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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. This, this, this is The Rich Eisen Show. Let's go! The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Tom Pelissero. Is this real life?
You bet! Vanderbilt beats Alabama. From The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. And that's going to win it. Castellanos has done it. Lamar bobbles a snap. Skip arms a man. Slings in the back of the end zone. Touchdown!
It's a touchdown to Jaylen Crawford. Today's guests. NFL Network insider, Ian Rapoport.
Plus, your phone calls, latest news and more. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pelissero. Welcome back to The Rich Eisen Show. Tom Pelissero in for Rich once again. We get to some phone calls today.
We say, boys, 844204 Rich, 844204 Rich. So we get into all things across the NFL. Let's continue that conversation right now with the guy that you see with me on The Insiders five days a week during the season. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, rather, on NFL Network. It's on YouTube. It's a podcast. It's all over the place. Ian Rapoport is with us right now.
Ian, thanks a lot for logging into the link even before I had to text you and remind you that this was happening right now. Have you been riding a lot of motorcycles around L.A.? You know, I knew that was coming.
I actually walked by. People like to ride motorcycles and to do so you must have a leather jacket. I just hope you wear a helmet.
That's all I hope. No, I can't wear a helmet. You've got the hair.
I've got to let it blow in the wind. There's a photo actually in the hall that I walked by earlier today where Aaron Rodgers is dressed exactly like this on this same show. Maybe somebody can grab that here during the course of the segment. All right, Ian, a lot to get to around the NFL. Let's start out with, we talked about this on NFL Game Day kickoff yesterday. The Devontae Adams situation, other teams involved certainly think this is potentially going to come to a head today or tomorrow What's the list?
What do you got? Yeah, I mean, I would say coming to a head today or tomorrow makes sense. If only so, you know, like if he's if he's going to play for the Raiders, then I think he'll be healthy enough to play for the Raiders and we'll move forward that way. There's no need to move him if he's just going to play. If he's not going to play and certainly trading it makes more sense now, then you'd like to do it sooner rather than later because if he's off the team by Wednesday, then you don't have to pay a million dollars in salary.
So doing it now, I think, makes sense for all parties. I would say the two teams to watch are the Jets, which is where Devontae Adams wants to go, which is a team that has Aaron Rodgers, who I think it's fair to say could use his old friend in this offense that has looked better at times than it did on Sunday and certainly has the cap space to absorb the contract and has the picks and maybe a player if that's necessary as well. The Jets are, I think, a really good spot.
That would make sense to do it now. They're back from London, could use a little juice, and Rodgers has been recruiting him, obviously. So I think that would be one team to watch. The New Orleans Saints would be the other. They have been more aggressive when it comes to trying to trade for Devontae Adams.
I just don't know if that's going to be the place that he ends up going, but I do know they've made some really good efforts to make it happen. So with a team like the Saints, Ian, all of the Saints are always doing cap gymnastics to rework contracts and push money back and everything else. I haven't gotten the sense, and I know the Raiders have told some other teams, we don't want to do what, let's say, the Broncos did three years ago and eat almost the entire salary to get a second or third-round pick for Von Miller. The idea of a second-round pick and potentially more for a guy who the new team would take on the entire salary seems like asking a lot for a player at this stage of the career with Devontae Adams. What would a trade, if it's New Orleans or if it's, let's say, a Buffalo, another team that would need the Raiders to make some type of concessions from a financial standpoint, what does that trade even look like?
You know, I would say you do need to make some financial concessions. You can make it work, though. I mean, I think with the Saints, the Saints could do it, right? I mean, they could for sure make it happen.
I think they would need some assistance from Devontae Adams as well. And I think to actually absorb the contract first, which, you know, you have to have the space first. You can trade form without the space and then redo the deal.
So you have to have the space first. The Saints could make it happen. They always make it happen.
Kyra Lee does a great job. It would just be complicated. I don't know that it would be the Raiders having to pay, which to my understanding, they have not been inclined to do so.
I don't think that's something that Mark Davis has ever done, if I remember correctly, and I don't think it's something that he wants to do. But yes, you would have to do some salary cap gymnastics in both places to make this happen. The Bills would be, I think, another place that would make sense. I don't know that they'd be considered a front-runner, but they'd be another team that could probably use some more catches from wide receivers, especially a very good one like Devontae Adams.
And, you know, these are reasons why the Jets make the most sense, because they could take them on, they could do it. Now, basically, it's a one-year deal, right? Like, I know the other two years exist, but they don't really exist, because if they couldn't come up with a deal, then you're just going to release them or trade them, and then that team will work it out. Basically, what the extra years of the back end of the contract give you is sort of like right of first refusal. It's basically like something to hold on to them to try to get a deal, to be the first team to get a deal done with them. So I view this more as a one-year deal.
I think every team can make it happen. It would just be easiest with the Jets. But ultimately, Devontae Adams is not going to see those numbers, which is over $36 million in 2025 and 2026. But what those effectively do is it gives the player the leverage here in terms of, listen, yeah, I'm going to be an unfettered free agent after the season, because you're going to have to cut me or else do a new deal with me. Well, it gives them leverage later, not now. Let's say he did want to go to the Jets, which he does, but let's say he didn't, they could just trade him anyway, and he would have no say.
You know what I mean? It would just be for the later years, you'd want to have some say. If his deal's not being restructured in advance, where he could veto it would be, hey, we're going to trade you to pick a name out of the hat. We're going to send you to Tampa. They're not trading for him, but let's see where you're going to send me there.
But you have to re-sign, even if it's a matter of taking the signing bonus and then moving on, he can go, I'm not signing the paperwork, in which case he could effectively veto it. Although at that point, the Raiders could go, well, we didn't want to trade you anyway, so now you're playing here. There's still some moving parts, big couple of days on that front. You also add elsewhere in the AFC West, another story yesterday on Rasheerice, who we all saw go down with, I think it's fair to call it an unusual looking knee injury in that game. The initial reports were, well, it's feared to be an ACL, which it makes sense based on how his leg bent and what they found. Here we are, and it's what, eight days or so after that injury, we still don't know entirely what direction this is going to go.
So break down the process today for Rasheerice. Yeah, I mean, I would say it's pretty rare. I can't remember that many more examples of players who needed sort of exploratory, players who needed exploratory surgery. Like there's just not a lot of them where usually you say like, all right, I've seen this injury before. You can tell the knee stability, like obviously this is an ACL or it's a MCL or PCL or whatever it is.
This one, the angle, usually when it's this angle, you'd say it was PCL or LCL, and I believe there is some damage there. We'll see how much, we'll see if it's surgical, and there may actually be damage to the ACL too. And the problem with an ACL injury, and I think Jalen Phillips found this out this weekend, is almost always if it's partially torn, you need reconstructive surgery.
If it's partially torn, you need to redo the whole thing because it doesn't really regenerate like other things. But he's going to have a scope today from Dr. Dan Cooper, the Cowboys team doctor, and that will determine where he stands. It's rare.
I think you kind of mentioned it on TV Sunday. There's a very small glimmer of hope. It's not zero, but it's very small that the damage is little enough to where he could play this year. But I think most likely they're expecting a months, several months long recovery for Rishi Rice, who really has emerged as one of the best receivers in the NFL over the course of the last four weeks. The last notable player I can remember trying to play on a partially torn ACL was Ryan Tannehill, who came back and rehabbed the entire offseason. And that's a different position. Quarterback's different, but Tannehill then tore the ACL the rest of the way the first week at training camp and then lost an additional season on top of it. That's kind of the danger here, especially when you're talking about a young player with a long career. That's when you turned Jay Cutler into a dolphin.
That is correct. And I was marooned in Miami for two weeks and I had the tweet that still pops up on probably a monthly basis on Instagram. Jay Cutler has passed his physical and is now officially a dolphin. We've got some potential quarterback news here in the coming days as well, actually in several different places.
Let's focus on New England, though, here, Ian, because right now you watched the games yesterday. Caleb Williams played the best game that he's played. He's gotten better, it seems like, every week. Jayden Daniels is playing at a super high level, despite the interception he threw five seconds after Mike Garofolo texted a bunch of us and said, boy, Jayden's playing great.
And then we had to live with that curse for like the next quarter or so. Bo Nix also, they're winning when he's not, you know, getting into it with Sean Payton on the sideline here. All of which brings us to Drake May in New England, where it would be one thing if this were like Carolina with Andy Dalton, where like you're playing good enough and you're being functional. The Patriots are not functional right now.
They are bad on offense. And you know that that echo chamber, particularly in the Boston radio market, talk radio, all that stuff is in Chris Brockman sitting over here and pumping his fist as we're discussing this as well. There's going to be a lot of pressure to at some point put Drake May on the field.
Are we at that point now? So there is always pressure to put Drake May on the field. Right. And I think in New England, you know, because that's such a vibrant radio market, there's always pressure.
And I think anyone who goes to New England or places like that, there's a few of them, Philly would be one, New York is another. There's pressure every single week. So Jerrod Mayo gets the same questions every single week and he's going to continue to get the same questions until he plays Drake May.
This is complicated. And, you know, I've seen a lot of these, as have you, Tom. And there's plenty of these where you say like, all right, it's time. It's time to see him. And then you go out there and it's like, why didn't you play this guy earlier? And, you know, you see that storyline.
I don't know that this is that. I mean, the Patriots offensive line is a work in progress at absolute best. They just lost their best offensive lineman and David Andrews, who handles the protection, who would have been huge for Drake May. They are not good. The team is struggling, having a lot of aspects.
And so, like, from a curiosity standpoint, as someone who likes football, like, I would be very interested in the Patriots starting Drake May. But it's really complicated whether it's actually best for him. Historically, there are a lot of quarterbacks who thrive because they've had to wait and learn, not been thrown out there.
I mean, he played a quarter or whatever it was against the Jets and got crushed at least two times and played fine. But like, was that helpful? I mean, I know it's like there's a shot right there. There's him getting crushed right there.
Was that helpful? And I don't know. And this is what the Patriots are going to have to decide. It is definitely not simple in New England for this decision. It's never a good sign when your head coach every week, when asked about the performance of the quarterback, uses the phrase toughness. Like, that basically means, like, Jacoby Brissett is back there being an absolute punching bag, and that's enough for him to stay in the lineup. You heard Drud Mayo's tone or phrasing maybe change a little bit this week.
But you made the point about the historical trends here. Elliott Wolf, who's effectively the GM there, Lonzo Highsmith in the front office, Ben McAdoo, all these guys came from Green Bay, where the philosophy is you draft the guy, you let him sit and develop. And then in the case Jordan Love and Aaron Rodgers, it's three years before they get on the field. The difference, of course, is Jacoby Brissett is not Aaron Rodgers. He is certainly not Brett Favre. He's a guy who out there right now is getting kicked around quite a bit, but they just aren't moving the football here.
So certainly going to be interesting to see how they handle that situation. Meanwhile, Indianapolis is another one that I think there's probably more questions outside the building than inside it right now. Joe Flacco, they lose that game yesterday to Jacksonville. I don't think, though, that anybody watching that game goes, Joe Flacco is the reason that they lost. The fact that Anthony Richardson was listed as doubtful to me means he's probably healthy enough this week to go out there. But how they handle this, particularly if Flacco keeps playing at a high level, at minimum is worth keeping an eye on, it seems.
I mean, it's definitely worth keeping an eye on. And Joe Flacco, once again, is presenting problems for his starting quarterback. And we saw it last year, you know, came off the bench, played great. Leather Browns, the playoffs, obviously ended up not resigning. As they move, you know, can obviously continue to be all in with Deshaun Watson, as they still are.
And, you know, will be going forward for a variety of reasons. Comes to Indy, and I think Anthony Richardson is insanely talented. I mean, insanely talented.
I don't think anybody would question that. You watch the guy throw a football one time, like, it's stupidly talented. But that's not what wins football games. Joe Flacco, at 39 years old, has seen it all, can process unbelievably quick, is delivering the football in a way that he honestly always has. I mean, he might be playing his best football absent that, you know, Super Bowl run. If you're Indianapolis and you have Anthony Richardson, who you believe is the franchise quarterback, who needs to play to show that he is a franchise quarterback. And I think, you know, it's probably at the point there where there's several people in the building for job security reasons why it behooves them to have Anthony Richardson playing. And then you have Joe Flacco who could come in at any moment and lead the team to victory or, you know, they should have lost that game by 12 or 14 or whatever. And Flacco leads him back and almost wins, like, that's pretty impressive.
So I don't know that it's much of a decision. Like, I don't think they're going to say Joe Flacco is our guy. Might they say we're going to let Anthony Richardson heal a little bit? Right.
And be at 100 percent, like, could do that for sure. The problem with doing that with Anthony Richardson, though, still is he's a guy who needs to play because he really hasn't played much football going all the way through his college career. And obviously last season, the last three, four games, he's a guy who needs reps. He's a rep space position. It puts him in a difficult situation if all of a sudden you're going to say, hey, we're going to roll with Flacco. Even in the short term here, certainly you can do different things with Anthony Richardson, but actually going out and playing the position in games is a big part of what he needs.
Tennessee also another one. I mean, again, like I said, there's a long list of these quarterback situations. Seems like there's not an actual quarterback change there.
It still will love us despite the one or two baffling mistakes that he has made virtually every week throughout the course of this season. But he is banged up. He's not going to practice today, according to Brian Callahan.
What direction does that thing go in Tennessee? Sounds like it's going in the will of his direction. He's going to practice, I believe, Wednesday. And then, you know, expectation is he'll be healthy enough to go. Will of us is, I would say, a problem that is they're not good problems, but this seems like a good problem to have because, you know, there are plenty of plays where you're like, this guy is the starting quarterback of the Titans and is looking good and makes plays and all that. It's really just that one play a game, like falling down, throws it behind him, picks six, like those plays.
Brian Callahan was hired for a lot of reasons, and I think the sort of culture that he can bring a team was one and, you know, communication and openness and forward thinking, there's a lot of reasons he was hired. But to me, the thing that will help the organization most is that he should be able to get Will Levis to stop doing that. And if that can happen, then they probably have themselves something like is, I don't know, Will Levis is stealing is going to be, but he's played well enough to where you're like, this guy can win football games. So, you know, he also needs to play and needs to put himself in situations constantly to just be regular and effective and just let that continue to happen.
And I think to me does sound like this week probably goes out there and does that. He's not a real regular guy. That's the thing. I mean, he is go back to everything through the pre draft process, obviously, you know, different people.
There's, you know, the Mayo stuff and the bananas with the peel and all that. He came across to so many people being fake is definitely one of the most misunderstood. Everyone knows that's fake, right?
I don't think so. He has leaned into all of this fake, though, in terms of he doesn't like mayo in his coffee. I'm shocked.
I'm very shocked that this is a brand new thing. I think, you know, well, yes, a lot of that going around. But the fact that some people think is real is, I think, a problem in our society. But the way that he comes across, though, is he is very tightly wound and he's super energetic. And I think that that, you know, for some people, they just thought that that was maybe over the edge for what they wanted out of the quarterback position.
The upside on will love is, in my mind, and granted, this is an oversimplification because he's playing right now. But it's Sam Darnold or Sam Darnold. You always saw the traits. You saw the athletic ability.
You saw the arm. It was he would make absolutely catastrophic mistakes on a weekly basis that took your team out of games. And he's made a few mistakes here and there through the course of this season here. But it took this year seven for Sam Darnold. It took him a ways down the line to figure out how to play within the scope of the offense. That's what it seems like with Will Levitz.
We all see the baffling mistakes, but there's a lot of good in there, too. You've just got to somehow get through all the stuff that, hey, we're being tackled by two guys. Don't try to throw a left handed shovel pass in the red zone on first goal. We don't need you to do that.
Just don't do it. Well, or like if you're trying to get a first down in the first quarter, maybe it doesn't make sense to go like Superman and launch yourself. He probably had that first down, though. He probably even Brian Callahan said if he had a second angle, he might have challenged that. He probably had it, probably had his first down, but may or may not have detached his arm from his body, which is, you know, you got to be. And that's part of playing the quarterback position. And I look at where Brian Callahan came from.
You know, obviously the Bengals lost. Right. But Joe Burrow is as chill and cool as a football player could literally ever be. He's like this straight line all the time. And, you know, he'll make mistakes. I mean, I had one late yesterday, but seems never to be flustered. And I don't know that that's reality for a lot of people.
I mean, all of us try to be very cool under pressure and some handle it, you know, better than others. But to me, like, that's the goal. And, you know, for Darnold, you're right. Right. It took him seven years.
You know, it took him seven years to get there to be just like regular down in and down out without doing like a crazy thing. Might take we'll have some time, too. But that's where you want to get to when like you're being tackled by two guys. There's no open. You go. All right.
I'm just going to go down with the ship and we'll have to play another down. I felt like there was a shot at me right there. And was it was that just look on your face the way that you said some people handle pressure better than others. Was that was that directed at me or am I reading too much into it? Oh, I think you're reading too much into it. No, it wasn't.
It wasn't actually. No, I was actually referring to myself because like there are times when I very pride myself on being like cool and calm. And sometimes I'm just not like, you know, you get big news, you get all excited.
You try to type in your hand, start shaking like this is a normal thing that most people deal with. Right. No, of course not.
It's not normal. But anyway, we all try. All right.
Last thing for you. And we are coming up. We are now under a month away from the NFL trade deadline to be twenty nine days away from right now. You mentioned one name. I feel like you've tried to get DeAndre Hopkins traded about eight times over the past several years when he was with different teams, two different teams, whatnot. You did bring up his name again yesterday as an option for the Chiefs. We know they're banged up a receiver again.
We'll see what happens with Rishi Rice. But what are the chances somebody of a DeAndre Hopkins ilk, if not Hopkins himself, gets dealt at some point and quite possibly to the team that's going for a three p. Well, I would say when you would say of DeAndre Hopkins ilk. So like DeAndre Hopkins five years ago would never get I mean, did get traded. But his trade traded five years ago, I believe, to Arizona.
Yeah, obviously not not twice. He got traded and then he got released. That would be like Devante Adams level where DeAndre Hopkins is now still very effective. We've seen plenty of moments from. Mentoring piece to a really good team, like if he's going to get traded, that's what it's going to be. So there's like a couple of those guys around the NFL. He makes sense to Kansas City just because he built a relationship with them when he was a free agent.
And this is sort of like this doesn't happen that often. But remember, he didn't have an agent. So he was the one talking to like Brett Beach and Andy Reid and like the other Kansas City people. So that's why that relationship is there, because he built it right.
So that's why that makes sense to me. You know, there's some other guys who are like veteran level, very productive, would be the final piece. Like, I think there's a pretty good chance the Chiefs trade for someone. I don't know whether it's going to happen specifically because I think they'd like a cheaper option.
But like, if that's the best option, I think they make it work contract wise and just deal with it. Ian, thank you. Get back to work. See you on the insiders podcast, which will be up on YouTube. A little bit like I don't know what time zone I'm in. 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific later today.
I don't know what time zone I'm in either. Thank you very much. Please change your shirt before that show. Ian Rappaport. Back to motorcycle riding. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
One of the best. I'm going to get that photo. I'm getting the Rogers photo. He's calling you Fonzie is what he's saying. He's made that comment every time I've worn this jacket, which specifically is why I wore it today, because I'm not we don't have the insiders network show today.
So I thought I could avoid him, but he's still he's still got the shot. At least you don't have your Uggs jacket on. You know, that one, that photo, you guys used that photo again like a week ago.
Yeah, I did that. It was a very furry hoodie. I love that jacket. It's very, very hot. It is very, very hot to wear.
And I've tried wearing it in my home studio. I'm like, nope, the lights are too way too close. All right. More and more NFL Talk after this. Again, phone lines open. 844204 Ritz.
Talk about the state of the AFC East next. After this episode to see if you could save progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, potential savings will vary. Not available in all states for business owners like you. The American Express Business Platinum card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions with its world class business and travel benefits. You can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex Business Platinum card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves. And you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com. So that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.
Terms apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. Let's talk LinkedIn people and small business owning. I'm a small business owner.
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Terms and conditions apply. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen show radio network. I am Tom Pellicero 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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by eight four four two oh four. Rich, the phone lines. Let's go there right now. How about Steve in Melbourne, Florida? Steve, what's going on? Steve. Hey, not too much.
Had a great Sunday and besides getting ready for Hurricane Milton to make its way on through. Yeah. I just wanted to get your opinions on the game. You know, Trevor has a career game.
Three seventy one. Two touchdowns. Had a great game. Another number one overall pick. Trayvon Walker having a good game with three sacks. But I also want to just get your thoughts.
I mean, you know, throwback uni days, which we need to go back to those. Tom Coughlin getting inducted into the pride of the Jaguars and your thoughts on the rookie. I mean, he's ranked six in the NFL right now.
And Jimmy Smith, all time greatest wide receiver in Jags history, talking to Fred Taylor before the postgame show, saying, hey, this this young kid, Brian Thomas. He has the ability to be better than I was for this franchise. And I just wanted to get your thoughts a little bit on that. First of all, Steve, appreciate the call. Are you calling us on the way out? Are you evacuating at this moment? No, I'm I'm just out at work right now. OK, just just making sure I was going to say drive safely regardless.
Please, please exercise every precaution. Yeah, I mean, start out with Brian Thomas Jr.. I'm not surprised that he's had the highlight reel plays that he's had, because back in the pre draft process, when I'm talking to coaches and scouts who've really dug into the tape, everything you heard about Brian Thomas Jr. was if you just edited together like a short highlight reel of his 20 best players or whatever at LSU, you can make the argument they're better than the Malik neighbors highlight tape.
The difference is if you took the body of work for Malik neighbors every snap, it's much better than Brian Thomas because there's times he would disappear. Malik neighbors was the alpha dog. He was the one who was the emotional leader.
He wanted it. Brian Thomas, nothing bad about the guy. He just wasn't that dude within the program. And so the consistency is going to be the big thing with Brian Thomas. The talent is all there. He is freakishly talented. He's a big dude who can run. He can make the highlight plays.
You just got to figure out, is he able to do that on a regular basis? And, you know, to his credit here, he's made an impact for them early in the season. Love the throwback unis. I have been excited about every throwback uniform. The Jaguars yesterday had theirs.
The Broncos had theirs. These are very much the Tom Coughlin era Jaguars right there. I think that the, you know, the boxier numbers, right? The names are a little bigger. Everything's got an outline on it. That was very nineties and even eighties as well. I personally I mean, that's there's a nostalgia aspect to this where you always think things from when you were a kid were better because that's what you remember. But I legitimately think I am all for any uniform where you can actually read the numbers and the names.
That is not been a given over the last 15 to 20 years. There have been a lot of uniforms where you're watching a game on Sunday and you're going, I can't tell what guy that is. I can't read the number. I definitely can't read the name. I'm guessing you knew who was on the field yesterday.
And what do you know? The guy wearing number 16, Lawrence actually looks like Trevor Lawrence. And that has also been a little bit, you know, it was it was not a totally perfect performance by Trevor Lawrence. But those throws that he was missing, the plays that the previous week, the wide open dudes in the end zone, that didn't happen in the game. He made the right place.
He found a way backs against the wall to step up and play easily the best game that he's played throughout the course of this entire season. The Jaguars were never a bad team. They had one really, really bad night in Buffalo right in week three in front of the entire country. Every other Jaguars game is at one o'clock Eastern on Sunday.
Most of the country doesn't see it. So they didn't see them further away a lead against Miami in week one. They didn't see against Cleveland in week two the way that that game escaped them.
Then you get into obviously the Buffalo game and then Houston again. They're in that game. They're up in that game. They finally closed one out. That's what you got to build off here. They now go to the UK because they play two games in a row overseas, starting with the Bears this week. They're winnable types of games. They had to get this one.
And I talked to some people there last night. I mean, this is one of those ones that's like a the feeling is just finally relief. Finally, you get a win.
Yeah, that plane ride would feel twice as long if you're 0 and five versus one in four. Defensively, they're still really struggling. That's that's the biggest issue with the Jaguars right now.
It's not Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, he can't play the way that he did in week four. But this this looked like him and they didn't did it without Evan Ingram yesterday, too. So you're going to get Ingram back.
Tank Bigsby looks excellent. He looks like the best running back they've got on that roster. The defense has to get better and they're going to face a guy in Caleb Williams who's coming off the best game that he's had in the NFL. Trevor Lawrence, career high passing yards. You hit for eighty five yards on a touchdown. That helps another 60 yarder to Christian Kirk. Hyperbolic.
Sure. But do you think that saved Doug Peterson's job yesterday? I don't think that there's any one game that's going to save Doug Peterson's job. I don't think he was getting fired before a two game trip to London, but it certainly helps to get that win. And now if you can win these two in London or at least win one out of the two, you're still afloat as you get toward midseason. There's not a lot of precedent for taking an international trip with an interim coach.
So anything that was going to happen probably wasn't going to happen before this trip anyway. You know, they showed yesterday this is what they can do offensively for all the criticism of Doug, for all the criticism of Pres Taylor. Offense is not their issue right now. Ryan Nielsen and that defensive staff have to figure things out on that side of the ball because, again, they're facing the guy next week who is on the ascent. Every week with Caleb Williams has gotten better. They got a lot of talent on that Bears offense and maybe they're starting to figure out some things.
Yeah, I mean, Joe Flacco looked like MVP yesterday. That run by Joe Flacco, man, was something like no one's catching him. How is no it's a 21 yard run, but he runs like an actual distance, like 50 yards because he runs all the way from the right side of the pocket across the field.
He reached, what is it, the next gen? 22 miles an hour. No, no, no. That was Brian Thomas. Brian Thomas was the fastest player in the NFL. No, it was like almost 17 miles an hour, which was the fastest run of Flacco's career since they started tracking him.
That's true, and I'm going at my age. Back to the phones. Daniel in Omaha.
Daniel, it's Tom. What's going on? Hey, how's it going? Doing great, man. What's on your mind?
Good. I was just calling about the Rams and their issues this season. We're off to a 1-4 start, but we're starting the Sean McVay era. It could be attributed to injuries, the youngness of the roster, new defensive scheme, but I just wanted to talk about McVay and some of his coaching decisions. I'm not calling for McVay's head or anything. I made a pretty bad tweet last night, a little overreaction Sunday night, saying about maybe McVay should be on the hot seat.
But I have a clear mind today, yeah. Glad you called down there, Daniel. Sean McVay stole it. He's still one of the best coaches in the NFL. Thanks.
I appreciate the call. I think that, and listen, everybody's got problems, right? Everybody has injuries and other things. There's not a lot of teams that lose their top two wide receivers, especially guys as good as Cooper Cupp and Puka Nakua, and then also lose like, what, four of their five starting offensive linemen.
I mean, they're playing with one hand tied behind their back with an older quarterback who's effectively on a one-year deal right now. To me, that's the story, to say nothing of the fact that on the other side of the ball, you don't have one player who single-handedly can either eat up three blockers or make a play if you only block them with two. In Aaron Donald, there's a transition on defense.
There's no doubt about it. But when you're talking about what you should do offensively and what their shortcomings are on that side right now, it probably shouldn't surprise anybody. I mean, it's one thing to say, okay, we've seen, for instance, Matt Lafleur, the Packers beat the Rams yesterday. When they were without Jordan Love for a couple of games and they had to figure it out with Malik Willis, who's a backup quarterback, but they did have their other players around them. They did have Josh Jacobs, who you can throw a hand off the ball to, and they did have a bunch of weapons in the passing game. They do have a really good defense.
You know, it's almost in some ways, it's a different type of a challenge, maybe not a lesser challenge, but a different type of a challenge to say, we're going to play the different quarterback as opposed to, remember your whole offensive line and the two guys you were going to throw 80 percent of the balls to? Yeah, they're all gone. You've got to work without all these dudes.
That's the story of it. You know, the real interesting thing for the Rams, because you look at their schedule upcoming here. They're on their by this week. Then they get the Raiders. Then they've got it's a Thursday night game against the Vikings there before they face. They go at Seattle in week nine. At some point, you know, maybe you're you're probably getting Cooper Cup back, right? Cooper Cup's probably coming back at some point in those next couple of games.
Pukodiko will see exactly when that is, but that shouldn't be too far away either. If you lose one or maybe even both of those games between the Raiders and the Vikings, and then you got a long weekend to think about it, are you going into cell mode? That's really the question when it comes to the L.A. Rams, because, again, you've got the coach. When healthy, you think you've got the horses. But if you fall to one in six or even two and five, you have to really be thinking about we've got some take Cooper Cup.
So you talk Selma with the Rams. Who are we talking specifically? Cooper Cup is one who he's a I mean, at this point, he's not the youngest player anymore. He's obviously had a ton of productivity, but he would command a lot. Thirty one years old.
Thirty one years old. He would command a lot at the trade deadline just because how often does a player like that become available to Matthew Stafford be available? He's essentially on a year to year plan. Give up his future guarantees. We don't know if he intends to play football in twenty twenty five. Stafford might not know.
And I'm sure he's got to talk to his wife and his family and everything else and make decisions going forward here. I don't know that there's anybody in the market to go out and make like a marquee quarterback trade right now. And I'm not saying that the Rams have him available. I'm saying is you lose a couple more games here and you're trying to think, how do we maximize what we can get?
The guys at the top of that list are going to be your older skill position stars. And that's Stafford and come just based on history. Turzo and Iowa all right. And while I was here, what's going on, Turzo? What's up, Tommy P?
It's always great whenever you're there. What's up, Brockman? What up, TJ?
Turzo. Man, I'm just disappointed in my Niners team right now. Oh, and three in conference. Oh, and two in the division. Giving away games in the fourth quarter.
This team knows how to win. I just don't know what's going on. I can't articulate it. Yesterday was just disheartening in our red zone effort.
And it was kind of the same. It's kind of been the same thing all year. We just can't push through. And we're kicking too many field goals, which gets us closer to losses. Well, and on top of that, then the kicker gets a high ankle sprain yesterday and is now going to be out for several weeks. So kicking field goals at the end of that game wasn't even an option.
You know, I think that one of the interesting things in terms of appreciate the call. I think that one of the things that's unique here is the quarterback is playing well. Brock Purdy is keeping them in games right now. Some of the perplexing things that are going on is they just even without Christian McCaffrey on the field, who normally would be a high volume type of player. I think that, you know, the backup running back has played well to this point.
It's they haven't been able to get all their weapons going at the same time for the first four games of the season. It was where's Brandon Iuke? You look at his numbers. I saw somebody made the comparison between the Brandon Iuke numbers and the Romeo Dobbs numbers to this point in the season. They were virtually identical to the first four weeks of season. One guy and there's a lot going on with Dobbs here, but certainly frustration over how things were going.
There is a piece of the puzzle. The other guy got 30 million dollars a year. Right. And still wasn't really a factor yesterday. You had like eight catches for 80 something yards. He had a you know, he actually made a couple of big plays for him in the game.
That's what they need out of that guy. George Kittle got himself going. But where was Deebo? I had to look it up this morning because I was watching the game on red zone.
I'm flipping back and forth through multiple games. I never saw Deebo. He had one catch for I believe three yards and he had three rushing attempts for Deebo. That is Kyle Shannon's favorite player of all time. That is one of your absolute your core dudes, your dogs on the team. And he's touching the ball four times in the game. There's just there's something that's slightly off right now with the 49ers. Defensively, they've been, I think, OK, but they had breakdowns yesterday. And obviously you got really talented dudes like Kyler and Marvin Harrison Jr. who are going to get theirs.
But they just they don't seem to have not going to say they don't have juice down since they're not playing hard. There's just they're not the same 49ers team. And part of that may well be Christian McCaffrey set the tone for you for two years. He's he's been the guy that everything runs through him. It's one thing to lose a guy, you know, tears an ACL in June. It's another thing to go into the season, go right up to week one thing. And this guy is back.
He's going to be the focal point of the offense. And then the Achilles starts bugging them and you don't have them. And they still don't know when they're going to have them there. They still expect or they believe they hope they're going to get them back this season.
But they don't know. Is it in two weeks to play Thursday night this week? They were never going to get him back for that game. Is it the following week?
Is it sometime in November? It's all going to depend. How does he feel as he continues to ramp up? It doesn't sound like this is something where he's at risk of tearing his Achilles. But if the pain gets so bad, which is why he didn't end up playing in week one, then there's just not a whole lot that the guy is going to be willing to do. Yeah, he might be able to go out there and play one game for you. But if the pain is so great that he can't go the next week, what do you really accomplishing here? And that's that's led to them having to rearrange some parts.
It's a it's a really good question. I would say that division right now, like a lot of divisions, is completely wide open in the Cardinals. You make a case just based on what we've seen from the Cardinals to this point, that they look like they might be the most dangerous team in the NFC West. Again, the 49ers, they usually figure it out.
Kyle's one of the best coaches in the NFL. They usually find a way, particularly when the quarterback is playing at a high level. But Seattle yesterday losing to the Giants at home. You know, they had a lot of positive energy going. They start three. You know, there's still a good team. Gino came back, made some plays down the stretch, just wasn't enough in that game.
And then he got the Rams who were one in four. And we're talking in the five minutes ago about are they going to sell everybody before the trade deadline? There's no reason the Cardinals can't be a factor. They got to continue to take steps forward.
They got to continue to get better and play more consistently. But when Kyler's rolling and healthy like he is right now, and when Marvin Harrison Jr., you said earlier in the show, Brockman, Jay Daniels, the no doubt rookie of the year, that's probably true. Because when in doubt, the quarterback is going to win over the guy who plays any other position.
Yep. Marvin Harrison Jr. is pretty good. And he makes some hellacious plays on a weekly basis right now. I would just say don't overlook the Arizona Cardinals.
Got to continue to get him to get better. But we're talking about that race. Don't look past them. 49ers real quick. I know we got to get to break. Debo on the block with Ricky Pearsall coming back soon?
Would shock me at this point. On the trading what? Yeah, he was a guy they were looking to move in the offseason. Well, they were looking to move Debo.
They were trying to figure out the answer. He was getting calls. They were getting calls before the draft about both of those guys. They weren't going to let him go for a lot. Debo will be one to watch after the season, not even necessarily in a trade. But Brandon Aiyuk currently makes like, I don't know, 8 million more per season than Debo. Debo is going to want to have that addressed. And if the 49ers are not in a position to address it, then one of those guys is going to have to go. All right, let's take a quick break here. Phone line is still open.
844-204 Rich. A lot more NFL breakdowns from week five after this. Tom Pelissero in for Rich. Smarter tools, smarter financial decisions. Exactly. Beyond credit cards, we research and review thousands of other financial products, from high old savings accounts to mortgage lenders, so you can find the smartest products.
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Terms apply. Visit game time.co for restrictions. Again, create an account, redeem my code E-I-S-E-N for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. There were a lot of lasting images out of the fifth Sunday of the NFL season, which there should be.
It lasted for over 15 hours. Week 5 already, though, man. It's flying by. It's moving quick.
When you remember, we are 29 days out from the trade deadline, and we're already talking about who should be selling. Right. Right now, we have advanced quickly here.
Yeah. You had wacky touchdowns, you had two of over 100 yards, you had the blocked field goal returned all the way, and then you had some of the unusual ones. For instance, the Denver Broncos won a game yesterday, relatively handily as well, and you had an interesting sideline exchange between Sean Payton and Bo Nix. I want to play for you what Sean Payton had to say about exactly what happened. It's just there's still a little bit of Ferris Bueller in this player that we got to get rid of, all right, talking about Bo, and I love him to death, and so sometimes it's my love language, all right.
Can you say what it was about? No. Okay. No, no. Absolutely not.
All right, so hold your thoughts, Brockman, because I do want to know. Okay, yeah. You're the movie buff here.
Of course. But Bo Nix, who, mind you, was born 14 years after Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out, here was his reaction to what Sean Payton said. Yeah, yeah, I've watched the movie, but I think it's funny.
That literally, I think, explains the situation, that we're just out there with great competitive intensity and fire, and we can have those conversations and move right back along and score another few touchdowns that doesn't bother us. Do you like that character? Yeah, I think that movie's funny. I think it's a great movie.
I've only seen it a handful of times because it's kind of old, but I think it's good. All right, I'm going to leave for a second the fact that Bo Nix is wearing a 1977 Bronco's throwback with the number of John Elway who wasn't on the team until 1983. Let's set that aside for just a second here. Who wore seven before? It was... Was it Craig Morton? Craig Morton, yeah, exactly.
It's a Craig Morton throwback. So, all right, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Tell me what Sean Payton exactly means when he says that. I think, and TJ, you've probably seen this movie a lot, too. Ferris Bueller, number one, one of the coolest movie characters I think we could say of all time.
Facts, right? I think that Sean Payton is saying that sometimes Bo Nix thinks he's a little too cool for school, whether with the sarcastic comments back to him, maybe just the generational attitude that he has about some things. You know, when you try to... Tom, you're almost there with your kids, like, Dad, don't talk to me. I know what I'm doing. Well, you're ten. Like, no, you don't.
Oh, I'm there. So I think that maybe that's what Sean means. Also, Sean Payton, let's not forget, is an absolute hardo, okay?
He grew up under Parcells, all right? This guy has one way, and it's his way. And Bo Nix, you know, is like, I got this, old man, in a way of speaking, you know? He turns his back on him, TJ. That's the thing that struck me was, when Sean is going to get on you, there's a few other phrases I could use here, but when he's going to get on you, turning your back usually doesn't go well.
No. So, your interpretation of the Ferris Bueller line. Well, you know, what do we know about Ferris, right? He's a fun-loving kid. You know, he wants his friends to be happy. He wanted nothing more than Cameron to come out of his show and just have a fun time, a fun day with him when he normally wouldn't, you know? He wants his friends to stand up for themselves, to be confident, you know? He's fun, and he's loyal, and he likes to make people laugh. So, Sean, they seem like positive attributes to me, so I'm not sure why Sean wants him to lose all of that. Exactly, to get that out of him? I don't like that at all. I don't like that, Sean Payton. Now that I'm thinking about it, is it just this is Sean saying, basically, Bo Nix took the Ferrari out of the garage and went joyriding, and I did not give him permission to do so? Probably, kind of.
Yeah, that's an option. You're not supposed to do it. Sean's coming off like Principal Rooney right now, man.
Yeah, Rooney. I don't get it. I don't understand what that means. He's done it nine times.
Nine times. See, you know it, so don't play like you don't. Chris, that Bo Nix is a righteous dude. Alright, so who is the Charlie Sheen in all of this, then, on the Broncos?
Oh, man. The bad boy? Yeah, the bad boy is trying to hit on his sister. In the principal's office. Is that where he is, or is he in detention? They're at the police station.
Oh, they're at the police station. That's right. What movie am I thinking of? Am I getting that confused with Breakfast Club?
See, here's the problem. All the John Hughes movies all kind of blend together in my head. They're all very similar.
They all have the same rhythm. They're all about high school kids who, you know, are upper middle class, but somehow are depressed about their existence. And they find a way, suddenly, to become friends with the other kids who are disillusioned for no reason.
That's basically what a John Hughes movie is. Yeah. They're great.
And they're amazing. The foundation of our youth, right? Name your top five John Hughes movies. You've got one minute. We have one minute.
Go ahead, Brockman. Ferris Bueller's number one, and then everyone else is tied for second. You put that above all the other movies?
Yeah. Ferris Bueller's amazing. Pretty in Pink.
Nah, not my speed. Home Alone. Home Alone, I think, is 1B. That's different. That's a different type of movie. Definitely. I mean, he's eight. A little cleaner. Kevin McCleister says in the store, Ma'am, I'm eight years old.
Do you think I'd be out here alone? I mean, mine are Weird Science. Weird Science. Uncle Buck. Christmas. Well, nah. I don't think Christmas Vacation is better than Vacation.
So Weird Science, Uncle Buck. 16 Candles. You don't think Christmas Vacation is better than Vacation? I just love Vacation a little bit more. I don't know which one was actually funnier. But Home Alone, Vacation, though, is, yeah.
I saw Christmas Vacation for the first time a year ago. Wait, okay. Tom. Again. What are you doing in that chair?
Bingo. All right, Phil, we're recording now. Can you please put your phone on silent?
Where is my phone? Let's go, man. Get it together over there, player. Go ahead. Pick on me the way that you want to. I wouldn't say that to my son.
Just go. All right, why would people want to listen to the Sims Complete podcast? A father-son dynamic duo talking about the game of football. We do a lot of quarterback and coach talks. It's fun. I love doing this. It's been awesome. Sims Complete. Check us out on the Believe Network. Appreciate it. Just search Believe, B-L-E-A-V, wherever you listen.
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