8. New England Patriots (1-1)
A nice bounce back win for the New England Patriots gets Mike Vrabel his first win as their head coach. The Pats are still a year or two away but are going to be a frisky football team this year. Vrabel knows how to get the most out of his players, and we'll see this team mesh a lot better as the season goes on.
Furthermore, second-year QB Drake Maye is going to get a lot better as well. He's got Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator, and McDaniels is a Hall of Fame mind in that regard.
7. Cincinnati Bengals (2-0)
The Cincinnati Bengals' season just got a lot more interesting, as Joe Burrow is now set to miss multiple months with a turf toe injury. With that being said, Cincy is 2-0 and do have a capable backup in Jake Browning. The reasonable expectation for this team is that they lose more than they win while Burrow is out.
If you ask me, the team needs to hit the trade market to try and bring someone like Kirk Cousins in, as this team is 2-0 for the first time in the Zac Taylor era and finally seem to have figured our how to avoid the slow starts. As time goes on, the Bengals will likely fade out of the AFC playoff picture, but for now, they are seventh in our updated rankings.
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1)
A brutal loss in Week 2 drops the Pittsburgh Steelers in our AFC power rankings. Pittsburgh get did into a shootout with the New York Jets in Week 1 but fell back down to earth in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks.
The team's defense has been bad through two weeks, but Aaron Rodgers stil appears to have enough left in the tank. I would expect the Steelers to hang around in the AFC playoff picture, as they've done that just about every single season.
However, this team is obviously not a Super Bowl team and aren't good enough to win a playoff game. Pittsburgh is sixth in our power rankings.
5. Denver Broncos (1-1)
It's been two weeks of two ugly games for the Denver Broncos, but despite them playing poorly in Week 2, they nearly beat the Indianapolis Colts, but a penalty against the Broncos gave the Colts another shot at kicking a game-winning field goal.
The Broncos and Sean Payton have typically started slow - in 2023, they were 0-3 before their first win, and they lost their first two games in 2024. Them being 1-1 is an improvement from previous years, so there's no reason to hit the panic button with Denver at the moment.
Denver is likely hitting at least 10 wins and should once again be in the playoffs.