REShow: Nate Burleson - Hour 2 (1-5-2023)

The sense I get, and this is from people who know him much better than me. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Is that if he's offered, he will leave.

Doesn't matter the job. Oh my God. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Panthers, people are going to go, well, David Tepper just hired a college guy, which I'm probably really not a college guy. Earlier on the show, three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Shleret, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Paul Zeiss. Coming up, co-host of CBS mornings, Nate Burleson, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Prear. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

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It'll be helpful and appreciated. You're still reeling from the Eisen bump that we gave Roku. We're starting to hour number two. Nate Burleson's joining us here on this program.

Brockwood and Del Tufo in their spots. I'm in a great mood, Rich. Did you see what happened yesterday? What?

In Boston, finally. Oh, yes. Let me just say hi to TJ. Hour two, good to see you. Hey, world.

Have at it, sir, because this is big news. You thought, you thought, you thought, Mookie. I had been bracing myself.

Cuz Xander went the way of Mookie. Literally all winter for just like the pass and tweet of Raphael Devers been treated to the blah, blah, blah. For like that.

And I'm just like. By the way, that would have been the worst tweet ever. Right? No, but they were not going to trade Raphael Devers. Thank God John Henry like looked in his couch cushions and found the money he could have paid everyone else that we let go. I'm just thankful.

Raphael Devers, 11 years, 330 million bucks, right? Great. That's a lot of chaw. You can buy a lot of chaw with that.

Stick it right there between that left cheek and gum, man, and start raking. That's a lot of chaw for Raffi. So hopefully we can get him a sponsorship baby this year.

Yeah, it's awesome. Great news. When does he start playing first base?

Disaster averted. When are we moving to first? When do we do that? He's only like 26, so he's got some time.

All right. So what about a third of the way through the contract? I think when he hits 30, we can move him over to first.

When you reacquire Xander Bogarts? I mean, I would love that. No, that's not happening. I'm aware.

But congratulations. Hey, I don't have to abandon our team completely. As a Yankee fan, as a Yankee fan, as a Yankee fan, this is what one would term bad news. Yes, because he's a Yankee killer.

Honestly, if I had to name the top five Yankee killers of all time since I've been rooting for them. I don't know if he does. Excuse me.

I'm a 53 year old man. First one. Jim Rice. George Brett. He's the one at the pine tar game.

He would put them in upper decks off of rich gossage and playoff games. George Brett was a Yankee killer. Number two, Edgar Martinez. Holy cow.

I oh, my God. Was he a Yankee killer? Manny Ramirez. And everybody reminded me, where is he from? Where is he from?

Washington Heights. Oh, God. Oh, yeah.

He's right around here. Oh, I think he hit his childhood home with that baseball. You know, damn it.

Damn it. Was he a Yankee killer? Altuve is the current Yankee killer. That's facts. You know, to the point where we're talking about buzzers and whatever.

And because we're trying to figure out how and why buzzers and bad tattoos. Bregman's a pretty damn good Yankee killer right now, too, man. But Devers, he's got that on his resume, pal.

Yeah. 19 home runs in an 87 game. 1987 games. Dude, I think when he I forget when was he a rookie? When he turned a face, I mean, an eye high fastball. It was in his it was he took it.

I know it was like one hundred and three miles an hour way above the strikes. I mean, he tomahawked it the playoffs. And I'm like, oh, God, really, this guy, this guy. Yeah. All right. So congratulations. Hey, good news.

I can build around him. I can stay a Red Sox fan. You were going to leave. I was.

I was one hundred percent leaving. My my my my mom actually. Mary Baughman.

Because she listens. Send me a padres hat for Christmas because they heard the show the one day where I was talking about leaving. Oh, that's amazing. It's amazing.

Shout out, Miss Mary. What are you doing with it? Put on a shelf like the elf. It's just like your elf. It's just sitting in there.

OK, put on the shelf shelf like the elf. Yeah, well, congratulations, sir. I'm excited. Congrats. Great news. So, I mean, what a year.

I mean, if you don't get ten years and nine figures, that starts with a three. Who the hell are you? Nobody. Right. Where is Correa right now? Here's what I understand. Are we still reading MRIs with him or what's going on? I understand all signs are pointing to he is still going to be a met. OK. Just seems as though the terms and the length of the contract are going to be different, but no other team seems to be in play. What are we waiting for?

Like the blood work? It's kind of bad. Like what's happening? Well, I think New Year's, the business shuts down after like December 23rd. Please stop reading Instagram stories, Hollywood, Hollywood. No, Hollywood ends like that. Just like December 20th. It's a wrap.

Honestly, like Thanksgiving. Are you kidding me? Nobody works in this.

No, I know that. But the business of baseball. Now I'm look, I'm just saying what my Mets people tell me. You're Mets people. OK.

The guy who puts on the Mr. Met uniform and flips the bird. So don't keep on putting that meme up on his on all of his social media. It's four fingers. I know that. Yeah. That's how we can get away with this.

There was no that's it. That's right. They call the guy. They call the guy in the front office like, did you flip the middle finger?

Which is, by the way, a great defense. He's like, what do you mean flip the middle finger? I got one to flip it. Oh, it feels good.

The kid was wearing a kid version of the I heart New York shirt. So people were taking that as a sign that it's he's still trending in that direction. OK, got it. Very good.

I just don't think that's our contract. So if you are just joining or just turning on or are unaware, great news out of Cincinnati. DeMar Hamlin opened his eyes, according to Ian Rappaport. He is squeezing the hands of his loved ones. He's following commands, which is exactly what the bills are referring to when they put out their statement earlier about a remarkable improvement and neurologically responding. He's neurologically intact is what he appears to be. This is this is this is good news.

Yet another confirmation of how quickly and wonderfully he was administered first aid. So it's great news. And so now I think we feel a little bit more comfortable. And from from what I'm hearing, the league feels more comfortable to start turning its attention to what to do about the Bills and Bengals and that game that means so much for either team and then everyone else around them in the AFC.

Truly the only unaffected. One would say teams in the playoff race are the Jaguars and Titans because they have their own, you know, win or go home game. Although the Jaguars do have an opportunity to make the playoffs if they lose on Saturday night, the Titans win, they win the AFC South. The Jaguars have an opportunity if they lose to make the playoffs, if they get all the results that, say, the Steelers need to get in. They need the the Jets to beat the Dolphins. They need the Bills to beat the Patriots. And then then they need the Steelers to lose to the Browns. So bottom line is, if the Steelers get all the results they need to make the playoffs and then lose their game, the Jaguars get in. Even if they lose Saturday night, which is maybe one of the reasons why that wasn't made the final game of the year. But any rate, long story short is we're talking about the one seed now and our friend and our friend Shefty, Adam Schefter, put out there what Matt Hasselbeck told him, one of our favorites of all time, is maybe a fix is the game's not played because to play this game is a significant lift, to say the least. And let me hit that before I get to what Hasselbeck said.

To play this game means two things. One, you've got to find a time to do it. When do you do it? Week 19, which is the first weekend of the wild card weekend. Yesterday, Mike Florio came on and said, how about you put that in with just the NFC plays its wild card games and the wild card week, along with the Bills and the Bengals, and you give a bye week to the entirety of the AFC playoff field, with the exception of these two teams that are in it.

Then you now have your seeding. The following week is when you play the AFC playoffs and the NFC winners of that wild card game are off that week. Then everybody plays their wild card games in the AFC, the week when there was supposed to be an entire divisional playoff, then the next week when there was championship weekend, that's your divisional playoff weekend. Everybody's now all up to speed on the same week. The following week, when there was a bye week for the Pro Bowl games, the reimagined Pro Bowl games, that's when championship Sunday would occur. And then the following week is the Super Bowl as scheduled, just no bye week in between. The problem with that is that whoever is the one seed in the NFC would have three weeks of football off.

I'm going to talk about the concept of rusty or rested. But nothing's perfect. And then there's the other concept of what Mark Schlereth placed in front of us in hour number one, which is, I don't want to play the game. You want to send the Bills and the Bengals onto the field where that trauma just took place? Really?

You want to put everybody back there or you want to hit the way back machine? As Schefter put it, the league is kind of thinking that game has... What do you say? Bad Mojo was the phrase that he used on the ESPN?

Bad Mojo. And it's just like, okay, that happened. We are done revisiting it. If the Bills and the Bengals play each other in the playoffs, then so be it.

And if it happens to be in Cincinnati, then so be it. But we're not going to replay the game after everything's over. That is done and that is finished and the page is turned on that.

The issue is then, well, how do you handle the seating? Because we had a conversation yesterday. If you say it's a tie, right? If you say it's a tie, then you look at... If you wouldn't mind putting the AFC standings up as it currently is right now, then the Bills would be 12-3-1 behind the Chiefs, who they've beaten. And then the Bengals would be 11-4-1 and unable to catch the Chiefs, who if they beat the Raiders, they're 14-3. The best the Bengals can be is 12-4-1. And the Bengals have got a tie break in their back pocket they'd love to put on the table against the Chiefs. And a tie will not allow them to do it. Now, if you go ahead and say winning percentage, well, then the Chiefs would have the best winning percentage because they don't have the most wins.

You know, I'm not a mathematician, but you can do that in your head pretty much right now, that if you're talking about winning percentage, you have more wins based on the number of total games that you've played. Obviously, the Bengals and Bills would have a fewer game played, but fewer wins. So the Chiefs would essentially, if you will, and I choose my words carefully here, I'm not saying this to be insensitive, they would be handed a one seed when one of the teams involved beat them. Well, actually, both teams involved have beaten them.

Right. Bills and the Bengals. And the Chiefs say you get the one seed.

So Hasselbeck suggested you have to give the Chiefs the choice. It's not home field advantage and a bye week. You get one or the other and whoever finishes second, okay, they get what's left.

They get what's left. Now, the issue with that is, is that the Bills might be in that second position because they're still a game better than the Bengals. And the Bengals were up 7-3.

Like nothing's going to come about out of this as quote unquote, fair for everyone. But whoever wins the conference based on winning percentage has a choice between taking the buy or taking the home field advantage. And then if there is a game played between two teams that have not had the same number of regular season games played in the championship game, that game gets a win. That game gets put into a neutral site.

And clearly that would mean any AFC championship game that isn't Bills-Bengals would be in neutral site. So if knowing that, I would take the buy. I would take the buy. I'd take the week off. I'd take the week off to get healthier. And I would put my team directly into the second round of the playoffs.

Why wouldn't you? I'll take the second round of the playoffs. Certainly if there's no home field advantage for the championship game, because more likely than not, it's a neutral site. So I don't think I'm costing myself a home game in the divisional round. I'm clearly going to get a home game in the divisional round. So I'll take a home game in the divisional round and then roll the dice on where everything turns out. But yeah, I'm going to be, if I'm the Chiefs, I'll take the home field advantage. And I know if I take on the Bills or the Bengals, that game's in a neutral site. And if I'm taking on a team that's, say, the Jaguars or the Titans, or the fill in the rest from the wildcard, they're coming to my house because I've got a better seating. So I honestly don't know how that resolves much. This choice of you get to choose this or that, because just playing it out, I would absolutely take the week off.

I'm getting healthier. I would absolutely take the buy into the second round of the playoffs, where I'm not playing anybody in the first weekend. And then what? If the team that's above me, Bengals, Bills, is above me, guess what? We're going to neutral site anyway. So I'm not costing myself any home field advantage in any of the games that I have a home field advantage.

A home field advantage opportunity, because when I come out of my buy, I got my home game. I don't think there's any fix here that's going to be satisfactory to anybody, unless they play this game, which is apparently highly unsatisfactory for the Bills and the Bengals. And then moving playoff weeks and giving buys and three weeks of a buy to the NFC because you're changing everything around. Well, word is, and we'll talk to Albert Breer in hour number three, that the league wants to make this decision before toe meets ball between the Chiefs and the Raiders, which I think makes sense because if the Chiefs win this, it can make a lot of points moot, technically.

Right. Because the bottom line is, if you say Bills and Bengals do not play again and the Patriots beat the Bills and the Bengals beat the Ravens, then, you know, the only thing that that doesn't do is give the Bengals a one seed throughout the entire playoffs. And the Patriots are in and the Chiefs got 14 wins, which if the Chiefs have 14 wins, the Bengals, even if they won out the rest of the way, couldn't have gotten there anyway. They couldn't have gotten the one. See what I'm saying?

I do. So the league might just come up with this decision to say, we're not replaying the game and we'll figure out winning percentage. And then the results hit. Bengals couldn't have gotten the one seed anyway.

The Patriots get the seventh seed by beating the Bills who couldn't get the one seed after they lost that game if the Chiefs won that game on Saturday anyway. We'll see how it all wraps up. But if they do the if they do the hassle back, you know, I'm sorry, Matt, I've got to say it. The new dance craze.

I got to say, if they do the hassle back. We're going to take the buy and we're going to score. Man, really? Hold on, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt. Love you, brother. We'll take a break.

Nate Burleson here on the Rich Eisen Show. Yeah, that's how we're rolling. Yeah, I guess we're back. And it's a Mercedes-Benz van we're talking about here. 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?

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Can do it without you. We've got a great season two coming up. Catch up with season one or start season two on YouTube or wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, powered by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Joining us right here on the Rich Eisen Show, one of my favorites, the Emmy Award winner. He took out many, many terrifically talented sports broadcasters, and he deserves it.

Still with NFL Network, but he is with CBS Sports and CBS News. Part of CBS This Morning, our friend Nate Burleson here on the Mercedes-Benz van phone line. How you doing, Nate? I'm good, Rich.

How you doing? How would it be right now if I asked you to break down the speaker race right now? If I just if I just went straight hard news with you?

Wouldn't that be odd if I did that? It wouldn't be that hard, but it'd be tough for Kevin McCarthy to continue to spin when he is sitting there being rejected by some of the people that stood on the same side of the aisle as him. So, you know, we could do it all. We could talk politics. We could talk football.

We can go NBA if you want, baby. Is he so basically you're saying Kevin McCarthy is currently the Zach Wilson of politicians is basically what you're saying right now. Yes.

Looking for what people are saying about Zach Wilson, there's still a chance. See, I think we've I think we've merged the two lanes right now. Nate, I think we merged the two. I got to I got to jump in. Speaking of lanes, you know, I get the criticism with people driving in the fast lane.

They don't know how to. I completely understand that. But as a West Coast guy, I was introduced to pineapple on pizza. I thought to myself, this is solid. That's what I thought to myself. And I actually I had somewhat of a taste for it.

I moved to the East Coast, New Jersey, New York area. Now you understand the first time I ordered it. The complete disgust. They almost revoked your New York privileges like Pulp Fiction right on the spot. Right.

They almost kicked me out of my first month here. Oh, I love it. Nate Burleson here on The Rich Eisen Show. We're in a much better mood, man. I know I could sense it with you, too. Getting this news about Damar Hamlin today has just been I feel like a weight is being lifted.

Obviously, you know, in these situations, they're fluid two steps forward, one step back. And you've got to be cautiously optimistic. But this this feels great.

This news that we heard today out of Cincinnati. Nate, you know, it really does feel great. And I don't want to be overdramatic because I don't think there really is a way to call our reaction collectively overdramatic. But as a country, we witness certain things.

You know, we hope that most of them are great, right? They're sports moments. There's there's Jordan Duncan from the free throw line. There's a home run in the World Series.

There's a knockout by Tyson in the 90s. There's things that we share when it comes to sports. And we hope that it's something that we can sit around a while to discuss or at the barbershop or when we all get together in the off season. But then there are moments like this that are shocking and jarring moments that leave us traumatized. Look at the players on the field, tears streaming down their eyes. And as I was watching it, I was thinking about the coaches, the people in the stands.

And even everybody at home watching. The reason I bring all that up is because you said there is a side relief and we're all taking that breath, just hoping that we'll continue to get good news, because this was another moment we witnessed, of course, on the end of the spectrum of negativity. And, you know, we all want to hear good news moving forward when it comes to the more hammer. No doubt about that.

Nate, if you could, unless you have reached out to T Higgins or know or plan on it, let's just say that right now, what would you say to T Higgins right now, Nate? That it's not your fault. You know, there were a few people that were floating that the thought that, you know, it was the offensive player who initiate the contact or he lowered his head or his body. And we're going to have injuries in sports. It's inevitable, which, you know, this is 100 percent injury rate.

I'm never a guy to blame the other person. I remember being in Chicago, catching a ball and coming down and searching for the ground. I was a little bit higher than expected. Cornerback draped on my back. I came down, my knee was fully extended and I had a tibial plateau fraction. And once I was talking to the doctors and this is what I found out later that this is common in car accidents when people brace their legs and they're breaking for impact. Remember that was because immediately it was one of the worst injuries I had not knew it in real time. I could feel the balls in my knee underneath my spandex.

Soon as I get up, I collapsed. And in that moment, I didn't blame the ball being too high or the field or even the corner. It's part of the game. So, you know, when players are starting to think about being on the field at the same time or even being involved in that play, I just want to reiterate that it's not your fault. It's part of the game, unfortunately.

Exactly. I mean, he was just playing football and, you know, and I just hope he's not sitting here thinking, you know, why did I cross the field to get those extra yards, right? Like he could have just he could have just cut up and just gotten down. It was a first down, but why did I do what I did?

And, you know, you know, why why, you know, why did I, you know, collide with him the manner in which I did? And I hope that's not the case. I really hope it's not the case because, you know, his next snap of football.

I don't believe it is. And, you know, to be honest, I think it might not have anything to do with that particular play and him feeling guilty more. You know, a more appropriate question is, you know, is he having difficulty getting back on the field? In any manner, whether it's just being physically free to do what he does, because he's a talented wide receiver.

And then we have any mental blocks because of what happened. And let's just take it a step further. Now we're really diving into the layers of being a wide receiver. What makes E Higgins unique and guys like him is that he is explosive, that he can cross the field, that he can avoid tackles, that he can make certain moves in between players that fight for those extra yards. Now, does he play differently? Does he, instead of going and fighting for those extra yards, does he slide?

If it's close to the out of bounds and he could go for three or four more, does he go out of bounds? These are questions that I think players are now wrestling with after either being involved in a moment like that or seeing a moment like that. The Emmy Award winning host and analyst, Nate Burleson, here on the Rich Eisen Show. And, you know, you straddle both worlds, man, and so expertly, sports and news with CBS mornings, you know, many morning shows, you're there all the time. It's not a lot of sports talked about.

And usually it's issues like safety that suddenly explodes on a scene like a hard news scene, like the one that you're involved with. And you're a guy coming from the world of sports and you have obviously a unique perspective that they seek to tap into. What is the conversation, do you think, amongst people who aren't diehard sports fans who see this and that the NFL is going to hear about, have to deal with and address? What do you think, Nate? Is the league doing enough to keep these players safe?

That's the first question. And of course, we stop with the head all the way to the soles of your cleats. Helmet, is it the best helmet these guys can wear? What about shoulder pads? How do you protect the guys moving forward when it comes to those type of impacts?

Albeit rare, people are concerned about these shoulder pads now being lightweight and getting weight and guys wearing stuff that is thinner, lighter to make them quicker and faster. The league's response to him on the field, I do believe that they did the best they can do. And this was my assumption.

And this is me putting on a cape for the league. This is my assumption when I watched it. I thought that they did a good job getting there. But it was confirmed when you hear people from Hamlin's family saying that. That more than anything, that shows that the league did well.

Now, with that said, let me take off the NFL logo. I metaphorically wear often and say that's what they're supposed to do. They are supposed to be quick in response. And I think moving forward, maybe they figure out how to get there even faster. Maybe there is something there on the field that puts them in a position that they are as fast as possible. I'm trying to make this relatable to sports fans.

If we're watching receivers run 40s every year and it goes from 46 being really fast to 454443, what is the league doing to make their time faster as they are going on the field, getting to a player and then, if possible, using CPR to keep that player alive or to keep him breathing? Another thing is, now we have to continue the conversation about health benefits moving forward and not just for guys who have been in the league for three or four years. And that's just for five years after the league.

What about lifetime health insurance? What about guys who aren't just dealing with your typical run-of-the-mill injuries? I'm thankful I was able to walk away from the league. I've had my fair share of concussions, separated shoulders, torn ligaments, broken bones, broken ribs, broken nose.

Long list goes on and on and on. But what about guys that have it worse than me? What do they have after the insurance runs out, after the disability isn't enough? What can the league do better? What can the league provide other than what they're providing now because we know this is a multi-billion dollar industry? And then, as far as these young guys who haven't made it to that bag, that first contract or that second contract that are basically making ends meet and before people at home panic and say, what do you mean ends meet? These guys are making more money in their first years than I would make in X amount of years. Yes, that may be true, but that does not dismiss the fact that these guys, one, are trying to figure out how to balance life between being NFL athletes and being the ultimate provider. A lot of these guys are thrusted into the position as leader, financial advisor, the bank, the loner, all of this in their first year. So the money that they're making is not always the money that they're saving.

And it's not always the big grams, fancy cars, and watches they have on their wrist. So if these guys are struggling to make that money and their career ends like that, what is the league doing to give these guys a parachute or a nest egg that they can have when these type of situations happen? Yeah, no doubt.

DeMar Hamlin is not close to vesting at all for pensions or anything like that. And it's entirely possible that there's a whole host of health care bills that would come his way if he leaves the league. And God for that GoFundMe, right? Well, yeah, that's his charity. That is his charity, you know what I mean? And so this is definitely something to address and no question about it, and I hope it is addressed and before the next collective bargaining agreement, because that's a long way away.

And I think it's very interesting that you point that out and very important. And also something else too, maybe something, again, a show like the one you do every morning on CBS, CBS mornings can look into it. How equipped are youth sports leagues across the country? Because if this is the type of cardiac event that we believe it is that Hamlin suffered, this happens at youth sports when baseballs are hit hard and hit a young kid in the chest or at a hockey rink. Yeah, hockey rinks. How equipped are youth sports leagues across the country with this type of life-saving equipment that the NFL had available? Thank goodness for Hamlin.

And who knows how to use it? That's something his parents, I would check on big time. It's a very, very sobering reality check for a lot of athletes. And it's tough, you know, for us to talk about this, especially at the media, you know, we want to be honest, have a very transparent approach, and we want to be sensitive to Hamlin and his family.

But you'll hear this emotion rise out of us because there is this harsh reality that we have been in this situation. We have taken that exact same hit, maybe even worse, and then you start to reflect on time spent in youth sports, like you're saying, Rich, and how it could have been you as a child. And not to mention someone like me who has an 18-year-old and 16-year-old who plays football and wants to play in college and wants to play professionally. That's why all of these athletes speak about it and oftentimes might get choked up. But you're right, how equipped are these youth teams and these high schools, let alone college and professional sports, because as much as this may be something that doesn't happen often, it's one of those things.

We'd rather be overprepared for something that may never happen than be underprepared for something that happens once. No doubt about it, Nate. Hey, man, I appreciate you taking the time calling in.

I know you got a long, busy day. Before you go, though, we could use a laugh. I don't know if you guys heard, you know, Nate's story on Game Day Morning the other day in a players-only session. I'd love for you to retell it because the setup was based on what happened on the sideline between the Broncos offensive line and Brett Rippon and when locker room arguments burst out on the sideline. Can you tell the Randy Moss story that you told the other day on NFL Network? Yeah, so we were in Washington playing the Redskins at the time, commanders now, of course, and Randy runs his crosser out over the middle, and he's striding wide open, Pepper put a little bit, Dante Culpepper, Pepper put a little bit too much pepper on it, and it just hit his fingertips. Now, it would have been an amazing catch. It's one of those things from a distance, you want to look at, say, Moss should have caught it, and Moss is one of those guys.

He would admit, I could have came down with it. So he gets to the sideline, Moss is mad. So I'm sitting next to him, and all I'm doing is just soaking up anything that happens. Good to bad to ugly, so I'm seeing how he's dealing with it. Charlie Baggett, a wide receivers coach.

He's walking from a distance. He got his headset on, and Charlie Baggett, he's a lovable coach, but you can tell when he's going to come over and bark at you because you can see it written all over his face. So Moss sees him from about two yards away, and Moss is like, hey, don't you come over here with that. CB, don't you come over here with that ish. And I'm looking at Moss, looking at coach, looking at Moss, and CB is like, I'm committed now. I'm walking my butt over there. I'm going to yell at you.

This is what I decided to do. And he walked over, and he was like, hey, CB, don't you do that ish right now. Come on now. And then he was like, what? No, Moss, you got to catch that ball.

You know what it is. A big play. He said, hey, CB, man, watch out, man. F you, CB, CB said, F me, F you. Moss is like, no, F you. So Moss just walks away, and I'm like, holy smokes, you guys really going at it. It's national, CB. We need to get it together.

We're in a shambles right now. This is what I'm thinking in my head. CB looked at Moss as he walked away. The cameras are right behind us.

Then I realized, oh, there's some dramatic going on. He kind of peeks at the camera. He looks back down at me on the bench. A small smile comes over his face.

He puts his fist out the fist pump. He says, shoot, I ain't going to let him punk me on national TV. I said, OK, these guys aren't really mad at each other.

They just want to get punked on TV. But it was all love in the locker room. Oh, my gosh. Hey, CB. I love the way you told it the other day, too, just like you just did right there, Nate. Oh, my God. I was laughing. I was laughing on Sunday when I heard that one.

Just like I am now. Now, Nate, thanks for the time. Best to everyone at CBS. And say hi to the guys. And I will see you on game day morning this weekend as well. We'll chat soon. Sounds good, brother. Appreciate you, man.

Thanks for the time. Right back at you. That's the Emmy Award winner, Nate Brilson. Don't come over here. Hey, CB. Don't come over here. That's a good Randy Moss, isn't it? That was a pretty good Randy Moss. Don't come over here. Don't come over here, CB.

I let him punk me on national TV. So sometimes we're like, oh, these guys hate each other. This team's in totally disarray. And it's just like, no, they pop their chest out because NFL films is checking them out.

Can't look soft. That's the Jeff Saturday, Peyton Manning stuff, right? They bark at each other, yelling and cursing at each other. You know, there was that one instance. And then the other line told Peyton, just shut up.

And he shut up. Oh, my gosh. So funny right there on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line, brought to you by the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van that you should open up because you're unlocking potential when you open up the doors of this versatile and capable Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van that you can get in 16 body types, your choice of a gas or diesel engine, thousands of ways to customize, and now it's available in all-wheel drive. It's equipped to let you hit the open road, take on any goal you set to help you follow your own passions and reawaken the spirit of adventure.

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Unlock your potential inside a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Phone calls, 844-204-RICH, number to dial when we come back. Albert Breer with the latest on what the league is deciding to do with this Bills and Bengals Monday nighter. And we're feeling more and more comfortable talking about this subject matter because DeMar Hamlin opened his eyes last night. Great to hear the news coming out of Cincinnati. More when we come back on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

They're certainly dressed like them right now, as I see in the press conference at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The two physicians taking care of DeMar Hamlin are talking right now and holding a press conference, which is another piece of good news that they feel confident enough to actually talk about what's happening. And one of the physicians just said that Hamlin, in writing, which is good for motor skills, in writing asked upon waking up what the final score was of Monday night.

Who won the game? And the doctor's response was that you won the game of life is what they told him. Really? That's what the doctor said.

He won the game of life. Wow. That's what he told him. And then, boy, do we have a story to tell about what's coming next, huh? And thank goodness we can talk that way about it. Man, I want to know who told him. You got seven plus million dollars in your GoFundMe too. But again, I am not a doctor.

I do not wear the lab coats that I'm seeing on the screen. But don't you think he can write is a pretty damn good sign? That means I guess he's still got a tube in him.

Probably can't talk. But hey, here's a pen and pad. Who won the game? Who won?

Yes, you won. Wow, man. Oh, man. Jack in Detroit. Let's take your phone call here on the Rich Eisen Show.

What's up, Jack? Rick, you got to keep it simple. Do not do the hassle back.

Do the sclera, right? Cancel the game. The chips fall where they are. And whoever complains about home field advantage, one simple question. How did that work out for Green Bay and Kansas City last year?

It didn't. And you know who's going to work it out this year? Detroit Lions are winning the Super Bowl. We think about that, Rich. Jack, are you on the T? Are you on the Green Bay T right now? What are you on, Jack? Sipping on, sipping on.

No, no, no, man. I'm on Motor City Madness with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. Finally bringing a winner to the Motor City. You should be excited.

Jim Harbaugh couldn't do this year with the Wolverine. Oh, my word. Look at Jack. Look at you coming in all hot. Jack is still here.

Why not? Hey, we're the darlings of America. Hard knock. One and six. We're getting it done.

65 years of utility is over. I like this, Jack. I like your moxie.

I like your moxie. So if you're carping on Harbaugh, who do you root for in the state of Michigan, collegiate league? What's your team? Who's your team? Oh, no.

I'm all about Harbaugh. Absolutely. It was just very disappointing.

They were the better team, but the only way they were going to lose was with turnovers and bad plays. And that's what happened, you know. I don't know about that. And I appreciate it. Look, Jack, thanks for the call. Greatly appreciate it. Good luck to your Lions.

Good luck to your Lions. I like how he quickly was like, no, no, I'm with Harbaugh. It's just, you know. You know, some people, it's funny when I communicate with them on Twitter and I'll see, you know, I will see somebody just absolutely slag on me. Terrible. Like, he's got an awful show.

He's smug. Like, whatever you want to say, just slag on me. And then I will go, OK, I'll bite.

Who is this person? And I'll, I'll look at their account. And then there's two words that just shocked me, like 95% of the time. Follows you.

Right. And it's just like, I don't get it. Like, if I'm so terrible and I'm what's wrong with fill in the blank, what's with the following? Then don't follow. Follows you.

OK, so I don't know if it was he was he was he trolling on me or not? And then, of course, I'll usually, you know, it's the Warren Sapp rule, like, if there's a significant amount of followers that might see something that criticizes me incorrectly. You know, if there's an inaccuracy as to what I said, I will respond. And then eventually 90% of the time after that, I'll be like, hey, man, love your work. Love you. Great job. Love with that.

Rich, here's the deal, though, to to truly understand the troll, you must get into the mind of a troll and you've got one in the room who can maybe help you to understand. D.J. Mikey D. More than anybody. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are the traitors all over the world.

No, you don't. Guys, guys, guys, hold on a minute. Let the man. Let me speak.

He could be the next speaker of the house. More respect here. Let's try the gavel, please. Yes. I have people that follow me, watch me.

Yes. And I know for a fact, hate my success and I love it. OK. And by the way, it's made me a great troll by having that. But who hates your success? I, I know in this room.

I'm not saying in this room. Well, I'm not saying you troll us. Well, he doesn't want you troll Michigan and I trolled so he tried socks and page at least gives me some, but we don't hate your success. That's our point. There are people like around, but I troll us.

Your loved ones respect you and appreciate your success. Fact that I have been trolled my whole life. Yeah, but we don't troll you. Come on, bro. We'll have our fun with you.

No, no, no, no, no. I troll you at a guy. You two. I bust your chops.

The guy. You're right. You told my boss, he's chops too. He takes it like he will literally steam to the point where he's got to take a walk. We've seen it. That's why he's laughing.

That's why TJ's laughing. But that's a troll person. This guy being a troll person. I have become a troll, but we're not the ones doing the trolling. So how do you explain your trolling of us? I do it to everybody. Mike, you probably have the highest Q rating of anyone on this show. Like nobody says anything about you. And then all of a sudden you get trolled all the time. I don't see it personally. I know for a fact, 100 percent unequivocally, I have more people that despise my success. Is that why you is that why you can't get the 20 votes you need to become speaker?

I can't get one. I couldn't be speaker of the bathroom in the bathroom. Mike, I see what Mike's saying, because for you, imagine like you're watching a TV show, right? And you're doing an interview with a TV guy who wants to give props to someone for doing a job. And then you have somebody on that show kind of looking at the camera and go, no, no.

Yeah. Mike would never do anything. Never our three album coming up, Mike would never do something like when when Kevin Harlan, for instance, is trying to give it an unknown sound man, some props and glory.

Mike would never stare at the camera and shake his head. Even no, I don't think we've talked about my Jeff Walker fella since I've been on Roku for four months where where it was. And by the way, a tough one for you. It was that three point it was that three that Kawhi shot that bounced on the rim three times that knocked the Philadelphia 76ers out of the playoffs. Raptors versus Sixers. And and we had Kevin Harlan were on the call, came on and talked about how terrific the sound was that it bounced on the rim three times and went in and even gave a compliment to Jeff Walker, the sound guy. I thought it was going to be another guy's name. I've explained this many times. I mean, that's what you say. It was supposed to be Patrick. Here's a video. Thank you.

Walker would find it. You're like, wait a minute. You're listening in the back. You're like, yeah, sound guy, sound guy. You're like, wait a minute.

I'm happy. I'm going to give sound guy credit. What's his name?

Jeff Walker. Don't know that guy. That's another guy.

But no, you then gave the look. Look, I'm from New York, just like you are. That is the international symbol of this guy. We're all East Coast guys. I don't know that guy.

No, the look is the look of I don't know. This guy's who's that person? Are you in my head? This guy. That's what I'm like. We were on set that day where you told us.

You guys are making my point about being trolled. Thank you. That's true.

Thank you. 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 JR. Bess 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. 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.