Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 1: edition of NFL Power Rankings, presented by Energizer. Still Going,
Speaker 1: Still Going, Dan hands is here, that's Colleen. Well, what
Speaker 1: is up? I'm caught in my cord right now? My head? Okay,
Speaker 1: do you want to share with the audience what you
Speaker 1: told me about your upcoming trip to Buffalo and your pants? Oh? Well,
Speaker 1: there's like a lot going on with that. Um going
Speaker 1: to Buffalo. I'm so excited about it. I've never been
Speaker 1: to Buffalo to see a game, and it's gonna be freezing.
Speaker 1: They're expecting lake effects snow. I don't even really know
Speaker 1: what that means, but it sounds great. I love snow
Speaker 1: more than anything. I don't know if you know this
Speaker 1: about me, Like snow makes me really really happy. Philly
Speaker 1: girl from New York. I miss it. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: it in so long, and so I'm a little concerned though,
Speaker 1: just about the cold, because it's like fifty degrees here
Speaker 1: and I had, you know, a puffer jacket on and freezing.
Speaker 1: I have the heat on in my car, so I
Speaker 1: ordered rechargeable heated pants it's like it's like long underwear essentially, um,
Speaker 1: And so I'm really hoping that it comes through and
Speaker 1: it gets here in time and and socks to rechargeable heat.
Speaker 1: It sucks. And I just I was wondering if you're
Speaker 1: gonna be walking around high Mark Field or whatever it's
Speaker 1: called now just with like a long orange extension cord
Speaker 1: from your butt. Honestly, if they could make that happen,
Speaker 1: that'd be great because then I wouldn't have to worry
Speaker 1: about it recharging. Yeah, you don't have to charge it. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's patent that in that. Welcome to the Power Rankings.
Speaker 1: Enough of that, have fun college in Buffalo. I will
Speaker 1: send me your rex. Send your rex to college, and
Speaker 1: don't be basic about it. No, No, I've already gotten
Speaker 1: a couple like get some cherry fry kicks from Paula's Donuts,
Speaker 1: so more like that place. There you go. And yes,
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Speaker 1: His is me. I don't know. I'm stroking out right
Speaker 1: now person NFL dot com slash Power Rankings. You can
Speaker 1: see the full thirty two we're gonna talk about it now,
Speaker 1: and Connie, it's gotten weird again. The top ten's weird again.
Speaker 1: It's a weird year in the Power rankings, just because
Speaker 1: what's left is right, what's up is down, and where
Speaker 1: things stand now is we're about to check out the
Speaker 1: first quadrant. What's interesting to me is we're back in
Speaker 1: this place again. There are six teams at the top
Speaker 1: of the Power rankings that I know are the six
Speaker 1: best teams in the league right now, and they deserve
Speaker 1: the top six spots. Seven through fifteen is madness. Let's
Speaker 1: stick this in the top ten seven through ten. I
Speaker 1: have to have four teams there, but I don't think
Speaker 1: any of those teams are really top ten teams. But
Speaker 1: somebody's got to be a top ten tea. And I
Speaker 1: was thinking about, Kenny, why is this happening? And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you why. Teams like the Bucks, the Packers, the Rams,
Speaker 1: and the Titans, teams that we used to trust to
Speaker 1: be in the top ten have fallen off this year.
Speaker 1: But no other teams have truly stepped up to take
Speaker 1: their spot. There's been teams that have had moments and
Speaker 1: then in and out, but we haven't had any real
Speaker 1: powerhouse step into those spots, creating this revolving door, and
Speaker 1: it's getting to be damn annoying. Yeah, there hasn't been
Speaker 1: anyone to like do it and sustain it, like do
Speaker 1: it existently. Like it's just like a little pop here
Speaker 1: and there from a couple of teams, but then they
Speaker 1: fall back to earth. So I don't know. Let's check
Speaker 1: out this first quadrant in the power rankings, the League
Speaker 1: of thirty two. So Eagles, your Eagles feel very good
Speaker 1: about them staying at number one. They can just do
Speaker 1: it all right now the Niners, and we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to the Niners. Um, they move up five spots, the
Speaker 1: number two Bengals, Bills, Chiefs hold their spots three through five,
Speaker 1: Cowboys on a winning streak. Down four, we'll get to
Speaker 1: that two. Number six the Vikings. The Vikings had a
Speaker 1: chance to tell everybody to shut up, and everybody instead
Speaker 1: just got to talk louder. The Vikings down the spot seven.
Speaker 1: They should fall further, but there was no one to
Speaker 1: come and take that spot. Number eight. The Ravens, who
Speaker 1: might start a third string quarterback on Saturday, So how
Speaker 1: good could I feel about them? Put their up three
Speaker 1: to number eight because there's no teams that button those spots.
Speaker 1: I know it makes sense to me, but let's start
Speaker 1: with the Niners. Kind of surprised that I have them
Speaker 1: at number two. Well, I feel like every time you
Speaker 1: drop them, they come right back and stick it to you.
Speaker 1: That's what happens. Like you have to you have to
Speaker 1: respect brock Purty. You maybe didn't believe as much as
Speaker 1: others named Colleen, and so here we are now. They
Speaker 1: are a take that I miss. I'm sure it is,
Speaker 1: but they've been grim reaping their way through the season
Speaker 1: and they just keep coming back. But I think that
Speaker 1: you know this game obviously, Deebo Samuel that is that's
Speaker 1: a big miss, but hopefully back by the end of
Speaker 1: the year. Exactly. I'm cl sprain and the ankle sprain um.
Speaker 1: So thank god that they traded for Christian McCaffrey because
Speaker 1: he can at least help out and kind of less
Speaker 1: than the blow of losing Debo in the short term.
Speaker 1: It's just a bummer because it's been really fun to
Speaker 1: watch Kyle Shanahan used the two of them together in
Speaker 1: the offense. But they're gonna need Juwan Jennings to step
Speaker 1: up and get more involved at the receiver position. I mean,
Speaker 1: I saw do you see what Jerry Rice? Uh? Do
Speaker 1: you see him tweet? It's like, stop running our skill
Speaker 1: position players up the middle with Deebo. So I don't
Speaker 1: know j he was. Zebo is one of one. He's
Speaker 1: a little different. And that's just things happened. He was
Speaker 1: not happy. Jerry was not happy, but brock Bertie was, yes,
Speaker 1: And I take issue with that. Connie, take issue with you.
Speaker 1: Take issue with them behind the glass who had the
Speaker 1: gall two in our our instant messenger client right next
Speaker 1: to the rundown Dan f himself by dropping them last week,
Speaker 1: and it's like, not, na, Bra, this was exactly the
Speaker 1: way you had to play the From a power rankings perspective,
Speaker 1: I dropped them down to set even. I kept them
Speaker 1: in the top ten because I liked the team so much.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you had to go into
Speaker 1: wait and see mode with Purdy and see how he
Speaker 1: played against the Bucks on Sunday. And I'm not saying
Speaker 1: like I think a lot has been made about Party
Speaker 1: being unbelievable on Sunday. I think he was fine. Like
Speaker 1: he did, he did what he was asked to do.
Speaker 1: He the moment wasn't too big for him. He basically
Speaker 1: was kind of like what Garoppolo was doing before he
Speaker 1: got hurt. So now I see it. You have to
Speaker 1: see it sometimes, so I slide him back up because
Speaker 1: everything else is so great, even Debo out. Now, let's
Speaker 1: see if they could stay in the top three Countie
Speaker 1: because next there's another test. Now for Purdy. It's going
Speaker 1: to Seattle in a difficult road environment. Seahawks kind of
Speaker 1: need that game as they've they've been sliding lately. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be hostile, and if Purdy passes that test, look
Speaker 1: out the Niners might just keep it. Also, it's a
Speaker 1: short week for him, and he popped up on the
Speaker 1: injury report the estimated because he must, because every Niners
Speaker 1: quarterback must pop up in an injury report. But this
Speaker 1: what this short week and then going up to Seattle,
Speaker 1: I mean, this would this would not be great if
Speaker 1: the Niners had to roll out Josh Johnson, their fourth
Speaker 1: string quarterback at this point. But I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe Kyle Shanahan could make him look good too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the Cowboys. I would love
Speaker 1: to talk about the Cowboys. Now this is this is
Speaker 1: where I'll take a bit of a ding. I moved
Speaker 1: the Cowboys up to two um last week a few spots.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like they were like twelve. I think I
Speaker 1: moved like five to two based on I think I
Speaker 1: got sucked in a little bit by their thirty three
Speaker 1: zero fourth quarter against the Colts do it and kind
Speaker 1: of missed the bigger picture of that game, which was
Speaker 1: the Colts had a chance to even take the lead
Speaker 1: in that game late in the third quarter. This is
Speaker 1: the miserable Colts number thirty one of the Power rankings.
Speaker 1: But I didn't. I was like, I just was like, oh,
Speaker 1: seventeen or whatever, that was a great win. Not so much.
Speaker 1: And then you see the next week against the Texans,
Speaker 1: they got to get bailed out by a goal line
Speaker 1: stop and then the lovey Smith defense not getting it done.
Speaker 1: Credit to of course Dock and company for leading him
Speaker 1: down the field, but they just played the number thirty
Speaker 1: one and thirty two teams in the Power rankings, and
Speaker 1: seven of the eight quarters weren't overly impressive or at
Speaker 1: all dominating. So I'm not worried about the Cowboys. I
Speaker 1: think in a long season, you sometimes will play down
Speaker 1: to the levelier opponent, and they did get ws in
Speaker 1: both those weeks, but they're gonna have to clean it
Speaker 1: up because the schedule now tightens up. Let me just
Speaker 1: say that watching the Cowboys almost lose to the one
Speaker 1: win Texans while the Eagles basically blew out the Giants
Speaker 1: was just such a beautiful thing. They could not afford, obviously,
Speaker 1: to to lose that game for a variety of reasons,
Speaker 1: the division race and pride, and I almost feel like
Speaker 1: they're equal weight at this point too if you lose.
Speaker 1: If the Cowboys lose to the Texans, like of course,
Speaker 1: people are gonna be like, oh, it's one week, but
Speaker 1: that is really bad. It feels like they came into
Speaker 1: this game and did not take the Texans seriously at all,
Speaker 1: because why would you there a one win team? But
Speaker 1: they they were doing some stuff that they looked pretty
Speaker 1: good out there. And now I think that an issue
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys is the fact that they lost another
Speaker 1: starter this week at a crucial position. So when right
Speaker 1: tackle Terrence Steele went down, he tours mcl and his
Speaker 1: a c L. They also lost their cornerback Anthony Brown
Speaker 1: last week. Um, this is bad for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1: On the offensive line, they had to play Jason Peters
Speaker 1: eventually at right tackle, who hasn't played right tackle in
Speaker 1: years and years, because they had put Josh Ball in
Speaker 1: there and that was a disaster. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what they're going to do this week if they're going
Speaker 1: to split time between the two of them. But bad
Speaker 1: mouth Jason Peters. No, Josh ballad mouth him, not Peters.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, it's uh. I got a respect of
Speaker 1: Jason Peters, seven year old. Yeah, elders, all right, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: but we're see, here are the power rankings. These are
Speaker 1: not the power standing. So I did not I kind
Speaker 1: of ding them in the in the same way I
Speaker 1: would have if they lost, because they just weren't impressive.
Speaker 1: So they're in number six, Um where else you want
Speaker 1: to go? Here? Kind well, in watching the Vikings, the
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins, he had a great game, justin Jefferson, and
Speaker 1: he played out of his mind two and twenty three
Speaker 1: receiving yards. I thought that that was a mistake and
Speaker 1: it should have been to sixty and another touchdown, But
Speaker 1: the officials blew a sideline at a bounds call. You know,
Speaker 1: it's wild Jefferson has three of the top five wide
Speaker 1: receiver performances this entire season. Like the NFL, He's he's
Speaker 1: so good. They're going to win the division. They just
Speaker 1: need to beat the Colts this week. Um, what could
Speaker 1: go wrong? And playing the Colts? What could go wrong
Speaker 1: for the Vikings. But there's just so many things that
Speaker 1: go wrong for them. They can't generate a pass rush
Speaker 1: anymore at all. I don't know what's going on with
Speaker 1: their defense. I think maybe they missed Dalvin Tomlinson. But
Speaker 1: there's just we knew that the Lions were going to
Speaker 1: come in and do this because we love the Lions.
Speaker 1: It's like, I feel like we are proud parents after
Speaker 1: doing the Hard Knocks podcast just watching them kind of
Speaker 1: come into their own. But this was a bad week
Speaker 1: to be a Vikings fan. It was uh. And yet
Speaker 1: you're right, because their record is what it is, They're
Speaker 1: gonna win that division. They'll have a home game. Um.
Speaker 1: The chances of catching the Eagles now are very remote,
Speaker 1: but I don't think anybody expected that to happen in
Speaker 1: the first place. Um. It will be interesting to see,
Speaker 1: um how the Vikings finished this season because there is
Speaker 1: this idea a lot of people that there's some regression
Speaker 1: that could be in play here, But either way, they're
Speaker 1: gonna They're gonna get to the playoffs and be able
Speaker 1: to reset. And I think as as disappointing as that
Speaker 1: game was, Cousins playing excellent football, like you said, was
Speaker 1: something that hasn't really happened much this season, so that
Speaker 1: was at least encouraging. And we'll see them on Saturday
Speaker 1: on NFL Network. It's a look at that Saturday. Wait
Speaker 1: are you talking about Saturday Showdown? I am, I am?
Speaker 1: You've heard of it? Yeah, Cults Vikings followed by Ravens
Speaker 1: Browns followed by Dolphin Bills, a triple header, and Connie
Speaker 1: will be in Western New York dealing with that lake effects. No,
Speaker 1: with heated legs. It's not weird. It's not weird at all.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move to quad to all right, things
Speaker 1: are funky again. The Chargers are up to nine, nine
Speaker 1: spots up? Is it because I'm all of a sudden
Speaker 1: it loved with the Chargers? No? But who am I
Speaker 1: gonna put ahead of them? I got the Lions up seven,
Speaker 1: the team around the NFL, the team of Dan and
Speaker 1: Connie's heart up to Who would have thought that they
Speaker 1: could go from thirty one to ten in the matter
Speaker 1: of a month and half. But that's this season. Dolphins
Speaker 1: down three spots to eleven, Jets down two spots to twelve,
Speaker 1: the Pat's up sick to thirteen. And guess what now
Speaker 1: all those AFC these teams are all together and I
Speaker 1: all kind of think they're in the same, um kind
Speaker 1: of level right now, and they're all looking to get
Speaker 1: a wild card spot. The Commanders on a buy there
Speaker 1: at fourteen, Titans down six to fifteen, Seahawks down four
Speaker 1: to sixteen. Um, let me just start here with the Titans.
Speaker 1: What about the Chargers? I mean, they're like moving up nine.
Speaker 1: We let's get to I just because say, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to talk about the Titans for a second year,
Speaker 1: because as you know, Connie, when I um do the
Speaker 1: power rankings, I send like a preliminary list to you
Speaker 1: and Drew and uh, just so you guys have a
Speaker 1: general idea of what I'll be working off. But that
Speaker 1: list changes once I watched the games, and when I
Speaker 1: watched Titans Jags, I had to take the Titans. Who
Speaker 1: I think I'd still we're hanging around the top ten
Speaker 1: in my initial list and drop them all the way
Speaker 1: down to fifteen because this is a team that's in
Speaker 1: a lot of trouble right now, I think. And they
Speaker 1: obviously have lost three straight games, and they fired their
Speaker 1: GM last week, and the Jaguar is a team that
Speaker 1: they owned, came to Nashville and really embarrassed him. A
Speaker 1: week after, the head coach Mike Rabel said this is
Speaker 1: a crossroads moment, which is obviously a motivational play because
Speaker 1: he thought they would get right against the Jags. Now
Speaker 1: it seems like God, is this the vision potentially in
Speaker 1: play for other teams? Yes, like the Jags. Yes, I mean,
Speaker 1: like I still I want to trust the Titans, but
Speaker 1: watching them sort of crumble at this point, it's getting
Speaker 1: harder and harder. And the fact that they've lost these
Speaker 1: three games. They turned the ball over four times against
Speaker 1: the Jags, and the Jags immediately capitalized all of those turnovers.
Speaker 1: It's sorry to step on your twenty point, NU, there
Speaker 1: can we take it out of the show. We're going
Speaker 1: to need saying, no, clean it up. They're saying they
Speaker 1: need the powering this guy to have the take first.
Speaker 1: So if this, if this was not the crossroads. I guess,
Speaker 1: like I don't know where they are at this point,
Speaker 1: and it can't be. It feels like it might be
Speaker 1: getting toxic in that building, especially with Robinson getting fired
Speaker 1: last week. Like this is not helping at all against
Speaker 1: the Jacks. Yeah, when you when you pull that lever
Speaker 1: Connie or Lever. I like Lever better, but Lever is funnier.
Speaker 1: When you pull that crossroads move and then another bad
Speaker 1: thing happens. That means, right that you went down the
Speaker 1: bad road and they are like a dark You ever
Speaker 1: been down like an actual I've driven a car before,
Speaker 1: so yes, I know. But you're a you're an urban lady.
Speaker 1: I mean, have you ever like really been out there
Speaker 1: and like the Poconos sticks or something. I've a little
Speaker 1: creeping in like Pocono's. Part of my family is from
Speaker 1: the Pocono There you go, You ever like be driving
Speaker 1: on one of those uh kind of maybe it's not dirt,
Speaker 1: but there's just a lot of trees and there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of had a lot of lights and a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of eyes looking at you from them.
Speaker 1: Whether it's dear or I don't know what, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: hope it's dear. Yeah, that's where the Titans are right now.
Speaker 1: They're in the Poconos. You get divide. That's something something's
Speaker 1: watching you. Yeah, always, But I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't feel good about the Titans at all. You
Speaker 1: know any good golf courses in the Poconos by boy, Um,
Speaker 1: I used to know quite a few. Actually, I can
Speaker 1: get back to you on that. Um britsh history out there.
Speaker 1: Let's let's move. Yeah, let's talk about your Chargers, because
Speaker 1: they are the power moves presented by Energizer. Up nine spots.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna I'm gonna get out of the way here.
Speaker 1: I've already said my piece that I don't really feel
Speaker 1: like number nine is the right spot for him, but
Speaker 1: that's what they are because they had a big win
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Yeah, like, this is what the Chargers look
Speaker 1: like when they have everyone healthy, and what a difference
Speaker 1: it makes happen. That's the thing that they didn't have him,
Speaker 1: But I just mean on both shits have it well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have a lot of guys that are allout, like
Speaker 1: Sebastian Joseph day Um, he's still home with They're waiting
Speaker 1: for him to come back. But having Keenan Allen and
Speaker 1: having Mike Williams out there for Justin Herbert. I mean Williams.
Speaker 1: He had three catches and fifty two yards and a
Speaker 1: touchdown in the second quarter, like he had such a
Speaker 1: good game, and Justin Herbert was just making beautiful throws
Speaker 1: in this game. He looked good in the pocket, he
Speaker 1: was good on the run. He just looked confident. He
Speaker 1: was making making moves that power moves. He was making
Speaker 1: power moves so the Chargers wouldn't charge. And that's what
Speaker 1: we needed from him. That's what we needed to see.
Speaker 1: So I I like the Chargers in the top ten
Speaker 1: after that game, I do too, and I just hope
Speaker 1: because I do. I like the Chargers. They're an underdog
Speaker 1: type team to me. I hope they don't do what
Speaker 1: they always do, which is yeah Charger And just when
Speaker 1: things seem like like they're on the right road, they
Speaker 1: turn around and go to the Poconos, Like we don't
Speaker 1: need to go to the Poconos, Bolts. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought up Mike Williams first patient house there. They
Speaker 1: go there all the time. He was like, go there
Speaker 1: during the day and then when the when come nightfall.
Speaker 1: You go inside, and I'm glad you brought up Mike
Speaker 1: Williams because you know the old Dave damascheck is um.
Speaker 1: Mike Williams is the janga piece for that team. Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert is obviously the the sun which everything revolves around
Speaker 1: for Los Angeles. But it's Williams who makes that offense elite.
Speaker 1: It's Williams that allows Justin Herbert to do stuff like
Speaker 1: that drop back where he goes to the opposite hash
Speaker 1: and then throws across the field. Uh throw that? Basically
Speaker 1: no one else in the league can do. You need
Speaker 1: Mike Williams there as that big play wide out who
Speaker 1: perfectly compliments Keenan Allen. So all right, I feel a
Speaker 1: little better. The Titans, see, that would be a very
Speaker 1: Chargers thing. This is this is such a Chargers thing
Speaker 1: to be being on on the right road of the
Speaker 1: crossroads and and start to feel bad for the Titans,
Speaker 1: and and walk around owned back to the intersection, go
Speaker 1: to the other road, the dark Pocono's road, and then
Speaker 1: say point out to the Titans, Hey, you gotta head
Speaker 1: this way. And the Titans to the old thing where
Speaker 1: they push you and then put their leg behind you
Speaker 1: and trip you, and the Chargers fall in the mud
Speaker 1: and they're stuck in across the road. All the Titans
Speaker 1: heads of the playoffs. That's that's just stepping on someone
Speaker 1: else to get ahead. That could happen, and it probably
Speaker 1: will happen. When you're talking about today, Uh, one more team.
Speaker 1: Oh look at this, let's look at the biggest risers here, Connie,
Speaker 1: I would love that. You know, I don't like this
Speaker 1: when there's a lot of big risers, a big fallers.
Speaker 1: Why don't you like it? Do you feel like it's
Speaker 1: an indictment on your rankings for the previous week? In fact,
Speaker 1: I know what I yeah, it kind of is. It
Speaker 1: means that I'm not sure what's going on with these teams,
Speaker 1: which in general, I'm not sure what's going on in life.
Speaker 1: But by this point of this season, I want to
Speaker 1: be able to see the power rankings that you don't
Speaker 1: see big jumps and falls because teams have solidified themselves.
Speaker 1: But that's not happening this year. So you've got the
Speaker 1: Chargers up nine to nine. As they said, we talked
Speaker 1: about the Lions up seven. We have to talk about them, Yeah,
Speaker 1: up seven to ten. The Jags up seven to seventeen,
Speaker 1: and look out for the Jaguars. By the way, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys go to Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence is playing as
Speaker 1: as good as any quarterback right now. That's a tough game,
Speaker 1: but the Cowboys don't clean it up. The Panthers up
Speaker 1: seven to twenty and the Pats up six to thirteen.
Speaker 1: Where do you want to start? Lions? Okay, Lions, Lions, Lions.
Speaker 1: They've won five of their last six. They are rolling.
Speaker 1: Jared Golfwood. He's like on a heater right now. Back
Speaker 1: to back weeks with three passing yards. He hasn't had
Speaker 1: a pick in the last five games. That touchdown pass
Speaker 1: to Jamison Williams and a touchdown pass to d J. Chark,
Speaker 1: I mean they were both over forty yards. This was
Speaker 1: the first time since that a Lions quarterback has thrown
Speaker 1: multiple plus yard touchdown passes in the same game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so Jared getting it done. He you know, he's owned
Speaker 1: an apology from almost everybody that covers the sport, and
Speaker 1: I'm including myself in this that he was viewed as
Speaker 1: just a throw in in that trade when the Stafford
Speaker 1: deal went down to make the money work, and he
Speaker 1: was a guy that had some years, but he was
Speaker 1: exposed when when the Sean McVeigh offense wasn't his um
Speaker 1: locked in and loaded as it was earlier in his tenure.
Speaker 1: That all turned out to be garbage. Like, he is
Speaker 1: a very good quarterback and he's had a really nice career.
Speaker 1: He might not be a Hall of Fame quarterback, but
Speaker 1: not everybody has to be a quote ugoo generational talent.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you just want a guy that's dependable, that runs
Speaker 1: an offense with confidence and manufacturers points and positive drives.
Speaker 1: And they've been doing that all year and he's been
Speaker 1: behind center every single game. It's just so nice to
Speaker 1: see Jared Golf in this position. Like, and then you
Speaker 1: have to think down the road. Now, Okay, the Lions,
Speaker 1: they have two first round picks coming up in the draft, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're going to end up getting a quarterback.
Speaker 1: But Jared Golf has definitely proven that when put in
Speaker 1: this position Shion, with the players that he has around him,
Speaker 1: he can maximize his opportunities, which he's done. And Jamison
Speaker 1: Williams his second career start, first career catch for his
Speaker 1: career touchdown. That's amazing. I love it. I think this
Speaker 1: is viewed as like the season James and Williams kind
Speaker 1: of getting his feet wet after the a c L surgery,
Speaker 1: But if he could just give them a little bit
Speaker 1: and be a big play threaten his own right, look
Speaker 1: out for the Lions going. I think we were first
Speaker 1: on the Hard Knocks podcast saying people pay attention to
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson. Yeah, Hey, Ben Johnson. I think we told
Speaker 1: the Hard Knocks producers to pay attention and I think
Speaker 1: they did. And I think Ben Johnson, I think we
Speaker 1: gave him a little bit of like, hey, advocate for yourself, buddy,
Speaker 1: don't let don't let do Staley and all these other
Speaker 1: guys like pretend like they're running your offense. Nobody's saying
Speaker 1: that anymore. I want to talk about the Jaguar Zoe
Speaker 1: real quick before we take a break, because they are interesting.
Speaker 1: Unless the Chargers make the mistake of going down the
Speaker 1: other dirt road to help the Titan. I think it's
Speaker 1: certainly plausible that Tennessee kind of falls off a cliff
Speaker 1: right now. They seem like a team that's teetering, and
Speaker 1: I have a lot of respect for Rabel tannehill Um
Speaker 1: obviously Derrick Henry and their track record to kind of
Speaker 1: figure things out and right the ship here and then
Speaker 1: win that division. But it's not. It's no longer like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's literally no one that could steal this division. It
Speaker 1: is the Jags. If they beat the Cowboys in their
Speaker 1: building to get to six and eight, uh, and the
Speaker 1: Titans lose again, it gets very interesting in that division.
Speaker 1: And I think Trevor Lawrence his rise this year is
Speaker 1: one of the big storylines that's in the league now
Speaker 1: because I think if this is who he is, and
Speaker 1: I don't think this is just a heater for him.
Speaker 1: I think he's finding himself in this league. Now. The
Speaker 1: Jacks are gonna be very good and in fact, we'll
Speaker 1: probably take over that division going forward. Doug Peterson, what
Speaker 1: a perfect landing spot it is for him, and just
Speaker 1: for Trevor Lawrence in a big divisional road game when
Speaker 1: there was nothing from the running game whatsoever, to step
Speaker 1: up put it all on his own shoulders. He counted
Speaker 1: for all four of those touchdowns, like this was such
Speaker 1: a big moment for him to shine, and he did.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if they're going to lose to
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, Like I don't know if they're going to
Speaker 1: beat the Cowboys after Dallas kind of came that close
Speaker 1: to losing against the Texans last week, I think that
Speaker 1: the Cowboys are going to come in. Listen, you know
Speaker 1: that cowboys. Cowboys always gonna cowboy in their own right,
Speaker 1: and you could see them, um going into that environment
Speaker 1: and struggling. Um. It's the defensive Dallas obviously is a
Speaker 1: lot better than it's been in past years. But like
Speaker 1: we said, they lost Anthony Brown, one of their starting cornerbacks,
Speaker 1: and the Jaguars have a lot of weapons. Even looked
Speaker 1: so good and you know how annoying that is for
Speaker 1: Giants fans. Yeah, he is so talented, but it was
Speaker 1: always an enigma for the Giants when it came to
Speaker 1: missing time with injury or he had some some drops
Speaker 1: and key spots. But he's so talented. Going eleven for one,
Speaker 1: sixty two and two makes me think the tight end position,
Speaker 1: which has been pretty barren in recent years, he might
Speaker 1: become a big guy in that offense. We shall see.
Speaker 1: Keeping on these Jaguars now that now that the Raiders
Speaker 1: have faltered, I need a new pet team down in
Speaker 1: these in this like mid cheer, I think it might
Speaker 1: be the Jacks. I think I think that's a good one.
Speaker 1: The Raiders that they blew it. They did they let's
Speaker 1: take a break and we will hit the rest of
Speaker 1: the rankings of power Hey previously on power Rankings Panthers.
Speaker 1: Uh I listened, Sam Donald, he might I wish I
Speaker 1: could quit you. He might end up taking this team
Speaker 1: to the playoffs because it's such a bad division. Let's
Speaker 1: take a look at the schedule right now. Okay, so Carolina,
Speaker 1: are you actually are you? Do you believe what you're
Speaker 1: about to say? Connie or is is content for a program?
Speaker 1: They'm not? Just give a answer. I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: stay ahead of this because if it happens, I will
Speaker 1: look so great, and if not, I'll just, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: doubting me anyway, So it doesn't matter. Their defense is
Speaker 1: better than people realize, but they're going to struggle to
Speaker 1: score points, and for instance, you know Gina Smith and
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, they're gonna put up a lot of points.
Speaker 1: The Lions, I imagine, are gonna put up a lot
Speaker 1: of points. And I feel like the Pittsburgh and Tampa
Speaker 1: defenses will be able to really neutralize Sam Donald. I'm
Speaker 1: not buying on this. This division is so bad, Like
Speaker 1: you have the Bucks and the Falcons that lead the
Speaker 1: division with five wins each, like that's it. They could
Speaker 1: win just because someone has to from the division. Merry Christmas,
Speaker 1: very early Christmas gift to yourself. I got ahead of it,
Speaker 1: and here I am and I still believe it. Well,
Speaker 1: it certainly makes more sense that you know what a
Speaker 1: really really sold. It was if the Saints then to
Speaker 1: blow that game to the Bucks, we would be talking
Speaker 1: about an NFC South that would have four teams tied
Speaker 1: to play. But that's not how it played out. However,
Speaker 1: your Panthers love is recognized by me, and you know,
Speaker 1: I respect that they do go to Seattle and they
Speaker 1: do score enough points and their defense makes plays and
Speaker 1: they beat the Seahawks and all of a sudden they
Speaker 1: are a game out. That's right, and they're up seven
Speaker 1: spots in the rankings at twenty. Now, but let's start
Speaker 1: at the top of this tier. The Jacks, who were
Speaker 1: just talked about up seven spots as well at seventeen,
Speaker 1: The Raiders who blew it against the down three at eighteen,
Speaker 1: the Giants who, oh it was embarrassing five at nineteen
Speaker 1: Panthers at twenty then the Bucks at one down five
Speaker 1: wolf that was a terrible game for them. The Packers
Speaker 1: also down to twenty one or twenty two, they're down
Speaker 1: a spot. You got the Browns at three down three spots,
Speaker 1: and then the Steelers down to so But the Panthers.
Speaker 1: I got a feeling still about these Panthers, Dory and
Speaker 1: Dorings here. Yes, this is a this is a thing now,
Speaker 1: and it's being made possible by the Bucks being terrible.
Speaker 1: They are not They are not a good team. They've
Speaker 1: had every opportunity here to put this division away, and
Speaker 1: now here the Panthers with a real opportunity. You gotta
Speaker 1: give Steve Wolkes a lot of credit because Matt Rule. Um,
Speaker 1: things just did not work out with Matt Rule, obviously,
Speaker 1: and when Wilkes took over, who previously lorded over the
Speaker 1: Cardinals for one deeply unsuccessful season before his dismissal, I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody thought this is gonna be a team
Speaker 1: that was going to put things together, especially after Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey gets traded. So all that to happen and now
Speaker 1: them to be in the mix. Uh. The credited coach
Speaker 1: and the players were sticking together, and they had that
Speaker 1: whole dust up with Robbie Anderson and the coaches on
Speaker 1: the sideline, and then he got traded to before Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey got traded. Now look at them now, a game
Speaker 1: behind Tampa. If they win out, they're in because they
Speaker 1: have tiebreakers over both the Bucks and the Falcons. I
Speaker 1: got it right here. So they're at Seattle, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: got it? There we go. Uh you remember that they
Speaker 1: were Actually that's the only one I have. I thought
Speaker 1: I had the whole schedule keeping all right, you were
Speaker 1: doing well and now you've faltered. But there we go.
Speaker 1: Last four games home versus Pittsburgh and Kenny Pickett might
Speaker 1: need not be playing, so you might get Mitch Trabinsky
Speaker 1: in that game. Then you home versus Detroit. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be a toughie. You're at Tampa, obviously you need to
Speaker 1: have a game. And you're right, they already won again
Speaker 1: against Tampa earlier this season. Uh, they sweep the Bucks
Speaker 1: there they have the tiebreaker. And then at New Orleans.
Speaker 1: I think, Connie, what's their record here, there's six five
Speaker 1: and eight. I think they can win this division if
Speaker 1: they split. Um, especially you know, if they beat Tampa,
Speaker 1: they could split and I think win the NFC South
Speaker 1: at seven and nine. And they've been pretty good at
Speaker 1: home with Wilks if I think going back, they've won
Speaker 1: their last three home games with him, and these next
Speaker 1: two are at home as well, So against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: like you said, that's definitely a possibility. The Lions might
Speaker 1: be tough. And it's interesting that, like we said, they
Speaker 1: traded CMC and if you watch a Seattle game, and
Speaker 1: this is an indictment of the Seahawks as well, they
Speaker 1: just ran which was not I would love to say,
Speaker 1: because I'm a Sam Donald apologist to the end that
Speaker 1: it was Donald who is leading this offense. But they
Speaker 1: just ran all over Seattle in crunch time with Cuba Hubbard,
Speaker 1: doctor Foreman, Raheem black Shear. We have a black Shear
Speaker 1: end zone sighting here, folks. And they are um an
Speaker 1: interesting thing. I don't think they're again not a great team,
Speaker 1: but in the NFC South, you don't have to be great.
Speaker 1: They run forty six times for two hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: three yards like with a Christian McCaffrey. Who else I
Speaker 1: want to talk about? We mentioned the Raiders. That was
Speaker 1: my My my erstwhile PET team I have now moved
Speaker 1: on to the Jags, and I think you can claim
Speaker 1: the Panthers Panthers teams that PET teams, the gim and
Speaker 1: the Giants. I know you're taking some pot shots in
Speaker 1: there in the set up to this segment, but you
Speaker 1: gotta I gotta say we could. We could get on
Speaker 1: Big Blue for cratering and having one win in these
Speaker 1: last six weeks. But it doesn't help that a roster
Speaker 1: that was really overachieving and making the most of what
Speaker 1: they had has really been hit hard by injuries. I'm
Speaker 1: watching that game against the Eagles, and obviously they're not
Speaker 1: in the same weight class as the Eagles, as we
Speaker 1: saw in that blowout, but some of the guys that were,
Speaker 1: you know, prominently involved that just guys I didn't even
Speaker 1: It was like watching a preseason game at a certain
Speaker 1: point and was Sacan Barkley having a neck injury. You
Speaker 1: take him out of the workhorse horse roll, and it's
Speaker 1: kind of a it's a rap, yeah, and you have
Speaker 1: I mean, they pulled Daniel Jones at the end, put
Speaker 1: in Tyrod Taylor. Like this was a team from the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season that you, I think, and and
Speaker 1: me we both talked about it, how we couldn't really
Speaker 1: believe in them, yet they were tough by and even
Speaker 1: when they were seven and two exactly. And so now
Speaker 1: you're kind of seeing some of those flaws that that
Speaker 1: we saw earlier in the year. But the fact that
Speaker 1: they have Sunday Night football coming up against Washington that
Speaker 1: is such a big game. I'm so excited about it.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be just such a
Speaker 1: sloppy classic NFC East game. Yeah, that is That's a
Speaker 1: nice uh flex by NBC there. I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: that game. We mentioned the Bucks and there continued struggles
Speaker 1: get blown out by the Niners. Very embarrassing, I imagined
Speaker 1: for Tom Brady after all the buddled up about playing
Speaker 1: near his hometown and had or whatever, and then it's,
Speaker 1: you know, thirty five nothing with three minutes playing the
Speaker 1: third quarter. Um, they have lost two of three. That
Speaker 1: the miracle win against the Saints on Monday Night in
Speaker 1: Week thirteen. Their schedule though, sets up pretty well. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be very tough obviously this upcoming against the Bengals.
Speaker 1: But you get past that game, you have Arizona at
Speaker 1: Arizona with Colt McCoy at quarterback, you have the big
Speaker 1: Carolina game, and then you're at Atlanta, most likely against
Speaker 1: the rookie and Desmond ritter Um. So they I think
Speaker 1: they have a path again, they look like probably a
Speaker 1: two and two path down the stretch. So if they
Speaker 1: do that, they win the division. The Pathers need to
Speaker 1: either I guess in that case would go three and one,
Speaker 1: or we need to the Bucks to falter. But it's
Speaker 1: certainly within the realm of reason that they can lose games.
Speaker 1: We expect them to win because they've been doing it
Speaker 1: all years. I just have no confidence in them anymore.
Speaker 1: Like they and we talked about this last week, how
Speaker 1: they drew me in with the win over the Seahawks
Speaker 1: and Munich and then just to disappoint me after that,
Speaker 1: And it's just kind of been do not disappoint because then, like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be disappointed in you forever. The point me one,
Speaker 1: you're out of the trust tree, and once you disappoint her,
Speaker 1: you're out of the trust tree. Like what is going
Speaker 1: on with Donovan Smith? Why does this keep happening? He's out,
Speaker 1: he's out. Why does it keep happening? Maybe he's not
Speaker 1: very good. He's struggled all season long with penalties. Killer
Speaker 1: penalty touchdown for a second week, yeah, and these are
Speaker 1: They were able to make up for it on Monday
Speaker 1: Night against the Saints, but getting the Mike Evans bomb
Speaker 1: touchdown wiped away when the major storyline lying around this
Speaker 1: team is Brady and Mike Evans struggled to get together
Speaker 1: and get on the same page. So you could have
Speaker 1: had an early score to get yourself in a good position.
Speaker 1: You could have got that monkey off your back. That
Speaker 1: was one of the more painful holding penalties all season.
Speaker 1: Let's check out Quad four where the Buck's gonna they'll
Speaker 1: probably win the division, but I don't know if they should.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they deserve it, but no one
Speaker 1: does at this point. Don't tell Tom Brady that he
Speaker 1: doesn't deserve it. Well, maybe he should stop throwing picks.
Speaker 1: We've got him, got his ass to thirty two Falcons
Speaker 1: with Desmond Ritter starting quarterback. We'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1: The Rams get a Baker bump up three spots, but
Speaker 1: we'll see how he looks in on Monday night, uh
Speaker 1: in sub zero temperatures, the Saints are who they are
Speaker 1: not very good, Dennis Sale, I better watch out the
Speaker 1: Bears holding twenty eight off thereby the Cardinals down six another.
Speaker 1: You know, so many bad things about that Monday Night
Speaker 1: gave him against the Pats obviously first and foremost Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray and we don't know officially right now, but it
Speaker 1: looks like a torn a c l and you know,
Speaker 1: really tough rehab ahead for him, but that seems so
Speaker 1: lost with its leadership to down six spots twenty nine, Broncos,
Speaker 1: Cults and Texans all round out the thirty two. We
Speaker 1: don't need to that's a little to pray. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of these teams just like really need the season
Speaker 1: to end. So where where are we at? It's December,
Speaker 1: Christmas a couple of weeks away. Uh, Connie, why don't
Speaker 1: you get us in the spirit and share your your
Speaker 1: power rankings top five Christmas songs and then I'm going
Speaker 1: to have my own rankings, okay in the inverse. Listen,
Speaker 1: I need you to know how much I love this
Speaker 1: time of year. I loves I think that's why we
Speaker 1: get along. So you know, it's people, yep, Christmas. People.
Speaker 1: In results for the same region of the ranking, that's right.
Speaker 1: That's that's really the and I have heated pants as well.
Speaker 1: I just thin sparing them now. I thought you were
Speaker 1: I thought you had them on My buttocks is sweating
Speaker 1: profusely right now. But all right, So I mean, like
Speaker 1: in terms of the rankings, like the coaches, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. You said it said anyway, these are
Speaker 1: so it's not definitive right now, but this is like
Speaker 1: a working power rankings. Um so I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with my should do five to one. This is
Speaker 1: really a right before your chest. Okay, here we here
Speaker 1: we go. I'm gonna say number five. How about a
Speaker 1: little Are you doing this in real time? I am
Speaker 1: Last Christmas by Wham? All right, it's a class a
Speaker 1: week for this. This was just this just happened. I
Speaker 1: could have done it yesterday, but I didn't know if
Speaker 1: we were going to do it or not. Walling out, Drew,
Speaker 1: can we do something about this? Yes, Wham, Last Christmas?
Speaker 1: Love that song, George Michael. Let's go to four, Melani,
Speaker 1: I see you belly Killicky Maka is at the bing Crosby,
Speaker 1: Bing Crosby all the way, good number four, number three
Speaker 1: all I want for Christmas is you Mariah? Carry absolutely
Speaker 1: a little on that song because it's played too much.
Speaker 1: But every Christmas standard gets played too much. That's why
Speaker 1: it's a Christmas standard. Back on. You can't start Christmas
Speaker 1: until you hear Mariah. That's the rule. I didn't make
Speaker 1: it right. That's how it goes, all right. Number two,
Speaker 1: that's where we are right now, right Number two, rocking
Speaker 1: around the Christmas Tree, perfect, everyone loves that. I love
Speaker 1: it and who could forget and Home alone Kevin McAllister
Speaker 1: with all the mannequins tricking and the wet bandits thinking someone.
Speaker 1: That was seven million Dollar House. And my number one
Speaker 1: song it's Baby Please Come Home by Darley Love. You
Speaker 1: know that one, So I love that. I'm partial to
Speaker 1: the YouTube remake, but the Darlene loved Motown version is beautiful.
Speaker 1: I love Motown. Baby Please Come Home. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: wonderful song. Good one, all right now, I must I
Speaker 1: love Christmas, but I don't love all the songs. Here
Speaker 1: are the five worst Christmas songs. There's a theme here,
Speaker 1: but not with the first one. The first one is
Speaker 1: Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney, and while it does
Speaker 1: put me in the in the spirit of the holidays.
Speaker 1: When I hear it, it is a it is a downer,
Speaker 1: objectively bad song. And when it's a Beatle that's performing it,
Speaker 1: you just expect more. John Lennon Happy Aximus, which would
Speaker 1: be in my top five. War is Over. That's a
Speaker 1: good Beatles Christmas song, wonderful Christmas time. I don't even
Speaker 1: know the instrument. Are those instruments that are played in
Speaker 1: I don't know? Number four. Now we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: a theme. This is about happiness and family and to me,
Speaker 1: wholesomeness Christmas music. Grandma got ran over by a reindeer,
Speaker 1: bad song, annoying, not funny, and your grandmother being killed
Speaker 1: by you know, Donner and Blitzen or whatever. Don't break
Speaker 1: for Grandma. Number three Baby, it's called Outside the two
Speaker 1: thousand twenties remixed verymatic. No, I'm going with the one
Speaker 1: that's that was corrected quote unquote by John Lynch and uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know who it was, but it's like to
Speaker 1: make it less dangerous. Can we just relax a little bit?
Speaker 1: It's a Christmas song. There's there was nothing the farious
Speaker 1: going around. I mean, it's um, it's not great, it
Speaker 1: doesn't really do does it really still like it? Does
Speaker 1: it really need to be corrected? I don't want even
Speaker 1: because you now you're putting me in a corner and
Speaker 1: making me see like I'm that guy. I'm not that guy.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it. This is like, oh, it's way
Speaker 1: too woke. No, I'm just saying we don't need to
Speaker 1: change everything to save society. Just let it live in
Speaker 1: the world that it lived. A number two again, I
Speaker 1: saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus. Don't need it, don't need
Speaker 1: anything Jacks in five, doesn't matter who it is, it's
Speaker 1: the theme, the lyrical matter. I don't need Santa um,
Speaker 1: you know, French kissing anyone, alright, so he just don't
Speaker 1: mom cheating on data. I don't even need Santa getting
Speaker 1: it on with Mrs Claus. I just need Santa to
Speaker 1: be in his own little world of wholesomeness. And finally,
Speaker 1: number one, Santa Baby. I don't like anything that sexualizes Santa.
Speaker 1: So it's Eartha Kit or Madonna or whoever else does it.
Speaker 1: It's not about you. Do not sexualize Santa Claus. All right,
Speaker 1: that is a take. I didn't expect you to go
Speaker 1: that direct use that in the pull quote for social media.
Speaker 1: That's right, trick to you. They don't do any social
Speaker 1: media for this show. Yes, is anyone still listening? All right,
Speaker 1: thank you everybody for you did stick the landing. By
Speaker 1: the way, I have to say, well, I was I
Speaker 1: was very curious about whether you're even gonna be able
Speaker 1: to get five names. I had Christmas and Hollis run
Speaker 1: DMC on the list, that King Cole. There were a few.
Speaker 1: I just like, wasn't. I mean, I think the Christmas
Speaker 1: song when that King Cole is undoubtedly number one, number one,
Speaker 1: number one wholesome. We'll be back next week. I'll have
Speaker 1: my new Christmas rankings coming out next week. NFL Power
Speaker 1: Rankings as a production of the NFL in partnership with
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.