Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to the
Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings podcast, presented by Energizer. I am Dan
Speaker 1: Hansas joining me in the studio. Why because I haven't
Speaker 1: been back since the Phillies were in the playoffs? Count Wolf. Hello. Um, Yes,
Speaker 1: when your when your team is celebrating a world Series title, Yes,
Speaker 1: there's going to be a certain hangover of that. And
Speaker 1: they didn't win. Sorry Dan, come on, neither did your team,
Speaker 1: so whatever. All right, but we're not talking the MLB
Speaker 1: Power Rankings. Does that exist? Probably, But the NFL Power
Speaker 1: Rankings do exist. In fact, there's only one official one.
Speaker 1: It's mine on NFL dot Com and hours on this podcast.
Speaker 1: That's right. We share this one, right, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to have some ownership of this. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's like a pre nup involved that we need when, um,
Speaker 1: you know, if they end up going south if I
Speaker 1: get if you divorce me in a business sense and
Speaker 1: then take my power rankings, that sounds I get the dogs,
Speaker 1: you get the power ranking deals off deals. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. By the way, weird times here, Um,
Speaker 1: in our league the East Coast. We both hail from
Speaker 1: the East Coast. I'm from New York here from Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: Philly girl. Um, the a f C East and the
Speaker 1: NFC East. All eight teams are in the top half
Speaker 1: of the power rankings right now. So eight out of
Speaker 1: sixty nailed it. Of the power rankings, the top half
Speaker 1: are the East teams. Is that East Coast bias by
Speaker 1: ol ZUSA? Are you in on this? Well, that's what
Speaker 1: I mean. I guess it's hard for me to talk
Speaker 1: about East Coast bias because I opened the show talking
Speaker 1: about the Phillies in But what a time to be
Speaker 1: alive if you're from the East, if you root for
Speaker 1: a team from the East. Nobody really thought that that
Speaker 1: was going to happen in training camp anything like that.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of cool to see. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: is interesting. We'll see if that holds. Is the season
Speaker 1: kind of comes towards its final point of the regular season.
Speaker 1: Of course we do this all the way through the playoffs.
Speaker 1: No one really knows, but you do, so make sure
Speaker 1: to watch us every week through the Super Bowl. Let's
Speaker 1: check out teams one through eight. And speaking of Philadelphia
Speaker 1: and those Eagles. Somebody actually tweeted at me this morning, well,
Speaker 1: this guy's list. He can't be taken seriously because he's
Speaker 1: an Eagles fan. That eaggles green. But they do swap
Speaker 1: spots with the Chiefs. Eagles at number one after one
Speaker 1: spot one week out of the top spot, the Chiefs
Speaker 1: dropped it to the Niners. Look out for the Niners
Speaker 1: up two to number three, the Cowboys at number four,
Speaker 1: Bills number five, Dolphins up one to six, Vikings coming
Speaker 1: off the Thanksgiving win up to to seven, and yes,
Speaker 1: the Bengals of two to eight. Where do we want
Speaker 1: to start here? I don't know. Maybe we should just
Speaker 1: start at the top, all right, I shall we start
Speaker 1: with the Let's start now. People don't make too much
Speaker 1: of it, society that the Chiefs dropped in the Eagles rose.
Speaker 1: It's not because I put so much into the Chiefs
Speaker 1: not performing so well in a win against a decimated
Speaker 1: Rams team. But I did put when they're this close,
Speaker 1: the Eagles dominating the way they did in primetime, which
Speaker 1: is always just a little bit of a bump in
Speaker 1: the power rankings, those Island game performances. That was enough
Speaker 1: to get him to the top spot. But it's very
Speaker 1: close right now. Yeah, and I think you could argue
Speaker 1: that both teams one and two are the best in
Speaker 1: their conference, but the Eagles. Right now, Jalen Hurts is
Speaker 1: the most popular guy in Philadelphia. When I went home
Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving, everyone everyone wanted to talk about Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1: Didn't matter who it was. Family members, friends from high
Speaker 1: school that I didn't even know knew about football. They
Speaker 1: want to know about Jalen Hurts. And he did it.
Speaker 1: He's picking up a lot of the slack without Dallas
Speaker 1: Goddard in the lineup, and he's doing it with his legs.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was absolutely magical. He had a killer
Speaker 1: first half and he just keeps building a stronger case
Speaker 1: for m v P, which I thought was interesting watching
Speaker 1: this game, seeing Aaron Rodgers, last year's MVP, in the
Speaker 1: spot that he's in right now, and we know he's
Speaker 1: playing with the broken thumb as well, and then he
Speaker 1: got hurt his oblique. But it's just it's bleak. Watching
Speaker 1: the Packers bleak is bleak, you know. The way they
Speaker 1: are right now did feel like a bit of a
Speaker 1: changing of the guard in the NFC because when Rogers,
Speaker 1: after he leaves the game and he gets the X rays.
Speaker 1: They show him with the pads off, with the jersey off,
Speaker 1: and he looked very much like a man nearing forty
Speaker 1: years old. And then you see Jalen Hurts looking like
Speaker 1: Michael vick On. I would say reincarnated, but Michael, there
Speaker 1: is still a lot as a football player, perhaps reincarnated.
Speaker 1: A hundred and fifty seven yards rushing for Hurts, which
Speaker 1: is a Eagles record, and they came Jeez, Connie, three
Speaker 1: and sixty three yards on the ground by the Eagles,
Speaker 1: just thirteen yards shy of the franchise records set in nineteen.
Speaker 1: It's been a minute. So that is what happened with Eagles.
Speaker 1: Do you know? You know, do you have? How much
Speaker 1: time do you have? They lost in the wild card
Speaker 1: round to the Jaguars. Actually, I do hate by the way,
Speaker 1: c J. Gardner Johnson, and he's gonna miss some time
Speaker 1: now too with the lacerated kidney. Um. It was encouraging
Speaker 1: to see the rookie read blanket ship get a pick
Speaker 1: on his first career target. But c. J. Gardner Johnson
Speaker 1: leads the league. He was leading the league in interceptions.
Speaker 1: He's a huge part of the defense. In that secondary,
Speaker 1: so that could hurt them. Yeah, he was such a
Speaker 1: huge pickup right before the season starts. They really swindled
Speaker 1: him away from the Saints. And if I guess, if
Speaker 1: you want to pick one thing the Eagles defense is,
Speaker 1: it's something that can be exposed. I know they did
Speaker 1: give up thirty three points to Green Bay, but some
Speaker 1: of that came in kind of garbage time with Jordan's
Speaker 1: love feeling good about them at number one, But when
Speaker 1: Jordan Davis is back, by the way, just one last
Speaker 1: thing that Eagles run defense too will significantly improve. I agree,
Speaker 1: who else did you like? Like? Kind of who when
Speaker 1: we take a look at the first tier? Who else
Speaker 1: did you kind of like what you saw from? Well? Im?
Speaker 1: You know who I liked? I liked the Jets did Jets?
Speaker 1: We haven't seen that. I'm not just like pandering to
Speaker 1: you about this because I really love Mike White. I'm
Speaker 1: one of those like basic girls that just absolutely he
Speaker 1: came in and provided such a spark, like there was
Speaker 1: actual juice on this offense. And I think it all
Speaker 1: goes back to was it last year that Mike White
Speaker 1: had his whole thing? And then we were and I
Speaker 1: did the Thursday night football game, and I spent an
Speaker 1: entire pregame show talking about Mike White and how amazing
Speaker 1: and blah blah blah. Did they send something to the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame that way they did his jersey because
Speaker 1: he kind of set the yardage record I believe in
Speaker 1: a first start. And yeah, he went and immediately got
Speaker 1: knocked out of that Thursday night game with an injury,
Speaker 1: and then through four picks the following weekends the Bills,
Speaker 1: and then he disappeared. So pardon me as a jetsman.
Speaker 1: And by the way, they're up to number ten, up
Speaker 1: four spots after dropping four spots the previous week after
Speaker 1: that grizzly loss to the Patriots. You have to pardon
Speaker 1: me if I am still my guards up here, because
Speaker 1: the Bears are just there's no eat on that bone
Speaker 1: when you take out justin fields and their defense is wretched.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, White looked incredible, and the
Speaker 1: offense was running like it's intended to run with the
Speaker 1: right playmakers like Garrett Wilson and remember Elijah Moore getting right.
Speaker 1: They all wanted to trade because none of them wanted
Speaker 1: to play with Zach Wilson, and I think It's a
Speaker 1: credit to Robert Salt for listening to his team, saving
Speaker 1: the locker room and maybe saving this season. Now you
Speaker 1: got the vikings coming up, you do. But I like
Speaker 1: the fact that Mike White spread the ball around and
Speaker 1: everybody was eating, like ten different players caught a pass.
Speaker 1: It was just he had a great haircut to go
Speaker 1: with it too, like he was looking yeah great, fade good,
Speaker 1: good good. And what about Zack Wilson cut to him
Speaker 1: on the sideline? Oh no, it was too sad. I
Speaker 1: wish I knew the Star Wars reference. But someone posted
Speaker 1: a side by side of who's the guy he turned
Speaker 1: into Darth Vader and those dopey sequels from the nineties
Speaker 1: and early two thousand. Anybody, I haven't even seen The
Speaker 1: Godfather all the way through? What do I look like? Marks?
Speaker 1: Is it? Frodo? Who was it? Who was it? This
Speaker 1: is this is where I need a producer to help
Speaker 1: us out back there? Nobody knows nothing. Everyone just been
Speaker 1: his hands up, baby Yoda? How old is everyone back there?
Speaker 1: All right, let's so the Jets. Let's see I'm guarded here,
Speaker 1: because this would be a very Jets move, like the
Speaker 1: Thursday night preview. You did last year and then nothing
Speaker 1: good happens? Can they stack some? It's been a roller coach.
Speaker 1: Why don't you just have fun though? Why can't you
Speaker 1: just because isn't this offense more fun? It's like being
Speaker 1: an Eagles fan before the Nick Foles here. Do you
Speaker 1: remember how you you were always expecting something terrible to happen? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I still do. Jets fans are Eagles fans without the
Speaker 1: Nick Foles here. So we're not that. We've been hurt
Speaker 1: so many times we don't expect the good times to
Speaker 1: ever last. All right? About the jag Wars, Sorry, they're
Speaker 1: another team you've got your eye on. Speaking of Nick Foles,
Speaker 1: the Doug Peterson connection, which, oh my god, going for
Speaker 1: two Jets, but I know where you're going. Listen. That
Speaker 1: was the head coach, Doug Peterson. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know about what happened that year, Dan, that Star
Speaker 1: Wars guy. While okay, so absolutely loved what I saw
Speaker 1: from the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence. I mean, he had
Speaker 1: such a strong performance in this game, with the game
Speaker 1: winning drive plus the two point conversion that I couldn't
Speaker 1: believe they went for and got with fourteen seconds left.
Speaker 1: That was a defining moment for Trevor Lawrence. That was
Speaker 1: the moment that we've been waiting to see from him,
Speaker 1: and he got it done at that passed to say
Speaker 1: Jones on fourth and eight. Three straight games now he's
Speaker 1: completed over seven passes. I know, what the hell, But
Speaker 1: it was just one of those games where I was
Speaker 1: watching and I thought that they were not going to
Speaker 1: get the two points. You know, it is wild, and
Speaker 1: I have to say, as a head coach, I'd probably
Speaker 1: be kicking the extra point. But we had two teams,
Speaker 1: the Chargers and the Jacks go for it on too
Speaker 1: this week, and they both hit them to win their
Speaker 1: games in dramatic fashion. So you know, props to that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think what we've been seeing with Lawrence is a
Speaker 1: slow building title way right, because his rookie season was
Speaker 1: a disaster because of you know who Urban Meyer. The
Speaker 1: second year, it was very hit or miss, some scatter
Speaker 1: shot games in the mix of bad games in the mix.
Speaker 1: And just when you started, you know, those conversations were
Speaker 1: percolating again in November, what happened to this guy being
Speaker 1: you know, a generational town. He's now stacked three games
Speaker 1: in a row, but this one, especially this one felt
Speaker 1: like the game, and I think give it to Jaguars fans.
Speaker 1: That building t i a a stadium. Maybe we could
Speaker 1: workshop that. I still call it the Big Chlorine Tank
Speaker 1: because of that pool. That place is going nuts. You
Speaker 1: can you could tell that that's a good fan base,
Speaker 1: that that sensed the moment happening. And the Jaguars are
Speaker 1: gonna be trouble. Maybe not this year, but they're gonna
Speaker 1: give teams trouble the rest of the season. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can see that consistency starting to develop with Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: And their mascot is really spicy too, you know, not
Speaker 1: since the Philly Fanatic has a mascot so currently captured
Speaker 1: the city in which it lives. I mean, the what
Speaker 1: is it an American flag thong? Is that what we're
Speaker 1: dealing with, Mammock? Is that? What we're dealing with here
Speaker 1: is that even allowed I don't will listen, the Fanatic
Speaker 1: gets naked all the time and nobody blinks an eye.
Speaker 1: Do you think of Rock? But he's not. He's like
Speaker 1: a living He's a cartoon character. Like the Here's the
Speaker 1: thing that's the thing about Jacksonville. He's a human body.
Speaker 1: He's in spandex, Right, Philip Finatic doesn't have to wear
Speaker 1: pants because he's like a muppet. He's like a mutated muppet.
Speaker 1: Is listen, Jack's got parts. This is confirmed. We know
Speaker 1: that this is a This is so I'm just one,
Speaker 1: can he be celebrated? Why does he have to be ashamed?
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering body positivity? Okay with it? I'm okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just waring, Like is rog okay with this? Is
Speaker 1: rock watching on the tube and like, all right, where
Speaker 1: is he up? Like, hey, put some pants on the mascot.
Speaker 1: We'll see. We're gonna find out next week. Will all right,
Speaker 1: where are we going next? What do we want to talk? Maybe? Okay,
Speaker 1: so this is going to be now two weeks in
Speaker 1: a row, so we're skipping around a little bit. But Washington,
Speaker 1: I thought, once again, Yeah, Now they've won six of
Speaker 1: their last seven. They're above five D for the first
Speaker 1: time since which was two years before the pandemic. So
Speaker 1: I like to say two bp um at this point
Speaker 1: because I can only really judge years by the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So the fact that I just love Brian Robinson, that's
Speaker 1: what this is all about for me, Like I know
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to compartmentalize Washington is the organization versus
Speaker 1: the Commanders as a team. We can we can them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's and that's what I'm doing. And I'm also
Speaker 1: trying to pretend that they're not in the division with
Speaker 1: the Eagles and that they did not beat the Eagles
Speaker 1: and give them their only loss of the year. However,
Speaker 1: I just love Brian Robinson so much. Had his first
Speaker 1: one hundred yard Russian game of the year, he got
Speaker 1: the game ball, he was wearing that gigantic hat, like
Speaker 1: everything about it, and him a lot of money. I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's listen. He he had such a good game, and
Speaker 1: his return and the Commander's success are not independent of
Speaker 1: each other. They're directly And for people who don't know,
Speaker 1: here's the timeline. Brian Robinson Jr. Gets drafted in April
Speaker 1: in the third round by Washington, has a great offseason,
Speaker 1: training season, has a really strong preseason. Then he gets
Speaker 1: shot twice in the leg during an attempt at robbery
Speaker 1: in August, makes it back to the field in October,
Speaker 1: and then it wasn't until Sunday where this you could
Speaker 1: tell this is the guy Washington thought they were getting.
Speaker 1: And he's a good matches physical style with Washington's defense.
Speaker 1: And yeah, on the power rankings, the number thirteen spot,
Speaker 1: as I always say, is like when I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what to do with the team, I stick him at thirteen.
Speaker 1: But that's not really the case of the Commanders. I
Speaker 1: kind of know who they are. They're limited offensively to
Speaker 1: a certain degree. They're not gonna win any shootouts, but
Speaker 1: they're gonna drag you into the muck and they're gonna
Speaker 1: make games ugly, and they're showing an ability to win
Speaker 1: those games. And that's a team that I don't want
Speaker 1: to face, especially as the season that gets into the
Speaker 1: later stages, and that defense, the way that they can
Speaker 1: wreck a game. Their half game behind the Giants. Right now,
Speaker 1: they play them twice in the next three weeks with
Speaker 1: a buy in between the Giants. They've lost two straight.
Speaker 1: They're going in the wrong direction. I just want to
Speaker 1: know if the Commanders are going to end up in
Speaker 1: the playoffs with Carson Wentz watching on the bench. They should,
Speaker 1: I mean they can't. I don't know, Carson Wentz, You're
Speaker 1: not You don't have that ring with the Eagles of
Speaker 1: that Wentz his first four team games. But I know
Speaker 1: I speaking of Commanders. Yes, they're number thirteen. Let's check
Speaker 1: out the rest of Quad two as we call it.
Speaker 1: The Titans dropped three spots to number nine off that
Speaker 1: disappointing lost to Cincinnati, like the Bengals a lot, but
Speaker 1: I feel like they they're rounding in to form the
Speaker 1: Jets as we sent up four spots to ten. Ravens
Speaker 1: down three and we'll get to them in a second
Speaker 1: to eleven, Chargers up five to twelve, Commanders up three
Speaker 1: to thirteen. They've been on a steady rise over the
Speaker 1: past month. Seahawks down to that defense is an issue
Speaker 1: again to fourteen, Pats down too, off the narrow loss
Speaker 1: and Thanksgiving the Vikings Hunter Henry caught it uh to fifteen,
Speaker 1: and the Giants are going the wrong direction right now,
Speaker 1: and they're down one to sixteen with two matchups in
Speaker 1: three weeks against the Commanders, and I feel like there's
Speaker 1: a bit of a maybe a body swap between those
Speaker 1: two teams now, and I kind of expect Washington to
Speaker 1: find a way to win one at least of those games.
Speaker 1: The Ravens, Connie, let's talk about it. What's going on?
Speaker 1: Here's a stat Come into the therapist corner. What's up?
Speaker 1: You want a little data point? I would love it.
Speaker 1: Data or data data numbers? Please, you're a regular, Cynthia Freeland.
Speaker 1: For the first time this season all year in the
Speaker 1: Power rankings, the Ravens are outside the top ten. And
Speaker 1: you know why, Connie, because I've seen it now too
Speaker 1: many times. Fool me once, Shame on you, Fool me twice,
Speaker 1: shame on me three times. Boy, you must be an idiot.
Speaker 1: Fool me a fourth time. Why are you on a
Speaker 1: camera talking into a microphone. But they have led every
Speaker 1: opponent by at least nine points this season in the
Speaker 1: second half, and they've lost four games now, including yes,
Speaker 1: that loss to the Jaguars on the apware mentioned two
Speaker 1: point conversion, and it just it was the way they
Speaker 1: lost too. And listen, the whole team didn't exactly cover
Speaker 1: itself and glory in this game, the fumble by Gus Edwards,
Speaker 1: the defense completely laying down, and Lamar Jackson, even after
Speaker 1: he played well down the stretch, then gets after an
Speaker 1: idiot fan on Twitter and says stupid stuff, and it's
Speaker 1: just like that was a weird moment for him. It
Speaker 1: was also weird that it was up for three hours
Speaker 1: before taking down and John Harbaugh came out and said
Speaker 1: it was out of character and they addressed it. It's
Speaker 1: just like what is going on, Baltimore. But anyway, the
Speaker 1: way the Jaguars offense just marched down the field, it
Speaker 1: just seems schematically that the Ravens were a mess and
Speaker 1: personnel wise, they weren't getting it done. And it's this
Speaker 1: has happened enough now where I just you feel like
Speaker 1: this is how their season is going to end eventually
Speaker 1: as well, maybe in January and a playoff game where
Speaker 1: they get ahead and then they just can't close because
Speaker 1: they can't close, and it almost feels like it has
Speaker 1: a little bit of a Chargers vibe to it, where
Speaker 1: they just keep coming so close and then they just
Speaker 1: keep failing, which is exactly it's so out of character
Speaker 1: for them. Also, they're having so many issues in the
Speaker 1: red zone to the last two games or three of
Speaker 1: nine in the red zone. Lamar Jackson just is in
Speaker 1: his effective at all. I mean de Sean Jackson. They
Speaker 1: got him in there and he was involved, so that
Speaker 1: was cool for a second, but even just routine throws
Speaker 1: that Lamar would have made earlier in the season, the
Speaker 1: one where he overthrew DeMarcus Robinson who was wide open early.
Speaker 1: Like things like that just keep adding up and they're struggling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know what, I understand that, But I put
Speaker 1: this one on the defense. Gotta close that game out.
Speaker 1: You gotta close that game out. And it's one thing
Speaker 1: I know we just talked about. Trevor Lawrence has arrived,
Speaker 1: so that I get. So you don't want to say, oh,
Speaker 1: how do you let the Jaguars beat you? But it's
Speaker 1: the way that Jaguars went down the field, how pathetic
Speaker 1: the Baltimore defense was, the way they weren't even defending
Speaker 1: the sidelines for a team the Jacksonal team that didn't
Speaker 1: have time out, it was just like, what is going
Speaker 1: on with this team? Anyway? I don't know, Let's move on.
Speaker 1: We'll see if they get back to the topton I.
Speaker 1: I kind of think they will because they are talented
Speaker 1: than when it ends, when the season is over, they'll
Speaker 1: probably get those eleven wins or so well, they have
Speaker 1: the Broncos next week. What do I trust them there?
Speaker 1: They should take care of business. How about a team
Speaker 1: that you want to take from this quadrant? I got
Speaker 1: one for you here. I was looking at the Patriots. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was trying to see where you have them at fifteen.
Speaker 1: This team it bums me out for some reason. They
Speaker 1: just feel worse than their actual record and their six
Speaker 1: and five, so they're they're pretty mediocre. But I don't
Speaker 1: really love anything that I see from them. I know
Speaker 1: Mac mac jones kind of woke up the offense, but
Speaker 1: like they just couldn't get it going, couldn't keep it going,
Speaker 1: couldn't sustain it, and that just felt like such a
Speaker 1: waste for the team to not take advantage of a
Speaker 1: really good effort from mac Jones, because he threw for
Speaker 1: a career high in yards. But the same issues just
Speaker 1: continue to hurt New England. And that's where my frustration lies,
Speaker 1: because they had five penalties that just gifted the Vikings
Speaker 1: first downs. They converted on just three of ten third downs.
Speaker 1: The red zone and is where the offense just goes
Speaker 1: to die. They were oh for three. I mean, although
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry caught it, but yes, and I know I
Speaker 1: know that was The Vikings red zone defense is awful,
Speaker 1: Like they're the worst in the league, so they should
Speaker 1: have at least been a little bit better aside from
Speaker 1: the Hunter Henry and if you are a truther of
Speaker 1: the Patriots have a bad coaching staff and Belichick blew it,
Speaker 1: which is there is a faction of people out there
Speaker 1: you can point to the Patriots doing Unpatriots things during
Speaker 1: the season with self inflicted eras of stuff. That part
Speaker 1: of their greatness other than Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: being in the building, was they would let other teams
Speaker 1: beat themselves. And they were just so clinical and how
Speaker 1: precise they were in terms of playing the game. So
Speaker 1: you have to go for three and the red zone.
Speaker 1: Those five penalties were first downs, to surrender, a kick off,
Speaker 1: a return for a touchdown when they seemed to take
Speaker 1: the momentum in the second half, all that stuff. They're
Speaker 1: not good enough to make up for that. And yet
Speaker 1: you know, six and five seems right for them. Five
Speaker 1: and six, six and five the Jets games were weird
Speaker 1: because Zack Wilson basically gifted them to them gift of
Speaker 1: those two games they probably should have at least split
Speaker 1: with the Jets, which would make them five and six.
Speaker 1: They feel like an eight and nine, nine and eighteen,
Speaker 1: So maybe they are kind of I guess that's just
Speaker 1: kind of like with them. And now they have stuff
Speaker 1: on Diggs next week where they couldn't stop Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: at all. So I don't know how that's going to
Speaker 1: work out. That's coming up on Thursday, all right, And
Speaker 1: we know what the Bills have been doing to the
Speaker 1: Patriots the last few matchups. It's been grizzly. Let's finish
Speaker 1: this discussion of Quad two with old juice or taken
Speaker 1: an owl. I don't like to do it, but if
Speaker 1: you're gonna be powering this guy, you gotta admit when
Speaker 1: you were dumb. And I was dumb about the Bucks
Speaker 1: because I've all season kind of believed that they were
Speaker 1: going to figure things out, and when they had the
Speaker 1: slightest bit of success like that win over Seattle and Munich,
Speaker 1: I took that to mean, oh, the offense is fine now.
Speaker 1: But then you look, it's like I scored what one
Speaker 1: points in that game, whatever it was, and then they
Speaker 1: have their by, they come out of the by, and
Speaker 1: it's more the same against the Brown seventeen points, six
Speaker 1: three and outs. Just it's so hard for the team
Speaker 1: to manufacture offense, and at a certain point I need
Speaker 1: to stop looking at the names and focus on the game.
Speaker 1: So I I dropped them seven spots to eighteen, which
Speaker 1: is really probably the area they should have been for
Speaker 1: most of this year. But I was just giving them
Speaker 1: that benefit of the doubt. I'm not doing it anymore.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have been doing it in the first place.
Speaker 1: But sometimes you get sucked in, and I did. I
Speaker 1: also did after the game in Germany. It was I
Speaker 1: got swept up in the full emotion of it all,
Speaker 1: which was amazing by the way, but the way that
Speaker 1: they were able to run the ball finally, and that
Speaker 1: was the whole thing going into the game. They hadn't
Speaker 1: been able to do it for so long, and we
Speaker 1: just saw so many good moments from them, and maybe
Speaker 1: that was more of an indictment on the Seahawks defense,
Speaker 1: especially after what we saw them do their their next game,
Speaker 1: which is the defense completely tank again exactly so. And
Speaker 1: you add the Tristan Worf's injury to it as well,
Speaker 1: and not just compounds things. Yeah, Wors went down with
Speaker 1: a high ankle sprain, a weird freak injury, and overtime
Speaker 1: he's going to be out multiple weeks. They don't really
Speaker 1: even have a timetable three to four. That's exactly what
Speaker 1: that is. That's a timetable. So Colleen, that's why we
Speaker 1: work well together. You know, we're just getting started here.
Speaker 1: By the way, Anakin Skywalker is from Star Wars that
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson resembled on the sideline with this hoodie on
Speaker 1: getting rained on. Were traded by Hayden Christensen and that
Speaker 1: one person behind the glass can help us out with him.
Speaker 1: Is that related to our producer Drew. He doesn't speak.
Speaker 1: He seems like a Darth Vader in trading. Maybe that
Speaker 1: is what's going on here. We'll be right back back here.
Speaker 1: On Power Rankings brought to you by Energizer. For quad
Speaker 1: three of the old Zeuser's rankings, we got teens through
Speaker 1: at seventeen. You have the Raiders up nine spots, okay,
Speaker 1: running away with Josh Jacobs at eighteen. The Bucks they're
Speaker 1: going the other way. They fall seven spots. The Browns
Speaker 1: come in at nineteen, up five. Then you have the
Speaker 1: Lions down to at twenty, the Packers down to one,
Speaker 1: Cardinals just you know, hanging around there at twenty two,
Speaker 1: not going to any of the most two team that's
Speaker 1: ever been. They are you got the Jags at twenty
Speaker 1: three up six love that we talked about that and
Speaker 1: then twenty four up one spot after beating the Colts
Speaker 1: on Monday Night Football. Alright, So time four Power Moves
Speaker 1: presented by Energizer and Dan. You know, tis the season
Speaker 1: right now to rise or fall in the rankings. And December,
Speaker 1: you know, it's the tough months of December to remember,
Speaker 1: it is the sales event. What's coming to December? You know, Listen,
Speaker 1: You've got a lot of stuff in the schedule. You
Speaker 1: got holiday parties. You got to come up with gift ideas.
Speaker 1: I mean, and that's tough. You're buying gift cards for
Speaker 1: everybody that you don't know. Maybe you're feeling ashamed about
Speaker 1: giving a gift card, but that's what people want. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you have alcoholic family members to try and deal with.
Speaker 1: It's a lot at the holidays, but sometimes the schedule
Speaker 1: breaks your way and everything comes up right. Um, And
Speaker 1: that's what's going on with the Raiders. It's going to
Speaker 1: be a good discever for them. We're gonna go through
Speaker 1: some schedules here with teams who could potentially make a
Speaker 1: huge jump in the rankings. So I was looking at
Speaker 1: what the Raiders have going on. Okay, and two straight
Speaker 1: overtime wins, so that's some nice moment off a little
Speaker 1: extra adrenaline shot. So good. It's starting to feel Dare
Speaker 1: I say a little bit like last season when they
Speaker 1: went on a streak and then they made the playoffs.
Speaker 1: But maybe this is something that they could do this season.
Speaker 1: I mean, can they keep it up? You little wet here?
Speaker 1: Next four games? They got the Chargers, they got the Rams,
Speaker 1: they got the Patriots, and then they got the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Now most of those games are you got two of
Speaker 1: their final six games are on the road, so they're
Speaker 1: playing four of those games at home. The only problem
Speaker 1: is they have the Diners and the Chiefs at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. But they could in theory have
Speaker 1: eight wins, could be eight and seven going into those
Speaker 1: final two games. And if Josh Jacobs is still making
Speaker 1: everyone regret doubting him there in Vegas like this could be.
Speaker 1: This could be good for them. I like it their
Speaker 1: fun team right now. Okay, So now I'm gonna even
Speaker 1: though I wrote about the same things that you're talking
Speaker 1: about right now, I'm gonna now let's go the other way.
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs We don't even know if he's playing this week.
Speaker 1: He's got a calf issue, he said. He said on
Speaker 1: Tuesday's gonna try to play weird, but he will probably play.
Speaker 1: Hopefully he'll be himself. After the three yards from scrimmage,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the decisions, Daniels. I'm gonna talk
Speaker 1: about that. What I'm gonna talk about is this is
Speaker 1: a team that has repeatedly they play heart attack football.
Speaker 1: They've lost so many close games before these two overtime
Speaker 1: wins that they are a very hard team to trust.
Speaker 1: To say, all of a sudden, they're going to become
Speaker 1: a consistently good team. And yes, you mentioned those last
Speaker 1: two games where it gets really tough. Who is it
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs, the Chiefs of the Niners. Chiefs and Niners,
Speaker 1: two of the best teams in football. They have to
Speaker 1: win the next four weeks to even have a chance,
Speaker 1: and they've already won the So we're asking these Raiders
Speaker 1: to win six games in a row. That feels rich
Speaker 1: to me, But at the same time, it's worth having
Speaker 1: the conversation because there's usually one team that kind of
Speaker 1: comes out of nowhere in December and makes a push
Speaker 1: and they do have the talent. I know it's there.
Speaker 1: I think the reason why I sort of like them
Speaker 1: is because they're such a chaotic team and that that
Speaker 1: just draws me in. Like I like the chaos, I
Speaker 1: like heart attack football, like that is. I don't have
Speaker 1: any other stakes with that team, so it really it
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't hurt me if they end up losing, but
Speaker 1: it is exciting when they do win. They win the
Speaker 1: way that they have, you know they're gonna do by
Speaker 1: the way they're gonna win the next three games, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be five game winning trick. Everyone's gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about him, and then Kenny Hick it's gonna beat him
Speaker 1: on a last second touchdown a week or sixteen or whatever.
Speaker 1: All right, what about what about the Panthers? You? Uh,
Speaker 1: I listened, Sam Donald? He might I wish I could
Speaker 1: quit you. He might end up taking this team to
Speaker 1: the playoffs because it's such a bad division. Let's take
Speaker 1: a look at the schedule right now. Okay, so Carolina,
Speaker 1: are you actually are you? Do you believe what you're
Speaker 1: about to say, Connie or is this content for a
Speaker 1: program they I'm not just giving an honest answer. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to stay ahead of this because if it happens,
Speaker 1: I will look so great, and if not, I'll just,
Speaker 1: you know whatever. Everyone's doubting me anyway, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: So their schedule pretty favorable. Let's take a look at
Speaker 1: it here. Okay, so you've got the Seahawks, then you
Speaker 1: got the Steelers, the Lions. Let me um and doable
Speaker 1: with Baker Mayfield, I guess, sitting on the bench like I.
Speaker 1: This is the same thing with the Commanders and Taylor
Speaker 1: Heinecky potentially taking them on a run with Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: sitting there and watching. Now, I'm rooting for Sam Donald
Speaker 1: and I need this to happen. Yeah, I I see
Speaker 1: that four game stretch, maybe one or two wins in there.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not buying in. And you know, as
Speaker 1: a Jets fan who had a warmer viewpoint of Sam
Speaker 1: Donald than the rest of the world, I want to
Speaker 1: see him do well because it will get set him
Speaker 1: up for whatever comes next in his career. He'll make
Speaker 1: a little bit of money. Um. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: can I really get behind this team getting hot? Their
Speaker 1: defense is better than people realize, but they're going to
Speaker 1: struggle to score points. And for instance, you know Gina
Speaker 1: Smith and the Seahawks, they're gonna put up a lot
Speaker 1: of points. The Lions, I imagine, are gonna put up
Speaker 1: a lot of points. And I feel like the Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: and Tampa defenses will be able to really neutralize Sam
Speaker 1: Donald and company. Like, I'm not buying on this. This
Speaker 1: division is so bad. Like you have the Bucks and
Speaker 1: the Falcons the lead the division with five wins each,
Speaker 1: Like that's it. They could win just because someone has
Speaker 1: to from the division. All right, let's flip this down,
Speaker 1: all right, so as we look at quad four. By
Speaker 1: the way, let's look a quad for Falcons down five,
Speaker 1: Saints down five to six. I think that coach is
Speaker 1: gonna get canned, by the way, Cold State at Panthers
Speaker 1: up three to eight, Bears down six. Like I said,
Speaker 1: there's just nothing there with Justin Why would Justin Fields
Speaker 1: play again? Also if he is vulnerable with that shoulder
Speaker 1: down six, Rams down two to thirty? Could the Rams
Speaker 1: do it? Can they win the Super Bowl and finish
Speaker 1: this season thirty two in the power rankings? They're knocking
Speaker 1: down the door, but probably not because the Broncos have
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson at thirty one, and the Texans are whoa
Speaker 1: whoof bad thirty two. Um, yeah, let's let's look at
Speaker 1: the teams that we feel good about now. But then
Speaker 1: when you look at the schedules you get a little noise.
Speaker 1: Let's start Connie with the defending conference champions. Okay, so
Speaker 1: the Bengals, I love them. It could be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a stressful holiday season. Things might not go
Speaker 1: that great. They really needed this win because coming up
Speaker 1: they're about to enter the part of the schedule that
Speaker 1: I like to call and get some somber holiday music
Speaker 1: while you go through. Yeah, these teams, that'd be great. Okay,
Speaker 1: what do you got the love to hear that? So? Alright,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a nightmare before Christmas. Well, this
Speaker 1: works because this is the part of the schedule that
Speaker 1: I like to call a Colfin corner that they are
Speaker 1: about to embark upon. And as you can see, they
Speaker 1: got the Chiefs. All right, let me go through this
Speaker 1: for you. Okay, I'll set you up on this one.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs obviously the number two team in the part rankings,
Speaker 1: the Browns at nine, team of the power ranks, but
Speaker 1: a pretty good team of the Browns and now they
Speaker 1: had that guy Deshaun Watson on the team playing quarterback
Speaker 1: Tom Brady and the Bucks number eighteen, and then the
Speaker 1: Patriots at fifteen. This, to you, profiles, is a very
Speaker 1: difficult stretch. Well really, it's just the Chiefs coming up.
Speaker 1: But I think that the Browns, we don't know what
Speaker 1: they're going to be like with Deshaun Watson, and then
Speaker 1: I think that the Bucks could maybe play like a
Speaker 1: spoiler situation, depending on if they can get their stuff
Speaker 1: together first exactly. But there's seven and four right now.
Speaker 1: I like the fact that the Bengals have kind of
Speaker 1: found something in Soma J. P Ryan, but it's just
Speaker 1: not totally smooth sailing from Yeah, and they finished with
Speaker 1: Buffalo and Baltimore. So it's a tough schedule, but I
Speaker 1: think this team is battle tested, Connie, and it's not
Speaker 1: an easy schedule. But as we saw, they just went
Speaker 1: to Nashville and beat up on the Titans, who a
Speaker 1: lot of people, who's the most physical team in football,
Speaker 1: exotic smash mouth and Society goes there without Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: and without Joe Mixon and and beat him up and
Speaker 1: win the game. So I'm okay, with this, I'm okay,
Speaker 1: how about let's look at another team, This team I
Speaker 1: feel legitimately concerned about the New York Giants. Absolutely. Let's
Speaker 1: look at their up chemic schedule. And of course they
Speaker 1: were seven and two, which builds in a lot of
Speaker 1: wiggle room. But they've lost two straight games now and
Speaker 1: now here's the schedule. Ahead, go ahead, cutting, Okay, you
Speaker 1: got Washington number the number, you got Washington again, and
Speaker 1: then you got the Vikings seven. I think the Giants
Speaker 1: the Giants. My viewpoint of the Giants is, I think
Speaker 1: all four of these games are gonna be very difficult
Speaker 1: to get one. There is a scenario where they go
Speaker 1: from seven and two to seven and eight. But I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be that critical. I'm not gonna be that negative,
Speaker 1: so I will say they're gonna split with Washington. But
Speaker 1: I do see them coming out of this stretch eight
Speaker 1: and seven. The problem is the injuries have hit at
Speaker 1: just the wrong time too, because last week they were
Speaker 1: missing like eleven starters that game against the Cowboys. They
Speaker 1: should get two of their starters on the offensive lineback,
Speaker 1: their right tackle, on their left guard, they should get
Speaker 1: a Zzo Glari back. Things seem to be trending upward
Speaker 1: for Fabian Brow, but you're you can't run the ball
Speaker 1: when you're missing three starters on the offensive line, and
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones can't get anything going with his legs either,
Speaker 1: so it could be rough. And Kwan has looked a
Speaker 1: little a little off the last couple of weeks. You
Speaker 1: wonder if the work workload, which has been immense after
Speaker 1: two years of missing a lot of action, might be
Speaker 1: he might be hitting a little bit of a wall here.
Speaker 1: But we will will see, and and and I will say,
Speaker 1: because the Giants fans that are mad at me, and
Speaker 1: they've been annoyed all year that I've never given them
Speaker 1: the quote unquote respect they deserve and the power rankings.
Speaker 1: They have also won a lot of games in close
Speaker 1: fashion when people were picking against them. Could they come
Speaker 1: out of this with two or three wins? Yeah, they
Speaker 1: can do that too, but I don't think that's how
Speaker 1: it plays out. Let me tee up on another team
Speaker 1: and this one, Connie, me and you lockstep on the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins. WHOA, you know what, Let's let's mix up
Speaker 1: the music too. I like the off brand Nightmare before Christmas,
Speaker 1: But what would you like something a little more sinister.
Speaker 1: Do we have a DJ back there? This does sound
Speaker 1: like kind of an evil Santa. Okay, Evil Santa's in
Speaker 1: the house. Okay, all right, that works. So the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: they've won five straight. They lead the division now at
Speaker 1: this point, and I think that they're legitimately dangerous right
Speaker 1: now with wins over the Bills, the Ravens. I guess,
Speaker 1: you know, the Patriots. I don't really know how I
Speaker 1: feel about that anymore, kind of like you cut them
Speaker 1: down earlier. But look at this schedule. Yes, no, now
Speaker 1: you say the number, Oh my god, three Bills, five Packers, one. Okay.
Speaker 1: So here is the thing though, because they are at
Speaker 1: the Niners, at the Chargers, at the Bills, they have
Speaker 1: three straight road games and you're talking about two of
Speaker 1: those on the West Coast, and then the Floridians have
Speaker 1: to go up to in December, and then finally they
Speaker 1: get back home and it's Christmas against the Packers. So
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, that that is rough. That schedule
Speaker 1: stinks for them. So yeah, and I have the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: I get I show respect. You know you haven't got
Speaker 1: there yet. I show respect to the Dolphins by putting
Speaker 1: at number six, we need the mandolin. But let's not
Speaker 1: let's not forget who they beat during this five game
Speaker 1: losing streaks some of the worst teams in football, which
Speaker 1: is whatever you you, you play your schedule. They hung
Speaker 1: thirty points on every one of those teams. I got
Speaker 1: respect for you for that, okay, But in my soul
Speaker 1: down the Dolphins. No will I be absolutely in on
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. If they beat the Niners all the way in,
Speaker 1: in fact they could, they could contend for the number
Speaker 1: one overall spot in the power rankings next week. That's
Speaker 1: how much I think of San Francisco. So you wouldn't
Speaker 1: dare you wouldn't do it. There's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a show me thing with the old Juser and the Dolphins.
Speaker 1: But they have a golden opportunity not just next week
Speaker 1: but in the next month. But yes, what a what
Speaker 1: a perfect measuring stick game. If they beat the Niners,
Speaker 1: they go to one, Well, they beat the Niners, and
Speaker 1: you all set the factor in what the other teams
Speaker 1: do ahead of them. But if they moved to nine
Speaker 1: and three and they're writing a six game winning streak,
Speaker 1: and if it's the type of game like we've grown
Speaker 1: to see where they hang thirty eight on the Niners,
Speaker 1: who have not surrendered a point in the second half
Speaker 1: in a month, that are averaging ten points allowed on
Speaker 1: defense during their own winning streak. Yeah, there's a real
Speaker 1: case to be made that they're the best team in football.
Speaker 1: But see, I can't even see that. I don't see
Speaker 1: that as something that's going to happen. I predict the
Speaker 1: Niners will throttle this Dolphins offense and bring them down
Speaker 1: to earth. But I'd be happy to be wrong because
Speaker 1: I like chaos. Chaos is I bet we'll get some
Speaker 1: You want to hear something crazy? I would love to
Speaker 1: the whole bit with the Star Wars thing and Zack
Speaker 1: Wilson and Anakin Skywalker. And then I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: is our produced or Drew who's seven ft three always
Speaker 1: wearing a hat and a mask and that doesn't really
Speaker 1: speak to a lot of people. And I said, is
Speaker 1: he Darth? Is he Darth Vader? His last name is
Speaker 1: Christian Sin, That's what I said. Is he related to him?
Speaker 1: Because of Christians? Exact same spelling it to someone unusual spelling? Drue,
Speaker 1: Do you have anything you want to not gonna talk?
Speaker 1: I gotta get him to talk. Just one word. By
Speaker 1: the end of this regular season, Drew will speak and
Speaker 1: people will love it. Give us a no even no
Speaker 1: one's all right. Thank you to everybody for checking out
Speaker 1: the Power Rankings, check out the podcast, check this show
Speaker 1: out digitally on NFL Plus and YouTube and wherever the
Speaker 1: places Roger should be, and we'll be right back here
Speaker 1: next week. He had NFL Power Rankings as a production
Speaker 1: of the NFL in partnership with I heart Radio. For
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