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Now. On with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. And the kick is good! The Seahawks win the game!
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Do you think we've seen the last of Russell Wilson? Honestly, I hope we have. I'm not done. Today's guests.
NFL Network Insider Tom Palisero. Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young. Actor and comedian Kevin Pollack. And now, it's Rich Eyes. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus, the ESPN app and ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance.
I start today's Friday program with a bold statement, and I mean every word that I'm about to say here into this microphone right now. Oh, God. You put this sports talk pop culture. Sports Simul cast up against any such show from Europe will get you a point. Yeah.
And, you know, even if it's just me individually talking, or I make a take, and then you, Chris, make a take, and then we go back and forth. Back and forth. We're going to get your point. Alternate shot. And I think, you know, I feel that way.
And somebody can. Come take it away from me from Glasgow. Go for it. I'm coming to the UK shortly, so I know Glasgow's not British. Hey, welcome to this edition of the Rich Hisen Show.
844-204-Rich is the number to dial. I'm making bold statements to kick things off. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you? I'm great.
I mean, I'm doing better than Team USA at the moment, but I'm doing well. How are you, Jason Feller? Good to see you. It's such a pleasure to see somebody sitting in that seat wearing a Dodger hat, and it doesn't offend me. I was sweating yesterday watching that.
Unbelievable. TJ Jefferson candles. Hey, Mets are still in a playoff spot right now with three to play. Good for you. You think we wouldn't, but you wouldn't.
Oh, yes, very much so. Come on now. We won't make it when we will. Very much so. But good to see you over there, sir.
I'm better for seeing the candlelit. Thank you so much. We had a great pre-show talk about, you know, babies and stuff like that. Yeah, we did. You guys did?
Sorry? Yeah. Well, we did. What did I miss? We found out that the Alexander family is going to have seven-on-sevens at one point in the backyard for Thanksgiving.
That's what we're talking about. Oh, yeah, yeah. I saw that yesterday. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial for having more jury. Main conversation.
Tom Pellisero is first up with all the information. Jaden Daniels not seen at the media portion of Commander's Practice. Terry McLaurin is out. Of practice again, it appears.
So he's going to give us the latest on that, all the information around the NFL to get you set for such things. And Kevin Pollack is joining us in our number three studio. He is truly one of our favorite storytellers. Always fun when he stops by. He is coming in support of Tulsa King's latest season that you could check out.
And it's a good time in our neighborhood, 844204 Rich. It's a What's More Likely Friday. I've got my top five other games that I'm looking forward to seeing here on our program. Hey, everybody, the Seattle Seahawks have entered the chat.
Now, many in Seattle would say, well, why haven't they entered the chat by winning two in a row to be two and one and could have been three and oh had they knocked down a. A pass at the end of the 49ers week one victory in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Sports has entered the chat, you know. The conversation of Cal Raleigh, is he the MVP or is he not? The Seattle Mariners, with three games to go, have a chance to be the number one seed in the American League playoffs.
Might have to go through the. The uh folks uh up there in um T-Mobile Park to get to the World Series potentially.
So Seattle Sports is crushing it right now. Because the Seahawks have now won three in a row. And they've now won a division game. on the road. They've won an East Coast game in an early window.
They keep winning on the road. Nine straight road wins now. For the Seattle Seahawks as Mike McDonald. uh has joined George C uh has has joined Paul Brown pardon me Sean McVay and Don McCafferty. and being behind just George Seifert.
For the most road wins in the first 10 career games as a coach on the road, Seifert won his first 10 road games when he started off for San Francisco. And Mike McDonald, as we all know, was not taking over a Bill Walsh Super Bowl worthy roster and team. And so, what the Seahawks have now done. is one three in a row with a team that dare I say Looks better. than last year's team with Geno and And others?
DK? Jackson Smith and Jigba last night with uh Some big catches in this contest. He uh now Has had his fourth consecutive game with at least 75 yards receiving to start the season. The only ones who have had longer such streaks, four weeks in a row. Uh in the history of the uh Seahawks at the position is the aforementioned DK Metcalf and a guy named Steve Largent.
Uh Sam Darnold now. uh with a um passer rating of one hundred and eleven point four. That's not even an easy listening right there. That's above your radio dial on the FM side of things. 242 pass yards and a score.
15 start with a passer rating of 100 or better since the beginning of 2024. Only Lamar. has more. Sam's slinging it. And it looks like this is a perfect spot for him.
He's up there in Seattle. And Minnesota, we were all focused on what he was doing because nobody expected it. And they were having a terrific season. And was it really all forgazey?
Now it's just like, okay, Sans is kind of toiling in Northwest anonymity. Um getting better. every week. Five career game-winning drives in his first six seasons in the NFL prior to 2024.
Now, He's had seven since he started with the Vikings last year. Only. Mahomes has had as many in that span.
So, Kenneth Walker is still running it defensively. The Seattle Seahawks. have given up 20 or fewer points. To start the season.
So that's working for them as well. First time Seattle's Held an opponent by to 20 or fewer points in each of their first four games. To start a season, 2016 was the last time they did it. They finished 10-5-1, won the division, and lost the NFC Championship game. At the Falcons.
We have Russell Wilson, who according to the prime video individuals. He's played himself, or at least half the panel, has played himself out of the Hall of Fame. Might discuss that later on in the program.
Some interesting comments from the prime video. Studio set inside of State farm last night.
So How good are the Seahawks? And you know what? While we're talking about the Eagles and we're talking about the Bucs, because they're undefeated, the 49ers are undefeated. Folks are surprised about that. The Rams are taking on the Colts.
And here are the Niners. In the NFC West, I mean, pardon me, the Seahawks in the NFC West at 3-1. And next week is when we're really going to start maybe talking about them. In a more significant way nationally, I'd imagine, because the Bucs are coming into town. And if the Bucs beat the Eagles and it's Mayfield first overall in the 2018 draft against Sam Darnold.
Third overall in the 2018 draft in the battle for supremacy of former Carolina Panther quarterbacks. who bounced around the league to find their current spots. Then they're at Jacksonville home for Houston on a Monday night before a buy. The Seahawks could keep stacking wins here, people. And then make the playoffs, which is something.
they need to do to avoid some uh particular numbers they they don't want to hear. Because they've started three in a row, three and one for the third straight season. And each of the two previous seasons, they finished above 500, but didn't make the playoffs. The last team to start 3-1 in three or more. seasons in a row without making the playoffs was Washington in 1977 to 79.
We're talking Jimmy Carter. As the president. That's been a while. I'll say this: I think they're real. I think they're real because Sam Darnold is a real quarterback that we need to actually start considering as such.
He's beginning to play this way in another spot. in another system. And they're getting chunk plays, and he's looking just like the guy last year. It's maybe you're just not paying attention to it. Because it's not Justin Jefferson, it's Jackson Smith and Jigba.
It's not the. Um NFC North, it's the NFC West. This was Sam after the game too. talk about the game-winning drive after the Cardinals tied the game. With 14 unanswered.
to put the ball in Darnold's hands to win it. You know, I think it was uh Just alright, here we go. I'm gonna... you know, get ready for two minute, warm up, and just treat it like practice. I think that's at the end of the day, like when you get in those two minute situations, we run through those situations so much in practice.
So, you know, it's... You know, at the end of the day, that's all I can do is just, you know, be me. Our guys go out there and not do too much and just do whatever the play is called. And then if we got to make an adjustment from there, we go from there. Honestly, Mike McDonald just didn't mince any words when talking about Sam Darnold.
and what he's been able to do for this team that's won three in a row. Sam's playing out of his mind right now. And you see him, he's just like just like a such a cool customer. But he's a guy on a mission. He's just so determined.
for us to be a great team and a great offense and He's doing a great job leading us.
So the way it looks right now, you know, one team makes the playoffs from the previous year that didn't. That means usually some team that made the playoffs from the previous year doesn't. Yep. And um Mm-hmm. You take a look at Sam's old team that he's left.
They're 2-1, trying to get to 3-1 with Carson Wentz. And if not Carson, then my guy, J.J. McCarthy, who.
some people think or is on a four game injury sabbatical. You're looking at the Washington Commanders who might be starting Marcus Mariota again. And when Jaden Daniels was in. The saddle and healthy. They didn't look like world beaters.
I understand it's the first couple weeks of the season. But you're taking a look at what the Niners have done and the... Seahawks have done. You're taking a look at a couple teams from last year's playoffs that better get started sooner rather than later. Because it might get late a little bit early for him.
Just showing you what else is out there in the ether, because if you can run it. And you can throw it. And you've got people that might not be on your fantasy team like A.J. Barner. And you can play defense.
Michigan guy, right? Oh, yes. I'm only mentioning him because he's scoring touchdowns. Yeah, he had a touchdown. And so.
Then you're winning a division game on the road. early on. Which is a nice way to make things up of having a division loss at home. It looks pretty darn good.
Next step for them is Home for Tampa. That's where some rubber is going to meet the road. What do you guys think about it? Yeah, I sent this stat to you guys last night. Shook Capadia from the Ringer posted it.
Through four games, 21% of the Seattle's pass point is to produce an explosive completion. That's the highest rate in the NFL. And that's better than what Sam Darnold was doing last year with Minnesota. He is really balling right now. He is indeed.
Would you take it yes or no? Seattle makes the playoffs. Yeah, your name. Right now, I would say yes. I would agree too.
Yeah, defense, Sam Darnold. Ken Walker stays healthy. He is one of the most explosive backs in the league, and I think that's really huge. You've seen Torrey Horton kind of come on as a third wide receiver. Cooper Cup looks good so far.
Obviously, JSN is balling. That touchdown he had like the little cuts. Oh, which was kind of a BS holding call on JSN, which he had the funny moment with the ref last night. Because that was such a nice ref gave him the dad eyes: like, I'm going to deal with you later. Alex Kemp, because he said that's BS and the microphone.
You might have been right. That was a funny moment. Alan, Kirk, and the crew for Prime Video were all over that. That was laughed out of the ball. I love Seattle so far.
I like them.
Well then who do you take out? Fortunately, probably Minnesota's out. I think Washington's still there when Jaden Daniels is fully healthy and Terry McLaurin is operating on full cylinders. I don't know, dude. I like Minnesota's D, though.
Yeah, if you were to choose one, Minnesota would use Minnesota's defense, it is good. They're in a tougher division. They're in a tougher division. The commanders are going to have one more time against the Giants. We'll see if Jackson Dart turns things around.
They got two against the Cowboys who can't stop a cold defensively. And maybe they do get Philadelphia once. Out of the two, maybe. But we have to see Jaden Daniels come back first and see what he looks like. And McLaurin might be out for a while, which is significant.
Yeah, I want to judge Washington at full strength. But right now, Seattle's looking around and saying. Certainly if the Niners are going to take this base of operations from 3-0 and improve it. or just even tread water. which um would be tough for Seattle.
Because the Niners right now have a chance to sweep Seattle when they. welcome the Seahawks into their midst in the final game of the season. Man, San Francisco winning those two games without Purdy, Mac Jones doing his job, those are going to play to be huge. Amen. And that's why Carson Wentz playing the way that he did in the Battle of the Backups.
We'll see what he does in Ireland to kick things off in the. First of four street weeks of the beautiful, wonderful four windows of football. Which is almost like the 20th. 12 days of Christmas? Pretty much.
Well, I mean, you divide the 12 days of Christmas by three, and you get the four windows of football. I'm gonna pick Minnesota, aren't you? Um, thinking about it. Yeah. But I'm also thinking Pittsburgh in I know they beat New England last week, but they looked terrible.
They were badly outplayed. I'm imagining a turnover battle. I'm imagining, you know. The uh uh Vikings fans will travel. As a matter of fact, who knows?
Maybe some came from Iceland. I was going to say, well, Vikings just go south. I know they are. But I'd imagine the Steelers in Ireland. Are going to have a significant home field advantage.
We'll see what that does look like on NFL network. Um uh on uh on Sunday morning at 9.30 a.m. Eastern. And I'll be there for the kickoff pregame show at 4 in the morning Pacific. And um I'm going to sleep now.
I was going to say, when does that? No, but you know. Don't sleep, if you will, on the Steelers taking care of business again. In that one, I'm not ready to say the Vikings are winning that, but you think the Vikings win that? They're 3-1.
Why would you say them to be out of the playoffs instead of the commanders? I don't know, but then you're taking the Rams out. I'm not taking the Rams out. And you're not going to take the Bucs out either. And Philly and Detroit look like world beaters right now.
And I'm not taking Green Bay out. Right.
So, or on the last Green Bay is the team we saw in week three against Cleveland. I'm moving on from that. I'm page turning from that. And we'll see why on Sunday night football. But that's the conversation is if you put Seattle in, who are you taking out?
But Seattle won 10 games last year. You'd think that'd be enough for the playoffs. They were the eighth seed. They were the odd man out.
Well, that doesn't help. It doesn't help to have a wildcard team with 14 wins. True. Yeah. True.
Definitely. Definitely. That helps knock a 10-win team down a peg. 844-204-Rich is the number dial. Happy to have you.
Out there, whether you're watching us on Disney Plus or the ESPN app everywhere or listening to us on ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance or SiriusXM Channel 80, to call 844-204-Rich and chime on this subject for sure. Um And uh it Good times today. 844-204 rich is the number of dollars. I said Tom Pellicero has checked in. Let's go.
And he's home, and he's not in. Oh, Wi-Fi good. Wi-Fi good. Uh sitting in a parking lot bad. Tom Pellisero when we come back.
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Rules and restrictions apply. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. The Rich Eisen Show. Radio network, ESPN Radio, as well as Disney Plus, as well as the ESPN app everywhere. Tom Palisero joining us here as in usual Friday Spot.
Good to see you, Tom. How are you, sir? Doing great, Rich. What's up to you and my boys in the studio there? I do need to briefly take issue with Brockman using Fab as a verb.
That means that's the acronym, Rich, for free agent acquisition budget. It's never occurred to me to sound it out. If I did, it would probably be FOB, not FAB. But Brockman's over there inventing new words on this show today. I know.
I can't believe he's our commissioner either. It's just, it's insane. But you voted for it. I did not. You did.
A tradition like any other rich complaining about fantasy until he gets his way. I mean, they. The fact that you even choose Yahoo is just insane as well. But I'm sorry, I mean, Yahoo. The majority of people use Yahoo for fantasy.
I don't agree with that. I would go with our partners at ESPN, actually. All right, Tom, let's jump in. Tom, I got things to do. Tom, Tom, Tom.
I got good morning phone ball. Tom, what's going on in Washington? What's with Jaden Daniels saying? It's up to the doctors. I feel good.
Otherwise, what's going on, man? That's the truth. It's a medical decision. You know, it's a real knee sprain that he's got. That's what kept him out last week.
He was limited last Friday, limited Wednesday, Thursday. Not on the field when reporters got out there today, although that was also the case last Friday. To this point, he's not been ruled out. It certainly seems like it's potentially headed toward Marcus Mariota starting against the Falcons on Sunday. And really, this is a long play, if that's the case for the Commanders.
You know, saying nothing ill about the Falcons, although certainly they were a team that has struggled to this point in the season. They were terrible on offense last week, and we get into more of that a little bit later. But if you're thinking about the big picture goals of this team, the last thing you want to do is roll Jaden Daniels out there at 95% in week four against the Falcons and potentially jeopardize something. Dan Quinn's been very direct throughout the process that he's not going to be out there. Jaden's not going to play unless he can do everything.
And to this point, Jaden Daniels has not registered one full practice since he suffered the injury. Injury 12 or whatever that was, two weeks ago. And so this is a situation where. Again, he's not been ruled out, but certainly seems like it's trending toward him not playing this week. And that means Marcus Mariota is going to be out there throwing to people not named Terry McLaurin because he registered a third straight, did not participate in practice today.
It's hard to imagine he's going to be out there this week. No surgery, not long term that we know of at this point for Terry McLaurin, but it does not sound like he's going to be able to go this week. Yeah, I was going to ask, why does one see a core specialist for a second opinion on something that could be a quad? They're trying to figure out if it's something up here that refers to a quad muscle. I mean, not to turn you into a doctor here, but there's a lot of.
I'm trying to wonder what's up. With that. I would put my internet doctor degree, my insider doctor degree on the line here and say, Rich, that the quad, the hip flexor, the core muscles, the groin, they're all interconnected. And so, if you're having some type of pain in that general area, you want to get things checked out. The fact that he saw Dr.
William Myers and did not have surgery, that's a pretty good sign that this is not a major long-term injury. Because generally, when people go see Dr. Myers, I'd say a high percentage of them end up having surgery while they're on that appointment. That's usually how things go, just because if you've got a core muscle injury, you want to get the surgery done as quickly as possible because it's not a fast type of a recovery. Dan Quinn's going to speak to the media shortly here.
I would imagine he's going to address this as week-to-week for Terry McLaurin. But again, barring a real shock, I don't expect him out there on Sunday.
Okay, before we get to the, I guess we've done the knees. We don't have much of a head and we're shoulder. Let's do the toe. Um What's up with Brock Purdy? Does he start?
Sounds like it's headed that direction based on what the 49ers have said publicly and privately. Kyle Shanahan said on the radio yesterday that as long as he keeps feeling better every day, he should be good to go on Sunday. Brock Purdy has sounded the same tone. This was always, you know, two weeks was kind of the baseline. It'll be three weeks on the nose come Sunday.
You know, a week ago, he potentially could have suited up. They just decided it wasn't really worth it at that time. You know, obviously, this is not nearly as significant as the Joe Burrow toe injury. It's a different type of injury. It's on the bottom of the toe, the bottom of the foot for Brock Purdy.
He also banged up his non-throwing shoulder in that same game. Mac Jones went out there and did a good job. Mac Jones also got so banged up in that game that he was limping around just trying to hand off the football to Christian McCaffrey by the end of it.
So they gave all three quarterbacks, Adrian Martinez, too, some first-team reps through the course of this week. But barring a setback, it does sound like we're trending toward Brock Purdy being out there as opposed to a Mac Jones revenge game against the Jaguars on Sunday. while we're on the injury front, who else is in your in your your purview there that you you think we should know about going into the weekend? Tom.
Well, Justin Fields is another one that that seems like he's trending to be out there for Monday night against the Dolphins. He was a full participant in practice yesterday. The way that the concussion protocol is set up is it's five steps, five phases, as they call it. Phase four is non-contact practice. He was able to do that and fully participate in everything yesterday.
So that means the final step here is just clearance from an independent neurologist. Obviously, if he has a setback, if his body and his brain don't react well to the exercise, then we're going to be in a different place. But a full participant three days, four days before a game usually is a sign that that player is going to be on track. And so it seems like it'll be Justin Fields Monday night against the Dolphins.
Okay, so that's one of interest. What about the fact that the. Preseason pup list means you got to miss four games. Looking over the steering wheel with the Texans in dire need of a better rushing attack. Is there any shot of Joe Mixon?
Coming back at all soon at all? What's going on with Mixon? Not a lot of people are. throwing that name around. Tom.
Well, and there's been a sort of cryptic type of sense around that situation since he was first put on the non-football injury list back at the start of training camp. I would point to the public statements that the Texans have made. Nick Casario has been asked about it, has basically just said we'll evaluate him when the four weeks are up. D'Amico Ryans was asked about Mixon a week or so ago and spoke about him in the past tense, saying they missed the things that Mixon brought to the team, but they're moving forward. I would just tell you, Rich, I have not gotten the sense that Mixon is going to be back anytime imminently here, certainly not next week.
Things can change, but there's no sense that the Cavalry's riding in right now with Joe Mixon.
So the Texans absolutely have a lot of things that they've got to figure out offensively. You know, it's kind of been a continuation through these first three weeks of the struggles they had last year. They were able to overcome those struggles to get into the postseason, to get into the playoffs, win a playoff game. But there's just been that sense of how do we get over the hump and the changes they made in the offseason, including the offensive coordinator to. This point has not had the desired effect.
Yes, having Joe Mixon out there, absolutely, from an energy standpoint, the physicality, the downhill nature of his game, all those things. They loved what they got for Mixon last year. When remember it's they got him in kind of a throwaway, you know, low, low-risk trade with a Bengals team that was planning to cut him if they couldn't trade him. Joe Mixon had a great year for the Texans. The fact he's not out there, it's one of the factors, but it's definitely not the sole factor.
And there's a lot of things that the Texans are trying to figure out at this point on offense. One and three, Baltimore at one and three, Kansas City, Tom Pellisero. Xavier Worthy is. Is ready to roll. He's got a brace.
Doesn't not have a brace. What's the scoop with Xavier Worthy? Oh, wait a minute. Really quick. I just got a text.
Dan Quinn announcing DQ has ruled Jaden Daniels out.
So indeed, he will be out for Sunday. Marcus Mariota gets the ball once again. With Xavier Worthy. This was a situation where once they knew that it wasn't something, a major long-term type of injury, the hope was sooner than later, Xavier Worthy would be able to wear a harness, get out onto the field, and be able to play again. But there's an element of getting comfortable with the harness.
Basically, when you dislocate your shoulder, and again, I'm going to put my insider doctor degree to work here. When you dislocate the shoulder, you tear ligaments, you tear the labrum, and it's going to be a risk of popping in and out. What the harness does is it keeps that thing from dislocating, but it can be very uncomfortable. There are players who have, you know, a shoulder that sublexes or dislocates on a regular basis. They don't want to wear the harness because it's uncomfortable because it changes just their ball carrying, how they're holding the football.
So this was something where Xavier Worthy, they were hopeful last week he'd be comfortable, just wasn't comfortable by the end of the week. But this idea that this was a more severe injury or he could miss time, it was never really realistic. We'll see. He registered a full participation in practice. That's a really good sign that he'll be out there this week.
They just want to make sure. That he is comfortable. And Rich, I would say this: we've talked a lot about the Chiefs and what's ailing them, why the offense doesn't look the same. If they get Xavier Worthy back this week, and then two weeks from now they get Rashid Rice back, who's already back in the building for them, that's your top two wide receivers. Take any team in the NFL, take away their top two receivers.
It's going to be a challenge to be effective offensively. There's certainly other issues that they have to smooth out. You know, is Travis Kelsey going to be able to find it here? Are they going to be able to run the football effectively at some point? But getting those top two wide receivers back by mid-season, if they can just kind of surf through these next three games, win one or two of them, and be in position, there's no reason to think that the Chiefs can't put this thing together offensively once they're back to full strength.
Tom Pellisero here on The Rich Island Show, breaking news, looking at his phone, focusing on the task at hand. It's incredible. He's just spinning plates right here. What else you got now? Terry McLaurin is also being evaluated week to week.
Doctors did not clear Jaden Daniel.
So it's effectively exactly what I just said.
So just go use AI and just have me say it firmly as opposed to it. Here's that to show that I nailed it. Never. The first time before Dan Quinnston ran. The what natural intelligence of Tom Pellisero here on The Rich Eisen Show.
Walk me through your reporting on why Jackson Dart now. for the Giants, Tom. It was time. There was just no way that Brian Dable was going to be able to walk into that locker room, go to the coaches, go in front of the fans against they got another home game at MetLife Stadium against the Chargers on Sunday and say, this guy gives us the best chance to win. That red zone sequence, Rich, if that's the last time that we see Russell Wilson as QB1 anywhere in the NFL, it's really unfortunate because Russell Wilson, you know, I've seen debates.
Is he a Hall of Famer? You know, you can argue that. I don't know how many times in his career, Russell Wilson was, you know, one of the absolute best at his position, but he's been a really good quarterback for a really long time and he's won a ton of games. That was really hard to watch. It's been hard to watch Russ, frankly, for five years now.
His last year in Seattle and then going one and done with four consecutive coaching staffs, lasting only three games with the Giants. There's just an element of his game, which was his ability to extend plays to. Create things off schedule to make things happen down the field that seem to have left him. And I know the week before, we can be very, you know, recently have a lot of recency bias. The week before in Dallas, you know, those moon balls were hitting.
But what you saw in that game against the Chiefs when they were taking away Malik neighbors the way that they were was Russ trying to come up in the pocket and he just couldn't get out. He's trying to extend place. He's trying to throw the ball down the field and it just wasn't working. To have four downs starting at the four-yard line. With a goal-to-go situation down, two touchdowns.
This is your last gasp opportunity. He throws the ball away on first down, gets a grounding penalty. Second down calls his own number and runs. Third and fourth down throws the ball away. That's it.
And I don't mean to overly simplify this. There's a lot of different factors. We kind of knew the moment that the Giants trade up to number 25, that it was a matter of time until Jackson Dart got his opportunity. Russell Wilson was not the top choice in the offseason for the Giants. Is there a parallel universe where the Giants don't win a late season game and lose out on the number one pick?
And they've got Cam Ward starting for week one? Absolutely, but that doesn't exist. We live in reality here. And the reality is, Russell Wilson is a nearly 37-year-old quarterback who is an ultimate competitor and a great guy, and they love him in the room, but it just wasn't there for him to be the quarterback of this team. And so instead of having what you had last week, Rich, even when Russ was still starting, which was when they'd put Jackson Dart in the game for a play, the crowd would cheer, and then they'd put Russ back in, and Russ would get booed.
You take that part away from it. It should be an electric atmosphere at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. They have not had a lot of those atmospheres, at least since the 2022 playoff season. Is Jackson Dart? We're about to find out on Sunday.
But to be just completely honest, it can't be worse than what we saw from Russ and that entire offense last Sunday night. This is a new start for a Giants regime that needs to show progress. There's no doubt about it in 2025. And I'm as intrigued and excited to see what Jackson Dart can do as anybody else.
So, just picking up what you're putting down here. Um and It was Russ's ineffectiveness that kind of forced the hand here, is what you're saying. And you said he couldn't walk into that locker room? Are you hearing that there are some people in that locker room that are saying? We need to see the kid.
Tom? What I would say is, you know, that your receivers are getting frustrated when they're not getting opportunities. You can see that on Malik Neighbors. You put on the tape, Rich. We can sit back and watch it and just go, what was that?
It was one of the worst red zone sequences I've ever seen in my life. I hear you. The inexplicability of throwing the ball away, not targeting a receiver in four downs. It's just, it's hard to square. And so, you know, listen, again, was Russell Wilson their top choice in the offseason?
No. I mean, they were in on different trades. They were in on different signings. They were in on Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. And again, if they had the number one pick, they're probably drafting Cam Warden.
We're not talking about any of this, but they really, really like. Jackson Dart. One other point I would make, Rich: something the Giants liked about Dart in the pre-draft process was the layers to his game. The fact that they saw a guy who, based upon the size and the athletic ability, you can run pass options, you can run read options with Dart, you can get him out on the move. That was a part of Russell Wilson's game early in his career.
It's not part of his game now. And when we've seen Brian Dayball's offense at its best, it's been with Josh Allen in Buffalo, and it's been the first year with Daniel Jones in New York where Jones was healthy and they ran the crap out of it with him. There were times where he was rushing the ball almost as much as he was throwing the ball. I don't know exactly what the formula is, but I would say when teams are taking away Malik Neighbors and Wandale Robinson, you're trying to figure out how to get on the ball, one of the best things any offense can do is establish the run threat, make the defense account for the quarterback as a runner, which changes the math and how they run all the coverages against you. And I anticipate that they will at least establish that in this game starting on Sunday.
All right. Before I let you go, Tom, the question I ask you every week: who's. Which is the team or the coach or the player that's Most, I guess, popular amongst those in the league hitting you up on your phone for information or just curiosity or just want to gossip about. Tom I'll mention two because there were three teams, Rich, that made a significant change in this past week. One was the Giants, obviously, bunching Russell Wilson and going to Jackson Darr.
Number two was the Falcons. They're coming off of getting shut out. By the Panthers, just absolutely unwatchable performance from that offense. Michael Pennix, by Raheem Morris's own admission. Had a very bad day at the office.
It was bad. It could not have gone a whole lot worse. Michael Pennix Jr., since he took over last year as the starter, if you look over his six games or you look at the three games this year, statistically, he's one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. It's a very small sample size with a young-ish quarterback. I won't call him young because I think he's 25.
He played six years of college football, but he's certainly young within the NFL. And so you're trying to go through a growth process. And that's where Raheem Morris has shot down the idea of benching Michael Pennix and going to Kirk Cousins and making $27.5 million as the backup. He said, I will let you know. Michael Pennix is the quarterback until I tell you otherwise.
Well, At what point might he tell us otherwise? They fire their wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard. They move Zach Robinson from the booth down to the sideline. They have TJ Yates take over coaching the wide receivers. Those are substantial types of moves to try to get this offense going.
It's not, I won't say it's a panic move, but it's certainly establishing: hey, this isn't going well, but they're not putting the blame right now on Michael Pennix Jr. If after these changes things don't get better and two, three weeks from now, the offense is still struggling. The pressure is going to ramp up. And so I've gotten plenty of people asking: what exactly is happening right now in Atlanta? The other one is the Tennessee Titans, who made a substantial move.
By having Brian Callahan hand over play calling duties to the quarterbacks coach, Bo Callahan, bypassing the offensive coordinator Nick Holes. That's a product of a couple of things. You know, it's in part because Bo Callahan, excuse me, not Bo Callahan, that's a good one, though. Bo Hardigree has called plays before with the Raiders as the interim head coach, but also interim offensive coordinator, but also because he's around Cam Ward on a daily basis. Those two have a natural rapport.
This allows Brian Callahan now to try to zoom out, take a broader picture of the entire team, the defense, the special teams. When things happen on Sundays, Rich, like taking a delay of game before a field goal, that reflects on many people, but specifically on the head coach.
So this is Callahan saying, I'm going to try to take a more global view of this team. There's plenty of times where people give up play calling and it's a prelude to not a pretty ending. There's other times like when Nick Siriani gave up in Philadelphia that end up being a turning point because you focus on building culture and you focus on coaching the whole team as opposed to having your head down and calling plays in the offense. Brian Callahan is plenty smart for the job. There's a reason that they hired him as the head coach like 20 months ago.
He has not been there that long. There's a lot of stuff that Mike Borganzi and that front office staff that's almost entirely new have to get done on the roster. You know, they trade away Jarvis Brownlee, one of their starting corners to the Jets just because he wasn't a fit for what they're building right now. But this certainly amps up a level of pressure on Tennessee. They're going into Houston.
Both teams, 0-3, of course, the Titans used to be the Oilers. Amy Adam Strunk, the owner, is from Houston. There's a lot of dynamics here in terms of let's watch and see how both these teams do on Sunday because one of those teams, Rich, is falling to 0-4, and that is not going to be a fun building to wake up to on Monday morning. Tom, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it.
As for Bo Callahan, you should look into why people didn't go to his birthday party. Ryan Callahan and Bo Hardigree. That is a combined theme. That makes sense. It makes sense.
And look into Vantae Mack because somebody's going to take him no matter what. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Tom Pillisera right here on the Rich Eyes. And show good to see you Tommy P.
Okay. It's all good. See you, buddy. These things happen. That's right.
They happen, you know, case in point. famous uh Syracuse quarterback Kirk Herbstree. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. It's been a fun week. Yeah.
Wow, we're back. Steve Young's going to join us an hour or two. How about them, apples? The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Presented by Progressive Insurance, Insurance for Motorcycles, Boats, and RVs.
For protection on the road and on the water, see how much you can save at 1-800-Progressive and progressive.com. Listen. All right. Let's jump into this here. We just showed in our uh TV only segment to top 10 or half of a top 10 list that I did a few years ago of top 10 quarterback.
NFL quarterback birthday parties I'd most want to attend. It was a fun List topped by Gardner Minshew. I remember you came up with that list like 15 minutes before the show. It's because you know why? Because the subtext or the inspiration, if you will, was a headline that had just popped.
That People Teammates of Russ's in Denver didn't want to go to his birthday party. Remember that one? Even though he had some house with like 18 million bathrooms. Right, and a million bathrooms and all of that stuff. And That was the inspiration for that top 10 list.
And here we are again. Here we are again, our our friends on the the prime video Uh Studio said. I've done before many years the Thursday night production team. With Prime Video, I know a lot of them because they were on the Thursday night studio set for us on the road. on NFL network.
And so at any rate Tony Gonzalez said something very strong. And that Russ essentially played himself out, has played himself out of the Hall of Fame. that his first several years in in Seattle were Hall of Fame worthy. And as Tom Pellicero just said, his last five years. The two in In last two in Seattle, two in Denver, last year in Pittsburgh, and now I guess this year, first three games.
Yeah. With the Giants Um have been very unrust-like from this first few years. And I got to be honest with you. And you know, I'm a big Russ fan. We have a special place for him because he back in the day was a.
A guest before he played a snap in the NFL on our. Um season preview, Rich Eyes and Podcast. T V Show And he's been a friend of this program, but it's tough to push back on what Tony had to say. We're waiting for his career pivot. One last act, similar to, I guess, what Kurt did in Arizona after he was.
Benched for a rookie quarterback in New York. That was Eli taken first overall, and he was benched at it. I guess when they were above 500, I think they were 5-4 when he got benched. And then he goes to Arizona and there's Matt Leinert. And we're all wondering: is Kurt really a Hall of Famer?
And then we saw Kurt's a Hall of Famer. We're waiting for that pivot for us, and it hasn't happened. And it might have happened in week two. We were thinking, who knows? That kind of a higher wretch today?
Is Russ going to do this again? And maybe if they won that game, I don't know. If they had won that game, they'd be one and two. But again, the way that Tom's was reporting What I am also hearing, what Mark Schlerith also mentioned the other day. is the final four snaps in that red zone.
Yeah. With three minutes and change to go against Kansas City, we're so substandard, we're so shocking, we're so off the charts bad that you can't go into your own locker room and your own fan base and your own media, local media, and go, We're going to go back with Russ again when we drafted this kid 25th overall, and everybody's clamoring for him. And maybe the players are looking at the coach and going, Do you know what you're doing? And so it's tough to say if Russ is going to get another chance to start. And guess what?
It could actually happen. This year. Obviously, you never know.
Well, I mean, look at J.J. McCarthy. He had the fourth quarter for the ages in his career, first career start on the road. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Week based on that one quarter. Certainly wasn't the first three quarters of that.
And then four quarters later, he's out for four games. You know what I mean? And here's Carson Wentz. And now everyone's like, is this Carson Wentz's second chance? Mm-hmm.
You know, is this it? The life comes at you fast.
So, Russ could be back in there because it's not Jameis that's. In the two spot right now, there in New York. But it's tough to push back on what Tony Gonzalez had to say: that he's played himself. Out of the Hall of Fame Because he was on that trajectory. He goes to Denver that paid him, that paid him.
What a Top-notch elite quarterback gets. And then also, pay. paid Seattle in draft choices what you pay. pay them to get a top-notch elite quarterback. And then Sean Payton comes in and goes, this ain't it.
We're dead capping him. to a record pace and then we all saw what happened in Pittsburgh and what's happening now. with the giants. Steve Young, maybe we'll ask him on this question coming up in an hour or two. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
Mm-hmm.
