NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Welcome to a brand new edition of NFL Power Rankings. Mike m Eric ed Holme. There is so much to get to today. Yes, we will go through all of the teams, but more importantly, when there's news to get to, that's when we got to start. And Eric DeVante Adams, we knew he would get traded. We finally know the home it is with his old quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. And there's some news around the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Russell Wilson. According to Mike Tomlin, in consideration to start this week, how does this affect how you place some of these teams in the Power Rankings?
It would have been a lot easier had they announced this twelve hours earlier, Mike, just being honest, right, hard enough to react to Sunday's game than they throw a Tuesday morning kerball. Actually two of them at us, with the Adams news and the Wilson news. I looked at the scenario and I said, I don't think I'm touching them.
I'm leaving him as is.
I've kind of erased DeVante Adams from the Raiders. You know, I didn't really picture them, you know, having him at any point this season, so i'd kind of removed that from the equation and the Jets after that loss, after everything that's gone down this week, I had a hard time kind of bumping them up. So I don't know, you know, maybe the Steelers thing has an effect, but.
They've been winning with justin fields. We'll have to break that down later though.
Yeah, closer to look at both of those squads still to come. But as we always do, we start with the best teams in the NFL. And the rankings won through eight, no change at the top of one and two, with Minnesota and Kansas City sitting idle. How about this, the Baltimore Ravens looking like the team that I thought they were going to be, rising two spots now sitting at number three with four consecutive wins. At number four, the Texans no Nico, no problem, The Lions absolutely demolish, smash,
pick any adjective you want. Against the Dallas Cowboys, no Aiden Hutchinson. We'll talk about the effect as they are sitting at the fifth spot. The Bill snap two game, losing straight there at six the Packers roll Arizona at seven, and we will focus in on the Commanders at number eight in just a couple minutes. The disparity here from a Baltimore perspective and what we are seeing in terms
of rushing yards and what they are allowed. I know, defensively at times they're not what they were a season to go. But eric team looks dangerous and it looks like the freight train that is Dereck Henry that's applying to this offense and how they're rolling.
Absolutely.
Yeah, for the points you just made, right, maybe they've taken a small step back defensively, you know, maybe there were some special teams questions early in the season. Those have all been washed aside the last four games with an offensive output that makes them one of the scariest teams in the NFL. Look, it's nothing new, right. We've been talking about Lamar Jackson for years and he can do this to pretty much any defense, pick you apart
through the air with his legs. It's good to see Mark Andrews kind of get back on track a little bit, even with the drop that led to a pick.
But you add Derek Henry to that mix.
He's been spectacular, scoring a touchdown in every single game. You know, He's obviously been a huge part and kind of a missing ingredient.
In some ways.
They had a good rushing game before, but now they have a great one, say Flowers reemerging.
I just don't know how you defend this team.
It's going to be a chore, especially for those NFC clubs that don't see him as often.
And yeah, I just had to move him up.
Not that the Texans are playing poorly by any means, but felt like I had to leap frog him into that number three hole there, right there with the undefeated teams' most scary clubs in the NFL.
Yeah, right now in the number that I'm referencing, the Ravens averaging one hundred and forty six point three more rushing yards than their opponents this season. If it holds, and look, there's a long way to go here, it would be the largest differential in NFL history. You mentioned the Texans, let's slide to them at number four now on the power rankings for you, CJ. Stroud, We talked about a sophomore some that's not what this is. You know.
What's interesting to me though, the guy was so stellar a year ago as a rookie, not turning the football over. We're seeing some of that. By the way, they're the fourth team in the NFL, and I'm going negative here. I don't mean to do that. I guess I'm being I'm sort of nitpicking here. But the reality is still a talented ball club.
Absolutely right. And then their past defense has done a really nice job. They didn't have Kamari Lassiter and they still step up with a good performance. Granted, Drake May's first game out there in Foxborough, but they did two things that really impressed me, Mike, which is they got off to a great startup for two nothing points. Have been a little troublesome at times this season. They've settled for field goals and whatnot and then scoring lake to
put a team away. All their wins had been close to this point. Their one loss was a blowout to Minnesota. But I really wanted to kind of see them, for lack of a better phrase, step on a team's neck a little bit to do that on the road in Joe Mixon's return. He was such a huge part of what they did Sunday. Damian Pierce AD's the big touchdown late. They were great on the ground. You saw tang Dell get involved in the past game a little bit more.
Stefan Diggs had his role. So you can miss a guy like Nico Collins, one of the NFL's best young receivers.
And still have this win.
Joe Mixon is back in the lineup, so again, second half scoring was also an issue.
CJ's played pretty well.
It hasn't been quite as spectacular, but there are a lot to deal with right now.
Yeah, no Nico Collins, as you made reference to intered reserve with the hamstring injury. Three different players with a receiving touchdown, and once again I apologize to the Houston Texans fans out there. I love your squad, especially what they do on the defensive side, which I don't think they get nearly enough credit for. They'll match up against green Bay on the road this coming weekend. We'll talk
about the Packers in just a moment. Meanwhile, Eric at number five, it is the Detroit Lions who not only beat they smashed, they obliterated the Dallas Cowboys, and yet you have them dropping two spots in the power rankings. I got to imagine this, centers around the injury of one particular player in Aiden Hutchinson.
I wrote in my column for this week's power rankings that I felt dirty moving them down two spots, and the truly did because I said to myself, look, I mean I did it with Rashid Rice, I did it with other key figures. To a tongue of Iiloa who have been injured this season, you got to ask, what is it going to do to the team that said
this was a dominant performance in Dallas. I was particularly impressed by the fact that after this long delay, after losing kind of the heartbeat of their team in a lot of ways, Detroit played some pretty inspired ball after that. I understand it was a pretty big margin, but it was almost like they were out to send a message, Hey, we're not going away just because our best defensive player is hurt. I don't have an offense that is back
to twenty twenty three levels, perhaps beyond. We could bust out a trick play at any time like this, one of many on the day that didn't all work, but this one did. And you're seeing kind of the fruits of what they've put in offensively the last couple of years. It's back to where it was and possibly even better if a guy like Tim Patrick keeps producing. So yeah, I'm still impressed with this team. There's no way I'm
knocking them all the way down. But I felt like I had to reflect the fact that Hutchinson has been such an important part to this team the last couple of years, and look, it's.
Gonna have an effect one way or another.
I know, Dan Campbell's gonna get those guys fired up, and I hope they proved me wrong. But yeah, it's just sort of reflecting the reality of the situation.
Yeah, back to back games, the lines have scored at least forty points. First time that's happened for the franchise nineteen sixty two. We weren't born yet at this point. I've just thrown that out there. It has been a very long time that we could have a conversation like this. Matching up against Minnesota this week a huge, huge, mammoth game for both of those squads. Meanwhile, the Buffalo bill
snap a two game losing streak. Here, the Jets blew some opportunities on Monday Night Football, and at the same time, Josh Allen still Josh Allen they got it done without James cookout on the football field. I don't know. They still one of the best teams in the league.
I think so.
You know, you saw Ray Davis step up in that role all day and all of the night. Right, he was outstanding running the football. They actually got away from him at one point. I was sort of screaming at my TV asking why. But it's still a talented football team. They're gonna get Cooked back pretty soon. You see that the trust that Allen kind of has is developing a little bit more with his receivers. You know, the penalties
really marred this game on both sides. There were probably more flags than there should have been and that sort of thing, and it did sort of cast an ugly Paul over this entire game. So I don't want to put too much stock into what happened Monday night, but look, they went up against a desperate team that had had a wild week and with stood the Aaron Rodgers storm. I mean, he did dice him up for a good portion of that game, but at the end, big defensive
play from Tarron Johnson. He'd miss four games in a row, that was huge. You know, they're just coming up with more guys on this roster than I realized they had.
That depth was questioned after the offseason. I don't know that you can do that as much anymore.
Yeah, look at the end of the day, the Bills still in control in the AFC East. They've won this division now four consecutive seasons and looking again like they are the team to beat, although maybe the DeVante Adams equation with the Jets changes that conversation. In just a couple of weeks, the Packers they move up one spot here. You know, we're spending a lot of time on defense in this a bloc. We've loved up the Houston Texans. It's a reason why the Lions had dropped the spot.
I don't think we give enough credit to what Green Bay's defense has been able to accomplish. It feels like every single game Eric, there's multiple takeaways.
Yep.
And it feels like every single year for the past two decades, Packers fans have had a defensive coordinator, you know, to complain about somebody they're ready to get rid of. But Jeff Hapley has come in and fixed the problem, which is takeaways.
They had seventeen of them.
Or excuse me eighteen of them all last season there already at seventeen now through six games, you pointed out two per game at least every single time. Xavier McKinney's come in and done a terrific job. You know, the young waves of defensive talent they've drafted over the last couple of years have really kind of bolstered that group as a whole. And it's nice when Jordan Love is
also helping out with some productive drives. You know, he was sort of calm and patient and took what the defense gave him early, and then he took his shots late when he had a little bit of a lead.
But the you know, they were still creeping back.
Into the game, and you know there was a lot of farv like plays in that second half where you said, man.
Jordan Love looks like he's healthy again. This defense is doing well.
If they can only solve the kicker problems, they have a chance to crack that top five and keep moving up.
You know, a couple of weeks ago, when the Bills were three and oh, we had said, oh, we're going to learn about this team with road games against Baltimore and Houston. I think the same could be so we've got a bunch of barometer games. I know I made reference to the Packers hosting the Houston Texans that will really dramatically, I think, alter what we're going to see
next week on Power Ranking, and then obviously lines and vikings. Meanwhile, the Commanders at eight, they dropped two spots fifty two rushing yards on the ground, not going to get it done. And Janey Daniels, by the way, has been still are also held in check in that run game. This just a blip on the radar for the squad, right.
I think so, Although at the same time, when I was watching that game, it was clear kind of the experience level and talent disparity that there still is between a team like Baltimore and the Washington Commanders. I give j Daniels a lot of credit. They took the run game away from him, kind of spied him, hemmed him in a little bit. They didn't have Brian Robinson Junior, so you know, it's like working left handed the entire game,
but they found ways to keep it close. I understand the scorers maybe a little cosmetic there, but again a one score deficit did what they could. The reality is that defense is going to have their hands full against stacked offenses like the Ravens all season long. I'm not selling on them as a contender. I think they're very much in the mix, especially with the chaos and Dallas and the Giants still struggling a little bit. The Eagles are kind of a who knows type of team, So I'm still buying.
A little bit of stock. It's just lightly buying on the way up. I guess. Yeah.
It's a hard division to handicap. I might push back a little bit on the Eagles now that they're healthy, and we'll have that conversation coming up in just a couple of minutes. I still think that they might be the team to be, and I'm still holding out a little fit on the Giants handling. So I don't know. Maybe it's just a fan in me. I know, still the cove Here on NFL power rankings, we touched on at russ in consideration to start for the Steelers against
the Jets. What does it mean for the power rankings and what Steelers fans can expect the rest of the way answers next back here on power rankings, as we look at teams nine through sixteen. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, checking in at number nine, scored fifty one points almost six hundred total yards. What an offensive showing against the Saints. The Steelers once again having some conversations about Russ, which we'll get to in just a moment. The Atlanta Falcons
are at eleven. They've scored at least thirty six in each of the last two games. Remember this is a team that started off a little slow offensively. At number twelve, the Eagles healthy handle business against the Browns, the Bears London was good. They beat up on the Jags at fourteen. The Niners they improve to the five hundred market three
and three with a win against Seattle. The Chargers are at fifteen after snapping a three game slide, and the Broncos actually had a three game winning streak now officially in the rearview mirror checking in at sixteen. Let's focus in on this Buck squad once again. Great game Monday night football against the Ravens. I'm a believer. I think you and I have talked about this offensively pretty good.
I don't know if they handle business against the Baltimore Ravens, but I feel like when their backs are up against the wall, Baker Mayfield just figures out ways to respond.
Yeah, he responded this in the game Sunday, right through some early interceptions. Maybe one of them wasn't his fault, but seemed to be kind of forcing the issue a little bit, and then really got on track and started picking the Saints defense apart. And you know, was it great that they had Sean Tucker stepping in a you know, kind of a little known, unformally undrafted guy out of Syracuse and had a massive game. Absolutely, But you know,
it still starts and ends. I think with what Godwin, Evans, Mayfield, Kate Ott and the tight end, etc.
Can do a good sort of response.
They get up early, take a punch, and then fight back to win this game ahead of the big money nighter.
As you said at number ten, here we have the Pittsburgh Steelers who have been flirting in this position pretty much the entire season. Yeah, Eric, we touched on at the top Mike Tomlin, Hey, Russ is in consideration to start. Can you think of a top ten team that has questions at the quarterback spot like this is Actually it speaks volumes to what the roster actually looks like besides the QB one.
Yeah, it's one thing if you have an injured quarterback or you have a couple options on the bench you're deciding between. That's not really what's happening here, right. Obviously Russ was hurt that thrust Fields into the lineup. Now both guys are healthy. He was back last week. He was elevated to the number two. Fields didn't play great, had an interception called back by penalty, did run for two touchdowns, But the bottom line is.
They're winning with him at quarterback.
I think there might be some sense that what happened against Dallas or what didn't happen against them, especially after the Lions bleek, that same Dallas defense apart on Sunday may have contributed to the equation here a little bit and given Wilson a little bit more of a bump up. And you know, he was running ahead of Fields in training camp before that CAF started barking. So I suppose that's the line of thinking. Maybe a little better relationship with with Pickens. Who knows, but you.
Know this is Mike Tomlin. He's got a pretty good record for coaching in this league.
So I think it makes sense that you know there's some logic behind it.
Yeah, and look in the NFL, and we know this because we watch these games every single week. As Eric tries to rank these teams, I shouldn't say try, he does rank the teams with. The point is, the margins are are thin here and if Russ is like a smidge better than Justin in Tomlin's eye, that might be enough to really move the needle and try to make a change here at number twelve. And you've got to
stay healthy. In the Eagles, finally a little bit more aren't healthy and they get it done against the Browns, they still drop a spot for you. It sounds like you're a little on the fence about Philly.
Why it wasn't crazy about their performance on Sunday against the Browns team that obviously has a lot of things going wrong for them, and it was a.
Real struggle there.
I mean, they really had to sort of put the the effort into to finishing this one off, and it took every Aj Brown catch. It was great to see him back and producing. Obviously that's a huge part of their team that was factored in, but it really took a big effort in some Cleveland penalties on their last drive. I mean they were down to the what three or four yard line and couldn't punch it in settle for a field goal. That kind of ended up being the difference.
They didn't get the ball back, so still a lot to prove for me. You know, Barkley was a non factor. Jalen Hurts had kind of a quiet game relatively speaking. You know, I want to see a little bit more, but it was good to see the defense make some strides and guys like Cooper de Jene step up in that nickel role that they badly, badly needed to fix.
I know we're not going to spend too much time talking about the Browns. I got to tell you, can you if they were getting above average average quarterback play? I think we're having a much different conversation about the Cleveland squad. And they absolutely to the end of power rankings. By the way, Eagles matching up against the g Men this week, Eric, it is time for power moves, and
yes it is the Chicago Bears sitting at thirteen. They move up four spots, They go to London, they get a win, and Caleb Williams, I think this is the Caleb that we expected to see, and at least on paper eric before the season started there was a plethora of options. It feels like Caleb is now understanding how to utilize some of those weapons.
Getting Keenan Allen back I think was huge, and Williams has looked terrific the last two games. It has to come with the coveat that It did come against the Panthers and Jaguars, arguably two of the five worst defensive football.
But look at that play to Cole Kman.
First of all, getting him involved, I think was also a big development. A little bit quiet earlier in the season, but great play designs from Shane Waldron really spread those Jaguars out, got the ball into multiple playmakers' hands, and Williams just looks so much more comfortable. Everything was less strained. The first few games of the season, he looked like a guy doing his taxes on April fourteenth, but looking pretty good.
Now.
You see he's deciding when to run, when to throw, and who to throw to with a lot more.
Ease and a lot more comfort.
I think in this this sort of New Bears offense, I.
Guess I'm glad I'm not the only one that's a little bit of procrastinator or when it comes to that tax situation as well, hopefully that looks a little more for me on it. Exactly, you throw money at the problem is how I like to describe it. At fifteen, it is the Chargers move up four spots. You've actually, I think been more optimistic about the Chargers than most. I thought this was a positive sign to win a
game like this is a little dirty ball control. This is what we expected from Harbaugh these types of games.
Oh, Jim doesn't care how it happens, right, I mean, like you know, we saw it last year with Michigan's a lot of close games. But you know, when you're able to run the ball down team's throats, that helps a lot. But they got creative in the passing game and they asked Justin Herbert to throw it early in this game. Kamani vay Dell with a long TV catch. You know, I thought Lad McConkie had some big plays left with injury and see me Forjoko steps up. So
they're spreading the ball around as best they can. Joshua Palmer finally making his impact as well. Defensively, they were great for three quarters up twenty three. Zip got a little dicey late, But this Chargers team has a formula and they're sticking to it right now and it's working.
Defensively, there's so much better than a year ago.
Yeah, and there's also a formula for the team that they beat in the Denver Broncos, who defensively have looked pretty strong generally speaking, and had been running a three game winning streak. So this is a good win from a Chargers perspective. More to come here though. On NFL Power Rankings, and yes, we touched on the Devonte Adams trade. He is heading to New York to get reunited with Aaron Rodgers. What does it mean not only for this week's edition to Power Rankings, but how it might unfold
as the rest of the season goes on. We continue to roll here on Power Rankings with team seventeen through twenty four. Three straight wins now three straight losses for the Seahawks, who checking at seventeen, the Colts at eighteen. I think we need to be having a conversation about Joe Flacco being in this team's starting quarterback moving forward here at nineteen, the Cowboys Wow, the Jets at twenty we'll get to that squad now that they have DeVante Adams.
The Saints not sure what to make of them without Derek Carr. I'll give them the mulligan on that. The Bengals at twenty two still figured out a way to get it done. The Giants at twenty three, I think we saw some good positive strives from that team's defense. Still some questions offensively. And at twenty four, the Arizona Cardinals. Please explain to me what the heck is going on in Big d inexcusable. I don't know how else to describe the performance that we witness from that team.
Yeah.
I saw a lot of people make an excuse on Twitter, Oh they don't have Michael Parsons, they don't have DeMarcus Lawrence. Well they didn't have them the week before they went into Pittsburgh, and you know, at least held up sort of right. So you know what they did on Sunday, even against an explosive lines offense, was, like you said, inexcusable.
I thought there were some business decisions late after the league got a little big, and the tackling and the discipline, I mean, just wide open receivers in a lot of cases.
So, yeah, this has got to get fixed.
Jerry Jones, no way to spend your eighty second birthday watching this kind of performance.
And you know it's amazing.
I mean, they've been so poor at home after the sixteen game win streak, the last.
Four they've been outscored by eighty two points.
I mean, maybe it's a good thing they're going on the road, Mike, I don't know, but they're three and all away from home this year and not good at home.
Yeah.
We were doing NFL Game Day preview a couple of weeks ago. I said to Steve Wych on that show, like, hey, maybe it's a good thing that Dallas is hitting the road. He's like, really, and it's now consistently now playing out this way. I don't know how to answer that question. The Jets' biggest news of the week Devantae Adams. We know where he's going. He's getting reunited with Aaron Rodgers. We touched it at the top, open ended, what do
we make of this team? Because even with a coaching change, they still couldn't figure out a way to get it done. It was still sloppy with all the penalties, and yet I don't know if adding Devontae Adams really puts the team back into playoff consideration. Maybe I'm crazy.
I don't think you are, Mike. This is the question I have.
It's funny because, like everybody has expected this move to happen, right, Davante is going to get traded. Where's the most likely Plett's place to the Jets, where you know Aaron Rodgers his buddy is. And it worked out exactly the way we thought. And yet there's still questions about how this is all going to work.
Right.
Can you have Allen Lazard who's been productive for him, Garrett Wilson who's coming on, Mike Williams, and DeVante Adams all operating in the same offense.
I'm not sure you can. I don't know how they all fit together. We'll see.
I mean, maybe this is the magic pill here, but I have my doubts. As amazing as a receiver as Adams is.
Here's the only other thing I'll tag it with this when I watch them Monday night, their best offense was giving Priest all the football, and now all of a sudden, you are putting more pressure on the passing your point try to deliver. I'm Paul is their best weapon out on the football field. No disrespect to the rest of those guys there teams twenty five through thirty two, the Rams at twenty five, the Dolphins at twenty six, At twenty seven, Raiders, doesn't matter if it's Gardner or Aiden.
Offensive struggle in both ways. At twenty eight the Titans also tough to watch. The Jags, oh boy at twenty nine. Don't know what's going on with the Browns. At thirty the Patriots got a spark with Drake may They still lost so at thirty one, and then at thirty two the Els continue to mount up for the Panthers. The Patriots Mayo made the change here. I actually think it
was a good change. There's signs of life now with the Patriots squad in a gettable well maybe not with the Bills, but I think the divisions.
I agree.
Yeah, the turnovers are a problem. They've got to clean that odd. Drake knows that. But they put some life into that offense. As you said, that forty yard TV to Keayshan Boudia was the best throw we've seen from a Patriots QB this season, maybe even last year or the year before too.
It's got to get better. I think even with the turnovers.
Yeah, I look, I think Patriots fans needed They've drafted this dude that they wanted to see him thrive out on the football field and touchdowns. Right, we'll figure out those turnovers. By the way. Wait, if you want a little more analysis on your specific team, NFL dot Com Eric Scatchi covered analysis of every one of the teams in the NFL. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next week.
NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.