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Nick Ferguson Former NFL Safety - Joe Burrow is my NFL MVP

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen
The Truth Network Radio
January 1, 2025 3:11 pm

Nick Ferguson Former NFL Safety - Joe Burrow is my NFL MVP

The Rich Eisen Show / Rich Eisen

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January 1, 2025 3:11 pm

Segment One--The Sugar Bowl is still scheduled to be played after the tragic events from last night in New Orleans. Last Week Of NFL Regular Season: Who Is Getting Fired on Monday? Will the Cowboys fire Mike McCarthy? The Giants need to hire a new head coach.

Segment Two---Changes The College Football Playoff Needs To Make. Expansion could happen in 2026. Takeaway the bye's going to conference champions.

Segment Three---NFL Guest Nick Ferguson Former NFL Safety. Quarterbacks coming into the NFL need to be more mobile. Joe Burrow is my NFL MVP. Lady luck is on Kansas City.

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Oh my God, you guys are my favorite. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about.

That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Brian Weber. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles.

Oh my gosh. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. It is another hour of the program and it's great to have you with us. We're live on this New Year's Day.

Happy New Year and I hope that everything you are thinking about from a positive standpoint, everything you're dreaming of, everything you're wishing for comes together here in 2025. Try to be positive because unfortunately I have to get into another lopsided outcome in the college football playoff last night with another one about to get underway, presumably. Give you a few more thoughts about Texas. Two touchdown favorite over plucky Arizona State. And then we'll spin it forward, spending much more time on the details of the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl with the knowledge that anything that happens on the field, especially tonight at the Superdome, seems trivial.

Given the tragic of events that have transpired in New Orleans, our hearts go out to everyone impacted by that senseless tragedy. Our first guest, Nick Ferguson, a good friend, former radio partner. Now he's doing a marvelous job on the radio in Denver on the flamethrower, that is KOA. Nick spent a decade in the league and he gives you the defensive perspective, not to get defensive like yours truly, but it's always good to talk about quarterbacks with a guy whose occupation it was to try to keep high octane offenses in check as a member of the team. And since Nick is based in Denver, I can let you know that it's now official and all signs were trending this way based on just the most logical of circumstances and what the Chiefs have done every year they've been in this position. Kansas City is going to rest their starters when they take on a Broncos team that simply needs to win after that absolutely insane series of events at the end of regulation and overtime that the Bengals eked out a victory in on Saturday to keep their faint postseason hopes alive. Denver win and they're in and now they face Carson Wentz.

We'll talk about the matchups that matter when we check in with Nick coming up. Also, it bears repeating because I laid out what I thought was a very eloquent MVP argument. We don't have embraced debate on this show and if you're not a fan of the act, I can fully understand it.

Sadly, it's not an act. This is who I am. Someone gave me great advice years ago. If you say what you mean to me, what you say, you never have to contradict yourself because you'll be speaking from the heart.

If I am not your cup of tea, I get it. Good news is the simulcast is back tomorrow. Just a one-day hiatus with me keeping you company at 8442047424.

I had detailed and passionate thoughts about this. What if Saquon Barkley, who only needed 101 yards on the ground to match what Eric Dickerson did in 1984? Yeah, he would have had a 17-game season to get it done, but Dickerson had 16 games to break OJ Simpson's record.

2003 yards, I'm doing this from memory, in 1974 in a snowy day or 73. Snowy day at Shea Stadium when OJ had a very different connotation in our society. Barkley's not going to have a shot at that record. Nick Ceriani informing the media a half hour ago, he's going to rest the majority of his starters because the Eagles are locked into being the two seed as they take on the Giants, who maybe will figure out that loop. losing should be the goal as a franchise to have a better shot at the number one overall pick, but I throw this line out with regularity because it always stuck with me and I heard it covering the NFL early in my career in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Franchises, organizations, teams can tank, players and coaches don't because the majority of them are auditioning for their next gigs. Case in point, Drew Locke, who looked like Hall of Famer Drew Locke carving up the Colts and Giants fans were not pleased at the outcome to win that game momentarily costing the Giants a shot at the number one overall pick. We'll get more clarity on how that could play out heading into the final weekend of the regular season coming up. If you didn't watch Penn State against Boise State last night, I can't blame you. It was New Year's Eve and conventional wisdom coming in based on the view from the Sharpies in Nevada was this was going to follow the pattern that we saw in the first round of the college football playoff. Be another beat down, and if you care about the sports investing point of view, Penn State, depending on the number you got, did cover, but that game was a lot more competitive than 31-14 would reflect.

In fact, I'm just looking at the notes I wrote in my horrible penmanship last night. The second missed field goal by Boise State came with just over nine minutes to go. Had that gone in, it would have been a one score game.

It was 24-14 at that point in them. The Nittany Lions had that long touchdown run, better than 50 yards to seal the victory. But Penn State was outgained by the Broncos. Boise State, one time of possession.

Problem was what they failed to do in big spots. They had three trips inside the 30, a pair of missed field goals, and a costly turnover with a fumble. Overall, Penn State clearly knew the assignment, put as many bodies as they could on Ashton Gente, who was held to a season low 104 rushing yards. He did have a lot of carries because he is the face that runs the plays for Boise State. 30 more attempts, but could not break Barry Sanders' all-time single season rushing record for college football, even though he had more attempts to do it with multiple additional games.

28 yards short of Barry Sanders. So, we're thinking about popping the champagne corks to celebrate the new year. You had Sanders presumably doing it last night, although he was very magnanimous, saying, let's go Gente. I got my popcorn ready.

Let's see what you can do out there. And ED, former radio partner of mine, Eric Dickerson, who was blunt, saying, no, heck no, I'm not rooting for Saquon to break my record. If he does it, I'll give him props, but I want that record.

And his ED-ness does not have to worry about being bypassed by Saquon because Barkley will not step foot on the field on Sunday. Is Arizona State going to show up in this game? Now, I'm not questioning their intensity or preparation, and I come to you from our Regal Studios here in Southern California, Brian Weber, ain't for Rich Eisen, 844-204-7424, or have at it on social media.

It's the X platform, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I used to spend a lot of time in the state of Arizona because my father was in poor health, so I tracked Arizona State and Arizona very closely. I also worked for the Pac-12 Network for a dozen years, so I'm very familiar with the history of Arizona State football.

You want to go old school Jake Plummer? How about that game Arizona State versus Nebraska in the mid-90s? The problem for Arizona State has been way too many lean years. If you're a Sun Devil fan and you're watching Jayden Daniels do remarkable things for the commanders, you say, hey, everyone says LSU product. What about Daniels starting his career at Arizona State before he went to Baton Rouge to win the Heisman? Arizona State has always had excellent players come through there. They should have the ability to recruit. Who would not want to spend their college years in Tempe?

You talk about having a good time. It's available for you in the Valley of the Sun, a stadium that has hosted NFL games in the past. Cardinals used to play there when they were the Phoenix Cardinals, and the resources have improved because there's been a commitment to making the football team more relevant. And they got it right with the hiring of Kenny Dillingham.

34 years old. If you're going to check out the broadcast today, and they will always give you the backstories when it's as interesting as Kenny's is, he started his coaching career his senior year in high school in Scottsdale. Because he got hurt, and he loved football, the coach said, hey, Ken, I'm going to be very honest with you.

Unless you want to play Division 3 special teams, if you want a future in the sport, it's by standing next to me. He was a Doogie Howser, for lack of a better term, figure in coaching. He got the head coaching job last year after spots in high profile programs like Auburn. He worked for Dan Lanning at Oregon, so he had a great resume coming in, and the attractive portion as an alum cannot be overlooked.

So he got a great resume coming in and said, yeah, why not us? And with these Frankensteined conferences we have, nobody saw Arizona State coming this year. Nobody saw BYU either out of the Big 12, which is just a mishmash of teams. Just a reminder, those preseason media coaches poll mean nothing. Arizona State picked at the bottom of the conference, and here they are taking on mighty Texas, and I know, especially on a holiday, we get some casual fans as they're flipping around wherever you might be going on this New Year's Day. I'm going to just spell out what's obvious to most of you, but if you don't track college football, this is going to be odd. Arizona State is the more rested team. They had the bye. They're the 4 seed, even though they were ranked 12th because they are the Big 12 champs.

They're going to be up in 15 minutes. I'm going to tell you obvious tweaks that have to be made once we get past this round of postseason play, among them getting rid of the rewarding of conference champs with the byes. Arizona State and Boise State had no business getting byes. That's their fault.

They're just a byproduct of a flawed system. If Arizona State's going to have any shot today, and if you haven't watched a lot of Texas, or even if you know mostly the Longhorns from offense, because even in the college ranks, we are fixated on the bright, shiny objects under center, and that's Quinn Ewers getting pushed by Arch Manning. Texas has the best defense in the country, and I think that's going to be the most glaring example of the mismatch. Arizona State simply does not have the level of athletic ability and skill set that Texas does. I don't care about recruiting too much because those forecasts are often just dead wrong, but if you're looking at five stars, a lot of them on the Longhorn roster, not many for ASU. I'm interested to see if Cam Scatterboe, who had a Ashton Gente kind of year, in fact I pulled this nugget last night getting ready for the show, Scatterboe, second only to Gente in yards from scrimmage.

He was just that versatile. Is Cam going to have more success than Gente did last night against an even more formidable defense from Texas than Penn State offered, but I think the parallel between the games is going to be this. They're going to have better players on defense, better athletes, so if Cam's got to see him, he better take advantage of that window, it's going to close quickly. But if you care about this game from the gambling perspective, you've got a big number if you're an Arizona State fan, and for some of you, covering is more important than wins and losses.

And that's the world we live in now. As we get closer to the final hour of the program, with the game between Texas and Arizona State just underway, 90 seconds in, scoreless as you might imagine, I'll keep you posted. Offer detailed thoughts on what could decide the game between Oregon and Ohio State in a rematch of what was, in my estimation, the game of the year, a one point win by the Ducks at home, if you remember that game on a Saturday night on NBC. Will Howard got very tight, he made some lousy decisions in critical situations with Ohio State driving in the final minutes there. What's going to change in the second game between these teams?

I thought it was going to be the third matchup because it felt like they were going to be the opponents seeing each other in the Big Ten championship game, but because Ryan Day had another Ryan Day kind of experience against Michigan, making four straight losses to his arch rivals, it was Penn State who wound up losing narrowly to the Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten title game. Spent just a couple minutes since we've been talking about coaches who stand out in college football, like Kenny Dillingham who got the five year, let's say multi-year contract extension at his alma mater of Arizona State last night. That's great news for Sun Devil fans to make it more challenging for him to take a job in the SEC or the Big Ten. Let's go from coaches who have made a difference in college football to coaches who should be looking over their shoulder when we get to Black Monday in just a handful of days from now in the NFL.

As you presumably know, three openings already exist. No surprise, Dennis Allen, Robert Salah, and Matt Eberfluse are all gone. Eberfluse effectively committed professional suicide with the whole nation watching with the worst clock management we've ever seen in that debacle as the Bears lost to the Lions and he just seemed paralyzed, not going to timeout in the final 30 seconds. I cannot get a firm grasp on what's going to happen to Mike McCarthy because we're talking about the Cowboys after all.

And that would require me to think like Jerry Jones and I don't want my brain to hurt to start a new year. I think Mike is going to survive. And if you're listening to the people who are connected to that organization like Troy Aikman who went on the radio in Dallas a couple weeks ago, they're all saying that Mike has done a magnificent job because the Cowboys didn't quit.

And wow, what a notable thought it is. Effort and professionalism, but if that team didn't respect Mike McCarthy, they would have given up. They didn't lay down despite the obvious season changing injuries suffered by Dak Prescott and others. So I think for Jerry Jones, who wants a puppet and also is comfortable at this stage of his life. Heck, that's why Mike McCarthy wasn't fired last year. After the incredibly embarrassing loss at home to the Packers, the fact that he came back this year tells you two things.

Jerry's being more careful with money in the twilight of his life. He wants a name Mike to go and he wants someone he can control. And I think Mike probably skates for another two years and we're having this conversation again next year. Will he be a lame duck heading into what would then be the final year of his contract once more?

I think the Giants have to blow the whole thing up. And that starts with Joe Shane. I guess he can feel better that Saquon Barkley won't have a chance to set the single season rushing record on Sunday because he'll be rested. But Shane embarrassed himself not only with his baffling explanation of why he was ready to move on from Saquon on hard knocks, but a series of ghastly errors and player personnel. So I think Shane and Brian Dabble should be gone.

I have no idea. With a quick sidebar, I'm not rooting for anybody to get fired. I work in social media. We have no job security in this world of sports media, social media, being an influencer.

Heck, I'll be on TikTok if need be. There are no long term contracts when you bark into a microphone on any platform. I put it that way.

Still, I don't know how. Doug Peterson has survived to this point because we heard all the reports that he was dead man walking in the middle of the year and nothing has changed. Antonio Pierce should never have gotten that job in Vegas. I do not understand how the Raiders work. I guess he survives, but I can fully understand if Mark Davis changes his mind once more. I mentioned in passing, as we were talking about the Giants forgetting their mission of losing to the Colts, that win by Big Blue behind Hall of Famer Drew Locke may have cost Shane Steichen his job, primarily because the Anthony Richardson pick was a lousy pick. Again, you have a flaky owner in Jimer say who likes to do wacky things. So while I have respect for Shane Steichen and he will get hired again as a play caller because he's a respected offensive coordinator would not surprise me if he's pushed out and one more job that you should just have on your radar. There's a lot of weird chatter coming out of Boston, and I realize Jirad Mayo was set up to be the heir apparent to Bill Belichick, and I understand he took over a absolutely barren roster because Bill Belichick, the GM, didn't know what he was doing. It would be embarrassing to Mayo. It would also be a sign from Robert Kraft. He didn't know what he was doing with the hand-picked succession plan, but people I know close to that family indicate that the Suns are becoming a lot more hands-on with Robert Kraft, like Jerry Jones moving into a different stage of their life.

And they have less sentimentality than the old man. So Mayo might be one and done in New England. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, and just reiterating, I am not rooting for anyone to be fired. Whatever form of media you work in, social media, sports media, newspapers, are they still a thing?

We have no job security. Still, we understand that the NFL truly stands for not for long when you don't win enough on the sidelines. There's no score between Texas and Arizona State. Now, three minutes into the opening quarter in Atlanta, I'll keep you posted. A reminder, the Longhorns installed as a double-digit favorite. Coming up in 20 minutes, we take you across the NFL with my pal Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety.

Coming up, since Texas and Arizona State is underway, we're going to talk more college football, what changes need to be made in the college football playoff before next year, we will get there coming up. I appreciate you spending part of your holiday with us. I'm Brian Weber wishing you a happy new year here on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll be right back. If you ever tell this story again, then 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. Watch what Lala is talking about on YouTube or search for Give Them Lala wherever you listen. Welcome to the Jungle Clones. It's the Jim Rome Show podcast. The greatest and loyal fan base ever. You, the clones. It all starts with the jungle. We're in it to win it, and I'm in it to go as hard as I possibly can every day to make sure that you clones get the best possible product every single day. Day one, all in.

Let's freaking go. The Jim Rome Show. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm Brian Weber live on this New Year's Day, and I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by.

844-204-7424 is the number to call as I glance at my computer. Touchdown, Texas. Mention Quinn Ewers, who was polarizing in Longhornland because everybody has arch-manning mania. Ewers looking good. A 23-yard pass play after Arizona State methodically moved into field goal range on their opening drive. Nailed the field goal to grab a quick 3-0 lead.

Did not last long, Texas. Extra point is good. Leads Arizona State 7-3.

Eight minutes to go in the first quarter. We'll keep you posted. Since I was talking about Mike McCarthy's future, I apparently went to the Mike McCarthy School of Clock Management.

That was a robust, a meaty monologue. We'll keep this far more succinct because I want to leave plenty of time for NFL analysis to be provided by my friend, former radio partner now on the radio in Denver, Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety. We are monitoring what is going on in New Orleans. Strictly from the standpoint of the Sugar Bowl, I can read you this. Having been retweeted in the last 10 minutes by friends of the program, Chris Venini, who covers college football for the athletic, New Orleans Sheriff Houston asked what will happen with the Sugar Bowl tonight.

Said, quote, I'm not sure. The last official statement we had from the Sugar Bowl did not have any information about the game. Everything we've heard so far is the plan is to move forward as scheduled. If you're thinking potentially about pushing the game back to tomorrow, I just did some basic research. The Gator Bowl is scheduled for 730 Eastern on ESPN. I would think theoretically if Disney decided that the Sugar Bowl, once it was moved, let's say it's moved to tomorrow, the Sugar Bowl either would take precedence over the Gator Bowl. They could put it on ESPN2.

And remember, Disney also owns ABC. And they've been doing the multi-platform view of these college football playoff games. So that is me theorizing, but if you're thinking to yourself, okay, this is an unspeakable tragedy in New Orleans, the game should not be played tonight, and I can understand that point of view. I'm giving you some logistical challenges to push it back even 24 hours. The games continue, so let's spend a few moments on some clear changes that need to be made to the college football playoff. With a reminder, because everything is in flux and everything is for sale in big-time college sports, this current contract only has one more season remaining after this year. In 2026, expansion could happen, and it could be incremental, it could be 14 teams, it could be 16, but I'm fairly certain we're going to be talking about a much bigger bracket.

But when we get there, some obvious weaknesses have to be addressed, and they have to be fixed before next year. The first is, and I hate to grab the low-hanging fruit and keep annihilating the problem with the seeding structure, but there's no way Boise State and Arizona State should have the benefit of a bye heading into their quarterfinal matchup. It's not their fault.

They didn't do anything wrong. It's a byproduct of a flawed system, and I won't give you the whole history lesson, but remember, as this was formulated, we had five Power 5 conferences. The Pac-12 is dead. I don't care that the name lives on, and Utah State is coming. The issue is, after the demise of the Pac-12, because of incompetence and greed, they didn't change the parameters of this format.

So, that tweak is obvious. Take away the byes going to automatically being linked to conference champions. It should be the four highest-ranked teams. Now the pushback is going to be, that makes conference championship games even less meaningful.

I don't care. Conference championship games are already even wonkier, because we don't have divisions anymore, because we have these weird schedules, and you have 18 teams within a mega conference. So, for all the people crushing Indiana, well, who did Indiana play? They didn't make their conference schedule, and yeah, you're right, they got exposed, both against Ohio State and Penn State in the playoff, but they did not control the rotation of teams they played in Big Ten conference competition. Other thing that has to happen is reseeding, because I am holding in my hand, again, I'm from the 80s, we print things out.

What happens if you can't get Wi-Fi, as my old man used to say? I have the bracket in my hand, it's an actual bracket, like college basketball. When I go through NFL playoff possibilities, you know what you don't have? A bracket, because they reseed every round, as they should, to reward the best teams. So, for example, it's an absolute joke that Oregon has this path to potentially playing for the national championship. I realize that Ohio State is the 8 seed. If they get past them, the Ducks then presumably take on Texas, whose favored to win it all in the semi-finals. So that's a glaring weakness that has to be fixed.

And then finally, this comes down to finances and watchability, and even I, who have taken a flamethrower as I go old school, scent of a woman. I've taken a sledgehammer to this whole format because, and I know nobody cares, but occasionally I stumble into being right, if expansion was inevitable, and it was, because all you have to do is follow the money, I would have gone to 6 teams as the first step, 8 teams as the conclusion, 8 is the ideal number, because you can't tell me that 12 teams exist each year, that are outstanding enough to have a legitimate chance of competing for a national championship. But I'm yelling at myself, I will concede, the on-campus development in the first round was phenomenal. Because the games were so lousy, at least we had tremendous atmosphere. Notre Dame at night on a Friday, and they got lucky with the intrastate matchup with Indiana.

Well if that works, let's supersize it. Something I know a lot about, the quarterfinals should be on campus as well, for two reasons. Better optics with a better sense of energy from a more engaged fan base, always the case over neutral side games, and let's say you are somebody connected to these schools and you travel, you're telling me you're going to shell out for a trip to the quarterfinal, semi-final, and the national championship? Now look, I'm not talking about the top 1% getting in their private planes, I'm talking about me and you, rank and file sports fans, that's a massive financial burden, and one that does not need to exist. Now, who loses?

Remember, if you think about most things in life, start with who benefits, and then who suffers negative consequences? The Bulls. And I'm fine with that, because the Bulls have been a scam for decades. Remember, most of them are set up as non-profits, and don't pay any taxes, and they have year-round staves.

So the 82-year-old guy in the bad, loud polyester jacket is getting a salary year-round off the backs of, until recently, unpaid labor. I'm Brian Weber, getting off the soapbox, it is a holiday after all, I have very passionate thoughts when it comes to college football, knowing most of you don't even have a semblance of who I am and totally disagree because, and I can't blame you for coming to this conclusion, more football is a good thing, but did you like those first-round matchups? Did you think they were at least watchable? How about last night? Now, last night was a better game than 31-14, Penn State over Boise State would suggest, but if you want to come over to my side of the street, that's another double-digit rump.

And that was always going to be the case because the disparity between the premier programs, even in the age of unlimited free agency, with the Portal and NIL, the big boys just have a structural advantage over the smaller programs that is not going to be overcome, despite the nice and the heart-rendering backstory of Ashton Gente as he got run down by some bigger, faster, stronger defensive players for Penn State. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich Eisen, live on this New Year's Day, hop aboard an 844-204-7424, as I glance at the computer, what do you know, Texas has just scored again. Extra point is good again. 14-3 Longhorns dismantling Arizona State, no surprise, with loads of time left. Seven minutes to go in the first quarter, backing up why Texas is a two-touchdown favorite in this game in Atlanta. Coming up, we go back to the NFL.

What's the biggest obstacle to the Chiefs' three-peating? Looking forward to checking in with my friend Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you, especially on a holiday. Happy New Year as we continue here on the Rich Eisen Show. Brian Weber back with you. We appreciate you spending part of this New Year's Day holiday with us.

844-204-7424 is the number to call. Have it on social media. You can send all of your positive vibes my way. Nothing negative ever happens on social media.

It is the X platform for me. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I mentioned, as we were stepping aside, that Texas had scored just that quickly again, upping their lead over Arizona State in the Peach Bowl to 14-3. Midway through the first quarter, I told you about the 23-yard touchdown pass throw by Quinn Ewers. 75-yard punt return for Texas.

So in the span of merely two plays, one on offense, one on special teams, they are mauling Arizona State. With that, let's keep the football conversation going. If it's a holiday, I'm talking pigskin with my friend Nick Ferguson. You hear him on the radio in Denver.

He played a decade in the NFL at safety for the Jets, the Texans, and the Broncos. Nick, my friend, happy new year. How are you? And thanks so much for taking the time. Happy new year to you. Beware of inner listeners.

Thank you, my friend. And because you're versatile and a proud alum of Georgia Tech, I know you can weigh in on college football. Plus in Denver, you talked plenty of Colorado this year. Nick, you know I can get a little bit curmudgeonly.

I can get stuck in my way. So every step of the way heading into this playoff, I was saying I know expansion is inevitable, but let's try eight teams first before we jump to 12 because I thought there'd be a series of blowouts because there aren't 12 outstanding teams even with more competitive balance each year in college football. So you want to say this is a one-off? You want to say this is an anomaly to start the 12-team era? Or further confirmation, I'm just that smart?

No, I think this is kind of a one-off. And I think the bowl committee, they were looking at college football as though we see March Madness and trying to get that Cinderella story. And when we look at college basketball March Madness for what it is, the reason we have those Cinderella stories, those come out of nowhere schools, because there's that infamous three-point line that allows teams to climb back in the game. In college football, we really don't have that. And I never really liked the 12-team type of idea.

I know why they did it. I mean the full-letter network and so much money around college football. But I'm like you, I would prefer that they started off with eight teams and still kind of work it from that particular standpoint. Because what we're seeing right now, there are a lot of teams who do well during the regular season, but once they get into the situation where they're facing some of the top talent in college football, they can't really cut the mustard. And that is borne out by what's going on in Atlanta the first of three games. Talking football with Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety.

One more connected to college football, because I mentioned you are killing it on the radio in Denver, and that means talking a lot of Coach Prime. You saw Chador Sanders play a lot this year. You're also connected to the ACC, and Georgia Tech had another win over Miami, although Cam Ward played fairly well in that game. How much separation do you see between Cam Ward and Chador Sanders? If you were drafting in the NFL and you had a top-five pick, which one would you lean towards? Well, I would lean more towards Cam Ward. I know that sounds a little ridiculous for people here in Colorado, but the reason I would lean more towards Cam, just look at, for me, his mobility. There's a little more mobility to his game than there is to Chador, and when you're making that jump to the NFL, you're going to need that. Look at some of the quarterbacks that we have now. We have Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Josh Allen.

I mean, Jordan Love. We have quarterbacks that can move around, and here in Denver, we have Bo Nix, and that's kind of where the league is kind of going. If you're a quarterback and you can't move, you become a statue. This is the reason that you're seeing struggles from veteran guys like Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers. Your quarterback needs to be able to manipulate the pocket on command because the pocket is going to definitely break down. But both of those guys, I think they're going to have decent careers, but for me, it would be Cam Ward because, one, the velocity at which he throws the ball in his mobility. I'm with you, and also, as you said, the versatility. He can do more, and in that league, you know better than I do, you better have the extra gear to make plays given the strength of NFL defenses. Nick Ferguson, the former NFL safety, is our guest.

We're live on this New Year's Day. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. Nick, in the first hour of the program, I laid out what I thought was a very eloquent case, that if Saquon Barkley were to break Eric Dickerson's rushing record with 101 yards or more against the Giants, how could you not give him the MVP? Understanding it is a quarterback-dominated award. Now that we have the official word from Nick Ceriani, Saquon and the rest of the starters will be resting. Feels like a two-contender race between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.

Who would you go with heading into the final weekend of the regular season? Who gets your MVP votes? My MVP vote is Joe Burrow.

Excellent, and I appreciate you going off the board. I said that name in passing. I said he's not going to win, but tell me why you believe in Joe. Well, I believe in Joe because just look at what he has been doing.

For me, it's who's been doing more with less. His offensive line. I just watched the Broncos get seven sacks on Joe Burrow because his offensive line wasn't that great. When you look at being able to throw in complete passes against pressure rates, Joe Burrow has the best percentage in the league. Once again, when we look at it, I know it's a quarterback-driven league and everyone talks about the overall record, but correct me if I'm wrong, it's called the most valuable player, not the most valuable record. He can't undermine Joe Burrow's brilliance as a quarterback just because his defense can't stop a nosebleed.

That's not his fault. We're talking about the level of production that you produce every single week, and Joe Burrow has been doing that. Once again, this is no disrespect to Josh Allen, who's doing a fantastic job, and no disrespect to Lamar Jackson. But if we're talking about the MVP of the league, most valuable player, we're talking about Joe Burrow.

You laid it out well. My thought would be, while that's an excellent case to be made, and you did it eloquently, I just don't see him winning it because of the lack of team success, and you're right. It shouldn't be a criteria, but we know how it works historically in the NFL. If it was baseball, we could talk about Andre Dawson back in the day for the Cubs putting up huge numbers in the 80s.

I hope I'm wrong. It'd be very interesting to see, and we'll find out when we get to NFL honors the Thursday before the Super Bowl, just how close the final balloting is. Brian Weber talking football with my pal Nick Ferguson.

You can hear him on the radio in Denver, meaning he covers the Broncos as closely as anyone. And Nick, you know by now that it'll be Carson Wentz under center, a post-Christmas gift from Kansas City to the Denver Broncos. So let's presume for the sake of argument the Broncos win that game, and they'd be the 7 seed, 7 plays 2, right?

So that'd be Buffalo against Denver. A big picture. How much confidence do you have the Broncos can be more than a nice regular season story?

To be totally honest, I don't. And that's being totally honest, and the reason I feel that way, because I just looked over the past two games, one against the Bengals and the other against the Chargers, and the Broncos have had several opportunities to kind of punch their ticket, and they haven't done it. And for me, the level of inconsistency is a problem. And it's a cliché saying, but it is true. When you get to this time of the year, you better be able to run the ball, and you better have great defense. Now, I have confidence in the defense, but the run game hasn't been on track all season long. And it seems as though Sean Payton and the Broncos are still trying to figure that out, which for me is a huge problem. But you're going to play Buffalo, you know how Josh Allen has been somewhat on the tear.

And you think about James Cook and his ability to run the ball. So now they can play keep away from the Broncos offense, and that's putting the Broncos defense on the field consistently. But I live for this moment because you get a chance to see Von Miller against his former team.

And any time you play your former team, you always want to have your best game. Von hasn't been having a great statistical season. But for me, this could be very difficult for a Denver Broncos team that is still trying to find their way. But it puts an immense amount of pressure on the defense and Vance Joseph to try to slow down. Josh Allen after you struggle against Joe Burrow and Cincinnati Bengals.

Let's wrap it up with the big picture. We know no team in the Super Bowl era has ever gone back to back to back. No three-peat. If I gave you the Chiefs or the field, who are you picking? Do you think we see history this year in Kansas City? Yeah, I think we do.

As painstakingly as that is for me to say. Because I would love to see history made in another way with the Detroit Lions. But right now it seems like Lady Luck has pushed all their chips to the center of the table on Kansas City. And until someone beats them, they are still the champions in the NFL. But they keep finding ways to win and that builds a certain level of confidence in the team. No matter what the circumstances are, something is going to happen well in their favor.

That bodes well for the Chiefs, but not their opponent. Nick, great insights as always. I appreciate you continuing the holiday tradition.

Now the issue is Rich Eisen doesn't take time off. The next holiday I'll be in this chair is Memorial Day. How about this?

I will find a way to talk NFL and we'll keep the streak going. Unless you have plans already. No, I don't have plans.

I haven't thought things out that far. But you call on me, I'll show up. You're like Batman. We'll put the signal out. Thank you, my friend. Happy New Year. I really appreciate you always making yourself available for us. Alright, Happy New Year to you as well.

Thank you so much. Nick Ferguson. And I was not intending to talk college football there, but Nick is so versatile like Cam Ward.

He could pivot into what we're laying out. Plus, since he's on the radio all the time in Denver, he follows Colorado football and the Coach Prime phenomena as closely as the Broncos. Closing seconds of the opening quarter, nothing has changed at the Peach Bowl with Texas on top of Arizona State 14-3. Texas finding the end zone on a pair of splash plays, as Tom Brady might say. 23-yard TD pass from Quinn Ewers. They back it up with a 75-yard punt return. But, from the Sun Devil point of view, and they've advanced to the Longhorn 27, at least they haven't allowed Texas to score another touchdown. A massive drive here for Arizona State. Can't settle for three.

I know points are important either way. A touchdown changes the tire vibe from a dynamic standpoint heading into the second quarter, which will be a fourth and two with the Texas 25 as the first quarter has come to a close. We have one more hour coming up. We'll get back to the college football. We'll look ahead to the Rose Bowl, most intriguing matchup of them all. Oregon and Ohio State, and coming up at 2-40 Eastern Time, we'll get analysis from Pete Futek of collegefootballnews.com. Happy New Year! Thanks for kicking things off in 2025 with us. I'm Brian Weber, live on this special holiday edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We'll see you next time.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-01 16:50:24 / 2025-01-01 17:07:30 / 17

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