Chris Mannix: This Laker Team Can't Shoot

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Limitations apply. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Robert and I, after a series of discussions, mutually agreed to part ways. This is the Rich Eisen Show. All right, Chris, what are you thinking today?

So many great memories. But look, I think we knew this was coming. I think it was one of those things I was saying it last year.

It was just time for something different. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero coming up, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix, Packers running back Aaron Jones. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We are live on the Roku channel. This Rich Eisen Show, Terrestrial Radio affiliate Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network just walked us soup to nuts on what the heck is going on in the nutty couching carousel world in the National Football League in advance of playoffs being played this weekend. If you missed it, we re-air on the Roku channel as soon as this hour is done.

Next two hours are done as soon as this show is done. Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston will join us as the Patriots just made it official in the last 20 minutes. Gerard Mayo is the new head coach of the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick is a free agent for anyone to hire.

Is there an ex head coach? I can't believe I'm saying that into a microphone. Joining us here in studio as promised to kick off our number two from Sports Illustrated, our friend and colleague, the I guess, senior NBA reporter, if you will, our friend Chris Mannix back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Chris. How are you? Tom Curran is what I would sound like if I didn't move to New York after college.

Is that right? I know Tom well. I see Tom all the time. Tom actually grew up with this is like total Boston, like grew up with one of my cousins.

And I, I would sound like Tom if I spent my entire career in Boston. Yes. Do you have that in you? If you give me like between four to eleven beers?

Yes. It all comes bubbling back. But like a decade in New York after college, you kind of whenever I used to go back to Boston, like you'd hear your mother go like, get your car out of the driveway. Like, did I sound like that?

Was that was that me at some point? But Tom's got it. It's funny that beers brings it out of you.

Cutting me off in traffic brings the New York accent out of me. Fair. You know what I mean? Like right away.

Like I don't have to I don't have to get some time underneath it. I did an interview once with Ben Affleck before Air came out. We did a story on him in S.I.

And he was going it was in Utah for All-Star last year. And he was going through a group, you know, several people doing one on ones. And I walked up to him like, hey, you know, Ben, I'm from the Boston area.

And you could see kind of like a switch flipping him. Like he immediately went into Boston, like his accent started to come out a little bit, too. So it's like once you're if you're in the same room with someone from Boston, it just naturally starts to filter out.

I love it. And I'm sure there's a lot of cursing watching the Celtics from that area last night. Is there anything to the fact that they were playing a back to back?

And so that's an issue last night. And back to backs are kind of killing some of these marquee games. The NBA has over the last decade done everything possible to reduce the number of back to backs, eliminate as many three game and four night stretches as you can, because they know that this is often the end result. And the Celtics were not only coming off a back to back. They played a grueling game against Minnesota right down to the wire at the very end. All that being said, like it's not like they hopped a bus from Boston to Milwaukee.

They hopped in their private charter, had a catered meal, checked into the four seasons or whatever it is in Milwaukee and had themselves a decent night's sleep. So there really isn't much of an excuse for playing like that. But I think that when a lot of the Celtics coaching staff got on the plane, there was probably a thought in their mind that given what they had just done at home against Minnesota, this was the closest thing to a scheduled loss as as you could come up with. And obviously when the schedule they come up with it, the schedule makers didn't know that the Timberwolves would have the best record in the West at the time, I guess. And they didn't want to put them in because. But why would you schedule any game before you're taking on the obvious odds on favorite, if you will, to be with them in an Eastern Conference final in front of the national television audience?

I do. I agree with that. I think if you look, the NBA has made it very clear that in these high profile nationally televised games, they want everybody playing right. Like no resting your stars in the TNT ESPN games, even some NBA TV games they get prickly about at times when when teams rest their their stars. But there should never be or as infrequently as possible, should there be teams playing off a back to back? Because that just sets something like this up like, you know, the Celtics were not going to rest their guys against Minnesota in a marquee game against the team. They might play in the finals, you know, they want to test themselves against Minnesota.

So having Milwaukee come up right after that, it just it doesn't make any sense. If you're going to put make these marquee games, make sure that both teams are not playing the night before. And then there was the night game on on TNT where and you were there last night. That was the worst nationally televised slate that I've seen in quite some time, because you remember during the Celtics game, TNT went away from it like Ernie was classic.

It was great. Like we could go to Oklahoma City, but they're about to beat Portland by 62. The Knicks at that time were getting drubbed by Dallas. I mean, I thought they were like, you know, a couple of minutes away from doing a king of the court competition with Chuck and Kenny.

And those guys are going like a law and order rerun. I mean, it would have been better if it was just bad. There was nothing to go to in that moment was a perfect storm of bad basketball, which continued in that Laker game later on.

I mean, that was a two and a half quarter game before that game was decided. Well, I mean, the only shocker after I guess the initial onslaught was, wow, Grayson Allen knows Emma Stone, you know, like to get like an actual shout out from her. She's Bradley Beal's reaction to that was great. Like Bradley Beal be like, you know, I think Bradley Beal's level of respect for Grayson Allen went up tenfold in that moment.

I think all of America's did to me straight up with you. Although I don't just Bradley Beal a big La La Land fan. I mean, like, I don't know, but look at his face. He's kind of looking around. Then he sees Emma Stone.

Then he sees her talking to Grayson Allen and all of a sudden just like, see, it's like, wow, you want to hang that next next road trip. So what what what is up with the Lakers as we are now heading into Martin Luther King Jr. weekend? We're approaching the official midway point of the season. And I think we kind of know what the Lakers are right now. The Lakers have used injuries as an issue for this slow start to the season. But I mean, look, Gabe Vinson has barely played this year.

Jared Vanderbilt missed some time and Rui Hashimora is currently out. But every team has injuries. Isn't that what Darban Ham keeps saying is we're not healthy. We're not healthy. We're not healthy.

I don't really buy that. I think they're underachieving, especially their role players. So LeBron is having an all star season, Anthony Davis, you know, last night notwithstanding, is having an all star all NBA season. The guys around them aren't performing, whether it's D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Hashimora when he's been out there. This Laker team can't shoot. That's first and foremost, they cannot shoot. They're one of the, I think, still bottom five worst three point shooting teams in the league. In the modern NBA, you almost never succeed at a high level without being able to shoot. I say almost never, because in the bubble in 2020, the Lakers had kind of a similar poor shooting team, but they won a championship.

But that was more of an aberration than an example of how things work. You have to be a sharp perimeter shooting team. The Lakers don't have shooters. They also don't defend at the level they used to. This is a Laker team, at least in the playoffs last year, that defended for like three and a half quarters and then relied on LeBron and AD to be the two best players on the floor and carry them home. They were a top five team in the playoffs defensively last year. Right now, they're hovering around 12th. When you are the 12th best defensive team and like the 25th best offensive team, that is not a recipe for even getting in the playoffs, much less winning a championship.

So those are the two things they have to resolve. They have to get better defensively, which I think they could do organically, and they have to get better in terms of their shooting, which I don't think they can do with this current roster. Well, the first time I've ever heard anybody say a team needs to recapture the magic they had in the in-season tournament, you know, I mean, and I loved how that was brought up to LeBron in a way, in a postgame conversation. He's like, that was two games in Vegas.

You know what I mean? Like there was four pool play games that were just regular season games. It was two games in Las Vegas in a span of three days, but it does appear to be a completely different team. They did appear to be locked in in those two games in Vegas, if you will.

And so I guess you could say it's in there or I don't know. I think connected to it is the idea that LeBron and AD are playing bigger minutes than they probably should like. They're probably I think they're both right around mid thirties per game.

They should both probably be in the low thirties. And people might say that's not a ton of extra minutes, but you add three or four extra minutes per game and that kind of starts to add up. And it makes them, you know, a little bit less effective in the second half of some of these games. Look, LeBron seems indefatigable, but he's 39 years old. I mean, Anthony Davis has been more durable over the last year, year and a half that he's been in quite some time. But he has had injury issues and he's not I don't say he's not used to, but he's not as comfortable as he'd like to be playing center full time.

So that that's a physical toll. When I watch teams go at Anthony Davis, the start of every single game, whether it's the Clippers with Zubac last night with the Phoenix Suns and Yusuf Nurkic, they're sending their big, burly, seven foot, two hundred and sixty five pound guy down into the paint to bump Anthony Davis around. Take something out of him early in these games. That's a strategy that is going to continue to be employed throughout the season. So I think that the wear and tear on those two players specifically has more to do with the way this team has struggled than the totality of just kind of being in the end season tournament.

Chris Mannix, who just dropped burly and indefatigable in an opinion. You need to look it up. Do I know? Absolutely. OK, well done.

Multiple indefatigable is one of my that's that's that's well, I mean, it's it's impressive. Multiple syllables, polysyllabic, Chris Mannix here in the Rich Eisen Show, Draymond said Adam Silver talked him out of retiring. So what's your reporting behind that?

What are you what are you going to do? I don't know that anybody in the league office really believe that Draymond was going to retire, mostly because he's in year one of a four year contract that's going to pay him one hundred million dollars. Draymond is an emotional guy.

There's no doubt about that. And maybe in that moment, he expressed to Adam Silver, say, you know what, this is too much. I'm just going to walk away. Maybe he believed that in that moment. And maybe Adam went along with it in that moment and said, look, look, stay, you know, don't we'll take some time off, you know, get yourself right. But realistically, guys don't walk away from that type of money.

And Draymond, regardless what you think of him on the negative side, is still one of the ultimate competitors in the NBA. He was always going to want to come back. He was always going to want to try to right the ship, just like they did at different times over the last couple of years.

I've got the sense that nobody really took that I don't call a threat, but that idea all that seriously. OK, so when do we see him again? They got a road trip coming up.

I think it begins Friday or begins this weekend. I would expect to see him at some point over the next game or two. I think he's going to work. He's back with the team now, obviously on the sidelines. And they got to do something, Rich, because, you know, if the playoffs start today, they wouldn't be in it.

They wouldn't even be in the play in right now. You've got Steph Curry making comments like, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again. What's he referring to him? I think he's referring to kind of no, not to Draymond. I think he's referring to internally the way that they're playing, the way they're approaching games.

You saw that game against New Orleans gave like forty six points in the first quarter. Like that's not a hallmark of a team that's been really good defensively during its championship years. I think he's also talking about the roster. The roster, it just doesn't work at a championship level. You look at the numbers that Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kaminga have playing together. They're awful.

They're unplayable together. And these are two key guys for this team's success. So they're a team I think that is very likely to do something before this February trade deadline, because I think it's pretty clear in Golden State that if they're going to try to maximize whatever's left of Steph, they're going to have to change this roster up. So what do they do?

Like what are you seeing on the horizon? Trade deadline is what, around Valentine's Day? February 8th, I believe it's early. They moved it up the last couple of years. That's right. Every year there's a big splash during Super Bowl week. Last year it was Durant in Phoenix. Yeah. They like to move it ahead of the, it used to be after the All-Star break.

Now they want it before then for any number of reasons. The name to watch for the Warriors and a few other teams is Pascal Siakam. So when Toronto traded OG Onanobi, that was their signal that they're now officially open for business. OG was an expiring contract. He was a young guy. Pascal Siakam is an expiring contract.

Going to be looking for a max dollar deal. I think that Golden State is uniquely positioned to get Siakam, because they've got a young piece that Toronto would want. In the Onanobi deal, Toronto didn't prioritize draft picks. They prioritized young players. They got R.J. Barrett.

They got Emmanuel Quickly. They got a bunch of guys, or a couple of guys, that are aged 24 and younger that fit the timeline of Scotty Barnes, who is their franchise player. So with the Warriors, you've got Kaminga, who's still 21 years old, and looks like he could be a pretty good player.

I mean, he's had some great stretches at times during this season. If Golden State is willing to put Kaminga in a deal for Pascal Siakam, I think they're the front-runner to land Siakam. Now, they may not want to do that, because Kaminga is still high lottery pick, good young player. Again, shown flashes, but if they're willing to do that, I think that they are a clear favorite to land that guy. Why wouldn't they be? I know you just gave reasons why you want to hold on to Kaminga.

I get it. He already told Shams, I don't like the way I'm being handled or my rotation, and you just said he and Wiggins aren't playable together. I think it doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that should be. Is he at the level where you can gripe about? Who's the person on the staff who tells Steve Kerr, you never guess what the athletic just reported?

I don't know. You know what I mean? Like, hey, Steve, you know who just called you out? Like, clay griping about being benched in the fourth quarter of some games, I can buy that. Even though Kaminga's right, like, Kaminga should have played in that game that he was referencing. Like, 18 minutes against New Orleans. That was the Nuggets game. Not a smart decision there.

Look, I think when push comes to shove, they're going to have to do it. Because, look, Siakam's really good. Like, he is a 20 point per game scorer. He's a defensive-minded player, too. He is like a souped-up version of Andrew Wiggins. Now, Wiggins is somebody that, I don't know what's happened to him over the last couple of years.

You go back to 2022. They do not win a championship unless Andrew Wiggins is on that roster. He is an indispensable part of that team as a three-point shooter and a defender on Jason Tatum in the finals. Since then, it has been a progressive and now a precipitous decline for him. He has just fallen off a cliff to where he is at some point unplayable for certain stretches. So, I think you've got to, again, if you're going to try to keep preserving this window where you've got Steph, you've got Klay, and you've got, still, Draymond, you've got to do something. And to me, Siakam, who is a versatile guy, can play in multiple different positions, that's the guy I would go after. You just referred to Scottie Barnes as a franchise player in Toronto.

I thought he was the face of the NBA. I heard that this past week, one of the greatest postgame coaching rants ever. I mean, this is up there, I think, with Jim Mora playoffs.

It's up there with, we even made some drops out of Coach Dargo. This is completely BS. This is shame.

This is shame. Outrageous. Outrageous.

Outrageous. Why only 25 grand? That sounded like a six-figure fine. No, because I believe that's the max. Like, that's the max that you can find coaches.

We thought it was going to be, like, six figures, but they discounted 75 grand because he's kind of right, 23 free throws to two. They're kind of like, we see your point, Darko. So, in today's NBA, you have guys that...

I'm sorry, I just saw the photograph up on the screen. It's tremendous. In today's NBA, you have guys that will, when they're upset about the referees, they will, you know, try really, really hard not to say anything specific to avoid a fine altogether. But if they know they're going to get fined, it is blow torch city. It's like, let us, let me take out the flamethrower and let me just get my money's worth because it's going to be, whatever, 25, 35 grand one way or the other.

So, you might as well get your money's worth. And by the way, Darko's not wrong. A 23 to 2, a 23 to 2 free throw disparity. There have been, and look, I'm going to say this, I know who's going to call in for the league office later, but there have been some wild, wild refereeing decisions recently. Like that Celtics Pacers game the other night where Jalen Brown got fouled at the end of the game, call on the floor, was buddy healed, hit Jalen Brown on the back of the head, seemed clear as day to me that he did that. The referees go, they review it because the Pacers challenge, and then they overturn it, which was insane because the rule is there has to be clear evidence to overturn. Even if you really, really look hard and believe that he might've gotten the ball first.

There's no way you can justify that as clear evidence. So the NBA has had some, some bonkers refereeing issues this season. Well, I mean, the NFL saying, hold our beer. So, I mean, that's the way I guess it's been going.

And maybe that's the advent of 4K televisions. We see everything so clearly at home. But that was a replay. Like they saw it, like they saw the replay. They went to the booth or went to the caucus where they review it.

And they called it, just none of it made any sense. All right. Last one here for you, Chris Maddox, before we send you into your Los Angeles Friday. I'm going to do a solid for my friend compadre, dear friend and compadre TJ Jefferson. Why are we not talking about the Clippers more? We should be, because I saw Paul George. I was watching his podcast episode with Gordon Hayward recently. And Gordon was saying to him was like, I don't know how anybody beats you guys in four games out of seven. And Paul kind of nod his head.

He's like, we talk about that all the time. And I've watched a lot of Clippers games over the last month or so. I watched them early on when they were dysfunctional. And I've watched them the last couple of weeks when they've been really, really good.

That's going to be a really tough team to beat four out of seven, because they right now are complete. Kawhi Leonard should be in the MVP conversation. He has been playing as well as he's played since that 18-19 season in Toronto. Paul George is exactly what you want him to be as that secondary option. James Harden fit in seamlessly with that team. I understand why James Harden wanted to be there. He has fit in really well with that team.

Zubac, I mentioned briefly as kind of that physical guy on the inside. He has been terrific for them off the bench. Norman Powell has been really good. Even Russell Westbrook has slid nicely into that role, been a good teammate and produced for them when they've needed him in spurts. Look, there's a lot of good teams at the top of the West, and you've got to give it to Denver until somebody knocks them off.

But when I watched the Clippers over the last two or three weeks, trying to figure out how a team beats them, if they're healthy, four out of seven is really difficult to see because they are really good on both ends of the floor. Yeah, and at the top you've got the Timberwolves in Oklahoma City that just looked phenomenal again. I don't know what Oklahoma City does moving forward. They've got, I think, last count, like 757 draft picks in the next five years. And everybody says Oklahoma City should make a trade, make a big trade.

Well, for who? Who do you put on that team that supplants Chet Holmgren at the five, or supplants Jalen Williams on the perimeter, or takes Lew Dort out of the rotation? Shane Gildas-Alexander, speaking of MVP candidates, he has been phenomenal. That's a team I think is going to ride it out this year and then see what they do in the playoffs. If they get flamed out in the first round, maybe they say, you know what, we'll do a big deal and move off some of these guys.

But if they get beat in the conference finals, look out because that is a 10-deep team with young guys that can play. Fun stuff, man. Thanks for coming in, Chris Mannix. You got it. Thanks for always letting us know when you're in town. Chris Mannix, everybody check him out on Sports Illustrated as well as on Twitter and everywhere else right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Phone lines are lit. What's more likely is next. This is The Rich Eisen Show on a Friday. 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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Visit prize picks dot com for restrictions and details. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate smallville rewatch podcast. Karen, what you got?

Hi, guys, Karen from Australia with a quick question for season three talisman. That knife wound was so powerful. Tom, what was it like to do that scene with John as your director? It's great that I was with those people because when your eyes are closed and someone is supposed to going to stab you in the chest, you have to really trust that they're not going to hurt you. So I was in good hands with John. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen. Good to see you, Shaquille O'Neal.

How are you, sir? Before we get started. Yes.

If I take this home, will I get arrested? The Vince Lombardi trophy? Is this the real one? That's the real one. That's a real Vince Lombardi trophy.

I don't know if that's the one that's going to be given to the Rams or the Patriots this weekend, but that is a real. You want to you want to lift it? Well, if I lift it, I want to take it home. Now, if you well, then I think we're then I think we're at a crossroads here.

Actually, we're not at a crossroads. Let me tell you why. OK, sure. I'm not a lawyer, but I watch a lot of law shows. OK, I got about 50 witnesses that say me hit my head on your set.

So if you just give me this, I'll let bygone be bygone. So it's a liability issue for me. Yeah. That turns into an even worse liability issue. I don't want to have to call it the Shaq Eisen show. I know I know that.

I know that. Just give me this and I put it next to mine. This is beautiful. I'm doing the math in my head as to how much you'd be suing me for personal liability as to how much this trophy costs, which I've been told is around twenty two thousand dollars. Well, I'll be suing you for twenty three. You want to lift it? No, I don't want to touch it. OK, you sure you don't want to touch that? Bad luck.

Bad luck for you or for? No, to touch the trophy when you don't earn it. I like that. My father used to always. Are you serious?

He always used to. Because, you know, like when you're a kid, you get the trophy from the local local trophy shop. You be like, if you listen to me, guys, you get this. You want to touch it. Don't touch it. It's bad luck. You got to earn it. Right.

So that's why that's why, like, you know, like in the NBA, when you win the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference, they give you those little trophies. I never touched it. Never. I never touched it and I never celebrated.

I remember Phil did that, too. Right. You like when you guys won the Western Conference finals of one of the many times you did. Yeah, I never touched. I never, never looked at it. Never celebrate. This is beautiful.

It's a beautiful it's a beautiful trophy. Oh, yes, YouTube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show for all. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by TC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You're on the Rich Eisen Show, been hanging on for an hour and a half. What's up, TC? Hail to the victors valiant. Hail to the conquering heroes. Hail, hail to Michigan. The leaders at best. Yes, yes.

Oh, God. The second stanza is valiant. Hail to the conquering heroes. Hail, hail to Michigan. The champions of the US go blue.

Well done, TC. Is that really the second verse? It is a second. It's not. It's champions of the West.

But he's saying US because West when Michigan when when Michigan started its existence in the early eighteen hundreds, they were in the western part of the United States. Yeah, right. I'm serious, by the way.

That's I'm not joking. No, no. What's in your mind, TC, other than just your beautiful singing voice? Coach Harbaugh, he's married to Ann Arbor. I don't think he's going anywhere. I think he's flirting, but I think he's going to stay put. All these recruits coming in five stars, four stars. He's going to tell him that you come up with me. I'll coach you. We'll get you where you need to go.

And then all of a sudden he's going to walk away. I don't see it. I wish you were right, TC. Thank you for the call. I just don't I don't know.

Couple things. First of all, hearing somebody from Wisconsin sing the Michigan fight song is outstanding. You know who would not do that? Murph, you know who said he was going to call into the show? Multiple times last year's last week's poker game.

This week's poker game last night, I'll come. I'm going to call in. He hasn't called in. I haven't heard from Murph. Haven't heard from Murph. Haven't heard from Murph.

But, you know, I hope he's right. Will Johnson, who is one of Michigan's many finest defenders, a shut down corner. Number two for those who might have been watching Michigan football on the defensive side of ball.

Number two on the offensive side of the ball is Blake Korm. He was on a show that popped into my Twitter timeline. He was asked, do you know what Jim Harbaugh and J.J. McCarthy are going to do? You don't have to tell us what they're going to do, but do you know at least? He said yes.

Interesting. And what's your read on that? You'd say that they're going to go, right? I mean, like I think J.J. McCarthy has a chance to be a first round pick, so I would. Well, he has a chance to be a top five pick if he stays. And, you know, and they let him pass.

Or they kind of, I don't know, keeps winning is another way to put it. Troll, you know, I mean, honestly, that's trolling. I mean, he didn't throw the ball a lot.

The last one to Colston Loveland actually take him, flip the field and take him on that final scoring drive holding. OK. I mean, look, you want to get that snooty? I can get snooty back.

So I don't know. He could stay and be a top five guy, maybe, or if he knows they're staying. Why wouldn't he stay? Is he staying anyway? Who? Jim? He says he knows what both of them are going to do. The defensive back. Is he going to stay?

No, no, no. Will Johnson said he knows what both J.J. McCarthy and Jim Harbaugh are going to do. Was that asked in reference to what his future plans are?

Asked in terms of what the future. Do you know what your coach and quarterback are going to do? And he said yes. And in order for for them to say that they're both leaving, which would make sense that they're not going to announce like J.J. McCarthy's got to announce by Monday. Right. And that if there's a celebration going in an air on in Ann Arbor this weekend, you know, they'll wait till after that to make those announcements. But Harbaugh can't know for sure he's leaving unless he's got a deal in hand. Right. He has no idea. I mean, last year he thought, you know, two years ago he thought Minnesota was it and even flew out there to be there on a signing day and then turned around and came home and said, I'm staying. I don't know what what that would be.

What's more likely it was we're about to play it. I don't know. Michigan actually just announced the parade plans. Yes.

It's tomorrow starting at 4 p.m. at the president's house and heading south down State Street. I know exactly what that is. That's at U.M.

Athletics. Oh, my goodness gracious. I do. But I'll be at four o'clock. I'll be just getting off the air of the four and a half hour NFL game day morning. Right up to kick off of Cleveland and in Houston.

Boy, is it going to be lit on campus tomorrow night? Oh, my God. But I honestly, I don't know what to make of it. You can't sit here unless he's got a deal in hand. You can't sit here and saying, I definitely know he's leaving. So maybe he is staying. You know, the opportunity to be a top five pick. Yeah, that's there for real for him.

He was a Heisman on the list all year. Corbin in Texas. You're on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Corbin? Rich, honored to talk to you again. Thank you.

What's on your mind? Well, I doubt you remember, but I called in August in the win loss and I picked the Ravens 13 and four. So I'm feeling good about that. You did nail it.

OK, yes. You're one of the many Rich Eisen Show listeners who actually nailed and or viewers who actually nailed the prediction. Jeff in Detroit nailed the 12 and five record for the Lions. And there you are in my notes right here.

Corbin in Texas, 13 and four. There you go. Many of your viewers, Rich, they have the same feeling that you had when on Tuesday you described how you saw Harbaugh on campus and you were just kind of overwhelmed with seeing, you know, hey, this is the guy. A lot of your fans feel the same way.

Getting to see you every day and not only getting to talk to you is just awesome. But I have a what a real quick what's more likely for you. OK, Corbin. What's more likely for my team? They lose to an AFC team that has already that they've lost to. So Cleveland or Pittsburgh or they lose to the Chiefs or the Bills. What's more likely?

Chiefs or Bills? You do think so, huh? Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, what if Flacco strolls in there, Chris? Because by the way, if the Chiefs beat the Dolphins and the Bills beat the Steelers, then if Cleveland starts the weekend off with a win in Houston, it would be Flacco showing up in Baltimore on super divisional weekend. I just added a super. I will just say the Ravens are more than likely to win.

A playoff game. So thank you for the call, Corbin. And I appreciate the compliment as well. I would go there.

He didn't just he didn't just cannibalize one of your. No, no, no. OK, let's get to the real deal then. What's more likely presented by Carnival Cruise Line?

Hit it. What's more likely? Never say never, but never. All right, Chris, this better be good because Carnival is setting sail on this thing. You know what I'm saying? I'm ready for a free carnival ride. So let's go. OK, what do you got? What's up, guys?

Happy Friday. We're good. It's a carnival.

It's a carnival. QB making their first career playoff start to get a win. C.J. Stroud or Jordan Love? Oh, I'll go Jordan Love. That's your man, T.J. Come on now.

This guy. No, I'll go C.J. Stroud at home. I'll go C.J. Stroud at home.

The Offensive Rookie of the Year at home. It's so difficult to win your first playoff game in the NFL. Very difficult. Very difficult. It is not easy.

More often than not, you lose. People like Peyton Manning have lost their first career playoff game, you know? So Jordan Love going into a spot where a team has not lost a game at all this year, or you're at home against the Cleveland Browns that have played very well the last couple of weeks, last month plus. I'll go with the de facto Offensive Rookie of the Year with all due respect to the Mikua family.

That's more likely. I mean, the list of quarterbacks to win their first playoff game recently, obviously Brock Purdy did it last year. Russell Wilson in 2012. T.J. Yates in 2011.

Sanchez in 09. I mean, it's rare. It ain't easy.

Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger. Shortlist. Yeah. Sorry, though. But at least I got you laughing. I got you snorting into your microphone, T.J. What else, Chris?

All right. It's gonna be cold in Kansas City. Who's more likely to have more receiving yards? Tyreek Hill or all Chiefs receivers combined? I'll go more Chiefs wide receivers. I'll go the entire Chiefs wide receiving core combined.

Rushy Rice, Justin Watson. I'm going to say, you know, I'm gonna say that the cold hands will do something. Great graphic. But I will go. Yeah, man. I mean, if Jalen Waddle's not there, what are you gonna... What do you think? You think you'll tilt your coverage to 10 or what? He can get open. He's fast.

I understand. What a wild situation that is. I mean, the Dolphins offense is definitely set for being a good home team, right? That you can actually run the ball.

They're terrific at it when healthy, but offensively taking the top of your defense off. How do you do that when the wind blows and it feels like it's minus 30? Wow. What else, Chris? So I'm looking at the weather report right now for Kansas City.

The only two words. It's bitterly cold. So it's gonna be really cold Saturday night. Who's more likely to look colder during the game? Mike McDaniel or Taylor Swift?

Oh, Mike McDaniel, because Taylor will be in a sweep. Come on, Joe Coy. They're gonna have the... Yeah, of course you're gonna have the glass up. Are you kidding me? Yeah. Yeah.

Does she show up? Look at this. This could be the silliest what's more likely you've ever, ever posited. Who's gonna look colder? But no matter who looks the coldest, it will look like that they are sunning themselves on the shores of whatever Caribbean beach you can name compared to Tom Coughlin's face that still hasn't thought out from that NFC Championship game in Green Bay.

I honestly think it's irresponsible to play the game in this type of weather. Okay, Chris. Who's more likely to score rushing touchdowns, more rushing touchdowns on Sunday? Najee Harris or Jaywin Warren or the duo of Cooks and Josh Allen? Oh, you're including Allen.

If you're including Allen, I'll go Cooks and Allen. His name's up there. I know. So if you're...

I thought you were... Okay, yeah, Cooks and Allen. By the way, a great vaudeville act. Cooks and Allen, you should check out anything that you see from them on YouTube.

It's very grainy video, Cooks and Allen. This is another one. 65 mile an hour wind gust and maybe a foot of snow in Buffalo. Dude, the whole idea that this thing could be played in Cleveland, that's when you delay the game. So... Or just build a dome in Buffalo. Remember I said that last year?

Over the next 48 hours? That's not happening. Remember I said that last year when they're building a stadium? Why wouldn't you just put a dome on it?

You should not play games in this type of weather. I would go Cooks and Allen. I would say Allen may have more rushing touchdowns than all three of the others combined. Oh, that's fun. Okay. Oh, nice. Yeah.

All right. Josh Allen. This is where he's... You know, if I am them, there's torpedoes and I'm damming him.

And it's Josh Allen going for it. Yeah. And that's it. Whatever you tell them, don't have to do too much, but go ahead. Do a lot.

I don't know how you find that sweet spot. A lot easier when TJ... What the... It's so cold.

All right. NFC matchup. More likely to be a shootout. Packers, Cowboys or Rams, Lions? I would go... That's a good one.

I'll go Rams, Lions. They both have totals over 50 right now. Is that right? Yeah. I don't know what you mean by that.

What do you mean by that? We'll see the number of points scored by both teams. Oh, and you combine them?

And you add them up and then it's like, hey, that's a lot of points. Cowboys defense? Really? I mean, you know, not on us, but this Rams- Oh, you're saying, oh, so it'll be 47 to 7 and that'll be the over? I think it's pretty close. I don't know why you think so. This Rams-Lions game is going to be a barn burn. I agree with you on that.

I agree with you on that. That is going to be a fun... I think it's more likely it's points-a-palooza in Detroit than Dallas. Oh, well, then here you go. Here's our next one. Lions quarterback to throw more touchdowns than interceptions on Sunday. The former one or the current one?

Oh, I'll go the former one. Yeah, buddy. You're picking the Rams, huh? Who's played better over the course of the entire year? Who's great at home? I understand that, but Jared Goff lost at home on Thanksgiving, didn't he?

You know, honestly, who has played more consistently well from week one to week now? Number nine in Los Angeles. Number one in your heart.

Whose house? Seriously, honestly, seriously, their only loss, right? Am I, is that still correct? That their only loss in the last two months was to the Ravens and he lit it up against that Baltimore defense also?

Am I not wrong about that? Yeah, they've won six out of seven. Yeah. Yeah. 294 yards passing.

Yeah, dude. He's played great down the stretch. Okay. I don't know, two picks against the Giants.

The good news is it right now, Sam Laporta was spotted in the last hour catching passes from Goff in the open portion for the media to watch practice. So I'll go Stafford. All right. Interesting. Yeah.

What else? Who's the more likely Mike to be on the hot seat Monday? McCarthy. Tomlin or McCarthy.

I'll just repeat it one more time for everybody in the back of the classroom. Tomlin is not getting fired. Oh, really?

Neither was Pete Carroll or Bill Belichick. I understand that. Yeah.

I know this is, if there's any time for this to happen, I don't know how Mike Tomlin still gets fired. Oh, by the way, I do have, and I'm just, it's just really been, I guess, a testament to my class. Okay.

To my level of class. Not responding. To not fire back at me. Yes, to not fire back at all the bookmarked tweets from the Steeler fans that I do have in the shoot from weeks ago.

You don't have enough time for that. There's one in a parody Tomlin account that was added at me saying that they're not going to win a game the rest of the year. The team's quit.

And not only have they won a game the rest of the year, they've won all their games since that tweet the rest of the year. We're not going to apologize for winning. Correct. I'll go McCarthy. What else?

All right. Two more. More likely to have a bigger impact in the win on Monday, AJ Brown, Devante Smith or Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. I have very little, very little confidence in the Eagles flipping the switch. The more likely of who's more likely to flip a switch in the playoffs, the Chiefs or the Eagles. I'll take the Chiefs from last year's Super Bowl. I have, I don't know what the hell's going on in Philadelphia, but I will take Godwin and Evans because they have been playing well and have won more than they've lost in the last couple of months. The Eagles have not.

You got one more over the last one in 2024. Bill Belichick is more likely to be coaching a team playing this weekend or a team that missed the playoffs. Well, I'll take a team that missed the playoffs since that's a larger subset than the one that you've got this weekend. There's only what, 12 teams playing this weekend. And then there's again, now you're making me do math.

How dare you? There's 14 teams that made the playoffs, which means 18 didn't. So it's 12 versus 18. I'll take the 18 over the 12. The 18, not all 18. I get it. I understand. So I guess there's only, there's a fewer amount of openings and there are teams playing this weekend, but the teams playing this weekend are some of them are going to keep playing and winning.

Just, I was told there'd be no math in this. What's more likely I'll go non-playoff team. That's what's more likely presented by Carnival Cruise Line. Plan your next vacation with Carnival to explore beautiful destinations with exciting excursions and blissful relaxation.

No one does fun like Carnival. We're back with your phone calls and setting up our number three, Tommy Curran on the latest from New England when we set sail on the rest of the show. A lot of what I just did was just to set the guy right off.

I don't know. Yeah, I understand. Get yourself a backup plan when it goes wrong for you.

Tyler Smith is going to be good to go. Oh, baby. All right, Rich. You know how you said you had a little confidence in the Eagles. I do. And you know how we like to read into things.

We do like to read into things. AJ Brown has deleted everything from social media. What do you mean? Instagram.

All the stuff about anything related to the Eagles. This account doesn't exist. Twitter account deleted.

1K always open. See ya. He doesn't want any distractions.

That's all. Or he wants out of Philadelphia. Well, maybe he wants to go wherever Vrabel lines up. Or he wants to go where he should have been originally. Which is where? New England.

OK, I don't know what to make. Dude, maybe he wants to recreate this 21st from college and join DK Metcalf. This 21st century, let's read into social media. Don't you remember? That was the hot topic of the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. The Monday of Super Bowl week here, when the Rams were taking on the Bengals, was Kyler Murray cleansing his Instagram account. And look who is now the face of the franchise with a gajillion million dollar contract.

Took 200 mil. You know, but I'm just not going to I'm not going to I'm just going to go there. I won't go there. But that's that's why this is a big game. I mean, on Monday night, that's part of the reason why it's on a Monday night, I think, too, is this could be a complete disintegration of the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, if Kelsey retires and then he wants out and.

And they totally fall apart. I don't know. I mean, you heard Tom Pelosaro kind of allude to it. Back on the Rich Eisen show, AutoZone is a place that you can stream the NFL this weekend on Westwood One for free. They sponsor it all season long. Hopefully, you've been listening to every Westwood broadcast of the NFL Live on the NFL app, and you can do that this weekend by also asking asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on your Westwood One affiliate station's digital platforms. You could stream it all for free. Get in the zone with AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone. AutoZone restrictions apply. I had this top five in the shoot since Monday, and everything started spinning off the axis of coaching carousels and everything else. But we're going to do it right now before Super Wild Card weekend. I've got the top five biggest head scratchers of the NFL regular season. Hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five. Number five on this list of the biggest head scratchers of the NFL regular season might actually come home to roost in the first Super Wild Card weekend game.

If somehow, some way the Texans have trouble taking the top of the Browns defense off. Number five on this list is Tank Dell blocking on the goal line in week 13. I don't know what the hell he was doing down there.

The guy's about a hundred pounds soaking wet. There's nothing he can affect on trying to get Damian Pierce in the end zone. He was down there and he broke his fibula trying to block. And he's done for the year after this happened. I don't know what the hell he was doing there.

And obviously I'm definitely focused on it because he was on a fantasy team that I needed him for, but I'll be straight up. What the hell was he doing down there? Why is he on a goal line blocking at all? Not even as a, not even as a, you know, what, a decoy?

That happened. I'm still scratching my head over it. Number four on this list of the biggest head scratchers of the NFL season. Bijan Robinson's touches. I don't know what the hell was happening with this all year long. I got the final numbers. You ready for this Christopher? 272 touches this season finished 12th.

That sounds okay. 11 other running backs had more touches. 16 touches per game ranks 23rd amongst running backs that played 10 or more games in 2023. Yeah, among the last 10 rookie running backs drafted in the top 10, his 16 touches per game on average ranked seventh. Yeah, not good enough. And two guys above him and Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson were both coming back from season ending injuries in their last year of college.

Here's the last one. 29 touches in the red zone, 32nd in the NFL among running backs and second amongst his team. Tyler Algier had six more touches in the red zone than this guy. Inexcusable.

Head scratcher. Number three on this list of the top five head scratchers of the NFL regular season, the regression of Trevor Lawrence. He had 25 passing touchdowns last year, 21 this year. He had six more interceptions this year and one fewer start. Eight interceptions in his first year with Doug Peterson, 14 this year.

Now it could be he got hurt on that night in week 13. They were eight and three going into that week 13 Monday night game and he hurt his ankle and then they went on five the rest of the way and he completed 62% of his passes. They went, you know, he had he went on five when he started nine passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, a passer rating of 81.8. I don't know what happened to him this year.

Terrific in the first half. Then the second half regressed and the Jaguars couldn't repeat his champs in the AFC South number two, the top five biggest head scratches of the NFL season. The Chiefs inability to catch 34 total drops, most in the National Football League, 10 or more, 10, 10 plus more than 30 of the other 31 teams. Cleveland had 31. They had 34, 22 drops by wide receivers, most in the National Football League, seven more than any other team.

Boy, did they have to figure that out in time for the playoffs. But the biggest head scratcher of the NFL regular season was the total post Thanksgiving disintegration of your NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, who joined the 86 jets as the only teams to start 10 and one and failed to win their division. The Eagles are just the sixth team to enter the playoffs, having lost five of their last six games and none of the previous five made it past the divisional round. The Eagles finished with just a plus five point differential on the season, thanks to a negative 59 point differential since week 13. They also allowed since week 13, 30.3 points per game, second worst in the NFL behind the team that's number two overall on the clock, the Washington commanders.

And that is my top five biggest head scratchers of the NFL regular season. Tom Curran is going to be coming up in our number three of this program to explain what is going on in New England. Do you think we need one more? I do have one more. All right, we'll get one more.

Here's one of the one more biggest head scratcher. Were the Cardinals never tanking? Because we all thought they were tanking. Let DeAndre Hopkins walk.

Oh, let's pick up Josh Dobbs and let's start him for an injured Kyler Murray in a season where Caleb Williams is going to be sitting out there at the end and we'll just going to be tanking pew, pew, pew, and all that craziness with Jonathan Gannon. And they were a fun team to watch. They were in damn near every game. They won games in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania messing up both seasons of those teams.

I mean, fan bases went APES when they lost to the Cardinals. That team, I don't think was ever taken. And they still wound up, what, fourth overall on the clock.

So they've got a great pick and they got the Texans pick. They had four wins and they had four wins. Three against playoff teams. I knew they weren't tanking. They beat the Cowboys, Steelers, and Eagles. Week three told me they weren't tanking.

Were the Cardinals never tanking? Do you think we need one more? One more. All right, we'll get one more.

How's this head scratcher? Do the phone commercial people never shoot more than one spot? We never shoot more than one spot because there's a new Einstein on our television sets in the commercial breaks and it is Zoe Saldana.

And there we put them both together. Her talking about her skiing style and I love her. But what the hell is happening with these phone commercials?

Can you shoot more than one game with your stars? Not great. It's not great. You loved La La Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now get to know her on Give Them La La. 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. Name 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 La La is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them La La wherever you listen.