The 2021 NFL season is still in its infancy, but we’re finally starting to get a clear picture of which teams are about that action and which teams are not.
We can talk another day about the teams that are actually for real. This is about the teams that are not.
As we do each week, let’s take a look at which teams are stinking up the joint and rank them accordingly.
Welcome to the NFL Powerless Rankings.
The Vikings are far better than the rest of the teams on this list. They can score with anyone with the weapons that they have on offense with Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and Adam Thielen. They’ve lost their first two games by a combined four points.
The issue is that the secondary just lets anybody wander free in the open. They’ve already given up over 650 yards in the air with 5 touchdowns on the young season.
Maybe the Vikings will get off this list if the defense can make a few more plays a game.
What’s crazy about the Giants is that the offense played well in Washington on Thursday. That was one of the best games I’ve ever seen Daniel Jones play. He was accurate and made good decisions with the ball that put his team in a position to win.
The backup guy for Washington just outplayed him, and that says a lot. Offensively, I don’t trust the Giants to play well consistently, mainly because I don’t have high hopes for consistency from Jones himself.
The Giants could likely be on this list the whole season and still have a chance to win the NFC East depending on if the Cowboys start acting like the Cowboys.
Zach Wilson struggled all day on Sunday. He threw four interceptions against the Patriots in the second game of his career. As he went, so did the Jets, who wound up getting beat 25-6.
This season will be filled with ups and downs from Wilson as he still tries to learn how to play in the NFL. It won’t help that his team isn’t talented enough to keep him in the game unless he suddenly goes Superman.
It might help if Head Coach Robert Saleh tried to give Wilson some easier passes throughout the game, and let him get into a rhythm, instead of calling on the 22-year-old to make plays downfield all the time.
Trevor Lawrence had to play against a really good Denver defense on Sunday. Needless to say, the game went about how you would expect.
Lawrence threw two picks and completed 14 of 33 passes, picking up only 118 yards. Denver dominated the game and won, 23-13. That score is deceptive, though, as the game was never actually that close.
Lawrence and Wilson are in the same predicament this season, having to learn on the fly with limited talent and limited coaching experience. It’s just going to be tough for these guys this season through no fault of their own.
For both Wilson and Lawrence, the goal this year is to process information and learn from it while staying healthy. Winning consistently might be too much to ask of them just yet.
The Atlanta Albatrosses are going to find themselves on this list for the foreseeable future.
They don’t do much of anything well, if we are being honest. The Flamingos got twenty-pieced by the Bucs and Matt Ryan threw three picks.
Defensively, this team can’t stop the pass. They can’t stop the run. Offensively, they can neither run nor throw the ball. What else is there? When it comes to football, I don’t think 2021 is going to be the Hummingbirds’ season.