I try to let the early results guide me when I do these rankings. We’re seven weeks in, can the top four teams be flukes? No, but if you put a gun to my head I’d say Philadelphia, Buffalo, Kansas City, the Rams, and Detroit are better. I’m not sure how San Francisco keeps winning games with their injured list, but they do. Now, does me saying I think the best teams aren’t the top teams yet mean that I don’t believe in my current top teams? No, there are good things happening with those teams. I’m just not ready to say that Bo Nix and Drake Maye are him yet. I’m sorry, I’m not sold that a Packers defense that gave up 40 to Dallas (basically double what Philly did without Carter) can win a title with Jordan Love having to outshoot that. I’m also not writing off Tampa just because they lost, but the injuries they suffered make me wonder. There’s a lot of things that don’t quite seem right yet here, but seven games is a decent sample size now. Frankly, some teams move up simply by not playing, because they don’t lose, and other teams get the benefit of the doubt because they made changes at QB or coach, and I at least believe some of what I’m seeing. We’re not yet at the point where some teams play out the string. In a few weeks we will be. I also think that as we see how the different division races are shaking out, we’ll see some teams who don’t have incredible records (think Cincinnati, if Flacco has a few more games like Thursday in him) rise up simply because they have a chance. For now though, this is where we are.

10/15 rankings. 10/8 rankings. 9/30 rankings. 9/24 rankings. 9/16 rankings. 9/9 rankings.

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