Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #3: Are Dolphins Super Bowl contenders?

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#3: Are Dolphins Super Bowl contenders? · NFL Power Rankings

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  Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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  Speaker 2: Let's rank some teams. Everybody.
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  Speaker 3: Welcome to NFL Power Rankings, presented to you by Energizer
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  Speaker 3: from our studios here in Los Angeles. My name is
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  Speaker 3: Andrew Siciliado. We are here every week on the NFL
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  Speaker 3: Fast Channel on a podcast as well, where Eric.
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  Speaker 2: At home, whose new rankings.
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  Speaker 3: Are right now for you to look at and get
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  Speaker 3: excited about and get angry about on NFL dot com.
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  Speaker 3: Eric ip out was a pretty great week of football.
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  Speaker 3: Week one was fine.
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  Speaker 2: Week two is the over correction. We get angry. Week one,
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  Speaker 2: we overreact. Week two is just kind of settling in.
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  Speaker 4: Agree with you.
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  Speaker 5: I think we two, like you said, did sort of
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  Speaker 5: level the level, think wee things a little bit and
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  Speaker 5: give us at a little more perspective at a one
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  Speaker 5: game average, give usation in week one, sort of evidence
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  Speaker 5: of what the steam in any case is going to be.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, I liked Week two.
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  Speaker 5: Actions seemed a little better, and also we had some
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  Speaker 5: a little more about what these teams actually are.
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  Speaker 3: Go to NFL dot com and you see the two
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  Speaker 3: and o forty nine ers a win in Pittsburgh gonna
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  Speaker 3: win here in La Over, the Rams are your number
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  Speaker 3: one team. There's no change there, with the Chiefs, the Eagles,
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  Speaker 3: the Cowboys, and the Dolphins rounding out the top five.
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  Speaker 3: But Eric, evidently you don't watch all the screaming head
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  Speaker 3: shows and you hate America and hate America's team because
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  Speaker 3: you have the Dallas Cowboys who are going to go undefeated. Eric,
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  Speaker 3: who had a plus sixty scoring differential through two weeks, you.
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  Speaker 2: Have them as the fourth best team.
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  Speaker 5: What can I say? The fun please strike again. But
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  Speaker 5: I'll let you in on a little secret. I know
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  Speaker 5: it's only week three here, but I do want to
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  Speaker 5: give you a little inst to what I'm thinking here
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  Speaker 5: is always play both sides of the.
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  Speaker 4: Brand, Andrew.
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  Speaker 5: I picked the Cowboys to win this in the preseason, Freddy,
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  Speaker 5: and now I've gotten hedged a little bit, you know,
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  Speaker 5: down a little bit hardly number two. Sure I could
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  Speaker 5: make that case, but right now they're at four. Their
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  Speaker 5: sitting comfortable for us, a pretty lofty spot. If I'm wrong,
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  Speaker 5: I'm wrong, and I'll admit it. I think they're really good,
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  Speaker 5: and I thought they'd hit their streak at the end
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  Speaker 5: of the season and not play as dominant. Certainly, you know,
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  Speaker 5: last week's an impressive offense for him. It's really you know,
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  Speaker 5: rounded them into formal. It's a little a dominant defensive
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  Speaker 5: performance in both games.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously, I was thinking sarcastically here and I tried to
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  Speaker 3: take away from any of the teams ahead of the Cowboys,
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  Speaker 3: the three teams ahead of the Cowboys. But they are dominant,
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  Speaker 3: and that's what stands out from the Cowboys and those
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  Speaker 3: other three teams. If they go to Arizona this week,
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  Speaker 3: Eric and they blow out the Cardinals like they have
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  Speaker 3: blown out the Giants and the Jets, do they climb
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  Speaker 3: higher or do you need to see the teams ahead
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  Speaker 3: of them take a step backwards?
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  Speaker 5: I will say, I know Arizona's on the far end
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  Speaker 5: of the power rankings right now, but they've played pretty competitively.
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  Speaker 5: Right They gave the Commanders a game in Washington. You know,
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  Speaker 5: they had their best offensive output last week. Let's not
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  Speaker 5: talk about Arizona second half. But still, this is a
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  Speaker 5: better football team, at least competitive wise, then I think
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  Speaker 5: a lot of people realize.
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  Speaker 4: So we'll see.
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  Speaker 5: Obviously, Josh Dobbs gave a little spark in the first half.
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  Speaker 5: Maybe he can do something. But I suspect that Dallas
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  Speaker 5: defense is going to dominate. And if they do, absolutely,
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  Speaker 5: that'd be three dominant profuit forms on that side of
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  Speaker 5: the ball. And let's see what the offense does. They
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  Speaker 5: do have some injuries of the offensive line.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and the Chiefs also have a suspect offensive line.
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  Speaker 3: I want to double back to them. Donovan spit Jowan Taylor.
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  Speaker 3: He either played a great game they survived though in Jacksonville.
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  Speaker 3: To me, Eric, we could talk all we want about
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  Speaker 3: Travis kelcey and make the Taylor swift jokes.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, go to my TikTok.
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  Speaker 3: That Travis kelce video is taking off now and it
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  Speaker 3: is a month old, not that I want to shamelessly
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  Speaker 3: promote any other social media platform. That said, Chris Jones
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  Speaker 3: was the most important player on that field in.
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  Speaker 4: Jacksonville, I agree.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, you saw him obviously kind of hovering above the stadium.
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  Speaker 5: He's in week one. I'm sure a lot of Chiefs
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  Speaker 5: were ready to escort him down on the field level.
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  Speaker 5: It didn't happen. Obviously, they played pretty well, but you
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  Speaker 5: could tell the difference he made. That fourth down sack
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  Speaker 5: was a huge play in the game had a pass
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  Speaker 5: defended as well. You know, had that pressure on Trevor
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  Speaker 5: Lawrence on the ball he threw backward that went out
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  Speaker 5: of bound. So yeah, Chris Jones was all well over
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  Speaker 5: to the field and you know, it makes you wonder,
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  Speaker 5: how could they not have avoided this this you know,
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  Speaker 5: the correct dispute, but it happened they last week one,
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  Speaker 5: they were back with a semi vengeance and guess what
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  Speaker 5: that defense I thought was pretty darn good. And even
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  Speaker 5: if Jackson will have their opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: That defense now gets to face justin fields and a
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  Speaker 3: Bears offense actually just the Bears all the way around.
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  Speaker 3: That's an absolute mess right now. And that game is
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  Speaker 3: coming up at Arrowhead this week. You could have this
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  Speaker 3: conversation about how how high they should be. Next week,
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  Speaker 3: Let's get to Future Champion about the power ranking show
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  Speaker 3: that's presented to you by Fan Duel, and let's get
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  Speaker 3: to the Dolphins by showing you the odds in the
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  Speaker 3: AFC East. Right now, the Dolphins at two and zero
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  Speaker 3: after winning in Foxborough on primetime. I an ensured too
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  Speaker 3: on that final lateral. Are the favorites in the AFC East? Eric,
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  Speaker 3: you have them at number five. This week they get
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  Speaker 3: the Broncos coming into Miami. You know, I felt like
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  Speaker 3: Bart Simpson needing to write on the chalkboard Sunday night,
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  Speaker 3: I will no longer question Tua. I will no longer
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  Speaker 3: question Tua. I am now a believer And so far
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  Speaker 3: they have enough defense with Vic Fangio to keep on
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  Speaker 3: winning a.
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  Speaker 5: Big starts of the season for the two and on
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  Speaker 5: crowd right, he's been terrific and he looked in control.
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  Speaker 5: I thought when they took away, you know, the obvious
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  Speaker 5: Tyreek Hill element. Any time you play New England, they're gonna,
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  Speaker 5: you know, throw the kitchen sink at him.
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  Speaker 4: He just ran with it.
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  Speaker 5: He threw to Braxton Barrios and keys situations. He wasn't
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  Speaker 5: afraid to check down to a second, third, or even
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  Speaker 5: fourth options on a couple plays. So you know, this
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  Speaker 5: was this was high level quarterbacking. Even with some mistakes
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  Speaker 5: here and there. They let those playmakers, even the lesser
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  Speaker 5: known ones, make their you know, their presence felt, and
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  Speaker 5: one took what was there. And that's I think the
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  Speaker 5: way to beat New England. And guess what, they have
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  Speaker 5: six ro games left and nine home games and they're
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  Speaker 5: two and up. Both with conference victories. This is an
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  Speaker 5: amazing start for the Miami Dolphins. With all the question
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  Speaker 5: we had about two was Mike Bigdale, you know the
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  Speaker 5: right guy for this job. Vic Fangio comes in and
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  Speaker 5: makes his imprint felt, especially in Sunday night, I felt
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  Speaker 5: against the Patriots, So yeah, he can't ask for a
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  Speaker 5: better start from the from the Dolphins. So I think
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  Speaker 5: we absolutely have to consider Super Bowl contenders at this.
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  Speaker 2: Point, especially when you look at the rest of the
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  Speaker 2: AFC East.
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  Speaker 3: Here was a Patriots at oh and two for the
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  Speaker 3: first time in over twenty years. Twenty two years actually
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  Speaker 3: to be specific. The Jets fighting through at least for
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  Speaker 3: now with Zach Wilson at quarterback, and the Bills, I
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  Speaker 3: haven't figured them out yet. I know they are still
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  Speaker 3: a very good team. The Bills and Dolphins matchups. We
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  Speaker 3: have two of them scheduled coming up later. I know
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  Speaker 3: both will be great. But that to me is the
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  Speaker 3: AFC East. AFC North is a bit of a mess.
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  Speaker 3: I still think it's the best division in football. Even
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  Speaker 3: with out Nick Chubb. You have the Ravens here, Eric
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  Speaker 3: moving up three to number seven. They went into Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 3: They did a job on Joe Burrow and that Bengals
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  Speaker 3: offense more and that a little bit later, the defense
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  Speaker 3: without Marlin Humphrey with out Marcus Williams, the offense with
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  Speaker 3: out JK. Dobbins, John Harbaugh found away again this was.
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  Speaker 5: Kind of a classic Ravens win. Right. I think even
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  Speaker 5: Harbaugh said something to that effect. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 5: the running the football without JK. It was a great
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  Speaker 5: committee work there. Offensive line seemed to play a little
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  Speaker 5: bit better there. Yeah, I mean I loved what I
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  Speaker 5: saw out of this offense. Whereas we've won, I kind
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  Speaker 5: of exited thinking, hey, this is still a work in progress.
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  Speaker 5: They're trying to figure out Todd Munkins system, how best
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  Speaker 5: to use these playmakers a little too. Zay Flowers to
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  Speaker 5: pennwek one Lamar spread the ball around. When he had
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  Speaker 5: his opportunities to run, he took him and really beat
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  Speaker 5: up a good front seven for the Bengals, right. And
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  Speaker 5: you can say their secondaries young for the long what
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  Speaker 5: have you. That's fair, but I mean he was running
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  Speaker 5: circles around him. And then defensively, as you pointed out,
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  Speaker 5: without those those great defensive backs, they did a number
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  Speaker 5: on those receivers at least in the first half, and
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  Speaker 5: gave themselves a chance to win. So a total victory
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  Speaker 5: I thought for Baltimore. Kind of hanging on, but still
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  Speaker 5: an impressive one in Sinci.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and there are more injuries too, not just the
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  Speaker 3: ones that we listed. They did that without Ronnie Stanley
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  Speaker 3: and without Tyler Lindebaum, so without their left tackle and
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  Speaker 3: without their center. Not just average left tackles or centers either,
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  Speaker 3: very very good players. And Lamar had time to throw.
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  Speaker 3: He had time in this new offense to find his
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  Speaker 3: third read even when Odell Beckham Junior didn't play in
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  Speaker 3: the second half. And to me, that's the most encouraging
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  Speaker 3: thing to take away from this. The Bengals are a
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  Speaker 3: mess again. As I mentioned, we'll do them a little
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  Speaker 3: bit later. Lamar looked like the quarterback that they wanted
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  Speaker 3: Todd Mounkin to develop. I say developed. It's year six.
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  Speaker 3: I realize char is not a rookie. He's not that
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  Speaker 3: he Richardson, who comes into Baltimore this week. If he's
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  Speaker 3: able to play, he's in concussion protocol. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 3: what they thought they were getting when they brought Monkin in.
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  Speaker 5: I agree. I mean all the stuff we thought Georgia
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  Speaker 5: with Stetsu Betted. I mean, he's translating a lot of
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  Speaker 5: that to Lamar.
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  Speaker 4: Now.
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  Speaker 5: Lamar adds his own little spice and his own little
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  Speaker 5: flare to it, because he's an improvisational genius. Even he
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  Speaker 5: doesn't know what he's going to do at the start
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  Speaker 5: of some places, but he makes him work. And so
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  Speaker 5: within the framework, they've made a jump from week one
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  Speaker 5: against Houston, you know, I thought who defended him well
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  Speaker 5: at times to week two what we saw against Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 5: it was a step up. Now we'll see can they
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  Speaker 5: keep it going and really developed that identity that Monk
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  Speaker 5: has brought.
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  Speaker 2: And say this too about the AFC and North.
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  Speaker 3: The Ravens have the best quarterback situation right now heading
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  Speaker 3: into week three in the entire AFC. No North, and
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  Speaker 3: it's not even close, not even close. And I don't
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  Speaker 3: know that anyone, as much as we love Lamar would
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  Speaker 3: have thought that. We could have said that as definitively
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  Speaker 3: as we can say it. Heading into week number three,
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  Speaker 3: we roll on the NFL Power Rankings here presented to
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  Speaker 3: you by Energizer. Coming up next, I admit I did
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  Speaker 3: not see the Seahawks winning in Detroit what that does
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: for the rest of the NFC and the power rankings
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  Speaker 3: coming up next. Power rankings presented by Energizer on NFL
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  Speaker 3: dot Com. Right now, Eric at Holmes teams nine through sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: The Jaguars are down two to nine.
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  Speaker 3: The Saints are up four into the top ten, followed
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  Speaker 3: by the Jets at eleven, the Bengals and Browns at
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  Speaker 3: twelve and thirteen, the Falcons at fourteen, the Seahawks and
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  Speaker 3: somehow the zero to two Chargers are at sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: I want to focus on the Saints here, Eric, because they.
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  Speaker 3: Are one of seven counting seven two and oho teams
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  Speaker 3: through two weeks in the NFC, which is the most
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  Speaker 3: we've had since the merger. The Saints are making shall
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  Speaker 3: we call it power moves. They're making a power move
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  Speaker 3: presented to you by Energizer. They won in Carolina against
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  Speaker 3: a rookie quarterback and you still have them up for why.
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  Speaker 4: Spend too much time? I go, Andrew, There's no question
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  Speaker 4: about it.
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  Speaker 5: But yeah, no, beyond my love for the city of
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  Speaker 5: New Orleans, I mean this Saint stanief have been tremendous,
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  Speaker 5: right They go one hundred and eighteen plus minutes without
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  Speaker 5: allowing their first touchdown of the season. It comes in
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  Speaker 5: not exactly garbage time, but when they were in a
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  Speaker 5: prevent defense, and that's now ten straight games that they've
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  Speaker 5: held their opponent under twenty. That's a pretty good bar
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  Speaker 5: to set for this league, even if scores maybe down
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  Speaker 5: a little bit. So look, I know that Derek Carr
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  Speaker 5: is still settling in. I know it took them really
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  Speaker 5: three and a half quarters to kind of get the
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  Speaker 5: deep passing game going. We saw Chris o'lavee on the
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  Speaker 5: deep shot. We saw Rashid Shaheed. I want to see
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  Speaker 5: more of that, right I'm a little worried about the
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  Speaker 5: injury to Jamal Williams, the thinness in the backfield until
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  Speaker 5: Kamara gets back. But Ton Jones did step up in
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  Speaker 5: the short yardage game scored a couple touchdowns.
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  Speaker 4: So it's a pretty good football team right now.
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  Speaker 5: If I just had to see them play the Falcons,
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  Speaker 5: I imagine they'd probably win by a field goal or
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  Speaker 5: a touchdown. I mean, I think they're just a little
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  Speaker 5: ahead of Atlanta right now and clearly outpacing a team
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  Speaker 5: like Carolina that they dispatched on Monday.
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  Speaker 2: There are three teams in the NFC South.
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  Speaker 3: Three teams in the NFC East that are two and
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  Speaker 3: oh Saints obviously one of those teams. You mentioned the
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  Speaker 3: stat about holding the opposition under twenty it's now ten
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  Speaker 3: straight games under twenty one. There is where the bar
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  Speaker 3: is and the Patriots. The Patriots, just to put it
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  Speaker 3: in perspective the last decade, are the only team with
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  Speaker 3: a streak longer than that. Their streak was eleven a
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  Speaker 3: couple of years ago. The Saints have now done that
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  Speaker 3: ten consecutive games and getting ready for Game Day Final
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  Speaker 3: on NFL Network on Monday night, I stumbled upon this
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  Speaker 3: as well, which blew me away. The last five years,
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  Speaker 3: the Saints are the best road team in the NFC.
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  Speaker 3: Matter of fact, there's only one team better than the
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  Speaker 3: Saints in all of the NFL on the road the
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  Speaker 3: last five years, and that's Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
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  Speaker 3: Never in a million years would I have guessed that
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  Speaker 3: they've cycled through quarterbacks now when Drew Brees retiring. Right
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  Speaker 3: now it's Derek Carr's team, and this week it's the
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  Speaker 3: Saints on the road at Green Bay, which is going
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  Speaker 3: to be fun because Jordan Love's actually playing well. Joe
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  Speaker 3: Berry's defense, though that would be another issue. All right,
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  Speaker 3: let's get to the rest of it here. After the
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  Speaker 3: Saints got the Jets at eleven, we have eric the
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  Speaker 3: Bengals and Browns at twelve and thirteen. The Bengals are
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  Speaker 3: zero to two. The Browns beat the Bengals. That said,
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  Speaker 3: the Browns now have Nick Chubb. You still have them,
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  Speaker 3: though below the team that they beat up week one.
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  Speaker 5: I think had Chubb not gotten hurt Monday night, I
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  Speaker 5: think had Deshaun Watson not played as poorly as he did,
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  Speaker 5: I can I certainly make a case for them being
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  Speaker 5: above them now the Bengals, obviously, we don't really know
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  Speaker 5: what they are at this point.
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  Speaker 4: So it's a fantastic debate.
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  Speaker 5: I wouldn't really stand in your way if you argued
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  Speaker 5: the other way was true. The Brown's gonna be out
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  Speaker 5: of responds to this injury, right, what does Jerome Ford
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  Speaker 5: give them? Is there somebody outside the building who's gonna help?
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  Speaker 5: And biggest question, Andrew, you know this team very well.
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  Speaker 4: What is going on? Sean Watson?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, there are times when things are working pretty well,
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  Speaker 5: but there are other times when balls are sailing four
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  Speaker 5: yards out of bounds, or you know, trying to be
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  Speaker 5: too fine turning the ball over. Obviously, he gifted him
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  Speaker 5: fourteen points. So look, there's a lot to figure out
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  Speaker 5: right now for this quarterback whose contract anchors Simon Cleveland.
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  Speaker 2: I'll be honest, I don't think he has it anymore.
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  Speaker 2: I watched him.
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  Speaker 3: I don't see it. I just don't see it. I
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  Speaker 3: see the ball sailing, I see his accuracy down. I
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  Speaker 3: see his eyes down feeling the rush and not seeing
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  Speaker 3: some wide open receivers. I know it's only two weeks,
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  Speaker 3: but you take these two weeks with the last six
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  Speaker 3: weeks of the twenty twenty two season, I think they're
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  Speaker 3: in trouble the quarterback. I'll be honest with you. They
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  Speaker 3: also have to go find a running back. I like
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  Speaker 3: Jerome Ford. I loved him last year as well, in
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  Speaker 3: the very limited time that we saw him, I would say,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: go trade for cam Akers. I made that point as
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  Speaker 3: well on the Instagram and the Twitter. That's what I
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  Speaker 3: would do. I still think they're a playoff team of
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  Speaker 3: the playoff defense, but they have a quarterback issue right now.
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  Speaker 2: Period. All right, let's get to a team that we trust.
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  Speaker 3: The team that we trust today presented to you by
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  Speaker 3: truest bank. The team that we trust is in Seattle.
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  Speaker 3: The Seahawks are number fifteen. Eric, you had them up
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  Speaker 3: three after going into Detroit, and I did not see
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  Speaker 3: this coming, beating the Lions in.
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  Speaker 5: Overtime, Nor did I even though we had some evidence
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  Speaker 5: of that type of game Week four last year when
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  Speaker 5: these two teams met.
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  Speaker 4: I think it was what forty eight to forty.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Five last time, a little lower scoring this time, but
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: I was impressed with the resolve of the Seahawks losing
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: that game in Week one by what three scorers and
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: not looking very impressive and doing so. Maybe the Rams
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: are a little bit better opponent than we thought coming
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: into the year.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: At least that I thought.
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: But Seattle, the way they stepped up, and even without
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: some key guys out there. They were down to Trey
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: Brown at defensive back after Reeke Woollen got hurt, Brown
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: gets a sack on a couple of plays later. Really
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: loved the way Gino played the sack at the end. Okay,
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: not the greatest play in his career, but everything else
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: almost was on point. He looked like the quarterback that
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: deserved that extension of the offseason. The only played so
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: well last year, so big season saving. I mean, I
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: would argue that this was as big a victory as
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: you could imagine for you know, a team that plays
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: in San Francisco's division and can't afford a ton of
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: losses like that.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, They did it without their starting left tackle and
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: their starting right tackle, and Gino Smith was only hit
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: once the entire game, and that one hit came out
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: of play. He should have thrown it away. He was
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: trying to milk the clockdown before the two minute warning.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: He's running backwards like he's Aaron Brooks. He almost threw
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: the ball backwards like kid.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: He didn't.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: But they won that game, and they protected that quarterback
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: against the Detroit defense.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: That has some issues.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: Now loses Chauncey Gardner Johnson as well, and the Seahawks
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: go home and they get a rookie quarterback in Bryce
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: Young and Seattle potentially they go to two and one.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I would argue it would save their season.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: The Chargers, let's get to them, Eric now badly need
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: to save their season. They are zero to two on
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: the road this week against an equally desperate zero to
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: two Minnesota team. The Chargers fell four. You still have
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: them at sixteen after losing a game yet again that
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: they should have won, this time in Tennessee at overtime.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: That's the frustrating part, Andrew. I see this team. I
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: see a roster full of talent.
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: I see a team that should be better than it
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: is right now, and maybe that's coloring my view of
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: what they actually are. It's possible they deserve to be
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: in the twenty somewhere based on how they've played so far.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: At least the pass rush stepped.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: Up, but I've got major questions about how they're covering
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: on the back end. The secondary once again was picked
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: on against the Tennessee team that was very much humbled,
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: at least offensively in Week one at New Orleans.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: Couldn't get anything going. Played very conservatively out.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: Of respect maybe to the Saints, not so much respect
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: for their Week two opponent. The charters continue to give
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: them opportunities to move the football in big chunks, large
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: tracks of land at the time, not what you want
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: to do defensively. Especially his philosophy, Brandon Staley supposed to
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: be the kind of guy that makes you work to
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: get down to the end zone. It just didn't happen
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: on Sunday and.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: Will it ever?
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: You know, now you got to stop Kirk Cousins justin Jefferson.
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: I don't know is that possible.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Tennessee's not a big strike team. Brandon Staley puts an
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: umbrella at the top on that defense. And when Ryan
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: Tannehill had to stretch the field and get big plays,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: they did it in the fourth quarter and in overtime.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: That's not Brandon Staley's defense.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: And now that defense that traditionally has not stopped the
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: run goes to Minnesota to face the team that hasn't
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: even tried to run these last two weeks. They don't
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: even try with Alexander Madison there.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: They fell in the whole in Philadelphia on TNF and
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Kirk Cousins rallied them back. Who knows what that game
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: is going to be like two assistants who know each
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: other as well now as head coaches to be with
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: the Rams in Kevin O'Connell and Brandon Staley. So they're
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: no secrets here and both teams badly, badly need that game.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: In Minnesota. They are zero and two. They are still
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: in the top half of the power rankings. We are
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: halfway through coming up on Power Rankings here presented to
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: you by Energizer, the best of the rest. How about
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: that team in Washington? And what do we make of
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: the Titans? Now that's right around the corner, right, everybody
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: you're watching the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: are also listening on a podcast.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: I shall read these names to you.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: At seventeen, Eric Atholm has the Pittsburgh Steelers up too.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: He has the Packers down three to eighteen, followed by
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: the Commanders, the Titans, the Bucketeers at twenty one, the Vikings,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: the Broncos, and the Rams.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: At twenty four.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Eric, let's talk about the Washington Commanders and a big
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: Sam Howell second half rally and then a hold on
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: for dear life win in Denver.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Hey, sometimes you need.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: Those, right, I mean, these are the kind of victories
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: that a team gets when they kind of turned the
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: corner a little bit.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: We'll see, right. They have Buffalo next week. A lot
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: still to figure out, but I love the way they
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: played in.
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: The second half, both defensively shutting down Russell Wilson Marvin
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: Mims had beaten him twice in the first half, and
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: then offensively as well, Sam Howell had got beaten up
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: a little bit, took some lumps in the first half,
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: really spread the ball around. How about that beautiful ball
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: to Terry McLaurin in the end zone. I just think
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: this Sam Howell thing is really interesting all of a sudden,
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: if the offensive line can hold up and again next week,
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: we'll really tell us how far off am I on
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: their rankings.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: So they have better football team that what I'm putting
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: them at right now.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: When they get the Buffalo Bills coming into FedEx Field
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: in week number three. I have said it really all summer.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Sam Howe has some nice pieces around him.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: Mm hmm.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: He could deliver the football pretty well downfield. That strike
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: to the end zone was just ridiculous. He's interesting. Here
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: is Ron rivera get's career victory number one hundred as
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: a head coach. Let's power through some of these. You
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: have the Titans at number twenty Eric. They are up
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: to They go to Cleveland to face a Browns team
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: gutted emotionally and on a short week.
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and obviously the Titans were kind of humbled in
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: Week one, came back, picked themselves up, won a big
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: overtime game even if it came against the Chargers team
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: that we've panned a lot. I mean, look, Ryan Tannhill's
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: improvement one week to the next I thought was pretty stark.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: He was great on Sunday, and they had to have that, right,
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: They had to have somebody who can make those big
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: throws and key times they're down eleven to nothing, they
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: called the deep ball. So also some evidence that Mike
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: Brabel understood, Hey, our season might be on the line here.
• 21:54
  Speaker 5: They win an overtime, huge one for them. How great
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: a team are they? I don't know, but I think
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: they've got good coaching, smart players, and some real toughness
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: to it.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: They are one spot ahead of the Buccaneers, who are
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: up three to twenty one. The fighting Baker Mayfields are
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: two to zero for the third consecutive season. Eric, but
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: the first time with Baker Mayfield and not Tom Brady.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: And I think everybody looked at the Bucks this offseason
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: and said, Okay, they're rebuilding. It's a bad division, blah
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: blah blah. Look, they kept a lot of their high
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: end players. Obviously, Mike Evans was out there dusting people
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: on Sunday and he.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: Could still do it. Certainly. Chris Godwin.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Shaq Barrett had an unbelievable game as well, finishing off
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: the Bears there at the end with the interception and
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: run back. And this is a really interesting club here, right.
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: If they can pressure defensively, they have success. If Baker
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: Mayfield plays with the kind of confidence he does he
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: has in the first two weeks, and back to that
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: kind of swashbuckling version of him that we saw early
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: in his career, we saw in college football. Maybe the
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: Bucks are better than we realized. So we'll find out
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: a lot when they go up against Philly, and that's
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: gonna be a good test to see where they stand.
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: What kind of barometer are we gonna be able to
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: give them next week?
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: That is a Monday night game. I'm smiling and laughing here.
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: You said swashbuckling, He quite literally. Now Baker has a
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: pirate on the side of his helmet. It's right, he's
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: mister Ebor City. I think it fits all right, Let's
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: get twenty five to thirty two in here. The rest
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: of the rankings all available on NFL dot Com. It's
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: the Patriots at twenty five, followed by the Raiders, the Panthers,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: the Giants, your dreadful Bears at twenty nine, the Colts,
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the Texans, and the Arizona Cardinals. Can you pick a
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: team here, Eric, with about two minutes to go, a
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: minute and a half to go, that you think can
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: maybe climb out of this mess?
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: On the one hand, you might sort of pick one
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: of the young quarterbacks that could make a case for
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: the way Anthony Richards has played, but he's gotten hurt
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: in both games.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: That scares me.
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: Bryce Young haven't seen a lot out of him to
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: this point. I would say that my best bet, as
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: unsexy as sound, probably New England. Look they could have been,
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: they could technically be two and zero at this point.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: They came down to the last few plays in both games,
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: the loss against the Eagles and Dolphins, and I could
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: make a case for the Eagles and Dolphins being top
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: five teams. They're in my rankings, so that's probably the
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: team I would pick. Bill Belichick coaching and maybe some
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: improvement of not shooting themselves in the foot in these games,
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: that would be a good start.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Imagine this conversation next week if the Patriots lose to Zach.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Wilson, and I hear you, I hear you.
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: Imagine they are always with you time since two thousand
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: and one and Drew bledsoe. Yeah, imagine if they go
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: zero and three, that's going to do it. For the
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer for Eric at home
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: in very Sad Chicago. My name is Andrew Siciliato and
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: kind of happy and content Los Angeles, every Tuesday on
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: the NFL channel or on the podcast See You Later, Guys.
• 24:51
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• 24:54
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