Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings – Patriots rise to the top; Cardinals plummet

One week in the books, and we’ve got a new top team in our Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings.

The New England Patriots marched into University of Phoenix without their two best players (and several other starters) and beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-21. Jimmy Garoppolo managed the game well and took advantage of some defensive mistakes by the Cardinals in earning his first NFL win.

The loss drops the Cardinals to fifth in our weekly poll.

	Rank	Team	High	Low	Comment	Movement	This Week
	1.	New England Patriots (1-0)	1 (4 voters)	3 (Grialou)	Are injections the secret to Jimmy G’s perpetual tan? He lives in Boston! — Morgan	▲ 2	vs. Miami
	2.	Green Bay Packers (1-0)	1 (Green)	3 (Marotta, Burns)	Good road win, but they didn’t look great. — Franz	—	@ Minnesota
	3.	Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)	1 (Grialou, Burns)	4 (Marotta, Burns)	Roethlisberger and Brown made it look easy at times. — Grialou	▲ 3	vs. Cincinnati
	4.	Seattle Seahawks (1-0)	2 (Marotta)	6 (Green)	They won, but close win at home over Dolphins may have exposed flaws. — Green	—	@ Los Angeles
	5.	Arizona Cardinals (0-1)	4 (Green, Burns)	7 (Marotta, Morgan, Franz)	This is still a good football team, they lost to the Patriots. It’s OK, Cardinals fans. — Dimakos	▼ 4	vs. Tampa Bay
	T6.	Denver Broncos (1-0)	4 (Franz)	13 (Green)	Take your time, offense and the defense can handle Newton & Luck back-to-back. — Franz	▲ 2	vs. Indianapolis
	T6.	Carolina Panthers (0-1)	6 (Grialou, Burns, Franz)	9 (Morgan)	Dear NFL, Stop covering your a** and protect Cam Newton! — Morgan	▼ 2	vs. San Francisco
	8.	Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)	4 (Morgan)	10 (Grialou)	At least there was one NFL kicker who made a 47-yd FG to win a game. — Grialou	▼ 1	@ Pittsburgh
	9.	Oakland Raiders (1-0)	8 (Green, Burns)	13 (Marotta)	People like gutsy coaching decisions when they work. — Green	▲ 1	vs. Atlanta
	10.	Kansas City Chiefs (1-0)	8 (Morgan)	(13) Dimakos	Nice comeback there, KC, but I’m not so enthused about you. — Dimakos	▲ 1	@ Houston
	11.	Houston Texans (1-0)	7 (Grialou)	14 (Morgan)	So far, so good for Brock. He’s going to like throwing to Will Fuller. — Burns	▲ 2	vs. Kansas City
	12.	Minnesota Vikings (1-0)	9 (Grialou, Green)	15 (Burns, Franz)	Beat GB and I’ll be impressed. Score zero offensive TDs vs. Tennessee and I’m not. — Franz	▼ 3	vs. Green Bay
	13.	New York Giants (1-0)	11 (Marotta, Green, Burns)	14 (Dimakos)	Solid road win in Dallas, with an assist to Terrence Williams. — Marotta	▲ 3	vs. New Orleans
	14.	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0)	12 (Dimakos, Franz)	16 (Green)	Dirk Koetter is 1-0 as an NFL head coach. Yes, that Dirk Koetter. — Grialou	▲ 6	@ Arizona
	15.	Baltimore Ravens (1-0)	12 (Morgan)	19 (Green)	Forgive me for not being impressed by a close win over the Bills. — Green	▲ 4	@ Cleveland
	16.	Jacksonville Jaguars (0-1)	14 (Green, Franz)	22 (Grialou)	Still buying this stock. Gave a good team all they could handle in the end. — Burns	▲ 1	@ San Diego
	17.	New York Jets (0-1)	14 (Burns)	21 (Morgan)	Fitzpatrick played like he hasn’t played much lately. — Franz	▼ 2	@ Buffalo
	18.	Detroit Lions (1-0)	16 (Marotta)	24 (Green)	Stafford looked pretty darn good, albeit against a woeful Colts’ defense. — Morgan	▲ 9	vs. Tennessee
	T19.	Indianapolis Colts (0-1)	17 (Dimakos)	24 (Franz)	B.A. will hate me, but Chuck Pagano is just not a head coach. — Franz	▼ 7	@ Denver
	T19.	Philadelphia Eagles (1-0)	16 (Grialou, Morgan, Franz)	25 (Green, Burns)	Let’s see Wentz vs. anyone but Browns. — Burns	▲ 10	@ Chicago
	21.	Washington Redskins (0-1)	18 (Dimakos)	23 (Marotta)	Losing to Pittsburgh is not embarrassing. Having no plan for Antonio Brown is. — Franz	▼ 7	vs. Dallas
	22.	Dallas Cowboys (0-1)	19 (Morgan, Dimakos)	28 (Grialou)	No Romo, no chance. History has proven this. — Grialou	▼ 4	@ Washington
	23.	New Orleans Saints (0-1)	19 (Burns)	26 (Morgan)	35 points allowed to the Raiders? So much for an improved ‘D’. — Morgan	▼ 3	at NY Giants
	24.	Miami Dolphins (0-1)	15 (Green)	27 (Marotta)	Either let Tannehill throw the ball down the field or get a new QB. — Franz	—	@ New England
	25.	Atlanta Falcons (0-1)	24 (Marotta, Dimakos)	29 (Green)	It’s going to be a long season in Atlanta. — Green	▼ 3	@ Oakland
	26.	San Diego Chargers (0-1)	22 (Franz)	29 (Marotta, Morgan)	One game down, already two top WRs out for the year. — Marotta	—	vs. Jacksonville
	27.	Buffalo Bills (0-1)	23 (Grialou, Morgan)	30 (Franz)	People shouldn’t have to pay to watch this boring version of football. — Dimakos	▼ 4	vs. NY Jets
	T28.	Tennessee Titans (0-1)	27 (4 voters)	30 (Marotta, Grialou)	I think they’ll play 15 close games and win five of them. — Franz	▲ 1	@ Detroit
	T28.	San Francisco 49ers (1-0)	21 (Marotta)	31 (Green)	Are the Niners improved or are the Rams that bad? — Morgan	▲ 3	@ Carolina
	30.	Chicago Bears (0-1)	27 (Grialou)	30 (Morgan, Green)	Pains me to say it, but they are going to be awful (sorry, Dad). — Dimakos	▼ 2	vs. Philadelphia
	31.	Los Angeles Rams (0-1)	23 (Green)	32 (Franz)	Offensive offense. — Franz	▼ 6	vs. Seattle
	32.	Cleveland Browns (0-1)	31 (Franz)	32 (Everyone else)	Yeah, no. — Burns	—	vs. Baltimore

How the panel voted – Week 2

Burns | Dimakos | Franz | Green | Grialou | Marotta | Morgan

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