The NFL season officially starts Thursday night, and the Cincinnati Bengals will be in Cleveland on Sunday for their Week 1 game.
It’s time for regular season power rankings, and sister site Touchdown Wire has released their Week 1 power rankings. Jarrett Bailey ranked all 32 teams before the start of the season.
Buy Bengals TicketsThe Bengals were ranked third in his list behind only the two teams that are coming off of a Super Bowl appearance, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Here’s what Bailey said about Cincinnati:
Joe Burrow is the Matt Rife of the NFL- a total heartthrob, and even those who may not care about football will tune in to watch the handsome devil play. I do worry, however, that not taking a preseason snap will cause the Bengals to come out of the gates slow like they did in 2022. I don’t doubt that they will figure it out one way or the other. The offense is too talented, and so is the defense. D.J. Reader, Germaine Pratt, and Trey Hendrickson are three of the most under-appreciated players in football, and are just as integral to the Bengals’ success as their death by a thousand cuts offense. This is a loaded roster whose window is still very much open.
The Bengals don’t have the luxury of being able to start the season slow like they did in 2022 since they begin with two AFC North opponents, with the Baltimore Ravens heading to Cincinnati for Week 2.
Burrow has had a good amount of time to get back up to speed in practice since he returned last week, so it’s entirely possible they come out of the gate firing on all cylinders and show they’re one of the best teams in the league early on.
