Louis Riddick: Ravens have no worries

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I came to Dallas to win the World Championship, buy into us. Let's talk gut and feel. So what do you feel when you hear McCarthy's coming back? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You make a change to the head coach.

Essentially, you're scrapping everything. I don't want to sit there and watch this team win six games. Today's guest ESPN NFL analyst Lewis Riddick, Pro Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Welcome to this Friday prior to divisional playoff weekend edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on the Roku channel. This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate.

Also Sirius XM Odyssey. We're live. And then there's people who are listening to this on a podcast saying we're not live and you're not lying. I'm not lying.

These things can be true. All at the same time, it's kind of wild because you can listen to us on demand. You can also watch us on demand through the Roku channel Rich Eisen Show collection page. It's a fancy way of saying you can watch us whenever you want.

You also rear throughout the entire weekend on Channel 210 on the Roku channel because we're unavoidable. There's our YouTube page. We're about to go over 700000 subscribers there. And we're so appreciative of that. We notice our numbers on our Facebook page, our Instagram page are going through the roof.

We love popping out the content for you. Who's whose phone is on? Is that Mike Del Tufo's phone is on? He's the answer right now.

Westwood one was calling me our radio. OK, very good. All right. All right. So you're doing work. It's mad work over there. We're on Westwood one, by the way.

At any rate, eight four four two or four, Rich is the number to dial. I'm not giving out Mike Del Tufo's personal information. I was actually doing something. Good for you.

Good for you. I'm glad you're here. Wasn't looking for Doug. The audio executive is on fire right now. Good to see over there, Chris Brockman.

How are you? I don't know if I believe him. I think I believe in a random phone. I believe him.

He looks miserable. Don't don't worry. Take care of it.

Don't don't don't don't. Denver, Colorado. You look miserable, which means you're working.

Thank you. Although, although when you're working for Fox Sports one, you're smiling, taking something. Hey, look at me. Look at me working. Look at me working for UMBC on FS1. Number one team, UConn twice this week. Attaboy. That's how I do it. You know, by the way, I'm a single player on UConn.

The C game or the C game. And I'm a big fox on Saturday. Good for you. Name a single UConn player.

Good to see over T.J. Jefferson. How are you, sir? Good to see you. You mentioned our YouTube page yesterday and one of our videos. I got accused of being an ageist because I brought up your age during one of our back and forths. So clearly it was from someone who never watches this show and doesn't know that you bring up your age all the time.

And I got yelled at for bringing up your age. To make you feel better, just to maybe potentially make you feel better, no matter how much grief you might be getting on social media right now, it does not come close to what Amy Trask is currently getting from 49er fans. What the football? Everyone should check that out. With Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask, Amy gave her unvarnished opinion of where she places Brock Purdy in the category of quarterbacks that are playing this weekend.

No, the very bottom of the list. Actually, you know, it's kind of wild when you take a look at this weekend's divisional playoff games. And we're about to. And Lewis Riddick is going to join us from ESPN coming up shortly. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, C.J. Stroud, Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield, Jordan Love. What do all seven of them have in common? I'll tell you, they're all first round quarterbacks. Go figure. The only one who wasn't drafted in the first round is the guy who was drafted last in his draft.

And Brock Purdy. It's kind of wild. It's one of those weird, wild stats.

Weird wacky stuff. You want to hear another weird, wild stat from this weekend's playoffs? I'm about to give it to you. In the Easter egg known as my Rich Eisen show divisional weekend playoff preview.

I always do this on the eve of either a season or a big playoff weekend. I need my music. I need Mike Del Tufo to hit me with the audio executive music that he always does. Right here on the Rich Eisen show.

Thank you, sir. Get the bell. We're going to start with the NFC first. It's on Saturday night, a seven seed. The Green Bay Packers taking on the San Francisco 49ers in a playoff game. If this sounds familiar to you that, hey, the Niners playing the Packers in a playoff game.

Guess what? This is the 10th time they're meeting in the playoffs. Most common postseason matchup in NFL history. They don't play in the same division, by the way.

It's quite wild. No other matchup in the playoffs has occurred more than five times since 1995. This is the 10th time that they're playing each other in the playoffs all time.

And it's Brock Purdy, Mr. Irrelevant in his draft against Jordan Love, who was totally irrelevant in his team while Aaron Rodgers was starting for the Packers and winning MVPs and making the playoffs. And then guess what? Not beating the 49ers. It's now time for Jordan Love to step up and potentially do something that Rodgers was unable to do in his final throws as a quarterback in Green Bay, which is get to the NFC championship game by beating the San Francisco 49ers, something that Dallas Cowboys have been unable to do and the Cowboys wanted to do in the NFC championship game.

But Jordan Love had other ideas. One last interesting fact right here. They're the first, the Packers, seven seed to win a playoff game. And what I mean ever, I mean ever, because there used to be eight teams that made playoffs in the NFL. Seven seed didn't even win back then. Under the current construct, they are a seven seed now in the divisional playoffs.

That has not happened. If you're wondering if that's ever happened in, say, any sport, they would be the Packers if they win the Super Bowl, the lowest seed to win a Super Bowl, obviously, since the seven seeds not won. The six seeded Packers in 2010 was the lowest seed to ever win a Super Bowl, matching the 0-5 Steelers, who are the six seed, the lowest seed to ever win the NBA championship, the Larry O.B., the six seeded Houston Rockets in 1995, the lowest seed to win the World Series.

We just saw it. The five seed Texas Rangers in 2023 and the 2014 San Francisco Giants. The lowest seed to win the Stanley Cup, the eight seeded L.A. Kings in 2012, and then the lowest seed to ever win the big dance.

Sorry to bring it up, TJ. The 85 Villanova team were the eighth seed to win it all. The Packers have a chance to shock the sports world. The 49ers are coming off of their bye week and they are healthy, but they got curve stomped by the Ravens on Christmas night and then they got banged up against the Washington commanders and finally winning the one seed. They also got some help from the Lions as well, where they got a little bit screwed up in Dallas. That sealed the one seed for the 49ers because they'd already beaten the Cowboys and the Eagles and the Lions losing in eligible gate.

Cleared the path for the 49ers. Let's see if they can get back to the NFC championship game. All they got to do is beat the seven seeded Packers who come in young and hungry and not knowing anything about what they should be doing other than what they think they need to do, which is just win football games. Can they go ahead and one and done the one seed 49ers after they just one and done the two seed Dallas Cowboys? And if they do that, not only would that shock the world that would give the Detroit Lions an opportunity to host a third playoff game at home this postseason, because they would be taking on the Buccaneers for the right to host the NFC championship game. If not, then the Niners move on and the Lions and the Buccaneers would be taking on each other for the right to go to San Francisco.

This is kind of wild. The Lions are hosting their second playoff game in a seven day span this weekend. They would host a third playoff game this postseason, as I mentioned in the NFC championship game. If the Packers surprise the Lions hosted two home playoff games in a sixty five year span before this past week.

What the hell is going on there? And as it was pointed out on yesterday's program. By Mike Torrico, who's calling this game, it is a matchup between two first overall selected quarterbacks who are playing for different teams because the teams that drafted them thought that they could do better without them. And here comes Baker Mayfield to take on Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield for a Bucs team that we all thought would just fall off the cliff. Now that Tom Brady is gone, this Bucs team could go to the NFC championship game with Baker friggin Mayfield as their quarterback. And Mike Evans is coming in and we played each other in week four with Godwin, everybody that this game didn't go their way.

Different team right now. And the Lions are coming into this game having the roar being restored. What will happen when the two teams face each other, potentially knowing they can host an NFC championship game for the Lions to make it. After we saw their midseason swoon into the right to play one game for the Super Bowl.

Holy cow, that is kind of wild when you think about it. That's your NFC divisional playoff preview. The American Football Conference.

It all starts in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ballmer Ravens, who didn't play it seemed a single starter worth a damn. With all due respect to who did start against the Steelers in the rain in week 18, they had pretty much off week 18. They had off week 19.

The whole concept of rust or not. What are we going to see with them? They're the first ones up and they do not, like the 49ers, have the benefit of having a road team come in on a short week. The Packers played Sunday last week. They're playing Saturday this week. The Texans not only played on Saturday last week, they played on Saturday the week before that, too. Don't forget, they beat the Colts on a Saturday night before the week 18 finale. So they played not one, but two playoff games the last two Saturdays. One to get in the tournament and one to bounce the Browns out of it.

And C.J. Stroud went into this stadium before. I know it was week one. It was his first game of his entire pro career. His head was probably spinning, but he's been there. So he's acted like he's been there pretty much every single week after the Ravens beat him in week one.

C.J. Stroud versus Lamar Jackson is going to be awesome. And it's also going to be a matchup that I think we're going to be seeing for quite some time. We're going to see it next year, too, because these two teams won their divisions.

They're going to play again next year. This is a Texans team that is equally as young as the Packers and doesn't know what they shouldn't know. And they're coming in to take on a Ravens team, though, that is totally different than the Ravens teams that we have seen with Lamar Jackson entering the postseason. This guy, the whole concept, because I saw Bill Polian again, is coming out saying, hey, the Texans just need to keep him in the pocket and let him throw. It's like, hey, Bill, have you seen any film this year of Lamar Jackson? This guy is one of the most cold blooded throwers of the football in the game. This is an MVP quarterback soup to nuts. Sure, he can run.

I got it. But he's also keeping his head up and he's finding guys in places that you didn't see him find them in before. He's awesome. They are playing great. Unfortunately, Mark Andrews is not coming back in time for this game. They hope that he can come back for an AFC championship game. The Ravens have boat raced a ton of teams in their home stadium this year.

I don't know if the Texans are going to be one of them, but I'm really looking forward to this game. And here's the nugget I was promising you off the top. Jedevian Clowney, who plays for the Baltimore Ravens, he is the first non quarterback, former number one overall pick to face the team that drafted him in a postseason game since 1980. The last one was John Matuszak, who faced the Oilers for the Raiders in 1980 in the AFC wildcard.

Wow. How's that for a little nugget? You didn't expect to hear Matuszak here on the Friday before divisional playoff weekend.

But it all leads to the mother lode. It's this generation's version of Manning and Brady straight up. And, you know, there is an NFC in AFC North quarterback that will raise his hand every now and then, like Big Ben and Joe Burrow, who unfortunately is not healthy this year. But it's Allen and Mahomes.

Mahomes from the 2017 draft, Allen from the 2018 draft. They have played each other six times in their careers, including postseason. They've split the games.

Mahomes, though, is 2-0 in the games, if you will, that count the most because you win or go home. They're the playoff games. Their 2021 divisional game in Arrowhead was an instant classic. The Bills took a lead, as we know, with 13 seconds to go. The Ravens used those 13 seconds to tie the game, go into overtime, score a touchdown with the first possession, end the game, and the league changed the postseason overtime rules after that. That's how important that game proved to be and has absolutely informed us about both teams since then. They have played in the regular season, including this one where the Bills won the game in Arrowhead because Kadarius Toney made a mistake by lining up offsides to wipe out an offensive touchdown. Unbelievable.

That did happen. The Bills did have an opportunity to maybe win the game anyway. But because of that result, this game is finally in Buffalo, New York. And Deion Dawkins of the Bills' offensive line points out the crazy, crazy fact that this will be the first-ever true road playoff game in the career of Patrick Mahomes. He's either played a playoff game in Arrowhead or at a neutral site in one of his three Super Bowls. This is what Deion Dawkins had to say about Mahomes coming to Buffalo with fans because he did go to Western New York in 2020 during the COVID year before.

But as Dawkins points out, that's a different ball of wax than what he's about to experience. No disrespect. What year is this for, Pat? Seven or eight? Seven. Seven, right? He's only been here once? Yep. So he's never been here?

Simple as that. Pat has never been to the Bills' stadium in full effect. He has no idea what even our fans look like in person.

Well, that's not true. And the home stadium in person, so the people who don't always travel. I'm excited because the environment will be different. And not to say it's in our favor, but stadium is our favor. Stadium is us that helps us. I don't care what nobody says.

This is the most dopest feeling I've ever had. We're having two back-to-back playoff games home. Like, come on now. We get to leave and go eat wings.

It's cool. So, good luck. We like to go home and eat wings.

Good luck. That's the football version of we can go home now, right? The jokestrap that we have? I love that. Good luck, says Deion Dawkins. I mean, it's not just Mahomes, too.

Let's go. This is wild. This is absolutely crazy. NFL Network research gave me this list. Most consecutive playoff games played since their last true road playoff game in the history of the NFL. The top one, two, three, four, five, six names are all current Kansas City Chiefs. It's led by Travis Kelce and long snapper James Winchester. It's been 17 games. They played 17 home playoff games since their last true road playoff game. And that also includes Andy Reid. The last one was the 2015 divisional round when they lost in New England. Alex Smith was the quarterback.

You know who was the leading running back? Charcandric West. Yes.

I've mentioned Batuuzak and Charcandric West in one moment. That's fantastic. It is wild.

I just finished my immaculate grin for the day. Good one. Andy Reid has coached 17 playoff games since his last true road playoff game. Most consecutive such games all time, five more than the guy who's second on the list, Don Shula. You know who is the only non-chief currently on the list of going so long between true road playoff games? It's Vince Wilfork for your Patriots, Chris, who went from 2007 to 2016 with 15.

15 such games. How will the Chiefs handle this? As I mentioned earlier this week, Patrick Mahomes, we've seen him in tons, tons of roles. We've never seen him in the role of road playoff villain, shutting up an entire stadium worth of people who just jumped off a van into a burning table. That's his role this weekend. And the Bills fans have been waiting.

But Chiefs and Bills is anything but a gimme for anyone. And I can't wait. And that's how I wrap up my AFC divisional playoff weekend preview for y'all. Nice. Nice. Let's take a break. Lewis Riddick is chiming in, is checking in, pardon me, on Zoom right now. We will get to one of our favorites to talk ball with before a great talk ball weekend.

Next. Rich Eisen here. If you love football as much as we do here and want to be in the game every day, there's something the guys on my show have been enjoying. Prizepix Daily Fantasy Sports, the number one daily fantasy sports app. Brockman, tell everybody about Prizepix 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 prizepix.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 three talisman. That knife wound you 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 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. So what's going on over there? We got we got two.

We have two. He's bringing in props for next week. What's going on? Feli, take a step to your left so we can see you. All right.

What's going on here? My son is here. Oh, gosh. He is. He calls me Papa. OK. Papa, don't preach. Does that make him the captain Lou Albano of the Rich Eisen show? If that's if that's now a video. Right. Wasn't he in Papa, don't preach?

Wasn't he in the city? Oh, I might sit up. Papa, don't preach is Madonna. Madonna.

But it's the father and it is in the video. It's another famous one. Why am I blanking on his name? Yes. Danny. Danny. OK. Yes. So you're the Danny Aiello of of this program.

So, Chris, what did you say to me in the commercial break before we get to Louis? I saw this online earlier in the week. It's cheaper to buy tickets to Pistons home games combined for the rest of the season. The rest of their regular season. The season, like 20 something games than it is to go to the game on Sunday. The tickets in Detroit this weekend are like a thousand dollars is the cheapest ticket for the Lions versus Bucks. Correct. So you can either go see Lions, Bucks or every Pistons game, every home game.

Well, who's coming into town? I don't know who they have. Well, but you can't guarantee that the stars that are coming in are not going to be like low. Exactly.

You know, it's not going to be load managed. The Lions are the Buccaneers. They're not.

They're not on Monday. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. He was energy was out the last game. I know that because I am destroying my 12 year old son in our fantasy right ever.

Oh, best dad ever. You gotta teach these kids that there's adversity. He's so upset.

At one point, it was up 11 nothing on him last night. And there's 11 categories. Don't you feel a little bad or no? Of course I do. But after a while, I mean, these are hard lessons got to be taught.

Better you teach them than someone else. The Rich Eisen show radio networks back on the air. on the air. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Simply one of our favorites to talk ball with and boy is there lots to talk about with the divisional playoffs starting on Saturday. Lewis Riddick from ESPN back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Lewis? I'm good, man. I'm just looking out the window northeast like this wreck with snow right now. I'm loving it.

Okay, so you just huddle up inside and you got non-stop football to be watching all weekend long. Lewis, why are CJ Stroud and Jordan Love performing the way that they're performing right now? Purdy coming into the draft last year performing well. Are we seeing something about quarterbacks coming into the draft and then performing so well quickly that's similar?

Is there a through line here? I think it's always a number of different things, Rich, as you know. I mean because it's such an interdependent position and it really is contingent upon a lot of things being set up to help these guys succeed on top of their own individual just brilliance, all right?

And we always are looking for like a real simple answer but there isn't. Okay, so let's look at look at CJ, right? Think about Bobby Slowit. Many people knew his name but didn't know that he would be able to craft an offense that would consistently allow CJ to do what he does best on a very consistent basis which is read the field very quickly, scan the field very quickly, throw the football with magnificent touch on the second level, throws catchable balls up deep down the field and it just it's all matching up. And just think about the report that he built with Tank Dell and Nico Collins immediately, Dalton Schultz immediately, just and then the offensive line despite being beat up a little bit still kept him you know upright enough to where he was still able to like utilize that tremendous pocket presence that he showed at Ohio State. So it's all just kind of working together. The defense starts playing much better. DeMeko gets that place. They were top five in the NFL and past rush win rate all year long.

I mean this is a team that was getting the ball back for him, getting him more cracks at it. So there's just there's so many things that really came together for CJ to then show people that hey, remember all that pre-draft talk about my process power and my test-taking ability? How insane. You have a float neck trap out there about me?

Okay, how do you like me now? Right? For Jordan, he went to the perfect place where he could sit watch whether you love or hate Aaron Rodgers, you're watching a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer go about his craft and it's not just about how he went about it on the field because not meant anybody nobody can really do what Aaron does on the field. Adam Stanovich, our offensive coordinator, was just talking about the fact of some of the challenges that Aaron presented on the field which was he changed so many things at the line of scrimmage that sometimes when they went back and watched Tank they didn't even know what the play call was relative to what Matt said in because Aaron would change it. I'm just talking about the process of getting ready, how to be a pro, how to watch tape, how to practice, how to communicate with wide receivers, offensive line, running backs. Jordan got the benefit of watching all of that. So then when it's his time, offensive line is still rock solid, the running game principles are still rock solid, Aaron Jones is still all pro caliber, then you bring in all these young wide outs who have this kind of collegiate type of mentality meaning hey man we need to get all on the same page with Jordan because you know what we can take this thing and bring it back to prominence and it's gonna be all of us, all of us young dudes and you know the power of that kind of collective desire to want to kind of like raise something is very powerful. Some of the people that you went to college with right that you went into college with and you left college with are still some of the people that you identify with the most and when you that's why people like building through the draft because those guys almost look at it like hey it's almost like we're back in college but we're getting paid a lot more maybe not too much more considering how NIL is now but you're paid a lot more and Jordan benefited from all that and on top of it I'll tell you what Matt Lefort now people question right was it Aaron, was it Matt, is Matt really that good, was he that good in Tennessee he didn't do anything in Washington yeah he's that good he's that good and the play calling is spectacular and the thing I like the most about what Green Bay is doing and what Jordan is benefiting from is that they will bash you with the run game absolutely bash you and then put Jordan under center and run play action pass and you see people running wide open all over the place because they got your head spinning as a defender like I don't want to be too far away from these running backs when they're coming downhill so let me scoot up here oops they didn't hand it off now he's throwing it over my head they've got you right where they want you so then let me ask you a sports talk radio question which which of the teams Texans and Packers that shocked last week have had the better shot to do it again and upset a one seed on Saturday because I was just in Baltimore recently mm-hmm and they have it's just rock-solid it's airtight down there as far as what what they built I believe I'm gonna say Green Bay has the better shot mm-hmm okay and I love CJ you know I love CJ you know how I feel about yes he struck the bigger ones but Baltimore is the truth man they John Harbaugh Eric the cost of Ozzie Newsom they they've hit it out the park it's grand slam at the grand slam at the grand slam in terms of coaching staff additions this year moving T Martin from wide receivers the quarterbacks bringing in Greg Lewis the coach the wide receivers bringing in Chuck Smith the coach the outside linebackers you see what he did for today being clowny Bernard Wilson who's now this past game coordinator secondary coach you see what he's done with Kyle Hamilton it's just it's ridiculous what's happening there and oh yeah last but not least how's Lamar looking yeah right I know it's kind of like a mission accomplished so far right that that they got the one seed Todd Monken's coming in Lamar looks superb I mean the darts that he is throwing the windows that he is hitting is is truly MVP quality I think he's going to win the award and deserves to win the award the question is is how does it look in the playoffs right now we're about to see that I think I think he if Lamar could ever burst onto the scene more now now is when he's going to simply because it's a bigger stage you know what the almost I don't know I'm gonna make up a word here the systemic naysayers say about him okay yes and now it's the biggest thing it's the biggest stage so where now you get to see I used to say this about about bill and use the ball in New England the Death Star now you get to see the full power of the Death Star that Baltimore is built and with Lamar in particular and John Harbaugh described it as this we've given him really like he really has the keys to the kingdom no because Todd trusted it says Lamar do your thing when you get up to the line of scrimmage as far as getting us in and out of bad plays making sure wide receivers are where they need to be if we need to spread the field we'll spread the field and go empty and go five wives now you pick them apart if we need to condense it and bash them you know you know with justice or you know or or bring in now Dalvin cook and let him run the ball down the throat we'll do that if we need to run you will do that we're multiple we have answers for everything now and I trust you to make the right decisions that has empowered him to take his game to an even higher level the relationship that he has with T Martin every quarterback will tell you it's great to have a quarterback coach who's played the position just like I had because he can see it through we're so much further down the road as far as our communication mm-hmm it was a home run move on the part of John Harbaugh an absolute home run move on top of Todd monkey they are going to roll it ain't gonna be easy against Houston because you saw the clip you saw the clip of what D'Amico told Christian Harris how cool was that he's basically said do this and you go to the house and then exactly I mean that is so powerful when you see a coach saying you know grabbing the tablet pointing out this is what you do do this and and we'll go to the house and he does it how powerful is that Lewis I saw that the best clip I've seen this year I love it maybe the best clip I've seen in a long long time okay folks you want to know what coaching is means to put your player in a position to succeed here I loved it anything else just watch this yeah Lewis Riddick here from ESPN on the Rich Eisen show so let's jump to Sunday what are your two cents on Lions bucks how do you see that playing out Lewis well Todd Bowles is going to say hey look Jared I can't let you get comfortable I don't know if with your offensive line and your play-action passing game if I can just rely on four obviously and I'm not really built that way so I'm sending the house after you dude I'm sending it after you and Antoine and the boys in the back end you're gonna have to hold it down because if we let Jared Goff get comfortable as we've seen what he can do with you when he's comfortable it's over it's over that team's just rolling because then if he's comfortable and the running games coming off the line of scrimmage then we're really in trouble because this offensive line will bash you too and Jamir Gibbs I think like I said I think he will be in the top two or three in terms of MVP candidates next year if they allow if they just set him free and I know that's hard to do when you have David Montgomery who can kill you too but you Jamir Gibbs Jamir super special super super super special he can be better than Alvin he can be better than Christian he can be better than all of them so that's a heck of a that's a heck of a problem for Todd that to deal with but here's the thing Detroit has to deal with something to what's Detroit's Achilles heel it's out it's the outside lane passes down the field on defense if you can protect it up and make sure Aiden doesn't wreck your game you can get this team down the field and you can burn them for chunk plays over and over and over again and who's better to do that then the guys that they have on that football team at wide receiver and you know Baker can throw it down the field now Mike Evans has to have this best game of the year and he could and he should so this could be one of those where look I love Detroit I thought I picked them to be in the NFC title game back in January I think they'll win the game but I think this is gonna be nip and tuck oh because Tampa hasn't Tampa's playing with house money so to speak like people don't expect us that people didn't expect us to be here no Baker saying there people you told me I suck I was a bus his number one pick Todd Bowles is the worst quarter most egg coach in the history of the Jets that's what people say he's his benefitting off of what Bruce had done blah blah blah they have nothing to lose right yeah the most dangerous kind of opponent what a great game to watch that will be baby and then of course it leads to the prize fight I mean this is honestly I'm I don't mean that's not to denigrate the other three but I mean come on right and this one's in Western New York for change and so the Chiefs I wouldn't say they flipped the switch but I think they found it on the wall you know what I'm saying and and the Bills are playing some of the best football we've seen in the last month and a half two months and they are feeling it they're feeling good and Alan is just a touchdown making machine I'll say I mean he like Kaepernick you know in his year where he was running it thrown it and he was like we called him the ATM like you put the the card in and out came either checking or savings money it was just somewhere it was coming out the money was coming out so that's my long-winded setup to ask you your thoughts on this game how it's gonna play out I think I heard or I read were you know people or someone asked Patrick the question and I'm paraphrasing a little bit here is the defense really leading the way here are you riding the defense are you guys is it possible you guys can ride the defense all the way back to the Super Bowl this year instead of you in particular in the offense I think his answer was yeah absolutely we see what's happening here we see how we're set up this year and I guess what that leads me into is this the key to this game for Kansas City knowing what ails Kansas City offensively which is the lack of consistent explosive down-the-field playmaking not that they can't do it it's just not consistent like it was the key to this game is defensively their team speed and their physicality on defense has to be on full display it has to be at its very very very best and they are very good on all three levels you saw you see the clip last week of luxurious need although it was on a slippery track just pound in Tyree kill and throwing them to the ground at the line of scrimmage mm-hmm up on the line and press I mean just really knock them with nothing to the ground that's what it when you talk about a fist fight and heavyweight that's what that's how they have to play that's how to play Buffalo it has to be every play I'm basically cocking my fist back and I'm hitting you right in the face hmm or you even get started Chris Jones have to be at your very best Charles Amanda who be at your very best tranquil be at your very best Willie gay Nick Bolton these guys can run now and they can't miss they can't miss when Josh breaks the line of scrimmage they can't miss when James Cook breaks the line of scrimmage and the Darius you can't let Stefan get up get going you can't and they're gonna inspect Nolo's gonna have to call masterpiece and I think they can do it it'll be tough as hell you know what what if there's if there's a place maybe I don't know which place I have the best environment this week probably Detroit Detroit will be like unconscious but Buffalo's gonna be crazy yeah I mean places because again they they they have two home games in a row which you know and and one of them is Mahomes like this is and this is it like they have been I'm sure just sitting there shaking their heads in these postseason losses going why do we have to be there you know and and they finally get it in their house and they are playing terrific and and defensively they've been terrific I likened it to the to the night from from Monty Python's Holy Grail it keeps getting chopped up and he's like it's just a flesh wound they honestly they probably lead the league and star players that you say well that guy they can't afford to lose and and and they keep going it's unbelievable you know everything I've said so far about that matchup about Kansas City like and people are like hey knucklehead they still have Patrick Mahomes yeah that's true and you know Rasheed Rice is starting to look like a guy who said you know what I like he looked around and was like well no one else wants to do it I guess I'll do it if you want me to be the guy I'll be the guy you want that you want a hero I'll be your hero and Travis Kelce is still pretty good and that offensive line is still a top three offensive line in football so they got to hold it down and Andy Reid he's pretty good I can't this is the great great get like I'm sitting here talking to you dude and I'm sitting here like this room and thinking like everyone says the divisional round in the NFL season is always the best weekend like this week you know like honestly if you love football you have to tell your family if there's people in your family get away from me this weekend the house has to be burning down okay like even if it is burning down it's like that little that little meme right gift where the dog's sitting there and everything's burning that's this week everything's fine you're right it's because anybody could win it you could truly say it you cannot sit here and say the teams that are in it all of them have no shot you really can't say it and that's what it's all about and that's why I wanted to talk to you today Lewis you get me fired up I love talking ball with you and I look forward to having you back on whenever you're willing because again well obviously there's more to talk about this year and then my gosh we'll be in Detroit for the draft and everything leading up to that I would love your two cents on that too you're the best thanks Lewis thanks a lot Lewis Riddick everybody joining us here on the show oh by the way also gave us a new fantasy team name mmm systemic naysayers that's pretty good actually oh that's a very long-winded way of saying Bill Polian all right let's take a break right here on the Rich Eisen show eight four four two oh four rich number to dial oh boy Fletcher Cox do not ask him about Nick Sirianni's future don't do it well I mean and that's why I'm wondering why you would go by the name of Matty ice man that's why I'm what I mean that's a beer infused nickname and it doesn't fit any well would you agree it doesn't fit anymore Matt are you just the natural coming back are we making a push for the natural here I'm pointing out that certain nickname that you've had for a long time just just I like beer I do like beer right so when it comes to it though you just you're not you're not slamming them back right no I guess I'm I'm drinking responsibly okay something that would be a natural light of some sort man are you what are you drinking what are you drinking it's been a long time see keep making my point why won't you take the natural for me man why would you just why won't you do it I mean how many times do I have to ask how many times do I have to ask nobody else wants are you aware I offered it to Stafford your buddy yes well I mean he that's a no Matt he I gave him full disclosure that it was a retread and that you had rejected it because I know you guys talk I know you guys you guys are tight right he forgot to mention it to me the last time I saw him I can't believe that wasn't top of mind for him okay so just just on behalf of all my loved ones who are cringing right now just tell me to move on Matt and I'll move on just tell me to move on Brit you got to move on you got to move on I love you but you got to move on thank you Matt thank you so much even if I gave you a t-shirt or all right Matt I can take a hint after nine years or so the natural back in the day AutoZone stream all NFL divisional playoff games on Westwood one for free sponsored by AutoZone all season long hopefully you've been doing what I've been telling you to do catch every Westwood one broadcast the NFL live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood one sports or on your Westwood one affiliate station digital platform stream it for free and get in the zone with AutoZone AutoZones free battery testing and chargings available for free at your local AutoZone restrictions apply get in the zone AutoZone last year when the Chargers were up 27 to 7 on the Jaguars in the wild card round and then lost remember that remember that yeah yeah and then everybody thought well Brandon still he's gonna get fired remember that yeah remember I came on the show I'm like no he's not the Chargers aren't aren't gonna bounce him they're not gonna bounce him they're not gonna they don't pay dead money to people they don't do that they're gonna hope they're gonna hang on to him I understand Chris when we've had this conversation earlier this week your response was they should have fired him they didn't my point is how to work out excuse me excuse me was I right or was I not I was right okay that's the point of what I'm trying to do thank you for playing along also also this past week this past week overreaction Monday pod overreaction Monday segment constant conversation between all of us right here and I said to you I said to you let's play a little what's more likely who's more likely to get fired out of the Cowboys and Eagles getting boat raced out and not even having a lead in either of those games and I said what's more likely Cowboys firing their guy Eagles firing their guy and my answer was neither I'm halfway home I'm halfway home to being right on that one too now Jeffrey Laurie has yet to talk apparently to Nick Sirianni they've yet to have their postseason meeting and lots of talk that he's not free and clear until he explains to Jeffrey Laurie or Howie Roseman you know his plan for moving forward biggest mystery the season is what the hell happened to the Eagles and then you know he he keeps the offensive play caller in place defensive play caller he takes out and puts the pencil in the hands or the ear of Patricia and it gets worse so lots of head scratchers and I'm wondering if Jeffrey Laurie scratching his head and wondering I think he's gonna keep him got a couple years left on his deal Jerry kept McCarthy with just one year left but James Slater of NFL Network covering the Cowboys came on this show yesterday and she goes McCarthy has the locker room and a bunch of players telling Jerry keep him Jerry kept him you know who's somebody who thinks that Sirianni should stay longtime Eagle Fletcher Cox have you seen the soundbite Fletcher Cox being asked about Sirianni's future and and he acted as if this isn't even a conversation like he was stunned people are even talking about it great exchange all-timer check it out have you you know you have confidence and if you do come back like any news about what about Nick Nick I mean this is obviously some speculation yeah come on man maybe head football coach of this team man come on man we ain't discussion okay that's a new drop I don't know who that reporter is honestly this is a national cause everyone's been talking about it it's as if Monday he's living on Planet Fletcher honestly but that shows you it's just not even in his mind and there was a follow-up question like hey man are you you're not aware that this is being yeah exactly check it out come on man what is it was it to talk about his man he's a winner he's the winning head coach you know do we have some boss this year yeah but every team every organization everybody everybody goes through it but we don't look at fireman man who you know obviously has won ten plus games two years in a row they took his organization into three playoff appearances three years in a row you know that's a respect you know coaches he's a good leader for this team he does a really good job did we've come up short yeah did things happen this year yeah well you don't look at you know or no I don't discuss about you know find a man or you know this man got a family I don't discuss about anything about wow so he's okay as far as he's concerned he doesn't even think it's should be worthy of a conversation and I get it Jason Kelsey was in the locker room as well and you know his retirement announcement reported to be coming soon he said this about surion of course yeah I love Nick I think Nick's a great coach I really do I think he's a great head coach obviously no nobody was good enough this year I wasn't none of the players none of the coaches are good enough down the stress that's the reality of this business you know when you're that bad it's it's a collective thing and but you know I'll always have faith in Nick Suriano he does a lot of things structurally and organizationally that I think are really what well done obviously we got a lot of things to fix to improve the outcomes and the offense in general from my perspective for next year but no I think very very highly next year so there you go two of the most respected veterans in that locker room say that and Jeffrey Laurie is gonna have to hear from surion e who's gonna be the OC who's gonna be the DC and how what are the fixes and if he doesn't like it then maybe he tells surion e well if we're replacing both coordinators let's get a new voice in here for the whole damn thing that's entirely possible because Jerry unbelievably for a lot of people can't grasp he's way more patient than his reputation because again he bounced Jimmy Johnson after five seasons years ago Jeffrey Laurie one and done to Chip Kelly after he realized this ain't working and then told Doug Peterson two years after bringing a Lombardi to Broadway you're gone so who knows but don't ask Fletcher Cox because he doesn't know anything he's not even countenancing it I don't think they're gonna do it personally and it's now Friday before divisional playoffs and we're one hour in to this show and we haven't heard a thing out of Philadelphia Tom Pelissero our three coming up and so you know did you notice the difference between the two sound bites one had aforementioned clown again I don't know who the reporter is in it but he's not a clown I come on everyone's thinking that he it's fair to ask a million percent so but you got your answer yeah and then the second sound bite he was gone is there like a trapdoor next to Fletcher's locker that he could just drop the guy out you would assume because there was a totally different guy standing in that exact same spot couldn't have been more than 20 seconds later you know what do you know it disintegrated that's a that's a Looney Tunes line I feel bad for that guy because that was it's Philadelphia man you better have a thick skin when you're talking it was a clown bro you're a clown that's like that's a new job back in the day all right by the way is he's got the he's got the Patricia pencil thing the pencil in his head that's right guess what the Eagles are gonna regret not firing him I mean let's just be honest I don't know but just like the Cowboys just like the bills if they lose and this weekend and keep McDermott like if you're if there's a conversation surrounding it you should do it I hear you that's insane our two coming up in a real you love Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules now get to know her on give them Lala I'm obsessed with the facts that GQ has named Kim Kardashian man of the year you're upset about it I suggest you do better than if there were a Cosmo woman of the year and it was a man how would you feel well that would just be lies and name a man who's doing better than women right now and you can give him woman of the year until I see that watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for give them Lala 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