3. Kansas City Chiefs
You can't punish the Kansas City Chiefs too much for their loss in Week 1. Obviously, they were going up against a team that was really good last year, but we expect more from this Kansas City team.
I think it's fair at this point to call out some things about the Chiefs that weren't good enough in Week 1, and some others that frankly haven't been good for the last couple of years. This team's skill position players offensively are a bit of a liability at this point. The Chiefs can't get anything going because they lack the playmakers to do it.
Even if you expect Patrick Mahomes to be the tide raising all boats in the harbor, that gets tough to do over time. They just don't have the weapons needed to win shootouts all the time. And if their defense isn't holding teams down like they have been the past couple of years?
If what we saw in Week 1 was indicative of what we're getting from the Chiefs going forward, this could be a tough year for them. They need to bounce back, but how likely is that with the Eagles coming to town in Week 2? It'll be another huge test.
4. Las Vegas Raiders
Worry not, Raiders fans. Even though the Raiders are last on these power rankings, I have nothing but nice things to say about what we saw from them in Week 1 and what we can expect moving forward.
Geno Smith was awesome in his debut for Las Vegas. The Pete Carroll era is off to a 1-0 start. The Raiders' defense outplayed my expectations in Week 1. You have to play who's right in front of you, so I'm not knocking the Raiders for having the Patriots on the schedule, but they were playing a team with a lot of new pieces and moving parts.
And they were missing their best defensive player, to boot. But this was a good start for the Raiders. If they can get the running game going with Ashton Jeanty, they've got a shot to spoil the Chargers' start to the season and push to 2-0 under Carroll. The biggest question mark might still be that defense, which played above expectations in Week 1, but how long will that last?
This week will be a huge test.