REShow: Troy Aikman - Hour 3

Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What do you do when these penalties get called and they're not right? And it affects, as Joey Bosa said, what ruins their whole season. With the gambling, it's just, we gotta get these things right. I don't understand what you're talking about. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

You gotta get it right. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young. Coming up, Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman.

Plus, your phone calls, latest news and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show here live in Los Angeles on the Roku channel.

Terrestrial Radio, Sirius XM, Odyssey, our podcast, YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. You can't avoid us, as quite frankly, what I'd like to start our number three by saying. We had a great conversation in our number one with Steve Young, Pro Football Hall of Famer and 49er great. With the Cowboys taking on the 49ers this very weekend. So, we talked to Steve Young, Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Gotta be fair and balanced. We went straight up the flow chart as we can here on this program. And kicking off our number three, joining us here on the show, fresh off of a dynamite first year with Joe Buck on ESPN and Monday Night Football, is Pro Football Hall of Famer and Cowboy great. Troy Aikman, how you doing, Troy?

Doing great, Rich. Thank you for having me. No, thanks for doing it. Especially since, again, I follow you on Instagram.

I saw the photograph that you posted today. God bless you for saying, okay, I'll still call the show. Thank you very much, Troy. Yeah, absolutely.

You're a good man. So, let's just jump right into it here. I say Cowboys 49ers, you remember what? What do you remember, Troy? Well, the word that comes to mind is championships.

You know, whether it was us or them. I think it was just championship football, really. It was a great period. It was a great period for the Cowboys and for the 49ers. I know that the matchups that we had in those championship games, you know, we won two and they won one. But there was always a lot at stake. Whenever we played in the regular season, the difference between then and now is when we would play each other in the regular season, we knew that whoever won that game would be then hosting the NFC championship game against the other team. And that's the way that it worked.

And so it was a lot of fun. I love the matchups with Steve. I know you had him on the show. And this week will be another great matchup between these two-story franchises. He said the 92 game still makes him want to throw up in his mouth, Troy.

That's what he said, quote, unquote, is what he said. And he mentioned how, you know, you guys and Irv tells me this all the time, that you were still ascending and then the general thought and conventional wisdom is you were still – Moose said this to us on Wednesday. We had him on still a while away or a year away potentially. What was your recollection of going into that first championship game, by the way, the last road playoff win for the Cowboys until the Monday nighter that you called with Joe, Troy?

What do you think? Your memories of that one? Of the 92 game?

Yes, sir. Yeah, so there was a lot to that season. A lot of people that they don't remember, they remember, of course, the year that Steve Young had and that team had. They were 14-2. They were the number one seed. We had had our best year and the best year in Cowboys history at 13-3.

And we were then traveling, of course, to Candlestick. If people out there are old enough and remember, Joe Montana was still on that team and he played the final week of the season because it was not a meaningful game for the 49ers and he played great. And I remember thinking to myself that if we met the 49ers, that was a good thing for us, that maybe then there was a little bit of controversy as far as who might be the quarterback going into the postseason, of course, with Joe and all that he had accomplished for that franchise. And then when we got to the championship game, they were a veteran team, a lot of playoff experience, Super Bowl experience, of course, and championships under their belt.

And I don't know, at least for me, I never really gave a lot of thought to what might happen if we actually won the game. I just remember that the pressure was off of us because Jimmy had pretty much told everyone going into training camp that our goal was we had to be better than the year before. We had to at least make it to the NFC championship game.

So we had accomplished that. We were a young team, the youngest in football. And we went out and played this veteran team on the road and 60 minutes later, all of a sudden we've won the game.

It's kind of like, whoa, we're actually going to the Super Bowl. And yeah, we didn't feel like we were quite there at that point, but obviously we were. And then we'd go on to win two of the next three after that as well. Yeah, and then, you know, obviously the Super Bowl run that you guys went on and then the 94 game, I asked Moose Johnston point blank, if you would have won four in a row if you'd won that game. And then we would be talking about you and your team, even though we revere it and talk about it so much, but it was a dynastic team and we'd be talking about it in a totally different light right now.

Yeah, I think so. What we felt, and I think most football fans felt it as well, that the NFC championship game in that stretch was really the Super Bowl because we just felt that the NFC conference was stronger than whatever came out of the AFC. And, you know, it was a great game. We didn't play our best football in that 94 championship game, but then the 49ers went on and played San Diego and they dominated that game and played exceptionally well.

So I'd like to think that, yeah, had we been able to get past, that's a big if, to get past them. And then the following year after that, in 95, we played the Green Bay Packers. But yeah, it's hard to believe, I will tell you in context, to put it all in context, in what I felt was a really fortunate career on my behalf to have played in four NFC championship games. Last year, or excuse me, last week when we were preparing for the Bucs and Cowboys, Brady, who has played in 14 championship games. That's crazy. Oh man, I thought I had done a little something.

But everybody, everybody, right, pales. I mean, let's be honest, Troy, amazing is that on the line on Monday night, amongst everything else, was whoever won the game would come up with a 36 all-time playoff win. And by that, I mean Brady individually or Cowboys as an organization. Yeah, no, when you consider the fact, well, Tom Brady, okay, here's the other part of that. And I'm sure that you've talked about it on your show.

Sure. But here's a guy who, of course, is 45, who's played as long as he has. He has played another three full seasons in playoff games alone. I mean, three more years' worth of playoff games. And people can't really understand.

They think, oh, okay, yeah, I guess that's right. But three more years added to what has already been an amazing career of longevity is pretty incredible. And to have won, to have won more playoff games than anyone else has even played in, I just don't know that the numbers, you can talk about them all day, I just don't know that anyone can fully comprehend what he's been able to accomplish. And they're always talking about records and they're made to be broken.

I get all that. But I cannot imagine anyone ever coming close to the records that he has. Forget the championships, but just the yards and the touchdowns and the wins and all that. Because I just don't think, even though we're protecting quarterbacks more, I just don't think, I do think we're going to see a lot of players playing into their 40s. I don't think we're going to see a lot of players playing until they're 45, 46 years old.

But on top of that, you have to play at a really high level every year. And to me, that's the greatness of him. Not all of the years played, but all of the years played at a great level is what impresses me.

Troy Ekman here on the Rich Eisen Show. And while we're on the subject of Brady, before we get back to the current iteration of the Cowboys and the 49ers and the rest of the weekend, you know, you talk about Brady records not like this is a record, it's just a numbers thing. We'll never see a 45-year-old play in a playoff game again be asked to throw the ball 21 more times than his age. And also not think for a split second like he can't hold up.

And so that's the whole point. When I saw him in Munich and the rest of the Game Day Morning Gang with Irv and Mooch and Kurt met with Brady, the sense I got was he knew he still had his physical abilities, right? It's just the team that he had won a Super Bowl with two years ago for some reason couldn't find that next gear, whether it was maybe the up-front protection or the run game, whatever. But just the frustration, I sensed just a frustration from him is that that next gear was not there. And there was a question if they would ever find it. And they did find it in that game, but ultimately they couldn't. I'm wondering the Brady that you and Joe and the rest of the crew found when you got ready for this game and your impressions, Troy.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, you don't achieve greatness without having high standards. And what he expected of himself and what he expected of those teams and this team this year to come up short. And the bar, of course, is high because I think in all of his years prior to this year, the lowest he had ever finished, a Brady-led offense had never finished below 12th in the league in scoring.

And, of course, they had never had a losing season. And then on top of that, the struggles this year on the field and in his personal life. So I just think it's been a really tough, tough year for him, unprecedented in so many ways. Most of us, we experienced those more than once in a career.

He's been very fortunate. But this team, when you looked at them, you thought, even though they had the injuries, a lot of teams have injuries, but they just never reached their full potential, in my opinion. And I really thought, Rich, going into last week's game against Dallas, I thought we would see the best version of Tampa that we've seen all year. But instead, it was much the same. I think Tampa Bay was one of the most underachieving, maybe the most underachieving team in the NFL this year when you look at what they were able to do.

But then when their backs were against the wall, they found a way to make a play or to go down the field and come away with a touchdown and then win a game and do just enough to get themselves in it. But I really did think we would get their best version, and I was disappointed. Of course, the game itself wasn't all that compelling, and I was disappointed for those of us that call the game.

But I just thought we'd see more than what we got. But with Tom, I'm hopeful he comes back and plays. I still think that he can play at the level required to achieve all the things that he would like to.

There's a lot of people I talk to within their organization, although they don't know anything. But they sense that he will be back, which I found interesting because had I not have called that game and anyone had asked me, what do you think Tom's going to do next year? I would have said, my guess is he'll probably retire.

But now I'm not so sure. So I guess we'll find out in due time. And then the sense maybe staying there? I guess, what is your sense, your Hall of Fame sense and quarterback sense of being in the same room as him? Because again, I think it really all comes down to that whatever he may think has been degraded, maybe his ability to process something quicker in a 45-year-old brain or slower than he used to, or skipping a throw that he would make in his sleep. If that's the sort of evaluation that will spit out the answer of I should retire, only he can make that evaluation. What do you think you're sensing? I think that's fair.

What do you think? I think that's fair that at the end of the day, and I think you will, I think Tom has the ability and the awareness to evaluate his play and his abilities and skills and where is he in the context of being able to compete at the level that you know you have to get to to be able to go on and play and achieve. Like I said, he's not interested in just playing the play. He's playing to win a championship.

Whether or not that's in Tampa, Rich, I guess to answer your question, I'm not real sure. I don't know how all that exactly plays out. But he knows, as we all do, and it doesn't matter that he's 45. I think if you're 35 and you're going somewhere, you're saying as a quarterback, look, I want to have good players around me.

I want to be protected. I want great defense, all those things. So it doesn't change. I mean, for instance, Tom's game hasn't changed over the years. What allows him to win is just being really smart, knowing where to go with the football, knowing situations, and knowing how to play winning football. And so it's not like all of a sudden his legs have been taken away from him from where he was earlier in his career.

So the things that Tom's wanted around him are the same things all quarterbacks want around him. And if he can have that, I think he loves the game enough. You don't play that long unless you just really love to compete. But it's a grind, as we all know. I'm hopeful that he continues to play.

But where that might be or if it might happen is anyone's guess. All right, in my remaining time with you, let's hit the current Cowboys-Niners game. Obviously, you had the Cowboys just on Monday. You had the Niners on Monday night twice. You had Jimmy J's first full home start coming off of that loss to Denver against the Rams. And then you had the Mexico City game, so you didn't even see Purdy. I mean, how do you even compute what this kid is doing right now, Troy?

Pretty incredible. Brock, he came in off the bench in that game because San Francisco and Mexico City because they were winning by so much late in the game. But what he's done, it's really a great testament to him, but it is also to the coaching staff. I'm not saying you can't just put anyone in that position and they're going to have success. But I do believe there are offensive coordinators and play callers around the league that make the game very quarterback friendly. And Kyle Shanahan does that.

And so with the running game and their style of play, if you're smart and make good decisions and you're accurate with the football, you have a chance as a quarterback within that scheme to have a lot of success. And it's obvious. I've not met Brock. It's obvious that he possesses all of those things, which is why they were bringing him in, which is why they drafted him.

Mr. Irrelevant or not, they brought him in, they saw something in him. I was just told this the other day. I didn't know and I haven't verified it, but my offensive coordinator at UCLA, Steve Axeman, was his high school coach in Arizona. So if that's true, he got some good coaching at a young age.

And so I'm excited about it and looking forward to it. I think that the you go back to last year's game where where San Francisco dominated that game was just the physical play in which they go about their business. And not many teams are able to match that physical style. And Dallas, at least they've got enough players on this team this year that experienced it. They know what they're going in against and they've got to match it. Now, they had a lot of penalties in that game. Dallas did.

They've cleaned a lot of that up. But if they don't match the 49ers' physical style of play, they're going to have a hard time keeping up with them. Well, Jerry Jones told me a couple of years ago, Troy, that he, prior to your last Super Bowl win, he said he told God that if he got a third Super Bowl, he would never ask for another. And now he wants to, he said, quote unquote, now I'd like to redo that deal. I mean, I can only imagine what he what would this what would this mean? This run mean, do you think, for the Metroplex and for him, Troy?

Well, it would it would mean every it's been so long. And it's been such a topic of discussion for the past 25 years with the struggles that Dallas has had. Not not having made it to the NFC championship game, not having won a Super Bowl. And all that has happened since Jimmy Johnson walked out those doors that I think this would kind of be the the cherry on the pie, you know, where he could feel good about what he's been able to accomplish, that being Jerry.

You know, I think this one, I think all of them have meant a great deal to him. My guess is, and I certainly don't want to speak for Jerry, but my guess is that if they were able to win this game, win next week's game, win the game after that, you know, we're talking about a lot of ifs. But if it were to happen, I would have to think that this one would would would carry a significance with Jerry, that probably the the the other Super Bowls that we won maybe quite don't reach. I think this one would be very impactful for Jerry and what it would mean to him. And obviously to beat San Francisco and then maybe take on Philadelphia or the Giants, you know, some old school NFC stuff.

I mean, it's just there's a lot of old school. And then you, Burrow and Allen, who you saw together before that horrible moment that, thank goodness, DeMar Hamlin seems to be coming back from and Mahomes and Lawrence. Great weekend, Troy. And I appreciate you taking the time. How's the beer?

Absolutely, Rich. Always. Thanks, buddy. How's the beer doing before I let you go?

What's going on? It's doing it's doing awesome. Yeah, we've got to get we're going to get into some other states.

But all those listeners out there come to Texas and try some. You'll love it. It is amazing. Eight beer.

Check it out. Troy Aikman, thanks for the time. I'll see you at the Super Bowl, if not before.

Thanks for the call. That's Troy Aikman, everybody. Hall of Famer. That's my quarterback, man. That's your quarterback. That's my quarterback.

That is. He's so good. He sounds he sounds I think he sounds like Madden. He's got a certain cadence to him. He sounds like a guy that woke up in paradise. He's a good he's he's really great at what he does and and what he used to do and what he used to do for you. Three of them things. You can listen to the NFL and the NFL app on the Odyssey app on Westwood1Sports.com via Westwood 1 Station Stream sponsored by AutoZone. When we come back, the one player that I'm singling out that he needs to have a monster game for his team to win this weekend. And then there's your phone calls.

844-204-RICH number to dial right here on The Rich Eisen Show. This is it. The putt to win the tournament. If you sink it, the championship is yours.

But on your backswing, your hat falls over your eyes. Is this how you're running your business? Poor visibility because you're relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software? To see the full picture, you need to upgrade to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system to power your growth with visibility and control of your financials, inventory, HR, planning, budgeting and more. NetSuite is everything you need to grow all in one place. With NetSuite, you can automate your processes and close your books in no time while staying well ahead of your competition. Ninety three percent of surveyed businesses increase their visibility and control after upgrading to NetSuite. Over 28,000 businesses already use NetSuite. For the new year, NetSuite is a new financing program for those ready to upgrade at NetSuite.com slash RichPod. Head to NetSuite.com slash RichPod for this special one of a kind financing offer on the number one financial system for growing businesses.

NetSuite.com slash RichPod. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate Smallville rewatch podcast where each week we watch every episode of Smallville. A show that changed our lives forever and perhaps your lives, too. I'm Michael Rosenbaum. Hello, I am Tom Welling.

What was the sign off now? Always remembers Talkville. That's it. Always hold on to Smallville, folks. We love you.

Can do without you. We've got a great season two coming up. Catch up with season one or start season two on YouTube or wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, this NFL postseason, every Westwood One NFL broadcast streams live for free.

All on the road to Super Bowl 57. Catch all the action on the Odyssey app on WestwoodOnesports.com via Westwood One Station. Streams are by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports here on the Roku channel, here on Sirius XM, Odyssey. And also the Rich Eisen Show radio network powered by Grainger. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger is the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Allen Dallas, let's take your call. What's up, Al? How you been?

Speaking of an R.E.S. brother, brother, listen, I've had I've had Aikman's beer. It's pretty good, by the way.

It is, by the way. I am I'm I'm not saying the exclusive is just hung up the phone. As you know, I prefer if I have my choice, I'll go red wine in a big boom in red wine. But he brought some of his eight beer last Super Bowl.

Last year for Super Bowl. Right. And so I think you have it in your side in there, Brock. Do you have it? You've got one in there.

Is that what you got? Hold on, let me see. And I had it. It's really good. I mean, yeah.

And I do love the design, too. It's just two blue squares on a white bottle that when you hold it up, why can't it? It's the number eight. Yeah. An empty can from last year. You know, OK, there it is.

I've had it on draft ice cold draft. It's very, very good. But but I but I digress. Yes, sir. So, Richard, what do you think? I like him. I like him. I like your G-Men.

I do. I have one more day to keep talking myself into taking him on national television tomorrow. So, I mean, listen, you know, play the greatest game he's ever played in his life. I think it's repeatable.

I think it's repeatable. Obviously, the Vikings defense is not up to snuff with the Eagles. It's a totally different animal, a totally different animal. And, you know, the Vikings just fired their defensive coordinator. That ain't happening in Philadelphia. So, yeah, it's a different animal.

But I I just I like I like your Giants. I don't know. I mean, listen, it's house money, right?

It's house money. You know what? They go out there, play their game, do what they got to do. Saquon, you know, ran the ball like he did at Penn State, for God's sakes. Right.

Like he looked he looked great. The team played hard. Team's healthy and hard for the coach. Yeah. You know, listen, it's Philadelphia. It can Philadelphia win the Super Bowl?

Yeah. They're a talented team. So let's just you know, we've been here before. You know, we've been we've been in these situations before. And the Giants have won games that they shouldn't have in the past. And I think we have the heart and the team to do it. And if they lose and they go out, well, so be it. You know, we have the foundation for the future, which is all I mean, this is house money. This is ridiculous. So I'm excited. Al, I hear you.

That said, it's entirely possible. I mean, that the Giants win this one and, you know, take on a Dallas team that they know really well. They last on Thanksgiving. That didn't go as well as you'd like. How great would that be for me, by the way? I know.

I hear you. San Francisco. You want to go down memory lane?

Giants and Niners. There's some pretty lush history there, too. But look, you're right.

It is house money. But I I do think Daniel Jones has arrived. I really feel that way.

And I know John Mara said after the game, we're back, which is a very unlike Mara thing to say. But totally good luck to you. Let's chat on Monday. Call on Monday.

Thank you. All the Giants fans can't believe it. It is happening. Fitz in Dallas. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Fitz? Gentlemen, happy Friday.

How are you doing? We're good. We're ready for four dynamite playoff games, hopefully. So we're ready for it. Well, the first thing out of my mouth should have been, hey, now. Hey, now. Well, gentlemen, I appreciate you picking up on me.

And I beg your pardon. It's been a little spotty this week listening to the show. One of a couple of things, too. Or first, wanted to get your old take on the short week.

I just wonder I wonder why the competition committee OKed a. Night game. I just seems like the balance is kind of off. You know, they're having they got two extra days to prep the Niners.

But with that being said, not worrying about it because I'm a glass full guy. And I honestly believe that Brock Purdie has been on fire. You we all know you do for a bad game. And I think that this weekend, Mr. Purdie has his Mr.

Irrelevant has his work cut out for. I'll get off the line and and let you guys discuss, but I sure do appreciate it. And thanks, Fitz. I appreciate the show, gentlemen. Thank you.

I appreciate it. Here's the deal is that. Yeah, Purdie might be due for a bad game.

I mean, that that's that's obvious, right? He's due. He's due. I remember growing up in Staten Island, New York, watching Phil Rizzuto call Yankee games.

He would always say, oh, holy cow, here comes Winfield. He's old for his last 15. He's due.

Instead of saying what's wrong that he went over for 15, he would spin it to a positive. He's due. Yeah, I mean, Purdie is due, but.

You need to have a good team to overcome that stuff. Let's use the examples of the two other guys that we keep on mentioning in the same breath as Purdie. Kurt Warner was on with you and Suze yesterday, you guys and Tom Brady. Kurt Warner in his American underdog carpet ride, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers almost ruined it, right? That was ninety nine, correct? Eleven to six final score. Or is that 01?

Good question. I forget which carpet ride wound up being almost or it could be 01, probably. But. Games where you think 99, right? OK. Warners due for a bad game. Buccaneers come in, hold him to 11 points, but. Three picks, the Rams defense went ahead and finished that thing up to right. Brady, everybody kind of forgets about that run Brady went on in in in his championship season of 01. That everybody thinks it was like Purdie. He just he didn't lose and just went right to the podium and there was no question he was going to start. He got hurt in the AFC Championship game. Drew Bledsoe had to finish that thing up. So, yeah, Purdie could be due for a bad game, but they got the rest of the guys around him to potentially survive it. That's why I'm still very confident what makes Purdie great or helps him be great and avoid the bad game can overcome a bad game from him. So.

Due to our new relationship with our friends at Monster.com. Each week for the rest of these playoffs, I'm going to give you a player who needs to have a monster game in order to add to their resume. A playoff win. And this person will be dubbed the monster athlete of the week. And I'm going to try and not go quarterbacks.

Clearly, I could go Daniel Jones. He's got to have a monster game, right? He needs to. And, you know, certainly Jacksonville got to have a monster game from Trevor Lawrence.

I just won't do I refuse to do that the same way that a resume has smaller bullet points. I'm going to go that way to the monster athlete of the week. This guy, I believe, needs to have a monster game for the Jacksonville Jaguars to win. I'm going to go with the other Clemson Tiger. I'm going with Travis Etienne.

That's where I'm going. This guy needs to have one of those games where he can't be stopped. And he provides the balance.

He's the guy that's going to get it done. Let's not forget. In this comeback win that Jacksonville just had over the Chargers, they didn't abandon the run. They didn't in the way that, say, the Buccaneers totally abandoned on Monday night. They fell behind 18-0.

Could have been 21. But thanks to TJ's kicker, Brett Maher, he was not very accurate, although apparently was in practice this week. When I wasn't going Brett Maher, I'm going Travis Etienne. He had 109 yards rushing in the win over the Chargers and 12 receiving yards. But this is the guy that needs to have a monster game. Look at his last five games. In the overtime win over Dallas, he had 100 yards rushing. He had 100 yards from scrimmage against the Jets on a Thursday night right after that. He took the rest of the day off in Houston, right?

He ripped one off. He had a 60-yarder against Houston. Part of his 108 yards.

An off night. This is why I think he's got to have this monster game. An off night against Tennessee almost cost him. And then, of course, his rushing against the Chargers. And what put him over 100 yards rushing on the night was that neat, nifty call on fourth and inches that set up the game-winning field goal for him. 1,125 rush yards on the year. He averages almost half a first down every single time he runs it. He can also be a guy out of the backfield that causes consternation for the Kansas City Chiefs.

I'm going Travis Etienne. Guy on your fantasy team. I know you like him. I do. I think we all had him, didn't we? Or you and I? You know what I mean?

I could go and receive it, but this is a guy who's going to get it. He's getting the ball. Not surprisingly, I saw this week the Chiefs' defensive plan. I saw reporting coming out of Kansas City or NFL Network's James Palmer, who I follow on Twitter.

I love his information as much as his hair. Don't care for his college football team. Oh, I see.

Oh, yeah. He's just under Breier under the trolling. Breier. Was he state? State.

Did not know that. State. The. The state. Ohio State.

The. Oh, they're both Ohio State. So he said that the Chiefs' defensive game plan is to stop Etienne and make Trevor Lawrence beat them. Makes sense. I mean, good luck. I know. I know. It's like make Trevor Lawrence beat you. This is a guy who, yeah, had four interceptions, but then he turns around four touchdowns. Right. Good luck. Ask the Dallas Cowboys if that worked out for him.

Ask, obviously. Pretty much any team after the Jaguars lost in Kansas City earlier this year. At any rate, Travis Etienne is the Monster Athlete of the Week, and Monster.com can help you tackle the job search and make your next career move. It's time to get off the sidelines.

Go to Monster.com and win the job hunt. Let's take a break. When we come back here, we do our best to get you set for the weekend. Not only with me setting the table as to what's at stake, as you know, I'm a what's at stake guy. Yeah.

But also, we'd like steak. Mike Del Tufo lets you know about the weather. I try. Because guess what? All the games.

They're outside. Yeah. No dome games. Nope. Yes. Don't miss this. It's always entertaining. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, terrestrial radio outfit, radios, along with the Roku channel. 15 years ago today, you know what debuted 15 years ago today? Yeah, I saw that. Breaking Bad. 15 years ago today. That first show. I watched it.

Five minutes. I watched it and I was so blown away and I called Susie and I'm like, you got to watch it. And I watched it again and she wasn't into it.

Wow. Because it was dark and there was like nobody that you could really like or get into, you know? That's understandable. And she just was like, again, one of those things where, so I'm going to continue watching this. We're cool, right? Like we're going to go our separate ways on the Breaking Bad front here. In the same way that she hosed me on finishing up White Lotus after we thought we were on a break, you know? All right, shit.

And she then finished up watching White Lotus and then I come back like 24 hours later. No disrespect to White Lotus, but I realize it wins a lot of awards. It ain't Breaking Bad. I agree with you. No, good show though. Million percent.

Totally agree with you. But anyway, and so I started watching it. I watched season one and season two and then I finally turn around and Susie, I'm like. No, no, you have to watch this.

This is one of those like preemptories where I know you're out, but you got we got you got to get back in. And I started binge watching it from the very beginning with her again and watching it the second time. I'm beginning to watch and see the Easter eggs that they lay down and the stuff that you pick up. That you clearly didn't the first time just trying to follow the plot. And just again, the acting.

Amazing. And the storytelling and the directing. It is the greatest over the air cable show ever.

Where you're you know, there were some curse words and there were but they didn't you know, they still had some. Guardrails that say an HBO show doesn't. Yep. Like I don't can you have a red wedding scene on AMC? No. No. You know what I mean? Like Sopranos was never none of those. Poor walk empire. None of that. Well, also, guys, you know, the first season and a half was it was slow.

So I can understand how. But the middle of season two, season two also got interrupted with the writers strike. So it was only like six episodes, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know. I forgot.

But yeah. So but 15 years ago today, we were first introduced to the chemistry teacher, Walter White. And I just saw a scene from season three where Hank, his brother in law, who's in law enforcement, grabs. One of those huge duffel bags filled with some of the money that he has from, you know, selling his product, his meth and and Walter's carrying it. And Hank's like, I'll help you. I'll put it on the back of the truck and he won't let go of the bag. And Hank's like, what gives?

I'll help you. Like any brother in law would look at the other brother in law and go, I'm just it's family just trying to help. Like, what are you doing? And Hank grabs the bagging, you know, can't lift it without, you know, struggling. And he goes, what do you have in these cinder blocks? And that's and Cranston is Walter White looks at him and he's like, what do I like?

You could see his wheels are kind of spinning, but his face doesn't change. And he goes, a half million dollars in cash. And of course, Hank thinks he's joking and then just throws it in the truck.

But what was really in there was a half million dollars in cash. I love the show. And it's funny. And then it's also heartbreaking.

Got writing was incredible. And what else I just saw, too, is 30 years ago today, Dr. Richard Kimball got arrested for murdering his wife. Is that right? Was that 30 years ago today was first in studio and in theaters near you? No, not in theaters. But the date on his mugshot is January 20th. Interesting. And the movie came out in three. And then we found out that his wife was actually killed by Brooke Lopez. Right.

Am I the only one that thinks that Brooke Lopez looks like the one our man, Brooke? All right. Hold on a second. Please. Please.

I need a split screen of Brooke Lopez and the one our man. Oh, God. Your mic was off.

Your mic is off. Oh, I just I just was like, I can see that. That's awesome.

Take a look at Brooke Lopez and the guy who played the one our man. And when did we find out that the samples were switched? Gosh. How long after was that week? One of my it was a while.

He was on the run. One of my favorite run for a little. Oh, my gosh. One of my favorite movies of all time.

And that's a remote drop. You know, back to Breaking Bad, I personally almost affected. The entire series of Breaking Bad one night in Hollywood. Oh, my goodness. I was driving on Gower.

True, though, this is actually a good story. I was driving on Gower, going to a party in some club right down from Roscoe's on Hollywood and Gower. It was one of these things I was trying to make the yellow light before it turned red. And I'm just gunning it. And then a dude runs out in front of my car and I got to literally slam on my brakes.

And I end up halfway up in front of Boulevard. I almost hit this guy. It was Aaron Paul.

Wow. And so I knew Aaron Paul. I got into the party and I say to him, yo, man, that was me in the El Camino. I had an El Camino, too, by the way, which is another thing. He was like, yo.

So we talked and I was like, bro, I hear great stuff about this new show you're in, blah, blah, blah. And then I realized I hadn't even seen it. So I went home that night. I found some weird website and I start watching Breaking Bad at like midnight.

And I step to four in the morning. I watched like four episodes, weird website called what, YouTube? Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

YouTube didn't exist really back in 2015 when you almost hit Aaron Paul with your car with my El Camino. You guys made me watch it because you guys would talk about it all the time. We ready. We are ready. Mike Del Tufo. We haven't done this in well over a year, right?

Maybe longer. We used to do this every... Did we do it last year? I don't remember. Something that doesn't need to be done every week just because I suck at it. You're great at it.

No, I actually got better at it because I've become better at it. This is crucial information, Mike. Yeah, it's like this... Divisional playoff weekend. It's at Kansas City. It's at Philadelphia. It's at Orchard Park, New York, Western New York.

And it's at San Francisco where it was raining cats and dogs. He's like Punxsutawney Phil. He comes out once a year. Let's see if Mike Del Tufo sees his shadow.

Hit him. It's raining sideways. Del Tufo with the weekend weather update. Come on, Mikey, let's go. Mike, here we go. Let's go. Come on. Shut up. Okay. What? Here we go. Come on.

Okay. You guys know this is... I love this as a weatherman. Because you're a weatherman? All the games are outside.

I love you, bro. All the games are outside. Yes, they are. Okay, so Saturday we have two games and Sunday we have two games. We have two games. It's true.

It's true. I'm trying to be... I'm signing right there. First game, Jacksonville KC.

It is going to be 36 degrees, overcast, light winds, two miles an hour, and snow showers and light rain. When? With a 22. Yeah, well, you don't know during the game. You know, you can't...

I'm not making that prediction. So it's like I put my hand out like my picture. I don't...

I mean, I can't think. Okay. So we got that.

All right. That's the first game. That's the first game in my house.

And I used... I love Philly. By the way... And Redondo? No, no.

It's in New Jersey. These are all perfect facts. These are perfect facts. The weather pattern that's coming... It'll be 38 degrees, partly cloudy, no precipitation, three mile an hour's winds. And I want to say right now, perfect game for Philly and the Giants. Are you the only weatherman that could tell your brother, hey, stick your hand out the window and tell me how it is?

And by the way, yes, I could do that too. But I've also... I've done like three or four NFC championships in Philly.

The link, I love it. One of my favorite fields. It's gonna be perfect, perfect weather for the game there. Okay. Then we move to Sunday, Cincinnati at Buffalo. You guys all know Buffalo, crazy weather. Mike Hoskins will tell you all about it. It's gonna be 33 degrees, overcast, eight mile an hour winds, light snow, and light rain throughout the game.

Oh. Wintry mix. Throughout the game. Wintry mix, because I actually said it perfect, but wind is light, Wintry mix, I'll say it again, that's twice. But this game is gonna be a fun game to watch, because when that starts coming down, the players are gonna be like, they're gonna love it.

Come on, they love this weather. Yes. All right.

Confirmed. Final game, Dallas at San Francisco. I know.

What else you got? Dallas at San Francisco. Are you going to the game?

Which I am probably going to see. Hey. Okay.

Yes, 54 degrees, mostly cloudy. That's no problem. Look at this. Seven mile an hour winds. That's it. Perfect day. Boom. Boom. It's gonna be a perfect game. Perfect day.

There you go. Mike DelTufo's weather report. Good job, Mike. I got better. I'm sweating a little, though. I did sweat. I sweat.

That's my favorite part about it. I do flop sweat. I flop sweat.

What do we call it? 100% chance of flop sweat. I need fans on me. I'm like one of those performers on stage.

Just put the fans. I actually get sweat. I sweat. I sweat.

You know how I'm feeling my power rankings. By the way. By the way. Exactly.

This guy. By the way. She said I did better that time.

Shouldn't that be for someone else to determine if you did better? No, I have better. All right. Let me set the stage.

Go ahead, Rich. Thank you, Mike. Great job. Thank you for letting me do that. I love it. That was amazing.

I got one more week of this. Guys. Go ahead.

Everybody. You want music? It's time. Yes. Give it to me.

NFL Films. Come on. Uh-oh.

Three. Yes. It's time.

Yes. The team that's chosen first on the clock, the last two drafts, has an opportunity. Number one on the clock against the number one seed in the AFC and take them out and won and done them. Or the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes tells everybody, Tyreek's home and we're moving on. That whole business of Tyreek's gone, what's going to happen for us?

Guess what? We're moving on. Jacksonville's out. Can't wait for that game on Saturday night. The one seed Philadelphia Eagles. They were the last team to lose a football game.

They are sitting there at home. Everybody's got to come to Philadelphia. But here come the New York football giants off of that win against the Minnesota Vikings. Can they make it to the NFC Championship game? Can Danny Dimes and Brian DeBolt make it to the NFC Championship game?

That's entirely possible. Then comes the Buffalo Bills taking on the Cincinnati Bengals two versus three last year. Joe Burrow was sitting at home smoking a cigar watching Mahomes and Allen beat each other up this time. Mahomes could be home smoking a cigar watching Allen and Burrow beat each other up. Who's going to go visit Mahomes or who's going to have the opportunity to welcome Trevor Lawrence into their house? It's going to be a dynamite football game. The folks in western New York are going to be out of their skulls and the Bengals would love to say to those people and Bill's Mafia, hope you enjoy those tickets to Atlanta.

Hope you have a receipt. Guess what? You're not going. And then of course, the Dallas Cowboys against the San Francisco 49ers. Can the Cowboys finally end that long stretch since 95 of not making the NFC Championship game? If they take out the 49ers, guess what? They could even host Danny Dimes in one or they go to Philadelphia. Unless Brock Purdy says, I've got a magic carpet and I'm riding all the way into Philadelphia for the NFC Championship game or I'm welcoming Danny Dimes. Could you imagine a Danny Dimes Brock Purdy NFC Championship game?

No, no, I can't. These are all on the table folks have a great, fun, divisional playoff weekend. We'll see you Monday.

Let's go Cowboys. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling. Nobody has stories like Jim Ross and he shares his tales with cohost Conrad Thompson on Grilling JR. The best Nick man was the top heel in the Attitude Era. It was a fresh character. It was new. It was material that we had not seen or heard to that date and we could have created a bigger or better heel. We wanted to make more heels and we tried to make more heels and we did, but nothing compared to Vince. The Grilling JR podcast, listen wherever you get your podcasts.