Spencer Danielson: We Did Everything To Earn A Bye In The CFP

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We'll do it live. From the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. Jacobs plowing the middle to the end zone. Touchdown.

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Josh Jacobs brings a dynamic. What does he bring in your mind, Jordan Love? His mindset, the way he runs the ball. He's a guy who wants the ball in his hands every play.

He's not gonna let anybody bring him down. Earlier on the show, host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. Coming up, Boise State head coach, Spencer Danielson, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix. And now it's Rich Eisen.

All right. Our number two, the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on the Roku Sports Channel. This Rich Eisen Show, terrestrial radio affiliate smart enough to have us. And that list is going to expand on the first Monday of 2025 when we join the Infinity Sports Network, courtesy of our friends at Odyssey and Westwood One.

That'll be fun when we get to do that. Phone lines we imagine will light and Adam, our call screener, will have to wake up. What's Adam's... What is his Madden rating? I don't know. Better be 99.

Better be 99. EA Sports. It's in the game. That's part of the NFL world right now. That's all I'm saying.

So that's coming up for us later on in 2025. But it's not about us here, okay? I mean, we're a team game. Chris Mannix is going to join us, even though he has an I in his first and last name. He's a team player. He's in our number three. Just had a first conversation with Mike Florio in the first hour.

But joining us now on his bye week, getting ready to find out who he's playing in the college football playoffs, is the head coach of Boise State football, Spencer Danielson. Good to see you, coach. How are you? Rich, good to see you, man. We're looking forward to getting on with you guys. Appreciate it.

Thank you. I wore blue just for you. You know what I'm saying?

I appreciate that. You're bleeding blue, which is mandatory for me to get on. If you had red, I'd have to get off. Listen, I'm a Michigan Wolverine.

Red is not in my fashion, sir. You know what I'm saying? No question.

No question. So you and I are kind of, we're kind of like that. How did you get to Boise State, Spencer?

Well, I mean, it's kind of a crazy story. I mean, I went to Azusa Pacific, which no one's really ever heard of, which is a phenomenal school. We call it the Harvard of the West. Yes, I like that.

I like it. I did a mission to school in L.A. and played football there. Wanted to get into business, was getting my MBA and thought I was going to go get into business, but just so impacted by the coaches I had there that I just fell in love with coaching. So the second I got done playing in December of 2012, I asked the coaches if I can coach.

And they said, yeah, we'll give you a Little Caesar's pizza and a couple hundred bucks. I said, let's go to work and had a blast riding around my little Honda Civic around Southern California, trying to find some recruits, you know, and we just fell in love with with the impact that you have. And I told you, it wasn't because I loved football that I got into coaching. I was so impacted by the coaches I was around that I wanted to do the same for others. And so fell in love with the game and started coaching there and had some connections to Boise State through recruiting and came out and coached a summer camp. I think it was 2015 was the first time I ever been to Boise, Idaho all my life. You know, no one in my family is a coach or in the profession at all and was just so amazed by this place. Came to the blue, coached a summer camp.

No one even had a clue who I was nor needed to. And then was almost able to get a shot at a graduate assistant job in 2017. And I remember talking to my wife and I said, we just got married the year before. And I said, sweetie, I think God, you know, wants us to move to Boise, Idaho.

And she started crying and they were not happy tears. Like, where are you taking me? You know, like, is there a Walmart there? Like, what do we got going on here and moved out here and just fell in love with this place. This community really feel like God's called us here. And so came here in 2017 and it's been an absolute blessing, you know, moving out here. And not knowing that in 2018, the NCAA was going to come out with the 10 assistants at that time. There were only nine full time in 2018. There was going to be 10 and at the end of the 2017 season, Brian Harson, you know, promoted me to full time. And, you know, it was an amazing moment that I'm so thankful for. And from there, I've been I've been here ever since. A lot of, you know, coach, a lot of different positions, a lot of different jobs here, but just been so blessed to be around these players and kids.

And this has become home. I have some follow up questions from that answer, Coach Danielson. First up, toppings on that Little Caesar or just cheese? Just cheese. It's Division 2 budget, guys. Let's not overdo it. If you said pineapple, we'd have to end the conversation. I'm sorry.

I'm a New Yorker. That's just that that's no good. OK. All right. And secondly, who are the coaches that influenced you? Let's drop some names, even if we haven't heard of them. Yeah, the biggest influence on my life now and for the past really year and change is Chris Peterson. I mean, he is a huge mentor to me. We talk weekly and it's not, you know, just all leadership.

It's specifics. It's messaging to schedule to, you know, things that frustrate me that I got to do a better job with as I learn and grow. So Chris Peterson would definitely be, you know, the biggest impact on my life currently. And I've got a bunch of different mentors that I picked their brand. I was able to go out and see Dabo Sweeney in the offseason and he was an absolute 10 out of 10. Brian Harsin is still a mentor to me. Even my coaches that I that were in Azusa Pacific with Victor Santa Cruz, the head coach. Huge impact on my life.

Alan Beatty, Brian Wilmer. I'm the guy that's constantly calling people to figure out a better way to do it because I'm not that smart. I'm not that cool. I want to make sure I continue to impact the players we're around.

And I'm a product of having a lot of really good people in my life. You know, and it's amazing, Coach, what is going up there in Boise State. And, you know, it's an East Coast driven media in our sports world. College football, though, it's a Southeast driven media in the college football world. And, you know, up there in Idaho, people don't even know what's going on with your program until they see a highlight. And they go, oh, there's a blue turf. You know what I mean?

Like that. These are facts. You know, and Chris Peterson, who you mentioned, was setting the standard from 2006 on in that school.

And I'm not surprised that he's calling you to make sure that everything is in good hands. And clearly it is. What do you say to people that say Boise State did not deserve a bye week in these playoffs because you're Boise State. You don't see a play a lot until they see maybe an Ashton Gentie highlighter or 19. You know, what do you how do you respond to that, Coach?

Yeah, good question, Rich. I mean, Boise State, I mean, this place is built on a group of people that have been counted out. And that's what I tell our team, like no different going into this season. There were high expectations. There always are Boise State. You love that.

You thrive on that. I mean, one of the winningest teams in the country since the turn of the century. I mean, that's we this place is built on the backs of years and years of football success and excellence. And so even going this season, a lot of expectations and and counted out in a lot of games we even played in. And so we've been in playoff football since this season started.

We knew, you know, losing a game, especially losing to like me and you aren't even having this conversation if that happened. And so we've been that that's what you love. You thrive on that as a competitor with the expanded college football playoff. Everybody has an opportunity. Everybody has a chance to compete for a national championship. It's on you to go do it.

It's on you to earn the right to do it. And our team's done that. We are one losses to Oregon and we lost that game. We learned a lot from that game and we grew from it. And every week after win, find a way, compete. Next game is the most important game of the season.

You hear that every week. Find a way to win. And we've got a really good team. And I believe in our team and we did everything to earn the right to be to get the first round by. And I'm proud of our team doing that. And now we've got to work our tails off to earn the right to win the Fiesta ball and keep playing.

It's a new season now. It's playoff football. When that ball gets put down in Arizona on the 31st, there's eight teams left playing. And we're excited to earn the right to keep playing. No different than whoever we play is going to work their tails off to earn the right to beat us. So I'm proud of our team.

They've earned the right to get a first round by and I'm excited for us to continue to grow. Tell me something I don't know about Ashton Gente. Not that you know what I know about him, but I think you can kind of gather what the extent of what I know about him. What do you know about him?

I should know. Yeah, Rich. I mean, first and foremost, he's an elite human being. Everybody watch the highlights. Watch who's a football player. He is the best football player in the country.

End of story. But he's an elite person. I mean, a unanimous captain, loves his teammates. I mean, this is the guy, Rich, that we're in fall camp and I've used this story a lot, but I think it encapsulates Ashton. Where, you know, we were doing a night walkthrough in fall camp and I can tell that he's frustrated. And at the end of the walkthrough, he's like, Coach, can you set a players only meeting tomorrow? Because the urgency tonight just wasn't it.

I mean, this is a 45 minute walkthrough at night. And Ashton Gente, who loves his team, has a huge impact on everybody's around. All he was thinking about was not himself, it was about the team. And that's who he is. He's one of the hardest workers I've ever been around.

I mean, he's getting 35 carries in a game. And then on Tuesday practice, he is working his tail off in practice like it's fall camp. That's who he is. He's got a smile that will light up a room. He's one of the most humble young men I've ever been around. He deserves all the credit and some. But I don't know what you know about him, Rich, but I want to make sure you know that he's a phenomenal young man.

He's a generational talent on and off the football field. What happened next after he said, can you set that meeting? What happened after that?

Yeah. So the next day we set a players only meeting and for an hour, no coaches in there. Ashton Gente went in there and handled business. And I had tons of phone calls from our good players after and said, Coach, that's exactly what our team needed. Like Ashton hit it on the head and said, hey, these are some things we can't miss.

We can't take anything for granted. Even a walkthrough and broke him up into positions, had guys talk through things. I mean, he ran the whole thing. And that's just one moment of a guy that cares about his team, loves his team to be able to step out and call guys out and say, hey, guys, this is what it is.

Like, I'm not here just to to to be friends. I'm here to impact your life and challenge you to grow. And it had a huge impact on our team.

I bet it did. What's it like watching him run? And there's a it's amazing and seeing him and I'm privy to it in practice, too. And so Ashton Gente is an early enrollee. He's 17 years old on the defensive coordinator.

I'll never forget this. We're in spring ball. It's scrimmage number one. And here's this talented running back. I mean, he came out of high school looking like who he is now, like he's a tank.

And so we knew we knew right away that he was going to be something something special. But on the defensive coordinator, it's our starting defense versus a 17 year old. It's fourth and one in a live scrimmage. And he takes a fourth and one handoff. We know he's going to run the ball. He knows he's going to run the ball. And he takes that fourth and one handoff, 75 yards to the crib.

I was pissed in the moment. But then after I'm like, guys, you know, I think we all can agree that Ashton Gente is going to be special. And there's been countless runs he's had this season where all 11 defenders have a legit opportunity to tackle him.

And they don't. He puts defenders in conflict every time he touches the ball because they don't know how to defend him. Do I do I stop my feet and brace for the freight train coming at me? If I do, he can run around me and he's got the top end to take the distance. If I don't stop my feet, he's going to go through me like a fly on the windshield.

So he just he puts people in conflict at all times. Spencer Danielson, few minutes left with the Boise State head football coach right here, coach of the year of the twenty twenty four Mountain West right on the Rich Eisen show. So I imagine this is going to be the first time you or I can't imagine that you're going to be watching a game. Not knowing who you're playing next, but knowing it's either one of the two teams you're seeing like that.

This is you know, this is a rare tournament, I imagine, right? Like, have you ever had that experience? Like, I'm going to watch a game and whoever wins, I'm playing next.

No, never have. And that's where even calling a lot of different head coaches that have played in, you know, the New Year's six Bulls prior, none of them had to go through kind of what we're going through, which not knowing your opponent. And so it is it is a new landscape. I mean, you know, Saturday, our guys are going to watch it from home because it's a day off for us. I want our guys to get down with their families and get our players away, but it's going to be it's a new landscape for us. We're excited. I mean, so we we essentially created two game plans, you know, game plan for Penn State, a game plan for SMU, and we've really split practice down the middle. Some of it's for Penn State, the first part of the week and the second part of the week's SMU.

So we're going to be ready either way, but it's definitely a new landscape. And where are you watching it? Gonna watch it from home. I got a three and a half year old and a two and a half year old. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. We got one. We got one on the way in March and we have two girls. We're going to find out what the gender is at birth because my wife said, without question, this is the last one. You know, might as well. Might as well wait. You know, why not?

Even though we all know that it's probably going to be a girl and I'll be fired up. But it's so I'm going to be at home with the family, spend some time with them, because, you know, it's going to be it's going to be a long road to finish this thing out. I am giving our players. We're flying our players home for Christmas Eve and Christmas because they need that. I believe in less is more. And when we do want our players here, I want them to be on the attack.

But I want our coaches and players to enjoy Christmas with their families. And then when they get back, it's time to it's time to go to work. Three and a half and two and a half.

Is that what you said? Boys, girls? I should say both girls. So Eleanor, she's I say three and a half. She's almost four. Right. And we have a two and a half year old.

That's Rosalie. OK. And then, like I said, we've got one on the way in March and we have a girl dog named June. So we're I'm locked in. You are locked in. You are locked in.

So again, you're your coach. So you have to have a game plan. What's the game plan?

Blues Clues. What do we got? Because, I mean, you got to watch this game, man. I mean, you can't I mean, obviously, parenting is job number one.

But this one, Matt, you got it. Like, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I'm going to be. No, that's a great question. Thank you.

I only ask those coach. I can help. The way the way to keep them off balance is as I'm watching, they're going to find a way to probably dress me up in some former family.

So it might be putting some fake nails on. I'm all in. You got it. You got it. You got it.

You got to do this. You got so. So are you saying you could find out it's either SMU or Penn State and you are dressed like Elsa from Frozen? By the time the game's over, I'll probably have multiple barrettes in my hair. I'll have a small dress on one arm, a small dress on the other. And my nails will be painted and I'll be fired up when we play. Let's go. That's a great line, Chris. You got to say that was you just got a cold.

Doesn't bother you anyway, coach. That's right. So that's it.

Yeah. Let's go. Let the storm winds blow, man.

He likes warm hugs. Let it go, boys. Let's go. Let it go. Let it go, man.

Let it go. And on that front, you know, Fiesta Bowl has a rich history at your school, as we all know. Boise State's won three of them. So it's kind of fitting that of all the bowl games that you're playing as a bye week in the first 12-team tournament, it's this one. Is there somebody that will propose after the win like the first one on your team? Are we setting this thing up, coach? Not to put any pressure on any of your players, but that put Boise State pretty much on the national map when Chris Peterson went to the Fiesta Bowl, beat Oklahoma, Ian Johnson gets to a need. I mean, what do you think, coach?

What do we got here? I mean, there's definitely a couple guys that are close and I had one-on-one meetings with them this week. I said, what can I expect? Because I want to make sure, you know, we all know what's going on. I said, and I want to make sure your significant others are ready for whatever comes to. So I don't think that's going to happen, but I've seen crazier stuff happen. I can promise you that. So we've got a couple guys that are close.

We'll see if they will see if they're planning it without me knowing. I was I was blessed to be able to marry one of our D lineman Braxton Feeley this past summer. Okay, and now going to the Fiesta Bowl a little bit like, man, should we have just waited, Brax? We could have done it after the game.

It kind of killed two birds here, but no, I'm excited for our guys. And even to that point, Rich, I mean, guys asked me like, you know, what, you know, what jersey combinations are you going to wear? I'm like, well, they wore the exact same jersey combination in all three. So I think I'll be fired if I say we're not going to wear that same jersey combination.

So we're going to roll with the blue or blue, white, orange and we'll hit the ground running. Well, I look forward to seeing you play, coach. And it's been a pleasure getting to chat with you for the first time. Hopefully it's the first of many.

Congrats on everything that's happened with you personally, professionally. I'm sure your your wife isn't crying about living in Idaho now. You know, it's a beautiful state.

My wife and I, we bring her our kids up there to to vacation quite frequently. And it's it's well, come on by, Rich. OK, well, I will absolutely do that. Trust me, when invited, I ring the doorbell.

So be careful. So I'm saying we'll watch Frozen together. We'll do that. Let's go. We'll get your nails painted, man.

We'll get you down. That is not my first rodeo in that regard, sir. Thanks for the time. Good luck to you, Rich.

I appreciate you telling. Thank you guys for having me on the show. That's the same to you that Spencer Danielson of Boise State football right here on the Rich Hyzen show.

Remember, I reached out to you yesterday, Chris. I'm like, I'm wondering how many coaches, let alone Boise States, have ever been in a situation where I'm going to watch a game. And I know I'm playing one of these two, but I won't know to the end who I'm playing in a week. Unless they coach on the FCS level or any of the lower division two, division three colleges that have tournaments before.

Then that's kind of the only scenario in which they would have been in this position. He's not wrong when he says that Ashton Gente gives everyone a shot and then nobody has a shot. And a lot of his runs. And then there's, you know, there's one, there's a few of them where he just gets through the line and he gone.

See ya. You see him with a star in the side of his helmet next year, right, TJ? Is that what you see? Is that what you see when you see? I'm not looking at the blue turf. You're not looking at any final scores. You're just looking at this kid. Not looking ahead.

We still have games to play this year. Now you heard it sounds like he's like Bijan in terms of human beings, right? Yeah, he sounds. I love it. Love stuff like that. One's to root for. Yeah. You imagine if it's SMU versus Boise State for the right to be in a final four. No offense. I know you want Penn State. I only say that because, you know, you hate me.

No, no, no. Penn State is a blue blood, you know? True. They got a home game. Penn State's a big favorite in this game, by the way.

Against SMU? Yeah. A lot of snow in Happy Valley this week. It's going to be cold.

It is going to be bigger. That was fun. What a fun shot that was. Yeah, I really enjoyed that.

Girl dead. I'm glad you didn't bring any of that up. Best field.

To ask them to rank them or something? Papa, Papa, Papa. You always imitate Taylor like she's in Peter Pan. Oliver Twist. Papa.

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Shopify.com slash WestwoodOne to upgrade your selling today. Luca. Luca had a triple double 45, what, 11 and 13 or something on Sunday night.

He's out tonight. The stars don't play and a lot of players don't play. And Dan is saying basically for the star players who don't play or some players who don't play, you see 22 year olds with an illness, you see 23 year olds with a, you know, a hamstring maintenance.

And Dan's pointing out, like, if you don't care, why should I care? Yeah, Charles Barkley recently said the season should start on Christmas. Like, it's just too long. Yeah, it's too long.

But, you know, owners and teams are never going to give games back. Of course. What do you think it is? I mean, you got, you got a guy who is, who is, who is load managed on occasion. And then when he's not, he's unlucky where he gets his face broken. Yeah.

You kind of see why he gets load managed so much because of all the injuries. I think, you know, that has a big part to do with this. You know, at first, a few years ago, you were really on this about like LeBron missing games and how, you know, people go to the games, they see a player one time and he's not there. And a few years ago, I was like, oh, whatever, you're being crazy. It's not that big of a deal.

But now three, four years later, I'm seeing, yeah, that is a big deal. You should remove, you should just remove back to back. Just remove them. We've said that for years.

Remove them. Al Horford. Again, I don't know how many people with all due respect are going to the game to see Al Horford. He never plays two games in a row on back to back. He's also 45 now. Well, they've been doing that with Porzingis too.

They've been, they just kind of alternating. Now that's a guy that you want to see come to play. That's somebody you're going to go to see. He's also coming, he's coming back from a serious injury from a year ago.

And so you want to be careful with that. But there's always going to be guys coming back from serious injuries. And if you have a league where those people are going to be rested, rested, that's a problem.

I truly believe. And again, through our fantasy league, you are seeing every, any fantasy, because again, you want to talk about popularity. Do you know how many people are going to be watching tonight's Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers game because of fantasy football? Fantasy playoffs. No, it starts tonight. It starts tonight for a lot of people. Or it's your semifinal week.

Correct. And so this is huge. And in terms of fantasy basketball, you're constantly looking at your roster, questionable, doubtful, out, out, out, out. And you're like, okay, how fun is this? That's just on the fantasy level.

And that's the casual fan that you're looking for. There's the gambling aspect of it too, obviously. And obviously the NBA is... They were early adopters to be partnered with these gambling companies. I don't know what the answer is, but more stars playing more games. That's it. One of the issues too I've seen people say is that there's not a lot of relatable or marketable young stars.

Is that right? Which I just don't buy that. Anthony Edwards is...

I just don't buy that. Anthony Edwards is a delight. And Wembley, there's those two right there. Did you see Wembley give his jersey to a kid the other day? Yeah, walking off the court. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Really? But the Knicks have young, good marketable players. Well, here's Celtics 2-2.

It's not just that too. Donovan Mitchell. There are guys out there.

Orlando has some. I mean, look, we've proven Carl Kari Infamy-Townes is one of the best personalities in sports. That guy should be marketed a lot.

Absolutely. So again, we're talking about Cam Ward, Shadore Sanders, right? That's who we're talking about. Everybody knows who these guys are. They've seen them play.

They saw them on the Heisman Trophy. Ashton Gente. The NBA's first overall draft pick could be a G-leaguer you've never seen. That's true. Right? Or it could be somebody that's playing in Serbia right now that you've never seen.

Most likely. Or some foreign player that you're hoping is the next Luka, next Wembley, right? I mean, that's another thing too. The NFL has somebody that you have seen and is the biggest man on campus that you have seen for three straight years worth of Saturdays. And the NBA is just like, congratulations fans who are dying to see your team get better.

Here's somebody that you need to go YouTube their Estonia highlights. You know what I mean? And that's not easy either. And that's why I've been out on college basketball.

And I have no relationship to these guys because of one and dones. And I'm just not invested like I used to be. It's too bad. No, but that has something to do with Syracuse too. You have to admit that. If Syracuse was like top five, if Syracuse looked like Tennessee right now, you'd be interested.

I don't know. I'm fully admitting. Michigan the last several years, as you know, it's been a difficult stretch. Basketball. Watching Dusty Mays' crew.

I'm in. It's fun to watch. I've been watching more Michigan basketball this year than the last three years combined. But it's also a reason why NBA ratings are down. There's just more content all over the place. And you have to make decisions on what you're going to spend your time watching. Two hours a night when you have kids and you only have maybe a few hours in the evening to watch stuff.

I don't want to watch December college basketball. It's fun. Well, you don't have the kids, Mike. It's true. Plus I'm working. I'm there. There you go. He's working it. You're right. I get what Brock was saying. It's not like he's, you know.

Players move around a lot in college. Mike's the guy who loves roller coasters but can't go on one because he works at the amusement park. I'm scared. He's that guy right now.

I'm petrified of roller coasters. You know? He's that guy.

I don't want to go on one. Plus, TJ's not even paying attention to his fantasy team anyway, so what does he know? At this point? Are you in last season? My season's over. Oh, fantasy basketball.

Oh. Fantasy basketball. We've played three games the last three weeks in fantasy basketball.

This Emirates Cup has screwed everything. Rich Eisen's show, producer Ken Tullo texted from home last Friday, the Bulls and Hornets missed a combined 75 three-pointers. Oh. So, that's the other thing too.

You're taking lower percentage shots and more of them are being hoisted up. I don't know. Maybe just when it all comes down to it, April, May, and June will be properly rated. I'm sure they will be. 844-204-Rich, number to dial here on the Rich Eisen show. The latest on the Kansas City Chiefs in advance for this Saturday's game against Houston. And setting you up, we'll talk about all of this with Chris Maddox in hour number three.

844-204-Rich. You also have the top five wildest journeys of the NFL season. That's still to come right here on this fun, busy Thursday. This episode is brought to you by AWS. Amazon Q Business is the new generative AI assistant from AWS. Many tasks can make business slow, like wading through mud. Help!

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NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. I learned this a long time ago in my broadcasting career. As long as you're sitting in front of a camera or there's a microphone attached to your lapel or in front of you, you're always live, right?

We even heard that, right? You know, we'll do it live. You're always on, man. You're always on, right? So I mute my mic so much.

Same goes for audio executives. This was a fascinating watch in our control room. You guys all backed it? I mean, you were just jabbering on the phone for like 20 minutes, man. By the way, I was on the phone. And gesturing and yammering. Then you got mad at one point.

We had to blur out that figure. Oh, no, no. I'm saying if you flipped the bird. Okay. I was explaining it.

If somebody flipped the bird. All right. And then at one point you started yawning.

So then you got bored. Like, what is this all about, Mike? I was speaking with Jim, our engineer. Okay. When we go to the new radio stuff. Okay.

It was an actual phone call that had to do with the show, everybody. You were doing work. Well, listen. See? And this is proof.

But I get animated. It is proof with us going to Infinity Sports Network in our time slot that we've been in for a while. And we're staying in that time slot.

I think it proves that we're number one. Why were you flipping the bird? Because I was explaining.

Is that what you were saying, Jim? Hold on. I was explaining that the dump button, the way the dump button works, that in television if somebody flips the bird, they go to, like, they scramble it. Okay.

I was explaining. Just like we did. Just like we did. Yes. I'm not going to point the finger again now. Please.

Please. Because we don't have the ability to scramble live. So technically, yes, the dump button. And I used the finger. Now, why were you yawning then? Did you get bored by the conversation?

No. I was prodding. I don't know if I yawned. You didn't yawn. You didn't yawn at one point. You definitely yawned.

I don't know. At that point, Mike was like, they think they're 10 seconds ahead, but we're really 10 seconds. Yeah, TJ was there. I was sitting there just here. Yeah, exactly. I had to listen to it.

Yeah. You were off camera, by the way. It was loud. I had to listen to it. We were watching. It was fascinating television for us. Thank you for that content, Mike.

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That's try E-T-H-O-S.com. Martin in Colorado. Mike, use the proper finger to bring him up, if you don't mind. Martin. What's up, Martin? What's up?

Martin. What's up? What's up?

Hey, guys. Always a pleasure to be on with you guys. Thank you.

Same. Brockman, I want to thank you for sticking up for the Broncos yesterday. Had to do it.

It's a very exciting thing that he does. Wow. Had to do it.

Appreciated that. Now, Martin. Martin.

Whoa. Martin. Martin. Martin. Yes. Already, whatever you're going to say, you've denigrated my power rankings by calling it the little thing. Okay? I heard that.

I picked up on it. I'll now give you the rest of your time to fill in the blanks here, Martin. You've already left the blanks. So what do you have for me, Martin?

What do you have? All right, Rich. I love you. But I called in and did the win-loss game. I had us at eight and nine, and that was being optimistic. I am now optimistic that we're going to be 10 and six by the time it's all over. Well, that means that you're only finishing one and two is what you're saying. Or, I'm sorry, 11 and six. Okay. That's what I was about to say. One and two is a pessimistic. That's glass half empty. Hey, hope's a dangerous thing when someone wants that.

Okay. So that six feed, we can go into Pittsburgh and remind Russell Wilson who we are. I think we are a dangerous thing.

I do believe that we should have been in your ranking. What if it's Baltimore? Martin, what if it's Baltimore?

What if you're going and it's Baltimore? We didn't know what happened the last time that happened, right? No? Yeah.

Yeah. And I'll be honest with you, it feels like we're playing with house money right now. But I will say that we are energized. Bronco's country is back because we are irrelevant again.

And we really don't need to be on your little power ranking. No. Colorado.

Martin. Thanks for the call, brother. Appreciate it.

I'll take all the slings and hours. I don't mind it. That won't be edited.

That won't be edited out of the transcript. That's fine. Keep it in the middle.

That's fine. Little. Your little power. See, when he says that makes it sound like he really wants on my little power rankings.

They should be like ninth at least. With all due respect. Chris. Thank you Coach McDaniel. Chris. Thank you Coach McDaniel.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Lost to Denver. With Chris. In week three. In week three. Yeah, I understand. I know that's early in the season.

Kind of doesn't matter. You're the king of the how are they playing now guy. You're the how are they playing now guy. I get it. I am. Are a dangerous team with Baker Mayfield playing the way that he's playing and he says he's thinking about a thousand year old season for Mike Evans more than Mike Evans is.

I appreciate that. They could be ninth. They could be tenth. Over the Rams. The way that the Rams are playing. The Rams. The Rams beat the Bills who are arguably the best team in the American Football Conference right now.

All right. And the Rams just won an absolute brass knuckles reign affair against a team that was desperate and is a defending NFC champs and in a rivalry game and they went on the road. That's really sugarcoating. No, it's not sugarcoating. It's actually what they did.

It kind of is. That's not an easy win that the Rams came out with. They didn't score a touchdown. The team is really battered and injury, you know, they have no running backs.

The receivers. Okay. Yeah.

Look. I don't mean to denigrate. I'm not denigrating Denver. I'm actually very happy for the Denver Bronco fans. All Denver's done is won four in a row since you last had them on the power ranking.

They've done nothing to take themselves off yet they're not on it. And there's, I can only have 10 and I'm, I have the bucks and the Rams on it and I think it's, it's well-deserved for them. And we need one more for comedy purposes. That was for comedy purposes. Hey, Richard, leave the comedy to us.

Okay. You're the hard hitting journalist. Sometimes I can be, you know, sometimes you need a little sweet. Sometimes you need a little salt. You know what I'm saying? I'm a patch kid, I get it.

One of my favorites this world. That's it. I'm done.

I'm done with drops. Yeah. I have to walk away. So. Delicious.

I'm sorry. Uh, the Broncos aren't on my little power rankings. Are you going to take them tonight to the Broncos tonight? You're not going to do it. You're just going to keep disrespecting.

I don't know who I'm taking tonight yet. Interesting. I need to see his Paramin plane for the Chargers.

Hm, is Denzel Paramin plane plane? But disrespect is real. But what do the Chargers need them? I'll tell you that. They got Hunter Henry back on offense, so there's that. That's a good one. It's a nice addition.

We're all paying rent. The Chargers? Yeah. Hunter Henry is on the Patriots. Hunter Henry? No. Didn't I see the Chargers getting him back tonight? No. Hunter Henry. That's right, the Patriots. My bad. Henry Hunter, you must be- Hey guys, we're all- Henry Hill? questionable full participant yesterday okay whoo so he's playing tonight yeah he's a full participant he's waiting tonight okay that's good news for the for the Chargers hey guys Disney Disney the other title listen listen guys listen we're all paying rent in the Kansas City Chiefs world essentially we're all paying rent the easiest headline to see coming is the homes is alright anyway high ankle sprain you know you know I used to have high ankle sprains like Mahomes has high ankle sprains Ben Roethlisberger I will never forget a Thursday night football game against the Browns where Roethlisberger suffered a high ankle sprain in the first half and came back and played in the second half and Marshall called that at halftime of our Thursday night coverage he goes I wouldn't be surprised to see him back out here and everybody thought you know and was that big cat keeps on tweeting out that picture of Roethlisberger with all the yeah but he's walking around like he's like the operation guy right like a walking operation guy ice here ice there ice everywhere and then he comes out and he plays like a superhero I guess it was full participant in practice last two days for the short week Kansas City Chiefs right so why are we crying wolf all the time it's not crying wolf it's not crying wolf it's not crying wolf you are always gonna have a spotlight on you when you have got back-to-back Super Bowl champions on your name and everything else everything else is just a bundle Ruski of hate in their in their direction so like that bundle meet Ruski at least state farms using different versions of the commercial now right and so there's like an outtakes version now comes now comes an addition Hollywood Browns gonna play this weekend now Hollywood Brown as we all know was the take the top off of the defense prime receiver in Lamar Jackson's first MVP season I think Hollywood Brown caught 19 touchdowns in that season opener against the Dolphins right that's a lot and and then and then and then the Ravens were like let's send him to Arizona and then nothing really panned for him with Kyler but take this and so will this be another narrative if he starts slow that not even Hollywood Brown is helping I'm just saying guys when push comes to shove and it is win or go home time there is a two-time defending champ that knows how to close games that now we'll have Hollywood Brown and DeAndre Hopkins at wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes and if I told you that at the beginning of the season that they would go into the playoffs with Hollywood Brown and DeAndre Hopkins as the wide receivers you'd be like look out but no they're lucky blah blah blah and part of the narrative as well to blow this one up too we discussed it I think earlier this week or on the overreaction Monday podcast I can't recall we have too much top quality content for me to keep straight but coming into the season the Chiefs main impediment to making the Super Bowl again in the AFC wasn't the bills because the bills had too much now missing right and it certainly couldn't be the Steelers because who the hell's their quarterback and then it's had to be the Ravens but then they beat them in the first night and who knows maybe it could be somebody in division there was a higher that was the high register candidate right and they've wrapped up their ninth straight division title a couple weeks ago in that regard even though it does appear three AFC West teams might make the playoffs sure looks like that's gonna be the case sure does but coming into the season the team that was supposed to be the one to take out the Chiefs Houston Texans and I have a feeling there are some individuals in that locker room that kind of remember that part of the conversation that's always looking for that edge no boy it's not like they've been terrible either I mean they're nine and five the Texans are not the team that we thought they would be nine and five is very impressive what they're doing the only one that's over performing what we expected of the Texans I believe is Joe Mixon am I wrong tell me I'm wrong he's pulling yeah over producing then we thought then we thought yeah yeah but they've been hit with injuries well who hasn't where's where she rice how long was Isaiah Pacheco out well no but no the Chiefs are the Chiefs they're just lucky they're not good they're not deep they're not anything well you admit that they have gotten lucky of course there are some lucky moments I just don't like the lucky no no no but I would say the branch lucky line luck is a residue of design it's a real lerith would quote his dad poolside is saying that luck comes with some form of perspiration I totally agree with don't you think so you're not think about when you say people get lucky it's not normally the people that don't do anything it's usually someone who's worked and put in some type of work and got a little extra boost to get them some I don't think it was lucky that they blocked the field goal against the Broncos I think that they took advantage of a special team's moment now luck is the other team having an opportunity to kick a field goal at the end of the game but they never do that because the ball bounces up the quarterbacks chest when he's looking the other way that's kind of lucky I thought the block was luck until the next day I watched the play and you saw and apparently they've been practicing this all year of course that's not luck that's preparation so that's why I'm saying there's a bundle Ruski of hate out there Hollywood Brown has come back handle when it gets handled yeah there's that one too there's that one to our three Chris Mannix in studio coming up right here on the Rich Eisen show will you admit that they're good to admit that they're really good I don't think I've ever disparaged them by saying they're not good okay are they more lucky than good not in the way they are they lucky are they more lucky than good are they more lucky than good no they're not more lucky than good but a lot but you know the luck has contributed to several wins okay unluckiest team in the NFL go unlucky in the NFL yeah cowboys no yeah oh wow luckiest team in the NFL uh I'll give you one that's a good one how about the Chicago Bears now they were poorly coached from the get-go that's not it's not luck really yeah how about the block field goal that's that's not being on how about the Hail Mary actually the Bengals angles all that defense yeah but you got a quarterback wide receiver combo making history no matter how many points they put I've got one I've got one unluckiest team is any Madden team that Jerry Judy's on well that's true because he's underrated man I mean he is underrated in Madden that is for sure can confirm Jerry Judy is underrated in Madden the Niners would have to be unlucky there you go that's not a bad one is even pretty unlucky with injuries the Rams kind of had an unlucky stretch there and the Cowboys cuz our owner said all-in and ruin our whole season I mean that getting hurt is pretty unlucky 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