NFL.com power rankings: Chiefs not number one? Raiders still below Patriots?

Preseason NFL power rankings may not mean a whole lot. Power rankings after week one mean only slightly more. And if you pay them any mind, you may find Elliot Harrison’s rankings over at NFL.com pretty interesting.

After a big 42-27 win over the former unanimous number one team in the league Patriots in Foxboro on Thursday Night, the Chiefs didn’t take the top spot from them. Not only that, but the Patriots didn’t fall far.

The Chiefs rose 7 spots from their previous ranking, but that rise stopped at the number two spot, below the Packers who easily beat the Seahawks in their season opener in Green Bay.

The Patriots only fell two spots despite their defense clearly unable to stop anything against the Chiefs.

After the Patriots are the Raiders, who won 26-16 win in Tennessee. They rose two spots in the rankings from number 6 to number 4.

It’s fairly odd rankings, honestly. It’s likely Harrison didn’t want to have the Chiefs leapfrog the Packers in the rankings; a decision that is actually understandable. But he also didn’t want the Patriots to fall too far despite the fact that they were routed at home by the Chiefs.

Either the Chiefs are really good, or the Patriots are not nearly as good as they have been made out to be (I’m leaning toward the latter). Either way, being one spot apart in the top three doesn’t make any sense.