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NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Initial Outlook After Panthers vs. Broncos
- Updated: September 9, 2016
Though entertaining and a great way to start the 2016 season, the Denver Broncos’ 21-20 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football doesn’t say much about league hierarchy.
In theory, both teams will remain near the top of power rankings all season long—Super Bowl participants don’t often fall right off the map the next season.
More interesting is where the rest of the league stands before the rest of the slate unfolds. An offseason of changes on every level—front office right on down to the practice squad—combine with last year’s results and simple projections to craft a fresh set of rankings for the new campaign.
Week 1 NFL Power Rankings
Predicting Early-Season Movers Minnesota Vikings: Down
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This wasn’t hard to see coming, right?
The Minnesota Vikings seemed to have it all going into the 2016 season. Head coach Mike Zimmer, defensive guru that he is, looked like he had a winning unit on his hands. Teddy Bridgewater looked like a promising upstart quarterback. Adrian Peterson still looked like a guy in his prime.
It appeared another NFC North win was in the making, provided the hard-nosed team could upend the Green Bay Packers. That is until Bridgewater went down with an injury and the Vikings decided to ship away a first-round pick for Sam Bradford, who didn’t seem like he would get much in the way of playing time with the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to ESPN’s Britt McHenry, Bradford has done well out of the gates with his new team:
Told Sam Bradford has “done really well” and won’t have any problems with playbook. “All options still available” for Sunday’s game #Vikings
— Britt McHenry (@BrittMcHenry) September 7, 2016
While great news, it won’t be enough to stop the …
