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Learn more at AmericanExpress.com slash Amex Business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Okay, Jay, if you leave the Dallas Cowboys, you can't come back until the 2030 season next witness dictated by red.
Are you going to sign it live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles? The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Mike Hill, today's guest Steelers writer for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Ray Fittipaldo, NFL Network insider Tom Felicero, host of the Jim Jackson Show podcast, Jim Jackson. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Mike Hill. Back, back, back, back again on a Thursday. Happy to be back. Hello, everybody. Let's go. Let's go.
Mike Hill in for Rich Eisen once again on the Rich Eisen Show. Happy to be here. Fellas, always good to see y'all. What's up, Chris? How you doing, man?
What do you got? I'm great after that Knicks win last night. Oh, that made the wallet a little fatter. Oh, you're betting on my Knicks. You're betting on my Knicks. What are y'all like with Jaylon Bronson's doing?
Cats doing a great job, man. Once they get their bench, once they get deeper and they get their bigs back, man, we got... Ooh. Man, shout out to TJ's buddy, Carl Anthony Towns. He is balling.
I heard a cat be trolling you, dawg. I mean, yeah. Balling. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's not so much me.
It's the Cowboys. I can't... Yeah, well, it's just easy to do, man. You sure you don't want to go back on that, that, you know, give you... Should we give him one more day? Well, I can draw up another contract. That was pretty easy, what I did yesterday. Very easy.
Just like a few sentences and then sign it. I still got here. I could just get some tape. Belly witness. So, for everybody out there that doesn't see yesterday's show, I, you know... Wow. TJ wants to leave the Dallas Cowboys, obviously for reasons, right? No. So, and Rich apparently won't let him leave the Cowboys, but yesterday, we gave him a one time out. One time out. We said, if you leave the Cowboys fandom right now...
Right now. You cannot go back to being a fan for at least five years. So, if they were to go on a run after, which is impossible for them to do, but if they happen to get lucky, I mean, if God just blessed them and gave them all kinds of favor... God, if he listened to them. And they started going on a run. They won three Super Bowls in a row. He could not claim them. I know.
Until the year 2030. So, once again, you said no yesterday. I did. I have one more day to... Let's write it back. Host this show right here, filling in, giving you one reprieve.
The fact is, let's just be very honest. I'm waiting on my legal counsel, Terzo, to call. I know that he's got something to say about this. So, I'm just waiting for him to call and maybe, you know, give me the finer details of this contract. You got Terzo on retainer?
It's your damn act together. 12-4, Rich. I mean, should TJ sign the contract? If you were a Cowboys fan, would you sign that contract?
Or a fan of any team? Just a five-year break. Five-year break. Would you ever do that for the Patriots? The Patriots have not been good since the time Brady left. No, but we're going to be good now.
All right, you'll be good. So, what I'm saying... By the way, it's been five years. But what I'm saying, if you went through the type of drought that TJ's gone through, it's been 30 years since they've gone to the Super Bowl.
Pretty rough. Would you do that as a Patriots, die-hard Patriots fan? I would probably spend my efforts and energy elsewhere, maybe. I'd still be a fan. I wouldn't care as much.
You wouldn't care as much. TJ, do you care that much? No, I mean... Yeah, the side loan lets me know that you care. The side loan, yeah. It's like mat 10.
It's like the NWO. It's for life at this point, I guess. Well, just stick with them then. Just then don't think about leaving. Fellow, would you leave your team?
Absolutely not. Obviously, you're a Dodgers fan. I see... Yeah, but he's also Raider Nation, and it's been a long time.
That one's rough. Raider Nation. Would you take prime as your coach? Absolutely. That'd be awesome. Okay.
You know his son's not coming to the team too, right? You know that's not gonna happen. That's all right. We'll take prime.
Okay. We'll talk about that in a second, man. Also, shout out to Geno Auriemma, man. Give some love to the women's basketball nation out there. The all-time winningest college coach ever. 1,217 wins.
That's amazing. I mean, this guy, man. I think Geno needs to be given respect as one of the top 10 coaches of all time. Any sport. Any sport.
Any sport. And does not get the credit he deserves there, man. You're talking about all those wins. You're talking about 11 titles. You're talking about 23 Final Fours. You're talking about how many six undefeated seasons. Crazy, man.
That is crazy. He owned women's college basketball for a number of years, and he actually helped usher in the height of how women's basketball has grown tremendously over the years. When you think about some of the greatest women to ever play basketball. Exactly.
So many of them came through that system. Diana Trossie, who I consider the greatest women's basketball player of all time. I just do. I love her. Always love the game. Maya Moore, Swin Cash, Brianna Stewart. Oh my gosh, man.
Just so many great. So shout out to our Geno. I do believe that Prime is leaving, by the way. I do believe Prime is leaving. I'm inclined to believe you now that just hearing all the things and kind of his tone and just seems like the wind is blowing in that direction and it's going to get stronger and stronger as we get closer to the end of the NFL season and Black Monday and more jobs being open. I mean, there's already a few openings now, but later on the show, we're going to run some sound from. He's got a new talk show out with Roxy Diaz and he had ice cube on. And I heard that I'm like, yeah, he's about to go because he's asking ice cube questions that you normally would ask if you're a head coach and you're thinking about staying.
If you got your kickstand down, if you're happy where you are, you're not asking that question out in public. I understand you want to generate a buzz for your new show, but probably not the type of buzz you want to generate and have that speculation is already out there going a little bit more. Right. You know, especially if you're trying to recruit players and things like that. We'll talk about that. Speaking of taking a break, LeBron James taking a break from social media.
Your favorite guy. I just don't understand. And it has nothing to do with LeBron.
Also, everyone's kind of doing it. Why do you have to announce that? You know, I think it was because the agent Kevin Durant's agent put something out there. Rich Kleiman put something out there. And he said something about how social media is and how things are going on right now.
Well, how sports shows cover sports. I don't think he heard what Brockman said yesterday when Brockman basically called him a liar. He's a liar. Come on.
Everything about him. He's just lying for no reason. That's a little harsh. What did you say yesterday? That's a little harsh. That's not what I said.
What did you say? You said he doesn't tell the truth or something? He just embellishes in situations that he doesn't need to. And it's unnecessary. I mean, I think a lot of players do that. I think a lot of people do that. I think a lot of people in life do that. Yeah, that's just how life is.
But he's taking over. We'll talk about all that. But we got Thursday Night Football coming up. We got Steelers and the Browns.
Yeah. I like this game. A lot of people talk about the Steelers being the best team in the AFC right now. Despite the record the Bills and the Chiefs have, a lot of people saying that the Steelers might be the best team right now going in the AFC. Obviously, the Detroit Lions are the best team overall. The way they're looking, the way they're playing, their record says that or whatever.
But give it a little credence, man. You talk about the Steelers and that defense. Who has a better defense right now than the Steelers? The San Diego Chargers got a really good defense. I like that you just called them San Diego Chargers. That's awesome.
I can't get past that. The L.A. Chargers, I'm sorry. L.A. Chargers are saying it's so weird. It happens.
Yeah, it happens. Chiefs have a good D. Steelers have a great D. The Steelers have won four games this year. Vikings have a good D. Vikings?
Yeah, they got a good D. They got a great defense coordinator that needs to get a little bit more love and probably should get another head coaching job sometimes. Probably at some point. I know he sued the NFL. Yeah, he's got that little thing going on. Let's get past that. Let's get past that.
We'll talk about that. But I think when you talk about the Steelers from the standpoint when they know they're not going to get much from their offense. And I know Russ was played brilliantly since he's been there and the Steelers offense has gotten better or whatnot. But they've won four games this season where the team has scored 20 or less points.
Four. They've scored. They've won two games this season when they haven't scored a touchdown.
Yeah. Well, Boswell's been best kicker in the NFL. Boswell's been fantastic.
He's won them two games. In a year where NFL kickers for some reason, you talking about Justin Tucker missing a lot of field goals, Ku in Atlanta missing field goals, Fairbairn, you talking about some of the best kickers out there. We're talking about kickers on the show. Kickers are not having great seasons. And you know, you're talking about the Steelers have won football games because their kicker has been accurate and their defense has been tremendously great.
See, T.J. Watt also just always comes to play. Yeah, he's your defensive player of the year, front runner right now. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Tomlin coach of the year, probably.
We should talk about that. Tomlin coach of the year. I looked this, I heard about it and I heard Mike Tomlin has never won coach of the year. As long as he's been there, he's been there forever.
20 years or so. Longest senior head coach, I believe, in the NFL right now. Won a Super Bowl. Never had a losing season as a head coach in the NFL after all those years. Steelers obviously have a great coach.
We talked about the coach and how much that matters when it comes to players, when it comes to coaching, when it comes to winning or whatnot. And the Steelers have only had three coaches in their entire history. You know, of course, you know, Tomlin doing his job, winning the Super Bowl, whatnot, but never a losing record. And sometimes you look at some of the teams that he has, like, even though it's Pittsburgh Steelers and they got fans in the terrible towers all over, we were talking to one of the fans, Jim Jackson is going to come on the show a little bit later on. Like whenever you had like high expectations that the Steelers are going to win the Super Bowl to go far in the playoffs or even, and you look at some of the teams over the years since they've had Ben, since Ben Roethlisberger retired. And you got to remember at the end of Ben Roethlisberger's career, he was always banged up, always hurt, wasn't the same quarterback.
So you got to go back. You know, he just retired in 2021. But even before that, you think about the 2019 season, Mike Tomlin won eight games in 2019.
And what's his name? Devlin Hodges, Duck Hodges, Duck Hodges. Well, he started six or eight, six, seven, eight games for them that season, half the season that year. And they won eight games.
Mason Rudolph as the quarterback. You talk about some of the quarterbacks that they've had over the years and Mike Tomlin still been able to piece together a good enough roster, a good enough team to be able to have non-losing seasons. You know, that's a point of contention with Steelers fans, right?
Half the fan base, it seems like they don't think that that's that great of an accomplishment. And you got to point to him not winning a playoff game in what, eight or nine years? Yeah, look, OK, give me a team that you can think of that we've seen with the Steelers coming into the season.
When you're like, oh, this is like when we talk about with the Chiefs, we talk about with the Bills, even when we talk about the Cowboys coming into the season, when you have those expectations. I know it's the Steelers because it's the franchise. It's the Steelers franchise, right?
It goes back to what we talked about yesterday. Ownership, coaching, stability, culture, all that matters. And you see that time and time again, the teams that advanced the furthest, have consistently have winning records and produce, you know, on and off the field. It's like Pittsburgh is one of those teams.
But I'll put it to you like this. When have you looked at a Steelers team and said this team underachieved? When have you said this is a disappointing season for the Steelers?
Interesting. When have you said that this particular team with the talent that they have on it, especially on the offensive side? Defense has always been solid, they always had great linebackers, always had great pass rushers for years. That's just been part of the culture with the Steelers.
It does feel like the height of Ben, AB, Le'Veon Bell kind of underachieves a little bit, right? They should have went further, maybe made a Super Bowl with that core. Yeah, great regular seasons, you know, kind of faded out. And I don't think they've gotten to the conference finals. And I can't think of the last time that they've gotten to the conference finals, the conference championship game. But yeah, I believe the last time you've actually looked at a Steelers team and said, oh, this team right here should have gone further. I can't think of one.
I really can't. And give a lot of credit to Mike Tomlin. And another reason why you give a lot of credit to Mike Tomlin is because you talk around the league and they do this almost every year where they ask the players, like, out of all the coaches in the NFL, who would you want to play for? And most of them usually say Mike Tomlin.
He's always top two, three, if not number one. Yeah, 2016, they made it to the AFC Championship game. Last time they made it to the AFC and it's been a long time. But, you know, once again, you ask Cowboys fans, would you like to have a Mike Tomlin on your team where you like, obviously you want to go to the Super Bowl.
You want to win it every year. But then, you know, once again, Mike McCarthy won 12 games three years in a row and underachieved. So sometimes fan bases can get a little spoiled. I think Pittsburgh fan bases probably think that this Steelers team hasn't accomplished what they should accomplish because they expect more. Yankee fans, when it comes to baseball, you expect more, but you always have a great roster. Dallas Cowboys fans, you always expect more because it's the Dallas Cowboys. Lakers fans, even if they don't have a great team, it's just an expectation because of the culture, because of the past history of those teams, you expect a little bit more.
But on the outside, looking in, there are a lot of people who aren't fans of those teams that can look at their team and say, well, yeah, they're OK, they're good, they're fine. They're fine. Oh, what? Wow. They went 500. Oh, that scene went 10 and 7.
This scene went 11. It's wow. How's that?
And you look at the Steelers this year, like, how's this team? What is it? Eight and three, 73 this year? Eight. No, no, no. They're they're 82, 82, 82.
How's it? Yeah, they've only lost twice this year. And one of those games was to the Cowboys on a last second play.
Last second play. Yeah, we're not going to apologize for winning. No, I mean, they could they could be very well 91. They just beat Baltimore. They always take care of Baltimore.
You know, we're going to find out a lot about this team over the next couple of weeks, though. I mean, because outside of Cleveland, Cincinnati, so they still got four divisional games that are winnable, obviously, with Cleveland, Cincinnati playing those two teams four times. But then you got another division. They've only played one division games and that was against Baltimore. Well, that's one of the things we talked about, Mike, before the season started, when we looked at Pittsburgh and if they could be a viable contender was their whole division schedule was backloaded and you came into the year expecting Cincinnati to be one of the top AFC contenders. We thought Cleveland was going to be much improved with Deshaun back and healthy and Baltimore, we knew, was going to be up there and KC on Christmas.
And we're like, well, to begin the season, they really need to take care of things before the bye week and be five and three, six and two, you know, before they hit that that backloaded schedule. And sure enough, they did it not in the way that any of us really thought going, you know, five games with Justin Fields. And now Russell Wilson comes back and he hasn't lost, although he didn't look as great previously against Baltimore. They really kind of contained him, but they don't have to.
He doesn't have to. The offense doesn't have to look at this schedule right here. Atlanta's got a winning record. Denver's got a winning record. The Chargers, one of the surprise teams in the league, they got a winning record. Vegas, obviously, losing to Indianapolis and Dallas is almost like, wow, what?
Well, now you think about it and you're like, how did they lose to Indianapolis? At that time, Dallas, we thought maybe still has a chance. They still had the skilled players. They still had great players on the team. I think Michael Parsons may have been out of that game.
I can't remember if Michael was out of that game or not back in the day. Oh, yeah, that was a Flacco game against the Colts. And then Vegas, obviously, a win. Jets, Giants.
Okay, those are basically bad games. But Washington, those are big wins against Baltimore. That's impressive.
That is an impressive schedule. I mean, this is college football and there was a committee and you're talking about quality wins against ranked opponents. Pittsburgh has the best resume in terms of beating teams that we think are going to make the playoffs when you talk about Atlanta and the Chargers, the Colts are right there on the mix, Washington, Baltimore, you talk about a resume. They've got it. They got it. So are they the best team in the AFC?
No. Who's the best team in the AFC? I'm inclined to say Buffalo at the moment.
Okay, all right. I'm inclined to say Buffalo at the moment only because they just knocked off the Chiefs and because Josh Allen's playing at lights out pace and they did that. They won the game without Keon Coleman. They got a good defense and a lot of defensive players are coming back, right? Yeah, I like how they're doing it. But I will look at the Steelers.
You look at the bottom. Once again, we're going to find out a lot about the Steelers at the end of the year because you said it's backloaded. Outside of Cleveland and Cincinnati, they got the Eagles, they got the Chiefs, and they got one in Baltimore again. Back to back to back weeks.
Yep. I mean, they go two and one. If they win the rest of their... They beat Cincinnati tonight. They beat Cleveland tonight and they beat Cincinnati the way they're supposed to, obviously, and they beat those... that's four wins right there, Cincinnati and Cleveland. And if they go two and one, that means they can go six and one down the stretch and be 14 and three this season. That's wild.
Fourteen and three this season. And if you're talking about the schedule that they've already had and the wins that they've already gotten on their resume right now, and you go two and three against the likes of the Eagles, the Chiefs, and Baltimore, all three of those teams will have something to play for down the stretch because they're trying to get seeding and all that type of stuff like that, you have got to think about the Steelers being the best team going into the playoffs and then have those expectations for them to do some damage once they get into the playoffs. We're going to talk more about this with Tom Palacero.
He covers the team coming up next right here on The Rich House, so should we just get started? For business owners like you, the American Express Business Platinum Card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions. With its world-class business and travel benefits, you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex Business Platinum Card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves. And you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash EISEN, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. They're doing the goal post. Why are there goal posts? Why are kickers, okay, who have they don't have football skills? They're not football players. I'm sure they're wonderful people, but they're not football players. Why are they kicking a ball through goal posts to decide games? It doesn't make any sense at all. in the old English rugby, I think.
Okay. You know, when they used to actually run and kick a ball through a goalpost, but they don't do that in the NFL. There's no need for goalposts. What, wouldn't the game be better without them?
Think about it. Why not just have leaping frogs to decide games? Have a, see if a frog can leap through a little goalpost that you set up, okay, on the floor, and if the frog can leap through the goalpost, then do that. Why kick it through a goalpost? Well, it's not called leaping frog ball. It's called football. So you're saying take the feet out of footballs? Is that what you're saying, Leonard?
Is that what you're saying? Yes, why, feet are deciding games and they shouldn't. Why should one player, one player with this skill, like the guy on the Ravens. Justin Tucker, yeah. Why should this one player who does nothing but kick a ball be deciding games when you have 52 other players who are actually playing and this one person, this 53rd person is deciding games?
It makes no sense whatsoever. Back on the Rich Eisen Show 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. Ryan Fittipaldo joins us momentarily. Steel is beat right, we're talking about the Steel is win, I mean, well, they're gonna win tonight against Cleveland.
They should, they should, pretty much. Their game against the Cleveland Browns, but we got some breaking news. We're just talking about prime time Deion Sanders possibly leaving Colorado.
I'm not so sure now because did you see this? Julian Lewis, five star quarterback, one of the best quarterbacks obviously in the nation, number two recruit in the nation has committed to Colorado. Now, maybe he knows something that the rest of the world doesn't know, but I'm pretty sure he is not going to commit after the committing from USC and commit to Colorado thinking that prime is not gonna be there.
So I don't know what prime has done to assure him that he's gonna be there, but apparently it's been enough cause Julian Lewis, number two on the ESPN 300 has committed to Colorado. So we'll talk more about that momentarily. Once again, let's talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of course, a great record this season. A lot of people saying that they have the best team in the AFC. Let's find out what Ryan Fittipaldo has to say about that. He is from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
He joins us right now. And Ray Fittipaldo, Ray, so people are saying, even though the Bills and the Chiefs have a better record right now, a lot of people once again are saying that the Steelers have the best team currently in the AFC. What's the team itself saying about that? Yeah, I think this team has a quiet confidence about themselves right now. I think, you know, just talking to the players over the last month or so, since Russell Wilson took over as the quarterback, it's different from previous years. You know, they snuck in as a six seed last year, seven seed in previous years. And I think this team right now has a chance to win the AFC North. And depending on what happens the rest of the season, you know, with the Chiefs and some of the other teams in the AFC, they got a chance of being the one or one of the two seed as well. So it's a really different feeling around this team right now. And seven games to go, really tough schedule, but this team is better. I think this is the best Steelers team since 2017 when they won the AFC North and they were the two seed in the AFC.
So Ray, we was just talking about that. I don't know if you heard the segment before, but we was talking about how the Steelers, of course, how does Mike Tomlin do it every year? It's not like, you know, outside of Pittsburgh, they have those expectations.
It's like, okay, how are they piecing this together? How are they, every season, not having a losing record with the squad that they have. Are expectations raised now amongst Steelers fans out there? Do they expect more since this team has gotten off to a great start?
Oh, absolutely. You know, before the season, I think everyone in this town thought, yeah, maybe nine and eight, you know, a good season, maybe sneak into the playoffs, you know, 10 and seven. But right now they're in position to maybe win 12 or 13 games. And you know, the Steelers haven't been, you know, really this good in about six or seven years.
So the expectations are raised. I think the people in Pittsburgh now, you know, the owner Art Rooney laid down the mandate after last season ended with that loss in Buffalo. He wants playoff wins now. This team has been a perennial playoff contender. They have not won a playoff game since 2016.
So people around here think it's time and this team certainly has a chance to change those fortunes. Oh, obviously Mike Tomlin, he can write his own ticket. He's going to be a hall of fame coach when it's all said and done and whatnot. Once again, we say he's never had a losing record in this coaching career since he's been with the Steelers. But you mentioned not being able to win in the playoffs.
Now, expectations are being raised. It's not heat on him, but still, you know, Steelers fans, you know, they can be tough sometimes. I hear them around the nation, not even in Pittsburgh. What's the talk about Mike Tomlin getting it done in the playoffs now that his team has done what they needed to do in the regular season and proven that they're one of the best teams in AFC? Yeah, there's going to be no heat on Mike Tomlin from ownership. He just signed a new contract in the summer, right before training camp. So he's here for the long haul. As long as Mike Tomlin wants to be the coach of the Steelers, he's going to be the coach of the Steelers.
Now, you know, the fan perspective is certainly something completely different. You know, this is a town that has six Super Bowl championships. They haven't had the last one since 2008, you know, so it's going on 14, 15 years now. So, you know, they want to get back there and taste that, you know, that postseason magic. Once again, this team, like I said, I think it's got as good a chance as any. That 2017 team that I mentioned, number two seed, they got upset in their first playoff game at home to the Jaguars.
So they'll be hoping to avoid a similar fate this year. Yeah, Mike Tomlin's not going anywhere when it comes to ownership, but if Steelers fans don't appreciate Mike Tomlin, I'm pretty sure there are 29 other teams out there that would love to have his services. So the Dallas Cowboys over there and TJ and those guys, but he made the move this year. Obviously, he made the quarterback switch. Even when they had the winning record, when the team was moving along, the offense may not have been humming, but they were winning football games. Russell Wilson gets healthy, gets inserted into the starting lineup, and they haven't lost since. And the offense has seemed to look better.
What has he added to this offense? Yeah, Russell Wilson is a really good deep ball thrower and he's unlocked George Pickens as a top receiver in the NFL. The first six games the series went four and two with Justin Fields at quarterback.
And George Pickens in most of those games was either invisible or he would make a play here and there, but Fields just wasn't on the same page with him. Russell Wilson comes in, now this past week against the Ravens, 12 targets for George Pickens, a big 37 yard bomb to set up a field goal, very important field goal in that game. So the deep passing game has been opened up and listen, there's no doubt about it. This team is built on the run.
They want to pound you. They want to be physical, but Russell Wilson is just that vet quarterback with that touch on his passes. And that's nothing against Justin Fields. He was great as a runner. He manages his team to wins, but Russ just brings a little something extra that's been key for this team in this four game win streak.
Yeah, you can never have too many weapons. And obviously, like you said, Wilson and Pickens have had that chemistry and they've been on the right page, but they just got Mike Williams too. What's the game plan to get him a little bit more involved in the offense?
Yeah, it's interesting. 36 snaps in his first two games as a stealer, only one target. Now, is it going to happen tonight against the Browns? Short week, you don't really have time to get that chemistry down with Wilson. So I don't know if it happens tonight, Mike, but I do think down the stretch here, Mike Williams is going to be an important part of this offense. You put Pickens on one side, you put Williams on the other.
You know, they're going to have to pick their poison. And if they double team both, the middle of the field is going to be open for Dornell Washington and Pat Fryer. They're two very good pass catching tight end. So this is a team that maybe lacked a big play receiver before the acquisition of Mike Williams.
But now that they have him, I think they're going to be a much more dangerous team down the stretch. Ray, I don't know why we spending so much time on the offense. It's my fault because I'm asking you these questions right now because we know, once again, the running game, but it's the defense.
The reason why the Steelers team has been so good this year, led by TJ Watt, obviously. Four times this season that they've won games when the offensive scored 20 points or less. I think two games this season when they've only kicked field goals, they have not scored a touchdown. Reminds me of the 2000 Ravens, so much of that defense back in the day when they were so special with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and those guys. Does the defense have a mindset of knowing, hey, we got to be special every single week and we're going to be special because we might not get a lot of help from the offense? Yeah, listen, they got the highest paid defense in the NFL. Everyone on that defense knows what's up. You know, there are going to be some weeks, like the Ravens game, where they're going to have to go out there and play really good football.
And that's what they did. Now, the Steelers have been built on defense the last couple of years, Mike, but I think the big difference this year, they've added a ton of speed and they've added it to the inside line backing core. They went out and drafted Peyton Wilson, and I think everyone saw that great play that he made to help save that win against the Ravens. And they went out and signed Patrick Queen, the former Raven, and he's just transformed the middle of that defense. Little bit of a slow start for Queen, but he's been playing lights out the last two weeks. And, you know, one criticism over the years, the last couple of years, is maybe a little bit slow on the inside.
They're not slow anymore. Those guys are making a bunch of plays. All right, they're having a great season, but they can't overlook any team. Even the Cleveland Browns are capable of winning in the National Football League. The two losses they got this year against the Colts and the Cowboys, you look back at those losses and like, how did they lose those games? So what's the mindset of just knowing that they have to finish strong against teams that they should be, like Cleveland and Cincinnati down the stretch, knowing that they got a tougher schedule coming up with three straight games against the Eagles, the Chiefs, and the Ravens? Yeah, I mean, one interesting thing that happened last week with the Chiefs losing in Buffalo, the Steelers control their own fate for the top seed in the AFC. If they went out, they got the tiebreakers over the Chiefs and the Bills. So it starts with game night in Cleveland.
You can't drop these. They got the Bengals twice after that. The Bengals have a losing record, but they're still a dangerous team. So, you know, you can't overlook the Browns.
Nick Chubb is back. He's slowly rounding back in the form, but this is a game the Steelers can, and they should win it. And if they do, they'll be in great position, you know, going down the stretch to get a top seed.
All right, before I let you go, finish this sentence for me. The Steelers will get to the Super Bowl if? Steelers will get to the Super Bowl if Russell Wilson and that offense improve in the red zone. Right now, 30th in the league, they can get that percentage up, maybe be about 15 or 20 by season's end.
I think they can get there. All right, Ray, we'll see what happens with the Steelers down the stretch. We really appreciate you joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Safe travels to Cleveland, my brother. Thanks, Mike, appreciate it. Okay. All right, Ray Fittipato joining us right there on the Rich Eisen Show. Stay warm.
Yeah, stay warm. Mike, you know, you don't know this. I used to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You did? What'd you do there? Yeah, I used to take high school sports scores on Friday nights with a guy named Mike White, legendary in those Post-Gazette hallways. I worked for the marketing and the marketing. How'd you like working there? Department, which meant I sold newspaper subscriptions at various giant eagles around the Pittsburgh area. I also did that. That must've been a long damn time ago.
It really was. Newspaper subscriptions. Damn, man.
Like calling people, going to stores. No, newspaper. A paper?
Or actual paper? Yeah, this is like 1999. Wow. Yeah, I was doing that right before I moved to LA. I'd go, like I said, I used to, Friday nights, high school, take all the, you know, all the calls in for all the high school games. And then the marketing and circulation department. Part of our job was we'd go to various grocery stores and set up shop a little kiosk. I'd have to draw people in, man. Had to talk to the people.
I had to get them to come over, blah, blah, blah, getting the sign up for magazine, or magazine, newspaper subscriptions. You're a salesman, bro. I mean, I would buy stuff from you. I gotta be honest with you. I was really, really good at that job.
I could see that. I really was. I think anything that you put your mind to, T.G., I bet you're good. You're just one of those guys, like you're an interesting character.
I can't get the Cowboys to do well, and I've been trying to put my mind. Well, I mean, I didn't say you were Jesus. I didn't say you were performing miracles. I just said, I said, you could convince a lot of people. I, it tastes miracles.
Jesus come down like, oh, nothing I can beat, dog. I ain't got nothing for you, man. I can change water into wine, but I can't change that bad team dysfunction. It can't happen. It just won't happen, man.
Hey, you know what? Let's give some, we gave credit and respect to Mike Tomlin. Can we give some love to Russell Wilson? For sure.
Can we show some love? No doubt. Some, some, some serious respect to Russell Wilson. I mean, this guy was, they were calling him a scrub. Yeah, man. Two years ago. I remember the whole man who was like out of town.
Russell Wilson played himself out of the hall of fame. I remember all those headlines and the lower thirds. You wrote most of those. Oh, stop. This is what I hate sometimes. And this is like, I'm gonna get back to LeBron shortly, but this is why I don't blame LeBron for getting off social media or listening to certain people sometimes, because the great thing about social media is that everybody has an opinion and it brings awareness to a lot of things that goes on in society that needs to be addressed, right? The worst thing about social media is that everybody got an opinion. Yeah. And everybody feels like they got a voice and the negative voices are the ones that are heard the most.
They're always the loudest, man. And it's sometimes like, how did Russell Wilson go from a future hall of fame quarterback to a scrub that did not deserve to even win a Super Bowl or- Or be in the league. Yeah, to be in the league. And the best thing that ever he ever did was, you know, date and marry Ciara and have kids with her. Well, I mean, I can't knock that. I mean, that's also top three. Don't get me wrong now. Like, that's, we should go in the hall of fame just for that.
We should go for the other hall of fame. Exactly, that's the hall of, but at the same time, Russell Wilson has like, he's always stayed classy, never allowed it to get under his skin. If he did allow it to get under the skin, he never showed it.
Always a consummate teammate. You never heard him make any waves in a locker room about this and that and how he was treated in Denver. Now, look, you know, was he given certain things in Denver and treated a certain way and maybe, you know, had a certain, a century type personality when he was in Denver?
Yeah, maybe. But he earned that from his days in Seattle. Denver gave him the money.
They gave him the contract. They needed a quarterback. Now, is Russell Wilson that quarterback that's going to take a bad team and make them good or a good team and make them great? No, I think Russell Wilson is at the point of his career where you gotta look at him like you looked at Peyton Manning when he went to Denver. And Peyton Manning was the final fit for a team that needed to get over the top and just added a quarterback that can help them not lose games, in a sense.
And that's where Aaron Rodgers actually needs to be now with the Jets or any other team he goes to. Aaron Rodgers, he's an iconic quarterback, but he's not a superior quarterback anymore. He's not an elite quarterback anymore. He was once an elite quarterback, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but elite quarterbacks are quarterbacks that can take a team who is mediocre to good and make them great. Aaron Rodgers is not that. Russell Wilson is not that quarterback.
Russell Wilson is that guy that put them on the Steelers team, great culture, great defense, strong running game, good coaching, final fit. Just don't hurt us. Don't hurt us. Be smart with the football.
Don't force anything. Peyton Manning, that's why Peyton Manning was so great because Peyton Manning adjusted his game at the end of his career. That's why he won that last Super Bowl. Peyton Manning couldn't throw the ball 20 yards downfield, coming off those neck injuries.
Nope. But he was smart enough to realize, okay, let me hand the ball off here. Let me be smart with the football. Let me make the plays I need to make in situations I need to make them in. The plays he could make.
The plays he could make. Let me play within my ability, and I'm smart enough and I'm good enough, and still, I'm still Peyton Manning. They still gotta recognize. So they still gotta respect me. I can still make a play here and there.
So you're still gonna get respect because of the name alone. Aaron Rodgers, same way. But if you try and put Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson or any of these quarterbacks that their glory years or their elite years have passed them, and you try and put them on the team and say, hey, take us to the glory land. We're a good team.
We need you to take us to the glory land. He's not gonna be able to do that. He can take a pretty really good team or a great team and get them over the hump. But he's not that quarterback anymore that's gonna, hey, like Tom Brady back in the day. That's what made Tom Brady so special.
That's what made Tom Brady special. Tom Brady only had one future Hall of Fame receiver in his career. One. How many Hall of Fame running backs did he have in his career? Zero.
None. Tom Brady took offenses like, and early on Tom Brady was what these quarterbacks, it's funny because Tom Brady early in his career was more like what these elite quarterbacks are later in their career. Tom Brady was that quarterback. It's never all, first five years, Tom Brady wasn't like all pro. Tom Brady would go to the Pro Bowl, but Tom Brady wasn't all pro. Tom Brady wasn't MVPs. Tom Brady was Super Bowl MVPs.
But Tom Brady was the type of quarterback that was smart enough, hey, just don't hurt us. Don't hurt us. We got a great defense. We're gonna run the football. We're gonna grind it out. Bill Belichick's a great coach.
We're gonna do that. Then later on, when Tom Brady became that guy and just even more confidence, and I'm gonna put you on my back. Come on, I'm gonna take you to the promised land. And that's what Tom Brady brought to the table. That's what Tom Brady brought to the table. And so now these quarterbacks, at the end of their careers, gotta be like what Tom Brady was at the beginning of his career.
As crazy as that sound. But that's how you win football games and that's how you win championships. All right, we'll talk a little bit more about the NFL, the Thursday Night Football game coming up. We will take some of your phone calls. So holler at us, 844-204-RICH, 844-204-RICH, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk LinkedIn people and small business owning. I'm a small business owner, yeah.
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That's why you gotta use them. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. That's linkedin.com slash eisen to post your job for free.
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Shopify.com slash Westwood One. I gotta bring this up since we haven't spoken. The cart, you know the cart, what I'm talking about, the cart, you know? Oh yeah, my cart. Yeah, what happened?
Did you go up to the cart and ask for a ride to take care of your business? Like what happened? What happened? I would never ask for a ride to the locker room, but no. What happened?
People never ask for money too, but when you present it to me, I'm not going to say no to it. So I came off the field. Yeah? I come off the field like two plays, three plays before that and I told my coach like, hey, I got to take a number two, like you're not looking good. And then we got a first down and got close to the red zone. So I was like, you know what, I'll hold it. So we end up scoring and I come back to the sideline and the trainer and the head trainer and the head equipment guy was like, hey, there's a cart down there ready to take you into the locker room to go to the bathroom because we're playing in Detroit and it is a hike from the locker room to the field.
And plus we're on the other side. So I was like, you know what? You can't miss an opportunity like this. So, you know, up the tunnel I went and the rest is history. You must have.
I love, just know I left my mark in Detroit. Yeah, DK, you gave a scare to everybody who loves you and roots for you. I mean, you know, seeing you carded, we're like, wait a minute, what's going on? And then what a relief, you know, to use another analogy as well. I mean, did you have people after the game saying, what the hell did you do that for?
Just walk. Everybody after the game, I was like, bro, don't scare us like that. I was not, I wasn't worried. So y'all shouldn't be worried. But I watched the video and I wasn't smiling on the way to the locker room. So that's probably why everybody was a little worried. Yeah, I mean, we saw the tweet. You're like, that clench walk wouldn't have made it. That's what you tweeted about. And we were wearing white that game.
It was definitely good, y'all. Height of the sports season right now in college football going on, college basketball, the NFL season, NBA, a lot of games going on out there. I love watching them on television, but I also like going to see them live. And when I go get my tickets, man, I want to take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time Picks. Download the Game Time app. You can create an account. Use code Rich for $20 off your first purchase.
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All right, 844-204 Rich, you want to have your name and your opinions heard right here on the show. Like Pete from Richmond chiming in. Pete, what you got, my man? How you doing? What's happening, guys? It's been a while. Hope everybody's doing well. What's up, brother? I'm doing very good, thank you.
Everything's good. I had to call in because absolutely, positively, under no circumstance, if you are a true fan, do you get any kind of vacation or leeway, i.e. I've been a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan since 1976.
That's all their very first preseason game against the Baltimore Colts. So I have been in it to win it. And yeah, no, no, you don't get it five years. And no, OK, no, uh-uh, uh-uh. Now, I've always said somebody needed to start a website, and you could become a free agent fan if you wanted to. And other teams could bribe you to be their fans of their teams.
That'd be pretty cool. But hey, you guys have a great Thanksgiving. Thank you very much for taking my phone.
Go. Thank you, Pete. All right, Pete, he go back to Leroy Selmon Davis. When they was terrible.
The creamsicle. What was it, McKay, the coach, who said, what do you think your team's execution? He said, I'm for it. Yeah. That was old Tampa days, man. But he stuck it in. He stuck in there. Then they won the Super Bowl on the Grooton, man. Come on, bro. And Tom Brady.
Tom Brady, yeah. We did something similar to this a few years ago, where fan bases tweeted in and tried to recruit me. Bill's Mafia, for some reason, had taken a liking to me. And Bill's Mafia wants me to jump ship.
I don't, like I said, I just don't know if I can. The Bill's ain't won none either. Yeah, but you know what? They have a lot of fun, though, man.
Mike, they got a lot of fun. And I'm about having fun. Your bro, I can see you doing that. You know. Plus, I like wrestling. You know, I know how to power bomb somebody through a flaming table, you know.
I can definitely drop an elbow on somebody. All right, so Bill's Mafia, Buffalo. If you left the Cowboys, would you become a Bill's fan? I mean, long suffering. You know me and Josh Allen is like this.
That's fun. You know that, Brockman. Josh Allen, that's my guy. They're so far away, though. You know, if I were going to get a new team, if I was going to start over, I'd probably either, well, first of all, would have to be the Steelers because that's where I'm from. OK. You know, but the point is moot because as we seen yesterday, I just can't leave.
You got Pete Richmond telling me I can't go. Stick with your team, man. That's the thing. That's what a fan is about. A fan is like, man, hey, I'm a fan, a true fan, fanatic. I stick with my team through thick and thin. Once again, it's easy to root for a front runner. It's easy to root for a winner. It's easy to be on board when things are going great.
What kind of character do you have when things are bad, when your team is long suffering, when people are making fun of you, when you're getting, you're the butt of all jokes and people are laughing at you? I'm sending you flowers. You're sending you flowers, but you defend that team. You defend that team. That's what a fan is about.
You stay in there no matter what. You can't go to the Buffalo. And I think the thing is, if you do leave your team, which you should not, I never say it because I've never left the team in my life. I can root for other teams, though. I can say, OK, well, I'm a Yankees fan. But if the Yankees aren't winning, I live in LA. And now when they play the Dodgers, of course, I'm going to still root for my team. But it's good to see the Dodgers because I live in LA. Yeah, for sure. The Rams, if you live in a city or whatever, you want to see people around you. And if you've got friends who are fans of these other teams, you want to see them happy, too. Do you? Yes, yeah, I do. If you're cool, let me tell you something. You would root for Boston?
No. I never root for Boston. But I was happy for the fans in 2004. And even though they came back from 3-0, I was happy because I was working at ESPN at the time. And there were some Boston fans that were terrible.
I couldn't stand them, right? There were also some fans there. This guy named JW. What's JW's last name? He was an ESPN news anchor.
But he was the nicest guy in the world, long-suffering Boston Red Sox fan. I was happy for JW. You're a big man.
JW Stewart. You're a bigger man. Yeah, see, you guys couldn't do it. I would never root for the Yankees, ever. I'd rather have the apocalypse happen.
The thing is, you don't know. You don't feel sorry for us because we're always winning. They're always winning. You can't feel sorry. So when the Red Sox, at that time, they didn't win anything.
It had been 88 years, 86 years or something like that. I mean, you didn't win anything. OK, you can have one here. Here.
If I'm living in a palatial, if I live in a palace and I'm eating fine meals all the time or whatever and you're hungry, hey, here's some chicken, bro. Wow. Here, man.
Here. I'm not going to let you starve. I don't want you to starve, you know? All right, that's nice of you.
I'll give you a little something. Now, when you went on that run, I can't, y'all, Boston's won enough. You went on a run, you had a nice decade.
A lot of parades. And those guys, you had a really nice decade, man. So I'm good. I'm good on Boston now. But you know, even for the Celtics last year, because I wanted to see, I like Jason Tatum.
Right. I like Jason Tatum. I like Jalen Brown.
I like some of the players. Now, if they would have played the Knicks, if the Knicks would have gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals, absolutely not. I don't care. Jason got to wait another year. Oh, Knicks, talking about long suffering.
Yeah, exactly. We're over 50 now for the Knicks. So you can't feel if the Knicks win one championship. You're a Boston guy.
You don't like New York. When are you winning? After Tatum retires? No, I mean, Tatum has just won a championship.
He's already been to the NBA Finals. So if the Knicks win a championship in the next three years, you wouldn't be happy for Knicks fans who have been long suffering. I really like Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towne. So I'd be happy for those guys.
There you go. And you like Ben Lyons. He'd be happy.
That's true. I do like Ben Lyons. And I like you, Mike. And you like me? Yeah, you know what I mean? It'd be tough. But then, Chris, Rich would also be happy. And you have to deal with that. That's where you lose them, Mike.
We've seen how Rich handles success with Michigan. And it's like four and 0. And he just mentions it.
Fantasy basketball after a month. These guys raise banners after a month. Let me tell you something, man. Sometimes you want to make the boss happy, bro. I'm just saying when the boss is happy.
Chris doesn't subscribe to that theory, though. I'm just saying when he's happy, everybody else is happy. I'm just saying.
We talked about culture. Yeah, but sports misery is kind of funny. It's not really, Mike, because before I got on the air, Michigan kept losing to Ohio State. And then when I got here, I was like, you know what? I want Michigan to win because you being happy makes us a better show.
And I think we've been better. But then he just constantly reminds us what happens. I know. But you know what? It's better than him being sour. And then that's when you flip it.
That's when you can flip it again. You can laugh. Don't be a poor winner.
Don't be a poor sport winner. Yeah. Hour number two, we're going to talk to Tom Pelicero, NFL network, get into the LeBron debate about him getting off social media as well. So stick around for that. Yeah.
But oh, real quick, get off the air here. Cowboys, man, how come Trey Lance gets no run? That's a great question. I don't understand that at all. I think things like this boil down to stuff that we don't see. We're not at practice. We don't see what's going on.
So maybe it's not there. That's the only thing I can think of. I mean, the man's got legs. He played the entire preseason, right?
Yeah. He threw five interceptions in that one preseason game. And then when he did get in a couple of weeks ago, he threw a pick. So he's an interception waiting to happen.
But you don't know what you got. This guy's played less than 10 regular season. This guy was a top five pick. He's played less than 10 games in his career. You got to see what he's got. Just put him out there. I'm all for it. Like, we know where we're at with Cooper Rush.
So why not give trailer? Could it get any worse? I don't think it could get worse, though.
Really? I mean, I lost 47 to what? Nine once. Like, I don't think it's going to get 34 to six last game.
I don't think it's going to get much worse. What? They scored 16 points in the last two games.
You know, I'm not good at math. Yeah. And what?
They scored six or seven the game before that. Yeah. So why not throw him in there? See what he's he can run the football. That's what I'm saying. At least you know that.
Yeah. You won't have running backs to get the ball to. So let him run the football.
Let him get out there, man. Once again, Tom Pelicero coming up in the second hour. Then Jim Jackson talking to NBA, the Joel Embiid, that mess with the Philadelphia 76 coming up. Right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Mike Hill filling in today. Hey, it's Rich Eisen here, join me and my compadre Chris Brockman every Monday on the overreaction Monday podcast.
Rich, Jamis has taken the browse to the playoffs. Dude, why can't they win seven, eight games to finish the year? Why not?
I'm not saying it's no, why not? But this is a definitive statement. That's clearly an overreaction and it's perfect fodder for a show like this one. I appreciate you coming out of the gate.
Hot. Come react or overreact with us overreaction Monday. Wherever you listen, it's game over. Over, man.
