Brian Baldinger: Chiefs Defense Went To A Big Linebacker Core

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Limitations apply. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

It was so un-Raven's like for this to happen. They abandoned the run. The Rich Eisen Show.

Some of the SOL stuff happened. Same old lines. Take the points. What a way for this season to end. Lions fans, I feel for you. Earlier on the show, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, 49ers reporter for The Athletic, David Lombardi. Coming up, NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger. And now it's Rich Eisen. That's right. Baldy's coming up. And it's not me or you, Chris. Thank you.

Or Jay Felly or Felly. Well, you wear a hat. That's why. Is that why? Hey, be proud, man.

Be proud, bro. Well, he also wears a head. He also wears, you know, what do we get? The headset? Ears? What do you got? What do we call those? Cans.

Cans? For years at Fox, it would leave a crease on my head. Yeah, it's not good. It's not good.

That's why I was always told Matt Nagy when he was the head coach of the Bears. Like, why are you wearing a visor? Yeah. Like, it just accentuates the baldness. Like, what are you doing?

Yeah. Never want to accentuate the baldness. Listen, and we at R.E.S.

Consulting, we can help with that stuff. Brockman's bald head is shining like a full moon. There you go. That's one of the greatest Eric Dickerson drops of all time. That was one of our first weeks on the air. Was that right? Was it? It was very early. Yeah. And he was just overcoming a cold. So he had a really deep voice. Extra Barry White.

At any rate. Hey, hour number three of our show. If you missed Albert Breer in hour one and David Lombardi was terrific, the athletic reporter for the 49ers talking about a 49er season that has, in fact, culminated in the Super Bowl. If you missed any of that, hour number three, as soon as we're done, it re-airs this show on the Roku channel, channel 210. As soon as we are done, Suzy Schuster, Amy Trask with the Football Hall of Famer Marshall Falk will zoom into the show. That podcast will be available later on this day, and they'll set you up for Super Bowl 58 with Marshall's thoughts on Championship Sunday and how everything is going to go down on Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Overreaction Monday. We just did overreaction Monday on a Tuesday for this show. And then the podcast Chris Brockman and I did that yesterday.

That's available for wherever you get your podcast as well. TJ Jefferson is chilling out in a coat and a hat. Honestly, you look like you're going out right now. Like if you walked in the door, I'd be like, where are you going? You know, I wear a different jacket every single day. Yeah, but this is different, though. Not like that.

This is different. That looks like I like it. That looks warm. And the hat matches that one of the stripes in your jacket matches. What do you think?

I didn't happen. What's the shirt? What's the shirt? It's my favorite professional wrestler, Oscar. Okay. You know, I don't know what that means. Well, do you know what a professional wrestler is?

So then do you know what a favorite is? So we saw her at your terms at WrestleMania, WrestleMania. Very good. Women's tag team champions Kabuki Warriors just had Royal Rumble this weekend. I know that.

Right. Cody Rhodes. Shout out Cody Rhodes. Shout out Cody Rhodes. I saw on my I saw my I saw my Twitter feed that Cody is favored to take down Roman Reigns now. Is that true? Yeah.

You know, just like last year, I'm not sure if that's going to happen. Roman's been champ for like 38 years. That was the fight we saw that night, too. Yeah, I mean, a feller went to WrestleMania the night, too, together. I took him with him.

I was in Dallas. No, I was here in so far. Okay. Yeah. Oh, great. So you left the house for that. Only special occasions, Rich.

Only special occasions. Okay. I come to work every day. Let's go to Christy in Detroit right here on The Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Christy?

Hi, Rich. How are you? I'm well. What's going on your mind?

I am an absolute huge fan, huge fan of you. Also your wife and Amy's show, but I'm calling because I'm crazy excited about Ben Johnson coming back. You should be. This is so exciting. I got a text message from my ex-cousin. All of these people are texting like, we're coming back.

And I can't. I knew he was going to come back because we have a new name for Dan Campbell and it is Daddy Dan. That's what we're all calling him. What are we calling him? What are we calling him? Daddy Dan. Daddy Dan.

Yes. My cousin from Minneapolis sent me this TikTok video. Some girl, I don't know where she was from. And she's a fan someplace else. And she was like, Daddy Dan is getting it done.

So yeah, that's our new nickname in Detroit for Dan Campbell. Us women anyways. That's what I'm saying. Okay. I don't know for you guys.

Daddy Dan. And did I catch it? Correct.

I can't say it probably as well as I can. I get it. So I'm not mad at it, but yes. But it was funny because your screener was like, do you want to talk about the game that happened?

I said, absolutely not. I was on the sports talk radio today. I said, I couldn't listen to it this morning. But as soon as he signed on, I turned your show on right away. And I was like, I got to call it. Okay.

So now hold on a second. Did I also catch correctly that you got a celebratory text from your ex? Did I hear that? My ex-husband is a Steelers fan.

And you know, they signed their offensive coordinator today. So of course, he's not as happy as I am to say the least. Is that why he's your ex, Christy? Is that why he's your ex? Because he's a Steelers fan? No, no, I can't be mad at that. He grew up over there.

So it is what it is. But we're huge football fans. And we've been a fan of you guys for, like, ever and ever. We used to watch it.

We watched you from the first day you joined NFL Network. Thank you, Christy. Well, listen, don't be such a stranger. Don't just call when the news is so great.

You know what I mean? Just call anytime. Well, the last time I called in, I was so excited to get through that your screen was like, what do you want to talk about?

I'm like, I don't know. I didn't expect to get through because it was right after Michigan won the national championship because I'm also a huge Michigan fan, too. Also, you should say happy birthday to Jalen Rhodes today. It's his birthday today, as you know. So yes, a little shout out to our local Detroit birthday boy. So yes, but I'm just a fan. So thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Guys, we'll chat again soon.

There's Christy in Detroit. It was a lot of fun chatting with her. I think TJ got a little too personal, but that's okay. She brought it up. I know. Well, you didn't have to ask. I did kind of. You were thinking it. No, I wasn't.

Somebody else. No, I wasn't. You were thinking it, weren't you? I'm glad America into this friendly on friendly terms.

Of course. It's wonderful. I know fellow Brock when we're thinking it.

It's wonderful. And by the way, just for anyone who calls and you get confused, like you don't know what to talk about when Adam asks you, just say Michigan. And no, don't say that, because somebody might just say that to get through and then start talking about Ohio State. I don't need that.

No, it's okay. Hey, now, hey, hey, hey, now, listen, and by the way, Ben Johnson just crushed it. He just crushed it because if he turned down an opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL and not just any spot for the Washington commanders in their first season under full, complete new ownership post Dan Snyder, the Magic Johnson era, the Magic Johnson era, and with the number two overall pick, which could be Jayden Daniels or Drake May. So you get you get to go and cap space galore.

That's why I put the Washington commanders in a spot of being one of the best jobs to be had right now, because everything's on the table about how they do it. It's all new. You're starting from scratch. But the scratch is really talented offensive players, some talented on defense. You have a fan base that is beyond excited because the worst owner in the history of the NFL potentially is gone, and you get the second overall pick and you are a head coach there, and so you get some time. The honeymoon is going to last, and then you've got salary cap for days and you say no to that, which means everyone in Detroit loves you even more, but if you went there and heard things you kind of didn't like and everything I just said that looks from the outside to be great and you found it isn't or they decide we're going in another direction, you get a whiff of that and you're like, I want to win a Lombardi in Detroit, put it out there. But he also told Seattle no, and he's coming out and saying, I want to go win a Lombardi so he's not going to Seattle or Washington.

I mean, this is great. This is just a great piece of news for Detroit. A, I mean, they got to get another year of this offense with the same play caller who clearly knows what the hell he's doing, and B, what a great way to start off your offseason to turn the page from some really awful stuff that we saw in San Francisco. And then for Ben Johnson, it's a win-win. They love you in Detroit, and if you've already heard that neither of these teams want you, you're not rejected, you're, you know, what's that like? I, you know, you break out with me, I already broke up with you.

It's not you, it's me, I invented it, it's not you, it's me. So that's kind of a consistency, did the opposite too of what we all expected. Who's Washington going to go higher now?

I'm so conditioned. They're bringing in Aaron Glenn for a second interview. Well, that could be, well, I mean, they were supposed to bring both in for a second interview. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to get more reporting on Ben Johnson.

Every time I hear Ben Johnson, my mind just goes to the Olympian who raced Carl Lewis, so I've got to like condition myself. Yeah, different one. Different one. Okay, so today is what anniversary, Chris?

You mentioned this. Today's the anniversary of the Rams, Titans, Kevin Dyson, tackle with the one. Super Bowl. Super Bowl, yeah. That was back in the day. Super Bowl 34. Wow. Super Bowl 58 is coming up. Almost a quarter century ago. That's nutty.

I was a sophomore in college. So that brings all of us to convene for another top five. Top five greatest Super Bowl finishes of all time.

Hit it, hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Richest top five. All right, here we go.

Give me some music in that top five list. Going down memory lane today. Unfortunately for Buffalo Bills, what was old was new again.

Number five is wide rights. Oh, rich. I'm sorry. Super Bowl 25 in the old sombrero. And this was unbelievable. 20 to 19 New York football giants. The Bills drove eight plays in 61 yards. Thurman Thomas got most of them. He had 190 all-purpose yards on that night. He was spectacular to set up Scott Norwood from 47 yards away. His longest ever attempt on grass. And Frank Reich was holding.

And Scott Norwood, as we all know with eight seconds left, shoves it right. First ever Super Bowl in which the winner and loser was going to be decided by a field goal. That one, and it turned out to be a Giants victory and Bill Parcells final game as head coach of the New York Giants. Number five on that list.

Number four on the list. Super Bowl 23, Joe Montana's classic final drive. An 11 play, 92 yard, two minute and 46 second drive.

Wow. The game's most valuable player, Jerry Rice, caught three of his 11 catches on this final drive that began with Montana huddling up and noticing that John Candy was in the crowd. And Harris Barton couldn't believe it.

And he's like, what are you talking about? And Montana was Joe Cool. And Jerry Rice, the game's MVP, was a decoy on the 10 yarder to John Taylor to win the game. Charles Haley with a sack of boomeras in in the few seconds left, nailed the door shut that finish. Super Bowl 23 was Bill Walsh's final game as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Number three on this list. Super Bowl 43. I was on the field coming down the elevator from the press box area where we were convened.

The we being me, Marshall Falk, Mariucci, Dion. We were all coming out of the elevator and then through the tunnel out on the field to do NFL Game Day Final, the postgame show on the field. We were walking out on the field to get ready for that. And Larry Fitzgerald was coming untouched up the middle of the field into the end zone that we were standing in.

And we were like, what the hell just happened? Larry Fitzgerald scored his second touchdown of the fourth quarter, a 64 yarder with 237 to go to put the Cardinals up in a game in which, as we all know, a pick six ended the first half to put the Steelers up by 10 in this game with James Harrison. And that's when Big Ben went to work with Santonio Holmes. He caught a pass on third down to start the drive that was stalled first and 20 on the Steelers own 12. And then a couple plays later, a 13 yarder to Holmes set up a new fresh set of downs from which a 40 yarder to Holmes set them up inside the red zone in two plays later. Big Ben buying a ton of time as only he can throws a dart to the back right pylon.

And there's still an argument in Arizona whether both feet were down after further review touchdown. Santonio Holmes wound up being the MVP and Kurt Warner made a little bit of a go of it by trying to come back and win the game. And instead it wound up being a Steelers Super Bowl 43 win. That's number three on the list.

Number two on the list. Super Bowl 34. It is the anniversary of that moment where Kevin Dyson was tackled on the one yard line by Mike Jones, just three feet short of a Lombardi.

I guess one would say it's possible they could have gone for two. I've got a story on that in a moment, but this was a wild finish as well. The Titans had just tied the game with 3.08 to go on an Al Del Greco field goal. Tying the game at 16 and suing kickoff. First snap, Kurt Warner found Isaac Bruce for 73 yards touchdown. Boom, the Rams went back up on top by seven. And then Steve McNair, may he rest in peace, had a 14 play drive. The 14th and final play of the drive was Dyson winding up one yard shy of the end zone. No one had ever scored a touchdown on the last play of regulation and still did not.

That's number two on the list. Number one on the list is the Malcolm Butler interception. I've never seen a moment ever like the one towards the end of Super Bowl 49 where the entire crowd, one fan base was elated and another one was expecting defeat and crying, expecting defeat. The Seahawks fans were elated because Marshall, I mean, because Marshawn Lynch, a million percent was going to get the football and run beast mode into the end zone to beat Tom Brady and keep him winless in the Super Bowl still since his third ever Super Bowl championship way back in his day and keep their decade long in New England Super Bowl drought continuing. And they were excited, ready to repeat as champions for the first time since the 03-04 Patriots and the Patriots fans were expecting bitter defeat despite being up. And I've never seen one snap of the football make people switch emotions in my entire life.

If when Malcolm Butler snagged an interception, the fact that the Seahawks were throwing it, the fact that somebody nobody had ever heard of caught it and ended the game and the Patriots did win the Super Bowl. I've never seen a moment like it. The only one that's come close to it was in the World Series in Game 7 when it looked like the Yankees were about to win the World Series in Arizona because in came in the eighth inning of Game 7 with a lead, Mariano Rivera struck out the side. And then in the ninth inning, everyone in Arizona was expecting this thing was over and Yankee fans were elated and everybody switched places in the end. But that ninth inning took more than just one snap of the football.

Took longer than that. That's number one in this list. I've never seen anything like it in my entire life. And that's my one more is the David Tyree catch. And I know it didn't end the game because Eli still had to find Plexico Burress in the end zone wide open, and he did. And there was still a little bit of time for Tom Brady and the Patriots to come back.

But I've never seen anything like this either in my entire life. And it was a remarkable finish and a wild way for New England to lose its first game of the year and ruin the first ever perfect season. And Rodney Harrison, who may hear his name for the hall in just a couple of Thursdays right now on this play and Tyree, who no one again had ever heard of, pretty much. How does he keep that ball pinned to his helmet?

I will never, ever know. And that led to one of the most fantastic finishes in Super Bowl history right there. And just if you can take the music down just a couple of nuggets before we get to Brian Balding and we'll go to break here.

You can take the music down. So of these plays, four of the five called by Al Michaels. The only one that wasn't was the Joe Montana classic final drive called by the great Dick Enberg. Al called the other four.

Wow. Joe Buck called the David Tyree catch, as we all know as well. And then just on this anniversary of the Titans almost scoring with no time left and having an opportunity to go for two and win.

And I was at the old ESPN boardwalk restaurant zone, whatever they want to call it in Orlando, Florida at Disney World the year before watching Green Bay play Denver. And what ended up happening was, as you remember, Green Bay let Denver score to go up so they had a chance to go and try and win the game or tie the game at the end. If you remember that Super Bowl that Terrell Davis in San Diego, he strolls in because they didn't want to just let Shanahan burn the time and kick a bunny field goal and end it. They let TD score. And so they wound up getting the ball back. They didn't go down the field and have a scoring opportunity. But I was sitting there with Leonard Marshall, former giant who was out there to meet and greet people and a coach who is from the NFL who is sitting there and we were asking the coach, hey, is it possible if Green Bay goes down the field and scores a touchdown that Mike Holmgren would go for two and win it rather than force overtime? And he looked at us like we had 15 heads.

Are you dumb? Of course he's going to kick the extra point. Of course you play for overtime. This is the Super Bowl. You're not just going for a two point conversion to win it with no time left.

And so his name was Jeff Fisher of the Tennessee Titans. One year later, he's driving down the field on this day, all those years ago, and I'm at a Super Bowl party in New York City and somebody's like, if the Titans score, would they go for two? And I'm like, I know for a fact they will kick the extra point.

And they're like, how do you know? Told the story. And sure enough, we still just like on that day in San Diego between Green Bay and Denver, we didn't find out. God, I love the Super Bowl and this sport. And that's my top five greatest Super Bowl moments list.

Take a break. Brian Baldinger, when we come back, he's going to break down what we just saw and what we might see in a moment, as only he can. Pockets Real Estate Podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen.

America in the morning, the podcast available wherever you listen. So in the continuing Ben Johnson saga, Shefty saying the commanders were in a flight to Detroit when they learned Ben Johnson was out. So this is not something, although Shefty says he wasn't a lock for the job anyway. So now you got to wonder, do the lines just beat everyone in the punch and say how much? Here's a blank check.

Why don't you stay? Didn't Jerry do that with Dan Quinn? Apparently. Was that two years ago? Three years ago? Last year, right? Wasn't last year? Last year was the year before. Yeah, year before and last year. Feels like both years. It's a huge step to become a head football coach. Maybe he didn't feel he was ready to run. I don't know.

It's a lot of responsibility. You want to run it back? I mean, they're so close.

The Lions are close. When he's 37 with cap space. I mean, go for it. I don't know.

Quinn last year, it would have been he would have gotten a job, I think. And then now maybe not. He's got unfinished business, does he? I hope. I hope so.

What business? You know, bring a sixth Lombardi trophy to the Dallas area. To the Dallas Metroplex?

Yeah. What happens? Did Dallas wins their sixth or Detroit wins their first? What's more likely?

What happens first? Keep that for Friday. Keep that under your hat.

Keep that in your hat. Don't answer that question. I know exactly how I'm answering that. Well, we all know how you're going to answer that.

You're going to say Detroit wins their first. You have no idea how I'm going to answer. How dare you? How dare you put words in my mouth? I reserve judgment. Settle down just a little bit.

I don't have the patience to jack around with you. I think we all know. I think even Brian Baldinger knows how you're going to answer this. No, no, no, Brian. Leave Brian out of it. Just like leaving America out of it. What's the matter with you? America's watching. All right.

So let's get to Balding where I'm too late for him. Back 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by. I love his breakdowns. I love being a colleague is in the NFL media group. He's at NFL films right now.

He was at the AFC championship game between the Chiefs and the Ravens. He is Brian Baldinger. Good to see you, Baldy. Good afternoon, Rich. It's good to be with you. It's a great time of the year.

It sure is that. So how did the Ravens only run the ball six times with running backs, Brian? What happened?

What did you see? What have you seen since reviewing this game plan? Well, Steve Bagnola, you know, he's done this before some of these game plans. He went to a big linebacker core, Rich.

He went with Leo Chanel, Nick Bolton and Drew Tranquil. And they came out with that big line backing core. And they said, we're just going to box you in. We're not going to give you running lanes. And but we'll leave our corners one on one with OBJ and Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman. And if you can beat us, if the quarterback can beat us playing one on one coverage on the outside, then we'll we'll give you those shots. And they couldn't do it. And I think I think it's because Lamar only had two designed runs, Rich.

And so he's the best runner on the field by far. Like, it just seemed like they and the score was never obviously greater than 17 to 7. Like, it just seemed like they forgot who they were during the course of that game.

So I guess how does that happen? You know what I mean? Like, it's some point you still have to run the Gus bus, right? I mean, I know this is pure second guessing here. But I mean, look, his second Gus's second run was 15 yards. Lamar's first run was the fourth and one where he split for 21 yards.

There were runs there. I mean, they've seen exactly what Kansas City did to him. They've seen it over the last five years.

Teams are like, OK, let's just stack the box. And they still I mean, Houston did some of that against him in the divisional championship round, and they ran for 220 yards. So like, at some point, John Harbaugh has to step in and say, Todd, Todd Monken, that is like, look, let's let's get back. Let's get back to just pounding it right here.

Let's let's establish this. Now, one of the parts, though, Rich, that they had four series where they were three and out. So you're not sustaining any offense. And so you're not able to stay on the field to get the running game going when you're just intermittently just off the field so quickly. And then the other aspect of the AFC championship game is the latest example of the Chiefs flipping a switch on offense, certainly between Mahomes and Kelsey. But the second half, they didn't have any points. So what did you see from any of the film breakdown of what the Ravens were able to affect that the Niners might be able to against this team? Well, they went a little bigger up front. They blitzed more than they had in the first half. They made Mahomes hold the ball a little bit more. And so that was a big part of and then they just played better. They their whole defense is really pretty simple.

I remember talking to Rod Woodson on Sunday morning about just what we can expect. He's like, look, honestly, Baldy, this is a defense that's just prides itself on playing harder than anybody else. And they just played harder. They got off blocks. They refused to stay blocks. They pursued better. They tackled the catch. And so I just thought they just played better in the second half.

They didn't do a whole lot more differently than what they had done to get to the point where they were. And why does Kelsey, you'll be the latest, Brian, that I asked this question of. And I think you might even already know that where it's coming. Why does Kelsey get so wide open all the time? How does this happen?

What do you see? Well, so they obviously had 11 for 11. The ball didn't hit the ground, Rich. Seven of the 11 catches were no farther than four yards. I mean, Mahomes didn't have the ball. He didn't have the ball in his hands a second and a half.

It was I'm just going to go to the open stop. They have this thing. It's like why stick is a right around for a tight end. For whatever reason, Kansas City calls it stash rash.

So they have versions of stash rash. You're in zone, there's a four yard stop route like on the first play of the game. We'll just get it to Kelsey. We'll get four yards.

We'll stay on schedule. That was most of the plays. Now on the opening drive, fourth and two, Rich, you run sprint right option.

And if it's not there, Pat, you got Kelsey in the backside. He'll be one on one with the corner like you take the shot. Well, he took the shot and it was a perfect throw. The corners Brandon Stevens was right there, but Kelsey used his size and Mahomes put it up on the rim and then the touchdown against Kyle Hamilton is just one of those throws that we expect from Mahomes. But it's just one of those throws that you have to make in championship games to win those games. You can't throw it any better. And I don't know if you threw it 99 more times that you could throw it any better than what he did when he had to throw it because Hamilton was the perfect guy to cover him on that play.

He just put it in a spot where he couldn't get to it. Well, and you're perfect guy to ask this question to Brian Baldinger, watching as much ball as you do and playing the ball and playing ball as you did and being in the South Jersey Philadelphia area for as long as you have been. How has Andy Reid changed? How has Andy Reid evolved to as he is now rightfully taking the place as a first ballot Hall of Fame all time great play caller up with the I guess what Bill Walsh's of the world right now, Brian. So what has he seen?

Honestly, Rich, he's always evolved. He has Mahomes down. He has the best player in the league, and they're just joined it to him.

There's a major respect that Patrick has for Coach Reid. They were getting the championship games here in Philadelphia year after year after year. They didn't have that level of player. That might knock and Donovan McNabb, but they didn't have that level of player at that position back then to win some of those championship games or to win the Super Bowl against the Patriots. But like, for example, when they got T.O., Rich, the offense changed that year.

Donovan McNabb never had a better year. The offense went from being classic West Coast offense, short passes, long runs to the bombs away like he changed in one off season when he got T.O. And so now you have this offense where you've got Travis Kelce. You've got an interior of the offensive line that's as good as anybody's in the league. You've got this running back that just is an amazing player and how he's able to break tackles and run so hard. And so he's built the offense around those two players. And now Rashid Rice, who Mahomes met when he was at SMU, and Mahomes lives in Dallas, and they met before the draft last year. And Mahomes is like, I'm throwing to this kid, Coach, and he's pretty good. Like he catches everything I throw to him.

Like maybe you should take a long look. I mean, he kind of put him on the radar. So Mahomes has something to do with it. But I think that's just the difference with Andy right now is he's always had a great defensive coordinator.

I mean, Jim Johnson, you go through the list of him. Now he's got spags, maybe the best big game defensive coordinator we've seen in this league and what he has accomplished. So he's always had a great staff. Now he's got the best player at the most important position in Mahomes.

And that's how the evolution continues. Brian Baldinger, host of the Best Football Show with Brian Baldinger Podcast. And of course, the must follow on social to break down film and as only you can, Baldy. So walk me through your opinion of Brock Purdy. Well, I don't understand any of the criticism, Rich.

I really don't. I think the guy's just a silent assassin. He's so relaxed and he's so confident.

Yet he doesn't really relish that in the spotlight. I mean, he'll tell you, I'm just good at playing quarterback, but I'm a regular guy. The players love him, Rich. They, I remember his first game was last year. He came in for Garoppolo. He got hurt against the Dolphins and he played pretty good in that game.

And his first start was the following week against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. And I remember talking to him and Debo and Kittle, the whole group. And they were like, Baldy, this kid, we knew he was good in training camp when he was carving this up as just the scout team quarterback.

That guy seems to feel as good as anybody in this whole business. His runs, he was channeling Steve Young the other day. I don't think we knew that he could do that. And that stage against that defense with that speed that they have and his movement is just elite. And then probably the best part about him is he plays with no fear. Yeah, he threw an interception in the first quarter.

It kind of stopped a drive that they had going. It never sits in his mind that he's going to play with less fear after that. And so I think he's the perfect quarterback for Kyle right now in that he can program him.

This is what I want. He could coach him hard. If he makes a mistake, he can get on him like he does during the week in practice. Yet he could take all of that and still go play without any sort of fear about making a mistake. So the mistakes he makes are because of why. And I set that up by asking because if you're going against Mahomes, you can't have somebody who's still growing in the position. You know what I mean? Like you got to show up as a grown ass man.

So and if he is, by the way, that's totally understandable. I mean, you as an undrafted player would completely understand somebody who almost was undrafted and how that can, you know, maybe affect the way you do something and you put a chip on the shoulder and what have you. But why is he making the mistakes he's making right now? Well, because the offense is designed to attack the middle of the field, and there's just a lot of traffic in the middle of the field. You know, Josh Paschel tips his hand trying to throw the ball in the middle of the field. It gets intercepted by Malcolm Rodriguez the other day. There's a lot of traffic and he's layering these throws over the linebackers in front of the safeties.

But yet he's hitting Debo in stride. And so that's where Kyle likes to design the offense. Garoppolo was good at it at times. Obviously, he wasn't good at times, but it's not safe throws. He's not throwing checkdowns to running backs. He's not throwing like Tom Brady deep down the field. Like he's not throwing deep down the field outside the numbers.

It's in the middle of the field. And so those are throws that can get a lot of quarterbacks in trouble. Brady could throw the ball to a running back 14 times in the Super Bowl.

He'd be happy as hell. Well, they're not doing that. That's not the way the offense is designed.

They're designed to attack with chunk plays the way Mike March did back in the day with Kurt, and that's where they want to go. And not everybody is built to make those throws. So the scheme is built for dangerous throws. So there's the risk, and then we could see, obviously, the reward. And that's what you're saying? I'm saying exactly that.

And so a lot of it is play action, but not all of it. But you watch their in cuts. Like, I remember talking to Jim Schwartz after they lost to Cleveland this year. And I talked to Jim about it, and he said, you know, like, we knew that they love their in cuts, but we weren't getting out of our man-to-man coverage. We're going to make the quarterback beat us. And that day, through an interception, Martin Emerson picked one off, and they shut them down pretty good that day. They played without Debo. They played without Trent Williams. But nonetheless, they manned the receivers up, and they didn't have the big open spots in the middle of the field. They played really well.

They took them away. But that's when I started. But Jim was like, this is where they want to go, Baldy. We knew it. And we could have played zone and protected ourselves. But we're like, the corners wanted to play man and man up against IU and Kittle. And we were good with it, Juwan Jennings.

And they won that day. And it remains to be seen what's back is going to do as much man coverage as he played the other day and as much talent as he has at the quarterback position if he's going to play that style. Yeah, Purdy led a game-winning drive, actually, in the fourth quarter. Had the Niners set up to win, but Jake Moody missed the field goal. So Purdy actually had that gritty final drive in that game that didn't result in the win that the Niner fans are always talking about, the gritty win that they're looking for. And they did come up with one against Green Bay. So before I let you go, Baldy, your first blush analysis of Super Bowl 58 and what it will come down to.

What do you have for me? Well, at this point, Rich, how can you bet against Patrick Mahoney? Honestly, that's the easy answer.

But how many times are we going to watch this movie and go, you can't count this guy out. Even in the Super Bowl, they lost to Tampa. I think somebody tracked how many miles he ran being chased that day where the offense line was just overmatched. But even still, in some of those throws, nobody can survive and make those kind of efforts that he did to try to win that game.

And so we know the effort and everything it takes to try to win a game, no matter where they're at in the game, up, down, whatever. It's just hard to think that you could take down Patrick Mahoney and Steve Spagnola and Andy Reid at this point. But give me the way that the Niners then do it.

It comes down to what? I mean, can the Niners do to Mahomes what the Ravens defense did? Because if Mahomes has a scoreless half, don't you think the Niners have a great shot with certainly with the Caffrey and a healthy Debo and Ayuk and Kittle and Purdy coming in and saying, today's my day, right? Well, we're going to put the spotlight on Brock Purdy and see if he bites the apple, Rich, as they like to say.

Or if he just plays just loose and carefree and just fearless. Because at the end of the day, I remember when Nick Foles won the Super Bowl with the Eagles here six years ago, Rich. Like I said, OK, before that game, he's got to make five throws that are just absolute highlight throws. And when you go back and watch that shootout with Brady, he had 10. He had 10 that day where you go, you can't throw it any better.

And they needed every one of those 10 to win, including the Philly special. And I feel like that's what Purdy is going to have to do. We're going to have to see at the end of this thing, like we're going to see five throws where you go, I don't care if it was Montana or Young. He's on that stage with the guys that have won here before. And that's the level he's going to have to play at.

And maybe have a catch, too, like you pointed out that Foles, right? I mean, yeah, who knows? Baldy, great chat. Really appreciate you doing it. I'll see you down down the road and say hi to everybody there at the films at the I'll certainly do that. I'll see you in Las Vegas. Take care.

But you bet at the Sable Mahal. Brian Balding are zooming into the Rich Eisen show here. Love Baldy, man. Just love the love it. His passion for ball talk comes through.

I like it. Purdy is going to have to come up with five throws. So let's make a note of that five, because we'll talk about again. We we we compile.

We interview and compile here. Five throws. We'll keep mentioning that to our guests next week when we're in Vegas for our Super Bowl shows and then watch Super Bowl 58 and see how many of he comes up with. Now, when we mention these to the guests coming up, do we make it seem as though we came up with this? No, no, I'll say I'll give him credit.

A million percent. And just just make it seem like it's yours. I know as an example of the throw where he took one in the chops and found Debo. Yeah, another one where he escaped and found use check on the sideline. Yeah, that was the touchdown. That's three, three. Didn't catch have another one that you check in the other side of the field on like a third down. Oh, yes.

Well, you check was open and he caught him. Right. Right. Yeah.

OK, so so you've got a you got a few of them right there. I will take a break. We'll be back here on the Rich Eisen show and just a lickety split and set up the the rest of our week right here on the show. Rockman, just out of the blue, where were you when you sent this tweet, Chris? Oh, I mean, was that on a Sunday? Was it a Sunday night? I don't remember.

I was probably just at home. And you just said, you know, if the Eagles make the playoffs, I'll take a bite out of Mike Del Tufo's hat. You said I will take a bite out of Mike Del Tufo's hat.

Yeah, Eagles have made the playoffs and you have avoided the inevitable for a week. That ends now. I just sliced up a one inch by one inch cut out of Mike Del Tufo's Callaway hat and I placed it like little Easter eggs into the right half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Take a bite. Here we go.

You go. Rockman is taking a bite. Did you get a piece of the hat there? I think you did. We chose the peanut butter to stand nearby.

Nope, we don't. It's part of the hat sticking out. Oh, that is an awful piece right there in that sandwich.

No, you may not eat it as long as you eat it. Keep going. Keep going. I didn't go through man.

This piece is like right in my tooth. Why did you even do this, Chris? You didn't have to. You took the McLovin.

Because the Eagles stink. You took the McLovin baby. Oh my God.

That was Sunday. Radio audience, I can't even tell if that's a piece of glistening jelly or a piece of a glistening jelly glistened Del Tufo hat piece. Down it. Just I feel like I'm talking to Taylor eating her broccoli. Just eat it and we'll get off your case. Oh, he just went one bite. He finished it. This is not going to be good because that is peanut butter and it is jelly and it is Del Tufo hat and you just jammed literally three inches by three inch piece of sandwich. It was a proud day for my future son. Oh my God.

All because you took Andrew Perloff's bait. No, Cowboys back on the Rich Eisen show. Game time is the ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with any purchase that you make on it because it's the fast and easy way to buy tickets for events near you and like for football, basketball, baseball, concerts, comedy, theater, and more. But it's also because you can find last minute seats and you can also find the view from your seats and you can also get all in pricing up front so you know what it costs before you check out. And now all users can get $100 off when you buy a big game ticket with code Vegas 100 and the game time guarantee that you get by buying tickets with game time gives you the best price. If you find tickets in the same section in row for less game time is going to credit you 110% of the difference. Again, the guesswork is completely removed out of buying tickets with game time. All game time users right now get $100 off a big game ticket with code Vegas 100.

Restrictions apply. Visit gametime.co for terms. Just download the game time app. Use the code VEGAS100 and you get $100 off a big game ticket. Or if you're not going to the game, just use my code rich and you get $20 off your first purchase. Download game time today.

Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. You should do that. I have been told, sir, you've got something for the final segment.

What do you have? Well, yeah, you know, today we were Chris brought up earlier that today was the anniversary of the Kevin Dyson play. Yes. And you know, on Facebook, you know, I check Facebook every now and then and always has a memories tab and you go there and you can kind of see what you've posted throughout the year. So I happen to look today and I saw a post that was kind of interesting. I mean, you and I had spoke about it before, but from January the 30th, 2013, just gave rich eyes in the ride in the rain. Normally I don't pick up hitchhikers, but I made an exception.

This is the New Orleans. And you and I spoke about this the first time I met you. I gave you a ride in the rain. And then I also was on the DP show 11 years ago today where I portrayed a character called Dr. Voodoo, then that's we're trying to put a little heebie jeebie on Dan for picking on him. So they had me come in and I was 11 years ago where there was a golf cart ride in the rain.

It was an escalate, escalate pouring rain. And yeah. Oh, so I gave you a ride from the set to wherever you had to be next. And that was the first time that.

How about that? I mean, of course, I knew who you were. I've watched you for years, but that was the first time that you and I ever actually met squad goals. And I talked to you, right? I mean, we had a set up front. He sat up front, but it wasn't an Uber either. Well, the ride was about 100 feet because it was pouring rain. Now, I mean, I took you down the block a little bit. Well, I mean, it was because I had to come through the convention center.

Yeah, right. And to leave the convention center and I got picked up and Dan had his own set. Yeah, I had to tell you that was a little ride away and it was raining. It was poor rock. And I told James Crittenden, I was like, you want me to give Rich a ride?

He's like, yeah. So it sounds like train day. I would say you're right. You're rating on that day would be like a five. I want to give you five stars on that. All right. You know, thank you. I'm like Uber, which thank you. You would have given me five stars, even though I sat up front. Well, I mean, the Uber driver with Uber DJ here. And he said, don't do that. Don't do it. Right.

ZJ, ZJ, ZJ, ZJ says, come on. So happy anniversary. Thank you. Same to you guys. And how about next year?

The Super Bowl is in New Orleans and you'll do more than just a cameo. God willing. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, you'll be you'll be with us the whole time. As long as you still have me, baby. I'll still be here. OK.

I will have you. Very good. When's the logo come out? Because I need to know who's playing in the logo. For the New Orleans Super Bowl.

Let's go. We'll come out the next day at the handoff press conference. Whoever's in charge of the Super Bowl committee. We New Orleans Super Bowl prediction. Whoever is in charge of that committee in New Orleans will be in Vegas. And there will be a handoff between the Vegas Super Bowl committee and the New Orleans Super Bowl committee.

And they will put out the logo for Super Bowl. Hold on a minute. LXIX. Look at you. Right. Because I'm doing Roman numerals for you.

Fifty nine. The only Super Bowl where there were no Roman numerals, I believe, was Super Bowl 50. Because they didn't want just the letter L on a hat being handed out to winners. Loser. That's funny.

I'm serious. You can't have Super Bowl L. So can we predict the colors for next year? I don't even know. It's a waste, because this year I'm going to tell you right now, it's stupid. I'm going to make a Super Bowl prediction on overreaction Monday based on the colors.

I'm telling everybody right now. Chris, I'm going to predict blue and red. We just had red. I know, but we're going to have red all the time. We're going to have red and green and it's going to be blue. I mean, what else is going to be yellow? And the Bengals and Rams played. It was it was it was blue and colored orange and yellow.

Yeah. Black and gold says Don Bowie, who's like the Saints fan of ours, of our world Super Bowl. Don Bowie is I'm predicting the Cowboys. Chief Super Bowl. Let's go Steelers. Chiefs in it again. I mean, are you going to bet?

I know you don't bet, but I don't bet against them. Like I said earlier, man, as long as Patrick Holmes is still breathing. Oh, you know, there'll be something prior to the season. This that the other thing during the season. Oh, the Chiefs are vulnerable. Let's see.

Yeah, we're not we're not home for that. And the Patriots are going up again. Nice.

Nice. Drake May and the Patriots going up against who? Caleb Williams and the Bears.

That sounds great. OK. Two rookie quarterbacks in the Super Bowl. Rich. Oh, my gosh. Oh, gosh. Well, it all depends on the color scheme, apparently. Yeah, morons.

I'm surrounded by morons. Red, orange and silver. Oh, yeah. Let's go. OK, that'll wrap it up for this edition. Thanks to Baldy. Thanks to Albert Breer. Thanks to David Lombardi as well. And thanks to these morons.

Hey, I resemble that remark. The Rolling Stone Music Now podcast gets inside the biggest stories with Rolling Stone's senior writer, Brian Hyatt. And here's Lil Yachty with Tierra Whack. I've never been to a fashion show.

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