REShow: Jonathan Von Tobel - Hour 2 (7-5-2023)

Taste some of this. This OMG is the Rich Eisen Show. No other way to put it. With guest host Brian Weber.

Oh my gosh. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm not talking to you. I talk to anybody out there. Haters. Rich Eisen. I talk to the haters right now.

And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Moving into another hour of the program. Great to have you with us on a surprisingly busy Wednesday. As a veteran working this holiday week, sometimes we're doing sleight of hands. Sometimes we are trying to take what looks like a small nugget of news and build it into something more substantial.

Not the case today. So we're going to move quickly and jump right back in with more NBA talk coming up. 20 minutes from now, we'll bring in our first guest. Say hello to Jonathan von Tobel, Senior NBA Analyst and Host for V-Sin. As I'm about to talk Celtics and Lakers here, I'm going to give you a slight Damian Lillard break. We'll get the view from Vegas in addition to the big picture analysis. After all these moves, have the odds changed at all? Shouldn't Denver still be the team to beat, knowing that the Nuggets lost two key rotational players in Jeff Green and Bruce Brown.

Brown, if you watched any of the NBA playoffs, played significant minutes for Denver. That's coming up in 20 minutes, 40 minutes from now, because I want it to be appointment audio. However you are consuming this hopefully fine program. Back to the NFL, you can avoid Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, which is a good thing for the NFL. I'm sorry Packer Nation, at some point you're gonna have to get over it and I realize it just feels surreal and probably stings more that you lost another Hall of Fame quarterback to the Jets of all teams. Although a different dynamic here of course and the Jets are getting a much better quarterback in Aaron Rodgers at this stage of his career than a pervy, creepy, washed Brett Favre when he landed in New York. So sometimes we become prisoner of the coverage and I'm guilty of that as well as someone who consumes a lot of sports media. It's all Jets all the time. But does it mean that we have to divorce ourselves from thinking critically?

Is the AFC East really the most talented and deepest division in all of football? That is coming up. As we head back to the NBA and you can be a part of this show, 844-204-7424. Twitter's been interesting quote unquote so far. Anybody who takes the time to chime in I appreciate. Don't know why you have to be less than kind but such is life on social media. B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. I am trying to not make this all Damian Lillard all the time audio. Especially because I'm back with you tomorrow and Friday and because we're not going to have clarity it seems beyond that. So when Rich comes back from vacation he's going to be talking about this very same topic for a while. So theoretically the reason I am here to try to keep the integrity of the brand that Mr. Eisen has worked so hard to establish going is I can think of different avenues to take. And now I'm taking you to the Lakers. Now I'm always going to focus on important franchises, right? Have you heard me mention the Atlanta Hawks once even though the goal is to be comprehensive? But I don't want to be just following the crowd down the same road with too much monotony. So I've not talked much about the Lakers by design.

But since it's our third day together this week and I've had a chance to process thoughts more completely and I thought there might be another move or two. Everything that's been going on since the flurry of activity going back to Friday started with the wave of big developments and now things are trickling a little more slowly and less importantly. So I'm not getting into the deals on the margins but I wanted to give plenty of time just to make sure we had a firm handle on where things are knowing that the Damian Lillard trade whenever it gets done will change everything in terms of a macro perspective of the handful of teams that actually have a chance to win an NBA title. The Lakers belong on that list. Just go back to last year when they made it to the Western Conference Finals. So here's what I think is out there and you may be catching this on your local show or whatever platform that you go to to get your NBA analysis.

The Lakers did well in free agency. I'll go through the moves in a moment. You're probably aware of the general theme and I love this phrase but I'm trying to be hip. 53 and hanging up by my fingernails even though I date young people trying to go through this peter pan complex. I'm Brian Weber bearing my soul in for rich eyes in 844-204-7424.

Hit me up on twitter bw weber weber with two b's. I'll give you a piece of personal advice. 53 single never been married no kids. I married my job.

How did that work out? I am what's called a flight risk. Many relationships have ended because people go wait a minute so you work how many days and you don't even have a pet or a household plant.

If you date somebody younger I'm not saying ridiculous but even say 15 years younger because unfortunately everybody's younger than me at this stage of my life. The real challenge comes down to music. I'm a talk show host. Theoretically I could talk about anything. I often have but since I don't stay that current on music I realized and there's probably a shine through on this program every reference I make is dated by I don't know at least a decade so I've gotten good at smiling and nodding and no longer asking who is this when the music selection is taken over by the latest paramour. So for the folks out there who want to date younger remember do not put yourself in a situation where your bluff can be called. It's like what's the old line at law school never pose a question you don't know the answer avoid the topic of music unless you can just play the hits and go to Taylor Swift.

Beyond that I know I'm not doing myself any favors. Quick sidebar now back to the Lakers. I'm thinking of all the superstars who show up courtside at Laker games even when they put the graphic on tv I don't know who half these people are and some of it comes down to the social media clout universe and influencers but eventually when they say Grammy award-winning recording artist and I've been listening to the radio back when Casey Kasem was a god in this space that is the tell that's how you're going to be exposed. The Lakers have done well they were in many ways a year ahead of schedule by making that unlikely run to the western conference finals although I think they were exposed in the sweep and I was in for rich three days in May and I talked about both conference finals at length. I'm not going to regurgitate the whole analysis but I'm aware the Lakers arguably should have won two of those games so at a minimum it should have gone six just think about game one on the road in Denver could have stolen home court advantage. Storm back down 21 LeBron gets a good look at a three and he missed it because he missed a lot of threes in that series as well but I'm not bashing what the Lakers did. Rob Palenka takes a lot of heat a lot of people think he only got that job because of his relationship with the late Kobe Bryant because he was his longtime agent. Well Palenka justified his position and showed that he's a creative basketball mind not only by finally conceding the Russell Westbrook experiment was a disaster being willing to endure whatever pushback he got from the shadow GM and LeBron James and we've seen it throughout his career wherever he goes undeniably LeBron is a better player well that's a hot take right the all-time leading scorer in the history of basketball than he is a GM. LeBron the personnel executive has not done LeBron the player many favors. Palenka showed his independence dumped Russ and made a series of moves that didn't feel like they were going to add up to much but everything changed on the court so to run it back that was the phrase I was groping for because I'm trying to stay relevant any way I can for the younger demographic on and off the air to run it back makes sense but I don't understand all of the raving I have heard about the Lakers free agency because I'm taking it move by move so yes to keep Austin Reeves makes a ton of sense and they didn't even have to pay 80 90 million and I'm never going to be the host who goes crazy I think it's just a radio gimmick and reads you a bunch of marginal names and then scream about how much they're getting paid although what Houston is doing has made no sense to me and we'll get into that when we check in with Jonathan von Tobel senior NBA analyst for Vison coming up in 10 minutes but the takeaway is the money has to be given to somebody and Houston thank you very much fell apart in part because they made a serious run at one banana and be because of they wanted loads of cap space if in fact they fell short of the ping-pong balls drifting their way so Houston had to give the money to somebody sure they overpaid for Fred van Vliet but Fred van Vliet is not going to give the money to Vison because Fred van Vliet is a adequate steady player if you just say from a big picture standpoint oh my goodness he's getting 130 mil for three years yes that seems out of whack but that's the NBA now I could yell about Dylan Brooks getting 80 million for four years but I don't want to contradict myself within 90 seconds Lakers able to keep that core intact nobody won them out of college Lakers believed in them and he was their third best player in the postseason how about Hajj Amuro another player bounced around hoops fit his role perfectly for the Lakers I am far less enamored with DeAngelo Russell than many people are especially because I watched those games in the Western Conference Finals and it got so bad because he couldn't guard anybody nor make a shot that ultimately he wasn't even allowed to get on the floor for significant minutes and they finally conceded internally we got to get more playing time for Dennis Schroeder the outcome in the series didn't change but at least the game flow was more magical because Russell was abysmal I understand they got him back relatively cheap I don't know how much that works moving forward with the knowledge they picked up Gabe Vincent okay and Gabe is another nice story the Lakers feel like they are suddenly the lousy gym from dodgeball just put aside LeBron and AD for a second go through this thought exercise average Joes right who's their coach Vince Vaughn they got a lot of dudes that nobody else wanted DeAngelo Russell having to come full circle back to the Lakers after he did not live up to the hype of being number two overall pick reinvents himself leaves becomes an all-star comes back although I think we saw much more the real Russell as I was talking about when he was exposed in the Western Conference Finals and the loss of Schroeder is a key development now you could argue Gabe Vincent is the same player I don't buy it and Gabe Vincent back to the notion that the scrappy Lakers have compiled a roster of overachievers gave another terrific basketball journey undrafted from UC Santa Barbara glad he's back in Southern California where he played his college hoops Gabe Vincent had some nice moments that were critically important for Miami in the postseason but he is just a guy still I'm not bashing the move I just don't find it as enthralling as other NBA analyst who sum it up this way and you throw in prince and reddish the Lakers did fine but I keep hearing they won free agency not only because of the collection of talent I just detailed they're going to be a year better I understand that mindset yes what made the Lakers transformation all the more impressive was how quickly it occurred they played the second best defense in the entire NBA after the trade deadline and this was a team that was the seven seed that found their way into the Eastern Conference Finals now that's going to be overshadowed because you had an eight seed in the east of Miami go all the way to the NBA Finals also telling us that the regular season has become largely meaningless in the NBA and the Lakers were totally different team than the one that started what two and twelve post trade deadline it was like a different franchise but the Lakers also have to accept these facts LeBron James is a year older heading in the next season he's become more injury prone after being a cyborg for the majority of his career that's only presumably going to be even more of a challenge unfortunately even LeBron can't cheat time and Anthony Davis not only goes through the even and odd thing as you an odd thing as you were thinking about his progression in the playoffs rarely was it back to back stellar performances so game one terrific game two disappeared game three he's back game four he's gone again in addition to that unfortunately Anthony Davis is made of glass and that's not going to change in fact that's only going to get worse one would think as he gets older because of all of the mileage and because of the to use an hmo term pre-existing conditions so the Lakers did fine they did well I think because they didn't botch this people were surprised after so many horrific moves in free agency in the past this is a real contrast to let's bring in Russ and hope for the best they had a plan they had a strategy and it worked out but tangibly what does it mean Denver's still the best team in my view in the entire NBA and certainly in the west Phoenix moves to the two slot with the addition of Bradley Beal and I think Frank Vogel is going to coach up DeAndre Ayton because of his past success with big men who do you have a number three I'd go Warriors and remember if you're a Memphis fan you're not going to have John Marant for 25 games he kept the rest of the nucleus intact but and I understand Memphis has had a great deal of success without Ja because of his injuries in the past and now because suspensions have become more prevalent but your best player and one of the 15 best players in the league is going to miss a quarter of the regular season that's going to exact the price so Memphis clearly drops a few runs I'd go Warriors three but I'm not even that sold on the Warriors all they did was follow the Lakers run it back mantra and add Chris Paul who's 117 years old never healthy in the postseason and ball dominant Draymond Green knocked out Jordan Poole in October Lakers then gave the Warriors a beating in their second round playoff matchup in which Jordan Poole was MIA and the greatest takeaway the Warriors had from that entire circle of the season started with a punch from Draymond to the grill of Jordan Poole it ended with a knockout delivered by the Lakers to Golden State and the Warriors decide yep we want to ride with Draymond Draymond won he got a hundred million bucks and the guy he beat up was traded to Washington which is the end of the world as we know it in the NBA Warriors were so desperate to make that move they were willing to take CP3 in exchange and I'm not discounting Steph and hopefully a healthier Klay Thompson and their championship equity but I don't see how the Warriors got tangibly better so I have the Warriors three then I have the Lakers four so I guess just because the Lakers didn't screw it up we have to give them some credit but I'm not raving and drooling over their free agency moves like some other folks are let's expand the conversation coming up I will ask our first guest Jonathan Vontable senior NBA analyst and host for Vison what he makes of the Lakers moves don't be surprised because Jonathan does this for a living that he might have a differing view than the one that I just laid out plus since he has the view from Vegas after Damian Lillard winds up let's say in Miami what's going to change in the balance of power overall is Denver still going to be the team to beat as the reigning champs a lot more to get to hang with us I appreciate the company on a Wednesday hit me up on twitter bw weber weber with two b's i'm brian weber in for rich ozzin this is the rich ozzin show are you currently enjoying the show on the stitcher app then you need to know stitcher is going away on august 29th yep going away as in kaput gone dead rest in peace stitcher and thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community so switch to another podcast app and follow this show there apple spotify or wherever you listen welcome back to the rich eisen show radio network i'm brian weber and i'm sitting at the rich eisen show desk furnished by granger with supplies and solutions for every industry granger has the right product for you call click ranger.com or just stop by phone number is 844-204-7424 conversation never stops on twitter that is bw weber weber with two b's let's say hello to our first guest today looking forward to talking mba with jonathan vontobel he's vson senior hoops analyst and a host for the network jonathan thanks for taking the time how are you i'm good i'm good hope your holiday was good it's an exciting time it's a busy basketball summer for sure and that's why i wanted to connect with you so i was working yesterday and i spent the better part of three hours talking about dalian lillard trade scenarios because that's what we do this time of the year ultimately do you think he lands in miami and how long do you think the process is going to take the play out to get us to that outcome i i think i would say that miami is the heavy favorite to do it the betty markets have them as the heavy favorite to land dami lillard for a reason um look they don't have the best package available but lillard is doing everything possible including using us some outside sources to pressure the important trailblazers into making this happen we're seeing these weird reports that hey look players in the nba are watching this scenario to see if the trailblazers are going to do right by dane so he's clearly doing everything possible to pressure them to doing this and all the information out there says that that's probably going to be the case so i think that's going to ultimately happen as far as how long it takes i think that's the interesting part because you i talked to a couple of people out in portland over the last couple of days and it does seem that portland is willing to kind of sit back and wait why would they have to rush you know we have a lot of time until training camp begins they want to see if there's going to be the best thing possible out there there are teams that are competing and buying to go and land damian lillard and teams with some assets so why not try to see if you can get the most out of what's going to be a pretty weak package overall so i think it's going to take a little bit longer we'll probably get through the vegas summer league you know starting up here on friday that's like the nba meet and greet out here in vegas that's going to have a lot of information coming out of it i'm willing to bet that we get through that with no news and maybe it's going to be a little bit into maybe closer to august by the time we get a resolution here there's no need to rush to get this thing done talking to nba with jonathan von tobol check out his great work for visa and you said it well and since i had a lot of time yesterday to go through all of these different ways that this thing could play out i said probably the only soft deadline would be the start of training camps in october if they want to slow play it because you don't want players showing up being posed the question about dean since you took us to the vegas perspective what are the odds tell us about the other potential landing spots if miami's the clear favorite who's number two so shockingly enough the uh it's if you look at markets that are up vegas actually doesn't allow your nevada doesn't allow sportsbooks out here in las vegas to hang up these props specifically but if you look at markets outside you know colorado new jersey all those other places um the boston celtics are the second interesting to land damian love yeah i'm with you you know i if you read all the information out there it's down to two teams and teams like or at least there's two front runners it would be miami and it would be philadelphia with the third team potentially being utah to go and land him there's not like a lot of solid intel that ties boston into this thing for damian lillard so i'm surprised by that in the fact that they are the second choice and then after that you get to some of the longer shots where you get down to about philadelphia it's about 10 to 1 and the jazz or 20 to 1 and that's what i find somewhat surprising right like this is something that's informationally based and all the information out there would say philly miami and utah not in that order are the teams really pushing for damion lillard and yet some of these odd markets have boston as the team that is second in the running to go and get them i'm glad you answered it that way with the celtics because i was intending on asking you what do you make of the fact and there's still plenty of time but you had the flurry of moves once we got to the start of unofficial free agency that jaylen brown still has not signed his supermax deal with the celtics yet yeah i i'm kind of surprised by it overall i mean i i think that ultimately this thing does get worked out uh i mean like i think i read a report a day ago that they're actually still working out some of the finer details uh this was i think agen roszkowski that reported that i don't know excuse me his wind horse yeah and windows also pointed out once he signs that deal he can't be traded for a year yes and i don't think that's going to happen look i i think there was a lot being made after the celtics got you know eliminated the way that they did about hey man we got to blow this thing up you got to get rid of jaylen brownie you know didn't very play very well but there is something to be said of sticking together and sticking through something right i mean look at the team like the denver nuggets who for the last couple of years fought through a lot of adversity injuries were there they had an elimination in the bubble against los angeles lakers stayed the course added pieces and sure enough finally got to the promise land and it looked like a team that set up for a really long time you know this is a team that's made it to the eastern conference finals what three of the last four years and been to the nba finals there were minutes away from a 3-1 lead over the golden state warriors just almost two years ago so i think ultimately when you're looking at boston they think it makes sense to stick this thing together and i think there's just some teams being crossed and eyes being dotted here with jaylen brown i think he's going to be there for a minute and it's intriguing because now you get kristos presented there you get a true post-up threat they didn't really have that over the last couple of years changes the offense i kind of like what they're doing here i think he'll ultimately sign it we'll see this thing get run back it's a very talented team so regardless of what's happened the last couple of years i'm brian weber infrared jasmine we're talking hoops with jonathan vontobel of v-sin prior to you joining us i went through the lakers collection of moves and i'm based here in southern california so i've watched the lakers like everybody else but i also get the pregame the postgame so if i know any team i know the lakers and john i'm not trying to be contrarian i understand why when we're looking at winners and losers and report cards while most nba analysts are giving the lakers high marks plus there's a notion of continuity this team will be better having the full season coming up to play together based on what they did last year post trade deadline making it to western conference finals but tangibly how much better do you think the lakers are because if i'm just going through the teams in the west i'm still riding with the rainy champs in denver phoenix is significantly better with the addition of bradley beal i think the warriors this year with the loss of jordan pool are going to be better because they're going to be more cohesive i still think the lakers are the fourth best team in the west i i agree i think this is one of those scenarios right we live in a binary world where it's got to be like yes or no right or wrong a winner or loser but i think it's one of those things where both can be true i think they can be a winner and free agency while ultimately still being i think clearly fourth or worse in the in the western conference when you look at the way the teams around them improve the gap that they have to make up against the team that swept them right in the denver nuggets and others around but i also think in terms of this free agency class and how weak it was and what they were going to be able to do ultimately i think they did as well as they possibly could you know when you go and get gabe benson to add to your point guard deputy still retain russell you're going to get your guy at austin reese back when you're adding on the gripper guys that could help you out jackson hayes is a really smart veteran the minimum type of guy torian prince i think all those pieces work but ultimately to your point are those pieces that are going to push you through the ceiling that is the denver nuggets and maybe others around you memphis who i think is going to be very very good the phoenix sons you know i have my reservations about them but still the star power there and i would agree ultimately that they might be better in the regular season right this is this should be a team that should not be in a play-in mix like they were last year however in terms of winning an nba finals how much better is their probability they're about like 12 to 1 to win an nba finals right now i would argue that i don't think they should be that high up on the board or people should be that confident in their chances of winning an nba finals or even a western conference jonathan vontobo of ecit is our guest here on the rich eisen show jonathan solid year for the nicks won their first playoff series in a decade last year they finally got somebody who wanted to come back to new york tri-state area jalen brunson julius randall is a adequate complementary player are you surprised the nicks haven't done more to try to build that roster and extend the success they had this year yeah i'm a little surprised but i also think that new york maybe is playing the smart game here which is it this is there's everything is connected right and so when you look at what's going on in philadelphia for example where james hardin is asking out and could be on his way out uh they are fighting to potentially go and get damia liller but when the smoke clears philly could be sitting there with no damian lillard and no james hardin and wondering all right like what are we going to do here to keep joel and beat happy and if that's ultimately the case what if all of a sudden joel and beat becomes the next guy to want his way out because the nicks are one of those top teams that have been named to be really just kind of lurking and waiting to see what's going to happen with joel and beat and if that's going to be the case and there are indications that they have a pretty good shot if that door opens to get through it in terms of landing joel and beat why wouldn't you just kind of wait it out and see because i think ultimately when you're looking at free agency as a whole this time right when when brooke lopez and fred van vliet are like the two free agents that everybody's waiting to see dominos fall it's not really a class that's going to help you push through in the eastern conference so why not ultimately kind of run it back ship off some pieces like adobe topping for some brass capital and see if maybe that big fish is going to be able to land in your lap they were sniffing around hardin they're waiting for joel and beat and i think they're kind of doing this right like you've got a good young core that you can ship off and maybe get a good superstar to pair with bronson i think they're doing it right and kind of sitting back and waiting to see how the elite shakes out because they could ultimately be the winners if everything gets crazy and we've seen over the last couple years it'd get pretty crazy when it comes to star movement finally since you mentioned houston and i just have a morbid curiosity as to what's going on there and i'm not bashing fred van vliet good player i liked him all the way back in college and i also understand how it works you got to give the money to somebody but when i'm looking at these moves van vliet jeff green dylan brooks what is houston doing i think they're trying to accelerate the timeline a little bit right like all indications were that they were going to be in on hardin but they kind of you know they softened there uh they really pushed for brooke lopez in fact some indications where that lopez promised him he would come and ultimately decided to stay with milwaukee so clearly they're clearly trying to accelerate the timeline and it does make some sense given imi is over there and he's probably a guy that wants to deal with a little bit more veterans as opposed to young guys but i kind of agree with you in that like i just don't know why you would want to accelerate it too much when you have a good young core of players you have jailing green you just drafted emon thompson uh you do have cam whitmore who fell to you at the back end of the first round you have alfred shangoon like there's a lot of good pieces on this roster that in the next few years could grow to be something great i think some of it is culture as well there are a lot of reports over the last couple of years the culture there was really really bad you know not a lot of respect for uh head coaches and executives and maybe this is just about a culture change what you do is you bring in a guy like a fred van bleet to really make sure everything goes down the path that it should but ultimately i agree with you in terms of team building it's not something that i would want to do because there you run a risk of maybe uh dampening the development of some of these young guys who should have the ball in their hands as opposed to fred van bleet or dylan brooks jonathan i enjoy your work on v-sin i was looking forward to the conversation greatly appreciate you taking the time thanks so much for the insights and hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday week thank you very much you too and i appreciate you having me on my pleasure good stuff from jonathan vaud tobel as you heard he's all over the mba senior hoops analyst and a host v-sin does a great job i think for casual fans and hardcore gamblers they run the gamut because jonathan if i teed him up and i'm not much of a sports investor i'm not anti-gambling and i'm certain when the phone rings you will hear from me on a different platform at some later date saying hi everybody here's my lock of the week but it was interesting to hear boston right there amongst the teams with the best odds understanding a big gap from miami to the other collection of teams but boston still in the mix potentially as a landing spot for damian lord and jonathan took us around the league quickly and with strong opinions which is always the goal i'm brian weber in for rich eisen you got thoughts on what you just heard eight four four two oh four seven four two four the number to call hit me up on twitter bw weber weber with two b's more mba in the final hour of the program one hour from now we'll say hello to our second and final guest talking nfl whichever sickema a pro football focus coming up we'll head back to the nfl aaron rogers has joined the jets you might have heard certainly making the afce the sexiest division in football but is it the deepest and most talented division we'll tackle that coming up i'm brian weber in for rich this is the rich eisen show brian weber back with you getting closer to the final hour of the program still plenty of time for you to get involved eight four four two oh four seven four two four is the phone number your tweets are being processed i read them all i don't respond to all of them but i appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts at bw weber weber with two b's just over 15 minutes away from the final hour of the program we'll get back to the baseball more thoughts on the transcendent talent that is shohei otani special day for the biggest star in all of baseball turning 29 years old today in the midst of more adversity for his current club the angels we'll talk about the implications of mike trout being put on the injured list yesterday after suffering the broken bone in his hand fouling off a pitch the night before in san diego with no trout for the foreseeable future timeline for his comeback would be four to eight weeks what's the likelihood if the angels continue to scuffle that otani will be dealt prior to the trade deadline coming up august 1st we'll get there in addition to an nfl conversation just under an hour from now when we bring in trevor sickema a pro football focus let's get back to the nfl it has been hard to miss the avalanche of attention being connected to the new york jets and i realize who i'm filling in for it's not hard to remember big sign in front of me rich eisen show and i've been following rich's career going back to when he worked in redding california i was a local sportscaster in san francisco and then obviously everything changed for rich when he got the dream job at espn and came west in 2003 for the launch of nfl network as their first on-air contributor listen to the show every day i watched the phenomenal simulcast the emmy award nominated program on roku channel so i know what the jets mean to rich i would be a bigger fool than i normally am if i bashed gang green i like working here so it's all about self-preservation i'm not going to dig my own ditch i would also be an idiot if i took shots of the jets because we know how talented the roster is we know how good the team played despite having some of the most abysmal play we've ever seen at the quarterback position quite literally if they had anybody other than zack wilson last year before he got benched and moving all the way down the line mike white and the rest of the crew the fact that the jets even had a degree of relevancy reflects just how good that defense is with sauce gardner and the rest just how good the receiving corps is gara wilson think about the jets having the luxury of both now the reigning offensive and defensive rookie of the year a coach who's wildly respected primarily for what he does on defense but certainly a tremendous motivator in robert salla you plug in a first ballot hall of fame quarterback there's a lot to like about the jets nothing you have not heard before but because i'm trying to also utilize variety and not just hammer the same themes and teams over and over again the jets super bowl outlook isn't that interesting to me right now we're still in early july after all i want to take a step back and think about that entire division because what i keep hearing and i understand having spent a lifetime doing more tv than radio but about 60 40 in that split you work long enough you get to do just about everything what's the old adage 90 of success is just showing up kids write that down another deep thought as i'm brian weber philosopher king in for rich eisen wednesday edition of the program the reason talking head shows especially this week are now doing it's our football tour days on the day after the 4th of july is they're reluctant to talk baseball because they either don't track it or there's no easy template to go back and forth like the nfl so i'll flip it around and i'm seeing constantly the notion that without question the afc east is the deepest the best division in all of football well just parse that sentence yeah i i think there's a major question about that statement because if you're going to be comprehensive if you're going top to bottom that includes the bottom so i'm not in any way undermining the bills i think there are fair questions though about buffalo because if you're just looking at overall roster talent clearly they're right there with philadelphia and kansas city and cincinnati and san francisco separation between those teams and everybody else in the league i think that's a fair statement but the bills didn't handle the bird of expectations last year as the overwhelming favorite to win the super bowl they still have never recovered it would seem if you're just looking at results in the wake of those dreaded 13 seconds on the road in kansas city and that playoff game for the ages and last year it was right in front of them hosting the bangles in western new york and buffalo had a lifeless performance i still don't know why unless you think somehow the stefan digs dynamic reflects internal dissension on the roster i don't know what's going on with the bills but it's legitimate to ask is this team still ascending or have they plateaued a bit because when you have the opportunity to host a playoff game in buffalo isn't that the very summation of home field advantage frigid conditions bills mafia out of their mind and you look that emotionally flat something was amiss and maybe it was all a byproduct of the damar hamlin situation that would be understandable and still miraculous that the more has been practicing with the team after all that we saw on that monday night we'll never forget in cincinnati so i'm just pointing out there are logical questions to be posed about the bills but certainly on that short list of teams that can win it all miami made the playoffs a year ago they gave buffalo a lot of pushback in that playoff game down to what a nine-string quarterback after all the injuries what if miami gets dalvin cook they'll take another step forward amongst the teams that have a real possibility of winning it all jets belong in the super bowl conversation my problem with an analysis that says the afce says the best division in the nfl comes down to the last place team the patriots won eight games last year vegas says the projection is eight games again this year tell me other than the addition of bill o'brien which i'm not overlooking because it was an absolute football crime it was coaching malpractice to have matt patricia and joe judge as the offensive quote-unquote brains trust try to coach up mac jones now we're still waiting to see where d'andre hopkins goes if you're telling me hopkins winds up in new england okay i'll revise my opinion but the patriots are proving continuously they're just another franchise since tom brady left and that roster has glaring holes on it so unless hopkins is going to put his name on the bottom line of a contract that is offered to him by the patriots i just can't come up with the conclusion that the afce is the best division in football because their worst team is bad so if i have to give you the takeaway who's better i'm going to go with the afc north and i could just do it quickly all right cincinnati somehow avoiding the super bowl hangover the history says the team that loses the super bowl implodes the following year cincinnati i'll have to go through all of the reasons why they're such a compelling team you get where i'm coming from i'm going to go through all of the reasons why they're such a compelling team you get where i'm coming from baltimore now finally putting the lamar jackson contract debacle behind them finally upgrading the wide out position i don't know what o'dell beckham jr is going to do but it's got to be better than the generic names the ravens have been plugging into the wideout spot for far too long pittsburgh had a winning season last year somehow some way mike tomlin still has never had a losing season an incredible development i'm not putting kenny pickett into the hall of fame but it feels like if you watch the stealers because pickett struggled understandably as a rookie if he just takes a step forward much like the jet thought if the jets get anything better than the abysmal play of zack wilson they're going to be in the super bowl conversation they should get a lot more than that with a rejuvenated aaron rogers if pickett just doesn't wet the bed as much as he did last year stealers will be flirting with a playoff spot and then as much as i find what the sean watson did off the field in houston to be reprehensible if we're just having a football conversation he's still a top 15 quarterback and the browns still have a lot of talent so if you're out and about rest of this holiday week you're looking to chop it up with buttons you can take the lead of any football conversation when the world is zigging you zag don't buy the hype of the afc east ride with the afc north you'll look like a football savant final hour of the program's on the way 8 4 4 2 0 4 7 4 2 4 the number to call we'll get back to the nfl conversation in just another hour from now saying hello to trevor sickema a pro football focus we're talking oh tiny what the angels are going to do with him prior to the deadline to start the last hour of the show i appreciate the company on a wednesday i'm brian weber this is the rich eisen show how wrestling really works and how you get the ratings eric bischoff and conrad thompson explain on 83 weeks collision has been struggling a little bit out of the gate with these ticket sales and a little bit out of the gate this was a major show announced on a major network with what is going on what everybody thought was this huge star cm punk i said he was going to be the biggest financial flop in wrestling history and i think i'm being proven right every minute of the day 83 weeks on youtube or wherever you listen you