NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Predicting Season-Opening Standings

Every April, NFL fans refresh Reddit and their Twitter feeds to see if the upcoming season's schedule has leaked.

Once the schedule is official, some of those same fans will then go through each game and give their teams a win or a loss.

Since everyone is undefeated in April and hope springs eternal, those predictions are likely optimistic.

However, making early predictions isn't all that worthwhile (I still do this every year), given that the draft, training camp and preseason games have yet to take place.

But all that's over now, as the last preseason game is in the books. Now we can check out team's rosters and schedules and make better guesses on how teams might do.

That mindset will be used in providing power rankings below, along with write-ups on three teams who can take advantage of easier schedules and make the playoffs (or contend for the Super Bowl) this year.

NFL Power Rankings

1. New England Patriots

2. Seattle Seahawks

3. Pittsburgh Steelers

4. Atlanta Falcons

5. Green Bay Packers

6. Tennessee Titans

7. Oakland Raiders

8. Carolina Panthers

9. New York Giants

10. Dallas Cowboys

11. Arizona Cardinals

12. Philadelphia Eagles

13. Los Angeles Chargers

14. Minnesota Vikings

15. Kansas City Chiefs

16. Houston Texans 

17. Denver Broncos

18. Baltimore Ravens

19. New Orleans Saints

20. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

21. Washington Redskins

22. Miami Dolphins

23. Detroit Lions

24. Cincinnati Bengals

25. Indianapolis Colts

26. Cleveland Browns

27. Chicago Bears

28. Buffalo Bills

29. Los Angeles Rams

30. Jacksonville Jaguars

31. San Francisco 49ers

32. New York Jets

Super Bowl Contender: Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks' toughest game of the year is in Week 1 when they face the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field. However, Seattle is fortunate that it won't be playing that game late in the season in terrible weather, which gives the Seahawks a much better chance to steal a win.

Aside from that matchup, how many games are going to be that difficult for Seattle (on paper)?

Looking at the schedule, a Week 10 road game at Arizona on a Thursday will be a tough test after only having three full days off after a home game against Washington. Matchups against the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys away from the Pacific Northwest will prove challenging as well.

Other than that, the Seahawks' schedule at home looks fairly easy, with the exception of a game against the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons. But Seattle should be favored at home in that one, and the same goes for every one of their CenturyLink Field games.

After acquiring defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson from the New York Jets, Seattle may have firmly planted itself as the No. 1 contender for the NFC title.

Playoff Return: Carolina Panthers

From Week 1 through Week 14, the Panthers are facing just two teams that finished with a record better than 9-7 last season.

Of course, those two teams are the defending Super Bowl participants, but Carolina looks like it will get off to a hot start.

The Panthers are playing two rebuilding teams to start the season, and they also face a couple of others (the Chicago Bears and New York Jets) along the way. 

Outside the divisional matchups, the road games aren't particularly daunting on the whole.

Carolina will be an underdog against the New England Patriots, but OddsShark favors the Panthers this week against the San Francisco 49ers and should have the same distinction in matchups against the Jets and Chicago Bears. The last road game against the Detroit Lions is winnable.

Furthermore, their seemingly annual game with the Seahawks is off the schedule, which always proved to be a tough matchup.

Expect a winning season in Charlotte, leading to a wild-card berth at minimum.

Playoff Dark Horse: Los Angeles Chargers

Yes, the Chargers are in the AFC West, where the three teams not from Southern California finished with winning records in 2016.

However, Los Angeles benefits from playing a last-place schedule after finishing in the division cellar last season. That means the Bolts play the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars, two teams currently in rebuilding modes.

A few other stretches on L.A.'s schedule look favorable at first glance. It gets to play three straight home games in September. That's in addition to another stretch where the Chargers play three of four at home in the second half of the year against teams that failed to make the 2016 postseason.

On the flip side, divisional games will be difficult, and the Chargers have to play New England, Dallas and the New York Giants on the road.

But if they take care of business against the weaker teams on their schedule and protect their (temporary) house at the StubHub Center, they can sneak into the playoffs.