REShow: Ian Rapoport - Hour 1

This, this, this, this, this is The Rich Eisen Show. They said he went out of bounds inside the one. It's up for the third time in this game.

Washington gets a stop inside their own five. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Everybody keeps wanting to say I don't want anything to do with Carson.

Because the young man doesn't deserve to have that all the time. Today's guests, NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, plus writer and comedian Sarah Tiana. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Oh yes, what a special edition of The Rich Eisen Show that we have in store for you here on a casual Friday.

Yeah, I'm wearing a little short sleeve shirt. Del Tufo's back. We're back.

We're back as one big happy family here on a very busy Friday. Where we have lots to talk about and we'll talk about as much as we can without talking about last night's game. We got to do that at some point and we will. Of course we do.

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And I love doing that because we're very proud of it. But let's get to some orders of business. Good to see you over there Christopher Brockman. How are you?

What up Rich? You've got What's More Likely on this program, a regular Friday staple. We've got What's More Likely. You've got your Sneaky Good Games. Three and one last week, Sneaky Good Games.

And the mother of your child is coming in as a new studio guest. Yeah! How about them apples? Is he going to act right today? He acts right every day. What does that even mean?

What is that about T.J. Jefferson? Good to see you Mike Del Tufo. A nice two day walkabout so you can do one game. That was great. Baylor in West Virginia. Glad you're back on this program. Great game last night. Lots more touchdowns than Thursday night.

83 points. There you go. T.J. Jefferson, how are you sir?

What's going on? Just thinking of our friends out there. We're really glad that you're our friend. And this is a friendship that will never ever end. What is that?

Is that from Sesame Street? What is that? Just saying what up to our people. And the fact that someone might be making a return at the WWE tonight. Okay, very good. Very, very good.

Shout out to Bray Wyatt. There you go. Terrific.

844204 Rich is the number to dial throughout this entire program. Yeah, the commanders and the Bears played a football game last night. We're going to hit that. Brian Rappaport of the NFL Media Group will be joining us in about 17 minutes time.

And I don't think there's anything to it. But every single week that it goes on and on and on successfully for the Dallas Cowboys. And this weekend is a huge football game. Sunday night football on NBC.

Chris Collinsworth is going to slide right next to Mike Tirico. And they're going to start calling a big time football game in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Site of the only remaining undefeated football team in the business. The 5-0 Philadelphia Eagles welcoming in a Cowboys team who we last saw on Sunday Night Football in week one. When Tampa Bay went in there and absolutely doused whatever embers of optimism might have been burning around the heart of the Dallas Cowboys 2022 season. Bad three quarters. Beginner, bad four quarters, sir. That game was dreadful. It was, as I said, coming on the program the day after accusing the Cowboys of being the one word Jerry Jones never wants to hear associated with the Cowboys. Boring, boring, boring.

You did say that they were boring. They couldn't move the football. They couldn't do anything right on the offensive end.

And that was before Dak Prescott broke his thumb. And then in comes Cooper Rush and then Cooper Rush is invited by Jerry Jones to create a quarterback controversy. Because his meaning, his subtext was, hey, put me in a tough spot. Why don't you?

I would love to be in a tough spot. And then Cooper Rush said say less. Four straight wins.

Four straight wins. And I believe it's Dak's job doesn't matter how many wins in a row Cooper Rush is going to get. But of all people to come on in and say, hey, maybe just maybe is none other than Troy Aikman, one of the best in the business at analyzing football on the spot. He and Buck doing Monday Night Football are just such a great listen. And of course, he's got unique perspective of not only being a Hall of Fame quarterback, but a champion Hall of Fame quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, who once upon a time watched the backup take his gig for a time being.

Here is Aikman on Thursday on 96-7 the ticket on the Musers program on that station in the Metroplex. I went through this back in 91. And when Steve Berline came in and won the last five games of the regular season and then I was ready to play and Jimmy stayed with Steve in the postseason.

And, you know, I wasn't happy about it. I don't think there was questions within the organization as far as who is who is the future for the franchise. But those become hard questions. It's the only position it probably happens at but if they're winning and they win a big road game against Philadelphia, I could see where there is some pause and you say, well, you know, how do how exactly do we handle this? And Dak is the quarterback of this franchise.

I love the guy and and they're better with Dak at quarterback, but the team's playing good football right now. There you have it. Nice little nuanced gray area approach to this thing, which is, hey, Dak's the guy that everyone knows that but I was once the guy and everybody knew that too and Jimmy Johnson stuck with Steve Berline. The hot hand.

And could that happen? Man, you want to talk about a subtext for a huge football game in the NFC East, toughest division in football in 2022? You gotta love it. Hey, Giants 4-1 hosting the 3-2 Ravens this weekend.

That's on the marquee. Later on, I'll give you my top five games of week six. I ask you this, gents, you must answer this as well.

I will. T.J. Jefferson, as you know, we deal in narratives. Certainly on this program, certainly when it comes to the NFL media, I've called the National Football League the greatest narrative generating machine we have in American sports. And it is true facts. I spit facts when I say that. What's a better narrative to come out of this game?

Why? What's a better narrative to come out of this game? The Philadelphia Eagles go to 6-0.

Hold on a minute. Go to 6-0. Jalen Hurts puts it on the Cowboys and he continues his ascendancy to potentially win votes, if not the entire shooting match for most valuable player. In an NFL where it's the Bills world and we're just all rent payers right now.

Right? We'll see what happens between the Bills and the Chiefs before that game kicks off on Sunday night. Is that a better narrative coming out of the game or is Cooper Rush being undefeated at 5-0?

And the Cowboys go home to take on the Lions and the Bears in back to back games before their bye week. As Dak is currently, according to his head coach, in regeneration mode. Sounds very science fiction. He's in regeneration mode. I thought we said believe in science.

He's a reptile. Better narrative coming out of this game, Chris Brockman. Better narrative. I mean, it's Cooper Rush, man. TJ Jefferson, better narrative coming out of this game.

Do I even have to answer this? You already agreed you would. How about them Cowboys? That's a better narrative for you.

Cooper Rush being 5-0? I told you, right? I told you.

What did you tell me? We're winning football games. I don't care who's on the field. I don't care. As long as we're winning football games. Doesn't matter to me who's playing. What if Dak's sitting there and saying that, you know, am I being left behind?

Well, first of all, he's a grown man and I think he'd be able to handle it. Really? That's a good problem to have.

What I told you about the Jimmy G situation in Trey Lance months ago, it is a better situation to be in having two quarterbacks. Everyone says it's not. Look at you. Look at you.

I'm just trying to be nuanced. I don't want all this Cowboy fan hate, Rich. And I thought this is Dak's gig 100% and I'm, you know.

Wavering? I need to see what happens Sunday night. That's what makes Sunday night that big. Can I say one thing, though?

It sure does. Cooper Rush hasn't really been asked to go out and win a game yet. Right.

It's mostly like that's not true. The game in New Jersey against the Giants. OK, well, I'm saying he has four touchdown pads.

It's like his stats aren't jumping off the off the page. So you're saying down 10. Let's go. Eagles put up to tons of points. Let's go.

Let's see what if you can. And if he does that, then you're like, oh, OK. All right. Yeah. The defense beat the Rams. I mean, Cooper Rush at one hundred and two yards last week. Cooper Rush is doing what he needs to do. Right.

Yeah. Against the Giants. Those are two scoring drives after the Giants took the lead late third quarter that were very impressive. And he started finding C.D. Lamb for the first time. And C.D. Lamb's gotten in the end zone a couple of times now.

I'm open to the idea. And Stephen Jones said it really well this week that Cooper's doing everything right. It's terrific. Dak is a franchise player. One would think in the same way he expects the defense to get better from here on out, the offense will get better. And Dak brings so much to the offense that that will only improve things from the current way of doing things. I'm telling you, I still believe the ultimate controversy comes when they do reinsert Dak and seeing what happens. That's where it happens. Not not the subject matter here.

Yeah. Obviously, if we lose a couple games and that doesn't play well, then, you know, we'll see what happens. I can't wait for this game this weekend.

I cannot wait for it. And then, Chris, you can deny it all you want, man. Bill Belichick has had multiple times this week to say Mac Jones is the starter and he's like, I don't deal in hypotheticals. And he has let this thing linger and he knows exactly what he's doing when he lets the thing linger.

He knows exactly what he's doing. And how about this game? Bailey Zappi versus Jacoby Brissett, two, two and three teams going at it in Cleveland. That's a pretty damn big football game. The winner goes to three and three with a backup quarterback. And of course, the Cleveland Browns need to just hang around. That's all they need to do is they just need to linger long enough for Deshaun Watson, who, by the way, just got a new lawsuit thrown on him just yesterday to return after an 11 game respite.

And this is game six. They will officially be halfway through as long as Watson has done what he's supposed to do in searching within. So Bailey Zappi, Chris, the number of times Belichick has been offered to just basically say, Max, the guy, similar to what he said multiple times in training camp.

OK. He hasn't done it. He's turned it down. He said it in training camp.

But you're asking a guy who's never done something and then you're complaining, hey, why haven't you done that thing that you've never done before? Because he didn't have to for 20 years. He hasn't done it since 2001. He might be taking his old 2001 playbook out and saying, how the hell can why? Why do we not why are we assuming Bailey Zappi can't go on a Brady-esque like streak just because his last name is Zappi?

You know, like like Bill, Bill could have said it today. Hey, you know, he won't say if he's been medically cleared, but he says it could happen anytime. Well, I mean, that's that's just playing games. I don't know why you guys playing games with his own guy.

We don't know what he's telling the guys. So a guy who always plays with the media and plays games with the media and now you're now you're mad that he won't give it to a straight? I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm just saying you were very like quarterback controversy for Dallas. And now you're like, you're downplaying because it's been one game.

No. Cooper Rush has won four in a row. If Bailey Zappi wins four in a row, then we can start entertaining this. Listen, Chris, you should take pride in this. You were the one pounding the table saying give Bailey Zappi a shot.

Rich. So if it comes out that he's the man. Matt Jones.

Yeah. Over Hoyer. I'm just saying just be so that because I was right about Cooper Rush, so it's like fine. He's had every chance to tamp it down. He's not going to do it. He's not going to give you what you want.

What I it's not what I want. It's what we assume his quarterback needs, which is a which is a public way of saying it. Hey, unless what do you think?

You think he's like coaching Matt Jones that hard by saying come on back and we'll see what it looks like. Or he's like, look, Mac, you're the guy, but we're just going to have some fun with the Chinese and the people. Oh, nice. You're a shiny, zappy people. Wow. Look at you. Is that R.E.M.?

Yeah, that was. Frank Zappi. I'm just saying T.J.J. on R.E.M., everybody.

Overrated band. New England home for Cleveland. And then, by the way, hey, folks, this doesn't get any doesn't get any more compelling.

Oh, yeah. He'll like that. He'll like it for the whole country. Monday night football versus the Bears. That's next for the Patriots.

How are the Bears going to score in that game? That's it's a nice that's a nice zappy peppy opportunity. Nice.

Welcome back, Mac. Throw a W out there at the Jets. Zappi at Zach. The battle of disease.

Max, probably starting on Sunday. What are you guys talking about? That might never start again. Look at you. Hey, Richard, that makes you deflect. He was very, like, happy to start the Cowboys controversy, but you want no part of it when it comes to your team. That's what I find funny, like because there isn't one with my team.

OK, I don't think there is. Chris, there's not one with my team either, but you were very happy to get that story. Your guys won four in a row and he's about to beat the Eagles. I can't wait to ask Ian Rappaport about this. We got Brandon Staley on this program. You know what we're going to do? We're going to go for it with him.

We're going to go for it with him. Are you going to ask about the parking spot? Yes. Oh, OK. And then, of course, then, of course, his being second guessed by his Pro Bowl wide receiver in real time. Are you going to bring that out? Of course.

Oh, OK. Speaking of Cleveland. And speaking and the Chargers are three and two, though, and they've got a Monday night game against the Denver Broncos.

That's pretty big. Week six finale. So I've got my top five games of week six. We've also got what's more likely T.J. Jefferson's fantasy advice from the pulpit. Yes.

Sneaky good game. Sarah Tiana is coming in studio in hours three on the family episode. Let's do it.

Love to see it. OK. That's an hour number three of this program. And there's you at eight four four two or four rich number to dial would take a break. Ian Rappaport joins us on the latest and everything going on, by the way, on the 10 year anniversary of him being hit by a football on live television. Oh, yeah.

That's coming up. Influencer. It's a word that gets tossed around a lot these days. There is a woman who went the distance, who broke ground as the first true influencer by living a remarkable life. Her name, Elizabeth Taylor. I'm Katy Perry. This is the story of the original influencer. This is Elizabeth the first.

Elizabeth the first the podcast wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, eight four four two or four, Rich is the number to dial my colleague from the NFL Media Group joining me here, kind enough on the 10 year anniversary of him being hit by a football on live television. Why? I don't know. It's happened.

It's happened to the best of us. And that includes one of the best to do it in the history of NFL Network. My colleague from the NFL Media Group is Ian Rappaport at rap sheet on the Rich Eisen Show.

How are you doing, Ian? Happy anniversary. Thanks. I appreciate that.

You're welcome. It has been you know, it's been a great celebration. I thought my my wife buying me a cake was something I honestly didn't expect, but it was appreciated. Having it for breakfast was a little weird. But did she really buy your cake?

Did she really did you buy a cake kind of to to to celebrate? No, we're not crazy people, but that'd be pretty funny. It's happened to the best, man. It has happened to the best.

God bless. That was actually one of my great moments because I got a lot of credit for keeping going while I was on TV with the football. Many, many people, including like people on the Today Show and Good Morning America. And it was on all the talks, the late night talk shows. And everybody was talking about my professionalism, which was awesome because I had no earthly idea what I was doing on TV.

I just like memorized what I was what I was trying to say and just didn't want to forget my wife. You know what? You're I remember when you first started out in and look at, you know, you're all grown up.

You're grown up. You got multiple millions and your Twitter following. And it's awesome. And your information is impeccable.

And thank you for calling in today. Listen, why is Bill Belichick not taking every opportunity to just say, Max, the guy? Why? You know, you're fluent in Belichick.

So help me out with this one. What do you think? So this is a two part thing.

Yes. One is the body of work that Bailey Zappi has put on the field is not over yet. So one thing about Bill Belichick is he does not judge anything until he's got the full body of work.

Right. So he doesn't do hypotheticals. He doesn't do. Well, maybe if this happens and it's like, no, he's going to see everything he needs to see from Bailey's after, which I would imagine includes this week. And he's going to make a decision based on that.

The other thing is, you know, why would he like? I, I personally think Mac Jones is the future starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. And I think he is the starting quarterback for a very long time.

But the guy playing for him has played well. And I don't think you have to worry about hurting Mac Jones's feelings like he's very brash. He's very confident. He probably knows he's the starter. So there's no actual reason to say it because you might mess with Bailey Zappi before the start.

And also, why would you like there's no there's no game except to get people to stop asking about it, which he has never cared about ever. I think it's the other thing is, you know, one great thing about Belichick is he judges. He does what a lot of coaches say they do, which is judge people not based on where they are drafted. So he always has an open mind. So, like, what if Bailey Zappi comes in and is Tom Briggs?

Like, that's always in his head. So there is a chance. I mean, it's more than a dumb and dumber chance that Bailey Zappi performs well against Cleveland. And then there's a Monday night game against the Bears, who we know are points challenged. And there's a shot that the Jets-Patriots game is the battle of the Z's.

Zappi versus Zach, even if Mac is ready to go. Is that you've seen? I don't personally think so. But it's Bill Belichick. So, I mean, I would say, yeah, there is a chance. I mean, it's one of the reasons why I think he has won so many games is his mind is open. Like, I'll give you just a quick example. I remember talking to him before a training camp, you know, eight years ago, ten years ago, something like that.

It was a long time ago. And I was asking him about where a certain veteran fit in. And he was like, look, I'm happy to talk. He's like, but I cannot answer that because I don't know about how he's going to come in, what he's going to look like. What kind of shape he's in. Has he lost the step?

How fast is he? I'm not going to judge anything until I see exactly what he is when he shows up. Which was always instructed to me because he literally opens his mind to different evaluations at all times for every player.

Ian Rappaport here on the Rich Eisen Show. And to me, Dak's going to get his gig back in Dallas. The question is when. So let me leap out this conversation and start with your knowledge of Dak's thumb. He's in regeneration mode, which is an interesting way for Mike McCarthy to term it today.

What is the status of Dak's readiness to return? First of all, I'm also in regeneration mode. I did the Peloton yesterday.

It was a tough one. Taken today off, regenerating. Well, I mean, Ian, it is, again, 10 years ago, you've been regenerating for 10 years since you were hit with that football. So you've been in that mode for a decade and I'm impressed by it.

Yeah, quite frankly. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I plan tomorrow to do some regenerating myself again. Anyway, so Dak, so he has three through yesterday and it sounds like he did a little more than they anticipated, which is great because he was able to do that. He is sore today, so he's not going to do anything. He will probably, he might throw a little bit Saturday.

My guess is they'll probably pull back, but we'll see. And then the next time you're going to see him, it's going to be on the field pregame on Sunday. And assuming that goes well, then my guess is he will practice Wednesday next week and be preparing to play. That is my sense as far as where it goes and all that. So that is, you know, that basically puts him right on track.

It'll be fewer than six weeks or more than five weeks and he'll be healthy, he'll be cleared, he'll be ready to go. That is my sense of where this is going with the Cowboys. And then it's decision time or there is no decision based on what you're saying. The minute that Dak is like, I'm ready, McCarthy's like, you're starting. That's it.

Cut and dried. I do not believe there's a decision. I don't think anything's, you know, look, Cooper Rush has been awesome.

Yes. The Cowboys have run the ball extremely well. Their defense is really, really, really good.

Really good. And their offense is extremely limited with Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush has done an incredible job. And if you could give an MVP to a backup quarterback, he would definitely get it.

But he is a placeholder for the franchise quarterback who will come in as soon as he is physically possible. Ian Rappaport here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your two cents on who decided to bring Carson Wentz to Washington? Yeah, I knew it was Ron Rivera. I mean, I'm sure the owner was involved.

He's always involved. But like, you know, except he was not allowed to be, except he was not allowed to be. He wasn't supposed to have anything to do with it. That's the problem. You know what I mean? You're supposed to be sat down.

The league was supposed to have sat him down. So that's the big issue here. But I don't mean to just jump in there. But go ahead. Go ahead.

Continue on with the action. You know, like, you know, there's a lot of issues. I mean, I remember when I saw the picture of him and Jerry Jones on the field and I reached out to one of his spokesmen. I'm like, oh, you know, is Dan Snyder allowed back at the stadium? And the response was, he's always been allowed back. And I was like, what? And it turns out he had been at every game. He just hadn't posed for any pictures. But the whole thing is very strange.

I have no idea. It's very strange. So my sense on the Carson thing is Ron Rivera and the football people in the building, Marty Hurney, Martin Mayhew, they wanted Carson Wentz. They believed in Carson Wentz.

I shouldn't say in the past tense because I think they still believe. But they wanted to trade for him. They expected big things and they were all in on it. So, I mean, whatever Dan Snyder did or didn't do at the last minute to, like, get the trade done, like, the football people wanted Carson. So I guess what was that outburst last night about in your estimation then after the game with Ron Rivera?

I assume he's very annoyed at having to listen to Dan Snyder stories and answer Dan Snyder stories for the 800th time. I mean, you think about, you know, Ron Rivera is in charge of football. He's got final say, right?

Yes. So every time there is a football question, but also a non-football question, a name change question, a stadium question, a Dan Snyder question, a lawsuit question, a investigation question, who answers them? It's always Ron Rivera. So, which is fine, it's what he signed up for, it's what he's getting paid for, but I assume it's a little bit annoying. And I think that's what you got last night, which is like, can I just be the football guy for a second and enjoy the stupid win that we got on Amazon, you know? Ian Rappaport here on The Rich Eisen Show. You know how it works in our business if a head coach gets fired early on and there is somebody, like, say, Sean Payton's resume sitting around on a television studio set somewhere.

Then speculation begins and runs rampant and seats get hotter faster in the NFL to make sure another team doesn't jump out in front. There's multiple layers to this subject matter. So let's hit the first one first. With Matt Rule out, do any other coaching situations, even at this early stage of entering week six, bear monitoring in your estimation?

Ian Rappaport. I do not have another one that I am monitoring. I mean, I'm monitoring it all, but I do not have another one that would be considered potentially imminent. And I think in general, you know, last year there was 10.

That's a lot. You know, I think the one that's probably gotten the most scrutiny is Nathaniel Hackett. He's a first year coach. If they do anything, it's not going to be mid-season.

So I don't sense that any is coming next. I mean, and if there is a rush for Sean Payton, you know, which I'm sure there will be interest, but I don't know where that comes from except from the Panthers, which a lot of people think that may not exactly be likely. Well, I mean, the reason why is because the Saints have contractual control on Payton's future, correct? Till when?

Can you walk me through that process as you know? So till 2024, which is, you know, next year. And so I know, yes, they're in the same division. And I think the Saints would like to not trade Sean Payton to the Carolina Panthers, but I think they also would like a good price. So if the Panthers had the highest price, then maybe it would happen, but they would have to pay a premium. It would be like trading someone in your division.

Like, yes, you can do it, but it's going to be absolutely and insanely expensive. Plus, I do think it benefits the Saints to have the Panthers involved because it drives up the price for if anyone else gets it. And what about the notion that the first blush notion that hit the Twitterverse after rules firing is that there will be a fire sale and that people are going to be calling up Carolina and saying, what about McCaffrey? What about D.J. Moore? And just keep on keeping trying to pick that roster clean if this team is thinking about maybe even burning it completely down to the ground.

Is there any there there on that? Yeah, I don't see I don't see a fire sale if for no other reason than they're going to have to hire a coach. So, like, if you're a head coach and you look at the roster and you have Derek Brown and D.J. Moore and Brian Burns and Christian McCaffrey, like you're going to say, oh, cool, we need a quarterback.

But one that is really, really pretty good, honestly. You know, like it's I'm not saying nothing's happening, but I don't think it's going to be a fire sale because I think they would like to give the new coach some players. Ian Rappaport, NFL Media Group, NFL Insider, couple minutes left with him here on the cusp of week six. Any sense of what the league's thinking about with Devante Adams shoving over that member of the media on the way out the door on Monday night?

Ian? Not yet. You know, usually, Rich, these things come extremely quickly. It has not come extremely quickly.

Now, they don't play this week, so, you know, the extra time to deliberate has been interesting, but no word yet on kind of which way the league intends to go. And the fact that he's been charged, despite the fact that and I know you have the details on the charge and what it could mean maximally. And if you wouldn't mind peppering your answer to my question with that information as well. Ian? I'm sorry, say that again? His charge, you know what it means in terms of locally and what it holds in terms of maximum penalties. And my question is, is the fact that this was, in fact, administered by the local authorities, despite what people may think about ambulance chasing and things of that nature, does that factor in in your estimation of what the league's going to do? I mean, it makes it a little more complicated. It was interesting, too, because it was painted like it was a misdemeanor. It actually isn't. It's a city ordinance violation, which I don't know. But, you know, maybe that's what they use when people get into a fight, like a bar fight. I'm not really sure. I've never heard of a city ordinance violation before.

Plus, I've never received one for being completely honest, and I don't plan to, but it just makes it a little more complicated. And yeah, I mean, I think there is a, you know, what happens to this guy situation now, this ESPN freelancer who apparently this was his first game. I mean, there's a lot of questions, including, like, what was he doing in the visiting tunnel right after the game when players are walking through there and media members are not supposed to be there? There's a lot of questions, and I'm fascinated to see what the answers are.

All right. And then I guess on the opposite end of the spectrum of this subject matter is the ping pong table in Miami and its meaning, right? Like, what the hell's going on in Dolphins country with their locker? I mean, honestly, the coaches like holding it up as the the paragon of professionalism and leadership that they're getting rid of the ping pong table.

And we find out the next day, the reason why Tyree kill has replaced the ping pong table is clearly about its viability as a ping pong table. I mean, what's what is there anything here or we're just wasting our time in. Oh, it's it's a great waste of time for the Dolphins. OK. No, it's all I'm not even joking.

It's awesome. The Dolphins have, you know, dealt with more nonsense and real hard, crazy news than most people deal with an off season, including people discussing whether or not their owner would sell tampering violations, concussion protocol, all sorts of stuff. Deshaun Watson, a ping pong table is a great thing to discuss.

I hope we discussed a lot of it. I believe Tyree kill when he says he just wanted to upgrade the Dolphins logo. I myself am a great ping pong player. I probably destroy any of them. Well done. Really? Are you serious?

Is that like a fraternity thing? That's fine. Really? I'm actually a really good ping pong player. Really?

Like Forrest Gump good or what? No, no, no. Just like, you know, your local, you know, your local party. There's a ping pong table like take on all comers. Good. Oh, really? How about that? I did not know that about my ping pong game.

OK. Does it take away from your ability to focus on on winning every single Sunday when you're on game day morning? Or you can you can separate the two like the Dolphins say that they can. Yeah, no, I can I can I'm actually I've always been really good at compartmentalizing like Saturdays are very busy. We got flag football. OK, because you get soccer practices.

Father of the year. But I'm still able to, you know, grind it out and get ready for Sunday, which I think is important as the Dolphins move forward to kind of mimic that that situation. Yeah.

Taken on Minnesota this weekend. And is the Sunday nighter and week seven Pittsburgh at Miami where they're thinking Tua might return? What are your what's your sense on that with with that obviously being a very sensitive subject? Yeah, well, first of all, I don't know because it's a concussion and it is. I gave up a long time ago predicting when people will come back because it's not only is every concussion different, but every recovery is different and there's no way of knowing that is the thought, the sense, the hope.

But there's really no way of knowing. And thanks for the time, brother. Be well this weekend.

We're back on together Sunday morning. Look forward to that. Thank you, sir. You take care. All right. Look forward to it too, Rich. Take care. You're the man.

That's Ian Rappaport right here on the Rich Eisen Show. OK. I decided, you know, since I already went in on the whole business of the football hitting him, I didn't bring up the Mets. Yeah. And I respect you.

Why would you do that? Is it just to say that in 20 minutes time, the Yankees first pitch game two happens? I know. But what's that got to do with the Mets?

Nothing. It's just totally just my way of turning baseball. I'm just saying that you could have done that without even thinking about the great chat with Ian Rappaport. You can listen to the NFL and the NFL app on the Odyssey app on Westwood1Sports.com via Westwood1Station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood1Sports sponsored by AutoZone. Ian's been on Monday Night Football with me as a guest frequently.

Eight four four two oh four rich number two. We are going to dive into what happened last night when we come back. There was a touchdown. There was a touchdown.

Oh, on Amazon Prime, it happened. We'll discuss that and the aftermath coming up. When you open a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van, you are opening more than just doors, you are unlocking potential and not just. Sprinter vans potential is your potential. They're one of the same. They're intermingled.

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Unlock your potential inside a Mercedes Benz Sprinter. I was going to talk about the Washington Commander's performance last night and then what happened postgame with Ron Rivera. I'm going to do the top of the next hour because something just broke that dovetails perfectly into what I definitely plan on talking about today. So I might as well get to it here. What do I mean by that? Look, I have been the tip of the NFL Network spear and proud to do it since 2003.

We're coming up on our 19 year anniversary next month. Came on the year week 10 of the 2003 season and part of my job is why they hired me. And part of my job I take very seriously is to make sure you folks who watch NFL Network. Get the news and information in an entertaining manner and then continue to love the sport that we collectively love. Frequently it's very difficult to execute that game plan because well-intentioned colleagues of mine who help administer the sport. Quite honestly don't get it.

Don't get it. I'm telling you this rough in the passer stuff is damaging. It is damaging. It's damaging to fans and it's damaging the viewing experience. It's damaging.

Every now and then I will, you know, speak my mind about stuff that I feel is damaging that some folks who are in charge of making sure everything that is not damaging. Understands because, again, well-intentioned folks are making sure quarterbacks are not getting damaged, and that's for damn good reason. They're inexpensive and they're in many cases the reason why you're tuning in. I profit to say many people don't even know the Buffalo Bills backup quarterback is correct. And I profit to say not many people know who the Kansas City Chiefs backup quarterback is.

And nobody wants to see either one of those guys on Sunday in the late window on CBS. I get it. Still Chad Henny, right?

In Kansas City. Yes, sir. And so the point of the matter is, is I understand protecting the quarterbacks are important. Nobody is saying, let's continue what we're doing so we protect the quarterback less. No, I want to make sure the quarterbacks are still protected.

But we as fans in our viewing experience is also protected from ridiculous penalties that we're seeing called in real time without the help of replay, because everybody feels that, you know, we got this. Or in the case of the Chris Jones fumble, believe it or not, the fumble, the sack fumble recovery. Pardon me.

This is Chris Jones, 330 pounds. Let's be generous. Of a human being, a mountainous pro bowler, all pro human being, sacking a quarterback, taking the football away from him in the process and with his off hand, making sure he doesn't put his full body weight on him. We all saw it. Carl Jeffers saw it in real time, called it roughing the passer. We have been freaking out about it since then and rightfully so. And I said, let's make sure we celebrate the Chris Jones play and not talk about a blown call.

Well, the folks who are in charge of administrating all this disagree with me, apparently. According to The Athletic, the video that was sent out from NFL officiating to all 32 clubs, Perry Fuel, former Buffalo Bill coach, if I'm not mistaken, standing coach in this league with, if I'm not mistaken, a defensive background, says we agreed with the call. Quote, this is to all 32 clubs showing the video of Chris Jones. The Kansas City defender executes his rush plan in his effort to sack the quarterback. He lands with his full body weight on the drive to the ground. A quarterback in the pocket in a passing posture gets full protection until he gets to defend himself. This is a properly called foul for roughing the passer. And I'm like, are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? The guy is being taken to the ground. He's not in a passing posture. The ball's been removed.

He never passed. The ball was being removed by the sucker. And of course, he's going to have to land more of his body weight than he intends on top of the quarterback, because he's holding the ball. He's possessing the football.

And his left hand seemed to me in this photograph, he's yet to place it on the ground. I saw it. We all saw it. And I've been sitting here saying, review it so we can back up Carl Jeffers. And the backup has arrived in the form of checking the box and saying, good job, Carl, keep it up.

And I say, this is so damaging, so damaging to me. And the absurdity of everything that happened this past weekend just got kicked up a notch, because that roughing the passer call was the fully involved fire sparked by the call the previous day in Tampa of Grady Jarrett throwing Tom Brady to the ground in a manner that I didn't think was illegal. Jerome Boger did. And the subsequent exchange between Brady and Jarrett, where it looked like Jarrett was trying to get up and there was a bit of a tangle in the tussle. Tom Brady just got fined for kicking Grady Jarrett.

Eleven thousand and change. Jarrett gets penalized for unnecessary roughness. And after further review, they say Brady roughed Jarrett. And we as fans are supposed to put these pieces together and tune in to games on Sunday and just forget about it. And not look and scrutinize every single one of those calls, these calls from here on out saying, do you understand what we think? And the answer that comes back from Perry Fuel is we don't kind of care. This is what we want called. And we as fans are all like, really?

And it damages. Significantly, in my estimation, a viewing experience and and the importance of feeling the calls being made. Are 1000 percent competent.

And are we want to feel that these are credible people. And I might be getting a call after this and, you know, saying, hey, you should have called us. We would explain it to you. And I don't know if I'd require more of an explanation because I'm also giving voice to what I do believe most fans feel.

Arrowhead was ready to just revolt. So I'm giving voice to it and it needs to be addressed. And I'm thinking one way to help is just back it up, replay style.

And I thought, man, I'm walking around feeling smart. That's a fix. And then I find out the league is like, no, that Chris Jones play is illegal. Really?

Because to me, it looked all pro quality. By a guy who's that big, what do you want him to do? Lose 100 pounds as he's taking the ball away? Gravity comes into play.

Our number two brand is daily coming up. You think I just come to put the flags on the quarterback? No, no, no. Because that's what it seems like now. And I know what what Aikman said and apologized for as well.

No, no, no, no. There are still hard hits. I mean, and Mahomes got slung to the ground, you know, and then everyone's like, well, how is that not the same thing that happened to Brady? Brady didn't get slung to the ground the same way that Mahomes did. Mahomes is a different body type than Brady.

And you got to put it all together and understand. I mean, Justin Fields got blown up last night multiple times. Hits to the quarterback are occurring.

And the hits that we understand are occurring. And I'm sure the NFL officiating folks are like, well, those hits you're referring to last night. Guy had his head to the side and he didn't put his full body weight down. I'm just saying Chris Jones couldn't avoid what he did because he took the ball away. And the answer is like, well, a quarterback is in a passing posture and is required to be protected until he can defend himself. Where was the pass? Is the pass just he's in the pocket intending to throw and then he's being taken to the ground? The whole idea that the ball being removed from him by Chris Jones as he's being sacked, Derek Carr's being sacked is similar to Derek Carr releasing the ball and he can be hit illegally after he's thrown the ball. And that's the passing posture. Those are not equatable in the same way that the tuck rule wasn't equatable, that this process was part of throwing the ball, not tucking it with no more intending to throw.

It's the same thing. Hour two coming up. Ross Matthews talks to celebrities, friends and people with interesting stories to tell. Who's saying hello, Ross.

This week, Chelsea Handler. I'm not home enough to have a third dog. My housekeeper basically is their parent. I am not going to get another dog so that she has to take care of another dog until one of these dogs exits.

It's a good move. I have three rescue dogs and only two hands. And when you're one person, that's too hard to do. I recommend two, Max. OK, here's your foot, Ross. Hello, Ross. Available on YouTube or wherever you listen.