The first week of the NFL season has officially come and gone and it was exquisite in just about every sense. It is extremely difficult to evaluate anything properly after a single week of action, but that in no way means that we are not going to try.

As we do every week here at BTB we are putting together power rankings on a weekly basis of our own and curating where outlets across the internet have the Dallas Cowboys ranked.

You can view last week’s rankings right here.

Let’s go.

1 – Kansas City Chiefs (LW: 1)

It is really hard to imagine a world where they don’t win it all.

2 – San Francisco 49ers (LW: 2)

They are such a machine. An inevitable one.

3 – Detroit Lions (LW: 4)

Dan Campbell noted after the game that a win is a win. He’s right. Good for them.

4 – Houston Texans (LW: 5)

Despite Anthony Richardson throwing for a million yards on what seemed like two throws, they prevailed. It turns out adding Stefon Diggs was a good idea. Who knew!

5 – Dallas Cowboys (LW: 7)

They thoroughly dominated arguably the best defense in the NFL last year and were able to sit back and relax through most of the second half.

6 – Buffalo Bills (LW: 8)

Sometimes they fly a little close to the sun, but when they want to turn it on Josh Allen is amazing.

7 – Baltimore Ravens (LW: 3)

There were a handful of mistakes that may be the result of Week 1 and all that. We will see them soon enough.

8 – Philadelphia Eagles (LW: 10)

That they were able to win when Jalen Hurts had such a turnover-prone night is very annoying.

9 – Miami Dolphins (LW: 12)

It is amazing how Tyreek Hill can house one almost at will.

10 – New Orleans Saints (LW: 20)

They are number two in the NFL in terms of EPA/Play as an offense at the moment.

Remember that if the Cowboys handle them on Sunday.

11 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LW: 17)

They are number one! What!

12 – Los Angeles Rams (LW: 11)

The Matthew Stafford conversation sometimes gets annoying, but wow is he good.

13 – Seattle Seahawks (LW: 19)

Maybe they are someone we should take a little seriously.

14 – Los Angeles Chargers (LW: 18)

The Chargers did not ask a ton of Justin Herbert and won handily. The Jim Harbaugh special.

15 – Minnesota Vikings (LW: 27)

I’m not ready to buy that Sam Darnold can legitimately do this, but this was step one.

16 – Chicago Bears (LW: 22)

As noted with Detroit a win is a win, but we are all ready to see the Caleb Williams experience really take off.

17 – Pittsburgh Steelers (LW: 29)

It really is amazing that the two teams who won without scoring a touchdown in Week 1 were the Bears and the team with Justin Fields at quarterback.

18 – New England Patriots (LW: 31)

This was the biggest surprise of the week to me. Knocking off the Bengals in Cincinnati is super impressive. Well done by Jerod Mayo. Julian Edelman agreed when I spoke to him this week.

19 – Green Bay Packers (LW: 9)

Obviously operating without Jordan Love will be a challenge. We will see how they fare.

20 – Cincinnati Bengals (LW: 6)

It kind of feels like they aren’t facing enough heat. They lost. At home. To a Patriots team we did not expect much from. What gives?

21 – Indianapolis Colts (LW: 21)

Sign me up for all Anthony Richardson big-time throws.

22 – Arizona Cardinals (LW: 26)

I was a bit higher on the Cardinals this season than most, despite last week’s ranking, but they are going to have to pull off those close games if they want to do something special.

23 – New York Jets (LW: 13)

The Jets are still bad? Who could have possibly predicted that.

24 – Jacksonville Jaguars (LW: 14)

Another team sort of flying under the radar for losing. Doug Pederson and Trevor Lawrence have to be better.

25 – Washington Commanders (LW: 23)

I hope you got shares of Jayden Daniels in fantasy. He is so fun to watch.

26 – Denver Broncos (LW: 24)

On the subject of accountability, will this be the year that Sean Payton is held for some?

27 – Atlanta Falcons (LW: 16)

This was a disaster. An extreme failure.

28 – Tennessee Titans (LW: 25)

Will Levis has some qualities to like, but you can’t throw the game away like he did.

29 – Las Vegas Raiders (LW: 28)

They are pretty boring and dull. It is a bummer.

30 – Cleveland Browns (LW: 15)

Yikes with a capital Y. What a bad offense and quarterback.

31 – New York Giants (LW: 30)

Also a bad quarterback.

32 – Carolina Panthers (LW: 32)

A bad, uh, everything.

NFL.com: 8 (LW: 10)

Moving on up.

I don’t know if you could have drawn up a much better game script for the Cowboys than what transpired in Cleveland, everything considered. CeeDee Lamb only needed a handful of practices to make his impact felt against some of the better cornerbacks in the NFL. Dak Prescott earned a new mega-contract before the game and played a strong first half before the Cowboys went to clock-draining measures. Dallas’ defense pressured Deshaun Watson for four quarters in DC Mike Zimmer’s return and held the Browns to six three-and-outs, an interception and a field goal in their first eight possessions. Even the special teams came up big, as Brandon Aubrey was 4-for-4 on field goals, including makes from 50 and 57 yards, and my guy KaVontae Turpin had a 60-yard punt-return TD to turn the lights out in the first game of the Huntington Bank Field era. Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones (with the CeeDee and Dak deals done) have to feel a lot better about the entire operation now.

ESPN: 7 (LW: 11)

Another bump up.

Preseason ranking: 11

Best newcomer performance: LB DeMarvion Overshown

There were lots of choices thanks to Dallas’ big win, but Overshown gets the nod. He sat out his rookie season because of a torn ACL in his left knee but was all over the field against the Browns. He finished with nine tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. His closing speed was eye-opening on his sack of Browns QB Deshaun Watson since he beat Micah Parsons to the signal-caller. There might be growing pains as the year progresses, but he is off to a great start. — Todd Archer

Note: ESPN did not have concrete power rankings entering Week 1 so we went off of what they had at the time for our rankings a week ago. This listed the Cowboys at 6, but they have chosen to reflect “last week’s” ranking as their preseason ranking for the team which is 11 and we have adjusted things to reflect that.

USA Today: 7 (LW: 18)

Turns on 18 was maybe just a bit low, I guess!

Let’s give them their flowers after handling QB Dak Prescott’s contract at the 11th hour. But the real story Sunday was the defense, a unit now run by Mike Zimmer and one that generated 25 pressures on Cleveland’s 56 dropbacks.

Yahoo: 4 (LW: 5)

Inside the top five.

When we freak out about the Cowboys next offseason (and everyone will, it’s an annual tradition), remember how the past few months have unfolded. Predictions of doom and gloom, then the Cowboys going on the road and smashing a talented Browns team in Week 1. It looked like a team that has won 12 games in each of the past three seasons.

CBS Sports: 6 (LW: 10)

Just outside here.

They signed Dak Prescott to a big deal Sunday and then went out and blew out the Browns. The defense was special that day, which is maybe a sign of things to come.

The Athletic: 7 (LW: 7)

No change.

Dak Prescott won the day Sunday. Not just in the NFL but on the planet. Nobody had a better day than the Cowboys quarterback. Hours before the game, Prescott finalized a six-year contract that guarantees him $231 million and makes him the first player in league history to make $60 million per season. Then he went out and had a very Dak game — efficient but not spectacular with 19-for-32 passing for 179 yards and a touchdown. It was plenty to beat an already flailing Cleveland team.

Sports Illustrated: 9 (LW: 11)

This is the lowest ranking for the Cowboys of the outlets that we curate.

Good on the Cowboys, who continue to find themselves gifted with wounded doves to pound on at the beginning of the season. Last year it was the Giants, Jets and Patriots over a four-game stretch. This year, it’s the absolutely out-of-it Deshaun Watson and a pair of backup tackles for the Browns. That shouldn’t take away from a different but still creative gameplan from Mike Zimmer, who made his glorious return to football with six sacks of Deshaun Watson.

Dallas Cowboys Movement Week To Week

Every week (per suggestions from you wonderful BTBers) we will update this graph to note how the Cowboys moved in power rankings according to each of the outlets that we curate.

Apologies on the inverted look of sorts. If anyone is a google sheets expert and knows how to flip this (we have tried many different ways) then please let us know in the comments. Obviously though in this context the closer you are to the bottom, the better.