January 15, 2025 • 24 mins
The NFL Power Rankings podcast reviews Wild Card weekend and also previews huge matchups in the divisional round! Ravens-Bills, Eagles-Rams, Chiefs-Texans, and Lions-Commanders are all discussed!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 2 (00:09):
Wildcard weekend gave us a lid little bit of drama,
and yes we are staring down the divisional round of
the postseason. Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL
Power Rankings. Mike Ham and Eric at home with you,
and as always, if you want the complete list and
analysis of all thirty two teams, you can head to
NFL dot com. But Eric, I watched the wildcard games.
I start thinking a certain way about some of these teams.
(00:31):
But one and two we got chiefs and lines they
have him played. Are you thinking about those teams differently
based off of what we saw this past weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, and obviously both teams getting some players back from
injury too. You start with the Lions, We've been talking
about that defense needing reinforcements as badly as anybody, even
coming off the great effort against the Viking. So you know,
getting David Montgomery to help the run game probably helps
the defense. Terry and Arnold some good vibes on him,
you know, same thing with Kevin Zeidler, their guard, so
getting healthier. You got to like that Their chances, but
(01:02):
tough opponent. With the Commanders right there dealing with a
ton of confidence right now, coming off their road wind,
They've had a ton of last second victories, I think
they're gonna march into Detroit pretty fearless. So I would
say the Lions have a little bit more of a
challenge this coming weekend because the Chiefs are also getting
guys back, you know, Isaiah Pacheco's healthy, Chris Jones. You know,
maybe the secondary is a little sharper too. So I
(01:25):
would say with them facing the Texans Detroit having to
face a really tough Washington team, maybe the edge goes
to Kansas City in terms of the rest and matchup department.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I mean, last time we saw Patrick Mahomes row
a touchdown. Got to go back to Christmas last year,
by the way, really crazy dad joke. And I'll go
down that path with you and you'll jump on the
train with me. Let's get to this here, because I
do want to talk to you about what I think
is the best matchup of the weekend. We got a
Ravens team that I would make an argument is the
(01:54):
favorite of the field, and I get at Kansas City
fans Detroit fans can throw some hate my way, but
the Baltimore Ravens are playing as well as anyone in
the NFL, and they are surging. But the Bills are
also in that conversation as well, based off of what
you just saw this past weekend in their games, do
you agree with me, like, are the Ravens I don't
want to say clearly, but I would make an argument
they're the favorite in this game and they should.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Be frightening team. Absolutely. You'll hear a lot of people say, hey,
this is the real AFC Championship game, right, And you know,
you understand why I might push back a little because
I do think Kansas City is sort of sitting in
the weeds a little bit and saying, don't forget about us.
But I think if you just take the play of
the defense alone, right, Baltimore the first ten games averaging
three hundred and seventy yards allowed. They were giving up
(02:36):
big chunks of yard and having to win shootouts or
occasionally lose them to Mike. But now you've seen them
shave off about one hundred yards a game the last eight,
including the playoff win against the Steelers, and so you know,
just their improvement against Pittsburgh alone, but also everything else,
the body of work they've shown down the stretch, and
you know, this is the time of year where Derek
Henry comes alive. You know, we would love to see
(02:58):
Lamar Jackson have his best postseason ever. Josh Allen obviously
has done so much for the Bills, and they're defense
really responded last week. But yeah, you almost have to
feel like there's sort of an edge with the Ravens
right now. They're not in the spot like they're not
the team everybody's chasing like they were a year ago,
and they can come into Buffalo a very confident and
very efficient group.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You know, I've heard this before, when you got to
play a team multiple times in the season, we see that.
Obviously within a division this is not the case. But
this is the second time these two teams will meet.
First time, it wasn't all that close, and Derrick Henry
was a machine in that matchup, and I always reference,
especially when it comes to this MVP conversation, Well let's
not forget the head to head does go to Lamar
(03:39):
Jackson and not Josh Allen. Do we throw the regular
season matchup because it was so long ago, and because
it's the postseason where the brand of football is different,
do we is it even worth referencing what happened last time?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah? I mean, I think both teams are obviously going
to start there. When their prep work right, they're going
to look back at that game what worked, what didn't.
Certainly for the Bills, the what didn't list is going
to be a lot longer, and they've got to find
out a way to stop Henry early in the game.
That first touchdown run really kind of set the tone
for the evening. The Bills were up against it all night.
They started pressing offensively, So I think there are definitely
(04:12):
lessons to be learned from that game. From the Buffalo perspective,
Baltimore can't just look at the tape and say, okay, good,
we've been rolling. We beat him back in week four.
Everything's good. We're gonna do just fine going into too
High Mark this weekend. Obviously, I don't expect them to
do that, and they'll be pretty serious because look, their
recent postseason record has been overall a little bit disappointing
(04:32):
considering what we expected at them. So I think there
are sort of takeaways from that game Buffalo's defense is
going to be put to the test, no question about it,
and Baltimore's will too. But again, as you said so
long ago, how much can we really draw from that
game and say it's going to extrapolate into this one
on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I do want to get a little inside baseball with everyone.
When Eric does his rankings, there is a living, breathing
document that is in a very fluid situation every single
week Monday Night. You know, like most of it is
an intact but then we're waiting for the Monday Night
results to really fine tune this thing. That was the
case this week after watching you know, what the Rams
were able to do against Minnesota. This my first year
(05:10):
on the show. You've been doing these rankings for a while.
Is there a path Let's say Baltimore wins, or well,
one of these teams win or Buffalo wins. Could we
see one of these teams as potentially next week's number
one team?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Absolutely? I even wrote, you know, had the Bills not
overtaken the Broncos after that kind of slow start there,
I was prepared to flip flop. I was going to
put Baltimore ahead of Buffalo, so and I also said,
you know, even though I left it three four Buffalo
and Baltimore, I'm prepared to be very disappointed. I'm prepared
to be wrong next week. So yeah, there's no question about.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It, all right. The Philadelphia Eagles, I think there was
a lot of anticipation because a Jalen Hurts, specifically coming
off of the concussion, missing some time, sae Quon getting
arrest obviously in week number eighteen. We'll get the Rams
side of this in just a moment, But from a
Philly perspective, are there some concerns that you have about
this team, you know, just even just in terms of
(06:05):
general health heading into it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, yeah, and you asked earlier about what the layoff
effect might be for teams like Detroit and Kansas City.
It certainly felt like there was somewhat of an effect
with Jalen Hurts and the time he had taken off
before kind of getting in a little bit of a groove,
I guess. But still, as you pointed out, overall, I
think you'd be disappointed. He took a couple of bad sacks.
He misfired, especially on that fake tush push play action
(06:27):
ball that could have gone for a touchdown. To aj Brown.
You know, the passing game was disjointed. Saquan was having
a sort of grind out four and five yard chunk.
So you know, it's good that they got that out
of their system last week. Obviously, I think it's a
you know, it was a Packers defense that played tremendous
defense in that game, but some of it was self
inflicted mistakes. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about Philly
(06:49):
and this is a team that not too long ago
I sort of thought, boy, you could see a path
to the back to the super Bowl for them. I
really thought that everything was kind of lining up. Not
getting rid of that opinion. Now, it just feels like
a little bit lower a percentage based on at least
what we saw last Sunday. They whipped this Rams team.
Last time. Saquon was a man. He was unbelievable. Maybe
(07:09):
that happens again, but it's going to be in stark
contrast to most of the game we saw Sunday.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, that was a road win for Philadelphia. Right behind
me at Sofi Stadium, right across the street from where
our studios are. We spent a lot of time talking
about offensive players, and I get it in a lot
of ways are the biggest stars in the game under
the radar, and I hate to even classify it that
way because he's a real stud on this team. To
Kobe Dean, the linebacker for Philadelphia out for the season,
probably going to miss a good stretch he maybe of
(07:36):
even next season. How big of a blow is that
against this Rams offense.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, I think people outside of Philly may not recognize
just what an impact he's made. And his college teammate
Nolan Smith both have really taken a big jump up
this year. But losing Dean, I think who had been
really an under the radar star. I think most people
saw what Zach Bond's done this year, and they know
what that defensive front and how improved that secondary is.
But you know, Dean really was kind of the glue
(08:01):
up front and an emotional leader for them. So it
puts more of an onus on their remaining linebackers. Do
they sit and nickel, do they send extra rushers? How
do they sort of combat that missing piece there in
the middle of their defense.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
We will talk about the Rams, the Eagles opponent, who
are seventh in your rankings. The Eagles obviously sending at
number five, but I want to get to the sixth
ranked team, and that is the Washington Commanders. There's a
part of me that says, the moment isn't too big
for Jaydon Daniels, right like that is abundantly clear. It's
almost like he doesn't know this is not supposed to
look like this when you're a rookie quarterback. Am I right?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
If that's what it is, just sort of a youthful
ignorance or whatever, I'll take it. It's been a blast
watching him, and it kind of sort of reminds me
a little bit of what we saw down the stretch
from CJ. Stroud last year. They're different players. I'm not
trying to compare their games, but mentality wise, you know
that equanimity when things aren't going right, you have a
quarterback you can kind of flush all that out, whatever
(08:58):
bad stuff happened to play before or before that, and
just say that the task here is to get this
first down, to get this touchdown, whatever you need in
this situation. He's just proven it time and time again. Mike.
So yeah, I love to watch this precocious passer play
and it's been so fun to see him and I
think that's kind of what they need going into Detroit. Right,
(09:18):
you have to have that attitude of we got this,
it's all good. Right, the world stacked against this will
be fine, and that should scare the daylights out of
the lines. I'm being honest right now.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Jayden Daniels, his name is popped up in this last
couple of days, actually a ton, But there's two conversations
that I've had that really resonate with me. Sunday on
the NFL channel, we do game day preview and Bucky
Bucky was in the seat and he says, hey, I
think Jayden Daniels is elite, which made me pause for
a minute because I think Patrick Mahomes is milde. I
think Lamar Jackson is elite. I think Josh Allen is elite.
(09:51):
It's almost like he's already got him in that category.
And then on Monday, and I'm working with David Carr
and I asked, hey, like, is there, what do you
think of what Jayden's doing? And he felt and that's
the first time I heard the comp He goes, I
think he looks like a younger Lamar Jackson out there.
So it's not recency biased, right, Like, are those assessments fair.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I don't know that I'll ever comp one for one
exactly Lamar Jackson to anybody, but there are shades of
him in his game, obviously, the thin frame, the ability
to throw the ball vertically and throw it a long
way and oftentimes accurate too. I mean, you know, you
saw that his first couple throws, the big throws down
the field where you said, Wow, this kid has got touch,
He's got placement, it's all there. You know. I wasn't
(10:32):
sure he's got that thin body, and I wasn't sure
how he's going to hold up in the NFL. And
he has taken some hits this year, but so did
Lamar early in his career, and he's still played at
an MVP level, So who's to say he can't have
a similar type of career. I don't know that he'll
ever be quite as electric a runner or quite as
dazzling a playmaker, but I at least think he's in
the same zip code.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, you know the one thing, And I turned to
David when he said it, and I said, is Jaden
ahead of where Lamar was his rookie season as a passer,
And without hesitation, he said, yes, which, by the way,
should scare the Jesus out of the NFL, and certainly
the rest of those teams inside of that division cannot
wait for this matchup, Commanders and Lines. That game will
(11:13):
be played on Saturday to the seventh ranked team, the Rams.
My biggest concern with this team is the emotional aspect
of this Now. I live in southern California, I'm water
across the street obviously from SOFI Stadium. Monday Nights game
was played in Glendale because of the raging fires that
are happening across this region. They win a game, they
win big, The defense was monstrous. There's that that emotional toll.
(11:37):
How do you stay up for a game against Philadelphia?
We got to go across the country.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yeah, that's a great question, Mike, And it's probably impossible
to quantify exactly what the emotions of all fifty three
players in the entire coaching staff. How many of them
have been personally affected by the fires? Right I mean
right now they're trying to figure out can we practice
at home this week? So there's a lot hanging over them,
family issues, all kinds of stuff that is, you know,
just friends and people there that near them. So all
(12:06):
of that notwithstanding up they can kind of turn this
into a positive and ride that emotional wave into Philadelphia.
I think they'll march in there a very confident group,
and I think having seen how they've played, you know,
able to win games in different ways down the stretch too.
You factor that in. If it's going to be a
low scoring game, they've had a few of those. If
it's a shootout like the Bills game, they've been able
to win those kinds of games too. So, look, there's
(12:29):
the emotional factor. There's also the results, which have been
drastically better versus a Philly team that you know, we're
not sure about. Maybe they're great, maybe they can blow
this team out like they did last time. But yeah,
been able to kind of harness those emotions and fuel
it in a positive way towards winning. Maybe that's just
the extra little bit they need to get.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Over the hump, a jump of five spots in your
power rankings, deservedly so they now sit in that seventh position.
The only other thing that I will add to this conversation,
they started the year they lost four out of their
five games. You and I have been doing this show
the entire season, you know, I've liked this Rams team.
Look at what happened earlier this season, decimated by injuries.
(13:08):
Maybe this is the team that could have been fighting
for a number one seed. How they been healthy really
from start to finish? The what if game? We can
play at all we want, but the reality is going
handle business in Philadelphia, and this is a very different
conversation we're going to be having about this Ram squad,
who once again seventh in the power rankings. Meanwhile, eight
teams still left in the postseason. Our eighth ranked team
(13:29):
might have put the rest of the NFL field on
notice who it is and the analysis around that squads
copped up. Next, i'll back here on power rankings. We
talked about some of the premier teams. Let's just kind
of recap where we are currently sitting number one. It's
the Chiefs, the Lions at two, the bill sitting at three,
(13:51):
and the Ravens at four. Cannot wait for that matchup
on Sunday. Meanwhile, the fifth ranked team or the Eagles,
the Commanders at six, the Rams at seven, and the
Houston Texans at eight. It's time for power moves present
to buy energizer that eighth ranked team, the Houston Texans
a quantum leap here, moving up six spots in the
(14:13):
power rankings. Where has this team been the entire season.
That's a pretty impressive showing, especially on the defensive side.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I guess it is best to play your best
ball in January, right, store up whatever you've been missing
all season long, and credit to them, right, that's two
years in a row. I think the defense has really
kind of set the stage. Everyone doubting the Texans coming
into that early Saturday Wildcard game and they just came
after Justin Herbert made life miserable for him. And really,
that pass rush is I think the one thing. I
(14:42):
shouldn't say the one thing because CJ. Stroud played a
really good game too, but that commodation the Texans pass rush.
We know how good those guys are. Will Anderson seems
like a man on a mission right now. But good
play from Stroud and those guys getting after Mahomes that
maybe the formula to pull the upset. It was a
one score game the last time they played, so we like,
we can't just dismiss them completely and say they have
(15:04):
no chane. It's going into Arrowhead. But they took the
big leap obviously because of the playoff win. They're in
the final eight. Now, maybe there's some teams below that
that have better regular seasons, but we're in playoff, mo, baby,
you gotta win to get in that top quarter.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Asle Absolutely, you think joll Mixon needs to have more
of a focus in this offense early in the game.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
He could. It would be a great way to kind
of take the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands, get
that run game going, you know, they so badly had
offensive line issues and everything else, and just try to
get Stroud settled in there. So Yeah, if they can
find a way to get him loose early and not
have to sort of build him up to a big game,
I think that would do wonders for them.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
All right, let's grip through some of the rankings of
the teams that are on the outside looking in. Almost
kind of surprise here the Vikings sitting at number nine.
They dropped three spots the way they've looked the last
two weeks, certainly tough for that fan base. At ten,
it's the Bucks who lose a heartbreaker against those Commanders. Eleven,
it's the Packers, the Broncos at twelve, Steelers and Chargers
(16:00):
sitting at thirteen and fourteen. Boy, the Chargers dropping five
spots in your rankings, all right? With Minnesota losing the
way that they did, What am I supposed to make
of this season? Fourteen regular season wins, that's awesome, but
the way it closes out, tough loss. They could have
been a one seed they lose against Detroit, and then
the way it looked against the Rams. Like, I gotta
(16:21):
be honest with you, Eric, there moments in this game.
I was cringing for Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
It just never looked right. He never had it. Kevin O'Connell,
who's been terrific this season. I think he's a top
five head coach in this league, called maybe one of
his worst games too, So I don't want to just
put it all on Sam. The offensive line was overwhelmed.
They really didn't have a chance. But at the same time,
it's hard not to look at this giant disappointment, this
fourteen win disappointment. They only lost the two teams this year, Mike,
(16:48):
I mean it was the Rams and Eagles. That's it.
They've beat everybody else. They took care of business. They
won nine straight. This was a tremendous football team that
made strides on offense with Donald to the point where
we were wondering, is he gonna be back next year?
Is he gonna earn a long term deal from the Vikings?
The defense? Brian Flora, I mean, both units playing so well,
even special teams too, and then everything seemed to collapse.
(17:10):
As you said, the past two weeks, real narrative changer two.
I mean, we can't have a Donald discussion without including
what's going on the last couple of weeks. And who
knows what goes on next year? Is is O'Connell definitely
back to remember those weird trade rumors that came up
a few weeks ago, You know, the question about Donald
and JJ McCarthy and the quarterback position, offensive line two.
Got to figure that part out a lot to figure
(17:32):
out all of a sudden for a team that looked
like it was going to be the one seed at
one point.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, a fascinating offseason ahead for the fans in Minnesota.
You know, we keep notes on your rankings the Broncos.
Do you remember where you had them early on in.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The season twenty four?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Maybe all right, they were in that range. They were
a bottom five team at really at the beginning of
the season, how surprised are you? And by the way,
speaking of perception, the perception of a Vikings team and
where they sit and the Denver Broncos who are three
spots behind, so different heading into next season. But I
think there's some respect that we got to give Sean
(18:09):
Payton squad.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Absolutely. You know, we find out after the game bo
Nix was playing through a transverse process in his back.
That's a broken bone, right, Like, that's something that he's
got to get looked at and monitored this offseason, possibly fixed.
So you know, if you take that into consideration, there's
a rookie quarterback who used his legs well through for
twenty nine touchdowns. Kind of steady the ship. You know,
there's all those questions with russ in the future of
(18:31):
the quarterback position last year, those have now been answered.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Nicks was by far not a slam dunk choice by
any means, at least in terms of around the league.
But you know, he's proven. Sean Payton wright that defense,
except for the playoff game, I didn't think they played
that well on that side of the ball, but much
better defensively. They still have some things to figure out,
who's going to lead the backfield. You know, can they
keep this pass rush proficiency up next year? You know,
(18:57):
still have to deal with the Chiefs and the Chargers
and a tough AFC West too, But hard not to
love the direction they're going in. I still think it
might take another year, another offseason, another year to kind
of get into that upper group yet. But again, they
were not a team headed in the right direction before
Sean Payton arrived, and that's definitely changed.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Denver's ahead a schedule. I would make an argument that
the Chargers in year one with Harbaugh also had a schedule.
I think the way that they lost this game against
Texans gives us a little bit of a sour taste
heading into this offseason. But how high is this ceiling?
Because it felt like some of the questions we had
about offense really started to solve themselves as the season unfolded,
(19:38):
especially late in the year.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you can't take one playoff game
and say, well, Herbert threw four picks right, he's toast
and this passing game is never going to improve and
all that. There were some real issues in that game
that caused justin some problems. He made his own mistakes.
Obviously there was a drop that led to a pick too,
but these were issues that were sort of slowly bubbling
up throughout the season. Jim Harbaugh said, we are going
(20:03):
to be built through the offensive line. At times that
unit looked really good, but most for the most part,
I think they underwhelmed. That unit's got to be addressed.
You know, Jim's going to make that a priority. Probably
love to add more receiver help as well, maybe another
tight end, a running back. You know, we didn't see
the run game pop as much. And then you've got
some aging pass rushers and some holes in the secondary too,
(20:25):
So all of a sudden, there's a lot to figure out.
The Chargers is just fact they played a pretty easier,
let's say, forgivable schedule I think this year, and they
exploited it. Good for them. Jim did a great job
cleaning this team up. But still say there's a lot
more to do in the offseason, and they got to
start with some of those problem areas.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Speaking of direction, there's some teams right now trying to
figure out who's going to be leading the charge. You
got some head coaching vacancies just to attach a ranking
to the teams that are looking for head coaches. The
Cowboys at twenty one, which is kind of a weird
thing to say with the McCarthy situation. At twenty three,
it's the Bears twenty five, of the Saints twenty six,
it's the Jets twenty seven, the Jags, and the Raiders
(21:03):
at twenty eight. Not included in the list as the
New England Patriots, who are sitting at twenty nine. They
already they went one and done with Rod Mayo in
like two minutes. They hire Mike Rabel just that presence alone.
Are we going to be talking about them? I don't know.
They were twenty ninth at the end of the season
in your power rankings. Where can we start thinking about
(21:24):
this team heading into next season?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, it'll be in my final power rankings at the
end of this after the Super Bowl, when I kind
of reset the board, and the teams that have hired
head coaches, you know, have made some personnel decisions. I'm
gonna adjust those right. Patriots will probably be on the rise.
I think a little teaser, Mike, that's what we call
it here in the industry. Look at Kraft. He looks
happy for the first time in months. I mean, look,
(21:48):
the Jared Mayo thing. Even he had to admit it
wasn't working. The locker room agreed there was a lot
of issues there. I think we'll hear more about that
in the next couple of months. Mike Rabel is not
a panacea, but I think he's going to be a
even better head coach than he was the first time
in Tennessee. And he was darn good there, right it
did it plateau a little bit at the end? Did
things run stale? Yes, But I think some of the
(22:08):
issues that led to his ouster there are things they're
going to help him in his second go around as
a head coach. Plus, he's got buy in right. Everybody
knows this is Mike Ramble. He played for Bill Belichick,
but he does thinks his own way too, So accountability
is going to be big. I think they're going to
do the right thing and surround Drake maybe with the
right kind of talent. I don't think Mike's just going
to sort of slam the run game into people every week.
(22:28):
He knows he has a special quarterback, and I think
he's going to help make this team a lot better.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I think one of the most intriguing jobs. I won't
say destination job or however, it was characterized to Troy
Aikman on Monday Night, who gave his take on what
the Dallas Cowboys job really is and giving autonomy to
a head coach who allow them to be themselves. I
think Key questioned whether or not that can happen in Dallas,
even just a football perspective. The roster where it is
(22:54):
right now, is this a good job?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
It's an interesting job, right It's a good compound. That's
a good way to sort of sidest the question. Obviously,
you know you're having to deal with some pretty tough teams.
Manders are going to have Daniels for years to come.
The Eagles look set up for success too. You know
the Giants are going to have a high draft pick
this year, maybe a quarterback, So you got an uphill
climb in the division. You have an aging quarterback who's
(23:17):
had multiple season ending injuries, making a lot of money,
taking up a big chunk of the cap. What happens
with Dak Prescott now that McCarthy's not there, does he
get moved? Is he still part of the picture? You know,
obviously we get we've heard some big names in the
early going and who might end up there or whatnot.
It's not clear what direction they're going to go, but
I suspect that letting the talks with m McCarthy subside,
(23:38):
they had a plan and they probably had another backup
plan in mind for where they wanted to go. If
they did, that tells me this job is still desirable.
You still have sort of deep pockets and unlimited support
for this team. So I think it's a good job,
but obviously comes with its traps, no question about it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah. And by the way, how how different is this
job if they were winning games this year and Dak
Prescott was completely healthy, by the way Rush played really well.
I'm not saying, Look, there was definitely some things that
were there, But if they get some wins at home,
which was a major struggle for them earlier this season,
and Dak is healthy, I don't know. I think we're
looking at this job maybe a little bit differently, and
(24:17):
I think it's probably from a football perspective leveled up
from some of the vacancies that are open right now.
But there's a lot of potential obviously with some of
these other teams. I would circle the Chicago Bears as
one of those squads, and even the Jags maybe with
the roster that they have in place. Eric, this was
a blast man. Always good working with you. Let's keep
in mind we'll continue to analyze all of these teams.
(24:40):
If everyone enjoys the divisional weekend, we will see you
next week for another edition of Power Rankings.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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Speaker 2 (00:09):
Wildcard weekend gave us a lid little bit of drama,
and yes we are staring down the divisional round of
the postseason. Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL
Power Rankings. Mike Ham and Eric at home with you,
and as always, if you want the complete list and
analysis of all thirty two teams, you can head to
NFL dot com. But Eric, I watched the wildcard games.
I start thinking a certain way about some of these teams.
(00:31):
But one and two we got chiefs and lines they
have him played. Are you thinking about those teams differently
based off of what we saw this past weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, and obviously both teams getting some players back from
injury too. You start with the Lions, We've been talking
about that defense needing reinforcements as badly as anybody, even
coming off the great effort against the Viking. So you know,
getting David Montgomery to help the run game probably helps
the defense. Terry and Arnold some good vibes on him,
you know, same thing with Kevin Zeidler, their guard, so
getting healthier. You got to like that Their chances, but
(01:02):
tough opponent. With the Commanders right there dealing with a
ton of confidence right now, coming off their road wind,
They've had a ton of last second victories, I think
they're gonna march into Detroit pretty fearless. So I would
say the Lions have a little bit more of a
challenge this coming weekend because the Chiefs are also getting
guys back, you know, Isaiah Pacheco's healthy, Chris Jones. You know,
maybe the secondary is a little sharper too. So I
(01:25):
would say with them facing the Texans Detroit having to
face a really tough Washington team, maybe the edge goes
to Kansas City in terms of the rest and matchup department.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I mean, last time we saw Patrick Mahomes row
a touchdown. Got to go back to Christmas last year,
by the way, really crazy dad joke. And I'll go
down that path with you and you'll jump on the
train with me. Let's get to this here, because I
do want to talk to you about what I think
is the best matchup of the weekend. We got a
Ravens team that I would make an argument is the
(01:54):
favorite of the field, and I get at Kansas City
fans Detroit fans can throw some hate my way, but
the Baltimore Ravens are playing as well as anyone in
the NFL, and they are surging. But the Bills are
also in that conversation as well, based off of what
you just saw this past weekend in their games, do
you agree with me, like, are the Ravens I don't
want to say clearly, but I would make an argument
they're the favorite in this game and they should.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Be frightening team. Absolutely. You'll hear a lot of people say, hey,
this is the real AFC Championship game, right, And you know,
you understand why I might push back a little because
I do think Kansas City is sort of sitting in
the weeds a little bit and saying, don't forget about us.
But I think if you just take the play of
the defense alone, right, Baltimore the first ten games averaging
three hundred and seventy yards allowed. They were giving up
(02:36):
big chunks of yard and having to win shootouts or
occasionally lose them to Mike. But now you've seen them
shave off about one hundred yards a game the last eight,
including the playoff win against the Steelers, and so you know,
just their improvement against Pittsburgh alone, but also everything else,
the body of work they've shown down the stretch, and
you know, this is the time of year where Derek
Henry comes alive. You know, we would love to see
(02:58):
Lamar Jackson have his best postseason ever. Josh Allen obviously
has done so much for the Bills, and they're defense
really responded last week. But yeah, you almost have to
feel like there's sort of an edge with the Ravens
right now. They're not in the spot like they're not
the team everybody's chasing like they were a year ago,
and they can come into Buffalo a very confident and
very efficient group.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
You know, I've heard this before, when you got to
play a team multiple times in the season, we see that.
Obviously within a division this is not the case. But
this is the second time these two teams will meet.
First time, it wasn't all that close, and Derrick Henry
was a machine in that matchup, and I always reference,
especially when it comes to this MVP conversation, Well let's
not forget the head to head does go to Lamar
(03:39):
Jackson and not Josh Allen. Do we throw the regular
season matchup because it was so long ago, and because
it's the postseason where the brand of football is different,
do we is it even worth referencing what happened last time?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah? I mean, I think both teams are obviously going
to start there. When their prep work right, they're going
to look back at that game what worked, what didn't.
Certainly for the Bills, the what didn't list is going
to be a lot longer, and they've got to find
out a way to stop Henry early in the game.
That first touchdown run really kind of set the tone
for the evening. The Bills were up against it all night.
They started pressing offensively, So I think there are definitely
(04:12):
lessons to be learned from that game. From the Buffalo perspective,
Baltimore can't just look at the tape and say, okay, good,
we've been rolling. We beat him back in week four.
Everything's good. We're gonna do just fine going into too
High Mark this weekend. Obviously, I don't expect them to
do that, and they'll be pretty serious because look, their
recent postseason record has been overall a little bit disappointing
(04:32):
considering what we expected at them. So I think there
are sort of takeaways from that game Buffalo's defense is
going to be put to the test, no question about it,
and Baltimore's will too. But again, as you said so
long ago, how much can we really draw from that
game and say it's going to extrapolate into this one
on Sunday?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
I do want to get a little inside baseball with everyone.
When Eric does his rankings, there is a living, breathing
document that is in a very fluid situation every single
week Monday Night. You know, like most of it is
an intact but then we're waiting for the Monday Night
results to really fine tune this thing. That was the
case this week after watching you know, what the Rams
were able to do against Minnesota. This my first year
(05:10):
on the show. You've been doing these rankings for a while.
Is there a path Let's say Baltimore wins, or well,
one of these teams win or Buffalo wins. Could we
see one of these teams as potentially next week's number
one team?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Absolutely? I even wrote, you know, had the Bills not
overtaken the Broncos after that kind of slow start there,
I was prepared to flip flop. I was going to
put Baltimore ahead of Buffalo, so and I also said,
you know, even though I left it three four Buffalo
and Baltimore, I'm prepared to be very disappointed. I'm prepared
to be wrong next week. So yeah, there's no question about.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It, all right. The Philadelphia Eagles, I think there was
a lot of anticipation because a Jalen Hurts, specifically coming
off of the concussion, missing some time, sae Quon getting
arrest obviously in week number eighteen. We'll get the Rams
side of this in just a moment, But from a
Philly perspective, are there some concerns that you have about
this team, you know, just even just in terms of
(06:05):
general health heading into it.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, yeah, and you asked earlier about what the layoff
effect might be for teams like Detroit and Kansas City.
It certainly felt like there was somewhat of an effect
with Jalen Hurts and the time he had taken off
before kind of getting in a little bit of a groove,
I guess. But still, as you pointed out, overall, I
think you'd be disappointed. He took a couple of bad sacks.
He misfired, especially on that fake tush push play action
(06:27):
ball that could have gone for a touchdown. To aj Brown.
You know, the passing game was disjointed. Saquan was having
a sort of grind out four and five yard chunk.
So you know, it's good that they got that out
of their system last week. Obviously, I think it's a
you know, it was a Packers defense that played tremendous
defense in that game, but some of it was self
inflicted mistakes. Yeah, I'm a little bit worried about Philly
(06:49):
and this is a team that not too long ago
I sort of thought, boy, you could see a path
to the back to the super Bowl for them. I
really thought that everything was kind of lining up. Not
getting rid of that opinion. Now, it just feels like
a little bit lower a percentage based on at least
what we saw last Sunday. They whipped this Rams team.
Last time. Saquon was a man. He was unbelievable. Maybe
(07:09):
that happens again, but it's going to be in stark
contrast to most of the game we saw Sunday.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, that was a road win for Philadelphia. Right behind
me at Sofi Stadium, right across the street from where
our studios are. We spent a lot of time talking
about offensive players, and I get it in a lot
of ways are the biggest stars in the game under
the radar, and I hate to even classify it that
way because he's a real stud on this team. To
Kobe Dean, the linebacker for Philadelphia out for the season,
probably going to miss a good stretch he maybe of
(07:36):
even next season. How big of a blow is that
against this Rams offense.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yeah, I think people outside of Philly may not recognize
just what an impact he's made. And his college teammate
Nolan Smith both have really taken a big jump up
this year. But losing Dean, I think who had been
really an under the radar star. I think most people
saw what Zach Bond's done this year, and they know
what that defensive front and how improved that secondary is.
But you know, Dean really was kind of the glue
(08:01):
up front and an emotional leader for them. So it
puts more of an onus on their remaining linebackers. Do
they sit and nickel, do they send extra rushers? How
do they sort of combat that missing piece there in
the middle of their defense.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
We will talk about the Rams, the Eagles opponent, who
are seventh in your rankings. The Eagles obviously sending at
number five, but I want to get to the sixth
ranked team, and that is the Washington Commanders. There's a
part of me that says, the moment isn't too big
for Jaydon Daniels, right like that is abundantly clear. It's
almost like he doesn't know this is not supposed to
look like this when you're a rookie quarterback. Am I right?
Speaker 3 (08:37):
If that's what it is, just sort of a youthful
ignorance or whatever, I'll take it. It's been a blast
watching him, and it kind of sort of reminds me
a little bit of what we saw down the stretch
from CJ. Stroud last year. They're different players. I'm not
trying to compare their games, but mentality wise, you know
that equanimity when things aren't going right, you have a
quarterback you can kind of flush all that out, whatever
(08:58):
bad stuff happened to play before or before that, and
just say that the task here is to get this
first down, to get this touchdown, whatever you need in
this situation. He's just proven it time and time again. Mike.
So yeah, I love to watch this precocious passer play
and it's been so fun to see him and I
think that's kind of what they need going into Detroit. Right,
(09:18):
you have to have that attitude of we got this,
it's all good. Right, the world stacked against this will
be fine, and that should scare the daylights out of
the lines. I'm being honest right now.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Jayden Daniels, his name is popped up in this last
couple of days, actually a ton, But there's two conversations
that I've had that really resonate with me. Sunday on
the NFL channel, we do game day preview and Bucky
Bucky was in the seat and he says, hey, I
think Jayden Daniels is elite, which made me pause for
a minute because I think Patrick Mahomes is milde. I
think Lamar Jackson is elite. I think Josh Allen is elite.
(09:51):
It's almost like he's already got him in that category.
And then on Monday, and I'm working with David Carr
and I asked, hey, like, is there, what do you
think of what Jayden's doing? And he felt and that's
the first time I heard the comp He goes, I
think he looks like a younger Lamar Jackson out there.
So it's not recency biased, right, Like, are those assessments fair.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
I don't know that I'll ever comp one for one
exactly Lamar Jackson to anybody, but there are shades of
him in his game, obviously, the thin frame, the ability
to throw the ball vertically and throw it a long
way and oftentimes accurate too. I mean, you know, you
saw that his first couple throws, the big throws down
the field where you said, Wow, this kid has got touch,
He's got placement, it's all there. You know. I wasn't
(10:32):
sure he's got that thin body, and I wasn't sure
how he's going to hold up in the NFL. And
he has taken some hits this year, but so did
Lamar early in his career, and he's still played at
an MVP level, So who's to say he can't have
a similar type of career. I don't know that he'll
ever be quite as electric a runner or quite as
dazzling a playmaker, but I at least think he's in
the same zip code.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah, you know the one thing, And I turned to
David when he said it, and I said, is Jaden
ahead of where Lamar was his rookie season as a passer,
And without hesitation, he said, yes, which, by the way,
should scare the Jesus out of the NFL, and certainly
the rest of those teams inside of that division cannot
wait for this matchup, Commanders and Lines. That game will
(11:13):
be played on Saturday to the seventh ranked team, the Rams.
My biggest concern with this team is the emotional aspect
of this Now. I live in southern California, I'm water
across the street obviously from SOFI Stadium. Monday Nights game
was played in Glendale because of the raging fires that
are happening across this region. They win a game, they
win big, The defense was monstrous. There's that that emotional toll.
(11:37):
How do you stay up for a game against Philadelphia?
We got to go across the country.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yeah, that's a great question, Mike, And it's probably impossible
to quantify exactly what the emotions of all fifty three
players in the entire coaching staff. How many of them
have been personally affected by the fires? Right I mean
right now they're trying to figure out can we practice
at home this week? So there's a lot hanging over them,
family issues, all kinds of stuff that is, you know,
just friends and people there that near them. So all
(12:06):
of that notwithstanding up they can kind of turn this
into a positive and ride that emotional wave into Philadelphia.
I think they'll march in there a very confident group,
and I think having seen how they've played, you know,
able to win games in different ways down the stretch too.
You factor that in. If it's going to be a
low scoring game, they've had a few of those. If
it's a shootout like the Bills game, they've been able
to win those kinds of games too. So, look, there's
(12:29):
the emotional factor. There's also the results, which have been
drastically better versus a Philly team that you know, we're
not sure about. Maybe they're great, maybe they can blow
this team out like they did last time. But yeah,
been able to kind of harness those emotions and fuel
it in a positive way towards winning. Maybe that's just
the extra little bit they need to get.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Over the hump, a jump of five spots in your
power rankings, deservedly so they now sit in that seventh position.
The only other thing that I will add to this conversation,
they started the year they lost four out of their
five games. You and I have been doing this show
the entire season, you know, I've liked this Rams team.
Look at what happened earlier this season, decimated by injuries.
(13:08):
Maybe this is the team that could have been fighting
for a number one seed. How they been healthy really
from start to finish? The what if game? We can
play at all we want, but the reality is going
handle business in Philadelphia, and this is a very different
conversation we're going to be having about this Ram squad,
who once again seventh in the power rankings. Meanwhile, eight
teams still left in the postseason. Our eighth ranked team
(13:29):
might have put the rest of the NFL field on
notice who it is and the analysis around that squads
copped up. Next, i'll back here on power rankings. We
talked about some of the premier teams. Let's just kind
of recap where we are currently sitting number one. It's
the Chiefs, the Lions at two, the bill sitting at three,
(13:51):
and the Ravens at four. Cannot wait for that matchup
on Sunday. Meanwhile, the fifth ranked team or the Eagles,
the Commanders at six, the Rams at seven, and the
Houston Texans at eight. It's time for power moves present
to buy energizer that eighth ranked team, the Houston Texans
a quantum leap here, moving up six spots in the
(14:13):
power rankings. Where has this team been the entire season.
That's a pretty impressive showing, especially on the defensive side.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I guess it is best to play your best
ball in January, right, store up whatever you've been missing
all season long, and credit to them, right, that's two
years in a row. I think the defense has really
kind of set the stage. Everyone doubting the Texans coming
into that early Saturday Wildcard game and they just came
after Justin Herbert made life miserable for him. And really,
that pass rush is I think the one thing. I
(14:42):
shouldn't say the one thing because CJ. Stroud played a
really good game too, but that commodation the Texans pass rush.
We know how good those guys are. Will Anderson seems
like a man on a mission right now. But good
play from Stroud and those guys getting after Mahomes that
maybe the formula to pull the upset. It was a
one score game the last time they played, so we like,
we can't just dismiss them completely and say they have
(15:04):
no chane. It's going into Arrowhead. But they took the
big leap obviously because of the playoff win. They're in
the final eight. Now, maybe there's some teams below that
that have better regular seasons, but we're in playoff, mo, baby,
you gotta win to get in that top quarter.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Asle Absolutely, you think joll Mixon needs to have more
of a focus in this offense early in the game.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
He could. It would be a great way to kind
of take the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands, get
that run game going, you know, they so badly had
offensive line issues and everything else, and just try to
get Stroud settled in there. So Yeah, if they can
find a way to get him loose early and not
have to sort of build him up to a big game,
I think that would do wonders for them.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
All right, let's grip through some of the rankings of
the teams that are on the outside looking in. Almost
kind of surprise here the Vikings sitting at number nine.
They dropped three spots the way they've looked the last
two weeks, certainly tough for that fan base. At ten,
it's the Bucks who lose a heartbreaker against those Commanders. Eleven,
it's the Packers, the Broncos at twelve, Steelers and Chargers
(16:00):
sitting at thirteen and fourteen. Boy, the Chargers dropping five
spots in your rankings, all right? With Minnesota losing the
way that they did, What am I supposed to make
of this season? Fourteen regular season wins, that's awesome, but
the way it closes out, tough loss. They could have
been a one seed they lose against Detroit, and then
the way it looked against the Rams. Like, I gotta
(16:21):
be honest with you, Eric, there moments in this game.
I was cringing for Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
It just never looked right. He never had it. Kevin O'Connell,
who's been terrific this season. I think he's a top
five head coach in this league, called maybe one of
his worst games too, So I don't want to just
put it all on Sam. The offensive line was overwhelmed.
They really didn't have a chance. But at the same time,
it's hard not to look at this giant disappointment, this
fourteen win disappointment. They only lost the two teams this year, Mike,
(16:48):
I mean it was the Rams and Eagles. That's it.
They've beat everybody else. They took care of business. They
won nine straight. This was a tremendous football team that
made strides on offense with Donald to the point where
we were wondering, is he gonna be back next year?
Is he gonna earn a long term deal from the Vikings?
The defense? Brian Flora, I mean, both units playing so well,
even special teams too, and then everything seemed to collapse.
(17:10):
As you said, the past two weeks, real narrative changer two.
I mean, we can't have a Donald discussion without including
what's going on the last couple of weeks. And who
knows what goes on next year? Is is O'Connell definitely
back to remember those weird trade rumors that came up
a few weeks ago, You know, the question about Donald
and JJ McCarthy and the quarterback position, offensive line two.
Got to figure that part out a lot to figure
(17:32):
out all of a sudden for a team that looked
like it was going to be the one seed at
one point.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, a fascinating offseason ahead for the fans in Minnesota.
You know, we keep notes on your rankings the Broncos.
Do you remember where you had them early on in.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
The season twenty four?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Maybe all right, they were in that range. They were
a bottom five team at really at the beginning of
the season, how surprised are you? And by the way,
speaking of perception, the perception of a Vikings team and
where they sit and the Denver Broncos who are three
spots behind, so different heading into next season. But I
think there's some respect that we got to give Sean
(18:09):
Payton squad.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Absolutely. You know, we find out after the game bo
Nix was playing through a transverse process in his back.
That's a broken bone, right, Like, that's something that he's
got to get looked at and monitored this offseason, possibly fixed.
So you know, if you take that into consideration, there's
a rookie quarterback who used his legs well through for
twenty nine touchdowns. Kind of steady the ship. You know,
there's all those questions with russ in the future of
(18:31):
the quarterback position last year, those have now been answered.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Right.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
Nicks was by far not a slam dunk choice by
any means, at least in terms of around the league.
But you know, he's proven. Sean Payton wright that defense,
except for the playoff game, I didn't think they played
that well on that side of the ball, but much
better defensively. They still have some things to figure out,
who's going to lead the backfield. You know, can they
keep this pass rush proficiency up next year? You know,
(18:57):
still have to deal with the Chiefs and the Chargers
and a tough AFC West too, But hard not to
love the direction they're going in. I still think it
might take another year, another offseason, another year to kind
of get into that upper group yet. But again, they
were not a team headed in the right direction before
Sean Payton arrived, and that's definitely changed.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Denver's ahead a schedule. I would make an argument that
the Chargers in year one with Harbaugh also had a schedule.
I think the way that they lost this game against
Texans gives us a little bit of a sour taste
heading into this offseason. But how high is this ceiling?
Because it felt like some of the questions we had
about offense really started to solve themselves as the season unfolded,
(19:38):
especially late in the year.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you can't take one playoff game
and say, well, Herbert threw four picks right, he's toast
and this passing game is never going to improve and
all that. There were some real issues in that game
that caused justin some problems. He made his own mistakes.
Obviously there was a drop that led to a pick too,
but these were issues that were sort of slowly bubbling
up throughout the season. Jim Harbaugh said, we are going
(20:03):
to be built through the offensive line. At times that
unit looked really good, but most for the most part,
I think they underwhelmed. That unit's got to be addressed.
You know, Jim's going to make that a priority. Probably
love to add more receiver help as well, maybe another
tight end, a running back. You know, we didn't see
the run game pop as much. And then you've got
some aging pass rushers and some holes in the secondary too,
(20:25):
So all of a sudden, there's a lot to figure out.
The Chargers is just fact they played a pretty easier,
let's say, forgivable schedule I think this year, and they
exploited it. Good for them. Jim did a great job
cleaning this team up. But still say there's a lot
more to do in the offseason, and they got to
start with some of those problem areas.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Speaking of direction, there's some teams right now trying to
figure out who's going to be leading the charge. You
got some head coaching vacancies just to attach a ranking
to the teams that are looking for head coaches. The
Cowboys at twenty one, which is kind of a weird
thing to say with the McCarthy situation. At twenty three,
it's the Bears twenty five, of the Saints twenty six,
it's the Jets twenty seven, the Jags, and the Raiders
(21:03):
at twenty eight. Not included in the list as the
New England Patriots, who are sitting at twenty nine. They
already they went one and done with Rod Mayo in
like two minutes. They hire Mike Rabel just that presence alone.
Are we going to be talking about them? I don't know.
They were twenty ninth at the end of the season
in your power rankings. Where can we start thinking about
(21:24):
this team heading into next season?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, it'll be in my final power rankings at the
end of this after the Super Bowl, when I kind
of reset the board, and the teams that have hired
head coaches, you know, have made some personnel decisions. I'm
gonna adjust those right. Patriots will probably be on the rise.
I think a little teaser, Mike, that's what we call
it here in the industry. Look at Kraft. He looks
happy for the first time in months. I mean, look,
(21:48):
the Jared Mayo thing. Even he had to admit it
wasn't working. The locker room agreed there was a lot
of issues there. I think we'll hear more about that
in the next couple of months. Mike Rabel is not
a panacea, but I think he's going to be a
even better head coach than he was the first time
in Tennessee. And he was darn good there, right it
did it plateau a little bit at the end? Did
things run stale? Yes, But I think some of the
(22:08):
issues that led to his ouster there are things they're
going to help him in his second go around as
a head coach. Plus, he's got buy in right. Everybody
knows this is Mike Ramble. He played for Bill Belichick,
but he does thinks his own way too, So accountability
is going to be big. I think they're going to
do the right thing and surround Drake maybe with the
right kind of talent. I don't think Mike's just going
to sort of slam the run game into people every week.
(22:28):
He knows he has a special quarterback, and I think
he's going to help make this team a lot better.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I think one of the most intriguing jobs. I won't
say destination job or however, it was characterized to Troy
Aikman on Monday Night, who gave his take on what
the Dallas Cowboys job really is and giving autonomy to
a head coach who allow them to be themselves. I
think Key questioned whether or not that can happen in Dallas,
even just a football perspective. The roster where it is
(22:54):
right now, is this a good job?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
It's an interesting job, right It's a good compound. That's
a good way to sort of sidest the question. Obviously,
you know you're having to deal with some pretty tough teams.
Manders are going to have Daniels for years to come.
The Eagles look set up for success too. You know
the Giants are going to have a high draft pick
this year, maybe a quarterback, So you got an uphill
climb in the division. You have an aging quarterback who's
(23:17):
had multiple season ending injuries, making a lot of money,
taking up a big chunk of the cap. What happens
with Dak Prescott now that McCarthy's not there, does he
get moved? Is he still part of the picture? You know,
obviously we get we've heard some big names in the
early going and who might end up there or whatnot.
It's not clear what direction they're going to go, but
I suspect that letting the talks with m McCarthy subside,
(23:38):
they had a plan and they probably had another backup
plan in mind for where they wanted to go. If
they did, that tells me this job is still desirable.
You still have sort of deep pockets and unlimited support
for this team. So I think it's a good job,
but obviously comes with its traps, no question about it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah. And by the way, how how different is this
job if they were winning games this year and Dak
Prescott was completely healthy, by the way Rush played really well.
I'm not saying, Look, there was definitely some things that
were there, But if they get some wins at home,
which was a major struggle for them earlier this season,
and Dak is healthy, I don't know. I think we're
looking at this job maybe a little bit differently, and
(24:17):
I think it's probably from a football perspective leveled up
from some of the vacancies that are open right now.
But there's a lot of potential obviously with some of
these other teams. I would circle the Chicago Bears as
one of those squads, and even the Jags maybe with
the roster that they have in place. Eric, this was
a blast man. Always good working with you. Let's keep
in mind we'll continue to analyze all of these teams.
(24:40):
If everyone enjoys the divisional weekend, we will see you
next week for another edition of Power Rankings.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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