NFL Power Rankings Week 3 recap: Seahawks slip to No. 2

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Seattle Seahawks lost their crown as the NFL’s top dog after a tough loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

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However, they didn’t fall far, landing at No. 2 on ESPN’s Week 3 NFL Power Rankings. The new ranking has Seattle right behind the Denver Broncos (2-0) after two games.

ESPN.com mentioned that Seattle’s loss showed that playing on the road might be Russell Wilson‘s kryptonite, and perhaps it has been that way since he began his career in 2012:

"The nine-point loss was Seattle’s largest margin of defeat since Week 9 of 2011. Russell Wilson is 16-1 at home, but fell to 9-8 on the road in his career."

A nine-point loss isn’t even a blowout, and considering the Seahawks offense only had the ball for 18 minutes, losing by less than double-digits is almost impressive.

Seattle’s NFC West rivals moved all over the place on the rankings — the San Francisco 49ers (1-1) dropped to No. 7 after their Sunday night loss, the Arizona Cardinals (2-0) moved up five spots to the No. 9 hole, and the St. Louis Rams (1-1) moved out of the cellar and into the No. 28 spot with their weekend win.

The team that made the biggest leap was the Buffalo Bills (2-0), who moved from No. 23 last week to No. 12 in Week 3. They currently sit atop the AFC East.

The 0-2 Oakland Raiders came in at No. 32, the bottom of the rankings.

ESPN.com was friendly to the Seahawks after their loss to the Chargers, but NFL.com showed no mercy in their rankings.

Their weekly list dropped Seattle all the way down to No. 7 behind the Chargers and Cardinals, and Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) who took that list’s No. 2 spot.

While it was a bad loss for the Seahawks, no doubt, I don’t think there are six other teams in football better than the Seahawks.

Elliot Harrison, who compiled the rankings for NFL.com, said this of Seattle’s spot:

"Guessing the “perfect season” stuff can come to a merciful end. Seattle looked fatigued in the San Diego heat and in those dark blues. Give the Chargers credit for a) making the Seahawks wear those insulated heat packs and b) outplaying them in all three phases of the game."

You had me after that first sentence.

Next on Seattle’s agenda will be a Super Bowl XLVIII rematch with the Broncos back at CenturyLink Field. Expect the Seahawks to play much better than they did last Sunday.

They are going to have to if they want to beat the best team in the AFC.