REShow: Chris Long - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. How about the Cowboys? Stabs it back to Dan Prescott. He throws over the middle to turf it. He gets hammered down by Jimmy Ward. Touchdown on the opening drive for Cincinnati.

Better send those refunds. The Rich Eisen Show. He's healthy. Chad Hemney. 98 yard chase touchdown drive. Today's guests, two-time Super Bowl champion and Greenlight podcast host, Chris Long.

Plus, your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

844204 Rich, number to dial. We'll take your phone calls this hour for sure. Gave you my thoughts on Joe Burrow to start the show.

Holy crap. Just finished hour number one with what Jalen Hurts and the Eagles were able to do. And then in the middle of the first hour, just a little CSI Dallas. Like, just picking apart the, I guess, the Cowboys and the chalk line that was drawn on the field of that season in Santa Clara yesterday. Or San Jose yesterday by the San Francisco 49ers who move on to take on the Eagles. And it's Burrow taking on the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes coming off of the dreaded high ankle sprain.

Those are the final four in the National Football League. 844204 Rich, number to dial right here on the Roku Channel. Let's start hour number two here on a Monday in the same way that we have done all season long. And thrilled to have back here on the show one of the hosts of Greenlight podcast, the man behind the scenes there.

And the two-time Super Bowl champion, our friend Chris Long, back here on the program. How you doing, Chris? Rich, what's up, man? How you doing? I am great.

The most impressive performance of the weekend. That's what I'm going to start with you. A macro question. It could be a person. It could be a side of the football, a unit, however you see fit. It would be which or who?

Chris Long. I think it would be the Bengals. I think it would be, I mean, like, they beat the best team the most handily.

They jump out to a 14-0 lead on the road. I just felt like coming into this game, a lot of people were counting the Bengals out. And I think one key for them was, you know, Carmen coming in and having some reps last week against the Ravens at right tackle. And being able to replace Jonah Williams, left tackle rather, a little bit more seamlessly than he would have had he had the spot start. And I thought he looked really good, honestly. And all those guys up front did a nice job.

It's just amazing how people counted these guys out. In the NFL, like, there are some very elite offensive linemen that when you have to replace them, there's a big drop-off. A la Lane Johnson, who played and looked pretty good this weekend. But the Bengals don't have any special guys up front, so maybe the drop-off isn't as big as we think.

I think Carmen could play just as well as Jonah Williams, who wasn't having a great year. Needless to say, the Bills coming into this game are thinking, we've got to exploit these matchups. And they didn't. And I think when you look back at the way the Bills were constructed, you add Von Miller and he's such a great piece. But their depth got really deep. You know, their depth got pretty shallow rather, pretty quickly with the loss of Von Miller. Like Shaq Lawson and Eppen S and Basham rushing over what I thought was going to be a tackle that might have trouble this weekend. So, I just think the Bills, you know, there's a couple things they need in the off-season. I think number one is grabbing a number two receiver that when you take digs away, you can go to this guy reliably.

Somebody that really scares you. I like Gabe Davis, but you can see how they miss a little bit more firepower. And then on the defensive line, adding pieces so that when you end up in situations like this, you can actually take advantage. But Joe was just lights out. They had matchup problems on the outside. The Bills did. And they just moved the ball down the field the whole game. And the most discouraging thing for the Bills is they ran the ball. I mean, they just ran the ball at will. And that's not the game plan there to be down 14-0 and not be able to stop the run. Well, that's the Bills issue to me, Chris.

And I'm going to dig into it a little bit later, but I might as well since you kind of opened the door. They're a running game. They either abandon it or it's either Josh Allen and nothing else. And to me, having somebody that they can rely on, some running back, a mix of their own, I don't believe it's Singletary. Or at least they don't trust him to be a bell cow. You know, James Cook is a nice complementary piece for a rookie. I don't know if he would be ready to step up in that role either, like his brother. But they don't have it. They don't have it. And when they need it, then it's on Allen to try and create it.

And at that point, you take digs away and Gabe Davis might not step forward. Then you've got to wrap. That's a wrap. Yeah.

Right? And that's been my biggest complaint about the Bills all season long. I think Cincinnati is the best team. Coming into the playoffs, obviously you had some O-line issues that got worse. But, you know, I've said over and over again, Cincinnati is the best team in the AFC.

Like top to bottom. And that includes the team they're going to play this weekend. And, you know, the Bills quite as kept, took a step backwards this year.

And, you know, I'm sure they missed Abel and that sort of thing. But the line, as you just put it, is so thin between them firing on all cylinders and them being in a slump. Like they found themselves in slumps in various games of the season. And, you know, they start the game out slow and they just never got on the right page. And Josh Allen really didn't run the ball for that much. I mean, he didn't scramble that much.

His design runs didn't do much. So, you know, in Lou Anne, a room with a guy who hasn't been talked about enough as the head coaching candidate, that defensive front played really hard. They got after, you know, Dawkins and Saffold. They did a good job in the quarterback run game.

So, their eyes were in the right place. They limited the big plays. And, you know, they've been turnover machined all season long, ball aware. It wasn't like Josh turned it over a bunch yesterday.

But I think this Cincinnati-Kent City matchup is just, it's going to be awesome. And, you know, Patrick Mahomes and everything that he's playing through right now, but that changes the dynamic of that ball game. And so Lou's playbook opens up big time because, you know, if you look at the time these guys played in December, the first week of December, you know, the Bengals are up 21-3 almost if they get a fourth down early in that ball game in the red zone. Patrick Mahomes jumping in the end zone like that Michael Jordan jump man touchdown that he had against them. All the play-extending scrambles in the red zone. You know, he throws, his snap to release is like 2.9 seconds.

In the red zone, it's up at three. You know, he buys time with his feet. All that stuff is off the menu.

You know, play-action's off the menu. It was off the menu after he got hurt the other day. Of course, Jacksonville didn't blitz him enough.

But, you know, he scrambled for one first down. It's just, he's not going to be the same. You know, I played through high ankle.

It's really difficult and it's not going to feel much better. So, you know, for Lou, this really opens the game up for them. They can play more man. They're not worried about Patrick Mahomes beating you with the coverage with their back to the quarterback. You know, you can pressure him.

There's just all types of stuff. It'll be interesting to see, they played a lot of cover three the first time we played. Played like 15 percent man.

How does that change and how do they take advantage of this stuff? Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen Show. You just alluded to the fact that you've played with a high ankle sprain before. Andy Reid called it a tweak after the game. I found that that actually made me laugh out loud when he said he tweaked his ankle. And you're hearing also, hey, he woke up the next day feeling way better than we thought. Tony Romo at the end of the Bills-Bengals game said that it wouldn't surprise him if Mahomes couldn't even go on Sunday and that Wednesday he would be most likely on crutches because of how increasingly worse a high ankle sprain gets after the initial injury.

I'll give you the floor and what you think this means. Yeah, yeah. So, like I said, like I've had it before and, you know, the first month that I played with it and, you know, they actually misdiagnosed it as a low ankle sprain, so I felt like I was being a big baby about an ankle sprain. So I was like guilted into playing. And I was just out there, I mean, during the week I couldn't walk.

You know, Sundays we'd shoot, you know, shoot it up, you know, tour it all, whatever you needed to do to get it to go. And, you know, by game time you're in a much better place, but you're still dragging around the cinder block. I mean, that thing is just flat, right? Like you can't extend, you can kind of see it on Sunday. Cutting is really hard. You know, it feels like a lightning bolt hits you in the ankle the first time you cut with that thing and you realize how different it is from just a standard ankle sprain. But there's also a variation of how high up that ankle sprain can be. So we don't know, is it like 8 centimeters up, is it 6, is it, you know, 12 or whatever it is.

Like there is a threshold to how high that little pair can get, you know, to where they actually have to do surgery and the joint's no longer stable. It seems like his is one you can play through. But like I said, it's just a totally different ball game and I think it was reflected not only what you saw in the field, like the first five plays he was in, the initial shock of it. And I don't know if Henny wasn't warm yet or what.

And Henny did lose a lot of credit. He has the big drive not only to get the seven points in a tight ball game that they needed, but to stabilize and make them feel like, okay, we're going to be okay. We can win this game.

And like Henny Sharp, we've seen that before. But Patrick Mahomes is going to be a different player. They're not great on third and short. They're going to have to run the ball. You've got all these big guys. You are built to play power football. But, you know, losing that scramble drill, I'm scared to death of Patrick Mahomes element, and the extension of plays, moving the pocket, like you're just not going to have that. So they're going to have to really, they're going to have to play stick to stick.

I mean, they're just going to have to, they're going to have to be good on first and second down, third and manageable, and they're going to be way more predictable. And so before we move to the NFC Championship game, Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen Show. I just want to spend another couple of minutes on Joe Burrow.

I started the show by saying, you know, I scoffed when the pre-draft evaluation comp, the comparison for him, some were using Tom Brady. And I'm like, okay, yeah. But everything I see, yeah. Everything I see is, you know, kind of like it, you know, and you've played with Tom. I'm wondering what you see, and you see how Burrow handles his business, goes about his business, clearly knows pre-snap what's going to happen, blows the play up if it needs to be by spiking the ball instead of making a mistake, gets it out of his hands fast, completely identifies what he needs to do, and then snatches your heart and shows it to you pumping. Do you see any similarities having played with Tom?

Yeah, I do. I mean, like, obviously they're different and no comparison is perfect, but I remember last year comparing them before they went on that run and I got laughed at. And, you know, I think he's got the thing that initially reminded me of Brady was his pocket mobility. Like, Brady, especially when he was younger, no, not so much. I mean, he got his 45.

What do you expect? You know, Joe, he's so slippery back there, and his eyes are down the field the whole time. He understands the footwork aspect of the game, how important it is. Just a little movement, just, you know, a little shift in the pocket, having vision downfield, but also seeing, I think part of it is like, you know, entering the league under siege, like having a really good sixth sense about, you know, people falling at his legs, you know, people beating the right tackle, beating the left guard, like he's been through the fire.

So he's seen what it's like to be under siege, and I think he processes, you know, quickly. I think he's got good vision, and I think he makes subtle movements, although he's much more athletic than Brady. You see him picking up first downs and that sort of thing.

But, like, he really is a guy who can navigate a pocket without being this wow athlete. And then, you know, like whether it's the back shoulder throws, you know, it's the stuff outside the numbers, it's at the sticks, it's like perfect ball placement. They run an offense that's physical, and I think that's one of the biggest things about it, is like Brady always played in physical offenses, where there was a run game to kind of, I don't know, accentuate his skills from the pocket. And, you know, you look at Cincy and the way they're building, like look at the first game they played against Kansas City, they manhandled him up front, and they ran the ball, and P. Rhine had 100 yards.

He had 40 yards in the first quarter. Like, that sets up the play action. That sets a tone in the game where you really soften things up for the pass game. And I think, you know, the similarities are that this guy's, you know, stone cold killer. He's got the leadership ability. He has it, but he moves well in the pocket, and he's really good at the sticks.

And the ball placement's always very good. And I see the similarities. I do. And it's a lot of fun to have a guy that's even a little bit like him in this generation, this crop of quarterbacks.

I'm with you. Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, here's a fill-in-the-blank question, such as sports talk radio setup, Chris Long, but here we go. The Dallas Cowboys did not win and did not reach the NFC Championship game because of fill-in-the-blank.

What do you have for me? Oh, man. I think they wore down in the second half. I mean, we could start with Dak. I mean, Dak throwing two picks. You've got Mr. Relevant. You've got Dak.

And, you know, fill-in-the-blanks. Who's the guy who makes two big mistakes? I mean, like, we've been waiting for Purdy to have this multiple interception game, and it hasn't happened. And he's not spectacular.

He didn't play spectacular yesterday. But what he did is he made the throws he had to make, and he avoided making those big mistakes. Dak made those big mistakes. And then a ball game on the road against a really elite defense like that, where both scores are going to be in the teams.

These are enormous, enormous plays. And, you know, one of them being backed up, the whole thing. And then, you know, like, Diggs didn't pick the ball off in the red zone. Like, you had to count on Dallas creating turnovers, and they didn't do that. So they turned the ball over. They didn't create turnovers.

They missed their opportunities. And then I think on a short week, they wore down in the second half. I read a tweet at 8.43 p.m. that Dallas had them, you know, they were 13 carries for 28 yards, the Niners were. I mean, getting the run game going was tough sledding. But once they did in the second half, it was 71 yards rushing. So, you know, Monday night game on the road, then they got to go all the way out to the West Coast.

I think eventually it jumped on their back. And, you know, Dak not just throwing two picks. He almost hit Greenlaw for a pick six late in the game. That's right. Yeah, it's just. And coming in this game, I said it's like Dak played really, really well against the Bucks defense. It was not that good.

Okay? Like, and the week before he had maybe the worst game of his career. It's like the inconsistency. And it's the inconsistency of this team.

And when Pollard went out, it just changed the game. And so I think there's a whole host of reasons that you could point to. But you've got to be wondering if everything's on the table for Jerry. Well, let's talk about that.

What is the everything? If you're because I said earlier, I mean, that means coach or quarterback, if not both. You know, the coach Sean Payton is sitting there on Fox. He's standing there. He's talking.

He's talking to everybody. I mean, he's available. You'd have to cough up a one to New Orleans. I don't know if New Orleans would make Dallas cough up more than that for him, but you'd have to cough up a one for him. And then he's got to tell you what he thinks of Dak. You know, but Dak's not going to go anywhere to begin with. If you drafted a quarterback, I'll give you the floor and what you you do if you're Jerry. So I don't know.

I honestly I couldn't tell you. I mean, we speculate a little bit. I know Dak. There's a big hit next year.

So I don't know the logistics of moving him. But if I were if I were Jerry and, you know, I want to win a championship, you know, I'm not getting any younger. I'm looking at this thing. I'm saying, like, we have literally seen every iteration of this Dak kind of era and it all ends kind of the same way. Right. Like it ends in the playoffs early exit or disappointing. And so, you know, like I can't point to that offense and say there was a ton of stuff that Dak didn't have that he needed. I mean, you know, I was on my show this morning with Kyle, my brother talking about how good a job Tyron Smith did on Nick Bosa, you know, like they got the best player blocked. You've got multiple playmakers on offense.

Obviously, Pollard goes out with an injury. But these mistakes have nothing to do with that. And and I'm just not sure. Like Kellen Moore, you talk about him like he's, you know, a head coaching candidate one day. He's his mastermind. Well, they've got that. They've got this. This coach has won a Super Bowl. They have, you know, their franchise quarterback in place and all just seems to end in the same place. You know, so I would hit the reset button. That's just me. You know, like I know some people don't like that word because there's a whole lot of ways you can go with it. But I think it's time to see what else is out there.

Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen show. And the question of can the Eagles look like the Eagles team that went undefeated, the longest just in time for the playoffs with hurts coming off an injury and the final month of the season being up and down. Can they do that?

The answer is a resounding yes. How do you think they match up against the 49ers in this NFC Championship game based on what you saw? Chris, I mean, this game is going to be so physical. There's so many good players, you know, with the ball in their hand after they catch the football, like from A.J. Brown to Dallas Goddard to, you know, Miles Sanders in the run game who had a really good out.

Leave it out about this. There's just a whole bunch. And on the Niner side, it's like, yeah, pick your poison. So it's a game that's going to be just as fun to watch as it is physical. You know, these teams played each other like two years ago and some of the names and faces have changed.

But early in the season they played and it was one of the most physical ballgames I've seen in the regular season the past few years. I think Philly has an interesting edge if you look at it up front. I mean, I just think they're deeper up front, obviously. I mean, they've got more rushes she can win. You know, Josh Swett, Hassan Redick, Fletcher Cox, Hargrave.

I mean, I'm leaving guys out up front there. They've got guys that can get their Brandon Graham where, you know, like San Francisco's entire front doesn't scare me as much. I also think Philly has an advantage. I mean, I know Philly has an advantage at quarterback, right? And you look at it and Jalen Hurts, he's the reason their offense goes in a lot of ways.

I mean, they have some really good players. In one of them they got back in Lane Johnson. But like Brock Purdy, I mean, and we do this thing like every week. You know, if somebody points out that the offense is great, it's like we're detracting from Brock Purdy. He can't control the situation he's in.

He's doing the very best he can with it. But when it comes to Jalen Hurts, he's the engine, right? And you wondered how he would look going out there, him hitting Smith off the rip. You know, you say, okay, his arm's in a good place, so they're going to run the football. Quarterback runs all year long. They average about seven quarterback runs a game. They go seven quarterback runs on the nose.

They run zone read to depth for like over 200 yards. And I think the front was just too much for the Giants. So, like, it's going to be an interesting, interesting ballgame.

I don't know how to, I don't know which way to lean at this point, but the links going to be rocking. And I think they do have two advantages that they can take advantage of. And that's, you know, the defensive line and the quarterback. And before I let you go, Chris, I mean, your ears are in that building.

I know that because you played there in Philly. What do you got for me on what Nick Sirianni is doing? Behind the scenes, you know, rallying the troops, firing them up, you know, popping on Instagram Lives, you know, in celebration and all that stuff. What's the secret sauce that he's adding, that that's adding up to what we're seeing in Philly? Well, I think he's been himself, you know, like from the minute he signed, he had that bad press conference, which obviously doesn't mean anything, right?

No. Dan Campbell was going to prison, right, because he bit a guy's knee. I remember the day we were, oh my God. Oh, Dan Campbell's going to bite somebody's knee. This guy can't coach in the NFL.

Right. You know, meanwhile, look over here, we've got Urban Meyer. Nobody's paying attention because that's what we do.

Shiny objects. Tell me about it. Everybody freaks out about Dan Campbell. Everybody's freaking out about Nick Sirianni. Oh, he sounds nervous.

Okay. Well, then I call, you know, some of my buddies and I'm like, hey, you know, like, what kind of guy? Man, we love him. Like, he's exactly what you see is what you get. He's competitive. He's got that energy about him.

And I can remember this season getting to go up to see a game, and I got to go to the walkthrough Saturday and catch up with some guys and met Nick Sirianni. He's a tall guy, by the way. He's like my height. And he just can command a room. Like, the first time I met him, I wanted to play for him. Like, he's just got that energy about him. And I think he fits Philly so well, you know, except for the Pizza Hut thing with the stuffed crust.

You don't want to order Pizza Hut in South Philly, but kudos to him for sharing that tidbit. You know, he's exactly who he is. And I think, you know, like, he's kind of brazen, like the last guy in Doug Peterson, where he's going to go.

He's unafraid. And I think that whole mindset is a – this team is so much different from the team that won the Super Bowl in 2017. They're better on paper. And they have such a different mentality. When we won the Super Bowl, it was nobody believes in us. And people weren't paying attention. Even, you know, the minute they started paying attention, Carson got hurt.

And all of a sudden, we were kind of an afterthought. We had to prove it the whole year. They've had a target on their backs the whole year. Like, everybody knows how good they are. And they've worn it. I mean, they are cocky. Like, they're on the line between confident and cocky.

It's right where you want to be. They're like bullies, man. And it's just – it's fun to watch. I mean, like, that's what you're going to need.

Because San Francisco, they got some bullies on their team. I love chatting with you, as you know. This was as great as any of the hits we've done all year long. I greatly appreciate it.

And I hope you and your bro had a great Greenlight Pod. And you'll have a great week as well, Chris. Thanks for the time. Yes, sir. I appreciate you. Always. Right back at you.

Let's do this again next Monday. That's Chris Long. Everybody check out Greenlight Podcast with Chris. Just a dynamite listen, as always. Check it out. We're all podcasts can be acquired.

Greenlight Pod with Chris Long. If I could put it all together, I think he would lean towards Eagles, Cincinnati in the Super Bowl. I think I agree with him. Let's take some phone calls when we come back.

844-204-RICH number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. This is it. The putt to win the tournament. If you sink it, the championship is yours.

But on your backswing, your hat falls over your eyes. Is this how you're running your business? Poor visibility because you're relying on spreadsheets and outdated finance software? To see the full picture, you need to upgrade to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system to power your growth with visibility and control of your financials, inventory, H.R.

planning, budgeting and more. NetSuite is everything you need to grow all in one place with NetSuite. You can automate your processes and close your books in no time while staying well ahead of your competition. Ninety three percent of surveyed businesses increase their visibility and control after upgrading to NetSuite. Over twenty eight thousand businesses already use NetSuite for the new year. NetSuite is a new financing program for those ready to upgrade at NetSuite dot com slash Rich Pod. Head to NetSuite dot com slash Rich Pod for this special one of a kind financing offer on the number one financial system for growing businesses.

NetSuite dot com slash Rich Pod. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate small rewatch podcast where each week we watch every episode of Smallville, a show that changed our lives forever and perhaps your lives, too. I'm Michael Rosenbaum. Hello, I am Tom Welling.

What was the sign off now? Always remembers Talkville. That's it. Always hold on to Smallville, folks. We love you.

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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Eight four four two oh four. Rich is the number to dial.

Andy Reid has spoken about Patrick Mahomes's ankle. I'm wondering if it's been upgraded from a or downgraded from a tweak. That made me laugh. Tweak.

OK. Definitely not a tweak. Turzo in Iowa. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Turzo? Hey, what's up, Rich? What's up, brother? Hey, hey, T.J., man. That was that was a heck of a game, my man.

Like it was it was it was tough to watch at times. I really did think that you guys had it. I really did. He's not answering.

You could talk to him. Oh, I thought he was. No, he was done.

I thought he was going to keep going. I got I got several things for you guys. Go for it, Turzo. Go for it, buddy. Bring it.

Go for it. So I'm going to take I'm going to piggyback off of you real quick, Rich, with with Joe Burrow, man. He is a cold hearted killer, man. If I'm Casey, I do not want to see him coming in, especially with Pat Mahomes being a little banged up, man.

Like, I would rather have had the Mandalorian Mandalorian coming in than the Sith Lord that I got right now, because Joe Burrow is coming for your soul and he does not play around. He does not. I mean, you know, I don't think the Chiefs want any piece of him. They haven't beaten him yet. He has their number. He's coming back into their house again. And and you heard Chris Long say that Mahomes is going to be a shadow of himself. The question is, is how much of a shadow of himself is he going to be? But I would be concerned about it as well.

What other what are the things you have on your mind, Terzo? Well, well, and this is this was the worst part about the Niners and Dallas game last night when Pollard went down. I said I said verbatim, this is where the game just changed because they can't catch the ball out of the backfield like Pollard can. And and you started to see that defense for Dallas start to wear down because Lawrence was in in Brock, pretty safe that whole entire first half just getting getting after him. And once Pollard went down, we were able to start to run the ball because that defense just started to get tired.

We went from one point eight yards in the in the first half to then starting to get back to where we were over over four yards a carry. And I hate seeing good players go down. It's just always a shame. Thanks to the call, Terzo.

I appreciate it. I'm right with you. I mean, the Dallas defense really was getting it done. Purdy had one touchdown in the divisional game. The Niners in Purdy's six previous starts, his first six starts, averaged 4.2 offensive touchdowns a game.

You only got one. I mean, a big play was if you had a peg, a big play, if you had a peg one. It was the Niners flipping the field, eventually scoring to start the fourth quarter. That that kiddel juggling catch that went off his right hand, his face mask and then his left. And he grabbed it. And that one thing was being juggled in the air so long.

I wonder where is that like where where is the defender to just like knock him silly, right? What a grab that was. And then, of course, they took it in. And the interesting Chris Long just pointed out that he thought the Cowboys were gassed in the fourth quarter of that game on defense because they played the Monday nighter and had to travel all the you know, not all the way across the country, but far enough. And that kind of makes me have to also add in here that last year was the first time they had the Monday night football game on a playoff weekend. And the team that won that was the Rams, who to travel all the way across the country to take on the Bucks on a Sunday.

Oh, right. And if you recall, Tom Brady came back on him. The Rams in the fourth quarter of that game were kind of gassed on defense. Brady comes back and then the Stafford to cup up top saves the day and they survive and don't even go to overtime in which they probably, you know. I don't know if they've gone to overtime, does that championship trophy kind of that photograph get fuzzy like it's back to the future? You know, overtime, the Bucks win the time you have to do.

We stopped Monday playoff games, you know, because that's not going to happen, right? That's a full magic Johnson, Rich. I want to give Elijah Mitchell a little shout, too, because, you know, we pretty much bottled up Christian McCaffrey that game. He was a guy that I think you definitely had to be worried about.

Did a great job with him. Mitchell came in. He ran hard. He got some big first downs.

51 yards. Yeah, he he kind of changed the I think fourth quarter he came in when the defense was a little tired. He ran through some cats in the same way that Zeke didn't.

Yeah. I honestly thought like this could be a Zeke moment. He's only 27. He'll be given the ball 10 times. So, you know, this could have been a Zeke moment like feed him.

He wants to be fed. He's the lost guy with Pollard being the home run hitter. Well, Pollard's gone. Let's see what he's got. I just didn't have like in the same way.

You could sit here and I see the topic bars at the bottom of the screen and all our other shows where we're up against, if you will, or on at the same time. You know, our friend Stephen A. and Irv chopping up Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts is better than a Dak Press. Is he better than Dak or is Dak better than Jalen? Well, Jalen's got A.J. Brown. Dak has C.D.

Lamb. Jalen has Devante Smith. Like if the Cowboys had a Devante. Like, you know, the version of Devante Smith is his T.Y. Hilton and they grabbed him too late. In his career. Well, maybe.

Yeah, but definitely this season. He was on the couch waiting for the call all year long. Let's go to Andrew in Wilmington, North Carolina. Been hanging on for a long time. Thanks for hanging on, Andrew. Hey there, Rich. Can you hear me?

I can. What's on your mind, sir? Thank you, sir. I appreciate you taking my call. My family are just big fans of you and your show. You guys are good people. So thank you.

Clearly, your family are good people, too. Yes, sir. I don't have to tell you about my lifelong Cincinnati Bengals. And we, like you, believe in one Joe Spero. How you go on and on about the culture shift for us.

Yes. In Southern Ohio, where Joe and I are both from, we would give anything for him to stick around for a while. But I don't believe that the Brown family and Joe Bro are going to continue this trend of resetting the quarterback market like so easily could. Well, so what's your question?

My question for you is do you personally think we'll see the headline in June about the largest contract in the history of the NFL when, you know, the Bengals right now looks like they could pay everyone like Jamar and T and P Ryan and extend this, make us a dynasty for a while? Well, here's, you know, and thanks for the call, Andrew. Appreciate it.

And say hi to your fam. If Burrow is, in fact, Brady 2.0, and I think you know, Chris, where I'm going with this. Absolutely. If he is Brady 2.0 in many of the different ways from as Chris Long, who played with Tom Brady, pointed out the processing. He can process a play pre snap and mid snap.

He can also move in the pocket, slide around slippery is what he called him. Just like Brady can the throws and the demeanor. Well, then he will take a hometown, give a hometown discount to his team, just like Brady did. And I bet you, you know, it wouldn't be I wouldn't surprise me if Burrow doesn't reset the market.

Let's just put it this way. I would be surprised if Burrow takes what appears to be the Lamar approach, which is like all of it guaranteed. I want every penny guaranteed, just like the Browns did for Deshaun Watson. And he'd have every quarterback, by the way, that has an opportunity to get paid now in the NFL has every right to say the Browns did it for Watson. The Haslam family did it for a quarterback that had two dozen cases accusing him of sexual misconduct. Hanging over him and that an ownership group and family in the NFL gave two hundred thirty million guaranteed dollars to that guy.

I have zero such cases hanging over my head. I want the same thing. Everyone has the right to do that.

Just as the same way that owners have a right to say, well, that's the Haslam family, you want to be paid by the Haslam family. Well, they already have their quarterback and you're seeing that from what all appears to be playing out in Baltimore. I do not see I see Burrow saying I love Chase. I love Higgins. I love Boyd. I love Mixon. I love these guys. I love being protected. I also know there's a certain amount of money that needs to be sliced up to go around to everybody. I will take. A slice of the pie that will make sure everyone else gets paid around me, just as Brady did for all those years. And of course, Brady was rewarded with Rache Caldwell every now and then, but he still won. You know, I don't mean to call him out.

May he rest in peace. But, you know, I'm just using him as a. Of course. Placeholder for people that are not as talented as, say, Chase and Higgins and Boyd. That's a hell of a group that they're taking to Kansas City this week. I wouldn't surprise me if that's the way Burrow plays this thing. It helped that Tom had a very famous, very rich supermodel wife to take a hometown discount. Well, you know what? I think Joe Burrow is young enough to be able to know that all this stuff over time will get paid to him.

And whatever he does extract from Mike Brown will be generationally enriching enough. But I would be let's just put it this way. I would be more surprised if it's like they are not going. To the negotiations are not going well because Joe wants every penny guaranteed. Now, everyone could sit out there and say, well, you just said he has every right to do that. So why? Why shouldn't he?

He can. I just believe the Haslam's did something that no other owner in the NFL is willing to do or will do. And this is something that you're seeing play out. And the Arizona Cardinals wound up paying Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson getting paid by the Denver Broncos in a manner in which those two guys took contracts. That aren't fully guaranteed like Watson's, and we're going to see this played out with Justin Herbert to this off season. That is still to come. That's already up. I imagine being conversed about right now between the Chargers and Herbert. There's still more time to go for for Burrow.

For sure. Eight four four two oh four, Rich is the number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show as I was Mike Mayox on tomorrow's program. I heard him on Westwood one with Ian Eagle call Bengals and Bills this NFL postseason. Every Westwood one NFL broadcast streams live for free all on the road on Super Bowl 57.

Catch all the action on the Odyssey app on Westwood one sports dot com via Westwood one station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood one sports. When we come back here on the Rich Eisen Show, a few more of your phone calls. Eight four four two oh four. Rich number to dial.

And then overreaction Monday, Andy Reid on Patrick Mahomes and more. It's the top of a new year, and let's just say you're starting a new year looking for a new job. You need to go to Monster Dotcom because Monster Dotcom knows that scoring your next job is a playoff moment similar to this past weekend.

You need to bring your a game. Go to Monster Dotcom because that has millions of job openings and great coaching and career advice for a strong performance when it counts. Plus, when you upload your resume to Monster Dotcom, you can be recruited by employers before they even post their jobs. Monster Dotcom specializes in building the right teams for employers and thus knows how to match you with those job fits. When you score the position, Monster Dotcom's salary calculator that ensures you're paid what you're worth. It's time to get off the sidelines and go to Monster Dotcom and win the job hunt.

Monster Dotcom. Eight four four two oh four. Rich number to dial here on the program.

William and Eugene, Oregon. You're here on the show. What's up, William? Hey, Rich, how are you? What's going on?

Not much. I met my friends early in the season that the Bills would not get into the divisional round. I just feel they're so one dimensional. What do you think about them going after like a cream hunt from the Browns, which is always a dysfunctional organization, or even doing a showstopper like Shaequann Barkley? You know what? That's an interesting choice and I appreciate the call, William. I think you're hitting on something here.

Yeah, I think so. So let me hit on the Bills. Because, you know, the Bills are a highly likable bunch. Same with Bills, Mafia.

Highly likable. Love Josh Allen. Root for Josh Allen. I thought the Bills were going to win the Super Bowl. As you know, so did the rest of everybody on NFL Game Day morning.

We went on the air on our season kickoff show and all of us chose the Bills. All of us. We got a lot of crap for it. Now we're getting a whole bunch of...

I'm seeing it posted on my Twitter timeline. You were so full of it. Kurt, God bless him, goes back to these people. It wasn't even a game played yet. You're acting like we're idiots.

I mean, Kurt, you're in the Hall of Fame. We're good. Don't worry about it.

You're good. But, yeah, I thought they were going to win it all. And then I got off of them when I had a shot to get off of them around Thanksgiving. I hopped on the Chiefs. And part of the reason why I did that is I thought there was a gear missing. We saw that gear kick into high gear for the first third of the season. We saw it right here in Los Angeles when they ruined the Rams banner raising. We saw it when they beat the Chiefs.

We saw it. They didn't have a gear. They lost a gear in Von Miller. But when the push does come to shove and everything gets colder and the weather gets colder, I feel that their running game is a major glaring problem. Again, I know the pushback can be, running game wasn't a problem when Gabe Davis was catching four touchdown passes in the divisional round last year. They just wound up 13 seconds shy of a stop.

Got it? But what happens when Gabe Davis isn't the number two turning into the number one? We saw that yesterday is certainly since number one, him turned back into Stefan and it's been a frustrating month. That's what they did. The digs kind of didn't have his game. He didn't have his monster games. And you saw the frustration on the sideline with the with the snow coming down. I'm just wondering, you know, in the same way the Niners have moved on to the NFC championship game, would they have moved on? Would they have gotten into the two seed similar to what Buffalo had? Would they have gotten this far? Would they have gotten past Dallas? If McCaffrey wasn't on this team, if Elijah Mitchell was option one. If they'd held on to Jeff Wilson, would they even have gotten into the two seed position?

Would Purdy be as viable a guy? I know McCaffrey, McCaffrey did score the touchdown, but he didn't have a big game against Dallas. And we'll see what happens against Philadelphia. I'm just pointing out the Niners looked around and said, we have got our team. Don't forget, they made this deal when Garoppolo was still the quarterback there. And interestingly enough, McCaffrey's first game was against the Chiefs the last time the Niners lost a game. That, don't forget, the Niners looked around and said, we're going to go for it. We're going to just take it, what we've got, and just raise the stakes. Maybe the Bills do that.

Do they do that with Saquon? That's a fascinating idea. Now you'd have to spend, you'd have to spend a lot, but I think you, you just take the moment and raise the stakes.

Go for it. I mean, the Rams did it with, with Odell. The Niners did it with McCaffrey. Maybe the Bills do that and get the run game going so Allen doesn't feel like it's all on his shoulders. And I think that that all weighs on him enough in a game that that might be the way that it's, you could switch it on. It's definitely not in my mind the coach. I thought John McDermott had Coach of the Year written all over him.

You know, I think, I think the Bills dealt with a lot this year, to say the least. Can James Cook be that guy next year? It's a good question. I don't know. Does he have that run between the tackles mentality that he could do like his brother can?

I don't, I'll turn to your Georgia Bulldog. Was that his, I don't think that was his forte, right? He was catching it out of the backfield.

Good third down, good, good change of pace. Or he could just turn into that guy. Maybe. I'm sure if you asked him, he'd say, put the bell cow on me.

I could be that guy for you. Are you going to give Saquon the four year 65 million? Are you going to make him the highest paid per year running back? Maybe he wouldn't do that.

Maybe he'll just go to Western New York for, give them a hometown discount. He wants to win a championship and go be teammates in a spot where everyone loves each other. By the way, I'm not, I'm not saying that Diggs and Allen are angry. He's angry with Allen.

That can't be put back together. I mean, I think that was just heat of moment type stuff. I will chalk it up to that. Yeah, you get mad at Del Tufo sometimes.

It's still all love though. I would get basically enough help on the defensive side of the ball, rushing the passer. Too many injuries in the secondary. Give me a running game and go to battle because right now Joe Burrow has taken this whole Mahomes-Allen thing and broken it into pieces.

Hour three coming up, broken it into pieces. Burrow has taken this whole business of it's Mahomes and Allen is your new Brady and Manning. Yep, that's the way it's going to go because last year we saw it in the divisional round. It was an all-time great matchup and how many times are we going to see this over and over again in the way that the Chiefs win their division and the Bills win their division. They're going to play each other every year in the regular season and it's Mahomes and it's Allen and this is the world we live in. And Joe Burrow said, my ass.

As a matter of fact, he basically told everybody that bought into Allen versus Mahomes. Better send those refunds. Better send those refunds.

Rich, please just wait like eight more minutes. You're playing right into it. No, I got it.

I got it. This is not an overreaction. This is not.

This is actually a two-year development. Oh, and I can't wait for you to hear my take. Great. He almost won the Super Bowl last year. Better. He's going to win it in three weeks.

Give out those refunds. I can't wait for him to come in studio and for you to almost spill coffee on one more time. Why don't you keep bringing that up? Because it was a moment that we knew. It's over.

It was three years ago. It was a moment we knew Joe Burrow was cool under pressure. Yeah. He didn't even flinch. He didn't flinch. He didn't move. Nope.

Okay. That's when we knew. I don't think anybody knew at the time that he could come in and wreck the buffet. He's coming for Kansas City, too.

The Harrow Club. 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. This 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 couldn't have created a bigger or better heel.

No. 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.