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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. He's got the first down. 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. Hour number three, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air, chopping up the Championship Sunday games, getting ready for Super Bowl 60. We're heading to San Francisco next week.
We'll do our Wednesday, Thursday, Friday shows from San Francisco of Super Bowl 60 Week. The guest list were cultivating that caper right now. 844-204-Rich being the number to dial here on the show. Um is breaking news out of the AFC North.
So, the Pro Bowl quarterbacks for the AFC. When they were announced. of Justin Herbert Josh Allen and Drake May. Justin Herbert, as we all know, was wearing that Infinity glove on his non-throwing hand for. For about a month, right?
Month plus, and wincing every single time he got hit. Which was a lot.
So, Justin Herbert's not going to play. Um And Josh Allen, as we all heard, might need some sort of a cleanup on whatever. Foot aisle he's stuck on.
So he's not playing. And Drake May is not going to play. Because the Pro Bo Um games, the The flag football game that is the culminating portion of it. It's Tuesday of Super Bowl Week. Could you imagine if a an NFL Super Bowl quarterbacks like, okay, Tuesday, here's what we're going to do.
After media day, I need my rest because I got to play flag football. Can you imagine? Kind of fun. By the way, of any franchise that would not want any player playing in any football game, flag beach or otherwise, it would be the New England Patriots. If you recall the history facts, okay?
So that ain't happening. Bo Nick's Had to be On his he had to scooter his way out of the building. Mahomes Coming back from ACL. Daniel Jones coming back from And Achilles. Right?
You picking up what I'm putting down right here? You know, Trevor Lawrence, thank goodness, he seems to be healthy, right? We got him going. Um So You know, who's just been named as a replacement for Drake May. Oh.
Shador Sanders. Oh, yeah. It's just been named as a Pro Bowl replacement.
Okay.
So All the haters. Coming out. And I get it. I get it. You don't look at that listen.
This should not count as making the Pro Bowl worthy. I know, I get it. Yeah, his numbers are not Pro Bowl worthy. He didn't play a full season. I understand it.
Whatever. I know. It's fun. It's good for Pro Bowl games are a TV show. 100%.
This is great for you. Why wouldn't you want to see him there smiling and being himself? Sure. And good for him. I'm happy that he gets to have a a moment like that.
Right? Do you think Geno Smith's looking around going, what about me? Am I on a pain on mind list here? He's the only AFC West quarterback healthy right now. Yeah, right.
Who else who else is there? Could Phillip Rivers have qualified?
Well, he's on the interview, sir. He's apparently not. He told the bills, remove my name from consideration. I know. I found that interesting that he took listen, taking the interview is one thing.
Um But he told us, like, I'm going back 'cause my s I got a son as a senior, and another one coming in as a freshman. He's on his high school football team. It would be interesting to. You know If he had gotten a Bills job, that would have been interesting. Um For that conversation to be had, I guess, within his own household.
Who else is there? Cam Ward? Is he playing in the games or no? I mean, he deserves to go over Shador if he hasn't already been asked as an alternate. I think he has been already.
Because what are you going to tour is the other one? You're not asking Justin Field. You're not asking a Jet quarterback. You're hunting and pecking for anybody who's like Joe Burrow is not going to run around with that toe. No.
Was crowd injured? Um no. Just maybe his ego bruised a little bit. Aaron Rodgers. Yeah.
Ha ha ha ha. Where is A-ron right now? Not going to the Pro Bowl games for a flag football hang. Congrats, you do. I'm proud of you, man.
Play at Shadow Creek. Yeah. Now then. You said TJ Jefferson, this news has landed In a way. In western Pennsylvania.
That might not be well received. Is that what you're saying? That's what it seems to me.
Okay.
So. Mike McCarthy is the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I will start by saying this. He is one of the more likable, well-liked, good dudes you'll come across. in the NFL. And he is a Jinzer.
On top of it. I use that term properly? Yes, you did. Thank you. He would talk about how what he worked in a bar and he would clean up.
On Sundays, which was tough because Saturday night he said something along the lines of. There's a lot of uh people missing. The target Oh. That's what he was saying. He's also taken tolls locally.
It's entirely possible that you've driven through a toll booth in the area. What would you say? Early Late late in the early 80s. You handed a few cents to Mike a dollar and got a few cents changed from Mike McCarthy?
So, this is pretty sweet that there's a guy from Pittsburgh who's now the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, a job that just never comes up. You know, and obviously Cower knows all about that significance, about being. being a guy from the area getting the gig, right? And so Uh There's that. Yeah.
Certainly when The gig is never open.
Okay.
It's like the Haley's comment of coaching. Pretty much. Like once every. Couple decades. It'll come up.
Mike Tomlin, nineteen years, he leaves in his own accord. Art Rooney II says we're willing to give. I think that's a good idea. Mike's done, and we hear, and it got the impression he doesn't intend to coach this year. You haven't heard his name get a sniff of a half of a mention towards even in the realm of Getting mentioned connected to a job.
That's out there right now. Not one. Not a single one. And I don't think that's because the Steelers own. His contractual rights.
That you're going to have to make the Steelers an offer for Mike Tomlin to take your job. He's gone. He's gone off the radar. He's dropped out of NFL society, it feels. No, he was last spotted at his daughter's gymnastics meet.
Right, just the day after he. Yeah, I think it's a very good idea. in Pittsburgh.
So Um You know. He's not appearing on anybody's radar screen right now and But the reason why I bring this up is You know, Mike McCarthy was on a few other radar screens and Normally though When the Steelers have an opening. They hire somebody like Mike Tomlin. which is somebody who was so young at the time when he was hired, He's on the list right here on all of the Mike McDonald list. Of youngest coaches to ever reach a Super Bowl.
Sean McVay at age 33 and Change at age 36 in 20 days are the two youngest. On that list. followed by Mike Tomlin. Super Bowl XXIII's head coach. At age Oh, pardon me, 36.
No, I got it right. 46 head coach. at age thirty six in three hundred and twenty three days. That's what you normally see. They hire Bill Cower when he was a younger man, and they hired Chuck Noll when he was a younger man, and now they're hiring a guy in his early 60s and Mike McCarthy.
First time they've hired somebody. Um and this generation of hires with a Super Bowl ring already or championship in his back pocket. And The Rooney's have said they are hiring him because they are going to entrust him. with the next young quarterback. to season up in the way that he did Aaron Rodgers.
Okay, go from Favre to Rogers.
So now he's going to go from Rogers to whoever, fill in the blank, is it Will Howard? Is it going to be Somebody that they draft. Is it somebody in this year's draft class? Is it in next year's draft class? Or could it be.
Uh The individual I Suspect? They would definitely be interested in, certainly kick a tire on, and that's Malik Willis. Would it be something if The current Steelers head coach. Takes a quarterback who has been groomed by his successor in Green Bay. While he was Coaching in Dallas.
Grooming up Dak Prescott. Do we give him that? Flour TJ, you're the Cowboy fan here. Do we put that on Mike McCarthy's Quarterback grooming resume, Dak Prescott. Or is that Jason Garrett?
Where do we, on whose resume is that? That I don't know. I don't know. You're the Cowboy fan. I turn to you.
McCarthy won a lot of games. McCarthy won a lot of games. Three straight 12 win seasons. Which he's usually welling for sure. Let me I have the list right here.
Dak was second MVP one year. Mike McCarthy is 15th on the all-time coaching list with 174 wins in the regular season. And his total playoff wins. I got a. Bring the computer closer to me.
Isn't that sad? Um eleven.
So he's got 185 wins. And a Super Bowl ring.
Now, I did see Ed Werder, right? I love this guy. He's one of my. favorites working back in the day. Was he the one who tweeted out that that McCarthy in the conversations with the Rooney Telling them, listen, if you're looking for someone to groom up your next young quarterback, I'm your man because I've done this from.
every spot I've been Including Kansas City with Marty Schottenheimer when Joe Montana was there. Did I really see somebody say that he was grooming up Joe Montana in Kansas City? A lot of great responses of Joe Montana in his last two years in the league really needed coached up. He needed help by a young Mike McCarthy. I mean, Yeah.
Okay.
So I understand that you're Would you rather Say, all right, I'm going with somebody who's going to with You know potentially A year plus of success. Passed 200 career coaching wins. Like his predecessor. Um Who can Win games. and coach up a young quarterback.
And then potentially leave that quarterback in a better place and the franchise in a better place when he's. Maybe done with this five-year contract, and he's going to be close to Andy Reid's current age. Or Or do we go with some young coordinator who's in his mid-thirties and hope he is? The next knoll Cower and Tomlin. That's here for another 20 years and we all grow old together.
And we hope that that coach. is ready for this prime time gig. That's the choice that the Current ownership the current Art Rooney, I don't I'm sure was part of the hiring process of Tomlin. Back in the day, but this is his first. Uh I'm in charge higher.
And um that was the choice. Do we go with a coordinator? like the old ways of doing it, and hope that's the next guy. And that we're not back here three, four years like on the coaching carousel, like everyone else. Or are we back here another five, six, seven years after we get Mike McCarthy Coaching up a new quarterback here.
And they chose that. Option. And All the Steeler fans that were like, I'm sick and tired of Mike Tomlin just winning. Regular season games and having a non-losing record and getting us to the playoffs only to be one and done. 2016 guys was the last great coaching year For Just in terms of wins and losses, and then going on a playoff run.
For both Mike's. in the equation. Mike McCarthy in 2016 was part of that Green Bay Packer team. that um went to the NFC championship game. And they wound up losing to the Atlanta Falcons.
That was the year that Matt Ryan won MVP, right? And then they went on to the Super Bowl and lost the 28-3 game. Yep. Um Mike McCarthy beat the Giants in a wild card game at home and then went to Dallas. Was that the one where Rodgers?
Had that incredible throw on the sideline? I think that was that ito, yeah. Was that the was that the Jared Cook? Is that who it was? I think on the sideline?
And then they played in Atlanta and lost the the The NFC Championship game. That same year, Mike Tomlin. Went to the AFC Championship game. And lost to Brady. Who then went on to come back from a 28-3 deficit to the Falcons?
Mm-hmm.
So both mics made it to the Championship games. That divisional round game where Tomlins Steelers went into Kansas City and beat the Chiefs. in Arrowhead. was the last playoff win of his Tenure. I'll just say tenure because I don't know.
I I kind of assume he's not done coaching. But he got one and done the year after that, missed two playoff seasons, then one and done the next two, missed a playoff season. And then when one and done three years in a row. Since that time. Mike McCarthy has won only one playoff game.
One. That was your Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott beating the Bucks, right? Where he retired Tom Brady. That was it. No one ever talks about that.
That was it. And he lost every, and he lost every, he lost, he got fired from Green Bay a couple years later in the middle of the season. And then That's the one playoff when he's lost every other time. And then there were some other ones that would just end in mind-numbing fashion: like, what are they doing? What's with the time management?
Time management. What's happening with that crazy ass play where what where Zeke was snapping it Oh yeah. Yeah, but that game was that came out. All I'm saying is, we were left with a lot of what the hell was that? Fair or not.
You know. That's why a lot of folks in Pittsburgh are upset thinking we just replaced one mic with this a different mic. With similar problems getting over the hump. And the Rooney feel differently. They also feel like it's important to find their next quarterback and let Mike McCarthy be in charge of grooming him up.
I just don't know who that quarterback's going to be. Why do I keep on getting that feeling it's Malik Willis? Why? I have no idea. I just think it would be a n a a Really good mo uh, certainly if McCarthy and LaFleur or maybe Somehow, birds of a feather outside of just being success of Green Bay.
Coaches.
Somebody's going to take a chance on Malik Willis. And I wonder if, you know, there doesn't become like a bidding war between. Yeah. But he's still not going to cost you tour money. Trevor Lawrence money.
No, no, I would imagine he'd be on the Baker or Sam Darnold look, kind of a, you know, team-friendly, three-year, $100 million, and out after next year if it doesn't work out. I take that shot. But who are you going to do? Or is it going to be somebody in the draft? You can't just sit around and have a bridge year when you just hire Mike McCarthy to groom somebody up.
No, you give Will Howard, you give Will Howard a shot first off.
Well, I think you have that competition unless Aaron Rodgers says he wants to play again next year. I I You heard Tom last week. Look, they still have a relationship. I know, but it seemed like Aaron played pretty well this year. He's still got some game left.
If he wants to keep playing, it's a psychological spot. And he and Mike McCarthy team up for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Next year, and you give it one last run, and then Will Howard is there in waiting. How would they feel about that in Western PA, do you think? I'm sure someone's gonna call, but I... Look, I I'm seeing people who like all of a sudden for years like The Roonies, they know what they're doing. They're very smart.
And now, after this one, it's like all of a sudden they're dumb and they don't know what they're doing. It was like, okay.
Well, again, it is completely different from what. They've done. But Art Rooney II wasn't the one who hired Tomlin. He was his dad. You know, and I imagine You know, he was A much younger man when when Bill got hired.
And So, I think a lot of the Steeler fans don't have a lot of faith in. The second is basically what I'm saying. We'll see. For years, I've been saying, be careful what you're going to get after Mike Tomlin. I honestly didn't think it would be Mike McCarthy with 170, 180 career wins, including the playoffs.
I didn't see that one coming. I mean, you could do far worse than that in the Super Bowl. I thought it would be just some un Named At that point in time. first time head coach coordinator that they're just going to take a f a chance on. Based on the same criteria that they used for Noel and Cower and And Tom, and I thought that I'll be careful what you wish for.
I didn't see this. Plot twist. And that's the opposite day, Rich. I know that you have that drop, that famous drop when Mike Tomlin said. You know What we have is it's for our what?
For our what's more likely drop, right? About never say never. You know, never say never, but never. And that was when he was all, you know, linked to the USC job. Remember that one?
But I don't know, will we ever see another Coach. Coached the Packers, Cowboys and Steelers in their Time. Kind of look at that. This is historical, right? Three of the most storied franchises in the history of the football for the NFL.
All right.
So give it up to Mike McCarthy, the toll taker. In Pittsburgh, being the next head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, unexpected, surprising to say the least. Third bite at the apple, very rare. Very rare. Um Tom Pellicero called it.
Last Friday, Is he in position? Are you going to take a look at it? He's got his bag. He's going to log in from the car and we'll see how it looks.
Okay.
Oh, yeah. Let's give that a whirl. Because I mean, this happened. We got to give him a couple cents on what he thinks, what he's learned about the championship games as well. All right, we'll take a break.
844-204-RICH. Number to Donald here on the Monday edition of the Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. If you're ready for an oil change, trust the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts to recommend the best products for your vehicle. Right now, get five quarts of Valvoline full synthetic motor oil and a Wix filter for $35.99 and receive a $15 O'Reilly gift card after rebate.
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Yeah. He looks great. Tom, you look. Tom Pellicero joining us in a car on the way to his hotel at the Senior Pole. What's up, Tom?
How are you? I gotta say, what's up to you, Rich? What's up to the fellows in the studio? What up, Tommy? All my years coming down here to Mobile, I don't think I've ever had to go.
You know, I really need the parka. For this trip, it's about hebbing around 30 degrees. It's going to be into the 20s. You will see me very bundled on game day Saturday on NFL Network. Always love coming down here.
Just I like it better when I have to put on sunscreen and not long underwear.
So it's going to be serious cold weather for all these on-field drills and on-field practices and all that stuff for real, huh? Better cold than rain. When it's rainy and you can't even make heads or tails of what you're seeing out there because nobody can throw a ball or snap it or anything else, that's worse. But cold, not great. I'm not going to lie to you.
Not what I was hoping for coming from Minneapolis, where it's been wind chill at negative 41 over the past several days. All right.
So let's get into while we have you here. We appreciate you taking the time. Returning here. You are saying Mike McCarthy is a real possibility, and it hits. Wh why?
Why did he land the job? There's a lot of different reasons, Rich to Mike McCarthy as the new Steelers head coach, but I'm going to point out one that has not been talked about enough. The Steelers have ranked. 23rd or worse in yards per game on offense, eight years in a row. Eight years in a row, they have had a bottom-third offense.
And I know that the Steelers' dynasties have been built around playing really good defense and being aggressive on that side of the ball. But you do need to be able to score points. You need to be able to do that in the NFL. And if you look at Mike McCarthy's track record everywhere he's been, Bill Cower said this on CVS the other day. He has elevated offenses.
He has elevated quarterbacks at various different stages in their career. You know, it's not all about Aaron Rodgers. This was not done to lure him back. It does keep the door open because Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy still to this day have a really close relationship and having a little bit of time from their last working relationship has probably made people feel a little bit more fondly about those days that they had together. But it's also about Will Howard and trying to bring him along.
A guy the Steelers are high on, a guy that Mike McCarthy was high on coming out of Ohio State. And at some point, whether it's in 26 or based upon the quarterbacks, maybe more likely in 2027, the Steelers are probably going to draft one too. You need the person in place to develop a quarterback. And as much as I understand the fans and the media people saying, well, get a young guy. We need the young blood.
It's always been the Steelers' way. Hired those guys in their... 30s. There's not a lot of those guys out there right now who are dialed-up head coaches, much less those with a quarterback development history. If you look around the NFL right now, that's the pattern.
It's John Harbaugh, and it's Kevin Stefansky, and it's Robert Sala, and it's Mike McCarthy. Jeff Hafley was a college head coach before. This has swayed down the veteran road here in part because when you have the level of hiring, the volume of hiring that younger first-time bucket, which has been over 50% of hires going back to 2017, inevitably there was going to be a swing back. I think it started last year and it's really accelerated this year where teams are just going, let's get the guy that we know has had success in the NFL. And that's certainly Mike McCarthy.
Okay, so then the jobs that are still open. Um Let's start with Cleveland, since you're such a big fan favorite there. Uh Tom Last chat on Friday. Um I have I wrote an essay about it.
Now, thank you.
Now, what happened today and where is it right now? What's going on? Grant Yudinski, the Jaguars 30-year-old offensive coordinator, who is a brilliant guy. He came up under Kevin O'Connell. He was the assistant offensive coordinator, had a bunch of OC interviews, lands in Jacksonville.
Not a play caller, but everyone who's met with and interviewed Grant Yudinski says the guy's unbelievable. He's got a big brain and he's got a bright future in the league. He went in there, he went through the entire process with the Browns. The Jaguars, even before he went through that, were having discussions with him about trying to keep him in Jacksonville. They certainly understood that the Bills job that's out there is one in a million with Josh Shallon, the best player on the planet, the reigning NFL MVP.
So basically, the deal that they reached was he now gets a bump. He's got a new contract in Jacksonville. He's withdrawing from the search for the Browns, but he is allowed to continue to pursue the Bills. Coaching job.
So obviously, this follows the pattern recently of for one reason or another. And it's not all the same from person to person, but it's another candidate who is in the mix for the Browns who is no longer in the mix for the Browns.
So at this point, they're out in LA. They're interviewing Nate Scheelhouse, another young, very bright guy, most recently the Rams passing game coordinator. He is a real candidate for the position. He's 35 years old. If it's not him for one reason or another, essentially, the only other candidates you have alive are Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator, who is probably, in my mind, based on my understanding, he's probably the most likely fallback option.
And then you also have Todd Muncin, who's a roughly 60-year-old offensive coordinator, and Anthony Lynn, who was a head coach of the league 10 years ago. That's it. Those are the guys who are still in that search. Again, we talked about all the reasons that the Browns search process is unique. I learned more even about the process in recent days from getting phone calls from other people who either have interviewed there, have worked there.
It's not just the head coaches, it's the coordinators, it's the position coaches, it's the staff members. Everybody is doing some levels of the cognitive testing and the personality testing. The Browns' outlook on all that is, well, if we're hiring the CEO or another high-ranking role to a Fortune 500 company, an $8 billion a year company, we would want to gather all this background information. We would want to have all these different data points. We want to make abundantly certain that this is the right guy.
But that process to this point has yielded a bunch of people that have not actually, for again, different reasons, not followed through in the process. If they don't get an H Seal House, you know, listen, Jim Schwartz has been a good coach for a long time. He's had success as the D coordinator in Cleveland. Todd Munkin's been a good, solid coach, you know, assistant coach mostly for a number of years here. But I would imagine that the public reaction to this.
Probably is not going to be necessarily as positive to a Jim Schwartz promotion after this entire search as getting one of these young up-and-coming candidates. You are Tom Pilicero zooming in from the car. going to the senior bowl in the state where Philip Rivers is staying.
So he removed his name from the bills hat? Is that basically it? And where where does the bills St uh situation stan. Bills are still going through their process. They're talking to Davis Webb on, I believe, on Zoom today, the Broncos quarterbacks, coach, and passing game coordinator.
He played several years. He's really close with Josh Allen. He played in Buffalo, or more accurately, packed up Josh Allen in Buffalo. But Davis Webb is absolutely, you know, if it's now or in the future, he's going to be a head coach. He's also in the mix for the Raiders job.
They're also speaking with him today.
So that's one piece of it. You know, the Bills have also, they've spoken to Joe Brady, Brian Dable, two guys with history in that building. They spoke to Luan Arumo, the Colts defensive coordinator. I would still anticipate they may add, whether it's Nate Scheelhouse, Mike LaFleur, they may add some additional names of guys who just became available to them today as well. It does seem like it's leaning toward the offensive side of things.
That was kind of the thinking from the start. Sean McDermott, of course, had had a lot of success for nine years there, but came from a defensive background. The fact that Josh Allen is in the meetings, Rich, you would think means that they're going to lean toward offense. Phillip Rivers was, it's an interesting idea. You know, it's not unlike, you know, some other, it's not like, unlike what happens in other sports.
The NBA has a much deeper history of guys going immediately from playing directly into coaching. You know, the Texans thought very seriously about doing it with Josh McCown several years ago, but it would have been very outside the box. Phillip Rivers still has a son who I believe is a senior this year. The plan was always to coach with him. And so this may have been the initial proverbial line in the water here for Phillip Rivers.
Hey, I interviewed with the Bills.
Okay, I'm not doing it this year, but maybe call me again in 2027. Did Tom Brady call the game of his next head coach? Um you know, it's Clint Kubiak in that mix. Did that happen? I was thinking two things here, Rich.
One. Tom Brady is watching Clint Kubiak call an absolute masterpiece for the Seahawks. Two, wait, Tom Brady is there and Joe Brady is interviewing for the Raiders head coaching job on the same day. This is part of the odd part of this multifaceted role that Tom Brady has is there's parts of the process that he's been really involved in. There's other parts like this current round of interviews that it sounds like he's not involved in.
Clint Kubiak certainly, I believe, is going to have at least one more interview. Whether or not he actually pursues a job, whether he decides to stay in Seattle, and if they make that worth his while, there's a lot of stuff to sort out. What's so amazing with Clint is he's on his fifth different team in five years. He has bounced around. There was a little bit from my understanding of they had to kind of talk him into, hey, come to Seattle, you know, because you can imagine a guy who's got a wife and a family.
They're like, how many times are we going to do this consecutively?
Well, it hit and it hit in such a big way that a guy that when the Seahawks hired him, they were certainly not thinking. And this guy might be one and done here as the offensive coordinator has very much been in focus. But, you know, the types of jobs we're down to here, Rich, may weigh on some of these things as well. This is not solely to bag on the Browns. And obviously, we've well documented their process and the number of candidates that have said no.
But the Arizona Cardinals is a really, let's call it challenging job with what they have to do and figuring out, probably eating a bunch of cash and cap on Kyler Murray, trying to find a new quarterback, figuring out all the various things of why things went wrong a year ago in a division where you're going up against McVay, Shanahan, and McDonald for the foreseeable future. That's a really difficult job. And then with Las Vegas, I just said it. I mean, you've got Tom Brady, who ostensibly is running the football operation along with John Spytek. That's directly a quote from owner Mark Davis.
And yet, you know, people come out of those interviews just going, who exactly is running the building? What exactly are we, what am I looking at here? Tom lives in Miami. How is he co-running the football operations, you know, from 2,000 miles away? Yeah.
Again, and in a really tough division where you're going up against Sean Payton, you know, and Andy Reid and Jim Harbaugh. And then you got Cleveland, which, again, again, we've talked a lot about that.
So three of the four jobs left. I think objectively speaking, in some order, Rich, most people would have ranked out of 10 vacancies 8, 9, 10. Then you got the bills. That's probably number one. They're coming in at a different point here in terms of, you know, some candidates are not available to them.
And also, you know, they can't even interview some of the guys. For instance, Clint Kubiak, who's still playing right now. But certainly, the fact they've got Josh Allen, that makes it a really, really intriguing job. And I would think that if any of these candidates are in a mix for multiple jobs, Buffalo is going to get the one they want. Last one, Tom.
The.
Sources that you speak to, that text you, that reach out to you, that you talk to, that you buttonhole and vice versa are all talking about what coming out of Championship Sunday, out of those two games yesterday.
Well, I mean, a lot of it honestly was about the coaching search and the fact that, you know, how quickly this could now escalate things. Because you're talking about some of the remaining main candidates that are available: Davis Webb, Mike LaFleur, Nate Schieldhouse. You can hire those guys today if you want to. If you want to hire a Clint Kubiak, technically, you can't do it for two weeks. But the fact that those two teams were the ones that lost, that accelerated things.
You know, bigger picture. I mean, I certainly think that the fourth and one decision, you know, I talked with a lot of people about that, you know, last night and talking about Sean Payton going for it. I would point to this. You know, we can debate the data and analytics. Do you take the points?
Not all day. Fourth and one, and having that opportunity in a game where you don't know what the weather is going to be, and that it's going to be, you know, basically football on ice by the second half. I don't fault them. You know, there is a difference between the decision making and going for a fourth and one and the play you call and how it's executed. You could see that the moment that the ball is snapped.
There's two guys right in the face of Jared Stidham and the running back. And the flats are completely covered. There's no time to get to anyone else. It's just a mess. You know, Sean McVay did it in the Rams game as well, going for it and almost calls timeout, runs down to the officials, and then decides not to call it.
And Stafford tries to jam a ball in and it doesn't work out. Again, I don't have a problem with the philosophy on those. All the data and analytics, but also just your eyes and feeling the flow of the game. You're thinking, you know, this is an opportunity. It's way different than, hey, we're going fourth and four.
Fourth and one, you'd like to think that you can get a yard in the NFL. When it doesn't happen, it's very easy to go. Just take the points. In the aggregate, though, if you hit on one out of every two, you're getting seven instead of six if you just kick two field goals. I don't mind it, even with the stakes on the line there, but obviously those plays don't work out.
And those are the ones that tend to haunt coaches as they head into the offseason. Tom, thanks again. We'll chat later in the week from the senior poll. Greatly appreciate it. Can't wait.
I think that's Tom Pellicero, everybody. Hey, buddy. Covering up the hair. That's how cold it is. Man.
You know it's cold. All right, we'll take a break and get you set for the rest of the week. 844-204 Rich, never to die. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show.
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At Hyundai, Hope isn't optional, it comes standard. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more. Kenny in Pasadena, California's been hanging on for a while. What's up, Kenneth? You there?
Um Is it Kenny? He's up. I think he's also just listening on delay. We'll see if we're going to pop him back on hold in three, two, and put him back on hold. Hold everybody.
You got the poll question results over there. Yeah, Rich Eisen. I was just looking at that. Who's the best wide receiver in the NFL? Jamar, Puka, or JSN?
Really, really close. Puka, thirty six percent. JSN 35%. Jamar Chase, 29%.
Okay.
Let me see here. We have named. Um Two of the three offensive players of the year. Finalists.
So Who would you vote for in that regard? Mm. Man, JSN got s off to such an amazing start. And then Puka kinda came on really strong. I think I go Christian McCaffrey.
Yeah. Okay.
Oh, you went offensive player of the year. I was talking about the poll question. Yeah, I was going offensive player of the year. I thought that's what you said.
Okay.
No. Um Best wide receiver in the NFL?
Well, Puka. I would choose him too. I know, well, I'm already pissed off Seattle fans that I didn't choose them. Although uh thirteen days out right now, Barring anything completely changed, I'm choosing the Seattle Seahawks to win 60. Shocking.
Why would that be shocking? Because you've been anti-pats all year. I can't believe you're going to. You sound like the fatality. I can't believe you're going to be a dad.
You do not son dirty. Do you not do your son dirty like that? Do you not sit across me? Yeah, I mean, we're about across 25 feet. Rich lives in a Pat's house.
Yeah, where's house? Pat's house at your house. I don't know. Patriots' house. Don't want to.
SpongeBob. I'm living with McAfee, please. Who do you choose? Do I have to choose out of these three or can I put some I'm going to get C. Oh, CeeDee Lamb.
I think he's.
So underrated. And yeah, I think it's because once a year he has like two drops in a game and they're huge. Granted. But the rest of the year, like CeeDee Lamb is amazing. But much like that, much like the Cowboys, you're never going to get that type of props because we're the Cowboys.
Oh. So There's no wrong answer. No, there is no wrong answer except the one I gave, according to Seattle fans. Yeah. I don't know.
Puka catches everything. I mean, look.
So does Jackson Smith and Jigba. He's saying. Go ahead, Chris. Jackson Smith and Jigba did it without. Another kind of 1A alongside of him.
You know, Puka does have Devontae Adams drawing a lot of, you know, attention. He's got Pickens as well. Pickens really came on this year, a lot of attention. T. Higgins, a lot of attention.
This end was getting. What, 50, 60% of the target share most games? It seemed like. And still produced. I just talked myself out of it.
It's JSN. Oh, gosh. Brockman. But I mean, look, I'm going to take my homerism out of this. I'm going to say this: JSN is amazing.
Puka is I don't know, man. There's just something different about that dude, man. He's like a bowling ball out there. But stats-wise, look, you're not going to go wrong with either of them. I drafted Puka on my fantasy team.
I won the championship, but here's the other thing: I missed out on JSM by $1, which means this year. I could have had both. I could have had, I almost had both of them. Fantasy team.
Well, I had him on my best ball, both of them. And what happened, Rich? I won it. You had both these? You had both of them?
JSN and Puka. That's right. Izzer. You did? And James Cook.
Yeah, you won.
Well, no wonder you won. Oh, I mean, you won, all right. Would you lose? Do you have Stafford? Who's your quarterback?
You could never lose. My quarterback was Justin Herbert. And um if he didn't if he didn't uh nail it down, it was uh golf. Mm. Who just got named to the Pro Bowl?
Who did? Jared Goff. Oh, is that right? He's replacing Shadur. Stop it, Rich.
Stop. Right. Sam Donald. Oh. Mm-hmm.
Very good. Very good, yeah. Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man. Who's feeling worse today? I know I want to do we need to talk about this tomorrow.
What? Wait, what you're about to say. Jet fans, Titan fans. Vikings. Vikings fans, who's feeling worse today?
Yeah. You know what I mean? Bill's fans? Affiliate. What is that?
What does Bill's fans fans? What do they have to do with it? No, no, no, I mean, no, no, no. I mean, we did bring that up before. I guess, but.
They had the path. I don't know. It's all there. How about what Pellisero said? That Grant Yudinski is.
gotten more cash to stay put by pulling out of the Browns job, but they even say The Bill's job, we get it.
So if you get it, you're you're fine. It's still talk with them. Yeah. Did you pick up on that? That if you want this cash, you pull out of the Browns job, like sold.
Hey. Does anyone want to beat their coach? Apparently, there will be. I think Jim Schwartz is going to get that. Adam Schefter told Pat that expect all the jobs to be filled by Wednesday.
Okay.
That means we have a lot to talk about on Tuesday's program, and we shall do so with Mark Schlerith and you. 844-204-Rich will always be the number to dial here on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We appreciate you taking us in today on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and everywhere else. The Empire State Building has just got it. Can we.
Lose the grid or lose your job. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
