The Ringer NFL Show - Week 9 NFL Power Rankings: 49ers Rise, Rams Fall, and What Is Wrong With Joe Burrow and the Bengals? | Power Rankers

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

Jason and Austin discuss how the NFL power rankings have shifted following Week 8. Jason starts by digging into the Bengals and what went wrong on 'Monday Night Football' (1:18). Then, they discuss Austin’s team of the week, the 49ers, and why he has them so high in his rankings (11:56). Later, they discuss the fall of the Rams (0:00), before talking about Chase Claypool getting traded to the Bears (17:22). Finally, Steven Ruiz joins the show to answer for Trevor Lawrence and talk about Joe Burrow (41:12). Hosts: Jason Goff and Austin Gayle Guest: Steven Ruiz Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Associate Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Could be some college football. Could be more pro stuff. It's a video podcast so you can watch it on Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Follow on Spotify. It's Slow Newsday. Welcome into Power Rangers. Austin Gail here, joined by Jason Gough, every single week to talk my Power Rancers. We get into the show. I don't know if it's Halloween getting into Jason Gough. Guy just rips it up right off the bat, wants to talk Bengals, just gets after it. Talking Joe Burrow, Zach Taylor, life after Jamar Chase. And then after that, we talk about my team of the week.

The San Francisco 49ers, man. Kyle Shanahan with Christian McCaffrey is a madman looking at it. My biggest mover. The Los Angeles Rams dropped down big. We're going to talk Vikings. We're going to talk Titans. that would bring in Steve Mouez for the quarterback rankings. Let's get into Jason Goff, just getting after it to start here. Yeah, we're recording, right? Carlos? All right. Let's get this thing often running because I was forced to watch that fraudulent-ass Bengals team this morning

because I missed Monday night football last night. And let me tell you how you don't want to fucking wake up the day after Halloween with all the candy still sitting around that you can't fucking eat. How you don't want to wake up, is watching Matt LaFleur act as if he got Joe Montana back there instead of Joe Burrow back there. And Jamar Chase, the most dynamic player on their goddamn team not on the field and not run the football against a team that had been gotten their ass,

whooped two or three weeks in a row on the ground. Like I don't, Austin, I saw where you ranked the Cincinnati Bengals, put their asses lower, okay? That team that we saw skate by by the skin of their teeth throughout the playoffs, get to the Super Bowl, all of a sudden, you got a white quarterback that dresses a little snazzy, you know, Joe cool and all this other shit. I'm going to tell you right now. That shit is Fra Jew Lent.

Jacoby Brissette was the better quarterback on the field on Monday Night Football in a matchup between the Browns and the Bengals, something that I didn't think I would say going into that game. So if you want to put it on him, you want to put it on Matt LaFleuror, you want to put anybody, the secondary that can't cover a soul, Vaughn Bell, stop making plays. All of a sudden he can't cover anybody in a too high safety look. That shit was egregious last night on Monday night football. How you doing, brother? I'm obsessed with this cold open here right now.

Like, you come out of Halloween, your kid probably had a good time. And now you're just like, you know what? I hate every single person that's ever lived in Cincinnati. I'm privy to some Cincinnati hate, but my goodness, that was quite the opening. I want to start with the Bengals. Let's start with the Bengals. You already ripped it up here. Cincinnati Bengals dropped from 6 to 10 in my power rankings after what was, like you said,

not a treat, a trick on Monday night football on Halloween. It was an absolute disaster. The post-Gamar Chase life in Cincinnati who's going to be on the shelf with a hip injury, I believe, for the next four to six weeks. Bengals had said, we're not putting him on the injured reserve because he could recover faster because he's built different. I'm doubting that. We'll see when he comes back.

But Jamar Chase is not in this game. They had someone with the last name Irwin getting passes in this game. I didn't even know. I thought it was Steve Irwin for a second. A creative player. I was blown away that that player existed. Cincinnati, the post-chaased era. really struggled to create office.

And Zach Taylor after that game, I'll say this, had mentioned, oh, my bad. I said Matt LaFleurra. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, you're good. Zach Taylor, one of the Sean McVeigh, you know, minions out there, my bad. Zach Taylor after the game had mentioned, you know, specifically the end of half and start of the second half situation where the end of the half, Cleveland goes down and gets a field goal, they get out to 11-0, and then they open up the game with an eight-minute, no, open up the second half

with an eight-minute touchdown drive to take it to, I believe it was 18. zero. And that was a big thing. We go down, just stop. They had like six drives where this game was within one score.

Maybe even seven drives where this game was within one score. Burrow missed some throws. T. Higgins couldn't get open against Martin Emerson. I think that's where the biggest magnifying glass should be.

T. Higgins, when Jamar chases out, has to be the best receiver on this team. Couldn't create separation. He did draw one passenger for fear of penalty or might have been called defensive holding. But every other play,

guy couldn't create separation on third downs. It was a real struggle to be the guy for the offense with Jamar Chase out, and then the offensive line, we know is bad, right? There was a play. I think it was on third down. Jonah Hill steps out.

They bring in six to protect. Samadjee Piron gets the chip on Miles Garrett. He does a spin move that I don't, I was blown away by, and he gets the sack on Joe Burrow. This offense did not have enough excuses for how bad they performed last night. Going back and watching the tape, I don't think as much of it is on Joe Burrow as it is on Zach Taylor as a play collar, refusing to adjust this offense into a post-chaise life. kind of era, and then two, it's on T. Higgins not stepping up. I mean, the offensive line has not played well.

They're going against one of the best defensive ends in football and Miles Carey, if not the best defensive end, you're going to struggle to pass attack. You're also going to struggle to run the football because your offensive line can't create any push. I don't care if it's the Browns or the Tennessee Titans who have the best run defense in the NFL right now. You are going to struggle to run the football every single week because your offensive line is not getting pushed.

It got bullied. It's the offensive line. It's T. Higgins. It's Zach Taylor, who, who right now, I'm calling it. I'm calling it. We had sirens last week. Carlos turned the sirens on. He needs to be arrested or give up play calling.

We saw Nick Siriani in Philadelphia. Guess what? The undefeated Philadelphia Eagles relinquished play calling, and the Eagles' offense looks a lot better with Steve Stricken running that offense. Zach Taylor needs to do the same thing. Stop calling plays for this team. It's not working. Stop calling plays.

Focus on how you use timeouts. Focus on game management and focus on motivating this team. Because someone else has to call plays in Cincinnati. He just doesn't have it. He doesn't have it. They've had three wide outsets more than anybody in the league since Joe Burrow entered the NFL. I know T. Higgins, by the

way, the two touchdown passes, one was on a tip ball, one was on a jump ball. So if you want to put it on wide receivers, that's fine. All I know is, all I've heard about Joe Burrow coming into this season, especially is he was getting ready to ascend to be a top five quarterback.

And in the last few weeks or so, I mean, he put up 481 yards against the Atlanta Falcons, three touchdowns. New Orleans Saints, he puts up three touchdowns. But when it's against a good team, or a team that is better than the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Burroughs numbers ain't what they're supposed to be. So you can't tell me that the play calling is the problem when they're busing these

whack teams' asses. And then all of a sudden, when they go up against a team that might be better than them or on the same level like the Baltimore Ravens, right, or like the Miami Dolphins, they got the win against Dolphins. He was 20 for 31, right? Against the Baltimore Ravens, he threw the ball 35 times, had one touchdown and one interception. All I'm saying is there has to be some kind of reckoning.

for a guy who, one, tangibly, doesn't have a strong arm, right? He's got an above average to sometimes good arm. So if we're going three wide outsets the entire time he's out there on the field and your most dynamic player on offense is not out there, then you've got to hand the ball off. And he's so far into his career now that when you're sending as much heat as the Browns were sending last night, your eyes have to pick up one of those guys.

There were three times where he looked like a rookie quarterback under pressure. You know, if Tyler Board is the best third down receiver and the best slot receiver in the game, you can't tell me that there's not an option route or a hot read or a side adjustment on the menu. So some of these things have to fall on Joe Burrow's lap if we're going to give him all the acclaim and all the accolades that he deservedly got after last year's playoff run this year, what's the excuse? Better teams or good teams against the Cincinnati Bengals confound Joe Burrow in that offense. So if it's on Zach, cool. If it's on Joe Burrow, cool.

if it's on T. Higgins, fine. But in the end, you went to the half with no points against the Cleveland Browns on Monday night football. In the first three quarters of the game, took four sacks, negative 0.45 EPA per dropback. That's the worst of any quarterback this week in the first three quarters. Like, the office just came out flat. It came out really flat.

And do not blame the point differential. Do not blame, oh, they got behind and they couldn't get back into it. No, like they had six plus, seven plus drives where this game was within one score. And they still miss throws on third down. There's one on a corner route to Tyler Boyd that you have to hit. the, you know, gave up sacks when they were trying to protect with six and seven and a chipper.

Like, they struggled to move the ball against a bad Browns defense. A Brown's defense has really struggled to stop the run and even struggled to stop the pass. With Denzel Ward Hurt in the secondary area, like this, in my opinion, was a disastrous performance for the Cincinnati Bengals. I always watched Zach Taylor. I always watched Zach Taylor press conferences because he always says some crazy, yes shit. He's like, we just got to flush this one down on a short week. It's like, there's nothing to flush here. This has happened too many times. You can't just keep flushing every game you play poorly down.

I think if you rank in terms of blame, it's Zach Taylor, the offensive line, Joe Burrow, all deserve blame. But I still hold the fact that Zach Taylor and how he's calling plays is not enough. It's not enough. And Joe Burrow deserves blame. T. Higgins deserves blame. The offensive line specifically left tackle, Jonah Williams deserves blame. But Zach Taylor at the head of it all is, you know, you mentioned running three wide receiver sets.

He is not a, the offense is not multiple. They can't run under center. They had to convert to almost all shotgun. Like, they really struggle. That's all they do is run out. They really struggle to be multiple as an offense. When you look around the league, the best offices in the NFL are being multiple, running multiple formations. They can get under center.

They can run out of the gun. They can run RPO's. They can run play action. That's Mike McDaniel. That's Nick Sirian. That is the top of the NFL right now. Andy Reid and what he's doing in Kansas City, that is the top of the NFL. If you're an offense that has to run 11 personnel, has to run empty, has to run out of the gun,

you're just eventually defensive is going to be like, dude, what do you do it? Or has to have Jamar Chase, Diviences are going to catch up. That was a phenomenal. Are we establishing, though, that? that he may or may not, like, it's still in the air that if Joe Burrow is a more with less kind of guy, right? Because Jamar Chase's, you know, ascendance to a top five, top six wide receiver in the league, you know, that obviously, you know, we can look at Stefan Diggs with Josh Allen. Like, it's not by happenstance that when you get a dynamic player on the perimeter, two dynamic players on the perimeter, it helps a quarterback. But when we look at guys like Lamar Jackson and Patrick Bahams losing guys like,

like Tyree Kill and having to go to, you know, a bunch of dudes. Like, when we start talking about guys who raise the level of play around them because of who they are, I don't know if I could throw Joe Burrow into that mix just as yet. He's not in that tier. It's Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Whatever order you want, trick or treat, fucking pick it out of a hat. They're both fantastic. They're both the two elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

Burrow is comfortably in that tier. I don't even know if he's at the top of it, right? I don't even know if he's at the top of it. There's a handful of other quarterbacks that are entering that second tier of QB. and Joe Burrow might not be number three. It might be number four behind Justin Herbert. He might be, you know, Jalen Hertz is playing a lot better football this year. But the only thing we know, the only thing we know is that Patrick Holmes and Josh Allen

are the two best quarterbacks in the NFL, and they're by themselves. They're in a room by themselves. That was quite the start, man. This is the ringer Power Rankers show. Jason Goff came in hot. I love it after a Halloween, just coming in hot like that. We were going to get into the Bengals. I had the Bengals listed in my rundown here.

I was going to get into them as my, in the segment of I don't know what I'm doing because they still have them at 10. And when you go back and watch the tape, like T. Higgins has to to play better. The offensive line has to play better. Zach Taylor has to play better. I still believe in Joe Burrow in the second tier of quarterback. I still believe in it. And that's why I'm not ready to cast them down in a division game on the road as a loser here or as a big loser in terms of coming outside the top 10. But I think you're right to call them out as a little bit fraudulent. Where I wanted to get as a stop, start of the show is my team

of the week. That's how we normally started here on the Power Rangers show. San Francisco 49ers, man. This San Francisco 49ers team is different. And so much of it is the cohesive from the front office doing whatever they can to maximize the opportunity that they have, you know, in a given season, right? You look at, you know, trading the multiple first-round picks to go get Tray Lance was trying to maximize what they have in Kyle Shanahan and trying to give him a quarterback that could elevate the offense. And then you look at this year, Tray Lance gets hurt. Jimmy Garoppel's back in. Shanahan probably says, hey, Lynch, I need help here. I need more players. I need more talent around Jimmy G because he's not a quarterback that

elevates a supporting cast. They go out and get Christian McCaffrey for multiple day two picks. He throws, receives, and rushes in for a touchdown this week, plays over 8,000. 80% of the snaps, played 100% of the snaps in the red zone, 100% of the snaps in gold-to-go-go-s situations. They leaned on him in just his second game as the San Francisco 49er. They win that game handily, where the Rams had the edge in a buy-week. I'm going to talk about the Rams later. They had the edge with the byweek.

Sean McVeigh versus Kyle Shanahan just gets absolutely pounded in this game. Christian McAfee, the San Francisco 49ers, when big, they moved from, I think, outside the top 10, I had them at 11 to number 8 in my power rankings. And the last, I need your reaction to this game and just how dominant Kyle Shanahan has been against John McVey in the times that they played. I think his record now is nine and three against John McVeigh. And then also what this Christian McCaffrey piece does for Jimmy Garapelow in the San Francisco 49ers offense.

Well, it's amazing because we all know that Christian McAfree is a game changer, right? But he's suffered a lot of injuries. And, of course, playing with Carolina, he's dwelled in relative anonymity in terms of relevance when it comes to the NFL over the last couple of years. I do think that the San Francisco 49 is, because the NFC is so wide open, right? We're talking about the Seahawks and the Giants, I'm sure we'll get into that. And the Dallas Cowboys getting Dag Prescott back, you know, vaulting themselves up there. And the Minnesota Vikings, who I thought would win the NFC North looking like they're going to do that.

The NFC is wide open. The only thing that I do worry about with this F-649 is, and it's common. It's the limiting factor might be the quarterback. A limiting factor might be the quarterback in the biggest games. With Jimmy Garoppolo be something different than we've seen. Now, this is a guy who's led them to a Super Bowl, right? And also the perimeter weapons. You know, we just finished talking about Jamar Chase T. Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

Brandon Ayuk is coming along. He is coming along in that offense. I just, I worry that if you have a versatile enough linebacker or a versatile enough safety and you tell that player, because when you get to the playoffs, you're facing better pitching, right? You're not going to be going up against the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints of the world and whatever this Rams defense is right now. If you have that kind of matchup and you can neutralize Christian McCaffrey, you know, George Kittle is a tight end that.

We've seen probably his better days, but he still is making plays out there. Do they have the perimeter options that can keep a defense, you know, in that too high look instead of bringing a safety down? Those are the things. And if they do, if they can find that dependable perimeter option, if Brandy and IU continues to grow, or they could figure out ways to slot out Christian McCaffrey the way that Kyle Shanahan has. The front office has put all they can on that field for Kyle Shanahan to show how much of a genius he is. and he did that this week. It's just the limiting factor being the quarterback

and also the perimeter options that they have. But the 49ers right now looking good over these last couple of weeks. And you can only expect it to grow as they get more time with CMC and putting them into those positions to score touchdowns, passing, receiving, or rushing. I have a stat for you, Jason Gough, and I was blown away at this. Not necessarily blown away, but just like, there's just so much confirmation bias in this stat here. Right now, the San Francisco 49ers offense ranks,

first in yards after the catch per reception. 6.91. San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan, and Lynch specifically draft players and target players that can make plays after the catch. Even looking at Joanne Jennings, the former Tennessee receiver, one of the best yak players in college football they bring him in. Debo Samuel, one of the best yak players the NFL has ever seen.

Kyle Uscheck, the fullback can make plays after the catch. George Kittle, one of the best tight ends they can make after the catch. Brian Ayuk, Chris McCaffrey, even Jeff Wilson, who was in a lot of like that 21, 22 personnel that they ran this week, two running back sets. He can make plays after the catch. They're winning because of that. Gropolo ranks first in EPA per attempt

when throwing the ball within 10 yards of line of scrimmage. It makes 18th when throwing the ball more than 10 yards down the line scrimmage. They do not want Jimmy Garoppo to do that. They're like, Jimmy, do not throw the ball downfield. Do not throw it over the middle, do not throw it late. You almost have the interception to Jalen Ramsey over the middle of the field.

Throw it underneath. Get to your checkdown and guess what your checkdown is. It's going to be Dibeau. It's going to be Iyuk. It's going to be Christian McCaffrey. It's going to be these players that can make plays for you. That is why I'm buying the San Francisco 49ers team as a deep postseason contender.

It's because they know their weaknesses. They've self-scouted. Jimmy Garoppolo isn't good. That's why we traded for Tray Lance. Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy. He's the only healthy quarterback that we have. We're going to go trade for Chris McCaffrey. We're going to give him every player that we can

that can make plays out of the catch and design an offense that schemes people open at an elite rate. That way we can win games with Jimmy Garoppel as they have. They went to a Super Bowl. They went to an NFC championship. They probably should have won it last year if the safety doesn't drop that interception. So I just love how much self-scouting they've done

and how much they understand where the weaknesses are in the offense. And I think that's why they're going to be able to be a deep postseason contender and avoid obvious passing situations where Jimmy Grable has to push the ball downfield. They're going to get up in the script. They're going to win on early downs. And defensively, D'emico Ryans, even with all the injuries, has been fantastic. This 49ers team is a deep postseason contender, as they have been for the entirety,

really, of Kyle Shanhan's tenure there in San Francisco. Biggest mover. It's right on the other side of this game. It's Los Angeles Rams. Los Angeles Rams, man, go from 12 to 19. and honestly, I think they might be lower. John McBay is now 3-9 against Kyle Shanahan in his career. Lost 31 to 14 in that game.

He also had an extra week to prepare for the game with a buy and was playing at home. That's absurd. The Rams defense is not the problem. They're middle of packing efficiency. They rank 12th in defensive success rate. Offensively, this drop-back passing game is one of the worst in the NFL. 30th in completions of 15-plus air yards. Matthew Stafford ranks 31st and EPA per dropback on second, third, and fourth downs of seven or more yards.

this is a problem that McVey has to solve. Kyle Stanahan lost his starting quarterback this year and has found ways to solve that problem. Sean McVeigh has a Super Bowl winning team with yes issues, no Andrew Whitworth, they obviously lose Von Miller, they lose OBJ. You have to adjust, you have to make plays and they haven't. I think Sean McVeigh, I'm not saying

he's one of the more overrated coaches in the NFL. I'm not saying like, oh my gosh, he's not what people think he is. But man, you have to be disappointed in what he's done with a Super Bowl winning offense, with a super winning team. Yes, they lost players, but you have to adjust, you have to be better.

The Sean McVeigh team is running out of time to make a postseason run, and honestly could be falling further than 19 if they don't figure it out offensively. They don't have a buy week anymore. I thought over the by, they might correct some things, might change some things. They scored 14 points and allowed 24-run answer.

This is a problem in Los Angeles. You know, this is what happens, and it's kind of like the new age NFL that we're looking at. This is what happens when your run game can't be supplemented by your quarterback. They can't move the ball on the ground, right? Darrell Henderson Jr. Cam Acres, I mean, both guys averaging under four yards of carry in this NFL where that just can't happen, right? The Sean McVeigh offense looked the best, let's face it, when they had a power counter running game, right?

At the end of the Todd Gurley run and a little bit over the last couple of years, he's been able to find a back here or there to get a two-week, three-week run just to keep guys off the quarterback. They go out and get Matt Stafford, and all of a sudden, it's yaha time. You can throw the ball 35 times. You don't even have to do play action. You can't do straight dropback, but you can't live on a consistent diet of that. And when you have teams that are more physical than you and are busting your quarterback's ass, the best way to keep your quarterback healthy and accurate is to kind of let them run the football a little bit, hand the football off, lower those hits, lower that exposure.

And that hasn't happened this year with the Los Angeles Rams. And on top of it, you know, the loss of O'Dell Beckham Jr. And O'Dell Beckham Jr. didn't put up, you know, a ton of numbers. as a Los Angeles ram, but the threat of O'Dell Beckham Jr. To one side, people still have to respect it. When O'Dell Beckham Jr. went down and then obviously not there this year, you know, Alan Robinson, here in Chicago, on my full go podcast, the last year of Alan Robinson, I detail week after week after week where that dude, for whatever reason,

wasn't the player that he was in Jacksonville or early on in Chicago. And you see it now. This is one of the most overvalued players in terms of what you're getting production-wise, as opposed to what you are paying him in the NFL. So the fact that they don't have anybody to compliment Cooper Cup outside, you know, Ben Scaronic is a good player, right? Alan Robertson second right now, he's got 36 targets in seven games. He's got 22 catches for 224 yards and two touchdowns

playing on the other side of Cooper Cup. They've been looking for complementary things, whether it be on the defensive side of the football, who's going to get to the passer other than Aaron Donald, right? Leonard Floyd does it every once in a while. On the offensive side of the football, who's going to help out Matt Stafford? It's not the running game. And who's going to help out Cooper Cup?

It's not Alan Robinson the second. So every offensive genius can be an offensive genes when you just move around X's and O's. But when you need actual players out there putting up numbers and actually being productive, this is what it looks like. They can't run the football and they don't have anybody outside of Cooper Cup who can make a play in the passing game. And offensive genius doesn't get excuses, right? In my opinion.

Like, Kyle Shanahan has done more with. less than Sean McVey. Honestly. And like to lose Tray Lance and to do everything over the off season with the idea that Tray Lance was not just going to be your start of this season, but the started moving forward and create an offense around him to lose him. And then to come out of it and still be a better team of the Los Angeles Rams

and still with injuries on defense, with injuries on offense. Debo Samuel didn't play. Kyle Uschek didn't play. Like this. And Sean McVeigh had an, I'm going to hammer at home a thousand times. Sean McVeigh had an extra week to prepare for this game with the buy. You can't lose this game 3114. You can't.

you have to find ways to make changes to the offense. You have to. And I think it's really unfortunate to see where the Los Angeles Rams are now, running out of time to make a postseason run after winning the Super Bowl. And I think a lot of that is because maybe not an unwillingness to adjust, but whether it's unwillingness or incapability to adjust based on the personnel lost. Super Bowl hangover is real too, right? True, true, true.

But even when you were at, I was at, you know, Rams training camp, it felt like everyone had high-high expectations. Jordan Fuller was coming back. They brought him Bobby Wagner. They've had high expectations. I just don't think they changed anything. They didn't change enough. I'm not going to say they didn't change anything,

but they didn't change enough to overcome what we're going to be some concerns. The offensive line was going to take a step back with Andrew Woolworth. They haven't mitigated that concern. The receiving talent is going to take a step back without OBJ. They haven't mitigated that concern. I just still think that there's not enough adjustment to personnel loss in Los Angeles to consider this team a postseason contender. I think they might miss out on the playoffs.

All right. the I don't know what I'm doing segment. We've already covered the Bengals. Jason Goff hit a home run to kick off here, which is fantastic. The other team I want to talk about is the Minnesota Vikings. The Minnesota Vikings are 6 and 1. Minnesota Vikings are 6 and 1, and they're number 5 in my power rankings, the number 2 team behind the Philadelphia Eagles. I put them here because the Twitter mentions are beating me down.

I'm a broken man writing this every single week. They're not the second best team. They're probably not the second best team in the NFC. Why I put them here is because it's going to be easier to be. drop them behind the Cowboys and the 49ers who I think probably are more legit depostings and contenders after they drop a game. And they're going to, right? Zanari Smith after their win over the Cardinals in week eight said, he said that he hates that people still aren't talking about us. The problem is the elephant in the room, the hesitancy to call them a contender

is obvious. It's Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is a disaster waiting to happen when the pressure is on. That's not just prime time. That's not when the bright lights are on in the night games, that's when this Vikings team has to pass. His EPA for dropback on second, third, and fourth downs of seven or more yards is dead last in the NFL. Minus point four three. Dead last in the NFL when he has to throw the football. It's why the Vikings traded multiple day two picks to go get T.J. Hawkinson. It's the same reason why the San Francisco 49ers traded for Christian McCaffrey. Their quarterback isn't good when he has to throw the ball. So what they do is try and win on early downs and add so much talent in the supporting cast,

Justin Jefferson, T. J. Hawkinson, Salvin Cook, Adam, Adam, Eland to where they don't have to have him be a superhero. The problem is when the lights turn on and you've got to go into the postseason, Kirk Cousins is going to have to, at times, be that guy. And I just think he might be one of the worst quarterbacks at being that guy in obvious passing situations. The Vikings are probably going to fall in my rankings. I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm scared to compete. And that's why I put him at number five. I didn't want Vikings to be mad at me. But like, they're going to drop eventually when they do lose a game and then you have to look at the San Francisco 49ers. You have to look at the Dallas Cowboys as probably better deep postseason contenders. have a wrong read there. Hey, let me tell you, this is one of those times where, you know, I'm never mad when

you're hard on yourself, A.G., feel me? Like, I'm never mad when you've got that determination to be self-deprecating or mess around and actually have some accountability for these ridiculous rankings that you put out on a weekly basis. But I will say this, this NFL is just shitty enough for the Minnesota Vikings to be the second best team in the NFC here. I love that. It's just shitty enough, dog.

Like, like Jimmy Garapolo made it to a Super Bowl, right? We still make fun of Eli Manning for making it to two Super Bowls and winning them, right? Like there's just enough variance. There's just enough poor play at other quarterback position. Like if the Minnesota Vikings have to play a playoff game on the road, who are we talking about him going up against not just defensively, but the other quarterback on the other side? We're seriously getting ready to talk about a Daniel Jones,

maybe, you know, Gino Smith, Jimmy Garoppolo, Dack Prescott, you know, type of playoffs here in the NFC. So I'm with you. I've seen it in this division year after year after year with Kirk Cousins putting up really nice numbers in the regular season and then wet in the bed when it comes to those big performances. They're trying to pad that, right? Now you're going to see more two tight-in looks with Irv Smith Jr. And now T.J. Hawkinson, who they just went out and got today as we were recording.

You know, Justin Jefferson is a stud. You know, Adam Thielen has become the forgotten about man. That offense, they've done everything they can to make sure that he is comfortable. and if any blame lands, it's going to land on him. I find it hard to put any money on Kirk Cousins, but the way this division is stacking up and the way this NFC is stacking up and the hell, the way the NFL is stacking up.

You just mentioned Pat Mahomes and Josh Allen, then that second tier of quarterbacks, there's a jumble about eight guys who you could pick from. It's weird because Kirk Cousin seems like he's always on the outside of that jumble, but at the end of the year, I think the Minnesota Vikings, with their coaching hire, with what they did offensively and allocating draft picks.

And now with this move with T.J. Hawkinson, it might be too big to fail, right? Like, I'm not saying the Vikings going to get to the Super Bowl, but I wouldn't be surprised in this year that we're watching here currently in the NFL to see them represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. They're decent enough defensively

and they got a hell of a lot of weapons on the offensive end. I'm not mad at them being number five right now. I'm not mad at it at all. I appreciate you commemorating me. I was trying to be self-depicating. I was trying to say I have the Vikings too high, and I'm an idiot for doing so.

But I appreciate the praise there. What I will say is that Kevin O'Connell, who is a product of the Shanahan McVeigh stuff, is going to be on watch for what he can do with a limited quarterback. I think that's fair to say, a limited quarterback in Kurt Cousins, and the supporting cast he could put around him and the offense he can call around him to mitigate some of that concern.

This is from NextGen stats, more on the T.J. Hawkinson's trade. Christian McCaffrey leads the NFL in yards after the catch over expected. The number two player on that is T.J. Hawkinson. Getting players that can make plays after the catch in this offense, like Justin Jefferson, like T.J. Hawkinson. I think Thielen even still has that, Dalvin Cook after the catch, is paramount for this team to be a legitimate offense on early downs and avoid these obvious passing situations. The other thing to their benefit is that they are six and one. Their path to the number two seed in the NFC and if Philly slips up a game or something, the path to the number two seed is there. And if you are able to secure home playoff games, that's a huge win.

Like you can talk about the Dallas Cowboys were probably favored over the Vikings on a neutral field. The San Francisco 49ers are probably favored over the Vikings on a neutral field. Guess what? The San Francisco 49ers are four and four. It's going to be tough for them to secure a home playoff game, even with some success down the stretch. The Vikings still have that edge. And the Vikings are playing at home, this game gets a little bit easier in the postseason. You have to hope for that.

All right. Other team I have in the what the hell am I doing section here, I think the Titans might have to be higher. Rookie Malik Willis threw a pick and completed six passes for 55 yards in his first career start. And the Titans still won. Now, it was against the worst team in football. It was against Houston Texans, a team that Derek Henry has dominated against in his career. He also tied OJ Simpson and Adrian Peterson with six 200-yard rushing games.

I couldn't believe that in your rankings, man. I could not believe that stat. OJ and Adrian Peterson, along with King Henry is the only guys who got six or more. That's rarefied air. That's rarefied air. I think that the reason I might want to put them higher than 13 is to really just tip your cap to a five-and-two Titans team that last year was the number one seed in the AFC,

a five-and-two Titans team that has problems at quarterback, problems along the offensive line, Taylor-Luwan missing time, and it's still five-and-two. That's Mike Vable for you, man. That's Mike Vrable legitimately getting the best out of his players every single week. He is that classic, tough, you know, gritty style of coach that is going to maximize the talent that he has. Play a good defense up front.

They have the number one defense and success rate against the run. That's Jeffrey Simmons. That's Tierra Tart. That's Deco Atri. And offensively, they had to play a backup. A rookie that honestly probably shouldn't be throwing the ball right now. And barely did.

Six passes for 55 yards and threw a pick. And they still were able to beat up on a Houston, Texas team. It was ugly. It was sloppy. It was gross. But that's exactly how Mike Vrabel wants to play. That's exactly how he's winning games. I think you have to tip your cap to Vrable and company.

I'm tipping my cap. But of the top five teams in each conference, there is only one team with a negative point differential, and that's the Tennessee Titans. Yeah. They're minus six. They've won five in a row, and I'll go back to my baseball step, my Babbap step, of batting average of balls in play.

At some point, it's got to normalize. Now, you get off to this tremendous start, much like the Giants are doing in the NFC, you've given yourself enough wiggle room for some losses down the stretch of your schedule. But with Ryan Tannenhill coming back and with what Derek Henry seemingly, healthy Derek

Kerry again, Mike Brable should be commended for the job he's done. I just, I have a hard time believing in the Titans. I have a hard time in a team that, one, in this NFL, the running game can only get you so far. You get down by two or three scores like we saw, well, hell, one score in the Cleveland, Cincinnati game. These coaches start to panic and they call for 40 straight dropback passes. I think that Mike Grable has done a great job. I think they have a sound core. They're playing well situationally, obviously, because they got a negative point differential, and they're sitting with the second best record in the AFC. I just, I have a tough time believing.

I had a tough time believing in them last year. Like we said, limiting factor. If the limiting factor is your quarterback, I'm not going. But as we take a look at it, the top five teams in each one of these conferences, man. I mean, Buffalo, Tennessee, Kansas City, Baltimore. And right now the Jets and the Dolphins are tied at five and three. You know, the teams that you have some kind of data on are the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills. Right.

And the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, the teams you don't really are the Jets and the Dolphins because of the newness of this situation. I just, it's going to take a lot for me to think that the Titans are going to be one of those teams at the end of the game, at the end of the, at the end of the AFC playoffs. Obviously, we're looking at a Buffalo, Kansas City type of, you know, a collision course. But kudos to Tennessee, kudos to Mike Vrable and kudos to Derek Henry for, for Toten to rock that that much. And them knowing that you're going to get the football, that's the other thing. When you could physically impose your will the way the Titans have over these last couple of weeks, knowing that that Derek Henry's going to get the football, it speaks to something. And I just, I can't put, I can't put my money behind a team that has Ryan Tannenhill when he does come back and quarterback. What I'll say is, you know, looking at my power rankings, the Tennessee Titans are at 13.

The ASC teams ahead of them are the Bills, the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Dolphins, the Bengals, and the Chargers. I think the only team that I'd probably wrong to have them behind is the Chargers. Because, like, you give me Vrabel versus Daly. I'm taking Brable every day in the week. Right? I mean, this guy, Rabel is getting it done with worst talent, whereas Joe Lombardi and Brandon Staley are struggling to have

any week-to-week consistency. Brandon Staley added Kyle Van Hoy, Sebastian Joseph Day, Austin Johnson, all in the offseason to improve the run defense, they still rank 32nd in yards per carry allowed. Like, they're still struggling with the same reasons. They still don't have it on early downs. They're still not throwing the football downfield. They're not calling routes down the football

field. I think that the Titans versus the Chargers on a neutral field, maybe the Chargers are favored, because have the better quarterback situation, a better offense, maybe a point, point and a half, too. But I don't know.

I like the Titans in that game. I think that's the only AFC team I probably have ahead of them. All right, game of the week. I always try and guess where you're going with this golf. I know you had a rough night

or rough morning watching the Bengals. I don't know how upset you are. The two games that I thought you might be looking at. Rams at Bucks, only because I think the team that loses this game is done. Like, I honestly think that the ramp, whoever loses that game,

I think is out, like out of the postseason race and honestly might be just like, you know, looking at firing people, I don't know. The other game where I think there's interesting, interesting stuff is Charters at Falcons, Falcons three-point dogs at home.

Three-point dogs at home against a Charter's team that has admittedly really struggled versus expectations. I'm worried about this Charter's team. But Falcons are first in the NFC South. They win at home all their charters and it's dumb. They could be on their way to a home playoff game in the postseason. But what's your game of the week this week? Where are you looking? I just want to say the fact that we're talking about the Seahawks and the Falcons being the tops in their divisions,

both teams that we were thinking like, all right, CJ Straub, Bryce Young, like, where, which two quarterbacks are going to land where? You got two teams and two cities that thought they would be at the top of the draft who are talking about being at the top of their division.

I'm going, and we just mentioned Tennessee Titans. I'm going Tennessee and Kansas City in a Sunday night game. I want to, you know, one, anytime Patrick Mahomes is on primetime television, I'm trying to tune in here, Jordan and football cleats, man.

The dude, you know, week after week pulls off throws and things that that we haven't seen, you know, since Dan Marino, John Elway type stuff. So I'm going there. And on top of it, Derek Henry against that run defense. Like, I think it'll be a good enough game where, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs, every once in a while get a little leaky in their run defense. We'll see who's starting.

But I'm going Tennessee in Kansas City. I'm going Derek Henry versus Patrick Mahomes on a national stage. What I was kind of surprised by is that line. The Tennessee Titans are 12.5 point dogs. I know Kansas City's good. But we were just talking praise about Mike Braybaud, like 12.5 point dogs, are they expecting? There's got to be the quarterback situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If Malik Willis starts again, I don't know how you bet the Titans. But honestly, I don't know, man. I think that the Titans is 12 and a half point dogs. Yeah, I'm looking for, I like the Titans as a 12 and a half point dog, honestly, even with Malik Willis. Ryan Tannenhill comes back. I don't know. But I think the Chiefs through the better team, 12 and a half is a lot of freaking points. That's a lot of points at home.

40 carries for King Henry. Yeah, he's got it. It's got it. I want to add a wrinkle to our power rinker show because you are Jason Goff. You run the full go podcast. You are Mr. Chicago, as they say. The Chicago Bears have made a very interesting trade, a very fascinating trade. The trade deadline is looming. The Bears just traded a 2023 second round pick for Steelers' wide receiver Chase Claypool.

So they just offloaded Roquan Smith, who was in the last year of his contract for a second and a fifth. And then they trade a second round pick to go get Chase Claypool from the Steelers. who I think everyone knew was on the outs for Pittsburgh. They liked Deontay Johnson more. They like George Pickens more. The Bears, who I thought were selling at the deadline, end up buying here for a player that has a year and a half left on his contract, I guess, versus obviously Roquant Smith's going to be a free agent after the season.

This is an interesting one. This is, I like this for Chicago. I think it's a steep price for Chase Claypool, who has been a flash in the pan more than a consistent roaring flame. Your reaction, right off the cuff here for the Chicago Bears traded at 2023 second for Chase Claypool. These are the kind of guys that Justin feels through to when he was at Ohio State. It's as simple as that. You had you go up and get it guys.

You had your guys who create a little separation because of their physicality. Now, Chase Claypool obviously has had some ups and downs as a Pittsburgh Steeler. But six foot four, 238 pounds, you can't teach that. And on top of it, he's throwing to a bunch of special teams right now. This essentially is Roquan Smith for Chase Claypool. And you get a fourth round pick back along with AJ Klein. That's essentially what this is, right? So I'm not mad at it at all.

Ryan Poles has been out here cleaning house. You look at what he's done since he's taken over. This is a team that counted on guys like Alan Robinson II, Akeem Hicks, Khalil Mack, Roquan, Smith, all those guys are now out. I think these last couple of weeks has proven. And I was a guy, and I've said it on my podcast over and over again. I don't think that the entire building believed in Justin Fields,

and that was evident by the offseason of not drafting and putting people around him. The first two draft picks in Ryan Poll's first. draft were a safety in a corner for a quarterback that you need to develop and find something out very soon with and try to maximize that rookie deal if he's any damn good. So I think these last couple of weeks, the win against New England and the loss against Dallas, which he took strides against one of the better defenses in the NFL. I think something happened there where Ryan Poles or the powers that be in that building got on board with, okay, this is the guy going forward.

We're not only going to allocate these resources in the draft with nine picks after the Roquine Smith trade and a hundred-some-eimed. billion dollars in salary cap room to bettering this offense and further evaluating him, they're doing it in season. So I'm not mad at it at all. I mean, Amir Smith-Marset got cut because he was too involved in this offense at two games in a row, right? Like, you know, Equanimia St. Brown is a very good blocking wide receiver and maybe a fifth or fourth guy. This is the second wide receiver on this team right now. Darnel Mooney is maybe a two on a very good team. That's a guy who is your go-to target. So I'm not mad at it. You get a guy with a big catch radius. You get a big

body dude, a guy who can get you a jump ball or two. You've seen over the last couple of weeks, Nikkii Harry, the failed New England Patriots prospect, who has now found a little bit of life here in these last couple of weeks. He's a big body receiver. So I think they're finding out what Justin Fields wants to do and the kind of routes that he wants to throw and the jump balls and separation that he needs. So I'm not mad at it at all. They're cleaning a house in Chicago. go. I'm interested to see Chase Claypool in this offense is like the number one, right? Because I think that Claypool is a number two,

Claypool is a number three. You like that. I think that's positive. I think that's positive over a lot of other teams in the NFL. But as a true number one, I don't know. I think you have to see more from them. I have not seen week-to-week consistency from him to a point where I think it's worth the second round pick now. If it's the second round pick that they got from the Ravens

who are going to be picking a lot later in the second round in 20-23, it makes a difference, right? Because the bear is going to be picking a lot earlier. but still, I'm interested to see how this pans out. It's the first move we've seen in a long time from the Chicago Bears that actually supports Justin Fields, which you think is a winning of itself. Because Justin Fields is playing a lot better.

You know, I wrote in my power rankings this week that, like, you look at this Bears' offense, it's not as terrible as it was to start the year. Like, in weeks one through four, Fields was 28th in EPA per dropback. Over the last four weeks, five through eight, 13th in EPA per dropback, he's proving a little bit more. And what he honestly has to do, right, and with this Claypool Trade,

the Chicago Bears have $116 million in Capspace next year, which is the most in the league by far. Fields has to make the case for the bears to spend that on players around fields and not players replacing fields, right? That's what he has to do. And I think giving him Claypool gives him a fairer shot in that race and making that decision harder for polls and company as they look at 2023.

I know you had Game of the Week as Kansas City playing Tennessee. It's a big spread. Two of the best teams in the AFC in terms of record, Chiefs favorite by 12 and a half at Arrowhead. I think a game I really like two, though, is going to be Arizona against Seattle. Arizona's favorite by two against Gino Smith and the Seattle Seahawks.

I think that line opened up at three. It's now down to two, some money being bet on the Seattle Seahawks. I know it's harder to play on the road, but man, Gino Smith and this Seahs offense looks good. Pete Carroll looks like one of the best coaches in the NFL could be a coach of the year this season, what they're doing with Kenneth Walker, Tyler Lockett,

D.K. Mekoff got hurt, and he's still having a lot of success. That's Gino Smith, man. I think that Seahawks team might beat Arizona Cardinals even as a two-point dog. I think that's going to be a game I'm looking for. All right, that's going to do it. Let's go ahead and bring in Stephen Ruiz. Talks of a quarterback rankings.

We're going to talk a little Joe Burrell, little PJ Walker, who made one of the most absurd throws have seen by a quarterback, not just this season, but over the last few seasons to DJ Moore to bring that game in overtime. Let's bring in Steve Ruiz. Steve Ruiz is refusing to put on his camera after multiple shots of bullying from me and Jason. He said computer issue, I think he's scared.

He's scared to compete. Are you scared to compete? Yes or no. Scared to compete? I'm not scared to compete. I would not have shown up if I was scared to compete. Who was he competing against? The other quarterback rankers?

Yes, he's competing about everybody in the NFL. All right, let's start with your poster. I'm ready to compete there. I'm ready to compete there. Okay, let's do it. Start with Trevor Lawrence before another excuse in your audio doesn't work. Trevor Lawrence has not playedbook. Trevor Lawrence is one of the most inaccurate quarterbacks in the NFL,

according to True Media's accurate throw percentage metric. He also, from the eye test, is not consistently completing balls down. Football field, when you look at 10 plus yards downfield, that inaccurate metric, he ranks 28th an accurate throat percentage throwing 10 plus yards downfield, not throwing a lot of accurate passes, and really struggling in the red zone. Like that red zone interception is the second or third time this season where we've been like, what the hell are you doing? What are you doing, Trevor Lawrence?

Talk to me why, I know before the season you said he's going to ascend into the top 10 quarterback, why is that still, why should Jaguar's fans still hold out, hope for that. Why should Jaguar's fans still hold out hope? Well, last week before the Broncos game, against the best defense in the league, on the road in London, before that game, he was 10th in EPA per play and fifth in success rate. So you could make the argument that he was already there

before this past week. And then you say, like, what the hell is he looking at on that interception? It's very clear what he was looking at. He just didn't think Justin Simmons, he didn't get the ball over Justin Simmons. The guy was open in the back of the end zone. It was a bad throw. I disagree on that. accuracy metrics. I do think he has misthrows, especially in the red zone.

I think the downfield stuff, downfield accuracy, especially stats, are a receiver stat. I don't care what anybody says. Do you know how hard it is to throw a downfield pass when a receiver is covered? And if you're throwing a covered receivers, you're going to have inaccurate passes. You better are you going to throw a lot of interceptions? I do think Trevor Lawrence has mostly avoided mistakes outside of the red zone, which which doesn't excuse the red zone mistakes. Like he's actively losing them games.

But I think like in the grand scheme of things, and if we're projecting Trevor Lawrence out and talking about what he is as a quarterback right now, 90% of his tape is good. If you just look at the stats outside of the red zone, he's a top six quarterback. The only people ahead of them in EPA per play, I posted this tweet today,

are all in the MVP discussion, Gino, Tua, Jalen Hertz, Mahomes, and Allen. Like he's playing well 90% of the time. if he could just figure out the red zone, and this is like the one of the worst red zone seasons we've ever seen since 2000. It's the 25th worst red zone season by EPA. If he figures that out,

I think he's right on track to where we thought he would be at this point. And he still has the receiver excuse. I mean, they spend a lot of money on those receivers, but they're still bad. Christian Kirk is still the best receiver on that team. I want to add to that golf before you rip into him. I want to say that I still have faith.

I know I came at you hard and I was like, oh man, Trevor Lawrence isn't playing well. What's going on? He shouldn't be top 10. I still have faith that he can be a top 10 quarterback in this league. And I think two of the things that you mentioned are massive for that. One, downfield accuracy is a receiver stack. Go look at the Jalen Hertz touchdown to A.J. Brown, that first one.

AJ Brown stops running his route. He still throws it up there. Minka Fitzpatrick should have a pick. AJ Brown just goes up and makes a play. Right? Like, that's an accurate throw from Jalen Hertz technically, but that's a bigger play from AJ Brown. I think you see a lot of examples of that from teams with good supporting cast.

Now, to your other stat. Sixth and EPA per dropback outside the red zone. You know who's seventh? Jimmy Garoplo. Not because he's a good quarterback because he has support. And I think Trevor Lawrence doesn't. Like as much as they spent in the offseason and as much as they proved head coach with Doug Peterson

replacing a dumpster fire and Urban Meyer, this receiving court, I wouldn't even say his top half of the league. It might be outside the top 20, with Marvin Jones, Say Jones, Evan Ingram, Christian Kirk. I still don't think it's a top 20 receiving core in the NFL. The offensive line, John Taylor has played well, but a lot of the other offensive linemen aren't. This is not 100% on Trevor Lawrence.

I still think as Jack Horse fans, you want to see him playing better. You're still evaluating him essentially in his rookie season. Urban Meyer was not just a bad coach, one of the worst coaches the NFL has ever seen, if not the worst. I still think you have to pump the brakes on saying he's a boss, pump the brakes on saying it's not going to pan out or he doesn't have it. Jason, are we wrong? Are me and Ruiz wrong to still be creating excuses, I guess, for Trevor Lawrence's poor play? Nah, I mean, this is how it goes, right? You know, this is the developmental stage and the evolution of a quarterback. He's got all the raw materials. And if the accuracy part is just a blip on the radar screen or maybe there's an injury there, then I'm fine with that. but I'm still in on Trevor Lawrence.

I just like giving Stephen Ruiz shit about it because anytime he has a bad game, you know, I like to mess with him a little bit. Here's one thing I will say. I do think there is a flaw in, there's a flaw in any way someone evaluates quarterbacks. There's always going to be a flaw. No one's process is perfect.

And I say the one flaw in my process, like relying on film mostly, is that sometimes you need to watch the game. Sometimes you need to feel the momentum. Sometimes you need to feel like the situation, the stakes, quarter, like what quarter it is, what the situation is, how the crowd is reacting. And that will give you a different perception of what you're watching.

Whereas when you're watching on film, you're watching with no sound whatsoever. Like an interception is a bad play, but it's not like you're dwelling on it, like a broadcast would. And I will say this. I think the reason why, even before this game, like I said, before this game, Trevor Lawrence was 10th in EPA, fifth in success rate. Nobody would have thought that those were his numbers based on the discourse around him coming into that game. And I think the reason for the wide perception between what his production

was and the perception of how he was playing is that he sucks in the red zone. And how do most people consume football on Sundays? They literally watch the Red Zone channel. So most of the time they're seeing Trevor Lawrence, they're seeing the absolute worst version of them. Because no one, do not feed me bullshit and tell me that anybody outside of Jacksonville is tuning in to watch the Jaguars play every week. Zero people are doing that. Yeah, I won't lie to you and tell you that. I want to ask you this, since we're talking about young quarterbacks, Matt Ruhle got fired for a number of reasons, right? You know, you put a whole bunch of people from Temple football on his defensive side of the ball and for some reason.

Temple just catching straight. Yeah, I'm just saying. How many Temple guys can you put on a team before you realize that Temple has really never had a sustainable program? But PJ Walker didn't get a jersey for a few games. Like, how big a miss is this? or just speaks to a guy who's working on his craft and finding his moment? I think it's a little bit of both. I do think PJ's the type of quarterback who might not look great in practice

because a lot of his big plays are throws that you might not want a quarterback to make, but he has the arm to pull it off. And I do think there's something to be said about the Capitol they gave up for both Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield and Matt Carow, the three guys ahead of them in the quarterback competition this summer. I don't think PJ was getting the reps and the opportunities to show that he was better. I don't think he got a fair shot at that competition. I think this is the result. And when you get desperate and you have to play him, they didn't really have a choice.

They had to give him reps with the first team. And I think you're seeing that he is a much better quarterback than Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. It's not even close. Like when you turn on the film, it's like watching a different sport between the team now and what they were three weeks ago. I think what he's done, Benjamin's. Solac read a quote from the Players Tribune that he wrote when he was still in the XFL, I believe, that was like, it's just

like, in that quote essentially, just PJ Walker saying, don't count me out. You know, and like, and I think that the what he's done to get back into the limelight is insane. Like the commitment to being like a backup and showing up every single week and trying to get back into the limelight here in the NFL.

And then when you get there, the stage isn't too big for you. I think you have to tip your cap, man. Like this Carolina Panthers team is still bad. They're not going to be, you know, he's not writing the ship to take them into the postseason. But man, what he's done given just like the amount of excuses he could have and the amount of adversity he's been through, I still think it's really, really impressive.

One of the more impressive success stories in a limited sample size we've seen this year. I will say I wanted to add one more note on the Trevor Lawrence stuff because I just can't stop thinking about it. I still think that going back and watching that game, the Red Zone interception was the one they played on Red Zone probably 50 times. And Scott Hanson is like banana banana. But like, I don't know what the hell that means. banana, banana. But the worst play was when you have less than two minutes to win,

and he throws that out a little bit late and inaccurate, it's a pick. Like, it's a great play by the DB, but, like, those plays can't happen. Like, you can't make that throw late and you can't make it inaccurate. And yesterday it was a diving interception, one of the, you know, cooler interceptions of the week, but still, like, that I still think is the bigger concern for Trevor Lawrence. You got time for one more quarterback steamer ways. Who do you want to talk? Where do you want to go? Let's talk to Obero.

Okay. I got a lot of stuff. Can I preface it with this? you weren't here for the early parts of the recording. Normally I do an intro on this show. Jason Goff said, are we recording? Start it. Joe, bro, like, essentially stinks.

And he literally just like fried his ass. No, no, no. That stinks. Not stinks. I'm just saying the place that he was put in might be a little bit premature because the most dynamic player on that offense is not out there. And he's being asked to do things at one, he shouldn't be asked to do. And two, you know, this far along in his quarterback career,

picking up blitz adjustments and side adjustments with what might be the best slot receiver in the game. that was a glaring, glaring inadequacy last night in that Monday night football game. That is totally fair. Like, that's the fairest evaluation. I've heard of Joe Burrow in a long time. And that's what I was,

those were the things I was pointing out in the offseason when I was arguing with Bengals fans. Like he, there's a narrative around Joe Burrow about who he is. And it's like he's the traditional pocket passer, the field general, Tom Brady. I think like in a pregame interview last night, he compared himself to Tom.

or you said Tom Brady was the guy he modeled his game after. That's just not how he plays. It's not what we see on the field. He is a tall Russell Wilson. He is a tall Russell Wilson. Expound. Yeah, continue. I think he needs to get into chaotic situations to get the most out of him.

He needs to, he's a scrambler. He holds onto the ball. He's always going to take sacks. That's always going to be a thing. We harped on the offensive line all last year, and I know this is going to piss off Bengals fans. Justin Herbert had a, worst offensive line than Joe Burrow did last year. Or it was the same. It was just as bad.

There was a huge difference in sack totals. And it's because one quarterback knows how to avoid sacks. The other one doesn't, but he doesn't because that's his play style. And then there is over reliance, at least last year, on perimeter go balls where he's just throwing it up to two talented receivers and they're coming down with the ball. There's no denying that. Like, their big turnaround over the last couple of weeks, almost all of it had to do with Burrow realizing, oh, I could just toss it out to number one, and he's going to catch the ball, no matter whether he's covered or not.

His contested catch rate through the first four weeks or whatever the split was between them being a bad offense and a good offense. He basically caught one contested catch during the bad stretch. He's called like five since then, and obviously he was hurt last night. The Russell Wilson comparison is interesting, because I think I personally have,

every single week for two or three years, have talked about how Zach Taylor is not maximizing what he has in this offense and not maximizing what Joe Burrow has and what he's capable of. Now, I think that similar feedback was given to Pete Carroll with Russell Wilson. And they're like, oh my God, let Russ Cook figure it out. You got to run an offense that cater to his strengths, all that stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a little bit of both and more of both than maybe we're letting on.

That like, yeah, Zach Taylor isn't calling, you know, a creative offensive system and he can only run things out of the gun. It's not a creative rushing attack, all those different things. But like how much of this is that this is what Joe Burrow wants to run, how much of this is what Joe Burrow is capable of and all that stuff. So I'm interested to see if you do get the chance to see Zach Taylor maybe relinquished play calling duties to someone else and the offense changed a little bit. Joe Burrow have more success outside of that. But also, I wouldn't be surprised if that him taking unnecessary sacks, him holding the ball too long and being maybe a bit overly dependent on, you know, certain receivers winning in one-on-one situations persist regardless of the play caller.

I think that's a unique take on what Joe Burrow has done. And, you know, the thing I have is that he's not in that tier of Mahomes and Allen. As much as you want to say that he won't, you know, went to the Super Bowl last year, it's not putting him in that tier and so forth. And the book on him right now, like there was the Mike Sandoz's quarterback tiers article from the offseason. There's an anonymous defensive coordinator saying, if you change the look on him after the snap, he gets into trouble. And if you watch the defensive game plans that have worked against him this year, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, they show him one picture before the snap, they rotate to another coverage after the snap, and his stats haven't been

very good. So it sounds like that book is, it's pretty accurate, and it's pretty spot on, and it goes against what the narrative is with Joe Burr, where he's this smart, he's his brain, he knows everything, he can adjust to anything, he picks up everything pre-snap. That just isn't the case, it just doesn't show up. That's broadcast

narrative, though. I think that there's broadcast narratives and there's all 22 narratives. I broadcast narratives that, it's just easy to lean into that kind of shit. And I think that's where you see a lot of that stuff picked up. And I also think that that post-snap look stuff, I think a lot of the times the stats get put on the quarterback. I'm not trying to defend Joe Bro. But a lot of the post-nap looks

of is also just like play calling getting, you know, wrecked. Like where you're like, it's too predictable and Zach Taylor is running. Like there's a play where Miles Garrett does that spin and Jonah Williams just gets, you know, his lunch eaten. When you look at that play, they kept in seven to protect. Samadjay Piron with the chip and they came out. Like, he still ate up his lunch. And when you look at downfield,

nothing's breaking early in the snap. Like, technically you have P. Ryan on the checkdown, but still like getting to him is going to be hard with, you know, him. I don't know. I still think that there's a lot of inefficiency. They need Mike McDaniel. They need to run the goddamn ball is what they need to do. This is what Mike McDaniel did

that's so impressive so far is that he took the Shanahan offense and he meshed it so well with what Tua was doing well in Miami before he got there and he made it like mesh and like we're seeing the opposite happen in Cincinnati

where Zach Taylor has tried to do the Shaw McVeigh stuff and it just doesn't work at all so they've had to lean into the Joe Burrow parts of the offense and now that's the only thing the offense is and when you do one thing on offense it becomes a lot easier

to defend that one thing. Let's close with that. The 11 personnel merchants are getting exposed. McVeigh, off a buy, losing 31-14, Zach Taylor, who runs a lot of 11 personnel, getting exposed. Like, you have to run 13. You have to run 12. You have to be able to run 21, 22.

You have to be able to run different fucking things or teams are going to catch up. Not only do they run a lot of 11 personnel, they also now are almost exclusively running out of the gun. Defenses are going to catch up. Defenses are going to catch up. Stephen, oh, I almost called you Ceres. That's what your Zoom name says.

But Stephen, always a good time when you jump on. the show. Jason started off hot. We close out hot. This is fantastic stuff. That's going to do it for the power rancor show here on the ringer NFL feed. Austin Gale, Jason Gopp, and Stephen Ruiz. For the rest of the week, we got an emergency ringer NFL show on the trade deadline. A frenzy. Jeff Wilson getting traded, Chase Edmonds, Bradley Chubb, Chase Claypool, a lot of trades to break down here on the ringer NFL feed. Also, no, no scramble this week. So no scramble from Shil Capadia, but there will be an island with Nora and myself on Thursday. Make sure you check that one out. We talk a little bit about a cornyck. You might not know. Patrick Mahomes. Then, of course,

on Friday, the NFL preview show with Benjamin Solac, Stephen Weiss, and Danny Highfits. Until next time, Austin Gail, Jason Goff, Steve Ruiz, the Power Ranker Show.