NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Predicting Post Monday Night Football Standings

Keegan PopeSep 14, 2020

Week 1 of the NFL season is nearly in the books—save for tonight's Monday Night Football contests—and it was a weird one, to say the least. Not just because there were no fans in the stands at some games because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the rust of having no preseason this year was apparent.

For the most part, the games were pretty much chalk, with a few surprising upsets and an absolute demolition in Baltimore. Here are our updated power rankings and three takeaways from the opening salvo of NFL football.

NFL Power Rankings 2020

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The Road to the Super Bowl Runs Through Kansas City

This isn't exactly a surprise, is it? The Chiefs returned nearly every starter off of last year's championship team, and they even added LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to a loaded offense. And we saw exactly what that group can do Thursday night against the Texans, a team picked by most prognosticators to win the AFC South.

Patrick Mahomes threw for just 211 yards, but he did toss three touchdowns, and Edwards-Helaire ran for 138 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Sammy Watkins, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill each caught a touchdown pass, illustrating just how difficult it is to slow down the Chiefs' offense with this many weapons.

Kansas City's defense was stout, too, holding the Texans to just seven points through the first three quarters. Deshaun Watson and Co. made the final score look closer than the game actually was with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, but the Chiefs had things well in hand by that point.

Baltimore Is No One-Year Wonder

Arguably the most shocking result of the weekend came out of M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Not because the Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns, but it was the manner in which they did it—a 38-6 obliteration that was never really competitive. The Browns have been hyped as one of the NFL's most talented teams—especially on offense—but Baltimore's defense made them look pedestrian.

On the other side of the ball, Lamar Jackson picked up right where his MVP 2019 season left off, completing 20 of 25 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, as well as another 45 yards on the ground. The receiving trio of Hollywood Brown, Willie Snead IV and Mark Andrews caught all three of Jackson's TD passes and severely outplayed Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and David Njoku.

We'll have to wait two weeks for it, but the Chiefs-Ravens showdown on Sept. 28 might be the best game we see this season. At least until the playoff rematch.

Arizona Has Found Its Franchise QB

Isn't it crazy to think that if it weren't for a wild turn of events, Kyler Murray would be playing baseball right now? It seems even more ludicrous after watching him and DeAndre Hopkins, who Arizona acquired this offseason, shred the 49ers' vaunted defense.

In total, Murray accounted for 321 yards, 230 through the air and another 91 one the ground, as well as a passing and rushing touchdown each. He and Hopkins have had no issue developing chemistry, as he found arguably the NFL's best receiver 14 times on 16 targets, to the tune of 151 yards.

Hopkins, along with veteran Larry Fitzgerald and do-it-all back Kenyan Drake, give offensive guru Kliff Kingsbury a bevy of options to build his offense around.

For San Francisco, the lack of a legitimate receiving weapon on the outside was blatantly obvious. Of the Niners' top six-pass catchers Sunday, two were running backs, two were tight ends, one was a fullback, and one was a receiver. Kyle Shanahan can rely on his offense's run game heavily, but at a certain point, teams are going to force Jimmy Garoppolo to throw downfield, and his best option can't be George Kittle.

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