Legendary head coach Marv Levy is justifiably in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and one primary reason is that, from 1990 through 1993, he led the Buffalo Bills to four straight Super Bowls. No other coach has ever done that.
The problem, of course, is that the Bills lost all four of those Super Bowls. The Bills capped off the old millennium with a handful of wild-card and divisional round losses under Levy and then Wade Philips, and then entered a postseason drought that started in 2000. and lasted until 2017.
Now, things are different. With perhaps the most stacked roster in the league and a superstar quarterback in Josh Allen, there’s little doubt that the Bills are Super Bowl-ready. They may have been last season were it not for a heartbreaking loss and defensive implosion in the divisional round to the Kansas City Chiefs, but in our preseason power rankings, we have the Bills as the NFL’s best team — and 2022 as the season in which the Bills win their first league championship since 1965, in the old American Football League.
Of course, there are all kinds of teams who could knock them from that dream. On the other side of things, there are NFL teams rebuilding, just trying to tread water, confident but with concerns, and on the precipice of something special.
As the 2022 preseason begins, here are our first power rankings of the new NFL campaign.
(All advanced metrics courtesy of Sports Info Solutions, Pro Football Focus, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).
32. Atlanta Falcons
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Outside of tight end Kyle Pitts and cornerback A.J. Terrell (here at Touchdown Wire, we refer to him as “The criminally underrated A.J. Terrell“), the Falcons head into the 2022 season with a distinct lack of elite talent on their roster. At quarterback, there will be a battle between veteran Marcus Mariota and rookie Desmond Ridder. The receiver group, pitted by Calvin Ridley’s season-long suspension, may struggle, and though right guard Chris Lindstrom is also underrated, first-year left guard Jalen Mayfield struggled as few offensive linemen did last season. Expect offensive weapon Cordarrelle Patterson to be the standout player in the run game, though BYU bruiser Tyler Allgeier could add something, especially in power situations.
There are a couple of potential standouts on defense — most notably cornerback Casey Hayward — but in this season, head coach Arthur…
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