NFL

Prisco’s NFL Week 4 picks, plus C.J. Stroud shoots up QB Power Rankings and coaches on the hot seat

by
SaC Bot
September 27, 2023

Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday. John Breech and Cody Benjamin both decided to go out to party after their teams won in Week 3, so you get me, Tyler Sullivan, steering the ship for you on this fine day.

Of course, this is the Pick Six newsletter where we highlight all the top news in the NFL. (And please, do yourself a favor and make sure you’re signed up to receive this newsletter every day! You don’t want to miss our daily offerings of everything you need to know around the NFL.)

We’ve got quarterback power rankings, Week 3 predictions, injury updates, and much more:

1. Today’s show: Power Rankings debate, coaches on the hot seat

Pete Prisco, Ryan Wilson, and John Breech joined Will Brinson on the latest “Pick Six NFL Podcast” to preview Week 4, roll through Prisco’s latest Power Rankings, and take the temperature on some of the seats of head coaches across the NFL. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Fresh of a 70-point thumping of the Broncos, Prisco has the Dolphins ranked fourth behind the Chiefs, Eagles, and 49ers. Brinson took issue with Miami’s placement, but Prisco emphasized that it’s only been three games and they’ll need to continue this level of play before making the big jump into the top three.
Sticking in Florida, Prisco had the Jaguars tumbling down to 20th in his rankings. Prisco notes that Trevor Lawrence is “sped up” due to poor play along the interior of the offensive line and is limiting the offense’s ability to push the ball down the field.
Prisco also ranked the Texans one spot above the Jaguars and told the guys that “C.J. Stroud is the best rookie quarterback. There’s no doubt about that. He actually looks like a polished passer.”
To wrap up the podcast, Brinson, Wilson, and Breech welcomed in listener Dominick Petrillo from The Athletic to discuss coaches on the hot seat heading into Week 4. Chargers head coach Brandon Staley’s seat is the hottest followed by Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas, the Bears‘ Matt Eberflus, Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.

Catch the full episode (and subscribe for all kinds of daily NFL talk) right here.

2. Prisco’s Week 4 Picks: Bills take down Dolphins, Packers take control of NFC North

Pete Prisco had himself something of a bounce-back week in Week 3, going 12-4 straight-up with his picks, but acknowledged that he needs to sharpen up against the number (7-9 ATS in Week 3 and 23-24-1 ATS on the year). This week, he has the Packers coming out on top in a division showdown with the Lions on Thursday night and also sees the Bills cooling off the red-hot Dolphins.

Below, you can see Prisco’s explanation for how he thinks a few of the games will unfold and you can check out all of his picks here.

Pick: Packers 24, Lions 20. This is a big early-season division game featuring two teams at 2-1 and both coming off victories last week. The Packers are banged up, but should have some guys back this week. Rallying from behind to beat the Saints last week will be the thing that gets Jordan Love going. That carries over here as the Packers win a tight one.
Pick: Bills 28, Dolphins 23. The Dolphins are flying high after scoring 70 last week, with an offense that has looked so good so far. But Buffalo has owned this series in recent years, and they are coming off a nine-sack day against Washington. The defense looks much improved over a year ago. That matters. Josh Allen is also back on track. Bills take it.
Pick: Chargers 31, Raiders 24: This game between two 1-2 teams is an early-season biggie in the division. The Chargers can roll up big numbers on offense, but they can’t stop anybody. Look for Justin Herbert to play well here against a Raiders defense that made Kenny Pickett get on track last week. Chargers win a shootout.
Pick: 49ers 27, Cardinals 21. The 49ers will have been off for 10 days here, while Arizona is coming off an impressive victory over the Cowboys. They are playing much better than anybody expected. The 49ers, though, are a big challenge. Even so, I think Arizona can hang around in this one. 49ers in it, but it’s tighter than expected.

3. Eli Manning points out NFC’s most ‘dangerous’ team, reveals what Jets should do

New York Giants legend and two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning sat down with CBS Sports this week to discuss the latest developments unfolding around the NFL this season. Of course, the NFC East was discussed, specifically the Philadelphia Eagles, who Manning sees as “the team to beat.”

“I think the Eagles are extremely dangerous,” Manning said. “Really, they probably haven’t played their best football, yet are still 3-0. When you’re able to not be hitting on all cylinders (but find) ways to win games, that’s a pretty good quality, a pretty good trait, and so I think they’re still the team to beat in the NFC — them and the 49ers. I think the Eagles are the team to beat. Making the run to the Super Bowl, they’re off to another good start, and you gotta try to keep up with them.”

As for the city he spent his entire career in, New York, the big story is what the Jets can do at quarterback. Manning took himself out of consideration to replace Aaron Rodgers and believes that the team will continue to stick with Zach Wilson

“I’m done,” he said. “I’m happy just sitting on my couch and calling football games on Monday night. But yeah, I think Zach Wilson’s the guy. He’s the one who’s been there through training camp. I think the hard part right now with the Jets is, their whole offense was built around Aaron Rodgers. … So they gotta kind of change things up and figure out what plays Zach Wilson likes. And it’s a new coordinator and new system for him, so unfortunately, that takes a little time to figure that out. But I think he’s got ability, he’s got talent, it’s just (about) getting the most out of him.”.

While Wilson hasn’t looked the part just yet, Manning isn’t ruling out a rebound for the Jets, nor his former team in the Giants. To read the entire interview with Manning, click here.

4. QB Power Rankings: C.J. Stroud jumps into top 10

Every week, Cody Benjamin assesses the play of each starting quarterback in the NFL and ranks them. However, this isn’t a big-picture breakdown of all of these signal-callers and instead is more of an in-the-moment snapshot of where their play has them stacking up at this point in time. That creates more opportunity for movement, which we see with Houston’s C.J. Stroud, who now finds himself inside Cody’s top 10.

Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins)
Jordan Love (Packers)
Justin Herbert (Chargers)
Brock Purdy (49ers)
Kirk Cousins (Vikings)
Lamar Jackson (Ravens)
Jared Goff (Lions)
Josh Allen (Bills)
C.J. Stroud (Texans)

From Cody: “Our biggest mover of the week, Stroud has been unbelievably poised and polished despite working with a young, makeshift Texans team. He doesn’t just look the part. He protects the ball and slings it downfield to make Houston a real spoiler.”

5. Why Cowboys will adjust signals in Week 4 game vs. Patriots

There’s a bit of gamesmanship going on between the Patriots and Cowboys leading up to their Week 4 matchup at AT&T Stadium. Last week, Bill Belichick made a savvy transaction by signing former Cowboys quarterback Will Grier off of the Bengals practice squad. While Grier won’t be under center for the Patriots in this game, his knowledge of the inner workings of the Cowboys offense will certainly be a resource that the team utilizes to try and gain an edge.

In something of a counter move, Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Shottenheimer told reporters this week that they’ll be changing their signals to try and throw Grier and the Patriots off their scent.

“We’re always aware of it, those are things we monitor each week, and we know Will knows where a lot of the bones are buried,” Shottenheimer said Monday,

Meanwhile, in Foxborough, offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien seemed to take issue with the transaction being labeled as an interrogation of Grier’s knowledge of the Cowboys offense, but did acknowledge that they will lean on some of his insight.

“Interrogating?” O’Brien said Tuesday. “Schotty is a good guy. I’ve known Schotty for a long time. I think that’s the way it is every week in this league, every year in this league. There’s gonna be guys that come into your organization off teams that you’re about to play, and it goes both ways. It’s always going to happen. At the end of the day, you’ve got to study film. Everybody’s going to be on the same page with what we’re doing. I’ve never thought in my years in the league that any of that was a real overriding factor in a win or a loss.

“It comes down to the players on the field and the coaches putting the players in the right positions to make plays, and that’s what we’re trying to do. I don’t think we’re trying to hold a light over anybody and say, ‘Tell me what you did on July 20 of 2023.’ We’re not doing that. We’re not interrogating anybody. We’re just trying to put together the best game plan we possibly can.”