James Harrison: Hope The Patriots Do Things To Toughen Up

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The first father-son duo. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. How about another three? This is getting ridiculous. The Rich Eisen Show.

If you have a sombrero, throw it to the stars. Earlier on the show, host and comedian Roy Wood Jr. Fox Sports College football analyst Bruce Feldman. Coming up, actor Michael Meli and Super Bowl champion James Harrison. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Lots of fun. We just discussed all the dissension that's boiling in the Celtics locker room after their season-opening win. You're that scared already. All these mixed fans who are so excited about the season. We've got hopes. We're going to challenge Boston in the East.

How'd that go? The NBA is just, by the way, having fun about dissension because if I'm Derek White, I'm like, wait a minute, you have a chip on your shoulder, Jalen Brown? You saw my gold medal. I get to go and you don't go, so that's your problem. At any rate, the NBA is not like the NFL. It's just one game. Now we can extrapolate that out for the entire season and overreact to it. NBA season is too long. But we also did not discuss the other moment in the NBA from last night was the fact that Bronny James and LeBron James got on the court at the same time and they passed it to one another.

And it is pretty wild to see. If I'm not mistaken, the Griffies were in attendance last night, senior and junior as well, to see the first ever moment. There it is. Look at that picture, man. Come on, man. The Jameses and the Griffies.

That's so dope. That the first ever moment in the NBA of a father and son on the court at the same time and their teammates. I understand that we're in this day and age of what's manufactured and what's not and how if it's not genuine to us, it's not genuine to the people that are going through it or doing it or conducting it or what have you.

You know, I know. Like for instance, remember that Peyton Manning 50th touchdown celebration where they rehearsed it and it was corny. But those guys were having fun doing it for Peyton Manning's moment. So in the moment for them, you know, and everyone's like, well, because Peyton orchestrates everything. Nothing's ever genuine with him.

That was the pushback at the time. But he was actually having fun with his big moment. That's the way I kind of view this, that yes, Brawny James is not a, you know, core member of these Lakers. It's not as if he is if we're using the Griffie analogy. This one was something. Back in the day, with all due respect to Senior, I mean, Junior was the guy, right? Well, he was the first overall pick in the draft. Exactly.

Highly touted, etcetera, etcetera. But outside of that, it is just pretty cool, man, to see a father and a son out there. And afterwards, LeBron talked about his day and what it was like and it did wind up with the Lakers beating the Timberwolves and looking pretty good doing it. That was the first time a win for the Lakers in LeBron's opening game. So, yeah, kind of a big moment.

Go ahead and hit it. The game within the game, obviously, that moment, us being at the scoreboard together and checking in together so that I would never forget, no matter how old I get, no matter how my memory may fade as I get older or whatever, I would never forget that moment. And then also, you know, my daughter, his little sister, her turning ten, is like all the, you know, everything was just great today for me. Everything.

Everything. Everything was great. From the moment I woke up, I saw my daughter before she went to school, you know, and went to work, saw my son at work, get to the game, and just everything, man, our whole family. It's a great moment for Laker Nation, the way we played tonight. Hopefully, we continue to play that type of brand basketball all throughout the year and then for our families, it was a big moment.

I got to be honest with you, man, if I'm ever in a situation where I can make sure that my kid who might want to do something with me, that I get to do it, and if my daughter is there watching and it's her birthday and I can make it just as special for her, too, is a girl dead? Like, that's the good stuff. That's the greatest stuff of all time right there. And again, I know it's just like, well, I mean, it wasn't like LeBron was, and he came in and Ronnie came in and made the game-winning shot, and he's going to be the future once LeBron goes.

I get it. And that they set it up where they checked in together, and Nike had that commercial that LeBron tweeted out earlier in the day of him putting cereal in the car, and I'm sure the cereal company that he poured into the car, I'm sure, gave a nice chunk of change and all of that stuff. And I know that makes us all feel, certainly when it's a superstar player like LeBron, who's got two decades of everyone wondering what he's in charge of and what he's conducted and all of that stuff, and folks just can't see the forest from the trees here. I'll just say that it's pretty cool. That's what you feel about it, right?

Absolutely. You know, I remember in 2002 getting that Sports Illustrated with a 16-year-old high school junior on the cover, LeBron James, and to see this kid become a man who probably is more scrutiny thrust upon him than any other athlete that we've had, and he's pretty much been able to ride the wave on top of all the BS that has, you know, taken so many others down. It's great to see his evolution as a player and a man, and how could you not be a little kind of touched by this?

People are going to be like, son didn't deserve it, blah, blah, blah. Well, that's life, man. Sometimes things happen like this, but to me, sports-wise, what a kind of a cool thing, man. And you know I don't like the Lakers, but I sat there with a smile on my face, and I wanted to remember where I was sitting there and watching that, because who knows if we'll ever get to see that again. And the Lakers look pretty good, too, right? Well, I mean, JJ Redick. It's okay, they only made five three-pointers.

That's not sustainable. They did get a win on opening night, which they'd never done with LeBron as a Laker. I thought their transition game looked really stout, man. Well, more importantly, Anthony Davis looked incredible. My first overall pick in our fantasy hoops league, Anthony Davis just made me look very good. Anthony Davis looked awesome when he had 36 and 16 or something. That block on Rudy Gobert, too. Gobert was about to flush it.

If you're a Laker fan, like, whoa, that's the most important. That is, exactly. He looks like a dog. He's got to stay healthy, man.

Adult neck, looks like he got something there. Connect? Yeah. You know, Reeves looked good. Really played good.

If you're a Laker fan, there's things to be encouraged on the basketball court. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. And 22 years from now, when Dalton Connect plays with his son, it's going to be great.

That would be amazing. See how I'm connecting the dots? Connecting the dots. Guys, just everybody back off. Everybody back off.

I'm in a zone right now. I'm going to play this clip back. The AFC Offensive Player of the Week has been named. Want to guess who it is?

Yeah, it's Russell Wilson, man. Nope. Oh, really?

Oh, man. Derek Henry. Nope. Wow. Lamar?

Yes. Actually, it's gone, the last four AFC Offensive Players of the Week have gone, Derek Henry, Lamar, Derek Henry, Lamar. Well, I mean, when you win five in a row. Eight and 22. That happens.

Eight and 22. Again, that stat I saw the other day that Lamar Jackson currently has a 10.7 yards per average, well, yards per 10th. On third down or something? No, after a run. Oh, after a run. After the Ravens run it, their next play, if it's a pass, they're averaging a first down.

That's amazing. Because of the threat of what Derek Henry's doing. And, of course, the run might be also coming from Lamar. Kurt Warner was a guest on What the Football with Suzy Schuster and Amy Trask, which is available where you get all your podcasts, and had this to say about a fellow MVP quarterback. And the conversation seems to be that the two leading MVP candidates are Jared Goff and Lamar Jackson, and they're so categorically different.

So, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that. Here's the thing that I say with Lamar Jackson, is I see Lamar Jackson continuing to get better. And I've also seen moments where he's put it all together in terms of being a pocket passer. So, I believe he's got the capabilities of doing that every time on the field. I still think he's got room to grow from a consistency standpoint in terms of playing on schedule, seeing what's in front of him, understanding the entirety of a scheme, although he's continuing to get better in that area. And he's better than most guys in the league in that area. But I've seen moments in games where he's been at that elite level. And so, when I analyze Lamar Jackson, it's not saying he's not a good pocket passer.

He can't do this. It's saying I'm analyzing him based on having seen him do that at times, and wanting him so much to be able to do that all the time, coupled with his playmaking ability. And now we get to see the incredibleness of Lamar Jackson. I know he wants to be great. So, part of analyzing is challenging these guys in those areas and on those plays to see it, to play it a little bit better, and to improve in those areas so you can try to maximize everything that you are. And that's the fun thing, because Lamar, if he stays at this level for the rest of his career, he's going to be one of the greatest to ever play the game.

How about that? One of the greatest to have ever played the game. And I was in the pre-broadcast meeting on December 16, 2022, Ravens-Browns, with Kurt Warner, talking to John Harbaugh, who thought that Lamar Jackson was going to come back from a knee injury the following week. A knee injury that he did not come back from the rest of the year. And we were going to see Snoop Huntley out there, taking on the Browns, who beat the Ravens 13-3 in a very offensive, challenged game. But the reason why I bring this up is we were talking to John Harbaugh about Lamar's incredible playmaking ability and he said that Lamar would make some crazy throw for a big play and come off the field and he'd say, what did you see there, Lamar? And he'd say, I'm just playing ball.

And if Lamar then threw an interception, Lamar would come off the field and say the same thing to John Harbaugh, like, why'd you throw it there? I'm just playing ball coach. And I went to dinner that night with the rest of the crew and John, and Kurt Warner, I said, is that a good thing?

Like, is that a good thing? And Kurt's kind of like, not so much. I get that. You know, that you should be able to make the throws that you make knowing why you're making them and you should be able to avoid the mistakes and learn from them and it's not just playing ball. You're not just playing ball when you're the quarterback of a team.

And that's when Lamar went into his offseason wanting a new deal and threatened to hold out in the Ravens and yada, yada, yada and smash cut to an MVP season and now following it up with this. So, when I heard Kurt say that on What the Football with Suzy and Amy, I'm like, he's not just playing ball anymore. And Kurt's seen it and what he is doing is he is slicing you up from the pocket. He is slicing you up, knowing best what to do with it. He's not just spitballing.

And you can see it too, right? Doesn't it look different to you? He does. He looks better. He looks better.

He's getting better. It looks more attuned to what needs to be done. That he knows where his guys are going to be and his guys are going to be there and if it does break down, he's not just taking off either, right?

It's not like, oh, not there, see ya. He's extending the play and then finding them. And they also have better players than that day on 2022. They've got better players around them. That kid Zay Flowers is really good. Isaiah Lightley is really good. Mark Andrews is still Mark Andrews. Bateman's coming around.

Justice Hill, good lord. They're going to keep Mitchell back too. Look out.

And by the way, 22. Derrick Henry. Who, by the way, is on a pace to break the single-season rushing record which I predicted after free agency. Well, I mean, I'll tell you what, guys.

Gone are the days, as I mentioned yesterday, of the first two weeks of the season of what are you going to do? How are they going to figure out to work Derrick Henry into their plans? Remember, you were talking about it when we were in Kansas City for that opener about wondering if Derrick Henry would have more carries in the first drive than they did from the running back position in the entirety of the AFC Championship game against the Chiefs and they came awfully close. They didn't eclipse it.

They didn't eclipse it. But yeah, if these two face again in the AFC Championship game, we will not be sitting there wondering, saying, where's the running game? Nuh-uh. He'll have six carries in the first quarter. And that helps Lamar and Lamar is feeding off of it and the running game is feeding off of Lamar.

It's all clicking. And just, man, kudos to Lamar for developing. He's in year seven and he's still getting better. He looks better than he did last year. And in his MVP years. And he's on a pace for over 4,000 yards passing. Which he's never done in his career. Development.

That's the whole point of the game though, right? You can't get better. You're not who you are. You're second or third year in the league. You can improve year after year. Facts.

YL in Allentown, PA where the graduations hang on the wall and they never really helped us at all. Look at you. What do you think? What's up, buddy? How's everybody doing? They're taking all the coal from the ground. Alright, I'll stop.

Hey, can you feel it? It's first going to the Super Bowl. Here we go.

Here we go. I like the Baltimore Ravens. But you ask yourself, who do they play defense wise? They play Kansas City, they can't beat them. Alright, you know, when they, I mean, now I'm referring to the Steelers in general.

I mean, they have our number, we have their number. We'll probably split it. But when it comes to the AFC championship game, I'll take the Steelers all day long. So you're feeling it. You're feeling it. Hold on a second.

I have some follow up questions for you. So you're feeling it, right? You're not looking at Russell Wilson's first game and saying, I've got to see it again. This is the way it's going to be. You're saying this is the way it's going to be, right? That's how it is.

That's how it's going to be. From day one when they said they were going to bring him in, he's the closest that resembles Big Ben in the pocket for the Steelers. Okay, you know, he's the closest quarterback that we could have picked up. He could fit in Ben Roethlisberger's pocket.

What are you talking about? I get that. I get that. But as far as his play, he stays in the pocket. He'll look for the pass. He'll eventually run.

But he's not quick to run. Big Ben had the highest sacks when he was playing, right? He got sacks on the most quarterbacks out there. Russell Wilson gets sacks on the most quarterbacks out there.

They stay in the pocket. They look for the plays. But you saw the other night, that's just the start. This is Russell Wilson. Could be his last year.

This is my prediction. I called your wife when you were out, Suzy, and I gave him my prediction on the Steelers. They paid a million dollars for him. Now granted, Denver is paying a lot more, but they paid a million dollars for this quarterback.

You have cousins who got paid tons of money. I can't remember the other quarterbacks, but he's out of the three quarterbacks that were available. He's the only one that had gone to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl. Cousins never did. I can't remember the third person, the other quarterback.

He never did either. I got it. Let me just say this. Normally, when a man says to me that they called my wife when I was out, I would have a problem. But your call and your love for the Steelers and your belief in Russ makes me want to just say this.

The best thing about us, though, is it's about us. That's right. Thank you for the call, YL.

Thanks for calling me this time instead of going behind my back. Black and Gold. Here we go. The Primanti brothers are in on it. It's now a little pepperoni, salami, ham and bacon.

Let me tell you right now, the quarterback for BYU is not having this. Send me one. Primanti brothers serve Pittsburgh style, signature provolone, fry, slaw and tomato. I can't give you all the ingredients to the hot dog you might not like. Of the danger, Russ, and a dollar goes to Children's Hospital there in Pittsburgh. I was watching a show this morning and they were talking about it. Somebody said, how do you eat that thing? You pick it up with your hands. You eat it like a sandwich. Well, not with a fork and a knife. Who asked that question?

One of the shows I was watching this morning, they popped it up and somebody was like, how do you eat it? That's a foul. That's a foul. You are not going to be allowed in Pittsburgh, PA, asking that question. I know this. I've eaten many Primanti sandwiches.

They're feeling it. You can't do that. Man, that looks phenomenal. You made a Primanti sandwich. I did. Now I get to ask James Harrison if he ever had one. Of course, he's here. Let's bring him out.

Him and Mike O'Malley together, the showrunner and one of the stars of Heels. Oh, coming up. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy. Just drop in some details about yourself and see if you're eligible to save money when you bundle your home and auto policies.

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Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. James Harrison, the actor in Heels that's streaming right now on Netflix and also a fellow actor in this show and the show runner, Mike O'Malley, both of them here together on The Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you gents for sure. We're glad to be here with you Rich.

Thanks for being here to help us spread the word about Heels. What we're really excited about and what I was really excited about is you got this amazing athlete he only played one season for the Patriots, my favorite team, but at a future hall of fame or football star who just turned out to be an unbelievable actor on this show which is about an independent wrestling promotion in Southwestern Georgia. When did you realize you wanted to act, James?

After I got through playing with football, I wanted to do something that was a challenge for me. I don't know if a lot of people know this but I got stage right like real bad. So when I was younger, you know, playing ball I tried to stay away from the reporters. I was just nervous. You were nervous? Oh hella nervous.

I just didn't know what to say. Talking to the media? Talking to the media was hella nervous. So my next thing is I did some commentating on Fox and all that and then that move was just to be out here so I could talk to people and possibly get into the acting the unscripted stuff, well the scripted stuff rather. I ended up getting an audition with Mike and Pete and sat there and my coach was like, you know, you may have to do it like six, seven, ten times, you know. We did like two or three different sets and he was like, okay that's good so I left there and I'm like, I don't think I got the job. I'm like, it was, you know, it was too fast so he's like, it's either a good thing or a bad thing and they called me up I believe it was like Saturday or Sunday night and they go with from the movie, what movie is that?

Your Future is Calling I'm trying to remember, it's not Wall Street is it? No, I think it was, I forgot what it was but they hit me with, you know, it sounded like they were about to let me down easy and he was like, well it's your future calling, you got a future in this and they gave me the part four apocalypse which is a recovering alcoholic who is very loyal to the DWL well he's the dystopia, sorry very loyal to the other group of the brothers but that's just, you know, it was a challenge and it was something that I felt like I could succeed at And you know, you obviously are a die hard football fan Mike James Harrison walks through the door, winds up on your desk that hey, James Harrison wants to read for a role and you thought what? Well all credit to Pete Siegel, Pete Siegel is the amazing director who directed Longest Yard he directed Anger Management, 50 First Dates, Tommy Boy I mean, this is a guy who just really knows actors and knows comedy but he has also worked with a lot of athletes and Pete, when the audition came in for James, he called me up, he said you got to take another look at this if you haven't seen this, James Harrison is fantastic, I'm like James Harrison?

The former CEO? Yes! And so, Rich, you know because you have a lot of athletes come on, you have a lot of actors come on, the hardest thing about doing a realistic sports television show or movie is a lot of people who are actors, they go on acting because they got cut from the teams that they, you know, the baseball team, the football team they got it, they couldn't do it for the rest of their life, athletes are focused on something different, their physical, you know, athletic talent and so you have a divergent path where a lot of people who are athletes aren't interested in the acting, even though they go to movies, they watch movies, they like movies when we saw James, we thought, now we can really show what a professional wrestler would look like and he had the acting ability and a lot of times you can get athletes who look like athletes but they can't do the acting so they can't do a monologue about at an AA recovery meeting that is a, we gave him, it was like two pages long, there was a lot of words it was hard to do, this guy, he put his focus that he put into the football and he puts into the weight room, he put it into acting, it was incredible. Were you, did you ever try wrestling? In real life?

No, I didn't try wrestling in real life but I got to actually do all my own stunts and, you know, we had to actually, you know, learn how to wrestle so, you know, actually doing that, it hurts, you know no, I'm dead serious, like the mat, it sounds like it's a little bouncy but hitting that, I don't care if you just fall straight on your back and then you add to it, getting thrown off the top rope, you know, getting clothesline, you know, it's physically hitting you, you know the outcome, it's predetermined but the beatings are real. And usually those moves would give you a 15 yard penalty back then. Yes, 15 yards, 75,000, you know, stuff like that.

Really? You once opened a FedEx envelope and it was 75,000? Yeah, I said I quit. It was the hit on Massaquoi, yeah.

Oh, I remember that one. That wasn't that hard hit, listen to me, that wasn't a hard hit, okay? I gave him 50% and I keep telling people this, just to get him to let go of the ball. Now, if I knew they were going to find me 75,000 dollars, that would have been the most disgusting grotesque hit you would have ever seen in my life. You would have got your money's worth. I would have got my money's worth, yeah, definitely. But that was also the weekend where there were other hits and other, so there was a point trying to be made, there was a point trying to be made, you know back in the day.

Yeah, I'm the only one. No, those are the past, it's in the past, you're an actor now, right? Yeah, let me act like that don't matter.

I don't care, you know, it was like us, you know, he had to do it, he had to do it, the right thing, you know, safety is what it is. Here's a new scene, you open up a FedEx envelope and in it, all right. Oh, that's all? That's it?

Thank you, I'm glad he went light. Oh my God, James Harrison here on the Rich Eisen Show along with Mike O'Malley and Heels is available for streaming on Netflix, a great show everybody should check out. So this is what you want to do now with your life?

Yes, definitely, definitely. You know, season one was great, unfortunately I didn't get a chance for season two, but you know, this is something that I definitely want to focus on, I want to be able to do this for the rest of my life. Who in the acting world have you reached out to for advice? That's just it, like I used all the people that I worked with, you know, the biggest person that I leaned on a lot was Alan Maldonado, because I did a lot of my scenes with him and he's the one that really, you know, helped me to learn, you know, their craft, their profession, you know, and when we would work out I would give him tips in the gym so I think he helped me far more than I helped him, you know, if you could tell he's still the same size, you know, I grew a little.

Alan plays Rooster on the show, he's an amazing actor and an amazing, you know, athlete too and these guys really motivated one another to really, you know, we wanted to portray wrestling and show the heart and the yearning that goes into this creative endeavor for all of these independent wrestlers who are trying to make it, you know, and so they really had to get their bodies right and so Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig and Chris Bower and James, Trey Tucker, Robbie Ramos, all these guys, Alan Maldonado, they just really had to, it was more than just, you know, working out to look good, they had to really get in shape to be able to pull off these stunts by themselves. Well to talk, it's kind of crazy to me that you say you were like shy or didn't want to... Stage fright. Stage fright with media. I could play in front of hundreds of millions of people, I don't hear them, I don't see them for some reason, they're not there to me.

You put me in front of ten people in a room and I got to talk, I used to be ready to lock up. Unbelievable. And the media never puts anything out of proportion, they wouldn't blow anything out of proportion. If he stumbled on something and said maybe the wrong thing, he couldn't blow up into a story. Mike, don't paint all of us with a broad brush, there are some of us in the media that would do it.

I didn't say Rich Eisen would do it, you're being an amazing host. Well a hit dog will holler, you know what I'm saying? But when somebody like me fires up Steelers Cam for James Harrison like I did back in the day and James is like staring a hole through me through the camera, I'm thinking is he pissed at me, did I do something wrong?

I had no idea. See I'm smiling now, see it's a difference. I'm acting though. You're acting. Rest in Harrison face is what you got. We want to turn him into a teddy bear, a teddy bear on television.

You're acting, I appreciate that. That said, I want to marry a couple things here, your love of the Patriots and obviously your knowledge of the game. I don't know if you heard this, but Gerard Mayo called the Patriots soft after they lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars this week, called his defense soft. How do you think that's landing in that locker room right now, James? I would think they would do things to toughen up. If your head coach is saying that you're soft, he's obviously been there and he's watched you go through this whole season, the preseason up to this point.

What he's seen is obviously what he considers to be soft. It's a difference between losing and getting pushed around in the process. So you take it as a challenge?

Yes, no question. Not an insult? I take it all as a challenge. I don't think you can last in the NFL if you're going to take everything as an insult. An insult don't make you want to go out there and do better. I take everything as a challenge. I think the players should take it as a challenge. A chip on their shoulder to go out there in the next game.

If we don't do nothing else, we're going to be physical and punish people. Belichick was saying that he felt bad for the players that he's calling soft because Bill knew the players. Bill had those players last year and he said that they were a first ranked runs defense last year. That was his response, which as you might imagine in the New England area people were like, well is Bill calling out Gerard Mayo and all that sort of stuff. That's what's going down in your old neck of the woods. Bill don't have to be there anymore.

The coach is the one that has to do what he feels like is going to motivate his players to get him to go out there and play at the level that he needs them to. I respect him. I respect Bill. I had a great time. How many games were you there? It was four games. You freaked everybody in Pittsburgh out by going to New England, right?

Listen, when channel one don't want you when channel two do, that's where you go. Right. Pretty much. I think about a week ago my wife hugged me goodbye before I went on a hike. She said, you're getting a little soft and I've hiked every day since then.

I don't think soft is not, basically you just want a bed that's soft. That's about it. That's about it.

You don't want a body that's soft. No one wants to hear a Patriot fan complain about anything because they had so much success for so long. I don't know what's going to turn it around.

I don't know what's going to turn that team around. The neat thing is whatever you do in your acting career, James, and I only hope that it gets more and more successful, is you will definitely be the only person in your profession with one of the greatest plays in the history of the Super Bowl to go along with it as well. And I say this, show that clip. I understand that. Butler's Interception. Because you said the coach was smart for doing that. That was a smart move.

That should have never happened. I'm saying, you ask me a question and I answer it. You're a Patriot fan. I don't like you right now. I want to see why you didn't get into season three of Heels. We're going to have him as nothing but a teddy bear. Listen, this guy is a great actor. We want everyone watching Heels because the more people we watch we'll get season three. And we will have you on the show, Rich.

I will do it. As a reporter who beats him up. Just so you understand, he could beat a reporter that gets thrown around. No, no, no. Guys, don't just pigeonhole me as a reporter.

How about as a lover? You want to be a wrestler? I don't want to be a wrestler. I want to be an actor. And I have range, James.

How about this, Rich? Stephen Amell told me to remind you that he called you a very handsome man. He did. He's the star of Heels. He and his wife were at the Super Bowl one year.

I believe it was in Dallas. And he calls me over and I went over to him and he told me I was a very handsome man. Well, what if you steal his wife in the show? One hundred percent. I think you could write that in. But I had to say it's one of the best plays is because one of my dear friends and colleagues is Kurt Warner. And every time this gets brought up, it is an issue for him since he's the one who threw it. Again, it's my fault for catching her or him for throwing it. I understand that.

But what was your perspective? Can you walk me through pre-snap all the way to the very end of this play, James? So pre-snap is a max blitz.

Coach LaBona called a max blitz. The whole half is like we're getting there a step too late or we're getting there just as he's throwing the ball. On this blitz, Lawrence Timmons is supposed to be the free shooter and he's blitzing inside of me. So I got to get this tackle to step to me and Lawrence Timmons would be the free shooter. And I'm like, you know what?

I just really don't think I'm going to get there. So coach gave us a little lead way to be able to do things. Freelancer touch. A touch, yeah.

It'd be like ad libbing. It's like when Troy got deep third and he jumps the A gap. That's all Troy would do, right? I'm like, I got to step at this tackle to get him to step towards me so Timmons can be the free shooter and he can't hold the ball because I'm just going to play for the slant in.

That's the closest thing to me that I can affect and I'm just going to drop and play for it. So the ball snaps. I step. The tackle jumps out at me. He jumps out at me. I see Timmons get through. I drop back and I'm just looking at Kurt and he's looking at me like I'm looking at you.

And I'm like, alright, he sees me. He's not about to throw the ball. And I see his arm start going up and I'm like, oh snap. He's about to throw the ball. But when I catch it, that's why I'm kind of surprised because I created it like this.

I just really didn't believe he was going to throw it. So we take off and as soon as I catch the ball, in my mind I'm like, I'm gone. There's nobody there. You're standing on the goal line right there. Oh, I didn't care.

There was nobody there. I'm like, I'm gone. So the Shay Townsend goes, give me the ball. I'm like, yo, get the hell away from me. Go block somebody. I'm not giving you the ball. It seemed like I wanted to be pitched to you.

Yes. It seemed like I fought with him for like 30 seconds, right? By the time I look up, it's a sea of red jerseys, dude. And I'm like, oh, I'm not about to make it. So we start running and we get through the like first cluster and I think it's Kurt and somehow we stumble through that. After we stumble through that, it's somebody on my side. So I think Kiesel or Timmons came back and cracked back on somebody.

So I get past that. I'm like, alright, you know, I'm gone. And then again, it's a running back. Woodley comes and knocks him and then I jump over Woodley and I'm like, yo, I got to make it now because I feel like I've been running for like the last two minutes. It's only 17 seconds at that time when we first snapped the ball. So I'm like, you know, I got to get in and as I take off and start veering back towards the sideline, I see another lineman and I'm like, what the hell is going on? Like it's the Carl Lewis alignment out here. So I go and he dives at me so I just start kicking my legs as high as I can.

I'm holding the ball like a loaf of bread now. Fitzgerald comes in from the side. I don't see him.

Nothing. He could have been a hero. All he had to do was hit the ball. He missed. He hit my chest and it gave me time to cover the ball. If he had went straight down and hit the ball, it was gone. Like Peanut Tillman punch it. Oh, it was gone.

Right. But he missed on the hit and hit my chest, gave me time to cover up and I think Breston hit me in the back and we all rolled into the end zone. And when you rolled into the end zone, did you know you had made it?

Oh, I knew it was a touchdown. Because I landed on my head. I landed on my neck. My neck like just popped, cracked. That's what made me lay on the ground along with being tired is I didn't land on nothing but my head and then we rolled in. When I hit, I saw the goal line at my head. Like it was like right here.

I'm like, yo, here we are. And I was on top of Larry too. I'm watching the play as he's describing this.

That is the detail that you have is amazing. It's literally step by step. At like the 40 yard line, there are six Cardinals around you.

And you get by all of them. You jump over a dude. Yeah. And then Larry comes from out of bounds basically and has a chance to strip it but misses and then Steve Breston hits you into the end zone. What was it like in the locker room after that?

I don't know. I was getting IV'd up. We were just getting ready to get to the second half and try and finish it off.

That was it. Unbelievable. I will never forget that moment. That was an incredible Super Bowl.

Unbelievable. And then after all that, you had to sit there and watch Big Ben go down the field at the end to win it. We shouldn't even have had to do that, man. They had a penalty card in the end zone that shouldn't have been called. It should have been over with when Santonio caught the first down. We would have kneeled on the ball.

It would have been over with. Uh huh. I love it. Fantastic. Thanks for coming in here and just chopping it up. Congrats on everything going on with both of you guys. Thanks Rich. Your career has taken off too, Mike.

You're crushing it here in this town. Your name gets mentioned over and over and over again when shows are looking for somebody to run it or write it and do it and obviously you're outstanding at what you do. I really appreciate that. Heels included, obviously. Thank you, man.

Thank you. I hope we get to make more heels and James, for anyone who's listening out there who's a director, producer, I mean, he's amazing. He can do it all. He really can.

I can do it all. And did Primanti Brothers ever make a sandwich for you? Because one win in, they made one for us. No. They did. They made a sandwich for him. That's good.

They already did. You have one win for him. I mean, they got it.

One start, one win. That's good. That's a hundred.

I know. And one sandwich. There it is right there. There's a sandwich.

He's batting a thousand. Right there. We gotta get you a sandwich, James.

There it is. We need to get you a sandwich. A Harrison sandwich.

I got a sandwich at Kent State. Do you do? Yeah. Okay. One of their little, you know, one of those hot cheese, something. Okay, good. You don't even know what's in your own sandwich?

No, I ain't never ate it. This man's in shape. He's gotta stay in shape. He's an actor now.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's gotta watch it. Gotta watch my figure. Then you should watch Heels, streaming on Netflix. Again, for those who recall it from the Stars days, check it out on Netflix right now.

May you get the season three you're looking for. Thanks, Rich. You got it. Michael Malley and James Harrison here on The Rich Dad's Show.

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Do it now, says The Learning Tree. Thanks guys! Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. That was so much fun right there, huh? Listening to Jim. Poor Kurt. I feel bad. He did us a solid all the time.

He says he'll always call in or zoom in whenever we want for this show. Did what the football with Susie and Amy and I'm like, hey, can you? That was a good game. But it's okay because Kurt's in the hall and James Harrison was just named finalist for the final 50. Yeah, final 50 for James Harrison. It was exciting. It was also a little terrifying because James Harrison. It's not like he doesn't look like he could rip you in two weeks. When he said that he had stage fright talking to media, like what? Whenever I interviewed him, you would just have like the resting Harrison face.

It kind of makes sense though after he describes it because that's kind of like a mechanism, like stay away. You know what I did last night with my kids? Watch basketball? Yes, we did that. But apparently they saw a video and I, you know, they showed it to me and I heard about it. You TikTok it?

The tortilla slap challenge. Oh gosh, you did that? It's still going on? That seems like a year old. I know, I had not seen it.

I thought it was something. Did you film it? Do we have it? We don't have it because I'm not showing it to you people. Why? Because it involves my children and we're slapping each other in the face with food stuff. Again, a perfect video for a show. Oh God no.

Okay. Who? Is there a winner? Does someone win?

No, there's only losers. There's no winner at tortilla slap. Honestly, Xander hit me so damn hard with a tortilla that my face felt like it still even hurts a little bit.

Well, I gotta say that's probably years of pent up frustration on his end that he's just like taking it. He was like, yes, I would love to do this dad. Yeah, they did it apparently over the weekend when I was, I forget, I think they did it when I was in London or whatever, or I don't know why I was out.

No, actually no. When I was doing Monday Night Football on Westwood One, broadcasting in the nation, my children were slapping each other in the face with tortillas. That's fantastic. And so, um, but Susie did not get involved.

Oh. She just watched and laughed. Yeah, Susie, she's smart. You ain't letting nobody smack her with a tortilla, bro. She's like, come on, get out of here.

That's true. I stood in there. I stood in there and you got water in your mouth. You got water in your mouth.

And Cooper. Wait, so can you explain the game? I don't get it. So you put water in your mouth and then you do rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to go first and the idea is to hit them so hard that the water comes out of your mouth.

So stupid. Xander had to come through his nose at one point when Cooper hit him because he's like Randy Johnson with his lefty. And he's got the span and he's like, he's up to six one now, I think. Yeah, that makes sense. He got me in the ear.

I was ringing for a while and I'm like thinking to myself, what the hell am I doing? Taylor, was she involved? Of course. And I know nobody hit Tay Tay really hard. Little brother. I was standing up to the side saying, go easy, go easy here.

And she just like was like looking at me like, why would you tell them to go easy on me? Can't win for losing. But yeah, a big night in your house. It's kind of how the Knicks defense probably around the perimeter felt, getting slapped with a tortilla the whole night. Rain in threes, rain in threes, rain in tortillas.

You want to talk about insane. Otani's home run ball to complete the first ever 50-50 season. 4.3 million dollars. You want to round up, it's 4-4. At Golden Auctions.

Well, because of taxes, you might as well round down. He'll never get it back. Unless he's bought it. We have no idea who it is. No one's come forward yet. He's such a good dude.

If I'm Otani, you know what I don't want that bad? That ball for 4.3 million dollars. I'll hit a few more. Also, there's still a dispute going on of who actually is the owner of the ball. Actually, they kill it. I mean, with respect to the kid, but it's fair game when the ball's down there.

It's just like survival of the fittest. Whoever comes out with it. I agree. If you would have created Facebook, you would have created Facebook. So, somebody spent like two to three times more than Otani's 2024 salary on the baseball? Well, they're deferring payments for the next 30 years. $5 a year for the next 1,000 years? Exactly. I don't know if that math works.

So, that made more money than Otani this year. Think about that. Well, on the books. Oh, my word.

On the field. What a show. What a show. Great show. James Arison is so gigantic. You're wondering, can he fit in the charity throw?

We knew they had to butter the sides to get him in. Alright, Bill. We're recording now. And please put your phone on silent. Oh, 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 would say that to my son.

Just go. Alright, why would people want to listen to the Sims Complete podcast? 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.