The NFL season is getting started with the Denver Broncos and the Baltimore Ravens playing on Thursday night in Colorado and the teams will be primed to start the 2013 campaign after Baltimore won the Super Bowl and Denver was sent home early by those same Ravens last year in the playoffs.
Heading into 2013 many feel the Ravens are the top team since they won the Super Bowl, but it is always hard for the champs to stay on top and after losing a number of players in the offseason, the Broncos are ahead in the SWR Rankings. We'll try and do this every week and see how teams are doing and heading into Week 1 there is plenty of intrigue at the top.
SWR NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Top 15 teams in the league
Denver Broncos: Peyton Manning has the team ready for a Super bowl run and after adding Wes Welker, they should be even better than last season.
Seattle Seahawks: A sexy Super Bowl pick by many and with Russell Wilson developing and Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, they will be dangerous.
San Francisco 49ers: Colin Kaepernick is the real deal and the defense is scary.
New England Patriots: never doubt Tom Brady and Bill B., even without Tim Tebow.
Baltimore Ravens: The champs probably deserve to be number one, but after losing so many players they drop a bit.
Houston Texans: A sleeper Super Bowl team with a great D.
Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers is the best QB in the league and should be great again.
Atlanta Falcons: Adding Steven Jackson will be huge for the season and Matt Ryan.
Cincinnati Bengals: Two straight Wild Card losses equal a playoff win this season behind Andy Dalton.
Washington Redskins: RG3 makes nearly anything possible, especially after last season.
New York Giants: the disappointment of missing the playoffs will bring them back with Eli Manning.
Indianapolis Colts: Last season was no fluke and neither was Andrew Luck
New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees and Sean Payton back together with a new D means playoffs again.
Chicago Bears: new offense and a healthy Jay Cutler could be explosive.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Defense and running the ball gets the team back in the playoff hunt.