REShow: Hour 1

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Learn more at Discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. Oh my God, you guys are my favorites. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about.

That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Brian Weber. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Oh my gosh. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. Always an honor to sit in for Rich, support his brand. Especially great to be with you on this Thanksgiving. We assume a degree of sophistication if you're part of the Rich Eisen Show audience. And you probably know, as you flip around the dial, a lot of shows play tape. Best of a series of interviews on a holiday.

Rich does not because he wants to make sure you're informed, entertained, even with yours truly, keeping the chair warm. So we're gonna have a great time together over the next three hours. As you might imagine, wall-to-wall football. Let me reach over and hit the button right there.

We are precisely 30 minutes away from the start of the Lions and the Packers countdown to kickoff underway. Now, I am here to give you counter-programming. I cannot do play-by-play, of course. That would be a copyright violation. However, I'll have the game on and multitasking.

Certainly a skill on a holiday. But I'll have it in the corner of the studio. Should anything big happen, I'll keep you constantly updated. I'm not doing fantasy alert, fantasy alert. But you will not miss the significant moments along the way. And we're gonna go in-depth in less than five minutes to kick things off, talking about the Renaissance of the Lions.

I am older than my energetic delivery hopefully suggests. And for the majority of my adult lifelines that have coalesced to get me in this chair, the Lions have been absolutely abysmal. Other than the Barry Sanders peak years in the early 1990s and what a wonderful confluence on a big word Thursday, the Barry's back and promoting his documentary. But other than the peak years, 91, the last time they won a playoff game. 93, the last time they won a division. I don't have to tell you, the Lions have been absolutely hideous. Well, that was then, this is now.

Not only gonna talk about the game coming up against Green Bay, which they should handle, I think in straightforward fashion, unless you believe what we've seen from the Lions defense the last two weeks is problematic. I think the larger, more interesting question to pose in the conversation we can have at 844-204-7424, 844-204-7424. Phone calls taken selectively. Let me be straight up with you. If you've ever had to endure me hosting for Rich or other shows, I'm lucky to be affiliated with my style is not that conducive the calls because I think I'm just that fascinating. Plus, I have four hours of content I try to cram into a three hour bag.

So your best bet is to hit me up on the X. X me. I don't work for Elon. I'm gonna still call it Twitter. That's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Where should we slot the Lions in addition to having an eight and two record, off to their best start since 1962?

Where do the Lions belong in the legitimate Super Bowl conversation? We'll get there coming up. And if I don't get to you at 844-204-7424, hang on to the number. My pal Dan Schwartzman in tomorrow. Then Rich and the guys back on Monday.

You know, Rich does his best to be as interactive as possible with a ton of phone calls when they're relevant. I'm not going to overwhelm you with guests. None in this first hour. So we're wide open coming up an hour number two in addition to the college football, which I'm going to tackle coming up in about 25 minutes. Getting you set for Ohio State Michigan understanding that my boss, the man I'm filling in for, is a proud Michigan man.

But I'll try my best to maintain that balancing act. A report this morning on Fox's pregame show from Jake Lazer that the clubs around the NFL he has talked with are not concerned about what the NCAA could do to Jim Harbaugh. However, that does not preclude the league from enforcing a suspension should the NCAA decide to go down that road as they complete their investigation beyond what the Big Ten has already done with the three-game suspension in the wake of the sign stealing scandal. We'll talk about Harbaugh's future. We'll talk about the particulars of the game and then we'll go in-depth coming up at 1 40 eastern time. We're taking you on campus for a huge, I gotta slow down here, rivalry weekend.

Thank you. I got it out across college football when we check in with Chris Venini of the athletic final hour 2 40 eastern time. Beyond all the college and NFL football I'm going to handle myself. We'll have another football guest, Sam Munson, who uses data-driven analysis to come up with his conclusions about the NFL. Check out his great work at Pro Football Focus. BW Weber, Weber with two B's.

I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. As I think about, and I'm not going all the way back to the curse of Bobby Lane, I mentioned 1962. I was not alive then although I'm just gonna be as forthright and upfront as I can be.

One of the reasons why I had a little bit of momentum at the start of my career a lifetime ago is that history was my niche. Then Google came along and you didn't need a savant like me to tell you that the Lions have had that one playoff victory I alluded to, 1991 season. That's their only playoff win since they won the title with Bobby Lane 1957 season. It's been a minute and this has been one of the most poorly run franchises in all of sports undeniably. You can blame the revolving door of GM's head coaches. We know the losing got so terrible not only did Barry Sanders walk away as featured now in his new Amazon doc Bye Bye Barry. Calvin Johnson decided he had enough. So arguably top three, top five, running back wherever you'd slot Barry.

And Megatron, Hall of Famer, top 10, wherever you want to put him, an elite performer at his position. Two of the greatest players we've ever seen in the last 50 years in the NFL said thanks but no thanks. I don't want to play for the Lions anymore. And finally things have changed. Now from a standpoint of being a consumer of football, a television participant, and the greatest TV spectacle of them all.

This is not even hyperbole. The NFL is the only thing propping up traditional network television now. I'll throw it out there and again this should be in my wheelhouse as I'll think about Happy Days and Fonzie jumping the shark in the late 1970s. Name one show outside of 60 Minutes because like the NFL that's been around for decades a staple of your Sunday. Name one show that you watch with regularity on traditional network TV.

I'm waiting. The answer is Sunday Night Football. The Fox and CBS packages are the last thing that are making broadcast TV relevant. But as I think about how it was before we got to wall-to-wall football with the first ever Black Friday game coming up tomorrow and my goodness I know Amazon is delighted. They wrote a massive check to get the rights to the game between the Dolphins and the Jets to have Tim Boyle under center for Rich's Jets. Again I have to tread lightly. I caught myself there although the Jets were also the team of my childhood.

I put them in the rearview mirror. Rich is much more loyal since I grew up in the suburbs of New York City. But not too long ago before Thursday Night Football became a year-round property with, let's be honest, lousy football because nobody is going to be at their best on that kind of short week with that kind of turnaround now especially in a 17-game regular season. But not too long ago having football on a Thursday because of the Thanksgiving holiday was truly special. The only downside was we had to endure the Detroit Lions because of the tradition that started in Detroit in the 1930s. But for decades, and I'm going back to being a kid, late 70s early 80s, I mentioned the aberration that was Barry Sanders, my pal Eric Kramer, Herman Moore. When the Silver Dome was rocking it was a spectacle. Other than that brief window the Lions have been beyond irrelevant. They've just been unwatchable and it would be like the Thanksgiving tradition that you could map out as you got older and you're starting to figure out the rhythms of life so I'm 13, 14, 15. I know my Uncle Mike is going to have a little bit too much red wine and venture into politics. Don't know when it's going to happen but it's going to happen at some point and we knew as we're getting ready to put the bird in the Lions were going to play a god-awful football game.

So there were many years and this is even before you could do this stuff online. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. Your voice can be heard at 844-204-7424. Hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's in less than 15 minutes talking Michigan, Ohio State and we'll start to put the college football playoff picture into focus because I'm a scenario guy. I'm a what if guy. I'm a chaos guy and I won't have time to do it in this hour.

We're going to circle back in the next hour. I'm going to run through a variety of different outcomes depending on how the rivalry games this week followed by the championship games next week play out because right now we have a slew of teams. More undefeated teams than I can recall at this stage of the season in college football with only four slots out there and it feels like if you go all the way down to number eight with Alabama I can make a legitimate case for all of those teams beyond obviously the top seeds that have the most efficient way of playing their way into the quote unquote final four but we'll get weird a little bit and talk about how the dominoes could fall coming up.

Thank goodness now we no longer have to come up with petitions. People used to drop off actual reams of paper at the NFL headquarters 345 Park Avenue and say please get the lions off my television on Thanksgiving. That's how atrocious it was and then finally last year we had the turn as Dan Campbell has changed the culture. You know about how well they played down the stretch almost played their way into the postseason. I'll credit to their professionalism Campbell getting buy-in from his players and their tenacity that even though when we got to the final game of the regular season on Sunday Night Football last year when the lions took the field at Lambeau Field they knew their playoff hopes had been snuffed out. There was no way they were going to the postseason still in their minds they had something to play for and that was knocking the Packers out of the postseason equation and they did it and the question was was that a one-off because the conception of momentum and it's one of my favorite sayings and as you get more self-aware you realize and the ability to listen to everything not that I would ever go back and say play three hours of a radio show driving around. I'm not that big of a narcissist maybe just maybe if you're wondering who this is I'm Bryan Weber in for Rich Eisen we're live on this Thanksgiving you can slide in at 844-204-7424 hop aboard on Twitter the X BW Weber Weber would you be as I'll check out your social media post coming up and cherry pick the best ones leave the venom aside it is a holiday after all but as you think about all these constructs that we come up with one of the laziest things I stumble into is a notion of maintaining momentum now since we're having data-driven analysis coming up in the final hour with Sam Munson a pro football focus joining us they use the analytics to come up with their takeaways not just the eyeball test the folks who really run the numbers tell us and let's get a little nerdy so I'm going to do it very quickly that momentum doesn't exist it's flipping a coin and the odds revert to 50-50 every time so even if you flip the coin and had it come up heads 99 times in a row you know what the odds are for the next flip flip 100 back to 50-50 still in a league in which things change radically year by year that's the whole business model of the NFL they're selling hope worst to first it's happened what 14 the last 15 years somebody rises up from the bottom of their division to make an unlikely playoff run or win the division championship there's not always continuity from one year to the next so the question for the lions came down to this was last year a nice story a warm anecdote surrounding a team that was plucky and had gumption I sound like Lou Grant here they had Moxie I hate Moxie were they just a nice story last year or were they laying the foundation for something far more substantial this year and you know the answer they're sitting at eight and two but along the way it feels like we have dissected the lions because they're the lions we're waiting for the implosion because you are what you consistently do and we've seen this for decades so when they beat the Chiefs in the season opener on a Thursday night in Kansas City you know the pushback well there was no Travis Kelce they were missing their best defensive player ah nice win let's hang an asterisk on it because well in fairness if you don't have Kelce not Chris Jones you don't have the true Kansas City Chiefs although maybe that was foreshadowing of who the Chiefs are as we saw on Monday night again if Kelce is not fully dominant and he was not at his best one of two red zone turnovers along with Mahomes pick and just seemed like Kelce was out of sorts and do not blame it on Taylor Swift do not blame it on Travis getting on a plane and going to Argentina to see T-Sizzle he had a bad game although he does seem like and he's been much more vocal about the injuries just from an eyeball test standpoint the optics it looks like he's more banged up than normal and we've seen that go back to the Minnesota game when he left briefly and you wondered would he come back on the field but maybe we should have put more stock in what happened all the way back in the season opener and given the lions more credit for going on the road and defeating the reigning champs in one of the toughest places to play in all of sports especially with the atmosphere of the Super Bowl euphoria in KC I understand that the Chiefs weren't the Chiefs that we know based on having a full complement of star power but Detroit still had to win that game and here they are at eight and two and if you believe records tell the story and you're going to say wait a minute fill in guy whoever you are I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Ozen live on this Thanksgiving day we appreciate the company you can let me know what you think by heading over to Twitter BW Weber Weber with two B's occasionally a record can be a mirage think back to that Steeler team a few years ago that had that brilliant undefeated start I didn't want to seem like I was a soothsayer but it was pretty clear to me and everyone else who was paying attention that team was going nowhere in the playoffs probably a similar outlook for the Steelers right now at six and four they would be a wildcard team unless you think blame Canada blame Canada blame Canada is the right strategy and for the Steelers to make a move like that within the regular season they have not fired an offensive coordinator since the 1940s but that's the Steeler way they've only had three head coaches since Richard Nixon was in the White House unless you think that getting rid of Matt Canada at long last is going to jump start that offense maybe there'll be marginal improvement because it can't get any worse than last week in that debacle against Cleveland the larger question really in my mind hinges on how you view Kenny Pickett I'm not talking about his hand size I'm talking about his efficiency his productivity and his decision making I don't know that we can say right now that he's a legitimate NFL starter especially with those playmakers around him but as we talk about the notion of what a record means at this stage of the season with December coming up for example is Philadelphia the best team in all of football at eight and one well I make that nine and one right coming off the victory over Kansas City on Monday night how can you say they're not they only have one loss at the same time if you've been paying attention this year's nine and one as they've got nine and one in consecutive seasons now is not nearly as dominant as last year's and I don't have to read you all of the stats for example point differential or the sacks they were accumulating on their way to the historic season achieved by their front seven if you just watch the red zone you know the Phillies had to grind out these wins still they are nine and one so I think especially given the separation in the depth between the NFC and the AFC sometimes we work too hard to find flaws surrounding teams and yes the Eagles have not been as exceptional as last year but they have the best win of any team and you don't have to dip into your memory bank to recall what had happened it was just Monday night now you can fairly address what Kansas City failed to do I mentioned both of the red zone turnovers close your eyes right now not if you're driving but just conjure up the image of Mahomes with one of the best bombs down the middle of the field you'll ever see the problem was he hit Marquez Valdes-Scandling directly in his hands and that was not a one-off because by now you've heard many times this week Kansas City is number one in the league and drops in fact they have not scored a point in the second half now in three consecutive games so there are a lot of donations in the holiday season handed from the Chiefs to the Eagles still Philadelphia Philadelphia had to win that game on the road and they got it done so as I think about where we put Detroit in the overall hierarchy of Super Bowl contenders eight and two aside which is a magnificent mark especially for this franchise my question hinges on what do we make of the Lions defense not too long ago top 10 for the majority of the year the numbers will get skewed when you get carved up by Justin Herbert which is understandable in that wild shootout two weeks ago in Southern California but then the issue becomes how did Justin Fields pick him apart last week and in all candor Detroit was lucky to win that game now you could say as a Lion fan hey Mr. Loud Guy don't we give them credit for resolve grit determination resilience yes but if we're talking about a team that doesn't have playoff experience and didn't get to the playoffs last year you have to I think hold them to a higher standard of analysis to wonder does the regular season success translate into an impact in the postseason and I want to see today coming up now in less than 10 minutes albeit against a lackluster opponent now if you want to you want to be the champion of the NFC North you're going to tell me Jordan Love looked good last week my counter would be everyone looks good against the Chargers coming up in the next hour we'll talk about coaches should be looking over their shoulder at this time of the year namely Brandon Staley will get there with more negativity surrounding the bolts the tough news that was confirmed yesterday Joey Bosa now on the IR but as this game kicks off and I'll keep you constantly updated will the Lions defense show up today or will Jordan Love who looked good last week we'll give them that after a bumpy first season as a starter in Green Bay will Love become the third consecutive quarterback to bury now a wobbly Lions defense the good news for Detroit is they can win games if need be I alluded to that shootout against the Chargers if it comes down to a 32-28 final advantage Detroit because Jared Goff has been one of the most inspirational and yes I'm going to get deep on a holiday he believed in himself an inspirational comeback because the Rams left him for dead and I admire what Goff has done reinventing himself in Detroit it helps to have dynamic playmakers like Ahmad Raah, Saint Brown you know the Lions can run it with Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery so as this game now is less than 10 minutes away my key question surrounds the defense and we'll find out the answers together as this one is about to kick off I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen you can be a part of the program 8-4-4-2-0-4-7-4-2-4 we'll get to the other games coming up today and tomorrow I mentioned the first ever NFL Black Friday game there was one back in the day in the AFL but you don't want more history do you Dolphins Jets tomorrow coming up later today Dallas who just refuses to lose at home against Washington speaking of coaches on the hot seat what does the future look like for Ron Rivera and then the Niners have sorted things out as they've gotten healthier although always a challenge to play in Seattle that is an intense rivalry Geno Smith will start despite the elbow injury we're going to get you fully lined up for all of those games plus in our immediate future we're talking college football it is a massive weekend coming up filled with rivalry games on campus based on what we saw Saturday against Maryland with their comeback how much will Michigan miss Jim Harbaugh in their showdown with Ohio State Saturday in Ann Arbor just getting warmed up on a dynamic Thanksgiving edition of the program appreciate the company here on Turkey Day I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen it's the Rich Eisen Show. All right folks let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big time events because it can be worrisome it can be time consuming and it can be expensive so game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports music comedy and theater events near you you can see the view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive they have all in prices that show you your total up front so you know you're getting a great deal without hidden fees and how easy is it to use you can buy tickets on game time in seconds with two taps and there's a game time guarantee which means you'll always get the best price if you find tickets in the same section and row for less game time will credit you 110 of the difference it is so awesome I use it you should as well for sports music comedy did I mention theater events all near you take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time download the game time app create an account it's so easy and use code eisen for twenty dollars off your first purchase restrictions apply visit gametime.co for terms again create an account and redeem the code E-I-S-E-N for twenty dollars off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right folks let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big time events because it can be worrisome it can be time consuming and it can be expensive so game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports music comedy and theater events near you you can see the view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive they have all in prices that show you your total up front so you know you're getting a great deal without hidden fees and how easy is it to use you can buy tickets on game time in seconds with two taps and there's a game time guarantee which means you'll always get the best price if you find tickets in the same section and row for less game time will credit you 110 of the difference it is so awesome i use it you should as well for sports music comedy did i mention theater events all near you take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time download the game time app create an account it's so easy and use code eisen for twenty dollars off your first purchase restrictions apply visit gametime.co for terms again create an account and redeem the code E-I-S-E-N for twenty dollars off download game time today last-minute tickets lowest price guaranteed welcome back to the rich eisen show radio network i'm brian weber and i'm sitting at the rich eisen show desk furnished by granger with supplies and solutions for every industry ranger has the right product for you call click ranger.com or just stop by 844-204-7424 the number to call we can get interactive on social media that's bw weber weber with two b's because i was like an overstuffed turkey and a pro tip that i learned from my blessed mother who was not that well versed in the culinary arts as she was learning how to raise a family and find her way around the kitchen this is not sexist in any way my mom worked full-time my mom had two masters but back in the early 80s mom was going to cook mom did not know you had to take the innards that bag that comes inside the turkey out of said bird and we had something that felt like it was straight out of a peanuts special when i think we had nothing but pie that year that was circa 1982 i am deep deep deep in the hot tub time machine today feeling like a nostalgic broadcaster on a holiday my long-winded point was this that was a meaty monologue so we're going to be more concise here talking college football in less than 15 minutes and maybe this fits my mindset although i'm in a great mood and hopefully that's coming through however you're consuming this audio experience grumpier old men did you catch greg popovich chastising his home crowd in san antonio last night plus what do you make of what tom brady said a few days ago decrying the mediocrity across the nfl i'll tell you what's really going on in both of those instances coming up monster game i have to come up with a better adjective sensational showdown in an arbor feels like i'm selling it even though i have no affiliation to the game of the year and arguably and we're going to talk about this in much more detail final hour of the program is michigan versus ohio state coming up saturday in an arbor i know rich will be live tweeting throughout the game as a proud michigan man is this going to be the last significant regular season game we're ever going to see as we move to the 12 team playoff next year because while it's always special and filled with history whenever ohio state and michigan get together you can't tell me the stakes won't be different next year when both teams will presumably if they're of the same caliber they typically are if both teams already know they're going to a 12 team playoff that's in addition to the decades of intensity between these universities that's what makes saturday so meaningful the stakes winner moving on to the big 10 title game loser unless 27 other things happen and i'll get into those exotic scenarios i was promising coming up in the next hour of the program loser is out that's what makes this game so filled with filled with anticipation it's because of the significance and the consequence but much like the grumpy old men greg popovich and tom brady i mentioned i'm yelling at the clouds myself because we know the format change is coming and even though i think the current setup of four teams is better because the argument about who the fifth team is who's going to be on the outside looking in is far more compelling than who the 13 team is going to be next year if you're number 13 i don't care because now we've supersized the field but i'll save that rant for later in the program i'm brian weber infra rich eisen you can pick up the telephone 844-204-7424 or get things revved up on the x bw weber weber with two b's about an hour and five minutes from now i know it's all about appointment audio on a holiday we'll incorporate our first guest and we're gonna get into the x's and o's to a degree when we're joined by chris venini senior college football writer for the athletic we'll talk about what the game between michigan and ohio state could come down to to me so much of what's surrounding the game is far more interesting than what's going to happen on the field on saturday because for example however you view jim harbaugh and i'll mention again the report from jay glazer on fox's pre-game show with the game between the lions and the packers just underway as things progress i'll keep you constantly updated glazer dialed in he says he reached out to a handful of nfl teams this week and none were concerned about the ncaa's continued investigation of jim harbaugh and michigan football meaning that would not be a deterrent if they want to hire him but here's the issue that's the club perspective the nfl has a precedent and don't you know what involves ohio state and michigan jim trestle had to serve the ncaa suspension when he was hired in a advisory capacity role in the nfl so there is the precedent if the nfl wants to enforce the ncaa suspension if it happens to jim harbaugh that's one more wrinkle next season but we had a lot of time to get to prior to that still whatever may or may not have occurred and i think we can fairly say there was a sign skeeling sign stealing he said smoothly signs were being stolen it was organized it was financed allegedly by a booster how much did harbaugh know and when did he know him those are going to be the questions that the ncaa will determine but much more importantly tied to saturday's game harbaugh can't lose because now he's a martyr beyond the t-shirts and beyond the notion of free jim harbaugh win one for the jimbo whatever the hell the t-shirt would be if michigan wins without him now we say what a magnificent coach harbaugh is he's so impactful this team now has gone six and oh in the six games he's been unable to coach because of a pair of suspensions that's how rigorous the culture is in an arbor that's one outcome if they lose what's the immediate thing a michigan man's gonna tell us well we didn't have harbaugh and that was the alibi last week as maryland came alive and made that a one score game late what'd you hear post game well if jim had been there to restore order game over so the fella facing the dilemma is ryan day who despite an outrageous winning percentage astronomical success now that he's lost back-to-back games to michigan with the wolverines having a chance to make it three in a row without harbaugh if somehow and michigan i think has a great chance to win that game primarily based on what they can do on the ground behind blake quorum want to see more consistency from jj mccarthy but we'll talk about the nuances of the game coming up in an hour with chris vanini of the athletic should michigan come up with the win at home on saturday here's the chatter moving forward what happens to ryan day i'm not calling for him to lose his job but we know how passionate fans are in columbus and they're gonna say wait a minute you couldn't beat a rival without their head coach i don't care what you've done in the college football playoff i don't care about all the regular season victories hey ryan you got to figure this out but if michigan loses they have the instant excuse so harbaugh for all of his weird quirks and talking about his love of chicken and judge shootie and the rest can't lose he's in he's in a brilliant position and we'll talk about the meaning of a michigan win versus an ohio state win for the ripple effect of the remaining slots in the college football playoff coming up in the next hour of the program along with checking in with chris vanini of the athletic i'm brian weber in for richison eight four four two oh four seven four two four the number to call you can x me bw weber weber would to be straight ahead i'm going grumpy old men not grumpier i didn't love the sequel because i'm a purist when it comes to jack lemon and walter mathau you got old men yelling at the clouds greg popovich yesterday decided his fans in san antonio should not be booing kawaii leonard plus tom brady says the nfl has too much mediocrity i'll tell you what both of the agendas were behind both of those old codgers brady's not that old but i'm just jealous he looks that good coming up we roll on on a jam-packed thanksgiving edition of the program i'm brian weber in for rich it's the rich eyes and show let's talk audible people audible lets you enjoy all of your audio entertainment all in one app titles in every kind in all categories wellness bestsellers and new releases as well as podcasts and originals and audible members can keep one title a month from the entire catalog you keep it you'll always find the best of what you love or something new to discover you know i travel a lot especially during football season and right now listening to player memoirs from audible really helps me relax and pass the time on long flights with the app you can listen anywhere as it's all in one spot whether i'm on a transatlantic flight or on a long car ride with my family i just put on an audiobook from audible and boom it's so easy to just listen new members can try audible now free for 30 days visit audible.com or text eisen to 500 500 that's audible.com or text eisen to 500 500 to try audible free for 30 days 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 has 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 b-l-e-a-v podcasts wherever you listen ryan weber back with you we appreciate the company on this thanksgiving day infra rich eyes in eight four four two oh four seven four two four is the phone number you can tweet at me bw weber weber with two b's we're 15 minutes away from the second hour of the program we'll shift our attention to the third game in today's triple header getting you fully set for the niners and the seahawks is it still fair to wonder about that losing streak san francisco had not too long ago because if you chop up their season and we'll do this in full detail coming up phenomenal start then the injuries set in they hit the skid of a three-game losing streak now they've come alive with a couple back-to-back wins so was that all just an anomaly or could those issues beyond the injuries flare up again come playoff time getting set to take on seattle tonight that is coming up a reminder as we're talking nfl stream the nfl on westwood one for free sponsored by autozone all season long you can listen every westwood one broadcast of the nfl live on the nfl app by asking alexa to open wwo sports or on your westwood one affiliate stations digital platforms that's right you can stream kevin harland kurt warner rich eisen all season long for free and get in the zone with autozone autozones free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local autozone get in the zone autozone restrictions apply occasionally what i lay out comes together so i you might have recalled i know it feels like a long time ago because i covered so much ground in that riveting opening soliloquy and a big word thursday what was my question about detroit what is the state of a defense that was a fixture in the top 10 for the majority of the year based on back-to-back wobbly games now checking in at number 14 in terms of total defense what's going on with the defense not the start the lions were looking for specifically on that side of the ball as jordan love was spectacular knowing completions as the packers marched down the field hooked up with jane reed for a 10-yard score three minutes into the game it is the packers on top of the lions seven nothing five minutes has already come off the clock we'll keep you posted and if you're a lion fan plenty of opportunities to come back in fact now i'm going to get distracted with lions already with a first and goal let me do us a favor i'm going to turn off my tv if you don't like it turn off your tv this is the danger of doing a talk show with a live sporting event but it is the packers on top of the lions can the detroit defense find their way or the lion's going to have to come up with more offensive pyrotechnics i try to be grounded in reality it is challenging as you get older especially during the holidays we all tend to drift back to the past however i'll steal from the sopranos and if you're looking for things to watch another contemporary reference with a thanksgiving tie-in go back and watch any of the sopranos episodes involving thanksgiving i won't give away what happened but there are some lines that still are stuck in my head one of the good pieces of dialogue amongst thousands i think you can make the argument that david chase is perhaps the most brilliant tv writer of them all well i know he stuck with me from the sopranos about the pitfalls of nostalgia remember when is the lowest form of conversation and i know that is completely a contradiction to everything that i laid out because i was telling you about you know when i was watching lions lions in 1984 but as i think about what we saw from greg popovich last night if you paid any attention to the mba and i don't blame you if you're still easing in despite the best efforts of the league and those putrid custom courts on tuesdays and fridays for this new in-season tournament gimmick many of you pay no attention to the mba until christmas at a minimum a lot i would say of you don't pay any attention to the playoffs but if you were flipping around last night the two headlines from the mba centered on predictable outcomes what do you know chris paul and scott boster had another beef how does the league allow this to continue we've seen this movie so many times with the same outcome even though paul's wearing a different uni now playing for golden state he got tossed and you had greg popovich deciding to channel his inner sam white back in the day when whites grabbed the microphone and said you don't live in cleveland yelling about bengal fans throwing garbage on the field in a rivalry game between the bangles and browns last night san antonio's fans understandably are not delighted with kawhi leonard because he decided that he didn't want to be a member of the spurs anymore forced his way out certainly worked for him winning that additional ring with the raptors and getting paid by the clippers well popovich decided to go over grab the microphone from the pa announcer and i'm paraphrasing here telling the fans to show some class and stop booing kawhi now you could say well that's a lovely sentiment he's defending one of his old players but to me it speaks much more to the ego of greg popovich who has to make everything about himself and put aside my own feelings about greg popovich who i knew a million years ago again i'm grounded here in 2023 when he was an assistant coach for the warriors and i'm going to tell you when i worked for the team as their tv sideline reporter popovich was not a genius he suddenly became a lot smarter when he had david robinson tim duncan and now when banyama but he likes to insert himself into everything and he's losing sight of one of the fundamental rights now i'm getting deep here the constitution the bill of rights for fans you have the right to boo on any level go to a high school basketball game i know it feels petty especially for adults i'm not endorsing that but you're booing the other team because of the jersey they're wearing because they're your crosstown rival and because you're emotionally invested but popovich decided now under the guise of we're better than this let's not boo kawhi leonard he had to make it about himself as he's done for years with those dopey sideline interviews i'm not disparaging his resume i'd be a fool to try to say he's not a great coach but i have just found his act tedious and stale for a long time more evidence of that last night now tom brady i think was more calculating with the headline producing content earlier in the week when he said quote there's a lot of mediocrity in today's nfl well that's not exactly a hot take have you been watching these games now we're all watching because we're addicted to football but quality of play way down scoring at a historically low level for over a decade in part because of all of the injuries from our key quarterbacks and if we're talking about the game's watchability go through the list of backup quarterbacks that have been forced on the field we're now down to qb3 as i'm fixated on having to watch tim paul tomorrow no we get to watch football on black friday or tommy devito that's a great story that he lives at home but he's got no business being in the nfl i think brady had a larger agenda i think tom brady is trying to let all of us know that he intends to be the voice of reason when he moves into the fox tv broadcast role next year and he's trying to stake that claim early on because he knows greg olson has been phenomenal in that job and greg's gonna get demoted and it's not gonna be a popular move and social media is a variable to consider now fox is not gonna move off brady because they're giving him a boatload of money to do much more than just go in and spew cliches during a game effectively he's going to be the face of the network but i think brady was trying to carve out his role and say okay i'm not just going to be sitting in that booth giving you x's and o's i'm going to be the guy who's going to tell it like it is and he didn't say anything that provocative but for brady that was a huge departure and i think it was calculated because he's concerned about the perception he's pushing out a talented broadcaster in greg olson lions with a response gov to laporta touchdown detroit although the extra point no good with the packers on top seven six midway through the first quarter we will keep you posted straight ahead we'll shift our attention to the third game in the triple header get you set for san francisco and seattle we'll talk some dallas and washington along the way hit me up on twitter it's bw weber weber with two b's as we ease into our number two of the program i'm brian weber in for rich we're live on this thanksgiving holiday on the rich eisen show 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 you