The 2021 NFL season is finally underway. This means we can finally see which team is about that action and which team is not.
We can talk about the teams that are actually for real another day. This is about the teams that are not.
Each week we are going to take a look at which teams are stinking up the joint and rank them accordingly.
Welcome to the NFL Powerless Rankings.
Green Bay shouldn’t be here on this list today, but when you play that poorly in Week 1, I have no choice but to give you a spot on the Powerless Rankings. The only thing the Packers and Aaron Rodgers did well yesterday was get off the bus. They were atrocious defensively. They couldn’t stop the run or the pass, and they let Jameis Winston look like a Pro Football Hall of Famer. The offense was no better. Rodgers barely threw for more than 130 yards and they couldn’t run the football at all.
I don’t expect the Packers to stay here on this list, but they are going to take their rightful spot on it today.
The New York Jets played a solid half of football yesterday against the Panthers. It’s too bad it came a little too late, after they were already down by double digits to start the second half.
They weren’t able to protect Zach Wilson in this game and he was sacked 6 times. Considering how much pressure he was under throughout the contest, it’s amazing that he was able to throw for nearly 260 yards and two touchdowns.
Sadly for New York fans, the Jets will probably be on this list for the majority of the season. Their main concern should be keeping Wilson healthy and allowing him to grow as a quarterback for the future.
I feel bad for Trevor Lawrence. He threw three picks yesterday, but only because his team is so bad that they have to play catch-up with the Houston Texans. He has to throw the ball way too much to try to get back into the game, which made the Jaguars’ offense far too predictable and made Lawrence force the ball into some bad spots.
While he had 23 incompletions to go along with those three picks in the Texans beatdown, he did throw three touchdowns. So there is cause for optimism in Jacksonville, but sadly, Lawrence will be put in spots like these a lot this season.
The main focus should be on just getting him through the season healthy and getting him reps.
Daniel Jones has the clock ticking on his tenure as a New York Giant. He wasn’t atrocious yesterday against a really good Denver defense, but he wasn’t great either. He only scored 13 points and had a costly fumble but he still threw for nearly 270 yards.
The fact of the matter is that the Giants need to see significant progression from Jones this year. And if he doesn’t show he can lead a team effectively, they’ll likely move on.
The Atlanta cockatoos were trash in almost every single important statistic against the Eagles. That was the reason why the score was 32-6.
The flamingoes messed up when they didn’t select Justin Fields with the fourth overall pick in the draft this past season. It’s clear that the Matt Ryan era for the penguins is over and now it’s time to move on.
If your team is already going to be this bad, why not just start over?
The parakeets will likely be picking in the top five again in 2022 so they could have a chance to pick their guy then. But we still have a long season to endure before then.