NEW YORK (AP) — With nearly all NFL teams already a quarter of the way through the regular season, there are four teams off to a 4-0 start: the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Seattle Seahawks, the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills.
And those teams maintained the top four spots in the latest AP Pro32 poll.
The defending champion Chiefs received all 12 first-place votes for 384 points in balloting Tuesday by media members who regularly cover the NFL.
“Not a vintage performance from Patrick Mahomes, whose two touchdown passes traveled a total of about 2 yards,” Newsday’s Bob Glauber said of the Chiefs’ win over the New England Patriots on Monday night.
“Still good enough to beat the Patriots to keep Kansas City unbeaten, and still good enough to complement a very, very good defense.”
The Seahawks followed at No. 2. Their 4-0 start is the second in franchise history. The previous time was in 2013 when they won the Super Bowl.
The Packers are No. 3 and enter their bye week after dominating winless Atlanta 30-16 on Monday night.
“Aaron Rodgers seems totally content with (coach Matt) LaFleur’s play calling,” said Fox Sports’ John Czarnecki.
The AFC East-leading Bills remained at No. 4 after holding off the Las Vegas Raiders.
“You could not have overestimated the leap Josh Allen would make in his third NFL season,” said Jenny Vrentas of The Monday Morning Quarterback.
“Buoyed by the addition of Stefon Diggs, Allen has thrown for 12 TDs and is completing more than 70% of his passes as the 4-0 Bills sit in the driver’s seat of the AFC East.”
The Baltimore Ravens (3-1) slipped from a fourth-place tie last week to No. 5.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee, who are the league’s remaining unbeaten teams at 3-0, were scheduled to play last week, but had the game moved to Oct. 25 after the Titans’ COVID-19 outbreak last week. The Steelers remained at No. 6 and the Titans gained a spot to No. 7. The Titans will hope to return to the field this week as they are scheduled to host the Bills on Sunday.
“One of the NFL’s biggest stories this season is about to unfold — How do the undefeated Titans (3-0) regroup after the COVID outbreak at team headquarters?” asked Alex Marvez of SiriusXM.
The Los Angeles Rams inched up a spot to No. 8 and Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved up one place to No. 9.
“The Bucs appear to be getting better every week,” said Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk.
“The injury to (tight end) O.J. Howard is painful, but they still have Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate at the position.”
The Patriots slipped three spots to round out the top 10 after their 26-10 loss to the Chiefs.
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