Chris Long: Keys to the Game - Spags vs. Shanahan

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Learn more at Discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Do you think enough kids these days know who Jerry Rice is? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Jerry Rice, he had one hundred eighteen catches in the playoffs. Travis Kelsey just passed Rice.

He's got one hundred fifty six. Today's guest, host of the Greenlight podcast and two time Super Bowl champion Chris Long, ESPN Sports Center host Scott Van Pelt, Emmy Award winning actor Eric Stonestreet, USC head coach Lincoln Riley. And now it's Rich Eisen. Oh, yeah. Yes.

Yes. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We've made it, everybody.

We've made it. And I'm not referring to the Super Bowl. I'm talking about coming to work. I mean, in Los Angeles. Oh, man.

OK. But when it rains, it pours in terms of football. It's Super Bowl week and not just any week. Las Vegas, Nevada, where, you know, they do things to excess. And the Super Bowl is all about excess and hyping it.

It's all about that. And we're going to Las Vegas, Nevada this week. We're doing our shows right here from the Rich Eisen Show studios in rainy Los Angeles on this day.

And then tomorrow and then after tomorrow's show, we're all taking a flight to Las Vegas. And we will be setting up shop in the Super Bowl experience for the rest of this week. Getting you ready for the big game right here on the Roku channel. This Rich Eisen Show, terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more.

We still have lots of work to do with an overreaction Monday podcast. Susie Schuster and Amy Trask have got a what the football. Their guest this week is Chris Fowler. You might be sitting there saying, Rich, why are they having on the voice of college football? He's not just the voice of college football.

But as you know, he's called some professional football games for the worldwide leader in sports. He is the voice of the international feed. So every other country but ours will be listening to Chris Fowler with the call of Super Bowl 58 from Las Vegas.

And so Susie and Amy will have him on. And we're just basically throughout everything that we do here this week, getting you ready for the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the 49ers. Today's guests are a two time Super Bowl champ in Chris Long. He will be first up Scott Van Pelt fresh back from Orlando, Florida, where he was hosting ESPN's coverage of the Pro Bowl weekend. He's in in our number two.

Eric Stonestreet will be up in our number three on this program. He's a backyard Chiefs fan. I guess he's a two time Super Bowl champ himself last year.

And then Patrick Mahomes, his first year in the Super Bowl. And then Lincoln Riley is the head coach of USC football. He'll be joining us just as we're going out the door.

He's in Las Vegas already. And his assistant, offensive assistant, just got named the new offensive coordinator for the Washington commanders. And they are second on the clock, as close as you can get without sitting first overall. This just in, we're always going to help you with such things.

And Caleb Williams is in this year's draft. And so there's that interesting. You don't say, boy, are we going to have a lot to talk about on this program with you as well?

Eight, four, four, two or four. Rich being the number to dial. So get him while the get is good. Good to see you over there. Chris Brockman, how are you rich? I'm dry.

I'm ready to go. It's Super Bowl week. Mikey D is in Deez Nuts is driving to Las Vegas.

So I imagine he's collecting animals by two on his arc as he's floating there. I can't imagine what the 15 looks like right now. Hot mess. So I don't want to do it. Best of luck, Mikey, if you're listening.

Is that why you were laughing at the top of this program, Jason Feller? OK, good enough. All right. Listening right now. Does he have us on? Please. In the car.

He doesn't have us on when he's here. I don't have outstanding response. Just an absolutely outstanding response.

TJ Jefferson. Good to see you. I'm not going to open that umbrella in here. That's bad. No, I'm not going to open it. I'm beyond the point of thinking this is bad luck, but I do need a cockatoo and a calf to finish getting the animals up on the arc.

So if you have one. How's your back? Are you ready for Las Vegas? It's still it's doing a lot better. My man Lance over at therapy hooked me up and I hooked Benny Blade yesterday, hooked me upside down on this table and stretched out my spine. Oh, really? I got to admit. Now, Benny is your barber.

Yeah. OK. Benny, man. Back in the day, back in the day, you know, barbers used to put leeches on you to get healthy. So I guess why not go to a barber point? Benny just a bomb sandwich for breakfast and the fade.

And then he hooked me up with the inversion to my back. Does feel better. Very good. OK. Yeah.

I sound like Larry David, which who returned to HBO last night and not Siri. OK. OK. It's my home's world.

We're paying rent in it. Listen, everyone, I understand you might be sick and tired of hearing about Patrick Mahomes. Too bad, honestly.

And you might be sick and tired of hearing about the Chiefs in general. It's too bad. And if you're sick and tired of hearing about Taylor Swift, she won album of the year for the fourth time, a record fourth time last night. And just so casually dropped that she's got a new album.

You know what, because because, you know, when when you're on a tour around the world, why not create a new album? All right. So too bad. And Niners fans are out there saying we can stop the conversation. And yes, you can.

Yes, you can. You've got to take Mahomes and put his ass on the turf in Las Vegas, Nevada. Period.

End of story. They buccaneers it to him. And that's what you need to do to him. And they are equipped to do it.

They are equipped to do it. The last time they faced him in the Super Bowl, it was four years ago last Friday, by the way. And they had a 10 point lead on this guy with seven minutes to go. 20 to 10 was the score of Super Bowl 54.

And then they scored 21 unanswered. The Chiefs did to win it. And this is the last time they played each other when Patrick Mahomes was a mere pup. He walked into that Super Bowl in Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida, just three and one in his playoff career. That's it. Would you if you want to while we're strolling down memory lane here, you know, it was the first guy Patrick Mahomes beat in the playoffs. I'll answer it for you. His name was Andrew Luck.

Ah. Isn't it amazing Andrew Luck played four years ago? Feels like 19 at any rate. Then Mahomes lost in the AFC Championship Game 2. Tom Brady returned to the playoffs the next year. And it looked like this team that got a bye and hosted a divisional round game against the Houston Texans looks like they were going to get bounced and Mahomes was going to get sent under 500 in his playoff career as Houston led 24 to nothing in that game. And then Mahomes led at halftime anyway, 24. Then comes the AFC Championship Game against the Tennessee Titans, which led Mahomes by 10 points in the second half. Then Mahomes won that game anyway. And that's how he went into the Super Bowl.

Totally vulnerable it appeared because here was a kid just learning his way into the second season and wriggling off the hook a little bit in the divisional round and in the AFC Championship Game. He was down 10 with seven minutes to go in the Super Bowl and he won. And that kid who went into the Super Bowl three and one in his playoff career is now 14 and three in his playoff career. And as we learned in that playoffs, he has quite the knack for coming back in playoff games in which he's trailed by seven or more points.

How about this statistic? Just to give you a sense of the air of invincibility that Mahomes now has surrounding him in his playoff career. We could, you know, mention how he now has 13 playoff wins since 2019. That's the most playoff wins in a five season span in NFL history.

Two other five season spans, just a little bit worse than him. Tom Brady from 2016 to 2020 and 2014 to 2018, Brady was 12 and two in those stretches. Mahomes is 13 and two in his five game stretch. He needs two touchdown passes in the Super Bowl to pass Peyton Manning for fifth all time. But if he does that, he passes Kurt Warner and Steve Young, two of our guests in Vegas this week, for the fifth most touchdown passes in the history of the Super Bowl. But here's the stat, because if the Niners do what they couldn't do in their two games to reach these, reach the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, which is take a lead, not fall down and come back, take a lead and get Mahomes down by a touchdown or more again. This is the stat. Patrick Mahomes in his playoff career, in which the chiefs have trailed by seven or more points, is eight and two in those games. Think about it.

Think about it, right? You keep hearing about in the playoffs, you need to be 10, 15, 20% better than you are in the regular season. He's eight and two in those games. Now, they didn't trail by seven against Miami in the wildcard round and they didn't trail as we know at all in Baltimore. They did fall down by seven in Buffalo. They were down 10 to three in the divisional round game, which gave him a 10th career playoff game in which he's trailed by at least a touchdown or more. And the reason why we're mentioning the number 10 is because when you use that metric since 1950, every other quarterback to start at least 10 games in which he's trailed in a playoffs by at least a touchdown, forget about eight and two, none of them, nobody has a record even above 500. Yeah.

This is what jumps off the page at me. Mahomes is eight and two, again, we always do the math for you, that's an 800 winning percentage in games in which he's trailed in the playoffs by at least a touchdown. Tom Brady played 21 such games in his career.

He's 10 and 11 in those. Elway, six and seven, Breeze, six and eight, Joe Montana, who we're seeing in Las Vegas as well, four and six. That's the air of invincibility that this kid who was down in his first Super Bowl season by at least a touchdown in every single game, divisional round, AFC Championship, Super Bowl, he won them all and he started showing us what beats inside. And here's the eventual point to start this week about Mahomes. And don't worry Niners fans, we'll be fair and balanced throughout the weekend, throughout the week too. Because as I mentioned, Steve Young, Joe Montana, just as guests, but I want to just point out what we're witnessing here and what the Niners have in front of them, is this team that Mahomes is bringing into the playoffs.

And I know Chief's Kingdom will be like, what are you talking about? It's the truth. By every metric, the worst team that Mahomes has had, period.

And the pushback you might be giving me, oh, there's this defense, whatever. I'm talking about the stats because Andy Reid alongside Mahomes is heading, as we know, first ballot Hall of Famer. Among Andy Reid's five Super Bowl teams now, five, okay, Philadelphia and then what he's done in Kansas City. Among his five Super Bowl teams that he's had, the 11 and six record, worst.

The points per game, 21.8, worst for Reid. Did you know that the turnover margin the Chiefs have is minus 11? And if they win on Sunday, that would be the worst turnover margin by a Super Bowl champion ever. The 07 Giants that shocked your Patriots had a turnover differential of minus nine. Mahomes is overcoming all of this with obviously the defensive help as a defensive unit that is championship quality. But even with championship quality, that turnover differential this season was minus 11.

Their point differential was only plus 77. That's the worst of any of the Andy Reid Super Bowl teams. McNabb and Teo and Tyreek and Mahomes, Kelsey for four of them. They better the Niners get up, take a lead and hang on. Cause here comes the best comeback quarterback in the history of the playoffs.

Eight and two after you get them down by a touchdown, including this Niners team had them down by 10 with seven minutes to go. Unbelievable what we are witnessing, which is the way I wanted to start this week. So much to discuss. Our four guests today, Scott Van Pelt, hour two, Eric Stonestreet, hour three. We've also got on this program, Lincoln Riley of USC football hour three. Coming up, Chris Long and some news on my charity run because we always kick it off Super Bowl week. We'll do that as well. You at 844-204-rich number to dial and I've got the top five mind blowing results of Super Bowl 58. When we come back, Chris Long will be here on the Rich Eisen Show live on the Roku channel and more. America Starts the Day with America in the Morning. Hi, I'm John Trout, your host for the latest news, politics, entertainment, business, and weather.

Our staff of correspondents provide a fast paced look at the world with specialized reports from where news happens in New York. I'm Sue Allard. I'm Charles Dilettesma, Sagar, Megani, Washington. I'm Jennifer King. I'm Clayton Ewell. I'm Kevin Carr. I'm Archie Zaraleta. Concise, accurate, and fresh each day. America in the Morning, the podcast available wherever you listen.

On the Bigger Pockets Real Estate Podcast, cohost David Green and Rob Abasolo interview real estate investors and entrepreneurs about successes, failures, and hard earned lessons. Joined by author Dave Meyer. Who wrote a book? I did write a book. It seems like you're coming out with a book every four minutes. You are one to talk. You've released two books this year.

I've done half as many as you. It is more about strategy than it is about just finding whatever the new buzzword happens to be. The Bigger Pockets Real Estate Podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen. Back here, Chris Long's going to join us shortly on the program. So there's a couple of things we need to talk about, too, is whatever the hell's going on with the Lakers and the NBA as well. No idea. Didn't we bury them last week?

Well, I mean, everybody's buried them. They won two in a row against the two best home teams in the NBA, pretty much. Yeah.

Boston and New York. Wow, I'm looking at Schefter right now live on TV, and that dude has a five o'clock shadow literally at five oh one. And I don't think he shaved today. Also, I get that he's we got it on to I get that he's in a hotel or something.

I don't know, man, like just stack some books. Someone just walked off. So no, I don't know. I was at his house. You think that's his house?

I have no idea. I told him I've told him multiple times. I've given him I said normally he's in the office.

And he's got a set up. He must be in Vegas. I don't know. He must be. I don't know.

But like I said, looking down, it's just never, never good for this. I just all the Niners are not pleased, pleased with their practice field, huh? No, really, dude.

I don't know where they are. Oh, I'm leaning San Francisco, but Taylor Swift winning last night and announcing an award and it was her 13th Grammy win. I mean, the Chiefs are winning. Well, you know, everything's 13, right? Right. Like I brought up last week. To 11, right?

February 11th. Well, yeah. Come on. Right.

Yeah. Brock Purdy, where's 13? Brock Purdy, where's 13? The number 100 minus 13 is? 87.

Kelsey's jersey. Right. I mean, LaJuan ran through all the numerology. Oh, he did.

That's right. And then chose the Niners. Then picked the Niners, which is the way I want to lean. But gosh, there's just so much in the stars for KC right now.

Well, LaJuan ran through all the numerology for pointing towards the Chiefs. Then the next day I brought up that you could also apply that to Brock Purdy. Sure. That's true, too.

Maybe it's just his time. Do I not? Yeah.

Serious people. All right. Very good.

You're right, Logan. 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 clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Chris Long is logging in as we speak. Let's go to Terzo in Iowa. What's up, Terzo? You fired up or what? Your Niners are going to the Super Bowl. Woo.

Rich, I'm extremely excited. It's kind of the law before the storm here, to be completely honest with you. You know, because like you said, Mahomes is the man, right? Yeah. And I don't ever want to hear him say that he's an underdog.

Sir, you were out of that category. Never again do I want to ever hear that come out of his mouth, because when he's on the field, he can change the game. So no more underdog speak, because that's just who you are. I have a good feeling about the Niners. Just hoping at this point that, well, like you said, the practice field doesn't become an issue, because I don't want anything to happen to anybody, knock on wood, prior to the game. Good point. Well, I mean, I don't think the...

I don't know if they're unhappy with it, considering other options. Huh? I just heard about this.

Yeah, I saw a tweet go out earlier about it as well, too, and so I don't know. I'm just happy that we're here, and I want us to make up for that loss in 2020, that 10-point lead, because that still sticks with me, and I'd like to see Shanahan be able to get this monkey off at his back, because he's a great coach, and I believe he deserves this one. Unbelievably, Terzo.

The number that we saw is, again, when he was the OC for Atlanta in that loss, and I believe a gentleman who's about to call us played in that game, if I'm not mistaken, and then the Super Bowl we just referred to, zero points for his offense in both of those fourth quarters. Zero. Thanks for the call, Terzo. You be well.

That's Terzo and I. We'll call back this week. Appreciate it, Rich.

You got it, brother. Super Bowl champ and the host of Green Light Pod as well. Here is Chris Long back on the program. How you doing, Chris? Rich, what's up, man? How you doing? I'm not bad.

Getting ready to go to Vegas for five days, what could go wrong? What's your Super Bowl memories when somebody says, hey, man, you played in, you know, you've got two rings. What do you think of when you think of those rings, Chris?

I think of, man, they're so different individually. You know, New England was like, I was ring chasing, right? You know, like so many guys that go up and sign with New England and it just worked out as like playing the craps tables or whatever and hitting it right. I don't play craps, so I wouldn't even know how to land the metaphor, but it's just picking the right team and ending up in the right situation and, you know, right down to twenty eight, three, thinking about half that game being the worst hour of my professional life.

And then the greatest 15 minutes to that point of my life and professional football. And then, you know, Philly is a totally different deal where no one expects it. I know we're the one seed, but everybody's hurt. We've got Jason Peters down. We have Darren Sproles down.

We obviously have the quarterback down. And so just two totally different situations when I think about them, like looking back, I think about the fact that it was impossible to soak it in. It just happens so fast.

And no matter how hard you try to soak it in, it's like gone in a flash. And you know, it does change your life forever winning those things. But there's a huge risk, right? Going to the Super Bowl is you could lose it. And it was described to me by Rob Ninkovich, I think on the bench down twenty eight, three or something like that was like, dude, trust me, you would rather go in sixteen than get to a Super Bowl and lose.

It's the worst feeling in the world. So I just think about the gravity of every single play. I just think about you can almost, you can almost smell it, the intensity in the air when you play in a Super Bowl. So it was, it was, it was wild. My senses were on fire. The whole game was crazy.

Yeah. It was a seven year anniversary of that Super Bowl, twenty eight to three, and then you guys flipping that script, you know, and what is a Belichick Super Bowl speech like? What was that? To be honest, and maybe, you know, maybe some guys who were on the team will give you a better answer, but I don't remember. I barely remember the pregame speech.

I don't remember what he said. Now, I remember at half we were down twenty eight to three or whenever we were down twenty eight to three and he literally just made it about making one play at a time, you know, which is I think people a lot of coaches imagine coming in and passion cussing people out. You know, we got to do this.

We got to do that. He was literally about getting one stop at a time, doing the things right that we weren't doing right offensively. And for me, being so conditioned to losing my whole career, you know, being a two and fourteen guy, being a one in fifteen guy coming from where I came from. You can't learn how to be a winner in those situations. I was not a winner. You know, I was a real good player and all that, but I wasn't a winner. I didn't understand winning and I didn't understand because it gets reinforced in your head all the time when something happens, something's going to go wrong. Like you to that point in the game, I'm used to something going wrong and being down twenty eight to three, I have never seen it turn out the way it turned out for us that day. So there were guys in there that at the time I thought were faking belief.

I was like, there's no way y'all really believe this. I mean, I'm a bust my ass until the final whistle because I have a lot of pride and that sort of thing. I'm actually used to this is my forte playing down twenty eight three, but not winning down twenty eight to three. So it was wild and just his very matter of fact, you know, breakdown of what happened in the first half. It wasn't over the top. We just went out there and executed Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen show. And what was Brady like on the sideline down twenty eight three, you were down twenty one three.

It happened that obviously twenty eight three famously against seven years ago today. Well, I stayed away from him when we were down. You know, it's probably the last 30 minutes that I know with Tom Brady.

I don't want to ruin it trying to walk up and give him a pat on the back when he's not in the mood for it or something like that. We just on defense, we were so concerned with just getting a stop because in that first half we couldn't even get to third down. You know, I think about like I at that point was the third down guy. You know, I was playing inside a lot on first and second down, like in a three technique and that sort of thing.

I love it, but I was willing to do it to be a part of that team and chase the ring. But eventually, Bill in the playoffs made me a third down guy and I was fine with that. OK, so I'm going to get like twenty, twenty five steps in this game.

You wait your whole life playing this game. The first half goes off. I think I played in two plays in the first quarter, maybe because we could barely get to third down. And the first one I got in, I actually hyper sit on my knee and shift a little piece of bone off that I'm worried about later, but like a little fragment.

And I can just remember being like, this is going to be the worst night of my life, huh? Like in the second quarter, like I'm barely playing or down big doesn't look like we're ever going to be rushing the passer. So I'm legitimately going to quit football after this game. Like I'm done. I hate football.

You know, it's like what a sick joke. You'd rather just kept me in St. Louis. You know, I should have they should have kept me and moved the team and I could have gone three and 13 again, because that would be, as Ninko said, better than this. And then the flip, the flipping of that switch was Hightower and it was really them messing up that protection early in the second half. And once they messed that protection up and Hightower went in unblocked and we forced a turnover, it was like, everybody knew, okay, now it's not like a dream. We can actually beat these guys. We can come back and beat these guys. Chris Long here on the Rich Eisen Show and I just mentioned in the fourth quarter of that game, no points for the Falcons offense in the fourth quarter of the previous Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Niners, no points in the fourth quarter there.

And that's part of the story for Kyle Shanahan coming into this game. Is there anything of that fourth quarter, seven years ago today that you were on the defensive side of the ball and the play calling that we saw there and the maybe the play calling that we saw four years ago last Friday in the previous Super Bowl, is there any through line that you think might affect what we see this coming Sunday, Chris? Well, I don't think anybody's going to be up 28 to three.

You know what I mean? And I don't think anybody's going to be building some big lead. I really think it's going to be a good football game. I definitely lean Chiefs, but I think about the fact that a week ago, getting off script a little bit here, Dan Campbell got burned by those fourth down decisions, you know, like, and people made a big deal about it, like making bad decisions, blowing a 17 point lead. And I actually don't think they were the worst decision in the world.

Okay. Like, because of what we talked about on the show last week, we don't need to go backwards. But the point is Kyle Shanahan has been in a similar situation on a bigger stage. And I think it's pretty remarkable that he was able to get back and then now get back again. And I know, I'm sure he came out of the game and at least in part blamed himself. I know Dan Quinn's the head coach at that point, but when you're up eight points with about four minutes to go and plus territory matter of fact, you're in on like the fringe, I believe you're near like 30, 25 hour line. I can't remember, but they ended up giving up a stack and a hold, and that knocks him out of field goal range.

They're throwing the football. And so I don't know how Kyle thinks about that. You know, I don't know if Kyle thinks about it in a different way than Dan might. I think Dan looks at those decisions he made last week and he's steadfast in the fact that this is who we are. We, we, we, we go for it on fourth down.

We remain aggressive, but that wasn't even an aggressiveness thing. I think had they kicked the field goal in that situation, there's no chance we win that game. They go up 11, about three minutes to go into super bowl. So I, I felt for Kyle, even though it's why I have a ring and I have a lot of respect for him and I respect what San Francisco has been able to build to get back there again now. And so, you know, look no further than Kyle Shanahan. You want to talk about your, your happiest dream and your, your worst nightmare.

It's the same opportunity. And he's had a couple of nightmares here and like the Annie just gets up when you go a third time as a coach and you know, I really feel for him, but, but there's a lot on the line. Chris long here on the rich eyes and show super bowl 58 comes down to what do you think? I think it comes down to spags against Shanahan.

I mean, I don't want to be cliche here. I think Andy Reed's got the advantage over Steve Wilkes. I think they're going to be able to run the football. I think the quarterback position, you've got the advantage over party. I think the offensive line especially for San Francisco, being able to hold up in protection obviously getting to my homes with fours is a key.

I think there'll be up to that task. I don't think it's going to be like the Tampa Bay Super Bowl where they had guys down. And like we said before the game, like this is a bad deal for Kansas city. I think it's Kansas city and I think Kansas city is going to be able to run the football. But I do think the spags and Shanahan chess match is going to be huge. And if Shanahan can find a way to win that chess match, then they've got a chance to stay in this game. But I think it's going to be very interesting because Kansas city has the backers that can match up in the middle of the field.

They have the cover guys outside. We've said all year, I thought they had the best defense in the league. People people scoffed at you at different points in the year because we got out of our over our skis on some defenses. But when you've got a coordinator like this and you have a dynamic, uh, interior rusher and you've got shut down, locked down guys outside versatile guys that can play inside out. Great linebackers.

Willie Gay is going to be healthy. I feel like it comes down to that. It's spags winning that battle against Kyle Shanahan, not to say Kyle's not going to have a good day and he's going to get his plays, but I think it comes down to that matchup. So then who, who are the weapons that Shanahan can exploit somehow against that defense? Like let's drill down a little deeper here.

What do you think? I would try to get match-ups, you know, a kiddo matchup that might be advantageous here or there would be great. I mean like, um, I still think he's a, he's a crazy mismatch. If you can get Deebo in motion, try to dictate some of your match-ups. I also think like if you run the ball with authority, which is something that they've been able to do at different terms this year, I mean like that's what they, their, their whole deal is built up that run game. So if you're Kansas city, can you play the edge the way you played the edge against Miami, for instance, because I thought their game plan against Miami in both games was, Hey, we're going to be aggressive and take away perimeter run game.

And then we're going to disguise late on third down and in passing situations, try to confuse Brock Purdy and that sort of thing. It worked against Tua. It worked stopping the edge run game against Miami.

That's the key. If they can stop the edge run game. So if you look at certain match-ups, I look at these edge guys like Carl off this and them without Omena who, who was a really a force for them towards ACL, those edge guys have got to play big. And I think the corners got to play big and aggressive, you know, if, if, if those guys can play big in the flat, make these guys run, run the ball into the teeth of the defense a little bit more. And maybe that's what San Francisco says they want to do is like, we're just going to jam it up the middle. Um, I think it comes down to match-ups in the passing game, San Francisco dictating those match-ups if they can with pre-snap motion and that sort of stuff. And then, uh, and then it comes to the edge run game because if they, they take that away, it's going to be hard for San Francisco and the disguises. Well, I mean, obviously personnel's different, but it isn't the Miami run scheme is similar to San Francisco's. I mean, McDaniel basically helped scheme it up for Shannon before taking off to become his own HC in, in Miami. Right Chris?

Yeah. I think the run game, I mean, you look at Miami's run game when they're really dynamic and when they're on the ball, like, um, they're just fast to the edge show. I mean, they're so fast to the edge and they've got backs who are kind of interchangeable. I mean, most of it's been been great, but like also a chain and, and those guys like, so it kind of reminds you of a mini, like San Francisco situation. I don't think the quarterback's quite as good, but, um, in Miami, um, but I think San Francisco, they've got a tight end, which is a big difference over Miami.

Who's decided to go with like Durham Smythe and I'm not saying he's a bad player. I just think George Kittle is like a real plus. So you've got that real plus as the blocker, which makes your edge run game that much more dynamic. So like, yeah, you can compare Miami, like the bones of it are the same, you know, where you know, what, what's, what comes off of the edge run game is the play action and that sort of stuff in that West coast space stuff. But I think the big difference is George Kittle in the run game. You know, I talked about him as a mismatch in the past game, depending on who he's he's up against, but he's a mismatch for a defensive end in the, in the run game.

And if he can abuse dudes on the edge, then he can be a differentiating factor that a Miami didn't have in that matchup. Did you say you'd give Purdy the edge at quarterback over Tua? Did I hear that? Oh yeah. You? You? Yeah.

I listen, but Tua was an MVP candidate pretty much through, through the middle of November. You know what I mean? Like, okay. Okay. I hear you.

How did he play when he played good teams? I know you've been down on Miami all year. No, I mean, but you know, like I, I, does anybody on set, would anybody on set take Tua over Purdy?

I didn't, I didn't take it here. Chris? No. TJ? Yeah.

You would take Tua over Purdy? Mm-hmm. Okay. But I might just be taking the opposite argument too.

So. Well, he was, he also didn't live up to the moment on Paramount Mountain on that commercial as well. That commercial was crazy.

I mean, it was crazy cause like, I hate, I hate that the narrative is, even though I'm perpetuated it, the moment's too, the moment's too big. You have a Patrick Stewart saying you're not up to the moment. Tua seems like an awesome dude and he's been, he's had some awesome success, but like, you know, if you want to talk about Purdy, now Purdy has been imperfect on this run, but the thing that I think separates Purdy from other quarterbacks and Cam's had this conversation a lot in different ways, but, but if the play left two and a half seconds, who you got? Tua or Purdy?

Tua. Right? Two and a half seconds? No. Oh, I'm saying over two and a half seconds. Two and a half seconds. I thought you said if it lasts just two and a half seconds. No, I didn't say two. Back, okay. Two and a half.

Oh, over two and a half seconds. Sure. Of course. Purdy can create, he can create. And I think, I think like, listen, I know there's a lot of people that take in certain things away from Purdy and I get it because a lot of times in this business, we get so tired of hearing something, a lot of our takes, if we're not careful or like narrative reactionary, you know, like, like we're so tired of hearing about something that we lash out and overdo our take, overcook to take. And I think some people have gotten a little down on Purdy a little bit much, right? I think it's perfectly okay to be like, the guy's a top 10 quarterback. He's not elite. And that's all I'll take that guy any day.

Right? But the polarity of the conversation where some people want to be top three because the stats say that, and then some people want to be, you know, a bottom 10 quarterback because of the surroundings, like you're going to hold that against them. I think the guy's a good player. I think he's a good player, but the guy on the other sideline is an alpha.

Not just any alpha, like maybe the, the greatest of all alphas, like he's up there, he's on the Mount Rushmore of alphas. I mean, there's no, He's got a chance. He's got a chance man.

No, there's no doubt. I love, I love watching Patrick, my home was played. He gives me an opportunity to be a fan.

I don't get to do that a lot. Like I, you get so bogged down in this, you know, you know what I mean, right? Oh yeah. You know, it's absolutely good to be a fan.

Anytime I watch fresh from my homes, it's easy to be a fan. Well, I mean, and here's, here's the bottom line, Chris long. I mean, last year, Purdy blows his arm out, uh, just halfway through the first quarter of the NFC championship game. And we're wondering all season long, you know, all off season long, if he's going to come back and still be even the, a similar quarterback to last year, not only is he, but he answers the question of can he get them even further?

The answer is yes. Now, obviously it's a team game, but he's here, they're there, they're, they're in Vegas. They're going to play this thing and, uh, anything can obviously happen in four quarters of a Superbowl.

So all comes down to it. You're still leaning chiefs. Do I mark you down? Cause you're the first guest of our Superbowl weeks worth of programs. So your first, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go chiefs, uh, 27, 21.

Okay. So it's a tight one. It's a tight one. You think this is a, uh, a one score game and Kansas city wins it over. And then, I mean, my, Oh yeah, the over, I heard somebody say over, I think it's Chris.

No, not me. I don't know. The game would be over if they have more points than San Francisco. Okay. I think it's going. What is the, what is the total? Uh, as we currently sit here, what is it like 47 and a half last time I checked, but I've taken the weekend off.

All right. And do you think there's 47 and a half, although it's up to two and a half now, Chris, you see that the Niners two and a half. Well, I can't wait to, to smash the more on Kansas city. I mean, listen, and the Niners could win this game.

I don't want to come off as dismissive or disrespected disrespectful. Like, listen, the thing that frames this entire conversation is these two teams have done the impossible because I've been there twice, been on the rides, right? Like the insanity of getting together your first team meeting in August and saying, we're going to be playing in February and there's 31 other teams and they're all battling for the same thing to be one of those two teams. It's incredible.

And the reward for getting there is your life could be ruined or it could be made. No biggie, no pressure, no pressure. It's just stuff like legacies and memories and fans and, oh my gosh, it's as big as it gets. There's no doubt about it. Oh, all right, Chris, um, who's on your pod this week. What's your, what are your Superbowl shows looking like in Vegas? We got a lot of people we're partnering with Toyota, not to get corporate here, but we are partnering with Toyota.

Um, okay. It's my favorite kind of truck on the road there, right? Should drive a Tundra. Um, anyways, we're, uh, we're going to be on the media center, um, at their Tacoma kind of studio there. We've got a Tacoma, I've always wanted a truck in my studio. We're going to be the only podcast in America possibly that actually does a podcast from inside a motor vehicle that, that, that moves. Um, so we're really looking forward to, uh, cramming in that, that, uh, Tacoma and doing some content. We've got a lot of people coming through, you know, it's going to be fun. You know how it is on radio row. You just never know. You just, you just, you're like, Hey, cam Newton, come over here and grab your 15 minutes.

Stuff like that. I'm hoping that's what happens. We'll see. Well, I mean, uh, if he shows up, just don't be a podcast manager. Be a podcast changer, Chris, be a podcast changer, which you are.

Well, don't forget Brock Purdy is a, is a game executive. Oh, that's right. Very good. I forgot. Let me write that down so I can remember that. Chris, you're the man.

Uh, we'll speak next Monday and we'll know, we'll have a full on conversation about what we're about to see. You're the best. No question, buddy. You are the best green light with podcasts of green light, uh, with, uh, Chris long podcast hosts right there on the rich eyes and show, put them down for the chiefs.

Chris. I got it. That's one. That's two.

That's true. Let's see what van Pelt is in 16 minutes time, eight, four, four, two old, four rich number to dial. We'll have a conversation with anybody that wants to have one.

We're not discerning. That's coming up. This is done. It's in the can, as they say in the Hollywood business, it is, there is a young lady out there who has caught Kelsey as we are currently standing here and sitting here. Um, and, and all she has is just the promise, we'll see if we can work this thing out and the TV show. I mean, the show is great. Last question on this subject before we take a break, we'll come back and talk some football. Did you, did you tell Andy Reed I'm doing this thing? We had a conversation, um, that's a touchy subject, rich. And uh, I feel like, I feel like I represented the chiefs in a, in a, in a, in a very well manner. Um, I'm not the crazy out, like out of control guy on, on camera. I'm very, uh, respectful, respectful. Yeah.

My parents raised me right in Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. So it's, it was one of those things where I had to show everyone, show everyone around the world that, you know, I am a, a well mannered up, like, uh, I'm not just this crazy football player. So did you say to Andy, I've got 50 women in the Coliseum and I speed date them down to 20 and then I stick them in a, in a mansion and then speed date all of them.

Sometimes one with me and five other women at a time and then boil it down. The time is yours. And then just sit there and say that to Andy. Did you say that?

No, no. I obviously, no, I didn't tell him that. I just told him I had an opportunity on TV.

So is Andy learning right now, what catching Kelsey's really going about? I got an opportunity on TV. Do you mind?

The time is yours. Fantastic. Ah, I love you coach. Wow. Wow. I know, right?

Eight years ago, this summer, eight years ago, he's a, uh, he is, uh, Kelsey's been caught and Kelsey's, Kelsey's caught cherry rice to what that kid is turned into. He was a child there back on the rich eyes and show wanting to remind you that you can stream the super bowl on Westwood one for free sponsored by own. You could stream every Westwood one broadcast live on the NFL app. You can ask Alexa, Hey, open up Westwood one sports or on your Westwood one affiliate stations, digital platforms, Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner on the call for the big game, stream it for free and get in the zone with auto zone auto zones, free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local auto zone.

Get in the zone auto zone restrictions apply. So I guess they put natural grass turf on top of the astroturf at the UNLV practice field and the Niners aren't happy with that firm enough. So where are they going to go? They're going, they're going somewhere else where you just find something in the area. You know what they're doing for the game is they are, they're, they're having the, the, the turf was grown in California and they drove it out, drove it out. They trucked it out and it's on a tray and they're just going to stick the tray right inside of Legion in time for the game on Sunday, eight and a half hours, I'll be pre-gaming and I just always love looking over my shoulder and seeing, uh, George Toma, the sod God out there looking at every inch of the grass.

And last year the grass was a significant story. Guys slipping all over the place. So we'll see about that. What'd you think about what Chris Long had to say? That it's about the chess match between Kyle Shanahan scheming it up and Steve Spagnolo because he thinks that Andy Reid's going to have a scheming advantage on, on Steve Wilkes, the defensive coordinator of San Francisco, they should be able to run the football. Niners D has given up some yards. They've given up some points. Chief's D has been obviously amazing, but you know, teams have shown that they can run on the Chief's D. I think we're going to be looking at a big McCaffrey game on the ground.

You know what? That is a guy we just don't talk about very much. We should be the MVP of the league. It is nuts that, that, that we're not, we don't even mention him.

McCaffrey who is an MVP candidate and an offensive player of the year candidate, finalist in both categories, and he's not a quarterback. And I just said, we're not talking about him enough because Christian McCaffrey, this is his Superbowl moment. This is it for him. Right?

Oh yeah. And this is his time to go out and shine. What if he shows up and he's like, okay, I know about Mahomes. I know about Kelsey and everybody's talking about Debo and everybody's talking about whether my quarterback's good enough, this, that, the other thing. What if Christian McCaffrey shows up and just totally balls out because this guy is a complete difference maker since showing up, he has just unbelievable. You know, we're the only players in NFL history to average 110 or more scrimmage yards per game in both the regular season and playoffs Marshall, Nope. The guy won two Superbowls for his current coach, his dad, and won it with his dad, Terrell Davis to Superbowls playing with Ed McCaffrey and for Mike Shanahan.

That's it. You know, the only people with more games in a row with 50 or more scrimmage yards and one or more scrimmage touchdowns to start a playoff career in the history of the NFL. Because McCaffrey's had exactly that in six career playoff games, his first six. He's the third player in NFL history to begin a playoff career with six straight such games because he had 90 rush yards and two touchdowns and 42 receiving yards in the NFC championship game against Detroit and 98 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns and 30 receiving yards against Green Bay.

Nuts. Six in a row. The only ones more are Terrell Davis and Marcus Allen. Yeah, he's a monster. And his previous games, four of his five playoff games with the 49ers, he's been killing it.

Why not now? Because if he does it, then everything else that we're talking about, oh, Mahomes this. And I started the whole show talking about how Mahomes is one of the best coming back and how this may be the worst Kansas City team that he's taken to a Superbowl on the offensive side of the football, I guess I should have said beginning. This guy McCaffrey could just flip the script, just turn it on, get a crease and be so difficult to stop that the Chiefs are crying uncle by the end of the game.

Entirely possible. Run it right behind Trent Williams, who's been waiting for this moment, his entire career and Kittle and just start punking people. Because the Niners, without Christian McCaffrey, including playoffs under Kyle Shanahan, their record is 46 and 48. With McCaffrey, 26 and six, 20 over with, I'll do the math for you, 5.1 more points per game. All right, Christian McCaffrey. All right, two, three, we see you. Here we go. That's one way through for the Niners, hour two coming up. I could go on and on with him too, man. Marcus Allen, Terrell Davis and McCaffrey, and then throw Marshall Faulk in there just one stat after another.

Unbelievable dude. McCaffrey's first career game with the 49ers was against Kansas City. Only game with San Francisco that McCaffrey didn't start.

They'd lost that one in a route last season. Two years ago, right? Last year? He just got traded there last year.

Yeah, dude. Feels like he's there forever. It does feel like he's been there forever.

I know. Wait, you mean they didn't draft him? He wanted a planned quarterback for him in the NFC Championship game because everything went totally haywire.

That was wild. He led all running backs with seven receiving touchdowns and 31 receiving first downs in 2023. He led the NFL in touches, scrimmage yards, and scrimmage touchdowns in 2023. Career high 1,459 rush yards in 2023. He's the guy to do it.

And I'm sure they're circling 23, and I'm sure he's just like, screw that circle. Here we go. Oh my God, I can't wait for it. I'm just hyping it. I feel like a hype man right now.

I mean, it's a Super Bowl. We got two more hours and four more days of rich flavor flavaines. That's me. Let's go. That's me. Yeah! Let's go. Hour number two coming up. Scott Van Pelt, the magical Van Peezy, fresh back from the Pro Bowl.

Yeah, boy. The Rolling Stone Music Now podcast gets inside the biggest stories with Rolling Stone senior writer Brian Hyatt. And here's Lil Yachty with Tierra Whack. I've never been to a fashion show, I never did any Paris Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, and I'll tell you why. Because I would always go to events, and people would say to me, oh man, Yachty, man, I love your music, bro. And I should be like, what song? I didn't even, at the time, I didn't love my music. I always feel like I'm in a room with all these artists, and they all respect each other, and I feel like no one respects me. Rolling Stone Music Now, wherever you listen.