Brian Costello Hour 3

This is The Rich Eisen Show.

Goats have home lives too. Live from The Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. Rich Eisen. Hello Rich Eisen. Rich Eisen. Oh that's Susie Eisen's husband. The Rich Eisen Show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Dan Schwartzman. It is our number three The Rich Eisen Show here on Black Friday. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.

Get their hearts away. Watch a lot of football and then shop until they drop today. I personally am avoiding the Amazon Black Friday sale because that's always dangerous. Always stuff to buy. Useless stuff frankly.

Looks great. It's a shiny new toy. Next thing you know you give it a couple of weeks and you forget about it and you never play with it again. And when it re-emerges you say, oh I remember I bought that. Why did I get that?

Because it was a shiny new toy back then. We'll get to the Jets in their quarterback situation. What does it truly mean? About 20 minutes Brian Costello from the New York Post will join us and break that down. Mike White gets the start against the Chicago Bears. Look, there's good and bad with that. I'll tell you why. Look, the good is the Jets realize they're actually a really good team with decent quarterback play. I don't even mean good quarterback play.

I mean decent quarterback play could actually win a bunch of games. Why? Because the defense is really good.

Why? Because they actually have skilled position players. On offense that if you can get them the football can do something with it. Garrett Wilson is an absolute stud. Cory Davis should be back healthy soon. Elijah Moore has been underutilized. He's pretty good.

We saw that last year. You have to put the football in his hands. You got tight ends who are good. You just can't get them the football because Zach Wilson just hasn't played well. And even losing Breece Hall who by the way is an absolute stud running back. The rookie out of Iowa State. The Jets running game with Michael Carter and with James Robinson has not been bad.

Not terrible. We have a press conference sound bite from Mike White. Well Mike White, yeah. Mike White who last year was the AFC Player of the Week. Offensive Player of the Week after he torched the Bengals defense for like 400 yards and 3 touchdowns.

He gets the starting nod. Here is White. Take a listen to this guy.

Very confident. This guy is what it was. That was it. What was that? That was it. That was deep. That was deep. That was deep. That was it. Find the cliche and can't. Right?

That was it. Watching this yesterday is like a deer in the headlights. He's got that look.

Yeah he definitely has that deer in the headlights look. And what people kind of conveniently forget is after he had that great game against the Bengals I think he threw like 8 interceptions in the next 5 games or 4 games or whatever it was. As long as he can somewhat move the football.

Take a chance here or there down the field. The Jets can't be any worse. But that is a legit defense by the way. That front 4 of the Jets.

Like they're actually getting to the quarterback and they don't even have to blitz. Quinnen Williams who was the number 3 overall pick. Remember it was Nick Bosa going second and then Quinnen Williams who had that just really legendary season at Alabama. His one and done season at Alabama. He was fantastic. Didn't play his first couple years there.

And then got in the starting lineup and was so dominant that when you grade that season it's one of the greatest seasons a defensive lineman has ever had in college football in 20 years. Jets take him third overall. He's pretty good.

Right? Like pretty good. Not good enough to have been the third overall pick. Definitely first round talent. 7 sacks here and there. Ok. Well this year Quinnen Williams has turned the corner. He is a dominant defensive tackle. Better than Aaron Donald this year.

In terms of who the best down defensive tackle is in football this year. Again Aaron Donald is a legendary player. An all time great. First battle of the Hall of Famer.

Right? He's been an All-Pro every single year of his career I think. So Quinnen Williams and Chris Jones are the Chiefs probably have the argument right now this season as best defensive tackle in football. And Williams may be winning that argument. That's how good he's been.

Then you throw in other guys. John Franklin Myers who was released by the Rams a few years back as a 5th round pick. Great pickup by the Jets. Bryce Huff an undrafted rookie free agent who gets around the corner faster than 99% of players in the NFL. Jermaine Johnson was a first round pick. The Jets traded up to get from Florida State. He's been productive.

Texas A&M fans will remember Michael Clemons. He was a 4th round pick for the Jets and he's been very good when he's played. So the Jets have incredible depth and talent on the defensive line. And by the way, kudos to the Jets. They went from having one of the worst cornerback situations in football last year where guys named like Javelin Guidry are playing to having the best tandem of cornerbacks in football this year.

And potentially the best trio. Sauce Gardner, the number 4 overall draft pick out of Cincinnati may already or is top 3 or top 5 cornerbacks in football already. And most cornerbacks have that first year adjustment where the NFL game slows down for them. I remember Darryl Revis' rookie season for the Jets. He started and he was pretty good. He wasn't great.

There was no Revis island. And then year 2, Revis who worked harder than most people out there and learned and studied and did what he had to do. Revis became a legend and a hall of famer. But year 1, Revis was good.

Not great. Not a pro bowl player. Sauce Gardner is not just going to be a pro bowler. There's a chance Sauce Gardner is an all pro this rookie year. And then you have DJ Reed who they picked up in free agency. The guy who played for the Seahawks and the 49ers.

DJ Reed has been just as good as Sauce Gardner. And then Michael Carter, the Jets have a Michael Carter at running back who went to North Carolina. And they have a Michael Carter at cornerback who went to Duke and they were both drafted last year in this third day or second day of the draft. So they went from having one of the worst cornerback situations in football to potentially the best. And that's how you turn around a team that won 4 games last year to a team that needs to make a quarterback change and bench a former number 2 overall pick because they realized they could make the playoffs. And if they don't make a change at the key position at quarterback, they may not make the playoffs. So the good is the Jets realize they're actually a pretty good team right now so they had to make the change at quarterback.

The bad is you don't want to bench a number 2 overall pick because you invested a lot in a number 2 overall pick and he has played poorly but at some point you have to figure out what you really have there. So it's an interesting dynamic. We'll talk to Brian Costell in about 15 minutes.

Covers the Jets for the New York Post. We'll get that. Again, the US men's national team, they are underway against England in a key World Cup qualifier. They're 5 minutes into that match. England look great.

They're opener. They knock off Iran 6-2. The US looked good in the first half. No adjustments in the second half. They play Wales to a 1-1 draw.

Iran beats Wales 2-0 today so that group is up in the air in terms of who is going to or who the two teams that make it to the knockout stage will be. NBA season rolling along as well. Just no dominant team in the league. I like that. I'm a parody guy anyway.

Always been a parody guy. Yeah, super teams are fun to watch because it's villainous. You either love it or you hate it, right? But you have an opinion. I think you should always have an opinion in sports with teams you like or you don't like.

I think it's important. That's some of the fun of sports. You watch sports because you love your team, yes. But sometimes you watch sports because you want to see another team lose, right? If you're not invested in a Sunday Night Football, Thursday Night Football or Monday Night Football matchup because your team's not playing, outside of being such a die-hard football fan that you have to have your football fix, you don't care if it's the Jacksonville Jaguars playing the Houston Texans, you're going to watch because it's football. The other is, hey, I hate that team so I'm going to watch and I'm going to root for them to lose.

That happens too. So, you know, parody is great but super teams are nice once in a while as well. The Miami Heat were a super team, right? You had an opinion. The Boston Celtics you could say were the original super team with Garnett, Allen, Pierce and Rondo, right? You had an opinion. LeBron, the super team there at the Lakers hasn't really panned out, Golden State, you have an opinion. You don't watch those games and say, yeah, I don't care one way or another, whatever, they're all right.

You know, no one does that. If you're enough of a fan to want to watch that sport, you have an opinion on those types of teams and you will watch because you want to see them lose if you don't like them. But it's not like watching an Oklahoma City Thunder game today and saying, yeah, I don't care. Win or lose, what does it matter to me?

They're kind of insignificant to you, right? But a super team is not. But a lot of parody in the NBA in terms of just sheer competitiveness and viewing pleasure and projecting toward the playoffs, if you don't have one dominant team that you think is going to win it all, that kind of takes away from the luster of the postseason. Because let's face it, it's a foregone conclusion that that team's going to win. When it comes to parody, you never know in a five game or seven game series who truly is the better team because they're so even. You're like, oh my goodness, Celtics or the Bucks, who really is a better team?

Your guess is as good as mine. I don't, through the first 18 games of the season, I can't tell you that. They're both pretty good. Neither are great. Neither is dominant. Neither is better than the other.

Same thing in the West. Are the Phoenix Suns head and shoulders better than anybody else? No. The Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Utah Jazz, any of those teams for real? Your guess again is as good as mine.

I don't know. Golden State Warriors are going to turn a corner. They're one game under 500.

You kind of expect them to go on a run at some point as they get healthier. The Brooklyn Nets have talent on paper, but they're one locker room blow up away from literally the whole team blowing up. You know, you're getting anywhere with Kyrie Irving, who is such a lightning rod of controversy, right?

The day he comes back, you have a bunch of people protesting in his favor outside. It's a mess. Absolute mess in Brooklyn. The Philadelphia 76ers cannot get past their injuries, hardens out, Maxie's hurt. Joellen Beeds missed a couple of games. I mean, they can't get on the court.

They can't stay healthy. And that might be like a yearly type of thing, right? That could plague them the whole year. So the NBA's up in the air right now as to who the best team is.

And parodies fun though. Like you kind of look at it and you say, all right, cool. I look forward to the playoffs. The regular season bores me. I have to admit, like the regular season in a lot of sports bore me because I don't have the patience.

The older I get, the less patience I have. When I was younger, I could sit through a movie, right? Take me to the movie theater. I'll sit there for two hours, smuggle some food in, whatever.

I love it. I love movies. But I'll tell you what, if it's my choice now to go to the actual movie theater or sit at home and watch on a big screen, it's not really appealing to me to like go to the movies. It's not the price tag, right? Although movies have gotten so expensive.

What is it now? 20 bucks to go sit in the theater? All right, you're in LA. I'm in New York. It's 20 bucks here.

I don't think LA is probably much better, right? It's about the same. I haven't gone to movies in a while.

Right. It's 20 bucks. Like I can go on demand on my TV and watch that movie for like, you know, 12 bucks or $14 and the whole family can watch it rather than having to buy three different tickets. I waited for the new Top Gun movie to come out on Amazon.

I paid 20 bucks. I haven't watched that yet. You haven't watched it yet? No, no. I think it's this weekend I am going to watch it.

I will tell you why. I have a cousin who lives in Japan, right? Because my mother is Japanese, so I have family there. So I have a cousin and when I was young, I used to go to Japan often and it was 1986, I think. I was, I guess, seven, eight years old. He was a couple of years older than me and me and him, like he had the actual VHS of Top Gun. And we watched that thing literally, you know, I was there for two months over the summer, right? Summer break from school. We watched that thing at least three times a week.

At least. Oh yeah, I paid 20 bucks. I paid 20 bucks on Amazon. I keep watching it. It's so good. And by the way, you can pause it, go back if you want to see a scene again, right?

Like a flight scene, whatever it is. But the whole point is, I love Top Gun. When it comes on TNT, TBS, whatever it is, the premiums, I still watch it. I know every line. I know what's going to happen. Nothing's going to surprise me in that movie, but it's one of those movies that you're like, ah, yeah, I'm going to watch it again. Although I've watched it a hundred times.

It's that good. So my cousin was in Japan, I guess they do the Blu-rays or whatever it is. So he's been waiting. He had ordered, he was waiting for it to come.

It finally got there yesterday. So I didn't want to watch it before he watched it. And he didn't want to watch it before I watched it.

So he calls me up and he's like, Hey, I got the Blu-ray. When are you watching it? Because I'll wait. So then we can talk about it, you know? So I haven't watched it yet.

Hopefully I'll tell the wife, maybe I'm going to sit down and she'll take the kids for a couple hours Saturday night and I'll watch it. Yeah. And the soundtrack for Top Gun is one of the greatest. Do you know who plays the guitar for this? Who? Steve Stevens. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's Steve Stevens on the guitar. Oh yeah. I see him. I've been watching the video.

Yeah, Steve Stevens. Fantastic. What's your favorite song on that soundtrack? The Berlin song. Really? Take My Breath Away, huh? More of the danger zone or playing with the boys? Really?

No, Berlin. I always liked her. Oh, so you like her. I'm not asking which video do you like. I'm asking which song do you like.

But I guess for you it's synonymous, right? Video, song, all the same? Terry Nunn.

Terry Nunn. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Listen, that is one of the great soundtracks in movie history.

Like, that's great. I mean, Trainspotting was great. Judgment Night was a great soundtrack. Top Gun is legendary. Yeah, I've got to watch it this weekend.

But there's a couple of things I have problems with. Here's what it is. I'm apprehensive because I love the original so much, Art. I love the F-14 Tomcat. I think it's a work of art. Oh, man.

It was beautiful playing. Beautiful. This is F-18s, right? They're flying. These are F-18s. But, you know, I'm not going to spoil anything.

Don't spoil it, but I heard there's... There's an appearance of an F-14. Because the only country I think that flies F-14s now is Iran. No joke.

Yeah, you know the story? We sent them a whole bunch when the Shah was in power. And then when the Ayatollah took over, we stopped sending them parts. So now they have all the planes without the parts. Well, not only that, but they can't buy planes elsewhere because of embargoes. So they have to keep these planes flying. Same with the Boeings. They have Boeing and Airbuses for, like, Iran Airlines. And they have to keep cannibalizing parts because they don't have any. So their Tomcat fleet has to be...

It's like Cuba with classic cars, Iran with the Tomcats, right? Yeah, absolutely. Exactly.

So that's what you have there. But I'm an F-14 guy, so I know I heard in Maverick there's some nostalgic moments, but F-18 is not as nice looking a plane. But I will watch it. I heard it's fantastic. And people say it's one of those sequels that is potentially as good or better than the original. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. You have to see it. Like Godfather II against Godfather I.

You know, most are not even remotely close. So I will watch it, Art. I will give you a scouting report as to if I liked it or not. Definitely.

Which I'm sure I will. Absolutely. All right. Jets in the quarterback situation. What does it truly mean for Zach Wilson? Brian Costello, beat reporter, covering the Jets for the New York Post. He will join us next to break it down. Hour three. US and England currently in action right now. Give you a quick score update. 13 minutes in.

No score right now between the two allies, former rivals, allies now in terms of country. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen right here on a Friday. It's the Rich Eisen Show. Influencer.

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This is the story of the original influencer. This is Elizabeth the first. Elizabeth the first the podcast wherever you listen. The world tournament of soccer happening in Qatar is finally here. And with all the weird kickoff times and all the other sports happening simultaneously, it could be kind of hard to keep up. So to make sure you're up to speed, be sure to listen to Qatar Kickaround for the daily wrap up of all the action from the tournament.

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Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. Week 12, the NFL season is already into it already after the trio of games on Thanksgiving. Remember, 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, quote, open Westwood One Sports. It's sponsored by AutoZone, free battery testing, free battery charging and replacement batteries that fit your needs.

That's what makes AutoZone America's number one battery destination. Get in the zone, AutoZone. The New York Jets with a stunning move earlier in the week. They have made a quarterback change away from number two overall pick just last year, Zach Wilson. They go with Mike White.

What does that mean as they prepare to face the Bears on Sunday? Brian Costello, Jets be reporter for the New York Post joining us. Brian, first off, happy holidays and hope you're not spending too much here on this Black Friday, my friend. How are you?

I'm good. I'm not spending anything because I'm at the Jets building right now. We just got out of the locker room and watching practice.

I'm saving my money right now. Speaking of watching practice, how is Mike White looking as he gets to start Sunday against Chicago? Yeah, I mean, we only get to watch a little bit of practice in the regular season, so there's not much to glean from it. But all indications are he looked good this week in practice. Mike White's a very popular guy in this building, popular with the players, popular with the staff. He showed what he could do last year against the Bengals, went through for 405 yards in that game.

So I think there's a lot of belief in the building right now in Mike White, and we'll see what he can do. Brian, we know that Zach Wilson played horrendously against the Patriots and frankly has not played well in his first 20 career starts in the NFL. If he doesn't have the ridiculously dumb soundbite after the game where he's asked if he feels that the offense has let down the defense, is he playing Sunday, or do you think that didn't play a role really in this move made by Robert Salah?

I don't know if he'd be playing. I think it played a role. I don't think it played a major role. I think it was more about his play than anything else. Look, he lost the fate of his teammates with how he played, and then he compounded it with what he said after the game. But I do think this is more about his performance than anything else. He couldn't do anything Sunday against the Patriots, and they had two yards in the second half where they just didn't look like a functioning NFL offense at all. So that was the harder thing for him to come back from than the comments. He could apologize for the comments.

I think they went away. But I think it was hard for Robert Salah to look the other 52 guys in the eyes and say, you know, Zach Wilson gives us the best chance to win. Clearly he does not. And this has kind of been brewing for a while. The Jets have been winning with defense and their running game, and not much from Zach Wilson. But he'd been playing better than he played Sunday, and I think Sunday was just finally kind of it. I do think the comment did not help him at all and played a little bit of a role in this, but I think it was more about his play than anything else. Jets be reported for the New York Post.

Brian Costello joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Is this the narrative that you hear around the league when it comes to Zach Wilson? He is, you know, elite talent.

He definitely has talent. But a two-cent head, is that what it is? Is this mental? No, I haven't heard that so much. I don't think it's like he's not smart enough to run an offense.

I don't think it's that at all. He's pretty smart. It's just, there was questions about him coming out of college, right? His great year was the COVID year, and BYU played an independent schedule, and if you go through that schedule, there were not many games against good teams. It's North Texas and Alabama State, you know, which is different than Alabama, playing them. And then, you know, the big showcase game that year, if you remember, was Coastal Carolina. He did not play well against Coastal Carolina. So there were question marks about Zach Wilson coming out, and, you know, how much of it was just because they're playing interior talent. He had a great offensive line at BYU.

They were older. He had a lot of time to operate. The NFL, everything's faster, and he just has not been able to keep up with that speed. And then when he's tried at times, he's turned the ball over a lot, and then he falls back in the trap of, okay, he's afraid to throw the ball because he doesn't want to turn the ball over, and that's sort of what it looked like Sunday. He just looked timid Sunday.

He wasn't really pulling the trigger when he needed to. And so, you know, I understand where Robert Salas is coming from when he talks about a reset for him and just kind of getting away. And mentally and physically, they've just sort of got to rebuild Zach Wilson now. And I'm not sure how long that will take.

I'm not sure if it will work. But I do understand what Salas is talking about when he says that. Do you buy when Robert Salas says we, you know, think of himself as the future of this organization, we, you know, absolutely think he'll be back on the field this year? You think the Jets are shopping this offseason already after spending a number two pick on a quarterback just a year ago? Well, there's seven weeks left, so I think there's time still to figure that out.

But, you know, there's obviously this move tells you everything you need to know. Like, he's not the guy right now. They don't believe in him to be the guy. So can he come back in?

Yes, because I've seen him before. You know, the Jets bench Mark Sanchez in 2012. Greg McElroy gets hurt. Sanchez is back in there. They bench Ron Fitzpatrick. Bryce Petty got hurt. Ron Fitzpatrick is back in there.

There's a long way to go here. So, you know, who knows what's going to happen with Mike White. The Jets play the Bears this week, which is sort of a soft landing spot. And I think they should have success against them the following two weeks are at the Vikings and at the Bills. So I don't think the Vikings are ferocious on defense, but they're a good team and they could test Mike White. And then the Bills are a good defense.

And that's going to be a tough test for him. So, you know, if he stumbled in those games, we could see Zach Wilson again before the end of the year. And the Jets, I think it's also about where the Jets are in the playoff position.

That played a big role in the decision. The Jets have a shot here. You know, it's 6-4 to make the playoffs. This team hasn't been in the playoffs since 2010. The longest drought in the NFL.

That hangs over this building. And they have a chance to snap that streak and kind of rewrite things a little bit. And if they make the playoffs, it's a different feeling around here. So they've got to roll with Mike White for as long as they feel like the playoffs are a possibility. If they drop out of things, then yeah, then I think you put Zach Wilson back in there and see what you got. Then decisions are made about, you know, what you're going to do in free agency in the draft. Brian, I'm a Jets fan, lifelong Jets fan.

My hair has gotten significantly lighter and whiter because of that. I know. I mean, 37 years a Jets fan because you couldn't get Giants tickets back then. So I ended up going to Jets games as a kid.

Here's what it is, Brian. You know, Joe Douglas, by all means, I think has done a phenomenal job taking, taking a terrible roster and turning it into a team that has incredible young talent, a dominating defense and, you know, potential for long-term success. But he thought he got his quarterback, didn't. And that's a huge slight, obviously, on his resume. How do you assess Joe Douglas concerning he's made great moves, but the biggest move he's made hasn't panned out?

What does that mean for him and the legacy that he hasn't addressed it? Yeah, it's tough because that was the big one. You know, that was the big pick was getting the quarterback right. And remember, they had a big decision there to make with Sam Darnold, whether to move on from him. And they decided to move on from Sam Darnold and they took Zach Wilson. And that was a very defining moment for Joe Douglas.

And right now it doesn't look good. However, like you said, he's done a good job in other regards here. This draft class this year could be historic. You know, Breece Hall was going to be a rookie of the year candidate before he got hurt.

Sauce Gardner is the leading candidate for defensive rookie of the year. They're getting good play from Garrett Wilson when he has good quarterback play. They've gotten a lot of production from this rookie class.

And last year's class also looks pretty good. So he's done a good job in that regard and he's added some quality free agents. It's going to be, it's going to be tough for him though if Zach Wilson fails to just sort of, you know, manage around that. And it's going to be pretty interesting to see what they do. I think they'll probably bring in a quarter, a free agent quarterback in the off season and like go for it next year. They have to win next year, especially if they miss the playoffs this year. So I think ultimately, you know, Douglas could, I don't think he's going to get him fired at Zach Wilson necessarily because I think he's done enough other stuff.

But we're going to have to figure something out, a quarterback for 2023. Brian, from all indications, it's a close-knit group of guys in that locker room. You hear guys say, hey, I'm hanging out with my friends.

It's fun playing on Sunday with my friends. Robert Sal I think is, is a, you know, home run pick to be the head coach. He has shown that the way he's handled the locker room and even his X's and O's.

You don't hear a lot of clock management issues, things like that. Was this locker room, from what you've seen and heard, Brian, being around these guys. Was it truly starting to splinter because of Zach Wilson and the fact that there's such a gap between the offense and the defense? I don't think splinter is the right word because I don't think, I think it was really directed at Zach more than the entire offense. And I think Salah did a good job of just nipping it in the bud before it could fester, right? I was around this team when Mark Sanchez was here and you remember they had great defenses. And the offense, especially the offense always kind of lagged behind, but as the time went on with Sanchez, it got worse and worse with the offense. And you could feel the splinter in that group. There was basically two teams.

I didn't, I don't think it got to that point here because I think Robert Salah was quick enough to understand Sunday night that it could go that way. If he went with it until Monday, he comes out and announces, you know, everything's on the table. It basically, for me, the announcement said Zach Wilson's no longer on scholarship here because that was always kind of the feeling. He walked in here. He was a starting quarterback.

He was never challenged. Monday's announcement said, okay, he's no longer on scholarship. That sent the message to the locker room like, okay, he has to play well just like I do to keep my job. And then Wednesday he makes the change to Mike White.

So I think he, I think Salah did a good job there of reading the room and getting ahead of it before it became a real problem. Last thing, Brian, you know what, through all the negativity this week with the quarterback situation, although I do agree, I think the Jets have handled it well. When you take a step back and you assess where the organization is, listen, I've seen them with terrible GMs with Mike McKagnan, John Idzik, right?

The list is usually pretty long there. Terrible head coaches, Adam Gase. Look, Todd Bowles, maybe a nice guy, not a very good head coach.

You're seeing that in Tampa. Do you, when you take a step back and kind of assess the entire organization of the team, are they going in the right direction with what they've brought in? Did Woody Johnson finally get it right with Douglas and Robert Salah? Well, let's give Christopher Johnson some credit because he was the one who hired those guys while Woody was in England.

So let's give him some credit. But I do think they are, they're clearly heading in the right direction, right? This team is fun to watch most weeks. It wasn't last week, but they have been fun to watch this season. Their defense is a, is a playoff team defense right now. Their playoff caliber defense. There's young stars all over the place.

Yeah. With, you know, some of them are hurt right now. Breeze Hall's hurt. Elijah Rivera-Tucker's hurt.

But you got Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams is a stud. So they're going in the right direction. You know, this team has more talent than, than the last, you know, since the last five or six years.

The problem is what we hit on before. There's a big hole at quarterback and that's the most important position in sports. And so it's nice to have a great roster, but you got to get the quarterback right.

And they haven't done that. So that's going to be a big test for them this offseason, figuring out what they want to do at quarterback. Because even if they make the playoffs this year, I think they're, you know, they're a one and done in the playoffs. I don't think anyone thinks this is a Super Bowl team. It'll be, just be a nice step for them. Well, next year they should, they should be contenders.

And it's going to, it's going to really be dependent on what they do at quarterback. All right. Last question I have to throw us in. I'm going to give you three names. List in order that you think the possibility is or the likelihood that they're going to be a jet next year. Aaron Rodgers, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr. Jimmy Garoppolo won because the coaching staff here loves him from the time in San Francisco. I think the only question is, does Jimmy win the Super Bowl with San Francisco and end up staying there? I would go Derek Carr, too, because I think Carr makes a lot of sense as well as a guy who's been coming here and run things officially. I think Aaron Rodgers is three. I, you know, the money with Aaron Rodgers makes me pause.

That's the big contract to take on. And also, so part of the narrative if Aaron Rodgers leaves Green Bay is going to be, he didn't like Matt Leflore, right? Well, the defensive coordinator's name is Mike Leflore, and that's his name. It's Matt Leflore's little brother. So I just, I don't see Aaron going from one Leflore to another.

I think Garoppolo and Carr make a lot more sense. Unless he wants to stick it to Matt Leflore. Ha, I can win with your brother.

I came in with you. Yeah, maybe he does that. Who knows? Aaron's a tricky guy to read. He's not fun to talk to.

I've tried a couple of times. There's no question about that. Brian Costello, New York Jetsby, you reported for the New York Post. Brian, happy holidays. Appreciate the time. You too.

Thanks for having me. Great stuff there from Brian Costello. Yeah. The Aaron Rodgers thing, man, that is intriguing, to say the least. Like, he's not young, right? I mean, he's 37, right? He looks like a John Wick character these days with that crazy hair of his. I mean, in fact, he looks, can I say it? Does he look ridiculous, Aaron?

Is that fair to say? He looks ridiculous. He looks ridiculous.

Yeah, I agree. Like, he's trying to be like a biker guy, but he's not a biker guy. He's Aaron Rodgers, right?

I don't think the skills have diminished. I think he just, I think he's checked out, and he's 38, actually. He just turned, wait a minute, he's going to be, yeah, he just turned, wait, where the hell is he? He's 30, he'll be 39, by the way, in a week. December 2nd, he turns 39. Wow. Aaron Rodgers is going to be 39 years old. I have letters here just for everybody out there in Packerland and yourself today. R-E-L-A-X.

Relax. He's a strange cat, but he's great. One of the greatest quarterbacks in history. He is.

I mean, Aaron Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks in history. His touchdown to interception ratio is over four and a half touchdowns to interceptions. He finally threw his hundredth interception this year, Art. Finally. Wow. In what is this, year 17?

Right? I mean, he finally reached a hundred interceptions. He is, in fact, he has not had a season with double-digit interceptions since 2010. That's insane.

That's amazing. 2010. He's got seven in 11 games. He could get it this year, but I don't think so. He hasn't actually thrown seven interceptions in a season, Art, since 2016. He's automatic, but I don't think it's, look, you know, Drew Brees played until he was like 42, 43, whatever. Brady's playing at 45.

Still playing a pretty high level. If you think you are a quarterback away from potentially winning the Super Bowl, and the Jets legitimately might be a quarterback away from winning a Super Bowl, I don't know what Green Bay can get for a 39-year-old quarterback, right? Maybe a day two pick? Maybe a conditional type of pick, like it's a second rounder or a third rounder, and if he leads you to the playoffs, it goes up, or if he leads you to a Super Bowl, it goes up. Whatever it is, right?

I'm sure you can work it out. Yeah, it's got to be incentive. But here's the other thing, though. If you're Aaron Rodgers, like, yeah, you're making a boatload of money, but you're rich, right?

You've made a ton of money already. So is it about making as much money as you can for one or two more, or three more years, whatever you have left in the tank? Or is it about putting yourself in a situation to potentially win a second Super Bowl?

And I bring that up because of this. Legendary quarterbacks need to have more than one Super Bowl win, right? Like, until Peyton Manning won that second Super Bowl, and by the way, he had nothing to do with that second Super Bowl.

He played terrible that year for the Broncos. Everybody said, yeah, Peyton's great, but he's got one ring. Well, Peyton and Tom Brady, that argument, well, is it really an argument? Brady's got so many more Super Bowls than Manning. Well, Drew Brees is an all-time great, but he's got one ring, right? Aaron Rodgers may be the most gifted quarterback we've ever seen talent-wise, and by the way, I agree with that, but he's got one ring. So if there's a legacy issue with Aaron Rodgers in his own mind, and there might be, I think he does respect the game, he might say to himself, look, I'm 39 years old, I probably can play two, maybe three years. Maybe, I don't know, if I want to be Tom Brady, I can push it. But I, you know, probably not going to have, the Jets have a Super Bowl defense, they have so much young talent on offense.

Breece Hall comes back, Garrett Wilson, you know, Aja Moore, Corey Davis, M'Kai Becton's been out all year. There's talent, Bree, you know, so I'm thinking, does Rodgers maybe forgo some money to go to a team that gives him that chance to make him a multiple Super Bowl winner, which changes the way you look at his legacy from what a great quarterback Rodgers was, but he only has one Super Bowl too. Man, Aaron Rodgers, he's better than Drew Brees because he has one multiple Super Bowls, you know what I'm saying? Or he's better than Manning because not only does he have the stats, but he's won as many Super Bowls as Manning.

You know, that's what it comes down to. So I think Rodgers will have to make that decision, I don't think he wants to stay in Green Bay past this year. I think to a point his poor play this year has been, he's kind of checked out, he has really nobody throwing the football to, right? It's been kind of a terrible, terrible offensive season for the Packers. All right, we're going to wrap things up next, give you a score update, England and the U.S. at the World Cup, what's the latest?

It is Black Friday, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich right here on the Rich Eisen Show. As an offense though, I mean, when you guys are only able to score three points, the defense only lets up three points. I mean, do you feel like you let the defense down at all?

No. That didn't win a lot of fans for Zach Wilson after the debacle against the Patriots last week. Connor Hughes asking the question and Zach Wilson not wanting to take the bullets. As the main culprit, that's why the Jets could only score three points after the defense held the Patriots to three points the entire game.

And they lost 10-3 on that punt return for a touchdown with five seconds remaining in the game. And from all indications, Zach Wilson said his dad texted him and said, Bro, what are you doing after he heard that comment? So maybe the humility finally is seeping into Zach Wilson's skin.

Possibly, you never know. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen on Black Friday here as the month of November has flown by and is coming to an end with the NFL. Don't forget, you can listen to the NFL in the NFL app on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood One Station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports. It's sponsored by AutoZone. What makes AutoZone America's number one battery destination? Because they offer free battery testing and charging and reliable replacement batteries.

And they've always got your battery solution. Get in the zone, AutoZone. You know, look, young players, especially the quarterback position in the NFL, it's a tough job.

I get it. And being in a powder keg like New York is difficult. And I'll explain what it is when people say, yeah, it's the New York Bias.

No, this is what it is. When you play in Jacksonville or Houston or one of the smaller markets, I would say, or, you know, markets where they don't look at the team as much of the microscope as in other markets, you go to a locker room after a game or after practice and the number of beat reporters that cover the team on a daily basis, you can count them really with one hand. There's not a lot of pressure, right?

Like you're not exactly dealing with an onslaught of criticism day in and day out. Places like New York or I guess even L.A. at this point or Dallas, right? Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington. You're talking about many publications, newspapers, magazines. You're talking about radio stations, multiple sports radio stations. You're talking about multiple TV stations all having a presence in the locker room. So you have an onslaught of reporters in your face. So the pressure's even more every day. And because it's more than just like one newspaper, like, you know, every newspaper you pick up and read, although I think athletes probably should refrain from reading that kind of stuff, the reality is you're getting hit from all sides. It's a different situation. It's a lot more pressure. So there is a difference playing in a market like New York as a 23-year-old than it is playing in Jacksonville.

It's just facts. And for Zach Wilson, you know, coming from BYU, I don't think he has shown he can handle it. And I wonder if this pressure's really gotten to him where it's all psychological.

They talked about it being the yips, right? This is a guy that came out of BYU as an accurate passer, like 70% of his passes. You watch the tapes, beautiful throws. Now you watch this guy and he's thrown off his back foot every time. He's, you know, once the pressure hits, he is just a nervous Nelly, doesn't know what to do.

Making mistakes. As Brian Costell of The Post just said last segment, it looks like at times he doesn't want to throw the football because he's afraid to make a mistake. He's not, you know, a gunslinger like a Brett Favre type player who, yeah, you can live with the interceptions because there's other aspects of the game that are impressive. So there's a lot of mental toughness that he has to acquire. And I don't know if you can acquire that. I don't know if that's something that can be taught. Fundamentals can be taught, right?

Stop throwing off your back foot. That can be taught. Those can be cleaned up.

Mechanics can be cleaned up as long as you have a willing pupil. And I don't know if Zach Wilson's ego allows him to be that. Maybe this is what will humble him. But it's just a strange situation. Team drafts a guy second overall. Now, to address other things, right, people are like, well, they could have had this guy or that guy. Well, Trey Lance has done even less in the NFL, you know, because of injury and also circumstances. And the way Jimmy Garoppolo is playing right now, if you're the 49ers and Garoppolo takes you deep into the playoffs, don't you give him a new contract? Or do you let him leave because you're so stubborn and you're all in on Trey Lance who has shown absolutely nothing and you were dumb enough to trade a couple of picks to move up to get him? And people question that move.

So you can't say the Jets were wrong with that. Now, Justin Fields is the interesting guy, okay? Justin Fields the last four or five weeks has really seemingly turned the corner. Now, my issue with Justin Fields is this. Justin Fields is a tremendous athlete. He is.

Unbelievable. And he is as good a running quarterback as we have ever seen. He really is. He's actually a fairly big guy. And he's nimble. He's fast.

He's strong. And I don't think he's got a very good pocket presence. He does show once in a while some pretty nice touch on the pass.

We know he has a very good arm. But he comes from that cookie cutter juvenile offense at Ohio State where every quarterback succeeds and then they go to the NFL and they don't succeed. When you're throwing to five-star wide receivers who are clearly better 99.9% of the time compared to the cornerbacks and safeties that are covering them. Because in college, athleticism is a big deal. At the NFL, it's athleticism and smarts. In college, it's mainly athleticism that will differentiate between one guy over another.

Trust me, I know this. I've talked to NFL players. And you can throw a football up and chances are in college, even if it's not a great pass, your five-star wide receiver is going to get it over that two or three-star cornerback. In the NFL, it's a different story.

So I don't know about Justin Fields reading defenses and pocket awareness. He does hold the football too long. I think because he is elusive running the football, it's given him a crutch and I think he overuses that crutch.

Yeah, he overuses it. He doesn't hand the ball off enough to my boy, David Montgomery. He doesn't get enough touches. Because he's on your fantasy team? He's on my fantasy team.

Right. And giving you nothing because you should have Justin Fields at your running back. So the way I look at it is Justin Fields is a heck of a running back right now that happens to play quarterback and can throw here and there. But he's not a threat to beat you throwing. Yeah, I'm not saying he's not a good passer.

I'm just saying he's not anything special, right? I think the jury is out because NFL defensive coordinators are really smart and NFL defenses adjust. And in the NFL, they find ways. Justin Fields is doing a lot of exciting things now.

I don't know if it's really sustainable. Now, it's like the Lamar Jackson situation. You know, the Baltimore Ravens have to decide, do we give Lamar Jackson the biggest contract in football history?

I wouldn't and here's why. Awesome running quarterback, but Lamar doesn't really beat you throwing the football. He's not bad again, but I don't think he's exceptional. And if you give him a long-term deal and he starts to slow down or doesn't run as much, is he going to be as effective? Can you win a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson at quarterback? Can you win a Super Bowl with a run-heavy type of quarterback?

It doesn't really happen, right? Like Steve Young, people say, yeah, but Steve Young can really throw the football. So my whole take is I'm not ready to say that the Jets should have taken Justin Fields.

I don't know if that's the answer. Now, if they should have taken Micah Parsons, fine. Okay, dude's an absolute stud. Two more sacks yesterday. But again, all in all, I don't know. Jury stood out. Could Zach Wilson still succeed?

Sure. Quick story. Baseball. Roy Halliday, the late great pitcher, was so bad his second year in Toronto, they actually sent him down to the minors and art.

They sent him down to single A, not even triple A, to figure it out. Comes back up, the rest is history, and he ended up succeeding. I want to thank Brian Costello, New York Jets peer reporter, for joining us.

Howard Beck talked to NBA with the senior NBA writer for Sports Illustrated. Fun as always. Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. Great week 12 of the football season coming up on Sunday. Always fun to fill in for Rich Eisen.

I think he'll be back on Monday. I'm Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. Appreciate you tuning in to the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody tells you how to save, but nobody teaches you how to spend it. Something you should know wherever you listen.