REShow: Tom Pelissero - Hour 1

I've seen enough. This is the Rich Eisen Show. You know, I've seen enough of Zach Wilson.

We gotta do everything we can just to try and prove him wrong. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Just a total hot mess that is the New York Jets.

They just got kicked in the stomach when they were planning for Aaron Rodgers to be everything for this franchise. Today's guests, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson, plus your phone calls, latest news and more. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on the Roku channel. Also this Rich Eisen Show, terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. I want to thank Suze for sitting in this chair. It was a fun show yesterday. Peter King, Amy Trask stopped by, Josh Duhamel stopped by, which is interesting. Is that why I'm looking in my book right here, seeing Suze's notes of the win-loss game of the Minnesota Vikings that I guess he played? We did. Right, with Josh Duhamel.

Oddly enough, on the next page, it says, I'm leaving you, is what she just wrote. Yeah. And I'm like, when I sat down in the chair, I'm wondering what that's for. And then I watched the video.

I saw Josh Duhamel. I'm like, no, I get it. It's understandable. You guys had a good run.

I mean, 20 years, long time. Oh my gosh. I had to give him a run. Run in our 30s. Three kids.

He overcame a lot of strats. The kids from Staten Island. It's going to be a really wild weekend. Of Vegas? Fun show, funny show. Fun show, good to see you over there.

Chris Brockman, how are you? We could crash a feller's bachelor party that he's going to this weekend. Are you really going to a bachelor party? Yeah, going to AJ's bachelor party. Oh, great.

Second one for some reason. Terrific. In Vegas, we could just crash it now that you're single. Good to see you, Jim Kelly. How are you over there? Great. TJ Jefferson, is the candle already lit over there? You know, the candle's lit.

It smells good. Good. Great to have you back though. Pleased to be back. You were gone. Thank you. Thank you.

844-204-RICH number to dial. I have a conversation today. Hey, I start this show as I frequently do by hitting a wayback machine. Get the exact date for you. We start today's program on January 8th, 1994.

Why Rich are we starting on January 8th, 1994? A playoff game of some sort? It was a playoff game in the Pontiac Silverdome.

Oh. The last time the Detroit Lions won their division. 1993 season. Wow, Wayne Fonz. In which the 1994, January 8th, 1994, Wayne Fonz and the Lions.

Scott Mitchell. Lost to the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game. Last time, little did they know when they walked off the field off of that 28 to 24 final score.

Sounds like a good game. Little did they know after Sterling Sharp caught one from Brett Favre, a 40 yarder, to wrap things up to turn a three point deficit into a four point win. Little did they know, Eric Kramer, by the way. Ronnie Pete started 10 games. Did they know that that would be their last division win and their last playoff home game until this present day. And then the Detroit Lions showed up to Lambeau Field last night to kick off week four. In a division that has not one, but two O and three teams residing in it. The Vikings and the Bears and the Packers with Jordan Love and having his sort of Tebow time type fourth quarter performance against the New Orleans Saints last week, two and one with the Lions two and one.

And you've got the sense that was part of our preview conversation that we put up there in our YouTube feed at Rich Eisen Show, YouTube feed. So we talked about it, that the winner of this game would have the leg up until they see each other for a turkey leg up on Thanksgiving. They take a first place lead by a game and a half, a game in the standings and of course the half game because of the head-to-head victory and the Lions come out and Jared Goff throws an interception and you're thinking, uh-oh, maybe the Packers finishing up the way that they did against the Saints.

This is in fact their night. Jordan Love is in fact putting down a calling card. That's when the Lions started biting kneecaps and taking hunks and just doing it again and again and again and I know I'm bringing up the way that Dan Campbell introduced himself as a head coach in the NFL, leading a lot of folks to think this is an unserious man that a head coach would have as his opening press conference, a very Hannibal Lecter type approach to communicating. But man, did they have the Packers with fava beans and a nice Chianti last night in that first half, just hitting them in the mouth, dominating the line of scrimmage. Taking Jordan Love out of that game early, figuratively.

Jared Goff finding a wide open Amman St. Brown to start things off on a David Montgomery palooza. Running downhill, hitting you in the mouth with an offensive line that was imposing its will. Packers making the mistakes, the Lions capitalizing on them, takeaways all over the lot and the Detroit Lions go into the locker room with their largest halftime lead ever, 27 to three.

Holy smokes. The Detroit Lions didn't have a great third quarter. Not saying that they're an unbeatable presence and there was a third quarter 44 yard pass to end the third quarter by Jordan Love that I don't believe should have counted. And we'll talk about the play clock and how the NFL deals with it later on. I feel it should be like the NBA. We should have the play clock light up when it hits zeros. At any rate, long story short, the Packers made a bit of a game of it and the Lions just ran it down their throats to wrap things up again.

I said it a couple of times this week and I'll repeat it again, certainly because it does appear that I'm right. Lions are a better team on the road. They are excellent at shutting you up. They have a certain presence when they show up in your house that they are prideful, these Lions, to come in and show you what they are made of in front of your home fans and undress you and be clown you. And the Lions now lead this division by a game and a half over a Packers team that is banged up and is left wondering what the hell was that? They end the Aaron Rodgers era last year in Green Bay and then they show up again in Green Bay in week four on a short week and just pound the crap out of the Green Bay Packers. And they leave Matt LaFleur at the podium without answers and just full of just snippiness and you can't blame them. This is how they left the Green Bay Packers head coach when they left Lambeau these Lions. What do you think happens when you have a, to cause a first half like that where you just, you got nothing?

What do you say Pete? I mean, we got our ass kicked. If I knew it, it wouldn't have happened. Matt, they didn't blitz until the last- That's a BS question, man. They didn't blitz until the last play of the first half.

They set four or less most of the time. Why couldn't you guys protect, do you think? It wasn't good enough. They whipped us, they manhandled us.

Again, if I knew the answer to that, it wouldn't have happened. Whipped, manhandled. Boy, are those, like if you asked Dan Campbell, what are the adjectives you would like to have the opposing coach describe your team's play against this team tonight?

If you asked him the question going in, he would say whipped and manhandled, I think would absolutely be two of the choices that he would use. And you can't help but think. Four games in, I get it.

But you can't help but think. So, we are finally seeing the early manifestations, or perhaps the actual manifestations, of Aaron Rodgers leaving this Green Bay Packers team in division, and what the post-Rodgers world is gonna look like. Aiden Hutchinson said those words pretty much on the head when Kaylee Hartung of Prime Video had him at the mic moments after the game on the broadcast. You're from Michigan.

What does dominance in this rivalry mean? It's fun, man. I mean, I grew up with Aaron Rodgers kicking our ass every year, so it's good to be on the winning side of things. Aaron's out the division, so life is good right now, but we're gonna keep working. Aaron's out of the division.

Life's good right now. Don't take Aiden's word for it. There's a stat line that speaks volumes as to the fact that Aaron Rodgers is out of the division. It's David Montgomery's.

Why would you say that, Rich? Aaron doesn't play defense. No, it's not just the stat line that includes, let me get this right.

Add it open, here it is. I mean, this is, you wanna talk about whipping and manhandling. This guy was injured last week. They kept him out, short week, comes out. 32 carries.

They haven't talked to Rock 32 times. I know all the Jameer Gibbs fantasy drafters and owners are waiting for this kid to start dominating and I think, you know, we'll see it. He's yet to be unwrapped and they've won three of their first four. 32 for a buck 21 and three touchdowns, but most importantly, it's that one in the win column. Don't forget, this guy was on the Bears. Who owns the Bears? The guy who was no longer in the division. This is David Montgomery's first career win against the Packers.

And who'd have thunk it? I know this is feeling like kicking the Bears fans when they're down. He had to go to the Lions to get it done. But again, that is the latest indication of what the post Rogers world in this division might look like.

Here is Montgomery talking about this very fact after the game. How much were you kind of looking forward to this game? It's an opportunity to face them with a different team.

Yeah, it just felt different, you know? I just felt real different coming in with the group of guys that I'm with. Like I said, I'm blessed to kind of come out with these guys and get the dub, you know, that's big for me. I could tell my son that I beat the Packers. So I'm excited to say that and I'm excited to be a part of this team, really. I could tell my son I beat the Packers. That's funny. Says David Montgomery.

You bet. This has all the makings and feelings of a torch being passed. Again, long season, but winning division games on the road is the way you win your first division title in 30 years.

That's the path to that basket. And with the Vikings at 0-3 and the Bears at 0-3 and the sense that one of them, if you just flip a coin, is gonna be 0-4 and you just beat the team that's closest to you on their home turf and you just didn't beat them, you, to quote the opposing coach, manhandled and whipped them, you gotta have a feeling that this is the way it is this year and potentially it's gonna be, cause this is a young team. Jamison Williams is suspended. He's coming back. Jameer Gibbs has hardly scratched the surface and those trenches, they can win them. They can win them. That's my thoughts coming off of Thursday night football. Yeah, I take back everything I said yesterday about Jordan Love. Well, I mean, well again, it's just one week. No, I know, it's just one week. By the way, Bakhtiari's on IR.

Sure. Jenkins isn't playing. You shout out to the Lions, offensive defensive line. They dominated that game, both sides of the ball and the trenches. Love had no chance to throw the ball yesterday. No time, couldn't get the ball to receivers.

The running backs couldn't do anything. You know, AJ Dillon, like, where are you, bro? Well, I mean, again- On a milk carton in Milwaukee. You can't, as Lafleur said, we didn't have that soundbite for you. Can't get it all.

I think we've all given you this sense of how it went down last night. He said, you can't throw from your back. Yeah.

Is what he said. Can't throw from your back. I mean, that's what you wanna do in your division.

You wanna road grade the team that's coming into your house, or you wanna road grade the team whose house you're going into. Don't you think Miami's going into Buffalo with that sense this weekend? Hey, we just beat the Broncos by 50. Guess what we're coming to do? We're coming to put our calling card on Western New York and say, we're coming for you too.

That's what you want to do. Vegas needing a win in the worst way. We're coming to the Chargers house. We're coming to do this in front of your fans. Roquan Smith said this week about the Browns, that's the idea.

You're going to a house and you wanna beat them in front of their family and kids. That's the NFL. And in front of the family and kids, last night, the Lions and the Packers crying for their moms. That's what happened. These things are happening in front of us as Rogers is no longer in Green Bay while he stares at the Dolphins and his leg up trying to come back for the Jets.

Where is A-A-Ron right now? We're gonna talk about what's going on with the Jets with Tom Pelsaro when we come back. By the way, Jonathan Taylor has two more days left on Pup. What's up with that? Are there hot seats forming in the NFL?

Patrick Peterson of the Steelers having won two in a row since getting beaten and manhandled at home by the 49ers to start the season. They're going to Houston and we're assuming it'll be a direct flight unlike their flight home from Vegas. So that's a conversation to come.

What's more likely my top five games that I'm looking forward to? Your phone calls. 844-204-RICH being the number to dial. Tom Pelsaro, the latest of what's going on in the National Football League from one of the best in the business, my colleague from the NFL network.

That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, it's Rich Eisen. You want an exciting and fast paced podcast based on one of the most popular segments in the history of the Rich Eisen Show? Well, you got it. Overreaction Monday hosted by me, Rich Eisen and my compadre, Chris Brockman.

And every Monday we're going to dive into the headlines from pro and college football and overreact. Are you ready, Chris Brockman? Yay or nay?

Yes, Rich. No holding back, buddy. I'm coming for you. Absolutely what you need to hear.

Overreaction Monday, every single Wait For It Monday wherever you listen. It could be information to change your life forever or the Something You Should Know podcast could just be something interesting. My guest is Kim Zuckman.

She is author of the book There's No Cream and Cream Soda. I don't think I've ever really known the story of why they're called hot dogs. There is so many legends about the name of the hot dog. When the Germans immigrants came over and they brought all their sausages, they also brought their dachshunds.

It really is because they kind of look like dachshunds. Something you should know wherever you listen. Go ahead, Christopher. Say what you said in the break. Go ahead. You think the Jaguars want that number one pick back?

Trayvon Walker instead of Aidan Hutchinson who's just destroying every game he's playing right now? Look, you know you're talking my language. Okay. I don't want to, you know, tap on Michigan.

I know, but, but, but you have eyes, right? Yeah, that dude's a monster. He is a game wrecker. And Trayvon Walker, you know, I mean, he's not, as he hasn't started his career as fast, obviously, as Hutchinson. And he could develop into, and he could start wrecking the game against Desmond Ritter in London. Sure, absolutely.

This coming Sunday. But he don't look like that dude. That is correct. And I could have told the Jaguars that about who you're getting, but is he the perfect person for the Lions at the most perfect time for the coach who's there trying to change the culture?

Is that guy perfect? Growing up in the state? Grew up there as a fan. Right. A Wolverine who fans of the, there's a large cross section of Wolverine line fans.

I can personally attest to that. And Dan straight remember Dan Campbell said to me at the combine and the NFL network coverage that he had a man crush on him as soon as he saw him at the combine. Yeah. Is he perfect for Dan Campbell and what they're trying to establish and what they are by the way, establishing. Establishing.

You can use the present tense. Hell yeah. 13, you know, nine and a half sacks last year, second in defensive rookie of the year to sauce.

Already three and a half sacks through four games this year. Hell yeah. Yeah. And he's making the rest of the line better. And he's the, like I said, the perfect, perfect person to help restore the roar. So I'm sure they're like, thanks Jacksonville for making your choice.

They're very happy with that. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk on the radio network. It's all furnished by Grainger.

It's supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by as our friend in his usual Friday spot is doing so from the NFL network, NFL media group, getting ready for the NFL insiders on NFL Plus and NFL network. My colleague and friend, Tom Pelissero, back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, Tom?

Doing great, Rich. Hard to believe we're already here. I believe we're already into week four here. Like if this were the old 16 game schedule, we'd be talking about the quarter poll. There's no easy way to divide 17 games. The calendar starts to flip to October and the stakes get raised in terms of teams figuring out, are we in, are we out?

And if we're out, what exactly does that mean for the rest of 2020? Yeah, I mean, when you said 17 divided by four, again, that makes it seem like one of my fifth graders math problems that she seems to solve and looks at me for help. And I'm like, yeah, I got nothing for you. So let's just jump into, what did you make of Thursday night football, Tom?

What'd you make of that? The Lions were absolutely as impressive as I think that they would have hoped that they looked on that stage. And listen, the Packers got some reinforcements, Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, neither of those guys had really practiced until Wednesday at like full speed. So they were both just coming back, but they're beat up on the offensive line.

There's no excuses whatsoever. But when you hear Matt Lafleur talking to after the game about, we got manhandled on both sides of the ball, we got our asses kicked. That's indicative of exactly what I think we all saw watching that game. They've done a phenomenal job in Detroit, building a team that is really physical. They've got their share of injuries as well.

They've been beat up along the offensive line here. David Montgomery, that signing, I mean, the backstory on that Rich is so fascinating because the Lions were trying to re-sign Jamal Williams. They actually offered Jamal Williams more money than he ended up getting in New Orleans. Williams wasn't willing to take it. They pivoted, gave a little bit more to get David Montgomery from their division rivals. And as much as we saw flashes from David Montgomery in Chicago over the previous four years, the guy you're watching right now looks like a difference maker on offense.

And they got a whole bunch of other big physical athletes that they're gonna try to beat you up with. Well, speaking of runners available, Tom, it's now time, right? So the pup list four week stint for Jonathan Taylor ends, I imagine, as soon as the Colts wrap up their week four contest that's being slated to be played at home against the Rams. What is the status? What's going on? Are there any trade talks behind the scenes? What's the scoop?

Well, let's start with health on this one, Rich. It does sound like Jonathan Taylor's made a lot of progress. He was pretty close at the start of the season.

There were obviously a lot of factors involved, but he was still kind of coming around with the ankle. He's in that building from what I've been told every day. He's going through his rehab. The Colts are able to watch him.

They see a guy who continues to get better and better. And the Colts are still hoping that they can figure out a way for Jonathan Taylor to be back with that team. There have been trade talks that's been documented, but you know, we're talking about Miami. They got Devon Hain running for 280 yards and four touchdowns last week. And they got Raheem Mostert fully healthy right now. Prospect of giving a top of the market contract to Jonathan Taylor right now may not be as alluring as it might've been if it wasn't all prior to the start of the season.

Obviously, Green Bay had checked in. There was not, I know our colleague Ian Rapporty reported that they offered a couple of like mid-round picks for Jonathan Taylor. It wasn't really a serious type of an offer in terms of something the Colts would be willing to take. You know, there's other teams that are hard up at that position. The Ravens right now are really beat up at the running back spot.

We'll see what other injuries might arise here in the coming days. But barring that, barring a trade, let's see. Can the Colts figure out some way, maybe with a adjusted contract, to get Jonathan Taylor back into the fold? And if you're Taylor at this point, do you want to go someplace else? Do you want to go, you know, give it your best here, try to finish out this season, show that you're healthy, show that you're still that guy who led the league of rushing in 2021, and then hope do you get a chance to hit an improved market come next March? So I know you said that the Packers offer wasn't deemed to be serious. You want to talk about unserious. Asking for Jalen Waddle might be in that category. Did that really happen, Tom?

Best done during your reporting? Yeah, I mean, if you're the Colts and you've got a premium player like a Jonathan Taylor, you don't want to trade them. So, all right, great, you want them? Give us a premium player in return. It sounds like my 12-year-old's fantasy league. You know, I see some of the offers from his fellow 12-year-olds, and it's just like, we will offer you somebody who is somewhat hurt and doesn't play for your best player. Like, that's what we're doing. And, really?

So that's my, I guess, my way of setting up Crystal Ballot. I know you're in the business of facts and information, but using that as a background way to tell us what do you think is going to happen? Is Taylor somewhat interested seeing what this team is doing?

I mean, the Colts are in first right now, and Anthony Richardson is coming back. Is there a way that he's seeing like, all right, I'll do it here and then figure out the rest? Or is he just saying, screw it, I want out of here? What's your Crystal Ball for me? It sounds like Jonathan Taylor's been in a better mood since he's been back around the building here, but there's a difference between that and, oh yeah, I'm going to come back and play for, whatever his number is, $3 million or so this season. So, you know, I think that this is going to heat up, certainly come Monday, Tuesday, coming out of the week four games, Colts will be back on the practice field, presumably on Wednesday of next week.

And at that point, you would hope that you've got a resolution in some regard here. Again, there could be new things that arise with regard to injuries and that could spur trade talks. My understanding has been, there's really been nothing close to this point of what the Colts would want, which is upwards of what the 49ers gave up to the Panthers for Christian McCaffrey. It equates to roughly a first round pick. That was, if you add everything up, depending on the value charts you use, Rich was like equivalent of like a high second round pick is more or less what the Panthers got out of it. The Colts want more than that for Jonathan Taylor.

Nobody's been close, doesn't mean that something won't arise here. He also got the contractual piece of this, but as of right now, again, there's nothing imminent on a trade, which leads you to go, okay, is there a way for the Colts to get Jonathan Taylor back into the fold that makes sense. Also for Jonathan Taylor, who's a really good player, by all accounts, a really good guy, I've dealt with him. He's a really smart guy too.

What does he see in this situation? We'll get a firm answer on that, you would hope early next week. Tom Pelissaro here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about what is going on in the Jets locker room based on your reporting. You're hearing throughout the week, Joe Namath went on local radio and a Michael K show, as we all know, and said Zach Wilson should be out of there. He's sick and tired of seeing him play. And now, Zach Wilson showed up to his press conference wearing an I Got Your Back t-shirt. They're putting up t-shirts to say that they have his back.

So what is the latest of what's going on there, best you can tell, Tom? I would start by saying this Rich, unless Joe Namath wants to come back and play quarterback for the Jets and get a time machine back to 50 years ago, I'm not sure that there's a lot out there in terms of what the Jets could go get. It's easy for Namath to say, I'm done with him. I wanna see him move on. But then you heard Robert Sellers saying, yeah, well, he's entitled to that opinion.

It's a very kind way of saying, what do you want us to do? You could look around and you could say, okay, we can go trade for a Case Keenum. We can sign a Joe Flacco or a Carson Wentz. Are any of these things, the ceiling certainly isn't as high as it is on Zach Wilson. The floor might not even be as high. If you go back and you watch the tape of Wentz last year or Matt Ryan last year or Flacco when he's played, recently here, the Jets are certainly exploring everything and they've talked about a lot of different things.

At this point, there's really not an easy way to get an upgrade. Now, there's a lot of talk about Kirk Cousins and what potentially could happen. I can tell you the Vikings are not there right now. Yes, they're 0-3, but their focus is go beat Carolina, get that first win and try to get this thing rolling with a remodeled and pretty young roster that's got some superstar power with guys like Justin Jefferson on it. They're not punting on the season at this point. Maybe by late October, we're having a different conversation but they're not there now. And even if we were, the Jets are in a spot where they give up a lot of draft capital for Aaron Rodgers and they are paying Aaron Rodgers a lot of money this year and next year at a time that based on Rodgers own statements and everything the Jets have said, they're anticipating that he's going to be back. So you're in a difficult spot.

Yes, there were some blow ups. There's natural frustration. I think it's clear that whether it's Michael Carter, Garrett Wilson, whoever, everybody knows that Zach Wilson's got to play better but so does everybody around him. And that, Rich, I remember our first conversation on this after the Aaron Rodgers injury, it could not be about Zach Wilson. It could not be Zach Wilson, go be great. It was Zach Wilson, be good enough and everybody be great around him. The other thing you got to remember is that Daniel Hack based on his relationship with Aaron Rodgers, knowing what Aaron can do, knowing how Aaron likes to manipulate things at the line of scrimmage, get in and out of plays, throw the backside options on run plays, everything else, they built an offense in which Rodgers had the keys to everything. Zach Wilson, he's a hard worker.

I'm sure he can pick those things up but they don't want him to have the keys. So now you're figuring out how do we walk that back, re-kind of build the scheme around what we think Zach Wilson can do well. They got a ton of weaponry between Breece Hall. They got to find a way to get Dalvin Cook going. They got Garrett Wilson and Allen Mazard. Randall Cobb's made some plays for him. You got pieces around him.

You have to protect them better. The offensive line has been a huge issue here and the defense has to keep doing what it's doing. If not, yeah, you're probably going to be a six-win team and this entire season is going to be a mess. You're going to hope Aaron Rodgers comes back in 2024 and gets you out of there. But this doesn't have to be Zach Wilson suddenly captures everything that made him the number two overall pick. Forget the draft position.

Forget everything that you thought about Zach Wilson. It's just be good enough, which is all you're really asking for a backup quarterback in most cases. So then what is your reporting on the Rodgers piece, Tom?

You touched on something interesting. We've talked about it over the last couple of shows as well is the fact that he's still in the fold for next year. And that's the plan for next year and the offensive coordinator who definitely needs to be more creative for a guy that you might not think can handle the creative aspect of things. But that is going to be, that is Nathaniel Hackett's number one job right now is to figure out how to get Zach Wilson playing better and to be more creative in that process so the team that knows they're trying to run the ball can either have it run down their throat or have it thrown over the run defense. That's my long-winded way of setting it all up to say, Hackett's Rodgers' guy. So how much is Rodgers looming over the thought process of what the Jets need to do win right now knowing that you still have to cater to his wishes in a way? Your thoughts on that. Well, right now you're in survival mode, Rich. If you're the Jets, you're just trying to figure out a way that, hey, we just got to pack this thing together and do the best that we can.

Yeah, big picture. It is different because you got guaranteed money committed to Aaron Rodgers. You made that trade. You gave up a second round pick and more for him. You're not going to want to say, actually, Aaron, we don't really want you back. We're going to try to trade you.

No, you saw Woody Johnson say it the day after the injury talking about the story, tweeted something along the lines of the story is not over. They want him back. But in the short term, they want to find a way here to win games. And this is not to make excuses, Rich, for Hackett or for Zach Wilson or anything else. You'd be hard pressed to find a lot of offenses that can operate with the offensive line in the state that the Jets' offensive line is right now.

And it's not just the manpower. It's also the number of changes. I mean, they went into that game last weekend thinking up until like Friday or Saturday, Dwayne Brown's going to play. Dwayne Brown ends up on IR. That's your left tackle.

So you're constantly moving these pieces around. You're shuffling different things. It's causing a lot of consternation. And they went up against two of the best defenses in Zach Wilson's first two starts.

Let's see what happens. Again, I come across it except as the Zach Wilson apologist. I think that people narrowly focus on, oh, just plug in any quarterback and it's going to get better.

Maybe it won't. Zach Wilson was the number two overall pick for a reason. He's got the physical tools. He's got the work ethic. Obviously, there's a lot that he's got to learn about just being a quarterback in the NFL, but you're thinking we can wring more out of him than we can possibly get out of a Joe Flacco coming back. Maybe Joe Flacco gets you the seven wins, but Zach Wilson, if he plays to his potential with everyone playing their potential around him, you still got a shot.

And that's the needle that they're trying to throw here. Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. A couple more minutes left here. Devante Adams' comments, you want to interpret them for me about not having, he doesn't want to have the time, he doesn't have the time to, I'm paraphrasing here, let things marinate. To get some wins, he wants it now. What'd you make about all that as Josh McDaniels at one and two coming into this town to take on a hot Chargers team?

What do you got for me on that? Well, Devante Adams has won a lot of games going back to his days in Green Bay, and he signed up for something that's a little bit different right now when he went to Vegas. And there was more than one reason. It wasn't just Derek Carr. Adams had built a house out there, he wanted to live in Las Vegas, he dreamed about being a Raider, that's where he wanted to be.

But then, whatever it was, 15 games into last season, they punt on Derek Carr, they end up bringing in Jimmy Garoppolo. Adams caught a couple of touchdowns last week, so it's not as if he's not having productivity right now. But you can imagine the frustration when you're looking around and you are seeing, at least in terms of their frontline guys, we can talk about depth, but their frontline guys, they got superstars, you have Josh Jacobs, for some reason you can't run the football. You have a Devante Adams, you got passed inconsistently.

You got Max Crosby, who's doing his thing week in, week out regardless of the circumstances, but he's not a one-man wrecking crew in terms of being able to fix everything else with your defense here. So I didn't read much more into it than Devante Adams didn't sign up to lose. He didn't think that he was going there, much less to play without Derek Carr, but he didn't think he was coming into a situation where there was a rebuild.

He went there also in part, I believe, to show people that his career was not a product of Aaron Rodgers, and he wanted to prove I'm a Hall of Fame receiver regardless of who's throwing me the football. When you're losing games, even if you're having production, that can certainly raise some questions. I get the frustration.

I don't see a whole lot more in it than that. I would say, especially if the Chargers had lost last week, they had that thrilling win against Minnesota, but even now, this is, you don't want to call it an elimination game in week four, but it kind of has that vibes of whoever wins this game is going to be feeling pretty good as they move forward here. Whoever loses this game, the Chargers have a week five bye, is going to be feeling like, okay, we are really looking upwards here at the rest of the eight. How about a hot seat game?

Too early to start using those phrases or what, Tom? I think there would have been a lot of discussion about if the Chargers had lost last week. I don't think that that's necessarily realistic because they don't believe they've ever made a coaching change even in the season.

With the Raiders, yeah, I mean, there's frustration. You know, they were a playoff team in 2021. Josh came in, they started to make changes.

It takes a while to enact that cultural shift. They went seven and 10 last year, missed the playoffs, and now they're, I believe, one and two at this stage. So I think that the hot seat, probably the discussion certainly begins, especially when you've got these early season buys and teams naturally would be looking at those as, okay, is this the right time for us to make a change here? There's certainly some assistant coaches who you would anticipate would be on the hot seat depending how things play out here in the coming weeks.

I would tell you this, Rich, I'm gonna wake up starting Monday with every single Monday morning with my antenna up because, you know, this is where frustration boils over. This is where certain people go into CYA mode and just try to, you know, okay, you want a warm body, we'll give you the coordinator, we'll give you this position coach, we'll make this change, we'll make this trade. That's the reality of the NFL. Even though it's the longer season than it's ever been at 17 games, even four games in, like I said at the start of this, you start to know, are we in or are we out?

And if you're out, that can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. All right, and as always, we end our conversation with you, Tom Pelissero. Open up your notebook. What have I not asked you about? What are you interested in talking about to leave us with?

Tom, what do you got? I'll give you this, Rich, because we got four teams right now that are 0-3 and they all happen to play each other this week. You got the Broncos going up against the Bears. You got the Panthers against the Vikings. I think we've talked a lot about the Bears and the Broncos. There's a lot to unpack with those teams.

I think that the other interesting game to me is the Panthers and Vikings, because I think that those two teams are probably more equipped to actually get out of this rut based on where they are personnel-wise. With Carolina, I'm just going to be looking for, can they just, what Bryce Young, assuming that he gets back on the field with that ankle, can they help him out? Can they help him out with the offensive line, with the play calls, with everything that goes into it? You know, there's a lot of times where they're getting up to the line of scrimmage with one second on the play clock and it looks like a fire drill. You know, just settle in. We know Bryce Young is an unbelievably smart, high-processing individual.

He's very instinctive. Just got to, you know, make him feel like he can go out there and play. And then with the Vikings, you know, all I see is debates still about trade Kirk Cousins and blow it up and what do you do? Vikings, I can tell you, are not in that mode right now. Maybe it's different, you know, several weeks down the line, but when you look at these games that they've played so far, Rich, I know I mentioned this on game day morning last week. They are losing fumbles at a historic rate, not just fumbling at a historic rate, but losing fumbles at a historic rate, which, you know, if you believe every analytical study ever done, fumble recovery is pure luck. Usually you're going to get back 50% of those over the course of the season. The Vikings have lost, they lost six in their first two games.

That was the most in 20 years. They lost one or two again last week. If they can sort of smooth some of those things out, you still got Kirk Cousins, who's on record pace. You still got Justin Jefferson, who's on record pace. Jordan Addison's a really good young player.

You have T.J. Hawkinson. They can settle some things down. Should get some help on the offensive line this week. Defensively, they're going to have to figure it out, but they're an offensive type of a football team. If they go in there and put some points up on Carolina, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they're able to kind of jumpstart this thing.

We're talking about, can the Vikings make a playoff run as opposed to when do the Vikings start trading away all their players? Always make us smarter, Tom. Thanks very much. Have a good NFL Insiders program, and we'll see you next week and on game day, morning beforehand. Thanks, brother. Tough pair, Rich.

Thanks. So there's the latest in the NFL right there. The London games begin on Sunday. The Jaguars and the Falcons first up. The Jaguars.

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AutoZone. Great pause. Thank you.

I heard Ian Eagle do this read during the game last night and I thought to myself, I'm inspired. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. Let's take a break.

Your phone calls when we come back. Hour number two has what's more likely residing in it. Patrick Peterson. And hour number three of the Pittsburgh Steelers. What is going on with you, Jim Brockmire, and Brett Musburger?

This is my Musburger face. No, you can't put that to bed, Rich Eyes. You know why you can't put it to bed? Okay. Because he's a punk.

That's why. Brett Musburger is a P-U-N-K punk. The man is a thief, okay? Brett Musburger is a thief.

How so? Stole my line. What line was that? This is for all the Tostitos. Remember that?

These are all the Tostitos. Remember when he said that? Everybody in the business, nah, it's not funny. Everybody in the business knows that was my line. But he went ahead and used, that's what I always yell when I climax inside of a woman. Or when I'm just, when I climax all by myself. And ever since then, now I have to yell out, the Ruffles have ridges.

And it's not, it's not the same thing. Here is Brett Musburger. How are you, Brent? Hey Rich, Rich, I'm great. Listen, I'm so proud of you guys for trying to help resurrect little Jimmy Brickmeyer's career.

We all know the problems, we all know the problems that he had in the past. He says that you stole all the Tostitos from him, Brent, from back in the day? No, I got paid. I got paid by a company to drop the name. I got three Tostitos for a week. What are you talking about?

Okay. You know, Rich, it's really interesting because as we started these sin here in Las Vegas and Brickmeyer was having trouble getting a job. So, so he, he called our executives and our general manager, he interviewed Brickmeyer and asked him about a three team parlay. And, and our, and our boy, Jimmy, he thought that that was two hookers with him in a Morristown hotel room. You know, you know, Jesus, we would have loved to help him out. But yeah, I wish him the best. He's so delusional.

And listen, let him go at it. We're all the Tostitos, baby. That's truly one of our most crowning achievements ever, ever.

We're all the Tostitos, baby. We're back here on the Rich Eisen Show. News out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Las Vegas police have arrested a man in the drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur. 27 years later. Yeah, I just saw that. Did you see that?

I was just talking about like, I need to know more information. 27 years later. Someone had a funny tweet about how you're gonna arrest someone for, for killing someone who's not, not dead. Yeah.

In the conspiracies of Tupac and Biggie are still alive. She's wild. On an island. So that happened today in Las Vegas. Crazy.

Indeed. Let's go to Howie in Dallas right here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Howie?

Rich, what's up? I made it through. You did, Howie? Congratulations. Hey, I just want to let you know, I love your rakish hat.

You should wear way more on the, on the show, but I do have an interesting question. Since you were a lover of the Godfather. Yes, sir. So I'm a Baylor Bears fan and coach Dave Aranda, before we played Texas last week and got shellacked.

Yeah. He made them watch the Godfather, the whole team, to just get them hyped up and to understand the importance of family and doing things for the family. And I had to facepalm because we looked a lot like Sonny in the toll booth on Saturday, instead of just like, you know, still in Fredo or something around those lines. And so anyway, I'm just wanting to ask you, as a member of the beloved Godfather fan base, do you think that is the show you, you show the team? Well, that's what I would do, Howie.

I would show, I would show the team something shorter. You know, that's three hours. That's a long time.

Now we, thanks for the call, Howie. We were at Michigan years ago when I was the honorary captain. 2016. Were you at, did you come that night too? To the movie night? Yeah, the movie night.

Yeah, absolutely. Right, you were there. I was there. My buddy Paul was there. We were all together. And it was eight mile. Eight mile. But it was the choice of the team.

Right. Jim gave the team a choice. I forget what the other one was. It's like a sports movie and the kids chose eight mile. Yeah, which was great. I love that movie.

I hadn't seen it in a long time. Yeah, we rabbit. But I just would like, there's other ways. There's film study, right? There's film study. And then there's watching a three hour movie to say, let's keep it within the family.

I mean, our father was also kind of slow. Right? Well, it's not, what was the last time you've seen The Godfather? I'm saying it's not like the town where there's just nonstop action. Oh, I understand that. But not everything's about action. There's storytelling and nuance and cinematography. I understand, but for a bunch of 19 year olds to watch a 60 year old movie.

Zan wants to see The Godfather. I told you, I think I've had this conversation with you. I'm like, no phones. You cannot be, like, you're not gonna get on your phone. Cause there'll be moments where. Yeah, you gotta be locked in. Right.

You gotta be locked in. The dialogue is important. Right. And so clearly you won't show Godfather part two. Cause spoiler alert, you know, Fredo and the brother have a fallen out. You know, Michael and Fredo. Right.

Which you don't want cause teammates having a falling out. Yeah, I don't know. I mean.

Godfather wouldn't be my team, like inspiration movie choice, you know. Maybe Miracle. Yeah, sure. That's more inspiring.

Remember the Titans, like something like that. Kind of feel good, blah, blah. Yeah. Happy ending.

Johnny be good. Yeah. You know. I got you.

Not like there's, let's go out and make sure you get salazzo right in the head when you come out of the bathroom. Sure. Like that's not. Right. That's not everything you wanna.

Clusky. Right. Drop it, you know.

Take the cannolis. Yes. Yeah. So. Well, it looks like Texas took the cannolis.

Right. Again, let's go to Tim in Phoenix, Arizona. What's up, Tim? How are you, sir?

Hey, Rich. How are you doing? I'm well. How's the show? What's up? Well, thank you.

I wanted to talk a little bit. I know that Aaron Rodgers was a disappointment for you, but I'd like to talk about the history of Colts quarterbacks. We've had just about as bad history as the Jets. Oh. Since you guys beat us in the Super Bowl. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm gonna have to. If you remember, we drafted John L.A.

I do. He played for us. Tim, Tim, Tim. I'm gonna have to stop you here. I have to stop you here. Because I don't recall anybody of the caliber of Peyton Manning playing for the New York Jets.

There's no statue out in front of MetLife Stadium like there is in Gluckus Oil Stadium. That's, honestly, you cannot equate the two, Tim. You can't. Sorry. Rich.

Yes. When Peyton played for us. Yes, he may have been the greatest regular season quarterback ever. Took you to two Super Bowls. I haven't been to a Super Bowl in my life. I was a zygote when the Jets went to the Super Bowl. Honestly, you had two of them, Tim.

I mean, you're water skiing behind yachts compared to me sitting in my dinghy waiting for something to happen. He had a losing record. He had a losing record. Again, I love Peyton.

I love what he is. But he did not win an engine. Then we got Andrew Luck, who could have been a superstar, and he got a concussion. Now we have another potential superstar quarterback.

He did last longer than Aaron Rodgers, but again, he's in concussions. Well, he's coming out this week, you know, and, you know, thanks for the call, Tim. Call back again. I'm sorry. I'm just not in the mood to sit here and say my team's just, I mean, the Colts? I just, I can't, I can't have it.

I won't have it. Who are the franchises historically that have had the worst quarterbacks? Well, you have to start with the Browns, don't you?

Yeah, I think so. Bears, Jets. Well, the Bears at least had Jim McMahon. But he wasn't the reason they won the Super Bowl. But he was definitely a reason why, not the reason. I mean, their all-time greatest quarterback is Jay Cutler.

You know what I mean? No, it's Jim McMahon. I mean, not statistically.

I mean, statistical, but forget statistically. I mean, Jim McMahon, let's put it this way. Jim McMahon with his Roselle headbands was perfect for the time. And, you know, Jim McMahon would never have been on a stationary bike as things were circling the drain and then showing up on Rodeo Drive the next week.

That wouldn't have happened. So, but the Browns, I mean, that's without a doubt. I mean, Bernie Kosar in- Brian Seidt, that's about it. Right, and then Tim Couch and then Joe Thomas making the Hall of Fame, never missing a snap protecting 30 million different guys is one of the greatest achievements by any Hall of Famer. You figure at some point- That never won a Super Bowl or went to one or even sniffed one. Figure at some point, Joe Thomas just would have been frustrated and be like, get me out of here.

Who else would there be? I mean, at least the Cardinals had Kurt Warner, you know? I mean, the Bucks until Tom Brady kind of.

That's up there. They won one with Brad Johnson. You want to talk about someone who wasn't the reason why they won the Super Bowl. He was probably far down the list of a reason why they won it, you know? But I just can't say, you know. The Browns- I'd have signed for Peyton Manning for 15 years, you know?

Absolutely. Two Super Bowls, including one win. I'd have signed for that. Ugh, what's more likely coming up?

Hour two. I don't mean to, Sid Luck- Adam's saying Sid Luckman is the Bears quarterback of all time. Yeah, that's why- But, you know, it's been a long time. That's, you know, been away a long time for that, so.

More Las Vegas news, Chandler Jones reportedly arrested- According to TMZ. That is one of the saddest stories- Yeah, if you've seen his Twitter timeline- Out there. Recently, it's so sad.

That is one of the saddest stories out there. I have no idea what is going on. Obviously, there are details that aren't being made available for good reasons. He is saying that the reason why the details aren't made available because of the people that are keeping what he knows quiet, it's kind of crazy. I mean, unfortunate.

So, I don't know what's going on there, either. What a day you're on this Friday. So, Patrick Peterson's joining us in hour number three. Hey, Rich, Chris and I were wondering- Yes, sir. The people at Roku, did they ask about us, or? Always. That's true. You know, we're just curious if they- Yes.

Do they have any thoughts on the high button? Because a lot of people in the comments aren't fans. Of what you're doing?

Yeah. It's just comfortable, I don't know if you understand. Why does that make you comfortable? I like it. You know what would look good?

People don't. This may just be the New Mexico in me now. With that look, a bolo tie. Get the bolo tie. I would bolo tie it up. I have a bolo tie somewhere. Oh, by the way, Hector Salamanca says hello.

How about Tuco? Yeah. Oh, no, I stayed away from him.

I don't blame you. Hey, guys, it's Susie Schuster, and I am so excited for my new podcast coming out this fall. It is called What the Football with Susie Schuster and the Princess of Darkness, Amy Trask. If you're looking for a new podcast to listen to about jargon, heavy-legged, waist benders, this is not for you. We're gonna have big girl conversations and we're going super deep to bring you weekly guests that you won't find anywhere else. It is What the Football with Susie Schuster and Amy Trask, wherever you listen.