Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #20: Controversial decisions
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 0:07Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio.
- 0:12Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of the NFL Power Ranking Show,
- 0:18Speaker 2: presented to you by Energizer. This is the as we
- 0:21Speaker 2: call it here, the week twenty edition in our studios
- 0:26Speaker 2: in Los Angeles. My name is ANDREWS. Siciliano. On the
- 0:28Speaker 2: other side of the screen in a frozen, frigid Chicago,
- 0:32Speaker 2: which just got the news that Caleb Williams is entering
- 0:35Speaker 2: the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Eric at Hoolme, good
- 0:38Speaker 2: to see you.
- 0:40Speaker 3: Good to see you too. This is the pound for pound,
- 0:42Speaker 3: the best round, right.
- 0:43Speaker 4: Don't agree with the divisional round? Yeah? I think so.
- 0:46Speaker 2: Yeah, after watching a super Wildcard round that saw the
- 0:51Speaker 2: average margin of victory.
- 0:52Speaker 4: Sit at seventeen point three.
- 0:55Speaker 2: And that includes keep in mind the fact that Sunday
- 0:58Speaker 2: night in Detroit it was a one point game.
- 1:01Speaker 4: Is that insane?
- 1:03Speaker 3: Impactful games like the games that had purpose but not
- 1:07Speaker 3: exactly the tightest ones. I think this round will be
- 1:09Speaker 3: a little better, but yes, it is very much insane.
- 1:11Speaker 2: The Ravens are number one, the Niners are number two.
- 1:14Speaker 2: They are the two number one seeds. They had the
- 1:16Speaker 2: weekend off. They watched on their couch and they have
- 1:19Speaker 2: not changed. We'll get to them at a second. The
- 1:21Speaker 2: Bills are up one. They are number three. The Lions
- 1:24Speaker 2: are up one. They are number four. We're going to
- 1:27Speaker 2: focus only on these four teams right now. And as
- 1:29Speaker 2: we start this, I know there are people at home going,
- 1:32Speaker 2: wait a minute, all you're doing is rearranging the fourteen
- 1:35Speaker 2: teams that made the playoffs.
- 1:36Speaker 4: Yes, however, I will make.
- 1:38Speaker 2: An argument later that a couple of the teams were
- 1:42Speaker 2: so bad they should be dropped from the top fourteen. However, Eric,
- 1:47Speaker 2: they do not include these top four. The Ravens are one.
- 1:51Speaker 2: They get the Texans coming up. As it's all chalk
- 1:54Speaker 2: in the AFC. I would actually argue that with maybe
- 1:58Speaker 2: Mark Andrews coming back and with Dalvin Cook waiting in
- 2:02Speaker 2: the wings, the Ravens got better during their bye.
- 2:07Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, well as Firs as far
- 2:09Speaker 3: as personal personnel and who could be available, no question
- 2:12Speaker 3: about it. And you know, did they need the rest.
- 2:14Speaker 3: Obviously got some guys rested in Week eighteen. Not everybody
- 2:18Speaker 3: played against the Steelers in that one. It was bad
- 2:20Speaker 3: conditions out there, So yeah, I mean I think they're
- 2:23Speaker 3: at full strength, and they've had the bulk of that
- 2:26Speaker 3: time to look back at twenty nineteen and the failures
- 2:29Speaker 3: that were I mean, everybody wrote their stories. Is this
- 2:32Speaker 3: going to be another repeat of twenty nineteen. I don't
- 2:35Speaker 3: think so. But they do have a stiff challenge, and
- 2:39Speaker 3: I think things are set up maybe a little bit better,
- 2:41Speaker 3: even though that was a pretty dominant team that won
- 2:43Speaker 3: fourteen games not long ago.
- 2:45Speaker 2: No, it's a dominant team here, and there's a dominant
- 2:48Speaker 2: team in twenty nineteen, and they're facing a very good
- 2:50Speaker 2: team at the Houston Texans, a team they beat in
- 2:53Speaker 2: Week number one. Obviously a lot has changed for the
- 2:55Speaker 2: Texans since then. We'll get into them a little bit later.
- 2:58Speaker 4: That was c J.
- 2:59Speaker 2: Stroud's first start. Didn't throw a touchdown, got sacked four times. Listen,
- 3:04Speaker 2: he's better. Matter of fact, I think he's great. It's
- 3:08Speaker 2: funny they beat Joe Flacco. The old elite conversation with
- 3:12Speaker 2: Joe Flacco. We're going to have that elite conversation pretty soon,
- 3:16Speaker 2: if not already here for CJ.
- 3:18Speaker 4: Stroud.
- 3:19Speaker 2: So the Ravens are one, the Niners are two. The
- 3:22Speaker 2: big thing for the Niners is get healthy during theirby
- 3:26Speaker 2: they have time to rest, and now they get the
- 3:28Speaker 2: Packers coming to tap and honestly not to take away
- 3:32Speaker 2: from green Bay.
- 3:32Speaker 4: It sets up nicely here for Kyle Shanahan.
- 3:35Speaker 3: It does. Yeah, I mean green Bay's obviously a very
- 3:38Speaker 3: dangerous team, but I think the most important development was
- 3:41Speaker 3: Philly blowing the lead, allowing the forty nine ers to
- 3:44Speaker 3: clinch in Week seventeen. Rest guys in week eighteen have
- 3:48Speaker 3: this buy They're in terrific shape. I guess you worry
- 3:51Speaker 3: about offense rhythm coming out or whatever. Joe Berry's defense
- 3:54Speaker 3: has played much better for Green Bay, but I think
- 3:57Speaker 3: they would take that uncertainty over knowing the fact that
- 4:00Speaker 3: they got Christian McCaffrey a lot of rest. He's going
- 4:02Speaker 3: to be used pretty heavily, I would imagine in this game,
- 4:05Speaker 3: and if they win, going forward, Deebo Samuel on down
- 4:08Speaker 3: the line. So yeah, health was a big, big storyline
- 4:11Speaker 3: last year in the playoffs. They're determined not to make
- 4:14Speaker 3: it one I think this year. And yeah, other than
- 4:16Speaker 3: the Baltimore game, they look pretty and good down the stretch.
- 4:19Speaker 2: Look, they have to be happy sitting here watching at
- 4:21Speaker 2: home and getting healthy. The Cowboys are out. The Eagles
- 4:23Speaker 2: are out. I know they beat them both and beat
- 4:25Speaker 2: them both handily, but the Rams.
- 4:26Speaker 4: Are out as well.
- 4:28Speaker 2: And while Kyle has owned Sean of late the last
- 4:30Speaker 2: four or five years in the regular season, obviously in
- 4:33Speaker 2: the postseason, Rams beat them a couple of years ago
- 4:35Speaker 2: in the NFC Championship game. To me, those were possibly
- 4:38Speaker 2: all due respect to the Lions. Their three biggest threats, Eric,
- 4:41Speaker 2: those three threats are gone.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Yeah, it's certainly a different field than we expect that
- 4:47Speaker 3: I think coming in. Obviously, the Lions are a legitimate
- 4:49Speaker 3: team and we have to take them seriously as a
- 4:52Speaker 3: Super Bowl candidate. But you know, it's crazy to step
- 4:55Speaker 3: back and think one of the following is going to
- 4:57Speaker 3: start in the NFC for the Super Bowl. It's going
- 4:59Speaker 3: to be Brock Purty, it's going to be Jordan Love,
- 5:01Speaker 3: it's going to be Baker Mayfield or Jared Goff. That's
- 5:03Speaker 3: who we're down to on that side of the field.
- 5:05Speaker 3: And you know, you put it through that lens and
- 5:07Speaker 3: it really kind of changes your perspective on what it's
- 5:09Speaker 3: going to look like. So, yeah, I'll be fascinated to
- 5:11Speaker 3: see how this all works out. But it's still a
- 5:14Speaker 3: pretty pretty interesting, feel like, even though you said, I
- 5:17Speaker 3: think things have kind of really lined up pretty well
- 5:19Speaker 3: if they could somehow slow down this Packer's office.
- 5:22Speaker 2: I love the Baker Mayfield Jared Goff former number one
- 5:26Speaker 2: pick redemption tour possibility there for the super Bowl. Clearly
- 5:31Speaker 2: Goth has a better shot right now, the clearer path
- 5:34Speaker 2: than Baker.
- 5:35Speaker 4: But whatever.
- 5:36Speaker 2: All right, let's get to the Bills. They're you're new
- 5:38Speaker 2: number three team, Eric, They are up one in the
- 5:41Speaker 2: week twenty the Divisional round power rankings. Josh Allen did
- 5:46Speaker 2: what they needed him to do, be Superman, but without
- 5:49Speaker 2: the Kryptonite. He didn't turn the ball over. He rushed
- 5:52Speaker 2: for this fifty two yard touchdown. By the way, we
- 5:53Speaker 2: agree that was not a fake slide. That was a
- 5:56Speaker 2: pitter patter of the feat. Guys, do we agree that
- 5:59Speaker 2: was not a fake slide?
- 6:00Speaker 3: Eric, I didn't even know people were arguing that.
- 6:03Speaker 4: Steelers stands are angry.
- 6:05Speaker 2: The Steelers drafted the guy who's fake slide in college football,
- 6:10Speaker 2: changed the rules, and then he bragged about it. Anyway,
- 6:13Speaker 2: I digress here. It wasn't a fake slide. Josh Allen
- 6:16Speaker 2: now gets mahomes at home.
- 6:18Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they were saying it's a fake slide
- 6:20Speaker 3: to cover for Patrick Peterson not being able to catch
- 6:22Speaker 3: a quarterback. But you know, I digress. Yeah, this is
- 6:26Speaker 3: setting up I think the way everyone wanted it. Not
- 6:28Speaker 3: Steelers fans obviously, not Dolphins fans, but the rest of
- 6:32Speaker 3: the neutral observing football universe had to, you know, grip
- 6:37Speaker 3: for the idea that we're going to have another Allan
- 6:40Speaker 3: Mahomes game, this one an Allen Park, though I mean
- 6:42Speaker 3: an Orchard Park, I should say, rather it could be
- 6:44Speaker 3: a p pretty interesting. It could be Allen Parking, right, Yeah,
- 6:48Speaker 3: it'll be Allen Park if he wins this game. And
- 6:51Speaker 3: the last time they met there kind of a strange
- 6:53Speaker 3: outing in twenty twenty. I kind of throw that one out.
- 6:55Speaker 3: The rest of them have been classics, and I expect
- 6:58Speaker 3: nothing less. Allen's at the peak of his powers. We
- 7:01Speaker 3: saw what Mahomes can do again last week Bill's d
- 7:05Speaker 3: Can they be healthy, can they hold on? Are some
- 7:07Speaker 3: of these injuries gonna bite them in the end. I
- 7:09Speaker 3: don't know. That's the big question.
- 7:10Speaker 4: I'm kind of leaping.
- 7:11Speaker 2: The big one being Terrell Bernard, who has carted off
- 7:13Speaker 2: with the ankle injury.
- 7:14Speaker 4: He has played so well.
- 7:15Speaker 2: And remember no Matt Milano and no Tredavius White and
- 7:17Speaker 2: no Jordan Phillips. The hits keep on coming for that
- 7:20Speaker 2: Bill's defense.
- 7:21Speaker 4: But they get him at home. They get the Chiefs
- 7:22Speaker 4: at home.
- 7:22Speaker 2: Third time in four years they meet in the postseason,
- 7:24Speaker 2: and first time A Holmes is going to play a
- 7:26Speaker 2: playoff game other than a super Bowl, obviously outside of
- 7:30Speaker 2: their building when last they met.
- 7:33Speaker 4: It's so.
- 7:35Speaker 2: Crazy how things change down the stretch. When last these
- 7:37Speaker 2: two teams met, Eric, you and I sat here and said,
- 7:40Speaker 2: this is the Bill season, and really the Bill's soul
- 7:46Speaker 2: as they're constructed on the line right they went to
- 7:49Speaker 2: Arrowhead that article had been written about Sean McDermott.
- 7:51Speaker 4: You're like, this is it.
- 7:53Speaker 2: They are on the brink, and then Kadarius Tony lined
- 7:56Speaker 2: up off sides. The Bill's got their win, and it's
- 7:59Speaker 2: been like a march towards Vegas since then. And I
- 8:04Speaker 2: cannot wait for this one of the best Divisional obviously
- 8:06Speaker 2: the best weekend of the football year. All right, let's
- 8:09Speaker 2: celebrate the Lions here. You know, I worked for the Rams.
- 8:11Speaker 2: I wanted the Rams to win that game, but I'm
- 8:13Speaker 2: happy for Jared Goff as I said last week, I
- 8:15Speaker 2: would be if they won.
- 8:16Speaker 4: You got the fans crying.
- 8:17Speaker 2: He got Brad Holmes yelling in an elevator of the
- 8:20Speaker 2: Lions are up one spot.
- 8:22Speaker 4: They are four this week in the Power rankings.
- 8:25Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean some people may disagree. Some people feel
- 8:28Speaker 3: like maybe they got a little lucky there. Obviously the
- 8:31Speaker 3: Rams had kind of turned the tide of that game.
- 8:33Speaker 3: Everyone bracing for that, that comeback victory, that fourth quarter
- 8:37Speaker 3: victory that Stafford pulled off a lot of times in Detroit.
- 8:39Speaker 3: But Jared Goff completes the biggest pass in his career,
- 8:43Speaker 3: not the toughest, not the prettiest, but the most important
- 8:46Speaker 3: past of his career. Hadn't completed one in almost a
- 8:49Speaker 3: quarter at that point, so after the hot start, he
- 8:52Speaker 3: really needed to finish that game off. He did. What
- 8:54Speaker 3: a moment for him, right, and just what a relief
- 8:57Speaker 3: I think for the Detroit Lions fans who you know,
- 8:59Speaker 3: braced for this utter heart rending disappointment it didn't happen,
- 9:04Speaker 3: and now their favorites in this game coming up, second
- 9:07Speaker 3: straight home playoff game, unheard of time. First of all,
- 9:10Speaker 3: the state of Michigan, right with Yeah, the Wolverines, Harbaugh
- 9:14Speaker 3: and this it is on fire right now in the
- 9:16Speaker 3: football world, so I can't imagine what's going to go
- 9:18Speaker 3: down this weekend. But they have to feel like, Okay,
- 9:21Speaker 3: now we're the hunted, right. I can understand a lot
- 9:24Speaker 3: of people picking the rams, but they have to feel
- 9:26Speaker 3: like they need to take care of business in this
- 9:29Speaker 3: game and not let the emotions kind of kind of
- 9:31Speaker 3: ruin the day.
- 9:32Speaker 2: You see that a hug there that embraced between Golf
- 9:35Speaker 2: and Stafford at the end of the game. I recommend
- 9:37Speaker 2: inside the NFL or check out the NFL Films Twitter
- 9:40Speaker 2: page here. It's a great moment in which Stafford tells Golf, hey,
- 9:44Speaker 2: go win this thing.
- 9:45Speaker 4: I'm happy for you.
- 9:46Speaker 2: And then Jared a couple of seconds later, after they
- 9:49Speaker 2: had walked away, Jared circles back and says, basically, you're
- 9:55Speaker 2: one of the toughest you know, whats I've ever seen,
- 9:58Speaker 2: Like legendary toughness here, like respect because Matthew Stafford that
- 10:03Speaker 2: should have been a flag by the way for roughing
- 10:05Speaker 2: there got up at the end and his hand was
- 10:08Speaker 2: banged up, and he was banged up, and he kept
- 10:10Speaker 2: on slinging it and he is a warrior, a football warrior,
- 10:14Speaker 2: obviously not a real warrior. But you know what I'm
- 10:16Speaker 2: saying here. So the Lions are number four. We'll get
- 10:18Speaker 2: to the Rams a little bit later. We'll get to
- 10:20Speaker 2: the Texans as well. How about the Packers? Where do
- 10:23Speaker 2: they land?
- 10:23Speaker 4: Should the Eagles even be in these rankings?
- 10:27Speaker 2: That's coming up on the NFL Power Ranking Shoppers, out
- 10:29Speaker 2: of my energizer.
- 10:38Speaker 4: All right, here we go.
- 10:39Speaker 2: Let's keep rolling to the NFL Power Ranking Shoppers headed
- 10:41Speaker 2: to you my energizer. The QR code side of the
- 10:44Speaker 2: screen that says scan me. You can scan it and
- 10:47Speaker 2: see what we have here in NFL dot com. The
- 10:49Speaker 2: Chiefs are up two. They are five, The Texans up three.
- 10:54Speaker 2: They are six. Look at the Packers up six, They
- 10:58Speaker 2: are seven.
- 10:59Speaker 4: The Cowboys plummet? Are they really a top ten team?
- 11:03Speaker 2: They are eight? And the Bucketeers are up three they
- 11:07Speaker 2: are nine. Think about this and we will later. The
- 11:09Speaker 2: Bucks are behind the Cowboys. The Bucks are playing next weekend.
- 11:13Speaker 2: The Cowboys are not all right at home. The Chiefs
- 11:18Speaker 2: are five. I think a lot of teams prove their
- 11:22Speaker 2: critics right this weekend. I think the Chiefs, though, might
- 11:27Speaker 2: be the only team that truly proved their critics wrong.
- 11:31Speaker 4: They look fine.
- 11:32Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought they did right. I mean they were
- 11:34Speaker 3: prepared for the environment. Obviously Miami wasn't.
- 11:38Speaker 4: You know.
- 11:39Speaker 3: It was sort of a you know, start to finish,
- 11:42Speaker 3: really solid performance. I mean, Mahomes played well, dealt with
- 11:45Speaker 3: some of the early drops, got Kelsey going eventually. You know,
- 11:50Speaker 3: it just sort of felt like they were very well
- 11:53Speaker 3: prepared for this game, understanding that there was criticism about
- 11:56Speaker 3: their game, understanding and knowing that people weren't going to
- 12:00Speaker 3: be picking them to win the Super Bowl, and that
- 12:01Speaker 3: they probably have to go on the road the following week.
- 12:03Speaker 3: That was just the reality of it, and they took
- 12:05Speaker 3: care of business. Because they've been in the situation so
- 12:07Speaker 3: many times. Will that carry over? I tend to think so.
- 12:10Speaker 3: I think they'll play well. I don't think they're going
- 12:12Speaker 3: to come in there and get embarrassed. But yeah, they
- 12:14Speaker 3: had to have this kind of a performance. If they
- 12:16Speaker 3: kind of lucked their way into this next game, I
- 12:19Speaker 3: don't think there would be as much sentiment for them
- 12:21Speaker 3: being quote unquote back as we know them to be.
- 12:25Speaker 2: Anyway, Yeah, I agree, and I will admit where I
- 12:28Speaker 2: am wrong.
- 12:28Speaker 4: I thought the Chiefs were the better team. I know
- 12:30Speaker 4: they're the better team.
- 12:32Speaker 2: I did pick the Dolphins when I did an Instagram
- 12:35Speaker 2: video making all the picks Saturday morning, because I felt
- 12:38Speaker 2: that the Dolphins would be able to get the ground
- 12:40Speaker 2: game going. And I thought the ground game with the
- 12:43Speaker 2: weather as the equalizer, would be the difference here. And
- 12:46Speaker 2: I was absolutely wrong. Taylor Swift is a great chair dancer.
- 12:51Speaker 2: The environment was all Kansas City and the Dolphins just
- 12:56Speaker 2: shriveled up. And you know, the Dolphins are another one
- 13:00Speaker 2: of these teams that can run up the score in
- 13:03Speaker 2: September but can't do it in jay Ay.
- 13:05Speaker 4: We see it again. Last year was Kyler Thompson.
- 13:06Speaker 2: I realized, Okay, this year was Tua and they couldn't
- 13:11Speaker 2: do it. I know they have the defensive injuries, but
- 13:13Speaker 2: the offense didn't show up. He had a fifty yard
- 13:15Speaker 2: touchdown on an under thrown ball the DPI. I mean,
- 13:17Speaker 2: that's your only positive offensive play, all right, I digress.
- 13:20Speaker 4: Let's get to the sixth seed.
- 13:22Speaker 2: Your sixth rank team that is that is the Texans,
- 13:25Speaker 2: super impressive up three. Maybe they were one of the
- 13:29Speaker 2: teams that proved their critics wrong, but I am not
- 13:32Speaker 2: one of these people that doubted c. J.
- 13:34Speaker 4: Stroud.
- 13:35Speaker 2: A matter of fact, I think those that doubted him
- 13:37Speaker 2: shut up in September and they've been silent since.
- 13:41Speaker 3: Yeah, anybody left still questioning him even prior to that game,
- 13:44Speaker 3: I think has to reevaluate their football observation a little bit. Now. Look,
- 13:49Speaker 3: obviously he could come out and get humiliated by the Ravens.
- 13:52Speaker 3: I just don't see it happening though. Andrew I really
- 13:55Speaker 3: thinks he's past that level. Right, Not that we say
- 13:58Speaker 3: he can't have a bad game, but you know, the
- 14:00Speaker 3: bad game he had in Week one against Baltimore, you know,
- 14:04Speaker 3: for sacks, touchdowns. I don't think that's the kind of
- 14:07Speaker 3: game he's gonna have this weekend. I think he's gonna
- 14:09Speaker 3: come in prepared, confident. Yes, he doesn't have Tank Dell
- 14:13Speaker 3: or Noah Brown, and he short some weapons, but I
- 14:16Speaker 3: think they're going to go in there with all kinds
- 14:18Speaker 3: of house money, nothing to lose, knowing that, you know,
- 14:22Speaker 3: had they converted those three field goals into touchdowns in
- 14:25Speaker 3: Week one, it's a different story. Plus they've come so
- 14:27Speaker 3: far since then as a team. Demiko ryans we didn't
- 14:30Speaker 3: know anything about his coaching ability then now we've seen
- 14:33Speaker 3: he's been, He's brought this team together. Strau was hurt,
- 14:36Speaker 3: Will and Anderson was hurt. Both were the best rookies on
- 14:38Speaker 3: either side of the ball. I thought this season went healthy,
- 14:41Speaker 3: so they got a lot going for him, and I
- 14:43Speaker 3: think they'll go in there and give the Ravens a test.
- 14:47Speaker 2: Yeah, and a year ago today right now, a year
- 14:51Speaker 2: ago today, we are ten days into the I can't
- 14:56Speaker 2: believe Lovey Smith and Davis Mill screwed up so badly,
- 15:02Speaker 2: you know, tongue in cheek that they are now stuck
- 15:05Speaker 2: with the number two pick.
- 15:07Speaker 4: And think about where we are.
- 15:08Speaker 3: They used it pretty well.
- 15:09Speaker 2: Yeah, it worked out just fine, and it worked out
- 15:13Speaker 2: great as well for the Green Bay Packers. Speaking of
- 15:15Speaker 2: good coaching and good quarterback play, the Packers are making
- 15:18Speaker 2: power Moves. Power Moves presented by Energizer. They are up six.
- 15:23Speaker 4: They are your number sevent team.
- 15:26Speaker 2: As you and I record Kyle Shanahan on Tuesdays on
- 15:29Speaker 2: the podium saying, among other things, Christian McCaffrey's are full
- 15:32Speaker 2: participant in this week, and also saying that his staff
- 15:36Speaker 2: started getting ready for the Packers midway through the second
- 15:40Speaker 2: quarter of their win Sunday over the Cowboys. That's how
- 15:44Speaker 2: thoroughly bludgeoned they That's how badly they beat the Cowboys.
- 15:50Speaker 3: It's nice to get that little hour and a half
- 15:52Speaker 3: two hour jump start on you on your prep work. Right,
- 15:55Speaker 3: Obviously they've been sitting around waiting. They watched this game
- 15:57Speaker 3: unfold and it turned out they didn't waste any time.
- 16:01Speaker 3: They were right to prepare for green Bay. And look
- 16:04Speaker 3: the way the offense is playing right now, I think
- 16:06Speaker 3: you need extra time to prepare for it, because well,
- 16:09Speaker 3: it looked like the Cowboys had no real answers for
- 16:12Speaker 3: either Jordan Love or Aaron Jones, who, you know, since
- 16:15Speaker 3: coming back from injury, has been probably one of the
- 16:18Speaker 3: most productive backs in the league, led the NFL and
- 16:21Speaker 3: rushed in the final four weeks of the season. So
- 16:23Speaker 3: you know, it's like, I think, I know who is
- 16:26Speaker 3: more important, But you could make a legitimate case that
- 16:28Speaker 3: Aaron Jones, especially against that Niners run defense, is almost
- 16:34Speaker 3: as valuable as Love could be in this game, and
- 16:36Speaker 3: homecoming game for Love is just I think Green Bay
- 16:39Speaker 3: will absolutely give them a lot to handle defensively. The
- 16:43Speaker 3: question is can they stop things on the other side,
- 16:46Speaker 3: And I don't know about that one.
- 16:47Speaker 2: Look similar system certainly offensively, same tree defensively here as well.
- 16:52Speaker 2: This is the youngest team of the NFL, the Packers,
- 16:54Speaker 2: that is coming in to face an experienced team, but
- 16:57Speaker 2: still with a young quarterback in Brock Purty. You have
- 17:01Speaker 2: kids all over the board, but you have key veterans
- 17:03Speaker 2: like Aaron Jones that make such a difference here. This
- 17:07Speaker 2: is a team in midway through the season that a
- 17:09Speaker 2: lot of people thought it wasn't working. As we see
- 17:12Speaker 2: Sad Jerry Jones talking about the Packers, it is working.
- 17:15Speaker 2: They are hot and I give them a puncher's chance here,
- 17:18Speaker 2: not a great chance, but a puncher's chance in Santa
- 17:21Speaker 2: Clara on Saturday against the forty nine ers. Now let's
- 17:25Speaker 2: get to the team they beat. We see Sad Dak Prescott,
- 17:28Speaker 2: Sad Jerry Jones. Okay, you have Eric the Dallas Cowboys
- 17:32Speaker 2: as your number EIGHTEAM. They were three, now they are eight.
- 17:37Speaker 2: Why should they even be in the top ten when
- 17:41Speaker 2: they flame out this badly? They are the summer blockbuster
- 17:46Speaker 2: with the huge budget that all the kids are talking
- 17:49Speaker 2: about that when it gets to Oscar time, they get
- 17:53Speaker 2: shut out because there's no substance.
- 17:57Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh, this is why I don't watch the oscars, right,
- 17:59Speaker 3: and I don't have to worry about all.
- 18:01Speaker 4: That sad Midwest man.
- 18:03Speaker 2: Angry man in Midwest says, I don't watch oscars.
- 18:07Speaker 3: I tried to think of it this way, and this
- 18:09Speaker 3: is my first year doing the Power Rankings, and I've
- 18:11Speaker 3: always asked myself, like, Okay, if these two teams met
- 18:14Speaker 3: on a neutral field, meaning like let's take the Bucks
- 18:16Speaker 3: and Cowboys if they met in Huntsville, Alabama, who would
- 18:20Speaker 3: be favored in that game? I maintained the Cowboys to
- 18:23Speaker 3: be a four or five point favorite in that one
- 18:25Speaker 3: if they went against the Bucks, even after what we
- 18:27Speaker 3: saw last week, So maybe I'm wrong about that. I
- 18:30Speaker 3: still think head to head, Dallas a better team. But
- 18:33Speaker 3: there's no discounting what happened on the field. There's no
- 18:37Speaker 3: you know, whitewashing anything that occurred. It was an ugly
- 18:40Speaker 3: franchise shifting performance, right. This was the rug being pulled
- 18:44Speaker 3: out from under them like we've seen before. And where
- 18:47Speaker 3: do you go from here? If you're Jerry, do you
- 18:50Speaker 3: blow everything up? Do you try to import a Vrabeler
- 18:53Speaker 3: or Belichick and fix this thing on the quick? And
- 18:56Speaker 3: is that gonna happen. I mean, you still got to
- 18:58Speaker 3: worry about Dak too. He's got a huge cat number
- 19:00Speaker 3: next year. He's got to be offended. Yeah, I mean
- 19:03Speaker 3: it's I don't want to say it was Super Bowl
- 19:05Speaker 3: or bust, but it certainly feels like that now talking
- 19:08Speaker 3: about them.
- 19:08Speaker 2: Yeah, Dak's cap numbers like fifty five something near sixty million.
- 19:13Speaker 2: They got to do something so likely you have to
- 19:15Speaker 2: commit to paying him another one hundred and fifty million
- 19:17Speaker 2: dollars guaranteed.
- 19:18Speaker 4: That's what you got to do. Extend them. That's what
- 19:20Speaker 4: you gotta do. You got to extend. You got to
- 19:22Speaker 4: take the number down.
- 19:23Speaker 2: This contract was written to be redone right now after
- 19:27Speaker 2: this season, and this season.
- 19:28Speaker 4: Ended far earlier than they thought it would end.
- 19:31Speaker 3: All right.
- 19:31Speaker 2: I want to tie the Eagles in here as well,
- 19:33Speaker 2: because the NFC East is the only division eric that
- 19:36Speaker 2: will not be represented on divisional Weekend. The Eagles lost horribly.
- 19:41Speaker 2: They folded six out of seven down the stretch. You
- 19:44Speaker 2: have them at thirteen down two. We're going to skip
- 19:47Speaker 2: ahead a.
- 19:47Speaker 4: Little bit here.
- 19:48Speaker 2: Why should they even be in the top fourteen. I
- 19:51Speaker 2: think they should be out of the power rankings.
- 19:53Speaker 3: Here.
- 19:53Speaker 4: Honestly, if there.
- 19:55Speaker 3: Was a Buffalo Bills like team, Remember the Bills went
- 19:58Speaker 3: into Week eighteen, we didn't know if they were going
- 20:00Speaker 3: to make the playoffs. Obviously they are now, but if
- 20:02Speaker 3: there was that kind of a team that missed out
- 20:04Speaker 3: out where we were saying, boy, had they gotten in,
- 20:07Speaker 3: they would have been a handful. Maybe the Saints, who
- 20:10Speaker 3: actually quietly played pretty well down the stretch, you could
- 20:13Speaker 3: make an argument for. But the Steelers lost, and I
- 20:17Speaker 3: have been questioning them up and down all seasons, so
- 20:20Speaker 3: it's more of a hierarchy thing. I get your argument, right,
- 20:23Speaker 3: the way they played the final seven games, I mean seven,
- 20:27Speaker 3: even with the Giants win seven games is a massive
- 20:30Speaker 3: chunk of the season, right, it's almost forty percent. So
- 20:35Speaker 3: it's not like you can just sort of, you know,
- 20:36Speaker 3: push this to the side and say, well, they were
- 20:38Speaker 3: great at ten and one. I even had a few
- 20:40Speaker 3: questions then, So I don't know, man, Yeah, this is
- 20:44Speaker 3: as bad as it gets. But I thought the Steelers
- 20:46Speaker 3: were a worse team, and that's the only reason I
- 20:48Speaker 3: could sneak both.
- 20:49Speaker 4: Now I get it, bad team, bad tape.
- 20:51Speaker 2: They have crash landed, and I would argue that I
- 20:54Speaker 2: don't deserve to be in the top fourteen.
- 20:55Speaker 4: The Bucks do.
- 20:56Speaker 2: However, the Bucks won there below the Cowboys, you have
- 20:59Speaker 2: the Bucks at number nine, up three. Eric, talk to
- 21:04Speaker 2: the angry fans that think they should be higher.
- 21:07Speaker 3: Well, look, there were some drop passes early, they settled
- 21:10Speaker 3: for some field goals. They got a little dicey there
- 21:13Speaker 3: for a second after jail and got warm. But you know,
- 21:16Speaker 3: you're beating an AJ brownless Eagles team that was trending,
- 21:20Speaker 3: you know, worse than any stock that I've bought in
- 21:23Speaker 3: the last five years. So yeah, I just didn't think
- 21:25Speaker 3: that this was as impressive a win at home over
- 21:28Speaker 3: a team that was going in one direction only. But
- 21:32Speaker 3: they're competitive. Todd Bowles has done a really nice job
- 21:34Speaker 3: since his name came up as a you know, as
- 21:36Speaker 3: a possible name to watch to get fired. I don't
- 21:38Speaker 3: think that's happening. Baker's done a great job. You know.
- 21:41Speaker 3: It's fun to watch their progression this season, and I
- 21:43Speaker 3: give them a lot of credit. I just don't know
- 21:45Speaker 3: that they are a better football team pound for pound
- 21:47Speaker 3: than what the Dallas Cowboys were.
- 21:48Speaker 2: And Baker on the podium on Monday night said, this
- 21:51Speaker 2: is our last home game, Baker, there's actually a shot
- 21:53Speaker 2: you can host the NFC championship game. If you beat
- 21:56Speaker 2: the Lions and the Packers beat the Niners, there could
- 21:59Speaker 2: still be a game at Raymond James. You mentioned buying
- 22:02Speaker 2: stocks coming up. Let's buy some futures. Shall we do that?
- 22:06Speaker 2: As we continue on the NFL Power Ranking Show presented
- 22:10Speaker 2: by Energizer. It's the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer.
- 22:20Speaker 2: As we show you a teams ten through fourteen, the Rams,
- 22:25Speaker 2: the Browns, the Dolphins, and then the two teams from
- 22:29Speaker 2: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Eagles at thirteen and the
- 22:32Speaker 2: Steelers at fourteen. Time to invest in the Future presented
- 22:35Speaker 2: by Fidelity. Eric at home, why are you buying the Rams?
- 22:40Speaker 2: I'm with you, by the way, but you tell me, yeah.
- 22:43Speaker 3: I mean, I think the emergency of Pooka certainly this season,
- 22:46Speaker 3: I'm an incredible rookie year, Kien Williams showing he could
- 22:49Speaker 3: be a lead back, repairing that offensive line. And look,
- 22:53Speaker 3: I don't know how long they've got left in Matthew Stafford,
- 22:55Speaker 3: but when he was healthy, when he was on the field,
- 22:57Speaker 3: as you pointed out several times throughout the season, he
- 23:00Speaker 3: was great, So you know, you squeeze a little more
- 23:02Speaker 3: out of Cooper Cup. You add pieces that defense. I
- 23:05Speaker 3: think there's an interesting future. Plus you revived Sean McVeigh
- 23:09Speaker 3: and he admitted on the post State Park press conference
- 23:12Speaker 3: he found his way again, and you know that's that's
- 23:15Speaker 3: an important piece of that whole puzzle. I don't know
- 23:17Speaker 3: what Aaron Donald does, but I like their future.
- 23:19Speaker 2: Yeah, and they might lose Raheem Morris. I hope they do,
- 23:21Speaker 2: by the way, on a personal level, I hope he
- 23:24Speaker 2: gets another shot at being a head coach because he
- 23:26Speaker 2: deserves another shot. But the future truly is bright for
- 23:29Speaker 2: this team, and I think it's bright as well for
- 23:31Speaker 2: the Browns. Granted, they need to get the Deshaun Watson
- 23:34Speaker 2: eric that we saw that went fourteen for fourteen to
- 23:38Speaker 2: the perfect passer rating with a broken shoulder to beat
- 23:41Speaker 2: the Ravens on the road.
- 23:44Speaker 3: It was his high point and then very short and point.
- 23:47Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 23:48Speaker 3: Yeah, he might drop, I guess, but all eyes clearly
- 23:53Speaker 3: on him this offseason. Now they get back an amazing
- 23:56Speaker 3: amount of talent, all the guys who got hurt throughout
- 23:58Speaker 3: the season. But we'll see what happens with the coaching
- 24:01Speaker 3: staff and he changes there. Does Flack will come back
- 24:04Speaker 3: as the number two? I mean, I guess we'll be
- 24:06Speaker 3: on the treball. I would love to see it, but yeah,
- 24:10Speaker 3: this is this is going to be very very interesting
- 24:12Speaker 3: team to watch. They have the pieces. Can they put
- 24:15Speaker 3: it all together and find that magic one more time?
- 24:17Speaker 3: Not always easy?
- 24:18Speaker 2: No, And when I say no, that's not saying I
- 24:21Speaker 2: wouldn't want to see that. I just don't think it
- 24:23Speaker 2: is feasible nor likely.
- 24:25Speaker 4: Regardless.
- 24:25Speaker 2: What is feasible and likely is that we are back
- 24:28Speaker 2: to do this again after divisional weekend. All right, So
- 24:31Speaker 2: we'll see you next week on the NFL Power Ranking Show.
- 24:33Speaker 2: Forsaid by enter Jaizer Pray, Eric Com.
- 24:35Speaker 4: Andrew so Long.
- 24:42Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 24:44Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
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