NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Cowboys Remain A Top 10 Team

With just one game of NFL football having been played, how do you rank the 32 NFL teams now? Do you go by which team had the largest margin of victory? By which team disappointed the most? By which team played the toughest game?

Whatever the preferred method, the pigskin prognosticators across the nation have once again thrown out some power rankings for your reading pleasure, and we look at how the Cowboys held up against the other teams in the division, including the preseason champions from Philadelphia.

Opinion-based rankings

Week 2 Rankings (previous rankings in parenthesis)

CBSSports.com (Prisco) - No. 3 (3)

The loss of Dez Bryant with a foot injury will hurt their offense in a big way. That's going to be tough to overcome, starting this week in Philadelphia.

Bleacher Report - No. 3 (5)

They won in white-knuckle fashion over the New York Giants Sunday night, with quarterback Tony Romo leading a 72-yard touchdown drive that started with only 1:34 left in the fourth quarter and no timeouts available. It was a heroic moment from a quarterback who played the hero often in 2014. But now he'll have to wear that cape alone for at least the next month with his stud receiver sidelined.

FOX Sports - No. 4 (4)

The Cowboys’ slow tempo might have to pick up now that DeMarco Murray is gone and Dez Bryant will not be a part of the offense for at least the next month. The Cowboys’ improved pass rush we have read about all offseason did not show up in Week 1, but former Pro Bowl DE Greg Hardy will return in three weeks.

ProFootballTalk - No. 4 (6)

They’re winning games the way they used to lose them, which lays the foundation for long-lost glory.

ESPN - No 5. (6)

Dez Bryant's injury puts a damper on the Cowboys' big comeback win. Bryant's 56 career receiving touchdowns are second most in the NFL since 2010.

CBSSports.com (Kirwan) - No. 6 (- -)

Are people still questioning how good Tony Romo is? There were a lot of mistakes and miscues, and the run game averaged just 3.4 yards per carry against an average Giants defense. But the defense will improve as players like Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain return. It's nice to see Sean Lee back and playing well.

Shutdown Corner - No. 6 (7)

Without Dez Bryant, the running game takes center stage. The problem is that running game gained 80 yards on 23 attempts against a bad Giants defense on Sunday night.

Newsday - No. 7 (- -)

Make that 24 fourth-quarter comebacks for Tony Romo, who rallies the Cowboys back from a 10-point deficit against the Giants and finishes it off with a touchdown pass to ever-reliable tight end Jason Witten. The win doesn't come without a cost, though, as Dez Bryant will be out several weeks with a fractured bone in his right foot.

Washington Post - No. 7 (9)

RB DeMarco Murray is long gone. WR Dez Bryant is on the shelf with a broken bone in his foot. QB Tony Romo pretty much will have to be the MVP of the league for the Cowboys to remain at the level they attained last season. He worked late-game magic Sunday night against the Giants. Now comes a trip to Philadelphia.

NFL.com: No. 8 (6)

The Cowboys drop in spite of the win, due to the loss of receiver Dez Bryant (broken bone in foot) and pass rusher Randy Gregory (high ankle sprain) for four to six weeks. Gregory's absence will be palpable for that defense, as the rookie collapsed the pocket several times Sunday night before exiting. In other news ... Somebody wake up the Cowboys' other wide receivers and let them know the game started.

MLive.com - No. 8 (4)

Tony Romo thrives in comeback situations. That's good since Dallas will likely be playing from behind a lot while Dez Bryant recovers from a broken foot.

USA Today - No. 11 (14)

USA TODAY Sports NFL columnist Jarrett Bell said it best -- it's officially time for Tony Romo to play like MVP.

Stat-based rankings

FiveThirtyEight - No. 5 (5). Elo ratings are a simple system that estimates each team’s skill level using only the final scores and locations of each game.

Numberfire - No. 7 (- -) These rankings are based on expected point differential against a league average team. If the team's rating is 10, they would be expected to win by 10 points against a league-average opponent.

Oddsshark: No. 7 (7). Oddsshark use a multitude of stats to establish an offensive and defensive power ranking, which they then adjust for the strength of schedule.

Covers.com - No. 10 (8)

Don't underestimate the impact of Dez Bryant's broken foot. Each of the Cowboys' next seven opponents was lined as a .500 or better team in Vegas this season.

Teamrankings.com - No. 13 (5). This site measures the relative strength of all teams using team performance, home/away status, margin of victory and other factors.

ColdHardFootballFacts: No. 16 (- -). This indicator ranks teams based on their average ranking across a range of CHFF's Quality Stats.

The table below summarizes the power rankings for the four NFC East teams.

	Wk 2	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 1
CBS (Prisco)	3	3	20	13	19	12	30	32
Bleacher Report	3	5	9	7	23	21	29	31
Foxsports	4	5	17	9	23	19	28	30
Pro Football Talk	4	6	19	14	24	23	30	32
ESPN	5	6	15	9	24	21	29	32
Shutdown Corner	6	7	14	12	25	22	29	31
CBS (Kirwan)	6	- -	19	- -	18	- -	28	- -
Washington Post	7	9	17	11	23	21	31	30
Newsday	7	- -	17	- -	25	- -	28	- -
M-live	8	4	15	9	21	21	28	32
NFL.com	8	6	19	10	22	22	29	30
USA Today	11	14	12	7	25	23	28	30
Avg. Opinion-based	6.0	6.5	16.0	10.1	22.6	20.5	28.9	31.0
FiveThitsEight	5	5	16	9	21	21	30	30
Oddsshark	7	7	9	11	20	19	32	31
Numberfire	7	- -	11	- -	21	- -	28	- -
Covers	10	8	7	7	24	22	29	32
Team Rankings	13	5	22	14	23	26	31	30
Cold Hard Football Facts	16	- -	17	- -	17	- -	21	- -
Avg. Stat-based	9.6	6.2	13.6	10.2	21	22	28.5	30.7
Total	6.1	5.0	13.5	8.9	19.5	17.7	25.6	26.6