Hollywood Reporter’s Top 25 Sports Movie List

12:40Rich Eisen:That's 8-3 at the Chargers.

12:42Tom Pelissero:Win.

12:42Rich Eisen:That's 9-3, home for the Broncos. That's a win. That's a 10-3 record when you head into Philadelphia to take on the defending world champs. That's a loss. 10-4 at the Texans.

12:55Tom Pelissero:That's a loss.

12:56Rich Eisen:10-5, home for the Giants.

12:58Tom Pelissero:Win.

12:59Rich Eisen:That's now 11-5, home for the Chiefs.

13:04Tom Pelissero:That's a win.

13:05Rich Eisen:A 12-5 season. Wow. I like it, Josh. Says Josh in Los Angeles. All right. Thanks for the call, Josh. Let's go. Pete Carroll. Turned it around. Going 12-5 would be news. Yeah. And it would also be news to Joe in Maryland, who was the last one to play the win-loss game for the Raiders. He had them going 13-4. It's sky-high situation going on right now. Very exciting. Rick in Columbus, Ohio wants to chime in here. What's up, Rick? Hey, Rich. How you doing? What's going on, brother? Hey, I'm born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Okay. Never a Browns fan, more Bengals. Okay. I became a fan after seeing the movie Brian's Song.

13:52Rich Eisen:Mm-hmm. Why ain't that on the list? What about something for Joey? Okay. John Capiletti. How about, you know, Brian's Song? Brian's Song is a beautiful movie. How is that on the list? That's another one, yeah. I mean, again, this list. If people see that movie, I think people get it a little more better. This list is so disturbing to me. I'm wondering where Rudy is on the list, and I'm agreeing with someone from Columbus, Ohio. You understand what I'm saying? The strange bed fans. Still a fan. You know, Gail Sayers made me a Bears fan, and Peyton kept me. But, I mean, to me, take out your back.

14:36Rich Eisen:Rick and thank you very much in Columbus on home. Chiming in right there. James Conn, Billy D. Williams. Let's roll. Penn State. Jeff in Detroit. What's up, Jeffrey? What's up, Jeff? What goes on, Uncle Rich? My cousin. Hey, listen, it's funny. I'm sitting up looking. I say, man, that guy looks good in that blue suit right there at SportsCenter. Man, everybody's talking about a good morning, America. But we have a special guest. somebody that you know I love. Your wife. The question is for your wife. Over the last 50 years, I know you do sports, women's sports now and everything. Over the last 50 years, who has been the most influential sports figure in women's sports?

15:22Rich Eisen:I have. Spoken like a true member of the family. That's why she's your wife. I have an answer once you answer, Sue. I think I know who it is. Most influential woman in women's sports in the last 50 years? Well, I go close to home with Cheryl Miller being one because she set the table. Okay. I mean, have to go Caitlyn because of what she's done. Oh, really? In the last 50 years? I'm going to go. Yeah, because she's changed the landscape. But then, who are you thinking? Who, you know. Billie Jean, because of your mom. I'm my mother's son. Billie Jean changed the sheet. That's it. Yeah, she set the table for women's equality.

16:04Rich Eisen:What do you think? What's your thought, Jeff? Hmm. I have not heard this many people talk about women's sports since Caitlin Clark has gotten into the league, good, bad or indifferent. And I do think she's a vessel in order to get their pay up as well as to get that spotlight shined on them. Because before her, you know, it wasn't this much hoopla about the WNBA. And now it's like every time you turn around, some type of article is coming out. I mean, she has created so much money for so many people in the industry. It's not even funny. So you might have to just go ahead and say her. I mean, you have to make that argument because of the whole rising tides and the lifting ships.

16:47Rich Eisen:I mean, I think you look at what she's done, and she has made the WNBA every single day must have conversation. Paige Beckers is going to be in our news update. We added that today because of her 44-point night. But I think, Jeff, there's something to be said for that. Now, I'm not discounting Flojo. I'm not discounting the Williams sisters. Thank you very much. Because I just feel like there have been so many women that have set the table for her to shine. But we wouldn't have a show like Women's Sports Now if we didn't have that continued attention to the WNBA like we have all the time. But I brought up Cheryl Miller for a reason, Jeff, because she was so good so fast.

17:26Rich Eisen:And if she didn't have that catastrophic injury, then who knows who she would have become? I just feel like... How about this one? Mount Rushmore of women in sports. Oh, boy. Billie Jean King, Caitlin Clark, Shell Miller, and Susie Schuster. Jeff in Detroit. Look at you shooting from the hip. Well, we all know where I've got to go. That's right. He knows where he lives. Thanks for the call, Jeffrey. Really appreciate it. Always great to hear from Jeff in Detroit. Tom Pellicer is going to join us next. What is going on in the NFL is just the general gist. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

18:06Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash Hope on Wheels. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan.

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19:21Rich Eisen:Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, Tom Pilosera joining us. Let's bring him on right now. My buddy from the NFL Network and NFL Plus and NFL Insider and all that good stuff. Tom, this will be the most simple conversation you've had maybe in the history of this show because you're not going to be bothered by stupid ass photos and selfies and that sort of thing because Brockman's not here. Susie is more of an adult. Stop it, TJ. Hey, your hair looks great. Your hair looks amazing. I'm going to start with that like you would normally do. You know.

19:54Tom Pelissero:TJ is the chief offender of the sending the videos, including the one that he's making right now, which I'm sure he'll send after this segment is over. Okay.

20:04Rich Eisen:So we're going to find out who is the chief offender. And you say it's TJ. It's not Brockman. To interrupt your... Brockman poses.

20:12Tom Pelissero:TJ is really the cinematographer who brings the studio to life when I'm here remotely with my boys and my lady Susie in studio.

20:21Rich Eisen:Okay, there you go. Thank you for the inclusion. I do appreciate that because hair game meets game. And so I want to just sit in this desk and have some kind of, you know, New England insouciance. I wouldn't look at you. I believe in anybody that sat in that chair, most hair ever, I would think. There's really no doubt. Okay, very good. I mean, in this one as well. There's really no doubt. All right. Good to see you, Tom. How are you, sir? Tommy P.

20:51Tom Pelissero:Doing great. I feel like we've gotten a little jump start on trade season here with the cutdown deadline still four days away. It always gets down to going into these third preseason games with the way they've kind of recalibrated with only three preseason games instead of four with the cutdown on the Tuesday instead of the Saturday. Teams are to look at these rosters and all these kind of down the line players or teams are trying to free up cap space. There's more maneuvering than there used to be ahead of the final preseason games. But that final, depending, I mean, some teams play tonight. Some teams don't play this one game at 10 p.m.

21:25Tom Pelissero:Eastern time on Saturday night. After you get through those games, you know, depending exactly when you're playing, there's a lot of finalizing that needs to take place in terms of setting that roster by 4 p.m. Tuesday.

21:36Rich Eisen:The current state of affairs between Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones was on Fox this morning. He had some comments yesterday. We heard from the coach, Brian Schottenheimer is like, I fully expect him to be there. Business will take care of it, all that sort of stuff. Is this different? Are we in a different world now than the usual? This stuff usually works itself out. What's your opinion on it, Tom?

22:00Tom Pelissero:We're in a different world right now because there is still, as of about 20 minutes ago when I was checking on this, no communication. There is no communication between the Cowboys and Micah Parsons' agent, David Muligeta, in terms of doing a long-term contract. We can all point to, yes, C.D. Lamb took forever. Dak didn't get done until a few hours before kickoff last year in Cleveland. But those deals were weeks and months in the making. With Micah Parsons, there, of course, were the conversations that now are well-documented between Micah and Jerry Jones, who thought he had a handshake cocktail napkin type of deal done back in March, whether it was because Jerry felt like this was Micah going back on his word, whether this is because Jerry simply has negotiated on his own timeline.

22:48Tom Pelissero:Whatever it is, no one has called Micah's agent to try to get a deal done. There's not been a single offer in writing. There has not been a single conversation that would qualify as a contract negotiation. Is there still time? Yes, but two weeks from tonight, Rich, the Cowboys play the Eagles in the kickoff game on national TV. Micah has not practiced. He's been, from what I've been told, he's been great in the meeting rooms, the walkthroughs. He's doing all that stuff. But you still got to get your body in shape to play football. There's a conditioning element that goes into this, among other things.

23:18Tom Pelissero:You know, at some point in the coming days here, Micah's either going to need to practice or he's not going to be ready to be a participant, certainly not a full participant, in the week one game. I know Brian Schottenheimer said yesterday he's confident that Micah is going to be out there in week one. I don't believe that there's been any promises made, though there's been an open and honest dialogue between Schottenheimer and Micah throughout the course of this process. The Cowboys, if you just base it on what Jerry Jones said several days ago, they seem to be looking at this as, hey, Micah's either going to come back and try to save the deal in March, or, hey, he'll just play it out on the fifth-year option here, and we'll worry about franchise tags and all that when we get to March.

23:57Rich Eisen:that's again this is your bailiwick and i'm sorry to be strolling into it in any way shape or form in a lane but all i keep hearing is this is different that's all i keep hearing it's different it's different because jerry thinks this was a handshake agreement and micah's uh different in the fact that he is more than willing to take this to where players usually don't that's what i keep Tom.

24:20Tom Pelissero:For years, if not decades, Jerry Jones, along with Bill Belichick, were the two people, the Cowboys and the Patriots, the two teams that would negotiate around agents' backs, that would bring a player in and sit them down and basically try to work out a deal and then basically inform the agent, hey, I just talked directly to the player. There's various rules about how that entire thing is supposed to operate here, but Jerry's always been kind of on his own program. And those of us who have delved into the Netflix premiere, me, TJ, and Brockman were at the premiere last week in Hollywood while I was out there.

24:56Tom Pelissero:It's an excellent and interesting documentary, but it also shows how Jerry's entire history has been. He does things a little bit differently. Certainly the contract negotiation, the fact that he's the GM and the owner is one of those things. But in this case, you have an agent in David Muligeta who negotiated over a billion dollars of deals in the past year. He's not a difficult guy to get a hold of. And again, whether it is Jerry feeling like he got, you know, somebody pulled the rug out from under him, whether he's embarrassed, whether he's angry, whatever it is, he's never called. Nobody has called on his behalf and tried to hammer out a deal here.

25:34Tom Pelissero:So that part of it is different, which then brings us to this. All right. What are the options and what are the different ways that this could go with Micah Parsons over the next, let's say, 14 days, which is the run up to the opener against the Eagles. One possibility would be sometime in probably, let's call it the next five to seven days, he returns to practice, he says, screw it, I'm going to play deal or no deal, I'm under contract, I'm going to go out there and play with the guys, and we'll worry about this after the season. That's one possibility. Second possibility is Micah, who, remember, has said this entire time that he has back soreness, and that's why he's not participating, because hold-ins are not a magic bullet to not get fined.

26:12Tom Pelissero:However, if you're injured, that's a different type of a case. Micah could say, hey, my back isn't healthy enough, or hey, I'm simply not going out there. The Cowboys then at that point would have to decide what levers are they going to pull. They could suspend him for conduct detrimental to the team. They've already had the ability throughout this process if they wanted to, if they want to say, hey, you're not really injured, we're going to fine you. But they could start coming after his money. If he doesn't play in those games and he's not getting paid for those games, suspension or otherwise, certainly that's going to be significant money.

26:44Tom Pelissero:But also for a guy who's going to sign a contract that's worth somewhere in the range of$45 million per year, you probably are OK taking the short-term financial loss. So that's the second possibility. The third possibility is that the Cowboys seriously entertain trade offers for Micah Parsons. And this is something that we have talked about going all the way back to Super Bowl Sunday, that there were internal conversations among the Cowboys, not necessarily about, hey, should we trade Micah? what can we get, but more so, is it wise to wrap up this much money in three players? We're already paying DAX 60 a year, we're playing CeeDee Lamb around 35.

27:19Tom Pelissero:If they were to entertain offers, the price, in my mind, and based on my feel for the market, would be somewhere in the range of what the Bears sent for Khalil Mack to the Raiders a number of years ago. The headline was two first-round picks. Really, though, there was a second-round pick going back, there were other picks involved. It's like a little less than two first round picks. If you're the Cowboys and that's the price, that would be a significant value, especially because then you're freeing up 40 plus million dollars per year in cash and cash space to rebuild at other spots. But does Jerry Jones want to rebuild when he's 82, 83 years old?

27:57Tom Pelissero:It still seems unlikely. I know they've gotten calls. I don't know that the teams that have called entirely know if they're actually considering this or just having conversations. Right now, everything that's been said publicly by the Cowboys indicates that they are fully planning for Micah Parsons one way or another to be on the team in week one. If at any point they come off of that, there would be teams that would be highly interested in making a trade for Micah Parsons. We're just not there yet.

28:24Rich Eisen:Rank them for me. You just gave those options. Rank them. Rank them. Because you left out one option. They sign them. You know what I mean? because let's throw that one in there. Honestly, so let's rank him. They sign him in the next two weeks because, again, you pointed out that we're two weeks away from midnight actually striking. They sign him. He decides, I'm just screw it. I'm going to return to play and we'll kick the can down the road. The Cowboys trade him or the Cowboys start to fine him or they basically... And where does it hold out into the season rank. Those are your five options.

29:07Rich Eisen:How this all plays out. There you go, Tom. Tom Pellicero's top five of how this plays out. Rank them.

29:16Tom Pelissero:No productive conversation whatsoever.

29:18Rich Eisen:I know. This is out of your lane. I stole it into your lane. You stole it into mine. You sit in this chair. You know how it works.

29:23Tom Pelissero:You and I right here on this show could figure out what the Micah Parsons extension has to be. Exactly. Their numbers are there. no agent's going to want your client to go and sign a six-year deal. So let's say, all right, let's cocktail napkin this like Jerry would like.

29:39Rich Eisen:Let's do it.

29:40Tom Pelissero:Four years,$180 million, somewhere in the range of$130 million to$150 million guaranteed. Boom, done. He's a cowboy through 2029. This entire slide goes away. It's not a hard deal to do, but they have not done anything since March to actually try to move that thing forward. And to my understanding, Mike, his agent, David Muligeta, has called them and basically said, hey, I'm ready when you are. But no agent is just going to sit there and negotiate against yourself. So it's just it's an unusual type of situation. So let's set that one aside because one guy is going to make that decision. And it's Jerry Jones.

30:15Tom Pelissero:Are you actually going to try? To this point, they have not. I would say just if I'm sitting here and looking at the logical options here, number one would be showing up and playing for what he's doing, which I think is around$25 million this season. And that's because if you show up and you play this thing out, you're that much closer to having leverage in a potential contract situation next year. If you get franchise tag, which you would think is a given, you don't have to sign that all the way through. You can't be fined in training camp. You can't be punished other than obviously losing, not being paid, even if you miss regular season games.

30:51Tom Pelissero:So then Micah would have significantly more leverage from that perspective. However, his agent's history, he's presided over plenty of tricky situations like this, including multiple Jalen Ramsey trades. The Deshaun Watson situation where Deshaun, there were obviously significant circumstances involved in that. But people forget Deshaun Watson didn't play in 2021. He was never suspended. He was never on the exempt list. He just didn't play. He requested a trade. There were 20-plus allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He just did his work inside and stayed in shape but did not play that entire year.

31:28Tom Pelissero:How did that play out? Well, the following March, they had four different teams bidding on Deshaun Watson. It's a quarterback, but Micah Parsons doesn't have all those other extenuating circumstances surrounding him here. So there are different ways. But the Cowboys are not just going to sit back and go, okay, we'll let you sit out the season. Again, it would depend if we go down that road what levers end up being pulled. I find it hard to believe that Micah Parsons is simply not going to play. Because remember, too, Rich, if there were a situation where whether it's he retires, whether it's he gets spent, if he does not play, we do come to a point where his contract would toll.

32:06Tom Pelissero:He's then still under contract in 2026 for the same number. I don't foresee that being a long-term option, but certainly any player's greatest leverage is withholding your services. You withhold your services week one against the Eagles, even if you get fined, even if you get suspended for doing it, that would make the type of ripple effect that even a long statement requesting a trade on social media has not made to this point.

32:28Rich Eisen:Tom Pelissero with a detailed answer that causes him also to avoid me giving him a top-five list opportunity. I get it. I understand that. By the way, great job. What is on that mug you keep drinking from purposefully? Is that your face?

32:41Tom Pelissero:It's a photo of me, my dog, Doug, and then Rapshie.

32:44Rich Eisen:Rapshie? Hey, Claibon making the show.

32:47Tom Pelissero:Some show that no longer exists on NFL Network. But good times. Still a great mom.

32:51Rich Eisen:Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. What did you make of the fact that on Monday Night Football, the two holdings, the guy on the road showed up, and the guy at home didn't? What do you think? What is it?

33:03Tom Pelissero:Well, Trey Hendrickson, you know, he's done that. He's been at practice. He's been giving pointers to Shamar Stewart and being an active participant in everything that does not involve actually practicing. I know that he had an extensive conversation with Duke Tobin. We saw clips of that on the field in pregame. But to my understanding, nothing has changed. It's the same spot, Rich. We talk about it every week. They've had the big numbers in place. I know he confirmed that to Laura Rutledge, too, when she talked to him before the game. The big numbers have been in place for almost a month. The years, the average per year, the total dollars in the deal, all that is locked in.

33:39Tom Pelissero:The issue is that the Bengals don't want to guarantee anything beyond 2025. And at this point, they also have not done anything in terms of moving money around just to try to offset some of the guarantees that are lacking. We know Trey Henderson. He said it back in May when he showed up to an OTA. I want a multi-year commitment. The Bengals just have not been willing to do a multi-year commitment. So at this point, Trey Hendrickson continues to proceed as if ultimately he is going to be back with the Bengals. But I have no indication one way or the other. But I have no indication at this point that Trey Hendrickson, after saying for months, I'm not playing on six existing deal, is simply going to cave and show up and be out there week one.

34:19Tom Pelissero:So the same levers exist at that point for the Bengals. They already can be fining him for every single training camp practice that he misses. If eventually he refuses to return and play in a game, they can come at him with the full weight of taking away game checks and suspending him for conduct detrimental. We are not there yet. The relationship, despite some of the public comments, it's not in that place. That's why Trey Anderson is still out there wearing a Bengals logo on his shirt. He's not walking around in, you know, non-team issue gear like we've seen Brandon Ayuk and some other players do in the past.

34:51Tom Pelissero:So is this salvageable? Absolutely. But as we reported over the weekend, the Bengals have been listening to trade offers for Trey Hendrickson. In order to move him, it's going to have to be a good player, a real player and a real draft pick at this point. They turned down a second round pick and change back before the draft. And at this point, that draft pick isn't even helping you in 2025 on a team that you believe, certainly on the offensive side, can be Super Bowl caliber, or even if the defense did not provide a whole lot of reasons in that nationally televised game to make you believe they're going to be substantively better than they were in 2024.

35:24Tom Pelissero:As for Terry McLaurin, he's still going through the ramp-up process. A lot of that's happening behind closed doors. The ankle, from what I'm told, is healed. He did have a real ankle injury. That was not a made-up thing. He had a real ankle injury back in January. He rehabbed it in the offseason. He's fine on that standpoint. But, again, you have to do conditioning. You have to work your way back in to being ready to play. The fact that McLaurin has begun that ramp-up process would indicate he believes somewhere he's going to be playing in week one. He also has requested a trade. That's been sitting there for a couple of weeks.

35:57Tom Pelissero:There have been teams that have called the commanders. But the sense that people get when they've talked to Washington is we don't really want to do this, so the price is going to be really, really high. They're playing as if Terry McLaurin is going to be back on the field. Could they make one more run at this and make another offer? The sides have not been anywhere in the vicinity of each other. You know, you look at where the wide receiver market has gone. They have a fair argument if you're Terry McLaurin. Hey, even at my age, I'm in the same draft class as DK Metcalf. Why am I not getting$32,$33,$34 million per year?

36:28Tom Pelissero:From the commander's standpoint, they're looking at a close to 30-year-old receiver. There's not a great long history of guys continuing to produce 1 ,000-yard seasons. But much like Trey Hendrickson, Terry McLaurin can go, I got 1 ,000 yards every year. I'm always going to have 80 catches and a thousand touchdowns last year. Like, what indication do you get that I'm going to fall off? We'll see where that one goes. These next few days are going to be really important for Washington and Terry McLaurin to see if they've got a path forward here that gets him ready to play right out of the gate and isn't something that drags into the season and all of a sudden brings up all those other levers we've been talking about with all these hold-ins.

37:04Rich Eisen:A couple quick hitters before you go, Tom Pelissero. How dire is the Niners' wide receiver situation?

37:10Tom Pelissero:Their overall skill position situation is a little bit shaky at this point. I mean, every running back not named Christian McCaffrey, it seems like, is injured. They just put one on injured reserve the other day. And a wide receiver, the fact that, you know, the 49ers always knew. Brandon Ayuk had a really serious injury, and he was probably not going to be back for week one. Now we're talking about, you know, midseason or week six or somewhere in there. Ricky Pearsall just to this point has not shown that he can stay on the field. So they made the trade yesterday for Sky Moore. That involves it.

37:42Tom Pelissero:It's a 6-7 pick flop, which in 2027, that's pretty close to the bottom barrel draft compensation, which means Sky Moore wasn't making the Chiefs roster. But in Kansas City, you know, he maybe can impact the game in multiple different ways. At least it's another speed threat type of a wide receiver. You can use him in the return game if you want to. You can, you know, move him around, maybe even line him up in the backfield. We know Kyle Shanahan likes guys with some versatility. And even though Sky Moore has never really gotten to the level in terms of production that the Chiefs wanted when they drafted him as high as they did, he certainly is a guy who's got physical talent.

38:15Tom Pelissero:This wide receiver market, Rich, is going to be really fascinating to watch in the coming days here, leading all the way up to Tuesday and maybe even beyond. Because San Francisco still potentially could add another wide receiver. The Saints just traded for Keyshawn Vele from Denver and gave up a fourth-round pick and another pick to get him, which is pretty significant for any player of that caliber. The Saints still could look to add another wide receiver, even though they do have, of course, Chris Alave and Rashid Shahid and Brandon Cooks. They've been looking for multiple different types of receivers.

38:48Tom Pelissero:That's a team to keep in mind. Could the Jets eventually make a trade for a wide receiver? And how about the Vikings? I started off yesterday by putting out a tweet on that. The Vikings have been working the phones on wide receivers. It's not about Justin Jefferson. He's back from the hamstring. He's going to be good to go week one. But Jordan Addison is suspended for the first three games. Jalen Naylor banged up his hand about eight days ago. It's unclear at this point when exactly Naylor, who is the number three receiver, is going to be back. It would be a lot to put on Ty Felton and just say, hey, you're a rookie.

39:18Tom Pelissero:Just roll out there and start in week one. So I'm operating under the belief right now that the starter opposite Justin Jefferson in week one for the Vikings is probably not on their roster. And if you need a clear sign of that in the past 24 hours, look at the Harrison Phillips trade from the Vikings to the Jets. It is an unusual NFL trade. This is your starting nose tackle, core locker room guy, plays every snap, does all kinds of stuff in the community. And you trade him for two sixth round picks and send Phillips and a seventh rounder to the Jets. But what that also does, they ended up splitting his salary with the Jets.

39:59Tom Pelissero:So this clears almost$4 million in cash and cap space for the Vikings, in addition to giving them two extra sixth round picks, maybe between the cash, the cap, and the draft capital now, you've got a little extra ammunition to go out there. And again, they have called all over the league, but potentially go out and get a wide receiver. If you're looking and saying, well, who's going to be ready to go in week one? There's multiple options. But there's one guy in Carolina right now, Rich, in Adam Thielen, who has produced in this offense. He's played alongside Justin Jefferson. He knows exactly what Kevin O 'Connell wants to do.

40:33Tom Pelissero:The Panthers have not wanted to give Thielen away. That's why they didn't trade him before the trade deadline last year. But keep that name in mind, among others, as a potential target who might even be out there in the starting lineup for the Vikings come week one.

40:46Rich Eisen:Hell of a breadcrumb. 90 seconds I've got, Tom. Matthew Stafford's back. What's up? I mean, you know, Sean McVay's like, yeah, we're going to take it day by day, and then he threw the word week in there. What's going on, man? What's happening?

40:59Tom Pelissero:I have learned more about back injuries than I ever wanted to by having my own Rich, and I saw some of the same doctors and specialists that NFL players see when I was trying to get the thing fixed. It is a tricky deal when you're talking about nonspecific low back issues. They can linger. They can be stuff that doesn't even show up on MRIs. We know that it's an aggravated or herniated disc of some kind. And so every day that he gets through and is able to go, we practiced the last three days. I just saw that he's out there on the field again. Those are good signs. You just don't know the first time that he gets hit, how is he going to respond?

41:32Tom Pelissero:If he wakes up and just slept weird, is he going to have an issue? For me, it was, hey, I turned a doorknob and now my back hurts again. Things like that can happen. I'm not an NFL quarterback, Rich. I am an old guy who's dealt with back pain around age 40, which is the spot that Matthew Stafford is in here. You just don't know. Everything seems to be trending in a positive direction. They have Jimmy Garoppolo, of course, on that roster. They have Stetson Bennett, who's been really good through the preseason. I would certainly say, though, don't overlook if this ever becomes something that blows up and Stafford's out long term.

42:07Tom Pelissero:There's still a guy sitting there in Atlanta who has played for Sean McVay, knows the offense, and is currently making$27.5 billion to be a backup quarterback. We're not there. Again, everything seems to be trending in the right direction right now for Matthew Stafford. But it very much will be, and you've heard the caution in Sean McVay's words, a day-to-day type of experience. They just have to continue to try to be mindful about how they're loading Matthew Stafford up, bring him along, because the only target that matters is not just playing in week one, but getting through this entire season and being available when the games really count in December and January.

42:42Rich Eisen:A lot of breadcrumbs, if not loaves of bread right there. Tom, thanks again, brother. Good to see you.

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43:56Rich Eisen:So we could have had a movie about somebody who's, what, half nothing, 100 pounds nothing. Could have called it David, huh? And then we could have had Bo. We could have had Bo up there, and everybody could have put their Michigan jerseys on the desk. Did that really happen, David? Well, of course not. Didn't you know that? But you know something?

44:16Tom Pelissero:The other night, you got me going, because the other night, I just Googled. I just said, how much of this blank is true?

44:26Rich Eisen:And I started putting in a list of sports movies. Okay. You know, we are Marshall, The Blind Side, Remember the Titans, blah, blah, blah. We come off like a Ken Burns documentary compared to most of those movies.

44:39Tom Pelissero:Oh! Line of the day! How did you throw it down? All right!

44:47Tom Pelissero:I'm not joking, you know?

44:48Rich Eisen:Do you wanna explain to me how, what you told me on Monday, that Rudy has heard what I've had to say about this subject? This is the best part. This is so good. I haven't told my guys about this, but please, I give you the floor. Is this true that Rudy, that this, what I have said into this microphone has filtered in the direction of Mr. Rudiger? We're directly to Las Vegas, Nevada. Yes. And it was very interesting. I have not talked to Rudy. Angelo has. And apparently Rudy was pretty incensed, incensed enough to go to his neighbor, Mike Tyson, and ask him if he would train him to get you in the rain to put you where you belong.

45:29Tom Pelissero:Hold on, hold on a second. Back the truck up. Hold on.

45:33Rich Eisen:So the real Rudy lives in Las Vegas next to Mike Tyson? Who he has apparently asked for training advice so he could come in my room.

45:43Tom Pelissero:You know what? Rudy could. I heard this through Andrew. What? Andrew was close to him. But it could have been. I know that Floyd Mayweather. It might have been Mayweather. Mayweather lived in his neighbor. Oh, my gosh.

45:55Rich Eisen:That's fantastic. And, oh, by the way, what was not in the movie is that when Rudy was at Holy Cross

46:05Tom Pelissero:and he was, you know, trying to come off as a Notre Dame student, getting in the cheering section, painting the helmets, all that. He also joined what they called, and I don't know if they do it today, but it was a campus-wide boxing tournament, and it was called the Bengal Bouts. And, dudes, he won it as a Holy Cross student masquerading as a Notre Dame student. And he won. And we had it originally in the script, but we had to cut it out.

46:33Rich Eisen:Well, now hearing about his ability to fight. Yeah, he better start playing nice with Rudy. Boy, what a great film this is, David. I mean, now that you tell me the backstory, I mean, wow. It's quite a moving piece of cinema that you put together. One of the favorite people, Susan, I love, David Honsmaug. Love, love, love, love, love. What a good dude. You had him on after Gene Hackman passed away. I was out of the chair.

46:58Tom Pelissero:I did. He was incredible.

47:00Rich Eisen:I know. We're opining about the 17th best sports movie in the history of sports movies, according to Hollywood Reporter. 17. 17. I know you love that movie, so I know that's... Hoosier's number one for me. I go back and forth about what's number two. The Natural is such a perfect movie. Yeah. Perfect, perfect movie.

47:24Rich Eisen:You know, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, come on, man. Bring it on. Seriously. Like, how do you do that? And you represent... No varsity blues either. And you represent your... Well, I mean, it's not about Friday night lights. Shaving cream. So, Suze, I know earlier I said I was waiting for the green light to ask you some questions. Well, guess what? Ding, ding, that light turned green. So let's talk about it. Yeah, we can talk about the loneliness of the long-distance runner. A 1962 British coming-of-age film. It's not going to be that type of talk. I got to be honest. You know, you weren't here before you called in that day.

48:00Rich Eisen:We were just talking about how sometimes social media is so awful, right? But there are those moments where something happens one night and it just pulls everybody together. And that was what was going on when everybody was watching Richo SportsCenter. And he mentioned that you and the kids are at home. You know, it was the first time they got to see their dad do his thing. But like, in all honesty, like what was it feeling like for you to see him? knowing the whole story, knowing how he really felt, knowing what he went through. Like, how did that make you feel? What we went through. What you went through, yeah.

48:33Rich Eisen:Like, I made a joke about the not having a job and everything, but I'm sure that had to, like, really weigh on him and you at the same time. So it's like, that must have been so amazing for you to watch him do that. It was so surreal, TJ. I mean, I can't even tell you that I took a video of them rolling the music, rolling the credits, I was, like, going with the tease, And when I heard the voiceover of the tease, I audibly said out loud, oh, my God, I can't believe this. Because that music brought us back to exactly where we were. And because we lived it every single night, it was really emotional.

49:07Rich Eisen:It was really beautiful to watch. I was really so proud of what you did and how well you handled it. I was so nervous. I was pacing before. I was texting with Brockman. You were pacing. We got to get through the A's. I was pacing. But I just wanted to get through the A's because I was nervous watching him. But I knew that you weren't nervous, which is incredible. Well, I mean, it's not, you know, we've been waiting 22 years. You know, and you knew Stu, too. I mean, Stu was, he called you S squared. You know, that was his nickname for you, S squared. You knew him as well as anybody. anybody that picture we show of you and him at your wedding and he's like was he putting at your ring or yeah because he because you know he was playing the two of us to the same spot that i wanted to get to eventually and we did and he held he held my hand looked at the ring and he with a smile on his face like you know this is happening we did it and then like we did it but the chair but the chair was such a beautiful nod and i think any of us who knew him and loved him just felt exactly like you did that he should have been there and he would have been so proud to have been there he would have yeah it would have been amazing and um his spirit was going through social media too with you which is great that's what it's all about because i know how you know synonymous sports center and us together yeah and um it was funny when i first walked onto that set and I walked over to the chair that Stuart normally sits in and put my stuff there because I'm camera left on game day morning, which is what I've been used to sitting in for over a decade plus on that show.

50:54Rich Eisen:Oh, yeah. And so I put my stuff there and then I thought to myself, wait a minute. And the other folks on the set who are the producers were like, don't you think you should sit in that one? and that was always that was just great attention to detail they were awesome yeah they were awesome because i put my just out of complete total habit over the last few years i walked over to the chair that stewart normally sits in because you know that's where i'm always over there for game day morning yeah and a lot of people don't know that he sat there just because it was harder for him to see out of one of his eyes and he sat there because it was easier for him to handle the teleprompter right and um and then that was the deal back in the day is you got to sit where you wanted to sit on the sports center set based on your tenure okay so that was dan patrick's seat for for his time so whenever i hosted with dan i got in the other one so i would ping pong back and forth quite a bit um and uh i was always the low low tenured anchor on the pole until I think like maybe John Anderson showed up.

52:03Rich Eisen:And at any rate, it was wild. And they were like, that's your seat. And that was what then gave birth to the idea of let's keep Stewart's chair there empty and put a rundown there. But you know, I was waiting 22 years for that. It was like riding a bike, like riding a bike. but I love how you point it. The music. The music is so great. I had PTSD of running down the hallway with a PCR-4. Oh, man. And Rich said, there was a guy, his name is, I should have sent this back to the guys, but there was a guy named Nicholas on YouTube. Okay. Left a comment really quickly. He said, I don't think Rich will ever see this, but I was on the show last night.

52:51Rich Eisen:I did the studio monitors from here in Bristol and controlled the graphics behind Rich. Just wanted to say how honored I was to be a part of your tribute to Stuart. That will forever go down as a highlight of my career. We all enjoyed working with you, all of us in the control room. Wow. I said it was one of the nights we never forget working here. And thank you for letting me be a small part of it. Plus one. So that was someone on the left of YouTube. Wow. Yeah. You should read YouTube comments more often too, Jim. Back to wrap up the show for the hour of three coming up.

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