Welcome to Tuesday, Power Rankings day around the internet. The Week 2 edition of ESPN's 2014 NFL Power Rankings are out, and, would you look at that? Suddenly the Miami Dolphins are moving from a team near the bottom of the league to one right smack in the middle - about where they should have started the season.
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ESPN, like several media outlets, posted their opening Power Rankings over the past few weeks with the Miami Dolphins, who finished 2013 with an 8-8 record and have been a middle-of-the-road team for the last few seasons, down near the bottom of the league. While ESPN's 22nd ranking was not nearly as bad as some of the other power rankings out there, it still seemed like a lot of the projection for the Dolphins was based on the bullying scandal of last year.
After one week, and one big win over the New England Patriots, the Dolphins jumped up the rankings from 22nd to 15th. Of the new ranking, ESPN wrote:
Just like everyone predicted, Knowshon Moreno is the NFL's leading rusher. Moreno looked great in Week 1 with 24 rushes for 134 yards, and was a big part of Miami's win.
The team, of course, now has to back up that win by heading out on the road and beating the Buffalo Bills, a team that beat them twice last year.
The rest of the AFC East finds the Patriots in seventh, down three after losing to Miami. ESPN explained:
Tom Brady was 2-of-18 on throws at least 15 yards downfield. His 16 incompletions on deep throws are the most by anyone in Stats & Info's data set (since 2006).
The New York Jets, who beat the Oakland Raider in Week 1, did not move in ESPN's rankings, remaining as the 21st team. Of the ranking, ESPN wrote:
The Jets were one of 11 teams with at least 400 yards of offense in Week 1. Geno Smith completed 82.1 percent of his passes against the Raiders.
The Bills, who beat the Chicago Bears 23-20 in overtime, move up from 29th to 23rd this week:
The Bills used 20 zone-read rushes and averaged 7.1 yards per rush on those attempts. EJ Manuel and the Bills had an impressive start, but so did their Week 2 opponent, Miami.
The top five teams, according to ESPN, are the Seattle Seahawks (NC), Denver Broncos (NC), San Francisco 49ers (+1), Philadelphia Eagles (+3), and the Cincinnati Bengals (+4).