Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with Iheartradioya.
Speaker 2: Oh. I think it's one of the hardest things to do,
Speaker 2: and that's come up with the rankings of NFL teams.
Speaker 2: Following week number three, Welcome to the show. I'm Mike Ann,
Speaker 2: joined by Eric at Home. If you go to NFL
Speaker 2: dot com, you can see a list of the entire rankings.
Speaker 2: But Eric, there was a line that you use that
Speaker 2: I thought was perfect. Very little makes sense right now.
Speaker 2: Please bear with us during this difficult time. Welcome to
Speaker 2: the show, and good luck trying to explain why you
Speaker 2: came up with these rankings.
Speaker 3: I hadn't written my intro at that point. I had
Speaker 3: written twenty eight of the thirty two team reports and
Speaker 3: was sort.
Speaker 4: Of figuring out, all right, this is gonna be great.
Speaker 4: I should be able to figure this out.
Speaker 3: About halftime of the games, I thought, well, let's rip
Speaker 3: the script up and start over again, because that's what
Speaker 3: I have to do every single week. Now, it seems
Speaker 3: it feels a lot more chaotic and a lot more
Speaker 3: unsettled than a year ago.
Speaker 4: But you know what, we're all in. Let's go, man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to figure out who's good who's not good.
Speaker 2: Some teams that I think are good that don't sssarily
Speaker 2: have great wins. There is a lot to digest here,
Speaker 2: but let's just jump right into the rankings. No change
Speaker 2: at the top. You got Kansas City, of course, coming
Speaker 2: up with a win against Atlanta on the road. We'll
Speaker 2: talk about that matchup a little bit later. Buffalo Bills
Speaker 2: thrashing of the Jags on Monday night. The Vikings don't
Speaker 2: look now, how about moving up twelve spots to number three.
Speaker 2: The defense holds C. J. Stroud and the Texans just
Speaker 2: seven points. Number four, it's the Lions who beat the
Speaker 2: Cardinals the Eagles. That defense handled a red hot Saints team.
Speaker 2: You have the Houston Texans sitting at number six, the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers at seven, and the Baltimore Ravens. Boy
Speaker 2: do they need a win in the worst way. They
Speaker 2: got in on the road against Dallas checking in at
Speaker 2: number eight. Let's start with the number two team here.
Speaker 2: I thought the Bills looked so good that there was
Speaker 2: an argument. I thought we might come to the studio
Speaker 2: and say, hey, maybe we're flip flopping here. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about the Bills as the number one team.
Speaker 2: How much consideration did you have with maybe having them
Speaker 2: slot in front of the defending Super Bowl champs.
Speaker 3: Oh, it was on the table, Mike, Absolutely. I sat
Speaker 3: there and you know, was watching them at halftime, basically
Speaker 3: when they had done the bulk of their damage against
Speaker 3: Jacksonville and you know, a team that was pretty desperate
Speaker 3: for a win. We thought or at least be competitive
Speaker 3: in that game. And I absolutely considered it, but didn't
Speaker 3: want to be the guy who knocked out the back
Speaker 3: to back Super Bowl champs, who with a three to
Speaker 3: zero record. I understand it hasn't been pretty completely start
Speaker 3: to finish in Kansas City, but they'll get going. I
Speaker 3: think we saw last year they don't need to have
Speaker 3: a great regular season to be the best team when
Speaker 3: it all you know, ends and matters the most. So
Speaker 3: Buffalo has been terrific. I you know, send some their
Speaker 3: praises this offseason. I said, I don't think their super
Speaker 3: Bowl windows over and we saw it in the game
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 2: You know, I was in Rochester for inside training camp
Speaker 2: for NFL Network and the biggest question was like, Hey,
Speaker 2: how's this offense going to look? There's so many changes
Speaker 2: to personnel. It looked pretty good last night, by the way.
Speaker 2: Next three for them at Ravens, at Texans, at Jets,
Speaker 2: stay locked in NFL Power rankings as we will find
Speaker 2: out how where this team really deserves to be over
Speaker 2: the next few weeks. Here Vikings at number three. We
Speaker 2: got to be buying this team first time. Minnesota is
Speaker 2: three and oh since twenty sixteen. Sam Donald is dealing.
Speaker 2: Just how surprised are you right now that you have
Speaker 2: him this high?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm like the guy who got in on the
Speaker 3: Microsoft stock like in late two thousands, right, a little
Speaker 3: behind on the party, but I'm willing to admit that
Speaker 3: I stole am on track here, right, I moved them
Speaker 3: all the way up to number three. I still had
Speaker 3: some reservations, right, We haven't seen Sam Donald really dominate
Speaker 3: for a whole season. Did they truly have all the
Speaker 3: defensive pieces? Well, through three weeks we have some pretty
Speaker 3: good evidence, now, not a complete picture, but a darn
Speaker 3: good one that.
Speaker 4: This team isn't going anywhere.
Speaker 3: And I think what matters most, Mike is the coaching.
Speaker 3: I mean, Kevin O'Connell has done a great job with Donald,
Speaker 3: with all the new pieces, they've made the most of
Speaker 3: a great offensive line. And then Brian Flores on defense
Speaker 3: did a masterful job of CJ.
Speaker 4: Stroud.
Speaker 3: You're not supposed to blitz the guy, but that's exactly
Speaker 3: what they did and went hellbent blitzing him in the
Speaker 3: first half, and it really seemed to disrupt the timing
Speaker 3: of what can be a very explosive offense. I know
Speaker 3: the Texans haven't shown it yet this year, but so
Speaker 3: impressed with the Vikings game plan and their execution.
Speaker 4: It really was fun to watch.
Speaker 3: Also, a nice game for Jonathan Garnard against his old teammates.
Speaker 3: It was a reunion kind of day for a lot
Speaker 3: of players. But he got to Stan Talless.
Speaker 4: In that one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Look, they get the Packers and this is going to
Speaker 2: be a great football game coming up this week. By
Speaker 2: the way, on game day preview, if you're not checking
Speaker 2: out the show, Cynthia Freeland had said, Hey, how does CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud handle the blitz? Because generally speaking, he does a
Speaker 2: really good job top five in the NFL with pressure
Speaker 2: in his face. It didn't play out that way. It
Speaker 2: just is sort of a remarkable feat that Minnesota was
Speaker 2: able to execute him look as good as they did. Well, Eric,
Speaker 2: another team that has actually been balling out right now
Speaker 2: is your number five squad, the Philadelphia Eagles. Take me
Speaker 2: through this because I think for as much as we
Speaker 2: talk about Saquon and the offense defensively, the fact that
Speaker 2: they were able to put the Saints in check that
Speaker 2: the way they did, I think that's the most impressive
Speaker 2: thing that we're seeing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, last week the talk dominated about Saquon's d on
Speaker 3: third down and all that, and Nick Sirianni's decision, and
Speaker 3: those are fair topics, but the defensive discussion I think
Speaker 3: was a big one that we kind of overlooked, right.
Speaker 4: It was a problem.
Speaker 3: They went into New Orleans, a team that allowed the
Speaker 3: Falcons to drive right down the field for a game
Speaker 3: winning score. They've had their issues, they're big guys up
Speaker 3: front had and shown up, and now they had to
Speaker 3: face a Saints team score in ninety one points in
Speaker 3: two games.
Speaker 4: Well, they did fantastic.
Speaker 3: I thought they were absolutely outstanding. Gave a little ground
Speaker 3: at the end there, but did what they needed to
Speaker 3: do to win the game. Red blanket ship, the game
Speaker 3: ceiling pick. Davis and Carter up front really did a
Speaker 3: great job.
Speaker 4: Took away.
Speaker 3: That Saints run game early kind of made them a
Speaker 3: left handed offense. And yeah, I thought that as much
Speaker 3: as anything, not to overlook Barkley, not to overlook Jalen
Speaker 3: Hurts and Dallas Goddard, but that defense coming through really
Speaker 3: helped me feel good about keeping.
Speaker 4: Them high in the rankings.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think among the elite contenders in
Speaker 3: this league, even with their warts.
Speaker 2: Eric, a couple of minutes ago, you told me about
Speaker 2: how impressive the Minnesota defense was against CJ. Stroud. I
Speaker 2: don't think anyone's hitting the panic button on the Texans,
Speaker 2: who far all three spots for you. CJ. Strott hadn't
Speaker 2: thrown an interception in seven consecutive starts. He throws two
Speaker 2: in this game. I'm not panic, but is there a
Speaker 2: level of concern that you have around Houston?
Speaker 3: Well, they still had to kind of integrate some of
Speaker 3: the new pieces, like Stefan Diggs. I know Diggs was
Speaker 3: pretty busy on Sunday, but it ended up not helping
Speaker 3: them that much. And you know, look, some of the
Speaker 3: protection up front has to be better. CJ's allowed a
Speaker 3: bad game every now and then. I know he's been
Speaker 3: this sort of robotic superstar and played at an unbelievable
Speaker 3: level the last year plus, but he wasn't on his
Speaker 3: a game. They were down their top two running backs
Speaker 3: on the road against the team that we now know
Speaker 3: should be up there amongst the elites in the league.
Speaker 4: So is this the kind of game that.
Speaker 3: That changes our perception of the Texans. Maybe let's get
Speaker 3: a little more evidence, let's see them a little bit more.
Speaker 3: I know that the Bears game was a little bit
Speaker 3: of a struggle offensively too, and they're still figuring things out.
Speaker 3: Remember this team lost to the Carolina Panthers last year.
Speaker 3: They had some ugly games even with the late season
Speaker 3: flourish there. So they'll get in their groove eventually. But
Speaker 3: right now, now, you're right, it doesn't look all that
Speaker 3: well jointed, you.
Speaker 2: Know, Eric, he made a reference to Microsoft stock if
Speaker 2: I was buying stocking an NFL team. Right now, the
Speaker 2: Packers feel like a good dividend, consistently good here, move
Speaker 2: up three spots there at seven. I don't know, is
Speaker 2: this more of a reflection on Tennessee or the Packers
Speaker 2: legitimate right now?
Speaker 3: Hard to ignore that I move Titans down to the
Speaker 3: basement this week, So I know that's a little bit
Speaker 3: of a teaser for later. But still they're playing one
Speaker 3: of the worst teams in football at least through three weeks,
Speaker 3: a mistake prone team. But still got to credit the
Speaker 3: Packers defense for the eight sacks. Still have to look
Speaker 3: at jay r Alexander's big pick six early in the game.
Speaker 4: That kind of set the tone.
Speaker 3: And oh, by the way, we talked about coaching earlier
Speaker 3: with the Vikings, how about Matt Lafleur. The game plan
Speaker 3: that he devised two weeks in a row from Malik
Speaker 3: Willis kind of kept the trading wheels on against the Colts,
Speaker 3: but I felt like loosen the leash a little bit
Speaker 3: and let him do his thing in his old stadium,
Speaker 3: I mean Nissan Stadium. Had we saying why do we
Speaker 3: have Levis since, I mean instead of this guy, right,
Speaker 3: you know, one month ago he was he's competing with them.
Speaker 3: So a bizarre scene for Titans fans and a welcome
Speaker 3: one for Packers fans. They're two to zero without Jordan Love.
Speaker 3: Love could be back this week. We're not sure, but
Speaker 3: this entire team is very well coached, very determined, and
Speaker 3: I think a real threat in the NFC North.
Speaker 2: Would be a huge boost. As I made reference to
Speaker 2: they get the Vikings coming up this weekend. On game
Speaker 2: day preview, we had our insider Mike Aarrofolo with us.
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe we were actually having conversations about Shordan
Speaker 2: Love potentially returning. He is close and to your point, Eric,
Speaker 2: there is a chance that he's actually going to be
Speaker 2: playing this weekend, which maybe even rises that stock a
Speaker 2: little bit more. With two teams now sitting in your
Speaker 2: top seven going head to head, well it's time for
Speaker 2: future champions. As we take a look at the odds
Speaker 2: for the AFC North, the Ravens still the favorite, followed
Speaker 2: by the Steelers Cincinnati and the Cleveland Browns. And Eric,
Speaker 2: you and I were talking off air about this, this
Speaker 2: Ravens team. Look, they look dominant last week at times,
Speaker 2: but this is back to back weeks where we're seeing
Speaker 2: a run by their opponent in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 3: And it's been a chronic issue, something that you wouldn't
Speaker 3: normally associate with a team coached by John Harbaugh, one
Speaker 3: of the best, Lamar Jackson, two time MVP, and now
Speaker 3: they have Derrick Henry to how to you know, bleed
Speaker 3: clock and take the air out of the ball. So
Speaker 3: the formula is there for the Ravens. They won a
Speaker 3: lot of football games, but recently, at least in the
Speaker 3: last few years, blowing leads in the fourth quarter has
Speaker 3: become kind of an epidemic.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: They came back in Week one against the Chiefs, made
Speaker 3: it a close game, almost won it. But the last
Speaker 3: two weeks have been concerning, even with the first three
Speaker 3: quarters in Dallas, which look to me, they look like
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl contender during their first three quarters. So
Speaker 3: how much do we weigh the Janis face of the
Speaker 3: Ravens right, the good versus the bad, the early versus
Speaker 3: the late. It's part of the problem with evaluating him.
Speaker 3: But I had him pretty high last week, a lot
Speaker 3: of respect for an zero and two team. That's why
Speaker 3: I didn't bump him up too much because of what
Speaker 3: happened in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 4: And you know I already had him up there pretty well.
Speaker 2: Positive sign here and no one in the building is
Speaker 2: higher on the Ravens than I think I am. Derreck
Speaker 2: Henry went off in this game, and maybe they're there's
Speaker 2: something brilling here in this backfield. We didn't see it
Speaker 2: in the first two weeks. But Henry goes for a
Speaker 2: buck fifty in this one. All right, more to come here.
Speaker 2: You know a we could go on power rankings. Eric
Speaker 2: had the Niners sitting at two despite a loss. Well,
Speaker 2: guess what they lost again? There is a drop. How
Speaker 2: far did they fall in the power rankings? The answer
Speaker 2: is coming up next. Welcome back to NFL Power Rankings
Speaker 2: presented by Energizer. Here are Eric's teams nine through sixteen.
Speaker 2: The Steelers one of four undefeated squads in the AF
Speaker 2: See the Saints. They sit at number ten. They average
Speaker 2: forty five points in the first two weeks, had twelve
Speaker 2: though this past weekend against the Eagles. Meanwhile, at number eleven,
Speaker 2: the Seahawks three and zero for the first time since
Speaker 2: twenty twenty. The Niners, Hello, they dropped ten spots after
Speaker 2: that loss to the Rams. The Jets Aaron Rodgers at thirteen.
Speaker 2: He looked sharp on TNF the fourteenth ranked team. The Chargers,
Speaker 2: just helth a lot of concerns right now about his health.
Speaker 2: Checking in at fifteen the Buccaneers. A head scratching loss
Speaker 2: against Denver and an impressive win for the Commanders, who
Speaker 2: are the sixteenth ranked team. Let's circle up on number
Speaker 2: nine here the Steelers, Eric, are they a good football team?
Speaker 3: I think so, yeah, I mean good, yes, great, we'll
Speaker 3: see right. I mean, justin Field's in that offense, it's
Speaker 3: kind of taken baby steps forward each week. Zero touchdowns
Speaker 3: week one, one in week two, and then two this
Speaker 3: past week, and it just feels like they're starting to
Speaker 3: get a little rhythm. And I'm impressed with Field's accuracy.
Speaker 3: You know, this was not necessarily the player he was
Speaker 3: in Chicago at all times. He's still pushing it down
Speaker 3: the field occasionally, like that throw right there to you know,
Speaker 3: George Pickens, and they get their medium shots in there
Speaker 3: yards after the catch Calvin Austin. I mean, that's really
Speaker 3: how they're generating big plays. Still doing it with the
Speaker 3: run game. And you know, they lose their left tackle
Speaker 3: and Broder Jones steps in and does a pretty good job.
Speaker 3: The defense takes care of its business. You still have TJ.
Speaker 3: Waco and against the rookie offensive tackle, that's going to
Speaker 3: be a win for the Steelers. So he's playing at
Speaker 3: extremely high level. The defense as a hole is doing
Speaker 3: very good job. Maybe they're taking advantage of the schedule
Speaker 3: a little bit, but you know, I thought last week's
Speaker 3: win was pretty or Sunday's win rather was pretty impressive.
Speaker 3: So I still got this team moving up having seen
Speaker 3: a lot of fields.
Speaker 4: I don't know if.
Speaker 3: He's ever gonna be special. And you got Russell Wilson
Speaker 3: in the pen. I don't know what's gonna happen, but
Speaker 3: I'm still tuning in. They're interesting to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's becoming a juicy storyline. Russell Wilson won that
Speaker 2: starting job. We haven't even seen him start a game
Speaker 2: so far. If this team continues to roll here, I
Speaker 2: don't know what Mike Tomlin does. They are on the
Speaker 2: road against the Colts in this coming weekend. Meanwhile, at
Speaker 2: number eleven, the Seahawks moved up eight spots. They also
Speaker 2: hit the road. They're an undefeated team and they match
Speaker 2: up against the Lions. It feels like you're giving a
Speaker 2: lot of respect to this squad, to Mike McDonald's team, who,
Speaker 2: by the way, has looked dominant at times.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's no doubt they've they've done some
Speaker 3: really good things defensively. Granted it came against Bo Nixon
Speaker 3: his first start. You know, the Patriots are offensively limited,
Speaker 3: so you know, there's some things that we can.
Speaker 4: Put asterisk next to.
Speaker 3: But they're going to to get Kenneth Walker back, They're
Speaker 3: going to get NWOSU back.
Speaker 4: On defense.
Speaker 3: I do worry about the injuries to Byron Murphy and
Speaker 3: Leonard Williams and all that. Gino Smith was hot in
Speaker 3: the first half, cold in the second, you know. So
Speaker 3: there is a little bit of a disjointed nature to
Speaker 3: what they are right now. But McDonald looks like a
Speaker 3: very good coach right now for the three games they've
Speaker 3: taken care of business. The schedule does stiffen. There's no
Speaker 3: doubt that the games get tougher from this point and
Speaker 3: that defense will get tested. But I have a pretty
Speaker 3: good feeling in time we're going to see some really
Speaker 3: good things out of that unit. And I think McDonald
Speaker 3: was brought in just to.
Speaker 4: Be that guy.
Speaker 3: He just added more juice to that side of the ball.
Speaker 3: That's been the most exciting thing is that things had
Speaker 3: gotten a little bit stale the last few years defensively,
Speaker 3: and there's really no problem in that regard right now.
Speaker 2: No, by the way, speaking of that team's defense, I
Speaker 2: saw a stat which I was so impressed by Seahawks
Speaker 2: first team since the nineteen seventy nine Steelers to start
Speaker 2: three to zero and allow fewer than one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty passing yards in those first three games. That secondary
Speaker 2: has been terrific. I couldn't wait to do the show
Speaker 2: with you just to find out where you were going
Speaker 2: to have the Samisco forty nine ers. You drop them
Speaker 2: ten spots to be fair and once again, and Eric,
Speaker 2: I know you know this, but who played for the
Speaker 2: Niners might be the biggest question. Injury is all over
Speaker 2: that squad. The Rams also had injuries, but make some
Speaker 2: sense of the ranking.
Speaker 3: I probably should have factored in some of their injuries. Now,
Speaker 3: a few of them were late breaking last week after
Speaker 3: we take the show, after I wrote the power rankings.
Speaker 3: But you know I had Vikings fans saying, hey, we
Speaker 3: should have been up at number two and they should
Speaker 3: have been at number twelve. Well, I pretty much fulfilled
Speaker 3: their dreams this week because I couldn't ignore it anymore.
Speaker 3: They get off to the fourteen nothing start against the Rams.
Speaker 3: Things are looking okay, but Brandon Ayu doesn't deliver that
Speaker 3: huge game that we would hope you would be able
Speaker 3: to deliver. In these kinds of situations, you know, the
Speaker 3: defense gave up those long drives. At the end, they
Speaker 3: were caught flat footed on a fake punt that led
Speaker 3: to a touchdown. So you know, really all three aspects
Speaker 3: of the forty nine ers are kind of out of
Speaker 3: sync right now. If you go back a year ago,
Speaker 3: it was about this time where they had that weird
Speaker 3: little streak, the game in Cleveland, the game in Minnesota
Speaker 3: where things just didn't look right. We're there now. Injuries
Speaker 3: are a big part why I dropped them down. They
Speaker 3: could certainly get back into the top five. We know
Speaker 3: their reputation, we know their talent, but you got to
Speaker 3: get kiddled back. We don't know McCaffrey's situation. There are
Speaker 3: a lot of unknowns right now, even with bench players
Speaker 3: like Juwan Jennings who could step up and have a
Speaker 3: three TV game. That defense wasn't dominant at all on Sunday,
Speaker 3: and that worries.
Speaker 2: Me have an opportunity in what I would call a
Speaker 2: get right game. They get the Patriots, at least on paper,
Speaker 2: they should handle business in a dramatic way. Well, it's
Speaker 2: time for power moves. The Commanders move up twelve spots
Speaker 2: to sixteen, and Eric the story of this one is
Speaker 2: all about Jaden Daniels, who, Yeah, he's the best working
Speaker 2: quarterback in the league right now.
Speaker 3: Imagine completing eighty percent of year passes in your first
Speaker 3: three games in the league, a guy who is you know,
Speaker 3: almost off the NFL draft ratear at least is a
Speaker 3: top five pick entering last season. So his ascension over
Speaker 3: the last you know, twelve thirteen months has been pretty
Speaker 3: dramatic and remarkable to watch. And what struck me, Mike,
Speaker 3: the poise, the comfort level. He was out there looking
Speaker 3: like a seasoned veteran, you know, manipulating the Bengals with
Speaker 3: his arm, with his eyes, with his legs. Looked to
Speaker 3: be in total command. Had the one sack at the
Speaker 3: end didn't bother me. He picked himself right back up,
Speaker 3: got in position. They drove for five touchdowns and six drives.
Speaker 3: Six scores and six drives. The only way he can
Speaker 3: stop him is in kneel down situation, so they haven't
Speaker 3: punted in two games. Mike, this is This has been
Speaker 3: unbelievable to see, and I can't wait to see where
Speaker 3: he is at the end of the season, next year
Speaker 3: and beyond. This is a talented kid who's got all
Speaker 3: the confidence in the world.
Speaker 2: Look, you're gonna go wherever your quarterback leads you. Dan
Speaker 2: Quinn made some some gutsy play calls, especially on that
Speaker 2: lead drive there. Seven minutes, twelve plays, two third down completions,
Speaker 2: Not to mention, he went forward on fourth down and
Speaker 2: they were able to pick up obviously the move to
Speaker 2: change there, which set up the Terry McLaurin touchdown, which,
Speaker 2: by the way.
Speaker 4: Was not bad for a college offense. Right. Isn't that
Speaker 4: what the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Said, Yes, there is a little bit of that. He
Speaker 2: had to eat his words, by the way, because the
Speaker 2: Commanders actually won that football game. The names the Cincinnenti
Speaker 2: Bengals lost or sitting at Owen three, they might be
Speaker 2: the best Owen three team in the league.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's not really saying much.
Speaker 2: Where do they sit in the power rankings? The answers
Speaker 2: coming up next. Power Rankings brought to you by Energizer
Speaker 2: continues to roll on Eric's teams seventeen through twenty four.
Speaker 2: The Cowboys three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter not
Speaker 2: enough for them. At eighteen. The Colts a heavy dose,
Speaker 2: so Jonathan Taylor at nineteen it's the Rams, yo, respect
Speaker 2: McVeigh and Los Angeles the Falcons at twenty oh, we're
Speaker 2: going to have to talk about that. Right behind them
Speaker 2: Cincinnati and Owen three team at twenty one. Boonix gets
Speaker 2: his first win as the Broncos or ranked twenty second.
Speaker 2: The Cardinals Kyler are looking a little human against Detroit
Speaker 2: and then the Chicago Bears at twenty four. Caleb Williams
Speaker 2: through for three sixty two touchdowns, two interceptions. Cowboys. I
Speaker 2: don't know what to make of this squad here. Keep
Speaker 2: losing games at home. There's a free fall that's happening
Speaker 2: right now. They drop six spots for you and they
Speaker 2: sit at seventeen. What am I supposed to do with
Speaker 2: the squad? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean some of Sunday I think was if you watch,
Speaker 3: they just look so annoyed having to try to tackle
Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson, who just destroys NFC teams because they you know,
Speaker 3: they only face them every couple of years or that
Speaker 3: sort of thing, so you know, it sort of took
Speaker 3: away their defensive teeth. Early, they did settle in a
Speaker 3: little bit on that side of the ball. Eventually, same
Speaker 3: thing with the offense. No big plays early, couldn't get
Speaker 3: anything going. Part of that, I think has to do
Speaker 3: with the fact the run game, this sort of triumvirate
Speaker 3: they put together, hasn't been explosive.
Speaker 4: Cumulatively.
Speaker 3: They're near the bottom of the ranking, so that's been
Speaker 3: a limitation for their offense. And you know, you just
Speaker 3: can't put yourself in a twenty eight to six hole
Speaker 3: and expect to come back, even as good as they've
Speaker 3: been the last several years in Dallas. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: think starting better somehow forging a run game, and then
Speaker 3: you know, defense, trying to defend these these seas elite
Speaker 3: players like Lamar Jackson has been a problem.
Speaker 2: You know. I started this show Eric saying how difficult
Speaker 2: it must be this particular week to come up with
Speaker 2: these rankings. But I got to push back on the
Speaker 2: Falcons at twenty Pigly that wasn't called. I think they
Speaker 2: could have beaten the Chiefs, and if that had happened,
Speaker 2: they'd be skyrocketing up your rankings. But it sounds like
Speaker 2: you're not totally on board with Kirk Cousins in the
Speaker 2: squad just yet.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I know there's a little hesitation there. I mean,
Speaker 3: they're still thinking of themselves as a running team. Which
Speaker 3: I get when you have Bjon Robinson and Tyler Algier
Speaker 3: and those offensive linemen, you should be But they lose
Speaker 3: Drew Dolman in the game. They had a new right
Speaker 3: tackle as well, Caleb McGarry left the game, and you know,
Speaker 3: trying to run that wide play on fourth down, I
Speaker 3: think showed Look, when you're altered, when you have an
Speaker 3: injury like the double injury like that up front, you've
Speaker 3: got to sort of.
Speaker 4: Change what you do.
Speaker 3: And I think either you know, quarterback sneak something else
Speaker 3: and just the offensive identity is not quite coming together
Speaker 3: for me for.
Speaker 2: Them, inconsistencies all over the place. For a winlessness team
Speaker 2: that drops five spots, they sit at twenty one every
Speaker 2: single week. It just feels like a different issue with
Speaker 2: the squad, which really should worry Bengals fans who thought
Speaker 2: their team could win a Super Bowl this year if
Speaker 2: they were healthy. No ozero and three team has ever
Speaker 2: done that before. I still think there's a chance for
Speaker 2: our a top ten team by the end of the season, though.
Speaker 3: They could be they're swimming upstream, there's no doubt. I mean,
Speaker 3: we've seen the record, right, two point five percent of
Speaker 3: teams to start oh in three do not make the
Speaker 3: or do make the playoffs, and the other ninety seven
Speaker 3: and a half sit home. So could be two straight
Speaker 3: years for them sitting home because of the way they've started.
Speaker 3: That was the worst defensive performance we've seen this year.
Speaker 3: That was a major step back. Had no answers for
Speaker 3: Jayden and Daniels. Really, the offense was good. I mean
Speaker 3: they scored almost every time they had the ball. They
Speaker 3: just settled for some field goals, missed one of them.
Speaker 3: And you know, they weren't aggressive enough early sensing how
Speaker 3: much Jayde Daniels was going to stress them all night long.
Speaker 3: And I you know, I give Zach Taylor a little
Speaker 3: bit of heat for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one touchdown and three trips into the red zone
Speaker 2: those two field goals. That really is the difference in
Speaker 2: this ball game. Eric, I want to get to your
Speaker 2: team's ranked twenty five through thirty two. The Dolphins No. Two.
Speaker 2: They drop eight spots. It is what it is. We'll
Speaker 2: figure this team out once they get healthy. At twenty six,
Speaker 2: it's the Browns. Watson sacked eight times. You gotta be
Speaker 2: kiinning me g Men's defense rolling twenty seven, it's the Patriots.
Speaker 2: Our gains by the Jets four hundred to one, thirty nine.
Speaker 2: Not gonna win a lot of games like that. The
Speaker 2: Raiders at twenty eight, what in the in the what
Speaker 2: twenty nine? The Giants thirtieth, the Jaguars, the Panthers at
Speaker 2: thirty one, and the Titans at thirty two. All Right,
Speaker 2: the Jags, they couldn't get anything right in this game.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the fix is. I don't even
Speaker 2: know how you fix it, because it feels like everything's
Speaker 2: broke with this team.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and a lot of people in Jacksonville seem to
Speaker 3: be kind of putting the spotlight on Doug Peterson. And
Speaker 3: they've lost their last eight games with Trevor Lawrence's starting quarterback,
Speaker 3: and they've lost eight of nine overall. We know the
Speaker 3: collapse down the stretch and the slow start this year
Speaker 3: has been so disappointing. Trevor Lawrence right now is a
Speaker 3: fifty percent passer. You see him forcing balls into traffic,
Speaker 3: not necessarily trusting his new receivers or his offensive line
Speaker 3: up front. It was a tough night for him trying
Speaker 3: to get in rhythm, and he just sort of felt
Speaker 3: like he had his teeth taken out of the offense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just definitely a buzzkill. And this team is knocking
Speaker 2: on the door now of a couple long trips. They
Speaker 2: got a couple of games in Europe, so they got
Speaker 2: to figure this out very very quickly. As they dropped
Speaker 2: seven spots number thirty one. I need to give you
Speaker 2: some love here, Panthers. You actually pick them to go
Speaker 2: and win this game against the Raiders.
Speaker 3: Andy Dalton, Hello, every dog has his day and Andy Dalton,
Speaker 3: I mean I'm the dog, not Andy Dalton, but I
Speaker 3: picked him as a dart throw.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 3: Andy Dalton has been great in these kind of situations.
Speaker 3: Show in the world he can do it. I just
Speaker 3: thought he was a better quarterback than Bryce Young right now.
Speaker 3: He's sort of a pros pro in a lot of ways,
Speaker 3: and he had nothing to lose in this game. Neither
Speaker 3: did the Panthers. You saw renewed energy that just wasn't
Speaker 3: there with Bryce. So as great a day as it
Speaker 3: was for Andy Dalton, Dave Kanallis, it was a tough
Speaker 3: one for Bryce Young, but good for the Panthers.
Speaker 4: They're out of the basement for the first time in forever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I did not see it come in
Speaker 2: on the road for him against the Raiders team that
Speaker 2: scored what was what I would consider the best win
Speaker 2: of last weekend. Dude got to handle business better than
Speaker 2: that at home. I get it. It happens to s
Speaker 2: the NFL. There definitely a buzz built from that perspective. Eric,
Speaker 2: good luck this week coming up with therectings.
Speaker 4: We'll do it again.
Speaker 2: Come it up after week number four and show the
Speaker 2: games everyone.
Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.