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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.
| Opinion-based rankings |
Week 2 Rankings (previous rankings in parenthesis)
CBSSports.com (Prisco) - No. 14 (13)
Dak Prescott did some nice things against the Giants, but he's not Tony Romo. Let's stop that madness now.
FOX Sports - No. 15 (12)
This Dak Prescott-led Cowboys team is nothing like the one that was headed by Matt Cassel and Brandon Weeden last season. Dallas can still move the ball on offense, and the defense might just be good enough to keep the team in games. Still, a handful of mistakes cost the Cowboys a win and ultimately a head start in the NFC East over the Giants.
Bleacher Report - No. 17 (- -)
Dak Prescott kept his team within winning range, and that's all you can ask for from him.
Terrance Williams? That's a different story. You might want to ask him to step out of bounds or something.
Looking ahead: Dallas' defense was pretty damn good. It can stay in front of Washington's wideouts after staying in front of Odell Beckham Jr.
ESPN - No 18. (23)
Dak Prescott might be a rookie, but he should still introduce himself to Dez Bryant. The duo connected once for eight yards on five tries in Week 1. The Cowboys are 4-13 when Bryant is held under 35 yards in his career.
Washington Post - No. 19 (- -)
The preseason was all about everything that was good about rookie QB Dak Prescott. Some flaws were exposed Sunday when things started to count. But the Cowboys might have escaped with a win if only Terrance Williams had gone out of bounds when he had the chance.
Shutdown Corner - No. 20 (19)
Dez Bryant: 75 snaps, five targets, one catch, 8 yards. That needs to change, but was it a product of having a rookie quarterback who doesn’t want to make mistakes?
NFL.com: No. 19 (18)
Gushing praise keeps falling on Dak Prescott's head, like all those tribbles on Captain Kirk's dome. So here's a bit of equalizing: Tony Romo would have completed throws that his rookie replacement missed Sunday. The pregame story that the "door is open" for Prescott to keep the starting job was ill-timed, at best. Prescott absolutely showed poise and fared well for his first start. Yet, anyone who watched every play of the second half of Dallas' loss to the Giants saw a quarterback who missed several open receivers despite having plenty of time to throw. That's fact. Doesn't mean Prescott won't be awesome. Unfortunately, Jason Witten lost an important one in the sun, but there were other opportunities missed. Not trying to be unfair here -- you know, I want to stay inbounds with my critique of Prescott's play ...
Chicago Tribune - No 20 (16)
Five targets and one catch for 8 yards for Dez Bryant. The guess here is Dak Prescott hears about those numbers this week.
USA Today - No. 25 (22)
When you're starting two rookies in your backfield, we'd expect dumb mistakes. But fatal mental lapses from a fourth-year WR are less forgivable.
The table below summarizes the power rankings for the four NFC East teams.
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| Wk 2 | Wk2 | Wk 2 | Wk2 | |
| CBS | 14 | 25 | 8 | 19 |
| Foxsports | 15 | 19 | 13 | 20 |
| Bleacher Report | 17 | 18 | 12 | - - |
| ESPN | 18 | 20 | 16 | 17 |
| Washington Post | 19 | 17 | 14 | 16 |
| NFL.com | 19 | 23 | 15 | 21 |
| Shutdown Corner | 20 | 25 | 11 | 19 |
| Chicago Tribune | 20 | 23 | 13 | 21 |
| USA Today | 25 | 22 | 18 | 20 |
| Avg. Opinion-based | 18.6 | 21.3 | 13.3 | 19.1 |