REShow: Willie McGinest - Hour 1

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Wow. This is The Rich Eisen Show. So you were from Dallas, Texas. You were more of a football guy than a basketball guy, Marcus Smart. Can you play quarterback? The Rich Eisen Show. I can.

I can play quarterback. Today's guest, NFL Network analyst, Willie McGinnis, WGN Sports Anchor, Jared Payton, Super Bowl champion, Mitchell Schwartz, Vikings running back, Dalvin Cook. And now it's Rich Eisen. Yeah, it is. That's exactly right. It is. It is.

It is me. And there I am. And I'm here on The Rich Eisen Show here on The Roku Channel. Once again, it's our fourth day in a row. And we plan on being here for quite some time. So settle in on Channel 210 here on The Roku Channel, available on all Roku devices, Samsung Smart TVs, Fire TVs, Roku app, which can be easily downloaded for nothing onto your phone. And then you've got The Roku Channel dot com, where you can stream us live on a desktop or any Internet connected device for free.

And we're thrilled to be here for you. Twelve to three Eastern, just like we are on this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio outfit on The Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio network coast to coast. Thanks to our friends at Westwood One. Also putting out our podcast on the Cumulus Podcast Network.

It can be acquired. We're also available on Odyssey. We'll be back on Sirius XM next week.

Channels to come. Promise. Scout's honor.

I've never been a scout, but I am honorable. I like to think. And we're everywhere and we're thrilled to be here with you. Good to see you over there, Christopher. What's going on, Chris?

What's happening, man? Mike Del Tufo. Good to see you, Rich.

Good morning. Mike Del Tufo completing his residency because you're not here tomorrow, right? True. OK, because you're doing Fox stuff. OK, that's where Jason Feller will be here.

We'll introduce Jay Felley and all his foibles to the Roku Channel audience. Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. What's up? Light the candle. Did you light the candle?

The candles lit. OK, very good. And hopefully the show will be as well. Very good. Very, very good. Wow. Well, it's going to be it's going to be lit tonight.

Oh, baby. It's going to be lit tonight, folks. Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Los Angeles Chargers on Prime Video.

Prime Video. Can't wait to hear Al on the call tonight, the voice of football. Al Michaels back after hearing some terrific action called by Buck and Aikman.

They were great on Monday Night Football. And that was the last game we saw for the NFL season that had a dramatic week one and week to look at all those games on the schedule. And it starts tonight in Kansas City, where they've got the field all laid out. I believe it's the 50th anniversary of Arrowhead Stadium.

Whoa. And they're going to have a whole bunch of people back there. It's their first regular season home game since the passing of the brilliant, great Hall of Famer Len Dawson.

And it's going to be quite the night in Kansas City this evening for the deepest end of the pool. The American Football Conference Western Division. It's their second divisional game. We saw the first one just up the road from here on Sunday when the Los Angeles Chargers and Khalil Mack put their stamp on things. It was really a defensive effort with Justin Herbert putting together enough offense to win the game and keep Derek Carr either on his behind or throwing to the wrong jersey.

So all that good stuff starts tonight. And we are very lucky. We're very lucky because we are going to get to see Justin Herbert versus Patrick Mahomes twice a year for a very long time. And it all started, if you recall, a couple years ago, the first matchup between these two guys was a matchup that was supposed to be Terod Taylor versus Patrick Mahomes. But Terod Taylor got a shot before the game that went to his lung.

And then that was it. And Justin Herbert got the start. And Anthony Lynn, the head coach at the time, was saying, this is Terod Taylor's team. As if we didn't just see what Justin Herbert almost pulled off in his first career start that he had no idea he was making on the day that he made it.

Like five minutes before he didn't know. And then Herbert clearly took the reins. That was the end of Terod Taylor here in Los Angeles. It was the end of Anthony Lynn in Los Angeles and Brandon Staley now in year two.

And what a great start it was for the Chargers last week. Man, Herbert versus Mahomes is just great. Herbert, the young Oregon duck kid who said he wanted to be the Chargers quarterback as a youngster, that famous what do you want to be when you grow up piece of paper, I guess, that he wrote down when he was in the fourth grade against the street baller. That's all he does is play street ball.

Don't forget that. He just gets out there if his first option is gone, you know, just play street ball. And Patrick Mahomes, just that street baller, huh? That unnamed coward that called him that to the athletic who apparently is a defensive coordinator in the NFL. I hope that's not my defensive coordinator, I'll tell you that. So only one person said this, right?

Coward. But that person is an actual coordinator in the NFL, an actual coach in the NFL, saying this about Patrick Mahomes, who with his number one option, Tyreek Hill. Would you say that? If Kelsey's 1A, he's 1B, then Hill was 1A, right?

I think you could say that. And that's no disrespect to Travis Kelsey, but you're talking about Tyreek Hill being his main threat. So after that, it's just street ball.

The guy's not there. And all Mahomes did to start the season was put up five touchdowns, 360 yards passing. And an offense that had 66 snips against the Arizona Cardinals and 33 first downs. Now let's see what happens tonight. This is going to be great.

And then after this, buckle up, folks. Buckle up because Mahomes, it's just one quarterback matchup after another that is a full course meal, although the week one against Kyler Murray wasn't much of a meal. Next up is at Indianapolis against Matt Ryan. So it's a couple of MVPs and that is going to be Matt Ryan's home opener because Indianapolis is on the road at Jacksonville this weekend. That'll be the first time that the folks in Indianapolis see Matt Ryan. And in comes Kansas City. Then he's at Tom Brady for a Sunday nighter, then a Monday nighter against Vegas when they go against what Eric Stonestreet, our Chiefs fan, keeps texting me as my team because I said the Vegas Raiders are going to win this division. That's accurate, your team. And then next up against Buffalo.

That's it. MVP versus the MVP, I believe, of this year at San Francisco. A bye week home for Tennessee. We all know that there's a playoff history between these two teams as well. That's a Sunday nighter.

Good lord. More division games than at Cincinnati on Sunday against Joe Burrow to try and exact revenge against the team that beat them twice last year, including the one that mattered the most in the AFC Championship game, a Sunday night visit to Russell Wilson, who they then see again in week 17 before finishing the year at Vegas. Holy smokes. Chiefs football. What an amazing schedule it is. What a great course meal it is to watch this offense operate, certainly with so many people doubting how potent it can still be because Tyreek Hill isn't on the team anymore. And all we saw was that week one game where he slung it to so many different receivers and threw five touchdowns, five, one, two, three, four, five.

That's correct. One more than every running back they kind of have on the roster that can that can hit you in the mouth, too. And the Chargers tonight can put their marker down and say, last week, not an outlier, folks. We could put our marker down and say we can win our I'm just saying this from the perspective of the Chargers. Chargers can win their third straight game at Arrowhead. How about that?

As a matter of fact, the road team has won the last four games between these two. You don't say. Yes, I actually did say.

I heard him. And the Chargers can say, OK, OK, we've got now the defensive horses to hold down this offense to chase down Mahomes. We have maybe we'll see a game time decision on their prize free agent signing from New England's secondary J.C. Jackson.

Maybe he will arrive just in time for his first game. Offensively, no Keenan Allen. For the Chargers tonight, can they still go into Arrowhead and win a third straight game there against the street parlor?

Patrick Mahomes to kick off a week two that wraps up with a Monday nighter. There's two of them. There is the early game Titans at Bill's. Ain't that a big one?

And then the the game that's in the spot. That all Monday night games will be played this year, including last week's. Buck and Aikman will be on the call of Vikings at Eagles, and we've got. Dalvin Cook of your NFC North leading Vikings on the show today. Tomorrow, Jalen Hurts of your NFC East leading Philadelphia Eagles because we're fair and balanced. And plus, I'm also the host of Westwood ones coverage of Monday Night Football and we got them both. Makes sense. And in between, just a whole bunch of great stuff, man. Sneaky good stuff like Miami against the Ravens.

That is. Somebody's going to be too. Somebody's going to be 2-0 on that one. And then desperation setting in between two division winners from last year. Someone's going to be 0-2 between Cincinnati and your Dallas Cowboys, sir.

I think I know what most of America thinks of that. Look, you got to lay off of the Bengals, bro. They'll be all right. I got you.

I got you. Arizona and Vegas. Those are two playoff teams from last year. Two wildcard teams from last year. Somebody's going to be 0-2 after that one.

That's a big one. Your team, New England, can they start 0-2? They're going into Acresher against a banged up Steelers team. Najee Harris saying he's going.

T.J. Watt was placed on injured reserve today. Expected to return from that. And then, of course, you've got the first place Seattle Seahawks. Only team with a win in the NFC West taking on Trey Lance. Our friend Michael Silver, formerly of the NFL media group, now covering the team back to where his roots. He's covering the team for the San Francisco Chronicle.

I read a great story. He spoke to Montana and Young about Trey Lance. Young's talking about how accuracy means you're a fingertip thrower. I mean, we're now looking at Trey Lance's fingertips, but it's a pretty good guy to talk about it. So there is a lot of scrutiny about Trey Lance going into that game and his worthiness of a quarterback and readiness as a quarterback right now. Mike Martz, former Rams head coach, former Rams coordinator, former Bears coordinator, former Bears coach. He had something to say about Justin Fields. And Trey Lance. But you know who clapped back about Justin Fields? Our second hour guest, Jared Payton, son of Sweetness, who's on the show to talk about his daddy being featured in this week's episode of NFL Icons on Epics, which I am honored to narrate and NFL Films puts together.

It is some great stuff. So Jared will be on the show in hour number two to talk about the Chiefs and their terrific offensive line tonight as a guy who won a Super Bowl protecting Patrick Mahomes, Mitchell Swartz in studio. He will be here in hour number three just when Dalvin Cook stops by. We got ourselves a chat with Willie McGinnis coming up in about seven minutes time from my NFL media group compadres.

Which 0-1 team is facing the biggest must win? Okay, I'm just thinking about a poll question. I know that. Let's discuss it. There's 16 of them, Chris.

Well, actually, that's not true because there's two teams that tied. So there's 14 of them. Let's see. Well, I guess 15 of them.

Let's put it that way. It's 15-15 in two ties. You can't see the Rams because there's only one team that's won in the division, and it's Seattle. And you're assuming that Seattle is not going to be all that. I don't know why we stopped thinking that. Green Bay Packers for sure.

No, that's not true either. I guess because they lost the Vikings. And if they lose to the Bears, they'd be 0-1-2. 0-1-2 in division. I don't know. The Bengals coming off the Super Bowl going 0-1-2?

And everyone else in the division is 1-0. Okay. All right.

I mean, I should be honest. Dallas Come on, dude. Nobody's expecting the Cowboys to win.

Thank you, Chris. So we're not putting them on. You were putting them on there because guys like him think they're going to win.

No, you don't mean guys like me and the guy like me just told you that we weren't going to win. How about this one? How about this one? Denver? You're going to put Denver on there? Denver for sure.

Yep. Denver loses it at home to Houston? Especially the way Houston played last week. They put well enough to win. Except their coach punted twice. One time, a fourth and two from the 36, he punts. Well, did they have a problem with their field goal unit or something like that?

I don't know. But I guess he's crazy like a fox because they're in first place with a tie. Oh, you got to put Arizona on there. Actually, take take.

Here we go. Arizona, Vegas, Cincinnati. You want to put Dallas off there?

I guess they can afford. I want to put Green Bay on there. Okay, put them on there then. So what do you got? Packers, Bengals, Broncos, Raiders?

I guess for the same reason we're not putting the Rams in there, you can't put Arizona in there either. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. I was very reluctant on your part. Well, I just, you know, I frown upon such things anyway. Working things out collectively and then making the right decision.

Poll questions, poll questions, poll questions, poll questions, power rankings. But yeah, I understand that's what this world traffics in. And yet we do those every day, Rich.

You got to embrace them. Because they're fun. Come on, Rich. It's new media. I got another list today. New media. It's new media and you're a new Rich Eisen. I got a new list. New media. We got a new home.

Some Viking hunk. I actually clapped back on YouTube yesterday. Wait a second. You read the comments? I know you clapped back on Twitter, but you went on YouTube? I clapped back on YouTube. You read some comments?

You went to YouTube? Somebody responded to the power rankings like the way to, you know, you come up with a new segment just to cover up the fact that your show is, you know, on its last legs or something like that. Or the show is not renewed. The thing that triggered me was not renewed because that's what I was called at ESPN. Not renewed.

I was not renewed. Kind of triggered me. I'm like, what are you talking about? The show's struggling.

We're on the largest platformer we've ever been on. We made a choice. It's the purple here.

It says the Roku channel. Prince would approve of this. Purple. Yes. It's the greatest platform we've had yet. Here's what I love. Two weeks ago.

And we're about to add Sirius XM to it. What are we talking about? What are we talking about? Two weeks ago I did that when someone on Instagram was saying that and I tried to explain them and Rich came in and told me, look, don't do that. Don't pay attention to them.

Just TJ, I see what you're doing. Just don't do it. I don't want to, you know, it was, I got triggered many different ways. Plus I'm like, what am I? I'm going to finally do a power ranking just to get trolled on.

You can troll on me for what I'm saying with my power rankings, but don't call this show unsuccessful. Do as you say, not as you do. I get it. Oh my goodness. I get it.

All right. Best dad ever though. No one's taken that from you in like three years.

It's amazing. No one's ever going to take it away from me. You're like Roman Reigns right now.

Brockman's got a scar on his head. I am a needle mover. You may get it.

You and the head of the table, needle mover. All right, let's take a break. But we do have the poll question set, right? Oh, it's out. And I do have another list.

Top five, you never know, coach of the year candidates whose week one win maybe puts them in a little higher register. You never know. People have been asking for that segment to come back by the way.

Higher register? All the time. Okay. We got to do that. Do we have time tomorrow? Maybe next week. We can make the time.

I mean, we do have three hours. Higher register, which is where you got to, for those on the Roku channel new to this show, it's something called higher register, which is what you always do and your friends do. And you always hear people go higher register to say something that they need help believing.

Like maybe the Cowboys Cooper rush can actually be good. Yeah. Why would you steal my higher register? That's it. Damn it. Sorry. You'll have to come up with another one.

Maybe Joe Flacco can lead the Jets to a win. Good. You do that one. Yeah.

You do that one. I've got the receipts. What receipts do you have, Rich?

They're not good receipts. Not about you. About Flacco and the Jets.

844-204 Rich is the number to dial. Willie McGinnis, when we come back, is this Brady's last year? And the latest Bill Belichick press conference moment just in time for Willie. We could talk about how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit card rewards, like how they require minimums, and worse, how their rewards flat out expire. Or we could talk about how with Discover, you can redeem your rewards for cash in any amount at any time. I mean, talk about amazing. And now that we've talked about that, let's get back to the Rich Eisen Show. You know, the stuff we talk about here.

Learn more at discover.com slash redeem rewards. Terms apply. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection.

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Clean feel all day. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich, number to dial. Good game for the Patriots this week, right? They're at Pittsburgh at Acresher.

The opening of Acresher. Where are the Heinz Ketchup Bottle Stadium? And so New England goes in a little banged up, just like a lot of teams are. Pittsburgh is clearly no TJ Watt in the game, which is good for Mac Jones, who had a little bit of a back issue coming out of Miami where he was sawed in half. Remember, just remember that one where it was a penalty on both teams.

One for the way they hit Mac Jones and the other one for the reason why they high load him is because there was a clipping penalty on the Patriots. Anyway, long story short, Ty Montgomery is on injured reserve. So Mike Reese, is this Mike Reese? Yeah, Mike Reese, yep. Okay, of ESPN. Mike Reese of the worldwide leader who's been covering this team forever, asking Belichick about Montgomery's status for the rest of the season, and that's today's Bill Belichick press conference moment. Today's Bill Belichick press conference moment.

Well, we prefer to win. There's a chance he still can play this season. He's on IR right now. He could come back, but given his situation. Yeah, I don't know.

We'll see how it goes. I don't know. If he's healthy, yeah, we bring him back. Sure. If he's healthy, we bring him back. How that'll all turn out, I don't know.

I'm not a doctor. It's the smile at the end. He respects Mike. That's why he gave him a little smile. That is Bill Belichick's version of, I don't have a crystal ball. Bill could have gone that way, but he's not a coaching cliche guy. You might drop an, it is what it is every now and then, but boy do we love that Bill Belichick press conference moments here.

They're great. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a doctor. Doesn't play one on TV. He doesn't.

Doesn't play one on TV. It's the grin. The grin at the end is great. Joining me here is a man who knows all about Belichick's mannerisms and coaching style and everything else. Love this man.

Multiple appearances on this program, but his first right now on the Roku channel version of this program. On the Mercedes-Benz phone line, my colleague from the NFL media group, the great three-time Super Bowl champion, Willie McGinnis. How you doing, Willie? I am doing well, Rich. How's everybody doing, man? It's been a minute.

What's up, Willie? We're good. What's happening? We're good. We're good.

I miss you guys. Well, you know what? There's one way to fix that. You know?

More appearances. Yeah. Let's go. We're right here. Let's go. I mean, if you're the NFL network, we're just literally a five-minute drive on the 105. If you're somehow back in Long Beach, we're not too far there either.

I mean, we're equidistant from all of your spots, Willie. You know? I got you.

I got you. So your concern level for the Patriots would be what right now? Well, I just think, you know, it takes time. Like week two, in my opinion, the way I looked at it is an extension still from cap and preseason. You know, a lot of these guys, the Patriots did play their starters, but a lot of these teams haven't played their starters. I just think it takes a couple of weeks, a few weeks, to kind of get everything in place, especially when, you know, you got new play callers, you got guys that haven't called plays in a long time, you're dealing with a lot of soft tissue issues, you know, injuries and other things. It's the beginning of the season, guys are not used to the certain end game physicality that they're going to face, you know, that they have. It's just a lot of things, Rich, when you look at the beginning of the season.

So I try not to overreact and panic early on because it is a long season and, you know, things will start to get in place and start to take form, you know, as teams play more ball. But this is a well coached football team. They have been for years, you know this, and whatever their issues are or appear at some point will be worked out. Well, the issues may be roster.

That's the issue, Willie, right? I mean, offensively, you saw what Miami looked like with a first time play caller, in a way. I mean, Mike McDaniel really wasn't calling plays wherever he's been, but, you know, it's his first time head coach and you saw talent all over the lot with an Alabama quarterback of their own, and he kind of got a glimpse of what the second place team in the AFC East could look like, and it sure wasn't New England. That was the issue there, and your thoughts on the play calling and handing it off to Matt Patricia and how you think that's working out, Willie? Well, first of all, just to your point with Miami, Mike McDaniel was the run coordinator for four years before he became the OC in San Fran, so he had a lot to do with the design of the plays and the formations and all the different things, as well as when he was with, you know, I think, Kubiak with the Texans. So he's an experienced offensive guy who had a lot of input and design when it comes to the play, so I would say he's a little more comfortable and familiar. Now, ironically, Matt Patricia started on the offensive side of the ball before he became the defensive guru and coordinator and head coach when he was in New England with us, so he does have some experience, and Bill has a knack for cross-training coaches on both sides of the ball. Now, what I will say is to call plays, know the momentum of the games, and have those instincts and being able to be patient and not get caught up in one play and having the innate ability to keep things moving, Matt Patricia has that because he has been a play caller. He has called plays for years, but just not on the offensive side of the ball. But when you deal with Bill Belichick, you have to learn the offense. You have to go in with the offensive coordinator.

You have to see how they will attack your defense. You have to know certain nuances for the good coordinators, in my opinion. So he has experience.

He's never done it as an offensive coordinator. I think some of those issues will work themselves out. It's definitely not smooth right now, of course. It's not smooth for Matt Jones. You know, having Josh McDaniel is one of the best to ever do it in his ear and in the room with him and developing him, so now, you know, you have two guys you're kind of talking through and one guy, you know, used to be on the defensive side of the ball, and you don't have that relationship that you've had for years, you know, with Josh.

So of course, it's a little different, and it's going to take, there's some kinks, it's going to take some time to work itself out. Willie McGinnis, my colleague from the NFL Media Group, NFL Network here on the Rich Eyes and Show. So the Bills clearly look to be the class of week one, and then the Chiefs are like raising their hands saying, let's not forget about us as well. How do you suss out the AFC after week one?

Willie McGinnis. The Bills do look really good, I would say that, and what impressed me more than the offense was the defense. Von Miller got off to a fast start, but not only Von, that whole defensive front, Phillips, the other guys, so all the guys had plays and made plays, so you saw the impact of not just Von Miller personally, but what his effect was on the defensive front and how good they could be, and that was with Dontra Davis White. He wasn't even there, so that defense looked really good. The offense, of course, when you add a running game, you add James Cook, and you show that this year, like Sean McDermott said, he wanted more physicality out of the trenches. He wanted them to be able to stop the run on defense and run the ball more effectively. He came out and showed that that's going to be an important improvement on their team, that they are going to run the football, and they came out and did that emphatically.

So this team right now looks good. Kansas City, you mentioned Rich, they came out and they looked like Kansas City, and they looked like the team that was patient and moved the ball down the field. Patrick Mahomes took what the defense gave them. You didn't really miss or think about Tyreek Hill because it's a different way.

It's kind of like when Matthew Stafford lost Megatron, you know, and he had to work through all his other receivers and spread the ball around a little bit more. You saw a little, you know, the same design, Andy Reid is one of the best coaches, coordinators, play designers to ever do it. So just watching all that, I was like, okay, I understand what they're going to do. They're going to get everybody involved.

The play design is still going to be there. You don't have that explosive guy yet, Scott Moore could be something like a Tyreek Hill, but they've got options and they've got guys that can make plays. William McGinnis here on the Rich Eisen Show. What do you think Russell Wilson is thinking right now when his coach took him off the field for a place kicker in the spot where, you know, he had a chance to win it, come back in front of the 12s, just like he's done so many times for the 12s. I mean, he's saying all the right things. Do you think he really believes all the quote unquote right things?

What do you think? I think I think the first thing that hit his mind was what the hell is going on? Like why am I not on the football field?

Why did he not call my number? You know, McManus, I'm not taking anything away from him, but you got to know your personnel. And to me, it was a rookie mistake by his head coach, not a lot of experience. McManus was what one for eight from 60 yards out, you know, and kicking field goal. So you if you're going to put the ball into the money's hand, you're going to put it into Russell Wilson.

Russell Wilson had 32 comebacks in that stadium, 32 winning drive comebacks, however you want to calculate it in that stadium. I'm putting the ball in my best player's hands and I'm trusting in him that he's going to give us an opportunity to win the game. And it's nothing against the kicker, but it's just like, those are one of those those are one of those decisions. It's obvious. I wouldn't even think I wouldn't even think about it more than one time.

It's obvious. And there was more things rich that went on in that game that they need to focus and improve on. You know, time management, handling the clock, situational football, there's a lot of things that I looked at and bothered me that they need a lot more work on add to delay of games could have been five or six, you know, the ball was snapped with less, almost a second left and they were rushing to play and it ended up into a negative play. And with all that said, they still had an opportunity at the end of the game, you know, to win it. But if I'm Russell, I'm a little discouraged that the ball wasn't in my hands. But he is a team guy. And he doesn't want to put himself above the team.

But in that situation, you got to go to your money players, you got to go to the go to guys. And I thought that that was just a big mistake by the head coach. Three time Super Bowl champ William McGinnis from NFL Network at William McGinnis on Twitter right here on the Rich Eisen Show, Tom looked great, man, or Tommy, as everybody who played with him refers to him. Brady looked amazing. You know, he's still slinging it around and the Bucks looked complete.

I really liked what I saw from them immensely. Tom Batten now year 23. I think the thing that he likes the least is happening, his personal life being discussed quite a bit. Do you think this is his last year? I just get the sense that this is his last year. He'd like to see if he can try it one more time and do it one more time.

And then that's a wrap. Willie, what do you think? I think Rich, if he wins it, it could be. He will walk off into the sunset complete and feel like he did what he came back to do. He did sign a two year deal, correct? So if it doesn't happen that year, still lingering out there, I think he gave himself a little bit of cushion. But he did look great. You know, outside of, you know, he's still, you know, he lost his left tackle and Donovan Smith and the center Jensen is not there.

And I think they had Leonard Fournette hobbled off and, you know, he's still going to play Chris Godwin left with a hamstring and he still was able, you know, to go out and play at a high level. But I think Tom is loyal to the game. He loves the game. He has a lot of football left.

He knows that. And it's just hard to walk off when you have so much left. He led the league last year in yards and touchdowns, hard to walk away.

It's amazing. I mean, he looks 25. He looks remarkable, you know, but it just seems that his next life is knocking on the door louder than it's ever knocked and that he can't ignore the knock on the door because he loves the game so much, would miss his teammates so much and still has so much left to give. That's the general sense you're feeling right now with him.

Yeah. But when you sign up, when people come together, you got to understand who those people are. And this is who Tom is. And I think in his personal life, his family, everybody around them really understands and knows that they have for years, that part of his personal life and his life was going to be sacrificed because of the game that he loves so much because to be that elite, to be that great and that consistent and that dedicated to play on a high level for so long, you have to pour so much into it. And every part of your life is sacrifice.

Now when he started off, he didn't have kids and you know, there's a lot of things that didn't exist. But now as you grow and your kids are getting older and you know, you want to spend more time with your family and doing things and there's other things that play into it. And those opportunities outside of family will be there.

The television stuff, it's not going anywhere. Still wait for Tom Brady, but it's the things that you're referring to his personal life that you know, at some point you got to say, am I still playing at a high level? How much am I willing to sacrifice? How much do I love this game? What are my chances are you got to look at it like this as well? What are my chances at winning another Super Bowl with the team that I'm going to be with?

And when I weigh all this, is it really worth it? So there's a lot of things to factor in, but at the end of the day, those around Tom, they know who he is and what he has been for years. And you have to accept that part of him.

And you know, it's, it's hard, but it's a sacrifice man for in a lot of different parts. William McGinnis, you're a perfect guy to ask this to as well, before I let you go. We had Tom House on the program in studio just a couple of days ago. And he's part of the TB12 team, his throwing coach, along with I've got to throw Alex Guerrero out there as well as trainer, who has been part of a team to help the longevity occur, but also put in front of Brady all of the, you know, concepts that Brady would have to adhere to 24-7, 365 in order to play as long as he's played now. Tom House told a story about coming off of the practice field in New England with Brady after a throwing session and Belichick calling them into his office. I want to play it for you and get your two cents, since you're my, my resident Belichick whisperer.

Go for it. Roll it, please. By the time I got around to Tom Brady, um, walking by Belichick's office one time when we had been out on the field throwing the football, Belichick called us in and said, okay, tell me why I shouldn't trade Tom Brady. And at this time, I think Brady was 37, 36.

And I just said, well, Bill, the research shows that if Tom does what he's supposed to do, all those four things I just mentioned, which he does to the, you know, the, the T there's no reason he shouldn't play until he's 45. And here we are. Here we are, right?

What do you think of that? What's your two cents on that exchange from back in the day? I'll give you three.

I'll give you three cents, Rich. Um, Belichick has been, um, criticized for moving on from players, um, in the past, like really good players. And I think that he has the innate ability to evaluate when a player is either peaked and is about to kind of slide the opposite way. And he's been wrong a few times, you know, um, but with Brady, I don't know, or think anybody would have guessed this man would have won a super bowl in his late, late forties, outside of the people around him, who sees the regimen, who sees the hard work and everything that goes into it is a perfect storm, um, with players, especially at the quarterback position, paid man. He did it when he left Indianapolis or went to Denver is a lot of pieces that has to fall in place management, ownership, coaches, um, impactful players around you that can help you to where you trying to go, your health.

Um, you know, there's so many things. And I think that Brady has done things the right way for so long that he picked the perfect opportunity, um, the perfect situation for him to put himself in that situation where he is now. Now, Belicheck is one of the smartest men to get coaches, just men I've ever been around. So his evaluation, the way he diagnoses players and their talent and their production and all those different things, I would say he's batting probably over 85, 90%. So he's, he's rarely wrong. And his tenure in New England shows that he's moved on from a lot of guys, but that's the one guy that defined whatever anybody outside, even Belicheck outside of anybody would have thought he would go on to do or how long he has gone on to do it.

So House, Alex, Brady, they are, they're all on point. They're all right. He's 44 now. Right? 45. He's 45. And at the time, like right around that time, if you kind of peg it, that might've been around the Garoppolo drafting or Garoppolo had just been drafted and, and, uh, the idea that, uh, that maybe Belicheck wanted to move on to Garoppolo and he was kind of kicking tires to me. That also sounds like bill might've been busting stones like, okay, you guys are working on all this stuff outside of the training staff. Why don't you tell me why I shouldn't trade Brady? What are you working on? Like that's every position you got to drive.

You got to drive to be prepared for the future in every position. Now since they drafted Garoppolo, how many more Superbowls did Tom go on the way? Three. Three. I think it was three.

Right? Chris, didn't you win three more after, after Garoppolo and new England, new England. I mean, so, Hey, they all, they all bet on Brady for a few more years and they all, they all did pretty well. I know, but I just took it to be, Belicheck's just like, okay, put your cards in the table.

What do you got? Why shouldn't I trade him? That's what he's doing. That's his job.

Evaluate talent, kick the tires, do the most research that you can do and make a, and make a decision based on that what's best for the team as he always told us. Well, uh, great chopping it up with you as always, Willie, uh, next time in studio, we'd love to have you here. Always your insights are spectacular. Love watching you on the network. Love that you're a colleague. Love seeing you there when I stopped in and you are, you're there and, um, and, uh, just love you in general. Thanks for the call. Really appreciate it. Hey, love you, Rich. Thank you guys, man. Talk to you soon.

All right. Well, the great willing beginners right here on the Rich Eisen show. You can listen to the NFL and the NFL app on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood one station streams, or by asking Alexa to open Westwood one sports sponsored by AutoZone. Let's take a break right here on the Rich Eisen show eight four four two oh four rich number to dial Russell Wilson's latest comments on the place kick that just won't go away.

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Spoiler alert. They play another game. And the other game that they're going to play is home against the Houston, Texas. And so they're going to play another game and they're going to play another game in which they're favored to win and they're expected to win. And the reason why I bring this up is that at some point we will turn the page from the disastrous Monday night ending for Denver where Nathaniel Hackett in his first game with three timeouts left decided to let the time tick off the clock on a fourth and five from the 46 yard line. Decided to let that just continue to tick off until there was just 20 seconds to go as rather than burn a timeout right away and see if Russell Wilson could pick up that first down as we were all expecting him to try to do. I mean, is Russell Wilson in front of the 12s back in Seattle with a chance to win it and so on and so forth. We all understand the circumstances of what happened at some point.

The page will turn. This is the beauty and curse for some about the NFL is that there's another game right around the corner. Unfortunately that game doesn't happen sometimes for at least a week. And in the NBA we could talk about, oh, what a stupid coaching decision.

What a terrible decision. Last night they play and they win by 15 and it's over. Baseball, same thing. Next game. Hockey, just keep naming it.

The NFL though, it's a full week to chomp on it. So day after the decision, we're talking about what Nathaniel Hackett said the night before about his decision. And then the day after that, we hear what the coach had to say the next day.

And then, so there's a new cycle, keeps going. So today it's what Russell Wilson had to say in his first media appearance after appearing after the game where he said, oh yeah, we believe in our kicker. We believe in everything. He said all the right things. And so Nathaniel Hackett said the day after the game that, yeah, maybe we should have gone for it. I think he was saying it just facetiously and joking like, yeah, well my decision didn't work out. So I think we should have gone the other way.

But everyone keeps on framing it as a mea culpa from the coach. I don't think it was. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think so either.

At all. Yeah. That said, it was framed in that way to Russell Wilson. What do you think of Nathaniel Hackett's comment that he thought you should have gone for it?

Now, do you agree with that is what Russell had to say? I mean, listen, I think, yeah, I mean, I think that anytime you get the chance to try to win the game and solidify it and try to make a play, I always believe in having the ball and everything else. We got a great kicker.

We're going to believe in our kicker again. So I always trust his decisions and everything else, but I'm also always ready to go try to do it if we need to. Yeah. Huh? Yeah. I agree with that.

We should have gone for it. But hey, I love the kicker, love the coach and all that business. I profit is saying Nathaniel Hackett will have learned his lesson in the same way that Matt LaFleur did by taking his quarterback out of the game to place the place kicker on to make an eight point deficit in the NFC championship game into a five point deficit. Made no sense.

Guess you wanted to get some points rather than zero points. And if you recall the year after that, in his first of back to back MVP seasons, they kept going for it. Remember, you didn't really see Aaron Rodgers taken off the field when Aaron Rodgers had an opportunity to pick something up or make a play or something like that. I profit to say you will see Russell Wilson on the field in similar situations in week two if one comes up, but just keep that in your mind's eye. Of course, Russ wanted to go for it.

Come on, man. So I believe the page will now be turned towards the Houston Texans, but still, this will be just something we talk about the rest of the season. When anything like this pops up and when anything like this pops up, you won't see the place kicker in Denver.

I believe that's for sure. You know, Matt Jones is ill. He's not practicing today. Chris, who's the backup there?

Brian Hoyer. No, he's not. Yes, he is.

Get out of here. He's still there? No, he's not. No, he's not.

I think he retired, dude. Nope. Come on. Are you serious?

I am serious. Is he still- It's Brian Hoyer and somebody named Bailey Zappi. Oh, Zappi. That's right.

Zappi. I thought Hoyer was not there anymore. Dude, Rich, you're gonna- Can't quit. You're gonna have to kill Brian Hoyer. You know what Brian Hoyer is? Like the Night King. You know what he is? He's the black box of backup quarterbacks.

The black box. Indestructible. It'll survive. The thing is, Mac practiced yesterday. He said he was fine. He said he's going to play. I'm sure this illness popped up out of nowhere. I'm sure he's fine. Well, if it's a certain illness, he ain't playing.

I'm sure he's fine. Hoyer versus Trubisky in the matchup that we always saw. Brady versus Big Ben, pretty much for like 15 years straight. By the way, I still think the Patriots are a better team. They were only a few plays away from kind of being in the game over the weekend. Is this a bit, or you really are coming around? No, I'm just saying I think they're the better team at this point. Than the Steelers? Yeah, I think so.

How do we square this circle? You gotta get a standard, and then you- They're still going 5 and 12, I mean, just don't get me wrong. Okay, good enough then. Jared Payton talking about his dad, Walter, subject of this week's NFL Icons on Epics. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments, it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson, too. All-time Hogan opponents, Macho Man's gotta be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Wow. Because even going back before Hulk Hogan was a babyface, Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan. Wherever they went, that was an attraction. Something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.