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Now. On with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I've seen the Live from the Rich Eisen Show studios in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Touchdown, the one thing we're forty.
Alright. Earlier on the show. Podcast host and journalist Pablo Torre. Coming up. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.
And your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of day three of our new partnership and friendship with ESPN Disney Plus and ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. It's day one of two in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's hour number three of three here in day number one.
We've been counting down the seconds until kickoff on Thursday night of the 2025 season between the Cowboys and the Eagles. Later on in this hour, we'll preview the NFC East. We'll predict it one through four and then give you our Super Bowl predictions before football actually gets played in earnest. And game number one, game number two features the Chiefs and the Chargers. I'm calling that game with our in-studio guest to kick off hour number three.
Kurt Warner is still here in studio with me here. My guys are back in the northern hemisphere, way above the equator. TJ and Chris Brockman, along with DJ Mikey, Diaz, and D's nuts. Have you done this? yet, and I'll admit it.
Have you flushed the toilet to see if the water goes the wrong way the other way? Oh my gosh. No, that was not anything that I thought about or considered. I actually did that. And I didn't notice anything.
But you thought you might. You thought you might.
Okay. It's my first time in the southern hemisphere. All I want to do back on Brazil. I've been in the house. I'm going to have to get my entire life.
Okay. All right. 6,200 miles. 6,200 miles. Yeah, 6,200 miles from home.
You do crazy things like flush a toilet for no reason.
Some people accept science.
Some people do. What can I tell you? Hey, Rick. Let's talk football. Oh, yes, TJ.
Yes. You might find this funny. Earlier during the first hour, you were eating the cheese bread. Right. And you were showing it to us.
And so I get a text from manager to the stars, Jerome Sobowitz, and he goes, You're on TV. And I'm like, yeah, of course. Indeed, I am on TV. He goes, oh, I just wanted to make sure you knew that. And so.
I was confused. Brockman got the same text. And so I called Jerry and I'm like, hey, what's up? He goes, you know, I saw Rich eating bread and he thought that it was a glitch in the Zoom line. Oh, Jerry.
That's my agent. They worry about it. British freaking out. He's freaking out. I was like, no, Jerry, we know we were talking.
Okay. He goes, I was just sending texts to everybody. I was nervous.
So just thought you were later. Did I get one of those? Let me see here. Oh, there it is. You're on the TV.
You're on the show. Yeah. I'm saying we all got that. You got bread in your mouth. You're on TV.
What are you doing, Rich? Listen, when in San Paulo and offered a basket of cheese bread, you eat it. I force you to do it. You finish it because it is. It's better than you being in the bathroom seeing if things were standing while you're on TV, right?
I mean, eating bread's a little bit better than that. Like Frank Drebbin and Police Squad, you know, with the microphone still on. Oh, my God. Uh So there's that. If you missed it, don't worry.
This show, you can hit the Disney Plus page and watch our show right away. There's also our podcast, All Three Hours, courtesy of the ESPN Podcast Network. And of course, there's our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show, for all the clips. Listen, you know, I'm doing this game with you, Kurt. Doing this show today and tomorrow.
And then we do game day morning together Sunday. Yep. Um okay. And then then I will just go home. and just sit on the couch and just Veg.
Okay. You've got it. You've got to still call it a microphone. Yes, I will be. Yes.
It always seems that way for the first week of the season because I'm usually calling the opener on radio with Kevin, but obviously not doing that because tomorrow.
So it's always a busy first week. But it's the energy. You just get off a plane and you're coming to do your show. But the energy of week number one, the games that we have, and the excitement for the season, it carries you through week one until you get a chance to take a nap.
Well, let's hit this, right? Let's hit on that game here because, you know. Caleb had quite the year one. His best game was the one we called in London. It was.
He had four touchdown passes. Yeah. And that was the Bears were 4-2. That was the zenith of the Ebra Fluce era because they went on a bye. Then the Hail Mary happened the next week, and then.
Yada, yada, yada. He's now the defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys tonight. And so the idea is that Ben Johnson's going to get. Caleb on a better path. And then there's J.J.
McCarthy. Let's take it one at a time.
Okay. Because you showed some film on the game day preview on Tuesday night that Caleb still is a little slow processing past receiver one in a progression. Right. Is that just something that takes time, or are you still wondering if this is still. In there, Frank.
Well, I think both. I think you have both questions: is that, you know, it's not overnight when you haven't been taught to play this way and you haven't played this way. I don't think he played this way in college. You know, I talk about it all the time: that the pure progression type plays where it's look at your receiver. If he's open, throw it, then move to the next guy, as opposed to reading defenders, where it's like, I'm going to read Rich, and if you go this way, I'm throwing it to that guy.
If you go the other way, and so it speeds up the process. And so that to me is kind of where he's at. Last year, you saw him holding the football a lot. They were running a lot of pure progressions, and it was tough for him to get. Beyond number one, figure out when one wasn't open and get to two into three.
What we've seen early with Ben Johnson is he sped up that process in terms of recognizing what you want to see, and if you see it and like it, rip it. We saw that in preseason. That was part of the tape that I showed, especially against Buffalo. He was getting back, hitting that back foot, getting the ball out when he knew where he wanted to go. He was very decisive.
But I also showed when he had to get beyond number one. And that guy wasn't open. to be able to process and work through things from there. He still has some work to do. And so that's what I'm looking for this year.
I think it's going to be better. I think Ben Johnson does some great things offensively, going to dial some things up to utilize that talent, get number one open more. But inevitably, there's going to be a lot of times where he's got to get beyond that, and teams take that away. How quickly can he do it? How consistent and effective can he be when he's going beyond his initial read?
Now, you've spoken to J.J. McCarthy, right? Yes. Give me an indication of how ready you think he is and whether this is going to be another Kevin O'Connell masterpiece with a kid that knows how to win, obviously, from other levels. Yeah, I mean, I think he's ready.
I mean, he's been in a lot of big moments, so I don't look at it being too big for him. You know, I think the questions that I had coming out of college is that he wasn't a guy that had to carry the team throwing the football. Minnesota has been a team that likes to throw first, and so I want to see if that's the case. If we're going to throw it 35 times, can Can JJ carry the load that way? Can he make those kinds of throws?
Consistency. You watched him a lot at Michigan. I thought when he came out of the combine, he kind of had one speed in which he could throw the football. Like everything was a driven throw. And when you drive the ball, You either hit or you miss.
There's not a lot of margin for air. I know he's been working a lot on what we call layering the football, putting touch on the football and allowing his receivers to help him on that end.
So I'm looking forward to seeing that. We just haven't seen a lot of him play at this level. The one preseason game last year, a little bit in preseason this year.
So I have questions, but my questions aren't. Can he handle it mentally? You know, is he ready for that part of it? The questions are more the physical aspect of playing the game, seeing what he needs to see. And I can't wait to see that on Monday night.
So let's remove JJ from the equation for this sports talk radio question. Maybe Panix is part of this question. I'll leave it up to you. The rookie from last year. that's going to have the biggest leap This year.
And I know Jaden Daniels has last year to count against him because how much more of a leap from that can you take? But which is it, Drake May? We're going to throw Nick's in this equation, Caleb. Jaden Daniels, if you want to throw panics in there as well, the biggest leap.
Okay. From year one to year two is which quarterback? Kurt. I've heard a lot of great things about Bo Nicks and how excited they are. For his second year, I also thought he played really well last year.
I'm going to actually go with Drake May.
Okay. And again, I thought he played really well last year. I just don't think he had the pieces in the system set up to allow him. to have as much success or to connect the success to how well he played. And so I believe there is going to be an uptick there just in just in how it looks.
And his consistency and effectiveness because I believe Mike Vrabel is going to come in and. Build a team and has built a team around him. I don't know if he'll throw it as much as he did last year. But I think that team takes a jump. I think he's going to look really, really good this year in that system.
And so I'm going to say him, even though I do believe Bo is going to be better. I do believe Caleb is going to be better. I'm excited about Michael Penix. I was a huge fan coming out. I think he's going to be good as well.
Surprised that. I'm going to look at Drake May. Surprised that Penix didn't play in the preseason? I'm always surprised. Did you play in the preseason?
I always played in the preseason. And I was a guy that wanted to. And I didn't need to play a lot, but I wanted to feel like when I went into week one, I was ready. And when you play football, you can go in for a quarter and you go, oh. Speed's good.
I'm seeing it. I'm good. I'm ready. I'm confident going into the season. And so I'm always surprised when young guys that haven't played a lot.
Don't At least a little bit. I mean, especially when you see guys like Mahomes and Herbert, guys we're watching, both played in preseason to a degree. I like that aspect of things.
So you know what you're getting and you're ready to go week one. Can you believe Aaron Rodgers is the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback right now? I mean, like, I know we're used to saying it, but we're about to see it. And it's pretty big for the Steelers. There's a l you know, it's it's it's a pretty big season for them.
In many different ways. They just paid Watt. I mean, you know, Cam Hayward is not getting any younger. Um DK Metcalf, I mean, we're talking about unsteeler-like moves. Let's acquire a receiver who's never played for us and make him the best paid player we've ever had on offense outside of a quarterback.
And let's bring Rogers in. What's your level of expectation? There at the end of the day. You know, I'm excited about the football team. I think they're going to be a better football team than they were a year ago.
They were a playoff team a year ago, but I think Aaron Rodgers, offensively, with what he brings and what they want to do in that system. I think he's going to be really good for them. And we know that their defense is going to be good. And so I think they're going to win a lot of games. But I don't know if they've made the moves or if Aaron is at the point where he can push them Over the top, you know, on our preview show, the Steelers were the team that I kicked out of the playoffs.
Even though I believe they're going to be a better team than they were last year, I kicked them out of the playoffs just because of when I look at the AFC and I look at the talent there and I look at their division. They're going to be a good, solid football team, but I don't think they're going to be a great football team. And although Aaron makes them better, I don't know if he makes them that much better that they can compete with the Chiefs and the Ravens and the Bills. I even think the Bengals are going to be in the mix this year because of what they can do offensively.
So I just don't know. if they can c c compete with those guys. Because you did put the Bengals in, right? I put the Bengals in Bengals. Steelers out Bengals in in that segment that we did on on the game day uh kickoff.
And and on that show, we finished up with our Super Bowl. Predictions. Yours was. I actually just went with the same two teams. You know how I am, Rich.
I want to see these teams play.
So I just, I think the Chiefs are motivated.
So I said the Chiefs were going to beat the Eagles this time around. You know, I already told you the Rams, I like the Rams. I like the Packers. I want to see what they do. I mean, we could be wrong.
We could be wrong. And the more I was thinking about it, even after we did it the other day, is. You know, there's something about the Ravens that I just I wonder if it's their time. I think they're As talented as anybody, and you know, is it the time for them to get over the hump and Lamar to get over the hump in the AFC?
So, you know, I'm wallowing back and forth because I haven't seen anybody play yet. But, you know, I pick those two teams because I think they're two really good teams. But there's some other ones out there that I'm interested in. I mean, you could make the Case Chiefs are better. You could truly make the Kiev.
I think they're going to be the Chiefs are better. They love Josh Simmons, the left tackle. Who's the 11th difference starting left tackle in Mahomes' career? Matt Nagy told me that one to six wide receivers that they've got there, including Rashi Rice, is the best six. He's ever been around in the NFL.
So he's excited about that. Maybe the most interesting stat that I found when I was doing my research for the game was that, you know, that the Chiefs' defense. Only have four guys on that haven't played for another team besides the Chiefs. They're all their own. Everyone else is homegrown on the defense.
I didn't believe that when I read it. Tied with the Bucs, by the way, tied with the Bucs for drafting and keeping and winning. And so they've got so many guys that know and understand and are part of the culture on both sides of the ball that I'm with you. I think they're going to be a better football team this year than the 15-win team that they were last year. And then just to finish up with the Ravens again.
Because at the beginning of the show, I gave this whole... Season preview based on narratives and conversations, not all 22 or anything like that. Way I set up the Ravens season, it's January. It's not like they're not going to make January. Right.
Okay, like barring something wild and completely unfortunate and unforeseen. They're that talented. They're going to make January. It just seems that something Always happens in January. Zay Flowers gets hurt, or Zay Flowers had a great play in the making, and then boop, ball comes loose.
Just to name one guy in two different postseasons. Last year, Mark Andrews, man, of all people, what a nice dude, man. What a good soul that doesn't deserve to have that sort of thing happen to him. It's just something in it. Can they avoid it?
Which you can't do. X's and O's breakfast. You say avoid it. But I don't know if it's avoiding or. Just stepping up and making those plays in the moment.
That is the difference. I mean, if you look at any one thing about the Chiefs that makes them different. They always make that play. When they need the play to be made, they always make it. Whatever it is: block field goal, AFC championship game, stop on fourth down with a little bit of a tush-push or a quarterback sneak, Patrick finding a way to make a run or make a play on fourth down in a super play.
They always make the play. And so. I think one side is always, well, if they can avoid those mistakes, Or do those guys just have to Step up and make every play that's available to them to win, and especially in the AFC, because you've got a team in the Chiefs that always seems to do it. Right, and the Bills in the postseason have had that issue with the Chiefs. And I guess the way to beat the Chiefs, the Bucs showed it, and the Eagles showed it too, is just.
Make Mahomes' life miserable. Right. And then get so far out in front that the Chiefs aren't in the position to make that one play to beat you, and you're in that position to. Not make that one play and it cost you. And an area where, again, talking to the coaches, they believe their offensive line is as good this year, even with a rookie starting a left tackle, as it's been since they've been there, since Patrick's been there.
And so, man, if that plays out too, and the wide receiver room is better, I mean. It's going to be fun. Yeah, I know. It's going to be fun. Reed talked up Josh Simmons.
That was that time in the pre-broadcast meeting. He was busting my stones for not looking at the camera because he thought I was just doing something with my phone. I was taking notes to my right. And he goes, Josh Simmons, who played for that school? He was texting me.
Hey, Rich, do you know you're on TV? Do you know you're on Zoom? By the way, Reed would not turn down this Brazilian confection right here. Put a burger right in between. Before I let you go on with the rest of your day, I'll ask you this, even though you weren't expecting it.
And I should ask you this off the air, but I'll ask it on the air anyway. You're tough watching film, man. I've been around you for a while. You're tough watching film. What is it like watching film of E.J.
Warner, the starting quarterback of Fresno State, your son who's made so much of himself and his opportunity with all these schools and playing for Fresno State? What is that like for you to see? It's twofold. You know, that there's a one side of it that. I'm just in awe of how good he is at this age, you know, and and You know, I watch all the film on Sundays of these guys playing on Sundays.
And he processes information and gets the ball out of his hands. As fast as most of the guys on Sunday. No kidding. Oh, yeah. Better than a lot of them, actually.
And so I'm just in awe of that part of it. But I'm also, you know, an analyst and I'm also a dad. I also love the game. And so I'm also trying to push him and be, you know, I don't want to say ultra critical, but critique him as tough as I can because I want to push him to see how good he can be. And so we have fun film sessions where there's times I'm just lifting him up and telling him how great he is.
And then there's other times where it's like, okay, can't do that. You know, what were you thinking? Check this out and think about this.
So we have fun. We're on the phone almost every day. Talking about their offense and watching film and going through little nuances. And it's fun to hear how he thinks about the game and then to be able to throw nuggets at him, like, you thought about this, or this is what I would think about in this particular situation. You know, it's just valuable time.
It's fun. It's fun to, you know, when your kids love what you love, it is so great to, you know, to be able to be a part of that. But there is nothing better, even though I'm as nervous as I've ever been when I watch him play, knowing that every throw, you know, every time he drops back, it's all on him.
So I'm nervous, but I enjoy the heck out of it, and I'm so proud of him. I'm so happy for you and your fam because it's geographically sound to where you live and where you got to go to work the next day in Los Angeles. And I was watching the game Fresno State against Kansas. I know the final score wasn't what you wanted or him. Uh but just before I was walking out the door with Coop.
My youngest and It was a third down. He stood in the pocket. He converted over the middle, and he took one right in the chops. And I turned the coup. I said, just like his dad.
He stayed in the pocket, knew the hit was coming, delivered the football. That is something he can do.
Something he could do. It's awesome. I'm so happy. Thank you, man. And I couldn't be happier, obviously, that we're working together here in Brazil.
And thank you for the time today. Oh my gosh, my pleasure. You could have been sitting in that hotel room looking at film. But I would have just been thinking about all this stuff anyway. And you know, now take one for the room.
Yeah, take one for the room. Take one, take one for the room.
Okay, there you go. By the way, there's more of the good stuff over there. There's chocolate stuff. There's a chicken and cheese. Oh, it's.
You know how the season is when you're traveling. It's all this. I know. You gain 20 pounds. I know.
And you're trying to do it to me right off the base. It's the same thing every year when we start with game day morning. Mooch looks thin as a rail because he's around Gail. He can't sneaky.
Now it's on.
Now it's on.
Now it's on.
Kurt Warner, right here. Check us out on Friday night for Chiefs and Chargers on Game Day. YouTube around the globe. Stay right where you are, right here on Disney Plus, ESPN, and ESPN Radio. Your phone calls, the NFC East, and our Super Bowl predictions coming up.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Program back on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. Certainly on this ESPN Radio affiliate, ESPN Radio is presented by. progressive insurance. Good stuff from Kurt Warner right there, gents.
Back there in the Los Angeles studio. Chris, TJ, and Mike Del Tufo tapped out. Did you tap out? Is Jay Felling in the chair? That one was a bit shocking.
He just said he was good, and they went, all right, I'm out. Ladies and gentlemen, Jason Feller making his Disney Plus ESPN premiere. Jay Feller is a voice that many of you will hear instead of Mike Del Tufo's because Mike doesn't hang out with us as much as he used to. It's all good, he's got another job. with our our friends at Fox Sports.
Jay Felly, a Die Hard Raider fan. Amari Cooper just announced his retirement? Did that happen in the commercial breakouts? It did. For real, yeah.
Yeah, for real. For real. Just a week after signing what, a one year up to three and a half million dollar deal? Wow, that is something.
So after Jacoby Myers requested a trade and was told no?
Well, he said he was told no, and he basically when he's like, okay. He was, did you see, did you see his sound bite this week? He was asked about it. He's like, well, I asked. They said no.
And I'm here. You know, I could be happy anywhere, but I'll be happy here. I'm ready to go to battle with my teammates. He's going to New England, you know, where once upon a time he threw a game-winning touchdown pass to the Raiders, if I'm not mistaken, right, back in the day.
So it'll be the first Patriots Raiders game since that nuttiness that went down. What a week one game. We'll be previewing all the week one games on our Friday program. The Friday show is going to be from the stadium. And we'll explain why later on in the Final half hour that we have left here.
Adam Schefter reported this. TJ Jefferson. If you thought The Cowboys trading Micah Parsons was bad enough. Oh, it's good. And if you thought the Cowboys trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers.
the team that goes all the way back to the Ice Bowl. with a history of beating the Dallas Cowboys all the way through Favre. all the way through the Rogers years. Even Jordan Love messed things up so significantly a couple years ago. The Cowboys organization is still reeling from the way they handled all of that.
Remember the all-ins? We keep forgetting the all-in season, right, Chris? Remember the all-in season last year? All-in. That's the Michael Parsons stuff.
Okay. Okay. I want to mention that. The reality. Of trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers was tough enough.
Adam Schefter says The Philadelphia Eagles made a run at the guy. Yeah, let me tell you something. And I don't know. I mean, do you think the Cowboys said two ones in Jalen Carter? Do you think they said that?
I hope they said three ones in Jalen Carter. I think that would have been it.
Well, by the way, that would be... But by the way, and it's laugh box, you know That would have to be it. Like the premium to trade him to their hated rivals in division would have to be Jalen Carter in three ones. And I'm sure Howie's like, okay, thanks. Just.
Hung up the phone, but God bless Howie Roseman for getting in the batter's box. Here's the deal: just alone. I will tell you this. Without Fail without, there's no doubt in my mind. Had the Dallas Cowboys.
Said Micah Parsons. Back home to Pennsylvania. Did you sign the document? You to sign the document? You would have thought I was Quicksilver or the Flash for as fast as that.
I said I would never sign that document. That is the one thing that would have got me to pull out this feather pen that I have sitting here to all our Disney Plus ESPN people. I would have signed that document with this pen that looks like Ben Franklin used it. That's how quick. Oh, it would be fitting in Philadelphia for you to use that.
It wasn't bad enough that you couldn't. You should use the pen to sign the contract there. It was bad enough that the Packers, but. And for the total reason, real quick, before you jump in, Chris, the piece of paper to which we're referring, I would normally, if I was back there in the studio, I would have already popped it out of my drawer to the right of my desk. It is the TJ Jefferson release of fandom document that he has yet to sign.
Do you have a copy of that? It's all good. I don't have it. It's all good. It exists.
There's a fake seal of approval from non-notary. Del Tufo thought he was a notary, Jay Felly. We all thought.
So had they ones? Oh, well, Jalen Carter in three ones coming back. If we got Jalen Carter, sure, that'd be different, but we wouldn't have got Jalen Carter back. Here's what I don't get about this story, and I can't believe I'm the only one to think of this. What's that, Chris?
I don't buy this for a second.
Well, that doesn't surprise me. This sounds like Howie Roseman kind of kicking the Cowboys when they're down, saying, Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, Chef, we called. We were in on it. We were thinking about it. This is like Howie Bassman.
Barry getting married and then TJ going, man, I almost had a date with her once to make himself look cool. This is just kicking the cowboys when they're down. I don't buy this story at all.
Well, I don't know why. First of all, be careful. We're talking about our new ESPN friend Adam Schefter about buying the story. Like, he's not making it up. No, but this just smells like Howie being like, how can I kick the Cowboys when they're driving?
How do you know it was Howie? Let me call Schefter and be like, hey, we almost got Micah. Yeah, well, we called. We were close. How do you know it was Howie?
He doesn't need that sort of pop. He's got the trophy in the case. He's got the scarf from a beer can on his head to put it on. I get it. But this is just beating down the Cowboys on the day of the banner breaking.
Well, first of all. First of all, I'm surprised you don't view that sort of high-level trolling as worthy of praise as opposed to whatever you're heaping upon this right now. I thought that's your language. That's your language. It's utterly hilarious, but I just don't believe it for a second.
Well, I believe it. Because if I'm the Eagles, I'm calling up the Dallas Cowboys just to see: A, is he going to take my call? B, let me just find out what the market is here. I want to know. I want inside information.
I'm going to find out. What do you want from me, Jerry? What would it cost? to get Micah Parsons in Philly Green, since he is the only other individual with four seasons to start a career with 12 plus sacks since Reggie White, we might as well bring him to the team where Reggie White had those stats. You know what I mean?
Instead of sending him to the team where Reggie White left after having those stats, I would have done that if I was Harry Roseman, just for informational purposes. And then I would definitely call up somebody, if that's the way you say, and say, on the day of this opening, uh-oh, by the way, yeah, and just get out there. I kind of dig it. I kind of dig it. But I don't know if that's the way we're sourcing it.
What we're going to do, though, is use this as a leaping off point. to predict the National Football Conference Eastern Division. We're going to finish up our Annual preview tomorrow with the AFC West, since obviously it's Chargers' Chiefs here in Brazil. And we do these things on purpose. We think.
This is not just willy-nilly. We roll these things out. We produce. We plan. And we now predict who's first up.
Where are we going first? Who are we doing first here? Chris Brockman, you are first. Predict the NFC East. What do you have over there, Chris?
Sorry, TJ. I don't think tonight is very close, and I think this is going to be a horrific season in Dallas. I have the Cowboys fourth. I think the Giants are going to surprise a lot of people with the defense. And whether it's Russell Wilson or Jackson Dart, the Giants are going to be a really fun team this year.
They are third. I like the Commander second. And I don't see a world that the Eagles do not win the NFC East. And probably make the NFC championship game, if not go back to the Super Bowl. Eagles First, Commanders, Giants, Cowboys.
TJ. All right, well, first and foremost, the reason Chris brought up Hallie Berry, as you can see, I do have my autographed Hallie Berry from Boomerang still here next to my desk in case anyone. Yeah, but that's Eddie Murphy. That's not you. It's like a promotional still.
It's Hallie Berry. We met and she signed this. She autographed this. She held this picture, is what I'm saying. Hallie Berry on the doorstep.
Okay. By the way, and by the way, just again, just before you go on, I will, just for your own edification and just to back up your play right there, help me tell the story I once upon a time told on this show. Back when I was running and jogging from exercise, I was running and jogging in my neighborhood. And as I'm running past the street corner, I noticed who is picking her children up from the school bus, but none other than Hallie Berry. And I sucked in my gut as I ran past, just out of default.
I don't know, you know, like, not like it would really mean anything, it would lead to nothing. Instinct. Instinct. Might have been the last time I actually jogged in advance of my 40-yard dash run.
So She just sucked in. Your NFCE's prediction. What's your NFCE's prediction? Let's go. What do you got?
I'm delaying because I'm not going to like the words that are about to come out of my mouth. I don't know if this is just me being petty or not, but I got the Giants fourth. I'm putting the Cowboys third. I got the Eagles at two, and I got the Washington football team winning this division. What even see Commanders?
Whoever gets commanders? I don't know who that is. What a hot mess. What a hot mess. It's the Washington football team, all right?
And like I said, I don't know if this is me being petty or not, but that's my story, and I'm sticking. On the petty scale, that might be Tom, perhaps Richard. Richard. That's up there, man. It's definitely not Kyle or Lori on the petty scale.
That might be Richard. You could actually come up with a color-coded petty scale. That's actually Kendrick Lamar level petty. That might even be that. What a hot mess that was.
Yeah, I'm just saying. Just throw mine up on the screen. I agree with you, Brockman. I'm with you. Tom, man.
T-Jakes. No, no, in all seriousness, I need to know why you think the Cowboys finished third. Because we're the Giants. Are you really? Yes.
At what? At the game of football. Whoa What week two is going to be week two, it's going to come out in the wash. Listen, Rich is Sport of Kings better than diamond rings, like Goldie Haunts in football, and we are better than the Giants, okay? Guess what?
You know what the Giants prove with their defensive line? You can have individuals on the same line that stop the run and can rush the passes. You don't have to sacrifice one for the other. Come on, Rich. You can have somebody like Dexter.
Right there in the middle, right? You can have him right there, and you can have Abdul, you can have Kayvon, and you can have Mr. Burns. and you can stop the run while also rushing the passer. And I'm concerned about who's running the football for the Cowboys.
I hope your boy Blue. If you're a Texas fan, it winds up being a bell cow with Javante Williams. Hopefully, maybe even Miles Sanders can put together. a surprising running attack. But no Micah, as Kurt said, Trevon Diggs is already on a pitch count to start the season.
And I've got the Commanders, too. I still need to see the Eagles Have something significant happen to them to not win the division.
So that's my NFC East predictions right there, and all of ours together. Good stuff. Good stuff. Out of all of you. When we come back, though, the rubber's meeting the road.
Super Bowl predictions in advance of tonight's season kickoff. 844-204 Rich is also in the number to dial. If you want to have a conversation with us as we wrap up our first of two days from Brahil in a moment. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network with Getting hooked on Phonics on our Disney Plus ESPN Plus stream and ESPN App Everywhere.
Good to have all of us here on the program. Fun stuff. Yeah, we're doing this show from the stadium tomorrow. We were going to do it here from this studio. in São Paulo.
But we're going to do it from the stadium because the NBC sports crew that is producing the game. for YouTube said that last year's crew left the s the hotel for the stadium as the crow flies like twenty, twenty five miles. Took three plus hours for the crew to get there, and they were really nervous they weren't going to make it for the game.
So I've got to do the show from the stadium. And when the show ends, it's five hours until kickoff. Oh, it's going to hang. I might. Dude, I might personally welcome both team buses to the stadium.
Hilarious. You know, I might like, like, like, like. You know, like a front desk, like check them in. You know what I mean? I'm on Walmart.
Yeah. Welcome. Right. I'm the greeter. I'm the Walmart greeter.
of the kickoff to the international series tomorrow. Honestly, what am I going to do for five hours? I want to see you in every shot. I'm ready to go. I want to see you in every shot of the players walking in in their fits, Rich.
I want to see you somewhere in the background recording them, walking by, and them live on Instagram for us. I don't know if I have that on me. Walk and talk for five hours. I don't know. I need to find some NBC.
See what Travis passes out on it. Oh, Rich, you know what? You have no idea. You know what? You should be on Taylor Watch.
We don't know if Taylor's going or not. Maybe you could sit there and see if you can come in here. And I know that Susie feels this way. You got to get yourself invited to that wedding, so you've got to do whatever it takes, even if you're international, to get the invite. You know what I mean?
Exactly. Listen, I'm imagining if this. If this is anything. That's got to be like Fight Club. Right?
You can't ask. You can't. Lobby. Yeah, but you can cozy up enough to make them go, oh, you know what? What does that mean?
Cozy up enough? Just cozy up. Just put yourself up. We've had Travis Kelsey on the show for 10 years. I love Jason Kelsey.
You don't know the new Mrs. Kelsey. You don't know Miss Swift. You know what I mean? I don't know.
I feel like I'm Mr. Perfectly Fine. Get in there. You know, in my own way. I don't know what that means.
That's a reference to one of her best songs, as far as I'm concerned. We know which one of us definitely won't be getting. No idea. But I'm not talking about it. It's absurd.
How sad that would be. How can I get invited to a wedding? I know, but Richard, you have no shame. By the way, for me to get invited to that wedding, that guest list has got to be four figures strong. Four figures.
Nobody's got that many friends, really. A thousand people at a wedding? Dude, there's a hundred thousand people who watch her perform. Yeah, but they only all invited to the wedding? How many people were at your wedding?
You're asking the wrong guy. All right, man. Plus, this is Susie, bro. You know, Susie hasn't looked at it. I know what it was at.
It wasn't a thousand. With Susie, it probably was like 350. Definitely not. No, that wasn't. No, I don't know the final ten.
I don't know. That's a lot. That's not a problem. You mean people who said they were coming and then showed up? Those people?
Oh, you're not talking about. You know what? I need to put this to bed. I'm putting everything to bed here. Oh, man.
I'm just having my Brigadero and finishing it off. That was old stuff, Rich. It's old stuff. Here in San Paulo. That's so 2003.
That table got filled.
Someone ate those meals. That's right. Yeah, I got the rights to my songs back. You know what I mean? Rich's version.
I got my songs back. Yeah, Rich's version. This is Rich's version. ESPN Rich's version, right here. Wow.
I couldn't imagine What a sad thing is to lobby to get invited to somebody's wedding. Have you ever done something like that? Chris, the last thing I want to do is go to a wedding. I'd lobby to get uninvited from weddings, to be honest with you. I'd be like, you really want me to come?
I'm like Larry David at this point. How far? How far is it? If that's the floral arrangement for the engagement, what's the the wedding? I mean.
That's the gig you want as the florist for that wedding. My goodness. How beautiful is that picture? Patience is what we call identity. Hat arrowhead and sell tickets.
Oh, wait.
Someone said his knee wasn't all the way down though. What's the matter with you, Pete? I'm sure it's going to be some private beautiful affair that I don't want to talk about anymore. Get out of here.
Now you hoop your ass. Yeah. Okay. It's time, guys. It is time to put our names to a prediction that is like throwing darts at a board.
That if you get it right in five months from now, you're going to be like, see, I got it right. I must know football. And if you got it wrong, it'll be like What prediction? Super Bowl 60. Who wins it?
Six zero Who's first up? Who's going first? Oh, Mr. T. TJ Jefferson, you are first up.
The first item up for bids is Super Bowl 60. Who comes on down? All right, so it's going to be a good one. Who goes to Santa Clara? It's going to be the Cowboys and.
No, I'm just joking. Stop. Listen, I've been watching the Kingdom. I told you guys this. I've been watching the Kingdom on ESPN.
And I'm telling you, man, watching how the Chiefs are run. From top, from the ownership, all the way down to the coaching staff, to the GM, to the generationally talented players on both sides of the ball. And watching Mahomes, he looks hungry, man. I gotta be honest. Chris, I know you're not gonna agree, but after watching The Kingdom, it just made me feel this organization, man, until somebody proves otherwise they're the best in football.
I know what happened in the Super Bowl last year, that was one game, but overall, Men lie, women lie, the numbers don't lie. The Chiefs have been there.
So I'm going to pick the Kansas City Chiefs until further notice to represent the AFC. Oh. And then for the NFC, you know, providing, like I said, Sir Smoke a lot said that the doctor said he needed a bacchiotomy yesterday as long as Micah Parsons back is fine. I think Jordan Love, along with our boy, Matthew Golden. It's going to lead the Packers to the promised land, to the Super Bowl, where they will take on the Chiefs in a rematch.
Of Super Bowl years, years, years ago, and this time Mahomes, Kelsey, Swift, Jones, Swift, Reach, Stone Street, all of them. They're going to raise another banner and have another ring to the Chiefs. Christopher, that's fun. All right, TJ, you took a little bit of my thunder with Green Bay. I'm also going to take Green Bay.
I love all the number stuff with you, Rich. I was a little early. I had them last year. I'm going to stick with it. I'm going to go with them this year.
The Micah Parsons thing puts them over the hump. And they're going to play the Ravens. They're going to beat the Ravens. I think one of the two teams I couldn't decide. It was a last-second thing.
Buffalo or Baltimore. They do get over the hump this year. They get home field and they take care of business. I'm going to go Baltimore. Just like them a little bit better, especially the way they're built for the playoffs and the cold weather.
Derrick Henry does it again, but Green Bay takes them down. Green Bay over Baltimore. And here's where I'm going. I'm going NFC North makes it for the NFC as well. Just in the mere fact that I just feel it's so tough to make back-to-back Super Bowls or three in four years, even though we've seen a team.
Make it to three in a row and five and six for the Kansas City Chiefs. I was just. I think everyone's overlooking Detroit. They won 15 games last year. They lost their coordinators, and that's basically it.
They're gaining so many healthy players back. The defense was such a problem, they couldn't run offensive plays in. In training camp, These guys are ready to roll, and I think the Detroit Lions win the NFC. And I think they're going to come back, and I think they're going to have a chip on their shoulder. I have the Lions making it, and I'm with you too, TJ.
The Chiefs are better. And I think it's just going to be one of those moments, again, of how are you going to beat Mahomes and Kelsey and Reed and the rest of that team when the rubber meets the road and must win contests in January. I think the Chiefs make it, and I think the Chiefs win it. And I think that's the way Kelsey is going to stroll off into the sunset. to uh to his wedding day.
Um Chiefs over Lions. in Super Bowl 60. And they're going to make six in seven years, and they're going to be a dynastic team we talk about for years to come with that cherry on top. And then we'll see what happens after that. And those are our Super Bowl predictions here.
on the day of the season opener. Um 2025. Yeah, man. I love it. Jeez.
I can't wait. Obviously, the bills can make it. No, seriously, bills can make it. Yeah. Bengals could possibly make it if they start playing defense again and they go on a nice hot streak.
Obviously, the Rams can make it, the 49ers can make it, the Commanders can make it. You know, the Vikings, if they get something out of J.J. McCarthy, can make it. The Bucs can make it. I had over a third of the league being Super Bowl contenders, and I believe it.
Uh would I like to be right? You know I love to be right, but if I'm wrong You know, whatever. And it just shows you that, no, I'm serious, and that this league is just chock full. Of great teams, and that starts tonight with a banner raise. By the way, Tell all your friends in Philadelphia there's a banner raised because there's a group of guys that's in Philadelphia.
Somebody shout out on it. I can't wait for tonight, man. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be great.
Let's go. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
