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Hey, everybody, let's rank things. Welcome to NFL Power Rankings, presented by Energizer from our studios in Los Angeles. My name is andrews cciliano, the man on the other side of the screen, the man who puts together the rankings on NFL dot Com. It's Eric at home. As we sit here, Eric in this really weird spot because we've been conditioned for years to say four games is the quarter poll. We're twenty five percent of the way through the season. However, technically we're not not until the first
quarter is over at FedEx on Thursday night. We are still not a quarter of the way through the season, and we're coming off a week that had really seven blowouts.
It was a surprising set of results too. We had, you know, favorites going down. We obviously had other teams kind of show out in big ways. So the scores last week did kind of dampen the excitement a little bit. But we learned a lot about these teams. He Andrew that this top eight is pretty good. Everything after that a lot of questions, at least.
For me, all right, let's show you the top eight. The forty nine Ers are back at number one after surviving Christian McCaffrey going off and beating the Arizona Cardinals. The forty nine ers are really, really good. They're number one now for the third time in five weeks. Kansas City, which had fallen to three, moves up to two by winning the Taylor Swift Concerts Sunday Night at MetLife. The Bills are up two after beating last week's number one
and beating them badly. Buffalo is three. The Eagles are kind of just sort of treading water there at number four, but hey, they're one of two undefeated teams. Cowboys blow out the Patriots as one of the seven blowouts. They move up to number five.
The Dolphin's plummet It's a dolphin that can't swim from one down to six, followed by the Lions who went at Lambeau on Thursday, and the Ravens who handled easily hand the Browns.
Time for Charged Up presented by Energizer. The team that has charged up your number one team back at number one for the third time in five weeks. Now Eric at home, you have the San Francisco forty nine ers. Who I mean, they do look like the best team in football, and they do look like a team getting a playoff rematch, which is a playoff game at October, if you will, coming up this week with the Cowboys.
Yeah, this this weekend's game is gonna tell us a lot about both teams.
But to this point the non quarter poll to use your turn there.
I mean, look, they've scored thirty or more in every single game.
They've only allowed twenty three points. That's the most.
They've allowed under sixteen in the other three games. So they've been terrific defensively. They've been explosive offensively, and I thought the return of Brandon I you really made a difference last week too. Yeah, McCaffrey had the four touchdowns. But when you have Ayuk out there, when you have Debo out there, we have George Kittle and CMC.
Who do you try to stop.
That's really the biggest thing is that they have four potential game changers out there on offense.
We know the defense is obviously capable of big things.
Did give up a long drive ninety nine yards last week, but really hell for him after that didn't allow the Cardinals within a sniffing distance of the end zone after that point.
So I mentioned it's a playoff freematch. Really, the last two years the forty nine Ers have knocked the Cowboys out of the postseason. Jerry Jones said this week that the road to the super Bowl in the NFC likely runs through San Francisco. They're the best team in the conference. I love how it look. Dak played well, and the big headline from that game on Sunday at AT and T was the Cowboys pasted Mac Jones and the Patriots.
But afterwards, when Dak was asked, Hey, how did it feel to loose to the forty nine ers last year in the postseason, you could see the look on his face and he said, thank you for asking me that. No, no, no, really, thank you for asking me that, because that's his motivation for this week. Do you think the Niners are still number one next week?
It's a big question.
Ry.
Can this Dallas defense do what it's done and really three of the four games and that's kind of take the opponent completely out of their game. As we said, with this forty nine Ers team and all the weapons they provide, it's gonna take a serious pass rush, though the offensive line might be the one unit where you might be able to get some to make some hay
against the forty nine ers. So it's got to be Parsons, it's got to be Lawrence, It's got to be all these guys up front that I think make the difference. So that and and Dak taking care of the ball and continue to do what they did, you know, weeks one, two and four offensively.
And tune in next week to see if the San Francisco forty nine ers are still number one, or for that matter, the Chiefs are still number two. You moved them up one. They were three. They went to MetLife and it wasn't their best game. Patrick Mahomes got picked a couple of times. He looked sloppy. People complained about the officiating, not sloppy, as if he wasn't prepared, just we don't expect to see him make bad throws. You still, though, have them as an imperfect number tw too.
That's the best way to describe. I think they're flawed.
They may not be better on paper than the team's blowing like the Bills, like the unbeaten Eagles, but I think when you have the best player in the game, and he's got to win with his fourth best pitch on the road against the pretty good defense. He's gonna do it, and he's gonna find a way. So his scrambling ability late in the game, maybe there was a holding call, Maybe there was. It certainly is what sets them apart. Defense bent a little bit there against Sack Wilson. They've
been terrific to this point. That did kind of raise an eyebrower.
Two for me.
But yeah, I think we saw the Chiefs being able to win in different ways. That's what makes them so dangerous. They don't have to blow you out, they don't have to try to boat race you every single time. They can win in different ways. The Mahomes can do the same thing as well, So I still give them a ton of credit, even if other people may think, hey, there are other people pushing down the door and going ahead of them.
Right now.
Here's what I think of the holding call. I think it was a hold. Here's what I didn't like the fact that the flag didn't really come out until after the pick. If it was a hole, it was ten to fifteen yards upfield. So if you saw it, then throw it. Then but I do think it was a hold. He did impede his progress down the field. There have been other calls at the ends of games this year, like the two point conversion in Denver or the Joey Porter junior play on DPJ in which there wasn't a
flag throat at the end. This one was regardless the Chiefs or number two. They go to Minnesota this week your team of the Week, you could have argued the Buffalo Bills or the number one team in football after what they did to the Dolphins. Team of the Week presented by truest Bag Josh Allen. I know he had a perfect passer rating. I think passer rating is overrated. Here you could argue he played his best regular season game ever, but the defense Eric was the story in
this one. Here as well. It was two sides of the ball for the Bills.
Yeah, took him a couple drives to get used to that Miami speed. Right the right angles you need to take to defend this team. I thought Mike mcdaniell's play calling was good, kind of kept them off balanced, but after a certain point, the defense that we had seen from Buffalo all season long really came to play.
It came out, you.
Know, forced to it to some overthrows, exploited that offensive line that was missing its starting left tackle, starting center, really gave them problems and communications up front.
I thought the Dolphins press to Andrew.
I thought they kind of gotten that spot where they hadn't been all year. They've been kind of controlling the action and dictating the pace of play in every other game so far. Didn't happen on Sunday after those first few drives and they took a few punches.
How they respond is going to be fascinating.
But my analogy is this, I think they could beat almost anybody in the league. One team they haven't been able to show that they could beat right now, you know, ten to the last eleven games, the Buffalo Bills. That's the one that they have to figure out. And they've gotten until what Thanksgiving to figure that out. So look, I think they could win most of their games until that spot. That's going to be the next test to see how good a content they truly are.
They've shown they can't win in Buffalo, which is the most important thing here. They lost twice last year in Buffalo. They lost obviously in Buffalo, as you can see on the screen here this past week, in week number four, the question is if these teams meet in January, where will that game be? And a lot is determined between now and their next meeting in November in Miami. That to me is the question. The other thing too about the Dolphins, the defense still has not shown it. I
think they get healthy. Well, they pick things up this week. Let's put it that way, when they get the Giants at home in ninety degree weather on Sunday. With the Giants on a short week and as we saw, still quite banged up after what they did on Monday night, another blowout loss at home to the Seattle Seahawks. All right, don't forget about London, friends, because the Bills are now on their way to London. The Jaguars residency, a two week residency, continues and you can watch that game on
NFL Network. NFL Game Day kickoff is on early at seven am Eastern. You can watch that game as well on NFL Plus go a Get it Plus on NFL dot Com, Bill's Jaguars and NFL Network NFL Plus London exclusive coming up on Sunday. Let's get back to the Cowboys here. Try to make sense of them, will you please? Because there's the team that you know felt good about itself. They're the best team, the best defense in football. Then go into Arizona, can't stop the run and get embarrassed.
And then there's the team that comes home last week and does exactly the opposite, embarrasses the Patriots and hands Bill Belichick Eric his worst regular season loss in two and a half decades.
Just a stunning performance, right, I mean, I think everybody thought this would be a closer game, maybe a defensive battle of sorts. But the Cowboys really were the aggressive team they came after. You know, they faked that two point conversion on the extra point try there, you know, they went for it down there towards the end zone. They were squatting on every Mac Jones pass, knowing that, look, we'll take a US that he throws deep, right, We're
gonna challenge him a little bit. Dron Bland drops one potential pick six, then finally gets his pause on the second one, and of course the force fumble two that was run back.
A dominant defensive performance. Unbelievable. It's the right mix, the super Bowl mix for this team.
I think where you have you know, just enough offense, consistent drives, running the football, play action seedee lamb, those tight ends are getting involved. We know Tony Pollard's had a really nice season, but it's that defense that I think sets the tone and can they take over this game against the Niners. That'll kind of tell us whether that Arizona game was an aberration or whether the Cowboys truly are in a weak group.
Blam played great in that game. But we agree here. I know you know this. The Patriots don't have a lot of difference makers at the skill positions, especially on the perimeter here without Trayvon Diggs. I think we see that. I think we see how big that loss to Trayvon Diggs is this week against the Niners.
I agree, Yeah, he was one of their special playmakers. That was a rutal blow for them. Obviously they have some defensive backs with experience, guys who played inside and outside, but Diggs was that playmaker, that difference maker back there who could get an interception and run it back and things like that. So that's what makes him so dangerous.
They could score on you almost every week on defense, and one more weapon is now taken out of that secondary even with land showing up the way he did.
All right, let's get to the Dolphins here. They are number six. We mentioned them earlier. Obviously, they're the other part of the equation. They're that big win for Buffalo this past Sunday in Orchard Park. But the Dolphins, if they do beat the Giants, Eric and you want to just say they beat the Giants, they will be four and one into it for the first time in twenty years. They're six this week, but they drop five, so big drop. But you still believe in them as a top ten
team and one of the best teams in football. I do.
And again, as I kind of hint it off the top, I really believe that this top quartile, right, these top eight teams are kind of separated by a bigger margin than just a few spots. Maybe Seattle jumps into this group, but I believe Miami belongs in this top group, no question. I'm not going to let a bad game against a really good football team up.
In Buffalo skew my rankings too much.
But this is about where they were the week before, and I jumped him up, maybe over promoted him, some people thought I did, But that offense as I said, has been pretty potent.
For the most part, most teams not equipped to handle it. Buffalo is I don't think the Giants are.
I don't think most of the remainder of the other what twenty nine teams can handle what Buffalo offers. So look, I think they're gonna get right, and it's all about getting right over these next six weeks or so until we get closer to Thanksgiving. In the rematch, they've got to get that offensive line together, and they've got to make more stops defensively in order to kind of stay in this group.
Now they're gonna have to do it without left tackle Tron Armstead on the offensive side here, as Mike McDaniel said, his injury will keep him out a matter of weeks, not days. The Dolphins are your number six team. The Lions and Ravens are seven and eight. You mentioned the Seahawks. Where are they or they have a top ten? And after that top eight, how does the middle of the pack sort out? And that's coming up next on NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer. You're watching the NFL Power
Rankings show percented Tea by Energizer. We got through the top eight. Eric at Holme has the Seahawks at number nine, up three after they're resounding eleven sack performance on Monday Night and it went over the Giants. How about the Buccaneers, they're up ten, ten, they jump up to number ten after another victory to lead the NFC South Browns or down only two despite being an offensive no show with dtr against the Ravens Jaguars Chargers. The Packers dropped four
after losing on TNF the Houston Texans. We'll get to them in a second. How about them move it up big as well. And the Tennessee Titans, who looked That's what I love Eric about, you know, early on in the season here who looked awful Week three. Get a win here against an a dead best Steelers team, and they move up five. Not not a Steelers team, but a big part in a Bengals team, and they move up five. All right, let's get to the Seahawks because they have
a bye bye week start this week. By the way, with number five, four teams are on a vice. Seattle is one of them. I was. I'm so impressed with not only the defense, but be how they have fought through injuries, notably on the offensive line. No one was complaining about how banged up the Seahawks offensive line was Monday night. They just dominated the Giants.
Yeah, it's not often you can go on the road, Andrew and play four different battery combinations, two centers and two quarterbacks and come out with a pretty easy win. I don't say easy, but certainly a win that they were able to put them away and the Giants had no real kind of counter punches.
And you know, Drew.
Locke comes in for an injured Gino Smith leads a touchdown drive that was terrific complimentary football. You mentioned the eleven sacks. How about Devin Witherspood, not just on his ninety seven yard pick six, but two sacks too.
They've got him in that nickel role. He is terrorizing people.
Not the biggest guy in the world, but he has been a fun player to watch off the edges. He's gotten in the lineup and kind of found a home there. So, yeah, the run game is working. He saw Pete Carroll whooping it up on the sideline. This team has some spirit, has some They have fun when they played football, and they've taken on all comers so far and played really competitively except for that week one gonna egg lay if you will, So I don't know. The momentum is on
their side. They're playing great and they've got a big victory. I bumped him up three spots. I wasn't prepared to do that, but that's what my eyes tole me.
They are clearly the number two team in the NFC West. That said that team, and you got to consider the opponent here, the fact that the Giants had been so bad. But that team that we saw on Monday night does look legit. Now they get a buy, a chance to maybe get healthy, and the Seahawks head into that buy at the somewhat quarter pole of the season here at three and one. The team behind him, also on a bye, is our power mover this week Moves presented by Energizer.
They're the fighting Baker Mayfield, the first place Tampa Bay Bucketeers. Eric, they go from twenty to ten. You were buying Baker, I am.
I mean again, it's this early in the season.
You know, one win is a massive thing, right, and they're all of a sudden kind of in the driver's seat a little bit, and you know, to go on the road and win a game as comfortably as they did against the division rival and a tough place to play. That's pretty impressive. Mike Evan's out for a big chunk of this game. You mentioned Mayfield, He's out there diving for first downs like he has been in past games.
This year, I liked that they got a little more aggressive offensively, Andrews started throwing on first downs, kind of keeping the Saints defense a very good defense too, keeping them on their toes, and so, you know, it was just a really nice game plan. They did have the red zone turnover, so you know, eleven penalties. There's still plenty of stuff to clean up run game, and there are other issues with this team, but I kind of stopped denying you know that this was a pretty competitive,
good team and Baker's done nice things this year. Not great, but good, and that's why they're in the spot. But plus, kind of the middle class this year has been a little bit underwhelming. That's why they kind of moved to the front of the line.
So speak, yeah, say this about Baker. He is the best quarterback in football on third down. Truly, statistically, he is the best quarterback in football on third down, which doesn't make a lot of sense because normally he's at his best when you're using play action. You can't normally lie on play action on third down. But regardless, he has been a machine and fourth down as well. As the Buccaneers move up ten and they are up to number ten. All right, let's get to the Green Bay Packers,
who had time to think about now. They have a long week here before they get ready for a Monday night game. They go Thursday to Monday. They had an awful performance, awful eric on Thursday night to open up Week four at home in their loss to the Lions. You have them dropping, but you still have them at fourteen, which which kind of means you still think they're a playoff team.
Yeah, they're right on that kind of playoff cusp, at least as far as my rankings are concerned. I put them at sixteen, thought that was a little too harsh, moved them to fifteen. Still felt like, you know, the way things shaked out, it's probably better to move them up one spot and assume that they were just caught off guard a little.
Bit on Thursday night.
I don't know that they expected the Lions to beat them physically as much as they did, and you had Matt Lafleura after the game all but calling out the toughness of this of his own team on both sides of the ball, offensive line, defensive line, and everybody else included. I am a little concerned about the kind of yin and yang every other week hot and cold performances from both Jordan Love and the remainder of the club. So
there is a chaotic nature to this group. But I also believe that they're the second best team in the NFC North, and even with the Vikings, you know, getting in the win column, you know, I would still take them head to head and feel like they're gonna play a lot better the next time they get the Lions.
And so so I don't know.
I'm not ready to punt on this team yet, and I think their schedule is going to help them.
Out a little.
Yeah, huge break here again a Thursday to a Monday, as the Packers will end Week five with a primetime game in Vegas against the Raiders. Let's get to one of my favorite team, a team that we might call a future champion presented by Fandalle. Let's look at the AFC South odds. That team is the Houston Texans, not the Jaguars who won, not the Titans who won, not the Colts who want to overtime, but the Houston Texans. Here as you look at the odds to win the
AFC South, they are number fifteen. For you, Eric, they moved up eight after handling the Steelers. And you want to talk about rookie quarterbacks, because we saw dtr we saw Bryce Young, We've seen Anthony Richardson in CJ. Stroud, the Texans not only have the best rookie quarterback, you could argue they have a top ten quarterback in the league right now.
It's early, but he looks poised, he looks in command, he looks comfortable back there. You know, even week one when he took as many hits as he did, he was a tough kid and he made some pretty good throws and you just sort of felt like, I'm gonna hang on to this guy. In the last two weeks terrific. So the interception streak has been fun. Demico's got his guys playing hard, two straight victories where they've sent us a message to the rest of the league we can play a little bit.
I can't wait to see what the rest of their season looks.
Like Yeah, the Houston Texans, everyone get to know them. They have a big test this week as they go to Atlanta. The Falcons coming off a disappointing game in London. They don't get the buy on the way home. Teams can ask for it. They didn't want the buye and they are sticking with Desmond Ritter at least for now. Those are your Houston Texans for my money, the future change the AFC South. All right, coming up here the
rest of the power rankings. We are through sixteen. Where do the Rams end up after they're thrilling overtime win in Indianapolis? And for that matter, how about the bank goals? How far have they fallen? That's next? And if our power rankings presented by Energizer, let's look at seventeen through
twenty four. The Rams are up seven after hanging on for dear life and getting a walk off at overtime in Indianapolis, follow by the Saints, the Jets, the Bengals, the Falcons, the Commanders, the Steelers plummet seven, the Patriots plummet six. The man who makes those rankings Eric at home, what do we think of these Rams? Had a figure. I figure they should have beaten the Bengals, but they didn't, we'd be looking at them a heck of a lot differently.
But wow, Matthew Stafford played well in Indy. He did.
He had Dio and engboll Land on him the third quarter and really appear to do some damage. So Stafford was out there gutting it out. But all game along he found Kuka a coup. I mean, what a revelation. This guy has been an incredible story right away, gets to him and then finishes the game in over time as well.
But that skips a whole lot of the story. They blew a twenty three other lead, almost lost this thing on the road.
That would have been pretty devastating, So jumping seven spots has to do with other people losing, etc. Still a good team, Still have some questions about them.
Though, and still a big task coming up here on the schedule Sunday when the Eagles, the undefeated Eagles come to Sofi Stadium. We'll find out a lot about the Rams run defense in that one. Undoubtedly a lot of Eagles fans of the building here. They have had this trip circled for a while. Saints Jets, Bengals, Falcons, and then the commanders here Eric sitting at twenty two. They
didn't move despite almost winning in overtime in Philly. If Riverboat Rod, by the way, ron hand in your riverboat card, please report the guest services had gone for it and gotten it, they'd be higher than twenty two.
Yeah, that two point decision.
That really bothered me because again, like you said, we have a coach who's reputation was sort of based on going for it in those situations.
He's gotten more conservative. Certainly he's got not a rookie quarterback, but I'm a first year starter in Sam.
Howell, who a week go is pummeled four interceptions, nine sacks. He played terrific on Sunday, right, and the numbers may not quite tell the whole story in battling back two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, very impressive stuff. And look, you know you have a kid, Emmanuel Forbes who gets beat on the double move touchdown by AJ Brown.
He's a talented guy.
He needs to learn for what Howell did, which is come back after a tough week, and we'll see if he can bounce back next week in a big one.
Yeah, I think the future is bright. They get the Bears in TNF Thursday at home. That is a sell up quickly. Hell, let's get the rest of the numbers on the screen. Vikings at twenty five, followed by the Colts, Cardinals, Broncos, Raiders, Giants, Panthers, and yes, of course the Bears. The Cardinals are an interesting twenty seven. I think they beat the Bengals this week.
Yeah, I think that can.
This is a tough team, Andrew, you know, they've been super competitive. They've already beaten the Cowboys, should have won Week one. You know, plenty of adulation for what they've done. But that defense has got to get better. They've got stops. I think that's going to be the biggest issue this weekend against if Cincinnati can find their offensive mojo again.
If Cincinnati can find it's mojo, and if they can all of a sudden make Joe Burrow heal miraculously and make him once again a quarterback that's able to move more than two feet either way in the middle of a very dirty pocket. Eric at home, It's always a pleasure, sir. The Bears, by the way, are thirty two. Apologies to the team in your backyard. Who if the draft were to be today it isn't, by the way, would pick both one and two. We are here every Tuesday on
the NFL Channel. We are always a podcast. Download it, tell your friends, tell your neighbors. Take it with you for Eric at home. My name is Andrew Siciliato. Enjoy Week five Everybody.
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