Hour 1: The Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers Waiting Game, plus FOX Sports Rules Analyst Dean Blandino

23:01Rich Eisen:And I think we can all agree that that is a goal for sure. No question. What are you hearing about that, that portion? Yeah, I think, I think the league has the current CBA has a, a three-year probationary period. So you get hired into the NFL and in your first three years, the league can let you go without cause. I mean, and I live this as the head of officiating when you, without that, and you, you, you try to fire a game official. The league will grieve it because they grieve it just on practice alone. And regardless of how the performance was, and you have to go through this whole exercise of making sure you have the paper trail, making sure you've put in the work to get this official up to speed.

23:46And ultimately, there were officials that weren't going to get up to speed, and we wanted to let them go. And it was usually a fight with the union. So I think that three-year probationary period is really, really important because there are some officials that go from college to the NFL that can't make that jump. And the games are too important to have subpar game officials out there. And I think that's really important. The accountability is important. And I think that's something the league should, honestly, in my opinion, really needs to make sure that they stand firm on that. And I think game officials understand that.

24:20They're not out there going, well, we don't want to be held accountable. They are, they're graded, their post-season assignments rely on those grades and ultimately whether they stay in the league, rely on how they perform. So I just think right now there's a lot of posturing. There's a lot of stuff out in the public and hopefully they can get to the negotiating table and get a deal done before we have to go into games with replacements.

24:42Rich Eisen:What did you make of the two officiating related proposals that passed. Obviously, one does involve potentially getting the fail Mary out. If there is a dispute that the league central office, the Art McNally Center, will handle significant calls and things of that nature. Do you think that would also be a test case to see if that is something the league would be, the NFL would do from here on out? No question. No question. That proposal. So from what I understand is yesterday the votes occurred. And when that proposal came up and as written, it was only in the case of replacement officials. And the way that happens is the competition committee will basically articulate the rule change and open it up to the floor for any of the membership to comment.

25:36And several owners got up and said, why are we only doing this for the replacements? Let's make this a rule change regardless of replacements. And it actually got 14 votes. It didn't pass. You need 24 of 32. But it got 14 votes. So I think this certainly will be a test case. And I think that those things that they'll be able to do if we do have replacements will ultimately go into effect at some point with the regular officials.

26:05Rich Eisen:So what do you think would, because again, the way that this is written, as you pointed out, it would correct clear and obvious misses made by on-field officials that impact the game. You know how this works. These things need to be codified down to the nth degree like it's a long sheet contract. You know, so what would fit into that bucket, Dean? And that's the great question. And it's not everything. And that's what we have to understand. There isn't someone in the AMGC, Art McNally, Game Day Central with a magic wand that can correct every single thing. Even think about the fail Mary. The fail Mary was reviewable.

26:45Replay looked at that. Replay could have made it an incomplete pass. Replay could have made it an interception. So there were controls in place. So you still have people involved that have to make decisions. So so this would be, you know, areas where fouls that that aren't called would be limited to rough in the past or intentional grounding or anything that would result in a disqualification. If they are called like a face mask or horse collar illegal contact and there's video to show that it's not a foul, they can pick that up. And then in the last two minutes, it expands to all unnecessary roughness, anything on sportsmanlike conduct and anything that would certainly result in a disqualification.

27:24So it's not everything in anything. Right. There will be holding calls missed. There will be there will be pass interference calls missed that that they won't be able to correct from the command center. So that'll be interesting if this we end up going down this road.

27:37Rich Eisen:And then the other rule proposal that passed was to allow league personnel to consult with on-field officials when considering disqualifications for both flagrant football acts and non-football acts without being called on the field. Meaning the first guy to shove that always escaped scrutiny and a flag. Those days are over. And somebody might actually get ejected even if a flag hasn't been thrown on that individual. Somebody could call and say, hey, we see you first person who started it. Do you think that is now potentially going to open a portal of putting flags on the field from league officials, not in the stadium?

28:17Rich Eisen:Do you think that's a test case to no question? No question. And that I think that a lot of that came from the Super Bowl with Josh Job and Stefan Diggs where Job threw a punch. It wasn't penalized on the field. The rule last year, the command center couldn't get involved. Now you have an opportunity to eject the player. So, yeah, we're going to see situations like that. not a lot, but we're going to see situations where they do inject themselves into the game. And again, we hope that the standard is we don't want to disqualify. One of the things that about on-field officiating and being in the moment and understanding the temperature and understanding what's happening, what's being said versus just watching something on video and going, oh, well, he hit him in the head, right?

28:57You certainly don't want to reject for just pushing and shoving or chicken fighting, whatever it may be. But when somebody throws a punch and it's not penalized on the field, now they have the opportunity to get that right.

29:09Rich Eisen:So what do you think would be in terms of testing it out would be the next step of putting a flag on the field that hasn't been called? If somebody from the Art McNally Center calls in and goes, wait a minute, let's throw a flag on that. What do you think would be the next step if they kind of have a comfort level based on this rule. Yeah, I think it's going to be that list of fouls that right now, if we do have replacements where if there is a flag, replay can come in and correct it. And I think that list will, you know, whether it's face masks or horse collars, those types of things, player safety related, where you're going to be able to put a flag down from the command center.

29:50And I think there's a balance in anything. Absolutely want to get these calls right. They're 15-yard penalties. They affect games significantly. But you do have to have that balance of you certainly don't want the game to be reofficiated from a replay booth every other play. And I think the league understands that. And hopefully we can find the kind of the right the right place.

30:10Rich Eisen:What are you doing in the UFL that you think the NFL would dig, Dean? What do you think? I just think what we do in the UFL with look, we've got a four point field goal for a 60 yard or further back. I don't know if the league will go that far. But hey, look at the kickoff. Right. We started that kickoff alignment back in 2020 with the XFL. It looked crazy. It looked different. If you would have told me four years later the NFL was going to do it, I would have said you were crazy, but they're doing it. I think with the UFL, I think it's the transparency. You're going to see myself, Mike Pereira, in the command center.

30:45You're going to be able to hear what we're saying. You're going to be able to hear what the officials are saying. You might not always agree with the decision, but you're going to understand why. And I think that kind of eliminates some of the angst and some of maybe the conspiracy theories and all that other stuff where it's just people going through a process, trying to make a decision. And you're going to hear all of it and see everything. And I think that helps. I think the NFL could do more of that. You think the NFL would really mic up, you know, Walt Anderson or somebody, you know what I mean?

31:15Rich Eisen:Sure. Do you really think so? Because, you know, like that would be wild, man. And that would get the tinfoil hat off people's heads, though. It would. You've got to be careful, though. And I think it's harder when you have multiple games. The NFL could have eight or nine games in that early window on Sunday. So you've got to have the right people, you know, because, listen, there are some conversations that happen on the field or in replay where you don't want that going out over the air. And the other thing is when you know your people are listening, you may be more guarded in your communication and you may not be as open and that can have a negative impact.

31:55So I think the league needs to look at it. Maybe you start with primetime games with the one-off games and kind of, you know, crawl before you're able to run. But I do think, again, there's so much riding on these games and you think about just the livelihoods of the players and the coaches. And then you think about the sports betting element and everything else, transparency is good. And I think more the league could do, I think it's better for everyone.

32:19Rich Eisen:Yeah, I agree with you on that, you know, but then a moment like say, I would love to have had transparency or listen in on how like that two point conversion between the Rams and the Seahawks went down where it's like, wait a minute, you know, was that actually instituted by Terry McCauley opining on the air for prime video and the league then back in New York picked it up? you know that would be that would be that's always the downside without question and i think though if you are transparent then i think it behooves everybody involved to kind of lock it in and and get better and get better at the communication that play there's no reason that play should have taken however long it took for replay to get involved however it happened right 90 seconds two minutes later that's unacceptable that's that's hey forward backward pass it's reviewable this This is a big play.

33:16Who recovered it? The Seahawks recovered it in the end zone. Okay, by rule, they get the ball there. You go through that process. And I think that's where you have to kind of tighten that up, especially if you're going to let people listen in. You have to have a good process and good communication.

33:30Rich Eisen:A couple more for you, Dean. Why is the league sticking with the onside kick and not replacing it with an offensive play? What do you think those conversations are about? I think, look, the kickoff, I think it's really important. The kickoff is an integral part of just the fabric of the game. And I'm so happy that we've at least got a kickoff, whether you like it or not, that keeps the return in the game. Now, you think about that onside kick. It has gotten significantly harder to execute that play, right? It was 6 % last year, whatever it may be. And you need that viable option when you're down multiple scores.

34:07The onside kick, again, they added now that you could do it anytime during the game, even when you're ahead. To me, that's a solution looking for a problem. Teams aren't going to onside kick when they're ahead unless they're going to try to manipulate.

34:22Rich Eisen:But then there's no surprise element anymore, Dean. There's no surprise element. If you're not getting ready for the normal kickoff. Exactly. There's no surprise element. So to me, it's like now some of these coaches who are too smart for their own good are now going to say, well, now we're up. Now we're going to kick off. We don't want to kick off. So we're going to onside and we're going to try to run time off the clock or we're going to and it's going to backfire and they're going to give their opponent really good field position. So I don't know about that. The onside kick is on. I think it's on life support right now.

34:53You know, we UFL, we use a fourth and 12 option. I don't think you can go fourth and 12. I think it has to be fourth and 15 or longer. But, you know, that's a drastic change. And I don't think the league is ready to make that change yet.

35:06Rich Eisen:What do you do if there's a defensive penalty on that fourth and 12 attempt? What do you do there? It's officiated as normal. So if there's an illegal contact that results in an automatic first down, it's a first down. And I think that's one of the I think that's one of the issues with the pushback to it. It's that's a that's a big, big penalty. Yeah, because those illegal contact penalties are usually away from the ball. And sometimes, you know, foolishly, foolishly, not called, but foolishly, I guess, it's a foolish play by a defender, you know, where just a quick motion of the hand away from the ball.

35:42Rich Eisen:Could you imagine? Yeah. Yeah, no question. I think that's part of the pushback against it. But I don't know. Like I said, I like the onside kick if you can figure out a way to make sure that it's safe and you have an opportunity to execute it. I don't love being able to do it now when you're up. I just think that opens up a door to some other stuff. But you do need an option to come back when you're down multiple scores. Yeah, gotcha. Last one for you. You're wearing a Dodger hat. What do you think of the ABS? First week of the ABS system, man. There's some umpires that are getting overturned over and over again right now.

36:17Rich Eisen:Dean? Yeah, I think it's good anytime you can use technology to get these calls right. But I think what we're seeing a little bit of it, these you're talking about millimeters, right? You're taught these in the strike zone, right? You think about in reality, it's a it's a three dimensional strike zone. And now we're looking at it in two dimensions. All of these things certainly don't want to. I don't want to watch an at bat where the batter or the catcher. And now we've got five challenges during an at bat. I think, look, it's good ultimately when you can get these calls right. But balls and strikes when the ball is that far outside the strike zone.

36:55And now we're kind of not and believe me, I'm not I'm not defend overly defending the umpires. But now we're kind of shaming these umpires. That's a hard thing to do to call balls and strikes for 300 times a game. So, look, it's good overall. But I think, again, it's you got to keep it limited and hopefully they can do that.

37:14Rich Eisen:I noticed you use the word shaming. Do you think umpires feel that way? That they're being shamed publicly? I don't know. Look, you read the articles, and I don't know. The one umpire, he got overturned five times. Yeah, CB Buckner, man. Yeah, that's tough. That's tough. You know, I've made decisions in replay where, you know, we kicked it, and nobody feels worse than you. So, look, but they're professionals. That's what they have to do. They've got to get it right. And if it makes them better, that's ultimately a good thing. Dean, you're the man. thanks for taking the time we'll get you in here in studio next time always appreciate when you're when you're on you know that absolutely thanks rich Dean Blandino everybody you already check out the UFL and his officiating and his officials on the field you know I just had I just was curious what he thought of the ABS system there and you know he mentions about how CB Buckner got overturned over and over and over again horrible call space last night he's he's in he's in a rut right now.

38:13Rich Eisen:And I'm wondering if in the same way, if there's a shortstop who has the yips throwing or fielding, here comes another ground ball. Or the shank. I'm wondering if that's happened. Yeah. Because he took it to first base last night. Oh, my God. It was Brewers. The Brewers were playing. I don't know who they played. But ground ball to second or a shot to second. Ball goes off of the glove of the second baseman. Tampa, Milwaukee and Tampa. Right. And then the throw goes to first hurriedly, and it's wild. Like, it's a wild throw. Yeah, terrible. Not even close. And Buckner was following the throw as the Brewers runner hits first base with his foot right in the middle of the square of the base.

38:58Rich Eisen:Yeah. Did you see this, TJ? I did not. Oh, my gosh. And Buckner calls him out because the ball eventually gets to first, and they tag him because he's not on the base. He ran through it. Right. and Buckner ruled he never hit the base. It was a quick replay. It was obvious, but on the replay that you saw, the announcers called it out. Buckner wasn't watching the base as the man hit the base squarely with his foot. Now you're wondering, like, has he got the, because he's going behind home plate tonight, I believe, again. Really? Yes. so but the ABS is there and I understand it's millimeters here, millimeters there and it's an interesting point I haven't heard that made that the strike zone is three dimensional in real life but for ABS it's two dimensions is it in the square or is it not in the square?

39:53Rich Eisen:It's also where it crosses the plate and I think a lot of people see where they catch it and it's like oh we caught it low yeah but the catcher is also several feet behind home plate damn I still like it it's holding people accountable at that part I know yeah CB Buckner is behind the plate tonight in Milwaukee keeping an eye on that in a way that again we haven't really kept an eye on umpires in Major League Baseball and then by the end of this coming month as you know tomorrow or today hey, it's one week into the baseball season, but there's only one game a week ago, you know, the Giants and the Yankees.

40:41Rich Eisen:We're going to soon get like a month's worth, and it'll be out there, which umpires have been overturned the most, which umpires have been overturned the least, which teams are the most successful, which position players are the most successful, batter, hitter, catcher, pitcher, you know, the battery or the hitter. Who's more successful? I think we're going to find out hitters are going to be more successful, catchers second most successful, and pitchers are just going to be the worst at it. They're the furthest away, and they always think they throw strikes. Well, the thing is they're the ones with the least straight on angle of it because they're not stationary.

41:20Rich Eisen:Yeah, they're left. They're moving. They're falling off a mound. Elevated. You remember Fernando wasn't even looking as he threw. That's right. That's even more amazing. 844-204-RICH, number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. The Eagles inside their locker room. That's coming up next hour.

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43:28Rich Eisen:Let's go to Steve in the heartland, Columbia, Missouri. What's up, Steve? How you doing, Rich? I'm fine. You sound down, Steve. No, I'm good. Okay, good. Here's the deal. Okay. I've been wondering about this for a long time. Okay. when when rogers came out and he had his death spiral where he wasn't the number one pick it really pissed him off and he's been holding the league hostage ever since he gets all these guys that have all this money and he comes out and he goes i might play for you now you could spend 50 million dollars on trent dilfer and you'd win the same number of super bowls he throws for a lot of yards he is undoubtedly a great quarterback but Jim Kelly was a great quarterback he got there four times and didn't win but why are why are we all so crazy about this idea that this guy who's 40 wants to come back and win eight games or nine games for you and not take you to the Super Bowl.

44:39And everybody sits here with, you know, just with bated breath, waiting to see, geez, what's Aaron going to say? I don't know. Ask his invisible wife.

44:48Rich Eisen:Wow, Steve. Listen, and I appreciate your – Great call. You know, it sounds like – Great call, Steve. Well done. Brock. No problem, guys. He just – it drives me crazy. No, no. Because Steve, Steve, he is an all-time great quarterback. He's not just a great quarterback. He is an all-time great quarterback. And this is the Pittsburgh Steelers. No, I know that. Nobody ever held the league hostage. But Favre did the same thing back in the day, which is what my point was at the beginning. I can't believe that we're still talking about a similar storyline and a same Mad Lib, different proper nouns of the former Green Bay quarterbacks with the Jets being included as a through line as well 20 years later, Steve.

45:31Rich Eisen:but this is the Pittsburgh Steelers we're talking about here who made a move who hired a coach for the first time in two decades and hired the same guy that was back in Green Bay in the day waiting for Favre to transition to Rodgers now apparently waiting for Rodgers again so that's why we're paying attention that's why I'm paying attention you're talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers right now I don't suddenly see him coming back to the Steelers and taking them to the Super Bowl because he's not that guy. He won one Super Bowl. There's a lot of guys that have won one Super Bowl. It's not like he's Brady.

46:14It's not like he's Montana or even Young. He's not that guy. That would be like hiring me to do your show because I've been on the radio one time today.

46:26Rich Eisen:Thank you, Steve. In Columbia, Missouri. Everybody. I have a new favorite car. All right, there goes Steve. I like the way Steve's brain works.

46:36Rich Eisen:I would, again, push back on the analogy that the Steve from Columbia show is the analogy of Aaron Rodgers quarterbacking the Pittsburgh Steelers after they won the division with him as their quarterback last year. You don't really know Steve that well. I don't know Steve that well. but like uh you know is he gonna like a show like another show based in uh missouri um he was uh dtf with rogers right there he is not a fan powerhouse roger he was definitely not a fan of aaron rogers right there we could say that which is why you liked his his moxie I enjoyed that whole immensely, yes. Listen, the idea that you are going to wait for Aaron Rodgers, hoping for a different result, I totally understand why that would be massive pushback.

47:34Rich Eisen:This is a league that you can't make it up. You can't. And the fact that, again, Aaron Rodgers won his one Super Bowl against Mike Tomlin and the Steelers for Mike McCarthy, who's now succeeding Mike Tomlin, waiting for Aaron Rodgers to make a decision like he was once waiting for Favre to make a decision so he could start Rodgers. Make that up. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. From 30 for 30 Podcasts.

48:09Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped him. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us.

48:27Rich Eisen:Murder at the U. Listen now.