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Oh. I think it's one of the hardest things to do, and that's come up with the rankings of NFL teams. Following week number three, Welcome to the show. I'm Mike Ann, joined by Eric at Home. If you go to NFL dot com, you can see a list of the entire rankings. But Eric, there was a line that you use that I thought was perfect. Very little makes sense right now. Please bear with us during this difficult time. Welcome to the show, and good luck trying to explain why you came up with these rankings.
I hadn't written my intro at that point. I had written twenty eight of the thirty two team reports and was sort.
Of figuring out, all right, this is gonna be great. I should be able to figure this out.
About halftime of the games, I thought, well, let's rip the script up and start over again, because that's what I have to do every single week. Now, it seems it feels a lot more chaotic and a lot more unsettled than a year ago.
But you know what, we're all in. Let's go, man.
Yeah, I'm trying to figure out who's good who's not good. Some teams that I think are good that don't sssarily have great wins. There is a lot to digest here, but let's just jump right into the rankings. No change at the top. You got Kansas City, of course, coming up with a win against Atlanta on the road. We'll talk about that matchup a little bit later. Buffalo Bills thrashing of the Jags on Monday night. The Vikings don't look now, how about moving up twelve spots to number three.
The defense holds C. J. Stroud and the Texans just seven points. Number four, it's the Lions who beat the Cardinals the Eagles. That defense handled a red hot Saints team. You have the Houston Texans sitting at number six, the Green Bay Packers at seven, and the Baltimore Ravens. Boy do they need a win in the worst way. They got in on the road against Dallas checking in at number eight. Let's start with the number two team here. I thought the Bills looked so good that there was
an argument. I thought we might come to the studio and say, hey, maybe we're flip flopping here. We're going to talk about the Bills as the number one team. How much consideration did you have with maybe having them slot in front of the defending Super Bowl champs.
Oh, it was on the table, Mike, Absolutely. I sat there and you know, was watching them at halftime, basically when they had done the bulk of their damage against Jacksonville and you know, a team that was pretty desperate for a win. We thought or at least be competitive in that game. And I absolutely considered it, but didn't want to be the guy who knocked out the back to back Super Bowl champs, who with a three to zero record. I understand it hasn't been pretty completely start
to finish in Kansas City, but they'll get going. I think we saw last year they don't need to have a great regular season to be the best team when it all you know, ends and matters the most. So Buffalo has been terrific. I you know, send some their praises this offseason. I said, I don't think their super Bowl windows over and we saw it in the game last night.
You know, I was in Rochester for inside training camp for NFL Network and the biggest question was like, Hey, how's this offense going to look? There's so many changes to personnel. It looked pretty good last night, by the way. Next three for them at Ravens, at Texans, at Jets, stay locked in NFL Power rankings as we will find out how where this team really deserves to be over the next few weeks. Here Vikings at number three. We got to be buying this team first time. Minnesota is
three and oh since twenty sixteen. Sam Donald is dealing. Just how surprised are you right now that you have him this high?
Yeah, I'm like the guy who got in on the Microsoft stock like in late two thousands, right, a little behind on the party, but I'm willing to admit that I stole am on track here, right, I moved them all the way up to number three. I still had some reservations, right, We haven't seen Sam Donald really dominate for a whole season. Did they truly have all the defensive pieces? Well, through three weeks we have some pretty good evidence, now, not a complete picture, but a darn good one that.
This team isn't going anywhere.
And I think what matters most, Mike is the coaching. I mean, Kevin O'Connell has done a great job with Donald, with all the new pieces, they've made the most of a great offensive line. And then Brian Flores on defense did a masterful job of CJ.
Stroud.
You're not supposed to blitz the guy, but that's exactly what they did and went hellbent blitzing him in the first half, and it really seemed to disrupt the timing of what can be a very explosive offense. I know the Texans haven't shown it yet this year, but so impressed with the Vikings game plan and their execution.
It really was fun to watch.
Also, a nice game for Jonathan Garnard against his old teammates. It was a reunion kind of day for a lot of players. But he got to Stan Talless.
In that one. Yeah.
Look, they get the Packers and this is going to be a great football game coming up this week. By the way, on game day preview, if you're not checking out the show, Cynthia Freeland had said, Hey, how does CJ. Stroud handle the blitz? Because generally speaking, he does a really good job top five in the NFL with pressure in his face. It didn't play out that way. It just is sort of a remarkable feat that Minnesota was
able to execute him look as good as they did. Well, Eric, another team that has actually been balling out right now is your number five squad, the Philadelphia Eagles. Take me through this because I think for as much as we talk about Saquon and the offense defensively, the fact that they were able to put the Saints in check that the way they did, I think that's the most impressive thing that we're seeing.
Yeah, last week the talk dominated about Saquon's d on third down and all that, and Nick Sirianni's decision, and those are fair topics, but the defensive discussion I think was a big one that we kind of overlooked, right.
It was a problem.
They went into New Orleans, a team that allowed the Falcons to drive right down the field for a game winning score. They've had their issues, they're big guys up front had and shown up, and now they had to face a Saints team score in ninety one points in two games.
Well, they did fantastic.
I thought they were absolutely outstanding. Gave a little ground at the end there, but did what they needed to do to win the game. Red blanket ship, the game ceiling pick. Davis and Carter up front really did a great job.
Took away.
That Saints run game early kind of made them a left handed offense. And yeah, I thought that as much as anything, not to overlook Barkley, not to overlook Jalen Hurts and Dallas Goddard, but that defense coming through really helped me feel good about keeping.
Them high in the rankings.
And you know, I think among the elite contenders in this league, even with their warts.
Eric, a couple of minutes ago, you told me about how impressive the Minnesota defense was against CJ. Stroud. I don't think anyone's hitting the panic button on the Texans, who far all three spots for you. CJ. Strott hadn't thrown an interception in seven consecutive starts. He throws two in this game. I'm not panic, but is there a level of concern that you have around Houston?
Well, they still had to kind of integrate some of the new pieces, like Stefan Diggs. I know Diggs was pretty busy on Sunday, but it ended up not helping them that much. And you know, look, some of the protection up front has to be better. CJ's allowed a bad game every now and then. I know he's been this sort of robotic superstar and played at an unbelievable level the last year plus, but he wasn't on his
a game. They were down their top two running backs on the road against the team that we now know should be up there amongst the elites in the league.
So is this the kind of game that.
That changes our perception of the Texans. Maybe let's get a little more evidence, let's see them a little bit more. I know that the Bears game was a little bit of a struggle offensively too, and they're still figuring things out. Remember this team lost to the Carolina Panthers last year. They had some ugly games even with the late season flourish there. So they'll get in their groove eventually. But right now, now, you're right, it doesn't look all that well jointed, you.
Know, Eric, he made a reference to Microsoft stock if I was buying stocking an NFL team. Right now, the Packers feel like a good dividend, consistently good here, move up three spots there at seven. I don't know, is this more of a reflection on Tennessee or the Packers legitimate right now?
Hard to ignore that I move Titans down to the basement this week, So I know that's a little bit of a teaser for later. But still they're playing one of the worst teams in football at least through three weeks, a mistake prone team. But still got to credit the Packers defense for the eight sacks. Still have to look at jay r Alexander's big pick six early in the game.
That kind of set the tone.
And oh, by the way, we talked about coaching earlier with the Vikings, how about Matt Lafleur. The game plan that he devised two weeks in a row from Malik Willis kind of kept the trading wheels on against the Colts, but I felt like loosen the leash a little bit and let him do his thing in his old stadium, I mean Nissan Stadium. Had we saying why do we have Levis since, I mean instead of this guy, right, you know, one month ago he was he's competing with them.
So a bizarre scene for Titans fans and a welcome one for Packers fans. They're two to zero without Jordan Love. Love could be back this week. We're not sure, but this entire team is very well coached, very determined, and I think a real threat in the NFC North.
Would be a huge boost. As I made reference to they get the Vikings coming up this weekend. On game day preview, we had our insider Mike Aarrofolo with us. I couldn't believe we were actually having conversations about Shordan Love potentially returning. He is close and to your point, Eric, there is a chance that he's actually going to be playing this weekend, which maybe even rises that stock a little bit more. With two teams now sitting in your top seven going head to head, well it's time for
future champions. As we take a look at the odds for the AFC North, the Ravens still the favorite, followed by the Steelers Cincinnati and the Cleveland Browns. And Eric, you and I were talking off air about this, this Ravens team. Look, they look dominant last week at times, but this is back to back weeks where we're seeing a run by their opponent in the fourth quarter.
And it's been a chronic issue, something that you wouldn't normally associate with a team coached by John Harbaugh, one of the best, Lamar Jackson, two time MVP, and now they have Derrick Henry to how to you know, bleed clock and take the air out of the ball. So the formula is there for the Ravens. They won a lot of football games, but recently, at least in the last few years, blowing leads in the fourth quarter has become kind of an epidemic.
You know.
They came back in Week one against the Chiefs, made it a close game, almost won it. But the last two weeks have been concerning, even with the first three quarters in Dallas, which look to me, they look like a Super Bowl contender during their first three quarters. So how much do we weigh the Janis face of the Ravens right, the good versus the bad, the early versus the late. It's part of the problem with evaluating him. But I had him pretty high last week, a lot
of respect for an zero and two team. That's why I didn't bump him up too much because of what happened in the fourth quarter.
And you know I already had him up there pretty well.
Positive sign here and no one in the building is higher on the Ravens than I think I am. Derreck Henry went off in this game, and maybe they're there's something brilling here in this backfield. We didn't see it in the first two weeks. But Henry goes for a buck fifty in this one. All right, more to come here. You know a we could go on power rankings. Eric had the Niners sitting at two despite a loss. Well, guess what they lost again? There is a drop. How
far did they fall in the power rankings? The answer is coming up next. Welcome back to NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Here are Eric's teams nine through sixteen. The Steelers one of four undefeated squads in the AF See the Saints. They sit at number ten. They average forty five points in the first two weeks, had twelve though this past weekend against the Eagles. Meanwhile, at number eleven, the Seahawks three and zero for the first time since
twenty twenty. The Niners, Hello, they dropped ten spots after that loss to the Rams. The Jets Aaron Rodgers at thirteen. He looked sharp on TNF the fourteenth ranked team. The Chargers, just helth a lot of concerns right now about his health. Checking in at fifteen the Buccaneers. A head scratching loss against Denver and an impressive win for the Commanders, who are the sixteenth ranked team. Let's circle up on number nine here the Steelers, Eric, are they a good football team?
I think so, yeah, I mean good, yes, great, we'll see right. I mean, justin Field's in that offense, it's kind of taken baby steps forward each week. Zero touchdowns week one, one in week two, and then two this past week, and it just feels like they're starting to get a little rhythm. And I'm impressed with Field's accuracy. You know, this was not necessarily the player he was
in Chicago at all times. He's still pushing it down the field occasionally, like that throw right there to you know, George Pickens, and they get their medium shots in there yards after the catch Calvin Austin. I mean, that's really how they're generating big plays. Still doing it with the run game. And you know, they lose their left tackle and Broder Jones steps in and does a pretty good job. The defense takes care of its business. You still have TJ.
Waco and against the rookie offensive tackle, that's going to be a win for the Steelers. So he's playing at extremely high level. The defense as a hole is doing very good job. Maybe they're taking advantage of the schedule a little bit, but you know, I thought last week's win was pretty or Sunday's win rather was pretty impressive. So I still got this team moving up having seen a lot of fields.
I don't know if.
He's ever gonna be special. And you got Russell Wilson in the pen. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm still tuning in. They're interesting to me.
Yeah, that's becoming a juicy storyline. Russell Wilson won that starting job. We haven't even seen him start a game so far. If this team continues to roll here, I don't know what Mike Tomlin does. They are on the road against the Colts in this coming weekend. Meanwhile, at number eleven, the Seahawks moved up eight spots. They also hit the road. They're an undefeated team and they match
up against the Lions. It feels like you're giving a lot of respect to this squad, to Mike McDonald's team, who, by the way, has looked dominant at times.
Yeah, I mean there's no doubt they've they've done some really good things defensively. Granted it came against Bo Nixon his first start. You know, the Patriots are offensively limited, so you know, there's some things that we can.
Put asterisk next to.
But they're going to to get Kenneth Walker back, They're going to get NWOSU back.
On defense.
I do worry about the injuries to Byron Murphy and Leonard Williams and all that. Gino Smith was hot in the first half, cold in the second, you know. So there is a little bit of a disjointed nature to what they are right now. But McDonald looks like a very good coach right now for the three games they've taken care of business. The schedule does stiffen. There's no doubt that the games get tougher from this point and
that defense will get tested. But I have a pretty good feeling in time we're going to see some really good things out of that unit. And I think McDonald was brought in just to.
Be that guy.
He just added more juice to that side of the ball. That's been the most exciting thing is that things had gotten a little bit stale the last few years defensively, and there's really no problem in that regard right now.
No, by the way, speaking of that team's defense, I saw a stat which I was so impressed by Seahawks first team since the nineteen seventy nine Steelers to start three to zero and allow fewer than one hundred and fifty passing yards in those first three games. That secondary has been terrific. I couldn't wait to do the show with you just to find out where you were going
to have the Samisco forty nine ers. You drop them ten spots to be fair and once again, and Eric, I know you know this, but who played for the Niners might be the biggest question. Injury is all over that squad. The Rams also had injuries, but make some sense of the ranking.
I probably should have factored in some of their injuries. Now, a few of them were late breaking last week after we take the show, after I wrote the power rankings. But you know I had Vikings fans saying, hey, we should have been up at number two and they should have been at number twelve. Well, I pretty much fulfilled their dreams this week because I couldn't ignore it anymore. They get off to the fourteen nothing start against the Rams.
Things are looking okay, but Brandon Ayu doesn't deliver that huge game that we would hope you would be able to deliver. In these kinds of situations, you know, the defense gave up those long drives. At the end, they were caught flat footed on a fake punt that led to a touchdown. So you know, really all three aspects of the forty nine ers are kind of out of
sync right now. If you go back a year ago, it was about this time where they had that weird little streak, the game in Cleveland, the game in Minnesota where things just didn't look right. We're there now. Injuries are a big part why I dropped them down. They could certainly get back into the top five. We know their reputation, we know their talent, but you got to
get kiddled back. We don't know McCaffrey's situation. There are a lot of unknowns right now, even with bench players like Juwan Jennings who could step up and have a three TV game. That defense wasn't dominant at all on Sunday, and that worries.
Me have an opportunity in what I would call a get right game. They get the Patriots, at least on paper, they should handle business in a dramatic way. Well, it's time for power moves. The Commanders move up twelve spots to sixteen, and Eric the story of this one is all about Jaden Daniels, who, Yeah, he's the best working quarterback in the league right now.
Imagine completing eighty percent of year passes in your first three games in the league, a guy who is you know, almost off the NFL draft ratear at least is a top five pick entering last season. So his ascension over the last you know, twelve thirteen months has been pretty dramatic and remarkable to watch. And what struck me, Mike, the poise, the comfort level. He was out there looking like a seasoned veteran, you know, manipulating the Bengals with
his arm, with his eyes, with his legs. Looked to be in total command. Had the one sack at the end didn't bother me. He picked himself right back up, got in position. They drove for five touchdowns and six drives. Six scores and six drives. The only way he can stop him is in kneel down situation, so they haven't punted in two games. Mike, this is This has been unbelievable to see, and I can't wait to see where he is at the end of the season, next year
and beyond. This is a talented kid who's got all the confidence in the world.
Look, you're gonna go wherever your quarterback leads you. Dan Quinn made some some gutsy play calls, especially on that lead drive there. Seven minutes, twelve plays, two third down completions, Not to mention, he went forward on fourth down and they were able to pick up obviously the move to change there, which set up the Terry McLaurin touchdown, which, by the way.
Was not bad for a college offense. Right. Isn't that what the Bengals.
Said, Yes, there is a little bit of that. He had to eat his words, by the way, because the Commanders actually won that football game. The names the Cincinnenti Bengals lost or sitting at Owen three, they might be the best Owen three team in the league.
Yeah, that's not really saying much.
Where do they sit in the power rankings? The answers coming up next. Power Rankings brought to you by Energizer continues to roll on Eric's teams seventeen through twenty four. The Cowboys three unanswered touchdowns in the fourth quarter not enough for them. At eighteen. The Colts a heavy dose, so Jonathan Taylor at nineteen it's the Rams, yo, respect McVeigh and Los Angeles the Falcons at twenty oh, we're going to have to talk about that. Right behind them
Cincinnati and Owen three team at twenty one. Boonix gets his first win as the Broncos or ranked twenty second. The Cardinals Kyler are looking a little human against Detroit and then the Chicago Bears at twenty four. Caleb Williams through for three sixty two touchdowns, two interceptions. Cowboys. I don't know what to make of this squad here. Keep losing games at home. There's a free fall that's happening right now. They drop six spots for you and they
sit at seventeen. What am I supposed to do with the squad? Yeah?
I mean some of Sunday I think was if you watch, they just look so annoyed having to try to tackle Lamar Jackson, who just destroys NFC teams because they you know, they only face them every couple of years or that sort of thing, so you know, it sort of took away their defensive teeth. Early, they did settle in a little bit on that side of the ball. Eventually, same thing with the offense. No big plays early, couldn't get
anything going. Part of that, I think has to do with the fact the run game, this sort of triumvirate they put together, hasn't been explosive.
Cumulatively.
They're near the bottom of the ranking, so that's been a limitation for their offense. And you know, you just can't put yourself in a twenty eight to six hole and expect to come back, even as good as they've been the last several years in Dallas. So yeah, I think starting better somehow forging a run game, and then you know, defense, trying to defend these these seas elite players like Lamar Jackson has been a problem.
You know. I started this show Eric saying how difficult it must be this particular week to come up with these rankings. But I got to push back on the Falcons at twenty Pigly that wasn't called. I think they could have beaten the Chiefs, and if that had happened, they'd be skyrocketing up your rankings. But it sounds like you're not totally on board with Kirk Cousins in the squad just yet.
Well, yeah, I know there's a little hesitation there. I mean, they're still thinking of themselves as a running team. Which I get when you have Bjon Robinson and Tyler Algier and those offensive linemen, you should be But they lose
Drew Dolman in the game. They had a new right tackle as well, Caleb McGarry left the game, and you know, trying to run that wide play on fourth down, I think showed Look, when you're altered, when you have an injury like the double injury like that up front, you've got to sort of.
Change what you do.
And I think either you know, quarterback sneak something else and just the offensive identity is not quite coming together for me for.
Them, inconsistencies all over the place. For a winlessness team that drops five spots, they sit at twenty one every single week. It just feels like a different issue with the squad, which really should worry Bengals fans who thought their team could win a Super Bowl this year if they were healthy. No ozero and three team has ever done that before. I still think there's a chance for our a top ten team by the end of the season, though.
They could be they're swimming upstream, there's no doubt. I mean, we've seen the record, right, two point five percent of teams to start oh in three do not make the or do make the playoffs, and the other ninety seven and a half sit home. So could be two straight years for them sitting home because of the way they've started. That was the worst defensive performance we've seen this year. That was a major step back. Had no answers for Jayden and Daniels. Really, the offense was good. I mean
they scored almost every time they had the ball. They just settled for some field goals, missed one of them. And you know, they weren't aggressive enough early sensing how much Jayde Daniels was going to stress them all night long. And I you know, I give Zach Taylor a little bit of heat for that.
Yeah, one touchdown and three trips into the red zone those two field goals. That really is the difference in this ball game. Eric, I want to get to your team's ranked twenty five through thirty two. The Dolphins No. Two. They drop eight spots. It is what it is. We'll figure this team out once they get healthy. At twenty six, it's the Browns. Watson sacked eight times. You gotta be kiinning me g Men's defense rolling twenty seven, it's the Patriots.
Our gains by the Jets four hundred to one, thirty nine. Not gonna win a lot of games like that. The Raiders at twenty eight, what in the in the what twenty nine? The Giants thirtieth, the Jaguars, the Panthers at thirty one, and the Titans at thirty two. All Right, the Jags, they couldn't get anything right in this game. I don't know what the fix is. I don't even know how you fix it, because it feels like everything's broke with this team.
Yeah, and a lot of people in Jacksonville seem to be kind of putting the spotlight on Doug Peterson. And they've lost their last eight games with Trevor Lawrence's starting quarterback, and they've lost eight of nine overall. We know the collapse down the stretch and the slow start this year has been so disappointing. Trevor Lawrence right now is a fifty percent passer. You see him forcing balls into traffic, not necessarily trusting his new receivers or his offensive line
up front. It was a tough night for him trying to get in rhythm, and he just sort of felt like he had his teeth taken out of the offense.
Yeah, just definitely a buzzkill. And this team is knocking on the door now of a couple long trips. They got a couple of games in Europe, so they got to figure this out very very quickly. As they dropped seven spots number thirty one. I need to give you some love here, Panthers. You actually pick them to go and win this game against the Raiders.
Andy Dalton, Hello, every dog has his day and Andy Dalton, I mean I'm the dog, not Andy Dalton, but I picked him as a dart throw.
Look.
Andy Dalton has been great in these kind of situations. Show in the world he can do it. I just thought he was a better quarterback than Bryce Young right now. He's sort of a pros pro in a lot of ways, and he had nothing to lose in this game. Neither did the Panthers. You saw renewed energy that just wasn't there with Bryce. So as great a day as it was for Andy Dalton, Dave Kanallis, it was a tough one for Bryce Young, but good for the Panthers.
They're out of the basement for the first time in forever.
Yeah, and look, I did not see it come in on the road for him against the Raiders team that scored what was what I would consider the best win of last weekend. Dude got to handle business better than that at home. I get it. It happens to s the NFL. There definitely a buzz built from that perspective. Eric, good luck this week coming up with therectings.
We'll do it again.
Come it up after week number four and show the games everyone.
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