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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What was that? The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Tom Pellisero.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. Senior NBA writer for ESPN, Vincent Goodwell. Coming up. NFL Network Insider Mike Garifolo.
Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pellisero. Welcome back to the Rich Eyes and Lists Show. Tom Pellicero in for Rich. It is the middle of May, so you know we've been talking about Aaron Rodgers showing up for work on the practice field.
earlier today. Schedule game heating up. Though Brockman and TJ still refuse to participate, 844-204-Rich. Yeah, really take umbrage with how this is being phrased. We'll get to the Rams, the 49ers, the Patriots.
So both your teams will have had predictions made, just not by you.
Well, you shouldn't have taken callers that took our teams. That was the first place that we think they actually are actively calling in because you won't talk about your teams. Here's the thing. Put your name on something at this particular stage. I want to get the lay of the land first.
You know what I mean? I want to hear a few other people go, see how they're viewing the season. We've already had people really caught up. I got to say, all three that we've done today, Darren, Jason, and Tanner, have all got caught up. That's the thing about playing the win-loss.
We had the 14-3 Vikings. We know this. You kind of get on a roll, and then all of a sudden, like, oh, my team's 10-3 already. I'm going to throw some losses in there. 14-3 Cowboys.
Let me ask you, let's play a little what's more likely Monday. Mm-hmm. 14 and 3 Cowboys from Darren. 11 and 6 Titans. from Jason and Chattanooga, and Tanner had the Vikings fourteen and three.
Who is more likely to actually have one of these outrageous seasons? The most shocking one there would be the Titans at 11 and 6. Even though they spent a ton of money in free agency, they put pieces around Cam Ward, new coaching staff, that still would be A surprising result like the Vikings and Cowboys have plenty of talent. Can they actually do it consistently? Is the question.
Vikings have had two of those types of seasons under Kevin O'Connell. And Dallas last year couldn't figure out how to play any defense whatsoever until like halfway through the year.
So Christian Parker, new DC in. They made moves in the offseason. I don't think it's. Outlandish to say, but you're going to have to have some things fall into place. There's no question about that.
Who's more likely to win their division? Cowboys, Titans, or Vikings? Ooh.
Well, I mean, I'd say the Cowboys of those three. Just because, you know, we'll see what the Eagles look like. They're obviously overhauling things. A.J. Brown's situation is still not resolved.
Mike Garafolo will join us. Talk about that in a little bit. Titans to win that division. I mean, the ASC South has kind of been wide open. Probably depends in part on which CJ Stroud shows up.
And can the Jaguars continue what they did last year, which felt like they got a ton of juice injected with that new staff there?
Sometimes there's a kind of a regression to the mean in year two. We'll see if that happens. They also won all those games with Travis Hunter, the number two pick, their first-round pick last year and this year. Not really being a factor and then getting hurt. And he'll be back.
We'll get more into that when Mike joins us in just a little bit. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out we have talked more about Aaron Rodgers than Aaron Rai for the first two hours of this show. Which Seems unfair. One of the more improbable PGA championship winners we've had, Brockman. But give me the frame of reference here.
If you're not as familiar with Aaron Rai's game, and all you know about him is he wears two gloves and covers his irons. Right. And I think that's probably before yesterday. That's probably all you really knew about Aaron Rye. And I think one of the cool things about coming out of his PGA championship win yesterday is that nobody has a bad thing to say about him.
That's what Rory said. Everyone says he's the greatest guy. He's one of the hardest workers. He's the most quiet and humble. I think Xander told Jerusalem told a great story a few years ago.
uh being at one of the majors and he thought it would be fun to go out and and putt late at night. not with the daughter of the dean, but putting, putting late at night. And Rye was already out there. And but actually grinding, not like not like night punting, putting a night. Uh and not grinding, not I mean, not having fun with his boys, but like grinding and practicing, and then went to the gym super late night.
Like, this is just who he is, and the fact that he is now a major champion is unbelievable. He played last week, was a dual week on the PGA tour with a elevated event and then kind of a to put it bluntly, like an event for all the everyone else who's not in the elevated events. Kind of a scrub event. He was in the scrub event last week in the final group And then the week before he didn't make the cut, and now he's winning the PGA championship with an unbelievable 31 on the back nine with some heavy, heavy hitters, multiple major winners chasing him. Like this is an unbelievable.
He made a 70-foot putt for Birdie and then 78 and a half. And then just kind of reaction and just kind of reacted like, yeah, I meant to do that. He looked shocked. Honestly, it was pure shock. It's also one of the only times you see another player who's still in the tournament go over and like fist bump him like, what a putt.
Unbelievable. He looked stunned. But I think if we make something like that, we are losing our minds and then immediately rip some shots. And he's like, I got to finish this and close out my first major championship. And yeah, look, he wears two gloves because it's comfortable and it makes him comfortable out on the course and gives him a peace of mind.
And he has iron covers on his irons, which is something you'd see at your local muni, but he does it because of the. The way he was brought up. His father, they didn't come from means. He's a British kid. His father grinded and saved all this money to buy him his first set of really nice irons, and he wants to take care of them because that's what he does and that's what he did growing up.
His story is phenomenal. I couldn't think of a better major champ than Aaron Rai. Really happy for him. I think that there's people who root, a lot of people who root for, let's see Rory make that run right there at the end, right? Like everyone's got to see Rory, yeah.
I think the beauty of this tournament and watching it play out yesterday, wherever, you know, the little score bug in the bottom right-hand corner on CBS, and it's like everyone was between four and six under for like through 14 holes. Forever. No one was moving. I enjoy that because you watch it and it feels relatable. They are missing shots left and right.
They are missing putts. Rory's not able to drain a putt. People are putting it in the bunker over and over. There were several like dead shank drives on the back nine by players in contention. Which to me says the course is clearly getting to certain people.
They're trying to do too much, trying to cut the ball too much around a corner, and all of a sudden you just completely snap hook it. I also don't recall, and maybe this is just grown and I hadn't noticed it, but it felt like the commentary was especially harsh on some of those. It'd be like, you know. T-shot on a par three and they end up on the upper shelf. It's like, oh, bizarre shot there.
It's like, well, yeah, he misjudged her. Oh, that was humiliating right there. Yeah, a lot of conversation about the setup and where the pins are and the way the rough was grown. I mean, Rory had some comments before this week of like. Look, I'm just going to hit it as far as I can and figure it out.
That's my strategy this week. Whereas, you know, Scotty was like, you know, trying to be a little more creative and careful. But it was firm, it was hot. The pins were in a spot where, you know, if you wanted to stay in it, you kind of had to take your medicine where hit it to the middle of the green and two-putt from 30 feet, you know. But.
Go after it and win it. And when guys tried to do that, they kind of failed. And Aaron Rai made Eagle on nine. And then you're like, whoa, he can win this. He's now one back.
And He went out and took it. He shut the door on every single person, every single big name, future Hall of Famer trying to charge and win another major. And he's like, no, it's my time to win his first. And it was really, really cool. I didn't think there was anything unfair about the course setup.
I didn't think we have those. This is the U.S. Open 15, 20 years ago when they'd grow waist-high grass. And if you're three feet off the fairway, you're just dead to rights. This was just, it was a tough golf course.
You didn't see, you know, the greens weren't sloped where it was like, oh, if you don't land it in this little tiny bit, it's rolling off the green. Like, you didn't have that. Right. You just had guys who were having to make tough golf shots. Yeah.
And they really struggled, which is why you didn't see that run other than Rye. I mean, the guy plays the two best rounds of his life. When they put up the graphic about best rounds in a major, and it was like Saturday, Sunday, top two. I think he had another one that was 67, but 65, 67. It's you posed the question this morning off air of like, what is the NFL equivalent of this?
The best one I could come up with is: is this Nick Foles? Is this in that? Realm where a good player, Nick Foles was a good player long before he won that Super Bowl with the Eagles. You remember the seven touchdowns? The year that he played with Chip.
Chip Kelly year. He was unbelievable. And then he kind of bounced around. He thought about retirement. He was in some bad places, comes back.
He only gets his opportunity because Carson Wentz gets his knee obliterated when he's an MVP candidate in December. And he puts together those couple of games. Like the. The putt On 16 or 17 that he makes, the long putt. That was like the Philly special, where it was like, this guy's actually going to do this.
And no one's more shocked than the guy doing it. Nick Fuls is a very, you know, very confident guy. But just the way that it played out, Tom Brady dropping a pass in that same game. The best players, the Rory's, the Shefflers, are not kept. They're not delivering in those moments.
And Aaron Rai does. To me, that was Nick Foles in that run in January, February, 28th. Yeah, and you talk about the Live guys a lot. Cam Smith had a really nice showing, and he had not been playing very well on the Live Tour or in the Majors of late. John Rahm has not played well in the majors of late.
He was there. It really felt like going into the back nine yesterday. He was going to win this tournament. He was the betting favorite on the live odds. But Aaron Rai just gets it done.
Yeah, the Nick Foles thing. That's really good. This does not happen what he did. You talked about the 67, 65 or the weekend. He got better every round.
He shot a 70, then he shot a 69 on Friday, 67 on Saturday, 65. That's only happened seven times in the history of major championship golf where a player shot better. Better every single day.
So, what he did is historic, and he should be rightly celebrated as a major champion. Cameron Smith was the one that I, as always, found myself rooting for when he was like, he kept having opportunities. Like, Cam Smith, you want to talk about relatable? He is in every way. He.
Has a bad body. He always looks like he just rolled out of bed. The hair is everywhere. The mustache is just like, it looks like an accident. And he's never in the fairway.
Everything yesterday was like he's driving it into the rough, then he's hitting it into the trap, then he's getting out of the trap, and then he's having to make a putt. And it happened over and over and over. I'm like, this is exactly how I play. He got up and down from everywhere. It's the closest thing to me winning a major would be Cameron Smith.
Being able to deliver on that type of a stage, yeah, it's cool. I also laughed again, like the announcement. Like, I don't know how they organize it, like, it's amazing because they'll show. Like, we got 10 people. We've got, obviously, you got Nance and Immelman, but then you've got here's our three whole reporters, and then our four on-course reporters, and here's our interview.
You got 10 different people, right? And I feel like they're almost battling at times. Like, as much as yeah, some of the comments, like, oh, bizarre shot choice there, and boy, that was an embarrassing effort. But then also, they kind of are going at each other a little bit. There was one where it was somewhere on the back nine.
And the Encourse reporters' contribution was. You know, Cam Smith is lining up like a 12-foot putty. I think he's going to make this. There's silence. Putts.
And he missed. Like, thanks for that. The other one was like, oh, there's that drive, and he's going to get the turbo go.
Well, he didn't get the turbo go because he's in the rough. There's way more opportunities for just sniping. You got 10 people who are all fighting for airtime. I enjoy the byplay. That's good.
The predictions, you know, we're getting a little Tony Robowitz. Like, I think he's going to make the putt.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think guys are going to make every pot. I'd rather know how it's sloping.
What is the degree? Where's the grain going? Is he playing it outside left, inside right? I think he's going to make this pot. Yeah, CBS, though, they do a great job.
Yes. And the golf was phenomenal, and Philly is having a sports moment, hosting a major, and the Phillies can't lose now. TJ, I don't know what's going on. Don Mattingly takes over, and they're 15-4. And you got Jeffrey Lurie.
Big Dom reading intros for the broadcast coverage. The Big Domesance. Let's go. I'm here for it. I love it.
Let's talk about everything except A.J. Brown. Did anyone like try to go back and read the first letter in each word that they said in those golf intros to piece it together like a serial killer sending you magazine bits or something? Or is it like a Beatles album? If we play it backwards, it says A.J.
Brown is traded. A.J. Brown's a Patriot. Not an Eagle. Yeah, exactly.
I was looking for little bits and pieces of that. We're like three weeks away. from knowing exactly what. The final four. I've been told June 1st by you people the whole time, Tom.
So post June 1.
Okay, great. Let's after this, let's bring in a guy who's from Philly, covers the Eagles as closely as anyone, has as good relationships as anybody, is on that team. Mike Garifolo. My colleague at the NFL Network. About AJ, we'll talk about the other big storylines left.
And oh yeah, probably about uh Aaron Rodgers. as well. Imagine that. Say a quick break. Mike Garifolo, NFL Network Insider, coming up right after this on the Rich Eisen Show.
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Mike Garifolo, supposed to join us in just a few minutes here, talk about some of the other major storylines around the NFL. Do we have Mike? We have Mike Del Tufo. They don't have Mike Del Tufo. Nike, Mike, not he's probably getting not Mike D, not Mike G.
You know? Yeah. So we'll. Didn't we talk about that? That was realistic.
You see that last guy? I thought that. I thought that's realistic. That's how you play how you play the game. You don't go 14 and 3 just because you think you're going to go 14 and 3.
We still have an 800-winning percentage across the league. That's what I mean. Everyone's not going to do that. Let's do another one here. Let's get in Tom in Lafayette, California.
He wants to do the 49ers. The Nana. Let's see this one. Tom, you ready to go? Oh, Tom, hang on.
Oh, my God. Mike, was that you? No, no. Fat finger, Tom? I can't give you dial tone.
We lose Tom? He dropped. He lost. He dropped. Let's go.
You want to go? All right. How about Denny in Florida, Patriots? We got Danny. Are you with us?
There we go. Tom Colback. All right, Denny, let's do this thing and find the Patriots. Here we go. Week one at Seattle on Wednesday night.
What? Week two home against the Steelers. Yeah. Week three at Jacksonville. When?
Week 4 at Buffalo. Week five, home against the Raiders.
So win. Week six, home against the Jets. Win. Week seven at Chicago on Thursday night. That's fun.
Lost. Week eight at Miami. Oh, they stink in Miami. It's true. That's true.
Weird stuff happens in Miami. We could play quarterback in Miami. They'd lose. I'm going to go to win. I'm going to change.
Rayball. Yeah. It's going to be a long year in Miami. Week nine, home against the Packers. My wife's a Packer fan, so lost.
I thought you were going to say, so win. All right, week 10 against the Lions in Munich.
Well the thing is, everyone I've listened to has had the Lions losing. Um I don't know what's their what their thing is, but uh I think What are we at for a record right now? You are five and four at this point. Oh god. I think they'll pull that out if they have A.J.
Brown. Yeah. All right, six and four. Week 12 at the Chargers. Oh, they gotta go cross country, that's a loss.
All right, week 13 home against the Bills. They're gonna win that one. Week 14, short week Thursday night home against the Vikings. This short week stuff. Um They're going to win that.
It's going to be electric there. Week 15 at Kansas City Monday Night Football. Ooh.
Massy of the loss. Week 16 at the Jets. Win. All right. Week seventeen, home against the Broncos.
Oh my god. Uh depends on playoff positioning. What is our record right now? Six losses, right?
So you're at nine and six right now, yes. Boss. Because I know the last game's a Yimmy, right? Wow, now this.
So now week 18, home against the Dolphins. This might be to sneak in as a wild card. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. 10 and 7.
We are given the gauntlet schedule. 10 and 7 for the Patriots. We're coming back to Earth here. Denny, thank you very much.
Well, back to Earth. I'm saying from the initial predictions, now we're getting some very straightforward. Yeah, I mean, this is a relatively level-headed, well-thought-out, realistic. I mean, that first four games is kind of a gauntlet for New England when I was looking at the schedule over the weekend. Coming out of that.
Two and two. I think is a must. At worse, but also very realistic, two and two. I mean, that's a. You look at the early part of the schedule, like, that is tough.
That is rough.
Now, you then catch the Raiders, Jets. Week five, six.
Well, we're playing four home four playoff teams from a year ago, three on the road. Buffalo's got a new stadium. That place is going to be rocking. Mm-hmm. Um.
Gotta win, you know, gotta win the home game. Brockman can almost come on the game and gotta steal one. He's ready to go. No, I think Denny is kind of onto it at 10 and 7. Last year, I was a little optimistic when I did it, and I said 11 and 6.
You know, I I never would have imagined that I was underselling them. You know, three wins, but 10 and 7 feels about right. I mean, I've seen predictions saying New England's going to miss the playoffs. I really can't see it. I mean, they're second place in the division at worst.
And, you know, just look at some of the other teams across the league. I I don't know. They're still a good, still very well coached. You got a quarterback on the rise. You're going to get A.J.
Brown. The defense is better through the draft. Offensive line got better through the draft. They're going to be a better team than last year. Collectively, they're just playing a much more difficult schedule.
So that's where you're going to see the regression. But I still think team-wise and skill-wise, they're going to be better. Yeah. They're not going to beat themselves. That's the biggest thing that you're going to get from them.
And Drake May should be even better. Right. It's an evolved receiving core. You're hoping Will Campbell rebounds the way that they're coming. Better receiving room.
Better receiving room. A.J. Brown's coming, and now Romeo Dobbs is there. That's a good receiving room. Assuming that A.J.
Brown comes. You know he's coming. I know he's coming. A. J.
Brown knows he's coming. He got married over the weekend. I think he had a Patriot on the inside of his coat. I don't c don't quote me, but I think he was wearing New England socks. Get to Josh in Wisconsin here.
Bears win-loss game. Josh, you ready to roll? Josh. Let's go. All right, week one at Carolina.
Yeah. Week 2 home against the Vikings. When Week three, home against the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Lost. Ooh.
Week four, home against the Jets. When? Week 5 at Green Bay. Lost. Week six at Atlanta.
I'm gonna go lost. Week seven, home against the Patriots Thursday night football. Short week. That'll be a win. Week eight at Seattle, Monday Night Football.
That's gonna be a loss. Week nine, our short week, Sunday home against the Bucks. Wham.
Alright, so we got four and four. It should be five and four at the bye. Week 11. Come out of it home against the Saints. Also a whim.
Week 12 at Detroit. That is Thursday again, Thanksgiving. Boss. Week 13, home against the Jaguars. I'm gonna give him a win.
Week 14 at Miami. Also a win. Week 15 at Buffalo on a Saturday night. Saturday night. Week 16 against the Packers on a Friday, Christmas Day.
We're going to play Grinch, Ba Humbug, the Green Bay, so a win. Week 17, home against the Lions. When All right, so 10-6 going into week 18 against the Vikings at Minnesota. It's probably, you're probably still playing your starters at 10-6 here. What do you got?
Week 18. I'm gonna go lost. That is a 10-7 finish. I think that's it. All the breakthrough teams from a year ago, we're getting a little bit of regression.
Thank you very much. For the call, Josh in Wisconsin, who might have been a sandbag and Seeker Packers fan, given the bears' schedule. Can't say for sure. We do have Jack in Milwaukee wants to do the Packers win-loss game, though, so let's keep it rolling, huh? Jack goes.
Jack, you're ready to rock this thing. Yeah, let's do it. All right. Week one at Minnesota. I'm gonna say a lot.
Week two at the Jets. Blow out wave. Blow out win. That seemed unnecessary. Week three, Thursday night football.
Short week against the Falcons. And that's home, right? That is at home. Yeah, that's a win. Week four at Tampa.
At the wedge. Yeah. Week five, home against the Bears. Mike the Parsons come back game. That's the way it is.
Week six, home against the Cowboys. We own that, so that's Our five-game winning streak here. Week seven at Detroit. That's a loss. Week eight Short week.
Home against the Panthers on Thursday night. And the web. Week nine at New England. That's a loss. Week 10, home against the Vikings.
That's a win.
Alright, so we got seven and three at the bye for the Packers. Come out of it Wednesday night. At Rams. That's a lost Thanksgiving Eve. Week 13 at the Saints.
That's a way. Week 14, home against the Bills. It's at the loss. Week 15, home against the Dolphins. When Week 16 at Chicago, that is Christmas on a Friday.
I will never say the Bears a win, so Packers. Week 17, Monday night football, home against the Texans. Worried about their defense. I feel good about this offense coming into this year. I think we can beat them.
I'm not going to say it wins. All right, and then all these home against the Lions, week 18. Might be for the division. Quite possibly. I could give us a win.
12 and 5 for the Packers. That would be, I believe, the best record of the Jordan Love era. Thank you very much for the call there as well from Jack. This has been uh It's been pretty solid so far. Oh boy.
We got a Brown schedule game to play here. Is this a make-or-break season for Jordan Love? For Jordan Love? Yeah. No.
Is it a make or break year? Yeah, where do we stand on him right now? He's in year seven, I believe, in the NFL. He's listening, he's played a lot of good football. He's had injuries that set him back.
That's made things more complicated. When you get banged up early in the season, you're never fully healthy. I think that always has a trickle-down effect. But no, I don't think it's a make or break year. Matt LaFleur loves Jordan Lawrence.
Okay. They have to, I mean. They have to be more consistent in terms of who's making plays for them. Listen, that offense was rolling pretty good last year until Tucker Kraft gets hurt. His torn ACL.
That's where all of a sudden they had that game and a half, two-game stretch. It was really rough offensively. But when they're in it, And they're running the football effectively. Remember, Josh Jacobs was really beat up in the second half of last year. They had a rotation on the offensive line because guys were getting banged up.
There were a lot of different factors here. I would not say make or break for Jordan Love. Uh certainly an important season for him, though.
Well, important is sort of, you know, make or break adjacent. You know what I mean? When you say make a break, what do you think that if he has an off year now, he's no longer going to be a starter? Because he's seven and twenty. No, but I'm talking about us thinking about him as you know, elite, you know, knocking on the door of being an elite player in this league.
I don't know. I I feel like Packer fans are You know? Kind of iffy, you know, if we're got 83 touchdowns to 31 picks. He's missed four games over the last three years. twenty seven wins in these three years.
Think there's a maker. I think we talk about Jordan Love like he is one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. Definitely do not. We don't? Definitely not.
Jordan Love's name never gets mentioned. And I'm not saying whether he is or not, but I'm just saying on all of these shows, his name is never mentioned. It's always the same list of people: it's the Allens, it's the Jacksons, it's the Herberts, it's. Jordan Love's name isn't usually all I'm saying is Jordan Love has one playoff win. Let's go, man.
Let's go. And the following week, I mean, they have a chance to win, and he throws a late pick. Yeah. But up until that point, he'd played pretty well in that game. I mean If you're tearing it out, and this is an entire other segment to do, but If you're putting it there, like Jordan Love is, I wouldn't say in the the number one tier.
That's a pretty Pretty clear-cut group. I'm not saying he's number one tier or even the second tier, but he is. No, but I think he's a borderline top 10 quarterback in the NFL. I I don't know that Borderline top 10 quarterbacks are ever in a make or break type of year. Jalen hurts only by virtue of the fact that there's so much stuff going on around him at any given time.
The guy won the Super Bowl 16 months ago, was the MVP of the Super Bowl. but also is coming into a new offense that doesn't necessarily seem like it's geared toward his skill set. It's a I mean, I won't say make or break for him. Jalen Hurts is, again, he's shown what he can do, but coming into this offense, if it doesn't click, they clearly are pivoting an entirely different direction with Sean Mannion coming in and running a McVay, Shanahan, Kevin O'Connell, that style of offense. I would say that it's much closer to a breaking point, for lack of a better term, with Jalen Hurts than it is for Jordan Love.
This is what I've seen. Even though we've seen Hurts win a ton of games, and even though if he became available, he would be starting somewhere else immediately. This is what I'm saying. I think people think that Love is here and Hurts is here. One guy has been the best player on the field in two Super Bowls, and the other guy has one playoff win.
I can't disagree with you more on that, bro. I'm still getting back to that. Jordan Love's name is not thrown in. If we do a straw poll, I think fans think that love is a better QB than hurts. There's no way.
If you polled 10 fans on Justin Herbert versus Jordan Love, you'd probably get nine Justin Herbert responses. I don't think Jordan Love in the broader universe is regarded up there. No, love versus hurts. No, I'm saying I'm. changing the question.
If it were Justin Herbert. Another player who has not One in the playoffs. has not been able to advance, has one playoff win, and that was that crazy comeback.
Okay. Oh, no, they lost that game. Excuse me. They lost that game to Jacksonville in the crazy comeback game.
So you have another player who has not had that success. Oh, Herbert has zero playoffs. Correct. I had it backwards in my head. We also really need to see it from him.
Yep. He skates to TJ. I know you love to hammer this. He skates on a lot of this. Like.
Under the most pressure, Rich hates it. Under the most pressure, we got to see it lists. He skates on a lot of these. No, we need to see it from him, too. And I think we need to, like, we're getting close to having that conversation about Jordan Love.
That's on.
Well, Justin Herbert, it's to me, it's as much about the fact that his entire offensive line was decimated last year. He's having to play. He's hurt. He plays with a lot of injuries in part because he gets hit. He's a tough dude.
He's played through a severe high ankle sprain, among other things, in the past. He's got to be able to stay healthy. He's got to deliver down the stretch. I think we're much closer to a is it make or break for Jim Harbaugh? Than for Justin Herbert.
Harbaugh. Let me write that down. Wow. Oh, man. Jim Harbaugh is one of the highest.
Listen, Jim Harbaugh is one of the highest paid coaches in the world. You didn't shell out top money for Jim Harbaugh to come in and not have a playoff win for three years in a row.
Now he's got McDonald's. He's been in the playoffs two years. And we'll see how that relationship develops. That's going to be a big deal. I feel like we got Rick Dalton's flamethrower right now.
No, no, no. You guys are torching. I got that right. Listen, Mike is a really smart offensive mic. He comes from a completely different school of thought than Jim Harbaugh.
They are both. Different personalities, but they're not the same type of difference. They see the game differently. And Jim. Wants to be involved in everything.
Jim has opinions on a lot of different things here. I think the Chargers are going to be good this year. I don't think that there's a lot of question about that. It's hard to imagine they're going to be less healthy than they were a year ago when they got absolutely killed going all the way back to training camp where Sean Slater suffers a season-ending injury. Then Alt gets hurt.
I mean, they're down to like, they're playing with their fifth tackle. What do you want them to do? I think they had like 30 different line combinations last year. But if it's three straight years, you have to start asking the question. Jim Harvaugh has been a highly successful coach everywhere he's been.
Maybe this is the year they make the breakthrough and they make the run. But if you're just saying you're objectively speaking, Or if you're looking at the odds. I don't know that you're sitting there going the Chargers are the number one team in the division. No. You might not say they're the number two team in the division.
They could be two. With Denver and Kansas City. Denver. Casey. Chiefs are coming off a down year, and the quarterback's coming off an injury.
Let's see what happens. Top three odds, pretty even. Chiefs plus 170, Chargers plus 185, Broncos plus 210. Woo. All I would say is, and this is not a slight at Jim in any way.
But if they don't win a playoff game in Jim's mind. This will not be a success. Three straight years without a playoff win? Playoffs. He was immediately in San Francisco.
He stepped in and immediately took them to the playoffs in his first year. They were in the NSC Championship game his first three years in a row.
So It's not up to Jim Harbaugh's standards where they've been so far. If they get healthy, there's no reason to believe this isn't going to be a really good team in 2026. But they got their work cut out just to get out of their division because the Broncos were in the AFC championship game last year.
Well could have been in the Super Bowl if Bo Nicks doesn't get hurt. And the Chiefs. I I there's no reason to believe. That last year is not an anomaly. Yes, they had to change some things, and you saw them do it in terms of what they put into Kenneth Walker III, in terms of how they turned over the back end of their defense.
They made a lot of changes. But Mahomes, whether he's ready at 100% week one or not, He's not going to play that way. The offense is not going to look like that. Eric Bienemi's back in the building, which people can laugh about and how much of an impact that's going to make. But look at the quotes you've seen on players about E.B.
being back and the difference that can make. I would just say. Don't overlook the Chiefs in this season. I know that's not like breaking news, but I have no doubt that the Chiefs are going to be back in the playoffs in 2026. The Broncos are set up as one of the best young rosters in the NFL.
Where does that leave the Chargers? If they're healthy, they should be right there with those two teams as the odds reflect. If they don't, Win a playoff game. If they don't advance, there's going to be a lot of disappointed people, especially because you made the biggest swing. Maybe in Chargers franchise history.
To go and get Jim Harbaugh, bring him back to the NFL, make yourself the biggest story in sports for a period there. And then three straight playoffs with no wins. Jim Harbaugh himself is not going to be happy about that. That, to me, is a lot closer than make or break. Than a still 20-something Justin Herbert who's got a lot of time out there ahead of him.
Let's take another break. We still have more win-loss fun coming up on this show. More NFL as well. Tom Pellicero in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. Yeah.
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There's road trips to plan, hotels to book, tickets to split, tailgates to cover, scores to settle, all the things for the season. But now, when you send $10 or more to a friend with PayPal by May 28th, you could win two tickets to every home game of your favorite team. Yep, the whole season. Visit PayPal.com/slash P2P sweeps. No purchase necessary.
See the website for details, including how to enter by mail. Brought to you by PayPal, official peer-to-peer payment sponsor of the NFL. I hope you have more than 10. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show. Tom Pilacero in for Rich.
A lot of people. Locking the NFL schedule game today. Not you guys. Hey, Tom, listen. You're going to stop trying to both of you sitting there refusing to participate.
It's not a refusal, Tom. My team has barely gone OTAs. I don't know who the full 53 men are. I need a little more time.
So you're not going to pick it until the day before the season begins. As I said at the beginning of the show, normally Rich always makes me go first, and then I get held to that standard.
So I feel like I'm waiting. Did I go first? Last year, you may have gone first. I went first. But every year before that was me.
All right, let's wait. Get back to the phones here. We got a few more. We're going to dare to go here. I want to see what's going on.
There's no more JD in Cleveland wants to do the Browns. It's Browns time. This will be a great test of how people approach this. Are you ready to roll here? Ready to roll.
Yeah, I'm ready. I was going. Let's do it. You're doing great, man. All right, week one at Jacksonville.
Uh I lost. Week two at Tampa. Faith is gonna get us the Talos. Week three, home against the Panthers. Right, show.
I think the Panthers are overrated. I'll take a win. Woohoo! Woo! That Steve over there.
Week four. Short week, home against the Steelers Thursday night football. We'll beat them um at home. 2-2, week 5 at the Jets. That's a one.
Week six, home against the Ravens. That's a loss. Week seven at Tennessee. Love cam words. But that's a one for us.
Week eight at Pittsburgh. Uh we can't win at Pittsburgh, that's a loss. Week 9 at New Orleans. I'll take a win. Week 10 home against the Texans.
That's my birthday, but they're better. That's a loss. All right, so if I'm not mistaken, we're five and five here, correct, Brockman? Brown's five and five at the bottom? Yeah, five and five.
Yep. All right. Yep. Relevant, still in it. All right, week 12, home against the Raiders.
That's a one. Week 13 home against the Bengals. We'll go two in a row. That's a win for us.
Okay. In it, week 14, home against the Falcons. Make that three in a row. That's a win.
Let's go. Week 15 at the Giants. Uh that's a loss. Week 16 at the Ravens. Um, that's a wasp for us.
Week 17 home against the Colts. Uh final home game, I'll take a win. All right, so at this point, 9-7 with one to go.
Okay. It's going to be for the wild card. Week 18 at Cincinnati. It's going to be for the division. We'll take a win.
Let's go. 10 and 7 rounds. Oh, I see. Right there, Corey to JD. Thank you very much for the call.
Quarterback play. And then just want to say one last thing. Cavs and six baby. Just want to let everyone know. Cavs Nick.
Tipping off Tuesday night.
Okay, hold on. We got we just did three teams. All predicted ten and seven. Patriots, Bears, Browns. Right, but here's a here's a what's more who has the most wins out of that 3-0?
I just made up a new one. Of who? That trio. Patriots, Bears, Browns. All were predicted ten and seven by callers today.
I mean, for the Patriots and the Bears, that would be a disappointment. For the Browns, that would be caused to celebrate the streets. That's not an answer to the question. Of those three, which has the most wins at the end? Yeah.
Pass. Bears and Patriots are similar in so many ways. There's the young quarterbacks, first-year coaches. You got the juice going in. You probably had some holes that you covered up.
Yep, yep, yep. Still waiting for an answer. Thinking who's in the division. I'll go with the Patriots solely because there's not an easy win in the NFC North. Right.
Dolphins and Jets, that's four of the games for the Patriots. That's right. Jets should be better. Dolphins are going to be competitive with Jeff Hafley. They're just not there.
From a talent standpoint at this point, this is going to be a multi-year build for them.
So I'll take the Patriots. All right, we've got time for one more here. Rich in Missouri, Chiefs. Win-loss. I've already stuck my neck out and say I believe they will be back in the playoffs this season as I try to find that division.
Here we go. Chiefs win, loss. Rich, you ready to roll? Chiefs. Yeah, I'm ready, Tom.
Let's do it. All right, week one: Monday night football home against the Broncos. Yeah. Patrick will be back. I don't think Bo Nix will, so I'm taking the Chiefs.
Week two, home against the Colts. Yep, Chiefs again. Week three at Miami. Yeah, I'm not sure. Dolphins are winning two games this year, so Kansas City.
Yep. Week four at the Raiders. Fernando ain't playing yet, so we'll take down Kurt. 4-0 at the bye. Very early by.
Week 6, home against the Chargers. Yeah, I think the Chargers are going to regress this year. I don't think they're going to be as good as everybody thinks they are.
So, Kansas City wins again at home. Make or break. Win week seven at Seattle. Yeah, that's when the first loss is coming. Unfortunately, Seattle defense is unbelievable.
All right, it's 5-1 here. Week 8 at Denver. Yeah, no. We'll take Kansas City. Broncos aren't beating us this year.
Week nine, home against the Jets. Yeah, Kansas City just don't have a quarterback, so. Week 10 at Atlanta. Yeah, I was kind of back and forth on this one just because I'm not sure who's going to be the starting quarterback, but uh I'll take Kansas City. All right, we got 60 seconds left here.
Week 11, home against the Cardinals.
Okay. Uh chiefs. Week 12 at Buffalo Thursday night. Thanksgiving. Yeah, we're terrible at Buffalo, so I'll give it to the Bills.
Week 13 at the Rams on Thursday night. Short wig. Um I'll take the Rams, unfortunately. Yeah. All right, week 14 at Cincinnati.
Yeah, Kansas City. Week 15, home against the Patriots. Monday night. I'll take the Chiefs. All right, week 16, rapid fire, 49ers at home.
Uh niners, unfortunately. Week seventeen at Chargers. Chief Week 18, home against the Raiders. Yeah, close out with the Chiefs. 13 and 4, Chiefs.
Thank you very much, Rich, for the call. A lot of wins. You can calculate the aggregate percentage right there, Brockman, but I still think we're hovering in the 700-winning percentage. I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think it's optimistic.
That schedule sets up about as good as you could possibly be. Oh, yeah. Oh, shaze. Kaziah Mahomes plays against the echo. Oh, really?
That's starting season for the Chiefs. I wonder who could have predicted that. Yeah. Me on Overreaction Monday two weeks ago. Did it.
It's shocking. Three cupcakes, a bye week, and then a home Monday night game. All right. And no way. Radio audience, we are back tomorrow.
Thanks, everybody, for watching and listening. 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.
