2012 NFL Week Three Good, Bad, And Ugly Rankings

Power rankings are dumb after just two weeks of NFL play for the simple reason that there haven't been enough games to determine who is truly "good" and who is truly "bad." However, it is fun to write about who played well and who didn't on a week to week basis, which is (at its core) the reason people do all this power ranking stuff so early in the season. Until Matt Grecco's The Winning Stats system compiles enough data to provide you with true power rankings, we give you this:

THE GOOD

Arizona Cardinals

They might just be for real. One week after they travel to New England and beat-up the Patriots, the Cardinals followed up with a complete and utter thrashing of the Eagles. Kevin Kolb outplayed the man who took his job in Philly, Michael Vick. All Arizona needs from Kolb is for him to play as Alex Smith did last season in San Francisco. If Kolb can do that, the Cards are a tough tea to beat.

Minnesota Vikings

Leslie Frazier has his team playing well. Christian Ponder has a 104.9 QB rating so far this season. He also has not thrown an interception. The Minnesota defense completely stoned San Francisco's run game last week, holding them to 89 yards on 20 carries. If not for Andrew Luck and Adam Vinatieri in the fourth quarter of Week Two, the Vikings would be 3-0 right now.

Cincinnati Bengals

Cincy has bounced back since getting blasted by Baltimore in Week One. Their defense seems to slap around Robert Griffin III last week, and Andy Dalton continues to impress. The one concern is the pass defense. The Bengals held a 24-10 lead at halftime. Yet, in the second half, the defense surrendered 21 points, allowing Washington back into the game. Tightening the secondary has to be a priority for Marvin Lewis.

THE BAD

Green Bay Packers

The replacement officiating in the Monday night game damaged the NFL's credibility. However, despite that, Green Bay should have dominated Seattle, and they didn't. Aaron Rodgers has been underwhelming so far this year. The Packers offense simply is not scoring enough points. They also cannot run the ball. Cedric Benson averaged 2.6 yards a run Monday night.

New Orleans Saints

They choked away what should have been an easy win over the Chiefs. At 0-3, the Saints are done. This isn't even a playoff team.

THE UGLY

Indianapolis Colts

I could just reserve this space every week for the scab refs, but this week it goes to the Colts. After jumping out to a 14-3 lead at halftime, Chuck Pagano (once again) coached scared in the second half. This week, it cost him. When Andrew Luck is turned lose and allowed to make plays, good things happen. When the Colts try and pretend to run the ball with a lead, it's a disaster. Speaking of disasters, the defense. Choking away that lead, and then allowing Cecil Shorts to score on that 80-yard TD play, did not do anything to improve Greg Manusky's already shaky resume as a defensive coordinator.

For more REAL power rankings, head to SB Nation.