David Lombardi: 49ers Hearts Got Ripped Out

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Look at what Mahomes has done in just six seasons as a starter. Earlier on the show, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky. Coming up, 49ers reporter for The Athletic, David Lombardi. Senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We chatted with Dan Orlovsky in hour number one about what he saw calling Super Bowl 58 for the international fee.

The Aussies and the Kiwis apparently were getting that fee as well. So, D.O. went global. And he went live local and late breaking with us in hour number one of this program. Albert Breer in hour number three.

844-204-rich number to dial here on the program. Let's get to him. We figured we had him on a couple weeks ago and it was a terrific spot. Getting a sense of how the Niners are, I guess for the lack of a better phrase, processing what happened. David Lombardi covers the team for The Athletic is back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you David?

Hey Rich, how are you? Best to describe how the Niners are processing everything. Well, I'm about to head down to Santa Clara here from San Francisco to check out the locker clean out.

Talk to a lot of the guys for the last time technically this season. But I was in the locker room in Vegas right after that game and I'd never been in a more devastated locker room. And that's saying something because I've covered this team for several years now and boy, the scars that they have accumulated starting in Super Bowl 54 when they lost to the Chiefs in Miami. Continuing with the NFC Championship game against the Rams to end the 2021 season. And obviously the Purdy injury game against the Eagles in 2022. That's a lot of scars. And I would say that what happened in Super Bowl 58 a couple days ago in Vegas was the most painful one. You saw Christian McCaffrey look like a ghost at his locker, just pale.

He wasn't moving for a long time. Trent Williams was just shaking his head. A lot of guys, their eyes welling with tears. You really realize when you're that close to a team this far into a season, this far into a journey, when they lose in that type of fashion, you realize how much has been invested in it.

And it is one of those situations where, I mean, their hearts got ripped out, right? And they, it's going to be a long trip trying to get back up to the top of the mountain. And the 49ers, I think they're going to probably have to try to invoke some of their franchise history here. You look at the 1990 49ers, 92, 93, where they lost to the Giants and the Cowboys twice in a row in the NFC championship game. You look at those years and realize they got back up to the top in 94. It's going to take something similar from these 49ers.

It's going to take a similar overcoming of devastation to try to circle the wagons and get back up to the top again. But right now with the 49ers, it's still very, very raw. It seems raw on Brandon Aiyuk's Instagram feed as well. It seemed that he was posting some stuff about, don't forget who brought you here.

So what do you, how do you interpret that, David? Well, it's going to be interesting heading into the locker room today, speaking with these guys for the first time, because there has been some stuff on social media. A couple of their offensive linemen were going back and forth, and then they apologized to each other over one of the past protection breakdowns, like the key one actually in, in, in, over time. I've seen some of this stuff from Brandon Aiyuk.

I honestly don't, don't know what, what exactly the meaning of that stuff is. Cause I haven't had a chance to, to, to talk to anybody yet when yesterday was travel day from Las Vegas. So I think that, you know, you can expect your fair share of, of off season drama again with the 49ers, we saw some of the stuff with, with Deebo Samuel a couple of years ago when he was up for a new contract, Brandon Aiyuk is entering his fifth year option this season. So it's a similar situation as Nick Bosa last off season, as far as, you know, you've got to figure out a way to keep your A-listers around if you're the 49ers and that doesn't come cheap. And obviously this team is up against the salary cap. Thankfully for them, they carry over 38 million from last season due to some restructures. So they're going to be able to play financial Tetris to keep their core around. But Brandon Aiyuk is definitely part of the core following his all pro performance this season.

And it's going to be very, very interesting to see how quickly they can get this done or if it's going to drag out throughout the entire off season. Financial Tetris. I love that. That's an excellent, Chris, write that down.

That sounds like a very good fantasy to you right there. And I know that it's a great avatar dropping pieces, though. Very good. So when it's all said and done, what do you think, you know, is the general sense of Kyle Shanahan's future? Right.

I mean, he's got a couple of years left on a contract. They love him. Right. I mean, the owner loves him and the the general manager and him are tight. And the question, I mean, they win.

They just can't get past my homes. That's basically it. Right.

That's I mean, in essence, that is it. They've lost them homes twice for all the marbles in the Super Bowl. But again, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, as you just alluded to, they they have built something really impressive in San Francisco. They inherited a team that might have had the worst roster in the NFL in twenty seventeen. And since then, they've been to, what, four NFC championship games and two Super Bowls.

And now all that's left is kicking that door down and making it the whole way. It took Andy Reid 20 plus seasons to win a Super Bowl. He didn't do it with his first franchise. The 49ers certainly hope this story goes differently, that Kyle Shanahan will win this Super Bowl at some point before year 10 and with their franchise, not with another team. It is unquestionably a devastating loss and a string of devastating losses for the 49ers. But one thing I will say is that they have built the organizational resilience to come back from Super Bowl fifty four four years ago to come back from that twenty twenty one NFC championship game and from that Eagles NFC championship game and that birdie injury last year to to deliver what they did this season. And that that in and of itself, I think, is really notable and worth saying right now, because they already have demonstrated that resilience. I think that's one reason why they already are betting favorites to win the Super Bowl next season. I think it's probably too early for 49ers fans to hear that there's going to be a lot of raw visceral pain that's probably going to last up until the train training camp until they see the team playing again this this next season. But within the larger objective context of things, if we zoom out, they already have a documented track record of bouncing back with the culture that Shanahan and John Lynch have built.

And and I think that they're going to be right back in the mix next year. And that's all you can do. It's it's a life lesson as well. Right.

Whenever you get punched in the gut, the only thing you can really do is pick back up and keep on chopping wood. And I think that's what the 49ers are going to be preaching this offseason. Athletics. David Lombardi covers the 49ers getting set to meet with the team later on in the rest of the media in the postmortem locker room today right here on The Rich Eisen Show. So the conversation surrounding Kyle Shanahan's decision to keep the ball to start overtime eventually cascaded into the locker room after the game where players said they didn't really know the rule. And, you know, that sparked a debate, David, between, well, the play calling doesn't matter when the players don't know the rule. And then the other side of it is, well, there's just a general sense of confidence in the play calling and just confidence in yourselves and what to do if everybody knows what the hell the rules are.

So where does this conversation land for you? Well, it would have been really, really interesting had they scored a touchdown. I'll tell you that at the start of overtime, because under the old rules, right, a touchdown with the first possession would have meant the Super Bowl would have been over.

So I'm not really sure what would have happened, but obviously it would have been fascinating to see. As you just alluded to, I don't think it changed how the players were playing. Now people are questioning, well, did Kyle Shanahan call this appropriately by wanting the ball first?

I think all things even, you definitely want the ball second because you have that rebuttal shot and you have a guaranteed four downs if you need them on that rebuttal shot, right? Like Patrick Mahomes did when he was driving downfield when they were down by three. That being said, I think that this situation and this decision was a little bit more complicated just by virtue of how regulation ended. The 49ers were on defense when regulation ended and they were not only gassed after Mahomes had driven down the field to set up the field goal to tie the game, but on the very, the second to last play, they lost two defensive backs. They lost Jair Brown and they lost D'Ometer Lenoir. Those were short-term injuries. They were able to come back about 10 minutes later, but they might not have had those two defensive backs and they would have been down three starting defensive backs, including Talon Oofunga plus Dre Greenlaw who got hurt to start overtime. So I think that Kyle Shanahan just needed his defense to circle the wagons.

He didn't want to throw his defense back out there given the fact they were both tired and injured. Man, that Dre Greenlaw injury, right? I mean, he just ran around the field, right? And he just dropped down, right? Yeah, he'd been dealing with Achilles tendonitis. He was on the injury report for that about two weeks prior and it was something that he was maintaining, but obviously I think he was in the danger zone. It just shows you what these guys go through. I mean, these are long marathons of seasons.

The 49ers played 20 games apiece in 2021 and 2022 and they were right up at that mark again here in 2023. Greenlaw, obviously an extremely physical player, a heartbeat of not only the defense, but this 49ers team and it just gave way. It gave way as he was running out onto the field. You know, Fred Warner said that he was in tears at halftime. Fred was when he came back in and he saw Dre Greenlaw hobbled in the locker room and they really wanted to go out and win the game for Dre Greenlaw and they couldn't. And I think that Rich was one of the lasting scenes in my memory from being in that locker room after the Super Bowl.

Obviously, nobody's even looking each other in the eye. It's one of those things where everybody's just staring off into space, but then you have Dre Greenlaw rolling through on crutches and that to me just put the exclamation mark on how difficult it was for that team in that room at that time. David Lombardi of the Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show covers the 49ers. What are the orders of business now in the non-playing season?

Financial Tetris. That's what they started with. Yeah, so here's how it's going to work for the 49ers. They've done such a good job over the course of the Shanahan-Lynch era of staying under the salary cap while also paying A-list players. And the way that they've been able to do that is that they replace B-listers.

They'll determine if you're an A-lister and if you're an A-lister, they'll pay you. The 49ers have paid every single A-lister that they've drafted over the course of this regime and I do think that Brandon Aiyuk fits into that category. And what they've done is they've surfed the wave because the salary cap has increased every single season, so theoretically you have a little bit more room every year to pay those A-listers.

So obviously Aiyuk is going to be at the top of the order of business, but you've got to figure out a way to replenish the margins of the roster, so you're definitely going to let some guys walk. And for that, they've got 11 picks in this 2024 draft. They've finally reached the point where they're no longer deficient of picks following the big trade-up in 2021 to try to get Trey Lance. So the draft is going to be immensely important for the 49ers this offseason.

I think that with those 11 picks, you can find a way to acquire cost-controlled talent but also infuse roster with youth that can help on special teams and can obviously fortify you for the long run when the cap really starts crunching for this team in 2025. But as of right now, you've got Brock Purdy still on that rookie contract. You can work around that and one interesting name to watch because he, I think, really made a name for himself in the Super Bowl is Juwan Jennings. He's going to be a restricted free agent and that means that the 49ers are on the inside track to be able to keep them around. But to me, he caught a lot of eyes in the Super Bowl with his play, not just the throw for the touchdown.

That was a cool place to be a quarterback at Tennessee, but just for his toughness. And he's a central part of their identity as a team. And it's going to be interesting to me to see how much they do have to tender him in that restricted free agent process to keep them around. But these are the types of things that good football teams have to deal with in the offseason. We've got a lot of guys deserving of money and obviously not everybody's going to be able to come back. Yeah, I mean, Jennings had a shot at MVP at the Super Bowl. I mean, there's no doubt about that.

Yeah, absolutely. But what about paying Purdy? He's got two years left on that deal. They'll let him play year three so they can have the room when they play the financial Tetris and then hit him up before year four and then play it out. I mean, what's the sense about that plan? Yeah, well, they can't pay him right now. Right.

By by rules. So that's that works obviously in the forty niners favor and then he's eligible for a contract extension after year three. So you see how year three goes and you go from there. But what I will say is that this is going to be Brock birdies first full off season in an NFL program because last year he was rehabbing from the elbow tear. He's already finished a season number one across the board in the efficiency metrics. He's gone toe to toe with Patrick Mahomes for 15 rounds. I think that people had this discussion all season and I think he kept on answering the bell when it mattered most. And he's on a very good track to be paid after year three.

It's just got to continue. The sample size isn't huge yet. It's just over a season big. But boy, there have been the NFL is a league of moments and delivering a big moments. And obviously you're talking about Patrick Mahomes before this. He's delivered at the biggest moments for years now.

I think that you look at Brock birdie. He has answered the bell for the forty niners too. And and the future is going to be promising for them as long as that's the case of the quarterback position. David, thanks for the time, brother. Enjoy the non playing season.

We'll reach out to you as things progress. Appreciate the time. Thanks, Rich. Appreciate it. Right back at you, David Lombardi. Everyone should follow his coverage on the athletic.

He's got that whole thing buttoned up. All right. When we come back overreaction Monday on a Tuesday, eight four four two oh four rich number two dial.

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I also love the story that you've told. And if you wouldn't mind telling the audience here as well at the combine, when you would be pulled into rooms and you didn't know which room you were being pulled into by which. Yeah.

Yeah. I was, I was, I was, you know, it'd come back in. Back in that day, everybody was reaching for it. Agents was in the hotel. Everybody was everybody. It was scheduled structure. You can't be in a hotel. You can't be on a premises. Then it was everything as well.

So I'm backing away from crowds and people trying to grab me. And I backed into this room and the giants was there and it was the giant's room. And they had people sitting down, taking these tests. What do they call these things? Oh yeah.

Like the psychology. I mean, the thing was that thick man. And I sat down and they gave me this thing. And what is this? They say, it's this test and you know, we need you to take it. I said, Oh, what picker do you have? It's like the 10th.

I'd be, I'd be going for that. And then let's just get into it here. I mean, Belichick said he watched you run the 40th and that you ran it and then ran into the tunnel. And is it true? That's not true. Okay. You did not run into a waiting car and being taken. No, because I had more interviews than all of that. No, that, that story just grows and grows. It is. It is.

That's not true. I did everything that I was asked to do. Now I didn't lift. I ain't doing none of that because Jerry Rice to this day had laid across my arms. Bitch pressing, you know, I don't know where that comes from. You say that when you're watching the defensive backs, the weight reps of two 20. What have you ever said, man? Well, that guy would have got one more rep. You'd have been there on that play of the three cone drill. Like this has nothing to do with nothing. So I didn't do any of that stuff right here. Well, it all worked out.

Yeah. Back on our program, youtube.com slash rich eyes and show back on the rich eyes and show radio network. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.

Call click ranger.com or just stop by. You just heard it from David Lombardi. Now he's just going to run it back, man. They're just good. They got 11 draft choices.

We said that yesterday. There's really no reason not to. You have Brock Purdy on maybe the greatest quarterback contract ever. He's making like 900 K. There's no reason to not run it back. You paid all these guys. I mean, Brandon, I think he's entering his fifth year.

He's going to want his money and he deserves it. He's been a great player. So let's go saddle up. There's still right there.

It's still the best team in the NFC. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaking of saddling up, are you ready to do it overreaction Monday on a Tuesday? Yeah. All right. Hit it. Hit it.

Hit it. That was terrible. That was crap.

That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction Mondays. Monday on a Tuesday.

All right. What do you have over there, Chris? Hey, what's up guys? Everybody good? What up, yo?

Not really. Reggie, you're going to make it, man. I believe I got faith in you. Uh, here we go.

Ready? This chief's championship stretch, the consideration, who they be, what they've done, what they've overcome. It's the most impressive in NFL history. This is really hard to write. I don't think this is an overreaction.

You could make this argument very, very, very well here. Six years like this six straight AFC championship games for super bowls, three wins. I mean this past year to go on the road, beat the two seed, beat the one seed, beat the other conferences, one seed. I mean, that's kind of what really pushed me. The road wins really impressive.

Go to Buffalo. When in that game, really impressive going to Baltimore, but in that game, all the receiver issues throughout the year, beginning the year, Kelsey banged up Chris Jones holding out. Um, yeah, yeah. I mean, put it all together and we're all together. Yeah. I mean, Andy Reed is coaching, honestly, you know, and, and it's tough to push back on this.

This is not an overreaction. What else? Chris?

It was good. Uh, one of the stories that didn't get a lot of run before it was discovered, uh, deep in the Brock Purdy kind of feature that was going on was the, uh, Tom Brady thing guys, Kyle Shanahan thinking about going to Tom Brady. If Brock Purdy not ready to go, not healed from that elbow injury that went down in the off season after he got wrecked by the Eagles, uh, in the NFC championship game two years ago.

All right. So I'm going to, so I'm going to say Kyle Shanahan guys. He should have just went with Tom Brady after all the quarterback this year. You know what I mean?

Like, come on. You think Tom Brady's playing that game on Sunday? They lose no overtime. Does he even get to overtime with the answer? He goes right down the field. We know Tom Brady's history with a playing overtime playoff games.

We saw in Kansas city, we saw it in the sewer bowl against the Falcons. He just scores touchdowns and needed a touchdown to win that game, uh, in overtime of the sewer bowl. Cause you knew my home's going to come down and answer Kyle Shanahan should have just went with Tom Brady at quarterback after all too. Well, I mean, Chris, it sounds like a great story, right?

And, and yeah, you're automatically going to think, and I'll jump in here for rich real quick. I, yeah, you kind of think that Tom Brady would equal success, but here's the deal, right? Bottom line is when Chris Jones shot the gap and he came up, Tom Brady is not going to get away from Chris Jones on that one.

You're going to have the same effect. Like what happened to Brock Purdy throwing that ball away is more than likely going to happen to what? 44 year old now. Well, I know Tom Brady's like forties. What? Okay.

Yeah. So in theory you'd like to go, yeah, Tom Brady would have made a difference, but the way the Niners offensive line played, which wasn't great. And the way Chris Jones was dominating, I don't personally, I just don't believe that it would have made it there, but it is Tom Brady.

One of the funniest memes I saw yesterday was the Tom Brady, like suiting back up, kind of like the Arnold, he came around the corner and just like, Hey, let's start pretty soon back up. Now the Mahomes has got his third. Well, I mean, you make a good point, TJ. I mean, they were one seed camp do any better than the one seed. They may get the syrup ball. Can't do any better than that. They put it in overtime. Can't do any better than that. I guess Brady's the only other guy who's won a game in overtime. And the 49ers have signed Tom Brady before the game, just to have him in relief, just in case when would you have put him in though?

And then over time, you could have him start off rock party. Look, you did a great job. Guys, this is the Brock. You pitched by the way, great overreaction subject, top notch overreaction. What else you got, Chris?

All right. I don't even know if I'm asking a question here, but it's kind of like, why in the hell did the 49ers stop running the football? That is not an overreaction, but I mean, they did give it to McCaffrey over 20 times, 22 carries. I mean, he had 80, 80 rush yards, third quarter.

He's the first ever 80, 80 guy in the Super bowl. Just third quarter. It was that third quarter, third quarter head scratching.

I mean, I don't know the play log and I'm just like, what? Why? I don't know why that happened.

I tweeted that out during the game. I'm like, you know, it feels like they must deliver a staggering blow right here. I don't know if it would have made the difference or not straight three and outs. You needed to just, I don't know, interrupt, keep my homes on the sideline, just something. Right, right, right, right. But yeah, I, I, I do believe that's where things turned. Yeah. In that, well, the thing turned on, on the mouth point again, I wrote it down here in the stretch of them going three and out.

If you, if you're the 49ers, you would absolutely sign for them going punt, punt, fumble, punt, field goal, interception, punt, field goal, punch to start the game. Yeah. And then that punt was the muff. So that's great and all, but during that interception punt field goal, you only scored 10 points. That's it.

Yeah. And I don't know if we're parsing it cause it's the Super bowl, but like the beginning of that third quarter, they, they needed to, they needed to punch it in the end zone. And I guess McCaffrey's that guy, certainly because McDuffie and, and Snead were, were locking it down. But like I told you, the old 20 twos are going to come back and show that defense was lit Chanel and all those guys up front.

Karl Loftus was everywhere. He was a guy I mentioned before they just couldn't do it. I mean, you just got to give it up to that chief's defense pretty much. And the Niners O line, like I said, I don't think they had their best game. They were a little banged up. I know the, I know the feeling.

What else you got over there? Okay. Uh, look, uh, Dan Olofsky said it a few plays away from Kyle Shanahan being maybe a hall of fame coach, right?

Multiple, multiple Super bowl rings, two rings, three. However, yes, sir. If you're Jed York, you said, no, just call ballot check real quick. Just say, Hey, bill, what do you think about living in the bay?

You're crazy. I can get you there's over water up here and we can ship eight rings out. Maybe get you that ninth ship it through the Panama canal ship a boat across country and send it out there around and cut through.

That's a really far, that's true. That's fishing out here in the, get the ghost out there and go on a cannonball run with the eight rings. So stupid.

You just do it just real quick. I mean, it's only three letters. I'm going to reject this. Just you up. It is an overreaction.

Just my tumble OG with that. I'm saying no, no, no. I went, but I went, but I'm serious people. All right. What else? Chris? All right. Patrick Mahomes. I said it on the overreaction. He's already in the Mount Rushmore.

He's already the second best quarterback of all time. Yeah. Already. Yeah.

Six years. Yeah. Second best. Agreed. Better than Montana. Bradshaw. Agreed.

Unites Marino. Dan Olofsky told the entire country, the world, the world, this is the best player I've ever seen. And I don't think it's an overstatement. It was a lot.

He made a three yard pass for a touchdown. I mean, come on, but the metrics already point out, they already point out. Chris, I even have it written down. That's how much I'm pointing it out. Contradicted yourself. I love that picture of 73 in the back. Just like overreactions about his contradictions. He's like, he's on Mount Rushmore.

He's like, well, he threw a three yard pass. I just called him the second greatest player ever. I had it written down somewhere. It's not here in this table.

But the bottom line is what? Only Elway and Brady have more Super Bowl appearances ever. Only Montana and Brady have more Super Bowl rings ever with Bradshaw.

Bradshaw's four. Right. He's tied with Aikman. Right. So yeah, correct. He's also got the most yards combined passing and running in a season. Like 5,600 total yards. It was two years ago.

Yeah, this is not an overreaction. He and Brady have already locked up half of the quarterback Mount Rushmore. It's just the rest of them or whatever flavor you want. Personal preference.

Mahomes is bust. It's going to be awesome because he's got that cool hair with the shave size and kind of. What if it gets older and he changes his hairstyle?

He might have an older hairstyle on there when it happens. Last one. Last one. Let's look ahead, Rich. Let's look ahead.

You know what we should do, Chris? Let's look ahead. Someone other than the Bears will be selecting first overall. Hmm.

This is going to be our life for the next two months, though. I just don't think so. I think really. I think the Bears are going to select. They're going to do it. Yeah. I saw a mock draft that had the Bears keeping the pick, but taking Joe Alt. What?

I did the line over the weekend. I was like, when you say mock draft, were they mocking whoever's reading the draft? I was getting into mock draft season over the weekend and I saw Joe Alt number one to the Bears and I'm like, what? Yeah, that's that's insane. That's ridiculous.

Yeah, that's absurd. And I was happy because the Pats got Drake made, but I was like, what? Yeah, the Bears are going to use the pick. I don't have my crystal ball. It's all the way over there and I really don't want to get up.

I don't think you should move. Thanks. So, yeah, that's a great question. That's a great supposition. And I don't think it's I mean, it's a proper question.

So it's not an overreaction that someone's going to go and get them. It's going to be what we're talking about. But I just think the Bears, you know, are going to do exactly what we think they're going to do. It reset take care of Williams and then it'll be all over. Yeah, get a pick or two for Chris. They passed up on them one time, right? And took Trubisky. I don't think the Bears fans could stomach if they pass up on him again for a second time.

So Ryan Polls has done a great job as Bears GM so far. So is that it? You got it? That's it.

OK, we're done. That's overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. Get the overreaction Monday podcast. Chris and I stayed after class for that yesterday. It's got chock full of insane Chris Brockman fears.

It's as good as it gets. You brought your A++ Super Bowl game for our first ever post Super Bowl edition of this show. What the football with Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask has Jim Nance as their guest today. Hello, friends.

Hello, Frank. So that's coming up later on. One thing you hit before. We'll take a break. I do want to just point out.

Based off of your finish there, right? You're finished there about how, hey, the Bears are going to trade the pick. I just think at the end of the day.

They'll have to look themselves in the mirror and say. Is our current quarterback somebody that can go to the biggest game? If we can possibly get there.

And outduel Patrick Moles. Because more than likely he's going to be there. Honestly, I mean, chances are he's gone to sixty seven percent of them so far.

Brady went to 50 percent of the ones basically in his tenure as a starting quarterback. So if Mahomes is going to have the same sort of run. You've got to figure out who is going to be the one that could put us in that category.

That can stand toe to toe. Like Josh Allen. You know, like another Ohio State quarterback, Joe Burrow. Lamar. No, I mean, well, Lamar just lost, but no, but I guess the guy who's got that extra ability and Justin Fields has shown it. But I don't think it's lost on me and it certainly wasn't on you, T.J., with what you commented moments ago. Is that yesterday, the day after Patrick Mahomes won his third Super Bowl.

Mitchell Trubisky was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, 13. All right. Just can they could could they not have done it like before or waited for? Just giving us a little, you know, a little bit more chill on this. It's just like after the parade, maybe during the parade when nobody's noticing. Exactly.

Parade. That probably would have been a bad look for him anyway. But the bottom line is this kid, he had only had, I think, only like 13 or 14 starts at North Carolina.

Exactly. He had just one season. And you're like, that's the kid.

And you trade up to get him. At least Caleb Williams is multiple seasons and a Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma and USC. And we've seen it against big time competition.

We've seen it like you every Saturday night. It was a play that went. I know. It's my point is that I don't know if the Bears are just going to at the end of the day, just say, we'll take several first rounders or whatever the commanders give up for him and then watch him, watch him show up in Washington, D.C. or watch him show up in New England or watch him show up somewhere else while they pay Justin Fields because the market will have to bear it because he's no pun intended, but he's going to be entering his fourth year.

I just don't know. You start the clock again and you get somebody who's got potentially that next level ability. You send Justin Fields somewhere else. You get some draft capital for him there and you start. And then Shane Waldron is on the clock to figure out the offense. And Ira Flus is on the clock to keep everything running on time.

And if he does, they're in the greatest catbird seat ever. The other pushback is I said the same thing about Trevor Lawrence and he had a fall off season this past year. He was not great.

Well, he was hurt too. Yeah. I think when I look at this, I think it's it's purely financial.

I think you want to hit the reset button and get five and restart the clock. Yeah. You know, they've done a great job. Ryan Polson, a great job with the haul he got from Carolina last year. And Fields had his moments, but he also got injured a little bit. And give him a fresh start.

Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New England, whoever. And hit the reset button. Let's reset the clock with this kid who we've seen on tape can be insanely dynamic at the end of the day, meaning draft night on the last Thursday in April. Two months, pretty much so.

Yeah. But I think this will be declared sooner rather than later. You know, based on I think the trade with Carolina came what the first week of March.

It was right before the new year last year. Speaking of a fresh start, the show is about to get one because I've been fighting it throughout today's program. This is your Jordan flu game. Well done. So Susie's here to do what the football with Amy and Jim Nance as their guests later on. When we come back, she'll be in this chair. Let's do it. I'm going to get hydrated. That's what I'm going to. That's the order of events. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

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America in the morning. The podcast available wherever you listen. You told a story about the genesis of All right. All right. Yes. All right. Here's where that comes from.

So days confused. Yes. Genius film. I'm in the right bar, the right time. And a guy goes, Hey, you ever done any acting?

You might be right. Just right for this part. Legendary cast director and producer Don Phillips. I come back and they do what's called a makeup and wardrobe test, meaning they're shooting another scene one night. I'm just going to show up. Director is going to step off the set and come and look and go, great.

I approve. Well, he comes and looks. He goes, Jesus is Wooderson. It's great. He goes, listen, you're not scheduled to work tonight, but we're over here at the top notch drive through.

And you think Wooderson might want to pick up on the redheaded intellectual. And I'm like, sure. And he goes, want to shoot it? I'm like, sure. So I go get in the car, shoot my first scene ever in a film of your career, of my career. And, um, I had been listened to a lot of seventies rock and roll at that time.

And there was a certain live recording of a Jim Morrison concert in like Amsterdam or somewhere where he barks at the crowd. All right. All right. All right. All right.

Four times real aggressively, though. I'm not thinking about that, but this comes back. So I'm in the car and I'm like, who's my man? I'm nervous about to hear act. Who's my man?

Who's Wooderson? I said, well, I'm about my car. And I go, well, I'm in my seventies Chevelle. There's one. I said, I'm about getting high. I said, well, Slater's riding shotgun.

You know, he's got a Dubois rolled up. There's two. I said, and I'm about rock and roll. And I said, well, I got new juice stranglehold in the eight track, man. There's three. And I hear action.

And I look up and in my mind I go, and I'm about chicks. I got three out of four. Let's go get the fourth. All right. All right. All right. Wow.

That was it. First word ever said on screen. Oh, hey there, guys. How are you doing?

Hey, long time. Let's see what's going on here today. How are you doing?

I was just walking around wet hair. No care. You know, just thought I'd just pop in here.

What's that like? Hey, you guys. What's been happening here the last hour and a half?

Well, guys, I hope you don't mind, but I'm sitting in for Rich. He went home early under the weather, I think is the way to put it mildly. Perhaps, you know, like like Chris said, it was Jordan's flu game. Listen, Jordan, you know, the great ones play through the pain.

Yeah, he was. This is exactly what I wanted to happen in the Super Bowl. OK, Rich is Brock Purdy in this scenario. He plays it out, you know, about to the midway through the third quarter. Then Tom Brady comes.

He comes in, comes in cold, takes us home and wins the game and goes to Dunkies afterwards and has a celebration. Let's go. All right. All right. That's right.

That's right. Can we talk about how awesome that commercial was? Commercial is amazing. Easily the best commercial of Super Sunday, right?

You got I don't know. I'm a fan of that walking commercial. Of course you are. This is like your life and a walk in, which I did like was solo.

But I mean, this one is in the Dunkin commercial. Matt Damon looks so miserable to be his best friend. It was great.

I don't think he was acting too much. Honestly, give Matt an Oscar. Amazing.

Loved it. And only has the one Oscar right for writing. I believe let's give Damon a second Oscar for that performance in the Dunkin commercial.

Come on, Damon Aflac. Brady is the deejay. Jennifer, a little bit. Who was Jack?

Joe. I spy. I spice.

I was phenomenal. You know who I spy says she was with Taylor Swift at the football. I know, but I'd never heard of her before this week. Oh, I texted I texted Shaq this morning and I'm like, don't even look at her. She's too young. She just just like, no, no, no, no. Shaq posted a picture and he said something with and he said, I spice is sexy. Thanks, Taylor Swift.

So I think that's what Susie's ODB. I'm like too young, too young. That's just too young.

I will say this, though. I think Jayla was probably like already like, you know, texting celebrity divorce attorney Laura Wasser. How do we get out of this one? This commercial like I hope he is making a lot of money anyway. Hi, guys. I'm with you for the next hour and 15 before we roll into what the football Amy Trask is in the back. We do have Jim Nance's Why in the Calling ready to pop for our podcast. Before we do that, I want to just take a couple of calls because I really do appreciate how people like sit here and wait. And as Rich makes his way up at four or five, perhaps with like a plastic baggy next to him, probably should on the way home.

I told him this morning I looked at him, I said, you know what? Let me go do it right now. Let me go to the show places and just get.

Oh, I got the IV on the way. Don't you worry. We've got we've got coup homes sick. I mean, I feel like I should walk around like in one of those like, you know, hazmat, hazmat suits.

That's right. Bring bad hazmat. Let's go to Anthony in Santa Barbara. What are the Steelers need to do in the off season? I'll tell you right now. There's a couple of quarterbacks wondering if they're going to be getting some new stripes for the year.

What do you got? Hey, guys, I hope Rich feels better. My first question is, do you think the Steelers will be available from the very quality Justin Fields? Or do you think Jordan Travis out of Florida State will be a better option?

That's a really good option. But I think we all know the Mike Tomlin has like the look of Justin Fields. I mean, what do you think, Chris? I mean, there's Russell Wilson out there. We've got a lot of opportunity. Do you go to a college? I don't think so.

I think he needs to have some stability in there after seeing how they're riding the last couple of years. Yeah, I think you tried it with the rookie first round quarterback. Not a great class, but Kenny Pickett was the guy. First QB taken was in the 20s, right? That's how I won that $20 didn't. Well, I finally paid you.

Didn't work. I think if you're Steelers, you got to go to the veteran route. You have a team that they showed last year. It's going to play hard. As long as TJ Watt is healthy. They ran the football well at the end of the year. Got a lot of talent, a wide receiver. They can challenge Baltimore and Cleveland and Cincinnati for that division.

They can win 10, 11 games, make the playoffs. You need that veteran steady hand at quarterback. Is it Russell Wilson?

I don't know. Is it Justin Fields? Been seeing a lot of that on the old Twitter verse there with the rumors. I think they got to go out and get somebody also draft. Someone can never have enough quarterbacks.

I mean, the Patriots took a quarterback every year in the draft. It seemed like, so Pittsburgh is definitely going to be in the market for somebody. I would expect them to make a big move.

Yeah. I mean, I don't think so, TJ. I just feel like they need stability there. They need to take it down a notch. And I think that people in Denver would say like, do you really want Russell Wilson after what they saw this year?

But what are your thoughts? Well, I mean, going off what Chris says, people in Pittsburgh always like to say, that's not the Steeler way. That's not what the Steelers have done. But sometimes you have to take a look at what you're doing.

And if it's not working, you got to switch it up a little bit. My initial thought when it looked like Russ was done was maybe Russell in the Steelers uniform because they haven't done something like that previous. But why not take a chance? You have Arthur Smith now is OC. So you know, the running game is going to flourish.

Pretty sure Najee Harrison and Jalen Warren are just like rubbing their hands together in anticipation. But why not? Why not try something different as a Steeler organization?

Why not go after? Because I feel like the price to pay for Justin Fields would probably really, really high. But and not knowing exactly how Russ's contract is structured, but I feel like if they take the shot, why not? I think Russell Wilson still has some left in the tape. Russell Wilson gets released, then he's out. You just got to pay him veteran's men or whatever.

So why not? Also, I mean, what about Kirk Cousins? I guess we all kind of assume he's going to go back to Minnesota. I think that he's also going to be a guy. He'd probably command more money than Russell Wilson. You know, I'm seeing things online to two for 80, whatever. Please give me 36 coming off an Achilles.

Russell Wilson will be 36 just after Thanksgiving, coming off of two kind of disappointing years in Denver, though he was he played well this year playing a little bit above average last year. I just think if you're Pittsburgh, like I said before, you know, you're close. They were a playoff team this year anyway. So I just think you got to go for it. Yeah, you got to go for it. Do step out of your comfort zone as a franchise, as an organization.

Maybe take a chance. It's not what they do. Exactly. It's not what they do.

It was even surprising when they took Kenny Pickett in the first round a couple of years ago. But clearly, according to Steeler fans, what they've been doing hasn't been working other than the no losing season. Right. So they should go full Costanza. Just do the opposite. Try it. Go for it. Anthony, how do you feel?

Do you think we've solved your issue here or do you feel concerned about what's ahead? I'm not full on Russell Wilson. I think Justin feels to be the best option. If not, I like Jordan Thomas because he's not getting enough credit because of his injury that he had during the season.

So I think he's a sleeper. But I did have one more question for you guys. Do you think the NFL will ever go to A.I.? Because I'd love to hear them do a Super Bowl with John Fassenda's voice. Oh, I get A.I. broadcasters?

Yes. Yeah, we can hope not. I've seen John Fassenda's voice. I've seen the Terminator.

I know how that ends up. OK, first of all, I think coming off of Vegas, where all we talk about is A.I. and also like holograms or what have you.

I can see like maybe bringing John Fassenda back for like in-between downs or like a commercial, something special. But you got to react to this stuff live. I don't think A.I. could do this that fast.

Do you? I mean, how do you have A.I. replace a fumble or a torn Achilles on the sidelines coming off of what seems like nothing?

Is A.I. going to give me Romo's excitement? Here we go, Jim. Yeah, like I said, the nostalgia of it, you know, even if it's just a Super Bowl replay that they do on NFL Network every year when they do the Super Bowls. Hey, Anthony, I'll start off a pitch meeting for you.

I know some people over at NFL Network. And by the way, like this is a great idea. It's a fun idea. I mean, OK, this reminds me this is so throwback. But do you remember?

Hey, Anthony, thanks again for your time. Do you remember that Saturday Night Live skit back in the day? And it was it was what was her name?

Natalie sings with dead friends of her father. And it was all those like, no, no, I don't remember that. Oh, God, you got to look this up. I'll think about it in the break was things I didn't think I'd be prepared for as I go out on the Rich Eisen Show Saturday Night Live throwbacks. All right. Martine in New York City, what do you have for us? And hello. Hello. How are you? Hi, Susie, how are you? I'm great. Thanks for calling in. Oh, yes.

And I'm happy after Super Bowl to you, too. Thank you. I had two things I wanted to ask. One was I know all the controversy and all the issues with Gary. Tony, was he present at the game at all? I know he wasn't activated.

The question I don't remember. I don't remember any shots of him on the sideline. Also, I think they don't want to remind you that he's there half the time. Right. I mean, I think there's so much. Yeah, that's that's probably true. I mean, his whole Instagram nonsense and what have you.

I thought they just might have hit him in a I don't know, hit him behind the Gatorade, a big container or something and let him out. The other thing I want you to bring up was first of all, Brock, you are so anti cheap. I listened to you the whole time prior and then I listened to you earlier.

Make a comment. Why do you hate my adding my homes in the cheap? I don't think that's an accurate representation at all.

I actually bet on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl before the playoffs started. Martin, so I don't know what you mean there. Well, I know I'm just talking about, you know, the whole country you hate that you hate the like the new Tom Brady of the next decade. You know, he wins, wins, wins in half the country or half the world is anti Patty. But I, I must have misunderstood what I was listening to.

You probably don't misunderstand. No, listen, Martin, Martin, number one, we watched the Super Bowl together and he was very pro chiefs. That's number one. Okay.

Well, his son was doing like, you know, body slams and all my kids. Number two, he's a Patriots fan. You can't root for somebody in the AFC. You can bet on them and make some money, right? But I think Chris gets itchy when people talk about my home's goat because something we have in common is we have a goat and so we're protecting Tommy.

That's basically what it boils down to. I think Martin, but how's the snow in New York? You doing okay? Yeah, we're doing well. It's not, it wasn't as bad where, um, where I am. A new city is where I'm from.

I'm actually in Narrowsburg right now in Sullivan County. Nice. But it's not that bad. Can I mention one other thing about the game? Um, which was this when the game started the whole time because of the, uh, Eagles keeps game last year from the very beginning I said, I know he's going to use, I call it corn dog. I know he's going to use it. I know he's going to use it.

He's not going to show anybody. And at the last minute when they were, you know, very last play where McColl caught the ball, I knew it was coming and I was so excited that it was McColl Hardman. And I was so excited to MBS caught the touchdown pass because I wanted those guys to be resurrected from the national opinion on, you know, the droppers, the pro droppers, so to speak. And that made me really, really happy that you guys put on the most amazing Super Bowl show. I watched you every day. I'm home and I'm disabled and I can't go anywhere. So Brock and everybody kept me company with rich and it was the best show I ever saw. Martine, did you get drunk with us during the second hour on Friday?

Yes I did. Martine, stay on, give your address. Let's send you a care package. We really appreciate you being such a loyal fan. You take care. Thanks again. Appreciate you. Take care.

I love Martine. Are you kidding me? She got drunk with you guys at home.

I mean, we were getting after it on Friday. Well, yeah, you are so much more rich eyes and show ahead. I know you weren't expecting me, but here I am.

We've got a lot more in the third hour of the rich eyes and show. Don't go anywhere. TJ, I'm just, I'm just happy that I've reached status where everyone thinks I hate their team. Well, you do kind of, you do hate, look, you're like me, you like one team and you pretty much, well, and pro football, not all the other sports. You like one team and you hate everybody else.

Yeah, but you're also a pissy new Englander. So I think that's really what, it was Natalie Cole by the way. It's a great old bit. I was about to say it's Ellen Cleghorn playing Natalie Cole and she's singing with her dad. It's one of the greatest bits of all time from SNL. Go back to any of you, go there and check it out. It's so fantastic.

And it's about holograms and it's, it's so wildly inappropriate that I'm, you're welcome is all I have to say. I love Martine. We're going to say Martine a package. Yeah. I mean, okay. So I was 92. Was it 92?

It says March 14th, 1992. So I was 20. What were you doing? Oh, okay. Just had to do the math. Just like Amy Trask. I counted my fingers.

It looks like Tim Meadows is Sammy Davis Jr. I can't hear it. Obviously. I'm just kind of scrolling through the video and that's funny.

New York City is supposed to get like 10 inches of snow. I know. I called my mom and I asked her if she was okay.

She's like, oh, it's fine. I saw Good Morning Football this morning. They all zoomed in from home.

They couldn't make it to the studio. Oh really? That's weak. Come on. Come on, Kyle Brandt. I thought you were angry run guy.

Really? Where's your sector? The Long Island Railroad wasn't working this morning? This mass transit. Come on. We can't say anything because it was like 70 when I drove to work today behind the airport. So you know, we can't really.

When I was their age, I would have walked five miles in the snow both ways. Third hour of the Protestant show. Albert Brielle coming up next.