Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Epsiode 10

Episode Date: October 5, 2022

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) release their first ever Power Ranking episode where they break down the top-10 teams in the league. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello everybody and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. My name is Steve Norfolk and as always I have my co-host Brett Whitefield here with me. We've officially reached episode 10. we are a Netflix season into our podcast. Brett, what are some things that we've lasted longer than?

PG version. I was going to say, wow, Steve. I was going to say, wow. Yeah, you could go a lot of ways with that, but let's go the PG route. Yeah, so, I mean, we lasted longer than Antonio Brown's tenure with the Patriots. We lasted longer than Mitchell Trubisky's starting tenure in Pittsburgh. Yes, we have, actually. That's pretty much official now.

Kenny Pickett is the new starring quarterback in Pittsburgh. Hopefully his tenure lasts longer than Mitch's did. If it doesn't, then they're in trouble because that's all you need is flip-flopping quarterbacks throughout a season. No kidding. Yeah, I mean, you always hear the cliches about the psychological component of benching a quarterback after he gets his first start. But, you know, I'm not sure pickets ready, though. So I could definitely see that being a possibility at some point, but who knows? Listen, he didn't have a single pass hit the ground on Sunday.

That's true. That's true. But when you throw, you know, or, yeah. I mean, not all of them were to his team, but they all, they all, someone caught every single pass. This is true. You know what? Steve, we also last. longer than Bill Belichick's job with the Jets as the head coach there.

And we did that. Good thing for us is we actually did that by just recording an episode. True. We're running laps around his tenure in New York. Okay. How about this one that? We've lasted longer than Britney Spears and Jason Alexander's marriage. Which at this point, I don't even know how many marriages that could be a go.

Well, true. He's lasted longer than Ross and Rachel's marriage. Not friends. Oh, how long was that one? I don't know. We don't get a good timeline, but it lasts a couple episodes because, you know, Ross has to go through the whole he was going to do an annulment and then couldn't get the annulment and then they were married.

But I don't think it lasts at a full, we're on week five, well, week probably six because we recorded in the preseason as well. Right, right. Yeah. So 10 episodes in, I think we've lasted safely to say we've lasted longer than Ross and Rachel's marriage. Oh, man. But yeah, happy 10 episodes to you, Steve.

This has been a great ride so far. And we're just getting started, man. Yeah. And we're about, you know, right at about the quarter point of the season. It's hard now that there's 17 weeks. There's no, like, perfect quarter half, all of that. 17 is just still such a weird number. Not a huge, still not a huge fan of it, but.

Yeah, I hate it. We're about a quarter of the way through the season. We're starting to get some clarity as to the cream rising to the top. The teams that are proving to be contenders are starting to show through. There's still some things that are up in the air with some teams, but I think that we've started to see like a clear separation from some teams compared to the others. Yeah, what did I think in the pre-term? season, actually on hard knocks, Lions defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn said, you don't know who

you are until week four. Well, week four just happened. So we do. We know what some teams are and we're starting to see some things be either consistent or guys getting back to the level that we thought they should be at. And it's definitely painting a clearer picture for us. Yes, absolutely. Just, yeah, and Lions being one of the teams that we know what they are. right now. And it's both the best and the worst in the NFL. Historical on both fronts. Yeah.

Yeah. It's, I think, total in their games, 281 points combined, 140 points scored by the offense, 141 points scored against them. Yep. Most ever for a four-week stretch. Do you want to just touch on that real quick? You've watched probably more film than most people have.

I would say everybody. Not everybody, but a lot. No, I would say everybody. Okay, everybody. I've watched more film than everybody. All right. Hot take, everybody who wants to challenge him. Steve, Steve, I watch every snap.

I know. Every game at least 10 times. That's true. It's just for my job alone. That's let alone my pleasure viewing, you know? Yeah, that's not even, that's not even for fun. Right, that's not even like, I just want to study Kyle Pitts this week, so I'm going to watch that game again or anything like that, you know?

That's just, we've got, we've got deadlines and work to do. Yeah. And I'm the only guy here that actually touches every single game. Yes. So, yeah, from a workload standpoint, you definitely do. Yeah. I know, like, Chris and I hit probably about half, a little bit over half the games. Yep.

But you're hitting every game three to four times over. And then again, just for fun, just to really dive into what's happening. Right. Well, you know, you know as good as I do. Sometimes when you're charting, it's like you're just getting such a mode, you actually almost forget to watch the game. Oh, that's absolutely true. There are times where it's so much of like I'm looking for certain things that

I'll get through a game. And I'm like, I don't even think I really absorbed anything through. from that game and then I have to go through and then I go through and watch it again knowing what I already know and then putting context to it at that point right I'll be working I'll be working and my dad will call me while I'm working and I'll be like he'll say son what are you done I just finished charting X and X game so oh cool how did that go who won that game I'm like I don't even know so what do you just charted the game like I don't know though since you do it from an all 22

standpoint as well. True. Like it's so much, like I like, you know, Chris, Chris Wecht and I and a lot of the other guys that do Charity, we all do it for the broadcast view. So like, you know, I'll have a clear scoreboard on it and everything.

But with all 22, it is easier to kind of get lost in. I don't even know what the score is. I'm just watching purely to scow or whatever. Yep. For sure. Well, anyways, I didn't mean to side rail you from your question about the lines, I'm presuming.

Yes, that's, we, you know, today we're going to touch on just like I said, like I kind of said in the beginning, who the teams are that are rising to the top, who are the teams that are showing us. We're going to do a power rankings episode. Exactly. Yeah, our first ever. But before that, just because I don't think, I mean, I can almost guarantee that neither of us have the lines in our top 10 power rankings. I do not, no. But, and I do not either. They didn't even crack closest, or they didn't even get in, like, first out.

But they're a team that's worth talking about because they're a team that's going to be relevant, I think. Just in the, just in the story of this year because of the way their offense is working. And also because of the way their defense is working, I mean, they're allowing teams to put up insane numbers on them. And with that, like, what have you seen in your film watching? from the lion's defense that needs to change for them to be successful. Yeah, I think first and foremost, I mean, it's a multifaceted problem. Obviously, you don't be as bad as they are without having multiple things go wrong. Right.

But the core of the issue, Steve, is that they don't trust their pass rush to get home with four guys. And I tweeted this yesterday. When you don't trust your passers to get home with four guys and then you make decisions based on that, it opens you up to the assaults of hell, basically. And that's exactly what's happened to them. So I don't think Aaron Glenn wanted to play as much man as he is this year. Ultimately, I think he's having to do that because they're having to send five and six pass rushers. They're having to load that box up and show like an engage eight look sometimes for you football dude.

Which they got torched on. Well, they have all season. They have all season mostly. I mean, it's, but like they're having to give looks to force the ball out early. And even when the ball's coming out early, then the coverage is breaking down. Or there's a miscommunication on the back end. I mean, I just think that like that play against, let's see, where was it in the game? Metcalf's bomb that he caught on a coupa.

I think it was what, late second quarter, early third quarter or something like that. You know, it was like a third in medium-tile. longish situation. You know, Aaron Glenn knows he's got to get pressure on the quarterback or else they're going to convert the third down. So he puts seven guys on the line of scrimmage. He rushes four, I think.

One of them was Anzolone as a looper, and then he drops hutch off from the flat. But it basically leaves your corners one-on-one with freaky dudes like D.K. Metcalf. And that's just not a favorable spot to be in. I don't care how good the corner is. It doesn't, like, Akuta's played out of his mind this year, but he's not, you know, it's D.K.

half like it's yeah especially man up one on one like that's right allow it that's like going to set mecalf up to win i mean he's just so he's so tall he's so fast that bigger he's faster and he's stronger than any cornerback in the NFL period right and it doesn't matter going into this like going into that this game gino was one of the best quarterbacks throwing against man coverage i set it on the pod steve i was the same previewed with it yeah So it's a smallish sample size, but if the lions continue to play the amount of man that they have been, Gino could shred them. I did say that on the pod. Chris, we've had some jokes back and forth with Chris because Chris is like, man, if you're starting Gino in your fantasy league, you're probably screwed already.

And Chris actually had to start Gino in his fantasy league this week. But it paid off for him. But point being, when you have to blitz like that, also, back up a little bit. When you're showing 7,8 guys in line of scrimmage, the defense also knows the ball's likely to come out quickly, right? Because it's going to get pressure. Yeah. So if you actually watched that Metcalf play, there was a deep safety, MOF,

MOF closed on that play. He could have rotated over to Metcalf. The problem is he expects the ball to be out quicker than that. So he actually played up on the deep, on the shallow middish crosser thinking that's where the ball would go because it would be coming out quickly. Right. But the ball didn't come out quickly because they didn't get home. Right. So this is another compounded issue.

Not only are they not getting home with four. Well, sometimes they're not even getting home with their six and seven man rush. And it's really, really bad. And you get, even if your zone dropping out of that, you guys are getting into their lanes late. The passing windows are wide open and quarterbacks are going to shred them. And they have to get more out of their pass rush. I wanted to pull the stats for you guys, but Aidan Hutchinson has been rushing literally primarily from a three-point stance. I don't even know that he's got a rep of rush from two-point stance.

And we know from Michigan, his days at Michigan, that he's actually tremendously more productive when he's rushing from a two-point stance. So they have to figure out how to get that going. He has not been very good. Now, he's been the best rookie pass rusher so far, and you don't necessarily count on rookies to be the difference in defense. But second overall pick, he was the most polished prospect on the defensive side of the ball. They have to get him going. And I think rushing from a two-point stance will dramatically help him.

One of the things people don't understand with Hutch is he's not a speed rusher. Even though he tested as a freak athlete, that's not his game. He's not a guy who's going to set you up with this crazy speed rush and dip, and he doesn't have a ton of outside moves. he's got some, but most of his production is bull rushing, playing with tremendous power, and inside counters. So when you're rushing from that three-point alignment, the goal of that is because it catapults you to the corner. And you're basically trying to get that, you know, you're beating that tackle to the corner, or you're getting him to open his gate early so you can then inside counter.

Hutch's game is totally different than that. He wants to play with power. He wants to push you off of your spot and then hit an inside counter from there. So I think rushing from a two-point stance would really help him play with better leverage and power and strength, which can really set them up for some of those. I mean, he's got just an insane toolbag of inside counters there. Yeah, I mean, they're playing man coverage at a rate of 48.8% this year, which is third highest in the NFL. And if you think of the personnel that they have, especially considering Oruarie, since he's come back or since he's been playing, has been the worst cornerback in the NFL. Not even close to being a second there.

No. Like definitively. Yeah. And I don't know. He's playing her. He's playing her clearly. Right. And the scheme is obviously allowed him to get beat at, picked on, basically.

Right. But, like, to have, like, playing in man coverage, or like, man coverage at that rate, with considering the talent that they have or rather kind of lack thereof, it just, it doesn't bode well for them. Yeah, agreed. I mean, even in the second level, defender, Steve, like, Okuda has played really well this year. Great. Amane is playing her, doesn't look good. when Will Harris spent on the field hasn't looked good. Mike Hughes is getting torched at every possible moment.

Alex Anzalone and Derek Barnes and Malcolm Rodriguez and Chris Bored, these guys aren't good coverage defenders. They're not good one-on-one coverage defenders. I know most linebackers stink in coverage anyways, but those guys are really, really bad. And Rodrigo's got potential. He's a great athlete. Absolutely.

Super quick twitch guy. He obviously is very instinctual, but he's a rookie. He's a six-round rookie. You can't expect him. to play man coverage on 55 or whatever percentage of snaps you just said it's ridiculous and then not only that they lost tracy walker who is a good man coverage defender but he's out for the season to Sean Elliott you know he's going to be more of a zone safety I prefer him in two high looks to be honest yeah as a zone either a quarters guy you know relating to number two or or a deep half guy

I don't love him even as a single high guy or playing man coverage at all. If he's not going to be in a split safety, look, you need him in the box, thumping because that's what he does. But I don't want him facing tight ends and slot receivers are all over the field. That's just not his thing. He's going to get smoked. Well, and that's where they had, you know, they had Kirby Joseph fill in for Tracy Walker this week. And he's not a guy that I think you really want in man coverage either. He's a guy that has that speed a little bit rangy.

like you want him kind of deep middle. You want his eyes on the, I don't care even where you line him up, but you want him in zone eyes on the quarterback with the ability to explode on the ball. That's where he thrives. Right. Let him, let him use his length,

let him use his speed as athleticism to, you know, disrupt a quarterback's game. Not so you don't want him man on man. He like, you know, he just doesn't have the ball skills, man on man. And you saw it, like from the very, from the very jump. Like, the first time. touchdown pass to Dissaly he was he was man up and it was perfect coverage like

positioning wise he was right there but just didn't have the ball skills to put his hands up read the defender or the receiver's eyes know when the ball was coming he'd like they were able to just put it right on the top of his shoulder pad and disley caught it it was you know that's the type of things that it's like you don't want to put a rookie a rookie fourth round I believe he was a fourth rounder right third round Third rounder, a rookie third rounder. I just don't think that's setting him up to succeed. A lot of their TVs are like that.

Right. I mean, when Will Harris has been on the field, Steve, he's been in tight coverage, but he has no awareness of where the ball is at any time. Right. So he's getting beat. We've seen so many of those plays, like that Disney play you mentioned with Kirby Joseph, where it's like great coverage, but you have to locate the football. These guys just aren't adequate at it.

I'm really surprised that this is a problem because Aaron Glenn being, you know, where he comes from and his background is an NFL defensive back. And who he was. Aubrey Pleasant. Yeah, Aubrey Pleasant's a phenomenal DB coach. Right. So this leads me back to my original point where I don't think they wanted to play this much man. I really don't. I really don't. I think they were really hoping this pass rush between, you know, Harris and Hutch and Anzareke and Pashal, two guys we haven't even seen on the field yet, who we might.

not see for a while still. Although it sounds like they're going to start Pishol's clock this week. Great. I think they're really hoping that that group, Romeo Aquara, Julian Aquara, they would generate enough pressure that they could rely on four-man pass rushes to get the job done. And if you can drop seven in coverage, you're in good shape, but they haven't really been able to, at least not consistently. I mean, that two of the better defenses in the NFL, the 64 are the 49ers and the Buffalo

bills blitz at two of the lowest rates. Yeah. And look what they're able to do. They're able to generate pressure while also having stellar defensive back, you know, back end play. And I mean, like, that's what sets them up for success. They shrink the windows by being able to drop seven and still rush and generate pressure with four guys.

Yep. Yep. Actually, you know what, Steve? let's do this so today we wanted to do a power rankings oh sorry the phrase completely slipped my mind Steve saw the look at my face like oh no yes we wanted to do a power rankings episode today the lines are not in our top 10 but I think this is a conversation worth happening so let's do this Steve I'm going to get us a guest for Friday okay that works in the Detroit market maybe a Detroit beat I know a few guys that might be willing to jump on the pod.

And we'll actually do a segment fixing the Lions defense. You gave me this idea yesterday, actually. And now that we're talking through it on the pod, I think it's a great idea. So let's do it. We'll do a full pod. We'll break down the Lions' offense too in depth because I know a lot of you, especially Fantasy guys, want to know why is it working so well? Why are they dropping 140 points in four weeks?

Why is Jared Goff looking better than he's ever looked? Right. Why is he looked like maybe they should consider keeping him long-term? Yeah, we'll get into all that. And then we'll do a whole segment on fixing the lines defense. I think that would be interesting and fun content. So with that said, though, let's move on. Let's do some power ranking, Steve.

Yes, let's do it. You and I independently made top 10 lists, right? You did a top 10? Okay, I did a top 10. We have not discussed. I did like a top 12. Top 12. Okay, I did a top 10 with a couple, I did three last, like first off.

the first three out basically that I think are worth discussing. But we haven't talked about this at all. So I have no idea what your list looks like. You have no idea what my list looks like. So we're going to kind of use this as a cool way to review what just happened this past week, but also maybe get into some debates. I don't know. We seem to be pretty simpatico when it comes to our football thoughts,

but there could be some opportunity here to fight with each other. And I read, like. Yeah. Did you say you like fighting? Yes. As Brett sits across for me virtually with a broken nose, two black eyes, a sprained ankle. Okay. Any other ailments?

This was not a fight fight, like in the center of a free fight. I'm not out there picking fights with people. I, you know, as I've mentioned, 100 times now, I train jiu-jitsu and injuries happen and recently broke my nose on Saturday, and now I have two black eyes, a broken nose. I've got a cervical joint arrangement in my nose. neck and a sprained ankle. So, and I actually have a cold, too. So I'm feeling great today.

Brett's a walking injury report right now. Yes. It's week four, Steve. It's week four. I know. It takes a toll. It takes a toll. This is when the cream rises at the top and the, the hurt persevere through it.

There's always, I remember playing when I was younger and it was always the phrase of, there's a difference between being hurt and being injured. Yes, yes. That's true. That's true. All right, let's do this. Who is number one on your power ranking list? If we have the same one, I would be surprised, but we might.

Number one for me, I put Buffalo at number one. Ooh, okay, okay. I just couldn't see a, like, I think they started the year at number one, and I haven't fully seen a reason to knock them. off the pedestal at number one. I think that Josh Allen is, do you know that Josh Allen has accounted for 100% of his team's touchdowns? Wait, what?

No, I did not know that. I'm pretty sure that that's absurd. They do not have a rushing touchdown from a running back. Are you kidding me? But alongside that, He also is number one An Adjusted Completion percentage Their defense is forcing a turnover

Turnover worthy throw on 8.8% of throws They're generating a 38% pressure rate And they're only blitzing 8.8% of the time This is a team that can hurt you In so many different ways Their defense is hurt in the secondary But that hasn't changed a thing They still look fast

the front four is just so good at generating pressure. I think that the Miami game, they let that one get away from them a little bit. They still move to the ball really well. Their defense still played really well. It's just, you know, sometimes you just fall short and a defense figures you out when you start to shorten the field and get into the red zone, which I don't think is that big of a concern going forward.

I think just with Josh Allen at the helm and I think Ken Dorsey has shown that he can, you know, scheme plays up. But I just think that with Josh Allen at quarterback, red zone issues are not as big of an issue as they would be for other team just because he's so versatile. And I just like their defense just plays so well. Even when like they have a week like this week where in the first half, it looked like they were going to get blown out.

by the Ravens. It looked like the Ravens had finally figured out that defense, their offense, there are, sorry, and then the Ravens defense had kind of shut down the bills. But then the bills come back in the second half. They made adjustments. They started slowing down Baltimore on the offensive end, and Josh Allen started moving the ball.

I just think that when it comes down to it, I can trust the Buffalo Bills to win a game in almost any situation compared to almost every other team in the NFL. Yes. And one of the themes, so building on the defensive part of what you said, one of the themes I have on my power rankings here is like a lot of these teams have the perception of being excellent offenses, but they're actually in the early parts of the year when they've struggled, the defense has been what's carried them.

and Buffalo is definitely one of those teams. Allen's obviously amazing, but he's like human at times this year. And this past game's a good example. He made us some ridiculous plays in this game, but he also missed so many easy throws. It was kind of weird. They kind of made up for the Miami game

because I felt like they stole a victory this week. Yeah. But the defense is what's carrying them. Steve, they have four pass rushers that are playing at like an elite level right now. Yeah. Gregory Rousseau, Jordan Phillips, and Vaughn Miller. Those guys are wreaking havoc.

And then they've got Boogie Basham, who's kind of like a situational type guy. All these guys are, they have a pass rush win rate of over 20%, all four of them. It's insane. It's crazy. When you look at the injuries and their secondary and the guys missing time there, I keep trying to figure out how in the world it's working. But one, this pass rush is getting it done. It's what we just talked about with the Lions, the bills are doing the opposite.

And it's like we can get home with four guys whenever we need to. Right. It makes your secondary so, it makes their job so much easier. It's unbelievable. And not only that, they've had guys step in and play well. Kair Elam has really impressed me. He's not giving up crap. He's a rookie.

Right. And he didn't even win a starting job to start the year. And I was concerned about him because of that. And like, he isn't given up Jack. It's actually amazing what he's doing. And that's where they have, they have, they've had another rookie play and Christian Benford, a six-to-six-rounder, who has looked really good as well. And this is all without Trinavius White being in yet.

Right. And two all pro-safeties. Well, they were missing one this week, and they missed one last week. I think they're missing both of them for a while, aren't they? Poir. Poir was back this week. Was he? Okay.

Yeah. Jordan, yeah, it was Poir that was back. Micah Hyde's still out. Poir and Hyde were out against Miami. Yep. Boyer came back this week. And they locked the already down. It's great.

And this is McDermott's thing. Like I mentioned this a couple weeks ago. Going back to when he was at Carolina with the Panthers is the D.C. there. That was his thing, man. It was always next man up. They didn't invest a ton into quarters. In fact, you remember, they had the standoff with Josh Norman. Yes.

They didn't want to pay him. And they kind of realized, like, I don't, I think our scheme and what we do is more valuable than the players themselves. Yeah. I sometimes think that's the wrong approach. It's a good baseline, but you do need to make exceptions for exceptional players. It's a dangerous game to play. It is. And they've kind of, and Buffalo hasn't shied away from paying the, like,

Trey White got paid, Poirer's getting money, Michael Hyatt's getting money. So they've definitely invested in both, right? Where our scheme's going to be awesome and we're going to invest in the players. But, man, this defense is, they're living up to the hype. McDermott is coaching the secondary up. It's a phenomenal job by the staff, and it's masked enough of, their issues on offense that like you said, Josh Allen's not going to struggle every

game. In the red zone, they won't struggle. They are going to absolutely shred teams on the stretch. I don't have them number one, Steve, but I have them number three in my power rankings. And that's just where, like, just to tie a bow on them, and we can move to year number one, but they were down, I mean,

they can take any deficit. They're like, Josh Allen is so explosive. The offense is so explosive that they can take, virtually any deficit. I mean, obviously there are some that it could get a little out of hand, but they're never out of a game. Yep.

They're never out of a game until you get them completely shut down zeros on the clock in the fourth quarter. Like, they're not out of it. Because of their defense's ability to get off the field quickly and just, like I said, the explosive play rate, the big play ability. of Josh Allen in that offense. It just allows them to not panic at any situation of when they get,

if they go down to another team. Yeah. Have you already, even a team as explosive as Baltimore, like who is similarly explosive with a similar, like similar quarterback in some ways in Lamar Jackson. Right. Have you already, um,

mentioned their, there's, uh, stats in zone coverage? I did not mention. their stats on coverage. Steve, this is insane. So they play zone more than any team in the NFL at a rate of over 85%.

They're holding quarterbacks to a pass rating of just 62.4 when playing zone. That's freaking incredible. They've given up one touchdown when playing zone. It's actually insane. They're holding teams to an eight out of 6.1. It's remarkable. It really just blows my mind, man, with what this defense is. been able to do. So yeah, great, great number one. They're definitely in the mix. My top three were hard.

That's, see, that's what I was going to say, but the top three for me were. We probably have the same top three just in a different order. Right. So my number one was the Philadelphia Eagles. Okay, they were my number, they're my number two. Okay. So partially because they're the only four and a team left. So I gave them a little bit of a reward for that. That's fair. While acknowledging their schedule hasn't been too tough. but I mean too bad because it doesn't get tougher from here anyway right so like we're we could see we could just say that for the rest of this season but guess what you don't make your schedule you just have to play who's in front of you and Philadelphia has done that well so far yep so this team is an offensive machine I think Jalen Hertz is playing as good as any quarterback in the NFL this year we've spent a ton of time talking about him I'm not even going to get into it. to that. Okay? Yeah. Hurts is amazing. Offensive line is amazing. You see what can happen when you have the weapons. They have A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Dallas Goddard. Miles Sanders is playing out of his mind.

That offense is just ticking right now. And I don't see anyone really slowing them down. Hertz looked human this past week for the first time this season, but he still played really good. He actually threw his first turnover worthy throw. Yep. So he does have one now. He went. three full games without one, but now he has one. But the offense still did more than enough to win that game. But they're another team at the top here that's, they're not one dimensional. This defense is exceptional. So, yeah.

They're going to struggle at times stopping the run, but that's okay. Because it's really not that important. And I think they'll get better as the season goes on as Jordan Davis works into the rotation more, as these linebackers get a little bit more comfortable. But their coverage is out. They're another one of these teams that play a ton of zone. I think maybe their second or third in zone coverage rate, maybe fourth even. They're up there, though.

And another one, passer rating allowed of just 66.3 when playing zone coverage. They have Darius Lay, who is the best zone corner in football. Secondary is playing outstanding. Pass rush is good. They're another team with, they can throw four, five, six bodies at you rushing the passer. They can always be fresh. So even if Hertz takes a step back and maybe he's not the best quarterback in the NFL, but he's top five, top 10, it's still going to be good enough to keep winning with their schedule. So I think they could stand at number one of the power rankings all year long.

The defense is that good to go with an incredible offense. Yeah, and they're, I mean, they're allowing a time to throw of 2.3 seconds, which helps lead to the fact that they only have a 5.4% deep throw percentage. on them, which helps. That means they're able to keep most things in front of them. It helps prevent big plays. I mean, they have a negative 8.8% completion percentage over expectation as a defense, which is second in the NFL. They're yak percent.

Only 48% of the yards for the offense are coming after our yak percent or yak yardage. Like the defense just not only are they. so good at playing the events. They're also good at keeping things in front of them and just preventing a big play. Yep. Yep. And again, when you can get home with a four-man rush, it does wonders for your second-level defenders. Right. It just makes it so much easier for the secondary, because they know that I don't have to be in coverage super long. Right. They have like just as much as a quarterback has an internal clock, secondary, like most NFL players have an internal clock when they're playing offense or defensive. Like, okay, quarterback of the ball should be out by now.

And the more the more that a defensive line can get home quickly, the fact, the better that clock goes for the, for a defensive back and that they're able to, you know, one, two, three, okay, ball. should be out where am I at where's my guy like things like that they don't have to you know there isn't as much running around panicking like okay when is the when is the quarterback going to break the pocket like i know that our team doesn't get that much pressure or like you know we're sending a huge blitz because we blitz all the time and now i'm one-on-one and i need to be worry about i have nobody over the top and things like that they're able to keep everything in front of them because they're able to rush for it's you know similar with buffalo similar and that's that's it's a it's a theme for the top defenses in the NFL this year.

Right. On top of that, the way they play their zones, the secondary knows they have help. There's help everywhere. They're playing split safety looks. I know a lot of zone heavy teams, they rely on cover three a ton. Philly's only running cover three on 24% of passing snaps. They're running a ton of cover four, ton of cover six, a good amount of cover two. All in all, they're running split high safety coverages on.

like 50% of snaps roughly. That's huge. And it's almost, it's almost cocky, right? Because we know they're not great against the run. Right. But it just shows you they don't even care. Because they're,

typically when a team struggles against the run, you're going to run single high, you're going to show middle of the field close on every play. You're going to walk that safety down to the box, over the tight end or whatever. And you're going to commit that extra body to the run game. They're just like, whatever. We're just going to play too high and it's fine.

Right. Like, yeah, if you, you know, If you run for eight yards on first and second down, that's cool. We'll stop you on third and two. No big deal. But that's where they're able to marry that scheme with the fact that they have an explosive offense. Yep. Because they know that it's like, okay, we have to worry about the run for like the first two quarters.

And then after that, we're going to help get our offense ahead. You know, if they feel like, like, Ben don't break, like shut down the pass, let them, run. If they score on us, you know, methodically running the ball down the field, so be it, our offense has big play, quick score ability. We allow them to get ahead. And then from there, we know that the other offense isn't going to run the ball anymore because now that they're playing from behind, and now we can settle into what we do best. Exactly. And, you know, I guess when the Lions blew that defense up in week one, people were really concerned about their defense. But now we've seen after four weeks, the line's offense is good against everybody.

Right. And they're going to score 30 to 40 points, and that's that. I think people are a lot less concerned now. They had, see, they held the Vikings to seven points. Then they held, who did they play week three? Washington? Yes. Yeah, they held Washington to eight points.

Sacked, Carson Wentz nine times. Yeah, something ridiculous. So anyways, moving on. So they were my number one team. They were your number two team. Yep. Okay. My number two team, Steve, is the Kansas.

city chiefs. And they're my number three. I guessed as much. And yeah, I think that it's, you know, one, two, three. Those, I mean, I could have put those in any variation depending on how I was feeling a certain day, I think. Here's why I went with the chiefs at number two. It's because of this past week against the Buccaneers. Yes. Because Patrick Mahomes is back. that was he looks like that dude again and you for you about box score scouts at home

you look at the box where he's like eh it was just kind of a mad game no it wasn't it was freaking tremendous yeah he looked awesome um the box score is lying to you the game scripts just kind of dictated my homes didn't have to put up 400 yards

and five touchdowns but he looked awesome everything he did in that game impressed me and it didn't look like the guy we had seen the first three weeks. Even things as simple as like when Tampa Bay would line, let's not kid ourselves, Tampa Bay's defense is awesome. It's tremendous. They're one of the only teams of the league that can play man as effectively as they play zone.

They can interchange all their coverages. They've got a really good secondary. They've got a decent pass rush. They average, so in both zone and man, they allow a pass rating against of less than 70 in both. coverage types. They can literally do whatever they want. They're scheme diverse. They've got good cover linebackers, great

safeties. So this is a good defense for, and then Patrick Mahomes to do what he did, makes it even more impressive. But it started with, I noticed it right away early in that game. We know Todd Bowles likes to blitz. We know he likes to load up the line of scrimmage and show blitz, even if he doesn't blitz. And Mahomes immediately just starts getting them in the right play. Time and time again, whether it was a run, they were gashing them with runs in this game. Or, you know, Bulls would show this blitz, and Mahomes would empty out the set and then throw a screen,

and he'd have numbers. Tampa Bay wasn't addressing three-by-one sets or three-by-two sets with bodies. So there was multiple times where they had manned advantages on the outside, and Mahomes was checking them into screens, getting the ball out in space. That stuff, you know, it doesn't necessarily show up in the box score, but it's so important picking up eight yards against a soft look. It's huge. Stuff he wasn't really doing the first three weeks.

He just took total control of the offense. On top of that, he just, he's been taking what he's been given all season long, but we've been waiting for the more. Yeah. And we finally got that. What were you going to say? I was just going to say, like, also, like, Kansas City this year, I feel like has utilized their screen game so well.

They always do, right? They do. And it's just like, this game, they used it quite a bit, actually. It was the perfect game plan because they know that the bucks are a very aggressive downhill defense. And they knew that they could, you know, they knew they could use that quick game to help them. But then also, like, it was. It was just, I think I started my. I just started charting that game.

And I think within the first drive and a half, I messaged you and Chris, and I said, Patrick Mahomes looks insane, like, incredible this week. Yeah. Like, it just, it was, he looked so calm, like, just dialed in, made every, like, all the right decisions. Yep. And again, against the defense that, you know, they're, it's a, it's a top four unit in the NFL on a bad day. Right. Like, and Todd Bulls, like, he threw some pressure, but they did not, I mean, they didn't blitz a ton just because I think, I think Bulls knows that, you know, he, Mahomes is one of those quarterbacks where you don't blitz him.

If you're blitzing him, you're just, you know, you're just opening yourself up for getting burned. Right. He showed blitz a few times early in the game. Yeah, he showed blitz a ton. He showed Blitz a ton. They brought, they brought Devin, or, yeah, Devin White a couple times. But then usually when they brought Devin White, they usually dropped the backside defensive end into coverage. Like they were trying to mix things up and they were trying to keep seven guys back in coverage at all times.

But it just didn't matter. Mahomes, he looked confident and he just was making the right throw every time. Yeah, and Mahomes, when he goes in these stretches where he doesn't look like the guy we know he can be, it's because he's not playing with those instincts he has. That's what makes Mahomes better than everyone in the league. It's not his crazy good arm. That's part of it, of course. But it's because when he's playing and just feeling the game with his instincts,

that's what puts him over the top. There's nobody better than him. He becomes impossible to defend. And we saw it time and time again this week. I mean, there's an example in the first quarter. There was a third and ten. Tampa lines up with like an engage eight look, but they only rush four.

Yeah. So they're dropping four guys out in coverage that are on the line of scrimmage. Mahomes immediately diagnoses who's coming and who's not and throws to the void. He throws a Travis Kelsey who has Devin White. So Devin White was lined up in the A gap. Yeah. Travis Kelsey was to the right of Mahomes, who's running like an out route like underneath a deep safety, basically.

definitely. Devon White was his primary coverage defender, but because he's bailing out of that blitz look, he is such a long way to travel. But Holmes easily recognized it gets the first down. Now, here's a thing. On the left side of that formation, juju, he could have easily just checked the ball down to juju, which was as hot, and picked up five or six yards. But he didn't settle for that. And that's what he had been doing in the first of weeks. He would have settled for the the juju throw. It was wide open. I think it was Winfield, what a came up, made the tackle, probably they're punting anyways, but they picked up six, seven yards.

Mahomes didn't do that. He knew he had the check wide open, but he still identified what the defense is trying to do to him, and he made them pay for it and got the first down. There was another one in the second quarter that the throw he had to MVS, down right down the middle, the seam ball. So that was like a kind of like a modified inverted cover, too. where the thought corner is bailing to the flat, and then the outside corner is taking a deep half,

and then Levanti David was the buck defender in that play, the whole defender. So he's carrying MVS up the scene, but because of the safety rotation, there's no safety help to be had right there. Mahomes immediately identifies the mismatch and puts the ball on the freaking money. When you're seeing the game as quickly as he was in this game,

he's impossible to beat. And they'll score 40 points a game. until he goes back into a slump of his, which I'm hoping he doesn't, because he's so fun to watch when he's playing like this. And then the last real note on Mahom's team is like, we've been waiting for him to make those magical plays happen, and they happened in this game. They did.

The MVS throw was one of them, but also down on the goal line. Mahom just scrambling everywhere. He broke like three tackles and then finds a wide open CEH in the end zone, and he just kind of like flicks it out to him while he's getting hit. that stuff, I mean, that's what makes him so special. It's a treat to watch. So. And then they're another team, Steve, a defense that's pretty darn good.

Their defense is playing excellent right now. Their time to pressure, number one in the NFL with the mark of 2.1 seconds. Wow. That's crazy. That's crazy. So when they get home, they're getting home fast. Right. Hoverbacks do not have time to do it to.

They love that. and they got home a couple times with it, but they love that nickel corner blitz. Yes. With Legerius Sneed. He's so freaking fast, bursty. And it's, and like, it's not, like, it's not a defense that we think of that's, you know, up there with Buffalo, Tampa Bay, things like that. But, like, they're a defense that just doesn't give up a ton. Like, they're really good against the.

on. They've only given up like three and a half yards per carry this year. And they're past, and they're like secondary is serviceable enough. Justin Reed is a very, is a very versatile player. They play him all over the place. They play him deep. They play him in the box. He allows him a lot of versatility. Like I said, Ligerius Sneed plays in the slot a decent amount. He's a, he's a solid slot corner, but he's also very adept at blitzing the quarterback when he's asked to. So Nick Bolton is a guy that's a very sideline to sideline. He's helping to lead that defense and being so good against the run. It's just they have a collection of guys who are just like they're good together.

I think another huge help is not having Daniel Sorensen in the backfield this year. And then they just and then they have Chris Jones up front who Chris Jones is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL. If it were for Aaron Donald, we probably would talk about Chris Jones a lot more. Correct. Yeah, he's, Chris Jones is an animal. It's just a team that, like, they have not, they have one of the, they have, I mean, I say the, he's, I think he's the best quarterback in the NFL and I don't. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is.

And anybody that says otherwise, like, is insane. You've just become too, you've just become too, uh, numb to his abilities at this point. but marry that with Andy Reid who just calls a great a great game rarely do you really come away from a game and say like Andy Reid didn't have his best there he generally is able to figure out a defense and is able to figure it out and be able to scheme against it but then they and then again they just have a defense that does enough and when you have an offense like they have that's all you need yep is it defense that just does enough. You know, they can get three or four stops in a row. And three or four stops in a row is what allows their offense to go score, you know, three out of those four possessions and then boom, they're out by 21, 14 points or whatever. Yep.

All right. So we got the first three out of the way and those are pretty obvious. I think most people that watch NFL probably have that three in some combo. Yes. Who's your fourth team? I went Tampa Bay. I went Tampa Bay because of their defense. And because I think that this week, you started to see,

even if they did end up losing, but they still put up 31 points. Oh, they spotted the Chiefs a touchdown too. Right. I don't forget that. And so I think that, like, we started to see what this offense is actually capable of when they start to have their full stable of weapons. Yep.

Mike Evans is one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL. He's caught a touchdown in 30 of his 35 games that he's played or something like that. Or it's the 35 games with Tom Brady. Like he's just, he's a monster. And we've touched on what their defense can do. I mean, Kansas City diagnosed it. well and played well against it. Kansas City kind of breaks some rules a little bit. But this defense, they blitz very well. They have two, probably the best linebacking

tandem in the NFL. And then they have a secondary that had that, you know, all across, all five of them, they're probably one of the best five. And they've been consistently one of the best five for the last three to four years. And it's, for the most part, it's been this year, it's really been about the offense turning a corner. And I think that this week with a full, like I said, a full stable of weapons for Tom Brady, I think that they finally might have flipped a switch a little bit. Yes.

I agree with that. They still need to figure out the running game a little bit. I think that they're starting to, it's bad. then they're now they're starting to filter in uh rashad white a little bit more he was playing he you know instead of a couple plays here and there he was getting full like a full drive workload every couple drives so we'll be i'll be interested to see if they use that more often to kind of shake up the run game but leonard four net has not looked like he did last year he's still getting a lot of he's still getting a decent amount of targets in the passing game but from the from in the run

game, they have not looked as good and as much of a, as much of a pace change as it was last year for them. Yep. I agree. Their offensive line has been okay. It's been better than I think people thought. Yeah, I mean, it was a very, the interior was a very big concern. Right.

After the injuries that kind of hit them through the, you know, at the beginning. But we knew Brady would speed up his. time to throw and do what he's got to do to stay clean. So that was never a huge concern of mine. They've basically been playing handicapped all year with the receiver issues, as you mentioned. Yes. I think as they start to come full strength, that offense is going to start ticking. We know the defense is good.

I have the Buccaneers fifth in my ranking, so we're pretty much right there. But yeah, Leonard Fortnet, only 3.7 yards of carry, a 53% stuff rate. Yep. It's just, it's ugly right now. It is. I will say this too about the defense. I want to see more out of Vita Vaya. He's not played well this year.

It doesn't look like the same guy pass rushing. Now, the thing with Vaya is a lot of times nose tackles have a minimal impact on the team, really. They help with the run game and they're absent on pass-downs. Faya is one of the exceptions. Him and Kenny Clark are the two nose tackles, and now the dude in New York, Dexter Lawrence. That dude's a freak. but we'll talk about him another day but um yeah so vea and calc are like the two exceptions and vea just does not look like the same guy rushing the patch of this year he in fact he doesn't

even look like the same guy stopping the run either something's going on with him not sure what it is but i hope he gets back on track because that would really help them out yes so all right who's your your fifth team if yeah go ahead oh my fourth is this thing i was about say. I'm like, what about your fourth? Yeah, my fourth is it might be my fifth. Green Bay Packers? No. No? Okay.

Green Bay Packers are my fourth team. Do you have them in your top ten? I do have them in my top. I have them in my top. Okay. Okay. Cool. So a pretty good difference here. The thing with Green Bay for me is this, again, just like every team we've mentioned, they have a defense that can carry them. Their defense will keep them in every game. there is and Aaron Rogers is starting to get comfortable with the offense they're going to run the ball tremendously especially as the weather starts to turn it always benefits Green Bay yes and then on top of that

this game impressed me they've they're getting production out of the rookie wide receivers which we've said from the beginning for this team to hit where you know the expectations that people have for them, they got to get a lot out of those receivers. And you look at the stat lines, you're like, no, they didn't get anything out of them. Dubs had five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Watson had one carry for 15 yards in a touchdown and one catch for eight yards. So on paper, it doesn't look like they got a ton out of those guys, but they really did. Dubs is becoming the reliable back shoulder threat that Aaron Rogers needs. Yep. He loves that he loves, because Aaron Rogers is one of the best of that back shoulder.

you know, run a go route, just hit him on the, throw a, throw a missile into the back shoulder of the receiver, because it's almost impossible to defend for, for a quarter. Yep. It's like he almost aims for their elbow on the sideline side of their body. It's like he's trying to hit that elbow with the ball and he just throws a missile at it. The guy turns balls, literally on them. Dubs, I'm going to be the 10,000th guy to say it. He eerily resembles Devon.

Adams in those situations. And I'm not sure where this guy all of a sudden figured out how to play through contact at the line of scrimmage. It was not something he did well at the college level. He routinely got jammed at the line. Anytime he saw a press, it was an issue. At the senior bowl, especially, Steve, this guy was getting blanked at the line of scrimmage and all of a sudden he's got this release package that's working.

I don't know. I love to see it. But Christian Watson, this was a. dude who was tremendous on trick plays in college. Tremend, I mean, they found any way they could to get him the ball. And Green Bay is starting to figure that out. They get him on the end of the round. He scores.

He almost broke another one that I think got called back for a hold. Yeah. This guy is going to come on down the stretch. I'm standing on my scouting report for him. Tremendous talent. I do think this guy's going to come on. And hitting on two receivers, this draft class was exactly what the Packers had to do.

And I think they did it. I think they successfully did it with Watson and Dubs. And that could be a force to be reckoned with in years to come, let alone at the end of this year. Big time Packers guy. And their offensive line is good. Oh, yeah. That's another position that, like, they always hit on it. It doesn't matter where they draft a guy.

they could draft him in the first round they could draft him in the seventh round you could almost bank on the fact that if they draft him he's going to be a productive offensive lineman 100% and I mean like they're right like they just have such a good running game

Aaron Jones is averaging 6.8 yards per rush a.J. Dylan is only averaging 3.7 yards per carry but I think that they use AJ Dylan in a much more they're not looking for AJ Dylan to be their a breakaway runner.

Right. They want him to get six yards. They want him to be a guy that's like, go and kind of almost a guarantee you can get us six yards, four to six yards. And having that switch up with their offensive, yeah, that switch up between backs and with their offensive line, like they can just completely punish and break down a defense. Yep. And then having Aaron Rogers to back that up when, you know, they can use so many different, so many different rushing concepts and then using that with play action behind it is, it's lethal. Yes, I agree.

They're passing the ball against zone coverages. Rogers has been very reserved so far. He's dumping everything super short. A lot of checkdowns. a lot of hots. I don't want him to do that as much as he is. If this team is really going to grow and take the next. So actually, I was really concerned heading into the year

that they would struggle against man coverage, but I think they found some things, some man beaters, the back shoulder stuff we already talked about. They're going to eventually start hitting some go balls with Watson too, which is going to be fun. I do think that they're going to be fine against man. Zone though, they've got to get a little bit more aggressive. I want to see Rogers attack the intermediate part of the field.

He had the touchdown pass to Tanya this week, I believe. That was a good throw and a good look against zone. I want to see more of that, though, more attacking those seams. I know it's not always there, and you can't force it. But his A-dot against zone, Steve is like four. His A-dot in general is super low, isn't it? I think in man, well, they see a lot more zone than it do man, because no one wants to play man against Rogers.

Understandably so. Yeah, but yeah, his A-DOT against Man is like it's over nine, and then Zone it's four. And you see that discrepancy for most teams. They're going to throw shorter against Zone traditionally than man. That's fine, but I don't want five yards of gap there. Like if he can get that A-DOT up to, you know, five and a half six by years end, that would make me happy because I see some windows he's not throwing into against Zone.

He's just, I don't think he trusts his receivers yet to beat that company. that's what I was going to say is I think that comes down to a trust issue right now. And he needs Lazard to be that guy because he's the veteran on the staff in the receiver room. He's not really a man-beater. So if he's going to offer the team something, he's going to have to go beat zone coverages and get smart. I want him to be the intermediate possession type receiver and just dominate against zone coverage. That's what I want out of Lazard and Rogers. I think that would do the team a huge, huge service if they could get that going.

And he did this week in his defense. Lazzard had his best game of the season with 100-something yards. And I think this is the first, or one of the first games where Lazzard has been fully healthy. That's true too. Good point. Which is a benefit for them overall. But, like, as a team on defense, at least, they're, after the first week, week of them getting a little bit picked apart with Justin Jefferson week one. They've started

to settle in a little bit more. They, um, zero percent well throw a percentage on them. An average depth of target of six. They're still giving up a 71% completion percentage, but that's only with, you know, the quarterback rating is at about a 92. So, It's not perfect, but the biggest thing is that they're, again, they're a team that's keeping things in front of them. And they've been also who they've played. They've played Justin Fields and Bailey Zappi slash Brian Hoyer. Yep. But like still, like the offense playing the way that they are, they're playing such a possession, control the ball game.

Yep. And that a lot that keeps their defense. fresh, their defense has only faced 86 pass attempts or 86 dropbacks in the last three weeks. Yeah, that's. Which is kind of crazy. And again, I think that, you know, part of that is that they played Bailey Zappies. So New England started running the ball more. They played Chicago, and we all, everybody's aware of Chicago's woes throwing the ball.

Yeah. But they're just like, it's a team that, again, they're a secondary that can keep everything in front of them they have i think rishon gary is really coming into his own this year he's looked i think rshawn gary has looked so good bresden smith too bresden smith as well phny clark d line d line's tremendous d line looks tremendous like looks really good and their secondary is very talented and they have two freaky linebackers like this is a defense that i don't think they're I don't think they're going to get gashed like they did against Minnesota with Justin Jefferson, again, the rest of the season. This is a team that can hold everything in front of them and they can keep their offense in games.

And Aaron Rogers hasn't really had to play hero ball or anything like that yet. They've completely controlled most games except for obviously week one. And I think that they're just kind of changing the formula, the formula of what their team looks like this year, which is good because, I think a lot of people knew that it was going to call for that. Right. And then the more that Aaron Rogers builds a rapport with these rookie wide receivers and the more Al-Nazard gets healthy, the better and more efficient this offense is going to get.

And they already look good because I just think that their rushing attack is one of the best in the NFL. Agreed. All right. So Packers were my... number four, the year number seven. Who is your number five? Baltimore. Baltimore, okay.

And that, like, is just, I think it's a lot built on the fact that I just believe in what Lamar Jackson is doing this year. Yeah. I, like, him, like, he, Josh Allen, Jalen Hertz, have elevated their games this year. I mean, Josh Allen is who he is. He isn't really, I wouldn't really. really say he's necessarily like crazy elevated his game, but he's playing at about the level that we all wanted and expected from him this year. But Lamar Jackson throwing the ball,

running the ball is looking the best that he's looked at a long time. I think that he, his ability to navigate a pocket is better than we've ever seen. And that was something that a lot of people, including myself and I think yourself wanted to see from him this year. And I just think that their defense could be their undoing, that secondary is getting picked apart almost every week, and that's concerning. But I just think that with J.K. Dobbins back, I think J.K. Dobbins added a gear to that rushing,

that rushing offense that they hadn't had the first three weeks and it was solely reliant on Lamar Jackson to produce in the run game but J.K. Dobbins adds like a little bit more juice to that run game and then I think like I said, Lamar Jackson has looked really, really good and I think he's going to continue to look good. He has a 75% adjusted completion percentage. He's at 8.5% while throw percentage. Like he's, He's making big plays. Shoot, his average depth of target is 8.7.

Like, he's just, he's pushing the ball down the field, and he has Mark Andrews and Rashad Bateman, two guys that allow him to do that. Yeah. Lamar's played pretty unbelievably this year. This game, this past weekend, really disappointed me. I was hoping to see more, and I know the Bill's defense. we've already hit on it's been tremendous. But when you want to compete for a Super Bowl

and you want to be an MVP, these are the defenses you have to perform well against. Now, it could just be an outlier game for the season. We'll see. But I was very disappointed with the way he performed. We talked about how calm he looked in the pocket all year. This week was not the case. He was scrambling all over the place,

made a bunch of errant throws as a result of it. you know, wasn't really throwing in rhythm, wasn't throwing in time. Kind of saw some of those old Lamar things come out a little bit. I worry that against the elite defenses, he might struggle a little bit. But we'll see. That's the only reason I didn't have him higher because I have, what did I say, had them? I had them seven. Okay.

I do think their defense, by the way, I know they got torched against Miami, largely in part because of two busted coverages that resulted in 60-plus-yard touchdowns. other than that, they've settled down pretty good. They're killing it in zone coverage right now. I think, let's see. Yeah, the season, they're giving up a pass rating against it just 80.5. They've got six interceptions in zone coverage. So while they did bust a few times, they've definitely settled down.

You take those two busted coverters out, those bombs, they're passerating against is down in the 50s in zone. They'd actually lead the league. So I do feel like this defense is coming around a little bit. Secondary is getting healthy, yada, yada, yada. I like what I've seen from them other than the Miami game. So another instance where when the quarterback struggles, you assume the defense will step up and vice versa.

I do think this team has a really good makeup. I like they're like one guy short on offense maybe in the skill player department. Maybe one more competent receiver would take them a really long way. But Duverne has been better than expected, so maybe I'm wrong on that. He looks good in a quick game. He's a... Yeah, and manufactured touches or something you can rely on him. Yeah.

Was Ronnie Stanley back this last... Did he play against Buffalo? I know they're working him back. I just didn't know if he played against... I don't remember if he played against Buffalo. Look. I feel like he didn't. He did not.

and that's something that's going to help their offensive line and it's going to help you know because like you said that was a big thing against buffalo is that they were able to get pressure on lamar jackson and they're able to get they're able to get pressure with four people which again it just completely shrinks the field for lamar for lamar jackson to kind of work with it it's like a big part of his ability is that teams like when a team blitzes him or when a team gets home on him he's able to kind have escape, get out, and then, you know, either look for run lanes because people are all, you know, kind of all over the place, or he's able to find someone down the field, but Buffalo didn't allow for him to do that too much because, again, they just get home with four guys.

Their linebackers are smart and they, their secondary is so sticky. They just stick to receivers and it like kind of, that's where you make Lamar Jackson panic a little bit and start to make the throws. like he made where it was what i forget what quarter was but it was the play where he should have been sacked spun out turned and then just threw up a hail mary or just like you know a hope and a prayer and ended up getting tipped and caught by rachad bateman like those are the type of throws those are the type of throws that need to be reeled back a little bit yeah the play was ridiculous actually what the ball was accurate though was it not

Didn't it hit his receiver's hands and bounce off and then Bateman caught it? It was, like, Mark Andrews kind of reached over a defender. Gotcha. It dipped it up. Like, it was accurate, but there also was a defender right in front of Mark Andrews. Yeah. So maybe you'd like to see him just throw that ball away. Yeah.

Like, it could have gone either way. It was a throw that, you know, good that it ended, like, it looks good because it ended up in Baltimore's hands, but it also very easily could have gone the other way as well. Yeah. All right. Let's move on your six team, Steve. Number six in your power rankings. It's Miami right now, but that could very easily change,

depending on the outcome of this whole to a concussion adventure. But for right now, through four weeks, I think that their offense continues to be, and I think we debunked it a little bit, but their offense just with the weapons that they have and Waddell and Tyree Kill as an explosive offense, their defense is pesky in that they, you know, we saw what they did to Buffalo.

It's a, you know, classic Ben Don't Break defense. Melvin Ingram has played some of his best football. Yeah, he has. Of his career, really, this year and has looked like a difference maker. It still throws me off that he's wearing number six. It like looks weird and funny seeing him in number six. But I think even with a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, this is a team that still can stay in the top 10 of the power rankings

and still like is a viable, it's still like a viable team. Yeah. I don't have Miami and my top 10 here. But you said even with a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, Teddy Bridgewater was Tua before Tua was Tua. Yeah, exactly. So there's not, there's not a drop off there. I don't care what anybody says.

That's, I think they'll be, I think the offense will be fine with Teddy. I think the only different the only little difference that I think that there is is that Tua this year started to push the ball downfield a little bit more not well not well but he would well Teddy we's one of Teddy's first plays of the game he ripped it downfield for a tutty and then the rest of the and then the rest of the game yeah I mean I don't know either way like you know it's making my argument but you're kind of making my argument for me a little bit of like, I think Teddy Bridgewater takes care

of the ball better than to, uh, I think so too. I think what will help Teddy with the deep passing is a lot of these deep shots in McDaniel's offense are, I don't want to say scripted or planned, but they're either there or they're not.

Like they set them up well. Right. Whether it's with these Yankee concepts or dagger or whatever they're running, it's not something where Teddy's going to have to sit there and read a coverage post-snap and let it rip. It's like they're kind of making investments into these throws all game, and then when the time is now, the time is now. If Teddy can throw deep with timing and anticipation,

I think it works out pretty well. And that's what McDaniel wants to get out of his quarterback. So I think that will be okay. My only issue, Miami was one of my honorable mention teams. So my only real issue is out, like I mentioned last pod, outside of a few plays against Baltimore, and two of them were busted coverages, this offense actually hasn't been impressive.

I was going to say, I know that we debunked it a little bit. So I am a little just concerned, but maybe they can get back on track. I just think we're at a point in the power rankings where it's like, you know, do they deserve to be in the top ten? Probably, probably they do, but I think there's teams just better than them right now as all. It's my only, my only thing.

But, yeah, Waddle and Hill are the best receiver doing the NFL. I'll stand by that. Right, and that's fair. I mean, you know, that's why we do. It's why power rankings are both the most fun and most infuriating things you can do and read as a football fan. For sure. I mean, it's meant, they're meant for controversy.

And it could very easily be, you know, over the next two to three weeks, Miami could plummet. Teddy Bridgewater could not be it and it just like kind of falls apart. Or I, or, you know, I honestly, I think the more likely scenario is that Teddy Bridgewater, you know, completes 72% of his throws and they're all an average depth of target of 6.1, but, you know, he has enough plays that break loose for, that break loose for, you know, huge gains. And all of a sudden, Miami's, you know, three and all with Teddy Bridgewater. And that's no different than Tua. Like, that's what they, that's all they want on the Tua is to throw short passes accurately.

Right. And we'll get that with Teddy. So. Yeah. Realistically, the offense doesn't change at all, which is, you know, I'll look. I don't know if it's a luxury or if it's a point against them. But either way, right now, it will probably play in their favor. Yep.

Well, my number six team is Mike McDaniel's former team, and that's the San Francisco 49ers. Okay, I had them just on the outside looking at. So you talk about one thing I really, really believe is that difference makers matter. If you don't have difference makers on your team, your team isn't very good. Just the bottom line. Yes. San Francisco arguably has more difference makers than anybody. They have the best defensive player in the league right now.

Nick Bosa, who, by the way, is the easy favorite for defensive player of the year at this moment. I know I'm a Barson's guy and I've been ringing the bell for Parsons, but when you put on the tape, it is incredible what this dude is freaking doing. Nick Bosa has like 39 pressures through four games. Yeah, I think I have him for, yeah, I've got him for 42 passress wins with a passress win rate of like 34%. Nobody even close to that.

Right. I think the next closest is Mike and Parsons. Probably. And Mike Apartson stacks look really good, but they pale in comparison to what Nick Bosa has done. Bosa's hit or sack the quarterback 17 times. He has more hits or sacks than most people have pressures. Most good passers have pressures. Right.

He's a freak. So you've got Nick Bosa in the fold. You've got Fred Warner's play a little bit better this year. I wouldn't say he's a difference maker, though, but going back to my point about difference makers. So Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, Debo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk, Iyuk, George Kittle. those are difference. They're five deep a difference maker. All they need Jimmy G to do

is function like an average human being. Does do what he's done most of the time in San Francisco. Right. And if they can even get like a little bit less mistakes. I don't even need, I don't need high-end plays from Jimmy. I just need him to make less mistakes. They're going to be in the talk for the Super Bowl, just like they were last year, just like they were years before that.

this team is built to win. I mean, they're really freaking good, other than quarterback. But I don't think their quarterback situation is bad. There's worst teams, you know, worst quarterback situations out. Yeah, absolutely. Like, I would take Jimmy G over Teddy or two right now. I would as well. And like, it's in, it helps that it's a, the way Kyle Shanahan has built that offense and everything is that it's probably one of the least.

quarterback reliant offenses in the NFL. Which to your point, that's why Miami could be in for a good season, because same thing. Because, you know, see, yeah, look who's leading their offense. It's someone who comes right from Kyle Shanehan. But, like, yeah, San Francisco, their defense is playing how, like, what everybody, or what, like, the upper level of what we thought they could be was. And like the biggest, one of the biggest concerns on their defense was the back end of the defense, which has been helped a ton by their pass rush. But then with the with the emergence of Hufanga, a guy who has absolutely been flying around the field, he is all over the place.

Like that's, I mean, that kind of shores up that concern that we had going into the season. But they're getting, like, on defense, they're giving up 5.9 yards per attempt on throws. They've only given up two passing touchdowns. They're giving up a pass rating of 73, minus 5% completion percentage over expectation. Average depth of target is 5.8. Like, 6.2% turnover worthy throw percentage. Like, it's just a team that they just cause issues. They do, and they're another one of these teams that can throw four or five passers at you that are all very good.

We talked about Bosa already, but it doesn't stop there. I mean, they have, Armset's hurt right now, right? Yes. Yeah. So they have, you know, Eric Armstead when he's healthy, they've got Samson Ecubom, who they brought over from the Rams. She's playing very good. Yep. They have, I'm totally blinking on the dude's name.

name. Oh my gosh. While you think of him, they also are like, they're forcing a checkdown throw on 13.8% of their opposing passer passing attempts, which is, which like, that's huge. That means that they're disrupting the quarterback enough that it's forcing the quarterback to check down. Yeah. That's excellent.

I just, yeah, my biggest thing was that it's, yeah, the, that offense can sometimes lose their explosive play a little bit, and they go a little stagnant. And I just, that was my only, or that was my big knock against them, is that they have a tendency, they have somewhat tendency to go stagnant on offense. And they haven't, and it's weird, they have not utilized George Kittle hardly at all. Yeah. I wonder if some of that is like injury preservation or if they truly just feel like they need an extra blocker.

Yeah. I set up what they're doing. I mean, Debo and Iuke are just fine for a passing attack. Oh, I mean, yeah, you can. They did it. They did it a couple times where they just work a two-man game with those guys. Yep. Yep.

All right. Let's move on. So we already have uncovered both of our number. sevens, right? Yeah, mine is Green Bay. Yours was Baltimore. Okay. Who's your number eight?

Jacksonville. Whoa. Holy crap. All right. I'm just going to let you handle this. Go ahead. I, like, I just, their defense is so,

I love their defense. I think that they're so long. They're disruptive. They made Jalen Hertz look somewhat human. On Sunday. True. Trevor Lawrence is only going to keep getting better. The fumble issues, ball security issue on Sunday was, it's a little bit scary.

But I just think that he's going to only continue to develop this year and he looks comfortable. They started to sprinkle in a little bit of Agnew, who I like as a, gadget weapon in their offense. Stop right there. I'm biased checking you right now. Why do you like Jamal Agnew, Steve? Tell everyone. Because I think he's got, he's speedy.

I mean, obviously he came from Detroit. Where it is? I don't think it's biased. I think it's just that it might be biased. But I think he's just, I think he's got speed. I think he's fast. I think he can make moves. He's useful in like a jet sweep.

running or wide receiver run like i think that they can use him two to three times a game he does have ridiculous explosiveness in a way that like you know i'm not looking for them to to scheme up 10 touches a game for him i'm looking for them to scheme up like two or three touches a game as a way as a way to create an explosive play what do you get this week he got six targets this week steve is that is that too many That's too many. That's too many. You have better guys on that offense that those targets probably should go to.

Well, Kirkish and Kirk got nine, so it's not like they ignored him or anything, but it was funny that Jamal Agnew seemingly came out of nowhere for six targets in a two touchdown game. That was not on my bingo card for this week. It wasn't on mine either. Was he hurt to start the year? Or did they just, was this really just like production? out of nowhere. It's Jamal Agnew.

I'm not tracking storylines. That's fair. But I think that the team, like, utilization of ETN isn't where it should be for a guy that, you know, can be a playmaker. But the run game has looked really good. I think their offensive line has been better than what I expected. That's also true. Trevor Lawrence has, is 2.1% completion percentage over expectation. His A-DOT isn't super high.

It's only 6.9, but he's only has a 3.7% turnover worthy throw percentage, which, you know, middle of the road, but decent. And I just think that I'm banking on the continued development of Trevor Lawrence. And I think that this team, I think the team is going to be relevant the whole year. And I think that they win that division. I mean, they're only facing up 26% pressure percent pressure rate. Their time to pressure is 2.5 seconds, and Trevor Lawrence's time to throw is 2.4. They're keeping Trevor Lawrence clean, which is the biggest thing. They're allowing him to, you know, they're allowing him to make plays.

They're allowing him to, you know, find Christian Kirk. And they're, I mean, Doug Peterson is utilizing Christian Kirk in a way that Christian Kirk should have always been utilized. and then going back to that defense, I think the defense is just so long and disruptive that they're never going to give up a ton of points against them, I don't think. Yeah. I mean, those are all fair points.

I just don't think they're there. One other stat I want to throw at you that's insane. They don't play a ton of man coverage, but when they do, they've been very good to the point where they've seen like roughly 30 aimed passes. went in against a man look. Yep. And their defense has picked off three of them.

So they're picking off like one in ten aim passes when they're playing man covered. It's been kind of crazy. That defense is four, seven interceptions already. Yeah. And as a defense, they're only allowing a 59% completion percentage. They're giving up some big plays because it's, I mean, it's 59% but they've given up a thousand passing yards.

But like you said, they're opportunistic. They have seven interceptions on the year already, which. is tied for the lead in the NFL. There, it's a negative 5% completion percentage over expectation. They're just a disruptive team. And, like, you saw it with them against Jalen Hertz. They just have those long, speedy linebackers that are kind of able to contain a player like Jalen Hertz a little bit.

Yeah, it's true. All right. Well, while I don't necessarily agree with you, I think you made good points. Even with my Jamal Agnew. Yeah, even with your Jamal Hagnail bias. I'm surprised you didn't drop Marvin Jones in there like 10 times.

Oh, I would never. That was maybe five years ago. Marvin Jones looks like a shell of himself. And he's looked like a shell of himself since last year. True. All right. My number eight, Steve, is the team I've been probably most critical of since this podcast started.

Oh, okay. Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah. And had the game not gone the way it did last week, I probably wouldn't have had them on this list, but they showed me they can make changes. And that change is throwing the ball deep. For the love scouts,

I was going to ask, I don't know what that change is because I feel like I saw the exact safety. They hit a deep ball to Higgins. They hit a deep ball to chase, and they hit a deep ball to Tyler Boyd. This is the way that offense is supposed to work. If they continue doing that, they will continue winning games.

And I know it's a big ass because the offensive line sucks. Point blank. It just does. I'm actually talking myself out of this, though, as I think about it. Because I'm looking at the box score, and I see Joe Mixer, 24 carries, 61 yards. So maybe nothing has actually changed. That's why I made the face I made when you said they've shown they can make some changes.

I'm like, I would love to hear where these changes are because I feel like I watched the exact same game as I watched every other week with Cincinnati. It's just now, like you said, they were able to push the ball deep, which is like what their whole offense was predicated on last year is that they were able to complete downfield passes, which does open up their offense in a way

that only their offense can really get opened up. Almost at will they could do it. They just have been reluctant, especially with Chase, for whatever reason, the first three games, they didn't throw the man any deep pulse. And then all of a sudden this game, you know, his aid out was pretty, pretty up there. But listen, I don't know, man, Zach Taylor, is this Joe Burroughs third year in the league? Yes, yes. Third? Okay.

So I don't know what point in Brady and Rogers' career. They just decided I don't need an offensive coordinator anymore and I'm calling the place. happened at some point is I don't think Burroughs probably there yet if it's only a third year but he needs to be Rogers that happened faster than Brady yeah I mean I'm not guys it's it's somewhat sarcasm I'm not saying that they don't have offensive coordinators I'm just saying if Brady doesn't like the play call I have no doubt he's in there changing it or checking out of stuff whatever he's got full command of the offense he runs what he wants to run and he'll tell his offensive coordinator what he wants to run I'm just saying Burrow needs to have more influence on this offense

because I feel like his mentality and his style doesn't equate to Joe Mixen running into a brick wall 25 times in a game again. Steve, I want them off my list. I don't even, Zach Taylor is such an abomination to coaching. I want them off my list. Come on. If they've fired Zach. This guy got hired with you with an offensive mind, by the way. Jeez, man.

Their defense, though. I can understand it. I mean, I can understand it. Their defense is coming to their own. I was critical of their defense quite a bit this year. And looking at the numbers now, they've performed very well. 57% completes your percentage against. 6.4 yards per attempt.

72.2 pass a rating. Like the defense looks pretty good. they've looked better for sure question for you are they in your top 10 no okay then i have officially kicking them out so just stop right there all right they're not in my top 10 anymore i'm swapping them for the dallas cowboys okay dallas was number 10 for me cool i like it i so cincinnati you're not in my top 10 power ranking the dallas cowboys are in they are number eight of my power rankings thanks a lot zach taylor yeah yeah so here we're go with Dallas. Star Power means a lot, and Micah Parsons is legit. CD Lamb is actually producing

on the outside now. I didn't think we'd see the day, but here we are. It's Cooper Rush. It's Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush gets the ball of CD Lamb. I think four of CD Lam's best seven games as a professional football player have come with Cooper Rush at quarterback. Man, that's crazy. So now they got Michael Gallup back. Noah Brown has established himself. He actually looks like a legitimate slot receiver in the NFL. Yeah. He's taken his mimicking of C.D. Lamb to the highest degree to the point where he's now producing.

Like, we wanted, like, everybody wanted C.D. Lamb to produce. Dalton Schultz is back. So offensively, they're stocked full of weapons. The O line has played better than we thought from a past protection standpoint. Tyler Smith has looked much better than I think we all anticipated. Yeah, he's had some rough reps for sure, but he does look better than we thought. Territ Steel all of a sudden decided he can play? I don't understand that.

He's been their best offensive linemen. The run game has not been great. They're having some issues with the front there. I do think Cooper Rush is doing enough. He's the first quarterback in NFL history, by the way, to win his first four starts. That's bonkers. Go Cooper. Cooper Rush.

Fire up chips. Fire up chips. My wife is a Chippewa graduate. Lansing Catholic Central High School. Lansing? Is that in Grand Rapids? No, it's in Lansing. It's in Lansing.

It's in Lansing. I know. They were trying to confuse everybody. I can't even form words right now. That's funny. It's in Lansing. There's no way. Yeah, I swear to God.

So, you know, do you ever, like, hear a word and then process something before you actually registered what the word is? Your mouth moves faster than your brain on that one. I assumed you were saying his high school because of where you grew up, Steve, which is on the west side of the state. So I made that assumption and uttered that assumption before I heard the word Lansing or my brain registered that was Lansing. So that's my bad. But anyways, Cooper Rush has been fantastic for, I mean, listen. He's needed to be. He's made himself some money.

Let's not kid ourselves. Because he's on this one year. He didn't even make the team. He didn't even make the 53. Now, granted, he technically made the team. He was always part of the plan. But they did cut him first to make another transaction. Because technically they didn't even keep a second quarterback on their 53.

Technically, yeah. Even though he was the plan. But still, when that one year deal expired, I expect him, he's not going to, you know, no one's going to give him a starting quarter. chance. I'm not saying that, but he's going to get one of the better backup quarterback contracts in the league, I would assume. I would imagine that something like a three-year, $18 million deal, something like that, something in that range. I think he's made that contract, but he's actually going to deserve a Chase Daniel contract. He's got more passing attempts in four games and probably

Daniel does his entire career, but I don't know if that's true, but he deserves it. Yeah. He's Daniel is just, I don't even know how, like, I think, I mean, he must be a good locker room presence and just like good as a value. You know, he's got blackmail on everybody in the league. Or that. But, you know, Cooper Rush isn't putting up insane numbers, but, you know, 7.2 yards per attempt, 95.9 pass rating. His completion percentage is only 60%, which, you know, leaves to be desired. But for a backup quarterback to have an 8.3, average depth of tar. You don't see that too often.

A lot of times when you see a backup quarterback coming to play, you see a lot of short, short area throws. Rarely do they push it down the field. That's not really the case with Cooper Rush. He was pushing the ball down the field a decent amount. And he only has a, I mean, again, his sample size is smaller, but he only has a 1% turnover-urvy-throw percentage. So, like, when he's not, he takes care of the ball in the sense that he's not

putting it into arms way. And he's still pushing the ball down the field a decent amount. Man, I, he's really impressed me. Anyways, this whole bit about Rush, the point is he's done enough now. Like, Steve, I buried them after DAC got her. You remember this? On this podcast, I buried them formally. I said they're done.

He's got them contending. And when Dat comes back, like, there's no reason they hit the eject button on the season. And there's no quarterback controversy there. Let me. No, there's a. Some people, I think some Dallas fans want there to be. But. And then on the other side of the ball, like, their defense is exciting.

They're fun to watch. I know coming into this year, they were, I mean, they were super turnover lucky last year. That's what led them to be one of the top, or that's what helped them be one of the top defenses in the NFL is that they were very turnover lucky. their defense produced more like a lot of points and they were opportunistic when they got the chance but this year not like now Trayvon Diggs looks better in coverage it's not this like it's not as big of a boom or bust potential with him of like it could either be a 35 yard reception or it could be an interception and yeah I think he's one of the best corners against um against deep throws in the NFL right now.

I think he's only given up like one reception for 20 yards. Like he's played very well. Micah Parsons is just continuing to evolve as a pass rusher. And just the rest of the, like just as a whole, the rest of the defense just looks really good and fast to the ball. Yeah, for sure. And they're just playing tighter cover. in general. Their safety number six, Donovan Wilson,

looks freaking fantastic. Yeah, they love walking him down in the box. Yeah, he's definitely taken that next step. He's elevated his game. He's a baller. What I love that they do, Steve, is they're not scared to put a smaller D-line on the field to get after the quarterback. And they have this look where they have Bring Parsons at edge, they have Dante Fowler at Edge, and then DeMarcus Lawrence on the inside. All three, of those guys can get after it and it is fun to watch. Yeah.

And Osa O'Digizua. Yeah. UCLA defensive tackle slash end from last season. This dude was a collegiate wrestler and he plays like a collegiate wrestler. Like he looks like he's fighting people when he's out on the field and he comes in in some packages sometimes and they get after it, man. I really like watching these guys. exciting

36% pressure rate 7.7% turnover worthy throw rate negative 5.5% completion percentage over expected Yep. They picked apart Washington

and made Washington look pretty listless as a whole only 777 passing yards against like that defense is just fast and they just cause issues for you

They just produced so much pressure, and Micah Parsons is a game breaker. Oh, I'm bearing the lead a little bit, too. Malik Hooker, one of their offices of additions. I was just about to touch on him. Playing deep safety in that scheme, I mean, he, like, you can't get past him. Yeah. He's not going to man up and play great coverage in man, but, dude, as a middle of the field safety guy or even a split safety look.

He is really good, and you are not beating him deep. And that's what he was at Ohio State, and that was what he was projected to be in the NFL. At Ohio State, that was like one of his best traits was that they would sit him in the middle of the field. It would be don't let anyone get behind you, and he wouldn't let anyone get behind him. And he faced some injuries.

He was starting to look that way a little bit in Indianapolis, and then, but again, the injury bug bit him. but now he looks exactly he looks like how I always hoped he would look in the NFL because of the way he played in Ohio State right I want some more ball production from him but the fact that he's not letting anything get behind him is enough for that defense to click and I think just giving him enough chances I think that'll come but he just like he is so he is very very good and very smart at the center playing center field deep safety he just doesn't let people like you said he just doesn't let people behind him yep and no like for travon digs to know that he has a guy like that behind him that helps travon digs i think a little bit too

for sure all right let's get this pot wrapped up steve we have two more go two more to go let's break it out number nine number nine i went Minnesota so did I oh no way I thought I thought for sure I was going to get like another Jacksonville-esque reaction. No, Minnesota, they've done, I mean, they've impressed me. I can't, I don't know how it's like they've done enough to win. I wouldn't like in, how do I word this? I don't know if it's like if it's quote unquote impressed me, but I like I just am happy with their ability to win games.

It's only through four games, but they've had two games where in the Detroit game and this most recent one against New Orleans where it came crunch time. Big time plays at big times. Exactly. And like sometimes that's all you need. I, Kurt Cousins is who he is. He always has been. He always will be.

He's exactly who he is. Just don't give him any more prime time games. And this team, this team can play well. But I don't know. It's just like, this is, this is the most, like, feel team I have in my, in the power, in, like, the power rankings and really the most field team in the NFL where I don't think that their defense is that great. And I don't think Kirk Cousins is that great.

But they're just, they just make plays. Make plays. I mean, the two, the two games. where they, when it came down to crunch time, they just made big play after big play. Plus, they beat the tar out of the number four team in my power rankings in the Green Bay Packers. So that's impressive enough for me. You know, I'm not sure it's sustainable necessarily. Yeah, I don't know how long they'll stay up here like this.

But for right now, at 3 and 1, and winning close games with one one ugly game against Philadelphia, Yeah. Yep. And really just, I mean, like, as far as defense, I mean, defensively and, I mean, more, not as much offensively, but like defensively, it was just like one half of football. Yep. And offensively, I mean, it's eight throws in a row to Darius Slay. But, you know, like, if you take away that first half of that Philly game, you know,

they held Philly in the second half. yeah we could be having a completely different conversation if it weren't for one half of football for sure with the biggest surprise to me on that team has been christian derisaw so far he's looked great at left tackle for them like really really good especially because they take a lot of true pass sets which is something he never did in college like legitimately i mean his last year at virginia tech the amount of true passets he had was like less than 50. So the fact that he's performing as well as he is in such a quick amount of time

since they drafted him is a testament to them in their development. He's been really impressive, though, and that's really helped his offense, because when they need those big plays, those big passing down moments that you just saw this weekend in London, they're getting them. And we know Justin Jefferson is special and he can beat anyone at will, but when you're giving your quarterback time to get the ball to your best offensive playmaker, that's a great combo. and you will routinely make big plays and big moments when that's the case,

unless you're on prime time, which is whatever. Which hopefully they don't have many more primetime games this year. Yeah. But I think hopefully that, I hope that this week was a little bit of an opening in the sense that, like, they're not going to let Justin Jefferson get shut down anymore because he was working against Marshawn Latimore this week, and he produced for the first time since week one, week two. week two and three he got stymied pretty hard.

Yep. And I hope that, I hope that this week and week one are more of what we see than, I hope there isn't as much variance because I think that he opens up that, he opens up that pass game in a way that nobody else really, other than Cooper Cup can, you know, do for a quarterback. Yes. But at least, I will say that like,

Justin Jefferson getting stymied a little bit, at least last week, and I think it started to help this week, is that we're starting to see the, we're starting to see the insertion of Adam Thielen a little bit more into the passing game. He was kind of nowhere to be seen in weeks one and two a little bit, and I think that we're starting to see him a little bit more. Their running game hasn't really gotten going all that much at all, and that still is a I still think that that's a strength of their team that can come and they're they're using Madison more than they had in previous years I think they're trying to keep

both their running backs fresh which I think is helpful well cook is also banged up right now but right the shoulder issue yeah he did he he left at the end of this week didn't he actually end of uh Detroit no is Detroit yeah that's right Detroit But still, Madison, I think, like, Madison's a solid back to come in. They're very, I think they're similar backs. Yeah. Your point in Thielen, I thought was a good one because he dominated the Detroit game. I know the box scores had six catches for 61 yards, but he drew, what, four pass interference penalties in that game?

At least. I mean, it was ridiculous. Also, I went back and watched that game. Jefferson was open a little bit more than his target counts. suggested. I think Kirk was kind of going away from him because Thieland was having so much success. Yeah. I do you think that was a purposeful adjustment they made this week is like, hey, it doesn't matter who's covering Jefferson. They're not covering Jefferson. So let's get him the ball more. He had 13 targets this week, which is a huge, huge improvement. I think,

I bet that the Detroit game was a little bit of an overcorrection from the Philly game in that we saw what happened as Kirk Cousin forced the ball to Justin Jefferson, he started turning the ball over. And I wonder if that was just like a one game overcorrection from Kirk Cousins in that he, he saw the like Detroit Lions double covering him. You know, Accrued was staying on him hard. They were shadowing over the top of the safety. I think I think that maybe it was just like an overcorrection of like, I'm just, I'm just not, if he's going to be like that, I'm just not even going to target him.

And this week was like a return to what it was supposed to be and that like Kirk Cousins got the Philly game out of his head and like what happened targeting him. And it was like, no, we do need to get him the ball because our offense is going to kind of go as he goes. Yep. True. Good points. Their defense still concerns me. Their passing defense still concerns me a little bit. Yeah, it's not very good. Like they have an old secondary. Old middle of the field. Yeah.

Like Harrison Smith, Eric Kendricks, Jordan, like Hicks is getting just bombed. Patrick Peterson is up and down. Yeah, he's held up okay. But I think teams are taking advantage of the middle of their defense for sure. Yeah. They need to improve there if they're going to stay on the list. But number 10, who did you have? It was Dallas for me.

Oh, Dallas. Okay. Okay. I had the Chargers. I had Chargers at 11. Okay, cool. So I don't necessarily want to spend too much time with the Chargers because I don't think they stay. I think they've lost too much. But Herbert keeps pulling rabbits out of his hat. He looks good.

Even hurt. He's looked good. I don't know. I mean, they beat a bad Houston team. this past week and he looked great in that game. But they're going to get a tougher match this week with the Browns. You should look ahead at their schedule. It's just not, it's not an easy schedule. They get the Broncos who, you know, Russell Wilson looks alive and the Seahawks.

And then they go through the whole division again and it's going to be tough for them. I just think that Herbert's played good enough to keep them on the list so far. And that's what Herbert brings to this office. and that's what we've all talked about in bringing to this offense. It's just we need to see the step of the entire team winning games. Yep. And like you said, they're already facing injuries because why wouldn't they be? And we'll see what they can maintain with, you know, a somewhat depleted roster.

Exactly. They did, they made a big change this week that I thought really helped them against Houston. and Houston doesn't have a great pass rusher or anything, but the Chargers didn't play Storm Norton for the entire game. Thank goodness. They played Salier, the rookie from Georgia, I believe, big dude. And he was a guard in camp for them and then played tackle this week. And he was fantastic, way better than anything Storm Norton's put on tape.

They roll with that. be a huge find for them while roshan slater you know rehabs it comes back hopefully for week one next year but anything they can do to keep storm norton off the field yeah is a win in their book for sure no for sure all right we're almost at the two hour mark steve i think i'm good we've talked every team on my list um and honorable mention yeah so do you have any any other final thoughts on this Nope. I think we covered it all. Sweet. Sweet. That's cool.

So that was our first ever power rankings list. I think I might tweet my top 10 and then you can do the same for the listeners to just kind of reference. And then we can check back in a few weeks and see kind of where everyone's at. I will say that building on this Detroit topic that we're going to do Friday, it might be cool to make this a reoccurring segment where we try to get, a beatwriter or something from a specific team to come in. Yeah. It walks specifically about how to fix that team. Yeah.

We won't always focus on bad teams. You know, we could, you know, hey, you know, the Vikings are really good, but their coverage sucks. How can they fix this? Yeah. Maybe that, maybe we could do something like that. So we'll continue with guests Friday, and I think we'll look at maybe having some of those types of guests on. I think that'd be fun. All right.

I like it. So let's see here. We'll see you guys in 48 hours, hopefully with a Lions-specific guest that's going to break down how to fix that defense. Sound good? Love it. All right, cool, guys. Thank you so much for listening. As always, you can find me on Twitter at BG Whitefield.

You can find Steve. At call me Steve-07. Boom. Yeah, please hit us with the follow if you don't already. We put out fun content. all the time that's not always heard on the podcast. You can follow along there. There's also going to be some awesome data tools coming out.

If you follow us on Twitter, you'll be up to speed on when all of that is available to you. Hopefully that will be soon. I think we're a few weeks out, but a lot of the data points we reference on the show, you will have access to that all at your fingertips. It's going to be one of the best. Now, it's going to be the best tool on the market. I'm confident in that. Absolutely.

Yep. So that is going to be very, very exciting. Anyways, thank you so much for listening. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. This is my co-host, Stephen Allorke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.