Top 5 NFL Division Races To Watch

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Tom Pelissero. Earlier on the show, NFL Network reporter Mike Garofalo. NBA writer for the athletic Mike Vorkanov.

NFL Network analyst Chase Daniels. Still to come, comedian Tom Papa. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pelissero. It is a Rich Eisen-less edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Is Rich back tomorrow or is somebody else coming in here for the rest of the week?

No, I think Rich is back tomorrow. Keep us warm for a couple of days out here. Love being with you fellas in El Segundo. Chris Brockman, Mike Del Tufo, TJ Jefferson. As always, my boys here in the studio. Tom Papa is going to be sitting right there in a short time from right now. Can't wait to talk to Tom. We've talked a lot of NFL through the past couple of days. Chase Daniels, by the way, awesome. Coming on the show, like the way that he breaks it down, the way that he sees the game.

It's really, really good. And the quarterbacks drive a lot within the draft. But there's bigger things at play. There's more to it than just the quarterbacks. So what I wanted to do at Brockman's request here was fan this thing out.

And I would love to do, do we have a sounder for this? A top five. Oh. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Tom's. Top five.

I mean, we even got your head on the graphic. That's pretty good. Unbelievable.

No, Mike didn't do that. Is that a T-man or is that vacation? That's vacation.

OK. That's usually Rich's head on the graphic. All right. So what do I do? I'm going to break it down. The 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 18th. 19th. 18th. 19th.

18th. 19th. 19th. 20th. 20th. 20th. 21st.

12th. 24th. 24th. 25th. 27th. 26th.

26th. strictly driven by the drama with the Falcons, but it is in part because obviously when you sign Kirk Cousins to a $100 million contract, immediately you go, okay, well, they've been the team that's been a quarterback away. Now they got the quarterback.

Why shouldn't they be competing? But when Rahim Morris and Terry Fondo go to the press conference after taking another quarterback at number eight, Michael Penix Jr., and they say repeatedly, we're never gonna be in this position again. We won't be in this position again.

And they repeat it, we won't, we won't. They're saying, we're winning this division right now. We're a playoff team right now.

We're gonna be nowhere close. And they haven't been in the playoffs in a while. So the Falcons all of a sudden have put that type of pressure on themselves in a variety of different ways. In division where Baker Mayfield returns to the Bucks, they got some new looks there, some of their veteran players moving on. You've got the Panthers who, for a variety of reasons, were the worst team and it wasn't really close in the NFL in 2023. New coaching staff, they went on and got Bryce Young a bunch of weapons in the draft. Xavier Legette, Jonathan Brooks, who should be healthy before the start of the season, Jutavion Sanders. They give him a new offensive philosophy.

Dave Canales, who is a very positive guy, has worked with shorter quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield. I'm not saying the Panthers necessarily are a division-winning team this year, but it's a division that's wide open. And I don't wanna leave out the Saints here too.

They've got a lot of the same parts in place as we move forward. Well, being in the AFC, they were another team that was right there at the end in the playoff chase a year ago. So I'd say the NFC South, number five on my list.

And number four, let's go to the AFC East. The Bills have ruled that division ever since the Patriots ruled that division. The Bills with a ton of turnover. It's not just the Stefan Diggs trade. I mean, they basically cut their whole secondary. They go out, they draft a wide receiver.

Keon Coleman, who is gonna have probably outsized expectations on him in terms of what he's able to do, especially after Gabe Davis also leaves that team. They went through some weird stuff last year, stories about Sean McDermott, firing Ken Dorsey within the season. And amidst all that and media furor and everything else, they played better. They played their best football down the stretch. They still clearly felt like some dynamics need to change around this team.

I'm not saying they're more vulnerable. This year, but they had to rally and get back in the division last year because the Dolphins have caught up. The Dolphins were banged up down the stretch in the season. Another year for Tuatunga Valoa in that offense. We know they got weaponry.

They got speed all over the place. New defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver coming in there. The Patriots, it's gonna be a growth process. Do we see Drake May this season? That'll be a storyline throughout the year.

They're gonna have their challenges, no doubt. And then, oh yeah, that guy Aaron Rodgers, the four time MVP winner. Is back with the Jets who draft Olufeshanu in the first round. Another offensive lineman in an off season where they signed a Tyron Smith and they signed John Simpson.

They also brought in Mike Williams, another wide receiver here. We didn't get to see the Jets last year. They would probably, if you were listing the teams that I was mostly excited to see in 2023, the Jets were number one.

I got four snaps and he got hit on two of them and tore one Achilles. The Jets were number one? Jets of team that I would have been excited to see in 2023, absolutely.

Interesting. How could they not? Aaron Rodgers going to that place, all the hype surrounding it. I mean, it was the biggest story in the NFL, Brockman. I know you're a Patriots fan, but were you completely under a rock on this thing? I wasn't really fired up for the Mac Jones Patriots going into last season.

Me neither. I was openly rooting for them to lose. Chris thought Mac Jones was gonna be Elway, bro. The Jets were on paper the biggest threat to the Bills a year ago. That ended literally in week one.

Although they were competitive for like another six weeks after that. The Falcons have better Super Bowl odds than the Jets right now. What are the Jets' Super Bowl odds? 27 to one.

I can't advise you anything on that front. I'm just saying. We haven't seen it. Just saying. We haven't seen it.

They had a lot of pressure. There's no doubt about it. You know Tom Kent. I know what I'm saying.

The Falcons are 24 to one. I just love that you keep dropping it in and seeing if I'll bite, but I'm very disciplined. I'm just going fishing.

He's trying to get you fired. I know exactly where it's gonna come from. Chargers 50 to one.

Right there with Brockman. 50 to one? Again, I cannot advise you on what bets to place here. All right, moving on. You're gonna keep your eye.

Exactly. Stop testing me. On number three. Division race.

I'm interested to see. NFC East. Yeah. The Cowboys.

100%. Listen, Mike McCarthy is a very good and successful NFL head coach. They got better last year, as TJ knows very well as a Cowboys fan. They flopped in the playoffs.

There's no other way to put it. They played their worst game at the worst possible time, and they ran into a young Packers team that went in there and played like they had nothing to lose, and the Cowboys played like they had everything to lose. They just didn't play their best. But then go through the off season. They lose their left tackle, their center, their running back, two of their pass rushers, their middle linebacker has to retire because of a neck injury. They got a lot of stuff going on, and what are they doing for agency? They signed Eric Kendricks, and a couple of days ago, they brought back Ezekiel Elliott. That's it. Royce Freeman too, I guess. They did very, very little, and so I know that the all-in thing has become this running joke, and Jerry said it, and then he's saying it over and over at the press conference, and Mike McCarthy's Kermit drinking the tea.

It's just he's listening to it going, oh, oh. I don't know why Jerry keeps saying that, but they're a team that, yeah, they want to pay Mike Caparcins. They want to pay C.D.

Land. They want to pay Dak. Well, they haven't done it, and you took a division-winning team that should be a Super Bowl contender. There wasn't a lot added here.

I'm not criticizing the strategy. I'm just saying they didn't really do a whole lot through the course of this offseason. The Eagles are a team that did a ton, changed out both their coordinators. They signed Saquon. They brought back Johnson Gardner-Johnson. They signed Bryce Huff. They just drafted quarters with their first two picks. They got Vic Fangio there now on defense, and Kellen Moore on offense. That's a ton of changes for a team that going into that San Francisco game last year where Big Dom has his run in with a friend, Warner, Dre Greenlaw, who was it? Was one of the linebackers for the 49ers. They get into it on the sideline, and that was the game.

I was like, in the airport, right? This was supposed to be the game of the year because I want to say the Eagles were 10 and one. The 49ers might have been like nine and two. They were both like, the top two teams in the NFC. I'm leaving a different game.

I think I was in Cleveland or something, and so I'm like, oh, I'm gonna get to the airport, get to, whatever, the TGI Fridays or whatever's in that airport there. I'm gonna watch the second half of this game, and I get there, and I'm like, what is happening? Like, there's really a fight being broken up. The Eagles are now in three touchdowns all of a sudden, and from that point forward, just everything went sideways. Howie Roseman's always gonna be aggressive, totally make over the roster, the coaching staff, everything on a team that was in the driver's seat for the number one pick in November of last year.

So you take those two teams, the commanders, I think that realistically, it's gonna take a while. They traded both their pass rushers last year. You got a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels. The expectations are gonna be high, but I think that realistically, are they competing for the division this year?

That might be a little bit beyond them. And then the Giants, another team that people thought, all right, do they just blow it up now? Daniel Jones, is he done? Well, they owe Daniel Jones $35 million, and nobody else is paying Daniel Jones $35 million, so he's gonna make that from the Giants.

He's gonna get his opportunity here, and if that doesn't work, then probably next year. They're in that. Chidor Sanders, Quinn Ewers type of a mix. Carson Beck, type of a mix here. So I think that's a really intriguing division, because the Cowboys should, by all metrics, be the favored team, but just with the environment around their moves here, they've kind of, in this weird way, created more pressure on themselves for what they didn't do than the Eagles have for all the things that they did.

And truly, looking on paper like they are, all in. And Tom, by the way, I'm pretty sure it was Applebee's that you were at in the, just take my word for it. Yeah, it might have been Applebee's. In the Cleveland Airport, the Applebee's. You know exactly what I'm talking about, though, right? You can do that little rotunda, and you can either go way down here to try to find the one other restaurant, or you just, even if you're right there.

Even if you weren't there, you were at Applebee's. Cowboys and Eagles, same odds to win the NFCs, same. What are the odds?

Plus 120. And then I assume the commanders are down, and the Giants are even further down? Giants and commanders, 10 to one.

Wait, what were the first two? Basically even. At? One to one. Oh, one to one. Yeah. Okay, got it. Sorry, I thought you said 100 to one. No, no, no.

I didn't realize, I don't gamble, but I thought maybe I don't understand how any of this works. None of us here do. Number two.

I have a problem. Number two most intriguing division race. NFC North. You've got top to bottom. This might be the best division.

Now, again, I mentioned this yesterday. I said that a couple years ago about the AFC West. It ended up being an abject failure, and the Chiefs rolled like they always do. But look at that group of quarterbacks right there. Jared Goff, they're chanting his name throughout the draft in Detroit. They're coming off of a breakthrough season.

Detroit loves Jared Goff. There are a couple of plays away, a couple of calls away from being in the Super Bowl last year. Jordan Love and the Packers over the last, let's call it six weeks plus playoffs, were one of the best teams in football. And they had the 49ers beat. The Vikings bringing in JJ McCarthy, who's now throwing to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Astin and TJ Hawkins, and I think that they're a fascinating team as well. And then the Bears with Caleb Williams, the number one pick in all the weaponry around him. I mean, there's not a game between any of those teams you're gonna see on the slate this year and be like, ah, I'll catch that one later.

I don't need to watch it. No, you're gonna wanna watch those games. So I think that division, listen, the Lions are the defending champs. You have to say the Lions are the favorite in the division.

You can easily make the case based on how the Packers finished that they should be right behind. They added Josh Jacobs. They drafted Marshawn Lloyd to add to that room.

They drafted an offensive lineman in the first round, which they hope helps close the gap with David Bakhtiari moving on. I just think that that division is gonna be fantastic. And then number one, I'm gonna do it to myself again. Oh, you're doing it. And we can roll it. We'll eventually have a mashup of me saying this every two years.

Whoa. Number one's the AFC West. Oh, not AFC North.

It's driven by the coaches. It's driven by the fact that you have Jim Harbaugh and the expectations are going to be if they don't win the division, if they don't challenge the chiefs, if they're not neck and neck, at least to the end of the season, and you've got to think week 18 on the NFL calendar when that comes out, week 18, the game is Chargers chiefs that they slot in. And that might be the final game of the season.

If they don't, if they're not in that spot, if that game ends up being flexed out and is at one o'clock on the final day of the season, something's gone drastically wrong. And that's not to say that Joe Ortiz and Jim Harbaugh and company don't have work to do. They had a very top heavy salary cap.

They had to make some tough decision. Khalil Mack took a cut. Joey Bosa took a cut. Keenan Allen got traded.

Mike Williams got released. They are going to be a different looking team in 2024. When you have Jim Harbaugh coming off a national title at Michigan and the instant turnaround he led with the 49ers, the expectation around that team, the national expectation in the media with the fans has to be they're here to take down the chiefs.

Sean Payton's in Denver. They've got a ways to go. That team's got some ground to make up. We'll see if Bo Nixon is as good as the Broncos think he is to take him to number 12, maybe they close that gap faster. But realistically, personnel wise, they've got a lot of, a little bit to go.

And the fact that we're including Max Crosby in this graphic shows we have no idea who the hell the Raiders quarterback is going to be. That's going to be their big challenge. They were another team that finished last season hot.

They played well under Antonio Pierce. Lot different though to take over mid season and have that placebo effect. It's different. The vibe's different. Totally different deal. 17 game season, training camp.

It's a grind. Will that same approach hold up with the players? Will Antonio Pierce hold the room for that long?

Are they going to be good enough? They had Luke Getze as their offensive coordinator. I know that he got kicked around for the job that he did with the Bears. He was winning games last year with Tyson Bajent.

He was winning games with Tyson Bajent against the Raiders, which is part of the reason that impressed them enough that they brought him in to be their OC. There's a long way to go in that division. I think that on paper, you have to say it's the Chargers potentially challenging the Chiefs. What are the Chargers odds right now? AFC West.

Ooh, standby. Chargers, AFC West odds plus 350. Chiefs are minus 230. Let me explain that. You have to bet $23 to only win 10.

That's crazy. Well, why would you ever bet against Patrick Holmes? There's no reason, because in the end, they're going to figure it out. Patrick Holmes, Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo. Those are the guys that matter there. But again, when you hire Jim Harbaugh, you're not doing that to say, hey, I hope we get to 10 and seven and get a wildcard spot.

No, you're doing that to take down the king. And Patrick Holmes, since he got in the league, he's been in the AFC Championship game every single year. Hadn't played a road playoff game until last season.

He is the best. Andy Reid is the best. They're the team you're trying to take down. If you're the Chargers, again, you had a bright young coach in Brandon Staley.

Things went sideways for a variety of reasons last year. You bring in Jim Harbaugh because you want to eat with the big dogs. Bring all the pressure, bring all the expectations. Jim Harbaugh himself is going to have high expectations for that team. If they don't at least get to the final couple of weeks of the season and they're in the division race, a lot of people are going to look at that as a failure.

And that happens when you hire one of the highest profile, most successful coaches of his generation. Do you think the league should do that right off the bat? Season opener, Chiefs at Chargers? I mean, Chargers at Chiefs? I mean, I wouldn't put it past him.

Right off the gate. I would think, again, I'm saying like the division. The division race is to watch. It's what match-ups is every single game going to matter? It's every single game you're going to want to be in front of the TV. They can put up any of these teams matching up and it would be exciting.

Yeah, it probably depends. Are they going to put them in week 18? You usually don't want to have bookends in the schedule. So would you rather have that game week 18 or would you rather say go Broncos versus Chargers in week one? Bo Nix's potential debut, new look Chargers and Jim Harbaugh.

A lot of ways to go. NFL schedule release show, NFL network, sometime this month they still won't tell us. Next week, I think.

We, I mean, hopefully. I just want to, I want to have the schedule. I want to know. Yeah. Plan my life.

We do. Plan my life. Well, there's like 17 games on every holiday now.

Plan out your weekends. All right, let's take a break. Tom Papa, comedian, actor, writer.

He is in studio. Can't wait for this. Stick around.

Tom squared after this on the Rich Eisen Show. Hey folks, it's time for the NFL Draft, which means for me, I need a good night's sleep because if I don't have one, I'm just not myself. You know the deal. You know exactly how important it is to have quality sleep.

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Your son tweeted it out that this is not you. When I saw the first screen grab that Keith sent to me, one tip-off should be, look, I'm a reasonably humble and self-effacing guy, but would I knowingly shortchange myself seven Emmys? Hey, guys, please even get the number of Emmys right. Exactly. I said that.

21 seems a little light. You got to pull a scam. Get your ducks in a row. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show. I am Tom Pelissero in for Rich, who will be back tomorrow, and I am very excited about our next guest. He's in studio here, comedian, author, podcaster.

There's probably eight more things. Tom Papa is with us. Tom. Hey. Good to see you all again. Nice to be back. Tom, what's happening? It's great to be talking to somebody named Tom. Yeah.

They're good people. You know, I was looking at a chart recently, and like, you know, over a year, over a year, I always find this fascinating. We're at the, like, 150-year low of Thomases being born. Really? So it's a generational thing. Yeah. Like, growing up, you meet someone named Ralph.

You're like, you know that they're going to be much older than you. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Not a lot of Seymour's around. Right. Yeah. If there was only one Tom taken in the NFL draft, Tommy Eichenberg, the only one.

Right. Three Xaviers, four Jadens. A lot of Chads. One Tom.

Two Chads in there. Yeah. No Toms. Well, we'll make a comeback.

We'll be back. It is a good name, though. Do people call you Tommy? I was Tommy growing up. Yeah. In part to disambiguate from the four other Toms that were in my class at school. Oh, in school.

But it was Tommy. Yeah. And then I got to college and decided, this is the time. I'm going to reinvent myself. And I just took off two letters. That's good.

They called me Tommy Salami because I was fat. Oh, that's why. You got the Netflix is a joke comedy fest coming up on Friday. Yes.

I consumed that a couple of years ago. I mean, every single one. It's so cool to have that many people in one spot. It's really great. It's just starting to kick off. I have a show on Friday at the United Theater, which was the Ace Theater at the Ace Hotel. And they closed the hotel. And now it's the United Theater.

And that's my big like headlining one on on Friday. But it really last night kind of kicked it off. They had Seinfeld's Unfrosted premiere for his new movie that's coming on Netflix about pop tarts. And it was just it was Larry David was there.

Gaffigan, Tom Lennon, Napier Gatsy. It was just like all of these Netflix has just created this like glory, glory day of comedy. It's just it's just such a great time to be a comic because of Netflix. So they have this festival and it's like every single giant comedian just all competing on the same night.

It's really kind of insane. So when you have that many funny people in one place, I know that there's like different shows and different stages and whatnot. But there's nothing I imagine, whether it's dinner, drinks, you're just running into people. Yeah, they're all there.

What is the dynamic? Are you trying to make the other funny people laugh? Or is it one of those things where, like, if you're I imagine a server at a restaurant, you don't want to go home and be like, all right, what can I get you to eat?

Right. There's yeah, there's different you know, there's different levels. You know, there are people are who are super funny, who just kind of like just in conversation or making you laugh, just kind of on the side. And then there's people that aren't that funny, who are being really loud and trying to be funny. And those are the ones I try and avoid. Who is the funniest person among if if one person, one comedian is making the other comedians laugh, who is it?

Oh, man, I don't know. There's there's just they're also great. That's what's really cool is that we're all headliners. And then you have this week and a half, two weeks of being with each other, because normally we're on our own in different cities doing different stuff.

And now, like we could all like actually hang out and be around is good. It was two years ago, Chappelle got attacked at this festival, if I remember correctly. Yes, Chappelle was attacked at the Hollywood Bowl. Right.

Yeah. I'm trying to create a staged attack at my show. You get a lot of press, huge attention, a lot of press, but not a lot of middle aged women from the Midwest are signing up to do it.

And that's really my demo. You would be tough for you to say something controversial enough. I feel like I'm familiar with your comedy, like you're not I have to do a whole lot. And you're not trying to walk that line of offending people now.

I'm pretty much talk about everyday life and family life. And the only time people really get mad is if I'm a little too mean in my jokes about my dogs. And then they're like, how dare you? And they haven't even met my dogs.

But my audience is so family oriented. They're like, well, your dog isn't making fun of you. So we're on the dog side. I was listening this morning, actually, to one of your one of your specials. I'd heard it years ago. Yeah.

But it was the one that, by the way, this popped up when I was pulling up the thing. It was directed by Rob Zombie. Yes, Rob Zombie directed two of my specials. I mean this in the nicest possible way. Your vibe and his vibe slightly different. Yeah. I'm a little more hardcore. So you're you're you're you're doing a bit, though. Yeah, exactly. I thought there was more.

I was trying to stay deadpan longer, but I know it was very solid. But you were talking about your daughters taking over the house at that time and how everything every time you leave the house, you're constantly everyone's questioning you. You have three wives, right? Essentially. Yeah. They're older now.

Like, yes, grown, grown. How does that dynamic? I've got two daughters, nine and seven.

How does that dynamic evolve over time? It's nine and seven. Yeah, that's primetime.

That is really if I could go back like that is nine and six, nine and seven. That that that's really pretty golden. And then they become people with opinions and and very little money. So you have to get very involved.

I love them to death. But now they're both in college. And I got to say, it's not that bad. Like the kitchen's clean and I don't have to wear clothes at the house. My dogs are like, you're one of us now. Just like running around.

And it's pretty great. But my daughter's literally on a plane right now coming back and four months for summer vacation. Oh, so the nakedness now has to stop at least for the summer. Well, I'm trying to try to figure out how to play. I'm trying to figure out how to play it because I don't want them to be there that long.

It's like when I was I would just get a job and stay at college and that doesn't seem to be their plan. But maybe if you catch dad walking into the kitchen a couple of times, you'd be like, yeah, I think it's time to go. Just a nice, nice speedo. A G string would probably have the same effect.

Yeah, exactly. A little more exposed skin. Dad's gone through some changes while you've been away. Yeah, I haven't been trimming the back hair lately. Do you mind helping me out?

Or the front hair. No, but it is great. That age, though, that you're in is that's pretty perfect. They do have a lot of opinions, though. The seven year old in particular. Everything is, you know, why? I don't want to do that.

Why do I have to go to school? I got a call while I was on the air yesterday in the health office. They're saying you need to come pick her up. I'm like, I'm in Los Angeles.

I've got two thousand miles to go and also definitely faking. What is she? What's wrong with her? They go, well, she has a little bit of a headache.

When I was growing up, I'm 43. It was like unless you were projectile vomiting on to the other students. That's right. You say like one of my core memories was like this kid vomited and it was like the corn dog from lunch was in it. And they just like slopped it up and they like moved him over a couple of seats. That was it. Yeah, exactly. There was no going.

Yeah, I would get that call all the time. And I'm like, well, you got to just you got to put him down somewhere like where you got to have a cot. What are you going to do? Because I'm not coming to get him. Right.

I'm not going to do it. Is there a softness to the younger generation? They're growing up with everything's easy for them, whether it's, you know, my kids.

We go on vacation. Yeah. And they're like, Dad, I want to watch Netflix.

I'm like, yeah, that doesn't happen in this hotel. You have these channels. Yeah. That show that's on.

That's what you can watch. Everything is so accessible. It's so easy. They have answers to everything. They know how to Google things. Yeah. Are they growing up with too many answers?

Yeah. They know way too much because you have all of this stuff. They're not as happy. They're not as happy because you can tell on when they were in high school, you could tell what was trending on TikTok by what ailment they would walk into the kitchen with. They'd be like, I have I have restless leg syndrome and be like, what? And then you hear it from the other parents that they all have it. Like they're sharing their anxiety nonstop on. My daughter came in one day and she goes, we have to prepare for the tsunami. I'm like, what? We live in the hills. What do you know?

You don't understand. If there's an earthquake, then there's a tsunami. And I was like, and we found out all of her friends. They were all it was trending that tsunamis were coming. So they have they're not as happy. They know they actually know too much. The TikTok thing is what scares me. It's all of it is scary. It's not it's for us to like, you know, you have to kind of control what you digest all the time.

No question. And they have you just have it on your phone, you know, and it's just there's no escaping it. But when we were kids, you know, it was we didn't know much. You know, you just go out and play in the dirt and you make a ramp and you take your bike over it. And unless somebody like broke their arm to the point where you had to tell a parent, you just that was your day. You weren't thinking about tsunamis or any kind of diseases.

You were just thinking, do you think we can get over that log? And it's and that's the thing is that you're concerned now about like the scars that the children are going to have if you let them be exposed. They we got actual scars. Yeah.

You would actually injure yourself. Yeah. And it wasn't like you went to I never had heard of an urgent care.

No, never went to an urgent care. You know, they'd rub dirt on it. Right. Just like it's like, no, it's open. You know, one minute. No, it's the second in the other direction. Now it's close. It'll heal.

You know, it's interesting. We just heard yesterday that where my kids went to high school, they're dissolving the football team because not enough kids are going out for football because it's. Yeah, because it's too rough, because it's too dangerous. The enrollment for football keeps going down. So they're just ending it.

So they're just they've got this gorgeous field, lights, bleachers, nothing. You're going to stop it. You played football growing up. Oh, yeah, I did. You'd say that like you were very good. I was all right.

Yeah. What did you play? Fullback. I could run with the ball and block. I was like a guard that was a little faster. What did they let you in those days? Like it was always like the, you know, keep your head up.

Otherwise your was type of thing. Yeah. Like there's a lot of head hits to the fullback position, I think. Yeah. I've got lumps. I've got lumps. I'm a little foggy. Like when you say that your your kid was like they have a slight headache.

It's like, when do you not? Right. Right. It might be all the drinking.

It could be a lot of that stuff. But yeah, it was really disheartening that there's no football is like that's it. They're just kind of it's going to go away. It seems weird. Now it's flag football. Like some of the metrics we get when we're talking about, you know, it's all about ratings on the games and whatnot. And like the thing we keep being told is we have to figure out how to reach kids because they watch a 15 second video on TikTok.

Highlight. And they think they watch the game. Right. And I see that with my like my nieces and nephews.

It's the same thing where the games on TV. Yeah. And they're like this. I know. I hate it, though.

I don't think you should cater to that. I really don't like I'm a big baseball fan. And this speeding up the game is infuriating. I want games to last five hours.

Like let it go. Just I don't need to rush this. And the idea that putting a clock on it is going to shorten it. But you're going to attract people that don't like baseball because, oh, it's shorter by a half hour.

That's not going to happen. My concern. I went to a game last summer and it was a twins game in Minneapolis and it was like a two to nothing game.

The thing was done in two hours and 10 minutes. I had to take three children to the bathroom. And that time I come back, I'm like, it's the eighth inning. Ridiculous. All the time of like going and like grabbing a beer, walk around a little bit.

We're going to go meet the mascot. That's what the kids care about. You can't do any of it or you just don't see a baseball game. They want you in and out.

I don't know. I really I hate it. And I really think if you don't like baseball, you're not coming because it's that much shorter. Right. And if you love baseball, you do not want a guy on second in the beginning of the 10th inning.

No, that's that's right where I played baseball growing up. And that's like where I draw the line of what are we doing? What are you doing?

Put the guy on second base. This is a classic game. It's it's survived for all this time.

Just stick to it. You don't cater to, oh, people are distracted and watching stuff on their phones. I don't get it. How much April baseball do you watch? April. A good amount. A good amount.

I have it on all the time. Because it always seems to me like the season is so long that I find it hard to get really excited about. Oh, man, huge win.

There's one hundred and fifty three games to go. I usually start dipping. I go strong in the beginning and then I usually somewhere in the summer, like maybe right before the I start to dip a little bit. I'll lose track of it and then come back.

You know what I mean? Like there is like a little bit of a lull, but I just I just love it. I think it's just always great to have on.

It's just it's the best. I really and also I'm a I'm a Giants fan in football. So I have no football anymore. Do you watch the NFL draft?

Do you do at least first round? Take a no. It's what I wanted to ask you. I mean, it seems like we didn't do much and everyone's angry. We didn't get a quarterback. Yeah. Tried to trade up every thought in the league. That was for Drake May.

J.J. McCarthy's there won the national title in Michigan. They decide take Malik neighbors from LSU instead. Yeah. When you owe your current quarterback thirty five million dollars for this season and no one else is going to pay him that. You are boxed in to a certain degree from a resource allocation standpoint. And that's why I'm watching a lot of baseball in April. Because I can't pay attention to Giants. They've just been so bad. Saquon's gone. It's just I don't know.

Is there any hope? Saquon going to the Eagles. Yeah. Tommy. You've been a Tommy DeVito.

Tommy. You see him on the field this season. Come on.

You see him out there this season. It's not a good thing. Well, that's what happened last year.

That means something's gone horribly, horribly wrong. He is fighting to be third on the depth chart at this point. And all of a sudden we're professional wrestling. We're just have characters. I mean, that's just his agent, Sean Stellato, somehow becoming more famous, not just than most of the players on the team, then his own client was one of the unexpected. And the thing was, with Sean Stellato, he's been the same guy for 20 years. We all know Sean. Sean's been an agent forever. Oh, I didn't know that. But he just didn't happen to have the Italian quarterback on the Giants.

He was doing appearances at local pizza places on his off day until last year. Look at him. But that's really him. He already had the suit.

He just didn't have the Italian quarterback from the neighborhood. That's hilarious. I really thought this guy, when I saw him at first, I was like, he's going too far with this character. Like, it's so obvious. Like, too, too many bracelets right there.

The outfits are over the top. No, those were already in his closet. You just hadn't seen him wear them before.

Good for him. I wanted to quiz you on this. You're not an NFL draft guy, but you're a Giants guy. So a big part of what I do through the draft process, talk to all the teams, to coaches, to scouts. And you get through not just the football side of things, but the guys have red flags.

And would you take this guy, your wide receiver, Malik Nabors? People had to explore. There was a gun incident. Hopefully none of that in New York.

The laws are pretty stringent. But there was, you know, the things you have to sort through. So I want to go through.

Put yourself in the shoes of the general manager and tell me, a player you like, but if he had this about him, would you be able to take him? Got it. First one, when the plane reaches the gate and you hear the ding, he shoves his way back four rows to get his bag and then pushes his way back up the four rows. I don't mind him rushing back to get it. It's the return.

Yeah, you can't come back. You have no right of way. No, I understand the panic.

Like if you have to go, if you have to put it five rows behind you because you were late or whatever, the whole flight, I would have anxiety of like, how am I going to get my bag? Because once the flow starts, you're screwed. So I get that like, jump up, go get it. But you've lost your right of being in the front. You don't have right of way. No, you don't.

So yeah, you're off my team. I'm a big weight guy, but weight and make people feel uncomfortable that you're weighting, which you usually do, I do by, you stand up and you know, you can't stand all the way up because you're underneath it. You stand like this and look to the rows behind you. Like that's going to be, can I get back there?

That to me is more fair. I don't like the entire, we're all getting off the plane. I'm big with assisting. I'm, I'm big with helping somebody. If I see, if I see someone sweating and they're nervous and they don't, they can't figure out how they're going to get back. I start creating a little squad that's going to get that bag for the person. See, I only do it if, if I'm, if I'm fearful, they're actually going to be crushed instantaneously because I've had it before. They're like, I see someone and they're like trying to push up. I'm like, Oh, okay. They go, I got it. I'm like, all right, well yeah, now I'm going to offend you and I don't want to get canceled for whatever I'm doing here trying to help you just put a bag up.

I really, I don't like the guy when you're on the aisle who stands in, who stands next to you, they're going to take the window and they just stand with their open mouth waiting for you to realize what's happening. Just say, excuse me, sir. That's all you have to say. Excuse me. Oh, great. Welcome. Come on in. But just, and just wait.

Those people should be, they should be escorted off. All right. Second, second player, you really liked this player, but when he's watching a movie next to you, he's scrolling Instagram and periodically laughing. Air Buds or no Air Buds. Oh, let's give him Air Buds.

Air Buds. Still laughing at not the funny parts in the movie, just periodic laughing, making clear he's paying attention to this, not that. That's okay. That's all right. He's, you know, he's distracted. He's simple. As long as he has good etiquette and I don't have to hear it, I'm cool with it. All right.

Third player. He clips his nails in the kitchen. I thought you were going to say on the plane because I've seen that quite a lot too.

Kitchen to me. You've seen that on a plane? I've seen it on a plane and the guy put his tray down, clipped his nails and put them in like a little pile on the tray.

Like in the little drink indent? No, then he like, I don't know what he did with it. If he put them in his pocket or chewed them. Fingernails are a little bit more acceptable. My first thought was toenails. Oh, toenails. Yeah, no, I've never seen someone clipping toenails. I've seen a lot of toenails that need clipping when people show up with flip flops on.

Bare feet on a plane. What are we doing? Yeah, that's everywhere. Stop it.

See, I was trying to go a little more specific. That's the first thing that that irritates me, but it happens on every flight. Yeah, it's disgusting. I saw shoes off and socks off in the lounge in the Sky Club.

That was on the flight here. Come on. It's bad. It's really bad.

Who are you people? I think if you clip your nails anywhere but the bathroom or outside, I can see outside, but yeah, flossing and all these things are meant for in the bathroom. Alright, I got a couple more. When he's staying in a hotel, he makes his bed every morning. Ooh. Well, I do that. I do that too.

They do it. I do it too. You make the bed all the way tucked? Not tucked.

Like a casual one. Yeah, you put the thing over because if you don't, you're leaving the air. It's not going to be an inviting bed to return to.

Yeah, see? And you don't want housekeeping in there every day. I feel like I'd be offending them by being like, I can do this. I can do your job. So you get housekeeping every day? I like to.

Oh, I don't. Didn't get a yesterday. Had no towels this morning.

What am I supposed to do? How many towels did you use? I try to tip every day. If I miss a day, I'll do like the larger tip the second day.

That's good. I tip in the end. If you want a tip.

The end. Well, if they're coming in every day. No, I don't let them come in every day. Yeah, you're just making a mess. You have to tip because now it's filled with pizza boxes and coffee cups. Exactly. Three days worth of trash in my kitchen.

Three of the five people in this room make their bed every morning at the hotel. You know why? We're good boys.

Well, I guess apparently. I got two more for you. And you fluff the pillows? When the waiter comes over, he goes, I'm not ready. You guys go. As if you didn't have enough time to fully take in the menu in the 10 minutes you've been sitting there waiting. Oh, you mean the person I'm dining with? Correct.

Yes. Says I'm going to need more time? Just to be like, oh no, I'm not ready.

Yeah, you guys go. Oh, you mean my wife? They always have to answer. You mean my wife?

Always have to order last. Every time. My wife. You take this player.

He's this guy. My wife is always shocked that they're going to ask, would you like something to drink first? Never heard it before. She's in a restaurant three times a week. Every single time.

Would you like something, would you get you started with something to drink? I'm going to need more time. If it's not someone you're married to and sleeping with, they're off the team. All right, last one. You really like the player, but he's never seen Jaws.

You know what? I hate to say it, but we're going to keep them because that's an age thing. We've reached a point where Jaws and the Godfather are no longer required watching for men. Jaws 1975. Yeah, and the Godfather was like 78, 72, 74. It's no longer like when you'd be like, you never saw the Godfather. Now you're an old man. I've seen the Godfather, still not seen Jaws.

These guys kill me on all the movies I haven't seen. I had assignments last time I was out here hosting and I rolled through Silence of the Lambs. That was a variety of other. I can't remember what else was on that list.

It was a lot of Hunt for Red October. Well, we're talking about athletes that you want on your team. You want young, strong guys.

And if they haven't seen Jaws, that makes sense. But as the host of a show, you should be fired. Netflix is a joke comedy fest. That's Friday. You've got Dodgers Comedy Night. Dodgers Comedy Night with Cedric the Entertainer. We're doing a big show and I have a big show, if I may, in Washington, D.C. on June 15th. I'm taping my next Netflix special at the Warner Theater. So if people want to come and watch that. What will that come out on Netflix? Probably in the fall. Beautiful. I'll be watching.

And TomPapa.com or Netflix is a joke fest dot com for tickets, right? Yes. Giants. Should I watch football or should I come back to football or no? You're the guy.

No, bring it on. What do you got? Giants. Do you have any final thoughts? Do I have a team or is it just going to be more misery?

There are people that are going to be wearing uniforms that say Giants on. That's what I can tell you. Yeah. Thank you very much for being here, man. Appreciate it.

That is Tom Papa, everybody. We'll be right back. We'll talk about the Giants after this.

We can dig in more if they're going to exist. It is on thirty thousand dollars a year. Right. I would meet wonderful people that were struggling with a budget that was super tight.

It was one hundred percent. You need to make more money, make smarter choices and build a better life. Afford anything wherever you listen.

Where could you do it? Like, what's the move that you could actually. You know what? I can kick a guy in the nuts without actually kicking him in the nuts.

I'm going to pass on that. Hold on a minute. No, it's my party trick.

I guarantee I won't hurt you. So is this is this. I'll take my fingers off. Could this be sanctioned? Can she try to. Yeah.

OK, let's see who would who would volunteer for this work? Come on. You just have to spread your legs and wish for the best.

Mike Del Tufo. I mean, we're both doing it. What are we about to attempt to do right here?

Kick him in the nuts without actually hurting him. Yeah. But you do. You will make contact.

I'll make contact. Yeah. That's OK. But you will not hurt him. No, but it doesn't matter.

You have no desire to have children anyway. No. Yeah, exactly. W W superstar page. Do we have do we have to go ahead and hit it through? All right. Spread them for me. OK, ready?

If I was you, I'd pull your shorts up a little bit just so I can have a bullseye. There we go. Got it. She's great.

This is great. I know. All right. Page, how about it? Superstar page. Very good.

I just slapped him on the back. Yeah. You're up next. Yes. Yeah, it's up next.

Oh, you're the one who is making fun of her. Here we go. It just hurts on your butt. Are you serious? Are you serious? All right.

Fight with my family. Well done. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network upset at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Brockman's got that down. Pat, great times with Tom Papa in the last segment. My wife Sarah has weighed in on some of the the prospect red flags that I was going through in that last segment, saying I feel personally attacked. These are all me. I responded. I said, well, I was wondering where these are coming from. But then she said, ordering last, never seen Jaws, watching a movie and scrolling Instagram. OK, but they were all inspired. This happens.

Those are wow. Those are things going to be changed tonight when you get home. I think we're OK. Maybe not after this addendum, but I love Sarah.

Just, you know, yeah, the the scrolling Instagram thing and like chuckling at something I can't see. It does. It burrows right in here.

It's a horrible idea, Tom. She she's the best. You might as well just stay there. I think we're just coming back to the seat so I don't have a place beyond this weekend. I think we're going to be just fine. Thank you to Sarah for here in the corner.

Thank you to Sarah for handling the kids and everything else at home. I will be back on a flight that leaves like 90 minutes from right now. What else you got for me? You got a couple of minutes left. OK, we're about four months from kickoff. Twenty twenty four September 5th later this fall. What is kind of the big one or two storylines that you're looking out for between now and then? Now the draft is over. Well, I think that, you know, some of the big picture things, even not just up to week one, but going into the season are going to be the future of Dak Prescott, who is entering the last year of his deal with the Cowboys.

Cowboys keep saying they want to extend it, but this to this point, they haven't done it. And based on how Dak has approached his contract forever throughout his career, there's no real reason to think that he's going to be in any rush to take any deal that they might put in front of him between now and the start of the season. Then at that point, if he plays out the year, also next March, we're talking about Dak Prescott is this year's Kirk Cousins. And does he end up going to another team after spending a long time in one place? There's the future to a tongue of Aloha as well in terms of, you know, his contract situation. That's going to be significant. Some of those wide receivers, Justin Jefferson, C.D.

Lamb, what happens with them? And then he got some of these other ones that are going to be hovering during the season, like Bill Belichick. Now he's going to be visible from everything I could tell. He's going to make sure that he is in the media world with McAfee and wherever else. But Bill Belichick potentially coming back, I mean, he wants to coach in 2025. Where, if anywhere, does he end up landing?

I think all of those are pretty driving storylines. We could end up with a really interesting, you know, potential free agent class headed by Dak Prescott here. We'll see if there's any ground that's able to be made up between now and then. Could he possibly get traded during the year? What if the Cowboys are struggling, he's playing well, not translating the wins? Because he could be dealt to Oakland. I mean, the Raiders or something like that.

I don't foresee it. It would be a pretty big surprise if Jerry Jones at any point pulls the plug on the season like that. I would anticipate Dak plays it out. I would anticipate Jerry in his heart of hearts wants Dak to be back. They love Dak in that build.

He works harder than anybody. He played his best football last season with Mike McCarthy calling the plays. The playoff game was really, really bad.

What they're hoping, capitalize on what they did well last season and don't have the worst game at the worst possible time. Thank you to all of our guests. Thanks to the fellows in the studio. Thanks to all of you for listening and watching. I'm Tom Pilacero.

See ya. John brings his skewed sense of humor. Jeff brings tips to cut strokes off your next round. Together, it's those weekend golf guys.

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