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Now. On with the show. All I give a damn about the back. God, I love that guy. This is The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Tom Pellisera, live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Hajis grounds it back to Kirkery. He can't find it. He throws home! It's one. Earlier on the show.
Jason McCordy, Ross Dellinger. Coming up. Giants linebacker Brian Burns. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pellisero. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show.
It is indeed Tom Pellisero in for Rich today. He is in London getting set to call the Broncos and Jets game. And by getting ready, I mean at dinner, I believe, right now. Have we checked to see? Whether the Instagram stories have been updated, great question.
We will get to that. We are on Disney Plus. We are on the ESPN app. We are also on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. Brian Burns.
One of the stars of the Giants breakthrough game last night, knocking off the defending Super Bowl champs, going to be joining us in just a little bit here. We got a whole chock full of slate. of games coming up too. On Sunday. I'll be back.
Next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, but specifically Monday, we'll have a ton. to break down, including The imminent debut. of Joe Flacco. Cincinnati Bengal. His star receiver, by the way, Jamar Chase, officially going to be listed as questionable, came down with an illness last night.
So, for all those reps, you don't have a lot of them in a game week. Just slice that now by one-third. There's even fewer opportunities for Joe Flacco and Jamar Chase to kind of try to work out the rhythm and timing. But Joe Flacco, just a short time ago during the show. Was at the podium, talked about the moment that he heard he had been traded within the state of Ohio from the Browns to the Bengals.
Uh Crazy business, you know, you have to be ready for anything. That's kind of what it was. Definitely didn't have this on my list of things that were, you know, going to happen.
So. Um But hey, that's this league. And and and I'm a player. I think most players would say the same thing. I mean You know what?
I like to play football and If that's in Cincinnati right now, then I'm all for it. Two years ago. Right now. Joe Flacco is out of the league. He's on his couch.
No one has signed him. He's trying to figure out: is he going into broadcasting? What's he going to do for the rest of his life? The Browns go through a bunch of other quarterbacks. Everybody gets hurt.
Leads them to the playoffs. Think of this. In a 24-month span, Has come off the couch, led the Browns to the playoffs, gone to Indianapolis, backed up Anthony Richardson, gotten to take over for Anthony Richardson before they went back to Anthony Richardson, returns to Cleveland, wins a sort of quarterback battle where basically everyone else was hurt through the course of camp and there wasn't a whole lot of options, but they also. liked Flacco enough for him to be the guy now gets traded to Cincinnati. And we'll face the Packers on Sunday, literally five days.
After he got traded, here's what Flacco had to say about that preparation time. You honestly just have like I said, it it goes back to just I think my personality probably ends up Helping me here, but you just kind of have to go with it and embrace whatever it is. Meet it head on and and then also like when you when you're in these situations Um it's a good reminder of the fact that we get to play a game for a living. And You know, try not, it makes it almost a little bit easier to not make it bigger than it actually is. All right, so Joe Flacco walks in the door.
To a Bengals team that had such high expectations, right? You think through their entire offseason. You re-sign Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. You get Trey Hendrickson back after a protracted back and forth.
Joe Burrow is finally healthy. He's got a normal offseason. He's got everything in front of him. I sat down with Joe in training camp. And I was asking like, what what's the next step?
And he basically what he said was like, I It's perfection, and I think I'm like pretty close to it. This is a guy who we're talking about as an MVP candidate. Gets heard almost immediately, week two of the season. Jake Browning, who you would have regarded going into the season, is probably a top 10 backup. in the NFL.
Nothing goes right. Three games riddled with turnovers, three losses, two and three. And now in comes Joe Flacco. who has a foundation in the offense. But if you go back through the course of time.
When we've had trades, when we've had signings, it is really, really rare to acquire a quarterback more than any other position. and start 'em that week. whether it's when the Vikings acquired Sam Bradford, when it's any number of other those types of deals, usually you need a week just to acclimate. But part of the challenge for the Bengals was next week, they don't have a normal week.
Next week is a Thursday night game against the Steelers.
So, if you don't give Joe Flacco all the reps, and again, he misses out on a day of them with his top receiver, but if you don't give him all the reps this week, The soonest you would give him a normal week would be going into week eight. And by that point, you might be two and five, and it doesn't matter anymore because the season's over.
So Zach Taylor comes out yesterday and says, Joe is starting. That's the plan. He is going to be the starter on Wednesday. That's kind of out of necessity here. You need something to jumpstart you.
You're in a hostile environment in Green Bay, a Packers defense that has already seen you once. And essentially shuts you down for 50, what, 57, 58 minutes? The Browns offense did not score a point. Did not score a touchdown anyway against the Packers. They only get the opportunity on a short field because Jordan Love throws a terrible interception that allows them to flip the game and they punch one in.
It's not like Joe Flacco lit these guys up. Yeah, it was his one win this season with the Browns. But it was the defense that drove That game. FICO played well enough out of the gate. Against the Bengals, that but for a missed field goal, they're winning that game.
I understand why Cincinnati has to do it. His physical skill set. is a fit. Because of the processing ability, see it, rip it. He's always had great arm twitch, very subtle.
Find mechanics that help him fit into an offense like that, but he's 40. I mean, the last time we saw Joe Flacco. It was a game that was so bad. That the Browns had to go to Dylan Gabriel sooner than they wanted to. Right.
Going into this season, we are going to see Dylan Gabriel or Shadur Sanders at some point. You did not want to start. If you're the Browns, you're Kevin Stefansky. Dylan Gabriel in the initial gauntlet of your season. Flacco was so bad in the Lions game, they basically went.
All right, we gotta, yeah, we were facing Brian Flores in London this week, but we. We gotta do something different. Because when you don't, when you continue to play somebody who's not playing well. Just like with the Giants when they went to Jackson Dart, ideally you would have gone longer with Russ. But you'd get to a certain point, the locker room always knows.
And if you got a guy who's throwing the ball away. He's not making plays. You can't stick with him. Which Exactly what's happened in Cincinnati, too. They've seen Jake Browning have a lot of success.
But the Jake Browning last week that throws three picks and puts you in another hole, you can't go on like it. Right. I know the question Susie asked me on this show yesterday was: is this an upgrade? I don't know. That's the honest truth.
It is going to be dependent on. How Joe Flacco comes out and plays. He's not going to extend plays like Jake Browning. He's not going to get outside the pocket. He's probably going to be a little bit better at playing on rhythm.
But is he going to protect the football better? He didn't do it in Cleveland. That's why he's got the starter there now. Let's see what type of plan. They got good coaches there from Zach Taylor to Dan Pitcher.
They've got guys who know that position. Let's see what type of game plan they put out there for him. Again, going into a place that's really, really tough to win against one of the most talented defenses in the NFL. Right out of the gate. Yeah, Vegas isn't expecting much.
They're two touchdown underdogs to the Packers. Woo! I mean, Micah Parsons. The defense is healthier. The offensive line is healing up.
For Green Bay. The biggest issue the Packers have is Brandon McManus, the kicker's got a quad injury and might not be able to go. McManus says he can go. You don't want to be, I mean, ask the Browns, any number of teams about that. Going with a backup kicker could be a challenge at times.
But on paper, there's every reason to think this should be all Packers. But you're just trying to get, hey, let's get some juice going here. Let's maybe be able to play a little bit differently than we were. With Jake Browning. That is, to me, that is one of The game's the week.
We've got the Broncos at the Jets. That's the game Rich will be calling. Over in London. I am interested. in this game.
Because as much as, and you heard it from Rich, they're saying the right things about, hey, this is like what it was in Detroit in the early going with Dan Campbell. That took a year and a half. Not only did it take a year and a half to start winning. The owner had to talk to reporters at the bye week that second year and basically be like, hey, I'm not firing the guy. There were real questions like, are they gonna fire everybody?
Yeah. And to her credit, Sheila Ham Ford came out and said, like, these are our guys. We believe in them. We believe in the culture. This is what we're doing.
Because they were seeing it behind the scenes. The last thing we saw from Aaron Glenn was him, you know, yelling at people in the locker room so loud that people could hear it. The defense has been a disaster. And this Jets team, I don't think that it's outlandish to say, is probably more talented than what they had in Detroit in the early going. They had a more veteran quarterback and Jared Goff who had won more games than Justin Fields.
But I also look at this as like a Justin Fields type of problem. They got a lot invested in that defense. You paid Sauce Gardner, you paid Quinn Williams. You've invested on that side of the football. They get Jermaine Johnson back this week, which should help.
You should not be. Statistically, one of the worst 2-3 defenses in the league. And that's what they are. Right now. So can the Jets come out against the Broncos offense that's kind of It's been a little bit up and down through the course of the season.
Maybe a little bit of a second-year regression. You know that Denver's going to have a plan. Vance Joseph did a hell of a job in the second half last week. They're going to challenge this Jets' offense. But can the Jets' defense show up?
Can they actually create a turnover? It should not be this difficult to take the football away. It has been for the Jets. Let's see. I I don't draw a lot of corollaries to last year.
where Robert Sola was several years into his build. And Woody Johnson, who's over there having events with his buddies from his ambassador days. Obviously. Was already frustrated with the team and fire saw on a Tuesday morning, right before we're about to do this show. But I would say for a team that Probably had higher expectations, certainly than 0-5.
We didn't expect 0-5. There's going to be real. Questions and issues that they're going to have to answer here in the coming weeks. beyond just how do we start winning games it's also Do we need to start trading people? If this is a bigger build than maybe we were even thinking, do we need to be sellers at the trade deadline?
Do we trade Brees Hall? Can we trade and Alan Lazard. Can we trade some of those other pieces that might not be the greatest fits in the big picture? They're not trading sauce. They're not trading, I wouldn't think they're trading Quinn-Williams, though certainly they'd have a market if they were going to listen.
They're not trading Garrett Wilson. But are there things that you can do? Those are the questions that the Jets are going to have to answer. For the Broncos, it's keeping pace in what right now looks like a wide open AFC West. Everywhere except Las Vegas, at least.
Take on the Titans at home. That's not going to be. I don't know what percentage of the country is seeing that game. I doubt it's high. But to me, that is a fascinating game.
We're not going to get a lot of Hansen updates on red zone from that game? It is all dependent on exactly how many times that ball crosses the 20-yard line. But I would think that this is not a game a lot of people are paying attention to, but it is significant. Pete Carroll has been the number one advocate for Geno Smith. during his career renaissance.
not only gave him the opportunity, in Seattle. stood by him, was willing to trade away Russell Wilson and give Geno a shot to be a true starter. But then traded for him again this offseason, gave him a raise. Geno Smith is making $40 million guaranteed this season. I misspoke slightly yesterday.
There are no guarantees beyond 2026 in this contract. But even the guarantees that are there for 2026, it's $18.5 million. This is not like a Russell Wilson style. We got to eat two years of salary type of thing, was the point that I was trying to make. If this thing needs to pivot away from Geno Smith, it can happen.
And no amount of The good graces of Pete Carroll is going to keep him in the lineup if you get to that point. Like we're talking about with the Bengals or the Browns or the Giants, where guys look around and go, we can't win like this. I've been baffled. By what's happened to the Raiders, because I was there week one. In Foxborough.
Right. Where Gino in the second half of that game played well. Lit it up. The. Obviously, the thread here is he had Brock Bowers until the fourth quarter of that game.
Brock Bowers has not been the same since, didn't play last week, doesn't sound like he's playing this week. That's going to make a bigger challenge when you're talking about. This is the centerpiece of the entire offense. But just reading into the public comments and knowing how bad it's been. You must be not thinking Kenny Pickett can be an upgrade.
Otherwise, I would think you might even be entertaining making the move now. But when you're saying, hey, how do we get Gino better? We got to run it more? That, of course, has been Pete Carroll's philosophy. the whole time throughout throughout his time in g in Seattle, But it also speaks to We gotta take.
the pressure off the quarterback as opposed to just counting on the quarterback. Play him better. Yeah, according to the Google Gemini Tom, about 12 to 15% of the country is going to get Raiders Titans on their local affiliate. That does seem high. Rams Ravens, the other huge one here.
Again, does not sound like Lamar is going to go. John Harbaugh has not officially ruled him out yet, but you haven't seen him on the practice field since he suffered the hamstring injury. It's a huge game for both teams. It's the Rams' opportunity to get one here. They could easily be 5-0.
They've let a couple of games get away from them late, including the Eagles' game. And the game last week on Thursday night, they've had a longer, you know, the mini-buy to rest up, and they're going against the Ravens team that is going to get some people back. Doesn't sound like they're getting the quarterback back. And they are battered. Right now.
So, huge games ahead coming up on Sunday. We got week six kicked off with a bang last night. It was all Giants against the defending Super Bowl champs, and our guest on the other side of this break was a massive part of it: Brian Burns, co-leader in the NFL in Sachs. He's with us live next on the Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Isa Show Podcast.
The Rich Eyes in Show across Disney Plus, the ESPN app and ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance. We haven't taken a call. Throughout the course of this show, which Terzo knows because he's currently two hours and twenty three minutes on hold. L let's bring him out. We're gonna Brian Burns will be here momentarily.
But Terzo in Iowa, what do you got, sir? All right. What up, Terzo? What up guys, what up Tommy Pete? It's always a pleasure to talk to you, my man.
Hey, so talking about the nine or buck game on Sunday, it's interesting if either one of these teams, I think whoever comes out. And depending on what happens with Detroit, might very well be in the driver's seat for the number one seat in the NFC given the fact that the Eagles lost last night.
So that's kind of interesting there. And I think with the Eagles right now, they have a lot of issues in that locker room, and I think it's really just starting to bubble up. And it's tough to see that happen to these teams at times, especially after winning the Super Bowl. Here's the thing with the the Eagles. We've been down this road before, Terzo.
Like the reports on the dynamics and players not getting along, and people don't like the quarterback. We've seen this movie.
so many times that I feel like at least personally I am girded toward They're going to figure it out. It's going to work out. But you raise a fantastic point, which is. If it's not the Eagles. If they're not the team to beat, Rich said earlier this hour, it's the Lions.
Who is the team? you don't want to see. If it's the 49ers, they're down Nick Bosa. He's not coming back. At some point here in the not too distant future, Brock Purdy should be back.
The wide receiver core has been completely decimated. Incrementally, guys should get back. Brand Ayuk's still a ways out, but you'd think they're getting players back. Tampa's been gutted too. Tampa's the team that right now scares me because they can score.
And if they figure it out, Terzo, I would think. That Bucs team would be one that nobody is going to want to be seen just because they seem like, regardless of circumstances, regardless of who's out. they can generate points on a week in, week out basis. Yeah, and I have to completely agree, and I think it's going to be a pretty good game on Sunday, and just hoping the Niners can pull it out and continue to be. uh in that first place spot in uh NFC West.
Terzo, thank you very much for the call. We appreciate you here. One other injury note, by the way, Saints running back Alvin Kamara. Dealing with an ankle? Officially questionable on the injury report.
Kendra Miller sees that doesn't necessarily mean he's not going to play. We have seen more of Kendra Miller recently. Chimera is still a core part, though, of the operation. If you have him plugged in as your flex, like I do. Almost weekly uh in fantasy.
Uh you're hoping that uh You're hoping he's going to be able to go. Week six. Got going last night. It was a. Heck of a night.
to be a New York giant and one of the guys who you saw all over The screen was Brian Burns, two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher, well on his way to a third, tied for the NFL lead in Saxony. Joins us right now on the Rich Eisen Show with me, Tom Pilcero. Brian, great to see you, man. What's it like? Dude, there haven't been a ton of these moments since you got to New York.
What's it like waking up today after a win like that over the defending champs? Man, it feels great, you know, just to do it in prime time Thursday night, and against the Eagles just makes it all better.
So in the second half last night, You guys shut them out. It was unbelievable. Were there adjustments you made? Were there things you saw in the first half? Or how did you guys lock it down to the extent that you did after halftime?
It really just kept the emphasis on shutting out the run completely. You know, making sure we were tightening the back end and, you know, trying to disrupt Herks as much as we can. And, you know, everybody was just on one accord. We was all on one page and everything executed well. How about Cordale Flott?
I don't know how many people, your average fan watching last night on Prime Video, have that name at the tip of their tongue, but the dude's been making plays for you. That's a huge play swing in that game last night. Yeah, man. Flopped been balling left and right, you know, all year. He's been pretty locked down.
He's been good at tackling on the perimeter. Yeah, I ain't gonna lie. I feel like that was the dagger of the night. Like, that just sucked out all the air. from the Eagles and after that it was over.
So there's a lot of people, maybe even some people in this room, Chris Brockman, who were surprised by the outcome of the game last night. You guys in the locker room, it's a short week. Thursday games can always be a little bit weird, but were you guys surprised at all that you played the way you did on that stage? Nah, man, I knew we were always capable. We were always this close, but this was the first time, you know.
that every phase was pure dominance in my opinion, from stress of teams to offense to defense. We all had our splash plays and our moments, and it was a sight to see. Tell me about your quarterback. Jackson Dart. He is his own guy.
You see it in the celebrations. You're already laughing. Just tell me the experience of knowing and playing with Jackson Dart.
Well Dark Dark brings a lot of excitement to the game. He's electric. You know, the amount of focus he has is... it's uncommon for a rookie to have that and you know i think that's kid's gonna do a lot of special things in new york But yeah, the combo with him and Scat, like both of them boys are crazy. They're actually insane, but I love them, bro.
They bring it straight juice and they're fearless. I don't know if you can see the photos we're showing while you're talking. Yeah, I can see Scatamu's out there with no, he ripped his shirt off, Hulk Hogan style, on the Prime Video postgame. Him and Dart have all these different celebrations. This is, it's like stepbrothers.
Like, this is a movie right here. Yeah, man, I ain't gonna lie, it's special, man. I love to see that. Is Scataboo, I mean this in the kindest way possible. Is he all there?
Like, do you ever worry about him? Because there's things he says and things he does where I'm like, I'm slightly concerned about him right now. I'm not sure. We got to come back to that. But all I know is he's the same guy every day.
That's Scat. That's who you're going to get. That type of energy, man, that is contagious. But yeah, you're a crazy individual. From an athletic standpoint, we're currently showing him upside down here flipping.
I've seen you do some of these things too, Brian. From an athletic standpoint, where does he rank on the 2025 Giants? I don't know. He's up there though. He's definitely top 10.
If not top 5, because I never thought I'd see him do a backflip.
So. It seems like that, the punishing style, too, with the way he's able to close out of the game, that seems like the match for what you guys do defensively. To me, that was the Eagles have been the bullies. I said this earlier in the show: the Eagles have been the bullies for years now in that division. You bullied them last night.
On both sides of the football. Where did that come from and how much of that is just kind of a part of the team's mentality right now. No, that's definitely part of the team's brutality. And just a reference to how Scatt runs, that's his whole game. But other than that, man, you know, we're just putting everything together.
Like the details are getting better, the preparation is getting better, and that's causing us to come out here and have the success. You're 27. It seems like you just keep getting better year over year. Certainly, the production keeps getting better, and you're off to maybe the best start you've had in your career. How have you gone about?
taking your game to the next level here. Oh man, I had a lot of talks with myself, you know, just reflecting over like how I wanna, how I want my play to look. you know, as well as master production. And, you know, I just took the steps necessary in OTAs and. and training camp to, you know, um.
To get that done, you know, just being more disciplined, holding myself accountable. And my big brother been on me.
So, you know, got to listen to big brother.
So. Do you at any point run out of sack celebrations? I'm always curious about this because, like, you probably cook up a certain number during the season. Right now, you're on pace for a little over 20 sacks here. Like, do you have to kind of generate some new ones here?
Yeah. I ain't gonna lie, man. I'm gonna have a handbook. I'm gonna just start writing down this thing I think. I'm not gonna run out of nothing.
How many movies I can go back to? I can find something trust me.
So, all right, so you got the long, the long weekend here, which is great. It's even better after a win to kind of recuperate a little bit extra here. How do you guys as a team, how do you go about carrying over all that juice, all that energy, a huge win? And doing it again, just doing it over and over and putting yourself in a position where it's a Giants team that's playing relevant football in December. Yeah, man.
Like I say, every Sunday is his own Sunday, you know, and I treat them all in their own individually. Just all by itself. And, you know, we just got to keep doing it over and over again. We can't get excited that we could do it one time. We got to get excited that we can continue to do it and, you know, building this momentum and go on the run.
That's what it's about.
So, does this feel like a team that's capable of a run? In other words, we're sitting here and you're on the show again in January. Are you surprised if you guys are a playoff team or pushing to be in the playoffs? No, I wouldn't be surprised. I feel like there's a lot of talent in that building.
If we could continue to play complimentary football the way we did last night. You know, the sky's the limit for us.
So what do you get into this weekend? Are you a I'm going to sleep 16 hours a day because I got a few extra days off? Are you taking a trip? Like, what do you do with your little extra, your extra little buy here? Yeah, nah, man.
I'm going to get out a little bit, you know, probably go get some dinner, probably see a show or something. I'm going to enjoy this little weekend we got off, though, for sure. But I'm not going to stay in the house all weekend. What kind of show does Brian Burns want to see? You're in the hub of Broadway there.
There's concerts. What kind of thing are you trying to find? I'm really open to anything. You know, uh you know New York you can't unpack New York. Maybe ever, but um but I'm down to you know try new things and you know try to outsource a little bit.
We appreciate it, man. No, it's been a busy 24 hours here, so keep it rolling. It was fun to watch, man, last night. It's fun to have positive New York Giant stories to talk about, man.
So appreciate you being here. I appreciate you, man. It was a blessing. Brian Burns, congrats, man, pass rusher. Every time you looked up last night, it's Brian Burns making plays.
Think back to that trade. And again, I don't mean to keep bringing this back to Saquon. But they got Brian Burns without giving up a first-round pick. Mm-hmm. Obviously, he didn't have a future in...
Carolina. The Panthers got in their minds, the equivalent of a first-round pick out of it with a couple of twos. To get a guy who's producing at that level, a young up-and-coming pass rusher, those opportunities. Don't come about very often. It made sense for Dan Morgan and the Panthers at that point, kind of in the same way that we talk about.
Why the Giants ultimately didn't Try to make one more effort to keep Saquon, which is: were the Panthers a pass rusher away? For winning the Super Bowl. in 2024. Probably not. But the Giants felt like this is the building block.
Nope. We can Get the most out of this guy. They paid him. On a deal that I wanna say was five years and 150 or five, up to 150. They paid him the top of the market.
That's a move you can't make. If you're paying a running back $14, $15, $17 million, that's the reality. of a salary cap league. Still only 27. Play him better and better.
Dexter Lawrence is one of the best defensive players in the NFL. Those young corners, you mentioned Cordell Flopp, the guys that they've drafted. have been excellent. for the Giants so far this season. I don't know where it all leads.
I don't know if last night was... Your classic Thursday night football is weird. Yeah. The right time against a team that's kind of unraveling in the Eagles, or at least appears that they don't have the identity right now. But you saw something.
In those guys. I love also, by the way, when I asked about Jackson Dart. Not only did he start laughing immediately, immediately, but also his answer was just like him and Scatman. Like, it's the two. Yeah, it's the two of them.
We all watch it and we're like, these guys say it's a buddy cop comic. It's phenomenal. Even they see it clearly in the locker room. It's like I said yesterday on the show when. You're a Giants fan, right?
You want some type of hope, and you have those two guys, these young bucks out there, just losing their mind. Like I said, Scatterboo's got to practice with the Juggernaut helmet on because he don't know any way but like 100 miles through the wall. Like, yeah, man, if I'm a Giants fan, I'm so hyped right now. Neighbors coming back. Unbelievable, yeah, and you got neighbors coming back and you're tight ends, all those defensive players, like, and you're defense, yeah, man.
Like, something, if I'm a Giants fan, I'm I've got some hope right now. I'll discuss key value too, Brian Burns, 40 to 1 defensive player of the year right now. Take a look, let's take a look at the Giants schedule too. Because they're sitting there right now at 2 and 4. If they hadn't had five turnovers against the Saints, they'd be three and three.
Mm-hmm. You got tough games coming up. You're at Denver. You got the rematch with the Eagles in Philly. You got the 49ers.
This is rough. There's a lot going on at Chicago, and then the Packers, the Lions, the Patriots, who are playing a lot. The buys in week 14, which I believe is the latest buy. In the NFL. It's a tough remaining schedule right there.
So here's my question. Oh, we knew they had the hardest schedule on the link. Here's my question. Not the last one. You had three more games before the trade deadline.
Let's see somehow over three teams that I think everybody would think are playoff teams right now: Denver, Philly, and San Francisco. Sure. Let's say you win two of them, okay? You are then a four and five team. Are you buyers at the trade deadline?
Have to. Are you going out and getting another receiver? Yes. If you're Joe Shane, are you taking your shot? Are you in the slow build?
Now, again, we can look at the schedule and say they probably won't be in that position. They got really hard games upcoming here. But it does. This is. a fascinating with the trade deadline being pushed back.
There are so many teams. Even when I talk to GMs over the, you know. Not so much this week, but the previous weeks it was like, it's too early. Everybody's still in it. Everybody's got hope.
You saw what, three or four trades. This week. You're starting to see teams figure out a little bit more.
Okay, what are we going for?
Well, can we float some names? Like, what wide receivers do you anticipate being available in three weeks? I mean, look at the teams they're struggling right now. Jacoby Myers with the Raiders. He requested a trade some time ago.
They didn't want to trade him. He's in a contract here. Could you trade Jacoby Myers? I would guess. I don't know if the Titans would deal him.
But I would think they'd get some calls about Calvin Ridley if they're not winning more games. And if you're thinking, how do we get value and build this thing in the big picture? They know Chad Brinker, Mike Borganzi, you need as many picks as possible to rebuild that roster. Could potentially. They'd be willing to move that guy.
I guarantee they'll get calls on him. The saints will get calls. States have a bunch of guys. You know, Chris Olave, right? Are you going to pay Chris Olave with an extensive concussion history, or do you go, you know what?
If we can get a high pick back in exchange for him from a team that just needs somebody, the bar has been set. Look at wide receiver in-season trades in recent years. It is not uncommon to see guys go for third-round picks.
So if you can get something like that. for a player that maybe you think you're not going to pay.
Somebody calls you on Brandon Cooks. Would you trade him?
Somebody calls you on Rashid Shaheed? Would you trade him?
All those teams that are struggling right now are the very teams that are going to get the calls. It's less about who's available than it is about what circumstances are going to arise. Do people call Miami about Jalen Waddell? If they keep losing, I would think they get calls. I don't know that they would deal him.
But I do think they would get calls. Even the trade we saw the other night. Which was A really fun interlude, by the way, to my last night with my wife before coming out here to do this show for a week. And I'm like, I'm making a cocktail and I'm going to sit down on the couch and watch an episode of The Morning Show. And then I get a text: Hey, I think the Jaguars just traded their best corner to Cleveland.
I'm just like, What? What's in this trade? At no point did I ever come up. Like, I got a long list that I keep of all the trade names, and I'm like. They what now?
And sure enough. It's in a Tyson Campbell. And I know there were a couple of picks involved. It was basically a pick swap, but it was basically Tyson Campbell for Greg Newsome. And that's a very unusual trade.
So why? Do the Jaguars and Browns make that deal? Tyson Campbell is signed. He got extended by the prior regime under Trent Ballkey. Last year.
He's signed up for years to come. Craig Newsom. is in a contract year but But is playing probably the best football of his life. Anybody who watched the Vikings Browns game in London last week saw Greg Newsome going toe-to-toe with Justin Jefferson.
Now, Jefferson got some on him because he's Justin Jefferson. Right. But there were plays Greg Newsom was making in that game.
Well, it comes down to this. And you saw James Gladstone say they were in it to win games now. Craig Newsom? Only one year, but probably a better fit. for how they play.
Vision on the football, find the football. than what he'd been doing in Cleveland where Quite frankly, the Browns, people in the league knew Greg Newsom was available for a couple of years.
So why do the Browns do it? Trade away a guy who's playing the best football that he's played. Why trade him now?
Well, you get a cost-controlled. Tyson Campbell for years to come now. His salary, which is somewhere in the teens. It's not the current corner market, which is what Greg Newsom, if he plays like this, is going to be asking for. You now got a guy who could be part of the solution.
for the future. That's where Those decisions have to be made. The Browns are very much building this. They are operating. And we can have a fair debate about...
Whether or not big changes will or should come in Cleveland, but they are very much operating like. We are building this thing for 2026 and beyond. This draft class with Mason Graham and Carson Schwessinger. And both of the running backs, Harold Fannin, the tight end, Isaiah Bond, who was available for a variety of reasons, but was an undrafted free agent signing. This is the young core.
If you find a quarterback out of it, great. If it's Dylan Gabriel or Shadur Sanders, but if not, you got two first-round picks, you got all kinds of extra draft capital, including the upgrade in the pick you got in this trade, you've got a lot of flexibility. And they're very much acting like the window for the Browns. Is 2026 and probably even more 2027. The Jaguars off to a hot start.
and playing better than I think. Realistically, a lot of people within the league thought. They would play. Trevor Lawrence has been excellent. Travis Atien is having the best season that he's had.
Travis Hunter. I should, you know, finally, it's week five. He's trying to do something no one's ever done before. Week five has a breakout type of game where you're seeing him make the type of plays he did at Colorado. They're going, you know what?
James Gladstone will work for Les Snead. This is their bleep them picks era. We are taking our shot. Right now. and trying to win big.
And we'll see whether or not they're able to sustain that. Over the course of this. You mentioned the Browns. Oh, by the way, Deshaun Watson's still there. He's still there.
He's under contract for 2026, one more year at $46 million. There is a lot of unamortised. Cap hits that you have to deal with. They've done certain things in terms of the restructure where they can push a lot of that out into 2027, but they've found a way to navigate around it. You know what the best way is to navigate around a big, as Jimmy Haslam has called it, mistake, swing and miss at the quarterback position?
Find a young quarterback who is cost-controlled. for the next several years. Could be Dylan Gabriel, could be Shador Sanders. Also, could be whoever QB1 ends up being in the 2026 draft, which. Quite frankly, at this point, I don't know that anybody has a clear picture of exactly who that is going to be.
I have been informed, per sources, there are other sports than football going on in the universe. Right now, we'll talk about some of them and also get to some more NFL injury updates right on the other side of this break. It's the Rich Eyes and Show. Tom Pell Lucero in for Rich. Experience a membership that backs your business journey with American Express Business Platinum.
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The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Welcome back to the Rich Eyes in Show on Disney Plus, as well as the ESPN app and ESPN radio, presented by Progressive Insurance Tom Pellicero. In for Rich, who joined us A short time ago from London, calling the Broncos Jets game on Sunday. Also, just had Brian Burns on the show. It was fantastic.
Big win last night. For the New York Giants. Just the appetizer, the appetizer for a big Sunday in the NFL. A couple other injury updates. No surprise, Chargers ruled out Joe Ault.
So they once again not going to have The guy who was supposed to be the right tackle, and then he was the left tackle, and now he's neither tackle because Rashawn Slater is also out. Jason McCordy did a great job when he joined us breaking down how. Having neither of those guys is having this trickle-down effect on everything else that they're trying to do from an offensive perspective, sounds like Xavier Worthy trending up. Right now he's got the ankle, he's got the shoulder. The ankle was the thing that seemed like it was an issue with him last week, where he turned it during practice, then it swelled up on the plane.
He was back on the field today. Andy Reid said that he's looking good, was moving around well.
So it seems like. That's headed toward him being out there. By the way, it brings me back to when you were doing What's More Likely with Rich, and I was busy. Answering multiple calls and texts about Jerry Jones not appealing a fine for giving people the finger. Very important.
I would say this. I don't have, I can't remember what the options were. I don't have that great of a degree of concern about the Chiefs. The main driving reason for that is next week Rashi Rice is back. You're going to Suddenly, also coming off a knee injury, by the way, Rashid Rice.
But he was moving around really well in the preseason. If you watched him in the preseason, he looked good. He looked like Rashi Rice. And he's been back in the building for a couple weeks already.
So it's not like he's coming in cold and just going to be dropped in. Rashid Rice is a... Conservatively. Top 20 receiver in the NFL. He's a really good player.
You don't get many opportunities without a trade. To drop a top 20 receiver into your offense in the middle of the year. That will change everything. As big as it was for them to get Xavier Worthy back after Travis Kelsey took him out in the first game and he missed a few weeks there, as big as that was, this is bigger. This now opens up everything else because you finally have a fully dimensional type of receiver out there.
It takes the pressure off of Travis Kelsey to have to do more. It takes the heat off all the other receivers. As much as we have seen the Juju's of the world step up and make some plays, That is going to be a really big deal. Are they going to be the high-powered offense that they've been in years past? That might depend in part on does the run game come back.
Isaiah Pacheco looked more like himself. He did look good last week. I have to wonder. And Kareem Hunt is obviously still the guy that they go to in goal line. You watch Pacheco.
Yeah I I'm having flashbacks to rookie year Pacheco. Where for a guy is not, I won't say small. But I will say for a guy as not big as him. He is the most violent dude pound for pound maybe in the entire NFL. He is listed at 510-216.
There is no chance he is 216. No way. I have stood next to Isaiah Pacheco. He is not 216. I will take the.
Not that I can give gambling advice. I don't know what they offer props on, but if there is some sort of carnival barker thing from one of our many gambling partners, I'm not. telling you to take the under i'm just saying i don't think he weighs 216 pounds You think Cam Scataboo, he is built like a guy who's running you over. Not Isaiah Pacheco. But that looked like more of him.
So, can they find that balance which has really been missing? To me, that's one of the big questions. It was listed at 215. Also, no chance.
Now, he's not as tall, though, right?
So, he's 5'11. 5'11, that makes more sense to me. I would Not that I can give gambling advice. We wouldn't, wouldn't ask for it. But I would say probably over on that.
Do you have anybody on the screen? I'll put Cam Scatabue and Isaiah Pacheco side by side, and you tell me who really weighs 215. Right. Anybody on Upset watch for you, Tom? I'm talking about maybe Pittsburgh, Chargers, Colts, anybody like that.
The Colts have been getting by. Lou Anarumo, if there's an assistant coach of the year to this point in the season, it might be Lou. For a guy who Took a fair amount of flack for when the Bengals defense, which was always undermined, would stumble in recent years. Ends up, you know, he got fired, but it was probably one of those everybody's ready to move on type of moments here. He goes to Indianapolis, and it's not like they are an absolutely stacked.
Defense. Liatu Latu has made some plays, obviously, for them. They still have DeForest Buckner. You know, linebackers, they just signed Jermaine Pratt after he got cut by the Raiders, a guy that Lou knows well. You know, in the defensive backfield, you're not dealing with a ton of household names.
Lou Anarumo has done a fantastic job. You just wonder at any point. Does somebody start scoring on a little bit? As you get more tape, do they have one of those games where they're not playing as well? Again, Lou deserves a ton of credit for what they put out there so far this season.
But if Kyler Murray plays, which He's practicing today. That would tell you he's probably going to be out there this week. I'll just be interested to see because the Colts, I mean, they're literally. A A.D. Mitchell ridiculous fumble at the goal line.
Dropping the ball when he's trying to celebrate, away from being 5-0. Yeah. Is this a Colts header that's going to win 14 games? We've seen wilder stuff. I mean, we saw the Vikings last year with Sam Darnold go out and win 14 games.
Wilder things have happened than this. But this just feels like one of those games where there's any type of letdown where it's an Arizona team that's lost three in a row. They've had all this turmoil with. You know, Jonathan Gannon getting fined and the way that they absolutely coughed up that game last week. This could be a rallying type of moment for Arizona.
I'll be really interested to see. Exactly. what this looks like come Sunday. Upset alert might be a little bit strong. I'm just going to be really interested to see what the dynamics look like here between these teams.
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