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Albert Breer: There Will Be 6 or 7 Head Coach Openings In The NFL

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen
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December 30, 2024 2:59 pm

Albert Breer: There Will Be 6 or 7 Head Coach Openings In The NFL

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen

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December 30, 2024 2:59 pm

12/30/24 - Hour 2

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer and Rich discuss Saquon Barkley’s 2000-yard season, the Chiefs’ chances for a Super Bowl three-peat, Sam Darnold’s remarkable rebirth season with the Vikings and how long he’ll remain in Minnesota, if the Cowboys, Colts, Patriots and Giants could be looking for new head coaches soon, and previews his Ohio State Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff chances in their Rose Bowl shown with the Oregon Ducks.

Rich breaks down the AFC Playoff picture including Joe Burrow’s chances to lead the Bengals to the postseason after a disastrous start to their season.

Cowboys fan TJ weighs in on Dallas’ 41-7 pummeling at the hands of their rival Eagles, and to the Rams big Week 17 win over the Cardinals that helped cement the NFC West after a stumbling 1-4 start.

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Who wants to go to the playoffs? Tugged down once again, they win it over time. 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. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

844204rich is the number to dial. As always, some of our best ideas come just off the top of our heads. Poll question, Chris, is it already out there? Is it up there? Is it posted there? Are we here? Yeah, it's out there. Want to read it out for everybody to chime in on by voting at Rich Eisen Show or calling us at 844204rich.

Number to dial. Chris, what do you got over there? Yeah, potentially the most dangerous seven seed heading into the playoffs. Bengals, commanders, Packers. Okay. Who do you not want to see if you're the Bills or the Eagles having clinched the two seed?

Who do you not want to see coming? I can stake a claim on one of those. We'll talk about it later on. 844204rich, number to dial, but lots to talk about with this man. It's been a while.

It has been some time since my friend from Sports Illustrated has joined the program. I decided one month was enough of a cooling off period. I had an idea that we might be going this way off the top.

You can go ahead and give it to me. It's funny, here we are on December 30th, Albert Brere, what were you doing one month ago today? I was freezing my ass off right now.

I think it would have been like before halftime, so maybe I still had some optimism. Everything had gone perfect in the morning. My flight was on time. Because of my Black Friday obligations, I couldn't fly out until Saturday morning.

I was a little worried about that, but everything worked out. I went to my buddy Reagan's house in Upper Arlington. We dropped our stuff there, went right over to the tailgate.

I was shot out of a cannon at the tailgate, had a great time there. Our seats were good, and then the game started. Bottom line though, Albert, is your team is playing right here in the beautiful Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Wednesday. You still have a lot to play for, and I want to get to your thoughts on that later on. Albert Brere here on the Rich Eisen Show.

I'll just throw it out to you, Albert. The number one story coming off of week 17 in your estimation is what? Saquon, I think the accomplishment is one of those things that's going to stand the test of time. Obviously, getting to 2,000 yards in 16 games, I think there's a nuance to that. That he didn't need the extra game to do it. That he had over other guys who've done it, like Derrick Henry and Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson.

So that's one of them. I think it almost feels like ancient history now, because it's five days ago, but the way the Chiefs looked, it feels to me like they're rounding into shape. I think it's some of the vision that they had for the team over the summer where now you're seeing what they thought of Hollywood Brown, and now you're seeing what they hoped Xavier Worthy would be. And now they have the left tackle thing figured out.

Joe Tooney, who's an all-pro guard, he's one of the all-time great professionals, being able to make that move from the guard position. And Pacheco's healthy, and the defense was able to play the way they did against the Steelers without Chris Jones in there. So they bought Chris Jones the extra few days of rest, and now they'll buy him even more rest with the buy. I don't know how you felt watching a Christmas Day, Rich, but it was kind of like, here they come.

I know. And the cheese was out there all season long, just like the year before and the year before that. The year before that, I took it and said, no, the Raiders are going to win the division. And then they won the Super Bowl, the Chiefs did. And then last year, it's like, they're never going to be able to flip the switch. And then they did after Christmas.

This one, I don't know if it's really a switch flip. It's just been a slow burn of excellence with occasional bursts of what one would think luck to get them through the moments where their excellence couldn't get them on the scoreboard. You say luck, though. This is what the Patriots were for 20 years, right? It was like, God, every break is going their way.

Every call is going their way. But it's like they were so prepared for when those breaks did go their way that they nailed it every time. That was the magic of the Patriots. It wasn't just getting breaks.

It was when the break came for them, they capitalized. And that's what the Chiefs are. If you're another team playing against Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City, it's the same feeling you probably had playing as Tom Brady in New England 10 or 20 years ago, where a couple things go wrong.

And oh, my God, the walls are closing on us now. They sort of have that mental edge on everybody. And now they get to do it at Arrowhead. And again, I think having the buy and having Week 18 to manage health with a couple of guys in Travis Kelcey and Chris Jones, who've been banged up to get them the extra rest now, it's just setting up. I thought about it like when they won on Christmas. It was like, they're one win away from their seventh straight AFC title game.

That's it. That's the position they put themselves in. Again, this is another parallel to New England, but they're going to be in that ring at the end when there are only four teams left on Championship Sunday. And they're going to win some of them. They're going to lose some of them. But they're always going to be in that ring. And it feels like that's going to be the case, once again, after everything they've been through this year. And an interesting conversation that I'm sure many of our colleagues will go deeper into as we are waiting and twiddling our thumbs for Week 18 is interesting, Albert, that the top seed in the AFC also, in a way, holds the keys to the seventh seed. And they take on a Broncos team that needs to beat them to get that seventh seed. And if the Chiefs beat the Broncos, that opens the door potentially for the Dolphins. And if the Dolphins can't pop that door through, Joe Burrow can. And if you're the Chiefs and you hold these keys, what do you do with those keys, Albert Greer?

What do you do? I've thought about this so much. Here's the thing, though. So I would say, as far as just your fear factor here, if you're Kansas City, and they shouldn't be scared of anybody and they aren't, but your fear factor, I would say there are probably two teams in the AFC that really give you the most pause. Can I guess them?

Yeah, go ahead. Ravens and the Bengals. Bengals and the Bills, I think. Okay. Yeah, the Bills.

The Bills. Sure. Okay. The Bills, not the Ravens.

Okay. So let's say you have that opportunity to knock the Bengals out. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think if the Bengals get in, they play the Bills in the first round. So that's going to sort of take care of itself, right? I mean, that's just kind of like, the more I thought about it, the more I'm like, absolutely, if I'm the Chiefs and I want to keep Joe Burrow out, I'm going to game this up.

Damn straight you will, man. You don't want Burrow to go into Buffalo and want it done there, and then he shows up feeling like that in your house? Get out of here with that noise, man.

Get out of here. So you would game this up then? I mean, but here's the other part about it, right? After watching what Kevin O'Connell has done with Sam Darnold, right? And what Liam Cohen and Dave Canales and Todd Bowles have done with Baker Mayfield, are you ruling out that Andy Reid might roll out a different version of Carson Wentz there on Sunday? Yeah, I know.

That might be a little more difficult than people think. Like, after all these reclamation projects we've seen, would you rule out that like, oh my God, like 2017 Carson Wentz is back? Oh Albert, Albert, that's the beauty of weeks 17 and 18 in the NFL, because I'm being slightly cheeky here or completely cheeky by even twitching in the direction that the Chiefs would play something funky in week 18 to try and game the system to make sure Joe Burrow doesn't make it, because it's more than just what the Chiefs have to do.

It's not completely in their control. But the beauty of week 17 and 18 is like, if Carson Wentz is going to start, this is a major opportunity for him. And anybody else who starts in place of the Chiefs' starters, it's a major opportunity for them too, to look at their colleagues who have nothing to do but watch them, right? Kelsey will be standing there, Chris Jones will be standing there, Mahomes will be standing there. Whoever is the starter that's standing there, they are a captive audience, and here they can prove to those guys, I'm one of you, I can be just as good as you, I'm a Kansas City Chief, we're going to win this Super Bowl together. That is potent.

Potent. That's the beautiful thing about this league. Just last year, I mean, this is a little bit of a different example, but I can tell you, one of the things the Vikings really liked about Sam Darnold was how well he played in garbage time in that Ravens-Niners game on Christmas, when you remember the Ravens blew him out, and Sam Darnold played the last 10 minutes. Well, if you watch, you go back and look at it, and I think you and I have talked about this, right? You saw a different version of Sam Darnold out there, and some of the Vikings people I know were like, whoa, what are we looking at here?

Maybe there is something to work with there. I think that part of it is really, really interesting that for Carson Wentz, this is a great opportunity. And again, are we sure?

The Broncos are so good that they'll be able to just roll out there and beat a Chiefs team that realistically in the NFL, it's not like college, you can't sit everybody. You know what I mean? You just don't have enough numbers on your roster. So this is like, top's going to be what, seven or eight guys sitting out? You know what I mean?

So, I don't know. It's like an interesting twist the way that week 18 sets up here. Certainly, I look at the Bengals, and I probably wouldn't want Joe Burrow coming into Arrowhead.

I think I'd agree with you on that. Joe Burrow, man. I've got Albert Breuer here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk Darnold, because you know our business again. It's not enough for us to be hyping up Lions and Vikings and talking about how great the Viking season is now and what it can be right now for the next month, month and a half.

We can't leave well enough alone. We talked about it on this program last week. There was even real estate on Game Day morning on NFL Network Sunday morning that we spent on what do the Vikings do with Sam Darnold moving forward? What does it mean with JJ McCarthy coming off of a knee injury?

He's just 21 years old. What do you think the Vikings are thinking right now with this remarkable season in front of them? I think this is interesting because they think very highly of him. One of the things in talking with Kevin O'Connell over the last couple of months about this, when I've had a chance to talk with him about it, that he's emphasized is people need to stop looking at Sam Darnold as if the other shoe is about to drop. People need to stop looking at him and letting their feelings on him from the Jets and Panthers weigh them down and just recognize that this is a really good player who is talented enough to once go third overall and maybe was a victim of his circumstances when he was younger. So they view him as a viable option going forward.

Now the question is how do you do that? And I think there's an example from 20 years ago that I think is probably the best one out there to compare to this one. You remember the Chargers. You broadcast that draft.

That would have been one of your first drafts, I think. The Eli Manning draft. So the Chargers wind up, they're not over the moon with Drew Brees, so they trade out of the first pick after Eli refuses to play for them and trade down and they go and take Phillip Rivers there with the thought that Phillip Rivers is going to beat Drew Brees out. Well, Drew Brees does not lose the quarterback competition to Rivers that summer.

Brees beats him out and then Brees plays so well, wins 12 games that they franchise him after the year and go into 2005 with Brees as the quarterback and Rivers as the backup. Now obviously that all took care of itself naturally when Drew got hurt at the end of that year. Both guys wound up having very bright futures from there forward, of course.

But it's an example of one way you could handle it if you were the Vikings where you look at it and you say, we owe it to the guys on this roster. If Harrison Smith is going to be back next year, if Justin Jefferson obviously will be there, guys who have given so much to this place. We owe it to these guys to give them the shot to be at our very best at the quarterback position and that means bringing both guys back.

And that means having both Sam Darnold and JJ McCarthy back and that's a good problem to have. I mean, look, they thought the world of JJ. JJ had a great offseason, did awesome in the spring and summer, looked great in that preseason game.

I think it was against the, was it the Raiders? I think like whoever it was they played looked great in that first preseason game. Unfortunately, he gets hurt. The downside of that is that they just haven't gotten to see the development over the last four or five months. So as much as they like JJ with a team that's ready to win right now, do you roll the dice and say like JJ is going to be fine and JJ is going to be ready to go? And we've done a great job the last three years managing that position under Kevin O'Connell and we can go forward and feel confident with JJ McCarthy. And then you have the advantage of being able to build more aggressively because you're all of a sudden in that window with a quarterback on a rookie contract. Or do you say again, we owe it to the Harrison Smiths, to the Justin Jeffersons, to the Aaron Jones, to these guys on our roster that are older and chasing a championship. To give ourselves the insurance of, hey, if JJ has a setback with his injury or JJ has some bumps in his development, like we have this other piece here.

It's a really interesting question to kind of dive into, but I think it's certainly a champagne problem. If you look at coming out of like a Kirk Cousins situation where the guy was your quarterback for the last six years and played as well as Kirk did, I don't know that you'd come out of it much cleaner than the Vikings have come out of it with two very viable answers for 2025. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show from Sports Illustrated. One week from today, Albert, give me the number of coaching vacancies we will be talking about one week from this conversation. Six or seven.

I have to actually like go through them. But I would say, you know, you obviously got three open now. So you're saying, OK, the Jets, the Saints, the Bears at the Jags, I think will be open.

You do. Cowboys are iffy. The Cowboys. I mean, I think it's here's what my belief on the Cowboys is if McCarthy still had years on his contract, they would go forward with him. I think they're that impressed with the job that he's done. The problem is they have to drop an entirely new contract to bring him back. And not only that, I don't know how many people know this, but virtually every assistant on his staff is is up to. So they would basically have to redo contracts for everyone on his staff.

So like, do they bring that all back? Do they commit to McCarthy for another four or five years? I think that one's still up in the air. I have a hard time making a call on that one. I think the Raiders, there's a good chance that one will be open. So that would put you right at six. Who am I missing here?

Rich, help me out. Patriots. Albert, I think the Patriots. So I I don't think Robert on the Giants would be the other one. So we'll go through those two Patriots to me. Robert Kraft does not want to fire Gerard Mayo. I don't think they want to be that franchise that's that's that's acting in that sort of scattershot way.

That said, that was an ugly, ugly, ugly game on Saturday. There is a coach out there who will be the belle of the ball, Mike Fable, who is probably going to be available only this one year. And I think if you think you can get him, then you have to think about it. I do feel like Gerard is going to be judged on on a few different things. Number one, are the players still playing hard for him?

We'll see Sunday because that didn't look great on Saturday. Number two, has he shown that he can effectively manage his staff? That's you know, we'll see. And then three, is there some direction for his program? So I think all of that will be assessed. I think they want to bring him back for a second year, maybe with some additions to his coaching staff to add some experience on both sides of the ball. And then the Giants to me are the real wild card here. I don't think that Joe Shane and Brian Daybaugh's futures are inextricably tied. I think they'll be judged separately. I do think over the next week, John Marrow will sit down with both guys to talk about the plan going forward and where they are going forward. You know, I look at them as one of these where it's OK, like we feel like we've got a pretty good core of young players here to build around. But this thing fell apart at the end.

Is there a way to dig it out? And, you know, again, I think Marrow is sort of like Kraft in this way, like he does not want to be the franchise that keeps turning things over. And they had three straight coaches that were two and done. And this is only three years for Brian Daybaugh and Joe Shane.

So do you want to do that? There are another sneaky Vrabel team. I throw the Raiders in there. A lot of people think he's going to the Raiders, but the Giants, I think, would be a sneaky Vrabel team as well. Just because his general manager, I think his pick for general manager is already in house there. Ryan Cowden, who he's with in Tennessee and his defensive coordinators on staff there and Shane Bowen.

So I think Vrabel kind of hovers over a few of these different jobs out there. And, you know, the Giants, I think, certainly have some decisions to make. Again, I think both the Patriots and Giants are in that boat where the owners want to see it through. But I think both owners are going to have to get the plan going forward and really believe in that plan to go forward with the guys who they have now.

What about the Colts, Albert? Is there any there there? Because, I mean, if Irsay and company are looking outside of the building, a very loud voice from inside the city of Indianapolis and Pat McAfee is all in. I mean, he's putting a lot of laundry out there and Pat's got a monster megaphone, as we know.

Is there anything there? Well, I would definitely I would definitely take into account what Pat's saying. You know, I think the stuff on Anthony Richardson is without question something that you have to pay attention to. I mean, look, like they felt like they had to do a lot to get him on track and they felt like they did. Is the progress there to the point where you wouldn't add another person to that room at the very least that could compete with him for the job in 2025? And you're not in your sort of effectively taking him off a scholarship. Right.

Like I'm saying now you got to go and win it. I think that's an open question. I would say the people I've talked to, it sounds more like general manager might be a question there rather than coach. I do think they really like Shane Steichen. You know, I think Chris Ballard on balance has done a pretty good job there, but he's had eight years and they've only been in the playoffs twice. So, you know, do they look at it and say, OK, Shane Steichen, you can bring in your own guy. Do you bring in, you know, maybe somebody like Ian Cunningham from Chicago who you were with in Philadelphia?

And we build it around the two of you. I think there are a lot of those sorts of discussions happening right now. Now, again, like I would say Indianapolis and Miami are the two where I think the coaches are relatively safe.

But the general managers might be, you know, there might be some discussions about the future of the general manager in this place. Wow. How about that. Albert Breer here. OK, before I let you go, what do you think about the Rose Bowl? Feeling good? What do you think? Yeah, well, I'd say I'm in the same place I was before the Tennessee game, to be honest with you, which is I have no idea what to expect.

I mean, God, like Chip's game plan, like the way Ryan had him locked in, it was fantastic, was fantastic. And I think that that's that version of this team is what what everybody's been waiting for, who wears the same color as I do. It does bring some. Now, I think you'll find this interesting.

So I don't know. I follow college closely, of course, but I don't cover it, so I don't know if this has been out there. But, you know, one thing that I did here that was sort of interesting was that Ryan's approach to the season was that that they they viewed it as like an NFL season, like to get through and to have guys playing at their best this time of year, you were going to have to manage it to some degree. And I heard that was actually why they were one of the slowest playing teams in college football. Like a Chip Kelly offense, believe it or not, snap to snap, was one of the slower playing teams, low play count, protecting the defense, all that. They played that sort of game during the regular season. And I think in certain spots it cost them. And I think what a lot of us were waiting for was when when do you flip the switch with that?

When do we see like the hyper speed? Chip Kelly, when do you start to see them play with abandoned? And now all of a sudden that flips.

So is that what they are now? Oh, that's my question going into Wednesday. So I think that's really interesting because I think that's sort of where college coaches are right now with the chance that you might play 16 or 17 games. Do you start to approach it like an NFL coach would during the regular season, knowing we don't need to go 12 and 0 to get to the playoff? It's I think an interesting discussion and maybe some more on that comes out when the season ends. I think it's the way I hope it does.

I think you're in good shape, Albert. You know, obviously I saw what your team did against Tennessee. And, you know, the good news is, is for you is Dylan Gabriel. I understand he's a Heisman Trophy finalist. He's not a fourth year walk on. And you've got trouble with those at quarterback.

And also, Oregon is not going to be missing their two best players either. So that's that's what you have trouble with. You have trouble with teams that start fourth year walk ons at quarterback and are missing their two best players. We had trouble kicking field goal.

We had trouble kicking field goal. You had a lot of trouble against those circumstances, those really adverse circumstances for you. And by the way, you just made me think of this. What am I making you think of?

One month ago today, Albert? Is that what I'm making you think of? Yeah, there's a lot of bad memories.

There's a lot of bad memories rushing back. But you just made me think of this, like how I believe you guys got this transfer kicker, right? Like who hit, what was it, a 52 yarder? Yeah.

By the way, my bad. He was active that day and he was Michigan's best player all year long. So we had him. After we spent 20 million dollars or whatever it is, I think it's more than that in the transfer, like to build the team. It's the win that you guys got in the transfer portal, a kicker over us that kept your stupid streak going.

Stupid streak, he says. There you go. Well, in case you're wondering who Dominic Zavada is, he's an excellent kicker who made the kicks as opposed to somebody else, you know, one month ago today. And he also can spell.

If we had a better kicker two years ago, we would have won the national title. No, that's true. That's true. That's true. That's actually true.

That is true. Yeah, Stetson Bennett all figured out. All right, Albert. Very good. Thanks for the therapy session, Rich. I appreciate it.

No, it's not therapy. I'm just trying to make you feel good going into the Rose Bowl. Are you going to be here, Albert? I assume you're coming to the game, right? I'm not. No. New Year's Day is a tough one. Honestly, my one last soapbox thing.

Oh, boy. That's why these games should be on campus, right? The quarterfinals should be on campus.

That was so great, that first round. You're right in this regard, Albert. You're right in this regard is that the bi-week teams should get a home game now. Like Ohio State should be going to Oregon. Right. I agree with that 100 percent. Right.

So you get the home game and Oregon gets the neutral side game. Right. And, you know, I hear what you're saying, too.

But, you know, hey, at least you were able to win your last game in the horseshoe. And again, and I appreciate you mentioning Zavada. In case you're wondering, you could put it up on the screen. He's the one in the H. He's the one making the H right there. Wow. He's the H guy right there in that photograph. You walked into that. The minute I brought it up, the minute I brought it up, I thought of that picture. It's interesting that he's the one also making that sort of good field goal sign. Yeah.

Yeah. And it's OK. His coach missed that moment because he was off to the side in his own little shell shocked moment. What happened? Shout out to Jack Sawyer for doing the right thing.

I'm just glad he got to win his final game at Ohio State. So, Albert, thanks again, brother. All right. I figured a month was long enough. I was wondering when you were going to call. Come on.

I've been texting you every day. This guy's delusional as they come. This is the first invitation, though. I did not turn down. You should all understand.

It's just to set the record straight. Take care, Albert. See you, Albert. Thanks, Albert, for everybody from Prime Video.

Sports Illustrated. There he goes. Brockman Mary favorite. My mom loves Albert. Who doesn't love Albert? America loves Albert Brier.

844-204 Rich number two. Wow, we're back with more in a moment right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Next day delivery. Restrictions apply. You met Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now Lala and her friends share everything on Give Them Lala. Bagel, everybody says I say that weird. Oh, I'm mad. 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. Let me tell you, now when I tell the story, I go, he went and got breakfast. There you go. Bagels. Yeah.

That's what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. My friend, my longtime friend, my diehard Chief's friend, a man who has told me so many times I would love to come to the Super Bowl and hang with you, but I will not until the Chiefs make it and the Chiefs have made it and Eric Stonestreet is here on the Rich Eisen Show. There they are.

I will tell you this, Chiefs fans, football fans, Brett Veitch was on Patrick Mahomes from the very beginning and Brett Veitch told me this year that we would take a picture with the Lamar Hunt trophy in the locker room of Arrowhead. And we did that. And he said that from the beginning multiple times. And now that is what we call an insider, an insider.

That's an insider. But I look, I've known you for a long time. If I'm not mistaken, you are a mixture of ecstatic excitement and profound nervousness right now. Yeah, I call it measured. I am measured. I am a volcano of emotions inside. Yes, right now. I can see right now like you are.

You know, because I don't like to get the cart before the horses type of guy. I know the 49ers are a good team. I also know we're a good team. I love that about the Super Bowl. It's a great matchup. We each have things we have to do to win the ball game.

We have to stop their run. And Patrick Mahomes has to be Patrick Mahomes. There's no doubt about it. It is just amazing seeing, you know, this moment for you, knowing how much it means to you that you're actually here at a Super Bowl. This is actually happening.

I couldn't believe it. Going down there on the field after that and high-fiving those guys and them. And just the fact that Veitch told me, you're going to come down on the sidelines and you're going to go in the locker room and you're going to kiss the Lamar Hunt trophy with me.

And that happening. And he said, brother, the next trophy we're going to kiss is the Vinnie. We kiss the Lamar. Let's get the Vinnie. Kiss the Vinnie.

Kiss the Vinnie. I like that. Back 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. Guys, what an incredible tripleheader it was on NFL Network. And for me personally, being able to call Rams Cardinals at the end of it, I always think about when we first started in NFL Network and we were dreaming of what the network could become and dreaming of having games on the network one day. And that dream came true just a few years later when Thursday Night Football was born or reborn and placed on NFL Network. The idea of having three games in a row on NFL Network on a week 17 game, week 17 Saturday, it's the stuff of dreams that we were having.

So it's not lost on me. And here I am sitting in the SoFi stadium booth. And when NFL Network started in November of 2004, we were asked, why are you in Los Angeles? There's no NFL in Los Angeles. And here we are.

NFL Network's across the street from SoFi Stadium, home of not just two Los Angeles football teams, but two playoff Los Angeles football teams. And the tripleheader began with Jim Harbaugh clinching with the Chargers, a playoff spot for the Los Angeles Chargers. And Jim has plussed him up. Remember I said he was going to plus him up seven?

Seven. Because that's what he did when he first showed up in San Francisco. That's what he does.

He shows you up when he first shows up, whether it's Stanford or it's Michigan or it's San Francisco 49ers. And now the Chargers have doubled up and went from five wins to 10. And this is a team, this is a Chargers team that, I mean, say what you will, they didn't charger.

No. They didn't do the charging. You know what we haven't seen this year from the Chargers are those weird losses. Those weird, weird things that happen, like Melvin Gordon fumbling on the one yard line and getting it back because there was a penalty and then there's something and then he fumbles again. That was in Tennessee. I think that happened.

Or the 60 point losses on Thursday night football or the weird fourth down and go for it decisions from your own 19. Weird stuff. Yeah. We haven't seen the weird stuff.

Weird rack of stuff. All you've seen is just stout play. Stout play.

Yeah. Herbert's been unlocked. He looks awesome. And hey, what are we going to do without Keenan Allen? What are we going to do without Mike Williams? Who's going to throw? Who's he going to throw to? Who is Herbert going to throw to? Certainly in the first six weeks of the season, we're all wondering where's this offense?

What is the identity? Lydidi McConkay. Lydidi! Is 100% going to be a finalist for Offensive Rookie of the Year. That's going to be won by Jayden Daniels.

Brock Bowers will be a finalist. Yep. Lydidi McConkay. Lydidi McConkay. That kid. That kid.

That was the greatest thing Ken Tullo ever made besides his daughters. Lydidi. That was Lydidi. Lydidi McConkay. Lydidi McConkay. You're mentioning our producer who came up with the idea of saying, hey, let's get Keegan Michael Keeter to repeat Mr. Garvey. I will never say lad again.

No, I don't. I just see him and I'm like, oh, Lydidi. McConkay.

Yeah. He's Lydidi McConkay. Two more touchdowns for him, guys. Two more. Beast.

Glad I had him on my team. So the Chargers are in. The Chargers are in and they're going to be the sixth seed.

And if, well, they could be the five seed potentially, if they win their final game and Pittsburgh loses again, which could happen because that middle game of the NFL Network triple header was off the rails in a game that the Denver Broncos needed to win to make the playoffs without having to beat the Chiefs to do it. They went on the road and they got Bo Nix making throws and they found their legs and sea legs every single time that Joe Burrow hit them with a right cross with Tee Higgins or a left cross with Tee Higgins or right in the chops with Tee Higgins. That kid Bo Nix made two throws to Marvin Mims, one over the middle on a bomb, just a gorgeous spiral dart, 60 yards in the air to tie the game at 17. And then that one that sent the game in overtime with eight seconds left on a fourth down.

That was incredible. But this crazy ass Bengal season where everything has happened to them from losing to the Patriots in week one to getting a major win against the Cowboys handed to them with a special teams gap for the Dallas Cowboys and losing everything else in between and then winning everything else in between and Joe Bo having an MVP campaign and the offensive player of the year maybe could be Jamar Chase. With all of that, they have Cade York lined up for a very makeable field goal to win the game in overtime and he hits the upright. And all Denver needed was a tie. That's all Denver need was a tie.

And Sean Payton called a few timeouts and called a couple of timeouts in overtime. I thought it would have been well best for him to just let the clock roll because if Cade York hits the upright and there's no time left, that helps Denver's in and the Broncos are in and the Bengals are out and instead he tried to win it and then the Bengals get the ball back and Joe Burrow finds T Higgins in the end zone for a walk off win and the Bengals are still alive. And let me tell you this, outside of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio and all of Bengals nation, the jungle, if you will, and the jungles around the world, there's Bengals fans everywhere. I say to those folks outside of you, there's not a single NFL player or team in the playoffs that wants to see the Bengals in the playoffs too.

Not a single one of them. Who wants to see Joe Burrow as your seventh seed with T Higgins playing for his deal and Jamar Chase also looking for his money and all of that stuff's put aside because they know this could be a one last ride together. Who wants to see Joe Burrow walk into their house? Do the Buffalo Bills want freshly minted, clinched two seed? They want to see Joe Burrow walk in as a seventh seed? I will say no. You're laughing because Rich Eisensho, coordinating producer and diehard Bills mafioso. I do not.

Mike Hoskins just said in all of our ears together, I do not want to see them. You do not. That's correct.

You do not. Let me just say this. If the Bengals make it as the seventh seed and due to the Bills, what, you know, calls Stefan Diggs to lose his mind in the snow, in Buffalo. Let's say he does that to, the Kansas City Chiefs would be fresh off their by. Who's coming into their house? Joe Burrow. Who's the only one currently active in the National Football League to have gone into that house? Burrowhead, right? That's what they call it.

Burrowhead, Missouri. Yikes. No. They do not watch to see him. No thanks. Right?

Right. Nobody wants to see Joe Burrow. No one wants to see Joe Burrow, MVP Joe Burrow, right? No one wants to see him.

They don't want any part of him. So the crazy thing is the Chiefs can beat the Broncos and open the door. But the first guy, the first line of defense on that front are the Pittsburgh Steelers because they play the Bengals on Saturday night. The Bengals are playing on Saturday night on ESPN and the Disney family of networks on ABC. They are first up because if they lose, they're out and that leaves the Broncos and the Dolphins remaining for that seven seed. And they both play their games at the same time late window on Sunday at 4 25 Eastern. But if the Bengals win, then they will be very interested observers on what happens in Denver and New York city or New Jersey. Cause that's where the jets are hosting the dolphins.

That's it. Broncos beat the chiefs then they're in and that's the end of it. And I know you're sitting there saying, well, but the chiefs aren't going to play anybody. They're not going to stop playing.

You don't think Carson Wentz is going to want to win that football game and show everybody I can be the next Sam Donald. Give me that shot. Yeah. NFL team. Good call. Good call on that.

Of course. You don't think that all those chiefs players who are playing in the place of all the future hall of famers that they have there or the pro bowlers that they have there, that Andy Reed is going to say, you sit, you sit, you sit, and they're all a captive audience for their backup teammates who are going to want to say, Hey, first stringers, we're just as good as you. And we're going to win a super bowl together and make history. What do you think they're going to want to lose in Denver? That's why it's hard to buy the notion that teams will tank because you've got prideful men on those teams, dude, I don't know if you watch because if you were watching, if you were around or you had fantasy involvement, three and 12 Tennessee versus three and 12 Jacksonville was a fun football game with two guys, you know, one who was apparently a dead coach walking in our friend Doug Peterson and Brian Callahan, who lost his mind when he was asked if his team was soft, you know, that was a grown ass man football game with pride everywhere. Denver can lose this one and, and, and the dolphins can go and the Jets and Aaron Rogers and Devante Adams in their last game together, using the Jets as their fantasy football camp together basically right now, they could spit their last green breath in the direction of the dolphins, which means for every single team that does not want the Bengals to make it. Mike Tomlin's your guy. Mike Tomlin's your guy. And they'll know if they have a chance to win the AFC North because the first game of week 18 is Browns at Ravens right before it.

The NFL is going to check off the AFC North box before Sunday even hits. Stay by your phone, man. I may need you. That's your guy. You don't want to borrow in. That's your guy. We're not going to apologize for winning.

That's it. Should they be sending him like a gold belly or, you know, edible arrangements or something? Whatever makes Mike Tomlin happy.

I can't give you all the ingredients to the hot dog you might not like. He could just basically tell the Bengals nice, nice season. Nice run you made. Nice four game win streak you suddenly came up with. Great job. Keep it up. We're going to the playoffs and you're not.

Oh baby. Week 18. The Steelers are four and one their last five against the Bengals too. So dude, that's going to be fun Saturday night.

That's going to be fun. Cause there are fan bases in Kansas city and in Buffalo and in Baltimore feeling great about their teams right now. They're sitting back, they're smoking stogies, certainly in Buffalo and Kansas city. They're like red Albrecht sitting back saying, wait, we already got, we already got our seeds. We already know we got our own playoff teams. We already know we're feeling good. We already know what we got. They don't want to see that guy.

No, thank you. Right. TJ, you know, it's LeBron's birthday today, but remember that famous jiff of him when they played the Spurs in the finals and he saw that Kawhi was checking back in and he's like, Oh man.

Cause Kawhi had been locking them up. That's it. Yeah. That's what it is. This is it like, Oh yeah.

The entire, the entire league is Brock Osweiler. Right. Come on. Come on, man.

This guy thought he was dead and buried at Thanksgiving. Mike Tauman's your guy folks. 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich number to dial right here on the rich eyes and show our number three is all for us too. So don't go anywhere.

It's lots more to converse about. Back here on the program. 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich is the number to dial. What are you laughing about? You got to, you got to say, well, you just said, I don't want to say that. I'll say it. This guy's at home. Go ahead.

Go ahead. So I'm at home watching, you know, I'm an altitude and I'm watching that stinking Eagles Cowboys game. And I think Eagles go up, I think 14 7 and my mom's sitting there and she looks at me and she goes, you just need to get a new team. And I'm like, how dare you?

How dare you? Mama knows best. She's looking out for you and your health and your, your mentals and your wellbeing. I think she saw me cause I, you know, I'm sitting at home, so I can't say the things I want to say while I'm watching the game. So my reactions consisted a lot of me just like, she was just like, just get a new team. So what was your reaction when Tanner McKee threw his second touchdown pass in the Dallas Cowboys? Oh, I wasn't even watching. I stopped watching. Delicious.

It was not delicious. Tanner McKee. You know, when I saw that happen. Not one, but two.

How many A.J. Brown fantasy folks were thinking when Tanner McKee came in saying, I'm not going to get my touchdowns today. And then they got two.

I was one of them. Yeah. You know what? Because, well, they got one from that throw that Kenny Pickett made to bring in Tanner McKee because he took a, she took a shot from Micah Parsons clean shot to found A.J.

Brown in the back of the end. Oh my gosh. Was really one of them. Great throw, man. It was incredible.

Yeah. You know, it knocked Pickett out. But it put Brown in the end zone and then Brown caught another one from Tanner McKee who threw two touchdowns.

I saw those on replay hours later. Because your mom doesn't have that sort of insane fandom. She just knows what's best for you. Get a new team. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show. How dare Jefferson's mom told him, just get a new team watching him suffer against the Philadelphia Eagles.

She don't know football. I will tell you this, T.J., is there is a particular New York Knickerbocker that has a keen interest in connecting with you. Just letting you know that. Yeah, I told my uncles this yesterday.

They were dropping me off at the airport and I'm like, I may or may not have been the one to reach out after Tanner McKee through his second. See, why are you getting involved? He's busy. He's, you know, he's definitely not busy. He's definitely not busy. I know that he's not busy, but why are you egging this on?

Because it's delightful. I will just tell you. No, I will just tell you, because after I texted him that McKee just threw his second touchdown on the Cowboys, just to give you a heads up, Karl-Anthony Towns responded to me, God knew who to give the money to because I'm a use it wisely LMAO.

Says Karl-Anthony Town. So that's what we call foreshadowing as we're back on the show this week. Foreshadowing. I got to say, T.J., you weren't on this, but Rich, you sent this to me and Mike and Sean. And I was, it's several minutes of laughing. Just picturing what Kat is going to come up with.

It's called foreshadowing. No, no, no. He's not. My uncle dropped me off at the airport in state college yesterday. And as I'm getting out of the car, I'm like, man, I'm going to have to deal with this Karl-Anthony Towns guy this week.

You are. In short order, sir. I think he's got a game tonight, which is the saving grace for you on this Monday. I had a T-shirt made like when we went up early on, I had something I was going to send him.

And then after like ten minutes, I had to delete that. When Cooper Rush responded to his pick six right away. Well, first of all, just real quick, I don't want to talk about the Cowboys, but they start the game off. They're running the ball right up first series. Then they decide to throw it on third and short pick.

Next series, third and one, they throw like a 30 yard bomb downfield instead of just running the ball. At that point, I mentally checked out because I was so aggravated by their play calls. So that's all I want to say about them. They aggravate me. Which is why my Christmas, Rich, your mom doesn't have the that whole, you know, deep care for the team.

She just is watching you struggle, watching the end, just saying, why don't you get a new team already? Which is which makes sense. I shouldn't even have said that. This is perfect time for me to read this.

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That's try E T H O S.com. That a Keller Witherspoon interception I got to call on Saturday night was something to behold in person. I'll tell you that. And let me tell you this too, folks. Uh, you were there, Chris, with Sarah. I was there. Yeah. You used your tickets, Mike.

I don't know. You were feeding your squirrel. You couldn't go to the end. No, you weren't working. You said you'd been off for five days. Oh, and then you worked Saturday. Yes.

Okay. Two games. The squirrel had to find its own. The squirrel had to find its own nuts. There's a starving squirrel in the Marina saying, where's Papa with his nuts? Where's Mikey D's and D's nuts?

I can only do that impression for one person. It was loud. It was really loud. Really good crowd on Saturday. And it wasn't because Arizona fans came all the way up from Arizona. It was loud. It was Rams house. It was really like a home field advantage.

Yeah, it was. And, and Matthew Stafford had not in his career won back to back games in which he threw for less than 200 yards passing. Yeah. Not a lot of offense. And now three games in a row after scoring 44 against the bills and giving up 42 in that day, they gave up 42 on that day. They gave up six to the Niners, nine to the jets and nine to the Cardinals.

Yeah. The defense is bringing it. They were in Kyler's lap all night.

They've given up 24 points in three games after 42 and one. I mean, the Rams are the proverbial don't want to face them either. You know, pretty wild stuff. And we start, I, you know, I, I started the day at NFL network right across the street and I walked over with Kurt Warner and he had his silver puffy jacket with him. And I had no idea as we're getting set to go on the, you see my face on your face, that face right there. You're just like, I didn't know that he was going to wear it until we rehearsed it 10 minutes beforehand. And he wore it just to start. Cause it's a tradition like the traveling pants.

Remember that we sent it to iron Eagle one year. He wore it. So Kurt wore it just as a gag. And then in the fourth quarter, he put it on pretty chilly.

He put it on. Yeah. It gets cold.

I busted his stones for that one. When the fog rolls in, it gets pretty shitty because it's, it's an open air stadium with a canopy on top. You get fog 20 degrees. Nah, not that cold, but it was 50 quarterback guys. Yeah. He's a, he's also a dome announcer. Well, current, current on the same, same page.

What, what, what, and what is not football weather. Oh, I know that. I know that, but he wore the puffy coat. It went from a gag, a visual gag to a necessary jacket for him, but not for me.

I did not need one. It was also one, they blasted the heat in that booth too. I mean, come on. It wasn't cold. I was in the cold. That wasn't cold.

I'm telling you East coast was cold. It started as a side gag and then wound up being a necessity. Look at Kurt. My face was like legit. What is he doing?

Send that jacket to Kate. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-30 16:21:10 / 2024-12-30 16:42:52 / 22

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