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Hour 1: Knicks Stunning Comeback vs Cavs, plus Rich Power Ranks NFL’s Top 2026 Games

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen
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May 20, 2026 2:30 pm

Hour 1: Knicks Stunning Comeback vs Cavs, plus Rich Power Ranks NFL’s Top 2026 Games

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen

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May 20, 2026 2:30 pm

The New York Knicks pull off an epic comeback in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, with Jalen Brunson leading the charge. Meanwhile, Victor Wembanyama shines in his first game back from an injury, scoring 41 points and grabbing 24 rebounds for the San Antonio Spurs. In the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers welcome back Aaron Rodgers, who is looking to lead his team to victory in his first game back.

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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

So please, welcome the greatest performer ever to have graced this earth. Rich Eisen. We are back, baby. We are back. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Today's guests, ESPN NBA Insider Sham Shirania. ESPN NBA Analyst Tim Legler. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's your Rich Eisen. Yeah.

Well, hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Back in the chair after a few days in walkabout. In the great states of Connecticut and New York, I am sitting back in the chair right here in Los Angeles, California. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, SiriusXM Channel 80.

Hello to the audiences watching and listening. And thanks to Kirk Morrison and Tommy P. Tom Pellicero for expertly holding down this fort over the last few days.

So much to talk about since I last sat in this chair. The NFL released its schedule. Aaron Rodgers is back in the NFL as the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The NBA playoffs advanced. The NHL playoffs advanced.

And Otani is pitching again tonight, looking for a Cy Young award. Um, while also hitting very well. Uh, speaking of hitting you over there, Christopher Brockman, how are you? It's okay to say he's not hitting very well because he's not. He's hitting good to see you over there, Chris.

Hey, what's up, man? Good to see you back in New York Series. Good to see you, man. What's up? TJ Mikey D is good morning, Rich.

That's Mike Del Tufo. Hello, TJ Jefferson. What's going on? Great to see you back, Richard. Of all those things you mentioned, the one thing that you forgot, and I can understand how you could because there's so much.

I was in the New York metropolitan area. I know you're going to be able to see it. New York is a Mets. It's a Mets Town. We've proven that.

Subway Series Champions. It's a Mets. It's a Mets Town. It just confirms what. The mercenary, once upon a time, said very good.

Side to be. That's terrific. We'll talk some baseball on this program. We'll have the same thing. Again, the NFL schedule has been released, so I have yet to play the win-loss game with the Rich Eisen Show audience, which I've been told in my absence has been dialing for two or four years.

I thought you've just been champing at the bit to play the Rams and Chiefs. Very good. Very good. Okay. I appreciate it.

I appreciate it. No, no, it's okay. You can slander me all you wish. It's actually slander. It is.

I think that's true. It is. It alerts sometimes. It is. No.

Call up and let's play the win-loss game, everybody. I've got the schedule right here in front of me. All right, let's talk about the latest in the NBA playoffs, which is the Cleveland Cavaliers coming off of that Game 7 blowout win in Detroit. After failing to close things out in the Eastern Conference semifinals against Detroit and their home court, um My goodness gracious. That's all items.

And we were all wondering: would their seven-game slog? against Detroit Bring Cleveland to New York City against a well-rested Knicks team. Uh, tired and beaten down, and would the Knicks potentially, however, be rusty for sitting out a week, even though that extra time allowed them to get OG on an Obi back in their Lineup. And through three plus quarters of this game, it was on the side of Knicks being rusty and the Cavaliers being full of momentum coming off of the blowout win in Detroit, blowing the doors off of Madison Square Garden. To the tune of 93 to 71 with 750 remaining.

And if you looked at your ESPN app at the time, You saw Cleveland Having a win probability of 99.9%. Jeez. I mean, if Anthony Edwards was on the Knicks, he would have been congratulating the Cleveland Cavaliers. He would have walked off minutes to go. Yeah, exactly.

Walked over and just shook their hand. Hey, that's a good game. One, two, three, K Cooper. No, no, no, no, no, no. But the Knicks did not pull their starters as the Timberwolves did at that time.

They kept their starters in. And Jalen Brunson came up with A performance for the ages that will be talked about in New York for some time to come, especially if the Knicks are having a special season unfold, as it appears to be. Cause number 11 sparked a 44-11 run for the rest of the way. 44 to 11. is how the Knicks outscored Cleveland after being down by 22.

And the numbers are breathtaking. Jalen Brunson at one point had five straight field goals to cut the Cavaliers' lead to five. He was un believable exactly Who Knicks fans hoped would show up and rescue the day, all of the. Nick's offensive. Juggernaut conversations about how Carl Anthony Towns is a point center.

and how everything was working through him. All of that went out the window and Hero Ball returned and as Mike Breen called him, the Brunson burner got turned on. And Yeah. He put on a cape. And is exactly why he's One of the greatest nicks of all time.

one of my favorite nicks of all time, the guy who pulled me back in from the Dolan wormhole. to start rooting for this team again. You were out. I was way out. I couldn't have been more out.

I was more out than Charles Oakley. Which is what caused me to be out. And this guy just pulled me back in because he's exactly what the Knicks. Needed and were looking for for years when nobody was willing to take Dolan's money and try and lead a comeback for this franchise. Unbelievable game one Eastern Conference final performance.

16 of his thirty-eight. In the fourth quarter, a little bit of bridges. A little bit of shamut. Sprinkled in. A Saissance of Aninobi?

Oh. Write that down. I don't know how to spell that take bird alert. I think it's with an S. And the Knicks come up with the win, and the Cavaliers are now in a fetal position.

And this is what. Brunson had to say afterwards. Keep fighting, keep chipping away, you know we're not gonna get it back in one one possession. Um Most importantly, sticking together. No matter how that game finishes, habits translate, and so they get translated to the next game.

So just finishing the game strong, regardless of. whatever's whatever's going on, make sure we're having the right habits.

So Now we'll be going the next game in our Mm-hmm. We're doing what we were just doing. We're not just giving up. We don't want to give up ever. Just having faith in each other.

Gotta wonder how many um Gotta wonder how many of those words And that Mindset was born out of What happened? The last time the Knicks hosted a game one of the Eastern Conference. I wonder what happened on that night. Oh, yes, the choke sign. The bounce.

They're the ones who choked the Knicks. Big lead choked away. Tyrese Halliburton with Reggie Miller. At the microphone. Putting the choke sign.

Now, Landry Shamet is looking towards the rafters. Shamet! Scoring touchdown, while Kenny Atkinson, the head coach of the Cavs, who is on the griddle today for. Just not firing off a timeout or two. Although I saw all of the Brunson montages I've seen, a couple timeouts he did fire off, but certainly when Brunson hit that three to make it a five-point game, that said.

He's on the griddle a little bit. That was the 18 to 1 run, right? Yeah, right. But the. The storyline that will linger all day today and into game two involves James Harden, who, as we all know, Is going to the Hall of Fame.

He's going to have an orange jacket one day. He will be a first ballot. Uh Hall of Famer. He's going there. The question is, what else will be the conversation?

And the conversation involving him in the playoffs is that he's going to disappear. And His defense on Brunson. is front and center. Front and center, especially when the opposing head coach flat out says He was the target. In the fourth quarter.

His defensive skills was the target. in the fourth quarter. As Mike Brown said after the game. That's sometimes you gotta do what the game dictates and They were trying to do the same thing with Jalen, and so we said, okay, we feel like we can play that game. We try not to play that game much, but we feel like we have a guy that we can play that game with, and Jalen.

And so, you know, just like we have to try to figure out different ways to guard Hardin and Mitchell, they got to figure out different ways to guard Jalen. But we were, it is no secret, we were attacking Hardin. No secret. They were attacking Hardin. Um Well, if your eyeballs didn't um Go ahead and tell you that.

The all-NBA podcast that is co-hosted by our first guest of this program, Tim Legler, who was on the call last night. Um Count it out. that he had He was isolated. nine times in the fourth quarter last night. Nine.

He was the screener defender on 21 on-ball picks in the fourth quarter in overtime alone. And the Knicks damn near averaged two points. Per every one of those. Brunson was seven of eleven when guarded by Harden, eight of eighteen. against everyone else Mike Brown also apparently has a history in this regard.

Hit it, please. When I was with Golden State, we played Houston in the playoffs. We counted James Harden's dribbles. And we told our guys, hey, he's dribbling close to 1,000 times. He's not doing that anymore because they got Donovan Mitchell.

But at the time, we were like, he's dribbling almost 1,000 times a game. And our high guys, KD at like 300 or right below 300. keep picking them up full court keep making them dribble because at the end of the series at the end of the games it's going to wear down and did it probably not you know but but you know you say stuff like that to help give your guys a psychological advantage so i don't know i love i mean just he's really feeling himself right now i i don't know i don't know i mean we used to do this all the time steve kern and the rest of the dynastic warriors we used to do that all the time and i did it do it i don't know i mean it was always like hey they try to do it on jalen we feel like we've got the guy to kind of you know spoon it back in their direction and How will Harden take this? That's the conversation today. Because that's the only thing anybody's going to be talking about.

This was hardened after the game. last night. I mean he made some tough ones. He made some tough ones, but obviously we all know he's a great one-on-one player. And I think anybody on the island...

It's going to be difficult, so we got to do a better job of making sure he sees bodies. You know, on the other hand, they do a good job of supporting him and helping him when he's on the island.

So he made some telephones, but we got to do a better job as a team just because it's not a one-man job.

So we've got to be better in that aspect. I think he made a couple of them, which really got them going. Is he calling for help? What was that? Ozan.

Maybe he shouldn't be guarding Jalen Brunson. Yeah.

Because I don't know i i if you brought Scotty Pippen out, ninety six Scotty Pippen and put him on Brunson last night, maybe that would have stopped him. That dude was on fire last night. Made some tough ones. I mean, he was super glass with the left-handed on Wade. Right.

He left-handed one in, he right-handed one in damn near off of Walt Frazier's jersey hanging from the rafters. Then, when Hardin was playing good D on him and he does a step back 26-footer for a while. It's hard to play defense with both arms around your throat. That is an epic choke job. Yeah, but that's were we talking James Harden or the entire Cavs?

Well, I mean, there was every reason why there's a reason why every single Brunson shot got the Knicks closer. It's because the Cavaliers weren't scoring themselves. Epic brick after where was Donovan Mitchell in the fourth week?

Well, in that regard, as Hardin might be pointing out, it's a team game because they went combined, Mitchell and Hardin, one of ten from the field, none of five from three-point range for just three points and and two turnovers during that 44 to 11 run. And this is what Mitchell had to say afterwards. As the leader, what's gonna be your message for the guys tomorrow? I said in the locker room, just that. We lost.

We f blew it.

Alright. Let's run program two. Simple as that. He owned it. 29.4% from the field.

Team. In the fourth quarter, six of seven in overtime they missed. Over. And the Knicks weren't missing. They just turned it on, they flipped the switch.

And they saved the day. Speaking of over, this series. I don't know about that. I'm not going to say that. The the Cavs were down.

Oh two. to Detroit. The 60 win Detroit. Chris? Yeah, but we've watched Detroit play in the playoffs.

They weren't the Knicks in the playoffs. The Knicks have been one of the hottest and best shooting, best scoring teams throughout this entire postseason. I'm sorry. The Knicks aren't, in my estimation, as well as their playing, that good to just wrap it up after one game. No chance.

And if I'm. I'm Mike Brown and the rest of the Knicks. I listened to Jalen Brunson exactly what he had to say afterwards. And in that regard, Listen, I'm a New York Knicks fan. I have been for a while.

But even these Knick fans now, every single game, they go right out there. On 7th Avenue, and it's like they're cutting down nets already. I mean, and listen, I understand it's been forever. I get it, all right? I look at myself in the mirror and I'm like, who is that old man on occasion?

All right? That's how long it's been. All right. All of those Nicks greats that Dolan gives courtside seats to. Every last one of them.

I'm so excited to see them all celebrating. None of them had rings, zero of them. Every last one of them. Some, it's because of Jordan.

Some it's not. When Clyde's sitting there, he's like the only guy. Like, if Bill Bradley shows up, like, those are the guys. And those rings probably look like little grapes. Small little grapes compared to what is given out these days.

So I understand how long it has been. But When I saw a video From Seventh Avenue. of fans going out on the streets and celebrating. This game one win that they had to pull out of their Orify. Orify.

Okay. I don't even know if that's a word. It's a plural version. All right. If with the three words Of we want Wemby.

I mean, I was like, oh, please do not say that. Because let me just say this, because I was out of the chair. After game one of the Western Conference finals. And even though I know I just was, I'm counseling, let's not do the knee-jerk reaction, this Eastern Conference finals is over. Off of one game.

And it's not over in the West, that is for sure. But watching Victor Wembanyama Watch Shea Gilgis Alexander win the MVP award he so wanted Watching him watch that presentation. Prior to Game One. And then what he did in game one. Makes one think.

That we are all About to be rentpayers in this man's world. There's no other way to feel. After seeing that, 22 years old, man. There's no other way to feel. After what we just saw.

In that game one victory by the San Antonio Spurs, without, without De'Aaron Fox. Yeah.

Without him. into the chamber. Where Oklahoma City Thunder fans stand until There's a basket. To start the game. And the Spurs kept them off the board so long, you had to wonder if the blood was somehow still coursing through their legs.

And then Do what they did in this game with Victor Wembanyama leading the way with a Forty 20 game. Forty-one points, twenty-four rebounds.

Okay. Nine on offense. Three blocks. And a three from the logo down three that is only comparable to Steph Curry. That was ridiculous.

And when he was coming out of France, and we're like, oh, he's got the handle and three-point shot of Steph Curry and the shot blocking ability of somebody you've never seen before. His physical skills are remarkable. And can't wait to see how he blossoms. None of us knew at the time. What I do believe is now apparent to everyone.

This guy's Best ability. His most special attribute. Maybe what we don't see and what burns inside, because if he does have What he's been displaying. That dog? He reminds me of Michael Jordan.

I know what I just said. Tiger Woods. Those types, Kobe. How else can you take it? After this is what he says, when it's put directly in front of him.

After he wins this game. With his teammates, obviously. When it's asked of him directly if he was in fact. Pissed about losing the award to SGA and seeing it awarded in front of him before this game. Just curious if that was in your mind at all, knowing that Shea had got that award and you were in the top three for it, and you know, did any part of tonight feel personal?

Some of your facial expressions kind of looked like you were really, really going for it.

Okay. Yeah, for sure. Everything you just said. What does it feel like to see someone else get the MPP trophy right before you step into, I guess, what is basically the biggest game of your career and then to have the best performance of your career? Good.

Feels like And I want to get that trophy, you know, many times in my career. Mm. And you know. Greg Pompovich is stoking these flames whenever he has the chance. And you know Duncan, all of them.

Right? All of them that came out looking like they were The cast of Goodfellas recently, right? Right. from reservoir dogs getting ready to Pull off the job. Look out, man.

Honestly, I see it in this day and age. Certainly in the NBA. when we're wondering who cares? Enough. Who matches the fan's flame?

Who wants to dominate? Who wants to be great? Who takes this profession? Personally. And balls it up.

and spits it back. at the opponent in their building and takes the heart of the opponent in front of all their fans. And shows it to everyone pumping and says, Are you not entertained? It reminds me of of Jordan.

Now then, what happens next? Popcorn is ready. I can't wait to take it. Tonight is going to be awesome. I love this guy.

I love him. He is sort of like a. A basketball Otani. shootin' threes, bringin' it up, running the offense through him. Then playing defense on the other side of the ball.

He's two players in one. And then if you include the fact that he is leading the way with leadership at this age. You saw the way that he was just standing there. In front of his teammates, who are all pointing at him. NBC had the perfect shot.

I think he was a great shot, guys. Hang that in the Louvre, man. Telling you. That was after the block on. I am wondering what we are currently witnessing.

That may be an overreaction on a winner. I don't know, Rich, man. It really felt like Tiger 97 at Augusta. Am I wrong? Or Jordan at the beginning of honestly.

The big, like, the first time you saw Mahomes play in 2018, you're just like, how are you going to stop this guy? Like, the league is about to change. He is taking over. It feels that way. Yeah.

I I mean, I said it yesterday. It feels like he's already now the best player in the league. And anybody who doesn't feel that way about him. is going to hear about it. Maybe not verbally.

Because again, he's not sitting there silent. When asked this question directly because he's trying to find the right words in English. He's trying to find out. How can I Say Humbly. You're all in trouble.

Well, what you said, he said it. You've made a mistake. What you said. Everything that you said, yeah, that's what I'm feeling. Yeah.

Like the reporter did the job for us. Oh, my God.

So, Nick fans out there on 7th Avenue, let's take it one quarter at a time, please. Yeah, but this isn't new for the Knick fans, right? They've been doing that.

So it's like you can't look at this and go, they've been doing this for years. They've been hiding. The reason why Ewing is sitting there celebrating Ringless. Is the same guy I just invoked. And that guy may be coming to Madison Square Garden very soon.

Mm-hmm. If the Knicks are lucky.

Well, Ewing had the bad luck of not only having Jordan, but then having Elajuan when Elajuan was at his peak and the greatest.

So, well, he was one who was just remembering. And people are invoking Hakeem's name. Yeah, because David Robinson won it in front of him, and he's like, I'll show you. And he destroyed it. And the dream turned into a nightmare.

He destroyed it. Yes. And David Robinson doesn't get enough credit as one of the greatest basketball. But Akeem Elajuan, what he did on that night. Yeah.

But I'll go more Jordan than Hakeem because who did Ewing see in college? Yeah.

Jordan did it at two levels. How many? I said two.

Okay. All right, let's take a break. Ha ha. We got a lot bottled up. I was thinking that the other night.

I'm like, I cannot wait to get back in the chair and talk about it. The only thing I disagree with, Rich, is you said Wemby's like, Are you not entertained? I get the feeling he doesn't care if you're entertained or not. No, I think he's going to go out there through it regardless. He wants to kill you.

Yeah, I know. That's fine. Everything was different. It would have been different. Yeah, that's true.

All right, we take a break. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. I've got a POW ranking based on the NFL schedule. The top 10 games I'm looking forward to seeing coming up. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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Back here on The Rich Eisen Show. Alongside Chris. Chris Brockman, Mike Beltufo, T.J. Jefferson, and James Shremp. Ha ha.

Shrimp. Everybody who's listening right now, you've got to check out our television version to know what the heck that is. Dan used to say it: shrimp. Shrimp. Shrimp.

Oh. Speaking of Dan, I saw him on Friday. Nice. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, interviewed him to complete the.

First season of This Was Sports Amazing That's going to be launching on Disney Plus on June fifth. Did he ask about us? He did not.

Okay. He did not.

All right, just curious. But again, I'm interviewing old school Sports Center anchors. And Dan's first one. You've seen a few of these already. I've been here in person for them.

They are phenomenal. And the one with Dan, we talked for an hour and a half, and we could have gone another hour and a half. But it was his birthday. Oh, so I had to, you know, let him go back to his family. Oh, but it was great.

We'll talk more about it as we get closer. Love it. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. We'll get to your calls. They see some win-loss gamers want to play.

I've I've I've missed the game. I've missed it. But the schedule got released. A couple of things I do want to say here, okay, before we get to my power rankings. I am not a fan of the first game.

On opening night. I'm with you. You know, obviously, I'm not talking about the Melbourne game. I I thought they would put the Bears in Seattle. and save the Super Bowl rematch for later in the year.

instead of serving up that piece of filet mignon to start, Um And also I don't know. The reasoning was what? It won't be as more relevant as it was to start the year. That was what they had to do. It wasn't like last year.

Last year, all we talked about leading up into that game was the previous time they played. Right. Yeah.

I just don't even know. Wasn't that so compelling of a game that it's like, oh, I can't wait for the rematch. You know, like you could name the last few Super Bowls that you'd rather see repeated because of the way it ended. You know what I mean? I agree.

Right? I mean, if the Eagles and Chiefs opened up against each other after that defensive penalty allowed the Chiefs to run out the clock. For instance, uh the Niners and the Chiefs, the way that game ended in overtime. Like running that back right away. Bengals, Rams, any of those games.

Right, running those games back right away would have kept some sort of appetite that. We felt Still existed from the way the previous game ended. This one was. You know, not all that compelling, to be honest. I was there.

I thought the bad bunny halftime. was more compelling than the game. As you know. Unfortunately, yeah.

So running it back now, I just thought. Running it back with Bears at Seattle, the NFC matchup that almost was. The bears are, I think, a little bit more identifiable. Let me ask you this question. Yeah.

The team that you think, and I know who I'm asking this to, and that's why I will crowdsource the entire room here without you because you're such a troll, Mike. I know the way you're going to answer this question. Thank you. The team that is going to be more likely to be a carbon copy, if not maybe better than last year's team, Patriots or Bears. Oh, I would say everyone's on the Bears.

Right? Yeah.

I mean, Caleb has got a lot of juice for MVP talk, and we saw what the Ben Johnson offense is. Let's see that in year two. Correct. I think definitely would be the same.

So of a curiosity factor, what do they look like in year two? For sure. If the Pats get brown.

Now that's true too. But the problem with the Patriots is there's also, yeah, the Brown stuff, there's also kind of all this weird drama with the head coach. And like, why do you want to put that on full display week one in front of the whole country? There's also offensive line issues, you know, with with the with New England that needs to be addressed or rectified. It might take a couple of weeks.

You don't know what that's going to look like for them to get their C-legs under them. You know, and that's not a pun on purposeful. What would you say? Bears or. We're patriots.

Who's got the better odds? Who's more likely to repeat his performance, if not improve upon it? I'm going to say the Bears, but then Del Tufo chimed in, right? And the A.J. Brown thing is compelling.

What does he look like? If he goes to New England, what does he look like with New England on night one? He looks like the best wide receiver that they've had in years, right? That's for sure.

So 100%. And the fact that Caleb did lose a receiver. I just think Bears and Seahawks would have been a more compelling opening night matchup than a Super Bowl rematch, which is wild to say. But yet we almost got Bears Seattle. But, Chris, I think what you said earlier is the reason.

Through the drama? Because of the drama. Wow. You don't think that's going to put extra eyes? I mean, obviously, you're going to have all the eyes on the world, but that's how this world works.

People like drama. They love this world. No, but there's no. It's not why though. But when is Seattle playing the Bears?

I guess I I totally missed that.

So week eight week eight on Monday night. And you're trying to figure out obviously not going to be. A slouch of a game in week eight. Right. No.

But I just, you know, the week, the first night. Banner raise evening is always just as a it's a weird game, it's a weird night. Always is sort of Like last year CeeDee Lamb loses the ball in the lights after, by the way, there's a weather delay for an hour. I understand that that's not something you can schedule against, but. Um I don't know.

It's going to be a tough. That's a tough opener, man. Look, they got the Sunday night page rate. We know that. That is a tough opener.

To say the least.

Well, Pat's first four games are pretty pretty tough. I mean, you look at New England's first four games, sure. It's at Seattle home for Pittsburgh, at Jacksonville, at Buffalo. Three of their first fours on the road. Against playoff teams.

And then Vegas comes in, and New England tries to get some revenge for their week one home opening loss of the Mike Vrabel era to the Pete Carroll. Vegas Raiders, which still stands as the wildest, weirdest, wildest results, the most inexplicable result of 2025's writing season, which, by the way, so weird. You know worked out almost cost New England. You know? Seating and things of that nature.

Um There's at Chicago. That's a New England at Chicago on Prime Video. Prayer. And that's it's You take a look at every single game on the schedule. It does.

It looks amazing. And I'm going to get to my COW rankings in a second. But let's play my first win-loss game of the 2026 non-playing season. Let's have some fun. Let's go to Malik in State College, Pennsylvania.

The higher of East Coast Jefferson's home commonwealth. 814. Yes, we can. And we just want to set this. I just want to set this up properly: that you are in the town.

Of Penn State University, which TJ Jefferson roots for, the conundrum that he's a cowboy fan who roots for Penn State but hates the Eagles, who you're calling me to play the Gwen Love fan. That's not the conundrum. It is an absolute shame. I feel so bad for you all the time, T.J. I mean, you just live in State College, but I don't root for Penn State.

Wow, why is that? That's worse than me. Why? I actually grew up outside of Bucknell.

Okay. So I just kind of. Yeah, just root for Bucknell. Yeah.

And you're saying it's tough for TJ to be a cowboy fan. And you're sitting there in the home of Penn State football, and you're like, yeah, I kind of root for Bucknell. I will never disregard you. A friend of mine played for Bucknell. When nobody looks for us.

Nobody looks for us to do anything.

Well, anytime you do anything, it's a win. Malik. Here's the weird thing: we're now going to switch gears. You're playing the win-loss game for Bucknell. Put the schedule.

Oh, we don't have that. Unbelievable. Graphically supported. All right, give them some music here. Let's do it.

Malik in State College, Pennsylvania. Win-loss game for the Philadelphia Eagles. What happens when they open up at home against the Washington Commanders? Oh, come on. We got to take that one home.

That's an easy win. All right, there we go. Um what do we got? Uh week two at the Tennessee Titans. You know, I think the Titans are going to be dangerous just because, you know, you're coming in with a lot of new stuff, but I think we leave with the win.

Okay, very respectful W there. Here we go at the Bears on a Monday night, week three. Mmm. What do we got? I think this is going to be our first loss.

Okay, two and one, Rams at Eagles. Oh, boy, league four. Yeah, you know, the last two times we've played, it's been down to the last play, and I think that dam does break. Unfortunately, it isn't this year. Give me the birds.

Okay, that's three and one going off to London to take on the Jaguars. Yeah, we're gonna take that win, too. Four and one, home for the Panthers. Yeah, we're gonna. That's a win.

That's a win. All right. Five and one, Monday night, home against the Cowboys. You know, I think we're going to split these games. I think it's going to be a loss for each home team, so give me a loss here.

Okay, that's five and two now at the Commanders. I think we're going to sweep these guys this year. I really do. I feel it.

Okay, that's one, two, three, four, five, six, and two. Home for the Giants. I'm going to be at that game in person, so I got to have a win today. 7-2: Steelers and Eagles, the Commonwealth Bowl. Oh, yeah, that's a.

Come on. Aaron Rodgers, that's a win. That's 8-2, Thanksgiving at Dallas. I think this is where the Eagles pull up. This is a big game.

I think we put up some big numbers this game. That's a win. 9-2. Woo! At the Cardinals.

Uh that's a win. 10-2, home for the Colts. I think it's a win. There's just too much in the air with them. 11-2, a Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks.

I think that's a loss, fortunately. 11-3, Texans at the Eagles on Christmas Eve. Oh, you know, give me the win on that one. I think we're gonna be hungry. Um at the 49ers.

Mm-hmm. That's a loss, I think. 12 and 4. Home uh at the Giants. I actually am going to give this one to the Giants.

I think we're probably going to rest our starters, and I think they're going to take a look. Malika State College, ladies and gentlemen, the Bucknell fan 12 and 5. There he goes. Going off to root for Bucknell. Quickly, what conference is Bucknell playing?

Oh, jeez. I know their name. I don't know the conference. I think it's called the Roll Your Break Conference. They open up against Richmond.

Hey, against the Spiders. Yeah, Spiders. Dance that drink over here. All right. I've got my power rankings of the best games on the NFL schedule coming up next.

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That's a good read, everybody. I got power rankings. I got power rankings of the NFL schedule. Presented by SoFi. Hit it.

Hit it. There are many. But this one is mine. Power rankings! All right, here we go.

Power rankings of the NFL schedule presented by SoFi. There's more than 10 games on here, I'm not gonna lie. Certainly, when you start to 10, number 10 on the list, everybody, is when the Bucks and Falcons play each other twice. I don't care which one. Really?

Oh, yes. I gotta give some love to the NFC South, guys. I mean, you don't have to. Why? I gotta give some love to it.

Because we all know, I mean, Baker quotes. It's tweeted out on January 20th after Stefanski got hired by Atlanta. Quote, still waiting on a text call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can't wait to see you twice a year, coach. How about that?

How about that? So Baker versus Atlanta and Stefanski. Kind of dig it. That's fun. Number nine on the list: week three, Monday Night Football, Eagles at Bears.

Don't forget what the Bears did in Philadelphia last year, day after Thanksgiving. They punked. The Eagles in their house punked 'em.

So what happens week three?

Okay? And we just played the win-loss game for the Philadelphia Eagles. They're home for Washington, they're at Tennessee, and then they've got this game in Chicago. Here we go. Chicago starting off at Carolina home for Minnesota, then this one.

It's going to be big. It's going to be a marker for either one of these teams. Number eight. Week 18 I have no idea if this is going to be Aaron Rodgers' last regular season game of his career, last game of his career. I do not know.

But Steelers at Ravens may be for the entire AFC North shooting match. And I can't wait for it. This is a week 18 game: Steelers at Ravens. I didn't choose the Ravens at Steelers, I chose this one. Because it could be for all of the Rogers marbles, all of the AFC North marbles, number seven.

Week six Monday Night Football. It's Micah's old team coming back to Green Bay. It's Rashawn Gary coming back to Green Bay, Kenny Clark coming back to Green Bay. Will Micah be healthy? Maybe this is one of those games where he'll be back.

Maybe he comes back just for it. I don't know. But Cowboys, Packers, old school stuff, week six, Monday Night Football, seventh on the list. Number six on the list is Seattle at San Francisco, and I'm choosing week 12. Because the Thanksgiving lineup is so loaded with five games before the weekend that you're wondering what's left on the schedule.

And if week 12 is just one big. Stinking on ice for the rest of us to sit there on Sunday because the league loaded up everything at the beginning of the week. This is a big game. Another one is Ravens at Houston.

So those are big Sunday games. This one in particular, Seattle. San Francisco, last time this happened, the one seed was on the line, and Seattle punked the 49ers.

So that's a big one. Number five on the list: Ravens at Bills week eight, right there in the middle of the season. Lamar at Josh Allen. Let's go. Yeah.

Fun. Fun stuff. I can't wait to see it. The under pressure bowl, Brockman. Say that again?

The under pressure bowl. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, that's a Sunday one o'clock. Yeah, Bills are coming off of a buy in that regard as well. Number four, I put this one here just because, again, it's a Super Bowl rematch.

I already said earlier that I was disappointed it's not theirs at Seattle, but it is the opening Thursday night. Banner raised. 12's going crazy. It could be A.J. Brown's first game as a Patriot.

Drake May there. Let's go. Can't wait. Week one. Number three on the list is, I think, the better game.

And it's it's in Australia. I think, you know, San Francisco and the Rams, let's go. NFC West football. This could be one of, I mean, this is a big one for the Rams because this is their home game against San Francisco. As San Francisco might point out, they lost a home game.

Because it's not being played in so far. Number two on this list, I don't care if it's a cop-out or not. I can't choose one for the entirety of this name. Come on, pick one. I mean, if I had to pick one, it's Chiefs Bills.

If I had to pick one. It's Chief Spills. But Packers, Rams, Bears, Lions, Eagles, Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, Broncos, Steelers. Eagles, Cowboys. With all due respect to everyone else, if everybody's healthy, these are massive games.

Massive. But the number one is the Christmas schemes. The Christmas slate schemes. All of them are. How can you?

Packers, Bears. Buffalo Denver? Rams Seattle? Last time the Rams were in Seattle, we all know what happened. The two-point conversion, all that craziness.

Yeah, that's gonna be nuts, Christmas. Unbelievable that triple header. And those are my power rankings of the NFL schedule brought to you by SoFi. Get your money right. Back for hour two and Tim Legler on the NBA playoffs.

The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. This is what everyone is talking about. Everything's on the table. This is what champions come to take. This is what everyone came to see.

No do-overs. No second chance. No more Mr. Night Sky. This is Winner Take All.

And it's all happening now on the home of the NBA Finals. Don't miss it, June 3rd on ABC and the ESPN app. Yeah.

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