1. Patriots (4-0; last week No. 1): A tradition unlike any other ended in Buffalo on Sunday; another tradition -- the Patriots beating the Bills -- continued.
2. Chiefs (4-0; No. 2): A hard-fought win over the Lions will give this team even more confidence when it’s time to play the Patriots or, you know, the Patriots.
3. Saints (3-1; No. 7): The last two wins alone put Sean Payton at the top of the list of coach of the year candidates.
4. Cowboys (3-1; No. 3): They’re not as good as we thought. They’re still pretty good.
5. Rams (3-1; No. 4): They’re not as good as we thought. They’re still pretty good.
6. Seahawks (3-1; No. 9): They’re as good as we thought, and they get a chance to prove it against the Rams on Thursday night.
7. Packers (3-1; No. 5): The offense had its best game of the year on the same night the defense was exposed.
8. Bears (3-1; No. 10): Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel, Jay Cutler, Rex Grossman. With a defense this good, it doesn’t matter who plays quarterback.
9. Bills (3-1; No. 12): Yes, they lost. But they proved that they are a serious threat to the AFC’s power structure.
10. Browns (2-2; No. 18): How will the Browns handle adversity? Pretty well, apparently.
11. Ravens (2-2; No. 6): The first two games suggested that it will be a special season. The next two games made it clear that they’ll have to scratch and claw for whatever they get this year.
12. 49ers (3-0; No. 13): The last undefeated team in the NFC still has plenty to prove.
13. Eagles (2-2; No. 20): The NFC East is officially back in play.
14. Lions (2-1-1; No. 19): They had an elite team on the ropes; next time, the Lions need to punch them through.
15. Chargers (2-2; No. 15): Even the team that seems to be in a close game every week wasn’t in a close game against the Dolphins.
16. Jaguars (2-2; No. 16): Minshew Mania is fine, but Fournette Frenzy is the thing that will help this team win the division.
17. Titans (2-2; No. 17): The consistently inconsistent Titans win another game they should have lost, and soon they’ll lose a game they should have won.
18. Buccaneers (2-2; No. 27): Jameis Winston is playing his way into a second contract that it seemed not long ago he’d never get.
19. Panthers (2-2; No. 24): The Panthers are 3-9 since starting last season 6-2. Kyle Allen started the three wins; Cam Newton started the nine losses.
20. Texans (2-2; No. 14): A rollercoaster offseason is becoming a rollercoaster regular season for the Texans.
21. Vikings (2-2; No. 8): Sorry, Vikings fans, but if you don’t have a functional passing game you don’t deserve a spot in the top 20.
22. Raiders (2-2; No. 22): Sunday’s game said more about the team that lost than the team that won.
23. Steelers (1-3; No. 23): A win is a win is a win, but that win still came against the Bengals.
24. Colts (2-2; No. 11): Good teams that can’t soundly beat inferior teams at home may not be good teams.
25. Giants (2-2; No. 25): Danny Dimes dropped a deuce on his division rival, but they need to beat someone better than Washington to climb this ladder.
26. Falcons (1-3; No. 21): How can such an impressive collection of overpriced talent fail so consistently to produce victories?
27. Jets (0-3; No. 30): Sam Darnold is close to returning, which could give the Jets a chance to begin to dig out of the lower reaches of the NFL’s hierarchy.
28. Broncos (0-4; No. 26): That win in Super Bowl 50 feels like it happened 100 years ago.
29. Bengals (0-4; No. 28): The Red Rifle had become a pop gun.
30. Cardinals (0-3-1; No. 29): Kyler Murray has lost as many games in a month as he did in his entire high school and college careers.
31. Washington (0-4; No. 31): Later this week, Jay Gruden will name which of his quarterbacks will be running for his life against the Patriots.
32. Dolphins (0-4; No. 32): Good news -- Josh Rosen played pretty well. Better news -- he didn’t play well enough to derail the tank train.