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NFL Week 2 Power Rankings: Chiefs rise to No. 2 while Super Bowl teams fall, but don’t overreact to wild start

September 29, 2022 Bella

We’ve had one week of the NFL season and let’s just say it’s already nuts.

The San Francisco 49ers, considered a possible Super Bowl team, lost on the road to the Chicago Bears, who are far from it.

The Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts tied in a game that the Texans actually dominated.

The Cincinnati Bengals lost a game in overtime to the Pittsburgh Steelers thanks to a blocked extra point on the final play in regulation, a game that started with Joe Burrow looking awful.

The New Orleans Saints needed a late kick to rally to beat the Atlanta Falcons as their supposedly dominant defense sure didn’t look that way in that game.

It was just a weird open to the season. The only two constants were the dominance shown by the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. They both opened on the road with statement victories that featured high-flying offenses with their star passers putting on impressive shows.

The Bills remain in the top spot of my Power Rankings, with the Chiefs now in the second spot. Just remember, though, it’s just one week for all 32 teams. That means overreactions all this week leading into the second week.

Such as:

The Packers are done.

The Patriots can’t score.

The Eagles are going to the Super Bowl.

Maybe one or two of those will be true, but not yet. It’s way too early. We can’t get a true gauge on this league until October. We really won’t know the true contenders until November, when separation really begins.

So take that into account when reading these Power Rankings. Just because a team pulled off an upset doesn’t mean they should shoot up 10 spots. Let it play out for a bit.

The Bears won’t finish with a better

One thing we learned about each NFL team in Week 1: Lamar Jackson can pass, Chargers now can close games

September 13, 2022 Bella

The NFL arguably had its most exciting Week 1 in years, living up to the offseason hype generated by all the player movement over the spring and summer months. The league had five games decided by a game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime, tied for the third-most such games in Week 1 (and the most since 2002).

Four teams overcame deficits of at least 10 points to win or tie in Week 1, the first time that happened in 20 years. 2022 kickoff weekend was also the fourth time that multiple teams overcame a deficit of at least 16 points to win or tie in Week 1, which has occurred three times in the last four years (2019 and 2020).

With all the madness in Week 1, it’s hard to gauge the outlook of each team after the opening week of the season. There are still some things to take away from each team, which we’ll unravel with Week 1 in the books.

Blitzing Patrick Mahomes was destined to fail: With no J.J. Watt available, the Cardinals threw the kitchen sink to try and stop Mahomes. Vance Joseph should have known that wasn’t going to work based on what Mahomes has shown in the past. The Cardinals blitzed Mahomes more than he had ever been in his entire career, and the Chiefs quarterback torched them for four touchdown passes against the blitz — and all five of his scores were against man coverage.

Mahomes was blitzed a league-high 54% of the time in Week 1. Teams have been avoiding blitzing Mahomes because of his success against it. The Cardinals tried the opposite.

That strategy should work other weeks, but not against arguably the best quarterback in the league.

Same old Falcons: The Falcons earn

Ranking the NFL teams most likely to go from worst to first in 2022: Ravens top list, Panthers could surprise

September 4, 2022 Bella

One thing that makes the NFL so entertaining every year is the fact that it’s one of the most unpredictable sports on the planet, and nothing proves that more than the league’s uncanny ability to produce at least one team every season that goes from worst-to-first.

Last year, that team was the Cincinnati Bengals. After finishing with an ugly record of 4-11-1 in 2020, the Bengals bounced back and made the Super Bowl in 2021, which should give some hope to every team that finished at the bottom of their division last season.

Over the past five years, there have been a total of six teams that have followed up a last place finish in one season with a division-winning run the following season, and for those of you who aren’t good at math, that’s an average of more than one team per year. That average has actually held pretty firm over the years: Since the NFL realigned its divisions in 2002, there have been 27 teams that have gone from worst to first, which is an average of 1.35 teams per year over that 20-season span.

Basically, NFL history says that at least one team is going to go from worst-to-first this year, and because we love ranking things here, we’re going to rank the eight last place finishers from 2021 to find out who could be this year’s Bengals.

Ranking teams most likely to go from worst-to-first

(All division odds via William Hill Sportsbook)

8. Seattle Seahawks

2021 record: 7-10
Odds to win NFC West: +2500

The Seahawks play in a division where every team got better during the offseason except for them, which isn’t ideal when you were already the worst team in the division. The Seahawks traded away their best offensive player (Russell Wilson), they

Agent’s Take: Kyler Murray, DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel headline nine NFL stars seeking a big deal or trade

June 18, 2022 Bella

Player dissatisfaction with existing contracts and frustration with the negotiation of new contracts regularly occurs every offseason. There are different ways to handle contract unhappiness. Some players attend offseason workouts as a gesture of good faith that there will be a positive result. Others express their displeasure by refusing to attend the offseason workout program, organized team activities and mandatory minicamp.

The three-day June minicamp camp is the only mandatory offseason activity. Players under contract who don’t attend this minicamp are subject to a $95,877 fine under the NFL collective bargaining agreement this year. It’s a $15,980 hit for the first day missed, $31,980 for a second missed day and $47,936 with a third missed day.

These penalties for missing mandatory minicamp don’t apply to unsigned restricted free agents, franchise and transition players. Their attendance isn’t required because of the absence of a signed contract. Players under contract are withholding services they are contractually obligated to perform while unsigned players have no such obligation.

Twelve of the 32 NFL teams (Colts, Buccaneers, 49ers, Giants, Lions, Packers, Patriots, Raiders, Rams Seahawks, Steelers and Vikings) are holding minicamp this week. Seventeen teams will have minicamp next week. The Dolphins had their minicamp last week. The Bengals and Eagles will not be holding a mandatory minicamp.

Here’s a look at the situations of nine notable players who are unhappy with their situations, who either want a new contract or a trade. Three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald was going to headline the list. He was threatening retirement until the Rams gave him an unprecedented three-year, $95 million contract, which added $40 million to his existing deal without getting any new contract years in return, on Monday. Donald becomes the first non-quarterback to break the $30 million-per-year barrier. He was also

Dan Orlovsky in ESPN No. 2 NFL booth following Fox Sports pursuit

June 3, 2022 Bella

The NFL Tv cost-free company carousel keeps turning, and Dan Orlovsky will join Steve Levy and Louis Riddick Jr. in ESPN’s No. 2 NFL Tv booth, The Write-up has learned.

ESPN declined remark.

The position is important because, though ESPN has signed Joe Buck and Troy Aikman as its No. 1 team, Levy and Riddick will simply call a handful of video games this yr and then all over 5 for every period starting in 2023. Levy and Riddick also acquired contract extensions, cementing them on NFL online games.

Orlovsky was pursued by Fox Sports, in accordance to sources, the place he would have fronted a 5-working day-a-week NFL clearly show and finished some games on Sundays, nevertheless he was not a candidate for the major positions, according to resources. Kevin Burkhardt has replaced Buck as Fox’s No. 1 recreation-caller, whilst Greg Olsen is the leading candidate to be his spouse, with Tom Brady’s arrival as an analyst to be decided.

As a substitute of shifting, Orlovsky will continue to be as an ESPN workhorse, showing up on “NFL Reside,” “First Take” and “Get Up,” when continuing to get in touch with school soccer games and now the NFL.

Orlovsky, 38, basically replaces Brian Griese, who teamed with Levy and Riddick on the No. 1 “Monday Night Football” workforce the past two many years. With his agreement up, Griese left to be the 49ers’ quarterbacks mentor.

Dan Orlovsky will be part of ESPN's No. 2 NFL broadcast booth. — Dan Orlovsky will be element of ESPN’s No. 2 NFL broadcast booth.

Dan Orlovsky (l.) with the "NFL Live" crew at Disney California Adventure ahead of the Super Bowl on Feb. 10, 2022. — Dan Orlovsky (l.) with the “NFL Live” crew at Disney California Journey in advance of the Super Bowl on Feb. 10, 2022.

An NFL quarterback for a lot more than a ten years, Orlovsky designed 12 starts off in his

NFL Power Rankings: Broncos, Ravens, Chargers among big risers post-draft, Rams stay No. 1, new team in cellar

May 5, 2022 Bella

Aside from a few veteran moves here and there, most NFL teams have a good idea of who they will be bringing to training camp. That means with free agency and the 2022 NFL Draft behind us, it’s time for another batch of my Power Rankings.

I bet you can’t wait.

I always keep the defending Super Bowl champions in the top spot until the regular season kicks off, so the Los Angeles Rams stay there. There is no reason to believe they can’t be in the mix to win it all again.

They will once again be a talented team loaded with stars, but general manager Les Snead also knows how to supplement his roster with young players who can contribute. That won’t change, which is why the Rams remain in the top spot.

Some teams have moved up in these Power Rankings after impressive offseasons, while others have fallen off because they haven’t kept up. The NFL formula seems to be about going for it now, which is the formula the Rams used to win a Super Bowl last year.

In a league of copycats, that seems to be catching on. That’s why the offseason has been wild with a ton of big-name trades that have kept the interest at an all-time high.

The top team from the AFC in these rankings is the Buffalo Bills. I think they were the best team at the end of last season and would have won it all, were it not for those horribly-played 13 seconds at the end of the playoff loss to the Chiefs.

The Bills have done a nice job of filling in some key spots this offseason, but made a big splash adding pass rusher Von Miller. Sacking the quarterback late in games won’t be an issue