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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The quarterback threw a backward path with his recorder in the end zone. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I've never quite seen anything like what happened on the two-point conversion.
The reps are the worst. Today's guests. NFL Network Insider Tom Pellicero. Texans head coach D'Amico Ryans. Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald.
And now, Rich Eye Center. Welcome to the Rich Eisen Show here on ESPN2, as well as Disney Plus and the ESPN app every single day. We say hello to ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance audience. We say hello to SiriusXM Channel 80 to all of our podcast listeners as well. Just because you're listening whenever you want doesn't mean I don't say hello to you off of a live program.
Hello to all those who subscribe to our podcast. We greatly appreciate all three hour listeners every single day. Also, we say hello to anybody who maybe watches our clips on YouTube, youtube.com/slash rich eisen show. This is a big show for us and certainly for me because this is a first for me. I don't know about you guys here in the studio.
I've never been counter-programming for the Myrtle Beach Bowl between Kenesaw State and Western Michigan as we are right now on ESPN2. Western Michigan up 27-0 early second quarter. Hey, for those, we want to update everybody on the Myrtle Beach Bowl throughout the first two hours of this show that we're on. I didn't know this was live. We have been watching it all.
Morning not realizing it was happening. You got to wake up early in Myrtle Beach if you're playing football. All right. 844-204-Rich is the number to doll to have a chat with us. Tom Pellisero, my colleague from the NFL Network and NFL Media Group, is going to join us later in this hour to tell us everything going on around the National Football League.
And then we've got D'Amico Ryans, the head coach of the Red Hot Houston Texans, taking on the Las Vegas Raiders, trying to stay in that hunt for the AFC South title. And then we've got the head coach of the moment of the Seattle Seahawks, Mike McDonald, joins us at the top of hour three. And then it's a what's more likely Friday. There's always you again at 844-204-Rich, number to Dow. Good to see you, Chris Brockman.
How are you? Rich, still recovering. Last night was absolutely incredible. Good to see you over there, Jason Feller. How are you?
What's up, Rich? TJ Jefferson, good to see you, sir. Candle's not lit before you ask because it went out.
Okay. And Kennesaw State, the. Had a very famous WWE alumni who's about to become maybe the world champion, Braun Breaker. Ladies and gentlemen, running back. We go deep on this program.
And of course, No Contest Wrestling is how you can follow the exploits of the wrestling world with TJ and O'Shea Jackson Jr., part of our podcast world here at the Rich Eisen Show. Headline from Thursday Night Football. The highly anticipated. Kickoff to week 16, first Thursday night football game to ever feature not one, but both teams. Having 11 or more wins between the Seahawks and the Rams, highly anticipated for their week 11 game.
And the headline is Game of the Year. Hands down, your new clubhouse leader for National Football League 2025 Game of the Year. And you could even go back over the last few regular seasons and be hard-pressed to find anything with that. On the line, all those stakes on the line. Winning a division, winning a conference, and your odds improve with a win and vastly decrease with a loss.
Seeing an MVP candidate quarterback throw for over 400 yards, see both top receivers in the National Football League on the same field, one on each team, and Puka Nakua. having a massive night. With a spotlight on him for something other than football as well. Jackson Smith and Jigba getting bageled in the first half, coming on strong in the second half. And you also saw two defenses balling out, one more so than the other in the Rams over the first three quarters.
And then in the fourth quarter, the Seattle Seahawks defense coming on strong, while Sam Darnold suddenly came back like the Undertaker off the mat, throwing a pick six, throwing a red zone interception. only to redeem himself. Cooper Kopp, the former, Ram. Fumbling inside the red zone when it looked like he might find the end zone, only to redeem himself. In overtime, with one of the most remarkable toe tap.
Catches, you can see. Cooper Cup. Like Sam Darnold. having a rough go of it until he did not. A game going into overtime.
First team scores a touchdown. Second team scores a touchdown, says, screw it, let's go for two. And they get the two-point conversion, and the Seattle Seahawks emerge. And the Seattle Seahawks. Come back.
In a way, That a Seattle Seahawks team never has, trailing by 16 points with less than two minutes to go. in week 16. It's the largest comeback win for Seattle since. They trailed the Packers 16-0 in that famed 2014 NFC Championship game in which they came back and won in overtime. And then lost in that Super Bowl.
That Mike McDonald would love to take the Seattle Seahawks back to. I did say it's the first type of win in the history of the franchise. They've never. Ever trailed by 15 or more points in the fourth quarter. And came back to win, and that includes the playoffs because the Seahawks trailed 16-0 before the fourth quarter started.
At one point in that game, and began their comeback before the fourth quarter started. The Seahawks are now in such games. Trailing. By 15 or more points in the fourth quarter. They're now one.
And 172. And on the flip side, the Los Angeles Rams. Lose this game. in a heartbreaking fashion. It's just the second loss in Rams' history when leading by 15 or more points in the fourth quarter, including the playoffs.
They are now 323 and 1. in such games. Matthew Stafford became the fifth player in NFL history with 450 or more passing yards, three or more passing touchdowns, and no interceptions and a loss. The others are named Jared Goff. Andrew Locke, Big Ben, and yes, Matt Castle did it once.
Unbelievable. Puka Nakua. With a career-high 225 receiving yards. He now has 573 receiving yards in a three-game span, his last three games. That's the fourth best in the history of the National Football League.
Jackson Smith and Jigba comes up with his 13th game with 90 or more receiving yards. That's. Tied for the second most in a season in NFL history at some point. During the game, you had to sit here and think: is Puka Nakua going to overtake Jackson Smith and Jigba for Offensive Player of the Year? Dude, for real.
That's what was all going on in this game. Controversy as well. Which we'll get to in a second. But Give it up. To the Seattle Seahawks, who looked dead and buried.
Another Sam Darnold, interception marred, turnover marred, loss to the Rams, staring him right. in the face. A sweep at the hands of the Rams right in the face. And all Darnold does in his final five drives of the game is go 8 for 12, two passing touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating. of a buck twenty-eight point Mm-hmm.
The resilient quarterback of the now one seed top of the NFC West. Controlling their own destiny to have the entirety of the NFC playoffs go through their house. Seattle Seahawks Sam Darnold. Hit it. You know, I didn't think we played our best football.
I certainly didn't play my best football. We got a lot of work to do there, but at the end of the day, we won. And, you know, the team in that locker room, all the guys in that locker room, you know, we work so hard for moments like this. Obviously, you know, like I said, we got a lot of work to do and we're going to continue to push and get better. But those guys in the locker room deserve a win like that.
And my bad to Sam Darnold. He did not throw a pick six. Yeah, I was going to say he was talking about the one. I'm now aware of that because I recall it did wind up with a touchdown. It was practically a pick six.
As someone who had the Seahawks defense, I was hoping. I know. My apologies on being a little bit off on that, but I don't think I'm off on anything else. There was a lot happening last night. It felt like a pick six.
I mean, the freezing cold takes of Sam Darnold last night were voluminous. And I did, in fact, see some folks leave Lumen Field early as well. I saw some of those videos. They missed Game of the Year, maybe Game of Their Lifetimes. Because the two-point conversion, Mike McDonald is going to join us again in hour number three of this program.
He goes for the two-point conversion. because the tie wouldn't have done him any good. Right, because they had lost earlier to them. Because they would have a tie to the Rams would have given the tie break overall to the Rams because the Rams won in week 11.
So going for it. And Putting it all on the line, I thought was a really Terrific move. I'm not just saying that because he said yes to coming on the show in hour three, but you have to, with three minutes to go in overtime, are you going to get the ball back? No, this is it. One two-point play.
And Darnold. Fines Greg Salbert.
Okay. What a story. Eric Saubert, pardon me. Eric Saubert. He finds Eric Saubert in the end zone.
For the two-point play. And this guy, wait till you hear the stats on him. But Mike McDonald broke down the play that won it. For the Seahawks on this Thursday night. And maybe when we look back.
The NFC for the Seahawks. And if they go to the Super Bowl from that one seed, maybe. The whole damn shoot match. For Calvary to, I mean, he's not a guy that gets the ball a lot, but I know it means a lot to the steam for him to have that moment at the end. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure he's like fourth in the progression on that play.
And so. Our offensive line is, I mean, that's a tough front to block. And Sam may extend the play and trust his reads and trust his progressions. And. Just a phenomenal play, man.
That was a it was a pretty pretty good feeling when he caught it. Eric Saubert. was definitely the fourth. Receiver in the progression. I'm not an all-22 guy.
Just look at the play again. Everybody is locked up in the end zone by the Rams. defense. And Saubert blocks to begin with and just. leaks out and is wide open.
And if Darnold didn't have the protection. And Darnold didn't have the gumption. to go through his pro progression calmly. He wouldn't have hit Sobert wide open. And as a matter of fact, the ball almost got battered down at the line.
Mm-hmm. Was it a Kobe uh Turner, who I believe was the one who came up with the interception of Darnold on the goal line with 948 to go when you thought this thing was a wrap. And instead, there's Eric Saubert in the end zone, targeted for only the wait-for third time all season. Only his third catch all season. That's it.
And is the man who catches The first Ever. Let me repeat that. First ever. Successful two-point conversion in overtime in the history of the National Football League. That's never happened.
That's how the Seahawks win the game of the year. Get out of here. Tip the cap.
Now then. It was the third. Two-point attempt of the game for the Seahawks. Yeah. And they got all of them.
Successfully. Most in a game in the history of the Seattle Seahawks. And um listen. Everybody's talking about the second. two-point attempt that was successful because it looked as if it was unsuccessful.
to everyone in the building and to me sitting at home. As Darnold flips it out or attempts to to Zach's sharpening. And The ball gets batted down. And the play is over. And sh the ball is rolling around on the ground.
And Charbonnet just Blithely picks it up. And then Terry McCauley of the Prime Video broadcast, like, wait for it. Hold on a minute. That looks like a backwards pass. And if it's a backwards pass, that means that was a live ball that Charbonnet picked up.
Unknowingly completing a two-point conversion. The question is: was it a backwards pass?
Okay. My opinion It looked like it. But could you tell with 100% certainty? Could you tell? Without Any question?
This needs to be reversed. And Didn't I hear a whistle? Cause it sure sounded to me like there was a whistle before Charbonnet picked the football up. And What in the world Is the officiating crew doing Reversing it. There is no more Significant reversal.
In replay. than anything involving points. That's it. There is obviously possession of the football is pretty damn big. I guess if you could go in terms of the list of the most important replays.
That you are looking at. One involves points. One involves possession. One involves field position. I think there's other ones too that I'm probably forgetting, but in terms of.
That's a good hierarchy. The threat level list to a team. And importance, that said. We're going to award two points to the Seattle Seahawks. On a replay that again, you look at them all.
There's one that was from one side down the line, there was from one from another side down the line, and there was one from overhead. Again, maybe The folks in New York We're taking a look at some replay angle I didn't see, but I didn't see one angle. That was directly down the line. There was one from one side that was shot from in front of the play. There was one from another side that appeared to be shot from behind the play.
And there was one from overhead. There wasn't one that was directly down the line. And if I am awarding two points in a tie ball game to another team, In a situation where it looked like everybody stopped playing. And I understand the Belichick rule of every ball on the ground needs to be picked up by my team. That's situational brilliance.
If there's a ball on the ground, I don't care what it is, I don't care if there's a whistle, you play through the echo and pick the football up. This is another example of that. But I didn't see a replay. That was directly down the line where 100% plus the ball traveled. Only about What would you say?
Three feet, four feet? It didn't make it all the way to Charbonnet. It didn't even make it more than halfway to him. No, not even. Right?
And so a yard or two, just bound right in the back. And so it looked again, the intended receiver looked like he was behind the quarterback. From the angles. And the ball, as it traveled, looked like it may have traveled backwards in the small span that it was in the air. But reversing the call?
And did they listen? For a whistle? Because the ensuing replays, again, I was You know, around a bunch of guys, it was tough to hear the broadcast. Did they replay it with listening for a whistle? Because it sounded to me that the whistle blew.
That was a rough turn of events. Sean McVay had this to say about this decision afterwards. I've never quite seen anything like what happened on the two-point conversion, where you're lined up to kickoff, then they say it's a fumble because they had the clear and obvious recovery.
Now you tack it on, you make it a 30-30 game. Very interesting. Didn't get a clear explanation of everything that went on just because of some of the timing of it. They were trying to be able to do that, but that's the thing that I've said. I've never seen anything or never been a part of anything like that.
And I've grown up around this game. I'm not making excuses. We don't do that. I don't believe in that. It doesn't move us forward.
But we do want clarity and an understanding of the things that we can do to minimize that when we rejected the two-point conversion. Stafford spoke about it after the game as well. This is what the quarterback of the Rams had to say from his perspective. I just want to know that rule because I thought On plays like that, like two-minute play or two-point plays, inside of two minutes and stuff. I didn't think you were allowed to advance a fumble.
You know, otherwise, I think everybody would just go down. If you're going down, just fumble it forward and let somebody else advance it. I don't know the, I obviously don't know the rule well enough. They were. Um you know, I'm sure they uh talked to New York or whatever.
Um but that one was interesting to me. I'm sure I'll get an explanation, we'll get an explanation and um but yeah, I mean, you just go play the next play. There was plenty of football after that, chances to make plays and and do all that.
So um You know, it was a play in the game, one that I would love a little bit more, you know, just uh You know, like an explanation, understanding of it, and once we do that, we'll move on.
So, I guess. He's basically saying, I guess we can do holy rollers on two-point conversion. I mean, that would be a dicey play call. Yeah, good strategy, Cotton. I don't think there is a rule in that regard, though.
And he is right. There were 623 to go in the game. And they did miss a field goal after that to go up by three. First field goal at Mivis. Has missed this year.
Yeah, Al jinxed him. And then, yeah, trust me, that's why I never say anything whenever I call games. Here's a guy. I thought Al was terrific last night, by the way. After Kobe Turner picked off Darnold with 948 to go.
A three and out, and then Raheed Shaheed. What a pickup by John Schneider. 58-yard touchdown return for for the Seahawks for their first successful two-point play. Making an eight-point game. The Rams go three and out again.
Then Shaheed with an end around for 31 yards, and then A.J. Barner left wide-ass open to 26 yards for a touchdown right away. Boom. That's when the two-point conversion attempt in question went down with 6.23 to go.
So, yeah, that's you got to play better than the sometimes refs ref, certainly in the case of the Rams' first touchdown of the night, called back on an illegal man downfield by an offensive lineman who just was put in the game due to injury that Terry McCauley said on the prime video broadcast shouldn't have been a foul. But Macaulay did say that they did call it right with this two-point conversion, that it was a backwards pass. For me, again, if you're going to say a play that basically stopped because everybody thought it was over and only one guy decided to just pick the ball up and you're going to give that team a game-time two-point conversion on a reversal, you better have something where it is damn right down the line of the centimeter. And I didn't see it. I didn't see it.
So That's my opinion on that. Two-point conversion. And give it up, man. The Seahawks come back. Win this football game, and they've got it on top of the Rams right now, who are down to 25% chance, according to the old NextGen Stat Machine, to win the division.
And 21% to win the conference. That's how difficult a loss it was because now the Seahawks, they went out. And they are in the playoffs as the one seed. And if they don't, if the Carolina Panthers do the Rams a favor in the way that the Carolina Panthers did the Seahawks a favor next week when they beat the Rams a few weeks ago, Then The Niners went out. Because they play the Seahawks at the end of the season.
I believe the Niners could be the one seed in this conference. It is wide open. The Bears are raising their hands saying, We're still here, too. What a week 16 kickoff. Let's take a break.
We'll come back and we'll talk about Puka's night. And we'll talk about Stafford, the MVP candidate. And then we'll get Tommy P on the horn. 844-204-Rich number to dial. We're on ESPN2 as well as Disney Plus in the ESPN app.
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See if you can save at ProgressiveCommercial.com. All right, before we get to Tom Pellisero, I do want to talk about Pukonakua. Um who um I appreciate sent out that apology yesterday about the touchdown celebration, his live streaming friends. gave him to work on. And Uh unless A bunch of people, I'm always the only one, pointing out, hey, man, that's not cool.
Beyond, at the very least, if you do that. and highly anti-Semitic. at the worst Sent out an apology, and the Rams and he got together, and it was awesome. And that's why the Rams are a top-notch organization and a model organization in the NFL. And as I said yesterday, he's a young kid.
And you got to give it up. To him, the way that he's comported himself and used that. uh past as as a base to to view that whole scenario. And you know, incorporating Robert Kraft's organization about stopping Jewish hate I thought was also a a terrific touch.
So There's all of that. And Puka, though, after bawling out, as I said, Maria said, just go ball out, kid. Oh, yes, he heard me on that front. He bought out. That's for sure.
Holy crap. He's one of the best I've ever seen, certainly at this level. of his career so young. Uh he had this to say about the live stream stuff. No, no, it was just a lack of awareness and just yeah, just in some frustration.
I know there were moments where I feel like, man, you watch other games and you think of the calls that some guys did, you wish you could get some of those, but that's just how football is played. And I'll do my job in order to work my technique to make sure that there's not an issue with the call. Right, and he's also talking about the officiating and how he... You know, railed on the officials. on that live stream.
Yeah. But you know, again, he's young, he's still learning. As soon as the game was over, he went right to his phone and he tweeted out something that he deleted shortly afterwards. Can you say I was wrong? Appreciate you, Stripes, for your contribution.
LOL. Again, you know what I said? I didn't think it was clear and obvious that that was a backwards pass. Because there was no specific angle that was directly down the line. Obviously, a touchdown was taken away earlier in the game due to.
A An illegal man downfield, he immediately, somebody must have seen that from the Rams and just said, bro. Like, what are we doing? That's frustrating. No, I know. We'll get to that in a second.
Puka had this to say after the game about the deleted tweet. Uh just a moment of frustration. Um I've After uh a tough, intense game like that, just thinking of the opportunities that I could have could have done better to take it out of their hands, uh, just a moment for a reason.
Well, just specifically was the tweet college. Just the opportunities that we didn't take advantage of, some of the moments that we put in the officials' hands that I just felt like we could have executed to not put ourselves in those situations, and I know that's something that we'll improve on. Just some of the two-point extra plays and some of the opportunities where our defense had executed, make them stop it one more time. But yeah. Listen, he is so unbelievable.
And young, and I'm happy to keep giving him the benefit of the doubt, as I'm sure the Rams are as well. You know, he's not the first one to complain about officiating and take it to his phone. Career high, 225. Second player in NFL history with 165 or more receiving yards in three straight games. The other one's named Isaac Bruce.
Come on, man. McVay was asked about this deleted text. After the game. Hit it. So Buka just tweeted something out, you know, kind of taking like a bailed shot there at the refs.
I mean What are you talking about? You just put something on a Twitter a couple minutes.
So what are you asking me right now? I can't answer questions about something that I'm not aware of.
Okay, but are you okay with players kind of expressing frustration over things like that? Or is that something that you hope that they kind of keep to themselves? I gotta have more information before I answer any of those kind of questions. That's as snippy as you'll ever see Sean McVay at the podium. Yeah, that's the most like that I've ever seen him.
I was watching that live. I couldn't believe it. But if I may, if I may, go ahead and hit it. What were they really thinking? I like doing this every now and then to speak on behalf of coaches in the National Football League.
Are you kidding me? I just lost by one point in. over time. in this rivalry game. What do you think?
I go reaching for my phone right afterwards. Like, I'm monitoring the Twitter feeds of everybody right now. Like, are you kidding me? You're asking me this right now? And then the rest of his stuff, I just had a.
My wife just had a baby on Monday. I've been game planning with two little kids at home. I haven't slept in like 90 friggin' hours. All right?
So, normally, you and I, and we all have a better relationship than the tone of this. back and forth, but not right now. Uh aftertone. Because that two-point conversion stuff was ridiculous. And the other stuff with that penalty in the first quarter was ridiculous.
I know we made a ton of mistakes, but a lot of this stuff was ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as you think I know what Pooka's tweeting about two minutes ago. Right after this game. And see. Like I'm a clown, I am use you. Yeah, right.
Yeah. Why don't you dance that question over here, Spider? Yeah. What a night. Crazy.
Epic. on every front. Let's take a break. Tom Pellicero is going to join us next to tell us everything that he knows about the National Football League, which is a lot. That's next.
This is the Rich Isand Show on ESPN 2 for the day. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. We've never seen before. And, you know, the fact that they executed, if you count that one, three consecutive two-point conversions to get the thing done. I mean, there's never really been a finish like that in recent NFL history.
ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance is back on the air. We're one big, I guess, massive simulcast. ESPN2, Disney Plus, ESPN App, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM, Tom Pellisero here on The Rich Eisen Show.
Okay, we got about 15 minutes time. Tom, let's try and get through a ton of stuff. To a benched, why? What happened? in Miami.
This was a situation that had always been a possibility throughout the course of this season. Tua, by and large, had not played well, obviously, led the league in interceptions with 15, had a couple of games here and there, like he did in Atlanta, where you go, okay, that's the guy that you were used to seeing on the field. But once they're eliminated from playoff contention, much as we've seen in the past, with the likes of Russell Wilson being sent to the bench, Derek Carr, a little different situation with Daniel Jones. But at the end of the season, once you're out of it, if you are thinking you might be moving on from a player, it just doesn't do you any good organizationally to have that player on the field, run the risk of him getting hurt, and then complicating whatever perhaps long shot trade scenarios you have. Those would all go out the window.
I also thought that it was informative. The way that Mike McDaniel addressed the move, talking about Tua did not have the conviction playing quarterback and they needed somebody with the conviction that they think Quinn Ewers brings. He was asked why Ewers, you know, over Zach Wilson. He talked about the relationship that Quinn Ewers has with teammates and the confidence that they have in him to go out and be able to execute. It just, it became abundantly clear on a lot of different levels here that this was not the same Tua that we have seen in the past.
And the difference that you saw on the field is also the difference that they had seen off the field. You know, in terms of where this goes from here. For Tua, he is under contract next year for $54 million, fully guaranteed. There is a total of nearly $100 million of dead cap that they would have to take on over the next two seasons. I did get a breakdown, Rich.
You and I talked on the phone about this the other day. We did. There's some complications because of the option bonus structure, but I can tell you it would be $67.4 million in dead cap in 2026, 31.8 in 2027. That's if they release Tua at the start of the league year in March with a post-June 1 designation, which I believe is the most likely scenario in this. If they were to trade Tua Tonguevailoa, all the dead cap would accelerate, which totals $45.2 million plus whatever portion of the cash they're not able to offload to a new team.
That is almost a worse scenario for the Dolphins than simply cutting bait. I do believe that there are corollaries. Mm. To what we saw the Broncos do with Russell Wilson. His actual dead cap number was in the 80s.
It was less. But as was pointed out to me, it's actually a lower percentage of the cap if the Dolphins were to release Tua because the cap has grown that much over the last couple of seasons.
So, as hard as that was for the Broncos to take on all that dead cap, and Russ is still counting like 32 million on their cap this season right now. If you hit on the next quarterback, which the Broncos appear to have with Bo Nix, and if you put other things together roster-wise, it's not prohibitive to you not just competing, but turning the thing around really quickly. The key part of that equation is getting that next quarterback right, and that is going to be a huge focus for the Dolphins in 2026 at a time that it's pretty apparent that Tua, in all likelihood, has played his final down in Miami. Tom Palisero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about Joe Burrows' last few months that has now led to my question.
That I'm about to ask about the toe injury. He comes back. And he's sat out So he could play two games in five days. Or one of the games in five days. He doesn't play the Sunday, so he could play on the Thursday.
He beats the. Baltimore Ravens. Then he goes to the western New York snow, and he's up by 10 before the roof caves in with a couple of interceptions. And then he gets To the podium and start saying things like: If I want to have, if I want to keep doing this, I need to have fun. Then he gets shut out, but he says this has nothing to do with the Bengals.
Then he comes back this past Wednesday and he says he definitely sees himself being the Bengals quarterback next year. But when asked about what about other places, he goes, you think about a lot of things. What in the world is going on? With Joe Burrow. Tom?
I would start with this, Rich. Rehab is not fun. Right. And Joe Burrow has spent an inordinate amount of time over the last six years since he got into the NFL rehabbing. He had the ACL reconstruction, which is like an eight or nine month process.
That started in the tail end of his rookie season. He's had a calf injury. He has had a really significant type of a wrist injury. He had an appendectomy. He played every game last season, and really, he hadn't missed a ton of game action.
A lot of these things happened at the tail end of seasons where he was rehabbing in the offseason, but that also cuts into the normal break that you're going to have. This year, when I sat down with Joe, like the second week at training camp, and he was talking about this is the best he's felt and how great it was to have a healthy training camp. Week two, he suffers a really significant turft toe injury, which is it's a 12 to 14 week injury, Rich. It's a long-term injury. When it first happened, um, The sense I got was he probably wasn't coming back until the very end at best of the regular season.
He beats the timeline. He misses nine games. He's back in like 10 weeks. And then he has a grand total of what, about 10 days from the moment he steps on the field to the Bengals being eliminated in part because he played great in that Buffalo game, but for two interceptions on consecutive snaps, one where the ball kind of slips out of his hand, another one where it gets picked off right at the line of scrimmage. That was the swing in the game.
And for a guy who prides himself so much on being one of the absolute best in the world at what he does. There hasn't been a lot of time to enjoy, you know, much less success, but even play in the game. Yeah, no, that I get that. I understand that. But, you know, Bengals fans who are still going through PTSD from another guy who was drafted first overall wearing number nine, they just want to hear from him.
I'm your guy. I'm not going anywhere. Not like I think about a lot of things. He already said it in 2026, doesn't envision any scenario where he's not the Bengals quarterback, which makes sense. He's due about $161 million over the next four years, which in quarterback terms, $40 million per for Joe Burrow, assuming, which is a big assumption at this point, that he's healthy.
That's one of the best bargains in the NFL. Mike Brown, the Bengals owner, has never been somebody who wants to trade players. He doesn't want anyone else playing with his toys. Joe Burrow's under contract for the next four years. Every expectation that even if they got calls, which they certainly might, even if Joe Burrow were to say, I want to be traded, which which it doesn't sound like he's going to, but even if that happened, I wouldn't anticipate that anything changes on that front from ownership in terms of people who are saying, well, then change out the head coach.
Again, that's not how the Bengals historically have operated. It would be a surprise if they were to move on from Zach Taylor, a guy who took him to a Super Bowl and took him to another AFC championship game. The past three years have been rough, three straight non-playoff seasons. Burrow has dealt with injuries, even though, again, he didn't miss time in terms of game action last year, but he's dealt with a lot. This season, he was basically not out there.
That's a driving force, not to mention. Defensively, you go through the entire offseason where you're at war contractually with your top pass rusher, Trey Hendrickson, and your first-round pick, Shamar Stewart. Neither guy has played very much through the course of this season. You saw flashes those first couple weeks from Stewart. Then he suffers, Shamar Stewart, then he suffers an injury, misses a large chunk of time.
Trey Hendrickson gets banged up, misses basically the entire second half of the season. They've had a lot of complications here. But you go back to the start of the offseason. What did Joe Burrow want him to do? Resign Jamar Chase, re-sign Teen Higgins, resign Trey Hendrickson.
They did all of it. The Bengals have basically given Burrow what he wanted. They changed their contract structure for him. And that's not to say that there's not reasons for Joe Burrow to be frustrated. My sense is the frustration, as much as anything, is at his situation, the fact he hasn't got an opportunity to enjoy playing football.
Let's see where it goes in 2026. Maybe we're in a different place at the end of this season. There could well be rumors in the offseason. Again, I would not be surprised. Why wouldn't people call the Bengals?
Bengals about him. It is really, really hard, as Joe Burrow said, to envision a scenario where he's not the Bengals quarterback in 2026. All right, in the four minutes I have left here, what should I be looking at for this weekend? I mean, massive games, Bears and Packers first up. What am I looking forward to?
What's in your notebook? I'll just give you the floor here. You got key injuries for both those teams in the Bears-Packers game for Chicago. Roma Dunze has been dealing with that stress fracture in his foot, missed the game, tried to go last week, then aggravates it in warm-ups. Out again this week.
Luther Burden's out, also out again this week, a player that was coming on.
So DJ Moore has kind of been a forgotten man in that offense, made a big play on the touchdown. Obviously, that wild, still unfathomable, how Caleb Williams make that throw last week. He's going to be a big part of this against Green Bay. DeAndre Swift is questionable. DeAndre Swift is questionable almost every week.
At this point, I don't have reason to believe that he's not going to play, but certainly something to monitor. And then for the Packers, I mean, this is like an old school Patriots injury report where half the team is listed as questionable right now. With Christian Watson, he went down with what looked like a really concerning injury. My first thought, and I know the first thought of some of the Packers personnel as well, was it looked like he broke his collarbone. It wasn't that.
He went to the hospital as a precaution, but he was able to practice on a limited basis. Matt LaFleur said that. He's encouraged. They're going to give Watson up until game time. That's probably going to be a game day decision.
And then Josh Jacobs. This is also a true game day type of a decision. Josh Jacobs, Rich, has been dealing with significant injuries for well over a month now. Initially, it was. A thigh contusion as well as a bone bruise in his knee.
My understanding is the knee is the issue at this point. It is a bone bruise. He got hit on that knee again last week. He was going to be on a pitch count anyway against the Broncos. That's why he only got 12 carries.
But when you get hurt on a knee that's got swelling, it's got fluid, the edema, that hurts a lot. Josh Jacobs, my understanding is he was on crutches on Monday. Wow. And this is a guy who still wants to play and says if it's up to him, he's going to be out there on Saturday. It does sound like he's got a chance.
You know, they may put him through some type of workout, whether it's in the morning or closer to kickoff here. The Packers historically have been really conservative medically. They held him out of a game, Josh Jacobs, a few weeks ago against the Vikings, a game that he would have liked to play in, but they're just trying to get the knee to calm down. It's not an injury that's going to fully heal or not be an issue until he can rest for a long period of time. That is not Josh Jacobs' mindset.
You've got Playoff spot potentially at stake, potentially the NFC North, even the number one seed at stake in this game. Josh is going to want to go. We'll see if the team ends up letting him go in that game. If anybody's going to go from crutches on a Monday to on the field in uniform primetime on a Saturday, It's Josh Jacobs, but everybody, including the medical staff, is going to be involved in that final decision. Yeah, three college football games tomorrow, and then you also got Eagles commanders.
First up at 5 Eastern, then at 8:20 Eastern. My gosh, Packers at Bears. Packers trying to sweep the Bears. Bears have their eye maybe on that one seed, certainly atop the NFC North. Tom, I always appreciate the time.
And TJ, you're going to send the video to him? I didn't take one. It's unbelievable. I was told. You were told.
No, the tone is the tone. You were told nothing. You broke TJ.
Sorry, Tom. Tommy Pay. What's Tom going to post on his Instagram? Take video now. Take video now.
I mean, you ruined the moment. Oh, I ruined that. That's awkward. Here, I'm going to do it right here. Yeah, there's the video.
All right, there you go. Hey, Tommy P. This is great. Hey, Rich, can you wave, Rich? There you go.
Hey, Tommy Pay. Tom, thanks again. Bless my Sunday on Game Day Morning, everybody. That's Tom Pellisero. See him on NFL Network, NFL Game Day Morning.
9 a.m. Eastern Time on NFL Network, D'Amico Ryan's hour two coming up. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
