Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #19: Heavy Weight matchups!

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#19: Heavy Weight matchups! · 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 iHeartRadio.
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Speaker 2: Wildcard weekend gave us a lid little bit of drama,
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Speaker 2: and yes we are staring down the divisional round of
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Speaker 2: the postseason. Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL
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Speaker 2: Power Rankings. Mike Ham and Eric at home with you,
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Speaker 2: and as always, if you want the complete list and
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Speaker 2: analysis of all thirty two teams, you can head to
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Speaker 2: NFL dot com. But Eric, I watched the wildcard games.
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Speaker 2: I start thinking a certain way about some of these teams.
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Speaker 2: But one and two we got chiefs and lines they
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Speaker 2: have him played. Are you thinking about those teams differently
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Speaker 2: based off of what we saw this past weekend.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and obviously both teams getting some players back from
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Speaker 3: injury too. You start with the Lions, We've been talking
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Speaker 3: about that defense needing reinforcements as badly as anybody, even
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Speaker 3: coming off the great effort against the Viking. So you know,
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Speaker 3: getting David Montgomery to help the run game probably helps
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Speaker 3: the defense. Terry and Arnold some good vibes on him,
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Speaker 3: you know, same thing with Kevin Zeidler, their guard, so
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Speaker 3: getting healthier. You got to like that Their chances, but
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Speaker 3: tough opponent. With the Commanders right there dealing with a
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Speaker 3: ton of confidence right now, coming off their road wind,
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Speaker 3: They've had a ton of last second victories, I think
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Speaker 3: they're gonna march into Detroit pretty fearless. So I would
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Speaker 3: say the Lions have a little bit more of a
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Speaker 3: challenge this coming weekend because the Chiefs are also getting
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Speaker 3: guys back, you know, Isaiah Pacheco's healthy, Chris Jones. You know,
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Speaker 3: maybe the secondary is a little sharper too. So I
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Speaker 3: would say with them facing the Texans Detroit having to
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Speaker 3: face a really tough Washington team, maybe the edge goes
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Speaker 3: to Kansas City in terms of the rest and matchup department.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, last time we saw Patrick Mahomes row
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Speaker 2: a touchdown. Got to go back to Christmas last year,
1:39
Speaker 2: by the way, really crazy dad joke. And I'll go
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Speaker 2: down that path with you and you'll jump on the
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Speaker 2: train with me. Let's get to this here, because I
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Speaker 2: do want to talk to you about what I think
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Speaker 2: is the best matchup of the weekend. We got a
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Speaker 2: Ravens team that I would make an argument is the
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Speaker 2: favorite of the field, and I get at Kansas City
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Speaker 2: fans Detroit fans can throw some hate my way, but
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Speaker 2: the Baltimore Ravens are playing as well as anyone in
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Speaker 2: the NFL, and they are surging. But the Bills are
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Speaker 2: also in that conversation as well, based off of what
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Speaker 2: you just saw this past weekend in their games, do
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Speaker 2: you agree with me, like, are the Ravens I don't
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Speaker 2: want to say clearly, but I would make an argument
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Speaker 2: they're the favorite in this game and they should.
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Speaker 3: Be frightening team. Absolutely. You'll hear a lot of people say, hey,
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Speaker 3: this is the real AFC Championship game, right, And you know,
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Speaker 3: you understand why I might push back a little because
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Speaker 3: I do think Kansas City is sort of sitting in
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Speaker 3: the weeds a little bit and saying, don't forget about us.
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Speaker 3: But I think if you just take the play of
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Speaker 3: the defense alone, right, Baltimore the first ten games averaging
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Speaker 3: three hundred and seventy yards allowed. They were giving up
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Speaker 3: big chunks of yard and having to win shootouts or
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Speaker 3: occasionally lose them to Mike. But now you've seen them
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Speaker 3: shave off about one hundred yards a game the last eight,
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Speaker 3: including the playoff win against the Steelers, and so you know,
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Speaker 3: just their improvement against Pittsburgh alone, but also everything else,
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Speaker 3: the body of work they've shown down the stretch, and
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Speaker 3: you know, this is the time of year where Derek
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Speaker 3: Henry comes alive. You know, we would love to see
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Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson have his best postseason ever. Josh Allen obviously
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Speaker 3: has done so much for the Bills, and they're defense
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Speaker 3: really responded last week. But yeah, you almost have to
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Speaker 3: feel like there's sort of an edge with the Ravens
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Speaker 3: right now. They're not in the spot like they're not
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Speaker 3: the team everybody's chasing like they were a year ago,
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Speaker 3: and they can come into Buffalo a very confident and
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Speaker 3: very efficient group.
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Speaker 2: You know, I've heard this before, when you got to
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Speaker 2: play a team multiple times in the season, we see that.
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Speaker 2: Obviously within a division this is not the case. But
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Speaker 2: this is the second time these two teams will meet.
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Speaker 2: First time, it wasn't all that close, and Derrick Henry
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Speaker 2: was a machine in that matchup, and I always reference,
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Speaker 2: especially when it comes to this MVP conversation, Well let's
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Speaker 2: not forget the head to head does go to Lamar
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Speaker 2: Jackson and not Josh Allen. Do we throw the regular
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Speaker 2: season matchup because it was so long ago, and because
3:45
Speaker 2: it's the postseason where the brand of football is different,
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Speaker 2: do we is it even worth referencing what happened last time?
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Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean, I think both teams are obviously going
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Speaker 3: to start there. When their prep work right, they're going
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Speaker 3: to look back at that game what worked, what didn't.
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Speaker 3: Certainly for the Bills, the what didn't list is going
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Speaker 3: to be a lot longer, and they've got to find
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Speaker 3: out a way to stop Henry early in the game.
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Speaker 3: That first touchdown run really kind of set the tone
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Speaker 3: for the evening. The Bills were up against it all night.
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Speaker 3: They started pressing offensively, So I think there are definitely
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Speaker 3: lessons to be learned from that game. From the Buffalo perspective,
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Speaker 3: Baltimore can't just look at the tape and say, okay, good,
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Speaker 3: we've been rolling. We beat him back in week four.
4:20
Speaker 3: Everything's good. We're gonna do just fine going into too
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Speaker 3: High Mark this weekend. Obviously, I don't expect them to
4:26
Speaker 3: do that, and they'll be pretty serious because look, their
4:28
Speaker 3: recent postseason record has been overall a little bit disappointing
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Speaker 3: considering what we expected at them. So I think there
4:35
Speaker 3: are sort of takeaways from that game Buffalo's defense is
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Speaker 3: going to be put to the test, no question about it,
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Speaker 3: and Baltimore's will too. But again, as you said so
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Speaker 3: long ago, how much can we really draw from that
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Speaker 3: game and say it's going to extrapolate into this one
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Speaker 3: on Sunday?
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Speaker 2: I do want to get a little inside baseball with everyone.
4:51
Speaker 2: When Eric does his rankings, there is a living, breathing
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Speaker 2: document that is in a very fluid situation every single
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Speaker 2: week Monday Night. You know, like most of it is
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Speaker 2: an intact but then we're waiting for the Monday Night
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Speaker 2: results to really fine tune this thing. That was the
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Speaker 2: case this week after watching you know, what the Rams
5:08
Speaker 2: were able to do against Minnesota. This my first year
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Speaker 2: on the show. You've been doing these rankings for a while.
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Speaker 2: Is there a path Let's say Baltimore wins, or well,
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Speaker 2: one of these teams win or Buffalo wins. Could we
5:19
Speaker 2: see one of these teams as potentially next week's number
5:21
Speaker 2: one team?
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Speaker 3: Absolutely? I even wrote, you know, had the Bills not
5:27
Speaker 3: overtaken the Broncos after that kind of slow start there,
5:30
Speaker 3: I was prepared to flip flop. I was going to
5:32
Speaker 3: put Baltimore ahead of Buffalo, so and I also said,
5:35
Speaker 3: you know, even though I left it three four Buffalo
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Speaker 3: and Baltimore, I'm prepared to be very disappointed. I'm prepared
5:42
Speaker 3: to be wrong next week. So yeah, there's no question about.
5:44
Speaker 2: It, all right. The Philadelphia Eagles, I think there was
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Speaker 2: a lot of anticipation because a Jalen Hurts, specifically coming
5:50
Speaker 2: off of the concussion, missing some time, sae Quon getting
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Speaker 2: arrest obviously in week number eighteen. We'll get the Rams
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Speaker 2: side of this in just a moment, But from a
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Speaker 2: Philly perspective, are there some concerns that you have about
6:02
Speaker 2: this team, you know, just even just in terms of
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Speaker 2: general health heading into it.
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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, and you asked earlier about what the layoff
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Speaker 3: effect might be for teams like Detroit and Kansas City.
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Speaker 3: It certainly felt like there was somewhat of an effect
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Speaker 3: with Jalen Hurts and the time he had taken off
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Speaker 3: before kind of getting in a little bit of a groove,
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Speaker 3: I guess. But still, as you pointed out, overall, I
6:22
Speaker 3: think you'd be disappointed. He took a couple of bad sacks.
6:24
Speaker 3: He misfired, especially on that fake tush push play action
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Speaker 3: ball that could have gone for a touchdown. To aj Brown.
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Speaker 3: You know, the passing game was disjointed. Saquan was having
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Speaker 3: a sort of grind out four and five yard chunk.
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Speaker 3: So you know, it's good that they got that out
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Speaker 3: of their system last week. Obviously, I think it's a
6:41
Speaker 3: you know, it was a Packers defense that played tremendous
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Speaker 3: defense in that game, but some of it was self
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Speaker 3: inflicted mistakes. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about Philly
6:49
Speaker 3: and this is a team that not too long ago
6:51
Speaker 3: I sort of thought, boy, you could see a path
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Speaker 3: to the back to the super Bowl for them. I
6:56
Speaker 3: really thought that everything was kind of lining up. Not
6:58
Speaker 3: getting rid of that opinion. Now, it just feels like
7:01
Speaker 3: a little bit lower a percentage based on at least
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Speaker 3: what we saw last Sunday. They whipped this Rams team.
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Speaker 3: Last time. Saquon was a man. He was unbelievable. Maybe
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Speaker 3: that happens again, but it's going to be in stark
7:12
Speaker 3: contrast to most of the game we saw Sunday.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a road win for Philadelphia. Right behind
7:17
Speaker 2: me at Sofi Stadium, right across the street from where
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Speaker 2: our studios are. We spent a lot of time talking
7:21
Speaker 2: about offensive players, and I get it in a lot
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Speaker 2: of ways are the biggest stars in the game under
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Speaker 2: the radar, and I hate to even classify it that
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Speaker 2: way because he's a real stud on this team. To
7:31
Speaker 2: Kobe Dean, the linebacker for Philadelphia out for the season,
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Speaker 2: probably going to miss a good stretch he maybe of
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Speaker 2: even next season. How big of a blow is that
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Speaker 2: against this Rams offense.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think people outside of Philly may not recognize
7:43
Speaker 3: just what an impact he's made. And his college teammate
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Speaker 3: Nolan Smith both have really taken a big jump up
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Speaker 3: this year. But losing Dean, I think who had been
7:51
Speaker 3: really an under the radar star. I think most people
7:53
Speaker 3: saw what Zach Bond's done this year, and they know
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Speaker 3: what that defensive front and how improved that secondary is.
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Speaker 3: But you know, Dean really was kind of the glue
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Speaker 3: up front and an emotional leader for them. So it
8:03
Speaker 3: puts more of an onus on their remaining linebackers. Do
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Speaker 3: they sit and nickel, do they send extra rushers? How
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Speaker 3: do they sort of combat that missing piece there in
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Speaker 3: the middle of their defense.
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Speaker 2: We will talk about the Rams, the Eagles opponent, who
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Speaker 2: are seventh in your rankings. The Eagles obviously sending at
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Speaker 2: number five, but I want to get to the sixth
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Speaker 2: ranked team, and that is the Washington Commanders. There's a
8:23
Speaker 2: part of me that says, the moment isn't too big
8:27
Speaker 2: for Jaydon Daniels, right like that is abundantly clear. It's
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Speaker 2: almost like he doesn't know this is not supposed to
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Speaker 2: look like this when you're a rookie quarterback. Am I right?
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Speaker 3: If that's what it is, just sort of a youthful
8:39
Speaker 3: ignorance or whatever, I'll take it. It's been a blast
8:42
Speaker 3: watching him, and it kind of sort of reminds me
8:44
Speaker 3: a little bit of what we saw down the stretch
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Speaker 3: from CJ. Stroud last year. They're different players. I'm not
8:48
Speaker 3: trying to compare their games, but mentality wise, you know
8:52
Speaker 3: that equanimity when things aren't going right, you have a
8:55
Speaker 3: quarterback you can kind of flush all that out, whatever
8:58
Speaker 3: bad stuff happened to play before or before that, and
9:01
Speaker 3: just say that the task here is to get this
9:04
Speaker 3: first down, to get this touchdown, whatever you need in
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Speaker 3: this situation. He's just proven it time and time again. Mike.
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Speaker 3: So yeah, I love to watch this precocious passer play
9:13
Speaker 3: and it's been so fun to see him and I
9:16
Speaker 3: think that's kind of what they need going into Detroit. Right,
9:18
Speaker 3: you have to have that attitude of we got this,
9:20
Speaker 3: it's all good. Right, the world stacked against this will
9:23
Speaker 3: be fine, and that should scare the daylights out of
9:26
Speaker 3: the lines. I'm being honest right now.
9:28
Speaker 2: Jayden Daniels, his name is popped up in this last
9:31
Speaker 2: couple of days, actually a ton, But there's two conversations
9:33
Speaker 2: that I've had that really resonate with me. Sunday on
9:36
Speaker 2: the NFL channel, we do game day preview and Bucky
9:40
Speaker 2: Bucky was in the seat and he says, hey, I
9:42
Speaker 2: think Jayden Daniels is elite, which made me pause for
9:45
Speaker 2: a minute because I think Patrick Mahomes is milde. I
9:47
Speaker 2: think Lamar Jackson is elite. I think Josh Allen is elite.
9:51
Speaker 2: It's almost like he's already got him in that category.
9:53
Speaker 2: And then on Monday, and I'm working with David Carr
9:55
Speaker 2: and I asked, hey, like, is there, what do you
9:57
Speaker 2: think of what Jayden's doing? And he felt and that's
9:59
Speaker 2: the first time I heard the comp He goes, I
10:01
Speaker 2: think he looks like a younger Lamar Jackson out there.
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Speaker 2: So it's not recency biased, right, Like, are those assessments fair.
10:10
Speaker 3: I don't know that I'll ever comp one for one
10:13
Speaker 3: exactly Lamar Jackson to anybody, but there are shades of
10:17
Speaker 3: him in his game, obviously, the thin frame, the ability
10:19
Speaker 3: to throw the ball vertically and throw it a long
10:21
Speaker 3: way and oftentimes accurate too. I mean, you know, you
10:24
Speaker 3: saw that his first couple throws, the big throws down
10:27
Speaker 3: the field where you said, Wow, this kid has got touch,
10:29
Speaker 3: He's got placement, it's all there. You know. I wasn't
10:32
Speaker 3: sure he's got that thin body, and I wasn't sure
10:35
Speaker 3: how he's going to hold up in the NFL. And
10:36
Speaker 3: he has taken some hits this year, but so did
10:38
Speaker 3: Lamar early in his career, and he's still played at
10:40
Speaker 3: an MVP level, So who's to say he can't have
10:43
Speaker 3: a similar type of career. I don't know that he'll
10:45
Speaker 3: ever be quite as electric a runner or quite as
10:48
Speaker 3: dazzling a playmaker, but I at least think he's in
10:51
Speaker 3: the same zip code.
10:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know the one thing, And I turned to
10:54
Speaker 2: David when he said it, and I said, is Jaden
10:59
Speaker 2: ahead of where Lamar was his rookie season as a passer,
11:02
Speaker 2: And without hesitation, he said, yes, which, by the way,
11:05
Speaker 2: should scare the Jesus out of the NFL, and certainly
11:07
Speaker 2: the rest of those teams inside of that division cannot
11:11
Speaker 2: wait for this matchup, Commanders and Lines. That game will
11:13
Speaker 2: be played on Saturday to the seventh ranked team, the Rams.
11:18
Speaker 2: My biggest concern with this team is the emotional aspect
11:22
Speaker 2: of this Now. I live in southern California, I'm water
11:24
Speaker 2: across the street obviously from SOFI Stadium. Monday Nights game
11:27
Speaker 2: was played in Glendale because of the raging fires that
11:29
Speaker 2: are happening across this region. They win a game, they
11:33
Speaker 2: win big, The defense was monstrous. There's that that emotional toll.
11:37
Speaker 2: How do you stay up for a game against Philadelphia?
11:41
Speaker 2: We got to go across the country.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question, Mike, And it's probably impossible
11:46
Speaker 3: to quantify exactly what the emotions of all fifty three
11:49
Speaker 3: players in the entire coaching staff. How many of them
11:52
Speaker 3: have been personally affected by the fires? Right I mean
11:55
Speaker 3: right now they're trying to figure out can we practice
11:57
Speaker 3: at home this week? So there's a lot hanging over them,
11:59
Speaker 3: family issues, all kinds of stuff that is, you know,
12:02
Speaker 3: just friends and people there that near them. So all
12:06
Speaker 3: of that notwithstanding up they can kind of turn this
12:09
Speaker 3: into a positive and ride that emotional wave into Philadelphia.
12:12
Speaker 3: I think they'll march in there a very confident group,
12:14
Speaker 3: and I think having seen how they've played, you know,
12:17
Speaker 3: able to win games in different ways down the stretch too.
12:19
Speaker 3: You factor that in. If it's going to be a
12:21
Speaker 3: low scoring game, they've had a few of those. If
12:23
Speaker 3: it's a shootout like the Bills game, they've been able
12:25
Speaker 3: to win those kinds of games too. So, look, there's
12:29
Speaker 3: the emotional factor. There's also the results, which have been
12:31
Speaker 3: drastically better versus a Philly team that you know, we're
12:35
Speaker 3: not sure about. Maybe they're great, maybe they can blow
12:37
Speaker 3: this team out like they did last time. But yeah,
12:39
Speaker 3: been able to kind of harness those emotions and fuel
12:42
Speaker 3: it in a positive way towards winning. Maybe that's just
12:46
Speaker 3: the extra little bit they need to get.
12:48
Speaker 2: Over the hump, a jump of five spots in your
12:51
Speaker 2: power rankings, deservedly so they now sit in that seventh position.
12:55
Speaker 2: The only other thing that I will add to this conversation,
12:57
Speaker 2: they started the year they lost four out of their
12:59
Speaker 2: five games. You and I have been doing this show
13:01
Speaker 2: the entire season, you know, I've liked this Rams team.
13:04
Speaker 2: Look at what happened earlier this season, decimated by injuries.
13:08
Speaker 2: Maybe this is the team that could have been fighting
13:11
Speaker 2: for a number one seed. How they been healthy really
13:14
Speaker 2: from start to finish? The what if game? We can
13:16
Speaker 2: play at all we want, but the reality is going
13:19
Speaker 2: handle business in Philadelphia, and this is a very different
13:21
Speaker 2: conversation we're going to be having about this Ram squad,
13:23
Speaker 2: who once again seventh in the power rankings. Meanwhile, eight
13:26
Speaker 2: teams still left in the postseason. Our eighth ranked team
13:29
Speaker 2: might have put the rest of the NFL field on
13:32
Speaker 2: notice who it is and the analysis around that squads
13:35
Speaker 2: copped up. Next, i'll back here on power rankings. We
13:43
Speaker 2: talked about some of the premier teams. Let's just kind
13:46
Speaker 2: of recap where we are currently sitting number one. It's
13:48
Speaker 2: the Chiefs, the Lions at two, the bill sitting at three,
13:51
Speaker 2: and the Ravens at four. Cannot wait for that matchup
13:54
Speaker 2: on Sunday. Meanwhile, the fifth ranked team or the Eagles,
13:57
Speaker 2: the Commanders at six, the Rams at seven, and the
14:00
Speaker 2: Houston Texans at eight. It's time for power moves present
14:04
Speaker 2: to buy energizer that eighth ranked team, the Houston Texans
14:09
Speaker 2: a quantum leap here, moving up six spots in the
14:13
Speaker 2: power rankings. Where has this team been the entire season.
14:17
Speaker 2: That's a pretty impressive showing, especially on the defensive side.
14:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess it is best to play your best
14:23
Speaker 3: ball in January, right, store up whatever you've been missing
14:26
Speaker 3: all season long, and credit to them, right, that's two
14:28
Speaker 3: years in a row. I think the defense has really
14:30
Speaker 3: kind of set the stage. Everyone doubting the Texans coming
14:33
Speaker 3: into that early Saturday Wildcard game and they just came
14:36
Speaker 3: after Justin Herbert made life miserable for him. And really,
14:39
Speaker 3: that pass rush is I think the one thing. I
14:42
Speaker 3: shouldn't say the one thing because CJ. Stroud played a
14:44
Speaker 3: really good game too, but that commodation the Texans pass rush.
14:48
Speaker 3: We know how good those guys are. Will Anderson seems
14:51
Speaker 3: like a man on a mission right now. But good
14:53
Speaker 3: play from Stroud and those guys getting after Mahomes that
14:56
Speaker 3: maybe the formula to pull the upset. It was a
14:59
Speaker 3: one score game the last time they played, so we like,
15:01
Speaker 3: we can't just dismiss them completely and say they have
15:04
Speaker 3: no chane. It's going into Arrowhead. But they took the
15:06
Speaker 3: big leap obviously because of the playoff win. They're in
15:08
Speaker 3: the final eight. Now, maybe there's some teams below that
15:11
Speaker 3: that have better regular seasons, but we're in playoff, mo, baby,
15:13
Speaker 3: you gotta win to get in that top quarter.
15:15
Speaker 2: Asle Absolutely, you think joll Mixon needs to have more
15:18
Speaker 2: of a focus in this offense early in the game.
15:21
Speaker 3: He could. It would be a great way to kind
15:23
Speaker 3: of take the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands, get
15:25
Speaker 3: that run game going, you know, they so badly had
15:27
Speaker 3: offensive line issues and everything else, and just try to
15:30
Speaker 3: get Stroud settled in there. So Yeah, if they can
15:32
Speaker 3: find a way to get him loose early and not
15:35
Speaker 3: have to sort of build him up to a big game,
15:37
Speaker 3: I think that would do wonders for them.
15:39
Speaker 2: All right, let's grip through some of the rankings of
15:41
Speaker 2: the teams that are on the outside looking in. Almost
15:44
Speaker 2: kind of surprise here the Vikings sitting at number nine.
15:47
Speaker 2: They dropped three spots the way they've looked the last
15:49
Speaker 2: two weeks, certainly tough for that fan base. At ten,
15:52
Speaker 2: it's the Bucks who lose a heartbreaker against those Commanders. Eleven,
15:56
Speaker 2: it's the Packers, the Broncos at twelve, Steelers and Chargers
16:00
Speaker 2: sitting at thirteen and fourteen. Boy, the Chargers dropping five
16:03
Speaker 2: spots in your rankings, all right? With Minnesota losing the
16:07
Speaker 2: way that they did, What am I supposed to make
16:10
Speaker 2: of this season? Fourteen regular season wins, that's awesome, but
16:13
Speaker 2: the way it closes out, tough loss. They could have
16:15
Speaker 2: been a one seed they lose against Detroit, and then
16:18
Speaker 2: the way it looked against the Rams. Like, I gotta
16:21
Speaker 2: be honest with you, Eric, there moments in this game.
16:22
Speaker 2: I was cringing for Sam Darnold.
16:25
Speaker 3: It just never looked right. He never had it. Kevin O'Connell,
16:28
Speaker 3: who's been terrific this season. I think he's a top
16:31
Speaker 3: five head coach in this league, called maybe one of
16:33
Speaker 3: his worst games too, So I don't want to just
16:35
Speaker 3: put it all on Sam. The offensive line was overwhelmed.
16:38
Speaker 3: They really didn't have a chance. But at the same time,
16:42
Speaker 3: it's hard not to look at this giant disappointment, this
16:44
Speaker 3: fourteen win disappointment. They only lost the two teams this year, Mike,
16:48
Speaker 3: I mean it was the Rams and Eagles. That's it.
16:50
Speaker 3: They've beat everybody else. They took care of business. They
16:53
Speaker 3: won nine straight. This was a tremendous football team that
16:56
Speaker 3: made strides on offense with Donald to the point where
16:58
Speaker 3: we were wondering, is he gonna be back next year?
17:00
Speaker 3: Is he gonna earn a long term deal from the Vikings?
17:03
Speaker 3: The defense? Brian Flora, I mean, both units playing so well,
17:07
Speaker 3: even special teams too, and then everything seemed to collapse.
17:10
Speaker 3: As you said, the past two weeks, real narrative changer two.
17:13
Speaker 3: I mean, we can't have a Donald discussion without including
17:15
Speaker 3: what's going on the last couple of weeks. And who
17:18
Speaker 3: knows what goes on next year? Is is O'Connell definitely
17:21
Speaker 3: back to remember those weird trade rumors that came up
17:23
Speaker 3: a few weeks ago, You know, the question about Donald
17:26
Speaker 3: and JJ McCarthy and the quarterback position, offensive line two.
17:30
Speaker 3: Got to figure that part out a lot to figure
17:32
Speaker 3: out all of a sudden for a team that looked
17:33
Speaker 3: like it was going to be the one seed at
17:35
Speaker 3: one point.
17:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, a fascinating offseason ahead for the fans in Minnesota.
17:40
Speaker 2: You know, we keep notes on your rankings the Broncos.
17:43
Speaker 2: Do you remember where you had them early on in.
17:45
Speaker 3: The season twenty four?
17:48
Speaker 2: Maybe all right, they were in that range. They were
17:50
Speaker 2: a bottom five team at really at the beginning of
17:54
Speaker 2: the season, how surprised are you? And by the way,
17:56
Speaker 2: speaking of perception, the perception of a Vikings team and
18:00
Speaker 2: where they sit and the Denver Broncos who are three
18:03
Speaker 2: spots behind, so different heading into next season. But I
18:07
Speaker 2: think there's some respect that we got to give Sean
18:09
Speaker 2: Payton squad.
18:11
Speaker 3: Absolutely. You know, we find out after the game bo
18:13
Speaker 3: Nix was playing through a transverse process in his back.
18:15
Speaker 3: That's a broken bone, right, Like, that's something that he's
18:17
Speaker 3: got to get looked at and monitored this offseason, possibly fixed.
18:21
Speaker 3: So you know, if you take that into consideration, there's
18:24
Speaker 3: a rookie quarterback who used his legs well through for
18:26
Speaker 3: twenty nine touchdowns. Kind of steady the ship. You know,
18:29
Speaker 3: there's all those questions with russ in the future of
18:31
Speaker 3: the quarterback position last year, those have now been answered.
18:34
Speaker 1: Right.
18:34
Speaker 3: Nicks was by far not a slam dunk choice by
18:38
Speaker 3: any means, at least in terms of around the league.
18:40
Speaker 3: But you know, he's proven. Sean Payton wright that defense,
18:43
Speaker 3: except for the playoff game, I didn't think they played
18:45
Speaker 3: that well on that side of the ball, but much
18:47
Speaker 3: better defensively. They still have some things to figure out,
18:50
Speaker 3: who's going to lead the backfield. You know, can they
18:53
Speaker 3: keep this pass rush proficiency up next year? You know,
18:57
Speaker 3: still have to deal with the Chiefs and the Chargers
18:59
Speaker 3: and a tough AFC West too, But hard not to
19:02
Speaker 3: love the direction they're going in. I still think it
19:04
Speaker 3: might take another year, another offseason, another year to kind
19:07
Speaker 3: of get into that upper group yet. But again, they
19:10
Speaker 3: were not a team headed in the right direction before
19:13
Speaker 3: Sean Payton arrived, and that's definitely changed.
19:16
Speaker 2: Denver's ahead a schedule. I would make an argument that
19:20
Speaker 2: the Chargers in year one with Harbaugh also had a schedule.
19:23
Speaker 2: I think the way that they lost this game against
19:25
Speaker 2: Texans gives us a little bit of a sour taste
19:28
Speaker 2: heading into this offseason. But how high is this ceiling?
19:31
Speaker 2: Because it felt like some of the questions we had
19:33
Speaker 2: about offense really started to solve themselves as the season unfolded,
19:38
Speaker 2: especially late in the year.
19:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, obviously you can't take one playoff game
19:44
Speaker 3: and say, well, Herbert threw four picks right, he's toast
19:46
Speaker 3: and this passing game is never going to improve and
19:49
Speaker 3: all that. There were some real issues in that game
19:51
Speaker 3: that caused justin some problems. He made his own mistakes.
19:54
Speaker 3: Obviously there was a drop that led to a pick too,
19:58
Speaker 3: but these were issues that were sort of slowly bubbling
20:00
Speaker 3: up throughout the season. Jim Harbaugh said, we are going
20:03
Speaker 3: to be built through the offensive line. At times that
20:06
Speaker 3: unit looked really good, but most for the most part,
20:08
Speaker 3: I think they underwhelmed. That unit's got to be addressed.
20:12
Speaker 3: You know, Jim's going to make that a priority. Probably
20:14
Speaker 3: love to add more receiver help as well, maybe another
20:17
Speaker 3: tight end, a running back. You know, we didn't see
20:20
Speaker 3: the run game pop as much. And then you've got
20:22
Speaker 3: some aging pass rushers and some holes in the secondary too,
20:25
Speaker 3: So all of a sudden, there's a lot to figure out.
20:27
Speaker 3: The Chargers is just fact they played a pretty easier,
20:31
Speaker 3: let's say, forgivable schedule I think this year, and they
20:33
Speaker 3: exploited it. Good for them. Jim did a great job
20:36
Speaker 3: cleaning this team up. But still say there's a lot
20:39
Speaker 3: more to do in the offseason, and they got to
20:40
Speaker 3: start with some of those problem areas.
20:42
Speaker 2: Speaking of direction, there's some teams right now trying to
20:44
Speaker 2: figure out who's going to be leading the charge. You
20:47
Speaker 2: got some head coaching vacancies just to attach a ranking
20:50
Speaker 2: to the teams that are looking for head coaches. The
20:52
Speaker 2: Cowboys at twenty one, which is kind of a weird
20:55
Speaker 2: thing to say with the McCarthy situation. At twenty three,
20:57
Speaker 2: it's the Bears twenty five, of the Saints twenty six,
21:00
Speaker 2: it's the Jets twenty seven, the Jags, and the Raiders
21:03
Speaker 2: at twenty eight. Not included in the list as the
21:06
Speaker 2: New England Patriots, who are sitting at twenty nine. They
21:09
Speaker 2: already they went one and done with Rod Mayo in
21:12
Speaker 2: like two minutes. They hire Mike Rabel just that presence alone.
21:17
Speaker 2: Are we going to be talking about them? I don't know.
21:19
Speaker 2: They were twenty ninth at the end of the season
21:21
Speaker 2: in your power rankings. Where can we start thinking about
21:24
Speaker 2: this team heading into next season?
21:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be in my final power rankings at the
21:30
Speaker 3: end of this after the Super Bowl, when I kind
21:32
Speaker 3: of reset the board, and the teams that have hired
21:34
Speaker 3: head coaches, you know, have made some personnel decisions. I'm
21:37
Speaker 3: gonna adjust those right. Patriots will probably be on the rise.
21:40
Speaker 3: I think a little teaser, Mike, that's what we call
21:42
Speaker 3: it here in the industry. Look at Kraft. He looks
21:45
Speaker 3: happy for the first time in months. I mean, look,
21:48
Speaker 3: the Jared Mayo thing. Even he had to admit it
21:51
Speaker 3: wasn't working. The locker room agreed there was a lot
21:53
Speaker 3: of issues there. I think we'll hear more about that
21:55
Speaker 3: in the next couple of months. Mike Rabel is not
21:58
Speaker 3: a panacea, but I think he's going to be a
22:00
Speaker 3: even better head coach than he was the first time
22:02
Speaker 3: in Tennessee. And he was darn good there, right it
22:04
Speaker 3: did it plateau a little bit at the end? Did
22:06
Speaker 3: things run stale? Yes, But I think some of the
22:08
Speaker 3: issues that led to his ouster there are things they're
22:11
Speaker 3: going to help him in his second go around as
22:13
Speaker 3: a head coach. Plus, he's got buy in right. Everybody
22:15
Speaker 3: knows this is Mike Ramble. He played for Bill Belichick,
22:17
Speaker 3: but he does thinks his own way too, So accountability
22:21
Speaker 3: is going to be big. I think they're going to
22:22
Speaker 3: do the right thing and surround Drake maybe with the
22:24
Speaker 3: right kind of talent. I don't think Mike's just going
22:26
Speaker 3: to sort of slam the run game into people every week.
22:28
Speaker 3: He knows he has a special quarterback, and I think
22:30
Speaker 3: he's going to help make this team a lot better.
22:32
Speaker 2: I think one of the most intriguing jobs. I won't
22:35
Speaker 2: say destination job or however, it was characterized to Troy
22:39
Speaker 2: Aikman on Monday Night, who gave his take on what
22:41
Speaker 2: the Dallas Cowboys job really is and giving autonomy to
22:45
Speaker 2: a head coach who allow them to be themselves. I
22:47
Speaker 2: think Key questioned whether or not that can happen in Dallas,
22:51
Speaker 2: even just a football perspective. The roster where it is
22:54
Speaker 2: right now, is this a good job?
22:56
Speaker 3: It's an interesting job, right It's a good compound. That's
22:59
Speaker 3: a good way to sort of sidest the question. Obviously,
23:02
Speaker 3: you know you're having to deal with some pretty tough teams.
23:04
Speaker 3: Manders are going to have Daniels for years to come.
23:07
Speaker 3: The Eagles look set up for success too. You know
23:10
Speaker 3: the Giants are going to have a high draft pick
23:12
Speaker 3: this year, maybe a quarterback, So you got an uphill
23:14
Speaker 3: climb in the division. You have an aging quarterback who's
23:17
Speaker 3: had multiple season ending injuries, making a lot of money,
23:19
Speaker 3: taking up a big chunk of the cap. What happens
23:21
Speaker 3: with Dak Prescott now that McCarthy's not there, does he
23:23
Speaker 3: get moved? Is he still part of the picture? You know,
23:26
Speaker 3: obviously we get we've heard some big names in the
23:28
Speaker 3: early going and who might end up there or whatnot.
23:31
Speaker 3: It's not clear what direction they're going to go, but
23:33
Speaker 3: I suspect that letting the talks with m McCarthy subside,
23:38
Speaker 3: they had a plan and they probably had another backup
23:41
Speaker 3: plan in mind for where they wanted to go. If
23:43
Speaker 3: they did, that tells me this job is still desirable.
23:46
Speaker 3: You still have sort of deep pockets and unlimited support
23:50
Speaker 3: for this team. So I think it's a good job,
23:53
Speaker 3: but obviously comes with its traps, no question about it.
23:55
Speaker 2: Yeah. And by the way, how how different is this
23:59
Speaker 2: job if they were winning games this year and Dak
24:02
Speaker 2: Prescott was completely healthy, by the way Rush played really well.
24:05
Speaker 2: I'm not saying, Look, there was definitely some things that
24:08
Speaker 2: were there, But if they get some wins at home,
24:10
Speaker 2: which was a major struggle for them earlier this season,
24:13
Speaker 2: and Dak is healthy, I don't know. I think we're
24:15
Speaker 2: looking at this job maybe a little bit differently, and
24:17
Speaker 2: I think it's probably from a football perspective leveled up
24:21
Speaker 2: from some of the vacancies that are open right now.
24:24
Speaker 2: But there's a lot of potential obviously with some of
24:25
Speaker 2: these other teams. I would circle the Chicago Bears as
24:28
Speaker 2: one of those squads, and even the Jags maybe with
24:31
Speaker 2: the roster that they have in place. Eric, this was
24:34
Speaker 2: a blast man. Always good working with you. Let's keep
24:36
Speaker 2: in mind we'll continue to analyze all of these teams.
24:40
Speaker 2: If everyone enjoys the divisional weekend, we will see you
24:42
Speaker 2: next week for another edition of Power Rankings.
24:51
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