HR 2 - Power Rankings, Sauce Gardner Trade

Tom and Chris talk about the big Sauce Gardner trade, give their Power Rankings and take an early look at the Chargers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
We are at Week ten of the NFL season, starts
tomorrow with the Thursday night football game. I gotta be
honest with you, off the top of my head right now,
I have no idea who's playing on Thursday Night football?
Is it Titans Jags? Do we actually get to have
like the old throwback game of yesteryear that was the
greatest thing in the history of football? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Raiders and Broncos, by the way, oh my god, what
a terrible, terrible game.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Broncos should just absolutely wash them off the field. Although
I got to say, Brock Bowers back little different Raiders
team right like, they went up and down the field
on that Jags defense and made it a football game.
I honestly could have tied them, but decided to go
for two at the end of it to go for
the win. And I'm so happy Pete Carroll did that,
because if you're two and four looking at two and

(00:53):
five in the face or two and six whatever they are,
and you kick the field goal to tie the game,
I mean a wolf buddy, So good on them for
going for it there at least. And that's all we'll
ever talk about the Raiders for this next you know,
thirty minutes or so on the show, because it's time
for powe. All right, it's time for the teams that

(01:16):
just didn't quite make the cut this week for us,
and we start with my number eleven team, Chris, the
green Bay Packers falling all the way out of the
top ten. They're followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers checking in
at number twelve. That's a bad number eleven for green Bay,
but a good number twelve for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's

(01:36):
kind of a stuck in neutral number thirteen for me
with the Los Angeles Chargers, they've just been kind of
here for the past couple of weeks. Steelers playing them
obviously this week, same kind of thing with the Niners.
They're just kind of stuck here. Number fourteen for me.
And then welcome to the party, pal, Is it time
to start respecting the number fifteen Carolina Panthers. We have

(01:57):
very similar You have the Panthers in your top ten,
right obviously, Oh no, I'll go that far.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
But them at fifteen, Yes, you have Panthers at fifteen.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Two. Yes, welcome to the party. Right, you got five wins.
We kind of got to start talking about you.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, no, you're right. I mean that's what it's so
funny because it's still like and I guess I am
punishing because I agree with you too on having the
Packers at number eleven and that's just falling out of
my top ten is like a punishment. But it's like
at some point, it's like everybody's like that was a
really bad loss and that that's kind of like the narrative,
and it is because you're like, this is more than
the Packers, because the Packers are better than that, and

(02:29):
the Packers showed better than that, and every time you
feel like the Packers are the team or an alpha team,
then all of a sudden they do something like that
and you and I don't care how good the Panther,
how how mediocre to slash the above average ish maybe
ish the Panthers are, you still can't lose that game
for the Packers. But at some point, yeah, the Panthers

(02:49):
have a winning record and you've got to kind of
acknowledge what they're doing, so you know, throw them a
bone in the top fifteen. I'm similar too. I got
to buy the Forty Hours at twelve, the Steelers at thirteen,
and the Chargers at fourteen. So the Chargers, I think
of three, you are both at fourteen. I think the
Charger at thirteen had the Niners at four fourteen. Okay,
so we flipped a little the same middle three of
our JDQ there, But that I just I still respect

(03:13):
the Niners although another injury, Like it's just like they're
every week they lose somebody for the season. I feel
like are a long term injury to the West starting player.
So it's like attrition, but I respect what they go
on the road and the Giants are the Giants what
they are, But they go across the country winning game
and they're still sticktion three, right, they're still what tied
for first? Or are they another game half game out
of first? But you could tie in the win column

(03:34):
for first.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
I get your drifts, yes you do. Number ten to
start our top ten for me is the Kansas City Chiefs.
I have them falling down to number ten after their
loss against the Buffalo Bills. And maybe that's a little
harsh because they lost at Buffalo by a score, had
a chance for a hail Mary at the end to

(03:55):
tie the game and pull some Mahomes Chiefs magic, but
they could not do it, Bills. That game just kind
of meant nothing. I heard Kyle Brandt say that, like
it just had no stakes, It had no meaning, And
he's right, because it doesn't matter. All that matters is
if the Bills can do that in January. Nothing about
the regular season is impressive anymore. That is now their
fourth straight win against the Chiefs in the regular season.

(04:15):
That's the norm, is what played out empty calories. But
we'll get to the Bills in a second. The Chiefs, again,
I don't blame you for the loss. The Bills are
way high up on my power rankings now after that win.
But your record's five and four now, and as much
as I think you are probably still the second third
at worst biggest threat in the AFC, you got to

(04:39):
make sure you get a seat. You got to make
sure you get on one of those musical chairs. And
that is starting to be a little bit in doubt again.
Remember it was hanging on by a thread before that
Lions game, and the Chiefs made that huge statement and
beat the Lions and kind of bounce back. Well, now
it's starting to kind of get close to hanging on
to that thread again. With the Broncos keep stacking wins
and you're still behind the Chargers by game and have

(05:00):
lost to the Chargers already too.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah, it's one of those things where you're they're literally
out of the playoffs right now if the playoffs started today,
and they don't start today, as we all know. However, Yeah,
it's it's we could sit here and say the Chiefs
are going to be better in January. The Chiefs are
still a lot they've had, you know, they'd apped, injury
and the suspension, all that stuff early on. They're missing
some of their weapons and okay, they're going to get right,
but at some point the math catches up to you.

(05:24):
Right and I don't know if you know, jackson was
ahead of them there. I think they're but Jacksonville beat them.
I'd just say they're better than Jacksonville. Jacksonville did beat them,
so at some point you kind of got to do
that either the Chiefs. The tab it higher though, but
I'm I have a similar kind of wavelength in some way.
Maybe you'll follow me here where I'm putting my number ten.
The Detroit Lions. Wow, again, disappointing at like you can't

(05:46):
lose that game at home to the I mean it's
just if you at what point do we start to
question They've lost two out of three. Now, now, listen,
they beat Tampa Bay in the middle, Okay, they beat
the they lost at the Chiefs, Okay, you know, but
they they slept the entire AFC North except for the Steelers.
So far as they are three wins and they blew
out the Bears and that Ben Johnson like statement game

(06:10):
they had to, so that that's their resume right now.
You know, I'm back to kind of wondering. I don't know,
I had to. I still think that a really good NFC.
Have we talked about the top seven so then deep, yeah,
somebody's got to be at the bottom of that that seven,
I guess, and I guess if the Packers are less
than them on my power rankings. But the Lions right now,
after a loss to a Viking team that's kind of

(06:31):
was on the verse. They had to needed that win
to save their season, right, I mean the Vikings just
kind of looked like they were kind of d a
dead on arrival here at some point, and the Lions
will lose that. I dropped them out of a number ten.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Fair, harsh, fair, Yeah, I had a little bit of
criticism for the Lions too, but they're coming up a
little bit later. Number nine for me is the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers. They're kind of getting off the radar a
little bit, right, Yeah, aren't they. You're kind of starting
to forget about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Like what do
they do? You know, they beat the Saints a couple
of weeks, gets like what. They're kind of just kind
of going into their little cocoon right now, and they're

(07:02):
gonna just go, oh, I'm stacking boring wins, taking a
bye week, and we'll see when they get their next
test against the Patriots, which I believe is this week. Correct,
the Patriots go to Tampa Bay, so they'll be able
to make a big statement. And I'm calling it right now, Chris,
I'm calling my shot right now. On Wednesday, they will
beat the Patriots, and they will do it handedly in

(07:23):
Tampa Bay. They will make a statement not only about
them and say, hey, don't forget about us in the
NFC picture, just because we kind of fell off the
radar a little bit, we're putting ourselves back on that radar,
but also statement about the Patriots. Everybody eased the hell
up about the Patriots. Okay, they're good, don't get me wrong,
and they're going to the playoffs, but they ain't gonna
win the super Bowl this year. So I think they'll

(07:44):
give them a little dose of reality this Sunday in Tampa.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, they'll kind of the water finance level like New
England's good, but they're not like exactly a game winning
streak good because rather than a five game winning streak
right now, six game winning streak right now. So at
some point, yes, they're gonna lose. This is where I
have the Chiefs at number nine. Sorry sound effect there is.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
I don't know what was going on with the laser
laser gun.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah when the laser guys not.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
You guys, it's old. Remember I stole it from right.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Sometimes I got to battery you know, your your your
C batteries and the alkaline in there. Yeah. So yeah,
the Chiefs are where they are. We talked about them
already there. Chiefs are such a weirdy vow, right because
you have the history and you don't want to use
that too much in your nut like when you think like, oh,
they're the Chiefs still gonna be fine. They're going to

(08:34):
be there because it's a different season every year, but
the same time, that's also is part of what they
They're gonna be there in janu right, I mean, that's
that's what they are every year. You can, I still think.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
They're gonna win the Super Bowl? Yeah, I mean I'll
watch Josh Allen Hoyst the Lombardi and I'll be like,
are we sure can they? Like I'll be like looking
over my shoulder, like is he coming? Is he gonna
run down, you know, the ramp like it's the w
w E match and he's gonna like take the chair
and hit Josh Allen and take the trophy like exactly,
Like until we see it, we still probably won't believe it,
but we definitely won't believe it until we at least
see it.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, yeah, that's what And yeah we're the point now
with the Bills, like you said, it's empty Colleries. It's
like they beat the Chiefs, Okay, great, you know nobody cares.
You still can't. So it's hard to envision Buffalo, you know,
winning it all, even though they I.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
Was surprised that the Chiefs didn't go out and get
Breze Hall from the Jets, especially with the fire sale
that the Jets were having. But once Sauce and Williams
goes and you kind of telegraph that everybody's for sale,
then you really start to be stingent with the price.
And Chris, they got first round picks for everybody that
they gave up. The two main guys the Jets multiple
first round picks and Sauces case, I'm betting they probably

(09:38):
were asking for the first round pick for Breese Hall.
The Chiefs were probably like, I ain't giving you that
for a running back. How about a third? And they
were like, well, we really wanted a second, that's why
we came with the first. And they just couldn't meet
them there. But boy, I bet you Breesehall thought he
was going to be a Chief or at least somewhere else.
He was tweeting some pretty upset things yesterday. But I
thought that was a really strong match Chiefs in Breeshall.

(10:00):
And don't get me wrong, I'm happy that it didn't
happen because they need to figure something out on the
run in the running aspect of their offense that's not
just Patrick Mahomes and Priestall would have really solved that issue.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Yeah, good, it's kind of surprising in some way that
they didn't.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And be aggressive in lines past exactly.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
They usually do go for a move, yeah, and it
usually works out for them, and.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
They're all don't say yeah yes.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
When they're obviously are quite clearly in a championship window. Right,
it's pretty obvious about that too. So but there's a
price for everything, right, all right.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
My number eight team is the Detroit Lions. That's you
have them at ten and the Chiefs at nine. I
had the Chiefs at ten. I had the Lions at eight.
So we punished the Lions and the Chiefs, you know,
kind of the teams that were probably a popular Super
Bowl matchup at the beginning of this season, but they
have slipped up a bit. And when it comes to
the Lions, Uh, maybe that was JJ McCarthy having a
bit of a coming out party and kind of say, hey,

(10:52):
everybody relaxed on this bust talk. Okay, I can play
football at this level. But I don't know. I mean,
he was good, don't get me wrong, but that kind
of seems like the line just kind of fell asleep.
Maybe Brian Flores's defense stuck up and got that offense
a little bit. I still believe in the Lions. I
still think they already nailed on NFC and Super Bowl contender.
But yeah, that was a bad loss at home against

(11:12):
the division team that you could have given the kill
shot to. Like, if you beat the Vikings, forget about
worrying about the Vikings for the rest of the year.
Now they have a little bit of life back in them.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah. Yeah, like I said, it did lose it at home,
and the NFC is so bungled up right now with
those I feel there's really seven really good teams that
you could you could say, can be contender. So when
you lose a game, you got you gotta fall down.
Somebody's gotta got to drop down there some So that's
kind of where I'm at. And yeah, Lions just just

(11:41):
a I don't say it's just like disappointing is way
to put it right. I don't know that they really
could have eric the kill shot to the Vikings. They
could have really seized control and announced themselves that we'd
really have it. Matt Tramp, they would have won that game.
There are one, two, three, four, six and two teams
and a six and three team and they are five
to two and one. Would have had all seventeen only
two losses, exactly two losses. Actually, it was kind of

(12:03):
funny in the NFC right now the Lions right there
at the clinging onto that seven seed and if you know,
Carolina or we don't even put that, you don't want
to put the Bears in our even the the g
d Q so which I I'm not going to award
for that.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
That happened at the end of that Bengals.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
But they are five and three right now?

Speaker 1 (12:22):
Are five? Correct? All right? We're at number seven? Or no?
You mull in.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
The same area, you think it all yeah, it's it's
about yeah, and we're doing the thing now again. I
think there's these teams. It's hard to say which one
better than the other. So you kind of gotta you
gotta punish the ones to lose in a given week
and reward the one to win a given week. And
then you got and the Bucks are just on a buy.
So you kind of like, I feel like the Bucks
have your You're right that they kind of just disappeared

(12:50):
from our consciousness because they had to buy. They did
lose the the game that that that Lions game.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
They just had like a really boring and against the
SATs in the middle.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, so it's like almost a month as they played it,
you know, so it's hard to a real game, let's
be honest. Ye yeah, all right, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Number seven for me, I'm gonna go with the Denver Broncos.
Maybe that's a little bit higher on your list. I'm
sure it's a little bit higher on a lot of
people's lists. They're seven and two. But I just feel
like they're doing it with smoking mears a lot of
the time, Like they're just trailing in these games constantly.
How how likely is it that you can find consistency

(13:30):
with Bonnicks in that offense, constantly bringing you back in
the fourth quarter, always making sure that you're playing from behind,
and then executing said to come back. I mean, they
have one of the craziest comebacks ever against the Giants
earlier this year when they exploded in the fourth course
court literally all their points in the fourth quarter en
route to a like a thirty three point explosion. And

(13:50):
then it was the game against the Eagles, the first
loss to the Eagles this year. Eagles were up seventeen
to three, looked like they were just gonna cruise through
that game, and then nope, Denver comes storming back in.
It's very, very tough to live like that. And I
still don't know how I feel about bon Nicks. But
then I pull up the touchdown leaders and he's tied
with Rogers with seventeen touchdown passes, is right there at
the top of the league, third most, and it's like,
I mean, he's kind of bawling when you look at

(14:11):
the stats. So they're just weird to me. They have
a great defense, and I think that, obviously is always
going to keep them in the playoff contender super Bowl
contender conversation. They are a playoff con They're going to
the playoffs. They're seven to two, but I just I
don't know something about them. I can't get all the
way on board with Denver, so I keep them at seven.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah, you know, there's a lot of similarities with Denver.
New England. They have their second year quarterbacks, that and
varying degrees and it may have been better, and you
believe in May and more, but.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's still your number seven team, New England. Yes, that
is the Patriots, So they're my number six team, Chris,
Are the Broncos your number six team?

Speaker 2 (14:50):
They're not there.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
We were so close to it'll be right there. But
you're right to draw the comparison to them, and that's
why I have them seven to six. Broncos seven Patriot six.
Don't do that's good. I was actually avoiding it.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
And then you, well, you forty plus man just brought
the brain rod in here. You just like you you overplay,
You've been subconsciously brought in the City seven here.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
But these teams are very similar to me, Like, I
can't not put them in my top ten. I can't
not have them trend towards my top five because they're
just stacking wins. Record wise, they probably should be in
the top five. But there has something about them both
that you're like, ah, I'm not there yet.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
It's hard to say the Standard Bears in the AFC
and and we'll see what happened to the Ravens or whatever,
but it's hard. Like I mean, I don't think are.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
They lurking They are just lurking in the sha Yeah.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, that's a lot of thing. But yeah, if the
Chiefs or Bill has played one of those teams, and
I yeah, like I know the Patriots beat the Bills
already in Buffalo. I get it, but they played a meeting.
They played a playoff game tomorrow. No, I'm sorry, I'm
not picking New England or Never to beat Gannas City
or Buffalo. They might finish him in the standing, they might
beat them regular season. You know, I not can't do it. Yeah,
I'm not doing it yet. But my number six team

(15:57):
is the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Oh my god, odd they had to buy this week? Correct.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Yeah, so maybe out of sight, I don't mind. I
don't know. I I've talked about the Eagles a lot.
I'm stoke trying it and I and you know, maybe
it's the exercise of doing this every week, which I
probably haven't done it. I surely haven't done any formal
public bases make my make power rankings like this. I
feel like it's a difficult year because I feel like
there's you could you can't really go I say, can't
go wrong. You can make a case. I mean, I

(16:26):
think the pet packers are to be punished and whatever.
But other than that, you know, your top ten, you
can make a lot of cases for all these people,
all these teams to be you know, five spots higher
than they were at the bottom and half of that
top ten or five spots lower. So I don't know.
I just I have four teams or what five teams
have them that I believe in more now one of
them before mentioned. We talked to the Broncos. Can I

(16:46):
do my number five?

Speaker 1 (16:47):
We're gonna go to break top five in.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
The next seg Okay, well, didn't forget I said that. Yeah,
it's all that's all suspense.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Relax. Come on, you gotta build up that.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
You rather say woe than sick of them.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
That's what you're doing right now, telling you right now,
Eagles at six outside of your top five. Very interesting.
Eagles ascended for me, as you'll see in the next segment,
because everybody else just descended around them. It was kind
of like a great buy for them. They were just
like watching teams fall left and right. Oh see, yeah,
have fun at number eight. Okay, have fun down at
number seven. I'm gonna just keep going back up to

(17:19):
where I usual spot has been for the past couple
of years. So Chris and I will get to our
top five of our next on the Steelers Blitz on
Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers Audio Network. Before

(17:43):
we get back to our power rankings, Chris, I want
to talk more about the blockbuster trade for me yesterday,
the big Whale on the move with Sauce Gardner going
to the Colts for two first round picks and a
d Mitchell. Like, I think that part is getting forgotten about.
Obviously it's overshadowed. Two first round picks, but like, that's
a legitimate wide receiver prospects still on his rookie deal,

(18:06):
who had, you know, a good college career and had
some promise in the pros, just wasn't working out for
the Jets pick second round pick, right or excuse me,
he wasn't working out for the Colts. Now he is
a Jet where he hopes it will work out for him.
So like that's a loot right there. I mean two
first round picks and a player that is, you know,
a legitimate NFL player with still potential. That is quite

(18:28):
the hall. I don't think I blame the Colts for
making the trade though, because I know they just paid
a huge price. But if you believe that Daniel Jones
is your guy, now your team's built right, Like you
got the O line, you got the running game, you
got really good receivers, You've got the tight end. You've

(18:49):
got a defense that now has kind of been put
over the top because you get the superstar player now,
which is maybe the thing that they've been missing is
just like that legitimate number one all pro kind of talent.
So you got that now moving forward, he's twenty five
years old. He's got a lot of years of control
now that you have under your belt. Like there's nowhere.
I mean, of course they got to keep building it up,

(19:10):
and they got to add here and add there. But
you know what I'm saying, like I get them not
feeling attached with those first round picks as long as
they really do believe that Danny Dimes is the future
at that position.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, you have an eight game a nine game sample size.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Coming off, Yeah, exactly, And he just looked awful playing
that Steelers defense.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
So it's it's a risk, you know. I Gardner's young
enough that the you know, the future aspect of things
and all that. It's you know, it's it's it's an
interesting all the way around. You know, you wonder how
much the you know, the newestsay I Forgot'm sorry, I

(19:54):
forget her first name right now? How much of this
is an influence of that, and you know, kind of
going on in and because you see these kind of
these splash trades like this, it's almost like fantasy football
or something. Multiply you have multiple This is the second
trade involving multiple first round picks for a defensive player
over the past what eight and nine weeks of real time, right,
it's kind of crazy to think that that's an interesting

(20:15):
question there. Would you rather have Micah Parsons or Sauce Gardner?
Maybe're talking that's the angle I like to think of it.
We're talking about trading two first round picks for a
defensive star. You get the position. Would you have the
corner or the rusher? How dynamic is it? Seemed like,
I mean, Parsons you would think can kind of affect
the game and more different in different ways at least.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
But if he is a.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Shutdown corner, and I guess there's evidence that he is,
and you can say that he's the best corner of
the league, you can make a case for it, I suppose,
or you certainly can. But yeah, it's something where maybe
the Colts they've been kind of languishing, I guess fro
since Andrew Luck retired in terms of Are they a contender?
Are they still an AFC power up there? And now

(20:57):
they have their season in front of them where you know,
the number one seeds right there for them for the taking.
And it's a it's a kind of a win now
thing and and.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Uh but also a win for the future too. Yeah,
he's young, controllable. Yeah, well you got to pay.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Him, but well yeah, but yeah you have And so
is Daniel Jones the answer? And there are other ways
to get a quarterback if he's not. I you know,
I guess there are that They've they've tried a whole
bunch of those other ways the past eight or nine
years since they luck walked out on them. So maybe
that's part of it too. Is it like we finally,
after all this time, we've been trying free agents and
old guys and trades and and.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
That's actually younger doesn't have some you know, wrinkles on
his face. Let's play a quarterback. Well for us, let's
just jump right in. But if if that is the case,
if they believe in him, then I think it makes
total sense for them to pool that trigger. And I
also think it makes total sense for the Jets to
kind of have that fire sale that they did, not
just trading Sauce Gardner, but trading Quinn Williams to the Cowboys. Uh,

(21:53):
they got a second round pick this year and then
a first round pick next year for Quinn Williams. So
they got first round picks, second round picks, just a
ton of premiums over these next couple of drafts. I
think it's very obvious that they should be hitting the
reset button, that they should be just kind of ripping
it all the way down, ripping up the floorboards, maybe

(22:16):
getting the number one overall pick on your own merit
this draft, and then having a couple of more picks
on top of that at some premium positions. So you know,
I don't look at that trade and I go, Wow,
the Jets, what are they doing? Or I don't look
at the trade and go Colts, geez, you went a
little overboard there. Huh. The rare initial reaction trade where
you're like, I think it makes sense for both teams.

(22:37):
I think it was an appropriate move for both teams.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, it's you don't usually see because Quentin Williams is,
they're both relatively they're not old guys in the NFL.
This sort of tear it down for a better way
of putting it or the process it would have been
if the Sixers did. I guess is a term for it,
And you kind of wonder, but what's face it? I mean,
they're they're one and eight that this season isn't working.

(23:02):
You're t have to try again by one means or
another to get that quarterback, And you know it's it's
easier said than done if they show and then then
they get a guy like Darnold and he goes and
becomes a good quarterback somewhere else. But how many times
have they had a high draft pick at quarterback and
it not worked out on them? Similar to Cleveland in
that way too, So that's gonna be the lynchpin that

(23:23):
g holds it all together. But yeah, you wonder then too,
how much does Aaron Glenn have? I guess this signifies
Aaron Glenn has job security.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
How far is he gonna be kind of escapegoat where like,
we're gonna have you just kind of shepherd us through
these two years of awfulness, then fire you for our
real coach once we build it up and get our
quarterback in the draft. I'd be worried about that. If
I was Aaron Glenn, and I'll be on the lookout
for that.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
And the other aspect of that. And I think this
might maybe this will foretell the future for him, is
how much he keeps his room together the past the
second half of the season where they've quite obviously they're
not going to make the playoffs by record wise, I
quite obviously the management has told him we don't care
about this season. We're building for the future. And you
have some veteran in there. I mean, you saw Breese
Hall a couple tweets and likes of tweets and things

(24:03):
like that where people were pointing out that he seems
as if reading into it that he wouldn't mind being
traded himself there. And if you're our veteran there knowing
that this season is well, you know, guys on one
you whatever. So maybe that is Aaron Glenn's kind of
audition as a coach. He's a young rookie coach and
he has quite a situation on his hands here to
keep the locker room together and see if this really

(24:25):
with I've already a short hinted roster. Now even you
trade you know, arguably your two best players, certainly best
defensive players and how you got to string together and
try to be competitive the rest of this season.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
Let's get back to our power rankings. Our top five
starts now. And oh my god, how about this for
working out? My number five team is the Indian Hat
of those Colts. Oh my god, Oh my goodness, it's
almost like I'd plan that out because I did. Cults
are number five for me, falling all the way down
from number one after losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. Look,
it's not just that they lost, and I give it

(25:00):
a lot of credit to the Steelers defense and forcing
these turnovers, but the Colts turning the ball over six times,
it was just a blow up of epic proportions like it,
you know what I mean, Like it wasn't like a wow,
really knock down, drag out shootout with the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and you know what, the Colts just kind of needed
to find levels. So I get why that two point
conversion fell short and the Steelers snuck out of there
with a win. Like, no, the score is actually deceiving

(25:23):
with how close it ended up looking at. The Steelers
beat them much worse than twenty seven to twenty would
lead on and I mean again, they just completely imploded.
I mean they just looked bad. And the thing I'd
be worried about if I were Colts fans is, Okay,
this is the first game all year that Taylor was
taken away and Danny Dimes did not go in new
a football game.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, and you know, the offensive line such a strength,
and there wasn't holes there for the running game. There
was obviously the quarterback was underseage throughout that game, like
Steven Saga, Yes, very much. Is that that's where I
was going.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
I saw that from Mark He did that job yesterday.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Okay, Well Steven Sag and Danny Dimes, I mean one
of the other, right, that's pretty much the same individual.
But yeah, I have the Colts. I have the Denver
Broncos a number five. Already a lot about the Broncos
and that's just kind of where I slaw them and
have the Colts at number four. Okay to do that,
and yes, they obviously cannot. You cannot hold the top
spot after laying an egg like that offensively like they

(26:16):
did and committing six h takeaway or giveaways, especially when
you have some other teams that are impressive. But so yeah,
it'll be interesting to see now where now the Colts have,
you know, because there's gonna be a lot of doubters
and a lot of skepticism now, although I guess now
the entire narrative run them is gonna be sauce Gardener, right,
I mean, whatever whatever negativity they were wearing, this whatever stench,

(26:37):
as Mike Thuman would say, they were gonna wear this
week heading in, you know, losing a game and and
are people gonna question them or they were the they
were the hot obviously they kept winning. They were the
hot team there, and people say, oh, these Colts are
for real people. I think people finally are on the country,
had bought in, and then they go and and kind
of lay an egg like they did, and would that
sort of catch up on them? But now you have
the injection of getting sauce Gardener there, the injection of

(26:59):
a drone in for the for the team and everything. Yeah,
that can kind of maybe cover up whatever any other
people in the question A Dane Jones going back to
being giants, Daniel Jones, that'll be so secondary this week
if he goes out and performs well at his next
ay they're in the bye week this week, or no.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
No, they go to Germany this week and they take
on the Falcons overseas.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
That's that's that's that's sneaky.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
It's this tricky spot for them. Yeah, but you're right,
like the locker room now feels good and thinks ownership
is backing us and that there is a belief in
this team from the organization that they're willing to mortgage
a future like that to help us now and of
course to help us in years to come. So you
had the Colts at four, I had him at five.
You had the Broncos at five. Any thoughts on the

(27:41):
Broncos that you want to get in, Well, I mean
we discussed.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
I mean they keep winning, they're only well they have
to they're too loss this season or by a total
of four points one of them two, the team that
are the best record in the league.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
And Colts who kind of had that weird leverage thing
called yeah but let them kick again to beat the Broncos.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
So at some point you got to respect that they're winning.
I do with my questions as we talked about some
about them, and still I still have these questions about
bo Nicks per se and I think you said a
good that there might be some. But at the same time,
I got to acknowledge their resume they put together and
what they're doing, and especially in a week to week basis,
whenever other other team might lose or something. So if

(28:20):
they're in for the first place, right, they just keep stabbing.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
They do they do it.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
They haven't lost in September.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
It's no number right, right, so you cannot ignore that. Again,
there's just something that's missing there with the Broncos, though
I don't know what it is quite yet, but it's
something just I can't put my finger on it. Our
number four for me is the Los Angeles Rams sor
I have the Rams checking in on my power rankings.
They just obliterated the Saints kind of just like I

(28:45):
forget about a type of game. We'll just go out
there and go through the motions and crush them. Matt
Stafford Chris has twenty one touchdown passes and two interceptions
on the season so far. Everybody is so in love
with Patrick Homes and he's the MVP and the Chiefs
and here come the Chiefs and oh my god, the
MVP is Stafford. I mean There's no question about it.

(29:08):
He is lighting it up. The Rams are legitimate Super
Bowl contender. He is utilizing DeVante Adams in a great way.
Poka Nakua goes down and they don't miss the beat
as far as an offense is concerned. At your MVP
right there, Matt Stafford and the Rams are a real
threat in that NFC.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
It's crazy. He finished eighth in MVP voting in twenty
twenty three. But I mean, Lamar, that was one of
the years of Lamar. He's only been a Pro ball
quarterback twice, which is kind of like.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
And yet I feel he's a lock for the Hall
of Fame?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Am I wrong with that? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (29:41):
I mean he's definitely has. He has the Super Bowl
ring now. He's certainly compiling numbers over time, which is
worth something. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
You ready for this take? Please? It's a spicy meatball.
Is he the best quarterback in two organization's history? Ooh,
Kurt Warner would obviously be the other one that you
would throw up there with the Rams.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, I can't unless there's somebody from the both those
or days go way back. You know, you might be
somebody from the fifties, forget that, yeah, right, Jim, Ever
it is not is not.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
A fake person. You just made that up. There's no
I think probably. And it's here's the tricky thing, right,
because it's Saint Louis in LA when it comes to
the Rams, and you have kind of that split there,
and like I think Kurt Warner probably would have the
edge if you're just like a Rams fan and you
followed them no matter what city they're in. I see,

(30:35):
But it's hard to think of the La Rams and
Kurt Warner in the same breath. And at the same time,
like Stafford's not that far off from Kurt Warner anyway.
I mean won a Super Bowl for the Rams. I know,
Warner went to two and one, and it.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Was weird because Warner had that like not only was
that Rocket ascensions we talked about last weekindrel story. Yeah,
and then but then he like three years later he
like literally lost his drop to Mark Boulger and then
signed with the Giants.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Is a back. Boulger is pretty good too. Yeah, he's
not the best in the franchise history, but he's got
to say a top five.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
For sh it was there, But it was just that
that the fact he's a Hall think about he's a
Hall of Fame quarterback. It took it to age twenty
seven or was the start a game, and then he
lost his job three years years later and was up
became like his career backups. H He's back to be
like he backed up Matt Linert. That's what he's brought
out for. He had to beat out event liner was
bad enough, you eve, Otherwise if the Liner was.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Like okay and adequately, they wouldn't give him the reasons
he can player.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Warner might not play, but it doesn't doesn't make that
second super Bowl doesn't start. You know, get three or
four more years where he was a prolific passer and
maybe he's not, probably not. It definitely is in the
Hall of Fame, right. It's kind of crazy how that
all all played out, But.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
We'd weird Avenue I took us. Yeah, he's certainly the
best Lions quarterback ever, although Goff might catch him if
he wins the Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
It's just crazy because especially like the Pro because the
Pro Bowl now they've they've changed it now there's not
a real game and people don't back out all it.
But it is weird to not have that money because
I mean, Tyler Hyde made a Pro Bowl. It's like,
I feel like, if you're a starting quarterback, you're gonna
make up Pro Bowl. You get healthy and you're not
just bad, you don't get benched, like you're probably gonna
make the Pro Bowl. I feel like a decade ago
when everybody was opting out and in the two you know,

(32:10):
the conference ship, you're eliminating the conference championship quarterback essentially
because Super Bowl one can't go and the other one
does want to go two weeks in a row, all
that kind of stuff there for a while, and you
only made the Pro Bowl twice. Kind of kind of
odd to me, as good as he's been for as
long as has been.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yes, all right, so your number four was the Colts, correct? Yes,
So my number three team as we get to number
three is the Seattle Seahawks. Is your number three the
Buffalo Bills? Oh yeah, okay, this is interesting, Yes, top
three a lot. I'm gonna start with Seattle. They have
been playing lately about as good as they look in

(32:46):
those throwback uniforms and those blue jerseys with the silver helmets.
What a complete team, great defense, Sam Darnold playing great football,
playing MVP level football right now for Seattle an explosion
against the Commanders. In the first quarter of that game,
he had like four touchdown passes before halftime against him.

(33:07):
The only reason he didn't have a perfect passer rating
was because he threw an interception. He was like twenty
one for twenty three for a crap ton of yards
and four touchdowns. That's one fifty eight point three work
right there. But he threw the pick, so he wasn't
able to get that perfect passer rating type of game.
But I just think that the Seahawks are a really
complete team. It's funny that NFC West has I think

(33:30):
two nailed on legitimate Super Bowl contenders right now, with
the Seahawks and the Rams, and.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
We had you have them both in your top four.
I have them both well, both in your top by
top three. Yeah, sure too. Yeah, yes, there we are. Yes,
they're both my top two. You're right, I think yes,
because we're on number three. Oh my number three is not, Yes,
my number three is the Buffalo Bills. Will I guess
I'll leave my Rams and Seahawks talk for later. Yeah,
the Bills. Like you got to give him credit still,

(33:57):
I mean, you're like keep saying it's empty cowes for
them because it's just like they've seen this movie before.
If you're a Bills, like, I can't imagine the level
of because you get real excited, you beat the Chiefs,
you slay that the mighty Chiefs. But like, don't we
do this all the time and it doesn't matter and
no one's gonna care or every's gonna make fun of us.
We lose again, we'll be rolled depressed, Jaye andwhere for
losing them again? And yeah that's where they are until
that changes. It's like, okay, nice win. But in terms

(34:20):
of in regards to the power rankings, where the team
is right now? You know we you know the Bills,
you really, I really thought Dad would have made a
trade deadline deal because you just feel like you talk
about a window being an open and a need to
break through and just like a roster that's not that
has areas you could upgrade. Right, It's not as if
there certainly were easily identical, identifiable areas that you'd probably

(34:42):
like to add. But as much as I sort of
like feel like the Bills are almost like Sleepwalckey, they
are still sticks. And two you know that Falcons game
is a is a smear on their resume. You know
it's not something, but you know they're they're still winning.
They are one of the losses New England. They have
them there, so they're happing the top of my AFC

(35:03):
power rankings right now, Do I still think one of
the AFC? Probably not, though probably the Chiefs, right yeah,
probably the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Number two. I have the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
That our biggest discrepancy of spot descriptions, just because again
they didn't do anything this week on to buy, but
like no one else did anything either.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Everybody was very unimpressive. So the Eagles kind of by
default just kind of ascended back to that number two spots.
My two and one is boring. Eagles are two. My
number one. You could probably fill in that blank right now,
but I'll tell you in a second. Who's your number two?
I'm dying to see who's of this Rams Seahawks tandem
falls to two, and who's number one?

Speaker 2 (35:41):
La Rams? Number two? You your two young number of
Star Search. Star Search was like American Idol for American
I don't and they would go through and then number
two they would have to say number one because you
didn't want to get the.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Run around runner up because the number one knows yes,
But now everybody knows that you think the Seahawks are
the best team.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I mean, obviously there's some recency bias there. I mean
just watching that game, like I mean the Commanders, they
talk about team that looks seams like what dead men
walking right now? And I get their quarterbacks hurt. They
there's something's wrong there. For sure, that was part of that.
But just either go on the road and just like
machine yes, easy stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
And you know, if you're questioning Sam Darnold as the
obviously we saw them in person in Pittsburgh and it
seemed like the all the games the Steelers are played,
that was like a manhandling I feel like from from
the Seahawks in terms of what they could do. And
and now again their resume that there are only two
losses are four points of the forty nine Ers and
three points of the Bucks, two teams that we had.

(36:36):
You know, I mean, what do you think of the
forty nine ers or whatever? But two teams that are
playoff caliber teams and now they've been beaten. Gone there
you have the last three wins, and I get again,
I guess Washington's not what we think they are what
we thought they were, But Jacksonville a going to Houston
good defense, and Washington their the last three wins. I
just I'm I'm impressed. And if the weekly power ranking,

(36:56):
we'll see if it's it's sustainable or not. But they
have they have the last team I saw. There was
no Sunday night game, wasn't the last team, but who
cares about the Cardinals?

Speaker 1 (37:05):
So I wasn't able to watch cars sucks. Number one
for me is the Buffalo bill have circled their wagons
and they are back at the top of the Power
of rankings after being out of the top five I
think in previous weeks. But a nice win against the
Kansas City Chiefs. That really isn't that nice of a
win because they do it almost every year against the
Kansas City Chiefs. But hey, someone had to be number one.

(37:26):
It was a bad week for really strong, you know,
contender teams in the NFL. I can't even get through
it without as off. So we're gonna take a break.
Actually right now, he's KRISI Damski. I'm tom up from it.
It's just the toe when we come back our quick
little preview of the Chargers this Sunday night. It's a
Steelers Blitz on Steelers Nation Radio, part of the Steelers
Audio Network. I saw him up and KRISA. Damski wrapping

(37:54):
up the Steelers Blitz today. And since it is a Wednesday,
it's time to start turning the page, Chris, start looking
forward to our future opponent. It's time for just the toe.
This is where we just dip our toe in the
water and give you a nice little sense of what
you're gonna be dealing with when it comes to the
La Chargers this Sunday night in La West Coast road trip.

(38:18):
But I actually kind of like it when it's a
Sunday night game and you have to go out west, right,
I think that kind of helps with the whole Like,
you know, we're traveling, the body clock might be a
little bit off. It gives you a little bit extra
time to adapt, to adjust to get ready for that game.
I know the Steelers also like to leave earlier on
Saturdays than usual if they're traveling up and down the
East Coast to get out west and give players that
extra time to get out there. So that's a little

(38:40):
bit of a hurdle that you got to deal with
this week is this is your outside of Dublin, your
furthest travel game of the season. So you got to
get over that hump. It has to be close to
Dublin too, now that I'm thinking about it, you know
what I mean? Like, it can't be that egregiously far.
Pittsburgh to Dublin. Interesting, Pittsburgh to La. I'm not Magellan,
for God's sakes. Though I'm not a photographer. Okay, don't

(39:01):
hold me to it. Justin Herbert's the headline, right, I
mean how Jonathan Taylor was the headline when it came
to the Colts, Herbert is the guy when it comes
to the Chargers. You kind of throw the head coach
in there too, Like Herbert and Harborugh are kind of
like the identity pieces of the team. But it is
all about Justin Herbert. That team goes through Herbert, Herbert, Harbaugh, Herbert.
You see that Harbaugh took that job because of Justin Herbert.

(39:24):
I mean it's Herbert, Herbert, Herbert, Herbert.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
He seems to have a man crush on Herbert. He's
always saying, like this team, what do you say? Like
this team? Is built around this command. He's like such
a great people don't realize how great he is. It's weird,
it really is. It gets a little weird. It's kind
of creepy intel point. But no, he's, uh, you know,
Herbert's the like I'll not to relive six years ago draft.
I'm like, oh, he's a bust. I just didn't see
it like he I just felt like he was the

(39:47):
tall like like you look look like a quarterback for
the central casting quarterback.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, but it was just got this guy right out
of you know, a catalog. He can't actually, and it.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Was kind of like mad Oregon.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
You know.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
That was when Oregon's was like, you know and just
said I didn't think I thought it was just like
they're over they're drafting for tools and he doesn't have it.
But he's obviously proved that wrong. Although and he is.
He's the Chargers. We talk about it. The Chargers are
what they are. The Chargers always good, but the Chargers
never win either, never went in the playoffs and everything
like that. So that that's a whole nother discussion to
have about that. But yeah, and remember like I thought

(40:18):
Mike Thomon was because you when they came last year.
That was when he was he was like half of
Justin Herbert, right, or he was was immobile Justin Herbert,
or he finish the game. Yeah, and that was he needed.
That was like he was the first half of last season.
But and it's weird because you know, we talked about
Jim Harball and the Chargers want to rely or want
to be a physical team, and and so as much

(40:39):
as they are the identity of Herbert, it's almost as
if their offins idea he isn't that. But when you
when you have a MVP level QB that that's too
far to say. But got the caliber, Yeah, he's a
top ten QB, right, I don't think anyway you can
say that. Yeah, So if you have that ability in him,
both in terms of intan you've seen him have some

(41:01):
comebacks and you've also he throws a nice deep ball.
He can definitely push the ball down field. And getting
a lead against the Chargers, despite their one their identity
to be a physical running team, getting a lead that
could Chargers, you know, it's not necessarily like a safe
thing where they're not able to come back.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
You mentioned that the last time they faced Herbert, technically
he was injured, didn't finish the game. Steelers get a
twenty to ten victory at Akrocher Stadium just a year ago. Correct, Yeah,
I think that was last year. It was Justin Fields
was the starting quarterback for the Steelers in that game.
The last time they played at Justin Herbert that was
healthy though, Chris. That was out in LA. The last
time the Steelers went to the West Coast to play
the Chargers. Yeah, a crazy game. The Steelers actually came

(41:42):
back and took the lead late in that football game
after being down by several scores. Then they folded again
and the Charges were able to come down the field
and end up scoring the game winning touchdown. Herbert torched
him though, four hundred plus yards through the air, But
the big key in that game was the ninety yards
on the ground from Justin Herbert on nine attempts. Just
remember so many times Chris sees would open and he

(42:03):
would just scamper for fifteen twenty yards just to extend drives.
It was a huge problem and that is not a
problem that has gone away. When it comes to the
Chargers and Justin Herbert, we mentioned how they're still running
the ball decently well earlier in the show, even though
they lost to Mario on Hampton and they lost in
Agie Harris for the season. Justin Herbert's been helping them
with that. I mean, Kamani Vidal has been good, but

(42:23):
Herbert was their leading rusher last week with fifty seven yards,
So that's still a part of his game you have
to worry about. And it's given the Steelers a bit
of trouble this year when it comes to those mobile quarterbacks.
Justin Fields had a big game against them. Drake May
was pretty effective with his legs. Now. Funny enough, they
keep beating those quarterbacks even though they've been giving the
defense some trouble.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
By the way, it's kind of a throat just looking
back to that game, just because I'm going to see
Eric Hemron and Pat Fridmouth both that touchdowns, like Eric
double tight end touchdown game with the Steelers of kind
of making pass for a year, right, Yes, that's right, Yeah,
Pat patch rookie year, Ben's last season and the winning
touchdown the tie together. Just because No, I've never.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Thought Mike Williams, Yeah, I know that despoiled that one.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, yeah, I made like three Mike Williams references so
far today and hopefully never again when we talk about
Mike Williams.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
But that was, that was back when he was good. Yeah,
that was back when Mike Williams was a legit. Yeah
that was.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
But that was one of the wilder Steelers games than
the non Bengals edition. If we take away back, it's
like every year there's a wild Bengals game, right because
the Bengals score a lot and they can't stop anymorey
so every game the Bengals plays got a wild But
if you take away it's like if you take away
Steelers Bengals games. I think that Stewarts Chargers game this
decade might have been the in terms of esthetic. You know,
they you know, didn't win and all that stuff. So
you don't want to say it's the best game if

(43:36):
you're Steeler fan, but it was esthetically pleased that fourth quarter.
It was. It was twenty seven to ten Chargers heading
to the fourth quarter and ended up forty one to
thirty seven. Stewart scored twenty seven points in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
So what I mean they came back and took the lead,
like they had a lead. They get to the r
defense go ahead to get out there because you've been
stopping them so well all game long. Go out there
when it's the football game, they score, and we can
talk about this maybe more tomorrow or as the week
goes on. The Chargers and Steelers have engaged in some
pretty high scoring, pretty exciting games in recent memory, and
a lot of that was because Ben and Phil were

(44:06):
in their primes dueling each other. We'll get more into
the Chargers tomorrow and Friday. That's it for just the
tow our quick look at LA Chargers. Chris Adamski and
myself will be back tomorrow. I am Tom Opperman. Thanks
has always for giving us a listen. This has been
the Steelers Blitz on Steelers Nation Radio, a part of
the Steelers Audio Network.