As the defending Super Bowl champions, seeing the New England Patriots atop ESPN’s Preseason Football Power Index rankings was expected. With an FPI rating of 9.2, New England easily outdistanced the Green Bay Packers (4.8) as the No. 1 team.
To put these ratings in perspective, the difference between the Patriots and second-ranked Packers is roughly the same as that of Green Bay and the 14th-ranked Cincinnati Bengals (0.3). As noted in the article, New England is one of two teams ranked in the Top 10 in offense, defense and special teams. The Seattle Seahawks are the other.