The Ringer NFL Show - Power Ranking the NFC Contenders After Week 7

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Sheil is joined by The Ringer’s own Steven Ruiz to analyze and debate the NFC teams that have positioned themselves for the most success going into the second half of the NFL season. (00:00) Power ranking the NFC contenders (2:48) Green Bay Packers  (8:14) Los Angeles Rams  (10:49) Detroit Lions  (13:00) Philadelphia Eagles  (18:47) Dallas Cowboys  (21:49) Seattle Seahawks (23:57) Tampa Bay Bucaneers  (25:24) San Francisco 49ers Great ideas start on Mac ⁠https://www.apple.com/mac/⁠ The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil Kapadia Guest: Steven Ruiz Producers: Chris Sutton and Jon Jones Social: Kiera Givens and Brian Waters Production Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Capadia. We are power ranking the NFC contenders today. We just watched the Lions, the Bucks, the Seahawks on Monday night, the doubleheader. Lions took care of business against Tampa. Mike Evans suffered a potential season-ending injury, it sounds like. And the Seahawks with a very nice win over the Houston Texan. So the question is, where do we stand with the contenders in the NFC?

To talk about it, we've got the ringers. Stephen Ruiz, we each ranked our top five contenders in the NFC, didn't tell each other beforehand. Ruiz surprised me with his number five team, and I think I can get on board with the team he picks. Let's see if you agree or not. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back and talk it through contenders in the NFC.

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details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states and 18 plus in D.C., Kentucky and Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helph.com. Call 1-88-7-8-8-7-9-77 or visit CCPpG.org slash chat in Connecticut. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show with Stephen Ruiz. We are power ranking the NFC contenders, Ruiz. You're the guest. So go ahead. Hit me one through five contenders in the NFC. I'll give you my five and then we'll talk about it. All right, I'm ready. Number one, I'm going with the Packers.

Okay. All right. Number two, Rams. Okay. Number three lions. All right. Number four Eagles. Okay.

And number five is where I'm going to get you, I think. I'm going with the Cowboys. You know what? Ruiz told me before we say, he said, I have a surprise for you. And so I was watching the Seahawks Texans game and I'm like this very boring. My mind is wandering. And I was like, I know who he's going to pick for five. All right.

So part of this is a little bit boring, Ruiz. Because I got Packers, Rams, Lions, Eagles. in that exact order for one through four. So let's start with the Packers. And I do want to get to the surprise there with the Cowboys for sure. But we both have the Packers in the top spot. Now, I watch the Packers, and I feel like they play with their food a little bit. I watch them and I'm not like, man, they're this juggernaut.

I'm like, they're a good team. I think there's a higher ceiling for them. They're four one and one. Only one lost team in the NFC. And then you look at every number. And it's like, Sheila, your eyes might be deceiving you because they are generally. up there in every offensive metric speaks to a team that's going to be there. They can rush the passer with Michael Parsons.

So do you have your eyes told you that the Packers are the best team in the NFC? No. Without it, I'm in the same spot as you. Like when I went into the process of planning this out, I did not expect the Packers to be number one. But when you look at the numbers, and I think it's the opposite of the conversation we were having last year with them, especially on the defensive side, where we were like, all right, the turnover thing, the regression is coming. And now it feels like the opposite.

Like you're going to get some positive regression. I think they've only forced three turnovers. And when you look at their stats, though, on early downs, like number one in points, are yards allowed per play at 4.6. Number two, an explosive play rate. Yeah. And then when you just go early downs,

number one in past success rate on rundowns, 25th on conversion down. So like third down, fourth down. And I think eventually, with Michael Parsons out there, half-le coordinating, I think you're going to see some positive regression there. And I think they can get in the top 10 by the end of this.

And if they, offensively, ceiling is what, top five for you? Absolutely. Yeah, right in their fourth and EPR per drive right now. So they could, yeah, they could finish. If they finished as the top offense in the NFL, that wouldn't shock me.

They're not there right now. My one concern with the offense is Matt LaFleur, which I think he's one of the best coaches in the NFL, but I do think he's afraid of what Jordan Love could do to their team, to their script. They are, I think they're eighth in terms of pass rate under expectation. And last year, they were down there as well. And that speaks to the playing with their food. I think if you let you let them cook a little bit. And I think they can blow out some of these teams.

I think they let the Brown, the Brown's game just is burned into my mind in terms of playing with your food, that sort of thing. They could have blown the Browns out by 20 points if they wanted to. But Matt LaFlor, I think he just wanted to stay ahead. And that was good enough for it. He doesn't want, it's, yeah, it's not like Mike McDonald and Sam Darnold level, but it's like, I don't want to be in a situation where after this game, I'm like, Jordan Love made some decision.

We turned the ball over and that cost us the game. I think he's coached like that for a while now. And last year, I thought, well, Jordan Love's got all these injuries. He's leaning on the run game. now they're throwing a little bit more, but yes, they still, it seems like a little flirting. This is how he wants to play with this specific quarterback. But man,

their offense, just any first an explosive play rate, fourth in EPA per drive. So you look at it all. And again, maybe it's a good thing for Packers fans that like it doesn't feel like they, it feels like there's still another level, yet they're still performing at a high rate. And I'm with you with the defense. It almost doesn't matter

where they rank like in any metric at the end of the season. Because when they get to the playoffs, you know, Micah Parsons, I think there was some talk like, eh, yeah, he's been kind of quiet. And then this last game, I mean, he was dominant. And now he leads the NFL in pressures, literally first, second and quick pressure.

So I think they just have the formula. They've got explosive offense, defense that limits explosive plays, pass rush, good coach, quarterback. We both like a lot. So, yeah, I think I feel good about the Packers being there in the ones. One more stat on their offense. And this was a big deal last year. I remember talking about on the pot all the time,

plain man coverage and the need for Jordan Love to start scrambling. His scramble rate against Mann last year, 1.6%. This year, 10.9%. We got to give a shout out to Deonti. Deonte. He was all over it, yes. He was the first one who was like, Jordan Love doesn't scramble.

I'm like, oh, he's right. Jordan Love doesn't scramble. But he does this year. And here are the results. Last year, mine is 0.12 EPA per dropback against man. This year, 0.3 EPA per dropback against man. They solved their biggest issue from last year in terms of offense and on defense, which was early down, run defense,

early down past defense. Yeah, no, they are there for sure, even if it feels like watching them. I mean, you watch that Cardinals game and you're like, are these two evenly matched teams? Like, what's going on here? And they've got Jacoby Brissette, but I think that just speaks to probably the ebbs and flows

of an NFL season. They're still four one and one. Again, every metric tells you they're a very good team. So we both have the Packers won. Now, these next two, I had a little trouble. Like, you could flip them, and I would be happy with that. Rams, we both have it two. Lions, we both have it three. Lions beat the bucks on Monday night here. A nice win. It felt like they could have flown them out even worse, you know, offensively. They stumbled a little bit. But I just looked at it and I was deciding and I'm like, neutral field this Sunday, who do I trust more? I'm like, I think I trust the Rams a little bit more. So why'd you go Rams over Lions? I went with the Rams.

I was so surprised by the Lions run game stats because it feels like their run game has been better than that. Maybe it's recency bias after watching them, after Jemir Gibbs ripped off a couple of most electric running back in the league right now. He reminds me of, like, Sequin. That game tonight, I was like, that reminds me of Seekwon last year where you're like, it's inevitable at some point in this game, he's going to do so.

And then when he does it, you're just like, for an NFL player to be moving at a different pace or like, gets to be like, he's more athletic, he's faster than everyone else on the field. That was one of the best performances of the year. Maybe I'm going too far, but I think he has a little more juice than even Seekwan had last year in the open field. Like, I think Seekwon could like break a tackle and make a guy miss and then go on. But like, yeah.

Okay. So the Rams are ninth in success rate in terms of running, which like their EPA is, I think, middle of the pack because the fumbles, especially in the Red Zone, the 49ers game. But if you can get that going, you're going to take the teeth out of the pass rush. and if you take the teeth out of the pass rush, that passing game with Nakua back, it's going to cook. Like, we saw, like,

Matthew Stafford is playing as well as any quarterback in the league except for Dak Prescott for me right now. Maybe Pat Mahomes I put up there after the last couple weeks. But when you have a quarterback like that, if he stays healthy, if his back is healthy in January, which I think Shaw McVeigh realizes,

I just got to get him to January. We talked about that at the end of the regular season last year. I don't know if there's a quarterback in the NFC that can go throw for throw with him. outside of Daxaca. The high-level throws for sure, it's the matter of, like you said, can he do it for a 17-game season

and in the playoffs? But they feel like a very complete team right now. Like you said, they can run the ball. We know Stafford kit. If they're behind or something, he can make high degree of difficulty throws. You have a coach who's been to the Super Bowl twice has won a Super Bowl before.

And then defensively, they're first an EPA per drive. Yes. When I was prepping for this, I'm like, wait, did I mess up something with the filters? I knew they were having a good season. I didn't realize it was that good. So even if you don't think their defense is going to stay at that level,

they're going to be able to rush the passer. I think Chris Shula has done, even last year when the stats weren't that good, I'm like, he is doing stuff that I'm like, all right, he's trying to maximize what they have here. So, yeah,

you have the veteran quarterback, veteran coach, if they can just keep Stafford. It's so funny. We spent so much time in the summer like, we all got scared. At least I did. Yeah, we all got scared off by the Rams.

It's like, if Stafford going to be. healthy while they were open to trading him. And now he's back there. And it's like, I don't know if there's not many better teams in the NFL right now. The concern with them is the quarterbacks. The cornerbacks on the outside. I know.

It hasn't been them yet, but maybe against a better competition. They're built like us. Like, they're not any taller than us. And like, we saw that in the Eagles game. It was an issue in the Eagles game when they were just like, oh, wait, we have AJ Brown who was a monster and we can just throw the ball up to him. But I don't know which NFC powers can really take advantage of that. The Packers aren't going to do it.

We talked about how their offense is kind of set up. Yeah. The Eagles are the one team that can do it. but that's like a week-to-week proposition with them. Who knows if they're going to try to do it. The Cowboys, they could probably do it. They could probably cook them. With pickens, yeah, C.D. Lamb.

The Lions aren't going to try to do it. So, like, that's a concern against, I think, the AFC teams, but I'm not sure about in the NFC playoffs. Okay. So we both trust the Rams a little bit more than the Lions. Lions, five and two, plus 64 point differential, second in the NFL. This is weird.

They have not played a game decided by 7. points are fewer. That's insane. So they got blown out twice and then they've blown teams out five times. They've had the fifth hardest schedule in the NFL. I was very impressed with, I made sure to claim Kelvin Shepard for the Normies. I didn't want the hipsters to be like he's our guy. And I think he's doing an awesome job. I mean, their whole secondary was out in this game Monday night and Troy Aikman. I mean, called it. Did you hear what he said? He said one of the best one of the best defensive performance. He says it's one of the best defensive performance. He says one of the best defensive performance. he's ever seen. I love when Akeme was just like, I'm going full. Like, I'm not couched.

Were you the one that brought up the Robert Woods thing? What he called him the best receiver? Robert Woods was the best receiver in the NFL. So, but it was a very impressive defensive performance. Playing with those backups, Salim McNeil comes back. So they're also a very complete team that I think is going to be there in the end. I just had them, you know, if I had to pick right now, I trust them a little bit less maybe than the top two teams. Yeah. And the impressive thing about the Monday night game was how much man coverage they played against a team that should have overmatched them. Like, they should have overpowered them.

I know Mike Evans ended up going out, but they had to, and Igbuka wasn't fully healthy. But to play man coverage when you're depleted like that, that's like an identity thing. And that's been the thing with them. Like, it doesn't matter who they lose coordinators. We saw it with the defense last year. They're going to play man coverage, which is like a high stress style of play. And it just works. I think in the playoffs, you have to be able to play tight man coverage.

And they've proven they can do that. Yeah, no doubt. We mentioned Gibbs. Like, it's just, I mean, he just feels like even when you're off. is stuck. It's just like, man, even I mean, as a pass catcher, he had like the 30-yarder on the first possession where it's just like, man, he's running

away from guys. And then, of course, he had the long run later. It felt like he could break a couple other ones, too. It's easy access stuff, too. Like, it's not like the Eagles had that offense line. We saw, like, the offense the line isn't run blocking as well this year. And, like, we see the effect on Seekwon. But if you could just throw a dump off

to Jemir Gibbs, he could take it 40 yards. And we saw that multiple times tonight. Yeah, incredible. All right. So we, I can't Wow, we both have the same top four here. Okay, four, we've both got the Eagles. Austin and I talked about the Eagles. On yesterday's episode, I talked about the Eagles for an hour on the Ringers-Filly special.

I was looking up, so where are you with the Eagles right now? Because you've always been like their talent is going to just kind of overpower a lot of teams is where you can. And that's the thing that just matters. Like, I don't care about any of the questions. Come January, when you have Jalen Carter in the middle, like, I don't care. about the edge rushers. I don't care how well they're playing. When you have that secondary, like the guys that they can match up with and to kind of take some players out of the game with Mitchell,

and the way they tackle, the way they limit yak. I think that's a big deal in NFC. I don't know about the AFC when you have these quarterbacks who can just like take over a game. In the NFC, you have these quarterbacks that are system-reliant and a lot of those systems rely on yak. So I think, and then Jaylon Hertz is going to show up a couple games in the playoffs. You just need them for two games in playoffs. We saw that last year. Like even if he has two stinkers or two quiet games like he had against the Rams, they can survive it. The question is, does the run game

come back by January? I would bet on it. Okay. I would bet on it. I'm not counting out, Stoutland. If the O line gets healthy, if they do more quarterback run stuff, when the stakes are a little bit higher, I think that's a big deal. They haven't really leaned into that. Now, there are some numbers that are like,

they're a little, the Eagles are a little fraudulent. The numbers aren't there. The numbers aren't good. They're five and two. Their point differential is a plus five. They're five and one in one square games. I mean, these are the things we always point out and are like, do not trust this team at all. They've been outgained in every game this season. So I still think it can kind of go either way with them. I mean, they are a Jekyll and High team. You don't know who's going to show up. They've had the second hardest schedule in the NFL. So that's something where you say, all right, you show in one score games. But if you're playing good

teams, you're going to probably play close games. So I'm not sure with them. Even defensively right now, I think they have a chance to figure it out. But they're, are one of those teams that have been very turnover reliant. I mean, they're not good against the run. Their pass rush isn't good. They have a question at second cornerback. They have a question at edge. Like, there's a lot of, there are a lot of questions with this team. So I'm with you. I think they have time to figure it out. They're talented. They've got this cushion in the NFC East where they're five and two. I still kind of think it could go either way for them, though. Yeah, I was going to ask, if we didn't set a number on this, we didn't say, all right, you need five teams and we just said

teams that can win the Super Bowl. Are they on your list? They are. Yeah, because I'm with your point. It's just like they're so talented that if there's just a scenario where they figure it out or just like you said, a playoff scenario where they get in and they're playing at home, they've done that before and they just have to get hot for a couple games. And we do so much hand-wringing about the coaching. Like, I feel like coaching is just overrated at this point for me. Like, I'm a talent guy. I'm just like, if you have the talent, like, they're NFL coaches at the end of the day.

They're going to figure something out that works. We saw that last year with Kellynne. Did you watch Nick Kelly coach's on Monday? All right. That's an exception. There is an exception. There's an exception. Sorry for the drive-by.

But yeah. He doesn't have talent either. Okay? Maybe, all right. So is the, maybe the coaching take is like there are, there's a group over here that really matter because they're really good. Yeah. There's a group over here that matter because they suck. But there's a larger group in the middle that we overrate that these guys are good, but they really just have good players.

And we're saying these guys are bad. I think I'm with you there. Yeah. Yeah, right? That's kind of what you're saying, I feel like, I don't think there's a meaningful difference between Zach Taylor and Nick Siriani. But I don't think there needs to be. Yeah, we could probably mean, yeah, maybe that's a show. We just the middle group of coaches where like, do they matter? There are three coaches that matter. Let's be honest. Okay. Sean McVeigh, Andy Reid, and Kyle Shanahan. Dan Campbell, I'll throw them in there. Okay. I'm trying to think off the top of my head whether I, all right, now I'm definitely forgetting something. Now I got to go to the standings.

No, I think you probably hit on, I'm looking at the NFC. LaFleur, I think that's right. Yeah, LaFleur, I think belongs on there. It gets in his own way, though. Yeah, you've soured on him a little bit. It's not that. It's a Shanahan thing where it's like he's obviously great, but like there's just something that you feel like is holding him back.

Okay. The need to impress his friends, I think. Yeah. You had a good call with that. Some of these guys are just... If I see another outside zone run from shotgun, I feel like that's like their fetish. That coaching, it was like, we just want to figure out how to run outside zone from shotgun.

And the first one to do it, wins. They win the group chat. First one to do it gets the heart reactions on the group chat. So does Shane Stuyken matter this year? Oh, 100%. He does. Sean Payton's on the list of coaches that matter. Yeah, but Bo Nix is his quarterback.

No, but just in general, I think he definitely matters. You don't think, all right, okay. Five years ago, maybe. I don't want to go too deep. This feels like a show, a separate episode we could do here. All right, let's take a break. And then we get to the fun conversation here, which is like, who's five? Because I have Seahawks.

You have Cowboys. We didn't mention Bucks. We didn't mention 49ers. Let's figure out who else on this list can actually get to the Super Bowl. This episode is brought to you by Apple. Before it was Ringer NFL, it was just an idea. I started with just a mic and a Mac and the need to discuss all things football. We thought, are we going to do it?

daily show? Are we going to change the logo? Who are the guests going to be? What are the topics going to be? Listen, we're still figuring it out. But no matter what you have an idea for, whether it's creating your own commentary on this week's games, starting a platform for your take on sports, or even founding your own league. Go for it. You just need to get started. Your great idea start on Mac. Find out more on apple.com slash Mac. All right, we're back on the ringer NFL show. All right, Cowboys was an inspired selection. They're 3, 3 and 1. Make the case.

What do you got? They have the best, the quarterback who's playing the best football in the league right now in Dak Prescott. They have an offense that's going to get healthier on the offensive line. Their running game is like fun to watch. It's dominant.

The receivers, I don't know who can match up with them. Is there a cornerback group in the league that can match up with them, especially the way Dak is playing? The way they compliment each other too is awesome. Exactly, yeah. And that's what they need. They needed that George Pickens' downfield vertical threat on the outside they got that.

He's been everything they wanted him to be. And then the other part of his defensive regression. There's going to be some defensive regress. They're not going to be the worst defense

for the rest of the year. We saw it last week already, kind of. We've seen it with the Cowboys. The one year where they had Mike Nolan was the defensive coordinator. Remember this? And they, like,

for the first month of the season, just like the worst defense we've ever seen. And then over the second half, average defense. Okay. So if they can get to like 20th and they get in a shootout

in the playoffs, they can beat any team in the NFC. I would love to strongly disagree with you. But as I was doing my prep, I'm like, they absolutely have a case. I mean, to your point,

Dak Prescott's playing better than any quarterback in the conference. Their offense, just in general. I mean, there are, here's the take. There's not that much different between the Cowboys and the Colts right now. I mean, there's a,

I'm right there with you. Okay, you can look at it. And offensively, the Colts have been better, but not by like a crazy, Colts are first in EPA per drive. Cowboys are second in EPA.

P.A per drive. Then I'm looking at defense. All right, well, which defense is better? Success rate is very similar. The cults are producing more turnovers on defense. Like, that's the biggest difference. And then there's little stuff on the margins. And we're talking about the cult, the culture of the one seed in the AFC and the Cowboys aren't getting a mention. But if your offense is that good, you always have a chance. And to your, they should try to, they should play a more volatile sort of. Even if this won't do it. He did a little bit of it last. week, right? They get a little more aggressive, but yes, they should not be playing like, all right, let's not. They should be trying to create turnovers, sacks, negative plays,

and then the offense can cook. Their offense has been incredible. It has. You know what they need? Michael Parsons. I've said it a million times. I put a moratorium on myself. I can't have that taken anymore. You should say it every podcast episode. When I looked up today that he's first in pressures in the entire NFL and I'm like, this could have been that this actually could It's an insane trade when you consider how their defense was going to operate where we're going to rush for and we're going to play soft zone. Like you need a pass rush to do that. And they said, no, we need Kenny Clark. They're going to make a crazy trade, though. I feel like Jerry keeps referencing this. You know, like, hey, well, we got those. But he does that. All right. But if maybe someone, like, maybe there's someone in the building like us saying, like, your offense is like, one of the best offenses you've had. And the NFC is kind of wide open. You have a chance this year. So I don't think you're crazy. with the Cowboys. I put Seahawks at five. Let's see where you're at with the Seahawks here. They got a nice win against the Texans where, again, that felt like, it felt like a miracle when the Texans completed a pass. And the Seahawks don't even have their whole defense healthy

right now. Even Worry looks like, I mean, he made a couple plays in that game that were incredible, their rookie. So I like their defense. We both trust Mike McDonald, one of the best defensive schemers in the NFL offense. I've spent a lot of time on this pod talking about Sam Darnold, where I've kind of warmed up to him this year. He had, you know, as you would say, a bozo play there in the end zone with the fumble. But I still think, I mean, JSN's open on every play. I don't know how, but he's open on every play.

So I have them in the mix at five. No, I'm right there with you. Like, I would have thought about taking, I could put them ahead of the Eagles. And I think if last year didn't happen, we both would have had them ahead of the Eagles. That might be true. The Eagles have the benefit of the doubt

because they figured it out last year. Yeah. Yeah. My one thing with them is I want to see them play in a negative game script. I think the last two weeks, they've really struggled on third down. And that's the one thing we just haven't seen yet. And that's the question mark with Sam Donald. My McDonald doesn't want to see that.

No, he doesn't want to see it. He's telling you with all his actions. That's the last thing he wants to say. But no offense gets to play on the front foot for the whole season. It never happens. There's going to be counters. And I don't think it's fair to question Kling Kubiak, but we haven't seen it yet. That's the only thing with him.

We just haven't seen it yet. And, I mean, with McDonald's, McDonald's, McDonald has told us exactly what kind of team he thinks he has and how he thinks he can win. So you're right. If that gets flipped and it's like you can't do that anymore, you got to be more aggressive offensively. What does he do? Does he feel it within a game that, all right, I'm going to change the way I play here. So we'll see, but there's no doubt.

They're a very good team. They can win in different ways and they've overachieve. No doubt about it. Now, box, make the case against the box because maybe if we're doing this before that Monday night game, I might have them in there. I'll be honest. have them in there. I think you were a little, even before that game started, you were expressing some doubt in the bucks. They lose that game against the Lions. They lose Mike Evans, it looks like,

for the season with that injury. Where are you with Tampa right now? I mean, they got a minus one point differential right now. Yeah. 17th in the NFL. Same with, same as the Arizona Cardinals to put that into perspective. They've had a lot of turnover luck in terms of like not getting punished for it. I think Baker Mayfield has fumbled four times. I don't think one of them has been recovered by the defense. He had one in this game. Yeah. He has seven dropped interceptions. He finally got, I think the Eagles got him the first time. He got an unlucky one, kind of this, against the, the, uh, do they play?

I already forgot. The lions. Yeah, the lines. It's late. That was a forgettable game. Yeah. Our bodies on. Like you guys, if you, if you watched both Monday night games, you know how we're feeling

right now. I mean, that was crazy. No, I, the Seahawks, the, they might as well have all played each other, to be honest with you. But, yeah, that's my one concern with them. And like the defense, like a Todd Bulls defense against a, good offensive coach. I just never trust them against a good off. Like a Sean McVey, I think Sean McVeigh can pick them apart. The way they play, the zone blitzing, that's like

the dream for the Shanahan McVeigh guys. Yeah. I think they're a tough team to play if they're healthy, but now with Evans out and I'm Buka didn't look 100% here and God wins out. And I think Baker looked a little, you know, maybe he was a little banged up at the end of that game. The run game hasn't been there. Run game hasn't been there at all. I mean, they're 28th in rushing success rate this season. So they, you know, Baker threw it what? 50 times in this game. So I think they're a, like, let's see what it looks like in December type team. But yeah, I think they've certainly taken a step back than maybe what people thought

a couple weeks ago here. 49ers, how do you feel about them? The injuries on defense is killing for me. I can't imagine a team that lost Warner and Bosa going on like a three-game run. I mean, the offense would have to be so good and the offense is still injured. And I don't think, like, it's impressive that they've sort of, you know, weather through the injuries and are five and two. but yeah, I don't see the ceiling for them

that I do with these other teams. No, no, I don't either. And here's my final thought on the Seahawks' Cowboys question. What do you trust more to happen? The Seahawks to get an average running game are the Cowboys to get to like a 20th ranked defense? You can use 20th ranked run game for Seattle.

I think it's pretty close, actually, when you mention it. I think the run game's hard to fix though. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Usually when a team can't run in the first half of the season, they can't run in second half. What would change, I guess, is the question. It's not like they're.

They're getting guys back. We know the scheme is the scheme. It's not like, they're going to be like, hey, let's run Sam Darnold or something like that. So you're probably right. Yeah, the Cowboys could have a month where it's like Tehran plan had three picks. Get a couple turnovers. Yeah, one of those. So I'm with you there.

I mean, if you're a Cowboys fan, you're, yeah, I don't know if you're just going then like, what if with Michael Parsons or if you're going, hey, we thought this team was going to suck and this was going to be a disaster of a season. And it's been, I mean, they score like 40 points every week. It's fun to watch. Yeah, they're fun to watch. there's no doubt about it. All right, we're not doing a hurry up today because we had a lot of teams to get to us. I just said, Ruiz, come in. That'll be the entire show. So thank you to Stephen Ruiz.

Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing John Jones on video production. Kiera Givens on social and additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Sheila Kapati. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the ring around NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helph.com. Call 1-888-7-8-9-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline, MA.org or call 800-32750-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-8-77-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-N-Y in New York.