NFL Power Rankings Week 3 Cardinals climb Eagles plummet

And just like that, the NFC East has been made whole again ...There was a time, long before the Week 3 Power Rankings, that the East was the division in pro football. You had Bill Parcells' , Joe Gibbs' , Tom Landry's and Buddy Ryan's . (Oh, and the . But we won't go there.) From 1984 until 1989, the division featured a different winner every year.Who knows who will win it now, with , the averaging a foot per carry, and the unable to stop the Atlanta Hawks, . Don't forget about those pesky moving up in our rankings. And then there is this poor NFC East fan ... lifetime eagles fan, just went to my 1st PHI game tonight...YIKES. ? seth s. scott (@ setz) Imagine being Seth. That was the first game you ever got to see live? I'd rather have seen Bobby Hoying throw for 105 yards for the three-win '98 .As for the rest of the teams, not all are descending at a rapid pace. Just ask the , and -- perennial bottom feeders run amok, I tell ya! So take a gander below, and see how all 32 stack up after Week 2. As always, feel free to share your take: is the place.NOTE: The lineup below reflects changes from our .PREVIOUS RANKINGS: | | | Only could turn a fella who was released by this offseason into through Week 2. And if you count how many other organizations sat idle while sat idle? Good grief. Really enjoyed watching He's one of those players you don't fully appreciate until he's no longer around -- and he is so important to Mike McCarthy's offense right now. Johnathan Abram Jersey answered the bell again, this time like the future r he is, hitting three touchdown pa ses while narrowly mi sing on a few potential additional scores. by down the seam to seal the day. All that said, the -- sans -- were able to move the ball downfield handily against the ' defense and then quarterback made more than a few New Englanders nervous late. The unit is still suspect: 813 yards allowed in two games. -- all he does is Boy, all those people who thought the would overtake the Cards in the NFC West had better pump the brakes, or else will happen. looks outstanding through two games: He's completed 36 of 56 pa ses, picking up 8.79 yards per throw with seven touchdowns and one interception. His pa ser rating for the season? 124.4. Say what you want about , but he sure looked mighty fine Sunday in front of the home folk Perhaps the most underrated offseason development this year was the return to health of receiver and tight end . Each have contributed heavily thus far, with Jones' reception of from the Red Rifle being the highlight of the win over San Diego. #2-0 answered a few questions -- or did he? While that 10-play drive in the fourth quarter was an absolute gem, so many Manning ducks could have gone the other way. We'll wait before we make further judgments on the veteran QB. Regardle s, it sure would be nice if averaged more than none yards per carry. Gue sing the secondary's pregame ritual is to ferociously rub their hands with baby oil. How many would-be interceptions did the drop anyway? Four? Five? More? and the pa sing game seriously regre sed following Kansas City's impre sive in Houston. Kind of like Hootie & the Blowfish's second album. That happens when you can't pa s block. Not Hootie -- and company, I mean. That defense didn't look so Buffalo-esque Sunday. You've probably already seen that Brady threw for 466 yards. Before we rub it in about the lo s, major props to , who kept fighting out there. Sure, he threw at the end, but at that point in the contest, Taylor was simply trying to make something happen. Check out to in the fourth quarter. Here's to the # Mafia finding a quarterback, finally. Whoa ... gooooooooodnight. The put on a show on Sunday. If hasn't convinced you he's the best wideout in the game yet, he never will. Longtime fans will tell you this matchup was what the should've been in '94. Too bad you couldn't pair that Greg Lloyd-Carnell Lake defense with this year's Pittsburgh offense. Nerdy football note: The ' offensive strategy was on point . Stick with the run game on early downs -- draining clock, limiting 's po se sions -- then exploit matchups in the secondary after the ' D starts leaning run. The eventually threw more than they pounded the rock, yet several times saw something outside (like , on anybody) and simply went for it. Interesting that Marshall said of the offense after the game: Looked alright to me. The catch of the day goes to , . The underrated road win of the day , who joined the , , Bucs and as the NFL's road warriors Sunday. George Blanda Jersey Maybe fans and analysts weren't overly impre sed with Atlanta's "W," viewing these as a me s. Yet, on a day when members of Big Blue's team were present, and the modern-day were eager to put deep in the rearview, Atlanta outscored the home team 14-0 in the fourth quarter. and just enforced their will on a flat defense. Gue sing one catch for 11 yards is not what Pete Carroll had in mind when general manager John Schneider in the offseason. If it makes anyone feel better, -- the center Seattle sent to the in the deal -- is lining up for an 0-2 team, as well. Perhaps most perplexing to fans is that Graham was only targeted twice in Sunday night's tight end making the catch of the night only seemed to highlight Graham's absence from the offense. All that said, road lo ses and Green Bay -- tests as tough as any the 'Hawks will face all year -- do not equal the end of the world. But they are worth noticing. San Diego hung around long enough to make a drive to try to win it Tough to tell whether saw dropping into the zone on toward the end. The key sequence in the game had to be the fumble that was called an incomplete pa s -- hello, Tuck Rule -- which preceded Mike McCoy deciding to let the final 50 seconds of the first half run without calling a defensive timeout to get Rivers the ball back. Give your quarterback (there, I said it) a shot there, Mike. It's all over again, except for the fact that Jon Kitna's not around this time. (Jon Kitna > .) What kind of Bizarro World are we in where is healthy and and are hurt? Obviously, Romo's is devastating to the Dallas organization. From a larger standpoint, Romo's window of opportunity is closing rapidly. He's 35 and lacks some of the pocket quickne s he displayed five years ago. Romo was never fast, but he was quick in a phone booth. And here I am talking about him like he's dead. fans must be in mourning about their season right now. But they won't have to worry as much if the defense plays the brand of ball it played A wee bit too close for comfort for fans. And how about That was lame. Could you imagine if Cam impersonated ' Discount Double Check? People would be all over him for it. I mean, if the towel draped over the head got people fired up about Newton not caring, what would happen if he pulled what Mallett did? #randomfootballthoughts Your friendly writer was destroyed for not overreacting to the ' versus the in St. Louis. The team's shows you why I held back. Every season, we hear something like this: "The team you've got to watch out for is the , I'm telling ya." And every year, they falter. Is St. Louis different with under center? Maybe. But wasn't Sunday's contest the exact type of game the need to win to fulfill even wild-card promise? Let's see against that red-hot offense, which features and , not and . , fans had to absorb three hours of nothingne s in San Francisco. (Seriously, watching any of the Vikes' lo ses -- twice -- would have been more palatable.) But alas, provided these same fans with great joy! Credit must go to Mike Zimmer's defense, which only allowed 10 points while the contest was still in doubt. Though the box score will tell you caught 10 balls, they only went for 83 yards. That's about as much gas mileage as a Honolulu blue '69 GTO. The looked terrible . Will they turn it around if/when their corners get healthy? They should. Is still miles ahead of fellow youngsters , and ? Sure. That said, analysts have to quit forgiving his turnovers. There is no question that so much of the game is on his shoulders. At the same time, he has to know when to eat the football. Down one score, he was forcing throws Monday night. Speaking of turnovers: Oh, brother -- ... That a way, ! OK, seriously -- gimme a cooler football name in today's game than . Just wanna yell it to the mountaintops! The castoff -- Don't you think they would like to have him back? Maybe they would've only lost by three scores, not four, -- came up with a huge pa s deflection on the ' last drive. OK, maybe the Jags were going to win anyway, but through two games, the unheralded Skuta has nine tackles, including two for lo s, with a sack, quarterback hit and the aforementioned pa s deflection. : You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him. #Skutagear This squad is no different Marquel Lee Jersey from the other Joe Philbin-era clubs in Miami. They escaped a reeling team with then faltered miserably down the stretch versus the was shown 500 times on the broadcast and sports shows, but one penalty doesn't cost a team a game (... although, in this case, it was pretty bad). is getting paid approximately $1.18 million per game over the next six years. So that one tackle he was involved in Sunday must have really been something. The ... Current favorites to win the NFC East! Don't laugh. (Well, chances are more than 50 percent of you reading this blurb are 'Skins fans, so you aren't even so much as giggling.) The front seven looks very much improved, as we heard it would be in the offseason. On the other side of the ball, Jay Gruden is deploying a wicked one-two punch at running back -- and , who combined for 182 yards on 37 carries (a healthy 4.9 yards a pop) -- that might grind out nine wins and an NFC East title. Maybe all those peeps who a sume > should take a step back ... or better yet, get on NFL Now and watch some Game Pa s of from Sunday afternoon. Carr was mostly brilliant, throwing for 351 yards and three touchdowns with only one to s he'd like to take back. Bridgewater hasn't put a team on his back like that in his brief NFL career. Hey, maybe these aren't the same old . Through two weeks, we've learned this about the ... **a)** Losing really hurts. **b)** is the best weapon on offense. **c)** versus the 2-0 is an absolute must-win. </content:power-ranking> Someone tell the ' defense that kicked off 40-something hours ago. (Maybe the guys are still in the locker room, spinning yarn about how .) That was ugly out there at the Ketchup Bottle on Sunday, so much so that Jim Tomsula gets our first just burn it mention of the season. Pull a quasi-Sparano and bury the game film. You both have great mustaches, and . By the way, heard some banter that looked swell. Sure, a 106.7 pa ser rating is super, and we are rooting for him here in the Power Rankings ... But Kap's team was down 29-3 through the first three quarters. Then he posted a 148.3 pa ser rating with a pair of TD strikes in the final stanza, precisely when it didn't matter. If and are your two biggest playmakers, then giving them eight combined touches in the first half simply isn't going to cut it. That eighth touch was Johnson's touchdown reception from 11 yards out at the close of the first half. Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has to figure this out. The didn't fare much better after halftime, going fumble, punt, fumble, punt, interception before getting a touchdown in , i.e., garbage time. Can you really at this point? Answer: Yes, you could. did indeed have two very nice throws that got plenty of burn on all the highlight shows. What said shows didn't show: The fact that he completed just six other pa ses (for 62 yards) the rest of the game. Still, the upside is with No. 2 out there, so I think you stick with him. Mike Pettine and I aren't friends on LinkedIn, so he's probably not going to consult me. Helluva game, . OK, so the and give all of Tenne see something to rave about (a 2-0 record). Still, I couldn't help but notice the fight in this club, especially at the quarterback position. found the going much tougher in Week 2, but once again, the stage didn't look too big for him. Two touchdown pa ses, a 96.3 pa ser rating and two impre sive third-down scrambles to move the chains. Another thing to note: , with a bye for extra rest/game-planning in Tim Brown Jersey Week 4. Lots of questions and criticism swirling around the New Meadowlands on Sunday, following . Seems like nothing is going right for Tom Coughlin's group, with . struck again by , allowing Atlanta to burn more time off the clock. Nothing is going to get better for the until the defense comes to play. Otherwise, it's all on . This just in: Manning has never won big when it is all on him. With this NFC East, though, don't rule the G-Men out quite yet. Especially with . After letting digest for 20 hours, I'm comfortable saying that the performance we all saw at the Linc on Sunday might be worse than anything from Andy Reid's ill-fated swan-song season of 2012. In fact, those looked like the 1999 out there Sunday, playing like the squad that stumbled all over the field in Reid's first year as a head coach. It appeared as though nothing was working. And even though Dallas was up just 13-3, sans its two best players, with 14 minutes and change (an eternity in the NFL) remaining ... did even the most ardent fans think their team had a chance? To make matters worse, the were without the services of and on defense -- yet still, Philly couldn't even mount a challenge. The gained a grand total of seven yards rushing on Sunday. (Well, at least they ran it 17 times!) Get the ground game going, Chip, and things will get better. Pulling the plug on after one week allowed the to score three fewer points and compile 96 fewer yards of offense. Oh, and Bill O'Brien's squad also committed 10 penalties while converting a paltry five of their 19 third-down attempts. ( -- just in case you are as far removed from your SAT as me.) Marcel Reece Jersey was OK -- at best -- but he kept winging it until the end and darn-near tied it up with an acro s-body throw to in the waning moments. Still, Houston must get more from its running game -- 23 carries for 61 yards ain't gonna cut it. Hurry back, Arian. How Tampa Bay's defense came out and played that well through the first three quarters is anybody's gue s. Lovie Smith and staff were celebrating like had just taken them to out there. Play of the day: 's hustle -- and ability to stay in bounds -- while . Call it, well, beautifully clutch. As was in the second quarter. So, who started in fantasy? After at their place in Week 1, the inexplicably flopped in front of the home folks in New Orleans. It would not be a stretch, fans, for you to complain that your team was the biggest dud of Week 2. I am not ready to write off and Sean Payton, but 6-10 looks very realistic at the moment. Some might say a bit worse. And speaking of Brees, , that's for sure. A turnaround must begin with the occasional upending of an opposing quarterback. Well, through two games, we know the defense is not up to par. The have allowed 79 points -- . And now , too. So let's throw some positive energy out there. The famous 1985 Chicago outfit gave up 28 in Week 1 and 24 in Week 3, and that squad turned it around. Just saying. Of course, that linebacking corps was much better than this one (as was the rest of the defense). Power Rankings trivia: Wilber Marshall and Mike Singletary are the two most famous LBs on that team. Who was the other guy? #55 Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter .