Warren Sharp: The Cowboys Have A Very Thin Roster

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Gummies have kicked in. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. When Lenny first called in, he was taking the bar exam, then the gummies kicked in and the Buccaneers are going to go 20-0. Earlier on the show, Bucks running back Rashad White, still to come. Founder of Sharp Football Analysis, Warren Sharp. Vikings wide receiver, Justin Jefferson. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Justin Jefferson's making his way to our studio and I think we're potentially going to find out what can finally stop Justin Jefferson. And it's called the 405 freeway.

405's undefeated. It's like the Van Wieck. It's the Van Wieck of Los Angeles.

What can you do? Although, I bet you if Los Angeles knew what the Van Wieck was, they might name another passageway other than the 405. What do you think's worse? Because you've had to traverse both of them. Yeah, that's true. Oh, the Van Wieck is the most time-insensitive roadway.

It doesn't matter. Three in the morning and you're like, why are all these people out here? Yeah, right? Three in the morning. I remember being on the Van Wieck at like midnight and it was like five o'clock rush hour. When Seinfeld did an episode saying nobody could beat the Van Wieck, no one could lick the Van Wieck or something like that? Like, is it Van Wieck's undefeated?

I was laughing out loud wherever the hell I was watching that. At any rate, Justin Jefferson's making his way to our studio. George Kittle, also in the new Netflix documentary Receiver, will be on tomorrow's program.

And we just said goodbye to Rashad White. So you know we've got football on the brain, that is for sure. I've got a terrific top five I'm going to reveal in this hour. It is the 25th anniversary of American Pie.

It is. Hitting theaters near you. We just posted a great video when Sean William Scott, Stifler himself was here in 2022, said he only made eight thousand dollars for that movie.

We just posted that on our Instagram and TikTok accounts at Rich Eisen Show on Instagram, at the Rich Eisen Show on TikTok. So my top five list is going to be Super Bowl virgins that can go all the way. Wow. In honor of American Pie. I know we can say that word. Fantastic. So there you have it.

As you know, there's only a list, less than half the league is on the list of those that have never made it all the way in the National Football League. So stay tuned for that. Justin Jefferson in studio, an hour number three. Thinking about that eight thousand dollars, man.

Think about that, Chris. Your agent, your manager, your lawyer, they all take a cut and then you get your cut. I don't know if he had a lawyer, if he was making eight thousand dollars. I'm guessing he had an agent. Maybe so. Well, they made a hundred dollars.

Yeah, they made a little bit. This is the lead NFL analyst at Sports Grid, the ringer and sharp football analysis. The must have. Warren Sharpe's 2024 football preview is out today. And the author joining us right here on the Rich Eisen Show right now, Warren Sharpe. Good to see you, Warren. Thanks for having me, Rich.

Congratulations, Mazel Tov. Is that what you say when this thing finally comes out? I mean, how many pages is this bad boy, this beast? Five hundred and fifty nine pages this year, which is the longest in a little while.

But there's, you know, 15 to 16 pages on every single team. And it's really a labor of love. Once once I'm done with it, I get to do shows like yours and I get to go talk to people about football.

It's a lot more fun and entertaining than it is sitting in my office here slaving away till three a.m. like I've been doing pretty much seven days a week for the last several months. I was about to say, when do you start previewing? I mean, when when is a good time to actually preview an NFL season, knowing how long it takes to build a team? Yeah, I start in March.

It's a slow build. It gets really crazy after the NFL draft and then the schedules are announced. But it's it's a process as these teams are changing. In order to kind of predict the future, you have to really understand the past. And so that's why I get a lot of work done in March and April studying what these teams were. I don't buy into that.

What is it? The Bill Parcells ism. You are what your record says you are. You know, everybody's record can be defined by, you know, one score wins and losses or lucky turnovers or a couple of field goals that were made that might have been missed in other years. And so I try to get rid of all the luck factors that go into teams and just get a better understanding as to who they were, what has changed since last season, coaches, players, etc., who they've been drafted, what their schedule looks like and then who they're going to play this year and how those teams have changed. And so it definitely takes a lot of time. But if you're not thorough in the process and if you don't take time along the way, every step of the way, you're going to miss some things that might end up proving quite valuable in, you know, oh, this is this is actually why this team came out of perceivingly nowhere and nobody was expecting it. Or, wow, this team actually wasn't as good as the record was last year, I guess, because they're really struggling this upcoming season.

So there's a lot of that that you've got to really take into consideration. So how long did you hold off on doing your Dallas Cowboys preview because you thought they had to add somebody in free agency and then you just stuck around in the yard? I might as well start digging on the Cowboys.

How long did that take you? Yeah, there were a few teams like that. The San Francisco 49ers were actually the last team that I did because I wasn't sure what might happen with Brandon Iuch. The Dallas Cowboys, I also waited for a little while just seeing what they might do.

Obviously, if there's any, you know, big quarterback deals or decisions that get made that really alter some things and there were some rewrites that we had to do along the way. But, you know, for the Cowboys, you're absolutely right. They are a very thin roster and they have had a lot of luck thanks to turnovers over the last three years. In fact, they're, I think, one of 10 teams over the last two decades that have been plus 10 or better in turnover margin for three consecutive years. And the average of those other teams that have done that prior, they only get plus four turnovers the next year, which would be the 2024 season for the Dallas Cowboys. And as I'm sure you know, turnovers make a colossal impact on the end result of games. I mean, turnover margin ends up dictating the way that the vast majority of games go. And not only is it probably time for them to not have as much luck on the turnover side of things, but also they lost their defensive coordinator to the Washington Commander's head coach and Dan Quinn.

And he brought with him some assistance. And that's going to change a lot as it relates to their defense and potentially their ability to ball hawk. I want to say they got six non-offensive touchdowns last season. These are touchdowns when their offense isn't even on the field.

Most of them came from returning bumbles, returning interceptions, but there was a couple of punter kick returns as well. So, you know, this is just a team that I think has a relatively thin roster. They don't know what they want to do a quarterback long term, and some of this luck might go against them this season.

So they're a team that I think definitely is ready to regress a little bit from where they were last season. Again, all 32 teams have chapters, predictions, projections, analysis, much more sharing, again, what was learned from last season and then predicting best he can what's going to happen in 2024. It's Warren Sharpe's 2024 football season.

24 football preview available for pre-order right now. Which team, Warren Sharpe, do you think has done the most to improve their lot from one year to the other? Well, you know, there's a few teams.

I really like what the Washington commanders have done, but I still don't. I still think they've got a lot of growing pains to get through. I really like what a team like the Houston Texans, who are a little bit further along, did to support CJ Stroud. I think it's so valuable and important, Rich, for these teams when they have that quarterback on that rookie deal to really quickly go in there and make whatever changes are necessary and grow that roster, thanks to that cheaper cap hit that quarterback is occupying. And so I think what the Texans did on both sides of the football defensively, but also, of course, offensively to help CJ Stroud is really meaningful.

But there are some moves that some of the top tier teams made that I think are going to help them a lot. And one team that really needs some help in two aspects of the football are the Detroit Lions. And I think there are some big things in store potentially for the Lions. Now, I know that could be not perceived as a hot take because they made it to the NFC championship game last season.

But this is a team I think that is set to have another similar season and, you know, one or two things go their way. And this is a team that could be the NFC representative in the Super Bowl. One of those things is kickers. And we know that the Detroit Lions, they are looking at my notes here that over the last four years, no team has made fewer field goals than the Detroit Lions. And not just that, we know that Dan Campbell doesn't like to attempt field goals. He goes for it on fourth down. They ranked 25th in conversion rate of field goals, especially the longer field goals.

We've seen them sometimes bang a couple of really long ones several years ago. But this team has really struggled kicking from distance. And now they go out and they get Jake Bates, who I think is obviously a weapon in the kicking game. He went 17 to 22 in the regular season. And he was 14 of 16 on attempts under 50 yards, but 7 of 12 from 50 plus. The Lions have made only 10 field goals in the last four years of 50 plus yards. He did it just one season.

He made seven of them, made seven of 12. So I think that's going to help them a lot this upcoming season. They made some improvements on the defensive side of the ball.

They knew what their weaknesses were. Their first two draft picks, they went out and got cornerbacks. They're really struggling in the secondary.

That was really their big problem area last season. But I honestly, as I dug back through the team in the offseason, what I have found is that if only the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator sent fewer blitzes, this team would have a lot more success. When they were not blitzing, they had one of the higher blitz rates of any team. But when they weren't blitzing, they actually were right around average, just a little bit below average defensively in the secondary.

But when they blitzed, they were like the worst team in the NFL, dead last in EPA allowed on pass plays. And we know they got a lot of pressure. Dan Campbell has talked about the pressure that his team was getting, but they just weren't converting sacks off of that pressure.

That's going to go right for them this year. I think they're going to get a lot more sacks. Pressure does impact quarterback production.

And so I think that that's a positive to get all that pressure. But I think sacks will eventually come and they don't need to send these blitzes. When they were blitzing, they weren't really jumping up the ranks in terms of their sack rate. Actually, they improved their sack rate, but it wasn't moving up to like a top echelon. I think they need to tone down their blitz rate. They'll have more success in the secondary this upcoming season. They added some pieces there. They got Jake Bates in.

And then here's another factor, Rich. We've known this for a little while now, but it's still telling to hear that the Detroit Lions this upcoming season play 14 out of 17 games in domes, 14 out of 17 games in domes. This team has big home road splits. They also have big dome outdoor splits. Even when they're on the road, if they're playing in a dome, they are playing better than when they're playing outdoors on the road.

And so I think the Detroit Lions really set themselves up well for a good season this year. I think their first seven consecutive games are in domes. And they're one lone outdoor game that they don't automatically play. You know, they're obviously going to play in Green Bay. They're obviously going to play in Chicago. Forget about those two games. You're flashing up the schedule right now. Their only true road game that they don't have to otherwise play that's going to be outdoors is week 17 in San Francisco. So it's unlikely that we're going to have a weather situation or wind situation.

I mean, it could get windy there in San Francisco, but it's not really like playing in other areas like up in New England or in New York, things like that. So I think the Lions did some things this season that's going to really help them in 2024. Now, I know I'm asking an author and an analyst who just banged out 550 pages on all 32 teams this question.

Because I know you're about Minutia. Are you really saying that you like the Lions to get past the San Francisco 49ers this year in part because of the Michigan Panthers place kicker from the USFL or the UFL? I mean, is that really what you're throwing out my direction, Warren? That it might cause Dan Campbell to not go for it on fourth and too long from the middle of the plus side of the field?

Is that what you're saying? Look, if there are plus EV situations that he should be going for it, hopefully he still goes for it in those situations. But I know there are times when he's going for it on fourth and probably a little bit too long because he doesn't trust his kicker. Remember what happened at the end of that first half in the NFC Championship game in San Francisco where they were up big. I want to say it was like 24 to 7 heading into halftime and he didn't feel confident in kicking it.

So he decided to go for it. They end up not getting it and they go in the locker room and then San Francisco roars back, no pun intended, in the second half and wins the game and goes to the Super Bowl. I think that would be a situation where Dan Campbell feels very comfortable in sending Bates out there to kick it.

So it absolutely is Minutia. You're right, but I'm trying to leave no stone unturned. I think that that is one factor that is going to be in the plus column for the Detroit Lions this upcoming season that maybe some people aren't thinking about enough. Okay, so then in the few minutes I have left with you, let's hit the AFC. So you said the Lions have improved their lot to potentially get past the Niners and swap out the NFC combatant for this year's Super Bowl. What about the AFC?

Has anybody done anything significant to make sure the Chiefs don't 3-peat or have an opportunity to do so? Yeah, it's tough because I don't think there have been enough changes like let's say in the AFC North. All of those teams are really good, but I don't think any of them made monumental moves. I'm worried about some of the depth pieces for the Baltimore Ravens, for example. I don't think the Steelers did enough. They obviously made the biggest change in that division. They got rid of their quarterback and brought in a couple of quarterbacks, but I still don't think they are set up well. I think we're going to be talking about them a lot down the stretches. They're in all these primetime games with Mike Tomlin.

Can he go over 500? Can he be his first losing season? That's going to be a massive storyline to the end of this year because the NFL gave them one of the most difficult schedules I've ever seen from like week 11 onward. It's absolutely crazy what the Pittsburgh Steelers have to deal with there.

But I talked about the Houston Texans and the improvements that they made this past offseason. Like you said, how are we going to get past the Kansas City Chiefs? It's going to be a big challenge for any of these teams because I think the Chiefs are obviously set up so well and as long as they have the Holmes and Reed and they added weapons at the receiving room, they're still solid up front in my opinion.

It's going to come down to protection, but that's where I think some people are viewing protection around the league, Rich, a little bit incorrectly. Years ago, we used to think that if a quarterback's got a great offensive line, he's going to be fine. If a quarterback's offensive line is bad, he's going to be terrible. And we know offensive line play is pretty under discussed and is important, but quarterbacks themselves control a lot of that pressure.

And I could talk to you for 10 minutes about the quote that I heard from the New York Giants hard knocks episode. So we won't get into that, but suffice it to say, Patrick Mahomes would fare a lot better than Daniel Jones does under pressure behind that offensive line because it is a quarterback skill to get beat pressured, but not take a sack. Sacks are drive killers. They massively up the punt rate. And if you have a quarterback who is smart pre-snap to diagnose where the pressure might be coming from, make those adjustments, get into a new play, get into a new protection, as well as post snap, you are a distinct advantage. And Daniel Jones, he really struggles with this his entire career. It's not just that the Giants have a bad offensive line or were injured last year. This is something he struggled with.

He's got to improve. But I just think it is going to be tough to get past the Kansas City Chiefs. I love the moves that the L.A. Chargers have made this past offseason, primarily at the head coach there.

So I think that's going to be a benefit. And I think the if Aaron Rodgers is back and playing at his 100 percent, the Jets are scary. I mean, I don't know how Robert Selleck has gotten the Jets to be so focused and to have decent enough records, despite the ridiculously poor quarterback play that they've had to deal with for years. It's going to be such a breath of fresh air if they do get good quarterback play in there as to how much easier life is for that defense of his. So you think Chiefs, Lions, when it all comes down to it, that's what you're thinking as we're sitting here second Tuesday in July?

I'm thinking Chiefs, Lions, Eagles, like those three if I had to get the Eagles moving ahead of the. I think the coordinators are going to make a massive difference. Last season, think about what they did last year. They lost their coordinators and then they promoted from within.

And I think they thought the guys that they were promoting a little bit further along than what they were. Now they went outside mercenary style, brought in two new coordinators, a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, Kellen Moore. I think those guys are going to add some creativity to the play calling. I just worry about Jason Kelce at center there.

I tweeted out the other day about just how impactful he was. And that quarterback tush push has been for the Philadelphia Eagles. They've gotten more EPA expected points added out of just the tush push in like ninety seven plays over the last three years than every single other team's rushing rushing attack combined in every single play that they've had.

That's how effective the Eagles push pushes on just less than one hundred plays over the last three years. So if Jason Kelce is not quite yeah, he's not there. And if that absence isn't replaceable one for one, then that then that could really impact the Philadelphia Eagles more than I think some people are thinking, which is why I think the Detroit Lions take that place. But I think the Eagles are going to be the class of the NFC North NFC East taking over from the Dallas Cowboys. And I think I'm excited about Jordan Love. I'm excited about the Green Bay Packers, but I still got the Lions there.

And yeah, I think both those two teams can definitely vie for contention with the San Francisco 49ers. And I think it's going to be a great season. I think this season is going to be outstanding. I can't wait. I'm so happy this book is done because that means the season is near and I'm looking forward to it. Well, congrats on that. So how can people get the book worn? Just go to go to Sharp Dot Football. We made it easy on the U.R.L.

Sharp Dot Football. And we also have a promo code for you, Rich. The code is just rich.

Enter the code rich and you'll get it ten dollars off the list price for the book. So we hope everybody goes and checks it out. A lot of work going into this book. And I really think it's going to be a valuable resource, both between now and the start of the season, as well as during the season. There's a lot of insight that you're going to be able to gain from this book on a week to week basis during the season.

So go to Sharp Dot Football, put that in your U.R.L., right? And then put in my first name and you get ten dollars off the list price. Okay. Absolutely.

Rich, very good, Warren. Greatly appreciate it. Thanks for the time.

Congratulations on everything that you're up to and everything that you're doing. And come back. Come on the program next time. Thanks, Rich. You got it. Appreciate you. You got it. That's Warren Sharp. Everybody check out his 2024 football preview and also check him out at Sports Grid, The Ringer and Sharp Football Analysis right here on The Rich Eisen Show. There you have it.

Mike Hoskins, coordinating producer. Do me a favor. Pop up the Steelers schedule. Not that I want to check Warren's work, but I haven't focused too much on the Steelers schedule. He said that week 11 on is one of the most difficult schedules he's seen. So without question.

Okay. So week 11, they have four division games in a row. They've got their home for Baltimore, both games against the Browns, then sandwiched around a visit to Cincinnati. And the game at the Browns is a Thursday after hosting Baltimore. And then they're at Philadelphia after that gauntlet of what might be the most difficult division, right? In football.

You got to play him at some point, but four in a row right there. And then they're at Philadelphia week 15 at Baltimore against... So they play both games against Baltimore and Cleveland on the back end. They play Cincinnati.

Oh my gosh. From week 11 on is their entire division schedule. Yeah. It's crazy. Because they finish against Cincinnati. All right.

I'll just read it out for those listening. Home against Baltimore week 11 at Cleveland week 12, at Cincinnati week 13, home for Cleveland week 14. Then they're at Philadelphia.

Then comes the wild sequence because they're one of the Christmas day games on Netflix. That means they've got to play Saturday after the week 15 Sunday. They're at Baltimore week 16, and then they turn around for their Christmas game home against Kansas City. And then have that mini-buy after Christmas before hosting Cincinnati at the end. Their entire division schedule of arguably one of the most difficult divisions in football, they're all week 11 beyond. Black and gold. Here we go.

Yeah. Well, they're going to need to go 8-0 before the buy. So here you've got at Atlanta. So they start three out of four on the road. Their only home game is week three in the first month of the season, home against Los Angeles. Chargers. They're home for Dallas on a Sunday night after that first four, three of four on the road. Then they're at Vegas, home for the Jets and Giants, which you might think could be the softest part of their schedule. Those are all prime time games. The Dallas Jets Giants games.

Two Sundays and then the Monday against the Giants before a buy at Washington, and then that gauntlet. He's not wrong. That's a tough spot.

I just went full Chris Russo there. Tough spot. You know, right there. I mean, I know it's July, but every year there's new playoff teams. Steelers made it last year.

No, stop. They're not making it. Listen, I've told you once, I'll tell you again, and at some point I'll do a top five on the top five story, top five storylines of the NFL season coming up.

One of them will definitely be, I just don't know where it's going to be. It's Russell Wilson's last chance. It's his last chance. It's Russell Wilson with his Hall of Fame career being built in Seattle and then coming to a full stop with his last year in Seattle and two in Denver. Full stop. Screeching halt. His steamroll towards Canton.

Screeching halt. And the Steelers offering him not just an opportunity, but essentially the starting gig with no competition. Giving him the starting gig is one of the more surprising aspects of this off season.

Because nobody saw that coming when he got basically, if you will, quichonned for the final few weeks of the season. And then cut, serving as the proper name associated with the largest dead cap charge in the history of the National Football League. Then the Steelers say, here's the starting gig. And by the way, with a new offensive coordinator who knows how to do it and Arthur Smith and a ton of talent around him that Steeler fans have thought have been wasted by Mike Tomlin's previous choices of coordinator. So if Russ shows up like Danger Russ Wilson in Seattle and can channel those first few years in Seattle and utilize this opportunity fully aware, who else might give him another one if it doesn't work out? Knowing Justin Fields is sitting right there and he has this opportunity and he makes the most of it and goes through that week 11 through end of the season gauntlet successfully? What a story that would be. What a monster storyline it would be for one of the most passionate fan bases in sports. Or it could be like what you just pointed out.

I don't think there's going to be any gray area. You know, I agree. We constantly talk about Russ like he fell off a cliff, right? And I'm just saying, statistically the man's thrown 107 touchdowns and 38 picks in the last four seasons. Am I wrong for thinking that like, how many wins?

Let me just say, let me just point out again, you're not wrong. Some numbers support it, but the number of times that we saw Russell Wilson over the last two years just basically duck and run or just or not stand in the pocket. But he throws a beautiful deep ball, one of the best deep ball throwers in the NFL that I've seen in the 20 plus years that I've covered it. One to root for, but some of the last two years, you could put some of it on Hackett and you got to put some of it on him.

He's not completely immune to why it went wrong and why he in Seattle had a divorce. Like four and 11, we don't... Yeah, listen, if you're pointing this out saying the talent is still there from previous years, then this will be the ultimate test. And then if he passes it, my gosh, how amazing that would be. What a storyline that would be for 2024 into 2025, because that means the Steelers are going to the playoffs. And then with a ton of expectations and maybe even a home game.

That's a very difficult end of the season schedule that I haven't paid that much attention to until Warren Sharp just pointed it out. Let's take a break. 844-204-RICH, number to dial your phone calls and a dynamite top five list in honor of American Pie's 25th anniversary.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. How much do you still hear about American Pie? How much do you hear about that?

Not too much. I mean like well there was like the 20-year anniversary of the movie Not Longer, which was wild. I mean like we didn't celebrate it, but it's just like 20 years ago the movie came out. You know it's 1999 is when American Pie. You can't make that movie today though. I mean like I honestly I've always said it like I think kids there's now teenagers are like they would watch that and be like sex with a pie.

I did that when I was six. You know what I mean? Like it's like oh that's crazy.

Which year we do. Right, I know. You know what I mean? It's like a cartoon for them. Well then they'd also show it on their phones too.

Right. You know we definitely couldn't get a video of me doing that. You know here it is. I actually tweeted it out. I put it on my Instagram.

Totally different, totally different arrow. But I remember when that came out it was I remember seeing it in the theater and I remember laughing my ass off. That's awesome. Just beyond fantastic.

You were fantastic in it. You're very, very believable. It's Stifler.

Very, very believable. A little bit of Stifler in everybody. Is that what you're saying?

You should teach a learning annex course on how to bring out your inner Stifler with John William Scott. See, that's a new thing. Reality TV show. We got to get in the TV world as well.

We got to do our dark movies, a little spin on the sports. Yes. This is a good reality TV show. I'm going to go out there at the learning annex and tell everybody how to be their best Stifler.

How to get your inner Stifler everybody. Yeah. Big bucks man. We're going to make the big bucks. You know you and I, I don't know how many guests we have here where we just spitball. We spitball and try and make each other better. And you have done that with me, sir.

Once again, I really appreciate that. It's the 25th anniversary of American Pie. So that was Sean William Scott on 2019.

And we just posted on our Instagram page, something about him making $8,000 from that movie. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Let's go to the phone line right now. This one interests me and everybody on hold. Don't worry, we're going to get to everybody on the show today. Paul in Syracuse, you're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up Paul?

Rich. What's up? It's great to be on the show. Thank you, sir. Thanks for joining the program. What's on your mind? Well, I'm going to be honest, Rich, been a fan of the show for a long time. Okay.

Really enjoyed it. But this is the first time I'm calling in. All right. And the reason being is, you know, I'm on the website right now.

You can see it on the social media that the call-in number is 844-204-RICH. That's right. Yeah. The problem is, wow, it was pretty embarrassing. I didn't know how to call in to the Rich part. You know what I mean? So I've attempted to call in before, and it's embarrassing to admit. I type in the 844-204, and then I'd be like, all right, let me try to type in Rich.

Okay, that doesn't work. And then I just start yelling at the phone, Rich, Rich. You know what I mean?

L-S-F, Rich. And yes, finally, I've gotten past that hurdle today for the first time in probably a decade or so. Yeah. Congratulations, Paul. Should I change it to 844-204-PAUL? Would it have been easier for you to figure that one out, Paul?

It might have been an easier path. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have problems with buttons in life otherwise, Paul? Or you're just not a button guy? Or you're more of a princess phone guy from back in the day?

Is that what it is? It probably makes it worse, you know? Okay. You know, I'm a radio host, so that's probably much more. You do sound like you've got the voice. I was going to ask you if you were a stand-up. You sort of had that stand-up cadence going right there. Okay.

I appreciate that. Perhaps, you know, never too late, you know? Maybe I could get into that. So is that it? I mean, were you calling in about calling in? Like, is that really what your subject is?

Is that it? You know, now that I've kind of checked it off the bucket list, I now feel more free. I feel like now I could call in a few more times more often. And what better way to start than calling about the start to the start of the call for the call? Paul in Syracuse is going very deep with us. Thanks for the call, Paul. Better call Paul. Right here.

7-4-2-4 in case you all see. I was wondering what that was about. And I found out. Just found out. All right.

It's the 25th anniversary of the movie American Pie. Do you remember seeing it in the theater? Or you were too young? No, no, very much so. Okay. So that was right in your teenage years, right?

Very much so. Right after my freshman year of college. I was a high school freshman. Okay. I saw it with my college girlfriend at the time.

Oh, how'd that work for you? Well, I don't know how deep I want to get into this, but... Go for it. It was interesting because, you know... Shannon Elizabeth made for an awkward moment. There were some scenes, you know, there was a pie that got ruined, you know?

So, you know, it was interesting. Yep. Yep.

That's a shame. TJ, did you see the film in a movie theater? Yeah.

Me and my buddy Gary, we went and saw, you know, like we had these things in Pittsburgh where after a movie was in the theater for like two, three weeks, they moved it to like the $5 theater. Okay. We were broke college kids and we waited. And you were in college in 1999? Oh, 99. No.

It's about to say. What are you talking about? We were still broke though. Wait a minute. You were in college in 99? I was thinking it was 95, but it was 99. Yeah. We were still broke.

You were in college in 95? Yeah. We're not gonna get to the bottom. Okay. I'm just still hunting and pecking for TJ's real age. I mean, I don't even know why it's so important to you.

Oh, everything about you is important to me. I don't think it is. But anyway, Gary Witten saw the movie. Me and Brockman were just talking about this yesterday. And I can't remember laughing harder at any movie that I've ever been in than I did watching America. I just remember again, you know, seeing the cast and there were so many people I, you know, that I didn't know who they were. And this movie made stars out of you know, like Jason Biggs I hadn't seen. I mean, Chris Klein, I think, was he in something before I'd seen him?

Sean William Scott, I hadn't. Shannon Elizabeth was definitely new. Mina Suvar, I think, was in American Beauty already, right?

Is that before or after? When was American Beauty? I think American Beauty was after. So American Beauty came after.

All right. Eugene Levy, obviously, I'd known him from SCTV. This is way before Schitt's Creek. So it was groundbreaking. Tara Reid.

It was groundbreaking. Tara Reid, yep. Jennifer Coolidge. Jennifer Coolidge, you know, way before White Lotus as Stifler's mom. Listen, we figured today, with it being the 25th anniversary of American Pie, debuting in a theater near you, I've got a top five list.

Top five Super Bowl virgins ready to go all the way. Yes. Wow. Okay.

Love it. Wow. So they've never won a Super Bowl. Okay.

Never won one. Ready to go all the way. All right.

Hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Richest top five. And in honor, again, of American Pie being a theater near you film 25 years ago on this day, for my top five Super Bowl virgins ready to go all the way list, I'm associating a character from American Pie with each of these teams.

Fantastic. You can draw your own conclusions as to why I'm choosing these folks, but I'm going with number five on this list. The Kevin of Super Bowl virgins ready to go all the way. The Buffalo Bills. They've been there before. You assume they've been there before. And you know, they've been there before. You thought they were ready to go, but they didn't. And they haven't been in a long time. So even with the loss of Stefan Diggs and Gabe Davis and Jordan Poyer and so on and so forth, all the guys in the Buffalo Bills organization that you thought they would finally go all the way with, they're gone. And you think that this is now going to be forgotten? I think this is a sorely mistaken point. There's still Josh Allen there, and there's still some highly talented players.

I still think they have an opportunity to go all the way this year. Not ready to abandon the Buffalo Bills. That's number five on this list. Tara Reid of the Bills is who?

I'm just trying to- No, no, no. Number four on the list. The Oz of this list, because Oz strikes me as a guy who is a studly guy who would wear a suit missing the back of it.

The Oz of this list are the Cincinnati Bengals. Interesting. They're ready to go all the way. Great hair. Don't you think that that's a good mix right there? That is a good one. I like that. Right? He's kind of the Joe Burrow of this film, and I kind of think that the Bengals are going to get Joe Burrow back.

You even said in the overreaction Monday segment on Monday that he's going to be top five MVP candidate. Feels like I like what I've seen out of him. Oh, man. Oh, man.

Oh, man. I just think that the Bengals just, let's stay healthy. Let's get everybody signed.

Let's stop talking about trading people. Let's get everybody in house. Let's get everybody rowing in the same direction and winning this division and getting to the Super Bowl and finally breaking through. I think it's time. I think the Bengals are ready to go all the way.

Number three on this list. I don't know why I've associated the Texans with Finch, but I have. I kind of think, you know, the Texans can do to the National Football League what Finch did to Stifler's mom. Hey, am I wrong? Wow.

The other thing is, you know, I think I'm wrong. Wow. The other 31 of the NFL are are Stifler's mom. Right. And and the Texans can win it all. I'm just walking through the front door with my top five list here. Jay Stroud only likes to go at home, TJ.

Am I right? I kind of think the Texans have made the moves, guys. The Texans have made the moves. I said number two on my list yesterday of most underrated difference makers of the upcoming NFL season, Daniel Hunter. I kind of think the Texans are are the real deal. So they're ready to go all the way despite never having gone all the way before. Number two on this list.

Oh my God. Have the fans been waiting to try and go all the way with this team? These last two teams are neck and neck. The Stifler of this list of the Cleveland Browns. Oh, the Cleveland Browns are ready to go all the way. They're ready to go all the way. We put Stefanski up there with Stifler.

He's a Stifler, I guess, of all of this. Man, Deshaun Watson, let's go. The Browns have been waiting for you to get up to speed, get your sea legs under you and then get now your your your throwing shoulder ready to go. And Chubb comes back healthy and the Grim Reaper is ready to roll and the defense ready to roll and the Browns are ready to do with Deshaun Watson what they did in the final few weeks of the season with Joe Flacco last year. Let's go. And number one on this list, the gym of this list, ready to go all the way. All the Detroit Lions. I mean, this is it. Dan Campbell is Jim.

That's an interesting choice. I mean, let's go. They're bringing they're bringing the they're bringing the everyone back. They're ready. They're ready to take that National Football League pie and win it all. And the the team from Detroit that came so close to making the Super Bowl last year totally have the horses to get past everyone else in the in the conference and win it all.

And that's my top five list. And then we need one more. All right, we'll get one more.

All right. They've never gone all the way. They've made it to the Super Bowl once before. And they went ahead and they got the coach. They got the Shermanator of the National Football League, Jim Harbaugh. Oh, baby. Talk about somebody.

The pictures. Honestly, talk about somebody who knows about manifesting his own destiny. It's Jim Harbaugh and making sure everyone around him knows it's time to manifest your destiny. I'll be back and go all the way. The Shermanator of the National Football League, Jim Harbaugh, is going to get the charges potentially ready to go all the way. And that's my top five list in honor of American Pie's 25th anniversary of top five Super Bowl virgins ready to go all the way.

One time at bank camp. That's right. There you go.

I know. What do you think of my list? I did leave off a couple of teams here. I left off Atlanta. Atlanta, yep.

Minnesota, in all due respect to our friend that's joining us shortly and Justin Jefferson. You know, you just look at the teams that have never won a Super Bowl before. You know, you can kind of look at Atlanta, Arizona, if you think about it.

Because Atlanta, right? 28-3, they kind of had the Super Bowl won, right? Then they messed around and they lost it. Jim had Nadia ready to go.

Ready to go. Then he messed around. Well, you know. And then he lost it. Early finish, I guess. I left off the Jaguars. They celebrated too early.

Go bank. They were celebrating too early. Well, let's take a break because we finally made it through segment with Mr. That's What She Said over there hearing me say the word virgin five times in a segment. And we're getting through it. It's kickoff time and believe podcasts are here to get you ready for the season. He wanted to change the culture and he wanted me to be a part of that. With Believe, he does sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone.

This was good for everybody. Just search Believe. That's B-L-E-A-V podcast wherever you listen. There's somebody on Twitter and it could be Bob at real underscore Bob Costas. Then you read the Twitter bio and you begin to think something could be up. How are you, Bob?

I'm good, Rich. Late last night and then again this morning when I woke up, dozens of texts, some claiming it must be real, some saying this can't be true. And one said, this is the best indication that hell has frozen over since the 04 Red Sox or the 2016 Cubs. But I am here to assure you and everybody else that the fires of hell are still very much blazing because I am absolutely not on Twitter.

They have taken the bogus account down and I began thinking, you know, what would actually, what would I have to do before I ever gained to be on Twitter? What, like binge watch the Real Housewives of Orange County? Make a return trip to Sochi just for the nostalgia of a pink eye episode? Star in a fishbowl to basketball?

Or just for you, here for you, Rich. Yes, Bob. Make a special trip to the NFL combo. All those things will happen before I'm ever on Twitter. Okay, so this is the real Bob Costas. We can confirm that now. Twitter needs that. Oh my gosh.

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? Guys, please get the number of Emmys right. Exactly. I said that.

I said 21 seems a little right. You gotta pull a scam. Get your ducks in a row. Costas is maybe greatest appearance out of his two dozen appearances. Back on The Rich Eyes and show game time tickets. Get this app on a mobile device and start buying tickets to any event in your area, concerts, theater, sports.

Obviously, we're in the midst of baseball season. They're terrific to use to get baseball tickets because you remove the guesswork of any sport. To know your view from your seat, it's probably got to be baseball, certainly with the way that a stadium is aligned or where is the pitcher's mound in relation to your seat, right field, left field.

It's awesome. You get to see a view from your seat. You get to see all in prices to know exactly how much it costs before you purchase your ticket. And it's an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball. That's game time. Where the prices actually go down on the game time app, the closer it gets to first pitch.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Justin Jefferson's making his way to our studio. Hour number three in studio.

It'll be a lot of fun. Let's go to the phone line. Zach and Dallas have been waiting for a long time. What's up, Zach? What's going on, sir? What's up, Rich? How are we doing today? What's going on? What's going on in Big D, sir? A lot of rain from that hurricane, but today we're playing the windlass for the Bears.

The Bears. Are you from Chicago originally? I'm not. I got it passed from my dad. My dad is from the south side. Okay, very good.

South side of Chicago. Now from Dallas, Zach with the wind loss game for the Chicago Bears. Let's see. Starts with the Tennessee Titans.

What do you have? Rich, the last time a number one pick won his debut was 2002. Caleb Williams is going to break that streak.

That's a Dutch. Oh my God. Nobody thinks their team's losing to the Titans. Unreal at the Texans. Sorry, CJ. Sunday Night Football.

That's Hollywood. That's Caleb Williams. That's a W. All right.

All right. 2-0 at the Colts. Did he say sorry, TJ?

Fluth is loose, boys. 3-0. Home for the Rams. All right, that's a loss. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Give respect where it's due. Home for the Panthers. Home for the Panthers. Stomp on them.

Stomp on them. You're going to London to take on the Jaguars. We always do well in London. Give me that one. 5-1 at the commanders off a buy. Scheduled loss.

Off a buy off London at Washington. Scheduled loss. Scheduled loss.

Never heard of those? 5-2 at the Cardinals. We're taking that one. Marv's gonna have two touchdowns, but Caleb's gonna work some magic. 6-2. Home for the Patriots. Number one and number two.

Give me Caleb. 7-2. Home for the Packers. We're losing that one, Rich. We haven't beaten them since like 2018.

I was in high school then. We're not doing it this time. 7-3.

Home for the Vikings. When? JJ McCarthy's gonna be starting by then.

When? 8-3 at the Lions on Thanksgiving. We're losing on Thanksgiving.

It's gonna hurt, but the food will make up for it. 8-4 at the 49ers. Surprise win, boys. Surprise win. 6-6.

Jalen Johnson to the house. 9-4 at the Vikings on a Monday night. Obvious win. 10-4 home for the Lions.

We just talked about it. Detroit can't play outside. Give me that one. 11-4 home for the Seahawks on a Thursday night. We're gonna lose that one. And then at the Packers. To secure Offensive Rookie of the Year.

To secure Iberfluz Coach of the Year and a playoff spot. Give me a win. 10-5. Zach in Dallas.

12-5. Wow. All right. All right, Zach. Attaboy, Zach. Don't lose our number. Boy, man. I'm loving the win-loss game, the optimism, and the sheer madness all mixed in.

Everyone gets caught up. He's 11-6. Well, we had 11-6. We had the previous caller for the Bills. Mike W. Mike in Illinois.

Mike in Illinois, yeah. All right. Justin Jefferson, our number three. Let's go.

Don't you dare move in studio. Still here on Roku. We'll take your phone calls top of the next hour as well, and then we'll get to Justin Jefferson.

A lot of win-loss game participants waiting in line right here. So Medvedev moved on, correct? Medvedev, yep. And did Alcaraz just move on? They're packing their rackets right now, and he was up two sets to one. Yes, he won the last three. Three in a row.

He won three in a row. Well, a nice run by Tommy Paul is getting a round of applause as he leaves what I believe is court one there. Or is that center court? They're not putting Alcaraz on court one. Center and Medvedev had to go on court one. We're on center? We're on center. Okay, there he goes. And Alcaraz stays on court one. Don't worry, Tommy Paul.

I'll get you back. Dude, one point. One point. Let's not forget, I can get a point by hitting him with a serve on the fly. So that's going to be your strategy.

Let's be honest. That's going to be your strategy. You know what that'll be? That'll be what's called a safety valve.

In case of emergency, break that glass. Okay. You know what I mean? Does he know that you've been saying you could get a point off him?

I doubt it. He's just like, hey, let me go out here and play this guy. I just think he's just going about... If he knows, he's probably going to take it even up a little. I think he's just going to... He will do that to start, and then he'll think he's got this thing in the bag, and then he'll double fault, and then I'll walk off victorious. Are you playing three sets? Two sets? I don't know. I haven't gotten that far. See how it was going to keep going and then how they would somehow settle it. Binge seasons one through four of Talkville before season five begins, wherever you listen.