The Vikings Can Win The Super Bowl

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Download Bleacher Report to personalize your coverage. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Who wants to go to the playoffs? Touchdown Washington.

They win at overtime. Throws to the right, throws to Addison. Pulling it down off the roof was Keyon Coleman for the touchdown. Today's guests, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer plus latest news and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

All right. Hey, everybody. We're back. We're back after a nice Christmas week sabbatical. We're here on the Roku Sports Channel. We're here on this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate.

And guess what? Starting in about, I would say, one week's time, we're going to be in a heck of a lot more radio stations. Infinity Sports Network is one week away from our future and yours as well. Over the next several days, we're going to unpack for you our new listening future for everybody that's out there, that listens to us every single day on Sirius XM and Odyssey and TuneIn. And it's going to be a lot of fun.

844-204-Rich is the number to dial. Albert Breer is the only guest on today's program to tell us what he knows and I demand. I also figured, you know, it's been enough time since November 30th that the two of us can talk once again. Albert has not joined since, you know. What happened that day?

Oh, Michigan beat Ohio State that day. TJ, thanks for asking. But good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Hey, Rich. I'm great. What's up, man?

DJ Mikey D is in Deez Nuts. Good to see you. Good morning, Rich. You're back in the mix. We're all back in the mix.

TJ Jefferson back from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Man, what's up, fellas? You went home again. It says you can't go home again.

They tried to tell you you can't, but I'm living proof I did. This is like a legitimate good morning for us because we didn't really get a chance to talk this morning. No, we didn't. Chris Brockman and I just finished recording the Overreaction Monday podcast that will be up there for your viewing pleasure on our YouTube channel or on the podcast network that you listen to all of our podcasts. And we greatly appreciate it.

Here's how we're going to start. We're going to take the Minnesota Vikings and place them aside for a moment. OK. Because the NFC North is not yet wrapped up. And in the NFC North, that conversation, Vikings, Lions, I think what's also at stake there could be Coach of the Year, could be at stake in that game as well. It's crazy that it would come down to one game for Coach of the Year, but that's entirely possible.

And one thing that we still haven't had wrapped up, the most valuable player, I think is still up for debate. I don't know if week 18 is going to matter in that regard because neither the Eagles nor the Ravens nor the Bills, I think, have that much left to play for. Obviously, the Ravens need to win one more time to wrap up the division. So we'll see some Lamar, I guess, now that I'm sounding it out, the Bills have wrapped up the two seed.

And the Eagles really don't need to play Saquon another lick for the rest of this regular season. Oh, if I'm him, I'm playing. We'll talk about that later on. Interesting. Let's talk about that later. But one thing that got wrapped up for NFL Honors Night on Sunday night, what got wrapped up was offensive rookie of the year.

This thing's toast. And I know Brock Bowers just broke Mike Gidka's 60 plus year old record for most receptions by a rookie tight end in the history of the NFL. And Brock Bowers did it with multiple quarterbacks throwing to him this year.

And I'll say it, multiple quarterbacks you don't want throwing to you this year. Yards. He said the Yards record. He said yes. Yards record.

Correct. Mike Gidka's ancient record is now down. And by the way, in 16 games, even though Gidka did it in 14, yada, yada, yada. But Jay Daniels, the offensive rookie, and he he might get some MVP votes, too.

I don't think he'll be a finalist. But kids been incredible. Kids been incredible. And he did it again last night. The it being taking care of business with the game on the line, we did see that he surpassed Robert Griffin, the third's record for most rushing yards by a rookie in the history of the NFL. Eight hundred sixty four yards and two other quarterbacks that are right below him in that regard. Cam Newton in Lamar. We understand that most offensive touchdowns by a rookie.

He's got thirty one of those. That's behind Cam and Justin Herbert, whose rookie season was something. Both Herbert and Cam Newton won Offensive Rookie of the Year there. But the one thing that really leaps out at me when we talk about rookies.

He did. He just did once again something a rookie's never done. This kid has 12 passing touchdowns in the fourth quarter and overtime this year now. A dozen. That's insane, including the game winner to Zach Ertz in overtime to walk off and drive home safely.

Twelve of them. That's the most by any rookie quarterback in the history of the NFL game on the line. Now, that's the thing. And that's the thing that causes the commanders to feel like they are destined. Hail Mary here, overtime touchdown there. Another one to beat the Eagles the week before here. And there goes the commanders into the 11 win column for the first time since nineteen ninety one. And so that's how the commanders feel about things right now.

Because this kid is making them feel that way. And he did it with AJ Terrell draped all over his most prolific receiver. Terry McLaurin, erased Terry McLaurin last night.

And one holding penalty after another holding penalty after another holding penalty. And the thing that did kind of get the commanders through the day wasn't Jayden Daniels's fourth quarter play. It was his legs. A hundred and twenty five yards rushing for the kid. That places him in a different category as well. First rookie in NFL history to have three or more passing touchdowns and one hundred and twenty five or more rushing yards in a game. Fourth player in NFL history to do it.

And this one. Fifth rookie quarterback since 1950 to win back to back starts in which they trailed by 10 or more points. They were down by 10 and a half on Sunday night to Atlanta and down by 14 against Philadelphia the week before.

Boom, boom. And that's when everybody's right behind the commander saying, we want that seven seed. And the commanders right now are say, take the seven seed. We're the six seed. They are. They are. They're in the playoffs.

They punched their ticket with that win last night. Jayden Daniels is just as cool as the other side of the pillow. As my guy who will be gone, by the way, 10 years coming up next Monday.

Would say Jayden Daniels roll tape. My most one I'm tired right now, but I'm I'm excited. I'm happy. The fan base waited a long time for this day. I mean, I really can't put into words how much it means to them, how much it means to me to be able to go out there and leave this this franchise and this team to opportunities like that.

Yep. First four game win streak since 2012. First time again winning 11 games in a season since 1991.

That's your offensive rookie of the year. It's all she wrote. It's over. It's over. How far can the commanders go? I do not know.

I do not know. Commanders might wind up here to take on the Rams. They possibly can wind up in Tampa to take on the Bucks.

It's entirely possible. You know, that they fall down to seventh and take on the Eagles in the first round. You got one more game against the Cowboys to go.

But. A franchise altering pick second overall. They already felt like the house that fell on the. You know, the witch when new ownership came to be. But right now, it's just, you know. The famed Rick Dalton, Jeff, there it is. Right there is point at the screen. There it is. That's the guy. That's what we do on the rich eyes and show when it's Rick Dalton, Jeff. That's the guy that we just know when we see it.

Franchise altering. Now, I know we said that about C.J. Stroud last year and he took a step back this year. I don't know, man. Stroud doesn't use his legs like this kid.

One hundred twenty seven yards. I'm sure Daniels will take a step back next year. But what he's doing this year is awesome.

He's a legit. You can make an MVP case for him. They could go to the Super Bowl on the strength of this kid.

I think the sky's the limit. He's been awesome. Commanders fans are out of their gourds and they deserve it. The NFL is better when Washington is a contender.

Sorry, T.J. Eleven dubs for the Washington commanders. Nobody saw that coming when he came out of the green room last year in Detroit. Think about Jane Daniels, too, Chris. If you look at him, if you tell me he's 20 years old, I'll believe you. If you tell me he's 40 years old, I'd believe you. It's just got like you don't really. I'm looking at this guy like he does not look like a first year rookie. Because he isn't right. He got he got a lot of college football. He got he played a lot of college football.

But he also just has. It is cool. Remember all that stuff about about, you know, let's.

I always like pulling the strings together. Remember the full on conversation? About the commanders pissing him off because they brought him in with a whole bunch of other players, including Pentax. That's right. And one of them for a final for a final top 30 visit where they just kind of had everybody together. And Daniels would be like, why? Why am I here with other people?

How am I not the only guy here? Remember that? I remember that. Look where we are now after he beats Michael Pentax on a Sunday night to put the commanders where they are. But maybe the commanders learned that he is cool under pressure and they confirmed whatever they needed. Confirmed because he is the way he sashays out of bounds because he knows the run that he's on is over. He's so fully in control of his own body, his own circumstances, his own seemingly destiny when he just steps out of on. Compare that to his quarterback, who damn near got knocked out of the game on Saturday, the first game of the NFL Network triple header when he decided to run towards the sideline and then stay up the sideline and gets blown up.

So dumb. Jayden Daniels is like, I'll just I'll just step out right here. Everybody, I'm done with my 18 yard run that breaks your spirit. I'm I'm through with it right now, but I'm not going to stuff the football in your face because I'm just out of bounds going right back to the huddle. And I'm going to call this play that's going to break your heart to like that's his sort of demeanor.

It's yeah. Yeah, he's real smooth. It's like Federer.

He doesn't use a sweat. Good one. Yeah, good one. Justification for all the guys.

I know Orlovsky, Lewis Riddick said he was the best player in the draft. Obviously, number one. Yeah, obviously. You know, that's again, nature versus nurture.

Would that have happened in in the situation? You know, Cliff Kingsbury has something to do with it. He's got something to do with it. It's just a whole situation. But I just wanted to come out here and back it up. So commanders are in the playoffs and they're going to be dangerous. I don't think anybody really wants to see this kid try and figure out what he doesn't already know and doesn't care.

We'll see about that. Let's linger on Atlanta for a second. Man, it's just wild how we went from what the hell was Atlanta thinking about taking Michael Pennix? Well, first, you can even rewind it for anybody who thought that Kirk Cousins wasn't all that before he blew out his Achilles. What were they doing about just throwing out all this money at Kirk Cousins without seeing how he's going to come back from his Achilles injury? And then what were they doing drafting Michael Pennix on a draft night when they needed to draft somebody to help get Kirk Cousins the proper setup to get you where you want to go with him by putting all your eggs in that basket. And then it went from, well, they didn't need Pennix after all because they started six and three and Cousins is sweeping the box and he threw for 500 yards in one game and they went from six and three to six and seven to the point where they turned to Pennix. And you're wondering, why the hell are you turning to Pennix now?

You know, is it that bad with Cousins? To now here we are sitting here on the Monday of week 17 into week 18 saying, what if the Falcons had turned to Pennix sooner? Would they be sitting outside looking in sniffing it? What if they had turned to Pennix way before? What if, you know, Raheem Morris kind of pulled a Tomlin and taken a quarterback that had won two thirds of his starts and said, that's enough. It's time for the other kid, as opposed to telling the kid in Justin Fields who won two thirds of his first six starts at four and two, you're sitting, we're going with the vet.

What if he had done the reverse? Now that's clear 2020 hindsight, but in the same way, again, right here on the Rich Eisen show, when you get the quarterback right and you start seeing the offense operate in a way that hadn't been before and the franchise does appear to be in the right hands. Last night watching Sunday Night Football and watching Pennix.

I did the Rick Dalton, Jeff. I pointed right at the screen. There it is. There it is. The throws to Drake London, the throw to Kyle Pitts, the fourth down conversions, including the Pitts touchdowns.

Oh, my word. Can that kid spin it? Can he get it done? I mean, the halftime interview with Raheem Morris up 17-7 with the way this kid had been playing and the way that he can be moved around that Cousins could not, creating different, I would think, running angles for Bijan. Different ways that you can get the ball to Bijan, the different ways that you can have a running game now with different eye candy. And the eye candy is your quarterback.

Man. And Morris was just like, you know, he's him. He didn't really say that, but that's, that's what he basically said to Melissa Stark.

Essentially, he's him. And, and they were up 10 and Bijan, it was the reason why they were up 10, but Pennix not making a lot of mistakes. He did throw an interception.

That was bad. But that was also, as Collinsworth pointed out, what happens when you have a rookie and the receivers are not on the same page. He expects one guy to keep going one way and he throws it there and it looks like an awful interception. Like, why are you throwing it right to the defender? Well, he thought his guy was going to be there.

Raheem Morris had this to say after the loss last night. I mean, I love the kid. I mean, I love the kid's fight.

I love the kid's desire. I mean, anybody can go out there and stand in the face of adversity and throw that strike like he threw the cowpits to give us an opportunity to win that football game. I mean, that's what it's about. He represents us. He represents Atlanta. He represents everything that's good about us. Yeah, he's the kid. That's it. Kirk Cousins is, you know, he's I'm sure looking at real estate somewhere else. He's got an Atlanta realtor putting something up for sale because this thing's over and that's the kid. Now, I'll answer my question.

You guys can help too. Would he have been six and three to start the season? Pennix? Yeah. Would he have been able to author that comeback against Philadelphia, for instance?

Probably not. I don't know. They may not have needed the comeback.

It's so simple for me to sit here and say the Falcons could be better if they had turned to him sooner. They were six and three, guys. They were six and three.

I don't know. I mean, I threw it out there on overreaction Monday on December 2nd that they have to think about starting him. Which week was then? So that would have been that was four weeks ago. That was after the New Orleans game because we had Raheem, I'll point it out, we had Raheem Morris on our Friday show in Munich. I think it was after the bye week.

In mid-November, going into New Orleans. Right. And then that game in New Orleans was a struggle, but then you could basically just say that's the way it goes against the division opponent that's got an interim head coach and nothing left to lose. And then the next week in Denver was the one where, wait a minute, something is up here. Right. And you had a bye week there.

That would have been the perfect time to throw him in there on the bye. Maybe so. A little extra time. Do you beat the Chargers?

I don't know. You look at the score, you're like 17-13. You're like, I watched that kid play last night. We could have put up 13 points at least. To be fair, to be fair, if we are going to have 20-20 hindsight here, let's give it up to the Falcons drafting Michael Penix to begin with. Yeah. Because we thought, this kid's, on draft night, that was a conversation we were having on the set on NFL Network.

It's like, why are you doing this? The kid's practically 25. You can't Jordan Love this kid and figure out what he's going to do when he's 28 and then pay him, you know, that contract, the second contract.

You can't do that sort of thing. And as it turns out, they needed him in week 17 and he damn near pulled it off. But unfortunately for the Falcons, though, is that now puts them in a position of hoping the Saints knock off the Bucks. And they've got the Carolina Panthers too. And the Panthers, as we know, are better even though the Bucks treated them like homecoming yesterday. The Bucks got that get right game that they needed. And all they got to do is just beat the Saints while the Falcons are taking on the Panthers in the one o'clock window of week 18.

And that's all she wrote. And then the Bucks would sit back and hope that the Seahawks knock off the Rams. So maybe they can be the three seed. I don't know. I don't know if it matters. Three or four, whatever.

But. Because in the NFC, you know, the supposed lesser team, that's the six seed. That's not too far off than the five. Whoever that's going to be, a 14 potentially win wildcard team in the NFC.

That's crazy. And the Falcons are the only team sniffing it, sitting at eight and eight, that four game losing streak where they were waiting and hoping for Kirk Cousins to turn it around. That eventually has put them in this position. But Pennock's, with everybody wondering why the hell were they doing it?

Well, his performance on Sunday night showed you why the hell they were doing it. Let's take a break. We come back. We talk about the revelatory Vikings and Sam Darnold and setting up shop for Albert Breer with all the hot seats and all the conversation. Brockman, you and I are going to have a sort of therapy session about our AFC East teams. Yes, sir. T.J. Jefferson, your NFC East team, sir. Oh, OK. We'll see if somebody is going to join us to remind you of that. God, no.

Eight four four two or four rich number two. We're back. We're back. In zone zone. Welcome to AutoZone.

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Everybody says 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 you tell you now when I tell the story, I go. He went and got breakfast. There you go. Bagels.

Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. All right, back here on our program. So you went to, Chris, you went to Nick's and Spurs, right?

Yes. Yeah, Nick Spurs, Christmas Day. Dude, that is so cool. You took your son. Man, I got to say, it's one of those things.

I haven't been to the Garden in probably eight or nine years. We were there for- It's not something like it. The energy, man, Knicks fans are some of the best fans. I can see why. Like if I lived in New York, I'd be just as diehard as all these guys. Dude, nothing like that place. They love the Knicks.

And it's really cool to see them personally. When was the last time you've been to Madison Square Garden? When was the last time?

Probably 2015, maybe. It's been a while. First of all, just to explain to everybody in the country who might be watching us right now. It's such a unique place because obviously it's right there on 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, basically. And you go upstairs when you go in. It's suspended. I don't know what it is.

It's built in. And then obviously there's such a something underneath where the rink is. There's a theater. There's theaters underneath. That's where they keep the dogs for the dog show and the tigers and the elephants for the circus. There's also a subway station. It's everything. It's a one-stop shop. It's Penn Station right underneath there. And so, at any rate, it's unlike anything else. The ceiling is unlike anything else.

It's magical in that place. But Christmas Day, even Joel Eisen, may he rest in peace, who is not a sports fan at all. Again, if I followed my father's wishes, The Rich Eisen Show would be about musicals and Judy Garland.

I don't think we'd all be here, essentially, is what I'm saying. Even he knew, let's take the kids to MSG on Christmas Day. We went to a couple of those.

Oh, and when when he was having an all-time game, like it was so fun. Awesome. Just great. I'm glad that you had that experience back here on The Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at The Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. When the Vikings acquired Sam Darnold, I'm starting from the beginning here because we have to. When the Vikings acquired Sam Darnold, I was told Kevin O'Connell told him, we are going to.

Take a look at the rookie class for quarterbacks. And give you a heads up. They were sitting there at 11th because, you know, after Cousins had his Achilles explode in Lambeau Field, they still won some games. If you remember the Josh Dobbs Pastronaut, sort of ground control to Major Tom a couple of times, you know, true, true. And but they kind of let him know.

And they told him. This is essentially I'm paraphrasing here. Your Baker Mayfield Jared Goff type opportunity. Mayfield is more an appropriate analogy.

Two reasons. One, same draft class. He was number one Baker and Darnold was number three overall. And also, you know, Goff went just from one team to another, was traded away. But with he was traded away with first round draft choices going with him.

It's the other way around. You can get first round draft choices back when you trade a former first overall pick guy away. But Baker had been to other spots, multiple spots. He had a quick sabbatical with the Rams and then wound up with Tampa and made the most of his opportunity and got paid. And is now the guy in Tampa for a team that can win in the playoffs. And so basically, that's what I said. This is going to be your team, Sam.

You make the most of it. They draft J.J. McCarthy and the two of them had a competition for a while that became moot when J.J. blew his knee out. But it was going to be Sam the start. It was going to be him to start.

And Kevin O'Connell did that, man. He told him, use us essentially. Use us. Well, he's used him all right.

And they can certainly use him. What a season it has unfolded. A 5-0 start that, to be very honest, the rest of this football loving world was just looking at the clock and saying, when is it striking midnight for this pumpkin? And sure enough, that 5-0 start, they lose two games in five days. They lose a Sunday date at home against the Lions in which they led, but got beat late and then turned around and flew out short week here to Los Angeles. And just their luck.

That's when Puca comes back and that's when Cooper Cup is back from injury. And that's when the Rams are completely reconstituted. They lose that one.

And there were some Vikings fans thinking, uh oh, that trap door is about to open up. And instead, they just put together a better win streak. They just put together a nine game win streak. Nine in a row. Longest win streak for Minnesota since 1975. Even that 15-1 team that had a trap door open up on them in 1998. They didn't win nine in a row. It's the longest active win streak in the NFL. And it keeps getting better every week and against opponents that they're supposed to turn back into the pumpkin against. Look at all that green.

You know, I mean, that's money. Honestly, the pumpkin was supposed to show up in Seattle. I understand that the Seahawks aren't the same up there in the Pacific Northwest this year. But week 16, they need to win this game. Seattle, they have the division title hopes.

And Sam Donald goes up there and punks him. Atlanta coming in. I mean, that's the Kirk Cousins return game, right?

I was supposed to be like, instead he throws five touchdowns. And then Green Bay coming in. Wanted to prove to everybody, you know, sure, you beat us before and we lost to the Lions. We get swept by them and Philly beats us.

But that nonsense is about to end. We're going to come in your house with Josh Jacobs and we're going to hit you in the mouth. And instead, Josh Jacobs tries to hit him in the mouth and they pop one loose because their defense is opportunistic and vicious. And Justin Jefferson is on the side of a milk carton for the first quarter and a half. And then he winds up with 92 yards receiving. Donald didn't give up on him. He kept targeting him 11 times. They target him and they finally pop some loose and Kevin O'Connell gets him some easy throws, easy plays.

Unbelievable. And Donald, 33 of 43. He threw an interception. Sure, but three touchdowns.

Addison here, nailer there. And interestingly enough, because it did help the Rams in their strength of victory clinching. The guy who helped seal the game for the Vikings and help the Rams. Cam Akers can't make it up. And the defense took care of Jordan Love, 198 yards passing. They were all over him. He couldn't do a damn thing. Jaden Reed, their leading receiver, gone.

Took him out. Geez. The Vikings can win the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah.

These are facts. Playing like this. Sam Darnold can be on a magic carpet ride.

Forget about turning back into a pumpkin. He's Aladdin. That's the Disney reference right now. Unreal. And then you want to talk about how the team believes in him. This is pretty cool, guys.

This is amazing. Darnold, I guess, was doing his postgame chit chat. And you see this all the time. Quarterback is like last in the locker room because he's out there on the field doing some media obligations, what have you. You know. Some teams wait for the quarterback to come back in, certainly if the quarterback wants to give out a game ball, other teams let. A 17 year old give out the game ball to somebody else, but that's another day for another thing. But Darnold comes walking in. And the welcome he gets.

Go for it. Rolling. Look at this. On the shoulders.

I'm seeing this. I'm seeing this and I'm thinking to myself, Sam Darnold, when he gets bounced from the Jets and he's got his three wins with Caroline and then he gets hurt and then that falls to crap. And then he winds up with San Francisco on a Christmas night getting the call against a marauding Ravens team that had picked off and apart Brock Purdy and they hand him a mop. And he's got to be sitting there going, what, what, when, when is this going to turn for me? Right?

When am I going to get a shot to make the most of something? And the Vikings come calling and they choose a kid who is a national champion quarterback out of Michigan who is also really young, like just turning 21. He's got to be sitting there thinking, really, I got to deal with the 21 year old kid too.

Look at him now. Look at that shot right up on the screen where he is just dancing and he is on the shoulders of his teammates who are honoring him like he is frigging Maximus in the middle of the Coliseum. It is unbelievable. It's like the end of a sports movie. It is that and but, but, but, but the end of the sports movie can wind up in New Orleans and that's a fact guys. That's a fact.

These are facts. They can go and lose in Detroit for the final game of the regular season and have to go on the road and show up in Tampa. You want to talk about wild, the aforementioned Baker Mayfield, who Kevin O'Connell apparently did invoke his name. That's possible that that's the quarterback Donald has to face in the, in the wild card round, or they got the week off because they go into Detroit and keep it going. And when they're 10th in a row, it is 100% possible. They have more defensive players, healthier and playing better than the Lions with all due respect.

Everybody does. Right? And you know, the Lions are not to be trifled with. Yeah, but they're hurt.

Dude, but they're using that as a chip on their shoulder. All that said, Donald, he, he dove into the Will Ferrell world in the answer to the question about how did he feel with his teammates honoring him like that. Yeah.

A lot of water bottles, a lot of water. It was just mayhem. I think I blacked out, you know, when, when Aaron Jones grabbed me and lifted me up, I didn't know what to do with my hands in that situation. So Ricky Bobby style. So it was, yeah, it was an interesting moment, but a fun moment, man, to be embraced by your teammates like that.

And yeah, it's just, it's always, it's always fun to be able to have that moment with my teammates. When you watch it back and you, you, you can't see his hands. He does not know what to do with his hands. He had his eyes wide. He literally was shocked that they picked him up. Because he's their guy. Yeah, he is their guy.

And to JJ McCarthy's Testament, because I follow him on all his social media, because, you know, he had me at hello. He has been posting, you know, congrats to Sam. He is all in.

He is all in. And that's for another day. And we already had that conversation here.

We had it on game day morning yesterday, too. It is a premature chat because there is still 2024 in the oven for this team. What a win Vikings fans are already looking for my uncle's one. And he told me he'd love the key.

He's like, it's a no brainer. We got to keep him around at least have to for two years. Just like JJ kind of bake a little in or you just trade him. You got your guy.

You found your franchise quarterback. You thought it was coming to the draft. What are you saying?

Trade JJ? Yeah. Yeah. That's what a lot of people are saying. That's that's not I mean, it sounds crazy. Yeah, I know.

I don't I don't know that maybe. But here's the thing is they don't have to make that decision yet. And they can actually see the way that everything plays out. But remarkable, simply remarkable. What a story.

One of my favorite stories of the year of the past several years. Kevin O'Connell, man. He knows how to keep people's buttons pushed and excited. And, you know, you could see at the end of that video, he's just stepping back and watching it all play out. And he's got to sit there and go. But another Rick Dalton. Yeah, he's kind of looks like it. There it is. Well done, brother. That guy can coach his ass off.

I told you guys that coming back from London. I'm like, that guy has got his finger on a pulse. They love him.

He loves them. And he knows what he is doing. And he could. There was one point you could see was muttering himself because I think he kind of messed up the timeouts at the end of the first half. Even Brady was saying, you know, when I got three timeouts left after the two minute warning, I like to use one in between the first minute.

Now, you'd like to use one between 30 seconds in one minute and the last one between 30 seconds in the end of the half. Spoken like a true Belichick guy, just being able to break it all down and boil it down so simply. He was kind of muttering himself like he kind of knew he screwed up the situation, but doesn't. I mean, Sam Donald is playing lights out. He is making throws. Every receiver's got to have their head on swivel because they are open and he is coming to them. Aaron Jones didn't even play the last quarter and a half because they had some sort of thigh contusion. They're like, let's leave him out. All good. That defense. Flores. I salute the Minnesota Vikings right now.

They got a big one coming up next week, but that one in particular is just incredible. All right. Eight four four two oh four. Rich number to dial. We'll take some phone calls. Albert Breer and Albert. Our number two.

It'll be fun. Whatever is on your mind, we're up for talking about it. Eight four four two oh four.

Rich number to dial. What did you do, Mikey D, for the holiday break? What did you do, D.J.?

Mikey D, I took off, Rich. You did. I did nothing. Nothing.

Seriously. You didn't work a fader. You didn't work a fader for five days. It's amazing because nothing. I did not know that.

And now that I know that, it's amazing. I fed a squirrel. I have a squirrel. It's now my friend.

Oh, I did. I have like a pet squirrel. Oh, gosh. Keep him away from Jerry Jones. Yes. And it's I got to get a name for him.

What do you mean? I know Jerry. I think Jerry's the name.

I think I might. Why is Jerry the name? Jerry Jones. It's the squirrel. Oh, I see. The squirrel doesn't have a name. How does one befriend a squirrel? Don't fit in the story, Rich. My goodness. No, no.

Excuse me. One of my favorites, the squirrel. I mean.

No, I did see he's not making that up just to troll you as a cowboy. After he found the squirrel to make it seem like he was doing something original. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I haven't videoed the squirrel. How does one befriend a squirrel?

Very easily. You take they like almonds a lot. Oh, take almonds. Yeah.

And they come right. And this thing eats right out of my hand. Well, it's better. That's not safe for you, right? It's not. They're rabid animals.

It does. It's not scratching me. If things taste like it bites you like, you know, you're going to be in the hospital. Honestly, what if Jerry has a bad day one day? Jerry the squirrel. Jerry the squirrel. Could you imagine Mike Del Tufo with rabies? Oh, Chris.

Oh, I don't even know what do we do. I need to WebMD what the what the symptoms are. So I know if you've been bitten by Jerry rabies and the squirrel.

Fever, headache, fatigue. TJ, why wouldn't I follow up on this question? He's so absurd with this. It's just amazing, though, that I had no idea.

Like you can spend your vacation that way. Can you? All right. By the way, in case you're wondering, in case you're wondering, Fox Sports has stayed on the air. It's amazing. Amazing.

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What's going on? From the 207. Thank you.

Thank you for picking up 207. And I definitely appreciate Brockman. And I really appreciate you guys. Top of the Vikings. My father did work in Duluth a long time ago. And it's I just really appreciate that you guys are here.

I appreciate your appreciation, sir, because, you know. We could be elsewhere. I mean, we could be feeding.

We could be feeding rabid animals out of our hands. The lead up into this was looking at Kirk Cousins going. And as a Vikings fan, truly, we were kind of curious of like team systems. And, you know, Zimmer left for Dallas. Turns out they would let go.

And Cousins was one to make more money. Turns out that's OK. And, you know, when you really look at a character of people, you look at your organization. No doubt, Christopher. No doubt, man.

In that regard, Christopher, this is a perfect example. You've got the right one. OK, you've got the right coach. You've got the right office. And Kevin O'Connell like really nailed it.

Because that's all I want to start with. And that's that's it. I appreciate it. Thank you for the call, Christopher.

Thanks for calling in from the 207. That's the answer. If you've got the coach in the front office right, then you can lose players that you think from the outside looking in are too significant to overcome. And you're good. You say what you will about Sean McDermott. You know, who's apparently lost first place votes the last couple of days or weeks as coach of the year. You can throw him in that mix, too, you know. And in front office.

Is all right. You know, you lose players and it's OK, McVeigh and less need. How do those young defenders look first and second round, first and second year players on the Rams defense?

Monsters, right. But you oh, gosh, we lose this guy, we lose that guy. You keep on going one year, one year. The picks can all go F themselves. And then a few years later, the picks can start Fing other teams. If you've got the coach in the general manager, right. Which is why I'm not concerned about the Packers, man.

You know, I'm not concerned. I watched it and I was thinking this team is just not not ready. The thing that's missing is some consistent number one wide receiver. Yeah. Just choose one and feed that guy.

I know that sounds so simple and simplistic. But you can see not having Watson last night, they were missing that. They do that stretch guy to kind of take the top off the defense.

They were missing that. That's why I thought I don't know if he would have ever done it a million years because he wanted to play with Rogers. Davante Adams is available.

Go get him and bring him back. Could you imagine what this team would look like with Davante Adams right now? And I know that I'm now playing fantasy football type stuff, that there's reality here. And he was going to the Jets. Period.

End of story. Way back when it looked like the Jets could still salvage something. But, you know, the Packers.

It's it's that consistency with love to find somebody when Josh Jacobs isn't the only way through. When Josh Jacobs can be the way through there, they're really friggin good and they can beat anybody. But just that they have the issue of getting past the best of the best in the NFL. They've lost to the Eagles on opening night. They lost to the Lions twice and now the Vikings twice. Everybody else they have beaten in front of them.

That's it. Problem is, is they're going to face. Those are three of the teams that they're going to face the playoffs. I mean, there's only seven, seven teams. They're one of them, which means they'd have to face one of the other three that make it. Problem is, is the only ones of the other three that haven't made it are the Rams and the Bucks.

Who can beat them if Josh Jacobs isn't the answer? Now, they did get a win against the Rams here in Los Angeles. That was a week five. But that was when the Rams dropped to one and four. Since then, Rams have won nine of eleven.

Because they got healthier and you can kind of throw that week five out a little bit. But Josh Jacobs is dominant. If he does not fumble to start the game, who the hell knows? But if they fall down and they need points fast, Jacobs is not, you know, like a microwave. Jaden Reed is. Romeo Dobbs can be. We just need one of those guys and Watson can be that too. He's got to be healthy, man.

He has trouble staying out on the field. But the way I look at it is, you know, Packers are the seventh seed going into Philadelphia. The Eagles are going to be assured of beating them. They can't go in there and one and done the Eagles. Tall order, but I think they can. They're that team that you never know.

Last year's a perfect example. Because they're going. They are in. The only team that may not be in that's currently in that spot is Tampa Bay. And they've got to lose to the Saints at home for Atlanta to get through.

But, yeah. How about them apples? The Packers are the seventh seed. I don't think they're a dangerous seventh seed. How about this question?

Put it out there on the old X machine and people can call it 844-204-rich number to dial. Most dangerous seventh seed. Bengals. Packers.

Commanders. Put those three. Because don't throw the Broncos in there.

Because I don't think the Broncos will get too many votes against the other three. Okay. I see.

See, that's what I'm going for. I know, but they're not. They're not there yet. They're probably not going to make it.

Probably, but they could go punch for punch. I mean, the Broncos and the Dolphins have a better pole position on that seventh seed than the Bengals do going into week 18. But put that out there, Chris.

And I want people to call in 844-204-rich number to dial. TJ on the spot puts his marker on the Bengals. By the way, I really don't have a dog in this fight.

No, no, no, no. I'm just saying what I'm about to say. And I know we weren't talking about him. But yo, this Bo Nix kid. Oh, I mean, that throw that he made. I know that made me the two throws that he made to Mims. That made me a fan.

That was incredible. Bo Nix's throw down because it was there was a time in that game on Saturday in the middle part of the NFL Network. Triple header.

And I'm sitting in the booth watching this game unfold because I'm on next with Rams and Cardinals. That throw he made up top because it went it went from usually it went at one point. T. Higgins scored and then Mims would score. Then T. Higgins would score and then Mims would score. And that both Mims scores, the one where he gets past the defense and Nix goes vertical. They hit him after Higgins had put the Bengals up 17 10 and he ties it right back up. And then, of course, that fourth down one where Mims is saying he is sandwiched in between two. He's in his white uniform and the Bengals are in their black uniforms that look like an Oreo. Oh, man. Right.

I mean, and so Nick's just he's the stuff out in the middle. I thought he was throwing the ball away the way he threw it. Well, he he had to throw it.

It was fourth and one. Yeah. Just it was just like, oh, he just came down with it. Hey, man, Nix is all right. Yeah. And Rick Dalton, Jeff Bangle. But we did that.

We gave Nix the Rick Dalton Jeff in the middle of the season. I was having this conversation with a couple other people. That's it. This is going to be the best quarterback class ever. Right.

It could be, obviously. And certainly you never know what McCarthy is going to turn. You've got to keep throwing his name out there. But our number one in the books.

Fun poll question. Albert Breer coming up. I know everyone talks about the eighty four draft. But 2020 is awesome, too, with Love and Tua and Hurts and Herbert and all those guys. I know I'm missing one. There were five. This this quarterback. I mean, it seems like all six are going to be studs. I'm assuming McCarthy, but.

Right. And we're assuming Caleb Williams will survive week 18. Probably we're going to have to start buying more cards because I was trying to.

Now I was out, but I might be back in. You know, I mean, we have to get those those ones. Ratler, you're throwing him in that mix to listen, Rich.

I know he's got somebody. He threw one. He threw one. Was it against the Raiders where he?

Interesting. He leaped in the air and he was in the air and he threw a dart like his feet were planted firmly on the ground. It's like a video game.

I know a lot of good players. But next, man, you're right. Like that throw was amazing. And the catch like that game between the Bengals and the Broncos, we were all high fiving in the booth because with each passing minute, we heard the rating tick out. And then that game went to overtime with a half hour until kickoff of our game.

So we knew overtime could fit in. And that game ended the walk off to Higgins eight minutes to kick. And we were just like, oh, baby, thank you, football. What a massive lead in for our Rams Cardinals games game. Unreal. Unreal. And then we saw the shining jacket to start the broadcast.

Yes, indeed. I got a story on Kurt's silver puffy coat. One hour into books here.

Bert's coming up. 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.