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Now, on with the show. Uh This is the Rich Eisen Show. Come after me. I'm a man. Rich Eisen.
We're talking about practice from the Rich Eisen Studios in New York City. Thank you, Sarah, everybody. Today's guests. ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.
Hosts of Bustin' With the Boys, Taylor Luan and Will Compton. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Well, hey, everybody, one and all. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. We're still here in New York City, day three of our four-day residency here in the wonderful world of Disney and Disney Plus and the ESPN app. Every single day between 12 and 3 Eastern, we say hello to everybody out there listening on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. I'm sitting here on the Rich Eisen Show set two hours after GetUp just got done.
Ryan Clark, as soon as first take is over, which it just did, he's going to walk into our studio. He's going to be our first hour guest, Taylor LaWan and Will Compton, who were doing Get Up from this very set just a couple hours ago, kind enough to stick around after class. They're going to join us in hour number three. Kurt Warner, our Pro Football Hall of Fame usual Wednesday guest, is joining us here on this Thursday. Again, we're thrilled to be here in the Disney studios, the Rich Eisen Show from New York City this week.
Good to see you, Christopher Brock. Rich, great to see you, man. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. See you guys when happy. DJ Mikey Diaz and D's Nuts is sitting here as well.
Mike Del Tufo was a great night for the Jimmy V Foundation and for Stuart Scott's Foundation in concordance with it. Can't wait to all story. Hosted the Booyah event here last night. Got lots of stories to tell you about all that. But we're starting with college football and everything that's going on with the Heisman race.
And um what the Army-Navy game? What else? This weekend? I don't know. All right, moving on.
Oh, goodness. Letting my mile be my umbrella. Yeah, I have to. Obviously, this is a serious situation. And I've got a couple of thoughts on it since it involves my alma mater and.
Institution of higher learning in a place that I hold so near and dear to my heart, and the University of Michigan, and the head football coach Sharon Moore, who spent Wednesday night, as we all know. um detained based on what happened after He was fired with cause by the University of Michigan for having an improper relationship with a staffer. And I'm just going to come out and always do what I do here on this program, which is shoot you straight and lead with my heart. And I am gutted. I am shocked.
I'm dismayed. I'm depressed. I'm disgusted. Every single emotion that you think I would have, I've got. I didn't see it in Sharon Moore.
When I've met him, he's been nothing but great to me, nothing but great to my family. And with what he's done as an Acting head coach and up to this point is a head coach of the University of Michigan. I cannot believe that this behavior has been ascribed to him and appears to be behavior that he, in fact. endeavored, placing in jeopardy his marriage, his His life, his professional life, his personal life, and a football program. And right now I go back and forth.
between my gosh the football aspect of it but more importantly, the personal aspect of it, because right now families and lives are shattered. Everybody involved in this is sh shattered. Pieces on the ground, based again on everything we're learning from reports, police reports about what happened after. Sharon learned that he was out as University of Michigan head coach. Shows you that this is more than just a football story.
It is something that is tragic. And thank goodness, no lives have been lost. I don't know what was going on with. Sharon Moore in his mind that was going down after. Clearly, he had received the news and brought it back home.
That he was no longer the head coach of the University of Michigan football program and the reasons why, and everything that spiraled out of control. I think of his wife, I think of his three daughters, I think of him. I think of the young lady that's involved and everything that must be going on in her life and the choices that. She might be lamenting right now. and all the choices that everyone involved.
Made. and whatever was going on around the program. And I will just say this. And this may have something to do with the football aspect of it as well. It took no less than 90 minutes after Ohio State thumped the University of Michigan.
In the big house just a couple of Saturdays ago, it took no fewer than 90 minutes for me to hear the rumor about this. No fewer than four times from four different people. Calling me up, texting me. Did you hear this? Did you know that?
What do you know about this? And the rumor, so nasty. Um didn't want to share the details with anybody. With anybody. I did reach out to a couple of friends to say, Did you hear about this?
I did mention it to Susie. And I think I came into you guys the next day, and I'm like, I heard something awful. Yeah, yeah, that was what you said a couple of times. The rumors I'm hearing are so bad, I don't want to repeat them. Right, I don't want to spread them.
Yeah. Because it's so awful. And I heard that something and I did not. But so when I was getting ready for last night's Booyah event, Um, and put my actually put my phone down for about 20 minutes and uh picked it back up, getting ready to go. Uh there were uh twenty-nine different texts.
From different people saying, Did you hear this? Can't believe that. A lot of it, all of us from the Michigan football world or just the University of Michigan world reaching out to me. What do you know? What do you hear?
There's so many pieces that are currently up in the air and smashed on the ground. I don't even know what's the best way to move forward here. I have no idea what the investigation was turning up, if there's anything to be investigated above the Michigan football program. In this regard, I have no idea. All I know is speaking on behalf if I may, of the Michigan Alumni base.
This is terrible. This is an absolute disaster. This is a nightmare. This is something that I don't. ever want to hear about any program.
or any coach or any family. let alone the one that I hold so near and dear. And that I wear on my sleeve, I wear on my heart. I speak with my heart and my chest when I talk about this. Everybody feels their way that way, I hope, about their.
Their school. I know you love Syracuse quite a bit. You talk about it. You cape for it. I know you have love for many different schools.
And Mike, you're a Notre Dame guy, right?
So all of us. I'm sorry, I don't mean to fire in your direction, TJ. I'm just trying to keep some of this light, you know. I understand. But.
For for me. The this is something that I could never imagine would roost in the house of the University of Michigan. And if this is all in fact true, and clearly there's going to be lawsuits and recriminations and talks and this and that. about all of it. It is something that I don't know how we move on.
And the only way that it can move on is a full accounting of what's gone down. A full accounting of what's gone down and why it went down and how it went down. and who can prevent it from happening again. And then at that point in time, You do have to turn to the fact that there are players currently involved, whether they are current members of. The team.
where there are current members of the class. incoming class at the University of Michigan or players who just committed. Players who just signed letters of intent, players who are on the dotted line, players who are there who are wondering what the hell happened with Coach Moore. When did we know? What happened?
Maybe they heard the rumors. They can't believe that they're true. And then there's a transfer portal on January 2nd. And what do you tell any of the kids there to actually tell them on behalf of all of us here at the University of Michigan? This is not the way.
It is. Although It is. This is not the way it's supposed to be, even though. it is currently being. How do you tell those people?
I wish I could do that right now and have it sink in. Because This is again larger than the football team. This is about what we talk about at the University of Michigan and what that block M is all about and trying to. Untarnish that. Right now over everything that's gone on.
And I don't know how to do that. And so, if there's anybody out there in the Michigan fan base, I know Taylor Luan is joining in hour three, has reached out to me like, you can do something. You can do it. I don't, I have no idea what I can do. I have no idea if Lane Kiffin's in Bryce Underwood's driveway right now.
I have no idea if that even matters based on how everything has gone on. I have no idea who could be the next football coach of the University of Michigan because right now, To be straight up, when I was going through all of the emotions, having heard all this, because again, I have really enjoyed my interactions with Sharon Moore. He's been on this show. You guys have met him. He's been, again, great to my family.
We just brought. Uh, Cooper to the campus there. He could not have been more gracious in introducing him around, and I could not have been more prideful of all that. And now, all of that being called into question. is so conflicting for me.
That I did spend at one point in time. After thinking about all this, Saying if there was an investigation going on, could they have wrapped it up before everybody else just signed everywhere, including two big 10 spots against teams that are coming for Michigan when they do play one another, including you bet, Michigan State? And that cycle of hiring is now done and in the books. And now Michigan's going to go into that market with this hanging over the program's head and try and figure out who that person is. Because if that person is currently getting set for a college football playoff game, Well I don't think that person's going to be available.
And if you think it's somebody maybe from. the National Football League. You know, there's some names that are being thrown around out there. What are they going to do? Just leave their teams in the middle of the December run to take the University of Michigan job in the middle of all this just to make sure that everybody understands?
Don't enter the transfer portal? What happens if you want a coach who's actually winning? football games that matter.
Well, that coach won't be available till, say, January or in the National Football League, maybe February. You know when when When this all went down. It's amazing that in the history of this show, as we're sitting here from the seat of Disney in New York City, we came on the air and I was caping for Jim Harbaugh. Like, he's got to come back. At the time, though.
It was clear that things were not working out between him and the San Francisco 49ers and that Michigan had the ability to potentially wait for him. And it all worked out. The timing here. Couldn't be worse. And I'm saying this again.
with a heavy heart and completely conflicted because when it all comes down to it, me sitting here wondering about the timing about the football program, when there are people staring into the abyss about how their lives have been completely upended by the choices that have been made, by others. completely out of their control. And that includes. A wife, apparently, and three daughters, apparently, and whatever's going on. in between the temples of Sharon Moore.
lives shattered. It makes it feel like I'm being a small person wondering about what about a football program. Because it is a much larger issue.
So if anybody's out there wondering what I'm thinking, I'm laying it all out there. I don't know. I have no idea what the future holds. I hope it holds nothing but greatness, but that's just me. I'm sure there is a bunch of other folks out there who are loving the Michigan tears right now.
And I don't know what else to say, other than what's on my mind and in my heart. and what I could possibly do to help. I don't know what that is. other than just being honest and straight here. and just telling anybody out there who's wondering, can it all work out?
it's still a great place to go to school and play football. And hopefully, at the end of the day, this doesn't fall completely apart on the football front. And hopefully, pieces were on the ground of players there, players who've committed to coming, parents of those players who committed to this program and this school, wondering if now they thought they had four years potentially of this. experience in front of them.
Now they're wondering if they even want it. in the span of 24 hours. And then you're wondering what's going on in the halls of the regents who make these decisions or anywhere in the athletic department. Everyone's wondering what is going on and who's the person to step to the fore. Whatever I can do to help, I'm there.
But in terms of wondering what's happening right now, I'm with you. I don't know. All I know is it's a nightmare. of a situation for a lot of people involved and more than just football. Yeah.
Let's take a break. Ryan Clark's going to join us here on this Thursday edition of the Rich Isen Show from New York City. Obviously, we'll talk about it with former Michigan Wolverine Taylor Lawan when Will Compton comes by in hour number three together. We've got Kurt Warner coming up, and there's lots to talk about with him. Phillip Rivers coming back.
I can't wait to hear what he has to say about that. And then Joe Burrow, sounding like talk about staring into the abyss. He said some things from his podium on Wednesday that sounded like a guy that. That's at the end of his run. Yeah.
Not just this season either. Andrew Lucky. Yeah, very Andrew Lucky is definitely a way to put it.
So that's all still to come. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Ryan Clark is making his way from next door. to join us here in person on the Rich Eisen Show. As many of you know, supporting pediatric cancer research is something I care deeply about.
That's why I'm proud to share what Hyundai is doing through Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, with every Hyundai sold, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research. Alongside over 850 dealers, they've raised more than $277 million, helping over 25,000 kids and supporting more than 1,400 research grants at 175 institutions nationwide. This year alone, they've committed another $27 million in honor of the 27th anniversary of the program. And they're proud to have national youth ambassadors like Jackson Trin and Emmy Cole who bring hope to kids across the country by sharing their stories.
Because at Hyundai, hope is our greatest feature. And it comes standard. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. May not be valuable from a rating standpoint, but they're important to us.
Ryan Clark is here. Our ESPN radio audience, presented by Progressive Insurance, has just returned. We were just talking about the pivot and, Ryan, your Emmy Award-winning work that's been done here over the first few years and your tenure here with ESPN, right here on the Rich Eisen Show from New York City. And you were talking about how the NFL Live show is like a family to you last night. I was a co-host for the Stuart Scott Booyah event that went down here last night.
$3.1 million were raised in support of the V Foundation and Stewart's foundation within it. And Randy Moss got the first ever. Heard it was award. Yes, the Inspire Award. And he gave a corker of a speech.
He was absolutely brilliant in talking about his experience with cancer and the family that he felt supported him, not just his own life in flesh and blood, but obviously his work family as well. And then talked about how Stuart inspired him as a broadcaster. He was phenomenal. That's what Dan came in saying the same thing that Greene said that. And I'm actually sad I missed it.
I was able to go to the event last year. Michael Eaves, who does an amazing job in continuing the work that Stuart started and that his daughters are so passionate about.
So I wasn't able to be there last night. I ended up getting in late. I just like when I think of Stuart Scott, and I even got to tell you. You know, the last time we spoke about how inspired I was and how appreciative I was of the way you honored him. On the night you were back on Sports Center.
And if you're Randy Moss, if you're Rich Isaac, I mean, if you're. You know, SVP, like Stewart touched us all. Oh, yeah. You know, there was an authenticity in who he was that was still so professional, but also so him. And then to watch him battle cancer the way he did.
And I don't know how many times I've YouTubed. That speech, but also how many times I've YouTubed Jim Valvano's speech or Robin Roberts' speech. You know, I wish I could have seen Randy's because these are these people that, in some way, become bigger than life that also get humbled. By it and don't allow it to kill their spirit. And I think sometimes we get bogged down in the everyday adversities of life that truly most people face and don't think about what someone else is going through.
And to be able to keep that in perspective, man, with what some of these great humans have been able to share with us, I think that is truly a gift from God.
Well, I'm with you, obviously, and that's excellently said right there. And last night was kind of like a Jimmy V speech type night. You know, we laughed, we cried, it was a full day. you know, a full night last night. And Randy was great.
He was awesome, and it was great to see him. And he looks great, sounds great. His family look great, and he was spectacular. I've got Ryan Clark here on the Rich Eisen show. The best team in the NFL right now.
Four weeks to go. Don't do me that, Rich. I believe it's the Los Angeles Rams. You do. You know, and I know when you go back two weeks and you think to yourself, yeah, but they lost to the Panthers.
Right. Right? The Panthers also went into Green Bay. And got a win. But watching that game and the turnovers by Matthew Stafford, the pick six, the force, the sack fumble late in the game, like it still shows you how good they are because they had an opportunity to win.
They're the best team, in my opinion, because they have the things I can count on the most. I can count on Matthew Stafford. I can count on the run game of Sean McVay, the two wide receivers on the outside and Puka Nakua and Devontae Adams, and a front four that just won't quit, and young playmakers on the second level and the back end that may not be household names, but have made huge plays throughout this season. And so, right now, I believe that the best team, and I can say all of those good things about the Los Angeles Rams, and then you can still ask me now and be like, I don't know if they're going to win it.
Well, that's because everything is so wide open and it does take.
Some of us wrap our arms around an NFL season being different than the year before, if not several years before, which is why people are like, Yeah, but they lost in Carolina. I'm like, Well, wait a minute. Carolina also, wait a minute, Carolina has a chance to win its division. You know, and it's still just difficult for a lot of people to wrap their arms around the fact that the Chiefs. And the Ravens aren't going to make the playoffs this year unless there's some massive Turn around.
Sort of makes me sick. Mm-hmm. What do you mean? I know the world wants to believe that it's great when all these teams have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Nobody wants that.
I don't really want that. You're talking Chris's language right now. Am I right, Chris, though? Oh, yes. And I say the same thing about the college football playoff.
Like, hey, cool, James Madison, Tulane. Nobody's running for you. I agree. I'm sorry. And I'm from New Orleans.
Don't get a seat at the big boy table for Thanksgiving. Yeah, the NFL, I get it, but. It's tough for people to wrap their arms around. Like, think about it. Last year's 15 win teams.
The Lions are on the outside looking in. The Chiefs need to win the table and get some help to get in. You got 14-win team in the Vikings. They're not making it. You got a 12-win team in the Washington Commanders.
They're not making it. So the number of, and you've got the Ravens that might not make it. You've got a whole bunch of teams that were incredibly successful last year that are either definitely not making or may not make it again this year. And then you look at the Patriots and the Broncos and you're wondering, are they for real? Can Carolina really, are they really for real?
Yeah, it's entirely possible that they are for real right now.
Well, I think the New England Patriots 100% are for real. Drake May's ascension was no surprise to me in this very. Studio at the beginning of the season, or before the season started, the question was: What story are we not speaking about enough? Yes, and I said, It's Drake May and the possibility of him becoming a superstar. And some of the pushback was he wouldn't have the infrastructure around him from a roster standpoint that they might have been a year away.
But that also didn't take into account what he was physically capable of doing and what the addition of Josh McDaniels could do for a young Drake May. When he said, It was something he said during his interview on Monday Night Football, he said, I get to watch Tom Brady. Do exactly what I'm being asked to do. That he's sitting in a meeting with Josh McDaniels and they're talking about certain play calls, certain decision-making. And Josh, think about the cachet that gives you, as Josh McDaniels, to be able to say, here is what I told Tom, and here is what Tom did.
How do you refute that in any way as a player? And then, what Mike, bro. I think back to when Mike Vrabel is running down the sideline with Antonio Gibson. in Miami and I'm like how Freaking cool is that? to be able to look at your coach and know one.
He did this at a very high level. He also got in two, jumped into two fights. In training camp, like physically gotten up, was bleeding, goes through the drills with us, has the coaching acumen that you learn when you work with a Bill Belichick for most of your playing career and the things that you were able to do in Tennessee and be a coach of a year. And, like, that's your coach? Man, what they have going on is great.
They're for real. I do believe the Denver Broncos are for real. I can say, I can be honest, Carolina Panthers, I am. I'm not assault on them. Because sometimes they can be so bad.
Right. And they are in the are they arriving on time or ahead of time type conversation right now. I'm with you. And you look at the NFC South and the Bucks have fallen off a little bit. And maybe you're just lumped into NFC South.
Tonight it's Bucs and Falcons this evening. And I'm not saying it's an afterthought. It's a National Football League game involving two franchises that really don't like each other. But when you look at the NFC, you're looking at the NFC North. You're looking at the NFC West for sure.
And then I'm kind of proud of myself. I haven't brought up the Eagles to you yet, you know, because it just feels like it's a massive drumbeat about what's going on. And my question for you is: how can something just go? For three straight weeks on such a talented team.
So you can't say it's awry, but you're just saying it's off. There's something off. There's something that is not clicking. How does something, and the coach is like, we got to get better. The quarterback is like, you know, how do we respond?
And it just seems to be unresponsive. We all seem to be of the appropriate age for this analogy.
Okay. There may be some people that are too young for it.
Okay. I'm on the edge of my seat. None of us are. You got a DeLorean? Because if you do, go back to 2023 and ask this exact same team how this happens.
The 2023 Eagles were 10-1. Yep, right. And throughout that stretch of going 10 and 1, we were all sitting on the outside like, something stinks though. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, like the the the foods.
good right now, but but something stinks. And eventually you figure out That there are cracks in the armor, or there are things that won't be fixed. And that sort of seems where we're headed now. And I'm not predicting that this team. Doesn't make the playoffs because I believe in the last Three of the last four games are super winnable.
I think it's Commanders twice. The Commanders twice, the Raiders twice, and the Raiders twice. And a visit to Buffalo is the. No, that's the one game, right?
So you expect them to make the playoffs. But as much as I love Jalen Hurts and Nick Siriani and also Vic Fangie on what this defense can do. You can't play offense in this manner and win a Super Bowl. And to one of your points earlier about the 15-win teams, like we're sitting at a place where the Jalen Hurts-led Philadelphia Eagles don't look like a Super Bowl caliber team. The Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs are on the outside looking in.
The Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens on the outside looking in, and the Joe Burrow-led Cincinnati Bengals are done. That's where we are, and that's why this year does seem so strange, but also is wide open. Ryan Clark here on the Rich Eisen show, a few minutes left with him. What. What is it like to be coached by Mike Tomlin and hear maybe in the community that fans don't want Mike Tomlin to be the coach anymore.
Oh, crazy enough, on social media, one of my favorite people in Pittsburgh. She does security and she's always done security there. Her name's Chrissy. Shout out to Chrissy. Yeah, Chrissy's always done security there and.
You know, uh she has cerebral palsy, I believe. And she's like one of my best friends at camp. Just awesome. Young lady, and she messaged me and she's like, You know, I miss the old days, you know, the days when you would stay out and sign autographs for people until they left, and you don't have that connection anymore. And she asked me, She's like, I wonder.
Does the do the fans Or the fans screaming in that manner for Coach Tomlin to be fired, do you have to listen to him? Mm-hmm. And my answer to that was unequivocally. No, you don't. Like, fans are important to the game.
We play the game.
So, and for their enjoyment. And we love to share in winning with them. But fans are called fans because they're fanatics. People who know football know that You shouldn't be calling for Mike Tomlin's job.
Now, I also. Understand from the standpoint of team building where you have to be in the decision-making process with Mike Tomlin because for the last 10 years you've been in Super Bowl purgatory. And Pittsburgh Steelers are never supposed to be in Super Bowl purgatory. Pittsburgh Steelers are supposed to be competing for championships, and this team can't, and this team won't.
So, where do you go from here when you've invested in your defense that much? And I said this a year ago, and I was called by someone in the organization that said, The things I, the reasonings I had about what's going on in the locker room, were. Fair. But they disagree with the point. I felt like Mike Tomlin.
Should have a conversation about going have his Andy Reid second run somewhere else. To be able to say, hey, look, I feel like what we've done here has been special. I'm forever indebted to this organization. Where we are right now, when we talk about the standard being the standard, isn't the standard for either of us. And maybe a new voice is needed.
Maybe you need to be able to. Be as bad as you could possibly be to rebuild? Or maybe there's another voice that could get you over the hump? Because right now, it doesn't seem that his style of coaching, his way of coaching, and his voice is the one To get you to another championship, and you may have to part ways in that way. But I've said it before, I'll say it again here on Rich Eisen's show.
I believe that Mike Tomlin is unfirable in Pittsburgh. That doesn't mean he should be there forever.
So let me follow up by asking you this, because you know him better than I would. I mean, I've interviewed him, I've had moments with him off camera. Um and I I've interviewed him also prior to games. And I'll share it as well. He was kind enough when my father passed away in twenty nineteen, I talked about it on the year.
He sent me a note. Awesome. You know, so I that's but that's all I know of him personally. You know him better. What would it take for him to actually endeavor that thought process, though?
And when would he go through that? Do you think that's a good question? And I can't speak for him. In my estimation, he wouldn't because the one thing he always stressed to me is that he'll never run from coaching. This team still needs to be coached.
This team still needs to be led. the way I internalize that or comprehend that when he says that he won't run from coaching, he knows people do sometimes, is that he would feel like he's running from the adversity That he's possibly had a hand in creating. Right? It's. His decision making on the players, his decision-making on the coaches, his decision-making on what he feels like is the best way to approach winning.
And so, when you've had a hand in all of those things and those things aren't working, To leave and say, maybe somebody else will be better, or maybe there's a better place to me, would feel like I'm running from the adversity that I've created myself that I need to help this team and these people find a solution from, which is a fair way to look at it and an honorable way to look at it. But people who truly know football know that it's not always a fair and honorable occupation.
Well, and. My goodness, I've just received in my ear right now and I'm looking on my phone. Mike Tomlin is going to be giving an update on TJ Watt. I'm probably bre have you heard about this? No.
He's currently in a local hospital for further medical evaluation of his lung. After experiencing discomfort at the practice facility Wednesday, he will not be at practice Thursday. His status or Monday's game in Miami is in question. That's from Burt Lawton, who you do very well. I mean, my goodness gracious.
I don't even know what that would mean, or I'm just throwing that out there since that is breaking news. I think the first thing is, you know, you pray that TJ's okay. Like, that's the first thing that comes to my mind because, like, we're not talking about a shoulder. You're not talking about. Yeah, that's something that doesn't have a cast.
You know what I mean? Exactly. Or a crutch. And what I can say about the Steelers organization, about their head coach, is being someone who had. an injury that was unlike most football injuries.
Mike Tomlin and that organization are going to put TJ Watts health first. It's not going to be about winning football games and getting him back on the field for Monday. It's going to be about the quality of life that he could live for his family. And I know that.
Now you get to the football field. Obviously, TJ Watt is extremely important to this team. You bet. You're playing a football team in the Miami Dolphins that can absolutely run the skin. off of the football.
Right now, and he's going to be a huge part of being able to withstand that from a defensive standpoint. And for a team that's trying to continue a run to win the AFC North, like this is a devastating blow to those chances.
Well, listen, Ryan, I always appreciate you coming on the show. It's great to have you here in person. And I'll just throw it out there again: I'm a fan of your pod and pivot, you know. You know, I know I saw you had Joe Buck on. I was about to say, hey, I mean, you're always welcome to come on.
I'm happy to come for you with you, whatever you'd like. How about we do this?
Okay. Because I think it's all, you know, always love to watch you run the 40.
Okay. I think we should do a show around the combine to not only talk about your career and who you are in your life, but to also give you an opportunity to say why that's so important. I would love to do that, obviously, because, you know, it's a fundraiser, but there's no physical requirement, right, to show up on this front. Like, you're not going to make me make you run there? Yeah, yo, no, no, absolutely not.
You should, though. She needs it. Already. No, I mean, I think the best part about it is, and I love the logo you guys, is how bad his form actually is.
Well, if he showed up, if he showed up Dorsey flexed, high-knee, driving through the ground, I wouldn't even want to watch it. What's the point?
Well, I'll tell you, I'll share this story with you then, since you brought that up. As you can see the logo that's right there. This logo was created by the DirecTV team that helped birth the show. Created the program. And I'll never forget the moment where Christopher J.
Long, Chris Long, our rabbi basically for this program, he showed me the logo. He's like, what do you think about this idea? I didn't even think about using my 40-yard dash as a logo. And it was a perfect, perfect silhouette of my running style, which meant the right leg was flared all the way out beyond my right hand that you see right there. Everything else is as is.
But that right leg, I'm like, can we move that in under my body to make it a more athletic stance? And I watched the computer-generated machine move it underneath. I'm like, right there. That's it. Actually, so that's a true story about this logo.
It's perfect with the exception of the right might have been brought in maybe a little bit too far. But it's still right there. No, you love it. Yeah. And I'll stop.
That's an awesome story. Come on. I'm happy to come on and whatever I can do. And I appreciate you doing what you do. Brian Clark.
Thank you so much. Thank you right there. Thank you, guys. Brian Clark, right here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich is the number to dial. Obviously, lots going down.
What Joe Burrow had to say at the microphone was absolutely concerning for Bengals fans. We'll hear from that and Kurt Warner on that subject coming up. Oh. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance.
See why over 43 million drivers trust Progressive to stay protected on the road. See for yourself at Progressive. Yeah. Okay. Um So there are there are as you know there are some fan bases in the National Football League that, um that feel as if it will never happen for them.
Winning the Super Bowl? Winning it all.
Okay. Okay. Yes. Winning it all.
Getting something nice to happen to them. Let's just start with. Iran. Just like. Right.
Yeah. Just getting something. in a draft. Where somebody turns out to be generationally brilliant dropped in your lap out of nowhere. And you've enjoyed that, Christopher?
Twice. Maybe now twice. Packers fans have enjoyed it. Um Chiefs fans, my gosh, are they water skiing behind yachts right now for sure?
Okay. I once enjoyed it.
Well, that's true. But you still are better than most. You're better off than most. I'm talking about football-wise. Oh, I thought you made a human being.
Here's my wind-up. Here's the pitch now.
So, for say, Browns fans, Jets fans, Cardinals fans. Bengals fans. You're wondering. Will it ever happen? Can it ever happen?
We've come close to having it happen. And in the case of the Bengals, they've come close to having it happen. Very close. Hey, kids, back in the day, you know, before Chris Collinsworth was sliding in to booths and cameras. Oh, Rich, you know that?
He's talking about football. By the way, Cooper loves the, you know, here's the 4K cam. No, anyway. that the Bengals came twice. Two times.
Very close to winning the Super Bowl, and Joe Montana was standing in their way. And as we all know, they got their own Joe in the draft a couple of years ago. And they came close to beating the Los Angeles Rams. And now, Joe Burrow came close to beating the Buffalo Bills last week to potentially start something special for this year. And now you're sitting there and thinking, well, what this season could have been.
And at least Burrow is back. And at least we see Joe Burrow being Joe Burrow. on the field. And that's at least something we can hang our hat on for next year and years and years and years. Until Joe Burrows stepped to the podium yesterday.
And now Bengals fans have got to be wondering, If the Cincinnati Bengals have broken Joe Burrow. And I don't think I'm being overly dramatic about this. No, not at all. I couldn't believe this. Joe Burrow stepped to the podium yesterday and shared.
Uh quite a bit. We've got two sound bites to illustrate this, and we wanted to unpack it before Kurt Warner joins us, so we'll ask him about that. The first soundbite is about what, Mike Hoskins, once again? Yeah. Maybe no longer having fun.
playing football hit it. You know, if I wanna If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. Hmm. You know, I've been through a lot and If it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? What was the changing point?
Okay. Changing point. I'm not sure I'm not sure there was a A singular moment or time of Time it's just uh reflection reflection on a lot of things that I've done and been through in my career, I think. I've been through more than most and Um Certainly not easy on the the brain or the body, so Oh. Just trying to have fun doing it again.
That sound bite began with the words If I want to keep doing this. If I want to keep doing this, and the question would be. Wait a minute. You're you're questioning if you want to keep doing this? Like play?
Now is the this playing at all or playing for the Bengals? Yeah. Let's just hear the other sound bite. Um And this one was another one that made you wonder. Um about If it's more than just what's going on.
On the field. Seem it you seem like There's something on your mind. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed frustrating. There's just a lot of things going on right now. A lot of things going on right now.
I'll do both. Both.
So I'm going to try and give you the glass half full. You know that's my default. That's your MO, man. Is that my superpower, if I may say? Sure is.
Okay. I'm going to say That Rehabbing an injury sucks. Yeah. For players like Joe Burrow, who have now been through it over. and over and over again.
Yeah, third time. Knowing that he has rehabbed and he has made it back, and the Cincinnati Bengals are now playing out a string. That I think he's just frustrated.
Now the question is, does he reach the Andrew Luck level of I'm just no longer having fun because I'm constantly hurt. And I have a situation here in professional football where I cannot be protected. Up front, and I'm constantly having my body break down on me, and I don't want to be spending any more time in my life when I've got my marbles and I've got my chicken, right? He's taking care of his mentals and his chicken, mentals, mentals, and chicken, very important, which is, you know. Mm-hmm.
Very important. It's Marshawn Speak, right? Do I want to just keep doing this at all anymore? And that's where we don't know. And that's what I think the.
Folks who are in the Press room Asking the questions of Burrough or just suddenly getting that alarm bell. Yeah. And trying to Pick his brain about what are you talking about. You pissed about your current situation, thinking that you could be in a better one in the National Football League? Or are you frustrated with your current situation thinking you can just be a better one in life, period?
Because you have taken care of your chicken, and while you still got your mentals, you need to figure out something else you want to do. But I also have heard Joe Burrow basically say, I'm a football player. That's why I'm coming back. That's why I rehab my toe. That's why I'm here for a team with only three wins on a Thanksgiving night.
And I'm pissed that I wasn't put out on the field the week before. to maybe give us a fourth win before Thanksgiving. And you hear that and you're trying to put it all together like What is up with Joe Burrow? And that's why I can't wait to have Kurt Warner on to basically maybe interpret this. Like he speaks fluent quarterback.
And maybe he can. Help us translate, because right now I'm hearing Joe Burrow and I'm wondering.
Okay. Are you done playing for the Bengals? Or are you done playing, period? Or is this just a frustrating moment that will pass? The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
Mm-hmm.
