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Learn what Amazon Q Business can do for you at AWS.com slash learn more. Jordan Love, Fox Sports College Football Insider, Bruce Feldman. Coming up, Prime Video TNF analysts Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Oh, yes, this is awesome. Hour number three of The Rich Eisen Show is live on the air right here on the Roku Sports Channel. This Rich Eisen terrestrial radio affiliate is smart enough to have a Sirius XM Odyssey tune in. We say hello to our podcast listeners because it is your God-given right to listen to us whenever you're darn well pleased. All three hours through the Cumulus Podcast Network and right here through the Roku portal on Thursday night. The kickoff to Week 16, a big-time AFC West contest between Sean Payton's nine and five Denver Broncos and the eight and six Jim Harbaugh-coached Los Angeles Chargers pregame show starts at 7 p.m. Eastern time with a cavalcade of stars, including these two gentlemen sitting here together in studio from the Fitz and Whit podcast as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, Andrew Whitworth and Ryan Fitzpatrick together. Thank you, Rich. Appreciate you, man. Worthy of a round of applause. Thank you, brother.
Whit, you've been here before. Ryan, welcome. What a studio. This is nice.
I've been hearing so much about it. I got a little bit jealous, so thank you for inviting me. I appreciate you taking the time.
Also, you hopped a flight earlier than you normally get, because the Prime Video people, I don't know if Ryan's going to be there that early. Well, anything for you, Rich. You know that. I appreciate you saying that.
You're getting out of your comfort zone, out of your lane to be here. I greatly appreciate that. You guys are awesome together. I always enjoy watching you and the rest of the crew on Prime Video. Before we jump into the game, let's jump into the two of you guys together, because I was going to ask when you first met one another, but you played together in Cincinnati back in the day, correct?
We did. The very beginning of my career. I think you got traded there, right? Yep, that was year three and four for me. That was a very different version of Andrew Whitworth back then. Very different. Well, I mean, in terms of that, I was wondering, we looked this up because we're lead pipe wielding professionals, to look into all of this together. Your first career, I believe, start for Cincinnati?
Yeah. This was week nine, 2008. Cincinnati was 0-8. This is your first career win as a starting quarterback in the national football league. First career win versus the Jaguars against Todd Monken. 21-19, there you are.
Look at you, very Superman-like right there. Oh, there we go. You know what happened in that game, Rich? I believe I know what happened in this game, but if you're going about what happened with Andrew Whitworth in this game, I'll give you the floor, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Well, as we know, he's a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner. Eventually. Eventually, again, he grew a lot from that moment on.
Really is an L.A. guy now, which, I mean, you as well. But Andrew Whitworth got in a scuffle with John Henderson that day. You want to talk about two enormous men just throwing haymakers at each other. Look at that. I mean, that's a scary dude right there. Terry McCauley currently rules analyst. Oh, Terry.
I didn't know that was him. Get off your arm, Terry. Don't be that guy. You can't hold a guy's arm back in the fight. But those are two of the bigger men I've ever seen fight in my life, and Andrew will never let me live down that moment. I won't.
Why? Well, you know, we come in the next week, and obviously that's our first win of the season. There's a lot of rallying around, hey, guys, let's turn this season around.
But the OC says, hey, we do have to kind of cover something first. Every guy on offense is going to get fined, because at that time the NFL had a circle. You know, if you were in this little circle of this certain line they would draw on the field of the fight, you wouldn't possibly get a fine. All ten players on offense, Rich, got fined, except for one out of the 11. There was ten guys. There was only ten guys on offense in the huddle. Where's the other guy? We can't find him. The 11th man. The 11th man sprinted off the field in the middle of the fight. Wow.
They didn't have the next-gen stats for my speed at that point, but I might have been 22 miles an hour. So that's where our relationship started. He sprinted off the field while I'm in the middle of a fight.
But you know what? Better days. We've come a long way.
We've come a long, long way. Did you not get the gate that day as well? Were you ejected? Oh, get out of here. Oh, gone.
Ejected. You got the gate that day. I think I actually walked off, like, pointing at the Whitworth. There was actually a shot of that, too.
But, you know, it was a lot, man. That was my Troy moment, if you will. I was just like, literally, I felt like a soldier back in the day. Yeah.
In the arena. Felt like a gladiator. Just kind of, you know, I got into it a little bit. You've only been ejected once, right? No.
I'm the only Walter Payton man of the year that for sure has been ejected twice. Are they keeping stats on that? Yeah, yeah.
For sure. Did Eli Manning ever get ejected? No, I don't think so. No. Larry Fitzgerald? No.
I don't see it. No. No.
So I'm definitely, definitely, you know. Can Hayward Alfie's been ejected? Well, maybe.
I don't know. Even though you did the ride along with him last year. So, this is amazing. I didn't know the story of the first career win for you as a starter, Ryan, and then we found out you got ejected in the game. Didn't see that there was a circle that the NFL would create and anybody caught within the circumference. Oh, yeah.
Everybody in the fight. Would be fined, and you did not get fined because you went. Maybe that's the photograph of you diving head first. Maybe you were diving head first. I think that was it. I do think that was it.
I think that's pretty close. That's you. That's you leaving the circle right now. That's him leaving the fight right there. Yep. Un-freaking-believable. How big's that wristband? Lord.
No thigh pads back then either. None at all. Man, oh man, oh man. How many teams did you play for, Ryan Fitzpatrick? How many teams? Nine. Nine teams. Nine teams. And I will just give a shout out to my former teams because this last week, seven and two. We went seven and two. Wow.
So amazing. Yeah, well, the two losses were teams that I played for that played against teams that I played for. So seven and two was the best we could have done.
That's the best. Oh, right. Well, Miami played Houston.
Miami played Houston, and then Tennessee and Cincy. Right. That's amazing. So there you go. So you knew you were going to come out with a loss or at least two or three. Exactly that.
But the other five. Huge. Undefeated.
Huge. I mean, you got good odds. You got good odds. Right?
You got two and oh this weekend. But nobody cares. I played for both those teams. That is so funny.
And so many people, Ryan, you know, wait their turn in the league, you know, sit on a bench. You started for all nine teams, if I'm not mistaken, as well, right? I did. I, as Andrew likes to say, I ended the greatest show on turf. You ended that. Yeah. You put that to bed.
We can talk to Kurt about that. I ended that one as soon as I started playing and then Cincy, same thing. When I got to Buffalo, which was my third team, that was when it was starting role. So my fifth year in the league, I was a starter.
Took a few steps back on different teams, but for the most part, towards the tail end of my career, I was signing places to be a bridge starter, knowing that I have a role and be able to play. When you walked into a locker room, did the starting quarterback go, oh no, because he became that for a while, because I mean, we've got a lot of, you know, Jake locker, you know, had a couple, maybe I think Liz Frank and a hip injury. Trent Edwards had some injury stuff. Carson Palmer, who was never hurt.
The London, Mark Bulger, Geno Smith with the broken jaw. There was a string there for a while. Wow. It was not, I've got some bad ones cause it's also some owners. I mean, owners kept dying when I would leave teams too. Yeah.
It was not, not a good, Yeah. The Rams, Georgia Frontier, everything's good with the Bengals, Ralph Wilson after I left, Bud Adams after I left Tennessee, McNair after I left Houston, some bad stuff. So I thought teams stopped signing me for that reason. I shouldn't laugh, obviously, but No, no, no. Just to say, well, football's not a matter of life and death, but when Brian Fitzpatrick is hired, look out.
You got to have your head on a swivel. Not great. Reject your quarterback and your owner.
Man. We were just talking about that amongst the, you know, in a much lesser extent, the games that I've been calling on NFL network this year, we had a jets Vikings, Robert solid got fired. Then we had bears and Jaguars to date, Matt Eberfluss his last win. Then we had in Munich, we had giants Panthers, Daniel Jones, his last snap is a giant. Last year we had Broncos Patriots turned out to be Bill Belichick's last win as a head coach.
Wow. Now we got Rams and Cardinals in a couple of Saturdays, people got to have their head in the swivel and they come walking in there. You know what I mean? Rich curse.
I don't know. So I know how you feel, but it's, it's, it's wild as well, Ryan, we invoked your name the other day after the bills came up with that win against the lions, trying to figure out what, where does that win for the bills against the lions rank in terms of regular season wins for Buffalo in, in, in this century, even right. And we were just identifying when, when Josh Allen beat the chiefs regular season for the first time, you know and then we, we went back to like, we were like, when was the, when was the time when the, the bills beat Tom Brady and not in like some week 17 2011, we pegged that game, you and Fred Jackson, right? Like we pegged that game. Yeah, that was, that was one of the, that was probably the most special moment I had in that building after the wind to see how much it meant to the fans because Tom owned the bills obviously forever for his whole career and I don't know what the streak was at that point, but it was a wild game. He threw four interceptions. It was back and forth with a field goal by Ryan Lindell with no time on the clock to win it and just the appreciation of those fans for what happened that day was a pretty cool moment. Right.
Because we're wondering where, there it is, that's you in that moment right there on that day fits magic at its zenith for the, for, for Western New York. Cause again, you know, you know, there'd been wins against Brady, but he was basically taking a snap or two and then departing so he wasn't hurt for the playoffs that the, the Josh Allen led bills right now with him playing the way that he is. Would you agree MVP of the NFL right now or is this still a Saquon moment? I mean, you obviously have been witness to some Saquon moments on Thursday night this year. So I mean, we, I would just say like, there's still three games left, so yes, he's the front runner, but Lamar Jackson, the season he's putting together. Yeah. I wonder if you took the stretches of what Lamar's had this season and Josh's, if they just were at different times, like if right now was kind of Lamar's best stretch and Josh's was earlier in the season, if we'd be saying the same thing, cause the numbers and statistics are kind of leaning towards Lamar, actually. But Josh's last two games against the Rams and that loss.
Yeah. And I think they're huge moments, but you look at it, I mean, Lamar can't win a game if they don't score 24 points. So like Josh hasn't had to do that this year. They've had some games early in the season, especially where he wasn't throwing for many yards and they were winning a lot of games, a lot of different ways.
Which then it points to like, well, his stats aren't inflated because they were ahead in those games. You know, the Joe Burrow, he wasn't having to come from behind all the time, but you know, Lamar still has some huge games. They're still trying to win the AFC North. They're playing Pittsburgh who, you know, that's been a thorn in his side his whole career. So he's still going to have some big moments coming up here. So I, I still think, I think Josh is the front runner, but he's going to have to earn it the last three weeks.
Well, I mean his last three games are two against New England wrapped around a home date with the Jets. So he's, I'm still a Saquon guy though. You are. Oh yeah. Come on.
Why is that? I'll give you the floor on it. I think because to me, it's obviously we always talk about the quarterback position and really that's really where it always leans. But to me, if you look at this Philadelphia team and what they've been built on this entire season and the way they've had to lean on him to win games, he has continued to show up and produce and be the guy they need now, obviously last week, going to be one of the biggest, toughest tests for him to have a great game. I think that would have been his opportunity if he had a huge game against the Steelers yardage wise to really put himself at the top for the rest of the season.
He's going to have to do something special in the next week or two to get it back in there. But I just think his impact and really what he's been for that team, when you talk about the most valuable player, you know, they have struggled some throwing the football at times this season and they're playing great defense, but running the football has been how they've really beat people and it's been their identity and their mentality. Maybe he should have in his locker when he was being interviewed after the game saying they had a running problem there, then he just got 60 yards, he just got 60 yards, Hertz keeps vulturing him on the one yard line, man, there's a running problem around here. Isn't it amazing how that happens though, A.J. Brown slips it out there, 100 yard game.
I imagine you've been in that situation before where you're- I've never had receivers complaining about getting the ball and never feed them or feed them over and over and over. It's our next game. Yeah, yeah. I mean- That's what just happened, right? Didn't we just see that?
It is. We're just happy now and look, for them to win a Super Bowl, A.J. Brown's going to have to be a big part of that. They're going to have to, you see how much he changed Jalen Hertz's career when he got there, you see how much he changed the Eagles passing game when he got there, that version where they're running the ball and equally balanced and throwing the ball is what's going to take- I think it tells you how good they are. Yeah. That's how freaking good they are.
A.J. Brown can say, I want the ball more and then go play one of the best teams in the NFL this season and then say, all right, we'll give you the ball more and we'll win that way. But I don't blame you for saying Saquon, man, because how many times are you sitting up there in the prime video set or I'm sitting on NFL network or at this chair and you on your pod, you're talking about red zone problems for teams and that's the problem and it's all coming down to the red zone and you got a guy who runs through the red zone into the end zone.
So you don't have red zone problems because either he runs through it and into the end zone or he takes it down to the one in the tush push, takes it the rest of the way. That is huge. And you did against the Rams on that Sunday night. And then also, too, I mean, on top of it, what he's doing for his new team after he left one of Philadelphia's blood rivals, I keep using that term these days, but it is the truth.
You were on your post game set after he beat Washington and the fans in Philadelphia were chanting thank you, Giants. Oh, yeah. During your during your post, right? Among other things. Yeah. That was a couple.
Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I mean, you look at him, you look at Josh Jacobs, you look at Derrick Henry. It's wild to me that three, you know, three guys who are at the top of the running backs this season all basically either shipped out or allowed to leave by the teams they were at the year before. I think those guys have probably changed the importance of running backs. We just a couple of years ago, I remember being here and we're talking about, you know, these running backs and how they're struggling to get paid and what's going on.
Nobody wants them. I think this has probably completely changed the landscape of the next couple of years and what an importance they're going to be to teams. And Aaron Jones, another name, another name, I mean, there's five guys where you're just looking at it like, but I'll say this about Saquon, you know, these are the best athletes in the world playing this game and the amount of jaw dropping moments guys have watching him on a football field is absolutely insane. I mean, that's how talented this guy is. Yeah, I think I forget it was a oh, yeah, it was against Jacksonville, obviously, but there's videos, somebody in the stands in Philadelphia took of this moment right here of him jumping backwards, leaping backwards. And the shot was from the front row in the link. And so you could see in the in the foreground the reaction of the Eagles teammates. Yeah, I think that's always a great sign when your teammates are that way. And they were doing exactly what you're talking about, Ryan. Like they were just like, yeah, you see them all like they're all popping up different places, moving, jumping around, reacting.
Jordan Davis, I think, but turned around, just like shook his head and walked the other way. Like, I think it's a similar reaction to maybe the first time you ran the 40. That's true.
Just with all your people saying, absolutely, I had no idea. Or potentially there's no video of it, of you running away from the fight on your first day. Yeah, we just have the still photo hands. Starting quarterback. You guys are just throwing shots at each other. This is great. I'll break the fight up now, now that I'm a Walter Payton Man of the Year, I will break the fight up. No fighting guys.
You're a very peaceful man. No fighting. We don't need Terry McCauley to grab your arm.
Stay out of this, Terry. Fantastic. Andrew Whitworth, Ryan Fitzpatrick here from Prime Videos, Thursday Night Football coverage, Broncos, Chargers. We'll talk about that game when we come back. Your podcast as well. And then the news of the day, what's going on in Atlanta.
That is wild. I want to talk about that with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth here before we take a break. The unexpected can happen at any time. I want you to think about things like life insurance in advance, and Ethos makes it as easy as one, two, three. Just use your coverage, apply in minutes, get covered in real time.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. As a business owner, you're always going that extra mile to pursue your passions, so you deserve partners who can help you go further with premium benefits and rewards. The American Express Business Platinum Card offers world-class business and travel benefits, so you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. With the Amex Business Platinum Card, you can earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases, and you can get complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.
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Shopify.com slash Westwood One. Back here on the program, we're looking at all the other shows that are going on at once, and Ryan Fitzpatrick, you were looking at Pete Famil on ESPN talking about the Ivy League's going to participate in the college football playoffs, starting in 2025. Huge news. That's a big deal. That's a big deal.
Never thought we'd see the day. I did go to Harvard. He went to Harvard.
Did you really? Now, Rich, my senior year, my senior year, we were 10-0, and the season just ends. We finished, I think, in the top 10 or 12. So you'd have been in the line for college football playoff that year if there was one who would have had a shot. Now, FCS.
FCS. Oh, so it's not like- Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. It's not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, this is- Okay.
One double. Let's not get carried away. Let's not get carried away.
Let's not get carried away. Like, hey, you know, Harvard- We would have been glad to host him. We would have been glad to host him in Death Valley. First round bye. I promise.
First round bye. I mean, we would. We would. Come on.
Come to Death Valley at any point. That'd be rich. FCS.
Rich. FCS. That'd be like- I was about to say, if that was the CFP, that'd be like me in high school saying, I am eligible for Elle MacPherson, by the way. You know?
I'm eligible for Elle. Yeah, let's not get carried away. Okay. Yes. We'll take that one.
We will take that first round match up. You know what? Skip the bye. You shoved him right over.
Oh, my God. What would the line have been on that game? Like Harvard at LSU. Not the offensive line you're talking about. You're talking about the line. Spread. Probably minus 56 and a half.
What were you taking? You didn't give him the points? No, I'd lay the points. Okay, very good.
Give me the tires. Fantastic. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.
Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickranger.com or just stop by the two gents from the Fitz and Whit podcast, Fitz and Whit themselves, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth, also from Prime Video Thursday Night Football right here on the program. Before we get to tomorrow night's game, I want to get to the story of the day, which is Raheem Morris in week 16 saying, we're going to go with the rookie. We're going to give Michael Penix Jr. the start for a seven and seven team that has a shot at the playoffs and bench Kirk Cousins after a dreadful five weeks. Ryan, I'll give you the floor first on your two cents on that subject matter.
Yeah, thank you. I've been benched plenty, Rich. He's got some experience. I'm going with the court, not the playoffs.
He does have some benching experience though. So I'll say it sucks, but it had to happen, right? It did. You think it did.
It did. Kirk just, he hasn't looked like himself the last four weeks. It's been pulling on this team. It's a move where they want to try to get into the playoffs and they see this as the best path forward from reports of what we've been hearing with Penix in practice and his arm and the way that he's played, the way that he looks like he's come in in the huddle.
They've got so much skill on that team on offense. So for them not to be able to produce and unfortunately for Kirk to not play very well, he hasn't lived up to his standard. I'm sure that he's accepting of it because of the way he's played the last four games. What do you think? Yeah.
I mean, I think it had to happen, but it's kind of listening. If you remember, he started the season, people were a little in question of what was going on with Kirk and kind of, you know, the first couple of games, and then we had their game. 500 yards.
500 yards. And we even before that game, we're having that conversation of like, man, he doesn't look himself a little bit, you know, like what happens if this continues? Like when will you start having these conversations? Because the thing you know, and we know this from practices, is that a lot of times when you've got the starters out there working with the groups playing in the game, and then you've got your backup or your rookie quarterback who's there and he's on scout team and, or in practice, he's throwing routes to guys on air. The teammates, they kind of guys in the locker room know, they see it and they go, wow, this kid's talented.
I mean, you would hear that all the time actually from Patriots in training camp the year that Brady eventually got his start. And it starts the buzz, right? And the players are talking about it in the building a little bit like, man, what about this dude? He can throw it.
He's throwing to the receiver some like, and it's not anything against Kirk. It's just naturally, you're always like, whoa, I'd love to try that car, right? That car looks like it could roll. And so I think that you have a little bit of that, and I can remember before the game talking to Zach Robinson, some of the guys at the staff, obviously being with them in LA. And I was like, man, how impressive is Pinnix in practice? And he was like, dude, it is wow.
Really? And it was like, you know, obviously Kirk's our guy, but like it's, we're real excited about the future. So now you get to this part of the year and it's dire time.
This is like, you're looking for anything that can catapult your team. And that whole team's watched this guy practice all season. I think inevitably you're like, you know what? We've got to just take a shot and do it. Raheem Morris spoke to the media, I believe as you guys were just arriving about a half an hour plus ago, this is what he had to say.
The same way we do with all our decisions, you know, obviously you go in, you evaluate, you talk, you look at the tape, you go through all the process, you go through your next preparation and your daily things that you got to do. Obviously, you know, we got to play better at the position. We want to play better position, and that's what we made the decision to do that last night. And what was Kirk's reaction and his long term status with the franchise? You know, obviously anytime you take a step down in the demotion or whatever the case may be, it's not going to be met with great, you know, appreciation and all those things. But Kirk was a professional, he's a pro, he's a man, he's a great human, he's a great father, he's a great football player, he's done a lot of great things for us this year. He handled it with class, he's an absolute professional, I can't say enough good things about who the man is and how he is and what it is, but you know, obviously it comes with some disappointment when you lose your job. Man, man, 509 yards, four touchdowns a night, you were in the building and that overtime went over the box. And then a few weeks later, you could make a case he even had a better game because he was 23 of 29 in week eight in Tampa with four touchdowns and no interceptions, even though at half the passing yards, it doesn't matter who cares. Unreal this league, man, how things play out.
It's just a constant reminder that it is a performance based business and it can happen to a guy like that. He's been a very bad, probably the worst four game stretch of his career at the wrong time, but at the end of the day, it's not unfounded. And I think Kirk is a professional.
Kirk's got to be disappointed, but he knows that it's not unfounded and he's not playing up to the standard that he has set his whole career. And the giants are coming in. So I understand it's only a two win team, but there's some grown ass men on the defensive side of the ball that Penix is going to have to deal with. But let's just give them the win. We'll just give them a win. The Eagles and the commanders have part two going down for them in DC. If the Eagles win that game, let's just throw that out there, which is a feasible result, obviously, right? Then the Sunday nighter that NBC just flexed into, Penix at Jayden Daniels would be for a playoff spot.
So the path is there. I mean, it's very real. The question is, how do you think it's going to play out?
How real is it? I think what will be interesting is some of the limitations that obviously showed up early in the season and kind of all year long, you're asking for Kirk Cousins has always been successful in play action and really evolving in that game. You know, why haven't we seen it with Zach Robinson and him and Zach Robinson comes from Sean McVay and that whole philosophy on offense, right? This is what Michael Penix was amazing at in college. I mean, in college, he's one of the highest percentage play action quarterbacks. That was what he was.
He was great at it. So he's got obviously the arm strength and the ability. Will you start to see some of the under center play action, roll outs, all that become alive in this game? I think it's to me now, Zach Robinson, all right, you've had some things happen throughout the year. You know, obviously Kirk hasn't seemed like his best, but can you unlock really this offense and its potential with all the capabilities that Penix has?
I think that's what's going to be exciting to see is, is it something that maybe not only Penix plays well, but this offense can unlock some of the pieces it has because they've got plenty of skill talent. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, you play action with Bijan. I think that's going to work. Right? Yeah.
Yeah. He's had an amazing season. He's playing great. You kind of thought you'd see with Zach Robinson coming like Drake London, some of these guys become like your Cooper cup and kind of take on some of those roles and it just hasn't been the consistency of what you'd want to see. But I think it's going to be interesting to see with Penix, is he bringing an element that kind of unlocks a part of this offense. Yeah. And, you know, Mooney, another guy that's had a great year and I think he was stuck in Chicago for a while. So, you know, to get here, to have a quarterback that's throwing in the ball, like he's been unlocked a little bit too. So the, the skill position talent on this team is there. We didn't even mention Kyle Pitts. Yeah. I mean, they, they, they have the horses. The question is, can the rookie, I'll give you this stat as well. You know, I've mentioned it a couple of times, but I'll, I'll say it again. In the history of the, uh, of the NFL, you take a look at rookie quarterbacks who make multiple starts and lead their team to the playoffs after his first start happens in week 10 or later for a team that's at 500 or below.
I know that's a very small subset here. Okay. That's still relevant though. It's never happened.
Okay. They're asking him to do something nobody's ever done. And based awful, also off of the way he was born into the league, I've never seen anything like this. I've been around this thing for 22 years. I was about to say how many teams have drafted a guy in the top 10 and then paid a quarterback they already had at the same time.
That's been done either. So crazy. I don't recall this whole journey from draft night in Detroit in late April to mid December right now. It's unreal. Can't make it up.
It's truly amazing. Uh, let's talk about your Thursday night football game because you're going to see Bo Nix, uh, coming in and, and he could be a playoff quarterback right now. I'd be hard pressed to see how, how, how a six and eight team right now could somehow overcome a, a nine and five team right now. But um, what, what do you think of the Broncos coming in this game? We got to see them earlier and it was, this is a flex game. That's right. You got flexed into the first ever Thursday. They had to agree to take another road game on Thursday night, which they did. And I know that we had is very thankful as long as a lot of the very thankful.
The Amazon people that are based in California and LA here. But uh, it was funny, watched him in our first game. He was kind of all over the place, kind of what you'd expect from a rookie. He's running around, he missed some throws. That was at New Orleans.
It was New Orleans. They ended up winning the game. But it just, it seemed like what you'd expect out of a rookie quarterback. You could see the competitiveness, you could see the fire, but there was just some mistakes and they didn't end up catching up to him in that game.
After that game, he went on an absolute terror. And then the last few weeks, the turnovers have crept back in. We've got five picks in the last two weeks, but there's not a better situation. I think coaching wise with a coordinator that is going to be able to handle a rookie quarterback like Bo Nix than what he has with Sean Payton. He's really benefited from that and their defense is playing great right now. And a great defense. I mean, if you're a rookie quarterback and you want to play, I think having, you know, Sean Payton and a great defense is probably the best ideal scenario you can have. I mean, but watching them on tape, you know, you obviously see that the things that kind of miss yet still is like the running game. Like you'd really expect a Sean Payton team, really the identity he loves to have, them be able to run it better. And it's funny, we talked about those running backs that just left teams. Like I, you know, it's like watching their offense, you miss like Alvin Kamar and the Saints offense.
Like you can tell Sean doesn't have that guy yet. Like he's always been amazing at setting up screens and finding ways to get to back the ball and he loves having those really athletic backs that can do it all. And he just doesn't quite have that yet, but you can still see how good of a play caller he is. There's a lot of plays that Bo Nix hits and he does a great job because he has the ability, but you can tell like, man, they scheme this one up. It's a great call by Sean and Bo does a great job executing it.
So I think it's gonna be fun to watch them. Cause I think really, if you consider their cap problems with $90 million, whatever it is, what they've been able to do is insane. And the thing is also that when Sean Payton and the Broncos turned Russell Wilson into the largest dead cap hit in the history of the NFL, you're sitting here thinking, oh, good luck to them drafting a rookie quarterback and doing what they need to do with the rookie quarterback, which is win a championship while he's as inexpensive as he possibly can be before you got to start paying them generationally enriching money. Good luck doing that when you're kind of paying the quarterback position, maybe not the kid that generationally enriching money when you're talking about the dead cap and here they are putting nine wins going to make the playoffs and getting rid of some of the pillars they had on defense too.
And they've completely remade their defense in such a short amount of time. But I still remember us talking after that game and me kind of shaking my head about Bo Nix thinking this was Sean Payton's guy. Like what does he see in Bo Nix that I am not seeing, you know, cause it wasn't a great game for him, but you have the ultimate trust in Sean Payton to be able to evaluate a quarterback. He fell in love with the guy and as the season has progressed, we've seen why, I mean, he he's a playmaker guys love playing with him. He's a competitor and he's not afraid to throw it down the field either.
I mean, he is not shy about that. And Courtland Sutton has been the recipient of some of those this year. And how dangerous are the chargers? I know that they just, you know, they they've taken some hits lately on the defensive side of the ball, but what do you think about that? Yeah. I mean, last week was rough for them and I think the defense is going to respond to what happened last week.
First of all, I do potentially Pereman's coming back, which will be big. But you know, they beat the Broncos earlier this season. They've been points wise, they've been the best defense in the NFL this year, but it's like this Harbaugh led team where they come in with a different attitude, which is physical.
It's tough. And that's not just on defense. That's what they're trying to do on the offensive side of the ball too.
The concern that I have on the offensive side of the ball since JK Dobbins got hurt, totally different run game has been non-existent. And so, you know, can they, in the last four, they're sitting at seven and three, he gets hurt in the Baltimore game. They've got their last four games are one and three, 23 points, 17, 17, 17, they can't get over the hump. They can't get things going.
That's what I want to see more at a Justin Herbert in these last three games. And then the, their co-tenants, if you will, the owners of SoFi as well, the Rams, it kind of feels Super Bowl season ish similar. Like I know last year they went out, they, they started poorly and then they made the playoffs and then got one and done. So but that was as a wildcard team making the playoffs this time around, they'd win the division is the way it looks. But it kind of, I don't know, man, it kind of feels like something's happening with the Rams.
Yeah, there are definitely, I mean, it's obviously the healthiest they've been all year. We say this every year. When you look at the end of the season, we can talk all year long, all we want, just start looking for the healthiest teams that are playing well, and they're going to have the most success.
And that's just the truth. So you start looking at these rosters and these teams and eventually the war of attrition of just losing guys, it comes to haunt guys at the end of the season. And so, and so teams struggle, but the Lions, I mean, it's been crazy, right? When you look at this Rams team, really in the last three weeks, they've had their offensive line back that they originally planned to start the season with. Didn't take a single week that they had all starting five until week 13 and 14. So it's pretty crazy to think that they finally reached this point, obviously when Puca and Cooper and everybody were back and healthy, this offense has taken off since then. And then a really young defense that has a lot of great pass rushers. I mean, that's really, you know, in the secondary they've struggled, but if they can get after a team up front and they're playing a team at home as a division winner, they got a chance to win a playoff game and they can run the football with Karen Williams, Blake Corum's come along, you know, they've kind of adjusted how they run the football.
I mean, I think they really, to me, have a physical identity to themselves, running the football, throwing with Matthew Stafford out of play action. And Puca has, I think, you know, obviously had a great rookie year. I think this year he's really submitted like, he came on our desk, I had no idea.
Best interview I think we've ever had. This year, we had him at the Super Bowl, okay, and this was after the season that he had and he played in that Lions game, we all know, in the wildcard game. And I just remember watching the game and I'm thinking to myself at the start, I'm like, where's Puca? He's not out there. And I'm like, wait a minute, it's number 17, but where's the hair coming out the back of the helmet? And I asked him, because I realized, you know why the hair wasn't coming out the back of his helmet? Because he wore one of those cold weather balaclava things. And I'm like, were you cold inside? He said he didn't know the Lions played indoors. He thought when he was going to Detroit, he would wear cold weather gear to inside.
Like I'm like, when you warmed up, like, didn't you look up and see like a roof? He doesn't know the division, he doesn't know any of that. He took the cold weather gear off after the first series. I mean, he's good at football though. He is really good at football. He knows football. He's on his own planet, but it's an amazing planet.
Yes. So I met him and he's awesome. Yeah, to quote Tony, I think he always says, oh, to be that free.
I mean, Puca is one of those people like, oh, to be that free. Like he just is enjoying life, loving life every day. I joked with them before he came on the set. I was like, I can't wait for y'all to talk to this guy because he is literally like full ball his life. Like that is him. Like he is from the show, the Ted Lasso show. That is him.
And he sat on the desk and you're just like in love with everything he has to say. His whole entire aura, energy is unbelievable. And he may be the best receiver in the NFL. Yeah.
The versatility. I mean, he's listed at 215. I don't think he's 215.
No, no, no. He is. He's a tough guy to tackle. I mean, we had them in the Niners last week, Deebo-like in terms of trying to hit his thighs and tackle him.
And it's just not happening. He's running through tackles. He's physical.
He runs the ball. The amazing catches that he's been making. The one he had against the Bills in the sideline.
There it is. Mike Hoskins knew I was going to bring it up. That one right there was amazing. And then obviously in the game where it was a points challenge game, the helmet catch. But this one here, Tony Gonzalez was talking about that catch and just the difficulty of it. And we're talking about a guy that knows how to catch a football. I would think so.
He doesn't know how he did it and getting his feet in and the throw by Stafford there was unbelievable too, but on a dime. And he's also Al Michaels' favorite player now because you know Pukka doesn't eat vegetables either. That's actually a fact. All right. Can I get one more segment out of you guys towards the end of the year? Okay, great. We'll finish the show with you guys because I want to talk Al with you and just a little bit more in your pod and everything else.
I've got Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth here on the Rich Hudson Show. For those who don't know, Al has never had a vegetable in his life. That's what he's referring to.
That's the truth. You met Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now Lala and her friends share everything on Give Them Lala. Bagel, everybody says I say that weird. It is ruined by a proposal story. How Jason proposed and she was like, he brought in a bunch of bagels.
I was like, I have to stop. I will punch you in the throat. If you ever tell this story again and call it a bagel. But he'll tell you.
Now when I tell the story, I go, he went and got breakfast bagels. Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. Back here on the Roku Sports Channel, radio will rejoin in about two minutes time to make it one big happy simulcast. Once again, fits in with podcast available wherever you get your podcasts, new episodes weekly. When do you guys record this? Mondays, Tuesdays? When do you do this? We now do it on Monday. We were doing it Sunday night.
Oh wow. And then it was getting a little late for me. I bet.
I was having too much coffee to stay up. So we're doing it Mondays now. So then it releases on Tuesdays. Yeah. I guess so.
Released on Tuesdays. We're really informed. We're pretty serious about this podcast. Yeah. Well, I mean, you've got three, don't you? Four. Four kids. Wow. Eleven kids between you.
How the hell are you finding the time? I've got three dogs. Can we consider it seven? Yeah. It's seven and seven. We ship all the kids off to school.
Seven on seven drills. That's what I'm saying on a Sunday night. I mean, I don't have a single second to breathe.
I've got three kids and two dogs. You might have had some birthdays, but it's 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 5. Right? Yeah. Damn. Think about that. Look at how the cadence is going. That's crazy. No false starts. No. No false starts.
With that cadence. It is. And they're all off-season. When you don't make the playoffs as a player, January. It gives you a big window. Come on, man. It gives you a big window of when to have kids.
So all of them are either January, March, or April. That's why it gets quiet. Wow. When you start talking about the ranch playoffs and stuff like that. He's like, I'm going to just stay out of those conversations. So you're enjoying it?
You enjoying the potting? We have a blast. We talk about everything from football to Mazy's pick them this past week to fourth grade recitals and you name it.
Anything kids, football, family fun. My 11-year-old didn't miss a game, a football game. She got them all right.
She picked all 11. This weekend. Correct. This weekend.
And no one's on a buy either. That was the whole, that was huge. Insane. I did pretty well.
Now you want to be strong. Did we parlay in those patches? I would have had to parlay nine different, you know, with the seven kids and my picks and my wife. You can't ask an 11-year-old for a parlay, man. Yeah, but I feel like the odds, I mean, even if you did it all, you'd have done well. Yeah, you're right. That's on me. You'd have done really well. Oh my word, you guys. Life insurance, you know you need it, but maybe you think you can't afford it or it's too complicated or you don't want to deal with medical exams.
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Get your free quote at tryethos.com, that's try E-T-H-O-S.com. Back here finishing up the show with two from the Prime Video Thursday night football coverage on Prime Video, which you can see right here on the Roku portal, Broncos Chargers this week. I did Thursday night for many, many a moon and you know a lot of the people I know and I know a lot of people you know, Spoon, your producer, Mark, Mike Muriano. I mean, man, we did the Thursday night thing way before, you know, when Amazon was just sending boxes to your house, you know, and selling books when they were just selling books. That's all it was right back in the day when we were starting to do this. But the reason why I bring this up is I did it for after NFL networks exclusivity ended and we started doing it with other television partners.
I did it for a couple of years on NBC and hung around Al Michaels and I've known him forever and a day even from way before when NFL networks started. What a blessing, right? To be going around the country with this man, doing what he does.
It's unbelievable. I mean, it feels like every week we leave and it's just, we always have a moment we share of like how cool it was to listen to him tell a story about X, Y, and Z that happened. And he remembers everything down to the last second in detail in yard and inch.
I think it's fantastic. I've even been with him like a lunch and he'll start telling a story of something in history that happened and he'll point to me and be like, I told you this when we were in Buffalo three weeks ago. You know, and you're like, wait, you remember when you told me this story? And he'll kind of like, it's like, he can pick everybody in the room. He knows what he's told him, when he's told him it and what it's about. It's wild how sharp this guy is, man.
It's unreal. He's the greatest. He's the best. He'll tell you stories about, you know, when I was in Switzerland for Wild World or sports, you know, and blah, blah, blah.
I mean, the hotel rating system, the Olympics, the absolutely historic everything he's done. And so part of the podcast thing too is like, these stories now aren't being lost. Like the, the things that we do together with Spoon, Muriano, Al, like being able to share some of those experiences and give them life a little bit has been fun too. Your rating you got on Air Al, that was a big deal. Yeah. So I got to fly. I got to fly back. Air Al. He got invited. He got invited. Is he rating people for Air Al? I gave him a rating. Whips on there much more than I am because I'm not flying in LA. I didn't do great. No. What happened?
What happened? Well, let's see. First, multiple trips to the little buffet. Like, you know, I mean, it's not like you're in a huge space. He's like, you know, people got to move. He's going to get salmon or whatever it is, smoked salmon from the little bar.
Nobody else was eating the salmon. I felt like it'd be rude if it wasn't gone. So he kept getting up to go get it. You know, there's also, there's, you know, you have the front of the plane, the back of the plane. That's what I call economy. That's where, you know, I sit and.
I didn't realize. He would keep going into first class to talk to Al. I'm like, that's his area. But it's just one cabin though, Andrew.
It doesn't matter, you don't have to invade people's space. It's on the zoom. Rich, you know, he's trying to wave and Al zoom at guys. He's like, I know Jamis. Let me say hey to Jamis. It's like, dude, sit in your seat and stay out of it.
Like this is his zoom, right? That wasn't the worst violation though, guys. It's not the worst.
The worst, Rich. This is all-time amateur hour. We're landing and we're landing in Detroit and bad weather. We're going to land. I think it was Cleveland.
Jamis, Cleveland. We're going to land in Cleveland, bad weather and little bumpy landing, you know. And so he decides, because Al's being Al, just being funny, whoa, Nelly. Whoa, Nelly. Here we go.
Here we go. Whoa, Nelly. Like an all-time funny moment.
I just wanted to show my wife. Here's Ryan in his seat and I'm watching him like, no, he's not. He's like, he loves to film people.
So he like goes to film Al. No, no. I'm not going to put it anywhere. What do you think he had on? Wow. Flashlight. Boom. Bright light in Al's face.
Oh yeah. So all you see is flash, flashlight comes on, toss his phone behind him trying to act like it wasn't him. It's over, bud. You've already flashed him in his face. Like it's over. That's incredible. I'll never be invited again.
So I took a picture of him trying to get the flashlight off of his phone. So I gave him a rating on our podcast that he might as well stick to Southwest because he's done. Like he's no longer, oh no, not great. He's out. Not great.
Feel free to move about the country, sir. Al will not invite back on air Al Ryan Fitzpatrick. He gave you another try. I'm sure he did. He gave him another try. I'll tell you the first time I ever met Al Michaels. First time. It was NFL network owners meeting.
First one we ever covered spring of 2004 at the Breakers Hotel, the very famous Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. And we were doing NFL total access from a set in the parking lot and I went back into the main hotel to use the facilities and Al was leaving. He was going to the airport after being there for a day, he was done. And Howard Katz, long time executive in television and he knew Al from the wide world of sports days back in the day.
And he also knew that Al is very particular about his accommodations on the road. That's a good way to say it. That's a good way to say it.
You've seen his first hand, I imagine. Already benefited from it. Yes. Yes. Very much so. So you get upgraded. We're very grateful. You've gotten upgraded in terms of places in which you've stayed. Okay, very good.
So yeah, he's very particular. I stayed in none of these places as a Cincinnati Bengal. I can assure you that. As a player. You're staying in better places as a broadcaster than a player? There's no doubt about that.
We're at the Radisson, I think. Fantastic. There's a key phrase there, as a Cincinnati Bengal. Oh, that's awesome too. Okay, very good.
I appreciate you pointing all that out. So Howard Katz says to Al, as he's getting in his courtesy car in the back seat, he says to him, Al, what'd you think of the Breakers? Which is a beautiful spot. Al says, two and a half seasons, get in the car, close the door, and zooms off to the airport. And I'm like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. And I got the chance to be able to tell Al within about a calendar year. I'm like, first time I ever met you.
Coolest thing ever. Did you hear him say those? We have heard that.
He's recycled that one, but it's a good one. Yeah. I don't know why Four Seasons has anyone else on anything they ever do than Al Michaels. He is their biggest advocate. Ever. Ever. I mean, he should be on every commercial they ever have. Fantastic.
And him and Kirk are just a great list, and T-Man in the truck, and the whole crew. You guys are killing it. And I really appreciate you spending an hour here coming in. Of course. Thank you, Rick. I appreciate that. Say hi to everybody there. Thank you.
Thank you to the shop. Fantastic. And so Broncos, Chargers. By the way, Al was the first guy I texted as soon as I heard that he flexed into a Los Angeles game on Thursday night. Oh, he was fired up. I wished him congratulations.
There's nobody happier than he was. I bet so. And then your finale is Seattle at Chicago.
Yep. Well, Seattle may need that one. It might be a big game for them. Unless the Rams just keep on keeping on, man. Yeah, Seattle is Minnesota first, so this might be a real important game for them.
A minute to go. Most dangerous team in the National Football League is... Man, I think we're gonna differ on this one. I know who he's gonna pick. I'm gonna say the Philadelphia Eagles.
Okay. And you choosing the Bills? Yeah, I'm choosing the Bills, but can I also have a sub choice here? You may have a sub choice.
That nobody really talks about, the Green Bay Packers. Oh, yeah. I've been on this kick for a long time. You have. I'll give them credit on that one. I think they are so damn talented, and it's all gonna come down to, can Jordan Love do it? I don't know.
I'm not convinced that he can. I've seen it in spurts, but they are so good. They hit Seattle in the mouth. I mean, they took the ball with bad intentions, and Josh Jacobs was that bad intention, ended the game pretty much on the spot. It felt that way. The NFC is gonna be a bloodbath in the playoffs.
Oh, I can't wait. It is. I know.
Okay, so you choose the Eagles, and you choose Bills with a sub of the Green Bay Packers. He has a sub. Yeah. You can allow him. It's all right.
Okay. It's these quarterbacks. Sports Talk Radio, it's a faux-pump, but not as bad as flashing your phone. He's protecting the completion percentage.
Flashlight it on Michaels. Yeah, I'm breaking all of their rules. Yeah, I'm breaking all of their rules. Breaking all of their rules. Harvard quarterbacks, they protect the completion percentage. You know?
I understand what he's doing. Check these guys out. Prime Video, Broncos, Chargers on Thursday night in the fits, and with pod. We're back to wrap up on Roku in a sec.
Great picture. My World with Jeff Jarrett takes wrestling fans behind the scenes, along with King of the Mountain, Conrad Thompson. I wanted to ask you about what you know, if anything, on the new WWE ID program, where they're apparently going to be working with some independent wrestlers. My encouragement to any independent wrestler out there, build your value, and then understand your value, and then you create your own leverage. There's no substitute for hard work and getting over. My World with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.
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