How much can you trust Brock Purdy?

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. It's another hour of the program and it's great to have you with us coast to coast on this holiday week.

If you're at work, I hope you are pacing yourself. Uncle Brian says you can mail it in. You can trust the anonymous voice on the radio or however you are consuming this audio experience.

Do not let the man keep you under his thumb during the final week of the year. We move rapidly whenever I have the great opportunity to be in the chair for Rich, but we'll always carve out time to get interactive. And it was a record-setting first hour of the show, took two phone calls, both were logical and added to the overall value of the program. So, dare I press my luck?

We'll find out later. 844-204-7424, let me be upfront. No calls here. I got a riveting monologue I have crafted. I'm about to lay out for you and then in 20 minutes we'll incorporate the first two guests today.

I never overwhelm you with outside voices because I believe I am just that fascinating. As a veteran of working on Christmas Day and someone who loves the NBA as much as I love the NFL, I have to get to the hoops in entertaining and concise fashion. 20 minutes from now, we'll check in with Jonathan von Tobel. He's an NBA analyst for Vson.

Final hour of the program coming up at 2.20 Eastern Time. We'll take you across the NFL in addition to what I did in granular detail in the first hour. What I'm going to do presently will bring in a long-time NFL writer, a guy who has an MVP vote over the years, Jason Cole, now working for the 33rd team.

If you've had a deal with my quote-unquote act in the past, you have my empathy. Somebody's got to be here for Rich. Now here's the good news. I'm back with you tomorrow and then you get the upgrade. My pal Danny Schwartzman with you the rest of the weekend coming up on Monday. Then Rich and the fellas back on January 2nd. Rich will have so much to dissect including his alma mater.

He is a Michigan man with their showdown against Alabama coming up in the Rose Bowl, one of two national semifinals in college football next week. But like Rich, I try to have outside interest and I feel liberated to occasionally go off the board because nobody puts sports and entertainment together better than Mr. Eisen. So I love Hollywood history. I love things that not only I was able to pick up along the way as a kid, but spending time watching reruns. Not rerun from what's happening. No Roger, no rerun, no rent. But I've gone, for example, to the Museum of Broadcast History in New York. I've watched old Johnny Carson kinescopes.

Yes, perhaps I need a hobby or a meaningful relationship. Johnny Carson, before he got his break as the preeminence late night host of all time on The Tonight Show, hosted a game show called Who Do You Trust? Incidentally, Rich would be a great game show host, don't you think? That's always my dream.

It's not going to happen, but you can have big ambitions. Who Do You Trust? The game is irrelevant because it happened in 1958, but it connects nicely with what I tried to present in the first hour of the program based on what we saw yesterday. And it's fair now to wonder, how much can you trust Brock Purdy? I don't want to lose my mind over one game.

Okay. But it was a hideous game, as poorly as you can play, in a matchup of that magnitude with the whole country watching. I'm not trying to kick him while he's down, but in the two biggest games of his career so far, the first coming last year, NFC title game, on the road in Philadelphia, he makes the cameo, then he gets hurt. That's not his fault.

However, I'm just giving you body of work. He wasn't around for the outcome, and clearly, that was a day Niner fans want to forget. Last night, they want to burn the tape as well because Purdy was as ineffective, inefficient as you can be. Four interceptions with a chance to potentially lock up the MVP award last night, unless you think he was going to split it with Christian McCaffrey. Make a statement heading into the postseason if you're going to see the Ravens again, potentially, when we get to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Also get some separation in the standings because the Niners' loss now puts them in the three-way tie with the Eagles and the Lions atop the NFC for the top seed. Still, Niners are going to be fine. They have all the important tiebreakers, and they get a chance to destroy Washington this week with Ron Rivera, who's a heck of a nice guy.

And that should not be part of the analysis, but we're all human beings. If someone's nice to us, we're going to appreciate it. I've been lucky to interview Ron on a handful of occasions, a good person whose time is going to come to an end in our nation's capital, and that was a foregone conclusion when the ownership change came. And finally, our long national nightmare of the NFL enabling Dan Snyder came to an end. So I am not saying it's over for the Niners.

I am not saying the sky is falling. I am saying let's have a real conversation about how good Brock Purdy truly is. And I had this conversation with you on Labor Day. I had this conversation with you on Thanksgiving Day because I'm lucky enough that when Rich calls, before he even finishes whatever he has to say, I say yes.

So I probably have volunteered to pick up his kids and don't even know the assignment because he was never able to get the words out. What I said coming into the season and what I said on Thanksgiving was, I want to see more from Brock Purdy. That's it. And what did we see last night? It was atrocious.

And you can say if you want to come up with mitigating factors, two of the picks came on batted balls. Okay, it still goes down as a gruesome four interception night. Conversely, how did Lamar Jackson look?

And give Lamar credit. He had a wobbly start. He was imprecise to begin the game.

Well, he certainly found his sink. Wrapped up with better than 250 yards, couple touchdowns. Baltimore's leading rusher once more with another 45 on the ground. He had that brilliant scramble. Really the synopsis of everything that he brings to the Ravens. Remember, he won the MVP in 2019 when he was a Comet. And now, in my mind, and this is nothing close to a hot take, he's the leading contender to get it done again. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich.

I was in 844204, 7424. We make the move to the NBA in 15 minutes when we're joined by Jonathan Vontobo. He covers the association for Vison. So, San Francisco moving forward now, I think, goes into repair mode for the psyche of Brock Purdy. And he said all the right things postgame. Don't worry about him physically. He said after the game, he's fine. He had that shoulder stinger and Sam Darnold came off the bench for the garbage time score. But if you are of the mindset that Purdy is much more than just a byproduct of the creative mind of Kyle Shanahan.

He's more than a high-end game manager. Well, we'll find out a lot more. Down the stretch with a chance to lock up the top seed because San Francisco also has a game against the Rams in the regular season finale. Don't look now.

And occasionally, just occasionally, it's why I'm a fill-in host, not a regular host, I'm off the mark. I might have told you, going back to the Labor Day show, the Rams are only going to win four games. I might have said that.

I don't recall. We'll have to check the podcast, which I've already destroyed from that day. Sean McVay has done a remarkable job of rebuilding on the fly because it was apparent for a long time the bill was going to come due for the Super Bowl runs that yielded a Lombardi trophy. Eventually, you're in Sowry Capel, and the fact that McVay has been able to hold this team together, get the most out of role players, it's not nearly the same level of overall talent as the Super Bowl team, and Matthew Stafford has stayed just healthy enough. And it looks like the football gods are going to hand us all a gift, and lion fan, now going to kick you too. I am really critical.

No wonder they won't let me in more than once in a while. Brian Weber for Rich Eisen, 844-204-7424, hit me up on the X. B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs. There's a real probability the Rams wind up going to Detroit. Think about that statement. Matthew Stafford, back at Ford Field, to take on a Lions team that has won the division for the first time since 1993.

If I gave you the Johnny Carson illusion to bury the program, I can do this quickly. The Lions have won nothing, literally nothing, since the 1957 season, the curse of Bobby Lane when they traded away the face of the franchise. The next time they were relevant, 1991. They won a playoff game. Between that 1957 season and now, that's their only playoff victory.

Won the division in 1993. So, I am so happy for anybody who has suffered through decades of misery as a Lions fan. Tremendous story that was foreshadowed last year with their great run. Remember, they had nothing to play for in the final game of the regular season. That Sunday night game at Lambeau Field, the Lions have been knocked out of playoff contention and they still went out there and balled out to rip the hearts out of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, keeping them out of the playoffs. And that told you, and in the moment, tells you everything you need to know about how hard that team plays for Dan Campbell. Still, because we're learning, as we know to be true, there are no perfect teams in the NFL, my issue with the Lions comes down to two things. If you've been paying attention, Jared Goff is reverting back to the Jared Goff form that made him expendable in Southern California. More turnovers over the business end of the regular season and the defense has been way too porous.

And we saw it again on Sunday. So, lost in the euphoria of the Lions wrapping up their first division title in decades was the fact that that game was way too close. In fact, it came down to a fourth and final interception thrown by Nick Mullins.

Yes, Nick Mullins, future Hall of Famer in this year of the backup quarterback, 30-24 the final score, and the Lions have done this repeatedly. Every quarterback other than Russell Wilson over the last six weeks has piled up big numbers on them. And as much as I am of the view that Matthew Stafford is nothing more than a stat compiler, do not have the Hall of Fame conversation with me.

We just don't even have to waste each other's time. Take a look at how many Pro Bowls, how many All-Pro teams he's been a part of, how many MVP votes he's even gotten. Yes, he has the Super Bowl. That's fine. Look at the list of quarterbacks who've won Super Bowls.

End of discussion. But I would have a perverse amount of joy given everything I just told you about Stafford and the issues I've had with him other than belonging in the Financial Hall of Fame and a Lions defense I want to see wake up. I don't root for teams or individuals. I'm looking for good stories. I'm on team content. What's a better story than the Lions?

I got one for you. Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns because if we are mapping out resilience, tell me a team more resilient than Cleveland. And that's what I wanted to see from Purdy last night. Okay, it's not going your way, especially after that promising opening drive, the long pass play to Kittle.

They peel off better than 50 yards inside the red zone. He throws that pick. That was not a batted ball.

That was not a tipped ball. That's all on Brock Purdy. Okay, that's one pick. Now we're moving forward. You have two picks.

Now you have three picks. Show me something. And he showed me that he didn't want to be on the field. I'm not saying he quit.

I'm not coming up with that indictment. I'm saying he came up small in a huge situation and now it's fair to wonder what happens the next time he's in that kind of circumstance. And that could be as soon as, not this weekend against Washington, but next week in the final game of the regular season, in a game that could be filled with seeding implications against the LA Rams who have a decent defense. Not the Super Bowl caliber defense anymore, but when you have Aaron Donald in the middle, you're still capable of good things. But if we've learned anything in the NFL this year, radical transformations can occur within a handful of games. Cleveland was left for dead, understandably.

Not once, but twice. They lost Nick Chubb on that Monday night when he went down with a knee injury that was so severe. Thankfully, they did not show the replay. I lived through the Joe Theismann injury as a kid. I didn't need to see Nick Chubb endure similar trauma on national TV. Cleveland, huge injuries on the offensive line. They have wasted all of that guaranteed money under Sean Watson.

He finally is able to play. He does something, then he gets hurt again. They go through a revolving door of quarterbacks. DTR from UCLA, PJ Walker, not PJ Fleck, head coach of Minnesota, from the XFL. They get Joe Flacco from his backyard. Guy was mowing his lawn six weeks ago. And now Flacco with three consecutive 300-yard games.

Now if you're paying attention, you get to parse it a bit. Threw a couple interceptions on Sunday, but I don't want to come up with reasons just to bash a guy because he and Amari Cooper looked like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Now some of that was an indictment of the Houston defense, and what a story Houston's been. But if you're D'Amico Ryan trying to change the culture of that franchise year one, your defense has to show up knowing what Flacco wants to do. Still, Cleveland at 10-5, an outstanding position to make the playoffs based primarily on that transcendent defense led by Myles Garrett. Back to who do you trust? Do you trust Flacco to keep this going, or are we having a different kind of version of the Jake Browning experience? And I say different kind, obviously, because of Flacco's body of work, but the point I'm trying to make is we've seen several backup quarterbacks this year have a nice run, then implode.

Is Flacco overdue for that, or can he jump in the hot tub time machine and sum it up, the kind of play that we all saw when he beat the 49ers in 2013 in the Super Bowl in New Orleans? I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. You can be a part of the show at 844-204-7424. I'll check out the social media interaction coming up.

Hit me up on the X. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. We're going to pause briefly on the NFL. We'll keep it concise. We'll make sure it's entertaining, but there were five NBA games yesterday. I love hoops as much as I love football, so we'll briefly turn our attention to the hardwood. If you believe the Celtics are the best team in the East, they have the best record in that conference and looked dynamic against a sluggish Laker team. LeBron only had 16 yesterday. Who in the West, which is absolutely loaded, do you think would give Boston the most trouble?

Yes, I'm already looking ahead to the NBA Finals because that's how it works in the NBA. Let's check in with Jonathan von Tobol. He's an NBA analyst for VISA. Appreciate the company on a very busy Tuesday. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen.

This is the Rich Eisen Show. 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 slash Eisen or text Eisen to 500-500.

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Learn more at discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. 247424 is the phone number you want to slide in. I'm open to taking phone calls coming up in 20 minutes or in the final hour of the program. Conversation never stops on Twitter.

That's BW Weber Weber with two B's. One hour from now we'll say hello to our second guest. Much more NFL analysis when we check in with Jason Cole, NFL insider of the 33rd team. Now let's talk NBA. Always a pleasure to focus on the hardwood with Jonathan Von Tobel. He's a NBA analyst and the host for V-Send. Jonathan, it's Brian Weber with you.

Thanks for taking the time. How are you? I'm good. I'm hanging out at the airport right now about to hop on a flight to Phoenix. Hopefully go watch UNLV when their first bowl since 2000 tonight. So a good vibe so far.

How are you doing? Excellent knowledge. And they play Kansas and Lance Leipold, the guy who was connected to every job but did not take one. That's actually the best matchup of today, right?

Oh, it's got to be like the total sitting there like 67 and a half. You don't know if it's a pretty big underdog, but two really good offenses, two really bad defenses inside on a fast track. Oh, it's got to be the best game by far tonight. Excellent. And I love the Vegas connection. And I guess my other option would be I'd be distracted watching the quick lane bowl in 30 minutes with Bowling Green.

So I'll check it out. Maybe I'll see you in the stands. Let's get to your specialty, the NBA. So much to dissect based on what's been going on for roughly the first 30 games of the regular season and what we saw yesterday. So let's start with the Knicks.

Perhaps Jalen Brunson is trying to prove to everybody he's a top tier guy, went off for 38 points. Nice win for the Knicks, but I'm more interested in talking about the Bucks. We know this team is going to be just fine come playoff time, but how much do you think so far we've seen they missed Drew Holliday and all the defensive intensity he brought this club?

Oh, yeah, they're absolutely missing him. And it's, you know, it's the trade off that I think of. They all expected that we all expected, right, which is they are offensively one of the best teams in the NBA, one of the best kick and roll duos in the NBA. But the trade off is that right now you're floating around average to below average in defensive efficiency. So are you going to be willing to get into these shootouts when you get into the postseason and win with your offense as opposed to your defense? And I think that's what they're willing to do here.

And I think that's what we've seen so far. And the good thing for them is they've gotten actually a lot better defensively, right? At one point, they were the worst transition defense in the NBA. They were mid 20s in defensive efficiency. Now they kind of climbed the way back up to about 17, 16, depending on what numbers you use. So I think that this is the trade off they expected.

And I think this is the trade off that they want to happen because when they get to the postseason, they could be one of the best offenses we've ever seen in the postseason, let alone just this year. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. We're talking basketball with Jonathan Vontovolt.

Check out his great work for Vison. Jonathan, as we think about what happened, and I watched the majority of that game between the Warriors and the Nuggets. You heard postgame, Steve Kerr said all the whistles translated into disgusting play. I have the box score in front of me.

I can read the Joker 18 of 18 from the line. Steph only attempted one free throw. Did Kerr have a legitimate beef? Yeah, I mean, I think he did for that individual game, but I think that this is what we see all the time and depending on the official crew, right?

Like this is what's going to happen. And you've got to be able to take some of those little junk fouls where guys are, you know, the head throw, things like that, drawing contact, rip it through like those little foul calls. I think you can really start to clean it up and not to give those up so much. And the thing I think that's most frustrating, it's not even so much the calls, it's the inconsistency from game to game, crew to crew. And I think that's, as an NBA fan and analyst and somebody who watches it all the time, that's what gets kind of frustrating. And then you get to the NBA postseason and all of a sudden things change as well when they talk about what you're allowed to get away with, the physicality, the way that it ups. So I've always been a fan of consistency, no matter what the sport is. And I think that's my biggest gripe.

I think this should be anybody's biggest gripe. It's not an individual game. It's the fact that these games are called inconsistently from crew to crew and that's got to be something that should be changed. Celtics have the best record in the East, slightly better than Milwaukee. I think they are the deepest team. Now we'll find out if Porzingis can stay healthy come playoff time.

That's been his huge problem in the past. Jonathan, let's jump over to the Lakers. And I'm based in Southern California, so I get all-Laker propaganda all the time. I'm not minimizing what they did last year. Brilliant run to the conference finals. I just had doubts about could they maintain what we saw in that small sample size last year coming into this year and so far. Feels like they went all in to win that meaningless in-season tournament.

They've been in free fall since. Now it's 16-15. Big picture, where would you slot LA amongst the premier teams in the West? I think we're talking about 4-5.

It depends on who you want to put there at 4 or 5. I think the Lakers, like you said, really put a lot into winning this in-season tournament. But they were a sub-500 team before those in-season tournament games. They were a sub-500 team after those preseason or in-season tournament games.

And that's exactly what it is. And even if you look at the in-season tournament, remember their group was Phoenix, which right now doesn't really look that impressive. Portland, Utah, and Memphis before they got Josh. It was a great run, but it wasn't exactly against stellar competition.

I'm with you. When they put this team together, one of the things I was worried about was that they were just going to be the same version of what they were last year. A team that was overly reliant on LeBron James, a team that really couldn't shoot with consistency. And that's exactly what they are. Rudy Hachimura shot nearly 50% from 3 in that postseason run. That's not going to happen again.

Things like that, they were banking on replicating, and that's just not going to happen. So I always trust guys in that front office and teams overall. Maybe you can make a small move here or there. But when Gabe Vinton goes down now with knee surgery, and then now all of a sudden after the finish value, D'Angelo Russell potentially. It doesn't look great in the grand scheme of things, I think. Brian Weber, Infra-Rich Eisen, we're taking you around the NBA with Jonathan Von Tobel, kind enough to join us.

From the airport, but when he's not in transit, check out his great work on Vison. Game between the Sixers and the Heat, far less watchable yesterday because no Embiid, no Jimmy Butler due to injury. Jonathan, as we think about Philadelphia's overall outlook, Tyrese Maxey with the ability to step up because James Harden is gone. We know that Daryl Morey has loads of draft capital. Would you expect Morey to be active prior to the trade deadline to find a third star?

I mean, I hope so. I think they should because they've got quite the opportunity, I think, in front of them. I think this team is on the same level with Milwaukee and not that far behind from Boston as currently constructed. And if you go out there and you go, you know, one of the first names that was thrown out there after they got rid of Harden was OGN and OB, right? If you go and ship off the pieces you need for a primary wing defender who can shoot threes the way OGN and OB can, I mean, this is going to be a lethal team.

So I really hope they do because they have a good opportunity in front of them. You know, Milwaukee, as we talked about, a really subpar, average defensive team that they can take advantage of. And while Boston looks, again, like one of the best teams in the NBA, one of my biggest questions for Boston to think we all had was how do you operate in clutch time, right? When I watch these teams fail, I watch the team that really relied on ISO heavy ball and allowed their offense to get really, really, really clunky, stuck in neutral.

I don't know if that's exactly changed, so I'm really excited for what Philly has, especially as they go get another pizza. I think they should, and I think they should be calling Toronto for OG and OB. I like the thought process, and since you're on your way to Phoenix, I'll use that as motivation to talk Suns.

Obviously, the headline last night, Luca out of his mind, went off for 50, still no Kyrie out with the heel injury. We have not had much of a chance to assess how this, quote, unquote, Big Three in Phoenix is going to work because Bradley Beal has been in and out of the lineup. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, I think we know what they can do. We saw them as a marvelous one-two tandem last year in the postseason. Moving forward, how do you think the pieces fit when it comes to the Suns?

It's hard. It's almost a similar level to the Clippers, where in that it's going to work if they're healthy. They just haven't been healthy, right?

And it's not conducive to a positive environment. You saw Devin Booker yesterday, caught on the mic, dealing with a teammate for not getting back after a turnover. KD's getting frustrated, according to reports. They're not winning games. They're not covering spreads. They're winning 11 against a spread. They're not looking very good.

It's really, really poor here for Phoenix. So it's kind of hard because if they're healthy, I think they can be one of the best. But that's a big if, and right now they have not shown that they can be healthy because they are so thin, and they so much need Bradley Beal to be out there. Because once you don't have them, you really dig into that roster, and it's not very deep. And I think that's the biggest issue. If you're going to tell me they're healthy, I think they can compete with anybody.

But at this point right now, there's nothing you can see so far that would tell you they are going to be healthy. Jonathan, greatly appreciate the information, especially because you're about to get on a plane. What's the scene like at the airport?

Usually, in my experience, a good day to fly the day after Christmas. Yeah, it's actually not that bad. I was kind of surprised. You know, the area you're waiting for your flight is kind of jam-packed, but overall, it was very nice to do some work here at a quiet little Starbucks along the way. So it wasn't too bad.

Beautiful. And you know as a veteran, it's great audio to have the PA in the background saying, Mr. Von Tobel to the courtesy line, Mr.

Von Tobel to the red phone. So you gave me great ear candy as well. Safe travels, Jonathan, and happy holidays. I appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Jonathan Von Tobel, excellent information. Tremendous focus.

I don't know about you, but I could hear that in the background. And now I'm getting to the stage because I know you need more biographical information from a villain host. I'm Brian Weber. Who am I? Why am I here? I'm in for Rich Eisen.

844-204-7424. More of your social media thoughts. Hit me up on Twitter, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's and less than 10 minutes back to the NFL. Cowboy fan, you can hit me up on Twitter. Why don't you tell me I'm wrong?

Tell me that I should not believe what I have seen and what the numbers bear out as well. Tell me why I should have any confidence when the Cowboys have to go on the road in the postseason. They're going to play any better than they have so far.

And I realize they could have won the game of Miami, but they didn't. That's coming up. But as I get older and crankier, it's weird. And maybe it's a byproduct of wearing headphones for 30 years.

Or perhaps I have other issues I should diagnose. But loud noises in the background just drive me nuts. So calling my family yesterday on the East Coast and they're enjoying Christmas and I'm hearing, here's a big word on Tuesday, a cacophony in the background. I'm talking to them saying, can you please walk to a quiet spot in your regal home? Does it have to sound like you're in the middle of Grand Central Terminal?

But Jonathan, in the middle of an airport, belting out quality information. And I'm not telling you what to watch. And I understand. It's all football all the time. If you know who I am for any reason, it's my affiliation with the NFL. Still, if you're a casual, as we say on NBA Twitter, and NBA Twitter is the best. NBA rules on social media, even for somebody in his early 50s. I can't think of a deeper year in the NBA than this year.

Now I was a bit of a star endorser there because I want a mass audience to follow me. But you don't have to be somebody watching a random game on NBA TV to know that Minnesota is for real. We're almost 30 games into this season.

This is not an aberration in any way. Anthony Edwards is a superstar. You put in the versatility of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert playing up to the level that's won him multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards. How about Oklahoma City? I understand why we don't talk about them.

Big market, small market bias. Think about all of their young talent. Led by Shay Gilgus-Alexander, who was an All-NBA performer last year, a healthy Chet Holmgren. Denver, I only brought them up to bash the officiating. They're the reigning champs and we never talk about them.

I don't know why. I don't even have a working theory other than they're tucked away in the Rocky Mountains and they're not fish, they're not fowl, they're not East Coast, they're not West Coast. And I live in Southern California, so I'm not trying to be some myopic person on the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York City. I get it, but I wanted to see what the Nuggets would do, losing some quality role players like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and they haven't missed a step.

Sacramento, a lot of fun to watch with the Aaron Fox. And I could keep going. Look, I'm not a clipper endorser because I have a functioning brain and I have eyes that work. But even I can't deny that hot streak they enjoyed winning, what, was it eight in a row? But I hope you also noticed Kawhi Leonard finally got dinged up again.

And I'm not rooting for this outcome, but you are what you consistently do. And I think Kawhi was trying to demonstrate that for once he could avoid load management. Well, now he's less than a hundred percent. And if you're a Laker fan, here's your problem. Anthony Davis shows up occasionally. I'll go back to the playoffs.

Evens and odds when it comes to the numbers of games. Lakers got 40 out of 80 last night, yesterday, depending on where you watched it, and still really had no chance of winning that game in the fourth. LeBron, I know he made the nice play defensively, but virtually irrelevant with just the 16 points and the Lakers a game over 500.

I think really tells us who they are. This is a team that's middle of the pack. Remember, things broke precisely their way last year in the postseason. You had the John Moran nonsense to get him off the court for Memphis. You had a battered warrior team in disarray. So, yes, perhaps the Lakers could hang a banner celebrating making it to the Western Conference Finals, right next to their banner, commemorating the first in-season tournament victory.

But this is a team that, in my estimation, is mediocre at best. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eyes and nothing but football the rest of the way. If you want to be a part of the show, 8-4-4, 2-0-4, 7-4-2-4, final hour of the program, 2-20 Eastern Time. We take you across the NFL. We talk NVP balloting with a long-time football journalist, Jason Cole, NFL insider for the 33rd team. We'll talk some college football as well in that final hour of the show.

Straight ahead, I'm not trolling anybody. I should have ripped off the act from Skip Bayless a long time ago. I would not be merely a fill-in host. But if you're a Cowboy fan, hit me up on Twitter, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, and answer this question.

Are there any reasons to believe Dallas can come alive on the road come playoff time? That's on the way. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you whenever I'm lucky enough to sit in for Rich.

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Lowest price guaranteed. Get an inside look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum. Let's get inside of my father, John Glover. You know, we watch Talk Phil and most of these episodes I never saw. I didn't watch the show.

You never once saw yourself on Smallville. In the beginning, I used to look at myself all the time and love to. And then as I get older, I stopped. Why is that?

I don't know. Maybe because I'm older. I was going to talk to you about that because you're 79.

Yeah. How old do you feel? Eleven. I'll see you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. Two.

In my mind, that's a myriad. More than one. Especially given my normal mantra of taking phone calls selectively. So, if you want to chime in, pick up the phone. We can have a conversation in the last hour of the show.

844-204-7424. Keep the Twitter love. No venom.

Just love during the holiday week. B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's.

Keep it flowing on the X. Coming up, in addition to much more NFL. I'm going to cover here and NFL content to kick off the final hour of the program in just over 15 minutes.

Final hour will include a conversation at 2.20 Eastern Time with an old friend. Someone who's covered the league for decades. Jason Cole. NFL insider for the 33rd team. It's interesting because of the early firings.

So, already the opening in Carolina. And Frank Reich, while his ego may be bruised. His bank account is certainly a lot more robust. I think we'll look back and say the best thing that happened to his career was to get away from David Tepper.

Who has proven once more just because you have billions of dollars does not mean you're the smartest man in every room. And has been wildly impatient with his coaching approach in Carolina. Brandon Staley, in my mind, got fired well after his expiration date. Should have been gone last year.

I can make the argument should have been gone the year before when all he had to do was play for a tie against the Raiders. Remember that catastrophe? And he seems like a nice man. Again, now it's the moonwalking. I don't want to bash people. But I have to be upfront. I work in the most volatile industry in our segment of media. It is not a promising time to be on the radio.

I'm not calling for anyone to lose their job. However, when you have a position as high profile as being an NFL head coach is, you know that there's a ton of scrutiny coming your way. So why would you do inane things like preside over the greatest collapse in Charger playoff history?

That's saying something. Going back to that game we all watched together and couldn't believe was occurring the way it did on NBC. And remember, Chargers did not put themselves in position to win that game because Staley inexplicably played his starters in the regular season finale for no reason.

But finally, Spano's family decided it was time to make a change. When we have that conversation with Jason Cole, I'll get his thoughts on what the Chargers could do as they begin their coaching search. Remember, they also whacked GM Tom Tolesco.

So they have an open organization. Do you throw a ton of money at Bill Belichick? I would for the coaching only aspect. Because if you think about the Chargers and why there was so much hype surrounding them this year, although remember now they're heading into Sari Capel as well. But that's not our problem.

The accountants can sort that out. It was all about let's maximize Justin Herbert's rookie deal and what do they have to show for it? Not a single playoff victory and now he's gotten the mega contract extension with that Powerball money. But if you stay the course with Kellen Moore, you keep that offensive unit intact and you hope for better fortune for Justin Herbert.

He just can't stay healthy at this stage of his career. You bring in Belichick to fix the defense. Remember the Patriot defense has not been that bad this year. And the Patriots actually, I can't believe I'm saying this, playing with a modicum of pride. They've won two of their last three. You might have gone to bed, as Rich was calling the game on NFL Network, deep, deep, deep into Christmas Eve night.

As redundant as that might sound. Patriots are playing a little bit more respectable football as of late. Although, a lot of Patriot fans are losing their mind because they're moving away from having a chance to have a top three pick. And with that they could take, say, Drake May, the second, I think, franchise quarterback coming up in the draft after Caleb Williams goes number one to Chicago. The other name, of course, you're hearing is Jim Harbaugh, who in my view not only has unfinished business in the NFL, had a sting to lose that Super Bowl to your own brother.

I don't care how tight your family is. But beyond that, he's trying to use the Chargers for even more leverage at Michigan. Despite the fact he served six games worth of suspensions this year. Despite the fact the NCA is not done with them well, and I got to tread lightly because Rich is a Michigan man. Even at a school with Michigan's incredible academic standards, winning is the best deodorant.

It covers everything. And here's Harbaugh with his team back in the playoff. Now, if you want to get critical, you could say, what have they done in the playoff recently? And that TCU loss still looks glaring a year later. But we'll find out much more about this year's edition of the Wolverines, Harbaugh's future. How about Nick Saban? There are some rumblings. If he's able to win another national championship, he could walk away.

I don't see it. What else is this guy going to do? Coaching is his very identity. But I'll get back to the college football in the final hour of the program. We're going to talk more college as well tomorrow when we're joined by Stewart Mandel of the athletic. I also wanted to make sure I didn't do 10 minutes of anti-Dallas radio.

Again, if I tell you I don't have an agenda, you could say I'm being contradictory. But I have no animosity towards the Cowboys. In fact, since I worked at NFL Network, how many Cowboys stories do you think I did like everybody else?

You want to know why? They moved the needle. You talk Cowboys good or bad, people respond. I will say this. If you're a Cowboy fan, at some point, though, don't you have to ask for more from your franchise?

Hasn't it gotten so repetitive that you've seen this movie over and over and over again? Now, they can't lose at home. You talk about a home field advantage. And that's why it's promising coming up on Saturday. If you haven't looked at the schedule, we have more Saturday football. And this is a marquee matchup. Lions on the road to Jerry World in primetime. And I gave you my reservations about the Lions, especially on defense. I think Dallas wins that game.

But at some point, they're going to have to win on the road. And they had five different ways of achieving that goal in Miami on Sunday. It didn't help on the opening drive. They gave the ball to the fullback. I know he had been used on that possession earlier in the series. And I thought Tony Pollard was in the play before. But what an amazing open field tackle that was by the Dolphins, keeping the ball beyond the goal line. He didn't break the plane. Still, all I hear about is how good this Dallas defense is.

Okay? And I, again, would be out of my mind to slight Micah Parsons. But all they had to do was make a stop or two. I realize in the modern NFL, these field goal kickers are insane. So, it's a real challenge to keep a team out of field goal range. Still, after Dak balls out, digs deep to come up with what could have been the game-winning drive, this vaunted story defense I keep hearing about couldn't keep Tua and the Dolphins out of field goal range. And it didn't help that they shot themselves metaphorically in the leg again with that face mask penalty, one of six in the game, because Dallas leads the league in penalties again.

So, what's going to change? I'm older than my enthusiastic delivery would reflect. I remember when the Cowboys were winning Super Bowls. I have stood next to Barry Switzer at a watering hole here in Southern California, had the Super Bowl ring on one hand and an Oklahoma national championship on the other. I remember when the Cowboys were winning championships. But I also remember I was gelling my hair then and there was no internet because it was 30 years ago and they haven't even been back to a conference championship game since. So, Cowboy fan, if you're okay with, aight, if you're okay with just making the playoffs and winning a playoff game, okay.

And you even won a playoff game on the road last year at Tampa Bay, congratulations. But I thought the standard for quote unquote America's team was supposed to be higher. I thought it was a championship goal every year or the season was nothing close to a success. And I realize every team says that. Washington will tell us that's their goal.

It's been a minute since the Hogs were walking through that door. But it becomes tedious, especially on social media, for all of the excuse making provided by Cowboy Nation when they should just face facts. This is a good team but not an outstanding team and that's okay. Because in the current NFL, if you're even a good team, you're light years ahead of most of the league. Tom Brady has never said anything interesting and he's going to be paid a lot of money to demonstrate that if he actually shows up in the booth next year. But when he told us what we all knew to be true, saying a month ago he sees a lot of mediocrity in the NFL, that wasn't a hot take.

That was an obvious observation. So, Cowboy fan, enjoy your holiday. I think you're going to win on Saturday.

That gets you to 11 and 5. But at some point you're going to have to win on the road in the playoffs and let's see what's occurred over the last two weeks. You got annihilated in Buffalo. Nobody could tackle James Cook. You had a chance to win the game in Miami. If you could make a defensive stand, you couldn't get it done. And I know you kept the Dolphins to just a single touchdown.

Okay. You won a participation trophy? I thought you were the Cowboys. I thought you had higher goals.

Well, I think a lot of that is just empty rhetoric on social media, which, believe me, I know a lot about. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. As we approach the final hour of the program, back to our takeaways. From what was supposed to be the game of the year last night, Niners got demolished by the Ravens, Brock Purdy imploded with the four picks. That's all coming up. Hang with us. I'm in for Rich Eisen. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Something to wrestle wherever you listen.