With a new No. 1 team, the crew at the X’s and O’s Show presents their Week 3 Power Rankings. Four of the top five teams are AFC teams, but so are four of the bottom five. The Broncos keep creeping up, clocking in this week at No. 3.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (2)

The defense has been better than expected, and they haven’t even started to run the ball yet. But because they are the Steelers, we just know they will.

2. New England Patriots (1)

They should be the best team a month from now, but can they shoulder Garoppolo’s loss until then? They have three days to get Jacoby Brissett ready for a Thursday night test against JJ Watt and the fearsome Texans defense.

3. Denver Broncos (6)

Meet this year’s Denver Broncos! A lot like last year’s Denver Broncos, expect a whole lot of close, grind-‘em-out games. Like their championship version from 2015, these Broncos look like they have the talent to go toe-to-toe with any team in the league, while also lacking the talent necessary to blow out anyone on their schedule.

4. Carolina Panthers (5)

This may be the most physical team in the league across the board. They punish teams on both sides of the ball. They won’t sneak up on anyone this year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be bullies again.

5. Cincinnati Bengals (4)

Bengals finally will play their home opener after going 1-1 over two brutal road games. Talented, balanced and explosive, have they finally learned what it takes to win in January?

6. Minnesota Vikings (8)

Minnesota is winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And Coach Randall thinks they should be as high as No. 3! We’ll know a lot more about this team after their trip to Charlotte this week.

7. Houston Texans (15)

The team, like Brock Osweiller, has been good enough. Houston will never win any beauty pageants, but they have surprised us so far. Can they knock off a shell-shocked Patriots club on short rest? It is hard to see Belichick and McDaniels having anything more than the most basic passing plays in the gameplan.

8. Arizona Cardinals (10)

They enjoyed a much-needed route of Tampa Bay to get rid of the taste from the Patriots loss. Here at the X’s and O’s Show, we have some differences of opinion regarding the Cardinals, so we’ll just let the team sort it out for us. They can start by taking care of this soft portion of their schedule, with three of the next four at home and a trip to Santa Clara to play the 49ers.

9. Kansas City Chiefs (3)

Like last year’s team, the Chiefs seemed impossible to predict. One thing we do know is that this team needs Jamal Charles back soon.

10. Seattle Seahawks (7)

The offensive line continues to be a calamity. The skill players aren’t good enough to make up for the holes that have yet to be filled up front.

11. New York Jets (13)

The same formula that worked last year appears ready for a sequel—stifling defense with a quarterback who knows how to exploit his receivers’ mismatches.

12. Green Bay Packers (9)

The Packers have the 30th ranked passing offense after two weeks. We have been skeptical of Green Bay from the start, and they continue to slide in our Power Rankings.

13. Oakland Raiders (12)

If they don’t convert the two-point conversion attempt in New Orleans, would this team be 0-2 right now? The defense has raised more questions than answers.

14. Indianapolis Colts (14)

How long can this decimated secondary hold up before teams start torching them downfield? It’s not like they can play Denver every week.

15. New York Giants (20)

A gritty 2-0 start in a division that can often be won with grit alone, the Giants have emerged as an early surprise playoff contender.

16. San Diego Chargers (18)

Here is the scary way to look at the Chargers: For six of the eight quarters they’ve played this year, they have utterly dominated their opponent. And we choose to look at them the scary way.

17. Dallas Cowboys (22)

How can you overcome the loss of your star quarterback? Try combining the best offensive line in football and a terrible division and see if that does the trick.

18. Miami Dolphins (19)

Has there ever been a tougher opening two games for a new coach, at Seattle and at New England? That the Dolphins were within one possession of each game is something to build on.

19. Atlanta Falcons (25)

They lose at home in the dome to a bad team that plays in the jungle, then they go to the dirt and turf of Oakland and run over the Raiders. Go figure.

20. Baltimore Ravens (16)

How do you win your first two games and drop in our Power Rankings? Make those first two (shaky) wins are against arguably the worst two teams on the planet.

21. Philadelphia Eagles (21)

Likewise, while the Eagles have looked pretty and shiny so far, we will withhold judgement until they do it against teams not named the Browns or the Bears.

22. Detroit Lions (11)

After stealing a tough road upset in Indianapolis, the Lions had a great opportunity to go to 2-0, but blew a home lead against the lowly Titans. This is why they are the Lions.

23. Los Angeles Rams (32)

Jeff Fisher is going to petition the league to let the Rams play Seattle every week. The big, bad Seahawks seem to be the only team that can get Los Angeles to look like a respectable team.

24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (24)

Are they the team who upset the Falcons in Atlanta in Week 1 or the hapless club who endured a thrashing from an angry Cardinals team? We’re guessing the latter.

25. San Francisco 49ers (23)

Give the 49ers this: They are already much more competitive than last year’s joke.

26. Tennessee Titans (29)

We admit it. We were ready to bury Tennessee after their home loss to the Vikings. But they surprised us with a good win in Detroit. With a manageable schedule, the Titans could see some improvement this year.

27. New Orleans Saints (27)

Sean Peyton and Drew Brees are a cautionary tale of what happens to an organization that is lucky enough to get a top coach/quarterback combo but isn’t able to put any other talent around them. These final years for the duo are increasingly hard to watch.

28. Chicago Bears (26)

The Bears have been trying to stop the leaks for the last few years (no running game, then no receivers, then no defense), but they find themselves now with more holes than ever. This team is in rebuilding mode. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to know it yet.

29. Jacksonville Jaguars (17)

It’s not your fault if the media goes crazy in its preseason predictions about how your perennially terrible outfit is finally ready to win some big games. But if when that happens, you instead jump out to an 0-2 record and get embarrassed by the Chargers, you’re still going to get blamed for all the false hype. Consider this us blaming you, Jaguars.

30. Cleveland Browns (28)

Hugh Jackson will have his work cut out for him this year just to keep convincing the players, the organization and the fans to pay no attention to the scoreboard. The Browns may get better this year, but they will definitely lose a lot of games. Jackson better start getting people to believe those two things are unrelated.

31. Washington Redskins (31)

Every several years, your team is lucky enough to start the season with two straight home games. But when you finish that stretch 0-2, panic starts to feel very close at hand. The Redskins went from a default pick to defend their division title, to what appears to be easily the worst of the four NFC East teams.

32. Buffalo Bills (30)

It’s not so much that the Bills are 0-2 that has the buzzards circling over the heads of the Ryan brothers. It is the fact that they are almost certainly looking at 0-4. And then what? Then they have four of the next six on the road, a stretch that ends with a home game against New England followed by trips to Seattle and Cincinnati. By Thanksgiving, they could have seven or eight losses.