Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to another
Speaker 1: edition of NFL Power Rankings. Colin the podcast presented by Energizer.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hansas that he came from Colleen Wolf. Hey, Connie, Hello, welcome,
Speaker 1: and Eleanor is here or there you go? Had yeah
Speaker 1: longer with us. Thanks shout out to Eleanor and all
Speaker 1: the grace she brought to us. Um all right, it
Speaker 1: is the Visional Round weekend. I don't I'm sure she did.
Speaker 1: It is Supercard Supercard weekend. Super wild Card weekend is
Speaker 1: in the rear view. And I must say, Colleen before
Speaker 1: we take a look at the big board for the
Speaker 1: first time here, and we have now knocked it down
Speaker 1: from thirty two un to fourteen. Feel tighter, feel lighter.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're getting closer to the finish line,
Speaker 1: and I feel good about my rankings. Let's take a
Speaker 1: look at the UH top eight, because what you'll notice here,
Speaker 1: Connie is that, yes, I got the Niners locked at
Speaker 1: number one. Feeling great about that. Was a little bit
Speaker 1: nervous at halftime against Seattle, but then much closer than
Speaker 1: I thought it was going to straight points, said Dan,
Speaker 1: you got it right, top Boat keeping them at number one.
Speaker 1: UM the Bills and Bengals. I just gave him a
Speaker 1: little hey, wake up, guys bumped down one spot, especially
Speaker 1: the Bills. I almost put Cincinnati head of Buffalo. Didn
Speaker 1: Kansas City gets that, Hey, we on a bye week
Speaker 1: and look at our our biggest rivals in the a
Speaker 1: f C struggling against backup quarterbacks, bumps after the after
Speaker 1: the bye. So then you got the Eagles staying at five,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys staying at six, Giants up four to seven,
Speaker 1: and the Jaguars after that incredible rally, hold at eight.
Speaker 1: And what I'm saying is you're not seeing a ton
Speaker 1: of movement therather than the Giants. And that's because I'm
Speaker 1: feel good about where I had the rankings going in,
Speaker 1: and I didn't see much in the slate of games
Speaker 1: that really made me change how I feel. Let's start
Speaker 1: with the Let's start with the Cowboys, because that would
Speaker 1: be the one where people most people would be like, hey,
Speaker 1: why aren't they getting a bigger bump into the top five?
Speaker 1: And I just wasn't ready to do that. Connie. As
Speaker 1: well as they played against Tampa, they did play arguably
Speaker 1: the worst team in the playoffs, certainly the only team
Speaker 1: with a losing record in the playoffs. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, yes, my eyes are open about the Cowboys
Speaker 1: potentially making noise in the divisional playoffs. I was going
Speaker 1: to ask you if you second guest moving them or
Speaker 1: keeping them where they were after watching that game, like it,
Speaker 1: was there any point in the game where you're like, Oh,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, here's the thing. And I'll look at
Speaker 1: him from a conference stand From standpoint, obviously, the Niners
Speaker 1: are staying at one. They deserve it. I already am
Speaker 1: kind of digging your Eagles by virtue of just they're
Speaker 1: kind of off the grid right now. They got a
Speaker 1: banged up quarterback, and that's part of my reasoning. I
Speaker 1: have them down to five the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure they might and I think the reason
Speaker 1: I parked him at five for that reason because I
Speaker 1: just felt it wouldn't be right too now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, say, the Cowboys are a team that I
Speaker 1: like better than the Eagles. I certainly think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are a team that if they have the Eagles this weekend,
Speaker 1: I'd be thinking, oh, that's that's a coin flip. And
Speaker 1: guess what, that's why they're five and six. But but
Speaker 1: the Chiefs moved up even though they were on a
Speaker 1: by two. It's just not consistent. It is consistent, though,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. I believe outside of the Niners,
Speaker 1: I think there's a little gap right now. Okay, and
Speaker 1: then I think the A f C teams are better
Speaker 1: than the Eagles and Cowboys. So even though I wasn't
Speaker 1: thrilled with how the Bills and Bengals operated on Wild
Speaker 1: Card weekend, it wasn't enough for me then say, oh,
Speaker 1: I think the Cowboys are better than the Bills and Bengals,
Speaker 1: or the Eagles are better. I just gave him a
Speaker 1: little boom. And the Chief's a team that I respect.
Speaker 1: In this time of year, they get a bit little benefit.
Speaker 1: That's fair. It feels like at are flawed in one
Speaker 1: way or another. Now the Niners, they really mean, what
Speaker 1: is the Niners law? Tell me that I don't know,
Speaker 1: because what they're doing with Brock Party is really amazing,
Speaker 1: and they've won eleven straight games. They seem so well rounded.
Speaker 1: If I mean, I guess, like, honestly, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I have no idea. This would be the only thing
Speaker 1: I think someone that was doubting the Niners can say
Speaker 1: at this point that what if Brock Purty is playing
Speaker 1: not the Seattle Seahawks but a big time opponent, does
Speaker 1: he have the same level of production or even close
Speaker 1: when when the rubber meets the road and that's what
Speaker 1: happens in divisional round football. Because he's the only guy
Speaker 1: I think is not proven at this point, I think
Speaker 1: the coaching staffs proven. I think many of the players
Speaker 1: on the roster is certainly the stars have shown that
Speaker 1: they could step up this time of year. You could
Speaker 1: still put a little bit of a question arc over Party,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, like be careful of that
Speaker 1: because the guy is playing out of his mind. Well
Speaker 1: that's what I thought after watching that first half against
Speaker 1: the Seahawks and he was missing some throws to open receivers.
Speaker 1: It was just a one point game at the half.
Speaker 1: And that was my question last week when we did
Speaker 1: this show, was what, like Brock Party coming into the playoffs,
Speaker 1: how will he play in the spotlight? And the second half?
Speaker 1: No problem? And Kyle Shanahan does such a good job
Speaker 1: of putting him in a position to succeed using Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: using Deebo Samuel to play run action and everything else
Speaker 1: that you know you see with these young quarterbacks who
Speaker 1: were inexperienced or kind of it helps to camouflage any
Speaker 1: type of potential problems in an offense. Just keeps it
Speaker 1: moving and keeps that confidence up, and Kyle Shanahan does
Speaker 1: it better than anyone. Yep, I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think that as good as Party has been, I've been
Speaker 1: more impressed by the scheme and the talent, and then
Speaker 1: a ton of respect to the Mr. Relevant his ability
Speaker 1: to do his job basically, and you hear that in
Speaker 1: the quotes in and around the team, like these guys
Speaker 1: are not talking about Brock Party is a godlike figure
Speaker 1: who's playing the quarterback position at level they've never seen.
Speaker 1: I think it's more like we respect that this kid
Speaker 1: is doing exactly what we need from him, and uh,
Speaker 1: it might not be flashy, but it is super effective.
Speaker 1: And for the record, when Jimmy, Jimmy, g what did
Speaker 1: he do to himself? How do he heard himself? It
Speaker 1: feels like so long ago now it was l No,
Speaker 1: what was the injury he suffered? Like all of the
Speaker 1: was a foot injury he got he got tackled and
Speaker 1: he had a foot injury, and I dropped the Niners
Speaker 1: after that happened from two down to seven, and after
Speaker 1: Party stepped in right away and and started playing at
Speaker 1: a high level and the offense got better. They've been
Speaker 1: at two to one, one one one now since in
Speaker 1: the six weeks with Party feeling good about where they are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right, chan Han said it. Jimmy G broke a
Speaker 1: few things, but remember when they were talking what it
Speaker 1: seemed like the Niner season was over, like maybe Jimmy
Speaker 1: G can come back, and maybe in the play Jimmy
Speaker 1: G is not coming back. Even if he could come back.
Speaker 1: This is Party's offense now. I don't think there's any doubt.
Speaker 1: I have some friends that are Niners fans, and I'm
Speaker 1: getting the same energy from them about Brock Party that
Speaker 1: I got from Eagles fans. Falls on their run. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of shirts that say some similar types of
Speaker 1: mottos that we're going around right right, So you can
Speaker 1: mandated perhaps and he has been farm related. You figured
Speaker 1: it out, you google it, so we don't have to
Speaker 1: say anything else. So yeah, Chiefs at two Bills at three.
Speaker 1: I just want to let's talk the Bills a little
Speaker 1: bit here. Were you as alarmed as I was, not
Speaker 1: just this game, but even going back the first post
Speaker 1: of mar Hamlin game against the Patriots, where there were
Speaker 1: a lot of leagues and the special teams brilliance covered
Speaker 1: it up, and then in the first round of the
Speaker 1: playoffs just kind of sloppy. Yeah, the problem there. Their
Speaker 1: issues with taking care of the ball just continue and
Speaker 1: you can't do that in the playoffs. Like they had
Speaker 1: twenty seven giveaways in the regular season, only the Colts
Speaker 1: and the Texans had more than the Bills, And we
Speaker 1: just continue to see this theme. Two first half interceptions
Speaker 1: and then Josh Allen gave up the scoop and score
Speaker 1: on the strip sack. So I mean, better teams are
Speaker 1: going to make them pay for these turnovers, and a
Speaker 1: better team like the Bengals might do that. And I
Speaker 1: don't know if they are necessarily better because we never
Speaker 1: got to see that game fully play out this year.
Speaker 1: We only saw nine minutes of it before the Damar
Speaker 1: Hamlin incident. But this is the game that we've kind
Speaker 1: of all been waiting to see. And when that game started,
Speaker 1: it looked like the Bengals were going to win it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the Bills they've taken care of business this season.
Speaker 1: There now what, they're fourteen and three with the playoff win,
Speaker 1: and yet there have been stages in the year where
Speaker 1: you kind of expecting them to be more dominant. Maybe
Speaker 1: they're not a dominant team. Maybe it's time for like
Speaker 1: people like me and perhaps us to say, Okay, despite
Speaker 1: them having this great season and being two wins away
Speaker 1: from the super Bowl, it's not like we should be
Speaker 1: looking at them as some infallible entity. And Josh Allen
Speaker 1: is a perfect example of that that he's just this tremendous,
Speaker 1: gifted quarterback that could beat you in so many ways,
Speaker 1: but he's always going to offer up gifts to the
Speaker 1: other team, and their success and failure will be dictated
Speaker 1: by that other teams of ability to take advantage of
Speaker 1: those mistakes, like the Dolphins converted Allen's three turnovers into
Speaker 1: eighteen points. And the reason the only reason the Bills
Speaker 1: didn't go home it is because the Dolphins stink like that.
Speaker 1: That version of the Dolphins was not a true playoff team,
Speaker 1: so you were able to get the necessary stops on
Speaker 1: defense to move on. It won't play against the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Won't play. And I'll say this, and you can check
Speaker 1: out the Around the NFL podcast which Connie is on
Speaker 1: on Thursday. We'll haven't thank you in depth, thank yourself
Speaker 1: in depth preview on this matchup. But one of the
Speaker 1: things that jumps out to me but builds Bengals three
Speaker 1: four in the Power rankings, is the Bengals offensive line shambles. Man.
Speaker 1: If von Miller was still around, I would feel way
Speaker 1: better about the Bills taking control of the game at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. We'll see how it goes from
Speaker 1: that standpoint. Well, the Bengals, their offensive line is just
Speaker 1: self destructing at the absolute worst possible time. This is
Speaker 1: what we saw with the Bengals all last season. They
Speaker 1: spent the off season trying to prevent this from happening,
Speaker 1: and then they get to the playoffs and now they're
Speaker 1: going to be down probably three starters. We don't really
Speaker 1: know yet about Alex Cappa, who heard his ankle in
Speaker 1: Week eighteen, but like all Collins done for the year.
Speaker 1: On Christmas Eve the a C L Jonah Williams, he
Speaker 1: was knocked out of the game. This located kneecap week
Speaker 1: to week. That doesn't sound great, sounds painful. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: tape it up and get him out there. Like Burrow
Speaker 1: was sacked a ton in that game, four times, it
Speaker 1: felt like more. He was constantly under pressure and he
Speaker 1: couldn't get the receiver's couldn't get separation. There was just
Speaker 1: not enough time for them to get down the field.
Speaker 1: So I don't think Joe Burrow threw a pass longer
Speaker 1: than twenty yards. That's a problem. That's a major problem.
Speaker 1: The offensive line is something that could ruin their season.
Speaker 1: It didn't last year. The year before, not only to
Speaker 1: ruin their season, Joe Burrow blew out his knees. So
Speaker 1: you always have to on a on a on a hit,
Speaker 1: You always have to be concerned about how that can
Speaker 1: affect their entire operation. And yeah, I think it's I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm very, very fortunate. We're all fortunate because who needed
Speaker 1: another week of Lamar Jackson storylines around the Ravens that
Speaker 1: the Ravens didn't get through that game and get to
Speaker 1: Divisional round play. But at the same time, other than
Speaker 1: Ravens fans, they would have loved it. Yeah, they would
Speaker 1: have absolutely loved it. I don't know if Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: what even wanted it, but Ravens exactly. Nobody knows. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, let's just be fair and credit
Speaker 1: to John Harbaugh and the Ravens, even in their state
Speaker 1: with their quarterback situation is unsettled. It is they played
Speaker 1: better than Cincinnati on Sunday night. They had the Bengals
Speaker 1: number if not for Sam Hubbard's brilliance, uh going damn
Speaker 1: seventeen and a half miles per hour on his yard
Speaker 1: fumble return. Big time stuff there. So I like the Bengals.
Speaker 1: I like the Bills obviously, like the Niners. I want
Speaker 1: you to tell me, Connie, do I have the top five? Right? Well,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna put you on. I'm gonna put you
Speaker 1: on the spot here in real time, Connie's top five here,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a pen. I would put Niners
Speaker 1: up top at one, all right, So I got that right,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's the most important one. I yeah.
Speaker 1: So the Chiefs, it's kind of like these next three Chiefs, Bills,
Speaker 1: Bengals are tough. I taking a walk and then my shoes.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm doing this. This is your job.
Speaker 1: I'm just here to judge. But you know, I do
Speaker 1: like an exercise, so, um, I would probably put this
Speaker 1: is so hard, this is great. I think that I
Speaker 1: might put the Bengals a touch above the Bills. All right,
Speaker 1: now put them in the two? Uh do you respect me?
Speaker 1: Now there's a colleague. Well let's not go that far. Um,
Speaker 1: But maybe the Eagles need to be higher. You want
Speaker 1: the Eagles at three? Maybe we put the Eagles at one,
Speaker 1: Eagle at one. I mean, Jalen Hurts come one. Like
Speaker 1: we could be here in another six hours before Colin
Speaker 1: gets to her fifth team here. Okay, I think I
Speaker 1: would go Niners, Chiefs, then Bengals, Bills, Eagles, and I
Speaker 1: have Niners, Chiefs, Bills, Bengals, yea, Eagles. So I would
Speaker 1: just switch Bengals and Bills. But it's like so close
Speaker 1: we put that back. Anybody else in the top you
Speaker 1: want to talk about you? You know, we should talk
Speaker 1: about the gi Men. They had the biggest jump and
Speaker 1: the power rankings up four spots, the number seven, and
Speaker 1: we didn't want to believe in them. And you know what,
Speaker 1: that's not a shame amount of situation. Sometimes a team changes,
Speaker 1: and sometimes a team kind of coalesces and becomes something
Speaker 1: greater at the perfect time. And to the credit of
Speaker 1: Ryan Dable and the Giants, they were winning when they
Speaker 1: were in a very good team and that's what got
Speaker 1: them to the postseason and got them to the end
Speaker 1: of the season in playoff positioning. And then Connie in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks of the regular season and
Speaker 1: obviously against the Vikings and wild card weekend, that is
Speaker 1: an actual now good team. You know, it almost sounds
Speaker 1: like a power move, a power move. Power move was
Speaker 1: presented by Energizer. That's right. Did you see what Giants
Speaker 1: Twitter put out of Daniel Jones wearing all of the
Speaker 1: chains and said, dimes on it like a Kirk Cousins deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's great. I love petty Twitter. Well, the yeah,
Speaker 1: if you followed that at all. The Vikings had something
Speaker 1: very petty after barely winning on Christmas Eve, bragging that
Speaker 1: they beat the two New York teams and Buffalo and
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, guys, well let's check back
Speaker 1: into the playoffs and see how the Vikings are two
Speaker 1: New York teams and Buffaloe. Everybody knows, everybody, do I
Speaker 1: need to the two Northern New Jersey teams and the
Speaker 1: team from Western New York, although the Northern New Jersey
Speaker 1: teams go by the New York City moniker. It's tough.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I don't. I don't love it,
Speaker 1: but I do love that Brian Dayball is succeeding in
Speaker 1: this way in his first season as a head coach
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's been lovely to see. Now it's
Speaker 1: probably time for them to go home. This week, you
Speaker 1: get the Eagles, because this is this is where Connie's
Speaker 1: coming from. Tell me if I'm wrong. You're hoping, obviously
Speaker 1: that your Eagles get healthy here and beat the Giants,
Speaker 1: But now you're worried about the Cowboys to the other
Speaker 1: team that you hate, potentially shocking the world and beating
Speaker 1: San Francisco. And then all of a sudden, you got
Speaker 1: the Cowboys on fire in the NFC title game. And
Speaker 1: I don't think you want anything to you just don't.
Speaker 1: You don't want the NFC East around get that. But
Speaker 1: if the Eagles could be the ones to kill them off,
Speaker 1: then I'm totally here for this is you. This is
Speaker 1: very Connie centric. You're talking Eagles. The Giants deserve the
Speaker 1: focus here. You know why. You know why, because Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones has made the leap. Daniel Jones has no longer
Speaker 1: got to be hidden in the offense. Daniel Jones is
Speaker 1: now the face of the offense. Was sae Quon Barkley
Speaker 1: as the robin to his batman, which nobody saw coming.
Speaker 1: And you you pair that with the Giants. Where are
Speaker 1: the Giants special? Okay, they are special? Running back when
Speaker 1: Danny Dimes is playing at this level, that's pretty special.
Speaker 1: And then that defensive line, Dexter Lawrence who absolutely absolutely
Speaker 1: ruined Minnesota season, Cavon Thibodeaux, who has really made strides
Speaker 1: as a rookie. He's becoming a player. Leonard Williams is
Speaker 1: a former All Pro. These are guys that could give
Speaker 1: your boy Jalen Hurts a lot of trouble, especially if
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts is hurt. Yeah, I know. So that's why
Speaker 1: I'm sweating this a lot. That the East is talented
Speaker 1: right now. He is playing as good as he's played
Speaker 1: all season. And same with Dak Prescott right now. And
Speaker 1: so Daniel Jones, he played last week without turning the
Speaker 1: ball over. And then they have guys like Isaiah Hodgson's Yeah,
Speaker 1: no name, Isaiah Hodgens. You got it, you got it,
Speaker 1: got there, you got there. They have this no name
Speaker 1: group of wide receivers. In fact, the most famous guy
Speaker 1: of their wide receiver group is Kenny Golladay, and he's
Speaker 1: like basically a multimillionaire blocker at this point, um for
Speaker 1: the But these guys make plays week after week week,
Speaker 1: and uh, I don't know. Can I tell you something?
Speaker 1: What a little spoiler alert you are? I think I
Speaker 1: can't wait to tell you you're wrong. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see how you can talk next week on the
Speaker 1: Power rankings if I'm wrong. But here's the thing. Grew
Speaker 1: up right on the border of northern New Jersey over
Speaker 1: on the other side of New York, and I learned
Speaker 1: a thing or two like following the Yeah and the
Speaker 1: Colton following. As Giants playoff runs, they take on a
Speaker 1: certain feel the games, how they win the games. And
Speaker 1: I knew they were gonna win that Viking game, just
Speaker 1: the vibe of the game. And that's gonna be a
Speaker 1: dog fight against the Eagles. Yeah, that's okay. I mean,
Speaker 1: Eli Manning in the building alone is going to give
Speaker 1: Philly the strength it needs to do that. It's fully
Speaker 1: expecting to get just verbally battered. All right, take a
Speaker 1: break and we'll check in. You know what the teams were.
Speaker 1: It didn't work out so well in Super wild Card weekend.
Speaker 1: We will be right back the NFL Power Ranking colon.
Speaker 1: The podcast Welcome Back to Power Ranking was presented by Energizer.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the losers teams nine through fourteen. You know,
Speaker 1: they made it to the postseason, so that's great. They
Speaker 1: are winners in that regard, but their run ends. Now
Speaker 1: you're going to give them participation trophy is like seven
Speaker 1: year old soccer players. Maybe maybe they should. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: a lot of these teams put up a great fight.
Speaker 1: The Chargers that they completely imploded on themselves, which I
Speaker 1: didn't think it was gonna happen again, but it did
Speaker 1: so down two spots to nine, their offensive coordinator got
Speaker 1: got Yeah, that's a lot. So I'm sorry Chargers fans,
Speaker 1: it's rough out there. The Vikings that they stay the
Speaker 1: same at ten after they're lost. The Ravens they go
Speaker 1: up three spots. Don't worry about the up three spots
Speaker 1: because we went from yeah, just disregard this is the
Speaker 1: rest of the rest. Okay, so Ravens eleven, Bucks twelve,
Speaker 1: Seahawks thirteen, and then Dolphins the last team, the false
Speaker 1: start team. I like to call that fam are at
Speaker 1: fourteen the delay of game time out team. Why don't
Speaker 1: we start with the Chargers because there's no reason we
Speaker 1: shouldn't be talking about them. And all due respect to
Speaker 1: the Jacks, who we didn't we didn't hit on the
Speaker 1: top of the show, but the Jaguars deserve a ton
Speaker 1: of credit for what they did, the comeback that they mounted.
Speaker 1: I mean, their last there, their last five drives starting
Speaker 1: late in the second quarter, was four touchdowns and the
Speaker 1: winning field goal. So they didn't have a huge window
Speaker 1: to amount that amazing comeback, and yet they did everything
Speaker 1: they had to do. And on the Chargers side, yeah,
Speaker 1: Charger is gonna charger and you hate it and I
Speaker 1: hate it as a Jets fan, you certain teams are
Speaker 1: snake bit and it seems and you would think that
Speaker 1: the players changed, the coaches changed, the management change, that
Speaker 1: the fan base will get a new fan experience. But
Speaker 1: the Bolts are just one of those teams where they
Speaker 1: just can't seem to shake the bad vibes. I know,
Speaker 1: I know. I mean, look, the Jags, Trevor Lawrence was
Speaker 1: a broken man to begin this game, and then he
Speaker 1: picked up the pieces and it was almost like two
Speaker 1: minutes to go before the half. He was trying to
Speaker 1: get ahead of that halftime pep talk from Peterson. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna turn around right now. It was
Speaker 1: very important after the half and completely snapped out of it.
Speaker 1: But my god, the way that the Chargers collapsed, I
Speaker 1: honestly I could not believe this because watching this game,
Speaker 1: it felt like it was completely in the bag for
Speaker 1: the Chargers. I started making brownies at this point I'm watching,
Speaker 1: but I'm now I'm starting to, like my mind starting
Speaker 1: to wander as I'm watching, because it felt like this
Speaker 1: game was just so in hand. And then the brownies.
Speaker 1: Why didn't you bring them? And I have basically almost
Speaker 1: finished all of them at this point. Kind of brownies?
Speaker 1: They're special chocolate chips? Could I give them to my children? Okay,
Speaker 1: that's why they're special? What kind of special brownies you
Speaker 1: were talking about? Every special cookies, special brownies. Anything I make,
Speaker 1: I just call it special. But Doug petersons, I just
Speaker 1: have to look. I like Doug Peterson. He's just like
Speaker 1: round of applause for Doug Peterson ran him out of
Speaker 1: town in Philly. But you know, I didn't want him
Speaker 1: to go. I'm a big fan of Doug Peterson, so
Speaker 1: him and Advisor and I think a justic hair, do
Speaker 1: you know? I I would love to have Doug's hair.
Speaker 1: And it's great when it was like the wind think
Speaker 1: we're all appreciative of the Doug Peterson situation just because
Speaker 1: everyone was bummed about the Urban Meyer fiasco, not just
Speaker 1: because of like how kind of it was almost disrespectful
Speaker 1: how he treated a job in the responsibility that comes
Speaker 1: with that job. But it was just like a waste
Speaker 1: of everyone's talents and considerable talents and in the case
Speaker 1: of Trevor Lawrence, a generational talent, and to steer it
Speaker 1: back to the Chargers. It's like, man, there is a
Speaker 1: lot of debate about Justin Herbert and how great he
Speaker 1: is and who's better than him, and who's he better than?
Speaker 1: But I did need I kind of needed if Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert is gonna be spoken of as like his generation's
Speaker 1: Dan Marino, I kind of needed him to go win
Speaker 1: that game. And uh, they didn't lose the game. I
Speaker 1: know Joe Lombardi, their offensive Cordy, and I got fired.
Speaker 1: They didn't lose the game because they got too conservative
Speaker 1: and just started handing the ball off a ton like
Speaker 1: Herbert had a lot of opportunities to kind of put
Speaker 1: that game away, and he couldn't do what The play
Speaker 1: calling needs to be better, the whole scheme and offense
Speaker 1: and and Los Angeles needs to be better. But he
Speaker 1: takes a big part of the l in that game.
Speaker 1: They couldn't run the ball even when they had a
Speaker 1: huge lead. Like the play calling in general was very suspect.
Speaker 1: Quarterback coach Shane Day also was let go. Who else
Speaker 1: do we want to talk? Let's talk about the Vikings.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got it. I got the Vikings right,
Speaker 1: I gotta say I talked about it all year. I
Speaker 1: wasn't the only one that wasn't buying in on the
Speaker 1: on the Vikings, but I caught a lot of fire
Speaker 1: on Twitter when at the end of the regular season
Speaker 1: I had non playoff teams like the Lions, for example,
Speaker 1: ahead of them, and I just never bought it. And
Speaker 1: that's why heading into wild card weekend, I had the
Speaker 1: Vikings and Giants right next to each other because you
Speaker 1: knew that was gonna come right down to the end,
Speaker 1: because you knew those teams despite one team being thirteen
Speaker 1: and four and the other nine six and one, we're
Speaker 1: basically at the same level. And it turned out the
Speaker 1: other team with the worst record was better. I feel
Speaker 1: like we did watch the better team did advance, and
Speaker 1: Vikings fans at the once again put up with like
Speaker 1: just not just losing, but like like cruel irony type losses.
Speaker 1: You go Levin and oh in the regular season and
Speaker 1: one score games and then immediately once the playoffs start,
Speaker 1: lose a one score game. That's very on brand for
Speaker 1: the Viking. Speaking of snake bitten franchise, it is it
Speaker 1: is the Vikings. They have. They have a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do in the off season, but as on
Speaker 1: one side of the on defense exactly like they need
Speaker 1: to do a tremendous amount of fixing. I mean, like
Speaker 1: they I know that they switched schemes this year. There
Speaker 1: was a lot of different changes, but I think overall
Speaker 1: on the whole, having a new head coach in there
Speaker 1: with Kevin O'Connell as his first season in Minnesota as
Speaker 1: the head coach, like this was a good year for them.
Speaker 1: They won the division. Obviously it was a down year
Speaker 1: for the Packers, but they had the Lions in there.
Speaker 1: Now they have to deal with the Lions going forward
Speaker 1: as well, so I think it's positive. It will be
Speaker 1: moving in the right direction. But once they get the
Speaker 1: defense fixed, then this will be a formidable team. You
Speaker 1: have justin Jefferson. He's an unbelievable talent, and like, honestly,
Speaker 1: that's all you need. I think it's helpful sometimes when
Speaker 1: you have off seasons like this where you know very
Speaker 1: specifically what needs to improve. I know Cincinnati had that
Speaker 1: type of situation after Burrows rookie year and they really
Speaker 1: went after we need another playmaker and we need to
Speaker 1: address the offensive line, and those things got a lot
Speaker 1: better quickly. I think you're gonna see Minnesota be very aggressive.
Speaker 1: There are salary cap restraints, of course, but very aggressive
Speaker 1: in free agency to address the defense at multiple levels.
Speaker 1: And I think their draft you'll see it's one of
Speaker 1: those always these teams like well, they had eight picks
Speaker 1: and seven of the eight were defensive players. I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see that type of vikings offseason, and it
Speaker 1: will be very logical. Some of these other teams, Connie,
Speaker 1: as we kind of wrap things up here, it's harder
Speaker 1: to say what their offseason looks like. The Ravens. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we don't know what's going on with Lamar Jackson. They
Speaker 1: have this this former mvv P quarterback in his mid twenties.
Speaker 1: That should be a no brainer. And yet when Melissa
Speaker 1: Stark on Sunday Night Football comes on the air before kickoff,
Speaker 1: well that's different. When she was talking to Johnny Harbaugh
Speaker 1: after the end of the first quarter, abolished the end
Speaker 1: of first quarter interview a TV to get rid of it. No,
Speaker 1: But when Stark was on as a Big Stark Show,
Speaker 1: when Stark was on before kickoff and she said that
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson ruled himself out ahead of the playoffs and
Speaker 1: that's a power move presented by you know, energizer and
Speaker 1: then chose not to travel with the team to the
Speaker 1: PO And I'm like, whoa, that is a major, major
Speaker 1: red flag in terms of where he stands with the team.
Speaker 1: I was thinking the same thing because it's not like
Speaker 1: he was just recently hurt and this would be a
Speaker 1: problem for him to fly. I don't know the workings
Speaker 1: of everything, but you would think that he would be
Speaker 1: there with the team. Remember last week when we talked
Speaker 1: about the teams that we thought could make a big
Speaker 1: jump on this show come August when we come back,
Speaker 1: and I said the Jets they had to get a
Speaker 1: quarterback first, which they were going to get. Where do
Speaker 1: you think the Jets would be in? You know, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of off brand power rankings, Like if
Speaker 1: you added Lamar to that Jet offense and defense, like
Speaker 1: a lot of people we would have, the Jets potentially
Speaker 1: is a top ten team. That's what Lamar would bring
Speaker 1: to a new team. And the Ravens if they do
Speaker 1: move him, and I don't think they would unless they
Speaker 1: he makes it clear to them that there's no way
Speaker 1: I want to be with you anymore. Um, He's gonna
Speaker 1: make another team a lot better and it will be
Speaker 1: a ton of buzz around wherever he lands for that team. Also,
Speaker 1: think about how everything changed for that organization when Lamar
Speaker 1: got there, like specifically for John Harball, Like there were
Speaker 1: so many uncertainties, especially at the quarterback position, and John
Speaker 1: Harball basically built the offense around him and then built
Speaker 1: himself extra years in the position. So I just feel
Speaker 1: like there should be some loyalty to the family. Alight,
Speaker 1: I like that. You know, did you finish the movie yet,
Speaker 1: finish god Father yet? In fact, before we say goodbye,
Speaker 1: finish glass Onion, though I want to. I want to
Speaker 1: check that out. So the Ravens in decision at quarterback,
Speaker 1: the Bucks in decision at quarterback, the Seahawks unclear where
Speaker 1: they are at quarterback, although it looks like Gino wants
Speaker 1: back and they want you know. And the Dolphins, they
Speaker 1: said the two is coming back next year, but we
Speaker 1: don't know what to his future is questions question marks
Speaker 1: at quarterback will put you lower in the rankings? Exercise
Speaker 1: in professional football facts, That makes sense. All right, We'll
Speaker 1: be back next week with the Conference Championship edition of
Speaker 1: Power Rankings. They're just gonna get shorter and shorter the list,
Speaker 1: which is less work for us, which is a good
Speaker 1: thing for you. We love it. Until next week, He's
Speaker 1: the call. NFL Power Rankings as a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
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