NFL Power Rankings: Are the Bills and Josh Allen the biggest threat to the Rams' reign?

NFC East: Cowboys | Giants | Eagles | Commanders NFC North : Bears | Lions | Packers | Vikings NFC South: Falcons | Panthers | Saints | Buccaneers NFC West: Cardinals | Rams | 49ers | Seahawks

AFC East: Bills | Dolphins | Patriots | Jets AFC North: Ravens | Bengals | Browns | Steelers AFC South: Texans | Colts | Jaguars | Titans AFC West: Broncos | Chiefs | Raiders | Chargers

It's going to take something special to knock off the Los Angeles Rams this season. Perhaps the current titleholder of best quarterback in football.

The Rams are clearly the Super Bowl favorite . That doesn't mean they're guaranteed to win a championship (in fact, every recent favorite as strong as the Rams have failed in that mission). There are plenty of teams capable of beating the Rams in a one-and-done playoff format.

The Seahawks are the obvious pick to oust the Rams, considering they beat them two of three times last season and won a Super Bowl. Seattle was a dominant champion , and while there have been some changes, the foundation remains. But perhaps it's finally time for one of the NFL's best players to get a championship ring.

The Buffalo Bills displayed some urgency to get Josh Allen to a Super Bowl, firing Sean McDermott after an overtime loss in the divisional round of the playoffs. They hired Joe Brady as their new head coach, traded for receiver DJ Moore and made some improvements to the defense in chase of a championship. Allen turned 30 in May, which isn't ancient for a quarterback. But there won't be infinite opportunities with him either.

Allen has had some monster games against the Rams, if that ends up being a Super Bowl matchup. In three outings against the Rams, he has 950 passing yards and 10 touchdowns with 146 rushing yards and five more touchdowns on the ground. His average against the Rams is more than 300 yards passing, almost 50 yards rushing and five total touchdowns. Those Los Angeles defenses didn't have Myles Garrett, but Allen has torched Sean McVay's teams before.

We'll see the matchup in Week 5, when the Bills play at the Rams on a Monday night. Maybe we'll get a rematch in Super Bowl LXI, which will also be at SoFi Stadium. It'll take a memorable performance to beat the Rams this season. Allen has that type of historic game in him.

Here are the power rankings before Week 1 (in this edition, last week's rankings is from our offseason countdown ):

The Dolphins claimed seven players off waivers. The fact that 13% of their roster is made up of players who weren't wanted by other teams and didn't go through training camp with the Dolphins tells you all you need to know about Miami's upcoming season. It's going to be ugly.

The most egregious injury of the preseason was running back Jeremiyah Love, the third overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft who suffered a high ankle sprain as he got 14 first-half touches in his preseason debut. If Love is affected for most or some of his rookie season — high ankle sprains can linger for a while — it's not a good look for rookie head coach Mike LaFleur.

Everything has been said about Deshaun Watson starting at quarterback. It's a weird, bad decision. That detracts from the exciting young talent on the rest of the team. Keep a close eye on rookie receiver KC Concepcion, a first-round draft pick who will contribute a lot right away.

Geno Smith threw seven preseason passes. He completed all seven for 65 yards and a touchdown. One drive in the preseason shouldn't change perceptions that much, but it's a reminder that not long ago Smith was a competent starter in Seattle.

The Falcons' quarterback situation isn't good. Just as bad is that they drafted two edge rushers in the first round last season, and Jalon Walker is out for the season with a torn ACL and James Pearce Jr. is suspended for the first eight games. It's hard to get too excited for this Atlanta season.

Cam Ward completed 13 of 24 passes for 126 yards in the preseason and struggled on any downfield throws. Some have fairly pointed out that he was better in joint practices. We're going to get to see. Ward faces a huge season in his career path.

The Raiders are going with Kirk Cousins to start the season and he gets an advantageous matchup right away, against a Dolphins team that's dead last in these rankings. Don't forget the Raiders won in Week 1 last season, getting a confounding road win over a Patriots team that went 14-2 the rest of the season.

The Panthers will be without both starting tackles early in the season, and that doesn't help a team that already had some regression tendencies . They'll need to figure out a way to score points in Week 1 against a fun Bears offense.

The Saints are a trendy pick to win the NFC South, but training camp injuries to receiver Jordyn Tyson and defensive lineman Bryan Bresee are huge losses on each side of the ball. The Saints could still win a bad division, but the path is a lot tougher without those two standouts.

Malik Nabers' availability for the start of the season has been a hot topic for weeks, but the fact that he has come along pretty well is good news overall. If Nabers can play most of the season at his normal level, it raises the Giants' ceiling.

No preseason injury was more damaging than the Commanders losing left tackle Laremy Tunsil for all or most of the season. That will affect the entire offense, which didn't add much in the offseason . This is not how Jayden Daniels wanted to start his third season.

The mystery surrounding Emeka Egbuka's toe injury makes it tough to rank the Buccaneers. Egbuka is clearly the Buccaneers' alpha receiver if healthy, but if he has a turf toe injury, that could affect him for a while. He didn't play well last season after taking on some injuries. Now without Mike Evans, the Buccaneers need Egbuka to break out.

The Steelers and Falcons were tied for the oldest roster in the NFL after the cutdown to 53 players, according to Spotrac . That's truly bad for the Falcons, who are nowhere near contention, but it's not good for the Steelers either. Pittsburgh keeps chasing a low ceiling , especially through its commitment to 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers. It's a curious plan.

We didn't see Daniel Jones through the preseason, but reports from training camp and preseason have been positive as he comes back from a torn Achilles. The Colts scored just short of 30 points a game in the 12 games before Jones' injury, and 21.8 in the final five games of the season.

In 2021, Kyler Murray had a solid season with a 100.6 passer rating. Since then he hasn't posted a rating above 93.5 and his overall rating over four seasons is a mediocre 90.3. In other words, it has been a while since Murray was a plus quarterback. Maybe he improves in Kevin O'Connell's scheme. At very least he'll be better than the Vikings' options last season.

Josh Jacobs landing on the commissioner's exempt list affects the Packers' season, since they don't know if or when he'll play. MarShawn Lloyd is talented but he has six carries over two seasons due to injuries. There isn't much behind him. This should force the Packers to pass more with Jordan Love, which might not be a bad thing. Love was second in the NFL in adjusted EPA ( expected points added ) per play last season and maybe can turn that efficiency into a huge season.

One of the quieter injury stories through August was defensive end Nick Bosa missing most of camp. He has knee tendinitis after tearing his ACL last season. The 49ers face a big challenge against the Rams in Australia, and it doesn't get easier if Bosa and George Kittle are limited coming off injuries.

The Bengals are a conundrum. Their offense should be fantastic, if the line holds up, but how much better will their defense be? They were 30th in defensive DVOA last season and while Dexter Lawrence II and other additions will help, they also lost Trey Hendrickson and have a long way to go to be average. Also keep in mind: The Bengals are notoriously slow starters under head coach Zac Taylor. They haven't gotten out of September with a winning record since 2021.

The Jaguars have an easy start to the season, with a home game against the Browns. They better win. After that they have: at Denver, vs. Patriots, at Bengals, vs. Eagles, vs. Texans. It wouldn't be bad for the Jaguars to get out of that stretch at 3-3, but that is unlikely if they drop a game to Cleveland in Week 1.

The Chargers lost center Tyler Biadasz to a season-ending injury, turning the interior of the offensive line into a big question mark. The AFC West is competitive enough that an injury like that could be a big factor in the race.

Patrick Mahomes is likely going to start in Week 1 coming off an ACL surgery, but it will be a bit of an unusual Week 1 for him. Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs' starters usually log some time in the preseason. Mahomes didn't play at all this preseason as the Chiefs played it safe with him. However, in 2020, when there were no preseason games due to the pandemic, Mahomes had 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in his first four games. We'll see if he looks rusty early this season.

Ben Johnson has stated he wants to field the highest scoring offense in NFL history. That mark was set by the 2013 Broncos, who averaged 37.9 points. That would be a massive leap from the 25.9 points per game the Bears scored last season. There's nothing wrong with lofty goals, and if Caleb Williams makes the leap to being an MVP candidate, Chicago could at least make a run at the highest scoring offense in the NFL this season.

The Texans were lucky to replace injured Jayden Higgins with Kayshon Boutte. Apparently there was no trade market for Boutte, whom the Texans got from the Patriots for a 2028 seventh-round pick. Boutte had 551 yards and six touchdowns last season and will have a role in the offense.

The Lions traded David Montgomery and might regret it. Isiah Pacheco is on injured reserve with general manager Brad Holmes saying he is "hopeful" Pacheco returns this season. The current backups are Jacob Saylors and Sione Vaki. They have a combined nine carries for 29 yards in the NFL. The Lions desperately need Jahmyr Gibbs to stay healthy. They are also very thin in the secondary to start the season.

The Eagles were under center for about 35% of their training camp snaps, according to PhillyVoice.com , which is a big change for Jalen Hurts. The Eagles were at 21.8% snaps under center and 15.6% in 2024, PhillyVoice.com said. The change to offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, who has never called plays in the NFL, and a much different scheme makes the Eagles tough to project going into the season.

Dallas' offense hasn't been a question all offseason. Everyone assumes it will be very good. It should be, unless running back Javonte Williams misses time or has his play dip. There is practically nothing behind him. Backup Malik Davis has 90 career carries, and 38 of them came in 2022. The depth at running back is worth keeping an eye on.

Tyler Loop was pretty good as a rookie last season. He hit 30-of-34 field-goal attempts, though he wasn't great from beyond 50 yards. But he had a memorable miss to end the season, which kept the Ravens from making the playoffs, then had some misses in the preseason. The Ravens signed Jake Moody to the practice squad, a clear sign that if Loop struggles early, he won't keep the job.

Even though the Patriots drafted left tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round of the NFL Draft, last year's first-round pick, Will Campbell, has remained with the first team at left tackle. Campbell was picked apart after a rough postseason, including a bad Super Bowl. A knee injury in November might be to blame. He'll start the season at left tackle but we'll see how long his leash is if he struggles.

The Broncos didn't have a first-round pick because they traded for Jaylen Waddle, but perhaps they found an immediate contributor in the fourth round with running back Jonah Coleman. All of the reports on Coleman have been positive, and that's valuable considering J.K. Dobbins' injury history. Coleman could be an important player for a very good team.

The biggest news of August for the Bills was that tight end Dalton Kincaid was healthy. Injuries have cost Kincaid eight games over the past two seasons. Kincaid had a scorching 2.7 yards per route run last season, a fantastic mark for a tight end. Now he just needs to stay on the field to run more routes with Josh Allen.

A lot of the Seahawks' season depends on first-round pick Jadarian Price replacing Kenneth Walker III. Seattle led the NFL last season with a 48% rush rate, which is a product of winning a lot of games but also part of their philosophy. Zach Charbonnet is out the first four weeks as he recovers from an ACL injury, so the runway is clear for Price to take off early.

Not much more can be said about the Rams. No disrespect to the Seahawks, but there's no question who should be No. 1 going into the season. This is one of the most loaded rosters you'll find , even if that doesn't guarantee a Super Bowl .