Sep 14, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) catches a touchdown pass past Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Byron Maxwell (31) in the second quarter at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Wow, what a week of NFL football. Week 1 is finally in the books, and it was an exciting week. The week started off right, with the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots grinding out a home victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers and ending with a 49ers victory over the Vikings.
Interesting fact: All three rookie head coaches won their debut games this weekend; Todd Bowles led the Jets to victory, Dan Quinn helped the Falcons beat the Eagles and Jim Tomsula guided the 49ers to a win over the Vikings on Monday Night Football.
We saw blowouts–with the Jets, Bengals and Titans respectively outscoring the Browns, Raiders and Buccaneers by at least 20 points each, and we saw some nail-biters–with the Rams, Chargers, Cowboys and Falcons all beating their respective opponents within the final minutes (or seconds) of the fourth quarter or in overtime.
AFC MVP: Tom Brady
Brady went 25-for-32, completing 78.1 percent of his passes for 288 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, putting the DeflateGate nonsense behind him and bringing excitement back to NFL fans.
NFC MVP: Julio Jones
Jones reeled in nine passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 15.7 yards per catch and gaining eight first downs in the Falcons’ 26-24 win against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Coach of the Week: Mike McCoy
Philip Rivers is equally deserving of an award, but I’m going to give McCoy the Coach of the Week here, partially because I didn’t want to give two awards to the same team (Dan Quinn is the obvious runner-up for this award). McCoy and Rivers rallied the Chargers back to score 30 straight points in a 33-28 comeback victory over the Detroit Lions after being down 21-3 late in the second quarter. The victory was San Diego’s largest home comeback in history.
The awards are out of the way, so let’s get right into the Power Rankings. Just remember, I ranked your team lower than it deserves to be ranked solely based on the principle that I don’t like your team.
That’s it for this week’s edition of the NFL Power Rankings. Be sure to let me know why your team is ranked too low on Twitter @CHoweSports. If you liked the article, feel free to tweet your positive feedback to my other account, @nflcommish (Just kidding, Roger, please don’t fine me).
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you around this time next week with another edition of the Stripe Hype’s NFL Power Rankings!