REShow: Bruce Feldman - Hour 2 (1-4-2023)

This is The Rich Eisen Show. I am getting texts like crazy from my fellow Michigan Wolverines saying is Jim Harbaugh leaving us? Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. There's one person who knows and that person is named Jim Harbaugh. The Rich Eisen Show.

Stop texting me because I don't know. Earlier on the show, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. Coming up, Fox Sports college football analyst, Bruce Feldman.

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Which is a nice video on demand service due to our relationship with Roku. We got Chris Brockman and Mike Del Tufo in their spots. TJ Jefferson in his spot for our number two. And joining us right here in studio. The last time I saw this man was at the Fiesta Bowl. It's on before the game with my son, Coop. Coop and I ran into Bruce Feldman. And now, here we are, Bruce. And didn't see what was coming that day. Did you see what was coming that day?

No, I did not. The only thing I will say is, unlike you, I did a couple of their games this year. So, I knew they have a lot of athletes.

They have a lot of speed. And so, when you see them in person, you're like, okay, that team doesn't look like a team that should have been preseason picked number seven in the Big 12. And so, when I saw you that day, I was feeling good about having a ticket to the national championship game at SoFi. And now, I'm going to see a bunch of purple there on Monday night.

So, let's just jump into it. Your thoughts, what you wrote about in the athletic and what you wrote about, not in the athletic, talked about on Fox Sports, about the Fiesta Bowl. Why you saw what you saw, what you gleaned from that game. Yeah, what surprised me was that Michigan did not, yeah, they had, it was the first play of the game. Obviously, Donovan Edwards goes for 54 yards up the middle. After that, they did not run the ball that well.

And that surprised me. I thought they would wear out TCU and wear them down in the second half. There was a couple things that happened that I was like, okay, if you put these things together, this is a bad sign for your team. Not one, but two pick sixes.

That's obviously, that's hard to overcome. The other thing was, they had three trips inside the five yard line and got three points. Three points, that's it? The first one was some weird Ann Arbor special play that I'd never seen them run.

Too cute, right? You would think. And then, you know, that's one of those like, okay, they might have seen something on film. They thought they had them. That's the one play that they used.

You could just toss that out. But to fumble on the half yard line after a touchdown was removed by parsing things in replay was particularly difficult to swallow. That was a gut punch.

That was a total gut punch. Would have been 14-10. Instead, it was 14-3. TCU made it 21-3 right after that. And Michigan just couldn't, every time they got close to digging out of the hole, they gave up a huge touchdown as well. Because TCU is really damn good, man.

They are. They're a championship football team. They have a lot of speed. I mean, Darius Davis, number 11, he didn't even, you know, he had a nice kick return. Like, he might be the fastest guy in college football. You know, Quentin Johnson, people know about. Like, he was on my freaks list this past year. He will be a first round pick. He's every bit as talented as any receiver in the country.

And then the thing with Max Duggan is talk to coaches in the Big 12. It's almost like he's the old single wing quarterback. But because they have some receivers, he can give them 50-50 balls and they're going to win. And I thought, you know, his numbers, especially early in the game, because it was the one deflection that Zane was still picked off, that probably should have been caught.

Like, his numbers don't show, I think, how well he played in that game. And the biggest thing to me is that team has an incredible amount of confidence and belief. And so one of the games that I was a sideline reporter for, they played at Baylor. And it came down to the last second field goal and it was this crazy, like, rush to get on the field. And they got it off and they made the kick.

And Sonny was super calm about it afterwards. And a lot of the players weren't. But I just think you have a great kind of dynamic with them. They came after Gary Patterson. I think that, you know, he's a really good coach. But I think a lot of the players needed some new life and new energy. And Sonny Dykes has brought that and they are responding.

And that team of destiny vibe where a lot of crazy stuff happens and the players are the ones who buy into it. I mean, really, that's all that kind of matters. Doesn't matter if you or I buy into it. In fact, it probably helps if we don't. You know, so that's the yummy rat poison that's referred to maybe by.

Yeah. And I'm sure he wishes. I'm sure Nick Saban felt like he deserved it. But like they have they definitely win or lose that game. They definitely belonged in the playoff. And it you know, I would I will pick Georgia to win because I just think it's going to be very supersized version of Michigan in a lot of ways. But it wouldn't shock me if T.C. won.

I mean, not after what we've seen from them. Bruce Feldman here from Fox Sports and the Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about Michigan here. First up, the quarterback, J.J. McCarthy. What a what a photograph you took of him, sort of similar to Staphon Diggs, watching the Chiefs celebrate an AFC Championship game after they lost it, after the Bills lost it.

And you had a photograph of J.J. McCarthy looking at the celebration on the field. Walk me through. Did you talk to him afterwards?

Walk me through. Not in that moment. I talked to some other people on the field there.

But, you know, I didn't want to. You could clearly tell he was he was in a moment right there. I am not the usually take the photograph, take the video guy on the field. You know, I saw some people way after the fact, go, hey, this is a great photo.

And I'm like, well, credit Apple, because I can't even get the timer fixed when we lose power on the remote on the microwave. So it was that it was just an amazing moment to sit there and go, wow. And you just think the fact of this player who I think has a you know, we've seen a lot of stuff. You'd see, you know, in some I think this is the sixth game I think I've done of a Michigan this season. You know, J.J. before the before the game, you know, kind of in his end moment, there's a lot of stuff where I feel like this is a guy who is has an awareness of what's going on around him. And I think to take in that of what they saw, you know, I suspect this will this is not the end for J.J., this will be the call back to, you know, what is going to happen, I think next year, because I imagine this is a kid with supreme confidence, like just about him.

I did a story going into the to the Michigan-Ohio State game. And in it, there was some what I thought was, whoa, bulletin board material from J.J. in there. And he backed it up entirely in the game, you know.

And so I'm curious to see what what J.J. McCarthy 3.0 will be after this after this one. But yeah, that was an amazing scene to be a part of. And I think for the team that had immense confidence in itself, and I saw that up close. And we talked about this on your show maybe the last time I was here about what the attitude of the Michigan Wolverines were like on the field in Columbus. I think they were from everything I heard was complete confidence, even when they were down, you know, 15 points at halftime or down 18 points before that, we're going to win this game. I think in the second half they were convinced we're going to win this game.

I think they were stunned that they didn't. Plus one on that. And let's get to the whole enchilada here, the elephant in the room, and that's the coach. You just mentioned how J.J. McCarthy looked forward to seeing what the next version of him is. And the question is, will Jim Harbaugh even be there? So let's take it one at a time, because I know you and some of your colleagues co-bilined a piece saying that he's if it's a done deal, if he's offered an NFL job. Before we get to that, did you sense a coach after that game is one who was tapped out leaving?

I don't know on the answer that I mean, what sense you get? The sense I get, and this is from people who know him much better than me, is that if he's offered, he will leave. Doesn't matter the job. Really? I don't matter the job. Like if he doesn't have full control of the roster or he doesn't like the owner relationship, the quarterbacks there are not there.

The picks are not there. Maybe like it doesn't matter. Somebody offers him a job, he's gone. I think if the dynamic were different, you know, with the Broncos from way before, whereas like could he and John Elway, if they were like, how well would they coexist in that dynamic? But I think some of these situations, you know, the Panthers, people would go, well, you know, David Tepper just hired a college guy. Well, Jim Harbaugh is really not a college guy.

Correct. Because that was a first time head coach. Jim Harbaugh was a wildly successful NFL head coach. And quarterback. And quarterback.

But let's put that aside for a second. Jim Harbaugh, people may forget this, that the 49ers before he got there hadn't had a winning season in eight years. In year one, they went to the NFC title game. In year two, they went to the Super Bowl. In year three, they went back.

He was 44 and 19 as an NFL head coach. And that isn't in like the Sunbelt. That isn't in the Big Ten West. Sunbelt. Right? I mean.

Silicon Valley. Yeah, we've seen coaches bomb going to the NFL. That isn't like, I'm surprised nobody offered him last year. Right? Like, for people, and I get why Michigan fans are like, oh, here we go again.

They roll their eyes and they think it's clickbait. Last year, I remember having, you know, reporting this, Jim went on signing day no less. I know. Minnesota. Nobody leaves, didn't get offered the job. They hired Kevin O'Connell. That has worked out great for the Vikings. It worked out great for Michigan. Right?

Of course. And he also said, Bruce, that the door was closed for the NFL. And I understand when a coach says that, that, that, that in a, you know, to use an old phrase that I had growing up, that in a token will get you on the subway.

You know what I mean? But I just find it difficult to believe that it doesn't matter where or who or the front office set up or the amount of talent that's already in the locker room or what quarterback is there. What quarterback could be going there, but it doesn't matter that if he's just offered a job, whatever's going on at Michigan is so either, you know, mission accomplished in his mind or whatever wasn't mission accomplished in the NFL is calling him so much that it doesn't matter.

I think it's the latter. It is that I have not won a Super Bowl. I mean, the fact that he lost the Super Bowl to his brother, I don't know how much that sits with him, but the fact that he was so close and didn't win it. I mean, if you are, if you're, no, they did not win a national title since he's been at Michigan.

I get that. But if he's leaving now, there was nothing fluky about it. I mean, they kick the heck out of their arch rival in Columbus. Nobody thought it was going to happen other than the Michigan people. They dominated the Big Ten.

I mean, I think that's about as close to a mission accomplished as you probably can hope to get. Now, I'm not saying if he does come back, he has no chance to win a national title, but I think they are the bully of the Big Ten right now. I mean, this would, you know, if he's looking at which is the most important thing to me, winning a national title or winning a Super Bowl, you're not going to win a Super Bowl at Michigan. So if the answer, if that is truly the question for Jim Harbaugh, what's more, what would I rather have, which is kind of ridiculous, like asking a parent, like which child would you want to be more successful?

Truly is an unfair question to ask, but this is Sports Talk Radio, what the hell? Would you rather have a national championship or a Super Bowl? You believe, based on your reporting and being around, you'd say Super Bowl, and if that's the case, then he should go.

He should go. I also think, Rich, and I would ask you this, I think for a lot of people at Michigan, maybe this is going to sound crazy, but like, I think beating Ohio State the way they did carries so much weight compared to like, I think people wanted to vomit every time they heard Urban Meyer talk about 7-0 in that. Oh, I want to vomit every time I see Urban Meyer on, I don't want to get in trouble with your bosses, you know, sitting there on, you know, at any rate, but no, that's the point though, is that yes, the last two years have been great, I want to build off it. I want to build off it with him, and I want him to be the guy to lift the trophy, but then again, he was my first quarterback when I first arrived at Michigan, so I have more of an emotional tie to that. He was the quarterback in my first year at Michigan and watched him through, and Chris and I were just having fun here at the top of our show talking about this in advance of you arriving. One of the first things I did on this show from this chair into this microphone when we came on the air in 2014 was for me to pound the table for him to join Michigan, you know, and everyone was saying, forget it, he's not going to do it, and then he did.

So I clearly have that sort of biases here, so when it comes down to it though, what do you know about a plan B? Where would Michigan go for that? My hunch, and I don't know the sort of fact, but my hunch is Michigan would look very closely at Sharone Moore. Sharone Moore is a really, really highly regarded coach inside the Michigan program. He's the offensive line coach and the co-offensive coordinator. They've won back-to-back Joe Moore awards, that had never happened anywhere, for the best o-line in the country, and Sharone Moore has had as much to do with Michigan's turnaround as any of those assistant coaches. There's been some interest in him at some other Power Five schools that really never kind of got off the ground at that point, but I think for people inside the program, and look, they just had a really good transfer class that they're bringing in. A bunch of those guys are offensive linemen.

I think that would be the best case for continuity, because of how people feel about Sharone Moore. Look, we've seen at Ohio State, Ryan Day hit the ground running there, certainly at Notre Dame, with much less time. I mean, Marcus Freeman was really only at Notre Dame for one year, but I think we've seen schools go to somebody inside the program that they feel comfortable with, who they see as a rising star.

I definitely think Sharone Moore is that guy. The other part of it is, the guys who I think normally would have been the candidates you would have expected Michigan to look at, who were like the big school caliber guys. Matt Rule took the Nebraska job, and Luke Fickel took the Wisconsin job. I'm not sure who's out there who could say, oh, I'm not much more convinced that they're going to build off of what Michigan has, because whoever they would hire if Jim Harbaugh does leave, if it's not Sharone Moore, or maybe if it's not Mike Hart, but I think Sharone Moore would be the one internal guy. You probably lose a lot of those guys inside, and I don't think you're building off of it if Jim Harbaugh leaves and you bring in some outsider. And there's no guarantees that the outsider is going to do, I mean, because we've seen Michigan get the fit wrong. Look, I think, you know, Rich Rod, for whatever people in Ann Arbor thinks, is a really good college football coach.

It didn't work there. Brady Hoke had had success, he knew the program, had a little success, didn't work there. It's not, you know, it's not an easy place when you have Ohio State where they are, you have Penn State, now we feel like they're ascending again, look what they did in the Rose Bowl, look how they're recruiting, and then you got Lincoln, Riley, and USC coming in.

It's like, it's not an easy job to do where they are right now, and I think as much as anything, that's why I think they would give serious consideration to Sharone Moore, because I think they like what he is about and what he's helped them build. Bruce Feldman here, a few more minutes left with him here on the Rich Eisen Show, Fox Sports and the Athletic. Am I the only one sitting here wondering why these college football semifinal games are played on New Year's Eve? Because if we're talking, again, maybe I'm off, but is there anybody who's in charge that has a problem with the fact that there was a remote tug of war in households all across the country as to whether to watch the ball drop or the end of that game, Ohio State and Georgia? I mean, come on, man.

What is happening right there? You are boxing them in. You are the NFL guy, and because the NFL is such a massive ratings monster, I think when the calendar falls the way it falls, they're in a tricky spot with that. But it's multiple times it's happened on New Year's Eve, two years in a row, and it's just like, what are they doing? Why can't they, I understand, why can't they do it on a Friday night, right, the 30th? What's the point? What's the big deal?

Because you've got weeks of buildup right now. They have convinced themselves that this was going to be some kind of new tradition that they were going to start. It's a terrible tradition.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to keep on interrupting. No, the part I don't love about this is the calendar is already kind of weird that time of year when things kind of sneak up on you in terms of that. There's never a consistency to it. They've adopted Monday night as, there's a lot of weird stuff. If I go down this rabbit hole of how they've scheduled this, it's almost like this is the best they think they can do with it. And look, if you want logic to dictate how the college football world works, you're going to pull all your hair out. But there's enough smart people to figure this thing out?

I mean, I don't know, man. At least in my house, I was in charge of the previous remote button. I was hitting the previous button to show my kids who were interested in the ball drop.

Look, it's not dropping yet. Look, you know, for my- Give them an iPad. Give them an iPad.

They can put it on that. Maybe that's me having two eight-year-olds in the house. Good parenting skills.

Okay, give them a tablet. Just be careful with the profanity when you say that. I understood that. Okay, so nobody's talking about is what you're saying. I don't, I mean, if they are, I'm not here. Okay, very good.

All right. And so the national championship game between Georgia and TCU, break it down for me before I let you go. You know, I think it comes down to if TCU can run the ball as close to as well as they did the other night, they have a chance. And they're going to need help. I don't know that they're going to need two pick sixes from Stetson Bennett, but they're going to need help. I mean, Georgia is, I hate to say the term, but they are like a supersized version of Michigan.

Right? They're super physical. They have a lot of guys on defense. They have more NFL top-level talent on defense than certainly I think Michigan does. But, you know, they have, it's interesting because like both teams excel using the tight end.

They do it differently. But especially Brock Bowers, he is a big weapon in Georgia's tight end, much different than how Michigan uses their guys. But I think that's the challenge.

But again, TC was so loose in playing with the house's money. You know, if there is a game at halftime, I'm not saying Georgia is going to get super tight, but like it's really hard to repeat. And, you know, they needed, they needed like a missed field goal, obviously, to get to this game. I think there's, to me, there is no aura of invincibility on this team. Like I, one of my friends had brought up, well, maybe this is kind of like the first Miami team coming out of nowhere to beat Nebraska. Because I remember like that Nebraska team, you know, Turner Gill and Mike Rosier, that was like team of the ages that they were building. This is, I don't feel like this Georgia team is quite as stacked as the one we saw last year.

I would agree with you on that. I mean, there's so many guys playing on Sundays and Mondays and Thursdays right now from that Georgia team in particular. And this is a really resilient TCU team. Like if they give up a huge play, well, we just saw that. We just saw them give up a huge play right out of the gate and they didn't give up a touchdown. And I just think they're going to take a lot of punches on the, on the chin. And if they lose, they lose. But they are a dangerous team because they have so much belief. Like I'm not surprised the spread is double digits. I think it probably should be.

You have an issue with that, right? Why TCU? We've seen them play, what, five, six, seven ranked teams this year, beat all of them and they're 13 point dogs. Really?

13? I think a lot of it has to do with just the recruiting rankings. And you just see so many five star guys on the field. Like it's, I mean, Michigan compared, it was like a little bit like Michigan to Ohio State. It was like this was flipped kind of thing, this game. Where Michigan was the big underdog in that game. And they played with the chip on their shoulder and then TCU came in with the chip on their shoulder. I, you know, I could easily talk myself into thinking TCU is going to pull the big upset.

I don't know, man. I saw it with my own two eyes. And that team is physical. They, whatever Sonny Dykes is selling, they are, they are, they are bought and sold, man. And they, they're tough. They are really tough and mentally tough. And on top of it, too, that fan base is loud. That building was deafening and they're going to show up in Los Angeles. Not that Georgia's not.

But there's going to be a ton of purple in that SoFi stadium, which is one of the loudest buildings I've ever been in anywhere. And they are, I would be this, this one thing hasn't happened in a long time where, you know, when it's Ohio State versus, you know, Alabama, with the exception of LSU that year, it's been a long time since somebody else was kind of a darling of college football playing in that game. It was always like when Clemson first got there. But after a while, people got really sick of Adabo in a hurry. You know, and it was in Georgia, Alabama, you know, Ohio State.

It just those programs are hard for everybody else to root for. I mean, I don't know if this doesn't really matter much either. But the idea that, like, there's going to be so many people pulling for TCU.

I don't know if it's in the building how much that'll, that'll matter. It's going to be, that place was half purple. Oh, yeah.

It's not more. I was surprised at how much purple there was. Well, we know there's going to be a lot of people from Michigan with tickets from that game. Well, I'm one of them. I'm going. I mean, I'm still taking my son. Prices have been dropping all week because it seems like the Michigan people are unloading. I'm sure they are.

I don't know. You got me on that one. All I'm saying is that I saw that TCU team and I watched the game when I got home at least the third and fourth quarter, except for the last kick, because we were watching the ball drop, by the way. You know, and so that was that TCU can win this game. I'm surprised. 13 points.

Really? I also think Bruce is kind of interesting about this game is the quarterbacks. It's this isn't Jamis Winston versus Marcus Mariota. This isn't two Heisman Trophy winners. It's two guys whose stories we know, like Max Duggan was a backup before this season started. And Stetson Bennett was a walk-on. He's going to be in charge of your 401k in like two years, right? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. I mean, with Max Duggan, there were coaches who faced him this year in the Big 12 who were actually like, we want him to not get knocked out of the game because they thought Chandler Morris, the backup, gave them more problems.

Now those teams lost to him, by the way, end up losing. Man, I love talking to you, Bruce. Happy New Year, sir. Thanks for joining.

Thanks for it. It's good to see you. It's great to see you again.

Lots has happened in between the two times we've seen each other. For checkout, Bruce Feldman, Fox Sports and the Athletic. And then, of course, on Twitter as well. Thanks for coming in. You got it.

Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eyes this year. Your phone call is 844-204-RICH. Number to dial when we come back. So expect innovative safety features like crosswind assist and blind spot assist. Expect amazing performance and reliability with an MBUX voice command system, a five star dealer network and an available gas engine. It runs like, well, a dream.

So what do you say? Head to the Mercedes-Benz van dealership and get that Sprinter. Tell them your dream sent you. YouTube dot com slash Rich Eyes and show for our full archive. Back here on our program, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van is sitting there for you to open up and unlock your potential to do your own thing and be your own boss and steer your own success and blaze your own trail. We've been telling you about these Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van for quite some time. They are built and designed and equipped to let you hit the open road and take on any goal that you set. You can live, work and play out your dreams when you own a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, no matter how far off the beaten path they'll take you. And with 16 body types, your choice of a gas or diesel engine, thousands of ways to customize, now available in an all wheel driver, Sprinter van is capable and versatile enough to help you drive your ambitions. Don't wait. Unlock your potential inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Zach Taylor's just spoken to the media.

The bills are not having a media availability today. And that's currently going through the old editing machines here in the Rich Eyes and show. And we shall indeed play that for you shortly. Let's go to the phone lines. Nick in South Carolina has been patiently waiting. What's up, Nick? Hey, Rich, how you doing, buddy?

What's going on? Not much, man. I want to talk about NFL players for a second. I have a quick question for you. Also, TJ, I hope you got the Cowboys T-shirt I sent you last month.

Where'd you send it to? You know, NFL players, most of them take for granted what that they're there all the time, what these guys put themselves through, you know, just to play this game that we love so much. I mean, you know, Ronnie Lott had part of his finger cut off just so he could play. You know what I mean? And, you know, I just think as fans, we need to appreciate what these guys go through just to play this game. No doubt.

Because not everybody can do it, obviously. No doubt. And they put their bodies on the line. And, you know, we were talking about that with Chris Long. And if everybody missed it, go to our YouTube page or to our VOD page right here on the Roku channel. It is very moving about what a player has to go through and how deep you have to put into the recesses of your mind the fact that you can get so, you know, violently injured. You can get hurt significantly. But, you know, I appreciate you pointing that out.

What was your other question that you had? In regards to Bill's Bengals game past Monday, do you think the league would consider just calling the game a tie since we are so backed up to the playoff window? Because, I mean, both teams are already in the playoffs.

Do you think they would consider something like that? Well, here's the deal, Nick. It's not just the two of them that's involved in this. There are two other teams that are involved in this. There are the Chiefs and the Ravens. The Ravens, I'm sure, would like to have a shot at the division and get a home playoff game. And they earned the right to do that by beating the Bengals for a second time.

And they're going to get, it does appear, their opportunity to do that. But it's entirely possible that if you put a tie on the board, then they don't have the same record. And whatever tie break that they do have in their back pocket, because they just lost to the Steelers, they can't put on the table if you have the Bengals with a tie.

You make sure I'm correct. Right now, yeah, the Bengals, if they say 11-4-1, right, so you say they have a tie, 11-4-1, then it doesn't matter if Baltimore beats the Bengals this weekend. It's the Bengals' division.

And then you've got the Chiefs, too, on top of it. And thanks for the call, Nick. But wait a minute.

Nick mentioned the t-shirt he sent me? Oh, yes. I'm sorry.

He's already gone. Or Mike with the quick... No, that was me. Oh, that was you? Rich, I follow you.

I'll get you a t-shirt. I'm sorry? That's my fault.

But I just want to have this conversation with people. The Chiefs want the one seed, too. Yeah.

All right? I mean, so if the Bills are 12-3-1, and the Chiefs are 13-3-0, then the Chiefs are now in front of the Bills. Right? And the Bills have a tie break against the Chiefs having beaten them in Kansas City. So you give the Bills a tie, and then all of a sudden, they might be like, well, what gives? And then, of course, the Chiefs want the one seed. So they need to have this thing played out. What if you also say to the Bengals and the Bills, you now have a tie, and the Chiefs get the one seed. Right?

And then, so what? The Bengals now have to go to Buffalo in a playoff game? Or, as Mike Florio on one of his many posts on the subject matter and pro football talk said, if the Bales and the Bengals play each other in a playoff game and they don't play this game out regular season, they have it in a neutral set.

Look, there are no easy, good options. And then, of course, having this conversation, you have to place it under the, through the prism, with the front loading, which we didn't do, of saying it is truly the most important thing about all of this, is that DeMar Hamlin is healthy and lives. But, I mean, a tie doesn't do anything. The Ravens would be sitting there going, Ty, we want a shot to play this team. And even if they beat the Bills, right? Well, if the Bengals beat the Bills, it's a moot point. But if the Bengals don't play the Bills, then the Ravens have a shot here. So, if they're going to play each other this weekend and Baltimore improves to 11-6 and Cincinnati falls to 11-5, do you think Baltimore would say, yeah, just put a tie on there?

No. Go face the potentially best team in the AFC like you were supposed to and finish that thing out. I think the game is going to have to be played eventually. They have to.

You can't just, like, cancel it. It would have been easy to just say, no game at all. You tie or there's no result at all. The tie would be, would have the result. And if the Chiefs weren't involved and the division was already wrapped up. If one, if, but there's so much at stake, really so much at stake, and then the cascading effect of who plays who where for playoffs, it's... Kurt in South Dakota, you're here on the Rich Johnson Show.

What's up, Kurt? Same topic. Go for it. It's not impossible to solve it. There are solutions. Okay.

Unfortunately, none of them are ideal. That's right. That's what you've been saying. Yeah. So I think just let the NFC playoffs follow the schedule that's already established.

So we've got some givens. Given is that the Week 18 games will be played as scheduled and the Super Bowl, as has been scheduled for years, will happen at the end of February. Yeah, that can't be, you can't move the Super Bowl. There are way too many logistical issues by moving. You cannot move the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is anchored to the weekend that it is anchored and Week 18 is anchored to the weekend that it is anchored.

And then it's just how do you use the weeks in between? That is the issue. Correct. And I think that, well, let's say Buffalo does not agree to forfeit the game with the Bengals. They shouldn't. They shouldn't have to forfeit it, right?

Well, they shouldn't have to, but they can choose to. That's an option. If they do, then that solves everything.

They won't. Okay. So using the tie scenario is the same thing as winning percentage and basing that on the number of actual games played.

And I don't think that's acceptable for the reasons that you just stated. So I think you have to play the Bills and Bengals game. I think you play it next week. Sometime between Thursday the 12th and Saturday the 14th. So before the NFC playoffs start, because I think you start the NFC playoffs on the schedule that's long since established.

Right. And then, yes, you're going to affect the schedules of the other five AFC playoff teams besides the Bills and Bengals who we know are in the playoffs. You gotta make them wait. They'll get a bye week before the playoffs start. The Bills and Bengals will not. Well, unless the Bills get the one seed. If the Chiefs get the one seed, they'll have two weeks off. Correct.

And then I think what you're referring to, Nick, I'm sorry, I gotta bolt for a commercial break. What you're referring to is what Mike Florio mentioned before that he said he caught wind of last night. And to me, this is the best solution is you play out week 18, the wildcard weekend is just the NFC. You give the AFC the week off with the exception of the Bills and the Bengals, which is a defacto playoff game.

I mean, there's a lot at stake in that one. Whether the certainly if the Ravens beat the Bengals this coming weekend, you know, the AFC North would be on the line, the one seed would be on the line, the two seed and the three seed and the five seed would be on the or six seed would be on the line would be very significant. And and then the AFC plays their playoffs, the wildcard the next weekend. And then the divisional playoff weekend would be played on the weekend where the championship games are played, the championship game would be played on the weekend that the Pro Bowl is currently played in the Super Bowl is played when it's played. So you'd lose the bye week before the Super Bowl, which would inconvenience if you will, the two teams that would be playing in the Super Bowl.

Normally, they'd get the week off there. You're also giving the rest of the AFC a week off before the Bills and Bengals play. In their playoff weekend, so there would be a somewhat disadvantage there, right? You would lose the advantage of being the one seed. But the one seed would then get a week off when the rest of the AFC playoffs they play two weeks, right? So what would end up happening is the AFC wildcard grouping minus the Bills and the and the Bengals would have a week off a bye week. The teams that win in the NFC would then have a bye week.

The issue with that, the issue with that is that the NFC one seed would be off for three weeks, which is good for Jalen Hurts or not. I mean, they want to play. You want to play. I know, but he's hurt.

He needs help. Nothing is nothing is at all normal in this. Well, it's like we've said all week.

It's unprecedented. I'm told that there is an update on DeMar Hamlin. Let's take a break and get to that. 844204 Rich number to dial right here on the show would like to have a lot of real estate before our three hits on this program. 844204 Rich number to dial. The Rich Eisen Show on the Rich Eisen Show radio network powered by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Yeah, it's difficult to suss out what possibilities you can have for the Bengals and the Bills game to be played and what it would mean and when you would play it and what it would mean for the Chiefs playing on Saturday night. But I just know if the Bills had won Monday Night Football. It would have been over. The one seed would have been clinched.

That's it, right? Or they would have had to beat. They would have had to have beaten the Patriots. Then it went out and they get the one seed.

That's it. So now they're going to play the Patriots before it. And then the Chiefs would need a win in the Bills to lose once in the last two weeks. The Chiefs have now got the one they're going to play before the Bills have even played in their last two. And then you got the Bengals if they went out. To get to 13 and in four and the Chiefs lose to the Raiders, the Bengals would have a chance. The Bengals would get it. Still wide open. So the Chiefs are going to play first now.

The Chiefs are going to finish their schedule before the Bills or Bengals play either of their last two games. That's why you kind of need a little bit of a slide rule to figure these things out. And have to look at the standings as opposed to just hearing people talk about it.

They're very honest with you. Also crazy, it kind of affects the bottom too, right? If the Bills had lost, maybe they don't play guys in week 18. Which allows the Patriots to maybe get a win. Which gets them into the playoffs. Now, Buffalo's obviously going to play everyone as normal. Which means they should beat New England, which now knocks them out. Which keeps Miami and Pittsburgh alive. And at the top of the next hour, we'll have an update on the Dolphins quarterback situation. Dolphins, Jets, Commanders all with quarterback names. Ah, interesting.

Good tease right there. The Buffalo Bills statement, just issued a statement, DeMar remains in the ICU and critical to condition with signs of improvement noted yesterday and overnight. He remains under intensive care as his healthcare team continues to monitor and treat him.

So we'll take whatever we can get right now. And again, the doctors that I've been texting with and medical experts I've been texting with and one who called in yesterday, right? Dr. Stewart from Southern California called in?

Dr. Stewart, dropsynologist. What he was saying is that if he thinks this is what it was and a cardiac arrest, which it definitely turned out to be, that they are sedating him and keeping him in this state purposefully. Yeah. And we'll slowly bring him out.

And if he is on a ventilator, you know, as we remember from the 2020 COVID years, you want to get off one of them fast. I don't want to stray out of my lane here very much. 844-204-rich is the number to dial. Let's go to, hey, it's been a while here. Let's go to sideline Mike in Atlanta. Hey.

All right, you want to talk about Georgia Bulldogs, don't you? You coming out, sideline? You coming out? You coming here? Yes, I am, gentlemen. Happy new year to everyone. I know it's been a while. What's up, brother? Are you coming here?

I had a great holiday. Okay. Can you hear me? Yeah, you coming to Los Angeles?

Oh, no, sir. We will not be, we will not be visiting to the left coast, brother. I have 12 house notes left, baby. We're getting ready to knock this mortgage out. Welcome to California. Hey, we got to be laser focused financially for 2023.

Got it. Gentlemen, gentlemen, I'm very concerned about Monday night. I was disappointed in the Joe Moore award winning for the consecutive year in a row trying to get cute down there with a double reverse when, you know, I was just really looking forward to the Michigan Wolverines playing Georgia football down there on the one yard line and it just didn't happen. Rich, that was a touchdown.

That was a touchdown. And you got robbed. Okay, you got robbed. I'll say it for you. I know you'll be the bigger man.

No, I won't be the bigger man. I mean, I said it for you. No, I'll say this sideline, Mike, and then I'll let you finish your statement or whatever you want to say about Georgia. Watching that replay in the stadium, I could see for a split moment on down the line, you know, Wilson's, you know, behind hitting before he fell into the end zone.

And I turned, I turned to my 11 year old, I said, Coop, you know, if they're going frame by frame, it's possible this isn't a touchdown. But the targeting, I mean, how is this not a target? I mean, how is this not a targeting call? If you're going to call it in any other point in the game, you got to call it even if you think the game is over. You got to have the stones to do it. That's it.

Yep. And you know, you've got to figure the ref didn't want to get into that right. You know, Ohio State has the issue, you know, when Javon Bullitt unloaded on Harrison Jr. And I thought that was pretty much the game. But Rich, I was really looking forward to the rematch. I really was. I know most of America and the networks wanted to see the Ohio State Miskit rematch for the whole bottle of wax. But I'm going to tell you, you got a squad, you got, you know, man, I just wish you guys could have pulled that out. But I'm very concerned about Monday night would beat up. People didn't know that Brock Biles was sick. And even though he levitated on that fourth down play, you know, we don't know if Big Donnell is going to play number zero because that's just like a loose tackle. And that's why I run a game is like it is. But you know what, man?

In my mind, I know everybody's saying T.C. 's playing with house money, but we're playing with house money. Hey, man, I'm proud of my dogs. Whatever happens. Hey, man, I'm looking for a great game Monday night and I'll be back in the saddle this year on a regular basis.

You guys have a great day. I'd love it. Call in Tuesday. I'll be there Monday, Tuesday.

There you go. Sideline Mike, one of our favorites. Thought he was coming out here for a second.

Game day morning, Sunday morning, five thirty a.m., getting ready, putting on my suit and tie in the locker room area. Mooch is already dressed. I don't know. Irv shows up dressed. Mooch, I think, changes. Irv shows up from the from the hotel fully dressed.

And he strolls in as Mooch and I are. Mooch was asking me about the Fiesta Bowl and all that sort of stuff. He had a purple tie on, swore that it was just totally, completely 1000 percent random choice. The guy whose every bowl prediction is trolling Kirk. It just it just matched his suit, is what he said. And I said on the air, I said, I have ninety five million things I want to say in the in my mind that I can't right now.

The same number of millions of dollars that Michigan State paid Mel Tucker to not make a bowl game. Wow. So that was the conversation. But off air, the conversation we had off air was about that targeting column, which is like, you know, you can't call that plays over. I'm like plays not over.

At which point Michael Irvin chimed in. Ask a Miami Hurricane fan if the play was over in the end zone against Ohio State in the national championship game all those years ago. They thought the game was over.

A flag comes in for pass interference. It was way late. The flag coming in for pass interference was way late, wasn't it? Wasn't it?

And wasn't it? The game was essentially over. Right. Right. That shouldn't have been called, though. Correct.

But it did. Right. So there's precedence of it being called.

Right. That was a bad call. So was this non call?

That was targeting Chris. You can't call it. Game's over. Except in a national championship game, it was called with a game over.

And the other team has a title and a trophy in the case, which is what Irv's point was. So a lot of rivers being cried in the NFL Game Day morning locker room area. Of course, as Mooch then strode out in this purple tie, said it was random. My ass.

Hour three coming up on this program. So there is a precedence of a call happening in a national championship game that shouldn't have been called, but was. Because, hey, you see it, you call it no matter the circumstances. Now, here we are. You see it. Well, the circumstance says this play is totally over. And it was just a botched play by Michigan that they're still trying to pitchy pitchy woo woo their way out of. We're not going to bail him out, even though that is textbook.

Targeted textbook. Defenseless player. Check. Hit by a crown of a helmet. Check. Hit in his head and neck area. Check.

Those are the three boxes. But no, can't call it because the play's over and you're not going to put teams back on the field and continue a game after the game is over. Ask a Miami hurricane fan. I did. Michael Irvin chimed in.

Actually unsolicited. I had totally forgotten about that. But I always like to bring that up since it means one of Jim Trestle's titles was tainted. This thing is still on. What? I don't know. Maybe they're going to catch me on facial recognition if I were going to the horseshoe. Oh, level five. Level five. I can't wait to talk about this, baby. Facial recognition. Oh, my goodness.

Eight four four two oh four rich number two dollar. You've got the news. I got a bunch of stuff going on across sports right now. OK. And Joe Bascalia of The Athletic is going to tell us what's going on in Buffalo, what the Bills are thinking.

That's our three coming up. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling. Nobody has stories like Jim Ross, and he shares his tales with co-host Conrad Thompson on Grilling J.R.. This man was the top heel in the Attitude era. It was a fresh character. It was new. It was material that we had not seen or heard to that date. And we could have created a bigger or better heel. Now, we wanted to make more heels and we tried to make more heels. And we did. But nothing compared to Vince. The Grilling J.R. podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.