Russell Wilson gets benched

Now, your ideas don't have to wait.

Now, they have everything they need to come to life. Dell Technologies and Intel are creating technology that loves ideas, loves expanding your business, evolving your passions. We push what technology can do so great ideas can happen right now.

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. Welcome to the program. Great to have you with us on a jam-packed Wednesday. I appreciate you carving out some time during a holiday week too. At least listen.

Perhaps get interactive with me. Always an honor to sit in for Rich, support his outstanding brand, because this is my last opportunity to keep the chair warm for Rich this year. And if you're not a fan, or if you decided after 12 seconds, that's enough. I can't handle this guy. Here's the good news.

I'm probably not back until Memorial Day. Meaning, as an egomaniac, I'm going to put even more pressure on myself to jam five hours worth of content into a three-hour bag, virtually nothing but NFL conversation, with a little bit of college as well. In 20 minutes, though, I have to acknowledge more misery in Motown, and for once, it does not involve the Lions. Pistons fan, I feel your pain. We'll talk about an absolute debacle on the hardwood.

I have no life. I was tracking that game last night, just out of morbid curiosity to see if the streak would continue. Pistons had a 10-point lead early in the first half.

What do you know? Make it 27 consecutive losses. But I understand the football crushes everything in its path. So coming up, we're going to jump right in talking quarterbacks. We have updates, not a fantasy update, fantasy update.

But we have actual news as to who's going to start for the New York Giants, the Washington commanders, and increasing speculation about the immediate future of Russell Wilson. We'll get there coming up. As always, though, if you want to participate in the program, I try to be upfront with you, the best way to slide in is on social media. Hit me up on Twitter, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two Bs. Now, I give the phone number out with regularity because I'm a radio veteran, and it was beaten into my brain decades ago. And because I'm open to taking a phone call and as proof of concept, we took two yesterday, record setting.

So the number to call is 844-204-7424, 844-204-7424. But because we have a guest coming up in 40 minutes, probably patience would benefit you. Hang in there, and I'm open to grabbing a line or two coming up in our number two.

In 40 minutes, as mentioned, we'll expand the conversation. We'll talk NFL and some college football with Matt Leinart, USC grape, Heisman Trophy winner. You see him on Fox's college pregame coverage. I won't spend too much time talking about the Holiday Bowl, although that's what he is linked to as a USC great. USC against Louisville, none of the big names that you know for USC will be playing, most notably Caleb Williams, but I want Matt's thoughts on how Caleb and his skill set is going to translate directly to the NFL.

Is it a situation of being a can't miss generational talent or, for example, if he winds up in Chicago, could he join the long list of underachieving quarterbacks in the second city? The hour number two, as the bowl games roll on, we're not going to waste our time together, Mr. Hand. Talking about the matchups that are meaningless, especially with a wave of opt-outs.

I mentioned, no, Caleb Williams, that's predictable. Poor Florida State after going through a national conversation about their merits when they got snubbed by the selection committee, but I can understand the rationale primarily because of the power of the SEC. Florida State has virtually no one you've ever heard of deciding to play in the orange bowl coming up against Georgia on Saturday. But, with the countdown to kick off for the national semifinals already underway, I come to you from Arrigo Studios in Southern California.

There's a lot of blue and maize rolling around here in LA. Rich, as a Michigan man, might be one of those Wolverine Hawks and a ton of Crimson Tide. We'll get you ready for the national semifinals, Alabama and Michigan, Washington and Texas, coming up in the next hour when we chat with Stewart Mandel of the Athletic.

Final hour because nobody is able to connect sports and entertainment better than the man whose name is on the marquee. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich. This is a Wednesday edition. I'm going to remind you what day of the week it is because we all get lost this time of the year. Wednesday edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

Hop aboard at 844-204-7424. Twitter is available. I'll follow Rich's lead and merge sports and entertainment coming up at 2.20 Eastern Time. Last hour of the show, we'll say hello to Spice Adams, former NFL defensive lineman, playing for the Niners and Bears.

We'll talk about both those teams and that ferocious San Francisco front seven suddenly looked vulnerable as they were picked apart by Lamar Jackson and the Ravens on Christmas night. And Spice is now a host and a comedian. And that's fitting if your moniker is Spice.

Who's your favorite Spice girl? We'll do the instant poll at B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I mentioned we have actual news surrounding quarterbacks.

Let me go through it line by line, but to me what's more interesting are takeaways. I'm not doing a three hour update, but if you've not seen the news and we know that anything connected to the NFL is extremely relevant. Not a surprise based on what happened the second half of the game between the Giants and the Eagles the other day. The Tommy DeVito era has come to an end. Tarod Taylor takes over.

It's official from Ryan Debel who was noncommittal postgame on Christmas Day. Tarod back in the starting lineup as it's a monumental game for the Rams. They continue their march towards locking up a wild card.

If they beat the Giants, they'll clinch a postseason slot coming up this weekend. So what will your favorite memory of the Tommy Cutlets era be? This is like a mini version of Linsanity, especially with the New York connection. And if you can't tell because I've spent 35 years trying to lose the East Coast accent. That's where I'm from. That's where I was born and raised.

So I know everything is bigger in the New York tri-state area because we tell you that's the case difference between DeVito and Linsanity. Jeremy Lincoln actually play and I'm not taking shots at Tommy DeVito. There's a reason why he wound up in that situation as an undrafted free agent coming into the league, but it was fun while it lasted. Great backstory living at home.

I got tired of the agent and I have many friends. Now I'm going to sound like I'm backpedaling here. One of my best friends name is Jack DeVita. So DeVito is something that I'm very familiar with, but all of the Italian American stereotypes got a little bit old, but that's a sidebar.

Point is this. DeVito had the magical night against the Packers and he'll dine out on that for the rest of his life. In terms of an actual football decision, you saw what Taylor did when he was able to come into the game and Tarat had to feel like for the 15th time in his career.

Can I catch a freaking break? Go back to when he was a member of the Chargers. He needed to take a shot and the team physician punctured his lung and that was the opening that created the start of Justin Herbert and his unbelievable beginning to our NFL career and the huge payday he recently got. None of that happens, or at least not in that sequence, if Taylor isn't hospitalized prior to the season opener a couple years ago because his lung got punctured by a reportedly, allegedly, I don't want to get sued, incompetent team doctor.

If you watch the game on Christmas, Taylor jump started the offense. They actually looked like a seemingly professional football team and if you're a Philly fan, the major concern should be that game was too darn close once more because this defense has gone away in a major way. And I don't know what's going to change over the next handful of weeks, even when the Eagles lock up the division title.

You are what you consistently do. Nothing wrong in that three game losing streak to see San Francisco, for example, pound you. Although with the luster of the NFC title game rematch, you thought Philly would show up much more defensively, not the case.

Dallas plays so well at home, but can't do anything on the road as we saw again, losing over the weekend in Miami. But to me, the biggest concern was what happened on Monday night when future Hall of Famer Drew Locke, of all people, dissected a battered Philly secondary clearly missing Darrius Slay. So to put it all together, the year of the backup quarterback continues and the Giants went from overpaying Daniel Jones based on one good season with the quarterback whisperer Brian Dabble. Don't you think internally they're having major buyer's remorse about what they gave to Danny Dimes?

If you want to go with that moniker, you get to DeVito flash in the pan. Now it's to Rod Taylor. Jacoby Percept also was part of a wild game involving a team from New York. You probably didn't pay much attention to a matchup between the commanders and the Jets. I don't blame you because it was a game between the commanders and the Jets, but Sam Hall has been a turnover machine. Although when we talk MVP coming up to start our number two and I give you the bona fides for Josh Allen, who has accounted for a total of 40 touchdowns, don't overlook the fact that Allen is second only to Howell in interceptions this year because he's been in a giving mood, not just during the holiday season all year long with 15 INTs thrown by the Buffalo quarterback.

Percept made that game wildly entertaining. Jets found a way to get it done in the closing seconds and to me this feels like Ron Rivera just shuffling the decks of the Titanic and making sure that everything is cleaned up before that boat sinks entirely. Because we know from the philosopher Michael Ray Richardson, the ship bee sinking and it seems like a foregone conclusion that Ron Rivera, who's a heck of a nice guy, he's always been great in interview settings, even with backup hacks like me. If you're wondering who I am, I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen, 844-204-7424.

You can tweet at me, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's in 30 minutes. We talk NFL and college football with Matt Leinart, the former USC great and Heisman Trophy winner. Ron Rivera is preparing to clear out his office and Ron, if he wants to coach again, will have the opportunity primarily, I would think, as a defensive assistant. He's made a ton of money both in Carolina and Washington, but he's making one more move to demonstrate to the new ownership group. Thankfully, our long national nightmare that lasted far too long and Roger Goodell and the rest of the owners were complicit because, reportedly, Dan Snyder had dirt on them. Snyder finally gone.

It feels like just a matter of time before Rivera is gone and it will be Jacoby Brissette cleaning things up down the stretch. So all of this leads to a Russell Wilson discussion, but one brief footnote. You know the NFL is going to expand at some point. Why?

Because they monetize everything and I don't believe for a moment. The report that came out last week, a senior league official went on the record saying that if Christmas falls on a Wednesday, as it will next year on a leap year, the league has no plans of playing Christmas Day games on a Tuesday or Wednesday. And hopefully I'm back next year. I know you're not looking forward to it, but I'm going to put it in my calendar right now. I have a prediction I will be here on Christmas Day talking about NFL games. Why?

Because they have a license to print money. And they've hijacked a holiday that used to be dominated by the NBA. So expansion is coming. It's just a matter of time. Will it be one or two teams in London?

Do they go to Mexico City? We know the league is going to get bigger. And my question, just as a thought exercise, is where are they going to get enough qualified starting quarterbacks? Have you paid attention to the season? It has been ludicrous the amount of lackluster players that we've had to endure under center.

And I don't have to go through the entire list, do I? But do you remember since I talked about the brief, glorious Tommy DeVito era that apparently has come to an end? Do you remember the Josh Dobbs experience? When it seemed like when he was signed in the middle of the week by the Vikings after Kirk Cousins went down, he could not throw an incompletion. Then suddenly it all fell apart because that's what backup quarterbacks do.

Case in point. Jake Browning, when he beat Minnesota and he felt like he had something to prove because they cut him, although postgame he admitted that the regime that made the decision is long gone. But athletes, as we discussed yesterday with Lamar Jackson versus Mike Florio, and now Florio, good friend of the program, I'll tread lightly and I have ultimate respect for Mike.

Now Mike says he wants out of the picking business and says that he went to the suits at NBC before the year and said I don't want to make these predictions anymore because they're lame. Interesting topic. But as we think about motivation, Jake Browning was acting like he was Boomer Esiason back in the day in Cincinnati.

Well, he came crashing back to earth as well. So the larger point and the larger idea to ruminate about on a big word Wednesday is, we can barely find enough competent starting quarterbacks to survive half the year, three quarters of the year. It is, to me, mind boggling. And I know it's going to happen. So I just have to deal with it like the expansion of the college football playoff that was inevitable. But when the league goes to 34, probably 36 teams, where are the quarterbacks coming from? Is AI going to come up with a solution for this?

Because I know they're going to replace me and you very soon. That gets us to Russell Wilson. And if you've been paying attention, and hopefully many of you have better things to do, then track all of the minutia from NFL insiders during the holidays.

But these breadcrumbs have been dropped for the last few weeks. And obviously the leaks are coming from inside the Broncos. Russell Wilson having a better year this season because statistically it would have been impossible to have the kind of hideous season that he did last year. Although it was coaching malpractice having to deal with Nathaniel Hackett, who only got the job, in my opinion, because the Broncos thought they had a chance to get Aaron Rodgers and he and Aaron are boys. That's it. And what do you know? Nate Canhackett wound up now as the play caller for the Jets.

I wonder how that all came together. But Russ has been better. Here's the issue. Does Sean Payton want to coach Russell Wilson at the age of 35? This really comes down to a power struggle with an ownership group that's going to have to make a decision.

Because Russ, if he were to get hurt in the remaining two games, and coming up Denver has a minute. I'm talking about the slimmest possibility of finding their way into the postseason as a wildcard. They have to win out and 37 other things have to happen. I think a tie is involved.

I'm not going to go through all of the boring details. But they're not mathematically dead yet, but it's a scintilla of a possibility. As they get set to take on the Chargers, here we are on a Wednesday. And according to reports, Sean Payton and the brass, but that's all led by Sean because he has all the power and all of the coin with that mega deal he got from ownership with Walmart money. Payton's trying to figure out, do the Broncos run the risk of putting Russell Wilson on the field coming up this weekend and then in the regular season finale?

And here's the balancing act. If he gets hurt, 37 million that's guaranteed for next season kicks in. And then the Broncos are handcuffed. They have no choice whatsoever at that point. If they sit him, if they put him in bubble wrap like we saw with Derek Carr last year with the Raiders, then you avoid that possibility. You make the decision in the offseason.

Now for Carr, it was a foregone conclusion they were moving on from Derek. And man, I root for him. He seems like a nice guy, but he's a shadow of himself. If you watch the Saints, he just can't deliver at all in these high leverage situations. Way too many turnovers. As for Wilson, if he doesn't play, it doesn't mean it's time for a divorce.

Consider it a divorce. It would just give Denver more options that when they get to the offseason, they can come back to a 35-year-old quarterback and say, 37 million guaranteed ain't gonna work. You want to stay on this team, take a pay cut, or we will cut you and you can survey the league for your next opportunity. So that's the story of the track. I'm gonna circle back to this coming up to start our number two.

That'll be the through line. What is the future of Russell Wilson? If it's not Russell Wilson, in the year of the backup quarterback, future Hall of Famer Jarrett Stidham could be squaring off against Easton Stick.

One of my favorite names. Who played decently on Saturday against the Bills because you never know which version of the Bills are gonna show up. The most inconsistent team in all of football. Still, I wouldn't want to see them in the postseason, but I think it's fair to wonder with a consistency problem that has plagued them every step of the way. Think about that game against Denver about six weeks ago. Can you feel confident that Buffalo can string together three or four, if they don't win the division title, they still have a chance, four games in a row at a high level to win it all?

I have doubts. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. We'll get back to the NFL in 20 minutes when we check in with Matt Leinart. We'll talk MVP to start our number two. You can be a part of the show.

844-204-7424. Hit me up on the X. BW Weber. Weber with 2B. Straight ahead, just a little bit of NBA. I was watching almost like I was driving down the freeway and I saw that proverbial car wreck. I could not avert my gaze last night as the Pistons somehow, some way found a way to lose their 27th straight. We'll talk about another meltdown for the team from Motown. Plus, should Kevin Durant get off the Gram as you kids say?

No more Instagram heading into 2024. Details coming up. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. A reminder since I've been talking about all these football games, basketball games. It is the most wonderful time of the year to be a sports fan, especially if you want to check out these games in person, but you better make sure you're getting maximum value and you shouldn't have to worry when you're buying tickets to your next big event. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you with killer last minute deals, all in prices, views from your seat, and their best price guarantee. GameTime takes the guesswork out of buying tickets.

Here's what I really like about GameTime. As mentioned, they have last minute tickets, flash deals, zone deals, easy to find and buy tickets for every kind of event in your area. You can check out views from all the seats in the venue, lowest price guarantee, event cancellation protection, job loss protection, much more. GameTime is the ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with your purchase. You can check out that virtual view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what you're going to get.

All in prices show you the total upfront, so you are assured of that great deal before you check out, and it's efficient. You can buy tickets in seconds with just two taps. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code RICH for $20 off your first purchase.

Restrictions apply. Visit GameTime.co for terms. Again, create the account and use that promo code RICH for $20 off. Download GameTime today.

Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Finally, no matter who you are or where you are in life, you'll feel special with Discover. Learn more at Discover.com credit card. Limitations apply. Let's talk Audible, people. Audible lets you enjoy all of your audio entertainment all in one app. Titles in every kind in all categories. Wellness, bestsellers, and new releases as well as podcasts and originals. And Audible members can keep one title a month from the entire catalog.

You keep it. You'll always find the best of what you love or something new to discover. You know, I travel a lot, especially during football season. And right now, listening to player memoirs from Audible really helps me relax and pass the time on long flights. With the app, you can listen anywhere as it's all in one spot. Whether I'm on a transatlantic flight or on a long car ride with my family, I just put on an audiobook from Audible and boom.

It's so easy to just listen. New members can try Audible now free for 30 days. Visit audible.com or text EISEN to 500-500.

That's audible.com or text EISEN to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days. Ryan Weber back with you. Infrared Jyzen. Appreciate the company on this busy Wednesday. Conversation heating up on Twitter. Have at it with me, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. We're going to keep this concise because coming up in 15 minutes, looking forward to our first guest of the day. I never overwhelm you with outside voices. Just one per hour today. Typically, I only go with two. But when I have the opportunity to check in with a Heisman Trophy winner, I'm not going to pass up that chance.

Looking forward to chatting with Matt Leinart, the USC Great, we'll talk college and NFL. That is coming up with a reminder driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal and law enforcement officers can tell if you're driving high. If you feel different, you drive different. Drive high, get a DUI paid for by NHTSA.

8442047424. I mentioned I was planning on talking about the Pistons and Kevin Durant's inability to put his phone down. He just can't help himself on social media. But apparently I've turned into a satellite radio host in the middle of the night. Who am I?

What has become of my philosophy? Nothing but phone calls today. Maybe my Motown reference got this individual hot. Let's hit the phone lines. Here is Detroit G in California.

Detroit G, Bryan Weber with you. May I call you G Money, sir? You sure can, man. That's my other nigga. Well, you gotta pick one, my man. You can't have a hierarchy. You gotta go with one moniker.

Oh, no. I like them all, man. I like them all. Big Money G, everything. I love it all.

It better be Small Money G. All right, G, what's on your mind? Hey, I've been telling folks for the last three weeks that the Lions are going to get the number one shot in the NFC because everybody else is falling to the wayside. And we just keep chugging along like an old train. I can't wait until we get the number one seed and everybody has to come to Detroit to get to the Super Bowl. All right, Detroit G, I thought you were going to say like Dick Nitrain Lane. I'm older than I sound and I'm a Detroit historian.

Let me give you my view of the team with this bias. For years, remember Eric Kramer? Remember Eric Kramer, the Lion Great?

He used to hand off the ball to Barry Sanders. I worked with Eric and Fox for six years. I have more inside knowledge on those Lion teams than anything you've seen on a documentary. So I feel steeped in Lion history. And I am so glad, Detroit G, that finally, after decades of pain, your team is relevant. I am rooting for the Lions.

Now, you know there's a but coming. A, you're probably not going to be the top seed because all the Niners have to do is beat Washington. Although Jacoby Brissette gives them a better chance. But you see the math is on San Francisco's side.

B, that's not your big concern. Just enjoy wrapping up your first division since 1993. You know you've won one playoff game in 1991 since 1957, my man. The curse of Bobby Lane, okay? So we know the back story. Let's revel in the moment.

But here's my question to you. How much confidence do you have in your defense? Because, G, I've seen this over the last six weeks. And I said it on Thanksgiving, filling in for Rich. And we saw Jordan Love carve up Detroit that day. Nick Mullins needed to throw his fourth interception to end that game. G, I just want to see more consistency from the Lion defense to have more confidence in them.

Your rebuttal. I believe that they were good enough to straighten everything out. They have most of the season. Most of the season when they did that interception or that fumble or that sack, they got it. You know what I'm saying? They're not the Ravens, but they're not sliced bread either. Okay, so you're saying to me I'm getting too caught up in the overall numbers and I'm looking at how many yards they're giving up.

And you're saying, and to amplify your point, they came up with that pick to seal the victory against Minnesota. G, I appreciate the call. Before you go, did you and Wayne Fonts used to kick it back in the day? What's your best Wayne Fonts memory? Wayne Fonts, one time Barry Sanders in practice was running and doing his thing. Somebody, faculty, Wayne Fonts jumped in that little cart of his, rolled over to the dude and said, you're out of here. That's how Wayne survived.

He knew where his bread was buttered. Hey G, you and I need our own podcast. I appreciate veterans and I appreciate your passion. Happy holidays and thanks for picking up the phone my man. Same to you bro.

G Money out. Alright, that's why I am open to taking phone calls. Folks, I, and anytime someone says they're self-aware, they're not self-aware. I believe I am painfully self-aware as I talk about myself more often, but I have a microphone and all you can do is turn off your radio. I like taking phone calls. I like people, believe it or not, even though I work alone and Rich has the full ensemble.

Here's how I've arrived at this strategy when it comes to content creation and I'll be very upfront with you. For many years, I worked for a radio outlet in which I could say, first caller gets $10,000 and no one would call because we didn't have the best distribution. I'll put it that way. So I learned along the way, if I was going to have a successful show or at least successful in my mind, I could never build it around callers. Callers are the icing on the metaphoric cake because I don't know what G Money is going to do. When I went to the loans, I didn't know if Detroit G had personality and he made the show better, but I don't mean to come across more pompous than I do. And I, again, understand my style is not for everybody.

The reason I throw out there, we take phone calls selectively at 844-204-7424 is for years, nobody wanted to call me because they thought I was an arrogant know-it-all. I get it. And then secondly, I really do value this opportunity.

It's my last show of the year for this audience. So I come with a lot of material. Hopefully that comes through.

There's a roadmap here. I didn't walk in two minutes before the show and say, oh, what's on ESPN.com? So as I pat myself on the back continuously.

Having said that, I did not do my job and live up to my forward promotion. So we will call an audible. I got Kevin Durant thoughts. I got Piston thoughts. We'll talk a little bit of NBA, maybe because I just feel badly as a Christmas guest host veteran like my man G Money that the NFL has stolen another holiday.

Because not too long ago when I was filling in for Rich, I talked mostly NBA and a lot of NFL. And here comes the behemoth that is the NFL crushing everything in its path. Looking ahead, Lions Cowboys coming up on Saturday. Yes, we have more football on a Saturday. I'll get you fully lined up for that marquee matchup. Here's the good news, Cowboy fans. You're at home where you don't lose. Bad news is you're going to have to go on the playoff run on the road three and five this year and those wins have come against lackluster teams at the Panthers, at the Chargers, at the Giants.

Okay, I mentioned I had to follow the goal of having brevity and I'm going to actually fulfill that here. Coming up, is Caleb Williams a lock to be an NFL superstar? Wherever he lands, we'll ask another USC quarterback and a great one at that. Matt Leinart, the Heisman Trophy winner.

That's on the way. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

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 seventy nine. Yeah. How old do you feel?

Eleven. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. Stacking Benjamins with Joe and his good friend OG not only has great financial insight, it's laid back with humor, too.

Joe talks with Stacking Deeds co-host Crystal Hammond. I've always been a fan of nosy neighbors. I want nosy neighbors. They can tell you what's going on ten times faster than you would know. Again, what's she talking about, Doug?

Really? We're repairing neighborhoods, but then we're into nosy neighbors and a career off of that. Find out more by searching the Stacking Benjamins podcast wherever you listen. I'm Brian Weber.

We continue to maintain our verbal momentum. In for Rich Eisen. It's The Rich Eisen Show.

844-204-7424. Twitter is getting interesting and you can be a part of that conversation. It's BW Weber.

Weber with two B's. We are efforting. My favorite radio word.

How about in plain English? Attempting a conversation with Matt Leinart, the Heisman Trophy winner. When he's available, the great Art Martinez, our technical producer, will whisper in my ear or shout, which is probably the more effective way.

Given all of the hearing I have lost after decades and decades of shouting into a microphone, no one told me that the microphone amplifies things, as now I lower my voice for some reason. So while we wait for Matt, I can let you know that the focal point of the monologue has actually now become official. I threw out the possibility that Russell Wilson could be benched starting this weekend and also not play in the regular season finale as Denver gets set to take on the L.A. Chargers. Sean Payton within the last 30 minutes informing Russell Wilson, so I'm glad we have access to social media as I was checking out all your vitriol on Twitter.

Adam Schefter breaking the news that Russ is going to sit and I laid out the rationale and if you have any doubt in life how things are going to play out, follow the money. Big money. Do Russ, should he get injured on the field over the last couple weeks, 37 million would become guaranteed if he couldn't pass a physical in early March. Now, here's where there's an additional monetary wrinkle. Russell Wilson is already guaranteed 39 million for next year, so that's a nice kicker had it come into play.

Let's do that, Matt. That is a lot of dough had he gotten hurt. Now, there's always a way to verbally spin these decisions and because Schefter is very dialed in, the other verbal plank that I can throw out there to come up with the foundation for this argument is, well, the team has been scuffling down the stretch. I mentioned they have just the slimmest of possibilities of making the playoffs because of what they've done lately, just one in three and it felt like it was a dagger. In fact, to connect it to the man who hosts this program, Rich was on the call in Denver when Russ and the Broncos put together that furious comeback. They did all the work after Bailey Zappi looked good for the Patriots early on and then the Patriots ripped the hearts out of the Broncos with that long field goal at the gun.

So there's a competitive balance notion as well. Let's go to Stidham to see if he can give this offense a catalyst that is all fluff, that is all spin and that is all window dressing. This is all about money and nothing else and it's really about, in my view, the relationship between Russell Wilson and Sean Payton and does Payton believe he can transform this franchise with Russ as the quarterback.

Now, I do my best to be balanced here. I don't want to just slam Russell Wilson because he's looked wobbly over the last few weeks. And if you were paying attention, since suddenly this show is all Detroit topics all the time, go back to the end of that game at Ford Field and Sean Payton aired out Russell Wilson. It was as much of a tirade as I've ever seen directed at Russell Wilson.

Obviously, I'm not behind the scenes. Sean Payton knows what he's doing. He knows that the cameras are on him and to have that kind of display in front of the face of the franchise, that's telling you something. Now, of course, Russ post-game brushed it off because that's who he is.

He's always going to take the high road, however you view him. And there's all of those stories about last year when he had his own office and his own office, like the coaching staff up there on the second floor away from his teammates, that he had his own team and not just your normal masseuse and chef Russ was running with, for lack of a better term, an entourage. Now, the Broncos enabled all that because they went beyond all in to get him, in addition to giving him roughly 250 million dollars. Now, a lot of that's NFL funny money, but a big chunk is guaranteed. I mentioned the 39 mill already guaranteed for next year and the 37 million that would have been tacked on had he gotten hurt.

But ownership was so desperate to change the culture of that franchise, they gave Russ whatever he wanted, plus they gave Seattle real assets in return, and last year was an absolute disaster. This year, as I'll read directly from Schefter, don't want you to think I'm doing this off the top of my head, I'm Brian Weber and the process may be of getting stiffed by Matt Linder. We'll find out.

844-204-7424. My guess is Matt might have said, wait a minute, Rich is not working today? Although, Matt, if you're listening, I went to USC for grad school. Now, I am not a USC legend and I had to pay to go there, but come on, my man.

Now, these things happen, especially because Matt is on a publicity tour and sometimes they run late, and if he's unavailable, it is all good. Schefter points out Russ, if you care about the metric in terms of passer rating, he's number seven in the league there, and the TD to INT ratio is good. 26 touchdowns against just eight interceptions.

So, this has nothing to do, in my estimation, with what's been going on on the field. Russ has played much better this year. As mentioned, though, statistically, there was no way he could be worse than he was last year. This is about Sean Payton trying to keep all of his options open and trying to put his imprint on the franchise and maybe, just maybe, he decides to move on from Russell Wilson at the age of 35. If that's the case, who you getting? I just laid out all of the flossum and jetsum on these depth charts across the NFL this year, in the year of the batchered starting quarterback that all started week one when Aaron Rodgers, unfortunately, popped his Achilles with the whole nation watching, and then a series of injuries to all these big name quarterbacks. Tell me who Denver's getting? Drew Brees coming out of retirement?

So, I don't know what the plan B would be. They're in the middle of the pack when it comes to draft possibilities because they won just enough and give this team credit for not giving up. Do you remember earlier this year? The Dolphins scored 70 points on the Broncos. They piled up better than 700 yards of total offense.

A lot of teams would have said, that's it, a 1-2-3 Cancun and moved on. So, Peyton, brick by brick is changing the culture within that Bronco facility and now he has a decision to make about the quarterback position and he wants all of the latitude he can. So, this is predictable and I mentioned you can figure out how things are working and I'll take you behind the curtain a little bit as a media insider. I'm Brian Weber. I must be special. I'm guest hosting for Rich Eisen.

844-204-7424. We're talking NFL MVP to kick off hour number two. You can hit me up on Twitter. That is B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. This story had been percolating over the last week or two and it wasn't just Schefter. Jonathan Jones, fine NFL insider for CBS. Ian Rappaport, Rich's colleague at NFL Network.

I work with Ian as well. They were all laying out, here's something to watch in Denver and once the Broncos lost that game in heart-wrenching and oh my goodness. I mean, I stayed up the entire game because it is my job after all. Plus, anytime Rich is doing play by play, it's a good listen. But to see that monumental comeback mounted by the Broncos and then to lose in that fashion, just a kick in the man zone.

But this to me is a reflection of the power struggle within the Bronco organization. Last year, Russ could do whatever he wanted to. He could go up to his office. He could enjoy his finely prepared meal.

He could get that massage from his own masseuse. All that is gone and this is Sean Payton not only preserving all of his options, he's also flexing a little bit. And this is deflection. Hey, we're one and three over the last four games. We're on life support when it comes to postseason possibilities.

Well, don't blame me. I'm going to bench the guy and this is the interpretation out there from a PR standpoint. I'm going to bench the guy who put us in this position. And now we're going with future Hall of Famer Jared Stidham. Now, we'll watch because we're addicted to football. But at the beginning of the year, heading into week 17, this should have been Justin Herbert.

Did I mention? We've had a slew of marquee quarterbacks go down. This should have been the Charger matchup in Denver. Justin Herbert squaring off against Russell Wilson.

Instead, Jared Stidham will take on Easton Stick. NFL has a massive quarterback problem and I don't know how they fix it. And what's remarkable to me is as somebody who loves college football and we're scheduled to talk college football coming up in the next hour of the program with Stewart Mandel of The Athletic. You have all of these guys putting up astronomical numbers across college football because virtually nobody plays defense. Think about how Washington and Texas could play out in the Sugar Bowl in the national semifinal.

That could be 42-35 in large part because Washington's defense has evaporated over the second half of the season. You're telling me none of these guys can make the transition to the NFL? And we're looking at Jake Browning and Josh Dobbs and I realize the NFL, you have to overcome far more sophisticated defenses. But the disconnect is an absolute joke and now you have a situation with a player who has a Hall of Fame resume. And I do think Russell Wilson would get into the Hall of Fame but we're not having that conversation today.

Now wondering about his football future because put aside the impact over the upcoming two games. This is all about will Russ take a pay cut to stay in Denver when we get to the offseason. So if you were tired last year of the Aaron Rodgers saga. In fact if you were tired of that for the last two years and as somebody who fills in for Rich throughout July 4th and that whole timeframe. I did a lot of Aaron Rodgers radio so I was as exhausted with that topic as you were.

Get ready for a ton of will Russ take a pay cut or will he say I'm going to bet on myself go elsewhere. He would have opportunities as a starter and all you have to do is think about Baker Mayfield. And I've been a huge Baker critic because I thought he was overdrafted. I have no problem with him personally.

I like players who are that competitive and that intense. I think he wore people out in Cleveland but the Browns still did him dirty because he was out there playing less than 100% physically. Well Baker bounces around the league, doesn't stick with Carolina, has the cameo with the Rams. Have you been tracking what Baker has done this year?

Now it helps to have premier wide outs like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin but Baker has resurrected his career. And a lot of it comes down to fit and opportunity and maybe Russ surveys the league and says I can do better. Or maybe he doesn't want Sean Payton in his grill.

If Sean Payton is doing that in public what do you think it's like behind closed doors? Now Russ has said I want to be coached hard but Pete Carroll had a very different bedside manner than Sean Payton. And Nate Hackett, I think at times, didn't even realize he was the head coach last year.

Because he couldn't call timeouts and he butchered every in-game decision. So we'll now shift our attention to Russell Wilson. But I'm not doing three hours on Russ although I just wound up doing 75% of hour number one.

Quarterbacks though make us all look in their direction. It's all about star power so we'll keep that going. Coming up to start hour number two.

Are we overlooking Josh Allen in the MVP race as much as it feels like Lamar Jackson locked up the award with his dynamic performance head to head against Brock Bertie who imploded with the four picks. That's coming up. One hour down, two hours to get to. I appreciate you hanging with us on a Wednesday. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. This is the Rich Eisen Show. 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.