The Ringer NFL Show - Week 2 NFL Power Rankings and QB Rankings | The Power Rankers

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Jason and Austin discuss how the NFL power rankings have shifted following Week 2. First, they discuss the team of the week, the Dolphins, and where they should be ranked after their comeback win over the Ravens (2:14). Then, Jason tells Austin which teams he is most wrong about in his rankings (9:35). Later, they pick a game of the week and a shame of the week heading into Week 3 (31:47). Finally, they are joined by Steven Ruiz to discuss some of the movement on this week’s QB rankings after some solid performances from some young players (43:25). Hosts: Jason Goff and Austin Gayle Guest: Steven Ruiz Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, my name is Kevin Clark. I'm the host of a new football podcast called Slow Newsday. I want to tell you about it. On Mondays, Lindsay Jones and I will recap the weekend in football that was, as well as look ahead to what's next. On Wednesday, the normal Slow Newsday, the thing you've been watching for years, current players, current coaches, current analysts talking about the football world. And on Friday, it's a wildcard.

Could be some college football. Could be more pro stuff. It's a video podcast so you can watch it on Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Follow on Spotify. It's Slow Newsday. Welcome in to the Ringer NFL show Tuesday, September 20th. And Gop, I have no other way to start this.

But this is the last time I'll ever be recording a freaking podcast in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am moving to downtown L.A., officially going to be working from the Ringer offices. And buddy, I've been here for five and a half years. The Midwest has not treated me well. The food is bad and the weather is somehow worse. I cannot wait to get out of this city. Well, I mean, Cincinnati is its own little, you know, entity in itself. but come on, man.

You could have Toledo was begging for you to come through, Columbus, Akron, you know. I know, I know the AG stylings. You're moving on up like the Jefferson's out here. But, you know, don't shit on the Midwest on your way out. Come on, man. We ain't all flyover cities out here. Shout out to Chicago. I had to.

I had to. Cincinnati in Chambles more ways than one. Not only am I leaving, but the Bengals, man, in a bad spot. Oh and two star. Before we get into that, what we're going to do here, my power rankings live on the ringer.com. I'm going to be ranking all 32 teams in the NFL every single week. So if you want to check out the full list, go to the ringer.com.

Check that out. What we're going to do on this show? I'm going to go through the team of the week. Nobody else than the Miami Dolphins. You're going to tell me where I'm terrible. What am I too high on? What am I too low on? Then we're going to rip in through the biggest mover on the week,

which actually isn't my team of the week. It's not the Miami Dolphins. We'll get to them later. Then we're going to look at the best game of the week, worst game of the week. And then we will bring in our quarterback guru, Stephen Ruiz, who led off this season, with Gino Freaking Smith below Tuatung Vailoa.

He's eating his just desserts now. Let's get to the team of the week here. The Miami Dolphins, buddy, go into the fourth quarter, trailing 21. You know, Mike McDaniel is calling a masterclass offensively, but two pretty ugly interceptions early on from Tuatunga by Lua. A kick return touchdown from Devin Duvernay really digs a big hole for the Miami Dolphins. That in previous years, the Miami Dolphins, specifically Tuatung Vailoa, does not rally out.

of. This is a quote from Mike McDaniel. He says, it's awesome to be critical with yourself, talking about Tuotung by Loeb. It is good. He has a high standard for himself. But after about the last play, and he went and played, took his responsibility seriously to his teammates. He said, hey, I'm going to lead this team confidently. I think it was a moment that he'll never forget that hopefully he can use

moving forward. He threw two bad picks and didn't collapse. For honestly, the first time in his career leads a 21-point comeback. Wins in regulation over 460 passing yards, six touchdowns on the day. The box score stats are better than how to have performed. That's fine.

But you have to admit, this is one of the best performances of his career and one of the big, big positives Miami Dolphins moving forward. Oh, for sure, man. This is the other thing. I like the way that they've won two different ways in two different weeks, right?

Defensively, what we talked about in the first week was, all right, look at this Dolphins defense. Of course, you got Waddle. Of course, you got Tyree Kill and you got Gisicki. But in the second week, they go out there and have to put up points, especially in the fourth quarter, like you mentioned in that comeback.

I like the fact that Mike McGillard, Daniel also is not just okay with this. He's, he's beat now. He's beat a couple of really good coaches, a couple of coaches that people respect and in Harbaugh and Belichick. And on top of it, on top of it, he's telling Mike Yosicki, if you can't block,

you can't play in my offense, right? Because now everybody's fighting for reps, like Chase Edmonds and everybody wants to be on the field with this offense right now. So I think the Miami Dolphins might be a little bit higher than you have them ranked right now at eight. I'm not, I'm not mad. if you start to creep into that top five, top six realm,

because we're talking about what they are, right? Not what they will be or not what we thought they would be coming into this season. And as you mentioned, Tuotanga Vailoa, six touchdowns is nothing to sneeze at, right? And whenever you get those crazy kind of numbers like the Ricky Waters game, we have five touchdowns rushing, you're like, all right, what had to happen for you to have damn near a perfect game individually? Well, he threw the ball accurately and with anticipation. And even in the underthroes that you mentioned in your notes,

Tyree Kill, first of all, there's only one or two quarterbacks that's not going to underthrow Tyree Kill if you got a go route. And that's Patrick Mahomes and that's Josh Allen. We knew to Otagavaya Loa had the, I don't say pop gun, you know, reputation, but his arm isn't the biggest. So he has to play with anticipation. He has to play with that accuracy. Listen, Steve Young, Drew Breeze, Joe Montana.

They're a Hall of Fame quarterbacks who didn't have huge arms, Troy Aitman, but they put it where they needed to be. And that's the task. Don't lose it. drive this thing as far as you possibly can and spray the ball to different receivers. On Waddle's touchdown, they were shading over to Tyree Kill. You're going to have one of those matchups damn near every single possession where you could take a shot if you're looking intermediate to deep.

So I like what the Dolphins is doing right now because they've shown me they can win two different ways in the first two weeks of the season. I absolutely butcher that Mike McDaniel quote did not give it service. But what he's essentially telling Tua after that game is he's finally having fun, right? He's finally playing confident. You know, he said in that post-game press conference, he said the absolute worst thing happened. He threw a pick and started pressing and threw another pick.

The Tua before goes into his shell. It's that quote from the replacements with Keanu Reeves where he falls into that quicksand and just starts to sink. And that's what we see from him. He instead really rallied, like he said, took the responsibility seriously to his teammates and, like, played with confidence. I thought it was the most confidence we've seen Tua,

Tunga Vailoa play with his entire career now. It's important that the caveat is. Jalen Waddle and Tyree Kill according to next-gen stats, average more than three yards of separation on the 22 targets that they had. Those kids were burning. The Ravens who had an injury battered, slow, young, secondary, like had no answers. Had no answers for Jalen, Waddle, and Tyree Kill. I think Michael Daniel deserves a lot of credit for how he's dialing up this offense and all that stuff. Make all the excuses you want for why Tua threw up four and 60 yards. You can't create excuses for how he looked and how confident he played specifically on third down. seven completions throwing past the sticks on third down alone in this game. Two more than any other game he's played in.

This is the second ranked offense in EPA per snap. Fifth in dropback pressure rate, the offensive line looks good. Toronto Armstead hasn't allowed a pressure on a true dropback yet. Sixth in EPA on clean dropbacks. This offense is deadly. That's Mike McDaniel. That's Jalen Waddle. That's Tyree Kill.

And finally, after playing terribly, awfully underperforming to start his career, finally to a tongue by lowell. Hey, shout out to the NFL for putting pressure on them after they learned that they were out here trying to tank games and the whole Brian Flores situation. And you won't convince me that this all season isn't somebody pressing the button on the Dolphins ownership group like, hey, by the way, you got to make this right. So go out there and get one of the best left tackles in all the football. Go out there and get Tyree Kill and put him around. I mean, we're talking about Tuotanga Vialoa.

Like we haven't seen him coming in terms of his pedigree. When he dropped down in Alabama, you know, Kyle Murray, you know, took that Heisman from him. but he was one of the best quarterbacks in college football. Of course, we'll get into Jalen Hertz, who, you know, he unseated. Like, he's had to play with premium competition and against premium competition, I should say, his entire career. Now, this is the filtration process. And on top of it, if you look at it, like the last couple of, like, it wasn't like the dolphins fell off the table. The dolphins were, you know, average to below average team at times the last couple of years.

And the clock started on him immediately. And then he hurt his hips. So we haven't seen this kind of rookie introduction or young quarterback introduction in a while where it's like, hey, you ain't got no time to prove yourself. It has to be now. And on top of it, the pressure that this offseason puts on them, hey, man, first two weeks, I can't,

I'm not the biggest to a Tonga Vialoa fan, but I don't see how you can look at his first two weeks and say he hasn't lived up to what they're demanding of him. Because in the end, if this thing doesn't, if Mike McDaniel and this offense doesn't roll throughout the season, if it isn't sustainable, we're going to be looking at the quarterback position. So until he falters or until he drops off to face to the earth or if he continues to play this way, we got to give Tuatunga Vaila a certain amount of credit

because there's a lot of quarterbacks who don't get rid of the football, who don't put it where it's supposed to be and who aren't accurate. So you got to give him credit for finding those guys and letting them work. Last thought on the Dolphins, and then we'll bring in Stephen Ruiz later to talk to some Tua. He's been a haterer of Tua Tuna Vaila lately. Mike McDaniel has proven through two weeks. He's a quarterback elevator. really putting him in a position to succeed.

Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill and Cedric Wilson and Toronto Armstead. Those players, those upgrades are quarterback elevators. But Tua Tua Tuaua, in this game specifically, did not answer any criticisms. It's just the first time we've seen him not suck. You know, it's the first time we've seen him really pushed the ball downfield. It's the first time we've seen him play aggressively, play with confidence, and that matters. Man, it's a small game samples. It's one game.

He's still going to have a baby arm. That first interception was overconfidence in a comeback rather that he just can't hit with that arm strength. But to do this and to get that, like McDaniel said, to get that under your belt, hopefully it's something he doesn't forget. Hopefully he can use it, move it forward. All right, who am I too high on, too low on? Let's move off the team of the week. We both love the dolphins this week.

They moved up from 13 to 8 in my rankings this week, not all the way up to 7, not all the way up to 6. But my top 10 right now is Bill's, Chiefs, Bucks, Chargers, Packers. Then I have Ravens, Eagles, Dolphins, Rams, bangles. Am I too high on one of those teams inside that top 10? Ah, that top 10. I'm looking at it right now. that the bucks and the Packers. The NFC is a hodgepodge right now. You're trying to figure out

who's what a lot of young teams and one of your two lows we'll get into later, but a lot of young teams are bubbling up right now. The quarterback position is probably the only thing that's keeping them from being in that top five, top six. I think the quarterback position is the only thing that's keeping the bucks and the Packers inside of that top five. And especially when you talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they got the best defense damn near in the NFL right now from my eyes in the first couple of weeks that I've seen. Offensively, though, this thing, if you're going to take it back to early Tom Brady days in New England when Antonio Harris and them boys was getting the rock 20 times and, you know,

Corey Dillon was around. Like, if Leonard Fournett is going to be counted on to tote the rock as much as I think he has to until they figure out whatever Tom Brady's head slash health slash arm is and the offensive line issues that they have, I think right now, I think the bucks are a little bit high and the Packers. Watching that game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night football, the Packers were right for the taking. And they will be, I think, until about week five, six or seven when they get their

wide receiver room straightened out, whether it be Alan Lazard being counted on more now that he's healthy or Christian Watson being better than he's been in the first two games. I haven't seen a start to a rookie season like this for a wide receiver in a minute, right? And this is back when wide receivers were, oh, do you draft him in the first round? That was like 10, 12, 15 years ago. Now, you can mess around and get great wide receivers or sustainable entities at that position in the first two or three rounds. I don't like what I've seen out of that offensive line,

especially with David Bactiari, you know, not being there. Elton Jenkins comes back a little bit early. That defense, that defense is a bunch of dogs on the Jaya Alexander, Rishon Gary, as a dude that they can count on now. And you've lost one of the Smith brothers, but you still have Preston Smith. And Kenny Clark was just ragdolling the interior of the offensive line that I expected him to do. But I don't know if that Packers thing right now, I can't say that that's one of the top five teams in the NFL.

So I got the bucks and the Packers being a little bit high on your list right now, only because I'm scared of what's happening with Tom Brady off the field and on the field. I'm just being real with you, man. Like, we all know. We've heard these players post-retirement or we hear them when they sit down for these these long-ass interviews, long form. It's like, hey, the worst season I ever had is when home wasn't right. Well, if home ain't right and you're getting Wednesdays off now, like, what if you lose

two or three games in a row and you got people around that facility? Like, wait a minute, the dude gets to get Wednesdays off because home ain't right. So there's a lot that could take down a football player. I think a lot less than home being right does. And on top of it, seven, eight years ago we've been talking about Tom Brady being done. So at what point does father time kind of coming to play here? So I think the bucks and the packers are a little bit high. And I don't think you're off.

I think having the bucks and packers that high, like you said, is just because I have so much faith in Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers, two quarterbacks that right now rank middle of the pack in EPA per dropback. And despite having top 10 offensive lines in terms of pressures allowed or pressure rate allowed, they're getting the ball out quickly. They're throwing it to these guys, but they're not having a lot of success. The offense is not efficient. Leonard-Fornet, in week two, average negative yards before first contact.

Like the offensive line is not getting pushed in Tampa Bay. Offensively for Green Bay, they don't have a receiver that's clear cut above the fold stepping up in DeBonte Adams shoes. It's AJ Dillon. It's Aaron Jones. Those are the players that are having success for Green Bay. And defensively, the Bucks look insane. And I think that's a big reason why they'll probably consistently be in the top five, top eight, maybe even despite some losses down the stretch. For Green Bay, this defense has struggled. Defense struggled against Minnesota, couldn't pass off Justin Jefferson in zone coverages. And when you look at this game against Chicago, couldn't really stop the run. And they stayed in nickel a lot. I think a lot of people have wrote about and talked about how much they want to stay. Dan Nickle and how much they're struggling to go against the run because of that, specifically against Chicago.

So there are flaws with the Bucs and flaws with the Packers so much that they could be sliding down these rankings. Fortunately for us, and we'll probably get to this a little bit later, but maybe we can talk about now, these teams play each other this week. Packers go to Tampa Bay this week. I think that line is set right now at two and a half. The Bucks favored by two and a half over Green Bay. That I think is going to be must watch for Sunday.

I think to see what Green Bay can do without Devante Adams with legitimate, legitimate weapon concerns against arguably the best defense in the NFL behind the Buffalo Bills. And the Buffalo Bills probably have the top unit right now. And then for Tom Brady and the Tampa Buccaneers, against a Green Bay Packers defense that has shown weakness through two weeks,

can they finally find it? No, you go back and watch that Buck Saints game. It was disastrous. Early down efficiency was in the dumps. Tom Brady was getting hit, constantly yelling at his teammates, constantly. There is a lot of frustration for Brady and Rogers right now. So I don't have, like, I don't have significant, significant arguments for why they should stay in the top five.

I think you could argue that the Ravens are better. You could argue that the dolphins are better, the Eagles, these teams with younger quarterbacks that are having more success early on. So much of me, I think, is banking on my priors, banking on like Aaron Rogers is still in Rogers. Tom Brady is still Tom Brady, regardless of how thin his cheeks look in every single press conference and what this guy's going through off the field. I think both these quarterbacks are still really talented and over time over the course of the season, it will play out that both these teams, I think are playoff teams. Will they have home playoff games?

We'll see. Can they be consistent enough on both sides of all to do that? We will see. What about too low? Are there teams that have too low on in these rankings here? It goes through the bottom of the list. I think we talked about one of them already, the Dolphins. I think what I've seen out of them the first couple of weeks went in different ways in both

weeks. I think they should be elevated a little bit. You got them at number eight. And I'm going to say it. I think the best team. Listen, lock me up, throw away the key. prisoner of the moment is here. The Philadelphia Eagles, I think, should be in that top five.

And it's only because I didn't believe in Nick Siriani. And I'm slowly but surely, I'm becoming a believer. And not just a believer in what he's doing offensively and asking Jalen Hurst just to only be what he can be. Like there isn't a whole lot of complication to the route concepts. There isn't, hey, you got AJ Brown, you got Devante Smith, you got a couple of tight ends. You got a running back. You can hand it off in.

Take care of football and be yourself. Like that run, that touchdown run last night in the Monday night football game against the Minnesota Vikings. Those are like, those are the plays that Jalen Hertz is made in college at two different stops, a big time competition. And now getting more comfortable making those kind of plays on the NFL level. Like he, the most impressive thing, or one of the most impressive things I've seen in week two was the drive that started at the five that ended in a field goal to end the

first half. And it was a minute and 10 seconds and a couple of timeouts. I mean, you're handing the football to a guy that people have questions in about in Jalen Hertz and can he throw the football. Can he lead an offense? Well, in score and situational football type of situations, he does what he has to do. And he's done it the first couple of weeks. And I'm the one that thinks the Minnesota Vikings are the best team, I should say. Maybe not the best defense. Maybe the best defense. Maybe the best team in the NFC north. So he did that against that team. I think it was

a coming out party for Jalen Hertz and that Philadelphia Eagles team. I'm all in with Nick Siriani until proven otherwise, especially with some of the decisions that these other coaches are making out here looking at shooting Nathaniel Hacker. We'll talk about you all pretty soon. But I got the

Eagles a little bit higher than number seven. I might put them ahead of the Green Bay Packers on your list here. I think they're right there at the top of the NFC after a couple of weeks of football. What's really difficult for me is when I was putting together the top 10 of this list, again, it's Bill's, Chiefs, Bucks, Chargers, Packers, in that order. Looking at quarterbacks there, it's Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady,

Justin Herbert, and Aaron Rogers. We're going to have Steve Ruiz. I've said it three times now later on the show. Those are probably his top five quarterbacks in the NFL right now, easily. Then you have Lamar Jackson at 6 with the Baltimore Ravens, and then it's Jalen Hurts and Tuatts and Tuat Tungo by Loa, the Eagles and Dolphins in that order. I'm just not ready. as good as Hertz has looked.

You know, top three in EPA per dropback so far this year, as good as Tua has looked. I'm not ready to put Hertz and Tua over guys like Jackson, Brady, and Rogers. Let's see them go toe-to-toe. And I know the Tua Tewton by Lowe just went to toe-toe with Lamar Jackson. They were not supposed to win that game. They came back from 21 pints down. That was still a really, really tight game between two excellent quarterbacks. I am not ready with the sample size of good play we have, which I think is important.

The sample size of good play that we have for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Mime Dolphins to put essentially Jalen Hertz into over guys like Jackson, Mahomes, Rogers, Brady. As bad as the Bucks' offenses looked, as bad as the Packers' defenses looked, as bad as the Packers' receivers are, I still think the quarterback is so important. I still think that those teams right now are above them. Going to the bottom of the barrel here, are there any teams at the bottom of the barrel? I put your Bears at 32, Jason. I put your Bears below the freaking Jets.

Do you have gripe? Do you have concern? No, I don't. I think the Bears are one of the Five Wars teams in the NFL, and I think they'll kind of be around this position throughout. the year. The Justin Fields, it's a referendum on Justin Fields every week. And in this week, they, like you mentioned, they went up against a lot of nickel front. They went up against a lot of five DBs, a lot of, and the Green Bay Packers, they decided

that you can run the football on us at some point. You're going to have to throw the ball and they never threw the ball. This is now 28 throws in the first two weeks of an NFL season for the foundational piece, the future of your franchise. Luke Getsy, I think in quarters, has forgotten what he did in the preseason so well when it was vanilla and everything was, you know, out there is 7-on-7 passing camps pretty much.

I think Justin Fields also told him on to the ball too long. I think Justin Fields and Joe Burrow and a lot of these guys, these younger quarterbacks that we've seen coming into the league, when you can stock up on wide receiver at that, you know, because of recruiting and you can have four or five pros, future pros in a room. Yeah, it's a little different when you get to the next level. And one, you either don't have those options because you're Justin Fields and the Ryan

Poles of the world doesn't think that you need any wide receivers to throw two or two. You're going up against the best defenses in the world and the best corners and the best safeties and the best schemers in the world. So those windows get a little short. The reason why Joe Burrow, after Cincinnati spent all that damn money on the offensive line, is about out here turning the football over and getting sex because he's holding on to the football. He's not taking the cheese.

The same thing with Justin Fields and the Bears. The Bears are bereft of talent. And when their talent doesn't play well, like, Roquod Smith. I mean, listen, you did everything in the offseason to talk about needing new money and forcing a hand. They didn't give you new money. And then the first two games, it's been a rough start for one of the best players, if not the best player on the team. So I'm not mad at the Bears being number 32 on this list because they haven't performed like a team that you should respect. And now that the 49ers have put Jimmy G in because of the Tray Lance injury, you know, that that week one win in, you know, a quagmire looks a little. a little less, you know, it doesn't look as justifiable as it would have looked. So I'm not mad at that at all. I'm not mad at all.

I think the Bengals, like I mentioned, because of what Joe Burroughs going through right now, I think at 10, you know, they've looked a little shaky. And also it makes me look back at what we saw during their playoff run and how close all those games were. It kind of had, you know, I heard somebody say it, it kind of had like a March Madness feel to it where it's like, all right, you survive in advance,

and then they get to the Super Bowl. and go up against Mad Stafford. So I'm trying to figure out right now how good the Bengals are as far as some of these teams concerning like you mentioned. We'll talk to Stephen Ruiz because some of these quarterbacks are tumbling down the rankings as well.

The Bengals staying at 10, can I be honest? I think it's just me coping a little bit. I was so high on the Bengals. I was so high on the Bengals, man. I was trying to give Cincinnati something. I'm leaving Cincinnati trying to give them a little top 10 fish.

You don't have to believe, huh? If this Bengals team doesn't look lights out, I'm not talking to win. If this Bengals team does not look lights out against the Jets this week, I'm going to be concerned. I think they're four and a half point favorites right now on the road against Joe Flacco and the New York Jets. If they do not look dominant against the Jets, I'm pressing the panic button, they might be a 10 spot follower on this next week.

And I think for the Bears, what I wanted to bring up, and the reason I brought them up too, and then we'll move to the team of the week. It's the Philadelphia Eagles will spend some more time on just how good Jill and Hurts was last night and all those things. Chicago Bears, this is a quote from the piece on the ringer.com that I wrote. This isn't, you know, the Bears' offensive problems are so many, right? Justin Fields is holding the ball too long. His receivers are not getting open, and the offensive line is horrendous.

This isn't a chicken or the egg situation. It's the entire coop is up in flames. Please make it stop situation. Darno Mooney leads this team. He's obviously their most talented receiver. Leads this team in Routes Run with 38. He has two receptions for four yards on the year. They're receiving court as a whole

with Equanimity St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Byron Pringle, a slew of misfits. Has seven catches on the year. I know one of the games was in a monsoon. But that game plan against Green Bay, in my opinion, was unacceptable. And it's, the game plan is bad, the offensive line is bad, the receivers are bad, it's also dysfunctional. Feels his face pressure on 48% of his dropbacks through two weeks. That is the second

highest average of any quarterback this year. And even when he's not pressure, he's holding on the ball, average time to throw of 2.6 seconds, which is the third slowest average in all of the NFL. Like, he's holding the ball on because no one's getting open. And even when he's, when he's pressured, he's making mistakes, so much is wrong with the Chicago Bears and so much is dysfunctional with Chicago Bears that I think it's one really shitty for Justin Fields. So let's just call it. I said Tray Lance is one of the more unlucky players in the NFL. You factor in this injury this week.

He might be. Most unlucky player in the NFL. We haven't talked about the San Francisco 49ers, and obviously the broken ankle for Tray Lance. But Justin Beal just right there, man. Matt Eber Flues came in. It's supposed to be this new era. He's essentially committing to the run,

trying to play style of defense with a roster bereft of talent. This team is active cap space, according to over the cap, is 31st in the NFL. They are not spending money right now to win football games. They're not spending money to develop Justin. Fields, and they're not calling game plans, throwing the ball to develop Justin Fields. That is my biggest concern with the Chicago team. Everything is disjointed.

Everything is dysfunctional. And everything is on freaking fire in Chicago. And that is worrisome for Jason Goff. I know you're a Chicago native. Yeah, worrisome for me and the full goal podcast that I get a chance to do focusing here on Chicago sports. I talked about it this offseason. I feel there is a, there's a distinct difference between nurturing and building up and

developing a quarterback and what the Chicago Bears are doing right now. And I've got to be honest with you, I don't know how much Ryan Poles. I know they say they do. And I know he says he does, but I don't know how much Ryan Poles believes in Justin Fields because if you believed in them, then you would put something around him. People were yelling at me on Twitter like, because I was marveling at what to a tongue of ILO, the weapon. Oh, what do you expect them to do with no draft capital? Guess what? Stephon Bitts. Stefan Diggs is the biggest reason why Josh Allen is now a superstar. Stefan Diggs is fifth round. out of Maryland. You do not need nothing but first round picks running around at

why I receive it for you to succeed. Tyreek Hill was not a first round pick. Obviously, I had some issues coming out of school, right? And that dropped his draft status. But you can find people, you know, when you go out and draft a corner and a safety who I think are both going to be good players. But let's face it, this is a franchise who has glorified the linebacker position in my lifetime. You show me any other other franchise that has done that, that is won consistently. in 1985 is a long time ago. I was six years old, five years old, right? We're in the Walter Payton headband and the ruse and my old get-up

and playing my first play school recorder with the Super Bowl shuffle. That was a long damn time ago. So the bears have been institutionally corrupt for a long time when it comes to nurturing not only quarterbacks, but the offensive side of the football. I don't see this being any different this year. All right. So let's get to the biggest mover.

We mentioned them a little bit at the top, talked about how well Jalen Hertz looked specifically last night. The Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Sirianis, Philadelphia Eagles, move up from 13 to 7, five spots in my power rankings this week. And for good reason, I probably should have had them higher, right? I was high on the Philadelphia Eagles in the off season. I bet them plus 275 to win the NFC East. They're now clear-cut favorites to win that division starting off the season at 2-0.

Jalen Hertz, and you talked about him a little bit earlier in the show and said, Siriani and this offense creates some easy offense for him, doesn't ask him to do too much. I thought in this game specifically, we saw something different. You know, for the same reasons we said, Tuatung Waila played the best game of his career. I think we saw the best game of Jalen Hertz's career last night against the Minnesota Vikings, throwing with confidence, hitting throws he just wasn't hitting before.

That's that 10 to 15 yards down field, middle of the field, on time, dig route. Like, that has not been Jalen Hertz's game. But he had it in this one against Minnesota, is playing with swagger, playing with confidence that you just love to see. According to PFF, the lowest percent of uncatchable passes thrown from clean pockets this year, the inaccurate J. Allen Hertz, who is dealing through two weeks, my guy, I think Darren Cawson on Twitter mentioned, he's incrementally improved every year of his career

for like the last eight, 10 years. And that's so true. And the Eagles now for sticking to J. Y. Hertz, for supporting him by adding, you know, players along this offensive line, bringing in an A.J. Brown, bringing in next year, all these things. This has allowed Jailen Hertz to actually develop as a passer in this league, as a quarterback in this league, and the Eagles are reaping the benefits, a legitimate, legitimate content. in the NFC. And on top of it, AG, they're getting off the field. They're getting off the field on third down.

Now, I don't have the third down numbers in front of me right now, but what they did in the draft was try to address the defensive line. They tried to address the linebacking situation. And also they tried to address the secondary. So they drafted a free safety. They drafted a corner. They drafted a middle linebacker. And they drafted a nose tackle.

And when you look at it, all those guys are not even being asked to play huge roles. like what we saw out of Jordan Davis or Georgia and all the things that we saw in the preseason, guess what, Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave are doing what they got to do. Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham has been reborn after the Achilles injury. And what I saw from T.J. Edwards in coverage last night is something that I haven't seen from him, period, over the last couple of years. We're talking about Hassan Reddick, you know, coming over from the Arizona Cardinals, if I'm not mistaken, James Bradbury coming over at the corner position.

Usually in free agency, you're not able to. fill this many holes. And I think they've done enough to get off the field as promptly as they need to to give the ball back to Jalen Hertz and an offense that's multiple because you don't know if Gainwell or Miles Sanders is going to crack off a couple of big runs. And with their running game, too, you know, Jalen Hertz is delivering the blows. When you have a running quarterback who is delivering the blows, it's a lot different than having a running quarterback who's running for his life, which we see in a lot of these situations. So Nick Siriani able to dictate where Jalen Hertz is going to employ his leg,

and employ his mobility. And on top of it, not asking him to do way too much inside the pocket, getting that thing moving around. And what's a quarterback's best friend? A target that he could count on. Like Devante Smith, while he's going through his rookie ups and downs, first week of the season, no catches. Second week, he's got five catches in the first half.

You know why? Because A.J. Brown alleviates some of that pressure. Those tight ends alleviate some of that pressure. It's one of those situations, I think, as you look around, around the NFL. If you've got a young quarterback, you're supposed to win while you're on that contract clock, right? But on top of it, if you're not winning and you've got all the pieces in place, that quarterback position is the one that the microscope is going to be on. So when these guys perform the way Jalen Hertz has in these first two weeks, you got to give them some credit.

Got to get to big them up. Like the Philadelphia Eagles look like a team who should make a deep playoff run if they continue to remain with this identity. You know, if you start to get into those games where we're seeing Jalen Hertz, you know, passing the ball 30 plus times, getting to the 40 numbers, either you're losing or you straight away from the plan. I think right now what you see is the proper game plan for this team, play good special teams, get off the field on third down defensively, and allow their quarterback in multiple ways to hurt teams offensively. The take that I had too is, and you talk about like maintaining this identity, I don't think the offensive identity is going anywhere. I think Siriani Hertz, Brown, DeBonte Smith, the strength of this

offensive line is all not going anywhere so much that this offense, I think, will consistently be a top performer week in and week out. I think where the consistency needs to be is defense, right? I think it's John Gannon, it's Darius Lay, it's this pass rush, it's not letting DeAndre Swift go over 150 yards. Like it's, it's really showing up every single week. Now, you don't have to play lights out like they did against Kirk Cousins, Minnesota. And a lot of that's just Cousins really struggling under the lights. I have an idea. I have a theory that when Kirk Cousins, here's the Monday Night Football theme song going in, he just immediately starts trouble. People blame the lights. It might be the music. Who knows. But Kirk Cousins did not play well,

and that obviously aided a lot of should be Darius Slate interceptions. I know he came down with two, but he probably should have like 10. I think that if you can get consistency from John Gannon's group and you see them winning up front, stopping the run, limiting in the back end with Darius Slay leading that charge, I think that is where this danger really shows up. Because we know, it's easy to forget, but we know when Jailen Hurst went against this Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense in the playoffs last year, he looked terrible. Like he went into a shift. really struggled, and people I think were fading the Philadelphia Eagles all offseason because they couldn't get that bad taste out of their mouth. They're going to have to go through the box

in the NFC. That defense is still the top unit in the NFC. The Buffalo Bill is the top defense in the NFL. So we need to see it against good defenses, and we need to see that defense show up as well with consistency for them to be continually a big move or maybe move up from seven up into the top five. Game of the week, new segment on this show. This is where you pick the best game of the week, and I pick the worst game of the week. And we're going to have to watch them both. We're going to have to see where there goes. What is your game of the week? Let's dive into that.

I mean, the AFC East is back, right? We're not talking about the same performers in the New England Patriots anymore. We're talking about the Bills and we're talking about the Dolphins. I don't know if it gets much better than that. You talk about that Bill's defense. I love the fact that, you know, it's not just before it was, all right, Jerry Hughes or bust. Now it's Vaughn Miller, it's Boogie Basham, it's Jordan Phillips. It's all the great Rousseau.

I think if you can put a defense like the bills against an offense like the Miami Dolphins in the first two weeks of the season, I don't know unit versus unit how you're going to find a more explosive battle. And of course, the Dolphins defense has some players on it as well. And Josh Allen is turned, you're like, hey man, Cam Elway. Like the dude is doing anything you want on a football field. Like the Tennessee Titans ain't that bad. But what happened was they got snowed in. It is what Seattle used to be in terms of a home field advantage. Slowly but surely the Buffalo Bills and that home field advantage

have been building up to that. That's a college-like atmosphere, especially on prime time. I think they just caught a wave. And the Tennessee Titans couldn't do anything about it. That's one of those games. You're like, all right, we're not this bad, so don't worry about it. I think the Buffalo Bills have that kind of fight in them. And I think that is the team right now where you're trying to find whatever weakness you can.

And it may be the running game actually giving the ball. to a running back. But other than that, there's not a lot of holes in it. And on top of it, you get a chance to see one of the better coaches in the game go up

against one of the best young minds. I like that AFC's matchup. This is the best team in the NFL going against probably the hottest team in the NFL in the Miami Dolphins. Our team of the week on this show and everyone's favorite team to talk about this week with Tuot Tuguel playing so

Mike McDaniel calling an absolute bag of the game offensively. But the Buffalo Bills are the best team in the NFL. Josh Allen is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL. The Stefan Diggs Allen pairing is top three in receiving guards this week. Like, it is an electric offense to the Buffalo Bills,

and they've done it against good competition. Don't forget that the Rams won the Super Bowl last year and the bills blew them out, week one. Don't forget that the Tennessee Titans were the number one seed

in the AFC last year, and they blew them out. Like, this is a really, really good Buffalo Bills team. And I'm going to bring up some unheralded heroes on this Bill's team that I think are really going to show up

or have to show up against Miami. It's not Josh Allen, it's not Stefan Diggs, it's not this offense that's electric. Defensively, this pass rush,

This defensive line is absolutely nasty. Through two weeks, and this is from Brad Spielberger at PFF, Boogie Basham, Von Miller, and Greg Rousseau all ranked top eight in PFF pass rush win rate. And I think there's more depth even beyond that. They have so much talent up front. And obviously, the highlight goes to Von Miller, the veteran coming over, he's making plays in the run game, making plays as a pass rusher.

But other players on that defensive line are benefiting from his presence, and they have death behind him. Jordan Phillips is back. AJ Vanessa playing better. Vanessa playing better, Boogie Basham playing better. This defensive line is gruesome. And Taylor Luan left that Tennessee Titans game early last night with an injury, and that offensive line had no answers for the Buffalo Bills.

It's a big reason why Ryan Tannenhill struggle, it's a big reason why Derek Henry could not find an inch of daylight running the football. This bill's defensive line is disgusting. And the Miami-Bid offensive line where Toronto Armstead, like I said before, has not allowed of pressure. It's much improved from last year. Mike McDaniel and that offensive line are really going to have to think about how do they go against

Bond Miller, boogie bashing and company, because that defensive line is different, maybe as different, is what Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs are doing offensively.

And then you look at that back seven too, right? I mean, you're talking about Tremaine Edmonds. If you were going to make a middle linebacker, right,

if you were going to say, all right, this is what we're going to do. We're going to make this six four, you know, condor with long arms and ability not only to close

in pursuit, but also to cover, it would be that guy. He just has to put together for an entire season for people to really, I think appreciate his game. And then, I mean, Michael Hyde and Jordan Poyer, I don't know if you can get a better set of safeties, not only in terms of coverage, but also in terms of coming up and putting their nose in the run game. So the bill's got it going right now, right? Like you mentioned AJ Epinessa. Like this is a guy who probably

would be starting for a lot of teams. He's in a rotation with Rousseau, with Vaughn Miller, with Davis, like that, that front is as nasty and as fresh late in games as you'll find. And then, They've built quite the machine. They built quite the machine. They punt for the first time this season. And the punt was muffed by the Tennessee Titans punters. So even a punt returner. So even in the times where they're electing to say,

hey, we're not as good as you guys were in this series. They still got the ball back. So the bills right now are playing some enchanted football. Man, enchanted football. I like that, Gough. They are playing enchanted football. That's going to be the name of the Austin Gale Biopic right there. Enchanted football.

Buffalo Bills, that's the game of the week. According to Jason Gough, bills are five and a half point favorites. I think before last night, they were four and a half point favorites. Stretched out to five and a half after a dominant performance over the Tennessee Titans total set

at 53 and a half. And that's in South Beach. I'll say this. Last thing on that game. If the Miami Dolphins come out of this for the win, Mike McDaniel on Fandle is plus 600, favorite for coach of the year, that number is going to move.

If he wins this game, where he shouldn't, where he's got to go against the enchant, The enchanted Buffalo Bill. I don't know, man. I know it's at home, and I know Tua's playing well. I know Mike McDaniel has been really oppressive offensively, and G.O. Wattle, Typerkill, all those things we said before.

He wins this game. Oh, yeah. Mike McDaniel is marching on his way. All right, this is the pillow fight matchup of the week. This was tough, man. I didn't know where to go here. But I think this is going to be the worst game. It has one of the lowest totals on the week, 41 and a half,

and it's between two of the worst teams in the NFL, according to my power rankings. The Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks will square up against each other. It's the shame of the week. Right now, the Falcons. ranked 28th in my power rankings, the Seattle Seahawks ranked 27th. They've bounced around from 30 to 24,

depending on how Gino Smith looks. Both these teams have really struggled. If I had to, if it wasn't in Seattle, I'd feel a lot more confident betting Atlanta. Atlanta is a one and a half point favorite in Seattle. In Seattle, it's just so hard to play. And as comfortable as Matt, not Matt Ryan, Marcus Marriota has looked in this offense.

And as much as they've strung some things together, now in this past week, they trailed 28 to 3, hint, hint, in that game against Los Angeles Rams, and eventually found some creative ways to come back, some bad Matthew Stafford picks, et cetera. They've, Marks Marriota has looked comfortable, but time and time again we just see that this team doesn't have talent. You know, that Jalen Ramsey interception,

where they had a real opportunity to win this game, it was essentially a jump ball to Brian Edwards. Like, that's not going to work, right? You're not going to be a team that wins these close games if you don't have the dogs to do it, if that makes sense. You can have a creative offensive scheme that Arthur Smith is leading. You can have all of that. You're not going to consistently win these close games,

or comeback in games if you don't have the dogs to do it, especially if you're not using them, right? Kyle Pitts has been targeted so infrequently. Arthur Smith had that quote. It's like, it's not fantasy football. We're trying to win. Well, we need to see it then, buddy. Going to Brian Edwards in a jumpball situation

with the game on the line on third down, with Gailon Ramsey covering them is not the matchup you want. I don't care if it's fantasy football or Madden. You do not go for that matchup. I don't like what the Atlanta Falcons are doing late in games, as they have been for the last few years. And I think that there's still, again, why they were bottom of my power rankings

to open up the season, a really talent bereft team. They do not have a lot of talent along the offensive line. Their receiving core is one of the worst in the NFL, especially if they're not targeting Kyle Piss. And defensively, outside of AJ Terrell, who got worked a handful of times

by Alan Robinson in this game, they're struggling as well, not creating pressure, all that stuff. On the other side, Seattle, the one and a half point favorite in this game, has a lot of mixed opinion right now. I think Geno Smith is up and down in Stephen Ruiz's quarterback rankings.

This offense is just down, right? After the first half, this offense has averaged fewer than four yards per play. The Seattle Seahawks Rank bottom five and EPA per dropback after that first half against Denver. The first half of the debut of the 2020 season at home. This offense since then has really, really struggled. And I think the biggest reason for that, watching back really the last six quarters of football,

even the full eight quarters, the last two games of Gino Smith's tape, I think that Seattle, when it is creating easy offense, running the football well on early downs, creating third and manageable, and finding open windows for Gino Smith to throw two against. it's either soft-flown coverages or nice play design. Gino Smith is hitting those throws and hitting them with accuracy. But when things start to break down, I know there were some outliers in that Denver Broncos game where he had success. But when things broke down in this game, the Seattle Seahawks against San Francisco 49ers, he really, really did struggle.

And it's a big reason why this offense is struggling as well. These are two teams that are going to struggle to win games every single year. One of them has to win this one. It's my worst, probably the worst match of the week, but still going to be must-watch. Yeah, no doubt about it. God bless you if you have to watch this game either because you're covering it. or one of these two teams are your favorite teams. I mean, I feel that way about the Texans Bears game,

the Lovey Bowl coming up this week. Like, if you're not in the Houston and Chicago markets, I don't know why you'd lay your eyes on this other than the betting, the entertainment purposes that you might have with a fan dual sports book. But other than that, I'm cool. Like you mentioned, this ain't fantasy football, but if Kyle Pitts doesn't help you win games, then you spent a draft pick on the wrong guy.

And I don't think you did because he's one of the better, talents at that position. Like you mentioned, they're bereft of talent. Both those teams are going to be on the clock searching for a quarterback in the draft coming up this season. The Atlanta Falcons, AJ Terrell has only got Grady Jarrett and that's about it to put any pressure on anybody. So if you're out there on whatever island that you're supposed to be on, you're still

one of the best corners. But if guys got four or five seconds to run around and get into scramble drills, you're going to look bad. So I don't know where the Atlanta Falcons are going because they're more than just a quarterback away. They have stripped that thing down to the studs. And when it comes to the Seattle Seahawks, this entire preseason was about Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson not being there and other leaders being able to step up.

Well, guess what? You still got to play football and you still got to have talent on both sides. And other than D.K. Metcalfe Tire Lockett, a couple of other guys, they got a lot of young players, a lot of first year, a lot of rookie players playing in really, really important positions. I mean, you look at that offensive line like Charles Cross this year is going to be an up and down year because of the youth. You put them at one of the more important positions. So this is one of those games where

anything can happen and yes, it should be the shame of the week. You know, Seattle Seahawks, Gino Smith specifically has to find, you know, has to create easy offense, has to find open receivers and have open receivers for this offense to move the ball. It hasn't moved the ball at all for the last six quarters, literally the worst

in the NFL and yards per play. But the Falcons, I think the bigger issue is that they don't have playmakers for as good as Marcus Mariotas playing. He looks comfortable. He's creating outside of structure. He's running the football well. There was a third down or fourth down in that game where he fell flat on his face, got back up, threw it to the fullback and converted it. Like, he's making plays in this offense. The problem is that he has to throw to Brian Edwards in crucial situations. The problem is that they're not dialing up easy targets to Kyle Pitts, arguably the best player

on their team. So I worry about the situation that Marcus Mariot is in for Gino. I just think that when things start to break down and I think they will often with two rookie tackles, I think they're going to struggle more often than not. That's it, man. Let's go bring in Steve Ruiz. Now let's talk a little quarterbacks with Stephen Ruiz, that's the marquee matchup of the week, the game of the week. That's Power Rankings with Golf and Austin. Let's go talk to Stephen Ruiz. The man, the myth, the legend, enters the chat.

Steve Ruiz, it's quarterback rankings on The Ringer.com. Make sure you check them out every single week. I like how volatile they are, right? I wasn't sure how much you'd be changing them up and down week to week, but it's been fun to see, you know, Gino make a little bit of a rise. Now he's behind Tuatuck by Loa, Hertz making a rise. I have had a lot of fun getting you on this show and talking your rankings. I appreciate you join the show.

Yeah, I feel like I had the same worry. I was worried that I wasn't going to change my opinion on these guys too often, but it's happened. It's happened. Maybe that will like level off midway through the season, but the early season has been fun. Goff and I went off on Tua and Jalen Hertz. We said, you know, both those players might have played the best games in their career in week, where are they in your rankings this week? I know you've been a Tua doubter or Tua critic, right?

You've said, you know, I think Tua critic in the same way that everyone has. He hasn't played well. He hasn't lived up to his pre-draft expectations. And with Hertz, he's someone that has been constantly critiqued for not hitting, you know, stuff over the middle of 15 yards down field, not being able to be an accurate quarterback or an actual passer. Where are you after this week with both those guys? I think I'm higher on Hertz.

I think Hertz had the better of the two games. The one thing that I've seen from Hertz, he's throwing, like you said, he's throwing over the middle of the field more often. But he just seems more confident in his ability to make throws, whether it's inside the pocket or outside the pocket. He's making throws that he just didn't attempt last year. and I thought his accuracy, it looks a lot better through two weeks. His pocket presence is still an issue, but it's a lot more improved.

I don't think he's taking off as early as he did last year. But this year, even in the Vikings game, there was a couple of plays where I thought he could have hung in the pocket and threw it downfield and he didn't. As for Tua, okay, here's my, here's my take. I don't. We're about to find out why six touchdowns or 450 yards wasn't good enough. for Stephen Ruiz right now. That's right.

That's right. No, no. When I watched the game on Sunday, I was like, this tape isn't going to be as good as the stats look. And that was the case when I watched the film, but the film was a lot better than I thought. And like everyone's going to point out the two deep balls on the busted coverages. That's nothing to me. Like, if you don't make those throws, you're not an NFL quarterback.

And everyone would have made fun of them if you miss those throws. The throws that I like were like, he threw into tight windows and he was anticipating and he was there, it was over the middle of the field. I thought Mike McDaniel did a good job of mitigating what I would say is Tua's biggest weaknesses, which is just dealing with pressure and dealing with tight spaces. And they're doing a lot of play action, but it's like in a different way than we've seen the 49ers do it, for instance. It's not like the fake outside zone and then throw the crosser.

It's like they're pulling a guard and pretending to run. And I think that widens the throwing window for Tua, and he's not as uncomfortable in those pockets. And it's working. And he's making the throws. You have to give him credit for making the throws. He's making all the throws now. He's not going to jump to the top 15 for my rankings. He's a top 20 quarterback for me right now.

And I think that's where he stays. I want to see the bills game first. Before we annoying him, I want to see the bills game. Because I think the bills will give him a lot of problems. And I don't think the bills are going to bust coverages. They don't have a rookie defensive coordinator. Between Hertz and Tua, Stephen, whose success do you think is more sustainable throughout this season?

Obviously, we're not talking six touchdowns a game for Tua. but both have had new additions in terms of offensive weapons, AJ Brown, Tyree Kill, Tehran Armstead, obviously, and some of the defensive changes the Philadelphia Eagles have made. Hopefully it will come to fruition throughout the season. But who do you think if you're taking those two quarterbacks and putting them in a bubble,

who do you think is more sustainable success-wise going forward from what you've seen for the first two weeks? I would go with Hertz. I think if this is the version we see of both quarterbacks going forward, I would compare what we saw from Jalen Hertz to like rookie season, Dak Prescott, where it's like his supporting cast is obviously helping and making things easier, but you could tell this guy can play. Whereas I think two was game last week or against, on Sunday against the Ravens,

was like a game we'd see out of Jimmy G. Like guys were open. He took advantage. He made some impressive throws over the middle. Jimmy G could do that. I think Hertz has a better chance of becoming a real franchise quarterback who threatens the top 10 every season. than Tua does. Two things off that,

and I want to get into some followers, too, but the Tua conversation, I just think is so fascinating. I argue, watching back the tape, but two deep balls and Tyrie Killer are the worst throws he had in that game. Two of the worst throws he had in that game, and that's fine.

And when you say to me, you know, that is a game like we look like we saw from Jimmy G. That's fucking awesome. Toa looking like Jimmy G is huge. He is not, yeah, he is not, like,

he has not looked as confident or as comfortable or as poised or is even just, like, efficient as Jimmy G has ever in his career. I think that's just such a step in the right direction. So much for Mike McDaniel, but also to a time by Lowe. I think I mentioned that quote earlier in the show, but him saying like he needs to take this moment and carry it is so important. Like staying confident, staying comfortable in this offense.

And knowing that Mike McDaniel is going to let you cook a little bit, I think you have to see where that goes. All right. McDaniel's good. Let me just say that. McDaniel is very good. I think like I'm already, I'm already on board with him. The favorite right now on Fandled win coach of the year. We'll see what changes after the Buffalo Bills game.

Two fallers. we were texting a little bit before this. I wanted to talk about Matt Ryan, who got blanked in Jacksonville to not look good in that game. Against what is, I think, an underrated Jacksonville Jaguars defense. That front is creating pressure. Josh Allen is a monster. Shaquille Griffin and Tyson Campbell are running really, really nice press coverage concepts right now.

And then Joe Burrell, man. Joe Burrow, again, struggling in this week where he was a six and a half point favorite with the Dallas Cowboys. You know, a Dallas Cowboys team that essentially called on fire after week one. Two quarterbacks on their way down, Matt Ryan and Joe Burrow. Yeah, I think Matt Ryan, it's clear that he's not the quarterback he used to be. Like, he just doesn't have the arm he used to have. And it's starting to affect him in ways that we saw it affect Peyton Manning when

Payton got washed towards the end. He was smart and he clearly knew where to go with the football. He just couldn't get the ball where he wanted it to go. And the troubling thing is that their offensive line is not good right now. They just got dominated by the Jaguars. They didn't have a good outing against the Texans either. And that's supposed to be how this team is built from the inside out. and it's just not working.

And I think that just, like, highlights Matt Ryan's weaknesses, just his waning skill set. He can't make plays under pressure. The arm strength really stands out as an issue when he has to throw from a base that isn't clean, which is happening more often than not. I think, like, Matt Ryan would look a lot better in a more solidified offense,

but it doesn't look good. And it's very clear that he's not the guy that's going to elevate this offense going forward. I think they still might be fine when they get the receivers back, but I don't think. think it's going to be like their playoff contenders because Matt Ryan. Is this the beginning of the end for Tom Brady, Stephen? And where do you have him? It just looks like Tom Brady doesn't want to get hit right now. And I don't blame him.

Like he's playing behind a bad, he's playing behind a bad offensive line. Like when he's carrying out like play action fakes, he's really accelerating them and trying to get rid of the ball. He just doesn't trust his offensive line. And I can't blame him. And I think he's really missing Gronk and Chris Godwin right now. He's just not throwing over the middle. at the same rate he was last year. And those are the throws that he's preferred throughout his career. He likes in breaking throws. And the Saints do such a great job of taking away in breaking throws.

And that's why Brady has so much trouble against them. And I think we're going to see teams start to realize, oh, they only have Mike Evans right now. If we could just like double him and then take away the middle of the field, it's going to be a lot easier to get pressure on Brady. And that's what's happening so far. So, I mean, I kind of want to see Chris Gottman come back and see if he's healthy before I'm ready to write Brady off as not a top five quarterback. But right now, I need to see better from Brady if he's going to stay in the top five. He's barely holding off Lamar for the fit spot.

And that might change by next week. If things stay the same. Burrow, Brady potentially falling, Ryan, falling. I will bring up with that Colts game, too, I thought it was hilarious that Matt Pryor, their left tackle, someone they went into the season with and said, yeah, he's the guy struggling so much. I think he has more pressures allowed than any offensive tackle in the NFL, according to PFF.

What happened in that game, though, I think was really embarrassing. he got benched for Bernard Riemann, the rookie out of Central Michigan. And then when they benched the starters, you know, took out Matt Ryan when that game was a blowout. They put Matt Pryor back in. That's fucked up, man. Leave that kid out. You don't got to put him back in with the backups after he becomes a backup. That's rude.

All right. Last thing I'll bring up, I want to land on a positive note. It's Trevor Lawrence. You know, he had a dime, an absolute Cedar Lake, as I say, to Jamal Agnew over the top. And it fell through his hands. But that was one of the more efficient quarterbacks win-kept clean so far this year. He has third in EPA per dropback win-kept clean. He is maximizing this Doug Peterson offense that looks night and day better than what Urban Meyer was cooking up last year.

I don't know how much of that is Christian Kirk. How much of that is just Trevor Lawrence with experience getting better. But everything looks a little bit better in Jacksonville. Offensively and defensively, Trevor Lawrence at the center of that is Lawrence moving up the rankings. Yeah, Lawrence is, he's knocking on the door of the top 10. I'm like two weeks away from putting him in the top 10. This last game, any concerns I had about Lawrence coming from Missouri, season stemmed from like his timing.

There was times when he would hit the back of his drop, someone was open and he would take an extra hitch, take an extra beat to throw it, and he was late. On Sunday against the Colts, and it might have been playing Gus Bradley, you know what you're getting with Gus Bradley, you're getting cover three, but he was hitting the back of his drop and that ball

was coming out every single play, play after play. It looked like Justin Herbert to me. There were a couple of plays where he almost threw an interception, where he was kind of late, kind of behind on the throws. But everything else was like perfect, perfect quarterbacking. The first third, I think it was the second third down of the game.

It was on the first drive. They went for it on fourth and one, or fourth and short after it. But his eyes, like he goes from one to two to three in like one second and finds a completion. It's amazing. Like he's taking the next step. And I really think he finishes the season as the top 10 quarterback like in everyone's mind. Like I'm close to there already. But I think like publicly we're going to accept that Trevor Lawrence is a top 10 quarterback.

surprises of the week for you. Cooper Rush gang is all out. And of course, Russell Wilson is trying his hardest to mask the inefficiencies of his head coach by also not being able to complete passes. So what are some of the surprises of the week for you as we wrapped us up? I'm going to give Cooper Rush a shout out. I think he deserves a shout out.

This is what I'll say about Cooper Rush. If you gave him an arm, like if we took Carson Wentz's arm away from him and I would argue Carson Wentz doesn't deserve that arm right now and gave it to Cooper Rush, he might be a top 15 quarterback man he'll make some throws he knows what he's doing he knows where to go with the ball like he knows what to do pre-snap how to get his team in the right place he just doesn't have an arm he's got the same arm as me that's the problem which one really quickly or the healthy one up the banged one up the banged one up the banged up the banged up the banged up i could i could throw this i could throw the ball like 40 yards with this one i don't know i don't know if cooper rush can get it out there that part Really quickly, before we let you go, Stephen, we wrap up the podcast here.

You said something at Lawrence, and something that I came with, you know ball more than I do. You watch his quarterback's a lot more than I do. But something that I see with Trevor Lawrence, like, near interceptions, even last year and this year, is I do think he has like, he has, I wouldn't call it overconfidence, but he does put a lot of confidence in his guys just going to make plays. Like, I think you saw that at Clemson, right? At Clemson, he's like, dude, it's my guy on one-on-one, let's freaking go. And when that, those players aren't that good, which a lot of them aren't in Jacksonville, there aren't a lot of, like, good jump ball catchers in Jacksonville, you start to. you start to see those receivers not make plays and those look like near interceptions. And I think overconfidence, I think has too much of a negative connotation in this sense.

But I do think it's like, hey, man, I trust my guys to go make a play. Wrongfully, but I got to, right? I have to until they do. Yeah, no, I think Trevor Lawrence has like that game regime where he's going to try stuff. And it's going to be like, if he throws interception, it's going to be a fun interception. And you're going to be able to watch the replay and be like, oh, I know what he was going for there. And if he would have pulled that off, that would have been a great play. It's not like these, like loser quarterback.

interceptions where you're just throwing it right to a linebacker. He's trying to hit a seam. He's trying to like throw a dig into a tight window. And when you're a young quarterback, I want to see that. I don't want to see you Derek Carr it up and down the field. Like take some chances, man. And I feel like Trevor Lawrence does it at the appropriate times. Like it's if it's third and long, yeah, you know, test a tight window. If it's first and 10, throw a check down instead. So I feel like he's already gotten that figured out. And that's like really hard to calibrate when you're an aggressive quarterback. It's not like a James Winston thing, where James was like throwing bad interceptions and he's also a gunslinger, but his interceptions were like, oh, I'm throwing it right to a

linebacker because I didn't see him. Driver Lawrence is just like, oh, I thought I could pull that off and I couldn't. Jason, Steve, fantastic stuff as always. I can't wait to continue to do this throughout the season. Big shout out to our producers, Carlos, Connor, and Steve, I can't wait, man. This has been such a fun season, Tua on the rise here on a Tuesday. Until next time, Austin Gale, Jason Gough, um, Steve Ruiz, on the ringer NFL show. Thank you.