Raiders-Broncos Week 10 TNF Recap and Midseason Power Rankings

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Ready fifty sent freedom right to the left, Knicks drops back, throws a ball to the end zone. The pass is taught and that is a Denver touchdown. Troy Franklin with the catch at the gold line and he had Eric Stokes on his back. Stokes made the tackle, but Franklin had the ball and a touchdown.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: That was Dave Logan on koa. That was the only Denver Broncos touchdown of the night. That was the last time we saw anyone in the end zone in this game. A ten to seven victory by the Denver Broncos over the Las Vegas Raiders. Nick, when I asked you before the season to do every Monday night game recap with me, every Thursday night game recap with me, I never promised that they would all be beautiful, and I submit there will not be an uglier primetime game than this all season. For many seasons, there there are some games that are ugly and fun, and this one, by the end was just ugly.

00:01:07
Speaker 3: It makes me think about that Colt's Broncos game that was a Thursday Night or a few years.

00:01:10
Speaker 4: Ago that was also just about as ugly as this one.

00:01:12
Speaker 2: But that one had like a sense of like this is. We're all having a good time by the end because.

00:01:17
Speaker 4: It's so bad.

00:01:18
Speaker 3: Fact that it was that bad, yeah, and this one so much just like I know it to that point. So my youngest sister lives with me, and she made some incredible banana bread today, and to feel something again before getting on the show, I just took a big chunk of banana bread and housed it before I came in here to do the show.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. I appreciate your sister. I want some of that banana bread. And we're still gonna break this down, but we're also going to break down the entire league. Where we made our first power rankings of the year, me and you a little bit of a power poll where we averaged our rankings together, and uh yeah, the Broncos, you know, might have to move down a couple spots despite winning tonight's game. So you know, we'll give this game all the time it deserves, maybe a little less than most Thursday nights, and then we'll do some of the power rankings.

00:02:06
Speaker 3: You know.

00:02:07
Speaker 2: My takeaway here in a game that had twenty two penalties split evenly, eleven each, fifteen punts and just incredibly long stretches of offensive incompetency, especially you know in the second half of this game, was that this Bronco's offense, Like, I know, they won the game. When usually talked positive about you know, we'll talk about the defense and how good they look, that we know they're great, like their troubles are not going away Bo Nicks through an unforgivable interception late in this game. They never got it even going in the fourth quarter. The reason they won is because their defense kept setting them up with short fields. They eventually got a little bit of a running game going, but my god, they're passing game against the defense that has struggled all season. Was kind of my biggest takeaway because this isn't eight and two team leading the AFC West with a chance to get the number one seed.

00:03:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's another example of what this team has been for I mean months, not month, but months at this point. I mean, they are a team that looks as if they are sleepwalking offensively almost every week. And their story has been they turned on the fourth quarter and come back and win games. And frankly, tonight was setting up to be that. If Daniel Carlson makes the game tying field goal, which he missed. We were going to have to see them put the foot down on the pedal again and see if they could pull another one out of thin air instead. Luckily, because the Raiders missed their field goal, Lebroncos simply had to salt it away. I will give them a little bit of credit. Before that touchdown pass that we heard to start the show, Yo, Knicks did have a handful of really good throws where he stepped up in the pocket, he extended to play and you know, he's got guys ten to fifteen yards downfield that he's hitting accurately. Other than that nightmare, they didn't run the ball effectively in the first half. They decided to commit to it in the second half and it helped a little bit and helped them put the game away as well.

00:03:53
Speaker 4: But it is a team that lacks and identity.

00:03:56
Speaker 3: Has talent, has an ability to move the football at times, but lacks identities, so it takes them forever to get going, and we were left with this same thing. You know, I described Bonnicks recently as a firecracker quarterback because he's silent, and it's just like lighting a pack of firecrackers. Everything's quiet, the fuse is lit. Might hear the fuse and then pop up up, pop up, pap pap up. That's how he's been in almost every game tonight. He wasn't even really that exceptly when they scored that touchdown.

00:04:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was one drive. It was late in the second quarter. It was the best field position that they had until the second half where they blew a couple really short fields. But they started at their own forty seven and they drove down and you're right, he's made a few plays where he steps up in the pocket and you know, sees open lanes and hits a pass, but he missed so many of those tonight. And they had a crazy amount of drives in this game, thirteen drives, so like that game should have ended at you usually you get about ten drives in a game, and they had seven points at one point, and there was a stretch where through eleven drives, which is more than a game, you know, a normal game, where they had eight three and outs out of those seven drives, and an interception in those eight drives, another very short drive, and then the touchdown drive that we just talked about, and then on top of it, like if you want to extend it out to twelve drives. It was that groaner of an interception in the fourth quarter, so that that's a twelve drive sequence with just total struggle fest And there wasn't a lot of pressure on him. I mean there was at times, but I looked and there wasn't much quick pressure. Max Crosby was generally taken care of tonight by their pass rush. So one play really stands out to me where Kirk Kurbstreet on the broadcast is like, you know, bo Nick's not feeling very settled in the pocket, and I'm like, yeah, that's true. But it was a three man rush against a five man protection with absolutely no one there, and then he just like throws it away on a third third down. That was at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And yet I appreciated them, if nothing else, running the clock out at the end of the game with some good JK. Dobbins runs and if nothing else, that got us to the end of the game quicker.

00:06:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was one inexplicable miss of a running lane by JK. Dobbins in that sequence. For you see it on Prime vision from over the top, You're like, the lane is there, and he just tries to swerve right around it. Otherwise they put the gameway. But you're absolutely right. I mean this offense had no rhythm the entire night. This game was really won by their defense and their defense's ability to completely eliminate brock Bowers from the equation for the Raiders. They dedicated defensive backs to them all game. There were multiple instances in which the Raiders are running play action trying to slip Boers out into the flat. There's two dbs right there covering him.

00:06:38
Speaker 4: Gino looks to him first, has to go somewhere else.

00:06:40
Speaker 3: So, I mean, this defense won this game they wanted by not really blitzing that much but getting semi consistent pressure doesn't really show up in the numbers, but shows up visually. And it's not really like their hallmark that they have a good defense. We know that, but when you think about the Broncos, you don't think like great defensive team they win with defense. You think of them as a team that has a good defense and then just happens to find enough success offensively. And it felt like a diet version of that tonight.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: An extreme version. I would say, yeah, I'm I'm glad you brought up something positive here. So yeah, let's give Nick Benito his flowers, eight or nine QB pressures, six quick pressures, two sacks. I think they'll count it officially as one and a half. I don't believe in half sacks. Another couple quarterback hits on the day, Zach Allen with three quarterback hits and a sack. And the Raiders start out this game with a really good touchdown drive. And the image I remember it best is on the score Jackson Powers Johnson, their guard, you know, blocking Nick Benito out of the play in Ashton Genty running through a tackle by Ufunga, and I'm thinking, okay, we're live. This is gonna be an interesting game. And that was like the last we saw anything of that, And partly because Jackson Powers Johnson left this game, and that left their left side which has been missing Colton Miller thin all night. What the hell, let's listen to the one Raider touchdown because we really aren't going to have any other highlights.

00:08:03
Speaker 1: Time out. Gino's clapping his hands on third and short inside handoff Genty inside the five first down is go one touchdown Raiders Genty on the inside handle a six yard run.

00:08:16
Speaker 4: Josh's in the insode.

00:08:19
Speaker 2: Oh, Ashley Gensy started this game great and then he ended the game with three point two yards per carry. I was watching part of the game with more East Jones Drew. He thinks genty misses some holes. You were talking about not having like the greatest vision. He thinks he missed them tonight. But after really that first drive or two, the Broncos dominated in a way that you just rarely see. There was a sequence, and I keep going. While the Broncos were doing all those three and outs that I just mentioned, there was an eight drive sequence by the Raiders where they had a total of ten yards. I mean, that's crazy. A total of ten yards, a four play turnover on downs three and out, three and out three end of half, three and out, one play interception three and a block punt and then on a three and out. That's that's wild. In an NFL game that we all watched and we were paid for.

00:09:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, we were, thank you. I will say that Jackson powers johnts like Jackson Powers.

00:09:15
Speaker 3: Johnson supposedly going to be coming in to be the center, he loses the center job.

00:09:19
Speaker 4: He ends up being a guard.

00:09:20
Speaker 3: He is kind of in the mold of Richie and cognitothough he's taller, but he looks like him physically, and the way that he moves and blocks is kind of similar, which is funny because in Cognito, you know, end of his career, he was a Raider as well, but once they lost him, the right side of their offensive line was just consistently bad. You see him pulling from right to left there on that touchdown run. After that, DJ Glaze is getting beaten consistently in one on ones by Nick Benito, the right guard that replaces Jackson powers Johnson getting beaten consistently in one on ones to where Gino never has any time to survey the field, and that's before he gets banged up. This offense had no life. We've talked all year about how Genti is consistently getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. Watch it on Prime Vision tonight from above, it's the same thing. He's getting hit a yard half, a yard yard and a half behind the line of scrimmage. He's got nowhere to run This Raiders offense. If it's not dead, it's on. It's basically on life support right now. Like they just can't do anything.

00:10:14
Speaker 2: They're leading receiver tonight was Tyler Lockett by far five for forty four. You know, Bowers has one good catch where he singled up on Jaday Baron in the first half, and in that drive I believe ended either in the turnover on downs or one of the three punts that the Raiders had in Broncos territory. I don't know how they pulled that off. They also had the missed field goal that you mentioned when Gino did get some passes going in the second half their only sign of life, and then they settle for the field goal attempt and he missed it. And Gino is struggling in general. He definitely missed a few throws tonight. He held onto the ball a little bit, but he had basically no chance. And the offensive line you're talking about is Dylan Forsyth or Stone Forsythe at left tackle, is it? Dylan Putnam at left guard, Jordan Meredith, Alex Kappa in Glaze, dj Glaze on the right side. So that's three replacements and then one of the starters, Glaze, just getting killed. It's HiT's rough going for my guy. I don't think you had much of a chance. But there's just there's not much more you can say. I think about this Raiders offense, maybe not of this game unless you have anything more you really want to get to here.

00:11:29
Speaker 3: Typically Captain Geno for trying to cut out the injury that he was dealing with, it was pretty clear he was limited by it. He gets hit after scrambling. He basically gets tripped up by Nick Benito you're gonna see if you're watching on YouTube, and then Malcolm Roach falls on him, and I believe that's where it happened, because he starts grabbing his left leg and he continues to grab his left leg. Kaylee Hartsung later reported it was a left quad injury. So if you see the replay again if you're watching on YouTube, Gino stumbles to the ground and then Roach falls in and the replay view from behind, which I'm not sure we're.

00:11:58
Speaker 4: Gonna get here, we don't get there.

00:11:59
Speaker 3: You can see the impact on his leg. His knee kind of goes inward. At first I thought it might be a knee issue, ends up being a quad. Either way, it was a significant hurdle for him physically, and ultimately I think it limited him in key spots, but you got to give him credit for trying to gut it out.

00:12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, he had a dime to Dante Thornton in the first half which could have been caught and just completely dropped. Probably his best throw of the night by far. He had a touchdown taken off the board by a jack or No, that was a Dante Thornton penalty, rather on an offensive pass interference where I think the play call would have worked it Obviously.

00:12:37
Speaker 3: I don't think that defender is going to actually come that the ground, even if he doesn't hit him, I don't think he gets there.

00:12:42
Speaker 2: It was absolutely the right call, don't get me wrong, because he went out of his way to hit the guy. Was just too easy and that took seven points off the board too. And then he had a sequence wherever he Moster had a blown assignment trying to protect him against the blitz and he just starts yelling at at Moster. There there weren't see. There was a moment where I thought it was going to get to like fun ugly, and that was the sequence where the Broncos, who are running it down the Raiders' throats, get to third and one and then John Payton calls a trick play. Oh my god, and they go backward five yards.

00:13:18
Speaker 4: It was so bad.

00:13:20
Speaker 2: And then and then they come up short on the field goal attempt after that, losing five yards on the third to one. And then the ensuing play is you know, Smith hitting Ash and Genty in the chest and the ball pops up for an interception. Like it just was like, okay, now we're having some fun. Then there's a block punt. But it didn't even continue to be fun. It just it just was ugly.

00:13:46
Speaker 3: You know that That miskick, by the way, is my favorite example of an of a. It's the latest example of what my favorite new trend in football is, which is announcers being infatuated by the whole k ball juice caball revolution and kickers can kick balls a mile now and Will LUTs lines up for a fifty nine yarder, no small feat and al Michaels is like he hit these with these and warm ups.

00:14:07
Speaker 4: And LUTs comes up like eight yards short.

00:14:09
Speaker 3: I'm just like, yeah, maybe we don't think everybody can hit sixty yarders routinely, Like let's be reminded that these are humans.

00:14:16
Speaker 2: And it was a windy night we should point out with some of the offensive struggles, although like inaccurate passes, weirdly of everything didn't seem like it was the biggest issue in general on the night. Yeah, not everyone's going to be able to hit. Although he did bounce it in which if you tried to do that a hundred times, I don't know if you could, like the ball bounced and went over to the crossbar.

00:14:39
Speaker 3: Maybe they should make it a Doug Flutie dropkick, remember that back in the day.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: That that counts. Well, that's a little different. That's a little about to bounce there. Start at the beginning. They started this game. And it's been a really dark day in the NFL. And like I said, we're going to do the power rankings right after this break. But there's no other great place to address this. But everyone listening probably knows right now what a what a difficult day this has been in the NFL. A lot of people woke up, myself included to the news that Marshawn Neil, and the twenty four year old defensive end of the Dallas Cowboys, died on Wednesday night, and the Dallas Police the Texas Department of Safety said he died of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound after crashing his vehicle. And more reporting is out there. I'm reading the Athletic right now and in their reporting from the police, this is all directly from the police. You know, had a police dispatch where his girlfriend called and and said that he was having you know, suicidal thoughts and said that that was going to happen. And there were text messages that he sent. And there's nothing more you can do than just send your heart to to everyone that that knows Marshawn Neelan and and of course to his family into the Dallas Cowboys and everyone struggling with mental illness out there. The reporting also, you know, indicates it he had been struggling with a history of mental illness, and it's just it's just an insidious thing. It impacted my family, my life quite a bit and distressed in peace marsha On Neiland, twenty four years old. Will We'll be back on the other side. Okay, it's power ranking time. We've done similar ish conversations. Who's in the Super Bowl? Mix kind of took stock of the league while we were in Ireland, but here we are. One game passed the midway point shook, and I think it's time to just kind of break it down who we think are the best teams in the entire NFL. You made it a list, I made a list, and we combined them, and now we're going to talk about it, and we broke it into four different sections, and we'll start we'll go bottom up. Let's start with a they gone section self explanatory. They gone dead last Tennessee Titans. We both had that. By the way, I should have showed you my list so you know where we agreed. Where we did. The New Orleans Saints second to last, thirty one, we both agreed on that completely as well number thirty the Jets twenty nine Raiders did not help themselves tonight. Sad to see the Washington Commanders who shook absolutely buried down at twenty eight. We got the Dolphins at twenty seven, Shooks Browns who had a little more faith in than me up at twenty six, and then the Giants at twenty five. And I broke them into sections. But this naturally to me, are like the teams that, if you see them on the schedule, shook your counting on a w Why did you have Washington that that low.

00:17:57
Speaker 3: Bit well, because they're just so banged up, Like I'm not talking about them being healthy, and now the way we looked at them going into the season, We're talking about Jadon Daniels dealing with his third injury, and they have so many losses on both sides of the ball. This is where we are at Week ten, and I don't expect the Washington Commanders to contend in most games that are ahead of them, even if they have Jade and Daniels available, just because that's how banged up they are. They have lost so much and we saw exactly what they are on Sunday night against the Seahawks.

00:18:24
Speaker 2: So yeah, you go, Gabriel Browns, Yes, you gotta below this thing can't stop anyone on the ground.

00:18:32
Speaker 3: I can't believe I have to defend the Browns. This is not me defending the Browns, but the Browns defense will at least keep them in a game. Washington could just get rolled by anybody because of all the losses they have personnel wise.

00:18:43
Speaker 2: That's absolutely right. Although it's it's a big week for not only draft positioning shook between the Jets and the and the Browns, but for the power rankings, because if they can't beat the Jets who are below them here, you know, then you're in trouble. And it shows that you're ranking.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: I like how you're revealing mine just without revealing yourself at all.

00:19:03
Speaker 2: I'm trying to try to find mine.

00:19:05
Speaker 4: I am the scapegoat.

00:19:07
Speaker 2: You are the scapegoat. If Okay Giants, twenty five Browns, you know, twenty six Dolphins. It's crazy to think that the commanders are behind those teams, but you're absolutely right. Like, who would I take on a neutral field right now? Dolphins commanders. I probably would take the Dolphins out. Which of these teams would you least want to play on a Sunday?

00:19:26
Speaker 4: Oh, it's undoubtedly the New York Giants. Like it's even close.

00:19:31
Speaker 3: Because Jackson Dart brings an element of aggression to this offense.

00:19:36
Speaker 4: He is a playmaker.

00:19:37
Speaker 3: I know that they've they lost Camskataboo and they've lost you know, Malik Neighbors, and he is an absolute warrior for them, Like watching them is still fun because of him, Like he is trying to carry this offense on their back. And I think their defense has enough talent to cause problems for a lesser team. So like, if the Browns are playing the Giants, I'm taking the Giants because I don't think the Browns can protect against that defense, and I think Jackson Dart eventually will find a way to score enough points to beat them.

00:20:00
Speaker 2: And Raiders fans out there, I had you thirtieth going into this game, and just ahead of the Saints and Titans twenty ninth. When you average me and check out, it's you're looking at thirty two pretty soon. It's a tough situation. All right, Let's go to the next segment. The next group is called stuck in the middle. So these teams have a chance to make the playoffs. Certainly number twenty four the Cincinnati Bengals, they're right on the edge of that. The Cowboys at twenty three, Falcons at twenty two. Disappointing season, the Carolina Panthers little disrespected here at twenty one, Texans at twenty, Cardinals at nineteen. Some love for the Cardinals considering their record. Eighteen for the Chicago Bears and seventeen of the Jacksonville Jaguars. So the Bears are five and three. Shook explained to me kind of your thought process of why they are here, and we did not disagree much there. You had them nineteen, I had him seventeen.

00:21:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're super close here.

00:21:03
Speaker 3: I think that the Bears could easily climb out of this tier because I love the development of their offense under Ben Johnson's direction, Like they are getting creative and running all kinds of wacky stuff that you don't expect, but they're also executing it. Now, Caleb is still a bit unsteady. He doesn't like his highlight plays are really fun to watch. But he's and he's getting more comfortable. He's getting better, but he's still not at that point where you're like, he's going to lead them to victory. Now he's done a couple times in clutch spots. But I have questions about their defense because they can't generate a pass rush to save their lives. So that's why they're kind of stuck in this tier. But I think if their offense continues on the trajectory they're currently on, they could climb out of it and get into the bottom of the next tier.

00:21:44
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think part of their issue is just the quality of their opponents. And you could say the same thing about the Patriots, but the Patriots quarterback's playing better and they're seven and two, so there is a little bit of a difference there. I just want to see more out of Spars team because I think the defense is struggling. The passing game is up and down, Like it looks better in the box score than the numbers, but they are trending up. And it is crazy to think, like, man, the league feels deep if the Jaguars are seventeen, yeah, and the Panthers are twenty first, And I think the Panthers are just an eye test thing ultimately, like, yeah, it is the year of the running game and everything, but if you can't consistently throw the ball and your defense is not a difference maker, and I don't consider the Panthers defense to be a difference maker. I think that's where they get edged out a little bit compared to teams like the Cardinals and the Texans, for instance, to me, have a higher upside despite their record. Right now, what was your thought process of kind of where they are versus say, the Cardinals and the Texans specific.

00:22:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe I'm one of the last believers in the Texans, but their defense is very, very good, and it like, you know, we talked about with the Browns. They're going it's gonna keep them in most games, and if they get protect CJ. Stroud, who got knocked out by a cushion last week, then I think that they would be a competitive team against most teams, which is why they're ranked higher.

00:23:07
Speaker 4: And it's not to say that the Panthers aren't.

00:23:08
Speaker 3: They just upset the Packers, but we see the ceiling on their offense, especially if their running games not working. I think that the Panthers are on the right path and a year from now they'll be in a better place. You see, you know, signs of it on both sides of the ball. It's just that, like this is the build up to that. So that's kind of why they are where they are. But I also when we talk about the Jags being in this group at the top of this group mm hm, bitter recency not biased, but but recency influence with us because I could very easily see us putting the Vikings in that spot instead of the Jaguars, had the Vikings not just gone into Yea beating the line they just.

00:23:41
Speaker 2: Beat the Lions. You gotta add adapt to new information, right, and I think roster wise, they're better, right, and maybe it is confirming my priors. I thought they would get over eight and a half wins this year and they still have a chance to do so. There is a lot of talent the coaches. But yeah, you're you're hinting at who up next, so let's just do it. The next tier is frisky, and the Vikings are at the bottom of that tier. But these are the teams that you don't want to play them. I think it'd be a disappointment if they don't make the playoffs. But we're also just valuing where they are right now. Number sixteen, the Vikings, big jump, I think from where they would have been, Like you said, Shook last week at this time, the Chargers are at fifteen, a little lower than I expected they'd be in this exercise. The forty nine Ers fourteen, Ravens all the way up to thirteen despite the three and five record, but they are the Ravens. The Steelers at twelve, Broncos at eleven, and Patriots at ten. Now I got to say we did this assuming the Broncos are going to win this game, like roughly where they would be. I mean, I think just for making us go through this should maybe we should knock them down a couple of spots.

00:24:48
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, we assume they were going to win.

00:24:51
Speaker 3: We didn't assume they're gonna win in the ugliest fashion possible. Yeah, and this is a fun kind of examination of where we differ too, because I had the Ravens all the way up at eleven because I just believe that if Lamar can be Lamar, that they're going to be right on the edge of that top ten. But yeah, the Broncos deserves let's drop them a couple spots and.

00:25:08
Speaker 4: I'm going to bought the Ravens up. Okay, I we should also defend this.

00:25:11
Speaker 2: So you already had them ahead of them. You had the Ravens at eleven. I had him at fifteen. And I guess what I would say to that, I did have them behind the forty nine Ers and the Chargers, and maybe I shouldn't. I'm talking about opponent I'm talking about like consistency. Okay, the Ravens didn't look amazing beating the Dolphins to me. I know it ended up being easy, but it wasn't like a game where you look at the numbers and everything that they were particularly dominant and you know they beat the Bears. That was a good effort with Tyler Huntley. I guess I just want to see them in a game like they are this week against a better opponent before I'm feeling like they're back back. So I punished them a little bit for that.

00:25:52
Speaker 4: That's fair.

00:25:52
Speaker 3: We should defend where we are putting the Chargers though, because I think this is accurate. And the reason is is the losses in the offensive line. We know we are bracing for offense being a challenge for them from here on out after losing Joe Alt for the rest of the season.

00:26:05
Speaker 2: So that and the defense hasn't been that good, right, Like I thought the defense would be better and it's been up and down.

00:26:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would agree. I would agree with that.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: Forty nine Ers though, ahead of the now that I'm looking at it, like in my heart, forty nine ers considering their injuries. Actually I did have them below the Chargers, and I think you should have too, but you didn't. You know nothing.

00:26:27
Speaker 3: And I had the forty nine Ers ahead of the Chargers because I admire their scrappiness and their ability to extract wins out of thin air despite all the losses that they've had in personnel like that. I am still mystified by how they are still competitive every week given all the guys they don't have.

00:26:42
Speaker 2: I had the Patriots at eleven, you had them at ten. Do you think it's fair that they are not in our highest tier? Essentially that we're we're kind of saying with this tier to me, you know, you're not one of the real deal ones yet, and it's crazy to think that about the I guess he just want I want just a little more proof. But what do you think about not putting the Patriots or the Broncos or even the Steelers in like real deal Super Bowl contender status.

00:27:14
Speaker 3: I think that the Patriots are going to remind me of teams that played soft schedules and got you know, to the playoffs on the back of the soft schedule. Not to take away anything that they've done, because Drake may is the engine that drives that team forward and he's playing fantastic football, but I do think that if they end up facing higher level competition, they could get exposed, you know, on a given Sunday or whatever. So that's why they sit at ten. For me, the Steelers, I sound like a hater. They're just very up and down. Like the way that they dominated the Colts statistically with turnovers and everything else was shocking. But yet they only won that game by a touchdown, and so that kind of points to sign to me that, like, I think Aaron Rodgers is playing very good football for them right now. He's got complete command of that offense when he's given when he's empowered to run that offense. But I think that there is not fraudulent in them, but just a visible ceiling with them, which is why I have them where they are.

00:28:02
Speaker 2: And it's funny. If we had done this segment before Thursday Night Football, Broncos fans would have been annoyed, I think at how low they are. And now after Thursday Night Football, even though they got to win, I feel like the bow Knicks nation, the bow leievers, will just like be a little quieter.

00:28:20
Speaker 3: I got to give them a lot of credit. A big shout out for me because I get a lot of hate for the QB Index every week. It's part of you know, it comes with the game. Bo Knicks fans have not gotten in my DMS or my mentions once and in fact, I've had a little bit of back and forth with Broncos fans, like when I'm streaming on Twitch or whatever, They're in agreement, like they underst they're realists with him and they understand where he is right now. So shout out to you guys for not letting your emotions cloud your judgment.

00:28:46
Speaker 2: Shout out to the Broncos fans for the most incredible Bronx cheer on Thursday night when their punter finally had a good punt because he kept punting it off the side of his foot, they were booing the hell out of bow Nicks and the Broncos offense. They did it going into halftime, they did it coming out of halftime when they went three and out out of halftime, and then he hit this punt which was his first decent punt of the night, and they gave him a loud ass Bronx cheer for a punt that was amazing.

00:29:18
Speaker 3: Just that this is coming off of the back of him launching absolute rockets a week earlier, like to the point where I tweeted, I was like, he has a mortar cannon, like a mortar launcher on his leg, like that's.

00:29:30
Speaker 4: What his leg is.

00:29:31
Speaker 3: And then he goes out there to night and just sends like ground balls out there.

00:29:34
Speaker 4: You know that punting's hard. Man football was hard.

00:29:36
Speaker 2: It is crazy that punting was like the most entertaining thing in the game. Aj Cole the Raiders had two punts go inside the two yard line. That's the first time that's happened in the same game in like five years. Not surprising there. And then he also had a block punt that basically won the Broncos. The game set them up on a short field goal, and that's how they got their short field and that's how they got their you know, winning field goal. Let's do the title contender. I'm calling this the real Ones. It really shows what a crazy year this is, because I think you could shake up these nine teams in any direction, and I'm not going to argue too much with it. Number nine the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Number eight is Green Bay lower than I expected, And it is interesting when you force yourself to do this exercise and you realize, like, wow, the Packers down there, although I had them highering you. Number seven, the Detroit Lions, number six, We have the Colts five, the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs, despite losing last week, is actually ahead of the Bills. And that's why I like power rankings. They shouldn't just be you know, your record, number three, the LA Rams, number two Philadelphia Eagles, and number one the Seattle Seahawks up at number one. I was surprised, shook, we were on the same page with the Seahawks. You had them very high. Was it number one? I believe it was number two for you, but it averaged out to being number one. You had the Chiefs won, and that was the rising the Seahawks, two, Eagle three. So what strikes you the most just looking at this list of the best nine teams, and then I'll tell you what stands out to me.

00:31:11
Speaker 3: So this season feels like we've gotten more parody in the league than we've gotten in probably the last five or seven years. And I think that this group really illustrates that. Because this was the most difficult part of this exercise for me.

00:31:22
Speaker 4: Because I'm getting at one Chiefs. Yeah, they lost the Bills. They had a terrible game.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: That was the bills best showing in years defensively at least. And I think that if you play that game ten times, it might turn out differently, you know, a few different times.

00:31:34
Speaker 4: So I'm not going to put too much stock into a regular season win over the Chiefs, I felt.

00:31:39
Speaker 3: I still feel confident as though if I had to take any team in a neutral site or in a playoff game Homer away, I would still say.

00:31:46
Speaker 4: Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid the Kansas City Chiefs.

00:31:49
Speaker 3: But once we got past the Chiefs and the Seahawks, I'm like, oh my god, Like, what do I think about the rest of these guys? Because the Eagles have, you know, the personnel to get it done. They had the drama, but they're also you know, they're coming off of two quality wins. The Rams are like lurking as this team that people aren't paying attention to, but they're playing phenomenal football, especially offensively. Lion's coming off of a loss of the Vikings, but there's still the Lions. We still respect them. Bills are lower for me than five. Actually had them at six just because I still need it proven to me, like you need the Ravens to.

00:32:16
Speaker 4: Prove it to you.

00:32:17
Speaker 3: Like I get down to like six, seven, eight nine, and I'm like, oh God, I forgot about the Buccaneers. Wait right, we have all these injuries on offense. Can they still do it? The Packers. I don't believe in them fully right now because of some of the performances they've produced recently. And the Colts Daniel Jones scared me back into being hesitant about them with accounting for five of their six turnovers.

00:32:35
Speaker 4: So it's really hard to sort.

00:32:36
Speaker 3: These guys out right now, which is why the NFL is incredibly fun to watch.

00:32:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, first of all, it's six NFC teams, three AFC, So I think I shocked. Yeah, it just I think there's more really good teams this year than most years. I actually it is parody, but I don't think it's mediocrity because we looked at that group from ten to sixteen and those are good teams too. So the bad teams are really bad this year for sure, but I think there's a lot of good teams at the top. Like all these teams, for almost all of them have had multi year kind of build ups to this moment, you know, like Mike McDonald, it's only a second year, but man, they're so different than they were, you know, Sean McVay, and they've been in this rebuild ish phase for the last couple of years. They called it a sprint rebuild that's peaking right now. The Eagles are in the middle of their primes, the Chiefs are that are the Chiefs obviously, and like even the Bucks, like they've been building to this moment. So it's not like other than the Colts, there's not like a big surprise team, and there's not a team that like feels like it came out of nowhere. And yet the Colts when and I've talked about this this week, when you look at it, like that team has about as much continuity and veterans and guys who have been on that roster for four or five years than anyone. So I just like that we're like really familiar, you're with all these teams, and I think they all have a shot to win the Super Bowl. And the biggest disagreement we had here, well there were a couple, but we were only three spots apart on any team, But I had the Colts still at four. Maybe that's too high, but I believe in transcendent offenses, and I just think they have a chance to be a transcendent offense. Is their offense, like the does it have a chance to be the best thing in the NFL? I think it has a chance, so maybe I'm wrong.

00:34:36
Speaker 3: I mean, because of the continuity, that's probably the strongest argument for them that they could have the best offense the NFL. I mean, they've certainly put up a lot of points, but you also have to consider opponent when you examine some of their victories. I actually want to step into our therapist's office real quick. I'm the therapist and I'm also the patient here because this is a great demonstration of the difference between you and me and my abandonment issues. The Colts burned me once, and I'm like, nope, I'm off the ship. I'm not, but you can't hurt me twice. Colts, I'm not gonna let you hurt me again. I'm running away from you. Whereas you are more of an open hearted believer, like they said on the Monday Night recap, Greg has kind eyes.

00:35:09
Speaker 4: You have a kind heart too. You're willing to let the Colts have a bad Sunday.

00:35:12
Speaker 2: Maybe, or maybe I just stick with my priors and I just spent the week, you know, gassing them up before they stunk up the joint. And like a team like the Bills are, I think they have fundamental things that I worry about and yet man, they are a good problem solving team like the Chiefs. So if I had to do it again, maybe I would have flipped it and the Bills would have been a little bit higher, because like the Chiefs, they deserve the benefit of doubt if they're going to like create solutions to the problems that the season gives them. And you can kind of see it the last couple of weeks. Do we know that the Colts are going to do that? We don't know because we haven't seen it, and we are putting a lot of faith there in the Seahawks. I hadem one, you had them two. But man, it's a beautiful thing. And you know what, we got a game this weekend with two of these top teams playing. That's all I want out of each week, at least one or two games where you know, two of these nine teams are playing each other. And yeah, we got a nice Packers Eagles game and the Patriots not too far out of this tier. Play in the Bucks is a really good one nine versus ten if you look at the windows, I know we had a bad primetime game shook, but this is sneakily one of the best weeks of the year because we have Pats Bucks in that early window along with Ravens Vikings, which I think is really fun. That's a great game, and the primetime windows are absolutely great. In the four to twenty five window, we have Rams forty nine ers, which I think is good enough to hold that window. It's like every window has has a nice, delicious game.

00:36:51
Speaker 4: You know.

00:36:51
Speaker 3: It's like a relief, and it's also excites me when I see a good Monday nighter, and Eagles Packers is going to be a good Monday nighter.

00:36:59
Speaker 2: We need it. We'll be live and we appreciate everyone who's been listening to all our recaps this season. And that's it for this one. We will be next in the feed. Cynthia Friedland and I we push back the pick show a little bit this week because everything's been a little up in the air. So we have our picks against the spread that'll be on Friday afternoon. We will see them and we can only hope to do better at our jobs than the Raiders and the Broncos offenses did not see it.

00:37:30
Speaker 3: Frighten