NFL Power Rankings Week 1: Reigning champs at No. 1, Panthers begin season in the cellar

Welcome into a fresh new hour of CBS sports HQ. We are kicking off this hour with Pete Prisco. NFL Power Rankings presented by FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Make every moment more. We're going to make every moment much more as we bring in our Pete Prisco Kyle Long. We've also got Chris Hassell. I'm Haley Sutton. Guys I'm so excited. We had the tease of the college football slate this weekend. But now the big boys get to play. It is NFL week one starting on Thursday. Yes. And Pete's got this thing sponsored now. So is there going to be more quality control to your power rankings this season? It doesn't matter what I do, how I do them, when I do them, as long as I come in here on Tuesday, everybody just rips them to shreds. It started this morning. It's going to now and then this afternoon. It's just all day. Well we are two days until the NFL season kicks off on Thursday night with the Chiefs and the Ravens. By the way, no surprise. Chiefs number one Ravens not even in the top five. That's already a head scratcher in Peach Power rankings. Take a look. He's got the Chiefs one followed by the Packers 40 Niners bills and Bengals all coming in ahead of the Baltimore Ravens at six. And at the very end, the Carolina Panthers with Bryce Young, who Pete says has not grown an inch this offseason. So he's not going to move them up at all. That's not very nice, Pete. Well, neither have I, Pete. You haven't grown in 45 years, but I don't have I don't play quarterback for an NFL team either. Good point. Let's start at the top because you already have explaining to do because we got Pete Prisco's Super Bowl picks last week. And it didn't have the Chiefs even getting to the Super Bowl had the Packers winning it all. So how do you justify making the Chiefs number one? Because I always start the champ at number one. It's an honor. You go into the next season number one, and it's really easy to put him at number one. When Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback. That makes it really easy. So I started him at number one. But I explained myself and why they're not going to be there at the end of the season right now. On paper, they're the best team. I just think we haven't seen a three peat since in the Super Bowl era now there has been a three peat. People keep saying there hasn't been a three peat. There's been a couple of them. The Packers three peat it when they won in the 60s. Yes, exactly. Do you remember that? Yes, I was a kid. I remember it. Okay. Well no one has won three Super Bowls in a row Kyle. Is that going to happen this season with Kansas City? We've seen three big games won in a row, but three Super Bowls. This is unprecedented, unprecedented, uncharted territory. And for me, the Kansas City Chiefs found a way to get better. You say it's just because they won the green jacket last year. We'll let him wear it to the openings. No, they're number one for a reason. The best player on earth. Best coach in my opinion. On Earth. You've got a great defensive coordinator. You've got better at the receiver position. And in addition to that, you got a guy by the name of Kingsley Suamataia who's going to step up and play for you. Early on the offensive line, there were questions about the O line. Now there's not we're going to see this guy running through a crowd with confetti again at season's end. No doubt about it, Chris. They're better than they were last year. They seem like it on paper. 100% believe that they are a better football team than they were last year. Yes, they lost some stars. Ladarius Sneed going to Tennessee and stuff like that. But when you've got a unit like Steve Spagnuolo's defense, guys fall in line. New stars step up every year. And for the Chiefs offense, we know that sometimes these kings, they're also kingmakers. And that's what you see offensively in Kansas City. I just go back to last year when we were having this conversation and everyone said like it was the year to beat the Chiefs last year and no one did it. And they were able to get that second Super Bowl. So I'm not rolling against the Chiefs anytime soon. It pains me to roll against the Chiefs. Believe me, it really does. We'll see. This pains me. Pete. You've got the Packers at number two. You think they're the top team in the NFC. You think they're going to beat the bills in the Super Bowl I why the hype around Jordan Love. Especially when we don't have a huge sample size for him. But what is it about him. And this team that makes you confident. Well it's not just him I mean it starts with him. If you have a quarterback and they have one, he showed what he did at the end of last season, who he is, and he did it on into the postseason. As you know, being a cowboy fan, he was very good. But even that wound early. Let's get it out of the way. He was very good in the playoffs. And I think that experience for this young group of players will help them evolve. He didn't have his wide receivers together the entire season. Christian Watson was banged up. The other guys went in and out of the lineup. They're all back together now. The offensive line is going to be very good, but as I, I continue to say, it's all about the defense in green Bay. And Jeff Hafley will change the way they play defense. They're going to be much more aggressive. They're going to be better on that side of the ball. Combined the offense with the defense with Jordan Love and an underrated coach in a guy who won 13 games, three straight years at one point, the only coach ever to do it and has never won coach of the year Matt LaFleur. I like the Packers to win it all. I disagree with Packers at two, but I do agree that like in the stock market, there's trends and there's indicators. And for this green Bay Packers football team, they when they got better defensively from a leadership standpoint you get Jordan love another opportunity after what you so eloquently put is just a masterful playoff performance by him. Obviously they didn't make it to the big game. But this team is looking to build on that. And they've got rushers up front defensively. They've got young wide receiver corps that's going to grow together and continue to mature in Matt Lafleur's offense. I'm really I have a lot of fear about this Packers team. They're a scary team. Obviously I'm a bears fan, NFC North, but any one of these teams from the NFC North could pop up. Packers are scary. I don't know if I agree with them being number two on your list. It's kind of the way it is in the AFC North. So many good teams and that's why some of our experts have not even picked the Cincinnati Bengals to make the postseason. But Pete has them at number five in your mind with a healthy Joe Burrow. Are they closer to a Super Bowl team or a team that misses the playoffs? No, they're closer to a Super Bowl team. I'm a big believer in Joe Burrow. I think when he's on the field, they're great. Hey, they were winning that game, right? Or going into when he when he hurt his hand at Baltimore on the road late in the season. So I think when he's on the field with an improved offensive line, a bigger offensive line, they're going to be better. Now. Chase has to be on the field. That's a whole nother issue, but we'll see how that plays out. And defensively they're very sound in what they do. They do a great job on that side of the ball. They've added some nice young players on that side of the ball to be able to pressure the quarterback. We saw that last year. I think it's a great combination and when you have a guy like Joe Burrow, you're one of those teams that's always going to be in the mix. As long as he's on the field now, availability is the best ability and he hasn't exactly been available as much as he should. You'd like him to be. Yeah well, they've definitely invested in the in the spots that give you some worry. As far as Joe Burrow's health is concerned, the offensive line, as you put it, they did get bigger. They've got some skills up there at the tackle position. And look this Bengals team an offensive juggernaut throughout the course of the last few years. But make no mistake about it, as you put this defense is one that can turn the football over. They play with physicality and it's a good complementary brand of football that they play in Cincinnati. I could see them being very dangerous if everybody stays healthy in Cincinnati. The theme that I'm hearing in this conversation is defense, defense, defense. What is the defense going to look like? And that's kind of one of your points when it comes to the Eagles. They're of course opening up the season in Brazil, which we're excited about against that Packers team. But I think everyone is still so stuck on how the end of last year went in Philadelphia. So you have them here at number 11. Pete, what makes you confident at that number 11 spot and just confident in the Eagles. Well I think when you look at their offense yeah they miss Kelce. But Jergens will be a good center in the middle of that line. So they'll be okay on that side of the ball. They have a ton of playmakers. It's all about the defense. Last year they were just dreadful I mean last in the league in pass defense. So what do you do. You go out in the draft and you address that. You get Mitchell in the first round. You come back and get another quarterback Dejean and Dujon in the second round. And all of a sudden you look around and you have some players and they're going to be much better on defense, I think. And Vic Fangio players don't like Vic Fangio because he's a hard. But I'll tell you what, he's a good football coach. He'll make that defense better. First day. Vic, Vic, Vic Fangio was there in Chicago as the defensive coordinator. We broke down the first practice. The team huddle and they said Kyle Long you get to break it down. I went in, I got everybody up. I said, you know one, two, three bears. I walked away, he grabbed me and he said, you didn't deserve to do that. That's the kind of guy Vic is, that kind of guy. He challenges you every single day. And I love Vic Fangio. I'll stand on the table and cheer for Vic, Vic Fangio units. But to your point, that Eagles defense, they got a shot in the arm this offseason. Not only do they get some youth on the back end, but they got a coach who can get them in the right positions and with the right mentality. I like Vic Fangio. Obviously the offense, we can talk about how skilled they are and all the stars they have till we're blue in the face. But until this defense can stop some people on third down, the Dallas game is going to be tough and the playoffs will be even tougher. Let's jump all the way down to the bottom. Hinted at it the Carolina Panthers last place. But Pete, I know you've been hard on Bryce Young and you're not big on his future. What are realistic expectations for him coming into his second season? Well, it's not that I'm not big on his future. I think he'll get better. I just don't think he's ever going to be that guy. And so you're going to be a serviceable quarterback. I don't think he's going to be that guy. And they also have a new coach and a new system. You know, people forget that they went out and they spent money on the offensive line to protect him. So they should be. Are you saying that that could be a bad thing, that he has a new coach? No, it's a good thing, but it might take some time and take him. Take him a little getting acclimated to the new offense and yeah. And so they're not a talented team. It's not an overly talented team. It's just going to take some time. Even if he does make the strides he will be better this year. I just don't think he's ever going to be the guy that was the number one overall pick. I think Dave Canales gives him more options offensively last year with that horrid offensive line. They had to account for the defensive rush. So what did they have? They have 6 or 7 guys in protection on some of these play actions. And next thing you know you've only got two receivers down the field. And for a young quarterback that's just not enough options in my opinion, to get through the progression, get the ball out clean. Dave Canales will provide many opportunities for him to have a safe outlet to get that football out. How about you guys getting beat up at the at the crack of dawn this morning? It was nice pushing the pile up at the crack of dawn every day. I don't sleep like you to check with the old people home to get them out early. This man sleeps. This man sleeps 14 hours a day. He looks great. I got up and you were already in the chair doing the pot. We just need our beauty sleep. That's what we do. That's. That's why we look so good. How many of you last night? That's my dog. What did you guys talk about? I'm pushing the pile. Today we did a review on Pete Prisco's power rankings. Obviously, we took a mailbag, got to answer some questions. It was it was a fun morning, a nice