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Bair's NFL Week 3 Power Rankings: Bucs reign supreme, Raiders surge, Saints fall back to Earth

Lots of shuffling heading into Week 3 contests

Sep 21, 2021 at 12:25 AM
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Scott Bair

Falcons Digital Managing Editor

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We just wrapped another fun weekend in the NFL, which was full of reminders that a team can win on any given Thursday, Sunday or Monday. Most of them, any way. We saw some crazy finishes, including Baltimore's big win over Kansas City.

Tampa Bay's still on top after beating the Falcons on Sunday, and the Raiders are on the rise at a surprise 2-0. The NFC West is stacked, and the NFC South doesn't look half bad, either. We can't figure out the Saints, who played great and then bad in a seven-day span.

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That's what makes this league fun. That's what creates wild swings in our NFL Power Rankings. Let's see how they look heading into Week 3:

(2-0)
1
Bucs_table
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Falcons know just how good the Super Bowl champs still are.
(2-0)
2
2
Rams_table
Los Angeles Rams
Rams are balance dand impactful on both sides of the ball.
(1-1)
3
1
Chiefs_table
Kansas City Chiefs
It takes something crazy to beat K.C. these days. Ravens finally put an ‘L” on ‘em.
(1-1)
4
1
Seahawks_table
Seattle Seahawks
Tennessee’s legit. A loss to them doesn’t drop Seattle far.
(2-0)
5
1
49ers_table
San Francisco 49ers
49ers started the season on the East Coast at a posh West Virginia resort that cost a $1 million for a the week. 49ers won two games out there, so it was all worth it.
(1-1)
6
2
Bills_table
Buffalo Bills
Bills looked like themselves in a Week 2 shutout win over Miami. Somebody jump on a card table and break it.
(2-0)
7
9
Raiders_table
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders are doing what Al Davis always demanded: Just win, baby.
(1-1)
8
3
Ravens_table
Baltimore Ravens
Ravens need Lamar Jackson magic to win a ball game these days.
(1-1)
8
2
Browns_table
Cleveland Browns
Browns have been dealing with early injuries. Imagine how good they could be at full strength.
(1-1)
10
1
Packers_table
Green Bay Packers
Aaron's awake, and he's angry. You thought I meant Rodgers? Nope. Jones.
(1-1)
11
4
Titans_table
Tennessee Titans
Someone must’ve told Tennessee the season started Sunday. Understood the confusion. They thought the preseason was still four games long.
(2-0)
12
1
Cardinals_Table
Arizona Cardinals
Kyler Murray is Bo Jackson in Super Tecmo Bowl – truly unstoppable.
(1-1)
13
6
Steelers_table
Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers better hope TJ Watt heals fast. They didn’t look great without him.
(1-1)
14
4
Cowboys_table
Dallas Cowboys
Cowboys were a field goal away from going 0-2 and leaving America’s Team to reach for the panic button.
(1-1)
15
1
Chargers_table
Los Angeles Chargers
Bolts lost on a last-second field goal. Feels like we’ve heard that 10 times a year for 10 years.
(1-1)
16
1
Patriots_table
New England Patriots
Things are a bit harder without Brady. Imagine that.
(2-0)
17
7
Panthers_table
Carolina Panthers
Christian McCaffrey is on pace for, oh, 75,000 touches at this point. That’s totally sustainable. Sure. Go with that.
(1-1)
18
12
Saints_table
New Orleans Saints
How can the team that beat Green Bay so bad look like that against Carolina? Oh, yeah. Jameis being Jameis. Roller coaster season's on the way
(1-1)
19
7
Dolphins_table
Miami Dolphins
Massive fall for the uninspired ‘phins, who will be in trouble if Tua can’t go.
(2-0)
20
1
Broncos_table
Denver Broncos
Gonna have to beat better than the Jags and Giants to earn our respect.
(1-1)
21
2
Eagles.png
Philadelphia Eagles
That defensive line’s two legit to quit. Offense doesn’t have the hand sequence down yet.
(1-1)
22
Washington_table
Washington Football Team
It took two shots at a game-winning field goal. Thanks, NYG, for the offsides penalty. Biggest worry: that defense isn’t quite so scary.
(0-0)
23
3
Bears_table
Chicago Bears
If Justin Fields takes over the starting gig, Falcons fans are going to point out every time he completes a forward pass. He’s a Bear. Let’s move on.
(0-2)
24
5
Colts_table
Indianapolis Colts
Colts are better than this, but 0-2 is 0-2.
(1-1)
25
2
Bengals_table
Cincinnati Bengals
Those were the Bengals we all expected. They go as Joe Burrow goes.
(0-2)
26
1
Vikings_table
Minnesota Vikings
Mike Zimmer’s longship is taking on water.
(0-2)
27
1
Falcons_Table
Atlanta Falcons
Arthur Smith’s team shows real fight but is still making too many mistakes to move on up.
(0-2)
28
1
Lions_table
Detroit Lions
Gave the Packers a run. Then the Lions Lion-ed.
(0-2)
29
1
Giants_table
New York Giants
G-men are starving for a win. Falcons will be standing in their way Sunday in the Big Apple.
(0-2)
30
1
Jets_table
New York Jets
Getting trounced by the Patriots. A Jets tradition for more than 20 years.
(1-1)
31
Texans_table
Houston Texans
Tyrod Taylor got hurt and I think we all agree it’s time for the Texans to swallow their pride and play DeShaun Watson…at strong safety.
(0-2)
32
Jaguars_table
Jacksonville Jaguars
They’ve got Trevor Lawrence at that’s a start. Looking at the rest of the roster, Jags have taken the first step in an ultra-marathon.
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