NFL Rankings - 20 Sep

Week 2 of the NFL season was full of surprises, with quite a number of teams suddenly becoming good and many others heading in the opposite direction, with only a few of the old standbys remaining on each end. There were some amazing comeback victories, like Tampa Bay over Minnesota, and some huge blowouts, like Detroit over Kansas City. All in all, it was a very entertaining weekend of football. Here are the newly updated rankings, with current ranking followed by previous ranking, team name, and overall record.

TW - LW - Team - Record
1. (7) Green Bay (2-0)
2. (17) Oakland (1-1)
3. (11) New Orleans (1-1)
4. (13) NY Jets (2-0)
5. (8) Detroit (2-0)
6. (3) Buffalo (2-0)
7. (14) Dallas (1-1)
8. (12) Cincinnati (1-1)
9. (18) Tennessee (1-1)
10. (1) Baltimore (1-1)
11. (25) Denver (1-1)
12. (2) New England (2-0)
13. (5) Chicago (1-1)
14. (22) Tampa Bay (1-1)
15. (4) Houston (2-0)
16. (31) Carolina (0-2)
17. (29) Arizona (1-1)
18. (6) Philadelphia (1-1)
19. (19) Jacksonville (1-1)
20. (10) San Diego (1-1)
21. (15) San Francisco (1-1)
22. (9) Washington (2-0)
23. (21) Atlanta (1-1)
24. (26) Cleveland (1-1)
25. (16) Minnesota (0-2)
26. (23) Pittsburgh (1-1)
27. (20) Miami (0-2)
28. (24) NY Giants (1-1)
29. (27) Indianapolis (0-2)
30. (30) Seattle (0-2)
31. (28) Saint Louis (0-2)
32. (32) Kansas City (0-2)

The defending champion Green Bay Packers took over the top spot this week after they were able to hold off a much-improved Carolina Panthers team on the road and come away victorious. They were also helped out by the great performance put up by New Orleans in taking down the Bears, because the Saints played a close game with the Packers in Week 1.

Oakland and Buffalo, two teams that have not been good in a long time, played an epic game on Sunday, with multiple late lead changes making it the game of the week, and the winner, Buffalo, ended up undefeated after two weeks, something they haven't seen since their run of four straight Super Bowl losses in the 90's.

The Detroit Lions are also 2-0, just one season removed from a 2-30 mark over two seasons, and it is not a fluke. They were a good team in a tough division last year, which kept them from winning enough games to qualify for the playoffs, but after beating Tampa and Kansas City to open the season, the most recent game by 45 points, it appears that they are for real.

The Carolina Panthers are 0-2 yet again, but there's no reason to think that they will wind up with the worst record and the #1 pick again this season, not with the way their most recent #1 pick is playing. Cam Newton has thrown for over 400 yards in the first two games of his professional career, and has had the Panthers within one possession of beating each of its first two opponents. Maybe he really was ready for the NFL.

Kansas City is floundering, and it appears that it will only get worse, with star running back Jamaal Charles likely out for the season due to a torn ACL. It looks like they will not be repeating last year's surprising run to the playoffs, unless they are able to find another star-caliber running back quickly, because their passing game isn't enough to do it all alone.