Week 3 · Around the league
Six of the eight boards still have the Browns 30th or worse. Two moved them into the twenties and teens and spent most of their word count explaining that the number is not an endorsement. Seattle lost in Arizona. Nobody will rank the AFC East. Below: the composite, ESPN’s full 1–32 with 27 written entries, the tiers, the movers, the stock rail and every league leader after two weeks.
Eight national boards updated between Sunday night and Tuesday morning. Two of them are the reason anybody is reading this page. Yahoo Sports put Cleveland 19th. The Ringer put Cleveland 20th. The other six left the Browns between 30th and 32nd, and four of those six wrote a paragraph about the two that did not.
The gap is the widest any team has drawn since the preseason editions went out in August. Cleveland appears at 19th and at 32nd on lists filed four hours apart, and inside The Athletic’s twelve-ballot staff vote the range runs 15 to 32. Seventeen places, one team, one week of football. That spread is the story of this page and none of the eight has a tidy way to hold it.
The rest of the week did more damage than promotion. Seattle is 0-2 seven months after winning the Super Bowl and fell eleven spots on ESPN’s board, the steepest drop of the season. New England won in Seattle and then lost 30-3 at home. Pittsburgh had taken exactly that scoreline at home a week earlier. Buffalo lost on Thursday night in its own building. Jacksonville won thirteen games last season and is 0-2. Tampa Bay opened as the NFC South favorite at +164 and has allowed 86 points, more than anybody in football.
| List | Week 2 | Now | Move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yahoo Sports | 32 | 19 | ↑13 |
| The Ringer | 32 | 20 | ↑12 |
| ESPN | 32 | 30 | ↑2 |
| NFL.com | 32 | 30 | ↑2 |
| The Athletic | 32 | 30 | ↑2 |
| Pro Football Focus | 32 | 31 | ↑1 |
| CBS Sports | 32 | 32 | – |
| USA TODAY | 32 | 32 | – |
Unweighted average 28.0. Median 30. On the composite board that lands Cleveland 29th, with Tampa Bay 28th, Tennessee 30th, the Jets 31st and Las Vegas 32nd. A team that has scored 89 points in two road games sits inside the bottom five of a consensus assembled from eight independent lists, and the four clubs around it have one win between them.
| List | No. 1 | No. 32 | Cleveland |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN | LA Rams | Las Vegas | 30 |
| Pro Football Focus | LA Rams | Las Vegas | 31 |
| The Ringer | Philadelphia | Las Vegas | 20 |
| NFL.com | LA Rams | NY Jets | 30 |
| The Athletic | LA Rams | NY Jets | 30 |
| Yahoo Sports | Philadelphia | Las Vegas | 19 |
| CBS Sports | LA Rams | Cleveland | 32 |
| USA TODAY | LA Chargers | Cleveland | 32 |
Three teams drew a first-place vote and three drew a last-place vote. Cleveland is the only club in the league to appear in both the top twenty and the final slot on boards published the same morning. The eight are further apart on Pittsburgh, at 10 to 22, than they are on Seattle, at 11 to 20.
Cleveland’s points per game, the highest in the league, produced entirely on the road against teams that have not won.
Points allowed by Tampa Bay in eight days, the most in football, by a defense whose head coach declined to hire a coordinator for it.
New England at home against Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh had put up exactly three at home against Atlanta a week earlier and lost by exactly 27 doing it.
Tennessee in Philadelphia and Las Vegas in Los Angeles, same afternoon, different conferences, combined margin of defeat 69.
Buffalo’s total on Thursday night against a Detroit defense that had surrendered 42 the week before.
Seattle in Arizona, and the Seahawks are 0-2 in the season that follows a Super Bowl they won.
NFL Power Rankings
Let’s update our NFL Power Rankings ahead of Week 3. We also asked our NFL Nation reporters to name the biggest question hanging over each team after two games.
NFL Nation · Multiple Authors · Sept. 22, 2026, 06:20 AM ET
Our power panel of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities evaluated how NFL teams stack up against one another, ranking them from 1 to 32. In addition to the rankings, we asked our NFL Nation reporters to identify the biggest question facing each team through two weeks.
ARI
ATL
BAL
BUF
CAR
CHI
CIN
CLE
DAL
DEN
DET
GB
HOU
IND
JAX
KC
LV
LAC
LAR
MIA
MIN
NE
NO
NYG
NYJ
PHI
PIT
SF
SEA
TB
TEN
WSH
| # | Team | Rec | Wk 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LA Rams | 2-0 | 1 | – |
| 2 | Philadelphia | 2-0 | 5 | ↑3 |
| 3 | LA Chargers | 2-0 | 11 | ↑8 |
| 4 | Green Bay | 2-0 | 8 | ↑4 |
| 5 | Chicago | 2-0 | 7 | ↑2 |
| 6 | Buffalo | 1-1 | 2 | ↓4 |
| 7 | Denver | 1-1 | 4 | ↓3 |
| 8 | Indianapolis | 2-0 | 14 | ↑6 |
| 9 | Cincinnati | 2-0 | 16 | ↑7 |
| 10 | San Francisco | 1-1 | 9 | ↓1 |
| 11 | Detroit | 1-1 | 15 | ↑4 |
| 12 | Kansas City | 1-1 | 10 | ↓2 |
| 13 | Baltimore | 1-1 | 12 | ↓1 |
| 14 | Seattle | 0-2 | 3 | ↓11 |
| 15 | New England | 1-1 | 6 | ↓9 |
| 16 | Pittsburgh | 1-1 | 24 | ↑8 |
| 17 | Dallas | 1-1 | 17 | – |
| 18 | Washington | 1-1 | 23 | ↑5 |
| 19 | New Orleans | 1-1 | 19 | – |
| 20 | Atlanta | 1-1 | 21 | ↑1 |
| 21 | Arizona | 1-1 | 30 | ↑9 |
| 22 | Carolina | 1-1 | 25 | ↑3 |
| 23 | Houston | 0-2 | 13 | ↓10 |
| 24 | Miami | 1-1 | 28 | ↑4 |
| 25 | Jacksonville | 0-2 | 20 | ↓5 |
| 26 | Minnesota | 0-2 | 22 | ↓4 |
| 27 | Tampa Bay | 0-2 | 18 | ↓9 |
| 28 | NY Giants | 0-2 | 26 | ↓2 |
| 29 | Tennessee | 1-1 | 27 | ↓2 |
| 30 | Cleveland | 2-0 | 32 | ↑2 |
| 31 | NY Jets | 0-2 | 31 | – |
| 32 | Las Vegas | 0-2 | 29 | ↓3 |
1. Los Angeles Rams (2-0)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 1 –
Biggest question: How long the defense holds this rate
Twenty points allowed in two games is the lowest figure in the league. The panel has had the Rams first in every edition since August and there was no serious argument for a change. What the staff watches internally is the defensive line rotation, which has shortened in both games, and that becomes a conversation in October rather than now.
-- Sarah Barshop
2. Philadelphia Eagles (2-0)Week 2: Beat the Titans 44-6
Week 2 ranking: 5 ↑3
Biggest question: Whether the two opponents have told us anything
Philadelphia has allowed 425 total yards through two games, fewer than any defense in the NFL, and beat Tennessee by 38 to arrive here. Nakobe Dean leads the league with 28 tackles. Vic Fangio has not yet had to defend a team that was ahead of him. Two voters filed Philadelphia first and neither of them mentioned that.
-- Tim McManus
3. Los Angeles Chargers (2-0)Week 2: Beat the Raiders 37-6
Week 2 ranking: 11 ↑8
Biggest question: Is Quentin Johnston this now
Johnston leads the NFL in receptions (20) and receiving yards (275), which is not a sentence anybody wrote about him in his first three seasons. Khalil Mack has 4.5 sacks and leads the league. The Chargers moved eight spots on a 31-point win over the team the panel has 32nd, and three panelists who filed notes said they intended to wait a week.
-- Kris Rhim
4. Green Bay Packers (2-0)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 8 ↑4
Biggest question: The workload
Josh Jacobs has 283 rushing yards, the most in football, and Green Bay is 2-0 while asking him to carry a larger share than the staff said in August it wanted. Matt LaFleur has been asked about it twice and pointed at the scoreboard both times.
-- Rob Demovsky
5. Chicago Bears (2-0)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 7 ↑2
Biggest question: Can the secondary keep producing takeaways
Kyler Gordon had seven tackles and two interceptions and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Chicago is 2-0 and the defense has been the reason both times, which reverses what this roster was assembled to be. Turnover margin regresses, and it regresses quickly, and the panel moved the Bears two places rather than five because of it.
-- Courtney Cronin
6. Buffalo Bills (1-1)Week 2: Lost to the Lions 21-18
Week 2 ranking: 2 ↓4
Biggest question: Eighteen points at home
Buffalo scored 18 in the new stadium on Thursday night against a Detroit defense that had given up 42 eight days earlier. Sean McDermott’s teams have historically been fine after a September loss and this staff will tell you the sample is a short week. The Bills fell from second to sixth and are still the highest-ranked AFC East team on all eight national boards.
-- Alaina Getzenberg
7. Denver Broncos (1-1)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 4 ↓3
Biggest question: The four interceptions
Bo Nix leads the NFL in passing yards with 849 and Denver leads the NFL in total yards with 1,310, and Nix is also tied for the league lead in interceptions with four. All three of those have been true for two straight weeks. Sean Payton has said the volume is by design and the giveaways are not.
-- Jeff Legwold
8. Indianapolis Colts (2-0)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 14 ↑6
Biggest question: How much of this holds
Daniel Jones was 23-of-38 for 358 yards and four touchdowns and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week. Indianapolis dropped eight places last week after winning its opener, the largest fall any 1-0 team took in that edition, and Shane Steichen was asked about it twice on a Wednesday. Six spots back. Julian Blackmon leads the league with two forced fumbles.
-- Stephen Holder
9. Cincinnati Bengals (2-0)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 16 ↑7
Biggest question: Whether anybody notices
The Bengals are 2-0, tied atop the AFC North, and have climbed 14 places on this poll in fifteen days. They are also the second-most discussed undefeated team in their own division. The panel had Cincinnati 23rd before the season and seven voters cited the defense as the reason.
-- Ben Baby
11. Detroit Lions (1-1)Week 2: Beat the Bills 21-18
Week 2 ranking: 15 ↑4
Biggest question: Which defense is the real one
Detroit gave up 42 in Week 1 and 18 on the road in Buffalo on a short week with the same personnel. Jared Goff leads the NFL with six passing touchdowns. The Lions are ranked below three teams they would be favored against on a neutral field, because the panel votes on both weeks and one of them was ugly.
-- Eric Woodyard
12. Kansas City Chiefs (1-1)Week 2: Lost
Week 2 ranking: 10 ↓2
Biggest question: 997 yards allowed
No defense in the league has surrendered more. Steve Spagnuolo’s units have historically been at their worst in September and their best in January, and that pattern is real enough that the panel discounted it in the voting. Two spots is all Kansas City lost, and nobody argued about it.
-- Nate Taylor
14. Seattle Seahawks (0-2)Week 2: Lost to the Cardinals 22-17
Week 2 ranking: 3 ↓11
Biggest question: Everything, and the panel said so
Seattle won the Super Bowl in February, lost at home to New England and then lost in Arizona, and 17 points in the desert is the second time in two weeks the offense has been held to 20 or fewer. Eleven spots is the largest single-week fall anybody has taken this season. Mike Macdonald has been careful in both news conferences about the word hangover and has been asked it five times. Seven other teams are 0-2. None of the other seven won a title seven months ago.
-- Brady Henderson
15. New England Patriots (1-1)Week 2: Lost to the Steelers 30-3
Week 2 ranking: 6 ↓9
Biggest question: 549 total yards in two games
That is the lowest figure in the NFL and it includes a win in Seattle over the defending champion. New England scored three at home eight days later. Christian Gonzalez has four interceptions, the most in the league, and was AFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 1. The Patriots have gone third to sixth to 15th in fifteen days without anybody on the panel changing their mind about the roster.
-- Mike Reiss
16. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)Week 2: Beat the Patriots 30-3
Week 2 ranking: 24 ↑8
Biggest question: Which of these two Sundays is Pittsburgh
Atlanta beat the Steelers 30-3 at home in Week 1. Pittsburgh then went to Foxborough and won 30-3, the same three digits in the same order, pointed the other way. Denzel Ward started his second game for the team that gave up two first-round picks for him in August. Eleven of the voters who filed notes used the phrase small sample. The Steelers are at Cleveland on Thursday night, Oct. 1.
-- Brooke Pryor
18. Washington Commanders (1-1)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 23 ↑5
Biggest question: The workload on Jayden Daniels
Daniels threw 23 times, completed 13, and produced 300 yards and five touchdowns. He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for the most efficient afternoon of the season so far. Thirteen completions and five scores is a rate no quarterback sustains. The five-spot rise is a statement about the quarterback and not about the roster around him.
-- John Keim
20. Atlanta Falcons (1-1)Week 2: Lost to the Panthers
Week 2 ranking: 21 ↑1
Biggest question: Repeating the first Sunday
Atlanta won 30-3 at Pittsburgh and then lost at home in the division, and the panel moved the Falcons up a place anyway. Pittsburgh’s eight-spot climb did that, not Atlanta. The NFC South has three teams at 1-1 and the club that was favored to win it is last.
-- Marc Raimondi
21. Arizona Cardinals (1-1)Week 2: Beat the Seahawks 22-17
Week 2 ranking: 30 ↑9
Biggest question: Home, and only home
Nine spots is the largest rise on this week’s board. Arizona beat the defending champion by five and Jonathan Gannon’s defense held Seattle to 17. The panel had the Cardinals 22nd before the season and 30th a week ago, so this reads as a correction as much as a promotion.
-- Josh Weinfuss
22. Carolina Panthers (1-1)Week 2: Beat the Falcons
Week 2 ranking: 25 ↑3
Biggest question: Bryce Young leads the NFL in yards per carry
At 8.8 a rush, ahead of every running back in football. Most of it is scramble volume. It is still the number. Carolina won the division last year at 8-9 and beat Atlanta convincingly to get to 1-1. Dave Canales has said the design has not changed and the pocket has. The Panthers are at Cleveland on Sunday.
-- David Newton
23. Houston Texans (0-2)Week 2: Lost
Week 2 ranking: 13 ↓10
Biggest question: Whether the August ranking was ever right
Ten spots down, the second-largest fall on the board, and Houston was 11th in the preseason edition. DeMeco Ryans has kept the roster and the language intact through an 0-2 start. Corliss Waitman’s 57.3 punting average leads the league and is the only leaderboard line Houston holds.
-- DJ Bien-Aime
24. Miami Dolphins (1-1)Week 2: Won
Week 2 ranking: 28 ↑4
Biggest question: Six field goals
Jason Sanders has made six, the most in the league, and that is the leading indicator nobody wants. Miami is 1-1 alongside Buffalo and New England in a division four of the eight national boards have ordered four different ways this morning.
-- Marcel Louis-Jacques
25. Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2)Week 2: Lost
Week 2 ranking: 20 ↓5
Biggest question: 13-4, and then this
Jacksonville won 13 games last season and is one of eight teams at 0-2. The opener at home has been discussed at length elsewhere and the second Sunday answered none of it. Liam Coen has changed neither his starters nor his language in two news conferences. The Jaguars have fallen nine places since the preseason edition.
-- Michael DiRocco
27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-2)Week 2: Lost to the Browns 54-14
Week 2 ranking: 18 ↓9
Biggest question: The defense, and who is coaching it
Tampa Bay has allowed 86 points in two games, the most in the NFL, and Todd Bowles declined to hire a defensive coordinator in the offseason and calls it himself. The Buccaneers went 0-for-11 on third down on Sunday and did not enter the red zone. Baker Mayfield threw four interceptions and nobody in the league has thrown more. Tampa Bay opened as the NFC South favorite at +164 and is last in the division with the largest NFC fall of the week.
-- Jenna Laine
28. New York Giants (0-2)Week 2: Lost
Week 2 ranking: 26 ↓2
Biggest question: Points
Two spots down, the smallest move any 0-2 team took this week, because the panel had priced most of this in during the summer. The Giants were 27th before the season and 26th a week ago.
-- Jordan Raanan
29. Tennessee Titans (1-1)Week 2: Lost to the Eagles 44-6
Week 2 ranking: 27 ↓2
Biggest question: Thirteen points a game
Tennessee is averaging fewer points than any offense in the league and won its opener. The 44-6 in Philadelphia was a 38-point defeat. Cam Ward is being asked to do more each week and the panel dropped the Titans two places, then spent longer arguing about the team below them.
-- Turron Davenport
30. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Week 2: Beat the Buccaneers 54-14
Week 2 ranking: 32 ↑2
Biggest question: Whether two road wins over 0-4 opponents mean anything
Cleveland leads the NFL in scoring at 44.5 a game. Shedeur Sanders leads the league in completion percentage (77), passer rating (131.8) and yards per attempt (10.2). Harold Fannin Jr. leads the league in total touchdowns. Carson Schwesinger leads the league in passes defensed and was AFC Defensive Player of the Week. KC Concepcion leads the league in punt return average. The Browns are 30th here, two spots higher than they have sat on this poll at any point since February.
The panel’s reasoning is on the record and it repeats in seventeen of the filed notes. Jacksonville and Tampa Bay have not won a game. Tampa Bay has given up more points than any team in football and its head coach is calling the defense himself. And Cleveland ran the ball 29 times on Sunday for 84 yards, 2.9 a carry, against an interior Vita Vea beat for six tackles for loss. Two voters moved the Browns into the teens and neither wrote a word about the coaching staff.
-- Daniel Oyefusi
31. New York Jets (0-2)Week 2: Lost
Week 2 ranking: 31 –
Biggest question: The offense
No wins and no movement for a second straight week. The Jets are the only team in the league to hold the same position in all three editions of this poll since August, and two of the eight national lists have them last.
-- Rich Cimini
32. Las Vegas Raiders (0-2)Week 2: Lost to the Chargers 37-6
Week 2 ranking: 29 ↓3
Biggest question: Competitiveness
Six points in Los Angeles and a 31-point defeat. Five of the eight national boards have Las Vegas last and this is the first week the panel has agreed with them. Pete Carroll has said the tape is worse than the score.
-- Ryan McFadden
Also on the board. San Francisco (1-1) held at 10th. Baltimore (1-1) slipped one to 13th. Dallas (1-1) did not move from 17th and is the only club that stayed put on all eight national lists this week. New Orleans (1-1) held at 19th after the largest rise of Week 2, and Rasheed Shaheed leads the league in kick return average at 27.5. Minnesota (0-2) fell four to 26th.
Yahoo Sports
NFL power rankings: The Seahawks are 0-2, the Raiders are unwatchable, and I have moved the Browns thirteen spots
Frank Schwab · Monday, Sept. 21
19. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · ↑13
Here is what I am not doing. I am not telling you the Browns are the 19th-best team in the NFL, because I do not know that, and I am not telling you a single thing about December. Two teams have played Cleveland and those two teams are 0-4, and one of them has been outscored 89-21 by Cleveland alone.
What I am telling you is that I watched a staff take a corner who had given up 150-odd yards in a quarter, leave him out there, and change the entire shell around him, and the other team did not convert a third down for the rest of the afternoon. Zero for eleven. No red zone trips. Four picks. That happened in front of me and I do not have anywhere to file it except upward.
The counter is enormous and I will make it myself. Cleveland ran 29 times for 84 yards, one nose tackle moved the interior of that line around all day, and the schedule so far is two road games against clubs nobody is scared of. Nineteen is probably too high. It is where the honest version of my week landed. This is the funniest story in the sport and I would like to keep watching it, which is not an analytical position and I know that.
The Ringer
The Week 3 NFL Power Rankings: New Tiers, the Champion’s September, and a Cleveland Problem
Staff · Monday, Sept. 21
Tier 4: Under Review · 20. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 (Tier 7)
Tier 7 was invented last week for one team and has been dissolved after eight days, which is a bad look for the people who invented it and an excellent look for absolutely nobody else. Cleveland moves into Tier 4 with the Cardinals, the Panthers and the Commanders, all of whom are 1-1 and none of whom scored 54 points on the road on Sunday.
All of this remains ridiculous. The Browns have beaten Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, neither of whom has won a game, and Tampa Bay is running a defense nobody was hired to run and has surrendered 86 points, a figure more usually attached to a basketball half. The Browns rushed for 84 yards, total, in a game they won by 40. The teams below them here would tell you that is what a bad offense looks like, and the teams below them here did not score 44.5 a game.
Nobody on this staff is prepared to say anything about the head coach and nobody is prepared to say anything about the season. Two Sundays have produced 89 points, one turnover in the second one, eleven straight third-down failures forced, and a second-year linebacker leading the league in passes defensed. We do not know what it is. We would like it to be something, because the alternative is a September in which the most interesting thing in football is Buffalo’s field position. Twentieth. Ask us in three weeks and it has probably moved back.
NFL.com
NFL Power Rankings, Week 3: Seahawks in free fall after 0-2 start; Chargers surge to No. 3; Cleveland climbs two
Eric Edholm · Tuesday, Sept. 22
30. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · ↑2
Two things are worth separating, because the noise this week has been the two of them fused together. The coverage adjustment in Tampa was excellent, it was made live inside a quarter, and it produced eleven consecutive third-down stops and four interceptions. That is coaching, and it is the strongest single piece of evidence anybody has produced for this staff since January.
The roster is the other thing. Cleveland could not run the football on Sunday, and the interior of the offensive line has now been beaten badly by two different defensive fronts on consecutive weekends. Elgton Jenkins is the expensive veteran in the middle of it and the tape has not been kind. Both tackles held up again, which is a real finding about a rookie left tackle and about the man who drafted him.
Two spots. Carolina comes to Cleveland on Sunday at 1-1 with Jaelan Phillips and Nic Scourton coming off the edge and Ejiro Evero calling it. That is a more useful test than either of the first two and it arrives in five days.
The Athletic
NFL power rankings after Week 2: our staff ballot, the champion’s collapse, and the twelve votes on Cleveland
The Athletic NFL staff · Tuesday, Sept. 22
30. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · ↑2
The twelve Cleveland ballots, sorted15 · 18 · 22 · 27 · 30 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 32 · 32 · 32 · 32 — average 27.8, median 30.5, ordering 30th
The spread on Cleveland is 17 places, the widest any team has produced on this ballot in the four years we have run it in this format. Five of our twelve voters filed a 32. One filed a 15. The gap between the 15 and the next ballot up is by itself larger than the entire range on 29 other teams.
The voter who filed the 15 wrote this in the thread: “Two road games, both against teams that are 0-2, and I have no argument with anybody who has them last. I am ranking what I watched on Sunday, and what I watched was a defense change its structure mid-game and hold an NFL offense to nothing for three quarters. I do not have a framework for the rest of it.” Two of the five who filed a 32 replied. Both cited the rushing total. One cited the opponents’ combined record and nothing else.
The ordering came out 30th, which satisfies nobody on the staff and is the correct output of the method. Elsewhere the ballot was unusually tight: eleven of twelve had the Rams first, ten of twelve had Las Vegas or the Jets last, and the only other double-digit spread was Seattle, at 8 to 22.
Pro Football Focus
PFF Power Rankings after Week 2: Seattle drops out of the top 10, and the grades behind Cleveland’s 54
PFF Staff · Monday, Sept. 21
31. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · ↑1
The grades split harder on this roster than on any other in the league. Carson Schwesinger finished Sunday at 92.4 overall, the highest single-game defensive grade posted by anybody in either week of this season, and his 91.6 in coverage is the highest a linebacker has recorded in a game in three years. Max Iheanachor has allowed no pressures in two starts against first-round edge rushers. Shedeur Sanders’ 89.1 passing grade ranks third.
Then there is the run blocking. Cleveland’s interior three graded 58.4, 54.1 and 51.9 on Sunday, all bottom-ten at their positions for the week, and the team’s 2.9 yards per carry sits 31st. Vita Vea generated six tackles for loss against them and did most of it without a stunt or a blitz behind him.
One spot. The blend moves off its preseason weighting more slowly than results move. That is by design and we said it last week. The efficiency term has Cleveland ninth through two weeks. The roster grade has them 31st. Thirty-first is what comes out.
CBS Sports
NFL Power Rankings: Steelers rocket up after 30-3 at Foxborough, and the Browns are still last on my list
Pete Prisco · Monday, Sept. 21
32. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · –
Two of these lists put Cleveland in the teens this morning. I read both of them and both of them say, somewhere in the middle, that the opponents are 0-4. Well, yes. Jacksonville and Tampa Bay have not beaten anybody, and Tampa Bay has given up 86 points in two weeks with a head coach calling his own defense because he would not hire a man to do it.
I ranked 32 teams in August and I ranked them on rosters. The Cleveland roster has five rookies starting, a rebuilt line that got shoved backward by one nose tackle for four quarters, and a second-year quarterback who has been outstanding against two bad defenses. Fifty-four points is fifty-four points. It is also fifty-four points on the team that has allowed more than anyone.
The mail is worse this week than last week and I read all of it. Pittsburgh at Cleveland on a Thursday night in ten days settles more than another list does. I will have them 32nd again next Monday unless something changes my mind between now and then, and Carolina at home is not it.
USA TODAY
NFL power rankings: Seahawks sink, Steelers spike, Chargers climb — and eight teams are already 0-2
Nate Davis · Tuesday, Sept. 22
32. Cleveland Browns (2-0)Last: 32 · –
Fifty-four on the road, seven touchdowns in eight red zone trips, 4-for-4 on fourth down, one turnover, two punts, 477 yards. Every one of those is real and none of them is why this team is 32nd here.
It is 32nd here because both opponents are 0-2, because the Browns gained 84 yards on 29 rushing attempts against a front that got no help, and because a projection built across seven months does not get overturned by two afternoons in Florida. Six other boards moved Cleveland this morning and two of them moved it into the teens.
The bigger story of the weekend was in the Pacific Northwest, where a team that won a championship in February has lost at home and in the desert and joined seven other clubs at 0-2. Seattle scored 17 in Arizona. Three-quarters of the AFC East is 1-1 and the rest is 0-2, and no two lists in the country have that division in the same order.
Rams · Eagles · Chargers · Packers
Bears · Bills · Broncos · Colts · Bengals · Lions
49ers · Chiefs · Ravens · Patriots · Steelers · Cowboys · Seahawks
Commanders · Saints · Falcons · Cardinals · Panthers · Dolphins
Texans · Jaguars · Vikings · Giants · Buccaneers
Titans · Browns · Jets · Raiders
Cleveland’s two-spot rise is the smallest move any 2-0 team made on this board; the other seven undefeated teams averaged five places upward. Across the eight national lists the Browns moved an average of 5.9 places, the largest average movement of any team in the league, on the widest set of eight numbers anybody drew.
| Award | Player | Line |
|---|---|---|
| AFC offensive | Daniel Jones, QB, Colts | 23-of-38, 358 yards, 4 TD |
| AFC defensive | Carson Schwesinger, LB, Browns | 11 tackles, 4 TFL, 1 sack, 2 INT, 4 PD |
| NFC offensive | Jayden Daniels, QB, Commanders | 13-of-23, 300 yards, 5 TD |
| NFC defensive | Kyler Gordon, CB, Bears | 7 tackles, 2 INT |
Passing yardsBo Nix, DEN — 849
Passing touchdownsJared Goff, DET — 6
Completion percentageShedeur Sanders, CLE — 77
Passer ratingShedeur Sanders, CLE — 131.8
Yards per attemptShedeur Sanders, CLE — 10.2
Interceptions thrownNix, DEN; Baker Mayfield, TB — 4
Rushing yardsJosh Jacobs, GB — 283
Rushing touchdownsTravis Etienne Jr., NO — 4
Yards per carryBryce Young, CAR — 8.8
ReceptionsQuentin Johnston, LAC — 20
Receiving yardsQuentin Johnston, LAC — 275
Receiving touchdownsHarold Fannin Jr., CLE — 3
SacksKhalil Mack, LAC — 4.5
TacklesNakobe Dean, PHI — 28
InterceptionsChristian Gonzalez, NE — 4
Forced fumblesJulian Blackmon, IND — 2
Passes defensedCarson Schwesinger, CLE — 6
Field goalsJason Sanders, MIA — 6
Punting averageCorliss Waitman, HOU — 57.3
Kick return averageRasheed Shaheed, NO — 27.5
Punt return averageKC Concepcion, CLE — 11.8
Most points per gameCleveland — 44.5
Most total yardsDenver — 1,310
Fewest points per gameTennessee — 13
Fewest total yardsNew England — 549
Fewest points allowedLA Rams — 20
Fewest yards allowedPhiladelphia — 425
Most points allowedTampa Bay — 86
Most yards allowedKansas City — 997
Cleveland holds five of those lines and sits 29th on the composite. Fannin’s three receiving touchdowns plus two rushing scores give him the league lead in total touchdowns as well. Denver holds the yardage lead and shares the interception lead. Tampa Bay and Kansas City hold the two lines nobody wants.
Eight teams are 2-0, eight are 0-2 and sixteen are 1-1. The AFC North is the only division with two undefeated teams and nobody below .500, and the two undefeated teams are Cincinnati and Cleveland, which reads differently depending on which of these eight lists you happen to be holding.
Carolina is at Cleveland on Sunday, Sept. 27. The Panthers are 1-1, won the NFC South last season at 8-9, beat Atlanta in the division on Sunday and have the league leader in yards per carry playing quarterback. It is Cleveland’s first home game of the year.
Nine days after that, on Thursday night, Oct. 1, Pittsburgh is at Cleveland. Denzel Ward will play in the stadium he left in August, in primetime, for a team that just won 30-3 at Foxborough. Six of the eight lists on this page mention that date somewhere in their Cleveland item, and two of them mention it instead of making an argument.
Rankings as published by each outlet. Composite figures are unweighted and use each list’s published ordering. The Athletic’s ballot detail is as printed by The Athletic. The next round of updates lands Monday afternoon.