December 10, 2025 • 24 mins
Coming up on the Power Rankings Podcast, Mike Yam and Eric Edholm deliver the latest power rankings leading into NFL Week 15!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL Power Rankings.
Mike Hamman Eric at home with you, a complete list
of all the rankings available on NFL dot com, and
Eric's got analysis on all thirty two teams. But Eric,
you know, I'm finishing up our Monday night coverage on
NFL Network. I see your email, come in, I get
a look at the rankings, and I thought you made
and a student observation that this year the playoff field
(00:34):
is going to feel a whole lot different. Why is that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, look, look what's happened to the Chiefs and the
Ravens and sort of other standby teams. Even if you thought,
you know, Washington, for instance, was going to build off
last season, it's swabbed the decks, completely clean it off.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
You know, it's not going to look like we've seen
in recent years.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And so especially the teams at the top Denver, New
England fighting for the top top spot in the AFC.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
This is good. This is new and fresh and different
and interesting.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Yeah, no, I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And we're not going to get a change at the
top because I think the controversy with the number one
team was a week ago when the Rams lost to Carolina.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
They dominate over.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The weekend and they get to stay with a ten
and three record, number one in the power rankings. We
got Seattle right behind them. Talk about both of those
teams in just a moment. The Denver Broncos continued to
flex here and show they were one of the premier
teams in the NFL at three, the Patriots at four.
We got a Green Bay squad that overcame a little
bit of trash talk that's been going on with Ben
Johnson of the Chicago Bears. More on the Packers in
(01:32):
just a bit. The Bills survive at six, speaking of
Chicago their seven, and then you got the San Francisco
forty nine ers checking in at number eight.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
All right, so they dominate.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I think at one point, because I was doing Game
Day Live on NFL Network, it was seven to seven,
and then all of a sudden, I think it was
a forty five to three count in favor of the Rams,
and this was pure domination. I think they lived up
to that number one seed that you gave them last week,
especially coming off of a loss. This was impressive.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, my faith in them was rewarded, which is always
a good thing. This season, that hasn't always been the case.
So I'll take my small victories when I get him.
But this was no small victory. This was, like you said,
dominant in every phase. Even if the Cardinals had a
couple of good series early on, things got off track
pretty quickly. And that's because you've got this two headed
rushing attack. You've got Matthew Stafford who can attack vertically
and go after guys like Puka Akua. How many traffic
(02:23):
catches did he make where it just felt like, man,
he plucked that in between two and three defenders and
O lines holding up. I mean, the offense is in
terrific shape right now. I wasn't so worried after the
loss at Carolina. That was a desperate team. The Rams
had three uncharacteristic turnovers. That has not been them for
most of the season. And so look, you just look
back three close losses this year, several dominant victories. I
(02:47):
think you have to consider them, at least right now,
the sort of overwhelming favorite as we head into the
big game that could decide the NFC West and possibly
the number one seed as well.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I like that matchup coming up on a TNF
in two weeks or yeah, I guess another week can change.
At this point. The point is though they sit at
number one, the Seahawks a squad, they are at number two,
and yet I look at this team, what they were
able to accomplish Rashid Shahed was absolutely electric. That was
the impact. I think that they were hoping to go
and see here. Look they dominated against Atlanta. I don't
(03:18):
want to look too far ahead because they do match
up against the Colts team.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
But let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Here we might see a forty four year old and
Philip Rivers out on the football field signing to the
practice squad for Indianapolis.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
More on that coming up in just a bit here.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But how significant is that TNF game, not just from
the playoff perspective, but just to show that, hey, we
are the team to beat in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, I mean, look, this Seahawks team rang up a
tany yards against the Rams, and after that early flourish
by LA, they were kind of the better team. It
came down to Sam Donald turnovers and such. And look
this game in Atlanta Sunday was six six at the half,
it wasn't looking.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Great and then all of a sudden you mentioned Shaheed.
He had the long.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Kickoff return one hundred yards. That's the kind of impact
they were hoping for. The home run aspect also contributed
some big receptions as well.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Huge credit to Seattle's defense too.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I know Sam Darnold can make throws like this and
get his pass catchers involved their Shahi with the yards
after the catch. But how about Nick Emon Warri the
rookie with a sack, a block, field goal, and also
an interception. A terrific game for you know, I would
say one of your defensive Rookie of the Year favorites.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
So they get Cooper Cup.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In the end zone first time in a long time
and made life tough for guys like Kirk Cousins and
b Jean Robinson. And yeah, as we look forward to
that game against the Rams, they're they're playing good football
and they can match them.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
There's one of the few teams that.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Has the kind of fire power in all three phases
of the game that I think can stack up with
the Rams and give them a battle.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't know if Seattle has the best defense in
the NFL. Is certainly on the short list, But they
have my favorite defense to watch because the physicality, the
turnovers that they could create. It almost feels like you
want to watch them as opposed to you know, a
lot of times you're as an NFL fan, you're sitting
there just kind of worried about the offense. No, Seattle
has made it very entertaining. All right, let's shift our
attention here. Time for Team of the Week. It is
(05:02):
presented by Truest the number five team, the Green Bay Packers.
They handle business against the Chicago Bears at home. Is
there a weakness for this football team?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, I think offensively.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
You know, they had their struggles, so we've seen them
have some games where they really struggle to put things together.
But now the Christian Watson is back and healthy and
Jordan Love is playing a better brand at football. Especially
the last two games, those issues have been quelled a
little bit. I mean, Watson was terrific two touchdown catches.
Bo Melton, who's obviously kind of re emerged a little bit,
had one grab and it was an important one beating
(05:35):
zone for a deep touchdown as well, And so those
big explosive plays are huge. You also saw very timely
plays from the Green Bay defense, including this one plus
the third down stop just prior to the interception in
the end zone, they were, you know, holding on for
dear life at that point, a little gasp, but credits
to Green Bay for making the play. And Jeff Haffley's
(05:56):
done a really good job with this unit all season long.
They're one of the better defenses in the league. You know,
the kicking games seem solid for once, and so yeah,
I mean, I don't know that they're a perfect team
by any stretch. And they were a couple of plays
from letting this one slip away, but they took care
of business, they responded. They're in a positive direction right now,
and so yeah, green Bay I think has to be
(06:16):
considered the favorite at this moment, even if it's a
razor thin margin with one more game left against Chicago
in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, and we'll talk about that Chicago Bears team in
just a moment here, because I do look at the
way that they won that game green Bay and kind
of fortunate to hear they dominate in that first half,
especially on the defensive side, in Chicago was able to
kind of wear them down, but it was positive c
Jordan Love Fine Watson, there were some fun moments in
terms of some of those explosive plays to number six
we go. We got a Buffalo Bills team. Here's the
(06:43):
good news. They won the game. Here's where I would
push back, Josh Allen again rocking the Superman Cape. They
overcame some issues on the offensive side, and they beat
a team that had four wins on the season. What
do I make of this victory?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
A four win team with Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Let's be honest here, right, Joe's completely changed the complexion
of that team.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
But is fair right?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This was a Cincinnati defense we were chewing up all
season long, and you know, they had eighteen points through
the first fifty two minutes of the game.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So it did take that l lay flourish.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It did take a couple of I guess you'd say
unlikely interceptions from Joe Burrow and two of the shorter
interceptions you'll ever see either.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
But yeah, you're right about Alan.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
He's got that ability to kind of flip a switch
and go over the top if he needs to, and
whether it's running with the ball, making crazy throws, doing
whatever he has to do. And kind of back to
the point you were making at the top of the show, Mike,
and with you know, with the different looking playoff field
than we've seen in recent years, what has been as
you know, kryptonite in years past, it was Burrow once,
it was Mahomes multiple times. We're not going to see
(07:48):
either one of those guys. We may not see Josh,
I mean, we not see Lamar Jackson. Rather so, look,
not a perfect Bills team. They had to rely on
plays like this to win the game. But if you
look at the playoff field, I don't know that there's
a team they can't beat. You know, again, still not
knowing exactly who's going to be in but maybe this
is one of those weird years. You know, Peyton Manning
(08:09):
won his first Super Bowl without probably his best Colts
team by any stretch of the imagination. So you never know,
and you always give Josh a chance when he's got
the ball and the game on the line.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I don't want to be that dude if I said
Drake May, is he going to be the new kryptonite
for Josh Allen.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
It might be the case.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We will find out. Obviously we saw Drake May kind
of ball out in a primetime game earlier this season
against the Bills. I thought that was his coming out party,
and looky, look we get this matchup once again and
it's a really important one for both of these teams,
meaningful in terms of that playoff positioning shift. Our attention
to the number seventeam that is the Chicago Bears. All right,
I made reference to this here. I thought the second
(08:47):
half looked good for this team, and they did the
things that they wanted to do. I thought they got
away from the run a little bit in the first half,
and in Green Bay's defense was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Caleb.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Though the inconsistencies have been well chronicled, but I think
this is a perfect example of it. First half really struggled.
Second half they look like college Caleb again.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, I think he had what thirty two pass yards
at the half, but really kind of got involved in
the game there and fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I mean, look at some of the big completions he made.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The drive started to Luther Burden on the final drive,
you know, other throws along the way. The touchdown to
Zechias was about as low percentage as it gets. And
you know, the Bears defense that okay, But I think
they took too many risks, took a little too much
man defense.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Jordan Love did chew him up.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But you know, we want to see Caleb have those
kind of vintage drives and he can make all the
big throws and splash plays. But you know, this was
an opportunity kind of cement his legacy a little bit
as a young quarterback and rise up in a game
that Look, the Bears have been on the wrong side
of most Packers game for the last twenty years, so
this was a huge opportunity missed, but not a totally
(09:54):
demoralizing loss either.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Look, this throw is a little farther.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Maybe they win that game or get the touchdown, go
for two and possibly win the game.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
So they're not far off. Want to kill them.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I dropped in one spot. I think that's a pretty
reasonable thing. The Bears are still in this. They still
have that game night game at Soldier Field to kind
of shift the tie back in their direction.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Margins are thin. Though they were a one seed, they
dropped to the seventh seed. Are they a playoff team
in your mind?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I think they're getting in.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I think they are, But you're right, that's a huge
drop in an indication or just how tight things are.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I mean, think about this, I mean, look at the
remaining schedule. Cleveland not a give me game, and despite
their record, Miles Garret could single handily handle business in
that won that game against green Bay. San Francisco also
playing for a whole lot right now.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
And Detroit.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
My point is this is going to be a fun
rest of the season the next couple weeks for a
lot of teams that are battling to be into the
NFL playoffs. Not exactly sure if Chicago is going to
be one of those squads, although the talent certainly looks
like they are more than capable of getting it done.
Mentioned to name check the Lions. Where do they sit
in the rankings? Philadelphia in overtime on a Monday night game,
(10:58):
not able to survive in advance. I think we're hitting
the padding button for their offense as well as Troit's.
To those teams coming up next out back here on
power rankings, it is teams nine through sixteen. He got
the Jacksonville Jaguars on the move, up three spots to
number nine. If I'm not mistaken, that might be their
(11:19):
highest ranking of the season. The Lions also moving up
one spot.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
They're ten.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The Texans in that defense, sitting at eleven. They are
a dangerous squad. Chargers getting it done. Justin Herbert, you
can still play with one hand. They are the twelfth team.
The Eagles they drop three spots. They are at thirteen.
The Steelers moving up six spots. We will talk about
them in just a moment at fourteen, the Colts at fifteen,
and the Baltimore Ravens falling two spots to the sixteenth position.
(11:46):
Time for Future Champions, presented by FanDuel, take a closer
look at the odds to win the AFC South. The
Jags all of a sudden now the favorite minus one ninety,
the Texans plus one seventy. The Colts were a seven
to one football team plus three thousand. Right now, we'll
talk about them their quarterback situation in just a moment.
This Jacksonville team, they've now won four straight games. I
(12:08):
think they are one of the dangerous teams in the NFL.
I think they're going to be postseason bound.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
What say you, Eric?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
They have nothing to lose right after last season, and
in recent history right hasn't been a lot of success
there and so Liam McCowen comes in and, you know,
whips this offense into shape.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
We've seen Trevor Lawrence the past couple of games.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
He's cut out the interceptions, He's made big plays, Brian Thomas,
you know, Jacoby Meyers, other guys. I mean, it's been impressive.
I don't know what their superpower is outside of maybe
their run defense. They're maybe not exceptional at very many things,
but they don't have those blaring, glaring weaknesses either, and
so they've been very competitive, very interesting team that can
run the football as well. Offensive line has not been exposed.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
So good for them.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I mean, I still don't know how seriously we should
take them, but you win four straight, I mean, that's
that's gonna catch your attention on the league.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, And the reality is that in all four of
those wins, they're scoring at least twenty five points in
those games and reasons thereby they're third in the NFL
in points per game.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
So offensively, we had some.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Questions earlier about Trevor Lawrence in this team, but they
are seeming seemingly coming together in the right time. The
Lions on TNF last week absolutely needed that game against
the Cowboys. I thought Dallas was playing better football. I
felt like Dallas was gonna win that game and pull
it off on the road.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
How much respect should we be giving Detroit right now
during this home stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It's tough, right because with a big step forward with
that win, keeping their season alive, first of all, you
have a lot of work left to do. But second
of all, losing Brian Branch I think is going to
really hurt this defense. When you have Jamiir Gibbs, you
have a chance when he's excelled. They've won nine to
zero when he's had a big game and scored a touchdown,
zero to five when he hasn't though, so that's the
(13:49):
big thing. If you don't get him as touch as
his yards, his opportunities, the offense tends to go a
little stale, and you know, again just sort of back
to the defense. You know, they got some pressure early on.
Should have had this safety here. Obviously it was a
great play. We saw them just get more aggressive on
that side of the ball, but still I'd kind of
hang on late a little, and you know, with the
(14:09):
secondary being as thin as it is, I have my questions.
Can they find more replacements they've had to do with
two years in a row where they're scraping the practice
squad and the bottom of the roster to try to
find anybody you can contribute. And now you lose one
of the heart and soul players of that defense.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
That worries me.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, they have a huge matchup against the Rams right
across the street at so Far Stadium. We win that game,
and I think the calculus changes, not just from a
playoff positioning, but from a respect standing as well, especially
without Branch in that lineup. We grew up, We're all
sports fans. We all have our NFL teams. A little
bit easier for me because my team is on the
outside looking in, has already been eliminated, and I'm already
thinking about the draft. But I think that gives me
(14:47):
a unique perspective here. I want to see the best
teams in the postseason. I think the Houston Texans right
now are flexing, and I think they are arguably the
team that no one wants to play in the NFL
because of their defense. You're with me, right, like this
team is going to figure out a way to get in.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
They're just devastating defensively. I mean, we saw what they
did to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, even if the
Chiefs had their share of self inflicted mistakes and you know,
the fourth downs. But you know, I argued that Andy
Reid's aggressiveness was sort of a healthy measure of respect
for just how good these guys are. Like you have
to take any opportunities you have. And you see pass
breakups here, you see pressure in the past game. Obviously
(15:24):
great penetration in the run game too. They've got their
things figured out back there. The assignments are very well
carried out. Tamiko Ryans seems like he's a very good coach.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I mean, look, c J. Strout completed three passes in
the second half. Got any better than that? Right, They
lose Nick Chubb. That worries me a little bit too.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
But offensively they are going to have their limitations. But
if they can get Woody Marks going like he's been.
Nico Collins made big plays in this game. You know,
the rookie Higgins made big catches as well. They had
just enough offensively, and they held together on special teams
and delivered a huge victory.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I would love to see them go against the high
powered offense. You know, obviously Buffalo, you think about Josh
somebody like that. But New England other teams would be
a terrific matchup and they're going to be scaring the
daylight to whoever they face.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
If I told you two years ago that this team
would be, you know, making a push for the postseason,
that wouldn't have surprised you. If I told you that
we have some questions about their offense with CJ. Strout,
that's the thing that would have raised an eyebrow. But
once again playing some good football and they continue to
get some wins. At thirteen, it's the Philadelphia Eagles. Watch
them on Monday Night Football. They dropped three spots right now,
Jellen Hurtstrow's four interceptions.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
To be fair to him, some of those not his fault.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
But I think at this point, after three straight losses,
Eric like, I'm stumping on the panic button for this team.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I'm using my feet, my hands, anything I can to
smash that thing. Because the offense, I don't want to
say it's broken, but it certainly doesn't look right.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And you know there were moments here and there.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Aj Brown certainly made some big catches, DeVante Smith made
a grab late. Saquon Barkley carried the offense it seemingly
for the first three and a half quarters of the game.
But yeah, I mean there's there's really a limit to
what they can do. And I think Lane Johnson being out,
you know, I mean that just takes a big chunk
out of the offensive line. Defensively, they played well, but
you know, a couple of plays down the stretch penalty
(17:14):
against Quinnon, Mitchell had trouble stopping Justin Herbert is a runner,
So I know it boils down to that. Those turnovers though,
in the offensive limitations, that is what is holding back
this team last year. I'm almost wondering if the twenty
twenty four Eagles were the exception to the rule, because
you know, we've seen them have sluggish times before that offensively,
and you know it just isn't happen in the passing
(17:34):
game right now.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, Eagles fans don't want to hear this starting to
look a little like twenty twenty three ten A one
start and then all of a sudden limping into the postseason.
That wasn't pretty. Here's the positive though, Raiders on Deck
a Commander's team. Following you got the Bills on the road,
and then the Commanders again. There's a stretch run here
where they can find some confidence, especially this week against
a Raiders team that can't seemingly get out of their
own way. Biggest mover of the week time for Power Moves,
(18:00):
presented by Energizer Move it up six spots.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
It is the Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Steelers who all of a sudden, Man, I see Mike Tomlin,
people chanting his name to fire him in Pittsburgh, which
is to me sacrilegious. He gets a win against the Ravens,
He's given a kiss to the cameras he's walking off
to the field. All is right for the Steelers, right, yeah,
exactly right?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And you know how do we measure head coaches?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Super Bowl championships, win, lost percentage, all that stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
But when you can have the kind.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Of week that the Steelers did last week, with all
the noise going on about Tomlin's future, about Rogers future,
about this team possibly missing the playoffs, all the ugliness,
and then turn around and go into Baltimore, which I
guess on the whole had been playing better even after
their loss the week before and to beat him and
take control of the game early and hold on. I
mean that was pretty impressive. That's why I think Mike
(18:48):
Tomlin deserves respect as one of the great head coaches.
And they got Aaron Rodgers going, they got DK Metcalf going.
There wasn't much of a run game, and they did
slow down in the fourth quarter, but defensively they made
the place they had to, the red zone stop and
then the sack to end the game. I mean, that's
a complete format and that's how Pittsburgh's got to win
games at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, this could be a tough matchup against and wait
till I say it, the Miami Dolphins, who once again, yeah,
have been figuring out ways to get some wins. Mikeke Daniels,
I will give him a ton of credit from what
we're seeing from that team's offense. They have not quit
on him. So the Steelers were the biggest riser of
the week. The team that dropped the most the Indianapolis Colts.
They were seven and one to start the year. The
(19:28):
news Ian rappaport I thought this was a parody account
when I first saw the news come through my timeline
that they were looking to sign Philip Rivers. Looks like
they have. He's going to be on the practice squad.
He's forty five years old, forty four. Every year counts,
especially at this age, I know, and he hasn't played
though in five years. Like, what are we doing right now?
Riley Leonard's got the PCL sprain a grade one. We
(19:50):
know Daniel Jones has done for the year. Are you
ready to stick a fork in the squad?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
I was dusting off my twenty twenty one tape this
morning before we taped, and look, Rivers played will that year, obviously,
but it's been a long time since we've seen him
and we have no clue what of shape he's in.
Riley Leonard, I thought played as well as you could
have hoped for for a guy throwing into that situation
only a handful of NFL snaps before that. But you know,
even if Sauce Gardner comes back, even if Buckner comes back,
(20:17):
I just don't know how this team is going to
have enough on the entire roster to hold this thing through.
And you're right, could be the second team ever to
start seven to one or sorry since nineteen ninety and
missed the postseason.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Just sad.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Just for context, you want Philip Rivers to go out
there potentially against arguably the best defense in the NFL
on the road in Seattle. I'm telling you, man, this
is a recipe for a disaster. By the way, if
it goes well, this might be one of the great
all time sports stories that we have seen.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Not just nfil story.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
No, I mean this dude to get out there and
perform against that defense.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I have some serious doubts, and I think anyone who's
watching or listening to the show would agree with that assessment.
That is not breaking news Kansas City fans. I feel
like every single week, I'm saying, hey, is this the weak?
Are they done? Are they done? Is Eric willing to
say they're done? The answer to that coming up next
on Power Rankings out back here on Power Rankings, it's
(21:18):
team seventeen through twenty four according to Eric ed Holm,
and right now the Bucks scratching and Klawn trying to
figure out a way to hold on to that division lead.
It's them at seventeen, coming off a loss against the Saints.
The Panthers idol at eighteen. The Dallas Cowboys will talk
about them in just a moment at nineteen the Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
They drop a spot to twenty. We got the Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Who will talk about the Minnesota Vikings moving up three
spots found their offense the Bengals at twenty three in
the Atlanta Falcons at twenty four.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
All right, the Dallas Cowboys. This is a team.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
But once again I mentioned it before, I thought they
were going to get a win on the road against Detroit.
That doesn't happen. Now it's a huge game against the Vikings.
Give me some context on just how important this game
is for them and what you expect to see.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I think it's a loss and they're officially done right now.
You know, their chances are pretty remote, and obviously, like
you said, they couldn't power protect for Dak. You know,
defense really had their hands full against Detroit. So it
was a bad all around night, especially after Ceedee Lamb
got hurt. He'd been having some success early. So what's
Lamb's status, what's George Pickens status? He didn't come up
very big in that game. You know, they can be
(22:20):
Jj McCarthy, even though he had a good game Sunday,
but backs are against the wall and even even more
so if they lose this one.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
The Chiefs have now lost four out of their last
five games. I ask you every week, are they done?
Are they done? Are they done?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I think had the Chargers lost Sunday night or Monday
night rather, there was a chance, like.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The door kept crept up in a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
But you know, the mistakes they made against the Texans,
the fourth down failures, the interceptions, everything else, that's really
what's going to cost them.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And you know, you can look back to the Jacksonville game.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Games earlier in the season that they should have won,
or could have won, or were used to them winning
things like that. And you know, Mahomes, I didn't think
he played a horrible game, but he's gotten some bad
habits and obviously didn't come up when he when he needed.
But again, those those two drops are really the killers
in that one. And the defense has been pretty good.
But I take this team metrics wlies over last year.
(23:12):
If you stacked them in a blind resume, he'd say
this year's team is better, but the record says the
different story.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, it's wild to me, by the way, just some
perspective on that Chargers when they needed it, they match
up against Kansas City in case coming up this week.
They went from if had they lost to Philadelphia, they'd
be on the outside looking into the playoff picture. They're
in the mix right now. The team that the same
exact record is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Don't look now. The Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Continue to pick up wins because of this team's offense.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
They've won five out of the last six.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I got to be honest, in the entire list of
the rankings, Eric, this is the one where I pushed
back a little bit.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
I think they should be better than twenty one.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I thought about it right obviously, you know, beating
the likes of the Jets and Saints and Commanders at
this stage only a little so much respect.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
They did beat the Bills, thought beat them pretty convincingly.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And they've held teams under seventeen points under twenty points.
Been really impressive. Devin h Chan's injury does word me
a little bit. But you know, Mike mcdale two years
in a row, he has sort of saved his job
or cooled his seat, however you want to say. With
a late season flourish, So they're gonna be a spoiler
or dangerous team down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, look, they have not given up on coach. Meanwhile,
the rest of the rankings at twenty five, it's the
Saints who move up five spots with that win against
the Bucks. The Commander's at twenty six, The Cardinals twenty seven, Jets, Browns, Giants, Titans,
and Raiders close out our entire set of rankings. Eric,
you're the best man.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Always good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
We got another set of rankings coming up next week,
of course, enjoy the games in week fifteen.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL Power Rankings.
Mike Hamman Eric at home with you, a complete list
of all the rankings available on NFL dot com, and
Eric's got analysis on all thirty two teams. But Eric,
you know, I'm finishing up our Monday night coverage on
NFL Network. I see your email, come in, I get
a look at the rankings, and I thought you made
and a student observation that this year the playoff field
(00:34):
is going to feel a whole lot different. Why is that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Well, look, look what's happened to the Chiefs and the
Ravens and sort of other standby teams. Even if you thought,
you know, Washington, for instance, was going to build off
last season, it's swabbed the decks, completely clean it off.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
You know, it's not going to look like we've seen
in recent years.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And so especially the teams at the top Denver, New
England fighting for the top top spot in the AFC.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
This is good. This is new and fresh and different
and interesting.
Speaker 5 (01:01):
Yeah, no, I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
And we're not going to get a change at the
top because I think the controversy with the number one
team was a week ago when the Rams lost to Carolina.
Speaker 5 (01:09):
They dominate over.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The weekend and they get to stay with a ten
and three record, number one in the power rankings. We
got Seattle right behind them. Talk about both of those
teams in just a moment. The Denver Broncos continued to
flex here and show they were one of the premier
teams in the NFL at three, the Patriots at four.
We got a Green Bay squad that overcame a little
bit of trash talk that's been going on with Ben
Johnson of the Chicago Bears. More on the Packers in
(01:32):
just a bit. The Bills survive at six, speaking of
Chicago their seven, and then you got the San Francisco
forty nine ers checking in at number eight.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
All right, so they dominate.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I think at one point, because I was doing Game
Day Live on NFL Network, it was seven to seven,
and then all of a sudden, I think it was
a forty five to three count in favor of the Rams,
and this was pure domination. I think they lived up
to that number one seed that you gave them last week,
especially coming off of a loss. This was impressive.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, my faith in them was rewarded, which is always
a good thing. This season, that hasn't always been the case.
So I'll take my small victories when I get him.
But this was no small victory. This was, like you said,
dominant in every phase. Even if the Cardinals had a
couple of good series early on, things got off track
pretty quickly. And that's because you've got this two headed
rushing attack. You've got Matthew Stafford who can attack vertically
and go after guys like Puka Akua. How many traffic
(02:23):
catches did he make where it just felt like, man,
he plucked that in between two and three defenders and
O lines holding up. I mean, the offense is in
terrific shape right now. I wasn't so worried after the
loss at Carolina. That was a desperate team. The Rams
had three uncharacteristic turnovers. That has not been them for
most of the season. And so look, you just look
back three close losses this year, several dominant victories. I
(02:47):
think you have to consider them, at least right now,
the sort of overwhelming favorite as we head into the
big game that could decide the NFC West and possibly
the number one seed as well.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I like that matchup coming up on a TNF
in two weeks or yeah, I guess another week can change.
At this point. The point is though they sit at
number one, the Seahawks a squad, they are at number two,
and yet I look at this team, what they were
able to accomplish Rashid Shahed was absolutely electric. That was
the impact. I think that they were hoping to go
and see here. Look they dominated against Atlanta. I don't
(03:18):
want to look too far ahead because they do match
up against the Colts team.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
But let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Here we might see a forty four year old and
Philip Rivers out on the football field signing to the
practice squad for Indianapolis.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
More on that coming up in just a bit here.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
But how significant is that TNF game, not just from
the playoff perspective, but just to show that, hey, we
are the team to beat in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, I mean, look, this Seahawks team rang up a
tany yards against the Rams, and after that early flourish
by LA, they were kind of the better team. It
came down to Sam Donald turnovers and such. And look
this game in Atlanta Sunday was six six at the half,
it wasn't looking.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
Great and then all of a sudden you mentioned Shaheed.
He had the long.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Kickoff return one hundred yards. That's the kind of impact
they were hoping for. The home run aspect also contributed
some big receptions as well.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Huge credit to Seattle's defense too.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I know Sam Darnold can make throws like this and
get his pass catchers involved their Shahi with the yards
after the catch. But how about Nick Emon Warri the
rookie with a sack, a block, field goal, and also
an interception. A terrific game for you know, I would
say one of your defensive Rookie of the Year favorites.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
So they get Cooper Cup.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
In the end zone first time in a long time
and made life tough for guys like Kirk Cousins and
b Jean Robinson. And yeah, as we look forward to
that game against the Rams, they're they're playing good football
and they can match them.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
There's one of the few teams that.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Has the kind of fire power in all three phases
of the game that I think can stack up with
the Rams and give them a battle.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
I don't know if Seattle has the best defense in
the NFL. Is certainly on the short list, But they
have my favorite defense to watch because the physicality, the
turnovers that they could create. It almost feels like you
want to watch them as opposed to you know, a
lot of times you're as an NFL fan, you're sitting
there just kind of worried about the offense. No, Seattle
has made it very entertaining. All right, let's shift our
attention here. Time for Team of the Week. It is
(05:02):
presented by Truest the number five team, the Green Bay Packers.
They handle business against the Chicago Bears at home. Is
there a weakness for this football team?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Yeah, I think offensively.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
You know, they had their struggles, so we've seen them
have some games where they really struggle to put things together.
But now the Christian Watson is back and healthy and
Jordan Love is playing a better brand at football. Especially
the last two games, those issues have been quelled a
little bit. I mean, Watson was terrific two touchdown catches.
Bo Melton, who's obviously kind of re emerged a little bit,
had one grab and it was an important one beating
(05:35):
zone for a deep touchdown as well, And so those
big explosive plays are huge. You also saw very timely
plays from the Green Bay defense, including this one plus
the third down stop just prior to the interception in
the end zone, they were, you know, holding on for
dear life at that point, a little gasp, but credits
to Green Bay for making the play. And Jeff Haffley's
(05:56):
done a really good job with this unit all season long.
They're one of the better defenses in the league. You know,
the kicking games seem solid for once, and so yeah,
I mean, I don't know that they're a perfect team
by any stretch. And they were a couple of plays
from letting this one slip away, but they took care
of business, they responded. They're in a positive direction right now,
and so yeah, green Bay I think has to be
(06:16):
considered the favorite at this moment, even if it's a
razor thin margin with one more game left against Chicago
in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Yeah, and we'll talk about that Chicago Bears team in
just a moment here, because I do look at the
way that they won that game green Bay and kind
of fortunate to hear they dominate in that first half,
especially on the defensive side, in Chicago was able to
kind of wear them down, but it was positive c
Jordan Love Fine Watson, there were some fun moments in
terms of some of those explosive plays to number six
we go. We got a Buffalo Bills team. Here's the
(06:43):
good news. They won the game. Here's where I would
push back, Josh Allen again rocking the Superman Cape. They
overcame some issues on the offensive side, and they beat
a team that had four wins on the season. What
do I make of this victory?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
A four win team with Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Let's be honest here, right, Joe's completely changed the complexion
of that team.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
But is fair right?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
This was a Cincinnati defense we were chewing up all
season long, and you know, they had eighteen points through
the first fifty two minutes of the game.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
So it did take that l lay flourish.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It did take a couple of I guess you'd say
unlikely interceptions from Joe Burrow and two of the shorter
interceptions you'll ever see either.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
But yeah, you're right about Alan.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
He's got that ability to kind of flip a switch
and go over the top if he needs to, and
whether it's running with the ball, making crazy throws, doing
whatever he has to do. And kind of back to
the point you were making at the top of the show, Mike,
and with you know, with the different looking playoff field
than we've seen in recent years, what has been as
you know, kryptonite in years past, it was Burrow once,
it was Mahomes multiple times. We're not going to see
(07:48):
either one of those guys. We may not see Josh,
I mean, we not see Lamar Jackson. Rather so, look,
not a perfect Bills team. They had to rely on
plays like this to win the game. But if you
look at the playoff field, I don't know that there's
a team they can't beat. You know, again, still not
knowing exactly who's going to be in but maybe this
is one of those weird years. You know, Peyton Manning
(08:09):
won his first Super Bowl without probably his best Colts
team by any stretch of the imagination. So you never know,
and you always give Josh a chance when he's got
the ball and the game on the line.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I don't want to be that dude if I said
Drake May, is he going to be the new kryptonite
for Josh Allen.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
It might be the case.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
We will find out. Obviously we saw Drake May kind
of ball out in a primetime game earlier this season
against the Bills. I thought that was his coming out party,
and looky, look we get this matchup once again and
it's a really important one for both of these teams,
meaningful in terms of that playoff positioning shift. Our attention
to the number seventeam that is the Chicago Bears. All right,
I made reference to this here. I thought the second
(08:47):
half looked good for this team, and they did the
things that they wanted to do. I thought they got
away from the run a little bit in the first half,
and in Green Bay's defense was pretty good.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Caleb.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Though the inconsistencies have been well chronicled, but I think
this is a perfect example of it. First half really struggled.
Second half they look like college Caleb again.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, I think he had what thirty two pass yards
at the half, but really kind of got involved in
the game there and fourth quarter.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
I mean, look at some of the big completions he made.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The drive started to Luther Burden on the final drive,
you know, other throws along the way. The touchdown to
Zechias was about as low percentage as it gets. And
you know, the Bears defense that okay, But I think
they took too many risks, took a little too much
man defense.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Jordan Love did chew him up.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
But you know, we want to see Caleb have those
kind of vintage drives and he can make all the
big throws and splash plays. But you know, this was
an opportunity kind of cement his legacy a little bit
as a young quarterback and rise up in a game
that Look, the Bears have been on the wrong side
of most Packers game for the last twenty years, so
this was a huge opportunity missed, but not a totally
(09:54):
demoralizing loss either.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Look, this throw is a little farther.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Maybe they win that game or get the touchdown, go
for two and possibly win the game.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
So they're not far off. Want to kill them.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I dropped in one spot. I think that's a pretty
reasonable thing. The Bears are still in this. They still
have that game night game at Soldier Field to kind
of shift the tie back in their direction.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Margins are thin. Though they were a one seed, they
dropped to the seventh seed. Are they a playoff team
in your mind?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I think they're getting in.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I think they are, But you're right, that's a huge
drop in an indication or just how tight things are.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I mean, think about this, I mean, look at the
remaining schedule. Cleveland not a give me game, and despite
their record, Miles Garret could single handily handle business in
that won that game against green Bay. San Francisco also
playing for a whole lot right now.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
And Detroit.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
My point is this is going to be a fun
rest of the season the next couple weeks for a
lot of teams that are battling to be into the
NFL playoffs. Not exactly sure if Chicago is going to
be one of those squads, although the talent certainly looks
like they are more than capable of getting it done.
Mentioned to name check the Lions. Where do they sit
in the rankings? Philadelphia in overtime on a Monday night game,
(10:58):
not able to survive in advance. I think we're hitting
the padding button for their offense as well as Troit's.
To those teams coming up next out back here on
power rankings, it is teams nine through sixteen. He got
the Jacksonville Jaguars on the move, up three spots to
number nine. If I'm not mistaken, that might be their
(11:19):
highest ranking of the season. The Lions also moving up
one spot.
Speaker 5 (11:23):
They're ten.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
The Texans in that defense, sitting at eleven. They are
a dangerous squad. Chargers getting it done. Justin Herbert, you
can still play with one hand. They are the twelfth team.
The Eagles they drop three spots. They are at thirteen.
The Steelers moving up six spots. We will talk about
them in just a moment at fourteen, the Colts at fifteen,
and the Baltimore Ravens falling two spots to the sixteenth position.
(11:46):
Time for Future Champions, presented by FanDuel, take a closer
look at the odds to win the AFC South. The
Jags all of a sudden now the favorite minus one ninety,
the Texans plus one seventy. The Colts were a seven
to one football team plus three thousand. Right now, we'll
talk about them their quarterback situation in just a moment.
This Jacksonville team, they've now won four straight games. I
(12:08):
think they are one of the dangerous teams in the NFL.
I think they're going to be postseason bound.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
What say you, Eric?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
They have nothing to lose right after last season, and
in recent history right hasn't been a lot of success
there and so Liam McCowen comes in and, you know,
whips this offense into shape.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
We've seen Trevor Lawrence the past couple of games.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
He's cut out the interceptions, He's made big plays, Brian Thomas,
you know, Jacoby Meyers, other guys. I mean, it's been impressive.
I don't know what their superpower is outside of maybe
their run defense. They're maybe not exceptional at very many things,
but they don't have those blaring, glaring weaknesses either, and
so they've been very competitive, very interesting team that can
run the football as well. Offensive line has not been exposed.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
So good for them.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
I mean, I still don't know how seriously we should
take them, but you win four straight, I mean, that's
that's gonna catch your attention on the league.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, And the reality is that in all four of
those wins, they're scoring at least twenty five points in
those games and reasons thereby they're third in the NFL
in points per game.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
So offensively, we had some.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Questions earlier about Trevor Lawrence in this team, but they
are seeming seemingly coming together in the right time. The
Lions on TNF last week absolutely needed that game against
the Cowboys. I thought Dallas was playing better football. I
felt like Dallas was gonna win that game and pull
it off on the road.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
They didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
How much respect should we be giving Detroit right now
during this home stretch.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It's tough, right because with a big step forward with
that win, keeping their season alive, first of all, you
have a lot of work left to do. But second
of all, losing Brian Branch I think is going to
really hurt this defense. When you have Jamiir Gibbs, you
have a chance when he's excelled. They've won nine to
zero when he's had a big game and scored a touchdown,
zero to five when he hasn't though, so that's the
(13:49):
big thing. If you don't get him as touch as
his yards, his opportunities, the offense tends to go a
little stale, and you know, again just sort of back
to the defense. You know, they got some pressure early on.
Should have had this safety here. Obviously it was a
great play. We saw them just get more aggressive on
that side of the ball, but still I'd kind of
hang on late a little, and you know, with the
(14:09):
secondary being as thin as it is, I have my questions.
Can they find more replacements they've had to do with
two years in a row where they're scraping the practice
squad and the bottom of the roster to try to
find anybody you can contribute. And now you lose one
of the heart and soul players of that defense.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
That worries me.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, they have a huge matchup against the Rams right
across the street at so Far Stadium. We win that game,
and I think the calculus changes, not just from a
playoff positioning, but from a respect standing as well, especially
without Branch in that lineup. We grew up, We're all
sports fans. We all have our NFL teams. A little
bit easier for me because my team is on the
outside looking in, has already been eliminated, and I'm already
thinking about the draft. But I think that gives me
(14:47):
a unique perspective here. I want to see the best
teams in the postseason. I think the Houston Texans right
now are flexing, and I think they are arguably the
team that no one wants to play in the NFL
because of their defense. You're with me, right, like this
team is going to figure out a way to get in.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
They're just devastating defensively. I mean, we saw what they
did to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, even if the
Chiefs had their share of self inflicted mistakes and you know,
the fourth downs. But you know, I argued that Andy
Reid's aggressiveness was sort of a healthy measure of respect
for just how good these guys are. Like you have
to take any opportunities you have. And you see pass
breakups here, you see pressure in the past game. Obviously
(15:24):
great penetration in the run game too. They've got their
things figured out back there. The assignments are very well
carried out. Tamiko Ryans seems like he's a very good coach.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
I mean, look, c J. Strout completed three passes in
the second half. Got any better than that? Right, They
lose Nick Chubb. That worries me a little bit too.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
But offensively they are going to have their limitations. But
if they can get Woody Marks going like he's been.
Nico Collins made big plays in this game. You know,
the rookie Higgins made big catches as well. They had
just enough offensively, and they held together on special teams
and delivered a huge victory.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I would love to see them go against the high
powered offense. You know, obviously Buffalo, you think about Josh
somebody like that. But New England other teams would be
a terrific matchup and they're going to be scaring the
daylight to whoever they face.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
If I told you two years ago that this team
would be, you know, making a push for the postseason,
that wouldn't have surprised you. If I told you that
we have some questions about their offense with CJ. Strout,
that's the thing that would have raised an eyebrow. But
once again playing some good football and they continue to
get some wins. At thirteen, it's the Philadelphia Eagles. Watch
them on Monday Night Football. They dropped three spots right now,
Jellen Hurtstrow's four interceptions.
Speaker 5 (16:32):
To be fair to him, some of those not his fault.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
But I think at this point, after three straight losses,
Eric like, I'm stumping on the panic button for this team.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I'm using my feet, my hands, anything I can to
smash that thing. Because the offense, I don't want to
say it's broken, but it certainly doesn't look right.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And you know there were moments here and there.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Aj Brown certainly made some big catches, DeVante Smith made
a grab late. Saquon Barkley carried the offense it seemingly
for the first three and a half quarters of the game.
But yeah, I mean there's there's really a limit to
what they can do. And I think Lane Johnson being out,
you know, I mean that just takes a big chunk
out of the offensive line. Defensively, they played well, but
you know, a couple of plays down the stretch penalty
(17:14):
against Quinnon, Mitchell had trouble stopping Justin Herbert is a runner,
So I know it boils down to that. Those turnovers though,
in the offensive limitations, that is what is holding back
this team last year. I'm almost wondering if the twenty
twenty four Eagles were the exception to the rule, because
you know, we've seen them have sluggish times before that offensively,
and you know it just isn't happen in the passing
(17:34):
game right now.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, Eagles fans don't want to hear this starting to
look a little like twenty twenty three ten A one
start and then all of a sudden limping into the postseason.
That wasn't pretty. Here's the positive though, Raiders on Deck
a Commander's team. Following you got the Bills on the road,
and then the Commanders again. There's a stretch run here
where they can find some confidence, especially this week against
a Raiders team that can't seemingly get out of their
own way. Biggest mover of the week time for Power Moves,
(18:00):
presented by Energizer Move it up six spots.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
It is the Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Steelers who all of a sudden, Man, I see Mike Tomlin,
people chanting his name to fire him in Pittsburgh, which
is to me sacrilegious. He gets a win against the Ravens,
He's given a kiss to the cameras he's walking off
to the field. All is right for the Steelers, right, yeah,
exactly right?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And you know how do we measure head coaches?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (18:21):
Super Bowl championships, win, lost percentage, all that stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
But when you can have the kind.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Of week that the Steelers did last week, with all
the noise going on about Tomlin's future, about Rogers future,
about this team possibly missing the playoffs, all the ugliness,
and then turn around and go into Baltimore, which I
guess on the whole had been playing better even after
their loss the week before and to beat him and
take control of the game early and hold on. I
mean that was pretty impressive. That's why I think Mike
(18:48):
Tomlin deserves respect as one of the great head coaches.
And they got Aaron Rodgers going, they got DK Metcalf going.
There wasn't much of a run game, and they did
slow down in the fourth quarter, but defensively they made
the place they had to, the red zone stop and
then the sack to end the game. I mean, that's
a complete format and that's how Pittsburgh's got to win
games at this point.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, this could be a tough matchup against and wait
till I say it, the Miami Dolphins, who once again, yeah,
have been figuring out ways to get some wins. Mikeke Daniels,
I will give him a ton of credit from what
we're seeing from that team's offense. They have not quit
on him. So the Steelers were the biggest riser of
the week. The team that dropped the most the Indianapolis Colts.
They were seven and one to start the year. The
(19:28):
news Ian rappaport I thought this was a parody account
when I first saw the news come through my timeline
that they were looking to sign Philip Rivers. Looks like
they have. He's going to be on the practice squad.
He's forty five years old, forty four. Every year counts,
especially at this age, I know, and he hasn't played
though in five years. Like, what are we doing right now?
Riley Leonard's got the PCL sprain a grade one. We
(19:50):
know Daniel Jones has done for the year. Are you
ready to stick a fork in the squad?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
I was dusting off my twenty twenty one tape this
morning before we taped, and look, Rivers played will that year, obviously,
but it's been a long time since we've seen him
and we have no clue what of shape he's in.
Riley Leonard, I thought played as well as you could
have hoped for for a guy throwing into that situation
only a handful of NFL snaps before that. But you know,
even if Sauce Gardner comes back, even if Buckner comes back,
(20:17):
I just don't know how this team is going to
have enough on the entire roster to hold this thing through.
And you're right, could be the second team ever to
start seven to one or sorry since nineteen ninety and
missed the postseason.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Just sad.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Just for context, you want Philip Rivers to go out
there potentially against arguably the best defense in the NFL
on the road in Seattle. I'm telling you, man, this
is a recipe for a disaster. By the way, if
it goes well, this might be one of the great
all time sports stories that we have seen.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Not just nfil story.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
No, I mean this dude to get out there and
perform against that defense.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I have some serious doubts, and I think anyone who's
watching or listening to the show would agree with that assessment.
That is not breaking news Kansas City fans. I feel
like every single week, I'm saying, hey, is this the weak?
Are they done? Are they done? Is Eric willing to
say they're done? The answer to that coming up next
on Power Rankings out back here on Power Rankings, it's
(21:18):
team seventeen through twenty four according to Eric ed Holm,
and right now the Bucks scratching and Klawn trying to
figure out a way to hold on to that division lead.
It's them at seventeen, coming off a loss against the Saints.
The Panthers idol at eighteen. The Dallas Cowboys will talk
about them in just a moment at nineteen the Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (21:34):
They drop a spot to twenty. We got the Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Who will talk about the Minnesota Vikings moving up three
spots found their offense the Bengals at twenty three in
the Atlanta Falcons at twenty four.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
All right, the Dallas Cowboys. This is a team.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
But once again I mentioned it before, I thought they
were going to get a win on the road against Detroit.
That doesn't happen. Now it's a huge game against the Vikings.
Give me some context on just how important this game
is for them and what you expect to see.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I think it's a loss and they're officially done right now.
You know, their chances are pretty remote, and obviously, like
you said, they couldn't power protect for Dak. You know,
defense really had their hands full against Detroit. So it
was a bad all around night, especially after Ceedee Lamb
got hurt. He'd been having some success early. So what's
Lamb's status, what's George Pickens status? He didn't come up
very big in that game. You know, they can be
(22:20):
Jj McCarthy, even though he had a good game Sunday,
but backs are against the wall and even even more
so if they lose this one.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
The Chiefs have now lost four out of their last
five games. I ask you every week, are they done?
Are they done? Are they done?
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I think had the Chargers lost Sunday night or Monday
night rather, there was a chance, like.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
The door kept crept up in a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
But you know, the mistakes they made against the Texans,
the fourth down failures, the interceptions, everything else, that's really
what's going to cost them.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
And you know, you can look back to the Jacksonville game.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Games earlier in the season that they should have won,
or could have won, or were used to them winning
things like that. And you know, Mahomes, I didn't think
he played a horrible game, but he's gotten some bad
habits and obviously didn't come up when he when he needed.
But again, those those two drops are really the killers
in that one. And the defense has been pretty good.
But I take this team metrics wlies over last year.
(23:12):
If you stacked them in a blind resume, he'd say
this year's team is better, but the record says the
different story.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah, it's wild to me, by the way, just some
perspective on that Chargers when they needed it, they match
up against Kansas City in case coming up this week.
They went from if had they lost to Philadelphia, they'd
be on the outside looking into the playoff picture. They're
in the mix right now. The team that the same
exact record is the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Don't look now. The Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Continue to pick up wins because of this team's offense.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
They've won five out of the last six.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I got to be honest, in the entire list of
the rankings, Eric, this is the one where I pushed
back a little bit.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
I think they should be better than twenty one.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I thought about it right obviously, you know, beating
the likes of the Jets and Saints and Commanders at
this stage only a little so much respect.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
They did beat the Bills, thought beat them pretty convincingly.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And they've held teams under seventeen points under twenty points.
Been really impressive. Devin h Chan's injury does word me
a little bit. But you know, Mike mcdale two years
in a row, he has sort of saved his job
or cooled his seat, however you want to say. With
a late season flourish, So they're gonna be a spoiler
or dangerous team down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, look, they have not given up on coach. Meanwhile,
the rest of the rankings at twenty five, it's the
Saints who move up five spots with that win against
the Bucks. The Commander's at twenty six, The Cardinals twenty seven, Jets, Browns, Giants, Titans,
and Raiders close out our entire set of rankings. Eric,
you're the best man.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Always good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
We got another set of rankings coming up next week,
of course, enjoy the games in week fifteen.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
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