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Welcome to another edition of the NFL Power Ranking Show, presented to you by Energizer. This is the as we call it here, the week twenty edition in our studios in Los Angeles. My name is ANDREWS. Siciliano. On the other side of the screen in a frozen, frigid Chicago, which just got the news that Caleb Williams is entering the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Eric at Hoolme, good to see you.
Good to see you too. This is the pound for pound, the best round, right.
Don't agree with the divisional round? Yeah? I think so.
Yeah, after watching a super Wildcard round that saw the average margin of victory.
Sit at seventeen point three.
And that includes keep in mind the fact that Sunday night in Detroit it was a one point game.
Is that insane?
Impactful games like the games that had purpose but not exactly the tightest ones. I think this round will be a little better, but yes, it is very much insane.
The Ravens are number one, the Niners are number two. They are the two number one seeds. They had the weekend off. They watched on their couch and they have not changed. We'll get to them at a second. The Bills are up one. They are number three. The Lions are up one. They are number four. We're going to focus only on these four teams right now. And as we start this, I know there are people at home going, wait a minute, all you're doing is rearranging the fourteen teams that made the playoffs.
Yes, however, I will make.
An argument later that a couple of the teams were so bad they should be dropped from the top fourteen. However, Eric, they do not include these top four. The Ravens are one. They get the Texans coming up. As it's all chalk in the AFC. I would actually argue that with maybe Mark Andrews coming back and with Dalvin Cook waiting in the wings, the Ravens got better during their bye.
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, well as Firs as far as personal personnel and who could be available, no question about it. And you know, did they need the rest. Obviously got some guys rested in Week eighteen. Not everybody played against the Steelers in that one. It was bad conditions out there, So yeah, I mean I think they're at full strength, and they've had the bulk of that time to look back at twenty nineteen and the failures that were I mean, everybody wrote their stories. Is this
going to be another repeat of twenty nineteen. I don't think so. But they do have a stiff challenge, and I think things are set up maybe a little bit better, even though that was a pretty dominant team that won fourteen games not long ago.
No, it's a dominant team here, and there's a dominant team in twenty nineteen, and they're facing a very good team at the Houston Texans, a team they beat in Week number one. Obviously a lot has changed for the Texans since then. We'll get into them a little bit later.
That was c J.
Stroud's first start. Didn't throw a touchdown, got sacked four times. Listen, he's better. Matter of fact, I think he's great. It's funny they beat Joe Flacco. The old elite conversation with Joe Flacco. We're going to have that elite conversation pretty soon, if not already here for CJ.
Stroud.
So the Ravens are one, the Niners are two. The big thing for the Niners is get healthy during theirby they have time to rest, and now they get the Packers coming to tap and honestly not to take away from green Bay.
It sets up nicely here for Kyle Shanahan.
It does. Yeah, I mean green Bay's obviously a very dangerous team, but I think the most important development was Philly blowing the lead, allowing the forty nine ers to clinch in Week seventeen. Rest guys in week eighteen have this buy They're in terrific shape. I guess you worry about offense rhythm coming out or whatever. Joe Berry's defense has played much better for Green Bay, but I think they would take that uncertainty over knowing the fact that
they got Christian McCaffrey a lot of rest. He's going to be used pretty heavily, I would imagine in this game, and if they win, going forward, Deebo Samuel on down the line. So yeah, health was a big, big storyline last year in the playoffs. They're determined not to make it one I think this year. And yeah, other than the Baltimore game, they look pretty and good down the stretch.
Look, they have to be happy sitting here watching at home and getting healthy. The Cowboys are out. The Eagles are out. I know they beat them both and beat them both handily, but the Rams.
Are out as well.
And while Kyle has owned Sean of late the last four or five years in the regular season, obviously in the postseason, Rams beat them a couple of years ago in the NFC Championship game. To me, those were possibly all due respect to the Lions. Their three biggest threats, Eric, those three threats are gone.
Yeah, it's certainly a different field than we expect that I think coming in. Obviously, the Lions are a legitimate team and we have to take them seriously as a Super Bowl candidate. But you know, it's crazy to step back and think one of the following is going to start in the NFC for the Super Bowl. It's going to be Brock Purty, it's going to be Jordan Love, it's going to be Baker Mayfield or Jared Goff. That's who we're down to on that side of the field.
And you know, you put it through that lens and it really kind of changes your perspective on what it's going to look like. So, yeah, I'll be fascinated to see how this all works out. But it's still a pretty pretty interesting, feel like, even though you said, I think things have kind of really lined up pretty well if they could somehow slow down this Packer's office.
I love the Baker Mayfield Jared Goff former number one pick redemption tour possibility there for the super Bowl. Clearly Goth has a better shot right now, the clearer path than Baker.
But whatever.
All right, let's get to the Bills. They're you're new number three team, Eric, They are up one in the week twenty the Divisional round power rankings. Josh Allen did what they needed him to do, be Superman, but without the Kryptonite. He didn't turn the ball over. He rushed for this fifty two yard touchdown. By the way, we agree that was not a fake slide. That was a pitter patter of the feat. Guys, do we agree that was not a fake slide?
Eric, I didn't even know people were arguing that.
Steelers stands are angry.
The Steelers drafted the guy who's fake slide in college football, changed the rules, and then he bragged about it. Anyway, I digress here. It wasn't a fake slide. Josh Allen now gets mahomes at home.
Yeah, I think they were saying it's a fake slide to cover for Patrick Peterson not being able to catch a quarterback. But you know, I digress. Yeah, this is setting up I think the way everyone wanted it. Not Steelers fans obviously, not Dolphins fans, but the rest of the neutral observing football universe had to, you know, grip for the idea that we're going to have another Allan Mahomes game, this one an Allen Park, though I mean an Orchard Park, I should say, rather it could be
a p pretty interesting. It could be Allen Parking, right, Yeah, it'll be Allen Park if he wins this game. And the last time they met there kind of a strange outing in twenty twenty. I kind of throw that one out. The rest of them have been classics, and I expect nothing less. Allen's at the peak of his powers. We saw what Mahomes can do again last week Bill's d Can they be healthy, can they hold on? Are some of these injuries gonna bite them in the end. I don't know. That's the big question.
I'm kind of leaping.
The big one being Terrell Bernard, who has carted off with the ankle injury.
He has played so well.
And remember no Matt Milano and no Tredavius White and no Jordan Phillips. The hits keep on coming for that Bill's defense.
But they get him at home. They get the Chiefs at home.
Third time in four years they meet in the postseason, and first time A Holmes is going to play a playoff game other than a super Bowl, obviously outside of their building when last they met.
It's so.
Crazy how things change down the stretch. When last these two teams met, Eric, you and I sat here and said, this is the Bill season, and really the Bill's soul as they're constructed on the line right they went to Arrowhead that article had been written about Sean McDermott.
You're like, this is it.
They are on the brink, and then Kadarius Tony lined up off sides. The Bill's got their win, and it's been like a march towards Vegas since then. And I cannot wait for this one of the best Divisional obviously the best weekend of the football year. All right, let's celebrate the Lions here. You know, I worked for the Rams. I wanted the Rams to win that game, but I'm happy for Jared Goff as I said last week, I would be if they won.
You got the fans crying.
He got Brad Holmes yelling in an elevator of the Lions are up one spot.
They are four this week in the Power rankings.
Yeah, I mean some people may disagree. Some people feel like maybe they got a little lucky there. Obviously the Rams had kind of turned the tide of that game. Everyone bracing for that, that comeback victory, that fourth quarter victory that Stafford pulled off a lot of times in Detroit. But Jared Goff completes the biggest pass in his career, not the toughest, not the prettiest, but the most important
past of his career. Hadn't completed one in almost a quarter at that point, so after the hot start, he really needed to finish that game off. He did. What a moment for him, right, and just what a relief I think for the Detroit Lions fans who you know, braced for this utter heart rending disappointment it didn't happen, and now their favorites in this game coming up, second
straight home playoff game, unheard of time. First of all, the state of Michigan, right with Yeah, the Wolverines, Harbaugh and this it is on fire right now in the football world, so I can't imagine what's going to go down this weekend. But they have to feel like, Okay, now we're the hunted, right. I can understand a lot of people picking the rams, but they have to feel like they need to take care of business in this game and not let the emotions kind of kind of ruin the day.
You see that a hug there that embraced between Golf and Stafford at the end of the game. I recommend inside the NFL or check out the NFL Films Twitter page here. It's a great moment in which Stafford tells Golf, hey, go win this thing.
I'm happy for you.
And then Jared a couple of seconds later, after they had walked away, Jared circles back and says, basically, you're one of the toughest you know, whats I've ever seen, Like legendary toughness here, like respect because Matthew Stafford that should have been a flag by the way for roughing there got up at the end and his hand was banged up, and he was banged up, and he kept on slinging it and he is a warrior, a football warrior, obviously not a real warrior. But you know what I'm
saying here. So the Lions are number four. We'll get to the Rams a little bit later. We'll get to the Texans as well. How about the Packers? Where do they land?
Should the Eagles even be in these rankings?
That's coming up on the NFL Power Ranking Shoppers, out of my energizer.
All right, here we go.
Let's keep rolling to the NFL Power Ranking Shoppers headed to you my energizer. The QR code side of the screen that says scan me. You can scan it and see what we have here in NFL dot com. The Chiefs are up two. They are five, The Texans up three. They are six. Look at the Packers up six, They are seven.
The Cowboys plummet? Are they really a top ten team?
They are eight? And the Bucketeers are up three they are nine. Think about this and we will later. The Bucks are behind the Cowboys. The Bucks are playing next weekend. The Cowboys are not all right at home. The Chiefs are five. I think a lot of teams prove their critics right this weekend. I think the Chiefs, though, might be the only team that truly proved their critics wrong.
They look fine.
Yeah, I thought they did right. I mean they were prepared for the environment. Obviously Miami wasn't.
You know.
It was sort of a you know, start to finish, really solid performance. I mean, Mahomes played well, dealt with some of the early drops, got Kelsey going eventually. You know, it just sort of felt like they were very well prepared for this game, understanding that there was criticism about their game, understanding and knowing that people weren't going to be picking them to win the Super Bowl, and that they probably have to go on the road the following week.
That was just the reality of it, and they took care of business. Because they've been in the situation so many times. Will that carry over? I tend to think so. I think they'll play well. I don't think they're going to come in there and get embarrassed. But yeah, they had to have this kind of a performance. If they kind of lucked their way into this next game, I don't think there would be as much sentiment for them being quote unquote back as we know them to be.
Anyway, Yeah, I agree, and I will admit where I am wrong.
I thought the Chiefs were the better team. I know they're the better team.
I did pick the Dolphins when I did an Instagram video making all the picks Saturday morning, because I felt that the Dolphins would be able to get the ground game going. And I thought the ground game with the weather as the equalizer, would be the difference here. And I was absolutely wrong. Taylor Swift is a great chair dancer. The environment was all Kansas City and the Dolphins just
shriveled up. And you know, the Dolphins are another one of these teams that can run up the score in September but can't do it in jay Ay.
We see it again. Last year was Kyler Thompson.
I realized, Okay, this year was Tua and they couldn't do it. I know they have the defensive injuries, but the offense didn't show up. He had a fifty yard touchdown on an under thrown ball the DPI. I mean, that's your only positive offensive play, all right, I digress.
Let's get to the sixth seed.
Your sixth rank team that is that is the Texans, super impressive up three. Maybe they were one of the teams that proved their critics wrong, but I am not one of these people that doubted c. J.
Stroud.
A matter of fact, I think those that doubted him shut up in September and they've been silent since.
Yeah, anybody left still questioning him even prior to that game, I think has to reevaluate their football observation a little bit. Now. Look, obviously he could come out and get humiliated by the Ravens. I just don't see it happening though. Andrew I really thinks he's past that level. Right, Not that we say he can't have a bad game, but you know, the bad game he had in Week one against Baltimore, you know, for sacks, touchdowns. I don't think that's the kind of
game he's gonna have this weekend. I think he's gonna come in prepared, confident. Yes, he doesn't have Tank Dell or Noah Brown, and he short some weapons, but I think they're going to go in there with all kinds of house money, nothing to lose, knowing that, you know, had they converted those three field goals into touchdowns in Week one, it's a different story. Plus they've come so far since then as a team. Demiko ryans we didn't know anything about his coaching ability then now we've seen
he's been, He's brought this team together. Strau was hurt, Will and Anderson was hurt. Both were the best rookies on either side of the ball. I thought this season went healthy, so they got a lot going for him, and I think they'll go in there and give the Ravens a test.
Yeah, and a year ago today right now, a year ago today, we are ten days into the I can't believe Lovey Smith and Davis Mill screwed up so badly, you know, tongue in cheek that they are now stuck with the number two pick.
And think about where we are.
They used it pretty well.
Yeah, it worked out just fine, and it worked out great as well for the Green Bay Packers. Speaking of good coaching and good quarterback play, the Packers are making power Moves. Power Moves presented by Energizer. They are up six.
They are your number sevent team.
As you and I record Kyle Shanahan on Tuesdays on the podium saying, among other things, Christian McCaffrey's are full participant in this week, and also saying that his staff started getting ready for the Packers midway through the second quarter of their win Sunday over the Cowboys. That's how thoroughly bludgeoned they That's how badly they beat the Cowboys.
It's nice to get that little hour and a half two hour jump start on you on your prep work. Right, Obviously they've been sitting around waiting. They watched this game unfold and it turned out they didn't waste any time.
They were right to prepare for green Bay. And look the way the offense is playing right now, I think you need extra time to prepare for it, because well, it looked like the Cowboys had no real answers for either Jordan Love or Aaron Jones, who, you know, since coming back from injury, has been probably one of the most productive backs in the league, led the NFL and
rushed in the final four weeks of the season. So you know, it's like, I think, I know who is more important, But you could make a legitimate case that Aaron Jones, especially against that Niners run defense, is almost as valuable as Love could be in this game, and homecoming game for Love is just I think Green Bay will absolutely give them a lot to handle defensively. The question is can they stop things on the other side, And I don't know about that one.
Look similar system certainly offensively, same tree defensively here as well. This is the youngest team of the NFL, the Packers, that is coming in to face an experienced team, but still with a young quarterback in Brock Purty. You have kids all over the board, but you have key veterans like Aaron Jones that make such a difference here. This is a team in midway through the season that a lot of people thought it wasn't working. As we see Sad Jerry Jones talking about the Packers, it is working.
They are hot and I give them a puncher's chance here, not a great chance, but a puncher's chance in Santa Clara on Saturday against the forty nine ers. Now let's get to the team they beat. We see Sad Dak Prescott, Sad Jerry Jones. Okay, you have Eric the Dallas Cowboys as your number EIGHTEAM. They were three, now they are eight. Why should they even be in the top ten when
they flame out this badly? They are the summer blockbuster with the huge budget that all the kids are talking about that when it gets to Oscar time, they get shut out because there's no substance.
Yeah, Oh, this is why I don't watch the oscars, right, and I don't have to worry about all.
That sad Midwest man.
Angry man in Midwest says, I don't watch oscars.
I tried to think of it this way, and this is my first year doing the Power Rankings, and I've always asked myself, like, Okay, if these two teams met on a neutral field, meaning like let's take the Bucks and Cowboys if they met in Huntsville, Alabama, who would be favored in that game? I maintained the Cowboys to be a four or five point favorite in that one if they went against the Bucks, even after what we saw last week, So maybe I'm wrong about that. I
still think head to head, Dallas a better team. But there's no discounting what happened on the field. There's no you know, whitewashing anything that occurred. It was an ugly franchise shifting performance, right. This was the rug being pulled out from under them like we've seen before. And where do you go from here? If you're Jerry, do you blow everything up? Do you try to import a Vrabeler or Belichick and fix this thing on the quick? And is that gonna happen. I mean, you still got to
worry about Dak too. He's got a huge cat number next year. He's got to be offended. Yeah, I mean it's I don't want to say it was Super Bowl or bust, but it certainly feels like that now talking about them.
Yeah, Dak's cap numbers like fifty five something near sixty million. They got to do something so likely you have to commit to paying him another one hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed.
That's what you got to do. Extend them. That's what you gotta do. You got to extend. You got to take the number down.
This contract was written to be redone right now after this season, and this season.
Ended far earlier than they thought it would end.
All right.
I want to tie the Eagles in here as well, because the NFC East is the only division eric that will not be represented on divisional Weekend. The Eagles lost horribly. They folded six out of seven down the stretch. You have them at thirteen down two. We're going to skip ahead a.
Little bit here.
Why should they even be in the top fourteen. I think they should be out of the power rankings.
Here.
Honestly, if there.
Was a Buffalo Bills like team, Remember the Bills went into Week eighteen, we didn't know if they were going to make the playoffs. Obviously they are now, but if there was that kind of a team that missed out out where we were saying, boy, had they gotten in, they would have been a handful. Maybe the Saints, who actually quietly played pretty well down the stretch, you could make an argument for. But the Steelers lost, and I have been questioning them up and down all seasons, so
it's more of a hierarchy thing. I get your argument, right, the way they played the final seven games, I mean seven, even with the Giants win seven games is a massive chunk of the season, right, it's almost forty percent. So it's not like you can just sort of, you know, push this to the side and say, well, they were great at ten and one. I even had a few questions then, So I don't know, man, Yeah, this is
as bad as it gets. But I thought the Steelers were a worse team, and that's the only reason I could sneak both.
Now I get it, bad team, bad tape.
They have crash landed, and I would argue that I don't deserve to be in the top fourteen.
The Bucks do.
However, the Bucks won there below the Cowboys, you have the Bucks at number nine, up three. Eric, talk to the angry fans that think they should be higher.
Well, look, there were some drop passes early, they settled for some field goals. They got a little dicey there for a second after jail and got warm. But you know, you're beating an AJ brownless Eagles team that was trending, you know, worse than any stock that I've bought in the last five years. So yeah, I just didn't think that this was as impressive a win at home over a team that was going in one direction only. But
they're competitive. Todd Bowles has done a really nice job since his name came up as a you know, as a possible name to watch to get fired. I don't think that's happening. Baker's done a great job. You know. It's fun to watch their progression this season, and I give them a lot of credit. I just don't know that they are a better football team pound for pound than what the Dallas Cowboys were.
And Baker on the podium on Monday night said, this is our last home game, Baker, there's actually a shot you can host the NFC championship game. If you beat the Lions and the Packers beat the Niners, there could still be a game at Raymond James. You mentioned buying stocks coming up. Let's buy some futures. Shall we do that? As we continue on the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer. It's the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer.
As we show you a teams ten through fourteen, the Rams, the Browns, the Dolphins, and then the two teams from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Eagles at thirteen and the Steelers at fourteen. Time to invest in the Future presented by Fidelity. Eric at home, why are you buying the Rams? I'm with you, by the way, but you tell me, yeah.
I mean, I think the emergency of Pooka certainly this season, I'm an incredible rookie year, Kien Williams showing he could be a lead back, repairing that offensive line. And look, I don't know how long they've got left in Matthew Stafford, but when he was healthy, when he was on the field, as you pointed out several times throughout the season, he was great, So you know, you squeeze a little more out of Cooper Cup. You add pieces that defense. I
think there's an interesting future. Plus you revived Sean McVeigh and he admitted on the post State Park press conference he found his way again, and you know that's that's an important piece of that whole puzzle. I don't know what Aaron Donald does, but I like their future.
Yeah, and they might lose Raheem Morris. I hope they do, by the way, on a personal level, I hope he gets another shot at being a head coach because he deserves another shot. But the future truly is bright for this team, and I think it's bright as well for the Browns. Granted, they need to get the Deshaun Watson eric that we saw that went fourteen for fourteen to the perfect passer rating with a broken shoulder to beat the Ravens on the road.
It was his high point and then very short and point.
Yeah.
Yeah, he might drop, I guess, but all eyes clearly on him this offseason. Now they get back an amazing amount of talent, all the guys who got hurt throughout the season. But we'll see what happens with the coaching staff and he changes there. Does Flack will come back as the number two? I mean, I guess we'll be on the treball. I would love to see it, but yeah, this is this is going to be very very interesting
team to watch. They have the pieces. Can they put it all together and find that magic one more time? Not always easy?
No, And when I say no, that's not saying I wouldn't want to see that. I just don't think it is feasible nor likely.
Regardless.
What is feasible and likely is that we are back to do this again after divisional weekend. All right, So we'll see you next week on the NFL Power Ranking Show. Forsaid by enter Jaizer Pray, Eric Com.
Andrew so Long.
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