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Hey there to you and yours happy soon to be Week six. Welcome to the NFL Power Ranking Show here at the NFL Past channel. Also a podcast downloader wherever you can. My name is Andrews Siciliano. That right there is Eric at home. We collectively are presented to you
by Energizer and we are thrilled. If you were to get up to your screen right now, or maybe if you're watching on like your tablet, your phone, to ever take out your other device, Eric can scan that QR code and see through officially now the quarter pole, your power ranking genius.
How difficult was it for you this week?
It was pretty difficult, right, I mean, I wanted to move the forty nine ers up.
There's nowhere else to put them though, right there at the top spot.
But Dallas obviously coming in with a different difficult performance there other teams struggled. I mean, let's get to the Patriots eventually, but man, just the top to bottom.
There were a lot of changes this week.
Will be at the end of the show. I actually can't believe they don't have them at the very end of the show, but we'll get to that a little bit later. You teased it right there. The forty nine Ers are the number one team. Here are the new rankings right now available on NFL dot com. San Francisco stays at one, followed by Philly. Kansas City is down from two. The Eagles and Chiefs swap Dolphins the Lions into the top five, followed by the Bills, who lose
and lose Matt Mulano in the process. In London, the Jaguars, the team that beat the Bills, are somehow a top seventeen.
Yikes, I don't see it.
And the Dallas Cowboys fall by three after getting stomped upon by the forty nine Ers in the Game of the week. Let's just call the forty nine Ers the team of the week. The Team of the Week presented by Truest. The road to the Super Bowl eric very clearly now in the NFC at least. Don't get out at me, Eagles fans. I know Week thirteen loans on the calendar, but in my eyes it runs through Santa Clara. They are the best team. I saw the Eagles in person. I think San Francisco is better.
I do too, Andrew to this point, the evidence suggests they're the most complete football team in the NFL right now. Offense, defense, special teams. It's all clicking. And you know, even though it was a close game in the third quarter against the Cowboys, they very clearly had the edge throughout and then put their foot down on the Cowboys next in
the in the third and fourth quarters. There so incredible offensive performance and what a performance on defense only allowed eight first downs, a couple of big plays, but for the most part, a tremendous statement game from San Francisco. Is Look, Dallas had stood toe to toe with some pretty good teams, shown off with good defense, but San Francisco said, no, we're just a class above you right now.
Yeah, and what bothers me here too? And I know we'll unpack the Cowboys a little bit more from a Dallas perspective is that they talked this thing up like it was their Super Bowl. And I remember Richard Sherman
of the Thursday Night the TNF Amazon postgame show. After the bearstn the Commanders, Sherman, the former forty nine er, said, Hey, this doesn't mean as much to the Niners as it means to the Cowboys, almost like an NBA mid season cross conference thing, right, like Lebron and the Cavaliers are going to LA. It meant more for them than it did for the Lakers, and the Lakers loss, they just kind.
Of shrugged their shoulders.
Well, well this when it didn't mean allegedly as much for the forty nine Ers.
Was a one sided game that was.
Over early, and they are clearly the best team in the NFL. Eagles fans now time to get angry. Week thirteen, San Francisco goes to Philadelphia, hopefully with a healthy Brock party this time. I was at so far where the Rams and the Eagles traded punches throughout the first half, and I mean that figuratively thirteen play drive followed by a twelve play drive and then really the end of the second quarter. Eric speaks volumes to how confident the
Eagles are. They went brotherly shove, push, push, with no time left on the clock, got it and then dominated the second half.
Yeah.
I think one of the hallmarks of this team is they have not played their best football yet, at least not you know, when you compare it game to game consistency.
Wise to what they did a year ago.
But there's still five and zero and that aggressiveness that you just pointed to, for me is one of the big reasons why I moved them up, and I still feel like, even not playing their best, the fact that they could take chances, that Nick Siriana has faith in his players.
To go for it.
I mean, what were they on their own twenty five with about thirty something seconds left, they decided to go down the field thirty two? Okay, I was close, and finish it in style right with the play of the year I guess, the controversial play of the year with the brotherly shove. But they do it so well, right, That is the secret weapon they have. They also have, you know. I mean, I'd love to see their red
zone performance get better. But when you can continually drive and drain teams down what they do offensively, it's a tough tough team to beat. Even if, like you said earlier, the forty nine ers just seem more complete the the only two five and zero teams in football, they're both pretty durned good.
Yeah, the only two undefeated teams in football are the team's rank one to two in the New Power Rankings. Can't really disagree. The Niners one and the Eagles number two. And yes, even though it was a fairly even game in the first half, the Philadelphia defense taken advantage of times of the banked up offensive line. Notably, they're the final Hassan Redick sack by the rookie Warren McClendon there
from Georgia forston right tackle. Their defense put the clamps onto the second half and they shut the Rams down just period, shut them down.
And Philadelphia is.
Now the number two team here as they are moving up to from where they were a week ago. The Lions are a top five team.
They're behind the.
Chiefs and the Dolphins. But the Detroit Lions are a top five team. You put them in the top five not because they beat some world class opponent. I'm gonna guess Eric, you put them there because they did it without Amen Ross Saint Brown, and they did it without Jim Gibbs and Jamison Williams is barely in the conversation.
Yet they're still putting a forty.
Yeah, they have time to get Jmogo and obviously he had a little bit of a slow, tough debut, but that was probably expected given how much time he's missed. You're right, you could lose two of your key offensive cogs there, and amen, Rad and Engineer Gibbs has done some nice things as a rookie and still be fine. Sam Laporta steps up, you know, obviously, Josh Reynolds has been a big part of what they've done. Jared Goff
still steady play the offensive line, taking over games. Now, look, this is a Carolina team that has got a rookie quarterback who's struggling. Frank Reich is under fire. They have a million problems there at the other end of the of the Power Raikings this week. But even still, I thought it was a really impressive, clean performance. You could easily see this as a little bit of a trap game or a letdown game, or they could come out slowly.
That was not the case.
I think Dan Campbell's just really done a nice job for all the you know, the jokes about decap biting and all that stuff. He's kept this team focused eyes on the prize. They didn't let Seattle loss affect them. They moved on and they're just taking care of business each every week. Now.
Yeah, and this is a team that Lions fan Cynthonia freelan wearing you know, a Lions Lion thing whatever that was a couple of weeks ago as well, can legitimately start buying playoff tickets for I.
Know that's ridiculous. Wait wait, wait, this.
Is a Lions team that isn't a flash in the pan. This is a legitimate Lions team that you need to ask right now? How many games can they win in the postseason? That just will they get in? They're gonna win the North, but how many games can they win once they are in? And I know some Detroit fans may push back against this because like you can't handle the success, you're not used to it. Maybe you're just crossing your fingers and just praying you get there. You're gonna get there barring an injury.
Truly.
So we have the Lions there, and then after the Lions we have the Bills, and then we have the Jaguars at seven. Now to do the low hanging fruit, how do you have the Jaguars here behind the Bills? They beat the Bills. Whatever, I know, I'm gonna push back Eric against the idea that Jacksonville is really this good. I don't think that they are I mean they lost at home to the Houston Texans, and it really wasn't that close.
This is a big win.
You beat the Bills, but you had the decided advantage and rest and acclimization there in London.
You really think that the seventh best team.
In football at this moment.
Look, I mean it's tough when you start sort of saying, look, who are the Dallas Cowboys?
Right?
They're a team that obviously we had high favor high regard for, I should say, last week. And you know, Baltimore Ravens could have moved up with a win. They failed to do so. So there are a lot of other teams in that same region that failed. Does this feel a little bit lofty for Jacksonville considering where they were a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely, But we did see that offense start to blossom a little bit. They're gonna get healthier and more cohesive on that offensive line.
I think. I agree.
The Bill's traveling on Friday probably, you know, still yawning mid first quarter during that game.
That played a factor. That came out flat. The Jaguars were.
Acclimated, So you know, I tried to factor all these things in and I kept saying to myself, if you just kind of look at the trend of where they've been and where they are right now, two back to back games, even if they did happen in London, they happened, they played well. Let's cut down on the Sackson fumbles, Trevor. But still I think this offense is ready to take off.
A little bit.
And Calvin Ridley took off at his first big game since Week one. Travis Atn took off as well with those two touchdowns, and they were able to close. Buffalo hung around, made their push there in the second half, but they were able to close, forcing the fumble there at the end of the Trayvon Walker getting the recovery. Now, Eric, let's ask the question that you asked just ninety seconds ago, because I would love to know the answer.
Who are the Dallas Cowboys?
Man? I wish I could give you that answer right now or fill it out in one hundred twenty five words on my power ranking story.
It's a mystery right.
Now because Dak Prescott seemingly has taken a step back. Tony Pollard, who was supposed to be the guy in the wake of Zeke leaving, had the big fumble early in the game. Offensive line not the unit we expected it to be. And oh, by the way, this defense that was so tremendous at times early in the season had the one slip up in Arizona. But I think
we expected a better four quarter performance from them. Even as good as the forty nine Ers are, granted, when they have their four horsemen out there, they are tough to beat. But Dallas seemed to kind of bring the toughness to the game, but they couldn't.
Back it up.
It felt like they lost their composure a little bit when they realized the forty nine Ers were just better than them. They were beating them on the line of scrimmage,
they were more physical. And so this leaves me with this question of hey, heading into this big game against the Chargers, who had a week of rest, we now have questions on special teams, Turpin is hurt, offense certainly all the reasons we just mentioned, and then defense to a unit that, frankly I didn't think we'd be poking a ton of holes, but now injuries and ineffectiveness have you know, kind of opened the door for that criticism.
Yeah, imagine this conversation next week. If the Cowboys fall to three and three and lose, they play Monday night. As you mentioned here in La Sofi Sofi is right there by the way. You can't see it, but it's over my shoulder. If they lose to the Chargers in the Kellen Moore Bowl on Monday night, imagine because Jerry Jones went on the radio Tuesday morning he always does, does the local radio thing there in Dallas, and he
said what you would expect. He still believes in dak Prescott said all the right things, but he was actually asked, would you push for Brian Schottenheimer to take over as play caller and take that away from Mike McCarthy. Really like, it's week six and we have already entered the why isn't shoddy calling please? Part of the bingo card here for the Cowboys that we inevitably knew we would eventually get to. But it's week six and now if.
Callen Moore.
March is justin Herbert down the field. Mm hmmm, Eric, this conversation will be fun next week.
Hey, Will, I'm sure Kellen watched what Kyle Shanahead dialed.
Have they have different systems, but I'm sure he's gonna borrow a page or two from what he saw Sunday night.
Yeah, remember the old Oh McCarthy's back.
The Cowboys said it to me when I was there in training camp or i TC for NFL Network. They said, we're taking shots downfield. Man, we got speed, We're taking shots downfield. I think dak is twenty third on yards per attempt right now, something like that.
So that ain't what we got.
All right, We're the Ravens now after they dropped one in Pittsburgh, they're gonna drop how far? We will tell you coming up on the NFL Power Ranking Show presented by Energizer. All right, you've seen the top eight of the NFL Power Rankings presented by Energizer. Let's continue the countdown with the Seattle Seahawks.
They were on a bye. They don't go anywhere.
The Ravens drop two after dropping everything in Pittsburgh. They're now at number ten. Tampa Cleveland on a bye, Chargers on a bye, Saints, Bengals, and the Atlanta Falcons want to hit you on the Ravens.
There.
Eric at Hombo, by the way, puts together this list. Check it all out of course on NFL dot Com. The Ravens could have and should have beaten the Steelers seven different times. Rashaan Bateman drops a touchdown, Mark Andrews a touchdown through his hands as well.
Nelson Agalore drops a touchdown. TJ.
Watt punches a Flowers in the neck, it doesn't get flagged. My point is they had that game, they should have won that game. You still think they're a top ten team?
Yeah, I mean, look, I again, it kind of goes back to the conversation we had earlier about, boy, who are the middle class teams that you think have the chance to move into that top quartile, that top eight. They're just aren't many this year, Andrew. I just feel like it's a very top heavy and bottom heavy league this year, and the middle class is kind of all a wash.
So with Lamar Jackson and an evolving offense.
I guess the best way to kindly to describe what they're doing right now, I would say, yes, by the end of the season or by a certain point, they could be better.
The fact that they've given.
Away two games now, the Colts game and then Sunday at Pittsburgh in such improbable fashion. Right The first one was a little bit fluky, and it did come to a backup quarterback. But I think this one hurts more because it's a divisional game, and like you said, all the drop passes, all the opportunities, the block punt, Lamar's two turnovers in the fourth quarter, everything just fell apart.
This is a game they should have won.
Look, I don't have a whole lot to stand on here except the hope of John Harbaugh hopefully improve special teams from that team, they're usually very good, and then Jackson hitting his peak.
But it's been a little bit hot and cold from them so far.
We'll get to the Steelers in a second.
Obviously, credit to them, and credit to Kenny pick four once again finding away in the fourth quarter when for three previous quarters the offense doesn't do much. But in the end he finds George Pickens, who beats Marlin Humphrey, your best corner. I'm really one of your only healthy defensive macs with Kyle Hamilton, and you win the game,
So good for you. By the time you see this show or listen to this podcast, the Ravens will likely be at thirty eight thousand feet on their way to London because.
They are live on NFL Network.
Coming up on Sunday, it's the Ravens End the Titans, NFL Network, NFL Plus. Rich Eysen, Kurt Warner, Jamie Erdahl on the call, and remember nine to thirty Eastern times seven o'clock NFL Game Day kickoff.
You can stream it on NFL Plus or.
If you have one of these like regular TVs, just watch it a NFL Network.
Cool. Okay, Cool. Let's get to the Saints, because you moved them up for Eric.
They're fourteen behind the Chargers and the Browns and the Bucks, who were all on buys. Fourteen means you think they're a playoff team. That's a pretty big jump for beating one of, if not the worst teams in football in the Patriots. Granted they did it resoundingly right, game was never in doubt.
But you're moving them up for beating the Patriots.
Used to mean something, right, especially anyone they were coming off a loss. Does not anymore, but it means something for the Saints, who you know, are coming off the disappointing game against Tampa at home. You know, I think the defense had turned in its worst effort of the year. Wasn't bad, but really the emphasis was on can this offense go out and score points? At least we could say for a while that New England had a pretty
stout defense. I mean, look, they did as good a job as you could ever imagine against Miami given their personnel. You know, still held some teams down prior to the Dallas game. So they went in there and had a very efficient day. We saw Michael Thomas step up, you know, we saw Rashid Shaheed have a little.
Bit bigger role.
They were a little bit more aggressive until they built that twenty four to nothing lead and Bill Belichick said, all right, I'm in your territory.
I've got fourth and short. I'm gonna punt it.
That was when the Saints said, okay, we can be conservative too, So I didn't mind them.
Putting it on ice at the end there.
And you know, we'll see Derek Carr look looking better too, after a week when we weren't sure he was going to.
Play against Staffa. So these are all good developments, I.
Think, and the Patriots are a shell of their former selves without Matthew Judah and Christian Gonzales make the case their best two defensive players, even though one is only a rookie has only played.
A month in this league.
But with those guys out long term, I don't know where New England goes. They're kind of stuck in no man's land where they're not going to be bad enough to get Drake may or Caleb Williams, certainly, but you're not going to be good enough to be able to dig yourself out of this without some masterful moves in the off season. We're already talking off season here, two weeks, three weeks before Halloween. Anyway for the Patriots, Wow, all right,
time for future champions out of by FanDuel. Let's get to the Cincinnati Bengals, Eric, Believe it or not, they have the longest odds to win the AFC North right now, Ravenstole in the driver's seat, the PJ Walker Cleveland Brown's sitting there at number two if Deshaun Watson cannot go, and then the Steelers.
At number three.
But after Joe Burrow answered yes like a definitive yes when asked this past week, is this a must win game? He went out there and threw three touchdowns and you have the Bengals now from twenty up to fifteen.
I don't care that they want.
Although it's significant, the most important development here is that he moved around and looked normal.
Yeah, you could see it on the first drive, right.
I wasn't one hundred percent sure that the you know, the cap was magically healed. But by that touchdown pass that ended the first drive and kind of set the tone for the game.
You get Jamar Chase.
He had a huge game. You get him involved. I felt pretty good about it. I felt great about it by the end of the third quarter. Right, I mean, he's had the ball fifty times or whatever, and he takes off for a ten yard scramble.
That's an important part of his.
Game, being able to get out of pressure which is always swarming around him. Right, he can be that sneaky effective runner and so being able to pick up a first down late in a game like that told me he was back. So Yes, big strides on offense. However, Andrew, I'm still worried.
About this defense.
Fifteen might be too high if the defense continues to play the way it did. Yeah, Camp Taylor Britt had to pick six. They did have three turnovers total. They got to the to the quarterback. But I don't like the run fits. I don't like the tackling. It's been very sloppy. They gave up too many explosive plays in that game. But you know, right now, I still feel
like there's a chance that they make a run. It's not going to look like last year maybe, but it is still going to be a team that you have to fear on a daily, on a weekly basis, and good one against Seattle next week will tell us where they really are, I think in the big picture.
Yeah, that's a tough one with Seattle well rested coming off the vibe. The name is in Cincinnati again the biggest headline here. As you said, Joe Burrow looked okay, he moved around, he had a little swagger, he had that little hop step. He looked good. And Jamar Chase had fifteen and then tweeted afterwards a picture of a seven to eleven.
He is he is always open, always open.
Coming up the bottom half of the Power Rankings, Eric doesn't say your season is over, He just wants to see more. If you haven't heard your team's name yet, please stick around. On the NFL Power Rankings Show, presented by Energizer, It's the NFL Power Ranking Show, here presented by Energizer.
The Indianapolis Colts are moving up nine nine.
Green Bay drops four after losing Monday night in Vegas. We got the Jets going nowhere, the Steelers going up, Texans, Rams, Titans, and the Vikings round out seventeen through twenty four. Time for some power moves, presented by Energizer. Zach Voss is third of the NFL and a rushing once he getting paid up nine even with Eric the prospect here of a long term Gardner Minshew appearance, including this week in Jacksonville.
Yeah, well, the Indiana National Guard was threatening to invade Illinois if I didn't move him up. I hear you, Colts fans, your team is pretty good this year, right, So I finally gave them the respect that they probably deserved a little bit early. So a little bit of a sort of bookkeeping move here. But still, look, they went out and out tightened the Titans last week.
Right.
They won the battle up front, the line of scrimmage. That's what Mike Rabel tries to win games with. The Colts flipped the script on him. I think Shane Slechin's done a really good job and he's gonna have to as you mentioned, Anthony Richardson's injury out probably a month or more. But look, he said, Gardner Minshew was in his mind, one of the best backups in the league, if not the best backup, and he helped deliver a
big win in Indy. He's come in and relief in a number of games here taking place of Richardson, and he's got hurt. The defense comes up with time plays and Moss is filled in beautifully for Taylor. So now you get the two of them together that could help offset the loss of the quarterback. And yeah, it's gonna be fun to see where this team goes after such a disastrous twenty twenty two season.
It is the Gardner Minshew revenge game this week as Colts head to Jacksonville. Let's jump to the Steelers. They're up three, they are number twenty. They're in first in the best division for my money, the NFL, the NFC, the AFC North, the Beggar pardon sorry, NFC East. You have the first place team of the AFC North at twenty.
Eric, Yeah, it's it's you know, you can't tell the story of the Steelers without mentioning. Look their minus thirty two in point differential. Right, they've had the bad loss in Houston, They've had plenty of slip ups.
The forty nine Ers.
Certainly took care of business, but they've won game. Said I didn't think they were capable of winning. You got a credit, Mike Tomlin, You got a credit Kenny Pickett. Look, he wasn't even sure to play last week, and as badly as he struggled for most of the game, he found George Pickens's time and time again. They got finally Jalen Warren involved in. They had a couple of the great plays at the end of that game, and then the big block punt. I thought kind of turned the
tide a little. So timely plays when you have to have them. That defense was on song as well.
Yep.
Offense not good, defense still very good. And the Steelers are up three to number twenty. Now the rest, not the best of the rest, but just the rest. The Raiders, the Commanders disappointing, the Cardinals, the Broncos, the Patriots, the Bears, the Giants, and the Panthers. Why aren't the Patriots at thirty two?
Eric Bill Belichicks were of the great coaches of all time. What we've seen in the last two weeks is unlike anything we've really seen from him in his career. I would be shocked if he went out just punting on fourth and short down twenty four to nothing every week.
Is it bad?
Yes?
Are they sticking with Mac? Yeah, which makes me worry a little bit, But I don't know what other choice they have.
They may have long term plans that involve a draft quarterback next spring, but right now that's not going to fix someone.
Andrew.
I don't know if there's solutions on this roster with all the injured players you mentioned earlier in the show.
And this week they go to Vegas for the Bellagi then Josh McDaniel's Bowl.
McDaniels asked about it Tuesday and he said, quote, that horse is dead, he said, in other words, we've beaten that horse to death.
Don't ask me about that topic anymore. Yeah, interesting way to say it for.
Eric, get home. I'm Andrews Sociliano. Those are your power rankings heading into week six. Enjoy week since everyone download us as a podcast as well, So long everybody.
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