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That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Brian Weber. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Oh my gosh. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program and thanks for kicking off the long holiday week with us, Brian Weber with you, If there's a holiday involved, there's a strong likelihood I'll be keeping the chair warm for Rich and the fellas.
Always a delight to have a chance to interact with you. I give out the phone number for a reason. Typically because I'm auditioning to become an auctioneer or a carnival barker. And I'm a radio guy after all.
844-204-7424 is the number to call. You know that by now. I'm in a holiday mood. I have a ho ho ho frame of mind. I'm open to taking more phone calls than in the past. And what do you know? Our splendid technical producer, Art Martinez, tells me folks are already waiting.
I want to be totally transparent. Hang up now. Call back in about a half hour.
Because I've got a ton of material to get to. We're going to jump right in with all the takeaways from another compelling weekend. Remember the games also occurred on a Saturday. And I'm live on Christmas Day. If you can't get through today, probably a better shot on Christmas on Wednesday. 844-204-7424.
As always, your best bet is to slide over to social media. That is B.W. Weber. Weber with two B's. We're going to start with the now much more interesting race for the top seat in the NFC after what happened yesterday in our nation.
We'll get there coming up. College football's weekend started Friday night. And I hate to, less than two minutes into the program, be the Phil and Hack saying, I told you so. Especially because most of you are saying, who is this man?
And why is he on top of the microphone enunciating so heavily? But if you entered me on Labor Day, and I'm the guy who loves college football, or let's back that up, beep beep beep, loved past tense college football even more than the NFL. I told you on Labor Day, all of the obvious flaws of the playoff expansion, not saying we should go back to the BCS, but I did tell you 8 was the ideal number. Here we are with 12 teams, and what happened? I realize blowouts are a part of sports, especially when you give teams home field advantage, and that was a magnificent development.
We're not going all negative all the time. But if you were settling in looking for compelling games, you didn't get them. And I don't care what the final score in Austin, Texas was because the Longhorns messed around. All four of those games at one point had a lead of 21 points or better. You put them all together. There was only one lead change across the opening round games.
We're talking college football and some tweaks that have to be made moving forward coming up in 40 minutes. And hopefully by now, if you're at least savvy to the gimmick, I do my best beyond throwing out that phone number with regularity. I'm also friendly for interaction because I'm not going to overwhelm you with guests.
Also, that's my delusional egotism, thinking I'm just that fascinating. In fact, no guests in the first hour. We don't have the initial guests joining us until hour number two coming up at 1.20 Eastern Time. Jared Bell, long time NFL writer, now working for USA Today, was in the ATL, got to watch the big PENIX energy. So, if you didn't ride the red zone or didn't catch that game, hopefully if you're a giant fan, you turned it off after the first of two Drewlock pick sixes.
PENIX looked, to me, very composed. Remember, he's a 24-year-old rookie and an obvious upgrade over a battered and beat-up Kirk Cousins. Jared Bell joins us coming up at hour number two, final hour, more college football. We wrap up the program 2.40 Eastern Time.
With Stewart Mandel of The Athletic. Stewart and I have been chopping it up on the radio for a long time and I can have a general sense of where he's going to take the conversation. He's far more upbeat about the new format than I am. If you're a Philadelphia fan, you're rarely upbeat.
It's just in your DNA. But if you're even more angry, more miffed than normal today, I can understand. Because, as I mentioned in passing, when I said if you watched the red zone's coverage, oh, by the way, sneaking commercials in, our guy Scott Hansen had to change his trademark. Seven hours of commercial free!
Now it's seven hours of red zone football starts now. But, understandably, given the insane nature, with all the twists and turns of the game between the Eagles and the commanders yesterday, I felt like I saw that game in its entirety. Because even though it is my Sunday tradition, although I'm just a fill-in host, I prepare like I have a show on Monday, it's been a long time since I had a Brian Weber show to get ready for, but I buckle up for seven hours and was enthralled with how that game came together.
So let's start from the Washington side of the ledger. Because Philadelphia fans, I understand. Now you'll go right back into the sky is falling kind of perspective you typically have, and I get it especially on defense. Because while any fair analysis of what happened yesterday in Landover, Maryland has to start, pause, include in the middle, pause, and have at the end, pause, Jalen Hurts went down in the first quarter. Now I don't understand why the brains trust in Philadelphia, and I think a big reason why we saw the big swing this year after last year's promising 10-1 start, and then the implosion was upgrading the coaching staff. Bringing in Kellen Moore to be the play caller, and Vic Fangio to run the defense, because last year's primary issue was I thought the brain drain that comes with most teams after you make a run to the Super Bowl win or lose, your coordinators become hot commodities and they get head coaching jobs. So Shane Steichen went to Indy, Jonathan Gannon went to Arizona, and there was too much Nick Ceriani in the mix, also making decisions like hiring Matt Patricia made no sense. So if you're wondering why Philadelphia was so dialed in coming into that game and looked so good in the first quarter, even after Jalen Hurts went down, remember, and I also have to presume, I know it's a novel thought, and I'm Brian Weber, aim for rich eyes, and hop on board at 844-204-7424, talking college football in 30 minutes, and in less than 20 minutes I'll be brief, but the passing of an icon like Ricky Henderson demands our attention even though we don't care about baseball the way we used to. Some thoughts about Ricky, because I had the great joy of covering him early in my career, the greatest Oakland A of them all, the greatest lead off man in baseball history, that's coming up in 20 minutes. But if you were not, yesterday, living and dying and taking meticulous notes as to all of the minutiae on a big word Monday across the NFL, I can't blame you, it is a holiday week.
So let me get a little granular. Phillies up 21-7. Saquon Barkley is running wild. And on the Fox broadcast, although I had to mute later because, and this is going to sound like jealousy, I will never have a career in the same zip code as Joe Davis.
I just find him over the top, and it's a strange combination of yelling and being incredibly bland at the same time. Joe Davis kept saying this comeback by the Eagles was preposterous. And yes, I'm aware the Eagles committed five, count them, five turnovers.
But let's provide some context. Earlier this year, we saw the implosion of Jared Goff in Houston with five interceptions himself, not the team with five giveaways. The quarterback absolutely wet the bed and Detroit still won.
So you don't have to go that far back in your memory bank or have your research analyst hand you a card to tell you you can overcome five turnovers. In fact, Detroit, you recall, did it on the road in Houston. So yes, it is impressive, but it's not preposterous. The other thing that makes it not preposterous is Philadelphia didn't have their starting quarterback. And if we're talking value, just how valuable is Jalen Hurts when you take him off the field? Because you see, like most teams, the massive drop off to the backup, and Kenny Pickett did Kenny Pickett kind of things. But I'm not going to put it all in Kenny Pickett. A lot of this comes down to the lack of foresight in game planning or just getting locked up in the moment. If you're Kellen Moore and you go to your backup quarterback, you got to change the offense to a degree.
You cannot ask Kenny Pickett, despite the fact that he was a first round pick, and I know he put up huge numbers at Pitt, he flamed out in Pittsburgh with the Steelers for a reason. He's just the guy. So you got to make an adjustment. You got to modify the game plan. And Washington clearly understood that. Why do you think Saquon Barkley only finished the game with 150 yards after he had over 100 in the first quarter alone? Because Washington could sell out defensively, focus all of their energy and attention on taking Saquon out of the game knowing that Kenny Pickett's not going to beat you. In fact, there's a better chance he's going to beat himself, as he did, with a myriad of lousy plays. Still, Washington commits five turnovers, and I can't yada, yada, yada as much as I'm going to throw loads of praise, deservedly so, in the direction of Jayden Daniels. He was responsible for a couple picks, making his ability to compartmentalize, maintain his focus and concentration, and bounce back with five touchdowns and being Washington's leading rusher in the process.
Makes that game all the more remarkable. So if you're a Philly fan, I know it's in your DNA. You're happier when you're angry. And I'm not just taking a random shot at Philadelphia as much as I try to disguise my East Coast roots by over enunciating and putting on the radio voice. I grew up in the suburbs of New York City.
My old man retired in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I am well aware of all of the venom that flows in the streets for Philly sports fans. And what makes yesterday's loss all the more galling was, not only do you blow the 21-7 first quarter lead, you're up 13 in the fourth quarter.
It's all in front of you. And Philadelphia had a chance to lock up the division. I think they're still going to be fine getting that done because if you haven't looked ahead on the schedule, after all, it's my job, not yours. It's Philadelphia hosting Dallas coming up on Sunday. Oh, by the way, can't believe these words are going to come out of my mouth.
And we'll do it in detail coming up to kick off hour number two. Mike McCarthy is going to keep his job. Now, a lot of that comes down to the dysfunction of the Cowboys. And you're going to reward a guy for missing the playoffs when he should have been fired last year after another 12-win season and the latest debacle in the postseason. But if you watch bits and pieces of that really exciting fourth quarter between Tampa Bay and Dallas, and the Bucks blew a monumental opportunity with that loss, snapping their four-game winning streak after looking so locked in and dynamic in that beatdown they applied to the Chargers. Now Tampa Bay no longer controls their path to the division title because that big panic energy and the Falcons own the tiebreak, sweeping the season series from the Bucks. Tampa Bay now has to continue to win and they need help just to sneak into the playoffs. Dallas is not going anywhere.
We know that. If you've not been tracking them and nor should you, it's a team that's been in disarray, battered by injuries, and I'm not going to give them a participation trophy just because they're still playing hard. They are professional athletes after all, but very quietly, Cowboys now seven and eight back-to-back wins. In fact, they won four of the last five. So Philly fan, you're going to be fine.
You're going to win to the vision. But what was also so costly yesterday when you take a step back and look at the overall picture is that Philadelphia has made their shot at getting the one seed. Hello, Jim Nantz. The top seed in plain English and having home field advantage throughout the playoffs in the NFC. Now it's all right there for the Lions to grab if you believe this team that is being held together by the sheer will and force a personality of Dan Campbell and duct tape. I could go through the entire list of better than 20 players this year who have landed on injured reserve for the Lions, and I wouldn't be able to get the show done on time coming up in two hours and 45 minutes as I'm filibustering here. Now, a lot of Detroit's win yesterday is a reflection of just how lousy things have gotten in Chicago. When I run through the increasing likelihood that Mike McCarthy is going to get a chance to come back next year, we're also going to spotlight the leading candidates to take over what I think is a very attractive job in Chicago. But now you've got to fix the defense, which is baffling because the Bears had a solid defense last year as Eberfluse kept his job before Eberfluse with the whole world watching on Thanksgiving Day. They've spent something like $200 million retaining their own marquee players defensively, bringing in free agents. They couldn't tackle anybody, but a lot of that comes down to the offensive acumen, another big word. How about creativity of Ben Johnson, the very gifted play caller for the Lions, who I think would be a great fit in Chicago if he wants the job. Detroit, because of the head-to-head victory over the Vikings at 13-2, same record as Minnesota, the Lions control their road to the Super Bowl with the ability to clinch home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. But is that going to matter given their massive personnel challenges because not only have they lost so many defensive stars, going back to Aiden Hutchinson with that grizzly, broken leg he suffered against the Cowboys a couple months ago. Most recently, they lost David Montgomery, and I know as you're thinking about fantasy alert, fantasy alert, if you're still alive, Jameer Gibbs had a very solid game yesterday.
He can certainly be the featured back, but so much of Gibbs' success has fed off the one-two punch that came with Montgomery. So, Lions fans, I'm not trolling you. My whole gimmick to get into this industry years ago was I knew sports history because I had no life as a kid. There was no Google.
I couldn't land on a page and look up things that I shouldn't be seeing as a 12-year-old if you catch my drip. So, I sat in my room and read sports encyclopedias and memorized them. I'm well aware of the history of the Lions, but we're talking the curse of Bobby Lane in 1957. The Lions have 13 wins for the first time in team history, yet it just feels like there's this specter of injuries looming over the team. So, how seriously can I take them when we get to the playoffs, whether they're going to have games in the cauldron of forward field or not, because I just don't think they can survive the attrition, which is why Eagle fans have a reason to be even more outraged in yesterday's outcome. It's the overall implication of that loss because now you slide Philadelphia behind Detroit and behind Minnesota. Still, a lot of different things can happen over the final two games of the regular season. But when you're riding high up two touchdowns, nobody can tackle Saquon Barkley.
You feel like not only are we going to lock up this game quickly, we're going to get some important reps for Kennedy Pickett if we need him in the future. And everything changed, which is a reflection of Jayden Daniels just being one of one. I mentioned my passion for college football. I saw a ton of Daniels, both at Arizona State and then you probably saw him at LSU, because remember, it just means more in the SEC, unless you're Tennessee and you get boat raced at Ohio State, we'll get to the college football in 20 minutes. I didn't think, and I am not a poor man's Mel Kipers Jr., although when I grow out my hair, it's comparable. We go to the same Ted Koppel school of haberdashery. I didn't go to the All 22 film. I did not attend the Combine this year, though I was lucky enough to go to three in person about five years ago. But just with the old eyeball test, which I'm told now is more important than wins or losses in college football, I didn't see a ton of separation between Daniels winning the Heisman at LSU and Caleb Williams coming out of USC. In fact, I'm based in Southern California and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen.
Phone call is a possibility in 20 minutes, so start lining up at 844-204-7424 or hit me up on the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I saw Caleb Williams play just about every significant down once he came to USC. Of course, I was aware of what he did at Oklahoma because I am also a USC alum for grad school. I didn't fully buy that Williams was going to take over the league year one. I wasn't thinking he was going to be a bust. I just thought, like anybody, there'd be a learning curve. Now, the one thing you can't say about Williams is he's not tough.
That guy's taking a kind of beating. We haven't seen a rookie QB indoors since David Carr was the number one overall pick for the expansion Texans. Caleb Williams is running for his life and he's still finding a way to be very efficient. You would think he'd have a lot more interceptions thrown, not the case.
But for all the talk about Bo Nix coming on in recent weeks, and that was exposed last week when the Chargers came alive and rallied to beat the Broncos, I never believed Bo Nix was, and I don't care about the view from Vegas, I'm not doing a gambling show until I get paid, I never thought Bo Nix was going to be the Offensive Rookie of the Year. Daniels won it yesterday. He has the two most, in my estimation, although I have to parse this a little bit coming up, but off the top of my head, two most thrilling wins in late game situations. Maybe they amplified because they both came at home, but the Hail Mary against Chicago and the way he, to use the old school term, matriculated the ball down the field with a two-minute drill to beat Philadelphia, Daniels has Washington on their way to the postseason, which tells you a couple things. A, if you find a quarterback who stands out the way that Daniels does, you got a chance, now you got to coach him up, and Dan Quinn has changed the culture as much as I respect Ron Rivera, different vibe with Quinn with his enthusiasm, and Cliff Kingsbury is a quarterback whisperer. I wouldn't touch him as a head coach, but he knows how to interact with quarterbacks, as we've seen throughout his coaching body of work. Beyond that, get rid of toxic ownership. And if you're a Cleveland fan, think about both of those components. You're stuck with Deshaun Watson, who was both uncuttable and untradeable, and an absolutely clueless ownership group in the Haslam family, who gave him that ludicrous, fully guaranteed contract, with the understanding he had turned out to be a football version of Sean Combs, allegedly.
Well, look at Washington. They finally got a chance to escape Daniel Snyder's reign of terror. New ownership comes in, led by Josh Harris, totally different dynamics surrounding the organization, real football people making the decisions, and they made the pick that they had to nail, they made it with precision and accuracy, taking Daniels with the number two overall pick in last year's draft. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, today, tomorrow, and we'll be live on Christmas Day, 844-204-7424, I promise. Phone calls will be in the mix. If you can give me some patience, coming up in less than 20 minutes, I will check the X account.
I won't say Twitter, because only Elon coming after me. It's PW Weber, Weber with two Bs during the break, if you want to lurk in the shadows of social media. In addition to having the option to take a phone call or two coming up in 20 minutes, we'll get to the college football, and dare I say, I told you so.
There were obvious weaknesses, fundamental problems with the 12-team playoff, and we got a glaring example of all of those issues on Friday and Saturday. Coming up, just a few thoughts on the passing of a sports giant. We lost Ricky Henderson over the weekend. I was fortunate enough to cover him with the Oakland A's in my first year as a TV broadcaster. It won't be about me, it'll be about the memories of a person who was quite literally bigger than the game.
He was just that unique, so I'll pass along some stories about Ricky, who we lost way too soon at the age of 65. Just getting warmed up on a jam-packed Monday, always a delight to keep the chair warm and defend the brand that is Mr. Eisenshow. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich. This is the Rich Eisenshow.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. When you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like Alo or Skins, sure, you think about a great product, a cool brand, and brilliant marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually the businesses behind the business, making selling, and for shoppers, buying simple. For millions of businesses, that business is Shopify. Nobody does selling better than Shopify. With ShopPay, that boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts are going abandoned and way more sales happening. So if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell whatever your customers are scrolling or strolling, on the web, in your store, in their feed, and everywhere in between. Businesses that sell more, sell on Shopify.
Upgrade your business and get the same checkout Skins uses. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash Westwood1, all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash Westwood1 to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com slash Westwood1. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. Brian Weber back with you, and I'm proudly 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 clickrainger.com or just stop by. 844-204-7424 is the number to call.
Hit me up on social media. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. In less than 15 minutes, we make the move to college football, takeaways from four games that were not even relatively close.
I'm going to tell you why that was so predictable. We'll start our number two of the program getting into the unemployment line amongst NFL coaches. Already includes three, I think as much as I cannot believe I'm saying these words slowly, Mike McCarthy is going to survive.
Then we'll be joined by our first guest coming up at 1.20 Eastern Time. Jared Bell, longtime NFL reporter, now covering the league for USA Today. He was in Atlanta to watch the strong starting debut of Michael Penix Jr. Not a surprise.
Remember, if you combine his career at Indiana and then getting all the way to the national championship game last year at U-Dub, better than 40 career starts on the college level. Want to spend just a couple moments talking baseball? No, I'm not reacting to Walker Bueller signing with the Red Sox.
As much as I understand what he meant to the Dodgers' World Series win, Dodgers will go out and throw hundreds of millions of dollars at his potential replacement. But I was watching the college football on Saturday. I saw the post from Dave Winfield saying he was stunned to have lost his good friend Ricky Henderson.
And then I kept hitting refresh, looking for confirmation, and ultimately the family came forward with a statement, although TMZ had it early, as they seemingly do in every case. So Ricky, gone at the age of 65. And I mentioned I'm going to be here on Christmas Day. In the past, I have shared Ricky stories because Ricky was born on Christmas, would have turned 66 on Wednesday.
As I've mentioned in prior Rich Eisen shows on Christmas Day, it's fitting that Ricky came into the world on Christmas Day because not to get too glib, he was a gift to all of us. Now, there's a generation or two potentially of listeners who just have tuned out when it comes to baseball. I don't blame you. In fact, if I was making strictly a business decision, I shouldn't be talking any baseball in this program because we know the NFL crushes everything in its path, including college football.
Wait till we see those ratings in large measure because all the games were blowouts on Saturday. But Ricky was just so unique on and off the field, he commands and deserves our attention. Back to the fact he was only 65 years old, lost him way too young. Ricky personified Oakland, Oakland Tech grad. He was Mr. Oakland A's, Mr. Oakland Athletic, how about that?
Not once, not twice, three times. Ricky played for just about every team in the league it felt like, 25 MLB seasons, the very embodiment of longevity and productivity. Remember, in addition to all the steals and that line that will live forever, when he broke Lou Brock's record, he stole third at the Oakland Alameda Coliseum.
How do I know? I was there. When he grabbed the base from its moorings and he lifted it over his head and he delivered the unforgettable line, today I am the greatest of all time. You've heard the Ricky John Olerud story, but I'll do it again.
Why not? Because when you lose a legend, it's a chance to recycle some of the all-time anecdotes. John Olerud, if you don't remember, wore a batting helmet when he played first base because he had a brain condition earlier in his life when he played his college baseball at Washington State, as I'm showing your Pac-12 knowledge on the fly.
I guess I should, it's coming back after all, although a Pac-12 with Utah State, count me out. John Olerud, wearing the helmet, Ricky gets down to first base and he's chatting up John and he says, hey man, you're wearing that helmet in the field. I used to play with a guy who wore his helmet when he was playing first base. And he said, yeah Ricky, that was me.
We were teammates together. Ricky famously got a million dollar check as a bonus from the A's. After about six months, the A's call him and say, hey, the accounting department is wondering, did you cash the check? Do we have to wire the funds to you? And he said, no, it's on my wall.
I'm looking at it right now. He never cashed the check because Ricky was Ricky. And Ricky would go third person, but it was endearing. It was not egotistical. It was not self-important.
It was Ricky talking about, it's Ricky time. And I mentioned briefly that I was the luckiest young broadcaster in the world. Got a job I was not prepared for nor deserved in my early 20s.
So I'm 23. It's 1993. I'm covering the Oakland A's, doing the pregame show on TV. Ricky was there for half the year before he was traded to Toronto. And just to be around him and get a sense of his vibe, his energy. He had time for everybody, every security guard, every cook, every person who was part of the cleaning staff. Ricky was the mayor of Oakland. And let's not overlook how incredibly transented he was as a player. I mentioned the steals record. Beyond that, most runs scored in the history of baseball. If you are too young to have seen Ricky Henderson, and there's got to be a 30-30 made for him, or some sort of in-depth MLB doc, or put it on Netflix, or Rich can produce it. If somebody takes the time to do an hour or 90 minutes, and 30 for 30 only gives you an hour now, maybe even a multi-episode doc, the Ricky Henderson story is bigger than baseball.
I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen. Quick reminder, the holidays are the ideal time to talk about our friends at game time. That's because game time is focused on togetherness this holiday season.
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I'm Brian Weber, 844-204-7424, back to the NFL in just under 25 minutes. We're talking about coaches who should be looking over their shoulders. Apparently, that no longer includes Mike McCarthy or Willip, and we'll take you across the NFL with Jarrett Bell of USA Today. Straight ahead, I sat in this very chair on Labor Day, and I laid out all the flaws of college football playoff expansion, including not reseating the field. How does Oregon, as the top seed, now have the toughest path to the national championship game?
After the first round, how do you think that new format is working out? All that and more coming up as we continue with our number one on the program, Weber in Verizon, here on the Rich Eisen Show. I was like, I have to stop because 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. There you go. Bagels.
Yeah. Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. I'm Brian Weber, greatly appreciating you starting the long holiday week with us.
Infrared today, tomorrow, and then back with you live on Christmas Day. 844-204-7424, the number to call. Conversation never stops on social media. Hit me up. B.W.
Weber, Weber with two B's. Just over 15 minutes from now, we'll ease into our number two of the program. More takeaways from the NFL weekend that dated back to Saturday. Devastating injury news for Houston as you think about Tank Dell going down after they had already lost to Von Diggs.
That's a battered receiving core for a team that's already clinched their division but certainly limping into the postseason. College football on the docket coming up to help us get there. Let us take a phone call. Send them my word occasionally.
844-204-7424. Here is Cincy Mike in Kansas City. Hey, Cincy Mike, you're on with Brian Weber.
In for Rich Eisen. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas, Brian.
Thank you, sir. What's on your mind? Well, I just look at these probabilities and possibilities in the AFC. Who does Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo, and Houston not want to face in the playoffs? Denver, Miami, Indy, or Cincinnati.
Can I go none of the above other than Cincinnati? But the problem, as you know, Cincy Mike, is they have the slimmest of wildcard hopes because of that terrible start again this year. They do, and they don't have a very good defense.
No, they don't. Denver has to lose their last two games in Cincy and KC. Miami has to lose one of the last two, which they're on the road in cold weather.
Cleveland, the Jets. And Indy, with the easiest way, has to lose one on the road to Giants and home against Jacksonville. And since they've got to beat Denver and Pittsburgh, they've got to travel to Pittsburgh.
But the big thing is this Kansas City-Pittsburgh game, because who's going to rest their starters? Yeah, but remember, and thanks very much for the phone call, Kansas City still is trying to lock up the top seed. That would mean everything, as we know in the past, especially if it's the potentially projected matchup between Buffalo and Kansas City. Again, I'm well aware that Josh Allen was superhuman, willing his way past KC to hand the Chiefs their lone loss that they've been living so dangerously this year with all the one-score games.
But if I'm a Bill fan and I say, you have to go to Arrowhead Stadium, instantly you think about those infamous 13 seconds. We'll talk more about the playoff picture coming up in the NFL as we start our number two. But as Mike laid out, there's a two-game separation between the Broncos and then the three remaining teams that have a shot at that final wild card, Colts, Dolphins, and Bengals. So I think the wild cards, as they're currently constituted, are effectively set. I realize it's the NFL.
Crazy things happen. But remember, the Ravens have already clinched the playoff spot. I think when we get to the postseason, it'll be, you pick it, either the Ravens or the Steelers, obviously whoever loses that division, followed by the Chargers and the Broncos to the AFC, West getting three teams in. As for the NFC, it's just as straightforward because Washington, with that miraculous comeback win yesterday, has a two-game lead over Seattle and now Tampa Bay for the last spot in the wild card mix.
So I don't think we're going to see radical change. I think we're going to see Vikings, Packers, and Commanders, meaning we'll also get three teams coming out of the NFC North with the Lions hanging on to win the division. Not great clock management by yours truly.
What am I, Matt Eberfluss? Although probably better to go as heavy NFL as I can. So in our remaining ten minutes or so, let me give you my takeaways from watching all four games. I wish I was on the simulcast. The opening round games from the college football playoff, I took meticulous notes that I can barely read right now. What you need to know, if you had a life and you went to a holiday party on Friday and then decided, you know what, I'm going to the mall, I'm not going to watch football, head-to-head college football versus the NFL, obviously pro football is going to crush everything, including postseason college football when we get the final ratings verdict, but it wasn't difficult to make a choice as a viewer because Penn State led SMU 28-0 at the half. In fact, and I think it was different because it was Notre Dame on a Friday night with the only thing really to watch unless you're flipping around to NBA TV.
And I will talk some NBA tomorrow and Christmas Day because I'm old school and I still care about the NBA when we get to December 25th. But the notion that Indiana didn't belong on the same field as Notre Dame was borne out so quickly in that game. And remember, now technically it had the closest final score because the Hoosiers had some garbage time scoring, about two minutes to go, but it was 27-3 with two minutes left. I knew early on when Curtis Rourke, and I follow college football very closely, if you know his backstory, this guy came from Canada, nobody recruited him, wound up at Ohio University, balled out in the MAAC, but Curtis Rourke wound up at Ohio for a reason and you saw the differential of the athletic ability and speed of the Hoosiers, and I'm not taking a shot at Indiana. Any Big Ten team that won 11 games was getting into the playoff.
That's just how it works. But you have to dig deeper and realize that Indiana, through no fault of their own, didn't play anyone this year because they're in a gargantuan conference like they all are now and you are not going to have the ability to play everybody in your conference. It's going to be luck of the draw when it comes to scheduling and a rotation. So the Hoosiers didn't pick their conference schedule, and yes, the easy pushback is they got abused by Ohio State and they got run off the field by Notre Dame. They didn't belong in the playoff, but I'm not taking Indiana out.
My bigger issue is the actual format itself. Now I thought that having the games on campus was a magnificent addition. In fact, I know it won't happen because remember, the Bulls are still part of this gravy train. So the quarterfinals coming up on January 1st will be the traditional New Year's Eve and New Year's Day bowl games with the marquee matchup of Ohio State and Oregon at the Rose Bowl. Remember, Buckeyes only lost by one on the road in Eugene in the regular season. So as much as I have a lot of negatives, and thankfully I only left myself a few minutes to go through it, don't want to be too angry as the fill-in host, I thought it was tremendous television, great atmosphere to have the game at South Bend.
Yes, you had the extra wrinkle of the Battle of Indiana. Penn State was dynamic, especially because poor Kevin Jennings had just a game that you could not have scripted any worse from the SMU perspective. And suddenly all I'm getting is Alabama should have gotten into the playoff, which I disagree with. I have no problem with SMU getting into the field. Don't be surprised, though, when they get the doors blown off, when they have to go to Happy Valley, and their quarterback looks like he's never played before. Remember, he had the three interceptions in the first half alone, a pair of pick six, 28-0 at the half, and then I went back to the NFL game between Houston and Kansas City, which was much more watchable.
So, what's the takeaway? Don't be surprised, moving forward, if we have more blowouts in the first round because of the on-campus factor and because of the difference in quality of the rosters between the teams, then Tennessee, Ohio State, and Ohio State clearly motivated after that embarrassing debacle of a loss to Michigan when they had much better players, but Tennessee and Ohio State are comparable in talent. It wouldn't clear based on what happened in that game. Ohio State just came out and mulled them. But typically, when you have the breakdown between SMU and Penn State, what it really reflects, remember, Penn State's losses. Single digits to Ohio State, and then they lost by seven to Oregon in a shootout in the Big Ten championship game. But what it really reflects is this. There aren't 12 teams good enough to be competing for the national championship. The number should have been eight. Do I believe eight teams are? Yes.
How do I know? Look at the matchups potentially we could have had if we didn't have this ridiculous seeding process, setting up a series of what I think are going to be beatdowns coming up in the next round other than the Georgia injury factor because Carson Beck's not going to play. So we saw sophomore Gunnar Stockton in the second half of the SEC championship game. That gets us to pick them in their matchup against Notre Dame and their defense looked phenomenal dismantling Indiana. But if you have not looked towards Vegas, Texas, a two touchdown favorite heading into their matchup with Arizona State, who I understand why they have the bye and Kenny Dillingham should be national coach of the year. But they don't belong in the quarterfinals. They should have to demonstrate in the first round they actually deserve to be in the field. These automatic seeding going to conference champions makes no sense. I mentioned here is Oregon no longer the favorite to win it all coming off a bye because now they have to play Ohio State.
Ohio State a mild favorite. So I have a lot more to get to in college football. I'll do a better job with clock management a la Rich Cotide coming up in the second hour of the program and it won't all be the system is terrible. I'll give you more positives and then we'll look ahead to the games coming up on January 1st. But football always drives the train. We'll start our number two posing this question is Mike McCarthy going to keep his job in Big D. I'm Brian Weber having a great time with you in for Rich Eisen. This is a Monday edition of The Rich Eisen Show. No substitute for hard work and getting over my world with Jeff Jarrett wherever you listen.
