Week 2 Powerless Ranking: We see you, Tennessee

Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season is a wrap, and it’s time to look at the teams that stunk it up. Week 1 gave us plenty of sloppy football to process, and some of the teams in this ranking might surprise you. Then there are the others you probably predicted in the preseason.

So, let’s get to the Week 1 powerless ranking.

Maybe Josh McDaniels isn’t meant to be a head coach in the NFL? Whatever the explanation, McDaniels’ tenure in Las Vegas certainly has not started the way he envisioned coming into the season.

The Raiders made the playoffs last season and now find themselves in an 0-2 hole that’s never easy to climb out of, whether it’s a 16 or 17-game schedule. Most people want to blame QB Derek Carr, but he played rather well and usually does for the most part. Las Vegas was up 23-0 at halftime over Arizona, and looked like they were on their way to being 1-1.

In the second half, the Raiders collapsed under the pressure as the Cardinals shut them out, scoring 29 unanswered points behind a couple of dazzling plays from Kyler Murray and the Cardinals’ offense. Let’s also show this Cardinals defense some love for shutting the down the Raiders offense.

To illustrate how wild this game was, the Cardinals drove down the field on the Raiders in 18 plays. Murray and the Arizona offense produced an 18-play drive ending in a TD and two-point conversion to send it to overtime, where the Cardinals won the game on a defensive touchdown.

McDaniels needs to get his team back on track, or they’ll become a mainstay for the remainder of the season. Fortunately for McDaniels, the 0-2 Titans are up next. Both teams need a win desperately, so that should be a good game, at the least.

Ok, let’s be honest, no one expects anything out of the Falcons this year. Atlanta ushered out an aging (see washed) Matt Ryan and replaced him with journeyman Marcus Mariota. Thus far, Mariota hasn’t been bad, but he’s failed to even begin building a rapport with second-year stud tight end Kyle Pitts.

Through two games, Pitts has four catches for 38 yards. He’s had the exact same stat line each game, two catches for 19 yards, so at least he’s consistent. Pitts is trying to be cool about it and says he’s “not getting frustrated” by his lack of production. In Week 1 against the Saints, Pitts was targeted seven times by Mariota. In losing to the Rams in Week 2, he was targeted three times.

Atlanta probably won’t win more than five games this year, but they’ve got to find a way to get Pitts more involved. They have weapons on offense with Cordarrelle Patterson and rookie wideout Drake London, who’s already making his presence felt. Pitts made the Pro Bowl last season as a rookie, but if this continues, he won’t be sniffing that honor in ’22.

After acquiring Baker Mayfield just before training camp, there were at least semi-high hopes in Carolina that the 2022 season wouldn’t be a complete waste. So far, through two games, it’s been about as good as most of us outside the Panthers facility thought it would be.

The Panthers are 0-2 but have only lost by a total of five points. That isn’t horrible, but good teams win close games in the NFL. Carolina isn’t ready to be a good team. Unfortunately, for Mayfield and his new crew, there aren’t any breaks coming up in the schedule anytime soon.

On the bright side, Carolina plays their next three games at home. The bad news is that those games are against the Saints, Cardinals, and 49ers. Then they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Rams and get Tom Brady and the Buccaneers at home after that. The two games Carolina probably had the best chances of winning have come and gone, and they didn’t get the ‘W’ in either.

Oh, and Baker is still looking rather pedestrian as Panthers QB. He completed 48 percent of his passes in Week 2 for 145 yards, a TD, and a 74.6 QB rating. The Panthers will likely be a fixture on this list moving forward.

Tennessee got the breaks beat off ’em Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills aren’t slouches by any means, but the Titans have been a playoff team three of the last four years under head coach Mike Vrabel. At 0-2 coming off such a lousy performance, it’s hard to see them making a fourth consecutive appearance in the postseason.

You have to wonder how confident the coaching staff feels in backup rookie QB Malik Willis. Ryan Tannehill did not look good in this game against Buffalo and was eventually replaced by Willis late in the game. Tannehill was much better against the Giants in Week 1, but the Titans lost that game, too. The Bills are much better than the Giants, but Tannehill was downright awful Monday night.

Tannehill was 11 for 20 passing for 117 yards and two interceptions. He posted a QBR of 16.3 and a passer rating of 32.7. Both are far below average. Derrick Henry hasn’t looked like his usual self either. Through two games, he’s rushed for 107 yards on 3.1 per carry. Against the Bills, Henry totaled just 25 yards rushing and under 2 yards per carry. I know it was against the Bills... but, as Kevin Hart would say... Damn!

Let’s give the Titans a couple more weeks to get on track. Otherwise, we’ve got a permanent slot for them on the powerless ranking.

We could have a new leader in the race for the worst division in the NFL. Most recently, the NFC East has been dubbed the worst in football. Now the AFC South is doing its best to snatch that crown away. The only team in this division with a victory through two weeks is the mighty Jacksonville Jaguars. What what?

Jacksonville just so happened to be the team that put a beat down on the Colts in Week 2, blanking Indy 24-0. It doesn’t matter what else you do all season; once you get shut out by the Jags, you’ve earned your spot on this list. Matt Ryan threw three interceptions and produced a QBR of 6.2. And the offensive line allowed five sacks on Ryan in this game. Kansas City is next on the schedule for Indianapolis, so get used to seeing them here for a while.