Bleacher Report power rankings not kind to the New England Patriots

On Thursday, Bleacher Report released power rankings ahead of the preseason, but they weren’t very kind to the New England Patriots.

Bleacher Report power rankings were released on Thursday, and they weren’t at all kind to the New England Patriots.

The Patriots come in at 20th overall in the power rankings, which is the bottom half of the league.

Among teams in the AFC, the Patriots would fall at 11th.  Obviously, 7 teams in each conference make the playoffs, so the Patriots would be well out of the running.

Teams in the AFC ranked ahead of the Patriots are the Bills, Bengals, Chiefs, Chargers, Ravens, Broncos, Colts, Raiders, Titans, and Dolphins.

So according to Bleacher Report, the Patriots are currently the third best team in the AFC West, just managing to be ahead of the Jets, who are ranked 27th.

The AFC is extremely talented, and the Patriots do have a chance to make the playoffs, but being ranked 20th overall ahead of the preseason feels unfortunately accurate.

The team’s offense has been off during training camp; Mac Jones doesn’t look the greatest and the offensive line has been iffy.

If the Patriots were in the NFC, they’d be firmly in the playoff mix, but they’ll have troubles with their own division, let alone the rest of the conference.

The Bills are likely to win 12 games or more, so they’ll be a near impossible task for the Patriots, and the Miami Dolphins’ offseason was one of the best in the NFL.  Tua Tagovailoa looks to breakout in year three, and being that he’s now playing in a Shanahan offense, he likely isn’t going to have to do a ton for the team to be successful.

Hopefully, the old school ways of Bill Belichick and the likely year two breakout from Mac Jones is enough to at least make some noise in the AFC for 2022.