Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio from the Chris Wesley podcast studio.
Speaker 1: It's the Power Rankings Podcast. I'm Dan Hansas, joined by
Speaker 1: Colleen Wolf, Connie Fox, Connie, how are you welcome back?
Speaker 1: She's back, She's bad, she feels great today. Yeah, Hi, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I missed you as well. That song was wonderful. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's good that you're back because some weird
Speaker 1: things are going on in our league right now. The
Speaker 1: Power Rankings job has never been more difficult. I don't
Speaker 1: know how you're doing. I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: I did the entire on Monday. When I was putting
Speaker 1: together the Power Rankings this week, I had one hand
Speaker 1: typing on the keyboard, the other blowing into a brown
Speaker 1: paper bag to keep from hyperventilating because this is hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense. Nothing really makes sense. I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure, like who what teams are good. I don't
Speaker 1: know what teams are actually bad. I don't really know
Speaker 1: what direction is up, what's down? Like it's it's crazy,
Speaker 1: and I'm just happy I don't have to do the ranking.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that's your job and you know, Judge, and
Speaker 1: it is. And we're going to get to the top
Speaker 1: eight to start here. So let's take a look at it. Um.
Speaker 1: We have the Bills coming off they went over. The
Speaker 1: Chiefs stay at number one. The Eagles, the NFL's loan
Speaker 1: undefeated team, take out Dallason and football. They stay at two.
Speaker 1: I hope that's okay with you. It's probably not. The
Speaker 1: Chiefs stay at three, okay. And those are the three
Speaker 1: teams that I feel safe saying are great football teams.
Speaker 1: Great even though the Chiefs have a couple of losses,
Speaker 1: they're a great team and they are cut above. Then
Speaker 1: there's a huge gap. And then we start with the
Speaker 1: bottom of five teams in the first quadrant, Vikings at four,
Speaker 1: which I'm not sold that that doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 1: But then who do you put above them? I have
Speaker 1: the Bengals at three and three at five up four spots,
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys coming off a loss on Sunday night,
Speaker 1: but a noble one. On some level, I thought up
Speaker 1: four those Geri Men all the way up from thirteen
Speaker 1: to seven, which feels strong with their five and one.
Speaker 1: It's not the power standings, but it's where we are
Speaker 1: now I don't know what to kind of do with them.
Speaker 1: And then the Ravens let me down. They dropped three
Speaker 1: spots to number eight. And that's part of the issue here, Connie.
Speaker 1: Where the teams that I had in the top ten
Speaker 1: last week, a lot of them kind of messed up.
Speaker 1: They played poorly, like the Ravens are a perfect example.
Speaker 1: The Ravens go to the meadow Lands to face the
Speaker 1: four and one Giants. Nobody's really taking the Giants seriously
Speaker 1: yet entering week six, Giants fans were, and then they
Speaker 1: let a lead get away. So the Ravens made total
Speaker 1: senses a number four team, but instead I have to
Speaker 1: drop them, and it's the Vikings that I have at
Speaker 1: number four. So let's start with them there five and one.
Speaker 1: But again power rankings not power standings. I'm not blown
Speaker 1: away by them. What did you think about them against
Speaker 1: the Dolphins? So here, here's where I want to start,
Speaker 1: because you talk about the top three teams being like
Speaker 1: that is that's the top tier, no question about agree?
Speaker 1: Right now? Yeah? And then a huge gap I'm talking like,
Speaker 1: that's what I want to know. Okay, So that's six
Speaker 1: thousand mile gap, Like if you didn't have to put
Speaker 1: teams slot them in at certain numbers. Where would you
Speaker 1: start the rankings with the vikings, like would you let's
Speaker 1: say there's like an unlimited amount of spots here, you
Speaker 1: can put in some some voids, like would you start
Speaker 1: them at ten? Would you start them? I mean, they
Speaker 1: feel like in a normal season, And I don't know
Speaker 1: if this is answering your question, but your question kind
Speaker 1: of confuses me. In a normal season, that is what
Speaker 1: I'm getting at. There. They feel like a right now
Speaker 1: with their good start at ten to twelve type team.
Speaker 1: Because of the completely uncertain nature of the league right now,
Speaker 1: I had to slot them higher then I feel like
Speaker 1: they are because typically in this exercise, and I hope
Speaker 1: as the season goes on we get a little more
Speaker 1: clarity on the situation. Any team that I have in
Speaker 1: like the top seven or so, but especially the team
Speaker 1: that comes in at number four, like I see them
Speaker 1: as a credible super Bowl contender, but I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not there with the vikings. I mean, I'll say like
Speaker 1: what Kirk Cousins said after the game, and it'd be good.
Speaker 1: You know, I want you to listen to it very much.
Speaker 1: The inverse of of one. I would walk off the
Speaker 1: field after we had lost and said, we're playing so well,
Speaker 1: we're playing so well, and somehow, some way we lost.
Speaker 1: But we're playing at very high level this year. I'm saying, gosh,
Speaker 1: we can play better, but we want And it's just
Speaker 1: kind of an inverse and uh, I'll take you know
Speaker 1: this any day. So he's invoking those salty ghosts of
Speaker 1: the Mike Zimmer era. They're getting up, they're getting a
Speaker 1: bump here because they're they're closing, but they're not dominant.
Speaker 1: And Kirk Cousins he is after the game just like
Speaker 1: drenched in diamond chains on the plane, like he's having
Speaker 1: a great time. But it's hard for me to picture
Speaker 1: the Vikings as the fourth best team in the NFL
Speaker 1: when their offense is just like an on and off switch,
Speaker 1: like it just goes in these waves. And it was
Speaker 1: just so many three and outs. I mean they're during
Speaker 1: a certain point in this game, Minnesota had as many
Speaker 1: furts downs as they had three and outs. They had seven,
Speaker 1: Like this was ten of their fifteen drives ended in
Speaker 1: a three and out. Like I just am not totally
Speaker 1: sold there. Of course, you know they have a two
Speaker 1: game lead in the division. They are one of the
Speaker 1: few teams that have five wins. It feels like the
Speaker 1: entire league right now is three and three or under
Speaker 1: five hundred. But the defense looked good. It's just I
Speaker 1: can't I didn't really think that the Vikings were going
Speaker 1: to put it all together. And I still feel like
Speaker 1: it's almost week three in my mind, like it's too
Speaker 1: early to say that they are going to be able
Speaker 1: to really put in a push here for the division
Speaker 1: with the Packers looking in the way that they are.
Speaker 1: But Kevin O'Connell and his first year as a head coach,
Speaker 1: is that going to happen? I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: on UM with the Vikings in terms of trust level,
Speaker 1: UM it part of me does feel the same way
Speaker 1: you do, and I think, not to put words in
Speaker 1: your mouth, but like that there's probably like a the
Speaker 1: inconsistencies probably will lead to that classic Minnesota lose three
Speaker 1: in a row or four out of six, and it
Speaker 1: kind of brings their record back to where you think
Speaker 1: it probably should be. UM, because that's what I think
Speaker 1: of them. I think they're good but not great team.
Speaker 1: But that's just where we are right now as we
Speaker 1: look also elsewhere in Tier one. You know, the Bengals
Speaker 1: at five is another example, like, yeah, I really like Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: I've been higher. I know there are other off brand
Speaker 1: power rankings throughout the media sphere, uh that you don't
Speaker 1: really have to pay attention to this power rankings. But
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you were to, for I guess just
Speaker 1: because you're wasting time, maybe you're in prison and you
Speaker 1: have time to kill. I don't know, um you would
Speaker 1: you look at my rankings and then look at these
Speaker 1: other rankings. My love of the Bengals, or what seems
Speaker 1: like love, is probably going to shine above other power rankings.
Speaker 1: I've kind of stuck with them through thick and thin
Speaker 1: through the start of the season. And what gets him
Speaker 1: into the top five is two things. One again winning,
Speaker 1: just winning in week six is going to give you
Speaker 1: a bump in a very unsettled landscape in the top
Speaker 1: half of this league. And two, I thought it was
Speaker 1: really good to see two things Joe Mixing looking like
Speaker 1: Joe Mixing again, but most importantly Jamaar Chase and Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow unlocking that magic, especially in the second half. And
Speaker 1: I said with Steve Wich last week Connie that one
Speaker 1: of Zach Taylor's jobs heading into New Orleans popped the
Speaker 1: hood on this offense and figure out why Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: isn't an explosive playmaker, and that's exactly what he was.
Speaker 1: My biggest issue is whether or not their offense is
Speaker 1: going to be okay now going forward? Have they figured
Speaker 1: it out? Is this now the the equation? Is this
Speaker 1: what they're going to use going forward? But when you
Speaker 1: have one good game and you win by four, like
Speaker 1: that's now all of a sudden they're a top five team.
Speaker 1: But like you can even say this with the Vikings
Speaker 1: because the Vikings outside of like they're only lost the
Speaker 1: Vikings was against the Eagles, and they're only dominant win
Speaker 1: was Week one against the Packers. So you have just
Speaker 1: this like weird water down middle, huge soft underbelly of
Speaker 1: the league. And just like with the Vikings, what in
Speaker 1: a normal season quote unquote normal season, Cincinnati feels like
Speaker 1: a team they would live in that like twelve to
Speaker 1: fifteen range, maybe closer to twelve, maybe even eleven. But
Speaker 1: the way things are now, they get the W And
Speaker 1: I think what kind of drove me to really give
Speaker 1: him the bump? Here up for spots is Joe. Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is just so special and I watched I watched
Speaker 1: these games and when he's getting better and better, they
Speaker 1: were so out of sinc to start the season. The
Speaker 1: offensive line was a mess. That's gotten better and better
Speaker 1: and it's allowing Burrow to be comfortable and be the
Speaker 1: dude that he is. So with t Higgins and Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd and now Jamar Chase unlocked, I could see this
Speaker 1: team going off on a bit of a rampage. They
Speaker 1: absolutely good, especially when you consider that all three losses
Speaker 1: were on game ending field goals. They needed to come
Speaker 1: from behind win again this time, but their run defense
Speaker 1: is an issue. The Saints ran all over them for
Speaker 1: over two hundred rushing yards. Their next game, though, is
Speaker 1: against the Falcons, and they got one of the most
Speaker 1: surprising wins two of the week. That was just like
Speaker 1: another team, right, So that could be an issue coming
Speaker 1: up on Sunday, Yes it could and the Falcons. That's
Speaker 1: the other thing here, Conny, I was talking about our
Speaker 1: friend Dave Damaschek on his podcast on Dave, the teams
Speaker 1: that we thought were gonna stink in our league are
Speaker 1: better than we thought. And the teams that we thought
Speaker 1: were gonna be good or kind of the middle of
Speaker 1: the pack. Most of them have come down and that's
Speaker 1: created this bizarre situation where you would usually say, oh,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati gets to go to Atlanta now, and that's a
Speaker 1: good spot for No. The Falcons are certified frisky. They
Speaker 1: just beat the Niners, another team that I would have
Speaker 1: loved to put up at number four this week. But
Speaker 1: then they let me down the Cowboys And this is
Speaker 1: probably unprecedented in in uh in the history of the
Speaker 1: power rankings since I've been doing it. To move hot
Speaker 1: like a big move in the top ten off a loss. Again,
Speaker 1: does it feel quite right? No, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you got to look at the landscape of the league.
Speaker 1: I thought it was noble. The way they were able
Speaker 1: to battle back. The Eagles incredible. You know, they wake
Speaker 1: up the well the second quarter. The Eagles have scored
Speaker 1: more points through six games in the second quarter than
Speaker 1: any team in the history of the NFL. So they
Speaker 1: put up twenty in the second quarter that you know,
Speaker 1: took a twenty three lead I believe it was into
Speaker 1: the second half, and they got the running game going Dallas,
Speaker 1: they got some stops on defense, made it an interesting game.
Speaker 1: Now Cooper Rush, it's time for Cooper Rush to step
Speaker 1: step aside. Good job, a great story, great story, but
Speaker 1: you finally saw what would happen when Cooper Rush gets
Speaker 1: put in a negative game script and a tough road environment.
Speaker 1: Three interceptions. But now Dak Prescott is there are reports
Speaker 1: that he is ready to return against the line, so
Speaker 1: Dak back to stabilize the offense with one of the
Speaker 1: best defenses in football. I felt like you had to
Speaker 1: move them up after a good showing against one of
Speaker 1: the big three of the Eagles. Well, yeah, and obviously
Speaker 1: Cooper Rush has done a great job. He's kept Dallas's
Speaker 1: season alive. He's done better than I think most people
Speaker 1: expected him to do. He's a good backup quarterback. But
Speaker 1: you know they want like a little bit. I feel
Speaker 1: like if you watch these Cooper games and I know
Speaker 1: you're you're just like I mean, I feel like he did,
Speaker 1: he did his job. But also in each of the
Speaker 1: last three games, I think he got away with passes
Speaker 1: and until the Eagles game, I think if we would
Speaker 1: have continued down this path, or if Da God forbid
Speaker 1: for Cowboys fans had a setback, it probably wouldn't be
Speaker 1: good news. But you're right on balance. He did his job.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I don't want to be negative. You want
Speaker 1: to talk negative about the Cowboys. UM, I am definitely
Speaker 1: not here for it. What um? But I think too uh?
Speaker 1: Speaking of run defenses that have had some issues. When
Speaker 1: the Eagles took over in the fourth for that game
Speaker 1: ceiling drive that they had, I mean they ran ten
Speaker 1: times on that drive. Every third down was more than
Speaker 1: manageable for them. Like four out of the last six games,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys defense have allowed over a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: rushing yards. So they have the Lions and the Bears
Speaker 1: up next, and both of those teams have top ten
Speaker 1: rushing offenses. That could be a major problem. But they
Speaker 1: are playing their next four games against the NFC North,
Speaker 1: so you know that pretty in an uncertain league, that's
Speaker 1: a pretty soft landing space right now. The team right
Speaker 1: behind the Cowboys is the Giants, who have lost one
Speaker 1: game this season to the Cowboys. Giants, what are the
Speaker 1: time for power moves? Presented by Energizer, They're up six
Speaker 1: spots uh two, number seven if you look at the
Speaker 1: season rank trajectory. Great work by Drew Christensen. Our editor
Speaker 1: who who does does incredible work. They started at twenty eight.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go through week by week as the
Speaker 1: old susor has been trying to figure out the Giants
Speaker 1: being really good for some reason five and one. They
Speaker 1: went from to start the season one nineteen down to
Speaker 1: twenty two. After the Cowboys lost in week four nineteen
Speaker 1: thirteen seven, they just hang around, Connie. You really didn't
Speaker 1: want to take them out of that like ground that
Speaker 1: they were in, that like late teens, early twenties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: quote unquote normal year. Yeah, they're like a twelve or
Speaker 1: thirteen mystery team for me. But in this year they
Speaker 1: keep winning. They keep beating teams that I like, like
Speaker 1: the Ravens. Another great performance, especially late forcing two turnovers
Speaker 1: of Lamar getting the go ahead touchdown of course from
Speaker 1: se Kwon Barkley. And again every game ends Connie with
Speaker 1: Brian Dable shot from the camera coming off the sidelines,
Speaker 1: pumping his fist, pointing to his parents or whoever in
Speaker 1: the crowd, and everybody's slapping them on the back. I
Speaker 1: know you don't like the Giants either. Story here in
Speaker 1: the middle. I'm fair, I'm balanced. I will give people
Speaker 1: props when they deserve it, and it hard for you
Speaker 1: even to say, no, I'm not. I'm serious. The Giants
Speaker 1: have been fun to watch, and I'm going to get like,
Speaker 1: you know, strike me down, like just the skeleton next
Speaker 1: to me of the studio. It's It's true, I am
Speaker 1: guilty of watching uh wink Martindale and the defense looking
Speaker 1: really good, especially against Lamar Jackson and his former team,
Speaker 1: and you know that he just wanted that win so bad.
Speaker 1: And somehow this offense is they're creatively making it work
Speaker 1: and they don't have any receivers. They just have se
Speaker 1: Quan Like. I don't know how long they can go
Speaker 1: on with this formula, but they're doing it now and
Speaker 1: they have wins over the Packers and the Ravens. So
Speaker 1: then it's kind of like, well, should they be higher
Speaker 1: or are we not using the Packers as a measuring
Speaker 1: stick anymore? Where Where does that fall? I think it's
Speaker 1: fair to ask. I think again, as the season takes
Speaker 1: shape and we understand how unpredictable this whole thing is.
Speaker 1: A team like the Giants, well coached, with a superstar
Speaker 1: running back, an improved offensive line, and a defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: who's getting the very most out of his defense. That's
Speaker 1: gonna win games in a league with a lot of
Speaker 1: teams that are kind of in the middle, They're gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of close games this year. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's flukey. I'm kind of buying in now that
Speaker 1: this could be, you know, a ten eleven win Giants team.
Speaker 1: So that's why they are where they are. And the Ravens,
Speaker 1: by the way, what are we doing Ravens? You know
Speaker 1: they are up to three losses in which they had
Speaker 1: led by at least ten points at some point in
Speaker 1: a game that matches a team record. It's Week six,
Speaker 1: it's it's not going well for the Ravens like this.
Speaker 1: This is an ugly, ugly loss, and Jackson has a
Speaker 1: lot to answer for it. I mean, this was one
Speaker 1: of his his worst Lamar show. Lamar blew that game.
Speaker 1: But John Harbo needs to get some heat too, because
Speaker 1: blowing all these games not a good look. Let's check
Speaker 1: out Tier two, as we call it, I call a
Speaker 1: quadrant number two. I don't know if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Buccaneers at nine down three, that's something off in the mix.
Speaker 1: Uh down in Tampa the Chargers, I don't know what
Speaker 1: to do with the charge charges another one, you know,
Speaker 1: beat up on Denver on Monday night football, and maybe
Speaker 1: even I'll slide you up at four and two to
Speaker 1: the number four spot, but not even close. The defense
Speaker 1: was fine, but the offense. Niners down seven to eleven,
Speaker 1: which might seem like a big drop, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of injuries to that defense that are now really
Speaker 1: affecting the bottom line. Rams up three with a win
Speaker 1: over the Panthers. The Jets, my Jets up four. I
Speaker 1: thought I showed some good like discipline here, not to
Speaker 1: go two nuts after beating the Packers and Lambeau all
Speaker 1: the way up to thirteen. Tightens down three to fourteen
Speaker 1: on a buy tough luck. But things are weird right now.
Speaker 1: Packers down seven to fifteen, which is as low as
Speaker 1: they've ever been since I've done this in four years,
Speaker 1: and the Raiders also sitting on a bye. They just
Speaker 1: get shifted a little bit, uh due to I was
Speaker 1: wondering about the wondering machinations are match mashing it? I
Speaker 1: think it's machinations, I think, But anyway, the I was
Speaker 1: wondering how you approached bye weeks in your rankings now
Speaker 1: that we had the first first bye weeks last week
Speaker 1: another one. Obviously we like what happens. This once again
Speaker 1: shows the instability of NFL right now that usually almost
Speaker 1: always with a bye week, I never move a team.
Speaker 1: I either lock them into their spot or they get
Speaker 1: dropped one or raised one um based on what's going
Speaker 1: on around the team. But things are so strange now
Speaker 1: and fluid that bye weeks teams are moving around, which
Speaker 1: is an unintended after effect of a very strange I
Speaker 1: feel like you you kind of told me at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season about your number thirteen slot and
Speaker 1: how that is just like a weird, kind of mystical
Speaker 1: place for teams to be. You don't really know what
Speaker 1: that team is, but I feel like just a full
Speaker 1: the full middle of your power rankings are team. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of miss I just I stuck the We'll
Speaker 1: get to the Jets in a second. Let's start with
Speaker 1: the Bucks. The Bucks are at nine. There's a lot
Speaker 1: wrong um with the Bucks. Why just don't they don't
Speaker 1: seem to have a lot of juice right now. The offense,
Speaker 1: it's so hard offense to gain yards and score points,
Speaker 1: which nobody predicted. They just keep imploding in the red zone.
Speaker 1: Like nothing about this offense is tapped in, like their
Speaker 1: their pepper, spraying themselves with penalties and mistakes, like they
Speaker 1: can't get out of their own way. Brady can't even
Speaker 1: get a yard on a sneak anymore. Like it is.
Speaker 1: That was kind of like the moment it is going
Speaker 1: on here, and it's just it's kind of weird and
Speaker 1: sad to watch. And then we saw Tom Brady freaking
Speaker 1: out on the sideline. I mean, we've seen that before,
Speaker 1: but now it just seems a little different, knowing what
Speaker 1: we know about what's going on in his personal life
Speaker 1: and then seeing his professional life with the way that
Speaker 1: the Bucks are performing. I don't know what's wrong with
Speaker 1: the Bucks offense, but him, him and Godwin are not
Speaker 1: on the same page at all. There's just so many miscommunications. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and of course everything now is being examined with Brady,
Speaker 1: who goes to Robert Kraft's birthday party turned wedding surprise
Speaker 1: wedding surprise wedding on Friday, misses a team walked through
Speaker 1: on Saturday as a result, which and then is uncharacteristically
Speaker 1: inaccurate and Sunday's game, uh, leading to Todd Bowles having
Speaker 1: to answer questions about whether Brady's treated different, Well, of
Speaker 1: course he's treated different. He's Tom Brady. But that's never
Speaker 1: a good look. UM. So we have a situation Brady,
Speaker 1: and I was sending out tweets about gotta be better,
Speaker 1: We'll be ready to go Sunday with It's not just him,
Speaker 1: it's other players on the team. In the photo, Um,
Speaker 1: I think his frustration is palpable. You see it, You
Speaker 1: see the pressure on and we can't get in his
Speaker 1: head and figure out what else is going on behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. But I think you could connect some dots
Speaker 1: that this has been a very difficult a few months
Speaker 1: for Mr Brady, and think about what this Tampa often
Speaker 1: struggled against Pittsburgh defense without t J. Watt, the reigning
Speaker 1: defensive player of the Year, and without three of its
Speaker 1: starting cornerbacks, and they couldn't get it done. It makes
Speaker 1: me wonder if Pittsburgh has figured out how to get
Speaker 1: pressure without t J. Watt. But also it makes me
Speaker 1: even more concerned about this Bucks team and the fact
Speaker 1: that their old line is having major issues. We knew
Speaker 1: that's been a storyline since training camp. Their rookie guard
Speaker 1: is having major growing pains and that's messing them up.
Speaker 1: With Leonard Fournett in the backfield not having any time
Speaker 1: like he's getting swarmed. I think they'll grind it out.
Speaker 1: And I think because their defense is still very good.
Speaker 1: The defense overall, with the one blip of the Kansas
Speaker 1: City primetime game a couple of weeks ago, has been
Speaker 1: as good as advertised. I think they'll be okay, but
Speaker 1: I think it's a little to a grind and surprising
Speaker 1: also a grind the Niners um and as I said,
Speaker 1: they dropped look further than I would have usually because
Speaker 1: you at a certain point you can't look the other way.
Speaker 1: On how many injuries. Um, they were down to four
Speaker 1: of eleven of their eleven projected starters on their defense
Speaker 1: by the end of the loss of the Falcons. And
Speaker 1: I saw, and I know, uh, Greg Rosenthal on around
Speaker 1: the NFL pointed to Marcus Mario or excuse me, Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo in this offense not being built to play from behind.
Speaker 1: I I see that. But they also had a couple
Speaker 1: of big misses on players that could have put them
Speaker 1: back in the game, on catching run balls, which is
Speaker 1: what they're all about there. The act bros. The real
Speaker 1: thing is this defense, which is you're seeing the cracks
Speaker 1: now because they've simply lost too many key players. That's
Speaker 1: they're they're just way too wounded right now and the
Speaker 1: team is not built to accommodate that whatsoever. None this
Speaker 1: is at the end, like you said, there was only
Speaker 1: four healthy defensive starters to end game. Eleven of twenty
Speaker 1: two starters were missing, like this was. This was a
Speaker 1: mess for them. And when you don't have guys like
Speaker 1: Nick Bosa and Eric Armstead coming in, like you're going
Speaker 1: to give up a season high twenty eight points to
Speaker 1: fon Galanta who hadn't been doing anything offensively. No, they
Speaker 1: looked very competent, the Falcons. Uh. In fact, there a
Speaker 1: team to keep an eye on in a wide open league.
Speaker 1: The Packers, as we talked about the Packers are kind
Speaker 1: of a mess. They're kind of sloppy. Uh. Speaking around
Speaker 1: the NFL, we have a new trope where we tracked
Speaker 1: the teams that when things are going bad, either offensive
Speaker 1: or defensively, go to the media and say, well, it's
Speaker 1: time to simplify things in their play calling or their scheme.
Speaker 1: And it's usually kind of a indirect shot, a transparent
Speaker 1: indirect shot at the coaching staff's ability to lead. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying there's a you know, uprising a foot in
Speaker 1: frustration is real. So keep an eye on what's going
Speaker 1: on with the Packers. They have all the way down
Speaker 1: to fifteen, and they just looked non competitive against Yes,
Speaker 1: the Jets, who I have at fourteen, and I again,
Speaker 1: I try to have some at thirteen. Yes, I try
Speaker 1: to have discipline. Uh with my favorite team one way
Speaker 1: or the other, whether they're really bad or really good.
Speaker 1: Not to be too emotional about it. Uh, but the
Speaker 1: Jets with this young team, and I love the new
Speaker 1: Moniker of the baby Jets, they expect to win. Now
Speaker 1: those winds that seem like Lucky Flukey wins against Cleveland
Speaker 1: and then Pittsburgh, that kind of that was the base.
Speaker 1: And then they blew out the Dolphins in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter in a game that got really tight and you
Speaker 1: could see the switch flip. So by the time they
Speaker 1: got to Green Bay, they expected to win. Sauce Gardner
Speaker 1: expects to win, Breeze Hall expects to go over a
Speaker 1: hundred yards rushing, They expect to get to the quarterback,
Speaker 1: and they destroyed Aaron Rodgers and that offensive line. Quentin
Speaker 1: Williams is playing like an All Pro and leading a
Speaker 1: really strong UH front for front seven. It's it's all
Speaker 1: there Connie for the Jets, while they need Connie because
Speaker 1: I'm again I'm trying to quarter. I need to see
Speaker 1: more from the quarterback. If Zach Wilson matures and develops,
Speaker 1: they could be the Bengals. They really could. But that's
Speaker 1: a big gasque because he's not Joe Burrow right now,
Speaker 1: not even close. But they're they're getting get done. Three
Speaker 1: straight wins and the Packers and Dolphins wins like this
Speaker 1: was they beat them by a combined score of sixty
Speaker 1: seven to seven, like and I just want to say
Speaker 1: a lot of Jets fans in my mentions, they're not
Speaker 1: happy that I haven't picked the Jets. I apologize this
Speaker 1: is not a personal thing, but I think now I
Speaker 1: have to start picking the Jets because I'm starting to
Speaker 1: believe in them. And Sauces is the one that's that's
Speaker 1: making me do it. Like I love the energy, the
Speaker 1: swag of wearing the cheese head, throwing his arms up
Speaker 1: like he's in Rome at the Colosseum. That came after
Speaker 1: Reese Hall jumped into the Lambeau leap after his touchdown
Speaker 1: run that basically sealed the game. That's swag. That's stuff
Speaker 1: that we haven't seen as Jet sans since Bart Scott
Speaker 1: was interviewed by Sal Pal at Foxboro in the two
Speaker 1: thousand ten playoffs and said, can't wait, Like the Jets
Speaker 1: believe look out this is. There were so many aspects
Speaker 1: of their game that shined, Like the running game came
Speaker 1: up huge, as you just mentioned with Breecee Hall. They
Speaker 1: had two rushing touchdowns, the defense was swarming, four total sacks.
Speaker 1: Special teams even got in there with the block punt
Speaker 1: and a field goal like this was. This was a fun,
Speaker 1: fun watch, And I feel like a lot of times
Speaker 1: these teams, you know, people make a little too much
Speaker 1: about like, oh, they have that swag, but honestly, that's
Speaker 1: a lot of times what the sea, especially with a
Speaker 1: young team, and they get the Broncos next, who are
Speaker 1: a disaster on offense and in past protection, and Russ
Speaker 1: isn't seeing the field? Am I gonna lock up the Jets?
Speaker 1: Something around the NFL pock just just my all right,
Speaker 1: let's take a break and hit the back half of
Speaker 1: the thirty two teams of our league. You're right back,
Speaker 1: all right, Welcome back to the power ranking is presented
Speaker 1: by Energized. So let's go through seventeen through the third quadrant.
Speaker 1: Patriots up four spots and looking frisky as seventeen. Falcons
Speaker 1: up four spots, up to eighteen after taking out the
Speaker 1: forty nine. Isn't really out playing them while they did it.
Speaker 1: The Saints down three spots to nineteen, Seahawks up four spots,
Speaker 1: the twenty, the Cults up seven spots to one, the
Speaker 1: Steelers up five after Mitch Drabinsky saved the day. Uh
Speaker 1: to number twenty two, the Dolphins down five to three,
Speaker 1: and the brown goes after another grim prime time performance
Speaker 1: by their offense, clock in down one spot. Uh. Let's
Speaker 1: start here with the Patriots. I am um, I'll take
Speaker 1: a little victory lap on this one. Connie Zappy Fever.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of respect for what Bailey Zappy
Speaker 1: has done here. But there was so much talk entering
Speaker 1: the season about the Patriots losing the plot in terms
Speaker 1: of their philosophy and their understanding of what scheme and
Speaker 1: and continuity and and the idea of installing a new
Speaker 1: offensive game plan without Josh McDaniels. And you know, having Matt,
Speaker 1: Patricia and Joe Judge in the building, what did you like?
Speaker 1: My god? Bill Belichick is doing it all because he
Speaker 1: is the greatest coach of all time. He tied George
Speaker 1: Allis for career wins with a dominating showing against the Browns.
Speaker 1: And yes, Bailey z Appy he gets a ton of
Speaker 1: credit the fourth round pick in place of Mac Jones. Connie.
Speaker 1: Belichick has a huge role in that as well, with
Speaker 1: of course Patricia and Judge. To a certain extent, he's
Speaker 1: playing like a veteran in his third start, like a
Speaker 1: good veteran. Yeah. And you know who didn't go to
Speaker 1: Robert Croft's wedding surprise wedding. It wasn't Bailey Zappy. It
Speaker 1: wasn't Bill Belichick either, because he had to prepare for
Speaker 1: this game, and Zappy was prepared. Kind of fascinating, right,
Speaker 1: Like Buill didn't go, Bill was like I got work,
Speaker 1: Tom went, Buill didn't go. Bill still is with the Patriots.
Speaker 1: Bill didn't go. Yeah, he had he had the Browns
Speaker 1: to prepare for. That's not a great look for I
Speaker 1: know it's not. But the Patriots, Hey, they look good
Speaker 1: and I like the fact that they've they have simplified
Speaker 1: things for Bailey z Appy and it has worked. There's
Speaker 1: like a lot of short throws. You're not hearing any
Speaker 1: of the players saying. It's very different between that eternally
Speaker 1: being the case and players being like, we need to
Speaker 1: simple five. Ucially a quarterback to to Rogers caliber like
Speaker 1: that is no good. So the Patriots, obviously Zappi looked good.
Speaker 1: And then the defense they forced Brissette into three turnovers,
Speaker 1: They limited the Browns rushing offense like that was a
Speaker 1: full effort by them. I mean, are they are the
Speaker 1: Packers better than the Patriots? I don't know. I don't
Speaker 1: really know what imagine. Imagine me telling you that we
Speaker 1: would be having this conversation back in August. No, that's why,
Speaker 1: I don't know why we even have conversations in August.
Speaker 1: I don't know why. Yeah, August exists at this office. Um.
Speaker 1: Speaking of quarterbacks that are surprising us this year, Gino
Speaker 1: Smith and the Seahawks. They come in at number twenty,
Speaker 1: up four spots from twenty four. And yes, I tease
Speaker 1: it with Gino, but what was interesting about the latest
Speaker 1: Seahawks win. It was it wasn't about Gino that that
Speaker 1: that defense actually stepped up. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: that connects Connie to how bad the Cardinals in and
Speaker 1: that horrendous scheme with Cliff King's barry. It's good, but
Speaker 1: credit where credit is due. The Seahawks getting stops In
Speaker 1: quarterback Threek Woolen is a Rookie of the Year candidate.
Speaker 1: Four interceptions in four games, including the clincher uh against
Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown, who got hurt on that play as well.
Speaker 1: He recovered the fumble to Tyreek Woolen like this was
Speaker 1: their rookies first of all are really standing out like
Speaker 1: they had a great draft. But the defense, I've been
Speaker 1: waiting the entire season, the all all five games I've
Speaker 1: been waiting and then games six that showed up. It's like, Connie,
Speaker 1: where are you, like you were supposed to meet me today? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm still waiting for the Seattle Seahawks defense. They haven't
Speaker 1: showed up yet. So um yeah, I was just like
Speaker 1: stranded for a while waiting for them to pick me up.
Speaker 1: And finally he said you'd meet me at the dog Park. No,
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks defense hasn't arrived. It's all their fault. I
Speaker 1: blame them for everything, but they won Seattle. The game
Speaker 1: like that was, they allowed zero touchdowns to the card offense.
Speaker 1: The only touchdown that game was on special teams, like
Speaker 1: they sacked Kyler six times. This was. This was every
Speaker 1: time that Arizona went for it on fourth down, which
Speaker 1: I don't know why they kept doing because like, nope, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm not I'm holding on the
Speaker 1: Seattle uprising on defense and more opinning it on the
Speaker 1: Cardinals stink um right now. Um. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I'm sure Pete slept well. This is the grand plan
Speaker 1: which we were all like, I don't know what the
Speaker 1: Seahawks are doing, and the grand plan in Indianapolis that
Speaker 1: matt Ryan would come and stabilize that offense. And it
Speaker 1: hasn't really been the case until I was waiting, all Dan,
Speaker 1: come on your son, he's it's his graduation. No, no,
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for the Colts offense to hit its stride.
Speaker 1: It did happen on Sunday with a three hundred eighty
Speaker 1: nine yard performance of three touchdowns and forty fifty eight
Speaker 1: passing for Mattie Ice. But the most important thing, I thought,
Speaker 1: fifty eight dropbacks, no sacks against the Jaguars, which says
Speaker 1: a lot about Jacksonville and you know, Trayvon Walker and
Speaker 1: what was supposed to be a better defense. But it
Speaker 1: does tell you that maybe Frank Reich has something starting
Speaker 1: to fall into place for the Cults because it looks
Speaker 1: so bad. I was really starting to worry about Frank
Speaker 1: Reich and I was even and you love yourself from
Speaker 1: some Frank Reich. Yeah, I was thinking to myself after
Speaker 1: the game or before the game on Sunday, all right,
Speaker 1: if they lose this game, like, are we going down
Speaker 1: a path where Frank Reich he's going to get fired
Speaker 1: and then ultimately next season he's going to join Doug
Speaker 1: Peterson in Jacksonville and go to like the enemy. I
Speaker 1: had this whole thing in my head. But what's it
Speaker 1: like inside your head? So busy? There's just so much
Speaker 1: stuff always happening, disorganized up there is something you can do,
Speaker 1: like to Rex, like in general? Is there anything you
Speaker 1: do like the past time? I don't know. It could
Speaker 1: help you just sleeping, I think, but even that's difficult. Um,
Speaker 1: So I have started figure skating again and that works.
Speaker 1: How is it physically awesome? Is your is your body
Speaker 1: able to return to that? It has been so amazing.
Speaker 1: Seems hard. I thought so too, and that's why I
Speaker 1: kind of avoided skating for a while because I was
Speaker 1: worried and afraid to see where I was. And I've
Speaker 1: gone like three times now and I'm almost back to
Speaker 1: exactly where I was. Like, um, I'm working on my
Speaker 1: doubles already. I'm doing like spins all of it. So
Speaker 1: it's great anyway. The cults, yeah, they look great with
Speaker 1: no Jonathan Taylor or Nahem Hines too, so like you know,
Speaker 1: you can always they'll be okay, they'll be in that
Speaker 1: race in December. Uh. Finally it's stuck with the Broncos. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know the thing that was so disappointing, and God,
Speaker 1: all these island games with Denver. It's absurd how many
Speaker 1: times America has been forced to sit down and watch it.
Speaker 1: How much longer will we have to go through this?
Speaker 1: It starts with Russell Wilson completing his first ten passes
Speaker 1: is including that thirty nine yard touchdown pass to Greg
Speaker 1: del Chitz, and it was like, okay, alright, finally, and
Speaker 1: I am not saying this is all at all? Is
Speaker 1: a Russell Wilson, fantasy owner. That's not where any of
Speaker 1: this is coming from. And then snap your fingers and
Speaker 1: I was it. That was another dispiriting, gruesome displayoff offense
Speaker 1: for Russell Wilson, the highly paid trade import and Nathaniel Hackett,
Speaker 1: the head coach who was the quarterback guru under Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: That feels like a long time ago. You want to
Speaker 1: talk about who is a head coach and a ton
Speaker 1: of danger right now? It is Nathaniel Hackett. I know
Speaker 1: it's his first year, but look out with new ownership
Speaker 1: there and this team completely lost. This was another Broncos
Speaker 1: tragedy that we had to watch and it's just becoming
Speaker 1: too much. But it is so weird to see Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson look the way that he does like this is
Speaker 1: I thought this was an m v P caliber quarterback
Speaker 1: who every year we're like, oh, he's never gone an
Speaker 1: m v P vote, And you know, look at all
Speaker 1: the things he can do. He's still in his peak.
Speaker 1: He's still in his prime. He can make things happen.
Speaker 1: He's fourth quarter come back you know, come back king
Speaker 1: all the time. I don't know I was gonna say
Speaker 1: come backing all of the time and then yeah, come back, king,
Speaker 1: I told you there's a lot going on in the brain.
Speaker 1: Um it's Wilson. Everyone wants to put everything on Wilson.
Speaker 1: A lot of it's on Wilson, and you could even
Speaker 1: you know, Troy was calling him out on the ESPN
Speaker 1: crew for missing some reads that he should have made.
Speaker 1: But god, the scheme is really rough to the there's
Speaker 1: just right, you know. Aigman also called out some of
Speaker 1: the routes that were being run is just being subpar.
Speaker 1: And those third downs? How many third downs? Third in
Speaker 1: medium's third and longs where Wilson takes the snap and
Speaker 1: maybe for people that are more like strategically inclined than I, uh,
Speaker 1: you could point out that's on the quarterback too. He
Speaker 1: should have been recognizing certain things. But as soon as
Speaker 1: the ball snapped, there's four guys darting at Wilson and
Speaker 1: the plays over before it starts. It's just a broken offense.
Speaker 1: The defense is great, but the offense is the worst.
Speaker 1: They were They were just blowing up Wilson like play
Speaker 1: after play. And not only that, but they haven't committed
Speaker 1: to the run, so they're not really putting Wilson. They
Speaker 1: don't have anyone, I mean, and Gordon looking so sad
Speaker 1: on the sideline, wishing for a revenge game. Never gotten anyone,
Speaker 1: Williams out for the year, You're you're using Latavius Murray, who,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, is just not an impact player at
Speaker 1: this stage of his career. And yeah, Melvin Gordon didn't
Speaker 1: feel bad for him. He said after the game, it
Speaker 1: really hurt to a kind of be benched and not
Speaker 1: kindo be be benched essentially. And then the bad job
Speaker 1: by the Chargers who were putting them up in the
Speaker 1: screen with that's awful. Let's cleaning up the game day operation.
Speaker 1: They don't like that at all. But also he wasn't
Speaker 1: given any type of heads up either, like at halftime,
Speaker 1: so he was just kind of sitting there waiting for this.
Speaker 1: I hate that for him. The second half and overtime
Speaker 1: for Denver fifteen yards passing, twenty four yards lost on
Speaker 1: sacks alone. Tier four, let's start with the Browns at
Speaker 1: down five spots. They're not very good, the Browns, and
Speaker 1: it's the defense that's the reason why the Cardinals down
Speaker 1: seven to twenty six. A very tough why. There's some
Speaker 1: real tough watches in this group, this whole group is
Speaker 1: just like down. Yeah, the Jaguars down to to Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence got off the mat a little bit there, but
Speaker 1: the defense took a step back. As I said, with
Speaker 1: the Colts, the Lions on the by down two to
Speaker 1: the Bears commit enders, Texans, and Panthers round out the list.
Speaker 1: They don't move at all. The Browns yeah, like I said, um,
Speaker 1: Joe Woods, an events coordinator, could be in trouble here
Speaker 1: because the scheme is not working. They're not getting stops.
Speaker 1: The Patriots with with a third string quarterback. Let's keep
Speaker 1: let's remember that it was Brian Hoyer replacing Mac Jones
Speaker 1: and then Bailey's Appy just shredded them. Uh and they
Speaker 1: they're bad against the run. And then you've got Nick
Speaker 1: Chub getting twelve carries in that game, which just like
Speaker 1: the whole thing, it feels a little off with Cleveland,
Speaker 1: a little off. It's a lot off. The Browns. The
Speaker 1: fact that they are two and four after facing as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, Bailey's Appy, Marcus Mariota, Mitchell Trobiskie, Joe Flacco,
Speaker 1: and Baker Mayfield, Like this is not okay. And when
Speaker 1: you look at their schedule they're getting ready to go
Speaker 1: up against Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow to a Josh Allen
Speaker 1: and Tom Brady. So things are bad now, but they
Speaker 1: could get a lot worse. They could get a lot worse. But,
Speaker 1: like you know the theme that we were talking about
Speaker 1: the beginning of this episode, he also don't know, like
Speaker 1: all these teams are kind of pretty close. Could they
Speaker 1: put it together and make some changes. Maybe they need
Speaker 1: to simplify the playbook on defense and the scheme and
Speaker 1: that could get them better. They still have Nick Chubb,
Speaker 1: who is arguably the best running back in football. Give
Speaker 1: him the rock, don't put Jake Brisket and at a
Speaker 1: place where he could be exposed like he was against
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick, which was his you know something you could
Speaker 1: see coming from a million miles away right behind the Browns.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, let's finished by talking about the Cardinals, who, um,
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're gonna do now. Marky's Hollywood
Speaker 1: Brown As we saw on that interception that that ice
Speaker 1: the game for Seattle, suffers a foot injury that's gonna
Speaker 1: knock him out for multiple weeks. They pivot and trade
Speaker 1: for Robbie Anderson, and I just gotta be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I this is not I don't want to get on
Speaker 1: Robbie Anderson, but I don't know if this is a
Speaker 1: good spot for Robbie Anderson. Who's a guy who's known
Speaker 1: to show his frustration both on the sideline and with
Speaker 1: a coaching staff when the ball is not coming his way,
Speaker 1: and now he's going to an offense where they have
Speaker 1: no idea how to get the ball to their wide receivers.
Speaker 1: He is a streaker. He's a guy that not he
Speaker 1: doesn't get nude and run on the field or maybe
Speaker 1: he has, yeah, but he's a guy who can beat
Speaker 1: you deep, and that's what they need in their offense.
Speaker 1: You have DeAndre Hopkins. He's coming back this week, but
Speaker 1: losing Hollywood is a big thing. He was like the
Speaker 1: only good story on this offense this year. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: they at first feared it was season ending for Hollywood
Speaker 1: and he'll be hopefully he'll be back six weeks. It
Speaker 1: looks like four to six weeks um. And then when
Speaker 1: they have DeAndre Hopkins back, I think that that will
Speaker 1: change things because he's such a game changer. But how much. Honestly,
Speaker 1: at this point, I don't know how much the return
Speaker 1: of DeAndre Hopkins is going to matter if it's going
Speaker 1: to save them that much. Like there's just too much
Speaker 1: wrong with this team and there's not enough talent, I
Speaker 1: think to make a difference. That's well said, Connie, And
Speaker 1: that is a look at the League of thirty two.
Speaker 1: And as I said, check it out on NFL dot
Speaker 1: com slash Power Rankings for the full rundown that I
Speaker 1: put together. Uh, it is the Big three and a
Speaker 1: whole lot of let's see pretty much. That's where we are.
Speaker 1: Thank you for everybody for listening and watching. And remember
Speaker 1: we're here every Tuesday trying to figure this thing out. Cutty,
Speaker 1: come on, we'll be back, maybe with more answers, maybe
Speaker 1: probably more questions. Till next week later. NFL Power Rankings
Speaker 1: as a production of the NFL in partnership with I
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