REShow: Tom Pelissero - Hour 1

It's the first ever NBA End Season Tournament. All 30 teams going for one brand new trophy.

The stakes are the highest. Only eight teams advance from the group stages. Then it's down to single elimination. It's winner go home. The last four stand they will battle it out in Las Vegas, baby. They're going to go all in on the hardwood for season long bragging rights and the first ever NBA Cup. Hope everyone's feeling lucky.

The NBA End Season Tournament begins November 3rd on ABC, ESPN and TNT. NFL Network insider Tom Pellicero. Texas Rangers outfielder Evan Carter. NFL writer for the athletic Mike Sandow.

And now sitting in for Ridge, it's Andrew Siciliano. I strive to be positive. I am Mr. Positivity. I'm going to say right now that I thought, don't laugh. Don't any of you wonderful people laugh. Yesterday, I didn't think Rich fairly characterized our interaction from Sunday.

I think he was understandably upset about the way the Jets were playing and lashed out. This is a happy place, a safe space, and we are happy that you are here with us. Welcome to a Friday edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

I am Andrew Siciliano. I am here today and tomorrow. Well, not tomorrow, Monday as well. Next week, honestly, the schedule is kind of up in the air. I'm here some of it.

Regardless, we're happy that you're here today. Tom Pellicero is going to join us shortly. How exactly did the Raider thing go down? And will Jimmy Garoppolo ever play again for the Raiders? Will Jim Harbaugh ever coach the Raiders?

Things like that. We'll talk to Tom about. Speaking of Jim Harbaugh, Rich will join us from Germany as he gets ready for, as I like to call it, the weekly game of the year, except this time we mean it. It counts. It's the Chiefs. It's the Dolphins. It's in Germany. I know a little German. I don't.

It's a cheesy movie reference. Rich will join us from his beautiful hotel room. Mike Sando from the athletic who has a project, a book, the NFL 100.

And who doesn't love a parade? Evan Carter will join us. What an amazing story he is. Two months ago, he's in the minors. He's in double-A. Double-A.

He hadn't even turned 21. Now he's about to ride on a parade or on a parking lot in Arlington. Love it.

Because the Rangers are World Series champions. Anyway, Michael Berger, send a voicemail. Again, we're happy you're here. 844204 Rich is the phone number.

844204 Rich. My phone is ringing, and he's laughing because it's a mutual friend of ours who decided to call. It's great. Anyway, he's laughing, meeting Chris Brockman. He's laughing. Chris, hello. Good day. Andrew, what's happening?

Wonderful to see you. Syracuse big game tonight. What are we doing for it? For the big game? I'm going to go to the Breeders' Cup.

I don't know if I'm back in time. Oh, man. Thanks for the invite. The Friday Breeders.

I only got the invite yesterday. Geez. But yeah.

How are your friends? I'm going to go ride a pony. Yes. You're not participating in the Breeders' Cup. No, I'm not going to ride it. I'm not even raffle board. I'm not actually the jockey. I am going to go there and wear purple because it is the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita. And I'm going to have a good time on a Friday afternoon. Nice.

Put some bets in for me. One of the most beautiful tracks in all of America. It is. It's awesome. It's never been.

Santa Anita. Jason, good to see you as well, sir. Hey, what's up, Andrew? Nothing. Alright, cool. Just chilling. Cool.

TJ. Cool. Yo. Good to see you. What's up, brother? What's up? How are you?

I'm okay. Here's the big news. Did you guys hear the big news this morning? Oh, no.

Huge news. DoC's coming up with another album? No. Oh, okay. Is the DoC still alive? I was going to say, is he still with us? I didn't know.

I saw a doctor and he's good. Yeah. Okay. I did not know that. No. The big news of the day.

He's 55. I should have told Hoskins here. What are you leading with? It just hit me.

Shockingly, I'm doing this top of my head. What happened? The big news today.

It was announced that Curb Your Enthusiasm is back in February. Hey. Post Super Bowl. Someone text TJ right now. Yeah.

Text me and my text will come out. Yep. Curb Your Enthusiasm is back for a 12th season as if our lives weren't awkward enough right now. Right. He's coming back.

No. The real top story is that what? You're looking at TJ. What? Well, when you text TJ, the Curb theme plays.

Seriously? So I just did it so it would play and he had his phone on mute. As he's supposed to. You could try it again. Like you're supposed to.

Yes, actually. Do it again. Do it again. All right. Hold on. We'll just resend.

Because when it happens, it freaks me out. Here we go. Thank you. So that's all you had to do to pull up the sound. He did it. It wasn't on me. Don't look at me. Like I asked the control room for it and they said, well, I hadn't told them I was going to do this.

And so now they got to scramble and people hate when the host does that to you. So there all you had to do is text him. Yeah, kind of a demur. And that's any text. Any text. Any text.

Any text. It'll happen at least once every other week. I'll forget.

That is awesome news. Post Super Bowl. I got to imagine.

I mean, I don't have to think. Maybe it's Super Bowl Sunday night. Super Bowl Sunday. Boom. Curban night.

Let's go. Thank you, Larry. David, what if the Jets were in the Super Bowl?

OK, that's a great laugh. Jets fan Larry David in with the Jets in the Super Bowl. What if it were against Jeff Garland's Bears?

That's Jeff Garland laughing. We'd be really rich. We could bet it right now. And it's probably a bajillion to one. I'm a league employee.

I've never placed a sports bet in my life. Well, true story. That's why that's why I'm here.

OK. Do not do that. Actually, that is a true story. Thank you.

That is a true story. Kawhi. Yeah.

OK. Speaking of Kawhi, you won't believe what James Harden said yesterday. Or maybe you will. We'll play that a little bit later. Let's get to the Thursday night game because you won't believe what happened last night.

Actually, you will. As I texted Brockman with about five minutes remaining in the game. This game is going exactly as expected. The most predictable game ever, because every Steeler game is the same, with the exception of last week against the Jaguars, where they got punched in the mouth of the pouring rain. And they're still complaining about the officiating, forgetting that they were gifted a win the week previous here in L.A. That aside, every Steelers game is the same this year. They don't play well.

They get penalized a lot. And then Kenny Pickett somehow puts it together in the fourth quarter. The defense stands on its head in the fourth quarter and they win. Now, the one difference last night is that with Matt Canada down on the sideline, the Steelers came out and had a really good drive. They opened the game, marched down the field, and they scored the touchdown.

That doesn't happen. Maybe Matt Canada on the sideline. All it took was moving Canada downstairs. And that worked.

It worked. Everyone after the game said they loved it. And then Will Levis got dealing. Will Levis can play, everybody.

Another thing you and I were texting back and forth about last night. That kid can sling it. And not only can he sling it. And yeah, he threw the pick at the end of the game. Granted, I don't like four verticals. I mean, you had, what, 11 seconds left? They were in the same play back to back, four verticals. I mean, you could have taken a shot at the sideline. You could have tried the middle of the field and gotten down there, had a closer shot regardless. He threw the pick. Give the Steelers credit. They ended the game.

Juan Alexander ended the game. But Will Levis can sling it. And not only can he sling it. That kid can stand in there and take a hit. I was stunned that at no point during that game, with a third and fourth string, and who the hell are these guys, offensive line in front of them, that Will Levis did not fall victim to a T.J. Watt or Alex Highsmith or Cam Hayward strip sack. Thought it was going to happen.

Thought it was inevitable. Matter of fact, that's how I thought the game would end. They would score the touchdown. The Steelers would get in the end zone.

In this case, Deontay Johnson. And then he did the Shawshank celebration there. It was almost 700 days since he scored.

He had not scored a touchdown since Ben Roethlisberger was passively, aggressively throwing him touchdowns. Walking boot. Walking boot. I digress. Andy Reid just said in Germany, I haven't had a Bratwurst. Maybe, I'm going to have one though, maybe two. Okay.

I am ADD today reading things off my screen. Where was I? So they scored early. I thought that there would be a point during the game in which Will Levis got hit. He fumbled and that's how the game would end. That was a patchwork offensive line.

It came in banged up and it got even more banged up as the game progressed. It's amazing that the Titans were able to hang in that game and actually protect the quarterback as well as they did, considering the guys they had out there, off the bench and out of position. Will Levis has a future. It is a bright one and barring injury, as much as I like the guy, I think it is safe to say Ryan Tannehill has played his last down as a Tennessee Titan. Again, barring injury, it's a long season.

Half the season still yet to be played. Will Levis is that dude. And I'm happy for him. He took a lot of pre-draft slings and arrows and he went from a potential top 10 pick, which, by the way, before the season or in season for college football, everyone's a top 10 pick, until they're not. Only 10 guys can go top 10. Will Levis was not one of them.

He went top 10 in the second round, not the first. He waited his turn and, no, he did not throw four touchdowns like he did a week ago in his debut. But I would argue, even in the loss, what Will Levis did last night on the road in Pittsburgh was more impressive than his four touchdowns at home against the Atlanta Falcons.

That's more impressive than what Kenny Pickett did last night. Give any Steeler fan the option. Which QB would you rather have? They would take Will Levis. 100%. 100%. But here's what Kenny Pickett did last night, which he hadn't done, as I said, in weeks previous, and that is play well in the first quarter. So he played well in the first. He played well in the fourth. Is that going to be enough?

Negative. But it was enough last night. Here's what Will Levis had to say. Losing sucks, especially at this level. It's so hard to win games, and when you've got an opportunity like that to win it at the end, it doesn't happen.

It makes it feel a whole lot worse. But credit to them. They made the plays when they needed to, and we didn't. Got to get back to work with that last one. Just trying to make a play and how it could have turned out differently. Maybe take a shot somewhere else, but need to give him a ball. Wanted Josh to climb the ladder for me, and need to give him one to jump up and go get. So didn't make the play.

Going to do my best to make it next time. Will Levis, bright future. Titans found their guy. I know. He's played only eight quarters. But we told you before the game, yesterday on the show, that the only quarterback in the last 20 years as a rookie to go into Pittsburgh and win was one Dak Prescott. Will Levis almost did it last night, and did it with a banged up offensive line. Tip of the cap to you. As for the Steelers, I said every game is the same.

Here's why. They have been outgained, despite their great defense. Outgained in all eight games this year.

Yet, they are five and three. Outgained in every single game. Is that going to cut it come January? I would say unlikely. They're playing at home. I wouldn't say likely. They could get a home win playing that kind of football.

They're not going to go on the road and win playing this kind of football. Here's Mike Tomlin. Thoughts on Kenny. Short week rib injury and coming through there at the end. You know, nothing that he does from an intangible perspective or toughness perspective surprises me. I think that we're all really comfortable about those qualities in him and, you know, his desire to rise up big for some moments and be significant down the stretch.

Can't say enough about it. Down the stretch, 11 plays, 92 yards, a touchdown drive to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Because that's what Kenny Pickett does. Seventh career game winning drive. Second most in the NFL these past two seasons behind only Kirk Cousins. Kenny Pickett, ten and three in his young career.

Again, two seasons, a season and a half, really. Ten and three in his career in one score games. If you make the minimum here, five starts, five career starts. The ten and three and one score games is the best of any active quarterback in the NFL. Better than Patrick Mahomes, better than Kirk Cousins, better than a young Brock Purdy, better than Lamar Jackson, better than all of them.

All Kenny Pickett does is win one score games. And the Steelers now are sitting in five and three, but they're still sitting behind the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North. Do you trust the Steelers as a wild card team on the road the way they are playing now? I don't. I don't. But a home game, I do. I truly do. Big difference between the way you're playing week nine and the way you're playing week 19, which is what the NFL internally calls the wild card weekend, week 19.

Big difference. But I could see them getting there. If the playoffs were to start today, big hint, they don't. Three teams from the AFC North would be in. Three.

I mean, that is pretty ridiculous. Heading into last week, three teams from the NFC West would have been in as well. The Rams lost.

They fell out of the seven seed in the NFC. But the Will Levis thing, I think it does send not only a positive message here to Tennessee, but it also sends a positive message to teams that want to find a quarterback somewhere other than the first round. Now, the skeptics would push back and say, but he was going to be a first round quarterback and then he fell. But he wasn't a first round quarterback. That's the thing is that everyone had a chance and everyone passed until the Titans had another chance and the Titans took him and it worked. And I think the kids got a great demeanor. He's got a great arm and he is tough as all.

You know what? He didn't run the first time T.J. Watt was helmetless breathing down his neck. He did not run when Alex Highsmith screaming off the edge. He stood in that pocket. He got hit, which may not be the smartest thing for your long term health. But a lot of the times he stood in the pocket, he delivered the ball downfield and did so well and did so to a wide receiver core.

But let's be honest, is kind of DeAndre Hopkins and the other guys. Good news on Tranlon Burks, however, we saw the scary scene on the Titans second to last possession where he hit the ground on a deep ball on fourth down, head hit the turf and he was out cold immediately. Al Michaels, they came back from break and said, this is scary.

Two ambulances on the field. Tranlon Burks walked out of the locker room and onto the team bus last night under his own power. Crazy scary. So that is such good news. I got that across my phone before I went to bed last night.

Sleep easy. That is such good news that he was able to get up and get out. Not nearly as good news on Cole Holcomb, the linebacker, former UNC guy who got his knee blown up.

Really no other way to say it. Collision with a teammate in coverage in the first half. Mike Tomlin said after the game that is a quote serious knee injury and Al Michaels said during the game, it is one of the injuries that we will not show again on replay. So best wishes to one Cole Holcomb.

All right. Other NFL news around the league today, Sean McDermott says that Josh Allen should be good to go again. He said that last night.

He's going to say it again today. Should be good to go despite being limited a little bit this week in practice. We're going to talk to Tom Pelissero coming up shortly. Get the latest on not only the Raiders, but the latest on Deshaun Watson, who is back on the practice field again today. And I would say all signs point towards Deshaun Watson being on the field Sunday for the Browns. Will this be a Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray game? I don't think so. The indications I get from Arizona, they're probably going to wait another week, but I could be wrong.

I'm going to hedge it big time. If it is Clayton tune at quarterback, he has thrown one NFL pass. It went for four yards in mop up duty against this Seattle Seahawks. And he would be one of seven rookie quarterbacks to start a game this week. And remember, Anthony Richardson is out for the year seven. As mentioned, we've got a fun show coming up. Rich is going to call in from Germany, Tom Pelissero, Evan Carter from the Texas Rangers. It's a Rich Eisen show, everybody. Rich Eisen here. If you love football as much as we do here and want to be in the game every day, there's something that guys on my show have been enjoying. Prize picks, daily fantasy sports, the number one daily fantasy sports app. Rockman, tell us about prize picks and your strategy this season. Rich, it's so fun and so easy. You know, I love this stuff. You pick two or more players based on their stats and place your entry.

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Become a Dash Pass member today. Larry David, we've done this before with you. Yeah. I've got three social situations.

You are the judge and jury as to what is done. OK. The first one is destination weddings. OK.

It's already funny. Destination weddings. I say to my wife, we're going to a destination wedding. We should not give a present because my presence is my present.

What do you say, Larry? First of all, where is the wedding? How far is it?

Another country. OK. You don't even go. You don't go. You don't go.

But it's a close family friend. I don't care. I am not flying 14 hours on a plane to somebody's wedding. I'm not going to do that.

The distance from your house that you... An hour and a half by car. That's it. Here's social situation number two for you, Larry David. Sure. So you're going into somebody's house for, let's say, the fight, the Mayweather McGregor fight. The fight of our producers.

Kentulo. OK. They brought desserts.

Fight ends. Nobody's touched the desserts. They like these desserts. Is it OK to take the desserts home? It's still...

It's a perishable. You're bringing it to the host, right? That's true. The host saw it. It's different if the host didn't see it, then you could sneak out. So if the host never saw it, if he placed it on the table and there's no note, that's when you could take it. If you think you're not going to get caught, yeah, then you could take it. OK. Last one for you, Larry.

LD. Shoes off on a plane. Do you have a problem with somebody on a plane? I have a big problem with it. Yeah.

Yeah. Keep them on. OK. You know, don't make yourself... It's not your house.

All right. You're outside. You're in public. I don't want to see your socks. And God forbid you have a little odor down there who needs that, right?

And I don't even want to know if you do have it. Exactly. It's close quarters. Come on. Take a couple of minutes, keep your shoes on. Funny, funny, funny, funny, funny stuff, everybody. Welcome back to The Rich Eisen Show.

My name is Andrew Siciliano. As I reorganize papers on this desk, I'm looking for this. I'm looking for this card to tell you that this is The Rich Eisen Show desk, which is furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call or clickrainger.com or just stop by as we get ready for week number nine of the National Football League and we get ready to talk to a man who is officially now an insider. He's on NFL Game Day morning.

He's on the insider show on the plus and on NFL Network. And I'm kind of disappointed that he's not wearing a hoodie today because Tom Bellasero, I wanted to compare hoodies and have a hoodie off, if you will. I used my hoodie of the week on Thursday this week, just decided it felt like the right move at that time, trying to limit myself to one per week.

Seriously? Like that's a thing? I mean, no, but you know, I'm trying to, here's the thing, if I start doing two hoodies a week, that's the gateway to three hoodies a week and pretty soon it's hoodie every day of the week. But I try to limit myself. It's moderation.

That's what it's about. Hoodies, hoodies are a gateway wardrobe choice, clearly. You know, you, you get one, you get two. Well, the fellows in the studio just want to see what jackets I got on, right boys? Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what?

Yeah, boy. Tip of the cap to Sarah, the lovely Sarah Bellasero as well. A lot of people, I think watching your wardrobe choices this year, thinking that she may have a hand in it regardless, I'd assume it's a team effort, but you guys are doing well. Just, just want you to know. I think she thinks a lot of the things I wear are stupid, honestly. There's not a lot of input. Just occasionally it's like, what were you wearing today?

Then I take back everything I said and yeah, what were you wearing? What will Deshaun Watson be wearing on Sunday? My read, Tom, is if he's practicing again and he's on the podium again and most accounts I'm hearing from people that are there are, he's, he's got pretty good zip on it. My gut says he plays this week.

What do you think? There's a lot of times when coaches say day-to-day and it's the cliche, it's, you know, as Nick Sirianni laid out recently, it's just the way that you kind of get away, get away with not saying anything at the podium through the course of the week, but the way that everything is played out with Deshaun Watson is truly day-to-day. So if in fact he does practice again today, which I would expect, it's going to be a question of how does he feel on Saturday?

And then come Sunday morning, does he feel completely led, ready to go and let it rip? I mean, he thought a few weeks ago before that Indianapolis game that he was going to be good to go. Obviously he got out there, he took another hit on the shoulder.

It wasn't right. This is a, you know, when you find this injury in baseball pitchers, it's four to six weeks or right around the six week mark right now, you would think he is getting closer. What they don't want to do is have the same sequence of events play out over and over and over to the rest of the season. The fact that he's throwing, that he's on the practice field, I agree with you, it's all good signs, but honestly, until he's suited up at kickoff time, in this case, you just, you got to, you don't 100% know. Yeah. And go back to the Indianapolis week when he did get on the podium and said, it is like a pitcher's thing. And we've been consulting with baseball doctors as well to try to figure out how to move forward.

I spoke to Kevin Stefanski Friday night that week. And I said, you know, if it's a pitcher's injury, do you almost need to make the Colts a bullpen day? Like do you have three quarterbacks up just in case? And he said, nah, if he's good to go, he's good to go. Well, then he didn't make it into the second quarter and he took that one hit, as you said. So I agree with you. The key is it's not start the game, it's finished the game and actually look like yourself and not have safeties coming from the opposite hash to pick a ball off on the sideline because you got no juice on it.

All right, let's go back to the Raiders firing. I wake up 10 o'clock, I'd gone to bed early. I see it. OK, wow, middle of the night.

Well, not really out here on the West Coast, but regardless. But then my immediate thought was and Tom, I haven't gotten a good answer is if you're going to do it now, I get it. But why don't you do it first thing in the morning when they get off the plane? Why do you let a coach into GM that you're about to fire 12 hours later, handle your trade deadline? That was unusual and it was set up, of course, in part by the fact that they had a Monday night game on the road that, you know, they got back from in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Anyone who's known Mark Davis also knows he's not really a morning person.

He is an afternoon and evening type of a person. But this is something Mark Davis have been thinking about for quite a while. Quite honestly, when it comes to the trade deadline, Mark Davis didn't want to give up these star players. He wanted to figure out a way to get the most out of these guys and still be competitive because, you know, they're not 0 and 8 here.

They're three and five. They still got things to play for here. And they feel like between Max Crosby, Devontae Adams, Josh Jacobs, they got some superstars on the roster. Now, you look at the offensive line.

It's got a long way to go. You look at the personnel elsewhere. Obviously, you got a quarterback change again this week with Aidan O'Connell back into the lineup. So you have moving parts. But from Mark Davis's perspective, this was not about, OK, fire them, do a fire sale and move forward.

No. I mean, about the only thing that they would have done differently perhaps was take Hunter Renfro's salary down to the minimum to be able to get something for him in a trade because other teams were not going to pick up that entire salary that would need to be done Monday prior to the game. So really, the cadence of the schedule played into this as much as anything.

But make no mistake. This was not knee jerk. This was not Mark Davis got mad about what happened on Monday night and decided to fire everyone. This is something that we've been weighing on his mind for weeks. He'd had discussions with players. He had been trying to get a feel for every aspect of the football operation. And ultimately, he decided that change was needed.

I know it has not gone through yet. And it being Tom Brady's official signing of his purchase of minority share. But, Tom, what do you make of the talk speculation inference that Tom Brady has Mark Davis's ear in all this? It's a good question, and I think that Tom Brady is never going to give the accurate answer, at least publicly. Originally him and Mark had developed a relationship, him buying into the Las Vegas Aces that just won the WNBA title, which is also something that Mark Davis has had on his mind.

Hey, he figured out it's a different league, but he figured out how to win a championship there. Why can't he get it right right now with the Raiders? In terms of Tom Brady, it's complicated in terms of his ownership stake because you're talking about, number one, the issues that have been made public about what Mark Davis would be selling that portion of the Raiders to Tom Brady for. But also the fact that Tom Brady is under contract with Fox, and it would be an unprecedented situation to have somebody who's a part owner of one team doing production meetings and calling games on other teams. And so there's no certainty at this point that Tom Brady's purchase will ever get through, at least not with some modifications or potential changes to what his role would be at Fox.

So this is something to keep an eye on. They didn't vote on it. They didn't discuss it at the October meeting. We'll see if that changes at the December league meeting. Otherwise you're talking about going through this entire season without that actually becoming final. And if at some point you have to wonder whether, number one, Tom Brady will never become a part owner of the Raiders, or number two, Tom Brady will never actually be in the booth at Fox. Talking to Tom Palacero, real quick, one last thing on the Raiders. Do we agree that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to get the Derek Carr treatment, like we're going to put you in a box, go stand in the corner, and because of the money due next year, you're not playing again here?

Well, I think that above all else, they think they've got something in Aidan O'Connell and they want to see him on the field. Garoppolo's already got $11.25 million fully guaranteed for next year. With Derek Carr, it was all injury guaranteed money, which is part of the reason that you didn't want him on the field, because if you get hurt, then now that money becomes guaranteed. With Garoppolo, he's got $11.25 million fully guaranteed next year, plus an $11.25 million roster bonus due in March. So the new general manager of the team, whether that's Champ Kelly, who's the interim, or somebody else, is going to have to make some decisions here. A little bit of a similar situation as Derek Carr a year ago in terms of, you got to make a decision earlier on in the calendar. Is it possible to trade Jimmy Garoppolo? Not if people watch the tape for Monday night.

It's going to be really difficult here. We've obviously seen Garoppolo play at a high level for a long period of time. It's one of many things that they're going to have to sort through, because remember, it's not like you ever get a clean slate entirely. You've got other players that they brought in. You've got Jacoby Myers, who's guaranteed for next year. You've got other signings that they made.

You're locked into some stuff, which is kind of what happens when you bring people in who you have to know on some level are going to do a rebuild culturally as well as personnel wise, and then you fire them after a year and a half. Yeah, I got a lot of clap back on social media when I said I'd rather have Jimmy Garoppolo in Minnesota than Josh Dobbs or Jimmy Garoppolo in Atlanta than either of the two options there. And I know he played poorly Monday night.

I know he has not played well recently, and he has the back injury also. But that's another thing about the trade deadline. If you could have unloaded him, if you knew you were going to make this move, if you had gotten rid of your GM before 4 p.m. Eastern time and maybe looked in that direction.

I know the contract's an issue here. I still think he would have been a better option, but that's just me. Take the Vikings, for instance, here, Andrew. You have Kirk Cousins at the trade deadline is two days removed from Terry and right.

He hadn't even had the surgery at that point. Kevin O'Connell voiced something publicly this week that I know has been the private discussion, which is they would like Kirk Cousins to be back in twenty twenty four. If you make a move to, for instance, trade for Jimmy Garoppolo's got guaranteed money in twenty twenty four or Kyler Murray that I know is speculated on is guaranteed money out into twenty twenty five.

You're limiting your options in terms of whether it is bringing Kirk back, whether it's drafting a quarterback high by trading for Dobbs, you're locked into nothing beyond this season. You have Jaron Hall is going to get the start this week. You go out and you see, hey, is this guy Brock Purdy?

If he's not. And of course, the odds are stacked against anyone playing like Brock Purdy down the did down the stretch last year. Now you got Josh Jobs and he steps in. And if that doesn't work out, but you're still in the thick of a playoff race, you still could go out and sign a veteran or do something else.

It's just the trade market that's cut off at this point. The Vikings took and I can tell you this, Andrew, they explored a lot of different options. They pursued a lot of different options.

They all fit in the same category, which was nothing that was going to impact beyond twenty twenty three. Dobbs ended up being the one with the fewest ripple effects in terms of the future. They did give up a six round pick in that deal, but they also got a six round pick back from Jacksonville for Ezra Cleveland, so it was largely a wash. Real quick.

Now you got to go final minute. Has anything you guys had the story a couple of weeks ago about Harbaugh and possible discipline on the college side that may leak over to the NFL side? If you were to go to the NFL last year or next year, Jim Tressel trial prior being the precedent there, has anything changed in these last two weeks as this story gets more and more interesting and we learn more and more on the college side?

Are you any, I guess, less skeptical now or I'll let you put your words on it. How do you feel about Harbaugh now two weeks later after you guys had that? Well, that was this past Sunday, and that's based upon what we were hearing in terms of what the NFL potentially would do and its clubs to not have Jim Harbaugh on the sideline at the start of twenty twenty four if he is leaving Michigan to escape a suspension that's been doled out. Now, I've had people raise Pete Carroll to me.

People have raised Antonio. She just became the interim head coach of the Raiders and it had trouble that he was facing potentially at Arizona State. But in those cases, nobody had gotten a ban. Nobody was barred from the sideline at that point. Obviously, there were programmatic impacts and fallout from those that took place here. But with Michigan and Jim Harbaugh, and I know there's people doing a lot more reporting on this than I am because the biggest story right now in college football, maybe the biggest story in all of sports. But I know there were calls the last couple of days based on what's been reported with the other coaches in the Big Ten, with the athletic directors in the Big Ten. You saw Ryan Walters, the head coach of Purdue, that has to play Michigan this week saying last night, hey, these aren't allegations, there's evidence. We know they were there. They bought the tickets. There's a paper trail.

They took the videos. We know all that's true. There's a lot of angst here and now pressure on the Big Ten to step in and perhaps supersede to a certain degree the glacial NCAA disciplinary process. So we know that Jim Harbaugh served a three-game suspension earlier this year. If you remember, Andrew, that was because a negotiated four-game suspension was rejected by I believe it's called the Committee of Infractions at the NCAA. So the three games that Michigan gave Jim Harbaugh was to mitigate future punishment.

So he's still facing future punishment for recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period. Now you add on top of it potentially the biggest scandal of my lifetime in college athletics with Jim Harbaugh and this Connor Stallions character and all the things that they allegedly were doing here. If you have multiple violations, and again, I'm not an expert on the NCAA rulebook, but I do know multiple major violations within a program that would yield a finding of head coach responsibility to get somebody banned for a long time. We're not talking about, oh, something was alleged, now he can't come to the NFL.

No. If he gets a suspension, if the NCAA, the Big Ten, whoever, suspends Jim Harbaugh indefinitely, I would fully anticipate because of integrity of the game and because of precedent in the Jim Trestle case that the NFL slash its clubs would have discussions about the eligibility of Jim Harbaugh. And I think that teams would be hard pressed to have Jim Harbaugh, if again, he has a suspension that's been handed down at the college level, having him on the field week one of the 2024 season. And I'm with you on the vagaries and how different the NCAA rulebook is.

We don't know every last line because, Tom, they generally make it up as they go. Look at North Carolina, who they found was basically running a diploma mill for years and then they went, ah, OK, no big deal. But this is bad. Listen, oh, I'm not saying it in violations like these are bad. You look back at Jim Trestle trial prior in 2011, they were trading tattoos and memorabilia.

But also signed that all his players were eligible when he knew none of them were. That's what it was. Right. In hindsight, though, that's like that's NIL. Now we just have a name for it.

It's something that everybody does. Right. This is something that no matter what level of football you're at, knowing you have a bright line rule and a team is violating it to this degree, allegedly, it's a it's a massive, massive deal. And the NFL is going to take a really hard look at whatever, whatever ends up taking place over these next couple of months. The insiders every day, NFL Plus, NFL Game Day Morning, sorry I missed you this past Sunday. I have truly, as I just told you there with the timeline on your Harbaugh story, lost track of time and weeks. Last time, however, let's get a drink or something.

Sounds good. Medic, good job there by Pelocero wearing NFL owners meeting gift bag swag on the TV. There are certain people at the network that do an amazing job getting every last item of the gift bag swag into their wardrobe. Del Tufo? Del Tufo.

Well, I'm talking NFL Network. I mean this. Of course, Del Tufo.

Del Tufo is obviously in a class by himself on swag. I mean this as a compliment. Nobody does it like Omar Ruiz, our reporter Omar. You guys know Omar, right? He's the best. He's the best Omar. Omar is top 10 human. Like Omar is the best. Totally agree.

Like and his wife Ashley and their beautiful family, their three daughters, utterly amazing. All of them. Omar makes every last item in that bag work and and like for five years, like Omar could walk in and I go, oh, owners meetings 19. Those Nike shoes. Yeah.

And Omar lights up. Good job. That was good. Yeah.

And then he'll walk in the next week and I'll go, that's a Nike pull over the meetings in 19. He's like, you got it. Yep. Like, it's a special gift you have, Andrew.

He utilizes all of it. Yeah. I sent a, I sent a text to a GM last year, like a month after the meetings, he's on the podium doing a pre-draft presser and I'm like, ah, you, you kept that hoodie. Like I gifted that one and it was kind of ugly. Anyway, you don't look at gift horse and the whatever. Exactly. Yeah. If it's free, it's me. Love it. Hey, you can stream the NFL on Westwood one for free.

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That's right. Stream Kevin Harland, Kurt Warner, and me all season long for free and get in the zone of AutoZone AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone get in the zone AutoZone restrictions apply coming up next on the rich eyes and show you won't believe what James Harden said yesterday, or maybe you will because it's on brand that's next. The football season is underway and believe podcasts are talking about it when he went home and went to sleep, Michael Parsons is terrorizing him, believe as podcasts covering all 32 professional teams and many of your favorite college teams too, and to be only producing 15 points a game. That's something that is definitely disheartening sideline to sideline end zone to end zone as a quarterback. I would expect him to be acting like that.

Take the accountability, put that on yourself. Don't put it on your teammates search BLEAV podcasts wherever you listen. Fred Nick half posh, 100% fun, Trey Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester try and learn fancy culture in putting on airs the host of the medium popcorn podcast, Brandon Collins and Justin Brown. Okay, so Paddington 2 had like 100% of Rotten Tomatoes for years. You guys ruined that? Justin came in and like took it down like two points because of his rating. That's the time we started getting death threats.

I'm not surprised people worship that movie. Putting on airs. The podcast is on YouTube and wherever you listen. I did not approve this, but you know, that's, that's part of me delegating to you, our social media grand maester, you put out on Instagram, a photograph, it says breaking bears trading for Russell Wilson and what's today's date? What's today's date? It is April 1st. And that is what? It is April fool's day.

So it's five minutes to air. My phone's on the desk and it's buzzing and yeah. And I, I see it as a, you know, it's, it's, uh, uh, it's Jeff Garland is the caller there is the caller there on the recheck from Chicago. What's funny about it, nothing's funny about it.

Nothing is funny about it. Our friend Doug Robinson texts me, the Capitol Russell Wilson, he says, you know, rich doesn't usually get the scoops. Well, that should have made me suspicious, but no, I have so much respect for the rich eyes and show that I know that they have connections that nobody else has.

That's true. Well, you know what? Rich, I'm not going to swear, but I got to tell you, you're a little social media boy. He's going to get it. TJ, do you have anything to say to Jeff Garland? Yeah. Uh, happy.

All right. Hey, TJ, you don't know what you brought down on yourself. You don't even have a clue. I'm ready for the power that I have, especially in practical jokes. I'm going to nail you so hard. You know what? I hope you enjoy your testicles right now, because they're going to disappear. No, but I need them.

I like that beat, too. Yeah. The TV.

He was a Roku viewer. Hi there. Hey there. The Jeff Garland. Bring that beat back. You were bring that beat back.

I want to hear that beat, right? Hey, it's The Rich Hyzen Show. I'm Andrew Siciliano. TJ Jefferson. Jason is here.

He's in the group here as well. Victor Wambunyama played really good basketball. Fun.

Yay. He scored 38 last night. And it's not just that he scored 38, it's not just the number 38, it's how he got the 38. Threes in transition. Threes. Step backs. Dunks. Alley oops. A pick and roll. Give and goes.

Alley oops. He still looks like a giant praying mantis, looks like something out of a, I'm a funny looking human, by the way, out of a, out of a sci-fi movie with like, can you imagine you standing next to Victor Wambunyama? That would be the picture of all pictures. I have a lot of funny ones next to like massive football players. It's funny. I did not get my DeJuan Jones picture at the Browns game a couple of weeks ago.

I'm going to get one of those. He was doing this to Kevin Durant on the free throw out at one point and Durant looked like his child. Durant said after the game. And Durant's seven feet tall. Durant said after the game. I think Spurs win whatever that over twenty nine for the Spurs over under. Yeah, whatever.

Jimmy and San Antonio. Congrats. So he's getting that. He's getting that money.

Wambunyama had a great game. Thirty eight and twenty, right? And Durant said afterwards, thirty eight and ten. I'm sorry. Thirty and twenty.

Thirty and twenty. Even more now. He praised him for his knowledge of the game, his, his how would I say this? His respect for the game, right?

Like he's not some kid that just showed up from another country knows nothing. He clearly gets it is what Durant kind of said is what I inferred from what he said. But he also said something like people compare us.

It's like, I guess we're both skinny, but like, I'm not him. Like we're yeah, we're, we're totally different players. And you could see the embrace they had afterwards as well, where Durant wasn't just like, hey, good game, bro. And this is the second time they had played.

So back to back game. Yeah. So obviously there's, there is a mutual respect here. And I don't know. And my biggest fear of women, Yama is can his body of that frame. So lean, take the pounding.

I don't know. It's a long season and I don't just mean this year. I mean long term, but if he comes to town, ladies and gentlemen, go down to the arena and take your kids.

It's that kind of show. Your kids may one day be able to say, I saw Wimby as a rookie or just saw him period. And you don't have to even get a good seat. You could sit in the last row in the rafters.

You'll be able to see him clearly. He's the seven foot six dude down there. Not even his, his rookie year, but I saw LeBron play in new Orleans, his third season.

Okay. And I remember everything about the game. He scored 40 plus the game winning the overtime and the calves won. It was, it's that type of experience, I think this year going to see Wimby. So you're totally right. If you have a chance to go see him, he comes to your town, go.

You won't regret it. Yeah. I mean, I saw LeBron's first game against the Clippers, his rookie year, I believe he scored eight points, something that like 20 years later, I remember I was in the house on Sunday just to watch one banana because I wanted to see that first, that first game here in Los Angeles.

And I got to be honest. And I said this to these guys when I came in Monday, he had his worst game of the year against the Clippers. He only had 11, the Clippers. They played him real defensively, Robert Covington, who got traded, did a great job just doing all they could. Also, it looked like he was on a pitch college. We only played 26 minutes against the Clippers for whatever reason. But last night, I mean, I kind of wish I would have seen that type of game on Sunday that he had the last two nights. Hey, you were in the building, you saw him. There will be other opportunities. If he keeps doing what he did last night, he is going to stick around for a long, long time.

Speaking of your Clippers. So James Harden has yet to play this year, obviously, they you saw how what the bills is Russell Douglas, DNP didn't practice. Just got here, right? Very funny. Just got here.

Very, very funny. DNP just got here as well, but they're also kind of like we're working him into basketball shape. Well, you would have been in basketball shape. You've had just like refused to show up and play for the Sixers, but that's an entirely different issue.

James Harden met with the L.A. media for the first time yesterday. Philly is just changing my road, knowing I can give more, knowing I can do more. But if you want to be honest, like being on the leash and like me knowing in order for us to get where you want to get to, I was going to have to be playing my best offensively, whether it's facilitating and scoring the basketball and Joel as well. And I never really had that opportunity. So I think all that plays into where I am today, where whatever T Lou and the coaching staff needs me to do.

OK, pretty harmless stuff there. Don Bowie would tell you, stop hitting the podium because we could hear it when you hit the mic stand. Listen to this one, though, when I'm in a leash, I'm not men just shooting the basketball every time I'm like, I'm a I'm a like, I think the game and I'm a creator on the court. You know what I mean? So if I got a voice to where I can, hey, coach, I see this, you know what you think about this? Then it's like someone that trust me, that believes in me, that understands me, that I'm just not a you know, I'm not a system player. I am a system. You know what I mean? So somebody that can have that dialogue with me and understand and move forward and figure out and make adjustments on the fly throughout the course of games, I don't really care about. You know, I mean, it's not about me scoring a basketball, scoring 30, 34 points.

I've done it already. So that's what I meant by that. I'm not a system, man. I am the system.

I love it. What a great quote. I'm not a business man. Put that on a t shirt. I'm a business man. Joe Burrow, the window is I'm here. I'm paraphrasing my career. My career. Thank you.

What could possibly go wrong with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and Russell Westbrook with James Harden saying I'm the system now, just nitpick more than hold on TJ. I know he said more. I know. Let me get it out. But really, I'm not your NBA geek here. Okay. But I do know this, that every marriage that James Harden, NBA marriage has had eventually goes badly. And it usually happens pretty quickly. So after listening to that, and I realize what I assume you're going to say here, that the I'm a system is taken a bit out of context is far more nuanced answer that doesn't sound so bad when you hear the whole thing. So why does anyone think this is going to go well?

Does anyone think this is going to go well? I think the thing that can prevent it obviously is health. You know, the Clippers have a long history of their stars getting hurt. I've chronicled that many times, and he has a long history of not staying healthy.

He's got a history. So I mean, I want to be positive, and I'm hoping because if you take those three, four guys and let's just say they have a chance to stay healthy with their talent and their basketball knowledge, then this team should do well. But everyone out there, their initial thought is, this is a failure.

This isn't going to work. Harden's washed. I don't know how a guy who had 21 and 11 last year is washed. But you know, ultimately, we're going to see they got to get on the court together.

I don't think he's washed. I think he could still play. I just think there are way too many cooks in the kitchen. It's not going to go well, but that's just me. I could be wrong.

I might not be wrong. It's going to be fun to watch regardless because if it implodes, it'll be great NBA theater. If it goes well, it's great NBA theater. If the Clippers' final season at Staples before they moved to Inglewood, and I drive by that thing every day, I mean, it's going up fast. It looks fantastic.

It is going up fast. Welcome to the neighborhood. If their final season somehow gives us a Lakers Clippers playoff series and we get a game like we got on Wednesday night, sign me up.

And that game didn't have James Harden. No sign me up. No doubt.

I want that badly. I don't know. Color me skeptical.

Color me skeptical that the James Harden experiment will work here. But if it does amazing coming up next hour here on the rich eyes and show Evan Carter will join us. Who is Evan Carter?

You ask that is not a Netflix show. Evan Carter is an outfielder who just turned 21 years old for your world champion, Texas Rangers. He lives in a hotel.

He has a vertical driver's license and he cannot rent a car. But get familiar with his batting gloves are going to Cooperstown because he just had a hit in every single game. That's crazy. The post season that he joins us right around the corner. For decades, Rolling Stone has set the bar for entertainment publications today, Rolling Stone Music Now takes over in podcast form. We have Michael Azerrad, who was Nirvana's very first biographer. I'm not sure how many people realize how many of the best songs on in utero were written way beforehand. To be fair to Kurt, he was also a new father. There was a lot of stuff distracting him. It wasn't just drugs, although that was certainly a major factor. Rolling Stone Music Now, wherever you listen.