REShow: TJ Watt - Hour 3

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See terms and learn more at discover.com slash online privacy protection. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Great chat with Chris Long. Last hour we talked about probably about a half dozen top burning NFL topics that's going on right now.

Hour number one, I gave my two considerable cents on Michigan doing it again to Ohio State. The it being taking them, placing them over our knee and spanking them. Just giving them a little spank.

Actually a big spank. Another 40 burger on them. Left them in full meltdown mode, wanting Ryan Day fired Urban Meyer back. And the best part about it, as I said, is leaving them in the position, if they do still want to make the college football playoffs, stating their case that Michigan's the best team in the country anyway. I don't believe that, you know, we'll find out if the college football committee has them one or two, but Michigan taking their spot at two might just be even more fitting. You leave, we'll take your spot.

We're 12 and 0. How does that taste? Oh, just fantastic.

Like Thanksgiving leftovers, it tastes better the next day and the day after that. It's great. 844-204, Rich. Number two, let's take a couple phone calls before we get to overreaction Monday.

Why don't we? Let's go to Ron in Greensboro, North Carolina. What's up, Ron? Hey, Rich, how are you? I'm hanging in there. How are you? Oh, I'm all right. You know what? I'm not your standard Ohio State fan.

I'm more of a realist. I don't think Michigan is as good as that. Ohio State's defense is bad. I've not been waiting for the shoe to drop all year. I mean, when you bring in a Tim Knowles from Oklahoma State who specializes in Ben Don't Break with that recruiting base, there's no excuse to have a Ben Don't Break defense in the Big Ten. Well, I guess, you know, and I appreciate you saying that your phone's kind of going in and out.

So I appreciate you calling in and saying what you said and being as honest as you are. Look, Ohio State clearly thought we're going to stop the run. That's all Michigan can do well.

That's it. And put the game on the shoulders of their kid. And I appreciate the call.

Thank you. They did think wrong. J.J. McCarthy showed them. And maybe, just maybe, hold on a second. Maybe Jim Harbaugh's a good coach and knows what to do with the quarterback and has him ready for the big game.

Maybe after all, yeah, that's what he can do with his five-star recruit. And they might have just been sitting on a whole bunch of plays. There was one play in the game. I don't know, did you watch the whole thing, Chris? Because the whole country watched it. Did you watch it? Did you watch the game? And nine million less watched than the Thursday night game that I said was going to happen? No, I understand that.

I get it. No, but did you watch the game from beginning to end? That's a yes.

By the way, he just rolled his eyes at me and nodded his head. Yes. They brought this kid, I'll be honest with you, I've watched every down at Michigan football pretty much all year long. They brought this kid Mullins in on the third and short in the first half and he was stopped. Michigan had a punt and I thought to myself, why are they running this kid? You know, I know that they're short-handed on on running backs, but what's happening here? And I think they just set up, he's the one who threw the pop pass on fourth down. Oh yeah, that was a cool play. Oh my goodness. It wasn't a touchdown. Right.

Or it's a third and short fourth. You know, all these great big plays that Michigan had just kind of all run together. Oh, this is so freaking great. You know, there's one subject I want to hit too. There was a guy who was going to call in on the subject matter, but he hung up. Yeah, I guess we lost count. How does that sound? Or maybe you already addressed what he was going to say.

No, no, no, we haven't talked about it yet. I was sitting there on game day morning set, Sunday morning, and I'm constantly looking at the old Twitter verse, Twitter machine, because at the moment still, it's still worth having, there's still enough reliable, it still works. Number one, there's still a reliable enough people on that they haven't kicked off to try and extract $8 from them. I remember that Twitter, right?

That's where you go and you tweet stuff. By the way, he's reinstating everybody. If you haven't been reinstated, we can try and work on that. Look, I'm just saying the guy's getting reinstated. I don't know.

Everyone but your boy, too jiggy. But anyway, I'm looking down and I see Odell Beckham saying something just happened to me that's never happened before. Oh my God, all this business. And I texted on the spot, Ian Rappaport, like is something going on with his, like did something happen with him and his, in his free agent search where he was disrespected by a team or something? Had no idea that it had nothing to do with his free agency stuff. But he got kicked off a plane and apparently either the airline says, and the police report says he didn't want to put a seatbelt on and they were concerned about his wellbeing and that they thought he would deteriorate enough over the five-hour flight going from Miami to Los Angeles, that they, they didn't want to have an incident in the middle of the air. So they just tried to get him off the plane. He didn't want to get off the plane. His lawyer had a completely different take on it saying that there was a flight attendant that was way too overzealous, causing him to get off the plane. Look, all I'm saying is this.

He wasn't arrested. If you're on that plane and you're trying to fly home on Thanksgiving weekend, going from Miami to LA, and you're then delayed two hours, I feel for you. I mean, I, I, I, I absolutely, that had to make you infuriated. Cause I know if I'm going down the tarmac, I'm like, we got to go back because a passenger is, is doing something he shouldn't be doing. I would be freaking out.

Okay. So all I'm saying is I have no idea what the hell happened on that flight. And if Odell wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing, then, you know, then, then all of those folks on that plane should be absolutely livid with him.

And I totally would understand it. And I don't know what happened. All I know is he wasn't arrested. And all I know is the one guy who definitely doesn't care. His name is Jerry Jones. That's for sure.

If you think that this airplane incident is going to throw him off his game to try and get Odell Beckham to the Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys, you're out of your mind. I got two words for you. The words are Greg and Hardy. Okay. Just Google him. And it's the truth. That's a fact. The number of people he's given so-called second chances to there's no reason. I mean, Odell just had something happen on a plane. And I totally understand that somebody got upset on a plane or with, or is upset with him on the plane.

I get it. He wasn't arrested for anything. You know, he doesn't care. His name is Jerry Jones. And he probably hopes that the Giants or anybody else is just like, we got to look into this airplane incident.

Yeah, you do that. I'll sign him. That's what I think is going to be going down here. You think? And then just a real odd, bizarre way to kick off a free agency tour, which apparently is happening this week. So my two cents on whatever happened on that plane or on the tarmac. So. When they ask you to put your seatbelt on, just put your seatbelt on. It's kind of simple. 844-204-rich is the number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show.

TJ Watt had a nice chat with him. You'll hopefully enjoy that coming up. But it's now time, Christopher. I know you don't like it when we do it now at three because you think we've already cannibalized a lot of topics. But I think you're overreacting. How does that sound?

No, he's not. Well, hit it. I'll still act like that. That was crap. That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction Mondays, Monday.

Alrighty. What do you have, Chris? What's up, guys? We having a good day so far? Oh, I'm feeling zero pain. None.

What do you got? The Jets can make the Super Bowl with Mike White at quarterback. That's an overreaction. Come on, pal. Are you kidding me? Number one fantasy quarterback yesterday in the pouring down rain.

Imagine what he's going to do indoors this week against a defense that Mac Jones carved up. The back pages were going nuts, Rich. Did you see the back page headlines in New York City this week?

Oh, man, put them up, Mike. The great white way for Newsday. Okay. Lightning, says the Daily News.

Okay. And the best of all, the New York White Gold, White Gold Jet Strike at Richard quarterback as new starter shows a metal me TTLE and blow out. I like it. And I love what Mike White did.

I totally get it. And I want him to stay the starter. I will see him against the Vikings. And if he does well there, then we'll ride him.

I chose a much more positive overreaction. I mean, Super Bowl is nuts, man. Super Bowl is a crazy supposition.

Can it happen? Of course, I'm not going to sit here and deny it, but we need to see more out of Mike White. What Mike White has done, however, I mean, I've got entire, you know what I'll do is I'll get put it out of the screen grab on at Rich Eisen show on our Twitter feed, NFL network research, top notch research staff, the number of record setting facts from Mike White through the minimal amount of starts that he's had for the jets. And then also what he's done in his starts for the jets are our first ever and first ever since a long time. Imagine he has shown what he has shown. Hold on.

What he has shown is to Zach Wilson. This is how it is done. This is how it is set up. And if you do it this way, it can be done this way. And you also might have a skill set outside of what Mike White has that we would love to tap into.

But you got to do this stuff first. Imagine if he had played the first three games instead of Flacco. Well, Flacco, Flacco did well enough. I mean, he went one and two, you know, do you think Zach ever starts again for the jets? If Mike White plays this way, I don't think so.

How does that sound? What else you got over there, Chris? Nobody wants to win the NFC South. Nobody, nobody wants to win.

That's a good overreaction. Nobody wants to win it. It's just the awful, terrible Saints. Every time you think they're out, the Bucks and the Falcons pull them back in. Even the Panthers aren't eliminated.

They're still officially LA. Can we just let Tom Brady go for it on fourth and two and start calling timeouts with the time picking down as opposed to being concerned that what if Brady throws an interception that he hasn't thrown in years, which is tie game, less than two minutes to go. Come on now. Is Sam Darnold like the Mike Myers of quarterbacks? Like this guy's back from the dead again. What else you got over there?

Bangle, you like this one. I know it's not really an overreaction now. The Bengals are going to win the AFC North. I think that's the case.

I do. I think we're seeing it. And you're already seeing the Ravens. Everybody handed it to him because of their so-called easy schedule. And there are no, it seems a homecomings on the schedule.

Certainly when you're going down to Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence is playing the way he's playing. And for some reason, somebody in Jacksonville decided to take the full body off of Jacksonville and give somebody who has no body fat, a suit and a thought, a skin tight suit in the thumb. What was that?

I don't know. Just thank God that guy didn't go in the pool. Hey now. At any rate, I definitely think the Bengals are going to win this division. I said it before the season, and I say it now, even though they do have a tougher road than the Ravens from here on out. But that looks like a great game 272, right? But to win that game yesterday with no mix-in and no chase, man, that was really impressive. And that's a big boy, take your hard pills and buckle up type opponent.

What else, sir? Based off last night's game, late game, the Packers, it's time to shut down Rogers and play love the rest of these. I think so. I would do it.

If I'm Green Bay, I would do it. I mean, you're 4-8. They're not eliminated.

They're 4-8. Yeah, but I mean, it did not look good. I mean, he said he needed to come out of the game because he thought he might have broken ribs and he couldn't breathe. I understand he's a gamer and he doesn't want to leave his team out there. I totally understand that. I respect it.

The guy is a first ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best to ever do it, back-to-back back-to-back MVP of this league. They're 4-8. They're 4-8. Come on, man. So for five games, we're just putting them on the bench?

It's yeah. And I also would understand if he wants to stick around there, you know, don't don't if he wants to pull a bit of the far right here and say, don't let the kid out there. I understand his total desire to also go against the team that he has quote-unquote ownership of. And if the Bears can't play Justin Fields and Tremor Sivian is the one that that's going to be hosting him next week, I get he wants to be in there. And then there's a bye. You know, if you want, let Jordan Love go beat the team you own, take a bye and then come back for the last four. If you think 5-8 can still do it.

I don't know. I totally understand why he wouldn't. But if you're Gudekunst in the front office, you don't want to give Jordan Love a five game role here? For what, though? Like we said, Rogers can't go anywhere.

They're stuck with him. Let's take the rest of the year off. What else, Chris?

Also last night. And look, Jaylen Hurts is awesome. MVP candidate. Obviously the Eagles are rolling.

Here's what I don't like. Jaylen Hurts running this much. Not sustainable. 33 attempts in the last two games. He's going to take some big hits and he's really putting himself at risk by running the ball this much. Well, I mean, as you know, who he's going to be running at is Tennessee.

And I would I would say, let let let your running backs take take a little bit of the beating. But he is so good. He is such a threat at that position. He is such a difference maker that and he's still young, man. I Robert Griffin was young.

I hear you young Lamar Jackson. I wouldn't change a damn thing right now. I don't know. I wouldn't change a damn thing. How do you change anything? You're the first 10 10 win team this year.

You were the last remaining undefeated team this year. You can't change a damn thing. You just do your thing. And he's such a difference maker. That's the other thing, too, man. You don't take your difference maker and take the ball away from your difference maker. I still do not understand why the Tennessee Titans do not put Derrick Henry on the field when they're in a so-called two minute.

What are you doing? Oh, OK. So Hilliard runs a better route. I get it. But Hilliard can't run away from people and also create business decisions that everybody turns down.

So do not take your best player off the field and do not take the ball away from your best player when he does something better than most. What else, Chris? There's some weird stuff going on in the desert, Rich.

The Cardinals, they already regret the Kyler and Kingsbury extensions. Man, I don't know if you put those in charge under sodium pentothal if they don't agree with you. What's going on? I don't know. Kyler's postgame comments talking about the scheme was F. Like, what was that? His body language is just terrible. You just get the sense that. I don't know, it's it's dicey to say these things because you're not in the locker room. I'm not in the world watching hard. And we're just kind of in the locker room. I see it. I know I there's just something off. And then the ball comes out really well when Colt McCoy is throwing it and you're on time.

But obviously Colt can't score touchdowns like the one that Kyler did yesterday. No way. Right?

But how sustainable is it that, you know, run around, run around, run around, then run in? I don't know, man. There's something off and something missing there. And I don't know how you fix it. And you're not fixing it this year. You're 4-8. And if I'm saying the same thing about Green Bay at 4-8 that you're done, this team is done, too. And they have got a lot of prideful veterans on that team. I don't know.

It's it's tough to call that an overreaction right now, but I don't have the, you know, finger directly on the pulse directly into that locker room or that front office. They got to believe that that's the combination. Hey, and I'm like it. What else, sir? All right, last one. And he kind of stepped on it. How do I step on it?

I was really proud of this one. What do I step on? The Raiders are going to win the next four games. Get above 500 and are threatening the playoffs. Let's check it out. Let's check it out.

Let's check it out. Because they've won two in a row. They've won two in a row. In overtime. Both walk off.

Both walk off. Cars played great the last two weeks. Correct. Jacobs is back.

Jacobs is amazing. And look at this schedule. They can beat the Chargers. Okay? Week one was so long ago.

Yeah. At the Rams. The Rams looks like it. That would give them four in a row going into their home game with New England. The Pats aren't scaring anybody, all right?

Especially on the road. Raiders, that's a home game for the Raiders. And then at Pittsburgh, that's not scaring anybody either. That's four straight going into week 17.

Obviously, the last two games are kind of monsters. Home for San Francisco and home for Kansas City. But Kansas City could be playing for nothing then. They might sit everybody that game. If they have the one seed wrapped up.

You know what? If the Raiders win out. I'm calling that game on Christmas night. If the Raiders show up into that game with five straight wins and can go above 500 on that night.

Oh, maybe. I'm telling you, this is what I saw in this team. They could put up points. They've got a difference maker at the wide receiver position and then both ends on defensive. On the defensive line. And now, they've got a difference maker at running back. He is unbelievable, Josh Jacobs.

He arrives with bad intentions and now he's got top end speed. You can't stop. And they feel it. They feel it. I'm saying that's not an overreaction.

They can threaten. Is that it? Do we have one more? All right. We'll get one. All right.

He's drop happy over there. All right. I tweeted it out on Saturday after your guys' big win, Rich. I said the big win. I said the big win. I said the big win. I tweeted it out on Saturday after your guys' big win, Rich. I said the best overreaction from Michigan, Ohio State makes the show.

These four were just so tremendous. They tweeted at us? They tweeted at us. Excellent. We got 100 something responses. I love it. Thank you, everybody, for tweeting us.

These four were the best. Michigan has a better win than Georgia and should be the number one seed regardless of the Big Ten title. You got me up until regardless of the championship game result.

JC Madsen, CJ Stroud played himself out of the first round. I will tell you that somebody from Ohio State fandom tweeted me that same exact thing. Texted me the same exact thing. I won't say who.

I mean, I think that's somebody texted me the same thing. That's a little crazy. Chad Nelson, the 22 point second straight win was going to lead to a decade of dominance. Michigan 10 and 0 in the next 10 years. Would that be unbelievable?

That's hilarious. And Chuck P, Ryan Day officially on the hot seat. That is, I don't know if the Chuck Palumbo is a an Ohio State fan. Every Ohio State fan that showed up in my Twitter timeline and on my texting says the same thing. Same thing. They're done with Ryan Day.

Done. He's lost three games in the last two years. One to Oregon in the horseshoe, one to Michigan in the big house, and now one to Michigan in the horseshoe. And that's it.

In two years. So many of these Ohio State fans are so entitled and absolutely so spoiled. Spoiled. They've done a lot of winning, but I get it. But you know, it's called cyclical. It can't always happen. Look at Alabama this year. They've lost two. They call him for Nick Saban's head.

What do you think? Now Nick's pleading to be in the playoff. Well, again, I will be consistent. I said before the game that the seasons have gone so well for both teams that whoever loses it should get in. You thought I was trying to cover in advance of Michigan stubbing its toe.

Will you admit that that's what you were doing? No, I was not because I thought they were two teams, 11 and 0. If it was a close game, the losers should still get in, is what I said. All right. Okay. It wasn't a close game, but I'm still going to be consistent and have Ohio States back because yes, losing to such a great team as Michigan is should not be such a negative.

It shouldn't be. You should take a look at how great Michigan is, how dominant they were, how great they were in the passing game, how they handled their business throughout the first half and then started getting stronger and stronger as the game went and manhandled that Ohio State front because they are so much better on the offensive line and have a good kid who is a great quarterback growing and showed he's got better skills than the other quarterback because how else can I evaluate it? I should absolutely be consistent and say I've got your back Ohio State. Wow. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Cut and paste that and send it to the committee. We'll come back. My chat with TJ Watt. He's very good at the football and he's back for the Steelers.

We'll chat with TJ when we return. This message is sponsored by Discover. Did you know you could reduce the number of unwanted calls and emails with online privacy protection? The latest innovation from Discover. Discover will help regularly remove your personal info like your name and address from 10 popular people search websites that could sell your data and they'll do it for free. Activate in the Discover app. See terms and learn more at discover.com online privacy protection. Influencer.

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Elizabeth the First, the podcast, wherever you listen. When I was done with Thanksgiving game day morning, I'm a lead pipe wielding professional. I was not done with my day of work.

It's a long day, but right away, as soon as I was done, I grabbed my laptop and my microphone. I went in the NFL network green room and zoomed with TJ Watt, who's taken on the Colts tonight. And here's my conversation with one of the best in the National Football League.

Joining me here now in advance of Monday Night Football, taking on the Indianapolis Colts is one of the best in the business and he is from the Pittsburgh Steelers Perennial Pro Bowler and All-Pro TJ Watt. How you doing, TJ? I'm doing good. I'm just happy to be here.

And I'm glad that you are here as well. How would you categorize this year for you, TJ? Not where I want to be, not where we want to be. It's been tough. Obviously, we got off to a hot start in week one. And then personally, I went out and was out for a couple weeks and went through my own battles with getting back to being healthy and went to the roller coaster of coming back against the Saints, having a win, and then obviously the unacceptable win last week. So it's kind of been a bit of a roller coaster and a lot more downs and ups as of lately. What is it like for you to not be active? It must drive you nuts.

Yeah, it sure does. I mean, especially when you're out for such an extended period of time, it's not like you just have like two weeks out where you can be upbeat and positive the whole time saying, I'm going to be back soon. It was more of the first couple of weeks you're just trying to diagnose the problem and get as many answers as you can, talk to as many doctors as possible. And then from there, you're kind of just slowly rehabbing and taking your time trying to help the team as much as possible without stepping on too many toes. And so what role did you take in the locker room while you're getting ready? Do you talk to the guys or I know a lot of guys when they're injured and rehabbing, it's just a difficult process to even be part of the mix.

Yeah, I kind of went through it all. You know, I tried to, I didn't want to be a coach, but I wanted to help out the young guys as much as possible. But I also know that it's hard to put your hand in the pile and help guys when you're not physically strapped up and putting on a helmet.

So you kind of have to play a balance of, I don't want to tell guys how I would do it because obviously there's multiple ways to do it. So it was just a matter of when I came back those last like two or three weeks before I actually came back, I wanted to show my commitment and that I was doing everything possible. That was super important to me was to let the guys know that I wasn't just happy to be here and be out. I was upset about the situation of me being injured.

I wasn't just taking my time with this thing. I was pushing as hard as I could so that when I came back, I had the respect of my teammates and coaches. And so what is the general sense in that locker room right now? What can you tell the Steelers nation entering this week 12 Monday night game with enough time left to make some hay?

What is the general sense there? Yeah, it's got to have it. And I think every, I mean, as cliche as it is, you got to win every game in the NFL. You're not expected to, but we're at a point right now where our back is against the back wall. I mean, we need to, we need to get production. I think that starts defensively and just getting back to playing Pittsburgh Steeler football in terms of stopping the run and creating turnovers. That's just an area where we've been able to emphasize where we're not creating those splash turnovers and sacks and negative plays like we have in years past. Well, I mean, you want to talk about splash turnovers, TJ Watt, you sure had a splash takeaway against Cincinnati.

I've never seen anything like that. I would say walk me through that play, but it took literally a split second when you just jumped in the air and Burrow was throwing and you snagged it. I can't believe you caught that.

Well, what happened there on that? Yeah, it's, I mean, a lot of times it's just, I mean, in week one, it was just, I was being chipped or it was a slow rush. So you just kind of get your eyes up and look through the tackle at the quarterback as you rush and you can kind of see him rise up. And as he rises up, I'm just, you know, it's awful, formational clues and everything, you know, kind of, it was going to be quicker than passing or not. And you just throw your hands up. And I've done it many times over the years in practice where I've caught them, sometimes clean, sometimes you bad them up to yourself, but I've just run more closer, like getting my hands tighter as opposed to wider, you know, and sometimes they just stick. It was weird.

I was wearing leather gloves, so I wasn't even wearing the sticky ones, which is wild. Did you see Burrow's reaction? I don't know if you saw it afterwards.

We had a nice little chat afterwards. And he was just like, what am I doing? And I was like, I don't know. I don't think it's anything you're doing. I'm just like putting my hands up and it's somehow sticking.

Yeah. He kind of like got like this look on his face. Like I can't wear his whole body went limp. Like I can't believe that just happened.

So yeah, I definitely wanted to ask you about that. And then more positive, just from my own sitting on the couch and watching, it looks like Kenny Pickett has it. What, what, what can you tell me about this rookie quarterback from your perspective, TJ? Yeah, he's got some moxie. He's got some swag. I think just the way that he plays, he's a go getter. He's going to take chances. And I think that's all you can ask for as a defensive player. And he doesn't want to just think and dunk down the field.

He wants to take those chances. It's so important at this level to be able to get those chunk plays and to take those shots. And yes, there's been some negative plays that everybody understands that that's what comes with being in the NFL.

There is a learning curve, no doubt about it, but it's all about how you get back up and how you respond. And everything that I've seen from that I've heard from the offensive guys is that Kenny is a guy that you want to play for. Well, I mean, and he's also got the issue of following in the footsteps of somebody who did it for a decade and a half, with a couple trophies in the case, how has he handled that from your side? Well, in this, the NFL is such a humbling business, it really is your you can never get too high, you can never get too low, you can't listen to the wrong people and always in the media and stuff, you have to know who you are and you have to be comfortable with who you are. And that's the cool thing about Kenny is I haven't seen him change up with success that he's had with any of the failures that he's had. He's maintained the same guy. And I think that's very that talks to the locker room.

And I mean, guys can see through if you're being fake or not. I don't see that again. And how about your coach and coach Tom? And, you know, so much is made about him never having had a losing record.

So clearly being three and seven is not something he is used to as well. How has he been over the last several weeks from you, from your perspective? Yeah. Like I said before, no, no one's satisfied with where we're at. But I mean, we still have a lot of football ahead of us, and we can control it. So it's all about what we do. It's all about execution, believing in the game plan. And coach, he's never going to switch up.

He's never going to go one way or the other. And he's always very constant through all the ups and the downs. So it's not like he's being someone that we haven't seen in the successful seasons that we've had here. Obviously, if you want to talk about differences in coaching or different spots in a career in coaching, you've got Mike Tomlin, one of the most tenured coaches in the National Football League. And then you've got Jeff Saturday, who is an interim head coach who probably had no idea three weeks ago he was even on any radar screen. What is your challenge going against the Indianapolis Colts and a coaching staff that clearly there's not much film on? You definitely know Matt Ryan and know Jonathan Taylor, but I'm wondering what you're seeing and expecting this week, TJ? Yeah, you kind of said it with the film thing. It's you can really only watch the last couple of weeks of films. You don't have a full catalog of what types of plays they like to run and things like that.

So some of those are unknowns or just small sample sizes. Otherwise, I mean, we know he's an offensive line guy, so he's going to want to run the ball. And that's shown in the last two games they've had.

I think Jonathan Taylor has had over like 20 carries in the last two games. And he's an elusive back, a great back. And then obviously, Matt Ryan is a guy who, as a leadership role, you can tell that the team has gotten behind him and he's able to move the ball, can still get around in the pocket while they do do some rollouts.

Even though he's getting up there in age, I think he's still everything above the neck is great. And it's not a cakewalk. No game in the NFL is a cakewalk.

I think it'd be a tough challenge for us. And it wraps up a Thanksgiving weekend. You and I are talking on Thanksgiving Day. You're fresh off of your practice.

I'm fresh off of NFL Network, which is why I'm in this white button down. So what is your go-to? What's the TJ want Thanksgiving go-to?

It's for what isn't the go-to. I think the only thing that's off the list is like cranberry sauce or whatever that stuff is. Everything else, some pregame.

I mean, as far as stuffing green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, turkey, gravy, everything you pass out and then do it all again. They're all starters. Nothing's on the bench is what you're saying? Nothing's on the bench.

Okay. Got to have your head on a swivel if you're on TJ Watts Thanksgiving dinner table. And what was, what were the Thanksgiving games like in the Watt household growing up? What was that like? We definitely had a turkey bowl. We would always go out to my aunt and uncle up in Appleton, Wisconsin. And I mean, there was a lot of snowy Christmases where, I mean, uncle bill would be out there with a polo shirt, short sleeve and knowing we'd be talking the rock around. And those are just such great memories. All five of us packed in the car up in the minivan, going up north for Thanksgiving, starting Christmas music, playing in the Turkey bowl, spending quality time with the family, watching football every hour of the day. And I remember JJ had the, he played in, what was it in Detroit? I think it was like when I was young, I mean, it was probably first five years in the NFL and he had a couple sacks. I just like, just those memories I'll have forever. It's so cool that we got to be those kids that grew up watching on Thursday, and then we've been so grateful to be able to play on those Thursdays too. So it's crazy how life comes full circle that way.

It is. Who was the most dominant Watt in the Turkey bowl though? Who was the most dominant? I think I was the most versatile. I could play a lockdown corner. I could play a little receiver. If you need me to pop back at quarterback, I could do that too. So JJ was too old and too cool to hang around.

Probably had the longest career in the Turkey bowl. I like it. Very good. Longevity is very important. It's very, very important.

So last one for you, TJ. What is your message to the Steelers, Faithful Gore everywhere and every nook and cranny on the planet going into week 12? What is your message to them? Oh, we understand where we're at. We're not over here patting ourselves on the back or taking things lightly. I think, like I say, this is more than just a job to us. It's what we love to do.

And none of us are satisfied. We're going to continue to turn over every rock that we can to make this right. And there's still a lot of football left to be played. And it's all about taking it one day at a time, one game at a time.

And we're not giving up by any stretch of the means. TJ Watt, thanks for the chat. Thanks for the Zoom. Have a great Thanksgiving and look forward to seeing on Monday Night Football and more success to you and your family. That's TJ Watt right here on the Rich Eisen Show. And revisit the most shocking win of Sunday and the soundbite of the century, as far as I'm concerned. It is an overreaction Monday, right, time program? Yes. Oh, gosh.

Oh, yeah. And we might revisit the subject of the day all as one when we return. 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. From the group stage all the way to the final, Andy, Lars and Peter are here for you with recaps and opinions of what happened that day in Qatar.

Everything could be found at the kickaround.com, the Cumulus Podcast channel on YouTube or wherever you listen. Alan Dallas, let's take his call. How you been, Albert? Happy Thanksgiving, gentlemen. Same to you. It's been a while.

Hope everybody's well. Hey, man, when the Giants, when the Cowboys went for it on fourth down to start the game, I don't understand why they did that. They lost it on downs, and then they lost it on interception, two turnovers.

It was right there for you. Giants only got three out of it, and then the rest, you know, kind of went downhill, you know? Yeah, this isn't about giant football.

Okay, sorry. This is about the anomaly of rich eyes in sports talk radio hosts. Generally speaking, my East Coast sensibilities, and yours too, we kind of root for pain. It's called Schottenfreude sometimes.

So we root for people to fail. But in your case, your sports talk radio show is better when you're successful than when you have pain and agony. And that's such an anomaly. Why don't you talk to Brockman about it? Brockman feels completely different. Like literally, my whole rant of Ohio State, he was like staring daggers at me the whole time. It's too bad.

It's not for me. He's a bitter, he's a bitter, he's just a bitter man. The thing that could knock you off your perch, and I can't believe it because he hasn't been talked about, is that David Shaw took over for the Ohio State coach. You know what, that would be disturbing to me. It would be, because you know I love him, and he's surprised. I mean, honestly, I don't know.

I get a lot of free time. They're not firing Ryan Day. It's just insane that Buckeye fans want him gone. I mean, the guy could recruit his head off. He's won, I mean, 45 or 50 games. That's insane.

I mean, he'd be out of a job for two seconds. And then, you know, with the Mike White thing, you know, it's all this other stuff. I mean, you've had, you know, your show is much better when you're happy, and which is so counterintuitive. I know. Appreciate it, Al. You take care of yourself, brother. You be well. Thank you. That's Alan Dallas.

Michigan beating Ohio State this past week also proves I have been living my best life for the last year. You keep telling me, TJ, say it with your chest, say it with your chest, and I'm like, screw it. I'm going to keep writing these checks, and they'll either get cashed or return to sender. I cashed.

Check the mail. Chris, you like cashing? You like cashing?

You're hoping you're going to cash on Portugal right now. I am. Okay, it's great.

Those checks ain't coming back, Rich. I love it. They got the positive.

You know what? And then sometimes you just got to take stories that have nothing to do on its face with what you want to talk about, which is Michigan's dominance over Ohio State. And a fresh reminder for Ohio State fans to be careful what they kind of wish for, like, oh, we love that rivalry. It was always interesting when Michigan was better, you know? It was always great when the rivalry was better. Oh, okay.

Sounds good. How do you like it now? Tell me how it tastes, to use the Shaq phrase. And then, you know, hey, fresh reminder, fresh reminder, all you folks, want your guy back, want your guy back to the point where you clown your current coach by chanting for the old guy to be back on national television, on national television.

Just a fresh reminder, if you need one, as to what maybe you might get. I understand this didn't happen at the collegiate level, but did you see how Trevor Lawrence looked yesterday? Yeah, he was awesome. He's taking a step forward this year.

Yeah, he looked really good. You know, three touchdowns, 321 yards most this season, zero interceptions. Last game, he had three touchdowns, zero interceptions. Earlier this year in SoFi Stadium, beating the Chargers 38-10.

That was the same stadium where he had to go to his coach at the time and say, hey, coach, how about our best running back who fumbled? Are we going to see him again today? You're going to put him back in?

Oh, I don't know. Why don't you go talk to the assistant, even though I'm the one who pulled the code red, and I'll just lie to the media afterwards and put the position that you don't want to be in on you to try and refute me. Great coaching. And this is after he, you know, didn't go back on the team plane after a loss. Is this before or after the after the resume?

After. The resume, okay. At any rate, why does Trevor Lawrence look as good as he does right now? I wasn't thinking this yesterday.

I should have been. I want to thank Andrew Wingard, your fourth year safety, for putting a very fine point on it. This is what Wingard said about his quarterback, Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback.

Here's the Jacksonville Jaguar safety in year four talking plainly. I'm just like so happy for Trevor because, A, he had to deal with Urban Meyer last year as a rookie, and I don't even know if he had a rookie year. And to see the growth he's made, not just on the field, but just like his preparation, his demeanor, all that. And you knew he's, you know, when the rock breaks, it's not that one chip. It's all the chips that stacked up before that, and I'm so happy for him. That throw on fourth down to Zay was like, I knew we were winning the game, honestly. Like, I could feel it.

It was so cool. And then you believed in your coach all that year, and for him to go for two, what was that like when he does it? The stones on that guy, it's like, I would die for Doug Peterson, I swear.

I would run into battle with Doug Peterson 100%. I love the guy. Just the, his attitude, you know, it's like you go, you're three and seven, and it's like, you know, you want to make playoffs and stuff, and it's like, he hasn't changed his attitude whatsoever.

It's like, we come into work, we keep working, we just keep chipping away, and eventually it's going to pay off, and it did today. And it's like, the feeling in the locker room is just awesome. I love this team. I love this team. Wow.

Man, that was cool. Interesting. Not even sure he had a rookie season. Not even sure he had a rookie season. I mean, this is week 12 in the NFL.

It's, you know, good Lord, three months of football games on top of training camp, on top of mini camp, on top of off-season workout program. The page has been turned, man. Hasn't been the coach for a long time.

Page has been turned. Not in that locker room. He doesn't have to deal with Urban Rottmeyer as a rookie. He's a rookie. Urban Rottmeyer is a rookie. Honestly, they're still remembering. I mean, it's unbelievable.

That's crazy. So yeah, bring back the guy who had the worst flame out, embarrassing flame out, social media viral flame out in the history of National Football League coach. Bring that guy back to college.

Oh, in college, different guy. Yeah, because he could just put his authoritarian stamp and thumb on the kid. Have the kid show everyone what his resume is made of. I mean, for that to happen the day after Michigan curb stomps Ohio State in the horseshoe and Urban sitting there saying they're going to stop the run. They'll stop the run. They'll fix the defense.

It doesn't happen. The fan base is in full pitchfork and torch mode begging for Urban to come back on national television, embarrassing Ryan Day. And then this little gem, this little hidden gem in Duval County on Sunday. What an Easter egg for me on Thanksgiving weekend. It's just awesome. This is great. I wish I had a big hat like Brian Robinson. That could be mine too. Oh, the world's my oyster.

Damn. This has just been a great show. How's it taste? It tastes like victory. We will chat on Tuesday, everybody.