NFL Week 5 Power Rankings + Bengals New QB1

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Triple Threat Show. I am
your host, Jeremy Lapetis. It is a beautiful Wednesday, October eighth.
Hope everybody is having a great day so far. We
have a lot to get into. It is Wednesday, which
means it is time for our NFL shows. We're gonna

(00:25):
go over my big questions from the NFL Week five.
We'll go over our power rankings as we do each
and every single Wednesday, and then we're going to finish
off our show talking a little bit about the massive
trade that took place yesterday between Joe Flacco and the Browns,
now being on the Bengals collecting one more punch in

(00:48):
his AFC North punch card three out of four. Not
too shabby for the veteran over there, see if he
can make it over to the Steelers before the end
of his career. We'll talk about all of that and more,
but we're gonna start off with the NFL Questions lessons
learned from Week five of the NFL here today. There

(01:10):
are a lot of things we can take away from it,
a lot of good, a lot of bad. But I
want to start off with the Thursday night football game
I want to start off with what we learned from
that Thursday night football game. You know what I learned
from that Thursday night football game. Let what I really
already knew. Any quarterback can be successful in the Kyle

(01:31):
Shanahan offensive system as long as they listen to him.
It's that kind of situation where your head coach and
your system is so good that it doesn't matter what
you have behind center, as long as they are operating
your offense as it is designed. We saw him take
Jimmy Garoppolo to a Super Bowl. We've seen him take

(01:53):
Rock Purty to a Super Bowl. Now look what he's
doing with one Mac Jones. Mac Jones has not been
good since his rookie season, when he had the support
of a defensive Player of the Year and a very
solid defense behind him, along with probably the best weapons
of his career. Now he is blessed with some really

(02:13):
good weapons over in San Francisco, like Christian McCaffrey, but
the rest of the weapons just aren't quite there.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Kendrick Bourne went.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
For one hundred and forty three yards, right, That's not
something that I don't think anybody had on their BINGO
card at the beginning of the Year Kendrick Bourn one
hundred and forty three yards. And if you had that
on your bingo card, I applaud you for being no
Stradamis and being able to see the future. I don't
expect anybody else to really see that or really have
predicted that. But the question now becomes, you've paid Rock Purdy, right,

(02:45):
You've given him fifty five million dollars a year.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
He is your guy.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
But with how good Mac Jones is playing, is it
purty or is it the system? And that was always
the question surrounding Perty right when he first came in.
He takes over her Jimmy and he goes on this
magical run and then he just continues to win, and
then he deals with injuries and everyone on that team
gets destroyed, and they decide, you know what, Rock Purdy

(03:10):
is the guy. He is a floor raiser. He's a
guy that's going to make a difference for us, and
he gets paid. But now we're seeing mac Jones do
a similar thing. And look, I will say I still
think Purdy is better than mac Jones. You look at
the little things that he can do, especially extending the
play with his legs. That stuff that is not built

(03:31):
into that Shanahan offense. But when a play breaks down,
you need to be able to make something. But at
the same time, one of the reasons that Purdy hasn't
been as successful as Jones and really this last year,
is because there is this change in his philosophy. I
guess he's throwing the ball less, trying to make things

(03:52):
happen more when he needs to just play within the
system a little bit. And some of that comes with
losing your weapons. Right, you trade away Debo, you lose
Brandon Ayuk after paying him. He hasn't played more than
three games since he's been paid. Brandon Ayuk. George Kittle
is in and out of the lineup, Christian McCaffrey in
and out of the lineup. The offensive line is dealing
with injuries. That's just a chronically injured San Francisco squad.

(04:16):
But mac Jones is making it work. He's doing it
with guys like Kendrick Bourne. He's doing it with Christian
McCaffrey's help. He's doing it without Ayuk, without Debo, without
George Kittle. Right, these are things that you can get done,
and you're seeing it against what was a really good
defense in the RAM. So the question I'll pose to
you is is Purty going to get his job back?

(04:37):
And if so, how short is the least right Perty
will get his job back. I guess I phrased that
a little bit weird. Perty's going to get his job back.
But is mac Jones proving that he can be an
NFL starting caliber quarterback again? Or is he proving that
he is someone that can be really successful in a system?

(04:58):
Is he someone that is what we're gonna call a
system merchant. There's a couple quarterbacks like that, right. You
have your brock Parties, you have your Jared Goffs, you
have your you have your Mac Jones, You're Jimmy Garoppolo's.
You have guys like this that are system quarterbacks, is
what I'll call them. You know, these are guys that

(05:18):
are only gonna be successful if you have a good
system or good talent, and most importantly, a good offensive
line around them. I'll throw Sam Darnold into that category
as well, with Clint Kubiak over there, Kevin O'Connell the
year before. There are plenty of guys that have seen success,
have been lauded as top ten quarterbacks, even Daniel Jones

(05:41):
can go into this category as well. Right, you get
them into a good system. You saw with Dable that
first year that worked out really well, and now you're
seeing it over there with Shane Steigen. It's working over
there with the Colts. Right there are there are lots
of things to like with these system quarterbacks, but you
have to get them in the right system. And I
think that's something that NFL teams need to understand. The

(06:02):
reason Brock Purdy got paid so much is because Brock
Purdy was in the Kyle Shanahan system. He's a good quarterback,
but he's nothing more than a good quarterback. He's nothing
more than what Jared Goff is at his peak of
his powers.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Which is a good quarterback.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
I think the people calling Jared Goff top ten are
kind of crazy because he can't do it if there's
pressure in his face. Now Purdy can make something happen.
But at the end of the day, the question being
stated is this going to be what opens the eyes
for NFL teams? I know what's a risk. There was
lots of conversations about paying Brock Purdy or not. This

(06:40):
NFL offseason. They go out and they do it because
I feel like they kind of had their hands tied.
You can't really go out and take the risk of
not signing him. But at the same time, in that
Shanahan system, maybe they just don't need a quarterback to
be successful. Question number two that I had for you
guys here, I want to go a little bit more
onto the Sunday side of things, and I want to
focus on the rookie quarterbacks. I'm gonna start off in

(07:02):
New York here. The Jackson Dart era has started. They
win the first game against the Chargers. They look to
be going to and zero against the Saints. They start
off hot. Two straight drives down the field, finds tight
end Theo Johnson twice goes up fourteen to three. Nice lead.
But then everything just crumbles. It's not that Jackson Dart

(07:24):
started playing bad. It's that they got a couple bad breaks.
Darius Slayton drops a deep ball, Darius Slayton fumbles, then
then Jackson Dart fumbles, Then camp Skataboo fumbles in the
second half. All of these are after long, long drives.
Jackson Dart played what I would say is a solid
football game. He didn't do anything special. He did have

(07:46):
that one atrocious fumble where he just dropped the football.
That's unacceptable, but it's a rookie mistake. You'll learn he
threw his first interception. There were some bad plays, don't
get me wrong with Jackson Dart. There were some that
make me want to cover my eyes, scream and throw
and throw him off of the team. But at the
same time, Jackson Dart made plays with his legs that

(08:08):
we haven't seen in a long time. I think Jackson
Dart is going to have success here in the future.
And I know they just lost to the Saints. I'm
well aware of that. That's not something that's going to
you know, change, But still there is a lot to
like with him in a system. Again, we just finished
talking about system quarterbacks. You put Jackson Dart in a system,

(08:31):
one designed by a good offensive mind, a good offensive
play caller like Brian Dable, they can be successful. You
get more weapons around him, right I have to remember
he's doing this without his best weapon now. His best
weapon on that team right now is who Kim Skataboo?
Is it Wan Dale Robinson, is it Darius Slayton, Theo Johnson.
This is not an offense that has any kind of

(08:53):
elite playmaker. You lose Malik Neighbors, Tyrone Tracy's coming back.
Is he the best weapon over there? No, he's not
going to be. You don't have a weapon for Jackson Darts.
So it's not going to be a good season. It's
not going to be an easy season at all for
the Giants. But still there are things to light with
Jackson Dart's performance, and I'm not ready to crucify him

(09:14):
after one bad loss with a bunch of turnovers. On
the other side of the coin, Dylan Gabriel makes his
debut against a Vikings defense that can confuse even Peyton Manning. Right,
they had him on the Manning cast and the Vikings
were playing on Monday Night Football and Brian Flores confused
Peyton Manning. And yet Dylan Gabriel goes out, doesn't throw

(09:35):
an interception, two touchdowns. He looks really solid.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
The game plan was easy, as it should have been
for a rookie quarterback making their first start over across
the pond in London, going up against a good defense,
a really tough defensive scheme. They relied on the run
game in quin Shawn Judkins, who had a good game.
They relied on the short passing game, but Dylan Gabriel
didn't turn the ball over against a defense that famously

(10:01):
is really hard to read, and that is impressive. They
move off of Joe Flacco, I think because they saw
what Dylan Gabriel did and they're like, you know what,
We're not gonna need to go back to him. Worst
comes to worst, we put in shitter Sanders or other rookie.
Give him a shot. Dylan Gabriel, I think looked really
solid and I think that's exactly what I want to see.
But the question here for you guys, is Dylan Gabriel

(10:23):
the answer after one game? And I know it's a
small sample size. Are you willing to say Dylan Gabriel
is the answer? Dylan Gabriel is going to be the
quarterback of the future for the Browns or are you
still skeptical? And what more do you need to see
out of the quarterback from Oregon to make him to
make you believe that he could be a future star

(10:44):
quarterback in the NFL? Last question, excuse me, the last
two questions that I have for you guys here. I'm
gonna start off with the MVP race. The MVP race
is weird this year, right, I'm not gonna lie to you.
It's wild seeing guys like Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones near
the top of the MVP list. But at the top

(11:05):
of that list right now, I believe has to be
one Baker Mayfield. The Bucks are four to one. Baker
Mayfield stats are amazing. You look at what he's been
able to do over the first five weeks of this
NFL season. They have won four games, Yes, but it
hasn't been super easy. Their defense is playing it about
as minimally bad as they possibly can.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Right.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
They're giving up the they're giving up about thirty points
per game, right, But every single time they go out there,
they have Baker Mayfield, and Baker Mayfield, without fail has
led them down the field. Other than the Eagles game,
where again he still did lead them down the field.
He made a couple big plays, but they were just one.
They were just a block punt of return for a

(11:49):
touchdown away from winning that football game. This is Baker
Mayfield MVP front runner. We had Justin Herbert up here
for a little bit, and he should still deserve to
be year here despite the numbers. Kind of falling off
over the last couple weeks with the two losses to
the NFC East squads. Justin Herbert hasn't done anything wrong.
That's a question. That's a question for another week. He's

(12:12):
going to continue to be mister hypothetical if man kind
of situation. But you go and look at that game,
and I'm getting off topic here, Justin Herbert's not the problem.
And anyone that think Justin Herbert is the problem is
just insane wrong and has not watched football, their box
score watchers, And if they watch Justin Herbert play, they'll
see that he's one of the best quarterbacks in the

(12:35):
entirety of the NFL. Outside of that, again, the question posed,
should Baker Mayfield be the MVP front runner? The Bucks
are four and one, largely due to largely due to
the fact that Baker Mayfield is being magical. Right, four
game winning drives, the first time that's been done in
the first five games of an NFL season since the

(12:57):
NFL merger in nineteen seventy. Right, it hasn't been done
since the NFL merger in nineteen seventy which for all
intensive purposes, and I know you can go back to
the NFL championships back in like the twenties. I don't
count those years when we're going to stats. The NFL
merger is the first one that I count when we're
talking about this kind of thing. So since the NFL
really began in earnest in nineteen seventy, this has never

(13:18):
been done before. Four out of five games with game
winning drives, Baker Mayfield has been clutch, super clutch. Ameca
Atbuca has stepped up big time. This is a Bucks
team that's going to be very dangerous, and Baker Mayfield currently,
at least in my opinion, you're NFL MVP front runner.
Last question that I had for you guys, and then

(13:39):
we're gonna move on to NFL power rankings. We're going
to talk a little bit about the Eagles, the Chiefs,
and the Ravens. Three teams that were Super Bowl favorites
heading into the year. The Eagles defending Super Bowl champions.
Of course, you have the Chiefs, who are always always
a threat. The Ravens, who I believe were favorites after

(14:01):
building a really strong looking roster, at least on paper.
But now the Eagles lose their first game and they
haven't really looked super competitive in a lot of these
other games, right, They've had to rely on some fluky wins.
Blocked punt against the Bucks, a couple blocked field goals
against the Rams to escape. Aj Brown has not been

(14:22):
getting the ball. This reminds me of the year after
they made it to the Super Bowl. Sakuon Barkley has
not been getting involved in this offense as much. Dalen
Hurts is winning games, but it's dangerous. This reminds me
of the Chiefs from last year, and of course the
Chiefs went on to make the Super Bowl. So I'm
not super concerned about this Eagles team, but it is
playing with fire a little bit. And I don't think

(14:42):
Jalen Hurts is that same level of quarterback as Patrick Mahomes.
I don't think Nick Sirianni is that same level of
coach as Andy Reid is. And I think having the
luck go your way is partially because you have guys
that can just make magic happen, like Patrick Mahomes in
Andy Reid. When you have Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianna,

(15:03):
you can make that happen, but it's not gonna happen
to the same degree it's not gonna be the same
level of success. So if they keep putting themselves in
these situations, they're gonna win more than they lose, but
they're not gonna win more than they lose like the
Chiefs did last year where they won fifteen games. They're
gonna be looking more at like a ten win season
and sneaking into a playoffs because that team in the

(15:24):
Commanders is going to be right on their tail. The
way that Jayden Daniels is playing right now, the way
that Debo is playing right now, getting Terry back, that's
not gonna be a lock up division, especially if they
keep playing the way that they are. A couple big
division games coming up for them. They got the Giants
on Thursday. But what's wrong with the Chiefs? We're asking
this all of last season?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Right?

Speaker 1 (15:45):
Why can't the Chiefs win games? Why can't the Chiefs
pull away? Patrick Mahomes and the offense now finally are
going right. They've put up thirty points just about in
each of the last three weeks, and yet they're two
and three. They dismantle that Ravens team dealing with a
million injuries, right, and that's why the Ravens aren't there.
They need to get injuries fixed quickly or they're going

(16:08):
to miss the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
You have.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
The defense that just hasn't been up to par. And
when you look at the Chiefs team, what's been a
huge thing that powers their dynasty is that defense led
by Chris Jones, who, like the last play against the Jaguars,
just kind of took off. That's not acceptable. They're at
the goal line. I know Trevor Lawrence went down. You
can kind of think that, oh, he's not getting back up,

(16:32):
we'll get to him. But once he gets back up
and he starts sprinting, you have to start sprinting too.
You have to start going for him. He could have
caught him. I don't think Trevor Lawrence would have broken
a Chris Jones tackle, especially in that situation. I truly
do believe that they had similar situation at the goal
line earlier in the game and the Chiefs were able
to force a fumble. Of course, it wasn't a fall down,

(16:54):
fall down, get up kind of situation. But Chris Jones
needs to play with more effort. That defense needs to
play with morefor I think the Chiefs have gotten it
into their head, especially after the last couple of seasons
that they can just kind of coast in the regular season,
but not this year. That division is good. You still
have the Broncos, you still have the Chargers ahead of them.
The Raiders aren't going to be too much of a threat,

(17:14):
but you have these teams ahead of you that if
you just walk through life, if you are the grasshopper
in the Grasshoppers and the Ants fable, right, that just
doesn't prepare for winter. Winter is going to come and
it's going to be frigid for you. You're not gonna
be ready when it comes down to crunch time. I
believe the Chiefs can turn it on, but I think
crunch time is is gonna be earlier from the Chiefs

(17:37):
than it has been in years past with how good
that division is. So those are my big questions. Following
Week five in the NFL. Was the Cards the worst
loss ever?

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Right?

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Sorry, I forgot about that one. That was atrocious. I
do want to touch on that before we get too
far here. That was the worst loss I've ever seen
in my entire life. The Cardinals lose on and Imri
de Mercado drop touchdown that after he broke a seventy
yarder just drops it at the half yard line, which
is unacceptable, right, you cannot drop the ball. I don't

(18:08):
understand how NFL players don't do that. He's never seeing
the field again, or at least if I was the coach,
I wouldn't let him see the field again, despite the
running back room being injured. To all hell, I'm also
super pissed at that defense. They made a great play
a tipped pass, an interception, and then you fumble it
and instead number thirteen on the defense goes for a

(18:31):
backward slap. He slapped it backwards into his end zone
like three times where Tyler Lockett falls on it, and
then you have to stop them again. You can't you
let cam Ward drive down the field three times in
the fourth quarter. An offense that was unable to get
anything done drives down the field three times in the
fourth quarter, first signs of life for the first overall

(18:52):
pick in cam Ward and they could not get it done.
The Cardinals the most embarrassing loss that I've ever seen
was the worst loss ever though. That's my question, what's
the real Jackson Dart? That's my other question, is Dylan
Gabriel for real? Is mac Jones better than Brock Purty,
Is Baker the MVP front runner? And what is going

(19:15):
on with the Eagles, Chiefs and Ravens. How do they
become Super Bowl champ super Bowl favorites yet again? Those
are my six takeaways, my six questions from NFL Week five.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
We're gonna take a quick break.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
When we come back, we turn our attention to the
NFL Power Rankings, the power rankings right around the corner
for week five. Strap in for those NFL Power rankings
right around the corner. Welcome back to the Triple Threat Show.
I am your host, Jeremy Lapitis. Today is a beautiful Wednesday,

(19:50):
October eighth. If you were just tuning in, we just
went over my six questions from the NFL in Week five.
Go check that out if you miss that already. In
this segment, we are going to turn our attention over
to the NFL Power Rankings, our NFL Week five tiers,
as we like to call it. It is a weird

(20:13):
week in the NFL. There are so many teams in
the worst tier the awful tier here, but we're just
gonna go straight thirty two to one. The first five
teams I've got are in that awful tier. We're gonna
start off with the only zero to five team in
the NFL right now, that being the New York Jets.

(20:34):
The New York Jets oh and five on this season,
and it has not been a pretty oh to five
let me tell you. Despite a couple of high moments,
that offense has just not been good enough. The defense,
with Aaron Glenn who was supposed to come in and
fix it, has been one of the worst in football.
They have not looked competitive, and the Jets for the
first time, fall to the number thirty two slot. The

(20:57):
Titans get a win. Colaps for the tight Congratulations they're here.
At thirty one. Cam Ward gets his first win of
the NFL. All he had to do was tell everyone,
tell his team for the world to hear that they
were playing like ass that is bad. The Titans at
number thirty one. The Saints at number thirty get their

(21:17):
first wins. Shout out to Spencer Rattler was zero to
ten in his first ten career starts heading into that
one now gets his first career win. The Saints one
and four on the year, beat up on the Giants
with a really nice defensive performance. Saints move up two spot,
their highest rank ever at number thirty. The Bengals at

(21:38):
number twenty nine. This is despite Joe Flacco coming in,
not because of it. Joe Flacco, I think, is just
going to be another extension of Jake Browning, except I
think he's gonna throw the ball downfield. That's the only difference.
Jake Browning and Joe Flacco, I think are a very
similar tier of quarterback. They're still going to throw a
lot of interceptions. They're still going to throw a lot

(21:59):
of interceptions.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
But what Joe Flacco.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Brings you to the table is that Joe Flacco will
just bomb it downfield. That is something that they have
not had. Jamar Chase and T Higgins are gonna eat
a little bit. Maybe they can get the running game going,
but that defense is still probably the worst in the NFL,
and because of that, they're not gonna win many games.
Bengals at twenty nine. At twenty eight, I've got the

(22:26):
Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have played a couple of hard
fought games. They blow this one. They don't have Tyreek Hill,
but I am impressed with the way that they played
against what is a solid a solid Miami defense Dolphins
up to number twenty eight. I still need to see more,
but I am not as gung ho on moving off
of McDaniel right now. If he continues to play like this,

(22:47):
do I think he's still getting get fired? Yes, absolutely,
but mid season I don't.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Know about that.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
At number twenty seven, I have the Las Vegas Raiderscuse
me almost said Oakland there. The Raiders have been just
the worst in the NFL. I cannot fathom how bad
they've been. Gino Smith has thrown multiple interceptions in all
but one game this season. He leads the league by
a mile. It is just not working. Ashton genties started

(23:15):
to get going, but with Brock Bauers hurt, Trey Tucker
has been your wide receiver one. Jacoby Meyers is going
to get traded at the deadline. I believe this is
just a really bad Raiders team. They're at twenty seven
twenty six in the NFL the New York Giants. The
New York Giants lose with Jackson dark to the Saints,
but I don't think this was the real Giants squad.

(23:37):
I love that defense. Brian Burns is feasting. The way
that defense is playing is really good.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
It was all turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I said it five times because they turned it over
five times. The New York Giants, if they play clean football,
will win a couple of games, although this one stings
because it was particularly winnable. The Browns at number twenty
five move up. I really did like what I saw
out of Dylan Gabriel. I'm a big fan of it.
I like what we saw again against a very good defense.

(24:06):
A Brian Flores defense is not easy to pick apart,
and he didn't necessarily pick them apart. But he didn't
make mistakes, which is huge to see. The moment wasn't
too big for him. Shout out to him over across
the pond. We'll see if he can continue it for
the next couple of weeks. The Cardinals fall six spots.
That was again, maybe the worst loss I've ever seen.

(24:27):
It's unacceptable to lose like that, not just because it's
the Titans, but because the way they lost. We talked
about it in the last segment right at the end,
the Cardinals unbelievable loss. I cannot believe that that is
how it ended. Guze the Cowboys up one spot to
number twenty three. Dak Prescott playing like a true MVP frontrunner.

(24:51):
They're gonna get Seed lambback, if not this week, then
next week, and that is a huge thing to watch.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
That offense is about to explode, the defense playing little
bit better.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
But at the same time, it's not really good enough
for me to say anything super positive about the Dallas Cowboys.
The Bears at number twenty two.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
They were on by.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
We're not gonna punish him too much. They move up
a spot just because other teams moved down. But I
do like where this Bears team is at. They got
a big revenge game, revenge for the Hail Mary that
took the soul of the Bears last season. They were
two and two and then you know, they didn't win
another game really after that. It was just all downhill
from the Hale Mary.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
The Bears.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Week five Monday Night Football Kayleb Williams versus Jayden Daniels
should be a fun one. The Vikings are up here
as well. I know they've been playing a couple of
tight games. They just win against the Browns in London.
They were there. They should have won that game. It
shouldn't have been that close. Rookie quarterback Brian Floores. Defense,
Carson Wentz is doing what he's supposed to do. You'd

(25:53):
like to see him not be as erratic with the ball,
but as long as you have Justin Jefferson, you've got
a chance. The Vikings they put at twenty one. The
Panthers at number twenty. Huge comeback victory. I'm a Bryce
Young believer. You can tattoo that across my face. I
believe in Bryce Young. He is going to be a
good NFL quarterback. But he has his moments where he

(26:14):
just is maybe the worst in the NFL, and then
he turns it up. And when he turns it up,
he's a real good quarterback. The Steelers stay at number nineteen.
They had a bye week this week. Nothing more to
say about them. The Falcons down two spots two number eighteen.
This is a Falcons team that still is a little bipolar.

(26:35):
They had a bye week last week. We'll see how
they come off of the bye. That's going to be
a big question for them. Patriots move up three spots,
a dismantling of their division opponents, the Buffalo Bills. Drake
May with a near perfect game, Stefan Diggs had a
nice revenge game, and this is a Patriots team that
if they can keep playing like that, they get the
Saints next week, build a little bit of momentum, they're

(26:58):
going to be very dangerous when it comes to the
NFL playoffs. The Ravens at number sixteen here, they're down
four spots. The Baltimore Ravens are a good team, guys,
I swear, I promise, I know it might not look
like it. They're one in four. Half of their defense
is out. In fact, more than half of their defense
is out. They've just picked up CJGJ from the waiver wire.

(27:20):
He's going to play some safety for them, which I
really do like as a pickup. Actually, Lamar Jackson hopefully
he can come back and play soon. That division is
kind of in shambles, So I won't say they have
no chance of making the playoffs, but if they don't
turn it around soon, it's gonna be tough. They don't
necessarily have the easiest schedule. Right coming up after this,

(27:41):
they're playing the Rams. Then they get a much needed
bye week. Bears, Dolphins, Vikings, Browns, Jets, Bengals, Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, Packers,
Steelers so it does get a little bit easier in
the second half. Excuse me, but getting to that bye
week is going to be huge. If they can, if
they can find a way to knock off the Rams
at least make it tight a little bit, that would

(28:02):
be huge for them. They're at number sixteen. The Seahawks
up to number fifteen. Sam Darnold playing like an MVP candidate.
Oh my god, I never thought those words would escape
my mouth. The MVP front runners are disgusting right now.
Daniel Jones, Sam Darnald, Baker Mayfield right, who would have
guessed that five? Who would have guessed three years ago
that those guys would be MVP front runners in the

(28:24):
Big twenty twenty five? I know I wouldn't have, and
I would have left you out of the room. The
Broncos at number fourteen, Welcome up to the playoff club,
Denver Broncos. Big win over the Philadelphia Eagles. I'm not convinced.
It's a little scary, but that defense is playing great.
Bo Nicks needs to play better. They get a big win.

(28:45):
Sean Payton passes Bill Parce sells shout out to Sean
Payton in the all time coaching win list. He is
going to have a He already has a Hall of
Fame level career, and he is going to get in
first ballot. The forty nine ers at number thirteen. Mac
Jones continues to win them games. They probably should have
lost that one. Issues on special teams, so the Rams

(29:06):
continue to hurt them. But the forty nine ers escape
with a big division victory and that NFC West is
wide open for them. With that win, the Texans up
two spots to number twelve. The offensive line survived against
a solid pass rush despite the Ravens still missing a
couple of pieces. I believe in this Texans team.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
CJ.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Stroud is playing good. They have a bye week this week.
Hopefully they can get some more stuff figured out. That
defense is elite. Chiefs at number eleven, they are back
outside the top ten. A loss to the Jaguars puts
them over here. That was a bad game. Two touchdowns
were practically gifted to them. A non call on an
offensive pass interference on the end they led to a

(29:46):
Travis Kelce touchdown.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Flag was picked up for them. That's crazy.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
A non call on a defensive pass interference that led
to a Kareem Hunt touchdown that didn't have a flag
on the ground, but also definitely a penalty.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
I'm not saying it's rigged.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
I'm not saying the Chiefs paid the refs, but I
am saying that the Chiefs should have lost that game
by more than they did. It was just a weird
game on Monday night football. Getting into the top ten
though the Chargers are still here. People are wanting to
drop the Chargers real far, and I have dropped them.
This is the worst spot I've had them all season.
They're at number ten. But this is a Chargers team

(30:23):
that I still believe in. Justin Herbert is playing amazing football.
I don't care what you say he should be in
the MVP conversation. Justin Herbert is amazing. He's a top
five quarterback. He is carrying that team, and everyone else
around him is failing. The offensive line is down to
third and fourth stringers. The running backs are down to
third and fourth stringers. The pass catchers are doing the

(30:46):
best that they can. But penalties are killers. Penalties are killers.
Ten penalties in that game.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
For the Chargers. It's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Justin Herbert was pressured forty five times in that game
by a Commander's defense that has really, really been bad
at getting pressure on quarter. The Chargers are a mess.
They need to figure that out now. The Jaguars at
number nine, welcome into the top ten Jacksonville Trevor Lawrence
with a couple of magical plays after a couple of
really bad plays. This is again a very bipolar team.

(31:16):
But that defense is led by Devin Lloyd, who's a
DePoy candidate. He is going to be in that conversation.
He's already got four interceptions on the year, including that
ninety nine yard pick six for the Jaguars that helped
lead them to victory on Monday Night Football. I'm a
big fan of this Jags team. They're all the way
up to number nine, Liam Cohen Coach of the year
in my mind. The Colts, excuse me, another coach of

(31:38):
the Year front runner Shane Stichen over here. The Colts
are up to number eight. Jonathan Taylor Offensive Player of
the Year front runner, three more touchdowns for him. They
dismantle the Raiders, they continue to win the games they
need to win. I'm curious how they're gonna do against
tough teams. We've seen them lose to the Rams, we've
seen them. Probably should have lost to the Broncos if
not for a penalty a leverage, But that doesn't matter.

(32:01):
The Colts are winning games. I'm not gonna rain on
their parade. Shout out Danny Dimes, Shout out the Colts.
They are continuing to prove everybody wrong. The Commanders at
number seven, they've been here for a while. They're gonna
continue to be here. They're still not at full strength,
which is scary because you can see the offensive wheels
start to click. Once they get Terry back and ready
to go, this offense is going to explode. If that

(32:24):
defense can play a little bit better, If they can
hold teams to just twenty points a game, that should
be enough for the Commanders to win a lot of
football games this year. The Packers were on by this week.
That doesn't stop me. They're down a spot. I've been
a little concerned with them. They gave up forty points
to the Cowboys. I know that's a good Cowboys defense,
but you've got to be better than that. The Packers
down to number six. We'll see how they rebound this

(32:46):
week against the Bengals. The Buccaneers into the top five.
Welcome Baker Mayfield to your home the top five. Baker
Mayfield with another comeback victory against another really good defense
in the Seattle Seahawks. I'm a big, big fan of that,
big fan of the Bucks. Abukas stepping up. You're gonna
get Mike Evans back soon. You already have Chris Godwin back.

(33:07):
You'll get You'll get a couple more receivers back. Tristan's
Wurf's back, he's playing good. You'll get get Decky back eventually.
A lot to like about this team. I'd like the
defense to step up a little bit though, before I
move them truly into the top tiers of the NFC.
The Rams at number four, they just continue to play
good football. They should have won this game. They should

(33:28):
have won the game against the Eagles. I'm not the
punishing type for games as you should have won, but
that's now too and if it becomes a pattern, a
pattern is concerning. They're down to number four, the Eagles
down to number three after blowing that game against the Broncos,
and maybe I should have punished them more, but I'm not.
This is still a really good Eagles team, one of
the best on paper. That was a couple of mental

(33:48):
mistakes that led to the Broncos playing some games. I'd
need the offense to show up more I do. It's
really concerning that the offense is not showing up. Get
Saque involved. This is a get right game against the Giants,
but this is a good Giants team that's hungry to
beat the Eagles. The Bills down one spot to number two.
They lose to the Pats. I know, a division game,

(34:08):
but you had to win that one. The Bills had
kind of been sleepwalking. They'd been playing with their food
a little bit, and they continue to do that against
the Patriots. But then turnovers hit. Josh Allen threw a
couple interceptions, some fumbles. This is not how you win
football games. Hopefully this is a wake up call for
the Bills because they're still I think the best team
in football when they try.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
But at number one.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Back at the top for the first time this season,
the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
The Lions have.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Called all the way back from number thirteen after a
really bad week against the Packers in Week one. They
have shown that they deserve to get respect. Jared Goff
playing really great football. You have aman Ross Saint Brown,
who is playing amazing. You have the running game that's back,
and the loss of coordinators is not really hurting them
at all, which is crazy. The defense now dealing with

(34:57):
injuries again, so this feels like it's going to be
similar story. They're down their top three cornerbacks at the
beginning of the season, Ennis Rakestraw in camp. They lose
DJ Reid in this one. That is just a tough,
tough look to is this is not good Terry on
Arnold dealing with an injury. He should be back soon,
hopefully for the Lions, but injuries have really hurt them

(35:19):
throughout all of Dan Campbell's tenure. Hopefully they can get
that figured out. But the Lions back to number one.
We'll run through our top ten and then we'll take
a look at where the AFC and NFC top threes are,
and you can tell me top ten for Week five
power rankings. The Chargers, the Jags, the Colts, Commanders, Packers

(35:40):
at number six, Box at number five, Rams at number four,
Eagles number three, Bills number two, and the Lions at
number one. But let's take a look at where we
stand as far as conference rankings. People always want to
look at the top three in each conference. And let's
take a look at that. The AFC has the Bills
at number one, Colts at number two, and the Jaguars

(36:04):
at number three, ahead of teams like the Chargers and
the Chiefs. That's number two, eight, and nine on the
power rankings. The NFC is really a top heavy They
have all but three of the top ten teams. The
Lions at number one, Eagles at number three, and the
Rams at number four make up the top three, but
the Bucks at number five, Packers at six, and the

(36:24):
Commanders at seven make up a real strong top six
for them. That's a tough NFC at the top. The
AFC is stronger in the middle, but at the end
of the day, it averages out to the NFC is
a little bit better, at least in my power rankings. Overall,
that's what we think. Let me know what your thoughts are.
I really would love to hear them. We're going to

(36:46):
take a quick break and then we'll finish up with
some talk about Joe Flacco and the Bengals. We'll be
right back here on the Triple Threat Show. Welcome back
to the Triple Threat Show. I am your host, Jared Lepetus.
If you are just tuning in. It's been a big
NFL day. Lots to talk about today from around the

(37:07):
world of football, including the big story from yesterday, Joe Flacco,
the new QB one for the Cincinnati Bengals. We'll talk
about that in a second before we do, though, if
you're new here, give us a follow.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (37:21):
I appreciate you guys being here, but give us a
follow everywhere? Right, You can find us on every single
platform everywhere you get your podcasts, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio,
Audible and more. You can find us on YouTube at
Triple Threat Show, Twitch at three Threat Show, Instagram at
three Threat Show, and on TikTok at the Underscore Triple

(37:44):
Threat Show. Check us out everywhere. We appreciate you. But
let's talk a little bit about Joe Flaco. Joe Flaco Elite,
Joe Flaco now on his third team in the AFC North,
and we kind of touched on it a little bit
when we talked about where the Bengals are at in
the power rankings. But Joe Flacco doesn't really move the

(38:06):
needle for me too much. I like the move. It's
an upgrade, no doubt about it. It's an upgrade over
Jake Browning. It definitely is, and that's not saying much
though you had plenty of options to go out there.
One of the more concerning reports that I've seen with
this story is that the Bengals didn't even try to

(38:28):
get guys like Jamis Winston. They didn't even try to
get guys like Russell Wilson, they didn't even try to
go out and get guys like Andy Dalton. Instead, they
called up the Browns and they said, Hey, I want
the cheapest quarterback possible. Give me the guy on the
vent minimum, give me Joe Flacco. That is just organizational malpractice.

(38:51):
They needed to win this season. Zach Taylor needed to
win this season. And well, I don't necessarily think Zach
Taylor is a good coach. I think Zach Taylor probably
should have been fired last season, maybe even the season
before then. They're not gonna fire him, but they're not
gonna do anything to make his situation better. They needed

(39:12):
to go out and get a quarterback that can not
turn the ball over and find the receivers, and they
got quarterbacks that can find the receivers. Joe Flacco can
bomb it downfield when He came to the Browns a
couple of years ago at the end of the year
and they were in that playoff chase. He just bombed
it deep and it worked. But now Joe Flacco is

(39:32):
forty years old. Now Joe Flacco doesn't have that same
arm strength. He is not going to be able to
step in and magically change this Bengals team fate.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
I like the move.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
I truly do like the move, but the fact of
the matter is they didn't do their due diligence. They said,
you know who, we want, the first guy we can,
the cheapest guy we can. And that's been the problem
with this Bengals organization really for its entire existence. You
can go back to Carson Palmer, really the first example
of my lifetime that I can think of of the

(40:08):
Bengals being cheap. They have a franchise quarterback and he says,
pay me or trade me, and they said.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Ah, pay you.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
I don't know if I can pay you, but trade you,
we can certainly do that. He goes on to have
a really good career elsewhere. Right Joe Burrow, He says,
pay my guys.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
They saw Joe.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
That's gonna hurt. Fine, we'll pay your guys. We'll pay you,
We'll pay your guys. And then it comes to building
a defense. A defense that when you went to the
Super Bowl was the strength of your roster. I don't
care if you had Jamar Chase. I don't care if
you had Joe Burrow. I don't care if you had T. Higgins.
The strength of that roster, the strength of that roster

(40:50):
was the defense. You had Trey Hendrickson, you had Sam
Hubbard who retired. You had a really good deep, you
had a really good secondary, you had a really good
pass rush. That is why you made the Super Bowl.
As good as Joe Burrow is and he's great, as
good as Jamar and T. Higgins are, and they're great.

(41:10):
You need a defense to win football games. It's an
old adage, right, defense wins championships, And that's half true.
If you have a good defense, it makes it so
much easier to win championships because if you can stop
the other team from scoring, you just need to get
a couple lucky breaks. You just need to score twice
instead of five times. You just need to score three times.

(41:34):
Instead of having a perfect offensive game, and with the Bengals,
a perfect offensive game is possible, but it's never easy.
There's a reason why you don't see perfect offensive games
all the time. There's a reason why teams aren't putting
up forty points every single week. It's because it's hard
to do. You can do it, you can play the

(41:54):
worst defense in the NFL, but you're still not guaranteed
to put up forty points every single time. And yet
the Bengals are expecting their offense to go out and
do that. Now, can Flacco save the Bengals? No? Can't
he keep them afloat where they're one game back in
that division right now? Maybe this is not an easy

(42:17):
Bengal schedule, right, I mean, let's take a look at
what's coming up for this Bengals squad. Right You have
the Packers this week. That's tough. A divisional game on
Thursday against the Steelers, it's a divisional game. You don't
really know the Jets. That's a winnable game for you.
The Bears also a winnable game. But the Bears have
their moments where they just beat up on bad defense

(42:39):
as we saw it against the Cowboys. That's not an
easy one. That's not an auto win. In the column,
the Steelers another divisional game, the Patriots another tough game,
the Ravens later on in the season when they'll be healthy,
the Bills, the Ravens again, the Dolphins winnable game, Cardinals.
I'll call that a winnable game as well. And then
the Browns. You know what, I'll call that a winnable

(42:59):
game despite you losing with Joe Burrow to this Browns
team that is at best five more wins for you.
That's a seven and ten season for you guys that
are at home that aren't keeping track, right, that's three
more wins that I that I feel pretty confident about counting.
If on the Bengals, that puts you at five and twelve.

(43:21):
Joe Burrow's not coming back in December. If you're not
five hundred or better. He's not gonna risk his career
to come back for this Bengals team. If you can't
be five hundred at this point, with the offense that
they have, they should be competitive, but they can't get
anything done. Will Joe Flacco help them? Yes, he will

(43:41):
help them. He's better than Jake Browning. But how much
better than Jake Browning is he? It's not that much
there's a reason that he was so cheap. There's a
reason it was just a fifth and sixth round pick
swap to get Joe Flacco. And it's not a reason
for this Sinnati Bengals to be excited. Go out get Jamis,

(44:02):
be excited. He's gonna turn the ball over, but he's
gonna throw for five hundred yards too. That's what you
should have done. That's a quarterback that fits your team.
Get him. Figure it out, because three weeks from now
you might be putting Jake Browning back in the game.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
We're gonna take a quick break.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
When we come back, we'll touch on playoff, baseball, hockey
season kicks off the bag of tricks, as I'm going
to call it here in sports coming up next here
on the Triple Threat Show. Welcome back to the Triple
Threat Show. I am your host, Jeremy Lapedis. Today is
a beautiful Wednesday, October eighth. If you were just tuning in,

(44:43):
we just went over a lot of football. But football
is not the only thing going on right now, believe
it or not. There's other sports that are taking place,
including the playoffs in one the en excuse me, the
MLB playoffs are here in full force. We had a
couple of really good games last night. Four games today,

(45:04):
four of them. First pitch at one excuse me, first
pitch at three PM between the Mariners and the Tigers.
Let's start off in that one. The Mariners take a
two to one series lead behind the power of the
big dumper. If you didn't see it, Cal Raley, it's
his sixty first home run of the season. It doesn't

(45:24):
count toward the record books because playoffs, but sixty first
home run of the season. The reason I'm touching on
this one specifically is because they hit it to a
fan that was wearing a dump sixty one here shirt here.
And you know what was even better about that, he
took that shirt off immediately after catching the sixty first
home run and had a shirt that said dump sixty

(45:45):
two here. That is elite fan play right there. That
is how you get your team to a World Series.
And this is a Mariners team that, if they continue
to play like this, is going to be very very dangerous.
That pitching elite. The bullpen did not live up, did
not let anybody in until that ninth inning when they

(46:05):
were throwing the guys that just weren't really going to
get a lot of run in the playoffs. Shout out
to the Mariners. The Tigers are just not good enough
to keep pace with them. Tigers are favored in this
game coming up, Game four, three pm.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
Here.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Bryce Miller on the mound for the Mariners. Casey Mize
on the mound for the Tigers. I'm leaning with the
Mariners here. I think they take care of business, win
this series in four games. The other game that took
place last night, and the next one that, excuse me,
not the next one, but we'll stay in the al.
The Toronto Blue Jays looked to close out the New

(46:42):
York Yankees last night, and they looked like they were
going to up six to one in that game, but
then the Bronx Bombers came out. Aaron Judge hit a
home run, Jazz Chisholm hit a home run, and all
of a sudden, it was eight to six, the Yankees
with the lead. The Yankee he's never looked back after that.
They get the rookie sensation, Cam Schlitzler on the mound

(47:05):
to go up against Luis Varland for the Blue Jays.
Here tonight, if Aaron Judge can keep playing like he is.
He is hitting nearly six hundred in these playoffs, nearly
five hundred in these playoffs. Use me, that's insane, that's
not normal. This is a really good Yankee squad. Aaron
Judge is really good. He's probably going to win the
MVP again. But these numbers, these offensive numbers, are concerning.

(47:28):
The Blue Jays put up their worst offensive run total,
but Laddi's hit home run in each of the first
three games of this series. That's not gonna be enough.
I need to see more from this Yankees' pitching staff.
If Schlitler can shut them down, this makes this really interesting.
Game five back in Toronto, But the Blue Jays have
famously not been great on the road forty and forty
one in the regular season. Back at home, though, they've

(47:50):
been dominant, So we'll see if anything will change. Game
four tonight. I think I'm rocking with the Yankees in
this one. Actually, Cam Schlitzler looks like he's gonna be
a to take it out. And like I said, the
Blue Jays just have not been able to get things
going on the road. Let's jump over to the NL
side of things here first, because both of these series
at two to zero, two close out games. For two

(48:13):
close out games here, we'll start off with the Cubs
and the Brewers. The Brewers have just dominated the Cubs
seven to three, nine to three in the first two
games of this series. Jamison ty One on the mound
for the Cubs and Quinn Priester on the mound for
the Brewers. This one is I just don't think the
Cubs have it. Honestly, we can talk about all the

(48:35):
ways that the Cubs have had the ability to put
to stay with this team to have the opportunity, but
the offense for the Brewers is going and with the
pitching of the Brewers, I just don't really see it.
They went through a bullpen game and they still dominated.
Quinn Priester just needs to go five innings and they'll
be just fine. In the other game Dodgers Phillies. This

(48:56):
one also, I want to I want to say this
series is going to continue. I do Yoshiobo, Mount Yamamoto
on the mound, who's had a really good, really good year,
his first playoff outing six point two innings of shutout baseball.
Aaron Nola on the mound. They got their ace out
there or at least what should be their ace. These

(49:16):
two games have been close, and it's been five three,
four to three, which means this one is gonna be
three to three.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
I'm kidding.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
I'm taking the Phillies in this one. They're gonna extend
the series. Kyle Schwarber's gonna hit a home run and
Bryce Harper also was gonna hit a home run. One
of those two will be a walk off. I'm taking
the Philadelphia Phillies to extend the series. One series will
end tonight, excuse me. Two series will end tonight. The
Mariners and the Brewers will move on. Yankees, Blue Jays, Dodgers,

(49:44):
Phillies will play another day and we will wait for
the NL and ALCS coming up next. We also saw
the NHL playoffs excuse me, NHL season puck drop last night.
A couple of big game for them. We saw the
Florida Panthers raise their second straight banner. The Florida Panthers

(50:07):
did shout out to them. They win three to two
over the Blackhawks. You saw the Penguins, I mean the Penguins,
who are supposed to be really bad going up against
the New York Rangers who have playoff Aspirations win three
to nothing. In the first game, Silos played really great
in goal for them. If that can continue, that's going

(50:28):
to be a dangerous team again. You just need to
get goalie, that's all it takes sometimes. And the Abs
continue their hot stretch four to one over the Kings.
The Abs are going to be really good this year. Natchius,
who was a trade accusation for them, two goals in
this one, McKinnon two assists, and this is just an

(50:49):
absolute domination tonight. The NHL continues. The Caps and Bruins
puck drop first game for both of them. Alex Ovechkin
on his race for a thousand goals, we'll see he
probably has to play at least two seasons for that one.
Don't know if they'll get there. The Canadians and the
Maple Leaves a battle for Canada, the Flames and the
Oilers another battle for Canada, and then we're gonna get

(51:10):
to see the new look Golden Knights take on the Kings,
who have already played two games in a row for them.
They're looking to get something going. But let me know
what your thoughts are on anything from around the world
of sports. There's a lot more going on as well
right the w the WNBA. They could have an elimination

(51:31):
game for their finals tonight as the aces are up
to zero over the Mercury. They're looking to close it
out at eight pm tonight. Keep an eye on that one.
That has been a really, really fun series so far, honestly,
and hopefully we get to see more of it. Game
two was a blowout, but Game one was a three

(51:51):
point game that really looked like it could go either way.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Keep an eye on all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
We will be back on Friday for game picks, game pick,
game picks, and more. We'll talk about all of the
NFL games, the Big College Football slate this week. We'll talk,
of course, about everything else going else going on around sports.
But I can't wait to see you then. This has
been the Triple Threat Show. I have been your host,
Jeremy Lapidis.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
We'll see you then. Bye bye,

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