Listen, the way you sleep is unique to you, and that's why having a sleep number smart bed is so crucial. Cause you can adapt to your changing needs for just right. Can't wait to nestle into bed, luxurious comfort.
So whether your needs are softer or firmer, cooler or warmer, you are never stuck. You can adjust your comfort whenever you like. And it gives you your best night's sleep night after night, year after year. I love my smart bed. My sleep number setting is 60.
My wife's is 70. Just 10 numbers apart, but it means the world of difference because I can change my side of the bed to however firm or soft I want. And the same thing. For Suze.
So, why choose a sleep number smart bed? Again, so you can sleep just the way you like. The only bed that lets you make each side firmer or softer whenever you like your sleep number setting. Sleep number's biggest sale of the year is here. All beds on sale up to 50% off the limited edition smart bed limited time, exclusively at a sleep number store near you.
Sleep number, official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. The Rich Eisen Show. Show watching Travis Hunter go back and forth live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Between different positions.
Picked off by Travis in different jerseys and presses. I've never seen anything like Hunter. He wanted the ball, and that's why. The Rich Eisen Show. I want to play both sides.
With guest host, Tom Pellisero. Earlier on the show. Browns Radio play-by-play voice, Andrew Ceciliano. NFL on Fox analyst Greg Olson. Coming up.
Latest news and more. And now, sitting in for Rich. It's Tom Pellisero. One more hour to go in my time in this seat for the week. Tom Pellisero in for Rich.
This is about the time. I I tend to start getting nostalgic. Like remember the good times we had? Over the last two days, hasn't this been a lot of fun? All of us hanging out together.
But this is also a good time. Because I know that you guys have been taking notes. Not don't Tufo. He's just busy laughing at everything. We actually have a notebook right here.
All right, here we go.
So, this is also the time when I say we are 23 days out from the regular season opener in the NFL. There's a ton that I'm sure we haven't covered, even though we've talked a ton about the league over the last couple of days, where you guys can ask me. Any questions you want. I will not always necessarily give you a direct answer, but I will tell you what I am able to say. On live TV and radio.
Also, open up the phone lines here: 844-204-RICH. Del Tufo's got his questions. TJ Brock. Keep around. All right, let's go to you.
I'm going to get to the phones momentarily. Let's start with Del Tufo. Mike, this is a way. Start us off. At the end of the season, who is going to be the Cleveland Browns quarterback?
At the end of the season is a great question because that's going to come down in part to you money. Are they competitive? Yes. If they're not competitive, then you got a pretty good sense it's going to be either Shadur or Dylan Gabriel at that point. You drafted Dylan Gabriel in the third round, you drafted Shadur in the fifth.
Gabriel hasn't shown what he can do in a game. She has, albeit first time out, no scheme against mostly twos and threes, but it looked good. It looked real. Sitting here right now. I would say the Browns have to be hoping the answer is Joe Flacco.
Because that tells you... That the season stated it and they hung around. If it is not Joe Flacco, if let's say it's Shador, Some things may not have gone well, and there might be some other things that are also different by the end of the season. All right, let's grab a call here. J-Mac in Queens has been.
J-Mac has been waiting to go Giants win-loss. How about that? You still with us, J-Mac? You ready to do this? And it comes fairly early in the season.
He's listening to a different radio show. That's going to be it for J-Mac. That's a shame. Put him on hold. He's listening to a different show.
Do you think he's called into a bunch of different shows and he's just got different phones? Yep. That would be awesome. Whoever picks up first. All right.
How about Patrick in Tampa? Hopefully, Patrick's paying attention. Patrick. I'm listening to your station. There we go.
All right. There we go. We got Patrick. What do you got, my friend? What's happening?
First thing I tell you, I'm a big fan of you and the insiders. Appreciate it. Vikings this season. We go around the horn here. Chris Brockman, hello to you, sir.
What up, my man? Got a good one in that, Sarah Tiana. Yes, sir. To Jiggy Jefferson, please hello. Say hello to the Kunises and the Cushners for me.
But this is a very special phone call for you today, Mr. Del Tuso, on switching your allegiances to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah, exactly. All right. Listen to this.
Okay. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida. I'm a 42-year-old guy.
So until 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were not a team. We didn't have our own home team. But therefore, I was raised a Yankee fan. And I got to experience the Yankees from a very interesting perspective. My Uncle Malio has a restaurant called Malio Steakhouse.
in Tampa and Malio's used to be the place where I valet park cars. And one of his regulars was George M. Steinren.
So Don't don't take it from Rich. Don't don't you know, and I'll call another time to tell Rich some stories about George Seinbrenner, as I called him Uncle George back in the day. But anyway, I switched the Liances to the Tampa Bay Rays in two thousand eight because the Yankees bullied my hometown raise in spring training. And I've been a Raze fan ever since. Yeah, you could Don't let Rich push you around.
Look, and look, he's even making jokes about it now that he's switching. He doesn't even cheer for the Yankees anymore because they're not having a good year. But you know, come on. Exactly. But Anderson.
So let's unwind this for a second here. Patrick, thank you very much for the call. I missed this conversation. You switched from what to the Dodgers? I'll sum it up.
Basically, that Bill Tufo has lived in Los Angeles so long, he's now a Dodgers fan and no longer a Yankees fan. And we've seen him the business every single time. Yankees the Dodgers is uh that's about as lazy as it gets. Yeah, dude. You went from the Yankees to the Rays.
Like and you you're from Tampa and I'm Tufo is from where do I live?
Well, I've lived here more than I lived in New Jersey and New York. I have now become a-you can't grow up a Dion Mega fan and then switch to the other great team. 1994. Mm, okay. Oh, I made the movie.
Hold on. I started cheering for the dodge in the middle. No, you're not. In the middle of the series. Stop by.
When the Yankees look like crap. In the middle of the world. Seriously. And the Yankees were still on top in 08. I mean, they had kind of were out of their jeter Bernie Williams Andy Pennett days.
And so I was like, okay, well, you know, the raids change your uniform. I have to admit, maybe I should switch. It was Shelly Duncan. He slid Spikes first into Akinori Iwamura at Second base and during spring training. And as I said, you guys are bullies.
But the Reigns went to the World Series in 08. The Rays did.
Well, but I switched in spring training. How's that? Oh, you see. Oh, I'm down with that. Del Tufo's a complete fraud.
See, this is what these guys they get stopped. Before I let you go, first I can say that the Panini 1990 sticker book, I had to look it up because we're talking about it. They had the hitters, now pro football hall of famers on the cover: Mike Singletary, Ronnie Lott, and Lawrence Taylor. And if you want an alligator, how about a 1994 Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Florida Gator named Eric Rhett, number 32? Rhett, good one.
See there. Eric Rhett, another name that bounces around in my head from time to time. R-I-C-T-T. Oh, yes. Eric T.
Rhett. That's right. Don't mispronounce it. You can get yourself in trouble. All right, appreciate it, Patrick.
The Tampa Bay Rays logo, by the way, like the original one, I think it's one of the worst logos in sports history. Colors and logo. The only players, if I shut my eyes and think of that logo, the only players I can see in that uniform are Wade Boggs and Jose Kinseiko. That's it. Can you think of any other player wearing that uniform?
Boggs only gives you extra money to be honest with Devil Ray in the Hall of Fame. Then the Hall of Fame was like, no, you can't do that. Wade Boggs did his 3000s. That's it with the Rays. Kinseko was, that was not even at the end of Kinseko's career.
That was like in the middle. There was a weird thing for the end for Jose Conseco. You'd have to look it up. But he was with the Yankees, I think, on multiple occasions. Won a World Series with the team.
Yeah. But he was popping up in all these different places. And somehow, like, what was his last year in Major League Baseball? It was like 2009. 2001, White Sox.
Oh, one.
Okay. My brain's running. But the White Sox at the end. At the end, after he got traded to Texas, he went Boston, Oakland, Toronto, Yankees, White Sox. I mean.
Like, that's a lot. And he was still like barnstorming and playing minor league baseball when he was 50. Him and his twin brother Ozzie just still hitting bombs. For a fee, they will join your rec softball league. Is that true?
Yes, I don't know. That sounds real. They don't drug test in the shop all the time. That could be a problem. You don't fail a drug test in the over 60 beer league.
That consists of, are you sober? Get out of here. Why would they even be drug testing you in your drug testing me? Amin in Los Angeles wants to do Lions win loss. You with us?
Hey, what's up, Tommy? All right, let's do this, man. Detroit, what do we got? Win-loss time. Let's start out week one at Green Bay.
That's a win. Week two home against Chicago. That's another win. Week 3 at Baltimore. That's a win.
This is going to be in our 16-1. I have a feeling week four, home against the Browns. That's a win. Week five at Cincinnati. That's a law.
All right, there we go. Week six at Kansas City. Tough back-to-back, prime time. That's going to be a law. All right, week seven home against the Bucs.
That's a win. Alright, we gotta buy.
Now we're back home against the Vikings week nine. That's a loss. Vikings Revenge! A.J. McCarthy, not Sam Darnold.
Week 10 at Washington. That's another loss. All right. Week 11 at Philly.
Well, that's a tough stretch right there. Week 11 at Philly.
That's four to five. That's another loss. Oh, that's a three game skid. Haven't had many of those since the early days of Dan Gale. Week 12, home against the Giants.
That's a win. Alright, week 13, home against the Packers. That is a win. All right, back on track. Week 14, home against the Cowboys on a Thursday night game.
That's a win. Week 15 act rams. That's another win. Uh-oh. Here they come.
Week 16 home against Pittsburgh. Four in a row. That's a win. Five in a row. Week 17 at Minnesota.
Christmas. At the win. All right, and week 18 at Chicago. This could be for the division. We're going to finish it off with a win.
Wow.
So that is 12-5 despite a three-game. Winning streak, you you feel good? I mean, 12 and 5. Is 12 and 5 satisfactory? Is that getting you a home playoff game?
Are you winning the division at 12 and 5? I think 12 and 5, we win the division. I'm very, very skeptical on these two new coordinators, but I believe in Dan Campbell, and I think we'll be right in the mix. We're going to be right there. Good stuff, Ameen.
Thank you very much. We got another win-loss here, Andy in Springfield, Missouri. We were just talking about this team, the Chiefs. Brockman says they can't cruise through winning a bunch of one-score games again here. Andy, you ready to do this?
I am. All right, week one home against the Chargers. I think we lose week one. Actually, that's not a home game. That's in Brazil, but close enough.
Week two.
Sorry, this chart, the chart, it's very small. I'm going to look at the big one. Week two against the Eagles. I think we lose week two.
Okay, panic and this is where we're starting to fire everyone. Week three at Giants. Andy Reed hot seat. Can't take a wild guess there. Oh, that's definitely a win.
Week four, home against Baltimore. We beat Baltimore. Week five at Jacksonville. Easy win. Week six home against the Lions.
We beat the Lions. Week seven, home against the Raiders. Yeah. Week eight, home against Washington. We beat Washington.
Week nine at Buffalo. We always lose to Buffalo in the regular season. In the regular season, in the regular season. Playoffs, different story. Week 11, or as after the buy, week 11 at Denver.
Six and three. We beat Denver. Week 12, home against the Colts. It's a blowout, we win. Week 13.
Thanksgiving at Dallas. Trey Biteley. Oh, man. I think I think Dallas might get it. That's a lot.
Ooh, okay. All right. Week 14. TJ, you got him. Week 14, home against the Texans.
We'll beat the Texans. Week 15 rematch home against the Chargers, not in Brazil. We will Get our redemption. That's a win. All right.
Week 16 at Tennessee. That's a win. And week 18 at Vegas. Hmm. Oh, 17.
Hold on. Wait, hold on. I skipped one. Week 17, home against Denver first on Christmas. Yeah, we win the last two.
Okay, we'll be back. Win the last two. 13 and 4. 13 and 4, is that? It's a tougher division.
Now you swept the Raiders, you split with the Chargers. 13-4, does that do it in the division? Anyone catching you at 13-4? I honestly, I think Baltimore is going to get the number one seed. Which would be a rare situation.
For uh for your chief. Baltimore. There you go. Andy, thank you very much for that call. Let's grab one more here.
David in Austin, Texas. What's up, Dave? Hey, I appreciate you taking my call. Just wanted to get your outlook for CD Lamb this season. Is he going to get less targets and correspondently production now that we have George Pickens.
And is Shodi seriously going to try to actually run the ball this year? I would anticipate that that's high on Shodi's list of things to do here. You know, you've got a group in the backfield. They've got Miles Sanders there. He's been banged up recently.
Everything I've heard about Javante Williams is: it's been a few years now since the knee injury. He finally looks like he's got the quick twitch and the burst back, which is good. Because I was at the game in Dallas. TJ's tried to block this one from his memory, but when Javante Williams ran wild for his first 100-yard game, and they absolutely pasted the Cowboys out of nowhere. That was Vic Fangio's last year with Denver.
There was like no expectation that they were going to win that game. And they went in there and absolutely went Denver to win that game on air, though. You did? Oh, yeah. You thought that was a classic trap game.
They got our number.
So you're the one person.
Okay. But the cowboy, I mean, that was a big game for Javante Williams. They haven't forgotten it. It looks like he's back. In terms of CD Lamb, I don't think that it's a less target.
If anything, I would say having a big physical outside receiving threat opposite CeeDee Lamb is a good thing for CD because CeeDee Lamb, and just talking to the coaches who have been there in recent years, he's the guy who can move around and do everything. There's no route that he can't run on the field. You can play him inside. You can play him outside. Pickens is now he can do different things too, but a big part of his game is the vertical pass plays, the 50-50 balls, the back shoulders.
That stuff, if you can show that that's a threat and if Dak is hitting on it, that's going to draw some of that coverage and you're going to have to play that a little bit differently. Maybe that opens things up from a matchup perspective. It's going to be harder because, like, you know, Kavante Turpin's gotten better in his career, too. He can do more things. But he's not a guy who's going to go out there and really challenge you from a matchup perspective.
It's like Brandon Cooks last year. Turbin might be a more dynamic, diverse player. Than Brandon Cooks is, but you didn't have that true threat on the opposite side. Plus, Cooks missed all the time last year when he went and got the procedure in New York and then somehow got an infection and just didn't come back for a long period of time. They haven't had that guy.
Pickens is going to be motivated. Which can be good or bad with George Pickens. I tend to believe it's going to be good.
Well, it's a pain waiting for him.
So. Have one year exactly where. All the stuff off the field and in the locker room is just good. Keep it together on the sideline, go and produce. He's a freaky dude, but it's the same reason he went in the second round.
It's the same reason he's not in Pittsburgh anymore, which is just the day-to-day. Is he going to show up on time to the stadium? Is he going to show up? Is he going to make his flights? Just all those little things that are maintenance.
The Cowboys. Based on, as we talked about quite a bit last night and saw a little bit of in the documentary, they have established decades of infrastructure, they have one of the best. Teams, so to speak, of people that just make sure all that stuff is taken care of. It's going to be a good environment, I would think, for George Pickens. As long as he's getting his CeeDee Lamb.
It may not be the highest. I mean, CDE's been like 150-target guy. Maybe the targets are there, but I would think for the matchups and the opportunities. Are actually better for CeeDee Lamb now that George Pickens is there, providing that kind of offset in terms of how teams play them. Let's.
Yeah, go ahead.
Well said.
Well said.
I just wanted to conclude by saying: please, today is a great day to pay Micah. Price only goes up tomorrow. Agreed with you, sir. I heard a few people saying that last night, too, at the. I may have been a good idea.
Payday. America's team, the Gamblers Cowboys, premiering August 19th, 2025 on Netflix. Honestly, the episode we saw, episode three, was so excellent. It was so good. It pulled in so much of the history, but also it made you feel it.
I'm not a Cowboys or 49ers fan, but you felt like you were part. That rivalry, you were watching greatness because those teams were great, like also just loaded with Hall of Famers on those two teams, which is ridiculous. They were the and the only team that interrupted the Cowboys' run. Was indeed. the 49ers in 1994, which I think We'll be briefly touched on maybe somewhere around episode five.
You've said that, but I don't feel like that's something that is going to be briefly touched on, as open as they've been about everything else. Although that championship game was crazy, too. Yeah, you can't leave out the whole Jimmy leaving and that leap year because we, honest to goodness, if we can get together, we win four in a row. And no one's going to convince me that we do not win that championship if Jimmy's still the coach. Also, that's the Deion thing, too.
Remember, Deion is on that 49er team, and then next year goes to the Cowboys. And the next year goes to the Cowboys. And so, obviously, I'm sure that'll be a huge part of it as well. Will it? Dion is one of the featured interviewees for the documentary.
So, yeah, I see how the perching change. How the last 30 years, frankly, is handled in the documentary here.
Well, it's not about the last 30 years. It's about that period of time. But there's a coda. We see Jerry in modern day. We see him on the ranch.
I have to imagine we're brought up to speed. of 30 years of not quite getting back to the heights of that group. Look, Tom, stop it. I just wanna like rebel and what used to be, man. Cause you know what?
I realized something last night in all honesty, like all the crap I take about the Cowboys not winning and why don't I leave. It And Brockman can attest to this because he's had it happen twice, but like that's why the term once in a lifetime. Is used because that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I'm at the point where I don't think I'm ever gonna get that feeling again, which kind of stinks. But at the end, it's just like at least I had that.
A lot of Cowboys fans, like you said, new fans, they've never had that experience. They didn't know what it was like. You know, I was living in Pittsburgh. in the middle of that run.
So life was Truly amazing for me at that point. But I'll never get that feeling through that. And it is what it is. Three Super Bowls in four years, three Super Bowls in a single decade. It almost never happens that somebody would get that twice.
And yet, it did. Almost never happened. Almost never. But like I said, the second Patriots was three in five years. It's fine.
Oh, I'm saying decade. I can't relate. I'm well aware. And they went to other ones. They went to other ones in that same stretch.
I can't relate. Arguably, the best team that Tom Brady ever had didn't win because they didn't call holding anything. All right. We're not going to relate any of that right now. 84424, Rich.
We'll get back to your call. But also, I got questions from the boys coming up right after this. All things NFL. Every question you guys can muster on what we see over the next 23 days and beyond. We will get to that.
Listen, the way you sleep is unique to you, and that's why having a sleep number smart bed is so crucial. Because you can adapt to your changing needs for just right. Can't wait to nestle into bed, luxurious comfort.
So, whether your needs are softer or firmer, cooler or warmer, you are never stuck. You can adjust your comfort whenever you like. And it gives you your best night's sleep night after night, year after year. I love my smart bed. My sleep number setting is 60.
My wife's is 70. Just 10 numbers apart, but it means the world of difference because I can change my side of the bed to however firm or soft I want. And the same thing. For Suze.
So why choose a sleep number smart bed? Again, so you can sleep just the way you like. The only bed that lets you make each side firmer or softer whenever you like, your sleep number setting. Sleep number's biggest sale of the year is here. All beds on sale up to 50% off the limited edition smart bed limited time, exclusively at a sleep number store near you.
Sleep number, official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. You buy a pair of socks, that's two socks. You buy a pair of Bombus socks, that's four socks. Because one purchased is one donated.
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So Bombus would like to thank you 150 million times, but we only have like 30 seconds. Go to Bombas.com and use code AUDIO for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com and use code AUDIO at checkout. When you see the video of you throwing to Tyree, okay, what do you think of when you see that? I just smile.
I'm just thankful. Thankful for David Tyree, man. There's not a a better person and And a guy who just uh You know, who had the worst week of practice in the history of all practices on that Friday and dropped every pass and thought he was going to be the starting receiver. And then Texas go, you know, comes back and plays that game. And then, sure enough, in the game, David Tyree has a touchdown catch and then makes the catch, you know, with Rodney Harrison hanging all over him.
You know, Bob Poppy giving the call saying, you know, he's got a wide open receiver. You know, and I guess that's wide open in the NFL. And, you know, David Tyree just the will. Desire was there and just catching it off the helmet. Just what a what an unbelievable story.
And, you know, never get tired of watching that play. All right, Chris Brockman, my on-air compadre here. Would you tell him? Go ahead, tell him what you say every time.
Now that he's here, you can say it to his face. Go ahead, Chris.
Well, usually I say it to Sean O'Hara because Sean is here, but I mean, there were 14 different holdings on that. He sees holdings. What do you say to that? When he's holding. Yeah, he sees holdings.
How can you have holdings? They didn't block anybody. Just let them run in. I was getting set by all four players. They kind of just blocked him off.
I think I'm really holding. If the guy's holding me, like a defensive player is holding me, I think you're allowed to do whatever you want to the pass rusher at that point. If I'm in the grasp, they can just grab him off though and pull him off. It's kind of free range at that moment. I agree.
Chris, you see holding. Eli sees grasping. That's what he sees. I see the greatest play ever. That's right.
That's a giant. I was right there, Eli. I was sitting right there. I was there in that building. That's it.
That's such crap. Get out of here, Eli. Ah, it was a great game. What a great game. What are we talking about?
All right, the time has come. Wrote through a lot of the callers, what they wanted to talk about. I now open the floor. For the next, let's call it 20 minutes here. to you fellas anything you want to know About the NFL news.
Thoughts on teams? My training camps have whatever you want to know. Late on me. Brockman, start with you. What was uh so you did, what, 13 camps in 12 days?
12 days. What was hmm? What was the biggest story that you kind of came across kind of behind the scenes that you didn't get to talk about on air from any of the camps that you visited? It's in in the early stages of camp. It's sort of the calm before the storm.
Like, we're not too. Trades quite yet. That'll start ramping up probably later this week and more so in next week. About guys who are on the cut bubble, you mean? Yeah, it'll start, you know, all of a sudden you're like, some veterans with the second group, and you're like, that's weird.
And then usually that guy said, that name may have popped into my head, which is why I said that. All of a sudden, you're like, what's going on there? You're making a lot of money to not be with the starting group. I would say one of the fun things in going to all the different camps is names that pop up. That you hadn't heard in your life.
And then all of a sudden, like someone's like, oh, this guy's really good. The Lions have a seventh-round draft pick wide receiver. He's a little banged up right now, he's missing some time. You got to look up his name for me because now it's already slipping me here. It's not Isaac Tesla, who they also like as well, but their seventh-round wide receiver.
Literally, everyone I talk to, from coaches to front office people, to literally. the owner of the team. Brought up the seventh-round pick and how good of a training camp. That wide receiver is having.
So you walk away from a camp like that. Are you struggling to find the Lions draft class there? I was looking at the depth chart real quick, but. Caius Boy, there's a guy named Tesla who plays for the Lions in Detroit with a muscle car. For the four, for the Ford, Dominic, love it from Georgia.
Seventh round draft pick, making plays all over the place. Again, he's a little banged up. He's missing a couple of weeks here, but I would not be surprised if that guy is a name that you're hearing. as we get toward the regular season.
So, those are probably the strong. There's a hundred of those, or probably not a hundred. There's a dozen of those names that have popped up over the course of time, but like ones like that, you're like, all right. Filing that away, let's see what that guy can do. Yeah, and also, you know, we talked so much about the quarterbacks.
Just kind of a big picture: like, which quarter, you know, I always talk about, you know, Tua really needs to have a good year this year. Trevor Lawrence really needs to have a good year this year. Who are guys like that at the quarterback position who they're not necessarily playing for their job because they did sign a new contract recently, but who really needs to have a good season? The Miami dynamic with Tua and Mike McDaniel. You look at, again, the numbers.
I always say this. You look at the stats, the win-loss record when Tua is out there with Mike. It's pretty good. 38 and 24 or something like that? They haven't played that many games together.
It's ridiculous. It's a very good, it's a very good rate. It's around 25 and 10. It's something like that when they've actually been together. But there's been so much time that Tua has missed that then you get these weird stretches of Skylar Thompson starting a playoff game or, hey, we tried to roll somebody out there, that didn't work.
Let's put Mike or let's get Snoop Huntley in here. Mike White was on the team last year. Tua's career record is 38 and 24. His record is 38 and 24. But with Mike, it's a high.
He's only been there three years. Yeah, they have 25 and 16. 25 and 16.
So that's still that you're winning 64% of your game somewhere around there. Like, that's pretty good. That's serviceable. But then you have these stretches where you're playing with somebody else. And even when Tua comes back, think about this.
Think about the challenge that Mike McDaniel has every week to design a game plan that doesn't get the quarterback hit. Everybody else can, all right. You know, hey, on this play, we're gonna get the right look, but you're gonna have a free rusher and you might have to take a hit. You can't do that with Tua.
So the pressure on him every week is substantial. Having said that, any team that gets three, four years in, and they extended Mike before last season, but any team that gets three, four years in. And either you haven't made the playoffs, which the Dolphins did make the playoffs twice, and then we're. banged up in those games. But any team that hasn't won a playoff game, if you get four years in and it's kind of the same thing.
Everybody's job is on the line. Mike McDaniel was brought in for a lot of different reasons, but a big one was he was the guy who came in in his interview and said, I can win with this. Here's the plays Tua can do. I can make this work. This guy can be really good.
Other coaches might have walked in and said. This isn't going to work for us. But he presented the plan saying, I'm going to embrace this. And but for concussions, you have to say it's been a success. Tyrick Hill did not have.
His best season in 2024. They had injuries all over the place, including their pass rushers. If you could be healthier, And get a real Tyreek back. And if the message that they've been spreading in terms of accountability, of everybody in that locker room and coaching staff. Every person accountable to everybody else, which is where you've heard those two comments about Tyreek, if they can.
Have those things come together, they've got a chance to be good. No one's talking about the Dolphins being in that mix, but they won what 11 games two years ago. Last year was a mess, and Tua missed a bunch of time. When Tua is healthy, they've got a shot. If Tua does not stay healthy again this year, and you're talking about four consecutive seasons of this.
And or They just don't get any better and they don't advance in the playoffs, then you're probably talking about. The Dolphins have to consider all options in terms of what's on the table. TJ, you got one? Yeah, kind of. You know.
We know that you Are an insider, right? And we know that we see you in your current form here on this show and on your insider show. But as you and I were talking about the other day, like, why don't we let people know kind of like your journey, like the process that it took to get you to sitting in this chair, man? How did you start? We we uh Covered this a little bit yesterday with when Hansen was in here.
Because he was talking about his first job being for, what did he say it was, $16,000?
Something like that. Traverse City, Michigan. It was $15,000 to $16,000. Scott Hanson. Host of NFL Red Zone, but he started out making literally that.
I was getting rejected from those jobs. I can remember having VHS tapes that were based on me working at the community TV station in Newton, Massachusetts. as part of like coursework in college and like Clips from, you know, just random little things like editing together something when I had an internship at ESPN, but like, I had no idea what I was doing. And the tapes, Actually, I should dig that up the next time. I mean, I don't know if we got a VHS player around here, but we could take a look at what's on that table.
You probably got it. I guarantee it's awful. I guarantee it's legitimately terrible.
So I was applying for the same jobs that Hanson had, but everyone's telling me no. You didn't even hear back, no. A lot of times, when I was doing the same thing, you wouldn't even hear back from people. Right. And so, my option at that time was I took a part-time job at a radio station in Minneapolis, making eight bucks an hour, 20 hours a week with no benefits, and not allowed to work overtime, covering the Vikings.
So it's opportunity, it's no money. And I was definitely below the poverty line at that time. But it was like, all right, well, I'm going to work way more than 20 hours a week, and I'm going to try to figure out this job on the fly. And thankfully, there were people around. Not all the time, but a lot of the time who kind of put up with me just kind of siphoning off other, you know, people actually conducting interviews because I didn't know how to ask a question, not knowing what to do in the locker room, not knowing how to write a story.
It's reps. You got to find your voice. And so I went from there to taking a job at the Eau Claire Leader Telegram in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for not a whole lot more than $16,000 a year. And then from there to the Green Bay Press Gazeks, I broke a story about Green Bay getting a Northwoods League baseball team. That's how I got on their radar, and that's how I got the job there as the assistant sports editor when I was 26.
And I'll leave that other story about how that job opened. I'll leave that for another story, another time. And then went back because one of the people who worked with me at a radio station at the original radio station in Minneapolis, they were starting a different radio station in Minneapolis. They needed somebody to come in and like lead the content team. And so I came in to do that in 2010, which then somehow I went from there to USA to data NFL Network.
So it's not like a linear path, but that was how. You know, I got to this spot. It was just, that's one thing that, and I hate that I, you know, sound old. What am I 44 at this point? You know, talking to Greg about like his kids, how youth sports have changed, but it has, man.
It has. It permeates every level of what we do. Down to when you were a young kid. Yes, was there less pressure in youth sports? When I was growing up, Absolutely.
And because you just had, you had house league and you played. And until fifth grade, I believe was the first time that there was travel anything. And then all of a sudden it was like, oh, the good kids now aren't in the league anymore. And I'm kind of like the one left behind. And so, you know, sixth grade, I try out and I make the travel baseball team.
Seventh grade, I get cut, right? But like, you learn through that process of like, you know, what it is to like just to go through those different things, like the pressure points. are different in the whole deal. You would play games. when it was like pouring rain.
Unless there is lightning. And then you just go to the car for 10 minutes and hope the lightning starts to blow over. And then you'd come back out with your metal bats and you'd resume playing.
Now, if there's like a 20% chance of a storm an hour before my daughter's soccer game gets canceled. Canceled. And I don't, or if there's one, some rain starts, literally every parent and child runs to their cars and just drives off. We're giving up. That's it.
Not playing tonight. My daughter played three and a half soccer games this entire summer in like a 12-game league. Everything else was canceled. The air quality is too low. It might rain.
It's wet on the field because it rained two days ago. Everything gets canceled. And that is, again, I know I come across this, you know, there's a generational gap. And this will, you know, somebody will see this clip and be like, oh, you don't understand. We're taking care of kids.
They need those seven water breaks during their one-hour soccer game. We need to rotate. We drank out of a hose when the kids show up. It had some holes in it. And it was attached to the shed.
When they show up 15 minutes late to the game, and the coach is like, all right, subs, go right in the game. We don't even. bitch Your parents can't get you on time? Not my problem. I'm not going to take away playing time from the kids and the parents who did get here on time.
And they do it every single game and you keep putting them out there. I don't No, that's just that's just not how it came up. But then I think that a lot of that translates to... Like what media has become here. And again, I don't have all the answers.
I'm not sitting here like giving you a lecture on you should go and work for free and all that stuff. What I would say is, my personal experience, of having To somebody had to give you an opportunity. You had to convince somebody to put you on air. You had to convince somebody to let you publish a story on a website.
Now, because there's no barricades, it's a great thing. I always tell this one, like, you know, young people reach out, and I try to call people back. If some kid emails me, I'm in college, I'm in high school, whatever, I'll try to call them back. And I'm always saying, like, you have fewer barriers to entry than we ever had. There was no YouTube, there was no social media, there were no blogs.
This is like early 2000s, like these things didn't exist. And so it's great. You can publish your own stuff. You can get all these reps that I had to, somebody had to give me the opportunity to get the reps. You can just record stuff.
And if it sucks, Fix it. Do a different thing the next time. Experiment and find your voice. It's, I mean, Greg cited Malcolm Gladwell earlier. It's the, what is it, 10,000 hours on the past?
That's what you need to become an expert in your field. And that's been shot down by all sorts of other researchers. But the point is, like getting those reps, that's the only way. I'm not the greatest talk show host of all time, but like I've become functional enough that Rich lets me sit in this chair occasionally because of like going through and doing satellite radio shows and local radio shows and TV and just like doing it. The issue, in my opinion, and again.
I'm sure somebody's going to watch this and aggregate it out of context. A big part of the issue is. 95% of the stuff, and I see it because my kids will just be flipping around random YouTube stuff. It sucks. There's a lot of it that's terrible.
And there's nobody to say, you suck. It's not even like, you're not good enough, give up. It's, this is terrible. This should never be on- No one should watch this. You should be ashamed that you thought this was good.
We all had a boss like that. Oh, yeah. And I'm not somebody who reacts well to being crushed, but I've definitely had it. And been like. Man, screw that guy.
But then the next day you're like. And that did suck. That was terrible. You know, and like, you don't have that if you're just going, I'm starting a YouTube page. And again, there are people you can go.
Fast-tracked, you can amass millions of followers, and then a major media company will hire you to be a big part of their brand going forward. And it's like, wow, is that fair? There is no fair. There's only the fairness of what someone will let you do. If you convince somebody you're that impactful.
And you're that good at your job, and you can elevate everything else, someone's going to give you the opportunity. But what we lack at the lowest levels is People just go on and start. Treatment stuff. And I try not to read the mentions, but like I'll see stuff and I'm like. And I'll see it in the click the bio, and it's like, I'm, you know, this blogger, I'm like, There's like a bare minimum amount of research that I would like to think.
But you're just all you do. You plug in, you create an account, you're on. You're on. And you're on TikTok, and you're on X, and you're on Threads, and you're on Instagram, and you're everywhere, but you're nowhere because you're not getting better. I remember doing some of the worst, like in hindsight, I am glad that, you know, local radio websites, like, they all get remade every three years and the entire catalog is like wiped off the face of the earth.
I am glad some of the shows I did 20 years ago don't exist. And, like, and to your point, this is a long-winded way of saying it, but like, there are people along the way. Who had to see what I was doing and then go, I think he can do more. Paul Allen, who's still the voice of the Vikings, was like a huge influence for me and impact on my career because I was one year into being, again, Dan. Dot com Tom at KFAN Radio in Minneapolis, a name that I only got because I replaced a guy named Dotcom Dave with Dot Com Tom is pretty damn NPA the second year.
Like he just saw how much work I was putting in and he was like, hey, do you want to co-host Vikings Uncensored on Monday nights and at a bar? And we'd have a player on every week. One time a player showed up extremely high on painkillers, slurring his words. We had to do another hour with him. We were getting calls.
And it was like, that was a very formative experience for me. But if I sucked at that, and if I was bad, eventually what he got to tap on the shoulder going, we're not going to have you on anymore. Yeah, right. You're making a YouTube page for five years and you're doing the same crap over and over again?
Somebody's got to jump in and say, this is not good enough. Everyone needs an editor.
So. It's true.
Somebody somewhere you'd like to think. Can step in. But that's all I would say. I'm not telling anybody. We're not trying to step up anybody's dreams.
I'm not trying to, like, listen, not everybody's going to go and be, you know, taking box scores at 11:30 on a midnight deadline in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, when you can't get the one coach whose town has 25 readers to answer the phone because he's out drunk at the bar because they finally won a game. And then he misspells his kids' names. And then the parents are calling you and complaining, my kid's name. Was spelled wrong, and I'm like, I don't know. The guy who took that box score was high as hell.
He made $5 an hour. He went home sick right after, and he couldn't tell me if he was sick from eating Taco Bell or Taco John's because he had had both before he came in. I'm not saying you need to go do that. I am saying there is something about. Being at the absolute base level that is a really Good thing.
Out of all the answers, I'm amazed I even get to sit here with you guys. But we all got here so Tom. You're great, man. Don't ever.
Okay, here we go. Mike Del Tufo. I'm in my natural environment. You are. Emily, take it away.
Hey, Mike, are you nervous? Emily? No, not at all. Good, well, here are your set of quadrupoles. All right, okay, here.
You guys hold on to these things up there. Give me your microphone. There we go. All right, Mike.
So, what move are you teaching him?
Okay, so we're going to do a dance. This is how it's gonna start. You're gonna step out, and your arms are gonna go right, left, right. Oh my gosh.
Okay, then you're gonna box and pump. Good.
So right left right box and pump five six seven eight one and two Three, four. Good.
Now your hips are going to go right, left while you frame your face.
So five. Six. And now get those hips in there, Mike. Come on, Carl. Got a big hair flip to the back.
Yeah. And then hair flip all the way over to the front. Hair flip. Good.
That's definitely one thing I can do. Oh my god. Five picks. Seven, eight, or one, and two. Three, four.
Five, six, seven, three. Yeah. Yeah. Show off your red boots and walk.
So, hair flip, maybe? Yeah. Sassy is sassy walk. Yeah. Sassy walk.
So walk one. That's not sassy enough for me. Three steps again, there's four.
Okay. Now pump it five. Oh, you guys are real. No way. You gotta get low on the focus.
Ready, take it from the hair flip. Ready and five six Six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four. Five, six, seven, eight. Can we do it from the top?
Let's do it from the top.
Okay, hold on a minute.
So, how would I introduce what? HTC Mike, I like it. Here we go. HTC Mike and the Houston, Texas Cheerleaders, everybody. Six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four, five, six, back, seven, eight, walk. One, two, three, four. Yes. Emily, tell him what he's won. And for being a great sport, we brought you a fully sized Houston Texans cheerleading gap.
Yeah! Mike, Del Tufos, it's a Delphi. It's the first Delphi of the week. Excuse me, Mike.
Okay. Fantastic. You did great. Creepy at all! Where is that selfie, Del 2 folks?
Is it somewhere? Yeah, I probably have. Pop up every couple of months for you? It's hanging in the wall of his bathroom. We could scroll his Instagram page, but it would take a while with all the cheat pictures.
He's got it framed. It's not overwhelming. Could you, right now, Del Tufo, if you had to do that, would you be better or worse than you were eight years ago? No, I still suck. Yeah.
Mike, you've lost like 40 pounds.
Now, the five of those pounds were in the go-to. I have no coordination, hence why I went into mixing. I learned at a young age. Sports are not part of my, and that's like sports. Dancing is different, but no, I can't do that.
You're roller skating, though, right? Oh, no, I'm a pro. Champion roller skater.
Well, now we're talking a different value. That's athleticism. I'm like, I'm Al Tom Brady when it comes to roller skating. I mean, and I will, I'll have friends call him right now. I was the best skater in my ring.
Like, there were like maybe four of us that were the top. I know we have covered Del Tufo's roller skating career before on the show, but every time it comes up, my brain, I was like, Hyundai Reed, what is you? I completely forgot what we were doing. I like a vision that likes it was great. Like, he stopped.
You seem, you seem like you might be a tad top heavy. Like, your life seemed like you had victory, skinny as a kid. I didn't gain weight until I met my ex-wife. Yeah. 'Cause she didn't cook and we ate fast food every day of the week.
Did you meet her at the Roller Rink? No, at a bar, which is a wrong red flag. That's a big red flag. That's a flag. That's a red flag.
Done. Did you skate into the bar? No. This is post-skating career. Were there polls at that bar?
No, no, different bar. Gotcha. Tom, every year there's four or five playoff teams from the previous year who don't make any traditions, Rick Brock. Yes, right. Who do you are identifying right now?
Playoff teams. In trouble this season. All right, let's start with the teams that are not in trouble, in my opinion. I think that we see clearly the Eagles back. Yep.
Yep. I think there's no question the Ravens are back. The bills are back. Chiefs not making the playoffs is just a possibility that I'm not even going to entertain right now.
So that's four. Other playoff teams from Leisure. Lions, I don't have much question. Lions are going to be there in the end again. The Packers and the Vikings also made it last year as wild cards.
I mean, the Packers, the fact that Jordan Love is banged up right now, it's his left thumb. He's going to be fine. It's not the greatest omen, but this should be a more talented Packers team.
So I would think that they're still right there. The Vikings is just an unknown. Their over-under, you said yesterday, is nine and a half, I believe. I can't give gambling advice. What an ass word would be.
But this is a team that, if you are able to have J.J. McCarthy play at a similar level to what you do with Sam Darnold. They should be pretty good again. Uh Other teams, I mean, Denver, everything I've heard, I haven't been through Denver. Everything I've heard has been good.
They were a team that came on late. Are they going to be able to sustain that? I think that that's one of the teams you look at and just say, all right, are they going to continue to ascend? The Chargers. This is not a good omen for the Chargers.
No. Najee Harris. Still hasn't been seen on the field since the 4th of July fireworks explosion. You lose Rashawn Slater, you lose Mike Williams to retirement, you bring back Keenan out. There's just a lot of things there where a Chargers team you would think is taking the next leap forward, and certainly Jim Harbaugh has challenged his team to do that.
That's another team that's going to be interesting. We've got 10 seconds. Who else did I miss from last year's playoff field? Houston, Pittsburgh, Washington. Pittsburgh man.
It's going to be interesting. Aaron, the day I was there, didn't look like Aaron, but he also missed the whole offseason.
So, does he ascend? We'll find out. Thanks, everybody. Listen. I am Michael Rosenbaum.
I am Tom Welling. Welcome to Talk Bill, where it's fun to talk about small. We're going to be talking to sometimes guest stars. Are you liking the direction Plois is going in? Yeah, because I'm getting more screen time.
That's good. But mostly it's just me and Tom remembering. I think we all feel like there was a scene missing here. You got me, Tom. Let's revisit it.
Let's look at it. See what we remember. See what we remember. I had never been around anything like that before. I mean, it was so fun.
Talk Bill. Talk Bill. I just had a flashback. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's get into it.
