Mike Florio: What is holding up the Falcons and Bill Belichick?

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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. How many times do I say into this microphone you never want to be the guy after the guy, you just don't want to be the guy after the guy. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. This guy after Tom Brady leaves. Bacon throws a dart toward the end zone, caught ball, Mike Dobbins.

There's no doubt in my mind that he has raised this franchise. Earlier on the show, ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, Fox Sports college football analyst Bruce Feldman. Coming up, hosted pro football talk, Mike Florio. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air and I was on pins and needles last couple hours.

I literally started every hour this way. I'm waiting for Jim Harbaugh's announcement. And apparently, excuse me, apparently the Chargers have let Jim Harbaugh out of the building in a way that the Titans did not let Brian Callahan out of their building. He is apparently back in Schembechler Hall today having meetings. Mike, hey, what you up to? What are you up to? Talking about NIL, talking about, you know, the coaches are all on the roads keeping things going.

So Jim's back at the office as the head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines. What the hell's going on? I'm not sure. Outrageous. It is not outrageous. That is wrong. Sorry.

It's awesome. This is the yes. Hey, if you want to hire Jim Harbaugh, don't let him out of the building.

The answer is yes, Jim. Here's the contract you were looking for. Here's the coaching staff you say you want us to spend on.

Yeah, this is the general management one. Well, good thing I've got Mike Florio on the horn right here from Pro Football Talk joining us right here on The Rich Eisen Show, the creator and editor in chief of said, I guess, awesome site with all the news and information you need. Mike, what is going on with my head coach at this point in time? Well, look, there's been a belief all along that Don Yee, who he hired a few weeks back and that was the biggest signal he was going to explore NFL opportunities when he hired Yee, that he was going to work this and get the best possible financial offer for Jim Harbaugh.

And then he'll make his decision. And if money is his top factor, it might not be the NFL. It might be Michigan where he's got a huge offer on the table.

We talked last time about the possibility of the NCAA issuing what they call a show cause order that would essentially force Michigan to fire him at some point in time. But the financial side of it and the commitments he could get in writing to get his money, that may be where he lands if it comes down to raw dollars. The Chargers are in a weird spot here because they're very sensitive about the perception that they're not willing to pay.

And that gives Harbaugh a great opportunity to put his thumb on the scale and try to get even more because you don't want to reinforce the notion that the Chargers are cheap. That said, something kept this from happening while he was in the building. As you said, you don't let the guy get out of the building. You don't let him move on to other options, especially when Michigan's got a huge offer on the table and the Falcons want to bring him in for a second interview that hasn't happened yet. You take a calculated risk when you let him out of the building. The last time around, Rich, when they hired Brandon Staley, one of the reasons they moved as fast as they did, they believed if Staley left the building, the Eagles would have hired him to be the head coach.

So they know what it means to let a guy walk away. I mean, not just any building, they let him go back into his office where, you know, there's that football, there's that, you know, Michigan hat, there's that memory. I mean, they let him go back into his comfort spot. Okay. I mean, and again, I'll repeat to you, I'm sure you hear the same phrase all the time whenever you speak to a source about Jim Harbaugh.

It always ends with, with Jim, you never know. So I don't know how, you can't read into anything, it appears here, but you know also coaching, hiring and conversations. If you've got the guy and you have, you've interviewed the people you wanted to interview and you've interviewed the people that satisfy the league's interviewing rules and the Rooney rule as well, then you hire the guy, then it's over, then it's done.

Then you hit the mark. And apparently for whatever reason, they didn't yesterday. Hey, look, this is the same guy who went to Minnesota two years ago and interviewed for the Vikings job and thought he was getting it until he didn't and said at the time he was done pursuing NFL opportunities and yet continues to do so.

I'm with you. We don't know what the guy's going to do until he does it. And we don't know what he asked for from the Chargers, but if they were ready to hire him and they haven't, that means that there was an impasse somewhere. Whether it was money, whether it was power, whether it was who the GM is going to be, whether he just got enough of a whiff of the organization to be scared off.

I'm not saying he should be, I'm not saying he could be, but that's possible as well. Even though the Chargers have some great players, there's been something up with that team in recent years where they just can't compete at a high level. And a guy who's been a high level competitor as a head coach for years now, it may be an indefinable thing that he just kind of sensed that this just isn't right for me. There's something wrong about this place. There's something wrong about the ownership group. There's something wrong generally.

I just shouldn't do it. So the fact that he's gone and the fact that they moved forward searching for a GM, presumably interviewing other candidates, unless it just happens like that, you know, all it takes is if he's made what he wants known. And all I have to do is pick up the phone and call Don Yee and say, okay, fine, we'll give him what he wants.

But yeah, it's a calculated risk to let him walk away. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's the latest on Belichick and Atlanta? What's Atlanta up to right now?

I spent a lot of time working this over the weekend because we had our final NBC broadcast of the season. So I just wanted to know what is going on in Atlanta, particularly and with Belichick generally. And obviously getting someone from Belichick's side to talk is a challenge, to say the least. You'd be amazed to know it's a challenge to get anyone connected to Belichick to tell you anything. But from the Falcons perspective, what I gathered is they still have plenty of work to do before they make a decision.

They did work that they could do before the new rule that kicked in this year, Rich. You can't do in-person interviews with candidates under contract with other teams until the day after the divisional round. And the Falcons, as of Sunday, fully intended to start interviewing people in person who they weren't allowed to interview. Any coach under contract with another team, whether their team's alive or not, can't meet with them in person until the day after the divisional round.

And they wanted to do that. The idea that Belichick was a front runner and there's plenty of people in league circles saying Belichick's a front runner, he's going to get that job. The Falcons bristle at that idea. And also, the other complicating factor in Atlanta is the presence of CEO Rich McKay. The coach and the GM report to Rich McKay.

That's the structure in Atlanta. And from their perspective, they'd have no problem with Bill Belichick ending up in that hierarchy. Belichick presumably will. Belichick won't want to report to Rich McKay. He'll want to report directly to the owner, just like he did in New England. So, you know, it's one of those things where the longer this takes, the weirder it seems. And no one else has interviewed Belichick.

This is the other thing that I picked up this weekend that I thought was significant. There are other teams thinking about, this was as of Sunday, other teams thinking about interviewing Belichick, but they hadn't done it yet. They hadn't made their consideration into an actual interview of Belichick. At least one of them was a team that had a vacancy over the weekend and still might.

The other one, at least one, at least one, doesn't have a vacancy currently. So step one would be fire the coach you have before you begin the pursuit of Belichick. But there are teams interested. There hasn't been the land rush for Belichick that many thought there would be because this guy's one of the great coaches of all time. Why wouldn't you want him?

Why wouldn't you do everything you could to try to hire the guy or at least do your due diligence on possibly hiring the guy? There's been something holding teams back. But the fact that teams that have a vacancy are still considering it and then there's a team that you just said that doesn't have a vacancy that is considering it or at least over the weekend was and now it's the middle of the week.

How long is this going to play out? I mean, I guess I'm not used to this dragging deep into January, potentially the top of February, with the Senior Bowl starting. I mean, evaluations have to get going here. Usually the only time that this drags into February is when we know that one of the teams in the Super Bowl is going to be losing a coordinator, one of the teams looking for a head coach. That has held true pretty much every year except the year that Josh McDaniels jilted the Colts and they had to start from scratch and they ended up with Frank Reich. So it should be done, at least as it relates to Belichick, it should be done sooner rather than later.

But you still got four teams left and look, no matter how careful I am when I say this, it gets Chiefs fans triggered. I don't know whether or not Andy Reid is going to retire. I do know there's reason for the Chiefs to believe that he could. And obviously, he's 65 years old, but there's enough that I've heard from enough people that I trust completely over the past few weeks to make me think the Chiefs are at least thinking what will we do if he does. And I don't know that Belichick would be a fit there, but there's only one Patrick Mahomes.

And if I want to catch Brady and win a Super Bowl that he did after he left me, I'll partner up with the guy who's determined to catch Brady with seven total in a heartbeat. So is that what Belichick's waiting for? I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know if the Chiefs would want him. I don't know if the players would want him. I think there's reason to believe that if Andy Reid retires, the players are going to do what the Raiders players did when they said, we want Antonio Pierce. The players are going to say, we want Eric Bienemey. I think there's a chance that happens. So I don't know that Belichick could be sold in the building, but maybe that's what Belichick's waiting for. Maybe he has reason to wait for it. I don't know.

I don't know. It's speculation. In the absence of information from Camp Belichick, we have to speculate or we say nothing.

So that's just something that I continue to keep an eye on. And I'm not saying Andy Reid is going to retire. All I'm saying is there's reason to believe the Chiefs are preparing for the possibility that he could.

And we'll see. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. OK, so what's your reporting on how Philadelphia seems to be moving forward with Nick Sirianni and just finding new coordinators for a second straight year?

Well, they're due to speak at the bottom of the hour. Harry Roseman, the GM and Nick Sirianni, the head coach. And they took, I think, a certain amount of delight in the idea that Jerry Jones felt compelled last week to issue a statement. Days after the Cowboys were blown out at home by the Packers saying that Mike McCarthy will be back as head coach. Properly functioning franchises don't issue a statement that a coach with double digit wins is coming back. Coach just comes back. I had somebody from another team make a point to me last week, like did the Browns issue a statement that Kevin Savansky is coming back? You don't have to issue a statement that you're sticking with the status quo.

You just stick with the status quo. And that's what the Eagles did. Now, I also think it was brilliant for them to find a way to delay the end of season press conference, which has to happen by rule. They delayed it nine days. They kicked it completely out of last week.

So all that steam. And he's still going to get some questions about his future and is he on the hot seat and did he think he was going to get fired? But it's not going to be like it was last week.

It would have been a feeding frenzy last week if he had done that press conference on Tuesday or Wednesday in the days after they lost to the Buccaneers in the wildcard round. But, you know, Rich, something's wrong with that team. I mean, will we ever know the truth of what happened?

I don't know. But when you look at just the circumstantial evidence, the way they collapsed, the body language of the players. Just this dark cloud that just parked over the entire team after it was 10 and one. They never rebounded from getting blown up by the 49ers.

Nick Cerrone never coached them out of that funk. And it just continued. And it felt like it got worse. Like what really went on behind the curtain that caused the players to act that way when they had started the season so well and they still made it to the playoffs? They were the better team in theory going into that game against the Buccaneers and they didn't even show up. Man, that is, you're right. We only see the tip of that iceberg.

But, you know, Jeffrey Laurie decided to stay put. And I guess we'll have to look up what Nick Cerrone's regular season record is in the history of Eagles coaches because there was no release to tout it. That's right.

I guess we'll have to Google that information, Mike. It's interesting that other teams are like, interesting how the Cowboys sent out a release. I love this league, man. That's a great piece. That's a great nugget. And Vrabel's a fascinating figure, too, in this whole thing, Mike. He's 48, man.

And he brings an identity, right? I mean, because when you're, I was talking about this earlier in the show and I'm mixing sports here. But we just saw the Milwaukee Bucks fire a coach that's 30 and 13 because they determined through the first half of a season, you know what? He's not ready.

He's not ready for the moment. We went with the hot assistant and he's not ready. We need a more veteran hand and they're going to get Doc Rivers. And we're hearing about this hot coordinator and that hot coordinator. And the Titans did supplant Vrabel with one.

And I'm just wondering, why not? And we're seeing some guys, you know what you're going to get. Belichick, Harbaugh. And Vrabel's one of them, too. What's the scoop there, Mike? Look, I'll repeat very briefly the general observation that we talked about in detail last time. These 10 billion dollar businesses are run like family owned food trucks.

And that's what makes it fascinating as well. But now that Vrabel's available, look, the Chargers interviewed him and he's on that that that radar screen. He's possibly going to be the coach of the Chargers.

We'll see. The Seahawks are a possibility as well. There's been a lot of steam that the Seahawks are the team that could realize that's the way we need to go. Any preconceived notion that Dan Quinn's going to be the coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

That's a hard sell to make to your fan base, to your paying customers after Quinn gave up 48 points in that game against the Green Bay Packers. So Vrabel's in play, Seattle and L.A., and we'll just see. But Vrabel's another guy, and I'm not going to say rough around the edges. He's just one of these guys that's going to come in and tell you what he thinks.

He's not going to pretty it up. He's going to be very blunt. He's going to be very direct. He's a coach that likes to coach everyone.

He's got advice for you on anything and everything. And some owners may be taken aback by that because they're not used to having someone tell them things other than what they want to hear. And Vrabel would not be bashful about telling ownership what they don't want to hear. And can that be an impediment? It shouldn't be.

But again, we're talking about decisions being made by people who have passed no test to take the reins of a professional sports franchise. All right. Before I let you go, I'll give you the floor and what you think the storyline of Championship Sunday might be, should be, what we should be focused on. I'll just give you that omnibus question before I send you on to your day. I'll give you two. First one.

First one. With Patrick Mahomes, we need to be cognizant of the fact that we're witnessing history. We always want to witness history. We witnessed it with Michael Jordan. There was a point with Tom Brady where we recognized we're witnessing history. With Patrick Mahomes, let's just appreciate the fact that what he's doing is something we've never seen before and never count the guy out.

And I think any time there's a rational, reasonable sense out there that people are counting him out, he finds a higher level of performance and he raises others up to it as well. And as to Brady, I mentioned him. I'm still astounded by the fact, Rich, that one of the writers at ESPN.com, Nick Wagner, who covers the 49ers, had a 6,000 word article last week about Brock Purdy and buried at the bottom was Purdy telling the story that he was told by Kyle Shanahan in the off-season for 2023 that they were going to try to get Tom Brady.

Healthy? You're the starter. Unless we can get Tom Brady. And I don't know how the hell we didn't know that.

All those months and weeks with all these people crawling around trying to break news every Sunday, Sunday splash report, Sunday splash report, how did that not get out? But beyond that, Rich, what does that tell us about what they think of Purdy right now? And what does it tell us if Purdy has one of his three or four interception games against the Lions on Sunday? What does it mean for 2024 when the guy who's been tied to Kyle Shanahan for years is available to anyone who wants him as of March 13 and his name is Kirk Cousins? What does it mean for Purdy if there's somebody out there that Shanahan can get that is instant plug and play and we go to the Super Bowl and we finally win it? So if Purdy has a bad day on Sunday, it's going to be watch out, let's see what Kyle has up his sleeve next. Or if he has a great day, then we put that stuff to bed unless he poops it in the Super Bowl. You know, honestly, like that's the sort of narrative with Purdy I think that makes Niner fans irate, you know.

But look at the history. Look at what the 49ers do. They keep grasping at straws trying to get a better quarterback. For all they do well, the quarterback situation is a mess because Kyle's always looking for better, better, better, better.

So why would he not if Purdy has a bad game this week or in the Super Bowl? 100% agree. Mike, thanks for the time. Love it. Again, look for more of my texts and I greatly appreciate your appearances here. Thanks, Rich. See you, buddy.

Be right back at you. Mike Florio. Boy, there's a lot of food for thought there, man, from what the Chiefs are thinking as they're getting ready for this game. And he's not wrong about Mahomes. He's not wrong about Mahomes right there. Vrabel Belichick, Harbaugh. He's still at Michigan, right?

Throughout that entire conversation. I just saw another report that he's out here still. A lot of conflicting reports.

Oh, is that right? I'm hearing he's back. Well, I mean, I'm hearing he's back and he's back at work in Ann Arbor.

844, 204, Rich. Number to dial here on the program. And we come back. Harbaugh watch 2023. Jim watch. You can say Harbaugh watch because there's another one that's active right now.

We know one's not going anywhere for sure. We'll hear from Reid and Mahomes still to come on this program and power rankings, baby. Power rankings of players that can single handedly send their team to the Super Bowl this weekend.

Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of talk Ville on YouTube or wherever you listen. With Matt and Zach Taylor, you know, they're deserving of it because of what they've done on their own merit. And when they go in and compete for jobs, people say, man, we can see this guy leading our organization.

And, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing those guys thrive. Have you told Kingsbury that he has a job because of you to know, that's the game Cliff got his deal on his own. Okay. No, I'm sure he did. I know you had it. You know, you're you were knocking on his door to to join your staff. I know that so you're well, I know he was a he passed him according.

She got a good that night. You told that to Schefter that I did. You totally what did you do to him? Well, basically, you know, we he obviously has a pre-existing relationship with with Patrick Mahomes. He was out here doing some things and Cliff was having dinner with him and a group of people. And we have a mutual friend and I tricked him into thinking that, you know, he was tampering and that he was gonna lose some picks.

It was what you changed. Somebody's somebody's name and your phone to Roger Goodell. I didn't our mutual friend.

He yeah, I couldn't let this go on too long. So our mutual friend guy named Chaz Gessner. We put I put his number in my phone as Roger Goodell and had him send me a text that said, you know, hey, this is tampering.

You know better than this. You guys are both, you know, and I showed it to Kingsbury and I said, you know, Mr. Goodell, he never texted me. I said, you better call Steve kind of right now. And his face, he was like, he said, I thought I was going to throw up. He's like, that's wrong. I mean, I couldn't let it go on for more than 30 seconds.

It was it was a good but a bad joke, man. I mean, he's like, you ruined dinner, man. I love it. Happy birthday, Sean McVeigh.

Today, he turns 12 years old. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, 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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Just showed a clip of Sean McVeigh. It's his birthday. He's 38.

Thirty eight, man, dude. And it feels like he's been the coach there for 10 years. It does. It does feel like he's been there a long time. Accomplished a lot. You think?

You think? Oh, I'm sorry. He's not 38. He's a he's a father of a newborn. He's now 75.

Does age you. I bet you he won't. Not him. Not him. Not him.

It will not age him a day. OK. It's a Wednesday. We're going to keep this thing going. You know what that means? It's time for power rankings. And I got a special power rankings list. Hit it.

Hit it. Power rankings. Power rankings. All right. Here we go. Here we go. I've got a power rankings list. Of players that can single handedly send their team to the Super Bowl this Sunday.

Personally handle matters. Let's go. Should Fortune favor this brave? OK. OK. Are you ready? Ten of them. I got 10 of them. Of course. And you might notice a theme in it. No Cowboys.

That's correct. Number 10 on this list is Brock Purdy. What if Brock Purdy shows up and starts swinging it around and has one of his highly efficient. Buck 15, Buck 20 quarterback passer rating game that he's protected in the pocket. He sees the field so well.

He took last week's game in the rain to heart. And he looked in the man in the glass in the mirror and he says, I got all these guys and weapons. And I cannot wait to take this team to the Super Bowl and have everybody say it's the weapons.

It's not me. That's Brock Purdy. That's exactly a guy that can show up and single handedly.

Take the forty niners and put them in the Super Bowl or number nine. It could be the other quarterback in this game. It could be Jared Goff. It could be the Cal bear coming back to Palo Alto and taking care of business for this Lions team.

Can it be him? Can it be the kid from Northern California? Jared Goff, born and raised in Novato, California, just north of San Francisco, played at Cal for three seasons. First overall pick for the Rams.

He's been in this building before. He's played the forty niners four times, two and two in those games. Multiple passing touchdowns in all four career games played at San Francisco. Two and two in the games at San Francisco, this guy.

So maybe he can be the guy to take the Lions and win it. By the way, do you know how many games the Lions have won at San Francisco since the mid 70s? The answer is zero.

Zero. They haven't won a single game in San Francisco since nineteen seventy five. Way before Jared Goff was born in Novato, California, at that game.

Nice. Number eight on the list. If it's not Goff, maybe it's the kid from Plymouth, Michigan, who went to high school in Dearborn, Michigan, played his college football in Ann Arbor, Michigan, bringing home a Super Bowl appearance for the first time for Detroit, Michigan. Maybe it's Aiden Hutchinson. Can he call game?

Can he just set up shop somehow in the San Francisco backfield and tell Brock Purdy, you, sir, are going to be horizontal today quite a bit. Number ninety seven. Aiden Hutchinson can affect this game like that.

Number seven on this list. He basically kept Kansas City in the lead. Well, he did. And then Tyler Bass did. But the reason why in many ways the Bills did not take the lead after the two minute warning is because Chris Jones shoved Deon Dawkins into the general vicinity of Josh Allen.

Number ninety five in your program. Chris Jones may be the guy who can personally send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl by putting Lamar Jackson on the ground. Who's able to do that? Chris Jones can do that, potentially sending single handedly the Chiefs to the Super Bowl because he takes care of Lamar Jackson. He's the one who can maybe set an edge, which, by the way, is what he was. What the hell was he doing on the edge in that situation against the Bills in that crucial spot? Normally, he's right there in the middle, right?

Number six on this list, though. I'm going to put and I know this may be heresy over Chris Jones in this game, but I'm putting number zero for the Baltimore Ravens, number six on this list. Can Roquan Smith make sure that number zero is right in the face of anybody coming downhill? If it's Pacheco, if it's Clyde Edwards Alair, if some way, shape or form, it's Travis Kelce crossing over the middle. Can Roquan Smith lead this defense and anchor it in a way that does have all the offensive inefficiencies that the Chiefs had problems with all regular season long and did not against the Buffalo Bills last week and in their weak wildcard win against the Dolphins, despite some red zone problems? Maybe Roquan Smith can affect that.

I was thinking of slashing this with Kyle Hamilton because Hamilton may be the guy that can jump routes and make interceptions or Hamilton can be the guy to mark Travis Kelce. But again, I think Roquan Smith, a linebacker, can affect single-handedly stuff more than somebody in the back end of a defense. Number five, if he's healthy, nobody can single-handedly put their team in the end zone and put their team up from anywhere on the field, quite like Deebo Samuel. If he's active and he's healthy and he's a guy that can create some sort of dynamic running game and can be multi-dimensional in the run game and the passing game, if he's healthy, he is such a difference maker and a yards-after-the-catch guy. I'm putting Deebo Samuel right there at four, but the fact that he's not healthy is the reason why I'm putting this guy above him.

And this is exactly why I've been singing his praises for a few days now, as many people have throughout the season. I'm putting Jamir Gibbs forth on this list right here. I'm thinking this guy can hit home runs from anywhere on the field and this kid did it against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and they are a stout run defense. This guy finds a crease, he's gone. This guy has a matchup problem with any of the linebackers.

I know Fred Warner's out there and you notice that he's not on my list because obviously I'm getting to the high-rent district offensively here. I understand how good the Niners defense is, but this kid might be a type of difference maker with his speed and his rookie ability to just not know what he should know in these moments. I'm putting Gibbs forth on this list, but if I'm talking running backs in this game, obviously number three, maybe your offensive player of the year with all due respect to C.D. Lamb or Tyreek Hill, Christian McCaffrey, we all know what he can do. We're now getting to the part of the power rankings where it's like, okay, I get it.

You don't need to say much more. McCaffrey with two scores in the rain against Green Bay. I mean, if I'm the 49ers, I don't care if Dan Campbell's saying we're going to key the run. I'm going to test him and I'm going to keep throwing 23 at him.

Certainly if Brock Purdy shows up and starts making some throws directly to members of the Lions secondary might not drop it in the same way the Packers did on Saturday night. Number two, I'm going with Mahomes. Number two, that goes without saying about how he can single handedly put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. And I'm putting Lamar number one on the list. I'm saying this is Lamar's moment. And in terms of what you can do that is really special and really unicorn like and just put a team directly on his back and say, I am going to carry you with my arm or my legs or my heart, my brains, my guts. This package in a number eight jersey can single handedly take the Ravens to the Super Bowl.

Unlike, I believe, any other player that's suiting up for their team on Championship Sunday. And if you noticed what I did on this list is I didn't put too many ball dependent people on it. Clearly Travis Kelce is a difference maker and can single handedly take people places. But he's got to get the football. And Deebo Samuel I have on there because he's also a runner.

It's easier. I didn't put Kittle or Ayuk. Wide receivers are ball dependent and I think secondary members are dependent of you putting the ball in the air. I put people with the ball in their hands, quarterbacks and running backs. And I put guys who can put the quarterback on the ground.

And if the quarterback isn't on the ground, they can get it to the running backs I just mentioned as well. That's how I came up with my power rankings list. I left off Bosa. But I thought to myself, who am I going to leave off on this list? I'm not leaving off Roquan. I'm just not going to do it. And I know Fred Warner is everywhere and he is significant for that defense.

I put Roquan on this list. No Justin Tucker? What do you mean? No kickers? Well it's single handedly.

It's not single footedly. Interesting. Right? I mean not to get too literal on you right there. No Jason Kelce.

Meaning what? I mean with his shirt off. I'm excited to see how many beers he drinks.

Okay in Baltimore? He's a factor. Well we could see if this was just his first step in getting ready. I think he's a sprinter when it comes to drinking. And he's also a marathoner.

I think he's a little bit of both. In all seriousness, kickers you can't put on there because they may not have the opportunity. Buffalo's home. All I know is that if you're just joking around you kind of can't argue with my list. I didn't hear much from you. Good list.

Good list. I mean who have I left off? Could it be David Montgomery? I mean could it be Pacheco? Not really the pass catcher guy. Well because they're ball dependent. You've got to get them the ball. Marc Andrews coming back. That could be a huge boost. You know I asked Cooper his thoughts on this list before I left the house today.

Like while he was waking up. He mentioned Marc Andrews. And I'm like but if I'm putting Andrews on the list I've got to put Kelsey on the list.

And I didn't. Oh and Kittle obviously too. Right so I went with quarterbacks. People who can sack the quarterback and game changers who are going to get the ball in their hands.

Literally hand it to them. And Debo is on this list because he can do that and catch it as well. Plus I mean just ask a Rams fan. He damn near single handedly put the feed.

He did. He single handedly put the Niners back in that NFC Championship game and the Rams had the lead. And I'm sure every Rams fan was holding their breath every single time Debo touched the football. And the Lions fans if he's active you better get ready for a lot of 19. And if he's not active I think the Lions have a significantly better chance of making the Super Bowl. We'll take a break here.

844-204 Rich number to dial. And then Andy Reid and Mahomes have spoken for the first time of championship week. What did they have to say about being a road team for a second straight week? And so much more. That's next. Ah here we go. I should start every segment that way. I bet you I got everyone's attention watching the Roku channel. Here we go. Right?

If I came back on the air every single time just like him. Hey I just got this. Even though I have nothing. Hey hey. But we know we have something. We have something. Don't worry. Hey everybody just calm down. It's Justin. Isaiah Pacheco asked about how to describe his running style.

Okay. Hit it. I'll say the funniest one that I thought was they said I run like I bite people. Like I ain't no zombie.

Like that was crazy. They run like I bite people. Bite people? Like he bites people. He does run like somebody stole money from him and he's giving chase.

That's what you want. Well that's what you want from a running back. But bites people? Like a zombie. Like he's running from a zombie or he has a zombie running. He does run. His running style is very. Zombie like?

It's very interesting. Well I mean it's violent. That's what you want. He really jerks around a lot. He picks him up and he puts him down bro. He does. He looks like he's chasing somebody. Well he's looking for contact. Which is what you want from a running back right? Definitely.

He's not shying away from it. You want a running back to create. And again Diome was the first to I've ever heard refer to it as a business decision. Because you know you want a defensive back to make a business decision. Like okay I've got to put food on my table.

In order to put food on my table I need to stay healthy. And I'm going to turn down this contact. My job is to knock the ball down. Right. Not to get run over. And not lift weights at the combine as Dion used to say. I've never had to put Jerry Rice across my chest and lift him.

That is a fact. He always said that whenever he would watch these kids put up. They had these skinny DBs in the weight and reps room at the combine. He'd be like what are we doing with these guys? Back on the Rich Eisen show. Alright the Chiefs are speaking or they have spoken. Jared Goff is speaking right now. Championship. They used to do all the interviews on one day. I remember sitting on the set of NFL Network for an entire day. Like hosting a day of press conferences.

One team after another. And they're mixing it up all over the place. And they're spreading it out over three days now. It's Chattapalooza.

It's fine with me. So Andy Reid speaking. He was asked about how Mahomes dealt with the frustration of the playing seasons. And hey this is a good question.

That's an interesting question to ask Andy. Because clearly Mahomes has had his moments. Including that Buffalo game where I was absolutely thinking he was going nuts on the refs. And at the podium with the media because he couldn't do it in the direction of his teammates. So here's Andy Reid on that subject. He was a best perfectionist. And he's competitive. As competitive as any of us right here.

I mean it's more so. He just wants it right around him. But he's willing to teach.

That's the unique part. So he's willing to share what he sees with the guys from his site. And help the guys get into position.

As long as they're willing to work he's all in. The frustration is more off of feeling urgency. And winning games. I mean that's what he's all about. We're playing at the highest level in the world. And if you're going to be as good as we think we're going to be. Then the margin is like this big.

So you've got to tighten it down. The thing that blew my mind this week that got pointed out quite a bit. That I'm sure Bill's fans don't want to hear is that the Chiefs made the trade with the Bills to move up to take Mahomes. And when they took Mahomes it was like okay.

Reid thinks that the kid is more of a farve like gunslinger. Because we all thought he was taking Watson. Since he had McNabb who had a similar game to Watson's right?

At least that was the thought. He moved up in Philadelphia and said okay here goes Deshaun Watson. Nope. It's the kid from Texas Tech.

Okay. And what he has grown into is my kids generation's version of Tom Brady. We're going to see him for another 10 years, 15 years if they're lucky. I don't know.

So you want to play deep into his 40's? I don't know. We'll find that out. We'll be his coach who's going to be his second Kelsey. Because he's definitely going to be playing football past Kelsey's playing date.

How are they going to keep regenerating themselves? And that's the question involving Mahomes. And what we just heard right there is a part of Mahomes that people don't talk about.

We kind of talked about it with the quarterback series from Netflix when we saw him cursing at Max Crosby. From the sidelines, still angry. He's got the red ass in him and he's working blue. Right? And so he was frustrated because the guys around him were not pulling their weight. It's that simple. And I'm sure it got particularly frustrating for him when it looked like they couldn't get out of it.

If I'm not mistaken, how many healthy scratches in a row? And I'm sorry to keep saying this because everyone keeps laying it at his feet. I don't mean to say that either. Or putting it in his hands. All right.

I should stop. But honestly, he has been the personification of their offensive woes of being buttoned up on all the details. Like Reed says, Mahomes wants everyone to be because he's a perfectionist. How many healthy scratches has it been in a row for him? He hasn't played since New England, which was December 17th.

Yeah. And that was the moment where the ball went off of his hands, up in the air, off his back. And I think he got hurt in that game.

And then after that, it's just like, OK, we're done. I'd be surprised if we see him again this year. But knowing Reed, who the hell knows? He's handing the ball to Nicole Hardin inside the five yard line. So we heard before Lamar being asked about going against Mahomes. And he's like, I'm not competing against him. And talked about how great he is.

Mahomes has asked the same question of Lamar today. He's going to be the MVP for a reason. I mean, he goes out there. He leads his team. He scores.

He runs. He throws. He does whatever it takes to win. And that's what the greats do. And I think the biggest thing that you like to see in another quarterback is how they improve every single year. And obviously, everybody talked about his running. But you can see how he's developed as a passer, throwing from within the pocket, arm angles, making the accurate throw in big situations and big moments. And that's what the great quarterbacks do.

And he continues to get better and better every single year. And so I knew we were going to play in a lot of games like this as our careers went on. And I'm sure this will be the first of many. Love it. Can't wait.

Can't wait. Because with Mahomes, right, we've seen him against Brady. Only guy to beat him twice in a postseason. The only other time he's lost in a postseason is to burrow. He's gotten Allen every time.

This will be his first attempt at a postseason win for him against Lamar. And that's the thing about Brady. Because you know, Brady kept collecting equals in the mind's eye of many. People who were coming at the king.

And many of them missed. Eli got him twice, right? So Brady is, well, Eli to Brady is what Brady is to Mahomes. Beaten him twice.

2-0. And with Brady, you could kind of count the quarterbacks and know them by name who beat him in a playoff game, right? And there were few and far between. I mean, but sometimes he would get got. Just like one year he got got at home by burrow. And one time he got got by Brady when he was a young pup. And that's the thing to what you just heard from Mahomes when he said the thing you like to see in quarterbacks is how they get better every year.

I don't know. Mahomes seems to be the same level of awesomeness for several years in a row. And the only thing that changes is our perception of him because of him continuously getting to the AFC Championship game year after year after year. And at the time it was just like, OK, can he do it? Brady beat him. Then he did it for a Super Bowl. And then he didn't do it against burrow. And then he did it, you know, but lost in the Super Bowl.

And then he did it not going maybe in sequential order. I'm just saying that there's been different ways of him getting to a Super Bowl and losing it, getting to a Super Bowl and winning it, not getting to a Super Bowl twice. Once due to Brady, once due to burrow. Now he's gotten it again after winning a Super Bowl and he's collecting people. He collected Hertz last year, right? He's collected Allen multiple times. He's even collected burrow after being collected by burrow. But you could say even though they didn't win, Hertz outplayed him last year.

No, I get it. I'm just saying when it all comes down to it, he beat Hertz in a Super Bowl. And now he's going for Lamar after getting Allen again, he's gotten to an L. He's collecting them, just like Brady did. And so we're just viewing him differently because he gets to, now he could equal Brady in terms of the rarity, what Elway did it. And Bradshaw did it. Bart Starr did it, winning two in a row.

Might be leaving someone else out. You know, Brady was the last to do it. Years one and two of NFL Network, first two Super Bowls, 38 and 39. It's the last team to repeat. And if Mahomes does it now, now there'll just be another air of invincibility as he just, like how's he improving? Right? And now this would be the year in which we didn't think he would do it because the pieces around him were less than.

Were not good enough. That they were writing the defense. And that's what's at stake here. I know we're going to have a lot of legacy talk.

Certainly over the next couple of days, right? Yeah. And what it would mean since there's three other guys in these playoffs who have not won a ring yet. And we always focus on those guys and not the guy who's already multiple rings into his career, just six years in as a starter. And we say, well, what does the legacy mean for you? You've already legacied out right now. You're already in the Hall of Fame.

If you retire now, you're in. And so what's your legacy? His legacy is to keep beating you. And that's what Andy Reid was referring to. It's a different type of cat, and I don't think anybody thought that's who the Chiefs were trading up to go get on that night in Philadelphia.

Uh-uh. That's what he's turning into. And that's what he can do again with a win this weekend, collecting Lamar, putting him in his case, going to the Super Bowl and trying to bag a lion or another niner. It was Jimmy G last time. This time it's Purdy.

But still, it's another pelt on the wall. Of course, the Lamar Jackson Ravens have a different concept. And we'll talk about their legacy, all those three or other quarterbacks, what legacies they could help build for themselves and their franchises. A few people will be talking about what this would mean for Mahomes.

It would just start to cement him as the Brady for my kids and their generation. Right? Fact. Fact.

Oh, boy. I would love the games to start now. But they won't. And they can't.

And this show ends the way it started, with Jim Harbaugh still Michigan head coach. How about that? We got through three hours. Nothing happening. Rack it.

Rack it. Let's try it again tomorrow. Good luck, man.

Please. That'll wrap it up for us. Thanks to Mike Florio, Bruce Feldman, great conversation with him, and Brian Winters. Great chats today, guys. Love it. Back to wrap things up on the Roku channel in a moment. Thank you.