Was the Patriots’ win over the Bengals on Sunday a sign of things to come or fluky beginners’ luck for a team that entered the season with low expectations? That’s what the power rankers had to decide this week as they compiled their lists from 1-32 before Week 2.
So far they need more convincing. The Patriots reached as high as 15 in one ranking after entering the year in the 30s in each of them, but don’t get higher than 24 anywhere else. In four of the five they’re still behind Bengals.
Here’s where the Patriots were ranked and the rationale behind it:
Rank: 24 up from 30 in the preseason
The Patriots are still 10 spots behind the Bengals, who slipped to No. 14 from ninth in the preseason. With each team, ESPN picked its most impressive newcomer. While the poll itself was a compilation of 80 voters, New England beat writer Mike Reiss chose Jerod Mayo for his top newcomer. Here’s what he wrote:
“The first-year head coach had his team ready to play in Cincinnati after running what nine-year veteran QB Jacoby Brissett said was one of the most challenging training camps he has experienced. Mayo noted that conditioning and controlling the line of scrimmage would be deciding factors in Week 1, and the players responded with a performance that included 39 rushing attempts, two forced fumbles and one fourth-down stop.”
Rank: 15 (from 32)
The Athletic was the only ranking group that created big swings. The Patriots jumped half the league going from last to 15th, while the Bengals plunged to No. 25 from No. 9. All 16 teams who won are ahead of the 16 who lost.
They wrote:
“Defensive lineman Keion White had 2 1/2 sacks, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble, and Rhamondre Stevenson had 120 rushing yards on 25 carries. Those things make it a lot less important who New England plays at quarterback. Sunday, as expected, it was veteran Jacoby Brissett over the rookie Drake Maye. Brissett threw for 121 yards, and no Patriot had more than 31 receiving yards. Bill Belichick must have loved this game.”
Rank: 24 up from 30
CBS’ Pete Prisco wrote positive things about the Patriots, who jumped six spots, and ripped the Bengals, but still had them higher, as Cincy fell 11 spots to 16.
He wrote:
“New coach Jerod Mayo deserves a ton of credit for getting this team to beat the Bengals on the road. The defense and running game both impressed.”
Rank: 30
Yahoo’s Frank Schwab isn’t impressed yet. He moved the Patriots from 32 to 30 and seemed to believe the result had more to do with issues for the Bengals (who dropped from 12 to 17) than anything the Patriots are doing.
But he wrote:
“Hats off to Jerod Mayo and the Patriots. Plenty of analysts spoke for weeks about how the Patriots would be the worst team in the NFL (hand raised). While this probably isn’t starting a long winning streak, the Patriots played hard and smart in Week 1. The defense was excellent. Mayo deserves a lot of credit for that.”
Rank: 27 from 31
NFL’s Eric Edholm wasn’t moved much more than Scwab as the Patriot jumped four spots, while the Bengals stayed in the top 10, dropping four spots from six. He wrote:
“I’m not sure Jerod Mayo or the Kraft family could have scripted this one any better. On the surface, the Patriots’ win looked like a hard-nosed and hard-fought victory, but a deeper look reveals that they were strangely dominant for the victors of a 16-10 contest, enforcing their will on the Bengals in their stadium and controlling the game flow throughout. New England ran the ball 39 times and dropped back to pass 25. Rhamondre Stevenson (+22 rushing yards over expectation, per Next Gen Stats) kept grinding away at Cincinnati’s defense, and veteran QB Jacoby Brissett confirmed why he — and not rookie Drake Maye (yet) — is the starter, making one efficient, smart play after another. Is it sustainable? Who knows? For one week, Mayo’s vision came to fruition, and he answered a ton of critics who’d thrown the Patriots in with the league’s bottom-rung teams.”
