Every Tuesday morning during the NFL season, different media outlets release their updated weekly power rankings. ESPN, NFL.com, and MMQB all had the Buffalo Bills in the bottom half last week. SB Nation was the only site to rank them higher than 20, but this week that changes.
ESPN keeps doing this backwards for some reason. After the week 1 win against the Jets, the Bills moved down a spot from 26th to 27th. This week, after a loss, Buffalo moved back up a spot to their original 26th-placed ranking. When looking at it, you'll see that the Cincinnati Bengals are the team they jumped over after their own meltdown at home against the Texans.
“Three teams have played twice this season and allowed one or fewer touchdowns: the Panthers, the Ravens and the Bills. The offense might lack some firepower, but the defense doesn't,” noted the ESPN text.
Elliot Harrison of NFL.com dropped the Bills a spot from their spot at 25 last week and now sit at 26. Harrison notices exactly what everyone else does, the defense is good and the offense is hard to watch.
“Not much offense from Rick Dennison's unit this week,” said Harrison. “The Bills' offensive coordinator might be missing a few accessories, particularly on the outside, but 176 total yards ain't gonna get it done. Tom Brady threw for about that much in the first quarter in New Orleans. Actually, he threw for more. Right -- you don't want to read about Brady in the Bills blurb. Although if Buffalo is playing for the future, the Bills might not ever catch Brady. Which is a shame, considering the effort the defense played with this past weekend, despite not seeing an ounce of help. Sean McDermott's defense was on the field nearly 39 minutes.”
SB Nation gave the Bills the best slot, and this week they sit at 21. They call their power rankings, “hope” rankings. They rank teams where they think they can hope to be after their previous game. For example, the Jacksonville Jaguars were ranked 3 last week, they now sit at 25. SB Nation doesn't leave any commentary on teams as to why they are ranked where they are but I'm sure we can take a pretty good guess. The offense scored 3 points.
MMQB writers vote on their rankings as a unit, this week only 15 of their writers participated. One of those 15 still has the Bills ranked as the 31st-best team in the NFL. The folks at MMQB didn't move the Bills, they will stay at 26 for the next week.
Hopefully a surprise win at home against the Broncos will have the Bills climb the power rankings ladder. Denver’s defense could be as talented as the Panthers.