Inaugural Power Rankings + TNF Preview

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Speaker 1 Coming up on today's edition of Heed the Call with Dan Hansen and Mark Sessel, where we dig into all 32 teams with our inaugural power rankings. Mark, are you ready? Big spot for you.

Speaker 2 It is a big spot. I hope I'm ready.
That's all I can say. I'm not sure.
I don't know. It's possible.
Yes, I hope so.

Speaker 1 Where does your team fall? Well, you're going to have to stay right here.

Speaker 1 The Heed the Call podcast.

Speaker 1 was led out of the building by security.

Speaker 1 Today it happens to the best of us. Welcome to Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler.
The midweek show, a big show.

Speaker 1 We will have the Seahawks 49ers week six preview, a big change of quarterback up there in Foxborough. And of course, the debut of our power rankings.

Speaker 1 Mark, we are busy little beavers.

Speaker 2 We are. We're busy bees as well.
I mean, we've been, I feel like we have been, I'm sitting in this little fake studio.

Speaker 2 There's no reality to this. It's just a corner of a room.

Speaker 1 Nothing's real.

Speaker 2 Nothing.

Speaker 2 Yeah, nothing stays the same because like if you're Robert Sala a day ago, you had an office.

Speaker 2 It's not real.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Justin. I would just say in general, like we know that feeling.
I know the feeling of suddenly, wait, there were a bunch of things on my desk. Are they going to just FedEx that to me?

Speaker 2 Is someone scraping my name off the glass panel to my cube? Yes, they are. Things change.

Speaker 1 It's like, oh,

Speaker 1 how could

Speaker 1 Robert Sal not got a chance to address his team or talk to any of his other fellow colleagues ever again without any notice? Yeah, I can't imagine how that feels

Speaker 1 for Bob Sala. Anyway, by the way, big,

Speaker 1 big, big, big announcement.

Speaker 1 This was something that came down over on the old Twitter recently.

Speaker 1 Pod Chaser, which is a

Speaker 1 it's it goes it calls itself the world's largest podcast database. That sounds pretty official.

Speaker 1 I don't mind that.

Speaker 1 We were tagged in a post on Tuesday because we are ranked number two up three spots in the Pod Chaser 25 for hottest up-and-coming podcasts of September 2024.

Speaker 1 Heed the call with Dan Hanses and Mark Sessler on the Underdog Network. How about that, Ceci?

Speaker 2 Well, you know, I have been critical at times of the subreddit of the listening public.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 I don't know what's going on with Gravedigger. That was.

Speaker 2 Can I just say this?

Speaker 2 You know, so before every show, like, and this has been going on for like a decade, like, we're going to start at a certain time, and then there's a lot that we like to pack in to make sure it's the best show possible.

Speaker 2 Justin is part of that.

Speaker 2 I do get a sense today that Justin, unknowingly, because we had an emergency pod and he thought he wasn't going to have to do anything until like mid-afternoon,

Speaker 2 something is in the bloodstream. That's all I'd say.
I don't know what it is. I'm not making direct accusations, but he is operating from a different solar system than Dan and Mark.

Speaker 2 Justin? Justin is on acid right now.

Speaker 1 Psilocybin, perhaps?

Speaker 3 No, you know, it was just like...

Speaker 1 Uh-oh.

Speaker 3 It's been a lot to do this morning, and I've been juggling many tasks, and

Speaker 3 now we're seeing some of the the effects of that, but it's fine. We're going to do a great show, and I'm going to do a great job.

Speaker 1 And we're going to nail the timing on the drops going forward, right? We're going to get it in the setup, not when Mark's trying to talk, because you know he struggles with that.

Speaker 3 But it is also always fun to interrupt Mark with a drop.

Speaker 2 Well, don't tell me that because

Speaker 2 there already is a certain amount of agitation on the volume level. Yeah, how about this?

Speaker 1 I'm going to give you another chance here, Justin. We are ranked number two up three spots in the Pod Chaser 25.

Speaker 1 This is now when you do it, Justin. Christ.

Speaker 3 I thought you were like when you finished, I was going to hit it.

Speaker 1 For hottest up and coming podcast of September 2024, Mark, how about that? That's a nice honor. Number one would be better, but hey, listen, we'll take the silver.

Speaker 2 You don't do it without the people who followed us and listened to us, the new listeners. I love that.

Speaker 2 If Justin were a trumpeter in like the Middle Ages, he would have been taken out by an arrow about an hour ago

Speaker 2 or

Speaker 1 a month ago. A beheading in the public square.
Yeah. Also

Speaker 1 appropriate.

Speaker 1 And we have to take out the New York Times, it looks like, to get to the number one spot, which is obviously a bit of a conflict for us because Jordan and Michael Sean Dugar both work for that gray lady.

Speaker 1 But you know what? We do what we have to do. There are no reverse gears in this tank.
And you're right, Mark. Thank you to everybody for listening and following us on this journey.

Speaker 1 We're just getting started. And you mentioned the Jets.
Let's bring in our regular Wednesday bro, Connor Orr,

Speaker 1 who's a Capitol J Journo, went to Syracuse. The Syracuse, they don't let you forget it either.

Speaker 1 And obviously, he springs into action the New Jersey guy when he finds out about Robert Salah's stunning dismissal from the New York Jets.

Speaker 1 What were you able to dig up over the course of Tuesday, Connor?

Speaker 4 So my sense is a couple of things, right? You have this sort of cocktail of unfortunate events if you're Robert Salah, right? You have the owner.

Speaker 4 in London, very likely surrounded by people that he worked with when he was an ambassador. You want to put on a good showing.
You want to say, I got the greatest quarterback in America.

Speaker 4 Look at how cool this is. And then your team lays an egg in London.
And then you come home and cool process.

Speaker 4 You have a GM who's on an expiring contract, right? And that's always something to take into consideration. How do I, you know, kind of fit into the grand scheme of things if you're Joe Douglas?

Speaker 4 And then you have Jeff Ulbrick, who, you know, I do the head coaching, emerging head coaching list every year.

Speaker 4 A A lot of buzz started to pick up on Jeff, I would say, you know, late in the season last year as a potential head coaching candidate, especially when he started getting championed by the kind of the Shanahan crew that really, really likes him,

Speaker 4 wanted to potentially get him away from the Jets to bring him to San Francisco when he had a vacancy.

Speaker 4 So if you're the Jets, you're looking at all this from an umbrella point of view and you're saying, like, we want to keep what we have intact.

Speaker 4 We need to make a change of some kind, you know, and we think we might have a future head coach sitting on the roster. This is not an endorsement of this.
I think it's absolutely ridiculous.

Speaker 4 And, you know, the vibe that I got from people that I spoke to was just like complete shock.

Speaker 4 Like, Robert Sala went to work just like any of us go to work in the morning to be like, okay, like, here's what I'm doing at, you know, one o'clock.

Speaker 4 And maybe I'll have this for lunch today, you know, and then all of a sudden, completely blindsided.

Speaker 4 And I think that a lot of his staff who have been working with him for a long time, you know, players who came over here to be with him specifically.

Speaker 4 I think there's a lot of people that just came into the, out of their work day today being like, what in the F is going on?

Speaker 1 Yeah, stunning. And I saw Adam Schefter on Tuesday reported that Woody Johnson said he spoke to Aaron Rodgers on Monday night, but it wasn't about Robert Sala.

Speaker 1 Johnson said Rogers had no input in the decision made this morning. And as I said in the emergency pod, Mark, don't pee on my leg and tell me it ain't raining.

Speaker 1 We're not buying it for one second that Robert Salah was not involved in any level on that conversation when the first thing you do the following morning is fire the head coach, something you've never done in 25 years as owner.

Speaker 2 I'd say this too. Hey, Woody Johnson, you had your chance to weigh in on where you were with Robert Sala during the offseason, and we know that that wasn't accurate.
So

Speaker 2 don't try to dog and pony show me at this point.

Speaker 2 I would ask one quick question, Connor, because this happens all the time now, and it's like Jeff Ulbrick and robert sala very tight right like they he he hires them they bring it in and your friend gets fired and you have to go take his job and it's like how what's the psychological wreckage for that and like i know that you got to just keep going that's what these guys do but the assumption that like he just wants to go do this it's like he has to and he's going to go do it because he cares about his players but you just lost like one of your like your war buddies right

Speaker 4 hate that it's it's interesting like even the the nathaniel hackett tie in which is interesting is he used to be the head coach in Denver, and Aziro Everett was the defensive coordinator there.

Speaker 4 And they're like, well, why don't you? And they're best friends. They went back years and years and years.
And

Speaker 4 Sean Payton takes over and Nathaniel Hackett gets railroaded. And they're like, oh, you want to come and stay? And it's like, no,

Speaker 4 I don't want to be here with you guys.

Speaker 4 So I think that there is certainly an element to that. And I will say this too:

Speaker 4 you are a game out of first place. And that opponent is coming to your building on Monday.
And wouldn't you want to be the most prepared as humanly possible going into this matchup?

Speaker 4 And I think that the sheer distraction, if you're Jeff Ulbrick, not only are you trying to handle this from an emotional intelligence standpoint, but you got to re-delegate everything.

Speaker 4 You got to make sure that everybody who spent probably all morning on Tuesday just trying to piece together their own lives now has all their stuff done for Buffalo.

Speaker 4 Best team in your division, hardest quarterback, one of the hardest quarterbacks you're going to play all year. Like, my God, what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 Thank you, Woody. I'll add one more thing that the other reporting out there was that before the decision was made to dismiss the head coach, reportedly

Speaker 1 Robert Sowell was giving serious thought to moving on from Nathaniel Hackett as the offensive coordinator. So before he can do that, he gets whacked and sent out of the building, security in tow.

Speaker 1 Tell me that Aaron Rodgers and Woody Johnson did not have a conversation the night before it all went down. I ain't buying it.

Speaker 4 I just think if you're the Jets, how do you not, like, on one hand, the Jets think they're being trendy. And I know this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out.

Speaker 4 They think they're being trendy because Ulbric fits into that D'Mic Orion's Dan Campbell camp where it's like this former player with a lot of gravitas and respect, and he'll be able to turn things around.

Speaker 4 But you're also doing almost exactly what the Browns are doing with Deshaun Watson, which is tying yourself at the ankle with a quarterback who is declining in terms of

Speaker 4 skills, doesn't have much left to offer you, but you are absolutely in the tank for this human, and you're just being dragged for a joyride at this point.

Speaker 1 Fun stuff. Great stuff.
That's my favorite team, everybody.

Speaker 1 Pivot.

Speaker 1 Pivot.

Speaker 1 The Jets are going to be in this conversation as well, but there's 30.

Speaker 2 Not at the beginning of it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 But there will be 31 other teams discussed here as well because we have decided to launch and make this the inaugural edition of the Heed the Call Power Rankings. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. And you may or may not know that for three years, I was on the power rankings beat for NFL.com.

Speaker 1 Dan hands us power rankings today. Thank you, Paul Rudd.

Speaker 1 And now it is time to get back in the game, but I'm not doing it alone. This is going to be a group effort.
So we put together our own list of 32.

Speaker 1 What is it? The mean? Is it the mean? The average? Me. The most.

Speaker 2 So in terms of like,

Speaker 2 we averaged out

Speaker 2 our rankings. If it means mean, then you're beyond me.
I know that's a math turkey.

Speaker 1 Yes, Justin.

Speaker 3 Mean and average are the same. Yes.
It is the mean. It is the average.
It is not the mode. The mode would be the most.
So that would not be correct. So just the the mean.

Speaker 1 I don't even think that's right.

Speaker 3 I don't know about that.

Speaker 2 We're trusting Justin today on that kind of a technical guy's floating through outer space.

Speaker 4 Highest balls over here.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 1 the big Lebowski scene where he turns into the bowling ball and he's flying towards the fence. That's our producer right now.

Speaker 4 I smelled it the minute I came into this pod studio.

Speaker 1 Anyway, whatever it is, mean, average mode, we came

Speaker 1 together to come up with a 32, and let's talk about it. So

Speaker 1 let's dig in thusly.

Speaker 1 We'll break it into quadrants, like I used to do over on the old mothership, and break it down by groups of eight. Let's start with the top eight.
And Justin,

Speaker 1 before his psychedelic trip, did come up with some really good boards here that will help us break down what order we put in individually.

Speaker 1 A little bit small, but we're going to work through it.

Speaker 1 Here we go. Number one, I'll go one to eight here.
Chiefs, Vikings,

Speaker 1 Lions,

Speaker 1 Ravens at four, Commanders at five, the Washington Commanders at five. How about that on the first edition of the HTC power rankings?

Speaker 1 The Houston Texans at six, the Green Bay Packers at seven, and the San Francisco 49ers, despite coming off a terrible home loss,

Speaker 1 are right now sitting at number

Speaker 1 on the HTC power rankings. What jumps out to you here, Mark?

Speaker 2 Well, I look at the, I think we can kind of all look at the top four, and we basically all sort of agreed on that.

Speaker 2 Connor was a little lower on the Ravens, but the Commanders, there's some variance there.

Speaker 1 Well, you were a little lower significantly on the Lions. You had

Speaker 1 to have the top four.

Speaker 2 I had them in the top five, but that's not like a, it's not a slight to them. I think it's what, here's the reason why.
That's what I was going to point out. I had the commanders at number three.

Speaker 2 You had them at eight, Connor had them at four, Gravedigger at six.

Speaker 2 I kind of just have this weird feeling, and that doesn't mean it's correct, that they're one of these teams that's just going to create havoc and kind of be ready to roll like all season long, barring like some sort of disaster under center.

Speaker 2 I just feel that way, and so I'm trying to predict like where things are going a little bit. It's where they are, and it's how I feel about them right now.

Speaker 1 Maybe I should step in, you know, me as the veteran of the power rankings. i think they're number three right now you lean on your big bro here you know in the power rankings

Speaker 2 damn hands us power rankings today can i say one thing about the like the paul red thing do you want to know why he loves your power rankings during your three-year uh reign yes it's because he's like a diehard chiefs fan and the chiefs are probably always sitting at like number one like if he were had he been a commanders fan back then you're not getting a shout out he'd be annoyed where you place his channel hitting out don't no but i'm just saying isn't that because there's no avenger you know speaking your name on national television on a regular basis doesn't mean you have to take it out on me.

Speaker 2 Regular basis. That's true.

Speaker 1 It was multiple times on multiple shows, Rudd called me out. And I, listen, all I'm saying is an important facet of any power rankings is not projecting that.
I'm going to be right about this.

Speaker 1 And since I think the Commanders could be number one, right now, I'm going to put them higher than I actually would put them. It's where we are right now, where things stand.

Speaker 1 And do you think that the Washington Commanders are the third best team in football right now? I know their offense is explosive, Mark Sessler.

Speaker 1 And it's not like I hate the Commanders because I had them at eight on my list, but

Speaker 1 I also want to pump the brakes just a little bit because their defense is crummy, and I need to see more than just explosive offense before I say this is like a Super Bowl contender.

Speaker 2 I get you. I think when I say project, it's because the teams above them, they haven't played yet.
So I have to project that I believe today they can beat them, and I do.

Speaker 2 They have scored 38, 42, and 34 points in a row. They wiped out the Bengals with 38 points.
They blew away the Cardinals.

Speaker 2 Look, I'm just saying there's something sort of unstoppable about them right now. And if they can keep that up, I think they can beat some of these teams.
I think they could beat the Vikings.

Speaker 2 They can beat some of these teams above them. That's just my feeling.

Speaker 1 I mean, of course they can beat any of the teams above them, but I think, listen, let's see. But it's just amazing that they're even in this conversation.
Number five is

Speaker 1 surreal. It is.
Connor, what's a team in this grouping of eight that jumps out to you?

Speaker 4 I'm much higher, and it's weird too, right?

Speaker 4 I'm much higher on the Packers than I'm noticing anybody else, but I'm running out of time for them to dazzle me in the way that I've expected to be dazzled.

Speaker 4 Like there's, it's like this thing where they play, and if you were to just hear from a Packers fan how the season is going so far, you would be like, oh my God, this is the best team in the NFL. But

Speaker 4 they're kind of just middle of the road record-wise. And so I'm a little bit fearful of that.
I had them at three.

Speaker 4 Not to say anything, Dan, but I'm the Sports Illustrated Power Rankings guy. You know, I just.

Speaker 1 Listen, and I respect it. Power Rankings respects Power Rankings.
Also, Mark is here. So it's just like one of those things.

Speaker 2 We're back in this situation.

Speaker 4 So I had started the season with the Packers at like three, and now I'm just watching them slowly kind of dovetail down.

Speaker 4 And I'm wondering if I just, if I missed my shot on this team, if I'm not quite hitting it, you know?

Speaker 1 Cecily, you got them out of the top 10 entirely on your personal rankings. Number seven for us as a group, you had them at 11 on yours.

Speaker 2 Well, you know, when you're doing this exercise,

Speaker 1 it's not that you're strong.

Speaker 2 No, I kind of go with like just my gut, and then I look at it later, I'm like, really? But like 11, I think that's kind of fair because

Speaker 2 I think they can be. No, you know what? I think they can be better than they are right now because I was much, much higher on them.

Speaker 2 And the idea of what they could coach their way out of anything with what they did with Malik Wilson, it's like the last couple of weeks, it's like, who is Jordan Love?

Speaker 2 Like, you're great, and then you do some weird stuff. And I'm kind of like a little shaken.
So I've bumped them down just a little. Come bring me back.

Speaker 1 Let me, let me, uh, let me roll in here and I'll sit at the foot of your bed while you're tucked in at night and staring at the ceiling, racked with nerves, uh, as your big brother in power rankings.

Speaker 1 Never project weakness,

Speaker 1 never,

Speaker 1 ever say, what I think now is not what I thought when I made the list.

Speaker 1 That's just how I will be torn apart in any conversations about this. You try going on live television with Andrew Ceciliano and saying that I don't feel this way anymore.

Speaker 1 You got to believe, baby boy. You got to believe.

Speaker 2 But I don't have, like, see Connors doing power rankings for Sports Illustrated, the magazine of my entire life.

Speaker 2 You did it with Andrew Ceciliano and all those people. I didn't do it.
So it's like, I don't care what you're doing.

Speaker 1 That's why I'm offering, you know, like Wally and the Beeve advice here, you know.

Speaker 4 I will will say this for Justin.

Speaker 4 I would like him to one day have the experience of putting this out into the world and then just getting your Twitter feed completely jammed shut full of mouth-breathing Chiefs fans not having them number one.

Speaker 4 I just I would like you to have that experience.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Justin, Justin, speak on it. You had the Vikings number one on your list.
Why?

Speaker 1 Are they above the Chiefs? I mean, you can make a case, obviously. They're both undefeated teams.
What do you got?

Speaker 3 They're both undefeated teams. I think some of the Vikings' wins have been a bit more impressive.
I think the Chiefs, like, they got to get these red zone issues figured out.

Speaker 3 It's been a thing all season. They have a great defense, but so do the Vikings.

Speaker 3 And if I had to take one of these two offenses right now, obviously, I think Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football, but the Vikings' offense has just been more consistent.

Speaker 3 So to this point, if they played tomorrow, I feel like if I was handicapping it, I'd have the Vikings as like a one and a half point favorite.

Speaker 3 And the Chiefs can continue to get get better and end this season as the number one team in the power rankings.

Speaker 1 But right now, I feel like the Vikings are the team. I hear you.

Speaker 1 I think that the thing about the Chiefs that we've seen time and time again throughout the years, but especially this year when they've been trying to figure things out, is in crucible moments, whether it's Spaggs and his defense sending the all-out blitz to clinch the win on Monday night football, or Mahomes weaving his magic and moving the chains and doing what he needs to do to

Speaker 1 turn the game into

Speaker 1 take the game's mystery away and clinch another one for the Chiefs. They always find a way.
Are we there yet with the Vikings? Well, so far they haven't lost, but I'm not quite there.

Speaker 3 But is this a different convo if Tipton catches that Derek Carr pass that goes right through his hands last night, Monday night?

Speaker 1 You know what? I'd like to say it would have made the game more exciting down the stretch, but I don't think the Chiefs are going to lose that game.

Speaker 1 All right, let's pause right here. We're just getting started.
Take a break, and when we get back, we'll hit up Quadrant 2.

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Speaker 1 You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension.
A dimension of sound.

Speaker 1 A dimension of sight.

Speaker 1 A dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 1 Rod Serling you mad genius yes the Twilight Zone you will find that in quadrant two boys as we hit the HTTC power rankings the first edition quadrant two nine through 16 and in Justin's apartment you'll find it just by the way I from what

Speaker 1 I'm understanding

Speaker 1 today at least nine the Buffalo Bills ten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11 the Atlanta Falcons 12, the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 1 13, the Seattle Seahawks. 14, the Cincinnati Bengals.
15, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And 16, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 1 The Twilight Zone on the power rankings for me was always the 13 spot because that was the team that I just could not figure out.

Speaker 1 And after I would just debate it one way and another and look at the team from every angle, if I still couldn't figure them out, I'll just throw him in the 13th spot and forget about it.

Speaker 1 It was the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 1 The aggregate of it or the mean or the average or the mode for us came to the Seahawks in that spot. I'm curious who you guys had in the 13th spot.

Speaker 2 Connor?

Speaker 4 I had the Cowboys,

Speaker 4 which I'm finding.

Speaker 4 Did I? Yes. I had the Cowboys.
And I think that's a good spot for the Cowboys. I think they had this sort of...

Speaker 4 I don't know.

Speaker 4 They had this victory that I feel like is going to soon bring them out of the Twilight Zone. The moment that Dak Prescott jumped on that football, I thought, okay, everything has changed.

Speaker 4 The narrative has changed. He's won the sidelines.
He's won his team through a great touchdown pass. I just need like a little bit more confirmation before I ship this team forward into the top 10.

Speaker 1 Who'd you have at 13, Mark?

Speaker 2 No, I'm right on the same party line. And I think that that's a perfect Twilight Zone team because like...

Speaker 2 I actually remember watching like reruns, by the way, not originals, of that show, like when you'd stay home from sick, like sick from school way back when.

Speaker 2 And like the narrative switches in those shows. Like you think you're going somewhere, then it completely changes.
And that was the Cowboys on Sunday night. And so I'm with Connor on that.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're a tough team to figure out. They fit the mold.
I have the Denver Broncos in that spot, a team now. Wow.

Speaker 1 I was really watching them on Sunday, thinking I could see how this team could be in the mix come the end of the regular season and be in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Speaker 1 But also, this is, you know, we're, what, nine days removed from the rookie quarterback throwing for minus seven yards and a half of a football game.

Speaker 1 So, you know, there are different outcomes, and I haven't quite figured them out, but they have, they've now piqued my interest in a way that I want to learn more about those Denver Broncos.

Speaker 1 But otherwise, in the second quadrant, Mark, what's something that jumped out to you?

Speaker 2 I would look at where we have the Bengals.

Speaker 2 I see that, Dan, you have them at 16. Connor has them down at 18, and Graver at 16.
And I get it with the record. It's like, okay, the record is what they are.
I had them at nine.

Speaker 1 They came in at 14 for us.

Speaker 2 They came in at 14. I had them at nine, and I brought them up.
Sorry if that annoys you, but like, I just think despite their record, they could beat anyone.

Speaker 2 Like, they've like, I think Joe Burrow is playing like an MVP on a team that's losing games. And so I kind of just feel like they are the ninth best team, but the record is,

Speaker 2 you know, junk.

Speaker 1 I love this one for you, Mark, because maybe I came down hard on a couple things in quadrant one, but in quadrant two, Mark,

Speaker 1 it's the power rankings, not the power standings. And although the Cincinnati Bengals are one in four,

Speaker 1 you know, to me, can I put a one in four team in the top 10? I can't personally, but at the same time, I know everything you're saying makes sense.

Speaker 1 And when you have Joe Burrows, your quarterback, Connor, things can't be that bad, can they?

Speaker 4 They can't.

Speaker 4 So you're kind of trying to track this over a period of time. And so over the last three weeks, they basically have the second worst defense in the NFL and like the third best offense in the NFL.

Speaker 4 And so to me, that sort of lands you at the halfway point.

Speaker 4 And I'm not always just averaging these out in terms of like EPA on one end or the other end, but I'm just trying to get a sense of like, okay, even if Joe Burrow plays like Joe Burrow and we know that he's capable of, if there is no defense to back him him up, there is no Bengals, right?

Speaker 4 What is time? What is space? Twilight Zone.

Speaker 2 Can I count on that with one thing? If it were flipped and they had the second worst offense and like an awesome defense or whatever, I'd have them a lot lower.

Speaker 1 Also fair.

Speaker 1 At number 16 at the bottom of this quadrant, it's the Philadelphia Eagles, and I'm largely responsible for that. Eagles fans are stunned.
I had them personally at 21.

Speaker 1 Mark and Justin had them at 15. Connor, you had them all the way up at 12.
So you and I were very different on this. You know what the Eagles are to me,

Speaker 1 Connor, is,

Speaker 1 you know, when the Titanic hit the iceberg, people didn't realize immediately what was happening. Like the water was pouring into the lower,

Speaker 1 you know, area of the ship. You know, forget about it.

Speaker 4 Leo is just drawing a naked person.

Speaker 1 Yeah, he's up in first class. All the Irishmen down low are like, oh, f, this is not good.

Speaker 1 We're at the stage stage where, yeah, the Irishmen and the other poors,

Speaker 1 the Italian immigrants, the Irish immigrants, all those people at the bottom of the ship are dealing with a reality that's coming into focus.

Speaker 1 And maybe like Big Dom or whatever knows how bad things are right now, but I don't think the public knows.

Speaker 1 So, between what I've seen on the field and just the vibes and the energy around this team, I think they're in a worse place than even their record has them.

Speaker 1 That's why I have them that low, but I see the other side of it. Is it because of the potential or what you've actually seen them do on the field this year?

Speaker 4 I mean, I think it's what I've seen on the field.

Speaker 4 So it's complicated because I'm with you in the sense that I wrote like the 2025 offseason quarterback Carousel Primer, and I put Jalen Hurts on that list.

Speaker 4 I legitimately thought that maybe the Eagles could be interested in moving on from him after this season.

Speaker 4 You know, this doesn't seem like, if you look at how the contract's structured, it's not necessarily one of those long-term, long-term deals in feel, right?

Speaker 4 But at the same time, he is talented, and you're getting Devonta Smith back, you're getting A.J.

Speaker 4 Brown back, you're getting Lane Johnson back, and this team, I think, can still win unconsciously on autopilot a little bit, even without Jason Kelsey, as hard as that is for people to believe for some reason.

Speaker 4 So I do think that we're in this spot where the coaching is good enough, the collection of players are good enough.

Speaker 4 If everybody just swallows their pride here, they're still one of the most talented teams in the NFL.

Speaker 1 Okay, we'll see. We saw like how I felt about Robert Sales, a little bit how I feel about Nick Siriani.

Speaker 1 He might be actively holding the team back. And as long as he's there, I think there's going to be issues.
Let's move to quadrant three. Why don't we on the inaugural HTC power rankings?

Speaker 1 Coming in at number 17 is the Los Angeles Chargers.

Speaker 1 18, the Arizona Cardinals, 19, the Chicago Bears, 20, the Denver Broncos, 21, the New Orleans Saints, 22, the Indianapolis Colts, 23, the New York Jets. And 24, the New York Giants.
It's so funny.

Speaker 1 In all the years, I was doing power rankings, the Jets and Giants were so often together near the bottom of the power rankings.

Speaker 1 And here they are again, not quite at the bottom, but at the bottom of the third grouping here. And yet, Sestog, and I know you've been pounding the drum on this a little bit about the G-Men,

Speaker 1 you know, they've come very close to winning.

Speaker 1 pretty much every game they've been in, and we're starting to see some real progress there on the offensive side of the ball and better play from the quarterback.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I find it interesting that I have them lower than anyone else. I think that's just if they can.

Speaker 1 Well, we're all in the same spot. It was 23, 24, 22, 23.

Speaker 2 We're close, but it would have been a prime place for me to pump something up way more than necessary.

Speaker 2 I don't know if they can do what they did last week or if that's a version of what you're going to get from them, like even 85% of that,

Speaker 2 they're going to win games because I think it's not just what happened on offense. Like their defense absolutely wrecked Geno Smith.

Speaker 2 So you get like improved offense and you bring back like your star rookie wide receiver and you're getting five sacks a game, six sacks a game, seven sacks a game.

Speaker 2 Like that's going to be nine, ten wins. I just don't know if I believe it yet.

Speaker 4 Ever since I wrote week one that Daniel Jones should be benched,

Speaker 4 he has been

Speaker 4 fifth in EPA and completion percentage over expectation per play, seventh in adjusted EPA, tenth in success rate, and has thrown six touchdowns and and one interception. Pretty good.

Speaker 1 Pretty good progress.

Speaker 1 I'm trying to get them up there a little bit because I feel like. You know, the Cardinals,

Speaker 1 I see that we were pretty much in lockstep there at 18.

Speaker 1 And I guess I was a little surprised because I was wrestling with having them higher before I settled where they were.

Speaker 1 You would think a team goes on the road and beats the 49ers or the big comeback, they would maybe get a little more pop. But I guess that's showing their inconsistencies,

Speaker 1 Connor, are holding us back from really digging in on them.

Speaker 4 You know what it is, too? I noticed, and I don't know if you feel the same way, Dan, as a power rankings veteran, not to box Mark out of this conversation. Yeah, but

Speaker 4 the early buys create a lot of complicating factors for like weeks one through seven in power ranking. So, for example, like the Chargers are just sitting up there like a parked car.

Speaker 4 And it's like, what are they? And that's a spot where I probably would have liked to put the Cardinals, but I just can't put them there yet. You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 Yes, I get that. And I used to have my own rule that I think I've usually followed, which was I don't, I want to make sure the team on the bye doesn't move too much in either direction.
And

Speaker 1 the other teams affect the rankings, obviously, so you can't just plop them there and say don't move.

Speaker 1 But I don't want to see a team dropping forward, jumping forward just because they didn't play.

Speaker 1 But yeah, the Cardinals

Speaker 1 of this group, and I guess, you know, obviously the Broncos, you guys do not feel the same way about the Broncos because I I had them in the Twilight Zone and Mark, Connor, and Justin all had them at the kind of the more of the deep in the third tier.

Speaker 1 Mark,

Speaker 1 you're not buying, I guess, on the Broncos just yet.

Speaker 2 Not yet, but I just want to say that, you know, being a part of this segment, it's not unlike, I believe it was, you know,

Speaker 2 J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S.
Lewis used to get beers back in old England together and just talk shop. That's sort of what it's like

Speaker 2 to sit here and have you guys discuss how the power rankings work. But no, I actually love that.

Speaker 2 Initially I thought Connor put the Broncos at 13, but you did. And I think that was really bold.

Speaker 1 And I love that you're too bold.

Speaker 2 Maybe too bold, but you believe in something and you went on a flight of fancy here. And I think that's what's interesting.

Speaker 2 I just happened about 22 because they're more like what you're saying about the Bengals. It's like really, really good defense.

Speaker 2 And I think one that is going to finish is like a top five defense, if not higher. And then an offense like, I don't know what you are weak to week.
Like

Speaker 2 a coach just held your quarterback to negative seven yards, as you mentioned. He's just been fired.
So nothing is, everything is chaotic.

Speaker 1 And then I'll bring up the Bears, too. They're sitting at 19.

Speaker 1 Three of us had them at 20. Connor, you had them a little higher at 16, which I don't think is unfair, especially the progress you're seeing from their offense with the rookie quarterback.

Speaker 1 It would not surprise me if this is a team that climbs the HTCPRs as the season progresses.

Speaker 4 You want to get a little bit ahead of the curve, right? Because, you know, I always felt like you wanted to move them up like two or three spots as they were rounding the turn and building speed.

Speaker 4 And that's kind of how I saw Chicago here. I mean, Caleb Williams is by far his best game.
It always helps when you play the Carolina Panthers. Everyone knows that.

Speaker 4 But it's also one of those things that you build on stylistically. And I think the underrated part of this was Shane Waldron is finally in a groove as a play caller.

Speaker 4 And I do think that that's going to have a major impact on the rest of their season going forward.

Speaker 1 All right, let's pivot. Tier four, the final tier of the power rankings.
They look like this. 25, the Los Angeles Rams.
26, the Jacksonville Jaguars. 27, the Tennessee Titans.
28, the Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 1 29, the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 1 30, the Las Vegas Raiders. 31, the New England Patriots.
And 32, the Carolina Panthers. Okay, where do we want to start here? Why don't we start with the number 31 team here?

Speaker 1 Because there is news on the New England Patriots.

Speaker 1 This

Speaker 1 came down on Tuesday that rookie Drake May is taking over as the starting quarterback, the third overall pick in the 2024 draft, replaces Jacoby Brissette, the nine-year veteran, as the Patriots riding a four-game losing streak, prepared to host the Texans on Sunday.

Speaker 1 You know, I was talking about this on the show on Sunday when we did the Dolphins Pats game. I was like, at this point, point, what are we doing?

Speaker 1 Now I'll kind of talk out of both sides of my mouth. I was saying we should just pull the trigger.

Speaker 1 Mark, the other side of this, of course, is one of the reasons why the Patriots ostensibly were holding off on this is they wanted to make sure they put Drake May in a positive situation and make sure the offensive line could protect him.

Speaker 1 I don't know if either of those things are the case right now, and yet here they go.

Speaker 2 Well, I mean, this group doesn't think that's the case because we've almost unanimously put them down in the bottom three three here.

Speaker 1 Isn't it feel like as long as Brissette was playing and given all the other issues they have, they were just a complete afterthought in the league?

Speaker 2 I mean, yeah, well, it's their time to be that. And that's, you know, humility.
But I would say this, like, there is another world where a quarterback comes in. We've seen it in Washington.

Speaker 2 Like, what if Drake May is...

Speaker 2 They said he's looked really good in practice and the better quarterback of the two.

Speaker 2 And like, what if he comes in and is a change agent and we find out like four weeks from now that the Patriots are fun to watch because of him? So that's what you're hoping for.

Speaker 2 Reality suggests that happens like on a 20-sided like Dungeons and Dragons dice. Like, you got to hit 19.
You hit 19 or there's going to be some problems.

Speaker 4 I just don't, I mean, we're starting to get such a large body of evidence that sitting these guys until the rest of the team is built and until everything else makes sense has an undeniably positive impact.

Speaker 4 And if you were going to put Drake Mayen in like a spot of desperation in order to, what, keep everybody from getting upset at you or to keep the locker room intact or whatever it is to get people off your back, why wouldn't you have just done it from the beginning of the season then and got them the extra reps?

Speaker 4 I mean, this team got worse over the last five weeks. They are in an undeniably not as good place to support him in any way.
And so, I don't know. I just think it's dangerous.
I think it's dumb.

Speaker 4 And, you know, now you're kind of tipping the needle back towards what's happened to Bryce Young instead of what happened to, you know, some of these other guys, Jordan Love, who have had success.

Speaker 1 That's fair. That's fair.
All right, let's look elsewhere on this 32. So the Rams, they're an interesting spot.
We're all pretty much in lockstep.

Speaker 1 In fact, me, Connor, and Mark all had them at 25, and that's where they come in. And

Speaker 1 I think they're a team, if I had to pick a team that will jump and will get on the right side of the top half of the league,

Speaker 1 this would be my pick. I think a lot of their issues are largely health-related

Speaker 1 with Cup and Nakua headlining that. The offensive line issues, obviously, with health.
There's been some real bright spots on the defensive side of the ball, Connor, for this team.

Speaker 1 So I think they have a chance to do what they did last year, which is get hot. They just need to get some help from the football gods.

Speaker 4 Also, look at this schedule coming up. You have your bye week.
You have a chance to get a little bit healthier. Then you have the Raiders.
A Minnesota game that's daunting.

Speaker 4 But if you remember, I mean, Sean McVay was Kevin O'Connell's boss.

Speaker 4 He has a little bit more of an intimate knowledge there, and he did clip Kyle Shanahan earlier this year with an injured, banged-up Rams team.

Speaker 4 Then you have Seattle, which is looking increasingly beatable. Then you have Miami.
Then you have New England.

Speaker 4 And so this is a situation where, I mean, they could be in first place in the division by the time we get to Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 Wouldn't that be saucy? Mark, anything here on this list that you see before we move on?

Speaker 2 Well, I think it's interesting where the Browns are just in general compared to what we thought might be the case based on how much talent they have and like to talk schedule.

Speaker 2 And typically you'd say, hey, a bunch of of home games will be helpful. They go to Philadelphia, then they come home against the Bengals, who I am high on, the Ravens, who we love, and the Chargers.

Speaker 2 They're home for those three games.

Speaker 2 I think this is a specific case where, because of the cauldron of disenchantment, I mean, I'm finally, I think it's, we were on this case a couple weeks ago, but the city where you always had like half the fan base telling you, like, on Twitter, you got to stick with these guys no matter what.

Speaker 2 You're not a real fan.

Speaker 2 Now everyone's turned, and I'm seeing like other loyalists have completely turned.

Speaker 2 So three straight home games if they stick with this plan and it looks like this this is going to be one of the more chaotic um ugly home venues in the nfl that we've seen in a very long time cleveland going to philadelphia yeah you i just it does feel like we are reaching the point

Speaker 1 where stefansky will have no other choice um but to make the change or has no choice i think that's the other part we're just like this feels senseless

Speaker 1 and maybe a bad performance in week six is what actually does him in. I think

Speaker 1 it's gotten so bad, even from when we had that conversation two weeks ago,

Speaker 1 he has continued to spiral Watson, and now you're getting those things that really do matter in terms of

Speaker 1 the life of a football season.

Speaker 1 Those visual moments like that disconnect between Stefansky and Watson as he was coming off the field, where it starts to turn into kind of a, it takes on a life of its own.

Speaker 1 And I just could see it happening. I have a hunch it might even happen after week six.
Yes, Gravy.

Speaker 3 I just have a question for the power ranking veterans out there.

Speaker 3 Something that I sort of struggled with as I was putting my list together was whenever I came close to two teams, I'm trying to decide which spot they go in very recently after they played each other.

Speaker 3 Like, for example, Falcons Bucks, we both had them near the top. Or in this case, Titans, Dolphins are right here together, or even Jags and Browns are right here together.

Speaker 3 Like, we just saw the Browns beat the Jags a few weeks ago. We just saw the Titans beat the Dolphins a couple weeks ago.

Speaker 3 How much does that influence when you're doing these rankings, Dan and Connor and Mark, I guess, if you want to answer? Like, do you put any stock, a little bit of stock, a lot of stock?

Speaker 3 How much does that

Speaker 3 weigh into your

Speaker 1 trendy question? I'll stay out of it.

Speaker 1 I'll start on this one.

Speaker 1 This was another common troglodyte mention attack that I would get during my time doing the power rankings where how could you have this team over that team when that team beat beat the other team and you don't you you have them flipped because that's only a part of it like so for instance i believe i have um

Speaker 1 the uh bucks ahead of the falcons in my rankings uh so the fact that that that kirk cousins had that one last drive in overtime yes i it's obviously important and it shows you that the falcons are a team that has a penchant for uh dramatics and getting things done and the quarterback has figured it out post-Achilles But it doesn't mean like, oh, that's the be-all, end-all.

Speaker 1 Like they beat them, so they have to be. I'm looking at the entire season as a whole.
So that's what I would say.

Speaker 1 You take it under advisement. You remember that game, but also it's not just about a head-to-head matchup, however long ago it was.

Speaker 4 I was about to make like a really convoluted analogy where I was like, oh, if I would like, you know, you compare it to all these different factors.

Speaker 4 And then, you know, and then I don't know why in the back of my head, this thought just popped up that if I were power ranking the two teams in the Revolutionary War,

Speaker 4 I would have had the Red Coats ahead of the Americans the whole time. And based on my logic, that's incorrect.

Speaker 4 And, you know, you win Bunker Hill, you should be able to, you know, you should be able to move up in the power rankings.

Speaker 2 I think you nailed it.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I don't know. But so my

Speaker 4 sensible explanation. Oh, you had it.

Speaker 1 I mean, sometimes you just, when you hit a home run, you just like rest on it, but go ahead.

Speaker 3 You could try. When the sale is already made, the deal is closed.
You don't got to keep selling.

Speaker 1 All right. Yeah.
I'll cut off my mic.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 4 the Jaguars and Browns, for example, like, okay, one team has a ascending quarterback that had played the best game of the season, and then the other one has, you know, a sinking death anchor.

Speaker 4 And so, you know, those things do kind of factor in.

Speaker 1 Mark, do you have anything to add?

Speaker 1 You kind of represent the voice of the common man on this exercise. Go ahead.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I do not measure

Speaker 2 real life

Speaker 2 results. I don't factor in who played who or or this whole so-called body of work.
I just, you know, I create my list in a different way, my own way.

Speaker 1 Highly subversive, Mark, and we really see you as a dangerous force rising within the industry. Well, good.

Speaker 1 All right, let's take a quick break, and we'll be right back with a TNF preview.

Speaker 1 Coming up, we're going to get into the TNF game between the Niners and Seahawks. I'm looking forward to that one.
A nice divisional rivalry.

Speaker 1 But I'm really looking forward to building a pick'em entry on Underdog. Might even wait until the game starts and get a vibe of how things are going.
Classic Dan move.

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Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 We're back.

Speaker 1 First power rankings in the books. Mark, what'd you think?

Speaker 2 Well, I had a lot of fun with that segment. I thought that

Speaker 2 it allowed me to explore the league deeper before the show and then express my thoughts.

Speaker 1 Great, great.

Speaker 2 That's exactly what I'm doing. You know, sometimes when you just throw me off for the question, I was like somewhere doing something completely different on my

Speaker 2 experiencing enjoyment.

Speaker 1 I thought the power ranking segment was successful.

Speaker 1 I mean, do you want critique?

Speaker 4 little email response that you get from Microsoft Outlook? Like, this was great. Thank you.

Speaker 1 I mean, the good thing about this platform that we're now on, Mark, is we could actually share how we feel about everything, you know?

Speaker 1 So, yes, I was looking for an honest feedback, but at the same time,

Speaker 1 I thought your answer, while perhaps distracted, was effective as well.

Speaker 1 It gave the audience something from you and then allowed me to pivot into the preview of the first week six game.

Speaker 2 Yeah, well, box checked.

Speaker 1 I think you have the right to feel that way.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Mark. All right, let's get into it.
Week six, can you believe it? We're already here. Kicks off with a NFC West tilt between the San Francisco 49ers coming off a highly,

Speaker 1 highly annoying loss to the Cardinals at home.

Speaker 1 We didn't really talk about it on the show, and

Speaker 1 I haven't seen it

Speaker 1 covered much, or maybe I just missed it, but it was like 103 degrees at Santa Clara on Sunday. And the team from the desert closed harder than the team, you know, with the wine and cheese parties.

Speaker 1 Like, maybe not a total stunner when

Speaker 1 one team faded in the fourth quarter and the other one rose up, but you know, whatever, whatever. That is in the past.

Speaker 1 It will not be 103 degrees in Seattle on Thursday night, but who knows with all this global warming? Am I right, guys?

Speaker 1 You're okay. Yes, that was a good point.
All right, nailed it. So let's talk about the game.
And Connor, let's start here because

Speaker 1 I watched the Seahawks Giants game before we taped today, and I watched the San Francisco game in real time on Sunday and then did some reading.

Speaker 1 Michael Sean Dugar, our friend who covers the Seahawks for the athletic, and he'll be on the program tomorrow when we preview all of week six.

Speaker 1 You know, pointed out, I don't know what the Seattle Seahawks offensive scheme is in terms of consistency.

Speaker 1 They ran seven, they called seven running plays against the Giants in a game that, you know, they didn't lose the game script, but they just kept throwing the ball.

Speaker 1 So now they get a Niners defense that has struggled to stop the run. And you've heard, in fact,

Speaker 1 do we have the sound, Justin?

Speaker 1 This is Mike McDonald talking about the importance of running the football for the Seattle Seahawks. We all know we need to run the ball more.
I mean, everybody knows that.

Speaker 1 Our opponents know know that. Our players in our locker room knows that.
Grubb knows that. Our coaches do.
I do.

Speaker 1 We have to create more situations where we can run it as well.

Speaker 1 And that's a team stat as well. So that's all three phases where we have to create those.

Speaker 1 So you put it all together, Connor, and it feels like this team's going to run the ball 30 times no matter what as they try to get back to their identity. Granted, the game script doesn't go crazy.

Speaker 1 Am I crazy?

Speaker 4 Well, I think it's interesting, right? You have Ryan Grubb, who's an offensive coordinator, a really talented one, that comes from college.

Speaker 4 And a lot of times I think that the way you attack another offense in college is very different from the way that you attack an offense in the NFL and the way that you see things, the different waves of defenses, the different types of defenses.

Speaker 4 And so I think that just as we're seeing, you know, rookie quarterbacks or whatever getting their legs, he is very much learning that, oh, I can't simply do it this way or I can't do it that way.

Speaker 4 And so, you know, I would not shock me, right?

Speaker 4 If you're four games in as an offensive coordinator, you've never done it at the NFL NFL level, and all of a sudden you look down, it's the third quarter and someone taps you and you've only run four running plays.

Speaker 4 Like, that's happened. I'm sure that's happened before.
And so, that's one of those things that you probably only need to be reminded of that once, and then it never happens again.

Speaker 2 It has happened to them, like, game after game, though, I feel like, where they've had really slow starts on the ground and then they committed to it in the second half. But you're right.

Speaker 2 I think it's like some adjustment with Grubb. They threw the ball 80-plus percent of the time last game.
I mean,

Speaker 2 even if you're going nuts through the air, like,

Speaker 2 that's not really something that you can continue week to week. And I clearly the head.
I don't like when a coach says,

Speaker 2 we know we're going to do this. The opponent knows we're going to do this.
The fans know we're going to do this. Like, someone's mom who doesn't watch footballs.

Speaker 2 It's like, wait a minute, part of this is meant to be subterfuge, deceit.

Speaker 1 So maybe don't run the ball again and really throw them off. Yeah, I like that.
They're going to actually call less running plays.

Speaker 1 But at a certain point, you kind of outthink yourself because they can run the ball. They have proven it in the past.

Speaker 1 Kenneth Walker is like one of the more underrated running backs in the league, I think, when you give him space to roam.

Speaker 1 And until the Niners show that they could stop the run, man, geez. I mean, they didn't even call the, you know, they have Geno Smith, who's also known as a great downfield passer.

Speaker 1 They weren't pushing the ball downfield against the Giants, which is a very odd game, game,

Speaker 1 oddly called game by Grubb. And I would think there are going to be a lot of eyeballs on how he handles it.

Speaker 1 On the San Francisco side, yeah, if Jordan Mason holds onto that football mark, they win that game. I mean, there's no way around it, but they didn't.
And this is a crazy stat, crazy stat from

Speaker 1 PFF, that the 49ers have lost seven straight one-score games in the regular season. So they are a team that

Speaker 1 has struggled closing, but they have also had a lot of success against the Seahawks in recent years.

Speaker 2 Jordan Mason, he's not Christian McCaffrey. We know that there's a limitation.
It's taken away kind of the funnel and the core of their offense. But this is someone, and it's so Shanahan-esque.

Speaker 2 He has forced 42 missed tackles. That is 10 more than Derek Henry, the next closest player.

Speaker 2 And you are going up against a Seahawks team that the Giants, Tyron Tracy, later round rookie, runs for 129 yards last week at 7.2 yards per carry.

Speaker 2 The Seahawks are missing first-round pick Byron Murphy.

Speaker 2 Uchena Nuosu is out potentially. Tariq Woolen, Boya Mafe, Derek Hawley, they're missing guys.

Speaker 2 And I know we talked with Mike DeGar and he sort of said, listen, the other guys that come in behind them are dudes with experience.

Speaker 2 And it's not like just because those guys are gone, the defense is blown away, but those guys didn't play that well either. And I thought that they were really manhandled by the Giants.

Speaker 2 And I talked a lot about Daniel Jones in that game, but part of it was how they were manhandled on the ground. And so for me, I wonder if it's the kind of thing where, you know, it's a short week.

Speaker 2 You've got a new coaching staff, and we've just talked about an offensive corner trying to figure things out on the fly, and it's hard to figure that out.

Speaker 2 And And then you've got Shanahan and his guys, who, when you go watch them on Thursday nights, they like to script those like 14-play drives where they run the ball like 13 of 14 times and maybe like throw the ball once on second down, and it's suddenly three minutes left in the first quarter, and the Seahawks are down 7-0.

Speaker 2 That would be the dream script for a Niners team that, by the way, they've gotten into, there is a crazy stat around them. They have gotten into the red zone at a

Speaker 2 they are second in red zone trips, 22 to just the Commanders, my number three team in the league. They are 30th in touchdown percentage when they get into the red zone.

Speaker 2 So that's a problem they need to fix.

Speaker 1 Indeed.

Speaker 4 Indeed. Going back one second to the passing issue with the Seahawks.
So they track neutral passing situation rate on first down. So your win probability is between 20 and 80 percent.

Speaker 4 You're taking out the final two minutes of the drive when you know you have to throw.

Speaker 4 They're the only team over 60 percent, and they are way above and beyond anybody, like even Cleveland at this point. And so, to your point, that is not a game plan that you can run against the 49ers.

Speaker 4 You know that you're going to have to extend drives against them and keep the ball away from their hands so they can't dictate terms. He's going to have to change no matter what.

Speaker 4 But again, it sucks when you have to change when everyone knows you have to change.

Speaker 1 Speaking of Money Mike Dugar,

Speaker 1 he had a good line. The last time the Seahawks beat the Niners, their starting running back was Adrian Peterson.

Speaker 1 In the five losses since playoffs included, Seattle's Seattle's offense has been one-dimensional and registered more turnovers, eight, than touchdowns, six.

Speaker 1 The Seahawks running backs have never combined for more than 76 yards. So it's time to buck some trends for Seattle.
Obviously, Kyle Shanahan had P. Carroll's number.

Speaker 1 Now let's see if things could change under Mike McDonald's watch. One last note when you look at

Speaker 1 how does this game get decided? Seattle special teams rank 31st in expected points, which measures the impact of plays in that phase of the game.

Speaker 1 Only the Niners have lost more expected points on special teams. So maybe this is a game that gets decided, Mark, by a punt or a blocked field goal.

Speaker 2 Well, the Niners have a new kicker. They're going to have to bring in a new, like, they don't got, you know, they've got kicker issues.
So not a kicker club night.

Speaker 1 And they lost their punter because, remember, he went into the kicker club and he got pescied.

Speaker 2 Yep. So large problems from that angle.

Speaker 1 Big old problems. All right.

Speaker 1 Who you you got in this game? Let's pick it. What the hell?

Speaker 2 I will go, I think the Niners get right here. I think they win 25-14.

Speaker 4 Connor?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I like this as like a 31-10 49ers win.

Speaker 1 Wow. Okay.
I'm going the other way. I like Seattle at home in primetime.

Speaker 1 I do like the idea that they will run the ball, and if they run the ball with success, that will set up things things like the play action.

Speaker 1 And the Seattle quarterbacks having a nice season there that Geno Smith, so maybe it opens up their downfield attack.

Speaker 1 I think they put the Niners into a deeper funk and throw the power rankings from HTC upside down with a 31-26 victory. All right.

Speaker 2 Let's see. Niners would be in utter chaos if that happens.

Speaker 2 That is a legit Super Bowl hangover mixed with a bunch of other drama.

Speaker 1 What other

Speaker 1 psycho-drugs that our producer may or may not be on at the same moment? How you doing, Justin? Cut to Justin head down on the table.

Speaker 4 Just licking the wallpaper.

Speaker 1 Buddy? Justin? Oh, no.

Speaker 1 Oh, no. He's trying to talk, but the mic's not on.

Speaker 1 He's talking into a shampoo bottle.

Speaker 1 Justin?

Speaker 3 Should I keep that? Or

Speaker 3 I captured my audio. You guys just couldn't hear it.
So now I'm wondering if I should just roll it as it was.

Speaker 1 Oh, sorry, bud.

Speaker 3 I am just over here trying to be a professional and not do any illicit substances during the working hours. How are you guys?

Speaker 1 We love you. You do tremendous work for Heed the Call.
You know that. And you can do

Speaker 1 once we get this show out the door and to the people, you could do whatever you want and you have my back or I have your back just as you have mine, buddy.

Speaker 3 I appreciate that. Maybe I will.
We'll see.

Speaker 1 All right, good. Listen, free country.
I know what Sessler's getting up to in Hollywood after this show.

Speaker 1 You know, the leaves are changing. That means Levi's coming out and

Speaker 1 he's coming out of his coffin and going nuts. So, you know, Sessler heading into a little bit of an off day.
Look out.

Speaker 2 Well, that's your projection. That's not, I've got a lot of, you know, other to-dos and items to take care of.
So.

Speaker 1 Connor, how does that sound? Does it sound potentially accurate on my part? I would say let's uncork the white wine and see where the see where the wind takes us.

Speaker 1 All right. Thank you to everybody for following the show from the old place to the new place as Pod Chaser illustrates.
You guys are the best, and we truly appreciate it.

Speaker 1 Coming up on Thursday, of course, the full preview of week six. Until then, do what you must.
Heed the call.