REShow: Hour 1 (7-6-2023)

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. The haters. Rich Eisen.

I talk to the haters right now. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. Always outstanding to be guest hosting for Rich. It's a jam-packed Thursday that suddenly got a bit more surreal thanks to a story that dropped on TMZ less than an hour ago.

I've got all the details, but I'm not going to let something salacious on a big word Thursday hijack the program, even though it is quirky and interesting. Plus, we've got a ton of content already mapped out to get to. The countdown to the start of NFL training camps underway, 20 days from now, all 32 teams will be on a practice field.

Meaning, we're that much closer to the start of the regular season. Coming up in the final hour of the program, 2.20 Eastern Time. We'll take you across the NFL with Brad Spielberger from Pro Football Focus. One of merely two guests today because I'm just that fascinating.

That's the standard blueprint whenever I'm lucky enough to be in the chair. Coming up next hour, 1.20 Eastern Time. We'll focus on baseball in addition to what I'm going to tackle in 20 minutes.

We will round the bases with Gabe Lux of USA Today. Coming up in this first hour of the program. Going to address what's going on with the Angels.

More adversity for the Halos to deal with. They got swept by the Padres yesterday. Mike Trout having hand surgery.

Now officially at 4-8 weeks. What does that mean for Shohei Ohtani's future with the Angels as we get closer to the trade deadline coming up at the end of the month. Plus, we have an Aaron Judge update. Home run derby. The field is set. Do you still even care about what's coming up?

Monday in Seattle. So we're going to talk baseball in an entertaining fashion. And we're going to jump right in with an NBA monologue and a new way of looking at a story that I get the general sense many of you are tired of hearing about. That's my job to come up with a different slant. What happens if Miami doesn't get Damian Lillard?

What happens to the overall balance of power not only in the East but across the NBA? That's coming up. The goal is to be interactive.

844-204-7424. You can find me on Twitter. B.W. Weber.

Weber with two B's. And let me be the only person in the media universe not to give the announcement that I'm making the move to Threads. I can barely handle the old Twitter machine.

I'm on Instagram in a very small presence. I'm 53. My life is over. I miss my Blackberry. I just don't have the interest nor the energy to download another app. I know it's really challenging to hit that button like I just did to start the official countdown to the start of NFL training camps.

I'm just not interested in migrating to a new platform. Plus, I'm not going to endorse everything about Twitter especially based on new ownership. Twitter just handed me a piece of content gold.

So, 10 minutes ago as I was scanning through the tweet deck, I don't follow TMZ but I saw three people retweet this and hit me up on Twitter. B.W. Weber.

Weber with two B's. I had to click on it. I'm going to read you the headline because sometimes the headline is gold in and of itself. TMZ.

Britney Spears. Smacked in face by San Antonio Spurs security...Wanted pic with Victor Wambunyana. Now, I was going to get to Victor Wambunyana tomorrow and hopefully by now. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich. Hop aboard at 844-204-7424. Slide in.

Not to my DMs but my Twitter account. B.W. Weber.

Weber with two B's. Hopefully, however you view our time together, it's clear I do have a plan. Work the plan. The plan will work for you. I map out each segment. I don't read off a script because that would take 19 hours and I can't afford writers.

But I have a goal in mind. I don't come in, find an old copy of the USA Today, which is still a thing I think, and read you box scores. I was waiting to get to Victor Wambunyana tomorrow for two reasons. I'm trying to dial us down on the Damian Lillard analysis because I don't think anything's going to change for the rest of the week.

I've been hitting it hard, but at some point the audience gets full. If there's any new developments, I'll pass it along instantaneously. Secondly, the reason why Wembley and Britney Spears had their worlds collide, allegedly according to TMZ last night, is the French sensation has arrived in Vegas. He'll make his summer league debut tomorrow night. So I thought it'd be more Jermaine, Tito, and Randy as we go through the entire Jackson 5. I thought it'd be more timely to talk Wembley tomorrow. I did not anticipate clicking on Twitter to get that headline. So here are the details I will use reportedly, allegedly, because I'm the fill-in host and I do not want to destroy the brand equity that Rich has worked so hard to accumulate. According to TMZ, and this is factual in terms of the setup, we know because pictures were taken at an upscale restaurant in Las Vegas, Victor Wambunyana and members of the Spurs were having dinner.

Because this place is top shelf, as the kids say, because it is a celeb magnet, what do you know? Of all the gin joints in all the world, Britney Spears and her husband also came in after the Spurs party had been seated. Britney came in, that's always going to create a stir, so she's kind enough to engage with her fans. According to this TMZ report, Britney, who happens to be a hoops fan, another reason why we should protect her at all costs, she is a national treasure. I won't do the full YouTube impersonation, but you know where I'm going, leave Britney alone, we don't deserve her. According to this report, Britney wanted to have a picture taken with Wambunyana, went over to the table. The way that things were aligned in terms of seating, Victor's back was in front of Britney, so she did the polite thing, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, and then, according to this report, and you can tell that I'm hedging a lot of disclaimers, according to TMZ, the Spurs director of team security backhanded Britney Spears, knocking her glasses off, and more importantly, Britney fell to the ground. Down goes Britney, down goes Britney.

Turns out, what do you know, the whole thing was a giant misunderstanding. Of course, according to reports, the director of team security was effusive with his apology, went over to Britney's table because he claims he did not know who she was, I can understand that. Pictures on the website show Britney walking into the restaurant wearing sunglasses, as most celebs do, even fill in radio host to Karen Lee.

I'm wearing sunglasses right now, I wear my sunglasses at night, as Corey Hartland told us, occasionally you want to keep the paparazzi at bay so you rock the shades. The fella didn't know, he claims, who Britney was. He was reacting in the moment. Now, let me hit pause there. I can understand wanting to be zealous doing your job. You're the director of team security. And you never know, in a hypothetical sense, what a stranger is going to do. I mean, if you want to think worst case in a sports situation, I spent a lot of time in the tennis space when I'm not here. Think about the horrific tragedy involving Monica Shellis decades ago.

You don't know what someone's intent is, so I can understand why the director of team security reacted. But did you have to backhand this person, irrespective of gender? And then secondly, did you have to backhand a woman?

And now let's take it to the next step. You backhanded, allegedly, Britney Spears. So after all the apologies, and all of the my bad and what a weird misunderstanding and according to the story, trying to put things in context, explaining to Britney, you can understand of all people, the need for good security, the police were asked to get involved. There was a police report with the allegation of battery. And that's just basic law school 101.

If you put your hands on somebody, it's going to lead to potentially a charge of battery. But the latest updated about 20 minutes ago, according to TMZ, even though the police report was filed, and that's always something you do just to make sure you have it documented. As of now, this is not being handled as a criminal matter, because the security fella allegedly has the justification that he was trying to defend when be still, at a minimum, this has the foundation for a massive lawsuit. Britney's gone through some financial challenges. So you go Britney, you get every dollar you can from the San Antonio Spurs. That fella probably doesn't have the deepest pockets.

But when you work for an organization, typically they're on the hook legally. I did not think I'd spend 10 minutes talking about the bizarre confluence of Britney Spears and Victor Wambunyama. But the larger point is, if we can get it back to the sports focus, and I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, the reason I felt like I could take some latitude there comes down to this. Nobody combines sports and entertainment better than Rich, especially when he's got the show cooking with Brockman and TJ and Mike Del Tufo, and he has the biggest names in entertainment and studio. So I know Rich would have discussed this story.

Secondly, it furthers the conversation I was going to have tomorrow, and I'll do it in detail then. And hopefully you'll join me as I wrap up the week with style points. You can also frame this as a welcome to the NBA moment, Victor Wambunyama. Now, if you've been tracking him at all, and I know a lot of you don't pay attention to international hoops, nor anything before someone moves on to the NBA, I get it.

But even casual fans have a sense of the incredible skill set and the equally extraordinary level of hype surrounding Wambunyama. He is a national hero in France, so I'm sure whomever the Britney Spears of France is, and I should know, if I'm thinking pop culture in France, they love Jerry Lewis, comedic genius. Where's Gerard Depardieu when you need him? Wambunyama has hung with celebrities, and this has nothing to do with Victor.

This is a, in my opinion, director of team security grossly overreacting. At a minimum, you could use your hands in a firm and polite way, saying no autographs, and that is celebrity 101. You don't bother people at tables. I'm here in Los Angeles. In fact, I won't name the restaurant in Las Vegas, but I happened to go to the L.A. version last week. I'm not as nerdy as I sound on the radio.

Some of this is an act. And here's a pro tip. If you go to a very upscale restaurant these days, and you want to have a little vino, order Rosé.

It's the only thing that's still reasonably affordable in a world that's gone crazy with inflation. I'm Brian Weber. There's your gastronomical observation on The Rich Eisen Show. But this strikes me as a ridiculous overreaction, beyond the fact it was Britney Spears, allegedly. Now, maybe tomorrow I'm going to read you a whole long disclaimer that I got hooked. But I'm reading it right off of TMZ, which is owned now by a giant media conglomerate.

However you view them, they have accurate sources. And according to this report, there is a police report, meaning that there's a paper trail. But I can understand wanting to do your job, especially to prove to Victor Wambunyana, hey, young fella, you're the face of the franchise. I'm going to make sure you're in good hands.

But what are you doing back-handing anybody, specifically a woman, coming up for a picture? So we have handled that. The larger topic, if I really wanted to thread the needle, would be, can Victor Wambunyana handle the burden of expectations? And we'll get there tomorrow because Draymond Green also handed me some content gold, because Draymond can't stop talking, and we're going to have to listen to him for a long time after his career. You know it's being set up for him to slide right into that TNT studio. So in addition, everything he's doing in the podcast space, he went on Paul George's podcast, was asked about Wembe, here's Draymond speaking, quote, I think people are setting him up for failure with the insane expectations. We'll talk about that tomorrow.

And I'll keep clicking on Twitter to see if there's any new developments. I think the summation, and now I'm just having thoughts of my late father telling me I should have gone to law school. Whatever happens here in the near term, if Brittany or her lawyers, more importantly, because they'll get a piece of the settlement, if she wants to make a case out of this, at a minimum, this is a big check just to go away. Because while we can get into privacy rights and reasonable expectations, clearly, in my view, the director of team security for the Spurs lost his mind and thoroughly overreacted.

So while Brittany has had some financial challenges, if you've watched those documentaries, didn't get a lot of help from her father, she's looking for a payday, she's got the grounds here. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, you can slide in. I will not backhand you verbally, 844-204-742 for the number to call, I'll check the tweets coming up, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. And thank you, TMZ, on behalf of Rich's audience, that sidebar saved us 15 minutes of me meandering through the league talking about other scenarios that will get Damian Lillard to Miami via, I read a report last night, and I know now we're just getting into the wacky what-if scenarios, but I read a report that actually was sourced and made sense that involved five teams. With the end result, of which I think we all know is going to be true, barring the unforeseen, and the longer this plays out, there's always the possibility of another team jumping in, making the overwhelming offer to Portland, and it's clear that Portland's not happy with the negotiating start that began with whatever Pat Riley officially passed along. But since everything leaks in the NBA, I think we know the broad strokes with the headliner being Tyler Herro, who if you care about social media developments, and know I'm not on threads, and should I go on threads, I'm not going to tweet out like 700 people did last night, you can find me over here, you want to find me, find me.

I'm from a generation prior to social media, thankfully, because if you don't have social media clout, you got nothing, so in the old days, folks, you got by on a little thing called talent, and now I'm patting myself on the back having read Britney Spears' copy for 15 minutes. But, we I think now have a general consensus of the early offer from Miami, Tyler Herro, who has scrubbed his social media, taken off any affiliation to the heat, what if he has to go back to Miami, we'll get there in a second, Herro plus Duncan Robinson maybe, and a bunch of picks, and when I mean a bunch, I'm talking about at least four first round selections. That's the cop, that's the president, based on not only the Kevin Durant deal, the most recent star to force his way off a team, Phoenix sending four first round picks to Brooklyn in addition to actual players, well, go back to last year, the Rudy Gobert trade brought a haul of four first round picks as Danny Ainge was masterful in that negotiation. But let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I'm back with you on Labor Day, and that day will be all NFL and college football, but let's say that weekend finally is the consummation of this long Damian Lillard saga, and it's not the heat, for whatever reason. I can make a strong argument about Brooklyn, and Lillard in the past has had positive things about wanting to play in New York said directly from his mouth.

You go to podcasts where people have been throwing hypotheticals his way for a long time, Miami the clear preference for all the understandable reasons, to play alongside Jimmy Butler, you throw in a vastly improved offensive approach from Bam Adebayo in addition to everything he's done defensively throughout his career, and there's your big three, plus heat culture, plus one of the best basketball minds in Eric Spolstra. But what if it's Philadelphia? What if it's the Clippers?

What if it's Boston? And coming up in the next hour of the program, going to follow up on a point I made yesterday, I did more research and gave it more thought, but what are the implications that as of today, on this Thursday, there still has not been a deal signed by Jalen Brown with that supermax out there. The possibility, if every dollar is squeezed out of the contract, five years, $295 million, why has that not been signed yet? We'll get there coming up in an hour, but to wind down this latest installment of the Damian Lillard national nightmare we're all enduring from a content standpoint, what if Miami runs it back? Well, remember, they won't have Gabe Vincent. Lakers overpaid, in my opinion, to replace Dennis Schroeder, who got the bag from Toronto because they had to pay somebody because Fred Van Vliet got Powerball money to go to Houston. Max Strues, good rotation player, he's gone, he wound up in Cleveland, so your big three, minus Vincent, minus Strues, would be Tyler Herro, who certainly would have to be assuaged a bit. Now, he'll show up, and we know what he's meant to the team historically before he broke his hand in the first round against Milwaukee in the playoffs, 20-point scorer, but Jimmy Butler, with another year of postseason mileage accrued, plus Tyler Herro, plus Bam Adebayo, gets you a team that was the eight seed for a reason this year.

And they wouldn't have Gabe Vincent, and they wouldn't have Strues, so you can understand why Miami has to get this done, especially if Lillard were to land somewhere else in the east. We'll talk about this more coming up. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, Britney Spears, plus Wembe, equals content gold, 844-204-7424. And let's again be very clear, Victor had nothing to do with this alleged incident, this is all on the Spurs, director of team security, allegedly, reportedly.

Hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's in 20 minutes, we'll talk NFL. Josh Allen went on a podcast saying all the right things about his relationship with Stephon Diggs. But, did you pay attention to everything Allen said?

Details coming up because there were some important nuggets in that conversation. Coming up, we're talking baseball, we're going to do it in an entertaining fashion, and we'll keep it concise. The legend of Elie De La Cruz grew last night, Cork U is what he said to the Nets, what's going on with Aaron Judge?

When are we going to see the big man for the Yankees come back from that toe injury? Plus, the full field for Monday's home run derby was announced last night, is it anything close to must-see TV? Just getting warmed up on a very busy Thursday, always a delight to be in for Rich, I'm Brian Weber, this is the Rich Eisen Show. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, Brian Weber with you, and I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.

Call, clickrainger.com, or just stop by. 844-204-7424 is our phone number. In all candor, while I've read the number like a carnival barker, and I do want to hear from you, Twitter's your best bet if you want to chime in. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, I super-sized the monologue, because I wandered into the Britney Spears, Victor Wimberjana, and Spurs' security story, so we'll have a little more brevity here, which is probably better, because I mentioned baseball, and I know a lot of you go, no! So, we're going to spoon-feed it to you, I promise, the goal is to be entertaining, we'll keep it concise, and then less than 15 minutes from now, we'll make the move to the NFL, three weeks away from the start of NFL training camps, 20 days to be precise, Josh Allen had some very intriguing comments about Staphon Diggs, when he was, talking about Allen, pronouns matter, a guest on a podcast, and as he tried to add clarity, leading up to what happened to Diggs when he left the mandatory minicamp and the fallout from them, Allen said some revealing things about his head coach, Sean McDermott, how much pressure is Sean under, even though he just got a contract extension, what a coincidence, you have the Diggs kerfuffle on a big word Thursday, McDermott and GM Brandon Bean get extensions, what does it all mean?

We'll get there coming up in less than 15 minutes. Flipping around last night, I was watching a lot of baseball, and yeah, I'm just that easy a mark, all it took was a fundamental change in the approach to the grand old game, and it's amazing now, it took this long, but we know how resistant the change baseball has been, the pitch clock has changed everything, I can watch a baseball game knowing that even if it is 11-9, we're going to have 2 hours and 30 minutes of entertainment, and I'm not locked in to 4 hours, with the knowledge that I'm not being held hostage, it's not work release, I have a remote control, but if I'm watching, I get dialed in, and then I start thinking about talk show topics, and contenders and pretenders, that's just how my mind works, but I was flipping around last night, and landed on MLB Network, and they do a great job of keeping the audience constantly updated, and they turned around quickly, had the replay of the latest massive home run, cranked out by the rookie sensation from Cincinnati, Elie De La Cruz, if you don't know much about him, you haven't been paying attention, 21 years old, he's already hit for the cycle, part of that phenomenal run the Reds had recently, reeling off 12 straight wins, he has been compared, standing 6-5 as an infielder, to another version of Mickey Mantle, we know Mike Trout was supposed to be, the Mickey Mantle of his generation, I'll talk about the Angels, briefly coming up, so I saw the home run, it was gargantuan, and we can measure everything now with exit velo, and projected distance, 455 feet, it traveled in our nation's capital, but I didn't know the back story until, and again, credit to MLB Network, they are well produced, they immediately took us back to, earlier in the game, when De La Cruz went up to the plate, and before he could start taking his swings, the umpires were asked by the Nets and their skipper, Davey Martinez, to check his bat, so apparently, De La Cruz has had a bat with a piece of plastic on the knob, it just looked weird, and we know that baseball is a sport filled with rituals and habits, if anything stands out, it's going to get the attention of the opposition, but the insinuation was, that's a cork bat, or something has to be a miss here, so, after the umpires checked things out, established it was all copacetic, what do you know, the rookie says, cork you to the Nets, hits an absolute bomb, and then as he rounds the bases and gets the home plate, he gives it the chef's kiss by pointing at the nub of his bat, and that's another reason why this has been a very entertaining baseball season, if you've been paying attention, because of all of the transcendent young talent, realizing it can all change in a minute, baseball is witchcraft, I'll take it back to early in my broadcast career, when the Oakland A's were relevant and true, before the Oakland Coliseum got bastardized in the name of football, to get the Raiders back, building that monstrosity of Mount Davis behind center field, everything changed in terms of what was once one of the best atmospheres in all of baseball, they blew the whole thing up, there was a guy named Todd Van Poppel, do you remember him? Does that ring a bell at all? It shouldn't, but Todd Van Poppel was hyped as, he's going to be the next Roger Clemens, there was a guy when I was on the A's, so highly hyped, when he came to the plate for his first at-bat in Oakland, they played the theme from the natural over the PA system, that guy's name was Ben Greve, ever heard of him? Probably not, because he's not in the Hall of Fame, so I'm always going to hit the brakes, especially having spent so many years covering baseball on a daily basis, I'm not sending any of these folks to Cooperstown, but there's nothing better than young talent to get a fan base engaged, because you're going to have, barring injury, that's the other factor we always have to be aware of in baseball, as a Reds fan, the opportunity to see, now the crew's for a long time, the way the collective bargaining agreement is structured, it's going to take him years to get even close to free agency, player control was one of the goals of the owners, the last time we had that work stoppage, but it's not just Ellie, you got Cordman, Carroll in Arizona, he's been magnificent, just 22 years old, Adly Rushman, if you track college baseball, we had the comp going back to his days at Oregon State, that he had the potential to have a skill set like Buster Posey, I'm not saying he's Buster Posey, I'm saying he's got something similar when it comes to makeup and everything he can do, Rushman, part of the field for home run derby on Monday, I'm not going to read you all the names because you're not going to know many of them, but the headliners will be Pete Alonso, and the Mets are playing a little bit better right now, and coming up tomorrow I'm going to tell you why, don't be sold on the notion that the Mets are going to blow this whole thing up, prior to the trade deadline, in fact, I think a compelling argument can be made and I'm going to make it tomorrow, they should be buyers, we'll get there coming up in 24 hours, appointment audio on the way, Pete Alonso, the Mets, you know what he's done in home run derby, he won it in 2019 and he won it a couple years ago, Mookie Betts, great to see a star of his caliber willing to be a part of this exhibition, Vlad Guerrero Jr., talking about another transcendent young star and the family connection, I'm old enough to remember when his old man won it about 15 years ago, but because Aaron Judge is banged up, and I don't think he's going to participate any more moving forward in his career, and nor should he, he won it, what, 2017, no Otani, I don't know that that field does much for casual fans, but I think we should just appreciate the exhibition for what it is, it's like the same conversation we have every year about the slam dunk competition until it broke the internet this year, every year heading into NBA All-Star weekend, a guy like me on a show like this says, it's time to kill the dunk contest, it just does not have the same bluster, well you don't know until dudes go out there and throw it down, same thing coming up on Monday, so yeah, overall those names I read, and I didn't even give you the full field because you're not going to know a lot of them, doesn't move the needle necessarily, but when you got, for example, Julio Rodriguez playing in front of a partisan crowd in Seattle, remember he was the runner up last year, that's going to be an electric moment, another reason why baseball is at least making strides to being more relevant, it's never going to be what it used to be because football now bludgeons everything in its path, but at least baseball is not making the same kind of unforced errors they've made continuously in the past, I'll save the Aaron Judge thoughts for the next hour of the program, when we say hello to our first guest coming up at 120 Eastern, that's Gabe Lux of USA Today, 30 seconds on the Angels and Otani, because I spent so much time on that yesterday, commemorating his 29th birthday, Angels lost again, swept by the Padres, and they are scuffling in a major way, as we get closer to the trade deadline coming up at the end of the month, over the last 8 games, Angels now just 1-7, found out more dire news yesterday, the speculation was accurate, unfortunately Mike Trout is having surgery, or had it yesterday, that means he's out 48 weeks due to the broken bone in his hand, what does that mean for Otani, heading into the deadline, the Angels I think are delusional, that they believe they can keep him, and it's not just about Artie Moreno writing a massive check, they have to sell Otani, as any team that's going to land him as a free agent in the offseason, on what's more important to him, this is going to be a team that not only competes, but has a real championship to win a world, real possibility to win a championship, a chance to win it all, when's the last time the Angels won a playoff series, I'll let you know, it's been a minute, so we'll get back to this coming up in the next hour of the program, with the Angels now not only having more degree of difficulty on the schedule, freeway series against the Dodgers coming up this weekend, then taking on the reigning champs from Houston, then the Yankees, I think if they're going to run the organization in a rational way, they seriously have to consider dealing Otani prior to the deadline, just to get something in return in case he walks when we get to the offseason. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich, you can slide in, 844-204-7424, hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, straight ahead as promised, we'll get to the Bills, Josh Allen saying on a podcast, he and Stephon Diggs are still very close, despite the recent blowup from the Playmaker at OTAs, is Buffalo really handling whatever's going on with Diggs the right way, and from a big picture standpoint, are the Bills due to take a step back on the field this season? That's coming up, I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich, Thursday edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

Brian Weber, back with you, thanks for spending part of your Thursday with us, 844-204-7424, the number to call, no threads, no plan on threading anything, other than lava-filled hot takes together, if you want to have a conversation on social media, it's still Twitter and Twitter only, yes there are T's in there, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, getting closer to hour number two of the program, more baseball to get to coming up, 1.20 Eastern Time, we'll welcome in the first two guests today, looking forward to rounding the bases with Gabe Lacks, MLB reporter and baseball editor for USA Today, and then in the final hour of the program, we'll talk NFL in addition to what I'm going to do here, 2.20 Eastern Time, we'll check in with Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, get back to the NBA in 15 minutes to tip off hour number two of the show, is it something or nothing that Jalen Brown has yet to sign, a supermax deal with the Celtics, I'll give you what could be the implications, or this just could be a formality, Josh Allen went on, bussing with the boys, you know all about that podcast, if you listen to this show, you know about Rich's, good natured back and forth, if you're going to do a podcast, you have to do it on a bus, I'll leave it to Rich to explain the full bit, but that's why he's one of the best in the business, and this show is Emmy nominated, when you check out the simulcast on the Roku channel. Josh Allen was asked, understandably, this question, what's going on with Stefan Diggs, because it's not unusual to have a player blow up, and I don't want to fall guilty of painting with broad strokes, but we've seen a lot of wide receivers get upset when they don't get the football enough, Kijon Johnson's book, give me the damn ball, so whether it was about a lack of targets, whether it's about getting more money, or whether it's about something bigger, we don't know, because Diggs hasn't been talking, other than enigmatic posts on social media, so Allen, as the face of the franchise, tried to clean up the mess, and at least give the Bills fan base a sense that there's nothing to see here, everything's fine, so some of the quotes that came out of the podcast appearance from Josh Allen, talking about Diggs, I love him, that's my guy, and then he got into the particulars of what led to Diggs not being around the facility as that mandatory minicamp was going on, quote, we're in a minicamp, we're not playing a game for four months, so he's doing a little Allen Iverson, practice, practice, Allen went on to say, he, referring to Diggs, doesn't show up for one day, he's still there, coach asked him to go home, so let's stop right there, that is new news, because we were left as football fans in the sports media to wonder what was the catalyst for Diggs walking out, and in fact a lot of those reports were framed from a standpoint that Stefan, quote unquote, stormed out of the facility, right?

Something was wrong, so he walked, well unless Allen misspoke the quote that he gave on the podcast, coach asked him to go home, so that adds a different layer to things, because I can understand Diggs point of view, he's miffed that he's been portrayed as the disgruntled party, if somebody asks you to leave, that's different than you walking out on a team, and then things got taken to another level, and Allen addressed it later in the podcast, the reason the media made it a big deal has a lot to do with Sean McDermott saying, quote unquote, very concerned about Diggs not being in the minicamp, and I agree, because when I read those words, it led me to believe there's something more going on here, this is not your typical dispute over, I only had 13 targets, I want 16, or whatever it is. Now we still don't know what's going on, but beyond the details of this situation, I think it is fair to have a conversation about the arc of the bills, because rarely, especially in the NFL, with all of the radical change, year by year, remember, what is it, 14 of the last 15 years, somebody's gone from worst to first to make the playoffs, that's just a reality, that's the whole business model of the league, hope is just a season away, especially when you play a last place schedule, but even if we take a fair assessment of Buffalo, just talking pure talent, their roster is right there with the Chiefs, they have a better defense, right there with Cincinnati, right there with Philadelphia, right there with the 49ers, those are the best teams in my view, just looking at it from strictly a player personnel standpoint. Buffalo has not been able to build on the quote unquote 13 seconds, and letting that game get to overtime as it probably never should have, with the bizarre decision to kick that ball right down the middle of the field in the closing seconds of regulation, heading into overtime, you know the rest of the story as the Chiefs went on to win.

What's happened since then? Well, Buffalo has not been able to, and I'm not saying it's cause and effect, but they haven't been able to break through, at this point, given all the talent, and where Josh Allen is at this stage of his career, Buffalo should have played in the Super Bowl by now. Not saying you have to win it, but they should have been able to build on the incremental success, and broken through to make a Super Bowl, and last year, and in no way am I not being cognizant of the emotional toll of what happened to that team, watching DeMar Hamblin have his heart stop on the field in Cincinnati. That had to have haunted them moving forward, but if we're just looking at this from a football lens, and it takes nothing away from Cincinnati, I just told you I think they were a top 5 roster, for the Bengals to go to upstate New York, and win that playoff game the way they did, also told me a lot about the Bills. They were inexcusably flat.

There was no logical explanation for their lack of emotion, other than maybe there's something going on internally, I don't know. But we know this. Typically, when a team fails to measure up to the level of expectations, especially of ownership, we know who's going to pay the price, and that's the head coach, and sometimes the GM as well. So, after whatever happened with Diggs, I thought it was less than a coincidence. You got the report, the Bills had extended the contracts, both of highly respected GM, Brandon Bean, and head coach Sean McDermott. Well, I immediately thought to a team that did a similar thing one year ago. Remember when Arizona extended both GM, Steve Gunn, and head coach, Clif Kingsbury, how'd that work out? And I realize a lot of that came down to Kyler Murray tearing his ACL, but I think you get the point I'm driving at.

You can write a big check to have a coach go away. And McDermott also has added more to his workload, because Leslie Frazier stepped away. McDermott's also going to be the defensive coordinator. So I'm not calling for Sean McDermott to get whacked.

I am saying, though, you're either getting better or you're getting worse. You don't stay the same in the NFL. And you think about that division, what if Miami gets Delvin Cook? Jets already have Aaron Rodgers. I think it's clear that New England's going to be the worst team without question, but what if they get DeAndre Hopkins just to make that offense seem like it fits in this century? There's pressure in Buffalo. And you're not going to change Josh Allen.

You're not going to swap out the key components of the defense. It feels like if somebody's going to pay the price, if this team underachieves again, going to be the head coach, and that's Sean McDermott. Our number one in the books, getting set for a big second hour of the program.

Much more NBA to get to. Plus, I'll finish my thoughts on baseball when we check in with Gabe Alex, MLB reporter for USA Today. You can be a part of the program.

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Hit me up on Twitter. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's.

We roll on on an active Thursday. I'm Brian Weber, always enjoying the opportunity to be in for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. 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 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. Eighty three weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.