REShow: Mike Florio - Hour 1 (1-4-2023)

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Greatly appreciate it. Okay, so we're here for, for three hours. Yesterday's show was unique, to say the least. All of us still quite shocked over what we saw on Monday Night Football with DeMar Hamlin going down. And then seemingly dying on the field and then needing to be resuscitated back to life by outstanding, quick acting, well-equipped first aid and trainers and medical professionals that were on hand on the sidelines in Cincinnati. I don't know, you're probably like me.

I'm probably like you. If you are on the old Twitter machine and you're constantly hitting refresh, hoping to get that piece of news that everything's going to be okay. That DeMar Hamlin is, is awake. He's going to leave intensive care. That he is all there. Again, that whatever loss of oxygen he suffered on Monday Night Football did not adversely, permanently affect his brain, his body, his functions. And that he will live out his life to the fullest however he sees fit, whether he wants to play football again or not. And then he'll wake up and he'll see his loving family around him and they'll tell him that there's over four and a half million dollars now in his coffers for his charity.

Thanks to the GoFundMe page being lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree over the last 48 hours. That's what I'm hoping for every single moment. But of course, this is real life and you'll find out he's the most loved athlete on the planet right now. This is real life and we're, we're, we're waiting for that moment and it's not coming. Yet. Fast enough. However, we're, we're approaching it.

So every single morsel that there is, we are looking for. And I am pleased to say that at the NFL Media Group, we've got some outstanding professionals doing their jobs. One of them is my colleague, Cameron Wolfe, who is outside the hospital at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. And he spoke this morning with Jordan Rooney, who is a friend and marketing manager of DeMar Hamlin's. And Jordan was kind enough to step outside of the hospital and talk to Cameron Wolfe. And I figured, you know what, let's just this is instead of me paraphrasing what it was, just it's a two minute interview and give you the morsels of information that I've been craving. And and here it is.

Here's the conversation between Cameron and and and the friend and manager of DeMar Hamlin. Right now, things are moving in a positive direction. The doctors, you know, what they were looking to see, I think they saw that. I can't speak specifically on it, but things things are moving in the right direction. And I know you mentioned there was a lot of information out on how he's doing medically. Can you give us a little bit more indication on how the process going over the last 30 hours? Yeah, you know, there was, you know, some reports last night that he was resuscitated twice. So one to clarify, there was misspoke.

He was he was only resuscitated once. Outside of that, things have just been moving in the right direction. But there's not clarity at this point in terms of how long things are going to be, how long it's going to take, where things are going to go. So for the family, it's just a matter of seeing more positive signs and hopefully keep building on that.

Obviously, a lot of people were waiting for those updates minute by minute. As you said, there's not a lot of clarity. Can you give us insight on what is clear at this point as far as the plan and timeline for his recovery?

Yeah, I honestly don't know. I'm here to speak on behalf of the family. So any of the medical reports, things from doctors, things like that, I'm unable to speak on any of that stuff. I'm aware there's been a lot of conversation about how people responded to the bingles, in particular T Higgins with the hit. Is there anything the family would like to say in response to that? Yeah, I think that Damar's parents were a little bit frustrated that T was receiving any sort of negative backlash.

I mean, this was a regular football play. T has reached out. I mean, he's been supportive of Damar and his family.

So the family doesn't want any negative backlash towards T at all. And you mentioned just the family, an outpouring of support, whether it be the GoFundMe, whether it be people bringing elements there. Can you give us a little bit of insight on what the support has been like for you, for Damar, for family over the last 24 hours?

Yeah, it's been incredible. I mean, it's made a really tough situation just a little bit easier. Damar's family, I mean, they are incredibly supportive of themselves. So for them to get support like this, I mean, they're so grateful. They are always giving to others.

So for so many people to rally around them, I mean, they just keep saying how thankful they are. So I figured I'd pass that along to you. And thanks to Jordan Rooney for stepping outside the hospital because I mean, my kids are asking me, is he OK?

I mean, I'm constantly looking to get this all clear and can't wait for that moment to come and hope it does. And in just a couple of things, it's good to hear that he was only resuscitated once, not twice. That's that's good to hear that. I do want to address again the backlash against T. Higgins. And I believe that's in reference to what Bart Scott said on first take yesterday.

And I just want to say this on on that subject matter, because I came on the air Tuesday and made sure to. In in in offering my thoughts and pouring my emotions out like the rest of the country is and trying to share the shock and grief with everybody, just like ever everywhere else, I wanted to make sure that I mentioned T. Higgins that he did nothing wrong. He didn't do a thing wrong. He played football is what he did.

He played football. And it's shocking that the collision that occurred has led to this. So I just want to say. I don't believe Bart Scott thought, you know, I've known Bart for a long time. I've met him. He's not coming on the air and saying that that T. Higgins purposefully and recklessly.

Caused another man to go into cardiac arrest. OK, but we got to choose our words very carefully in the media these days when we go on the air. OK, and we're in a day and age where everything is getting parsed and everything is getting polarized. I mean, you saw it today on the lack of a better phrase, baby fox. I'm not into this argument television and I'm not into this awkward television. I'm not into that sort of stuff.

And I'm assuming anybody who takes in this show isn't either because this show isn't that. But can we just channel all of the thoughts and as we're all waiting for this news to occur and talking about this. In television segments, and it was so difficult for my friends and colleagues at ESPN to figure out what was going on in real time and talking about the same thing over and over and over again for 10, 15, 20 minutes.

And then an hour and two hours and three hours. It's tough. On television, not nearly at when I use the word tough, I want to make sure everyone understands the tough part is what the Hamlin family is going through. But in terms of just us on the air, can we just choose our words very carefully and rally around this kid and rally around everybody that's been involved in this thing? From T. Higgins to the Bills to the Bengals to the officials on the field who may have said you got five minutes to get ready, like it was any other moment that we've seen in in the history of the NFL, of somebody being taken off the field via ambulance where it's just like, OK, next man up and then everybody had to start to realize on the field. Yeah, this isn't one of those situations.

This is a different one. The human condition. People make mistakes. People just assume the regular protocol is being followed.

It's not like some overlord sitting in some smoky room somewhere in New York City saying these guys will play. You tell them they got five minutes to get out there. Can we all just take a breath, please? Choose our words carefully. And rally around this kid and send our love that way.

And I know that sounds like pie in disguise stuff, but I think it's also simple, really is simple. The T. Higgins, did he lower his helmet? Oh, come on. And is that a rule in the NFL that needs to be addressed?

These are all things that we could talk about down the road here if this is it. But T. Higgins did nothing wrong. Nothing. We were all stunned about the result. You mentioned yesterday prior to the show about Dale Earnhardt's crash that killed him. But everyone's like, that's what caused it? Really? Exactly.

Then after a while, we talked about what a hands device it's called. Figure out if there is something to protect anybody. But this appears to be a freak accident lightning strike that rarely happens in football.

Normally happens in hockey or baseball and a puck or baseball goes off of somebody's chest and a thoracic blunt force trauma causes somebody's heart to stop beating. So. Just wanted to say that. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is going to be joining us in a moment about this. And then what does the NFL do at some point? Because the week 18 is hitting. It's coming. Everybody's getting ready for it. Except it appears that the you know, the Bengals are are are getting ready for their game against the Ravens. The Bills are getting ready for their game against the Patriots.

They're going through, I guess, a walk through today. No media availability in Buffalo. But the NFL is playing football this weekend and week 18 is coming. And there is one very important game that's left to be played.

And will they play it? I mean, it does not appear that the league and everyone else can wait for the all clear from the ICU in Cincinnati that this young man, it's going to take what however long it takes for him to get back on his feet. So Mike's going to be joining us about that. Bruce Feldman is coming in. I mean, I'm going to tell him if he wanted to hang out, he didn't just have to write that Jim Harbaugh is going to take any NFL job. He's going to be offered.

Just say hi and come on over. And Jim has apparently spoken to the Carolina Panthers. There is news on that front. Maybe a talk to Florio about that as well before. Bruce Feldman joins us on this program. We just hit that for a brief bit here for a few minutes, OK?

What's your show, Rich? Thank you. So Jim Harbaugh, as we know, prior to the Fiesta Bowl, said, you know, all the haters, I'm paraphrasing, all the haters are not going to like the fact that I will be back enthusiastically coaching the Michigan Wolverines in 2023. We also know last year when he interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings on on National Signing Day, that he was closing the door on the NFL. It's over. You're never going to hear this again.

And now here we are after a loss to TCU and a second straight college football playoff appearance and second straight college football playoff semifinal loss that the NFL is coming knocking again. And he's listening. It appears. And the reason why we know this is because a publication called Queen.

What is it called? Queen City News. I'm not a subscriber. I don't.

But they thankfully do not have a paywall. The Queen City News spoke to Jim Harbaugh after he chatted with the Panthers owner, David Tepper. I didn't know Jim had a media availability. Quote from Jim Harbaugh, although no one knows the future, I think I will be coaching Michigan next year. And the first, I guess, eight words of that sentence is nothing but doubt and gray area amidst the maize and blue, although no one knows the future. Which is, I guess, a different variety of the phrase uttered by one of his successors in San Francisco. We could all be dead by Sunday, as Kyle Shannon once said, I don't have a crystal ball.

It's another iteration of it, although no one knows the future. And then the words, I think I will be coaching Michigan next year. Which sounds a lot more doubtful than, you know, all the haters are going to not like it, but I'll be enthusiastically coaching the team next year. Right.

So like I said yesterday, I'll repeat it again. Either he's negotiating for more money, which, by the way, to salute Jim Harbaugh. He wants a longer contract. He wants saving money. He wants whatever.

Go for it. Either he's doing that or he's truly interested. And he's dipping his toe in the pool again. And apparently, again, his new contract with Michigan that he signed last year requires him to get the approval of the athletic director in order to have these conversations with David Tapper, assuming it's on the up and up. And I'm not going to sit here and freak out about it like many Michigan fans did last year or doing this year. Because nothing's worse than interviewing with another team while other kids are making their decision whether to attend your program or not, like he did last year. And he came back and he found the right assistance still.

And he won 13 of his first 13 games. So I'm just going to see how this all plays out. I just think obviously Michigan's a better job than most NFL gigs. That said, one of our competitors, Colin Cowherd, said that he hears the Broncos are offering, going to offer Jim Harbaugh $20 million a year. Yeah, right.

That's what he said. They're going to offer him $20 million a year. And I will say that to... To coach football? I will tell all of the Michigan fans that if Jim Harbaugh gets $20 million a year to coach the Denver Broncos, we are going to be looking for a new coach on the spot. In as much amazing blue as this man bleeds, that is an insane amount of money.

And... Let's print. And on top of it, if the Broncos' new owners, one of their first acts as the owners of the Denver Broncos come in and blow the roof off the sucker known as the coach pay scale in the NFL like that, well, you know, they will be getting the Haslam treatment for any owners that were upset about the quarterback market being blown up. It will be a cold shoulder on occasion at future NFL membership meetings. Commissioner Gudel might have a thing or two to say about that. Just throwing that all out there. $20 million a year, if that is true.

Check Walmart stock. It would be... Well, I mean, they got the money. And it would be fascinating if that happens.

It will be just like what Steve Cohen's doing in baseball. I don't care. Luxury tax.

I don't care about the way everything's supposedly done around these parts. I'm new to these parts. I've got an insane amount of money and I'm going to spend it in spots where there is no cap. Where is there no cap in the NFL? Right there on what you can pay your coaches and coaching staff. So, damn. 844-204 Rich, number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Do not move. The great Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on everything going on in the world of the National Football League and apparently college football, too. This is it. The punt to win the tournament. If you sink it, the championship is yours.

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Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Thrilled to have back here on the Rich Eisen Show from the Mercedes-Benz van's phone line, the creator of Pro Football Talk, and the man who kicks off the NBC Sports on Peacock lineup that we used to be part of for two years every single day on PFT Live, the great Mike Florio back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, sir? Hey, Rich, doing great today. How are you?

I am doing fine. I mean, I started my show with Cameron Wolfe's chat with Jordan Rooney, the friend and marketing agent of DeMar Hamlin, just because I'm refreshing for every possible morsel of information. What do you know? I mean, everyone's pretty tight-lipped on this, clearly. And, you know, in a situation like this, Rich, I've learned really the hard way over time to focus only on official comments from team, league, hospital, or family.

Now, Jordan Rooney is kind of the unofficial family spokesperson, but there was some information given out by an uncle last night that ended up not being accurate. So I'll defer to the notion that there's progress. There's not a lot of detail being provided by Jordan Rooney beyond that, but there's progress. They seem to be encouraged, so we continue to watch and wait and hope. But in a situation like this, it just makes me nervous to rely on anything other than clearly official comments, because, again, I've learned the hard way over time that those unofficial accounts can be not entirely accurate. Another account you can rely on in stuff like this, and I'm being serious when I say that, is agents who recount what their clients who are on the field or in these locker rooms are telling them. So what are you hearing about what the bills are being told? You have anything on that front?

Mike? As it relates to DeMar Hamlin's health or as it relates to what's happening next? How about that? Both.

Let's go both, one at a time, if you've got anything on that front. Yeah, I don't know, and I haven't heard, and if there is any information being shared with the players, they're keeping it all to themselves. Now, as it relates to where it goes from here, it's all very murky for now. The Bills-Bengals game obviously won't resume this week. That was the league's official statement. Rich, I feel like with every passing minute, every passing hour, it just becomes harder to envision the Bills-Bengals game being played. First of all, when would it be played? Because the Bills play the Patriots this weekend, and the Ravens play the Bengals.

The one idea that I know has been kicked around by people who are in a position to have these conversations and actually act on them, and it gets a little clunky, but it's pretty simple in concept. Week 18 happens as scheduled. First week of the playoffs, NFC wildcard, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5, plus Bills-Bengals. Then, you've got the AFC playoff tree. Next week of the playoffs, AFC wildcard only, three games. The following week, everyone played the divisional round, then the conference championship, then the Super Bowl with no two-week lag between conference championships and the Super Bowl.

That's an idea that I caught wind of last night that I didn't think of, which probably makes it a pretty good idea, but I know it's being discussed. I think Bill can't imagine playing Bills-Bengals, but if they're determined to make Bills-Bengals happen, that's really the only way you could do it, short of doing something like playing Bills-Bengals this weekend and no other games, which makes no sense. I think it would make more sense to play all the Week 18 games and then shut everything down and play only Bills-Bengals the next weekend. You've got teams out there that just want to get their seasons over with. They don't want to wait another week. The teams that are done, the teams that are making it to the playoffs, they just want to get the season finished.

I don't see the point in postponing Week 18 for Bills-Bengals, but there may be some creative way to do Bills-Bengals later. I just think they have to scrap it. That just seems like the only thing that feels right.

There's no right answer here. That's what I've been saying. It's going to be the best of some selection of bad outcomes that the league is just going to have to pick and go forward. Let's take that one at a time here, Mike.

Because again, it does not appear that the league, and it makes sense, and the Bills, if they want it, makes sense that they get some sort of knowledge about Damar Hamlin's long-term future. There's some sort of knowledge that not only is he going to be okay, he's going to be more than okay before they make these decisions. It sounds like this young man is going to take a while to find out anything that might cause any sort of solace. Immediately, solace. So having this conversation now, I'm comfortable with it, and I know you were uncomfortable about having any conversation about anything outside of this in the NFL as of yesterday.

So that's my long preamble to walk through this with you. So you're saying, because this is a fascinating idea, we finish week 18, and then the first week of the playoffs, it's the NFC wildcard round, and then Bills-Bengals becomes the, I guess, that would be the third game of the weekend, right? It would be a triple header or something like fourth game of the weekend. It would be four games total that weekend.

Correct, four games total that weekend. The AFC has off completely, so you give a bye week to the wildcard teams there, and then the wildcard teams will know that they've got to play the next week. So it's potential that the Bills and Bengals have to play each other to get another week off, unless of course the Chiefs win in advance, right on this Saturday. So it would still be, the one seed would still be wide open going into the NFC wildcard playoff weekend. Then those teams get a week off, the wildcard weekend teams from the NFL get a bye week, while the AFC continues right there, right? And then everybody plays their divisional games the following week, is what you're saying. That's correct, and the one seed in the NFC will end up having three weeks off between games.

Right, three weeks off. Again, none of these are perfect. None of these solutions, short of finding a way to play Bills-Bengals before week 18, and that's not going to happen. They've already told us that. Right.

There's no perfect solution. Correct. So if they're determined to get Bills-Bengals played, it's either start the NFC playoffs with Bills-Bengals, or just do Bills-Bengals in the week that would have been super wildcard weekend, and then do everything else the following week, all of the wildcard games once you've locked in the AFC tree. And remember, the Bills-Bengals may be very relevant to the AFC North champion, because if the Ravens beat the Bengals this weekend, and then the Bengals lose to the Bills, if that game's ever played, the Ravens are the AFC North champions, and the Bengals are a wildcard. How about that, man? Wow. Okay, and so the NFL is just going to go through week 18 before making this decision, or what are you hearing about their timeframe on this decision? I've heard nothing since yesterday. And again, when is the appropriate time?

What is the right level of sensitivity? You mentioned a very salient point. Do we lock in week 18 until we know what the long-term prognosis is for DeMar Hammond? Well, at what point can you cancel week 18, or just cancel the Bills game for week 18? Is it on the table to just say the Bills and the Bengals won't play this weekend, which means the Patriots and the Ravens don't play this weekend? Then what kind of a mess are you in as you try to figure out the playoff seating and who's in or out?

Because the Patriots need to play the Bills to determine whether or not they even get in, depending upon other outcomes this weekend. So it's all just a strange situation that the NFL's never dealt with before. And I remember in 9-11, in the aftermath of that, they took week 2, they made that basically week 18 and pushed everything back. But they had the luxury of, you know, the end of the season wasn't staring them in the face. This unprecedented thing is occurring as the end of the season is here.

And again, it gets harder and harder, I think, to change the status quo with each passing day, with each passing hour, and with each passing minute. Yeah, I know they had a lot of highway in front of them back in 2001 when they made that decision. Right here, it's the last week of the regular season.

This is it. And tons of teams are, you know, so let me just ask this question to you though. What are you hearing from around the league about everybody's readiness to play? I mean, I know 30 teams weren't on the field seeing what happened to DeMar Hamlin, but 30 teams have heard about what's happened to DeMar Hamlin, and 30 teams of players are all sitting there staring into the abyss of, that could happen to me. What are you hearing about the readiness to play of everybody in the NFL? Well, Jeff, Coach Robert Solis said today he just had an open forum with his players, with doctors present, so they could answer any questions, just let the players raise any concerns they have.

Because, you know, this is real. As rare of an occurrence as this is, the reality is it played out during a shared collective TV experience with 20 million plus surely watching the game, one of the most anticipated late season regular season games in years. So, a specific trauma for those who witnessed it firsthand, but a trauma for the players and everybody else who saw it on TV.

How do you get yourself ready to go back out on the field when all of a sudden this vague notion that is out at the edge of the radar screen becomes very real? And is it going to happen to me? Is it going to happen to one of my teammates?

You've got family members. You know, we've had so many conversations about Tua Tonga Bailoa's family and their interactions with him, and whether it makes sense for him to play football this season or ever again. Every family member of every player is going to have expressed concern about them playing, because that could be you.

And yes, it's extremely rare, but before it happened on Monday night, it was extremely rare too, and it happened. So, there's an argument we made, Rich, of just shutting it all down this weekend, picking up week 18 next week in what would have been the Super Wild Card weekend, and not playing Bill's Bengals at all. Just give everyone a week off. And I'd like to think that that topic's at least been discussed and brainstormed, and they've worked it through and considered it, because I think there would be value in giving players more time collectively to come to terms with what's happened and make sure that they're ready to go. Because if you're not ready to go, you know, whenever somebody retires or quits, people say they quit if it's early enough in their career, we haven't played long enough to retire. Whatever it is, if a guy's not ready to play football, why would you want them to? Why would you want anyone who isn't 100% committed and ready to go accept all the risks that go along with playing?

Why would you put someone out there who is the slightest bit hesitant given any set of circumstances? So I think the conversation that I hope has happened I would assume is maybe ongoing at some level, and who knows when we're going to get news about what the league has decided to do, but I wouldn't take that off the table. I think it could be good for all players to take week 18 off if that's what the league would decide. Well, in that respect, Mike, it's kind of a larger league-wide, I guess, conversation that making Monday Night Football a microcosm of, which was clearly the players were not ready to play. They couldn't. They couldn't pull it together, and rightfully so because of what they just saw. What's your reporting on that whole five-minute thing? Because I would imagine any agents you talk to, that if there was a player that said that they felt they were forced to have to play, they would be chirping like crazy right now to say that the league was wrong to do what they were doing. Or is it just as simple as the officials on the field just went to whatever their normal protocol was until it dawned on everybody that this isn't a normal protocol situation?

Mike? I think that's what happened, Rich. The normal protocol, and I've talked to people around the league who have been in similar situations, this five-minute thing wasn't just pulled out of thin air. This is standard protocol, whether it's an injury that shuts the game down for a minimum period of time, weather issues, games that are just delayed by the kickoff because the game, before it has gone over and they're on the same network or a different network, they don't want to overlap standalone games, that five-minute thing is not uncommon. So ESPN did not just pull five minutes out of the air. John Perry, Joe Buck did not just guess at five minutes. They were told that.

Where it became problematic was when executive VP of football operations, Troy Vincent, on a very late night, early morning conference call, acted as if somebody had basically pulled it out of thin air. I don't know where that came from. It's ridiculous. It's insensitive. That's what he said.

That creates a line in the fan that it's kind of hard to walk back. And I think the truth is exactly what you said. They laughed into the standard protocol until they realized this one is too serious. Now, on top of that, there may be some fascinating details that come out at some point as to who said what to whom and when and how it got to the point where someone stood up to someone from the league and said, you make us forfeit, we don't care. That may have been part of the conversation.

And I'd like to think press conferences, interviews with players will shed light on exactly what happened, but it could have gotten very tense and it could have gotten very interesting as to whether or not the bills were going to be required to forfeit the game. Even for a very small sliver of time, that may have been part of the conversation, but I think we'll find out at some point. Let's take a look at Florio Profopol talk here on the Rich Eisen Show. Before I let you go, last one outside of this, what is happening with Jim Harbaugh? Best you can tell. What can you tell me about that? Oh, I think that he is maximizing his leverage.

And I think it's brilliant. If you're going to have two NFL teams, five for your services, Rich, any two teams, you want the Panthers and the Broncos. It's the two richest ownership groups in the NFL by far.

And there's no salary cap for coaches. So, I think that, well I know, because even though he says I'm staying at Michigan, he also speaks of the Super Bowl as unfinished business. You know, his brother has the Super Bowl ring that he wanted. He wants to get his own at some point. He left Ann Arbor last year to go interview for the Vikings job, thinking he was getting it and ready to take it. I think when that NFL ship comes in for him again, he's going to jump on it. And anything he says is just a prelude to him saying, well, okay, this is what I've decided to do.

So, I think that this very well could be the cycle that he decides, this is my opportunity. And the Broncos make a ton of sense because he knows Russell Wilson from a great perspective. Do they? I mean, I don't know.

He's 12, 13, and 14. Okay. Right. But that was the Russell Wilson you'd want to leave Michigan for.

The 34-year-old one that's coming off of one of the worst Let's Ride seasons ever. I mean, that's, and this is not a Michigan fandom thing. It really is not. Because if he wants to go, go with God, man. I mean, like, he's done, you know, everything that he set out to do with the exception of having an above 500 record, I guess, against Michigan State and Ohio State and winning a championship.

But he's done so much. I mean, and so if he wants to go, but I just find it hard to believe unless the Walton family gives him half of a mint, you know, to do it. Really, 30 foot, Russell Wilson with this contract, the way he just looked, the way the locker room currently is, the fact that there's no first and second round pick this year, that's attractive to you, Mike? Well, not this year, but maybe next year, because the way I look at the contract, I think that after this year, they could get out from under it and they're going to have a decision to make because there's another, the numbers get all jumbled up for me because it's a 40.4 for Derek Carr, 57 for Matthew Stafford, I think it's 37 or something like that for Russell Wilson that becomes fully guaranteed after this season. So if they do have a decision to make it, it may just be a one year thing with Russ. And Jim Harbaugh may think he can put together an offense that gets the most out of where Russell Wilson is right now from a skill set standpoint.

But whether it's the Broncos, I mean, the Texans, we don't know what they're going to do and they're going to have the first overall pick. Once the NFL ownership begins to come to terms with the idea that Harbaugh is in play and you can have him without having to compensate the Saints for Sean Payton, and he's got a proven commodity. I mean, he walked right through the door, six and ten 49ers team and took him to the brink of the Super Bowl. The next year took him to the Super Bowl, the next year almost back again. And yet he's a little quirky, he's a little kooky, he's a little nutty, but you know what? Most successful people in their chosen field of business are eccentric and demanding and that's what makes them successful. And the Ravens have tolerated John Harbaugh since 2008.

They figured out how to work with a guy who's very intense and he's exactly as intense if not more intense than Jim. And there's a lot there to like if you're an NFL team, but you're right, he's ultimately got to feel comfortable and he may have multiple options at the end of the day for which team he'd want to go to. And he's going to go to the team where he thinks he's got a chance to get that Super Bowl ring that he can take to Thanksgiving dinner when he's sitting across the table from his brother who, you know, I'm sure is flashing that thing every chance he gets. So real quick before I let you go, is there a team that would blow out their GM so Jim can have the whole grocery store? What do you think?

Well, I don't know. Look, I don't know that he wants to be in control. I think he just wants a GM he can work with. He and Trent Balkey did not get along at all. I think he would get along with George Payton.

I think that would work. I don't know about him and Scott Fitterer, but it's all about understanding at the GM that you need to give the coach a certain amount of birth. You need to be willing to work with the coach and you need to accept the coach's personality.

And, you know, most of the coaches out there have that streak where from time to time they're going to be hard to work with and you just have to accept it if you want to have a successful football coach. Mike Florio, you are the man. Thanks for always being so accommodating and making us smarter. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Great talking to you, Rich.

Right back at you. That's Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk. Follow him.

It's a must follow, clearly, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. I don't know. Maybe the leverage play is also against Michigan. Clearly, I don't want him to leave, but if he does and he wants to go, I mean, we're going to do this every year. We'll take a break. I do have some thoughts on college football that I wasn't, you know, comfortable getting to talk about yesterday.

But we'll do that before Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic, first person to put this hardball to the NFL chum in the water, joins us next. NetSuite wants to make sure that you know your numbers just in time for the 2023 business world to be spinning and potentially off its axis. Poor visibility if you're still relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software. Why are you doing that when there is NetSuite by Oracle, the number one cloud financial system to power your growth, that you see the full picture. We're talking about visibility and control of your financials, inventory, HR, planning, budgeting and more.

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NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and the Athletic will be here in studio in about 10 minutes time. Lots to talk about with him from Jim Harbaugh wanting to potentially leave Michigan and take an NFL job to the college football playoff championship game right here in Los Angeles, California on Monday between TCU and Georgia. And with it being TCU versus Georgia, I was physically there, as you know, at the Fiesta Bowl watching TCU take down my alma mater and then watching at night Georgia knocking off Ohio State in the last second of 2022. The ball dropped in Times Square just as the ball was kicked by what Noah Ruggles of Ohio State left, making you and anybody else who roots for Georgia very happy, Chris. And I just want to just two observations about the college football playoff weekend. This is the new college football world we are going to be living in for the rest of our lives. What do I mean by that? Michigan, Ohio State, which you know I live and die for, which you know has been all about sticking it to the other team and potentially ruining their season and preventing them from winning a national championship, doesn't matter anymore. Well, to who? For that.

Oh, for that. It's just going to be a diehard rivalry that everybody wants to win, but when there's 12 teams in the playoffs, and I'm not saying that this is a terrible thing because I'll still be in on it. I'll still be wanting to beat Ohio State every time. It is a very important game for me and for the rivalry, but Ohio State lost it by 20 at home and was in line to make the college football championship game.

So what? Like, we beat them by 20 at home, punked them, and they came back to life, thanks to USC losing and whatever, they backed into it. And they got in the tournament and damn near knocked off the national champion.

I dare say they should have. So a diehard rivalry game that's supposed to be do or die is just a nice rivalry game. Get used to it.

Get used to it. And the other thing that hit me was not winning a conference championship, it should count against you, and you're not as good in the Big 12 or not as good in, fill in the blank, that's not the Big 10 or the SEC, even though the Big 10, absolutely, you know what the bed in the bowl season with exception, I guess, of Penn State and Iowa. Michigan State didn't make it, I'll just throw that in there, sorry, but TCU is proven.

So what? All those people, they're not as good, the Big 12's not as good, they can't be as good. Oh really?

Oh really? Like I said, they tackled, they ran, they passed, they ran through people, I saw it with my own two eyes, they took advantage of mistakes, they made very few mistakes of their own. That's a championship team that's taking on Georgia on Monday night, don't overlook them in advance. So when there's 12 in, a 9 is going to be a 4, a 10 is going to be a 3, an 11 is going to be a 2, and wait until 12 beats a 1. Yeah. Or I guess it might not happen because it's going to be, it's going to be 5 through 12 getting it, 12 is going to beat a 5 and 11 is going to beat a 6, I've got to get used to the construct if I'm talking about it.

But if a 12 beats a 5, a 12 could then beat a 1. Yeah. I'm just pointing this out, like this is our new world, and there's only one more year like this one next year and then after that, you can take care of your rival and think you buried them and dusted them. Well, they can dust themselves off and still win it all unless there's another team that you're overlooking because they're just a mere 9 seed or a 10 seed finished in second place in that so-called second tier conference. Okay.

By the way, with offenses getting a month to prepare for the games, and you're already seeing who's got that advantage as both games went over the over by what before people were push passing footballs through a soda can hole. But remember, Rich, hold on, this is what you wanted. You wanted. No, I know that. I did.

I did. But I'm, I'm not criticizing it. I'm just getting people ready for it.

Yeah. I'll still be tuned in Ohio State wanting to beat the crap out of them every year and talking with my chest. But is it going to be better? I'll talk less with my chest if they're going to still make the playoffs. It's 12 beats of five and then the 10 team ends up winning a national champion.

Let's go. You don't think the country would love that? Is that better? I don't know if it's better. It's our new our new college football world and it might be better. But the best team is not going to win the title unless again, it's the one seed rolls everybody.

It's the phrase from Miracle. Don't give me the best players. Give me the right ones. It's all I want. I want the right ones.

I want the right ones. I want the two best teams playing for the championship. Hey brother, how many, you know, the Giants won several as a six seed, you know, so on and on.

The Steelers won it as a six seed. I mean, it happens. Yeah, but that's professional sports.

In college, it's always one place, two, and that's how you determine the champion. But maybe that just, that stunk and this is the new world. I don't think it.

I don't know man. In this day and age, kids get better. Programs get better. I mean, just because you lose on Labor Day weekend shouldn't count you out once it's all said and done. Be great.

Go undefeated. Those days are over, pal. They're over.

And that's my point. They are over. Dead and buried.

Unlike a team that you thought you beat by 20 at home. Still alive. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling.

Nobody has stories like Jim Ross, and he shares his tales with cohost Conrad Thompson on Grilling JR. Vince McMahon 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. 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 JR podcast. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.