NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Latest 2017 Preseason Standings and Reaction

This is the week football fans have been waiting for: Week 1 of the 2017 NFL regular season is finally here.

For the past four weeks, we've been given a taste of what to expect for the season to come, but the preseason just isn't the same as the real thing. While it's difficult to properly assess some teams during the preseason, it's clear which teams will find success in the coming months and which teams will continue to be the laughing stock of the league. 

Before we take a look at the best and worst team in the NFL heading into the regular season, here's a quick glance at my updated power rankings going into Week 1:

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

New England Patriots

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

The defending Super Bowl champions are the team to beat this season, to no one's surprise. 

The New England Patriots are, arguably, the best-run franchise in football top-to-bottom. With quarterback and ageless wonder Tom Brady returning for what looks to be yet another stellar season, it's hard to argue against the Patriots playing deep into the new year for another championship.

What's impressive about the Patriots is how opportunistic they can be. Trading for tight end Dwayne Allen from the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason was a big move to replace Martellus Bennett, allowing Rob Gronkowski the freedom to play more downfield rather than stay at the line of scrimmage to block.

Most recently, the Patriots traded third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett to, again, the Colts for 2015 first-round pick Phillip Dorsett, according to ESPN's Field Yates. 

While this trade may not seem like that big a deal initially, getting Dorsett is a big deal for New England, mainly because he is young, lightning quick and fills a need.

With Julian Edelman out for the season, the Patriots were going to have to lean on Danny Amendola, Brandin Cooks and the aforementioned Allen/Gronkowski tandem.

However, Dorsett can play in the slot, as he showed during his brief tenure in Indianapolis, and he can also get behind the defense similar to how Cooks can. Having two players such as Cooks and Dorsett will create mismatch nightmares for opposing defenses, especially if they get matched up with a linebacker. These mismatches will allow Gronkowski and Amendola single coverage in wide set formations, giving Brady more looks than he'll know what to do with.

Dorsett has huge shoes to fill replacing Edelman, but the upside is enormous for this offense. Believe it or not, the Patriots will be better this season than they were in 2016. And that's bad news for the rest of the NFL.

New York Jets 

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There isn't much to say about the New York Jets that inspires hope for their fanbase, other than they're almost guaranteed to get a top pick in the 2018 NFL draft.

The Jets appear to be tanking. 

When Josh McCown, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg are the options to play under center, the only reason anyone would watch the Jets play on offense is for fantasy football implications. 

The calling card for the Jets in recent seasons has been their defense, but even that is falling apart due to the front office's ambition to be the worst team in the league this upcoming season (sorry, Cleveland Browns). 

The Jets traded defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson for peanuts, getting in exchange wideout Jermaine Kearse from the Seattle Seahawks and a future second-round pick, as reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter.

No disrespect to Kearse, who is a very solid No. 2/No. 3 option in certain offensive systems, but this is not a win-now move for the Jets. Playing in a difficult AFC East division with the likes of the Patriots, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, points won't come easy for the Jets. But that's what they wanted all along, right?

The Jets will enter the new season as the worst team in the league, and the odds are that they will finish Week 17 at the bottom, too.