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Tony Victor. The Rich Eisen show. Congrats, you are moving on. It's what it looks like. Today's guests: Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Tom Curran.
Three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth, and now it's Rich Eisen. Welcome to this Thursday edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM channel eighty. The Wild Card series are all in the books, with the exception of the Phillies and the Braves. We have one game three later on today. That's going up against the Thursday night football contest in Cleveland, Ohio, where the equally two and one Steelers and Browns have at it.
We'll preview all of that. Our first. Guest Larry Fitzgerald is going to be joining us in about twenty minutes' time. Mark Schlereth, an hour number three, he'll will be giving us his two cents on everything going down in the National Football League. And just because it's now officially Patriot season, Tommy C.
Tom Curren will join us for the latest on that. If they get set to head to Western New York to take on the Bills, whose former coach Sean McDermott returns to the program tomorrow to help. Get us through to the weekend for week number four. That again in the NFL that begins tonight. Eight four four two zero four.
Rich number to dial to have a conversation with us on our WeatherTech Fan Line. And it's a higher register Thursday, where once again we've got to go higher register to believe anything that we say. And just as an example, it's like I think I look pretty good in that Iowa helmet yesterday. By the way, George Kittle has furnished me with a return address. Oh, oh, yeah, you got to send that back.
Oh, I was planning on sending it back. These guys were trying to get sticky fingers. We want to hold it for a while. To yeah, I mean, show up. He would like it back.
Okay, he would like it back. Good to see you, Chris Brockman. How are you? Good to see you. I've been better, but I'm trudging forward.
Understand all of that. It doesn't. It doesn't feel good when your diehard rivals knock you out for the second consecutive. It was to be expected, but you know, still going out like that never feels. Mike Del Tufo, good to see you over there.
My East Coast team advanced. That's please keep that. You are a dumbass Yankee Dodger hat on, please. You're the worst for later on. He is.
I can confirm that. What's up, T.J. Jefferson? How are you, sir? Gentlemen, how you guys doing?
I'm doing great. Thank you. How you doing, great? And I, I kind of. Think your team's doing great today, T.J.
Jefferson. Listen, we didn't we didn't hit this soundbite last week. Kind of got lost in a lot of the shuffle, but I guess an old man with money is a powerful combination. At least this is what Jerry Jones had to say on this subject matter after the. The Cowboys came up with their first win of the season.
Nothing more dangerous than an old man with money. Nothing more dangerous than an old man with money. Quote of the day. I mean, I think we were aware of that already, right?
Well, everyone was wondering what kind of that meant after Dallas took care of Washington and. The inside is he's not done. He has said that he and Stephen Jones had said that they were willing to spend draft capital to improve this team this year, and and thus, one would think the draft capital that would be spending would bring in somebody significant enough that it's a price tag on top of it. That would require digging deeper into that wildcat pocket of his. Bust the budget, the Metroplex.
And so, this week on his weekly radio hit on one hundred and five three, the fan with five three. Jerry was asked specifically about a Pittsburgh Steeler who's. Had one of those back injuries that keep cropping up. That a lot of people are wondering if it really was a back or it's just like he and the Steelers could not see eye to eye contractually, and Joey Porter Jr. was not showing until there was a dotted line that he felt comfortable putting his JPJ on.
Look, Rich. We've all had bad backs. We get it. Ooh, my arm. Ooh, my back.
So Jerry Jones was asked specifically about Joey Porter Jr., who did appear to be on track to appear for the Steelers tonight in Cleveland. Yeah. Ooh, he's getting out there practicing, and then all of a sudden he was declared out. We were wondering what's up with all of that. As spinal Jerry Jones was asked about it.
We're right on top of it. We're very aware of the moving parts out here. We should be, and communication is a big part of that. It's a big part of that, and communication at all levels. At my level, at Stevens' level, to Scott's level, we all have contacts, and where this is a time when you really can have discussions, and they could be productive.
Yes, there's conversations going on, not specifically to the to the player you just mentioned or referring to situation. Trying to board tampering here, folks. Literally, was going to say that to you. Is that that you can't specifically say? Absolutely, we're talking to the Steelers about Joey Porter Jr.
and adding him to the back end of a defense. We're absolutely interested in him, and we're absolutely down the road because I'm an old man with money, and that's dangerous. And lo and behold, late last night. Yes, indeed. Joey Porter Jr.
acquired by the Dallas Cowboys. Not one, not two, but a third trade between the Cowboys and the Steelers. That's wild. Over the last year and a half, and Joey Porter Jr. is coming from Pittsburgh to Dallas for a 2027 sixth.
And a 2028 second round pick. That's a steal. And interestingly enough, that 2027 sixth round pick used to belong to Pittsburgh. And that pick that they just sent to Pittsburgh came from Pittsburgh with George Pickens in the first of these three trades between the two teams I was referring to. Back on May the seventh, twenty twenty-five, George Pickens was acquired by Dallas along with the twenty twenty-seven sixth.
That they are now sending back for Joey Porter Jr. Broder Jones, the left tackle that's protecting Dak and trying to keep things going on the running game for. The Dallas Cowboys. He was acquired back in August of this year, late trade in training camp season. Steelers were done with him.
The Cowboys like we'll take him, like you took George, and now they take Joey Porter Jr. Jones and Porter Jr. By the way, were the first two picks for the Steelers in their twenty twenty three drafts. Wow! They're now the Dallas Cowboys.
Property, if you will, and and Pickens was a second round pick, fifty second overall, in the twenty twenty two draft, and the Cowboys are like, okay, you want to keep on sending us your problems, we'll acquire them, we'll take them. The reclamation project, and the question is, is are they going to pay Joey Porter Jr. the amount of money that the Steelers would not? Don't know. We'll see about that.
One would think if they coughed up a second in 2028, they're not just going to let Joey Porter Jr. linger. They're going to wrap that up. That's a significant draft choice. And just to bring it all into full circle here, Jerry Jones would not pay, as we know, Micah Parsons the amount of money that he wanted.
And there was a handshake agreement, apparently, that the two of them had a couple of springs ago. That Jerry took to mean that they had a deal. Word is bond, and then Micah's agent stepped in and goes, "Yeah, no, no, no, I'm, I'm, I'm the captain here." Yada, yada, yada. We all know what happened after that. Put the tweet up if you don't mind.
Ben Solak of of ESPN pointing out. I figured I'd bring this to the people here. Instead of paying Micah forty six and a half million per year, the Cowboys traded him for two ones and Kenny Clark. They've now traded a first round pick and two second round picks for Quentin Williams and Joey Porter Jr., whom they will pay combined, assuming there's an extension coming, sixty five point three million a year. I mean, financially, that seems like a better deal, right?
Well, I mean, you're getting two players for one. You're getting a guy in the middle. You're also bringing in Kenny Clark and another first-round pick, and another first-round pick, another one, another one, another one, another one.
Now, here's the scoop. What's the scoop, Rich? Ooh, how's it going to all work with Christian Parker, the new defensive coordinator? I'd love to know. That is the question.
That's the question, and I am assuming the back injury. We're taking a couple Advil, and we're going to see JPJ out lickety split against the Houston Texans team that the Cowboys are visiting this weekend, needing a W in the worst way. And if Nico Collins is in fact going to be out there and coming back. Let's see what JPJ can do. I'm imagining that's the case.
And what does Christian Parker do? Is he ready for the task? Wink Martindale doesn't think so. I don't know if you saw that. He appeared on a podcast recently and said, "I don't mean to be the a-hole here." Which, by the way, Wink could start every sentence that way.
You know, with all due respect. But he's he's ready to help out. Because from his perspective, Parker's not up for the gig right now. Look, man, it's his first year, like, you know. And that's the thing.
How quickly can we get everybody on the same page together? Because so far, there have been a lot of pages, a lot of pages. You know, one particular page that just jumps out at me was the epilogue in Rio. Which is okay. There's one play that the Ravens need, which is a big, huge chunk play to get a game-winning field goal with no time left, and everybody knew that in the two hemispheres the planet Earth has watching the game, and the Cowboys didn't stop.
And also, you know, immediately tackled Zay Flowers. You know, I guess that's twenty twenty hindsight. If you just let him run five more yards, yeah, don't help him up. He was kind of going all of it on his own. But look, getting Porter is great, no, but it doesn't address what doesn't it address.
We're getting beat up, man. We need some physicality, and the more you think about it, Brockman, I feel like we should have done everything to get Max on this team. Based upon, he's not available anymore. We should have done like this offseason when the name was floating around, where the Ravens gave him two. We should have gave him three.
Well, obviously now you can't get him. The Raiders are three to zero.
Well, his knee was clearly not, you know, one hundred. I just don't think this addresses the bigger problems on the defense. But okay, happy to have him though. Gotta have him. This is what you want.
You want somebody who's like we have a window now. Yeah, Jerry's going for it, and it could be part of it. They really believe in the roster, which I would. And part of it is he's eighty-three. He wants one more for the case.
Again, and you've got to like that out of your management. And it's basically looking at the locker room and saying, "I know we're one and two, but we believe that you have what it takes, and we're just going to keep adding." And I don't know if they're done. Who knows if they're done? Because they just made a big trade right now in week three to four, and the trade deadline's not for another month. This takes a nice chunk out of the pie.
Well, guess what? They got it done, and I think this is a terrific move. You got a young guy who's pissed, and the other team that he comes from, once upon a time, that drafted him and developed him, said we're done here because we don't believe you're worth what you're asking. And it's a similar tale that the Cowboys enjoyed last year. With a story of thirteen hundred yards from the kid wide receiver, the team was done with.
Hey Joey, talk to George how it's how things are around here, and what you can do with an opportunity with the star on the side of your helmet. Makes sense. I dig it. Question is: Is the DC up to the task? Is he up for it?
Is he the right guy? Did you find the right guy? Did you go ahead? And put this in the hands of a young up-and-coming coordinator who needs to, for a clearly, use a phrase from the NFC East, pushing pushing the chips to the center of the table, saying, "This is it. We got it.
We got Gotti, and we got it." And now the it is a bunch of young players.
Some who have already established themselves, and some, in the case of Joey Porter Jr. and Caleb Downs, a rookie, who, by the way, did you see that moment where he stood up? Oh, yeah. Derek Henry in Rio. I mean, this kid is really good.
You've got some very talented players, including my Wolverine, who I texted you on draft night. Jayshawn Barm. He is flashing. Yeah, he's looking like a dog. But again, we gave up 165 yards, 182 yards, and 192 yards rushing in three games.
I'm not sure how much Porter is going to solve that problem. And I think as fans, that's the area that we want to see addressed because that's where we're getting killed. I'd have to say. Here and if I'm the Cowboys, I'm like we got Kenny Clark, we got Quinton Williams. We just got to get these guys in their proper lanes and have some sort of discipline and understanding what the scheme is, or having a coach coach it better.
That appears to be what I'm hearing is the case, and what people from Wink Martindale to anybody else who's watching the film is saying what they're seeing. Here come the Houston Texans at zero and three. Joey Porter Jr. added to the mix. Kind of dig it, and we'll see what the Steelers do without him.
Wow, because they're already two and one without him this year. It's a huge game for these. Wild game. Let us take a break. Still to come on this program, the baseball playoffs.
We'll dive into that. A sticky situation last night in the Bronx, as well as one here where there's a diehard Dodger fan who's taking credit for the Yankees, who he's forsaken multiple times in this program. We'll hit on that. Don't know that guy. Ridiculous.
We'll hit on that. Also, the pass interference call on Sunday Night Football looks like the NFL has put their thumb in the scale and whether it was right or wrong as a call. We'll hit that. Eight four four two zero four. It's your phone calls.
It's a higher register Thursday as well. Larry Fitzgerald. When we come back. O'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your vehicle's check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O'Reilly VeriScan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians.
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That's three months of free payroll at Gusto dot com slash rich. One more time, Gusto dot com slash rich. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Freshly minted Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald is here, courtesy of DraftKings and the annual Pinkham campaign. It is October, so it is now Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and there's going to be something going on with DraftKings that Larry is going to be here to talk about right here.
And it's great to see you. Our radio audience has just returned, Larry.
So. We were just talking about how you're seeing Devon, your your your son, play at Notre Dame, and that's how you're spending part of your time. I haven't spoken to you since your induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That moment with you and Chris Carter, the night of the jacket dinner, where you know you chose Chris to put the jacket on you, and what a moment that was. Because you've known Chris forever in a day, right?
You were the ball boy of the Minnesota Vikings from back in the day, and your dad, you know, was part of the coverage team then. And your dad's no longer with us, and it was just incredible for me to just witness. What was that like for you?
Well, first I want to apologize to you because I know you know that walk you know through the Hall of Famers should only take like a minute and a half, right? But I've known a lot of the guys that I was spending time with walking down for a long period of time. You know, my dad you mentioned earlier has been in the journalism profession for you know for forty five years, and so it afforded me to be able to meet Thurman Thomases and the Bruce Smiths and the Jim Kellys and the Dan Marino's and like you know you name them. I've been around the game a long time, and I have a personal relationship with a lot of those guys.
So I wanted to make sure I, I told them how much I appreciate them, and and no, and I and I know I I could hear you up there just trying to extend it and extend it and extend it. Like I'm sorry, Rich. I'm sorry, Rich. No, Larry, it's your moment, man. It's your moment, and it was quite a moment for sure.
Yeah, but but having Chris be able to put that jacket and it's hard because you have you know having Kurt Warner, who you know was a huge part of me getting to that place. But I know Chris and. Was ten years old, and you know it wasn't just me being a fan and watching him play for the Vikings. I actually had a personal relationship. I could call him and talk to him on the phone.
I stayed at his house in Florida when I'm trained, and he would watch tape with me. And you know, like he did a lot to to help me get to this place. But the very best part of that whole weekend was me. During the speech, letting him know that my hands are better than his, and him not being able to have any rebuttal, it was great. It was great to be able to have that one up on him.
No, I know he had a rebuttal on this show that Monday, Larry. He came on, and he, I, he was still very rankled. The only way to put it, Larry, you got in his kitchen. You know, I did. I did.
I love. I love doing that to him. I love doing that to him, man. But who who did you see that weekend for the first time? Though again, you you have been around the the game for a long time, but who did you perhaps see meet for the first time from the Hall of Fame where it hit you like, okay, I'm now in the same gallery as this individual, Larry.
Who is that for you?
So I've known a bunch of the guys, you know, from Ronnie Lot to Daryl Green, like a lot of the guys. I've had some relationships, but like I never. Much time to spend with Willie Nair, you know Bobby Bell, you know Larry Zonka, John Riggins, Paul Warfield, you know like. Mean Joe Green, like some of the some of the older guys who, like, we stand on their shoulders, right? They they they made the National Football League what it is today.
To be able to sit there and talk to those guys for a few hours and pick their mind, understand, you know what what it was like, you know, playing in the in the '60s and and '70s, and how much the game has changed, and and to hear about what they've done, you know, Willie Lanier having his own stock brokerage firm, and like just incredible, incredible, you know, Ron. Being a you know attorney and and and things that he's doing through his law firm and like all these things that you just don't know you know the story about their football careers and what they did and why they're in the Hall of Fame but to see who they are as human beings and what makes them so special was that part that I really appreciated and what I'm going to really look forward to as I go back because when you get in like you're kind of whipped around and ran from place to place to place you don't really get a chance to take it all in and so I'm looking forward to you know being able Go back and do that, and build build those relationships. Yeah, and look at look at that. There's the class right there, and that's the neat thing too about the Hall of Fame is how the football gods kind of shake up the you know the the football snow globe and the pieces fall right, and it's a total random class that you're now connected with forever. Right?
I mean, it's pretty cool. Yeah, I mean, I've had a great relationship with Drew. We've known each other a long time. You know, I spent a considerable amount of time with him. Same with Luke Keekley.
And so, I didn't. I knew Adam and passing a little bit, but to be able to build that relationship, and that was the first time I ever got a chance to meet Mr. Craig, and you know, to see somebody who waited 29 years to have their name called, and you know, to think about the way running backs play. You think about Alvin Kamara. You think.
About Saquon Barkley, think about Christian McCaffrey. You think about the modern day running back, who is a guy who does not come off the field. They they're they're a three down back. They can pick up pass protection. You think about Marshall Faulk, the guys who were thousand thousand.
Like he he created that narrative. Like he was the guy that I mean, he was thirty years before his time, and to be able to see him have his moment, it was it was amazing. Love that man. He's Got an amazing heart, an amazing family.
So it was great to be able to be there and celebrate with him. Yeah, after all that time, too. And one last one for you: Was there a Pittsburgh Panther moment. Were you Dorsett and Curtis Martin, right? And yeah, you know, obviously Revis.
You got Dolman, but you have Ruskin. But Colbert, Jimbo Colbert, with were there? Yeah. Did you have a Pittsburgh Panther moment? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I talk to Jimbo all the time. You know, probably once every every few weeks. You know, love him. He's a great man. He always hosts me down at audio at his club down in Fort Lauderdale, and I talked to Danny a lot.
Being able to spend time with with with Tony, you know, he's I've seen him a lot of different occasions, and he's been a really good friend of mine for a long time. And so, yeah, I got a chance to spend you know a lot of time with my pit folks, and Darrell was there. You know, I know Chris Dolman was smiling down. He was a great great mentor of mine when I was a when I was the youngster, and you know, I heard from from Russ Graham. He shot me.
Shot me a message. He coached me in Arizona for we were together for six years. He was our offensive line coach. Loved Russ, you know.
So yeah, the Pitt fraternity is so strong, and you know, looking forward to seeing Aaron Donald get in, and hopefully Shady McCoy will make his way in, and you know, we're campaigning and fighting hard for Ruben Brown, you know, to get in one day. You know, we keep that Pittsburgh pipeline strong. Yeah, and Dolman's been gone six years. Kind of crazy. But before we get back.
To the Pinkham campaign, and I'll let you go. I do want to talk a little bit of current. You mentioned Aaron Donald. It's kind of crazy what he's doing right now. Larry, did did you ever get a call?
From somebody to come out and say, you know, how about suiting up one more time? Did you ever get phone calls like that? No, I definitely did not get any phone calls like that, especially not three years later.
Okay, you know, a year later, I got, I got a, I got a few calls, but three, absolutely not. Right, and so what he's doing? Can you give voice to what you think? How remarkable, even though you know it's just a few couple weeks in, what he's attempting.
Well, first of all, you have to just. You have to give credit where it's due. Like Aaron Donald is is obviously a unicorn, and the guy's in physical. He's in top tier physical shape, and so even like last year when Jared Verse went to work out with him, and and he was able to outlift him and outwork him out. You know, even you know two years removed, it just shows you the kind of shape that this man stays in.
He's a workout fanatic, and you know I know he's been on a pitch count. You know, the first couple weeks, but I mean, I think he's going to be a real force to be you know to be. Dealt with, and I love seeing him happy and doing what he really loves to do. And when they get Miles Garrett back, and those those that they're going to be a problem. It's going to be a real problem.
And then again, what Devonte Adams is up to, too, right? I mean, he's had he's he's had two, if not the best back to back weeks of his career. Yeah, I mean, it says a lot about him and the shape that he's in, and just how potent that offense and Matthew Stafford and you know, godly. I mean, to be able to see what Sean McVay is able to conjure up, and then when when they get Puka back and having Devonte playing at this level, I mean, this this offense is going to be really, really special. They lost a tough one in Denver, but I know this is going to be a really good football team.
Who, in your mind, Larry Fitzgerald is the best wide receiver in the National Football League right now? Man, it's it's hard, you know, to pick one person, but I think. If I take everything into consideration, the talent that this young man has, Jamar Chase, but then you take into consideration that he has a top ten receiver and and T Higgins on the other side of him, and he's got a top five quarterback in Joe Burrow, and and Zach Taylor understands how to just design plays to get these guys freed up. I think the combination of all of those things, you know, you think about Justin Jefferson, and you know Kyler's been banged up, you know they. You know they they've been playing quarterback in and out.
They traded, you know, JJ McCarthy. You know, so I mean, I know Kyler's super talented, but you know, he just hasn't had that consistency the same way that that Jamar's had. And I think that really kind of puts him over the top right now.
Okay. And what advice would you give Marvin Harrison Jr. Larry? And there's already conversations about whether he is a fit in Arizona and should he be on the block, and should teams be calling. For him, and it's only three weeks into this season.
Do you have any advice for Marv Junior? Put the blinders on, block block out the outside noise. Continue to work on your craft, and I watch tape from him, his rookie year, last year, into this year. He has gotten better every single year. Unfortunately, sometimes the numbers don't support somebody's growth.
Like there is growth there, and I just think you know it's unfortunate. You know when people are always comparing him to his father. You know his father is one of the greatest wide receivers, one of the greatest football players to ever play, and it hurts me to say that about. A Syracuse guy, and and to be compared to that is is very difficult, and and it's unfair to be honest with you. You know, I look back to my rookie campaign.
I was I was terrible. Like he was way better his rookie year than I was. As a rookie, but you know, I just continue to focus and sharpen my sharpen my tools, and I think he's got a great system, and he got a quarterback that that can spin it. He throws it in time, and and I hopefully he can he can get going this week against a a Giants team that's been decimated by injuries.
Well, and it's not just a again his dad; it's also the school from which he came, and how JSN is offensive player of the year reigning, and Olave's killing it, right? And Garrett Wilson's years in killing it. Terry McLaurin and the OG of all this, right? And so the expectation there, certainly, since he's and come out and when he was coming out, or is like, well, he's not available yet, but everybody's going to pro days in Columbus to see him, and now we're seeing what Jeremiah Smith is doing. I don't know if you've laid eyes too much on him because you've been watching your son at Notre Dame the last month.
How good is he? Do you think? Oh my goodness, he's an he's an absolute mutant. I mean, he, you know, he. I mean, I hear a lot of comparisons.
I I just think about him as Calvin Johnson because Calvin Johnson was the same six foot four, you know, two hundred and thirty pounds. He could run every single route in a route tree. was incredibly difficult to tackle, and you know, I see a lot of those comparisons because they're both like physical freaks, and also have that that killer mindset that he that he has, and he's scoring four touchdowns. Last week, and I remember seeing the defensive back talking to him, and he just completely broke broke her will. And you know, he's going to take the league by storm when he gets in there next year.
Larry, in the few minutes I have left, let's talk about the Pinkham campaign and what people can do to get involved with you and DraftKings, Larry.
Well, just go to DraftKings. dot com backslash Pinkham to be able to register for the campaign and be able to get in. And DraftKings is donating one dollar for every twenty twenty dollar entries. And so, you know, two thousand entries. I'm sorry, and I'm really excited.
You know, be able to be partnered with DraftKings again. They're a great organization that you know. It's really philanthropic motivated and supportive, not only just to me and my foundation, but to many others around our country. Yeah, it's these are free NFL pick'em pools throughout October, so just straight up, just pick'em, and that helps raise money for breast cancer awareness. And they've raised more than seven hundred thousand dollars for the Larry Fitzgerald Foundation since twenty nineteen, with an additional goal of another hundred thousand this October.
So let's everybody help out. This great cause, and it's great to see you always. See you too much, honestly. Like I don't, I don't care who knows it. You truly are one of my favorites, and for me to be there.
Um, to see your weekend as up close as I was able to do that Friday night jacket dinner where I was emceeing, and trust me, it's not my first rodeo to see somebody go through and take for ever in a day. Because who was the longest, Rich? Who was the longest that you've ever met? Oh, great question. You were up there, man.
No, no, no. That's okay. But this is this is Bonnie. It's not Lewis. Ray Lewis took way longer.
I know.
Now that that's true, Ray did.
Well, it's because once Ray connected with Michael. It was on like the two of them. We we had to tell him and Irv to get a room. I might have actually said that from the microphone. Actually, I might have been able to do that.
Yeah, but Irv, this my favorite part about this. We had a photograph of Irv watching Ray deliver his Hall of Fame speech, and his mouth, his jaw was open, not because of what Ray was saying, but because Ray came up with the idea of getting one of those. Microphones, so he could stroll around the stage, and I think Irv was jealous that he didn't come up with that idea. Yeah, you know, I remember all of that. But Larry, you're the best.
I'm so glad you had a great weekend. Enjoy watching Devon, and let's do this more often whenever you want.
Okay, sir. Thank you, Rich. Hope you have a great rest of your week, my friend. Right back at you at Larry Fitzgerald on Instagram, and again, go to DraftKings.com/slash Pinkham P-I-N-K-E-M. There he is with the the son.
Revealing his bust, awesome stuff. The Fitzgerald family, big fan. Why not? Very cool. How about that?
Jeremiah Smith is Calvin Johnson. Yeah, absolute mutant. That's quote unquote. He's an absolute mutant. That's the ultimate respect, right?
Very from last.
Well, that to be compared to Megatron, yeah. And and have be compared to Calvin Johnson and not have somebody go, oh come on. And I am not soft selling the fact that Chris Carter was rankled still, right? The next day, of course, on Monday when he came on, we had him on to talk about that moment. Great!
That's the thing. Very prideful men in that bus gallery in a football thing. All right, eight four four two zero four. Rich is the number to dial, and we'll take your phone calls when we come back in hour number three of this program. We've got ourselves Mark Schlereth to talk some ball, Tom Curran on the latest on the Patriots coming up.
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Because that's he's that mature. At any rate, happy birthday to Fernando, everyone. Eight four four two zero four. Rich is the number to dial on the WeatherTech Fan Line. First in is AJ in Indiana.
What's up, AJ? How are you? Hey, how you doing today? I'm doing great. What's on your mind?
Hey, I wanted to talk about something that seems to talk about every week, and that's the NFL refereeing. All right. I know.
The owners are never gonna, you know, do full-time refs and things like that. But I was wondering if anyone ever floated the idea of adding one more person to each ref crew, and that person either sits on the sideline or up in the box, and they can instantly watch plays back at full speed. And they can add or take away a flag if there is a miscall or an incorrect.
Okay, you know there's replay assist, right? That does exist where there is a human being that is watching. But not everything over. Not everything is reviewable. What do you?
What do you want reviewable? That's not yet reviewable. AJ, please don't say pass interference. Don't do it because that was a mess. That was a mess a few years ago.
It was. Yeah, you have other things like you know, if there's an egregious hold on a defensive lineman. You know anything like that?
So it's somebody who's your own crew.
So it's not going to New York, and you're not getting overridden by the higher ups. It's a somebody that that crew knows, that works with them every single week. And so I feel like if they can keep it in house and they actually trust the person, it's more likely to. Have an accurate one, and with you know the replay review, they're watching in slow motion. They're slowing the game down to watch it.
I'm talking. I mean, as fans, we have almost instant replay. We can watch almost any replay back while the teams in the huddle. Right. Just have an extra ref who watches that play at full speed.
They don't slow it down. You don't stop the game. And if there's an egregious flag or something like that that has come up that they miss, then they can either call down to the head ref and say, "Hey, this happened," or "Hey." You called that; it didn't happen. I mean, these refs are human.
Now I I know that AJ, and and and so are the and so are the fans AJ, and and your idea where where I understand the notion you're of like hey, if we can get it right, let's get it right as opposed to getting it wrong or not seeing something that's wrong and letting it go because we didn't see it and people at home can see it. Like let's let's do that. But thanks for the call, AJ, and and. Indiana here on the Rich Eisen show on the WeatherTech fan line for American-made floor liners in a cargo liner that laugh in the face of fall weather. Visit WeatherTech.com today.
AJ's idea, while noble, will never happen. Will never happen. Could you imagine in this conspiracy theory, gambling-laden fan base?
Okay, I mean that's it right there.
Okay, that. A play happens. There is no flag on the play. You don't like. I'm now trained as a viewer at home to see whether the yellow flag graphic pops up or not.
On a big play, yeah, it's like your heart. Oh, I think you're just assuming a flag is coming on a big play.
Well, I mean, in in September, you're seeing more flags because again, referees are letting everybody know the way that they've been told to call a game is it's coming, and that flags usually abate in October and November and December. They usually do.
So, I'm just saying, I'm now attuned to seeing that flag. Graphic. I'm looking for it light up or not. If there's a great play for my team or for my fantasy team. I'm like, please don't let.
I don't want to see that yellow flag because I didn't see one fly during the live coverage of the of the play on the broadcast. I didn't see one fly.
So how infuriating is it that then the flag pops up and it's like, oh, before the you know before the quarterback left the pocket, you know this third and twenty that's now facing that the opponent, they're now bailed out because there was an illegal contact fifteen. Million miles away, way way off your screen, and now let's see the replay of it. And you're like, really? That's it. Imagine that happening, but for a penalty where a flag wasn't thrown, and it's some human being somewhere in you know the netherworld that we don't see, we don't know, and that person is chiming in to say, put a flag on the field.
I don't think the NFL will ever do that. I don't think the they will always have flags picked up by the human being that throws it. They will never put a flag on the field. The only time that they do it actually is for twelve men. Twelve men.
Oh, we didn't see it. You can review it. There should have been a twelve man.
Now it's a flag. Like so. That that's it. They'll they'll never ever do it. Yeah, like never.
You're the refs talk. You'll never hear that like we're doing for the Big Ten now and UFL. You're never going to hear the. I don't know about that. The NFL may go in that direction.
I don't. I don't know. I mean, I don't know. But you know, one thing's for sure: what the league will continue to do is hear from coaches who are going to say, "You blew it." Yep. Yep.
Tell me I didn't blow it. Tell me you didn't blow it, or tell me you blew it. And Sean McVay let it be known that the pass interference call that wiped out what would have been a game sealing interception by Josh Wallace, or not game sealing, close to game sealing interception by Josh Wallace, that got wiped out due to a pass interference penalty called by a referee behind the play and did not see Pat Bryant's right arm yank Josh Wallace along. Which made his pick and getting his right knee down even that much more impressive. He had this to say: that the NFL admitted to him, "We blew it." So, what did you hear back from them in regard to that?
They agreed with me. They agree with you that it was not pass interference. That's correct. And how do they relate? I mean, is it just like we?
How do they relate? It is. Is you know the goal is is just get good consistent feedback. It doesn't matter. You know though, like all I like I've told you, the only thing that matters to me is how to educate our players.
And it's like I said to you guys afterwards, I wouldn't change the way that I'm coaching Josh Wallace on how to play the cycle of that snap, whether it was or wasn't right. That that wasn't the point. The call was made, and that was what the call was. What I am interested in is if there's any sort of feedback that says this is in alignment with what would be correctly officiated as a DPI. Here's the coaching points that you want your DBs or your back end guys to be able to have.
That's the only thing that I'm really worried about. That game's over with. We're one and two football team, and got to be able to move forward. And that's where we're at. It does help though to be told we we were wrong or not.
The way he says it's helpful is he can now tell Josh Wallace, "Keep it up." Yep. Keep it up, and then you know. Hey, other officials, why don't you talk about it? Because the guy in front of the play didn't throw the flag, staring right at it, because he had the vantage point. You could see that individual.
You could see that yellow flag tucked into the belt right there. He didn't have the vantage point. It's whether it was an interception. The guy who threw the flag did. He had the vantage point of seeing Pat Bryant's right arm have a full ass grab of Josh Wallace, whose left arm is in the right hip of Bryant, and that's what the back referee saw.
So let's get together and talk about it. And they do have the ability to verbally communicate with each other. Do it before blowing it. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to three Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app.
The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
