Fantasy Football Daily - NFL First Read | NFL Power Rankings

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Welcome to First Read, your go-to podcast for the latest in NFL analysis and insights. Join hosts Brett Whitefield and Joe Marino for NEW NFL power rankings. Whether you're a fantasy football enthusiast, a die-hard fan, or just looking to stay informed on all things NFL, "First Read" has you covered. Tune in for expert opinions, detailed breakdowns, and engaging discussions every week. Don't miss out on the ultimate NFL podcast experience! Where to find us: http://twitter.com/BGWhitefield http://twitter.com/TheJoeMarino Find Our Podcasts Here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/podcasts#/ Use promo code - SCOREMORE for 10% off of your subscriptions Subscribe to FantasyPoints for FREE - https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ Read Fantasy Points Week 3 Market Report Here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/nfl/articles/2024/the-everything-report-week-3#/ FantasyPoints Website - https://www.fantasypoints.com NEW! Data Suite - https://data.fantasypoints.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FantasyPts Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts #fantasypoints #nfl #fantasyfootball #dynastyfantasyfootball #FantasyFootballAdvice #dynastypoints #dynasty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First read. We are your first read, the film and analytics podcast featuring Joe Marino of Lockdown and myself, Brett Whitefield, the C.O of Fantasy Points. This podcast is powered by the Fantasy Points Data Suite. Let's get after it. Whoa, Joe, week three coming off, the Buffalo bills, just slaughtering people on time time football, man. prayer whitefield i'm not going to live coming in with about two hours of sleep but boy i got a lot of juice i got a lot of energy in me saw one heck of a performance from the buffalo bills last night and uh what we're giving our initial power rankings here on this episode so i got a feel we'll get to them maybe pretty early in the episode yeah right first uh first power rankings episode of the season i feel like three weeks is a good enough sample to kind of marry you know what the expectations were coming in versus what we've seen here and come up with a list. But all I got to say about the

bills last night, man, is it's nice when your team has a no doubter, you know? Like you knew three minutes into that game. It was going to be a bloodbath. And then you just got to sit back. Kick you, kick your legs up. Take a few notes. Just enjoy the day. So I'm happy for you, man. Listen, I watched a lot of bad ball in my life. So I hear you on that maybe as an outsider. You can feel comfortable. But when I think the bills were up by three scores and Jacksonville had the ball with four minutes left in the second half, I'm sitting there thinking, ah, crap, they got the double dip opportunity. Here's the middle eight. You know what I mean? The bills could only be up three the next time they touched the ball in the third quarter. And then well, well, so here's a thing.

Bill's fan, I've learned this, you know, my friendship with you. And now I'm my friend, I'm friends with Scott D. Benedetto, who works here for the company in an analyst role talking to him yesterday. I've really, I never realized how much trauma Bill's fans have gone through. You guys live with a severe amount of PTSD. And I thought the Lions fan base was a wounded one, but the thing is the Lions were never good. They were just bad for 50 years. So that's why that's why the, you know, that fan base is kind of damaged. You guys have seen the peak, but never got to the very tippy top.

And obviously losing four straight Super Bowls, like it's caused a severe amount of harm. So I could see why, you know, you're sitting there sweating a double-dip opportunity when your team is literally baseball bat, snacking the other team in the face over and over and over. There was nothing Jacksonville could do right in that game. It was, it was unbelievable. We've seen it. We've seen a lot. We've seen a lot.

And especially when you have like a national audience and you know it's a showcase game and the world's watching and, you know, you want the team to look good. And you want them to validate the way you feel about them. You're just waiting to get disappointed. And it's, you know, you hate to make a current team pay for the sins of, you know, 20 years ago and players that haven't played on the team in 10 years. Like that's silly. But it's just, it's kind of just part of your DNA. And so, but that's always me to an extent where like, I've seen the bills at their best lose to bad football teams. It just happens.

We've seen the bills lose in 2021 to the Urban Meyer Jaguars 9 to 6. They lost to the Patriots last year. Last year they lost to the Patriots. You know what I mean? Like they lost to the Zach Wilson Jets in week one. You know what I mean? Like you've seen enough of that even with the current state of the team where until like you can really go on cruise control and you don't have to sweat the double dips and all that type of stuff. You don't you don't count your chickens before they hatch or whatever that's saying is.

Yeah. Well, the Bills are at three and O Joe and there's a few other three and O teams, but this is a good opportunity to jump into the power rankings. I think we're going to start at the top. We're going to go one through 10, right? I think that's the best way to do it. Yeah. All right.

Why don't you give me your first team and then we'll navigate from there? Because I want to see if you have some bias in there or not. My number one team in the NFL right now is the reigning two times Super Bowl champions, Kansas City Chiefs. They won the last two, three of the last five. Are they playing their best football right now? No. Let's be honest.

They could be staring at O and three. Lamar Jackson does some normal things in week one. They lose that game. They don't get some help from the reps in week two. They lose the bangles. And if the Falcons can get a yard on third and one and fourth and one, they got a chance to win that game. So I recognize they're not playing their best ball.

But Brett Whitefield, we're at the point with the chiefs where they will sleepwalk through parts of the season. It just doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. We saw this happen with the Patriots for years. and it's like, oh, well, they're not playing great. Oh, really? Who cares? They're three and oh, and they have championship pedigree. And so, no, I don't think the chiefs are playing the best football right now.

No way. But we know what this team is capable of. We know that they can flip switches. And I think some of the foundations of what they want to be as a team, you can see the pieces of that. And I think that's what matters the most. And along the way, they're stacking up wins against, I don't know, everybody in the world would have told you that the Ravens, Bengals and Falcons were playoff teams entering the season. So they're the best team until, I don't know, probably somebody beats him in the playoffs. Yeah, so I don't disagree with anything you just said. In the spirit of fun, I did not go with the Kansas City Chiefs because I'm considering

how guys are playing right now. Do I think the Chiefs maybe week 16, 17 are playing the best football in the league? Probably. I think they ramp it up. You mentioned the Patriots example. That's a perfect example. I'm going with the Buffalo Bills for right now. I think right now they are playing the best football in the NFL when you talk about

complimentary football, offense, defense, special teams. I really like what I see. This defense, in all offseason, Joe, you told me that it's the defense that matters. We got to get the defense right. Defense looks awesome to me. Really, really impressed by what I saw. I've taken in, obviously, all three of their games from like an analytical standpoint,

but I've also watched them casually just to get, you know, a vibe check there. This defense is just awesome. There's no other way to explain it. They're just awesome. I would say they're a top three defense in the NFL. And if you give Josh Allen a top three defense in the NFL through the season, they absolutely can compete with the Kansas City Chiefs. There's no doubt they can compete with Kansas City.

They beat them the last three years in the regular season. And you look at the last two playoff losses, come on, man. It was a three-point loss. They missed a field goal to tie it without six starters on defense last year. And then 13 seconds. You think the bills could have won that game? It's not like there's a chasm between these. two teams. The bills needed to go their way in the playoffs at some point, right? That's what needs to

happen. I get it, man. I respect the choice to put the bills at number one. I have them at number two. I'm not sure you can be intellectually honest and not have one and two some combination of Kansas City and Buffalo. Bills have outscored their opponents in the last 10 quarters, 102 to 31. They're romping. They're romping teams. And it's interesting to see how quickly this vision that the bills had for their operation come together. You know, they said goodbye to a lot of talent this offseason. And a lot of people didn't understand that, Brett Whitefield. But what I think people missed in the conversation was they didn't move on from

vintage Jordan Poirer and Micah Hyde. They didn't move on from vintage Trey White or Stefan Diggs. And when you can understand where the bills left those players while being mindful that this is year eight for Brayne. Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott. There's life cycles in the NFL. You can't keep everyone forever. It has to be some resets.

But when you have a system in place, not only for what you want to be as a team, but for player development, you just don't know the bills if you weren't aware that Christian Benford was ready to step in and be that guy. Right? You don't know the bills if you didn't know about Kalil Shakir and the type of receiver that he is and the efficiency that Josh

Allen has throwing him the football. You don't know what this offensive line has. has been brewing when they moved on from Mitch Morrison made the changes that they made up front. There's a system in place to develop players and have succession plans in place. And that's what happens when you're committed to a successful plan for eight years. That's the problem is people don't understand how to reconcile it because teams don't often get to this point. You don't see the same regime have this opportunity to build it up and then have like a mini reset within it because everyone's firing the coach after two years in three years, right? And so it's

It's a good thing. There's a long season, right? I get all that type of stuff. The bills are playing great. And really what the vision for what they've told you, this team was going to be all offseason with the everybody eats mentality on offense and a big play defense. They've been exactly that through three games. Khalil Shakir.

I can't help but love this guy, man. I've loved them since his college days. He just is so impressive every time he's on the field, the separation, the yards after catch. Dude, he's just, I don't know. He's buttery smooth to me. I love him. There's 14 targets, 14 catches so far to start this season. Just efficiency, right?

I think that's been something that Josh Allen's been trying to find is efficiency with how he runs the offense. And he's playing such mature quarterback right now, such mature quarterback where he's doing a great job of doing the smart right thing with the football, taking profits, avoiding negative plays, not chasing big plays, letting the game come to him and then sprinkle in the special Josh Allen stuff when necessary, like what you saw in the Dalton Kincaid touchdown last night. And so he's one of the things that I was fascinated to find out was what does Josh Allen look like in an offense where it's

not about throwing the ball to one guy 150 times? Is that change his approach? Does he just do a better job of playing the game and understanding coverage rotations and where the space is going to be and going to the open guy with the football, or, yeah, there's this guy over here that wears 14 that's going to have his. And maybe that doesn't allow you to play the game as pure as you want to. Through three games, it's hard to, it's hard to watch Josh Allen and feel like this isn't the right mix around him. Yeah. And the bills, I mean, the too high safety shell, this has been a thing for the bills that they've been dealing with for multiple years. and they've morphed into what they've become to be able to handle that.

And I think that's why you're seeing, you know, the bills have scored a lot of points. Over 30, 47 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think that's why they're ahead of the curve, despite a lot of new things around Josh Allen right now. It is funny. So you listen to guys like Tony Romo and Tom Brady, even Greg Olson last year, they wax poetically about how the league is set up to stop the Chiefs with the too high look.

Well, Josh Allen's been dealing with that the same amount of time Patrick Mahomes has. Joe Burrow as well. And Allen's adjusted, in my opinion, almost as good as Patrick Mahomes has. So I love this iteration of the offense. I think they are set up for success long term. And guess what? They're not even, like this is only week three. They're not even jelling yet.

Like Keon Coleman's still barely playing a meaningful role. Khalil Shakira, I think, is still going to get better. Dalton Kikade, we haven't seen that blowup game from him yet, right? So I think it's all coming. All right. You're three, sir. Okay. So can we just acknowledge that everything's weird after

this point, right? Like it was like, okay, am I going to put the Chiefs one or the Bills one, right? I think that's where things were normal. Obviously for both of us, right? We have those two teams is one and two. And then it's like, all right, well. I thought my top four was easy, but you do? I thought it was. Okay. For sure, my top three at least. All right, at number three, based on the way they're playing, the Minnesota Vikings. Okay. They're my, hold on, they're my five. So we're close. So I'm comfortable with my top five then. Well, big win, right, 34 to 7 win over Houston after beating the 49ers the week before. And this is, you want to talk about an operation that's not the full version of what they can be.

It's certainly Minnesota with Sam Darnold still relatively new for this team. They don't have Jordan Addison. They don't have T.J. Hawkinson. They're working in quite a bit of new pieces on defense, right? A lot of new pieces on defense. and, you know, they've given up six, 17, and seven points in three games. And I just continue to be impressed with Kevin O'Connell and what he's able to extrapolate out of his players, especially quarterbacks and tough situations.

And he's getting a lot out of San Darnold. Justin Jefferson's unbelievable, man. Like, I know that's not a hot take and nobody turns into this podcast to hear like soft takes like that. But come on. Like, have you ever seen a player at wide receiver? or maybe you have because Calvin Johnson, but like with that much gravitational pull

where if you just throw the ball near him, it just finds its way to his hands, but then also he gets wide open all the time too. Special player and the vision for what they want to be defensively with improved corners, pass rushes looking good, look like they made their right choice. How sweet was that for them to have Jonathan Granard go out there and have three sacks against Houston.

Daniel Hunter doesn't get a sack. Diggs leads Houston in receiving. congratulations on scoring seven points and losing by three touchdowns. Yeah, dude, the Vikings are good. I think they're a legitimately good football team. Brian Flores, Joe, he is the new Steve Spagnolo to me, where maybe didn't have the temperament to be a head coach, but this dude is going to be a pain in the rear for a long time as a defensive play caller.

I think he's the top dude in the league right now. Defensively? Defensively. And we always talk about how much coaching matters on the show. you got a great pro taller in Kevin O'Connell on offense and then you got flow on defense dial. Here's a thing. And I know you mentioned Gernard's three-sack game. When I watch them, they don't have dudes winning one-on-ones to get pressure right now.

It's all steamed up. Every single freaking bit of it is schemed up. Huge, huge performance by Flores in all three games to dial up that pressure, knowing when to dial it up, knowing how to disguise the pressure, knowing how to disguise the coverages. like he is a freaking master. And I think they can go toe to toe with anyone right now with the way that defense is playing. And I know Sam Darnold might scare you as their quarterback.

He's playing pretty good football right now. I think for Minnesota, I hear you on a florist, right? Like I understand that. I get it. There's a lot to be impressed with. I think their schedule is going to do them a lot of favors this year. Now, their next three games at Green Bay, Jets, Lions. Tells you a lot.

Yeah, that we'll find out a lot about Minnesota. soda. But the one as I mean, I watched for us for a long time, man. Of course, in the AFCEs for for for a long time. And he, he plays defense differently than everyone else. Right. It's either, dude, it's either send everyone or drop eight. And how they get there is what they have those, those amoeba fronts. Everybody's moving. You don't know who's coming, who's leaving. And a lot of times they'll put everyone mugged up on the line of scrimmage and then, you know, eight guys drop. It's, it's a very unique. But there is, and I don't know that the schedule is going to, going to expose it. But like there are times with that style of defense where you live and die by it.

And, and so like it's certainly working against Daniel Jones and this 49ers team that is completely out of sync. They're not going to be in my top 10. Spoiler alert. And then Houston, like you talked all all week about how this Vikings team defensively and offensively just kind of has the number for San Francisco. And then that gave me the confidence to think, well, if they can beat San Francisco, they can beat the carbon copy of, of, of, San Francisco and Houston. So I'm ready to kind of see what this looks like against some different operations. And I think we'll get a pretty good idea of that over the next three. But dude, like, then the schedule softens up. Rams, Colts, Jaguars, Titans, Bears, Cardinals. Like, I think they're

going to be okay. Yeah. And I'm fascinated with Minnesota. Very fascinated. And I'm just gaining more and more respect for KOC and the vision for this football team. Oh, nice. So yeah, I mentioned I left them at five. Main reason I have. have two teams ahead of them still is or two other teams i should say is just sam darnold like he's playing good football i don't know i can trust that long term with the sample we've gotten of him but we will see all right my third is the is another nfc north team joe and it's the green bay packers um when you first of all they just won two games pretty decisively with malik willis at quarterback say what you want about malik he's played awesome matt for or matt lafleur is i mean he is a a savon

play caller play designer joe they've they're installing i think the first game i counted nine plays in that install that i'd never seen the packers run before and in he's had malick wills for a month and he's got a whole new install for him he's fixed a bunch of his bad habits this game i think i counted three or four new plays on top of the nine from last week plus some more of the green bay staples in that playbook now obviously trust is building and it sounds like jordan lest probably going to come back this week. But the fact that they did what they did with Malik Willis just shows you how good this team is. I know they're only two and one. There's a bunch of undefeated teams. You know, I didn't list here ahead of that. I just don't, I don't think it matters.

I think they're playing insanely good football right now with a less than savory quarterback situation. And it just shows you how good the team is top the bottom. I've got Green Bay at four. So Kansas City, Buffalo, Minnesota Green Bay is my top four. And yeah, man, you got to be nothing but impressed with what Matt LaFleur has been able to get out of Malik Willis. And it's interesting backup quarterback, Kevin O'Connell and Sam Darnold, kind of like a backup quarterback. And you could trust that to like Miami and having Skyler Thompson in this system for three years. This is the first season for Sam Darnold and Malik Willis with those teams.

First look at what's Malik Willis, bro. Come on, man. We've been seeing record amounts of backup quarterbacks playing in the NFL over the last two. seasons. And I think that has been very revealing on these coaches' ability to adapt and adjust and make it work for that quarterback. And this is year three for Skyler Thompson with the Miami Dolphins. And structurally, they just asked them to go into Seattle on the road and just beat Tua. Come on, man. Like, this was always a calculated choice for Miami to roll with him as the backup quarterback. And they did so because it's year three in the system. And you have no adaptability. you're still going to go out there and run the ball well and then just ignore running the ball on third and shorts and relying on big plays down in the field.

Come on, man, with Skyler Thompson. And so I say all that to say that it makes me very impressed with Green Bay. And of course, the story being the offense, being able to run the ball like they have the last two weeks has been a big deal, especially against Tennessee, right, with Jeffrey Simmons, DeVondry Sweat, looking like a good, good formidable front for stopping the run, especially when you know Malik Willis is a quarterback. Green Bay took it to him. And then defensively, they've really kind of turned a corner the last couple of weeks. Week one, weird game, Brazil, Philly, weird game. But you got to like the direction, man. And I mean, Jordan Love coming back should do nothing but elevate what this team can be.

Yep. And I will say full disclosure, they have played a couple pumpkins two weeks in a row now since the Eagles game. Defense might look a little better because they played Will Levis and who they beat week two? Anthony Richardson. Richardson, yeah. And then same with the offense. Offense can look good against those teams, I guess. You really mentioned, like you're talking about the dolphins there with

Skylar Thompson, and I don't want to sidebar too much, but reading between the lines, are you not a, not a Mike McDaniel guy, Joe? I'm concerned about Mike McDaniel. And I question his maturity as a play caller and somebody who sequences plays. It's just very creative. There's no question, man. his run schemes are awesome. Yeah.

Way that they introduce gaps and mess up your run fits. It's special. Do it more. What are we doing? Like do it more. You're gashing. Two weeks ago, you're gashing the bills. They're giving you light boxes all game long. You're running the ball very effectively against Seattle.

But then in these high leverage moments, you're continuing to, I mean, dial up passes. And it's like, it's like he doesn't have any feel for game scripts. He feels like he's like if he's down, he's got to get it all in that moment. man they play they keep score the whole the whole game all 60 minutes they keep score and so i feel like for a team like miami that is as talented as they are i understand skyler thompson's not toa but to have that type of drop off to not be able to adjust to not be able to feel game scripts and and make goofy decisions and then operationally just false starts all the time procedure issues all the time play calls coming in late goofy timeouts it's like i don't feel like we've seen the growth necessary

for a guy that's now into his third season. And so, I mean, you've got to be a little bit concerned about what you committed to here in Miami, extending Chris Greer, extending Mike McDaniel, extending Tua, knowing that Tua was one play away from the thing that happened from everybody in the world questioning that choice. He gave you one healthy season out of his last six

right across his football career. Lo and behold, it takes a week two before he's trying to run over a defender, down three scores in the fourth quarter. It's very questionable. Not to mention you extended north of 30 Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey, just giving them a bunch of extra guaranteed money. Like you've got to be a little concerned about what you've committed to

and then also what you've not committed to, which is consistency running the football and then believing that your playmakers will help overcome your lack of investment in the offensive line because you just literally don't care about it. I'm, it's, it feels like bad process to me and a very concerning direction for a team that had hopes of winning the East for the first time in 100 years. They got the longest playoff wind drought in the NFL right now. And you go into this season.

I think Dolphins fans probably thought it was a good opportunity for those things to no longer be true about their team. And three weeks into the season, it feels like things are really getting away from you. Yeah. Did you know who Mike McDaniel reminds me of? Go ahead. Kyle Shanahan. Well, I'm shocked that you would say such a thing, Brett Whitefield. I mean, have they been just best friends?

for the last 20 years going through this football journey together it's crazy to me like so my take on shanahan has always been elite play designer yeah horrendous play caller and her horrendous is probably a bit strong bad situationally horrendous play caller situationally horrendous decision maker and i feel like like michael danaugh has all the same traits except it's like a little more amped up because he's not kyle shanahan so it's like oh man shanahan legit got benefit of the doubt for a while he was probably on the hot seat, what, four years ago in San Francisco and then... He should have been too, right? Like, how many times did he get a chance at picking a quarterback and it flopped?

Right. Jimmy G. Tray Lance. Come on, man. Like, people don't survive that. Very true. But he's been to what two Super Bowls, right? I mean... Well, yeah, now you can't argue with it.

And I'm crazy for my take, but I stand by it. I think he's a bad... Like, even just past... He just caused his team a game this past week. Dude, I'll say this too. If you want to find another parallel between the 49ers and the Dolphins. And again, this is Joe, and Brett being old school, whatever, throw tomatoes at us.

Do these teams have more riffs with players with like contracts and holding out and like all the time? And then tons of injuries all the time and like San Francisco, how many times are they going to get fine for like practice and fractions and stuff like that? Something's wrong. Something's wrong, man. That doesn't happen to the other teams. Yeah. But there's something to accountability and wanting to play hard for the people around you and fostering. culture that makes people want to be the best version of themselves, not necessarily coming there

to just get theirs. Hey, we want to be part of a good team, but I want, I want mine. You know, I want mine. This is about, you know what I mean? Like, did you feel like there's a lot of me mentality with both of those teams with their personnel? And so I think that's another person, kind of a characteristic that's true about both of those operations. Yeah, some of the players they've aligned with are definitely, you know, known as me first type players for sure. 100%. Tyree Kill wants his money, right? Tuahua wants his money. They're not practicing. A timing based off. are not practicing. Oh, okay, so you're going to give Tyreek into it. I'm Jalen Ramsey. Oh, my hamstring. Ooh, that's not, that's, that's going to hurt me, right? All of a sudden, that hamstring got

just fine after he was able to get his extension. Like how many, you got to see this stuff happening right before your eyes. Christian Wilkins, foundational piece of that operation. You want a dog? They don't have dogs. Christian Wilkins is a dog. Maybe you keep that guy. Christian Wilkins, the only Las Vegas Raider player playing hard in that blowout the other day. So it just shows you his mentality. Dolphins are missing that for sure. All right, that's enough Dolphins talk. They're not in either of our top 10, right? So we're just going to move on.

So my number four team here is another NFC North team. So I have three NFC North teams in my top five, and that's a Detroit Lions. I know the past game isn't quite where we want it to be, guys. I'm aware of that. I still think top to bottom, this roster is very, very talented. And the thing that really gave me confidence to leave them on the top five, despite some early season rust, is the defense. This is the best Lions defense I think I've seen since 2014. Aaron Glenn finally has the horses to play the style of defense he wants.

And I know they just lost Marcus Davenport. I don't think that's a huge loss. The corners, though, the coverage has been awesome. Terry and Arnold, you know, he's a little grabby at the top of the stem, right? But he's been lights out. Carlton Davis lights out. Brian Branch might not be a better safety right now in the league the way he's playing. Kirby Joseph has an interception in every game this season.

So top to bottom, this lion's offense is great. This lion's team is great. The offensive line is still amazing. The foundation of the run game came back this week. I'm just real bullish on the Lions being a top five team still. It does sad to me to have to put Green Bay on this list ahead of them and then have the Vikings right behind them because I was hoping that this would be a down year for both those teams. It is not, unfortunately.

But here we are. Three NFC North teams in Brett Whitefield's top five here. Yeah, me too. I got Detroit at five. Okay. I mean, you know what I different here. You knew what I thought of this team going into the season. And I mean, let's be honest, could very easily be three and all.

And I think that Rams win was tight and competitive. But, I mean, the Rams are competing, right? Like, they're under man right now. But they had their guys in week one for the. most part, right? Yeah. And so. Tucker started the game.

They didn't know. Right. So it started snowballing there, but I think that wins now in retrospect a little bit more impressive. Tampa, I thought they outplayed Tampa. I thought Jared Goff just had some very poor situational moments that gave Tampa some short fields and I'll be, didn't work out. And then I think like you mentioned defensively to show up like they did against Arizona

after Arizona had the big explosion and being able to win that football game. Right now, it's just, I think, like you mentioned, I know the Frank Ragnow thing's not what you want to hear, but the way that they can run the ball, their aggressiveness in terms of how they play. I like the defense. We just need Jared Gough to stabilize, right? I think that's just really what it comes down to.

And I feel comfortable with what that's going to look like. And I think they just, I think they need to find their rhythm a little bit more with their play call sequencing. I think leaning into more efficient play calls in situations where, you don't need a big play, I think would be helpful. And hopefully they learn some lessons along the way because I trust what this team can be. And I'm not going to overreact to that Tampa game. I think the direction, the talent, and the defense, like you said, really gives me a lot of confidence.

There were no third and two bombs this week, Joe. So that's a good thing, right, for the play calling sequence there. Jared Goff definitely looked more comfortable this week. He had the one bad interception where it was like this weird RPO and he was like trying to look off a linebacker on an RPO, which is just something you don't typically see, right? It's a quick game. All right's come out.

You don't have time to look off a guy. And he just threw it right to him. I'm not really sure what that was. I don't know if maybe it was a wide receiver error on that. We weren't in the huddle. We don't know. But that was the one moment where you're like, ooh, that was rough.

Other than that golf was dialed in. And they just leaned on the run game. The Tampa Bay game, Joe, was so frustrating in hindsight. They outgained the Buccaneers by 247 yards. Way better team. Yeah. Just situational blunders. Yeah.

Yeah. I remember saying to my dad, like, I don't, I wasn't ever worried at any point in that game they're going to lose because it's like, like, just watching each play individually, it seemed like they were dominating. And then at the end of the game, you're like, holy crap, they just lost that game. That doesn't make any sense. That was 100%. 100%.

They got to finish drives, right? I think this red zone offense, five of 13 in the red zone, that's, that stands out to me as a lot of meat left on the bone. Two for two for two this week, right? Yeah, it's a nice, nice, nice turn. Nice turn, yeah. All right, cool. We got our top five situated.

So you had lines five. Why don't you throw your six? Okay. This is where it gets really interesting, right? Yeah, it does. It gets very challenging because they're not necessarily teams that I fully believe in. But for me at number six, I do have Seattle, the Seahawks. They're three and oh.

And, I mean, you talk about playing pumpkins. I mean, Bo Nix in his debut at your place. And you have the Patriots in Week 2. and then the Skyler Thompson Dolphins in week three. Like, I get it. I think I saw, was there a stat that the Seahawks are the first ever team to hold three consecutive offenses under 150 passing yards? Okay, well, Bow Nix, Jacoby-Berset, and Skylar Thompson.

Congratulations. Here's your bouquet of flowers. But Seattle, I mean, we talked about Seattle multiple times throughout the offseason. You know that I'm kind of in on what's happening here. I like the defensive talent. I like Mike McDonald. I think that there is this Ryan Grubb offense and the person in place to kind of be what you think it's going to be based on what he showed us

throughout his time in college with Washington. There's a lot to be intrigued with here. I think they got to make sure their offensive line gets short up some way. We've had some injuries. That's going to be an important dynamic. But I put a lot in them being 3 and 0. And I'd like what the team, how it's constructed. And there's, I mean, I think we'll find out some things this week against Detroit.

So like I'm shaky on Seattle, but I don't want to overlook three and no. I think that matters a lot. Okay. Should I tell you where I have Seattle or should I just move on to my, my six? I'll, let's, I'll dive into Seattle with you. They are my nine team. Okay. Now, listen, you made a lot of good points.

What you just said to close your, your segment there is exactly how I feel. I'm a little shaky on Seattle, but three and no matters. That's why they're in my top 10. I don't feel like maybe in, in three, four, five, weeks. We're talking about them as a top 10 team, but I can't discredit them for what they've done already. It's been impressive. The Mike McDonald defense translating immediately with this team is actually really impressive. And I know they've played some pumpkins like you've already mentioned, but the pressure rate near 50% is awesome. The coverage schemes, the coverage disguises, all of the exotic

stuff they do at the line of scrimmage. It's all popping, man. They are tormenting quarterbacks right now. So feel really good about that. Offensively, it's a little shaky, me. I don't think the Ryan Grub offense has popped the way I was hoping. Seattle had the personnel to do this right out of the gate, too, with the three receivers they have, with some tight ends that are pretty good in space and Noah Fant. The running backs, too, I thought Kenneth Wall, and obviously Kenneth Walker's hurt right now, but, you know, Zach Charbonnet, like this, he's perfect for this kind of spread run scheme, spread power run scheme here. So I just was hoping the offense would be a little more like a little more gas to it you know it's been it's been okay

it hasn't been bad by any means um the jsn usage has been really weird to me i don't understand you know week one super low ada week two they're like oh cool this guy can get open deep let's throw them the ball then week three go they go back to the same and the offense kind of struggled a little bit in this game and i know it was kind of a blowout right um but still like is game script really steering you off of throwing the ball to your best player. Like it was only 17 to 3 at halftime. It's not like they were just murdering the other team. And just the offense couldn't sustain drives after halftime.

I thought that was a little concerning. But as you said, 3 and 0, you got to give them credit. I'm just not totally bought in yet, which is why they're still back at 9 for me. For their next five, Lions, 49ers, Falcons, Bills. We'll find out. Yeah, we'll find out. Might find out on Monday night football next week. Yeah.

is a part of the it's a double header at lion is lion's seahawks and and titans dolphins so we'll watch the first 45 minutes of titans dolphins we'll get to the lions of seahawks yeah and the sea ox has beat them their last two outings um last year and the year before and both of those games have been like 75 points scored oh boy last year was no sorry two years ago it was 48 to 51 boy it scores one of the highest scoring games in nfl history two years ago So there's a lot. What's funny is I think both teams are significantly better defensively than they've been. And so Vegas will have some crazy line on that game. Oh, they're going to get people to buy. That's what's going to happen. Yeah. Yeah.

And it's going to be a lower scoring game. But all right. Who is your six? Yeah. So I gave my six to Seattle. You said Seattle's your nine. So we need your six. This is where we talked pre-show about how hard it is to do this ranking because you're just

straight up. I have concerns about all these last five. and I struggle putting this team at six. They are 3 and 0, and that's the Pittsburgh Steelers, because I want to buy into Justin Fields, but I value quarterback play so much. It's hard for me to sit here with a straight face and say the Steelers are the six best team in the NFL.

But the defense has been that freaking good, and Justin Fields has done enough. You know, he's done just enough to get me to buy in a little bit. George Pickens is establishing himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL. Calvin Austin's coming on as a nice complimentary piece. Pat Friermouth looks reinvigorated. They have the robust run game with Arthur Smith. But for me, it's a defense. I just, I think the defense has done enough to get me to believe. I don't know. I do not know how Alex Highsmith is. That would matter to me if he's significantly injured. I don't know yet,

but Herbig, Herbeg ain't bad as. No, Herbing's not bad. I like that. Yeah, oh, yeah, they're better when they have them all, but I feel pretty good about what Herbig can be wotting. obviously Cam Hayward Keanu Benton, Larry on Jonjobie. That front's good, man. And Porter Jr's a stud on the back end. I like their defense a lot. They're for me number eight.

So they're a reluctant top 10 team. But like you said, man, 3 and 0. And it's Steelers football, right? It's been the since Ben Rathosberger became terrible, right? Like the last few years of his career, some of the hardest quarterbacking to watch. You know, there was a point in time where there was

is a very dynamic offense with with ben rothosberger but late stage ben rafflesberger into the last few years where they're still winning they mean not going on deep postseason runs but they're having they're coming out of these seasons with winning records you know they've been able to have what i call the stealer script which is they play really sound defense they run the ball effectively and they get some wins on special teams and it's it's a it's a tried and true recipe for winning game now it's game script dependent but teams keep falling into it right they do um And so the inevitability of Pittsburgh and Mike Tomlin, it cannot be overlooked. And I think the best thing for Justin Fields right now is through three games.

He has 75 passing attempts. I think that's a good thing, right? And he's completing 73% of his passes. He's playing his part, right? I think that's so important to not come in and feel like, hey, I'm Justin Fields. I was a first round pick. The team that I was just on, they traded a first round pick to get me. They sent me out of town for pretty much nothing.

replaced me, wanted to reset the money. You could see him wanting to go out and just really play and do more than he needs to. But the maturity to just play his part for what this team can be with this type of game script has been exciting. And I think the threat of the special plays that he can offers matters in this overall equation. But it's about the defense and make no mistake about it. And I think the offense will continue to get better.

And there's no way. There's no way you're thinking about playing Russell Wilson. If that's a thing, boy, boy, that'd be a tough pill to swallow. You got to roll with this right now until it, you know, we know what Russ is, man. He's a fundamentally flawed quarterback. He would hurt this operation. Yeah. He's not going to come in and do any special things.

He's going to hurt the offense. He's going to take negative plays. There's going to be no efficiency. We don't need to see it. We don't need to see it. Roll with fields. Yeah, that's how I wanted to end this, this Steelers talk was, if they, If they try to go with Russell Wilson at any point without seeing abject failure from Justin Fields,

I'm going to be beside myself. I'm not even a Justin Fields guy, Joe. I've been critical to do it. Even all through the draft process, I didn't get the hype on him. Chicago obviously did not make any good choices for him either. But man, like I see a team that's playing for him right now. Look at the energy in that huddle. Look in the energy on the sideline.

Like, I feel like it's his team. I don't know how they give it to Russ. It's Justin's team until it's not. I'll just say that. And dude, when it's not, you better be sure. sure that it's not because we know what Russ is, man. Yeah. Like you got to be sure that he can't play because you're just going to put

another guy in that can't play. Yeah, it's funny because they're flawed in similar ways. Field just gives you way more upside as an athlete. Right. I can move the chains of his legs at this point. Russ obviously used to be that guy, but he's no longer that guy. Nope. Okay.

Let's move on your seven. Okay. So I have Pittsburgh at eight. Seven. Seven is the Saints for me. Do I feel great about it? No. But they were outstanding for two weeks.

Again, Bryce Young Panthers, Dallas. I mean, you talk about soft football team. Dallas freaking Cowboys, man. That performance against Baltimore, that was like watching the Citadel play against Alabama. Lamar's 13 of 15, a few explosive plays run the ball with 45 times over six yards of pop in the national football league. When you're the home team, Dallas is soft, man. They've been soft for a number of years.

And they're constructed to be this big play defense. I know this is weird. I'm totally talking about the Saints. But I have to validate some things here. You would talk about wanting to be a big play defense where you have ball hawks and pass rushers? Well, what does it go back to, Brett Whitefield? You're old school. You know it.

You got to earn the right to rush the passer. Well, if you can't stop the run, teams are going to shove it down your throat and they're going to snatch your soul for four quarters like the Baltimore Ravens did. You can't play the type of defense that you're constructed to play. And so, yeah, I'm not in on Dallas. But Saints Molly Wopped them. And then this this Eagles game was real weird this, this past weekend. I'm disappointed that the Saints let it get away from them because I think Nick

Siriani pushed all the wrong buttons, but somehow, somehow was able to get the win. But I think their peaks have been really good this year for New Orleans. And I think defensively, they are very, very good. And I think offensively, they've shown us a lot more than, They're we expected. So I'm going to put a little respect on them right now, but I am concerned about how this ultimately unshakes. I want to add to your Dallas point,

even though we're not talking to. Well, the whole point was for us to kind of get into some of the things. So I didn't feel too bad sidebarting there. Yeah, so the right to rush the passer in that game against Baltimore, they had Baltimore in three third and longs the entire game. That's it. That's it. You didn't have the opportunity to go get Lamar Jackson because you were worried about

Derek Henry smashing your face or Lamar Jackson smashing your face because they haven't been able to stop the run in three years. So, um, yeah. All right. Here we go. Saints. I didn't put them on my top 10 and I think that was a mistake now that I'm looking at this. So I'm going to slide them in. I'm going to kick 10 out for it for the Saints. Oh, live on air here. Goodbye. Goodbye. Number 10. We'll be very curious to find out who they are. We'll let it play out. We'll see. Yeah, yeah. If I have them. Um, the Saints, you know, they're still doing a lot of things well. the Eagles game was super strange. I don't know how they lost that game, to be honest with you.

It's not like the Eagles came back and played good football to win that. I hate the Eagles. I hate the way they play. Yeah, oh, I hate it. Barkley is going to be an MVP candidate, by the way, the current trajectory with Jalen Hertz and the way it is, the way that offensive line is. Barkley had that 65-year-old touchdown where he wasn't touched.

Literally did not a single Saints defender got a fingertip on him. That's kind of crazy. I know that we're supposed to be talking saints and how good they are because they're, you know, this is the power ranking show. But I do think, I do think that was an anomaly. The Saints, I thought, bottled up Barclay relatively well. He had some big runs down the stretch, which you don't like to see in, you know, situationally. But the duo receivers the Saints have, the way Derek Carr is playing football, I just feel,

I feel good about the, I feel better about the Saints than I did the team I had number 10. So I'm just going to go ahead and put them 10. Okay. So I have the Saints at 7. You have them at 10. Do we have your seven yet? No. All right.

My seven is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Did they at least make your top 10? No. No. Okay. I could tell by the way you looked at that. Hey, I'm very, what you see is what you get. I don't hide anything.

So tell me, tell me why the bucks are a top 10 team. I struggle with this one because they just got beat by a team that was playing terribly in Denver. They got beat badly by them. And at their home stadium, the Bonax. Yep.

At their home stadium, they let Bownicks come in. And this game was made for Todd Bulls. Like, Knicks has struggled with the pressure looks, right? With what the Steelers do, with what Mike McDonald and the Seahawks do. And this just seemed like this was a Todd Bulls game. Like, cool, I'm going to dial up pressure. I'm just going to freak the dude out.

And he just let Bo Nix stand back there and deliver the ball from the pocket. He had 36 dropbacks, 70% completion rate. It just wasn't great. And still, like, a lot of short passes for Nix. I think his yards per attempt is only, what, just like five and a half, six, something like that. But man, it just, I feel like Tampa Bay is a good team. I've been saying it.

They're banged up right now. So this is why I'm giving them benefit of the doubt. They have a right tackle situation right now that is allowing teams to, I mean, Baker Mayfield's been sacked, what, seven times in back-to-back games? So like, I know that that right tackle injury is not long term. You know, our guy, his name is escaping me. What the, Luke, Guadeki. Goodacki, yes.

Goodacki's coming. back. I think that it's hard to say one guy affects your offense that much, but I really do think it's true. The guy they have playing right tackle right now is horrible. A turn or a traffic cone would be better in past pro than he, then Justin's skill. Yeah. He's, gosh, it's so bad. He's getting mollywapped. And so I think I'm giving them some benefit of the doubt because of that situation. They also were down two defensive tackles in this game, Vita Vaya and Elijah Cancy. And I think that allowed Denver to pop some big runs. They had like three explosives, I think, in this game, which really helped that offense.

So I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. I think the first two games plus the way the ended last season. Remember, I'm marrying expectations coming into the year versus what we've seen. I thought through the first two games, they played pretty good football. And I'm not going to throw it out just because of a few injuries that aren't long term. If those guys were long term, not on my top 10. Since they're short term injuries and those guys should be back even maybe this week, I feel a lot better about what the Tampa Bay Bucks got.

going on. I just remain kind of lukewarm on Tampa. I recognize the injuries, and I think all things consider maybe some impressive defense without such important players up front. And Zion McCollum, I think, has played a lot better than I anticipated that corner. Yeah. It's just, man, I don't know. They probably should have lost the Lions. If they're one and two, that the loss of the Lions, are we talking about them as a top 10 team? I don't think so. We were like, oh, congratulations. You beat Jaden Daniels in his first start, and you're, you know, the commander's defense really kind of stinks, especially their past coverage. And so you kind of put that lens on it to talk about it. So I'm, I'm kind of mindful of that. And offensively, I mean, under 225 yards the last two

weeks, I don't know. Can they really run the ball? I don't know, man. Definitely cannot run the ball, actually. Well, that's a concern, right? I mean, and I think Rashad White's one of those fake good players, just a volume stats guy. Like, I don't, I don't know, man. I don't think he's a real lead back. I think more Buck Irving that they can involve, the more dynamic that rushing offense can be I don't think Bucky Irving's a good runner either. Well, maybe they're just not a very well-constructed team to run the football. And I mean, you think you got to do it. I think you got to be able to do it in this NFL.

And yeah, I don't see it, man. That's fair. I'm a doubter. I'm a buck's doubter, I guess. Sorry. No, that's fair. That's fair. I knew full well, some of these would be muddy.

No, there's no question. I mean, we said it like really after the last five, you didn't feel great about it. Yep. All right. We have your eight, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yep. So I'm going to throw my eight. And I hate this.

I didn't want to put them on my top 10 because they've not played super well, especially this week. I felt like the wheels kind of fell off against the Minnesota Vikings. And that's the Houston, Texas. Yeah. They're my eight team. I don't know what to think about this team, Joe, because I think they're beatable. I think they have ways to exploit them.

Their offensive line, again, not playing great. CJ Stroud, when he's not on, it's kind of scary. Like, he's just throwing the ball to defenders, man. Like he had two, two picks in this game and he should have had more than that. It's been the story of his career. Right. I mean, should have had more picks, right? Nico Collins had like three targets going into the fourth quarter.

This game was right. The guy dominates. Felt like, hey, Stefan Diggs, right? We're going to get him going against his former team. Congratulations. Let the team in targets, receptions and yards. He scored seven points. He should have thrown the ball to Collins more.

Yep. And Tank. Right. There's another one. Tank had like two targets going to the fourth quarter. Yeah, they're not really getting him going. And he had that big, he had a chance for a big play last week in week two and wasn't able to corral that. So I still kind of figuring it out, right?

With Joe Mixon wasn't available for that game. But I'm with you on Houston. I don't know if you're done there, but I have them at number nine. And it was very reluctant. I'm like, oh, okay, I'll put him in there. And what their wins came against the Colts and the Bears. And dude, those were tight games. Those are one score games.

And the Colts receivers were literally running wide open the whole game. Richardson just could hit the broadside of a barn other than that 70 yarder. Right. That's been the story of Richardson, just no efficiency with how he plays the game. Oh, man. So yeah, your secondary is concerning, bro. Camarie Lasseter. I know I know you kind of liked him.

I thought he should have been a safety in the league. He's leaky at best. In fact, going into this game, Stingley, Lasseter, and Petrie, their three corners, didn't have a single forced and completion between the three of them. just giving up everything basically. Unreal. Well, I mean, you say that, but they've also given up 156 passing yards, 134 passing yards, 109 passing yards.

It's not like they're getting torched. And who were the quarterbacks they played? Right. No, I hear you, brother. And I'll tell you about, because Coltson Bears played each other this past week. I tried to watch a lot of that game. And watching Anthony Richardson and Caleb Williams, my overarching thought was I'm watching a couple of guys that need to learn how to play

the position, man. You know what I mean? Talented guys, for sure. But you want to talk about just not. playing the position, they're not. They were taking turns of like, hey, who can make a worse decision? Dude, it was a comical to watch. And then Caleb comes right out there and just does this.

He said, hold my beer. Yeah, yeah, hold my beer. I got you. We can't have you looking bad. Dude, it was insane. This is you're talking about writing a book on bad quarterback play. That was what that was. Yeah.

Also, they only gave up 181 passing yards this week because the game script dictated that. Vikings went in to just run the ball mode second half, bro. They would have. Which I think is kind of the concern with Houston is like their run defense wasn't good last year. True. And I don't know. And well, talk about a get right opportunity against Jacksonville, right? Like, trikes.

Then you get the bills. Big yikes. So another team we'll find out about that's a nice thing about the NFL. Over a long enough stretch, you find out. You know, you really. It's never fake. The paper tigers, they always, they always, they're exposed at some point. That's what's the nice thing about the abbreviated season, the 17 game.

Like NBA and 82, MLB and 162, you just, dude, there's so much. Could you imagine your team stinks. They're 20 games out of first place. There's 80 left to play. You know what I mean? Like, come on. Who likes baseball that much? Although, are you following the Detroit Tigers right now?

Not a chance. For some I've ever mentioned. Who they got? Miguel Cabreras is. He's still playing first baseball? Cabrari retired. Okay. The Detroit Tigers on August 1st were nine games below.

500. Joe, as of right now, they are in the playoffs. All right. Go tigers. They have the best record in MLB. And so they did the trade deadline thing where they sold some of their best players. Oh. And they still have the best record since the trade deadline in the, they're the Green Bay Packers. They're the 2023 Green Bay Packers. It's so weird. It's three and six trade Russell Douglas. Win a bunch of games. Yeah. They did that when Jaya Alexander was hurt too. And they had they had to back back back issues. That was, that was weird. anyways sorry uh random baseball side tangent i know we do have some baseball listeners uh for sure because i get met's dms all the times but anyways i'm i am i'm i'm a met's fan but the 2015

met's took they took my my entire soul what you are obsessed with two with two teams that just have not done you a lot of favor psychologically brother yeah it's like i i i remember watching that 2015 world series against the royals and the the met's had the lead in every game but i just knew that they were fundamentally flawed baseball team. They were going to blow it. And they did. And I remember watching them lose that World Series. And I thought to myself, I don't like baseball that much. I just don't.

It's not worth it. And so I've probably watched maybe 10 Mets games since then. And look, if the Mets go to the playoffs and they win the World Series, I will act like I've been the greatest Mets fan that's ever lived. But boy, I'm not going through the journey with them. I can't do it. All right. That's enough baseball talk.

This is a football show. Number nine for you, Joe. Houston. He said, all right, so we already did that. We had my nine, which was Seattle. And now let's, let's cap this baby off with your 10th. This is tough, man. There was a couple of teams that I was thinking about.

And there's certainly a lot of teams that I respect that just haven't played good enough football yet and getting wins. But for me, my number 10 team, let me pull up my notes here. I want to make sure I can do them justice here. I think you might be surprised by this one. My number 10 team is. the one and two Atlanta Falcons. Brett, why I feel I think I'm in?

I think I'm in. I think it was a tough draw in week one against Pittsburgh to have to play that defense with Kirk and like coming back. His first game felt underrepped with the operation. All right. You come back and against Philly, just the way that you got better throughout that game. And then I thought they played Kansas City extremely well.

They did. I mean, and so we knew there was a lot of new pieces to what was going to happen. here in Atlanta, but I like the trajectory. And I think they're going to start stacking some wins here. I like, I mean, I say, I like what Kirk can be for this NFL today. I like what Bijon could be. I think the two offensive line injuries, Dolman and McGarry, killed them against Kansas City. They couldn't get a yard there at the end. I just, I'm trying to think like, of the contenders, the jets were in the mix. I thought about Baltimore. You know what? I kind of buy in the most on

Atlanta like like based on what they've shown me and what I think they're going to be in five weeks I honestly felt the best about Atlanta interesting um I did not have them on my list but there are things to like I think the way Kirk from week one to two I don't I don't understand how that happened week one he legitimately looked like he was going to just be a sitting duck until he got hurt again he couldn't move he wouldn't he refused like he would rather just get hit than try to move off the spot on that Achilles and then week two he was out of the pocket They were running first play of the game, went under center and ran a felt intentional, right?

Yeah, felt intentional like, hey, I can do this. And then I felt like he looked even better against the city. We're moving around and that that de-lines not anything you want to trifle with. And he didn't ever look phased. He looked comfortable. I saw a zip on the ball. He was pushing it downfield. You know that he's got that gunslinger mentality, which is always funny because he doesn't

have the strongest arm in the world. But he looked like Kirk Cousins. I love the way they're using Darnell Mooney as well. And it just kind of goes to show you how dumpster of a franchise of Chicago Bears are. They tried to force him into like this outside boundary X receiver type role, obviously until DJ Moore got there. But it just like the way they're using him is so impressive. He is a space slot player.

They're using him. It reminds me of how the bills are using Khalil Shakir. It's like we're going to go high efficiency, a lot of crossing routes, give you chances to run away from defenders. Yeah. That's where he's strong, right? He's not going to be overly physical at the catch point.

You don't need to be doing that stuff with him. Get him in space. let them go win reps as a route runner. And I think, you know, as a compliment to Drake London and Kyle Pitts and Bejah, really nice mix there in offense. So I don't have them in my top 10. And again, in hindsight. And you always talk sensing to me, Joe.

That's why I love doing the show with you. Because like I'm looking at my top 10 right now. It's complete garbage. I hate it. After like the top five, I hate it. It's disgusting. I would move pieces around right now just after talking this out. One of my big talking points with Atlanta is where I think they're going to be.

This schedule, brother, looking good. Saints, Bucks at home, you're next to at Carolina, Seattle at your place at Tampa, Dallas, don't respect them. Saints, Broncos, Chargers out of the buy, Vikings, Raiders, Giants, commanders, Panthers. Come on, boy, there's wins there. There are wins to be had the rest of the way here for the Atlanta Falcons. They're not going to get them all, but they can win a lot of those games. It's especially interesting. You said they have Saints and Bucks, they're next two.

So like that could go that's a double-edged sword right there because they're divisional opponents. You drop one or two of them. You feel pretty bad about it. You win both of them. You're like, oh, they got a string to hold on that division. Your place, Atlanta starts four or five at home. That's crazy, right? That is crazy.

And then the end of the year, when they're on the road a lot, they don't have tough opponents. At Minnesota, at Raiders, at Giants. So they have three of their last five on the road, and those are the three road games with the Giants and Panthers at home. Come on. Yeah. That's. They're going to stack some wins here. They should.

Yeah, yeah. So they'll be back in the mix for that division, for sure. All right. So let's cover your top 10, just one through 10 real quick for the people listening if they just forgot, you know. One Kansas City, two, Buffalo, three Minnesota, four Green Bay, five, the Lions, six Seattle, seven Saints, eight Pittsburgh, nine, Houston, 10, Atlanta. Beautiful. Mine is not good. Buffalo bills one, Kansas City Chiefs, two, Green Bay, Bay,

Packers 3, Detroit lines 4, Minnesota Vikings 5, Pittsburgh Steelers 6, the Tampa Bay Buck 7, Texans at 8, Seahawks at 9, Saints at 10. I already hate it. So who was the team you bumped from 10? The team I bumped from 10 was the Jets. I bumped the Jets from 10 to fit Atlanta in. And the other team that I thought about to have a spot here in my top 10 was Baltimore. But Baltimore, I get a little bit nervous about their schedule. Are they going to beat the bills next week? No. Sunday night football?

I don't think they are. So they're going to be one and three? Yeah. Uphill battle from them the rest of the season is the unfortunate part for them. Well, now once they get past the bills, they should be in pretty good shape. But I don't know, man. They're moving the ball. They're moving the ball on offense.

There's no question. Just, I mean, even letting Dallas back into that game. Yeah. Man, like, I'm a little bit nervous. I agree. All right, Joe, I wanted to hit one more thing before we get out of here. It's dope. Jaden Daniels were coming.

I know we already hit the Bills game. Jaden Daniels coming off just a phenomenal clinic type show last night on Monday night football. And I just want to just do a check-in with these rookie quarterback, specifically juxtaposing what we're seeing from Jaden Daniels versus Caleb Williams. And it's almost, it's a little early to call it. But, you know, three games in it looks like for the second year in a row, the first overall pick was incorrect, you know. And with the Panthers passing on C.J.

Stroud for Bryce Young and then now the Chicago Bears passing on Jaden Daniels for Caleb Williams. Obviously I had J.J.J. McCarthy is my one. We won't get to see him until next year. So let's just focus on these two for now. Jaden Daniels Joe, coming into the week he was like, let me see

here, second in catchable ball rate. He was fourth in accurate throw rate, like top level accuracy. And last night he put on a clinic. Those numbers are going to go up. He might finish the week number one in all of those categories based on what I saw last night. Maybe Josh Allen holds on to the number one spot.

But bro, he looks awesome. And the thing that really sticks out to me is his maturity as a quarterback versus a guy like Caleb Williams. Like his ability to sit there in the pocket with good crispy mechanics, the footwork is impeccable, bro. And you look at Accur ball rate and you go, yeah, he's the repeatable throwing mechanics. He's not trying to make everything an off platform throw. He's taking what the defense gives him.

He's getting through his progressions. There were multiple plays last night where it's one, don't like it. Two, don't like it. Three. Delivered strike on the body, on the break. Awesome stuff from a rookie quarterback. And I know he had five years of college starting experience. So he's almost a vet in that regard.

And that's rare in today's NFL. I know Bo Nix also in a similar situation. But man, really impressed by everything I've seen from Daniels. Even the running stuff, Joe, like he's not. I thought he's going to come into the league. just rely on that to get by. It's like, oh, we need to play. I'm just going to go run. No, he's, he's taking it when it's there, and he's not when it's not.

He's just taking what the defense gives him. And then now the deep throw stuff is coming alive. Like last night, he hit a throw, did you see the throw to Terry McLaurin? The back, he got absolutely smoked too. Staring down the barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun just knew he was going to get whacked and just delivered an absolute dime, 30 plus yards from where he threw that ball in the back at the end zone for a touchdown. These are high level quarterbacking stuff he's doing. And I'm just so impressed by him. It's, it's unbelievable. Yeah, what a night. 21 of 23. That's 91% completion

percentage. His CPOE 20.8% are you kidding me? And then like you mentioned, throws down the field his ADOT last night. Was it over nine, right? Right. So it's impressive, especially when you think about you don't love the commander's O line. Who do they really have that's a proven weapon in the passing game outside of Terry McCloran. And this is a young player. And I think that they've done a very good job of blending the zone read stuff, quick game and tapping into the vertical elements. I think that they're doing a great job of getting the most out of Jaden Daniels.

And I mean, comfortably, the best rookie quarterback so far through three games, comfortably. And not even in the best situation, right? Like I think that's what's the most impressive to me. Yeah, that's such a great. great point. The offensive line is a mess. Cornelius Lucas is their starting left tackle Joe. And you got to give some credit to Cliff to a guy out thoroughly doubted.

And I did not necessarily love the pairing here. But his his willingness to dial up the quick game and make sure Jaden's comfortable and not taking hits is he didn't do that with Kyler Murray. Kyle Murray took a lot of hits. Some of that was self-induced. Yeah, Kyler likes to play the quarterback position like he's a Matador, right? And just get everyone close to him and take a play. Yeah. But. But man, it's, it's really special to see. I'm, I think I'm all in. Like, if I were to rank QB performances on the season,

I think he'd be in my top 10 right now. Jayden Daniels? Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I thought you, when you said top 10, I was like, wait, that might have been soft. Maybe he's been a little better. Sure, QB play across the league hasn't been very good.

Right. Yeah, not a super high bar here, man. That's a good point. But I feel really comfortable with where he's at. And things should only get better for him in Washington. It's a long season. You know, and he might have a rookie slump here, but I just, man, I really like it. And if they start to address offensive line this next offseason, like, you're going to really

feel good about it. Don't you love that, though? Like, when you know what you need to do, you get a year to spend with the guy, you're familiar with what they bring to the table and you learn how to build around them. You know, I mean, that's when good things can really happen. And Washington, so much turnover collectively with that operation. And I think they got a lot of work to do with the defense. I think their secondary is just so bad.

But I mean, you have a clear path. And I think a quarterback like Jane Daniels, and if he can be this guy, changes everything. Changes every. Like you want to talk about a commander's organization that was completely in the dumps, had to really change everything about foundationally of what they want to be. Like up to it, including their name. There's a lot to reinvent in Washington.

And you get a guy like this and Jane Daniels immediately changes everything. just like Houston, right? Like, I mean, say what you want about C.J. Stroud, based on where he's at in his career, he's playing great. And a player like that changes the trajectory of an organization. You're laughing about Houston and how they did business. And all of a sudden, you know, they are able to attract veteran talent that wants to go there. They were able to bring in some big names this offseason. Jane Daniels, if he can be this guy, that'll be a big part in changing everything with this Washington organization and good for commanders fans. They don't deserve what they've and lived through over the last 30 years.

Absolutely. And then we juxtapose this to Caleb Williams, who, I don't want to spend a lot of time here, but he's just, he's not playing the quarterback position the way it's meant to be played at all. It's, he's not seeing it. He's not taking, you know, he's not going one to two to three and then, and then delivering a strike. He's going one, maybe, and then pirouette out of the pocket, scramble around, do weird things and then throw a haymaker down to Roma Dunes.

Oh, I do need to mention. But did you, did you see Roma Dunes' dad this past week? using boy yeah sure did using a did gilil williams i love that two weeks into the season kaleb's getting called out by his his rookie star receiver's dad this is great but he's using ass to do it which makes it awesome so facebook's data our our average separation score metrics romeadune's obviously popping there because he is a good route runner and um yeah so his dad his father went to took to twitter with using the ass graphic and uh calling out kaleb william which is kind of funny But man, for Caleb, I mean, there's so much left to figure out for him and his career and nothing is definitive after three weeks.

But I just feel like the fact that everybody keeps saying he's playing like he was at USC is just very, very eye-opening to me. It feels like, like, I hate to say this. It feels a little bit like Zach Wilson, where you're like, oh, you know, Zach Wilson was able to do all this stuff at BYU. But oh, now he has to do the smart right thing with the football and play sound and read defenses and get the ball on. of his hands and not live and die by spinning around in circles and launching the ball down the field and that working. And this is who Caleb Williams has been. This is why both you and I had levels of concern. Now we recognize the talent and said, yeah, it's worth it's worth trying to figure it out. But, you know, there's some fundamental changes to the way he plays the game

that has to happen or else, I mean, it's not even variance for Caleb Williams. It's been terrible. It's been absolutely terrible. He's been one of the worst three quarterbacks in the NFL, and it's not close. Yeah. And so yeah, he's got to he's got to reinvent how he plays the game or else this is going to be a very, very bumpy path for him. You know, I don't want to be my own cheerleader, but you mentioned you invoked the name, Zach Wilson. Well, that was one of my comp for him. Johnny Menzel was the other one. It makes sense. Very similarly. And for those reasons, that's why I didn't want the bears to be the one to take him because Justin Fields was very similar in that regard. I think Caleb's a more talented version of Fields and Fields has flawed in some other

areas as well. But it just it was too similar. It's kind of like when the when the panthers took Bryce Young. It was like I there were a lot of things I liked about Bryce Young and I had a lot of concerns as well, but I didn't understand trading from nine to one to take him. You sit at where you're at and let him come to you, right? And if he's not there, oh well. Right. Oh, well, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You don't go get that guy though. If you're if you're trading up for someone, you need, you need that special ceiling. I didn't like the bears taking Caleb because it was just too similar to what they were already dealing with. And they couldn't figure that out. Why did they

have the confidence to say, well, we messed up Justin Fields. So why, like, what about Caleb Williams? I want to know, like, in the process, what about Caleb Williams made them feel like? Well, we screwed it up with this guy, but we can get it right with him. And you hear the excuses coming in for the offensive line. What? Like,

what? You, I mean, you've made choices. You decided to go bring in a Keenan Allen, and you had a chance to draft offensive line, and you picked Roma Dunesay. Like, But also how much is that scale, man? How long is Caleb holding on the ball? Yeah. He's not doing them any favors.

I think if you remove screens, his time to throw is like, is really long, super long. And they've ran a lot of screens. Right. Like very intentional, quick game. Yeah, that's concerning. All right, Joe, you were on fire today. We got to do more shows right after the bills win a prime time game

because you're like, you're amped up. You're like there, there were some epic monologues in there that I'm hoping Trey cuts up for us because he's, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble on the Twitter space. Just on fire. But all right, that's going to do it. Remember, folks, no matter what develops, we will always be your first read.

And for Kelly Williams will probably be his last week. And we are out.