REShow: Tom Curran - Hour 1 (6-1-2022)

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Upgrade today by calling 877-ASK-DELL, that's 877-ASK-DELL, to save up to 48% on our latest technology. This is the Rich Eisen Show. But this might be my favorite sports story of all of 2022 to date. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. 37 in the cheek drove over a fantasy football league. Jock Peterson is slapped by Tommy Pham of the Cincinnati Reds, Will Smith-style.

Wow, dude! Today's guests. From NBC Sports Boston, Tom Curran. NFL Network analyst, David Carr. Plus, NFL Network insider, Ian Rappaport. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Alright everybody, it's time for another edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

Happy June one and all. I am your humble host sitting here in Los Angeles, California in the Rich Eisen Show set. Hanging out with you on NBC Sports on Peacock, Sirius XM Channel 85, NBC Sports Audio.

For those who need an actual title to go with the number. We're also here on the Odyssey app. A special hello to our terrestrial radio listeners on the Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio network.

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It's sitting right there. Once we are all over our entire damn near eight years of this show sits on the archive page. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. And our podcast listeners, you're listening to us whenever you darn well please it's your right to take our podcast into your ear gate. And please do subscribe and give us that old five-star rating. Give me the five-star rating like you're my Uber driver. That's all I ask for on our on our Cumulus podcast.

And it smells nice in here Rich. Great driving. Good to see you over there Christopher. Good use of the turn signal. Thank you.

Yeah I appreciate that. You're sitting up front. Good to see you. I'm up front. I'm talking to you guys. Look how friendly I am.

Good to see you DJ Mikey D. DJ Jefferson lighting the candle. What's up over there, TJ? I mean it's Wednesday. You know what that means.

Actually I do not. I'll bite. What does that mean? I'm going to AEW the night at the forum. Let's go.

That's what it means. Okay. TJ's going out. TJ's going out. We're going to see Top Gun tonight. Oh you're going to do that right? Okay very good.

You've seen Top Gun Maverick. I'm just going to be a pedestrian Wednesday night for me and Suze, my wife. My wife.

She hates that but sorry Suze. And so you know what? It's a great day in our sports world because it's the last month. We finally reached the last month with no football in it at all.

July is when training camps open and things of that nature. So football is right around the corner. It's like sort of football tonight. Ninety-nine days from today.

I saw that yesterday. Ninety-nine days from today is when the Bills will be just up the road from here in SoFi to kick off the season on NBC. Are we going to be there Mike or not? A hundred percent I'm going to that game.

I can't really decide. A hundred percent I'm going to that game. Ninety-nine days from tonight. Which is the percentage of fact that they are going to sell their tickets. No, no, no.

There's only one chance. They'll go. I mean it's a banner raise here in Los Angeles. The Bills are taking on the Rams, a game that we believe is, you know, a lot of people believe is a Super Bowl preview for Arizona. And ninety-nine days from the season opening up, Josh Allen is in Las Vegas, Nevada along with teammates with Patrick Mahomes. And Brady and Rodgers, it's the match day everybody. I love the match. It's the match.

Brady and Rodgers are taking on Mahomes and Allen. And so the NBA finals begin tomorrow night up the coast in San Francisco. The NHL playoffs have begun. The Oilers and the Avalanche combined for 19,000 goals. They just scored again.

Last night. Just a power play by the Avalanche. So that's going to be just incredible action. I mean just incredible. Lots of biscuits being put in the basket.

Lots of lamps being lit. And the Rangers trying to dethrone Tampa for the right to play for Lord Stanley's Cup. But no, you know, we've got football on the brain.

We always do. Because June actually, you know, I'm sure my colleagues in the NFL media group and 345 Park Avenue would say pushback. Say, well, what do you mean there's no football in June?

Pretty much every single mandatory minicamp is this month in June. And so there will be a period of time where we discuss who's there, who's not there. We're going to discuss whose contract needs to be massaged and why they're not.

And in their organized team activities that needs to be having them there. And I know you're laughing. I should use the word massage. You're a child. And so. I'm sorry. No, no, I understand.

That's just the way I talk. I did not mean that because his contract is completely handled. As a matter of fact, Deshaun Watson's contract is the reason why, you know, when the mandatory minicamp hits. And the man whose agent sent out the stationary prior to the combine might not be in Arizona. All that stuff's playing out this month. Lamar says he'll be there. This stuff's just voluntary right now.

And so on and so forth. That's part of the drama for this month. And Ian Rappaport will join us in hour number three. It's June 1st and that's when sometimes cuts are made for salary cap purposes. But I don't believe anything big is going to happen today. And part of that is, you know, my ears to the ground.

I don't really hear very much. And plus, when I invited Ian on the program, I offered him the first spot up on the show originally. And he said he was playing golf. So I don't think if anything significant is going to happen, somebody whose job needs to be available or causes this person to be available on the phone.

Right. It's going to be out there playing golf. But anyway, we'll check in with Ian in hour three, see how he hit him and what's going on. And, you know, obviously the soundbite that made a clanked around the world from Brandon Marshall's podcast from Aaron Donald is something that's on a lot of people's minds. And Deshaun Watson has a twenty third accuser now filing a civil lawsuit and pro football talk.

I read it all the time from Florio read a piece today saying that a twenty fourth different accuser is apparently in the ether as well. So let's talk about with Ian then. But, you know, with the match going down today and Brady and Rogers taking on Allen and Mahomes, I figured, you know what, I'm sitting there thinking when it's all said and done, will there be a time when we look back at this match and say. The four best quarterbacks of their generation once played a round of golf together. And you could say Brady and Rogers are in a different generation than Mahomes and Allen, but I think what it's said and done when the next generation comes along and they the next gen views Allen and Mahomes is the old gen in the same way that Allen and Mahomes generation might view Brady and Rogers. Could we have an argument that these four guys are the best of their times? And.

Just using that as a launching off point for this conversation. That if you ranked these guys all time right now, it's an easy list to make. Brady, Rogers, Mahomes and Allen, you got to go with Brady's the goat and then Rogers has won championship, just like Mahomes does. And Mahomes, however, has more Super Bowl appearances than Rogers right now, but Rogers has all the records and accolades and MVPs that Mahomes doesn't have just yet. And then there's Allen at four.

He's still a young pup when it comes to career accomplishments. So that's an easy list. But if you then just put it in the box of 2022, which guy would you take? Going into 2022 to win a Super Bowl, which guy would you would you if you had your choice and you had to rank them one through four? This is your guy that you get to choose one through four. To try and win the championship this year, and I know we're not including a ton of other quarterbacks, I understand.

I will do respect to the. Defending champ. In Stafford and not playing golf tonight, he's not playing golf, we're just talking about the guys playing golf today, one through four.

The list is different. The guy who's fourth on the career accomplishments list for me tops the list. Josh Allen, that's the guy I would take first overall in this draft to take the quarterback to try and win the Super Bowl this year.

I would take Allen. And of course, you could say, well, you know, his roster is this and roster. I'm just talking about the guy game on the line. Five minutes to go.

Got to have the four minute drill to wrap it up or five minutes to go. You got to come back. And if, say, the other team comes back on you, he can come back on them. And then they come back on you again, he can come back on you one more time.

What about the 13 second? Well, let's just let's just remove that from the equation. Sorry, Hoskins. But I'll take Allen first and then. You've got the 12s and Rogers is the back to back MVP of this league.

And I know Davante Adams isn't there anymore, but I'm just removing again roster. And so like which quarterback would you want to go through the crucible of this season, including the postseason? And that's where I have to put Brady above Rogers. Because the last several Januarys, Rogers is run into some sort of a brick wall. Two Januarys ago was Brady himself last year on that snowy night in Lambeau Field. It was just all out of sorts the minute Mercedes Lewis fumbled in that first half of that game.

Just went tumbling downhill. A.J. Dillon goes out. But then Rogers makes some crucial mistakes that I'm sure he sees on film. And he probably sees in the back of his head every now and then when he puts his mind to thinking about last year. And then I'll just put Mahomes fourth on that list, which is kind of crazy that I'm putting anybody fourth on a list. The Mahomes is not fourth on many lists. He's usually top two or if not top three. But I was just genuinely concerned about the way Mahomes regressed towards the end of last season.

And when push comes to shove, does he make that mistake trying to do the dreaded too much? In a way that Allen has not or did not last year towards the end. And then obviously Brady and Rogers habitually avoid.

That's my list. But Allen's number one, man. This guy is a totally different quarterback and animal than the pocket passers.

We all know. And he can still be that pocket passer. And he's that guy that creates the extra time and then makes the incredible throws, whether he's flipping it, backhanded, underhanded, whatever handed. I mean, I think he hasn't done the left handed throw yet. I don't think I've seen that out of Allen. And interesting. We'll see what happens this year if he's going to run it as much.

I think you have to. And I think he runs you over and he leaps over people. He's just a totally different animal. Yeah, but with their draft pick now, the hope is he doesn't have to run. Well, I guess so. But now James Cook can be a guy that he flips the ball to out of the backfield and let him do some work.

A wheel route. An extra guy. Gabriel Davis. Now I'm getting into the roster reason why I'm liking him. But just in terms of his abilities, last second, last minute. He's going to even be better this year because of what he went through last year.

I'm frightened for the rest of the league as to what leap he might be preparing to take this year. And that's the figurative one, not the literal one. But you're doing the thing, Rich. What's the thing?

You're doing the thing. You're picking against Brady again, which you vowed not to do. I know that, but I'm not necessarily picking against Tom's team. And I did put him above the other two on this list. I'm just saying in 2022, the way this game is played, this way, this game is defended, the way this game usually comes down to this or that, that a quarterback can either provide or overcome. Allen's skill set is second to none. The only one what you could say that can run it and throw it with success is Lamar, Russ, Kyler, Deshaun Watson. Who else? Who else can run it and throw with the threat level like him? Daniel Jones.

You saw that. He can. Justin Herbert. Justin Herbert's another guy who can do that. Not like Allen. Not like Allen, man. I know that. And in this day and age of a lot of good quarterbacks that can beat you with legs and arms, there's nobody like him.

Dak Prescott. There's another one. A lot of pressure. That's true. Stop. Well, there's always pressure.

But in the same way that the Bills had 13 seconds to take off the clock, the Cowboys took 13 seconds off the clock trying to get one more playoff. I mean, you walked into that. I did. I'm just going to shut up. But Dak does deserve to get mentioned in terms of arms, legs. Yeah. Although I would proffer to say he'll run even less this year. Let's hope.

So that's the way I'm ranking it. What do you have to say? 844-204-rich number to dial. Our first guest up is Tommy Curran. Tommy. Tommy. Tommy puts Brady first? I'll ask him this question.

He might put Al. And I'll ask the question of David Carr when he joins us as well. David's on this program because he mentioned me. He name dropped me on NFL Total Access because yesterday, in honor of Joe Namath's 79th birthday in studio, they had their analysts, Total Access analysts, come up with guarantees.

Oh, I love that. And Derek Carr, Derek Carr, Derek Carr. Oh, David did not guarantee anything with the Raiders. Did not guarantee anything on that front. He went Jets. Oh. And David Carr said the Jets are going to make the playoffs. He guaranteed it. Oh. So that earns a phone call to the Rich Austin show for me to kick the tires on that one.

So you immediately booked them? Well, plus, Curran had already been booked. We need to be fair and balanced. Patriots has got to be Jet.

We've got to be fair and balanced. Understand. But, you know, we have Patriots on the brain because there was an outstanding exchange with Bill Belichick at his press availability yesterday. Which he dropped a variant, to use a phrase, of one of the Rich Austin show coaching cliches. Top three.

One of our favorites. He actually went coaching cliche, Belichick. And then, of course, that was something we talked about last week is who's calling the plays this year?

Because Josh McDaniels is out with David's bro in Vegas now. So lots to discuss there. Ian Rapoport, our number 3844204rich, number to dial. We found out a lot more about the Tommy Pham-Jock Peterson fantasy league yesterday from Tommy Pham in Boston. This is getting more and more interesting.

It's fun. We're going to hit on that. 844204rich, number to dial.

Which quarterback do you think should be at the top of your list? And if you want to go outside of the matchroom today for your list, go for it. We'll take all comers. 844204rich, number to dial here on the program.

Now you can play us out. Tom Kern, NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider when we come back. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, 844204rich, number to dial.

Joining us here on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line from NBC Sports Boston. We'll get to him in one split second. But here's a sound bite yesterday from Bill Belichick's press conference. You caught this one, Chris.

Yeah, I saw this. Our three Rich Eisen Show coaching clichés. Remember we handed it? We told Mike McDaniel we'd love to have you drop one in a press conference. He said, I'll drop all three in my next press conference at the combine. And he did it. He did it. It is what it is. I don't have a crystal ball. And you can control only what you can control. Except that third cliché this time of year when players are either holding out or not there or are sitting at home as a free agent and you're wondering, will you sign this guy?

You could basically say, I'm only talking about the guys who are here. And that's apparently what happened yesterday when Belichick was asked about Michigan's finest of Josh Uche, right? Oh, is that what it was?

Is that what it was? And the questioner compared Uche potentially in his abilities, his blossoming abilities to Dante Hightower, who's a free agent at the crib right now. He is not.

He is not knowing. And this is how that exchange went. He has that inside-outside versatility similar to like we've seen Dante in the past. Bill here. I don't think it's stretched to compare most everybody to Hightower. I'm talking about one of the best linebackers that's ever played here.

Would you welcome Dante back for this season? Yeah. We'll just talk about the players that are on the team right now. The master at work. The master. You know what? I think it's big for our list to have somebody of his stature utilize- Absolutely. Basically, verbatim.

Utilize one of them. It's big for us. Joining us on the Mercedes-Benz phone line from NBC Sports Boston, who's been at many of these press conferences, Tom Caron. How are you doing, Tom? I'm tremendous. Top of the world except for COVID.

Got a little COVID out here, but we're doing fine with it. Okay. That's good. I'm glad to hear that.

Rocking and rolling. Okay. Very good. Were you at that press conference yesterday? Were you there? I was. Yeah. A couple hours later.

Masked up way over on the side, but I was not a threat to the others. But yeah. It's interesting because there was kind of a split between the perception. I saw that as being kind of a Dante Hightower epitaph. He's not coming back, most likely. I don't think you want to be comparing anyone to Dante Hightower. He's one of the most gifted. That's when it's starting, in my estimation, to say, this is one of the most brilliant players we had during that period. It's over now, but that's what he was. So, you took that as when Belichick heaps praise upon you, he no longer intends to coach you, is what you're saying?

Well, I mean, we can come up with dozens of instances where that wasn't the case. Matt Slater was compared to LT and Tom Brady earlier this last season. He's out there on the field right now. But I just don't think, when we look at the tea leaves and what the Patriots are trying to do defensively, get slimmer, quicker, faster, able to cover at the second level just as well as they can rush. Dante Hightower is kind of a bad fit, which is, you know, they released Kyle Van Noyt, who was their most productive linebacker, outright released him. And they have not brought Jamie Collins back either, who's probably more of a coverage guy than Hightower. So, it would be a stretch for me to believe that Hightower would be back.

He could be, but he's going to be playing for a hell of a lot less money than he's accustomed to if he does. Well, the conversation about the Patriots that's leaked out, certainly nationally in the last couple of weeks, had been play calling. We played that soundbite from the other day. Tom with Belichick was asked about who's calling the plays. And he's like, what, like minicamp plays?

Like, what are you talking about here? And the conversation, though, is about once it hits, the it being the season, who's calling the plays offensively? What do you think is going to happen there now that Josh McDaniels is in Las Vegas, Tom?

Yeah, it looks like it's going to be Joe Judge. Joe Judge is spending all his time with the offense, during these OTAs, all his time with Mac Jones. He's the quarterback's coach. Belichick is overseeing the offense, almost to the complete exclusion, again, in the sessions we're seeing. Maybe in the sessions that were not there, Belichick is over with the defense, I doubt it. But he's overseeing what Joe Judge is doing with the offense, and he's tweaking things. I believe the intention is to have Joe Judge be the play caller, quarterback's coach, de facto offensive coordinator. But until Bill believes that he's fully up to speed, Bill will remain the in case of emergency break glass. And Joe, I'll do this for a little while.

But it can't be mapped attrition. We talked to Matt Castle last week. Phil Perry, my colleague, talked to Castle. And Castle goes, look, I've played for seven different teams, 14 seasons in the league. Never did our play caller not spend every meeting with the quarterbacks. So Matt Patricia is the offensive line coach. He's not going to waltz in and say, all right, Mac, here's what we're going to run on second and eight from the 32, when he doesn't have a grip on it. So it's going to most likely be Joe Judge. I mean, what a crucial gig this is at a crucial time, too.

Agreed. Tom, I mean, like that's why the question is being asked over and over again. I mean, thank God they have him and not, say, Zach Wilson or Trey Lance. You know, those being the best examples, I think, of guys who had the steepest learning curves. What if those guys were sitting there at 15 instead of Mac Jones? I mean, Mac, he's kind of plug and play. They're lucky they have him. Well, I mean, in the fact that he's plug and play and he has a certain, I guess, maturity about him, not just a neck up, but in his abilities to be the vessel of the do your job mentality on offense. But if I told you last year when McDaniel's was coordinating the offense for the umpteenth straight year and Mac Jones was looking the way he was looking, that the guy who OK'd greenlit the first ever in my time watching the NFL, I guess, surrender formation that caused him to get fired as the head coach of the Giants, that that's the guy that's going to take the reins of Mac Jones's career in offense in year two. I don't know how many Patriots fans would have been like, yeah, let's do that.

You know, and that that's the interesting thing. I think if you're here in New England, you hear more scrutiny. Doubt, I guess, might be a word or Bill has had some dubious decisions over the last decade. And yeah, they've won Super Bowl 16, but we can look at the 17 season and see how that ended. And I kind of think we can all agree that it was a dubious decision to fit their cornerback, who would play ninety eight point two percent of the place. It was a dubious decision to move on from Tom Brady, which has been borne out.

So the drafting has been dubious. So when we look at the Joe Judge decision, there are fewer people in New England than you might expect. Who say, OK, Bill, we trust I think there's a lot of scrutiny on that and there's a lot of OK, well, why why Joe Judge?

What was the what was the ascendancy plan for offensive coordinator when you knew Josh McDaniels was going to go that Joe Judge was going to get fired in New York and become the offensive coordinator? So those are the types of things that make Patriots fans. Or media say. You're walking on a thin branch out there, Bill.

So could could he be part of the skeptic group of skeptics? Because what's the I mean, you're you're you're a Belichick veteran, Tom Curran. Why, why wouldn't what's what's the point of keeping this whole thing a secret? I know he's done that on defense. I know that's that's been something that he's done for years, even with his own son calling plays on defense. He just never puts it out there.

Who's doing it in the same way that all thirty one teams do? Because what's the big deal? What what is his philosophy on all that? What's what's his philosophy? He wants to be a one voice.

Buck stops here type of operation. And, you know, as I said to him when we were at the owner's meetings like Bill, titles do matter around the league. I said titles didn't matter to you when you were in the Giants system in the 80s or when you looked with the Jets.

Titles don't matter. Well, that's how guys advance in the league. If you're Gerard May when you have to go into a head coaching interview and explain exactly what your job is, because you're just the linebackers coach, why should you be considered as a head coach and you have to sell that to your local media?

I think that is an obstacle that's not necessary personally. Bill's running the team and he's won. He's been to nine Super Bowls and won six. But I don't think the coaches love it. I don't think that they're delighted that they have to sit there and play Mickey the dunce about what their jobs are. But Bill at 70 with the resume, he has feels emboldened to do what he's going to do. And he does. Tom Caron here on the Rich Eisen Show. So what do the Patriots look like this year?

What do you think? Pretty average team. Pretty average team. Defensively they're going through a full reboot. They're probably going to play zone on the back end.

Likely starting corner will be a guy who wasn't in the NFL last year, Malcolm Butler, who last played for the Cardinals. They're going to be good at safety, really good. They're counting on some linebackers who are completely unproven, Luce, McGrown, Raekwon McMillan. And they didn't stop Buffalo at all in the two times they faced them towards the ends of the year. So it's hard to say, wow, the defense is going to be shut down. Offensively, they're better than you think because their complement of receivers is really pretty good. And adding Devante Parker should make a difference. I don't think the second round pick, Tyquan Thornton, I would be stunned if he catches 30 balls. I mean, there's a bunch of guys ahead of him.

And he's very, very, very real. He's 182 pounds. He's like 6'1", 6'2".

That's skinny. So he will be a project. So it's kind of looking like an 8-9, 9-8, 10-7 type team to me. So you think maybe the Dolphins or the Jets could pass the Patriots this year? You think so?

I think they'll have, I think, kind of, I mean, the Dolphins have beaten them, what, the last four times? Well, the coach who did that, they let go of Tom. Correct. Correct. But the coach who did that, we would have looked at a few years ago and said, yeah, OK, Brian Flores is going to beat Bill.

And yeah, he kind of did. So I don't want to look at Mike McDaniel and say he's completely overmatched. Offensively, they have better players.

Except for, I think, Max better than Tua. Defensively, they probably have better players. They have a much better secondary, Howard Jones. So I would say the Patriots are, they're up against it this year. They're up against it this year, Richard.

OK, Tommy. Tom Curran here on the Rich Eisen Show. Before I let you go on to your first day of June, Wednesday, sir, were you surprised to hear that Brady, you know, forget about the bag that was put on the table, although I guess you can't when it's threw in 75 million bucks. He's surprised that Brady's post-career scenario is going to be a mixture of what he's currently doing with his production company, but also going in the booth and calling games. I was, but I love the attitude that he has of anything Peyton can do, I can do better.

I really think that Peyton, and not in a nasty way, I don't think, but I think the Romo, Manning paving the way to making a ton of money. And Brady's saying, look, I can be that guy. I can very easily be that guy. Look at the guy I've been since I got to Tampa.

There's more to me than you think. I think he loves that challenge. He's always looking for the next Everest.

He's always looking for the next Everest, Rich. So, uh, I guess the Murdochs are making up for all the money he left on the table for Kraft is basically what it is. What do you think?

It's a theory. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just saying all that money that, uh, all the hometown discounts he gave. Oh, no doubt. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. All the hometown discounts that he gave to Kraft, he's making it back.

And then some in just year one, thanks to the Murdochs. That's, that's a really fascinating aspect of it too, because I don't think that he realized Tom worried about his football and post-patriots mortality more than you really think. You know, I remember when deflategate was going on, he, he asked some of the folks around him to please stop talking to the media because he was worried he was going to be blackballed around the league. Even as accomplished as he was by 2015 when that was going on, he's like, look, if you guys keep slamming Goodell or the league, they're going to make it so that I can never play anywhere else. If I end up leaving New England, I'll be blackballed. And I think he's realized that no one's going to blackball me. I'm bigger than I thought. Hmm.

He'll be good at it too. I think. What do you think? Oh yeah. Right. I mean, you guys have a good relationship, right? Well, I mean, look, I I'm, I'm, it's kind of new with my relationship with him. I just think that you've talked to him. I'm saying you've talked to him one-on-one on the side, right.

Engaged with him when he really drops the veil. Right. He's a fun guy to talk to.

Right. And you see it, you see it, you know, I, I, we all assume that somebody's doing is, you know, Twitter and Instagram and all that stuff for him, but there's a sense of humor that he has that I think he's going to show off. And then the, the, the red ass that, that he is when it comes to competing and sitting in the booth, and that's going to be the one question I have is can he be critical and say, that guy didn't do it. That guy shouldn't have done it. That guy needs to do it better. Otherwise not. And I think he can because there's a way that you can criticize somebody within the construct of just that moment and not say that the guy's useless in the same way that you see a lot of, uh, people screaming every day on television.

You know? So, I mean, he's not going to have the boyish enthusiasm of Tony Romo and he's not going to have the, the dry sardonic self-deprecating thing that Peyton often brings. It's going to have to be different. What I'll be interested in is as he finds his voice, how does he deal with criticism of how well he's doing? Because I don't think there'll be an immediate success and he just doesn't get criticized very often for things that he, his performances. He gets criticized plenty for decisions he makes and things he does, but for things that he has done, produced, he often doesn't get criticized very often.

So if someone says he does, he's really not very interesting. I wonder how he'll react to that. So I guess in, in, in, in, in saying farewell to you, since we're talking about Brady's end game scenario, um, and Belichick is now the big 7-0, how do you think his end game is going to go? Do you think it's just going to be one off season, nobody sees it coming and he's just like, I'm out? Or, or it'll be Coach K where he'll let everyone know it's his last year? Um, or, or, or what? What do you, what do you, how do you think this is going to go in New England?

Because everybody's gone now. I mean, pretty much, I mean, some, some have come back on his staff as we've just established in this conversation, but you know, he, the Crafts and he are pretty much the last of the do your job successful era that's there, right? Yeah. And I think that it was interesting to hear Robert Kraft pushes chips into the middle of the table and basically say, Bill, you got to win.

I don't like going to the playoffs three years in a row or two out of three years and not winning games. So on notice would be a stretch, but the craft has noticed. I don't think that that would be unfair. So just Bill at 70 with the resume that he has feels this, well, he's putting me on notice here, he's saying I better perform or else. So I think that's worth watching is, is media members and people who follow the league. What is the undercurrent of the relationship between ownership and Bill Belichick as Robert continues into his eighties and Bill is into his seventies, all the accomplishments they have, what's their vision for the Patriots 2025 and beyond?

And does Bill have the opportunity to make ownership level decisions? This is what I want to have happen at coach. And this is who I want to be. The GM was Robert said, that's awesome.

You just had a quarter century doing that. I'll decide that that's worth watching food for thought. Absolutely. I just wonder how it's going to all finally come down because this year there was even a conversation I heard somewhere that keep an eye on Belichick. And then it's just like, what are you talking about? And I think it was even asked of him.

And he's just like, no, I'm here. Right. I mean, like that was. Yeah, that was asked of him. And it just seems like he is as energized as ever. He's as locked in as ever. He's as Belichick as ever. So, but he hasn't communicated to anyone his intentions to leave. Yes. And I think the supposition is within the organization at the very highest levels that Bill is Bill will let us know. He's not going to just say, yeah, I'm cleaning up my desk today. I'm out of here.

He would he would let them know. So. But the the Robert and Bill. I don't know if it's we call it sword crossing or what has kind of gone on, mostly authored by Robert is fascinating for me to watch. Tom, thanks for the time, man. Appreciate it. Look for my call during the summer. We'll have you back on as conditions weren't. Thank you, sir. Really appreciate it. There's the man, Tom Carne.

Tom E. Carne. Teams that have won a playoff game more recently than the Patriots. Yeah, it's an interesting list. Texans, Vikings, Browns, Bengals, Titans, Seahawks, Ravens, Saints, Packers, 49ers, Chiefs, Bucks, Bills, Rams. That is almost half the league. Almost half the league.

And and. Again, this is the way that Belichick operates, and, you know, you need to be very careful by supposing what the team is going to do or look like, because last year here comes a rookie quarterback and they sent Camp Pack and and here comes a rookie quarterback. And what's this team going to look like? And they stumbled out of the gate, if you will, and then ripped off for two straight months, looking like the Patriots of old, where you're the one who makes the mistake. They're the ones who don't.

You're the one who is always finding yourself overcoming a deficit. They're not. You're the one trying to come back on them. They're the ones who are making the situationally brilliant play to make sure you don't have enough time left on the clock to do it. I mean, there was a two month stretch in the middle of the season was spectacular.

And then they hit a wall. So be careful just looking at this roster and saying that the team is going to be less than. But if the offense struggles in the first few weeks and you're looking at the guy who just washed out as the new coach of the New York Giants who came up with that third down take a knee surrender formation inside your own five yard line in a season that's already lost. And you have nothing to do but damn the torpedoes.

And you basically come up with hardly a single ping. And that's the guy that's going to be sitting right there. And Matt Jones doesn't look.

It's a sophomore slump. Look out, man. Look out.

Look out. Because what's the other option? It sure appears the other option is Bill calls the place. Can you imagine you watch Bill and he's there putting the menu in front of his face? Yeah, I don't want that. I don't think that's going to happen.

Yeah, I don't want that. But, you know, Joe Judge, that's not exactly exciting either based on how it went in New York. But he's been with Bill for a long time beforehand. Everyone who knows him says he is brilliant. He is smart. And he can do it.

And he will be able to do it. I mean, it's still in Bill we trust. So let's see what we got. You know, like you said, it's not many. It's minicamp now.

So let's see how things look in three months. 844204 Rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll take your phone calls and set up the rest of this show. That includes David Carr of the NFL Network and Ian Rappaport as well. That's all coming up right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Back here on our program, 844204 Rich number to dial. David Carr is going to join us. He predicted yesterday that he guaranteed it, as a matter of fact, and the construct of honoring Joe Namath's 79th birthday.

That's a good segment. Should we just rip that off right now? We could.

I mean, just to come up with a guarantee. Tory Holt, who is guest analyzing on NFL Total Access, guaranteed that Matthew Stafford would win MVP. OK. And David Carr said that the Jets would make the playoffs.

Which one is a little spicier? Jets making the playoffs. Brady was the only guy who threw over 40 touchdowns last year. 40 touchdowns and above. It was Stafford and it was Brady. And Stafford could have a better year and Stafford is the Super Bowl winning quarterback. It would just be an anti-Los Angeles NFL bias if he has a similar year and the Rams win their division and he doesn't get MVP votes.

I think because he threw a lot of interceptions last year and Rogers only had a handful, right? Well, and plus it was the bias of, well, it's got to be the coach. Oh, true.

That's true. It's got to be the coach. Just look at him now. He did 17 interceptions last year. Well, there was also a swoon during the year and he, you know, barely finished first in his division.

It's a different story. This year, he's the Super Bowl defending, Super Bowl winning quarterback, right? And this year there's Alan Robinson. This year, they're going to be expected to win more games than they even did last year.

We need to see it first. Well, we saw it last year. The Jets making the playoffs, man, and this is something we'll talk about with David. I mean, the first nine games of the season, they got a bi-week and week 10. You take a look at their schedule and it's totally insane.

Like they could have, and then you see the back end of their schedule and it's just like, if they hit the back end of their schedule and we're assuming that this team is, the teams that they're playing are, you know, similar to last year's effectiveness. The Jets, if the Jets can hit that stretch five and four, they'll have a shot. Are we doing the Jets? I'm not going to do the Jets just yet.

No, I'm not doing it just yet. I want to talk to David first anyway. But you look at their, their first four games are all against the AFC North, meaning they're going to play the defending AFC champs. And the first game out is against Baltimore. And all you need to know is, is Deshaun Watson going to be playing in week two for the Cleveland Browns? The answer, no, the answer is they're playing the Jets. So they'll probably maybe come down with the suspension in week three. That's where, no, that's where it goes. If it's the Patriots, if it's the Patriots, if it's the Patriots, then he's definitely not playing. Right.

Put it back up again, Mike. And then once they're done with that, they take on Miami who, New England's first opponent. That's a tough start. At Green Bay. And then their one game against the AFC West, their one game against the AFC West is they're taking on last year's last place winner, cause you know, they finished last in the American and the AFC East. You just happened to get Russell. Just happens to be at Russell Wilson.

Okay. Then they're home for New England the day before Halloween and then home for Buffalo. And then they got the bye week. After which they take on New England again. And that's when the schedule begins to soften a bit. Chicago, they got to go at Minnesota, at Buffalo. Home for Detroit, home for Jacksonville, at Seattle and then at Miami. So if the Jets hit that week 11, if they go five and four in those first nine games against that tough stretch, it's possible. But they're going to have to win a bunch of games that a young roster will have to, above their years, gel fast in order to do. So Sauce Gardner will be in the back end.

Oh, I don't know. Will he? Oh yes, he will. I'm just saying he's got to compete for the job. He's got to earn it.

I know, I know, I know. But this is the kid who- He's going to have to sauce heat up. Well, this is the kid who we heard from Luke Fickle and Marcus Freeman, right? His former head coach and former position coach at Cincinnati. That didn't we hear from them both saying that, they're like, I'm not calling you Sauce.

You're not ready to start. And then as Freeman said, he grabbed that pick against Central Florida in a game that he was forced into playing. And he said, I'll call you Sauce now. And then Luke Fickle said, they thought he was too green to get in. And he played that game and he made that play and he looked at his assistants going, okay, I get it now.

We still wouldn't call him Sauce until he got drafted. But that's what you get guys like him and Garrett Wilson, where they come in and they're like, yeah, I don't know about last year and I don't know about the history of this team and I don't know about the same old Jets, but I'm going to turn this around, this program around. But man, it is a deep, of course, just the Jets luck that it's the year that the AFC gets the toughest it's been maybe ever.

Yeah, maybe ever. I just said those words, maybe ever, because we're in this day and age where, okay, Brady and Peyton Manning are going to finally leave their posts in the AFC and then, you know, it's a wide open because no one's going to be able to play quarterback at such a high level like those guys. And then there's Mahomes and Allen and then there's Joe Burrow and Lamar and there's Deshaun Watson and there's Russell Wilson and Herbert and Derek Carr, and Matt Ryan. Come on, man.

It's crazy. Well, we'll talk to David Carr about this subject and more coming up. OK, I was looking at this earlier, so, you know, the turnover for the playoffs is about 50 percent. So if the Jets make it, who's most likely to miss it?

Well, you know, I think the Raiders are winning the division. Which is a hot take. To say the least.

It's spicy. Yeah. And so who would not make it? So last year was the Patriots. Yeah.

Last year's the Patriots. Maybe I'll choose them. Yeah. And I think, you know, based on kind of what Tom said, it'd be trending. He just said it's possible the Jets and the Dolphins could pass it.

Yeah, it'd be trending that way. I mean, it's Steelers, Patriots. Yeah. Maybe Steelers are out. Maybe the Bengals don't make it.

I don't know. Titans. Oh, dude. No, no. I am so not here for that. Bengals taking a step back.

Super Bowl loser always struggles the year after. Is the town where Mo Green has no plaque or signpost still giving you insanely yummy rat poison odds? Speaking of which, Nick Saban spoke yesterday at the SEC coaches gathering. We're going to get that for you coming up in the next hour, right off the bat. I don't get it.

I don't get it. The Bengals. Yeah, we're still getting juicy Bengals odds, 20 to one, 22 to one. That's insane. Browns have better odds.

That's so stupid. Cowboys. Let me tell you something. Whoever sits there and makes this stuff up, looks at the Bengals and what they looked like last year and that quarterback showing you he is special. That is a unicorn in stripes, man.

That is a unicorn. And then their biggest issue is the offensive line and they hit the crap out of it like Hans Gruber hitting it again in free agency. I mean, you look at the Browns and, and we don't, you don't even know if their prize quarterback acquisition is going to be available to them yet. And then what else did they do last year except fold when Baker Mayfield was doing what he could do.

And succeeding before he got hurt defensively. They folded and then Mayfield was up and down in his own right. And you have no idea if the quarterback's going to be there and what the hell they're doing with the quarterback right now. As of right now, you're going to give that team better odds than the Bengals. You're out of your mind.

Thank God, I don't gamble. 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 got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one. Wow. Because even going back before, you know, Hulk Hogan was a baby face, 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.