NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to the NFL Power Rankings podcast, presented by Energizer. Still Going This show, Still Going, Dan Hans, joined by my lovely co host Colleen Wolf Connie and then there were two Yes, we are still going, and so are the Eagles and the Chiefs. What a weekend of football we had. What a weekend it was for the city here in Philadelphia and in Kansas City. Not so much for the poor mayor in Cincinnati.
But that's okay, he'll he'll have to deal with it. I mean, how does it feel as an Eagles fan to take out Daniel Jones and the Giants and then the fourth string quarterback of the forty Niners to get to the Super Bowl? I mean, it must feel like you've already in a climbed a mountain. What an achievement? Is this? Is this about the empire state building? Is this? Is that? What this is about? Like if I was a Giants fan, Yes, if I was a Giants fan, I wouldn't even be doing this show with you. Yeah,
that that was the spectacular misfire on their part. But something that all Philadelphia really loved and backed in. But listen, like you can't You can only control what you can control, Dan, You can't control who your opponents are. You can't control injuries. The stars have to align in so many different ways, and as it turns out, they aligned for the Eagles. They did in congratulations to you, Colleen and all the Eagles fans. You guys had a tough go of it
for like fifty years, I remember that. And now in the last five or so, the sun has been shining upon your fair city and now you get to get ready and get pumped up for your second Super Bowl and half a decade. And of course it is the Kansas City Chiefs that are waiting, and I think Patrick Mahomes will be playing in that game, so that will be a bigger challenge for sure. While we're here, why don't we do a little power Moves presented by Energizer.
Let's take a look Connie at the teams on my power rankings, which, by the way, if you're scrambling over to NFL dot com, where are the power rankings? None this week, but they'll be back right after the Super Bowl, so you know, once that panic is flushed out of your system. We can move forward, Connie, pause for panic to flush out of system or panic flushed. Here are my power rankings for the season, most weeks as a number one team, Connie, there you go, nailed it. Eiggles
weeks at number one. You can fairly point out they weren't at number one last week, but things change. The Buffalo Bills seven weeks at number one. That was a first half of the season phenomenon. Obviously, the Bills kind of fell off a little bit as the last week to the season, progressed and missed out even on a title game. The Niners, the poor Niners, and we learned that brought Purdy tore a ligament in his elbow. It's hard to believe that they had so much injury luck,
but they were four weeks at number one. The Chiefs, the Chiefs, the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. I had them just one week at number one. Same with the same with the Bengals. But this is why context is important. Connie. Let's take a look now at the chart that shows us the trajectory of both our teams in the Super Bowl on the power rankings. Because you had the Chiefs riding in the top five throughout the season. Eagles and Chiefs. What are we looking at here? Is this Eagles? I assume? Yes.
So Eagles started at fourteen in week one. Uh, you know, they were a kind of a team that was hard to figure out initially, Connie I had him in the top ten by week two, and then they kind of rode into into top five status from basically Week five onward. The Chiefs started at seven, and we're in the top five virtually the whole season as well. So these are obviously two number one seeds, Connie, and now they play
each other for the big Trophy. Well, it seemed perfect when we had championship weekend upon us and the final four teams or four of the best teams who had been the best teams for basically the entire season, and we knew that it was going to come down to that. There were no Cinderella teams left at that point, and
it was a bummer. I mean, I hated the fact that Rock Purty got knocked out of this game because that is going to be the narrative now, like, oh my gosh, they oh they beat the Giants, and the Giants looked like crap in that game anyway, and then the Niners they were on their fourth string quarterback. I mean, this is a game that I wanted the Eagles to beat the Niners at full strength, even if their full
strength was with Rock Purty, and it didn't happen. We didn't get that, and I think that's sad for everyone. But listen, it's too bad. We're not going to find out what would have happened. We're not going to find out things like that or if Devanta Smith catch was a cash We'll never know. But no, we know that at this point. They have cameras and replays. But that's not your fault either. That's Kyle Shanahan's fault and the
eye and the sky's fault for not catching that. No, everything broke Philly's way, and that's fine, But this is now going to be the challenge of them to you know what they're kind of it could work out in your favor again, because that's a nice little bit of motivation. Talked about it around the NFL podcast after the Championship games.
That motivation is a sneaky, huge part I think of the professional sports experience, any sports experience, these teams find something to like kind of sink their teeth into and it serves as something that can really lift their game. I think we saw that in Kansas City with all the hype around borrow Head and the Cincinnati mayor being a dummy and all of that. I think the Eagles now are going to be able to And you know, Sirianni, you know, he's like basically a dude of DJ's down
in Belmar. He's going to use this to tell the Eagles, Listen, everybody thinks we don't even deserve to be here and all that, and that is I think that could work to their advantage because we know that this Eagles team is legit. We know they're awesome on both sides of
the ball. They are dominant in the trenches, and I think as we kind of begin to spend to their opponent this this upcoming Sunday in the Super Bowl, we'll talk about Patrick Mahomes at a bad ankle and what that line that had seventies sacks in the regular season can do to a quarterback who's maybe not moving at his best. Yeah, the the Eagles pass rush has been ferocious. It's been that way all season long, and the Eagles
team in general, it's healthy. Their ground game is so good, but that defensive line, like Hassan Reddick was I think one of the best pickups of the entire offseason. Howie Rosemand has received so much credit, but this one in particular just went so far and just the moves that they made to to share up the interior of that front seven two bringing in Limball, Joseph bringing in and
Dominican Sue. But they can play so fast, they're so deep, they can rotate all around and it's not like it was funny kind of comparing the Eagles and the Niners going into that game, because looking at their pass rush and looking at Nick Bosa, that's where so much of that pressure came from. That's where they got so many of their sex. But with the Eagles, they have so many different players that can get you. Josh Sweat, you even have Fletcher Cocks that can come in from the inside.
I mean, there's so many different ways that this Eagles defense can come and get you. And then the secondary was finally healthy again for the first time since Week eleven when they played the Colts with Avante Maddox back in there. So they have so many great things going for them on that side of the ball. And I really am interested with a hobbled Patrick Mahomes. He has had time to heal at this point, so hopefully he won't be as limited as he was in the game
against the Bengals. We saw how he was hobbling around and he did honestly, he's a warrior like that effort. Was so impressive to see Patrick Mahomes scrambling on a leg that he didn't even want to put pressure on when he was hopping on his other leg, and then you see him scramble for first downs. I mean, he cannot be stopped. And that is just one of the
most interesting things going into this game. I know you're nervous about that, but all right, let's let's just spend through all the teams in the top four of the Power rankings, and they were the top four teams in the league heading at the championship Sunday. Yeah, the Niners. They were number three in my rankings. I had the Eagles just ahead of him. And it is you feel, if you're a Niners fan and a certainly Kyle Shanahan and that whole organization to feel like the little cheated
by the football gods. Obviously, the injuries unbelievable. The quarterback position. Rock Party. We learned shortly after the NFC title game that he had suffered a complete tear of his elbow ligament. He's gonna need surgery to repair that. It's gonna put him on the shelf for they believe. I think six months is the number. And you could look at that and do the math and say, Okay, he should be ready for training camp. Well, we'll see. I mean, that's
a that's a serious injury. You don't know how his rehab comes on that and whether they feel comfortable with part even being their starter long term. You have Trey Lance still obviously in that building as the number two overall pick a couple of years ago, Jimmy g we assume almost certainly is finally going to be out the door. Conny, is it possible that Tom Brady now enters the equation for the Niners. He's a free agent obviously his boyhood team or at the Niners. He grew up in that region.
Think Kyle Shanahan is thinking about that now that there's ever more uncertainty at that position as we hit the off season, anything is possible. But I would not be a fan of that move just watching all of the injuries that happened this year at the position and having a quarterback like Tom Brady who is the goat, who's so good, but he's not exactly a mobile quarterback. That
is the way that the entire league is moving. And then you're going to bring in Tom Brady who is forty five years old, going to be forty six years old, and he doesn't move around. You need to make sure that you have everything in place. Like I think that when Josh Johnson and came into the game for the Niners, we saw how limited they became, and it kind of made you. At least it made me appreciate brock Purty a little bit more. And I think that they have been able to find ways to win with all of
these different quarterbacks. But I think they just stick with that plan. Why spend money and bring in Tom Brady when you can use the guys that you might have there, make it work for a little bit, and then use that other money to allocate to other things that they need. I don't agree. I think they should have ten quarterbacks on their roster next season to make sure Josh Johnson does not ever play for them again. No offense against Josh Johnson, but that the game felt over once you
got to that point real quick. On the Bengals, Connie, your thoughts on them, My thoughts are, it's tough. I mean, you you come so close, you have the ball in your hands with a chance to win the Super Bowl against the Rams, and then Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati offense gets the ball twice in a game at Arrowhead and they can't find a way to get it done. I know Cincinnati fans will always remember the push out of bounds by just a side that gave Harrison Bucker
a much easier kick to make. It's tough to get this close and get turned away two years in a row. You know, It's such a shame because that game, first of all, was so good. It was so close. It felt like at any point in the game anything could happen. Either team was going to win, which was so different from their earlier game, the NFC game with the Eagles
and the Niners. But for the Bengals, they just came so close and they were able to tie it, and they were able to keep making plays and it felt like they weren't going to be denied, and maybe they would find a way even if Patrick Mahomes was constantly finding Jason Kelsey or Travis Kelsey and finally making these plays happen. But Joe Burrow and this team, they have so much personality, they're so good, they want ten straight games, and it just seems like they kept gaining momentum every
single week. They would go on on both sides of the ball. They kept getting better, and when they tied the game early in the fourth, I thought this was going to go to overtime. I thought for sure. But the Bengals offensive line weaknesses, it's the same thing that at them last year. We saw it happened in the Super Bowl. We saw it happen again, and then obviously the untimely penalties were the thing that really took them down.
But it's just it's such a shame because it felt like this was a team that was destined to get back, and there is so much talent in the a f C. But they have so many good building blocks that they have so much to look forward to. But that doesn't really help now that their season is over. Yeah, and here's a difference to me, like the Niners can rightly feel like fate intervened and took away an opportunity to go to the super Bowl. Cincinnati had the shot there
and it just didn't work out. I'm annoyed. I mean, this is the Power rankings. I had them at number one after Divisional round weekend, and it just felt like it was their moment. It felt like it was Burrows moment, and then the moment arrives with the ball in his hands, and for that not to work out does kind of just show you how unpredictable football is. And also it
shows you the Chiefs are. You understand why after the game all they could do was talk about how they were overlooked and you know, Burrow head my arts, as Travis Kelsey said after the game, because yeah, like this wasn't some I had them number four entering Championship weekend. But I even said on the show, Connie, like, this is ridiculous to have to do this, because you could flip the Power rankings and I would have been able to sell that to the Kansas City Chiefs are locked
and loaded here. They have some injury issues, obviously, but you expect this break to really help them. I cannot wait to see this matchup. The Chiefs have a lot to prove and the quarterback wants to be the goat. We're going to get to that, but let's take a break. We'll be back with more on the Power Rankings podcast. All right, Welcome back Super Bull fifty seven Connie Sunday, February twelve from Glendale, Arizona, Stay Barn Stadium. Eagles be Chiefs.
About some bangers storylines going into the big games. Some are going to feel a little bit on the nose, some but need to be addressed. Some are gonna be a little People aren't talking about it, not yet. Anyway, we're ahead of the curse. Let's start with one that already instantly people are buzzing about. Did you hear about the Kelsey brothers? Oh? I don't know what you're talking about? You?
I know, I know you're you like this one, because where does Jason Kelsey rank on like favored sons in Philadelphia At this point in his career, He's up there with Alan Iverson. He can do no wrong. After the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, in his iconic speech on the Art Museum steps, it was just one of the most famous moments in Philadelphia sports history. He is so beloved. He goes to the local Jersey shore bars and bartends wearing the staff Earth, He's at the O D.
He's all over the place. He is a son of the city. He is absolutely and Travis on the other side, he's, you know, one of the greats, if not the greatest tight end of all time, depending who you talk to and what we saw of course after the an f C title game and his Dwayne Johnson routine, getting after Burrow head talk, getting after the mayor of Cincinnati. The man is basically like a pro wrestler who happens to be an amazing football player. They both are still charismatic.
They have a podcast and I'm not gonna plug because I consider it a competitor to around the NFL. But it's really good. Also, these guys are fun, so that will be a great week of media lead up. They are a dream pairing for what the Super Bowl is, which is a media event ultimately before yeah, their personalities will be an engine in this. I love seeing their mom already with the split jersey that she's going to
wear with the Chiefs and the Eagles. And then also I just think it's so funny overall with these two brothers. How they're both so charismatic, as you said, but they are both so different too, Like Travis has a little bit more swag, he seems a little bit cooler, and then just in a different way, and then Jason is more of a burly almost like a lumberjack. But like, they just have two very different styles. But they're both so cool and so genuine and such like fun nice
people to be around. So it is it's so awesome to now see them compete. Yeah, who do you think is better husband material? It's got to be Jason, right, So hard to answer, I guess Jason, I have no idea. I feel like you'd protect you'd protect me, Jason. Um, here's another question. I love this one. Patrick Mahomes, He's the big spoon. Patrick Mahomes and his quest for double big spoon, Yummy, Patrick Mahomes, his quest for a second title. Connie Mahomes is just this is his third Super Bowl.
This is a guy who's been to five consecutive a f C title games. It's been an incredible career. Tom Brady obviously has set the bar. And when you talk about the greatest quarterbacks, both because of his own just greatness as a player, but also the longevity that allowed him to end up with seven rings as I believe it's seven by seven rings, which is unbelieva. So obviously Mahomes has a lot of work to do, but to get a second chip here would be a big step forward.
When you talk about literally the greatest player of all time in the NFL. Yeah, he's just part of this next wave of young talented quarterbacks and Mahomes can't be denied. From the moment he took over for Alex Smith, everyone knew that this guy was special and what he could do was not like others, and he's just continued that. It's not like we saw it in blips and then he had down years or there was something that he
had to overcome. No, he's been doing the crazy side, armed path is and everything else since he came into this game. He's so good, he's so young, and he's just he's a player that you want on your team representing. He's a great face of the franchise. He he knows how to how to be a quarterback. He knows how to get a city behind him. He's likable and he's good at the same time, so that recipe, he's he's going to go in the Hall of Fame as soon as he's sun. Yeah, he could retire after this game
winner lose, and he's a Hall of Famer. And you know, maybe I would feel different if I was a fan of an a f C West team that wasn't the Chiefs. Um, but I'm all good. I like seeing the Chiefs in these big states on the big stage year after year because it's just Mahomes is at that level of superstar, like an iconic level player that kind of want to see what he does next and how he can outdo himself, and playing the way he did on one leg in the a f C Championship game is a perfect example.
He gets two weeks, obviously to rehab and hopefully be at top four against that fierce Eagles defend. Another big storyline, Connie. We hit it on a little bit earlier, but let's touch on it again. There's going to be a drumbeat that the Eagles have to prove some doubters wrong who saw the playoff run in the NFC is underwhelming in terms of competition and UH in general, Connie and I tell me if you agree as an Eagles fan, just
kind of a nice clear path from September onward. It felt like it was a very nice schedule for Philly. Things kind of fell their way, and now they get to say, shut up, everybody, We just one and one and one and then we one again on Super Bowl Sunday. Eagles proven their doubters wrong. Big storyline, and the Eagles don't care if people don't like them. Philadelphia doesn't care
if people don't like them. It doesn't matter because even if they end up winning the Super Bowl, it's still going to be people being like, oh, well, you know they did this and that, and they didn't have to play these people, and like, you know, they're playing Black Brock Party and Josh Johnson whoever else doesn't matter. Like, no matter what, people are still going to doubt the Eagles, and that's when they play their best. Now, it's tough
to kind of spin that narrative. When they were the number one seed and they were the last undefeated team and they had such a great deal and they beat teams all different types of ways no matter what. They were beating bad teams by a lot too. It doesn't matter. Teams are going to try and drum up that narrative no matter what happens. But Dan, I have a really
great one that I'm watching in this game. Because clearly Andy Reid facing the Eagles who he used to coach, It's kind of like he's facing the entire city of Philadelphia. But for me, it's Andy Reid facing the coach that he fired when he got to Kansas City, in Nick Sirianni. Because when he got that job after he left Philadelphia, he had David Culley with him and that's who he
wanted to bring with him. So he got to Kansas City, fired Nick Sirianni, and then that actually super charged Nick Sirianni's career and got him to where he is now in Philadelphia and at all. And I like, how you somehow spun the Andy Rebowl into a Nick Sirianni revenge Bowl. Perhaps, I guess. I mean, that's that's interesting. I didn't know that. I'm sure Nick Sirianni will be asked that many many times and Andy Reid and Read will sidestep it with
grace as he always does. Like Read is another guy that's very easy to root for. He almost got the Eagles to the mountaintop many times. I think the Eagles went to four straight NFC title games at one point, got to a Super Bowl, fell short, but he's obviously cemented a Hall of Fame career with the Chiefs Now nice little subplot the Andy Reid Bowl and yes, okay, Nick Sirianni wanting revenge who could have bad feelings toward Big Red though I don't. I don't know if I
buy that. I bet Sirianni is respectful of of Read and his place in football history. I'm sure he's thankful because now look at him. Look at him. Now, he's going to a Super Bowl. Look at me now, Dad, you still want to fire me? Dad? Finally, one more Connie. The Eagles defense. This is gonna get more and more
buzz as we get closer to the game. Where they stand historically, this is a team that had seventy sacks in the regular season, one of the great pass rushes we've seen, really solid at all levels, and rolled through the NFC playoffs on defense, obviously against a lesser Niners team because the injuries, but really embarrassed the Giants as
well on their way to the Super Bowl. And when you talk about the best defenses of this century so far, everyone you start obviously at the beginning of the century with those two thousand Ravens who won a Super Bowl. You go to the legion of boom Seattle Seahawks teams of the early two thousand tens, they also won a title nearly one a second. It's kind of if you look at the timing of things, it is time for another great defense to get its recognition. Will it be
this Eagles defense after Super Bowl Sunday. This Eagles defense is so talented at every single level, and that hasn't been the case in so long. I can't even remember the last time there was an Eagles defense that was this talented. Because usually it's okay, their front seven is really great, their defensive line is really good, but they don't have corners that can cover, and so they need to get that that heat up front in order to cover up all the deficiencies on the back end. But no,
no, no no, no, they have. They went out they did such a good job bringing in Sligh, who has an unbelievable personality, and he's going to be all over the place through the media week. I mean, he's gonna be on every single microphone look look out for him to be dropping all sorts of sound bites. But having Avante Maddox back healthy, bringing in James Bradberry from a division rival, all of these moves paid off to the point where now the Eagles are able to play in the Super Bowl.
And look at how healthy they are from top to bottom on both sides of the ball. It's like you have so many different things that you can talk about of why they can succeed. And it's almost like an embarrassment of riches that they have because they're able to run the ball on the other side and throw the ball they got. Hey, how did they get a J. Brown? This doesn't even right, It doesn't seem fair. But right now this defense really does need its flowers. Oh you're
so excited. I'm happy for you, but also envious. What do I do? How? Dan? How do I How do I cover this team? These teams the Super Bowl? I don't know how to do it without being biased, and I'm gonna try my best. But how do I do this? Yeah, you're asking the wrong guy because I root for a team that hasn't been in the Super Bowl in fifty three years, so just do your best, I guess, and or just leaving into it and just like throw any idea of being a journalist to the wayside until February.
I would lean that way. I mean, what's the point of pretending at this point? That's what I think. Yeah, we didn't even get to Jalen Hurts, by the way, who could match Patrick Mahomes as the youngest quarterback to
win a Super Bowl? So many storylines. Next week we will be a video only a show, not an audio podcast, for the NFL Power Rankings Show, and then after the Super Bowl we're back with the whole enchilada, the whole thirty two team run down, led by, of course, the Super Bowl champion probably, although it'd be cool if I didn't lead with the Super Bowl champions at number Anyway, everybody, thanks for following along. Uh enjoy Babe game Heed the call. NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
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