Tom Pelissero: Jim Harbaugh Has Interest In Winning Again In The NFL

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Patrick Peterson here on the Rich Eisen Show. It's a must win. We still know that we're going to get their best shot. But like Coach said earlier in his press conference, we do not care.

We can't care. We have to focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Earlier on the show, NBC Sunday Night Football Analyst Chris Collinsworth, ESPN College Football Analyst Kirk Herbstreet. Still to come NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Correct. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Chris Collinsworth, hour one, Kirk Herbstreet, hour two.

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And the RSS feed for our show also includes overreaction Monday, every Monday. And what the football every Tuesday, eight four four two or four rich number to dial. Chris and Jay and TJ are all here. It's now time for time to talk about Janus Jokic and Justin or should I say Justin will go in order.

Let's go in order when the NBA scheduled the Bucks to play the Spurs. And Victor Wimbunyama is now a spur. And everybody looks at Vic, Vic, Vic, team Vic. What do you look at him? And they're like, well, he's just a taller version of Janus, right?

I mean, there's always you're comparing this person to that person or what have you. Obviously, he's a unicorn, but so is Janus on Tedecumpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. And so, you know, Janus is from Greece, Vic's from France, European players who are tall and can do everything. Shoot threes and go ahead and drive the lane and block shots and all that stuff. Bring the ball up, right, run the fast break. Take two steps from half court and score because there's a third step that doesn't get called.

We call that a Euro step. So obviously, when they two play each other, they they want everyone to see it. Now, the first time these two teams were scheduled, Wimbunyama had an ankle injury. He did not play last night. He played and it's on Turner. It's on TNT.

Whole country's watching. And I've got to say. There's no script. I get it.

But the NBA had to sign up for that, like if this was the way. Oh, there it is. You see the script right there. I had no idea you had one. OK, very good.

I had no idea you had it. But the NBA would have signed up for exactly the way everything turned out last night, especially in a fourth quarter where Giannis, who hasn't been making many threes this year, hasn't been taking them. He hasn't been making them when he does take them. Giannis makes two threes in a row, one to tie the game at 121 and one to put the Bucks up. And at the same time, Wimbunyama is, you know, getting fouled by Lopez, going to the free throw line to make one free throw to put them up three. Then Giannis scores a three to tie it. Then Wimbunyama misses a three and then Giannis makes another three. And it's kind of like, OK.

But, you know, the youngster is on phone in France, OK, on phone. This is my league and you're not there yet. And Wimbunyama, by the way, he's like blocking Pat Connaughton's threes by coming from from the paint to go all the way out in the corner line in the corner. Giannis also tried to throw down on Wendy and Vic got him. You don't see Giannis blocked at the rim like that.

Never. And so when when Giannis hits the three to put them up by three, Wimbunyama hits a three to tie the game. And then Giannis goes down the lane for an and one on Wimbunyama. I mean, it was awesome. It was really just exciting and fun to watch.

And the and one is what was the difference maker. And that's exactly what you wanted to see. You wanted to see the Spurs play one of their best games of the year.

Again, a five win team. And they were playing defense. They were making shots. And it was Giannis against Wimbunyama and Wimbunyama against Giannis and all doing freaky things.

That's exactly what you wanted to see. You know, Giannis said 44-14, seven dimes. Dame, twenty five, ten dimes. Vic, twenty five. He had five blocks, nine rebounds.

Devin Vassella, 34. It was an awesome NBA game. Yeah. Yeah. And and Giannis was 19 of 28.

From the floor. Unreal. I mean, sign us up, sign us up for all of that stuff. And it gives you a glimpse, like when the Spurs are going to get better consistently. And when Vic puts on the muscle, like Giannis did in his early career, you see the potential of this guy is going to be an MVP in the league, no doubt. So that was fun to see. And then the next game. Nuggets and Warriors and the Warriors took a monster lead in this game only to have the Nuggets come back and right around when the Nuggets made it a. Two possession game, I guess. You got the sense that they were going to win it.

Just got the sense. They were going to win it. And then when. Curry throws the ball away and gets. Turned over and the was it Jamal Murray just swept in there and grabbed the ball, and there was enough time left on the clock to try one shot in a tie game. I thought it's overtime, certainly when they had to inbounds the ball where they did, which was on the on the sideline in the middle of their own backcourt. Right. Right. You don't see too many balls inbounded from there.

And I'm like, well, you know, overtime. How are we how are they going to get a shot off? Certainly when they and they passed it to Jokic in his own backcourt. And then the shot that he took sort of like catapulting it over his head with a two handed shot from about what, 35 feet, I think deeper.

What's the official what was the official? I didn't see just kind of looked like, let me look it up. Kind of just I didn't even think about looking up the exact the exact, you know, distance.

But we'll look it up right here with no time left. 40 footer, 40, 40 foot shot. Banked it in. And by the way, feathery, feathery shot a 40 foot shot. And called game that, you know, our our drive can go home now, right?

That's what he said. We can go home now. He even told, you know, Charles, who asked, did you call, you know, you call back? And he's basically he wasn't in the mood of it. He goes, no, we win.

He's like, I made it. It went away. We went out of here.

And and you get the sense. That we are now living again in the Nuggets world, and it's kind of funny of all the teams that you would. Obviously, the Celtics are playing exceptional basketball so far this year. And, you know, there's a ton of upstart teams still in the NBA. Your Clippers are playing very well right now. D.J., so are the Sixers.

Yep. When Embiid is on the floor, which is most of the time. I understand that. I get the MVP front runner. So so all of Giannis is number one in our fantasy league. But anyway, that's not neither here nor there, because I don't want to bring up how well my team is doing right now, because that's that. That's not part of this conversation.

Yeah, nobody was OK. No, OK, very good. But but when you do it against the Warriors right now, I mean, the sense of a torch being passed. You get the sense of it.

And then because very unwarriors, things are are happening. You know, Curry, instead of making the three to win, it turns it over, gives you a chance to throw it in from 40 feet. He's the one who throws it in from 40 feet, not Steph Curry. It's a Curry-like shot, basically is what you get shot.

And it just is even wilder when it's a seven footer, you know, catapulting it with two hands over his head. But you could say a warrior type thing happens, Rich, when Draymond Green is out suspended forever and a day. We don't know when he's coming back. But you see today, Shams Sharania. Did you see this report? I did on the athletic. Well, I have I have the player in question on fantasy. Jonathan Kaminga sat the last 18 minutes of the game last night after playing well and is complaining to the athletic about his playing time. Steve Kerr. So I understand a player feels that he is not being utilized, he is not being fostered, not Scott Foster. That's oh, that's their backup point card. But but for him, this honestly like what's going on in in Golden State where Jonathan Kaminga is going to Shams or his people are going to go into the athletic and talking about what's going on behind the scenes after a game like that, honestly.

I'm sure he sits there and feels I should get a shot, but. What's going on in Golden State? This makes me feel like it's the end of an era and that shot of Curry, you know, chomping on his on his mouth guard, staring into the oblivion when Jokic threw one in from 40 feet out. Gives you the sense that this thing is over. The thing being the Warriors being a team that can. Make the playoffs and go in a deep run. I guess you got the sense of that already this year, but this kind of crystallizes it.

Feels like it. They're the 11th seed. They're not even in the play in right now. Lakers, Suns, those three teams are combined.

One game under 500 definitely feels like kind of an NWO in the West. T.J. to new blood, new teams, pelicans, kings, nuggets, thunder, T. Wolf Jokic last four games. He was a perfect 11 of 11 from the field against Memphis, nine of 10 against Oklahoma City, six of seven against Charlotte, 13 of 16 against Golden State. That's an eighty eight point six percent clip over four games.

Is that good? So, you know, we talked about, I think, off camera yesterday, we discussed the Thunder and, you know, the T. Wolves and the Thunder holding it down one and two pretty much the whole season. Who would have thought? But Ed Edwards, he's another guy who we love, who you don't always hear his name. But that kid's been. Well, SGA and Chet Holmgren are quite a tandem to try and beat. Yeah, especially since the rest.

We were talking about it the other day off camera. Oklahoma City is like a bunch of six foot eight to six, six foot five to six foot. Eight, six, nine other guys were just rocked up who can shoot threes and rebound and go in the lane looking cat. Honestly, they are they are all in their early 20s. I know young. They don't know any better. The front office has a ton of draft capital.

I know accumulated in the last few years. Shay Jill gets out. That dude is Alexander. Top five player in the league. I mean, Paul George better keep balling out, man. He has to, but she has been doing I would.

Yeah, thankfully, because because other than that, it's just like you. This is a chance to go down. Unfortunately, it's one of the worst trades ever. Dude, Jerry West drafted him for a reason. No doubt. That guy that guy's an eye for talent.

He loved SGA from jump. You could say that. Yeah. Kind of one last one to talk about right here.

Justin Fields. Hey, he didn't like last year's coming to our set and other sets like it, although there's no other set like it. Yeah, I mean, well, there are many others like it, but this one is ours.

When he was at the Super Bowl and I ask him, hey, your team's got the first overall selection and there's a bunch of quarterbacks to be taken, including the kid that succeeded you at the Ohio State. What are your two cents on that? Didn't like it. Bear stuck with him. I think that was the right move at the time.

Now, unbelievably, because of the Carolina Panthers disastrous campaign, the Bears have the first overall pick again. And it's not because, again, of the way this kid is playing. He has played better than last year. You are seeing improvement. Now, he's trying to do too much again this year to the point where he just occasionally doesn't know when a play is over.

That's how he messed up his thumb. And and and gave us the Tyson Bajant run. This year, but has helped with Ryan Poles making some maneuvers to get Montez sweat and sign him. And this defense, I think, is. He's on par with the rest of the top 10 defense over the last two months, and I think the numbers support it.

I mean, I don't have it to show on the screen or to give you right now, but check it out. This team has an opportunity to finish eight and nine and pick first overall again. And Caleb Williams is sitting out there and I I'm telling you this. You're going to hear all sorts of stuff about his makeup and you're going to hear about how his parents want a piece of teams and the way they want a piece of the agency to represent them. You're hearing all sorts of crazy stuff about asks from his family and his team, Caleb, that will make you scared of saying we're going to use the first overall pick on him.

The eye in the sky doesn't lie, though. You're going to hear all this stuff like this is happening behind the scenes. It's going to be part of the talent evaluation portion of the calendar year. But this decision about Justin Fields is going to have to be made by mid-March. They can't take this up to the draft at the end of April because teams are going to have to make their decisions on what they're doing at quarterback. And if there's anybody out there that wants Justin Fields. You're going to want to go get him before the new league year begins in the middle of March, and everybody makes their moves at quarterback.

And you're going to have to make that move there. If you're the Chicago Bears, you've got some time. You've got some time to figure it out, but you can't take it all the way up to draft night. And if you are Justin Fields and you want to stay put. I understand it's just one game and I just told you about how the rest of the season has looked for him.

Upward projection right now. Go into Green Bay and eliminate the Packers from the playoffs if you are Justin Fields. And you want to stay in Chicago.

It's just that simple. I mean, it really it would be really tough if you are the Chicago Bears to see what this kid has done in your system. And have him go into Green Bay. And eliminate the Packers from the playoffs, just like the Lions did last year when they had nothing to play for. Lions did it. Maybe it's time for the Bears to do it enough of this. Green Bay's quarterback, fill in the blank, owns us stuff.

Go in there, do it with your arm, do it with your legs, do it with your brain, do it with your heart and your gut. Go in there and give the Bears fans that were chanting your name last week. Give them that piece of red meat they have been eager to dig into. By eliminating the Packers from the playoffs. Oh, it's Jordan Love's time. Oh, it's Jordan Love's time.

Look at how great he looks in his first year. Oh, they did it again. They went from Favre to Rodgers to Love. No, says Justin Fields. How can they turn away from him after that? Even if they're thinking of it. Now, I understand again, Caleb Williams restarts the contractual process.

Yeah. And whoever keeps or takes Justin Fields from the Bears, if the Bears keep Justin Fields and or trade him, somebody is going to have to make on the spot a decision to pick up his fifth year option, which I think is a no brainer. A no brainer, it's expensive, but it's it's half of what Daniel Jones costs. So you get you get your kid for a fifth year in that way. Let him play out year four, see how he looks. But then you've got to make a really expensive decision on him right at that point, a year from now. Caleb, you've got three years.

Drake May, if you like him, three years start from scratch. But he's a rookie. He's got to learn your system. He's got to learn this. He's got to learn that.

And if he doesn't do well, then you get fired. Certainly, if the owners are like, we kind of like Justin, really, you like this Caleb Williams kid, let's see it. Let's let's let's talk about it in the draft.

All of that stuff is coming. Unless potentially Justin Fields goes into Green Bay and has his best day as a bear and says. I own Green Bay, and now we do and flip the script just like that in week 18. That is what I believe is at stake in this game. And it's delicious. It's great.

And I certainly didn't see that coming in week one when they last played each other. Take a break, Tom Poseros joining us next, we'll ask him what the Bears process might be in this whole front and the coaching carousel that might spin off its axis in about 48 hours. That's next. Rich Eisen here, if you love football as much as we do here and want to be in the game every day, there's something the guys on my show have been enjoying. Prize picks Daily Fantasy Sports, the number one daily fantasy sports app. Brockman, tell everybody about prize picks and your strategy this season. Rich, it's fun and easy. Pick two players or more based on their stats and place your entry.

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Auto parts. Remember yesterday where Mike McCarthy thought he was on Candid Camera, someone asked him a question about C.D. Lamb potentially being elite in his mind now.

Check it out. No, it's safe to assume that you think he's become an elite receiver in this league. Just can the camera see if you guys remember the show. I mean, what the hell are you serious?

I thought one of those cameras would come up, hit me in the face. Yes, yes, I'd say C.D. 's the elite receiver. Remember we were then even talking that he may be the best receiver in the NFL and obviously Tyree Kill sitting out there? How about C.D. Lamb for offensive player of the year? I just see this tweet from Pro Football Focus, whose owner came out in hour number one.

I read to you C.D. Lamb on third and fourth downs this year. Would you call those money downs?

That's OK. Exactly what you you you you stay on the field figuratively by getting on third down or literally on fourth. He leads the league in receptions with thirty six. Leads the league with receiving yards on third and fourth downs with six hundred fifty six, leads the league on moving the chains with thirty first downs. And leads the league with a rating when target of one hundred forty two point seven. Is that good? That sounds good. Third betting favorite in the category. Brian McCaffrey, if he obviously not playing this week, if Tyree throws up a dud, maybe C.D.

goes for two hundred plus. I'm just saying he better be the third one on the podium, don't you think? Yeah, for sure. He will be, for sure.

And NFL honors. Damn, back here on the Rich Eisen Show, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by and stop and buy. Once again, is our friend and colleague from the NFL media group, NFL insider Tom Pelissero and his usual Friday spot. Good to see you, Tom. How are you? Good to see you, Rich.

Doing great here. All my boys in the studio. All right.

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, man. Do you understand? Do you understand how disappointed they are when you don't want to start your interviews that way? It hurts. That painful. Every now and then I forget. But I try to I try to rectify these things.

One of my New Year's resolutions. And so far in twenty twenty four, I'm one for one. There you are, Tom. We love you.

Tacos on me next time. Let's just let's let's start with this one, because I was saying if Justin Fields wants to stay put and his play has certainly made a case to stay put, you know, going into Green Bay and coming up with his best game as a bear and changing the ownership papers back to Chicago for the Bears from Green Bay would be a way to do it. What is your sense of of their the Bears thinking now that they know this has been their first week knowing that they've got the first overall pick again?

What do you think, Tom? I think that there is a lot involved in this, Rich, and I know that Kevin Warren, who took over as the team president months ago and is certainly involved in the football operation, did a media session today in which he pointed out. They try to look at these things holistically.

They look at the big picture. You know, it's not a it's an indirect way of saying that you've got decisions to make, whether it's with your head coach, whether it is with the quarterback, the number one pick. There's a lot of different ways you can go about this and you're trying to figure out for the long haul, for the Chicago Bears to get back on top, one of the best things to do. You know, part of that's going to be the scouting process, whether that's Caleb Williams, Drake May, somebody else who they might value at that high of a level. Is that a significant enough upgrade that you feel it is over Justin Fields?

Because remember, they're not just looking at one game. They've got a body of work at this point on Justin Fields. They probably have a pretty good idea what they think he is, what they think he isn't, the development, what his upside is, what his floor is as they're moving forward here. You're comparing that against the quarterbacks in the draft. And then in addition to that, you're also thinking about, OK, if you're bringing in, let's say, Caleb Williams, who is the best coach for him? And maybe that's, you know, staffing things under Matt Eberflus. Maybe that is a different head coach.

All these decisions fit together here. There's no question the Bears have played a lot better, especially since the trade deadline. You look at the games they've won. They've won several now against the NFC North with a chance to get another one in Green Bay on Sunday. This would be the final stamp on this for Matt Eberflus, for Justin Fields, among others, if they could beat the Packers, keep their division rival out of the playoffs with a win at Lambeau Field. But again, the fact they have a new team president who wants to look at the entire situation, you got a lot of parts that are all interconnected here.

They're going to have to make those decisions based upon that criteria. Well, who's that? Who is it? Is it George McCaskey?

Is that who it is? Who's the one that's going to be like, OK, we're keeping Eberflus. Now make your decisions from there or OK, holistically. What does that mean about, you know, if Eberflus goes and how does this work? I mean, and when? Like, what's the timing here? I mean, there's lots going on. Well, this is Virginia McCaskey's 101st birthday today.

So happy birthday. I know Virginia's a regular watcher of the the Rich Eisen show, you know, between her, between George, between other members of the board. There's a lot of people with voices in these decisions.

My understanding, though, I think a misconception is that, you know, Kevin Warren was hired and he was the former Big Ten commissioner strictly to build a stadium because he was involved in the Vikings efforts to build U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota. But he's meeting regularly with Ryan Polls. He very much has a viewpoint. You see him in the press box. He's holding the depth chart. He's very much involved in the entire process.

The McCaskys are not micromanagers in that regard. And so I anticipate you're going to have a recommendation on all these different things that they make to the board. Anything involving personnel is going to be in concert with Kevin Warren, as well as Ryan Polls, who is the general manager. And I anticipate that he's going to be there regardless of what other moves are made here.

And then ultimately, like every situation, Rich, it's the owner has the final say and they can veto because you're talking about major organizational decisions. It doesn't get bigger than the coach and the quarterback. Matt Eberfluss, again, within the context of where they were even at midseason, the losing streak, the NFC North losing streak. They've played a whole lot better. The Montez sweat trade worked out well. They've been better on defense. You've seen Justin Fields come out.

Is it enough? Those are the things that the Bears' brass has to figure out here in the coming days. And of course, the last piece is who would take Justin Fields, knowing they've got to pick up a 50-year option on the spot and make a decision after just one year in their system potentially of handing him one of the generationally enriching deals that we've seen top rookies who have been blossomed at the end of their first contract get. And for what draft capital, right?

Where do you see that market playing out right now? Well, sir, with this, Rich, if you look, if you're a quarterback needy team, you're looking at three different avenues, right? The first one is free agency. You've got Kirk Cousins, who's going to be coming off a torn Achilles, who was playing at the highest level of his entire career before he got hurt. That's your marquee free agent. And it might be the only slam dunk starter free agent who ends up being available. Ryan Tannehill started a lot of games in Tennessee.

He's a free agent. You've got Baker Mayfield. You've got Joe Flacco. Russ, don't forget Russ.

It's amazing that we're talking about that name again. Don't forget Russ. I'm starting with free agents, just the guys who are scheduled to be UFAs and their contracts are up. You then move into, yes, the guys who are currently under contract.

Russell Wilson is one of them. We certainly can talk more about all angles of that situation. But there's decisions that have to be made. His fourth year would vest as of the fifth day of the league year in March, so they could string this all the way out until the middle of March before making a decision on exactly how they want to move forward there. You know, Kyler Murray, I think the Cardinals and Jonathan Gannon would have been pretty clear that at this point, they view him as their quarterback moving forward. But like anything, you know, if there's an offer that comes or if they have an opportunity in the draft, there's always different possibilities there. You know, what do the Giants do with Daniel Jones? They're locked into him for 2024. He's coming off another season-ending knee injury.

You've got a lot of different things. Then you've got the draft where, depending who you ask right now, there could be four, five, six quarterbacks that end up being first-round picks. So there's going to be a lot of teams. If you have that many quarterbacks available, there's going to be then a lot of teams that are in that quarterback market. We just went through a bunch, but between, you know, Minnesota will be in that market, Denver, New England, Atlanta.

There's a ton more of them. There are a lot of different ways that this entire thing can go here, and people are going to have to make evaluations of, okay, if you bring in a Kirk Cousins, you bring in a Russell Wilson, you bring in somebody who's in their mid-30s, do you also have to draft one just to make sure that you're solidifying that position as you move forward? Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, now this is the unfortunate part of our business when we talk about coaches and their jobs, and this is it.

I mean, there's a lot of rubber meeting the road. Who is coaching for their jobs, do you think, this weekend? Well, I would start with Ron Rivera, and I don't think in Ron's case it's a matter of coaching for his job, because at this point, everything seems to be trending toward major changes in Washington, including moving on at the head coach position. I mean, we all know what Ron dealt with, especially his first three years at the helm, where he was the de facto head coach, general manager, team spokesperson, owner in a lot of cases, because Daniel Snyder didn't do a single interview for like ten years there. Obviously, this year Josh Harris comes in, and that eased some of the burden on Ron to do other things, but they've lost seven games in a row.

They're 0-5 against the division, and you've got Josh Harris, who has shown, based upon his other pro sports endeavors, has an ability to attract and to recruit and identify high-level coaches and general managers. So with Ron, again, they haven't finalized anything. I know they've been meeting this week, but you would certainly anticipate, again, everything's trending towards Ron being out.

There's other ones that are a little bit more murky. You obviously have decisions that need to be made in New England. Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, as we've been talking about on game day morning for a couple weeks, still have not met.

My understanding is they've had no substantive discussions whatsoever. You would anticipate that's going to happen after the game on Sunday, whether that's Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, somewhere in the coming days here. They're going to meet, and it's not as simple as, or it may not be as simple as, hey, Bill, thanks for everything.

Here's your gold watch. You can go and coach whoever. There's the possibility here that they could try to work out a compensation to move on from Bill Belichick. There's a possibility that they could offer him a revised structure in front office, the coaching staff, which Bill then could decide whether or not he's willing to accept that. There's certainly a possibility that they could just work things out, and it's a mutual parting of some kind, but it may not be a completely clean thing on Monday here with the greatest coach that a lot of us have ever seen in the NFL and a guy that, while I think that there have been rumors and things, the here's of the grapevine, and you see certain people post on social media about, he's got this done deal, he's got that done deal. I can tell you this, Rich, there's no done deal right now with Bill Belichick, but when a guy like that becomes available, you have to not just look at the jobs that are open or are going to open come Monday, maybe even jobs that aren't open and some owners who might be looking at the opportunity to get a guy who's won 300-plus games in the short term with a team that can win right now, a lot of moving parts still at play there.

In terms of coaching for your jobs, I think that you're moving on to places like Atlanta, and we talked about it last week. At that point, it would be a surprise if Arthur Smith is not back as the Falcons' coach for year four just based upon the undertaking that they had with the roster, with the cap, with everything else. However, Arthur Blank has left the door open in multiple media interviews saying, hey, let's see how these last two games go. Well, the Falcons, I don't want to say they didn't show up, but they didn't play well last week in Chicago. Now this week, they still have something on the line. Amazingly enough, if they beat the Saints and somehow the Bucs were to lose to the Panthers, the Falcons win the division, and they're in the playoffs. So we have to see how that game goes. Similarly, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there's been no indication in recent weeks that the Bucs are looking to move on. Having said that, the Blazers are very private about these things. They usually move swiftly the night of or the day after the final game. If the Bucs, who needed to win one of these final two to win the division and get in, managed to lose to the worst team in the NFL on Sunday, I think it's fair to say that you could potentially have changes in Tampa as well.

And that's not even getting into it. Some of the teams that may have some question marks if they don't advance far enough in the playoffs, there's a lot of different things that can play out here. It's possible we only get answers on one or two of them come Monday. But as we've seen in recent years here, there are always some of those aftershock types of moves that become possible. And with the way that the NFL has legislated things this year in terms of delaying in-person interviews with any NFL personnel for two weeks for head coaching jobs, we well may be sitting there in Las Vegas the first, second week of February and not having answers on who's taken a bunch of these jobs.

How about New Orleans? Is he coaching for his gig or no? That's not the case.

We'll see. They're a unique setup there. Obviously, Gail Benson took over for her husband. They've been a place that's had a lot of stability for a long time. Mickey Loomis has been the GM there a long time. Sean Payton could have probably coached there as long as he wanted to.

He needed a breath. Now he's in Denver. With Dennis Allen, Rappaport and I reported last week, at this point there's no signs that New Orleans will be looking to move on. They probably are going to make changes.

It may well be on the offensive side of the ball because that's been a big point of frustration. They've got a lot to do in terms of their roster. I know everybody always jokes the cap is a myth and that. Well, the Saints have like $320-plus million in 2024 cap commitments on the books right now.

You can restructure things and you can flip things over, but at some point it does impact what you can do. So how big of a line do they take in terms of trying to move on from some of those things and maybe be in a little different position, get younger because they've got more guys over age 30 than anybody in the NFL? These are all things that have to play out here, but no signs as of this moment right now, Friday, January 5th, that they're going to be changing head coaches in New Orleans. Tom Pelissero, if my higher education institution goes ahead and makes me one of the happiest people on planet Earth on Monday night, which owner is most likely to be the first one to reach out to Jim Harbaugh and congratulate him and ask him if he wants to talk on Tuesday, Tom?

I would say let's start with this, Rich. Jim Harbaugh is in the middle of a very busy week, as I'm sure you know. They flew back. I want to say they got back to Ann Arbor, I was told, like early Tuesday morning, and then they had to be on a plane to Texas like 48 hours later.

So there is not a lot of time to kind of be able to think about other things. I mean, listen, I know that Jim certainly has given a lot of thought to the possibility of a return to the NFL. He waited two years ago with the Vikings. Last year with the Broncos, there were scenarios where he would have taken those jobs. They just didn't play out that way, and part of it seems to be, you know, the time that it was taking for him to get an offer from those teams. With the Vikings, they brought him in for a lengthy all-day second interview, and by the time he got back on the plane, he said, I'm going back to Michigan, and the Vikings really liked Kevin O'Connell and they were moving forward on that anyway. With last year in Denver, they did a Zoom interview with him, which I was told went totally fine, you know, went well.

They wanted to do it in person, and I got the impression Jim's response to that was, Why are we doing all these interviews? I'm Jim Harbaugh. You know what I've done in the NFL. You know what I've done in college.

Like, am I your guy or not? If I'm not, then I'm going to go back to Michigan. The Penners actually flew and saw him, sat in his living room in Ann Arbor, and still tried to pitch him at one point last January, all of which is to say, if Jim Harbaugh takes a job, I would anticipate that it moves relatively swiftly here. There's a process in the NFL. There's the Rooney Rule.

You have to conduct multiple interviews with external minority candidates. If, go back to your original question, if there are owners calling him very quickly in the hours after that game to say congratulations and, hey, there's a plane that you might recognize with our logo on it, I think the one you would start with is the Raiders. Listen, Mark Davis is a big believer that you need a name in Vegas. He wants the name on the marquee.

He wants to draw people in. That's, you know, what you got with John Gruden. That's what you got until you didn't get it with Josh McDaniels. Antonio Pierce, it's fair to say, has been really impressive in what he's done in terms of the fact that they've won games and they get the win over the Chiefs, and he's clearly got key players like Max Crosby and Devante Adams taking every opportunity possible to speak up publicly in his favor. You know, if they get a win this week against the Broncos, that's another chip in his stack in terms of getting the head coaching job, but is Antonio Pierce the name for Mark Davis?

I would certainly say that Mark Davis is going to bet everything. Jim Harbaugh, as somebody who is an assistant coach for the Raiders, coming to a team that does have some superstar players in a high-profile media market, able to grab headlines, it would make a lot of sense. The second one I would mention would be the LA Chargers, a team that I know that John Spano said in an interview recently that they would consider it a plus. I think he said if somebody's got prior head coaching experience because they're coming off several head coaches, Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, Brandon Staley in a row who are first-timers, it doesn't mean they're definitely going to go that route. But Jim Harbaugh coming in, knowing who his quarterback is going to be, there's surgery that needs to be done on that roster to get the cap right. They've got older star players who are very expensive. There's going to be hard decisions you need to make on guys like Keenan Allen.

Austin Eckler's a free agent, Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack. There's a lot of things you have to figure out, but if you're the Chargers and you've spent your time as Stan Kroenke's tenant in that stadium and always grasping to try to be the team that's in the focus when you've got Sean McVay over there winning a Super Bowl and now leading another playoff team with a total rebuild on both sides of the football here, Jim Harbaugh is the type of guy who suddenly is going to become the focus within the NFL. I would anticipate everybody who's got a vacancy or might have a vacancy is at least weighing the possibility of Jim Harbaugh because, listen, he is an eccentric guy, Rich. He has a different personality. It's not a normal operation, and he knows exactly what he wants it to look like, but he has also won at every level, going back to his University of San Diego days, to Stanford, to the 49ers, to Michigan. He knows how to win. He does have an interest in winning again in the NFL, I'm sorry to say, for Michigan fans.

We'll see exactly how this plays out and whether or not, too, what happens on Monday might weigh into his thinking about his legacy as well. Tom, thanks for that answer. Happy New Year.

We'll see you on Sunday on Game Day Morning. Thanks, sir. Appreciate it. Can't wait, Rich.

Thanks. That's Tom Pelissero, NFL Network insider. Surprised he mentioned Raiders before Chargers? First we've heard that one. It's the splash. It's the Mark Davis thing.

You know what's also splashy? He's winning. Doesn't care about money, really, either. Because we know who the coach of the Chargers is. He's already in the building, I'm telling you guys. Kellen Moore. I'll tell you what, if it's Kellen Moore over Jim Harbaugh, I know a ton of Chargers fans that will be very upset about that. First of all, Rich, no disrespect.

You don't know a ton of Chargers fans. OK. Thank you. I would say Belichick on that Chargers radar, too. Oh, my God. Playoffs with This Is The Background.

Look out. We'll take a break right here on the Rich Eisen Show. When we come back, you have a top ten list? I have a top five list.

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AutoZone. When we come back, the top five, I can't wait to hear what that is to take us into our very important weekend. You know, in today's world, it seems the best treatment is reserved only for a few. Well, Discover wants to change that by making everyone feel special. That's why with your Discover card, you have access to 24-7 live customer service as well as zero dollar fraud liability, which means you're never held responsible for unauthorized purchases. Finally, no matter who you are or where you are in life, you'll feel special with Discover.

Learn more at discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. Whenever they have a shot of a head coach. The cutaway. The cutaway.

We like to guess what that individual is like as a stepfather. Brockman, who's up first? Who do we have up first here? First up, Alabama head coach, Nick Saban. Nick Saban. Take a look at Nick Saban. Nick Saban is the kind of stepfather that regardless of how different he may seem to you, in every single Christmas card photo, his hair has been the exact same since he married your mother. He's also the kind of stepfather that wears dress pants and then a white tank top undershirt all the time unless he leaves the house and then he puts on the dress shirt.

Former 49er head coach, current Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh. Be gentle here. You'd be having a conversation with him. You think it's going really great and then he just all of a sudden gets a look on his face and he goes, what was that?

And your heart just goes into your throat and you think you've said something horribly wrong and you instantly start thinking about all the things that you could possibly be getting in trouble for. Do we have Tom Sula? Yeah, we have a bonus one. You got Tom Sula? I've got this one. What about your current runner head coach? He is the kind of guy that we will be having a conversation with you and he'll never be looking at you and he'll be going, how was your day?

You got a good day and you start telling him how your day was and then he'll always go, hey honey, what's for dinner? No matter what you're talking about, you'd be bearing your soul. Can we try?

Yeah, you'd be bearing your soul. Hold on a minute. I'll be your stepson. Richie, how was the day? That was great. Dad, let me tell you about what was going on. Hey honey, have you seen the clicker? Where's the clicker? Honey, have you seen the clicker? Is he still coaching somewhere?

He has to be, right? Game time tickets, get it on your phone right away. Get it on your mobile device right away. Buy tickets with game time tickets and make it so simple.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, Christopher. Boom. Boom.

All right, Christopher. Rich, you have a top five. I got a top five. What is it?

What do you have? I was driving, like I said, I was riding bikes yesterday and I was thinking. OK, there's only 30 games left of the football season. There's only 30 football games left, 16 this weekend. Monday's national championship game and the 13 playoff games. That's 30. So, so 16 regular season NFL, 13 NFL playoff games and the national championship game. That's it. There's only 30 football games.

So I was like, hmm. The top five remaining four games of the football season. OK. Oh. One, two, three, four, five.

Brockman. Top five. Wow. Very impressive.

Very impressive. The top five remaining games of the football season. Number five. The AFC wildcard matchup, whoever plays the Chiefs, that matchup against the Chiefs, that's number five. There's a 63 percent chance that it's Dolphins or Bills in Kansas City to play the Chiefs. That game is number five for all kinds of reasons. Is Patrick Mahomes Tom Brady or is he just a guy with two rings?

You know what I mean? I got it. Tyreek Hill revenge game, Josh Allen revenge. It's so many storylines in those games possible. That's number five. Number four is the Super Bowl.

OK. The Super Bowl is the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is number four. The Super Bowl is the fourth best game. OK. You want to know why?

I would love to know why. A lot of the Super Bowls in recent years, not great games. Except last year's. Not great games. Yeah, but what do you remember most about last year?

A penalty that didn't get called, a no-call. You know what I mean? Not great games in recent years.

OK. Number three. Monday's national championship game, Rich. Future Big Ten opponents. Last year, the Pac-12, everything Harbaugh. Washington, Michigan, probably the two best teams this year. Both these guys could be first-round quarterbacks. JJ McCarthy. OK. Michael Penix Jr. Love, love, love Monday's matchup. Are you curious what's the top two, TJ?

I mean, clearly. I'm invested because if the Super Bowl's four. And the Natty's three. The Natty's three. What's two and one? Number two.

Yes. The AFC championship. OK. Do you know the Chiefs have hosted five of these in a row? OK. That's crazy.

Well, guess what? It's going to be a new team hosting the AFC championship game. OK. Also, AFC championship games, traditionally, really good. One score games. The last eight, average margin of victory, 7.75. That is a one score game.

We're going to get a good, tight AFC championship game. OK. And that's what's number one in your list? I guess. Is it Dallas, Washington? Is it Dallas, Washington? Number one.

Yeah. Number one is the NFC championship game. Because the winner of this game is probably going to win the Super Bowl.

This guy. OK. Also, these games have been blowouts in recent years. The last eight, average margin of victory.

You did your homework. Seventeen and a half points per game. Only three games have been single digit.

So how is this number one? Because you're looking at San Francisco, Dallas. You're looking at San Francisco, Philly, possibly rematch.

You signed for that. Oh. Like, the possibilities for the NFC, they've been a better conference. OK. This year than the AFC.

And like I said, the winner of the NFC is winning the Super Bowl. Well done. OK. OK. That's Brockman's top five. Do you have one more? Oh. Oh.

I got one more. Rich. Oh. Sunday. Meadowlands. Jets. Patriots. It's not in the Meadowlands. It doesn't matter where it is. You know the Pats have won 15 of these in a row?

This guy. Fifteen in a row. It's the... By the way, also yesterday was the anniversary of Bill resigning as HC of the NYJ.

Back in 2000. We got the irony of the Jets possibly being, Belichick screwing them over in 2000, now beating him to end his reign as Patriots head coach. We got all the draft implications. You know the Jets win. They could go from 8th to 12th. They don't want to win that game. And you know the Patriots definitely don't want to win this game.

If they win, they could go all the way to 7th. Who are they getting at 7th? Somebody... This guy.

They're going to get Cole Strange 2.0. All right. It's a huge game. Let's go to one more Zoe Saldana versus Einstein for the most overplayed phone commercials and football games. It's a huge game.

Jets-Pats. That's your top five. That's it for our Friday show. We have gotten the memo. Big time.

We're going to finish up on the Roku channel a sec. I'm obsessed with the fact that GQ has named Kim Kardashian Man of the Year. You're upset about it? I suggest you do better then. If there were a Cosmo Woman of the Year and it was a man, how would you feel? Well, that would just be lies. I'm a man who's doing better than women right now and you can give him Woman of the Year. But until I see that... Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen.