Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 2: Well it's official.
Speaker 3: You can say goodbye to week number two in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Welcome to NFL Power Rankings. To Mike Hamelong with.
Speaker 2: Eric at home.
Speaker 3: By the way, the rankings they are available on NFL
Speaker 3: dot com. You can scan the QR code to check
Speaker 3: out the entire list. Eric, I guess we can look
Speaker 3: at week two now and say, hey, maybe some of
Speaker 3: those biases that we had coming into the season, we
Speaker 3: can booth those.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm ready to throw most of mine in the trash.
Speaker 4: You can see my preseason rankings. Laugh at them at
Speaker 4: your own desire if you will. So, yeah, we've made
Speaker 4: the adjustments. We've tried to shift and adjust to what
Speaker 4: we've seen in the first two weeks.
Speaker 3: You know, there's one team in particular who we will
Speaker 3: get to in just a couple of minutes here, and
Speaker 3: I'm glad you were paying attention to some of my
Speaker 3: observations because they made a massive jump. But let's get
Speaker 3: through some of the top teams right now. And sitting
Speaker 3: at number one not a huge surprise to Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2: No change there, just in case you're one.
Speaker 3: And I sent a message to our producer Madison when
Speaker 3: I got the updated rankings. I said, hey, Madison, I
Speaker 3: think I'm looking at the old rankings because San Francisco
Speaker 3: is sitting at number two. Apparently I was not. We'll
Speaker 3: talk about the Niners in just a moment.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 3: The Texans sitting at number three, their first two and
Speaker 3: oh starts since twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: The Bills dominated on Thursday Night football. They are four.
Speaker 3: The Lions, they lose a tough one against Tampa Bay.
Speaker 3: They sit at number five. The Eagles tough Monday night loss,
Speaker 3: they dropped two spots to six.
Speaker 2: The Chargers.
Speaker 3: It's Jim Harbaugh. His team is two and zero, Not
Speaker 3: John and the Saints, the whole the big time Risers,
Speaker 3: who we will get to in just a minute, moving
Speaker 3: all the way up to number sixteen.
Speaker 2: All right, break this down for me.
Speaker 3: You'll lose, and yet you're still the number two team
Speaker 3: on your power rankings.
Speaker 2: Make the case for the Niners not changing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, look, I hear what people are
Speaker 4: saying out there, right Deebo Samuel is going to miss time.
Speaker 4: We know CMC's already out, and you know they haven't
Speaker 4: quite looked themselves, especially on Sunday at Minnesota. But they
Speaker 4: lost up there last year, lost to a quarterback who
Speaker 4: has you know, practiced against this defense all year. Still
Speaker 4: a pretty close game. I know that that one turnover
Speaker 4: probably you know, helped make it a little closer than
Speaker 4: it should have been. But still I believe in this
Speaker 4: team long term. I'm willing to kind of invest in them.
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe two's a little high. I was prepared to
Speaker 4: move the Eagles ahead of them a little Monday night
Speaker 4: game got in the way there, So that was a
Speaker 4: little bit of a last minute freak out there where
Speaker 4: I thought, all right, I'll leave them be. I'll put
Speaker 4: them at the number two spot. I'll take the heat
Speaker 4: that comes with it. I still think long term, this
Speaker 4: team's gonna figure it out. They had some issues in
Speaker 4: early October last year. They're having them a little sooner
Speaker 4: this year. Consider me unworried, Mike. I'm sticking with them
Speaker 4: for now.
Speaker 3: Okay, So just macro vision of how you do these rankings,
Speaker 3: it seems like you're still future casting for San Francisco
Speaker 3: squad and it's not necessarily about where they sit right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sorry, but there's gonna be a little bit
Speaker 4: of a weighted system for teams like the Niners, and
Speaker 4: even like the Ravens, who will get to later in
Speaker 4: the show. Who I didn't throw down the rankings twenty
Speaker 4: spots because they're row and two. So if you've built
Speaker 4: up a reputation and you have the same coaching staff
Speaker 4: in the same core in place, and you start slowly,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to throw you in the trash because
Speaker 4: you have a proven track record, and that to me matters. Now, look,
Speaker 4: that's not to say that the Saints or somebody like that,
Speaker 4: you know, can't keep moving up with wins, or the
Speaker 4: Buccaneers or somebody like that. But when there's a team
Speaker 4: that has that record like the Chiefs who almost blew it,
Speaker 4: like the forty nine ers who lost, like the Ravens
Speaker 4: who are row and two, we're gonna give them a
Speaker 4: little bit of a benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 3: In that case, well, I'm glad you bring up the
Speaker 3: Bucks because they score a giant win against the Lions, who.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that watching the film this week has got
Speaker 3: to be a little tough here one touchdown in seven
Speaker 3: trips inside that red zone.
Speaker 2: Hutchinson was terrific with four and a half sacks.
Speaker 3: You know, and once again, I mean, you look at
Speaker 3: these rankings, you make a case maybe the buck should
Speaker 3: be in front of the Lions. That's not how you
Speaker 3: have it, but why the line's just a two spot drop.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Another team that I think from really the midpoint
Speaker 4: of the twenty twenty two season showed that they, you know,
Speaker 4: are one of the better teams, if not one of
Speaker 4: the best. But the first two weeks, let's face it,
Speaker 4: they left points on the board. Jared Goff hasn't been great.
Speaker 4: They let Baker Mayfield get after him early. Defense was
Speaker 4: actually pretty good after a certain point, but they've got
Speaker 4: to find ways to get in the end zone. You know.
Speaker 4: Ben Johnson turns down a head coaching opportunity to return
Speaker 4: to Detroit and get this thing done. Some of it
Speaker 4: is on golf, some of it is on his receivers
Speaker 4: and protection. But right now it's just a little bit
Speaker 4: of a disconnect. And I thought they would finish that
Speaker 4: game off Sunday against Tampa. I just couldn't get it done. Again.
Speaker 4: Another team that I feel like I've kind of bought
Speaker 4: into a little bit in terms of long term investment,
Speaker 4: but short term some stuff to work out, no doubt. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, they got a tough trip now on the road,
Speaker 3: and yes, I said tough trip against the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about the Cardinals.
Speaker 3: One of those teams for Eric that is rising Monday
Speaker 3: night football boyle boy.
Speaker 2: A late game collapse again.
Speaker 3: They've had four of these games over the course of
Speaker 3: the last tool this season and then last season where
Speaker 3: they have a lead with two minutes to go here,
Speaker 3: but yet you only have the Eagles dropping two spots
Speaker 3: to six. It sounds like not too much panic here
Speaker 3: without aj Brown.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the Brown loss for a couple of weeks,
Speaker 4: I think they can manage. They managed it last night, right,
Speaker 4: I mean Siquon Barkley outside of the third Town drop
Speaker 4: had a really good game. DeVante Smith came up with
Speaker 4: some big catches. Dallas Goddard was ignored most of the game,
Speaker 4: and then you know, came up big late. So you know,
Speaker 4: you look at this. Was it a play calling thing, No,
Speaker 4: it was the right call if they had it. Was
Speaker 4: it a drop yeah? Was it a flukey thing? Absolutely?
Speaker 4: I still feel like they probably should have gone for
Speaker 4: it on fourth down and run some more clock off
Speaker 4: or run the ball there and then run it again
Speaker 4: on fourth. The field goal ended up doing nothing. So, yeah,
Speaker 4: this is a team that has found ways to lose
Speaker 4: games that they probably shouldn't and that was an issue
Speaker 4: that you know, kind of plagued me with them all
Speaker 4: you last year. Even if they were you know, ten
Speaker 4: and one at one point, there was still that doubt
Speaker 4: because of games like this. So this one is going
Speaker 4: to be hard to swallow over a ninety nine percent
Speaker 4: chance to win it according to next Gen Stats when
Speaker 4: they had when they lined up for that third down
Speaker 4: place kind of wild to see it happen in front
Speaker 4: of the Lincoln Financial Field crowd, and yeah, it was
Speaker 4: a church quiet after that one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not the only really good team in the
Speaker 3: NFL that has issues closing. The Baltimore Ravens one of
Speaker 3: those squads, and we'll talk about the Ravens coming up
Speaker 3: in just a bit here. Meanwhile, the Chargers, Hello, I
Speaker 3: don't even know if we've seen this team at the
Speaker 3: peak of their powers right now, but the one thing
Speaker 3: that we knew heading into the season it was going
Speaker 3: to look a lot different. It has and it's run
Speaker 3: the football, run the football and run the football.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean Jim Harbaugh basically said on day one
Speaker 4: what he was gonna do, and we all said, well, okay,
Speaker 4: sure he's got justin Herbert. You know, he's got a
Speaker 4: good pass blocking a line. But he's done exactly what
Speaker 4: he said he would do. And you know, the identity
Speaker 4: of this team has completely changed, and all the defensive
Speaker 4: laps is you know, haven't added up the way they
Speaker 4: did last year. Not perfect, but Sunday was an easy
Speaker 4: chair game. You know, they really took control early, made
Speaker 4: life heck for Bryce Young and sort of put it in
Speaker 4: an auto drive a little bit. The competition will raise
Speaker 4: There's no doubt these two games were not their most
Speaker 4: challenging too on the schedule, But I like what I've seen.
Speaker 4: Herbert looks a little bit more comfortable and JK. Dobbins
Speaker 4: is sort of a founder resurgence here. You just hope
Speaker 4: it's gonna last because he's had such an injury plague season.
Speaker 4: But so impressed with the early performance of the defense.
Speaker 4: Love the direction of the team right now, and yeah,
Speaker 4: they're flying high for now. Even if they do have
Speaker 4: some words.
Speaker 3: Yeah you mentioned levin Lock being competition, they will hit
Speaker 3: the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, it is time
Speaker 3: for our future champions and taking a closer look at
Speaker 3: the standings and in the NFC South and the odds
Speaker 3: to win this look the Saints. I'm not surprised that
Speaker 3: they're sitting there at the top. I think there's a
Speaker 3: real case for the Bucks. And don't look now, but
Speaker 3: the Atlanta Falcons with the road win in Philadelphia, I
Speaker 3: think they're in the mix.
Speaker 2: The point is.
Speaker 3: This is a log jam here. I like the Saints
Speaker 3: coming off of Week one. Apparently now you've we had
Speaker 3: room on the train, and I get that, but you
Speaker 3: really like them now. This is a massive jump sixteen
Speaker 3: spots into the top ten at eight.
Speaker 4: Mike, we have set a power rankings record, at least
Speaker 4: under my watch. Right my predecessor, I'm sure has had
Speaker 4: a few that exceeded that, but I could deny it
Speaker 4: no longer. You beat Carolina at home in Week one,
Speaker 4: Bully for you, that's great, good job. You beat Dallas
Speaker 4: in Dallas, a place where they or they'd won sixteen
Speaker 4: straight regular season games, A whole different story. And Mike,
Speaker 4: this wasn't a floky game. Anyone who watched it knows.
Speaker 4: Tom Brady knows. The Saints got after them early. Their
Speaker 4: big play percentage is super high. Their efficiency has been amazing.
Speaker 4: Derek Carr hasn't thrown forty passes, but he's probably the
Speaker 4: league's best passer statistically right now. Look it off. Alvin
Speaker 4: Kamaras Juice is back in his legs. He's got five
Speaker 4: touchdowns this season. So everything has worked perfectly with Clint
Speaker 4: Kubiak's offense. The defense has not been an issue whatsoever.
Speaker 4: And boy Talise fuuaga in that offensive line, what a
Speaker 4: question was coming into the season and what an afterthought
Speaker 4: it is now because they've been paving the way up front,
Speaker 4: really hasn't been a problem. I'm sure they'll hit static
Speaker 4: at some point. But here's a number for you. My
Speaker 4: three teams and history have crossed the ninety point mark
Speaker 4: through two games. The seventy one Cowboys, the two thousand
Speaker 4: and nine Saints, and now this year's Saints. First two
Speaker 4: teams won the Super Bowl. Guess where the Super Bowl
Speaker 4: is this year? New Orleans, baby. So I'm just saying
Speaker 4: it's kind of lining up to where, if it is
Speaker 4: indeed a special season, the final game will be in
Speaker 4: their hometown.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to be asking you to reference
Speaker 3: that stat throughout the course of the season. I'm starting
Speaker 3: to get higher and hire on this Saints team as
Speaker 3: we move closer to really the goblin of the season. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: there's an zero and two team that's still sitting in
Speaker 3: the top ten.
Speaker 2: Find out who that is.
Speaker 3: It's coming up next on NFL Power Rankings. Welcome back
Speaker 3: to NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer. This is a
Speaker 3: look at teams nine through sixteen according to Eric and yes,
Speaker 3: you got a Ravens squad O wing two for the
Speaker 3: first time since twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: They sit at number nine.
Speaker 3: Number ten the Packers, who needs Jordan Love right, Milake
Speaker 3: Willis watched.
Speaker 2: His backfield run. Wild's Number eleven.
Speaker 3: It's the Cowboys, a stunning defeat at home. Meanwhile, the
Speaker 3: Tampa Bay Buccaneers four straight years now they are off
Speaker 3: to a two and h start and they are in
Speaker 3: the twelfth position. At thirteen, it's the New York Jets
Speaker 3: who scored that first win of the year.
Speaker 2: It's on the road against the Titans.
Speaker 3: At fourteen, the Steelers also still perfect on the year
Speaker 3: at two and zero. The Vikings only at fifteen after
Speaker 3: taking out San Francisco, who Eric still has at number two,
Speaker 3: and at sixteen it is the Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow,
Speaker 3: by the way, one and nine in weeks one and.
Speaker 2: Two in his career.
Speaker 3: Just a really odd stat that I was in to
Speaker 3: dig up. All right, Ravens nine zero to two. I'm
Speaker 3: I'm not worried, but I don't like this if I'm
Speaker 3: a Ravens fan.
Speaker 4: Talk to a friend of mine who's a Ravens fan
Speaker 4: in Baltimore the other day and he said, the vibes
Speaker 4: are a little bit ugly right now. And I get why, right.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's not just the oh and two record,
Speaker 4: it's kind of how those games have unfolded. It felt
Speaker 4: like the Ravens had a great opportunity to win both,
Speaker 4: especially Sunday, giving up some plays to Devonte Adams and
Speaker 4: Gardner Minshew, the Ravens slayer. He went in there last
Speaker 4: year and beat them with the Colts did the same
Speaker 4: thing Sunday with a great fourth quarter. But you know,
Speaker 4: you look at eleven penalties, a deflected ball off for
Speaker 4: shod Bateman's hands for a pick. It just felt like
Speaker 4: there were a lot of flukey things that worked against them.
Speaker 4: And I'm like you, I haven't panicked yet. I'm not
Speaker 4: saying to bury this team. I don't think they're dead
Speaker 4: and gone. And just look at the AFC North Mic.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, the Bengals are struggling, the Browns
Speaker 4: are kind of going sideways. It's hard to know exactly
Speaker 4: where these teams sit right now. Steelers look pretty good,
Speaker 4: but what are we rating those wins? So I'm still
Speaker 4: saying the Ravens are the you know, the champs of
Speaker 4: this group until further notice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll get to the Steelers here in just a moment.
Speaker 2: I'm with you.
Speaker 3: The way this division is going to shake out with
Speaker 3: two teams like Cincinnati and Baltimore sitting at owen two,
Speaker 3: this race during the season is going to be an
Speaker 3: absolute juggernaut.
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 3: You know, Eric at eleven, they didn't just lose, they
Speaker 3: got absolutely throttled at home against the Saints team, who,
Speaker 3: by the way, you have the top ten right now.
Speaker 3: But I just I don't know what to make of
Speaker 3: dak in the squad.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, a statement Week one victory followed by
Speaker 4: a dud at home and that's the danger of Week two.
Speaker 4: We sit in this sort of delicate place where team's
Speaker 4: identities haven't been defined, and you know they teams are
Speaker 4: allowed bad games, right, No, they lost to the Arizona
Speaker 4: Cardinals last year I think in what Week three on
Speaker 4: the road, and it was kind of a flukey game
Speaker 4: at least as far as how most of the regular
Speaker 4: season went. So do we chalk that up as this
Speaker 4: or the Saints truly among those elite teams and they
Speaker 4: don't stack up head to head. You couple this with
Speaker 4: the loss of Jordan Love and the Packers and the playoffs.
Speaker 4: That's too straight. They've lost now at home, and so
Speaker 4: have they lost their edge? I don't know, but there's
Speaker 4: something a little off now all of a sudden.
Speaker 3: You know what the worst part is from a Dallas perspective,
Speaker 3: we think they're a good team.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's necessarily a case.
Speaker 3: Right, Like the last couple of seasons here they're beating
Speaker 3: up on the bad teams in the NFL and then
Speaker 3: the good ones they're struggling with. So it's hard to
Speaker 3: really gauge where they should sit. Top half of the
Speaker 3: league makes sense. Eleven, maybe a touch high, especially when
Speaker 3: I look at the Buccaneers one spot behind him, Tampa Bay.
Speaker 3: I think they got better wins. Right, Well, clearly they
Speaker 3: have better wins because the road went against Detroit. Any
Speaker 3: consideration of maybe having Tampa Bay in front.
Speaker 4: Of Dallas, yeah, they were. All these teams were all
Speaker 4: kind of real close. There was this group at the
Speaker 4: top where you know, we had the Chiefs and you
Speaker 4: know a few other teams that you feel like belonged
Speaker 4: in there, and then there was this drop off to
Speaker 4: this next group and that included Tampa Bay. And you know,
Speaker 4: what they did Sunday shouldn't be overlooked at all. It
Speaker 4: was a break game performance by Baker. You see him
Speaker 4: scrambling with his legs. He made some big throws too.
Speaker 4: The offense definitely slowed down in the second half. I
Speaker 4: don't know that Detroit's a fantastic defense, but the point
Speaker 4: is they won the game. They made more plays than
Speaker 4: Detroit did and that's ultimately what matters. They dragged that
Speaker 4: secondary in there and somehow got out alive. But I
Speaker 4: want to see them be a little bit more productive.
Speaker 4: I still don't know if it's a great division. Hard
Speaker 4: to say. It does feel like it's a little better
Speaker 4: than people thought. But give them one more week and
Speaker 4: then and then we'll see if we can crack the
Speaker 4: top eight.
Speaker 3: If they win again, we have Denver, so they got
Speaker 3: a good opportunity to go and do that. They did
Speaker 3: move up four spots, so it's not like he didn't
Speaker 3: love them up, but as sitting at twelve, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think there's an argument they should have been a
Speaker 3: touch higher. Meanwhile, the Steelers they're at fourteen. Okay, they
Speaker 3: got one touchdown, one offensive touchdown so far this team.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to make of this team's offense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't either, and it sounds like Justin Fields
Speaker 4: is going to get another shot this This calf injury
Speaker 4: has been lingering for Russell Wilson. I mean, they have
Speaker 4: two road wins right in a big test coming up
Speaker 4: against the Chargers. I think kind of a measuring stick
Speaker 4: for both of those teams, and you know that'll help
Speaker 4: sort our rankings out the more of these head to
Speaker 4: head matchups between teams in the top half teams in
Speaker 4: the bottom half. And so look, you know, their defense
Speaker 4: has been really good. They've led what eight scoring drives,
Speaker 4: nine scoring drives they've gotten position. It's been a lot
Speaker 4: of field goals, not enough touchdowns. As Fields gets more comfortable,
Speaker 4: though he may not give this job back if he
Speaker 4: keeps playing. I would argue moderately well, not amazingly, but
Speaker 4: fairly well. And you beat a Falcons team at home
Speaker 4: that looked pretty good on Monday night.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a quarterback competition that went to the
Speaker 3: bitter end. I mean to the end of the end
Speaker 3: of the preseason before Mike Tomlin decided to make that announcement,
Speaker 3: and it was supposed to be Russell Wilson but banged
Speaker 3: up right now, Well, Eric, one team whose offense were
Speaker 3: not worried about are the Vikings.
Speaker 2: It's time for power moves.
Speaker 3: As Minnesota moves up five spots to fifteen, they do
Speaker 3: move up five spots for you, Eric, I gotta tell you.
Speaker 2: To love it.
Speaker 3: Just took out the number two team in your rankings,
Speaker 3: in the San Francisco forty nine ers, And I know
Speaker 3: they throttled the Giants in week number one and the
Speaker 3: GM Unfortunately for the fans like myself, they're not a
Speaker 3: great football team. But this squad, this Vikings team, has
Speaker 3: looked really good.
Speaker 4: Yeah. The disrespect tour just keeps rolling on, doesn't it? Right, Mike,
Speaker 4: and I hear people like it. People say, how do
Speaker 4: you not have teams like the Bucks and Vikings in
Speaker 4: your top fifteen, your top twelve, you know, your top ten?
Speaker 4: Keep moving them up the rankings the way they looked,
Speaker 4: and I think that it's fair to point out, but
Speaker 4: Jordan Addison banged up, Justin Jefferson banged up. You know,
Speaker 4: still have a small track record on Sam Donald. As
Speaker 4: strong as he looked and as confident as he looked
Speaker 4: on Sunday. Love what I saw out of Brian Flora's defense.
Speaker 4: Think they had a really good game plan, good execution.
Speaker 4: Still need to see a little bit more. And you know,
Speaker 4: they face a good Houston team. If they beat them
Speaker 4: or stand toe to toe with them next week, I
Speaker 4: think I'll have a lot more evidence to say, yes,
Speaker 4: this team can win with Donald, this coaching staff is excellent,
Speaker 4: and they'll find ways to replace those injured players.
Speaker 3: Well, one of the other dramatic moves and it went
Speaker 3: the wrong way the Cincinnati Bengals. They dropped six spots.
Speaker 3: They're sitting oh into right now on the season. I
Speaker 3: don't know, man, I still think They're a really good
Speaker 3: football team, and if you would have said to me, hey,
Speaker 3: are they a top ten team? You can't make the
Speaker 3: argument based off of the record right now, and you
Speaker 3: certainly didn't. But I mean, I'd put them in that conversation.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a tough loss against Kansas City. They
Speaker 3: should have won that, and if had they done that,
Speaker 3: you would have had them in the top ten, right.
Speaker 4: I'd have moved them up, or probably at least kept
Speaker 4: them the same. Maybe I had them overrated in the
Speaker 4: preseason and maybe had them too high after Week one's loss,
Speaker 4: but you know, you see this team. You at least
Speaker 4: saw the super Bowl potential in that club on Sunday. Yes,
Speaker 4: they lost it with two horrific penalties, but they're the
Speaker 4: ultimate Roarshack test. Do you look back and see the
Speaker 4: history that you said, the one to nine start for Burrow,
Speaker 4: the historic slow starts under Zach Taylor, or do you
Speaker 4: look at the body of evidence that says by the
Speaker 4: end of the season they usually figure it out when
Speaker 4: Burrow's healthy. So that's kind of what I'm betting on.
Speaker 4: I thought they looked like a top half team, and
Speaker 4: like you said, on their best day, I think they're
Speaker 4: absolutely in the top ten.
Speaker 3: You know the worst part about this if you're a
Speaker 3: Bengals fan, you didn't get the win in Week one
Speaker 3: that everyone thought you were going to get against the Patriots,
Speaker 3: and now you're sitting at zero to two. At worst
Speaker 3: case scenario, you thought you were a one to one
Speaker 3: football team and you lose a close one against the
Speaker 3: Super Bowl champs.
Speaker 2: You say, oh, okay, cool, like we're still there.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: There's some questions around this squad in that division, which
Speaker 3: we highlighted already here on Power Rankings.
Speaker 2: It is going to be interesting to watch.
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, they're on the short list of maybe the best
Speaker 3: win of week number two.
Speaker 2: Where's the Atlanta Falcon sid in the rankings?
Speaker 3: The answer to that is coming up next. All right,
Speaker 3: let's hit teams seventeen through twenty four on Eric's rankings.
Speaker 3: Not a huge surprise that the Dolphins drop, but they
Speaker 3: fall eight spots to his injuries certainly looming large. The
Speaker 3: Browns are at eighteen. The defense is still looking good
Speaker 3: at nineteen. The Seahawks they escape with an overtime win
Speaker 3: against the Patriots. They got out rushed one eighty five
Speaker 3: to forty six, and yes, I know Kenneth Walker wasn't playing.
Speaker 3: The Falcons are at twenty, the Bears at twenty one.
Speaker 3: I'm starting to feel bad for Caleb Williams considering the
Speaker 3: amount of hits that he took. The Cardinals Hello easily
Speaker 3: handled the Rams at twenty two. The Jags at twenty three.
Speaker 3: Anthony Richardson can't turn the football over three interceptions and
Speaker 3: they fall to twenty four. All right, the Falcons up
Speaker 3: three spots here. I think there's an argument top three
Speaker 3: win of the weekend, getting it done or not the weekend.
Speaker 2: It was a Monday night game of the week.
Speaker 3: Just because it's a Philadelphia win, and the way that
Speaker 3: they have looked, You're starting to buy this stock a
Speaker 3: little bit.
Speaker 4: Say it's the biggest Falcons win and in a couple
Speaker 4: of years at least. Right, this was exactly what they needed,
Speaker 4: and this is why they went out and got Kirk
Speaker 4: Cussins early in the night. You know, his passes are
Speaker 4: coming up short, losing some steam. Didn't look like his
Speaker 4: legs were into it. Was he even healthy. All the
Speaker 4: Michael Pennix talks started on Twitter, and then this last
Speaker 4: drive Kirk Captain Kirk ran them down the field before
Speaker 4: the Eagles even had a chance to adjust. No pass rush,
Speaker 4: by the way, where was it Philly, I don't know,
Speaker 4: but big plays from the wide receivers. They had to
Speaker 4: get Drake Lonimore involved. All he does is catch the
Speaker 4: game winning touchdown pass, but early on the offensive line,
Speaker 4: the run game, defense all kept him in the game
Speaker 4: and gave them a chance to come back and pull
Speaker 4: off that stunner.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Look, I do Monday Night Football the post game
Speaker 3: on NFL Network.
Speaker 2: When I tell you down the stretch there, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, I think it was six plays, seventy yards and
Speaker 3: a bucko six something along those lines.
Speaker 2: I mean, phenomenal job by Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: This is why they paid that dude to all the
Speaker 3: money that he got this offseason. At twenty two, I'm
Speaker 3: actually happy we get to love up the Arizona Cardinals here.
Speaker 3: They hung tough and we one against the Bills. They
Speaker 3: lost that game, but huge when and they looked like
Speaker 3: a juggernaut offensively against the Rams.
Speaker 4: Kyler Murray is having a terrific start to the season.
Speaker 4: I don't know if everyone's caught on. Maybe if you
Speaker 4: got him on your fantasy club, Maybe if you live
Speaker 4: out in Glendale or that part of the country. But
Speaker 4: let me tell you, he looked fantastic on Sunday. They
Speaker 4: got Marvin Harrison Junior involved right away, right all four catches,
Speaker 4: all one hundred and thirty yards, both touchdowns, all in
Speaker 4: the first nine minutes of the game. So it was
Speaker 4: incredible after his sort of slow debut and a rough
Speaker 4: start to his season. But you know, they have James
Speaker 4: Connor in the run game, they have the tight end
Speaker 4: of McBride. You know, the offensive line was really opening
Speaker 4: holes in the run game. And defensively, Mike, this team
Speaker 4: has taken it on the chin the last year plus.
Speaker 4: But that was Jonathan Gannon's best defensive performance by his
Speaker 4: club Sunday, even if it came against the beat up
Speaker 4: RAMS team. I was very impressed. I love the momentum
Speaker 4: of this team and I can't wait to see where
Speaker 4: they end up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Marvin Harrison putting a smile on every fantasy owner's face,
Speaker 3: because I think there was a little concern coming off
Speaker 3: of Week over one, but in it early, I mean,
Speaker 3: in that first half, he was ridiculous. You mentioned the Rams.
Speaker 3: As we get through the rest of the rankings here
Speaker 3: they check in at twenty five. Look, they're the walking wound.
Speaker 3: Did they drop eleven spots? They get healthy? I'm sure
Speaker 3: we're going to have a different conversation. The Raiders are
Speaker 3: at twenty six. The Patriots. Maybe they're tougher than we think.
Speaker 3: They're the twenty seventh ranked team, The Commanders at twenty eight.
Speaker 3: The Titans. Will Levis continues to cough up the football.
Speaker 3: They're twenty nine at number thirty, the Broncos. Bonnick still
Speaker 3: trying to figure it out. The Giants, oh my god, dude,
Speaker 3: at thirty one, and then the Panthers. A lot of
Speaker 3: changes there. We're not going to talk about the g
Speaker 3: Men at this point.
Speaker 2: The Raiders.
Speaker 3: I think when you win against one of the best
Speaker 3: teams in my mind in the NFL on the road
Speaker 3: in their house, you deserve at least to be talked about.
Speaker 3: The Raiders. That was an impressive win. Down in the
Speaker 3: fourth quarter, it didn't matter. Minsheot just dealing.
Speaker 4: It might be their biggest win of the year. I mean,
Speaker 4: I still have my questions about Gardner Minshew. Is he
Speaker 4: the right guy for this offense. We'll find out. But
Speaker 4: Sunday look great. You know, DeVante Adams is still here
Speaker 4: for a reason too, and they made it the great
Speaker 4: work of him. Week one not so hot, didn't think
Speaker 4: they looked very good. Week two, second half it was
Speaker 4: a different story. So they're in the right direction. But
Speaker 4: for me, six of the eight quarters haven't quite looked right.
Speaker 4: They've looked like a bottom eight team to me more
Speaker 4: than they haven't. But they absolutely came through with a
Speaker 4: huge win. Credit to Antonio Pierson. It wasn't looking great,
Speaker 4: but when you topped the Ravens in Baltimore, you're doing
Speaker 4: something right.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: One other note here, and I know we already talked
Speaker 3: about Baltimore some of the issues defensively. I mean DeVante
Speaker 3: Adams just was tearing them up in week number two
Speaker 3: and we saw some breakdowns and you highlighted it last
Speaker 3: week on the show against Kansas City. Just something to
Speaker 3: track here from a Raiders or excuse me, from a
Speaker 3: Ravens perspective. Panthers, maybe the most significant news. You're a
Speaker 3: number one overall pick and you can't make it into
Speaker 3: past two games into your sophomore season.
Speaker 2: What should we make of this? News?
Speaker 3: On Bryce Young getting bench with Carolina A.
Speaker 4: Massive news story, no question about it, right anytime a
Speaker 4: number one pick gets bench, it's a big story. But
Speaker 4: when it happens this soon in his career, after hiring
Speaker 4: the head coach who was supposedly there to fix him,
Speaker 4: the guy who convinced David Tepper and Dan Morgan I
Speaker 4: have a plan to make Bryce Young better. It hasn't happened.
Speaker 4: It looks worse than last year somehow, And we're not
Speaker 4: putting it all on Bryce, but there's something clearly off
Speaker 4: with him, and you risk losing the locker room. Andy
Speaker 4: Dalton very popular guy, and I think very you know,
Speaker 4: a fishing guy. He can come in and step right in,
Speaker 4: be ready to go. So this may be as much
Speaker 4: about trying to save the locker room as it is
Speaker 4: trying to fix Young or get him back on track,
Speaker 4: because I don't know if he's getting his job back
Speaker 4: anytime soon.
Speaker 3: I don't know how you go back to him. This
Speaker 3: is starting to have like the injury will send him
Speaker 3: type vibes. You're right, maybe it is an injury that
Speaker 3: gets him another opportunity here, but I don't know if
Speaker 3: we see him start in a catline uniform, and if
Speaker 3: that is not the scenario, Heerrik, you're the best man
Speaker 3: your entire rankings. You can die through him all on
Speaker 3: NFL dot com. We will do it again in week
Speaker 3: number three.
Speaker 2: Thanks for watching.
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