REShow: Joe Mixon - Hour 1

Coming up, this is The Rich Eisen Show. You're back. I'm excited.

I love it. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Purdy dropping back. I can't talk enough about the boys and how incredible of a peep he's been for us.

Because he had to obviously prove that he's capable of leading us to where we are now. The Rich Eisen Show. I appreciate the time. MattFred underscore Warner on both Twitter and Instagram. Today's guest, Bengals running back, Joe Mixon, ESPN NFL analyst, Matthew Hasselbeck. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Oh yeah. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show.

Live in Los Angeles, California. Live from the spot where my jacket matches the color scheme. That's called the Roku channel. Roku's purple.

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All three hours every day on the Cumulus Podcast Network. So check us out. And we say hello to you, Chris Brockman. First up, how are you? Hey, Rich. I'm great.

Are you really? Because you were in a mood this morning. Everybody should be fired.

Everyone sucked. I'm not in a mood, Rich. People mistake the truth for a mood.

Yeah. And as Jack once told us, can't handle the truth. You know what?

That's not a bad t-shirt. Don't mistake the truth for a mood. We're in a mood. Okay.

But what if it's not the truth? I like it. Truth according to you, TJ.

Good to see you over there, TJ. Let's go to you next. Let's just change it up since we're talking. How are you, sir?

Well, I mean, like you said, getting stuff on your phone, that's all I'm going to be able to do today, because as you can tell, I don't have a laptop, so we're going to run strictly off of that. Okay. So like in terms of truth and a mood, the truth is this is a Clippers town. Well, that's a fact. That's a truth. That's a truth. But the mood is it's a Lakers town. Or the truth is it's a Lakers town, and the mood is it's a Clippers town. I think that's- That's it?

That's the one? I mean, they've beaten the Lakers 10 in a row now. That happened last night. Well, according to Twitter last night, LeBron did all the amazing things. And then I look at the score, and they're down by 20.

So which is it? Chris doesn't want to just admit LeBron is going through a great moment right now. He is going through a great moment. He is. And so is Jay Felley. Good to see you, Jason Felley.

Where's Mike? Where's Del Tufa? Ah, you know. Del Tufa was right. Oops, wrong one. Give everything ready. Oh, wow. I was wondering if he paid you to hit that first grab first. Right.

I dug Tufa right away. It's Championship Wednesday. What's that you say? What's that you say? What is that, Rich?

Thanks for asking. Championship Wednesday is essentially a construct we at NFL Network help create. A word? Facts. That is a fact. Fact. I deny it, boy.

Fact. It was a busy day. Well, Championship Wednesday is the day because, you know, Wednesday is usually the day quarterbacks talk and coaches talk with their quarterbacks and star players. They open up the locker room. And so I guess some some executive back in the day for NFL Network's like, let's make the teams all have staggered times when they talk and will air it. And I remember as a host, I'm like, OK, new content.

I'm in because that's what I was there to do. That's what NFL Network was born to do, was take things that are just normally regularly done, package them as events, eventize them. It's like, say, paperwork, like scheduling the schedule coming out. It's just paperwork. That's all it is. It's just paperwork. The draft is just paperwork. Let's just like you're choosing who? Oh, we could do that in two seconds, right? We could just we could just click and point with a mouse and a computer screen right now.

But no, we'll we'll we'll we'll make it a three day event. Long story short, pumping circumstances. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Appreciate it. But at any rate. So today, everyone's talking and it's a whole to do.

You know, everybody's going to get up there. And by the way, they're spreading it out tomorrow's when they're talking to. It's now two days.

It's now a two day banger. NFL is just every day of the week, I think to do stuff. But today is the day Mahomes talks. Apparently, he's scheduled to talk in about 45 minutes and maybe he should just pull a full Aaron Rodgers, which is take his shoe off and his sock off and just put his foot on the table and say, see, this is what I got.

You know, or interview his foot, you know, have Rex Ryan do a one on one. Oh, boy, you know, I just want the record to reflect. I want the record to reflect. I did not make that officially cracking myself up. Hilarious. It's a weird day. That's all I'm doing.

I crack myself up. That's the story. I mean, this is a story, right? That's all it is. It's the story. And we're just waiting. We're waiting and waiting. And you're like, well, Vegas must know something because there was a minus this and now it's minus that or it's plus.

This used to be minus all that business. They must know. Look, we're it he's going to play. It's going to kick off. And the question is going to be, what percentage of Mahomes do we get? And is that better than most quarterbacks? And for sure, it's not going to be better than Joe Burrow one would think.

Unless Mahomes is just, you know, doing his latest Mahomes thing that everyone's going to accuse us in the media of gushing over is to play on a high ankle sprain, as if it's just like a potential ingrown toenail, which is very painful. I understand. But you know what I'm saying? We're just trying to fill time until the inevitable happens, which is kicking off. And that's the way we do in this business when there's only two games left and wait till there's just only one game left.

And there's a bye week in between this weekend and that game being known as the Super Bowl. And one thing that I'm seeing out there I kind of want to hit is that Legacies are on the line on this Sunday. And you could say, yeah, I mean, Legacies are really only on the line, particularly when it comes to Super Sunday.

That's for sure. Legacies are on the line in that game. The difference between winning and losing. Perfect example are the Harbaugh's, right? My coach at Michigan is supposedly dying to get back in the NFL. Can't wait to get back in the NFL.

For some reason hasn't gotten back in the NFL, despite, you know, playing footsie with the NFL for two straight Januarys. And the reason why is he didn't get the ring and his brother did. You know, flip those scripts and who knows? Also, how about this one? You want to talk about Legacies being different on Super Sundays?

Bill Callahan and John Gruden. How are Legacies changed on that day? Wow. Good one.

OK. I mean, so so the concept that a legacy is on the line between Burrow and Mahomes, I think is ridiculous, quite honestly. Now, you could sit there and say, well, that means one gets back to the Super Bowl in consecutive years. And that is a legacy building thing. Yeah, for sure. But it's not like Mahomes and Burrow are, you know, like searching for the cocoon at the bottom of the pool house here. You know what I mean?

Like they're on the ascent. That's the crazy thing about Mahomes. He's 27.

How stupid is that? He's 27. He's accomplished more at age 27 than most people do.

It's age 77. Peyton Manning didn't win his first playoff game till he's 27. Look at Mahomes playing in his fifth AFC championship game. So he loses this weekend and the narrative will be Burrow is this Superman's kryptonite. And so are the Bengals and the Bengals are a better team than the Chiefs. You could say that this for sure. But then that part of the narrative that he's surpassed Mahomes in terms of legacy is ridiculous.

Because there's still more to be written. And by the way, everybody thinks that, you know, they're on a different tier now from Josh Allen. That's also ridiculous. Josh Allen can win three of the next four.

Who's saying no to that? So I don't think legacies aren't what we're seeing are stories being built with three incredibly generationally talented quarterbacks who are young and in the same conference and are knocking each other off. Last year, Mahomes knocked off Allen. This year, Burrow knocked off Allen. Last year, Burrow knocked off Mahomes. This year, Mahomes can knock off Burrow. And I think we're going to see that cycle play out. Now, if Allen continues to be the one that's knocked out more than the others, then we can talk. But there's still so much more road to go.

So much more road to go. Certainly since at some point this year, Burrow is going to get paid and at some point Chase is going to get paid. And how does that change the dynamic of the roster build? In the same way that the Bills roster got, you know, build is different because Allen's on a second contract and he's got Diggs who's pizayed and the Chiefs decided not to pizay their guy, sent him to Miami. And Mahomes is on a second contract. That is absurd that apparently Brett Veitch has no problems building around. We just have to see how it all plays out. I saw that Orlovsky tweet, Dan Orlovsky tweeting out that Josh Allen is on the same tier as Mahomes and Burrow.

And I saw that a number of people responded to it that that's not the case. It's just like, are you out of your mind? Come on now. But the legacy that Burrow can build with a championship, you could say that's on the line. And if he, you know, if he loses, he can't complete that at this young age. His ascent of being the next Brady. You know, that's on the line.

Can he not win this year and can Mahomes at his second? That's all on the line. That the opportunity to build on a growing legacy in the Super Bowl, that is on the line here. And it's also on the line for Kyle Shanahan and Sirianni. I mean, if one of them gets to the Super Bowl, Shanahan gets to his second Super Bowl in four years. They're in their third NFC championship game in four years. This is the sort of thing that the Eagles hope that they can build. And not talking about Jalen Hurts' legacy and what this would mean for him.

My goodness gracious. To get to the Super Bowl. And what if they win it? Yeah. Against Joe Burrow. Hurts versus Burrow. You know, the SEC championship in the National Football League.

Amazing! Guy gets benched in front of the whole country and has to transfer. Now he's a Super Bowl champ. Exactly. And this is all stuff that would be on the line on Sunday. And of course, these are big games and legacies get built when you make a Super Bowl. But to sit here and say, Burrow is better than Mahomes.

That's it. Be two years in a row. Mahomes is less than.

Allen can never do it. Look, this year was sorely disappointing for the Bills. Sorely disappointing that they didn't get past the divisional round. That their one playoff win was a struggle against a Miami team that was the seventh seed playing their third string quarterback.

At home. That is not the way I drew it up when I picked them to win the Super Bowl prior to week one. You and 90% of the sportsmen. No doubt. I can't pull it. They are out. Thank you. Sorry. But what I'm saying is, is that, yeah, Allen's story is not yet written.

Nor are these guys. So Burrow beats Mahomes. That's just another notch on his belt as he's ascending. As potentially the best AFC quarterback winning quarterback at the moment.

There's so many good AFC quarterbacks. I know that. That's why I just want to put to rest that in this day and age, you lose, you suck, and you're never going to be good. Put that to bed. Yeah. Can we split screen and argue? Yeah.

Sure. I mean, he'd be 4-0 against Mahomes. That's not nothing. No, I know that. But you can't sit here and say Mahomes is never going to do it. No, but they're also in their mid-twenties.

We have, think about it, we have potentially 15 years left of this rivalry. Correct. Can you imagine? Of all three of them. And Herbert. And Herbert. And Lawrence. And Lawrence. And wherever Lamar Jackson goes. Come on.

It's awesome. And Kenny Pickett. And Kenny Pickett. And Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett. I mean, I said he's going to be top 12 next year. Russell Wilson's resurgence. Wherever he rides. Russell's head coach.

I don't know. And Tom Brady. We'll find that out. For the next 10 years.

And I want to, and it's right, don't forget. Aaron Rodgers might join the conference. That's what I'm saying. And on all those fronts, Albert Breer, hour three. Yeah. Matthew Hasselbeck's going to join us. It's been a long time. It's been a long time.

Since he's joined us. It's been too long. You know. I miss my brother. I know. A lot of people think you're the lost Hasselbeck.

I've been getting that since high school. I know. So. I miss my brother. It'll be a nice reunion. Top of hour two. And first up, Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hey. The other Joe. I mean, he was there first. He was.

True. But, and he's going to be here first on this program. Also on this show, the Associated Press, which is the keeper of the flame of all the year-end awards for the National Football League, announced finalists. Five MVP finalists, five coaching finalists, which means the voting tabulation has been done and they've announced who the top five are.

We just don't know the order. I will order them for the coaches. I've got a top five coach of the year candidates using the five finalists. I'm going to order them the way that I would vote for him if I was given a vote. And then we're going to review your work, Chris.

Hey. I have here on this piece of paper, 10 overreaction Monday statements from the season. Five that are really, um, awful, awful, terrible. They were way off when you said them in the moment, I'm overreacting to whatever happened.

And then, and then five that were just, you were a seer, you were a Nostra Brockman. You went right through it. Also, the point is for him to say something just as people understand that it's a tough concept on YouTube. But deep down, deep down that, if you will, mood he feels is the truth at the time, every overreaction you say you, it comes from the, from, from the heart. I partly believe it.

You do. It's not a lie if you believe it. So it's not an overreaction if you believe it. So the bad ones are like, I was just overreacting.

The good ones are like, absolutely. I saw that. Called it.

Nailed it. It's not a lie. It's not a lie, George. If you believe it. Let's take a break here.

And then there's you at 844-204-rich, number to dial here on the Roku channel and so much more of the Rich Eisen Show, Joe Mixon of the AFC North and potentially AFC champion once again, Bengals coming up. This is it. The putt to win the tournament.

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NetSuite.com slash RichPod. Welcome to Talkville. All the ultimate Smallville 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. I'm sitting right here at the Rich Eisen Show desk, the Grainger desk, the Grainger desk with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger is the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Joe Mixon calling into this program. He's making his way to a phone right now or something like that. He's doing his best.

Joe might be making them run extra routes. See how it goes. You want me to do that poll question about the quarterbacks? Sure.

Go ahead. I mean, which quarterback would you put the final four from the AFC in there? Throw Trevor Lawrence in. Okay.

Which AFC quarterback? Would you take to start your team or something? I mean, what do you want to do? You do whatever you want to do. Whatever you think is the most outrageous thing. Yeah. How about which quarterback retires with the most rings? There you go.

Because Mahomes has one and everyone else has zero. Right? Yeah. Should I ask that question of our first guest? Sure.

Okay. He's going to the AFC championship game once again. And he's back here on the Rich Eisen Show and we're thrilled that he has taken the time out of his busy Wednesday schedule before taking on the Kansas City Chiefs again.

Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, Joe? Man, I'm doing.

I'm blessed, man. How are you doing? I'm doing just fine. I'm doing just fine. Ask him the poll question, Chris. Go ahead. Ask Joe Mixon the poll question.

It's just so tough. Hey, Joe. We're just throwing this out there just for fun. Which AFC quarterback of the final four retires with the most rings? Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence. Who is it one more time? It's your quarterback and three others. Your guy and then the guy you're playing this weekend, the guy you just beat and the guy with the gray hair, Trevor Lawrence. I'm dead.

Can I... I'll say Julie B. for sure. Thank you.

Way to go, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Mixon. Great answer. Great answer.

Good answer. It's like Family Feud. After that, though, I will say Mahomes for sure. He is that good. He is that good.

I agree. But what is it like being in the huddle with Burrow? Snow coming down, people going crazy.

Joe Mixon. What's it like? To be real, man, it's amazing. I mean, I see Burrow, the way he come to work and prepare each and every day at practice and things like that, even in the meeting room, like just his attention to detail and to never... Basically, any moment is never too big for him, man. So when he in that huddle, I mean, just his poise, like I just love everything about it.

It definitely... It's like a trickle effect in our huddle, though. He's about to say, how contagious is that when he gets in the huddle? And again, everything's going crazy, tough third down, snow coming down, season on the line and things of that nature.

Joe? I mean, pretty much, man, there's no flinch from him. I mean, he's literally in the biggest moments, man. He thrives under those. It's like he almost wants to be in that situation. I mean, he doesn't have to, but in the times that he does, man, he's always thriving under the pressure. So one thing about it is I love everything about it for him. And we, as fans watching games on TV, and you've been playing in some big games, certainly the last couple of years, Joe Mixon, where there's 20 cameras.

So there's one always trained on, Burrow, always. I've never once seen a tablet throw. I've never seen a voice raised. I've never seen it. Does he ever lose his cool, ever?

No, never. I mean, it's more... It's almost like a, let's go, boys, let's do it, it's time to go. But it's never, no, him getting out of character or just that extra... Some guys, they tend to raise their voice a little bit and try to get guys going, but he's just calm, cool, and collected, as you see, man.

You see what you get. Joe Mixon here on The Rich Eisen Show. And I just haven't spoken to you in a few weeks or months. The one time I did see Burrow not have that face, that just stone face, was the night when the Bills were in your house and DeMar Hamlin was on the turf. Can you just walk me through that night, your recollections of it, Joe Mixon, and how it still resonates with you today?

Joe? Yeah, man. That was a very emotional night for especially guys around the Football League. I mean, you can't even really just say specifically for the teams on the field, but just seeing things around the league, man, you see a lot. And we get pretty much desensitized to the injuries. And I feel like with concussions, or you see concussions, you see broken legs, you see guys tear hamstrings, you see gruesome injuries, and it's more so he gets off the field and a standing ovation or whatnot, and it's a play on, keep it moving.

And it's almost not like nobody really cares about the player, but it's a next play type of deal. And with that situation, it was definitely an unfortunate situation. But the best part about it was my man made it through, so it's definitely a blessing to hear that. No doubt.

No doubt. And to me, it reminded us of the fragility of folks like you, Joe, who play the game and put it out on the line, and kind of put that in the recesses of your mind, and then it was put right in front of your face in the most frightening manner possible. And then it was also after he got better, a celebration of the humanity of the game, and fans, all of us with our hearts and our throat all week, I felt like I was sitting in an emergency room for 72 hours waiting for the good news to come back, and it finally did. That's the way it felt to me.

We all felt like that, and I felt like we all suffered from it, but at the same time, it was a big relief once my man started speaking and bouncing out from where he was, his state. And then of course, the fact that we were able to, thanks to his recovery, get back to the matter of football, Joe Mixon, and the idea that a neutral site AFC Championship game had been set up in advance and plans were made and things had to be made in advance for plans, the subtext of it was the Bengals were going to lose. Was that in any way, shape, or form brought to the fore prior to the game last week for you to chew on in the long term?

I think it was more so that, we obviously seen it, and you could say whatever you want about it. I mean, to be honest, the best thing about us right now, with that being said, is we had the opportunity to change that narrative, and we did. And I think that we thrived under the situation of what happened, and we've just been getting hit with obstacles, and we've been getting through them with no problems. So we just got to keep on keeping on, and I think everything is, our best football is yet ahead.

Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay, so your keys, what do you got for me that you're willing to share for the AFC Championship game going into Arrowhead again, Joe, what do you got? Right for sure. I mean, basically, us obviously got to execute, that's first and foremost, I think if you execute the game plan, you have a great chance of winning. Also number two, I will say, is ball security. I think our offense does a great job with protecting the football at all costs. Our quarterback receivers, running backs, tight ends, and everybody that's touching the ball, it does a great job. And I think for our defense, it's basically creating turnovers.

Obviously winning the turnover margin plays a huge factor in it, so it definitely comes down to it, but at the same time, we just got to play our style of football and taking care of the football, and we'll be okay. How much conversation about Mahomes' ankle going on in your neck of the woods, Joe? I haven't heard nothing from it, I mean, I'm sure he's dealing with, I don't know how severe it is, but at the same time, no matter what, we know he's going to play, so it really doesn't matter in there. At this point, there's no excuses. So I hope Mahomes gets better, he's a friend of mine, I knew Mahomes for probably about eight, nine years now, and obviously I hope he gets better.

Obviously I want that advantage, but to be real, I just hope he gets better and bounce back from it. Do you go back to college days with him? What do you go back to with him? Yeah, college days. Okay, when was the first time you met him, you got a story? It was out in Norman, when he came out to Norman, we played them, and that was my first time actually meeting him, and we probably talked for a few minutes after the game, and he just really respected how I played, and obviously vice versa. And then we pretty much kept that relationship through college and through the league, man. He actually checks in on me from time to time, and I do the same, so it's cool to have that relationship with him.

I'm going to take a shot at this one. I know you didn't match up at all in college, but Hurts, Jalen Hurts, in his one time at Oklahoma was one run there, do you have any relationship with him? Do you know him at all, Joe Mixon? I know him a little bit, not on a personal level, I've definitely met him probably twice and three times now, and a great kid, or a great guy I should say. He's a grown man, right? He's a grown ass man now, that guy, for sure.

He's definitely one of the most respectable human beings that I've ever been around, and everything about him, man, I rock with, so he's a fan of mine. Joe Mixon here on the Rich Eisen Show, all right, in the few minutes I have left with you, what would it mean to get back to the Super Bowl after what happened last year? Yeah, it'll mean everything, man, to really get back and be able to dial in and just basically pick up where we left off. We left a lot on the table last year, and we learned from that, and I felt like with us being an experienced group and being in that situation, we know how to get there and we know how to basically overcome that situation, and I felt like with the guys that we have in this locker room right now, man, we all just ready to seize the opportunity in front of us, so we just got to keep honing in on the game plan once we, obviously, you would love to get back to the Super Bowl, but we take care of these chiefs, man, and everything else is out in the making. Well, I mean, you came to Cincinnati in the 2017 draft here, so you've seen the lows and you've been through the transition and now what appears to be a very well-oiled winning machine.

Yes. So, I mean, what is it like for you to just be in the midst of this remarkable run, not just this year, but the last couple for you? Yeah, man, obviously, being in this here situation, being from being on both sides, from the losing part and then obviously now reaping the benefits and winning, just mainly taking everything all in and living in the moment, because there's been a lot of grace that's never even been in this here position and you've got to always take the lows with the highs and the highs with the lows, so you never want to get too high and you never want to be too low on yourself, so you just got to keep that balance and obviously when you win, you celebrate and once you win, you turn the page and get ready for the next opponent, but I definitely feel like by me being around here, it definitely built a lot of character in me, winning and losing, so you just got to keep on doing whatever you can, keep pushing and I know for a fact, the table is a turn, so he's just ready to get over the hunt, man. So what's it going to be like Saturday night, night before the game, final team meeting?

Can you walk me through it? Does Burrow speak? Do you speak?

Does somebody speak? What's it going to be like night before? I think Zach could talk to us like he does each and every week and I feel like we're going to approach it just like how we have been. I mean, if we feel the need that one of the captains or even somebody else on the team needs to speak, then hey, we all for it, man, but at the same time, man, we ready. When I tell you we ready to seize the moment and seize the opportunity, I could look at my guys in the locker room, on the field, in the room, the meeting rooms, guys just dialed in and ready to go, man. So I know for a fact, we really don't need no prep talk. We all know it's at stake, it's win or go home and it's win and go to the Super Bowl. So we want to wait now and we're going to do everything to hone in on the game plan to become successful and win this game come Sunday.

Last one for you, Joe Mixon. Did the league fine you for flipping a coin on the field in week 18? Did that happen? Did the league fine you? They did.

They did. Okay. We had a hearing this past week hoping to hear something back any day from the fine, so hopefully I'll hear some good news about it. Okay, so how much was the fine, if you don't mind me asking, Joe? I want to say about like 13 racks or something like that. 13 racks. And what coin did you, what actual coin was it? Man, I probably had the most shiniest quarter you could pull out.

So 25 cents turned into 13 racks is what you're saying. Okay. Thank you. I tell you, that was the worst investment ever. All right, and so what's your defense?

When you're saying you're hearing, what do you say? To be real, man, basically we was in an emotional state and I felt like with my teammates, we was basically just trying to shine and shed light on the situation. I mean, it was a lot of emotions going on all week. Our team was obviously flustered from that situation in terms of being in the field and seeing that. And I felt like in that situation, I think that was one way of us expressing and making light of the situation. And really, we shouldn't have been in that position, but we was and obviously survived and thought through it. So that was pretty much my take to it, man. It was no excuses and hopefully I hear back some soon. Okay.

And so last one for you, period, on this as well. Most important thing here is if the ruling comes back from the league, sorry, the fine stance, is Ocho Cinco going to pay for it? Joe, is he going to do it? I talked to Ocho and he said, man, if they don't take it back, then he'll definitely write a check for me.

I was like, appreciate it, man. Well, just be careful. He has owed me a pair of Deebos for 14 years, I think. You promised me them at a Pro Bowl in the late aughts.

It's now 2023. So I know that it's not a $13,000 pair of shoes, but he's still... Be careful with him. Be careful, Joe. Hey, if I see him, I might have to bear hug him a little bit for you.

Yes. It would say, stroke me that check and send the shoes to Rich Eisen already. Will you please do that for me, Joe? We need that for sure, I got you. And I appreciate you having us top of mind here on this Wednesday. Thanks for calling in. Good luck Sunday. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. Appreciate you for having me, man.

Right back at you. That's Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals. Ocho Cinco better stroke that check because I don't believe the I was in an emotional state is gonna... I don't think that holds up. I don't know.

Maybe they just... Should. 13 racks. Racks on racks on racks. What is it from Rounders? The high society. Let me tell you.

Racks on racks on racks. And I guess the Teddy KGB line could be sent towards Ocho Cinco. Pay that man his money. Because I think it was Ocho's idea. I think it was Ocho's idea.

He told him, if you do it, Joe, I'll pay your fine. So oh boy. Last game of the day. Last game of the last multiple game Sunday of the year. The rematch.

Cincinnati and Kansas City. We got two more days to chop it up. And a RE match.

The RE match. Thank you. Yeah. We should make it about us. Why not? Yeah.

I know that there's a tax company that paid to put their name on it. But it should be us. For nothing. Good idea. You're an idea man, TJ.

That's what I tried to do. Well done. All right. When we come back, you know he's an idea man as well. Somebody who's not even yet a man in the eyes of the Lord just yet. My 11 year old coop. Some news on that front involving rookie of the year. Two more years, coop.

Don't miss it. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, Monster.com knows that scoring your next job is just like a playoff moment from this past few weeks and the one that we're seeing this week. So bring your A game to your next job and in order to do that, go to Monster.com. Wanting to change positions and join a new team, Monster can help right now because Monster.com 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.com, you can actually be recruited by employers before they even post their jobs. They're checking you out on Monster.com. It specializes in building the right teams for employers. So Monster.com knows how to match you with those job fits. And when you score the position, Monster.com's salary calculator ensures you're paid what you're worth. So guess what?

You can go win the job hunt right now and win or go home time at Monster.com. So again, where do I get my ideas? Sometimes just from the recesses of my mind and sometimes, you know, kind of like Stu Scott. Stu Scott got a lot of his ideas from his nieces and nephews at times. That's where he found out a lot of the new music that he was not personally attuned into. Dropped them into his highlight repertoire.

Yeah, keep your ear to the streets, Rich. I understand that sometimes it was his nieces and nephews who did that for him. My son, Cooper, cups, cuppy doodles, however you wish to call him, he's got a lot of nicknames in my house, Cooper, after Brock Purdy, let me get this right, Brock Purdy comes in against the Miami Dolphins, Jimmy Garoppolo gets carted off. Let's get this week right here. The exact date when we first saw Brock Purdy take a snap in a meaningful game, December 4th, first week of December, and then he beats Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. So this is the night, December 11th, he's drifting off to sleep, I'm hanging with him, and he says, Dad, can Brock Purdy win Rookie of the Year? God bless him.

After just his first career start and win, can he win Rookie of the Year? You know? And I said to him, I don't know.

I don't know if there's any hard and fast rule. So again, this is very most important part of the story, left the room to get my phone because I didn't have my phone on me because I'm present. I brought that up to Susan, by the way, the other day. And what did she say? I just had your back. I was like, you know, Rich didn't have his phone in the room, just so you know. And what was her reaction? She just kind of looked at me. And I was like, she wanted the, I think she wanted the other answer, the other answer to be true. But at any rate, and sure enough, I grabbed my phone, I emailed NFL network research and the staff there said, like, there's no rule.

There's no rule. So Brock Purdy for the San Francisco 49ers didn't play a meaningful snap all year long till December the fourth, and then after that beat Tom Brady in the bucks, went up to Seattle for his first career road start, swept the Seahawks, which as we know is a pretty key W as it meant a lot in the standings in the division. And then that allowed them to go and win the final three games of the year. He won his five starts after coming against the Miami Dolphins.

And so guess what? Guess who was a finalist for AP Rookie of the Year today. His name is Brock Purdy, along with Kenneth Walker, the third and Garrett Wilson of the Seahawks and Jets respectively. Now Garrett Wilson had a terrific year of 1100 yards and Kenneth Walker had a thousand yard rushing season. The only one on the screen who played from start to finish, that would be Garrett Wilson of the Jets.

Kenneth Walker came in the middle of the year and he made much of the opportunity. Week five. Right. Yeah. Week five.

I think Wilson, it's his award, right? I don't know, man. I don't know. How are you going to give it to a guy who played six games? Easily. Because he dominated those six games. Easily. He dominated.

He's got the best team. Yeah. And Wilson had three different quarterbacks. Yeah.

Yeah. Wilson had Flacco to start, Zach Wilson, then Mike White, then Zach Wilson, then Mike White, then Flacco. I can't believe the Jets season started and finished with Flacco. I still can't get over that. Happened.

Wait till you have Aaron Rodgers next year. You know what? I would take that now. I go back and forth on that. I don't want to derail our- No, no.

You don't have to derail it. I'm just pointing out that Purdy made it and that if Purdy wins it, that can absolutely be legit. As you said, it's kind of the story that's taken over the second half of the year. So I guess that's kind of a reward for, hey, we'll make you a finalist. Or the second half of the year when you include the playoffs.

That doesn't. These votes are all, I believe, tabulated once the regular season's over. Yeah, it doesn't include the playoffs. I mean, he wins the Super Bowl.

Yeah. I mean, we know that. And I kind of think, with all due respect to Chris Olave, who was the third man in and the Pepsi version of this award, that Purdy should be a finalist. What he has done and what he did do, and what he did do was take a team and didn't screw it up and actually improve their chances. He took a team that was third in the standings in the conference and they finished second. Now you could say the Vikings had a lot to do with it. But if I had to vote for this, and you know I'm biased, I'd have voted for Purdy. I would have voted for Brock Purdy. What he did to finish this season and finish it up well for the 49ers and look the way that he did, as polished as he did, and you know, Seattle is a very difficult place to play.

That could have been one of those, well, you know, can't win them all. Kid just started. Kid was the last pick in the draft. It's truly unbelievable. And I think you could extrapolate out to the full season if he played a full season.

The Niners would still be a two seed, the way that he played the final six weeks. Go ahead. You can push back, Chris. I could see your face and you think that's ridiculous.

But I don't know. It's kind of ridiculous. I mean, if he plays this way for six weeks, you know, it also helped to have McCaffrey sitting there too. That's for sure. McCaffrey had a couple of weeks under his belt before he showed up. It also helped to have his entire roster of superstars. But he also could throw behind those superstars and have a tip drill interception. He could also dirt it at the feet of one of those superstars a little bit too much. He could also fumble the snap. He could also have trouble with the mesh point with some of his superstars.

Reeds. He could have problems with all of those and he hasn't done any of them. And as a matter of fact, he's actually enhanced things. I mean, he wasn't asked to win any of the games. He was asked to not lose them. But Chris, like you just said, though, he had his old team. So they had a team that was set up for success. So all the pressure, imagine all this pressure. This kid's last pick comes in.

And now he wasn't ever getting snaps with the first team. And also, hold on, let me let me push back on one other thing, because I know I know the answer to it already. Who's the guy who really is an engine of this team? Deebo is their true, you know, id. Their engine in a way.

But their id. Was Kittle. Correct. So where was Kittle with Garoppolo and Lance not doing these last six weeks? Kittle's last, Kittle's connection with Purdy has been amazing, made him an all pro Deebo was there.

McCaffrey was there towards the, you know, the middle of the season. But Kittle on this offense was kind of I want to use the word nonexistent, even though I just did, certainly wasn't as front and center. Purdy has found Kittle. That's no question about it. Purdy's numbers, Kittle's numbers with Purdy doesn't compare to what we saw for the first 10 weeks of the season.

What do you have, like 10 touchdowns? I was almost going to say something. You got to give credit.

Maybe it's Kittle like, I was almost going to say this Rich, it's kind of like a little overrated. No. And then Purdy came in. Oh, is that what you're saying?

Yeah, and I was like, oh, okay, no, no, no, that Kittle is Kittle. Yeah. He wasn't doing anything. Those other guys weren't getting him the ball. Not like Purdy, but then again, Rich, the tight ends, a young quarterback's best friend. Correct. So usually the young quarterback will find the tight end first, but it's not like Deebo's disappeared and McCaffrey disappeared on anybody else. Ayuk too.

That's a good team, man. That's why I would choose Purdy as my guy. Sorry, Garret.

Yeah, prisoner of the moment. Okay. Well, you put that up as a poll question there. Who's rookie of the year?

Sure. Put that up there. My top five coach of the year candidates from the five finalists that were named.

That's coming up. Albert Breer in hour number three. When we return, Matthew Hasselbeck of the worldwide leader in sports. Chris Brockman, a lost Hasselbeck. Chris Hasselbeck. That's next. Your phone calls as well, 844-204-RICH being the number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. We're still here on Roku.

Still here on Roku, folks. And plus I want Purdy to win, so Coop is right. Squad goals. He was the first to say it.

I hadn't heard it anywhere else. I mean, it is like an 11-year-old to completely- Was that after one game? Yeah, I told you. He finished well against the Dolphins, then he beat the Bucks. And they looked really good doing it. As you remember, they dismantled Tampa, and it's just like, okay, can Purdy do it? That's when he did it.

And I think Brockman's pushing back. He doesn't want Coop to be right, because deep down, he doesn't want to be equated to an 11-year-old with an overreaction Monday ideas. They are like adolescent ideas. Yeah, I would say people would argue most of my overreactions are like an 11-year-old. Yeah, right.

Yeah, which is fine. It was like an overreaction Monday topic. It was great.

I loved it. If overreaction Sunday, do you get your ideas trying to make sure that your little boy gets to sleep? Because that's where I come up with my ideas for that last segment. No, I come up with them after he goes to sleep. Yeah.

Well, usually a lot of my ideas come while I'm singing Ants Go Marching. There you go. Very good. I get to like seven. I'm trying to rhyme stuff with seven.

It doesn't really work out too well. Right. And you accidentally put on Sam Jackson reading the Go to F to Sleep book? No, we have the Die Hard book.

Okay. Because they made that into like a children's Christmas book. Oh, did they really? Oh, is that right?

But then I have to skip a few of the pages, like when Tagaghi, spoiler alert. Oh, gosh. You know what I mean? Got it.

That I have a machine gun, ho, ho, ho. Exactly. Okay, very good. For over 40 years, Jim Ross has been the voice of wrestling. Nobody has stories like Jim Ross, and he shares his tales with cohost Conrad Thompson on Grilling JR. The best Nick man was the top heel in the Attitude Era. It was a fresh character. It was new. It was material that we had not seen or heard to that date, and we could have created a bigger or better heel.

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.