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Now, on with the show. The Rich Eisen Show. Show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. The least surprising headline would be The Mavericks Fire, Nico Harrison.
The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. Coming up. ESPN Senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst.
Senior writer for the MMQB Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Senior NBA rider for the SPN, our buddy Brian Windross is back. Good to see you, Brian. How are you, sir?
Hey. Hello, Rich. You can watch that podcast at like 2.30 or something Eastern on ESPN 2 should you have nothing better to do. Listen, you and I, we're here. Our Overreaction Monday pod is on ESPN 2 4.30 Eastern every single Monday.
What we do, you know what we are? We're filler programmers. That's what we do. Listen, do you know how cheap we are to just slap on linear television? Brian, listen, your word, Smith, so you'll appreciate this.
We're inexpensive, okay? You understand? Deficient. We are not cheap. We're not cheap.
We are inexpensive.
Okay.
So why now? Why now in Dallas with this move with Nico, Brian?
Well, I think they didn't decide to fire him yesterday. I think they've been moving towards that decision for a while. And. You know, only Patrick Dumont, the owner, or the governor, I should say, knows when he decided. But I think it was boiling over into what looked like was negatively affecting the players on the court.
They were. Dealing with situations in their home arena that made it somewhat of enemy territory. And I think they've played a lot of home games. I think they've played, if not the most home games in the West so far, nearly the most. And I think they've even got a bunch more coming up.
And they were suffering at home because of how toxic the situation had become. And so I really think that and I can't really say I've ever experienced this or seen this before, where a general manager's presence has been. you know, affecting players on the court. But I I think that there was some belief that that was the case. I've heard some things, and there's also been some things reported elsewhere.
I don't. Feel On solid ground to tell you exactly what happened, but there seemed to be some indecision within the organization about. Anthony Davis's status coming back from the calf injury, and that may have played a role, but I don't think that was a defining factor. I think. The owner You know, Dumont came to just his second game, it was just his second game he had been at this year and sat there and watched.
the toxic atmosphere, had a fan come up next to him during the game. The game's going on, and by the way, with all due respect, they're not playing the Washington Generals out there. They're playing the Bucs. Giannis is out there. Yes.
And fans are coming up to him during the game. To discuss the state of the team. And I think it's clear that that young fan was symbolic of the Mavericks fan base. They almost don't care. What's going on in the court?
They only care about the fury that they feel. And so. to sort of protect the shield. to limit the damage that is happening to the franchise. I think They felt like they had to do it now.
It is very unorthodox to fire a coach on November 11th, but I think that they were trying to limit the damage that was being done. Yeah, I mean, uh the fans were vocal. As you pointed out, somebody goes up to the governor and basically says, Hey, This is horrible. This has been horrible.
Something needs to be done. And I guess they internalized it, or the owner did, governor did. But But it all does eventually come back down to Why did Luca have to go and why did he have to go in the manner in which he went? Which is a pock the ultimate pocket listing in the history of pocket listings. You know, like why did it have to be that way?
And so one of those might be laid at the feet of Nico. The other one is the governor had to greenlight it, and somebody collectively, I imagine, group Think within the organization that they, Luca, ain't it? We're not paying him, or he's not super maxing. We're not super maxing with him, we don't believe in him. Do we have any more information on that even once later, Brian?
Patrick Dumont. To his credit, I suppose, has taken accountability saying this was my mistake. I allowed the trade. I made an error in judgment. He has said this on multiple occasions, and he repeated it in the.
in the letter that he wrote to fans yesterday. And I think when it comes to the Luka trade, And I know that asking for nuance is a huge ask, especially with Maverick fans who are so raw about this still, but I will ask for nuance here. If you could divide it into two decisions, You could make a case for Luca to be traded. I don't think it's a winning case. I don't think it's a strong case, but if you wanted to say, I don't think investing $300 million, which is what they were going to have to invest in him had they kept him last summer.
I don't think that's a smart investment. You could make that case. It is not the most insane basketball case I've ever seen. They were concerned about his health. They were concerned about his temperament.
I would absolutely not have done that, but you could make a case. Period. New paragraph. You could make a case Not necessarily that I would agree with, again, but you could make a case that trading for Anthony Davis as the prime asset in return for Luka Doncic. In a league where size is becoming more important and where your other star player is in his 30s and you need instantaneous.
High level of competition. You could make a case. That trading Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis as part of the prime part of the package makes basketball sense. Again, I wouldn't have done it. But you could sit in a conference room with a whiteboard and an iPad and say, Here's my case.
Okay.
And if you present it to 10 people, you might get some yes votes. I don't think you'd get six, but you could get some yes votes.
Okay.
Period. New paragraph. All right.
Now. You still can't make that trade with that process.
Okay? You just can't do it. You have to get everything from the Lakers. Everything. You have to get the draft picks, the swaps.
You have to get Austin Reeves. This is, there's no negotiation, there's no case on this one. And if you say to me, which people from the Lakers organization have, well, we just weren't going to give. Austin Reeves, I say, sounds good. Have a nice day.
Click, you move on. And if you are still wanting to trade Luca, you look for other options.
So we have a problem terribly with the execution of the trade and the process.
Now, once that's happened, he's got to sell it. He's gotta sell it to his players. He's gotta sell it to the fan base. Absolute F minus on this. His sales on this to the public was between irrational.
irresponsible And f Borderline arrogant. And insincere in some cases as well. And that was from the day after the trade. And so you add in that.
Now we're already upside down.
Now Anthony Davis gets there and gets hurt. His first game. And basically, he has been hurt the majority of the time since. And so the trade is absolutely not working. Luca loses weight and is competing for the MVP.
That's terrible. Kyrie Irving blows out his knee, absolutely awful. All of a sudden, you are now in a gigantic snowball. And they are throwing gasoline on the fire with some of the things that he kept saying and his sentiment to it. And so what you have is, yes, an idea to trade Luka Doncic.
Not necessarily the worst decision in the history of the NBA. But everything else after that decision has been handled horribly, and it cost him his job. And so, do we know any more about why? It was a pocket listing. Why they did not go ahead and say if we're trading Luca Then we're going to have to take the slings and arrows locally here for the next week, two weeks, knowing that he's on the block, knowing that wants him to go.
But at least we're going to crowdsource. with twenty-nine other NBA franchises and get the best possible yield for him. As opposed to doing it under the table, basically, with one team. Do we have any more thoughts on that or reporting on that, Brian? I will tell you what has been said and I will tell you that I find the explanation unacceptable.
What has been said is that they felt Anthony Davis was the player that they wanted. I mean, I would have been like. Calling the Thunder and asking for Shea Gildas Alexander. I know they're not going to make that trade, but that's. You know, that's the type of calls that you make, right?
Like, you know, I would call and ask for Victor Wembanyama. Like, you know, you and I know that it will become, you know, shams within. 24 hours or probably be reporting it, and you'd have to understand that. And I know that those teams wouldn't do that trade, but that's the kind of calls I'm making, right? They decided Anthony Davis was the guy.
I They also felt that if they had called around, that it would have gotten public and that it would have undercut the ability to do the trade. Yeah, I know, but it gets public eventually. And now look at what's happened. People are holding up Fire Nico signs months later. You know what I mean?
This is what I'm saying. Again, if you honestly don't believe that paying a guy who has had trouble staying in shape and has a temperamental problem at times $300 million, that idea. It's not going to get you ejected from any room. People would at least listen to it again. I would have said, Well, we're still going to give him three more years or two more years before we do it.
We're still going to sign them to that contract. Um, but he would you would not get laughed out of a room of NBA executives. You wouldn't get laughed out of a room of NBA executives if you said that you were only going to call one team, not ask for everything that they had, and prioritized silence over the most important transaction in the history of the organization.
Okay, so then the last one for you on this one: um, uh, sports talk radio question, Brian Windhorst. Because I'm asking you also to put yourself in the mind of the governor of the Dallas Mavericks. If you asked him right now, Patrick Dumond, if you ask him right now. You can have one of two things. You don't trade Luka at all.
Or you do actually have your general manager crowdsource it. With everybody. That's a great question. Which one do you think he would choose? Brian.
God, it's a great question. I don't have an instant answer. I think he would say, if he had to answer in front of any more than three people, he would say he wouldn't trade the money. No trade. There's a receipt.
Hold on a minute. I have it right here. Return policy. Right. Again.
Mm. It it's not insane. To look at this and say, do because in the era that we're in in the NBA right now, like the worst thing that you can do is have a player on a massive contract that is below that contract. You're crippled. As a Cleveland Browns fan, You want to avoid a situation where you have a contract that is untradeable, that it destroys your cap position.
So. I could see him still agreeing to trade Luca. It's just, you know, you're calling and asking for Jokic. You know, you're getting told no on the top five players in the league. You know, Yannis was involved in trade talks this summer.
Okay, now I don't know if Giannis would have ever would have wanted to go to Dallas, but Holy Moses, you're calling and asking about Yannis. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's got to be the process. And so, but no, I think publicly, if he's in front of any group of anybody wearing Dallas Mavericks logo, he's saying, no, no, no, Luca would have stayed here for the next 45 years. Brian Windhorst here on the Rich Eisen Show.
All right, so the other story in the NBA is: is John Morant available? What's going on with him? Who's trying to get him? Could it be done fast, soon? What do you think, Brian?
I have not heard that John Moran is available. I don't know everything. I wouldn't say I know everything that's going on. I have not heard he's available. Have there been the discussions that I have all day, every day about transactions?
That, you know, is it something people are thinking about could happen and what would the market look like? I have heard that. Um uh I will just tell you that Jaw is having a terrible season. and his shooting numbers and his production have fallen off a cliff.
Now that seems to be because he's not happy with his situation, but he's already coming off Several years in a row where he's had either major off-court problems or injuries, and his numbers, his, and not just, I'm just talking about the raw scoring. Talking about the thing that worries executives about him is that his. Interior scoring. is going down. This is a guy who is one of the most explosive athletes I've ever seen, who became a superstar for his ability to explode to the basket.
And there's all these indicators that are showing he's not doing that as much anymore, following a bunch of injuries.
Now, maybe if he was on this call with us, he would say it's because I don't like this offense. I don't know. But there's yellow flags on his play.
Meanwhile, his outside shooting has never been worse.
Okay, so what I'm telling you is his trade value is not good. And then I would challenge you to this. How many teams? Let me just put it to you how my conversations with executives have gone. We've got 29 other teams that don't have John Morant.
How many of those teams Are unhappy with their point guard situation.
Okay, because there's a lot of great point cards out there. For the sake of argument, this is this exact conversation I've had with lead executives about 10 times over for the last two weeks.
Okay, so I'm going to roll through it. Let's say there's seven or eight. Let's say there's seven or eight teams. You could debate whether there's six, whether there's nine. Let's just say there's seven or eight teams that would consider upgrading their point guard position.
How many of those teams want John Morant? that like that in the like those indicators. It's not seven or eight, Rich. We could spend another couple of hours debating it, but you know, let's say it's a few.
Okay.
Let's say it's three or four. All right.
I'll give you five. I don't think it's five, but let's just say it's five. How many of those five teams have a trade package that's available that Memphis would like? And I want to remind you: there's a whole bunch of teams out there that have restrictions on trades because of first or second apron stuff.
So all of a sudden the the needle eye gets really narrow. And so you have a conversation about whether John Moran can be traded. And a lot of people would say, oh, yes, of course. And I say, I don't know about that. I'm not sure that there's a massive market out there.
So that's why I think the Grizzlies' intention is to try to make this work. And I think they suspended him not to announce to the league they want rid of him. They suspended him to try to get him to cooperate with what the coach wants. And I'm going to tell you, the results are saying that it is not working. I love the way you put things, Matt.
Before I let you go, Brian Windhorst, we're nearing the one-month mark, about three weeks into the season. Um the story uh outside of obviously what we've just discussed. I'll give you some options. Obviously, the defending champs having 11 wins. The Pistons blossoming atop the East right now.
The Knicks faring well with their new coach, Noel LeBron. The Lakers are 8-3. Just throwing some out there. Wembunyama has the Bucs. I mean, good Spurs.
Eight and two, the story of the first few weeks of the season would be what in your estimate? I'm not saying it's the story, but I'm going to put something on your radar that you didn't mention there that I think should get some attention. Thank you. I would like The NBA fans writ large. to please.
Take a look and pay attention. to what Nikola Jokic is doing right now. Nikola Jokic right now is putting together a Wilt Chamberlain style statistical season. And it's not 50 points and 25 rebounds. in the modern era.
What Jokic is doing. In an efficiency standpoint, Is jaw-dropping, and I'm going to tell you the numbers because I've looked them up. He right now, I think he was something like 16 of 19 last night. He put on a clinic. If I was a Sacramento Kings fan and I watched this game and what he did last night to the Sacramento Kings, I would seriously consider just taking all my Kings gear and just trading in it for nugget stuff.
He is shooting. On two pointers, and this is not a guy who's taking 12 threes a game and two pointers a game.
Okay, he is taking. 11 two-pointers a game. And you've seen him. He's not taking layups.
Okay? He's shooting seventy-nine percent on two pointers, okay? He is leading the NBA in assists. Leaving it.
Okay.
Yes. And he is, I think, second in rebounding. I think the last couple of days he's fallen from first to second in rebounding. He is averaging 26 points. 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
So he's averaging triple-double, but he's averaging 13 rebounds and 11 assists. He's not crawling over it. The Nuggets offensively are a juggernaut. Yeah. Jamal Murray is in great shape and playing well.
They're tearing teams down. Overall. He's shooting sixty. seven percent And if you watch him play. He pretty much makes a jaw-dropping move, whether it's a pass, shot, dribble, spin move, or whatever, about.
45 times a game. And so what I am just saying is we are seeing An absolute master at the game of basketball, like we've maybe almost never seen before, at the peak of his powers. He's, you know, he's 20, he's 30 years old. I think he's in his 10th or 11th season. What I'm watching is the peak.
This guy has in the last four years, in the last five years, has three MVPs. and two seconds. And I'm telling you what he's doing.
Now he's played 10 games. I'm not going to sit here and just project it to 80. What he is doing is on the highest level that I've seen.
So all of those other stories I mean, I am never gonna, I'm sitting in Los Angeles like you are right now.
Okay.
I could not walk outside and find 10 people that would care about anything I just said, that want to know, and the Lakers be founder tonight. I get it. The Lakers Thunder game is on ESPN. Please watch. Desert.
All right.
But let me tell you what I've done.
Okay.
For the last five years, I've been unable to watch. Nuggets games. On I live in Omaha, Nebraska, and for some In unspeakable reason, even though it's 517 miles from my house to the ball arena. And I know I've looked. They said that I was in the nugget zone and I wasn't able to watch them on league pass.
File me? Got to watch, even though, and by the way, a lot of people media get Leepass for free. I pay for it. That's right. I pay for it with my money, okay?
So I can bitch about it. And I was denied Nuggets games unless they were on national TV.
Okay.
So. I'm not going to go into any details, but I'm just going to tell you that the league pass situation changed this year, and you can manipulate your location a little bit. And so I have. And now I can watch the Nuggets games, even though I'm not supposed to. Let's just say the new league pass provider that I have doesn't think that I live in the city that I live in.
And so now I can watch him even more. I could watch Nikola freaking Jokic because I love watching him. He, to me, He's the guy I would pay to see in the NBA. Because just about every possession, okay, not every one, but just about every possession, he does something that you're like, wow, that's awesome.
Well, you literally are, as you pointed out, paying to watch him play. And you're going to play. Manipulated the system. Brian Winhorse going rogue. That's how Jokic is playing.
You're the best, Brian. Thanks for the time. Yes, indeed. You got that tonight on ESPN. What a game indeed.
Lakers. By the way, as long as I'm shilling. Yeah, please. The first game is Knicks and Magic. The Magic have won four out of six.
They're playing better. And the Knicks are 7-0. I think the Knicks have won five in a row, and they're 7-0 at the guard. Yeah, yeah. 7-0 at the guard.
Right. So. Good Eastern Conference game, and then later on, you can see if Luca can take down the thunder in OKC. Also, it's an Inside the NBA night as well.
So, lots of reasons to flip on the aforementioned World War II. And let me just say that in the event that it wasn't an Inside the NBA night, you should still watch Countdown because we have a very good product. We may not have Hall of Famers yet. No, no, but it's okay. We have a very good project.
Brian, there's many reasons to watch, including 2:30 Eastern Time. The Brian Winhorst and the Hoop Collective podcast on ESPN2. Thanks for the time, sir. It may not be on 2:30. I don't even know what time zone I'm talking about, but it's on.
You can see it at your leisure. Check your local listing or your purveyor file. And if it's not available, just change where you live. Yeah, because it's important. Just hit that tab.
If anybody asks Rich, I live in Bozeman, Montana. Brian Winhorst, everybody. Fantastic. Yet another brilliant Brian Winhorst appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. My power rankings coming up next, and there's a lot that people are going to be upset with.
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All right, everybody. How great is Windhorse? I mean, I just can't get enough of the way he dispenses information in a way that is. Uh gripping, hilarious. And plain spoken.
There's no one like him. God bless. I love when he comes on this program. Don't take it for granted. It's my power rankings, and I'm telling you, some people are going to be upset.
Can we guess before? No, it's called the Week 11 Power Rankings presented by Sonos. Hit it. Power rankings. All right, presented by Sonos, my week 11 power rankings.
And I'll be honest with you, it's now rubber meeting the road time. Because there are teams that have much better records than some of the teams that are on this list. And fans, I understand some of you might be like, what gives? That's disrespectful. But it's rubber meeting the road time now.
And part of my POW rankings are teams that look the way they look, regardless of their record and how I think they can climb up this list. and stay on it, and that's why I'm starting this list. Number 10, the four and five Baltimore Ravens are on this list. Oh, my God. 100%.
Okay, what a preamble so you can put the Ravens and Chiefs on here. Excuse me. Fine. Do what you will. Screw it.
And put up number nine. They are the Chiefs. Of course. Of course. Of course.
What are you doing, baby? It's so predictable. You know what? You can call it predictable. I call it right.
Oh, God. I call it correct. I call it seeing it for what it is. And what it is are two teams with MVP quarterbacks who are playing at the tops of their games in the case of. Lamar, what is healthy?
Tops of their games. They have nine combined wins. I got it. It's a team sport, and I understand why the Ravens started one and five. They're now four and five.
And I understand that the Chiefs just lost to the Bills before their bye week, and then the Bills took all of that momentum and just threw it out. In Miami. I understand that, but I also see what these rosters on these teams are and these coaches, what they can do to cook it up, and how good they are, and how the Chiefs are going to Denver with Denver can't. Do a single thing on offense most of the time, and Andy Reid's coming off of a bye week. And this team, like the Ravens, are chock full of Pro Bowlers when healthy, they're coming for you.
And that's how I'm starting my power rankings.
So, even after understanding all that, you still did what you did? Two non-playoff teams. Fine. Laugh all you want. These are power rankings.
There are many like them, but this one is mine. That's the most important thing. No, it's not it. Number eight on my Power Rankings list. Hold on, let's guess.
Let's guess. The Cincinnati Bengals. No. Laugh. No.
They are not on the list, Chris. Oh, this list means the Cowboys meeting. No, most certainly not on the list. But back on the list are the Los Angeles Chargers at eight.
Okay.
Back on the list of the Los Angeles Chargers at eight. Justin Herbert doing his thing. The defense doing its thing. They don't have their own world tackles to help protect this guy, but here's Kemani Vidal. All right.
Here comes Ladidi. Here comes Quentin Johnston every now and then. Here's Keenan Allen setting the all-time record for Chargers' receptions. Gadsden didn't have much of a night against Pittsburgh, but you know who did the defense? Leaving the Steelers wondering what the hell happened between beating the Colts And beating ourselves up.
The charges are eighth on this list. Seven On this list, down four spots. I overranked them last week. Chris, and when you texted me during the Thursday night Broncos Raiders game, you're like, how dare you have them above the Patriots essentially? And my bad.
But they're still on the list. They are eight and two. The Broncos do have a championship quality defense. But man, that offense concerns me. I do believe this.
J.K. Dobbins, as we know, has been terrific running the football this year. If he goes out for any specific period of time, Look out for RJ Harvey. To be That chimera type guy in this offense that that Sean Payton has been Trying to share the football at the running back spot with a terrific player and a lion-hearted guy. in the Buckeye in J.K.
Dobbins. But Just keep an eye out for that and how that might spark this offense in need of one. They're seventh on the list. Up three spots. Is a team I'm just never going to quit.
Never going to quit the Detroit Lions. They are right there. They look terrific against Washington. I understand that they looked brutal against the Minnesota Vikings, but you know what? Dan Campbell said, I'm going to take over the play calling.
And you know what? We have a new situation. We have a new superhero. And he's in Detroit. When you got a guy he puts on the glasses to call the plays, he's Clark coordinator.
And he takes off the glasses, he's Super Dan. That's the difference. There's two guys in one here now. Clark coordinators dialing it up with those glasses and the big ass play sheet. And then he's still Dan Campbell just.
Getting everybody in the right spots and in the right minds everywhere. And I can't wait for this game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles better come correct on offense because I think the Lions might have figured something out. Can't wait for this game on Sunday night on the NBC top five now. Up two spots and putting the Colts here.
I'm putting the Colts here because they have, in my mind, through the first. 10 weeks, I got to go with Jonathan Taylor as the MVP of this league. I mean, that is an MVP performance. Put everything on my back. Regular.
time over time, put it on my back. Last week. I mean, the week before this in Pittsburgh, it looked terrible. But guess what we're gonna do? We're gonna go back to our bread and butter, and the bread and butter is 28.
And um and he just led the way. against the Falcons team that had him dead to rights. They're up two spots at five. Up one spot, the Seattle Seahawks. They're top four now.
They're top four. Uh Sam Darnold has become the quarterback version of the Colts punter from the first month of the season. Just take the rest of the day off. Yeah, he only had 12 pass attempts. I mean, he was perfect in the first half against Washington in that boat race win.
and then pretty much did nothing in the second half. He had two attempts in the second half of this game against the Arizona Cardinals because it was all over, and the defense helps out to Demarcus Lawrence, as we know, talking to Leonard Williams earlier this week. Two attempts. Fumble returns for a touchdown in the first half. Over 20 yards.
That's never happened in a full game, and he did it in one half. Here come the Seahawks against the Rams who have yet to mention, as you know. Up one spot. I'm putting your Patriots here, Chris. And you can pretty much tell the names of the teams I have not said.
The Patriots now lead my power rankings of all teams in the AFC. They are my leading AFC power ranking team. As we're doing this right now, as we're talking, I believe the Patriots just finished announcing Rob Gronkowski's one-day contract. Robert Kraft asked him how about a two-day contract. Rob asked him what the signing bonus was for that.
It's all laughs and giggles right now in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Rabel's doing his thing. He's hugging it out on everybody. I love it. Love it.
I love it. And Drake May, please, everybody, do seek out. That Throw he made to Kyle Williams, his rookie. I'll tweet it out right now. Tweet it out.
It's fascinating that you're on it so quickly, Chris. He's got it. Because it is amazing. I don't know who makes a throw like this from the middle of the field, slightly towards the left hash, all the way across the field to a guy who's running towards the right sideline, hits him in stride with a dart that I don't think anybody's going to make this throw. He's unbelievable.
And they are taking on a Jets team that, um, you know. I guess throw the records out, please, if you're the Jets. But the Patriots are number three.
Now I'm going back and forth, Rams, Eagles, Eagles, Rams. The Eagles, as we know, beat the Rams this year because the Rams couldn't make a freaking kick in Philadelphia. That thing was pretty much a wrap until the Eagles came back on them. in a way that say Denver came back on Philadelphia and that building in a way that the Rams did not. And that Eagles defense is lights out.
Lights out. It's put Matt LaFleur flat out on a hot seat. I understand the Panthers did it to them the week before. in that building. Um The it being stopping the offense.
But I'm putting the Eagles here too. I'm knocking them down a peg despite winning Monday Night Football. And the reason why is offensively, I don't know what the hell's going on. I don't know what's going on. And for...
What I need to do. For my power rankings, I'm always going to lean on the team that is playing well. Almost every phase. They got the new thicker kicker, right? Yep.
Okay.
They didn't really have to test him out all that much for pressure field goals because they boat raced the 49ers. The Rams are playing the best football. on both sides of the ball right now. Matthew Stafford is out of his skull. And the receivers he has.
First Ballot Hall of Fame were Devontae Adams and Puka Nakua. doing his thing and all of these tight ends and they've got Kyle I mean, they've got Kyron Williams and our guy Balake Karun, who's been running a little bit more and he's coming on. And they have all these tight ends, and they run out of the same formation almost all the time in different plays coming at you. Sean McVay is out of his skull, too. and defensively.
Come on now. They've got a bunch of guys that put it together, they're laying the wood. Can't wait for this game against the Seahawks this week, but the Rams, for the first time this year, are a top knife power rank. I like it. After 11 weeks.
So, I guess I finished up strong for you guys. I started off. Listen, I understand. I took the Bills and the Packers off, and I understand that you've got the Bucs with a better record, and I understand that the Bills beat the Ravens in week one, and I understand who's got a better record than both the Chiefs and the Ravens. I get it.
But Push comes to shove, those teams are on a field against your team. More likely than not, they're going to win. And I understand Denver has Kansas City this week. That's a tough one. And the Ravens I think they're just going to keep stacking wins until they maybe see your team in New England, Chris.
Or maybe Burrow comes back from his toe injury and surprises everybody. Maybe. But that's my week 11 power rankings presented by Sonos. Explore soundbars, speakers, and more at sonos.com.
Sonos products look. As good as they sound, Who would you put on a nine and ten then? You'd put the bills on there, Chris? Really? No.
Do you think the Bills run it back right now against the Chiefs or run it back against the Bills? I think if we're taking a snapshot of right now, you could say Bucks and Bears, maybe. The Bears. You'd think the Bears, but the Bears just lost the Ravens, number one.
Okay, against New Puntley, number two. And then, number three, six and three. You think the Bears in the playoffs? Do you think the Bears going to Arrowhead or the Chiefs going to Chicago? You take the Bears against them?
Yes or no? To win? But is that the point of the show? It shows hands. Week 11, who's the show?
Is that the point of the power rankings? We're projecting the playoffs, or are we taking a snapshot of what's going on right now?
Okay, I'll put it in your terms. I mean, you do have a powerful team. Who's the more powerful team? As of today? Yeah.
The team with six wins. You're taking the Bears. The team with six wins. There's two teams with six wins. As of today at 10:42.
Yeah. Okay.
The wins don't mean everything.
Well, I thought you'd play to win the game. In a power ranking, they don't mean everything. It's who would win. Win-win, who would win? Is there a power ranking definition?
Clearly there is not. I have one definition. You've got another. I would have the right thing. The only difference between our opinions is where mine is right.
Yours is way wrong. Of course. Oh, and I'm allowed to then just take a break. I've got my inner excellence right next to me, right here. What do you have?
Mm. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show on our simulcast, ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance. Progressive is helping veterans drive their lives forward with its Keys to Progress program. Albert Breer is going to join us shortly from Sports Illustrated.
So much breaking news in the NFL to hit him on. Also still to come on this show, Dan Campbell speaking about the tush push because the Eagles are next. And also Nick Siriani had an interesting back and forth about that fourth-down throw to A.J. Brown being the first target since the first quarter, pretty much. Or second quarter.
That's still to come on the hour three. Don't miss it. In the meantime, we had, as you know, Buster Olney here during the World Series. We also talked about it with Jeff Passon as well. Paul Skeens, everybody.
Didn't you hear how old Buster came in here and said how Paul Skeens could make things really difficult for the. pirates in the way that You know, an NBA player could make things difficult by demanding a trade. Very few NFL players get the James Harden treatment, but sometimes it happens. And so Skeens has said nothing tonight. We will hear from Paul Skeens because he is expected to receive the National League Cy Young Award this evening.
Those were announced tonight. But somebody on the Pirates has spoken to nj.com. Advance Media, New Jersey. And it's named after the Staten Island Advance, which, as you know, is my former. workplace.
But anyway, Randy Miller covers baseball for that publication, and he spoke to a former. or a current teammate. Part of Paul Skeens. Put the headline up. Paul Skeens has a Yankees dream.
Trust me, teammate says. And pirates, quote unquote, understand it. In the body of this article The unnamed teammate say yourself. New Jersey NJ Advanced Media. Quote: Trust me, he wants to play for the Yankees, the Skeens teammate said.
Quote, I've heard him say it multiple times. A person with knowledge of the pitcher's past intentions was also quoted, unnamed. Skeens grew up a big Angels fan. Because he's from Southern California. He's from Orange County.
He's talked about going to the Arizona Fall League when he was nine or ten, trying to get Mike Trout's autograph there. I used to think Anaheim was where Skeens wanted to go. Not no more. This was brought up. To Ben Sherrington, the Pirates general manager.
Was asked about this? By the intrepid reporter on this. Crucial beat. But Ha ha ha ha. The general manager of the pirates, the executive's reaction, quote: I do dismiss it, but I understand it.
That's why that's in the headline. What we're going to focus on is just how do we win games with him in a pirates' uniform? I have a ton of respect for the Yankees, but we'll just focus on what we need to do. In a nice way, it's really simple, Sherrington said, because what matters most to Skeens is what matters to us. Win more games.
So, in a way, it helps simplify it and focus it. My conversations with him: the only thing we talk about is winning and how to do that. Says he will be Skeens will be a pirate in 2026 for sure. He's not salary arbitration eligible until 2027. According to this article, Skeens wants a trade before he turns.
Free agent in twenty twenty nine. Trust me, he wants to play for the Yankees, the Skeens teammate said. I've heard him say it multiple times. You know, I've never met Paul Skeens, I've only seen his work. I'm a fan of his work.
But I'm also a fan of his mindset and clear intelligence in how to approach life. Who's to argue how Paul Skeens approaches life? Bueller? Bueller, anyone?
Well, if he wants to win a World Series, he's winning. It seems like he's winning in many aspects of his life. But what do you want? Is you want a platform, and to say that he wants to be a Yankee in a Mets town. After Soto is clearly shown the place, if you want to go to New York and get paid, go to the Mets and have it fall completely apart.
Listen, bro. Could you imagine? No, because you're taking the word of some nameless, faceless person. We all know this dude. He's a teammate of Paul Skeens.
Yeah, it says who. And you cannot besmirch advanced media. I would know. I'm. An alumni of advanced media.
Well, I'm just saying that. Or pardon me, as they say in Staten Island, advanced media could be a little biased. I know. People who work for advanced media aren't really off. I used to be one of them.
Damn straight there, Chris. You can answer my question. Damn straight. Incredible. How dare you?
I'm just saying I ain't never heard of them.
Well, you probably have read their publication. You just don't know who owns it. All I'm saying is Paul Skeens is smart and really good. And this would be, Paul, this is the way, as the Mandalorian once said, this is the way. I'd rather see him come to the Dodgers.
Yeah, than the Yankees? Yes. No, he wants to actually get the money now before he turns 45.
So he'll go to the Yankees. They'll pay you now. They will pay you now. There's no layaway for a 1K. Checks clear, baby.
Yeah. I can still make a rolls. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
