Mike Sainristil: I Think Travis Hunter Can Play WR/CB in the NFL

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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. Today's guest, Commander's Cornerback Mike Sanristil, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, Cowboys Quarterback Cooper Rush, actor Dave Annable. And now it's Rich Eisen.

That's a fact and can confirm it. It's me. Hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live here on a Friday on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, Coast to Coast, Terrestrial Radio, Sirius XM, Odyssey. Tune in and more. We say hello to everybody out there watching on the Roku Sports Channel every day from 12 to 3 Eastern Time. We're thrilled to have you. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial whether you're watching us or you're listening to us. And we appreciate if you do both. You know what?

Certainly if you watch, we like it with the sound up. 844-204-Rich again is the number to dial here on the program. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. What's going on, brother? Hey man, I'm great.

DJ Mikey D is in D's nuts. Good to see you. We're back on Fridays. Oh, good to see you.

Way to make it about yourself. What's up, DJ Jefferson? How are you? Good to see you. I'm great. You know what I found out last week? What's up?

We are playing in the Arizona, University of Arizona Rugby House. Okay. They got us on a consistent loop, I found out. Oh, I had no idea. Wait, what?

The University of Arizona, their rugby team. They watch us? They watch us every day. My nephew Jackson told me that. What's up, nephew Jackson and everybody?

Let's go. In the Arizona rugby locker room? Yeah, him and my buddy Ashton from London told me that.

Appreciate that. Yeah. Ashton from London? No.

Well, Jackson is Ashton's nephew, but his roommate, Ashton, who's from London, told me that. Okay. Yeah. Very good. Good to see you over there.

So your work over the pond is working, is what I'm saying, Rich. I appreciate that. Thank you for now making it about me. I'm more comfortable that way.

I figured. Speaking of which, Mike Sanristil is going to join us. I just said, you know what, I want to speak to a rookie who's doing very well. He's got his playoffs in the sights and the Washington commanders have off this week. I'd like to check in with Mike Sanristil just this week. Yeah, for no reason other than to see. I just want to finish the week of boasting off.

Very, very, shall we say, amazing bluish. So Mike Sanristil is going to join us on the program. Well, check in what's going on with Jayden Daniels and certainly Terry McLaurin because Terry is very important to us on this program.

Yes. Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin are the tandem that we have in our fantasy football league. They're going to bring us the title, Rich. For the fantasy footballers and they're off this week.

So we send up a flare to everybody else who's suffering from bi-mageddon this week and lots to talk about on this program. But we talk to start about Thursday Night Football. I mentioned to you yesterday from this chair, from this segment, from this very studio that this was the game of the year to this point in time. When you've got a division matchup between an 11 and one home team and a nine and three road team. The road team are the Green Bay Packers. The home team are the Detroit Lions on a 10 game win streak. And Lions fans are out of their minds, figuratively, when they're out of their minds about how they're loving this roar restoration and how the Lions are in certain parts the best team in the National Football League. And then literally losing their minds like people are holding the American flag and making throat cut gestures to the Packers coming out on the field and the head coach.

But that said, we'll hit that later on. But game of the year, when these two teams are coming out of the toughest division in football. Clearly, figuratively, the toughest division in football with the 10 win Vikings in there, too. And then quite literally, these teams in the NFC North are physical and the Lions are physical. Jameer Gibbs, as Kirk Herbstreet rightly pointed out in the prime video broadcast, is a physical runner just because he's fast and hits the edge and gains the edge faster than maybe anyone in the National Football League. He can run between the tackles. He is physical. David Montgomery is physical.

Josh Jacobs is physical. The defenses want to hit one another paint swapping affair, and the Packers entered last night into Ford Field with bad intentions, just like they did on Thanksgiving Day last year. They walked into that building with upstart division hopes. And they had the Lions down several times in the second half of this game. But the Lions prevail at the end of the game, and Lions fans have every reason to just be out of their minds, figuratively, not literally. Twelve games now they've won in back to back seasons for the first time in franchise history. The 12 wins are tied for the most in a single season in franchise history. They officially clinched a playoff spot. The Lions are back in the playoffs and back to back seasons. My lord, these are words that Lions fans had hoped they would hear at some point in the rest of their lifetimes.

And now it is a reality. They broke a franchise record with their 11th straight win. It's the longest single season win streak by any team in the league since the Steelers started 11 and 0 in 2020. They improved to nine and one in primetime games since 2022. That's the best in the NFL. From 99 to 21, they won only eight primetime games combined. The nine and one record is tied for the fourth best in the league in a three game span of primetime games since 1950. Which is interesting. They go back to that because when the hell was their primetime games in 1950? Well, you know, there were like two channels. I know. I mean, listen, who wouldn't watch the Giants and the Colts go at it when I Love Lucy was on the other channel? Thanks for the laugh, Mike.

I appreciate it. Probably a lot of people. I mean, Goff came up with his 25th passing touchdown of the year last night. He's got 25 passing touchdowns in each of the last three seasons since 2022. Only player in the NFL with such a stat since 2022.

It's Jared Goff. The running backs. David Montgomery becomes a third player in Detroit history with at least a dozen rushing touchdowns in back to back seasons. The others are named Barry Sanders and Billy Sims.

That's it. These are names in running back Detroit lore that usually don't have anybody else's name etched next to them. Jameer Gibbs reached the thousand yard rushing mark. It's the third straight season. Detroit has had a thousand yard rusher. And the first since Barry Sanders.

Did it from eighty nine at one point through every season from eighty nine to ninety eight. Jameer Gibbs is doing something as Barry Sanders lasted. Montgomery's doing stuff that Barry Sanders and Billy Sims last did. Goff is doing stuff like only Stafford's done. And the Lions are doing stuff that no other Lions team has ever done. This is happening.

And the one thing I would only say about this. For the Lions fans to just at one point just getting that twinge again. That this potentially could go a little awry. Is their coach likes to roll the dice, man? I mean, my God, does he like to roll the dice?

Yeah. And you know, I think Dan Campbell is coach of the year when there are other terrific coach of the year candidates. He will be a finalist up. Yeah, he might have. I mean, we'll see how Tomlin finishes in Pittsburgh.

There's a lot of other candidates that are out there, guys. But man, Dan Campbell likes to put everything on the line. And he did it five times last night. They were four for five on fourth downs. And, you know, some of them worked out like the Lions share, if you will.

I said that on purpose, worked out. Two of those fourth downs led to touchdowns. One to Tim Patrick, who had two touchdowns and one to Jameer Gibbs when they went for it on fourth and goal from the one. And the last team to score two or more touchdowns on fourth downs in multiple games, as the Lions have done this year. It's a second such game this year with a 2010 Cowboys didn't work out what form very well. That was the year that they replaced Wade Phillips with Jason Garrett. But Garrett finished five and three, and that led him to get the job.

So that there's that. But my point again is this when when when they went for it on the one time that it didn't work out on fourth and one with a minute twenty nine to go in the third quarter, they're up by three. And Dan Campbell or Dan Gamble goes for it from his own thirty one yard line.

That was crazy. And Jameer Gibbs gets hit for a loss of one. And then four plays later, Josh Jacobs scores his third touchdown of the night and the Lions are down. I sat there and I'm like, this is shades of the NFC Championship game right now. Shades of the NFC Championship game right now.

And it was just a fresh reminder that all of this great stuff could just go up and smoke. And then comes the fourth quarter where the game is tied. Thirty one apiece. They're on the twenty one yard line of Green Bay. Forty three seconds left.

They have a field goal kicker who is up there in the Brandon Aubrey rarified get air right now as close to automatic as they come in the NFL. Thirty eight yard field goal. And Dan Campbell says, time out.

Let's talk about it. But during that time out, I mean, I don't know what you guys are thinking sitting there watching it. I'm thinking, what are we calling time out just to get the play right? Because we know he's going for it. There's no way he's just going to set up the field goal because all he's got to do is get one more first down and you could take it down to zero and then get your automatic kicker out there and win the game. And the Packers would have had what, like 40 seconds, maybe to try to tie it. Yeah, something like that. We've seen that's too much time for an offense that can click right and come up with chunk plays as Jared, as pardon me, Jordan Love had proven in the second half of this game.

Yeah. So this one kind of made more sense, certainly more than going forward and you're deep in your own and in the middle of a third quarter, like at the end of a third quarter when just just punt, punt and play for another day. But that's not their M.O.

That's not this guy's M.O. And it worked out. This one worked out the final fifth and final fourth down attempt gave them four or five on fourth down on the night. And the Lions wrapped it up. This is what Coach Campbell had to say about the decision afterwards. I just felt like we needed to end it on offense, you know, and I did not want to get that ball back. And I believe we could get that.

I believe we could convert, you know, and I trusted that old line. I trust David and and they came through for since a hell of a call by Ben. You know, it just I knew how I wanted to play this game. The team knew it and and everything in me told me to let's let's finish this.

And so we did. He's an athlete. He got that thing handed off and David did the rest.

It was great. Seven yard gain. Then again, he got stepped on by his left guard. Yeah. And as Herb Street pointed out in college, he's down. He's down. He's down. But this is the pros.

And Goff did somehow get it to Montgomery. But that's just the case in point that when you gamble and you roll the dice, you never know if your left guard is going to step on you. And I understand that's not the way you live life. You're not like going to be when you're crossing the street saying, you know, this could be the last step I take in my life. But you do look both ways before stepping in the street.

Left, right, left again. You know, you know what I mean? Yeah. And sometimes it feels like. Dan Campbell's not checking out the traffic patterns before stepping in the street.

He's playing Frogger like Costanza. Jared Goff with the line of the night when being told his coach's response to him almost not getting the ball out. Yeah.

Yeah. Real athletic to fall down on a routine handoff. But yeah, I'm glad we made it. We made it happen. And we came into this game knowing we were going to do it maybe a little bit more than usual. Dan had mentioned that early in the week that he was going to really lean on our offense to make some things happen and certainly be aggressive on fourth down if the opportunity presented itself. What faith does that show with you and the offense?

Bigger than anything. That's like all you all you want from a head coach is to believe in you. And that gives us that little extra oomph to want to make it happen. And I'm not the one running or blocking, but I'm sure those guys up front say, all right, you know, you're giving it to us to make this game and finish this game off on our terms.

And yeah, it means a ton. So there you have it. You know, here I am sitting here again thinking the same thing I thought after the NFC Championship game last year is like, can we just dial it down from Spinal Tap 11 to 10? Just dial it down.

Dial it down. Like I would I would punt when you're on your own 31 in the third quarter. You know, but if they punt in those situations, the team might now look at Dan Campbell and go, is coach all right?

Because they're used to it. Campbell even said they know how I want to play it because he's not just sitting there dice rolling. And I know I just accused of him not checking the traffic pattern. This is a guy who basically said I told him during the week this was going to happen. And that's the strength of a coach and a coach of the year is you tell your guys what's going to happen. It happens. They do it.

They succeed at it. And you get an answer like Jared Goff saying it means everything in the world. But I'm just sitting here saying the greatest line season ever is unfolding right now.

Yeah. Greatest line season in the history of the Detroit Lions is unfolding right now. And I'm just like one of those movies looking through my fingers at the future, at a moment in a win or go home game where there's a fourth down decision and they're going to go for it. And the whole football world is going to be on pins and needles.

It's going to happen. You know it. I know it. The football fans know it.

Everyone knows it. But right now at the Lions are are still ahead of the Eagles in the standings and in the playoffs and real close to clinching the toughest division in football. And next for them are the Buffalo Bills in Detroit.

Oh, baby. With visits to Chicago and San Francisco after that. And then the home game against the Vikings, which potentially could be for the division. If anything goes awry over the next few weeks for the Lions or just a game for the Lions to rest people because they know they got everything wrapped up. I'm thinking it's going to be somewhere in between.

So ironic, too. You're talking about the best season in Lions history, right? So to match that, they'd have to be tied in the NFC Championship game with three minutes to go in the game.

And last night he's doing the crazy fourth down stuff. The score last night. Same score as the NFC Championship game last year against San Francisco.

Thirty four thirty one. This time they're on the winning end. And I understand where it's got to go to be better than that. Last year, I'm just saying right now, the regular season, it's already better than last year. They've already leapfrogged last year's regular season. You know, it's not going to be left up to whether they have the referee pay enough attention to who's eligible or not as the razor's edge between a seating position that they want or not.

I don't think they're putting him in themselves in a much better position to have margin for error. That said, the Eagles are going to potentially be right behind him. They've got the Carolina Panthers at home this weekend. We'll talk about the Packers later on in this program. We've got on the show Cooper Rush of your Dallas Cowboys in advance of the Monday night finale to this week that kicked off in such entertaining fashion on Prime Video last night.

Hopefully everybody watched it right here on the Roku portal. We're on fire. Dave Annabelle of Lioness and also Yellowstone. If you didn't blink on this program in hour number three. He is a Devils Giants Mets fan.

Oh, an interesting combination. OK, so he too will is on pins and needles refreshing to get the one Soto news potentially. Imagine it happens while me and Dave Annabelle were sitting here together. Oh, OK. Do we call Jeff again?

Do we give a passing reboot? OK. That was fantastic. I was embarrassed by it.

No you weren't. Tom Pilacero with all the latest. But when we come back while we're talking about football championship football in the state of Michigan.

One of the talented rookies of your eight and five on a bye week. Washington commanders Mike Sander still when we come back right here on the Rich Eisen show. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there and hoping it all works out? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill, too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help you find options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive dot com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law.

Not available in all states. For business owners like you, the American Express Business Platinum card works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions with its world class business and travel benefits. You can get more for your business wherever it takes you. The Amex Business Platinum card offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business, enabling you to flex and adapt as your business evolves. And you'll earn five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on Amex Travel dot com so that going that extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. Welcome to AutoZone.

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Get the parts you need when you need them at AutoZone or AutoZone dot com. Restrictions apply. Twelve minutes ago, who tweeted what? Who tweeted what? Who tweeted what?

So Alex Spear of the Boston Globe. Here it comes. He's just tweeting that the Red Sox are kind of demanding one final asking for one final meeting with Juan Soto to basically say, what's it going to take to get this done? What's the price? Name your price.

Name your price. To become a Red Sox. And we will put that on a check. Yeah. OK. Only to have Steve Cohen take that. Well, that's the way to pick you up. Let's add five. What that reads to me is that is that they have gotten the sense that he's leaning towards the New York, if not Los Angeles direction.

We're not. And and they're like, listen, what better way for us to describe to you that we want you than to say name your price and we will put that on a check and let's get this done. Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me.

That seems very accurate. Yeah. And and that sound you hear is an orchestra.

Playing a symphony playing and the conductor. Is Scott Boris. I mean, he's the maestro.

Let's just say it right now. Yeah. Yeah. He is absolutely.

You know, and then pointing to the section and then the Dodgers section. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's it. I need more.

That sucks. We're going to win. There's Leopold, Cohen, Cohen. What's happening right now? Is he going to play the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops or the L.A Philharmonic? All I'm saying is I need the music to stop.

Which one is he going to play with? And we need to know when to clap. When to clap. And for who? That's all I'm saying. Oh, man. Let's get it done.

This needs to be over. Welcome back to the Rich Eyes and Show Radio Network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eyes and Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Guys, you know, there's a difference between talking and talking, OK? So, for instance, what I do every day here for three hours, I'm talking. I'm talking to you. We talk to our radio audience. I'm talking to our Roku audience. But on occasion, T.J. Jefferson, certainly when it comes to college football this week, I've been talking.

With your chest. In terms of that, I've kind of been talking to myself. You know, you sometimes chime in on my behalf like you're happy. I'm talking. He thinks I'm talking too much.

This guy over here. That's OK. It's OK. It's not like you were a player.

No, that's a good point. Segue, Chris, because I wanted to start talking with somebody who knows what I'm talking about, because basically when he arrived there, we had zero wins against Ohio State in quite some time. The number zero started showing up and showing out like a four in a row. Joining us from the Washington commanders, where he's seeing the playoffs once again in his sights is the rookie cornerback from the University of Michigan, national champion Mike Sander still. How are you doing, Mike? Good to see you.

That was amazing, man. I'm doing great. I'm doing great.

All as well. You are. It's great to see a nice Rose Bowl gear that you've got on right there. I got to have it on.

You know what I'm saying? Playoffs coming up. Got to represent. I like it.

I like it. Unfortunately, we aren't in this year, but I know I'm a ride and die. I'm a ride or die with my guys always. So where were you watching the game over the weekend? Mike, I was here.

I was in my home. I had so many different emotions watching that game, but it was it was dope. It was dope to see those guys go out there and play with nothing but heart, play for each other and just execute and come out that game with the W. What were your emotions? Walk me through them watching this game as a as a national champion, Michigan Wolverine.

You left a standard there that for many reasons, unfortunate. The wins and losses were not supporting in the follow up year from Team 144. And then you saw what you saw in this game. What were your emotions, Mike? Really was just like, listen, no matter what, go out there and find a way to win this game by any means necessary. I was super happy to see how well the defense played and just guys showing up when they needed to. And, you know, just like Kalil, I don't know how he broke out of those tackles, but he did it.

He found a way. Davis connected to pain O'Leary for a big third down conversion. And then I think a play that is very under noticed, but might have won us that game was the scramble that Davis had to convert for first down to keep the job alive. And then Dominic just killing it with his leg.

He's been doing that all year. But like I said, just, you know, those few splash plays that showed up in that game ultimately helped those guys go out there and finish it in a dominant manner. The defense played outstanding. The front seven, as always, you know, from this year, the year before year before that, like have always been showing up when it came to this game. And in my opinion, football is always going to be one in the trenches, no matter how explosive you are in your skill positions. I feel like the game of football is always one of the trenches and our guys in the trenches showed up to play. And again, you weren't there, but you've been in this game multiple times.

And it seemed once again that the Ohio State University, because I'm trying to be respectful, include the V in there. Now you are? Yes! Don't hurt yourself.

OK. I did pull something. So with the Ohio State once again seeming to lose itself within a game plan, within the game by trying to run straight at the strength of Michigan's defense rather than going outside where their apparent strength was. What happens in this game, Mike? What happens in this game where sometimes Ohio State loses itself in the middle of it? I think, you know, kind of like I just mentioned that, you know, that game comes down to the team that's willing to out physical the other. It showed up in years past, even when, you know, the when they were winning. I feel like it was a team that was going the whole distance, going all four quarters, playing dominant. And like I mentioned, you know, you have to be able to run the football.

I don't care how many weapons you have outside. If you can't run the ball, I don't think you can establish a offense that's that's like I feel like as a defense is easy to put an offense in a situation where, you know, they're going to pass the ball. But when you have that balance of being able to run the ball, then you could throw a few passes over top. You force the safeties to come up before guys to play downhill.

Then you could take those shots behind them. But it's tough when you don't establish that run game early on and, you know, you get out physical, I guess. Screw it. Let me just go directly at it, Mike, because the conversation amongst us Wolverines that we talk about it and a lot in the punditry talk about how Ohio State talks about being tough. But Michigan comes in and proves it and does it. And that that is been part of the problem why the worm has turned in this rivalry. Would you agree with that as somebody who's been in this game and has looked in the eyes of Buckeyes across the line of scrimmage?

Mike? Yeah, I would say so. I'd say in recent years, we've been a team that has been more physical, more dominant and has been willing to go all four quarters.

And it's, you know, it's as simple as that. Okay. A couple more things on this game, and then we'll turn to your current state of affairs for the Washington commanders.

Mike Sander is still here on the Rich Eisen Show. Were you two cents about the planting of the flag and everything else that came after that game? You know, I think it's I did it myself when I was there.

I planted the flag. And in my opinion, right when when people go to war, you go to war, you take over people's territory. Right. And you don't just the territory take over. However, that goes like those people don't just come back to life and fight for the territory again.

Right. And of course, you know, no one's dying out there on the football field. But what I'm saying is you walk into an opponent's stadium in a robbery game. You win that game as you know, the away team. Technically, you've taken over their turf at that point.

And, you know, it's kind of what Kalil mentioned at the end of the game, like you have four quarters to show how tough you are. Don't don't come out at the end of the game once we're, you know, celebrating on your field, trying to act tough now. But at the same time, as a human being, I understand the level of pride that comes with defending your territory. So I understand both sides.

But like I said, look, our guys walked in there and the hostile environment took over their turf, celebrated how they celebrated. And, you know, everything else that came after that and is what happened. Right.

So in twenty twenty two, you were the one to you were the one to personally take a flag into the middle of the horseshoe and jam it in the O on the 50. Yes, I did do that. Yeah. OK. And where were there any fisticuffs? Were there did did was there push and shoving similar to because I don't remember anything like that happening into that. That did not happen. And so why do you think it happened this time?

Honestly, I can't really tell you why. I think it's just it starts with, in my opinion, coaching, you know, you have to be able to control your players. But, you know, like I said, I understand where those guys are coming from, too, as you know, you're not just going to let somebody disrespect you. I guess if you want to put it like that. But like I said, you have four quarters to to disrespect however you want to.

Once those four quarters are done, whatever happens happens after that. And was it in this very room behind you that you were watching this game? Mike? No, I was watching it upstairs in the living room.

OK. It was it was myself, my girl and my parents. My daughter was upstairs napping, so I was like quiet. I was quiet screaming. I was screaming and stuff.

It was funny. OK. And at what point did it dawn upon you that you now had the ability to talk smack to a veteran teammate warrior from the Ohio State like Terry McLaurin? When did it dawn on you that you now had Chitty Chatter rights that you were going to exact during his press conference after you went over the Titans, Mike? As soon as I want to say we got that when when we got them to fourth down on their their last possession, I was like, there's nowhere to get in the past. Right here, like I just knew, you know, the guys up front and we're going to get back there, force him to, you know, make a bad pass or something.

And I'm like, look, right after this play, I'm going live on Instagram. I'm you know, I'm tagging Terry. I'm tagging Jalen Holmes, Marsan Lattimore, Noah Brown.

It's actually Chavonte Jean Baptiste. I have five Ohio State teammates. So just being able to have those bragging rights on those guys feels amazing. But you're a rookie, Mike. No, I mean, you know, like that's that's OK. Right, Mike?

Robbery is a robbery. OK, I got to tell you, Terry looked good holding up that number zero of your jersey. He did. He did. Imagine. Imagine what he could have done in Maison Bleu.

Imagine what he could have done. Mike Sanders still here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about your rookie season. You're on your by week.

Commanders are eight and five. Walk me through how your first 13 games as a pro has gone in your estimation. Mike. It's gone fast.

It's gone very fast. But I think part of that is because, you know, we're having a lot of fun here. You know, everything from a staff standpoint to player standpoint, everybody in the building is just a cohesive unit. Everybody appreciates each other. Everyone has a genuine care for each other. And it makes the work environment so much easier to be a part of. And, you know, as a rookie, I love where I am in terms of the people I'm around. And, you know, what we're planning on doing, you know, as a team.

It's the best, you know, best case scenario I could have been a part of. And so Dan Quinn, how has he guided your personal ship to this point? Mike. Coach Quinn is he's phenomenal. You know, he's all about ball, all about figuring out ways to, you know, get guys better. And, you know, he's he's a true competitor. You know, the way he talks his passion behind what he does. You know, he there's two coaches that I will always say I'll forever want to play for the coach Harbaugh and, you know, Coach Quinn, like I just love how they're both wired. Coach Quinn, you know, he's like I said, he's a elite competitor, wants to be the best at what he does. And we see that each and every single day we go into the facility. Well, I'm not going to ask you if you're hitting a rookie wall since you played 15 games last year, Mike. So you're not even at your complement of games that you played for for Michigan last year and winning a national championship. But you also understand what it does take, even though you are a rookie, to finish strong.

And it's certainly in games where people are going to be looking at you to to do such things. This past win over the Titans, what was going through that locker room leading to that coming off of the losing streak you guys were on? Yes. So, you know, big shout out to Bobby Wagner and our team meeting the Wednesday of that week. He you know, he kind of just, you know, he stood up in front of the room and was saying like, listen, in order for us to get to where we want to go, we have to get back to doing the little things, you know, get back to the basic fundamentals and just pretty much regroup, just, you know, continue to have fun, continue having, you know, appreciation for the little things that we go through, the small diversities that we go through and, you know, getting back to being disciplined, getting back to, like I mentioned, you know, the basic fundamentals, because when it comes to, you know, those games that we need to win later on in the season, those games are won because of the foundation that you set early on. And that's, you know, the the drill work, you know, the team workouts.

That's all of that is how much did you prepare yourself for the back end? You don't know what you're preparing for in the moment, but when you prepare at the championship level, that's when you become a champion. It's not the day a championship is played that you become a champion.

It's what you did in the off season to help yourself with that foundation for later on to have success. I love that. I love that guy. Bobby Wagner is a Hall of Famer of Hall of Famers period.

End of story will be first ballot when that happens. You got a good example of what it was like for you to realize first time you were on the back end, speaking of that word of Bobby Wagner, one level behind him on the. Yeah, I mean, he's he's he's exactly what you want. You know, he embodies everything from, you know, like you just said, he's Hall of Famer. And, you know, he's just a great human being.

And just to be able to. Have the experience that he has and the knowledge that he has as a rookie, being able to learn from someone like him, you know, how could you get it any better way? And there's no surprise that he's up for, you know, the Man of the Year award. Like I mentioned, he's a great human being and he wants to see the people around him succeed. And he's going to challenge you to be the best version of yourself. And that's what he does each and every single day he comes in. What's it like being around Jayden Daniels, Mike?

Awesome. He's he's Jayden, such a cool dude. You know, he's another one elite competitor wants to be the greatest. And, you know, I see the work ethic he has. He comes in the building every day, five, thirty in the morning.

He's he's already walking through their calls for the week. You know, he shows up early, leaves late, takes care of his body. Well, does everything he needs to be to put himself in the position to be a great quarterback.

And, you know, I love to see what he's doing right now. And he's a leader and he has that that that chip on his shoulder of, you know, he wants to be great. Give me an example where you realize for the first time he was a cool customer, whether it's on the field where you're ready to come back on the field, you think you're going to maybe come back on the field.

He's like, no, no offense stays out here. He got one of those moments. Mike, for you, touchdown, maybe anything that he did. I think just just him being able to like the plays he can create with his feet and just being able to. I think he could he could scramble and throw it.

He could scramble and run. But I just I would just go to, you know, Chicago Bears last play the game where, you know, he threw the Hail Mary pass. Yes, we defense. We just finished against.

I think we gave a figure or touch on one of the two. But offense goes back out there. We all get in our feet and we're just watching the play develop. I'm right there on the sideline.

I see him, you know, make one guy miss. He scrambles back left, makes another guy miss and he gets set to throw it. Ball goes up. And the first thing I think about, I'm like, wait, there's a chance like there's a real chance that this ball might get caught. I'm watching the flight of the ball.

I see it gets to about the two, three yard line. Zach urge jumps up. And at first I thought he's the one that tipped it, but it was actually Stevenson in the corner there who tipped it back. And once everyone landed, all you see is no around back there by himself. And I'm like, oh, snap, like, oh, snap.

Did he like that? I really just witnessed this happen. And like you've seen it on TV before and Rogers. And but like to be on the winning side of that is it was amazing. It was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced as a football player. Yeah. And I think you'll agree, Mike, it's cool that Noah Brown had that catch and Terry McClure's having his as well this year.

So at least those two guys know what it's like to win big time football games. See what I'm saying when I'm talking with somebody else, you get it? I've been doing that by myself all week. I feel you. I feel you. I'm happy for you. I'm more I'm more happy for Mike. All right.

And I'm happy for you, too. Off the screen. I want to smile with more Marines on the screen at the same time. Look at us. It's got better than us. Right. No, that's right.

Nobody. Mike, I bet you didn't expect that this is going to go this way. Oh, come on now. Oh, no. You know, you can't put two you can't put two missing guys in the room together. That's right. Not this.

Let me take this one shot with you completely off the board before I let you go. You converted wide receiver to a corner to a defensive back like you, Mike. We've got a guy who I believe is going to be a runaway winner for the Heisman Trophy and Travis Hunter this year doing both. He's a Bolitnikov finalist. He's a Bednarek finalist for whatever reason.

The Thorpe people left him off the finalists list. But you are now going through the crucible of an NFL season. Do you think Travis Hunter or somebody even above of maybe even lesser talents or his talents could do both in the NFL? Could play significant snaps like a hundred snaps a game, splitting them on either side of the ball. Mike, I want to say yes, because, you know, he's phenomenal at what he does.

Like, it's not easy to play that many snaps. And clearly he has the condition for us. So I want to say yes. But at the same time, I feel like, you know, once you do get to that and once you're in the NFL. Right. The season is much longer.

And, you know, I don't want to say it's more physical, but in a sense it is much more physical because, you know, you're going against grown men. And I think I think it could be done. It might not be done with the same amount of snaps, but I think he can do it. And honestly, you know, I'm rooting for him to do it.

So I think if he's able to step into a NFL organization and produce at the high level, both sides of the ball that he's doing currently, that's going to be something, you know, that will be spoken about for generations. So, you know, I'm rooting for him. Mike, thanks again. Greatly appreciate the time. Love watching you ball out at the next level.

I've told you this before, you and the rest of your teammates, certainly Team 144 mean a lot to me. And I'm always rooting for you. And in particular, say hi to Terry for me. Will you please tell him I said hi in particular? Straight from me.

Rich Eisen. OK, I got you. I got you. Take care of yourself, Mike Sanderstill.

Thanks again. Appreciate you, Rich. The one and only Washington commanders corner.

Mike Sanderstill here on the Rich Eisen show. Does look good, huh? Oh, yeah. Oh, baby.

You are living your best life out of fun. I get a Nnamdi vibe talking to him. Yeah, I like that. I like that comparison.

Totally agree. He sounds like him, too. They have a same voice. Nnamdi Asumwah.

Well, just that perennial pro bowl. Calm demeanor. Yeah.

Super deep voice. Yeah. Cerebral. Yep.

Athletic. Yep. A winner. A winner. Let's take a break.

I think I've made my point. Coming up, Cooper Rush of the Dallas Cowboys. Tom Pelissero on the latest going around the league, including what Jim Harbaugh was interested in doing.

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Shopify dot com slash Westwood one. So I played 11 years. They've been to the Super Bowl nine times. And I didn't get there once.

Think about that. And I was one pick away from being drafted by the Patriots. What happened?

The Chargers draft. But I know that's what happened. They didn't they didn't.

But so they didn't come up and come get you. So I went to so I went on the visit to the Patriots. And that's when Charlie Weiss was office coordinator. And I go to Boston and I really like to visit. I like Charlie.

I love Charlie Weiss. You meet with Bill. I did meet with Bill.

You know, we sat in his office right above the stadium right there where you're looking out at the stadium. And we really just sat there. We really didn't talk about much. We just looked at each other.

What do you mean? You just looked at each other. Like, you know, each other's, you know, I guess you're saying it was awkward.

I mean, I just you know, you know how Bill is. He just there's only a few things he probably wants to know about you. And I guess he was trying to get a sense of, you know, was I passionate about football as most coach coaches do.

You know, that's the first round pick on a guy. You want to make sure they're passionate. Do you think they would have chosen you if you were available? Well, they said they were going to choose me. Charlie Weiss promised me if I was there at sticks because they needed a running back.

They need a running back bad that year. And so, yeah, when the Chargers drafted me, I think they took Richard Seymour. Richard Seymour. Yep. But it worked out. Have you ever brought up to Brady when you've seen him?

No, I never brought it up. You could have been Robin, his Batman. I always thought about, you know, what would that be like? With all due respect to Antwon Smith. All due respect to Antwon Smith.

It would have been a little different. No way. Yeah. I'm kind of getting freaked out. Oh, yes. Check it all out on our YouTube channel.

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Get a free quote at triethos.com. That's T-R-Y-E-T-H-O-S dot com. Cooper Rush of your Dallas Cowboys coming up, TJ Jefferson. Yes, sir.

They're being fair and balanced. We've had Zach Taylor on Tuesday. We'll finish the week with Cooper Rush.

They will finish the week 14 on Monday Night Football against one another. That's only right. That is correct. So look before and then Tom Pellicero will join us on the program before we get to those gents.

Don't usually throw this out there, but it has been corroborated by our friend Lambo on McAfee show. Mike Lombardi confirmed it or he heard the same thing. But Dan McNeil, who is in Chicago and is a longtime sports talk host in that town. He tweeted out that Jim Harbaugh was interested in the Bears coming back into the league last year. And the Bears were not interested. Kevin Warren, former Big Ten commissioner who may have had paths crossed on occasion with Jim Harbaugh when he was at Michigan.

He's the team president there. And according to Dan McNeil, personally quashed it, said, no thanks. That should make Bears fans furious. If it's true. If it's true.

If it is true. Because Jim, as you know, former Chicago Bears quarterback. What's one of the many things the Chargers are saying with him wearing the lightning bolt? It's like, hey, everybody, he used to play quarterback here. Well, you know, his first team was the Chicago Bears. Mike Ditka going right in his face and him going back at Ditka. And this is exactly the type of personality that Bears fans wanted to have on their sideline and connecting him with Caleb Williams.

One would think there wouldn't be in the same scenario that's here right now. And as they go into a new coaching search, because the decision, as we all know, in Chicago is to status quo it with Iberfluss and bring in a new offensive coordinator while drafting Caleb Williams. And that went so awry that they bounced the offensive coordinator first. And the guy that they elevated has now been elevated again.

Like, that's a double upgrade. Like, as I said, that's like flying standby and then sitting in a first class seat. Thomas Brown right now, right?

He was on standby coming into the season. They're like, come on on the plane in Chicago. Next season he's getting a hot towel and warm nuts. Those hot towels are just unbelievable every time. I'm telling you. Every time. Well, he's definitely getting warm nuts.

Well, I'm talking about the weather, Mike. What's your problem? What are you talking about over there? What are you doing?

What are we doing? My balls are hot. Thank you very much. I haven't hit that one in a long time. All right. I hit that one. I mean. Way back to play here.

Sorry. But, you know, it's just something that is being discussed at length in Chicago right now that we will ask Tom Pelissero if he can dust off his notebook from last January about what was happening in the coaching searches. Jim, as we all know, along with his wife, love it in Southern California, and that had a lot to do with him coming here. And so did Justin Herbert, so did the whole setup.

But the money was nice, too. The question is, in Chicago, do they have the right group at the very top to figure out this coaching vacancy, crucial coaching vacancy correctly, when they could have created one last year and had somebody like Harbaugh coming in to chit chat about it? That's the backdrop in Chicago of the next few weeks and months as they have to get this one right. As I said, I think they've got the general manager right. They've got the parts on the field right. They just got to get this coaching hire right.

There's a lot of question about the search already in Chicago. What are the charges, seven, eight and four? They're eight and four. So they're plussed up three already with four more games to go. Would the Bears be eight and four? Five more games to go. Right now, if they had Jim?

I don't know. You'd have to sit here and think it would be in a much better place. The offense would be different for sure.

You'd have to think it's in a much better place. I mean, Greg Roman would have been the offensive coordinator. A lot more DeAndre Swift. A lot more Rashawn Johnson. Yep.

Yeah. And a lot less on the rookie's shoulders. Again, don't forget what Jim's doing out here is with a bonafide stud with dozens upon dozens of starts under his belt in Justin Herbert. True. Better offensive line, obviously. Right. They definitely take a lineman at nine. You can't, if he was interested in the Chicago Bears job, you can't blame Jim for being interested in that one because he knows the city, he knows the franchise, he knows that Caleb Williams is coming, and he knows that's a pretty winning combination.

Again, don't know if any of this is true or not. All right, let's FaceTime Jim and let's ask him. And he'll be in his powder blue Snuggie.

Powder blue Snuggie. Just like Jeff Passan was. Look, we're one for one on this. Let's go. No, this we're not doing. Hey, Jim, I know you're getting ready for Sunday Night Football against the Chiefs, but... Quick question. We're just in the Bears.

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