NFL power rankings for Week 1: Bills on top after hard lessons learned

The two NFL teams who suffered the most bitter end to their 2021 seasons might have been the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills. 

The Chargers coached their way out of the tie needed to go to the playoffs and were eliminated with a loss on the last play of the regular season. The Bills took a three-point lead on the Kansas City Chiefs with 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and lost without ever touching the ball again in the Game of the Century.

So it should be no surprise that the Chargers and Bills were two of the most aggressive teams of the offseason, trying to erase the lasting taste and capitalize on the Cincinnati Bengals exposing the Chiefs as beatable.

Here The Post’s preseason NFL power rankings, led by the loaded AFC:

1. Buffalo Bills

Here’s what the Bills learned last season: They need to take the regular season seriously and make sure that whichever team survives the AFC West gauntlet has to go through icy Buffalo. Ken Dorsey was promoted to offensive coordinator to keep QB Josh Allen in rhythm. Adding two-time Super Bowl champ OLB Von Miller felt like the missing piece.

2. Kansas City Chiefs

A seventh straight AFC West title is no sure thing when you combine the offseason departures of WR Tyreek Hill and S Tyrann Mathieu with the additions made by their three rivals. The Chiefs are younger and quicker on defense, and the QB Patrick Mahomes-TE Travis Kelce connection still is unstoppable. If you come for the king, you best not miss.

3. Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers put a league-high eight players on the peer-voted “NFL Top 100” list and also on ESPN’s top 100 list. They are following the blueprint for winning with a great young quarterback, investing in the offensive line and using Justin Herbert’s predetermined bargain-contract savings to add other stars like CB J.C. Jackson and OLB Khalil Mack. 

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tom Brady retired! Then he unretired but had the gall to skip 11 days of training camp for family reasons! Some will use it to say that he is no longer all-in. And that crowd will just add fuel to the fire for a player who thrives on proving his doubters wrong. An injury-plagued offensive line is a concern.

5. Green Bay Packers

Plot twist: It’s OK if QB Aaron Rodgers needs some time to get on the same page with a new crop of receivers – as he suggested – because the Packers finally have a defense that can win low-scoring games. A.J. Dillon and Aaron Jones are one of the best RB tandems. Time for coach Matt LaFleur to get due credit.

6. Los Angeles Rams

The Rams are without a few hired guns (OLB Von Miller and WR Odell Beckham Jr.) who put them over the top in the playoffs. Enter MLB Bobby Wagner and WR Allen Robinson, two former Pro Bowlers motivated to show their previous teams made a mistake. QB Matthew Stafford’s tender elbow seems like a non-issue.

7. Cincinnati Bengals

Prove it wasn’t a fluke: That is the Bengals’ mission this season, after turning their first playoff win in 31 years into a Cinderella ride to the Super Bowl. Learning from the Colts’ mistake with now-retired QB Andrew Luck, the Bengals added three new starters to the offensive line so QB Joe Burrow isn’t praying to survive again. 

8. Denver Broncos

Some teams (ahem, Jets) spend 50 years looking for a quarterback. The Broncos traded for Russell Wilson, after winning previous Super Bowls with Peyton Manning and John Elway. Wilson will get better blocking than with the Seahawks, but he won’t have the same cast of proven playmakers. He gets a less-experienced but more offense-evolved head coach (Nathaniel Hackett).

9. Baltimore Ravens

After an 8-3 start, the injury-depleted Ravens lost six straight (five by three points or less) to fall out of the playoffs. Just getting healthy again makes this a playoff team. QB Lamar Jackson could be on an Aaron Judge-like mission to inflate his contract. New defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald promises to continue a blitz-heavy tradition.

10. Philadelphia Eagles

Trading for WR A.J. Brown during the draft, signing CB James Bradberry as soon as the salary-cap-strapped Giants moved on and trading for CB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson despite only one year left on his contract sent the same “all-in” message. The Eagles boast one of the season’s most upgraded rosters and still should win on both sides of the line.

11. Indianapolis Colts

12. Arizona Cardinals

13. San Francisco 49ers

14. Dallas Cowboys

15. Tennessee Titans

16. Las Vegas Raiders

17. Miami Dolphins

18. New England Patriots

19. Minnesota Vikings

20. New Orleans Saints

21. Pittsburgh Steelers

22. Cleveland Browns

23. Washington Commanders

24. New York Jets

When captain C.J. Mosley said, it’s “playoffs or bust,” a lot of people laughed. The team rallied around it. It’s not as crazy as it sounds. The AFC is loaded, but the Jets could have top-10 lines on both sides of the ball. So much depends on QB Zach Wilson’s health and improvement returning from a torn meniscus.

25. Carolina Panthers

26. Jacksonville Jaguars

27. Detroit Lions

28. Seattle Seahawks

29. New York Giants

A soft schedule that includes every other team ranked No. 25-31 on this list is the reason to believe the Giants could mask many deficiencies. The secondary is a big concern. The highest-paid WR group in the NFL rarely is fully healthy. Is either QB Daniel Jones or RB Saquon Barkley part of the long-term solution?

30. Houston Texans

31. Chicago Bears

32. Atlanta Falcons