Mike Garafolo: Za’Darius Smith Makes Sense For The Lions

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Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Chiefs Kingdom. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Touchdown Tampa Bay. Ryan Miller was opened by at least three yards.

It's a walk off touchdown by Kareem Hunt. Today's guests, NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, World Series Champion pitcher Jack Flaherty charges defensive tackle Scott Matlock. And now it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live on Election Day here from Los Angeles, California. I voted. I sure hope everybody else out there either has or has a plan to today and make your voices heard. And you never know the power that you have with just your one vote. And in that respect, my first order of business after voting was banishing both Chris Brockman and TJ Jefferson to Germany. And you know what? That's my agenda. And no one was going to stop me from doing that. So I sent him on a plane and they are already there.

There's TJ's empty chair, not a metaphor for anything. He's literally not here today. Chris Brockman went on a flight yesterday as well because we're going to start doing the show from Munich, Germany on Thursday. I'm calling the Panthers and the Giants on Sunday on NFL Network.

We're going to be doing shows on the Roku Sports Channel live Thursday, Friday with special show over the weekend on Saturday. You already heard DJ Mikey Diaz and Deez Nuts laughing out loud. He's back in his chair and in Chris Brockman's chair today. Suzy Schuster, everybody. Good to see you, Suze. How are you?

Good to see you, Mike. You got to turn her microphone on. My goodness gracious. I'll mute it.

She's speaking. There you go. There you go. That's what they do.

They have control. Good to see you. How are you, Suze?

Well, that's one way to start the show. Sorry, Suze. I should have showed you.

That was my fault. Good morning, everybody. Good to see you, Suze. Good afternoon, whoever you're finding in this podcast, the show, this Roku extravaganza. Happy to be here with you. Good to see you.

Good to have all of you here. We've got two folks from the Los Angeles sports scene stopping in here in studio from our neighbors across the way, the five and three Los Angeles Chargers. I've been fascinated by this guy. His name is Scott Matlock. He's a Boise State kid drafted by the Chargers last year. Jim Harbaugh turned him into a two-way player. He's not just a defensive lineman.

He's also the team's fullback. And to me, that's as Jim Harbaugh as it gets and Scott Matlock's going to be here in studio in hour number three. And then from here in Los Angeles, California, Harvard Westlake's finest and team champion for the Los Angeles Dodgers, game one pitcher, game five pitcher, Jack Flaherty will be joining us in studio, Suze. You think he played legacy baseball?

Maybe he did. I mean, we know that system very well. And so Jack will be here in studio and joining us in about 17 minutes time. Even though he's just up the road at NFL Network, he's kind of occupied because it's trade deadline day. Mike Garofalo will be joining us to put his finger on that pulse 17 minutes from now to let you know what's going on on trade deadline day. That's what's going on in the sports world.

And as always, we start this show right here on a Tuesday with a Monday night review presented by Lowe's. And lo and behold, we have hit week number nine of this season. And one of the stories that we've been following, as is the rest of the sports world.

I love how we're going to make it proprietary. We're just the ones following the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the first ever three-peat attempt for them. And the first three-peat attempt that we've seen in the NFL since the Patriots went back to back winning the first two Super Bowls of NFL Network's existence. And I'm in year 22 with them.

And I turn the lights on there, sort of similar to this studio. But anyway, not about me. It's about the Kansas City Chiefs. And this is 100% the top storyline of this season coming in when a team has a chance to three-peat. And it sure looks like they had the horses to do it just out of the gate. And the gate started, as we know, in Arrowhead Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens on the first Thursday night.

Not telling any tales out of school. And here we were finishing up week nine in the same spot in another rainy night, just like that opening night in Kansas City where the weather delayed the start. But it did not delay the Chiefs from winning the game and making sure, even though they didn't look perfect, that when it came to situational football, down distance, getting the first downs, keeping the other team out of the end zone. Sure, they did get some help by Isaiah likely wearing white shoes and having too large a foot at the end, I understand. But they played well enough to have that be the difference for them. And here we were in the same spot on Monday night. And the Kansas City Chiefs pull it out again. When you think that it's not going to work out very well for them, they do everything necessary to win the game. And they and they scored four touchdowns.

Three of them scored by guys who weren't on the team on that opening night against the Ravens. Kareem Hunt was ATC at the crib sitting at home because Isaiah Pacheco is going to be the starting running back. And they had Carson Steele from UCLA in his hair and Samaj P. Rhine. And down goes Isaiah Pacheco. Carson Steele doesn't appear to be ready for prime time. Let's get a guy who knows the offense very well around here since he played here once before. Let's get Kareem Hunt and let's have him not do very much in the first two and a half quarters of this game, but still have a 100-yard game and the game-winning touchdown at overtime. Let's have that.

And then let's get two touchdowns from a guy who wasn't on the team three weeks ago and a guy that everybody thought was going to sign with them because he was a free agent two summers ago but decided to go to Tennessee. Anyway, let's go and get a potential future Hall of Famer in DeAndre Hopkins. Let's go get him. Not just only get him. Let's get him for, oh, let's see here. Why not? Let's get him for a conditional fifth round pick next year's draft.

So do that. Let's bring him in here. Let's get him up to speed in Vegas. And then let's have him do DeAndre Hopkins type things like catch touchdowns, plural, and the one we see on the screen right here, people. This one in particular is leaping out at me because it is quintessential de-hop showing he still has the hops, which is kind of ridiculous.

Everybody wonders he doesn't anymore. Let's have Mahomes on a third and eight from the Tampa Bay 38. Avoid the rush, step up in the pocket and as he's hit, let's have him throw it right down the middle into double coverage. Let's have it float a little bit and let's have it go right in the hands of DeAndre Hopkins to put him inside the five yard line and cash it in with one of two touchdowns from DeAndre Hopkins.

Let's have that. You know, it kind of feels unfair, but when you've got the, the goods, when you've got the quarterback and you've got the future first ballot hall of famer tight end in Travis Kelsey, shouldn't be any surprise that when DeAndre Hopkins shows up, Kelsey has his best games of the year back to back. I know he fumbled last night, but he had a career high 14 receptions for a hundred receiving yards. There's 959 career receptions past Antonio Gates for third most receptions by a tight end in NFL history talent trailing only Jason Witten and fellow chief Tony Gonzalez. DeAndre Hopkins is, you know, him and Mahomes just appear to be perfect together.

Kareem Hunt, 27 carries 106 rush yards, one rush touchdown. And then you got a guy in Baker Mayfield doing everything he could. He was terrific last night, ties the game with a stunning, stunning game tying drive at the end with 30 seconds left and Mayfield hits the chiefs right in the mouth. He's so much fun to watch.

He's got such moxie and gumption and guts. They decide to not go for two to win it, or at least go up and put Mahomes needing to score points with his final three timeouts and 30 seconds on the clock instead force over time. And Mahomes got the ball first and we all know what Mahomes doesn't overnight.

I guess it doesn't matter if you get the ball second in the super bowl and over time, you get the ball first in regular season, overtime rules doesn't matter. He's going to score a touchdown on Beecher and we'll discuss Todd Bowles' strategy later on in this program. But for the moment, the chiefs are 8-0 for the first time since 2013. That's even before I believe Mahomes showed up on the campus of Texas Tech being shown around by his college football chaperone Baker Mayfield. He's never started 8-0. The Chiefs have now won 14 straight dating back to last season, including playoffs. That's the longest streak in Chiefs franchise history. They're getting stronger. They're getting better. They're the only member of the eight win club at present. They are two games up in the loss on the bills. And it's all good as Mahomes and Dehop needed just two games to click.

And he had this to say about the relationship after. Yeah, I mean, I mean, he's just, he's so good at winning one-on-one. And so to be able to have him down in the red zone, third down situations, he does a good job of filling out and finding those windows. He's kind of like Travis does. I think as he, as he figures out the whole entire offense, he'll get even better because there's some times he's going places.

I'm like, man, there's a time and a place for that, but that's what makes him great. And then you give him a chance down the field and he makes a play. It goes from a play where it might've been a bad decision to a big time catch. He ran the route similar to Trav and as I scrambled up in the pocket, he kind of took off down the field. And I threw, I want to throw the ball a little bit harder, obviously getting hit.

It kind of floated a little bit for me, but to have a guy like that, that can go up and make that catch in a crowd of defenders, it's a special type of player. Oh, so that play was them just playing street ball, like him and Kelsey. Oh, so he's got another hall of fame receiver out there who will just make it up and Mahomes will find him. Oh, okay.

Got it. And then, as I mentioned, it's, of the four touchdowns, three were scored by guys who weren't on the team on opening night. The fourth was scored by Samaj P. Ryan, but many of us didn't notice that because Mahomes was down on the ground holding his lower left foot. You and I thought for a second, Suze, last night, the dreaded Achilles for a split second, you know?

Yeah, we really thought it. We watched the replay a couple times and we were trying to figure out what exactly happened, but then in only, as you can see, Mahomes in fashion, he's back. I mean, we were looking at the replay for that dreaded calf twitch, Durant style, you know, what we saw from Rodgers.

Didn't see it. Did see the ankle turn a little bit, you know, and then ESPN showed where he, he got hurt being tackled in Vegas last week. And, but this moment right here, you need help getting off. We're like, what the hell's going on?

And really nervous about it. And then he starts walking off. He needed only help, what, to like halfway to the sideline, right? And then he starts walking by himself.

Then he starts running by himself and then he gets back out there just like last year. Well, two Superbowl wins ago when he had the dreaded high ankle sprain and we were pulling off maybe what helped put R.E.S. consulting on the map, how we were able to figure out the ankle injury when he was going up and down from the podium and stuff like that.

You know, we were all, we were all over that. This is Mahomes after the game, explaining what happened with his ankles. I was obviously running for the goal line, was kind of committed to running the football. And at the last second, saw Samaje and so kind of awkwardly rolled the ankle a little bit. Definitely scary. I think it hurt more just because the same ankle I rolled last week.

So it scared me a little bit, but once I kind of took my, took my breath and kind of calmed down a little bit, ended up being not too bad. We were able to go in there, kind of get the re-spat and go back on the floor and just kind of get the re-spat and go back on the football field. Any similarities between this injury and the one in the playoffs a couple years ago? No, I think just because the one in the playoffs a couple years ago was a little bit how I got tackled. It got stuck and it hurt a lot more.

I could move. I can still have mobility in my ankle and I still did after this game. And so obviously you'll sleep, probably get a little swelling tomorrow, but in a short week. But you go in there and take care of it and be prepared to play next week. So as we're worried about him, he's down on the ground and he felt it as he made Mahomes' magic throw to Samajee Piran. I know everybody out there is sick and tired of members of the media, national media, whatever, going crazy every time Mahomes does something, but it kind of merits it.

Paging Dr. Reid, what was he thinking? He was kind of feeling like us, Suze, last night. Yeah, well when he was being carried off, that wasn't, that wasn't too easy. You know, that was, I wasn't sure exactly where he was going to be with it, but he might have the loosest ankles in America.

I mean, it's ridiculous how he can come back from those things. Maybe that's the problem with my running style. I don't have loose ankles. No, you don't have loose ankles, no. Never noticed that in me. I was thinking when I met you, like what a smart guy, super nice.

Sure, thanks. Loose ankles, not so much. Not so much. That was low on the list. Yeah, low on the list.

On the checklist. Yeah. Also, you know, don't take, don't forget how the field was, the considerations of how wet the field was and how hard it was to actually plant your feet to throw. I mean, as a former sideline reporter, when you have to give that report about what kind of spikes the guys are using, you know, hey Mike, the guys have gone to the third inch spike. Right.

Back to you. But honestly, like when he went to throw and plant that foot, we watched his knee, we looked at his ankles, we couldn't figure out what it was, but he was definitely sliding. And they are now sliding safely into week 10. 8-0. And next up for them is Denver. Oh boy. And then at Buffalo. There you go. That's the one right there.

That's the one. Because Buffalo's next game is at Indianapolis. They take care of that business. Then you got 9-0, Kansas City going into 8-2 Buffalo. Look out. I believe Nansen and Romo are probably setting up residency in Western New York for that one right now.

Oh boy. Fun stuff for everybody, but anybody who's taking on the Chiefs. And keep taking the cheese that they're beatable. That said, the Lions just got better. And we'll talk about that in a second. Zadarius Smith is now a member of the Detroit Lions. Mike, our photo is going to zoom in from NFL Network to talk about that acquisition. The Cowboys have actually also made a trade as well at the wide receiver position. Jerry Jones, that's still to come. But that was your Monday Night Review presented by Lowe's. Official partner of the NFL. It's easier to make the right calls with the right team. So kick off your next home improvement project with Lowe's. Lowe's knows home improvement.

Let's take a break. When we come back the latest on the trade deadline from my NFL Network colleague and NFL game day morning insider Mike Garofalo along with Jack Flaherty of the world champion Dodgers still to come. 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.com slash Amex Business. Let's talk LinkedIn people and small business owning. I'm a small business owner.

Yeah, I might host the Rich Eisen show, but I'd run it too. Rich Eisen productions is a small business. And when you're hiring for small business, you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role. And that's why you've got to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free. It's not just a job board this LinkedIn. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else even those who aren't actively searching for a new job but might be open to the perfect role. In a given month, over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. LinkedIn knows that small business is wearing so many hats and might not have the time or resources to hire.

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Terms and conditions apply. But when you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like aloe or skins, sure, you think about a great product, a cool brand and brilliant marketing, but an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business making selling and for shoppers buying simple for millions of businesses that business is Shopify. Nobody does selling better than Shopify with shop pay that boost conversions up to 50% meaning way less carts are going abandoned and way more sales happening. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whatever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web in your store in their feed and everywhere in between businesses that sell more sell on Shopify upgrade your business and get the same checkout skins uses sign up for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash Westwood one all lowercase go to Shopify.com slash Westwood one to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com slash Westwood one Back here on the program. Mike Garfolo is going to join us from NFL network just down the down the 105 freeway down the speed freeway.

What games you got this weekend? You said Mike go too far. Tell me what's going on with you, man. Because you're not coming to Germany. No, I got UCLA. Kansas. No, that that's no UCLA, Iowa. Okay, that's right. No, it's Iowa. It'll be Iowa. That's a big 10 team. That's right. Okay.

Iowa and then Kansas. I think I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you.

No, you surprised me because I got to think about them. Okay, but you chose that over a beer garden. And pretzel brought like what do you think? The problem is I can't the NFL Sundays for me to miss.

Fox Fox has got him in first position. So I can't and it's like if I I took one off already if I take a second it's it's like so so like just I got it I want trust me if it was a week. Have you been to Germany?

Uh no. Oh my god the food is so good. I've flown over Germany. I'm jealous. I'll bring you back some schnitzel.

Yes, I would take some. I don't know if that'll say that'll that'll keep. I might not bring him pretzel brat because the schnitzel is going to stink. You got to explain to him what what that is. It's just a pretzel. It's like a New York City pretzel only better. The brat is the bread.

He probably thought it was like a hot dog when you said that. What if you were to bring him a bratwurst on the plane? That would really stink. I don't think if the plane my my neighbors on the flight would be very happy. No that would not be good. Like hour 11.

Wrap it up over and over and over again. That'd be a problem. We do have Joe Thomas on the program slated to join us on Thursday. He has been instructed to show up in full lederhosen which he did the last time. Excellent.

I don't know if he's going to. That would be good TV. Great chocolate there too. Honestly. Really good chocolate. Bring me some.

Because Joe Thomas when he's dressed like that looks like he's uh he's uh in the Ricola commercial. It's great. It's great. So I hope to just stay tuned for all that.

But that's on Thursday in Munich. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm 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 clickranger.com or just stop by. The trade deadline lost amongst all the election day hoopla and madness is later on today for eastern time. So get in while the getting's good. And joining us right now live from the NFL network newsroom. Look at this take tapping out of his NFL network responsibilities for at least the next few minutes. Mike Garofolo back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing Mike?

Good to see you. I got a good excuse though. I mean it's it's not like I'm going on with a random here. I mean I'm going on with the cornerstone of NFL network here. I am no rando sir and I appreciate that.

I appreciate that. So the Lions made this move for for big Z. Zadarius Smith back in the NFC North once again. Walk me through their I mean I can figure what their thought process is but walk me through the the why of this and and the Browns coughing them up. They uh they being the Lions since the Aiden Hutchinson deal were nosing around looking at all kinds of edge rusher uh possibilities. This one seemed to make the most sense for them in Zadarius Smith.

A guy who's got experience. A guy who's got the ability to do a number of things uh for you up front and this was just a matter of how would the compensation uh be finalized over the last couple of days here. So a lot of folks expected this to be uh uh consummated at some point before the deadline uh and this morning finally agreed to the swap of the seventh and sixth round picks and the Browns getting a fifth back in return if I've got that correctly if I'm remembering that uh correctly. So uh this is this this made the most sense of all the options that were on the market. I mean look uh we knew a couple of weeks ago that Myles Garrett was not going to be moved. That the Cleveland Browns were making it clear this is a franchise cornerstone pass rusher who's got plenty of good football left. He wasn't going anywhere.

So at that point it was okay who can they move. Zadarius Smith making the most sense and the Lions being the the most sense for where he would wind up. Do we know if the Lions shot the moon and asked for Myles Garrett to start? Uh I would I would anticipate they were one of the teams that that asked about him. I know teams did ask about him and the Browns made it crystal clear like you're really gonna have to absolutely blow us away with an offer uh and no one making that offer obviously. Uh so no I don't know specifically if they asked uh but I know that the Browns did receive feelers because folks said okay well are they going to start to sell off some of the key pieces and they said no.

We still believe we are a competitive team in 2025. Why would we get rid of that guy? So what does the edge rush market look like now that uh I guess the biggest name if you will uh available has gone.

What what does that look like right now with a few hours to go Mike? The one I'm looking at uh is Aziz Ojelari with the Giants Rich and there has been interest in him. He's going to be a free agent at the end of the season. He's going to make a bunch of money period uh whether it's with the Giants although they have two edge rushers one of whom they've already paid one they're going to have to pay in Kayvon Thibodeau. So I just don't see the Giants having the money to get this done. So I believe in March we're going to be talking about Aziz Ojelari making a bunch of money because he's on his way potentially to double digit sacks to pass uh his previous career high of eight uh and there is interest in him now but the Giants are holding out saying we're not going to give him up for a sixth or a seventh that's not high I think I believe a fifth winds up getting it done if someone's willing to go there uh to this point no one has been willing to meet that asking price so so that's the guy that could come in and potentially uh provide some pass rush rush up. Now you might say well why would the Giants hold on to him at this point uh because they don't know how Kayvon Thibodeau is going to come back from that wrist injury. I know this is not a team we're looking at to be in the postseason but uh they they still want to be competitive down the stretch here and for him it would make sense to be on a front with Dexter Lawrence creating havoc and you could pad those stats so I don't think he's going to be upset if he's not traded because that'll help him set up his market for this coming spring. So not to stray but um this is kind of an important question for me professionally as well uh not gonna see Kayvon Thibodeau in Germany then I know that he's off of he can get off of IR now with that uh risk that needed surgery but not likely for me to because I understand that there yeah I understand that there's still uh some concern with him coming back from that wrist uh issue there and that maybe he's not fully there so I would yeah if he doesn't play this weekend I wouldn't be surprised uh they do have the buy after that if I'm getting that correctly both teams have a buy after this game yes sir oh yeah perhaps after the buy we wind up seeing Kayvon Thibodeau but we'll see no act yeah they they both have a buy no question about that all right so uh let's talk wide receiver market listen I know Cowboys fans were were hoping to see some new players and and again I don't I don't mean to denigrate I'm not denigrating because you never know what you get in a kid that was a second round pick last year in Carolina uh Jonathan Mingo really hasn't had much of an opportunity to show much but he's gonna get an opportunity I guess to hook up with Cooper Rush for the next few days so walk me through the Cowboys thinking here before I ask you for a Dak update I mean they really like him uh and you know for in their mind they're saying well we would have drafted him way higher than the fourth round so why not give up a fourth round pick for him and a lot of folks around the league might look at that and say that's a little much for a guy whose production really hasn't been up to expectations to this point so listen if he pans out with the Cowboys and he and his production goes way up and he is what they thought he was and maybe a fresh start would be a good thing for him it's really hard that's why the Deontay Johnson thing was so hard is saying well this guy is a potential hundred catch thousand yard type guy the numbers just aren't going to be there in Carolina so it's actually impressive for him in what he was doing there so you got to kind of grade on the scale if you're the Cowboys and you like what you saw from Mingo and you believe that he is going to be a guy who's going to take off in your offense um so and that's why these evaluations for the draft are so important for teams even if you don't wind up drafting the guy because it's stuff that you can go back to and rely upon and say okay well why didn't uh this guy's production match up to what we thought of him well again it might be circumstance and if we get him in here he might be a good fit for our system obviously the Cowboys believe that in going after Mingo and giving up a fourth round pick which was you know higher than other teams certainly would have gone for him well higher than what the Ravens coughed up for Deontay Johnson you know and that square that circle for me I know I know the Ravens also sent a six with Deontay Johnson uh to uh to Carolina uh I mean that Carolina traded Deontay Johnson and a sixth and got a fifth back and the um and the uh the Cowboys trade a fourth and get Mingo and a seventh so square square because I know Cowboys fans will be like wait a minute we could add Deontay Johnson for less than what we sent for Mingo but you're only getting Deontay Johnson for the rest of the season it's a good question but you're only getting Deontay Johnson for the rest of the season and then you may have to pay him 20 million dollars per season whereas Mingo you've got him under contract for the next couple of years here on a rookie contract so it the cost always factors in that's why with the Amari Cooper trade when we were talking about that the willingness from the Browns not the willingness they had already eaten the salary by giving him the signing bonus converting his base salary into a signing bonus in the spring so for the bills monetarily it wasn't that much of a take on for for them that always factors into this one that's why with Deontay Johnson there was also uh you know some extracurriculars with Deontay Johnson as well I mean he's been a guy throughout the course of his career there's always been some uh extracurricular I want to say off field stuff because it's it's a lot of times on field stuff for him so that factored in as well Mike Garofalo here on the Rich Eisen show uh in his Tuesday spot it's it's kind it's amazing how uh our our cadence in our industry works right now right Monday is when you you you have the aftermath of Sunday then you got a game on Monday nights you talk about it on Tuesday and then you got your Thursdays and you got your Saturdays at the end of the year and then Tuesday there's a new there's a new uh cadence here is listen to what Jerry Jones has to say on 105.3 the fan uh and see how how uh you know awkward it gets or chippy it gets or how sunny he is and uh today he said it's likely Jack goes on IR what are you hearing that's what it sounded like from the beginning once you get into that you know four uh four week stretch of a hamstring injury and coming off a Sunday didn't sound like they thought it was going to be there but after the evaluations they got to the point where it's going to be a month for Dak Prescott so the fact that he is going on injury reserve uh at this point I would say not a surprise Jerry Jones making it clear that that was likely the way that this was going to go you see Trey Lance there uh Cooper Rush going to be the guy in the meantime I suppose I'd be a little bit disappointed if I'm the Cowboys and and Trey Lance is not up to the task yet again giving up what they gave up for him which was that uh fourth round pick last year if I'm not mistaken so uh yeah in the meantime uh the Cowboys season which has been incredibly disappointing we if you can read Dak's lips the other day with regard to his own assessment of the team right now uh adding this to the mix certainly not a help at all I mean Cooper Rush has shown the ability to win games for you uh it's just so tough to think in this spot for them they've got some challenging games in the next four I don't have them right in front of me perhaps you do I do I do as a matter of fact um because it would also be the assessment uh of many others similar to uh to Dak that uh of his assessment of the Cowboys their chances of winning these games I know it's Cooper Rush season um but uh home for Philly home for Houston on a Monday night and we know how poorly they've played in the first halves of home games this year they they're blown out then they're at Washington you know you know the commanders would love to put a pelt on the wall with a star on it and then then there's that Thanksgiving game against the Giants before Cincinnati strolls in on a Monday night that's the next five and I guess those four if he goes on IR that it'll be Cooper Rush season there man and I guess just if you don't mind uh you want to clean it up what what Dak's lips we're reading for those who don't uh know what you're talking about Mike uh we I think it was I think there was a bleep in there but we suck right now is I'm not mistaken uh and a lot of times I'm not so sure about the lip read this one seemed to be a slam dunker so uh and after that are you seeing that there after that four week uh period that he's potentially got for a game period he's gonna miss there you've got Thursday into Monday so you've got a long layoff after that Thanksgiving game perhaps that'll help you just gotta wonder where they are at this point then that's gonna lead into questions about Mike McCarthy and his job security Jerry Jones has been adamant in his defense of Mike McCarthy he's been consistent in his defense still is consistent in his defense if they don't make the postseason I'm gonna be really curious to see how he handles it I happen to think Mike McCarthy is a good head coach the number of games that they have won under Mike McCarthy is an indication of that when you hear the coach of the Cowboys though you've got the fan base that expects what happened in the 90s certainly makes things a little bit more difficult but I applaud Jerry Jones for his support of his head coach right now but the proof is going to be in the pudding for how he handles it after we see what happens here with Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys I mean he didn't he didn't support him with an extra year on his contract so when you hear veteran players like Zeke according to our colleague Jane Slater missing three meetings including one on Friday you're wondering does it does does Zeke not have respect for the process the coach or anything like that what's what's your knowledge of of of Zeke's status and what happened Mike I wouldn't I mean one player and what he's going through and it sounds like there's just been some things going on with him that just hasn't allowed him to be fully locked into football for whatever reason I don't have uh the specifics of it but uh there there's it's just been a rocky season Ford as Ezekiel Elliott at this point Rich from what I understand and um I think that's why he probably got a little bit of leeway like this wasn't the first instance for him and it's just at some point no matter what's going on you're here to do a job you've got to be locked in you've got to be ready you've got to be on time and at this point both parties decided you know what let's let's sit them down for a week Mike Garofalo here on the Rich Eisen show so uh Crystal Ballot tea leaves whatever you want to use for the next remaining hours of what you think is going to happen who's out there who might be active or who might be selling Mike what do you got for me on that uh we have uh yeah we have something happening right now something happening right now what do you got well potentially we're watching we're watching a team and and I just got an alert regarding that team so I thought that was it okay uh but uh we've we've got some guys we're watching uh I I uh talked about Aziz Ojelari uh I would say uh Marshawn Lattimore uh is another guy that we've talked about the cornerback potentially could be uh on the move we're keeping an eye on him as well who would be in the market for him who would who would want to give the seats you know a nice a nice chunk for him it sounds like it sounds like uh some candidates uh in the DMV area uh potentially for Marshawn Lattimore we'll see um I I do we're at 13 trades overall right now 13 since the start of the regular season yes sir I know it's felt like a lot it really hasn't yet gotten up to what we've seen in recent years I don't think uh I don't think we're going to see numbers that rival somewhere around 20 I mean I had I had a GM recently tell me we're gonna get up to 20 I don't think we're gonna get there that would be a big time blitz here down the stretch I think we're at the point now where um teams are looking at it and saying okay we're we're if it's not a sixth or seventh round pick for a guy um we're not gonna uh move move beyond that like it's it's these are the the ones that fill it in now here's the other thing that's interesting to me rich yes talk about why there's more trades these days I was talking to a personnel guy the other day he said well you got to realize in in this day and age there are so many coaches that have gone different places and throughout the league and there's so much shared terminology that it's a lot easier for a player to come in even if so we're trading for depth pieces now we're not necessarily just trading for frontline pieces and I think that's what you may see here over the last couple hours that the guy can come in get acclimated uh pretty quickly and be ready to play within a week or two so that's why you're seeing a lot more action in recent years with the trade deadline and um is Bill Belichick looming over the coaching hiring process right now mike for sure no question no question and uh last year was a question of is he a fit for teams and we got a lot of no's you know this time I think you're going to lean more towards owners saying there's a there's a gimme coach right here like I'm I know I'm going to be competitive when I bring this guy in and how can I not hire him whereas last year was like giving me a reason to hire him but every conversation that you have regarding prospective head coaches in large part because the the the feeder system is sort of dry right now we don't have a lot of young offensive uh head coaching candidates I mean Ben Johnson has decided to not take a job over the last couple of years if he potentially decides to do that again uh and and has he scared off teams by not making that leap so you take him out of the equation now you're really talking about Bobby Sloake Drew Petzing a couple of these other guys here it's not like we've got a lineup of five six young offensive minded guys ready to take a job so yeah I believe Belichick's going to be certainly on the front lines of the coaching searches uh as we come up here the last one for you what is going on in Chicago with DJ Moore uh the week after Tyreek Stevenson we all know what happened and on the the Hail Mary and then DJ Moore who's a vet you know and a leader on this team uh strolling off the field while Caleb Williams is keeping a play alive either he thought that the play was dead he strolled off and then being asked in a local radio appearance if um if Iberfluss has lost the locker room and his response is I want to say no and then gives um an answer that that things are you know now back to square one they're oh and oh let's turn the page things like that is there any smoke fire here what's going on Mike not to mention the fact that they haven't even played a divisional game yet right they've got all six divisional games and that division is arguably the best in the NFL right now so you're looking at what where the Bears are right now and the fact that things any of these things isolated rich on on the field okay fine now you start to put them all together and now yeah the the players are watching what we're watching so it sort of snowballs and it uh uh eats itself basically so so Matt Iberfluss has got some work to do here to rally these guys not only to to win games but also to to believe in him and to believe in this coaching staff and to stop doing all these things that we're capable of reading into right um it's right um it's gonna be a challenge for Iberfluss and the Bears down the stretch I mean do we know what DJ Moore did I mean do we do have any insight here it's just have you ever seen anything like that I haven't seen anything like that right that was a very very odd one rich and and you're right the question and his response or or lack of a risk what he didn't say there uh is certainly something you gotta worry about all right brother thanks again I know you're busy go back to work thanks again tell everybody thanks for sparing you for 20 minutes for me appreciate it you got it that's Mike Garofalo right here on the uh your no rando show on the Roku sports channel thanks again here you go I'm no rando that was funny because it was a little bit a little bit like watching you deal with the kids at home but you're looking at your phone you're trying to tell them what to do and like Cooper leave your brother alone but you're reading about something right sports related well they all they're all like yesterday Pelosero you know every single time I was setting him up he would look down at his phone I mean their phones are blowing up it's it's it's quite an existence that's why um you know after you do it for a very long time you just want to maybe go back to your alma mater and run run the sports program like Woge Saint Bonaventure that's where that's where you go I'm going back to Saint Bonaventure I'm gonna put the phone down you know uh we'll take a break and you know that situation in Chicago we'll hit that and and my two cents on that as a team I saw just three weeks ago in London and they were sky high and right now not so much that's coming up Jack Flaherty in studio it's an overreaction Monday on a Tuesday Brockman left that for Suess that's coming up. The search for truth never ends introducing June's Journey a hidden object mobile game with a captivating story connect with friends explore the roaring 20s and enjoy thrilling activities and challenges while supporting environmental causes after seven years the adventure continues with our immersive travels feature explore distant cultures and engage in exciting experiences there's always something new to discover are you ready download June's Journey now on Android or iOS this is a mini meditation guided by Bombas repeat after me I'm comfy comfy I'm cozy cozy I have zero blisters on my toes blisters and that's because I wear Bombas the softest socks underwear and t-shirts that give back one purchased equals one donated now go to bombas.com slash listen and use code listen for 20 off your first purchase that's bombas.com slash listen and use code listen at checkout. Herm Edwards on October 30th 2002 after a week eight loss to the Cleveland Browns here is play to win the game as told by Victor Newman. This is great about sports this is what's the greatest thing about sports is you play to win hello you play to win the damn game right you don't play just to play it when you start telling me it doesn't matter get your ass out of here then retire because it matters well done that's number one next up in October 16th 2006 after the Cardinals blew a 20-point lead against the Bears on Monday Night Football oh man Dennis Green they are who we thought they were as as portrayed by Victor Newman Bears are who we thought they were you know that's why we drove the damn field now if you want to crown them then crown their ass but they are who we thought they were and we let them off the damn hook very good very well done all right last one for you I can feel it I'm glad that we got it rolling because here's the last one I can feel on May 7th 2002 the famed practice press conference of one Allen Iverson as recounted by the man who plays Victor Newman Eric Braden hit it I mean listen man you're talking about practice okay not a game it's not a game not a game all right not a game that I could have then die for and play every game like it's my last I know it's important yeah I do I do I do I honestly do hope you're talking about practice man what are we talking about practice you're talking about practice man lovely back here on the Rich Eisen show 844-204 Rich is the number to dial I'm here Chris Brockman and TJ Jefferson are already in Germany I think TJ's already there Chris is landing he had to go through Paris words I've never said into this microphone in regards to any show that we've ever done but Susan in Chris's chair Del Tufo Beck from whatever walk about he was on as soon as I've got an interest in your thoughts on this subject matter that I'm about to hit okay let me set the table if you don't mind so last I saw the Chicago Bears London it was in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and they were a hot team from the second quarter on the usual first quarter issues I don't know what's going on with the Bears coming out to start these games they're struggling the first quarter they just started as we learned through Stacey Dale's reporting prior to that game against the Jaguars had just just two weeks prior started scripting their first 15 they were just usually having a menu of plays that everybody liked and then it would be up to the OC Shane Waldron to dial it up in the first drive players were saying it would it would kind of be helpful if we start scripting it and and they still struggle in the first quarter we didn't see Caleb Williams start doing stuff in DC like he did in London in the last three quarters until the fourth quarter of that game and they were terrific he was terrific in that fourth quarter and the Bears were gonna win it until we all know that Hail Mary that did not go their way ball tipped up and behind everybody right into the open arms of Noah Brown and the ball tipped by a guy who wasn't even paying attention to the first three seconds of that play and Tyreek Stevenson who apologized and the teammates all have his back and they're all going to go out there in Arizona and get back to work and then it was awful there's just no other way to put it it was just brutal and you know in that game you could see Caleb Williams running around for his life as he does a lot and he's ranging to his left extending the play looks like the play was over or at least DJ Moore one of the leaders on that offense one of the leaders in that receiver room the OG is Keenan Allen but DJ Moore you know came in the trade that eventually brought Caleb to the mix in Chicago and he strolled off the field I've never seen anything like it I think he thought Caleb was about to throw it away and he's done but the play wasn't over and he walked off the field and headed to the bench and again when we were meeting with the Bears DJ Moore was one of the guys we spoke to because he's a leader on the team and he takes that responsibility seriously at least we all felt that from him in the room he was the one saying that the wi-fi was finally feeling like everybody got the same wi-fi connected together because the offense was coming together going into that game and so to have one guy in Tyreek Stevenson do what he did during the hail mary that cost him and then have DJ Moore in the middle of the game in the middle of the play stroll off the field you know he and his weekly radio appearance in Chicago was asked the money question of has the coach lost the locker room now you could basically say well it's on DJ Moore if he's just strolling off the field in the middle of a play he's not like making sure that his quarterback has more fight or life left in him in the play but this has been a few weeks since London and obviously after a play like the one that cost them in dc these are the questions about Matt Eberfluss sweetheart of a guy but you're wondering does he have the pulse of the locker room and this would is what DJ Moore had to say has Matt Eberfluss lost his football team I want to say no the message yesterday was that we we know we're forming for now it's just like being zero zero but he's gotta go out there and start stacking wins how we did and and that's the best thing we can do is win and then let the chips fall uh how they fall after after we do so okay I have the perfect person sitting on the set to ask this question too as soon as you and I have been married 22 glorious years we've got three beautiful children and two lovely dogs at home I'm missing anything I think it's 24 and a half or no 22 and a half what years we've been married we've been married we're 20 we yeah like this is our 20 years of marriage just in case just in case but you had me at hello it took a while for me to have you at that same very hello but that's that's that's ancient history that's buried are you equating am I DJ Moore and your Eberfluss that's my long wind up here's the pitch you're building to something here right okay just checking come on let me build which I'm here to talk about sports no no no let me ask you this question let's just say we weren't on such wonderful footing as we are if we were taking a break or something just like a friend's reference no no no let me here we go and you were suspecting me of straying or potentially wondering if we were still you know simpatico and you asked me that question and I say I want to say no I think I'd probably how would hit Laura Wasser on my speed dial one of the most famous and I'd just say like law divorce attorneys who was in our wedding party by the way you want to talk about being able to have a thick skin Mike one of Los Angeles's leading America's leading divorce attorneys was in her wedding party on our wedding day as I'm saying my vows till death do us part there she is the law taking notes what if you said are are we in trouble and I'll say I want to say no well I mean I did shoot you a look during that sound bite like oh that doesn't sound very good I want to say no that does not sound very good and then he repeats what is being told to the locker room right now which is we're oh and oh let's let's pitch the last you know not the first eight games but hitting a reset button would kind of be a smart way of telling your team let's rally around let's forget the hail mary let's forget whatever is going on here whatever you're wondering about our team's abilities let's hit the reset button make sense but when you hear him say I want to say no that's the first words out of his mouth this is not a tightly run chip it reminds me a little bit of what p carol used to say about his method of coaching which is I can be jocular with the guys and I can be one of the guys he would run with them before practices we all knew that but he ran a tight ship and what that looked like is a bunch of guys not quite paying attention to their leader I don't I didn't get a sense of in in London with the exception of hearing the story that you know they weren't scripting their first 15 and the players went to Eberflus according to Stacey Dale's reporting and he's like talk to the OC that's what you want you know letting the letting the guys handle it themselves and then they did and then they started scripting and that still hasn't but they it still hasn't led to some first quarter traction which would be great so things aren't tight in the end or just starting fast would be great for them rich are you planning to take out the garbage I want to say no how would that go over not so well right I want to say no it's not a good is a way of saying yeah I want to say no but here's what they're telling us and you know we got to start stacking wins like once upon a time when we were one and two then we were four and two they stacked wins three in a row now they've lost two in a row they do have the Patriots coming in with a rookie quarterback and they're a much better team at home certainly on defense where they're scoring to helping out the offense so perhaps the winning ways might return and provide the deodorant to what clearly is going on you know and we haven't even talked about leading Kayla Williams in late in the game which I still am well you know I I'm with you because of you know I what you're referring to like Chris Godwin what happened to him but this kid just needs the reps he does he needs the reps but boy that's late in the game and things get sloppy late in the game and I would protect my franchise a little bit better than that well things would be a hell of a lot worse if he if he did actually suffer something significant but he does he definitely needs the reps they all do I mean all these young quarterbacks need the time in that was why everybody was wondering about Anthony Richardson and it just did they leave him right it just doesn't help that the guy chosen after him looks so naturally gifted in terms of leadership and calmness and understanding and doesn't need the you know and it's making more out of whatever what he thinks is less with all due respect to Terry McLaurin and the rest of that skilled position set coming into the season everyone's like well that's Keenan Allen that's DJ Moore and they drafted Roma Dunze and you know they got DeAndre Swift so look out and the commanders are like hold our uh our beer or division title I might add that can't help and it certainly doesn't help when the answer isn't like no we're a tight team we all believe in the coach it's not instead it's like I want to say no no bueno Jack Flaherty look at him celebrating a championship coming up next this is a PSA or public sock announcement experts have declared bombas socks as the best way to warm up chilly feet these pairs are super cushy soft and designed for maximum coziness plus for every pair purchased another pair will be donated so someone in need of essential clothing can stay warm this winter go to bombas.com slash listen and use code listen for 20 off your first 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