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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. It's battle time! We are going to the Super Bowl! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Speed Chase tries to get outside. He dies. Coming up on today's show. Complete Championship Sunday recap. Way too early Super Bowl preview.
Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Okay, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show here on Disney Plus, here on the ESPN app, here on ESPN Radio Sirius XM, Channel 8844204, Rich. Number to dial, looking down, already seeing phone lines lit. That makes me all very happy. We greatly appreciate that. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial, whether you're watching us, whether you're listening to us, however, you're taking in this program.
We greatly appreciate it. Super Bowl 60 is set. It is, in fact, the Seattle Seahawks against the New England Patriots. Two people that are playing in this Super Bowl: Drake May and Sam Darnold. Not a lot of people thought that would be possible coming into the season, and yet.
It is, and I'd love to chat about it with you. 844-204-RICH, as I said, number $2. Chris Brockman, congratulations to you and your shits. Thank you very much. Good to see you, TJ Mikey Diaz and D's nuts.
What's up? Good morning. Good morning, Rich. TJ Jefferson, the candle is lit. Good to see you in your spot, TJ.
Take the points, just as a reminder. We will discuss that. We will discuss that. Let's talk about the NFC Championship game to start because the AFC Championship game got lost in. In a blizzard in that second half, and there's not much to talk about from that game, with the exception of the taking the points and it's snowing and.
And the grit and the determination, obviously, of both teams and the team that eventually won it. But let's talk the NFC Championship game. I said, coming off of the week 16. Seahawk overtime went over the Rams. That was a game of the year at the moment.
Obviously, that got replaced many times over. And then in the interim, as we saw, potentially a Rams and Seahawks collision course in the NFC Championship game, the way that everything played out with the seating, the way that everything played out certainly in the wild card weekend, that if we would see something similar to week 16 play out In the NFC Championship game between these two teams. It would be something we talk about for a long time to come. And what played out yesterday Was an outstanding football game filled with drama, filled with points, filled with quarterback play that was superb, filled with pass catchers that were superb, filled with defensive plays when. They would crop up.
Um and then filled with second guessing. And congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks, the defense that was getting you through. Many of these games. The defense that helped you, along with special teams, get you through against San Francisco in the divisional round. The defense that would give Sam Darnold, say, the rest of the day off against the Washington Commanders and the Arizona Cardinals and just.
boat racing people and just coming up with pick sixes or Sack Fumbles return for touchdowns, and Demarcus Lawrence being added. This kid Nick Eamon Warrior, who's all over the place. That defense at the end of the day. is not what got you through. to the Super Bowl in the NFC Championship game.
This is amazing, and it's the truth. Sam Darnold did. The highly Much maligned Sam Darnold. Against the Los Angeles Rams. In the fourth quarter and overtime.
of Week 16 and then the NFC Championship game. His arm, his grit, his guts, his determination, his neck up ability. His Connection with Jackson Smith and Jigba. That I understand in a game of fifty-three men, is one thing. But Sam Darnold On Sunday.
With the rest of his teammates on offense and the blocking up front. It was his arm. That's getting you to Super Bowl 60. And that is incredible. In case you're wondering.
There is a list of players. Who in the history of the Seahawks Have had 300 or more. Yards in a Game Three passing touchdowns in that game with your 300-yard game and no interceptions in the playoff game. In the history of the Seattle Seahawks. Postseason action.
The list includes Sam Darnold. That's it. One. That's all. That's all.
It's not Rust. There's no Matt Hasselbeck. No Jim Zorn? No. No Dave Craig?
Okay. This guy. Mm-hmm. He was unbelievable. Passer rating of 127.8.
And the other guy who may win MVP His passer rating was 127.6. He needed every part of that last decimal. In this game. Did he get a break? On Special teams.
Did he get a break? When A punch. To start the second half after a three and out. After the Rams get what they needed from their defense. Did they get a muff punt from Xavier Smith?
They did. Did they turn it into points right away with just the fourth catch of the year by Jake Bobo? Words I can't believe I'm saying into a microphone, but the words Sam Darnold, Super Bowl quarterback, is being said into this microphone. Yes, they did. But did they then In this game.
remarkably Have A sort of similar Mistake made by them? lead to a touchdown? For the Rams? Right away. I've never seen, and this is unbelievable, certainly in a championship game.
I've never seen. a defender like Greek woolen, get called for taunting An opponent and an opponent's bench. I don't know what he was saying towards the Rams sideline in that game. I don't know what was going on. But it was enough for Devontae Adams to look at the ref and say, You're going to do something about this, and then the ref throws a flag.
And instead of it being a punt, It was like a turnover. 'Cause the Rams got a fresh set of downs. Instead of sending the punt unit out, Back comes the Rams offense with a fresh set of downs. And then right away. A touchdown.
I'm Stafford. Overreak woolen. To Poker Nakoa for the score. Right away. In the same way.
That the Rams took the uh the Seahawks took the Rams Muffed punt, turn it into points right away. The Rams did the same thing that the Seahawks.
So you kind of throw those. Touchdowns out, and we're back sort of on serve, if you will, the way that the first half was playing out. Although the Rams didn't get the ball with an opportunity to take the lead, the Seahawks got the ball back after the Rams. Made it closer in this instance? No matter Because the Rams did have a shot.
to take the lead. Later on in the game. They were trailing in And march down the field. They needed 90 yards to do it. And they were inside the red zone because Stafford was jumping it down.
Making a profit instead of going broke. Finding Blake Corm, finding Kyron Williams, finding Devontae Adams, finding Puka Nakua. And then instead Of kicking a field goal to go down one. Sean McVay decides to go for it. Matthew Stafford on fourth and one of going for it, picks it up with his legs.
That was unbelievable. I don't know if you were screaming and yelling from the couch at that point in time that Stafford's taking off. You know? I turn to my patriot-loving son Cooper. I'm like, see, not just Drake May can run it.
37-year-old. Whose birthday is the Saturday before Super Bowl 60 can do it too. He picks it up with his legs, and then sure enough, Another fourth down faced inside this red zone now. And they decide to go for it instead of kicking the field goal. I'll be honest with you.
And we're going to talk about this later. This is what you just referred to right there. Listen, I think McVay is going to go to the Hall of Fame one day. It's his first, we all know it. Come on now.
Wow. I think Both Jean's are going to be there one day. Um But Take the points, play defense, come back. Get half the field, try and win it. Easy second guess.
Certainly win on fourth down. The Seahawks defense stops the Rams. Sean McVay alluded to it later on. It seemed like it was like a busted coverage by the Seahawks that they lucked in having two players on Kyron Williams instead, no matter. No matter.
The Seahawks did what they needed to do. not only stopping the rams there, but getting enough first downs. to essentially give Stafford, no time left in which to drive the field four touchdown. And the unkindest For the ram's cut, In that regard? Is On a night when Darnold was dealing.
And was dealing with Jackson Smith and Jigba. And finding Jake Bobo in the end. Part of the reason why The Rams were down more than just a field goal. Part of the reason why the Rams were down for much of this game. is because a first down grab and lean for the first down.
In this crucial instance, was Turned in by a guy who scored a touchdown earlier in the game. And that's Cooper Cup. He was awesome. He was. A difference maker.
He scored a touchdown. And Going down to the ground, he was ruled, Bills fans. As if he had already caught the ball, did enough. Maybe the football act of trying to reach the ball for the first down. is what made the official on the spot determine that he was Not still in the process of making the catch, and therefore the ground.
did not Cause an incompletion, it caused. A runner to hit the ground and thus the ground could not cause a turnover That split decision by the official. And then Sean McVay firing off a timeout and then deciding not to challenge. 'Cause if he had fired off that time out, And then challenged. Apparently, if he had lost, he'd have lost all of his remaining times out.
That was the final sequence that led to too much time coming off the clock. Cooper Cups grab, and Darnold's. dart of a throw. and the potential future MVP. of this season.
With 374 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions of his own. walks off the field. Wondering. What happened? We're all wondering about the future, which we'll discuss later on.
And the Seahawks are moving on with Sam Darnold. At quarterback. As NFC champs. And Mike McDonald. Moving on, last year.
A 10-win season, not enough to make the playoffs because the tiebreaks didn't go his way. And the man taking the selfie with him on the screen right now, and John Schneider, who won a million percent. Is in line for executive of the year, based on what he did. And we'll discuss that further on in this show. But Mike McDonald is a Super Bowl.
head coach. and had this to say. After the game. The team win. You know, special teams had to pick it up.
The drive at the end on offense was just tremendous. I thought Clint called a great game and then you know you can't Can't talk about the game without talking about our quarterback. I mean, he just. Shot a lot of people up tonight, so I'm really happy for him. He should be.
Yep. He should be. Showed up a lot. He shut up a lot of people tonight. And that's as much of a spike of the football you're going to get from this guy.
And don't let his calm demeanor fool you. He's intense. He is intense and he holds everyone accountable. Along with Clint Kubiak, who might be a head coach in about two weeks from today. The O C there?
uh brought a brought this team along. And has allowed Sam Darnold to fully bloom. Mm-hmm. and had this to say about being a Super Bowl quarterback. I feel that support, you know, not with only their words, but you know, just with how everyone treats each other in the building.
There's a lot of respect that goes around the building. Everyone respects the work that we all put into this great game. And so I'm just. I'm happy to be a part of this team, man. This group and this coaching staff is just you know, I'm really happy to be here.
I'm happy to be in this position. I'm just going to continue to do the best that I can to put this team in position in positions to win football games. Eighth quarterback ever to start a Super Bowl. In his first season with the team last Quarterback to do it is the guy he beat yesterday. and Matthew Stafford.
And um give it up. Give it up. to the Seattle Seahawks. As for the Rams, Sean McVay Um you know almost fired off that uh timeout before that fourth down attempt. Decided to stick with the play.
Took a long, hard look. He sure did. He raced down the sidelines. He raced down the sidelines and gave it as much of a look as any coach this side of Signetti can give something a look down the line. Hmm.
but decided to stick with it. And he's as intense as they come to, and he internalizes a lot. And I'm sure there's a lot for him to internalize after this one.
Well, I mean, I think you make a couple plays tonight and we're talking about a different thing.
So I don't think it's as simple as that. You start all over. I mean, you know that. And that's what's so hard because to get to these positions, you know, I mean There is so much work. There's so much time.
Things have to go your way. You have to stay healthy. It's a special group. And so, you know, you know this, and I know you know this. I'm not minimizing the question.
It doesn't work like that. You know, you got to make these plays and you got to capitalize on these opportunities when you get the chances. And, you know, Seattle was able to do that, and we weren't, but it doesn't take away my love and appreciation for this football team. Oh man, I thought the Rams had the stuff to win it all this year, and I think they do. And I know there's going to be a lot of people who are going to spend the next few.
days, if not week and a half, saying that that was the NFC Championship game, was the Super Bowl. That whoever won that game would be playing a team in New England that's ready to be. Ah beaten. Um I think that's nonsense. And I'll explain why later on in this program when we hit that subject matter.
For the first time, I think of many over the next week and a half. But. This team was ready to go. Stafford playing at his highest level, the run game. on point, Puka Nakua catching everything.
And then, you know, last night, Jackson Smith and Jigga were the one-hander here, and he was eating up the Rams in that first half. He was just unguardable. What a game it was with all these pass catchers. And then Yeah. There's a future Hall of Famer who's now 0 for 5.
In NFC championship games. He's over five of them now. And that's Devontae Adams who took it hard. Heartbreak. It's tough.
It's tough to talk, man. How would you describe how Matthews and the offense played today? Yeah. Um I'm proud of the way the guys fought today. I love that guy.
Four catches, 89 yards, and a score. He recorded his ninth career playoff touchdown. That's tied for 10th playoff. all time and Again, he he's no spring chicken when it comes to Skilled players, skilled position players, if you will, in the NFL. But he's playing at the top of his game.
Same thing with Stafford. We'll talk about it. Hopefully, they all make a run back at it. But What a game. Superb game.
Puka Jackson Smith and Jigba, Devontae Adams, Cooper Cup. All scored touchdowns. Matthew Stafford, 374 yards passing and a passer rating of 127.6. Darnold, 346. Passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 127.8.
I mean, everybody showed up. Couple mistakes here and there. By both teams, one team took advantage of just a little bit more, and they're going to the Super Bowl, which is why you. You got to take care of business when you can. The opportunities when it's there, the window being open, you got to go through it because you never know what's on the other side.
As Sean McVay says, you start from scratch the next year. That's the difference between being a champion or not in the National Football League, despite having championship quality players all over the place, like the Rams, and coming up short. And having championship quality players all over the place, like the Seahawks. apparently have. After all.
and going to Super Bowl 60, winning the toughest division in football. and arguably the tougher conference. Congrats to them. 844-204-Rich, number to dial. When we come back, the snow game.
that the Patriots won in the playoffs in Denver. And the uh aftermath of all of that. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show on a championship Monday. Yeah.
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Okay. No, no, no, stop. Listen. Congratulations. No, listen.
I'll be honest with you. The weather ruined it.
Well, first things first. First things first. Is the injury gods damaged it? Yeah. Honestly, I'm wondering to myself.
Would Bo Nix have done better in this wizard? No. I don't know. He's a bit more of a runner, a bit more spry. I listen, I don't know.
We'll never, ever know. We'll never ever know.
Okay. Um And Jared Stidham did when it was a nice day. Without any snow, Make The throw of the game, Right? No doubt. There's no doubt about it.
No doubt about it. Over Christian Gonzalez and got everyone going because then he found. Cortland Sutton in the end zone, and it's 7-0. It's seven nothing. Look pretty easy.
And, you know. It looked good right there. It's like, okay, the kid's going to be all right. Certainly when the Denver defense was playing its best game, I think, in weeks. More complete game than I've seen in weeks.
They were all over Drake May. He was he was I was concerned that he was going to start looking at the rush rather than down the field. And You know, Denver's up 7-0. And it's Fourth and one. And a 31-yard field goal, two yards.
closer than an extra point Sean Payton decides to go for it.
Now I don't know if he was aware of the Doppler radar of what was heading to the stadium. I don't know if anybody did, even if it's just like, hey, snow's possible. I'm sure you knew that. But CBS did a great job of a time lapse during the game where they showed you what the field looked like in the first quarter and what time it was mountain first play of the game. Right, and then what time it went and then what it looked like at the outset of the second half.
I mean, that snow came fast and it started to accumulate fast. Like that went from. Oh, what a nice, crisp, rocky mountain day with maybe some snow in the air, too. This is a blizzard. Oh, I know, like, so I.
Clearly, if Sean Payton knew what the second half was going to look like, he would have taken the points because points are at a premium. Um He did not. And I think to this moment he will lament it, and we'll hear from him in a second. But New England got that moment and made the most of it. Because they sniffed out whatever play he was thinking.
Which is part and parcel of the entire day. entire day, even before the snow was coming. Even at halftime, you could make the case that without that one throw to Mims over Gonzalez that led to the Sutton throw. Stidham was looking like a guy who hadn't played in two years, like a guy who went 749 days between passes. Yeah, he started to get super happy feet as the game went on.
I mean, you ought to be concerned when Gonzalez gave up that throw. Oh, man, right off the bat, it was very close to firing off a game overtext to you guys, which, as you know, is the. Reverse Jinx kiss of death. But yeah, very concerning because you're just like, man, it's that's an all pro corner. This guy is a backup who hasn't played in two years.
Uh uh oh, especially when you know the Pats Force a three and out to start the game and then immediately go three and out themselves did not look good. And then it was, yeah. Yeah, and then, you know, we saw. What happened? After that, Because what Jared Stidham looked like a guy who hadn't played in two years the most.
was Flipping the ball. Into harm's way. Just to avoid a sec. Yep. Chest passing it like he's a member of the Denver Nuggets, not the quarterback of the Denver Broncos.
And it being ruled initially an incomplete pass and then ruled a backwards pass that's not a touchdown because they basically Blew the whistle, blew the play dad. And then the Patriots scored with Drake May running it in. And for the second straight week. a Patriots team that was struggling in the first half with Drake May. Watch the opposing quarterback basically toss a live grenade Into the middle of the Patriots defense, and they just took that grenade, ate it.
And then exploded. On the Opposition after that. CJ Stroud. Had an opportunity to rest on his defense, decides to flip it in the middle of the air, pick six. Jared Stidham.
Has his defense rolling for some reason doesn't take the sack. This happens. Thai game. Instead of being up to nothing, it's now seven, seven. And that was the difference.
Because In the second half, the Patriots get the ball to start the half. and start to impose their will. which they have been doing. All season long, and especially on the road. A nine-minute drive to start that.
Second half as the snow begins to fall and accumulate. And Andy Borregalis kicks the field goal. It's. Listen. Nothing's a gimme in that weather.
And Borgalis actually missed one later on, and Lutz missed two more. But the 23-yard field goal, it was close enough. And that was all the scoring that was needed. Because the snow came. And the Broncos couldn't move the ball worth a lick.
And if you're sitting here saying, and Broncos, friends, I feel for you, I really do. 'Cause Bo Nick should have been playing in that game. And I understand what Stidham was doing, and I don't mean to be unfair. But It was just gutting to me. I don't know if you saw the video of Nick's.
Um somebody took video, I guess, on their phone of him Leaving the game, going to an elevator. He must have been watching in a suite upstairs. You know, he's on a scooter. Mm-hmm. His surgically repaired ankle up in the ear.
Behind him. And I I He's got to be sick to his stomach. They all have to be sick to their stomach. But at the end of the day, the Patriots were the ones moving the football. They were the ones actually picking up first downs.
Denver couldn't do it. You know? Drake May might have had the the added benefit of it was easier to spot The defenders that he needed to avoid because they were wearing orange, and it was tougher for Stidham to spot the defenders because they were blending into the snow. I'm serious. That's how crazy it was beaming to get.
It felt like that was definitely the case on a couple. You could see Stidham was looking deep and then kind of oh, he had a double take, a double pump. And then finally, he just decided to put one up for grabs, and Gonzalez said, I'm not getting beat over my head this time. And that was the end of that. But the true end of everything Was Drake May and the Patriots needing one more first down to just flat out end it.
and him apparently on this keeper. That he came up with the final first down necessary for the Patriots to move on to Super Bowl 60. He apparently Did that on his own. Woo! And all his linemen after the game told the media was, I'm blocking.
And all of a sudden, the guy I'm blocking is running away to the other direction. And I'm wondering, what's going on? Oh, that's Drake May by himself. He decided to keep it on his own. and admitted as much after the game.
Yeah, I mean we were in big personnel running, um, you know, running the same deal to the right, a little stretch play and You know, at some point, you know, they get lackadaisical and you know, got a chance to get around the edge. And I thought he was going to track me and honk me down, but. You got enough to pick up the first and Coach Raves will probably get mad about your run out of bounds, but at that point it it It doesn't matter when you get the first down.
So that was a cool moment and cool to separate those guys. It's always cool finishing in victory formation. I mean young enough To not know any better, and then Vrabel might have been with McDaniels: like, what's he doing? Until it's just like, way to go, kid. Nice job.
I don't think he was complaining at all about him running out of bounds. as long as he picked up that first down. And Mike Vrable, man. He is going to the Super Bowl. As the head coach of the New England Patriots.
the only other individual to start. Four as a player, and then represent as head coach. In the Super Bowl is Gary Kubiak. Oof. who went to Waitfort Super Bowl 50 and won it.
In the building where Vrabel's now heading for Super Bowl 60, can't make it up, man. And so Yeah. Vrabel was asked what it felt like when the clock hit zero. I do this for the players. I've been in their position.
I have. I've been there. And and it's amazing. And I want other people to feel That feeling. And it's for our families who make a lot of sacrifices.
and the excitement and the joy that they have. I trust me, I'm fine. I'll be okay. I do this for the players to be able to experience this with their families and our coaches to be able to experience it with their families. I love this guy, as does New England.
He will never buy another drink in New England again. By the way, I don't think he was needing to reach that. He's already reached that status. But now, I mean, honestly, he could just. A statue.
I'm serious. He's in line for that. And you know, holding up that. That Lamar Hunt trophy for everybody to soak in. Looks small.
His predecessors, you all know, once removed, began to treat the Lamar Hunt trophy like a hood ornament. He would just grab it and hand it off to somebody. You know, you take it. I think Jonathan Kraft might have had a few of those handed to him. Exactly.
You know, bearish. Here, you take it. Because this is not what we do it around here for. But Vrabel has every right to take that thing and hold it up. and say this Is a massive achievement.
Back to back, four win seasons, and they're going to the Super Bowl. Back to back four win seasons. Again, give it up. Josh McDaniels comes back. He is As great as they come in his role, look at what Drake May's doing.
Steph Diggs is added. Give it up to Elliott Wolfe. He drafted his head off. Daniel Jeremiah said it in in Green Bay. When we were there for the draft, he's like, The Patriots had the best draft.
Let's see what they can do with it. I don't think anybody walked out of Green Bay thinking, Super Bowl. Super Bowl And All the rookies and all the veterans that they decide to keep or add in Milton Williams. And then For them To You know, you see that T strong logo that's on Vrabel's Um pull over. wore his hoodie, That is for the defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, who.
I had to step away to deal with cancer, a cancer diagnosis. And the linebacker coach Zach Kerr steps in. to call the place. Where the hell did he come from? He's been on real.
He would the number of times that Sean Payton's dialing something up. It looked like he was a move ahead of Sean Payton. You can't be usually a move ahead of Sean Payton an entire game. In a a championship game? I mean, these guys are balling out.
They're everywhere. They lost Spilane in the middle, they didn't have Landry going in. Damn, they are just clicking on every cylinder. Right now. And you know And this is part of the reason.
whatever play call Kerr dialed up on that fourth down. And Sean Payton's decision to go for it, and it didn't work out. That is what is lingering the most. From From this AFC Championship game and Sean Payton. was asked about it afterwards.
and had this to say, I think the feeling was, man, let's Let's be aggressive. You know, To get up. to get up 14. I I was just watching the way our defense was playing. And you know, the only I mean, look, the the turnover On our end, resulting in a touchdown.
And outside of that, man, I thought we did a good job in containing them. Um There'll be a number of things when we watch the tape I'll look at and. And You know. critique and and pay close attention to, but It was a hard fought game and w we we didn't do enough to win it. Listen, I understand it.
14 points would have been enough to win it. At the end of the day, no doubt. At the end of the day, the 14, he was going for the game. Winning requisite amount of points. Oh, and 14-0, just the way the Patriots offense.
Right.
So that was going to be. I get it. But tip the cap, whatever, I mean Take a look at that play again. It was dead. On Arrival.
Right after the snap, there were two people. Two defenders already in the backfield. Stidham was finished. I was almost intercepted. Actually, it would have only netted him like two yards picking it off.
Gotta give it up. The field goal would have just, if they had the 10 points. We'll see what would happen in the second half. It would have been nice to have those points on the board. Clearly, when Lutz had.
Two shots at it, missed two of them. The second one was a tip ball. Romo said he thought it would have been amazing. That ball would have been a good field goal by Lutz. Yeah, deflected it just enough.
He didn't pick up on it till the second or third replay. I mean, how could you see anything? Yeah, yeah. I'm sure they had a hard time in the booth even seeing the yard market. Sure.
Jim Nettie at one point was like, I don't even know where the punt landed out of bounds. I would love to tell you. I'd love to tell you where the ball is, folks, but it would be just a guess. I love that. It's awesome broadcasting, it's human, it's normal.
And it spoke perfectly to the state of affairs. I mean, at one point they had the the superimposed yard markers out there, but then and you couldn't see the Patriots players because the white jerseys blended in. They were doing their best. They were doing their best. They 17 combined points scored in the AFC Championship game, tied for the third fewest combined points in any conference championship game, all tied.
The 10. for the Patriots that want it. Are the tied for the second fewest in a conference championship game win all time? The Bills in 91 had just 10 to beat the Broncos.
So it's again they They lose where they an opponent with 10 points in a in a winner-go-home game. The Rams beat the Buccaneers in 1979 in the NFC championship game 9-0. That's it. So that's the. That's the fewest combined points in any conference championship game ever in the fewest winning points.
And the Patriots move on and the Broncos go home. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Your phone call is still to come when we come back. Is this it for Matthew Stafford? Oh.
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So when you play like Matthew Stafford. You're 37. You're turning 38 the Saturday before Super Bowl 60. And you come up with your first First team all pro season. And you are A favorite to be the MVP.
Of the campaign, of the entire season, for the first time in your career. And you're playing lights out. And then you come up with Remarkable games in the playoffs. like the one he had in Chicago. And then you finish up with 374 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions and a passer rating of 127.6.
But two very frustrating. Uh Third and fourth down play calls or execution or attempts, whatever you want to do it. Uh in the red zone. and you'll wind up short, despite Everything I just said. Everything.
I just said, it's still not enough. It has to be gutting. Absolutely gutting. You know. and mind numbing.
And To his credit, He stood there and answered questions about his future. Clearly, he doesn't want to talk about it, as you would maybe pick up from this exchange. I'm can't generalise. uh you know, six months of my life, ten minutes after a loss. Um so Appreciate the guys in this locker room a whole hell of a lot.
Everybody that helped me And helped our team be as successful as we were this year. And that's all I'll answer for you. Yeah. McVeigh, at the end of his press conference, he was asked if Matthew Stafford's coming back, and this was his answer. I love this team, and I wasn't ready to stop working with them.
I thought we had two more weeks together. But I am really grateful for each of those individuals and the collective. It's as special of a group, top to bottom, as I've ever been around. It's coaches and players included. You know, that's what sports sports, you know, it represents a lot of different things.
It's a beautiful thing, though. You know, this game has brought me some of the most special relationships that I'll cherish. That's what this team has done. And this was a special year, and I think it's hard to fathom that it's over. It'll take some time, but.
Nothing but gratitude. That's what I want them to know. He was asked that question about, and he basically said, What the heck? question was that. And then he did give a an answer to the You know, the question that he understood was coming his way.
I'll just say this. I hope he comes back. He's playing out of his skull. And I think at the end of the day, Um It's just going to be does he we we have no earthly idea what it takes for Matthew Stafford. to um To do what he's done.
To be As great as he is. at this age that he is. And after a summer where he's sitting in what, red light chambers trying to stay out of traction. And we're all wondering, is he going to answer the bell to play one snap? And he does what he did there.
And I think at the end of the day, when Stafford does move on. and retire. I think we are going to find out. if we don't already sense it. That playing quarterback for Sean McVay in Los Angeles for the Rams organization.
Where the groceries are chosen by less need in a collaborative effort. With the rest of the command and control structure, the way it is, is the most envied. Quarterback position in the NFL. And We may see um A Mad Dash to fill that chair. And you may see it from quarterbacks that Want to do it.
Here in LA with McVeigh, and perhaps are thinking about a change of address when they're staring into the abyss by themselves. And maybe want to pull some sort of NBA type move to say, I want to go there. And at the end of that day, Stafford may realize that that Is something he loves playing with these players, and his family is willing to have dad go through all this. And he's willing to go through all this as a player and as a person. that it's too tough to give up.
But for the moment, you just got to sit here and go, what must he be feeling? He's done all of this and it still wasn't enough. And by the way, the Super Bowl's here in LA next year where he won it before.
So maybe he sticks around. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
