Even though the Houston Texans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 34-20 in Week 1 at Arrowhead Stadium, they actually went up in NFL.com’s power rankings.
Dan Hanzus presented his power rankings for Week 2, and the Texans moved up from No. 16 to No. 15 overall.
Deshaun Watson can’t do it by himself . Too often, that’s how it feels when watching the Texans on offense. A play breaks down, and the quarterback does his dancing magician act behind the line, eyes always upfield in search of the big play. The genius of Watson is that sometimes, this works … but not on Thursday night. Will Fuller did most of his damage after the game was decided, and Randall Cobb was virtually invisible in his Texans debut. Houston’s defense deserves credit for not allowing Patrick Mahomes to go wild, and new running back David Johnson moved like a veteran with something to prove, but these two teams exist in different worlds. Just like January.
The Texans were the only team in the top-16 to lose a game in Week 1 and move up in the power rankings. The Cincinnati Bengals, Carolina Panthers, and Detroit Lions dropped their Opening Day bouts, but they were already on the south side of No. 20 to begin with.
The Tennessee Titans held forth at No. 5. The Indianapolis Colts dropped to No. 18 after starting out at 11. The Jacksonville Jaguars moved up from No. 32 overall to 29th.
