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The entire NFL is moving on to Week 2 and there are a lot of Dallas Cowboys fans who are asking “do we really have to?” in response to that. This season has quickly gone from “well anything can happen” to “who are the names to know for the 2023 NFL Draft” rather quickly, but that is just the Cowboys side of things. How are the other 31 teams in the NFL looking?
As we always do we have put together our weekly power rankings of all NFL teams for you and collected the opinions of prominent places across the internet with regards to how they are viewing the Cowboys.
You can visit last week’s rankings right here. Let’s begin.
1- Buffalo Bills (LW: 2)
They were operating at a completely different level last week. Go Bills.
2- Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 3)
Hopefully you were able to get some odds on them over the last few months when people got bored with how good they were and were looking for other stories. The Chiefs aren’t missing a beat without Tyreek Hill (more on him in a bit)
3 - Minnesota Vikings (LW: 12)
Last week I noted how much I believed in the Vikings. Their offense looks incredible. They are my Super Bowl pick and I feel very good about that. Also please beat the Eagles.
4 - Baltimore Ravens (LW: 8)
Another team that got lost in the fold a bit. It’s hard to give them credit for beating the Jets, but they destroyed them the way that good teams are supposed to.
5 - Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 11)
They have proven that they are better than the Raiders. Now it is time for the Chiefs.
6 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 6)
Honestly the Bucs weren’t super impressive on Sunday night given that Dallas just sort of played poorly and set Tampa up well. But they found a way and have Tom Brady so here they are.
7 - Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 10)
They partly lived up to the hype but Jalen Hurts has yet to take a step as a passer which is sort of important for an NFL quarterback. Can they beat Minnesota?
8 - Los Angeles Rams (LW: 1)
Matthew Stafford looked quite bad. The Rams as a whole looked more like a Cinderella team from last year as opposed to the one who was the last team standing. Time to rebound.
9 - Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 4)
Honestly the Bengals sort of looked more impressive than the Rams in some respects. Yes, Joe Burrow had a bunch of turnovers, but they almost won!
We will see them in all of their anger on Sunday.
10 - Green Bay Packers (LW: 5)
Is the regression actually on?!
11 - Miami Dolphins (LW: 21)
Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle may be the most explosive wide receiver duo in the NFL. They are making life a lot easier for the Dolphins offense as a whole.
12 - New Orleans Saints (LW: 18)
The fact that they almost lost to the Falcons is concerning.
But they found a way to win. Must be nice.
13 - San Francisco 49ers (LW: 7)
It is fair to want to see them not in a monsoon. If they don’t play well though then the questions will really start to show up.
Also no thanks to the idea of trading for Jimmy Garoppolo.
14 - Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 19)
It is so ridiculously impressive how Mike Tomlin always finds a way to have his team compete. What a huge win, however it happened.
15 - Seattle Seahawks (LW: 27)
Don’t you think Seahawks fans will remember Monday night for a long time?
Let’s ride.
16 - Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 14)
Being honest I picked them to win, and they showed some nice signs of life and a legitimate offense. Maybe it is going to take a while for it all to come together but there is a clear gap between Vegas the the AFC’s elites.
17 - Washington Commanders (LW: 22)
Don’t look now but the true team that the Eagles have to pay attention to within the division is right here. Carson Wentz, Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Antonio Gibson, and a solid defense? That team can win some games. They sort of almost lost but they didn’t.
18 - Denver Broncos (LW: 13)
What was Nathaniel Hackett thinking?
19 - Cleveland Browns (LW: 26)
They won. Good for them.
20 - Arizona Cardinals (LW: 15)
There are definite pieces on the Cardinals offense that can flash, but are they ever going to come together at the right time or even at the same time?
21 - New York Giants (LW: 31)
This was such a huge win for the Giants with regards towards building a future. They took the first step forward and sometimes that is the most difficult one.
Also Saquon Barkley looked pretty good.
22 - Chicago Bears (LW: 29)
Way to go, Matt Eberflus!
23 - Houston Texans (LW: 28)
They had it on Sunday. They had it.
Playing for a tie is the worst.
24 - Indianapolis Colts (LW: 17)
Remember how some people said that Matt Ryan was just magically going to fix everything?
25 - Tennessee Titans (LW: 16)
There were some Titans fans who felt like the team wasn’t getting a lot of respect.
Kind of seems like people were right to doubt them!
26 - Atlanta Falcons (LW: 32)
They showed a lot of spunk in their loss. Maybe they won’t be all bad.
27 - Detroit Lions (LW: 25)
The Lions showed some signs of improvement. But you can only be the “hey they are kind of good!” darlings for a little bit. We need results.
28 - Carolina Panthers (LW: 24)
Unfortunately they lost Baker Mayfield’s revenge game.
They don’t exactly look great.
29 - New England Patriots (LW: 20)
They are a difficult watch.
30 - Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 23)
Doug Pederson is a great coach but the Jaguars had the number one overall pick back to back years for a reason and that reason is going to take some time to overcome.
31 - New York Jets (LW: 30)
In their defense they had Joe Flacco starting at quarterback... in the year 2022.
32 - Dallas Cowboys (LW: 9)
There are some who will feel that this is harsh, but who is objectively worse? The Cowboys are the only team in the NFL who did not score a touchdown in Week 1 and easily looked like the worst offense on paper.
Yes, they have an impressive defense. But they are going to be so weighed down by the other side of the ball for the foreseeable future.
For what it’s worth ESPN’s FPI has Dallas as the worst team in the NFL.
NFL.com: 27th
Not quite the bottom, but not far from it.
Sunday night was a disaster for America’s Team. The chief concerns about the Cowboys entering the season — offensive line stability and wide receiver depth, in particular — proved to be very real problems, while Dak Prescott struggled through a poor performance before exiting with a thumb injury requiring surgery. With Prescott on the shelf until at least mid-October, the ‘Boys take a massive plunge in these here rankings. Given what we’ve seen from backup QB Cooper Rush, you can make a case that Dallas suddenly has one of the worst offenses in football. Bad times in Big D.
ESPN: 26th
They also picked a rookie who stood out in Week 1.
Rookie who stood out: OT Tyler Smith
The No. 24 overall pick was serviceable in his first start replacing Tyron Smith. Remember, he took no snaps at left tackle in the preseason and had just a handful of days at work there in practice before facing the Buccaneers. And he spent most of the game playing with an almost equally inexperienced left guard in Matt Farniok. He had a false start penalty and some other missteps, but for a first start with such little time on task at that spot, he was good enough. The question is how much longer will he stay there. With Connor McGovernsuffering a high ankle sprain, the Cowboys might move him to left guard once veteran tackle Jason Peters gets up to speed. — Todd Archer
USA Today: 28th
A lot of real estate in the late 20s here.
Hard to be optimistic about this team as currently constructed, especially considering how poor the offense looked even before QB Dak Prescott went down.
Yahoo: 23rd
This feels rather generous.
On the bright side, Micah Parsons looked awesome. Nobody expected a sophomore slump, but it was still great to see him post a couple sacks. He’ll be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate no matter how badly this season goes for the Cowboys.
CBS Sports: 24th
Not last! Will anybody else feel the same?!
With Dak Prescott now down for what looks like 6-8 weeks because of a thumb injury, the Cowboys are in big trouble. They looked terrible on offense with him, so now what will things look like with Cooper Rush?
The Athletic: 32nd
And there it is.
Are the Cowboys the worst team in the league? Probably not, but no team had a more precipitous drop in vibes this week. With Dak Prescott out six to eight weeks, the Cowboys are in danger of falling out of contention with a replacement quarterback in Cooper Rush they felt so strongly about they released him during roster cutdowns. Not as concerning but noteworthy nonetheless is how bad the offense looked even before Prescott’s injury. By EPA per drive, this was the worst offense in the league in Week 1. And though Jerry Jones insists the team will move forward with Rush, there should be urgency to find a better option lest the season is lost within a matter of weeks.
Micah Parsons sure is good though.
Sports Illustrated: 24th
Not last here!
No Dak Prescott for roughly half the season on a team already primed for chaos? Good luck to everyone in Frisco right now.
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