SI Power Rankings: Where do the Rams sit Ahead of Week 3?

How do the Los Angeles Rams stack up in Sports Illustrated's power rankings ahead of Week 3?

We're two weeks into the NFL season and we're already starting to see which teams are contenders for this year and which are pretenders. In the Los Angeles Rams case, they're looking like a strong contender after they notched their second straight win to open the season. 

Sports Illustrated's MMQB released its power rankings Tuesday morning as they looked back on the results from Week 2. There's usually a good amount of shuffling after the first week of the NFL season due to half the league not being undefeated anymore. For the Rams sake of things, they stayed close to where they were last week. 

Here's how Sports Illustrated ranked the Rams ahead of Week 3:

Rams power rank: 2

Last week: Win vs. Indianapolis Colts, 27-24 

Next week: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 

The Rams were No. 1 in the power rankings after Week 1, but slipped down to No. 2 this week as Tampa Bay is back on top after achieving a 2-0 start as well. The Bucs ended up beating the Atlanta Falcons 48-25, while the Rams struggled at times to put the Colts away. Despite that, quarterback Matthew Stafford was again excellent as he finished with 278 yards and two touchdown passes. Receiver Cooper Kupp caught both of those passes and also totaled 163 yards along with it. 

SI's Mitch Goldich stated the following about the Rams in the latest power rankings release:

"The Rams were preseason darlings in many corners of the internet (including the MMQB staff predictions), and the early returns have shown that, yes, Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay seem to get along quite nicely. Last week Conor Orr put the Rams No. 1 in this very space. We’ll know much more about this Rams team after this three-game stretch against the Bucs, Cardinals, and Seahawks. But for now, I see a contender that I expect to get better as the season goes along."

Goldich has the Rams as one of his top teams, but he wants to see more from them in this huge three-game stretch before declaring them the best team in the NFL.

The Rams will host Tampa Bay in Week 3 at SoFi Stadium at 1:25 p.m. PT on Sept. 26 as they try to get to 3-0 on the season.