Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #5: 49ers jump into Top 5, Rams tumble, Raiders hope, Lions heartbreak, and questions about the Dolphins.

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#5: 49ers jump into Top 5, Rams tumble, Raiders hope, Lions heartbreak, and questions about the Dolphins. · NFL Power Rankings

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Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. He's bad. What have everybody?
0:15
Speaker 1: Welcome to Power Rankings, brought to you by Energizer. I'm
0:18
Speaker 1: calling Wolf and a hearty, hearty Welcome home, Dan Hansas,
0:24
Speaker 1: he returns victorious from England, from London, I mean your
0:29
Speaker 1: country thanks you for your service, like America. Yes, I
0:36
Speaker 1: know that it was rough city paperwork that I get
0:39
Speaker 1: something a good frame and put in the living room.
0:40
Speaker 1: I can I can have something drawn up for you. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: maybe a plaque. Who knows, I don't. I have to
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Speaker 1: start on a negative note. What how dare you Daniel
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Speaker 1: Jeremiah in the studio? Well, listen, how dare you you
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Speaker 1: know that we are very good friends at this point?
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Speaker 1: Jeremiah just thought that. Well yeah, actually after last week
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Speaker 1: me and DJ he has moved up my power rankings
1:06
Speaker 1: of fresh like watching Padres games together straight over you, Dan,
1:09
Speaker 1: But since you weren't here, I'm sure you didn't get
1:11
Speaker 1: a chance maybe to listen, not yet, but I planned
1:14
Speaker 1: to study it. Well, how about right now shall we?
1:18
Speaker 1: The blood feud runs pretty deep with Dan. Yeah. You
1:21
Speaker 1: know a lot of people when they get contracts and
1:22
Speaker 1: they get them redone. They put in special perks, and
1:24
Speaker 1: maybe that's a wardrobe budget, maybe that's flying first class
1:28
Speaker 1: on the road. Mine is I will only appear on
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Speaker 1: a Dan Hands new show if he is out of
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Speaker 1: the country. I wish you weren't a liar, Dan, but
1:35
Speaker 1: here we are right now. Dolphins are number three. Yeah,
1:38
Speaker 1: I mean he's not a man of his word. Spoiler alert,
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Speaker 1: I mean raise your hand if you're not shocked by that, Okay,
1:44
Speaker 1: that would be me. Can we put a QR code?
1:46
Speaker 1: Can we put a few R code on the screen
1:49
Speaker 1: and you can just scan it and get Dan's real
1:51
Speaker 1: time reaction? Perfect? That's what I want. I would love that.
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Speaker 1: We're going to effort it, see if we can get
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Speaker 1: it by the end of the show. I will go
1:59
Speaker 1: back to Ken Dorsey real quick, though. I haven't seen
2:02
Speaker 1: somebody that upset since Hand just woke up the morning
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Speaker 1: and one of his two T shirts that he wears
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Speaker 1: was dirty. That is another level of anger that we
2:09
Speaker 1: saw up there in the booth. Well, first of all,
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Speaker 1: I was so excited when I heard there would be
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Speaker 1: a Hard Knox podcast and I heard you were going
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Speaker 1: to be involved in and I was like, I'm in,
2:17
Speaker 1: count me in, and I'm like, oh my gosh, they've
2:18
Speaker 1: got hands this with her. But episodes because Dan, no,
2:22
Speaker 1: but you, but you subscribe a little bit, but just
2:25
Speaker 1: your part, just to your part. And then fast forward
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Speaker 1: like a little like fifteen or thirty second fast forward button.
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Speaker 1: Usually have to push it multiple times, you know, goes
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Speaker 1: on and on and on. Yeah, Oh my gosh, Dan,
2:40
Speaker 1: the look in your eye now of just anger. I
2:44
Speaker 1: travel across the world to promote this brand of American football,
2:50
Speaker 1: and that happens back home. That is a sneak attack.
2:54
Speaker 1: The wholesome assassin Daniel Jeremiah with his fancy little shirt
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Speaker 1: and his little digs. I will have my vengeance. I
3:01
Speaker 1: declare vengeance. Daniel Jerem Maya beware, no one in San
3:06
Speaker 1: Diego is safe. That fancy little shirt he was wearing,
3:09
Speaker 1: he told me before we started the show that he
3:12
Speaker 1: specifically wore that shirt because you have the same one.
3:16
Speaker 1: So just letting you know. My favorite dig was that
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Speaker 1: I have to T shirts I have. I'm like one
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Speaker 1: of those guys. I have seven thousand T shirts, including
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Speaker 1: every T shirt I've had since about nine And my
3:27
Speaker 1: wife wonders why do you have all these shirts? Guys
3:30
Speaker 1: can't throw out their T shirts. No, it's it's difficult. Well,
3:33
Speaker 1: why don't you put your top five on a T shirt?
3:35
Speaker 1: Let's throw it up on I don't know why I
3:37
Speaker 1: would do that because this changes every week, so that
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Speaker 1: would be well maybe just for this week. We before,
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Speaker 1: we got the Eagles at number one, no change there,
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Speaker 1: no change for the Bills at two, the Chiefs up
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Speaker 1: two spots at three, the Packers standing pad at four,
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Speaker 1: and then the Niners up six spots at number five.
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Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about them too, but let's start with
3:57
Speaker 1: the Eagles. I'm not freaking out you are, Dan. You know,
4:00
Speaker 1: two weeks in a row for the Eagles. They're the
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Speaker 1: only undefeated team in football at this point at four
4:06
Speaker 1: and now. And that was an interesting little test for them,
4:09
Speaker 1: wasn't it. It was so you had a situation where
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Speaker 1: they fall behind fourteen nothing. It's the first time there's
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Speaker 1: any level of adversity for them and their defense, and
4:18
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders are the ones that kind of get it done.
4:21
Speaker 1: Miles Sanders, I think it has been excellent all year long.
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Speaker 1: A buck thirty four and two touchdowns on twenty seven carries.
4:27
Speaker 1: If you remember, there are a couple you know, a
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Speaker 1: couple of years ago when he first broke out, he
4:30
Speaker 1: looked like a superstar in waiting, and then last year
4:34
Speaker 1: never scored a touchdown. But the fact that he's able
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Speaker 1: to be the lead of a ground attack that had
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Speaker 1: over two hundred yards and then with the defense did
4:40
Speaker 1: did poor Trevor Lawrence who we were you know, we
4:42
Speaker 1: were ready to see him make the leap in week
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Speaker 1: four and he's still very well. May I'm really a
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Speaker 1: little bit out Connie on everyone needs to judge Trevor
4:50
Speaker 1: Lawrence every week about whether or not he's living up
4:52
Speaker 1: to the hype. But yeah, having five turnovers and four
4:55
Speaker 1: lost fumbles, there's no way to go through life. It's
4:57
Speaker 1: sort of like what was previously going through when every
5:01
Speaker 1: single start last year it was he was being judged
5:04
Speaker 1: on every single mistake was so magnified. So Trevor Lawrence
5:08
Speaker 1: kind of takes over that spot. But it was an
5:10
Speaker 1: emotional game. It was a messy game for the Eagles,
5:13
Speaker 1: the fact that Doug Peterson was back in the building.
5:16
Speaker 1: It was raining, It was ugly, but like the win
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Speaker 1: itself was ugly too, And they've showed that they can
5:22
Speaker 1: win a variety of ways, whether it's a shootout, whether
5:26
Speaker 1: it's a come from behind when like this, the defense
5:28
Speaker 1: did a really good job. Hassan Reddick, Like, what a
5:31
Speaker 1: great pickup that was in the off season. But I'm
5:33
Speaker 1: a little worried about some of the injuries that are
5:36
Speaker 1: starting to pile up for the team. But you are
5:39
Speaker 1: standing standing on your ground here. The Eagles are the
5:42
Speaker 1: top team in the NFL, not just because of the record,
5:45
Speaker 1: but just because of it is not the power standings,
5:48
Speaker 1: it's the power ranking. So yeah, it's the fact that
5:50
Speaker 1: they've won in all sorts of ways, and even when
5:53
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts comes back to earth a little bit, they
5:55
Speaker 1: still find a way to reel off twenty nine unanswered points.
5:58
Speaker 1: I don't like that their new end zone font is
6:01
Speaker 1: a rip off of the old Jets logo from the eighties, Like,
6:04
Speaker 1: you guys don't to be doing that. I'm not a
6:05
Speaker 1: huge fan of the funny. I don't know what's going
6:08
Speaker 1: on with that. But yeah, and you have the number
6:10
Speaker 1: two team, the Bills, who were so awesome obviously on
6:13
Speaker 1: Sunday night, And it did cross my mind, Connie, since
6:15
Speaker 1: you're bringing up. Were they good enough and impress him
6:17
Speaker 1: enough against the Bucks to take back the one spot
6:20
Speaker 1: from the Eagles. But ultimately I said, that doesn't seem
6:23
Speaker 1: right the Eagles. I think the Jags are not the
6:25
Speaker 1: Jags of last year, and I thought that was a
6:27
Speaker 1: really impressive showing in that game. Yes, so there we
6:30
Speaker 1: have the number one spot, um, and we will continue
6:34
Speaker 1: to see how they do. They have the Cardinals next week.
6:37
Speaker 1: The Eagles do it is especially after what we've seen
6:40
Speaker 1: from that you guys, Boo, Doug Peterson. I'll get to
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Speaker 1: that a little later in the show. I hope you do. Listen.
6:45
Speaker 1: We are a good We're good people from Philadelphia. All right,
6:49
Speaker 1: as I sit here in all of my Phillies gear.
6:52
Speaker 1: Let's go to your number four team, the Packers. They
6:55
Speaker 1: stay at four, so now they're in the top five.
6:58
Speaker 1: Still pretty high for a team that almost lost to
7:01
Speaker 1: Bailey Zappy in overtime. Yeah, that was a very strange
7:05
Speaker 1: game because I don't think the Packers were playing poorly,
7:08
Speaker 1: and I don't think even Bailey Zappy was playing well
7:11
Speaker 1: like it was in him going off and and shocking
7:14
Speaker 1: the world. He made a couple of throws, but for
7:16
Speaker 1: the most part, he was exactly what you would think
7:18
Speaker 1: from a third string rookie quarterback with no experience at all.
7:21
Speaker 1: So I think when you saw when the field goal
7:24
Speaker 1: kick goes through the uprights by Mason Crosby and the
7:26
Speaker 1: Fox cameras cut to Matt Lafleur pulling off his headset
7:29
Speaker 1: with like a look of just relief etched across his face,
7:33
Speaker 1: it was because I don't think anyone expected that game
7:35
Speaker 1: to go the way it went, and you kept expecting
7:38
Speaker 1: Green Bay to pull away, and um, yeah, if you
7:41
Speaker 1: want to quibble a little bit, and sure I will,
7:43
Speaker 1: that's part of the job here. It wasn't so impressed
7:45
Speaker 1: with the defense, his inability to really take that game
7:48
Speaker 1: over for some three and outs for Zappy into a
7:51
Speaker 1: killer you know, interception or a pick six, something that
7:54
Speaker 1: would give them breathing room. But instead the Pats kept
7:57
Speaker 1: on answering the rod, the Rogers marches, and then finally
8:01
Speaker 1: they step up and overtime get the stop near midfield
8:03
Speaker 1: and then kicked the field bill. So it was a
8:05
Speaker 1: nice little test and unexpected test for the Packers. So
8:08
Speaker 1: it was enough to park them where they were, but
8:10
Speaker 1: it wasn't huge on Romeo Dobbs dropping. Yeah, I know
8:14
Speaker 1: it was very close, but that's now the second time
8:16
Speaker 1: we've seen one of these young wide receivers failed to
8:19
Speaker 1: pull in what would have been a huge touchdown for
8:21
Speaker 1: the pack I hate when I don't survive the ground,
8:23
Speaker 1: like every single time, never surviving, I hate it. But
8:26
Speaker 1: it just shouldn't have been so difficult for the Packers
8:29
Speaker 1: in that game. I understand when you have a game
8:31
Speaker 1: like the Bills and the Ravens did like that is
8:34
Speaker 1: an absolute test, that's like a final exam almost in
8:36
Speaker 1: the regular season, and you know it's going to be
8:38
Speaker 1: difficult and it's going to come down to the end.
8:40
Speaker 1: But this really should not have And I guess it
8:42
Speaker 1: was nice that the wide receivers for the Packers ultimately
8:46
Speaker 1: came through at the end so they could get the
8:49
Speaker 1: game winning field goal. But there are some problems there
8:52
Speaker 1: and it's not sustainable that the way that they're winning games. Yes, well,
8:55
Speaker 1: that word is the word that Aaron Rodgers used on
8:57
Speaker 1: Sunday after the game. This is the quote. This way
8:59
Speaker 1: of winning. I don't think it's sustainable because it puts
9:01
Speaker 1: too much pressure on our defense and obviously I've got
9:04
Speaker 1: to play better and will play better. And here's the thing, Rogers,
9:07
Speaker 1: for all the Criticison gets on certain subjects, is being
9:10
Speaker 1: modest here because I thought he was excellent in that game.
9:13
Speaker 1: He puts some throws on the money that there are
9:16
Speaker 1: very few quarterbacks that can do what he does and
9:19
Speaker 1: what he did in that game. And that's why it
9:21
Speaker 1: was such a strange game for me. It's almost like
9:23
Speaker 1: I would want to go back and watch it again
9:24
Speaker 1: because because I was in like an England Hayes where
9:26
Speaker 1: I'm sleeping to two hours a night with supreme jet
9:29
Speaker 1: leg Because I didn't think the Packers played bad. I thought,
9:32
Speaker 1: really maybe a testament at Bill Belichick and them coaching
9:35
Speaker 1: up that team to hang against a much better opponent.
9:37
Speaker 1: But the Packers held serve like the Eagles tested in
9:40
Speaker 1: a surprising way, got the dub and their schedule coming up,
9:44
Speaker 1: they have the Giants, Jets, and Commanders, so they could
9:47
Speaker 1: have six wins. So Giants so that's win. Jets lost
9:52
Speaker 1: two or three before they get the Bills. How about
9:55
Speaker 1: your number five team. You absolutely love this team. You
9:59
Speaker 1: loved them from week one when I think you had
10:02
Speaker 1: them ranked three, the Niners at five. You're really trying
10:06
Speaker 1: to make the Niners a thing right now, and honestly,
10:08
Speaker 1: like some of us are about to remember that Monday
10:10
Speaker 1: night football game against the Broncos, that's ancient history that
10:14
Speaker 1: feels like it was a hundred years ago. I know
10:16
Speaker 1: it wasn't. But this is the version of the Niners
10:19
Speaker 1: that can win a Super Bowl. This defense is absolutely legit.
10:25
Speaker 1: Sacking Matthew Stafford six times, you got the game. I
10:28
Speaker 1: sing pick six by Telenoa Hufanga, who has been awesome
10:32
Speaker 1: all year. The Niners have this ability and it's underrated
10:35
Speaker 1: to continually unearth these gems on their defense. And they're
10:39
Speaker 1: not always high drafted guys. They are these players. They
10:42
Speaker 1: just their development machine of impact players on defense, and
10:46
Speaker 1: you just see it. When they have health and they
10:48
Speaker 1: have these guys on the field, they are really tough
10:50
Speaker 1: to mess with. It Also, I think this building, Levi
10:53
Speaker 1: Stadium doesn't always get a lot of love, but that
10:55
Speaker 1: was loud last night. I thought that was a good
10:57
Speaker 1: vibe there. So the defense is the reason they won
10:59
Speaker 1: that game, and I think taking it to Sean McVeigh
11:01
Speaker 1: and the Rams in that way had to be super warding.
11:04
Speaker 1: After the playoffs, Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times and
11:08
Speaker 1: that I was just looking it up. But you also
11:10
Speaker 1: have Deebo Samuel and just the touchdown run that he
11:14
Speaker 1: had was he had so many trying I'm like closing
11:18
Speaker 1: my eyes so I can visualize it right now. There
11:20
Speaker 1: were so many miss tackles and the Rams are usually
11:23
Speaker 1: that is their department. They're so good and nobody can
11:26
Speaker 1: tackle sam So you had that insane run and then
11:31
Speaker 1: Jeff Wilson just was like shot out of a cannon
11:34
Speaker 1: at one point, just the acceleration that he had. There
11:37
Speaker 1: was just so much yak in this game. Yeah, and
11:42
Speaker 1: that's what this is about. And that's why you could say,
11:45
Speaker 1: maybe I'm a little overly bullish putting them into the
11:47
Speaker 1: top five. But when Jimmy Garoppolo is playing within himself,
11:52
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to do as much as some of
11:54
Speaker 1: the other quarterbacks of big time teams in the league
11:57
Speaker 1: right now. He just needs to get it out on time,
11:59
Speaker 1: on target, and let them do the work. After the game,
12:02
Speaker 1: he was interviewed on the field and he said it
12:05
Speaker 1: we're getting the Yacht Bros. Back and nearly three quarters
12:09
Speaker 1: of his passing yards yesterday thirty nine came after the catch.
12:12
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. So it's like you can say, oh, yeah,
12:15
Speaker 1: but he can't attack teams downfield. Look at what he
12:18
Speaker 1: has and the way they could play offense, that's fine.
12:21
Speaker 1: And then if you have a defense like that, come on,
12:23
Speaker 1: you're telling me what the team you saw last night
12:26
Speaker 1: dismantle the Rams? And I know the Rams haven't been
12:28
Speaker 1: good this year, but that's not the top five team
12:30
Speaker 1: to you right now? Well, we're close to it. I
12:32
Speaker 1: don't know, because watching them against the Broncos it just
12:35
Speaker 1: felt different. Now. I know that was Jimmy's first start
12:38
Speaker 1: and he really hadn't had a ton of work with
12:40
Speaker 1: the starters before that, But I think that you do
12:44
Speaker 1: have a point when you talk about the defense and
12:46
Speaker 1: the way that they're able to win games with this offense,
12:49
Speaker 1: with the yak yards and everything else. That's how they
12:51
Speaker 1: made their playoff run last year, So why couldn't they
12:55
Speaker 1: do it again this season? Especially now Jimmy g is
12:57
Speaker 1: not playing with a bad throwing shoulder, so I think
13:00
Speaker 1: Garoppolo could get them in the end. I get that.
13:02
Speaker 1: I think the reason why I had them at number
13:04
Speaker 1: three to start the years because I did buy into
13:06
Speaker 1: it this idea, But what if you took a supreme
13:09
Speaker 1: talented player like Trey Lance, and if the coaching staff
13:12
Speaker 1: leaves in him, if he's great, they're going to be unbelievable.
13:15
Speaker 1: That didn't work out, unfortunately because of the injury. But
13:18
Speaker 1: now you have this team, and I think this team
13:19
Speaker 1: is still plenty good enough to win. Yeah, so they
13:22
Speaker 1: have the Panthers to win it all, Connie to win
13:24
Speaker 1: it all? Perhaps, whoa, you're telling me that version of
13:27
Speaker 1: the Niners in January. The Eagles welcomed them into the link.
13:32
Speaker 1: You're not a little concerned, Not at all. I'm feeling great,
13:36
Speaker 1: great about. Let's go to teams six through ten and
13:41
Speaker 1: your rankings. At six, we have the Bengals up four spots,
13:44
Speaker 1: the Ravens at seven. At eight, you have the Bucks
13:47
Speaker 1: they remain unchanged, as well as the Vikings at nine,
13:50
Speaker 1: and then the Dolphins down seven spots at ten. I
13:53
Speaker 1: want to talk about a team right outside of the
13:55
Speaker 1: top ten, though, the team that lost to the Niners.
13:58
Speaker 1: While we're kind of coming off that game, the Rams.
14:01
Speaker 1: They have a lot of issues going on their offensive
14:04
Speaker 1: line in the relying way too much on Cooper Coup.
14:07
Speaker 1: Everything is going through him. Let's just look into the
14:09
Speaker 1: future though here for a second, because they started at two,
14:12
Speaker 1: then they fell to four, then they slipped to six
14:15
Speaker 1: for two weeks. Now they're outside the top ten at eleven.
14:19
Speaker 1: If they lose to the Cowboys on Sunday, how much
14:22
Speaker 1: further do they fall, Well, it depends what kind of
14:24
Speaker 1: loss it is, But if it's if it's a performance
14:27
Speaker 1: like this, the one on Monday night, they're all of
14:29
Speaker 1: a sudden probably in that six to eighteen range, which
14:32
Speaker 1: is crazy. But listen, the reason why they're on a
14:34
Speaker 1: steady decline on this list is because they haven't played
14:37
Speaker 1: well all year. There was only one moment in the
14:40
Speaker 1: season where I felt legitimately good about the Rams is
14:42
Speaker 1: when they were twenty seven three on the Falcons, and
14:44
Speaker 1: even that game on the Falcons, and even that game
14:47
Speaker 1: became a nail bitter at the end until Jalen Ramsey
14:50
Speaker 1: high pointed an interception in the end zone. Yeah. I
14:53
Speaker 1: just thought the offense is hard work for them right now,
14:56
Speaker 1: And you could definitely point to the offensive line and
15:00
Speaker 1: all the injuries that they've had along that front, and
15:03
Speaker 1: that's causing maybe the reason why they're refusing to throw
15:06
Speaker 1: downfield is because they don't trust their line to hold
15:08
Speaker 1: up for Stafford, who's a veteran quarterback who's been dealing
15:11
Speaker 1: with issues of his own. There's probably a lot of
15:13
Speaker 1: different factors, but you're right. I don't think any offense
15:16
Speaker 1: where you're just throwing it over and over to Cooper Cup.
15:18
Speaker 1: I mean the game I pick six by who founda
15:20
Speaker 1: who do you think he's targeting the Cooper Cup. Of course,
15:23
Speaker 1: defenses are going to react and say, you need to
15:25
Speaker 1: beat this with someone else. And that's why this Allen
15:27
Speaker 1: Robinson situation has been It's approaching. I wrote it in
15:30
Speaker 1: the Power Rankings on NFL dot Com because I love
15:32
Speaker 1: just writing the word. We're approaching Connie Boondoggle status with
15:37
Speaker 1: this acquisition. I it's I'm so upset about it. I
15:41
Speaker 1: really wanted to be upset about what I wanted this
15:44
Speaker 1: for Allan Robinson, Like I was so excited that he
15:46
Speaker 1: was finally freed, he was out of Chicago. We thought
15:50
Speaker 1: it great for him and this and it doesn't. This
15:54
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily a reflection of Alan Robinson himself, but of
15:57
Speaker 1: course he's probably got something to do with it. Maybe
16:00
Speaker 1: he has a lot to do with it. But I
16:01
Speaker 1: remember around the NFL went to Rams camp in the
16:03
Speaker 1: summer and Jordan and Rodrigue who covers the ramps of
16:06
Speaker 1: the athletic We love Jordans. She was one of the
16:09
Speaker 1: many beat writers that we're saying, Man, this guy Allen Robinson,
16:13
Speaker 1: he is bawling out. People are coming up to me
16:15
Speaker 1: and just saying, hey, keep an eye strangers at the
16:18
Speaker 1: grocery store. Strangers. Well, I think it was a camp,
16:21
Speaker 1: but I like that idea. Jordan's buying oranges in the
16:24
Speaker 1: grocery store and someone just can't get enough of Allen
16:27
Speaker 1: Robinson and conversation about his career, or it was Colleen's
16:31
Speaker 1: like college, what are you doing here? You even live
16:33
Speaker 1: in this neighborhood? Are you following me? And so it's
16:37
Speaker 1: gone from that to this, and part of it's a reminder.
16:40
Speaker 1: It's like the summer is kind of annoying in football
16:43
Speaker 1: because you could talk and talk and talk, but you
16:45
Speaker 1: can't manifest it. He needs to do it on the field.
16:48
Speaker 1: They need to find a way and they also need
16:50
Speaker 1: to pick up the phone and see how what Dell's
16:51
Speaker 1: needs doing. That's true, that's a great point. I'm a
16:54
Speaker 1: little worried about Sean McVeigh. I wonder how he is
16:57
Speaker 1: doing just like mentally right now, because I'm sure he's not.
17:01
Speaker 1: He has to watch, he has to, and I'm sure
17:03
Speaker 1: he did it last night. He used to watch that
17:06
Speaker 1: game film, and I wonder when he watches that what
17:08
Speaker 1: his thoughts are about Matthew Stafford and how much of
17:11
Speaker 1: the offensive issues go back to him or is I'm
17:14
Speaker 1: sure he's obviously watching at McVeigh from all levels in
17:17
Speaker 1: terms of studying the offense as he understand that the
17:20
Speaker 1: protection issues and the inability to have a sustained run game,
17:23
Speaker 1: and the lack of a trust here with Stafford and
17:26
Speaker 1: these other receivers. It seems like it's all kind of
17:28
Speaker 1: a messy stew And this is the first time after
17:30
Speaker 1: watching this games like, Oh, I'm worried about the Rams.
17:33
Speaker 1: It's hard to repeat. It doesn't happen, it happens last time,
17:36
Speaker 1: it happens like twenty years ago. And right now the
17:38
Speaker 1: Rams don't look anything like they were by the end
17:40
Speaker 1: of last year. No. And meanwhile, Jared Golf, though he
17:42
Speaker 1: doesn't have the wins, is playing pretty well. We'll get
17:46
Speaker 1: to the lines a little later on the show. I
17:48
Speaker 1: don't know if they're Yeah, I still think there are
17:50
Speaker 1: two and two are probably worse if a golf is here,
17:52
Speaker 1: But you're right here. He you know, he wasn't. Here's
17:55
Speaker 1: the thing. He wasn't the problem either. In Los Angeles.
17:58
Speaker 1: It was when the supporting cast came back to earth
18:00
Speaker 1: a little bit, including Todd Gurley, who went from superstar
18:03
Speaker 1: to just a guy overnight. He was exposed a little bit.
18:05
Speaker 1: Golf Stafford. Is he being exupposed a little bit right now?
18:08
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what's happening. I don't know.
18:11
Speaker 1: It's a weird team to figure out right now. They
18:12
Speaker 1: can't figure themselves out Teams eleven through fifteen, as we
18:15
Speaker 1: just mentioned, I think I should have dropped him out
18:17
Speaker 1: of the top ten. You think it's too harsh by
18:19
Speaker 1: the old zuer No, I think you're right watching them.
18:23
Speaker 1: What did I mess up in the top ten? Did
18:24
Speaker 1: I botch anything in the top ten? Two? Let's see,
18:26
Speaker 1: I'm looking well. I don't know if the Niners the
18:29
Speaker 1: Packers maybe should get dinged a little bit because it
18:32
Speaker 1: was just such a tough win for them against Bailey's Appy,
18:35
Speaker 1: But overall I kind of nailed it eleven, very good,
18:49
Speaker 1: the Rams down Titans at twelve. They remain the same,
18:52
Speaker 1: The Cowboys remain the same at thirteen, Chargers up one
18:55
Speaker 1: at fourteen, and then the Raiders at fifteen. But that
19:00
Speaker 1: spot that is just so difficult to figure out. It's
19:04
Speaker 1: a little bit of the twilight zone. Two weeks in
19:07
Speaker 1: a row, the Cowboys have been your thirteen ranked team.
19:11
Speaker 1: The defense is carrying the team. It's a little bit
19:13
Speaker 1: like a Cooper Rush effect going on. How do you
19:16
Speaker 1: feel about them right now? Are they really that difficult
19:19
Speaker 1: they are to understand? You know what, They're a little
19:22
Speaker 1: different than the typical thirteen twilight zone really because I
19:26
Speaker 1: don't think you're difficult to figure out right now within
19:28
Speaker 1: the context of they're pretty good. They are pretty good.
19:31
Speaker 1: They're not a team's usually the numbers. What are we doing? Like?
19:35
Speaker 1: Who are they? What makes them kind of an interesting
19:37
Speaker 1: team to try to figure out? To me, Connie, is
19:39
Speaker 1: are they actually really good? Are they the team that
19:42
Speaker 1: went through last year and entered the playoffs and then
19:45
Speaker 1: fell on their face? But it was like, Okay, this
19:47
Speaker 1: is a good Dallas team. It's a team here mouse, Connie.
19:50
Speaker 1: They are going to contend for the NFC East this
19:52
Speaker 1: year because as good as Cooper Rush has been, and
19:56
Speaker 1: he has been, he's really done great work and I
19:59
Speaker 1: really liked even in the game on Sunday he was
20:02
Speaker 1: attacking downfield throws at the game in hand late He's
20:05
Speaker 1: he's fearless out there. He knows this is his opportunity.
20:08
Speaker 1: It is the defense that is not going to change
20:11
Speaker 1: unless they get hit by injuries, and that that's a
20:13
Speaker 1: defense that has given up one touchdown in each of
20:15
Speaker 1: the first four games. Even the Eagles are going to
20:18
Speaker 1: struggle against this defense, well, well we'll see. We'll see
20:21
Speaker 1: about that. A great job getting after Carson Wentz. They
20:25
Speaker 1: stacked him twice, intercepted him twice. Everybody does that. It's
20:29
Speaker 1: been all year for for Dallas, and Michael Parsons is
20:32
Speaker 1: not stuffing the stat sheet so far. But this is
20:35
Speaker 1: even without him going off and just taking over the
20:37
Speaker 1: league for a six week stretch, which is possible as well.
20:40
Speaker 1: So the mystery to me is are they a potential
20:44
Speaker 1: elite NFC team. I'm already now back in that they're good.
20:48
Speaker 1: How good are they? And again we're wrong all the
20:50
Speaker 1: time in the show. I don't like to tell anyone that,
20:53
Speaker 1: because I thought they were cooked after week one. But
20:56
Speaker 1: the Cooper Rush thing was a revelation that he was
20:59
Speaker 1: able to come in and hold things down, and the
21:01
Speaker 1: defense has been maybe the best in the league. Was
21:03
Speaker 1: that a baby's head that just flew by? Or is
21:06
Speaker 1: that just you know your jet like that? There's the baby.
21:10
Speaker 1: It's a doll head, colleague, not an actual human baby. There.
21:15
Speaker 1: It is E equals MC squared, a clock spinning grandfather clock,
21:21
Speaker 1: just going around and around. We are in not the
21:24
Speaker 1: Twilight zone, because that's someone else's intellectual property. Yes, what
21:27
Speaker 1: is this aversion? It's the twilight area? Okay, yeah, twilight corner.
21:32
Speaker 1: Well no, because space is vast right, the twilight vacuum.
21:36
Speaker 1: It's pretty good. Okay, you know what else? I see
21:39
Speaker 1: team sixteen through two. Okay, Broncos will be clear with
21:44
Speaker 1: the I p on that. We'll chat. We in the clear.
21:46
Speaker 1: It's check with our Cardinals at seventeen, up three, the
21:49
Speaker 1: Saints of one at eighteen, the Giants up three at nineteen.
21:53
Speaker 1: Can I say one more thing about the previous grouping
21:56
Speaker 1: the Jags of the one and the Falcons of go ahead?
22:00
Speaker 1: Did you plan to talk about the Raiders on today's
22:02
Speaker 1: show before we said goodbye. I want to on the
22:04
Speaker 1: Raiders quickly. They're up six to fifteen. But it's not
22:08
Speaker 1: like I watched the game against the Broncos and thought,
22:10
Speaker 1: oh man, they are on the rise. It's this whole
22:14
Speaker 1: middle of the league right now is very foggy. Well, yeah,
22:18
Speaker 1: there's so if a team like the Raiders wins one game,
22:24
Speaker 1: they're gonna shoot up. Even if I'm out that high
22:26
Speaker 1: on them. Now you look at the rest of them,
22:28
Speaker 1: you just say, I got the Broncos down to the Cardinals.
22:31
Speaker 1: I don't like the Cardinals at all. But then look
22:35
Speaker 1: who's beneath the Cardinals. The Saints, who are one of
22:38
Speaker 1: three and very nearly owing four. The g Men, who,
22:41
Speaker 1: yes they're three and one, and I get I moved
22:43
Speaker 1: them up three spots, but I'm not love with them.
22:46
Speaker 1: The Jaguars just gave up twenty nine straight points of
22:48
Speaker 1: the Eagles and their young quarterback at five turnovers. The
22:51
Speaker 1: Browns keep finding ways to lose. And then I got
22:53
Speaker 1: the Falcons up to twenty two, and maybe they should
22:55
Speaker 1: be even a little higher, you could argue, but I
22:58
Speaker 1: don't love the Raiders. But look at all these teams. Connie,
23:01
Speaker 1: I feel like we just took a saw and opened
23:04
Speaker 1: up your head and looked inside of your brain. You're delirious.
23:08
Speaker 1: Imagine flying over like Scotland and Ireland and then the
23:13
Speaker 1: ocean and then Nova Scotia, and then I'm over Bozeman,
23:17
Speaker 1: Monte And it's like, oh, Dan, keep you know, pound
23:20
Speaker 1: out your power rankings, figure all this out, as like
23:24
Speaker 1: my body clock is exploding inside. But I still, by
23:27
Speaker 1: the way, Hashtago have a gift for you. What hey, Dan,
23:31
Speaker 1: you know what presented by energized right moving up? And
23:41
Speaker 1: one of those teams is the Giants now at nineteen.
23:45
Speaker 1: Then well week one, they actually came in at that's
23:50
Speaker 1: where we started at the beginning of the season. Yes,
23:52
Speaker 1: so really almost you know, almost last one of the
23:54
Speaker 1: worst teams in the league, it seemed on paper before
23:57
Speaker 1: we began the game. So they beat the Titans and
23:59
Speaker 1: moved up to one. They beat the Panthers and moved
24:03
Speaker 1: up to nineteen. They lost to the Cowboys, dip them
24:06
Speaker 1: back back to yeah you have to correct there, and
24:10
Speaker 1: then to the Bears. They won this past week and
24:13
Speaker 1: now they are nineteen. So listen, only the Eagles and
24:17
Speaker 1: the Vikings have made bigger leaps since Week one, but
24:20
Speaker 1: at nineteen, like, you're still not really sold. No, And
24:24
Speaker 1: you know it's interesting to me. Usually when there's a
24:26
Speaker 1: team and I'll use the Panthers as an example last
24:29
Speaker 1: year or the Dolphins this year that gets off to
24:31
Speaker 1: a fast start, and if I don't immediately move them
24:34
Speaker 1: high up the power rankings, the fans of that team
24:37
Speaker 1: will come into my Twitter and just say, I don't
24:39
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. How dare you ignore what they're accomplishing. Usually, wait,
24:43
Speaker 1: let me guess they can understand how you have a
24:45
Speaker 1: job right, you should be fired, you should be this.
24:48
Speaker 1: It's like whatever, bros. And then usually those teams, because
24:51
Speaker 1: they're not actually as good as those fan bases think
24:53
Speaker 1: despite the early record, they fall back to the pack.
24:56
Speaker 1: With the Giants, I've done the same thing. I'm kind
24:58
Speaker 1: of slow playing them a little bit because I'm not
25:00
Speaker 1: buying in totally. But I'm not hearing Giants fans pushing back.
25:03
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing it as my because I think Giants
25:05
Speaker 1: man's also understand that this three and one start well
25:08
Speaker 1: not fake by any stretch. This is a team that
25:10
Speaker 1: has played very close games and all three of the wins,
25:14
Speaker 1: se Kwan Barkley has been the difference and pretty much
25:16
Speaker 1: all of them. The Cowboys game, which was like kind
25:18
Speaker 1: of the first big test in prime time at home
25:20
Speaker 1: with Dak Prescott injured, they weren't able to get it
25:23
Speaker 1: done and that kind of said, okay, that was a
25:24
Speaker 1: little bit of a heat check for them. So while there,
25:27
Speaker 1: nineteen rise is notable and three and ones great and
25:30
Speaker 1: there's little juice in New York for the football teams,
25:32
Speaker 1: which is nice. I can't say when I look at
25:34
Speaker 1: their schedule. Connie at Packers in London in London with
25:39
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones maybe out, he's not the ankle issue, and
25:41
Speaker 1: we don't know about Tyrod Taylor because the concussion right
25:44
Speaker 1: Ravens at home at Jaguars at Seahawks. I'm not in
25:48
Speaker 1: on that yet. I think that's it. After that stretch
25:51
Speaker 1: of four games, they'll probably be five below. But listen,
25:53
Speaker 1: they've already surprised a little bit. Maybe they'll surprise the more. Yeah,
25:56
Speaker 1: the Daniel Jones getting knocked out with the ankle and
26:00
Speaker 1: then he didn't throw a pass the rest of the
26:03
Speaker 1: game after he had to come in. Tyrod Taylor was
26:05
Speaker 1: knocked out, So who knows if it's going to be
26:07
Speaker 1: Davis Webb starting in London for the Giants. But this
26:11
Speaker 1: week we had the wide receivers combining for three receptions
26:15
Speaker 1: in twenty five yards. Kenny Golladay zero I know, I
26:19
Speaker 1: don't even know at this point. He came out of
26:23
Speaker 1: that game and he's been injury zero catches before he
26:26
Speaker 1: was knocked out late in the game. But this is
26:29
Speaker 1: a team that Alan, I know what you're doing. I
26:32
Speaker 1: know what you're saying. You're like, oh, this is total
26:34
Speaker 1: bogus there, Bologny, I don't believe in them, and I
26:37
Speaker 1: kind of agree with you, but this is a very
26:39
Speaker 1: hard spot for them going to London to play Green
26:42
Speaker 1: Bay shorthanded. But se Quon Barkley has been one of
26:44
Speaker 1: the best running backs in the league and that is
26:47
Speaker 1: something I did not see coming that changed their fortunes
26:50
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways this year A D forty
26:51
Speaker 1: six rushing yards for him, outstanding. He's been a bright spot.
26:56
Speaker 1: So that's great for the Giants fans. They can hang
26:58
Speaker 1: their hat on that. You know, how magnanimous of you.
27:03
Speaker 1: I know, this is what I do. Anyway, we got
27:05
Speaker 1: teams twenty three through seven, just patted her hair. After that,
27:09
Speaker 1: I'm patting myself on the back of the Seahawks at
27:12
Speaker 1: five to twenty three. The Lions, Oh, the Lions were
27:15
Speaker 1: gonna talk about them in a second down eight at
27:18
Speaker 1: the Patriots down one at five, the Jets up five
27:21
Speaker 1: at twenty six, the Steelers down one at seven, got there,
27:25
Speaker 1: Kenny pick it in. He'll be the guy moving forward.
27:28
Speaker 1: But this brings us to power failure. I just mentioned
27:31
Speaker 1: the Lions and it was so sad. It was so
27:34
Speaker 1: sad watching the look in Dan Campbell's eyes at the
27:37
Speaker 1: end of that game as he watched on after his team.
27:41
Speaker 1: This is a forty eight to forty five game against
27:44
Speaker 1: the Seahawks. Geno Smith came out of nowhere. This is
27:48
Speaker 1: this is so sad. Why does they didn't even have
27:50
Speaker 1: Aman Rossi Brown? This is the sad power failure music,
27:54
Speaker 1: sad jams. This is a sad jam. I don't know
27:59
Speaker 1: what to do because you know this team cently. We
28:02
Speaker 1: recovered the Hard Knocks Lion season on the podcast this summer.
28:07
Speaker 1: That was a great time and we had so much
28:09
Speaker 1: hope and in particularly you know this county, like Aaron
28:13
Speaker 1: Glenn was m dude, former Jets cornerback who just seemed
28:18
Speaker 1: to be the type of coach that anybody would want
28:20
Speaker 1: on their staff at defensive coordinator, smart um, leader of
28:26
Speaker 1: men type, guy that lived and breathed it. And yet
28:29
Speaker 1: they're on pace to give up more points than any
28:30
Speaker 1: team ever through four games and after the lost, Dan
28:34
Speaker 1: Campbell without calling out Aaron Glenn, you know, made it
28:38
Speaker 1: clear that we have reached the stage where we need
28:40
Speaker 1: to change some things and we need to be asking
28:42
Speaker 1: questions about why this isn't working. So the offense giving
28:47
Speaker 1: up fifty five yards to Geno Smith and the Seahawks,
28:53
Speaker 1: that doesn't uh. There's a major issue here. So they
28:57
Speaker 1: gotta get a fixed. They got to find a way.
28:59
Speaker 1: We talked about it all through the summer on the
29:00
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks podcast that this defense was a question mark.
29:04
Speaker 1: And Rodrigo for instance, having the second highest selling jersey,
29:09
Speaker 1: the undrafted where the seventh round rookie linebacker. They don't
29:12
Speaker 1: have a lot of star talent and even Jeffer Couta
29:15
Speaker 1: making a jump at cornerback, they don't have enough pieces
29:19
Speaker 1: touch there now. But it's it's a problem. Is it's
29:23
Speaker 1: a power failure for the height machine around the Lions
29:26
Speaker 1: because you do need tangible appreciation, you need you need
29:32
Speaker 1: to take the next step, and they haven't done it yet.
29:35
Speaker 1: The offense has. The offense shows that they can score points.
29:39
Speaker 1: They didn't have Iman Ross at Brown, they didn't have
29:41
Speaker 1: d jhark in this game. Jamal Williams, he's showing that
29:44
Speaker 1: he can be a reliable back for them. Jared Golf
29:48
Speaker 1: is actually flourishing with Ben Johnson. They're creative. D J.
29:54
Speaker 1: Hockenson has been for them. They're averaging thirty five points
29:58
Speaker 1: a game on the nose. The problem is they're allowing
30:01
Speaker 1: thirty five point three points. It is the highest hot
30:04
Speaker 1: number of points to under anyone of any team ever
30:07
Speaker 1: as well. So I want to talk about the twilight zone,
30:09
Speaker 1: the team that doesn't make sense. I don't know what
30:11
Speaker 1: to make of the lines, but let's just hope that
30:14
Speaker 1: this is not an aberration with the offense because of
30:16
Speaker 1: the Lions offense comes back to earth a little bit.
30:19
Speaker 1: The defense is not gonna be able to pick up
30:21
Speaker 1: the slack. I just need a couple of wins for
30:22
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell. Yeah, you know who else needs its Dan Campbell. Ah,
30:26
Speaker 1: that's the next The Colts the Cults don't need the
30:30
Speaker 1: Lions to win. For Dan Campbell, the Colts started at
30:33
Speaker 1: twelve this year, and you know how much I loved them.
30:36
Speaker 1: Then they tied the Texans, so they filled a fifteen
30:39
Speaker 1: and then they lost to the Jags, so they fell
30:41
Speaker 1: to twenty six, plummeted to six. They beat the that's
30:45
Speaker 1: when Peter Scheger said they should be thirty two. I
30:47
Speaker 1: remember on Good Morning Football after the Jags game, after
30:49
Speaker 1: the Jags loss, who had looked worse at that point,
30:52
Speaker 1: which is a fair point at that sid, but I
30:54
Speaker 1: didn't want to bury him that far. Well, you bumped
30:56
Speaker 1: him up three spots when they beat the Chiefs, and
30:59
Speaker 1: then shows that that was the right move. Got me
31:01
Speaker 1: because if I would have put them all the way
31:02
Speaker 1: down to thirty two and then they beat the Chiefs exact,
31:04
Speaker 1: I would have looked like, so here we are now.
31:07
Speaker 1: They've fallen sixteen spots since week one. It's it's a
31:11
Speaker 1: tough team and Matt Ryan he's having issues with turnovers.
31:14
Speaker 1: They can't run the ball. This is not what I
31:17
Speaker 1: was sold during training camp. No, no, what I sold
31:20
Speaker 1: to everyone else, right, And it's a bad beat for Connie.
31:23
Speaker 1: I understand that. But when I was walking into the
31:26
Speaker 1: studio today and behind the glass was our colleague, producer
31:29
Speaker 1: Jason Klemman, big Rams fan, and I said, hey, Jason,
31:32
Speaker 1: so what's up the ramps? They stink? And we had
31:34
Speaker 1: a conversation about it. I have have the same conversation
31:37
Speaker 1: about the Colts. Are we just there with the Colts? Bad?
31:40
Speaker 1: Is that? What's the problem? Like, what's wrong with the Colts?
31:42
Speaker 1: How do we fix the cults? Maybe this is actually
31:46
Speaker 1: a deeply flawed roster, and with the offensive line not
31:49
Speaker 1: being nearly as good this year, that blows everything up
31:52
Speaker 1: that it was so sensitive the roster that it needed
31:55
Speaker 1: to be held um and everything needed to be strong
31:58
Speaker 1: upfront or everything else falls apart. And because it hasn't
32:01
Speaker 1: been strong up front, Matt Ryan looks old and has
32:04
Speaker 1: and ineffective and and turnover plagued. And Jonathan Taylor is
32:08
Speaker 1: getting stuck at the line of scrimmage over and over again,
32:11
Speaker 1: and now he has a high ankle sprain with a
32:13
Speaker 1: Thursday night game coming up, and yet it all up
32:16
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, have I mentioned Keel Leonard just
32:19
Speaker 1: broke his nose and was ruled out with a concussion.
32:23
Speaker 1: I don't like anything about where the Cults are right now.
32:25
Speaker 1: They're lucky to be one two and one because they
32:28
Speaker 1: feel like a team that could have been owned for
32:29
Speaker 1: as bad as things went. But this is not a
32:31
Speaker 1: team that I feel good about rising. I think the
32:33
Speaker 1: Titans are a better team, clearly. I think the Jaguars
32:35
Speaker 1: have surpassed them, and they're more closer cousins to the
32:39
Speaker 1: Texans in the a f C South, which I'm with you,
32:41
Speaker 1: I can't believe that. I think I picked them as
32:43
Speaker 1: a playoff team, maybe even to win the South, but
32:46
Speaker 1: that has not been the team that showed up to play.
32:48
Speaker 1: The Cults are now oh two and one in the division,
32:52
Speaker 1: and they have Jacksonville and Tennessee again coming up in
32:55
Speaker 1: the next three weeks, so that is a rough schedule. Yeah,
32:59
Speaker 1: and I think Frank Reich, knowing how angry ownership was
33:03
Speaker 1: at the end of the last season, it this thing
33:05
Speaker 1: continues to spiral. I know everyone's saying Matt Rule is
33:07
Speaker 1: going to be the first guy out. Frankreid could be
33:09
Speaker 1: in trouble here if this season truly goes off the rails. Yeah,
33:13
Speaker 1: it's that's not a place that you want to struggle,
33:17
Speaker 1: especially with Jim Mercy and the way that everything went
33:20
Speaker 1: down last year with Carson Wentz getting run out of town.
33:22
Speaker 1: Kind of owner would you be? Would you be that
33:24
Speaker 1: type of be a well liked owner? You would, yeah,
33:27
Speaker 1: but I would think I would probably be reactionary. Would
33:30
Speaker 1: you be the type of owner that would fire people
33:33
Speaker 1: all the time and demand results? And it's tough because
33:38
Speaker 1: all that power, you know, right, That's what I'm saying.
33:40
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like you might be, Yeah, that
33:42
Speaker 1: might be your thing. That's a your that's your job
33:44
Speaker 1: is to win, all right. Yeah, I'd be very calm,
33:47
Speaker 1: almost passive, but also wisdom. It would be like everybody
33:50
Speaker 1: would know. I would carry around a big stick, a
33:52
Speaker 1: literal stick, like, oh, that's his wisdom stick, and I
33:56
Speaker 1: would think about things like Winston Churchill and World War
33:59
Speaker 1: two and then come to decisions that would lead my
34:01
Speaker 1: organization to the you know who has a new owner
34:14
Speaker 1: at the Broncos, let's go to them. Nice Transition one
34:20
Speaker 1: have fallen eight spots since week one. Wisdom stick. They
34:24
Speaker 1: went from eight to sixteen to seventeen to fourteen to sixteen.
34:28
Speaker 1: So here we are now this offense is we saw
34:32
Speaker 1: a little bit more this week with Russell Wilson. But
34:34
Speaker 1: this team, now they lost Javonte Williams, it's difficult to
34:38
Speaker 1: figure out. Yeah, the fact that I have them at
34:40
Speaker 1: sixteen that feels generous as well, but again speaking to
34:43
Speaker 1: what we're talking about earlier, it's so it's so hard
34:46
Speaker 1: to figure out this area of the power rankings right now.
34:48
Speaker 1: It's usually the have a spot to figure out. Is
34:51
Speaker 1: that the teenagers as we'll call them for the Power
34:53
Speaker 1: Rankings at thirteen to nineteen group and the Broncos are
34:56
Speaker 1: right near the top of the list, and I don't
34:58
Speaker 1: know what they're gonna do. This Javonte Williams injury is terrible.
35:00
Speaker 1: It was worse than you would have imagined when you
35:03
Speaker 1: saw it happen. So he's got a long road back,
35:05
Speaker 1: and the fact that they have to put Melvin Gordon
35:07
Speaker 1: and back in the lineup at running back. I got
35:10
Speaker 1: its fumbled four times, including lost one for a fumble
35:13
Speaker 1: last week in a in a big game. That's not good.
35:16
Speaker 1: That's not good. And then you put in Boone in
35:20
Speaker 1: that game and he drops the pass that would have
35:22
Speaker 1: kept them alive against the Raiders late. So they're they're
35:25
Speaker 1: running back situation is brutal. You know, got the Randy
35:27
Speaker 1: Gregory injury. I'm we'll say this positively about the brocas
35:31
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson starting to look a little bit more like dangerous.
35:36
Speaker 1: He's doing a little more freelance work the last drive
35:38
Speaker 1: against the Niners and Sunday night, and then he made
35:41
Speaker 1: some really kind of good throws that reminded you of
35:44
Speaker 1: the old days, and scrambling a little bit more against
35:47
Speaker 1: the Raiders. He certainly was not the problem against Las Vegas,
35:51
Speaker 1: but Denver in general, Yeah, I think it's safe to
35:54
Speaker 1: say even a two and two, which is hardly a
35:57
Speaker 1: disgraceful record, I would say that they're a pretty big
36:00
Speaker 1: disappointment when going down that list in the ACU. So
36:03
Speaker 1: they play Thursday night, as we mentioned, against the Colts,
36:05
Speaker 1: and right, nice set up for them because Jonathan Taylor,
36:10
Speaker 1: even if he plays, is going to be severely limited,
36:12
Speaker 1: and you take Jonathan Taylor out of that lineup, the
36:15
Speaker 1: Denver defense should be able to eat there even with
36:18
Speaker 1: Gregory out. So we'll see how that game goes. But
36:21
Speaker 1: we were talking about Frank Reich and when we were
36:24
Speaker 1: talking about the Colts and the fact that he could
36:27
Speaker 1: you know his seat might be getting warm a team
36:29
Speaker 1: who has a head coach with the hottest of hot seeds.
36:32
Speaker 1: I feel like already Matt Rule the Panthers. They have
36:35
Speaker 1: fallen eight spots since week one. They have bounced from
36:38
Speaker 1: twenty three down to twenty nine, down to thirty one
36:41
Speaker 1: and then thirty one. They are really hovering just around
36:45
Speaker 1: like the worst possible spots. So this is Baker Mayfield.
36:49
Speaker 1: He has looked awful. He is not the guy I mean,
36:52
Speaker 1: I wonder at this point are they going to turn
36:54
Speaker 1: to Sam Donald? Is that they will? They will turn
36:57
Speaker 1: to Sam Donald because this is not sustainable and is
37:00
Speaker 1: it better? Probably not. But that's the problem. That's the
37:03
Speaker 1: Matt Rules sich ouation, which is the one that nobody
37:06
Speaker 1: wants to be in right now. He knows his jobs
37:08
Speaker 1: on the line here and he is already he knows
37:11
Speaker 1: just like every Panthers fan. And you could hear him
37:13
Speaker 1: in Charlotte on Sunday booing the quarterback. They know he
37:17
Speaker 1: is not the answer Mayfield. I always kind of thought
37:20
Speaker 1: this that he was a product of his system in Cleveland,
37:22
Speaker 1: and when there was a lot around him, he was
37:24
Speaker 1: able to make some things happen. But once you take
37:26
Speaker 1: some things away, this is what you get. And Donald
37:29
Speaker 1: probably won't do any better, let's face it, but they
37:32
Speaker 1: needed at certain point make a change. And the fact
37:34
Speaker 1: that mc coral, the rookie, went out with the foot
37:37
Speaker 1: injury in August, so he's not even an option. So
37:40
Speaker 1: rules like stuck with Baker right now. And there was
37:42
Speaker 1: a report that came out this week that Donald's not
37:44
Speaker 1: close to coming back yet from the high ankle spring
37:46
Speaker 1: that he suffered. You're just stuck with Baker. But can
37:49
Speaker 1: I say one thing about the offense. Few years back,
37:52
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater was the quarterback and they were better. But
37:55
Speaker 1: you know who else is better, Christian McCaffrey. And you
37:57
Speaker 1: know why why he they were better? It wasn't just
37:59
Speaker 1: because McCaffrey is a different guy now, because I think
38:01
Speaker 1: he's the same guy that would use him a lot,
38:03
Speaker 1: like throwing down field and pass patterns, and he was
38:07
Speaker 1: kind of used in a dynamic way and now it's
38:09
Speaker 1: just like they're just hammering him through the middle of
38:11
Speaker 1: the line as a between the tackles runner with an
38:15
Speaker 1: occasional screen pass. He's your dude, like, find ways to
38:18
Speaker 1: make the quarterbacks job easier by using the best player
38:21
Speaker 1: on your team, and that's creative. I did share with
38:25
Speaker 1: the audience that Ben McAdoo looks like my neighbor Nate
38:30
Speaker 1: around the NFL, and and again it didn't maybe track
38:33
Speaker 1: with the entire audience, but I'm gonna essay on another show.
38:36
Speaker 1: That's a cool thing though, that he kind of looks
38:38
Speaker 1: like my neighbor. Small audiences really showed him in the
38:41
Speaker 1: box and I was like, Oh, that looks like my neighbor.
38:43
Speaker 1: Let's go to that's my Ben McAdoo analysis. In case
38:47
Speaker 1: your neighbor. I remember when Ben might as well be
38:53
Speaker 1: I remember when Ben mcdoo was the Giants coach and
38:55
Speaker 1: he couldn't figure out to do with his hair, and
38:57
Speaker 1: then he slicked it back, and I think he's found something. Now,
39:01
Speaker 1: all right, you don't want to talk about you brought
39:03
Speaker 1: him up? Are the Colts at twenty eight? We just
39:06
Speaker 1: mentioned them down five? At twenty nine, we got the
39:09
Speaker 1: Commanders taking command one spot up from last week, the
39:12
Speaker 1: Bears at thirty down three, the Panthers down to a
39:15
Speaker 1: thirty one, and then unchanged matters moved up. So that
39:20
Speaker 1: tells you if the commanders can get beat and look
39:25
Speaker 1: bad doing it and technically move up a spot. The
39:27
Speaker 1: teams below them are in a bad place. Really, that's
39:30
Speaker 1: very bad place. So you don't want to be in
39:32
Speaker 1: this spot. And so the Cults, you know, they just
39:35
Speaker 1: have an edge on the Commanders. But the Bears. The
39:37
Speaker 1: justin fields thing is that's another that's another issue because
39:40
Speaker 1: you you could tell that Mattiraflus does not feel like
39:44
Speaker 1: you can trust fields right now or run the offense.
39:47
Speaker 1: He set a season high on Sunday and twelve lost
39:50
Speaker 1: of the Giants with eleven completions. Well not so that's
39:53
Speaker 1: an issue, all right. So let's get to the best
39:55
Speaker 1: of their rest here. We're gonna put thirty seconds on
39:56
Speaker 1: the close like that's an issue, Dan, It is an issue.
39:59
Speaker 1: You know what. Else, there's a lot of issues here
40:00
Speaker 1: in terms of teams that are difficult to figure out.
40:03
Speaker 1: Which is the hardest to figure out, know, they put
40:05
Speaker 1: me on a clock with jet leg go ahead, go Alright,
40:08
Speaker 1: hardest team to figure out is the Dolphins. I got
40:11
Speaker 1: the middle eleven. Now, Dolphins fans are upset about that.
40:13
Speaker 1: They say, how could you do that to us? We
40:15
Speaker 1: lose one game and you're dropping us eight spot. Well,
40:18
Speaker 1: you also lost to a and everything that went around
40:22
Speaker 1: the loss of twah And you know the NFL now
40:24
Speaker 1: is taking a much more serious crack here about how
40:27
Speaker 1: they're handling concussions. Teddy Bridgewater against the Jets. I like Teddy,
40:31
Speaker 1: but the Dolphins are a big question mark to me
40:33
Speaker 1: right now. They are How can they not? A lot
40:34
Speaker 1: of people? Hey, time's up? Good job? How about this one.
40:37
Speaker 1: Shouldn't the Falcons thirty seconds on the clock be above
40:41
Speaker 1: the Browns after beating them? Isn't that how that works? Well? Uh? Maybe,
40:47
Speaker 1: but again, I was on a plane. I didn't write these.
40:49
Speaker 1: Someone did. Someone on my laptop, someone that looks like
40:53
Speaker 1: me wrote these, But it wasn't me. No. I do
40:56
Speaker 1: think the Browns. Yeah, I think the Browns are a
40:59
Speaker 1: better team than the Falcons. The Browns could be four
41:02
Speaker 1: and oh if they just execute better at the end
41:03
Speaker 1: of a couple of game games. Um, the Falcons have
41:06
Speaker 1: surprised me. I liked them. I think they're certified frisky.
41:10
Speaker 1: But if you tell me who I like better, I mean,
41:12
Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty two County. Can we calm down
41:14
Speaker 1: a little bit? And it's not the power The rankings
41:18
Speaker 1: let's go to the next one. Okay, we got there's
41:20
Speaker 1: your job. I apologize. I apology accepted. That's fine. So
41:24
Speaker 1: let's go Bengals at six, Ravens at seven. Are you
41:28
Speaker 1: tipping your hand for next week? Oh? Good? One games?
41:32
Speaker 1: Where's the game in Baltimore? Is it in Baltimore? Got check? Now,
41:35
Speaker 1: let's check that. Uh yeah, yeah that is. I guess
41:38
Speaker 1: you would Technically I would have. I would have to
41:40
Speaker 1: say no, I wouldn't. I could say whatever I want.
41:43
Speaker 1: I like the Ravens at home, but I also say,
41:46
Speaker 1: since Thenati has their swagger back. They liked what I
41:49
Speaker 1: saw from the Bengals the last couple of weeks, and
41:51
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow went out of his way after the game
41:52
Speaker 1: to compliment that offensive line and say, hey man, you
41:55
Speaker 1: do that, you protect me. We're gonna do all right.
41:57
Speaker 1: I still want to get the running game going, but
41:59
Speaker 1: I do like the Bengals in Baltimore. Alright, So again
42:02
Speaker 1: that game at the Ravens Sunday night football too, that time.
42:08
Speaker 1: That's exciting. Joe Burrow is gonna ball out in prime time.
42:10
Speaker 1: I know he's going to show up in some amazing outfit.
42:13
Speaker 1: He had this floral suit on last week's swagging thirty seconds.
42:18
Speaker 1: Will the Jets yo yo continue in the rankings? I
42:22
Speaker 1: am excited to watch the Jets. Do you emotionally I don't.
42:26
Speaker 1: Sometimes when I'm writing about them, I emotionally write about them,
42:29
Speaker 1: but I try to be even keeled with the rankings. Yeah,
42:32
Speaker 1: I thought that was really nice to see Zack wilson
42:35
Speaker 1: um lead That comeback in the fourth quarter. Was an
42:37
Speaker 1: excellent win. That's their second like crazy comeback in three weeks.
42:40
Speaker 1: I think they're still a very flawed team. But like
42:43
Speaker 1: I said, I think the Dolphins are a big mystery
42:45
Speaker 1: with Bridgewater and all the drama that has been around them,
42:47
Speaker 1: and the Jets beat Miami. They're teenagers baby like nineteen Yeah,
42:54
Speaker 1: but they have to play well, which They've never been
42:56
Speaker 1: teenagers in the time I've been doing power rankings. But
42:59
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, you are coming to I'm
43:01
Speaker 1: seeing Dan kind of like right now for the Hay
43:04
Speaker 1: it's gone. Okay, you're done, You're off the hook from
43:09
Speaker 1: ranking things. I'm going to rank some stuff real quick. Yes,
43:11
Speaker 1: we get out of here. That's the name of the
43:14
Speaker 1: sem You you know you think your jet leg is bad,
43:17
Speaker 1: Let me tell you about my jet leg because I
43:20
Speaker 1: also had an amazing week in London. I've been all
43:22
Speaker 1: over the place. My husband, John J. Pollis is over there.
43:26
Speaker 1: For what am I drinking? That's ginger? Yeah, So I
43:30
Speaker 1: hung out with you guys. This was a great night.
43:32
Speaker 1: We were at the pub together. We were supposed to
43:34
Speaker 1: go to a game Crysonal Palace and so we just yeah,
43:39
Speaker 1: we went to the local pub and enjoyed the company
43:42
Speaker 1: of each other and John, who's a great husband and
43:44
Speaker 1: a great hang. We had a fun time together in London.
43:47
Speaker 1: Did take the polaroid photo of you everywhere and had
43:50
Speaker 1: all sorts of photos taken with the polaroid in various figures. Yes,
43:54
Speaker 1: you can check out my instagram if you want to
43:56
Speaker 1: see it's like a flat Instead of flat Stanley, it's
43:59
Speaker 1: flat Colleen bringing me all across London. We went to
44:03
Speaker 1: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the day after the game. I didn't
44:06
Speaker 1: get to go to the game, but I got to
44:08
Speaker 1: check out the Yes, the polaroid. Where do you think
44:11
Speaker 1: your spirit is inside that photo? Is that what's happening here?
44:14
Speaker 1: Is your spirit inside the actual? Yes, that's why I'm there.
44:18
Speaker 1: I met Harry Kane the captain in the locker room,
44:21
Speaker 1: and then the grand finale. I met the crew and
44:26
Speaker 1: cast from Ted Lasso at the big NFL party after
44:29
Speaker 1: the game. So you didn't have to go to London. No,
44:31
Speaker 1: I didn't just do this all the time going forward.
44:35
Speaker 1: The best part is after I'm done with our coverage.
44:38
Speaker 1: I was here at two am to start for the
44:41
Speaker 1: pregame and half time and all of that. I get
44:44
Speaker 1: home and I have a FaceTime from John and I
44:47
Speaker 1: answer at it's John with the cast and crew from
44:50
Speaker 1: Ted Lasso, surprises around every corner. All right, I got
44:56
Speaker 1: another thing I'm going to rank. It's pretty good husband work.
44:58
Speaker 1: I know the rest of us a lie. This was
45:02
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. Now, normally we would not be showing anyone
45:05
Speaker 1: running onto the field, but the hit the Bobby Wagner
45:09
Speaker 1: pulled out against this was last night Rams Niners. There
45:13
Speaker 1: was someone from the crowd that came down onto the
45:17
Speaker 1: field and Bobby Wagner had the craziest hit on him
45:22
Speaker 1: to take him out, kind of security him attack. McKinley
45:26
Speaker 1: took this guy down and Kurt Warner thought potentially it
45:29
Speaker 1: was a gender reveal because it was a look bomb.
45:32
Speaker 1: It was pink. Turns out that was not the case,
45:34
Speaker 1: but shout out to Bobby Wagner for the tackle there
45:37
Speaker 1: that did not show up in the statute. Yeah, I
45:39
Speaker 1: thought that was great. I think any fan you have
45:41
Speaker 1: to if you do run on the field, which you
45:43
Speaker 1: should not, but if you do, at the very least,
45:46
Speaker 1: in addition to the night in the county lock up,
45:49
Speaker 1: getting smoked on the field, that's should be part of
45:52
Speaker 1: the price as well. And if you can get a
45:54
Speaker 1: future Hall of Famer like Bobby Wagner to do it,
45:56
Speaker 1: why not. Yeah, and Kevin Harlan had a great call
46:00
Speaker 1: of it. You can check that out. Oh yeah, check
46:02
Speaker 1: out the Around the NFL podcast. We'll we'll play that.
46:04
Speaker 1: By the way, did you notice that some poor security
46:07
Speaker 1: guard in the background of the video that's all over
46:10
Speaker 1: the place right now is running after the guy with
46:13
Speaker 1: the smoke bomb and he suffers like a devastating legs
46:16
Speaker 1: slash knee injury. Yes, watch closer. It's like it's the
46:19
Speaker 1: Apruter film of crazy fans on the field. It's crazy.
46:24
Speaker 1: What happens to this man's leg is he's just trying
46:26
Speaker 1: to run after this lunatic. The lunatic should pay for
46:28
Speaker 1: that man's a c l reconstruction surgery. I did not
46:31
Speaker 1: know that. I'm always always so concerned about the security guards,
46:35
Speaker 1: especially if like a player takes them out by accident.
46:37
Speaker 1: That is hardcore. Yes, oh god, okay, I'm sorry to
46:43
Speaker 1: give you that news, but that he sometimes job didn't
46:46
Speaker 1: catch that angle? All right? One more, how about this?
46:48
Speaker 1: How about some good news will end on a great
46:51
Speaker 1: note here. I just want to let you know that
46:53
Speaker 1: the fans in Philadelphia Eagles fans, we are not monsters.
46:59
Speaker 1: Doug Peterson gets back to the Lincoln Financial Field, gets
47:03
Speaker 1: a standing ovation in the rain from the crowd. Their
47:07
Speaker 1: hero returns. The statue is up and now here he
47:11
Speaker 1: was in the flesh. It was a great moment. How
47:14
Speaker 1: big of you, guys, especially a couple of weeks after
47:17
Speaker 1: you're unmercifully booing the poor kid wide receiver who got
47:21
Speaker 1: drafted in the first round and didn't play as well
47:23
Speaker 1: as he wanted to. Instead of booing the guy that
47:27
Speaker 1: drafted Jalen reagor Howie Roseman, you're booing this poor player
47:30
Speaker 1: who just wants to do his best. Dan, why do
47:33
Speaker 1: you hate Philadelphia? I don't, It's just you know, let's
47:36
Speaker 1: calm down with the hero where everybody amazing work out
47:40
Speaker 1: there with Doug Peterson. I mean, how could you not cheer?
47:43
Speaker 1: How is this even something? I think? This is This
47:45
Speaker 1: is what I'm talking about with the Eagles fans, in
47:47
Speaker 1: the Philly fans like the fact that you need to.
47:50
Speaker 1: Of course you would cheer Doug Peterson. We are out
47:52
Speaker 1: of time, you've won one super Bowl in fifty five years.
47:55
Speaker 1: Of course you would cheer him. Why would it even
47:58
Speaker 1: be something like maybe we boosted him? Well back? Everybody
48:03
Speaker 1: have a great rescue a week. NFL Power Rankings is
48:13
Speaker 1: a production of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio.
48:16
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i
48:19
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.