Rod Woodson: 49ers Are The Best Team In The NFC

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New customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees extra speeds lower above 40 gigabytes in detail. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Snap back to Mahomes, rolls to his right. Jackson will keep it running to the right.

Let's go. Live from Kansas City. I mean, what would you think of the Chiefs having a chance to be the first to ever win three of them in a row? Nobody would have enjoyed the last five years more than my dad. Earlier on the show, CBS Sports broadcaster, Kevin Harlan. Coming up, ESPN MLB insider, Jeff Passan. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Rod Woodson.

Plus your phone calls, latest news and more. And now it's Rich Eisen. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show kickoff special live from Kansas City at the Total Wireless Studio, hour number two of day number two of our three day residency here in Kansas City, home of the two time defending champions, Super Bowl Kansas City Chiefs, two time defending Super Bowl champions getting to take on the Ravens tonight on the season opener on NBC, which you can catch here through the Roku portal. We're live on the Roku Sports Channel.

We're live on this Rich Eisen Show, Terrestrial Radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Rod Woodson, who's one of the radio voices of the Baltimore Ravens. An interesting scenario that a long time great stealer is that. But Rod did actually win a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens back in the day. He's making his way to our studio here in Kansas City, but kicking off our number two for us, one of the lead baseball voices in all the land from ESPN, senior baseball writer and reporter and Kansas Citian. Extraordinaire, Jeff Passan.

Good to see you. Jenison of Section 103 at Chiefs games as well. So do you have season tickets? I got season tickets three years ago now when I realized that my eldest child was going to be gone from like our lives in 200 weeks. He had four years until he was gone off to college.

Right. And he loves nothing more than watching Patrick Mahomes in person. Like I have not been a sports fan for a really long time in terms of like actually rooting for teams. Because of what you do for a living? No, because I grew up in Cleveland. No, but it broke my heart. I had my heart broken so many times. Like in the 80s with the Browns when I was just a kid, six, seven, eight years old, seeing the drive, seeing the fumble.

And then with the Indian teams in the 1990s that were so good and never won. And it's just like, why do we do this? Why do we put ourselves as sports fans through torture every single year when the inevitability is going to be that it turns out poorly?

Because it does for 31 of 32 teams in the NFL and for 29 of 30 baseball teams and on and on. And sometimes the journey is not worth the pain in the end. And then I moved to Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes came along and the journey doesn't end in pain. It just ends in glory and championships. And it's been a beautiful thing to be the bandwagonist fan of all time.

And I make no apologies for it at all. You know why? Because winning's awesome.

It's the best. And you see what your, so how old is your kid? 16. He's 16. And he's going to these games and this is, he's got to be living his best life seeing this because what a show that you have in town. I mean, tonight it's going to be myself, my son, his best friend and his girlfriend going to a Chiefs game for the first time.

How about that? Taylor Swift? She wants to see Taylor Swift. No, I thought, I thought that's the girlfriend breaking news. He's got more game than I expected, but he's not got that much. It's not like Kelsey-style game now.

It's got more breaking news or anything like that. So section 103, check out Jeff Passan. If you happen to be in 103 tonight, that's pretty cool, dude. And we're also in the town of an absolute 100% unless there's a major collapse in the next three weeks playoff team of the Kansas City Chiefs. Royals, correct? I mean.

Yes. And they have not been playing particularly well lately, but they built up a cushion and the rest of the American league stinks. The Red Sox have not taken advantage like they needed to. The Seattle Mariners have collapsed entirely. The Detroit Tigers are the team that's making the biggest run at the Royals and the Twins toward the bottom of the wildcard standings right now.

Yeah, it's interesting. I actually picked them to win the Central this year. I thought they, I thought they had a better shot at playing like they are now, but they scuffled early on and Spencer Torkelson was sent down and Riley Greene was hurt for a little while. They're going to be really good in the next few years. And the American League Central, which has been the Comedy Central forever, is primed to be a nasty division for the next half decade. The White Sox accept it, of course. Right. So I mean, you take a look at the wildcard teams.

It's going to be whoever loses the AFC. I got to get out of the base. You are in football.

I don't blame you, buddy. You came to Kansas City. I know. You came to Kansas City for something. It wasn't baseball.

I know. Whoever's going to lose the American League East, whoever finishes second and then the other two teams from the Central. So that's going to be basically your wildcard situation.

We got Bobby Wood Jr. coming in here tomorrow and we are genuinely excited to meet him. I mean, he, where do you think he finishes in MVP voting this year? I think it's second.

To Judge? Yeah, because Aaron Judge is having just an absolutely extraordinary season. But the way, and I'm writing something on this for next week because Kansas City goes to New York and Judge and Witt are going to be in the same stadium.

We can talk about the two and comparing them and saying head to head who's better, who should be MVP, who's not. The way I look at it with them is those two are so much better than everyone else right now. And that includes Juan Soto and that includes Gunnar Henderson. That includes Jaron Duran and all the other guys up there. They are charting a course in terms of wins above replacement that we have not seen Rich in upward of a hundred years.

Two guys from the same league position players having 10 plus wins above replacement. So the fact that Bobby Wood is doing this at 24 years old, he's got a ceiling unlike anybody in baseball right now. And he is so good at hitting and so good at fielding and so good at running, he is the complete player in the game. Judge's bat takes him above and beyond everyone. He's that much better a hitter than everyone else.

But in terms of all around players, there's no one like Bobby Whit right now. I got Jeff Passan here on the Rich Eisen Show. Turn the microphone, tilt it up a little bit. No, the one right there in front of you, the radio mic. Just there we go. Right here on the Rich Eisen Show. So there we go. We're working on the, it's all falling apart.

Now we're back again. Jeff Passan here on the Rich Eisen Show. So if baseball did it like the NFL, which is, we're not splitting MVPs in conferences, okay? That if it was one all-encompassing, you know where I'm going with this.

I like this question. This is a good sports talk radio conversation. It would be Judge and Otani, clearly, which is what we'd be talking about for MVP of the league. Would we though? Otani's going for first 50-50 season ever, right? Don't judge him by two and a half or right now.

He does. And here's the thing. So you would take Judge, it would be a clear Judge over Otani? Not even a question. No kidding. I would take Whit over Otani. Why? Because Otani's a DH.

And here's the thing. Bobby Whit has a higher batting average than him. Bobby Whit's on-base percentage is right there with him. Bobby Whit's slugging percentage is right there with him.

They're both around 400 and 600 on those. So offensive numbers wise, he is coming close to matching him. I understand the home runs are a big deal, as they should be, but Whit's got them in doubles. Whit's got them in triples as well. And beyond that, he plays shortstop at an extraordinary level.

He sure does. And so when you're comparing in the National League right now, for example, like Shohei Otani with Francisco Lindor, there's an argument there. Because Lindor is so good at shortstop and because Lindor, this microphone is going to be the death of me.

No, keep going. Because Lindor is so good all around, but he doesn't have the offensive numbers. Bobby Whit does. Lindor is hitting, you know, 270 on base, 330 slugging forward, you know, 470, 480, it's somewhere in that range. It's like, he's a good offensive player. He's a great all around player. Bobby Whit is a great offensive player and a spectacular all around player. And the fact that Otani doesn't play a position right now, it's like, when we look at him, Rich, in a normal year when he's pitching and hitting, even if he's just above average in both, I think he should be MVP.

Because the value that you bring being above average in both of those things is absolutely enormous. In that same vein, we have to ding Otani some for not playing a position when he's not out there pitching. And we can marvel at the 50-50 that he looks like he's going to put up at this point.

But we also can't ignore the things that he doesn't do. Jeff Passan here in studio in Kansas City, his home and home of the Chiefs, home of the Royals. Again, Bobby Whit Jr. is going to be here tomorrow.

A few minutes left with Jeff. So Judge, clear, far and away, the MVP of the American League, if not the entire league. And yet the Yankees are a half game out of first. And yet they could be so far in first if it weren't for their closer who goes from all-star, you know, to just one of the worst at the position in Klay Holmes.

Where do you stand on that subject matter? Klay Holmes didn't give up a run for like the first two months of the season. I know that. And then he had some actual clean outings for a couple weeks. But 11 blown saves on the whole is something that is unsustainable.

Would you not agree? The Yankees are in a pickle right now. And let's remember what happened at the trade deadline. Carlos Estevez went to the Philadelphia Phillies. AJ Puck went to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Michael Kopec went to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lucas Ursig went to the Kansas City Royals. We can talk about reliever after impact reliever after impact reliever. And the Yankees knew that their bullpen was not strong enough and they didn't go out and supplement it. They got Mark Leiter Jr. at the end and he has not been the solution. And at this point with the Yankees, and Aaron Boone alluded to this yesterday, I think it may come down to either Luis Hill or Clark Schmidt who are going to start off coming back from injuries in the rotation turning into that leverage guy in the postseason.

Which is a dubious proposition. And yet we need to also recognize that in playoff baseball it's not necessarily about having a starter and setup guy and people who have assigned innings. It's just getting 27 outs.

And you do it however you can. And if it's with guys who are in roles, okay that's great. But we've seen the Houston Astros in years past rely on starters in relief roles. And we've seen other teams like Cleveland back in 2016 get to the seventh game of the world series with Cody Allen and Andrew Miller and no bullpen aside from that.

So it's not like you need a lot of guys. You just need reliable ones and that's what the Yankees are still hunting for with you know less than a month before the postseason begins. So you could make a case though if you had to put your chip on the Yankees or the Mets to go further in the playoffs, which one would you choose right now? Yankees because I think that the Yankees are going to make it and I'm not sure that the Mets are going to make it at this point.

They got to get past Atlanta man and Atlanta despite all of its injuries is still a formidable team. But once you get into the postseason, if the Mets are in there, yeah I could see a really solid argument that the Mets have a better chance in the playoffs than the Yankees do. Yeah they're playing better baseball right now.

Unquestionably. They're playing really good baseball right now and it's you know you want to bolster Lindor's MVP case. The Mets are not where they are without him doing what he's done and even beyond like the wins above replacement argument which I think can be kind of reductive and facile sometimes. It goes down to what he does for that team and in that clubhouse and I know it's it's really difficult to measure leadership but I appreciate leadership so much and it's what makes Aaron Judge I think such a special player. Beyond what he is capable of doing on the field, he is a really good and well-respected leader in that clubhouse. Jeff Passan, couple minutes left with the lead baseball scribe and reporter of ESPN.

We're here in his his town of Kansas City getting ready for for kickoff. So in the month we have left, I guess Crystal Ballock for me. How do you see everything playing out in the baseball season from here on out, Jeff? I wish I knew what this season was going to look like because we have to remember, Rich, we've gotten used to multiple hundred win teams every year going into the postseason looking like juggernauts and in some cases like the Red Sox a few years ago they go 108 and 54 and you know like blitz through the postseason and win a championship and then you have these Dodgers teams that have done it year in year out and the only time they won was in 2020 during the COVID shortened season. This year though there is no 100 win team.

There may not be a 95 win team. It's a bunch of good teams and I'm not sure that we're going to see who's great until like the first or second round of the postseason and who's catching a heater at that point because that's who's going to win. It's going to be the team that happens to get hot at that particular moment. Now I look at the Dodgers and I really like them. I know that their pitching has been banged up all year long but that lineup can hit quality pitching and to me that's what it's going to come down to this October. It's going to be lineup depth because you're going to have the best pitchers in the world out there.

Can you face them in leverage situations and take advantage of it and I like the Dodgers lineup and I like the depth of the Phillies lineup and if I'm picking someone in the American League right now, Rich, it's not New York. It's not Baltimore. It's not Cleveland.

It's not Minnesota. It's not Kansas City. The Astros? The Houston Astros. Look at the way that they've been pitching lately.

Spencer Arreghetti has been awesome. Hunter Brown has been the best pitcher in Major League Baseball for the last three months. And Jordon Alvarez just hit us in the back of the head with a baseball. And Kyle Tucker is going to be coming back and Altuve is there and Bregman is there and they've been to seven straight American League championship series. Like the pedigree is there and after that horrendous start that they had they look like the Astros again.

Can you imagine? I mean just to bring it all full circle because that's the way you know I view the NFL season is good luck to when the chips are down and it's a win or go home moment. Good luck beating Mahomes and Kelsey and Reed and that may be the way that things turn out in the American League after all with the Astros despite everything that went in the regular season similar maybe to last year's Kansas City regular season. I think that's a really good comparison because at the end of the day you got to beat the champions right? You have to go and take it from them. Yes.

And nobody has been able to take it from Mahomes and nobody has been able to take it from the Astros consistently. Jeff you're the man enjoyed tonight's game. Sure will. With your plus three and section 103 and it's great to have you here in person and I always appreciate you taking our calls and being part of the show man. You're awesome.

It is a joy and a pleasure it's been fantastic being here so thanks. You got it and his hair is already in postseason form. It's amazing.

Unbelievable. It doesn't move. I'm talking as if he's not sitting here with his hair. It's you know it doesn't move. It moves slightly. And then and then hold on let's see let's see he's shaking it.

You're like Jimmy Johnson. It just goes right by. You train it. You just got to train it to go the right way. You bastard.

Coming on my show and working your hair like that in front of me. Who the hell do you think you are? Jeff you said it wasn't coming back but coach prime had a way for it to come back for Rich. But he don't want to take it. Look at this guy.

All right. Jeff Passon is here. Look who's joining me. A guy who when I worked with him on NFL network I did have hair. One of the radio voices of the Baltimore Ravens Pro Football Hall of Famer great friend Rod Woodson next here in the Rich Eisen Show in Kansas City. This episode is brought to you by FX's The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. The hit show returns as the stakes get higher and more secrets are uncovered. The former CIA agent sets off on his most important mission to date to recover his daughter after she's kidnapped.

FX's The Old Man premieres September 12th on FX stream on Hulu. Listeners please welcome a real finance nerd from our sponsor NerdWallet. Hey Sean.

Hey Rich thanks for having me. We all know NerdWallet for their credit card comparisons but there's more to it than that right? So much more. Even for credit cards it's not the basic this card versus that card. With us you can filter for features you want, add your top cards to a comparison table, and get access to exclusive offers. Smarter tools, smarter financial decisions.

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NerdWallet Compare Inc NMLS 1617539. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Roku Sports Channel. Our radio audience will return in two minutes time.

We turn from Jeff Passan one of the lead baseball writers in America to one of the greatest humans in America. One of my good friends from back in the day on NFL Network and Pro Football Hall of Famer and radio analyst for the Baltimore Ravens. Good to see you Rod. Good seeing you. I always love seeing you man. Right back at you. You're one of my favorites. Hey listen um Rod has got a game plan for today.

This is not his first rodeo. Okay. So what's your game plan for the for today? After this leaving going to get some gates put it back in the room and I'll eat it after. Post game. Post game.

Post game meals. Gates is so delicious. We had that last time we were here. Gates is the old school company. So when I played we used to go to Gates and then last time I came here we went to Q39 and I was like I think I still like Gates. So when you played here with the Ravens or the Steelers you're talking about like way back in the day. Way back when the Steelers. So way back in the day. When you were buying Gates from Mel Blunt.

So when they say hey Rook go get me some. Well I'm not I'm not that old because I didn't play with Mel. Oh I thought you did. Uh no no that would make me uh.

I don't know maybe at the back end. I would be. The only the only hall of famer that I played with back then was Mike Webby. Mike Webster.

Mike Webster. Uh Donnie Shell and John Stallworth. So there's a few of them.

So it was three. When you walked into the Steelers locker room for the first time those guys from the Steelers were there. Those guys were in there. Mean Joe Green was the uh defensive line coach and he was mean. He wasn't. He was mean. He was he was a teddy bear outside of football but inside of the game itself.

I mean because back then you know we didn't have you know we didn't have digital it was projectors. And when his defensive line was not doing well and his our defensive back room was right here next with you know so Tony Dungy was our coach. You know Tony's not gonna raise his voice. Yeah. But you could hear projectors and items being thrown in the other room and crashing against a wall and it was Mean Joe Green. I love that story man. Rod Watson here on the Rich Eisen Show live in Kansas City. Just great Mean Joe Green story right there that he was a coach when you first got to Pittsburgh. Did you ever hear Marshall's story about Mean Joe Green?

No uh-uh. He said Mean Joe Green um when Mean Joe Green was on the Cardinals staff. The Arizona Cardinals staff as an assistant.

This is a great story. And somebody on the Cardinals was running all over. It might have been when he was on the Colts or the Rams. I don't remember where he was in Marshall's career but Marshall was Marshall at this point in time.

Right. And um and uh somebody was wearing out the car wearing out his team on the Cardinals and talking just yapping and he had no business yapping Marshall thought. So Marshall came up with this huge play right in front of the Cardinals sideline and as soon as he was done with it he just went just smoking the entire row that went right down the Cardinals row right in front of that bench and he realized as he was just yapping at everybody one of them was Mean Joe Green. And he went down the road and he went back and he says not you Mr. Green. But your positive. I didn't mean it. No disrespect. No disrespect to you. Mr. Green is what he referred to.

Absolutely you got to call him Mr. Green. What is it like in the bus room or I mean in in the Hall of Fame room at the luncheon when everybody's back and all you Hall of Famers are hanging out welcoming in a new group. What what I mean it's for me when I first went in it was really cool to see the older guys and meet them and talk to them and because if you ever talk to one of the old school players they have great stories. They probably have their best stories you know when you're talking about football just to the fact that most of them way back in the day had to work in the off season which a lot of people don't know and to make ends meet to make ends meet sometimes certain depending on the team that you played for you better be the first 50th guy to go cast your check on Friday or the check might bounce. I mean it's the stories that they would talk about it's like it was so amazing and you know that for me being around those guys and listening to those stories and seeing where the league is at today I mean it's just it's grown so much over the years but to see where these guys have kind of laid the foundation and who are those guys when you first walked in there because you've been you've been in the hall now for since 09 since 09. Okay so you're in your like your 15th year of being enshrined yeah so Ninsky you know Mean Joe talking to Mel you know talking to Franco Deacon Deacon yeah Deacon Deacon was he was a joy to be around I mean he was like hey like I led the team I led the league in sacks I don't care what they say and I gave the head slap I mean the reason they can't slap heads anymore it's because he was slapping us not out of offensive linemen's heads so yeah he told me the story that he kept on head slapping so offensive linemen would reverse the the screw in their helmet to go out go out so so so when he had to see them the screw would hit him in I can see that in his palm he said that would happen like he would start head slapping and then you know have to you know right pull back because the screws were out so seeing me know all those type of guys right this old school guys it's it was really fun to to be around them it really was so now you are you that guy now are you are you walking around I haven't been back in four years why uh I don't know I don't know okay I don't know you know we got to get you back we're talking about that outside okay I just stepped on a third rail jet okay but before you were you that guy like the you got the no I wasn't no I mean I have gray hair but I wasn't the oldest guy in the room right but I was getting close I was getting up there okay I was getting up there calling there was getting close to calling me grandpa in the room best defensive back in the league right now rodwood's best defensive back in who is that guy right now that is a great question I only ask those you know that rod that is that is a really good question because I think there's so many young good talent you know I think I think sauce is is going to be a really good player I think the kid today that the ravens drafted higgins man I tell you what if this kid just keeps progressing the way he showed in the preseason he is going to be a perennial hall all pro no perennial pro bowler because he has all the tools he's quick he's fast he's tall he's long um he you know he believes in his speed so he sets on a lot of those routes um you know now he's just got to get to the point where he can do it week in and week out year after year after year but he has all the tools I mean that was one of the best picks I've seen in a long time and this kid is going to be a real player so you go from sauce to him when I'm asking this question that's not a bad well I can't say that he's there because he's still got to grow but the possibility of him being in another year two years him being the best defensive back in the league I would not be surprised rod what's in here on the rich eisen show getting set to call tonight's game for the ravens radio network and you you straddle both ends of the fence here for this question patrick queen going from the ravens to the steelers to me seems pretty damn significant for both teams yeah how do you view that yeah a big loss for the ravens uh but you know they have a player that simpson that he hasn't played a lot but he's he's that old school player that can run from sideline to sideline and having roquan smith here to kind of guide him yes is going to be really key for him uh but losing a guy like that then he goes to your rival which they needed a middle linebacker and you you would know better as to how that system if you will or the world of the steelers revolves around somebody like patrick queen i mean how significant is that how do you think that's gonna yeah i mean it's a big pickup for the steelers i mean obviously a devastating loss for the ravens but you can't pay everybody right when your quarterbacks are making money your offensive linemen are making money defense line making you can't you don't have enough cap room to give everybody a big payday so you got to pick and choose and i think they they knew they couldn't pay both roe and patrick but they knew simpson was behind patrick and i really believe it that they really believe in this kid simpson simpson you're gonna want he can run this kid can run he has a military dad his dad was in the rangers he's a yes sir no sir wants to work wants to be out there was in all the preseason games he was like i was like do you you know what do you mean you said i need to play i need to be out there and i was like not too many not too many guys who are going to be starters say i need to be out there so he you know for me it's like seeing that i think that growth can come with him but it's still a big loss for him because growing pains as a starter in the league is you're going to do some good things you're going to do some bad things out there derek henry how is how is this going to look is it just like plug him in and he's going to get the 300 touches like usual think about what he did last year he had 930 yards after contact he is a massive human being well many times the contact occurred behind the line of scrimmage with him right and i keep thinking to myself that'll happen a heck of a lot less in baltimore you yes you're going to take it so i think the dilemma is for todd munkin is derek henry's better going downhill yes he's not a side-to-side running back so is are we going to see lamar more in the center because when they had that um the the uh scrimmage with the green bay he was under center a little bit but it's going to be interesting to see if you're going to be he's going to be under center or he's going to be in is he going to be in pistol is he going to be behind him if he's in shotgun he can do he can run lateral if you do inside zones because you can cut off the back side you just don't want i mean when he's going downhill he's bigger he's faster he's quicker than you think he is and if he gets his momentum you're not stopping the guy not it's not one guy is going to stop him he's just too big right so what do you think pistol sounds like a nice it could be a good plan i think i think you'll see a blend of all of them and then i the other question is are they going to be in 12 personnel which is two tight ends two receivers and one back comparable to 11 personnel which is three receivers one tight in one back well when you got likely i mean why wouldn't you do the two well i mean you always try to figure out do i put my best talent on the field who's my best 11 players wouldn't he be one of them i would think so but last year they only played 11 percent of time in 12 personnel which is the fourth least in the league so it'd be really good to see how todd munkin in the second year unfolds because lamar is still growing as a quarterback i mean he has he had the his highest completion percentage this past year at 65 so he's still growing and learning the offense and still making it i mean last year was his first year and his time being in the national football league is making audibles which is that's kind of surprising i was shocked to hear that he still won mvp and he won mvp but he's learning so he's learning to take control take leadership when he sees the box and he doesn't like the number if he sees a look he doesn't like it he can check out of it so those things that he's just starting to do and he's right in the middle of his you know the heights of his career i mean it's you know you look at these two quarterbacks even tonight and the last six mvps four of them are playing tonight two guys so patrick's won it twice and lamar's won it twice pretty sweet man so it's going to be interesting to see how these guys play out and see how this offense unfolds for the ravens what do you make of the 30 pound weight loss from him i think you look faster to you i this is what he did i think he built he balked up last year yeah and i remember me doing this when i came in i i was i was heavy when i first came in i lost a lot of weight then i gained my weight back and i said man i don't i don't feel fast like i did before so i lost like eight pounds right and i felt way faster and that's what he's doing so he he balked up last year he didn't feel he didn't want to get hurt again so he's been hurt multiple years he didn't want to get hurt again so now he's like you know what i want to get back to who i am so he lost that weight he trimmed back down he looks great um so what does that mean getting back to what are you you just won the mvp well i know i know so and he did that without you know he he had some really good running backs but now you put the dilemma with lamar and derek kern being in the same backfield as the defensive back or defensive coordinator is that when he puts the ball in his belly yes is that defensive end crashing to take the running back or is he feathering to take lamar wait it's a heck of a choice you better make the right one yeah i mean for me i think i would i would hit lamar i would i would always hit lamar saying i need that ball to go to derek at least i know where the ball's at but when lamar gets in space i mean he's more gifted than christmas out there in space he really is so he makes a lot of these professional players look average in space and that's what the dilemma is going to be but it's going to be interesting to see how they work it out this year with this new offense and with derek henry being in the at the in the running back room uh with lamar rod what's in here on the rich isin show all right uh you know you know how the steelers operate clearly right um going outside the building for an offensive coordinator yep check that box that's a rarity right certainly yes it is right what would you say todd haley was the last one like that i think that is the last one because uh just right yeah everything else because randy was already there so right so and so it it's been a while here comes arthur smith i mean if you had told me when russ was dead cap cut by yeah by denver that he would be the steelers week one quarterback and without a doubt there's no question about it there'll be no um i don't know they would push back about there was no competition that i i have heard there are some who really like fields in the building they go with russ i would have told you you're out of your mind yeah but here we are so what do you think how do you think it's going to work out for the steelers right i like the choice because i believe the steelers are built very similar to what russ was playing in seattle under p carroll run first heavy play action pass yes that's what they do that's what the steelers are the steelers are hard-nosed defense run first offense play action pass that's where he thrived so i would hope that that you know they remember that and knowing how he plays his best football he's i don't think russ is a pure drop back passer he needs to play action pass he needs that they need to move the pocket they need to move his platform for him if they can do that i think he'll be fine because they do have they need to have that running game part of it dropping back and being a west coast offense that's not what the sealers are it's hard to be a physical west coast offense so i think if they can get back to who they are run first play action pass i think that plays right into what russ does well rod what's in here in the rich isin show the three-peat chances they they feel they feel real to me though they feel really real to me rod this is this is what i and i get it because you i mean again and i said that how gifted that lamar is outside the pocket i mean patrick home is is that gifted in the pocket he is good just as gifted as christmas in the pocket and you have kelsey but what i you have four rookie offensive linemen one starting on the left side three are backups it's hot guys are gonna get hurt you might have two you might have three rookies starting at one point in the sometime this year that is really it's hard so hard to repeat but the three-peat can they do it yeah they can do it because you still got my home my home does so many just crazy like off platform type of throws and and and plays out there um i think it's gonna be harder defensively because you don't have sneeze yes they still have mcduffie but haven't sneeze took the number one receiver last week last year and he shut him down for the most part so can you do that again with mcduffie and then who's your number two you got to remember i mean that that to me is going to be hard to repeat and how good they were chris jones was outstanding last year he had 75 pressures by himself last year yeah and his last one was the one that kind of saved the day that that got the niners off the field inside the 10-yard line in overtime and they they went further you know they had to settle for three and we know the rest is history right there so do you choose the ravens is the team to to knock them off to stand in their way i do like the ravens the ravens last year was the best football team in the national football league so what they just played what happened on that day rod what i mean look i i get i do get paid by the ravens so i'm not going to disparage the ravens let's let's get that straight but they only ran the ball doesn't pay for itself yes it does not but i will say this they only ran the ball six times with their running backs they had a number one rushing team in the league okay don't know don't know agree so i would just think do what you do well game plan that and they're gonna i would believe they're gonna be the number one or two rushing offense again this year yes in the league so when you get to the postseason do what you do well don't go out of your box and i think they got out of the box they i mean they just threw the ball i think overly too much um well it didn't help that zay flowers got hit in the right spot you know in the ball i mean they were going in for that score and that would have made things a lot different i mean they still they had chances to win the game even though they played the way they played yes i mean they turned the ball over multiple times got sacked multiple times they still had opportunities to do the right thing and play i mean even zay zay flowers and zay never threw off the whole year never taunted never looked over a guy where he did you know he made that one big play he you know he turned the ball over looked at the kid they gave him unsportsmanlike conduct they moved the ball back they don't get any points so it's like all the things that happened in that game they still had an opportunity to win i still think they're the best team in the league even they even though losing patrick because i think simpson i think i'm watching this kid this kid can run this kid has he wants he's hungry it's it's really hard to find that old school philosophy guy and he's one of them but the last thing i'm worried about to be honest with you is the way the the ravens have depth i'm not worried about them finding somebody who is similar or can play you know close to somebody they've lost i just think they gave the steelers exactly what they need you know what i mean and that that may well they're deep come home to roost on them you know it's always been good defensively though it's the offense that the steelers struggle with that's true look and i said that's like losing patrick does hurt but i think simpson he's not what patrick is as today yes but he i think he will become that sometime he's going to keep growing throughout the year he has rolled with him you got to remember even a couple years ago even when mike mcdonald was there the first one until they weren't that good on defense until they got that trade with chicago and got a road cross smith and their defense got better and better and better then the second year they came back and man that defense was lights out and i would believe that he's still the leader simpson's right there simpson can run he's physical he's young he's hungry so that to me i don't think that's going to hurt them as much um but if to my biggest question for for the ravens is what is the offense going to look like is it going to be the 12 personnel is going to be likely i think i think you do a combination of all of it but the biggest thing is like are they going to be is he going to be under center yeah or is he going to be in shotgun because he's more he's better in shotgun because he's so talented in space because the quarterback under center is more you're going to hand it off to play action pass well don't you remember when payton joined the broncos gary cubiex there and he just didn't do the boots he did that that's not payton's game it's put him on the move right they put him in the pistol and it kind of split the difference well for everybody well enough yeah right and i'm i'm just wondering that's that's that that could be a good kind of feel like that is this similar fix here that you put lamar in the pistol and he still has the abilities uh to do what he does yes from distance from yeah from from the center while you're giving derek henry the head start that he's looking for because you want to give derek henry the best possibility to do what he does well yes run downhill got to do it and that i mean he's eddie george is big this dude oh please when he walked in front of me when he first got there i was like this how would i tackle him i mean i would have to cut him down i would have to be a lumberjack you got to go low because you hit him high you're gonna bounce off of who was that guy when you were playing eddie was one of them uh nigeria nightmare he was nakoya tristan coie was massive you had to hit him low who else were you was hold on again i i was earl campbell still in the league when you were there no rich no in all seriousness i'm trying to think of who else would it be i don't know i mean i mean you have to tackle bus before he came to the stills yeah bus is not real tall though i mean you know derek henry is six three ish dude right it's just massive arms are like tall but doesn't his arms are like my leg yeah that's how big he is yeah so it's like how do like i'm looking at him and i i remember asking uh nate wiggins i said okay when you first saw derek henry yes what was your thoughts he was like i don't know how to tackle him it's like it's like this walking in the hallway he's like you think as a defensive back like how would i hit this guy if he comes around the corner business decisions it's yeah well you would hope that they don't step out of the way but please close your eyes take one for the team rod woodson with the uh technical and also uh spiritual uh analysis of how to tackle derek henry can i keep you for one more second and send you out to lunch yes sir okay that's rod woodson right here on the rich isin show i'm sitting at the rich isin show desk furnished by granger with supplies and solutions for every industry granger has the right product for you call click ranger.com or just stop by hanging with rod woodson we'll break down the rest of the nfl before sending him out to his kickoff thursday let's talk door dash people if your family's like mine it probably is you want something to eat your kids want something else to eat how do you handle it all how do you make sure everybody's happy door dash that's how you make sure everybody's happy the food delivery app is the most awesome on-demand delivery platform that you can go get to make sure that food comes to the places you like right to your table it's awesome especially now that football's finally back which means it's time to order your favorite game day food snacks and drinks on door dash without missing a single play and here's how i can help you use my promo code rich isin 24 for 50 percent off up to a ten dollar value when you spend 15 or more dollars on your first order limited time offer terms apply promo is not valid for orders containing alcohol door dash your door to game day greatness your door to more download the door dash app now to order your game day favorites and use my promo code rich isin 24 must be 21 or older to order alcohol drink responsibly alcohol available only in select markets let's talk about sleep number people we all know in the nfl there's no margin for error a single mistake can change the outcome of a game we all know that and proven quality sleep yeah believe it or not can boost reaction time recovery time and overall performance you know that probably in your real life the same thing goes in the national football league which is why sleep number is in fact the sleep and wellness partner of the national football league partnering since 2018 8 out of 10 players have a sleep number smart bed you should too my sleep number setting is 60 my wife's is 70 just 10 numbers apart but it is the world of difference because being able to adjust your bed's firmness after working out for recovery that is game changing so right now during the sleep numbers biggest sale of the year you can save 50 percent on the sleep number limited edition smart bed plus special financing for a limited time only at a sleep number store or you can go to sleep number.com sleep number is the official sleep and wellness partner of the national football league c store for details listen up folks this season you deserve to get it all you don't want your home team half hearting it on the field and you definitely don't want to be let down by your wireless carrier i'm talking no surprise price hikes no hidden fees and no more frustration with your data switch to the new total wireless today and get unlimited data that never slows you down for less than thirty dollars a month say it with me you deserve better from your phone service back here in kansas city still hanging out with erod woodson radio audience will return in about 90 seconds from now you know it's interesting you said you know what i'm being paid by the the ravens so i need to you know watch uh what i say or at least infer that because you didn't ever have that issue when we were on nfl total access rod no no do you remember do you remember that time when we were still really young and um and so teams would would call every now and then to complain about what we were saying oh really yeah thinking like that which is the nfl network why would they say that about our team whatever so we got some serious pushback because of what you said about sean alexander not deserving the mvp votes yes i do remember that i apologize no what hold on a second you apologize but i i want to set this up properly they told him during the break hey man you know the seahawks called whatever if there's anything you could do to to to you know soften what you just said and you you were like not gonna do it and they were like saying just can you at least just come on the air just say i'm sorry that's right and so we come back on the air and i'm like you have something you want to say about the the you know the sean alexander situation and go ahead then how you apologized go ahead you remember oh i just said i'm sorry like that i think it was no no i believe if i was correct i'm sorry you said i'm sorry like that i'm more sarcastic than that he goes i'm sorry i remember that for sure rod woodson everybody right here on the program we're back here in kansas city with rod woodson just want to tell you quickly about game time tickets because this is the way that you go ahead and get your tickets to say tonight if you're in the area you're like i want to go to the thursday kickoff make sure you use game time because you can get great killer last minute deals there's a lowest price guarantee as well game time will give you that lowest price guarantee or credit you a hundred percent of the difference when you buy your tickets through game time it is awesome and you also make sure you get to see your total up front with no surprise fees at checkout through the all-in pricing feature that is also an easy way to take guesswork out of buying football tickets with game time download the game time app create an account use my code rich for twenty dollars off your first purchase terms apply visit game time.co for restrictions again create an account redeem my code rich you get twenty dollars off download game time download game time today what time is it game time rod woodson spending the rest of the hour just a few minutes left with the pro football hall of famer we've gone over pretty much everything soup to nuts in the afc the best team in the nfc is the 49ers you still believe so yes i mean getting trent back was key so you got your iuq you got debo there i mean i still think they're the best football team they got the best running back in the national football league i love the way the game was called on the offensive side of it defensively he's got to see what type of defense they have this year but i just think they're the best overall team in nfc you don't think the eagles with their coordinator switch might have fixed the way that they collapsed despite kelsey and cox two guys right in the middle of those trenches being gone that saquon can plus them up and that the the new coordinators can help out i love i love saquon i think he's up there one of the best backs in the league i got to see what they do on defense i got to see how they unfold on offense you know i know there's some type of rift they say they're that's between the quarterback and the head coach so is it there is it not there i like to see can they rebound defensively they do have some players that team didn't look like that team last year i know they did at the beginning of the year and then it just kind of fell off the cliff um you know but can they come back and play the whole way through i still think with that being said i still think this the 49ers are the best overall team in nfc what about the lions who came off i like the lions i do i like the lions i'm just i still believe you know even though they kind of came through it and um kind of surprised us and how good they were throughout the whole year not just in spurts um i'm still a fan of what the 49ers put on the field consistently and i'm keep seeing that because a lot of people you know are they are they on the brock purty pan wagon are they not i think the kid is a little player i think he's a player when he's healthy when he's playing they play good football like i said they got the best running back in the league you got a good tight end you got two good receivers you got a solid offensive line a little inconsistent but a solid offensive line having trent come back is going to be key defensively they've been solid for years so for me you know there's no question marks more there's more question marks with detroit philly alana any other of the good teams tampa any other good team dallas went all in though dallas always plays great in the regular season what is it what is it about i don't know i don't it's just something you've been in the playoffs man you know what it takes so what is it just when they get to that point they just don't play good football i don't know what it is with that team they they're talented they play well they play great in september i mean year in and year out and then they just kind of start going downhill after that so it's like why that's a that's a culture thing i don't know if that's i don't think that's because it's been from any head coach who's been there it's been the same look with the team so i you can't blame the coach all the time it could be a culture thing in the build i don't really know i'm not in that building um you know they are talented they do play well it's just somewhere along the line they fall down they fall off the cliff once they get into the playoffs so you think the 49ers make it back to the super bowl i think they have a great opportunity yes all right and so then the afc you have i think it's going to be the teams who i thought was going to be in elash are those going to be the baltimore ravens and the 49ers so you think the raven i'm gonna go i'm gonna i'm gonna stick with that the 49ers and then win it all in new orleans again huh that was the last that's right go back we're running up we're running it back running it back instead of flaco taking his bag and putting it on the desk of the owner and saying fill up fill up my uh my bank account it'll be lamar going to the podium and when it'd be lamar i mean this and does that start tonight i don't know if it has to start tonight because even last you remember kansas city kansas city lost to detroit well it's just my coy way of asking for a prediction of what you know do i believe that they can win tonight yes um they're going to be the one thing that the ravens can't do they can't get caught up in all the hype you can't get you know you can't get emotionally hijacked inside of this game yes because you do remember they remember they haven't talked about it all week right that like what happened last year to get to the champion to get to the super bowl they didn't they have not talked about it they never said it was a revenge game every player who was on that roster or they remember they remember what it felt like for those guys to be partying on their field and they had to walk off that field and go into their locker room you better remember that so i would think they're going to come out and try to spoil their party because remember they're donning their banner and all that stuff and they got their rings now you're coming into their place spoil the party for that season opener so you think that quieting of the crowd happens tonight i do i do i mean i i really believe lamar has when i'm watching him play how he's grown and then i learned that he really never has done a lot of audibles until the last year yep so he's still growing as a quarterback this guy is still growing and so i think i think he will have even a better year this year throwing the football um and having a better opportunity have more space to even run it because you do you have derek henry and you have to when when that guy is sitting in behind and on the get on the field as a defense coordinator they have to know where derek henry might go and you have to game plan for that and then that's going to give lamar more space in out there to do his magic can't wait for it i'm all set i'm all set we've got one more hour to go here in day two rod you're the best thanks again my pleasure we're sending rod off to lunch everybody hour threes for us coming up next still here on the still here on the uh the roku channel you were saying something rod during the commercial break we got about a minute and a half oh yeah you know rod just growing up you know being a late teens early 20s in pittsburgh when you were there it's just you know you had such an aura about you in that city you know when you'd walk into a a spot it'd be like murmurs through the crowd rod woodson's here rod woodson's here so it's just even now every time i get to see you i i go back to like 90 92 90 just it it's just you were just such the man back in pittsburgh and i will say this i've been to many sports bars told you this before he had a sports bar in station square called woodson's which to this day i will tell you is the amongst the two or three best sports bars i've ever been in rich i told you i played carnal lake and nba jam there a few times beat him on the game but yeah you know just you you and pittsburgh and woodson's bar was some of the best memories that i have hanging out there man what happened at woodson's bar we were before our time we're on the south side we didn't have a lot of foot traffic over there so they were right under the manonga haley incline right there i mean game day was packed uh baseball games was packed other than that wasn't packed so it's it's now packed up it's now packed up and moved on but it was amazing carnal lake car yeah nba jam me and carnal lake beat him he's your guy right car that's my guy right he's my guy yeah yeah he's coaching in the usfl or ufl now ufl and that's the other thing you'd see different players strolling in coming in the bar that's the best yeah we had we let all the all players from any any sport including webster slaughter i would let webster punch out the rolling stone music now podcast gets inside the biggest stories with rolling stone's senior writer brian hyatt movie director james mangold i want to turn bob dylan into a simple character with a simple thing to unlock that then makes you go ah now i get him first time i sat down with him he said what's this movie about jeff it's about a guy who's joking to death in minnesota and reinvents himself in a branded place becomes phenomenally successful starts to joke to death again and runs away and you smile it's like i like that rolling stone music now wherever you listen