LAS VEGAS -- The Arizona Cardinals routed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 40-7 on Sunday and have leaped to the top spot in the NFL Vegas Rankings.
Last week, the Cardinals sat behind co-leaders Pittsburgh and Green Bay. The Packers lost 17-14 at Minnesota on Sunday night as 2-point favorites. The Steelers beat the Bengals 24-16 as 3-point home favorites and earned a half-point increase from our panel, but the Cardinals' performance was so thoroughly dominating that they were upgraded by 1.5 points and enough to claim No. 1.
The New England Patriots are the hardest team to power rate. They're still the Super Bowl favorite at 5-1 and keep winning with backup quarterbacks while waiting for Tom Brady's suspension to end, but now they're faced with replacing Jimmy Garoppolo with rookie Jacoby Brissett. Our panel ended up downgrading the Patriots by an average of 2.5 points.
Note: The NFL Vegas Rankings are compiled by taking the average of the power ratings of ESPN Chalk handicappers, including Erin Rynning, yours truly and ESPN's Football Power Index, and are used to compare two teams as if they were to meet on a neutral field (after which most teams get 2.5 points for home-field advantage) and can be used to compare to the current point spread.
Movin' on up