Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #2: Who should be ranked #1? Why did the Jets jump two spots?
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 0:07Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Hey everybody, welcome to week number two. Welcome to the
- 0:12Speaker 2: NFL Power Rankings, presented by Energizer. We're a show, We're
- 0:16Speaker 2: a podcast. Regardless of how you are watching or listening.
- 0:19Speaker 2: We thank you for joining us in Los Angeles. My
- 0:21Speaker 2: name is Andrews. Siciliano, the man on the other side
- 0:23Speaker 2: of the screen, live from his Chicago home studio, the
- 0:26Speaker 2: man who puts together these.
- 0:27Speaker 3: Power Rankings, now available on NFL dot com. That's Eric
- 0:31Speaker 3: at home. Good day to you, sir, Good day to you.
- 0:34Speaker 4: It's an exciting weekend. Lots to talk about.
- 0:37Speaker 3: How was your week? One mail bag?
- 0:39Speaker 2: Have you changed your home address yet or tried to
- 0:42Speaker 2: make your your number unlisted?
- 0:44Speaker 3: Are you okay?
- 0:46Speaker 4: You just said I lived in Chicago. You gave the
- 0:48Speaker 4: can out of the bag. I think everybody knows Tad's
- 0:50Speaker 4: a big place. I'm in. It is at least narrows
- 0:53Speaker 4: it down a little bit now. I have not gone
- 0:56Speaker 4: zero dark thirty yet, so I'm in good shape. People
- 0:59Speaker 4: have been a little rough. Couple fan bases are giving
- 1:01Speaker 4: it to me, though.
- 1:01Speaker 3: Who's the worst fan base? So far. And by worst
- 1:04Speaker 3: I mean, yes.
- 1:06Speaker 4: Worse best. I mean these are my people I grew
- 1:08Speaker 4: up in New England. The Patriots fans this week at
- 1:10Speaker 4: least have been given it to me. They were very impressed,
- 1:13Speaker 4: apparently with a three point loss. It was a good effort,
- 1:16Speaker 4: but did you know came up a little short.
- 1:17Speaker 2: Okay, So they are frustrated and the fans in New
- 1:20Speaker 2: York are just sad. As we tape this on Tuesday morning,
- 1:24Speaker 2: we'll get to the Jets and where they are in
- 1:25Speaker 2: your new rankings coming up at a second, Eric, I
- 1:28Speaker 2: think all of us just kind of feel heartsick for
- 1:32Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers and for the team certainly, but this totally
- 1:36Speaker 2: changes the face of the NFL season on so many levels.
- 1:41Speaker 4: Absolutely toughest division arguably, or one of them, certainly. I mean,
- 1:45Speaker 4: the Jets pinned all their hopes on Rogers. They've got
- 1:47Speaker 4: a banner defense. You know, certainly, anybody who has the
- 1:50Speaker 4: Jets on the schedule from here on out is you know,
- 1:53Speaker 4: looking at a better and more favorable matchup, assuming Zach
- 1:56Speaker 4: Wilson is the quarterback. So yeah, I mean the AFC
- 1:59Speaker 4: is completely loaded. It was going to be tough for
- 2:01Speaker 4: the Jets to get in anyway. Now here we are
- 2:03Speaker 4: with the backup quarterback four plays in the season. It's wild,
- 2:07Speaker 4: but it sort of fits with their history with bad
- 2:09Speaker 4: luck everywhere at.
- 2:10Speaker 2: Yeah, and when I said it changes everything, they still
- 2:12Speaker 2: have four more primetime games and the Black Friday standalone
- 2:16Speaker 2: game the day after Thanksgiving, and four more games in
- 2:19Speaker 2: the late four pm Eastern doubleheader window as well. This
- 2:23Speaker 2: does change a lot. We'll get to the Jets in
- 2:24Speaker 2: a second. Let's get your top eight. However, on the screen,
- 2:28Speaker 2: you can scan the QR code on your left or
- 2:30Speaker 2: go to nfl dot com slash Power Rankings to see
- 2:32Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers up three from number four. They
- 2:35Speaker 2: are your new number one. Kansas City lost on opening night.
- 2:40Speaker 2: They're the two, followed by the Eagles, who eked out
- 2:42Speaker 2: that win over the disfrontled Patriots fans. Then you have
- 2:46Speaker 2: the Dolphins at five, the Lions, the Jaguars, and the
- 2:51Speaker 2: Bills the new number one. The forty nine Ers. We
- 2:54Speaker 2: said this would be eric the most physical game of
- 2:58Speaker 2: the week. They went into Pittsburgh and punched a team
- 3:01Speaker 2: in the mouth that had been all through a Mike
- 3:03Speaker 2: Tobland training punching each other in the mouth.
- 3:08Speaker 4: Yeah, how's my Steelers pick? Looking not too good? I
- 3:10Speaker 4: would say, Yeah, I thought the Steelers would give them
- 3:13Speaker 4: an excellent game. Thought maybe the forty nine Ers kind
- 3:16Speaker 4: of get going a little bit slowly in this one.
- 3:18Speaker 4: Not to be the case. Brock perty set a statement
- 3:20Speaker 4: I thought, and you know, just everybody kind of questioning,
- 3:23Speaker 4: is he back fully from the elbow? Do they manage
- 3:25Speaker 4: this thing? Right? I think they did all right. Christian
- 3:28Speaker 4: McCaffrey was severit superb. Brandon iuk at a terrific game.
- 3:31Speaker 4: And oh, by the way, that defense. Yeah they lose
- 3:34Speaker 4: Tobiko Ryans, but Steve Wilks did a fantastic job, as
- 3:37Speaker 4: you said, being the aggressors physically in Pittsburgh and dominating
- 3:41Speaker 4: from the opening snap. If I had to pick one
- 3:43Speaker 4: team that looked the best on both sides of the
- 3:45Speaker 4: ball in Week one, this is it. That's why they're
- 3:47Speaker 4: number one.
- 3:48Speaker 2: Yeah, and the forty nine Ers now come to La
- 3:49Speaker 2: to face the Rams will get to them a little
- 3:51Speaker 2: bit later as well. They were certainly impressive week number
- 3:53Speaker 2: one to win in Seattle. The forty nine Ers have
- 3:56Speaker 2: out physical the Rams really for a number of years.
- 4:00Speaker 2: You know, put aside the twenty twenty one Rams Super
- 4:03Speaker 2: Bowl win. Fascinating to see how it goes this week
- 4:06Speaker 2: here at SOFI Stadium. The Chiefs at number two, the
- 4:09Speaker 2: Eagles at number three. Time now for the team of
- 4:13Speaker 2: the week was that of by truest Bank. That would
- 4:14Speaker 2: be the team that you had going to the Super Bowl.
- 4:17Speaker 3: From the NFC.
- 4:19Speaker 2: The Dallas Cowboys are up two to four after shutting
- 4:23Speaker 2: out the Giants on Sunday night.
- 4:27Speaker 4: I caught a little heat for putting them at number
- 4:30Speaker 4: six in my first rankings. I haven't heard of peep
- 4:32Speaker 4: since then. I wonder why. Maybe it was because one
- 4:34Speaker 4: of the more domin how about that? Yeah it was bright, Hey,
- 4:37Speaker 4: I'll get I mean I think that big, big brained defense.
- 4:41Speaker 4: I said, the reason why, unbelievable performance. It really started
- 4:45Speaker 4: from the block field go on, special teams carry it
- 4:48Speaker 4: over to the defense. Leave offense got a little bit
- 4:51Speaker 4: going there in the third quarter. So yeah, maybe it
- 4:53Speaker 4: wasn't as dominant offensive performance, but I don't think Dak Prescott,
- 4:57Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy, ceedee lamb, all these guys Tony Pollard have
- 5:00Speaker 4: to worry about being special every single week out because
- 5:04Speaker 4: they have that group behind them, and you know, an
- 5:07Speaker 4: experienced kicker performed well his first game too. Everything went
- 5:11Speaker 4: according to plan. It was the same field conditions for
- 5:13Speaker 4: both teams, So you can't use that as an excuse
- 5:16Speaker 4: for how the Giants played. Boys just dominated him from
- 5:19Speaker 4: the start. That was pretty impressive stuff.
- 5:22Speaker 2: They move on up, and now the Cowboys go home
- 5:26Speaker 2: to face the Jets, and look, we'll get to them
- 5:29Speaker 2: in a second. Obviously their season has changed, but their
- 5:32Speaker 2: defense did not fascinating on the week two course correction,
- 5:36Speaker 2: which we always see. Right, people come down to earth
- 5:39Speaker 2: a little bit. What does Dak and what does this
- 5:42Speaker 2: offense do this week against what we saw Monday night
- 5:46Speaker 2: from the Jets.
- 5:47Speaker 3: Defense, That to me is something to watch.
- 5:49Speaker 2: You have the Cowboys at four, you have the Dolphins
- 5:53Speaker 2: now at five.
- 5:55Speaker 3: Eric, I love what they did offensively.
- 5:58Speaker 2: Are you not concerned, however, with giving up two hundred
- 6:03Speaker 2: yards on the ground to a team that has never
- 6:05Speaker 2: shown any dedication to running the football.
- 6:09Speaker 4: It might be a different year for the Chargers. They
- 6:11Speaker 4: do seem like they're gonna do that this season. But
- 6:14Speaker 4: it's a fair question, Andrew, Right, you see that number,
- 6:16Speaker 4: it pops out, Sure you hold justin Herbert under his
- 6:19Speaker 4: average and all that and keep those receivers relatively in check.
- 6:23Speaker 4: But I think it sort of speaks to what Vic
- 6:25Speaker 4: Fangio wants to do as a defensive coordinator. He doesn't
- 6:28Speaker 4: mind you running on him, right as long as they're
- 6:30Speaker 4: not those twenty yard explosive plays, etc. He'll give up
- 6:33Speaker 4: four or five yards a clip if it means you're
- 6:36Speaker 4: not throwing the full yard ball with your star quarterback.
- 6:38Speaker 4: It's a tradeoff, and I think Vic's defense still kind
- 6:41Speaker 4: of getting used to his system. I assume they'll be better,
- 6:44Speaker 4: but I thought they're late stops kind of showed that. Hey,
- 6:48Speaker 4: even without Jalen Ramsey on this team till possibly December,
- 6:51Speaker 4: they still have some playmakers on that side of the ball.
- 6:54Speaker 4: So I'm not too two cerned, but I am keeping
- 6:57Speaker 4: an eye on it.
- 6:58Speaker 2: It was so interesting because Brandon Staley is a Vic
- 7:02Speaker 2: Fangio disciple, right took it there with the Rams, took
- 7:07Speaker 2: it across the street to the Chargers there, but it
- 7:10Speaker 2: was the Dolphins defense, and look, they gave up plenty
- 7:12Speaker 2: of big plays. That was seemingly more comfortable in Vic
- 7:16Speaker 2: Fangio's scheme than the Chargers players who were now in
- 7:19Speaker 2: it for year three.
- 7:20Speaker 3: I know J. C.
- 7:20Speaker 2: Jackson missed a lot of time last year most of
- 7:22Speaker 2: the season due an injury, but he made a couple
- 7:24Speaker 2: of bone headed plays cost them that field goal the
- 7:26Speaker 2: end of the second quarter with the just I mean
- 7:29Speaker 2: crazy dpi.
- 7:30Speaker 3: I don't know what you're thinking.
- 7:32Speaker 2: And then he crossed them again in the second if
- 7:34Speaker 2: he got the pick in the end zone, then brought
- 7:36Speaker 2: it out and backed his offense back up. So look,
- 7:40Speaker 2: the Chargers I think are going to be good here,
- 7:41Speaker 2: but the Dolphins were the better team. They are number
- 7:43Speaker 2: five at number six, how about the team that won
- 7:46Speaker 2: on Thursday night? Time for a Future Champs presented by
- 7:50Speaker 2: fan Duel, the NFC North odds have despite the Packers
- 7:55Speaker 2: looking good with their victory in Chicago, has Eric your
- 7:59Speaker 2: number six team now is a clear favorite to win
- 8:02Speaker 2: that division.
- 8:04Speaker 4: A day it is right the NFL, right one game
- 8:07Speaker 4: can really make that big a difference. I think a
- 8:09Speaker 4: lot of people felt like the Lions had a chance
- 8:11Speaker 4: to win the division, but a lot of us just
- 8:13Speaker 4: really needed to see it for our own eyes. Right,
- 8:15Speaker 4: they went out there on Thursday night, delivered an epic performance,
- 8:18Speaker 4: and they've now got the little mini by to kind
- 8:20Speaker 4: of rest, and yet I think Dan Campbell's probably just
- 8:23Speaker 4: waiting to get out there for the next game, like
- 8:25Speaker 4: he's itching a little bit. Probably watched the Sunday and
- 8:28Speaker 4: Monday games and everything. But it's such a young, exciting defense, right,
- 8:32Speaker 4: They've they fixed that side of the ball at least
- 8:34Speaker 4: through one week. We saw Hutchinson take over in that game.
- 8:37Speaker 4: We saw Brian Branch in his first game have a
- 8:39Speaker 4: fifty yard pick six, So that's the really encouraging thing.
- 8:44Speaker 4: Offense still kind of coming along, only two big drives
- 8:47Speaker 4: the other day. I think they'll be better once they
- 8:50Speaker 4: get the ball in Jamier Gibbs's hands. You saw Andrew,
- 8:52Speaker 4: I mean, even on limited touches, you can see what
- 8:54Speaker 4: a difference this kid could make with an expanded rule.
- 8:58Speaker 2: They were eleven last week, so the Lions go up
- 9:01Speaker 2: five to number six.
- 9:03Speaker 3: I'm with you on Gibb.
- 9:04Speaker 2: I also think, and I heard the same thing on
- 9:06Speaker 2: Thursday night, why don't we get more from Jamiir Gibbs, well,
- 9:09Speaker 2: David Montgomery right up the middle without Chris Jones. Right,
- 9:12Speaker 2: you're gonna run power, You're gonna run right at the
- 9:14Speaker 2: Chief's weakness. On Thursday night. Chris Jones is now back,
- 9:17Speaker 2: but he wasn't there and I'm all for running David Montgomery.
- 9:21Speaker 2: The Lions are six, the Jaguars are seven. They really
- 9:25Speaker 2: didn't do much until the fourth quarter.
- 9:27Speaker 3: They kicked it in. They beat the Colts.
- 9:29Speaker 2: The Bills are down five, eric they go from three
- 9:32Speaker 2: to eight. After Josh Allen turns the ball over four times.
- 9:37Speaker 2: He said, I'm not gonna play hero ball said that
- 9:39Speaker 2: in the offseason anymore, or at least I'm going.
- 9:41Speaker 3: To try to pull that back. But he got out there.
- 9:45Speaker 2: And give the Jets defense credit, especially that front seven,
- 9:49Speaker 2: but you can't give the ball away four times on
- 9:53Speaker 2: the road against that kind of defense.
- 9:54Speaker 3: They go home and down and get the Raiders.
- 9:56Speaker 4: Yeah, it's so hard to place this team right now
- 10:00Speaker 4: because obviously they came into the season liked it in
- 10:02Speaker 4: a year ago super Bowl expectation, right, people look at
- 10:05Speaker 4: him obviously, the Week one win over the Rams last
- 10:08Speaker 4: year was everything. This game wasn't it was, or sorry,
- 10:11Speaker 4: the thing the Thursday game in the opener last year.
- 10:14Speaker 4: But yeah, it just felt like after that touchdown, when
- 10:18Speaker 4: everything was going right, that was such a big statement.
- 10:20Speaker 4: While we're back, we have this thing rolling again. The
- 10:23Speaker 4: next thirty five minutes, they've been rolled in to the
- 10:25Speaker 4: end zone. I don't want to put it all on
- 10:27Speaker 4: Josh's shoulders because I think it is a team effort
- 10:29Speaker 4: up and you know, we need to see more than
- 10:31Speaker 4: from other players. But he said it and I believe
- 10:34Speaker 4: him right. Those three turnovers and the other fumble that
- 10:37Speaker 4: they recovered, those are as overstakes. You can't have happened consistently.
- 10:41Speaker 4: I mean, it seems like every few weeks we're getting
- 10:43Speaker 4: used to this type of game from him. So the
- 10:45Speaker 4: dangerous place and that window is maybe slightly closing. But
- 10:48Speaker 4: they've got a chance to turn this thing around if
- 10:50Speaker 4: they can get him right.
- 10:52Speaker 2: And I understand that the first interception was in essence
- 10:56Speaker 2: an arm punt, right it was chucked in into the
- 10:58Speaker 2: end zone whatever. But the last one, the fumble after
- 11:02Speaker 2: the amazing Garrett Wilson touchdown came and that was sick.
- 11:06Speaker 2: I mean, that was one of those ones you heard
- 11:08Speaker 2: Joe Buck screaming and yelling all of us no matter
- 11:10Speaker 2: where you were watching, chances are you had the same
- 11:13Speaker 2: kind of guttural reaction. So the momentum turns there. The
- 11:18Speaker 2: crowd now is back into it again. Zach Wilson's feeling himself,
- 11:24Speaker 2: and what does Josh Allen do? He fumbled the snap, Oh,
- 11:28Speaker 2: but then he picked it back up. He's fine, and
- 11:30Speaker 2: then he fumbled it again. Steve Watch and I were
- 11:32Speaker 2: doing an NFL Game Day Final the network. Steve made
- 11:35Speaker 2: the point, it's almost as if he has the yips now, hmmm.
- 11:40Speaker 4: He wants to kind of like take control of games
- 11:42Speaker 4: and like, don't worry you pile on my back. I'll
- 11:45Speaker 4: get this done. And I think that's right. It's almost
- 11:47Speaker 4: like he's got that mentality, but the yips are something, right,
- 11:51Speaker 4: some kind of trigger in his head where it's like
- 11:53Speaker 4: mistakes happened more free frequently in this in this zone.
- 11:56Speaker 4: He said, I don't know what it is, but they've
- 11:58Speaker 4: got to figure a way to get out of that zone.
- 12:00Speaker 2: Hey, that said, he did at the end of regulation
- 12:02Speaker 2: get him into field goal range and Tyler bast Joint
- 12:04Speaker 2: didn't send it to overtime, but in the end it's
- 12:07Speaker 2: Xavier Gibson running it off. We have yet to reveal
- 12:11Speaker 2: the New York Jets coming up next on NFL Power
- 12:13Speaker 2: Rankings presented by Energizer. Where are your AFC East Zach
- 12:19Speaker 2: Wilson led Darlings in the new ranking. Okay, everybody, NFL
- 12:24Speaker 2: Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Let's get nine through sixteen.
- 12:30Speaker 2: The Jets are number nine, followed by the Ravens, the Bengals,
- 12:33Speaker 2: the Chargers, and the Cleveland Browns are up five. They're
- 12:37Speaker 2: not the biggest mover, however. The Saints are at fourteen.
- 12:41Speaker 2: The Packers are the biggest mover more than them. At
- 12:43Speaker 2: a second, They're up six to fifteen. The Falcons are
- 12:47Speaker 2: up one to sixteen.
- 12:49Speaker 3: Eric at home. Put all these together.
- 12:52Speaker 2: Eric, Obviously it's your job to defend all of these
- 12:55Speaker 2: and there's no easy way to do this. Okay, So philosophically,
- 13:00Speaker 2: I think it's hard to accept for me that the
- 13:03Speaker 2: Jets are now the ninth best team in football with
- 13:05Speaker 2: Zach Wilson a quarterback. But I think the bigger question
- 13:09Speaker 2: here is, you have them up to you had them
- 13:12Speaker 2: go from eleven to nine. How do you back up
- 13:16Speaker 2: saying that, in essence, they're better now than they were
- 13:19Speaker 2: a week ago?
- 13:20Speaker 4: Yeah, it was. They were probably the toughest team to
- 13:24Speaker 4: slot this week. Now they kind of got hell a
- 13:26Speaker 4: little bit, and that the you know, two teams ahead
- 13:29Speaker 4: of them moved down, and so it was a little
- 13:31Speaker 4: bit of a musical chairs type thing. But also it
- 13:34Speaker 4: was more of a respect pick than anything else. I'm
- 13:37Speaker 4: willing to admit that. You know, there are probably more
- 13:39Speaker 4: than nine or eight teams that are better than them
- 13:42Speaker 4: at this point in a night. Given the quarterback situation,
- 13:44Speaker 4: you know, they're obviously gonna have to change things. Daniel
- 13:47Speaker 4: Hackett's getting used to a new quarterback and Zach Wilson
- 13:49Speaker 4: and all that. But at the same time, the way
- 13:51Speaker 4: they ban it together as a team in that game
- 13:54Speaker 4: down ten points, able to come back without their starting quarterback,
- 13:57Speaker 4: win the other you know, two fakes and at least
- 14:00Speaker 4: play a stalemate on offense. I gave him a lot
- 14:03Speaker 4: of respect for that. Robert Salad could have hung his head.
- 14:06Speaker 4: We all saw his expression after the Rogers news entered
- 14:09Speaker 4: his ear, But I think he did a great job
- 14:12Speaker 4: of saying, all right, guys, let's show everybody we're more
- 14:14Speaker 4: than just one guy here. It's what a coach has
- 14:17Speaker 4: to do in that point. But I tell you what,
- 14:19Speaker 4: I'm not ready to quit this team yet, Andrew. I
- 14:21Speaker 4: get that nine is probably a little bit more of
- 14:23Speaker 4: a Participation Trophy at this point. But at the same time,
- 14:27Speaker 4: I really believe Levact they are a good team at
- 14:29Speaker 4: this junction.
- 14:30Speaker 2: Do you really believe that they're the ninth best team
- 14:33Speaker 2: in football? Or is this just say hey, I got
- 14:35Speaker 2: to put him here because that's how the board fell.
- 14:39Speaker 4: A little bit of the ladder. But at the same time,
- 14:41Speaker 4: I'm okay giving them some like a one week shot.
- 14:44Speaker 4: I also felt like, boy, if I have them three
- 14:47Speaker 4: or four spots below the Buffalo Bills, I'm gonna really
- 14:50Speaker 4: get that hate bail. And I think it's fair because
- 14:52Speaker 4: obviously we saw them play very evenly in that game.
- 14:55Speaker 2: So they go to Dallas this week, as mentioned, if
- 14:58Speaker 2: Zach Wilson somehow is in that game of the fourth
- 15:00Speaker 2: quarter because the defense keeps them in that game of
- 15:02Speaker 2: the fourth quarter, like look out here, Wow, that is
- 15:07Speaker 2: appointment viewing. At the same time, I have said this,
- 15:10Speaker 2: and I said it on game day final, Woody Johnson
- 15:13Speaker 2: has to call Tom Brady and what's the worst.
- 15:15Speaker 3: He could say?
- 15:16Speaker 1: No?
- 15:16Speaker 2: I expect him to say no, right, he already did
- 15:19Speaker 2: the Instagram paying look, I'm shooting hoops with my kids
- 15:22Speaker 2: on Tuesday morning.
- 15:23Speaker 3: But he has to at least call. I think he
- 15:27Speaker 3: should call the Niners about Sam Darnold. Don't laugh.
- 15:31Speaker 2: Yes, Sam Darnold was undoubtedly a better quarterback now than
- 15:36Speaker 2: he was when the Jets I think bamboozled the Panthers
- 15:40Speaker 2: for what they got and sent him to Carolina.
- 15:43Speaker 3: You have to make that call.
- 15:45Speaker 2: I love Zack Wilson, I love the story, and most importantly,
- 15:47Speaker 2: I love the Jets confidence, at least that locker room
- 15:50Speaker 2: that they showed Monday night to rally behind the kid
- 15:53Speaker 2: and to win that game. I just don't think it's
- 15:56Speaker 2: sustainable over the next seventeen weeks, over four more primetime games,
- 16:01Speaker 2: at a Black Friday game and four games in in
- 16:04Speaker 2: late four o'clock Eastern Time doubleheader.
- 16:08Speaker 3: The world is watching windows. I just can't see it.
- 16:11Speaker 2: But I commend you for being bold Eric at home,
- 16:16Speaker 2: and for keeping them at number nine and actually moving
- 16:20Speaker 2: them up from number eleven. The Ravens are ten. Your
- 16:24Speaker 2: new number eleven team got whooped. That's the Cincinnati Bengals.
- 16:28Speaker 2: They were beaten by the Browns. A lot of people said, Oh,
- 16:30Speaker 2: I'm so surprised. You shouldn't be surprised. I told you
- 16:32Speaker 2: the Browns were going to win. Now, admittedly, Eric, I
- 16:34Speaker 2: didn't think they were going to win by three touchdowns.
- 16:37Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, it was a tremendous defensive performance in one
- 16:42Speaker 4: who watched that knows that Jim Schwartz deserved to get
- 16:45Speaker 4: the game ball, and you know the eleven guys who
- 16:47Speaker 4: started and everybody after that. I didn't see too many
- 16:50Speaker 4: weaknesses on that side of the ball, at least in
- 16:52Speaker 4: that first game. The Browns have had a formula, no
- 16:55Speaker 4: matter who's coordinator, to beating Joe Burrow lately. So you know,
- 16:59Speaker 4: there's a little bit of a context there. We know
- 17:01Speaker 4: Burrow had the injury last year, didn't play well. They
- 17:04Speaker 4: started out lad O, two offensive lines struggled, So we're
- 17:08Speaker 4: repeating a lot of the same themes that we've seen
- 17:10Speaker 4: in recent years. At the same time, it was such
- 17:13Speaker 4: a bad performance for Burrow in the offense, you know,
- 17:16Speaker 4: t Higgins eight targets and no catches. Some of them
- 17:18Speaker 4: weren't even close to the point where I said, I've
- 17:21Speaker 4: got to punish him, right and this at the Jets
- 17:24Speaker 4: giving the boost. That's one end of the spectrum right now.
- 17:27Speaker 4: The Bengals being kind of over punished here maybe perhaps,
- 17:31Speaker 4: but right now, you know, you have to consider these
- 17:34Speaker 4: major concerns. I didn't think they played well at all,
- 17:36Speaker 4: and I'm I'm taking the to him for it a
- 17:39Speaker 4: little bit.
- 17:40Speaker 2: Joe Burrow threw for eighty two yards. Eighty two yards.
- 17:44Speaker 2: He had over thirty attempts. He didn't throw an interception.
- 17:47Speaker 2: That was an historically low number of passing yards in
- 17:51Speaker 2: like the top five of all time for guys with
- 17:54Speaker 2: thirty or more attempts without throwing an interception.
- 17:58Speaker 3: The Browns got after him.
- 18:00Speaker 2: The Browns have owned owned Joe Burrow, and that's not
- 18:05Speaker 2: an exaggeration here. He came in averaging two hundred ninety
- 18:08Speaker 2: five passing yards against them in his career, but a
- 18:10Speaker 2: lot of those were garbage yards late. Regardless, the Bengals
- 18:13Speaker 2: are down six, they go from five to eleven. Then
- 18:16Speaker 2: you have the Chargers at twelve, You have those Browns
- 18:19Speaker 2: at thirteen. And how about a team making a power
- 18:22Speaker 2: move presented to you by energizer up six the opposite
- 18:25Speaker 2: here of the Bengals, the Green Bay Packers are up
- 18:29Speaker 2: six because they whooped the team in your backyard and
- 18:33Speaker 2: are now fifteen.
- 18:35Speaker 4: Maybe this is an overcorrection I heard from Packers fans
- 18:38Speaker 4: Week one twenty First, are you kidding Melee? We're better
- 18:41Speaker 4: than that. You'll see week one? I sure did. I mean, look,
- 18:44Speaker 4: the first half was a relatively evenly played game. I
- 18:46Speaker 4: still thought the Packers were a little better. In the
- 18:49Speaker 4: second half. They turn it on. It was Stordan Love,
- 18:51Speaker 4: it was Aaron Jones, it was those young defensive players
- 18:55Speaker 4: they drafted the last couple of years getting returns on
- 18:57Speaker 4: those picks. I thought that was terrific. Thought Matt Lafleur
- 19:01Speaker 4: out coached the Bears coaching staff as well. There were
- 19:03Speaker 4: just so many face this game that made you think
- 19:06Speaker 4: Green Bay still owns the Bears, right Aaron Rodgers transferred
- 19:10Speaker 4: ownership over to Jordan Love apparently right. So I just
- 19:15Speaker 4: felt like they look like a complete football team we
- 19:18Speaker 4: saw earlier. Not quite as much national respect as the
- 19:21Speaker 4: Lions are getting to win the North, but I think
- 19:24Speaker 4: a lot more people open their eyes saw, look, this
- 19:26Speaker 4: is a good Packers team. They're going to be competitive
- 19:28Speaker 4: this year. And Jordan Loves has a ring. Especially in
- 19:31Speaker 4: third and fourth down, they were great.
- 19:32Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think that that's the key here because
- 19:35Speaker 2: I tweeted during the game, Hey, Jordan Love, everybody on
- 19:37Speaker 2: that fourth down play where he hit Aaron Jones. Yeah,
- 19:40Speaker 2: and Joanes screened at the end zone eventually grabbed his hamstring. There,
- 19:43Speaker 2: I said, ladies and gentlemen, Jordan Love, and people said, here,
- 19:45Speaker 2: it is a screen right there. People said, oh, no, no, no, no,
- 19:48Speaker 2: that's Aaron Jones. Like dude, that was a fourth down
- 19:51Speaker 2: perfect throw.
- 19:52Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 19:52Speaker 2: And to your point, Eric, on third and fourth down,
- 19:55Speaker 2: maybe the numbers don't show it, but on third and
- 19:57Speaker 2: fourth down, when they needed Jordan Love to make a throw,
- 20:00Speaker 2: he made a throw. And you know that this was
- 20:05Speaker 2: a one sided game in the second half. When the
- 20:07Speaker 2: questions on Monday to Khalil Herbert and to Matt Eberflus
- 20:12Speaker 2: were about effort, did your team show appropriate effort? Iber
- 20:19Speaker 2: Flu said, the effort is there, okay, But this was
- 20:22Speaker 2: an you know, tip of the cap to Kyle brand here.
- 20:25Speaker 2: He said this all summer on Good Morning Football, as
- 20:27Speaker 2: big a Bears game for that fan base in years years,
- 20:31Speaker 2: and they laid meg.
- 20:32Speaker 4: It was shocking to see them lay down Packers. Fans
- 20:35Speaker 4: came in, enjoyed their win, got out of town, and
- 20:38Speaker 4: it's the same as it you see. It has to
- 20:40Speaker 4: be very, very frustrating. Not only the fans, but also
- 20:43Speaker 4: the new management, the new coaches and everything they have
- 20:46Speaker 4: to get this thing right. And fig O jgre out
- 20:47Speaker 4: Weston Fields is or isn't this year? This is the
- 20:49Speaker 4: year to do it with all the draft capital they
- 20:51Speaker 4: have Next.
- 20:52Speaker 2: Year we are halfway home. We have yet to reveal
- 20:54Speaker 2: the Bears. Here's a hint. We're not going to reveal
- 20:56Speaker 2: them anytime soon. But coming up on NFL Power Rankings
- 21:00Speaker 2: presented by Energizer seventeen through thirty two.
- 21:05Speaker 3: The rest of the list. Don't go anywhere.
- 21:07Speaker 2: Eric at home of the new power rankings. Here NFL
- 21:10Speaker 2: Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Eric has the Vikings at seventeen,
- 21:13Speaker 2: followed by the Seahawks, the Steelers, and the Broncos riding
- 21:17Speaker 2: out the top twenty the Commanders, the Titans, the Raiders,
- 21:20Speaker 2: and the fighting Baker Mayfields there at.
- 21:22Speaker 3: Twenty one to twenty four. Eric is with us. I'm
- 21:24Speaker 3: Andrews Ciciliano.
- 21:26Speaker 2: The Seahawks. Eric were thirteen last week. They are eighteen
- 21:30Speaker 2: this week after gaining only twelve yards in the second
- 21:35Speaker 2: half against the Rams.
- 21:37Speaker 4: Yeah, well you spelled it out right there. I'm in
- 21:40Speaker 4: a dismal offensive performance and also losing both starting offensive
- 21:44Speaker 4: tackles in the game. I mean, adding injury to insult,
- 21:47Speaker 4: I guess if you will. And yeah, it was just shocking.
- 21:49Speaker 4: I mean Gino Smith had pressure into space as you
- 21:52Speaker 4: see here, just wasn't getting those clean pockets, especially after
- 21:55Speaker 4: the backups were in there. It tackled, So they got
- 21:58Speaker 4: a problem. I mean they've signed Jason Peters, forty one
- 22:01Speaker 4: year old Jason Peters the practice squad. I don't think
- 22:03Speaker 4: that's going to be a solution. So you hope for
- 22:05Speaker 4: good health from these guys. But also defensively, they didn't
- 22:09Speaker 4: turn in a good afternoon. They let the Rams kind
- 22:11Speaker 4: of dictate the pace of play, power runs inside, dicing
- 22:14Speaker 4: them up with the pass game. It just was not
- 22:16Speaker 4: the coming amount of Week one performance I expected, especially
- 22:20Speaker 4: after such a strong year last year making the playoffs.
- 22:22Speaker 4: And yeah, this is not the team I thought i'd
- 22:25Speaker 4: see a Sunday.
- 22:26Speaker 2: And now the Seahawks have to go to Detroit to
- 22:29Speaker 2: face a very good in a very well rested Lions team.
- 22:33Speaker 2: Let's get some other numbers in here. We showed you
- 22:35Speaker 2: seventeen to twenty four. We have the Patriots at twenty five,
- 22:39Speaker 2: followed by the Rams, the Panthers, the Giants, the Bears,
- 22:41Speaker 2: the Colts, the Texans, and the Arizona Cardinals who fought
- 22:44Speaker 2: but could not beat the Commanders. The Rams were thirty
- 22:49Speaker 2: eric some quick hitters. Let's go to them first. They
- 22:53Speaker 2: move up four to twenty six.
- 22:55Speaker 4: Yeah, I got to give him some respect, right. They
- 22:58Speaker 4: went up to Seattle and turn in a terrific performance
- 23:00Speaker 4: without Cooper Cup. Who needs Cooper Cup when you have
- 23:03Speaker 4: Poka Nakua after all? Right, a tremendous debut from him.
- 23:07Speaker 4: They ran the ball almost forty times, so I really
- 23:10Speaker 4: liked the approach there, covered up a defense that just
- 23:13Speaker 4: doesn't have a lot of names outside Aaron Donald. What
- 23:15Speaker 4: about number twenty eight? My biggest dropper of the week,
- 23:18Speaker 4: the New York Giants dropping nine spots and a man,
- 23:21Speaker 4: I was tempted to go further. I don't think they're
- 23:24Speaker 4: quite that bad. This was just a brutal performance from
- 23:27Speaker 4: Dale Jones. The offense defense respectable at least competitive, but yeah,
- 23:32Speaker 4: so many questions on that side of the ball, and
- 23:34Speaker 4: a lot of questions with the Bears dropping three spots
- 23:36Speaker 4: to number twenty nine. Look, Chicago fans thought this was
- 23:39Speaker 4: the game where they could send a statement not only
- 23:41Speaker 4: to Green Bay but also for the rest of the
- 23:43Speaker 4: NFL that Justin Fields is getting better. Our coaching staff
- 23:46Speaker 4: knows what it's doing. The defense has improved, Andrew. I
- 23:49Speaker 4: had trouble finding evidence of any of those things right now.
- 23:52Speaker 4: That's why they fell to number twenty nine.
- 23:54Speaker 2: I had the Bears have to go to Tampa to
- 23:56Speaker 2: face the fighting Baker Mayfields and the Buccaneers. The Giants
- 24:00Speaker 2: a chance for redemption, they go to Arizona to face
- 24:02Speaker 2: Josh Dobbs and the Cardinal.
- 24:04Speaker 3: Obviously, it's far easier said than done.
- 24:07Speaker 2: The Cardinals actually fought and hung around in Washington before
- 24:10Speaker 2: Sam Howell made some plays and that.
- 24:12Speaker 3: Defense stepped up in the second half. Eric, this is fun.
- 24:15Speaker 3: Have you had fun? It is okay.
- 24:17Speaker 4: I've had a lot of yea. I was expecting this
- 24:20Speaker 4: to be painful, not today.
- 24:22Speaker 3: Be nice to Eric. You can find them on Twitter.
- 24:24Speaker 3: By the way, if you want to send up a message.
- 24:26Speaker 3: We're going to be here every week.
- 24:27Speaker 2: It's a podcast. It's a show on the NFL channel.
- 24:30Speaker 2: Join us every week. Find us where you download your
- 24:33Speaker 2: podcast or watch us on the NFL chair channel.
- 24:35Speaker 3: For Eric, I'm Andrew, so long.
- 24:42Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 24:45Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
- 24:49Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.