NFL Power Rankings Week 3: Colts Begin To Rise

The Colts continued their 2022 season coming home to Indianapolis against an AFC powerhouse, the Kansas City Chiefs, who were undefeated on the year sitting at 2-0. However, the Colts managed to get some key players back from injury in Michael Pittman Jr, Alec Pierce and DeForest Buckner was closer to full health and managed a surprise win.

The Colts sit at 1-1-1, and are currently second in the AFC South. The Colts managed to grab their first win of the year and at such an important time with both the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars adding wins this week.

The national media have the Colts near to the middle of the pack in the power rankings board after their win over the Chiefs. Even though the Colts won, they are still second in AFC South after the Jaguars win over the Chargers. Here is how the Colts stack up in the week 2 power rankings.

ESPN has the Colts at 20.

Matt Ryan is finding himself in a familiar situation, one reminiscent of his recent seasons with the Falcons: Shaky offensive line play and unproven passing targets are limiting his effectiveness. As a result of the heavy pass rush, Ryan is struggling with protecting the football. He has already fumbled seven times. But the veteran has showed composure when needed, like on the 43rd game-winning drive of his career Sunday versus the Chiefs, when he completed 8 of 10 pass attempts.

NFL.com has the Colts at 23.

There are still multiple areas in which the Colts must improve, but the big picture coming out of Week 3 was very pleasant: Indy knocked off Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in a win that Frank Reich’s team desperately needed following a wretched start to the season. The defense deserves major credit for keeping Mahomes in check, culminating in Rodney McLeod’s game-sealing interception in the final seconds. Matt Ryan’s stat line tells the story of progress, but the veteran was sacked five more times, fumbling twice behind a surprisingly leaky offensive line. The 37-year-old Ryan is a statue at this stage — this entire experiment always hinged on a major protection upgrade for the former MVP, who was sacked 40-plus times in each of his final four seasons in Atlanta. He’s received the opposite of that.

CBS Sports has the Colts at 17.

That was a nice bounce-back victory against the Chiefs. The defense played well and Matt Ryan made enough plays to win it.

USA Today has the Colts at 16.

Yes, they’re ricocheting throughout these rankings, much as their collective play has been all over the place. But maybe new QB Matt Ryan is starting to settle in after delivering an upset of K.C. ... and maybe he’s got a nifty new weapon in 6-7 rookie TE Jelani Woods, who scored twice Sunday.

Yahoo Sports has the Colts at 13.

The Colts can’t worry about how it looked, they needed a win and got it against a good Chiefs team. They get the Titans at home this week and if they win that, they’ll be right back on track in the AFC South. A suddenly huge rematch against the Jaguars comes early, in Week 6.

Bleacher Report has the Colts at 16.

After being embarrassed in Jacksonville in Week 2, no team in the league needed to wash the stink off more than the Indianapolis Colts. But with a matchup on deck against the high-flying Chiefs, no soap appeared to be forthcoming for the Colts. It wasn’t especially pretty, but the Colts rallied Sunday to stun the Chiefs and earn their first victory of the year. After the win, Colts quarterback Matt Ryan applauded his teammates for pushing through their recent struggles. “Sometimes you have a game where it’s just not right and you have to tighten things up, but you can’t be uptight,” Ryan said. “You have to be loose enough to believe we’re going to make these plays.” The win doesn’t fix all that ails the Colts. Indy’s floundering offense struggled again, barely cracking 250 yards. But on some level, that doesn’t matter. How the Colts won was less important than finding a way to break into the win column.

“After needing a fourth-quarter comeback just to tie the lowly Houston Texans in Week 1 then being throttled by the Jaguars the following week, the struggling Colts managed a late comeback victory against the Chiefs despite major issues in pass protection and a stagnant offense for most of the game,” Sobleski said. “Kansas City certainly made its fair share of mistakes, particularly late in the contest with a missed field goal, a backbreaking 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty after stopping Indianapolis on third down and an uncharacteristic Patrick Mahomes interception in crunch time. “The Colts needed help to get off the schneid and got it. They still aren’t the team many expected coming into the season, but a surprising victory against a top opponent could help propel Indianapolis to far better football moving forward.”

Pro Football Network has the Colts at 19.

A week after the Colts looked like they could be one of the five worst teams in the NFL, they beat one of the five best teams in the league. How very NFL of them that is. The NFL has become a show like college football. It’s as unpredictable as ever. The randomness of teams week-to-week and play-to-play make predictions a practice in futility. Indianapolis completely disrupted the Chiefs’ rushing attack and did everything they could to stop Travis Kelce from killing them. Kansas City didn’t look sharp offensively, but the Colts deserve credit for rebounding from a week ago.