NFL Week 17 Power Rankings + MNF Recap!

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We'll start with a little discussion of Brock Purdy looking purdy against the Colts and then we hit the power rankings. Where are our teams, the Jets and the Browns this week?

Our teams, they are pretty effing low. Hmm, we got to change that.
We got to get out of that let's get into it time to heed the call

ho ho ho

merry christmas

almost Welcome to Heed the Call, an NFL

football podcast. Dan Hans is here with Mark Sessler,

Justin Graver on the ones and twos on a Monday night in late December.

It's been a long December, Mark Sessler,

and a long NFL season. And we

will close the books on week 16.

Today we'll also hit the power rankings and some juicy news nugs. If you don't know the routine of the Monday night program by now, you're lost.
Yeah, you'll, you, you, you, you never will know.

Um, and we feel for you that it's taken this long and you still are directionless. But, um, I think many do know, and they know, they, they get where we're going.
You're absolutely right, Mark.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing where you guys have your power ranking set up. Um,

because this NFC West, man,

I don't know. I'm sure it's happened.
I always say on the show, like, I don't remember when was the last time something like this happened. And then, I don't know, there's been a lot of people.

Well, no one else does either. So that's why it works.

The NFC North last year had a pretty stacked okay. Justin remembers Lions, Packers last year, but yeah.

Yes, so it was last year.

Three tremendous teams. I was going to say, by the end of the year, now I'm going to give Justin a super annoying

task.

Where were those three NFC North teams by

week 17 of the power rankings last year? Because I'm curious as we get into the power rankings.

I have three spoiler alerts: NFC West teams in my top five, and I want to see where everybody else comes down. Because let's start right there with some NFC West conversation.

Let's go to Lucas Oil Stadium, where the story on some level was still supposed to be Phillip Rivers, but then like reality took hold, and

we we got to what it's really about, which is a Super Bowl contender in full flight.

The San Francisco 49ers have not asked their punter to do a damn thing this month.

Almost every time they get the ball, they're scoring. Ask the Colts, who had no answers,

no answers for San Francisco's attack. In a 48-27 win for the road team at

Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night, Brock Purdy was the star, 25 of 34 for 295,

five touchdown passes, one interception. Christian McCaffrey had another big night with multiple scores.
Even looked, his rushing average looked great for one night at least on the ground.

George Kittle was a stud before he got banged up late in this game. Juwan Jennings is making plays.

and on a night mark where Phillip Rivers once again exceeded expectations and then some. And it really looked like

five possessions into this game, we had five scores with Phil Rivers having two touchdown passes. You thought you might have one of those kind of special storylines.

Instead, that faded away and the story became the San Francisco 49ers.

Yeah, I feel like there's been this sort of endless discourse about the changing conferences, NFC and AFC. And like in the NFC, it's the Rams, the Seahawks.
We're talking about the Bears.

And am I wrong to feel like the Niners, because we've, it's kind of like the Niners have been on your dance card for four or five, six, seven years at this point.

Like they're a little forgotten in this season of new power. And they look tonight like a team that could go to the Super Bowl.
And it's like, wait, what? Like, I forgot they're even involved in this.

Not forgot entirely, but like, doesn't it feel like they're a little left out of the discourse and the conversation amongst the new girls at school?

Well,

I suppose. I mean, we came into the season.
It wasn't just us fully expecting the 49ers to get their mojo back,

getting healthier and having what looked to be an easy schedule, although it didn't actually turn out that way once it all started to shake out. So we expected San Francisco to be a player in the NFC.

I think maybe what

I do agree with where you're coming from is a lot of focus has been on the Rams and the Seahawks.

And San Francisco, meanwhile, was getting plenty of credit from us and other places for, man, look at Kyle Shanahan making do with Mac Jones for a portion of the season, losing Fred Warner, losing all these different star players, Nick Bosa,

and plugging and playing, and just somehow finding a way to kind of

scrape by. And I'm talking about in like September, October, when they were really beat up and things could have gone sideways.
And that's when coaching really does make a big difference.

And you got to do a big shout out to Mac Jones and what he was able to do when he was in the game. But, you know,

I got you, Mac. I just gave you love.

Hey, you're going to be the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings next year, Mac Jones. Don't you worry.
Everything's going to be okay for you.

But, you know, now what you see with this team,

where they are now, Robert Salah's got this defense playing at a higher level,

and you have Brock Purdy.

And I think this is interesting and important when we talk about Brock Purdy, because when Brock Purdy is locked in, as he is tonight, he has a ceiling that not many quarterbacks in the entire league can match.

which doesn't seem to make sense because he was a former Mr. Irrelevant and sometimes he'll have terrible games.

Remember the game earlier this year where he had like three interceptions in the first four possessions, and there was the thought that he was going to get benched.

But when he is locked in and he's on a heater,

as a geriatric millennial, I'll cite the old arcade game, NBA Jam, when you were on fire and everything you threw went right in. And it was just like, you're on fire.

Like, that's what Purdy is like when he's locked in. And that's something that Mac Jones could never dream of.
Like, he doesn't have the ceiling that Purdy does.

So if you have Purdy playing this well and this dialed into this Kyle Shanahan offense,

it gives them a Super Bowl ceiling.

And I think that's what we need to start talking about with the Niners, that they are in the same category as the Rams and the Seahawks and every other favorite that we see as we head down the home stretch.

Yeah, they've been through this before, like where that's not true of this Seahawks team.

I would say it is true of the Rams team to some degree, but like I think tonight what mattered was to see Christian McCaffrey have the game he had where it was like he probably won a bunch of our friends' fantasy matchups, right?

But he

looked uncoverable.

He tied Roger Craig's record for catches in a season by a 49er, which if you're old enough to remember Roger Craig, like that matters. Like that's pretty wild.
Like that was an incredible player.

And you got George, I know George Kittle got a little banged up in this game. We'll see what's going on with that.
But like both of these stars

played like that tonight. They played that way and the quarterback was efficient.

And it's like, just don't forget about them because like I know they're not going to win the division at this point or I don't think they will.

Why not?

They're just going to win two more games and they're the number one seed. I just do think narrative wise, they've been a little hidden and that's okay.
Yeah. They've been a little hidden.

Well, we shouldn't, we're not, Sessler, you're not helping the discourse when you're disregarding them as not being a division winner.

I don't need them to be. I don't think the buy matters that much this time around.
I really don't versus other years. I just don't.
The buy and home field, it's golden.

I mean, it doesn't mean you're definitely going to get there, but it's a huge deal, I think.

But their road to get there is not easy. So they have

on Sunday night football, they have the Chicago Bears at home, which is going to be a tough game, a game they can win, but it's going to be a tough game. And then if they want to

win this division, if they want to be the number one seed, they have to beat the Seahawks also in their building. So, they have two home games left.

I hope, let's hope that that's the Sunday night football finale in the regular season because that would be a beautiful setup.

But that also presupposes the Rams are now not even going to be in the mix for the division down the stretch. Just a lot of crazy stuff going on here.

But,

yeah, I mean, I don't want to overemphasize it, but like you said, that Purdy was efficient. Purdy was more than efficient.
Purdy was outstanding in this game. Every throw.

I know he threw that interception when the game was already over. That was the only thing that, besides that, every ball he threw, even his incompletions were perfect.

The Tongas play where he drags his feet is a wonderful catch, also deep in the end zone.

And Shanahan's sewn his bag and in such a heater in his own right that they don't even put the red challenge flag down.

The next play, Purdy immediately spots a coverage bust and McCaffrey's opening the flat for a touchdown. Every ball he threw was right on the money.

And I just think he's such a unique player, Purdy, because

he,

again, he doesn't, to me, pass the sniff test the way those other great guys, the true greats of this league, whether it's Josh or Lamar or Burrow or pick your guy.

But when he's like he is tonight and it happens, and it could happen on a playoff heater as well You're not beating him because when Kyle Shanahan has a guy that knows how to run his offense at the highest levels the San Francisco offense that tack is impossible to stop after the game Lisa Salters

talked to Purdy about him joining some very special company It was also the first time a 49ers quarterback has thrown for five touchdowns in 35 years since Joe Montana did it in 1990.

What does that mean to you? I mean it's an honor to be able to play for this organization with guys like Joe Montana, Steve Young, and to be able to be out here wearing the same uniform.

I mean, I'm just a kid living a dream. Yeah, I think that's like, it's just this team that

the fact that your running back tied Roger Craig tonight in terms of catches and your quarterback tied a 35-year-old record from Joe Montana. It's like, just don't forget about the Niners.

And I thought you played a quality opponent tonight.

And Phillip Rivers, well, okay, I will say this.

I do think the Colts battle, and I will say this, Philip Rivers to me,

I know it wasn't perfect, and we're not looking for perfect. He was about three times better than he was a week ago.
Yeah, he played, I thought he played very well.

Obviously, the pick six sealed their fate, but even that, I think Aikman, you know, who Aikman, just like everybody else, you're rooting for Phil.

So some of the analysis seems to almost be colored toward that. Sure.
He put that entirely on Tyler Warren for turning his head around too soon.

But that was what decided the game. But, you know, it was just like, it was kind of like like a Disney movie, like when he goes up and down the field in those first two possessions.

And again, he's throwing those balloons, but he throws with anticipation and he was hitting these guys in stride. And it really is such a, it's such a great, great, fun story.

I also wonder if it's over. Like, do we want to have this conversation, Mark? Like, they are now, I believe before this game, they had a 3% chance of making the playoffs.
Okay.

They've gone from 8-2 to 8-7. And the New York Jets, that draft pick keeps getting better, baby.

And now it must be, you know, minuscule. It must be down to 1% chance.
At what point do you say, Phil, thank you. This was kind of a Hail Mary, if you will.
It didn't work out.

We lost these two games, and now we're going to get a look at Riley Leonard or even Anthony Richardson. Like, is there anything to gain by playing Phil Rivers at this point beyond just

the carnival nature of it all? I would say because he is remarkably

more wisdom-filled and better than either of those two other quarterbacks you mentioned. And I don't think you're going to learn a lot about either of those guys over the next two weeks.

So for me, I'd say like you still have a chance, right? Justin knows that Justin

really ended up playing off the bottom.

Mark, I think it's like 1% now. I think it's in that realm.
There's a chance. They're chasing the Texans, right, Justin?

Yes, so they are two games behind the Texans for the seven seed right now.

And the weird part of this is if they beat, if they go 2-0 and the Texans Texans go 0-2, which would include the Colts beating the Texans in week 18.

So really, they need to go 1-1, 1-0, Texans go 0-1, and then beat the Texans.

They also then need to win a tiebreaker edge, which is very murky on where that's at.

And I've plugged this into multiple different simulators, and I'm reading an article that says something different than what I did.

From my calculation, I need the Ravens to lose two games. It's 1%.
It's got a C-3PO over here. I love it.
It's 1%. The athletics playoff odds have it at 1% now.

But wait,

would you not agree that Philip Rivers gives you also the

reporting is people just love this guy? No, I don't go out with him. Not that you're saying not.
Yeah, but at a certain point, there's nothing to be gained other than the story.

There's also the very real possibility still that a 44-year-old man can get seriously hurt. Although, I guess we could put that to bed because he's come out of these first two games okay.

And as you see on the YouTube show, a mom at Lucas Oil Stadium, I love dad bods, bods, number 17. It's a hardcore dad bod he's got, and we respect him for that.
I don't know.

That's a decision for Steichen and Colts management and Rivers himself. And I just, I think it's a conversation to be had because we might not think Riley Leonard is worth.

taking a look at, but there is something to be gained for it. If Richardson is able to get cleared, I don't think so.

I mean, I'm not making fun of the guy, but they cut to Richardson on the sideline, and he's got the Ray Charles sunglasses on. And it's like, is this guy, is he okay? Can he see?

Is he going to play football again? Like, what? I know he's returned to practice, but is there any realistic path to him playing at any point this season? Do we need that?

I mean, I don't need that, but like, I'm not sure. I'm sure they would love it.
They invested a top five pick in the guy.

Rivers feels like a Christmas time New Year's type of story to me, and it's heartwarming. It's kind of how to win one of these two games, though.
I'm not trying to be the grand chair.

No, they lost both these games, and now it's all over. And now it's like,

what are you going to do? What are you going to do? But

still, fun to watch. I think he's easy to root for.
And he did. He played well.
He played well, but the Niners are much, much.

And one thing to your point, like the Sauce Gardner trade, had like cut to him, like giggling on the sideline with a teammate. Like, bye-bye.
Bro, like, have some meaning in all of this.

And it's not his fault. He hurt his calf.
There's no reason to play him either now, by the way.

They'd be very wise to shut him down.

We've seen it in the NFL and the nba guys that come back from calf strains and then they blow their achilles out um i'd be very careful with sauce at this point and that yeah that that trade and i'm not just dwelling on it as a jets fan but you look back on it now i believe they were eight and two when they made that trade right and they have lost every game since and now here they are at eight and seven and what looked to be you thought you were trading a first round pick this year that would be anywhere between 28 and 32.

Where is Tankathon on this now? Let me check this out. This is all I have left, so just bear with me.

They are one in five since trading for Sauce. Okay, so excuse me.
So they've lost five. They won the first game, and then they've lost five in a row.
That pick is now all the way up to 18.

And the schedule for Indianapolis, that's the last part of this mark with them, even beyond everything else. The schedule is not easy at all.

It's home against Jacksonville, and then, as we mentioned, at Houston. So

against the 1%. They're gone.

Okay, one last thing.

Just like all of us, Buck and Aikman were enjoying the Phil Rivers spectacle, especially in the first half when the game felt like anything was possible.

I enjoyed this little exchange or interplay between the two men in the booth. He hadn't sat down since he took the field.

If he's wearing like a whoop or an aura ring, that thing is going to short out. Like, what are you doing, Philip? Another 40,000 steps steps by the time the night's over.

Joe Buck has to have daughters to make the mood ring reference there. That would be my he's got three daughters, I believe.
There you go. Yeah.

But it was, it was, he was, you know, to his credit, Rivers's credit, like, he's not just embraced the challenge. You could tell he's having the time of his life.
Like,

the level of his intensity, and not to pile on sauce, and I don't even, I didn't even see the shot that you're referring to, but you know, one guy might be disconnected and half paying attention.

Rivers is standing on the sideline, pacing back and forth like a mania. I can't wait to get back out there.

This has been just an incredible rush, I imagine, for the grandpa. He's a total obsessive.
And like, I think it has,

sure, they're going to miss the playoffs, but like, there's something about it that I think for all of us is like, cool. In sports, anything can happen.
And this happened.

All right. Let's take a break and then when we get back, we'll do some news and then hit the power ranking.
Stay right there.

Hey, Ceci, you know that feeling when the stage is set and every play counts? That's exactly what the college football playoffs bring. Every snap, every drive, every touchdown.

Ceci, we're getting these texts from you on Saturdays about how much you love college ball now. It's edge of your seat excitement.
So I know you're affected. That's right.

You know, I've been getting more into college football this season. It's a new thing for me.
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All right, we are back. Yes, power rankings coming up.
But first, let's get caught up on some news. You know, even though that hurts going down, you can't spit it out.
You have to swallow it.

That's the truth. Ow.

I the Irishman, Sean Payton.

Life lessons, lewd life lessons with Sean Payton.

I called him an Irishman, and then it was questioned. It was questioned, but you know what? And I asked our producer to get a little background, and he spit out some AI slop at me.

And while I tend to probably feel confident that what the AI fed back to me via our producer, that he does come from strong Irish Catholic roots.

I have that much respect for Connor and what he does for a living as a journalist to not just throw that in Connor's face on the show, especially Connor's like an Irish guy and he, you know, that felt like a little

I don't know why we're holding Irish people up higher than anyone else. Like, you're a little bit Irish.
I've got some Irish in me. Like, why, like, what are we doing here?

What do you have against Irish people? What? I have nothing against them. Also, what do you, are you even tracking anything I'm saying, Cecil? I'm talking about AI.
I'm not talking about Irish people.

Oh, I'm with you on the AI front that I think.

No, but now I'm more interested in this. What's your anti-Ireland take? Go ahead.
No, everybody, like 13% of our audience, perk your ears up. Sessler's going to continue on.
No.

I am part and parcel of the Irish creed. I've got some Irish blood in me.
You sound very English right now, the way, you know, Mr. III.
Probably more.

Okay, now it makes sense. Okay.
Well, what?

Are you, what's what's happening here in general with the, what are we, we're forming teams and we are, yes, I'm, I, I love the English as well, but it seems like you've, you've chosen a side here, and that's, that's okay.

That's fine.

I respect all.

Everyone is the same to me. I don't see any differences between people.
So you're all good. You've done it again.
Sess dog. All right, let's get into it.
Uh,

DK Metcalf, you fed up. You fed up really bad.
The Steelers wide receiver. And we talked about this on Sunday show.

There was

Mike Florio is on national television saying, oh, you know, past

president says this will just be a fine. No, bro.
Like, go watch the video. He pulls a fan tourism and then takes a swing at him.
This wasn't going to be a fine. This was going to be a suspension.

Now, did I think it was going to be a multiple game suspension? That surprised me a little bit.

The Steelers wide receiver was suspended two games without pay by the NFL for what is called conduct detrimental to the NFL for initiating a physical confrontation with a fan during Sunday's game at Ford Field in Detroit.

This is a rough one for obviously the Steelers who are trying to close out the AFC North, and now they're without their top wide receiver for the final two games of the regular season. He will appeal.

We'll see if he can cut down the suspension,

but don't expect it. This is a bad look for the NFL when a star player or any player is attacking a fan over,

I don't know, it's still always floating out there, and you know how these things tend to go.

But as we heard yesterday, he was mocking DK's birth name, and that was enough to get DK fired up because that had happened in a previous

game that he had been in Detroit or something like that. Anyway, Metcalf

will forfeit $555,000 for the two games. And this one's crucial, Ceci, because

the

reporting out there on Monday night is on top of that, that conduct detrimental allows the Steelers to get off the hook for an enormous amount of previously guaranteed money.

What is something? Justin, can you look that up? It's something like 40 million in guarantees.

I saw conflicting reports. I saw 45 million and I saw 40 million.
So in the rundown, I wrote over 40 million, just to be safe. So it gives the Steelers that option to bail if they want to.

I think on balance, he's been a good part of their offense and a good soldier this year.

But this is something that, you know, the Steelers might have in their bag if they choose to go in another direction.

Now, just a really, really tough turn of events for Metcalfe, and he has no one to blame but himself. Well, and to lose him for, I know you're playing the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday.

That's not a challenge. You'll probably win that on some level.

But the Ravens after that, to wipe them out for the rest of the regular season, I tend to think that with an appeal, this goes down to one game. I just tend to think.
Now, Tom Pellisero reported that

there was a previous encounter when DK was with the Seattle Seahawks a year ago with this exact same fan.

So there is some, it's weird. This is very weird, right, Dan? But there's a history in theory between DK Metcalf and this fan.

To which I say, who gives a shit? So? I agree. I think the player is the one that's responsible to not respond to anything, but

it is messy. It is a human being.
But like, two games feels just because I think the punishment for these things have been all over the map, has it been, did we know it would be two games?

It surprises us, right?

No, that's what I said. I said I thought it would be a suspension.
Two games did surprise me.

And yeah, it could be cut in half on an appeal.

Chad Ochosinko has a podcast, and he said on the podcast that DK Metcalf, I guess, told him that there were some racial

comments made in the back and forth.

Also, some comments about DK's mom. Now, I don't know.
Who knows? It's a he said, he said situation. Of course, that would be something

you remember the Miles Garrett incident with Mason Rudolph years back where

those

accusations could be made, and then you wonder if it's made after the fact to try to justify the behavior or whether it actually happened. We don't know.

But ultimately, the bottom line is he took a swing at a fan, and he's going to pay for it, and so are the Steelers. And it's an unfortunate situation.
You can't do it.

As unfair as it feels, because he does a ton of work around Pittsburgh and stuff, too, even in this first season. But you can't do it.

I mean,

yeah,

he earned the suspension. I mean, it's just dumb, man.

In other news, one other news item before we get to

the power rankings. The Chiefs are leaving Missouri.
How about that?

For Kansas.

I imagine, because this is going to be confusing for a lot of people, including people in America that don't live in the middle of the country. On that border.

I'm sure, especially like our international audience is like, wait, the Kansas City Chiefs don't live in Kansas?

No, guys and gals, Kansas City is in Missouri.

But the team announced Monday that they will leave their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium for a new $3 billion domed stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and will be ready for 2031.

I just want to say one thing about this, and this comes on the heels of Connor's reporting with Gil Manzano

for SI about the Bears talking about maybe going to Indiana because Chicago is not working with them on a replacement for Soldier Field. Have you noticed that there's a

every stadium design looks exactly the same now?

Oh, we're back in the 70s then. That's right.
We're back in the 70s.

If you know, when there was the stadium boom in America in the 70s, it was the rage to build these all-purpose stadiums that were turf, and a lot of them were both for the NFL team and the the Major League Baseball team in the city.

And eventually in the 90s and 2000s, a lot of those stadiums went the way of the dodo bird and with good reason. They were ugly

cement and steel eyesores. And

a lot of cities built these new facilities that are beautiful, except for the Jets and Giants, which said, we're going to double down and build the ugliest stadium possible in 2009 or whatever it was.

But everyone else has built these new state-of-the-art stadiums.

I'll just say the only thing that is a little annoying is they're all, look at the, I think there's a tweet out there, if we could find it, Justin.

There's a,

everything is exactly the same shape. It has the glass ceiling with the scoreboard that is in the round.
Like the, I think it was the Falcons that maybe had the first one.

And we don't have to do that either. Like, can we just, come on.
Bring something new to your cities. Be original.

That's my only take on this. And I imagine there are people that are are passionate, Ceci, about the Missouri, Kansas thing, and I respect it.

But my biggest take is if you're going to build a new arrowhead, make it different than any other stadium, not just a carbon copy of the last eight that have been built in the last 10 years or so.

Yeah, it's like Frank Lloyd Wright has

left the picture. We get that.

I will say one thing about this particular move.

Kansas City, Kansas,

and I do, you're right, because I learned this when I was about 24 years old, that there was a Kansas City, Kansas and a Kansas City, Missouri. They're about a mile and a half away from each other.

So it's not like they're moving to,

you know, 50 miles away into the middle of another state. I had a friend that in his earlier years

lived in Kansas City, Missouri, but was an Applebee's server in Kansas City, Kansas. And I reached out to him tonight just to say, what was the commute like? Oh, what did he have to say?

I got to hear this. Yeah, I was like, what was the commute like? He said, look,

it was about 14 minutes to just get over there to Applebee's to serve. I've got my flare on.
Like,

he was dating a girl that he served with. They had a lot of adventures in Kansas City, Kansas, but then he'd go home to Kansas City, Missouri.
So it was pretty fluid.

Like, I'm just saying it's not like a jarring. We're not moving the Browns to Baltimore here.

Right.

Right.

So that, and that's where I come down to. But let's make the stadium look different.

That would be nice. Do it.

It should be a civic treasure, and each one should be its own beautiful butterfly.

Well, you are right about the Jets and Giants Stadium. I don't know what

the planning was there. It's a goddamn sardine can in the middle of a swamp.
Way to go, guys.

All right.

That's what's happening in the news. All right, it's time.
Let's go. Let's go right to the power rankings.
Look at us.

Unless you've got power

from

Farbuck, Farbuck. With great power comes great responsibility.
Bigger powers, yeah. Then when you get the money, you get the power.
Category orange instance. Power behind the power.
Yeah, wow.

You're playing with power. According to Dan Hansas Power Rankings.

Thank you, Paul Rudd.

Still no sign of Farbuck, and that's a good thing.

The Heath of Call Power Rankings, the Power Rankings of Record. All four of us, that being Dan, Mark, Justin, Connor,

we file our rankings and then we put it together in a big blender and come out with the definitive top 32 in football. I have a, I'm very curious if I'm alone.

I believe I'm going to be alone on this island, but we're going to start with a little bit of a window rattler. At number one, I think.
Let's bring up the first tier.

Okay.

No. Good job, Connor Orr.
All right. So I understand that the Seahawks beat the Rams in fantastic circumstances on Thursday night football in Seattle.

I still think the Rams are the best team in football,

as does Connor Orr. He keeps them at number one.
Justin and Mark dropped them a spot after that big division showdown, but they remain number one in the power rankings.

And Mark, I know Seattle fans are going to be pissed about that, but this isn't just about just because one team beats another in a back and forth game that goes down to the final seconds doesn't mean necessarily that team's better.

They were better in that moment. Well, but that's not what the power rankings are about.
Well, okay, we're not frame, it's not just because that happened.

I feel ready to put them in that position. And so I think between two and one, it's very close.
I tussled with this, but I feel very comfortable putting them at number one.

But overall, the Rams stay in the overall top position. So you

won out. You and Connor won out.
I'm very happy that it worked that way because I think a lot of reactionary power rankings out there will just be, they won, they're number one.

We're already on to the PR front of this entire exercise. And yet, our rankings, thanks to Connor and I,

have a broader view of the league. So sure, that's how we let's frame it that way and see who is mentally soft enough to accept that.
The Seattle Seahawks, yes, are indeed number two.

They get 2-1-2-1 in the group of four. All right, now number three.

Okay, the Buffalo Bills. They stay at number three.

They had a grind one out in Cleveland. I thought they would get dinged because of that.

Sessler was just on absolute fire on text, burying the Bills, and then he has them at number three in the rankings. I can't figure out, you know, Justin, I can't figure out Mark.
I just don't.

There's like two Sesslers. There's the guy on text, and then there's a guy on the show.
And I want these guys to meet at some point.

How come you don't have the Bills further down where you basically already announced them on text as Cannon fodder come January?

I think what I was trying to say overall, and I may not have done an effective job of that, is that the bills to me feel susceptible to kind of not showing up for quarters in a row.

Do I think at the height of their powers, they're the third best team? Yes, I do.

But I just think that they're a little bit of a weird team that like you can't count on it on any given day for four quarters.

And the Cleveland game is kind of like, they seem like they're going to look past people a little bit. And there we go.
But I think they're better than the rest of these teams. Yes, Justin.

I think to some level, I understand what Mark's saying is like the Bills were maintaining a good enough lead that they never had to reach into their bag to like be special.

And if the Browns had like suddenly, surprisingly taken a late lead, the Bills would have been like, okay, let's kick it on.

But Mark was also crushing them during the Browns game, too. Yeah, yeah, I know.
I'm a little, well, hold on. From a human angle, I'm a little over everyone.
I feel like

safe whites love the Bills. It's like the Bills are a safe, easy team to love.
And so

ask Bills fans that the Bills are an easy team to love.

The other thing that it is for Bills fans, but it's just like we're going to cling on to this idea that they're just going to be a little bit more. Well, so are you.
You got them at number three.

That's my point. Exactly.
If you actually have doubts about the Buffalo Bills,

it should be reflected in the power rankings. I feel like I'm making sense here.

But again, though, then it's like the rest of these teams.

I don't think there is a number three in this league.

You know, you're the white that's being safe, I guess, is the point that I'm

because Dan and I both have the bills lower than three. But the other question I have for Mark, I guess we can wait till we get to this team,

but there is another team who sort of struggled to beat a bad team that they should have blown out, played with their food or whatever.

And Mark dropped them massively in the rankings, and he didn't give the bills the same treatment. So, no spoilers, but we'll get there when we get there.

Ah, okay, I think I know what you're talking about. Well, let's let's move on and we'll get to that when we get to that.
Up next, what a show. The Jacksonville Chet.

Well, this is, listen, the power rankings, especially the way we do them, because they're at the highest level of the art form.

It's not, the process isn't, you know. you know, picking dandelions in the field, you know, Mark? Nor am I doing, nor am I picking dandelions in the fields.
I'm saying there's sometimes

hard conversations are had, and you know, it's all done out of love and respect. It's just, I'm glad that we're here.

Like, and the audience that's watching and listening is like, wow, it's like we're inside the mind of this great power rankings machine. What a treat.
You know what I mean?

I do know what you mean. I know that they're thankful for the experience.

All right, number four, the farbook Jaguars are up six spots. How about love for the Jacksonville Jaguars, led by the old Zeuser and Justin Graver, who had him all the way up to number three.

Mark has him at six, Connor at seven, still reserving a little bit of judgment, but still they come up six spots. Is that the biggest jump of the week, Mark? Justin, excuse me?

It is tied for the biggest jump of the week. All right, very good.
Speaking of jumps, the New England Patriots, they jump up one spot.

Their comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday night football gets them into the top five. I have them at six.
Mark has them at five. Connor at five.
Justin at seven. Justin, seven is

probably where people thought I was going to put them, but but you put them at seven. Tell us why.

Yeah, so I toyed with my like rankings three through seven quite a bit, and ultimately I just decided I wanted to reward teams that I have more fun watching.

And right now, that includes the Jags, the Bears, who we'll get to in a sec, and a couple other teams.

So I was like, I had the Patriots at five in multiple iterations, and I just kept tweaking and tweaking, and they ended up at seven. It is what it is.
The Ravens aren't good.

Like, let's acknowledge the Patriots had an awesome comeback win against a cooked team that's bad. Yeah.
And I kind of mental processing is

stunning. Let's start there.
It's like Steve Young at his peak.

No,

I wish I would have at least mentioned that a little bit, but I'm sure Patriots fans would have been furious with me if I did, which makes me

wish I would have done it more.

But as we were like throwing these bouquets at the feet of the Patriots on Sunday night, like it's this Ravens team that nobody believed in, that weren't even a winning team that lost their quarterback in the second quarter.

I mean,

I'm not just saying, you know what I mean? It's just like,

we get caught up. You want to talk about like safe whites or listen, safe of any color in Creed, Mark.
And shame on you, Tisk, Tisk, especially after the English-Irish-Irish thing earlier.

Okay.

Like,

you know,

I forgot what to say.

Well, you got, you, like, you accomplished your point right there, I think. So we're good.
No, the point, yeah, the point being that, you know, we, oh yeah, safe whites or any color,

we're still kind of the echo chamber of the Ravens being awesome for like 10 straight years or whatever. And the idea of winning in Baltimore in prime time

means more in our minds in terms of what the last 10 years of pro football rather than what it actually means in 2025. But that's hard.
That's hard to separate from.

But you give credit to both sides of that Patriots ball for closing that game out beautifully. And I think they are a force and they deserve to be where they are.

Number six is the Chicago Bears up two spots after their stirring comeback on Saturday night against the Packers. 16-6.
They're down with two minutes to play. They win 22-16 in overtime.

I think Bears fans, Mark, might even expect them to be higher here because it's it's like they keep on

slaying Giants and passing tests. But

I get a little bit hung up. And again, I had them at nine.
So

I'm, I guess, a little bit of a holdout because I am thinking about the Bears that were down 16-6 with two minutes to go. So like the first 58 minutes of the game,

which, by the way, is

a game in which Jordan Love didn't play for most of it after a couple of cheap shots on that quarterback, I thought.

So credit to the Bears, Bears, but also they're just out of my tier one personally, but they're in the tier one collectively.

I get where you're coming from. I've been there up until this week.

I just remember like,

you know, you get like the Red Sox team from like 1989 or something that like comes back from 18 games down and gets into the playoffs.

Like they just feel like they overcome challenges week after week. And so putting them at four where I put them,

is it a little rich? Possibly. But again,

the community of teams around them, I have no problem doing that. They just keep winning.
Yeah, I think there's something to be said about the cardiac Bears and all the fun and Caleb Williams.

They're fine. Where they are is number six.
And that's the one. Justin agrees.

Yes, Justin also had them at number four, but they're number six in our rankings. Number seven is the Niners.
This surprised me a little bit.

I love what I'm seeing from San Francisco because, like we said at the top of the show, we don't have to dwell here because we talked a lot about the Niners earlier, but I had them at five.

Mark and Justin had them at eight. Connor has them all the way outside the top 10 at 11.

It's another team that's passing every test, and now, as they've gotten healthier, are showing you

their ceiling offensively, which is as high as anyone in the league. I just think they're an easy pick for the top eight,

even if Connor disagrees. And maybe we'll get into that on Wednesday.

This is the first time the Jags have jumped the Niners, reigniting the little wedding gift bet that me and Connor made months ago. Yeah, tell the audience, what was that wager again?

Okay, so Connor held up two envelopes. He said, this is,

or three envelopes. He said, if we don't bet, you get the standard gift that I give all my friends when I go to their wedding.

If we make this bet and I win, I give you this little bitty wedding gift that's much lower than what I would normally get.

And if if you get it right, then you get this super awesome wedding gift that is way more than I would normally get.

The bet was, I said that the Jags should have been ranked ahead of the 49ers because we're coming off an early game in the season where the Jags just beat the 49ers.

And Connor said that's not necessarily how it always works just because you beat a team, as you've said many times.

So Connor says, if the Niners are ranked ahead of the Jags at the end of our season power rankings, he wins. If the Jags finish the season in our rankings ranked ahead of the Niners, I win.

And here we are with two weeks to go. We finally got some Jags momentum.
Come on, baby. What a beautiful and dumb wager, Mark.

Yeah, it's convoluted, but Connor himself, with his own actions, has the Jaguars at seven and the Niners at 11. So

he's basically shipping that gift to you, barring

number eight and the last team in this tier one, which have been renamed largely, Mark, for week 17. Tier 1 is Super Bowls in here somewhere.
Bingo.

The Denver Broncos down four spots after,

obviously, a very disappointing, one-sided thumping at home by the Jacksonville Jaguars. So they almost, they essentially...

switch residences within the power rankings more or less with the jags moving into the top five and the broncos now at the bottom of tier one that is well earned and i think a a perfect spot mark because it's like

listen when you win 11 in a row um you deserve a little bit of grace if you have a bad day but at the same time that was a bit of an illuminating loss if you choose uh you know

you could start turning over some rocks if you want when you see a loss like that You're waiting with these new teams for something that confirms your doubt.

And maybe that did that for some of the Broncos observers and the reverse for the Jaguars. All right, that's tier one.
Before we get to tier two, tier three, and tier four, let's take a break.

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All right, we are back. Oh, very spirited tier one discussion, Ceci.

Let's now move to tier two, which we had to rename. We thought the pretenders name was a little bit unfair to the teams on the top end.
So

tier two is now called Good is the Enemy of Great.

That works.

Starting with the Houston Texans.

Wait a second.

Sessler, I don't understand you.

I don't understand you. Because the Texans and the Bills played the same game in week 16.
They both played dog shit teams, played the game closer than it should have been. Both won.

The Bills get a total pass, a team that you have been on record behind the scenes not believing in. They move up in your rankings, sit at number three,

and the Texans plummet down to 12. And as a result, they leave the top eight.
I had them at seven. Connor had them at eight.
Justin had them at six.

All of us had them in tier one, but you plop them at 12 and crater them.

What is up with that? IFC. And he had them at seven last week.
So he dropped them five spots for a win. Well, one thing.
Well, one thing, it's not just simply the Texans.

It's the other teams around them.

Farboke. Like satellites.
So we've got to look at it that way.

Sure, we did. The rest of us did, yes.

You can point your finger at me, but I think I view them as

a plain team. They're playing.

They're just plain to me. We can't be saying that.
But number nine, we're trying to be respected here, Mark. They've won seven straight games.
They're playing out of their minds defensively.

CJ Stroud has really come back from that injury and played at a high level.

They're passing every test and they have a chance to win that division. They could potentially win 12 games.

I put them behind, we'll get to this, but I put them behind the Chargers,

which I agree with. I had to go look at the entire AFC, and I'm comfortable with where I put them.
I think that's still, they're still a playoff team.

They could win a playoff game, but I don't need to shoot them up the board at this point. I think they are compromised in certain areas.
That will cost them.

Okay.

I can get not fully buying their offense against playoff defense. Oh, Justin is going to not be totally behind an AFC South team.
That's not

the same. Well, the Jags at three, so thank you very much.
No bias here. I'm just saying, if that's the reason Mark has them at 12, I can at least buy where he's coming from.
I can't. Plain.

Their uniforms are ugly. Is that factoring in? I agree.
No. NRG NRG Stadium, not the best place to play football.
Is that what it's about?

I just think

they've got a dominant defense, which I like, and that's why they sit in my playoff realm.

I don't buy them winning a certain type of game they might have to play. Will I be wrong? Probably.
Have I been wrong about most things? Yes.

Number 10 is the Philadelphia Eagles, beating up on some bottom feeders, getting some confidence back. They come in at number 10.
I have them at 11. Cesee at 9.
Connor has them at 4.

Oh, man. We're really begging.
Do we miss Sparbick? Is that what's happening here?

How far did he have the Eagles jump up because they beat the Commanders?

Well, this was the whole thing last week is that he had them at 5, while the rest of us had them at 13 and 12. Okay.
Okay. Okay.

Conviction. All right.
Okay. And Justin had them at 11.
They come in at 10, up two spots.

At number 11, this one might seem a little unfair because speaking of teams that are passing every test, the Los Angeles Chargers, they stay at 11 after another win. And

yeah, what are you going to do? I mean, they're just passing every test, but maybe they're a little plain too, Mark. Maybe some people just don't like their skills.

Well, I think they're, I would say that they've affected me because of their injuries, which we've talked about a bunch. Like, they keep

gritting out these wins. So I believe in the Chargers.
I don't know how much, though. Like, they're all a lot of playing as fair.
Am I totally crazy?

Like they're just sort of there in the AFC and we'll see if they can change my opinion.

The Green Bay Packers down three spots after that heartbreaker against the Bears.

I had them down at 12.

Justin O'Connor have them at 13. Mark has him at 10.
Yeah, I just think these have been tough losses. I feel like the Parsons injury, now you lose Jordan Levin.

As we look ahead to week 17, it's early, obviously, we'll find out, but loves and concussion protocol. And Malik

Willis also has a shoulder injury.

So we don't know what the Packers are going to have a quarterback

with two games to go. Number 13, our Twilight Zone team.
We're pretty locked in on this one. The Pittsburgh Steelers.
I have them at 13. Mark has them at 13.
There you go, Sess.

Connor has them at 14. Justin has them at 12.
They're up one spot.

I think that's a perfect spot for the Steelers, Mark, because we all acknowledge they've done a really good job dusting themselves off and playing much better football after things kind of bottomed out a few weeks back.

But at the same time, what does that mean? Like, they're a perfect example of good as the enemy of great.

It's fair to wonder if they are a real team when

it's nut cut in time. Yeah, they're the banner of this

fleet of teams. But when you and I agree, we can just waltz on and say we nailed this.
Yeah, absolutely.

That's right. It's correct.
Number 14. This one's kind of sad.
I'm kind of bummed out about the 2025 Detroit Lions. They are not going to make the playoffs.
They cannot win two games in a row.

And now they've lost two in a row. And we're all pretty much in lockstep.
They're down one spot. The Panthers.

I know Panthers fans are saying, come on, we're at number 15. We're going to win our division.
Well, remember the division you're in.

Also, remember that the majority of their victories have been by three points or less. They play a lot of close games.

To their credit, they've won a lot of those close games, but this feels fair when you look at the Panthers mark in the whole of the NFL, not just the division in which they are.

edging out some other teams that are going in the wrong direction. One of the worst divisions.
We've seen a couple of these.

And in fact, I think the Panthers were that team that went, what, seven, eight, and one one and played the Cardinals in the playoffs where you and I watched that together.

They've got a knack for this, but let's not act like the NFC South needs to be thrust into the top 10 here. Yeah, the top NFC South team at number 15 seems fair.
The Ravens also,

they're just a middle-of-the-road team, to the point we're making about the Patriots come back.

This is a middle-of-the-road team that stinks at home, that has had a bad season overall, and also very unlikely to make the playoffs down one spot spot to 16.

All right, so tier two, good is the enemy of great. Tier three,

infinite abyss. Okay, so this is like you're not

in the worst. You're not the dregs, sese, right? But you're just kind of like floating away.

Yeah, was it the

space film where Clooney, I believe, was in it, and then at one point his

oxygen pipes. Is it the Martian? I don't know.
It just disconnects from a spaceship and floats away into space. Like, that's these guys.
Yeah. That's the one that won an Oscar.

It's like the one-act play. Sandra Bullock is in it, and I thought it should never have won.
What's it called? I don't remember. Was it The Martian? No, it's the one that

the Roma director directed it. Right, right, right, right.
I don't recall it being a one-act play. It was like a two-and-a-half-hour movie, but sure.
Right, but structurally, I never.

I was in film school at this time and very full of myself, and I never bought into

it. Marquis was taught about this in film school.

I will cease to discuss the film at this point.

But maybe we can get the name of the film for the people that might be. Is it Interstellar? No, no, that was Nolan.
I'll work on that. You guys go too.
All right, great.

The Infinite Abyss, which also could be, I don't want to put any ideas in Sessler's head about the theme of the week for week 16, Gravity. I like that movie a lot, actually.

But The Infinite Abyss is kind of in line with Sessler's themes of the week. These are just teams that are floating away.
The Vikings, number 17. The Cowboys down another spot to 18.

The Bengal up six spots, but don't read into us like falling in love with the Bengal. This is just a very, very uninspired group of teams.

And obviously, they lit up the Dolphins, who some of us were trying to prop up as a team that mattered a couple of weeks back.

But they're up six spots tied for that biggest jump of the week with the Jaguars. The Bucs continue their free fall down one spot to 20.
The Colts

after a nice first half, I guess. I mean, that's the other thing about the Colts, Mark.
Like,

how bad, how pitiful was their defense in that game? I mean, that was, and I know, like, that, I don't want to take credit away.

It's almost not fair to say how unstoppable Brock Purdy is when he's locked in and then say, look how bad the defense is. But I don't know.

You figure kind of in your building with the season on the line, you have, you might have some answers. It just wasn't a good look for anyone.

Your plan was to have Charvarius Ward and Sauce Gardner dominating at the corner spot. You have neither.
Yeah. Number 22 is the Falcons up two spots after beating the dog shit Cardinals.

Number 23 is the Saints. I'm a little surprised they're not higher in our list, especially Cecia.
You have them at 25 like I do. I know you're,

I feel like you've been falling for them a little bit, but again, within the context of the division they play, this is probably fair.

Number 24. We were at like 31 for like 12 weeks in my.
Yeah, that's a nice little march up the board in our power rankings. Number 24 is the Dolphins down one spot.
And now tier four,

yes, as we all know, it is the shit pit. And credit to the gravedigger.
He has shitpit hyphenated and crucially for our business

interests, trademarked. Absolutely.
You cannot, and let this be a, this is your verbal warning.

Do not dare. You could start a power rankings if you want.
We don't give a shit. Everybody else tries to do it.
We just have the best one.

But do not dare call tier four of your power rankings the shit pit, or we will get after your ass like camera head sharks. We'll get legal.
We have lawyers. We've got agents and managers.

We're powerful.

And just to cover us, last week, I know we rolled it out without the trademark symbol there, but actually, after recording, I put up my original version so the audience could experience it.

But then, after you pointed out the mistake, I corrected what went out to the people last week so we okay we've been trademarked for for seven days now so we're good thank you for all that information justin uh number 25 is the chiefs how about this the kansas city chiefs in the shit pit down four spots and now down to their third great connor has them at 32.

i have a message to read

from Connor. First of all, in the power rankings that he sent me, he called.
This isn't the shit pit. This is the shit stir, Connor or.

In the rankings he sent me, he didn't even call them the Kansas City Chiefs. He writes out team name and mascot for all of them.

And he wrote Topeka Chiefs and then a message that I'm supposed to pass on. Only calling the Chiefs different names of cities in Kansas.

And I'm ranking them last in the power rankings this week for leaving Missouri. Okay.

Well, does that fit your standards, Dan? I get a lot of things. Oh, I mean, it's incredibly irresponsible.

It's incredibly irresponsible to what our mission statement is here.

And if Farba catches wind of this, that could be a code red because he's taking

personal

issues and

dragging it into the discourse about the team, about the business decisions made, about where the team plays. It's just not how we operate around here.

And there will be a conversation behind the scenes.

There should be, is Connor, like the way I think about Connor, because his team moving from geographical point A to B, his story with Gilbert got upended.

Is he annoyed that it's been upended by the Chiefs suddenly doing their own little territorial move? That could be it, I should say. I don't know for sure,

but you putting that out there is fair. It's fair to wonder if he's concerned that his thunder has been stolen in this realm of reporting.

I mean, in that story, the bear story took over multiple countries, countryside. Unbelievable.
That absolutely feels like a possibility.

The Commanders at 26, the Cardinals at 27. Now our fair teams.
The Titans up two spots to number 28. Good job, Tennessee.
The Cleveland Browns up two spots.

What did they do? You know what? I get it. They really fought the Bills hard.
And you don't have to do much to move up in the shit pit, Mark. You know that.

So they're up two spots at 29. The Giants down two spots to 30.
The Jets down two spots to 31.

And the Raiders

down, down, down 32. Did we have any Connect 4s this week, Justin? Sadly, we did not.
I mean, we should have had at least the Raiders, but Connor's little game. Connor didn't even have them at 31.

He's got the Jets and the Chiefs as worse than the Raiders right now. Can I play the sound just to play it because I like it and we didn't get a chance to?

I mean, I'll leave that up to Mark because I know Mark has an issue with the drop. Mark, you decide.
Well, you could play it, sure. It's just a sound.

Love it. We didn't achieve it, though.
Yeah. Yeah, but you say that, Mark.
But then, you know, I try to eat a sandwich around you and you recoil in horror. So that's just a sound.

That's a very different.

I've done some research on that. That's a very different malady for a human than just a simple digital sound.

Okay.

Fair enough. All right.
Coming up,

it's Christmas week, as we all know. So a little bit of a different schedule here.
The next time you hear from us, it will be a day.

Well, it won't be a day earlier. It will just be a different show.
No end around this week. We will have, though, the week 17, Can You Believe It preview that will get to you on Wednesday

on Christmas Eve. So you'll have that for wherever you're going for the holidays.
We'll be in your ears and in your hearts if you choose to let us go there.

And then everything else will be the same after that. You'll get the draft over on Patreon.
You'll get the full recap of all the games on Sunday.

And no, we are not doing a Friday morning special recap of Christmas Day because the NFL can do a lot of things, but they can't find a way to not have multiple third-string quarterbacks playing across that date in games that largely are meaningless.

So we will kick those games to our Sunday night recap just so you're a heads up, so you're not looking for it on Friday.

Well, I think it's a sound judgment by us, and we're treating our fans with intelligence and respect.

Well said, Mark. Beautifully said.
And thank you to everybody for your continued support of our program. It means the world to us.
And we will see you on Christmas Eve. Till then, heed the call.

Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies.
Like how I'm more than just Peyton Manning. I'm also motivating Manning.

When I say insurance, you say financial services. Insurance.
Financial services. Insurance.
Financial services. Now, when I say nationwide, you say is both.
Nationwide.

Nationwide.

For your insurance and financial needs, nationwide is on your side. Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, Ember Finrick, Columbus, Ohio.
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