The case for Cleveland Browns HC Kevin Stefanski as NFL Coach of the Year

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It's on a craft. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Caught George Kittle in the back of the end zone. So when you're talking about your quarterback, are you talking about the game manager, George? There's no one that manages the game quite like him, isn't there?

We can't do any of that work unless he's a guy throwing the ball. Earlier on the show, host of HBO's Real Sports, Bryant Gumbel. Coming up, Super Bowl champion and NFL on Prime video analyst Andrew Whitworth, senior writer for the MMQP, Albert Breer. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We just said farewell on the Zoom to Bryant Gumbel. That was a lot of fun. In our number one, we talked about the Monday Night Football game of the Eagles losing in Seattle. But I'm Drew Locke, who shared quite a bit in his postgame interview with Lisa Salters. That was our number one out.

Albert Breer, our number three overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. And our number three, your phone calls throughout 844-204-rich, number to dial. But Chris and Mike and TJ, as we discussed at the top of this program, it's raining in Los Angeles. And this is where you find out who your true friends are. When they say they're coming over to your house.

Some people in L.A. are like, it's raining. You know, we're just going to stay home tonight. And you're like, OK. You said yes to that. I get it. But then you're making kind of a note. I get it. Mental. Yeah, not an actual note. Not like Bryant.

You pull out your yellow legal pad. No, no, no. Mental. Andrew Whitworth said yes. And he's here, everybody. I'm here, baby. Come on. In the rain. That's friendship. It's my favorite thing when it rains in California. Is it really? People act like, you know, they can't even function. You can't move.

I mean, in Louisiana it rained every day. I'm used to it. This is fine.

You are totally cool with it. And you. But you know what? How long have you lived in Los Angeles, though? It's just six years now. That's enough. I'm starting to change. You're starting to. Oh, yeah.

But you're not like Tony Gonzalez, who'd like needs to wear Gore-Tex when it dips below 50. I see. I see how he reacts on Thursday night. OK, you're getting there.

All right. Meanwhile, Fitz is just taking his shirt off, you know. Maniac. He's a maniac. He's always up for taking his shirt off. Now we get chants every week for fans like for him to rip his shirt off.

Is that right? Yeah, he's created a movement. Does he take it off? Does he oblige? Does he? No, you know, I think it was a Buffalo thing.

You know, I think that was it. You know, I think he's got to understand that now the people want what the people want. He's a giver. Sometimes he gives too much.

This will be your point. Thursday Night Football's and a longtime NFL player, as well as Super Bowl champion Walter Payton, man of the year. Andrew Whitworth here on the program.

Let's just dive directly into it. Jalen Hurts his comments after the Monday Night Football loss, talking about some of the players on the Eagles are not committed enough. That was his implication. And then he used the word committed multiple times, was asked, what does that mean? He's like, I don't have a dictionary here. What's your interpretation of his postgame comment?

I think being somebody like Kim, who's always so eloquent after, you know, he's one of those guys I know for us when we've had him a couple times postgame, just what a great talker and communicator he is. In that moment, I think you've lost three in a row. You're really frustrated. He obviously played sick. You could tell by the way he was kind of carrying himself in that interview.

He was hurting after just the adrenaline of playing through that game. I think it was more of an emotional thing than like something that really there's a lot to. I think he's just frustrated. And I think probably you could kind of tell after he said it. He tried to kind of back out of it at one point, you know, of really explaining exactly what he meant. I think it was more around emotion. But the frustration, I think, is when you're the quarterback and you're, you know, the Philadelphia Eagles and what was expected of them this season, it all feels like it falls on you all the time. And so I think maybe there's just one of those moments where he's exhausted and he's thinking of how in the world do we get through this and the emotion of committed. I don't even know if he really knew how you could explain it. I think it was more of really the mode of what he felt in that moment, not necessarily something that says he feels like this team's not committed.

Because you are as well aware of the narrative as anybody else being as plugged in as you are to talking about stuff every single week. It's been the Eagles 10 wins. Something's been off in almost every one of them. We haven't seen the dominant NFC champion team from last year that was boat racing people or taking care of business, extending leads in a way that they didn't last night. Mistakes defensively.

They're not taking the football away nearly as much as they need to. So there's been something off. So for him to come out and say the word committed means that's been the issue all year long. Yeah.

And something's up. And you know Philadelphia is now going to go on sports media a mole hunt for which player is he referring to or group of players he's referring to. You're saying that's not what I think they're going to do that.

I think that he was more probably talking from a place of emotion and being exhausted than something that he really felt his particular area. But I think the biggest concerns for that football team are exactly what you just said. Not that they've not been as good, not that they keep kind of having these games, but that it's kind of the same things that keep coming up. And I think to me, when you look over a season, if a team repeats the same mistakes over and over again, you can bet it's usually how their season ends. We're going to come down to a narrative of either the secondary and how they've struggled or offensively just not being able to score when they need to score in these games.

It's going to be the reason that their season is going to end without their, you know, the thing they want most in that championship. So do you believe the guy so so if you're saying Hertz was just speaking from an emotional point of view and all of this is uncharacteristic of him saying things that he knows are going to rile up a media that is eager to find out what's wrong with this team or a fan base that wants to hear what's wrong with this team because they've been wondering that question for three months. So you do believe that the guys are in that locker room that can fix this? I think they are just because it's not much different than last year.

You still got a lot of guys that have played that played in this game for a long time. And sometimes teams need just, hey, let's all sit and refocus and say, hey, what are the little things that we need to be better at and how can we all be better together? And I think the thing that people probably didn't give enough attention to is that you replaced both coordinators coming into this season.

So there was going to be growing pains. And for whatever reason, they just haven't seemed to feel like at any point in the season, you feel like, oh, man, we found this perfect marriage in the coordinators. And then last week, even the whole secrecy of changing the coordinator defensively and really how that was handled. I think that very interesting for that to be something we didn't find out until close to the game that, you know, Patricia all of a sudden is now calling the defense. I think those kind of things to me, they definitely send out a signal of, all right, I don't think everything's going that well right now inside the building, regardless of the football field, because communication seems to be lacking. And you could say Jalen Hurts is emotional in those moments. But, you know, also, I think he comes from Nick Saban. He comes from programs that have won where sometimes you're sending a little message.

Right. And so I don't know that it was like, hey, I think people aren't committed as much as a little message of, man, I need everyone to be committed to this thing. Because I feel like I just played sick. I just played exhausted. I'm tired. Gave it all I had.

It wasn't good. But we've got to commit if we want to get to where we want to go. OK, well, what you just said as well is interesting is that perhaps the reason why it's off on offense that because the offensive line is outstanding, outstanding. And we just haven't seen those 250 yard rushing games that used to just steamroll everyone with Miles Sanders last year and the same guys and in Gainwell and Boston. Scott doesn't seem to be the same commitment to that, off of which the the deep balls to AJ Brown and Devante Smith will connect or got it over the middle on some sort of play action is not as wide open. And that the issue may just be the guy that they're missing has the Colts in the seven seed right now in Indianapolis as the H.C. of the Indianapolis Colts.

I said this four or five weeks ago to our producer spoon, you know, and I was like, hey, I think it blows my mind. No one's saying a word about Shane Steichen. And it's like the Indianapolis Colts have a winning record.

They're six and five, I think at this point. And I was like sitting there going, man, we got to start talking about this team like they're at five hundred. I don't think anybody in the NFL that's a fan, if you told them, hey, this team's five hundred or over five hundred, like who like the Colts, they're they're a winning football team this year. I mean, the job he's done to think of you losing your rookie quarterback, who you thought you're going to build things around this year, the Jonathan Taylor situation, how he's really calmed that down. He got the contract, everything.

You never heard another word about it. And then every back that seems to step in this offense as a productive day, I just think he's done a tremendous job. And he's one of the tons of coaches that you could argue should be in that coach of the year conversation.

I'm with you, man. I just saw him. I just called their game Steelers Colts on Saturday. And you we didn't even mention the defense because they got players all over all over the lot. The reason why in many ways Shaq Leonard was released. This kid, E.J.

Speed is all over the lot and he doesn't even lead the league in tackles. That's Franklin. Yeah. And Buckner is up front.

It's kind of funny. We were talking to Najee Harris before the game in our production meeting. And, you know, players just know players by numbers. Yeah.

Right. And sometimes you don't get deep into who's actually that guy. And we said, you know, who are you circling on defense? And he goes ninety nine. And somebody said DeForest Buckner. And he goes, is that Buckner? You know, that's the famous A.D. comment, right? Debo Samuel before he was famous. He called him 19.

That was a huge stir. And it's like, no, Aaron Donald doesn't worry about what their names are. And Kurt Warner was basically saying to us that that is basically the way it is. Like, you just learn the numbers.

You're not getting deep into what the names are. And he's just like, I was a big Niner fan, you know, and he's he's really good. I'm like and then they put it together. Oh, that's ninety nine. It was kind of funny.

But the reason why I bring all that up is ninety nine is there. OK. And and they've taken the ball away. Nineteen straight games, at least one takeaway. So who do you think wins the AFC South right now as we're sitting here? Oh, man, I you know, I think that was going to be interesting. Jacksonville has started to, you know, fade. And you look at the Colts, it's like every week. I'm like, all right, this is the week that they're going to kind of have one.

They're going to lay an egg. And it's like even if the game starts that way, they find a way to win these football games. So I think if you're Jacksonville right now, the one thing I think that plays in the Colts favor, Jacksonville is starting to have those thoughts creeping their mind of we started really well. We haven't been able to play as well as we were as we played early in the season. That doubt starts to creep in, whereas for the Colts, they're playing free. And I think the biggest thing I would say about Shane Steichen and that organization, and just when you watch him every week, it just seems like this, like there's no reaction. You don't ever kind of feel like something dramatic is going on with this football team.

They just feel like they just keep marching straight ahead. And I think if I'm Jacksonville, I think that's a football team right now that they are starting to feel that pressure of we can't make a mistake because this Colts team is going to catch us. I've got Andrew Whitworth here on the Rich Eisen show. You didn't see you saw San Francisco week three, right? Yeah, you saw him early on on Amazon.

I just saw that. But with Richard Sherman, I get to hear about every detail going on with the San Francisco 49ers every week. Trust me, they're the best team in the league, right? Hands down. It's not close. It's it's without question. It's not close. When they're fully healthy, there's they're better than anybody. And it's not even close. Not even close, huh?

So who is best equipped to take him out? Well, you know, early in the year, you know, unfortunately, with the Bengals injuries, I predicted it was going to be a Niners-Bingles Super Bowl. Hey, listen, Jake Brown, don't sleep on Jake Browning. But right now, I've kind of pivoted to still in the AFC North.

I've called a Ravens Niners, a rematch of Super Bowl 47. But in Vegas, the lights never go out. So we won't have to worry about it. Look at him. What a line. Come on, baby. What a line. Andrew Whitworth bringing his A game. That's right. Right. And we're seeing it Monday night, too.

We're going to see it Monday night. I think this is a little preview because to me, what Lamar Jackson, this Ravens team, has been this year is, you know, people are arguing, oh, he didn't have the statistics he had when he was MVP. But they're a great football team defensively, offensively. The ways they can attack you on offense. They can do so many different things that I think they'll match up well with the Niners because they can play great defense and they can run the football or they can kind of get into things. They spread you out and use Lamar and use his legs.

And he's he's shown the ability this year to be a much better pocket passer under Munkin. So I think it's a great matchup for them. Let me give you one more. What about the Buffalo Bills? They're playing with it.

Well, they're they're hot, but they also look sustainable. And here's why. Number four. Number four is playing is special. James Cook is playing like Christian McCaffrey.

Is there anybody that we're looking at here on Monday than Josh Allen? The fact that he didn't game, I didn't have to do anything. I just went out there and I just played football. By the way, Andrew, name me another time he could say that in his professional career. Seriously, since he started starting for the Bills, name me another time where the team boat raced another team or just one. And he just said, all I had to do was just make the plays I had to make.

The pressure was completely off him against Dallas. When you thought he's going to have to be Superman. That's what we're talking about. On game day morning, we talk about Superman versus Superman.

He's going to have to put on his cape to win. Oh, that's James. Oh, James Cook's wide open.

Let me get him unreal. Yeah. And I think on the flip side, what I just said about Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence feeling pressure. Josh Allen just won a game, gets one of the best teams in the NFL.

Didn't have to do anything that takes it off of you. And you go, all right, I trust our plan. I trust what we're going to do. And now I'm going to play with some freedom and how special Josh is. If they can continue to lean on this run game and let him be him. When Josh is free and playing that kind of style of football that he can. He's he's one of the rarer guys back there with the football in his hands.

There isn't without a doubt. And if I'm the rest of the league, I am rooting hard for the Colts and the Bengals and the Browns. Keep winning, because that's the way you're going to keep Buffalo out unless. The Dolphins lose one of their next two, and the Bills don't slip up against Easton Stick on Saturday and Bailey Zappi at home.

They can stroll into Miami and get in that way as the two seed. By the way, it's point last week and I thought it'd be like to see a Buffalo Miami showdown to see maybe who's who's going to win that division. It's possible last game of the year. I think that'll be the last year to see where that where we all had Miami six weeks into the season.

Right. And we had Buffalo and then now to see this match up possibly be what's going to determine one of his fate. It would be wild to see because Josh Allen right now has got to be really happy with where that team's headed. I mean, that right now, the Bills are two back of the Dolphins. So if the Dolphins just once again slip up in either of the next two games and you can't really even say slip up, I mean, you're playing Dallas and then the one seed in the AFC right now in Baltimore. So the Dolphins are sitting here thinking we have a shot at the one seed. But if they lose one of those two, then that means they will wind up hosting the Bills in the final week of the season for the right to play a home game. Make the playoffs as a division champ as well. And so Buffalo may have wildly no shot at the wild card because everybody keeps winning, but they have a shot at the two seed.

I can't recall a situation. It's a wild year. I mean, you look at it both, both sides. NFC, AFC is crazy.

All the matrix of who can get in, who can't and how they may get in. But only by winning the division. I think it's pretty wild. I mean, you think about two weeks ago, we're talking about Jacksonville's possibly the one seed going forward.

And now we got a situation where they're in trouble getting walked down and getting knocked out of this thing. Last one for you here before we'll take a break and talk about the final two games on Amazon, because they're they're fascinating in many different ways. It's it's this week, Saints and Rams. And I assume you have some some access to the Rams. And then it's Jets and Browns. You know, Joe Flacco, Lake Erie, baby. Here we come. And so that's that's something that you might see.

Aaron Rodgers versus Joe Flacco. Who knows? We'll see what happens. Although are you monitoring what Rodgers is saying right now? Christopher?

Yeah, they're just talking about how it's the North Pole at Pat Studio. OK. So before we take a break, though, I'd love to get your thoughts on the Chiefs and the the. It's funny how it's all being boiled down to Caderius, Tony, because he is the personification of what is wrong with the Chiefs offense and potentially unfixable about the Chiefs offense.

And it's just one man. I get it. It is a team game. But your two cents on that being the indication of the Chiefs ability to win it again. Right.

Yeah, it's unfortunate. I think it's similar to what we just said about the Eagles. When you keep seeing the same narrative, keep showing back up. It's like you can't knock it out and say, all right, we've gotten past this throughout your season. I think for them, offensively, the lack of production and then, you know, just drops and mistakes by this receiver skill group has continued to be over and over again.

They can't beat the narrative. And I think that usually ends up being something that dooms you in the end. And so I think for this team, they need a Josh Allen Buffalo Bills turnaround at some point where they get hot. Or you feel like inevitably they're going to end their season because of the things that have been who they are all season long.

Well, the schedule does provide that runway to get hot. They're taking they're taking on Vegas to start the Christmas Day triple header. Then after that, Kansas City has Cincinnati in their house. And I know I mean, the way Jake Browning is playing, that may be the one that cost them any shot at getting, you know, high enough in the standings where all you need is the one seed to lose and they wind up hosting a championship game again. And then they're at the Chargers, which we all know is just going to be a roll the football out sort of thing, one would think. So that's possible. But you're already hearing that they're not benching Tony like they're they're going to keep rolling with him until he gets straight. And or not.

That's the way I'm looking at it. And it's frustrating people like, you know, Chris, you've been saying, yeah, you got to say you can't play him. He's going to cost you a game. He's already cost you, too.

Why are you giving the chance that he might blow a playoff game or maybe the Super Bowl? Yeah, I don't you know, to me, that's probably the thing that is stuck out. The most it's agitating is that eventually at some point, there has to be some repercussions for letting us down in a game. Not that, hey, all right, we still believe in you. We're still going to work with you and we're still going to plan to have you up and available. But we're going to keep you off the field because clearly mentality wise, he hasn't been able to handle after the mistake last week for him to still come out and blame the ref. It's just, you know, blows my mind. Like, hey, just take accountability and move on. Who cares, really? Right.

At the end of the day, move on from the mistake. But it continues the same topics in its defense instead of proof on the field. It's more of like, hey, just keep defending themselves. But to me, this is the epitome of I see better than I hear.

Like they've got to go out and show it on Sundays and Mondays for us to believe it. Well, and put your player, put your helmet back on instead of your your analyst answer that you appreciate you giving me right there. You're in the locker room. Do you say something to him as you're you're you're a leader?

You know, you are the you got the C on your chest. Do you go up to Caderius, Tony, and sit him down or talk to him or just I would imagine in that locker room with Travis and some of those guys, somebody has done that. I think at the end of the day, though, guys are responsible for their own behaviors in the sense of how they handle the media, how they handle questions. You really can't address that per se. You can address, hey, when we go on the football field, that's how we're going to play. I think that him playing or not, though, and being involved in the offense, that's more of coaching and whether they decide to put him out there.

I've always said this. You you can't as a coach, you can't expect me to police a locker room that you won't punish. So in other words, if you say, oh, well, the players should step in. Well, yeah, but if I tell him, hey, dude, you're not playing for us and you put him in the game.

Then I lose all credibility, right? So the coach has to make the stance first and say, hey, this is the standard of how we're going to play football as Kansas City Chief. And then the player can back that up. And that's really how that has to go, because inevitably the coaches are the ones who get to make those decisions, not the players.

And it needs to stay in that line. Andrew Whitworth here on the Rich Eisen Show. Don't go anywhere. The Rams are taking on the Saints and the Amazon Prime game on Thursday night. That is it's kind of like a playoff game in week 16. You would think with the way that everything is shaping up and then you've got the Browns. I mean, I can't wait to get your two cents on that with what's going on there, because that that is a team that has got all sorts of who knows how dangerous they can be.

Very unpredictable. Exactly. So we'll take a break. Andrew Whitworth is here on the Rich Eisen Show.

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Grainger dot com or just stop by. Andrew Whitworth here in studio. Part of the reason why you can be in studio on this day is Thursday night football is right here in Los Angeles, just up the road.

And Saints and Rams, both teams seven and seven. What is Sean McVeigh's secret sauce, man? What do you give me some insight? You know, I think one of the things that really separates him is his ability to communicate. You know, when you walk in a room and you see head coaches and we talk about, man, what do they like in the room? His ability to really, I think, relate to everybody in it, communicate very clearly what he wants and expects out of guys. I thought, you know, really most impressive things in my time with him and really that there's no rules like he's not some guy that's got rules written on the board like, hey, you have to be here. You have to do this.

You have to wear this or that. It's understood because the way he communicates the priorities and the things that are important to him, he doesn't have to write them down on a wall and say you have to do these things. He can communicate it in a way where you walk out of there and there's a sense of pride of like, I want to be a Los Angeles Ram. I want to do things a certain way. And I think that's really what has been his thing, that he's been able to do well.

And then you look at this year, I think it's awesome, like kind of reinvented a little bit of who he is and who his offense is. Like, what is that, though? What do you mean? What exactly? Because he said that he said he's been on the show and he's just like he took stock last year and he gets introspective up to the point until giving a detail about what he's actually being truly introspective about other than he's just like last year was tough. Last year was difficult.

I looked at the way I did things and I had to make some changes and I made them and it looks like it's working. That's for sure. Well, I think you look at it staff wise, even he went, you know, with a lot of guys, younger staff, you know, a lot of new guys in their positions.

He wanted energy and just this influx of passion and energy in the locker room of this youthful exuberance. Like we may not have an answer for every single thing, but we're going to go find it and we're going to play fast and physical every football game. And then that's going to be who we are.

You look at it. And I've said this even over our time there. San Francisco has always dominated Los Angeles Rams. Me personally, I'll say they out physical to us. They play with more passion in those games than we did. That was their style of football team.

And it's why now since they're so talented, they're so good is that that's really what they were built on. I think he in this last year has reinvented the Rams to be that style of player. Just like when I watched Puca play for the first few times. The first thing I told Les Snead was he's our Deebo Samuel like that. We've literally created you watch him run after the catch. You watch him when he makes catches.

Always falling forward. Always giving it to the defender when he catches the football. Like he's a young guy, but that's that's going to be who he is for this offense. And more 12 more using the tight ends and all these motions and kick outs and physicality in the run game. I think you're going to see that they are slowly but surely kind of evolving into more of a style of of what the Niners play a little bit. Not necessarily at the schematically they call the same plays, but that kind of style. We're going to come out and be physical and kind of beat you with the passion, the energy, speed we play the game with, not always X's and O's and all those things.

You know, change in math, all this type stuff. The mentality we play with is going to be who we are. He's a revelation. Kyron Williams as well. You know, and Cup goes down and those two kids start playing like it's the Super Bowl year.

And the same thing for the quarterback. Also, now I know you're tight with Matthew, but this has got to be. I mean, he does. He's not a spike the football type guy.

Certainly when you're seven and seven also and you stole some work to do. But this year has been a it's quieted a lot of people. And I'm wondering how, you know, what not just for you to speak for him. But what do you think he's feeling? I think he is loving football more than he's ever loved it probably right now. Now, physically, obviously, when you get older, it hurts. And he's been through some stuff this year.

Right. But I think there starts to be an appreciation of your impact on a room and a group and just getting to go out there as their leader every week that you start to have that really kind of makes things makes you play loose and have fun and enjoy being around guys. Because I know for me, when I was 40 playing left tackle, the energy of the young guys was exciting to me to go out and play, if anything, for those guys to to go take the field with them and be like, I can keep up with them, but also I can help lead them. And I think that's what Matthew's playing like. He's playing like a guy who just is loving playing the game. And I remember being there the last week of training camp, so going to talk to him and it's like, hey, I know what everybody's saying.

Where are you at with like where you are going to be this year? And him just giving me that little smirk and the eyes and that smile he has of like, you just know when Matthew's up to something and he's about to wing it, he's about to throw a whole shot or make some aggressive throw. That's almost the same look he would give you in a huddle, like you knew he's about to do something. He gave me that look and he's like, we're going to be all right. And just that confidence he had in that little second of being in the locker room together, I was like, hmm, like, I think this team could be more than what people think. And it's fun to watch them right now, seven and seven. And they got it's in their hands how they finished this season, whether they make the playoffs and, you know, could be right up there with one of the best jobs Sean McVay's ever done as a head coach and Matthew Stafford as a quarterback to get this football team as young as it is to the playoffs. And we have the playoff picture up on the screen.

Perfect, because that's where I wanted to go. It's like we're one cohesive unit right here on the show production wise, because you take a look at the way things are going. OK, Nick Mullins for the Vikings and they take on the Lions twice in the next three weeks. And so it's possible if the Rams and the Saints obviously have a ton to play for. The NFC South is way up for grabs.

And let's just say the Rams make it and they're the sixth seed and they go to Detroit. You just made the noise, right? Because, you know, that's golf there and golf is there because Stafford's there and they play, they're standing in each other's way. You know, it's like they're both exes.

You know, you don't get this very, you don't get this very often. How wild would that be? I mean, I think it's I mean, I think it's one of those things like in the NFL. It's like everyone's got to be rooting for this to happen. I mean, for for everything this game would be, it'd be so cool to watch, you know, just the moments for both of them, like to face your old team in golf in the playoffs and for Stafford to face a franchise that he was a part of for so long.

But they did him a favor, right? Like for golf, it might be more of a I'll show you. Well, how do you think I'll just let you speak for Stafford one more time. What do you think? Do you think he would he'd rather face somebody else? I mean, no, I think he would enjoy that one too much. You know, I think I would give the edge. I think I would give a little bit of edge from a freedom standpoint to the Rams, because for Matthew, that's just icing on the cake.

He's going to be playing loose as can be. There's no there's no loss there, right? You won a Super Bowl. You get to go back to a place that he really left. He asked to leave in a good place like I've always loved this place.

You know, him and Kelly were very involved in the community there, everything else. Whereas for Jared Goff, I think that's almost a little bit of a nightmare situation, because it's like, man, for him to come back with this former team and beat you in your place, that that's that's more stressful, I would think from that side of it than Matthew said, look at that. And then one last.

What do you think? Question on this front is potentially standing in the Rams way of making it and making something like that potentially happen. Are the 49ers in the final week?

Now, let's just assume and I know what that word usually is infused with. Let's just assume they've got that one seed wrapped. Do you think they're going to play their guys to keep the Rams out, like spit a spiteful breath at the Rams? I don't think they like each other enough to lay down.

I would think they would. But I think Kyle, you know, we got to do that to the Rams. We got to we got to not let them in, I think.

But at the same time, OK, that could come back to bite you. You get one of your players hurt. You get you know, it's a you got to look at the first game they played. You know, San Francisco didn't really get a hold of the game till this late in the second half.

So, you know, you get into a battle that you're going to have to unload everything you got to win. But you're going to keep these guys sat for two weeks and let the Rams in the tournament. So I think so me and you are the ones who knocked you out from the NFC Championship game, as you very well know yourself.

You've got a ring and I do know what's crazy, too, is even like you were talking about earlier, the Drew Lock situations here. I don't like they've got winnable games. So if the Rams lose that game, the Seahawks get in.

So it's it's interesting that division. I got a feeling, though, I'm going to say this. All three of them make it. I think all three of them make it. And the AFC North may have an opportunity for all three to make it. So that would be Ravens, Bengals, I'm assuming, not the Steelers. And the Browns. OK, and the Browns. Yeah.

OK, perfect. Perfect transition here to the Browns. Kevin Stefanski is not being mentioned for coach of the year very much right now. And the job that he has done there with four different starting quarterbacks, all of them having one and Nick Chubb getting knocked out. And they've been out without Ward for how long? I've lost track how long they've been without one of their best defensive players and Myles Garrett balling out. And this team with Flacco now throwing it all over the lot, having a chance to, you know, potentially, potentially.

I don't I don't know if the time had. I don't think making the playoffs is a division winner, but having a chance to being a five seed. I mean, they could beat the AFC South winner in one game.

And how Baltimore? I don't know. I mean, like, why?

Why not? Right. I mean, we have another one, another.

Revenge is real, isn't it? Aren't the Browns? I mean, you look at that defense, they're real. So I don't care any offense that plays them.

You look what happened to San Francisco when they played them. Yeah. You know, so I mean, that defense is real.

I don't it doesn't matter how good you are on offense. You're seeing them. You're seeing them in two. That's the final Thursday night game jets at Brown.

Yeah. So I mean, that's going to be a challenge for any team in the playoffs, no matter what your seating is. And then offensively, I think Joe Flacco fits who they want to be really well. Guy can sling it still. You look at the play action game, they can build off of that running game. I think he really fits who they could be, you know, and be dangerous. Play great defense, run the football well and take a couple shots and hurt you.

And so I think for them, it's I think some fancy should be listed. But you look at it even in that division between the job him and Zach Taylor have done for the Bengals to be where they are losing. Joe, you talk about a team that everyone just put on like Mahomes, right?

This is Joe Burrow. Like the Bengals are good just because of Joe Burrow. What they've been able to do with Jake Browning.

Like, I think it's another like Zach Taylor. What a freaking coaching job, right? You guys in and out of the lineup all season.

Joe goes down. You think the season's over. That said, I mean, Browns are a totally different category with all due respect. I mean, with all due respect, it's Deshaun Watson, then it's P.J. Walker, then it's DTR, and then it's now let's get Joe Flacco off the couch. And he he he's running the offense with the exception of Watson in that game in Baltimore. He's running that offense better than any of them. This offense has looked far more. Oh, it's threatening and vertical. And the run game is just as stout and the defense is taking care of business. I mean, Stefanski's coach of the year should get some serious consideration right now. And he's won it before, which might get people to think, well, and nobody wants to be one.

So no, honestly, like and I'm straight up with you. And then that night, I mean, the narrative will be on your final Thursday night game is here's a team making the playoffs. OK, Cleveland has who does Cleveland have this week? Let's see here. They have in front of them this week. They've got a game at Houston. That's a huge one.

Wow. Big game. OK, let's just say they win that one. You got a 10 win team coming into your house, right?

You're going into the house of the 10 win team. And and here comes the Jets. They where their season goes completely kablooey within five snaps. They couldn't they couldn't figure out a damn thing with really talented players. I know their offensive line got really banged up.

But for them to just be eliminated going into week 16. And Aaron Rodgers just said on Pat's show what that he doesn't believe he's going to be medically cleared. He's not 100 percent.

All right. So you're going to probably see Trevor Simeon in the house or maybe it could be Zach Wilson again. I don't know. So one team couldn't figure it out. Their season's totally lost. The other team with four guys has 10 wins potentially. If not, there's still nine wins.

Going to the Browns lost a lot of offensive lineman, too. So you're right. Exactly. But 12 out of 14 games, the Jets have only got one touchdown or less.

How does that happen? Right. I mean, what what the hell?

I think that's what I mean. I think to me, it's you have to say, you know, I understand he's his guy, but Nathaniel Hackett, like it's two years of like you saw what happened in Denver with that offense, who they've been this season with Sean Payton. You know, I always I said, you know, you really think about it, that Jets Broncos game.

You might have won that small battle, but the overall war of kind of, you know, even though he said it, he shouldn't have said it. What Sean Payton said has come to life. Like he's done a tremendous job with the Denver Broncos.

They are a much different team than they were a year ago. And Nathaniel Hackett, this is two years in a row of abysmal offense. I mean, you made one team worse in the Broncos, and then you've come here and not been able to figure out a single thing with the Jets offensively to do any kind of product, just won two games where you could say, all right, maybe we got something to build off of.

Just hasn't happened. And so I think to me, yeah, it's two totally different stories of an example of what coaching can do in a situation where you can find ways to win with a great defense, because the teams are very similar. The Jets defensively and the Browns defensively. That's how they're led to not to be able to find any way to produce offensively in these games. Just in the Browns stretch and Browns lost their running back to a knee injury this year. Jets got theirs back from last year and Dalvin Cook and Garrett Wilson. It's a great game to put them side by side and say what went wrong. Well, not great for the Jets, because this is a perfect example. Like, look at this team. It's Flacco used to be personal.

Honestly, Flacco won a game for the Jets in that building. We too, I guarantee you, Spoon's going to have that video for you for your pregame show. They're probably cutting the video right now. And if not, cut it, Spoon. You know, like that's coming.

That is absolutely going to be part of your pregame show. Are you about to say committed? I'm you know, I'm committed. I'm committed to just.

This feels emotional. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I should be committed. There we go. For still being a Jets fan? Yeah. Yeah, you should. But that's me.

You know, I am who I am. And then, you know, because one day at some point, as I said, the football gods will stop kicking me in the nards over this whole thing. And so but nobody's nobody is pulling a code red on Hackett. There that ain't happening. No, and Rogers did tell Pat that he still believes in Joe Douglas, Robert Salah, Nathaniel Hackett, called Salah, fantastic coach.

Did say he doesn't think next year will be his last year. You go. Wanted to play two years for the Jets considers this a lost season.

There you go. So it'll run back and there'll be a whole there's a whole bunch of Jet fans who are like, look at the Browns. Look at them. Look at the Bengals. Look at the Colts. Look at these teams that not only didn't fall apart, but actually stayed enough together to make a playoff run. And they're going to make the playoffs with teams that maybe aren't as talented roster wise as the Jets are.

Yeah. And so and that the coaching staff should eat it because of that. But they will not when Aaron Rodgers says that because Woody Johnson is going to run it back and everybody's coming back. And that's going to be a nonstop 24-7, 365 sports talk conversation in New York City. And I love Salah, too.

I love him, too. And we just don't know there's an iceberg and there's a tip. And I think there's a huge iceberg that he's tried to keep together. Yeah, I think Salah has done all he can. It's just it's a tough situation.

But I think even if Aaron comes back this year and they're good on offense, I'm going to say it's because Aaron Rodgers, because I think the proof is there that that was going to be him if they were going to be good offensively. But do you feel a little better now? I mean, you kind of get some of that out. No, I mean, I don't. But I appreciate you checking in with me.

That's why you're Walter Payton, man of the year right there. You care about others. You're a human. You care about humanity.

And I'm part of that race. Yeah, thank you. You're one of my favorites, Andrew. Love watching you kick it and kick ass. You're awesome, brother. You're you and your team get better every week. I think it's great to see you have a great time here in in Los Angeles and then in Cleveland and then come back, come back.

Let's hang during the postseason. That's great. That's Andrew Whitworth right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Hour number three still to come here on this program. Albert Breer with all the latest around the league. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, our friends at NHTSA want to let you know whether you get pulled over or get into a crash, drinking and driving will change your whole world.

Drive sober or get pulled over. Paid for by NHTSA. That was great with Andrew Whitworth. Yeah, he's awesome, man. He's getting better and better and better and better. And when he walked in, I told him I love his Geico commercials. That's awesome. Is that what you said, man?

Yeah, they're very funny. I mean, he does the play and then and then like, that's a recipe for Ziti. He's like, I am. He goes, but I can bench 350. I am stronger than you. I'm a good lineman. I'm a good analyst. Just killing it.

Block this block that block everywhere. I love it. All right.

Let me cape for him one more time here. Who? Who?

Kevin Stefanski. OK, you want to save that for like for what? Like 20 minutes. No, no, no. I understand you might get a a you want to save that and over. That means I've just touched upon an overreaction subject right now, right? You step out. No, I'll repeat it again. I don't care how many times I say it. That means I might hopefully affect something here.

Fair. Because who are you voting for for coach of the year right now? Well, are you going to are you going to pull up?

You're going to pull up. I can tell you who is the favorites here. Who is it? Well, your favorite, Chris.

I don't want to go into the I don't want you to be influenced, but no, no, he's he's he's talking about the town where no green has no clock or a signpost. The desert likes Dan Campbell right now. And that was my pick coming into the season was Dan Campbell. So I could sit here and do the thing, the sports talk radio host thing, right? I told you all certainly since apparently somebody told me I won an awfully award, an awfully yeah. Oh, an awful announcing. Oh, interesting.

You know, for sports radio host. That's interesting. I appreciate that. I was told that I shared it. I share it with Chris Russo. Oh, well, that I mean, there's nothing awful about Chris Russo, but no, but it's called awful announcing.

I don't really call that. And by the way, you know, let me just tell you this. If you told the kid driving around Staten Island, New York, you would win for the Staten Island advance that I would ever be named the best sports radio show host with Chris Russo.

I'd have I'd have probably crashed my Honda Accord. Oh, this is actually a good thing. The offways are a good thing. OK. Yeah. I'm saying you've got a Marconi and an awful.

I don't know why I got off on that set. Oh, no. But I could do the sports talk radio thing and say I was right.

Oh, OK. Yeah. Dan Campbell should be coach of the year. But it all straight up with you. Really, because he's roll Jared Goff out there. Every single game and he's been great and he lost David Montgomery to a rib injury for a couple of weeks, but him and Gibbs have, you know, have been rolling. And Montgomery's back. The fans, he's lost three quarterbacks at some point. And Nick Chubb. He had Watson, then he didn't.

Then he had P.J. Walker and they beat the forty niners. I'm still baffled by that, by the way, it happened. I watched it.

It happened. And it's not just because the Niners were were terrible. It's the Niners were affected by one of the best defenses in the league.

He's the one who convinced Jim Schwartz to do the to do the gig, which, by the way, is game changing. OK. So there's that. He's also then after P.J. Walker seems to lose his, you know, mojo, Watson comes back, isn't really all that healthy until he plays the game of his Browns career.

Right. Beaten the Ravens. And then we learn, oh, he played that game with a shoulder that was so bad it needs surgery and high ankle sprain, right? And poof, he's gone. And so it's not going to be P.J. Walker, we've got to turn to DTR.

Wins with him and then he gets concussed. And let's go call Joe Flacco up. And he is oh, and Nick Chubb's gone and they bring Kareem Hunt back and look at the Jets.

That's what happens when you don't have the right plan and the right offensive mindset to fix it on the fly. How is he not coach of the year if the Browns make the playoffs? I understand D'Amico Ryans deserves his flowers. Who else? So Stefanski is fifth in the in the odds right now. Shane Steichen. I was going to say, where's Steichen? Steichen's got the same thing with a quarterback and running backs.

I get it. Three and a half to one. Same thing with D'Amico Ryans. Kyle Shanahan.

Let's be I mean, they're the best team in the league. They're four and a half to one. Mike McDaniel, six and a half to one. He's great.

Stefanski, 14 to one. I don't. A little high for me.

I don't understand it. Dude, if they beat the Texans on the road with Flacco and the Texans have a real good team, they are. They're not the team that was second and third on the clock last year anymore.

You are what you are right now. They win that. They're going to have 10 wins taking on the Jets. They might have 11 wins after that. Their last game of the season.

Oh, boy. They could knock Jake Browning out of the playoffs. They could take care of the business. Dude, what if they finish up 12 and five? You're not making Kevin Stefanski the coach of the year? Shocked. Yeah.

Why would you be shocked? They can absolutely pull that off. Let's be very real. They should pull that off. They should. I'm just saying you'd be shocked with all that they've had to overcome this year, that that's a 12-win team. Yeah. They're the five seed? Who are they playing in the first round of the playoffs?

You don't think that whoever wins the FC South? Colts. And by the way, that was, by the way, a great game.

1 p.m. Saturday on NBC. Browns, Colts, Browns, Colts. The Browns got lucky in that one to be straight up, not to go all in in the tank right here for the Browns. They got lucky with those calls at the end.

But you are what you are. Yeah. They got a break.

And I'm sure there were other times this year where they didn't get a break and they still won. I'm impressed by that. Don't start talking about Stefanski that way. I predicted him to finish last in the division. Yeah, look at him now.

Albert Breer coming up. So a little scratch on the Stefanski, that's what you're saying. Well, I don't know because, again, he won it, by the way. Remember that? He was coach of the year and then he got COVID and they beat the crap out of the Steelers when he was in the basement.

In the basement. Right. Yeah. I remember that. Man.

That was it seems like it was 20 years ago. I know. Right. That Baker Mayfield was the quarterback. Yeah. Man. But I also did predict that every AFC North team would make the playoffs.

So they have that still hanging. There's still an outside shot. Three of the four of them make it, sir. You can make a case for any of these guys, obviously, but Taylor, to me, it's it's the adversity you're overcoming and the amount of wins that you still have and the ability to survive in advance. We thought Houston was going to be a bottom five team in the league.

What if they win their division? How is it not D'Amico Ryans with a rookie quarterback? I hear you. Yeah. I'm not saying you shouldn't be.

I'm just saying I don't know why there's not enough conversation about Kevin Stefanski right now. By the way, just let's put it that's just really go nuts just for the Browns fans right now. That's they win it all with a Ravens quarterback in Cleveland, by the way. He gets a statue. Yeah. Like I said, he's taken both Cleveland franchises to the glory. Could you imagine gets a statue if he wins a Super Bowl with Cleveland? And right now, right now, right now, this says this is crazy, but it's possible as we're talking right now. Very possible. A month ago, it was not. He was at home. ATC is rich. You love Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules.

Now get to know her on Give Them Lala. I don't know that I would call it respect that I have for Sandoval, but the world hated him. He still went out, performed shows with his head held high. He showed up to the reunion when we all were going after him. Like he didn't skip a beat. The way he's handling it, if I were in his position and I said it straight up to the entire audience, thousands of people. I would tell you all to **** and the room was dead. Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen.