Cincy Jungle NFL Power Rankings 2015: Week 1 Edition

The 2015 NFL regular season opens this week, and that means it's time for our stab at trying to rank all 32 clubs before Week 1 kicks off.

1) New England Patriots - To be the champs, you got to beat he champs, so I'm not taking New England away from the top spot until someone else does. With Tom Brady not suspended and seemingly every team at the top being weaker than they were last year (more below), the Patriots barely hold on to No. 1, despite the offseason losses of Vince Wilfork, Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, and Shane Vereen.

2) Seattle Seahawks - The Seahawks still figure to be pretty good. Their defense is great, but has lost a lot this offseason with Byron Maxwell, Walter Thurmond and Tony McDaniel gone and Kam Chancellor holding out.

3) Green Bay Packers - Aaron Rodgers is the best player in football, but losing Jordy Nelson keeps Green Bay from claiming the top spot. Still, this is a title contender who should be coming off a Super Bowl appearance after blowing a late lead at Seattle in the NFC Championship.

4) Dallas Cowboys - After going 12-4 last season, Dallas looks poised for an even better season, despite losing DeMarco Murray. Getting Sean Lee back healthy and adding Randy Gregory through the draft is a huge upgrade to the defense, and once Greg Hardy returns from suspension, that unit will be even scarier. Having the best offensive line in football is ultimately why I have them in the top five.

5) Denver Broncos - Peyton Manning is still the key to the offense, but can the 39-year-old avoid another late-season breakdown like in 2014?

6) Indianapolis Colts - Assuming Andrew Luck continues to improve now in his fourth year, to go with the additions of Frank Gore and Andre Johnson, the Colts have an offense that could be the NFL's best in 2015.

7) Pittsburgh Steelers - The Steelers offense looks very scary...when everyone is healthy. Losing Le'Veon Bell (two-game suspension), Martavis Bryant (four-game suspension), and Maurkice Pouncey (at least eight games) could lead to a rough start. I do think this will be one of the league's best teams once everyone is healthy, but will that be too late when/if it finally happens?

8) Philadelphia Eagles - The addition of Sam Bradford and a revamped running game. The defense was already stout and now the secondary could be fixed. The Eagles dominated preseason like no team in recent history, outscoring their opponents by 83-17 in the first half. Chip Kelly's Eagles might finally make the leap from "good" to "great" this year.

9) Detroit Lions - Losing Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley on the defensive line is big, but getting Haloti Ngata helps lessen the dropoff this defense will have. The addition of Ameer Abdullah to the ground game makes the offense more balanced and should have them in the playoffs again this season.

10) Cincinnati Bengals - No, I'm not going to tell you how the Bengals can be a Super Bowl contender if Andy Dalton steps up like everyone else. Instead, I'm going to tell you how they can be a title contender if the defense takes a major step forward and the ground game continues to be the strength of the offense like it was down the stretch last year.

11) Baltimore Ravens - The Ravens look good in a lot of areas, but wide receiver and cornerback are big question marks.

12) Kansas City Chiefs - After not having a wide receiver score a TD in 2015, the addition of Jeremy Maclin is a huge boost to the passing game that's only there to supplement he ground game led by Jamaal Charles and Knile Davis.

13) Miami Dolphins - The addition of Ndamukong Suh makes the defense a top-10 unit, but can the offense find more consistency with Ryan Tannehill under center?

14) San Diego Chargers - The chargers had a good offseason with the additions of Melvin Gordon, Stevie Johnson and Orlando Franklin, which should make this offense good enough to go toe-to-toe with anyone. Combined with a solid defense, San Diego should be in the playoff hunt all the way into the final week of the regular season.

15) Arizona Cardinals - I'm not buying into the Cardinals right now. Carson Palmer looked awful in the preseason coming off his second torn ACL and is now 35-years-old. The offense relies too much on him for me to feel good about this team heading into the season.

16) St. Louis Rams - Nick Foles is a significant upgrade at QB considering Austin Davis and Shaun Hill started there last year. Todd Gurley is a stud, and when healthy, will make this ground game very explosive with Tre Mason also toting the rock. That defense is scary, but playing in the NFC West while also facing the AFC North this year keeps St. Louis from taking a bigger step forward.

17) Houston Texans - Having the best NFL player in J.J. Watt counts for something, and the addition of Vince Wilfork could be the missing piece that makers this defense elite. Oh, and a healthy Jadeveon Clowney helps that cause as well.

18) Buffalo Bills - This Bills team looks exactly like most of Rex Ryan's Jets teams: Great defense and running game, but terrible play at QB. They can beat anyone but lose to anyone as well. Just look at last year when they beat the Packers but lost to the Raiders.

19) Minnesota Vikings - Getting Adrian Peterson back and having Teddy Bridgewater in his second year makes this a sleeper playoff team in the NFC. But, playing in the NFC North should prove too much for this team to make it to the playoffs this year.

20) New Orleans Saints - The Saints' defense finished second to last in Football Outsiders' DVOA last season, and somehow got worse this offseason with Junior Galette gone and much of the secondary dinged up.

21) Cleveland Browns - The QB situation is still in flux, but that offensive line makes everyone on offense look better and the defense is improved enough that Cleveland can have a six-win season, which is actually respectable if you look at their brutal schedule.

22) Atlanta Falcons - Hiring Dan Quinn, signing Justin Durant and drafting pass-rushing extraordinaire Vic Beasley could make the defense respectable with the offense already having some nice firepower with Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.

23) San Francisco 49ers - The 49ers just endured one of the worst offseasons in the history of pro football. That's enough to take them from the upper half of the league down near the bottom.

24) Carolina Panthers - The Panthers' top three receivers are Devin Funchess, Philly Brown and Ted Ginn. Yikes!

25) New York Giants - Odell Beckham Jr. paired with a healthy Victor Cruz with Eli Manning has the potential for a nice aerial assault, but the defense and offensive line are a mess.

26) Chicago Bears - John Fox has his work cut out for him in Chi-town. That Bears defense has been awful. Jay Cutler doesn't exactly inspire confidence, either.

27) New York Jets - A lot of people have talked about how the Jets have had a great offseason. The New York defense looks to be improved, but having Ryan Fitzpatrick as your quarterback won't get you very far.

28) Oakland Raiders - The Raiders should have a good offense with Derek Carr throwing to Amari Cooper and other young, talented pass-catchers, but that defense and no ground game will lose them a lot of games this year.

29) Jacksonville Jaguars - The Jaguars don't look much better than they did in 2015, especially with third-overall pick Dante Fowler set to miss his entire rookie season with a torn ACL.

30) Tennessee Titans - Marcus Mariota will be fun to watch, but everything else about this team is too much for them to get more than four or five wins in 2015.

31) Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Jameis Winston, like most rookie QBs drafted high, will have moments that show why he was the top pick, but also will make too many mistakes to keep this team from being much better than they were in 2014.

32) Washington Redskins - lol.