Chris Long: Jason Kelce texted "It's really hot in this box"

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. The Rich Eisen Show. Well, that was something. Today's guests, two-time Super Bowl champion and Greenlight podcast host Chris Long.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young. Plus, your phone calls and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Well, yes, it is. Oh, what a day to be on the Roku channel in this Rich Eisen Show.

Terrestrial Radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. So much to talk about. One of the best divisional playoff weekends we've seen filled with drama narratives confirmed and broken all at the same time.

Oh, my goodness. I'm so glad we've got an 844-204 Rich number to dial for you to have a conversation with us and we with you and us with, also, Chris Long of the Greenlight Pod and Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young to talk about two guys who will definitely be in Canton one day with him. Going at it in western New York for all of our viewing players. Pleasure on CBS.

Steve Young will be joining us also to talk about the 49ers surviving the Green Bay Packers. And as I mentioned, so much to discuss here on the program. Thrilled to be on the Rich Eisen Show with you, Chris Brockman. Good to see you. Hey, Rich. Glad to be here.

What's up, man? Good to see you, Mike Del Tufo. Good to see you. And good to see you, TJ Jefferson.

What an excellent game this weekend. Absolutely. Yeah. No, no.

For the radio audience, he's still holding up is how about them Cowboys? Time to whiteboard. No, no, no. See, he's still a fan of theirs. You know what that is? Can't stop.

Won't stop. That's like those people you see at a game where they're wearing the jersey of their team and they're not playing. And then you look at them, you're like, what's their malfunction?

How weird are you? Oh, life like, you know, it's also one of the stages of grief. Let them go through it. I'm not grieving though, baby. I'm happy. Okay.

You're right. That's, by the way, a stage of grief. By the way, I'll share with you guys later something this weekend did happen regarding football that was awful. And I'm going to share it with you later in the show. That's called a T terrible.

That was terrible. Okay. That's a tease.

That's later on in the program. Let's start with this one. I said from this chair over and over and over again that be careful. Do not let the Buffalo Bills in the tournament. I heard you.

I said it over and over again. And a team that started the streak for the Buffalo Bills that built the momentum and the win streak that they brought into divisional playoff weekend was the original team that started to allow them into the tournament. That's the Kansas City Chiefs, Kadarius Toney's foot being offsides, started the Buffalo Bills momentum that they kept on building on and building on, and then survived a couple of iffy moments as everybody must in late December, early January, but they kept winning in stacking wins. And that Kadarius Toney foot was also part of a narrative that the Kansas City Chiefs most certainly would not repeat as Super Bowl champions this year because of the offense.

Let's talk about flipping a narrative on its head. The Chiefs offense was out of sync. Too many drops, too many guys letting Mahomes down to the point where my point was after Kansas City lost to Buffalo and Mahomes went all crazy on the officiating in the moment at the postgame podium and totally lost his mind in a way I've never seen him lose his mind. Go up to Josh Allen at the postgame quarterback's dapping each other up moment and bitch at him about the officiating. You know, telling another quarterback essentially we were robbed is something you never see and certainly never from Mahomes. And I said, that's just him directing his anger at wrong places because the right place is something he can't direct it at.

And that's his teammates. That's where we were the last time these two teams met and had gone their separate ways with all of us wondering, will they meet again? And sure enough, the football gods had the meet again and had the meet in Buffalo, New York. And the narrative of this game was Josh Allen and the Bills would finally exorcise their demons against the Chiefs who they'd never beaten in the playoffs in the Mahomes era. Last time they beat the Chiefs in the playoffs was when Joe Montana was their quarterback in 93. That they would finally get past because they had the Chiefs in their house and the Chiefs have never been in anyone else's house for a true road playoff game.

Mahomes' first, his 16th career playoff game and the first one on the road. And that was the narrative that this would have to be the time, right, where the offensive inefficiencies would cost Mahomes, right? Even I went on game day morning and I picked the Bills and you could see it in my face when I was doing it.

I'm thinking to myself, am I really going to choose against the defending Super Bowl champions right now? And I did. And I was wrong. I was wrong because this guy on the screen, number 15, is the best in the NFL at the position that we have seen in a very long time. And he is still alive in the playoffs because he's Patrick Mahomes. And Mahomes and the Chiefs are still defending Super Bowl champions because the switch that we were all wondering if they could even find, let alone flip, has officially been flipped. Eight plays of 20 or more yards in the game. At one point in the fourth quarter, the CBS broadcast flashed on the screen that Mahomes had more 20 or more yard pass plays than incompletions.

And Travis Kelce is also going to go home to Ohio one day and be enshrined in Canton. The two of them connected on two more touchdowns in this game. They passed Gronk and Brady for the most connections for scores between a quarterback and receiver in the history of the playoffs. Now four clear of Montana and Jerry Rice. One clear of Brady and Gronk.

And they've got Pacheco and they've got Clyde Edwards, Alair, and they've got Rashid Rice, the rookie who is ascending, and they've got a defense that is championship quality. And that's what I wasn't thinking about. I mean, deep down, I was deep seated. But I thought to myself, how in the world can the Bills lose this game? And they did.

And we'll discuss that later on. But the Chiefs went into Western New York, created damn near a turnover on the first snap of the game, took Josh Allen's best punches from that opening drive resulting in points for Buffalo, not a touchdown, just three. The two minute drive at the end of the first half by Buffalo was aggressive and dynamic in everything that the 49ers' first half ending drive on Saturday night against the Packers wasn't, and we'll discuss that later on. Took that hit from Allen, wound up losing the lead, lead changes galore in this game, and the Chiefs in Western New York went ahead and quieted the crowd and ruined the party. And they're now moving on to Baltimore for the AFC Championship game, Mahomes' sixth in a row every single season in which he has been the starting quarterback full time. He makes the AFC Championship game.

Unbelievable. And I was saying the other day, I think it was Wednesday's show, I started like, it's the first time we're going to see Mahomes in a new role as road playoff villain. How is he going to handle that? I should have seen through even asking the question.

I knew he would perform well, but like the 18 weeks of offensive inefficiencies didn't exist. And I should have known that he's just one of those red asses deep down who's going to take this as a challenge. This is what he had to say after the game about that challenge. Yeah, I think guys took it as a challenge. I mean, obviously, I mean, I'll say that we played in the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. We lost that one.

I didn't like to bring that one up. But I mean, we've played basically road playoff games before. But I mean, we just come in with the same mindset. If we're going to come together, put our best foot forward and see if we can come out with a win, that takes the mentality throughout the week. It takes every single play executing. We did a great job of that today and we're able to score enough to win.

He may be Jordan-esque, guys, not just in his play and ripping your heart out and showing it to you, pumping, but creating narratives that don't exist. I was at that Super Bowl in Tampa. There were cardboard cutouts in the stands surrounded by select human beings that were allowed to be in the building. It was half full, right? Yeah. And many of them were Chiefs fans, by the way.

All masked up. I could still see they were Chiefs fans before I left the building. I don't know what he's talking about there, but he's Mahomes. We're just rent payers in his world right now.

Damn straight we are. I mean, guys, you take a look at what he is doing right now. That was his 13th career playoff win. That matches the career marks of Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger.

He's several years shy of 30. He's ahead of Brady's pace. He's one behind the most career playoff win. This is on the career playoff win list in playoff history. He's now, if he wins the AFC championship game, he would tie Peyton Manning, John Elway, and Terry Bradshaw with 14. And if he wins the Super Bowl, he would be above those guys and in third place all time, one behind Joe Montana. Then 20 behind Tom Brady, which just shows you again how crazy it is. But in order to catch Brady, you've got to do what he's doing right now. Like do stuff like Brady used to do. Like go into places like Buffalo and tell them all great season you're having. But not today. Again.

And you have to wonder this. And deep down in the recesses of the minds of the out of their minds, rightfully so, Ravens fans out there. Because of how well they're playing and everybody that they've knocked off this season, including a team that they could see in the Super Bowl in San Francisco. But deep down in the recesses of their minds, I think they wanted Buffalo walking into their building, even on a winning streak. Because Mahomes and Kelcey and Reid walking into that building as defending Super Bowl champs playing with, unbelievably, house money? You know, I got to say it in an upward register, because can we really say a defending Super Bowl champ is playing with house money?

Because they're the ones that have been stumbling around for much of the season. And the Ravens are the one seeds who just boat raced the Houston Texans in the second half after beating the Miami Dolphins and then smoking the San Francisco 49ers and taking on all comers. But one team they didn't play this year is Kansas City Chiefs. And in they come next week with them feeling completely restored.

Restored and revitalized. Yeah, the Bills made mistakes and we will talk about them. As they got terrorized again by another missed field goal that, for them, could have at least gone left. But the Chiefs survive and advance, which is all you need to do. And it is the fifth season in a row in which Patrick Mahomes has won multiple playoff games, which is the longest streak of all time. Two better than Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and Bart Starr.

It's the only active streak, clearly. And that's how they come into Baltimore next week. And we thought the Chiefs wouldn't flip the switch. Lights are on.

And it doesn't matter if they're home, does it? And next week, they stroll into Baltimore with a whole bunch of momentum. Taylor Swift and a grizzly bear who will probably not be wearing a shirt clutching a beer. Many beers. Several. What a circus that is coming to Baltimore. And it is awesome. And it is remarkable to behold.

And it could be dynastic. Let's see. So much to discuss. The Lions are in the NFC Championship game. The Packers almost made it a home game for Detroit again. The Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield put a little bit of a scare in the Lions, but the Lions move on. And we will discuss what the Ravens did and, of course, the Buffalo Bills. Chris Long, Steve Young, and you.

844-204-RICH. That's how we start our post-divisional weekend edition of the Rich Eisen Show. All right, folks, let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big-time events because it can be worrisome, it can be time-consuming, and it can be expensive. So game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy, and theater events near you. You can see the view from your seat before you buy so you know exactly what to expect when you arrive. They have all-in prices that show you your total up front so you know you're getting a great deal without hidden fees.

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. Back here on the show. Our game day morning, too, was just the last two days. We were on heaters, man. We all chose the 49ers, and when we did that the previous week with the Browns against the Texans, I said let's all take a picture. So at least we're going to look good if we're wrong and the Packers' Twitter site will use it against us. I had no idea it would look like we're playing the family feud. Doesn't it look like? That wasn't on purpose? It was like, Luca Sorda, our line producer, Andy Gregg, our recording producer, they decided this time around just like, now pose. Like actually pose for picture and then we'll have an effect like click.

This is what the click was. And I didn't know Kurt and Joe were going to turn their backs on each other and fold their arms. Irv had a cane because he had back spasms. He was on those. By the way, Friday he was like on the ground. On the floor. I know that.

So he brought a cane with him, which we used for this moment also if anyone was going to go to the Lone Wolf to pass it around on the end of the cane. Doesn't that look like game day morning ready for action? Top five. Exactly. Top five answers on the board. Here's your question. And man, it was so close to being used by the Packers social media world.

Like we would have been world famous. Problem is, when do you got to sit out if this is the feud? I know that. I know that. I know it's serious.

You got to flip a coin. That's coach. You got a coach for the family. But it does look like we've got Fox in the same way. I think Strahan picked the Packers. He did. And he almost looked like a genius. I picked the Packers on Friday. I really thought that they were going to get it done.

I mean, until Jordan Love made that one throw on first down. Just throw it away. Oh, my gosh. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Granger right here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. The desk, as I mentioned, furnished by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.

Call click Granger dot com or just stop by. Chris Long's going to be joining us shortly here on the program. Oh, he's good now.

OK, very good. Host of Green Light Pod and also one of the terrific voices on inside the NFL. Our friend Chris Long back here. How are you, Chris?

Rich, what's up, buddy? Another instant classic between the Chiefs and the Bills, huh? Oh, that was incredible. I just cannot. I cannot believe I was sitting there last night thinking like we had like 10 guys in the room and I turned to my buddies and I was like, imagine if one of you guys was like, there's too much Taylor Swift.

I'm out. And just and just left the room like I cannot imagine not watching that game because of Taylor Swift. I feel so badly for some people that turn the NFL off because of Taylor Swift.

That was an incredible game. Let me ask you this question. Let's just say there were a bunch of, say, eight to, you know, 12 year old girls or tweens that were tuning in to see Taylor Swift and then they see a cutaway of Jason Kelce's nipple.

You know, I texted I texted and honestly, I honestly thought for a split second because I was just turning my head. And I'm like, what is Bert Kreischer doing at the game? Oh, my God.

Wait a minute. That's Jason Kelce. You know, you're not the first person to think it was Bert Kreischer. And I also want to make this point.

I think a lot of people look at that and they say, yeah, this guy's retiring, but that's him like all the time. So, you know, I texted him and I said, got the nipple in there, 10 out of 10. And he said, it's really hot in this in this box. And I and I kind of wonder I kind of wonder.

And I didn't ask him because I know he's busy, but like, is it possible that maybe you run hot? Everybody else in the suite is bundled up, man. He is just all kinds of awesome. I love and then apparently after Travis's second touchdown, he hopped out of the box and then he and then he he shotgunned a beer amongst the booing fans and then hopped back in.

You know, more the people outside the suite than the people inside the suite. That's where he belongs. He's he's in every man. Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen Show.

All right. So what is your take coming out of that game? What's your take? My big take is the Bills just were too banged up. You know, I had the Chiefs in this one because I just thought. I just thought with Benford Bernard, you know, Rab, Hoonah Ford out, you know, all the injuries that they've kind of dealt with all year. And then the two day rest difference like that played out on the field. I thought in the first half they had a huge physicality advantage. They were running the football. And in the second half, Kansas City outgained him on the ground and Kansas City outgrained. Yeah, I've gained their running backs. I'm pretty sure if you took Josh out of it and I thought, you know, it was interesting was, you know, the Chiefs had not given up that many yards on the ground all season.

And I think staying in those two high structures, making Josh earn it was an intentional thing. And they I think they knew they would bleed a lot of yardage on the ground. If you look back at Super Bowl twenty five, rich Bill Belichick, he's the coordinator for the New York Giants and they're playing the decay gun offense with Thurman Thomas back there. And they're saying, you know, Bill said this, let them run the ball, you know, let's let let's bleed some yards on the ground. We're not going to lose that way.

And ultimately they did win that game, giving up a bunch on the ground to Thurman Thomas. And ironically, I think that's the wide right game. So, you know, like I do think Spags came into this game and said, hey, they're going to want to run the ball. Let's make them run the ball. I also think if you look at Josh Allen's average depth, the target, I mean, if you control for some of those deep passes and the completions, he's like under a yard. So he's not pushing the ball downfield.

And I think that's by design. I think Spags drew it up nicely, even though at times it felt like they couldn't get a stop. And I think the Chiefs offense, this is how good they were. They didn't have any drives over five minutes. They got the third down three, you know, five times. They had an explosive every time they scored a touchdown and Buffalo didn't have the explosive. So the only blemish is two misses in the red zone for Patrick Mahomes early in the game, sending it to ten six. And that kind of defined the way the game was played the rest of the way. But the missed opportunities is easy to look at the field goal and say, Hey, it's Scott Norwood all over again.

I think it was pretty warm and temperate in Tampa. This was a little bit of a nasty day. And so I feel bad for Tyler Bass, but not that bad. He's a kicker.

You got to make your kicks. I think the two deep balls were huge missed opportunities in Kansas City could look at this thing and say, Hey, listen, even if you make that field goal, we should be winning this game. I think I think what's really cool for Kansas City is they've had like four big drops in the postseason.

They were all Kelsey. And a lot of people wonder if these receivers would end up hurting them down the stretch. Hardman almost did, but they look like a different team. They look like they do turn it on that 15 to 20 percent that like great teams do in the playoffs. That's a perfect way to put it, Chris. Turning it on like the 15 to 20 percent like great teams do in the playoffs. That's it. I mean, that's what that's what you got to be thinking about with these chiefs coming out with that win.

That said, I was a little mystified. You tell me where the bills kind of had the Chiefs right where they want to two minute warning and on the verge of having to start burning timeouts. And and it's second and long. And, you know, Alan tries to take that big shot.

He gets, you know, he gets his space sort of violated by Chris Jones, shoving his his was a Dawkins in his space or something back into it. And so and so but but the you know, why not just keep either run the ball, check it down. I know this is like 20 20 hindsight, but you got the Chiefs right where they want. Leave them no time left. Have we not lived this nightmare before?

Like, why? Why are we doing this? I think they lived that nightmare before and saw the game end in overtime. You know, like I'm not saying that the rules are different now, but I also think there was a part of them that was like, we got to go up. You know, we can't tie this game. You know, it will take a field goal to send it to overtime. No, I'm saying, well, you could take your time down and then take your shots from, say, if you got it on the 15 or the 10. That's there.

It's there. If Chris Jones isn't lined up over Dion Dawkins, which I think is always a great wrinkle. But Chris Jones outside, I think I think the play's there and I think Josh hits that throw if he if he doesn't have Dawkins in his lap.

So like there's it's like the Dan Campbell two point conversion where you're saying, hey, you know, maybe we should just kick the field goal. You know, the call or stikin on the fourth down, you know, the plays there, they just don't execute the throw. And in that situation, I do trust Josh, who I think is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league to make that throw. And I still think he could have made that throw with Chris Jones in his lap and Dawkins in his lap, but it's there.

You know what I mean? So I'm not like really if I'm going to blame them for anything, it's probably not being aggressive and trying to take the lead in that scenario. You know, you got to trust your kicker to make the kick. And even if he makes the kick, to your point, I think back and ties the game at least. I mean, at the very least, Chris, you got to win, you know, in my opinion that, you know, like, so I do think there is something to plan to win there.

Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen show. How good are the Ravens? Ravens are really good, man. I mean, you know, the, their, you, the Texans, I got to tip my cap to them.

D'Amico CJ, I don't think this changes anything about where I think CJ is going. I don't think this changes anything about where I think that that franchise is going, but there's something about when you're a team playing in playoff games for more than a month, because that's basically what the Texans have been doing. You know, like they've been every game wired to wire, trying to slide in this thing.

The indie games, basically a playoff, the way you look at it, the Cleveland games, obviously a playoff game. They don't have the rest advantage Baltimore with not only the buy, but you know, Pittsburgh, they get to rest some people. You know, I thought in the second half it just became a, we're bigger and stronger and you know, we're, we're Houston's unafraid. They were unafraid. The backend guys, the whole first half of that game, they were unafraid. When you look back at the first half of that, that first game, you know, I thought Houston didn't even know who they were yet. And they played those guys in the first half in Baltimore week one, like they had no fear.

And I thought they, they did the same thing. They heated up Lamar a lot early in that first matchup, especially on third and long, they did that in the first half. But in the second half, the defense was just on the field too long and the physicality of the Ravens group, it's just too much.

And so, yeah, like this is what you got to deal with. You hear guys talk about going there to Baltimore to play. And it's not thought of as maybe a new Orleans or Seattle or a Kansas city as far as a home field advantage, but maybe it is that kind of place. And you know, like I don't buy the Patrick homes obviously for reasons like yesterday is any different on the road thing.

His career record on the road is pretty similar to his record at home. And I think if you can get Willie gay back, that's a big one. Obviously you're down to safety. We'll see what happens with that. They can hang with these guys. They can win in Baltimore. You know, when we went to the post season, I thought Buffalo probably had the best chance to dethrone Baltimore in Baltimore. But the simple fact that the chiefs are here tells me otherwise.

It's that simple. You know, I thought that the 2023 chiefs in the post season were an unknown commodity. I think I have a better idea of who they can be. And the difference between last year's team and this year's team is not that much if they can execute. And so going to Baltimore, tough deal, but I think they got what it takes to hang.

Yeah. Ravens might get Mark Andrews back though. You know, that's big.

That's big. And we expected to see him back maybe this game. And, you know, like I thought I thought playing a team that played a lot of cover three like Houston, if they had likely and Andrews on the field, it was going to be, you know, a seam fest. Now, let's see what happens if you get both those guys back. Spags his answers. I'm not sure. But I really do like I like spags in this spot.

Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen show. Okay. How concerned are you about the Niners after what you saw Saturday night, which is an odd way of asking you about the number one overall seed in the NFC winning a home playoff game.

But that's the way I'll couch it. They're kind of like what we they're kind of who we think they are, you know, like they got a lot of talent. I remember that Thanksgiving game. You know, they're cutting up the Turkey and they have all the best players come over and you know, it's one, two, three, four, all pro guys. And then another blue chip guy slides in the frame. And you're like, oh man, they got five, seven blue chip guys. And then, oh, there's Nick Bosa.

He's late to the party. And you remember, they probably have more great position players than anybody in the league. But the quarterback is human.

I mean, it's human. You know, he, he did not play his best ball for a lot of that game. But I will say this, the guy we came into the game talking about was Jordan love and he didn't deliver late.

And I'm a huge fan of Jordan love been on that bandwagon all year growing pains. I didn't think they were aggressive enough when they had the lead. And I also don't think he was thinking shots because of that pass rush and that pass rush was great. The pass rush for Green Bay was great, you know, but the difference was Purdy made some big throws down the stretch where Jordan love missed on third and two missed on the, you know, through the pick to Greenlaw through another pick to Greenlaw late, you know, the third and 10 with about 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter was as good a throw as I saw almost all weekend from Brock Purdy. And, you know, I was ready before I looked at the all 22 to come out of this game and say, Hey, Purdy played terrible. And he did it some, he let some balls get away from him, but some of the throws he made late on that last drive, the third and five die.

That was great. You know, the ball in the corner to Conley, those are back to back, by the way, right after Kittle had that uncharacteristic mind blowing drop drop, you know, and so that might've rattled who didn't have Deebo pretty much right off the bat. And you know that, and that's the rain had a rattle him, but the fact that he got rattled at all, when you're talking about some super humans that are playing in the AFC championship game, right?

Like that's the level of concern to use our phrase here. When you look at, I mean, look at the NFC quarterbacks, look at the AFC quarterbacks. You could, you could look at it one of two ways. You could say, Hey, like, it's good to have a good quarterback because you're going to feel good no matter what the matchup is.

But you could look at it the other way. As we talk about, like, you know, taking a shot at a, you know, for Chicago, taking a shot at a guy in the top five or, you know, sticking with fields or apply it to any situation where a team wants to go get that patch from my home. You can still get to this point with the Jared golf with a Brock Purdy, who I think are good players, but obviously there's a difference between the guys in the AFC right now and the guys in the NFC. And I think whoever plays in that super bowl, it's going to be a good game.

You know, it's going to be tight. And so the, you know, and they, you look at the NFC, these two teams are built like these rosters are built really well. And, you know, like Detroit, I can't say enough about what they, what they've done. We'll get to them in a second, but I think San Francisco giving up yardage on the ground throughout that game, they tightened up in the red zone. I think for, for, for green Bay, the problem was they had multiple opportunities in the first half to get it done in the red zone and play this game on the script that they played, say the Detroit game and on Thanksgiving or last week's game, they just couldn't pull away. And it was cause San Francisco tightened up in the red zone and we're out in the field. They had the space to manipulate and get on the perimeter and they just couldn't do that in the red zone. So hats off to, you know, San Francisco's front who does give up yardage in the run game. And that's one thing we're going to be looking at this week as they play Detroit. So can Detroit win this game?

Absolutely. They can, especially if Deebo's out, you know, without Deebo they're eight and nine. And I think back to Deebo talking about, you know, and I'm a huge Deebo fan, but I think back to Deebo talking about, I want to be paid as a receiver and a running back. Well, with some of the hits that he takes, I think he's only played in 16 games or a full season once in five years, you know, and Shanahan saying it's a similar injury to the one he had earlier this season. If he's going to miss this game, you know, it does kind of make you look back at that conversation and say, well, maybe I should have took that a different way because he does take those running back kids. And this team is totally dependent on him in ways that we don't even realize until he's out.

Do they have enough to scrap together? Yeah, for sure. It's harder to change course in the middle of a game than game plan for without Deebo, but he makes a huge difference. So let's talk Detroit a little bit before I send you on your Monday, Chris Long. I mean, one of the unexpected storylines was Green Bay blocking and tackling the Lions into a second home game in the playoffs and damn near giving him a third. You know, and the Lions taking that second home game and winning a tough game against a Buccaneers team that has a real, you know, SOB at quarterback who just won't quit and that defense that can blitz and they it was a nails win, no doubt about it, but I'm with you.

I think the Lions can win this NFC championship game. I wouldn't have said it six, seven weeks ago. I'll admit that.

Like I wouldn't have said it. I wanted to see. I think it's fair for people to want to see teams play in the playoffs. Sure. You know, it's fair to want to see what teams are made of in the playoffs. And I think, you know, like, hey, if it's 40 and it's raining, I don't like Jared Goff in that spot. Okay. But I looked at the forecast is 64.

It's sunny. A lot can change in a week. I think with their ability to run the football, you know, Green Bay came out of the Dallas game and you might say this is San Francisco.

It's different. They give up the same per pop on the ground, Dallas and San Francisco, and you saw they could move the ball on the ground. I think for Detroit, they can absolutely move the ball on the ground. And if the weather's okay, I think Jared Goff is going to see some things he likes in coverage.

I'll just say this. These are these teams that Dan Campbell's talking about. These are shallow water teams.

You know, they just beat, you know, they're, they're, they're threats. They'll, they'll, they'll drown you if they can, but the bucks, the Rams upstart teams that kinda they're truly wild card type teams, even though the bucks won their division. Now you're going to see another deep water team in the Niners. And if you get to the Superbowl, you'll see another deep water team. And so I cannot wait to see Dan Campbell in these spots because everything he's done this year has been the right way.

I mean, right down to playing his guys. Cause I truly don't believe there is ready to play in, in that game last week against the Rams, which took every ounce of focus, attention to detail competitiveness. I don't think they're ready for that game if he doesn't play his guys against Minnesota and you know, the way they played that game, the two big chances that Tampa Bay had was the Dean pick in the end zone, which he dropped early in the game. And then third and 15 on the 31 17 drive two weeks in a row, third and way too long, a team gives up a conversion to, I think I'm in Ross St. Brown and both in both situations. And just like the Rams, you know, the bucks find themselves up, you know what Creek, because they couldn't get off the field. And so like they're daring to throw the ball in two, second and eight last week, you know, the, the play calls in third and short and fourth and short yesterday.

They're just nails. I really do believe that like, they're such a well coached football team and they're always ready for situational football. And then, you know, like Derek Barnes, how about him missing Dak, whiffing Dak, thinking I might be part of the reason we're not going to get a home game.

You get the home game anyways, and then you go win it for your team. Yeah, like these are all signs of a team that's just mentally tough. And I think you cannot ignore Dan Campbell and his effect on, on the psyche of this football team.

They're just nails, especially since Chris, I mean, if you want to talk about, it's still too early to talk signature wins. Since again, you know, he's now what 22 and seven, I believe now in his last 29 that that's, that's kind of like the, the turning point in his now three year tenure with the team. And so, but the, his signature wins aren't really home ones, even though the last two weeks are the stuff of what dreams are made for Lions fans in the state of Michigan. It's those road games, man. It's like, it's like closing out Aaron Rogers career in Green Bay when they got nothing to play for and they just learned they had nothing to play for. Yeah, when they ruined it.

Right. And then, and then it's the season opener this year. And then it was the Thursday night short week game against Green Bay. And again, I understand the chiefs are a different team now, and then obviously the Packers grew into something else, but you can only play them when you play them. And, and those were statement wins, statement W's. And then came the swoon that caused you to say, you know what, I need to see what they look like in the playoffs. I can't wait to see them go to San Francisco. They usually can just buckle in and just circle the wagons to use a phrase. I'm, I don't know, man, this, this is, if the weather's good, they can win this game.

And if Deebo's out, they can certainly win this game. Well, I mean, the line, the line was seven last night when I went to bed, Rich, what do you think I did? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know, man.

When you pounded the lions, pounded the lions, bro, let's go. Well, I mean, but Purdy, golf's not the one who's wiping his hand fading back in the rain. You know what I mean? So if it rains, it would affect the Niners quarterback too.

And you make a great point. I think, you know, like people think, you know, golf out in the elements, but Purdy's hands aren't that big. You know, when I talked to a guy who played quarterback in the league for a long time, I asked, you know, what's the key to play in the cold?

I asked a couple of guys and big hands came up a couple of times. And, you know, I'm not saying Purdy's not a good player or anything like that. Same thing I'm saying about golf, but some of the issues that you might project golf have, and Purdy could have them too. The ball was wet the other night, the rush. I think that's the big thing. You know, for Shanahan, who picks up the blitz so well, like he's got an answer for everything, I think one thing that Aaron Glenn's done a really nice job of since week 10, they've up-ticked the early down pressure numbers by over 10 percent. And that's subtle, but you can see it on the field. You know, like a lot of the times they got Tampa behind the sticks yesterday, they brought pressure on first and second down.

And I think well-timed blitzes, that's going to be more of a tightrope to walk this week. You're the man, brother. Thanks for the time. Who's on your pod? Who's the guest this week?

I don't even know, honestly, Rich. I'm like, I'm in, I'm not in post-season form. You're just locked in.

You're looking at lines in the middle of the night. I understand. Exactly, me too. Thanks, Chris. We'll have you on next week.

I'll ask you your prediction then. Thank you, guys. All right, you got it. That's Chris Long, everybody. Green Light with Chris Long, podcast host. Love that guy. It's down to six and a half, so he was right to hit the seven. Love the way he just puts things. He's really got a remarkable perspective and an ability to boil it down in such a quick, underspent, standable way. I'm looking up right now and seeing Travis, pardon me, Jason Kelsey go in the stands, hop out, slam a beer and go right back. God bless him. American sweetheart, Jason Kelsey.

Absolutely. There was a cool scene later on. He took a young Bills fan who wanted to meet Taylor Swift.

He picked her up and carried her up to the window so she can meet Taylor Swift. God, I loved I love Jason Kelsey. He's great. He is a human. Human first. Love him.

God, I love him. Oh, but it's terrible that Taylor's at these games. All right. I should I must not get it on that road or take up any oxygen would take a break.

Phone calls are eight four four two or four rich number to dial. We haven't even talked about the bills yet. I want to have some thoughts about that. I've got some thoughts about the forty niners packers.

Steve Young still to come. Did you know one in four car batteries is weak and needs to be replaced? O'Reilly Auto Parts will test your battery for free if your battery needs to be replaced. Our professional parts people can help you find the right super start battery for your vehicle and budget. Don't wait.

Get your battery tested for free today at your local O'Reilly Auto Parts. O O O O O'Reilly Auto Parts. Welcome to Talkville, the Ultimate Smallville rewatch podcast. Karen, what you got?

Hi, guys. Karen Appleman from Australia with a quick question for season three talisman. That knife wound was so powerful. Tom, what was it like to do that scene with John as your director?

It's great that I was with those people, because when your eyes are closed and someone is supposed to going to stab you in the chest, you have to really trust that they're not going to hurt you. So I was in good hands with John. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen. So I tell Mark Norman, Shane Gillis, my two openers.

Yes. I say, hey, we're doing the mall arena. We'll do two show. We do one show Saturday night.

Mm hmm. Sells out at Friday. Sells out Wednesday and Thursday.

Four shows. Guys, a little treat. Super Bowl tickets on me. Good seats. One hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.

Well, you're going for the primo primo. I didn't I didn't know my wife called and she goes, they just took one hundred twenty five thousand dollars out of our account. Is there something going on to talk to me about something? Are you going to South Africa for a month? I was like, no, we're going to the Super Bowl. I don't even like either of the teams. This is the rub. Oh, no. They don't tell you your seats until Friday.

You don't know where you're sitting. Oh, my God. So you think Bitcoin is going to really do well? I hope this money turns out. Matt Damon said we're cool. I heard Tom Brady's involved.

This should be a win win. I'm sorry. I'm laughing so hard and crying. I don't even know when I get my.

Bert is the greatest ever. I have bad seats. I'm going to be. Oh, my God. Spoiler alert. Well, actually, as it turned out, the seats are pretty good. Yes, we were with Bert when he found out where his seats were amazing.

Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, we're one big family. So just a quick postscript on some teams that lost. And we were grouping them together. They lost on the same day. They have young, dynamic first year starting quarterbacks. One's a rookie, one, as we all know, waited for their their their time, both won a playoff game with their quarterbacks having damn near the same stats. CJ Stroud and Jordan Love. Now, I listen, I know Stroud and Bryce Young will be attached. That's what happens when there's quarterbacks one to a top of draft. But Stroud and Love having breakout seasons at the same time. And the Texans winning a division championship halftime in that game was tied.

Yeah, 10 10. OK, it's tied. And and Jordan Love was up twenty one fourteen entering the fourth quarter.

And man alive. Both teams have huge, bright futures and coaches that know how to do it. So I could just sit here and give them both their flowers. And I think I did a little bit right there.

A little bit. But it's sports talk radio. So if you could choose one team's future for the next five years.

Which one would it be? Green Bay. You take Green Bay, do you?

NFC is easier. Oh, is that right? Yeah. OK. What about the fact that the NFC championship game has one participant, the leader of the division?

That's fine. The Packers are in. They just have to make the playoffs every year, right? What do you say, TJ?

You have to choose one. Green Bay Packers are the Texans. Green Bay is the youngest team in the league, right? They have the youngest team to make the playoffs. Also, I don't know the number, but I do know that they have a grip of free agency money. Right. Like their salary cap is they don't usually spend it, but they usually spend it on on keeping their own.

And Jordan Love is about to hit it. Yeah. I just feel like they can use that money to bring in more. I would say this.

The Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl in the next six years. Yep. So then you'll take them less than way less than that. I'm just saying I'm going to give myself some room here.

All right. I'll push back. I'll take the Texans. I'll take the Texans because of the division they're in the division they're in. They want it. You know, the Colts, as we all know, had an opportunity to beat them in the last game of their seasons together. And I wonder that play call, how that's going to resonate. And we'll see how Anthony Richardson looks. But they're going to have to go through growing pains with him. One would suspect there weren't too many growing pains with CJ Stroud.

But yeah, the division. And what do you want when you, what do you want when you build a team? You want your quarterback on his first contract. And we're going to see what CJ Stroud does in year two of his rookie contract coming off of one of the greatest rookie seasons ever. And Jordan Love, we're going to see, we just saw the fruits of him sitting, right? The Packers also enjoyed the fruits of him sitting because two of those years their quarterback won the MVP, but didn't put a trophy in the case. We're about to see.

He's about to hit it. So I hope they use their salary cap. They had 34 next year, which is an improvement. But, but they, Jordan Love's about to get a franchise quarterback market value contract. And I do appreciate how young everyone is around him.

Good. Because they're going to have, they're going to, they're going to have to grow up and continue on in that. And, and I, I, I, I think we might be talking about potentially a Super Bowl matchup down the road if Stroud, cause well, at some point Stroud's going to have to remove himself from the mix of the seemingly growing list of quarterbacks that might be playing in the wrong time. Sort of like Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone or anybody else on the PGA Tour when Tiger was winning. I'm sure Joe Burrow's raising his hand and Bengals fans saying, Hey, he's not unbeatable. Burrow beat him in an AFC championship game and Brady beat him in an AFC championship game. Brady's not playing anymore.

But Stroud's going to have to at one point do that. But I kind of like the Texans path. They got him on a rookie deal. They've got a ton of young players. They've got a new coach attached to it. They got a guy in Nick Casario who, yeah, they traded a first round draft pick in this upcoming draft so they could move up and take Will Anderson. But actually that draft pick, the Cardinals own it. It's 27th overall. The Texans are 23rd on the clock cause they've got Cleveland's. They're still enjoying the fruits of the trade of Deshaun Watson away and they've replaced him with CJ Stroud. I think we're, like if this was the Patriots, we'd be saying, Oh, we're taking the Patriots future.

Just as an example. I think we're just holding it against because of the AFC South Houston Texans. I'll take the Texans. I think the future is bright for both of them. I know that, but this is sports talk radio. How dare you be nuanced at the end of the first hour, TJ?

How dare you? Phone calls, hour two. Coming up. But, yeah, that's why I said it's entirely possible I just named a future Super Bowl matchup. The Cooper Bowl, we'll call it. Cause Cooper thought it could happen this year. Yeah, Saturday wasn't a good day for the Cooper Bowl. Yeah, I mean, if I'm a Texans fan, though, I am excited. Same thing as a Packer fan.

You damn near bounce the Niners after bouncing the Cowboys. They would have gone to Detroit and say, Hey, let's make this Thanksgiving all over again. I don't know what the Packers do on their offense, but for two games, I've never seen more wide receivers totally wide open than I have.

Well, they could scheme it up. That's why I'm saying they got the coach, they got the quarterback, they've got young receivers. I guess what I would do if I was if I were them, I would shore up the defense. If you're talking about draft, I'd shore up the defense and then get another running back. Yeah, I think that's the key, because Tank will be back next year.

You have Nico Collins. No, I'm talking about the Packers. Oh, the Packers. I'm sorry.

I thought you were talking about the Tank. I don't know. Figuring out a way to keep Aaron Jones, if he's hitting his stride like that. Now for a really good coach.

Yeah, I think we gave Aaron Rodgers a little too much credit. Dude, at the end of his career, now, of course, really good. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he sure is. And, you know, it's just it's unfortunate that the Jordan loves last throw of the year was that, because he's been playing way beyond his years and experience prior to that throw. And now he's making money hand over fist. That is a story I love.