Who sits atop — and at the bottom — of the league entering this week’s matchups?

1. New England Patriots (6-0) | Last Week’s Rank: 1 The defense continues to do the heavy lifting while the offense finds its way. Is that sustainable? Don’t wager against coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady finding a way to make things function better on offense. If that happens, a run at an unblemished season isn’t out of the question.

2. New Orleans Saints (5-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 2 The offense wasn’t great in the triumph at Jacksonville but fill-in QB Teddy Bridgewater continues to find a way to get things done in the absence of Drew Brees. The Saints at full strength will be as good as anyone in the NFC.

3. San Francisco 49ers (5-0) | Last Week’s Rank: 4 The defense is overpowering and the 49ers absolutely are for real. They leapfrog the Seahawks in the rankings after the victory over the Rams. It’s time to start regarding the Niners as a Super Bowl possibility in a field of NFC contenders lacking a true front-runner.

4. Seattle Seahawks (5-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 3 Russell Wilson might be the MVP favorite at the moment and the Seahawks’ tough triumph at Cleveland keeps them in the thick of the chase for NFC supremacy.

5. Green Bay Packers (5-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 5 The Packers nearly ran out of wide receivers and had plenty of blunders Monday night at Lambeau Field but managed to find a way to beat the Lions, aided by a few erroneous calls that went against Detroit.

6. Houston Texans (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 11 The win over the Chiefs was huge. QB Deshaun Watson is an MVP candidate, and the Texans are a legitimate contender in the AFC.

7. Buffalo Bills (4-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 8 The Bills return from their bye to play three straight home games, including meetings with the winless Dolphins and one-victory Redskins.

8. Baltimore Ravens (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 9 What Lamar Jackson can do is amazing. But shouldn’t the Ravens be past the point at which they have to put their new franchise QB in such peril to beat a winless team?

9. Carolina Panthers (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 12 There’s no avoiding it now. Coach Ron Rivera has a legitimate QB issue on his hands.

10. Indianapolis Colts (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 10 The Colts return from their bye and could welcome back LB Darius Leonard, the league’s leading tackler last season as a rookie.

11. Minnesota Vikings (4-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 18 QB Kirk Cousins wasn’t the weak link against the Eagles that Zach Brown predicted.

12. Kansas City Chiefs (5-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 7 The return of speedy WR Tyreek Hill to the lineup gave the Kansas City offense a big-play boost against the Texans. But there are issues right now, and no one seems particularly afraid to face the Chiefs at this point.

13. Philadelphia Eagles (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 6 Can anyone in the NFC East actually play?

14. Oakland Raiders (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 15 The Raiders expressed their displeasure that LB Vontaze Burfict was suspended by the NFL for the rest of the season. But they shouldn’t have felt as if they and Burfict, whose appeal was denied by a neutral arbitrator, were treated unfairly.

15. Chicago Bears (3-2) | Last Week’s Rank: 16 The Bears, while on their bye week, had plenty of time to sit and watch Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, the QBs they bypassed to draft Mitchell Trubisky, square off Sunday.

16. Los Angeles Rams (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 13 This is the first true crisis of Sean McVay’s head coaching tenure. The Rams clearly are only the third-best team in the NFC West at the moment.

17. Dallas Cowboys (3-3) | Last Week’s Rank: 14 Owner Jerry Jones is not getting the results he expected when he handed out all those big-money contracts.

18. Detroit Lions (2-2-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 17 Yes, the Lions were victimized by ill-timed officiating mistakes Monday night at Green Bay. But when you kick five field goals instead of getting touchdowns, you don’t get to blame the officials entirely.

19. Denver Broncos (2-5) | Last Week’s Rank: 25 The Broncos have won two straight following their 0-4 start and finally are playing the kind of defense they were expected to play after hiring Vic Fangio as their coach.

20. Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 27 The Steelers got a win Sunday night with No. 3 QB Devlin Hodges, after getting a win earlier with No. 2 QB Mason Rudolph.

21. Cleveland Browns (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 19 The Browns simply are not the “it” team that they were back in the offseason, when things looked so much better on paper than they have turned out to be in reality.

22. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 20 There have been days this season when it appeared that QB Jameis Winston was making progress with Bruce Arians as his coach.

23. New York Giants (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 22 The Giants kept things interesting and competitive against the Patriots most of the way Thursday night.

24. Arizona Cardinals (2-3-1) | Last Week’s Rank: 26 Rookie QB Kyler Murray was superb in the victory over the Falcons.

25. New York Jets (1-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 29

26. Los Angeles Chargers (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 21

27. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 23

28. Tennessee Titans (2-4) | Last Week’s Rank: 24

29. Washington Redskins (1-5) | Last Week’s Rank: 31

30. Atlanta Falcons (1-5) | Last Week’s Rank: 28

31. Cincinnati Bengals (0-6) | Last Week’s Rank: 30

32. Miami Dolphins (0-5) | Last Week’s Rank: 32