Jane Slater: I Think Jerry Jones Still Believes Cowboys Are Close

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Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. My warning to Buccaneers fans is that we're going to kick you in the teeth. The Lions will have a much better plan. We're going to buy the kneecap off on how to beat the blitz than the Eagles.

We're going to be the last one standing. The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show, Emmy Award winning NBC Sports broadcaster Mike Tirico.

Coming up, NFL Network reporter Jane Slater, legendary rapper and actor Snoop Dogg. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air, came on the air talking about the Mike McCarthy keeping.

Is that the way to put it? Because he wasn't fired. He wasn't rehired. He's kept. He's just staying. He's just staying. He's retained. You can't even say retained.

He's under contract. You know what people are really talking about? They're running it back.

Returning. Yeah, we were just speculating. What? Oh, what's in the media.

Yeah, that he might. Well, I mean, again, it's just for a franchise that all we keep talking about is how long it's been since they've been back to a conference championship. And this was the year that everything everything broke right from the way that they played at home to the fact that they got an extra home game in many ways, because a referee got confused about the way players reported as eligible. Although that narrative, you know, that narrative is similar to the one that, well, we're playing the game between the Bills and the Chiefs in western New York this weekend, because Kadarius Toney was ruled to be offensively offsides, conveniently forgetting that the play that got wiped out gave the Chiefs, had it stood a lead that the Bills had more than a minute in all three timeouts on the clock to go down the field and win the game. That's conveniently forgotten in the same way that we conveniently forget. Dan Campbell still kept going for two, no matter if he was going for it from midfield or the one half yard line.

You know what I mean? That said, though, I mean, the way that the Cowboys played all season long, everything was broken the way that they were supposed to, and they had two home games. The first one was against a seven seed that appeared to be beatable just because of how young they were.

And also because of how up and down they were up until. You know, the end of the very end of the season, in the middle of the season, that included, by the way, a trip to Detroit that was kind of amazing on Thanksgiving for them. So that's why we were talking about it, that it finally happened again and it was just a blowout. I mean, they didn't even show.

It was 27-0. Come on. So obviously Jerry's going to make a change, but he just decided again, you know, you make a change. Just to repeat it again, you're going to be saying everything that we saw during the regular season means nothing. And I want to start from scratch with a new coach, new offensive system, new culture, new everything.

And I got to do interviews and it's going to be a while, the way that everything has to happen. And the guy I really want might be Belichick, who's going for a second interview with Atlanta this weekend. And that ship potentially could be sailed. So I'll keep Mike.

And then there's another Mike. TJ Jefferson just finished our number one by saying, why aren't we equally as outraged about Mike Tolland being kept in Pittsburgh? And I guess if we open the phone line and if we did if we did the show, say, from Primanti Brothers today, we might have a different opinion, you know, like I said, in the national media, my opinion. It was just something you're pointing out a big discrepancy and a big bias against the Cowboys. And my point is the Cowboys have had a much longer stretch of not making a level of playoffs that Dallas used to be. But we're talking used to as a team, not Mike McCarthy specifically as a coach.

Well, I'm just saying again that there's different heat on Dallas for different reasons. What about Mike Tomlin? Boy, I can't believe we're talking about this again, but the Steelers went into the playoffs and Tomlin did get another winning season in a row. But Pittsburgh got bounced in the playoffs for a seventh time without winning in it. I mean, it's kind of wild how long it's been for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And I have the facts right here in front of me. Haven't won a playoff game since 2016 divisional round at Kansas City. Seven season drought without a playoff when is the longest by Pittsburgh since 1970.

Now, the Steelers used to be, as you folks don't maybe remember, they used to be down and out and downtrodden up until the point where Franco Harris plucked the ball off a shoe top. Steelers are 0-4 in the playoffs since 2017. They've allowed forty one and a half points per game. That's a minus forty eight point differential and minus eight turnover differential that ranks dead last in the NFL since 2017.

Over the last five playoff games, it's even been worse, a minus sixty eight point differential. The only one that got was really close is the one that cuts deepest. A divisional round game against Blake Bortles and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Remember that one where they couldn't stop them on defense like Bortles, forty five to forty two. And brother Blake almost beat your Patriots the next week.

He did. We all thought that was going to be a given Steelers and Patriots in the AFC championship game. A given. Stephon Gilmore. Especially because if you remember, Blake and the and the Jaguars, if I'm not mistaken, beat. Mike Hoskins bills in the wildcard round in a punt fest and it looked terrible, bad game. And you're like, OK, so they're going to go into Pittsburgh and get wiped out. And they put forty five on the Steelers. So I understand I'm reading all this out because I have been accused of being a Tomlin hunk. So Tomlin and the Steelers, I thought they put a little bit of a scare in the Buffalo Bills, a lot of folks.

You thought it wasn't even close, but it got there. But they fell too deep in a hole, which is, again, the Steelers fans saying they're not prepared. Tomlin doesn't have them prepared.

And yeah, there were some moments in this season where Tomlin, I think, was a little too stubborn. Offensive coordinator with Mitch Trubisky instead of Mason Rudolph, remember after Trubisky lost that game against the Patriots on that Thursday night. Did you ever think about putting Mason Rudolph in?

No. And then he did with seconds to go in Indianapolis when the game was already done the next week. I was sitting there, I'm like, wow, we're going to put Mason Rudolph in now after Trubisky threw a terrible interception. And the Colts are like, that's twice now. That's happened to us. In Germany, Bill pulled Mac Jones after a terrible interception and handed Bailey Zappi, not a mop.

But this was like, you go win the game, fake spike interception. Oh, God. One of the many reasons why Gerard Mayo was there now. But this is what Mike Tomlin had to say today after he was asked about his card. Last we saw Tomlin, he was exiting stage left. We was asked about his contract. Bye bye. And this was after the loss to the Bills.

He made a little light of that when he started his press conference today. Good afternoon. In a little better mood today, man. Anybody got any contract questions? You tend to be back to disregard the rumors that were floating out there. You expect to get an extension this year?

Yes, I expect to be back. And I would imagine that those contract things are going to run their course. Man, Art and I have a really good transparent relationship.

We communicate continually often. I don't imagine it's going to be an issue. And I imagine it's going to get done in a timely manner at the appropriate time.

But, you know, my mindset is to coach this football team, certainly. So the question was about an extension. Which Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk came on two days ago and pointed out historically, Tomlin has already signed one.

By now that he doesn't go into final years of contracts, they always extend. Keep adding, you know, train tracks is the trains about to be the end. I mean, I always think of Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse. That's always, you know, they were always in that train. And at the end of the track, the train would put more track down again.

Best dad ever. So that's what normally what they do. And right now, the question was about an extension. He didn't answer that, did he?

He says, I expect to be back. Well, he's under contract this year. And that's what Florio was pointing out. He may not want to sign a contract extension. That blows Steelers, some of the people who want Tomlin out, that blows their mind. Oh, so we're going to let him dictate terms?

Yeah. Same way Cowboys fans, it blows their mind. You're going to keep Mike McCarthy?

Yeah, they don't want to. They don't want to go through a coaching change. Now, the question for Tomlin is what about the quarterback and the offense? The Steelers defense, I believe, have a lot of guys on it who understand the Steeler way, if you will, from Watt to Hayward to Fitzpatrick, just to name three.

And Joey Porter Jr., I think that side of the ball, despite the way, you know, they started in Buffalo this weekend, I think that's good. The offense has obviously got a bunch of playmakers on it and who's dialing it up and who's throwing the ball? Those are the questions for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's the difference between, yeah, we're going to win another season with winning records and all that business to, we're going to win playoff games. We're going to threaten for the AFC championship. We're going to win the AFC North. We're going to beat the Ravens, who are now obviously champions of the division and might be champions of the conference when it's all said and done in a couple Sundays.

That's the difference. So Tomlin was asked about the quarterback. He said Pickett is going to be the starter, but I guess with some guardrails around it.

Can he resume his QB1 status? You know, he will, but obviously there will be competition. There's always competition in this thing.

We don't anoint anyone. Man, I'm appreciative of his efforts and where he is and excited about continuing to work with him. But certainly he will be challenged from a competition perspective moving forward. Competition brings the best out in all of us. See, now that's what a lot of Steeler fans, if I can give them voice, it drives them a little crazy.

They've heard this for 17 years. Yeah, competition brings out the best in all of us. And these are Tomlinisms that I love, but Steeler fans are growing tired of because the results do not wind up with banners and trophies.

So I understand when I say this as well. He doesn't ask my opinion. But my two cents from Mike Tomlin, if I may. I don't know if he knows who George Costanza is. OK, brothers, don't watch Seinfeld. That's what Stuart Scott famously told me in a commercial break. Once upon a time when I made a Seinfeld reference going to break, everyone in the room laughed, and I felt really proud of myself and Stuart Scott, I felt the heat coming from, you know, from my side, from the right side, because Stuart always liked the left chair.

He had tenure. He always chose the left chair. That's why I was always on camera right.

So at any rate, I felt the heat coming from there. And Stuart said to me, what was that joke? And I said, Seinfeld brothers, don't watch Seinfeld.

So let me just say this. George Costanza once famously turned his life around by doing the opposite. And Jim Harbaugh turned Michigan around because he started doing the opposite. He got some guys on the staff who did the opposite of what he was thinking about or what he thought was right or what was right. Honestly, they said today in the press conference, they're going to hire an offensive coordinator from outside the organization. So I don't believe the guys who are currently calling the plays are going to be the ones. Which is another reason why Dallas didn't want to fire Mike McCarthy, because everybody's in the business for an offensive coordinator. The Bears just fired their whole staff on that side of the ball. The Steelers are looking for one name it. There's a ton of other teams that are looking for OCs when they hire a new coach. I'm sure that's the first question that Arthur Blank's going to re-ask Bill Belichick or McKay will when they have a second interview is who's going to be calling the plays for you, Bill?

And I bet you the answer won't be Joe Judge. It better not be. OK, well, so.

What I'm saying is, I don't know. Some hot shot with a billion new ideas that you would never think the Pittsburgh Steelers would ever run in a million years. Get that person. Try it out. Certainly, if he's not going to sign a contract extension there for another year, give it a whirl. Do the opposite. Those are my two cents.

For Mike, that's exactly what I would go ahead and do. I mean, this is just going to be 2024 is going to be just lit already. Eight, four, four, two or four, rich number to dial Chris Brockman later on this hour, you have a power ranking of most disappointing teams, top 10 disappointing teams. I've got a top five list of best Super Bowl matchups ever.

No available for this year. I appreciate you asking the question. I did kind of leave that open ended, did I not? So and it'll be interesting because I've got many options, right? Yeah, with four teams in each conference remaining and I'll do it again next week when it's a smaller subset and see if we match the list. And on Sunday show, I will pound the table for double eliminations. That's not going to happen, TJ.

You need to get me on the competition committee first. The elimination doesn't work. It could work mathematically, but you know, it's double D.O.

Double G. You see what I did there is an hour number three double as in big Snoop, as in what these nuts. Yeah, you had a drop right there. It's kind of crazy. It's unbelievable.

It's not like you're in charge of the drops. All right, let's take a break. Jane Slater is going to join us from the star, I believe, in the Metroplex. She's going to tell us what the hell happened. Yeah, she knows with the Dallas Cowboys.

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Visit prizepicks.com for restrictions and details. Welcome to Talkville, the Ultimate Smallville rewatch podcast. Karen, what you got?

Hi, guys. Karen Appleland from Australia with a quick question for Season 3 Talisman. That knife wound he was in 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 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. So I just was looking at our YouTube feed and stream over the commercial break and my power rankings of the top five NFL head coaches, the top 10, right, top 10 NFL head coaches, my power rankings is getting the same numbers as me just doing the regular power rankings, which leads me to believe after years of refusing to do power rankings, I might not be able to quit doing power rankings. Like, for instance, Hoskins and I were talking about it with our friends at the Roku channel and Roku portal, as I like to call it, about what the power rankings I would be able to do maybe at the Super Bowl. And we could do it every day. Well, no, I'm like, how about I suggested how about power ranking Vegas icons? Like that one in, right? So maybe do we just keep doing it for the rest of the season?

Why wouldn't they? I don't know. I'm using this as a rundown, like an ideas meeting for the show right here.

Power ranking shows I'm binge watching. You know what I mean? Like, it's easy. Really? What do you announce?

Of course, but first of all, I can't do that one because you know what? I'm binge watching at night. My eyelids, my frigging kids stay up too late. I just finished, just finished Fargo this week. I don't know what the hell is happening.

John Hamm, have two more performance. You have two more and tell me what you're binge watching. I'm binge watching my eyelids. I don't know the last thing that Susie and I watched on, on, you know, binge watched.

You know what? I think we just need to focus a little bit better in our household. Let the kids just do their own damn thing.

Draw on the walls because they're old enough to basically fend for themselves ish. So, you know, just saying, I don't, I won't talk about what you called your son. Back on the rich eyes and show radio network. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry Grainger has the right product for you. Call click Grainger.com or just stop by my colleague, Jean Slater, who covers the Dallas Cowboys expertly hit the nail on the head today when she asked this question of Mike McCarthy. And why should fans buy back in to you as the head coach of this team? Yeah, because I, I believe that the direction, you know, the leadership, everything is in place and I'm not very comfortable talking about myself, but I came here to win a championship. I didn't come here to win a championship. I didn't come here to get another contract or anything other than that.

I came to Dallas to win the world championship and that's why I'm standing here and buy into us. That's the, is that the, is that going to be the, the headline of the season ticket order? That's already right now. Didn't Aaron Rodgers voice over the Jets season ticket holder video? He did. Yeah. Maybe McCarthy should buy, you know, buy into us.

$20, $24 game was bought into existence. If you don't believe it, no one else will. That's like when I ran for student council president in college and my theme was, someone's got to win. Why not me? Like, did you win? I actually came in second. Hey, it was a write in. I wasn't even on the ballot. That was a write in and I came in second. Well, so someone had to win.

Why not me? It was almost me. That's what this sounds like. Dallas came in second on Sunday. You know, Rich, you walked, TJ, you walked in second. You walked in. I'm sorry. Ever since your team won at national college, it was hanging so low.

You've become unbearable. OK, so low. The hanging fruit was so low.

It was so easy to just pluck it just straight. Dude, be better is all I'm saying. This is completely BS.

This is shame. TJ, buy into us. OK, buy into it. I'm already bought into it. I'm already it's like La Costa.

No, sir, I can't get out. Joining us now on the Rich Eisen show. It's so rare that I get to have a conversation. Normally, I'm like, Jane, the floor is yours. And she talks for 60 seconds and throws it back to me on game day morning. So I actually get to say hello to you. And then we talk. Jane Slater, that's how it works here. Hey, I get 40 seconds on Sunday, so I'll take. Don't sell her short change. Nobody tell James Slater to rap during this conversation. OK, let her talk. We have a full 30 minutes. Great question, Jane.

You hit the nail right on the head there with that question with the McCarthy. Like, like, why should fans buy in to this? Well, to be fair, Rich, you know, when you start anything with respectfully, which I did, I was hoping it would cushion it because it is a fair question right now.

TJ can speak to it. Our engineer, Thomas, the NFL Network, my father. I feel like people forget that I don't I'm not related to anyone that owns the Cowboys. I can't fix anything.

I'm not rich. So they come to me for group therapy. But it was a fair question. And if you listen to Dallas radio this morning, so upset that Mike McCarthy is coming back for yet another year, the final year of his contract, I kind of felt like the writing was on the wall this week and that Jerry was going to talk himself back into it after talking to the players. Rich, this team, they looked like they quit on him in that playoff game. They look like they've quit on him in several playoff games.

Now, this is now three seasons in a row. But talking to these players, that was absolutely not the direction of my conversation. And, you know, whether people like to hear this or not, Jerry is a very shrewd businessman. And I was told when he was frustrated last year, he didn't want to pay out Mike McCarthy, two years remaining on his contract. It's still very frustrating for a coach. I know Mike talked about it today.

It's raw. He was it's numb. This is obviously emotional having people talk about your job before you even know the status of your job moving forward. But I thought it was a fair question in the sense, you know, after now three seasons, sure, 12 wins are great, but how are you going to get us to buy back into it? I think fans are expecting us to have some sort of Dan Campbell response, you know, tearful and banging his hand down and saying he's going to go bite kneecaps in the NFC East this year and then go over to 49ers and do it the same. That's just not Mike. And I think the rub here is Mike is a good guy. He's a good coach. Is he a great coach?

I don't know. He's won a Lombardi. They tell you you're a good coach if you win a Super Bowl.

But for the fans in Dallas, I think there is a level of apathy that's begun to set in here a little bit. All right. Tons of follow up questions. Let's start with the one that's, you know, that that arches overall is why Jerry decided you just use the phrase Jane talked himself into keeping McCarthy. So walk me through best you can, because obviously only he knows between his temples what he was thinking. Why did he keep McCarthy from your opinion?

I think continuity is a big deal. And I think Albert Breer hit the nail on the head when he talked about, you know, Jerry doesn't have a quick trigger when it comes to coaches. I think a lot of people think because of the lot of things that he says and he's a wheeling and a dealing and he's always working on all these business deals.

Look at his staff. There's people in that building that have worked around Jerry in the front office and some of his executives for three decades now. When you look at Jason Garrett, he kept him here in Dallas for 10 years. The only exception was Chan, Gailey and Dave Campo, quite frankly. They didn't get a lot of time, two and three years respectively for them.

And so I don't know if maybe there is a a lesson in some of that that maybe Jerry should look at. I mean, some of these other teams feel, you know, look at Brandon Staley and the Chargers. Look at Arthur Smith and the Falcons. They've been keen to move on. Look down at Houston and what they've been able to accomplish with D'Amico Ryan in his first season.

I think the argument can be made that sometimes a different message is good. And quite frankly, they made a change with Jason Garrett. And despite that first year with covid, look what Mike McCarthy did in years two, three and four. I think the big deal here is they only had one year with the Texas coast.

Think how many different offensive systems Dak Prescott has seen, despite there being similar terminology, et cetera. I think that they truly believe with one year left on Dak's deal as it stands and what they've been able to accomplish these last three seasons. I think Jerry actually still believes that this team is close.

And you know, this is well with anyone rich. The one thing that Jerry Jones is just abundant in its hope, its optimism. I mean, hope floats could literally be a movie title described for Jerry Jones for all of these years. And so I do believe he talked himself into it now.

What is curious to me is I respect the hell out of Peter King and Adam Schefter. But we started seeing these reports before the Cowboys got into the playoffs. That depending on how they played, that if this thing went south, which it went about as south as you can go, I mean, this was Titanic sunk at the end of this game.

Fans were leaving the exits before the fourth quarter. There was booing that Bill Belichick would be in play. I talked to a lot of people both in the building and outside of it. I don't believe that Jerry even reached out to Bill. Now I know Bill wanted the job. I know that he was looking to have somebody that I've spoken with prep him if they were to call. I know that Mike Freebel would have liked this job.

It's my understanding. Jim Harbaugh would have loved this job. And I think that's the most frustrating part of all of this for the fans right now. This does hit different because in years past, the argument you would make was, well, if it's not Jason Garrett or it's not Mike McCarthy, who are you going to go and get? Well, this year you had a couple of really good options and Jerry still decided to stay with Mike McCarthy. So I think that should tell you his thoughts on Mike McCarthy and maybe whether he's frustrated and mad. There's still this part of him that says, do I really want to reboot this thing or are we close?

And I think Jerry always thinks he's close. Yes, because Belichick's out there and Vrabel's out there and Harbaugh's out there. And so you're going to just do the same thing again. So I know this is still quite fluid, is McCarthy going to go into this season with just nothing after this contractual season? That's it. There's no extension coming.

It doesn't sound like there's an extension. If you'll remember our boy, Ian Rappaport, right before the Dolphins game was talking about legitimate bonafide discussions about getting an extension. So you know, it's peaks and valleys here in Dallas. Rich I've described it sometimes for fans and even my own father. It's like a toxic relationship. There's love bombing. You get, you know, a lot of love and support early on, and then they just ghost you in the postseason. You know, there's gaslighting.

You didn't see the product on the field. No, we're still a good team. We've got 12 wins, even though, you know, for a fact, your eyes show you that the postseason isn't where it needs to be. And then there's real high highs because you get all these players that are going to the Pro Bowl, Dax having an MVP type year, and then the low lows because those guys don't show up in the postseason sometimes.

So you know, I think some of us are just immune and used to it. So again, Jane Slater, my colleague from the NFL network, NFL media group, joining us here in the news that Mike McCarthy is staying. You said the players are full throated in support of Mike McCarthy. The play on the field certainly does not support that, that I said it when I came on the show on Monday, you use the Q word as well, quit.

It looked like they quit in the middle of that game. I mean, Kyle Shanahan's soundbite of this week saying he started preparing for the Packers in the middle of the second quarter certainly landed here, and I'm sure it did in the Metroplex as well. So when you talk to the players, what do they say that they like about Mike McCarthy? Well, it didn't, it didn't translate well on Twitter.

So because as you know, we live in times, Rich, where people like to aggregate our content and then decide what the parse, what they think is the narrative. And so my mistake was that I should have said this on a show like yours or on the NFL network instead of tweet it. But for the most part, the players love the fact that he gives, he cares about them as men. You know what I was describing with, whether it be Dan Quinn or Mike McCarthy, what goes on between the shoulders and the head, he cares about where you are mentally. He talked a little bit about that today too.

You know, Dax got a mental health coach. I think that Mike understands sometimes the pressures that come with this job. But I think more importantly, as an outsider coming into Dallas, he knows the pressures that come with the star on the helmet. There's also his GPS system and his quarterback school and sort of the, the attention to stats and he's been more aggressive as a coach. When you look at the way they go for it at times, you know, the way that he rests their bodies, I think that's huge when he talked to a lot of players. You know, the one thing I was told about Jason Garrett was he had really, really hard practices and I'm not saying Mike's aren't, but Mike is more about collecting data. How much time does Tyron Smith need on the field? How much time does Micah Parsons need on the field? Can they have a veteran rest day?

So it allows them to have longevity within their bodies. Something as simple as bringing their families up there on Saturdays to interact with one another or step away from a meeting and tell someone you appreciate their support. And again, fans are hearing me say this and they're rolling their eyes.

It sounds like camp cupcake up there. But my point is he believes in them as men. I mean the whole sleeping in their beds instead of hotel rooms when they have home games. I mean, look at their record this year with the exception of that playoff game. They played really, really well and everyone kept trying to put their finger on the wire they playing so well. A lot of the players pointed to that now where this story blew up and took on a life of its own was I added one player did tell me that there was concern about a stubbornness to the scheme.

Sometimes. In other words, they knew sometimes that other teams knew exactly what was Dallas was going to do and they didn't adjust accordingly. And so like even Dan Quinn motion offense is really killing him this year. And then another line that blew up was that one said that they thought that Dak Prescott can sometimes panic when his first reads not there. But we know that when they get the ball to CD lamb, good things happen. Now everyone thought that was a rat, a leak, an indictment of the locker room. I think the headline I won't name the colleague was that it was backstabbing. That's not what it was. It was I think everybody is evaluating what is going on with this team.

Why did certain things work? And I think everyone from coach to Dak to Jerry are evaluating where am I doing this wrong now? Whether those things get fixed, I don't know, but I think all of those are on the table as evidenced by Mike saying that they had a three hour meeting. So is Dan Quinn going to be part of the running it back?

What do you think? I think, I think last year we thought he was going to Denver, right? And then all of a sudden he was back in Dallas and in talking to his players, they said that they respected that he came back because he thought that there was unfinished business.

You know, some of these job openings, they look really appealing sometimes rich, and then you get in there and you realize maybe this system doesn't make sense. Ask a lot of the Cowboys players when they go to another organization, they're like, wow, we've got it pretty good around here in Frisco with Jerry Jones. And so I don't know if that's going to be part of this for Dan Quinn. There's also a lot of responsibility that come with being a head coach. I do know that he loves his players. I do know that those players want to get one for him.

We'll just kind of have to see how this shakes out, but it sounds like they're open to the idea of him returning. But I also think you've got to consider in our boy Adrian and research at NFL network item pool, some numbers, Dan Quinn seems we don't always talk about the defense and how it plays. They're really, really good against bad teams. But this year they were even worse against some of the good teams. And so they didn't get better at beating the good teams this year or get better at beating the bad teams.

They kind of got worse with some of those good teams. Yeah. Yeah. The Cowboys. I think you've got to consider that. They've been in that narrative for a while, up until they beat Philadelphia at home, the who. Yeah.

But who have you really beaten? And then they wound up losing to Buffalo and Miami and then pulled it out at the end to get into what appeared to be the catbird seat, the number two seat overall. But I think just wrapping up our conversation here, this, and I understand why you asked about why fans should buy in because everything you're telling me is like, Hey, everything works. Players love it here. Uh, the coach loves it here. Quinn loves it here. They love the coach and they love Quinn.

And then they lay an egg against green Bay. And it's the question is like, well, we don't want to change. Everything's working here.

Well, maybe you should change it because what's been working doesn't work when it matters most and the way to switch it up right now has a remarkable amount of decorated candidates sitting there saying, I'll take your job if you offer it or have a conversation about it. That's about it. And I think rich, I think the hard part too was everything started going their way. Right?

Like it almost felt like this is too good to be true. I mean, we're talking five seed, you're a two seed. You are your best team. When you're at home, you're then you're, they were talking injuries. I mean, right before the game, we found out Jair Alexander was playing in the Christian Watson, but Jair Alexander went out in the fourth quarter and then now all of a sudden they start scoring at ties, but I felt like they could have capitalized. And then why are you running the ball against that team?

If you're going to establish an identity early, why aren't you taking some of those deep shots? And so everybody I think is to blame. And I think as we talk about the Cowboys, you have 16 free agents, they've got to figure out what are we going to do with the next year? I think all of that's going to be on the table because I think now you've got to also look at personnel.

Like, do you have the right fits here? And has Jerry and company been aggressive enough at maybe getting you some players this off season? I I've heard talk about Derek Henry. Yeah. Derek could be great here.

He works out a lot here on the off season at Sanders fit. Yeah. That makes sense.

They would love him, but you still got to pay CD. You got to pay Micah. You got to figure out what you're going to do with DAX con. I mean, there's, there's a lot of stuff they've got to figure out. See, look at us having a 15 minute long conversation, Jane, it can be hard. It can be hard. Thanks for thanks for the two cents.

Greatly appreciate it. We'll chat Sunday. I think on the, on us, what? Because the Cowboys are out. What do we got? They're out.

I'm out. So if you ever want me on your show, let me know what's up. Well thanks for the memories, Jane. We'll chat soon. Take care. That's Jane Slater right here on the Rich Eisen show.

Lot of great information there. All right, TJ, you're the cowboy fan. You just heard, you just heard, that's a ton of four one one. You just got right there.

So what do you think of when you hear this? That they, they love the way that McCarthy cares for them and they love the way that McCarthy takes care of them. They certainly didn't take care of the coach, putting them on the griddle like this.

They didn't. But from the outside, looking in, everyone's going to have an opinion, but we're not in the locker room. We're not at the facility. So you've heard the players say that and again, like Dan Quinn is DQ and the DC had trouble with motion, right? I mean, how, why are we having trouble with motion?

People are going to motion you. This is an all, as you say, an all 22 type discussion, which I am not that person. All right. So talk to your, let's talk gut and feel, because I know you're, you've cauterized your wound. Oh yeah.

Since Sunday. Like you're like, what am I going to do? Are you coming? So what, what do you feel when you hear McCarthy's coming back? Did you want to make a change? You want, would you want to talk about this this morning?

I'm asking you again, now that you're hearing everything, what you said is true. What you make a change to the head coach. Then you have to bring in a new OC, which means a whole new game plan for these players to understand and kind of buy and believe in essentially you're scrapping everything. You are that. So I, you know, and I'm sure half the fan base would be perfectly fine with that.

Let's tear it down to the, you know, the frame and then rebuild it. And the other half will be like, look, I don't want to have to sit here and go through five win seasons. Me personally, I found it the former category, the latter, I guess I don't want to sit there and watch this team win six games.

I'd rather win 12, 13 games and take my chances in the playoffs. Well, I mean, making a change though, to Belichick or Vrabel or Harbaugh, why would you say six what the, why would that be a six one team? It's kind of goes back to when we were talking about Sean Payton and I brought up on this show, what has Sean Payton done any differently from Mike McCarthy? Like what makes him so much better of a, of a coach than Mike McCarthy? I would say the same thing about Mike Vrabel. Like why, what, what would make you think that Mike Vrabel would be the guy to come in and turn everything? I don't know. Because he would be an antithesis to, to McCarthy that, that, that yes, keeping everything the same, not upsetting the apple cart, not ripping it down, not going into the market for a new head coach.

Like what is it? Eight other teams right now, seven other teams, something like that. And every single one of those coaches is being asked, who are you bringing in as an offensive coordinator and on top of it, the Chicago Bears need an offensive coordinator. The Pittsburgh Steelers just said, they're going to go outside of the building to get an offensive coordinator.

And that's a tough one, although Todd Bowles found one who'd never called a play before and Dave Canales has this team in the divisional round with Baker Mayfield. So it's possible. Now the alternative is you bring in Vrabel, who's the antithesis of that. And you shake everything up because a lot of these guys who are like, I do like sleeping in my bed at home before, instead of a hotel room before a home game. And I do, and I do, I do kind of like the way that my coach cares for me as if what Vrabel is going to turn his back on him. You know, maybe some of these guys need to be shaken up. That's what they're saying in the Metroplex. But so you like McCarthy sticking?

I feel it's probably for the best right now. Okay, there you go. I was looking for that answer.

I finally drilled down to it. I mean, I gave it to you. I mean, it's not like I asked you your age.

I gave it to you multiple times. Well, we know you're 54. You haven't said, you know, you have said, I hear what you're saying when I came on the air and talked about how you're ripping everything out root and branch. You haven't said, I think it's best that we keep McCarthy. You haven't said those words until I finally dragged it out of you. There you go.

Okay. Now we can go to break. You may step down. Oh, that's what you were waiting for?

The witness is excused. All right, Chris, your power ranking of disappointment. That's next.

This is the rich eyes and show no, I'm here to work in the media, but first of all, I want to say, yeah, Oh, there you go. Jared rodeo Allen. What's up, dog. We rocking the same. I like it. I'm with you today, baby. That's what I'm talking about when I talk about America, man, how do you feel playing in the first Superbowl in your career, man?

I couldn't feel any, any better. And then you showed up and now it's even validated that this is cool. I got three kids in the audience that want footballs. Make their dream come true. Depends on where they sitting.

They sitting right where they supposed to be sitting. Okay. Say no more. I'm going to see this six foot wide receiver standing outside, ready for that one on one. See, I'm going to do it like, you don't remember me, remember you just got a little bigger and stronger dog. When you get a sack, can you get me a dad? I'm looking forward to it.

I'm going to find where you're at. All right, rodeo, yes, sir. With the kicking crew. The whole crew, man. Now, when it comes down to this crew winning this game, I'm telling y'all right now, I'm calling it. We having an after party with just us. I don't think you guys really understand how cool that is.

I didn't listen to music when I was like a little child. Rich, I told you, man, you picked the perfect guy for the job. I guess I will go into anaylism. Is that what you call it? DPCC, for the Rich recognizing show, for the next five years for the next five Super Bowls. Thank you all for joining me.

It's been real, until we meet again. DPGC and that was awesome. I love it.

Fantastic. Game time tickets, get it on your mobile device or your phone, whatever you can do to buy tickets because you need to buy tickets and you want to buy tickets and I'm telling you it's the easiest way to buy tickets. We all use GameTime. It's on all of our phones. We love it. We all have an account.

You should too. It's so simple to buy tickets for sports, music, comedy, theater events near you. You have, you want a last-minute deal, you're like, hey, I want to take the kids, I want to take the wife, I want to take my girlfriend, my boyfriend, anywhere. Last-minute deals.

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Last-minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. Kevin in North Carolina has been waiting forever. What's up, Kevin? Hey, what's up Rich? What's on your mind, sir? Hey, you know, we hear this statement as the Steelers ran from North Carolina.

We hear the words come out of his mouth. We are searching for a offensive coordinator outside of the organization and it is like the heavens opened up and we all rejoice in unison. This has taken way too long to happen and I'm finally optimistic about next season, even if it is with Kenny Pickett, but I have a feeling they're gonna they're gonna make a run for a free agent, possibly Russell Wilson, if he's available. I don't think it's the right move, but you know, he might be the one that can get them over the top.

I just don't. Also, you know, TJ, there's a there was a really interesting quote you were talking about with you were talking about the difference between Mike McCarthy and Mike Tomlin. Kyle Brandt said this morning, if you want someone who's gonna shred into the playoffs and limp out, it's Mike McCarthy.

If you want someone who's gonna sneak into the playoffs and limp out, it's Mike Tomlin. I heard that. I heard what Kyle had to say today. Kevin, last question. I got a question for you real quick. Kevin, are you calling on a landline? Yes, sir, I am.

Can you hear the difference between a cell phone and a landline? It's great. Kevin, it's like you're sitting next to me. Thank you. That's Kevin in North Carolina landlines. I know they still exist. It's separate. Oh, of course you do. It's probably inside of an old off head.

You probably have a red telephone. All right, like all right, Chris Brokman, you have you have a you have a power rankings to do. Well, then it's the 10 most disappointing teams. I'm going negative.

10 most disappointing teams. Glass is half full for Chris Brokman. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it.

Go for it. You go. Oh, rankings. Power rankings by Brockman.

All right, Chris, what do you got? Number 10 Miami Dolphins. One win this year against a good team. One win against a winning team.

Absolutely limped out. Come on, man. What are we doing? Are you for real?

Or are you just gonna, like, be mid? What's happening? Okay, with all due respect. Okay, obviously, you should have said it first. You said it first.

Okay, not for school yesterday. Number nine, the Denver Broncos. A lot of people before the year thought Sean Payton was gonna be coach of the year and resurrect Russell Wilson.

They did scrap back at the end of the year. But look, somebody put a 70. The Dolphins put 70 on you like, Come on, you're not a serious team. There were 89 number eight. The Dallas Cowboys.

Wow, that's low. You're happy, huh? It's not about how it. I'm kind of looking at the totality of this list. I thought this is gonna be number one.

It's the totality hater. But, TJ, you expected them to lose wild card weekend. So you knew how this was gonna end. See, there's the trolling.

But how's that trolling? They won 12 games, but, you know, they did went out of the playoffs. Okay, number seven. The Carolina Panthers. You draft number one.

Overall, you got it. You get the Heisman Trophy winner. You could bring Frank Reich in offensive genius, and you went two games less. This of the Cowboys are less disappointing than the Carolina Panthers. Did we think the Panthers gonna win two games this year? No, I mean, you never know. Yeah, I mean, okay, keep going.

Keep going. Number six. The New York Giants now.

Oh, I see where he's going. The Jets. The Jets are gonna be number one. No, I see it.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Actually, don't interrupt his list to me all the time. Jets aren't on here. There's no injuries.

If you have a devastating injury, you can't plan for that. Look at you being reasonable. This is just disappointment overall, okay? Daniel Jones stinks. I've been telling you guys this for years, okay?

And now you finally saw it, all right? Brian Deball, lucky to keep his job. The Giants are six.

Number five. The New England Patriots. I thought they were gonna be a borderline playoff team. Before the season, Julian Edelman and I were breaking down the schedule.

Yeah. We thought 9-10 wins was pretty reasonable. No, it was an abject failure. Now Bill is gonna be the Falcons coach, and we're starting over, and we have the third overall pick. This season sucked.

Number four. The Atlanta Falcons. This team should be a playoff team. They probably should have won a playoff game.

They are loaded with talent across the board on offense and defense, and their coach stunk because he tried to get too cute and not give the ball to your best players. Could we have chosen a sadder photograph of Arthur Blank? I didn't even see it. You look so sad. I mean, it's just terrible for us to do that, Arthur Blank. I like him.

Okay, go for it. He's a good guy. All right, top three, and I think there's no argument here. Number three is the Jacksonville Jaguars. Expected a huge leap this year. We were talking about them as a possible number one seed, hosting a playoff game for sure.

Big leap for Trevor Lawrence, maybe in the MVP race. They're out, and now, you know, in my mentions it's like, can you see why the Eagles fired Doug Peterson? All right, well, I guess so.

I don't know. Number two, the Los Angeles Chargers. What a freaking disaster that was.

Justin Herbert should be in the MVP conversation. They're loaded with talent, terrible coaching, terrible everything. They stink. Number one, I get it. Number one's the Philadelphia Eagles.

Like, you can't go ten and one and then finish the year one and six. Wait, what are we doing? You were just in the Super Bowl. You have Jalen Hurts, who is an MVP candidate.

You have studs everywhere. What the hell happened? I don't know. Where's my top ten? So, this is kind of your powerless rankings.

It just kind of dawned on me. Powerless rankings. Yeah, as we end the season. They're powerless rankings.

It's a good job, Chris. It's powerless rankings. The Cowboys at eight? Too low. Cowboys are too low.

Bangle's not on the list because, you know, they have a devastating injury. I understand. I understand. The Cowboys are too low on your list. You can't have a valid reason.

You just don't want to accept it. They won 12 games. I know.

It's not disappointing. You know, they didn't go eight and nine. They were supposed to be in the Super Bowl. This is the year they're supposed to make the NFC Championship game for the first time. Who said that, though?

Everybody, including you. I mean, they won 12 games. I'm pretty sure I didn't. TJ, it was all set up. They won 12 games.

They look terrific. That played its best. That was the narrative that the media made. It's not a narrative.

It's my own two eyes. It's a narrative. And this whole business with the Lions gave them a nice two seed, and they blew it. Those are facts.

You don't like it when people start... Again, again, like Jerry Jones, they did win 12 games. Your power rankings. You're much more nuanced than I expected.

Snoop Dogg's coming up. Thank you, TJ. Because you just didn't lead with hate in your heart. You led with facts. No, you led them off the hookies. I was no, because over the Carolina Panthers.

Come on, man. The Panthers were first overall on the clock. You could see that the roster wasn't ready to support Bryce Young.

Their conversation we're hearing right now is if Stroud was there, would he be looking like that? I know they won two games. They fired their coach, but come on. But that's more reasonable than the Cowboys winning 12 and then getting boat raced at home.

They were lost in a worse way than they did the two previous years. Rich, did you not listen to the open? That's his power rankings. That's how he sees it. Excuse me. Excuse me.

How many times? This is like role reversal right now. It's like I'm the clean one, and he's the messy one. At this point, I'm on his side as of 1056 right now.

So how about you, Rich? I'm on his side. They should be higher. The Giants are more disappointing than the Cowboys.

Get out of here. The Broncos were right there. I didn't expect that.

You're letting the recency bias get to you. No, it's the way it ends up at the very end. The way it ends up with the Eagles, it was just a much slower car crash. The way the ending is is just one 19th of the season. The Cowboys were the ones that just were humming along and then drove off a cliff.

The Eagles were part of that snowbound pileup on your freeway where one car rear ends after the other. I'm sorry you don't like nuance. Very nuanced, Chris. I'm a good guy.

I just want to give it out after taking it and taking it for weeks. Snoop Dogg, hour three coming up. The double. How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings. Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks. I mean, I dig Jey Uso because he's born out of great storytelling and he lived up to the opportunity and exceeded it. The LA Knight, he's way up on my list because here's a guy that's been around for almost ever should have probably quit a half a dozen times and he just forced his way into their life. And now he's making money hand over fist. That is a story I love.