The Carolina Panthers are trending in the right direction. They've won two straight contests over preseason NFC playoff contenders and are leading the NFC South in the early going.

Their defense has improved every week since a Week 1 debacle, and the offense has been pretty good (at worst) every single week. They look like a formidable foe for other teams, something that hasn't been true in a while.

That is reflected in their Power Rankings placement. Once again, after another convincing win, the Panthers are moving on up.

Panthers get boost in Power Rankings after beating Eagles

The Carolina Panthers came into the game ranked 21st by Sporting News' Vinnie Iyer. Now, after winning an ugly one against the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina has surged up to 17th in the league.

Iyer wrote, "The Panthers' high-volume passing offense with Bryce Young is now averaging a league-best 294 yards per game, ahead of the Rams, who are down to 284 per game. That game plan by Dave Canales has also opened up the running game and led to winning results."

Now, there is an argument to be had that the Panthers are ranked too low here. They should have come in higher than 21st after not playing and having beat the Detroit Lions the week before. The Panthers are still being underrated.

The Los Angeles Rams ranked ahead of the Panthers, and despite all their talent, there's no argument that the Rams are better than the Panthers right now. They have an ugly loss to the Arizona Cardinals and are 2-4.

The Detroit Lions, the team Carolina beat despite not having both starting cornerbacks, is also sitting ahead of the Panthers, which is frankly ridiculous since the two teams are both 3-2 right now.

You could also make an argument that the Panthers deserve to be higher than the Cincinnati Bengals, too, but that still puts the Panthers in the top half of the rankings rather than the bottom. It's hard to justify saying the Panthers are a bottom-half NFL team right now.

This is better, however, than the Panthers inexplicably dropping in Pete Prisco's rankings last week despite not even playing. The Panthers are trending up, though, no matter which way you slice it.

And in Iyer's list, they are the highest NFC South team, as they should be. Right now, they look like the class of the division, although the bar for that is still admittedly a bit low.