The Ringer NFL Show - Week 4 NFL Power Rankings: Jags Climbing, Raiders Falling, and Are the Eagles Still Too Low? | Power Rankers

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Jason and Austin discuss how the NFL power rankings have shifted following Week 3. First, they discuss the team of the week, the Jaguars, and where they should be ranked after their big win against the Chargers (2:22). Then, Jason tells Austin why he is still too low on the Eagles (8:15). Next, they pick a game of the week and a shame of the week heading into Week 4 (26:10). Finally, they are joined by Steven Ruiz to discuss some of the movement on this week’s QB rankings after another great game from Trevor Lawrence. Plus, how bad is Justin Fields (30:36)? 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

Would you bet a few thousand dollars that you could sink an eight-foot putt? What about 10 grand that you could win a drag race against a Camero with a thousand horsepower? If you bet two million dollars, could you bet it all on one football game? Maybe you wish you could, but you probably wouldn't. Gamblers is about the people who did. From the Ringer Podcast Network, listen to Gamblers Season 2 on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome in to the Ringer Power Rancers show with myself and Jason Gop. The Ringer NFL show, I wanted to start this off, Gop.

I know we got a lot of football to talk, but the Ringer NFL show, this podcast feed is freaking loaded. Herbie fully loaded with Lindsay Lohan out here. Ringer recap show is Sunday night. That's Norr, Prince Gatti, Steve Ruiz, and Ben Solac. Then you got an extra point taken on Mondays with Ben Solac in Chilpadia. Then, myself and Jason Gough with Power Rankers here on Tuesdays. The Island comes out on Wednesdays with Noro Princiotti and a guest, The Scramble. on Thursdays with Shilkata.

And on Friday, we have the ringer preview show with Danny Hype, it's been so I can see release. It is loaded on this feed, and we have to compete with these guys, tow to. Can we handle it?

I don't know if I can. I hope you were ready to shoulder all the brunt of this podcast because that's some firepower to go up against. So the Ringer roster when it comes to NFL football is loaded.

And it's the only place people should be, really, to be honest with you. So I will try not to bring down this one as much as I have the previous two or three and we can get it rolling in because I know, I know this will be the, Trevor Lawrence Celebration show. I have some issues with some of your rankings again.

And we got to get to Game of the Week and Shame of the Week as well. Absolutely. We're going to start with Team of the Week. Remember, you check out my full Ringer NFL Power Rankings on The Ringer.com. And if you go there, make sure to hate them as much as everyone else does. We send out a tweet and everyone's just so upset that they still have the Baltimore Ravens and the Miami Dolphins outside the top five. I'm still just taking. I am taking Josh Allen, Patchma Holmes, Aaron Rogers, and Tom Brady over any of the quarterbacks in the league right now. I'm sorry. over Jalen Hertz, that's over Tua, that's over Lamar.

I know they're playing good football. They're still top 10 teams, but I have Gapulton Ravens and the Miami Adolphs on the outside. But I'm not talking about a top 10 team as my team of the week. My team of the week is the biggest riser of the week as well. It's the Jacksonville Jaguars. There we go. Let's go. I threw them up my rankings. I had to.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are bawling out. And honestly, I think the, obviously, one of the coolest things about it is that Trevor Lawrence is looking at it. And everyone has talked about, you know, can Trevor Lawrence find it? He's this generational quarterback going from, you know, he was compared to Andrew Luck coming out. He's looking the part. Last week, there were 22nd my power rankings. I've bought him all the way up to number 13.

Only Jalen Hertz and to a tongue of my low, I have a higher clean pocket EPA for dropback. So essentially when he's kept clean, he is maximizing his pockets. And he doesn't have Jalen Wottle. He doesn't have A.J. Brown, right? He doesn't have Tyree Kill. Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence are putting on an absolute masterclass offensively, maximizing the talents of Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Evan Ingram, Marvin Jones.

This offensive line isn't even good. I am so impressed with what Trevor Lawrence has done and how he's descended. I think inside the top 10 among quarterbacks in the league and also what Doug Peterson has done. I knew it would be an improvement. I knew it would be an improvement over Urban Meyer and the disaster that was last year,

but did not expect them to so quickly have this kind of success. They're being good football teams and beating them bad. Beating them bad. Chargers this past week, they've been 38 to 10. I know Herbert was her. I know they're under injuries, but man, this Jacksonville Jagger team. That's my team of week. They are looking fantastic.

No, they're looking really good. And shout out to good coaching or some kind of coaching, you know, and the difference that makes. We knew last year that Trevor Lawrence was in the fight for his life, you know, not only with the roster that was bereft of talent, but also the Urban Meyer experience. But I will say this, because you mentioned one of those names, Christian Kirk, a guy who was out there free agency-wise, a lot of teams who wanted to kick the tires on that wide receiver position like the Chicago Bears. Some other teams were interested. But I was looking at Josh Allen. and the growth of Josh Allen. Stefan Diggs made a huge difference.

The moment Stefan Diggs showed up, all of a sudden, you could put the ball places that you couldn't put it before and the run after the catch. And, of course, Stefan Diggs is one of the best route runners in the game. It's one of the best wide receivers in the game. So I'm not comparing Christian Kirk to Stefan Diggs. I'm just saying, look what happens when you throw another guy into the mix, right? And Zay Jones, obviously, the talent is there,

but you got to put it together consistently. Trevor Lawrence is looking like the dude who everyone thought he would be in the NFL his freshman year in college. So it's good to see a quarterback kind of start to reach those markers, you know, and obviously this season, I mean, like you mentioned, they've beaten some good teams, they've gone up against some pretty damn good defenses with Star Power on the other end. What they did is charges I didn't see coming.

I didn't know that Justin Herbert would be as limited as he was. But at the same time, you still got Cleo Mac and Dernwin James. You got all pros at every level of a defense that he just shredded. So if you're not on the Trevor Lawrence, trained these last two games or so should definitely have you looking at the conductor trying to get yourself a transfer? No, the last point I'd make on Trevor Lawrence in the offense, and I want to talk to the defense because Trevor Lawrence gets all in love.

I know he's got the long hair, he's pretty boy, but this defense is also playing well. Trevor Lawrence, I think, is entering that tier, and you brought this up last week. He's entering that tier of elevator, right? And I brought up some names, St. Jones, Christian Kirk, Evan Ingram, a bad offensive line. He is maximizing those talents. And I honestly think, like, taking those talents further, right? Christian Kirk looks better in this offense than he ever did with Cliff King's

in the Arizona Cardinals. Say Jones, resurgent career. Evan Ingram, who was a castaway with the Giants, is also making plays with this offense. I think a lot of that is Doug Peterson. This coaching staff is making plays, but a lot of that, too, is this new elevator, this new era of young quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Defensively, real quick, rookie Devon Lloyd,

lineback from Jackson Jaguars is absolutely bawling out. Multiple tackles in this game also had an interception and the defensive line. I know Roshan Slater left the game with the biceps injury. He's now going to miss the season. Storm Norton and Trade Pipkins. My goodness. Could not block a soul. Josh Allen was fantastic.

And this one, they didn't even have Shaq Griffin their starting corner opposite of Tyson Campbell. So yeah, Tyson Campbell and Darius Williams playing outside corner and they still looked phenomenal

in this game. I think defensively, offensively, this Jackson ball Jaguar team has it. And you can still bet them, I think plus 250 to win the AFC South.

This is the best team in the AFC South. I'm sorry. Here we go. This is the best team in the AFC South. I'm taking him over at Matt Ryan. I'm taking over the Titans.

I know the Titans just won against the Hattles Las Vegas graders. But man, I think the Jags, best team in the AFC South. I mean, Trayvon Walker, who everybody saw do damage on the collegiate level.

You come out and you get the first pick in the draft. And also, they've been able to pick and pluck a few guys that are no-name guys, maybe to the casual NFL fan, but guys who have been developing, hell, I watch Roy Robertson Harris here in the Chicago turn from a dude who really didn't have a position to a guy you could put in some spot jams and not be such a falloff. He's their starting defensive end now. So, yeah, the Jaguars got something brewing. And I don't think it's too far out on the limb to say that they will be at the top of the AFC side.

I just, I can't see Rabel and the Titans falling that far or falling to a point where they're out here at around 9 and 8, 10 and 7. I think they still got 11, 10 wins in them. I don't know if the Jaguars have 10 wins in them. But, hey, listen, if Trevor Lawrence is playing like this, then the sky's the limit because we've seen young quarterbacks raise the level of a team that doesn't know that it's not good yet, right? And especially in the AFC, right? So it's going to be interesting to see not just how he matures, but how that defense with all those young players who are asked to do a lot, right? Like this team is, this team is prime for some big things here in the next couple of years.

I think the biggest area they're going to have to, you know, get better at in a hurry is winning close games, right? Because the last two games have been blowouts. And, you know, when you are, you know, executing like they were and have Treve Lawrence, you know, covering a lot of these incidents and stuff like that. Close games is where rebuilding teams usually learn a lot. The charge has been learning at close games. as long as I can remember.

Like this Jaguars team, if they can start to come out of these one-score games, that will happen against good football teams. They are going to be the team. I think that wins the AFC South. I want to get now into the too high, too low conversation. Look at some of these teams that I want to throw some games that you were saying,

I might be too high on this team. And it was a team that we just brought up kind of casually. The last interest chargers. I'm just, I'm clinging to home here, my guy. I got them at number nine on these rankings. They're one and two on the season. They just got blown out by the Jaguars at home. I don't know if I should be keeping there of nine.

But here's why. I love Justin Herbert. Of course. I do think Justin Herbert win healthy. I know he's battling injuries. He's got the rib cartilage injury. Win healthy, the top three quarterback in this league. And to put a team with a top three quarterback in this league outside the top 10,

I just feel it was like malpractice. And defensively, Joey Bosa is week to week with a groin injury. That is a huge concern. J.C. Jackson has the ankle injury. He's not coming back to health. That is a concern there. But I still think there are enough pieces for defensively this Charter's team to be good. Now, guess what?

They lost 3810 to the freaking Jags. And they have injuries at. where Rayshon Slater out in the season. Joey Bosa, week to week with the groin. Justin Herbert, still battering the rib injury. The rib injury injury. The rib injury. Jackson, this is a very injury-plagued football team.

They're starting center. Corey Lindsay, out. This is a very injury-placed that cannot, can not catch a break with the injury bug. Am I wrong to have them at the hind? Well, I was just glad Justin Herbert got a chance to suit up because we know

what happens with that charge of staff when you got to get an injection. You know, shout out to Tyrod Taylor. Like, I was just happy that the man was able to play some football after, you know, old Dr. Cisorhands over there got a hold of a needle. But, like you mentioned, Ray Sean Slater, one of the best tackles in the game. And not just the guys that you mentioned, but Keenan Allen, right? Like, are they rushing them back to practice after all these injuries are mounting up,

not just on the other side of the ball, but what Justin Herbert has to work with out there, you can't just throw 50-50 balls to Mike Williams all day long. So that offense, obviously, like, football's a war of attrition. And in the first two or three weeks, if you lose this kind of fight, firepower, you lose this amount of investment, you know, cap-wise, then you're going to take a step back. I'm still high on the charges when healthy, but who can, you know, these are the injuries we talk about when the schedules come out and they go win, win, win, loss, win, win, win, if you're going to tell me that Joey Bosa, Rashon Slater and Keenan Allen and all these dudes

are going to be hurt, Justin Herb is going to have bad ribs, and I'm going to tell you that the charges are no damn good. What we saw is a reeling football team in terms of injuries, and then on top of it, you saw a really hot quarterback, and you go out there and blow them out. So, yeah, I don't know how to feel about the charges because the evaluation just can't be complete with this many guys banged up this early in the first quarter of the season. The other thing I'll bring up too, and I think this has been somewhat independent of injury

with the last nine of charges. I know they just lost for Sean Slater and Corey Lindsay, his battle injuries, but this Chargers team cannot run the football. They're averaging, they're averaging 0.27, 0.3, a third of a yard before first contact per attempt. That's the worst in the NFL, according to true media. The offensive line is only going to get worse with

Roshan Slater gone. You have Tray Pitpkins and Stormorty starting. The past protection is going to struggle. The run blocking is going to struggle. It's just going to be so much harder for this team to create easy offense. Justin Herbert is going to have to be a superhero with a broken rib for this Chargers team to bounce back. I brought them up in this too high, too low. I think I might be too high on the last end of these charters.

And here's the question I wanted to post to you. Speaking with Chargers one last time, if this Charter's team misses the playoffs, does Brandon Staley get fired? kept Justin Herbert in that game late, both last week and this week, when people were questioning if it was worth it in garbage time. He's not maximizing this team that has all the sound, even though there are injuries. There is going to be questions. I think Rand's Daly is phenomenal. It's phenomenal defensive line. I love what he did last year, going for and on

fourth down, being aggressive, betting on his players. He has not been lucky in that a lot of his team has gotten hurt, and then was given a lot of opportunity when they added Sebastian just a day, Khalil Mack, J.C. Jackson, Austin, Johnson. They threw the kitchen sink and improving the defense side of the ball perspective. Offensively, this is seen as one of these Super Bowl favorites, right? And now they might not make the playoffs. Some of that's the Herber injury, some of that's other stuff. One, do you think Brandon Staley's going to get fired?

And two, do you think he deserves get fired? You know, he was going to hot seat coming into this year for some of the decisions and the fourth down stuff that everybody had fun with last year. But when you have this kind of quarterback where, and I'll be honest with you, maybe just maybe we put Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert at a tier that they weren't ready to be at yet because they were just getting that first taste of success, obviously the run that Joe Burrow had and the Bengals had at the end of the last year. And if you really look at some of those games, how close they were. Like, it wasn't like the Bengals were blowing people out. It's like,

okay, this guy's arrived. But he had that it factor. And Justin Herbert, the same way. It was just with the charges where not many people held in the city, never mind the rest of the country. We're watching them, but his numbers jumped off the page. But once you get that exalted quarterback who everybody now is thinking of as the gifted one and you're on that rookie deal. We all know the blueprint. You got to, if you have a quarterback who people respect on a rookie deal, you have to maximize it before you tear down the rest of the team. So everybody's turning around and looking at the coach. Like, wait a minute, your fourth down decisions. And some of the things that we've seen down the stretch in the second half of last season, yeah, he was on a hot seat

coming into this season. So if they, if they have an injury plague season and guys like Sean Peyton and some other dudes might be out there on the market and they're just looking for a landing spot. And especially when you have a quarterback like this, it's a perfect, like, you You can have the pick of the litter, right? Like the best chefs in the world don't have to go work at fast food restaurants because of what they cooked up before. So I can pick Justin Herbert, that defense, Dernwin James, all the acquisitions. All we got to do is try to stay healthy.

And you hope that the injury luck isn't what it was. Yeah, Brandon Staley, I think, would be on the hot seat if this team didn't have the kind of season that everybody forecast. Now, do I think he will get fired? Who's to say, right? Because if I'm Brandon Staley and I go to you, hey, you believe to me. And then all of a sudden, half of my. stars got hurt.

And what can you really do with that from an evaluation point? It's just who's out there, right? Like who do I think is sitting on the couch or in one of these studios that can motivate this team to a winning championship kind of caliber franchise? That's all the questions would be. But if it was a normal circumstance, I think you probably have one more year in them before people started to press that button. The injuries are obviously unlucky, right?

Like, Rashon Slater, tearing his biceps is unlucky. You know, Joey Bosa getting hurt again, maybe not as unlucky. It's just like, we've come to expect it. I mean, he's battled like soft tissue injuries his entire career. There are multiple decisions this year, though, where I feel, man, this is the first time I feel like taking a baseball bat to Brandon Staley from a criticism standpoint. That's not a little aggressive. But like, I'm not going to like his like coaching status, right? Yeah, no, I got you.

This season, I'm an analytics guy. I love what he did last year getting, you know, going forward on fourth down and being aggressive. I thought last year was fantastic. He was prompt on this pedestal by me and a lot of other people as one of these talented. Hey, coaches. This year there are two things. One, he stopped doing that. In that Chiefs game that they lost multiple times where there were obvious go situations, he's kind of pulling back,

which just speaks to inconsistency and maybe like him putting his tail between his legs when maybe he didn't have to and could still be aggressive. And then two, the decision to keep Justin Herbert in last week and this week, even though, and I know he mentioned to the reporters after this that, you know, he wanted to be in there with his teammates, all that stuff. That, in my opinion, is a bad decision. I mean, you know that Herbert's the only reason you remain super bowl competitive.

it's not worth sending him out and getting in garbage time, taking hits just because he wants to be out there with his teammate. I do worry about those two things with Fran Saly, and those who come up if they don't make playoffs. By the way, it doesn't help your case, and I know they're hurt, but you're at the crib and you had 10 days to prepare for this game. True. You know?

For the Jags. Doug Peterson kicked his ass, like, coaching-wise. It wasn't just the injuries. He ran circles around and do, so. I mean, you got to. You got to take it for what it is, right? Like Brandon Staley right now, not just the decision to leave Justin Herbert in,

but the amount of time he had to prepare for this game, you got to look at it like this is a big flop. We'll get into some of the biggest mover stuff, Game of the Week, all that stuff. Steve Ruiz also joins the show, Cox's quarterback rankings at the end. I want to give you, you'd give me one more too high, too low team. A team that you're just like, man, AG, what the hell are you doing?

Well, you already know where I'm going to just one. Fly, Eagles, fly. I said it last week that I thought they were the best team. in the NFC, and I'm sipping the Jalen Hertz Kool-Aid at this point, I'm dumping the whole Gatorade bucket on my head. Like, if AJ Brown and Devante Smith are going to have these kinds

of games where it's like, okay, you want cloud coverage over there, we're going to go here. Oh, Devante Smith can go up and get it now. He's got that obvious confidence. They've got the bond playing back in the Alabama days. Yeah, man, Jalen Hertz, and when Nick Siriani is done with this offense and just the way that they play.

They play like a team who doesn't understand how good they are, And of course, Jalen Hertz is that kind of leader, right? Like, he's always had that quiet confidence about him. It's never been one of those things where he's just happy to be there, but he knows how cold he is. He just doesn't have to tell you. I think this Philadelphia Eagles team is starting to resemble

and embody that kind of identity. And week to week, like, even in loss, I see them making the kinds of plays where I'm like, that's going to translate when it's time to, you know, in December or in January, when it gets a little colder. And you're talking about some of these designs. run plays. I mean, Miles Sanders is still in the tuck, right? Like Miles Sanders, I think, is a guy

who can get you 20 touches and make some things happen for you on a week-to-week basis. So I really, really like the Philadelphia Eagles, man. And I know the Green Bay Packers have themselves quite the defensive effort against the Bucks, an underman Buc squad, but still the Bucks in a hot Tampa Bay, you know,

home, I'm sorry, road situation. But I like the Eagles, man. I think that might be the best team in the NFC. Yeah, I don't think any positive praise thrown on Philadelphia thrown on Nick Siriani, thrown on Jailen Hertz right now. I think it's all warranted. Like he has been phenomenal.

That crew has been phenomenal. They have no, they have so much margin for error. The offensive line is a top three offensive line in the NFL. Jailn Hertz is playing out of his mind compared to what we've seen from him previously. Defensively, this team is getting pressure. Like there is so much to like about Nick Steriani, John Gannon and what he did against Minnesota, J. Hertz. Then you have back to A.J. Brown.

Tompente Smith this past game, game of his career. Like, it's all getting right at the same thing. time for Philadelphia. So much that you're right to if you had the Eagles say in 15 to 18 to Baltimore up to two or one even in some of these power rankings. It's the reason they stay at six. The reason that they're just right outside the top five or maybe six or seven wherever I have them. The reason honestly is still is just you you tell me bucks eagles bucks eagles bucks in Philly like that's Brady versus hurts and I'm taking Brady. I don't know what the line is right now. I think it would be a pick-um maybe bucks minus one. I don't know. But I just think that

deep in the postseason in these, you know, head-to-head matchups, quarterback matters so much. And Jalen Hertz has been otherworldly this year compared to preseason expectation. I'm not ready to vault them ahead of Aaron Rogers. She's also playing good football with really bad receivers. Tom Brady, who I think is playing good football with really bad receivers. I think that towards the end of this season, if the Bucks can get healthy, the Packers can get healthy, I'll be able to see those matchups,

hopefully in the NFC playoffs. All right, moving forward. Hold on before we move forward, bucks in that triumbrant of Bucks Packers, Eagles, who do you think has the best coach? Bucks, Packers, Eagles. I think he got to put Lafleur, then Siriani, and then obviously bowls in that situation that they're in. I think that Lafleur probably won for just how long he's done it,

but Sirianni is on his tail. Siriani, I think, is the favorite doing coaches in the year this year for good reason. I think Michael McDaniels is that makes us well. This is a really, really good coaching staff. That is, I always come back to with coaching, maximizing the players that you have and creating easy offense where you're limited, right? And that's what Mike McDaniels is doing

with Tuatung by Loa and creating easy offense. You know, they run more play action and more pre-stap motion than the team in the NFL. They are creating deep shots for two a tongue by Loa and he's pulling the trigger.

I do think that Nick Seriani is entering that tier, that tier one of, oh man, he can maximize. Now, they have good football players. Hertz is good. Agent Brown's good. The offensive line is good,

but he is definitely getting the best out of them that they're playing some good football. All right, biggest mover. The biggest mover was the Jags. The Jags moved up from 2012 and 13. So I want to talk about real quickly two teams that I think that going into this year, we've not had been saying this after week three, but we are.

I think the Patriots and the Raiders are cooked. Oh, yeah. Matt Jones, I think the Patriots, what, one and two? Matt Jones out multiple weeks now with a high ankle sprain. Las Vegas Raiders are 0 and 3. I think only 2.5% of teams since 1990 made the playoffs that started the season 0 and 3. Now, for the Patriots, it's more injury. I think you could see them maybe hit some variance and all that stuff to get.

into the playoffs. But now that Mac Jones is out multiple weeks, I just don't know. And then you saw there was a report out that said, Mack Jones wants to rest a little bit longer, whereas the Patriots want to rush them back, some inconsistency there. That worries me. And for the Raiders, they have a lot of talent. Devante Adams, Hunter Rembroke, Darrell Waller, Derek Carr, Max Prisbury, Chandler, Maxwell, McDaniels has not maximized it. When you go back to maximizing talent, Josh McDaniels does not maximize that. Devante Adams in week one, when everyone was like, oh, my God, the Brevet Packers completely shipped the bed

in trading Devante Adams had 177 air yards. That's total targets and total air, you know, yards down the field that he's receiving those. 177, that's first in the NFL. Since then, 81 in week two, that's 29, 76 in week three, that's 44. If there is a single stat where Devante Adams is ranking outside the freaking top 10, any single week in season, that's a mistake. That's my practice. You need to be getting him the football.

I know Hunter Renfro was out last week. That speaks volumes to getting Devante Adams the ball more. I worry about Josh McDaniels. Fire McDaniels was trending on Twitter last night, and after that game against Tennessee, the owner, Mark Davis and Josh McDaniels got together and had a quote unquote, lengthy, closed door meeting. Those never go well. I've been through three of those. Those never go well.

But where are you at with the Patriots and Raiders? Am I right to say they're cooked? Patriots are definitely cooked. I mean, and there's nothing worse to watch than a bad Patriots team. A good Patriots team was sometimes you grind your teeth watching it because of how monotonous and how mechanical they were both on the offensive and defensive side of the football. But now with Mack Jones out, I'm not, I'm not signing up. to watch Brian Hoyer, you know, and on top of it, if you're talking about the future of this thing,

like, how many losing seasons is Bill Belichick going to be afforded, right? Like, if Mac Jones is ceiling-wise what he might be, right? Coming out of the draft, I didn't have a lot of high holds for Mac Jones. I think it was overstated what he did last year. And the fact that it was only allowed three passing attempts in an NFL football game kind of let you know exactly what the real feelings were about him. And now that you come into this season with him being the guy and all the offensive play calling issues that we have documented and been talking about and seen tweeted out by different reporters, this season is about to be landslide hilariously bad. So if that's the case, I'm cool on New England Patriots football because I don't like watching bad football be boring football.

If you're going to be bad, be at least interesting. Like my Chicago Bears at least, you know, you get to see all the fun and frivolity of just absolute absolute absolute. backwards play calling. And then if we're getting into the Las Vegas Raiders, they're finding every single way to lose a football game in the first three games of this season, whether it be like you mentioned, the collapse defensively,

or what they had against the Titans, like mismanagement of the clock still is happening. You're getting penalties. Like, these are the things. And if we take a look around the league right now, like a lot of these head coaches or offensive gurus, like everybody can't dance the same way. Look at what's going on with Denver and Nathaniel Hackett.

You got Russell Wilson out here celebrating, you know, getting a last drive touchdown as if they didn't punt the ball 52 times, you know, the previous 52 drive. So I'm taking a look at the people that we're supposed to be respecting as offensive geniuses or offensive guys with foresight. And then they get into that head coaching position and it just doesn't translate. It's like a 4A baseball player where it's like, all right, you're in the big leagues now. So are you a CEO?

Are you just, you know, are you just out here? And being the head of accounting just got kicked up to a bigger gig. So the Vegas Raiders right now with the kind of offensive talent that they have, they should be scoring a lot more. And these games shouldn't be lost in the way that they've been lost very early in this season. One more note, I'm McDaniels and the Raiders team specifically. Then I want to get into the game of the week, the shame of the week. Steve Ruiz is banging on the Zoom door to get in here and talk some QB.

So we're going to go through quickly. One thing on McDaniels, I praised McDaniels and Ziegler, Dave Ziegler, the GM coming home from the Patriots as well, we're having a plan, right, coming in and say, hey, we're going to go get Devante Adams, we're going to go get Chandler Jones, we're going to go make some plays, we're going to improve this team. We're going to sign Darrell Waller to extension, 100 refra to extension, we're going to restructure Derek Carr's contract.

They said, hey, we know who the good players on this team are. We're going to do something with those contracts, and then, you know, we're going to go try and get better. And then they cut Alex Lederwood, a starter for this team on one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. they trade away, Trayvon, starting outside cornerback for this team, essentially for a conditional seven-crout pick. Like, I almost feel that a lot of these decisions are,

we are, you know, outside of maybe some of the contract structuring, we are doing what we want no matter what. And I think pride in head coaching can often bite you in the ass, man, especially when you lose games. And we talk about, you know, Belichick disciples trying to bring that, do your job. I'm going to be an asshole every single day to other football teams. And when they don't win, it doesn't work.

and the Raiders right now are winning. DeMonte Adams expressing frustration. Everyone should be expressing frustration. This Raiders team is better than O&3. They're the only O&3 team in the NFL. That is a direct reflection of coaching. 16 point collapsed in the fourth quarter against Cardinals. Against this Titan team that should have came back.

It's a tough, it's a tough situation to be a Raiders fan right now. I apologize if you're out there Vegas faithful. Oakland, faithful. I'm from Oakland. There's still Raiders fans out there. Who knows? All right. Game of the week.

For you, what do you got? I have Chiefs of Bucks. Now, you may ask yourself, wait a minute. the Chiefs look a little clunky, and then, of course, the Bucks look a lot clunky. But I think this is a game that I'm focusing on because not only are the two quarterbacks, but some of the people that are coming back in the storylines, like we talked about Todd Bowles earlier, that defense for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is playing at an elite level. I think in a primetime situation with Patrick Mahomes, these first few games,

it's been the Tyree Kiel referendum on this offense week to week to week now, especially with Tyree doing what he's doing in Miami. I think in a prime time game against that defense, I think Patrick Holmes, Patrick Mahomes will rise to the occasion. I think we're going to see what Andy Reid is really, really about. And that kind of, that would be a Super Bowl type of matchup. And, you know, Mike Evans comes back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I don't expect Tom Brady to have back-to-back bad performances.

And on top of it, Chris Jones is playing at an all-pro level again. So there's going to be some pushback from that Kansas City defense. I'm looking at that one as my game of the week. Obviously, there's a couple out there that just name-wise, and matchup-wise probably supersede that one, but I think I'm going with Chiefs' Bucks. Sunday night football, that game right now is a one-and-a-half point spread. Chiefs go-to-chip-bay, the Bucks a home dog at one-and-half points.

I've seen that line at two and a half, now down to one and a half. So I'm getting bet on the box, the total set at 45 and a half. The Chiefs last week, man, that was an admiration, an outlier. Gus Bradley went into that game calling 65% cover three. And Patrick Holmes eats dinner with cover three. Literally. He eats dinner and there's cover three playing in the background. I don't even know how that expression works if you believe me for a second. This game, though, I felt it though.

I felt this game, this game, this game, 29% cover three against Casey. Play a lot more quarters, a lot more cover one. And it worked, right? They didn't blitz a lot. They didn't stunt a lot. Gus Bradley changing his stripes. I freaking love to see that.

I love to see that. That's freaking awesome. Good for you, Indy. All right. On to my shame of the week. I think this one's phenomenal. It's two bottom five teams in the NFL, in my opinion, with two and one records.

It's the Bears and the Giants, maybe. Bears go to East Rutherford. And I was at the Giants Cowboys game on Monday night. And Daniel Jones, everyone's dogging him on Twitter for playing terribly. This offensive line couldn't protect. Evan Neal was getting absolutely hosed. The receiving court was a disaster. I didn't think he was that bad.

I didn't think he was that bad either. Daniel Jones is playing down an arm and a leg. He's eating dinner to something else. It's a bad situation for Daniel Jones. Kenny Gallaudet is getting bench and then put back in. It's a disaster. It's a disaster. This offense, I think, is one of the worst supporting cast in the NFL.

Evan Neal, a rookie, I think will be a good player in this league, was getting his lunch eaten by Michael Parsons to Marcus Lawrence. And then the receiving core is a combination of Richie James, David Sills, Kenny Galladay and Sterling Shepard. And on the last play of the game, the last offense play at the game, in Garbage Time, Sterling Shepard, long time better in this league, longtime Giant. Seemingly has a non-Catic lower leg injury.

I think he's out for the season confirmed. That sucks, man. That sucks for this Giants team. They had so much hope after going 2-0, easily the worst 2-0 team going into that game, but now it's going to struggle. Again, Daniel Jones is going to struggle. This offense is going to struggle.

No Sterling Shepherd, arguably their best receiver, that sinks. And on the Bears side, I literally wrote my nose. I can't believe the Bears have two wins. Justice Fields has played horrendous. I know that, you know, Stephen Ruiz wants to talk about Fields is just how badly he's performed. And we've talked about how Iber flus and this new era, the Ryan Poles era,

seems non-committal on Justin Fields. I think that's all but sure. I think how they're calling plays, how they're game planning is all but known that this Bears franchise wants to move on from Justin Fields. They're not putting him in a position to succeed, and he does not look confident out there. He is struggling week in and week out.

That's my shame of the week, Bears, Giants. Yeah, there's obviously some regression there. And Justin Fields is not playing like a guy who's got 14 starts under his NFL belt. It has been bad. And he said it. He's played like trash. He said it.

So as long as he's aware of it. And Luke Getsey, by the way, has gotten his ass out coached in two of these three games. So we'll see. But yes, that's the game that I will look forward to watching and covering for the city of Chicago. Bears Giants. It is that time. It is time. It is time to watch the Bears Giants.

I can't wait. You're going to be watching Chiefs' bucks on Saturday night. I'm going to be waiting all Saturday for Bears' Giants. All right. It's time to bring in Steve Louise for his quarterback rankings. He wants to talk a little T-Law, little Jailen Hertz, Jimmy G. Oh, my goodness. And Justin Fields does bring in Steve.

And we are back with Steve Maurice, Ray, Talks and Quarterbacks. You are one of the captains of the. Gino Smith's ship. I know that. And that ship has been flying okay. When are we going to blow that ship up? Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. You've been, you've also been a captain. You've wore the superhero cape for Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence looks good, man. We just, we, we, we talked a lot about this Jacksville Jaguar's team at the top of this podcast. I feel good about Doug Peterson. He's maximizing talents like Christian Kirk and Evan, all these sort of things. Trevor Lawrence is playing out of his freaking mind. Talk him up. Yeah. I, first of all, I had two preseason takes.

Do you know Smith would be fine. He's been fine. And Trevor Lawrence would be a top 10 quarterback. I'm looking good right now, baby. That's all. Hall of Fame. Steve Ruiz. The agenda. The agenda. I'm like the Jerry West of NFL quarterbacks.

Take it easy. Take it easy. You don't want to extrapolate that metaphor. Yeah, yeah. Without the rage issues. I don't have the rage issues. But no, like Trevor, my one concern with Trevor coming into this season was timing.

Like, that was the one thing you could see consistently on film where he wasn't doing his part was the ball would come out late. It wouldn't come out on time. And that would lead to accuracy. issues that would lead to interceptions. We're just not seeing that anymore. He hits the backwards, drop the balls out. And it's out to the right receiver.

It's not necessarily the first read every time either. Like, he gets through his progressions in just an instant. It's like Justin Herbert out there. That's the comparison I see. I think there's still some accuracy concerns. I don't think it's perfect. But I think he can get better at that. And he can make all the throws.

He can make throws outside the pocket. You can roll them to your left. You can roll them to the right. He can play under center. You can play from the gun. He can run zone read. Like, this is why he was seen as, as a generational prospect.

I'm not surprised. And I'm not surprised even after last year because if you squinted hard enough when you were watching that film, you saw it. You saw it around all of the dysfunction

that was on the field for the Jaguars. You still saw a good quarterback and the confidence in him is paying off for me. I'm still going to find a way to blame the timing stuff last year on Urban.

I think he was kicking him if he went to his second professional lead and stuff like that. I think there was so abusive stuff going out behind the scenes because Trevor Lawrence looks like a different man this year. He's playing his ass off.

All right. The other quarterback I want to bring up is Jimmy G. Jimmy G, dude, has an opportunity to start in primetime, which is always scary, always scary. And man, it did not pay off. Jimmy G. looking just like the same Jimmy G that they tried to get away from. He's back and he's playing bad football. What's your take on him? Where is he in your rank? This was like someone, someone went to one of those guys at a carnival that draws caricatures of people.

And they showed them Jimmy G's film and they were like, draw caricature of this. And it was the Sunday night game. Literally, he played all the hits. he played all the hits the blind interception over the middle and then he came out with the new stuff even when he played the new stuff the back of the end zone

and pick six combination that was a virtuoso performance for my and Jimiix album Stephen he added a few songs on the end a few bonus tracks a few bonus tracks and I mean I'm just I'm just relieved

that we don't have to do this oh should the 49ers move from trade lance and stick with jimmy g going forward after the season talk because the answer has been obvious the whole time and and that's the point right like we're not surprised by what jimmy g did no matter how bad it was that's what we expect that's we expect to see those games and that's why the 49ers traded three first round picks to get trade lands another quarterback that i think is flying up the rankings for a lot of people and has like exceeded a lot of people's expectations and you weren't like particularly super low on him versus other people's opinion but still like i think he was outside the top 20 to begin the

season. Jalen Hertz is cruising. And I think he is in an offense that is cooking right now. Offensive lines, top three. AJ Brown's playing really well. Nick Siriani is in his bag. And he is having a lot of fun within that offense. But I also love the confidence. And I also think he's making plays outside of structure. Like there are, do not, do not for a second, in my opinion, say that, oh, this is all seriani. There is a lot of margin for error. Like you can, you can play poorly in this offense because they have a lot of talents. They spend all these things. But he's still, I think, dramatically exceeding preseason expectations. in a lot of ways elevating this offense with his feet and how he's throwing football. Yeah, yeah, my take on Jalen Hertz was no matter his shortcomings as a quarterback and there are

still shortcomings, he's going to be a useful player. And he raises the floor for an offense just because of what he does as a runner and how he throws a deep ball to the perimeter. For me, it was kind of like, he's kind of like Russ, like an early career Russ, where, yes, he needs some polish, but there's enough there to build an offense around it. And you're seeing it with Philadelphia. and I think it goes both ways, the margin for error thing. Sure, the quarterback has an increased margin for error because there's so much talent around him.

But I think that Jalen Hertz gives that offense and that play calling staff a huge margin for error. Because like I said, the run game is always going to be good with Jalen Hertz. And then that bleeds over into the past game because now the defense has to drop a safety into the box. And there's only so many different things you can do defensively with coverages when you have to do that. He's getting a lot of single high and he's taking advantage of it. he's, I think he's bordering on a top 15 quarterback. And I say that after the Washington game where you look at the stat line, I think it was 340 yards, three touchdowns, but it was a little shaky.

Like the ball placement wasn't there. He just had receivers making plays. But that just shows off the floor for this offense. The quarterback can play like a 7 out of 10 game and they still score a bunch of points and he still throws for 300 yards and three scores. What do you see in terms of the things that he still has to refine with that offense? because it seems like when the Russell Wilson comparison, I think, is that because for so long, for a few years there, you really didn't think that they handed over the offense to him, right? It was all, you know, Marshawn Lynch, play action stuff.

But this offense, you're starting to see, like you mentioned, the foundation put in where he is able to do some things outside of, like Austin Gale talks about the structure of the play. How do you think he still needs to refine his game? What are some of the things you're still looking at when it comes to Jalen Hertz? I think it's two things. I think it's ball placement, like micro level, not macro level. I think in the past there were macro level issues with accuracy where the ball wasn't getting to the receiver and they couldn't make a play. Now I think he's giving his receivers a chance every play.

But there are instances, especially in this Washington game, where he made it a little tougher on the receivers than it had to be. And then I think pocket presence is improving. That arrow is pointing up. But there are still some times when he'll leave a clean pocket and miss on a open receiver downfield. But I will say this. Like when he gets outside of the pocket,

I think he's much more confident than he was over the first two years. I think he's making more plays outside of the pocket. I think he's just more confident as a runner. Like he knows what he, like which defenders he can get around, which defenders he might have to throw it away because he's not going to get away from a tackle.

I think he's like kind of coming to grips with his skill set and honing it. And it's fun to watch. And I think he's just going to keep getting better every single season. Like he has since his first season at Alabama. close us out with Justin Fields. He has had a microscope on him ever since the Bears drafted him.

And obviously in his second regime, Ivo Fluss is there, has not played good football this year. And some of the people are like, oh, man, he doesn't have any receivers. The offensive line is terrible. The play calling has been awful. He's not throwing the ball a lot.

The Bears are two and one, but still, I feel a lot of people are low on this bear's team, rightly so. And some of that is Fields. How much of that is Fields? It gives me no pleasure to say this because I was a huge Justin Fields fan

before the draft, and I thought he was going to be even as recently as the offseason. He's the worst player in the NFL right now, the worst starter, regardless of a position. It's just not good. With Baker Mayfield and Joe Flaccoe starting in the NFL right now? Unfortunately, yes, because those guys can complete a pass.

Every field's completion feels like a miracle. Every single one. It's like... Well, you're only going to get eight of them a game now, Steve. Right, right. I didn't tweet. Right. I didn't tweet this out because I felt like it was too mean.

It's still in my drafts. But I was going to tweet that you know the Bears front office hates Justin Fields because they fix the all 22 angle just so everyone else could see how really bad he is this year. They just want to make sure that everyone knows how bad he is this year because it's been bad. Like receivers are the Bears receivers are bad. The offensive line is not great. But there are plays where receivers are open and he has time in the pocket and he either doesn't throw it or he misses the throw every single

time or he runs into a sack. My immediate reaction before you move, what happened? Because you were right, that'd be a high on hit? Like, what happened? Does he have the gifts? Did Chicago break him?

Like, they broke Jason God 20 years ago? Like, what happened? What happened to just the field? Yeah, I think he has the gifts. It's impot. I feel like this is one of those situations where it's impossible to like separate the two. It's a chicken or egg situation.

He has the yips. He's not throwing the ball as well as he did at Ohio State. Like that first interception, where he overthrows. It's a tight end. I don't know which titan. I think it's command. All of them bad.

Just say one of the bad tight ends. Yeah, one of the bad tight ends and the safety picks it off. He's playing like a goddamn robot, Stephen. That's what's happening. He's playing like a robot. He's counting steps instead of dancing. That's what's happening. He's like a white guy like dancing and you can see that he's counting the steps.

That's how Justin Fields is playing right now. But I'm down to jump in that analogy as well. Shout out to Austin. next time we see Austin in the club one and two and one and two and one. Just because I count my steps this means I'm not a phenomenal dancer, guys.

I feel you. I feel you. The chicken dance coming to a wedding near you put on by Austin Gale. As always, fantastic stuff. Make sure you Google Ringer quarterback rankings or go to QB rankings.

Dot the Winger.com to check out his rankings every single week. Will he be making comparisons to white people dancing and counting numbers? It's hard to say. I hope so. This has been Stephen, Ruiz, Austin, Gail, and Jason Gail.

Make sure to tune in to the ringer NFL show every single day, The Island with Nora Prince Idi on Wednesdays to scramble on Thursdays at Social Acadia. And then the ringer preview show, but guess what? Steve Ruiz, Ben Solek, Danny Hyfitz. Big shout out to our producers,

Carlos, and Arjuna. Until next time, Austin, Jason, Steve.