Mike McCarthy's Coaching Future

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To beat the champs, you gotta beat the champs, and we're gonna do it tonight. This is the Rich Eisen Show. There is no position in professional sports more in the spotlight than being a quarterback.

Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Chiefs are chasing Josh Allen. He throws it up for Grahams, and the pass is incomplete!

Anybody that's out there placing season-ending loss on the lap of Josh Allen is way off. Earlier on the show, Chiefs center Creed Humphrey, senior writer for Sports Illustrated Chris Mannix. Coming up, former NFL executive Joe Banner. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Joe Banner's gonna join us. He's the one who called his shot about the Eagles and the Chiefs playing in the Super Bowl a second time. And look at what's happened. Nostra Joas will join us in about 20 minutes time just talking about some coaching hirings and things of that nature.

844204 Rich is the number to dial here on the program. You know, I really like Mike McCarthy, and I was genuinely concerned that if he wasn't going to stay with the Dallas Cowboys, would he get another job somewhere else? Would anybody sit there and think that his job with Dallas showed that he still has it and he should go and hire him? I thought maybe the New Orleans Saints would, but then we saw yesterday the gesture, which it is, to say he's focusing on the 2026 head coaching hiring cycle and will not coach in the NFL this season.

Pelosero and Rapsheep went out and said that. And this guy's got a heck of a career in making the playoffs in Green Bay and Dallas and is expected to be a strong candidate a year from now. And I only hope that that is the case. But if there's a job that's out there in the NFL of significance, like, say, the host of this year's Super Bowl, the New Orleans Saints, you're not taking you're not focusing on next year. I think he has found out he's not going to be the head coach of the Saints.

That's the way this stuff works. You're seeing Cliff Kingsbury also removing his name. I think the Saints have made a decision and they've let everyone know what the decision is and is letting everybody put whatever out that they can put out there to help ease the pain or the way that it's spun.

This feels like a Jacksonville situation to me. Well, it sounds like to me, Kellen Moore is going to be the next head coach of the New Orleans Saints and they're waiting for him. And he's interviewed.

You just follow the path. He interviewed in person on Monday, which is what he was able to do after conference championship weekend is over. And now we're hearing Mike McCarthy is focusing on next year's hiring cycle. And we're seeing on the news stack and on ESPN.com that Cliff Kingsbury is going to stay put.

Which is great for the Washington commanders. They're going to get like a Ben Johnson year going, right? The Lions got one more year out of Ben Johnson than they thought they could. So Jayden Daniels gets to have his continuity rolling on into year two. And that is big time news for the Washington commanders that they get to keep Cliff Kingsbury in that role. And if they do it again next year, what we saw this year, then Cliff Kingsbury will also be a hot coaching candidate in the 2026 cycle. And I do hope I don't know what Mike McCarthy will be up to this year if he wants to do media, if he wants to get out there or if he just wants to chill at home and, you know, and keep up on concepts like he did prior to the Dallas Cowboys reaching out to him. But, you know, 12 years, 12 wins three years in a row. And then what happened this year, coaching under the circumstances that he was able to coach under.

You want to talk about pressure. You don't have a contract. You look at your family in the face and the families of all your staff in the face going, I don't know. I have no idea how this is going to go. And then your, then your quarterback has his hamstring ripped off the bone. It's, it's terribly unfortunate.

And I only hope for the best for him. But it strikes me like that, that the Saints have made their decision and the last head coach, have I missed it? Have they interviewed anybody else since Kellen Moore on Monday? And now it's coming out and obviously they're not going to say anything right now. I mean, don't you remember the Cardinals were waiting till the end of the Super Bowl in their hometown, by the way, until they hired Jonathan Gannon from the Eagles. And that's what this, this is what it looks like to me. Looks like Kellen Moore is going to go to the Gulf South and he's going to be your next head coach, the New Orleans Saints.

If I had a guess right now, it'd be a surprise if it was anything else. There's something I don't get, and I'm sure maybe you can help me understand this. Like, Chris, we know that the Chiefs, they're the best team in football, right? So theoretically, they have been.

And if you want to beat them, you have to try to weaken them, right? So why wouldn't anyone try to get their defensive coordinator as a coach? I haven't heard his name, Steve Spagnuolo.

I haven't heard that name up for any jobs. Like, I would try to get him away from the Chiefs just to try to like make that house a little weaker. It is the most amazing thing, isn't it? That nobody's rated that coaching staff. Right. Like if you know this is the team and obviously on the field you can't beat them.

And everyone's saying the refs got their back, too. So I'm just saying, as everyone's saying, you want to kind of cripple them a little bit. I don't know why you guys make me the one to have to say all these things. He's 65 and was terrible at head coach the first time around. Yeah, but come on, man. That's exactly why. Well, why was he terrible as a head coach the first time around?

Why? Do you remember the circumstances of it? Well, I mean, he was 1 and 15.

The Rams had, they weren't a good team. He took it over. He wanted a shot. And it didn't work out for a million reasons. He didn't have to go there. Well, I mean, he got his opportunity.

And that would be unfortunate if that's the way you look at it. I would take a shot. Didn't the Raiders talk to him, too? Like, if I'm the Raiders, that would have been a bad choice.

I don't remember hearing his name at all. Take him off the team. And that's why I ask you. I don't know if that's what he wants to do, even. I mean, at this point, the Bills should hire him. Like, be honest.

Based upon what I was just saying, that would make sense, right? Well, let's go to our friend back in Long Island. Connor in Long Island is back here on the program. How are you, Connor?

Rich and everyone in the studio. How are you guys doing? Hey, John. How you been, man? I'm doing well. Thanks so much for letting me on, as always.

I appreciate all your support. Hey, brother. You got an off day at school today? What is it, Flex Day? What are we calling it? Yeah. What are we calling it today?

I think Winter New Year is the reason for today's off day. Okay. All right. Yes, I was just going to say, last time we spoke, I mean, we were on the high. It was Super Bowl or bust. This team's winning 14, 13 games. We were talking about Asan Redick getting an extension. We played 10 games this season. Yes.

And we had one sack. Is it the Royal Week, Connor? When you said we were on a high, you're referring to yourself as a we now? Or what do you got here, Connor?

What is this? Well, I guess I could say I was on a high there. Okay. I mean, we're talking about, I was expecting to see the first playoff game in my lifetime. That's what I was expecting, at a minimum. But nope, it was a five win season, yet again. No playoffs.

Super, super frustrating. I thought Aaron Glenn, though, on the bright side, came in and absolutely killed that press conference. That was a move I've been on board with for a while now, just because since the day Robert Salah got fired, I had a really strong feeling that it just made too much sense for Aaron Glenn not to be the team's next head coach. But now they've Aaron Glenn, they've Darren Muji in the building.

So the coordinator for talk is underway. Rich, I want to get your thoughts on the offensive coordinator job as a whole. There are some names that Nick Koehle and Tanner Angstrand have really been the talk of the town recently. Two other names I think are pretty interesting. I think Brian Johnson, the commander's assistant head coach, passing game coordinator, the former Eagles OC, and then Anthony Lynn, obviously was on the Jets coaching staff in the mid-2000s when they went on those back-to-back AFC Championship runs. Overlapped with Glenn for a little when Glenn was a scout and Lynn was a coach here under Rex Ryan. Just two interesting names I thought could be suited for the offensive coordinator role. And then when it comes to defensive coordinator, it's really interesting, because now Aaron Glenn is not going to be calling plays. It's official now.

He said he's not going to be calling defensive plays. So I think that leaves us, well, we're talking a lot about OC. Let's talk about DC here, because I think we need someone who's really, really experienced.

Steve Wilks I think is an interesting name. Well, let me just jump in here, Connor. Connor, let me jump in here for a second.

These are all names, great. I'm sure they're all candidates that Aaron Glenn will sift through and choose what he thinks is best. It all comes down to the quarterback spot, Connor. It's 100% down to the quarterback spot. Aaron Rodgers back, yes or no? As of now, this current contract, where he stands, his current mentality, no, because I am not in for paying someone $64 million in 2026.

I'm not for taking that dead cat pit for him to come back next season. After, yes, his touchdowns were in the top 10. Keep in mind, he still threw 11 interceptions and he finished second in the league's passing attempts. You're prone to throw that many touchdowns. If he becomes the lowest paid quarterback in all of football alongside Geno Smith and he's willing to learn a new offensive system.

That's one of the keys, willing to learn a new offensive system. Yes, I want him back because I'm not a huge Aaron Rodgers guy, but among the options on a reduced contract, I think he gives them the best chance to win. But if you're turning away coordinators because of him and he's not willing to take a pay cut and Gary Wilson is getting pissed off because he's coming back, you have to move on. I think you have to roll with, you draft someone in round four or five, a Kyle McCord, a Will Howard, a Dylan Gabriel.

You have Tyrod Taylor on the roster, kind of Annie Dalton, Jacoby, Brissette, Justin Fields in free agency. I understand that's not an attractive option. Not sure it's attractive, Connor, but let's hope and I appreciate the call. Enjoy the rest of your off day.

Call back, brother. Winning the press conference, I've seen that before. That coach then took him to two AFC championship games and then the whole thing was over-capped and crapped out. But winning the press conference is important.

It is certainly in New York City and I'm glad he did. And you just heard a 13-year-old who is as locked in as any 13-year-old that you can chat with. And I have no idea of any of these offensive or defensive coordinators. And then what has to happen is Rodgers has got to tell the team by the end of the month.

End of the month. You can't really do anything until... Until he's declared. What do you want to do? And then we'll talk about whether that's what we want to do.

And then you figure out what do you do. How about Russell Wilson back with Pete Carroll and Sam Darnold back with the Jets? What do you think of that idea?

How crazy would that be? If I'm Sam Darnold, absolutely not. You run away. Here's the thing. Both of those quarterbacks should want to stay where they are.

Yes. That's both of what those quarterbacks should do. Man, this free agent quarterback market is light. And so is the draft. And this is not the time to want to figure out what the next step is.

That is... This is not a time to be in the quarterback market. Can we get to the biggest takeaway from Conner's call? A day off for Lunar New Year? Is that what happened?

Man, these schools are just giving days off willy-nilly like it's Oprah. Anytime Conner calls in, I feel so dumb in comparison. Why? That kid's genius. He's locked in, man. He's locked in. And I think he wants to get into the profession. I think he's working on his craft. I think he's got a pod, right?

He does have a pod. Yeah, yeah. He's doing great.

I'm just joking. Let's go to Nick in Colorado Springs. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Nick? Hey, thanks for taking the call, Rich.

You got it. What's up, guys? Yo, yo. Hey, yo. What up, man?

Hey, listen. I don't think there's any way Russell Wilson goes to Las Vegas. Pete Carroll got out of that at the right time. I'm a Broncos fan. We had the Russell Wilson experience for a couple of years.

Now the Raiders have had it for a year. I think Justin Fields started four and two. And then the guy in Pittsburgh that makes all that money to make all the important decisions decided to put him on the bench in favor of Russell Wilson. And then he was high-fiving himself after one game.

So what a great decision it was. And then what, did he lose six straight games to end the season? I mean, look, something happened, I think, with Tom Brady, where he played at an extremely high level until his mid-40s. And then we thought, well, anybody can do that, or anybody can at least make it to 40 and play at a high level.

But honestly, I just don't think that's a realistic expectation. I mean, what happened to Russell Wilson is he was great. He was great for a lot of years in Seattle. And then, you know, he's a little older. They hit that up, the mileage adds up, the years add up, and you're just not that good anymore.

Well, I guess we've got to find out. We assumed, Nick, that Pete wanted out from Russ for various reasons, especially when everyone was talking about what Russ was doing in Denver in his first year with offices and this and that, the other thing. And Pete wanted out because of that, and he was sick and tired of Russ. He was done with Russ's act and whatever. And then we would see photos of Pete and Russ at a dinner, right?

I wouldn't buy into the narrative that the two of them can't get along, all right? And I know that Pete bristled at the let Russ cook stuff because, and thanks to the call, Nick, I appreciate it. Pete always bristled at the let Russ cook stuff, and rightfully so, because who let Russ cook to begin with?

You know what I mean? Who let Russ cook to begin with? Pete invited him in the kitchen. Damn straight.

Thanks, Jay. But he did not, I think he didn't want Russ at the price that Russ was going to want. Everyone knew that whoever acquired Russell Wilson would give him the contract that Denver gave him, and I don't think Seattle wanted to do that anymore. So now, though, I don't know. I mean, if the two of them get along and the two of them are at a different part of their career, and you've got a young quarterback coming in, and you want to teach them the way that they do things in the Carroll system, who better to do that? Is there another human who could do that better than this guy?

And maybe Russ does want to compete with Herbert and Nix and go against Denver twice a year and Mahomes, and he does get a shot to do it one more time while the kid that they draft marinates? I don't know. Crazy things have happened. 844-204 Rich, never to dial.

If you're on hold, stay on hold. We're going to get some terrific advice and some terrific insight on what's going to go down in the Super Bowl here from a guy who called his shot that the Eagles and the Chiefs were going to play in the Super Bowl again, and he did it two years ago. Wait till you hear this.

Our longtime executive in this league is next on the Rich Eisen Show. A bunch of new invisible crypto coins? Heads up, it's still free.

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These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. For Super Sunday. Now, eight and a half hours, guys, I need to I need to I need to hydrate. I need to get ready for that one.

Oh, carb load, all of it. Yeah. Yeah.

You want to pull a hammy? I mean, I'm going to do nine hours of television with you guys, actually, 12. No, pardon me, 10 hours, 10, one hour special, one hour special over the weekend. Three, three full shows. Yep. Three full shows with us. Plus, we're going out. So we need energy for that. I'm a tie one on and I mean, what are you tying on everything?

Everything. Do you drink? I will. Will you? I haven't been around him drinking. I'm nice with it. Have you?

You know, the night of the night of the night, the Thursday night. We don't hang out. Excuse me. Hold on.

Pardon me, Jeremy. We hung out. Hold on a second.

We hung out in Kansas City and in Germany. Yeah. And I had one of them big remember my beer glass?

Oh, that's right. That somehow made it. I drank the most at the Hofbrauhaus. We were drank out from the night before when we were up till six in the morning, watching Thursday Night Football with my German friends. If you can count your beers. Remember, I went to the bar at 2.45 a.m. I didn't because I, you know, I wasn't doing that.

No. I had a host. I get loose when I'm out of town. Our show is at 6 p.m. Yeah. Brockwood and I would walk in every day and tell people like reactive, like good morning. And it was like, wait a minute. It was afternoon. But I also had meetings throughout the day with the Panthers and the Giants. In our defense, we were available for meetings.

Just didn't nobody want to have them. We were available. We were definitely available. We were hanging out at BMW. We were available. Look at the little cars.

You guys are fools. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. 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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Put up the tweet first. This was a tweet from our friend Joe Banner. Back in 2020, the Chiefs had just beaten. OK, they had just beaten the 49ers in the Super Bowl. And Joe Banner says the Chiefs are the new Patriots. They have a great HC, QB and GM and every move they make is smart. Give Clark Hunt credit.

Almost every owner has restricted team spending for now. Chiefs correctly saw the moment as an opportunity and kicked ass. This decade is theirs.

Multiple SBs. What's his call there? July 2020. Right. As we know, they made the Super Bowl the next year, but lost to Tom Brady's Bucks. Then we know they missed the Super Bowl the next year because Joe Burrow beat them in an AFC championship game. Then they got back, played the Eagles. And prior to that Super Bowl, certainly since Joe Banner hired Andy Reid and hired Howie Roseman, we had him on to talk about this Super Bowl between the Eagles and the Chiefs. Andy Reid's former team, Joe Banner's former team, Howie Roseman's current team, and Andy Reid's current team in the Chiefs, and Brett Veitch also part of this mix. And this is what Joe Banner had to say about the Eagles and the Chiefs about to play in the Super Bowl. I've actually said to a couple of people, could you believe that Andy is playing the Eagles in the Super Bowl?

Did you ever imagine this? And I said, not only can I imagine it, but I'll bet it's not the last time they play each other in the Super Bowl. Look at their teams on this roster.

They're incredibly young, they're well coached, they're smart, and they get people making the personnel decisions that haven't stopped doing smart things. So not only are they in it, I actually think it won't be the only time the two of them are matching up against each other in the Super Bowl. Joining us now, Nostra Joeis himself. Joe Banner, welcome to you, Joe. I should have been in Vegas, right?

Sitting at my house in Florida. And here we are with Eagles, Chiefs again. So let's just jump out. What smart moves did they make in the last year, do you think, that's led to you and your prophecy coming true here, Joe? Well, they continued is the first important point because they were in good shape and they continue to make smart decisions. So what do they do? They both have team building philosophies.

They're very similar and I think really smart. Whatever it takes to get a top quarterback. You were there when Mahomes was the pick.

People were a little bit surprised and the move was one of the most aggressive moves we've seen. Eagles picked Hertz when we all thought they had the quarterback of the future and wins. And then they both created lines that dominate the game. And that does not win you a Super Bowl, but it gives you a huge head start and advantage on everybody else. They've managed their top smart, they've replaced coaches to the left with other coaches that were as good. And those are the key ingredients to winning.

So I think all the boxes in terms of strong leadership, aggressive general managers, fearless about making mistakes. They don't worry about it. They just do what they believe in and they are very aggressive.

They're progressive organizations. And here we are. One going to three-peat and the other I think it's their third Super Bowl appearance in either six or seven years. And in terms of the Eagles, obviously being able to get Saquon Barkley and plug him into their system that has been retooled in a way.

With Kellen Moore and Sirianni now taking on more of that CEO role supposedly on offense and defense. But Barkley, Joe, I'd love to get your two cents on that maneuver. Because most of us in the football world and certainly in the punditry world think that is one of the biggest mistakes we've ever seen by a franchise to let Saquon walk. But, you know, the Giants have their own setup and their own concept of what works. And certainly, you know, might not have been able to use Saquon to the same effect based on what their standing was. What's your opinion of that Saquon maneuver, Joe? I'm totally with you. Hard to understand and a huge mistake, which many thought it was at the time.

Listen, here's the simple part of this. First, you drafted him at four. You knew in five years it was going to be really expensive. The only thing that changed is he had a lot of injuries. He looked like the star player you drafted when he was healthy and playing. Even behind a very deficient offensive line for all of those years. And obviously, the Eagles provided reasons that he's more successful than he would have been if he stayed at the Giants. But the Eagles, and this goes back a long time, have never paid a running back a ton of money and never drafted one really high, but have always cherished running backs. I mean, when I got there, we traded for Gricky Waters. I mean, we had Deuce Daley, we drafted Brian Westbrook, Shady McCoy. By the way, we signed three of the players I just mentioned to you at top of the market running back deals, which has always been less than everything else.

But here's the simple point. $12 million a year buys you a solid tight end, a solid safety, a decent guard. A good guard costs $21 million a year right now.

A Pro Bowl guard is $21 million a year right now. So you take a guy that you know you're putting behind a great offensive line in a scheme that can be flexible and play run or pass and still be sticking to the core principles of the coaches. And you add a guy that's capable, if healthy, of being a top three running back in the NFL.

I mean, my question is really why weren't 31 other teams pursuing it? Because if you think of just the running back market, OK, $12 million is what the ballpark of a lot of people got. But guys like Chubb and Mixon, who are good players, but they're not Barkley at all, had gotten that kind of money three or four years ago. So I know the Eagles looked at it as a steal for what they were potentially getting and the risk reward.

So if they were wrong, he played well in some games, got hurt in other games, wasn't somebody they could count on consistently. Remember, they've been playing with mediocre running backs and going to the Super Bowl because they're effective in their system. They can impact the game both running and passing. The biggest play of the game against the Rams, by the way, was a third and 14 from the four yard line. They threw Barkley a screen pass. He gets the first down.

They happen to hit the Rams blitzing. I mean, these are the things that he brings 12 million a year. We have guys that were signed up to make eight, 10, 12 million dollars a year. And what do the Giants do with the money? They signed, I would say, an OK guard who didn't even play that great.

I mean, how do you make that choice? We're going to use this money and they desperately need to approve the offensive one then and now. But the mystery to me is, one, what you said, what were the Giants thinking, how did they rationalize this? I understand they knew they weren't going to be good for a few years. But there was reason to think that if he could stay healthy two, three, four years from now, he could still be contributing. In the meantime, he provides you all the advances of his leadership, his ability to keep your defense off the field, forcing the defense to play you a certain way that with somebody like Jones with quarterback was really advantageous. But I'm also like, where were all the other teams in the league? How did this guy not get meaningful money in a structure that maybe protect the team a little bit, but gave you an opportunity to have a top three running back?

I really think the answer is top one, but I'm trying to be generous and say top three in a running back in the entire league. Joe Banner here on the Rich Eisen Show, longtime Philadelphia Eagles president and front office executive in the National Football League. I mean, Andy Reid wasn't even a coordinator when you when you took him and said, let's let's let's get him as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Did you need to convince ownership?

Like what what did you like? Let's hit the wayback machine on a guy that now has three hundred and one career coaching wins. Joe Banner.

Yeah. When we decided we're going to make a coaching change, Jeff empowered me to kind of put together a list of who I thought was an interview and why. And I did something really simple, but because this is kind of a traditional way of thinking in the league, no one had done it. We took all the head coaches that had been to two Super Bowls, which to us that defined them as elite coaches. And we did studies and talked to a million people what they may have in common that we should be looking for an ex coach.

The funny part of it was it had nothing to do with football. The similarities. They were offensive guy, defensive guys, aggressive guys run, pass splits.

There was no like, oh, if you do this. But what there was was a description of their quality and their character that was shockingly similar. Some of it obvious they were phenomenal leaders, some of it probably less obvious. But most people would realize crucial that you hire great coaches and manage them well. But then there was some subtle or things like they were all attention obsessed people.

Their attention to detail drove everybody around them crazy, like every little thing. I mean, Andy has been called kind of a control freak. It's really not the right description of him because he's extremely collaborative. But he got that description because every single what time do we do this?

You know, when do we do it? You know, everything is planned so far in advance to every little detail. And he is involved in every one of those details. But he's very collaborative.

So I never viewed him as being kind of a control oriented person. But his attention to the detail, the thoroughness of everything we did, every piece of research, everything like that was, you know, in fact, it drove everybody around him crazy. Whatever worked, everybody we called before we hired him, we asked about him. The first thing or the second thing out of their mouth was, oh, my God, he's so obsessed with every little detail.

He drives everybody around crazy. And we lit up because we had identified that as exactly what we're looking for. When we heard that description, other people thought they were actually saying something that was negative, like he'd be hard to work with. And we were like, oh, my gosh, this is exactly what we're looking for.

So we didn't get stuck on the traditional. He hasn't been a coordinator. He'd never been a head coach at any level.

We were just looking for this series of characteristics. By the way, the Eagles still do that. They haven't had somebody last as long. But if you look at the coaches, for the most part, they at least hired them believing that that same set of qualities is what they had. So we weren't worried when we hired Andy, even though it was not popular and highly criticized. In fact, in Philadelphia, we were accused of hiring just because we would pay him less since he'd never been a coordinator. The truth is, we made the highest paid first time head coach in the history of the game. But that was the criticism at the time. But we had four or five things. We're going to find this in somebody.

We found it in Andy and we proceeded without a whole lot of anxiety. So do you think that that was part of the hiring of Sirianni in Philadelphia? Yeah, I mean, Sirianni isn't the same as Andy.

And I think it's funny because he doesn't really look the part. So I think people underestimate him. But yeah, they perceived him as somebody that was detail oriented, focused on hiring really good coaches and managing them. I mean, they had limited success before he started losing coaches to become head coaches. And they made a misstep in the original replacements by the second year after those original coaches left. He's replaced the people on the staff with coaches as good or better.

I mean, those are the things that differentiate. You watch the hires right now. More important than watching the hires right now, watch who they hire as their coordinators. And you'll do a pretty good job yourself and even the average fan of predicting which one of them will be the most successful. So which one?

Let's do that right here, Joe Banner. Your opinion of the hires, which one that you've seen that you're like, OK, that one's the best one or the best fit or I can see it. Which one is the one that leaps out at you so far? I'd like to have a brilliant answer that no one has said before, but the answer is obviously Vrabel. You talk about leadership, you talk about the ability to hire coaches, manage coaches, attention to detail.

Those are all Vrabel. Now, I don't think it was a great year for options. So after that, for me, it gets very challenging. I do think Aaron Glenn is very intriguing. I had the chance to meet him, the presidents, the leadership. That's all there. He's not hiring coaches quickly and I hired him a little late. So I'm anxious to see what happens there. Some of the rumors, I think, are decent. I know that they spoke to Kaley, the Rams, and they're interested in Wilkes. I think those are both solid choices.

But to me, that's the best of the group. I mean, you know, again, we haven't seen who's going to hire in Jacksonville. We don't even know who's going to be the general manager there.

So the rest of them leave me worried. And frankly, they're in franchises for the most part that have a long history of not succeeding. Ben Johnson, there's no doubt, is a spectacular offensive mind. But we've got to see, can he do all the rest of the things as a head coach? You know, he waited a year to take a head coaching position and probably went into the market in a year where the options weren't as good.

But, you know, there's no doubt. Bears ownership wants to win. They'll invest the money that's needed. You know, I heard a lot of good things about polls coming out of Kansas City, but I don't want to say the track record so far is great. Caleb Williams, I have some concern about, but, you know, certainly there's some potential upside there. So I'm not sure we look back. It's going to have been a great crop of hires or teams that were actually looking. I would have, if I was representing somebody, if I was confident that opportunity would present itself again in the future, I probably would have encouraged them to wait.

No kidding. So what did you make of Brady's hire of Pete Carroll, Joe? You know, I think if he was building a bridge to get the culture right, to start to make smart decisions and move in the right direction, I think it's a very smart move. Do I think in the next two, three, four years that Pete's likely to coach that we're going to see them, you know, say in the Final Four?

I think that's very unlikely. But I think that their goals weren't like, who's going to hire today that's going to get us to this Super Bowl the fastest? I think they realise they have a transition step here. And I think that was a good hire in that context. I also, John Splitek worked for the Eagles many years ago, so I think he has the right mindset. I think he knows the difference between why some teams are succeeding and some teams aren't. I think they reflected some of that in the way they built Tampa.

So I'm hopeful. It's a long time since he was with the Eagles, but I'm hopeful from what I saw and what he's done in Tampa and what he was taught when he was in Philly at the time, that that could prove to be a good hire there that's more long term. It's interesting, Joe, Joe Banner here in the Rich Eisen Show, that you said when you hired Andy Reid in Philadelphia, part of the local talk was, well, you didn't want to pay the guy, so you got the guy. And that is part of the conversation about Jerry Jones in Dallas right now with Brian Schottenheimer.

I give you the floor on that hire. What do you think there? Yeah, listen, I mean, I don't mean to take a shot at Brian at the time.

He's fulfilling a dream that I'm sure he's had since he was born and saw his dad in this position. I mean, when I think of the criteria that I've defined and what I talked about that he was looking for, it's not the direction I would have gone. But we'll see. We obviously have surprises in both directions. I do think he's got a better roster than it looked like they had this year. But there's obviously challenges in the roster and there's challenges just being in Dallas.

But it's not the direction I would have chosen if I was making the hire. What too unsolicited sense would you give the Bills who keep seeming to run into Reid and Mahomes in a way that doesn't bode well, right? I mean, we've been talking here, Joe, over the last few days.

This is like Ewing or Drexler, you know, or Carmelone in the era of Jordan or everybody else in the era of Tiger. That's what it looks like in the AFC right now, if not the entire NFL writ large. But what advice do you give to the Bills, Joe? First of all, I'm probably the least qualified person to answer this because, you know, when we had Andy, we went to five championship games in eight years and we never won a Super Bowl.

I've been right where Sean is and I feel terrible because Sean's a great guy. But, you know, we never figured out the answer when he was there. You know, it probably wasn't the same thing. I mean, some years, you know, Donovan got hurt a couple of years in the playoffs. But Westbrook got hurt, you know, we went into a Super Bowl and played a lot of defense, which we had never played.

And the Patriots got a few touchdowns and I'm sure we made a few cap mistakes and personnel mistakes that maybe would have put us over the top. So I'm not sure I'm the right person to answer this, but I would encourage him to keep moving and being more aggressive. You know, Sean started as a defensive coach with a fairly conservative mindset about offense. He's evolved a lot over the years and even started, frankly, as a more aggressive offensive minded defensive coach than I would have expected.

And I think they need to keep moving that direction. They ran the ball more this year and they ran it very successfully. But the reality is running the ball has a lot of good purposes, but it is not the best way to score the most points the fastest. The way to do that is throwing the ball. He uses that all the time. I'm surprised it's never stuck, but just short of 80 percent of games are won by the team that's ahead at halftime.

It varies from year to year to a low of about 74 to a high of about 80. So if you run the ball a lot early, you know, the old days of, you know, wear them down, run the ball, some play action passing works. The reality is the numbers say the opposite is true. And most teams that are winning, you watched even the Eagles, who are clearly now a run based team.

But they came out last week. I think it was 11 passes to six runs and one of the runs was the tush push. Now, I know Barkley broke the first play of the game for a touchdown, but, you know, it was clear their game plan was to pass a little bit more than was expected.

And I'd be surprised if you don't see that at the Super Bowl because they know how important it is to get the lead and how much more likely you are to do that throwing early. So I don't have a lot of criticism. So Sean, I think he's a great coach. I think he's generally had a good staff. I would encourage him to be even more aggressive in trying to dominate the game early, get the lead and play as much of the game as possible with a lead. Other than that, I'm not sure.

I mean, I went through the same thing, kept trying to figure it out and honestly never succeeded. Interesting. Man, before I let you go, Joe, what do you think happens in Super Bowl 59?

What do you think? You know, I think it's a very interesting game. I think that another step that isn't really out there that much is the Eagles beat nickel defenses at a rate that I'm not sure I've ever seen. I mean, I think this is shocking. Barkley averages 5.2 yards per carry against nickel. He only averages 3.8 yards per carry against any other defense.

But this is more shocking. The Eagles are ninth in the league passing against nickel and they're 22nd in the league passing against anything else. So I've never seen a team that was better passing against nickel than they were against non-nickel.

The whole concept of nickel is that it slows down the pass and it's very hard to not play them in nickel because they've got so many weapons. So I actually think this is very dependent upon the game plan as to who wins this game. I think if the Chiefs do what they do very well, which is confuse the offense and mix things up and don't always play nickel when it looks obvious, then I think there's a real good chance they win. I think if they don't do that, the Eagles will score enough points and the defense is good enough, it will be hard for kids to say they didn't beat them. And do the Eagles and Chiefs play in another Super Bowl?

They do. You do think so? This is the second of more to come. I'll be back in two to three years playing the second day.

Well, keep that crystal ball ready. I'd love to have you throughout the, obviously the draft and the talent evaluation process that we're about to enter. Joe, really appreciate it. Great catching up with you. Always love getting your insights. Thank you. Same here. Be well.

It's Joe Banner, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. I love that chat right there. Just a lot of fun. Just a lot of fun. A lot of smart talk right there.

So it's going to be game plan dependent, which is why you're supposed to hire Steve Spagnuolo away from the Kansas City Chiefs, right, TJ Jefferson? I'm just saying. That's why you do it. All right, we'll take a break.

844-204 Rich, number to dial. Oh, boy. I can't wait to talk about this. Oh, the Mets have another guy who's an expert on New York sports. Who knew? Who knew?

Rich Ackerman in the meantime with a sports update. Sleep numbers mission is to provide players with data and insights to optimize their sleep for the ultimate competitive edge. So why not do it for yourself? I do it. My sleep number setting is 60. My wife's is 70. It is just 10 numbers apart. But being able to adjust your bed's firmness after working out or for recovery, it's a game changer. So why choose a sleep number smart bed so you can choose your ideal comfort on either side. And now save 50 percent on the new sleep number limited edition smart bed exclusively at a sleep number store near you. Limited time.

See store or sleep number dot com for details. This episode is brought to you by love hurts. Kiwi Quan has had quite a career from childhood roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the Goonies to a recent Academy Award win for everything everywhere all at once. But now he finally stars as a leading man in the film Love Hurts. Love Hurts is a perfect date night movie with its mix of over the top action, comedy and a ton of heart.

Love Hurts only at theaters February 7th. We had Jerry on the show just a couple of weeks ago, Larry, and I asked him, how come Steinbrenner himself never appeared on Seinfeld? And he said Steinbrenner shot a scene, but it was so bad you cut it. Is that a true story? True story.

Yeah. What was so bad about it? We brought him out, I think, for the last show of the 95 season.

I'm not quite sure when it was, but he flew out on his private jet to do the show and flew back that day. And okay, he did it. And then I go into editing and I'm watching the show and oh my God, he was so awful. He was so bad.

You couldn't use it. It was much better from behind with my voice than actually seeing the real guy doing it. Right. So that was a scene where he was with Costanza? He was with Elaine in a restaurant, I think.

Okay. And I had to call him up and tell him he was cut. How did that go? I called Yankee Stadium. I said, I want to talk to Mr. Steinbrenner. It's Larry David. He got on the phone. I said, Mr. Steinbrenner, it's Larry David calling from the Seinfeld show.

Yes, yes, Larry, what is it? I said, I said, I'm sorry to tell you this. He said, come on, you can tell me I'm a big boy. I can take it. But you slipped back in that voice.

And I said, I'm seeing, you know, I've been cut from the show and I said, it's not your fault, but it's just the end of the scene wasn't working. And that was it. How did he take it? He was a big boy. He took it well. He told you how he was going to take it. And actually took it.

Yeah. George Steinbrenner and Elaine. I would never have guessed. I would have thought that there would have to have been a Costanza, George moment. I know there was an Elaine scene. I don't know.

There may have been a George scene. I'm not sure. I don't remember. How did you enjoy playing Steinbrenner? Did you have a blast doing that? Oh, yeah, it was fun.

Yeah, I had. What's your favorite one where you were Steinbrenner? What was it?

I think probably something. I remember the Calzones. The Calzones. That George had to get the Calzones.

Yeah, the Calzones, yeah. That's as great as it gets, man. I think I saw the scene the other day on my Instagram feed. Somebody popped it up. It wasn't funny. It wasn't funny. The deleted scene?

The ones they didn't know you were using? Oh, wow. It was a deleted scene.

I've never seen it before. It was Steinbrenner talking to Elaine. And Elaine had her back to the camera talking in his cadence to him. And he walked, you know, and he kind of got taken aback or overwhelmed or bored with the conversation and walked away from Elaine. It wasn't funny. But it was George and the Dickey and the White Dickey and the Blue Blazer.

Where is Instincts? Right on. Are you going over what Joe Banner just told us about the stat that 75 to 80 percent of teams leading at halftime win football games? Yeah, so I'm doing it for all the Super Bowls. I'm about halfway done right now. All of them? I'm doing every Super Bowl.

I want to see what it is. How about you do this? I'm halfway done. And then we'll end the show with it. OK, great. I should be done in the next five minutes. Yeah, well, that's fine. So the show end is a little bit over five minutes away. OK, that's OK. I only need T.J. for the next segment anyway.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. More nonsense from Queens back on the Rich Eisen Show radio. Listen, listen, the Mets are acquiring an absolute ton.

They are cornering the market on people who have no idea what they're talking about, the sports scene in New York City and talking declaratively with absolutely no sense at all. Juan Soto, Mr. New York, spent one year in New York talking about New York being a Mets town. Now, had he said it was a Yankees town, it would've been fine, though, right?

Well, I mean, I understand he's not a Yankee anymore. It's fine. Didn't we have a talk about that picture? What is it?

Didn't we talk about this on a group chat that we weren't going to do? I mean, this is the real photo. It's not the it's not the doctored one that got put up somehow. But him saying it's a Yankee, you know, it's a Mets town. OK, pal, you've been around you've been around literally for six months. I mean, that's enough time for him to play the World Series in New York City. OK. Yeah, and he knew.

All right. Played six games against the Mets. And he felt the energy was palpable, bro. You sent this, Chris, on a text chain amongst all of us. And I'm like, who is A.J. Minter? Who is he? Oh, the GOAT.

Was it rhetorical, though? Who is he? He was a pitcher. He pitched for the Braves. Now he's on the Mets. Who the hell is Tim Horton? Is he from New York? I'm not sure.

He strikes me as a Southern boy. Roll it. You can tell, I mean, these Mets fans, I mean, these are truly baseball fans.

They get baseball not like the other side of town for those guys. This man already knows. This man knows.

No, but you can tell. These are the true die-hard fans and they truly – they're going to be with you until the end. So I got to face against y'all my whole career and y'all always brought it every time. So we can't wait to pitch for y'all now. Yeah, that's exactly how we talk in New York. Can't wait to play for y'all. That's how we talk in New York. Yeah, y'all.

Y'all are so good. He's from Tyler, Texas. Played for Texas A&M. Hold on a minute.

Here you go. This is where he learned it. He played for the Florida Fire Frogs and then the Mississippi Braves. That's where he – that's where he picked up his sense of what's a real New York sports fan. My bad. Sorry, AJ. You know what?

We got our own lefty from the Braves who might have a say or two about what's the real thing in New York or not this year. There's a lot of checks being written across the Tri-Borrow, pal. Yeah, well, when your checkbook is as big as Stevie's, you can write these checks.

All right. No, I meant with a mouth. With a mouth. But then he signed them with his feathered pen. With a mouth.

With a mouth. Pause. Okay. Nonsense. Love it. I love it. Insanity. You've got to love it.

Why not? You've got to love it. Let's start something.

What do I love? Let me start something. You're the one who started it. That's what I'm saying. I'm fine with that. Big brother can't be big brother. Okay.

Big brother can't always be big brother. Yankee fans are the forgazi fans that aren't really into baseball. We don't understand it. We don't get it.

We don't appreciate it. I'm sorry. The Mets fans.

I'm sorry. The real ones in New York City, according to A.J. Minter. A.J. Minter.

He knows these things. Not even the best lefty from Atlanta playing in New York. Baseball scene. According to... Everyone?

Hmm. Let me turn to the Braves guy here. He's too... Who do you want the...

He's busy looking up half-time stats. In whose left hand do you want the baseball? Chris? Max, Max. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

When do the Yankees play the Mets? Oh my God. Going as fast as I can. You have to go fast. Don't worry about it.

I'm a Subaru 43. I'm almost there. I mean, you haven't beaten this in a while.

Okay, pal. I don't know why you'd want to play the Mets. You know what I mean? That's just an L. All the experts on the New York sports scene. Mike Francesca, Mad Dog Russo, Michael Kay, AJ Minter, and Juan Soto. Those are the five.

Those are the five. That's who I want to rely on. That's who I want to rely on. You don't know what's going on there.

That's what I want to rely on. They're really, they're really savvy. They're locked in. Hey, they know. Y'all. They know y'all. We'll see y'all on Thursday.

Hey, it's Rich Eisen here. Join me and my compadre, Chris Brockman, every Monday on the Overreaction Monday podcast. You're also saying the record's going to go down.

I'm saying the record's going down anyway. I don't think you're off on this at all. Like you're spot on here. I don't think this is an overreaction because we have no idea what we're reacting to. Come react or overreact with us. Overreaction Monday. Go and listen on your favorite platform. It's game over. It's game over, man.