8. Houston Texans
Last week: 4th
After losing to the Buffalo Bills, you can't knock the Houston Texans too far down the Power Rankings list.
There are no moral victories in the NFL, but there are definitely worse teams you could lose to than the Josh Allen-led Bills. Absolutely no shame in it.
But let's also address the elephant in the room: What happened to the Houston Texans' defense?
Last season, the Houston defense only had five games all season in which they allowed the opposing team to throw for 200 or more yards. The most passing yards they allowed in a game last season was 278 in Week 18 against the Colts.
They just let Josh Allen drop 334 on them in the first game of the season, and they allowed two receivers to have over 100 yards individually.
The good news for the Texans is that the offense did more than just show some signs of life. The offense put a ton of pressure on Buffalo's defense in this game, and was even in position to potentially win it late before CJ Stroud got strip-sacked by Greg Rousseau. Again, there are no moral victories, but the Texans are leaving Week 1 with something. Stroud has to be more careful with the ball.
7. Los Angeles Rams
Last week: 1st
This feels like a steep drop for the previously top-ranked Los Angeles Rams, but given what we saw in the first week of the season, it's not without merit.
The Rams came into Week 1 with extremely high expectations from the outside. There was plenty of talk about this being the caliber of roster that might not lose a single game. And then they travel late to Australia to face off against a division rival, and come out looking completely flat.
The punishment of a brutal 18-hour flight home after a blowout loss was probably justified.
For a team with Super Bowl aspirations, the way the Rams played in Week 1 wasn't acceptable. On top of the insult of their loss, there's also injury to talk about. Myles Garrett is having arthroscopic surgery on the knee that's been bothering him, and he'll miss a minimum of 4 games.
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