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Now, on with the show. This is Rob, you don't understand. I love to act. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Phillip Rivers came off the couch and came out here throwing dimes.
From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. McClurkey keeps it beautifully. Coming up on today's show. Complete week 15 recap. Monday night preview.
Plus your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We're back in our usual Los Angeles Diggs after an awesome week in New York City with our friends at ESPN, back on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance Sirius XM Channel 80. Our phone number is still the same.
844-204-Rich to have a conversation.
So much to talk about from this weekend in sports. It's on. Tilt off its axis, however, you want to put it, leading to the week 15 finale between the Pittsburgh Steelers trying to stay in front of the Baltimore Ravens entering the final three weeks of the season against the Miami Dolphins team trying to get back to 500 and giving themselves a chance at the playoffs that get slimmer with each passing loss for so many teams in the National Football League. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you?
Hey, Rich. I survived guillotine, so I'm doing pretty good. That's good.
So did Coop.
So did my son. Oh, the man who didn't is not here today. That's all good. At any rate, you and I just finished recording the latest episode of Overreaction Monday. That's sitting there wherever you get your podcasts for your eargates.
If you want to see it, it's always available on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. Hello, Mike Del Tufo. Good to see you. Hey, Rich, how you doing? And good to see you, TJ Jefferson.
Oh, boy. Oh, no. Oh, no. All right, we'll talk about that on this program. I hate football.
Oh, man. We'll talk about that on this program. 1% yet. Later on, 844-204-rich, number to dollar. Let's put a pin in that.
Mm. But we have to start. With my usual default of being sunny. Rather than cloudy. Oh, good.
Being a glass half full. I look at a glass and I'm like, you know what? That's half full. Not half empty. That's the way I look at it, which is why last week.
That's what I like about you, though. Yeah, you know what? I appreciate it. Yeah. It's why last week, certainly when the delightful Paul Rudd was sitting on our set, I try to be positive.
He's a Die Hard Chiefs fan. As you know, I've always been saying, won't quit the Chiefs until they're out of it. And I put out there the scenario. Chiefs went out. Have the Chargers lose two of their final three.
You know, even though they just, you know, one, two in a row since the buy and five or six going into yesterday's game in Arid, have the Colts. lose half their games and make sure the Ravens and Dolphins don't win out. And the Chiefs make the playoffs to 10 and 7. Entirely possible. There was, however.
Um A playoff elimination scenario. If they lost to the Chargers and the Bills beat the Patriots. And the Jaguars beat the Jets, and the Texans beat the Arizona Cardinals. Uh the Chiefs would be out. And the Chiefs are up 13 to 3.
And I'm thinking to myself, hey. Hey. I'm looking at that class. It's half full. They're up thirteen to three.
Chargers aren't moving the football on this defense. And, um Yada yada yada. The absolute, positively most disastrous set of results occurred for the. Chiefs who, as they were driving, In the final. Possession of of the game.
Could look up at the scoreboard and go, oh, wait a minute, the Bills came back from 21 down on the Patriots. Oh, wait a minute. The Jaguars are mud holing the New York Jets. And the Houston Texans doing the same, the Arizona Cardinals. Oh my goodness.
If we don't push this to overtime and maybe win it like our last game against the Colts. If we don't maybe march down the field and score a touchdown here. We are going to be eliminated from playoff contention with three weeks to go. And this is a team that, since Mahomes, has been the starter, the earliest that their season has ever ended is overtime in the AFC Championship game. And sure enough.
Mahomes takes the field. And gets his knee blown up. And they lose. And they're eliminated from playoff contention. Name me a worse set of circumstances than that.
An ACL tear for Patrick Mahomes? Oof.
So, not only do you not force overtime, not only do you not win the game, not only do you not make the playoffs, now you're staring into the abyss of Patrick Mahomes spending his entire offseason rehabbing a blown-out knee that may not be ready in time for next year. And even what everybody thought, if the Chiefs' season could end somewhat prematurely, or you. Mm-hmm. prematurely in terms of when it usually ends. You're not thinking about, okay.
Is the dynasty completely over? Because What are you going to do now? With Mahomes out. Of OTAs and training camp and everything else. Andy Reid stepped to the podium and had this all sink in on him.
After the Chargers swept them for the first time in over a decade. and kept them from making the playoffs. in 2025. Yeah, the guys are down. They busted their butt.
to win the win the game. You know, and I wouldn't expect anything less.
So you know, it's not a not a great feeling. Uh I wouldn't expect it to be after After losing a game. I can't tell you. I'm happy, you know.
Okay, so it's uh it's a tough deal there, you know, when when you deal with that, but Same time, we've got a few more games here we've got to take care of. I mean, that's what a coach is saying in terms of take care of. He knows. In terms of the toughest job he's had with the Chiefs yet. Having them in the Mahomes era in this dynastic run that they're on.
Getting the guys to play games that don't mean anything except pride. That's a new challenge for Andy Reid in Kansas City, that's for sure. But at least he knew that was the case. Did you hear Chris Jones didn't even know they were eliminated from the playoffs? Yeah, I did see the clip where he was notified while he was speaking.
Well, here's that clip. Hey, roll it. But did you it's already on your mind that you guys could be out of the playoffs you probably I think the score was 13 and 13, or 13 and 10, so still had a fighting chance. Are we out of the blue? You are.
Okay. Man. Woof. Man, oh man. Yeah.
When you're in the, if you will, for lack of better phrase, football foxhole. You're not focused on the ifs, buts, candies, and nuts. You just know you've got to take care of your own business and hope for the results. And um Chris Jones found out at the podium. He's not going to the playoffs.
And Just to take it one piece at a time here. Part of the reason why they're not going to the playoffs. I mean, it's just, you can't put your finger on one thing. Nothing worked for the Chiefs. Since snap three of the season, I'm there in Brazil.
I'm calling it Xavier Worthy. is Going one way across the field, Travis Kelsey another way. They collide, Worthy's out for a couple weeks. And this team coming into the season was 100% jacked up about Worthy and his speed outside. And we're going to get Rashid Rice back in week six.
And this offense is going to be as dynamic as ever. And they couldn't. basically put enough consecutive flawless quarters together. For a team that could do that pretty much in its sleep for Over half a decade. was stunning.
And every single year it's like, can they? Can they come up with b enough big plays? With Tyree Kilgon. Yeah, how about winning two Super Bowls in a row with Tyree Kilgon? Can they get enough running game going when they don't.
Have a running game. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. And then this year, it does. They don't come up with enough big plays.
They can't connect on it, where either somebody's running the wrong route or drops a ball or Mahomes throws an interception that's uncharacteristic. And then the run game. They couldn't run it worth a lick either.
Sometimes doesn't matter, but the last thing you want is your quarterback. to come up with the most Touchdowns of ten rushing yards or longer of anybody on your team. Mahomes. Led the Chiefs. Not just this year, but for any of the last five seasons, he had more 10.
Yeah. 10 yards or longer rushing touchdowns by any Kansas City player in a season in the last five seasons. Don't want that. Defensively. Penalties It would just be one sort of fog.
Sleep walk type moment after another. That I did not see coming. Clearly I'd chose him to win the Super Bowl and then stuck with him on Thanksgiving. when it looked like they were beginning to turn a page. We're always wondering when's the light switch going to be flipped?
Not this year. And I've been saying this for years now.
So I might as well repeat it since it does appear we've reached the crossroads. that at some point At some point, the chiefs would have to figure out how to keep the dynasty rolling. with other players and potentially another coach. I don't think we're there with another coach yet. I think Andy Reid is as invigorated as ever.
I might be wrong. I don't know. He might turn around in a couple of weeks and say, you know what? I just uh want to hang with the grandkids. Don't know.
That I don't know. But I do know as we watch Mahomes do what he's done over the first Decade of his career. Hasn't reached 10 years yet. But he has reached the age of thirty. He surpassed Tom Brady.
As a 20-something-year-old quarterback, in terms of name any metric, name it all, pretty much. He surpassed him. Yards. Touchdowns. Super Bowl wins all of it.
All of it. either matched him or surpassed him. But at some point Brady, after winning, three of his first four. And then going through a dry spell, but still making Super Bowls. With the Patriots and the same coach, they had to do it with different players.
When would that happen? Because at some point, you know, Mahomes is going to take a snap when Kelsey's. With his lovely bride. doing whatever his next part of his career is going to be. Probably more successful in his playing career knowing him.
And then at some point, he'll have to take a snap without Andy Reid, which Brady didn't have to do. without Belichick until he willingly left. With Airings. And I'm wondering if we've reached that point of his career that he's going to have to do it in his 30s if he wants to run down Brady overall. If he wants to catch Tom.
And run him down as the clear goat at the position in the history of the sport. He's going to have to have a Hall of Fame career and a dynastic run in his 30s. And then there's the matter of his 40s, where Brady had a Hall of Fame career as a 40-year-old quarterback, too. Long way to go. But the crazy thing is, you know who suffered a knee injury and didn't make the playoffs in year nine?
Tom Brady. Except he did it five minutes into the game in game one.
So he was able to come back the next year. Mahomes has now done it. In game. 14, week 15. Middle of December.
And the whole idea is: if he's not going to be able to make it back next year.
Okay. And you're Travis Kelsey, and you're wondering, do I want to sign one more year or not? He might have already made this decision. You know, he might have already had this conversation. With his fiancée, and had it sit down and go, This is what we're going to do, this is what I'm going to do.
How does he sit there as he strolls off the field? In week 15, eliminated. The Chargers, who he's. Made a Hall of Fame coup against them. They're the ones?
Who put him in the 2025 pine box and sh shut it with their Lightning bolt? Hammer? They're the ones who do that? How's he going to take this? How's the rest of the team going to take this over the next three weeks?
What is Brett Veach going to do with a roster? That has cap issues and is getting longer in the tooth. What's he going to do? Because if they want to, with Mahomes. run down the Patriots in Belichick and Brady.
They've got to figure out a way to do it again. They still have terrific pieces there. But I think we might be at that crossroads right now.
So I know this is an overreaction Topic. Last week They lose, is the dynasty over? I don't think that uh this First part. is over. The question is, can there be, will there be a second part?
because they certainly have the quarterback to do it. Although I didn't think they'd be strolling into it. With a blown out knee. Brady did, came back, and then the rest of the team. Went to Super Bowls again.
He won three out of five later on as a 30-something. We'll see. I think we've reached that point right now. I think it's very fair to say. Andy Reid's 68 years old, and it's just wondering.
How much longer does he want to do this? The oldest coach to ever win a Super Bowl was 68. Bruserians did it with the Bucs. Obviously, beat the Chiefs with Tom Brady. I don't know.
I just think if Mahomes is out a good portion of next year because this injury happened so late in this season. Do you just chalk next year up to a gap year and then you kind of reload for 2027? I don't know if the Chiefs are thinking gap year right now. Yeah. Oh, who's going to be your week one starter?
Most likely, it's not going to be Patrick Mahomes. Who knows? Is it Garner Minshew? Is he on the roster? He should be back, though, before the end of the year.
Never know. You would imagine. Never know. Nine months is pushing it. It is pushing it.
And that's the question: what do they do? Yeah. But Gap year, again, let's just all pump the brakes here. This is still a very talented team that just, for some reason, couldn't put it all together this year unless. I'm looking at a glass and seeing it half full.
I believe it is. One last thing here before we take a break. Because I still can't quit him. Yeah. No, Rich.
Yeah, Brockman texted the group, you know, in the middle of the afternoon games, you know, late afternoon games. Rich is still not going to admit the Chiefs are out of it tomorrow. I saw it. No, no, no. I can read the writing on it.
I thought that was a package. I found it funny.
Well, and the math. I mean, they're mathematically illuminating. I might have clapped back about how you're texting my 14-year-old son where you're watching the Super Bowl with him in the middle of a 21-0 lead. That have evaporated for the Patriots over the Bills, which we'll talk about in the next year. No, no, no.
I was really having fun in the first half yesterday. This is what I want to say on this front. You have to wait till 0-0-0-0-0. Here's what I want to say on this front with the Kansas City Chiefs not making the playoffs, first time in the Mahomes era. You're gonna miss him.
You're going to miss the Kansas City Chiefs when the AFC playoffs are hitting. You're going to miss the. The buzz, you're gonna miss the pizzazz, you're gonna miss my homes versus filling a blank, you're gonna miss my homes versus filling a blank with no time left, you're gonna miss something. The AFC playoffs. will have less juice to it.
Without the Chiefs And Patrick Mahomes. And one day, All you chief spatiguers out there, all you chiefs fatiguers out there. We'll admit it. You might have to go higher register. League's more fun when the Chiefs are good.
Look, people are happy about their downfall, but we got to see a generational talent rich. We got to see things in this decade. That we've never seen. And I can't wait to see how they're gonna come back and make it happen again. He's not done, Pete.
And everything I just said is one big mad lib. You remember that children's game? Kids, there used to be something called Mad Libs where you would actually write with a pencil.
Okay, I don't know.
Well, he's educating them right now. I have no idea. I mean, he's on a phone and on a device now. I think mad libs mean something else these days.
Well, guess what? It's one big narrative. You just change the proper nouns of what I just said about. The Chiefs? I'll say the same thing when LeBron's gone.
You'll miss him too. You'll miss hating them. You'll miss hate watching them. Yeah. Some will miss watching them.
They'll be less pizzazz without them. Same thing with these Chiefs. Nope. You're going to mix him. Nope.
It's going to mix him back, Rich. Nah, I'm good. He might not have the trophy. And you might you're gonna miss this guy. You're gonna miss the Kelsey.
Drake May will be lifting it one. All right. We can't get away with them. They're on every commercial. That might change, too.
But guess what? You don't get on commercials where people don't like it. You see playoffs minus the Chiefs. We'll just have that. Less of an edge to it.
Less of the buzz, less of the chit-chat. Man, how is this hitting in Duval right? I don't know. Yeah. Oh, we'll give the Jaguars their due later on this show.
As they might earn the right to be the proverbial, we don't want to face you team in the playoffs the way they're playing right now. But. You're gonna miss the Chiefs. That's my prediction. Let's take a break.
When we come back. The Broncos and the Patriots on winning streaks, only one of them still is. Packers, are they in trouble? The Bills, are they coming on strong or what? And then there's Phillip Rivers, old man Rivers, coming up.
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Sonos' holiday sale is on now through December 28th, 2025 at Sonos.com. Discover how easy it is to bring every room to life with Sonos. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show on our simulcast, ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance is back. We talked about how. The Chiefs are eliminated from the playoffs.
We knew they'd be eliminated from the AFC West, even coming into this game against the Chargers. And the Broncos are the team that we thought maybe on Christmas. Day, Christmas night. on Prime Video would be the ones to maybe hammer the coffin shut. on the Chiefs.
The Chargers did that for them. And now with Mahomes out. That makes that visit to Arrowhead potentially that much more winnable for Denver. But the Broncos just need to keep taking care of business themselves. And they entered this week.
In first place in conference, despite having the same number of wins as the Patriots, 11. And now They take on the Green Bay Packers, who are coming off of rousing wins in division. Against the Lions. and the bears. And they're the ones coming in with Jordan Love.
on fire. They're the ones coming in with a whole lot more of Crucible playoff type wins. Then Denver. They're coming in with the quarterback, yes, with more experience than theirs. And they're coming into Denver.
And the Broncos just can't. Unless it's against the Cowboys, no offense. Put together four quarters of, as they say, complimentary football. Offense and defense. Just can't do it.
They'll pull something out of their orifice if they have to in the fourth quarter. But can they come up with A Donnie Brooke type affair, you know a Green Bay is going to make him play one of those. And sure enough, This game. is a one-score game at halftime. And then The team that breaks it open.
is Green Bay just a minute and a half into the second half. And off goes Josh Jacobs for a monster touchdown run. And the Green Bay Packers are up in this game 23-14, two-score game, just a minute and one seconds into the second half, a 40-yard dash. For Jacobs. And that's when the Broncos turn things around.
And turn things to their Brilliant quarterback. In bonecks? Who finds Cortland Sutton? For a touchdown pass. And then Troy Franklin for a touchdown pass.
The defense stands strong forces The Packers to settle for a field goal to make it a one-point game, and then R.J. Harvey. Their rookie running back who's Playing well. With J.K. Dobbins out for the time being, maybe he even comes back.
My goodness. And the Broncos, the team that everybody loaded the bandwagon for this year. The team that everybody loaded the bandwagon for this year. Have won 11 straight football games. They started, don't forget, one and two without trailing for a single second.
They've trailed again. They've trailed more in their 11-game win streak than they did in the two-game losing streak at the beginning of the season. Yeah, zero, right? They lost at the buzzer both times at the final gun, as they say in the NFL. In Indianapolis.
And then against the Chargers. Man, oh man, oh man. Bo Nicks, four touchdown passes. You have the floor. I was able to learn in college that you're not going to win the game in one play.
You're not going to win the game in one quarter. You've got to piece it all together. And it may look ugly at times, but it really doesn't matter. And there's always a way to win the game. There's always a way at the end to win a game.
There's always a way at the beginning.
So you have to figure that out. And as a team, I think that's just what makes really good teams. Together, they figure out the way and they just go out there and do it. A fourth career game for Bo Nicks with four more touchdown passes. I think we have a graphic to support this.
The only individuals with more such games in the first two seasons in NFL history. are named Dan Marino. And uh Patrick Mahomes. Heard of them. In terms of more such games in Broncos history, the only ones who have that.
Are named Elway and Peyton Manning. That one to kiss. They're in the Hall of Fame. Hey, now. Not too shabby.
Not to joke and let's not forget. When he says Learning college. 61 starts in college football. 61. Think about all the kids being drafted in the NFL these days.
who come in. And how long it will take for them to get 61 starts in the National Football League, that's. How Nick's can avoid the sacks. He can make some plays. Obviously, he's going to have some playoff games and at home, one would think.
To come. But um Check the box, man. Everybody thought that He was the consolation prize in that first round a couple years ago that Sean Payton was just left with. He just had to take the kid because if he didn't, they were not going to have any quarterback. Right.
Dead Cap and Russell Wilson having this kid. Common. And everybody thought, oh, well, Sean Payton, this is a nice parting gift for you. From the first round of the draft. And what a combination those two have been so far.
I appreciate Coach for letting me be my authentic self, and I appreciate him for letting me be competitive. And he hasn't taken that fire away from me. I appreciate the opportunity that he's given me, and I think together we got something going right now. And I thought at the same time, he's extremely competitive himself.
So I always wanted that as just a coach that was going to compete for me, compete with me, and go out there and just let me play. And that's what he does. And I think it's working, and we're going to continue to find ways to make it work even more.
Now, again, I know wins for a quarterback stat is dicey. For instance, you know, Joe Burrow got the win in week two that he left in the middle of the game, right? Right. Jake Browning finished up. By the way, Bengals beating Jacksonville.
In that game. Look at where they both are right now. But that said With Sean Payton and Bo Nix connecting. Bo Nix Since 1950, since the middle of last Century Tide for second most wins in the first two seasons of a career. With luck, Dak, Big Ben.
And he's one ahead of Marino. And if they win out, which is a tall order, they've got Jacksonville at home, Kansas City on the road, and of course. the aforementioned Chargers game that could be for all the Marbles. At home in week 18. Um He would pass Russell Wilson for most in the NFL since the middle of last century.
You know, Sean Payton's out of his skull. Happy about this. Right? Hit it. He loves playing, you know, and so that's contagious.
And um That's that's a really good trait. For A player at his position and his teammates feel that. You remember for 15 years I had one personality, and they couldn't be more different from just from a personality standpoint. And then I've had the good fortune of coaching others, but it's learning him and And And him smiling even when we're down. I mean, there's just a.
a competitive nature about them that that's refreshing. The other quarterback is referring to just In case you're wondering, is Drew Brees? Could have been Jared Stitton, but I think he's referring to Brees. I think you're right. Definitely not Russ.
Because, again, when they deadcapped Russ, I think I sat in this very chair. And I said Good luck. Because When you Have a rookie quarterback, you want to win in the rookie contract. When they're not making all that money, they're not making the gajillions. And you then have enough money to spend on other players to support that kid and win in the first.
Contract. That's the money.
Okay. That's the Mother load. When you draft the quarterback and you win in a rookie contract, if you win multiple times, oh my goodness, then you've hit the jackpot. But how are you going to do that when you're still paying another quarterback? that gajillions of franchise quarterback money.
like it's a second third contract. They were paying Russell Wilson. How are they going to pull that off?
Well, guess who's the first of the 12 win club? And Bo Nix's second year as starter there. The 2025 Denver Broncos. Who have a real shot to win this conference? Give everyone a week off and then have everybody have to come to the Rocky Mountain air.
And the number of times that Sean Payton mentioned in his post-game press conference that they wanted to play with Pace, bringing the Packers into their building. in the thin air. Again, last time there was a Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Super Bowl 50, the Broncos went and won it. Gotta feel really good about themselves right now. And they're real.
I was a real W against a tough team. We'll talk about the Packers and the loss of Micah in a few, but I want to talk about the Patriots as well because they were the ones who came in with as many wins. in a row as Denver. Same number. They started one and two, and then won all the way up until this past week, and had a chance.
to win their division. With a home win against the Bills team that they shocked in game two of that 10-game win streak on Sunday night football and hit in the mouth. Hit in the mouth repeatedly. And Drake May's the one who made the plays. Throughout, not Josh Allen, not the reigning MVP, the kid growing into an MVP candidate this year.
And the Patriots took a 21-0 lead. On the Buffalo Bills. And I've got to be honest with you. I'm sitting there thinking this is a changing of the guard moment. Because I don't know how many times I'm going to sit here and hear the Bills don't have the weapons for Josh Allen and they're letting him down.
They can't protect him. And when he does. Run around, he's got to pull it out of his orifice, he's got to keep putting the cape on. When are they going to finally lose? What's going to happen?
And we're still wondering that. As they win. Taking care of business against the New England Patriots. Because when the second half hit, I don't know what the hell. Sean McDermott told this team in the locker room.
Maybe you just turn to Josh Allen and say, All right, you do it. Because it looks like a fortress of solitude out here with the snow and the cold. Put on the cape, son. And he did. I mean Three passing touchdowns, no interceptions, and he ran at 48 yards as well.
He ran one in that got called back to a penalty as well.
Now James Cook is unbelievable as well. 107 rush yards, his 11th game with 100 scrimmage yards or more. That's the most in the NFL. And the team's 10-1 when he does that. And when he's got fewer than 100 yards, they're 0-3.
So, yes, the game does go through number 4, but when you have 17. This helps as well. Josh Allen has now accounted for 37 offensive touchdowns this year. He's the fourth player in NFL history to have six career seasons of 35 or more. And The only ones in front of him are Rogers and Brady with seven.
He's going to eviscerate that record by the time he hangs him up. He's unbelievable. And then defensively, they'll just, I don't know. I mean, Well, I mean, that's the liability. I know, but then, but when it comes down to it, they make the play.
Like tipping a ball on fourth down to end the game. I think my big takeaway from both of these is that their defenses just aren't good enough. Maybe at the end of the day, but does it matter if Josh Allen shows up and he's like, I'm going to account for more touchdowns than you? You know, and Buffalo's final games. Um They're at Cleveland, which just got destroyed in Chicago.
That big game against Philadelphia at home, and then they got the Jets at home. And they're going to be playing over the next three weeks saying, we don't want this to be the end of Highmark.
So Yeah. I know we keep saying Joe Burrow is the window, but Josh Allen is the window too. As long as he's there, they got the window. And the number of times is like, yeah, who's he going to throw to? I it does I I don't know like What would it look like if he had some like top number one receiver?
What would it look like? I'm thinking the same thing about Drake May. That was the one glaring thing that New England didn't have yesterday.
Well, here's the thing about the Patriots. You know. It is jarring to watch them lose at home when they're up by 21. Points since they had won 104 straight home games when leading by that many. Yeah.
Um so they're now 124 and one when leading by 21 points at At any point in the home game in team history.
So the Bills just did something that we've never seen. All right. And they had 173 more total yards than the Patriots in the second half. And so, this is supposed to be a gritty team that needs more than just to have Trayvion Henderson hit a home run for him. I mean If you don't mind.
That helps. They look like the Yankees, which is like striking out most of the time and hoping for the home run hit. And so they got the home run hit, put him up, but they couldn't stop Josh Allen at the end of the day. That said, if I'm going to tell Eagles fans to relax, which by the way, I cannot wait to revisit that subject matter later on this program, as they have now just a magic number to win the division and get a home playoff game of one. With three games to go.
The Patriots still have the ultimate tiebreaker on the Bills, which is division record. Division record. And So all they got to do for New England is just They could even be one game worse than Buffalo the rest of the way. As long as they beat their final two division opponents. Which is at the jets in home from Miami when it's going to be really cold.
Okay. So they should still win this division. They got the Ravens next. Even if they lose to them and the Bills beat the Cleveland Browns, as we think they will, and they're tied at 11-4 going to the final two games. They are Visiting the Jets while the Bills have the Eagles at home.
And even if the Bills do beat the Eagles and the Patriots beat the Jets, all they got to do is have a home win against Miami at home. They have the division. They probably have the second best record in the conference. Uh And off we go. Into the wild blue yonder.
of the playoffs in Gillette.
So it's still there. That was a brutal loss though. Yeah. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program. Let's take a break.
When we come back, we just talked about the kids, right? And next And May Let's talk about Old Man Rivers. I cannot believe what I saw from him. On Sunday. That's next.
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Okay. I said this on an NFL game day morning on Sunday. I'll repeat it here. One of the many things we love about. the National Football League, two jump out at you.
One of which is Following players. Who plays with a kid-like fun love of the game, right? And another one is you just can't make this stuff up. The reality show. And one player embodied both.
on Sunday. and coming into Sunday. His name is Philip Rivers. He's just contagious. And it was the stuff of movies.
We talked about it all last week when we were in the heart of Disney in Lower Manhattan, right? It's like that uh the rookie. Remember that? Except he's not a rookie anymore. I love that movie.
The movie. Mm-hmm. Comes out of nowhere. All you need to do is just save. Burn.
Dennis Quay that just needed to save one game, right? Yeah. Well Okay. Philip has one season to save. As the Colts once upon a time, seven and one.
Usually those types of teams make the playoffs.
Now he's coming off of the couch. Willingly taking his name off of the Hall of Fame semifinalist list. and willingly removing himself, From the carpool lane. To say, I'm going to give this a shot. And I was sitting there.
In sofi, watching Lions and Rams in person, and then this game and other games on my phone, right? to try and keep pace. and watch all this fun stuff. And somebody nearby me says, because I said, wow. Watching Phillip Rivers right now, and somebody's like, How's he doing?
And I'm like, Well, To sum it up, He's alive and he's winning. And those are the two most important boxes for him to check. That's like a Magic Johnson tweet right there. And in that order, he's alive. And he's winning.
And as you know, for sports movies, sometimes The person you're rooting for doesn't win. Look at Rocky Balboa. Spoiler alert. It's Rocky One. We're at Saturday Night's main event.
And so At the end of the day, Philip Rivers did have. Two some odd minutes to go, and all timeouts left on the other side of the two-minute warning, and just could not. Get it down. to where they could win it with no time left. And instead, got a 60-yard field goal attempt that went through the uprights, and you're thinking.
Here we go, Rocky. But there was too much time for Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, and Jason Myers kicked a 56-yarder to win it with 18 seconds left, which I thought, could that be too much time for Philly Riv? That would have been unbelievable. It would have been. But Philip Rivers Through the touchdown pass.
By the way. 1800 days between touchdown passes. Man. Only touchdown pass in the day belonged to him, not Sam Darnold. And the cults came this close.
to getting it done. And Philip Rivers. Um Was Just enough. 18 to 27, 120 pass yards, a score. He did throw an interception at the end of the game.
that he just put it at risk because he had to. And um And no turnovers other than that. Gave his team the chance to win, which is exactly what they needed. And then he gave us this message: I have to play for one and all. that he thought, with tears in his eyes, he wanted to impart to the youth.
I think maybe uh You know, maybe it will, I don't know, inspire or teach, you know, not to run or be scared of what may or may not happen. You know, hopefully, you know, certainly I think of my sons and those ball players, you know, that I'm in charge of at the school, that they'll say, like, crap, coach wasn't scared. You know what I mean? It's like, shoot, sometimes you, there is doubt, and it's real. And, um, You uh again, you can you can the s the the the guaranteed safe bet is to is to go home or to not go for it.
And the other one is shoot, let's see what happens. Uh, you know, and so uh yeah, I hope that in that sense that it can it can be a positive to some young boys, you know, or young people, that has to be boys, but um, but again, that's not the motivation. Uh, but whatever God's will, I'm happy with. Shoot, let's go for it. How great is that?
Great advice. Yes. Yeah. And next up for him is the San Francisco 49ers in a game that you'd have to think the Colts playoff. Chances are on the line here.
And the Niners need this too.
So, Phillip Rivers got another crucial game, and in front of the home fans, my goodness gracious, before two games. Between Jacksonville and Houston, and Monday night football is what Phillip Rivers is going to be on in week 16. Let's go. Shoot, let's go for it here. Right.
That's like something if you'd say, hey, TJ, let's go over to the Valley at five to have a restaurant. Like, all right, shoot, let's go for it. It's not like, hey, we want to come back and play football. Let me take my name off of the Hall of Fame list for five years to give this a shot against the Seattle Seahawks, and he almost. Pulled it off.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
