Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #11: Are the Texans legit?
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 0:07Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio.
- 0:13Speaker 2: It is a week before Thanksgiving.
- 0:16Speaker 3: We're officially now in the second half of the season,
- 0:20Speaker 3: and we are thankful that you were here.
- 0:23Speaker 2: With us for the week eleven already edition of.
- 0:27Speaker 3: The NFL Power Rankings, presented by Energizer. That man on
- 0:30Speaker 3: the other side of the screen as Eric Get Home.
- 0:32Speaker 3: He does these every week from his home in Chicago.
- 0:35Speaker 3: My name is Andrew Siciliano in the studio.
- 0:39Speaker 2: In Los Angeles.
- 0:40Speaker 3: Not a lot of movement Eric at the top of
- 0:43Speaker 3: the rankings this week. We had some big names that
- 0:46Speaker 3: had the week off and really nothing to juicy here.
- 0:51Speaker 2: Man.
- 0:53Speaker 4: I try to give you something. I can only drop
- 0:55Speaker 4: the Jaguars four spots. They stay in the top eight
- 0:57Speaker 4: for now. But wait until you get to that bottom
- 0:59Speaker 4: twenty four. There's all kinds of movement.
- 1:02Speaker 3: Wait for me to start the show. By the way,
- 1:03Speaker 3: there's nothing in interesting here. No, there is something interesting here,
- 1:07Speaker 3: I promise, because one and two are playing each other
- 1:11Speaker 3: this week. Philadelphia is one coming off the by Kansas
- 1:14Speaker 3: City also off a by moving up. The Ravens are
- 1:18Speaker 3: moving down, followed by the Lions. At four, the Niners
- 1:21Speaker 3: at five, the Dolphins, the Cowboys, and the Jaguars.
- 1:24Speaker 2: One of the reasons there isn't a lot of movement
- 1:26Speaker 2: here in.
- 1:26Speaker 3: The top ten, at least in these top eight, is
- 1:29Speaker 3: because a lot of those teams had buys. The Jaguars
- 1:31Speaker 3: came off thereby they got punched in the mouth by
- 1:33Speaker 3: the Niners.
- 1:34Speaker 2: We'll get to that in a second.
- 1:35Speaker 3: But the game of the week, and what a primetime
- 1:38Speaker 3: week we have, oh by the way, is Monday night
- 1:42Speaker 3: in Arrowhead a rematch eric of the last Super Bowl,
- 1:47Speaker 3: maybe a preview of the next Super Bowl.
- 1:50Speaker 2: Will James Bradbury be called for holding.
- 1:55Speaker 5: Yet to be determined? Right, that's the key factor I think.
- 1:58Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean I think a lot of people
- 2:00Speaker 4: remember that game and say, Eagles could have won this thing, right,
- 2:03Speaker 4: they outplayed the The Chiefs are a big portion of
- 2:06Speaker 4: that game. Seem to let things slip away, obviously, And
- 2:10Speaker 4: it's fascinating as we talk about kind of the whole
- 2:12Speaker 4: league this year and people sort of bemoaning the fact
- 2:15Speaker 4: there isn't, you know, that elite group at the top.
- 2:18Speaker 4: There may not be that one superstar team right now,
- 2:20Speaker 4: everyone has at least one question but these are two
- 2:22Speaker 4: pretty darn good teams and maybe a little different from
- 2:25Speaker 4: what we saw in February. I mean, this Chiefs defense
- 2:28Speaker 4: has gotten better. I'd argue the Eagles defense has taken
- 2:31Speaker 4: a step back at least in terms of covering receivers
- 2:34Speaker 4: and giving up pass play. So you know, those could
- 2:37Speaker 4: be two huge factors right there, and I think the
- 2:39Speaker 4: Chiefs maybe come in with a tiny edge even though
- 2:42Speaker 4: the Eagles.
- 2:42Speaker 5: Are a top our rankings this week. How do you
- 2:44Speaker 5: see it?
- 2:45Speaker 3: I never thought I would say that maybe this is
- 2:47Speaker 3: the week the Chiefs pass game finally gets going with
- 2:51Speaker 3: MVP Patrick Mahomes because they're facing the Eagle secondary. But
- 2:57Speaker 3: after getting out to the twenty one to nothing lead
- 2:59Speaker 3: over the Dolphins at halftime in Germany, that offense Eric
- 3:03Speaker 3: kinda went to sleep. As absurd as it sounds, maybe
- 3:06Speaker 3: facing the Eagles is what this team needs.
- 3:10Speaker 2: Does that sound silly? It's possible.
- 3:12Speaker 5: No, I don't think so at all. Right, I mean,
- 3:14Speaker 5: I think they have.
- 3:15Speaker 4: To gain trust in their receivers, right, it can't just
- 3:17Speaker 4: be the Kelsey show. You know, they can't lean too
- 3:20Speaker 4: much on one guy as we've seen in the past,
- 3:22Speaker 4: So you know, I mean there have been a few
- 3:24Speaker 4: teams that have been able to slow Kelsey down, and
- 3:26Speaker 4: so you can get Rashi Rice going, if you can
- 3:28Speaker 4: get some of those secondary weapons going a little bit,
- 3:31Speaker 4: I think that just opens up all kinds of possibilities
- 3:33Speaker 4: for them.
- 3:34Speaker 3: All Right, so it's one and two, it's Philadelphia and
- 3:36Speaker 3: Kansas City. I'm assuming the winner of this game is
- 3:38Speaker 3: number one next week. If it's the Eagles, they clearly
- 3:41Speaker 3: hang on to number one at number three right now.
- 3:44Speaker 2: The Baltimore Ravens.
- 3:45Speaker 3: They dropped only one, and a lot of people I
- 3:48Speaker 3: pressed you last week, Eric thought that this team was
- 3:51Speaker 3: it maybe still is the best team in football through
- 3:54Speaker 3: ten weeks, but they could not close out the Browns
- 3:58Speaker 3: in one of the games of the year. Cleveland steals one.
- 4:01Speaker 3: You're still bullish. I would have to think on the
- 4:03Speaker 3: Ravens if they're.
- 4:07Speaker 4: I thought about do I move them down to four?
- 4:09Speaker 4: Do I keep them at three? What do I do
- 4:11Speaker 4: with them?
- 4:11Speaker 5: And I've had that, you know, the kind of debate
- 4:13Speaker 5: all season long.
- 4:14Speaker 4: When teams have these kind of I don't say unexpected
- 4:16Speaker 4: losses or shocking losses, but losses that there were games
- 4:20Speaker 4: that they were in control of.
- 4:21Speaker 5: Right if the defense.
- 4:22Speaker 4: Stops the Browns one time in the second half, they
- 4:25Speaker 4: probably win this game. And really it's come down to
- 4:28Speaker 4: there's almost been a pattern history now of the Ravens
- 4:31Speaker 4: giving up these kinds of games in the past. Right,
- 4:33Speaker 4: the defense can't get off the field, can't get that
- 4:36Speaker 4: one stop. You know, Lamar Jackson's passing proficiency in the
- 4:39Speaker 4: fourth quarter the last two years, by the way, has
- 4:42Speaker 4: been lower in the fourth than in the other any
- 4:44Speaker 4: of the other three quarters. So you know, look, they've
- 4:47Speaker 4: a've allowed as almost as many points in the fourth
- 4:50Speaker 4: quarter and overtime this season as they have in the
- 4:52Speaker 4: previous three combined. So you know, often it comes down
- 4:56Speaker 4: to depth, you know, the ability to finish off games.
- 4:58Speaker 5: It's not that one key thing you could point to.
- 5:00Speaker 4: You I'm not sure there's a common denominator between these losses,
- 5:03Speaker 4: but you know, Drew Beffert and they haven't been able
- 5:05Speaker 4: to do it. So that's kind of their achilles heeal
- 5:07Speaker 4: until proven otherwise.
- 5:09Speaker 3: Yeah, they couldn't close out the Steelers below a ten
- 5:11Speaker 3: point lead there, they couldn't close out the Colts either,
- 5:14Speaker 3: eventually lost that game in overtime. There is a theme,
- 5:18Speaker 3: and they also have a huge game coming up this week.
- 5:20Speaker 3: I mentioned the great primetime schedule. How about the Bengals
- 5:24Speaker 3: and the Ravens to open up Week eleven on Thursday
- 5:27Speaker 3: Night Football in Baltimore. Both of these teams are banged up.
- 5:31Speaker 3: Cincinnati maybe without its two ends, without Hendrickson and without
- 5:37Speaker 3: Sam Hubbard. Baltimore's got a long list of injuries. The
- 5:39Speaker 3: two quarterbacks are gonna play, though, which is significant. Lamar Jackson,
- 5:43Speaker 3: Joe Burrow. They are good to go. It is a
- 5:45Speaker 3: great start to Week eleven. Right behind the Ravens, you
- 5:48Speaker 3: have the Lions who came into La well rested and
- 5:54Speaker 3: basically got into a punch out, a shootout with Brandon
- 5:58Speaker 3: Staley and Justin Herbert and Dan Campbell threw his guts
- 6:04Speaker 3: on the able, let's put it that way, and they
- 6:06Speaker 3: pulled this thing out.
- 6:09Speaker 4: Nice self editing there, good job. I appreciate it, Yeah,
- 6:12Speaker 4: I do.
- 6:13Speaker 5: It was clever.
- 6:14Speaker 4: But I mean, look at this point, everything we've seen
- 6:16Speaker 4: from Dan Campbell fourth and two tie game. You know,
- 6:19Speaker 4: minute forty five left Chargers, what twenty six yard line?
- 6:22Speaker 4: I think that's a green light for him. Right, They're
- 6:24Speaker 4: gonna go, And I.
- 6:25Speaker 5: Think a lot of people thought we'll just kick the
- 6:26Speaker 5: field goal and play defense.
- 6:28Speaker 4: But if you had seen the Lions defense, which had
- 6:31Speaker 4: allowed five straight touchdowns in their previous five drives, I
- 6:35Speaker 4: don't think Campbell had that thought anywhere close to his mind.
- 6:37Speaker 4: They played it right, got the Chargers to use their
- 6:40Speaker 4: final timeout.
- 6:40Speaker 5: Kicked the game winner.
- 6:41Speaker 4: It's a great road victory, you know, gets the Chargers
- 6:44Speaker 4: team that you know, at least nominally speaking, is talented.
- 6:47Speaker 4: So look, it's probably their worst defensive half of football
- 6:51Speaker 4: this season.
- 6:51Speaker 5: Is it a concern? Maybe? Maybe not. I'm not sure.
- 6:55Speaker 5: I mean, look, I just this Detroit team.
- 6:57Speaker 4: Obviously, we saw the Baltimore game, you know, a couple
- 7:00Speaker 4: of weeks ago, we've seen this one.
- 7:02Speaker 5: They're starting to show some cracks.
- 7:03Speaker 4: But they have an offensive line andrew that completely dominated
- 7:07Speaker 4: that came outside a handful of plays. It was really
- 7:10Speaker 4: impressive pass blocking and run blocking. That was the engine
- 7:13Speaker 4: that made this victory possible.
- 7:15Speaker 5: In my opinion.
- 7:15Speaker 3: The five on that offensive line, as you point out
- 7:18Speaker 3: left to right, from Decker to Sool, they were fantastic,
- 7:21Speaker 3: had almost a perfect day, and this team found a
- 7:24Speaker 3: way to win again. And if you think, if you
- 7:26Speaker 3: open your mind to the opportunity or the possibility rather
- 7:29Speaker 3: of the Chiefs beating the Lions, and then I'm sorry,
- 7:31Speaker 3: the Chiefs beating the Eagles and the Lions beating the
- 7:33Speaker 3: Bears this week, and we could be sitting here next
- 7:36Speaker 3: week on Tuesday taping the show Eric and the Lions
- 7:39Speaker 3: and Eagles could be sitting there with the same record.
- 7:42Speaker 3: Atop the NFC as it stands now, the Lions are
- 7:46Speaker 3: number four. Right behind them we find the San Francisco
- 7:50Speaker 3: forty nine Ers. They are our team of the Week,
- 7:52Speaker 3: presented by Truest. We asked last week, which of these
- 7:57Speaker 3: teams in Jacksonville, the Niners of the Jaguars, is going
- 7:59Speaker 3: to come out of thereby looking better? This thing was
- 8:03Speaker 3: over early. You throw Chase Young in there, you bring
- 8:07Speaker 3: back Deebo and Trent Williams. That battle station is fully operational.
- 8:14Speaker 5: That's a great way to put it right.
- 8:15Speaker 4: And I think we had this bye week to sit
- 8:18Speaker 4: there and say, how many things are going wrong with
- 8:19Speaker 4: the forty nine ers. Three straight losses start pulling our
- 8:22Speaker 4: hair out. Well, whatever boxes they had, they checked them
- 8:26Speaker 4: pretty much all. Like you said, pass rush, not just
- 8:28Speaker 4: Young and Bosa, but also the interior guys that They
- 8:31Speaker 4: were a little more freed up in this game, but
- 8:33Speaker 4: Purdy was spectacular, arguably his best performance start to finish.
- 8:37Speaker 5: It really reminded me a lot in.
- 8:39Speaker 4: Terms of how they took over the game so early
- 8:42Speaker 4: as that Week one win in Pittsburgh. They went in
- 8:44Speaker 4: there that was expected to be a tight contest, maybe
- 8:47Speaker 4: low scoring. They dominated from start to finish, really put
- 8:50Speaker 4: their foot down earlier, and this could.
- 8:52Speaker 5: Have been a bigger margin.
- 8:52Speaker 4: I guess for the Jaguars, you say, what does this
- 8:55Speaker 4: mean for them? But for the forty nine ers, it's
- 8:57Speaker 4: really a case of that looked like the team that
- 8:59Speaker 4: started the year five and zero and not the one
- 9:01Speaker 4: that dropped three straight.
- 9:02Speaker 3: And I cannot emphasize again what kind of a steel
- 9:07Speaker 3: Chase Young was. I mean, you give up a compensatory three,
- 9:10Speaker 3: which is basically a fourth round pick, and if you
- 9:14Speaker 3: lose them in free agency, you get back a compensatory three.
- 9:17Speaker 3: In all likelihood, they're getting Chase Young for free. His
- 9:20Speaker 3: first snap, he's basically standing up like Miles Garrett was
- 9:24Speaker 3: at middle linebacker. They're playing a five man front. Trevor
- 9:27Speaker 3: Lawrence had no idea what to do, and that defense
- 9:29Speaker 3: dominated and look, hey, the Niners are back as if
- 9:34Speaker 3: they had ever left. Hey, look, the Cowboys are back,
- 9:39Speaker 3: you know, one week after us again questioning their late
- 9:42Speaker 3: game clock and everything management against the Eagles. They just
- 9:47Speaker 3: roll all over the New York Giants. And I'll be honest, Eric,
- 9:51Speaker 3: I don't know that I learned.
- 9:52Speaker 2: Anything about the Cowboys this week.
- 9:53Speaker 3: It's almost like, you know, it's an early season SEC
- 9:57Speaker 3: school paying some multi directional school from wherever to come in.
- 10:03Speaker 2: And give them a game, and they could play the
- 10:05Speaker 2: bench in the second half.
- 10:08Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't I'm with you. I don't know how
- 10:10Speaker 4: much we can glean. I think there are a couple
- 10:12Speaker 4: of things that came out of this game. One, Cowboys
- 10:14Speaker 4: are pretty good at home. That's now twelve straight they won.
- 10:17Speaker 4: They've dominated every single opponent they've played in Dallas this year.
- 10:21Speaker 4: The question is whether it matters, right, can they win
- 10:23Speaker 4: the division and get that home playoff game? That's obviously
- 10:26Speaker 4: their best hope to take advantage of that. Tough games
- 10:29Speaker 4: down the stretch too, But you might be able to
- 10:32Speaker 4: take something away from what the Cowboys offense did against
- 10:35Speaker 4: the Giants defense. There were some times during this season
- 10:38Speaker 4: where the Giants defense acquitted itself.
- 10:40Speaker 5: Well, we know they liked the pressure. Dak was terrific.
- 10:43Speaker 4: Ceedee Lamb has been his guy for a while now,
- 10:46Speaker 4: but obviously in the last six weeks or so, he's
- 10:48Speaker 4: been terrific. But Brandon Cook's development that was the breakout game.
- 10:52Speaker 5: I think they needed.
- 10:53Speaker 4: His confidence, their confidence in him really impressive to see
- 10:57Speaker 4: him coming out of the slot and performing the way
- 10:59Speaker 4: he did.
- 11:00Speaker 3: I'm a big Tommy DeVito fan Syracuse. Never thought I
- 11:03Speaker 3: would see Tommy Vetos starting on the road in Dallas
- 11:09Speaker 3: as a rookie NFLT bad form. If only they have
- 11:13Speaker 3: let him throw the ball on that fourth and three,
- 11:16Speaker 3: down seven to nothing, maybe the momentum would have swung
- 11:21Speaker 3: the other way.
- 11:22Speaker 2: We are all Tommy DeVito's dad. Coming up next.
- 11:25Speaker 3: There was a team that six weeks ago we thought
- 11:28Speaker 3: might have two top ten picks. That team is now
- 11:31Speaker 3: in the top ten in the power rankings.
- 11:35Speaker 2: We reveal that team coming up next.
- 11:44Speaker 3: It's the NFL Power Ranking show for that I Energizer.
- 11:48Speaker 3: Nine through sixteen. The Cleveland Browns won in Baltimore. They're
- 11:52Speaker 3: up one from ten to nine out. The Houston Texans
- 11:56Speaker 3: up five into the top end. The Seahawks at eleven,
- 12:01Speaker 3: followed by the Bengals, the Steelers, the Build, the Vikings,
- 12:05Speaker 3: and the New Orleans Saints are number sixteen. Eric Aholme
- 12:10Speaker 3: puts these rankings together. He as the Browns as a
- 12:12Speaker 3: top ten team after beating Eric the team that last
- 12:16Speaker 3: week we argued the Ravens could be the best team
- 12:20Speaker 3: in football. They won it with defense, and they won
- 12:22Speaker 3: it with a fourteen for fourteen second half performance from
- 12:27Speaker 3: Deshaun Watson.
- 12:29Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 12:30Speaker 4: I mean, there's probably got to be what a thousand
- 12:32Speaker 4: ways to win a football game. It feels like the
- 12:34Speaker 4: Browns are trying to discover every single one of them, right,
- 12:37Speaker 4: and how they're doing it.
- 12:38Speaker 5: Is is pretty remarkable.
- 12:40Speaker 1: Right.
- 12:40Speaker 5: Watson was six and.
- 12:42Speaker 4: Twenty with the interception, the pick six early on in
- 12:44Speaker 4: the first half, and as you mentioned, perfect in the
- 12:47Speaker 4: second half, they had that one long drive that was
- 12:49Speaker 4: absolutely crucial, but down twenty four to nine, had to
- 12:52Speaker 4: have it. They score the two point conversion, Watson gets in.
- 12:55Speaker 5: There, and they score on their final two as well,
- 12:58Speaker 5: and get the takeaway.
- 12:59Speaker 4: On defense, I mean it, you know, it's rarely pretty,
- 13:02Speaker 4: it's rarely clean, but this is a tough team. You
- 13:06Speaker 4: know that all too well. But sometimes that quotion, that factor,
- 13:10Speaker 4: you have to consider it. Maybe it often outweighs yards
- 13:13Speaker 4: and things like that, some of the more tangible numbers.
- 13:16Speaker 4: But you got to give Watson credit, and you certainly
- 13:18Speaker 4: have to give the defense credit after you know, giving
- 13:21Speaker 4: up some plays.
- 13:22Speaker 3: Yeah, and let's give the Ravens credit. I know we
- 13:24Speaker 3: did that about ten minutes ago. They are still a
- 13:27Speaker 3: very good team. But John harbots team could not close,
- 13:29Speaker 3: and Kevin Stefanski's team could. They closed against the Niners,
- 13:32Speaker 3: they closed against the Colts, they could not close against
- 13:37Speaker 3: the Seahawks. But here they beat the Ravens. And there
- 13:39Speaker 3: are a lot of ifs here. I'm about to say.
- 13:42Speaker 3: But if the Bengals went on Thursday night and they
- 13:45Speaker 3: are Owen thirteen on the road in primetime of late
- 13:49Speaker 3: Owen thirteen, consider that, and the Browns beat the Steelers
- 13:52Speaker 3: and the Eagles beat the Chiefs. We're sitting here next
- 13:55Speaker 3: week with the Browns and the Chiefs with the same record,
- 13:58Speaker 3: which is just bonkers. I know, there's a lot of
- 14:01Speaker 3: ifs there, So let's just save that, okay until next week.
- 14:07Speaker 3: Let's talk about the Houston Texas because they're really, really good.
- 14:11Speaker 3: They're making Power Moves Eric presented by Energizer. The Houston
- 14:16Speaker 3: Texans went into Cincinnati with half their roster injured and
- 14:23Speaker 3: one again. We talked about the MVP last week for CJ.
- 14:27Speaker 2: Stroud.
- 14:28Speaker 3: He's shown it weekend week out. They are legit. I
- 14:30Speaker 3: think they can win this division.
- 14:34Speaker 4: I do too right and look, I mean, as you
- 14:36Speaker 4: pointed out through out his MVP's case gets stronger. I
- 14:40Speaker 4: think Nick Cassio has to be up there for executive
- 14:42Speaker 4: the year. The free agency moves were smart. The draft
- 14:46Speaker 4: class is going to be a franchise changer. Demico Ryan's
- 14:49Speaker 4: probably in the Coach of the Year discussion for all
- 14:51Speaker 4: the reasons you slaid out all the big wins. Now
- 14:53Speaker 4: they may regret the fact that they lost a close
- 14:56Speaker 4: one to Atlanta, they lost a close one to Carolina,
- 14:59Speaker 4: even the early season loss to the Bolts, but boy,
- 15:02Speaker 4: it's hard not to get excited, especially when Nico out
- 15:05Speaker 4: Noah Brown steps up and has two big games. The
- 15:08Speaker 4: run game struggles early in the year, Devin's singletary comes
- 15:11Speaker 4: to life.
- 15:11Speaker 5: They made a change there.
- 15:12Speaker 4: It was a tough one, but he's a better schematic fit,
- 15:14Speaker 4: so you know, look, they're really pulling all the strings.
- 15:17Speaker 4: Bobby Slowich has really kind of formed this offense around
- 15:20Speaker 4: Stroud's powers, and he's making it work without a full
- 15:24Speaker 4: cast of of amazing receivers or an incredible offensive line
- 15:27Speaker 4: or running backs.
- 15:28Speaker 5: I mean, this is a good group now, but reflectively.
- 15:31Speaker 4: It's not like there are tons of stars and standouts
- 15:34Speaker 4: that are making him look better than he is. So
- 15:37Speaker 4: impressive all the way around, and to win in that environment,
- 15:39Speaker 4: it's the biggest win they've had as a franchise in sometime.
- 15:42Speaker 3: I think they had seventeen explosives against lou Anarumo's defense
- 15:47Speaker 3: without all those playmakers you just listed, which is just bonkers.
- 15:50Speaker 3: And they get Arizona and Kyler Murray this week, hopefully
- 15:54Speaker 3: with a camera above his head the entire time, the
- 15:56Speaker 3: Steelers found a way to win again.
- 15:59Speaker 2: They've been out.
- 15:59Speaker 3: Gained in all nine this week, or rather this year, Eric,
- 16:04Speaker 3: all nine games.
- 16:05Speaker 2: Get their six and three and your thirteenth team.
- 16:09Speaker 4: They are the team that confounds me on a weekly basis.
- 16:12Speaker 4: As I wrote in the power rankings, this week, another
- 16:14Speaker 4: game they get out gained, another key.
- 16:16Speaker 5: Defensive injury, another win. Right, It's just like automatic at
- 16:20Speaker 5: this point.
- 16:20Speaker 4: I mean, Mike Tomlin, I think has done a really
- 16:22Speaker 4: good job. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of this
- 16:25Speaker 4: team very well. It is frustrating to see a lack
- 16:27Speaker 4: of progress out of that pass game. You never really
- 16:29Speaker 4: know what to expect out of pickings on a weekly basis,
- 16:32Speaker 4: whoever else is at receiver. They do get Friar Muth
- 16:35Speaker 4: back pretty soon here, and the run game was terrific.
- 16:38Speaker 4: I don't want to negate that, but you know, the
- 16:41Speaker 4: slow starting has obviously put them in some tough spots.
- 16:44Speaker 4: They have a defense that can close out games. In fact,
- 16:47Speaker 4: you could argue that five of their six wins this
- 16:49Speaker 4: year the Rams game they finished on offense, but the
- 16:52Speaker 4: other five they were able to get a key defensive
- 16:55Speaker 4: stop somewhere in the last three four minutes of the game,
- 16:57Speaker 4: and they got two in this one. So it was
- 17:00Speaker 4: a tremendous performance when they had to have it.
- 17:02Speaker 5: But how long can this formulas? How can they make
- 17:05Speaker 5: this work time after time? That's the question I keep,
- 17:08Speaker 5: you know, being left with, Yeah.
- 17:09Speaker 3: Yep, they're down two middle linebackers. They've lost both green
- 17:14Speaker 3: dot guys in consecutive weeks, and they win both of
- 17:17Speaker 3: those games with interceptions. In the end zone where the
- 17:21Speaker 3: other team had a chance to win if they complete
- 17:23Speaker 3: that pass.
- 17:25Speaker 2: Crazy two consecutive games, which is not bonkers.
- 17:29Speaker 3: And then you get to the Buffalo Bills, who had
- 17:30Speaker 3: the opposite of luck. Whatever the Steelers have, the Bills
- 17:33Speaker 3: do not have right now when it comes to fourth
- 17:35Speaker 3: quarter luck because they had that Bonker's loss on Monday
- 17:38Speaker 3: night when it looked as if they won, and then
- 17:40Speaker 3: they had twelve men on the field, and then Will
- 17:41Speaker 3: Lutz had a second shot and they can field goal.
- 17:44Speaker 2: Then they fired Ken Dorsey.
- 17:46Speaker 3: You have them at fourteen, Eric, does that mean you
- 17:49Speaker 3: think they're still making the playoffs?
- 17:53Speaker 4: You know it's right on the cusp obviously. I mean
- 17:55Speaker 4: record wise, they're still in the race at five and five.
- 17:58Speaker 4: But they have a ton of work to do and
- 18:00Speaker 4: a ton to fix, right, I think you know you
- 18:03Speaker 4: just firing Ken Dorsey is not going to be the
- 18:05Speaker 4: magic elixir.
- 18:05Speaker 5: Right.
- 18:06Speaker 4: Maybe Joe Brady brings some innovative ideas and frees up
- 18:10Speaker 4: Josh Allen. Maybe they design more runs for him, what
- 18:12Speaker 4: have you.
- 18:13Speaker 5: I don't know what the magic formula is, but they've
- 18:16Speaker 5: got to find it. And the turnovers are a problem.
- 18:19Speaker 4: Obviously, those two late penalties were a massive thing. One
- 18:22Speaker 4: on defense on special teams, and you know that defense
- 18:25Speaker 4: was put in an uncomfortable spot being on the field
- 18:27Speaker 4: for thirty seven plus minutes I think almost twenty in
- 18:30Speaker 4: the second half, constantly being asked to make stops after
- 18:34Speaker 4: the offense has quick drives, either a score or a punt.
- 18:37Speaker 4: I don't think they've They've gone like three games without
- 18:40Speaker 4: consecutive scoring drives the Bills have. So this is not
- 18:44Speaker 4: the same unit we've seen in the past. Some of
- 18:46Speaker 4: it's Allen, some of it's play calling, some of its
- 18:48Speaker 4: other spots as well. But they have to fix this
- 18:51Speaker 4: thing if they want, if they have any designs of
- 18:53Speaker 4: making the playoffs.
- 18:53Speaker 3: Right now, I'm not blindly defending Ken Dorsey, but if
- 18:57Speaker 3: Gabe Davis catches that ball in the red zone first
- 19:00Speaker 3: half and it doesn't get picked by Justin Simmons, does
- 19:02Speaker 3: he have a job. If Josh Allen doesn't drop the exchange,
- 19:06Speaker 3: does he still.
- 19:07Speaker 2: Have a job.
- 19:08Speaker 3: And hey, I'm all for Joe Brady getting a shot here,
- 19:11Speaker 3: but when last we saw him, Colin plays Matt Ruhle
- 19:14Speaker 3: fired him in Carolina. He deserves a second shot. Now
- 19:19Speaker 3: he is going to get one. Speaking of second shots,
- 19:21Speaker 3: I think for Josh Shabbs, it's like his eighteenth shot.
- 19:24Speaker 2: We're so happy for him.
- 19:25Speaker 3: He's now winning with the Minnesota Vikings, and they right
- 19:28Speaker 3: now are our future champions.
- 19:30Speaker 2: Presented by Fan Duel.
- 19:32Speaker 3: If the playoffs were to begin right now, we'd all
- 19:34Speaker 3: be surprised, but we wouldn't be surprised because the Vikings
- 19:37Speaker 3: would be in. Look at these odds for them making
- 19:39Speaker 3: the playoffs. They may sneak in as a wild card.
- 19:42Speaker 3: They have the longest active winning streak, longest active winning
- 19:47Speaker 3: streak eric in the NFL. The Vikings are your fifteenth
- 19:51Speaker 3: best team in football.
- 19:54Speaker 5: And coming way up.
- 19:55Speaker 4: Let me tell you right, I mean obviously five in
- 19:57Speaker 4: a row, six out of seven, winning three straight games
- 20:01Speaker 4: with three different starting quarterbacks Andrew doesn't happen too often
- 20:04Speaker 4: in this Because you know, I want to give credit
- 20:06Speaker 4: to this defense too. I think it's come a long
- 20:08Speaker 4: long way, really since early in the season. Turnovers forced
- 20:12Speaker 4: are way up, yards allowed way down. I think Brian
- 20:15Speaker 4: Flora has done a tremendous job. Remember how much we
- 20:17Speaker 4: beat up this group, you know, put all the blame
- 20:20Speaker 4: on Ed Donotel last year said this was going to
- 20:22Speaker 4: be there, Achilles, heel it was. They've taken virtually the
- 20:25Speaker 4: same group, or even a lesser talent version of it,
- 20:28Speaker 4: and made it very good. But as you said, right now,
- 20:31Speaker 4: it's the Dobs story. He's been tremendous. They get Justin
- 20:34Speaker 4: Jefferson back soon. I can't wait to see what this.
- 20:37Speaker 5: Team can be. Can they pull an up set? Can
- 20:39Speaker 5: they get in the playoffs? First of all?
- 20:40Speaker 4: But can they pull an up set if they do
- 20:42Speaker 4: get there? I mean, boy, everything seems in front of him.
- 20:45Speaker 4: It's such a strange departure from last year when they
- 20:48Speaker 4: were favorites at thirteen and four.
- 20:50Speaker 5: Despite the strange point differential. I don't know. This is
- 20:53Speaker 5: the funniest team in football.
- 20:54Speaker 4: To me, I can't figure him out, but I do
- 20:56Speaker 4: enjoy watching them the play lately.
- 20:59Speaker 3: I am happy for Josh Tobbs truly. I just don't
- 21:02Speaker 3: know how long this is sustainable. But who am I
- 21:06Speaker 3: to say that he and they can't keep winning. They
- 21:10Speaker 3: are undefeated without Justin Jefferson. Go ahead, I mean say
- 21:15Speaker 3: that again out loud. They are undefeated without Justin Jefferson,
- 21:19Speaker 3: and he's due back soon. They're the fifteenth team right now,
- 21:23Speaker 3: in the brand new Week eleven Power Rankings coming up
- 21:27Speaker 3: next Here on the show, the Broncos one on Monday Night.
- 21:31Speaker 3: What does that mean for their ranking as they get
- 21:36Speaker 3: ready for Josh Dobbs and the Vikings coming up on
- 21:38Speaker 3: Sunday night. That's naxt, You're watching the NFL Power Ranking
- 21:48Speaker 3: Show presented by Energizer. The countdown continues with the Indianapolis
- 21:53Speaker 3: Colts up two to seventeen.
- 21:55Speaker 2: The Chargers drop two.
- 21:57Speaker 3: They do everything in two's win to in a row,
- 21:59Speaker 3: lose to in a row, so on and so forth,
- 22:01Speaker 3: followed by the Bucks, the Broncos, the Raiders are at
- 22:03Speaker 3: twenty one, Jets, the Commanders, and the Atlanta Falcons. All right,
- 22:10Speaker 3: let's talk about the Denver Broncos here, Eric, they are
- 22:13Speaker 3: sitting at number twenty. Don't look now, they've won three
- 22:16Speaker 3: in a row. They won in Buffalo. What if they
- 22:20Speaker 3: beat the Vikings on Sunday Night football? They're a five
- 22:24Speaker 3: and five team.
- 22:27Speaker 4: I mean, not too long ago we looked at this
- 22:28Speaker 4: game and kind of maybe rolled our eyes or grown.
- 22:31Speaker 4: But now it's all of a sudden, a fascinating matchup.
- 22:33Speaker 4: The Broncos have played great.
- 22:34Speaker 5: The Vikings are incredibly hot.
- 22:36Speaker 4: It's gonna, really, I think, come down to Josh Dobbs
- 22:38Speaker 4: in that offense against.
- 22:39Speaker 5: What Denver's defense has been able to do.
- 22:41Speaker 4: I know they gave up a ton of rush yards
- 22:43Speaker 4: last night, but you could see the improvement forget Miami,
- 22:46Speaker 4: right really since that Kansas City game is when they've
- 22:49Speaker 4: started kind of turning the corner. Thought Russ played a
- 22:52Speaker 4: really nice game, but the defense forcing four turnovers really
- 22:56Speaker 4: was the key, I think.
- 22:57Speaker 5: And so you know, look, we killed Vance Joseph early
- 22:59Speaker 5: in the year.
- 23:00Speaker 4: We've got to give him credit for the improvements they've
- 23:02Speaker 4: made on that side of the ball.
- 23:03Speaker 3: I think defense they gave up seventy in September to
- 23:07Speaker 3: the Miami Dolphins is the defense that seem to be
- 23:10Speaker 3: the final straw with a Josh Allen offense to lead
- 23:15Speaker 3: to an O seed change in Buffalo winning wild season. Here,
- 23:20Speaker 3: as the Denver Broncos are sitting at number twenty, let's
- 23:25Speaker 3: see the rest of the rankings if we could. Heading
- 23:27Speaker 3: into week number eleven, the Titans are down three, the
- 23:30Speaker 3: Packers are down three. They're a twenty five and twenty six.
- 23:33Speaker 3: The Rams, the Bears, the Cardinals, the Patriots, the Giants
- 23:37Speaker 3: of the Carolina Panthers. The Cardinals are fascinating, Eric. They
- 23:41Speaker 3: now have two wins. They go to Houston this week.
- 23:43Speaker 3: I could see them winning that one. Are they gonna
- 23:46Speaker 3: mess up the hole we want to pick number one thing?
- 23:50Speaker 5: Yeah?
- 23:50Speaker 2: I think so.
- 23:51Speaker 5: And at this point, look, I'm alright with it.
- 23:53Speaker 2: Right.
- 23:53Speaker 5: You have to get the quarterback position right.
- 23:56Speaker 4: And you have to use these final games, which I
- 23:58Speaker 4: think they're gonna win some of them, as you pointed out,
- 24:00Speaker 4: I don't know about Houston, but some of the other ones, Yes,
- 24:02Speaker 4: But getting the answer on Kyler Murray is the most
- 24:06Speaker 4: important part. Times he was spectacular Sunday. Third down could
- 24:10Speaker 4: have been better. Still, some ross, some stuff to clean up,
- 24:12Speaker 4: but I don't know. You could have asked for much
- 24:14Speaker 4: more out of him in his first outing. Back showed
- 24:16Speaker 4: the legs, showed.
- 24:17Speaker 5: The arm won the game in the end.
- 24:19Speaker 4: So to me, figuring that position out and knowing or
- 24:23Speaker 4: not knowing that Kyler Murray is your guy going forward
- 24:25Speaker 4: is more important than two or three draft slots or
- 24:28Speaker 4: whatever it ends up being.
- 24:29Speaker 5: So I'm fine with it.
- 24:30Speaker 4: I hope they go all out. I hope we see
- 24:32Speaker 4: the best of Kyler Murray down the stretch.
- 24:33Speaker 5: It'd be fun. It'll change the arc of their season.
- 24:36Speaker 3: Just think about it. In August, we thought, because remember
- 24:38Speaker 3: they have the Texans pick, They're.
- 24:39Speaker 2: Going to be picking one in next year.
- 24:42Speaker 3: Now, they may win a couple of games, fall out
- 24:44Speaker 3: of the top ten. Houston may win the AFC South.
- 24:47Speaker 3: They may not be picking one and two. They might
- 24:49Speaker 3: be picking like ten and seventeen, which nobody could have seen.
- 24:56Speaker 3: That's Eric Hhall and Andrews Siciliano enjoy Week eleven. Every one,
- 24:59Speaker 3: thanks for watching the NFL Power Ranking show.
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