Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 2: Well come to NFL Power Rankings.
Speaker 3: It is presented by energizer mikey Ham along with my Guru,
Speaker 3: and you can see his entire list of rankings on
Speaker 3: NFL dot com. Eric at Hoolm is with me and Eric.
Speaker 3: Look Week one officially now in the rearview mirror. Just
Speaker 3: like every other year, we think we know something heading
Speaker 3: into the first set of games, and it turns out
Speaker 3: we really don't.
Speaker 4: I guess I should have paid past attention to Bengals
Speaker 4: Week one performances, right, I had everybody, you know, I
Speaker 4: was just I didn't realize that that was like a
Speaker 4: bye week for them. But yeah, I mean passing yards
Speaker 4: are down, rushing yards. I mean they had some big,
Speaker 4: resurgent running back performances from guys we'd maybe push to
Speaker 4: the side a little bit, and great kicking two unbelievable
Speaker 4: and some fantastic finishes in the first few primetime games.
Speaker 4: Very very exciting and interesting Week one.
Speaker 3: Look, we won't leave with Cincinnati, although I think there's
Speaker 3: an our argument here on power rankings on where they
Speaker 3: are going to sit. I promise We will get to
Speaker 3: that in just a bit, but let's unveil one through it.
Speaker 3: We did see some movement in the top, but not
Speaker 3: necessarily at one and two Kansas City and San Francisco.
Speaker 3: The Chiefs in Week one victorious, as were the Niners
Speaker 3: on Monday Night football.
Speaker 2: So Casey at one, San Francisco at two.
Speaker 3: The Detroit Lions a GOUTTI win in overtime against the Rams,
Speaker 3: Philadelphia team that actually flashed the new offensive toy in
Speaker 3: Saquon Barkley.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was spectacular.
Speaker 3: The Ravens obviously suffered that loss against the Chiefs. They
Speaker 3: fall two spots from those preseason rankings. Now sitting at fifth,
Speaker 3: Houston run game, it's strong. We'll talk about the Texans
Speaker 3: in a moment.
Speaker 2: They're six.
Speaker 3: The Bills got a scare against Arizona, but Eric's got
Speaker 3: him sitting at seven. And then those Dallas Cowboys, Yes,
Speaker 3: Dak got paid, CD got paid.
Speaker 2: And the Cow's Cowboys. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe this nfccas might lec a hohole a lot different
Speaker 3: than we had anticipated. More on that in just a moment,
Speaker 3: but let's start at the top of Kansas City, at
Speaker 3: least on paper. I felt like Kansas City was going
Speaker 3: to be a better team heading into this season than
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 2: I thought they looked absolutely terrific.
Speaker 3: And the one thing that I was confident in, just
Speaker 3: like everyone else, was ever Worthy was going to be
Speaker 3: a stud and change the complexion of this team.
Speaker 2: That's exactly how it played out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, he he's proved positive that you can
Speaker 4: have kind of a gadget player, if you will, at
Speaker 4: least at this stage of his career, who could touch
Speaker 4: the ball, you know, three, four, five, six times in
Speaker 4: a game and have a profound impact. And you know,
Speaker 4: he's sort of exactly what they were missing last year.
Speaker 5: There's a reliability factor.
Speaker 4: I'm sure he'll drop some passes at some point this season,
Speaker 4: but right now he's got Patrick Mahomes trust, at least
Speaker 4: in a limited capacity. And then the growth of Rashi
Speaker 4: Rice as well, kind of you know, bookending that, so
Speaker 4: you know, they don't have to have Travis Kelcey have
Speaker 4: a monster game like he did against the Ravens and
Speaker 4: the playoffs last year to win one of those big contests.
Speaker 5: So I was impressed with the diversity.
Speaker 4: Isaiah Pacheco ran hard in the second half, and that's
Speaker 4: the kind of formula that I think is going to
Speaker 4: be a little smoother offensively and work wonders this year
Speaker 4: compared to last year, which look, they won this Super Bowl,
Speaker 4: but still we know how much of a grind it
Speaker 4: was to get to that point.
Speaker 3: Eric, I think most weeks we will probably be starting
Speaker 3: the show with the Kansas City Chiefs, and I think
Speaker 3: the San Francisco forty nine ers who sit at number
Speaker 3: two will also be in this conversation.
Speaker 2: Who needs Christian McCaffrey, right, I mean whatever.
Speaker 4: Just get Jordan Mason, a guy who had never carried
Speaker 4: the ball more than twenty two times in a game
Speaker 4: since high school.
Speaker 5: Give him six more than that shocked.
Speaker 4: Him when he found out after the game how many
Speaker 4: touches he had and run that same kind of outside
Speaker 4: run off the tackle, tight end gap, the sea gap
Speaker 4: out there, and you know, they kind of simplified things
Speaker 4: and the Jets didn't adjust to it. So credit to
Speaker 4: Kyle Shanahan. I thought his game plan was terrific. You know,
Speaker 4: he caused the Jets to kind of burn some time
Speaker 4: outs there and you know, have some personnel issues getting
Speaker 4: the right people on the field, and yeah, six field goals, right,
Speaker 4: they'd love to convert some of those into touchdowns. But
Speaker 4: when Jake Boody has a career night and you know,
Speaker 4: you score thirty two points and hold the opponent under twenty,
Speaker 4: pretty good formula, right, So Noaan McCaffrey, Trent Williams, Rand
Speaker 4: and I you still kind of gearing up. You know,
Speaker 4: Williams left the game, laid Iuk had kind of a
Speaker 4: quiet game, and there's still this dangerous against the team
Speaker 4: that supposedly has a very good defense. So yeah, beware,
Speaker 4: forty nine ers don't appear to be going anywhere.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he touched on some really important big
Speaker 3: picture points, especially with Brandon Iuk and Trent Williams. Williams
Speaker 3: played really well. I think it was like sixty five
Speaker 3: consecutive snaps, whatever it was. But the point is he
Speaker 3: was even joking. We had the interview on Monday Night
Speaker 3: Football on our post game show on Game Day Final
Speaker 3: with Omar Ruiz and he kind of chuckled and laughed
Speaker 3: about conditioning.
Speaker 2: He's not quite there.
Speaker 3: He's close, but it's the guy that wasn't out there
Speaker 3: for a good stretch of pretty much the entire preseason.
Speaker 3: He did not play, so the San Francisco forty nine
Speaker 3: are still scratching the surface here at number three on
Speaker 3: your list the Detroit Lions, And I think this is
Speaker 3: fitting based off of one and two.
Speaker 2: The Lions deserve this spot.
Speaker 3: That was in my mind, an impressive one and it
Speaker 3: give a lot of credit to the Rams here. But
Speaker 3: I think we learned some things, especially about this team's offense,
Speaker 3: and we've been waiting for James and Williams to sort
Speaker 3: of be the wide receiver that we had anticipated and
Speaker 3: saw when he was in college.
Speaker 2: I think this might be that breakout year for him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there have been a lot of roadblocks for Jamison
Speaker 4: Williams prior to this. We'd seen the flash plays, obviously
Speaker 4: the touchdown against San Francisco in the playoffs, some other
Speaker 4: flash moments even back to his rookie year, but he's
Speaker 4: never been able to put it all together, you know,
Speaker 4: since tearing his ACL some offfield stuff, just some maturity
Speaker 4: and growth said, that's happened, and you hear Dan Campbell
Speaker 4: and the rest of the team talk about him, It's
Speaker 4: clear they have a trust and a belief in him.
Speaker 4: And thank goodness, right I'm in ross. Saint Brown had
Speaker 4: probably one of his worst games as a pro, or
Speaker 4: at least impactful at the very least. And the run game,
Speaker 4: you know, looked okay early but really didn't get going
Speaker 4: until that last drive there in overtime, so you know,
Speaker 4: they didn't have the full offensive picture.
Speaker 5: Sam Laporta took him a while to get him the
Speaker 5: ball as well.
Speaker 4: Jamior Gibbs had a kind of a limited role early
Speaker 4: in the game, So even though the Lions built a lead,
Speaker 4: they did it with kind of limited offense and Williams
Speaker 4: was really their one true threat in that game. Still
Speaker 4: worrying about the secondary, you know, Matt the staffer behind
Speaker 4: a beat up offensive line was picking them apart there
Speaker 4: at the end. Terran Arnold was up against it and
Speaker 4: he left a game briefly at the end. But if
Speaker 4: they could figure that secondary out, you know, and still
Speaker 4: be able to win games like this where they're not
Speaker 4: a plus on offense, I still really like.
Speaker 5: The formula and think they're going to be one of
Speaker 5: the winners this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, they try to address that secondary, and I'm
Speaker 3: glad you pointed it out. It does feel like that
Speaker 3: is still a work in progress. Last year it was
Speaker 3: an issue you mentioned Arnold. They drafted him. It's going
Speaker 3: to be fascinating to see how this plays out from
Speaker 3: Alliance perspective. And by the way, I do want to
Speaker 3: love up the Rams, I promise here on NFL Power Run. Yes,
Speaker 3: we will do that in just a couple of minutes,
Speaker 3: because there's a lot of hat tips that I think
Speaker 3: we can give to Sean mcvay's squad. Meanwhile, it's time
Speaker 3: for Future Champions, presented by FanDuel. This is the odds
Speaker 3: right now in the nfcas Philadelphia, who flexed in such
Speaker 3: a big way and their opener in Brazil with sa
Speaker 3: Kwon Barkley. According to FanDuel, certainly the favorite. The Dallas
Speaker 3: Cowboys not too far behind the Commanders, and we'll save.
Speaker 2: The Giants for the end of the show. And there's
Speaker 2: a good reason for that.
Speaker 3: But look the Eagles, you have them moving up one spot.
Speaker 3: They are fourth right now. I don't know if the
Speaker 3: debut for Saquon Barkley like he dreamed about it before
Speaker 3: this game, he didn't even envision a performance like this.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 4: This was the kind of thing that they sold him
Speaker 4: on in free agency. Look, you know, we haven't been
Speaker 4: associated as a team that has these big feature running backs,
Speaker 4: but they kind of reimagined things. And I'm sure Kellen
Speaker 4: Moore had some input onto that as well, but basically
Speaker 4: just saying, you know, with everybody focusing on DeVante Smith
Speaker 4: and everybody focusing on aj Brown, you and Dallas Goddard
Speaker 4: have a chance to absolutely gut teams. He did it
Speaker 4: with that great wheel route on the outside. He did
Speaker 4: it up the middle with power.
Speaker 5: He did it up the.
Speaker 4: Middle with finesse too, So there was there was a
Speaker 4: great showcase of everything he brings. A healthy Barkley brings
Speaker 4: to an offense. Now, I think internally they would probably say, look,
Speaker 4: this is the guy who's missed at least a handful
Speaker 4: of games every year, in some cases more than half
Speaker 4: a season. So I'm sure they're prepared for lou using
Speaker 4: Barkley at some point. But when they have them, they
Speaker 4: are a different kind of offense, I should say, and
Speaker 4: then you have a breakout on the other side. Was
Speaker 4: Zach Bond too, a guy who Vic Fangio I think
Speaker 4: has kind of weaponized in a new role as an
Speaker 4: off off the ball linebacker. I mean, he led the
Speaker 4: NFL and tackles in Week one, had two sacks, including
Speaker 4: the game clincher there. So you know, two new faces
Speaker 4: along with Fangio and Kellen Moore. That that quartet really
Speaker 4: had a nice debut in Brazil and they're going to
Speaker 4: bring up back home and I can't wait to see
Speaker 4: how it works out this season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they will get to the Atlanta Falcons, who will
Speaker 3: touch on a little bit later here, and not the
Speaker 3: debuting her cousins was hoping for. But the Eagles and
Speaker 3: the Falcons will be playing on Monday Night football.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, at number five.
Speaker 3: The Ravens, you know, in our preseason rankings were not ours,
Speaker 3: yours on.
Speaker 5: Our show last they are all of ours.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I had said this to you.
Speaker 3: I thought the Baltimore Ravens last year are the best
Speaker 3: team in the NFL, and I thought the ranking was deserving,
Speaker 3: But they dropped two spots after this loss against Kansas City.
Speaker 3: I gotta be honest with you, Eric, like there were
Speaker 3: some moments where I'm like, they don't necessarily look like
Speaker 3: the team that I saw last year. You know, some
Speaker 3: breakdowns on defense that were certainly uncharacteristic. As the dominant
Speaker 3: team on that side of the football a year ago.
Speaker 4: We knew they lost some stuff we knew obviously. You know,
Speaker 4: Mike McDonald taking the Seattle job, you elevate Zach Orr,
Speaker 4: who was thirty one when he took over the job,
Speaker 4: one of the youngest coordinators or you know, anyone at
Speaker 4: that level in the NFL with that much responsibility. So
Speaker 4: there was always going to be an adjustment period there.
Speaker 4: But didn't feel like there was a consistent enough rush.
Speaker 4: Didn't feel like the coverage was tight enough, didn't feel
Speaker 4: like the tackling. And you know when you see the
Speaker 4: same slant go to Rashi Rice every single time and
Speaker 4: they don't have an answer for it, you know, you
Speaker 4: get a little concerned. I realized the game essentially came
Speaker 4: down to one toe, right. The Ravens could have won
Speaker 4: this game very easily had one play gone a little
Speaker 4: different than the next play.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: But at the same time, to your point, I just
Speaker 4: kept seeing mistake after mistake, a lot of them self inflicted.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: These aren't physical mistake in a lot of cases, they
Speaker 4: were mental mistakes. And the Ravens just can't have that, right.
Speaker 4: I Mean, they're not kind of built to be this
Speaker 4: huge comeback team. They're built to play from ahead. We
Speaker 4: didn't get to see a ton of Derrick Henry. You know,
Speaker 4: the formula was just sort of thrown out a whack
Speaker 4: a little bit with their own mistakes. And if I
Speaker 4: know John Harbaugh at all, he's going.
Speaker 5: To get this thing fixed. They usually do, and they
Speaker 5: almost always do.
Speaker 4: But that's got to be a primary concern that they
Speaker 4: focused on during this this kind of mini buyas they
Speaker 4: gear up for Week two.
Speaker 3: Look, this is probably the worst that we're going to
Speaker 3: see this team play, and by the way, almost could
Speaker 3: have won it on the road against the Super Bowl champs.
Speaker 2: By the way, two quick things here.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the postgame press conference,
Speaker 3: Patrick mahomes some advice to to likely there, you wear
Speaker 3: the white cleats.
Speaker 2: Please wear the white cleats.
Speaker 5: Smart man, he knows.
Speaker 3: And very quickly here, I just want to get your
Speaker 3: take when when the touchdown looked like it was a touchdown,
Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw horror on the sideline,
Speaker 3: He's like too, they were going to go for the win.
Speaker 2: Here, are you with me? The King was going to
Speaker 2: find a way to get into the end zone. They
Speaker 2: would have won this thing.
Speaker 4: I think they yeah, right, they was going to end
Speaker 4: on the next play, right, that was when the game
Speaker 4: was going to be decided. You saw Harbaugh, he wasn't
Speaker 4: gonna be able to drag his team through overtime or
Speaker 4: one more defensive series. They wanted to go win it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would.
Speaker 3: I wanted to get you in trouble on social media
Speaker 3: by saying that they were definitely going to win. I
Speaker 3: thought they were gonna win.
Speaker 2: Houston Texans.
Speaker 3: They check in at number six here, Eric, two of
Speaker 3: the big pieces on the offensive side that they brought
Speaker 3: in absolutely balled out in this game.
Speaker 2: Diggs and Mixing were terrific.
Speaker 5: They sure were, especially Joe mixed Right.
Speaker 4: I mean, we've obviously seen Stefan Diggs perform at a
Speaker 4: high level, but running backs in general tend to wear
Speaker 4: down at his age, and you know, we'd seen the
Speaker 4: kind of gradual decline. There was a reason why Cincinnati
Speaker 4: was ready to move on from him despite having no
Speaker 4: obvious replacement for him. So yeah, I mean, I felt
Speaker 4: he looked great.
Speaker 5: Maybe it was the scheme. Maybe it was the fact
Speaker 5: that obviously c J.
Speaker 4: Strouds a quarterback and he's got you know, tankdll, Nico Collins,
Speaker 4: Stefan Diggs and all the others, and it just looked
Speaker 4: the way that Mixon did in his first few season
Speaker 4: the league as a slasher, as a downhill runner, but
Speaker 4: somebody with a little juice. That was the most spring
Speaker 4: I'd seen in his step in a while. And yeah,
Speaker 4: they had to fight through it defensively a little bit.
Speaker 4: Those Colts had some big plays. You know, they didn't
Speaker 4: run many, but their big play percentage was extremely high.
Speaker 4: So that's still an issue as they headed into a
Speaker 4: big game against.
Speaker 5: Chicago week two.
Speaker 4: That look, I know they weren't great offensively, but this
Speaker 4: will be a good test for this defense to face
Speaker 4: an athletic quarterback and some quality receivers because Week.
Speaker 5: One, you know, they didn't have a ton of answers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's actually more of a testament to
Speaker 3: what the Colts are going to be this year on
Speaker 3: the offensive with a healthy Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 2: All Right, more to come here.
Speaker 3: On NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer, we touched on
Speaker 3: Cincinnati at the top of the show. How much of
Speaker 3: a free frawl was there in the rankings After losing
Speaker 3: a game that quite honestly, no one thought they would
Speaker 3: lose against the New England Patriots.
Speaker 2: That's coming up next.
Speaker 3: Back here on NFL Power Rankings presented by Energy, Eric's
Speaker 3: rankings nine through sixteen.
Speaker 2: The Miami Dolphins sitting at nine.
Speaker 3: Tyreek Hill was obviously the story before the game, during
Speaker 3: the game, and then after the game. Cincinnati, they fall
Speaker 3: to tenth. More on them in just a minute. Eleventh
Speaker 3: is Green Bay not going to see Jordan Love now
Speaker 3: for a bit? Twelfth the Chargers.
Speaker 2: JK.
Speaker 3: Dobbins certainly balled out in this one. The Jets coming
Speaker 3: off of a loss on Monday Night Football. They are
Speaker 3: sitting at thirteen. The Rams, a tough loss in overtime
Speaker 3: they against the Lions are fourteenth, the.
Speaker 2: Bears at fifteenth.
Speaker 3: Kayleb Williams tough stats, but he does get that w
Speaker 3: and sitting at sixteen the Tampa Bay Bucks. I feel like, Eric,
Speaker 3: you were being kind to Cincinnati with the tenth ranking.
Speaker 4: Part of it was being kind, part of it was
Speaker 4: protecting my Super Bowl pick.
Speaker 5: I'm not afraid to admit it.
Speaker 4: Like I looked, I look a little silly right now
Speaker 4: putting the Bengals in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: But hey, that was two weeks ago.
Speaker 4: Man. A million things have happened since then. But hard
Speaker 4: not to look at that game against the Patriots. Now, granted,
Speaker 4: our opinion of the Patriots has formed from the last
Speaker 4: couple of years, but.
Speaker 5: Hard not to look at it and think what happened?
Speaker 4: Right, But you do look back at recent week one
Speaker 4: history with Cincinnati and they've had some clunkers.
Speaker 5: Last year was ugly.
Speaker 4: Burrow was terrible against the Steelers, lost to Mitch Schrubisky
Speaker 4: two years ago. So look, they ended up in the
Speaker 4: AAFC Championship Game two years ago that season. I'm okay
Speaker 4: with that, but still the product is what it is.
Speaker 5: It did not look good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, sitting at number twelve here the Chargers and by
Speaker 3: the way, Eric, this just looked like a very different
Speaker 3: Chargers team on offense, dramatically different than what we've seen
Speaker 3: the last few seasons.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a couple bus on defense, riding coverage. They're still
Speaker 4: tightening that up. And they had the one long game
Speaker 4: from Madison. They gave up, but hard fought, they were
Speaker 4: getting after it. There was population of the ball on
Speaker 4: that side of the ball, slow start on offense, but
Speaker 4: when JK. Dobbins ripped off those two big runs, it
Speaker 4: was the perfect formula for a hardball win twenty two
Speaker 4: to ten, Ugly, tough. There was a fight at the end.
Speaker 4: You know that was a spur of the moment thing.
Speaker 4: But still I think it looked vastly different from what
Speaker 4: we saw Brandon Staley's team a year ago.
Speaker 5: I think they're legit. Maybe I had him too high,
Speaker 5: but I believe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think most of us are starting to believe
Speaker 3: because this was the philosophy that we expected, strong upfront run.
Speaker 3: The football just gonna look a whole lot different with
Speaker 3: some of those weapons on the outside or lack thereof
Speaker 3: perceive weapons. For Justin Herbert at thirteen the Jets, there
Speaker 3: were moments in the first half, Eric where I felt like, hey,
Speaker 3: Aaron Rodgers looks pretty good. Converted on a bunch of
Speaker 3: third downs, third and long situations to Garrett Wilson. They
Speaker 3: just didn't have the ball mutch most of this game
Speaker 3: and really couldn't make a run.
Speaker 4: Got it off to a tough start. Those first two
Speaker 4: series went badly. Then we saw that third drive when
Speaker 4: Rogers and breist Hall and everybody else. Wilson was looking terrific.
Speaker 4: We saw the magic late the old school, get the
Speaker 4: guy to jump off sides, and it was Leonard Floyd,
Speaker 4: the guy who injured his achilles. So it was a
Speaker 4: cool moment for Rogers there he's still got it. But
Speaker 4: what about that Jets defense, Mike, I mean, this was
Speaker 4: supposed to be a top ten unit. I know there
Speaker 4: were a handful of games where they had clunkers last year,
Speaker 4: but for the most part, they were good on that
Speaker 4: of the ball. They did give a bad offense a
Speaker 4: chance to at least try to win games. That was
Speaker 4: not the case. They could not adjust the same run
Speaker 4: play over and over. The coverage, the mistakes, the penalties,
Speaker 4: the substitutionaires, it was all there. It really let me
Speaker 4: down and it kind of spoiled Aaron's re entry into
Speaker 4: the NFL.
Speaker 5: So we'll see if they can regroup. But that was
Speaker 5: a tough one.
Speaker 3: Robert Solif fired up in the press conference. I was
Speaker 3: watching that presser when it was done. He said, the
Speaker 3: team will be better. Got to imagine, especially on that side.
Speaker 3: For the talent that's on the defense, the arrow skill
Speaker 3: is pointing up. They got to figure out how to
Speaker 3: correct some of those mistakes.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, there's some teams that are making some moves.
Speaker 3: It's time for power moves presented by energizer up four spots.
Speaker 3: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield. This dude is
Speaker 3: just tough Eric when he's out there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you look at it at last year
Speaker 4: and even though you know Dave Canalys is now in Carolina,
Speaker 4: the Bucks said we saw enough of Baker to bring
Speaker 4: him back, give him the big money, and he you know,
Speaker 4: he rewarded him in week one with a strong performance.
Speaker 4: Mike Evans too touchdowns, Jalen McMillan jumping in, Chris Godwin
Speaker 4: looked really comfortable and explosive in the slot.
Speaker 5: So those guys were all locked in.
Speaker 4: Granted, some of it, you know, has to be put
Speaker 4: on Washington's defense, which is not where it needs to
Speaker 4: be right now, probably a bottom five unit. But I
Speaker 4: love their cohesion and I just worry a little bit
Speaker 4: about their defense they head into this top Detroit game.
Speaker 5: That's gonna be the biggest thing.
Speaker 4: Is the secondary healthy enough to handle Jamison Williams and
Speaker 4: I'm and Ross Saint Brown are all those guys, because
Speaker 4: you know, this is the type of game next week
Speaker 4: that they're going to have to really test themselves again.
Speaker 5: But week one did look really good.
Speaker 3: I don't expect to see Ajoine Winfield out there, and
Speaker 3: that's part of the issue that you are describing.
Speaker 2: Eric.
Speaker 3: There's more to come here, my New York Giants making
Speaker 3: Sam Donal look like the second coming of Dante Culpepper.
Speaker 3: More on both of those teams still to come here
Speaker 3: on NFL power rankings. Beck here on power rankings presented
Speaker 3: by Energizer. Eric's rankings. I think seventeen through twenty four.
Speaker 3: The Steelers win with the whole out of field goals,
Speaker 3: they're seventeenth. The Browns are eighteenth. Not sure what to
Speaker 3: make of Deshaun Watson, which we'll get to in just
Speaker 3: the moment. At the nineteenth spot, it's the Jags, twentieth,
Speaker 3: the Vikings, Sam Darnold ridiculously hot in that game, twenty
Speaker 3: first ranked team, the Seahawks secondary looking dangerous, The Colts
Speaker 3: with Anthony Richardson that dude's flashing a canon. They sit
Speaker 3: at twenty two. The Atlanta Falcons not the debut Kirk
Speaker 3: Cousins or he morrise we're hoping for at twenty three.
Speaker 3: Interesting to note the Saints right behind them at twenty four.
Speaker 3: Let's by the way, ar I got to push back
Speaker 3: on that in just a couple of moments here at
Speaker 3: eighteen though the Browns. I honestly, I'm actually worried for
Speaker 3: this team because Deshaun Watson just he doesn't look right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he doesn't.
Speaker 4: And it's easy to just say it's Watson's fault and
Speaker 4: you know, and clap your hands and everything's good, right. No,
Speaker 4: this offensive line is a mess right now. The run
Speaker 4: game is a mess. It doesn't look like they know
Speaker 4: what they want to do play calling wise, and you're
Speaker 4: not going to face the front like Dallas's every week.
Speaker 4: But you know, even my worst fears of what they
Speaker 4: might have to do coming into this game or what
Speaker 4: might happen in this game, you know, Dallas just pursued
Speaker 4: and got after.
Speaker 5: Time and time again.
Speaker 4: The Browns shot themselves in the foot with penalties. They
Speaker 4: gave up a long punt return for touchdown too, So
Speaker 4: it was just every way they could have defeated themselves.
Speaker 4: But you're absolutely right, we can't brush this Watson thing
Speaker 4: under the carpet. He doesn't look right. There's a new
Speaker 4: charges against him as well. What's the dynamic in the
Speaker 4: locker room. There was a tense moment with Joel Betonio
Speaker 4: on the field, So, you know, is the chemistry that
Speaker 4: drove them to such a great season last year there.
Speaker 4: Now are they able to overcome this at all? I
Speaker 4: just don't know. I mean, eighteen seems high at this point,
Speaker 4: but I want to pay homage a little bit to
Speaker 4: what they have on the roster, what they did last season.
Speaker 4: So it's a delicate balance here.
Speaker 2: I'm with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: I think based off of this week, we'll figure out
Speaker 3: maybe get a better sense of clarity around this squad. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: at twenty it's the Minnesota Vikings who just dismantled the Giants.
Speaker 3: Turn that Sam Donald pretty good.
Speaker 5: He's a talented quarterback.
Speaker 4: I've always said this, right you look at him in
Speaker 4: his Carolina opener a few years ago. He played great
Speaker 4: against his old team, the Jets. This time he gets
Speaker 4: to do it on his old stadium field against a
Speaker 4: different team. But yeah, I mean after that first stuff,
Speaker 4: you know, three and out, I thought he looked absolutely great.
Speaker 4: You know, didn't even need to get the ball to
Speaker 4: Justin Jefferson. Aaron Jones really had a strong third quarter
Speaker 4: score the early touchdown to get them on the board,
Speaker 4: and the defense got pressure from from so many different sources.
Speaker 5: This Brian Flores group is going to be fun to
Speaker 5: watch this year if they have the coverage.
Speaker 4: So yeah, really all of a sudden an interesting team,
Speaker 4: especially with Jordan Love. You know, the NFC North race,
Speaker 4: I think it's changed a little bit. Caleb Williams Vikings
Speaker 4: are here. They're ready to compete.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm with you there and actually wanting very curious
Speaker 3: to see how this thing unfolded. Sam Donald if he's
Speaker 3: able to stay healthy, and Aaron Jones also looking pretty good.
Speaker 3: The Atlanta Falcons a week ago, I told you I
Speaker 3: was high on the squad. They did not look good
Speaker 3: candidly kind of across the board here.
Speaker 5: I mean outside of the pistol formation stuff.
Speaker 4: If I, you know, sort of shook your head up
Speaker 4: and blindfolded you and I took it off and said,
Speaker 4: does this look like twenty three Falcons or twenty twenty four,
Speaker 4: you wouldn't know the difference. It was virtually the same.
Speaker 4: They didn't get the ball to their playmakers. That was
Speaker 4: the biggest issue last year. Only six pass from Kirk
Speaker 4: Cousins went to Drake London Kyle Pitts, the two big
Speaker 4: guys who have to be the weapons there, and you know,
Speaker 4: Bjon Robinson had a lot of touches, didn't do a
Speaker 4: lot with him.
Speaker 5: That offensive line also got worked over. So yeah, it
Speaker 5: was just a frustrating day. They saved.
Speaker 4: Everything's fine. They're gonna knock the rust off a Kirk
Speaker 4: and he'll be okay. But early results weren't that great.
Speaker 3: You know what worries me if they lose again on
Speaker 3: Monday Night football, At what point do we start hearing
Speaker 3: more of the buzz around Michael Pennix.
Speaker 2: I'm just throwing that out there. Wow, amazing, Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: gonna be a real deal.
Speaker 3: I was down there for in Atlanta for inside training camp,
Speaker 3: and people are already talking about how.
Speaker 2: Good Pennix has looked in practice.
Speaker 3: Yes, meanwhile, at twenty four, I get why the Saints
Speaker 3: are only twenty four. Was Carolina they beat up on,
Speaker 3: But I gotta be honest, they look better than the Falcons.
Speaker 3: I would have switched flip flopped them.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's a fair argument.
Speaker 4: I think this is sort of covering my butt a
Speaker 4: little bit in the sense that I had him too
Speaker 4: low to start the season. I took my apologies in
Speaker 4: my Power Rankings column this week.
Speaker 5: I said, look, you can give it to me. I
Speaker 5: deserve it.
Speaker 4: But the offense, Clint Kubiak, Derek Karr, Rashid Shihed, all
Speaker 4: those big play weapons, they made it sing even against
Speaker 4: the team in Carolina that looked absolutely awful. So give
Speaker 4: them their flowers. I'm still kind of hesitant, but let's
Speaker 4: see what the big picture looks like. Maybe this is
Speaker 4: one of our surprise teams this year. Every year we
Speaker 4: have a handful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's a real opportunity here.
Speaker 3: I was talking to David Carr, one of our colleagues
Speaker 3: and NFL Network, and he just threw his brother, Derek
Speaker 3: has raved about Clint Kubiak, their offensive coordinating.
Speaker 2: How those two guys are really on the same page.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, the rest of the group twenty five through thirty two.
Speaker 2: As we go through Eric's.
Speaker 3: Rankings, Arizona found a way to lose and they sit
Speaker 3: twenty fifth. But I think there's some often around this
Speaker 3: team that you can pull from the Titans collapse.
Speaker 2: They are twenty six.
Speaker 3: The Patriots twenty seven, who thought they weren't supposed to win.
Speaker 2: They do move up four spots according to Eric. Twenty eighth.
Speaker 3: The Denver Broncos Bonick still work in progress. Twenty ninth,
Speaker 3: the Commanders thirtieth, the Vegas thirty first, the g Men,
Speaker 3: and at thirty two Carolina. That those two teams, they
Speaker 3: just they didn't look good.
Speaker 2: A standout for you for the rest of the group.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean not too many standouts in this girl.
Speaker 4: You mentioned the Patriots. I think he got to give
Speaker 4: Jared Mayo his credit, right, all to talk about seceeding
Speaker 4: Bill Belichick and not having you know, Drake may ready
Speaker 4: for week one and all that, what was this team
Speaker 4: going to look like? They went out and touched the Bengals.
Speaker 5: In the mouth. They beat him.
Speaker 4: It was sixteen to ten, but it felt like a
Speaker 4: dominant win. That's impressive. And they had this team in
Speaker 4: full pads in practice all in camp. That's what got
Speaker 4: them ready for week one? Can it last?
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, by the way, thank you for not not double
Speaker 3: downing on me on the on the Giants taking a
Speaker 3: lot of heat.
Speaker 5: Taking it easy on you this week, you know, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, that's my squad.
Speaker 3: Look, the Saquon thing was bad enough, and then to
Speaker 3: see that performance, Oh, my lord, Eric and the best mapp.
Speaker 2: We'll do it again next week later.
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