The Patriots entered Week 1 of the season as pronounced underdogs in Cincinnati against the Bengals.
Yet despite pulling off an improbable victory — 16-10 in Jerod Mayo’s first game as head coach — New England remains buried in several major NFL power rankings.
Though an admittedly imperfect and subjective system, power rankings can offer a snapshot of the more general (or national) view of the Patriots in relation to the rest of the NFL.
In that regard, New England is still being judged as a negligible quantity.
In the ESPN power ranking, the Patriots were listed 30th prior to the start of the season (out of 32 NFL teams).