Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to Power Rankings, presented
Speaker 1: by energizers from the Chris Westling podcast studio. I'm Dan
Speaker 1: Hands is joined by Colleen. Hello friend, Hey, bud A.
Speaker 1: How are you That theme song? This is We've been
Speaker 1: doing the show now for about two months. Um, and
Speaker 1: it's I don't know, it's a little heavy handed for
Speaker 1: what we're trying to accomplish. He was very aggressive in
Speaker 1: earnest is it? Do you agree we're in the same
Speaker 1: big Hey, Shawnny Kelly? Um, I gave you. That's Sean Kelly,
Speaker 1: our audio producer. What's up? How are you? How are
Speaker 1: we doing? We're in a phillist. I gave you an
Speaker 1: important job. We want better theme music for the show.
Speaker 1: So um, I left it up to your discretion. So
Speaker 1: you will get buried if these are bad. But let's
Speaker 1: hear a couple of options as placement themes for the
Speaker 1: Power Alright, well here is one. Let's get this going.
Speaker 1: What little little trap here right off the top? Thing?
Speaker 1: It was unexpected. I thought that we were going into
Speaker 1: like a jaunty space odyssey, and then we got a
Speaker 1: little beat dropped on us. That was fun. Alright, I'm
Speaker 1: going to give that personally about a six out of
Speaker 1: six and a half out of ten? Is that where
Speaker 1: you come down? An, Let's go to another one. All right,
Speaker 1: let's try this one. This is absurd. This is like
Speaker 1: not like Michael Jackson dangerous here, it's like Corey Feldman's band.
Speaker 1: We're gonna lose this one. Well, you know, they're not
Speaker 1: all dubs. It feels like some weird futuristic bar cocktail
Speaker 1: lounge music. Okay, goes hard, kind of goes hard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is not bad. Yeah, I feel like I might
Speaker 1: like the first one, still better than guy, but this
Speaker 1: is I guess second. All right, give me one more.
Speaker 1: I kind of love this is more techno. We're yeah?
Speaker 1: Is this the new theme song of podcast? I think
Speaker 1: it might have to be? All right, Okay, let's we're
Speaker 1: gonna try. We're gonna roll with this one next week
Speaker 1: for I have locked it in. Thank you for that,
Speaker 1: Sean Um and go Phillies. Not because I like or
Speaker 1: care about the Phillies. I hate the astrois exactly, and
Speaker 1: so now the Phillies have to be America's team. But
Speaker 1: we're talking about the NFL, the National Football League and
Speaker 1: the power rankings which you check down on NFL dot com.
Speaker 1: And we're going to talk about it right here. Let's
Speaker 1: start with the first quadrants. And now that we have
Speaker 1: the theme music, hit me with the bad hit me
Speaker 1: to that theme. Underneath all we talk about this. The
Speaker 1: top eight, we have the Bills, the Eagles, the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys play at John Kelly, want to hear it there?
Speaker 1: It is all this all the same in fact that
Speaker 1: the Bills, Eagles, and Chiefs have been one, two, and
Speaker 1: three in that order for four straight weeks. Now then
Speaker 1: it changes change in the back half. The Niners up
Speaker 1: seven spots after Christian McCaffrey has a historic game um
Speaker 1: to number five. You have the Vikings up one spot
Speaker 1: with only one loss at number six, the Ravens up
Speaker 1: one to seven and just traded for a big time
Speaker 1: playing Roquan Smith, and the Titles up one spot to eight.
Speaker 1: They have not lost in a long time. Where do
Speaker 1: you want to start here, Connie? Okay, so I do
Speaker 1: I love that there is some consistency now with the
Speaker 1: top three, definitely the top four, but I feel like
Speaker 1: five is sort of where it starts. To get a
Speaker 1: little tricky and to have the Viking or the Niners
Speaker 1: make such a huge jump. I agree with you. I mean,
Speaker 1: seven spots up. They look so good with Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: and hopefully when Debo is back, the two of them
Speaker 1: together like really on lock the offense. But I kind
Speaker 1: of where I have a little bit of a difference
Speaker 1: of opinion is at six with the Vikings because I'm
Speaker 1: just still not totally sure who they are, what they are,
Speaker 1: if they are great, because it's just it seems so hard.
Speaker 1: It's always stressful all of these games. It's never easy,
Speaker 1: any of these wins. They had to hold on again
Speaker 1: to beat the Cardinals, and the Vikings are definitely gonna
Speaker 1: win this division, and I think they're going to end
Speaker 1: up with a high seed in the NFC. But I
Speaker 1: just I think right now that I would probably put
Speaker 1: the Vikings ahead. Are the Ravens ahead of them? So
Speaker 1: on November one, Connie, we're going to say that the
Speaker 1: Vikings will definitely win the NFC North. So we're that
Speaker 1: out on the Packers. And I'm not saying even disagree,
Speaker 1: but isn't that kind of crazy? But it is, the
Speaker 1: fact is they really have opened up a huge lead
Speaker 1: in that division. And yes, I'm with you. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can all right. If you're a Packers fan, you're like,
Speaker 1: whoa what I mean, a Vikings fan, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: Pump the brakes. We are six and one. Why are
Speaker 1: we seventh and not moving? It's because, you know, I
Speaker 1: give you credit, you're taking care of business. But I
Speaker 1: also I am like, not a fan of that Cardinals
Speaker 1: team on any level. And you watch that game in
Speaker 1: Minneapolis on Sunday, and I counted and wrote about this
Speaker 1: in the Power rankings, five separate situations where the Cardinals
Speaker 1: just shot themselves in the foot with sloppy play. That
Speaker 1: game is there for the taking. So you credit the
Speaker 1: Vikings for finding ways to win. That was the opposite
Speaker 1: of what they were last year. And you know, let's
Speaker 1: cycle back tots, which, by the waywer move by energize, energized,
Speaker 1: er up seven spots. They've been kind of a tough one,
Speaker 1: um Connie to figure out this season. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've talked about this. I don't like moving up teams
Speaker 1: like at this level seven spots or in that range
Speaker 1: this late in the season, but I kind of struggle
Speaker 1: with finding where to place them. But watching what they did,
Speaker 1: the way they kind of beat down on the Rams
Speaker 1: at Levi's South as I call the stadium across the sidewalk,
Speaker 1: that was that was a show of power and again
Speaker 1: a team without Deebo Samuel dominating the Rams. I know
Speaker 1: the Seahawks are ahead in the division, but this is
Speaker 1: my pick to come out of the West on top.
Speaker 1: I just love how they look on offense with Christian
Speaker 1: McCaffrey and he clearly went wild in this game with
Speaker 1: the hat trick. But the fact that they don't have
Speaker 1: Debo out there and they still are able to look
Speaker 1: this way. Brandon au Keep really stepped up in this
Speaker 1: game and a touchdown, and then George Kittle, He's not
Speaker 1: gonna show up in the stat sheet, but like he
Speaker 1: threw some incredible blocks for Christian McCaffrey to make this work.
Speaker 1: So their schedule when I just look ahead, obviously they're
Speaker 1: on the by now, but they don't have an extremely
Speaker 1: tough opponent, Like it's pretty manageable, and they're going to
Speaker 1: get key players back from injury, especially on defense. So
Speaker 1: they're three and oh in the division, and I just
Speaker 1: think they're set up really well right now. I agree
Speaker 1: with you. And there is the Jimmy G side of things,
Speaker 1: like do I trust Jimmy G. Not entirely, but I
Speaker 1: do trust if Christian McCaffrey could stay healthy, this is
Speaker 1: not going to well. He's not gonna score three touchdowns
Speaker 1: in three different ways every week. But this is going
Speaker 1: to be yet another layer to this offense that's gonna
Speaker 1: be hell for the opposition because you could you could
Speaker 1: get after Garoppolo for a lot of things, but if
Speaker 1: you give him protection and put him in a positive scheme,
Speaker 1: he will find ways to move the ball on offense.
Speaker 1: And they just have so many options. It's like, it's
Speaker 1: crazy to me. It was a little crazy at the time, Connie,
Speaker 1: when the trade went down for CMC, people getting on it,
Speaker 1: and a lot of that goes back to analytics and
Speaker 1: studies of the running back position. Are you no, no,
Speaker 1: I want to do that, don't do it? Don't do it? Um,
Speaker 1: But it's crazy to me, like how much pushback there
Speaker 1: was just because people wanted to say, hey, you don't
Speaker 1: value running backs. He's not just any other running back.
Speaker 1: He is when healthy. Uh, and at his best one
Speaker 1: of the most dynamic running backs to the last like
Speaker 1: ten fifteen years. That's the type of guy you do
Speaker 1: give up extra assets for. And you saw in that
Speaker 1: game how it could pay off. Yeah, and it also
Speaker 1: seems like an indictment on the Panthers for not utilizing
Speaker 1: him the way that they should and they don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of the pieces to make it work. But
Speaker 1: this is a perfect landing spot for him. Just imagine
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey going from the Panthers to the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: like in California on a good team. And Dan, don't
Speaker 1: forget that at the beginning of the season you had
Speaker 1: the Niners what number three, So this is not too
Speaker 1: far off from that. I mean, it's a whole different
Speaker 1: world because a lot of that was based around Trey Lance,
Speaker 1: of course, and that quickly disappeared. But yeah, it made
Speaker 1: sense also, by the way for the Panthers to do
Speaker 1: what they did, because you could be great running back.
Speaker 1: If you're on the team with nothing around it, you
Speaker 1: might as well move move your guy, and they did.
Speaker 1: Now you said the Ravens at I have them at
Speaker 1: seven first flitting hairs. At this point you have an
Speaker 1: issue with them not being ahead of the Vikings. I
Speaker 1: and maybe this is just because I was so locked
Speaker 1: in on Thursday watching them on TNF, But sure, if
Speaker 1: I was just watching the first half of that game
Speaker 1: against Tampa Bay, I'd be like, I don't I don't
Speaker 1: know what the Ravens are doing. Why are they passing
Speaker 1: the ball? Why are they not even trying to run
Speaker 1: the ball. It was so weird. Lamar Jackson had career
Speaker 1: highs in completions and past attempts in the first half.
Speaker 1: It was just all so out of character. But then
Speaker 1: they went back to what they do well, like just
Speaker 1: don't overthink it at all, and it just worked so well.
Speaker 1: You had everybody kind of got a hand in the
Speaker 1: running game, even wide receiver Devon Duvernet, Justice Hill, I mean,
Speaker 1: Kenyan Drake. This was I think a really good game
Speaker 1: for them in coming back, showing how how they're really
Speaker 1: they're built to succeed and how they can't succeed, and
Speaker 1: then they traded for roal quand two plus time is
Speaker 1: on their side. I just think that they should be
Speaker 1: trending up because the schedule really breaks right for the
Speaker 1: injuries that they have right now with Mark Andrews, which
Speaker 1: is not supposed to be serious. But Mark Andrews and
Speaker 1: Rashad Bateman apparently they're not serious. That's what Harriball said.
Speaker 1: But their next game, I mean, they got Monday Night
Speaker 1: football after Thursday Night football last week and then they
Speaker 1: have a buy so it's one game in like twenty
Speaker 1: three days. Sets up well. I mean, I cycling back
Speaker 1: real quick. Before we moved to the second quadrant. You
Speaker 1: got an issue with me not having the Eagles number one. Listen,
Speaker 1: you you'll learn. You'll learn at some point because the
Speaker 1: reason I thought of it was you mentioned anyone having
Speaker 1: an easy schedule, and it's crazy. I know Philadelphia's schedule.
Speaker 1: I was actually thinking about this the other day. I
Speaker 1: don't like how soft the schedule is because it just
Speaker 1: makes me think and makes me worry that the team
Speaker 1: is going to get complacent because they just keep crushing opponents. Listen,
Speaker 1: there's only three truly great teams. They're one of them,
Speaker 1: and they don't have the Chiefs or Bills on their schedule,
Speaker 1: but they I looked at what's coming up here. They
Speaker 1: won't be an underdog in any game in the regular season.
Speaker 1: It's it's wild, but I did notice that, like on
Speaker 1: some of the other power rankings out there, not the
Speaker 1: real ones, because this is the authority we've been acknowledging
Speaker 1: that they exist. I was kind of on the fence
Speaker 1: on that. I don't really like to but sometimes I
Speaker 1: just dabble. Sometimes I just like to see what's what's
Speaker 1: going on out there. And I did notice quite a
Speaker 1: few put the Eagles at one, and then that's when
Speaker 1: I that's when I clicked off because I was like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know what's going on out here.
Speaker 1: Number nine the Seattle Seahawks up six spots. How about that,
Speaker 1: into the top ten for the first time this year.
Speaker 1: Number ten the Bungles, who look terrible on Halloween night,
Speaker 1: drop five spots to ten. Giants and eleven down five
Speaker 1: spots after a loss to the Seahawks. Uh, that's a drop.
Speaker 1: We'll get into it. The Dolphins up two spots, the
Speaker 1: Pats of four spots. My Jets after flopping against New
Speaker 1: England at home, down four spots. So look at that.
Speaker 1: The a f C East twelve fourteen, and the Bills
Speaker 1: of course and won. The Rams down four spots. The
Speaker 1: Chargers stay on thereby at sixteen thoughts here kind of
Speaker 1: the Giants really come flying down. Well, we can get
Speaker 1: to them in a second. I kind of want to
Speaker 1: start at the top with the Seahawks now in the
Speaker 1: top ten, and obviously the fact that they beat the
Speaker 1: Giants and Gino Smith. I loved what he said that
Speaker 1: this game is for Ben Magadoo and Jerry Rays. They
Speaker 1: believed in me. This is just still just the beginning.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna see so much more entertainment video
Speaker 1: Gino talking as his confidence gets higher and higher. He
Speaker 1: was a man that never lacked confidence when he wasn't
Speaker 1: doing anything in the league. Now, as Michael Jordan's said,
Speaker 1: the roof is the ceiling. That is the ceiling is
Speaker 1: the roof. I can't remember. I don't know either one
Speaker 1: of those. I'm botching his botched quote. That's good, that's good.
Speaker 1: But look the Seahawks, they take out the Giants, and
Speaker 1: now I think people are really noticing there. I needed that.
Speaker 1: I needed this to kind of buy in a little
Speaker 1: bit on Seattle. I had They've been making a slow
Speaker 1: rise up the power rankings for weeks now, and this
Speaker 1: was the game or it was like, okay, the defense
Speaker 1: is now played well for three straight weeks. They were
Speaker 1: really good and active in this game that the home
Speaker 1: you know, home field advantage is a thing that doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like it's as big a deal as it used
Speaker 1: to be for whatever reason, but not Seattle when the
Speaker 1: team has got the the fan base excited. That was
Speaker 1: a very difficult environment, I thought for the Giants and
Speaker 1: their offense who did nothing. And then Gino leading an
Speaker 1: offense that just continues to to be smart and productive.
Speaker 1: I think Pete Carroll has done an awesome job there,
Speaker 1: so um it on Seattle. Yeah, and the offense rebounded
Speaker 1: from a messy start. Tyler Lockett those two mistakes, it's
Speaker 1: just so rare to see him make them, and so
Speaker 1: he made up for it obviously with the go ahead touchdown.
Speaker 1: But the defense just completely neutralizing to Kwon Barkley after
Speaker 1: Barkley was just a machine. Yeah. And let's check out
Speaker 1: that I mentioned the Seattle rise. They started out way
Speaker 1: down in week four at and remember this is a
Speaker 1: very strange season, so all you do need to do
Speaker 1: is get a little bit hot and you will go
Speaker 1: far fast. So they go from toe a dip down
Speaker 1: to twenty four after a loss, up to twenty up
Speaker 1: to fifteen, and now up to nine, so they are
Speaker 1: on a journey upward. I'm kind of into them. Um
Speaker 1: let's talk about the Giants, since they obviously um could
Speaker 1: not hang in the fourth Corter. The Giants had won
Speaker 1: so many games um close and late that I can't
Speaker 1: really get on them uh too hard because it's hard
Speaker 1: to win every week like that. But for those of
Speaker 1: us that have had a little bit of a doubt
Speaker 1: that this team is for real, that game, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it was what it was. It wasn't a disgraceful
Speaker 1: effort by any stretchy, but I worry about the offense's
Speaker 1: ability to score points when the competition is better, and
Speaker 1: that was a sign there that it might not be
Speaker 1: there yet. The offense obviously was the biggest problem in
Speaker 1: this game, and the fact that se Quon Barkley average
Speaker 1: just two point seven yards per carry me Daniel Jones,
Speaker 1: he just nothing really worked for them. The only touchdown
Speaker 1: that they had was a Dory Jackson because of the fumble.
Speaker 1: So I think that this team they have a lot
Speaker 1: of people were wondering how real they were at six
Speaker 1: and one, but only one loss to six and two
Speaker 1: and they get dropped what five spots. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a little tough on them, maybe you could
Speaker 1: say that. But I also felt number six was a
Speaker 1: little high. But they kept on winning, and and a
Speaker 1: league with so many teams that are the are kind
Speaker 1: of in the same boat in the middle class. It
Speaker 1: was it was I could. I had no choice but
Speaker 1: to keep on lifting them up. This feels a little
Speaker 1: safer for them where they should be. UM. We we
Speaker 1: can get to the Bengals another week. I do want
Speaker 1: to talk about the a f C East a little
Speaker 1: bit before we UH had to break Connie because I
Speaker 1: got the Dolphins up to twelve. I got the Patriots
Speaker 1: at thirteen. UM, and I like the trajectory of both
Speaker 1: these teams. If I'm a fan of these teams, because Miami,
Speaker 1: it's Miami. Their schedule is UM very interesting, their journey.
Speaker 1: Can we can we take a look at what where
Speaker 1: Miami has been um this year? Uh and it all
Speaker 1: connects obviously to TWA, I think, which is something that's notable.
Speaker 1: They were up to number three after an undefeated start
Speaker 1: in Week four two, it gets injured that Thursday night
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. They go from three to ten to eighteen
Speaker 1: to twenty three. I think they were on their seventh
Speaker 1: string quarterback by that point. Two gets healthy up to fourteen,
Speaker 1: up to twelve in the Power rankings, and it's undeniable, Connie.
Speaker 1: The yardage the team is putting up week after week,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I had been calling for it on
Speaker 1: a t n um, but I need more points. And
Speaker 1: then what do they do. They dig out of a
Speaker 1: big hole against Detroit and they show that they could
Speaker 1: stack stack points, not just yards. Four hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: six total yards for the Miami offense to a looked
Speaker 1: so good. He was so efficient, three two passing yards,
Speaker 1: he had the three touchdowns. I mean, having Tyreek Hill
Speaker 1: and Jalen Waddle is just helping him so much. They
Speaker 1: each went over a hundred receiving yards. It's just the trust.
Speaker 1: You can see the chemistry between TWA and all of
Speaker 1: these players, and everything is finally looking in rhythm. And
Speaker 1: the fact that they converted eight of twelve third downs,
Speaker 1: they were perfect on fourth down. Just everything looked the
Speaker 1: way it should. And it's funny because I think that
Speaker 1: this Dolphins team for a while the past few years,
Speaker 1: it was the defense that was really helping them win games,
Speaker 1: and now everything is sort of switched and it's the
Speaker 1: offense that's really holding them up. So I have some
Speaker 1: questions with the defense, especially with the secondary they have.
Speaker 1: They're dealing with a lot of injuries right now, so
Speaker 1: do they need to change things around in terms of
Speaker 1: maybe don't blitz as much to help out on the
Speaker 1: back end and not expose some of these guys. But
Speaker 1: overall they look really good. And then the Patriots, I
Speaker 1: still think they have a quarterback issue. I'm not mac
Speaker 1: Jones guy, I don't I don't see it. I don't
Speaker 1: know if Belichick is handling the position the right way either,
Speaker 1: But all the other stuff is there. The way they
Speaker 1: really put the clamps on Zack Wilson and made him
Speaker 1: look bad in that game shows that this defense can
Speaker 1: continue to get better and progress as the season goes along.
Speaker 1: The running game is kind of under the radar, really good,
Speaker 1: two very good running backs and Stevenson in Harris and
Speaker 1: their special teams. This is why the Patriots are different, Kenny,
Speaker 1: and why it was so annoying to see and here
Speaker 1: so many people think they were gonna be overmatched on
Speaker 1: their coaching staff of all places, heading into this season.
Speaker 1: They destroyed the Jets and special teams both from field
Speaker 1: goal kicking to punting to coverage and those things make
Speaker 1: a difference. And when you have a team that's not
Speaker 1: maybe high in the talent realm, they do everything else well.
Speaker 1: Quarterbacks an issue, but number thirteen is a good spot
Speaker 1: for them. I think. Yeah, Mac Jones just still does
Speaker 1: not look right after coming back from that high angle sprain,
Speaker 1: and it could have been worse. Like I mean, if
Speaker 1: you when you watch this game, for anyone who hasn't
Speaker 1: he should have had a pick six. We don't need
Speaker 1: to talk about this, should we not. There was a
Speaker 1: would be interception that was dropped just talking um, A
Speaker 1: Jeff fan doesn't need to know that it was seventeen
Speaker 1: three at the end of the second quarter. If not
Speaker 1: for a ticky Tack roughing the passer call, that could
Speaker 1: have changed the whole season for both teams. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to move on from it, but then my co host
Speaker 1: on Power Rankings decides we need to touch on it. Well,
Speaker 1: that's our job. We're just on being thorough and I
Speaker 1: think it's a service. You know what, The Eagles are
Speaker 1: gonna be twelve next week? I was wedding this week.
Speaker 1: They won't let you, they won't let you do it.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, I don't know. Mac Jones. The offensive
Speaker 1: line didn't help him out. Look, he got sacked six times.
Speaker 1: That was nice for the Jets. Um, all right, let's
Speaker 1: take a break and when we get back we will
Speaker 1: dig into the second half of the Power Rankings. Stay
Speaker 1: right there, Yes, all right, welcome back to Power Rankings
Speaker 1: Podcast presented by Energizer. Here is the third quadrant number. Actually, Shanny,
Speaker 1: how about the first uh nomination that you pulled from
Speaker 1: the Yeah, let's give that another guy libright like kind
Speaker 1: like Saturday number seventeen. The Saints up four spots. How
Speaker 1: about that? The Falcons up four as well after a
Speaker 1: very uh wild wind over the Panthers. The Packers, you know,
Speaker 1: get beat up by the Bills, but don't get em parrassed,
Speaker 1: So just send him at nineteen. The Bucks down two
Speaker 1: spots after another disappointing showing at home to twenty. The
Speaker 1: Browns up four spots after spanking the Bengals on Halloween Night.
Speaker 1: The Cardinals down to um after another loss where they
Speaker 1: look sloppy as hell. The Raiders down ten. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get to that because I want to talk about that
Speaker 1: whenever you see that. That meets that messed up to
Speaker 1: three and the Bears down one. Where we start here, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's start in the NFC South. Let's do the Saints first,
Speaker 1: because they're the highest and this was the most complete
Speaker 1: game of the season for them, like they finally started
Speaker 1: to put together with offense, defense, all of it. Alvin Kamara,
Speaker 1: he finally looked right, He looked like himself, like this
Speaker 1: guy is. He scored his first second and third touchdowns
Speaker 1: of the season in this game. You know, there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of speculation and thought process about who should
Speaker 1: play quarterback for the Saints, But how about just play
Speaker 1: the guy, which they're doing now that gives the ball
Speaker 1: to Alvin Kamar, because that's one thing that Jamis Winston
Speaker 1: never did on a consistent basis. That gets me mad.
Speaker 1: Gets me mad, I know, your right. Okay, actually doesn't
Speaker 1: really get me mad. I mean, it just makes sense.
Speaker 1: He's such a great dynamic player and knows for the
Speaker 1: end zone like nobody else in the league. Put it
Speaker 1: in his hands. Um, I'm with you. The Saints are
Speaker 1: a team there. They're interesting to me. Because they've looked
Speaker 1: really bad this year at times, and they're still in
Speaker 1: a deep hole. Um even with the win, but there's
Speaker 1: there are pieces here where you can look at him
Speaker 1: and you don't have to squint too hard to see
Speaker 1: a team that can make a run here. UM three
Speaker 1: and five is gonna make it tougher, but when they
Speaker 1: have both sides humming and Andy Dalton isn't forcing it
Speaker 1: like he did the previous week when he had the
Speaker 1: double pick six in the second quarter. I think in
Speaker 1: this landscape they can absolutely get to about nine wins
Speaker 1: and that will get you in the dance well, especially
Speaker 1: in the in the division that they're in. The The
Speaker 1: division is so bad right now with the Bucks struggling
Speaker 1: at everything pretty much, and then the Falcons and the Panthers.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was just looking at the rankings that
Speaker 1: that game was so close and the Panthers are down
Speaker 1: at twenty nine and they could have beat the Falcons
Speaker 1: who are up at eighteen. That's just how this season
Speaker 1: is going. It's so strange. But the Saints overall, I
Speaker 1: think that hopefully they can continue this now because the defense,
Speaker 1: the pass rush was getting to Derek Carr. The entire game.
Speaker 1: It just when they get Jarvis Landry and Michael Thomas back,
Speaker 1: I think that they'll be able to go on a run. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm with you on that. And I think when you
Speaker 1: look at the Falcons, like we said, there are another one,
Speaker 1: they can hang with almost any team. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: hang against the big boys more than likely, but they
Speaker 1: will put up a fight and and steal some games.
Speaker 1: They had that game one and then they had a
Speaker 1: coverage bust in the secondary that should have led to
Speaker 1: them losing. And then the kicker Paniera lets them off
Speaker 1: the hook and they and they get the w. So
Speaker 1: at eighteen they are a team that's We've said it
Speaker 1: before that they're frisky. They're frisky team, not a good team.
Speaker 1: But it was really good to see Marks Mario and
Speaker 1: throw the ball, which um Arthur Smith hasn't been down
Speaker 1: to let him do much of this season. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you look at the wins that they do have. They
Speaker 1: beat the Seahawks, your number nine team, they beat the Niners,
Speaker 1: your number five team. There are a lot of games
Speaker 1: this season that they probably should have one. They also
Speaker 1: have a strong run game, and I think that you
Speaker 1: know when you when they put it all together. The
Speaker 1: fact that they gave up the that the hail Mary
Speaker 1: was a bad look for them. It wasn't even a
Speaker 1: hail mary. It was just like, hey, this guy's were
Speaker 1: going deep. All we need to do is listen. This
Speaker 1: isn't We're not George Hollis and Bill Belichick here, but
Speaker 1: we could say strategically, Connie that you need to make
Speaker 1: sure the guy doesn't run past you in that situation.
Speaker 1: And they just kind of played it poorly. But they
Speaker 1: have a lot of injuries on defense. But on the
Speaker 1: injury front, on the positive side, Cornill Patterson is coming
Speaker 1: back uh soon from i R So that adds an
Speaker 1: important piece to their offense. All right, So now I'm
Speaker 1: a colpa on the on the Raider. When you see
Speaker 1: a team drop like that at this stage of the season,
Speaker 1: Old Juicer done did wrong? I did. I kind of
Speaker 1: was hanging with the Raiders even though they were struggling
Speaker 1: to win games because they had lost so many close
Speaker 1: games and I thought they would get hot, and they
Speaker 1: beat the Texans last week, and it should have been
Speaker 1: a little bit of a red flag for me that
Speaker 1: it wasn't as easy as it maybe should have been
Speaker 1: against the worst team in football, and then to go
Speaker 1: to New Orleans and we just finished saying the New
Speaker 1: Orleans is sneaky, spicy, and uh so, it's not a
Speaker 1: disgrace to lose to the Saints on the road, but
Speaker 1: to no show in the game for your head coach,
Speaker 1: your first year head coach, to be called into the
Speaker 1: owners um office for the second time in a month
Speaker 1: before you do your postgame presser and basically say, I,
Speaker 1: I blew this. This is on me. The vibes are
Speaker 1: bad and I should not have hung so tight with
Speaker 1: the Raiders. I should have had them lower. So I
Speaker 1: gotta take out. Were you stressed out at all watching
Speaker 1: this game? No, I wasn't watching the game. Deep you
Speaker 1: are into the power ranking. No, No, I as the
Speaker 1: you know the Sunday the way it lays out. We
Speaker 1: all have different games we watched. That wasn't one of
Speaker 1: my games. But then when I heard that, you know,
Speaker 1: they're still getting shut out. Oh now it's a blowout.
Speaker 1: It's like what you I was like, Oh, Derek Carr
Speaker 1: is going to be the quarterback of the Jets next year.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this makes sense. I was watching this game
Speaker 1: in the Oakland Airport and I can tell you that
Speaker 1: Raiders fans were not happy, and they shouldn't be happy.
Speaker 1: But Davante Adams having one catch for three yards, they're
Speaker 1: not gonna do it. What are you doing? It gets
Speaker 1: me so mad that the Packers need to to Adam
Speaker 1: so much and he's not there, and then he's on
Speaker 1: the Raiders and they're not even giving him the ball,
Speaker 1: So what are we doing? Credit to the Saints again,
Speaker 1: but please, guys, you can't get shut out in that spot.
Speaker 1: You're trying to dig out of a hole. Let's move
Speaker 1: the quadrant for Shanny. Hit us with another one. Hit
Speaker 1: us with one of your other offerings. This country type, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is rough. This a hit and sixth
Speaker 1: one that I had. This is kind of like ability
Speaker 1: Ray cyrus And and Mileyer like, oh we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a crossover song together. Bo. It's almost like a bad
Speaker 1: prime time intro, like waiting all day. Yeah, we don't
Speaker 1: need this one, Shanny, but thank you for your efforts.
Speaker 1: The Commander's up three spots, Bronchos up one spot to
Speaker 1: Steelers down three to seven, and a trade to discuss
Speaker 1: in a moment, cults down to think the Panthers up
Speaker 1: one to twenty nine, Jags down one to thirty, and
Speaker 1: the Lions in Texas round out, uh, the thirty two
Speaker 1: of our league. Chase Claypool is headed to the Bears
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh. So you know that's a that's a move
Speaker 1: for the Steelers that you kind of saw coming. I
Speaker 1: think Chase Claypool's talented as he is. Maybe he wasn't
Speaker 1: always in the good graces of the organization. They weren't
Speaker 1: always in love with uh some of the ways he
Speaker 1: went about his business, but he's super talented and um
Speaker 1: on the bare side like good. I mean, it's been
Speaker 1: a bummer of a week where you trade away your
Speaker 1: two defensive veterans that are highly decorated, giving Justin Fields
Speaker 1: another piece. I kind of like that combo Fields and Claypool.
Speaker 1: If Claypool has his head on straight, yeah, hopefully they
Speaker 1: can find a good connection together Fields and Claypool. But
Speaker 1: this made sense for the Steelers. Claypool, his name has
Speaker 1: just been floating around and a lot of different trade rumors,
Speaker 1: but can you Pickett. He just kind of had that
Speaker 1: immediate chemistry with George Pickens and so that just worked
Speaker 1: better for them. But not a lot the Steelers do,
Speaker 1: like they churned through receivers. They identify guys in the
Speaker 1: draft that others overlook, they developed them, and then they
Speaker 1: keep things moving, the line moving. So George Pickens, I
Speaker 1: believe Connie is going to get a lot, a lot
Speaker 1: more targets now that they've thinned out the group a
Speaker 1: little bit. He's excellent. But the Steelers offense is like
Speaker 1: broken in so many different ways. Every everything, everything needs help.
Speaker 1: The run game, I mean, it's just not there at all.
Speaker 1: When you look at the offensive line, that is a disaster.
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett still missing guys. Um Pikett got sacked six times.
Speaker 1: Like there are just so many things that they need
Speaker 1: to fix. But you know what, we don't all get
Speaker 1: to be the Eagles and never play a tough opponent. Uh,
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh had to play the Eagles, and it's just not
Speaker 1: it's not fair in general. If you look at Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: schedule since Pickett took over Um in Week four, I
Speaker 1: believe it was it's not been easy. It's been a
Speaker 1: really difficult stretch of games. I'd like to see him
Speaker 1: develop in a low pressure environment against some of these
Speaker 1: soggy Middle Earth teams of the NFL, which they're are
Speaker 1: about twenty three, so um, and I think that's what
Speaker 1: will be good for the season for Mike Tomlin. It's
Speaker 1: going to be like, all right, I'm we're not gonna
Speaker 1: go five hundred or better this year. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: the first time ever. But at the same time, now
Speaker 1: you can really start to focus on developing your first
Speaker 1: round pick and and maybe getting Chase Claypool out of
Speaker 1: the building helps. I don't know, we don't know all
Speaker 1: the story behind that trade yet, but okay, so I'll
Speaker 1: ask you this, because a brighter future the Steelers or
Speaker 1: the team that you have ranked behind them the Colts, Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean oh so much depends on, of course whether
Speaker 1: uh pick it can play the guitar with his pick um.
Speaker 1: But I would say them just because they at least
Speaker 1: have a plan, they're gonna they have playmakers on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. They have t J. Watt Um obviously, um,
Speaker 1: and they have great infrastructure with Mike Tomlin. I just
Speaker 1: trust the Steelers more than the Cults. I think, just
Speaker 1: like I'm falling, I fell on the sword and took
Speaker 1: a heart el on the Raiders. I will now say
Speaker 1: to you Connie who spent all summer throwing flowers at
Speaker 1: the feet of Matt Ryan. Why hasn't this work? Your boy,
Speaker 1: Frank reich Um take the l on that one. You know.
Speaker 1: It's just it makes me so sad. And I truly
Speaker 1: I believed in them, and I've learned in the past
Speaker 1: to not buy in on teams too early, like I
Speaker 1: was doing it every single season with the Chargers, and
Speaker 1: I learned with the Chargers. This season, Okay, I was
Speaker 1: just blindsided by the Colts the way that they started
Speaker 1: this season. And now they're firing offensive coordinators. Marcus Brady's out.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of blame to go around and fixing
Speaker 1: and changing the quarterback. I mean, I don't know. That's
Speaker 1: not going to change the offensive line, which is the
Speaker 1: main problem, and it and it was the main problem
Speaker 1: going into the season, I think too. So I should
Speaker 1: have known. I should have seen it. You're not alone.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us thought the Colts would
Speaker 1: be at least competitive. It just hasn't turned out that way.
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, the offensive line struggles and Jonathan Taylor,
Speaker 1: who was All World last year just being a guy
Speaker 1: this year. It's pretty crazy. There's nowhere for him to run,
Speaker 1: nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Um, just like the
Speaker 1: Detroit lines, this is a bummer of a quad. Can I?
Speaker 1: Can I say it with the lines because you and
Speaker 1: I have a very we have a relationship we do
Speaker 1: with the Lions. We did the Hard Knocks podcast and
Speaker 1: it was all good vibes. It was so much grit
Speaker 1: and the vibes are not good. And and Dan Campbell.
Speaker 1: Now remember all the talk we did Connie about what
Speaker 1: a great coaching staff it was and how close they are.
Speaker 1: Well they just fired the defensive backs coach and then
Speaker 1: they went and they traded their former first round pick
Speaker 1: Tyler Hawkinson to the Vikings, t J J. T J.
Speaker 1: Hockinson to the Vikings. And it's just like, oh man,
Speaker 1: we had the vibes and I blame eminem Well maybe
Speaker 1: that's something we need to invest. Everything changed when he appeared.
Speaker 1: It's true they were. They were doing all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 1: There was juggling out there, juggling, there was super super
Speaker 1: fun songs. Mean, it's just remember remember you know at
Speaker 1: Home with a hod Hockinsons wasn't the Hotchinson's. It's this season.
Speaker 1: This season. This season is such a blur Aiden Hutchinson,
Speaker 1: that was a big story. But hang with Hodge. But
Speaker 1: I also can't get out of my head the scene
Speaker 1: when and why is his name escaping me? The main
Speaker 1: character who was like the Rodrigo Um, when Rodrigo went
Speaker 1: to the Cowboys store to get off fitted out and everything. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's sad. It doesn't feel like it happened
Speaker 1: like seven years ago. Yeah, I feel like this. I
Speaker 1: say it every year that the season is flying by,
Speaker 1: But I you know what, I would like a halftime,
Speaker 1: just a general like every we go dark for one week,
Speaker 1: everybody goes home, they get a day off. We talk
Speaker 1: about like it's like the first half of the season
Speaker 1: at the second half of the season, but we really
Speaker 1: do give everyone off. We are and we are really
Speaker 1: heading towards a scenario. Uh, it's the beginning of November
Speaker 1: and about two months there might be a lot of
Speaker 1: like rap sheet reports about Dan Campbell's job security. I
Speaker 1: would have never predicted that, But there's still timelines. We're
Speaker 1: still time to clean it up and maybe he is
Speaker 1: scoring team through the first four weeks and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it was like, um, a total of
Speaker 1: six points in two games. What happened the defense and defense?
Speaker 1: And remember how much Aaron Glenn What a great leader
Speaker 1: of men. He's the defensive coordinator. Is he next? What? Connie?
Speaker 1: What a what a show it's been. We I think
Speaker 1: have may be settled on a new theme song with
Speaker 1: the help of Sean Kelly, but we've definitely figured out
Speaker 1: the landscape of our league. As week comes to an end,
Speaker 1: should we ask listeners to submit any if they think
Speaker 1: there's is better? Yes, submit some theme music potential and
Speaker 1: also tell me your own top ten and maybe we'll
Speaker 1: feature it on the show. Why not that, but maybe maybe?
Speaker 1: Alright until next Tuesday, I think you're heading to Germany.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I'm going to Germany on Saturday. Wait,
Speaker 1: so I'm not gonna be here next week? It will
Speaker 1: be uh Steve Weisch once again filling in for Connie Is.
Speaker 1: We'll chop up next week's power rankings. Until then, have
Speaker 1: a great week, You got the power. NFL Power Rankings
Speaker 1: is a production of the NFL in partnership with I
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