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