NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Hope you had a merry Christmas, everybody, Happy Holidays. Welcome to a week seventeen edition of the official, the one, the Only, except no cut rate imitation NFL Power Ranking Show, presented to you by Energizer from his home office outside Chicago. On one side of the screen, Eric at home from my parents' home office somewhere outside our nation's capital, with a picture of Brian Side lurking over my shoulder. My name is Andrew Sicilian. I hope everyone had a fantastic
Christmas at home. What did Sanna bring you anything good?
Yeah? A lot of socks, A lot I think I got another boy, a lot of Yeah, a lot of books too, So I've really kind of settled into middle age here. How about you?
What did Sanna bring me a gift card to my favorite outdoor store?
And how about that Bete?
No, but I could use the oven mitt to now make something with the new cookbook? How about that? That work? That's right? I like it all right. Here's what Santa also brought you? No clarity really other than number one scan the QR code on the screen. Here we're go to NFL dot com slash Power Rankings to see the brand new heading the week seventeen two more weeks to go Power Rankings. You got the Ravens at number one. That's where the clarity is because they just thumped the
forty nine ers. San Francisco is too, Miami is three, Phillias four after an performance on Christmas Day barely hanging on and beating the Giants. The Lions are five, followed by the Cowboys, the Bills, and then God's team, the Cleveland Browns. Let's start with the Ravens. They, clearly, eric are the best team in football, and they're the team of the week, and the Team of the Week is presented to you by Truest. I thought they would beat the forty nine ers. I didn't think they would demoralize
the forty nine ers. I didn't think that they would plant a flag, not only for Lamar as MVP again, but for the clear number one Eric. I think the gap between number one and number two was huge on Christmas Night.
Absolutely right, and early on they had to kind of stem the tide a little bit. They had the early safety Niners had driven down the field twice, so there was a little bit of momentum and angry crowd, you know, folks wanting to get back home. But man, it was an impressive performance that I think was really spearheaded by
that defense. Mike McDonald's done such a great job. I think k'llby mentioned in head coaching interviews in a couple of weeks, but right now they're obviously focused on winning a Super Bowl, and this is the biggest statement I think they've made all season long. Correct me if I'm wrong. As you said, it checked off so many boxes, even without a run game. They didn't do a ton offensively early on, but didn't need to because they won the
battle in the line at the line of scrimmage. And yeah, this just says as much of off the Ravens I think it does about the forty nine ers.
I'm also glad that safety on the grounding from the first quarter didn't factor, so we wouldn't be talking about that all week as well. And by the way, lamar, why are you running twenty five yards backwards into the end zone. Yes, the official guy in your way, Yes it should not have been intentional grounding, but come on, dude, stop running twenty five yards backwards. The road to the super Bowl in the AFC, I think is pretty clear now.
It is going to run through Baltimore. That is, unless the Dolphins can beat the Ravens coming up this week in Baltimore, which I don't think they will do. Ravens win that game, they wrap up everything, the home field by and number one in the AFC. They are clearly the number one team. We'll get to the Dolphins in a second. The Niners are the best team in the NFC, Eric, you have them at number two overall. The bonkers stat for me is the Niners are one and three against
the AFC, nor one of three. They won Week one in Pittsburgh, destroyed the Steelers. They're ten and one against everyone else.
Yeah, and that's going to help them when they go for the top seed. Obviously, they're still the big favorites in the NFC to get that first round by you know, they're nine to one against the NFC right now. So yeah, it really doesn't sort of, you know, make you feel better about it, just but it is a little bit bizarre that they've had such trouble with this one division, and maybe it's toughness, right we saw the Bengals last weekend. Man handled things like that, and you say to yourself,
this is still the AFC Nord. This is still a physical division. So it does kind of paint a picture of really what the forty nine ers have to figure out in the trenches, not just defensively losing those two d tackles, but on the offensive line. A ton of injuries last Monday night. So yeah, they have some things to figure out on the line of scrimmage. For all their skill talent they have, that's a big concern for me right now.
You are not ready to throw brock perty forget about it out of the MVP conversation, but out of the quarterback conversation. You're not one of these go play Sam Darnold people, are you? No?
I think they handled it the right way, right He gets a little banged up on the sack and they say, hey, we're down to linemen here. We're not going to get you hurt behind a shoddy offensive line. So I understand the reactionary nature of that, but yeah, I'm not going there. You don't go from MVP too out of the lineup when in one week span.
I'm a huge Rock Party fan, I think Christian McCaffrey clearly showed his value to the national audience, not as if he had not done that before when he did what he did last night. My MVP vote, however, does go for Lamar Jackson. If I did have an MVP vote, he was the best player on the field. And I think, as Patrick Queen liked to say or said afterwards, nobody wants to play our style of football. And surprisingly on
Christmas Night that included the forty nine ers. We have the Dolphins at number three again they go to Baltimore this week, and then at number four we have the Eagles. Let's do future champions now and focus on the Eagles Future Champions presented by Fan Duel. This is odds to win the NFC East. The Eagles are minus four ninety. After the Cowboys lost in Miami and the Eagles win, this is going to be the Eagles division here. They are up one spot. They get the Cardinals at home
and then the Giants on the road. Who knows what the Giants are going to look like by that point week eighteen, they've already been eliminated. They have a quarterback question, as Tyrod had to come off the bench when Tommy DeVito couldn't get anything going. But as we said last week, Eric, the Eagles are fine, but they don't look like a champion. They don't look like a Super Bowl team here.
Yeah, are they truly future champions? Obviously last season came so close to winning it all. I think entered this year with the you know, even higher expectations in some cases, but it hasn't always quite added up. The defense has been a problem. They've let teams back in games, like you see with the Giants game up twenty to three. Backup quarterback comes in kind of rallies them, hurts making a couple of bad decisions, So you know, there's still all these loose ends. I feel like they have a
tie up, but they took care of business. They're now the big favorites to win that division, and obviously the spoils that come with at the home field advantage and all of that. But yeah, I still have to tighten up the whole operation, even with some witable games Arizona and Giants again coming up.
So the Eagles win the NFC East if they win this week and the Cowboys lose, as you have them here, they're the number four team and the look they can
still take and still make a run here. But the early noise in September, from what I thought were just bitter angry Eagle fans and writers who are looking something, looking for something to be bitter and angry about, seemingly was right all along, because the Eagles do have some issues, but who knows what's going to happen once they do get in and they are in in January, the Lions are in as well, Eric, and the Lions are in as champions of the NFC North. They are up to
they are now number five. What an amazing moment there, Dan Campbell after they beat the Vikings and they won the division for the first time in thirty years. That party in the locker room, there was a lot of cursing. But you know what, Dan Campbell, the cartoon, I think that many people thought he was forget about it. This guy's real and his team believes in him.
It was easy to jump on him as sort of a caricature, as you said, and the biting decaps and all that. But you know, there was a point a couple of weeks ago where this team looked really, really shaky in heading into big divisional games. Heading into a game against the Vikings that turned out to be a classic, you may not thought they had the mental toughness to do it. They really sort of firmed up there. Defense, made the four interceptions, just enough of plays offensively, you know,
Saint Brown and Jamier Gibbs has been terrific. Of course, Jamison Williams chipping in every week now, which is a great development. But yeah, this is a terrific moment for the Lions. Fans have waited so long. I still think there's work to be done though, Andrew, and obviously a big test this week with Dallas, so you know, they continue to prep for the playoffs. Now that you're in, you put all that behind you. You take the pressure
off of you. But you also have to realize that defense gave up a lot of yards to Nick Mullins and company. So there's still work to be done to make this thing humming at full operational speed.
Here and Nick Mullins did not play well, but they were still in that game to the very end. Obviously, Lions get the big pick late and they celebrate and they are NFC nors champions and they will get a home playoff game. I am happy for them. I'm also fascinated Eric to see what happens this week when the Lions go on the road. They're five, and then this week they visit the six. In your new Power rankings, the six are the Dallas Cowboys, who are down three
after losing in Miami to the Dolphins. That game, for me, was kind of a battle of paper champions, a battle of two teams that really hadn't beaten anybody. The Cowboys can't beat anybody on the road. The Dolphins just couldn't beat anybody. The Dolphins finally did beat somebody that was a Dallas team that couldn't win on the road. So I have no idea what to make of this team, or either of these teams or this game. All I know is you have the Cowboys last week at three and now they're at six.
Yeah, I'm with you. I had a hard time sort of placing the right spot for them. You're right, you know, the road woves continue. They are terrific at home. Obviously the lines are great on the road. So I think this game is going to be really interesting. As we mentioned, I think both teams have something to play for. Obviously, Dallas is kind of up against the division wise, but got to get better on third downs on offense, can't
miss those possessions. I think teams are going to try to turn into you know, eight possession games, and you fumble on the one yard line on the first one, you're already up against it. That's the position Dallas found themselves in. Left too much time on the clock there after the late touchdown and gave up the winning drive on defense. So yeah, it just four or five plays
went the wrong way. I don't think this is by any means a bad team, but I do think they have, you know, just enough problems right now to where you say, in an elite matchup, possibly away from home. You know, that's what they're staring at right now. They may not be the best team on the field.
No, I'm torn because part of you there are no moral victories here. Part of you wants to say, hey, they went on the road, right, this is a much different performance than what we have seen on the road from the Cowboys against good teams. But you still lost on the road right in good weather for the most part, against a team that can't beat good teams. So I mean it's almost as like, does that did the game
actually happen? Did I learn anything? I'm not sure, And I've said all along, I don't know that I'm going to learn anything about the Cowboys until we get to January. Whatever they do in the regular season, it's nice, that's fine. You know what, Call me in twenty twenty four, call me in January, and then we'll figure out whether or not your season was a success. Which sounds unfair, but I don't know that it is, because that's how we're all judge, and that's how anyone is judged in the
NFL's what you do in the postseason, all right? Sam goes for the Bills. Nobody wants to face the Bills. You have them this week at number seven in the New Power rankings. They are up one. Dude. They barely survived against Gifts Smith and East and Stick.
I'm just glad I know how to pronounce Gifts Smith. Now I've been wondering for weeks. Yeah, har g Suckgy, what is it? You know? Look this this Bill's team can be soft against lesser competition. I mean that's the thing. I feel like they do sort of play up or down to the team they're facing sometimes and I'm gonna say all the positive momentum that they've racked up over the past couple of weeks has been undone. But it does remind you that you know, at their worst, they
can blow a game like this. Almost did enough place from Josh Allen, you know Ed Oliver, you know Rasul Douglas. They got it done. But you know, this is the sort of the reality they're facing right now, especially with the same prospect as the Cowboys. Probably have to go on the road if you want to get to a
super Bowl or come darn close. So you know, again, they might have a wider variety of outcomes and Josh Allen can give you an MVP like performance, But it still worries me that this team is having these kinds of issues.
But flip it around. If you're the team that wins your and then finds out that Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills are coming to town and you're hosting that wild card game, that would make me worried because that is the last wild card team I want coming to town. It looks as if the Browns are a wild card team.
You have them at number eight, ers in the building calling it for Browns Radio when Amari Cooper put up one of the best performances you'll ever see in any game at any time from a wide receiver head home. They with Joe Flacco can clinch on Thursday night against the Jets.
Pretty incredible. Yeah, I mean, he's lit a fire under this team. He's changed the complete trajectory of what we thought was possible. So, you know, an amazing development in season that I don't think anyone could have seen coming. And you know, the defense continues to do great things. A lot of those points came as we were talking about after the starters had left the game had to come back. But you know this, this seems like a team that, for different reasons, might be just as dangerous
as the Bills are. They get in so I wouldn't want to face the Browns and that defense either. Flaco's thrown with nothing to loose, right, He's a guy who came off as couch and said let's have some fun, and they are, and Cooper and those other guys are making enough plays and joke, who's come alive. I really like what I'm seeing here. I'm not saying they're just some sort of Cinderella that you know, we give a
nice bow to and say, Okay, good job. You know they're gonna be a tough out in the playoffs, no doubt about it.
Yeah, you're not giving them a laurel and hearty handshake. We talked last week about the possibility of Matthew Stafford going to Detroit right to face Jared Goff and his old team. We could have a scenario, likely not in a wild card round, maybe in the divisional round where Joe Flacco goes back to Baltimore Wow to face the Ravens. Book love. All right, We're the Chiefs. Have you noticed they're not on your screen? How far did they fall when losing at home on Christmas Day of the Raiders.
That's coming up next on the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer. NFL Power Ranking Show presented to you by Energizer. This looks weird, doesn't it? Kansas City is barely in the top ten. The Chiefs after losing at home to the Raiders to open up the Christmas Football Ball three to number nine. How are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the tenth best team in football? Thank you, Baker Mayfield.
They're number ten, followed by the Rams at eleven, the Texans at twelve, Jacksonville is thirteen, Cincinnati is fourteen after laying an egg in Pittsburgh on Saturday evening, the Colts are fifteen and the Seahawks are sixteen. But Eric at Holme, who obviously puts these together, it's the NFL Power Ranking show at home. We all watched the Chiefs to open up the Christmas Day football just look awful. I don't
know how else to say. Don't blame Taylor Swift. She had nothing to do with this, Okay, nothing at all. They look lost and Patrick Mahomes is as frustrated on the field as I think I've ever seen him.
Yeah, we've seen that frustration boil over on the sideline, not just obviously in that game, but in other games this season. You know, team that was seven and two at the buy now looking great, but you felt like, okay, they're going to be the Chiefs of Old in December. This is as reliable as stock you can buy the last five years. But it's been tanking, Andrew and just a big picture, I didn't expect this much movement, especially in this part of the board, this late in the season.
But yeah, I mean, teams like the Chiefs are lacking an offensive identity, and you know, we can't assume that they're just gonna find it. I mean, it's been fifteen weeks now and they haven't been able to kind of crack this code of how to be more explosive offensively, how to be more reliable offensively. Look, the defense was terrific. They did its job. I mean it was a good performance. The offense let them down once again. I don't know
what to do. Are they broken? That's the question I'm left with.
I think they are, because like, look right now they have Cincinnati and then week eighteen in LA to face the Chargers, and you go, oh, they're gonna win those two. Are you sure? They should have beaten the Raiders? Antonio Pears probably and deservedly won the full time job with that performance at Arrowhead. They're throwing helmets. And by the way, again I was kind of joking, but if you're blaming Taylor Swift, grow up. It has nothing to do with her.
But I can't look at these two games and so oh, I know they're gonna win them. The division hasn't even been wrapped up and we're in the week between Christmas and New Year's Yeah, I honestly don't think they want a playoff game. I don't. I think that's the kind of team we're looking at right now. They're number nine, and then we have the team making the Power Move, the team that is somehow number ten overall Power Moves presented by Energizer Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
are up five. Okay, they are up fourteen. Eric since week thirteen, you are shaking your head. Do you believe this ranking that you wrote or were you pressured into it by Baker? Like? How did you do this? Yeah? It was tough.
I mean I felt like I may have kind of undersold them a little bit last week. Same with the Rams who were right behind them, obviously. But you know, this is another impressive performance. And again it's sort of not a standings reading, right, this isn't the power standings. We look at who is playing right now and how they're playing in the past couple of games, momentum, right,
and they have a ton of it right now. Four straight wins, and like you said, I think this has been Baker's best season, you know, I mean, I really think that if we look back his most complete season, that has been trending in the right direction, even with some scattershot accuracy. You know, even a couple of games ago. You look at that defense, the number of plays they made in that game against the Jaguars, it's pretty incredible.
So for a team that in week thirteen, as you pointed out, when I had him number twenty four, that's about the percent chance they had to make in the playoffs, twenty three to twenty four percent. Now they're in a really good footing. You got to win one of these last two. You win the division, you host a playoff game, maybe against the Cowboys. But still, you know, this looks completely different to me than it did a month and a half ago.
Look, they hosted the playoff game last year, hosted the Cowboys. Cowboys obviously waxed them at Raymond James. But this team feels a little bit different. And I can't believe I'm saying they are the tenth best team right now in the NFL, and they are one spot ahead of the team with which Baker Mayfield ended last season. The Los Angeles Rams, who hung on big leads, survived and they beat the Saints to open up here week sixteen. This is another team Eric that nobody wants to face in January.
I agree, right, And you heard Sean mcvay's kind of response to the question even bringing the question up. He prompted it himself when he said, boy was sure to make it tough on ourselves. And you know, I think he's got to have a little bit of a sense of humor about it because he knows he has an explosive team. And I think Kyron Williams has really kind of brought this whole group together. You've seen him up close a lot this season. Stafford's kind of having a
throwback year. Nikoua obviously rewriting the the rookie record books at receiver, and the offensive line has not been an issue. It's been a stable group. I would like to see them, you know, stem that two week trend of letting a bad team or a lesser team back into the game. But boy, I tell you what, that No Name defense has stepped up at times, and yeah, that offense is humming and they're a legit threat. How about that?
You know they are, They're totally legit. Even with that sweep over the Seahawks, Seattle is legit here as well. Eric, you have them up one to sixteen, and the schedule favors them home for the Steelers and then at Arizona to close it out.
Yeah, they're a strange one to me. You know, they've obviously, you know, had some weeks where yet you're kind of scratching your head some of the red zone stuff. Gino's been up and down, but he was there, he was money. He got it done when he had to get it done against the Titans, and two late drives got it done.
And you know, coming off the Drew Locke game and was some questions swirling about Gino's future and whether he's going to be the Seahawks starter next year, he delivered a performance that tabled that talk and got them in a good position for the playoffs. So, you know, their lack of discipline does worry me a little bit. So they are prone to some bad games and bad moments. But those playmakers, they've got a chance as well.
Uh yeah, and now it's Gino and Mason Rudolph week seventeen at a game that means something. Well, all right, coming up, speaking of those Steelers, do we take them seriously? Do we take the Raiders seriously, and where are they in the brand new power Rankings coming up next year? As we are presented to you as always by Energizer. But wait, there are more more numbers here. On the NFL Power Rankings show forsd by Energizer, the Steelers are seventeen,
up three, followed by the Vikings and the Packers. The Falcons are twenty, the Raiders twenty one, Denver, New Orleans, and Chicago at number twenty four at home, the Steelers are up three and Rudolph looked really good on Saturday evening. They're not eliminated somehow.
Pretty amazing, right, and Rudolph in the picture for this week obviously. And you know, just when we write them off, they pull us back in, right. I mean, Mike Tomlin hasn't lost this team yet apparently. And yeah, I mean they probably need two to get in, right. That's that's the probably the and some help. But you know, it's just such an interesting club. They've battled so much adversity
all season long. You know, it's hard to really know whether this is a team that's you know, close to contending or or you know, kind of doing it with smoke and mirrors so every week I come out of it kind of shrugging a little bit. But again, I mean, they did what they had to do, and Rudolph has kind of lit a fire under this team, and we saw what it did for Pickens, we saw what it did for other guys, and yeah, I mean that's that's making us question whether Mitch Strubisky should have been had.
The ball in his hands. Oh yeah, exactly. Speaking of lighting a fire, that is what Antonio Pierce has done. The Raiders are up two to twenty one. Are you with me? He's earned He's done enough during this job, right.
I would think. So, here's my only reservation. A couple of years ago, you know, Rich Pasacia was in sort of a similar position, had more games to work with. I believe he went seven and five, got to the playoffs. Now they were I think a three and two team or something when John Gruden was let go, but still he didn't get the job. Now, I don't know if he has the magnetism, the connection with the locker room that Pierce seems to have with this group. You saw
him get emotional after the game postgame interview. You know, I believe he's building something special here. A lot of loud wins since he's taken over, but a couple of curious losses too. Might need one more, but I think you might be onto something. Maybe, you know, maybe Mark Davis saw what happened last time, realized I can't let Antonio Pierce go because he's got his playing great football right now.
Did he learn from I don't want to call it a mistake. Maybe it wasn't a mistake to get rid of Asacia, but it clearly was a mistake because they've already fired McDaniels to bring him in as the placement. Let's get the rest of the rankings here. Your seasons may be over, but you still do make an appearance on the Power Ranking show. The Jets are a twenty five, That Titans, the Chargers, the Giants, and the Patriots, and then the Cardinals, the Commanders and the Carolina Panthers are
at number thirty two. Eric, I have good news for you. Yeah, only two more regular season shows to go. Also good news. We're doing this in the playoffs, buddy.
Are we are? It's going to look a little different right, Fewer teams to talk about, but I still want to talk Power rank Man. I got a little energy left in the tank. How about you.
Of course, because we're presented by energizers. See what we did there, Look what you did. Talented broadcast professional doing all the transitions like that. Hey, everyone out there, thank you for listening, Thank you for watching. Happy New Year, Eric, Happy New Year to your family as well. Everyone they're in Chicago. Was safe and happy one. See you next week, so long.
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in partnership with I heart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.