The Ringer NFL Show - Week 5 NFL Power Rankings: Bills Stay on Top, Eagles Crack the Top Five, and Can the Bucs Still Be Trusted? | Power Rankers

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

Jason and Austin discuss how the NFL power rankings have shifted following Week 4. First, they discuss the team of the week, the Bills, and why they are still in the top spot (2:21). Then, they discuss a few teams Austin might be too high on (11:50). Next, they pick a game of the week and a shame of the week heading into Week 5 (41:13). Finally, they are joined by Steven Ruiz to discuss some of the movement on this week’s QB rankings, and how big is the panic button in Green Bay (45:49)? 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

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Austin Gale, that's me and Jason Goff. Go over my power rankings on The Ringer.com. Not every single team. We're not going 1 to 32. We're looking at some of the biggest movers, the team of the week, all of those things. Who's too high? Who's too low? I am so excited every single week to get on the mic with you, Jason.

How are you doing? Hey, man, I can't complain. We had ourselves actually the best week, if you're looking at it from NFL's stats standpoint of close football. all games, right? Going into the fourth quarter, there was only one game of the fifth, of the 16 that wasn't a one-score game going into the fourth. And that was Tampa Bay and Kansas City, which is my game of the week from last week. So hopefully I'd do a better job the game of the week this week. But we got a lot of close NFL action to talk about. The best product in the world,

man, the NFL. When Scott Hansen on Red Zone's like, this is the witching hour. I like get chills, man. It is like every single time, it's like, oh my God, these are more one-score games. I don't know who's going to win, underdog's glory, all that stuff. For me, shout out to Scott's ladder too, by the way. Dude, I've talked to Andrew Siciliano, small tangent, Andrew Siciliano, who also does the Red Zone broadcast, talking to him at the Combine a few years ago, and he says, like, that's one of the hardest things, is not having to go pee, like, having to, like, hold your bladder the entire seven hours.

And those two guys, Siciliano and Hanson, man, they are absolute specimen. For me, I'm in San Diego. I'm never going to Cincinnati again, living the dream. I finally have in and out as a daily option. If I need to pursue that, animal style, four by four, if you have to do it. it. So I'm living the dream on the West Coast. But let's get into it. Every single week, we're going to start with the team of the week. And this one was tough. I wanted to choose maybe maybe one of the biggest movers. The Eagles are finally inside my top five of my powering. Eagles. Eagles fans are

that they're behind the Packers. We'll get to that later. But the Eagles could have been an option. The Niners could have been an option. We'll probably talk about those two teams later. But I'm going to give justice where justice is due. The Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills are my team of the week. The team that entering the season had the number one odds to win the Super Bowl and they They've only continued to win football games. They've only continued to, like, put an exclamation point on that. They go down in this game against the Baltimore Ravens comeback. I'm going to walk you through it.

Josh Allen was intercepted by Marlon Humphrey a minute into this football game on the road in the rain. J.K. Dobbin scored a TD on the shovel pass from Lamar Jackson a few plays later. Right away, Buffalo is in a seven-zero hole on the road in the rain. Devin Singletary, a few minutes later in the first quarter, fumbles to football. O'Dafi O.O.A. on the force, you know, fantastic player that's really, you know, improving this year for Baltimore. all of a sudden the Ravens are leading 14-3 going into the second quarter. Lamar Jackson went 12 of 16 for 108 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He was dealing, MVP dealing in the rain.

The Ravens' offense then was shut out in the second half. Zero points in the second half. Lamar went eight of 13 for just 36 yards and two picks, including the interception to Jordan Poyer on that key fourth down and three, where everyone in their mother is talking about the decision. I love the decision. The execution was trash. Lamar Jackson missed a wide open Devon Duvernay in the corner of the end zone.

And I think a lot of that, I don't blame him because Greg Roman has and dialed up an open receiver all season. He probably just wasn't expecting it. But still, that is the concern, man. This Buffalo Bills team comes back from a 14-3 hole in the first quarter. Josh Allen is the MVP. Looks insane. Do you have a different take?

I think this Buffalo Bills team deserves all the credit. No, I do too. I mean, this is the best team in football, right? And I think we have maybe a Kansas City conversation at some point in this pod or down the road. But this is the best team in football. But in that game, I did see not the reliance. on the quarterback position is a weird thing to say. But I think, and we've been talking about it in the last couple of weeks, even in wins.

I think they're becoming so dependent on Josh Allen to make every play on offense. You saw in this game, you mentioned the rain. The officials allowed the Raven secondary to be a little bit more handsy, a little bit more physical with the bills wide receivers than we had seen early in the season. And Stefan Diggs is at the top of the wide receiver crop in the NFL, if not the very top. He was handled a little bit this game. So if the styles change, if weather's, changing and you're dialing up these direct runs or these direct play calls in terms of putting

the ball in Josh Allen's hand and allowing him to make the decision in the RPO situations. You have 11 carries. I believe at least eight of them were designed run plays. I think the reliance not only on an MVP type of player like Josh Allen is a great thing to have, but also it might be a little bit too much. Like what we're seeing with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, right? The defense played poorly. They played poorly in their last six and a half, seven quarters.

And if Duverne isn't clicking or if Mark Andrews isn't clicking, they're just getting J.K. Dobbins back. You go, okay, how much can you put on Lamar Jackson's plate? I think Buffalo is going to run into that while also having a great win against a top-ranked team in the AFC. I do think for the offense specifically, and this is a perfect transition to kind of the point I wanted to make on the Buffalo Bills, is that Josh Allen is so much of this offense. But I don't think it's, I think it's less that the Buffalo Bills are focusing everything around him and needing him to do it. It's just he's a superhuman. I think Josh Allen's a superhuman.

I think he's the best quarterback in the NFL right now. I know people will say Patch Mahomes. Josh Allen is the best quarterback in the NFL right now. I know Mahomes has better EPA per dropback. And those things, he's done it against really good defenses. He did it against the Los Angeles Rams in the opening season, the defending Los Angeles Rams. He did against the Miami Dolphins across 90 plays in extreme savage humidity.

And most recently, this Baltimore Ravens defense is no slouch. And he dominates in that game in the rain, especially in the second half. After the first quarter, where he averaged negative 0.52 EPA for dropback, one of the worst quarters of his career. He bounces back in the final three quarters to average 0.3 EPA per dropback to captain a comeback and win this game against a very good Ravens team

that I'm very confident is going to go into the postseason. They're two and two right now. They're still my favorite to win the AFC North. He is an absolute horse running the football too. I think that's another part of this where Lamar Jackson gets all this praise for running the football effectively

and being very rightfully so, the most dynamic runner at the quarterback position. But Josh Allen, you saw that play where he like scoops up the fumble and just runs forward? there isn't another quarterback that does that, like that can wear contact like Josh Allen, and then you factor in his superhuman passing ability

in the final three quarters of this game. 16 of 27 for 182 in a touchdown, and he also rushed for 62 yards and scored another touchdown. This is not replaceable, right? This is superhuman behavior that I think puts the Buffalo Bills in the conversation, not in the conversation, cemented the Buffalo Bills as the best team in the NFL right now,

the team to beat in the AFC, the team to beat in the NFL. And so much of that, like you said, is centered around Josh Allen. He doesn't have, so much of the offense goes as he goes, but I think it only goes as he goes because he's just a different level of talent, a different level of player that you want it to go as he goes because he's going to take you far. Yeah, I worry about them exposing him to hits. And also, you know, him being that guy, you mentioned Lamar Jackson being the runner that he is. Lamar didn't take a lot of hits.

And what he does, it's eye-opening. Josh Allen takes contact, right? And if he's the thrower that we've seen, but also has to endure the punishment that we saw Cam Newton have to endure. I just don't know, especially at that position, I just don't know how sustainable that is. And I don't know just talking about weeks on weeks on weeks, but long playoff runs where you're going to see better pitching in terms of the defenses that you're seeing. You're not going to see some of these defenses that you run into during the regular season.

I just worry that having him exposed to that much, you know, and not being able to tell Devin Singletary, hey, this is going to be the game where you're going to get 20 touches and hopefully you make enough plays that we can win this thing based on our defense. our special teams. Like, if I see the bills start to win those kinds of games where it's like, okay, we don't have to have Josh throw the ball 30 times and run it 11 times for us to win by three or four points, then I'll be, I'll be more secure in feeling like this thing is sustainable.

But until then, I mean, hell, you know, Josh Allen has had one of the more remarkable career turnarounds and it's only been four or five years inside of it. From where he started to where he is right now, it's obviously been historic. It's something to watch, but it's also something to keep your eye on. while they're the best team in the NFL right now. I think you're 100% right in that this Buffalo Bill's offense does not have the margin for error that say the Philadelphia Eagles right now. Whereas if Jalen Hertz has a bad football game or a bad start to a game,

Miles Sanders can take off, A.J. Brown can take off. Devante Smith, they have a top three offensive line in the NFL. That transitions to the last point I want to make on this Buffalo Bill team and why I still am buying them as this best team in the NFL is the defense. The defense for the Buffalo Bills has margin for error, error, right? Like this defense is freaking ridiculous. Ranked second in the NFL behind the San Francisco 49ers who will get to later in total points allowed,

second in yards per play allowed. And they've done it through a lot of injuries. Tadavius White hasn't played a football game. Micahide is still hurt. Jordan Porter just came back from injury and he leads the NFL in picks before. He had two in this game. It's so well coached on the back end.

Sean McDermott is calling a gem every single week to put guys that weren't supposed to be playing, like DeMar Hamlin and these different guys that weren't supposed to be playing football for the Buffalo Bills, but because of injuries are, and they're still playing so. well against, and the adjustments, right? I talked about Lamar Jackson in the first half,

over 100 yards passing in a touchdown looked great. In the second half, 34 yards passing in two picks. That's adjustments. That's a defense that's so well coach that is here to stay. And then you bring up the pass rush. Right now, they rank fourth in pressure rate as a team. Fourth and pressure rate as a team. And it's not coming from one place. Gregor Rousseau, number two in pass rush win rate in the league, according to PFF.

Boogie Basham, number six. Von Miller, number nine, AJ Epinessa, 20th. We bring up the Eagles lot, Stephen Ruiz, on this podcast feed. on the, I believe, the Monday show said, the Eagles offense has so much margin for error. I'm buying them. I'm buying the consistency every single week. All the same things, all the waxing poetic on the Eagles offense

and how high that floor is should be said about this Bill's defense. It has margin for error. It has such a freaking high floor. It can survive injuries and can survive Rain. It can survive Lamar Jackson, Matthew Stafford, Tuot, Tuot, Tua. This defense, in my opinion, is the best in the NFL and is not going anywhere. Yeah, and they're versatile, too.

They can go, man. and they can go zone. And, you know, we in Chicago saw it here for a decade where you have a six foot four, 250 pound middle linebacker who if you're going to play cover three or you're going to play too high safety, you can drop that guy in the middle and he's a condor out there in Tremaine Edmund. So they've got defensively, they stay fresh, right? You mentioned three or four guys. Two of those guys are part-time pass rushers, right? So they stay fresh and they get to the quarterback in Cayo Eelham as well. You know, we talk a lot about the draft all the time. This dude is playing, this dude is playing some really, really good football for a young player.

So I like the bills. Don't get me wrong. I do like the bills. I'd like to see them, and it's only four games in, but I want to see them win with a little bit more versatility, a little bit more multiplicity in terms of, hey, there's going to be a boring one. We're going to hand this football off

and move you out the way for a good four quarters. Depth along the defensive line, that's what I spoke to. And I just talked for a while about the Buffalo Bill's defense and didn't even bring up maybe their two best players, their linebackers, right? Tremaine Edmins and Matt Milano are freaking insane. I'm so glad you brought them up. They've been banana land.

And I know they're playing behind a really good defensive line. And that helps linebacker play, especially in the run. We have guys that are taking on two blocks and creating openings. But, like, Milano and Edmonds, man, are fucking bawling out. Too high, too low. Getting into discussion now, we're talking about some of the best teams in the NFL, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs. Those are one and two on my list. They have two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

You can trade. 1A, Mahomes, 1B, Allen. You can swap those guys back and forth. For too high, there are two teams that I have to bring up. These are teams that I think I'm too high on. And when I look at my Twitter mentions and people are calling me for me dead and hoping I die on the streets, whatever it is, it's these reasons. I have the Green Bay Packers number three, and I have the Tampa Buccaneers number five. And I'm sorry.

I hate you. I'm sorry. I hate you. I'm sorry. I hate you. I'm sorry. I'm not ready to fade Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady right now. But as as the evidence pours on, and I tweeted about this earlier today, Aaron Rogers obviously went through a traumatic breakup with Shane Lee this offseason. He got a tattoo because of it. His haircut looks blasphemous because of it. And people are drawing, you know, comparisons to serfs up penguins with that haircut. He's talking his shaved hair behind his ears. I saw that. It's gross. During the overtime coin toss, I was wondering what the hell is going on there. He's making dramatic changes to his appearance as he goes through a suffering breakup and struggles with bad work conditions.

Receivers are dropping footballs. Devante Adams isn't walking through that door. And Tom Brady's not that dissimilar now. He's just now, the New York Post sent out a tweet today saying they're hiring divorce lawyers. Brady and Giselle. He's going now through a traumatic breakup. He's got kids. He's got a family that he's going to have to think about. He made some dramatic changes to his appearance. His cheekbones cave in every single week. It's like his face gets skinnier every single week. And he's dealing with bad work environments right now. Julio can't stay healthy. Mike Evans is getting suspended.

Chris Godwin just coming back. Rob Bernkowski is retired. Both these guys are getting old, going through breakups and struggling with work. Never have they been more relatable. Are these the reasons why they are third and fifth? Like, you're giving me all the reasons why they should be lower on your rankings, there's here is why they're 30-and-fif. I,

Austin Gale, will not, despite all the reasons to pour on them, despite all the reasons to pour on them, will not fade

Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady. I won't do it. That is a dangerous game. These guys, once they get through the breakup,

once they get through some of these things, Aaron Rogers' hair grows back, all that stuff happens, I'm buying them deep in the postseason. I know they haven't played well to start.

They both have played like shit. But you're giving me what they will be, Austin. I need to know what they are now. Tell me what they are. You right. No, no, these power rankings come out weekly, right? If I was to give you what, I don't know, what I thought the chiefs will be down the stretch, right?

Yeah, that's fine. No, what they are right now. The Green Bay Packers right now are not the third best team in the NFL. The damn quarterback is telling you this is not sustainable. This is the same guy who was telling you to relax two years ago. So I feel like he's got the pulse of the team right there. He knows what's happening in front of him. And you talk about a guy who doesn't want to look bad.

Aaron Rogers is that dude. I believe Aaron Rogers is the dude who already obviously has his Super Bowl. So looking bad now going forward, it's all legacy stuff now. The numbers, the MVP's, he does not want to look bad. And he especially doesn't want to look bad with a coach who we called out two years ago and won that fight, right, with that front office. And now you're sitting here, wait a minute, you've got Alan Lazard. What's my guy's name, Rash Dobbs or whatever the hell his name is?

Yeah, Romeo. Yeah, Romeo. Yeah, exactly. Like, that's the problem that we're having you. Nobody on that perimeter is making enough plays. And you damn sure don't want to turn into the hand of football off team, even though that's where they should go with Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon, there's no way in head.

That defense, that defense is keeping them afloat. Rishon Gary has turned into the star that they hoped he would be after driving him out of Michigan a couple of years ago. That team right now, and I thought Minnesota Vikings will win this NFC North. I still think they will. I can't, I can't. I know you got a whole bunch of numbers. you out of throw in my face, but I cannot sit here and tell you that the Green Bay Packers

are one of the class teams and organizations right now in the NFL. Maybe week eight, maybe week nine, maybe week 10, but not right now as we head into week what, six, five? I'm going to say something and I don't know if you're ready for it. You're right. You're right. You're right. There is. Ladies gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. This pod is now over. I'm going to say something. I'm going to say something. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm I'm going to throw some numbers at you and just detail how right you are and how bad this offense and how bad Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady are playing right now. Rogers right now ranks 22nd and EPA per dropback through week four. Twenty second, that is lower than Jimmy G.

That is lower than Cooper Rush. That is lower than Marcus Marriota. That is lower than Andy freaking Dalton. And everyone will make excuses. Yeah, the offensive line has been her. And Romeo Dubs is dropping balls. Christian Watson's dropping balls. The Cowboys have Mike McCarthy familiar and they have one of the worst receiving cores and one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL.

They just signed Jason Peters off the street to play guard. He looks like a mobile home out there, and he's still, Cuba Rush is still playing better than Aaron Rogers right now. Aaron Rogers averaged up the target is 30th in the league. That is not going to get it done. He's tied for second with 10 throwaways this year. He's throwing at and behind the line of scrimmage at a high percentage of his throws. He's checking the ball down.

He does not trust this offense. It is bad right now. Why are they still third? Because I believe he's going to get through this breakup. The hair is going to go back, and you are going to see Aaron Rogers and Mike Lerfleur figure this out. Like they're going to figure this out. That's why they're saying at three. For Brady, 15th in EPA per dropback. But he is not getting pressured. First in pressure rate allowed.

He is only getting pressured on 18% of his dropbacks. Why? He's first in time to throw by a country freaking mile. 2.2 seconds on average golf. That is freaking insane. He's never thrown faster in any point of his career for a whole season. So if he maintains this, it'll be the fastest he's ever gotten the ball out in the history of his career. And why is he doing that? The offensive line is hurt. He does not want to get hit any more than Giselle already has hit his confidence and hit his emotional stability. But now he is getting the ball out and there's just not enough, you know, healthy playmakers making plays with ball in their hands after the catch. Julio Jones is not that guy.

Mike Evans has never been a yak monster and Chris Godwin is constantly hurt. This offense is struggling to create explosive because they can't block Brady long enough for him to stay in the pocket and get the ball down field. And the Tampa Buccaneers rushing offense ranks 23rd in Yars. before first contact per attempt. Again, more evidence that the offensive line is struggling. Tom Brady needs to be all the way invested, 100% locked in into being a superhero for this team. As does Rogers in Green Bay, if either team is going to maintain this 3 and 5 ranking on my power rankings, is if either team is going to play deep in the postseason. Do I buy Tom Brady and Aaron Rogers turning into superheroes late in the season? Yes, I freaking do. I will not be caught on old takes exposed,

saying the jury is out on Brady and Rogers just as they go through these breakups. I buy the long term. Yeah. Yeah. At some point, though, he's got to fall off the table. I'm not saying it's going to happen this year, whatever the case may be. Well, we heard that the Wednesday practices were now off for him immediately. I was like, red flag, because at some point, you're going to go into a rush stretch and adversity is going to hit every NFL football team. And when you're looking around and your general isn't there on an excused day every single week, you know, yeah, obviously that's the God. You give him whatever time he needs. But when that losing happens, everybody's got problems at home, right? Everybody's got problems with their bank account. Everybody's going to start to

look for new realtors. Like this is, you know, and Todd Bowles being there, and Todd Bowles being there instead of Bruce Arians too, right? Like all these things that we look at here, this is how it starts to kind of trail off. This, this Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, they won by defense in the first couple of weeks of this season. And then when the defense has a bad day or you have miscues on special teams, can you look at Tom Brady and say, hey, we need 40 throws out of you and 35 points. Well, they almost did it against the Kansas City Chiefs. He was just going up against a guy who had a more diversified offense and the ground attack with the Kansas City Chiefs now with Pacheco getting some runs in there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what this Bucks thing is going to look like because, you know,

O'Dell Beckham Jr. is still out there and we're talking about the Giants. We're talking about the Packers. We're talking about the Rams and all these other teams. He's going to need a target that can take it to the crib. You know, Chris Godwin is a really good receiver, right? But he's more of a possession type of dude. Mike Evans, same guy, red zone monster, first down monster. They need to be able to take the top off that defense, even if they get a few possessions or a few passes,

I should say, with decent blocking, right? Because he's getting rid of the ball so damn quickly. They still don't have anybody who can stretch the field. And I think that's what Tom Brady at this point in his career needs at least a guy that can take a couple of deep shots of game. They don't have that right now. Leonard Fournett is not getting it going offensively the way he was last year.

So the Bucks, you know, they're going to have to grind out some of these games. You're going to take it back to Tom Brady when he first entered the starting quarterback, you know, Stratosphere with the New England Patriots when they were running the football. And I think that's what I don't know if you can go back, especially with him being Tom Brady. As I said before, and I think I'm going to say a lot of it on this podcast throughout the season, you're right. You know, you're right. I think the closing point I'll make on that and then I want to get on some teams that I think I'm too low on. The closing point on that is what they desperately need, what Rogers and Brady desperately need.

I don't know if you've seen Goodwill hunting, but it's when Rob, Robin Williams goes to Matt Damon, and he's like, it's not your fault, and just keeps crying. Matt Damon keeps crying, and he's like, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'll be there Robin Williams. I will be Robin Williams. I will be Robin Williams to Rogers and Brady right now, and I'll hold them, and I'll say it's not your fault. And now Brady and Rogers are going to turn it around and they're going to be in the MVP conversation come January. We'll see. It's not your fault. Teams I'm too low on. I want to put these two teams together and get your take. We're going to start with the Atlanta Falcons at 23 and the Seahawks at 24. Both teams coming off wins, most recently. Gino Smith is playing really well. Let's start with them. Gino Smith leads the NFL in EPA per play

and completion percentage above expected. Those two stats are very stable week over the week. They're very stable year over year. It's why they're coveted in the analytics community. I sat at my keyboard in the coffee shop yesterday, Starbucks specifically, and read that like four fucking times. Because I did not, I could not believe, I could not believe that Gino Smith is in this position through four weeks of the season. I think that it is fantastic to see the success of Gino Smith. I think the quote about, you know, they wrote me off and I didn't write back is phenomenal. I think he's playing really good football. I think Benjamin Solac on extra point taken, which is a podcast that comes out on Tuesdays on this feed, made an excellent point at the

end of that podcast where he talked about how the stereotype around evaluation of black quarterbacks is that they can't do what Gino Smith is doing. And Gino Smith has come in and proved so many people wrong and it's so good for the evaluation of black quarterbacks moving forward. He is running the Shane Waldron offense to a T, colored by number, making freaking plays. He's getting the ball out on time with actually throwing with anticipation, all things that because this league is dominated by old white heads that have been doing this since the dawn of time and all that stuff, do not understand black quarterbacks can do. I think Gino Smith is doing so much for moving evaluation forward and just being and just being

exactly what he's been since even coming out of West Virginia, throwing with anticipation, throwing on time on all those things, and through due years in the league having a ton of success now and reaping the rewards. I know the Seattle Ciyadhs aren't going to go deep into the postseason. I know they're not going to win the freaking Super Bowl this year, but I do think it's just such a great success story in Seattle, specifically with Gino Smith and how they're having football. And I know people want to make the comparisons to Russell Wilson and the memes and stuff. We need to appreciate a really good thing here. And I know the Seattle Seahawks are 24.

Maybe that why I'm bringing them up is maybe I'm too low. But I am in love with the success story of Gino Smith in Seattle right now. I mean, show me a quarterback who was drafted to be the dude whose career took the turns that it did, right? You've never, you never heard of a quarterback being punched in the face, right? and jaw being broken and derailing. Let's keep it funky. It derailed his career because now you're out. And when you're out on an NFL football team, you are a ghost.

And if you're a ghost as the quarterback, it's dunzo. So then he now has to kind of rebuild not only his confidence, but his trust in NFL locker rooms. And then you go forward and he never really got the shot. And let's face it, going back to some of his, you know, some of the evaluations of Gino Smith coming out of West Virginia was a lot of the shit that you said that people say about Black Quarrow. I'm on record 15 years ago as saying, and at that point, I termed it a mobile quarterback

because the mobile quarterback was the worst coach position in all of sports, whether you go down to high school, up to professional, you know, guys need to win games. And in high school, when dudes are just trying to win some games, hey, look at that one read and take off because you got the legs to do so. And then you keep winning games doing that, and you find the special ones who could do it at a level that can't do it at anybody else. Meanwhile, you got these kids out here in Cali and Texas going to these 707 passing camps. So the proliferation of the actual raw materials is like branched off in the two separate categories.

And then all of a sudden, yeah, these white dudes other than Steve Young and Fran Tarkington running around and making plays athletically. And it had to be factored in. So I'm happy to see not only that we can actually evaluate people as whatever they are instead of putting them in these little pockets. and also leaning into certain things, right? It's okay that Jalen Hertz and Josh Allen are playing the way that they are playing and winning football games doing so. There's a few ways of skinny cat, but it will always come back to this is the only sport that you have a wall of protection

for what is the most important player on the team. And he's winning the games, or I should say not winning the games, but he is performing in a way that you would hope that a pocket passer can perform. And he's a mobile quarterback as well. well. So I'm happy for him. You know, it's good to see the dude. I'm happy for anybody who is, like he said, written off and comes back and performs at their true talent or expectation level. I don't think the Seahawks have a whole lot of talent around him outside of D.K. who got carted off. And, you know, shout out to Tarek Woolen, by the way. This guy is

blocking kicks and he's picking off passes. We saw him in the preseason game here in Chicago when the Bears played the Seahawks and he made him plays in that game too. So they got a young little core and I don't think Pete Carroll is long for this gig. So hopefully whatever coach they get in the next year or so, two years will grow with this young team. Maybe is Gino Smith the dude? I don't think so. But is he a guy that you can win with?

I think he might be. So good for him. I'm glad he's reclaimed his time as an NFL quarterback. I think you made two like really phenomenal points in that. And that like that last point of like, is he a guy you can win with? I think that Steve Ruiz tweet out earlier in the year that like black quarterbacks have not been afforded that luxury of like this is a game. manager, this is a guy that you can win-win because they've been cast away so quickly.

And I think it's correlated to the other point you made. The black mobile quarterback is one of the worst coached fucking positions or players in the league in sports. Because like you said, they're coached to first read move and all those different things. Gino Smith, I'm not saying is like ending racist stereotypes around black quarterbacks, but it is moving the conversation forward for those who are willing to freaking listen. You know, for those who are willing to see what is happening right now and willing to listen. And I think that's just a phenomenal story.

people who are still talking about Lamar Jackson has to prove something. You know what I think? I know. I know. And like you said, too, like the Seahawks defense, I think is still, like, awful. I think they're 30th in EPA per play. Like, they're not playing well enough on defense to, like, really be a dominant team in the NFC. But I still think the success story is worth having the conversation around, are they too low at 24 on my list? At 23, the Atlanta Falcons, are they too low? Because this offense is actually playing well. It's multiple. It's offense, specifically in the running game, is far exceeding expectations.

this offensive line is getting push. Right now they rank first and yards before first contact per attempt. And people are like, oh, the L.S community always makes up these random data points on Sundays and all this shit. That is saying your running back, on average, is not getting hit. No, not getting hit until 2.84 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, on average. That is very good. That is evident of open holes and getting pushed along the offensive line.

Chris Lindstrom, the offensive guard, right guard is playing phenomenally. Caleb McGarry, right tackle, who has had past protection problems in his career, is killing people. This most recently, in their win over the Cleveland Browns, I am convinced, I don't know if you've seen Sopranos, but there's that episode in season two where he's like got fever dreams. We're actually watching it right now. There you go. So he's got fever dreams in season two. He's waking up in a cold sweat, like seeing like talking fish and shit. Cleveland Browns are in Sopranos level fever dreams about the Atlanta Falcons offensive line because they were getting absolutely dominated pancake after pancake and those things. This Atlanta Falcons offensive line and their skill players

with Drake London and Kyle Pitts are good enough, in my opinion, but his Falcons seem to maybe be a bit higher than 23. I think the issues are they still don't have like a legitimate clean dropback passing game. Like Marcus Marriota is still not having a lot of success as a straight dropback passer, especially on third downs and in the red zone. But still, there are enough pieces here and enough buy-in to like Arthur Smith is cooking that this Falcons team might have a young core similar to Seattle in that it's not as bad as you think it is.

And maybe they aren't the 23rd, you know, worst team in the NFL. Maybe they are a bit better than that. I don't know what your read is on Atlanta. Are they more than just a fun team? Are they actually better than 23? where's your head? I think they are a fun team that the foundation is getting laid. For instance, here in Chicago,

we would kill for it to feel like this, even though the record is the same. Yes, great point. And if I would name you Avery Williams, Caleb Huntley, and Tyler Alger, and expect you to understand those are the people that are running the football for the Atlanta Falcons after Cordero Patterson got hurt, I'd be surprised, one, if you name them,

and then two, I would wonder if you are a little bit into NFL football. more so than the rest of the aspects of your life. But no, like you mentioned, the offensive line has been outstanding, and you have to be multiple when you have a guy like Marcus Marriota because you have to supplement what he's not giving you in the passing game with his legs and the action, the boot actions and, you know, the misdirection stuff. Like, if you can get tricky and get out there and also grind it away, like, we always

like to think of exotic play calling as it being in the passing game and being multiple in the passing game where, hell, give me the old school, you know, Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco 49 is exotic run game or you know the way Sean McVeigh when he first got to the Rams and you saw Todd Gurley and you're like okay that is an exotic run game like the San Francisco 49 is now with Kyle Shanahan and

Yush Check and Debo Samuel so you can be exotic in the run game as well and I think that's what the Atlanta Falcons have done simple fact they just don't have enough talent on the offensive side of the football or enough established talent like you mentioned everybody's wondering what the hell is going on with Kyle Pitts well you know he's the only guy

you really got a key in on until Drake London starts to make some more plays. And you got to have a guy to get it to them routinely. And right now I think Marcus Marriota is just a placeholder on a team that's afforded themselves a lot more goodwill than anybody thought. Everybody thought this would be one of the worst four or five teams in the league this year. Get a draft pick, draft a quarterback, and then you move on from there.

But Arthur Smith was talking to shit first week in season, man. So I can't knock them. You know, they're two or two right now. They're playing tough football. And that's all you can ask when you aren't a talented team. team I wanted to get on that I think I might be too low on and then we'll get into the biggest mover at the game of the week, the shame of the week, and bring in Steve Ruiz for his quarterback rankings update. The Dallas Cowboys, man, we were on this podcast a few weeks ago and I wrote

them off. I was making fun of them. I was making fun of McCarthy. Dak Prescott was her. I doubt some in flames. I've been working on my headline writing for this podcast. The right I have here, the headline I have here is life after Dak hasn't actually been the depths of hell. I think a perfect, you know, a perfect representation of that. You remember when Shane Battye for the Heat won the finals. And he came back to open up and he's like, The reports of my demise were premature. That's what the Dallas Cowboys are. Reports of my demise were premature.

The reports of the Dallas Cowboys demise were premature. They are playing good football coming off back to back to back wins, three consecutive wins with Cooper Rush under center. I am not going to get on this podcast and say there's a quarterback controversy. I'm not going to say Cooper Cup has this team playing harder and playing faster like you've seen on some of the TV shows. But the bottom line is that they are playing good. But since week one, Cooper Rush has this offense top 10 in offensive EPA per play. They're running the football effectively.

Tony Pollard and Zeke Elliott are playing well. And they're still not completely healthy, right? They're still not completely healthy. They just recently got Michael Gallup back. They're battling injuries along the offensive line. But they're finding ways to win football games and actually put together competent offense. And defensively, Michael Parsons is putting on a defensive player of the year campaign. I've ever seen one.

Trayvon Diggs is playing better than he ever has. I don't care about the interceptions last year playing better than he ever has. And yeah, they have consecutive wins against. Bengals, Giants, and commanders who have all had their woes this year. But I look ahead to week six, or week five, excuse me. The Rams are vulnerable, man. I know they go to Los Angeles. I know it's going to be on the road, but the Rams are vulnerable.

Seven sacks on Monday night. I know we're going to get to that game later. But, like, this Dallas Cowboys team is not dead. They are not in the depths of hell. Jerry Jones on the radio today, I think, said, DAC will not play this week. He's not healthy enough to play this week. But, man, he's close to coming back.

They are number 16 on my list, and they might be too low. Yeah, I'm cool with them being a little bit higher because Cooper Rush did exactly what he was supposed to do. He met his moment. You know, this is what happens when you got a guy's waiting in the wings and he does everything he needs to do in practice. He does everything he needs to do in meetings. And he finds his time and you don't overwhelm him putting the game on his back.

You know, they've been, they've relied on him a little bit more than you rely on a backup quarterback because he's played a little bit better than a backup quarterback is supposed to play. And it's okay to say that. It's, you know what I mean? It feels like when we get, it's like when we get into these LeBron versus Jordan dumbass conversation. where it's like, no, you can, you can appreciate the other one too, right? It doesn't have to be one of the other.

This is why you have a backup quarterback, and I know there's a couple of podcasts, a couple of famous podcasts that I've heard the last couple of days talk about the, you know, how, what happened to the backup quarterback. Shout out to Bumani Jones and him, but like, yeah, man, this is what it used to be when you had Dave Craig and Steve Bono and all these guys and waiting in the wings. Mark Brunel and those dudes, like, you're supposed to have a guy who's competent behind the main dude. Now, salary cap restrictions and all the other things. where you're trying to allocate a certain amount of money to a position.

They drafted a guy. He waited in the wings. He got his opportunity. Like you mentioned, Michael Parsons is going dumb. And everything that we thought he was going to be, this dude, when I was doing Big Ten radio with my man Anthony Heron, we talked about Michael Parsons on a weekly basis. And of course, COVID hit and everything hit the fans. And he sits out that season.

Kind of forgot how dominating a player he was going into the draft. And lo and behold, we see him not only play every single damn position. seemingly on the edge and in their sub-packages playing middle and roaming the field. That way he affects the game in so many different ways. He's taking the challenge of being the next best defensive player in the league and he's not, he's not, you know, shying away from it. He's talking crazy to everybody out there on the field. He's one of the fastest players on the field.

The dude is a, he is a wrecked play waiting to happen. And don't, you know, don't sleep on to Marcus Lawrence and his return to this roster. They moved on from a certain set of linebackers, right? Where it was Jalen Smith and Layton Van der Esh and dominating and relying on those dudes to now a different crew. Like they got their younger crew rolling in there with their vets mixed in as well. I like the Cowboys. I also understand, too, you know, sometimes you play better when you're sick because you're focusing a little bit more. Offensive game calling, they're playing a different offensive game because they feel they're sick at that quarterback position, right?

so they don't want to overwhelm a dude. I wouldn't be mad. Of course, Jack Prescott is Dak Prescott, but call it a couple of games when he comes back the way you've called him with Cooper Rush and see what you can lean on, right? If Ezekiel Elliott wasn't the fourth, was it fourth pick in the draft a few years ago,

you know, we'd be talking about Tony Pollard probably taking his job by now. Like, act like you're acting, have that profile for a team and offensive play calling that you have with Cooper Rush, just up it a little bit with Dak Prescott and not put all of the onus on Dak Prescott. And I think that's massive credit to,

Mike McCarthy and the players rallying around being sick to use your kind of expression there. Like being sick and knowing that DAC is out, we have to play better. We have to collectively be better. I think they've done that. That's not because Cooper Rush is a better leader and all that stuff that makes headlines on ESPN. That is because this team recognizes they need to be better for when Dak Prescott gets back. I think the other thing to credit too is Kellyn Moore and Cooper Rush putting together game plans week and week out where he can execute. Steve Ruiz, I think, had a fantastic take on. Rush would be a top 10 quarterback in this league if he had even like a top 20 arm. He doesn't and they're making up for

that he has to throw with accuracy and anticipation to get this offense to move, but still, they're recognizing those weaknesses and moving forward. Speaking of assistant coaches, Kellan Moore having a lot of time, assistant coach, defense coordinator, D'Amico Ryans is the transition I want to make. He is, he is, I have, I'm practicing my headline writing. I said that he's in his bag and Jimmy G. doesn't have to change his stripes because of it. San Francisco 49ers put on a dominant defensive display on Monday night football against Las Angeles Rams, seven sacks in this game, Tala Noah, Hufanga, who constantly,

He instantly gets compared to Troy Palomalu. I don't think those comparisons are absurd. He did train and talk with Troy Palomalu a ton in the pre-draft process. He's someone that when I sat down and talked with Talno Hufanga, that guy wants to be great. He wants to be the best. And he is showing out to start this year on that Demico Ryan's defense. The 49ers defense ranks first in yards per play aloud

and first in defensive EPA per play. I am absolutely in love. D'emiko Ryans should be on a short list for a lot of teams for a head coach in 2022, all for what he's done with so little in San Diego. Francisco, battled injuries with Nick Bosa, battled a rotating door of cornerbacks. This San Francisco 49ers team is my biggest mover this week. They go from 14 to 10. I was admittedly fading the San Francisco 49ers when they had Tray Lance.

I even faded them when Jimmy G came back into the fold. But the reason to not fade the San Francisco 49ers is that if this defense under Domingo-Reyans continues to play like this, which I think is sustainable, maybe not to this degree, but sustainable across the season, Jimmy G does not have to be anything more than he's ever been. limit the mistakes, get the ball to Debo and let this boy cook because DeMico Ryan's going to limit big plays

and he's going to create, have it plays. I am love with this 49ers defense. They're my biggest mover 14 to 10. Three weeks from now, you can already pencil in my game of the week's submission and it'll be Chiefs 49ers because I think the next couple of weeks you got the Panthers and you got the Falcons

if you're 49ers fans out there. Those are two wins. D'emico Ryan's, what he's done against people that I've been celebrated in this league, you know, and recently celebrated, because he handed Nathaniel Hackett his ass, even though they lost 11 to 10, right? And then he goes up against Sean McVeigh.

And that, I don't know if that line is not as trustworthy as obviously it's been in the last year. Of course, there's a Super Bowl run. They've mixed it up a lot. You know, they've had a lot of different combinations. There's no Andrew Withworth on the left side. But DeMico Ryan's pretty much told them boys, hey, 10 and in, you won't win.

If you can complete 10 yards or less, you know, in terms of air dropbacks, I don't know. I don't know if what I'm seeing from the Rams is a cautionary tale on all the offensive guru stuff because nine points on the road. Sean McVeigh scored six points two different times before this. So this is his third fewest points as a play caller for the Los Angeles Rams. in his tenure here. And if it's Alan Robinson, who's not getting open or they're not looking at him, but Tyler Higby and Cooper Cup can only do so much. And Cooper Cup's not going to take the lid off the defense anytime soon because you can't drop back. D'Amico Ryan's knew exactly how to play that team, and he's got playmakers, too. Traverius Ward is out there playing as high level

of corners you could play in the first four games of this season. You mentioned Funga. You know, Eric Armstead last night got banged up. You didn't really notice, right? Like, they've got, you you know, Emmanuel Mosley, I think, is a really, really good player. Drey Greenlaw is back from the injury last year's injury. And on top of it, they dropped two or three picks last night. True. They dropped two or three picks that Matt Stamford was gift wrapping for him. That thing could have been closer to a shutout than we realized.

So as we're celebrating coaches, sometimes I think coaches get too much credit, especially on the offensive end. If we're celebrating coaches and guys who can mastermind a scheme that can win you a ball game, put me at the top of the list with Domeico Rhyans because, man, that dude, that dude has shown you this season and at the end of the last season, how he can take a talented defense and make him play to another level.

I'm right there with you. I mean, my biggest takeaway, and why they're the biggest mover is D'emico Rines in that defense, but my other big takeaway, something, D'emico Rines is here to stay, and so are these Rams' offensive concerns. Because the offensive line is dog shit. Like, they are not playing well this year.

Colton, Coleman, Colton got hurt in this game, I think twice, had to leave the game twice due to an ankle injury. that is not going to help. Joseph Nobom has been one of the lowest ranked past protectors at left tackle so far this season. And Matthew Stafford is struggling because of it, specifically down the football field. I don't think Alan Robinson is not getting open. I don't think Cooper Cup is not getting open. I don't think it's any problem really with the skill players. The problem is the offensive line is not protecting enough for Matthew Stafford to get the ball downfield. He has three completions, 20 plus yards down the field.

Kenny Pickett has two and he's played a half. Like this offense can't get the ball downfield. D'emiko Ryans knows that. I know that. Your mom knows that. Everyone knows that. And that's the problem. And it's because of the offensive line. All right, really quickly, we've got to bring in Steam Ruiz. I want to get to your game of the week.

And then my shame of the week, that's where you look at the best game next week. And I look at the worst game, and we're going to have to watch them both. Oh, my God. Well, looking at the next week's schedule, you know, we already talked about this. There's not a lot out there for us. But Bengals Ravens, you know, a classic AFC North matchup, a hard hitting as always. But you get two of the premier quarterbacks in the game, and Joe Burrell versus Lamar Jackson.

I think, I think Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow are going to have to go on a little bit of a run here. Because they're looking around and all we heard about was how this was the new quarterback wide receiver combo to be feared. And it's been, it's been okay this year, but it hasn't been premium to where we expected. I'm looking forward to seeing what this Ravens defense has after they went up against the bills and Josh Allen, go up against another terrific young quarterback. And of course, Lamar Jackson, man, you know, his numbers may not say it, but I don't think there's any player that's more value. to their team than he is. You can put an average quarterback in some of these situations,

and I don't think there'll be a hell of a drop off for a lot of these teams. You put an average quarterback in the situation with the Baltimore Ravens, minus the Tyler Huntley situation that we saw last year where we won a few games. But other than that, man, I think the Ravens and Bengals,

that's the one I'm looking at for the game of the week. I'm with you. I think it's one of the tighter spreads next week. Ravens right now at home, favored by three over the Cincinnati Bengals total set at 48 and a half. the Ravens desperately need Greg Roman to figure it out. I think Ruiz and Soak on this podcast feed have talked about a ton.

Ruiz wrote an entire article about just how alone Lamar Jackson is in this offense. How he, I think, has 13 of the team's 14 touchdowns. He's rushed or thrown 13 of the team's 14 touchdowns. They're running, you know, routes short of the sticks on third down. There is nothing going right for this Baltimore Ravens offense in terms of inside a structure. Lamar Jackson, we talked about Brady and Rogers needing to be a superhero in their offenses. He needs to be more than that for this Baltimore Ravens team. consistently win football games.

And it's why they're only three-point favorites at home over the Cincinnati Bengals. And we brought up that fourth down play earlier where people will talk about the decision to go for on fourth down every single week because people don't understand analytics and don't understand win probability. I don't care.

The execution of that play is on Jackson. And I think because Devin Duvene was wide open right at the start and Lamar Jackson in a quote after the game said, I saw him late. If I saw him right on time, I would have thrown that. It would have been a touch on all those things.

I just don't think he's expecting anyone to get open like that. Like he's not expecting anyone in this offense to get open by design. And I think that's why he wasn't even initially looking at DuBernay in that because of just how flawed this passing game has been and how flawed, you know, Greg Roman has been at, like really developing this around a good pocket passer, a good pocket passer in Lamar Jackson. My shame of the week is Titans at Commanders.

The headline I wrote for this is I want to cry watching both these offenses. And I do. I do want to cry watching both these offenses. There was part of me that wanted to go Steelers at Bills because the Bills are 14-point favorites. and I think Kenny Pickett's going to be eaten alive. There's part of me that wants to watch any game with Carolina because I think Matt Rule and Baker-Mayfield are the biggest disaster of the NFL's ever seen.

But I am sticking too. Titans at commanders. Commanders right now are two and a half-point dogs at home, the total set at 42 and a half. This Washington offense ranks 30th in EPA per play on early downs. The Titans rank 30th in point differential, Washington 32nd. I was on this Wensk trade being stupid really early.

As soon as they traded essentially a second and third-round pick for the entirety of Carson-Wen's contract, I knew that this Washington Commander's era was going to start off poorly. Carson Wentz isn't it, and they're struggling to build an offense around a roller coaster, a legitimate roller coaster where the highs are high

and great, and you see these deep balls at Jahan Dotson, but the lows are literally horrendous. He's taking bad sacks, throwing interceptions, all those things. And for Tennessee, if Derek Henry isn't going for this offense, it's not going anywhere. And now you have the rookie trail

in Burke's going to miss some time with turf toe. The offensive line is so bad in Tennessee that I don't think this Derek Henry's success is even sustainable. He ranks 28th among the 29 running backs with least 40 plus carries this season. in yards before first contact per attempt. A stat I bring up a lot on this podcast

because it is really evident and predictive of future rushing success. He is getting hit at or behind the line of scrimmage too often to have sustained rushing success in this offense, and that's because of the offensive line. And Ryan Tannahill has been under pressure on 39% of his dropbacks this year. That's the third highest rate in the league.

Because, again, Taylor Luan out for the season, this offensive line is bad. The commanders are terrible. The Titans are terrible. This is my shame of the week. I'm scared to watch this game. I think it's just going to be terrible on both sides. Yeah, all you got to say is Ryan Tannanhill versus Carson Wins.

And that's reason enough for it to be the shame of the week. We will not be talking about bad quarterbacks when we bring on Steve Ruiz. It's going to be Aaron Rogers, Zach Wilson. Aaron Rogers and Zach Wilson and Joe Burrow. Let's go ahead and bring in Stephen Ruiz. I already told the listeners we're going to talk a little Aaron Rogers, Zach Wilson and Joe Burrow, but you're officially on the podcast now. Ruiz, you were just talking about how you stay up all night, Sunday,

and then you work all day Monday, and you honestly never see your family or anything. I just want to say we're here for you. We're here for you if you need anything. Yeah, I might need a new wife soon. She might leave me. Oh, no, don't say that. Did you guys just get married?

Don't go, don't follow up the Giselle Brady tier here. Giselle Brady, we're together for a while. Yikes. Tom Brady, he's just like me for real. Yeah, that's what I've always said. Stephen Ruiz, Tom Brady. Same dude. Family, family breaking up because of football, man.

Steve Ruiz, Steve Ruiz, Steve Ruiz, going through a breakup, potentially, Tom Brady going through a breakup, brings this to our first quarterback. Aaron Rogers also recently through a breakup. The fault in his stars being Shailing Woodley. Let's talk a little Rogers. He has not played well this year. He has not played well this two second and EPA per dropback. I dropped that stat earlier on the podcast. Why isn't he playing well? Is this what he is now? Is it over? Tell me, how big is the panic button in Green Bay? It's so hard with them because you watch and you can kind of see that he doesn't trust his

receivers, but you also, I feel like you have that in the back of your mind. You just assume that this was going to be the case going into the season. So it might be a little confirmation, bias, but he's just missing throws, missing throws that he didn't use to make. And maybe that's a chemistry issue. Maybe the receivers aren't running the routes at the right depth. But if this was any other quarterback, we wouldn't be giving him that excuse. And I think that's the biggest difference between what he is right now and what he's been the last two years when he won MVP is those high-level throws and the accuracy, it's not

where it was. It's not the best in the league. And I think with this supporting cast, it kind of has to be for Aaron Rogers to produce as he has been for the past couple years. Is the difference the fact that he's always had somebody that he can count on when these things were happening with other people, got a chance to talk to James Jones, who was one of his receivers back in the day about it.

He said, if he untrust you, he's not going to go to you for a little while unless you prove it. The problem is right now he's looking around. He doesn't have many people he could trust at all, right? You're not going to Randall Cobb. You're not going to Tony. These are the things that he has been able to rely upon before. And now that he has Dobbs

and now that he has Alan Lazard and Christian Watson, And what do you see as being the way out other than repetitions and just, you know, the next few weeks working his thing out? Yeah, I think so much of their offense, the last two years was Devante based. Like he'd run the bubble screens. He'd run like the fades if they try to play press man. And those are the throws that aren't really hitting right now. Like he's hit Dobbs for a couple of fade balls. But he doesn't have, he doesn't have that guy where he knows if he puts the ball in the area, the guy is going to go get it.

the Packers don't have that right now. So, like, I don't know what the solution is unless it's like Rogers turns back the clock and just starts hitting every throw and placing it perfectly. But right now, like, it's not all on the receiving core. I want to, like, make that clear. He is missing throws. And he is not, he's not throwing to open receivers every time like he was the last two years. And I think there's a difference between him and what he's been.

And that might be more significant than what the supporting. cast has turned into. I think that with Rogers, and we'll move to Zach Wilson next, but with Rogers and Brady, I know that you and Nora talked a lot on the earlier podcast on this feed about how Mahomes and the Chiefs win in this offseason say, we got to be different. And they have. And they've had a lot of success. I think for Rogers and Brady, maybe it's not all because they had other things on their

mind and going through other things. But like, they did not commit to being different. And they're now struggling and trying to learn that this season. Like, they're trying to learn to be different, commit to the run game and all those things this season. And I think Aaron Rogers is struggling with that transition. he's struggling with a lot of transitions in his life right now. Zach Wilson is the next player we want to bring up here.

I think him in the fourth quarter looked phenomenal in this game. And he looked like BYU, Y'I.U. Zach Wilson, where he's playing Yolo Ball, living and dying by Yolo Ball, throwing things like where you're just like, man, I don't think this is sustainable, but it is looking fun. In the fourth quarter, he looks good. The first three quarters, he looked awful. Where are you at on Zach Wilson? Is this a net positive for the Jets? Or you still have the same concerns and nothing has changed?

Nothing has changed. No, it's not a net positive for the Jets. Jets. It hasn't ever been a net positive for the Jets since like 1916. I thought we could maybe give the Jets fans some love, but I guess that's fair. No. And I'm, I'm kind of hesitating to go on this, this rant because they're playing the Seahawks next week. So this will almost certainly look bad in hindsight because that defense is so bad. But man, I don't know how if you're a Jets fan and you watch that tape from last week, I don't know how you come out of it feeling good unless you're coping hard. Because it was ugly in all the ways that it's been ugly for him. He can't make plays in structure. He just can't do it. And I know he's not like a short quarterback, but he is very small. Like his body is small for a quarterback.

And he looks small in the pocket. Now, the Jets offense line, terrible. It's bad. It's hard to play quarterback behind that line. But he reduces their margin for error because pressure affects him more than it does other quarterbacks. Like Justin Herbert, for instance, who is huge. He's unaffected by pressure in the pocket.

The Charter's line is worse than the Jets, but it doesn't affect him. as much as it affects Zach Wilson. And I think that's the big problem. And that's one of the reasons why I wasn't a huge fan of him before the draft. I don't think he looks like an NFL quarterback. And he doesn't react to pressure like an NFL quarterback should. And that's still the biggest issue.

And I don't know how you overcome that issue because so much about playing quarterback in the NFL is dealing with tight pockets. You mentioned the out of structure plays that aren't being made or that are being made. When you have a quarterback like that, because similarly to what, what's happening here in Chicago where, you know, it's one of these next generation quarterbacks that you're trying to figure out what he is and what he isn't and how you can evaluate it. Do you think you're getting a fair evaluation going forward with the lack of offensive line that he has in New York? Or are you just ready to kind of commit to if they're

going to win or if he's going to be whatever he's supposed to be, where when he evolves into the, you know, the Zach Wilson, they thought he would be on draft day? Does it have to all be out on the boot, does it have to all be at different launch angles, and is that sustainable? I think this is one of those cases where you kind of have to watch the film to judge him, like fairly,

because the stats are going to look bad. Even if he was doing well, it's kind of like a Trevor Lawrence situation last year where the stats are going to look bad no matter how well he plays. But like Fields, there are plays to be made, and he's not making them. He's not making them consistently.

I tweeted this out, but if If Garrett Wilson has any other quarterback, if he has Joe Flacko out there, he goes for 150 because he was open on a number of plays. There's one play. I think it's the first drive. The jet, no, second drive. Jets go into empty. Garrett Wilson gets matched up with a linebacker on an option route. The middle of the field's wide open.

Garrett Wilson beats the linebacker. Of course he does on an in-breaking route. Zach Wilson doesn't throw the ball. He tucks and runs and takes a sack instead. If you can't make that play, you can't be an NFL quarterback. If you can't look at your best receiver on a linebacker with all the space in the world and anticipate that throw, anticipate it coming open in a clean pocket and you run into a sack, I mean, I don't know what else you need to see.

I don't know what else you need to see. I want to dig into that more because I think so many Jets fans want to believe that Zach Wilson can improve, want to believe that he can be more than just a trick shot artist, right? I think you mentioned that earlier in the feed that he has to hit the trick shots for the Jets to win. And he did. is that sustainable? No. When you're playing beer pong and you miss, but you get the ball back and you've got to go behind the back. If you're only making those, you're not going to win consistently beer pong games.

You've got to freaking drain your easy ones. You've got to hit your island. You got to hit your shots. Jack Wilson is not hitting your shots. I want to dig into it more, but I think the question, the biggest question is, can that be fixed? Can he see Garrett Wilson match up on a linebacker next week and actually hit that throw? I don't know. I want to say that's coach bowl, but I have no fucking idea. Joe Burrow is the last quarterback I want to bring up, and then we'll let you go. Joe Burrow had a rough first two weeks and has played better of,

late. I think he's second an EPA per dropback over the past two weeks against bad defenses, whatever it is. He's playing a lot better, though. Is that the real Joe Burrow, or is the first two weeks of real Joe Burrow? How much is this is Zach Taylor being conservative? What's your read on Burrow and how he's playing football right now as he goes into Goff's game of the week, Bengals,

at Raven? I think it's like in the middle where he's still trying to figure out the perfect middle ground between being this he wasn't reckless, but he was a quarterback willing to take a chance, like willing to hold onto the ball even if it meant a sat. willing to give his receivers a chance, even if it meant an interception. The last two weeks, and especially this last week,

there were more plays to be made downfield, and he didn't try them. Instead, he, like, checked the ball down quickly, and I think that's a reaction, a direct reaction to the offensive line and the problems they've had. But, and I think he's only taking, like, two sacks in the last two weeks after taking 13 in the first two weeks. Take more sacks, man.

You're not Joe Burrow if you're not taking more sacks. You can't be this type of Joe Burrow and be a top 10 quarterback. I think he could play like this and continue to hover around like 10 to 12, like in the Derek Carr type of range. But that's not why you draft Joe Burrow. You draft Joe Burrow to make these off script throws. He's going to do the accuracy stuff in the pocket. It's not like a Zach Wilson situation where you can only do that out of structure stuff.

But it just doesn't, the offense isn't as scary if Burrow isn't holding onto the ball. If he's checking the ball down quickly, I don't think, I fear the Bengals as much as I did even when they were struggling early in the year. Because the one difference between the last two weeks and the first two weeks, besides Joe Burrow getting rid of the ball quicker, is that they're playing defenses that aren't playing too high and playing conservative zone. They played defenses that gave them a chance to make those plays downfield. And he took them and he made some of them.

But I think in order for this to work like it did last year, he needs to be more aggressive and they need to fine-tune this. And I don't know if Zach Taylor is the guy to do that, but it might be on borough to kind of figure out the perfect middle ground. Last thing I have, Stephen, I've asked you this, and I didn't talk about this beforehand. I just want to get your off-the-cuff assessment of this. Who's having a better start to this season?

Jared Goff or Matt Stafford? Oh, man, it's going to pay me to say it. It's Jared Goff. It's Jared Goff. But this is like the importance of supporting cast. And this is why you can never really separate a quarterback's performance from his supporting cast. That's because, like, Jared golf is playing on easy mode right now.

If you watch those Lions games, I know they're scoring 35 points a game or whatever it is. But he still looks like Jared Golf, like 80% of the time. I do think he deserves credit for making more difficult throws, more throws on the run. And I've given him credit for that in my rankings. But there's still the Jared Golf moments. Like, there's like four game. And I think that's going to continue. I don't know how sustainable this is for the Lions offense.

But, I mean, I have, like, we all saw Stafford on Monday night, man. I can't, you can't deny it anymore. He's not playing well. I know the offensive line has a big role in that, but it's, it's bad. It's bad, man. It's bad. It's been bad. We talked a little bit about how bad that offensive line is for Matthew Stafford.

I don't know how much better that gets. People are blaming Alan Robinson. People are playing whoever they want to. I think the offensive line in Stafford are probably the biggest, biggest suitors of blame. I get smarter every single week we bring you on, Stephen. It's my favorite part of the show. Just kidding, Goff.

I love when we just, it's just me and you. But, uh, you can tell the truth. I get smart every time I see Stephen, too. I get dumber. I get dumber. Oh, stop. What the hell is this? What the hell? We're just trying to figure out the middle here.

We're just trying to figure out the middle. That's going to do it. This has been Austin Gale, Jason Gop, and Stephen Ruiz. Thank you so much for listening. Reminder that on Wednesdays on this feed, you have the island with Nora Princeziati on Thursdays to scramble with Shield Capadia. And then on Fridays, you have the rear preview show with Danny High Fitz,

Benjamin Solek, and this guy. Steve Ruiz, big shout out to our producers, Connor and Evan's, Arjuna Ramper Paul and Carl's Chiroboga. We are excited to continue the power ranking shows. Until next time.