REShow: Hour 1

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

You better send those refunds. The Rich Eisen Show. He's healthy. Chad Hemi. Ninety-eight 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.

Yes, indeed it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live from Los Angeles, California. Here on the Monday after divisional playoff weekend has gone down all three hours for us and you.

844-204 Rich. Number to dial if you've got something on your chest about your team or about what you saw this weekend. We have a ton of time. One guest, that's all we've got. Our regular Monday guest, two-time Super Bowl champion Chris Long will join us in the middle of this show.

And then the rest is just for us to chop up what we saw this past weekend. And I am very well rested despite having four and a half hours on Saturday and four on Sunday on NFL Network. It's because I went to sleep last night instead of showing up right there courtside in Los Angeles to bark at the Portland Trailblazers. I decided to get my rest instead.

Put my cardigan in the closet and that's why I'm here, all well rested. Ready for you, as I said, at 844-204 Rich. The number to dial right here on the Roku channel, which is free on all Roku devices.

Select Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV. Also, we are free on the Roku app, therokuchannel.com. We say hello to everybody listening on the Rich Eisen Show, Terrestrial Radio Network, Sirius XM, Odyssey, our podcast through the Cumulus Podcast Network. That's how we have set the table here on this three-hour show. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you, sir? Rich, I'm as cool as Joe Burrow, baby. Good to see you, DJ Mikey D is in D's nuts. Good to see you, Mike Del Tufo. Good morning, Rich. And TJ Jefferson, my condolences about your Dallas Cowboys, sir.

Hey, how about them Cowboys? That's one way to put it today. That's one way to put it today, I know.

The grease board has fallen down. Good to see you, though, nonetheless. It's good to be seen, Rich. And I know, I know that as a national broadcaster talking to this national audience, on a day after the Dallas Cowboys season is over, not only should that totally overshadow the team that actually beat the Cowboys, but it should overshadow everything else, especially since, you know, they're the Dallas Cowboys. And I understand that. But as you know, I'm fixated on another story. And that is the team that the Dallas Cowboys got beaten by and Brock Purdy on on a magic carpet ride.

He is now halfway home on the magic carpet ride. But even that story for me is overshadowed in my mind by a story that is blossoming and blooming and has been for years. And that is for me what I have decided to start this show with.

Yes, we will talk about the Cowboys and Brock Purdy and what we saw with Jalen Hurts against the Giants. And obviously what we saw with Patrick Mahomes overcoming the dreaded high ankle sprain mid game to finally dispatch with the Jacksonville Jaguars with a terrific season. But I have to start with the complete meteoric ascension to the top of his profession by one Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. I have to start with that. Thank you.

Have to start with that. Because what I've seen from this guy since coming off the campus at LSU in his final year at LSU and what he is doing for the Cincinnati Bengals needs to be commented upon. What he has become and what he is, is a stone cold quarterback assassin. That's who he is.

That's what the Cincinnati Bengals drafted first overall. And he is coming for you. And he came yesterday for the quarterback that I have called the Mandalorian quarterback, Josh Allen, coming for your souls. He's the guy who comes for you running downhill.

And when he's not running downhill, he's firing one of his howitzer type passes in your secondary's direction. But with the snow coming down in western New York and Damara Hamlin in the building for the Buffalo Bills and putting up the heart sign from his suite. And being shown on the screen at Highmark Stadium for all the fans to see is truly one of the most emotional moments I've seen in a football stadium in one of those settings where the opponent is essentially a speed bump on the way for the home team to win a football game. And Cincinnati, as you know, hosted the Bills on the night where Damara Hamlin almost died on the field.

And they're the team in Buffalo, New York now having to overcome the emotional moment that was something that even they have to be emotional about as well. Because they watched Damara Hamlin on that turf too. They watched Damara Hamlin be brought back to life on that turf too.

They were also a team on that field that said, we're not playing tonight. And even with all of that, Joe Burrow got the ball first and jammed it down the Buffalo Bill's throat. Just jammed it right down the field. And then the defense gets a three and out.

And that defense balled out yesterday too. And then Burrow gets the ball back and jams it down their throat again. He started nine for nine for 105 yards and two scores in the Western New York snow. That's cold, man. That's why his nickname is Joe Burr.

He's ice cold. He found Jamar Chase for the first touchdown. Hayden Hurst hadn't scored a touchdown since week five. And then that offensive line, much maligned, protected him and road graded for Joe Mixon and Samajay Piran. The Bengals, as a team following Joel Burrow's lead, spanked the Buffalo Bills.

That's what they did. And the Bills looked like a team that couldn't get it done in the snow and was plotting in the snow. And the big plays that they needed from Josh Allen just could not materialize in the snow. And Stefan Diggs wound up marketing in his BFF and by all reports needed to be brought back into the locker room.

Because he departed early after the game that upset as to what happened on the field. The Bengals went in and stole the souls of the Buffalo Bills, snatched it and moved on to the AFC championship game again. And yes, the the the Bengals defense deserves a mention and also more than just a pat on the back and the offensive line in the run game. But folks, Joe Burrow has turned the Cincinnati Bengals into back to back AFC championship game participants. And I can't believe that. And that's why I think people can't believe it because it's the Cincinnati Bengals. I looked at my children yesterday, my lovely children. And I said to myself, these kids are going to grow up thinking the Bengals are winners.

Well, well, yeah, in their world, the bundles is not real. And everything about this guy, Burrow. I'll say it. I didn't believe it. I did not believe it when I heard some of the top notch evaluating professionals in the NFL.

Talent evaluation community. Talk about a comp for Joe Burrow coming out of college. Being Tom Brady. And this guy's Brady 2.0. I know he's got a long way to go.

I totally get that he's a long way to go. But in terms of pre snap neck up, knowing exactly what the hell he's doing and where to go with the ball. How many times have we seen Burrow in these playoffs get the snap and he just spikes it right down on the ground because the protection's not there and he knows it. Because the defense is going to cover what he wants to do.

And it's much better just spike it in the ground than try and force it in there. And he knows it. That's a Brady thing. Get the ball out quick. That's a Brady thing.

Protect yourself even though your offensive line might not. That's a Brady thing. And then coming for your souls is a Brady thing. Winning in western New York against the Bills, that's a Brady thing, isn't it? I truly do not intend to rub salt in the wound.

I'm just trying to point out what I'm seeing here and what is unfolding here. Joe Burrow lost his first two December starts last year. As we all know in his first season in the NFL, he didn't make it to December because he suffered a knee injury and was knocked out. Burrow lost his first two starts last December.

He has not lost a start in December, in January, since. That's 13 in a row yesterday for Joe Burrow. One shy of Joe Montana's streak, that's second best all-time, and four shy of Patrick Mahomes' streak of 17 that Burrow personally broke last year. His five playoff wins at his current age of 26 is the most ever by a quarterback drafted first overall.

That's one better than Terry Bradshaw's four in a row that he got in his first Super Bowl season at age 26. There you have it. You need somebody you can win when the chips are down to make the playoffs, and when you're in the playoffs, you need to win when the chips are down, just ask, sorry, I'm making my point here, TJ.

Dallas Cowboys fans. What does Joe Burrow do? Puts the team on his back and says, I shall lead you.

And I'll do it without showing a single pulse. Like Roger Federer. Good Lord, what he is doing is unbelievable. And I'll tell you what, Chiefs fans, this is the last team.

They want to see him. He's not lost to Mahomes yet. And we're all focused on last year's game between Allen and Mahomes, and that's the future. And Joe Burrow raised his hand the next week and said, what about me? And he's kept it going as the Bengals make it back to the AFC Championship game and the first team ever to do so. By losing a Super Bowl, following it up by falling into the dreaded 0-2 hole and making it back to the AFC Championship game.

Seven teams in the history of the NFL started 0-2 and made the AFC Championship game, the Bengals of the seventh, but they're the first to ever do it after losing the previous year's Super Bowl, which we all know is the dreaded hangover there. I can't make enough of what we're seeing out of Cincinnati. Joe friggin Burrow.

And I'll cop to it. Chris, I was talking to you yesterday about this, too. You came on the air one day in the middle of Burrow's final season on his way to the national championship in his 60 touchdown passes at LSU. And you're like, there's a mock draft where he's going to go first overall. And I'm like, over to him? Come on. I brought up that dude from CBS like a month straight and you're just like, get out of here. What is that guy thinking? I know.

And Burrow with each passing December and January start is making that seem like my don't trade for Giannis take. Good God, what he is doing in Cincinnati cannot be stressed enough. It's awesome, man. And we know so many Bengals fans. We worked with them in the NFL.

I'm so happy for those guys. They get a chance to root for Joe Burrow and have this excitement playing late into the season. And then they're built around him.

They built around him. I mean, Jamar Chase is as good as they come. And T. Higgins and Taj Boyd. I mean, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon and Piran and Hurst.

Samaj Piran doing it, yeah. But Rich, he was the number one pick, so shouldn't we have expected a little some of this? You could take a look at the list of number one overall picks who don't do it, who it would take a long time or can't overcome.

There's some of them, man. Yeah. I mean, you want you're hoping that they are not only somebody who can help you win, but change your franchise. This is the Cincinnati Bengals we're talking about.

I mean, the ultimate sign, I think, of Joe Burrow changing the culture of the Cincinnati Bengals is the fact that Mike Brown made a deal to sell the naming rights to the stadium. Yep. He broke down.

He's like, let's go find somebody. And it's unbelievable. It's pay core. And it's because he knows he's got to pay Joe. Money talks. And that's coming with each pass and win. Burrow is kind of like Flacco's run on steroids.

Pay me. But he doesn't do that. He just lets his play talk. He doesn't talk very much.

He is chill. And he is an assassin coming for your team. They can absolutely beat the Chiefs and beat the Eagles or the Niners. That's a fact. Now, everyone else can do that to Cincinnati too. It is wide open. But the fact that the Bengals have a seat at this table again and haven't lost since Halloween coming in as a red hot team. Look out. Better send those refunds. You are correct. To all those who said he's not going to do it for the Bengals or isn't worthy of what have you.

And that's the way I'm starting today's program. Now we'll get to the Cowboys. Before that, Rich, you had a first row seat on Joe Burrow's coolness when in Miami you almost spilled scalding hot coffee. And the man didn't move.

His heart rate didn't raise. It was like the bounty commercial, people. And Joe Burrow just... He's like, what are you thinking?

Coffee smells? You guys good? You got this? All right.

That's what he said, right? You guys got this? I love Joe Burrow.

I like that dude. All right. Let's take a break and I will hit the Dallas Cowboys. No, we will absolutely do that.

Another subject. Obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles boat race the Giants out of the playoffs. Patrick Mahomes with the dreaded.

I know I've used that word a lot, but it is true. High ankle sprain. Also coming up, I want to hit on the Jaguars coming so close. Chris Long will join us overreaction Monday and so much more. And you at 844-204-RICH number to dial. Back on the Rich Eisen Show.

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Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by phone calls shortly. Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial the Dallas Cowboys when they lose a playoff game. And certainly when they lose a playoff game and don't make the NFC championship game again, leaving nineteen ninety five as the last NFL season in which they made the NFC championship games last year. They made the Super Bowl in that triplets run. Then you lose sight of whoever the Cowboys have beaten or anybody else who won or lost that weekend. That's why I wanted to start with with Joe Burrow. And we will get to the Niners and Brock Purdy.

But I want to hit the Cowboys here. And I'm wondering, you know, what went wrong for them yesterday? What went wrong for them yesterday, I would think, is on the offensive side of the football.

Again, you got to just boil it all down. When you're talking about the finger of blame, that always must be pointed when it's a conversation about the Cowboys and their season ends way shorter than they hoped. And their fan base. Hoped their chest puffed fan base.

Not talking about you in particular, T.J., but you're part of their fan base. And so defensively, what they did yesterday was make Brock Purdy as close to a pumpkin as this carriage has been since he's taken over. I mean, they whipped that Niners offensive line for a good part of that game. They got the pressure. They stopped McCaffrey. They got in Purdy's face. They were getting him off the spot. Oh, Diggy Zua adding his game to the Parsons-Tank Lawrence front seven. I mean, Vander Esch was everywhere, too. They were terrific. They were keeping everybody at bay for San Francisco. And all they could get was three Robbie Gold field goals in the first half.

This game was theirs for the taken. So offensively, what's the issue? I mean, it's a quarterback-driven league, and so everything lands on Dak. You know, I'm not going to do some sort of performance art. Like some 71-year-old man crumpling up a jersey and throwing it out and tweeting it out like he's seven. A very specific example of what you're not going to do. I mean, so it's because it's a nuanced situation. Yeah.

Okay. I mean, this is not just Dak is unable to meet the moment. We saw him meet the moment to take the lead. I mean, they scored a touchdown, the only touchdown in the first half. The Dallas Cowboys scored it because the Cowboys went on a 14-place, 74-yard drive. He finds Dalton Schultz again.

Okay. When that happened, I thought to myself, here we go. And then, of course, Brett Maher has his extra point blocked, which does count, by the way, as a miss. And then the Fox replay showed that it was going last.

Oh, my goodness. Not close. Is that Dak's fault?

No, it's not. They took the lead. They took the lead.

So it's in there. There is two interceptions. Now, the Niners scored six points off it because the defense did its job. They scored six points off it. The first one allowed the Niners to take a 9-6 lead at halftime. And that was a throw to Michael Gallup that Dak even said later on that he was late on. The second one was the real killer, because that's the one that allowed the Niners to take the lead at halftime. But it also came two snaps after Tony Pollard went out. And that's the killer.

That's the killer to me. Because you know what I felt about Pollard. I said it last year. He doesn't get the ball enough. He's the difference maker.

C.D. Lamb has absolutely come into his own as a number one receiver. This year it started off a little slow. Didn't help that Cooper Rush was the guy. Because, again, I'm not going to sit here and say Cooper Rush was the better choice at quarterback.

That's ridiculous. But C.D. Lamb came to the floor and was number one overall for the Cowboys, no doubt about it. But Pollard goes out. And to me, the game changed.

The game changed. I mean, outside of, what, one of their offensive linemen? What, Martin? C.D.

Lamb? Like, name me another member of that offense they could ill afford to lose in a game. Because you could even say Dak isn't one of them because Cooper Rush did well enough. I mean, name me another one. That one, when I saw him go off on a car TJ, I thought to myself, this is a problem.

Can I be honest? I thought this game is over. And I wouldn't blame you for thinking that. Just the way the game was going at that moment. Yep.

You know, I hear you. And what ended up happening is Pollard goes out and then a couple of snaps later, this was the throw. I mean, Dak just did not see.

He did not see Jimmy Ward coming in. And Ward grabbed the ball and Fred Warner took the tip, and that's what led to the field goal to go up 9-6. This was Dak after the game on the interceptions for for the Dallas Cowboys and how it affected things. And, you know, what was with all the interceptions we saw towards the end of the season for Dak and the fact that he didn't have a problem in Tampa, it proves the point. He throws them, they lose. He doesn't. They win. Here it is.

Something I've got to get an offseason. Take a look at all of them. As I said before, they all have their own story. But to tonight, as I said, unacceptable. I can't put the ball in jeopardy like that.

Whether they're tipped up in tight throws or whether I'm late on a stop or out just can't happen. The number that that has gotten to is ridiculous. And I can promise that it'll never, the number will never be this again. I can promise that. It's nice of him to say that he can't promise that. I mean, that's certainly for Cowboys fans. I imagine that feels like an empty promise and causes septuagenarians to grab their jerseys and throw them out and storm out of camera.

I didn't know what you were talking about at first, but it just now hit me. Did this person skip off of camera? This quarterback is a lion hearted kid who can do it. He can do it. He just hasn't done it.

And I know you consider say, can he do it? He's won games. He's won. He's won big games. But what he isn't is Mahomes or Burrow. He's just not.

And what we're finding out, it could be he might not be Jalen Hurts. Just the big games you just haven't seen that put put the team on his shoulders and go. Now, you could also take a look at the rest of the offense, too.

You have to. And I'm not making excuses for Dak. I mean, I just called it like I saw it. Since when does Zeke turned into, you know, a red zone? Guy, that's it, you know, and I know I've said I want to see more from Pollard. I know I've said that, but Zeke hasn't had a 100 yard rushing game since week five of last year. You didn't have one at all this year.

He scored a ton of touchdowns. But if there was any game that I wanted to see old school like Emmett. Right. There's any game Pollard's out. I know it's a tough front seven to try and run against. It is a tough front.

I get it. But this is one of those games. It was one of those games that, you know, Steve Young said to make me want to throw up my mouth. And Aikman's talking about it 30 years later.

This is one of those moments. But I also didn't see that they were kept trying. Like, where's the Zeke with the, you know, the eat? So the offense was just off two and then there's just what's the other threat? Who's the other threat? Noah Brown?

Is that a threat? Gallup, I know, you know, was hurt. He had only three targets.

He didn't have a catch. Who's the other threat? T.Y. Hilton. They just sign him. So blame the general manager. Problem is, that guy's not going to fire himself. What about the coach?

Here's the GM and the owner and the whole shooting match on the coach after the game. Jerry, you said before the Tampa Bay game that nothing that happened that night could impact your thoughts on Coach Mike McCarthy. Does a result like this change anything in your mind with him? No. No. No.

Not at all. And their decision for the kicker was exonerated with his field goal in my mind and I'm proud for him. But this is very sickening to not win tonight. I think he was choking down right there. I would disagree.

Again, Brett Maher was terrific, but I don't know what happened to him in the playoffs. That one point meant a lot. I would say it would have meant a lot, but that that meant two more field goals would have tied the game.

I don't think they were going to trust him to do that. Either. Is it the coach? Is it the offensive coordinator?

Is it the whole damn thing? And the crazy thing is, is that if you want to just blow it up, which I wouldn't blame the Joneses for doing. But one thing that he's not is impetuous. I know that everyone talked about what he did with Jimmy all those years ago with signs that he is impetuous and then Campo, right? Chan, Gailey, all those years.

You don't want to think about again, but he's not. He sticks with guys. He stuck with Garrett a long time. He stuck with the son of bum a long time. And he's going to stick with Mike McCarthy with Sean Payton sitting out there.

That's a stunner to me. The one time he should have stuck with someone he didn't. And the franchise has suffered ever since that ever since that moment. Because you asked Jimmy last week, is that four in a row? Well, I mean, that of Troy, I'm sorry.

I asked that of Jimmy being there. But again, that that's the ancient history. And this season is now history.

And it's the what do you do now? What do you do now if you're the Cowboys? And, you know, if you are a Cowboy fan and you are sick of what you've seen. Then, you know, with the ultimate of respect to Mike McCarthy, you got it, you got to turn to Sean Payton. You got to say we've been always wanting you. What do you think?

Now's the time. Because if anybody's got the money to do it, it's him. I just don't think that's that's what he wants to do. And again, Mike McCarthy did get them to 12 wins and through to the divisional round this year. But I don't know who to you can blame the quarterback.

He's not going anywhere. You can blame the coach. I just I honestly think the roster on the offensive side of the football just wasn't good enough. At the end of the day. The whole concept, you think they could have used Amari Cooper out there or what?

Do you think? You know, Zeke at age 27 is looking like this. Part of the reason why you you have Pollard and you use him is it kind of saved Zeke up. Like, I honestly thought Pollard's out. Game over. But wait a minute.

They've got Zeke. Turn him into Emmett. Let him jam it down the throat so it's not on Dak's arm and shoulder. Can't just tell somebody.

I don't know if there's an answer here. That's the problem. Just beef up the offensive side of the football. Man, do you have the defensive side handled.

And the offensive side of the football that put up 30 points a game just doesn't do it consistently enough in the playoffs. You got to do it. And if you do make a rash decision, you don't do it with the quarterback.

You do do it with the coach, especially since one last thing here, even though I. I don't advocate ever getting rid of a coach. And I'm kind of not here. I'm talking about what a rash decision is. I don't know what the hell. The last two snaps of the last two playoff losses were.

I honestly don't. Last year, you know. It was a total fire drill, and part of the fire drill was born out of the quarterback just running it right up the middle. And the umpire was late spotting the ball.

But you run out of time. You got to play better than the refs. What was that yesterday?

You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to have a breakdown of the final snap yesterday. That, by the way, was born out of the fact that Dalton Schultz, for some reason, didn't fight through a tackle. And got pushed out of bounds going backwards to keep a clock wound and then didn't get his second.

Thought he was back in college. I don't know what that was. Getting only one foot down. But those mistakes added up. Again, a final drive of mistakes adding up. I would love a breakdown as to what the Cowboys play was intending to do. Zeke snapping the ball with two fast guys behind three huge guys in front of him on each side of the field. So I thought Dak was just going to flip it out to one of those fast guys at the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen. And the Niners didn't know which one they were going to defend and hope for the best. That there would be enough blockers on one side for the fast guy behind him to just go down the field and that Zeke would trail if there needed to be a lateral.

That's literally what I thought. But once the snap hits, Dak's hands and Zeke gets road graded down to the ground. OK, there goes the lateral if that happens. And then to have your season end with a flip over the middle to Kevonta Turpin. He gets the last touch of the Cowboys season immediately eight yards down the field put right on his ass game over.

What were they going to do? So Turpin was going to grab it. The Niners would be stunned by that.

And he would then flip it to one of the sides to a fast guy behind the blockers down the field. Is that what it would be? Is that the final play? I mean, they were at the 24. I don't know. I'm just saying it has the same percentage of chances of Hail Mary.

No, I know. Look, I just but I don't know what it whatever it was, it was terribly executed. Terribly. Well, they executed it right. He caught the ball, but he caught the ball. I don't know what the hell that was. It reeks of like we're practicing it all year long.

We're going to pull it out at the proper moment. And so two straight years, the final snap against the 49ers is like, what the hell was that? So if you're Jerry Jones, you're like, if I'm acting rash, I'm not getting rid of the quarterback. But why, Rich?

I mean, I know we're talking the money thing, but yeah, that's because it means yes. As a Cowboys fan, you got to sit here and go. Who do you want instead of him?

I don't know. You want Aaron Rodgers? You want Aaron Rodgers coming to town? Would anyone say no to that? Would you?

Probably not. Who says no? Dak for Rodgers straight up. I don't think Green Bay would. Green Bay wouldn't. Green Bay would get Rodgers off the books and put Jordan Love in there. They've been waiting to do that. They won't do that. Oh, Dak's better than Jordan Love. But they again, everybody treats this like it's fantasy football.

It's not. These are organizations that have plans and systems that I know it could be blown up, but that's why they don't blow them up. That's why the Chargers don't go and swap out Brandon Staley, despite a dreadful two seasons. And that's why they're never going to win. Like they are good enough.

You could say that or. Other teams have plans to stick with them and look, they turn into hurts, they turn into burrow, they turn into. Well, it seems to me the Niners had a plan at the beginning of the season and then halfway through, they had to kind of blow those up and go and bring out some more plans. There's a system. They could have panicked and done something else.

I don't know. They would have been, you know, I honestly don't have an answer for the Cowboys here. I'm just saying if it's rash, it won't be the quarterback. It'll be the coach. And I don't think he wants to do anything rash.

I think he looks at that. Jerry Jones had said, we just didn't have the breaks. We got a bad break, maybe literally with Pollard. We had a defense that could win it. And our quarterback made two mistakes after he was dynamite on a Monday night to beat Tom Brady in Tampa. We curb stomped a team that was not as good as us. And then we damn near beat the red hot 49ers in their house. And again, you can't sit here and say that, you know, the interceptions were the difference when they had an opportunity with four minutes to go and then three and out and punted it away. Honestly, like you take a look at that game and say that was the moment where McCarthy screwed it up. And that's the time that Dak was just so terrible. The Niners might make Jalen Hurts look like that way. And then maybe Mahomes or Burrow too.

But we're all in this flashpoint moment. Fire that guy. Fire this guy.

Let me throw out somebody's jersey. How dumb. So Jerry doesn't have a lot of good options. And I don't think he's going to choose either one of them. I think he's going to run it back and hope for the better, the better offensive unit next year.

Then guess what, Rich? Let's fast forward to this time next year. God willing, we're all still sitting here and I'm probably still going to be sitting here in this type of mood next year because the more things change, the more they stay the same. You have no idea that the Cowboys could draft the next Justin Jefferson three months from now and we're all talking differently. That's the thing about the NFL.

And that's what I think Jerry's sitting here thinking. We need more playmakers. You had a playmaker. You let him go to Cleveland. Come on.

So look in the mirror. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial your phone calls. And let's talk Mahomes when we get back.

He was pretty good. Let's talk about that when we come back here on The Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Let's go to Nick in Philadelphia. Let's take your call here on The Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Nick?

Hey, Rich. Thanks for taking the call. You got it. Same to you. We're very happy here, very happy about the Eagles just enjoying the ride, but I actually do have a top five list for you. Oh, okay.

All right, Nick, I guess we will give you the floor for a top five list here. Go for it. Do you need NFL Films music? Yeah, why not? Do you think you could keep this to a tight 90 seconds?

What do you think? Yes, I can. I can keep it quick for you.

Okay, Nick, go for it. My top five is the top five acquisitions this year that panned out. Okay. So number five, I have Devante Adams. The year didn't go well for the Raiders, but imagine where they would be without Devante Adams.

Okay, same place. Number four, I have Roquan Smith. I couldn't put him higher because he was only there for half the year. That's a good one. But what he did with Baltimore was great. No question.

They held Joe Burrow to the amount of yards that Joe had by halftime yesterday for the entire game. So that's a good first two. What do you got for your final three? I hate to be a little biased, but number three, I have Hassan Reddick. The guy led the team with sacks, third all-time.

He was a monster on Saturday night, Hassan Reddick. Very, very good. And by the way, coming back home to Philadelphia. So that's a hometown kid returning. I like it.

I like it. Absolutely. Number two, I have to go with Tyreek Hill. I mean, what he did for that offense to open up Miami to get them into the playoffs and to get Tua where he was.

I mean, I don't think Tua would be the same guy without Tyreek Hill. I have him at number two. Can I guess who your number one's going to be, Nick? I think... Is he number 11 in your program, number one in your heart in Philadelphia?

Absolutely. It has to be AJ Brown. He is so good. It's so fun to watch him. And, you know, Jalen Hartz is in the MVP conversation because he has AJ Brown. So we love him in Philadelphia and we're just very excited.

I think we're going to win the Super Bowl, but he's got some tough opponents coming up. Well done. Nick in Philadelphia, everybody. Calling in, giving a top five. It's well thought out. He executed it very well. And thanks to call. Thanks to call, Nick. Well done.

Well done. By the way, he's not... I mean, Devontae Adams, he's right.

It didn't add up to... Maybe it did add up to four wins that they would add otherwise. He was also a first team All-Pro, so... Raekwon Smith is a great choice. A great choice. And so were the other three.

I like it. How good was AJ Brown this year in terms of being acquired? How good was he? He was so good that one week he was that good that he had the general manager who traded him fired. That's how good he was. Set the Eagles record for receiving yards this year.

That's how good he was. And, well, I know I was going to talk about my home, so let's talk about the Eagles here and swear on the subject matter. Hey, my bad. I kind of thought the Giants could go on some sort of magical run to the NFC Championship game based on... You weren't alone. But this just in, the Eagles defense is not the Minnesota Vikings defense. And the Minnesota Vikings offense is not the Philadelphia Eagles offense either.

Kind of works both ways, doesn't it? I mean, they just came out and hit the Giants in the mouth repeatedly. And everything that Dayball did right all year long just backfired. I mean, that choice to go for it on fourth and eight on the first drive of the game... I guess he saw how the Eagles came out and thought, we need points. Instead, Daniel Jones wound up prior to that fourth and eight, tripping over his own linemen to bring up fourth and eight and basically got sacked. Turnover on downs, turn that into points.

How about this? Forty-four rushes for 268 yards. And just to stick it in their faces and down their throat, just to really do it, you give it a Boston Scott.

That's what you do. He always scores against the Giants. Dude, here's this stat. NFL Network research came up with. This may be my favorite stat to come out of divisional playoff weekend. Boston Scott, when he scored against the Giants. Eleventh career touchdown against the Giants. Eleventh.

Wow. He's the only player in NFL history to have ten or more rushing touchdowns against one opponent and fewer than ten combined against everyone else. Nobody's ever done that before. We repeat that. Ten or more scores against one team and then fewer than ten scores against the rest of the league in his career.

Oh my gosh, that's called trolling. And the Eagles, the 31-point victory over the Giants, that's the largest margin of victory against a divisional opponent in postseason history. One better than what the Bills did to your Pats last year, Chris.

And here's the most important part about it. Hurts looks healthy and, yeah, you know, we all focus on this rushing stuff. But as our caller just pointed out, A.J.

Brown and Hurts, that's another difference maker. The rushing attack could be, that's the difference, right? In a way, I'll be very honest, that's like the old Ravens. Hey, we'll just run it past you, but don't have to worry about the deep ball. Just worry about our quarterback running and our running game coming off of the threat of our quarterback running.

Nuh-uh. You got A.J. Brown and you've got Devante Smith. And that's the most important part about this is that the question, can the Eagles in these playoffs, despite the way it all finished, despite Hurts' injury, could the Eagles look like the team that lasted undefeated the longest?

Could they look like that team in the playoffs and their first foray was 1,000%, a resounding, you bet they can. I mean, Hurts is running it, he's throwing it, they're running it. Sirianni's mugging for cameras, you know, like he's feeling it. That guy is a lunatic, man. He is and the Philly fans love him and why not?

Why not? He is, he is all Philly, this guy. He really is. He really is. I'm the perfect coach for that. Oh, and we were all wondering why did the Eagles sign him?

Who's this guy? Everything's coming up. Rose is there, or Roseman. And how about this one, too? I mean, Kelsey, one-hand pancakes? One-armed pancakes?

They should serve one-armed pancakes in Philadelphia right now. Talk about whiz wit. Woo! Great W right there, hour two coming up, Chris Long. So there you have it. I mean, the Eagles got it done. They got it done. And now the question is, what about the Giants?

What are they going to do? Daniel Jones says the whole idea is that the business has been taken care of between the team and him is handled, not true. Yeah, even if it was, I'd rethink that if I was a Giants.

I don't know, man. You saw what he looked like against Minnesota and Minnesota's no slouch. I know that they're not the Eagles. Wow, it's like us on defense playing for them. I mean, they got some players on defense.

Zadarius and Harrison, the two Smiths. I mean, they got some people. That's two.

P squared. I mean, they're no Pikers. They won the division for a reason. But, man, Saquon says he doesn't want to break the bank. He's not going to reset the market for running backs, which, by the way, smart decision when there's the Mara family that you got to be talking to. And who would break the bank for him? You never know.

One never knows. But it's still a great season for the Giants. They win a playoff game. They got a great coach. They got the coach right.

They got the culture right. That's good news for the Giants. And they got a playoff win under their belt.

And you could see what Jones and Barkley looked like at the top of their game when it's all working. And so year two for Dayball, and I think year two for Jones and Saquon under the Dayball system and everyone else, will be there will be some benefits to that. Just the question is, do they bring him back?

I think they will. Hour two, Chris Long, coming up. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling. Nobody has stories like Jim Ross, and he shares his tales with co-host Conrad Thompson on Grilling 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 couldn't 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.