Sunday, and now it's easy to see them rolling to 5-1 before facing both the Chargers and Dolphins at home midway through the season.
The Chiefs have played in three of the last four Super Bowls. Let's not overthink this one.
Buying
Miami Dolphins (3-0)
8 of 10
It's hard not to buy all three of the remaining undefeated NFL teams—and it's just coincidence they all close out this alphabetized list.
Following a historic 70-20 Week 3 victory over the Broncos, the Miami Dolphins lead the league with a plus-59 scoring margin.
They're trending in the right direction on both sides of the ball, but the combintion of Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Raheem Mostert stands out as something special.
The Dolphins-Bills encounter on Sunday afternoon will be must-see television.
Buying hard
Philadelphia Eagles (3-0)
9 of 10
Last year's NFC champions are on a similar track early, with the Philadelphia Eagles 3-0 and coming off an easy prime-time road victory in Tampa.
Generally, they've yet to dominate stiff competition. But you can't hold their soft schedule against them, and they deserve credit for riding big staff and playing changes with win-column success early on.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters:
"It's a growth process. We're not a final product yet. Everybody wants us to be a final product now, but it's a growth. You want to grow every day, so we're not going to be playing our best football until we get going into the season. We still [have] things to work on, and we still [have] growth to do. If you're truly in the mindset of getting better every day—if you're truly in that mindset of getting better every day, which I know that we are on this team, you're going to continue to rise. You're going to keep getting better."
I don't doubt it.
Buying
San Francisco 49ers (3-0)
10 of 10
Brock Purdy still hasn't lost a regular-season NFL start, and I doubt it will matter that he still hasn't convinced me he can become a long-term standout starter in this league.
That's how scary the 49ers are, with Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle rolling on offense and Nick Bosa leading the way defensively.
San Francisco has scored 30 points in each of their three outings to kick off the year, and nothing has really been close.
Don't be surprised if the Niners take down the Cowboys at home on October 8 and then maintain their momentum all the way to Philadelphia in Week 13.
This is a special team.
Buying
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