NFL Week 6 Power Rankings: Drake Maye’s Breakout, Baker Mayfield MVP Buzz, and Flacco to the Bengals

0:14 David Clarke: Out of me, out of him. We also have a wonderful special guest today. It is Mike Marc Angelo, a resident of the Missing the Point Larger David Clarke: universe, but not always on the power rankings, because he's got a lot of responsibility talking about the Patriots every week with Ray on the MTP Boston show. David Clarke: Mike, we are going to talk a little bit about the Patriots this week. I haven't actually had a chance to get your, to get your take on, in this context, in a more broad overview. David Clarke: Spoiler alert, I'm really enjoying the Patriots this year. I'm really enjoying the Drake May Patriots, Drake May in general. Bobby, if it wasn't the Pats, you'd be the highest person on Drake May on this podcast if he wasn't the Patriots.

0:55 David Clarke: Quarterback, just for the record. I know you probably don't know that, but I'm here to tell you that he would be your favorite current, like, young, up-and-coming QB if he wasn't a Patriot, just so you know. And we're gonna, we're gonna get into that a little bit later. David Clarke: But first, I guess we should talk about some of the news around the league, as we're wont to do here on this podcast. The only real thing that's happened is that Joe Flacco got traded to the Bengals. Is that news? David Clarke: Do we care? David Clarke: Does that make the Bengals good? Was Burrow coming back? What's happening? Does it move the needle for you, Mike? Mike Marcangelo: Well, and the fact that he's gonna start, like, he's starting this week, so they've already decided. David Clarke: They're probably gonna do pretty good. David Clarke: You know? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, he just stands in the pocket and just chucks it. Now, the problem that he might find himself in is that Cincinnati's offensive line is actually worse than Cleveland's, so… and we've all seen that he can't throw on the run anymore, so that might be a problem.

1:46 Mike Marcangelo: But, I mean, it's… I think his life's gonna be a little bit easier throwing to Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. David Clarke: I suppose. Mike Marcangelo: The trash bags he was throwing to. David Clarke: Jesus Christ. Mike Marcangelo: Right. David Clarke: That offensive line is, like, tough for an old man. David Clarke: To have in front of. Mike Marcangelo: It's gonna be bad. David Clarke: Ugh. David Clarke: Are we giving up on the Bengals? David Clarke: Is it… I made the point last week that they have the worst coach in the NFL, but that's just me. Robert Kelly: This is better than Jake Browning, at least. Robert Kelly: You know, at least now they actually have some sort of semblance. David Clarke: They've left the space. Robert Kelly: We're making a season here. Right, right, exactly. David Clarke: Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough. It's better than it was. But Burless Bengals is, like, it just becomes, like, impossible to even really talk about them.

2:29 Robert Kelly: The funner move would have been Jameis, in my opinion. If they went out and got Jameis, I would have been all in on the goddamn ban. David Clarke: He's the new Jameis. Flacco is the new Jameis. He's the new, like, bring the guy in. David Clarke: when things are going terribly. And then make them go, like, 3% better. Like, that's essentially what you can hope for. Mike Marcangelo: I mean, if they could be 500 by the time Burrow comes back in late November, December, then I'd call it a win, and I don't think anyone's gonna run away with that division. David Clarke: What are they right now? Mike Marcangelo: Aren't they? Robert Kelly: 2 and 3. Mike Marcangelo: Is that true? David Clarke: 2 and 3? Why don't I have them on the… Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, 2 and 3.

3:11 David Clarke: Oh, 2 and 3. I have him in the honorable mentions still. I would have thought I would have had him in the cross-offs. 2 and 3, Flacco comes in and you're saying what? He needs to win? David Clarke: 2 out of the next 4 games? Mike Marcangelo: Well, they said, what, Burrow's gonna be out until the end of November? Robert Kelly: Yeah, it was, like, 2-3 months. David Clarke: Oof. David Clarke: So he's got… Mike Marcangelo: So… David Clarke: 4 of the next 8? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I think he can do that. David Clarke: I don't know, man. Robert Kelly: He brought Clevel… he brought a shitty Cleveland team to the playoffs years ago. David Clarke: The team still had a good defense. David Clarke: That's true. Robert Kelly: That's true. David Clarke: Fucking atrocious. I… let's… fine. Fuck it, we're doing the thing where we look at their… their schedule. Goddammit, I can't believe you're talking about the Bengals. Mike Marcangelo: Packers, Steelers, Jets, Bears, Steelers, Patriots, Ravens.

3:54 David Clarke: Well, they're gonna have a great week against the Bears. Mike Marcangelo: Ideally, Pearl comes back against the Ravens, on… is it… is that Thanksgiving, or is it the week… yeah, it's the weekend of Thanksgiving. So, realistically. David Clarke: Flaccronies He needs to beat the Steelers at least once, and. Mike Marcangelo: The Jets. David Clarke: the Jets he can do, but every other team he plays, like, that's not… that's not super winnable. Like, the Bears are the next best team. David Clarke: after the Jets that they need to beat. And the Bears could beat them. They need to beat the Packers, the Steelers, the Patriots… David Clarke: And then the Ravens, like, with Lamar back by that point, I mean, that's tough, bro. I don't know. I don't see it. I'm not very optimistic about it. I think it could happen with Flacco, where it would be, like, not… we wouldn't even be having the conversation if it was… if they had… if they had stuck. So I guess what we've discovered is that trade was a smart trade for them. I don't know… David Clarke: what the fucking Browns are doing, to be honest with you. I, like, I don't know what the situation is there, like, they've essentially now… I thought it was gonna be bring in Sanders so we can at least have a fun season and sell a bunch of jerseys, and make some money, and he can be the QB until he, like, fails. I thought that made sense to me, but… David Clarke: Now it's like, okay, we're gonna give it to Gabriel.

5:03 David Clarke: after Flacco's Choice won, so all we've done is, like, manufactured a situation where, like, one of the biggest mouthpieces of the college game last year is, like, getting interviewed weekly. David Clarke: as our backup QB. We're the only… we've made a situation where we're the only team in the NFL where our backup QB gets a microphone put in his face weekly. Weekly. Every time we do anything at the quarterback position. So, like, what was smart about that? Not that the Browns have ever done anything smart, but, like, what was, like, what… I really thought the plan might have been, like, he'll be fun, he'll be exciting, he'll talk shit, he'll say stuff in the post-game pressers, we'll be… David Clarke: nationally televised team that's actually, like, people will be tuning in for it, it'll be worth it. But what, like, now it's just like, no, let's, like, manufacture locker room poison? Like, what was that?

5:49 David Clarke: What's the idea here? Like, how is this helping Dylan Gabriel in any way, shape, or form? How is this helping the Cleveland Browns organization? Like, Flacco was the only responsible, smart thing that I could have seen them doing with, like, Sanders sort of sitting there, but now, you're gonna do that to Gabriel? I don't get it. Someone explain it to me. You guys are looking at me like you don't get it either. Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I can't explain that to you, because, like, everything you said is right. They're trying to humble Shador, just because his last name is Sanders. And I don't see really any other reason. The fact of the matter is… David Clarke: To him, to be honest with you. Mike Marcangelo: he's… I mean… I would imagine he's more talented than Dylan Gabriel, but even if he isn't.

6:29 Mike Marcangelo: If you got this kid in the fifth round. Mike Marcangelo: Play them and see what happens. David Clarke: That's what I thought. Mike Marcangelo: worth it. David Clarke: Yeah, and he… there was a couple moments in the preseason he didn't look terrible. David Clarke: Right? Robert Kelly: That first preseason game looked pretty good. David Clarke: And then he looked terrible. Robert Kelly: Yeah, well, they didn't really set him up for success in that last game, either. They had him playing with literally one of the worst offensive lines I've ever seen. I think they literally cut the entire offensive line that he was playing behind. Robert Kelly: But… I think it is a weird move for me for the Browns, because now, literally, they just have two rookie quarterbacks. So, they… they took some, like, their backup plan, and I guess, like, what they could have wrestled their laurels on, and just traded them away, and now they just have Sanders and Gabriel, so it's definitely… David Clarke: Don't you think, like, don't you think the smarter move would have been, like.

7:20 David Clarke: like, cast yourself back all the way to, like, pre-draft, pre-free agency. Wouldn't it just have been smarter to be like, okay, we have Flacco, we're gonna draft Sanders, Sanders is QB1, and if it goes… if that punt, if that thought experiment goes terribly, which it very well might, we're aware of that, we have tried and true… David Clarke: old Joey Flack as the backup. And then, if Flacco comes in and plays like he's played, you kind of go like, alright, well… David Clarke: I don't know, he's been a decent backup, you know, we tried, and then no one's calling you, like, the stupidest fucking people on Earth. Now, it's like, dude, you just took every misstep, like… Right. It was weird enough to have, like, a QB room of 9 guys, or whatever it was at the start of the season, but like… David Clarke: At this point, it's like, I don't… it doesn't seem like you want to succeed.

8:08 Mike Marcangelo: Right, you take Kenny Pickett, you get Joe Flacco. Mike Marcangelo: Dylan Gabriel and Shadora Sanders, and now you traded those, the two veterans away, and… Have left… What everyone would assume would be the clear number one rookie, and just say, no, he's a… he's poisonous. Mike Marcangelo: We're gonna make him QB3 for the longest time, and now we're… I wouldn't be surprised if he's, I mean, do they have to have two quarterbacks dressed? Because that's the only reason that he'll be dressed to play on Sunday from now on. David Clarke: They probably do. David Clarke: I don't know, can you still do a weird thing with, like, the kicker? Mike Marcangelo: Emergency QVS. David Clarke: Yeah. Robert Kelly: Yeah, I think you have to draw… I think you have to have two, though. I think you do.

8:48 Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. David Clarke: Hmm. Mike Marcangelo: Cleveland loves ruining young, talent. David Clarke: I mean, yeah, I was gonna say. Mike Marcangelo: Barely made out of their lives. David Clarke: At least they're, like, honest enough to be the one team in the NFL, even though many teams this is true of, they're the one team in the NFL where they go. David Clarke: you know, we don't know how to assess quarterbacks. So, we're gonna bring in 4, and we're just gonna see who the best one is. Now, there's probably about 24 teams that don't know how to assess quarterbacks in the NFL, but at least the Browns admit it. Robert Kelly: Well, let's not forget, too, that they also have the most expensive, worst trade in NFL history. Robert Kelly: recovering from a torn Achilles, also on their roster, so… Mike Marcangelo: Is he on their roster still?

9:33 Robert Kelly: Yeah. Oh yeah, they're still paying him. David Clarke: I completely forgot about that. Robert Kelly: Yep. David Clarke: That's so crazy, you can't… they bought them out, no? Mike Marcangelo: I thought they bought. Robert Kelly: No, yeah, he's still there. No, no, Deshaun Watson. David Clarke: I know who you were talking about, I just didn't… I thought they bought them out. Mike Marcangelo: Deshaun? David Clarke: Oh, fully guaranteed $230 million. I mean, if you wanted to buy him out, you'd have to pay $230 up front. Robert Kelly: You're still paying them. You're still paying them exactly what you're paying them. David Clarke: fully guaranteed thing. Jesus Christ! Robert Kelly: It was the most guaranteed money in the history of the NFL when he signed that. I think it still might be, actually. David Clarke: Honestly, like… Deshaun Watson's a genius. David Clarke: That's the smartest guy alive.

10:13 David Clarke: He must have known he was cooked when he signed that, too. David Clarke: He must have known it at his heart. David Clarke: Alright, I can't talk about the Browns anymore, this is depressing me. We're moving on. Mike Marcangelo: Oh, one last thing, I think there could be a real chance that they activate Bailey Zappi off their practice squad, and he's their backup, and they keep Shador at 3 just to keep fucking with him. Mike Marcangelo: Which, at this point, like… Mike Marcangelo: Did you really just draft him just to… just… just to shit on him for an entire year? David Clarke: Sounds like it. David Clarke: Sounds like it. Seems like it. Robert Kelly: Yeah, it does seem like… David Clarke: Sounds like maybe they just don't like him, and they just wanted to, like, put them in purgatory. David Clarke: It's actually a perfect, bailey Zappi's a perfect transition into talking about the Patriots, because… David Clarke: Early on in this podcast, if not, like, right when we started it, you guys were talking yourselves into Bailey Zappi possibly being a professional NFL starting quarterback for the New England Patriots, and now you've got Drake May, look how far you've come.

11:05 Mike Marcangelo: Just to be clear, we started this podcast in 2020, Bailey Zappy was in 2023. So there was a 3-year gap where that was not happening. David Clarke: I was… I think it's better for you if it happened closer to the start of the podcast, because, like, the fact that that was that recently is not great. But hey, listen, you now have Drake May, who seems like he might be the guy. I've been saying that for a while now. I think he's shown all the tools, like, early, that a young quarterback should be showing. David Clarke: I think he's, like, been sort of a… I mean, I know how the Patriots fanbase is, but nationally, he's actually been able to fly under the radar as far as, like, national media criticism of some of his less-than-perfect moments, and I think that's given him a chance to actually grow and flourish under the Rabel system.

11:47 David Clarke: I think he's been given the opportunity to win games for you guys, which I think is really smart. I think Vrabel trusts him, and I think that's the only way to really do it in the quarterback-driven league that we're in right now. David Clarke: I wouldn't go so far as to say… these are just my initial thoughts on the game. I wouldn't so far… go so far as to say as Stephon Diggs is back, but I think that they put him in a position to succeed, and I, you know, he's not… I don't think he's ever gonna be the same guy that he was, but I think that they put him in positions to really help, Drake May out. David Clarke: I think Drake May made the best play of his career in probably the most important win of his career, in that, like, folly Downy throw. David Clarke: And, like I was saying to Ray in the group chat.

12:30 David Clarke: I don't think… even, like, at the end of the game, it was kind of like, okay, like, who's got better clock management? Like, who's gonna be able to, like, really make this happen? Like, you know, it's kind of a coin toss. There was… you sort of fought to a stalemate, and then it's like, alright, well, what's the clock at? And I was just sort of saying, like, I think… David Clarke: No matter what, taking the bills all the way to the end is a win. David Clarke: Of course, you won the game, that's awesome, but I think, more importantly, honestly, than that individual win, because this isn't a season where the Patriots are going… unless, I mean, maybe this game changed your mind, this isn't a season where you're looking to rack up double-digit wins and make a meaningful playoff run. You're really in a… I know Ray hates the idea of, like, being in a rebuild, because you guys never had to be in one for, like, two decades, but really, in this… David Clarke: era of the Patriots, I think you should be looking at it as, okay, we're gonna take positives from this, we're not gonna get carried away, but this is ahead of schedule, being able to do this to the Bills. No, I mean, that's just my rational take on it, but if you have an irrational fan take, I'm all for those here on this show, too.

13:28 Mike Marcangelo: No, I 100% believe that this is the biggest win that the Patriots have had since Brady left. And it really goes against every fiber of my being, because I used to be the person to shit on fan bases that had their biggest wins of the season in September or early October. But here we are. Mike Marcangelo: Drake, he won that game. Mike Marcangelo: And that's all you can, like, every… we talked about on this pod for, like, 3 straight years. Mac Jones had good games, but he never had a statement game where he won it for you. And Drake just did it. That… that throw to Diggs when he was being taken down by the defensive lineman was unbelievable. But the throw right after that, down the sideline against Cover 2, where he read the defense perfectly to pop Douglas, or it was either him or Booty.

14:12 Mike Marcangelo: Like, that was… that was great, too. Mike Marcangelo: I'm… I'm super excited, and I think my… Mike Marcangelo: My expectations for this team at the beginning of the year, as I said on our prediction show, that I had them winning more games than the Cowboys, but I didn't have them being a double-digit win team, because I still had respect for, you know, who the Chiefs were, and who the Ravens were. Mike Marcangelo: But I think that… Mike Marcangelo: Now, I'm not saying they're gonna win 11 games, but I think they could get to 10. Mike Marcangelo: I mean, I really do. And that would be wild. David Clarke: Alright, let's do it. Let's do that thing where I say who they're gonna play, and David Clarke: You say win or loss.

14:53 David Clarke: And then that… we see if we can get them to 10 wins. What do you think? David Clarke: Bobby, feel free to pipe up if he says anything ridiculous, because I'm just going to be reading names if he says ridiculous wins, although they did beat the Bills, so it's sort of hard to… it's sort of hard to deny. So they're 3-2 right now. I'll give them a win. I'll give them 2 wins in the next two games, right off the bat, the Saints and the Titans, which puts them at 5-2. David Clarke: Then the Browns, I mean, they could, yeah, they could get to 10. Their fucking schedule for the good season. They play the Saints, the Titans. David Clarke: the Browns, so that's 6-2. They play the Falcons, fuck it, I'll give them that too. 7-2. Mike Marcangelo: 7 and 2? David Clarke: I say they lose to the Bucks, would you agree with that?

15:33 Mike Marcangelo: As currently constituted, yeah, so they're 7-3. David Clarke: 7-3, they beat the Jets 8-3. Yep. The fucking Bengals don't look that great, they beat the Bengals 9-3. Shit, they're going to the fucking… they might win the division at this rate, what the fuck? Give the Patriots this fucking schedule! This is criminal! They can't keep getting away with this! Robert Kelly: No, and the last two weeks is the best… it's not just this past week against the Bills, either. It's not like it was a fluke. The week before against the Panthers, they looked just as good. The defense… David Clarke: they don't play anyone good except until they get to the Bills again on the 14th of December, and the Bills are coming to Foxboro in December. Mike Marcangelo: They also dominate. David Clarke: the rest of the season! Robert Kelly: That's awesome. Mike Marcangelo: dominated the Steelers at home, but committed 5 turnovers. Like, every statistical category in that game, they dominated, except fucking turnovers, and that's how you lose a game.

16:23 Robert Kelly: turnovers at, like, a pretty legendary rate, like, they need to stop doing that shit. David Clarke: I imagine that's frustrating. Robert Kelly: Last week, against the Bills, the defense looked very opportune in forcing those turnovers on Allen. David Clarke: I thought they looked really unit-coached, you know? I thought, like… Robert Kelly: Yeah, they look really good on defense. David Clarke: I think… I agree with everything you're saying, Mike, about Drake. Like, I think if I was a Patriots fan, I think the thing I would be most excited for would be how well Drake played, and like, Bobby, even you have to admit, like, I know you have a thing about the Patriots, you have a thing about a number of teams, but, like. David Clarke: Drake… Drake played pretty saucy, and the fact that it was that juxtaposition of him and Josh Allen on the field at the same time, because I think they're similar QBs. David Clarke: I think that was really interesting to say, but honestly, I think the thing that… really looked… David Clarke: the best, from my perspective, was how well unit coached each one of the defensive units was, like, especially the D-line, but, like, also the secondary really, like, didn't get burned too badly in any particular situation. They stopped the run from the linebacker position, like, they stopped it on 3 different levels.

17:22 David Clarke: They didn't ever let the Bills get comfortable, they never, like, gave them any real gimmies, or anything silly, or anything like that. Some light calls here and there, but there's been a lot of light calls to the NFL this year, and I'm already kind of sick of it, like, whatever. David Clarke: I really thought that defense, like, that… if you remember, when the coaching sweepstakes were happening, not to say I'm not happy with Ben Johnson so far, but when the coaching sweepstakes were happening, I was… I was like, if I could choose, I would have the Bears get Vrabel, and I think what you're seeing on the defensive side of the ball is why. Mike Marcangelo: Nope. David Clarke: I really think, like, I just… it's what I liked watching in Tennessee when he was there. David Clarke: it's just a well-coached defense, it just is, and, like, no one fucking does that anymore. So, I just, like, I really enjoy that. It's like, I have to hate the commanders now, so, like, Quinn, whatever, we're mortal enemies for life, apparently, it's just, like, the situation I've been locked into, but… David Clarke: really, like, nobody does that, so I just… I like having a Mike Vrabel coach team, and I like that kind of team, and I really think he's doing a lot with Drake May, more than I think people gave him credit for being able to do, being like, him, he's not exactly a quarterback guru, quote, by me. So, you know, like, in my face, like, Drake looks great. He might also just be good enough that he was gonna look good this year, like, no matter what, right? You just need to put him… David Clarke: I mean… situation not to be terrible.

18:38 Mike Marcangelo: I think you're overlooking the fact that he has a really great coordinator now in Josh Pit Daniels. Say what you want about him as a head coach, but he is a great offensive coordinator, and it looks like he's tailoring the scheme. David Clarke: I don't know about that. Mike Marcangelo: or Drake. Mike Marcangelo: initiative. David Clarke: Visor coaches. David Clarke: It's just not… Mike Marcangelo: Belichick organizer. David Clarke: Hmm… did he? Mike Marcangelo: So, yeah, so that just… I've been… David Clarke: When, like, when, like, when, like, when… Robert Kelly: Look what he's doing at UNC, though. Mike Marcangelo: Like, yeah, sure, but what the… David Clarke: Yeah, he wore a visor when, like, when it was, like, required. It wasn't, like, his thing, like, like… Mike Marcangelo: I mean, he could work. David Clarke: Daniels wears one in the booth. David Clarke: You know what I'm saying? Where's one in the booth? Mike Marcangelo: I'm in the booth.

19:19 David Clarke: He's been in the booth, he's been… he's been a booth guy. Yeah, he's been a booth guy. For sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's been a booth guy, for sure. I'm 100% sure of this. I'm gonna look this up. Stand by. Josh… Robert Kelly: Getting Christian Gonzalez back was a huge deal for them. It makes their defense so much better. That secondary looks like a different secondary with him, because it puts Davis in the position he's supposed to be, and it puts Jody. David Clarke: My whole screen is just him sitting in the booth right now. Mike Marcangelo: There's no booze. David Clarke: He's up in the thing, he's one of those guys, isn't he? Mike Marcangelo: No! He's on the field. Robert Kelly: He's definitely a sideline guy. David Clarke: It was a night game, and he had a fucking visor on, so… David Clarke: I mean, if you don't know what I'm saying, then it is what it is. I don't really remember Belichick and Advisor. I guess, like, there's… he's the exception to the.

20:06 Mike Marcangelo: I mean, he's wearing one right now, as he's about to be bought up by UNC in Week 6, so that's great, but… David Clarke: advisor coach, like, full-time, this is what happens. Mike Marcangelo: Does it… David Clarke: Is what you're saying? Mike Marcangelo: 2004, 2004. Mike Marcangelo: I want to leave that topic for a second, but Carlton Davis as our number 2 corner, makes our defense so much better than when he's our number one, because he can't fucking cover. Like, he really can't… Mike Marcangelo: I don't know why, when that happened, but having Gonzo back, you're right, Bobby, like, it helps, it helps everything. And what I've seen from Stephon Diggs the past two weeks, I mean, I know he's not backpack, but he's had 16 catches for 270 yards, in the last 2 weeks. So, like.

20:48 Mike Marcangelo: I don't… I don't know if he's gonna keep that up, but if he can get to 80 yards a week, he's gonna be our first 1,000-yard catcher since… since Julian, and that just means… Mike Marcangelo: You only have two and a half more years before you have to pay Drake May $70 million a year as a quarterback, so you better put receivers around him in these next two seasons. David Clarke: I agree. I don't… I don't see any… I don't see any… David Clarke: I also think they built in the right direction, though. It's like, now you can go, like, now you can go splash the free agent market, now you know. You've, like, built up from the… from the trenches, your trenches look really good, like, this is what I've been asking the Bears to do for years, and they just fucking flat-out refused. They're like, we're gonna get another quarterback, it's gonna be cool. And I'm like, okay.

21:29 David Clarke: All right? And they go, we need, like, 3 more wide receivers. I'm like, do we? Alright. I mean, it's cool. It's like a 9-year-old playing Madden, but I'm like, we really need to build the trenches. David Clarke: Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think that you're… but that's why I said, like. David Clarke: you know, they're way ahead of schedule, because, like, realistically, all they really need to do is win 8 or 9 games this year. Like, show those… show that the coaching's there, the quarterback plays there, and the trenches are there, and then you can go get yourself, like, one… David Clarke: sick safety, and, like, 2 really, really good wide receivers, and you keep your tight end, and Diggs is, like, a 2 or a 3, and then it's like, alright, let's make a run, let's see, let's see what we can do. But you're so ahead of schedule, and you're probably gonna win 36 fucking regular season games, because they make you play, like, fuckin' Bill Belichick's UNC every week for the next, like, 7 weeks.

22:15 David Clarke: I don't… yeah, I don't know. I'm flabbergasted that that's your schedule. That's a crazy, easy schedule. It's… admittedly, it looks… We were 4-13 in two straight years. David Clarke: I get it. No, I get it. It's just that, like, I mean, the schedule looked harder. David Clarke: at the start of the season, also, than it looks right now, like, maybe the… maybe the Bengals, maybe the Ravens, but damn, like… the fact that you went into Buffalo and beat Buffalo is a really good… that was a really, really, really good thing that you did. You might win the division. David Clarke: There's a chance. I would be curious as to what the outside odds are on that. Like, because realistically, what? You gotta win 13 games to win the division?

22:56 Mike Marcangelo: Not if you beat the Bills twice, I don't think. David Clarke: Right. David Clarke: Fright. Mike Marcangelo: 11 would probably do it at that point. David Clarke: Yeah. David Clarke: I don't know, I wonder what those odds are. Mike Marcangelo: I just want to say, though, this all falls apart. Robert Kelly: Trucking right now. Mike Marcangelo: If you lose the trap game against the Saints this week, which they shouldn't do. David Clarke: It's not a trap game. It's definitely a trap. It's not a trap game. Mike Marcangelo: They're just coming off this great high, and they're already looking past the Saints. The Saints are so bad. David Clarke: That you can look back. David Clarke: They ha- you have to have something. David Clarke: You have to have something. David Clarke: If you're… if you're the Saints. And you just… they don't have anything.

23:36 Mike Marcangelo: I hope you're right. David Clarke: I mean, I get why you think it's a trap game, don't get me wrong, but, like, Hmm… David Clarke: They just beat the Giants, you know what I mean? Like, what… what does that even mean? That's nothing. Mike Marcangelo: Giants meet the Chargers. David Clarke: Yeah, but then, you see, this is the problem, once you get, like, week 5, week 6, you can't really do this NFL math anymore, right? Because it's like, everyone's probably gonna beat everyone at some point. Like, it's like, let's just sort of see, like, win more often than not. And, like, let's see what they actually look like on the page. Robert Kelly: Alright, Bears had a bye week. Plus… plus 400. Mike Marcangelo: Plus 400, I'd take that. David Clarke: I'd take it. I'd take it right now, I'd take it to the bank. Mike Marcangelo: I'll do that right now. David Clarke: plus 400 for the Patriots to win their division. If you look at their schedule, I mean, I… it's… can we look at the Bills' schedule real fast, and just compare… just compare notes?

24:26 David Clarke: Cuz… If it's way harder to find those wins for them. David Clarke: Right off the bat, they play the Falcons, then they play the Panthers, then they play the Chiefs. Mike Marcangelo: which we know they're gonna lose to the Chiefs. David Clarke: Then they play the Dolphins, so that's like 3 wins, 1 loss, say. Then they play the Bucks, which could, like, we could be a loss, could. Robert Kelly: That'd be a great game. David Clarke: Then they play the Texans in prime time. David Clarke: Then they play the Steelers. David Clarke: Then they play the Bengals, then they play the Pats again, then the Browns, then the Eagles. Dude, you could win that division. David Clarke: You could win that division. You could win that division with 12 wins. 13 wins, if one of them's the… 12 wins if one of them's the Bills again. How about that? That's really all you need. Mike Marcangelo: that.

25:06 Robert Kelly: It's wild. That's where we're at. That's how big of a win that was, though. That's what we're talking about now. David Clarke: Imagine you're. Mike Marcangelo: But again, it's. David Clarke: Patriots win the AFC East again? Like, I mean, that's fucking absolutely sickening. Absolutely sick. Mike Marcangelo: We would be insufferable as a fan base. Robert Kelly: It's too fast, man. It's too fast. David Clarke: This is not fair. Thankfully, Mike, you already are, so there would be no change. Mike Marcangelo: I meant, I meant us as a fanbase. David Clarke: I mean you as a fanbase also. Just kidding. That's our entire listenership. I would never say something like that. David Clarke: Okay. David Clarke: the Bears had a bye week, so there's really nothing to talk about, except for they're playing Monday night against the Commanders. David Clarke: Do you guys have any faith in my Chicago Bears to beat the Washington Commanders in Monday Night Football in prime time? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?

25:54 Mike Marcangelo: No. David Clarke: Hmm. Robert Kelly: Not the way the commanders are playing right now. Mike Marcangelo: Not the way the commanders are playing right now. Mike Marcangelo: Do you, if they weren't your team, Dave, would you have faith in them beating the commanders? David Clarke: I think it's a little bit of a trap game for the commanders. David Clarke: To be honest, I think it's a revenge game for the Bears. I think you can find some plot lines. David Clarke: I think the Bears will look pretty good. I know you guys, like, just basically say it doesn't count when they win, but, like, I think they've looked pretty good. David Clarke: They beat the Cowboys. David Clarke: That wasn't… that didn't mean anything. David Clarke: Apparently. Robert Kelly: It's a little more now. The Cowboys have looked a little better the last two weeks. David Clarke: Oh, so… so it does mean something. Alright, cool. And then they beat the Raiders, but that doesn't mean anything, apparently, because the Raiders then got their fucking shit pushed in the following week.

26:41 David Clarke: I would… Mike Marcangelo: Well, the Cowboys win absolutely matters. That counts. David Clarke: You said it didn't… you literally said it didn't count. Mike Marcangelo: No, I was… no, I was the Raiders. I'm the one that said the Raiders didn't count. David Clarke: No, no. When they beat the Cowboys, you were like, it's the Cowboys. Mike Marcangelo: False. Mike Marcangelo: No? David Clarke: I'll fucking find it. Mike Marcangelo: Go back, just like your little visor in the booth. Mike Marcangelo: I… you said… I said that. David Clarke: Yeah, reality. My little visor in the booth is reality. This is the place where I live. Would you like to come over here? Mike Marcangelo: Never. David Clarke: Say things that happen. Mike Marcangelo: You said, I said there's not… there's not been a team that's committed, that forced 2 turnovers, and only had 6 points, and… and beat… and won. And you said the, the Bears said it last week, and I said, yeah, but it was against the Raiders.

27:21 David Clarke: Okay, but you said there hasn't been one, and I said, there has. David Clarke: I said, yeah, but qualify, qualify, qualify, because you love to change reality, that's your favorite. Mike Marcangelo: You just… you just said on this very show, 35 seconds ago, that I said the Cowboys, which I did not. David Clarke: I know, you did say that about… you both can be true. You said that about the Raiders, but you also said, when they beat the Cowboys, you were like… I said something like, Bears had a good week. David Clarke: Talk amongst yourselves for a second. Robert Kelly: Fuck that. Robert Kelly: You're really searching for it? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, this is what pettiness looks like, and we still haven't seen Josh McDaniels, an advisor in the book. David Clarke: Okay, here we go, here we go. David Clarke: Maybe the Bears just had a good day. Dave. David Clarke: Mike, Russ threw on them for 500 yards last week, and we know he's cooked, lol. That's what you fucking said. So, right there. Right there.

28:07 Mike Marcangelo: Never mention the Cowboys. Never mention the Cowboys. David Clarke: You were… it was about the Cowboys! Robert Kelly: Good contact for the Cowboys. Mike Marcangelo: It was 100% about the Cowboys! David Clarke: Come on! It's hard to prove. Come on, bro. You can't. You can't do that to me. You know you expressed the sentiment that the Cowboys' win didn't count for much, and then you expressed the sentiment that the Raiders' win didn't count for much, while I'm over here going, hey man, Drake looks great! David Clarke: Really, like, awesome-looking defense, and you're like, I don't know, you play scrubs, and then we look at the fucking Patriots schedule, and you're gonna be sucking your own cock at the end of the year about beating a bunch of fucking tomato cans, and I can already fucking see it! There's no winning with you! Mike Marcangelo: Correct. David Clarke: Yeah, you are insufferable. Robert Kelly: I love it.

28:48 David Clarke: What the fuck are we talking about? Alright, forget the Bears. I know you guys don't think they're gonna beat the fucking Commanders, I already know that. Mike Marcangelo: you? David Clarke: Yeah. Robert Kelly: I think it's impressive, this early, they're only 4.5 point underdogs in that game. I think that Vegas has a little bit of faith in the Bears, for sure, because that means they're pretty much on an even playing field, because… David Clarke: Plus, money hasn't come in yet. Plus, money hasn't come in yet, and we're, like, a week away, so, like, or almost a week away, so it's like, you know, once the money comes in, then we'll actually start to see, but, like, what the actual sentiment is, because honestly, like… David Clarke: I'm not… like, I don't think that we've had our bills win, because we obviously haven't. Like, we haven't had, like, a statement win that, like, means anything, and I also think nothing's changed about what I think is wrong with the team. I just was hoping that more shit wasn't wrong that I knew about, which happens all the time, right? Where I'm like… David Clarke: I know the fucking trenches are bad, like, we can't really get pressure on the QB. I don't really love the idea of blitzing with how our personnel is set up, because we're kind of cover linebacker, like, guys, like, especially if we're playing man, so we'll just get torched through the middle if we blitz too much, so that's fine, so we need to get pressure with 4.

29:53 David Clarke: Montez Sweat is, like, a ghost of his former self. Like, I knew all this shit. A new offensive line, I knew all this shit, right? And, like, they're trying to get used to not committing 19 penalties a game, and I hope they do achieve that soon. David Clarke: I was just hoping, like, I hope we have a good coach. I hope he's a good head coach, because there's… I've seen a million fucking, you know, guru offensive coordinators, like, become head coaches, and then bang, they're not… Robert Kelly: any good. Mark Trestman? Mark Trussman isn't your favorite guy? David Clarke: No. David Clarke: He sure isn't. And, like. David Clarke: I don't even mean just us, I think it happens, like, across the board. I think it happens to every team, where it's like, this guy's, like, the next offensive mind. David Clarke: That's not to say that it probably hasn't worked more often than not in the last few years, to be honest. Like, since, like, the Shanahan days, I think it's, like, kind of happening more and more, where it's like, oh, no, those guys can be good head coaches, like, they can create culture, and I think Johnson is doing that. I've also seen a lot out of Caleb. A lot.

30:44 David Clarke: Like, a lot this season, now that he's not, like, just getting hunted on a fucking regular basis. And also, just to say, as long as we don't get absolutely walloped, like, a loss against the Commanders isn't actually the worst thing in the world. Like, I was trying to say to Ray, it's like, I just need to see some shit. David Clarke: This is my I-need-to-see-some-shit season. David Clarke: And that's all I really need, is I just need to see some shit. I would… am I gonna wanna win the game on the day? Yeah, of course. Like, I'm gonna be into it, but I'm just trying to keep my fucking sanity here this year. Because if you guys were bad for 8 seconds, and now you're good again, and like, this is just my life, like, I can't… I don't know. I might be all done. David Clarke: I might have to retire. So, like, at that point, like, we'll see.

31:25 David Clarke: But, yeah, of course I think they're gonna win. David Clarke: They're my team. Mike Marcangelo: We were bad for half a decade, by the way. I mean, that's a long time. Robert Kelly: Wow, fuck. David Clarke: it's not. David Clarke: Take your food. Robert Kelly: Beers, oh my god. David Clarke: You sound like the guy in prison that's there for, like, tax evasion, and I'm the guy that's gonna fucking stab you later for saying that, because I'm here forever. It's like… I'm like, I'm so glad you committed that white-collar crime. I'm here forever. I've never not been here. I came with the jail. David Clarke: So, I wasn't here in 1985, so, you know, here we are. David Clarke: Bobby, let's talk about the Cowboys. You mentioned it's a little bit more creditable to beat them, or I guess tie with them. I guess tie with them if you're a team in the NFL right now. That's cool, right? They're looking a little bit better. Dak's looking good.

32:20 David Clarke: early season DAC, early season DAC form happening. Robert Kelly: Yeah, Dak… early… early… early season, Dak has definitely showed up. The offense looks very good. Going 2-0 without CD and putting up the points we have. David Clarke: Yeah. Robert Kelly: weeks, has definitely put some optimism back in my sails, for sure. You a little, you wink there? Yeah, maybe. Robert Kelly: But the only thing is, is our secondary is still just absolute garbage. David Clarke: They are bad. Robert Kelly: Bro, Diggs is bad, Bland is bad, neither of them can cover anyone. We have no linebackers, no pass rush. So there's, like, nothing going on on defense, so… David Clarke: That's weird, because the past few years, I felt like your pass rush was pretty good. Did something happen? I wonder, yeah, I don't know, maybe.

33:06 Robert Kelly: But yeah, so we'll see moving forward. We got the Panthers this week, I think we'd take the Panthers down, for sure. Especially the way they've been playing. David Clarke: We're a tr. Robert Kelly: But… Robert Kelly: Yeah, and then the Commanders are next week, so it is a trap game, for sure. But I think… I think moving forward, we'll see. I think… I think a path to nine wins is possible with this offense. It's just really how bad is the defense really gonna get, and can the offense keep up with it? That's what the season's coming down to, 100%. And… and if Dak stays healthy. That's… that's the Cowboys season in a nutshell. David Clarke: Alright, I think that's pretty… I mean, that's a pretty sober reflection on the Cowboys season. Mike, we had them at 7 wins on the prediction show. Are you worried? Mike Marcangelo: Yep.

33:46 Mike Marcangelo: No. David Clarke: Okay. David Clarke: No, I still think 8. At this point, I would say 8 would be, like. Mike Marcangelo: I just never thought… I never thought 9, so I figured, why not… why not just hedge, you know? David Clarke: That is what we're up against now, though. Robert Kelly: 8 seems fair. If we got 8 wins, I wouldn't be surprised. David Clarke: Let's do… Mike Marcangelo: should be happy. David Clarke: I mean, everybody else got the treatment, so I really. Robert Kelly: I can't be happy with 8, but I wouldn't… I wouldn't be… I wouldn't be, like, depressed about it, you know what I mean? 8's not bad with this team. David Clarke: Let's find anywhere. Robert Kelly: Terrible. David Clarke: Let's find 8 wins. How many wins do they have right now? Mike Marcangelo: 2. David Clarke: Two wins. We gotta find… Robert Kelly: 2 water. David Clarke: wins. David Clarke: Panthers, there's one, three. Commanders, can't do it.

34:27 David Clarke: Broncos. David Clarke: Can't do it. Mike Marcangelo: Nope. Robert Kelly: Nope. David Clarke: Cardinals. Can't do it. David Clarke: No, you could beat the Cardinals. You could beat the Cardinals. No, the Cardinals look fucking so bad. No, the Cardinals look good. Robert Kelly: Yeah, that was the worst loss we'll talk about. David Clarke: We should actually shoot on them for a little bit, now that I think about it, because, like, I had the Cardinals in my head as, like, a better team this season than they clearly are, but goddamn, like, that was atrocious. Like, they should be… they should all be given a. Robert Kelly: That was… that was a bad loss. David Clarke: I'm honestly… that guy should have been on suicide watch all weekend, I'm not even being hyperbolic about that. I feel like if you make your team collapse that hard, I feel like the team should make you, like, stay with a friend. Like, genuinely, like, you should have to stay with a friend all weekend. You can't go home and be alone. That's really bad. Okay, so that's 2 wins, right? So now you're at 4.

35:13 David Clarke: Raiders, I'll give you the Raiders, 5. Eagles? Nope. Mike Marcangelo: No. David Clarke: Nope. Lions? Nope. Vikings? Mike Marcangelo: Nope. David Clarke: Probably not. David Clarke: Chargers, probably not. David Clarke: Commanders again, probably not. Giants, yeah, that's 6 wins. Yeah, that's tough. That's… you're gonna have to win 2 games you're not supposed to win. Mike Marcangelo: I think they'll split with the commanders. David Clarke: Okay, we'll give them the split with the Commanders, and what about… what about the Eagles game? Because they do always play… they do always show up against the Eagles, though. They do, don't they? Robert Kelly: They're beaten the Eagles, though. Yeah, they're not gonna beat the Eagles, though. David Clarke: But they… but because of the rivalry, like, it is a great equalizer. Mike Marcangelo: It'll be close, for sure. David Clarke: I wish it was in prime time. I really, honestly, like, I know the Cowboys aren't as good as they have been, but I really still want to see Cowboys Eagles at, like… David Clarke: In a night game.

36:02 Robert Kelly: What is it, 4 o'clock? David Clarke: The afternoon game, yeah. The late, I guess. Well, I call it the afternoon game, because that game starts at 1.25. My other games start at 10 a.m. out here in sunny California. It's great. David Clarke: You're really in bed, tucked up all nice, really, really early in the day. David Clarke: Cause I know fucking Captain Child over here isn't fucking staying up for the… for the primetime night game. Mike Marcangelo: No. David Clarke: No, I said. Mike Marcangelo: Well, I did this past week, but usually it's halftime and I'm out. David Clarke: Yeah, if it's the pads, I get it, but, but you're probably struggling the next day. Don't you wake up at, like, 4 in the morning? David Clarke: Alright, cool. David Clarke: We're here. We're moving on. We're talking about the cross-offs. David Clarke: Mike, last week we crossed off the Jets and we crossed off the Titans, and the Titans did us that lovely favor of winning their game. But I'm still not really that, nervous about it. For those of you that don't know, if we cross them off, it means we think there's no chance of them making the playoffs. We've never been wrong about a cross-off team.

36:54 David Clarke: But there have been a few squeaky butt moments of being scared to, that we might have to uncross a team off, which is, you know, one of the most despicable and embarrassing things a sports fan could have to do in a situation like this. David Clarke: I'd love, since you're here, Mike, I'd love to execute a team, I'd love to do it, just because you're here as a special guest, I'm gonna give you the options, the possible cross-off lists, some are more realistic than others, the ones we might actually cross off here, but but I'll read you down the whole list. It's the Giants, it's the Saints, the Dolphins, the Raiders, the Browns, the Ravens are on this list, they are 1-4, there's nothing I can do about that. I didn't lose those games for you guys, I'm so sorry. David Clarke: The Cardinals, the Texans, the Falcons, and the Panthers. David Clarke: I'd be happy to put a bullet in the head of the New York football giants, just for you, if you like.

37:41 David Clarke: You know. Mike Marcangelo: So we can only do one? David Clarke: Yeah, we could… Mike Marcangelo: We should… David Clarke: I… the thing is, is I don't know… David Clarke: I… I… we could do two. I could make… there's one other team that we could make a real strong case for here. I think the Giants could go. I think there's another team who even more should deserve to go. Bobby, who's jumping out to you if we're gonna kill someone here? I wasn't thinking of the Saints. Robert Kelly: The… the Raiders? David Clarke: I wasn't thinking of them either, I was thinking of. Robert Kelly: The Raiders look really bad. David Clarke: The Raiders look terrible. Robert Kelly: The Raiders look really bad. Geno Smith… David Clarke: No, just to amend… Just to amend that. Robert Kelly: garbage. David Clarke: They… honestly, their running game, though, isn't terrible. Genti's coming into his own. They do have a good coach, like, he might be able to, like, get things back on the rails. I wouldn't want to cross them out.

38:31 David Clarke: just right now, I don't think they're gonna make the playoffs, but, like, just cross-offs are a big deal, you know? Like, we're ending this team's season after 5 games, like, we don't want to be huge dicks, unless you're the Jets. David Clarke: So, I just think the Raiders just have a more likely upside than, like, your Giants or your Browns. David Clarke: with everything going on with the Browns that we talked about at the top of the show, like, it's hard to argue with. Mike Marcangelo: but the Raiders division, everyone in that division should be pretty good. David Clarke: Yeah. David Clarke: Gosh. Mike Marcangelo: the Giants? Mike Marcangelo: I would almost say, if you don't want to do the Giants, the Saints and the Dodgers. David Clarke: I kinda do wanna do the Giants. I kinda do wanna do the Giants. I wanna do… Robert Kelly: The Giants still had the neighbors.

39:14 Robert Kelly: If the Giants still had the Dart Neighbors connection going, I'd be more apt to leave them on, just because of potential, like… David Clarke: It's over. Robert Kelly: out, but that's over, right? That's gone. So… and Dark didn't look great in his second start. He had a. David Clarke: But you're right, though, he has looked decent at times, though, so it's hard to get rid of them. I think if you really do look at the quarterback play, like, the Raiders have to replace Geno, and then it's, like, probably all downhill from there, in a bad way, because I think people. Robert Kelly: Now, Rattler, Rattler's number 32, and the quarterback power ranking, Spencer Rattler's definitely number 32, in my opinion. David Clarke: We'll do the Saints. We can agree on the Saints. Let's cross the Saints off. Do we feel… does anyone feel very strongly about any other team? Because it seems like there's arguments to be made for everyone else. So we could just do the Saints if you guys want.

39:57 David Clarke: I'd be happy. Mike Marcangelo: I would love to… I would love… Robert Kelly: I can't believe the Ravens are here… I can't believe the Ravens are here at 1-4, that's just wild to me. David Clarke: Yeah, but it's not my fault they're here, right? I'm not just… I'm not being petty, they're 1 and 4. Robert Kelly: Wild, wild fun fact for you, when I was looking at the division odds, the Ravens are still favored to win the AFC North. David Clarke: Well, we're not crossing them off, that's for sure. Robert Kelly: But they're still favored to win the goddamn North. David Clarke: That seems unrealistic at this point, to be honest with you. I… David Clarke: I would… I would probably bet on the Steelers. The smart money would be probably the Steelers right now, just because of… I don't know if they're a viable playoff team, but, like, they always win their… thereabouts, the amount of games it seems like it's gonna take to win that division. That's just… you know, it's not any more complicated than that.

40:41 Robert Kelly: You get plus… Plus money on the Steelers right now, the winning division. David Clarke: I would probably take that too, package that shit with the Patriots, fucking go to town, baby. That's like a devil's pact of a parlay. Robert Kelly: Yeah, it's Parley. David Clarke: Oh, yeah, put the devil in the sauce, baby. Alright, fuck it, sounds like we're in agreement on the Saints, but everybody else, whatever. Saints officially crossed off. Mike Marcangelo: Well, hold on. Robert Kelly: The Cardinals' loss is the most cross-offable loss in the history of law. David Clarke: Yeah, but we can't be reactionary. Robert Kelly: We can't do it, but that was one of the… that was literally the worst loss I've ever seen. There's so many bad things that happened to end that game, and then the coach starts beating the shit out of the running back after he fumbles it, which was hilarious.

41:25 Robert Kelly: Yeah, that was bad. But who… Mike Marcangelo: crossing off the dolphins. Like, we think that they're gonna do anything. David Clarke: I mean, I just feel kind of bad, because that Tyreek Hill injury was pretty gross. I just feel like you should give him a. Mike Marcangelo: week, you know? Fuck him. Their quarterback is not doing well, their coach is not doing well, and they only have one win because they played the Jets. Robert Kelly: They did just blow, what, a 14-point lead to the Panthers. Mike Marcangelo: Correct. David Clarke: They do play the Saints, they play the Bengals… Mike Marcangelo: Don't lose the. David Clarke: Play the Ravens. Mike Marcangelo: So, Flacco will beat them. David Clarke: They play the Ravens, and the Lamar will be out range, it looks like. So, there's a chance they play the Browns. Mike Marcangelo: I just lost.

42:05 David Clarke: Play the foul. Mike Marcangelo: The Carolina Panthers with the 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. David Clarke: It's not great. Mike Marcangelo: It's not great. David Clarke: I'm gonna wait. Robert Kelly: I still can't believe McDonald's doesn't… is a fire, dude. David Clarke: He's not even the worst coach. Fuckin' Zach Taylor is. David Clarke: My guy sucks. Alright, fine. We're not crossing off the dolphins, sorry. Not doing it yet. Mike Marcangelo: Great. David Clarke: Oh, yeah. David Clarke: It's just… it's just… it's… I… we did one. David Clarke: You're welcome. Honorable mentions, the 49ers, 4-1, didn't make the… didn't make the power rankings this week. Just goes to show record isn't everything. Bob, they're just not convincing you? David Clarke: They're. Robert Kelly: Yeah, no. David Clarke: They're not… I mean, they're playing pretty good with a guy I think I made one of my better jokes about on this podcast when I told Mike he's gonna look great in a hat with a clipboard in his hand. And that guy's got a helmet on, and he's out there just showing me up. So, I mean, I… they look pretty good.

42:59 David Clarke: Like, I don't have a ton of faith. David Clarke: I shouldn't say that, I should rephrase that. I know that Shanahan's a good coach, I just don't think he's as good as people have said that he is, like, this whole, like, it's the system, look who he can make good, I get it. I just think the system being… David Clarke: friendly to, sort of, that type of quarterback doesn't necessarily mean it's a… it's a tried and true, like, working system, because part of the system is also go and get the guys, who are most likely to be injured on your team. So… I don't know. I mean, it's… the thing is, the 49ers are always… David Clarke: one injury report away from a collapse. So, I get why they're not in the top 10. Mike, you might find it more egregious at 4-1. Is it that, Bob, or is it something else?

43:44 Robert Kelly: I… so, I just want to see a little bit more out of the defense, to be honest. I think, the past few weeks, they have kind of gotten shown up on defense, but the fact that they're 4-1. David Clarke: I thought I wanted to… He liked Paco's old self last week, to be honest with you, but… Robert Kelly: But the fact that they're doing this without even the fully healthy roster, Kittle's out and Purdy's out is so impressive, man. Taking down the Rams on a short week with half a roster was very impressive. Mike Marcangelo: Ayuk and Purcell, I mean, it's literally Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne. David Clarke: But, like, this is the roster that they built. David Clarke: You know, like, we knew it at the time, when they were building this roster, it's like, you guys are gonna have a lot of injury problems. David Clarke: And they do. So, like, now they're getting credit for, like, building a team full of fucking brittle glass… Mike Marcangelo: But for winning, when all those people go down.

44:30 Robert Kelly: And then still winning. David Clarke: No, that's credit, credit to them, I agree, but it's also, like… David Clarke: I mean, they can still… you know what I mean? It's like, they need all those guys back if they're gonna do anything. David Clarke: And I don't know how consistently that injury report's gonna be empty this season, and in the playoffs, which it looks like they're gonna make, which is good for them. David Clarke: But I get why they're not in there. David Clarke: I would want to see a little bit more, too, I understand it. Commanders, you guys seem like they… you think they're fucking unbeatable, so, what's the… what's the story? They didn't make the time. Mike Marcangelo: Well, for the Bears, they're unbeatable. David Clarke: Oh, right, right. Right. But the Cowboys… Be honest. Robert Kelly: to… Robert Kelly: To be honest, they probably should have been in here. That was… that was a very impressive win against the Chargers. They… they dominated.

45:13 Robert Kelly: a team that we all thought was a top-five team in the NFL. So they probably should be here over a couple teams at the end here that had L's. But we'll see. I mean, Daniels just got healthy. I think a win against the Bears will definitely bring him into that top 10, for sure. David Clarke: Oh, but it counts if you beat the… I'm starting to understand the logic here, got it. It's starting to all come together. Seahawks, I mean, I think that there was an argument to have them in in past weeks, but, you know, for obvious reasons, I think they drop out. I… I'm not sold on them. I think, David Clarke: I do really think that Smith and Jigba is, like, awesome. Like, I think he's probably better than people think. I think he is a wide receiver one. A lot of people were saying he wasn't. But just that… that team holistically, as it's currently constituted, and I feel like they've been like this for a few years. I think the coaching's really good. I think it's maybe top 5 in the NFL, the head coach and his staff.

46:01 David Clarke: But… David Clarke: there's always just something missing, you know? It's like when you eat a really good meal, and you're like, just needed… and you just can't quite put your finger on what that is. What do you think… you're nodding along, like, you kind of agree with me about the Seahawks, like, they're very vanilla. I don't know what it is about them that I can't quite get excited about them, especially now they don't have DK Metcalf anymore, you know? I don't know. Robert Kelly: Darnold turned in, he always comes… the Cinderella… he… the Cinderella turns… or the carriage turns back into a pumpkin at the perfect time, where it's like, in the clutch moment, he throws that terrible interception. Last year, when the time came. Robert Kelly: he… he didn't show up. It's like, it just… that's… David Clarke: And it was a big mirror playing the Bucks, right? Like, it was a big mirror, where it was like, they're battling, they're battling, and it's like, Baker's gonna win this. Like, Baker's gonna win this battle, like, in this… I guess you'd call it a shootout, right? Because this is kind of the OK Corral version of every single fucking Buccaneers game, win or lose, which you gotta love, we'll talk about them later. But to put a mirror up.

47:00 David Clarke: from Darnold to Baker, Baker's like, I'm going to the end, bro. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going to the fucking end, so, like, let's. Robert Kelly: It was just… it was so predictable. It reminded me a lot of that Broncos, Broncos-Cowboys game back in the day, where Romo had this amazing game, but you knew at the end of that game he was throwing a pick to blow that shit. Because I knew, bro, I knew Darnold was throwing an interception on that last drive. David Clarke: Cowboys, what about the shootout between Dak and Mahomes a few years ago to kick the season off? And you're like, he's fucking dueling with Mahomes, he's dueling with Mahomes, but you knew. You knew what was gonna happen at the end. Robert Kelly: The other shoe's droppin', bro. David Clarke: So it's like, yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that's the exact way I feel about the Seahawks. It's the way I felt about Darnold all last season. It's the way I… and it turned out to be true. That was, like, one of the more satisfying moments, to be honest, of… like, not to be a hater, but I am.

47:51 David Clarke: I knew that was true about Darnold, and he was on the Vikings, so I was like, don't worry about it, the Vikings and Darnold are a match made in heaven, like, they're just gonna shit the bed in the fucking playoffs, wait, watch. So, you know, I don't, I don't begrudge him his wins, I don't begrudge him their losses, I just kinda don't really think about the Seahawks that much. I can't help it. David Clarke: Who else are on the honorable mentions list? We talked about the Pats, David Clarke: Anyone… anyone? Anything hot in the Broncos? I don't know if I've been, like, watching them closely enough. I… I… I feel like… is… I don't know, is Bo Nix good? Someone explain the Broncos to me. Mike Marcangelo: Bobby loves Bo Nix, I'll let him take this. David Clarke: And he, like, didn't look good, right? Like, he didn't really look good. Robert Kelly: Yeah, he hasn't… he hasn't impressed me so far this year, but… beating the Eagles.

48:34 Robert Kelly: in Philly is a big accomplishment. Like, that… that takes… that takes some real cojones, to go to Philly and take down the champs. So, I feel like they righted the ship after last week. It's definitely the signature win that they were looking for to get everything going. David Clarke: rebut that slightly, like… was that not the Eagles losing that game? David Clarke: Like, did that not have the Eagles are losing this… like, they went insane in the fourth quarter, like, they went… they completely lost the ability to play football in the fourth quarter. I was saying, angrily at the TV, you'll never convince me Sirianni is a good head coach. Like, this is… that had fucking… I'm gonna fuck this up, I'm Nick Sirianni written all fucking over it. Jalen Hurts is like… David Clarke: just playing completely out of himself, like, the offense doesn't look good at all, they're arguing on the sidelines, the offensive line doesn't, like, look to that same elite… you know what, I'm sure they're gonna figure it out. I'm sure they're gonna figure it out, but to me, that was, like, the Eagles handed them 18 points in the fourth quarter and put up zero. I mean, Jesus. Like, that… to me, that's a team losing.

49:33 David Clarke: Right? Like, just sna- like, they only won 21-17. David Clarke: You know what I mean? Like, what did they do? What happened? It was a historic meltdown! Like, they should be getting more shit than the Broncos should be getting credit, I guess, is what I'm saying. Would you agree with that, Mike? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, but I mean, as… I've been a fan… you know, I've been a fan of a team that has been gifted 18 points before and still loses the game. So at some point in time, you have to get… I don't even like Bronco style football. I don't like Bo Nix. Oh, God. David Clarke: It's… Mike Marcangelo: I don't love Sean Payton. Actually, I hate Sean Payton. David Clarke: Yeah, I hate you. Mike Marcangelo: So, But I think if you go in there, and you beat the champs at their own house. Mike Marcangelo: It's gonna count for something, even if they're trying to give you the game. I mean… Mike Marcangelo: You still have to take… David Clarke: It counts for something. It does count for something, of course. It's, like, completely fair. They're 3-2, they earned their 3-2, but they scored 3 points.

50:25 Robert Kelly: In the first quarter, then they scored 0 points in the second quarter, then they scored 3… 0 points in the third quarter, and then they scored 18 fucking points in the fourth quarter? What changed? Was it the Broncos, or did the Eagles maybe just call it a day? David Clarke: And, and then pay. Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. Mike Marcangelo: And not for nothing, this was their only… David Clarke: like, I would say impressive win of the season so far. Their other wins are against… Robert Kelly: It's the only good one, for sure. David Clarke: It's a good win, it's a good win because of the opponent, but I think if you really look at the game, like… David Clarke: the Eagles went berserk. Like, if the Eagles don't just, like, pull out a gun and shoot themselves in the nuts, like, I don't… you know, I think that they just go… everyone goes home, like, expecting what we were all expecting for three-quarters of football, right? So it's not like they looked impressive for the whole game, either. Like, they had a good fourth quarter, and I think the Eagles let them. So, fair enough. I mean, that's all that that is to say.

51:12 David Clarke: fair that they're on the honorable mentions, but they're not in the top 10. Fair. Vikings, fair that they're in the honorable mentions, but not in the top 10. I mean… go ahead, Bob. Robert Kelly: No, no, I just admit, they're, they're… David Clarke: Oh, I thought you were raising your hand and going, me. I was like, go ahead. Robert Kelly: Hold on here first. David Clarke: Front of the club. Robert Kelly: They're very… they're very average. They're as average as it gets, the Minnesota Vikings. David Clarke: Yeah, and like, don't forget they, like, got blown out by the Falcons in the first game of the season, so… David Clarke: They've won some games. David Clarke: it's fine, you know, it is what it is. It remains to be seen. If they… David Clarke: If they put together a great regular season, you know what I'm gonna do? Not change my opinion on them at all. David Clarke: Because that's what they always fucking do, and… it remains to be seen. Do something in the playoffs if you really want us to talk about you. Who else is next? The Chiefs, I mean, they're 2-3. They can't be in the top 10 if they're 2-3. I thought Mahomes in that game looked… David Clarke: like Pat Mahomes. Like, I thought he looked like a guy that plays that level of football consistently and can, like, win you the game. I thought their defense looked fucking disinterested, and I thought that their defense is a big part of why they've been as dominant as they've been.

52:21 Mike Marcangelo: Yep. David Clarke: I think Mahomes can still probably win you 9 games, 10 games, without an elite defense on the other side, but can he do that thing he always does, where… David Clarke: if they're in a tough spot, the defense can get them back in. I don't know if it's they're demoralized from that shellacking they got in the Super Bowl, Super Bowl hangovers are real, but I wouldn't blame Mahomes. I would still never bet against the guy. I would still, in every single game, no matter how bad they look, no matter how many games they lose. David Clarke: he can beat you on any given Sunday, so I don't… you know, I don't care to try to be a hipster about Pat Mahomes, because watching him on Monday Night Football this week, it was like, well, he's still really, really fucking good. So, I, you know, I don't… David Clarke: I don't know. Must be something else. Yeah, it is. It's the defense. The defense just looks really, really disinterested. I think you can score on them. So, unless.

53:10 Mike Marcangelo: Also… David Clarke: Enough points, then. Mike Marcangelo: he's been the leading rusher on the team for 4 out of the 5 games, and I can't… David Clarke: Yeah, depressing. Mike Marcangelo: That cannot happen. David Clarke: I kind of like Pacheco as a… as a running back, but… I don't know, something about, like, the way he runs, he can't… him and… it's, like, worked because of Mahomes, I think, right? Because, like, you can kind of have him and, and what's the other guy's name? They always bring him off free agency, and he's like. Mike Marcangelo: cream hunt. Robert Kelly: Hunt. Kareem Hunt. Yeah, Hunt. David Clarke: Yeah, he was, like, great back in the day, but now he's old, and he, like, just plays for the Chiefs, because, like, he's part of the furniture around there, I guess. But, yeah, they can… they could do that when… when you have Pat Mahomes, you can make it work, but it's… it's… it's not advisable to have your, like, only real threat.

53:54 David Clarke: on either side of the ball this season have the ball in his hands, like, 100% of the time, but I guess that's kind of what he always does, so I don't know. It's hard to argue with their offense. Mike Marcangelo: You know, I wouldn't get after their offense too hard. Mike Marcangelo: I would expect… I would expect their offense to get exponentially better, especially with Worthy and Rice coming back off a suspension now. David Clarke: Agreed, yeah. Robert Kelly: Let's see. David Clarke: That defense needs to lock in, though. Like, that… that, I was saying to Leah when we were watching the game, I was like, you know, Trevor Lawrence, we're gonna… we're gonna come on and talk about the Jags shortly, because we already talked about the next three teams on the honorable mentions list, the Bengals, the Bears, and the Cowboys. But, this is a good transition, because… David Clarke: I was saying to Leah the whole time, I'm like, you know, Trevor Lawrence has done nothing to make me think he's the guy in this game, even if he wins this game. And I think that's 100% true, culminated perfectly… Robert Kelly: in how he's allowed to score that touchdown. And even his answer to the question after… David Clarke: The… after the game, where he, like, falls down on his own.

54:49 David Clarke: doesn't believe he can get back up, but is given so much time to get back up that he does somehow achieve getting back up. Then, in his own words, through the use of sheer terror. David Clarke: Runs in a completely on… David Clarke: like, populated by Chiefs touchdown, where Chris Jones is the best defensive tackle in the league, apparently, and was just walking. David Clarke: And, like, just looking at Trevor Lawrence and being like, that's fine, you can score. I think he can get over there. I think he can see Trevor Lawrence get up and get over there, I really do, and I… that, to me, is bad, bad tape, optics, you know? Like, we gotta really look at that, because you just gave him the game, dude.

55:31 David Clarke: that didn't… it didn't… it didn't fill me with… with… I… to me, I saw a guy that was the guy. David Clarke: play a guy that's really not the guy, and the guy that's the guy lost. Then that shit just happens sometimes. That's… that's what it looked like, that's what that game looked like to me. I don't know about you guys. I… nothing that Trevor Lawrence did has made me think. I know they're 4-1. David Clarke: I'll tell you what, I thought a close personal friend of mine, Travis Hunter, looked fucking great. Breakout game for him on both sides of the ball. Really, really dynamic on offense, really, like, locked down on defense. I really enjoyed it. That's what I thought we were gonna get all year. Really happy to see that. David Clarke: I'm pretty happy to see the Jags win, like, they have a lot of likable players, I just… I've been out on Lawrence for a while, and I know you guys are too, so… I'm not gonna really get any dissent here.

56:14 Mike Marcangelo: No, notice that I thought… Robert Kelly: Go ahead. Mike Marcangelo: I thought, just your point, though, that, Hunter played 40 plays on defense, 40 plays on offense, and he… and he was… he was on Kelsey for a good amount of time, too, and he… and he locked him down. I mean, Kelsey got, 4 passes, against Travis Hunter, and he was on him, I think, for 11 of his targets. David Clarke: Yeah, which is hard. It's still hard in 2025 to guard Travis Kelsey, so… David Clarke: What'd you guys think of that new Taylor Swift album? Do you like it? David Clarke: What's your favorite drink? David Clarke: Oh, are you misogynist? Did you not listen to it? Okay, the Rams. David Clarke: Anyone, anyone, anything more about the Jags, about the Chiefs?

56:55 Mike Marcangelo: No, fuck the jet. Robert Kelly: cleansing it up. David Clarke: The Rams. Yeah, this might be their only stop on the top 10. They play the Seahawks this week, so we'll see. David Clarke: Fair, fair. They are 4-1, though. I mean, I get why they're there. I think you could make a case for the Commanders or the 49ers. Otherwise, I think the Jags belong here. David Clarke: The Rams and the Steelers and the Chargers, I'm gonna put in a tier, as we're wont to do here. I think that makes sense. I would say the Chargers and the Rams are more in a tier, in my mind, than the Steelers are in there, but that's just because the Steelers play a very, very different brand of football than them. David Clarke: But probably as effective. I mean, these three teams will probably be winning around the same amount of games. Are we… are we sort of on board with that? David Clarke: The Steelers had a bye week, so there wasn't really anything to do, but I'm still surprised you didn't use that to take them out of the power rankings like you have in the past.

57:42 David Clarke: I mean, they're probably gonna do great this year, and it's the one year I can't really cheer for them, so that's just, like, the poetry of my life. David Clarke: The Rams, I don't know, what are you guys thinking about, like, the Rams and the Chargers, specifically? Like, I don't have… David Clarke: I don't have a lot of faith in the Chargers all of a sudden after that L, like, it didn't look good to me. Robert Kelly: Yeah, very, very disappointing losses out of both of them, which is why they both plummeted. The Rams losing to Mac Jones on a Thursday night is pretty bad. And I know it was a good game, and Mack did look good, but, like, it's still Mac Jones. David Clarke: I won that game. Robert Kelly: If you're, if you're a top 5… David Clarke: Sounds simple. Robert Kelly: But, yeah. You gotta, you gotta take down the court.

58:23 David Clarke: But the only thing I'll say is, like, they didn't get their asses kicked. David Clarke: You know? Robert Kelly: The Chargers, the Chargers did get their ass kicked, which, which was very, very disappointing. Herbert looked like shit. David Clarke: did. Robert Kelly: He's, he's sold out. Robert Kelly: I had, I had, I had. David Clarke: 14. Robert Kelly: All I needed them was to get $2.50, man, and it wasn't even fucking close, so… David Clarke: Tough. He didn't look great. Mike Marcangelo: DK, I… you can… no, you can fact-check this, too. You and I had this discussion when it was Chargers-Jags in the playoff game, like, 3 years ago, and obviously, the Jags won that game, and I just said, Herbert's just not the guy. And you've always liked Herbert. He has all the talent. Mike Marcangelo: I just don't think he's a… he's a winner. And if you can't win with a… I do think Harbaugh's a good coach. Like, he should be able to get him Mike Marcangelo: to a championship game in the playoffs. And I just don't know if that's gonna happen. I really don't.

59:15 David Clarke: Well, I mean, I think I might be a little premature. I mean, it's… it, like, I think the faith… my… the faith took a hit when they played that team, but one loss, like, styles make fights, right? And realistically, if you look at your assessment of the Broncos, right, they don't really play very good football. David Clarke: the Chiefs have a losing record right now, and you think the Raiders should be fired into the sun via some sort of sun cannon. So, the Chargers have every ability to win their division right now, if they go from strength to strength. Or, I guess weakness to strength, because they just got beat up on. David Clarke: It'll probably still be the Chiefs. I'm not saying it won't be. But this is an opportunity that the Chargers haven't had in years to win a division. They have a good coach, like you said. They have a quarterback that I think can win games of football, right? At the very minimum. I'm not… I don't know if you… if by your definition of the guy is, like, is he a guy to win a championship there?

1:00:03 David Clarke: I mean… David Clarke: like you said, I think he's got all the talent in the world. It's about what's going on between his ears. I don't know. I think he's looked… David Clarke: to me, he's looked like he could be a top-five QB at times, but I think he's also looked like he's… he could lose his job. So… David Clarke: he… and he has at least the good grace to have bad games, and good games, and not, like, good quarters and bad quarters. Like, I think you can kind of know what you're gonna get out of Herbert pretty early on, even though, like, the first thing he did in this game is he threw, like, a… he led a pretty good drive and scored a touchdown, but then after that, he didn't do anything, right? So it was like, okay. David Clarke: like, now you see that offense is stuck in the mud. Once that offense is stuck in the mud, he doesn't seem to quite have developed the ability to, like, drag his offense out of the mud, like a Josh Allen does, right? Like, when things, like, start to… or, you know, like, as we were just discussing, a Pat Mahomes, or, shit, I've seen Drake May do it. You know what I mean? Like, there's a dynamism that I think he lacks in certain moments where he's… he can be a little bit of a frontrunner, like, you need to get him going downhill a little bit for him to really look his best.

1:00:59 David Clarke: Is a guy with that quality gonna be the guy, by your definition? No. David Clarke: He isn't. You can't be like that and be the guy. You can't be like that, and unless you get incredibly lucky, a lot of times in a row, you can't be a guy like that and go in a Super Bowl. You have to face adversity, this is the NFL. I don't want to just spit out platitudes, but it's the truth. You're gonna face adversity, you're gonna have times where your offense isn't playing well, and you're gonna have to play them out, you're gonna have to… you as the quarterback, Justin Herbert, with the talent that you have, you're gonna have to play your team out of trouble a few times, and nobody's gonna be there to help. David Clarke: help you. So how are you gonna do that? Can you do it David Clarke: I haven't seen it yet. That being said, I'm not out on Herbert yet, like I'm out on Lawrence, because I've also just seen Lawrence be shit.

1:01:40 David Clarke: You know what I mean? It's like, he… like, there's a difference between the nuanced conversation of, like, he had a bad game, he can't, he gets bad in these contexts, and I know you know what I'm talking about, and then you look at Trevor Lawrence, and you're like, that's just not the guy they sold him as! Like, that's just not the fucking guy, like, he just doesn't have the things that they said he had. Like, I don't… I don't see it, so… David Clarke: To me, I think there's… I understand why they're compared, I understand why we compare them constantly, and I understand the context around them. David Clarke: I still think Herbert's better than Lawrence, and I still think Herbert has a chance to be the guy. David Clarke: And I don't think that's possible in Jacksonville. Is that lucid? Is that a lucid take still at this point, or do you think I should just be on the bandwagon that you're on? Mike Marcangelo: I do think you have an irrational distaste for Trevor Lawrence, but I also have the same thing.

1:02:25 David Clarke: For Herbert, too, though. Mike Marcangelo: I don't like either of them. David Clarke: I don't know how irrational our distaste for Lawrence is at this point. I thought he was supposed to be sick! Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, but in a game, on a team where he was, like, they're a heavy underdog, big underdog against the Chargers, they came back, and the Chargers were frontrunners in that game. They were up 18 points in the third quarter, and Herbert then threw, what, 2 or 3 interceptions in the playoff game. He's 0-2 in the playoffs, and… David Clarke: That's true. Mike Marcangelo: It feels to me. David Clarke: There's also the playoff quarterback factor, which, like, you have to become that guy, but you're not that guy till you're that guy, right? Like… Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. Mike Marcangelo: But, like, I would just say, like, it feels like he has to have the perfect situation, like, going on.

1:03:05 David Clarke: I feel like that sometimes. Mike Marcangelo: And now… David Clarke: that feeling. Mike Marcangelo: And now, Joe Alts out. Mike Marcangelo: Hampton's out, Harris is out, they don't really… I mean, it's just literally Ladd McConkie and the shell of Keenan Allen on offense. Mike Marcangelo: And I don't… like, I don't know. I could see them… I could… the thing about Justin Herbert and the Chargers for me is that you could easily, at the beginning of every year, say they're gonna win 10 games, or they're probably gonna lose 9. Mike Marcangelo: And you just don't know what's gonna happen. David Clarke: I don't know, because I think in the Harbaugh era, we can see that they're a pretty consistently good team, like… like, I think if you judge them just from Harbaugh on, like… David Clarke: we… I think we can give them a little breathing room. I'll make a deal with you, like, I really think the Colts are fraudulent. Like, I'm really sure the Colts are fraudulent. They play the Colts in two weeks. They play the Dolphins, I think they'll beat the Dolphins, it's not gonna tell us much, right? Like, we all know that.

1:03:53 David Clarke: when they play the Colts, if they beat up on the Colts, like, I think we need to have to… we need to revisit this conversation. I really do, because I think that's a perfect time for the Colts to start to fall apart in the kind of funny that I think they are. Mike Marcangelo: What if the Colts beat up on them? David Clarke: Well, then you should really come back on the show, because I'm gonna have to eat crow. Mike Marcangelo: Okay, love that. David Clarke: Because I'm gonna have to, at the very least… I doubt I'll give ground on the Colts being phonies, but I'll at least be like, yeah, you were right about the Chargers and Herbert. I'll probably be able to admit that. But… David Clarke: Come on, do you not agree with me about the fucking colds? They've got phony written all over them. David Clarke: They've got all the red flags. They've got all the red flags! Mike Marcangelo: They just have one. Robert Kelly: Yeah, stays. Mike Marcangelo: Jones. Robert Kelly: Is that the next tier? Is that the next tier? The fraudulent… the fraudulent top 5 teams? The possible frauds. Possible frauds. The possible frauds.

1:04:37 David Clarke: No, because the sixth team is a fraud. Mike Marcangelo: the 6 team on this. Oh, boy. I… just… let's just… let's just… David Clarke: Okay. David Clarke: I've sent you this PDF. At the bottom, I put all the records of all the teams on the top 10 next to each other. Which one of these things is not like the others, Bob? Right? Because you got 4-1, 4-in-1, 4-in-1, 4-in-1, 4-in-1, 2-1-1. David Clarke: 3-2, 3-1, 3-2, 4-1. Which one of these things is, like, standing out to you as possibly fraudulent, or definitely fraudulent? How are the Packers still on this list? How did they go up two spots by having a bye week? David Clarke: After tying the Cowboys… Robert Kelly: Everyone… everyone around them lost. So, it just… it just.

1:05:23 David Clarke: Not at all. Robert Kelly: By, by, by circumstance. David Clarke: 2-1-1, like, gross. David Clarke: Great, like, you… Mike Marcangelo: But they're… Their two wins do look good still. Mike Marcangelo: Lions and Commanders, like, those are… those are two teams to beat. Robert Kelly: And they dominated the Lions. Dominated them. David Clarke: It's a divisional game, so they always beat up on the Lions. David Clarke: They do. They do. The Lions have a mental thing about the Packers. It's a thing. David Clarke: They did. Those both look like good wins, and then there's been a hard skid since then, and that seems to have promoted them up the power rankings. And I just think that's breaking my brain a little bit. Mike Marcangelo: They had two really good wins, and then they had a hard skid, and that got them higher in the power rankings. That's fun. The commanders were on the top 10 last week, they won last week, and now they're off the top 10. So, like, weird shit does happen on these power rankings.

1:06:11 Robert Kelly: No, I mean, it's fair, honestly. I just fucking hate the Packers. Here's the thing… The Commanders weren't on it… the Commanders weren't on it last week. Mike Marcangelo: Is that… is that true? David Clarke: I don't think they were, no. Robert Kelly: Yeah, they weren't, I think. David Clarke: Yeah, he's been waiting and seeing. He has been consistently waiting and seeing about the Commanders, but anyway, whatever. I don't really understand the Packers, like, I don't understand how they're here. David Clarke: It's like that SNL sketch where it's, like, the three sisters. That's what these power rankings look like. It's like, I'm Chelsea, I'm Donna, and then one of them's like, I'm Shuji! And it's just like, which one of these things is not like the other, you know? David Clarke: Eunice, I think it's Eunice, maybe, is her name? But anyway, I digress. I obviously don't remember that sketch that well, but that's who the Packers look like to me.

1:06:55 David Clarke: They're gonna probably beat the Bengals, and then they're probably gonna beat the Cardinals. But then they play the Steelers, so let's see. Let's see them play the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers… Mike Marcangelo: What do you do in that game, DK? No, stop the fucking show right now. What do you do in that game? David Clarke: What do I do? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, who are you rooting for? David Clarke: Oh, I'm rooting against the Packers. Mike Marcangelo: I'm rooting for Aaron Rodgers. David Clarke: I'm rooting for the Steelers' defense, like I've been doing over the past few weeks. Robert Kelly: Read a nothing. David Clarke: Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a situation where I could come out, everything could come up Dave in that game, but it's a very tight needle to thread. David Clarke: If Aaron Rodgers… no, you see that? Mike Marcangelo: You will be cheering when Aaron Rodgers throws a touchdown. That is a fact.

1:07:38 David Clarke: Happy about that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Mike Marcangelo: What if he throws. David Clarke: No, no, no! David Clarke: Yeah, I will. I'll be happy if Aaron Rodgers throws a game in a touchdown event against the Green Bay Packers, absolutely. Absolutely. It's not even close. My hatred for Aaron Rodgers as a guy does not even really touch the deep generational, like, in-my-bones, in-the-ground-around-me hatred I have for the Green Bay Packers. Like, he's a symptom. David Clarke: of my hatred for the Green Bay Packers. So, yeah, I'd be cheering if Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown pass against the Green Bay Packers, for sure. Mike Marcangelo: It's happening. It's happening, Bobby. David Clarke: Worst case scenario, Aaron Rodgers… Torn ACL.

1:08:20 David Clarke: a warm-up, and warm-ups for the game, and the Packers lose anyway. That would be… that would be an ideal… David Clarke: Not torn ACL, you don't know what we should know, just cramps. Can't play in that game. Just that game. Cramps. David Clarke: Which would be an Aaron Rodgers-y thing to do against the Packers. But it is in primetime, it's gonna be a really interesting watch. He's gonna go off that game. Mike Marcangelo: Like, you know it, like, he's gonna throw for 400 guys like him. David Clarke: Yeah, and I probably will be pumped about that, because it's against the fucking pack, like, yeah, I'd probably be happy, and then Leo will be happy, fine, whatever. Honestly, he hasn't been that bad as a Steeler. Mike Marcangelo: Here we, here we go. Here we go, Bobby! David Clarke: behaved. Mike Marcangelo: I did tell you, I told every… I told everyone, by week 5, if they're 3-2 or 3-1, DK's gonna start talking himself. It was on the… it was on the ranking.

1:09:05 David Clarke: I'm not talking to myself, I hate Aaron Rodgers. I'm never gonna stop hating Aaron Rodgers. I'm just saying, he hasn't been as annoying, which I'm grateful for. Can you admit that he hasn't been as annoying? David Clarke: You might end up rooting… Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I'll admit that, for sure. David Clarke: Like, cause he's on the Steelers, he's less annoying, right? Because you can't really do that shit on the Steelers. Mike Marcangelo: Why… but I hate the Steelers, but . David Clarke: But you know that's why, though, right? Like, you know that's why, because you can't… I mean, you couldn't do it, you know, like, you couldn't have done it in New England in 2015 either, you know what I mean? Like, it's… there's a thing, there's places you can't go and act like that. He was able to do that in New York. David Clarke: Because… and I thought that was so funny, honestly, like, that was the most ridiculous thing ever that he said when he was like, I love beating anyone associated with New York. I'm like, the team that bent over backwards for you? I don't understand that at all. I'm like, they did… they did everything you asked. They fired everyone you asked them to fire, they fired all your friends who sucked? Like, what is happening? Like, what do you mean you hate them? They tried everything!

1:09:59 David Clarke: I can't imagine what his ex-girlfriends are like. No, you know what, fuck him too, I re-hate him. I just need to remind myself every now and again. Mike Marcangelo: He's married, but we don't know to. Or twice. David Clarke: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Neither does his family, right? They weren't invited to the wedding. Mike Marcangelo: Right. David Clarke: We'll see, that's gonna be a good game. It's October 26th, end of the month, check, you know, mark your calendars. I might… lose my mind, I don't know. I don't know what's gonna happen. It'd be sick if he, David Clarke: Yeah, if he got cramps, that would be… that would be the needle he needed to thread. David Clarke: It doesn't really make sense to me that the package… would you put them at 6 on the power rankings, Mike? Is that what you're saying? I know you just like to see me suffer, but… Mike Marcangelo: I think that they're better than every team underneath them.

1:10:40 David Clarke: Including the 49ers. David Clarke: fully healthy. Mike Marcangelo: Yes. Mike Marcangelo: Well, no, no, as currently constituted. David Clarke: As currently constituted. David Clarke: Alright. David Clarke: Okay, I guess that's fair. David Clarke: Yeah, I want to do a fraud check on the Colts every single week, because of who their quarterback is. That's… that's just how I feel. David Clarke: I, I, I'm… Robert Kelly: You're good again, though. David Clarke: Yeah, but that's you, Bob, you love it. You fucking love it. Like, how many… I just want you to think about, just… let's just take it… let's just take it from this perspective. Your favorite thing to do is run with… David Clarke: historically shit quarterbacks playing well, and my favorite thing to do is be, like, is to be, like, they're historically shit, they'll be shit again, and I am undefeated.

1:11:22 Robert Kelly: You are undefeated so far. You are undefeated. David Clarke: They're historically shit, and they're gonna be shit again. And you're over here. David Clarke: Like, I mean, I'll even say, like, you know, you had some great rookie QB takes, and thank God, I was really happy to see your CJ Stroud take, like, just get some life breathe back into it over the weekend, like, they actually looked like themselves, like, he looked like a competent quarterback, like, he could actually play at the NFL level again, I was really happy to see that. But the whole, like, I don't know, man… David Clarke: Maybe it's just a change of scenery for him is all he needed. That's never worked out for you. It's never gone your way. So… yeah, no, he's gonna start to suck. You just… we don't have Colts tape on Daniel Jones to the appropriate degree yet. Once we have Colts tape on Daniel Jones, once they start to play real teams that… David Clarke: have, like, looked at the Colts tape of him, it's gonna fall off, it's gonna… the wheels are gonna fall off. That's what's gonna happen. There's… this is still the team that drafted Anthony Richardson and, like, let him come off because he was tired. Like, it's too… we can't just do revisionists, like, immediately. There's too many red flags still. And… most of them are Daniel Jones. You just… it's not gonna work.

1:12:30 Robert Kelly: That's all Daniel Jones, that's the only red flag, because the defense looks awesome. Mike Marcangelo: Yeah. Robert Kelly: And Jonathan Taylor looks like his… Jonathan Taylor looks like his old self again. So, I think he could carry them in. Everyone… everyone else in the top 10 lost this week, and they won 40-6. So, they're not… they're not dropping, they… they deserve the jump. David Clarke: Okay, I don't think they're gonna be in the power rankings very long. They might stay in there when they play the Cardinals next week, because I am never gonna have faith in the Cardinals to do anything above tying their shoes, and even then, that might be a stretch from here until the end of time. But… David Clarke: Then they're gonna play the Chargers, and if they play this week's version of the Chargers, okay, but if they play last week's version of the Chargers, that's a little bit of a different story. David Clarke: Then they play the Titans, which, okay, maybe they're still hanging around the power rankings, and then it's Steelers, Falcons, Chiefs, Texans, Jags, Seahawks, Niners, Jags, Texans.

1:13:20 David Clarke: So, there's a couple, if currently constituted, teams. There's a couple, like, which version of the Texans do they play both times? There's a couple, are the Jags still, you know, the 4-1 Jags? Well, mathematically they won't be, but you know what I'm saying. David Clarke: You know, so there's a few teams could go either way there, but there's no just, like, outright bad list right there, like, when. Mike Marcangelo: Well… David Clarke: Patriots schedule, right? Like, that's not… that's not that easy. Mike Marcangelo: Arizona… so, Arizona, Tennessee, Atlanta, and… Mike Marcangelo: I mean, I would… I would say that Jacksonville will be shit by then. I mean, those… David Clarke: That's probably fair. That's probably fair. Mike Marcangelo: But, but I do think that… Robert Kelly: Those will be for the division at that point, though, if things keep going the way they're going.

1:14:02 David Clarke: Right. Mike Marcangelo: I think the Texans will probably be closer to the division lead by… by that time. David Clarke: They could go 0-2 to the Texans if the Texans go from strength to strength. Like, they could lose twice by that point. By the end of November, start of December, they could be losing to the Texans twice. So… David Clarke: I don't know. We'll see. David Clarke: Or the Jags. They could lose to the Jags twice. I don't know. David Clarke: We'll see. We'll see about the Colts, but I mean, come on, Daniel Jones is gonna have, like, a full… I mean, he might have a Sam Darnold season in him. He might have a good regular season in him, but then he's not gonna do shit in the playoffs. Let's all just be honest with each other here, like, stop pissing. Robert Kelly: Yeah, he's not doing shit in the playoffs.

1:14:44 David Clarke: Yeah, they're apparently the 5th best team in the NFL. They should do something, because according to you, they're the 5th best team in the NFL, so they should be doing something in the fucking playoffs, no? Mike Marcangelo: I mean, how many times did he have the Ravens as the top two, and we know that they're not gonna do anything in the playoffs, so, like, we can't judge it by that. David Clarke: Okay, but that was a little unexpected, don't you think? Mike Marcangelo: No, no, Ravens have never done anything in the playoffs with Lamar Jackson. David Clarke: I don't know. Mike Marcangelo: Always a… David Clarke: They won a playoff game last year. Mike Marcangelo: Daniel Jones won a playoff fucking game, too, the last time he was in there. David Clarke: Yeah, and then it wasn't Lamar's fault. Mike Marcangelo: Right. David Clarke: that loss. Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, except for the fumble on his pick, but you're right. David Clarke: No, I really wasn't, though. Like, he played really good.

1:15:26 David Clarke: I mean, I know that… I know that take that you do, but we'll do that more when we get to the playoffs. Maybe not, I don't know. Robert Kelly: We'll see. David Clarke: Apparently, they're still the favorite to win the division somehow. Bobby just hasn't refreshed his browser. He's like, no, they're still the favorite. David Clarke: It's like, I don't know how, I just haven't, it's like, I didn't refreshed in, like, 6 weeks. David Clarke: Bucks. Baker's a dog. David Clarke: They're so entertaining. Robert Kelly: MVP right now? MVP? David Clarke: I put that on the top of the rundown, like, I'd say… tell me what odds you'd get on it, but I think if you get odds on it, I'd take it right now, put it in the parlay that we've created across the course of this show. Steelers Divisional winner, Patriots divisional winner, Baker Mayfield MVP, I think you're making bank on that parlay. That's what I think.

1:16:10 David Clarke: Mike, you've been enjoying watching the, tampa Bay Buccaneers this year? Mike Marcangelo: Yeah, I mean, and Abuka is just unbelievable. Like, it's… that is infuriating to watch the fact that they're gonna… that they're… as Mike Evans is entering the twilight of his career, they already have his replacement. Mike Marcangelo: And he looks fucking amazing. David Clarke: Yeah, ain'. Mike Marcangelo: But, I mean, we've been saying this on all of our shows for, like, the last 3 years. Since 2022, Mike Marcangelo: Baker has been putting up the exact same stats as Mahomes, and everyone thinks Mahomes is, you know, he's Patrick Mahomes. So we should get some respect on Baker, on his name. David Clarke: I mean, I do agree. That is a great argument for why stats really don't tell you that much. But but no, I mean, he's putting up good numbers, and honestly, he's playing great this year. If they continue to win games, which I think is the most important stat for any MVP, unfortunately.

1:17:04 David Clarke: If they continue to win games… and I say unfortunately because I don't think that that's how we should do MVP, but you basically need to win games, you need to be a quarterback to win an MVP these days, but that's the way it is, so I can live with that. If they continue to win games, like, if they only lose 3 or 4 games, and he's playing at this level. David Clarke: Yeah, I could see it. David Clarke: I wouldn't be that mad about it either, because, like, I still think it's probably gonna be Josh Allen, but, like, if Josh Allen has more games, you know what I mean? Robert Kelly: Big… David Clarke: Did I lose you? Did we lose Bobby? Is he there? Mike Marcangelo: No, I hear him, but his lips aren't moving. This is very odd. Robert Kelly: I'm still here. Yeah, no, I'm still here. David Clarke: Favorite? Robert Kelly: Baker, Baker is 4th. Oh, he's 4th. Plus 1200.

1:17:49 David Clarke: To take it, take the money and run. Mike Marcangelo: So. David Clarke: How are you, Ron. Mike Marcangelo: Josh Allen. David Clarke: Lamar's probably still in the running, top 4, because he's gonna come back. Mike Marcangelo: He can't be an MVP this year. David Clarke: You don't think so? David Clarke: He misses, like, 4 games. Mike Marcangelo: I mean, he would have to go… Robert Kelly: Alan Mahomes. Robert Kelly: It's Alan Mahomes Herbert. Robert Kelly: And then Baker. David Clarke: guy. David Clarke: It's still in the top. Robert Kelly: Herbert's 3. Yeah, Herbert's 3. David Clarke: Yeah, I'd be… I'd be… I'd be careful about writing him off, Mike. Vegas says… They ride with Dave.

1:18:31 David Clarke: Bills, we sort of… Bills and Eagles, we sort of talked about already in the context of their… David Clarke: Losses. So, what do you think, gents? You guys looking forward to another fun week of football? What's your, bobby, I liked last week when you told me what you thought the game of the week was gonna be, and you weren't far off. What's everybody's Game of the week coming up? Mike Marcangelo: That's a great question. David Clarke: I feel like I'm really looking forward to… 49ers bucks? David Clarke: 49ers Bucks looks fun. Mike Marcangelo: Honestly. David Clarke: fun. Mike Marcangelo: It bears commanders. David Clarke: Aw, you're such a nice guy. Wow. It's at least interesting, right? Mike Marcangelo: Or at least in the place where it's interesting.

1:19:11 Mike Marcangelo: Two, two quarterbacks from last year's draft that both look like they're gonna be, relevant in the league for a long time. One of them has, not had a good coach for his entirety in his career, and now Caleb does. I just think… Mike Marcangelo: I would love nothing more than a shootout. Like, and I know you would hate a shootout because of… you like defense. David Clarke: If he won a shootout, though, on Monday Night Football, if Caleb won a shootout against Jaden Daniels on Monday Night Football, that would be… that would be… I would enjoy that. Mike Marcangelo: It's like $38.35. Like, you would just be on… Yeah. Yeah, insufferable. David Clarke: It'd be… it's hard for me to see us scoring 38 points. David Clarke: I think if we need to score 38 points to beat the Commanders, we've already not beaten the Commanders. Alright. Bobby, who's yours?

1:19:56 Robert Kelly: Lions Chiefs. I'm going old school. I think it's gonna be a good one. Yeah, Sunday night. David Clarke: Yeah, I want a closer look at the lines, to be honest with you. I want a real closer look at them, because as much as that first week, it looked like, oh shit, they've lost all their DNA, they've lost this, they've lost that, like, they kind of seem to have put it back together pretty fine. So, like, let's take a real look at them against the Chiefs on Sunday night. David Clarke: Let's take a look at the Bears on Monday night. I'm so glad that it's gonna be on Monday night, because I'll be alone in my house watching it with just no emotional support. That's fun. I hope I don't need it. Good luck to all the teams. Yay sports, thanks for coming on, guys. It's been the Power Ranking Show on Missing the Point.