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Hey everybody, welcome to the NFL Power Ranking Show. We are presented to you by Energizer from our studios in Los Angeles. My name is Andrew Siciliano. Other side of the screen here the man who puts together the Power Rankings we are now six weeks in. The man who watches the Cowboys and Chargers on Monday night and says, why are they doing this to me? I they deadline to meet Eric at home? How the heck are you?
You know me too well?
Had I had about eight different storylines going in my notepad there before the game finally ended, and.
I had a little clearer vision at that point.
Were you as excited as that Charger fan, that young lady making all the faces down there? Were as excited as her watching that game?
I think being is long in this league, as you and I have, we don't get quite that animated in the heat of the action.
But she was having a moment.
It's okay, she was having a moment and there's nothing wrong with that. It was fantastic and you should see the Chargers Twitter profile now new profile pick check it out. He is a professional. He is here for your criticism and your love. So let's get right to it. Here your NFL Power rankings again. We are presented to you by Energizer Scan the QR code, and when you go to NFL dot com you find the San Francisco forty nine ers no longer unbeaten. There are no longer any unbeatens.
They are still number one. The Chiefs are two, The Dolphins hmmm are three? The Lions, yeah, everybody at four, followed by the Eagles, who also take their first loss, and then the Jaguars, the Bills, and those Dallas Cowboys who made that young lady said on Monday night, let's get to the forty nine ers. They are banged up. They have injury concerns for not only Trent Williams seems okay, but for Christian McCaffrey and for Deebo Samuel as well. I was at that game. I lost my mind doing
Browns Radio. Jake Moody's kick still went wide right if it goes down the middle, they are still number one. But something happened in that game. The number one defense in football slowed them down. Eric they lost for the first time at a calendar year, and for the first time this year they were held under thirty. Eric, they were held under twenty. In my eyes, they are still number one. Did you have any doubt in taking them out of the top spot.
I thought about it.
You know, obviously the number one team in my poll loses, you gotta consider it. Right, Chiefs didn't have a convincing victory on Thursday. We know the Eagles lost other teams. I wasn't quite ready to put the Lions up that high, so there was a discussion in my head. But I landed with the team that you know, previously looked almost invincible at times, but has been the most consistent team in football, and as you pointed out, they were a
mad field goal away from winning this thing. I did love the fact that the Browns defense outplayed the Niners defense going against Brock Purty versus PJ.
Walker.
That concerned me a little bit. The first time we've seen pretty really kind of struggle in an NFL start.
Except for the NFC Championship game where he got hurt.
So you know, there's plenty of debates both ways, but I still think all said and done, forty nine ers still have the most complete roster, even if it does come with a few more questions today than it did going into Sunday.
And I'm with you, I think for pound they are still the best fighter in this league. And there's actually a pregame fight as well. The Browns will tell you that fired them up a little bit, but they didn't need that much fire to get ready for this game out And I think it's notable also that, as always, they came out first possession and marched right down the field. Browns kind of caught their breath and then dominated the
next three and a half quarters defensively. But it is notable that pretty despite the fact Eric that he was under pressure at the entire game, even with only three sacks when they needed him, put together that final drive and got them in position to win the game.
Absolutely, that was a big moment, and that's what I think championship teams are made of, if they can win with out their best stuff.
All right. Number two, the Kansas City Chiefs did not blow out the Broncos at all, but they are your future champs here presented to you by Fan Duel, and they are the favorite to win the AFC at plus to twenty. Did you expect more of a convincing victory to open up Week six?
Yeah, I think just given the fact even though Denver had played the Chiefs twice pretty hard last year, pretty close games, I still figured, Okay, short week Broncos coming off the disappointing loss, the Jets kind of fell apart at the end.
There, They've got to go on the road.
Yeah, it's a well known opponent for them, they've seen them plenty of times, but it is a new staff, Sean Payton coming in there, you know, first time as Broncos head coach, and you know, everything we'd seen out of the Denver defense at that point suggested, boy, they're going to be in trouble.
They weren't.
They made plays, they kept the score close, They gave their team a chance. It was really the failures there at the end. They couldn't push the ball forward. You know, you give the Chiefs defense a lot of credit. They've kind of held this team together as Mahomes and Kelsey and Pacheco and the rest of those receivers are all kind of figuring things out on the fly. I'm not concerned.
Remember they started three and four A couple of years ago and still made it to the AFC Championship, a game they should have won too against the Bengals.
So a lot of football left. I still see good things out of this Chiefs team.
I'd like to see a little bit more, at least what we've gotten used to seeing over the past couple of years.
Yeah, and they are getting the Chargers in town this week at Arrowhead with the Chargers coming off the Monday night loss and a chance to drop the Chargers to two and four, which would be huge for the Chiefs there in the AFC West. Let's unpack the Dolphins because they fell behind fourteen to nothing to the Carolina Panthers, almost like a little kid playing with their food, sitting in the high chair, and eventually they woke up and then you know, destroyed that meal that mom put out
in front of them. But as you point out, and they're going to be tested this week while unpacked a little bit more later. As you point out, the five wins for the Dolphins have come against teams with a combined five wins, but one really good team they faced the Bills, they got pasted.
Yeah, there's no ignoring it at this point, right, I mean the teams that they've beaten up on, including Carolina, whom they fell behind fourteen to nothing two on Sunday, haven't been very good elsewhere. You look at other matchups, you look at every other number. The analytics people are looking at this and saying, until we see them against the caliber of the Chiefs and the Eagles over the next three weeks, that's probably when we're a clearer vision
of what this team is. They haven't played well traditionally against the Bills, so there might be a little bit of a flawed metric there.
But still these next three opponents.
Including the Patriots, who have been bad but at least made a game of it in Foxborough, I would say the bookend game's carry a little more weight determining how good is too how good is Tyreek Hill, and how good is this defense? Andrew I worry a little bit about the fact that they can give up long drives and sustained yards over the coast of fourth quarters against not the greatest offense sometimes.
And yeah, and they get an Eagles team now on Sunday Night football, coming off their first loss. I mean, this is the Bills ray massive tests. They failed that test, and they don't win in Buffalo. We know that Josh Allen lights up that defense, regardless of whether it's Brian Flores or Vic Fangio as the coordinator. But the Eagles are truly now the test for the Dolphins, big stage, national stage. Obviously that's not going to affect them, but they get an Eagles team coming off their first loss.
Let's get out of the Lions at four. And I said this before. When you take the Niners and the Eagles and you say these are the two best teams of the NFC, for my money, it's clear to me the Lions now are the third best team. And we have said this, they're the team you don't want to face in January. Now you have them ahead of the Eagles. But the Lions are legit as a top five team in football.
It's a new day, man.
It's really exciting to see a team that has been down for so long have sustained success. And this isn't some fluke thing, right, We've seen the progress built over a couple of years. They came into this season with high expectations based on what happened the second half of last year, and that was without a good defense. Guess what they've really improved that side of the ball. Kudos to Aaron Glenn. You know, they've really found ways to replace guys like CJ.
Gardner, Johnson. Brian Branch has been out a few weeks as well.
So you know, every few weeks, whether it's on defense or offense, they seem to suffer one of those injuries in mid game where you think, all right, what are they gonna do now? And that happens Sunday with Montgomery, he goes out, they have to forge a run game together. No, Jamiir Gibbs, Jared Goff is playing really good football and that defense completely closed the door on the Bucks. So man,
every time out. The Seattle game was a little frustrating defensively, but every time out you feel like they're making strides defensively and Jared Coff's, you know, confidence and their confidence in him continues to grow.
And they lose Dave of Montgomery in this game. Consider also what it was worth there for the Buccaneers. I mean, this was a chance for them to prove their worth as well home, a chance to come up and wait class. And yes, the Lions are now a test for those other teams in the NFC a measuring stick, if you will, how good are we? I think it's also interesting this week when the Lions go into Baltimore. That game is in the early window on Sunday. The Ravens are a
good team. I mean, they needed Justin Tucker in a seventy yard Devin Duverne punt return there to do the job against the Titans in London. But they're coming home without the bye, maybe some dead legs and maybe some jet lag. Lions Ravens Week seven, that one is going to be fun. Now we get to the Eagles. Okay,
they had to lose eventually. I find it interesting how we kind of justify or explain how they lost, maybe not justify because we've been nitpicking, or at least people in nit had been nitpicking Eric in Philly all year that this team doesn't look right. So they finally get their come uppins, and now they have to deal with Elane Johnson injury here as well.
Yeah, it was tough watching Jack Driscoll his replacement, get you know, beat repeatedly into second half, and I made it reminds you just how valuable Aane Johnson is. You know, we sometimes forget about these core pieces up front, and when one of them gets hurt, one of them's missing.
Remember they lose Simolo in the off season two.
It looks a whole lot different all of a sudden, the Star Wars offense has kind of had the jet field taken out of it.
So, look, Jalen Hurts hats some good moments.
I thought one of the picks should have been on Goddard, you know, I thought one of them was not.
Necessarily his fault.
The third one absolutely was, and it came in a critical time. You can't excuse that that was a poor throw, poor decision. Never should have happen in the situation they were in trying to protect the lead at that point. So there's still some stuff that falls back on Hurts and falls back on a new play caller as well. You know, it doesn't quite feel and look like what Shane Stichen was able to dial off last year, if
you're not putting it all on Brian Johnson's head. But still at the same time, a lot to figure out their offensively.
I'm going to push back a little bit against Robert Sala, who did walk his postgame comments back on GMFB Tuesday morning. Jalen Hurts was not embarrassed in that game. Jets defense played very well, especially with their banged up secondary. They deserve all the credit in the world. Tony Adams, another dB from that Oryan Walters dB factory in Illinois, made a huge play and a big run back there in the second half. So yeah, give the Jets their credit.
But Jalen Hurts was not in any way embarrassed. And now we get this one coming up on Sunday, Jalen Hurts with a chance to bounce back against Vic Fangio. That defense tested against Tua and Mike McDaniel. How do you see that one?
Yeah, I mean Fangio's defense I think tests your patience. You may have watched the Dolphins defense on Sunday and he said, Hey, Bryce Young was taking you know, six seven eight yard checkdowns all day. You know what's so impressive about that. But it's a different story against an offense that is used to putting up big numbers. We saw what the Eagles were able to do last year, and I think that's gonna be something that kind of tests Jalen's patience and also tests.
The Eagles patients.
We've got to wait for that big play to present itself. Let's get the favorable down and distance, Let's get a good field position, Let's get the right score and the right time on the clock when we take our shots.
Okay, So I think that's going to be part of it.
And then defensively, like you said, they've probably kind of patched things together in the secondary and hope that pass rush kind of kind of closes the door up front.
Yeah, I also want to see what happens if Tyreek Hill busts out a seventy yard touchdown does take a cell phone from a Philly fan. Would a Philly fan help Tyreek Hill celebrate? He wants your fine at FL. He wants to find a way to celebrate. Bring on the fine. It'll be fun with Philly fan. That is why I am watching. You're watching the Power Ranking Show to find out where the Browns are, of course, or maybe not, I am We'll tell you coming up next.
All right, everybody, the Power Rankings Show Here. We are presented to you by Energizer. Go to NFL dot com see the rest of the rankings. The Ravens hart fought win in London. They come home up one. They're the number nine team. Remember two weeks ago they beat the Browns, who stunned the Niners. They go up to Eric already liked them. Eric had them at twelve. Now the Browns are at number ten, the Seahawks, the Bucks, the Bengals they look good again, the Chargers, the Jets, and the
Houston Texans. The Team of the Week is presented by truest Eric at home. That team of the week the Cleveland Browns, who they believed all along. They believed that they had the best defense in football. I think now everybody else believes after through five games will include that Niners victory. They have allowed one thousand and two yards. That gets Eric.
That's called shutting it down right there.
And I think a lot of people came into that game thinking, all right, this is gonna be where the Niners show they had the best defense.
But it didn't turn out that way.
As you said, after that first touchdown Dry where the Niners moved down the field, you know, maybe a little help the fact that two of their big playmakers were out for part of the game. Still, I thought the way they pursued and flowed and tackled so well covered well, it was really impressive.
Jeremiah wusukor Moro.
I thought they had some great coverage plays, you know, Dalvin Tomlinson in the middle, up and down that defense. Thought they'd had a real terrific performance. And look, you win with a quarterback you didn't even have on your roster in July. I think that's a victory on top of the one you already got in the standing.
So that was huge.
It was what they couldn't do against the Ravens a few weeks back. So big step for the Browns.
Yeah.
I enjoyed a little shot in freuder with.
People poking holes in my last week's rankings, right, I saw something Andrew you did too.
You were up close, sir. You know how good this team can be if that defense is dominating.
Yeah, and it was dominant. The question now is is that a springboard? If you will? They go to Indianapolis. They're not going to face Anthony Richardson this week, they get Gardner Minshew. It's a bit of a trap my opinion here. But remember the Ravens get the Lions, they could lose that. The Steelers are in La to the Rams, they could potentially lose that. This is now a chance to get to four and two and kind of pick yourself up off the mat and get to the top
potentially of the AFC North. Just here saying, all right, moving on from the Browns, let's get out of the rest of these rankings here as we go from nine down to sixteen and see the Bengals, and we saw it last week here Eric as well that it wasn't that they beat Arizona. It's that Joe Burrow was moving and he looked normal again. He looked like himself again. We saw that again against Seattle and we saw red zone defense to hang on and win that game.
Boy, if lou Anroumo's defense is known for one thing, I think by this point it is making huge plays when backed up against your own goal line. I mean Jermaine Pratt against the Raiders years ago, Bond Bell against the Patriots late in the season, obviously the playoff game, Sam Hubbard and everything. I mean, you know, they have a knack for doing this. And five red zone trips they all add what ten points I want to say
for those totals. So it really did come into play because as great as Burrow and the offense looked the first two drives, Cincinnati didn't do.
A whole lot after that. It was a tough slog.
The run game's been inconsistent, the old line blah blah blah. We know all the issues and somebody else other than Jamar Chase has to step up. But we're seeing a little edge with this team now. The defense has responded. The offense has made, you know, a signal that they're getting better.
So everything's at least training in the right direction.
Even if they had I'd argue they haven't played a complete football game quite yet.
No, they haven't. Andreya Shiba, the rookie from Princeton, scored a touchdown. And again that red zone defense here when Gino and the Hawks got down and looked like they're about to go in and potentially win the game. There at the end of the game, you had six different guys have at least four pressures, which is just absurd for lou Anarumo's defense, and they helped win that game.
Let's move on here to the Chargers, who are number fourteen, and I can't really figure them out because they couldn't run the ball. Monday night, Austin Eckler came back. They had fifty three yards rushing as a team, and with al Corey Linsley Eric these last two seasons, their offensive line falls apart. That was the most pressure Herbert had felt in any game all year.
After the finger injury last week, the thumb injury, you know, so yeah, I mean, it was one more thing kind
of stacked against him. I thought he looked pretty good early, you know, ball handling, moving around things like that, made some big throws, but he overthrew Keenan Allen for a long game in the first half, did so again in the second half, had the late interception, almost got picked off with about nine, you know, eight or nine minutes left to go on that second last possession, So there was a lot left on the bone there, and I thought the offensive line was part of it. Penalties were
a big deal. And then defensively, Michael Davis can't tackle Tony Pollard and he goes sixty one yards or whatever.
So you know, it's just.
Plays like that and the fourth down, fourth and one play that they didn't convert in the red zone. Week after week, whether they win or lose Andrew, these plays seem to keep popping up, so it's self inflicted wounds. In my opinion, they're talented they just can't execute at that high level.
Yeah, what happens when they lose? If they lose in Kansas City and fall to two and four, this team is far better than two and fourth. They had one last night. Then it's three in a row. After they own two start they get to three and two. Everyone is happy here right going into Arrowhead, everyone is happy with the Jets. Now Aaron Rodgers is throwing without anything around his achilles. He's going to be back in two weeks. I'm kidding. The Jets are fifteen because of that defense
and because Zach made a couple of throws. That's all they need. Eric make a couple of throws, get picks like this from Tony Adams or anyone of the secondary, and they will survive.
Yep, no turnovers, that's great, That's exactly what you want get You take just enough risk to sort of cater to what Zach does well. Breist Hall has just enough plays. It wasn't the banner game we saw from him last week, but still for that defense to create four turnovers and do so without their top two corners I thought was really impressive.
Stunning win in.
So many ways, not just against who it came, but also the way it came, you know, late in the game, forcing a bad Jalen Hurts throw.
Very impressive stuff from a Jets.
Team that look five plays into their money and I game a lot of people wanted to bury because of the Aaron Rodgers injury. Maybe he's back, maybe he's not. But either way, this team has shown some grit and some fight, even if it's not the prettiest thing.
Every week you want grit and fight. How about the Houston Texans. They are making power moves everybody. Those power moves are presented by Energizer. They are sixteen eric. They are heading to the buy and they do so at three and three, only a game back in the lost column, out of a playoff spot.
They're right there. They're knocking on the door.
You know, we moved them back a little now they're back in that contention spot.
And yeah, CJ.
Stroud's interception streak end, it was a throw we'd like to have back. But boy, from that point on, I thought, not only did the team rally around him, but he kind of rallied everybody else and you just saw poise from him. He never looked rattled, you know, he escaped pressure very well and kept himself composed the entire time. Didn't make as many throws in the second half, but you could see a young signal caller out there with leadership skills and good performance overall. I think and look,
the offensive line did great in the first half. The defensive line dominated for most of sixty minutes, and they took a Saints team coming off a big win and just kind of kept him.
In arms shroud through a pick. But they survived and they made the right pick in getting him, no doubt at number two. Coming up on the Power Ranking Show here presented by Energizer, Where are the La Rams M? Maybe higher than you thought? That's coming up? It is your NFL Power Ranking Show. We are presented by Energizer. The Rams are up five after dominating on the ground
of the second half and beating the Arizona Cardinals. Interesting, Saints dropped four than the Steelers, the Packers, the Colts, the Falcons, the Raiders, and the Commanders. Eric at home putting these all together, let's talk Rams here. If they beat the Steelers this week, they will How high do they go? Eric?
Yeah, good question, right? I mean, we've seen Cooper Cup come back and play great. The wrong game was terrific, although now all of a sudden the health of Rivers and Williams are in question. So you know, every week it feels like, wow, pretty good win there, but and there's something kind of holding you back. Hupsy injury was big early. Obviously they've had to shuffle offensive line and different things like that. But this no name defense has
done a really good job. They fell behind nine to three and it wasn't an issue on Sunday, really took over Taylor two halves, right, you throw the ball in the first, you run it in the second.
Kind of an old school formula there. And I just can't wait to see two of the two of the best coaches.
One young, one old old experience instant Mike Tomin I don't want him getting mad at me, but.
A good matchup this weekend.
I like that.
I like what's at stake in this game.
Yeah, that game is at so far right here, like right there through that wall you out there. So they go up five, the Falcons go down six to twenty two. I'm gonna pound the table right now for Taylor. Heineke, I know he gives one to the other team every time you put him out there. But he's also going to throw a couple of touchdowns. You're not gonna see bad body language from the wide receivers. I'm sorry, Desmond Ritter,
you throwing Taylor Heinekey. I think this is the fourth best team in the NFC, right after the Lions.
Man, it's crazy.
I picked the Lions, or excuse me, the Falcons to be the division winner in the preseason because I thought, look, if Ritter is solid middle of the road, they could be okay. That defense is much better. The run game could be special with Beijon. It really has, but for them to fail to cross sixteen points and half their games so far this season is inexcusable.
I think the defense for the.
Most part has done the job, but it's been Ritter coming off his best game, taking a big step back this week on Sunday and you know, just forcing passes there and worn in the red zone. It was the kund of performance he most definitely did not need. And the Falcons have a tough call lying ahead if he keeps playing this way.
Sorry, Desmond Ridder, real quick. The bottom of the rankings here for fans of these teams. The Vikings at twenty five, followed by the Titans, the Cardinals, the Broncos, the Patriots, the Bears, the Giants, and the Carolina Panthers, who head into a bye with Frank Wright going sure, Thomas Brown can call plays and it was all my decision. I don't think we have enough time to unpack that one.
We could probably do an Eric thank you as always, download the podcast, watch us on the Fast Channel, the NFL channel. Enjoy Week seven Everybody, Bye Bye.
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