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Yeah.
Sorry. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Calling him a top five player. I just got it. I can't do this.
I can't do this anymore. He's not. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The situation is crazy. You know, it's something that I don't think you can fix.
The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests: ESPN Buffalo Bills analyst Eric Wood, co-host of Good Morning Football, Kyle Brandt, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette, plus Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders. And now. Yeah.
It's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We're live in Los Angeles, California, here on a very busy Wednesday. We're all very excited to be here right near in the middle of this month of January.
I am your humble host, Rich Eisen, and pleased to say for the seventh straight month, I am best at ever. There's the sign right here in my desk to prove it.
So come at me. I don't mean to start so uh aggressive. But, you know, I'll raise my hand and challenge that vote. Yeah.
Is there a vote every month? Yeah.
Do they revote? In my house? Yes.
Well, there's really, you know, I guess it's an autocracy in the house when it comes to that. But listen, I guess in the. I'm just I guess learning and picking things up. Seeing what people are saying into a microphone in the last 24 hours when they sit down and have an audience in front of them and they just speak their minds. No, I'm inspired.
I'm inspired, is what I'm saying. I'm inspired. Um and the reason why I'm so inspired is You know, James Harden may not. come across as an inspiring individual these days. you know, unless you do want to Go out and drop some honey buns off with your friends and what have you.
I love honey buns.
So delicious. And.
So look, we start the show today and The great city of Houston. Hey now. Chris Brockman, Mike Del Tufo. You've been on this show for quite some time since Jumpstreet, since the very beginning. This is our seventh year.
Yeah, buddy. TJ Jefferson, social media Grand Maester. When exactly did you join? The studio portion of our show. Was that four years ago?
Four years ago? You know, I sat in the broadcast center and I produced the app. Right, from the job, pretty much. No, no, no. It was just a year.
Were you in Houston? Is basically what I'm saying. I've had the students in the year since March of 18.
Okay.
So we spent a whole week in Houston. Oh, love it. We loved it. Loved it. The hospitality was unparalleled.
HTC Mike came to be. HTC Mike. A legend was born on that trip. Texans cheerleader Mike Del Tufo. You were born.
You were born. I was born. The Texans cheerleader stopped by our set. They were Filing restraining orders within 10 minutes of leaving the set. That's true.
But they still, you know, got over that and invited you to be. You flew to Houston, actually. Be a judge in one of the competitions. Be a judge in one of the competitions. That's happened.
Honorary Minister. Every single one of their professional sports teams of their you know, they don't have a hockey team in Houston. But if they did one of the stars would just want out Yeah. Right. Right.
George Springer is not coming back. I mean, the Astros are going to lose George Springer. You're putting him in City Field, pretty much. Just get ready for it. Uncle Stevie Cohen's billions.
I'm spending other people's money right now. Slice off a honey bun and get yourself George Springer. Right? I like your obsession with honeypot.
Well, I mean, I'm leading to the top story. I mean, the NBA has a couple of stories outside of the obvious of what's going on with the pandemic, but one of them is like, where in the world is Kyrie Irving? That's number one. That's in Brooklyn, New York. My fantasy basketball team wants to know that.
I'm sure. And then in Houston. You know, at least Kyrie was smudging in Boston, you know, with the incense and whatever the heck he was doing to clear all the negative thoughts out of the way when he returned to Boston. The sage, he's burning sage walking around the perimeter of the parquet floor in Boston. And then.
You know, then he's disappeared on the Nets. They have no idea where he is. Nash isn't talking to him, but. That's kind of come out of nowhere the last couple of weeks. Harden, we saw coming.
Harden, we saw coming. We saw coming when he didn't arrive on time. When, you know, prior to the season, Westbrook wanted a trade, and then Hardin was thinking of having a trade or demanding a trade, and then he didn't, and then he showed up late. Westbrook gets the exit Vitas Wall. Wall comes in.
John Wall comes in, and the idea was: hey, the two of these guys worked out in the same way that. Harden, Kyrie, and Durant worked out, and that Hardin wants to be with the Nets, and it's all working out. They got a new coach, new general man, you know, new general manager and grocery shopper is. Philadelphia is the new home of Daryl Morey, and and we all saw it. I mean, Hardin showed up, to use the Dan Patrick phrase, big in the community.
Big in the community. He did not show up seemingly in shape and But he's James Harden for crying out loud.
So, after another loss for the Houston Rockets last night. It's so rare you see a player. I mean, You see a player After the Lakers just, I mean, they dismantled them. The 17-point losses do not indicate they're not nearly as close as the object in the Lakers' rear view mirror as the final score indicates in this game. I was watching that, man.
It was not even close.
Okay.
You know, LeBron's shooting threes and turning to his teammates like it's going in. It was great. He was doing Steph Curry. It was awesome. I know.
He wasn't doing the swaggy peek. The ball went in.
Okay.
Ball winning. Uh So uh after all that Seeing The function that is the Lakers. The dysfunction that is what's going on with the Houston Rockets. Personified by James Harden. This is a rarity.
Kids and the millennials out there. This is a rarity. To see a superstar athlete who wants out, basically say it. Here you go. We're just not good enough.
You know, we just, we don't, we don't. Obviously chemistry, talent wise, just Everything and it was clear, like I said, these last few games. They just, from the beginning of the game, it was just aggressive. uh veteran team obviously uh championship team and um you know one of the best teams that we have in this league You know, I love this city. I literally No, I've done everything that I can.
Um you know I mean this situation is crazy. You know, it's something that I don't think it can be fixed so Um Yeah. Thanks. I don't think it could be fixed. Yeah, thanks.
At least he said thanks. Houston, we have a problem. That's right, Jim Level.
Well done, Mike. Yeah, I mean, just go to the Podium in a shirt says, I want out. That's it. I mean, I won out. It's obvious.
Anthony Davis. That's all, folks.
Well, I mean, Anthony Davis. I mean, and this part of it, did you see Sterling Brown go at Anthony Davis last night? Did you see? I don't know how much of the game you saw. Nah, I watched it a little bit.
He goes, I mean, Anthony Davis is under the basket, okay? And Brown is on The transition, and he's going right at Anthony Davis and attempts to dunk on Anthony Davis, who proceeds to reject him. And then they zoom in on Anthony Davis, whose look was You've got to look it up on Twitter. Anthony Davis gives this look. to like no one in particular sort of like What is he thinking?
Like it was, he was offended. Like, you're gonna dunk them. You're gonna dunk. You're like, I'm here. I'm standing here under the bed.
You're going to dunk on him? I'm going to retweet the Jiff at Rich Eisen show if you haven't seen it. Oh my God. I mean, you're right. It's amazing.
He's just kind of looking like, what's this guy thinking? It's amazing. Kind of like when Conor McGregor was at a presser and.
Someone said something to him and he turned and went, Who the? Exactly. The essence was similar, yes.
So harden. It's just, he's got to be thinking in a no-win situation here. But, you know, John Wall, who's new to the program. And he must be thinking, okay, I'm going to Houston, I'm finally out of Washington, which, as you've seen. is still They can't do a damn thing.
Even with Bradley Beale scoring 90 points a night. I know. Okay, so. He's probably thinking, I'm going to use, I'm out, finally out.
Now I'm coming here in the middle of all this stuff. I guess Wall is kind of giving the same look that Anthony Davis gave to Sterling Brown. He's giving that in the direction of Hardin. This is what Wall had to say. Any day, a lot of guys here is want to compete.
At a high level. And I told everybody tonight, and I told the guys before. When the 1 through 15 guys all on the same page and they commit, they know their role, they know what they want to do, they know what they want to get out of this, that's the win. You ought to be fine, but when you have Certain guys in the mix that don't want to buy in all is one. It's going to be hard to do anything special, do anything good as a basketball team.
I've been on those teams. In my 11 years been in the league, I've been on a team like that my first five years where It was all about me, me, me, me, not about the team. And that hurts and it brings everybody down.
So when we can get all on the same page, We can be something good here. And we can't dwell down on it because it's only been nine games. Like, come on, man. We're going to jump off the cliff off of nine games. There's a lot of basketball still to be played.
Voice of reason, John Wall. John Wall, voice of reason. John Wall, voice of rockets. Wow. John Wall is more of a tenured rocket.
All in then hardened. I mean, that's a fact. In the same way, d by the way, do you know who? The most tenured coach. We mentioned this the other day and the NFC East is now.
It's Ron. Because he was hired January 1st. And then the other two first-year coaches and judge and and uh McCarthy were hired after him. And whoever's hired by the Eagles will be in last place in terms of tenure in the NFC East. It's the same thing.
Like, this guy's fresh here, he's new.
Now he's most tenured. Gotta count on him. And what does Hardin think he's going to accomplish? Like right now, in the middle of the pandemic, someone's going to blow their team up and bring Harden in? Like, do you think the Nets would he wants to go to the Nets?
Nets have got their own problems. The calls are coming from within the house up there. Yeah, in the middle of all this, let's figure out how we can bring Harden in here. Like where else the Sixers are cruising? When they have enough players to play, honestly, you know what I mean?
Like, And then where Miami doesn't have enough healthy players to go there. Like, where does Hardin think this stance is going to get him now? Right now. Right. Because that's the reality, this is the boots on the ground.
Yeah.
You know, all his leverage was before the season. Again, I know you guys think are crazy. Who would Who wants them? Bring him in right now.
Okay, so you've got enough games between now and April to get things straight? Let's blow your team up. Blow the team out and give up a ton of draft picks right now when everybody's trying to figure out what the protocols are, how to get everybody in safe. I know everyone could walk and chew gum at the same time in the NBA, but what's the answer? What does he think is he going to accomplish?
Uh you know I don't know if he can, you know. Force the situation other than to make it as bad as possible. I, I, I. I feel for all those in Houston that want the buy-in right now. You ain't getting it, it's not coming.
He basically said it's not going to work. Out. I feel bad for Coach Silas. Yeah, right. You have to.
He's getting his shot. There's a bunch of people getting their shots. His dream came true. I'd love to get James on the program here. I don't know.
The owner has got a. Make the rockets great again. Mara.
So Here we go. I don't know what the answer is right now. And then there's the case of the Houston Texans.
Okay.
So you got George Springer once, he's not coming back, and then Hardin's doing this, then you got the Houston earlier. in the day before Hardin says it's not gonna work here I'm out Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. You know, in the same way, I think Mark Dalton was kindly saying after the.
The Bears are who we thought they were. We let them off the hook. Thanks, coach. Matt Leinert will be next. Matt Leinert will be next.
One of my favorite PR lines off mic of all time. But C.J. Tucker is next. Before all this happened. With Arden.
Just when you thought that the Hustle and flow of the NFL news media cycle. Had taken the Sean Watson story down a notch after all that happened last week. Where he's not happy, he's not happy, and the owner's like, I can't wait to have him get back to me. Once he gets back from vacation, and then Mort goes on ESPN and says he would definitely go to Miami if that could happen. Ian Rappaport saying he's just not happy with the process and then.
Yeah.
As we mentioned, you Bum John McClain of Houston Chronicle came on. I'm like, hey, John. You know he's talking to Mahomes. You know this. We know this.
We know he's talking to Mahomes. How have the Texans not Asked for Eric B. Enemy of the Chiefs. The only team to not ask for Eric B. Enemy of the Chiefs.
to come and interview. for their coaching. Vacancy. Only one with a coaching vacancy who has not reached out to Eric Biennemy. Hey, guess who reached out to Eric Bienemi like way too late?
Finally, this week. Eric Piano. I just know. The Texans did it. I just know this.
When I'm hoping somebody calls me back.
Okay.
When I hope somebody calls me back and reaches out to me. And then I look down on my phone. And during the Rich Eisen show, somebody's calling me back. I know they have no intention of actually. Right.
Connecting with me, they just want to check the box. Have I got back to you? Sure, I called you. Call me when you know I'm unavailable. They wait.
They wait just until the Chiefs finally have a playoff game week to reach out to B enemy. Not when they have the buy. Right. No. Not when he's doing all his interviews.
He'll just finally get around when he knows the Browns are coming with Miles Garrett.
So on and so forth.
Okay.
Guess who stirred it up? Even worse. After all this. Andre Johnson, who never Says a word. Like, literally, I've been around him.
And this is not because He's not a nice guy or a great guy. He's just a man of few words. This doesn't say a lot. He tweets out yesterday. If just out of the blue, right?
Like out of the blue. By the way, out of the blue.
So his last tweet that wasn't an ad for Crown Royal.
Okay, was April twenty-third, two thousand nine. Oh my god.
So on January 12th, 2021, not even responding to anyone, he just takes to Twitter. Yeah.
If I'm an axe to Sean Watson, I will stand my ground. The Texans organization is known for wasting players' careers. Since Jack Easterby has walked into the building, nothing good has happened in slash for the organization. And for some reason, someone can't seem to see what's going on. Pathetic three exclamation points.
And you know, who the somebody who can't seem to see what's going on is the owner of Cal McNair. I mean, who else has been around that long? Who else is the one? It's not Nick Casario. It's.
Right. It's the owner. Oh my god.
To say these words carry weight. Is an offense to the concept of gravity. I mean The guy never says anything. Never. He's the all-time lead like...
If you name top five Texans of all time. JJ Watts on the list? And you can have an argument, he's 1B to the Andre Johnson's 1A. Oh my god.
Okay.
Just out of nowhere. I'll say this, man. Whoever they hire as coach, this is the most important hire for this team, maybe in their franchise history. Forget about Dom Capers when they first started off, and forget about their first coach and anybody else. This is the most important hire right now.
Because if Deshaun Watson does not stick around, or forces his way out, a la harden, or whomever. This organization will not recover. It's that simple. They got to hire the right guy to put the fire out. And they got to get Deshaun Watson on the phone and talk to him about it.
And yes, empower a player in a certain way. that usually he does not get empowered about talking about a coach. It's that simple. Because the executive vice president of football operations, Jack Easterby, has clearly rubbed a ton of people there the very wrong way. And the owner clearly believes in this guy in a way that Deshaun Andre Johnson says he does not see.
Yeah.
And This coaching hire is as important as any that the franchise may ever see because that coach has got to look this kid in the eye and say, You're my guy. And forget everything else. I'm here. I'm empowered. I'm your guy.
You're my guy. Let's go. I don't know who that guy is. I know they're talking to Jim Caldwell. I know everybody from Detroit and whatever thinks that that guy is retread or whatever.
I think he's perfect. He's perfect. He comes with the imprimatur of Peyton Manning. And he comes with The success in Detroit. He comes with Tony Dungy's backing.
And he could look this kid in the face and say, Son, I've been there, I've done that. Let me put my arm around you, let's go. Other guys can do that too. But they better call number four and say, what do you think? Rich, do you know Deshaun was at the Laker Rocket game last night?
Did you see him sitting there? I did not. Yeah, he was he was in attendance at the game yesterday. Are you are you allowed to be there? Is that what he they had?
I mean, there was a smattering. Smattering. Was George Springer there too? I didn't see him necessarily, but Deshaun was definitely there. They had a few.
Vacation's over. That means he's reachable. That means we assume he's talked to Cal McNair.
So, no, I did not see that part. Yeah, he was there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there he is. Look.
Man. He is All that plus biscuit. Make sure he's happy. Because clearly something's going on that Andre Johnson out of the blue decides: you know what, I'm gonna tweet something out. For the first time since Winbrook.
That has nothing to do with whatever alcohol that he's sponsoring. You saying it's the first time that tweet. Tearing apart the organization that he represents and represented. For so long. This tweet that's on the screen.
Sent just a few minutes after noon, our time, Pacific time.
So, right around two o'clock. Central, if that's where he's sitting. You know what I'm gonna do? He must have heard something, and he's just like, I'm gonna grab the phone. Or do you think like could somebody like Deshaun saying hey do it Or somebody do it, or whatever, I'll stand my ground.
Like, what ground is it that he's standing on? Like, what does this mean? He's going to call out a frame of his guy by name, and he's going to. Infer, not by name, the owner is asleep at the switch. Pathetic free I mean honestly I have spoken to Andre Johnson many times.
Okay.
I interviewed him on Texans cam a handful of times. It was a tough interview because he doesn't. Say a lot. His play did all of his speaking. And for a wide receiver in the National Football League, in the aughts and early teens, that was, shall we say, an outlier for him to do this.
I do not even know. What three exclamation points sound like from his mouth. It must be the loudest. Ever Yeah, so three tweets for Crown Royal, and then he retweeted that he was coming up on Good Morning Football on December 1st of 2020, and then he retweeted the segment.
So five total, but that no original thought. And then his last tweet. uh in April of 2019 was about Damian Leard. Which I got to assume, Dame Lillard, that was crazy. I got to assume that's the game.
That's where he waves bye-bye to Russell Westbrook. Bye-bye to Russell Westbrook. What date? Was that an April? Was that an April?
April 23rd, 2019. But you know, he actually. That's it. He tweeted. More, I mean, he's tweeting.
I'm looking at 17, 15.
So, I mean, he doesn't tweet a lot, but he did tweet more than that. This is unbelievable. Yeah, he had some Instagram posts in 2017.
Okay, well, then let's just set up the rest of the show through that.
So, in terms of good morning football, we'll also. Turn a good morning football. Kyle Brandt will be here on the program. We are, and speaking of never saying a word, Barry Sanders is going to be on the show in hour number three. The gentle, quiet giant.
From the Detroit Lions, Pro Football Hall of Famer. We're putting all of our rushing yards in the third hour of the show: Leonard Fournette and then Barry Sanders. But coming up, Bill's Mafia's own, now from ESPN and. ACCN Eric Wood will talk about the playoff weekend starting with the Bills and Ravens. That's next on the Rich Eisen Show.
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Yeah.
Restrictions apply. Akbar, your first pitch in Philadelphia is such the stuff of legend that it it's it's received a documentary treatment. from the ultimate. in sports documentaries. Oh, what?
Yeah.
Oh, it has it. Check it out. Wow. What if I told you throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game isn't? as easy as it looks, that many have spent the rest of their lives regretting.
their trip to the mound. What if I told you a former professional football player who used his speed, strength, and agility was about to have his hard-earned athletic reputation shattered in only a few seconds by a tiny little baseball? I was so fired up when Herr Dachmar was throwing out the first pitch. I mean, I had visions of the big man going out there, throwing a frozen rope, and the crowd chanting, ah! Didn't exactly work out that way though.
I mean, how hard can it be? Rich Eisen threw a strike. Guy's not even a punter. Not even an athlete. Did you see the Philly Fanatics' reaction?
That was awesome. From ESPN Films critically acclaimed documentary series 30 for 30, it's Akbar's first pitch, presented by Lenscrafter's Prescription Eyewear, Friday at 8 p.m. Yeah.
Oh my god.
That's my new favorite movie of all time. Oh my goodness.
Okay, first off, I'm a huge fan of 30 for 30. And I would like to think of myself as a person that deserves one, but I don't. I have to get the description. Oh my god.
What if I told you? Oh my gosh! What if I told you? That was bad! Was that ashamed?
I thought it was real. Hey, I didn't know. Oh my goodness.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah. That was a lot of fun. That was amazing. Presented by lens crafters. That's the best part.
I think that's the best part. Yeah.
Akbar's first pitch. You were there the day of my first pitch. I was. Oh, I was. I was.
Type. Yeah.
That was fun though. That was fun. Most nerve-wracking thing is my children were there. My wife was there. Everybody was there.
Pregnant with our daughter. Oh, yeah. Taylor. Donnie Baseball was there too. And it was really neural.
I like Dom Matting who was watching me throw on first pitch. Manager of the Dodge at the time. Kenley Jansen was a big man then. Because he was still a catcher. Right.
Yeah.
Let's get the scrub to catch Rich's pitch. Oh, he blossomed into the Dodgers closer. How long did you warm up for that? Dude, I worked out at UCLA. I worked.
Yeah.
Because when you're on the mound, you want to, you're thinking you're high up, so you have to throw down. No, you have to throw up. Up. Right, otherwise you dirt it. That's how people dirt it.
Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204. Rich is the number to dial. We're here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network and on NBC Sports on Peacock and our friends of Sunday Night Football on NBC. Their season finale is the finale of NFL Divisional Weekend presented by Intuit TurboTax Live. Ravens and Bills, the Ravens and Lamar Jackson coming off of his first career win, taking on first career win in the playoffs, taking on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills coming off of his first career win And Baker Mayfield coming off of his first career playoff win.
from the class of 2018. That's Saturday on NBC. And to talk about this game and so much more is a man who knows all about the Bills mafia. He played over a decade for them. He's now the ESPN and ACCN, and he's a ten-year veteran and a two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee from the Buffalo Bills.
Eric Wood, how are you, sir? I'm doing great. How are you doing, Rich? I am doing fine. What does this mean to Western New York to see all of this go down right now?
Eric? Oh, my gosh. It's a long time coming. And there are feelings in Buffalo of, man, we've waited so long to host playoff games, and then it's the year of COVID, and we can't even get in the stadium. But they did allow 6,700 fans in the building last week, and they will again this week.
But, you know, it's a fan base that has stood by the team through a 17-year playoff drought, which I played. most of and They were just so loyal, and they deserve every bit of this success that the Bills are having now.
So, I mean, you got there. What year did you exactly get there, Eric? You got there in 2009, and that was, my God, that was the Dick Geron Perry Fuel season. Then Chan Gailey, Doug Marone, we know what happened with him sending a text. Did you get a text from him saying I'm out?
Is that the way that went down back in the day, Eric? No, I didn't even get the text. And to your point here. I would venture to say that it may be a record that in my nineyear career, I played for seven head coaches. If you count the two interims, that's got to be a record.
That certainly does.
So then McDermott comes in. How has he changed everything? Error. Sean McDermott comes in and he's talking about the process, the process. And he's got some Philadelphia ties and there were some Joe L.
and B jokes with him. But for him, it wasn't a this isn't a one day fix. This isn't probably a one year fix. This is continually doing the right things over and over and over, establishing some continuity within the organization, which we hadn't had in so long, I mentioned. all of the coaches turned over.
And what they've done is just taking a very strategic approach to, hey, we're going to draft well, we're going to retain our own, we're going to get free agents that Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean called fit their DNA. They're going to bring in the right types of guys, and it's really paid off for them. And I'll tell you what, in twenty seventeen, we were ready to kill Sean. he walks in the door and in training camp, they traded away Sammy Watkins. They traded away Ronald Darby.
They traded away Marcel Darius. We're like, Coach, are we tanking? Like is this is this real? Like are we tanking right now? He said, no, no, no, you got to trust me.
And me and Kyle Williams and LaShawn McCoy and Richie Incognito, we still had some talent on the team. We said, you better get rid of all of us if you think we're tanking. And then of all the pretty talented teams I played on in Buffalo when we go try and win that free agent lottery every year and we paid Mario Williams and all these Big name guys that come into Buffalo. That was the year. 2017 was the year that we broke the playoff drought.
You know, it's fascinating, Eric, because the concept, Eric Wood, former Buffalo Bill, Pro Bowl lineman here on the Rich Eisen Show now with ESPN and more, and his own podcast as well. It's interesting because the whole concept of tanking, you saw what happened in game 256, and the Eagles were accused of tanking for a better draft position from 9-6 by not winning that final game in front of the whole country. You know, the Jets, I was sitting here as a Jet fan, full disclosure, saying that they should have lost every last game because Trevor Lawrence meant that much. And obviously, as you know, the players could care less about it. But you went to.
The coach along with some others and said, Hey, are we tanking when he first arrived? That happened in Buffalo with Sean McDermott. Yeah, we had it was actually a leadership council meeting and Sean Called the meeting to kind of tell us that, hey, there's going to be some news coming out today. We're going to unload a few guys. And these were our last two former first round draft picks.
And then one year, we didn't have a first round traffic pick because we had traded it for Sammy the year before. And we took Ronald Darby in the second round. That was our highest traffic.
So these were our three Top draft picks. from the previous three drafts Which was the Doug Whaley Buddy Nick's regime, he traded away all three of them in training camp. And then Josh Allen arrives. What was he like when he first showed up? Eric?
So Josh Allen came in as I was leaving. I had a surprise career ending neck injury after the 2017 season, but I actually got to meet him down at the Masters.
So Brian Fitzpatrick and I are close friends. Josh Allen was with the CAA crew down at the Masters. I was hanging out with those guys, and I was still really close with Brandon Bean and those guys in Buffalo. And I had told them, I said, you know what? I'm coming to grips with my career ending and all of that.
But I said, if you guys draft Josh Allen, I'll be jealous because that's the type of guy that, one, if anybody spends any time around Josh, he's just a guy's guy. He's extremely humble, but he's also confident. He's got He's got that infectious personality about him. And I said, you know, that's the type of guy that I would love to kind of pour into towards the end of his career, have that center quarterback relationship to where, you know, I move on and my kids one day are like, oh, yeah, there's daddy's buddy Josh. Look at him.
He's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Like, I wanted that. I wanted to kind of mentor that, have that be my legacy. God had different plans for me, and that's all well and good. But when Josh Allen went to the Bills, I was extremely excited for the organization.
just from a standpoint of I knew that they'd have a great representative of the city.
Now, did I envision him in your three Being a MVP caliber quarterback, probably not, maybe not this soon. But the work that he's put in to progress from year one Bill Stink of 2018. He has the worst completion percentage in the league. 2019 they improve, make the playoffs. and he's still got the worst completion percentage in the league.
And then in year three. They go thirteen and three. They're hosting their second playoff game this weekend. And he's got the fourth highest completion percentage in the league. That's hard work.
That's continuity with an offensive coordinator. There's a lot that goes into that, but I'm extremely proud of the young man. Eric Wood here on the Rich Eisen Show Pro Bowl Center, once upon a time with the Bills now of the SPN and more. You mentioned Allen, and interestingly enough, just in terms of chronology, just in terms of dates and times and things of that nature, he is the first. 2018 quarterback to get a playoff win.
Obviously, Lamar Jackson and Baker followed the next day finally, even though Lamar had chances before. You're a University of Louisville guy as well, so I'm sure you were intimately knowledgeable of Lamar's career there and seeing what he's become as well. What challenge does Lamar now? present to Bi the Buffalo Bills to um keep this thing going for Buffalo. What challenge does he represent to this defense, Eric?
Yeah, I mean, Lamar showed it last week in the playoff game against Tennessee, and he showed it throughout his football career that he's one crease away from taking it to the house. He's that special type of athlete, and he's got the ball in his hands on every play. And Greg Roman, a former offensive coordinator of mine in Buffalo, who's running the show on offense in Baltimore, sure knows how to use them. Greg calls it window dressing. There's so much going on in front of your eyes.
There's motions, there's guys pulling, and it's simple concepts when you're an offensive lineman or a running back. It's kind of the same plays over and over, but there's so much for a defense to digest to see where the ball is going. And so that presents a ton of issues for a defense.
Now, Buffalo played Lamar Jackson last year. Lamar Jackson was the unanimous MVP last year. And the only team to hold him to under 200 yards of total offense was the Buffalo Bills.
Now, knowing Greg Roman, they can't roll out the same game plan they did last year, or Greg will expose it. That's the way he is. He's one of the best offensive minds in football.
So when you look at it, the Bills are going to have to continue to do what they did well last year and probably add maybe a few new pressures, a few new looks to the table to be able to have that same type of effect on Lamar as they did last year.
Well, in terms of run games, you can't compare the two. I mean, both quarterbacks clearly can Can be a threat running. Lamar, you know, and you could say Josh Allen is sneaky good when you throw Lamar in the mix. Otherwise, he is a dynamite running quarterback of his own right. But Lamar is in a different class by himself right there.
But my concern is for the Bills coming into the postseason, I mentioned, and I got some blowback from Bills Mafia, as is their want, that I was concerned that the Bills' run game was not going to be good enough into. Crucial playoff scenarios. One being you go against a quarterback, say, like Mahomes. And need to keep his touches limited, to keep his reps and to keep him nailed to the bench by controlling the clock. Or If you need to balance your offense in the playoffs.
And run, or if you will run the clock out in a way. And now Zach Moss gets carted off. How concerned. Are you about the Bills' run game for the divisional playoff and if they're so fortunate later on? Yeah, there's obvious concerns there with the run game, and one of the things that concerns me with the run game in Buffalo and the lack of it this season.
was that when you play playoff games in Orchard Park, you know, there's a chance of snow Saturday night. I know what a chance of snow in western New York means. There's a chance of Lake Effect snow. And then what are you going to do if you don't have your ground game and you're going against Baltimore, who's got the number one rush offense in the league?
So, you know, Zach Moss being out, the rookie out of Utah, he's their thumper back. They have Devin Singletary, who had a really good rookie season last year, and he's been effective in spots this year. He's over four yards of carry on the season, but last year he was super effective when he got touches over five yards of carry.
So, you know, they need production out of Devin Singletary when they give him the football. But make no bones about it. This is a passing-based offense. The Buffalo ran four wide receivers. The Buffalo Bills, I never thought I'd say the day.
The Buffalo Bills led the league in four wide receiver formations this year in the amount of times they did it. And so that's what they want to do. And they have a ton of confidence in Josh Allen. Cole Beasley and John Brown and Gabriel Davis, and the one guy that I honestly think you can thank the Baltimore Ravens for their 2019 performance against the Bills for them going out and getting the last guy I'll mention, and that's Stephon Diggs. What do you mean?
Last year against the Bills, the Ravens basically said We have two guys that can cover John Brown and Colbeasley and whoever else you're going to roll out there. We are going to play cover zero. They ran cover zero sixteen times against the Buffalo Bills last year. Defensive coordinators in the NFL, if you do that twice a game, that's a lot. They did it 16 times.
For the listeners at home, that means there's no safety at all. Everybody's manned up across the board and you've just blitz everybody else and say, you can't make an accurate throw and you can't you don't have a receiver that can beat us in time before that extra guy gets home.
Now, when defensive coordinators do that, they know there's a risk because you can give up a touchdown on any play that you're on cover zero. Again, this is a tackle on the outside, and it's literally a touchdown. They did it sixteen times against the Bills last year, and it worked. They crushed Josh Allen. He only had 146 yards in the whole game.
He got sacked five times. He threw a pick. He had a fumble as well. I don't think they can do that again this year because of Stephon Diggs. And I think that because of that game last year and identifying that weakness, they went out and got a guy like Stephon Diggs.
How about that?
So the team that's coming into Orchard Park is a team that you could basically say. convinced uh Bean and the rest of the Grocery shoppers, we got to flip a one for this kid, and he's been amazing. I mean, a revelation. Totally. And Beasley has opened up.
He's that glue guy, that third-down guy, that slot guy that creates so many problems, certainly if you're paying attention to Diggs. And I'm telling you, man, I mean, just seeing Alan just stand back there. I've nicknamed him the Mandalorian quarterback. He just stands there in his armor and his helmet, and he just surveys, and then he'll just fire off. The rocket.
It really is amazing what what the Bills have turned into. Before I let you go, Eric Wood, your best Bills Mafia story in your time. What do you got? Did you have you ever hit a table? Have you ever jumped on a table?
Have you ever Have you ever seen anything that personally? Give me your best Bills Mafia story in your time there. Eric Wood, give it to me.
So last year so so generally I do uh I'm the Bills radio analyst along so I do a call college game on Saturday, then I go up to Buffalo and get to have some fun right on the weekends and call their game.
So on Sunday I'll travel to Buffalo or wherever they're playing and I call the game with John Murphy, who's phenomenal, their play by play guy who I've known forever.
Well, last year I got reached out to by someone and they said, hey, will you do a tailgate appearance before the game? And I said, Yeah, but I'm not going to be as fun as I would after the game. You know, I can't have a beer with you. I'm going to be sitting there drinking coffee. And they said, Yeah, yeah, it's our buddy's birthday.
We're coming in from New York City. We'll give you five grand to show up here and just hang with us for a minute. And I said, That's fine. This is early in the season. It's beautiful weather.
I'm not going to be out there freezing anyways.
So I had a sport coat on and a white dresser. I was like, Man, this is the sport coat. I'm going out into Bills Mafia into one of like the not a this isn't a stadium lot either. This is like where the this is a grass lot that like you pay to get in a day of the game. This is like where Phil's mafia, like the guys you see on bar still hang out.
Okay.
So I go out there. My family's my family's at the game. We're going to take some pictures before the game on the field and all that. It's all kind of dressed up. This guy's drinking a Guinness, and I must have said something that he thought was funny.
So he he spits into the top of this cu solo cup of Guinness and it just covers me.
So I'm covered in Gamus Beer now before a broadcast, yeah, to try and pick up a few extra bucks before a game. And then we all agreed that the only proper repercussions is that I should slam him through a table. And then I kind of rock, so I rock bottom and threw a table. And, you know, there's no way to avoid the pictures and videos. At first, I'm like, hey, camera phone's down.
Like, you know, I got your profession, you know, and uh. And of course I got I got a few text messages from the Bills brass like I know you're having fun and I Credit to you for holding that coffee cup so people knew you weren't drinking beers out there. But holy smokes, Eric, we can't have you slamming people through tables before the game. I'm like, I know, I know. It escalated really fast.
So I didn't do any more of those last year.
Well, Eric, though, but your defense is like, but we decided that's the only proper punishment, and it is, right? Right. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah.
Truth is your defense. That's what I'm saying. Eric, this has been fun. Let's do this again. Thanks for the call.
Appreciate it. Absolutely. Hey, Bills win. We'll do it again next week. Let's do it either way, Eric.
Thanks for the perspective. That's Eric Wood of the Buffalo Bills. Formerly the Buffalo Bills, now they're broadcast ESPN and more. Former Pro Bowler and good guy, Eric Wood.
Alright, there's lots to pick on that one. 844-204 Rich is the number to dial as well. We're back in a second on the Rich Ivy show. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. They're in the business of keeping your car on the road.
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Now you told her about how you are the Bill Walsh of audio exams, so you can't screw these up. Your favorite catchphrase from the original Predator. Go ahead, here's one. Please. We can kill it.
All right, that's number one. Here's number two, okay? Yes.
I can't hear this.
Okay.
Can I hear them? Yes.
I'm just gonna. You can't hear them.
So what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna- I'm doing this blindfolded. Wait a minute. The sound is- wait a minute. Did Bill Walsh not have the volume up? Did the Bill Walsh of sound engineers not have the volume up?
For the second. Oh my god.
Oh boy. This does not bode well. Can you go? Oh. There's a method to his madness.
Do you want to try one more time now?
Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, man. We can kill it.
Okay, if it bleeds, you can kill it. If it bleeds, we can kill it.
Okay, here's the next one. This is the job! Is the chocolate in heat, mm-hmm, mm-hmm? And here's the other one. Ugly mother f Okay, there's that one.
Okay.
Start bench cut. All right, get to the chopper. It's cut. Because it's only an incidental line, and the only reason we remember it is because he's Austrian. If anybody else said, go to the choppers, it wouldn't have been a line.
It wouldn't have been a line. It's only because he's Austrian. Cut, cut. It's superfluous. We're going to bench you for one ugly effort.
So, what you're going to do is you're going to start, if it bleeds. We can kill it because it because it's a succinct line? and it's done in a very naturalistic way. Leads. Wow.
We can kill it. Very well done. That's just now. For everybody else who comes in here on the Rich Eisen show, we're going to show them. We're going to show them this start bench cut because you have raised the bar, Keegan.
Sitting in Del Tuzo. We're going to edit that out. Can you edit that? Yeah.
No, it's perfect. Two things. I think I'm wearing the same sweater today. Oh, amazing. Secondly, I love Keegan Michael Keegan.
My God, do I love him? He was funny. We watched a Super Bowl with him in LA. In Minnesota. Right.
Oh man, got it.
So funny.
So funny.
Del Tufo, just you because that day you were saying that you were the built-we were talking about Belichick's tree is nothing that you Bill Walsh had a better tree than Belichick. And then you said, though, that you have your own tree of audio people, and you're the Bill Walsh of audio. And he heard that sitting in the green room ready to come out, and he gave you a whole bunch of grief before he sat down in the chair, and then you bricked it. He was laughing his ass out. By the way, I did that on purpose.
Oh, God. You did not. That's the third excuse Mike has given since that clip play. All the time. That's weak.
That's right out of Brockwood's book. That's weak sauce. All of my sauce is weak. No, the way the system was, I had to fix the system. The way his bank account is set up.
We're back here on the Rich Eisen Show on our radio network here, having fun, watching, because we on our peacock, all those listening on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, if you want to see us, Check out our show on Peacock. It is free. It is free every single day from 12 to 3 Eastern, and it's very easy to sign up. As a matter of fact, you sign up, you get some great. Other shows that you could watch, Don, you want to hit it, are our friends at Peacock.
Let you know that the office is exclusive. Every single episode, extras, exclusives, and more, right here on Peacock. Check out The Office, one of the funniest shows of all time, streaming right now here on Peacock, where we are every single day. And again, it is free. And so when we come back sometimes a little bit earlier than the radio audience does, we'll just show some clips.
I mean, just so Keegan Michael Keegan here from A few years ago, and uh Del Tufo screwed up the audio after he called himself the Bill Walsh of audio that day. It's because he thinks that Bill Walsh is the greatest coaching tree of all time. Throwing the ball, being the goat, you know. You know, Bill Walsh is on the Paul Brown coaching tree, right? Oh, I know that.
You really? You know, where was he the offensive coordinator for Paul Brown? I have no idea.
Okay.
Doesn't matter, though. The Cincinnati Bengals. When Paul Brown went to Cincinnati, they hired Bill Walsh to be his offensive coach. I can't think of his name, too. That's the main guy.
Who's in front of him? Paul Brown is the main guy. Oh, no, no, no. There's no more main guy like that. Paul Brown is not on, you know, I'm sure every coach is on somebody's tree, but.
Paul Brown is his own tree. Paul Brown, the Cleveland Browns are named the Browns because not of a color, because Paul Brown created them. He's the tree. He is the tree. Oh, my God.
Oh, my gosh, Almighty. Just stop. I didn't rape. Where were we? Eric Wood had some interesting points right there.
How about that?
Sid Gilman, number one. Oh. See, don't be. I have to do a little research. There's a guy in front of him, in front of Paul Brown.
Sid Gilman is the main that's he's on the train. There's no question. It says he was Sid Gilman. Sid Gilmore. Absolutely.
Yep. No, I know. I know. Eric Wood made some interesting points. How about the fact that Stefan Diggs is in Buffalo?
Thanks to the Ravens exposing a major weakness in their roster and their offense. And they're like. Saw that. Took that into the offseason, said, We have to fix it. Otherwise, everybody's going to do what the Ravens did.
Copycat League, we got to fix it. Let's flip a one for Stephon Diggs. Fixed. And it's to the point where it might cost the Ravens. Cover zero.
They will what he said that that you see it Twice it's a lot. They saw it 16 times. Where it's just like, no safety, you try and beat us. There's no one that can.
So go to where all matter. We're going to go hunt and make it a long day for your kid. And they did. And now here's Deg saying, okay, hello. Cover zero, Peter, right here.
Guess what? We're not going to see this weekend. Cover zero. Cover zero. I wonder, I would love to know, like, everybody, Rich Eisen Show, listeners, viewers, let's put a pin in that.
And we'll come back on Monday. And find out how many times they ran cover zero. Can I take a guess? There won't be double digits. You'll say zero?
You'll say zero. I'll say maybe one, like some weird.
Well, we'll see. You know, we'll have to be careful because, you know, heaven forbid Diggs can't be out there every snap for some reason. You never know. And John Brown was their revelation at receiver last year. And They placed Brown in the offense in a position where he wasn't the number one and got a number one guy.
And Diggs, who, by the way, forget Pro Bowl, he's all pro, all pro. For sure. All pro. All pro wide receivers, Stephon Diggs. along with an all-pro quarterback.
Unbelievable. Right? Alan was uh was a uh the second team All pro quarterback. For the NFL this year. And then the other thing that Eric Woods said: Chris, write this down.
I think this is a. A uh Clubhouse leader. For Rich Eisen Show fantasy football team name. Clubhouse leader. I love this.
This is a great fantasy football. Is this a new list starting right now? I mean, we're the first time. There's nothing new. I mean, we already have it.
List is so off. But I mean, here's a great one. Here's a great one. I love this. As a matter of fact, I would want this as.
Our team name next year, unless others come up. And as you know, every year, Paul Rudd calls in and Works through all of the trash to use in NFL plays and come up with our team name. Two years ago, it was Touch of the Vermeel. Touch of the Vermeel. When he cries.
Anybody cries or gets misty, I say it's a touch of the Vermeel. This year it was last year, it was manspread centerpiece. Manspread centerpiece because Andy Reid showed up at the NFL coaches meeting right there in the middle and put one leg here and one leg there. And it was a manspread centerpiece. I'll be earth five.
This one is great. Effective in spots. That's it. What a great fantasy team name. Effective in spots.
Less effective in space. That's the football terminology of solid. That's the. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Devin Singletary, he was effective as Fox.
Devin Sparks. Devin Singletary, solid. By the way, great name for your boat, maybe. Effective in spots. Is that too long?
It's too long. Del Tufo's effective in spots. You're never going to name your boat. Yeah, but the spots entire the earth.
So we're fine. It's that big. Effective in spots. It's a good one. Hour number two, Kyle Brandt, coming up right here on the Rich Eisen Show.
Leonard Fournette and Barry Sanders, also still to come. Still here on Peacock. Geez, so Denver just hired their GM. Yes.
The Broncos. Broncos. Yes.
Rock of six-year deal.
Okay.
And then we got Bears news. Oh, my goodness. We'll do that top of next hour, right? We had Bears press conference today. Hmm.
where they said they're keeping pace and Naggy, right? They're both coming back. George McCasky is the. member of the McCasky family that's front and center right now. Yeah.
Bears fans, not happy. Adam, our call screener. Adam, I thought I texted him yesterday.
Now's the time to call him. I didn't get a call from him. If you want to call, call in the next segment, Alan. From the back. Because Kyle Brent's going to have the floor on that subject.
Oh, baby. Leonard Fournette will join us, and so will Barry Sanders. I still cannot believe Andre Johnson. Tweeted out what he tweeted out. When you, that was right after we got off the air.
It was literally like 12:03 Pacific.
So we get off the air at noon Pacific. And you're like, wow, Andre Johnson. I'm like, what happened? Whoa. And you told me, I'm like, Andre Johnson tweeted that out?
Yeah.
For some reason, someone can't see what's going on in the organization. I mean, that is. Who else could that be? And then DeAndre Hobbs want to follow it up with. Did he follow up?
Yeah, when Dre speaks, listen. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
He never said anything. Yeah.
Yeah.
Oof. I mean, are there any other Texans receivers that want to chime in? No, none as great as those two. Watson had the best. He was incredible this year.
Statistical year of his career. 17 rushing touchdowns. in his career. Oh, okay, my bad. No, he led the league in passing, and here he is.
It's coming off the campus in Clemson. Look at it. 28 and 25 is just no bueno. Three playoff games, that's it. That's it.
Not good. I'll tell you what. I mean, in terms of. Three playoffs games. You know who's going to play his third playoff game?
This Saturday, Josh Allen's going to play in his third playoff game. Match Deshaun Watson. And you know who's going to. Surpass him? Lamar.
Lamar. And Baker is going to be one behind him. There are some great games this weekend, man. Right? We were fortunate to witness that draft, guys.
In Dallas. Yeah, that was a heck of a draft in that building. I know. Kyle Branner, good morning football. Chris Brockman's news update and more when we come back.
