Hour 3: Cardinals, Browns & Falcons Firings, Myles Garrett’s Sack Record, & Jets’ INT-less Season

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1:17But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash richeisenshow and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Happy New Year, boys. This is the Rich Eisen Show. It's a little late, frankly, for the Happy New Year, you know? Season on the line. Loop's kick is on the way. Loop missed it. Woo! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, Jaguars head coach, Liam Cohen. Coming up, full NFL playoffs breakdown. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

2:00Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. It's hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show on the air. 844-204-RICH being the number to dial. We'll take some phone calls in just a matter of moments. We're just picking through week 18, and it's now time to turn to the unfortunate subject matter that happens every single day after the NFL season is over. It's kind of sad, but it always happens. I'm holding in my hands a 20-page document from NFL Network Research, which is the packet of coaches on hot seats and who is not and who is and who's gone and who's already been gone. It's sad because in this 20 pages are names of, again, coaches who thought better could happen, who get opportunities that they didn't think could happen maybe, that they earned through hard work climbing up a ladder, and families who are now putting things in boxes right now.

2:57Rich Eisen:So I just want to just put that out there. I understand that coach should be fired. This one should be that. That's the other thing. Most people won't humanize it the way you just did. I just wanted to say that because, again, this is not fodder. It is of interest, and obviously it's news, because you hire the right one. Our number one, we had Liam Cohen on the program. Four and 13, 13 and four. Hello. Got it right. We just talked about Ben Johnson. Got it right. Right. And so I've got this packet here. In this hour of the program, third hour of this Monday program, we just went through the first hour, hour two, in which somebody wasn't fired.

3:38Rich Eisen:Hour one, Jonathan Gannon. The hour before the show, Pete Carroll. Two hours before the show, Kevin Stefanski getting fired. Last night, Raheem Morris getting fired. And so we shall see. what happens over the next few days and hours yeah bangles put out a statement zach taylor safe well i mean i could have told you that same thing with general manager duke tobin is if you're under contract now the question is will they put another year on his deal right the answer is no you ask marvin lewis how this happens and how this works it mike brown does not pay you to coach somebody else yes not work it just doesn't happen yeah so i could have told you that bangles fans kind of in an uproar i've read some for sure like nick lachey wrote a very long you know oh you went deep there he he is not happy well you don't want to piss off nick lachey do you no no no super he went to 99 degrees wow this is like 110 look at you thank you thank you you caught me with that one i'm kind of i'm kind of staggered i didn't see that one coming like jake paul hey now oh he saw it oh he did i was not in the script tj so you know um The question is, is why did these things happen?

4:53Rich Eisen:Okay. And in the case of Jonathan Gannon, three years at the controls in Arizona, three and 14, would you believe that's the most losses in a season in the history of the Cardinals? 14. Don't forget, there used to be only 16 games. Right. The Cardinals never cracked above 500 in each of Gannon's three seasons there. Eight and nine was as close as they would come. That was last year. Didn't they start 2-0 this year? They did. In case you're wondering, the Cardinals joined the 2013 Texans and the 1966 Houston Oilers as the only team since the middle of last century to start the season 2-0 and finish with three or fewer wins.

5:45Rich Eisen:they lost 14 of their last 15 games they lost their last nine longest cardinals losing streak to end a season since they lost 10 in a row to end the 1944 season meanwhile each of the three nfc west teams the other teams in their division uh had 12 or more wins and made the playoffs this year so that's that kind of hurts your case too and in the middle of all of it uh and we got an indication from the quarterback in question that something went down about Kyler Murray and I understand he got hurt and he got hurt it was a foot injury on what looked like to be a uh a snap that went off his face mask and he stumbled after it and we didn't see him play another down the rest of the year right and Jacoby Preset comes in and suddenly Michael Wilson looks like Marvin Harrison Jr.

6:45Rich Eisen:did in college. Yeah. Looks like his dad. And then we watched Trey McBride have an all-pro season at tight end. One of the best tight end seasons of all time. Right. World season. And Kyler Murray said something very cryptic, if you recall, at the outset of, you know, whatever was happening when he was asked about the new facility that was going to be that was announced that they're upgrading their facilities in a couple years and he basically said if i'm here to see it yeah we all kind of caught that whoa what's that mean so gannon was in the middle of all this and he is now gone at age 42 joining the team as you all know after the eagles went to the Super Bowl in the building he wound up coaching in and losing to the Chiefs.

7:47Rich Eisen:So, you know, Kyler, by the way, started only five games this year. He would, he's counting his$54 million in dead cat money if they cut him. Of another 2020, in the 2026 league year, he's guaranteed on the fifth day of the league year, 22 million bucks. keep an eye on that as they go and look for a new head coach and that'll be one of the first questions new head coach gets asked right what are you gonna do with Kyler certainly since Jacoby Brissett was running the offense in a way that looked far better than anything we've seen from Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins and James Conner you know he was slinging it so Jake Brisket showed the way and unfortunately it did not lead to wins and now Jonathan Gannon is is going to be somebody who I would imagine you can hire to work on your defense.

8:43Rich Eisen:If not, maybe as a head coach, we will see. Same thing for he Morris. This one, I don't understand. Again, I'm not in the building. I don't know what's going on there. I don't understand why a guy who finished with four straight wins and the offense looked like it did with Bijan Robinson looking like an offensive player of the year candidate of the first variety, and Kyle Pitts looking like the guy the Falcons thought he could be when they drafted him fifth overall out of Florida, right? Was it fourth? At any rate, top five pick. Might have been fourth. And they go 4-0 after being eliminated from playoff contention.

9:29Rich Eisen:So they played hard when there was nothing supposedly to play for.

9:37Rich Eisen:and Raheem Morris is one of five head coaches this century to end a regular season on a four-game win streak or better and then not return the next season. The last one was Anthony Lynn in 2020 here in Los Angeles, but that one kind of you could see coming in a way, certainly since he was um seemingly resistant to start justin herbert wanted to make sure tarod taylor didn't lose his job to injury well then they sent in the team doctor and took care of that jeez that's the craziest start to say like the other three coaches um retired at the end of their seasons and their names are tony dungy and joe gibbs the only other one who had a win streak of 10 and then got fired was marty marty in 06 for the chargers they went 14 and 2 that year i think that's wild falcons haven't made the playoffs since 2017 arthur blank clearly is running thin on patience and decided to make a massive organizational change massive i mean rich mckay has been the president of of the football team forever i don't recall last time he wasn't Yeah, I don't know an era where he was.

10:56Rich Eisen:As you know, he's always involved in the competition committee. He's now going to be in charge of the Arthur Blank Sports and Entertainment Group, which has got a whole bunch of stuff going on. So Arthur Blank has decided to keep Rich McKay in his orbit, but completely change things around football operations-wise. A lot of rumor is Matt Ryan's going to be hired to become the president of the team and run that part of the operation. And if you're going to be just saying, you know what, I'm changing the entire way I've done things around here, I guess it stands to reason that you're going to, if you do that, tell the new folks, new GM, new coach, you choose it.

11:40Rich Eisen:Yep. That's the only way that this makes sense. Because it seemed like they were playing for Raheem and what didn't Drake London and Bijan say they want the guy around? And the two rookies, you know, there's some rookie defensive player of the year, rookie, pardon me, defensive rookie of the year candidates, James Pierce, rushing the ball, Xavier Watts picking it off. You know, the offensive line was beginning to gel, but just a lot of talent on that. Can you imagine if they'd beaten the Jets, they'd win the division, the Jets would be first overall on the clock. They should have beat New England.

12:17Rich Eisen:They missed extra point in that game. And how about the way the season started against Tampa? Who wound up going 8-9 and not making it because the Falcons won their last four. The way to not winning that division is just almost inexcusable. So there's that one.

12:40Rich Eisen:Let's go to the phone lines. David in Minnesota wants to chime in here. What's up, David? You there, David? Thank you, gentlemen. Appreciate you having me on. You guys hear me? We can. What's up, David? All right. First things first, I got a comment. Last time I called in, we were having some technical issues. It is absolutely diabolical to go through an airport with a full sandwich. So let's just get that out of the way.

13:07And Richard asked me how long you've been a mailman. Cut this call. It's long enough to be more opinionated than Newman on Feintel. Okay. So here come the opinions. I want to hear some apologies from all the Mike Tomlin, Harbaugh haters, Kyle Shanahan haters, the teams that have fans that want to call for their head, but they still figure out a way to win, unfortunately for the Ravens and Ludes. But the whole point of this call, though, is I don't know what the Browns are doing with Kevin Stefanski. And, you know, he gets handed this absolute goose egg of a quarterback. contract situation, no draft picks, and he still finds a way to do what he can with that.

13:50But the real question I had for you guys is where do you think Kevin Stefanski is going to end up to be more, to be the head coach of? And then secondly, what would be your opinion of where would the best team fit be for his style of offense?

14:10Rich Eisen:Giants, David, I think the Giants would be, again, I don't have any insight other than just what I hear in circles. I'm not in contact with anybody in the Giants organization. I just know how Stefanski is regarded around the league. And out of Pete Carroll, Raheem Morris, and Jonathan Gannon, and Dayball, and obviously, you know, I guess, you know, out of everybody that's been fired right now, Brian Callahan. The one that I would think that would have the best chance at a job next year, still being a head coach, would be Kevin Stefanski, a two-time coach of the year for Cleveland, where I think his offensive acumen is valued and his organizational skills are valued.

15:02Rich Eisen:And we will find out. We will see. I don't know. I know his name has not been mentioned yet for any other job because he's now free to find one. Would Tennessee want to bring him in? I don't know. Anything on that front. But you're right. There's many different circumstances. You could say this year was a complete dud and he's to blame. You could also say this year was a complete dud because, gee, how is it to draft two rookie quarterbacks and have Tyler Huntley on the roster and also, for a brief bit, and also Kenny Pickett before a game even gets played, you trade him away, and then you trade Joe Flacco away and start two rookies.

15:48Rich Eisen:How does that look? I mean, no one's going to look coach of the year on that front, David. My follow-up question for you is what sandwich was it that you were trying to get through an entire effort? No, he's talking about me. Oh. No, he's talking about him. It was the Hammond, correct me if I'm wrong, it was the Hammond cheese sandwich. Okay, very good. Thank you, David. I appreciate the call. That's David in Minnesota calling about his Browns. And my sandwich. And your sandwich. Entering this year, Kevin Stefanski had won two of the last five Coach of the Year awards. Stefanski, Belichick, Arians, and Ron Rivera, the only head coaches this century to win multiple Coach of the Year awards.

16:26Listen, let me ask you this question.

16:29Rich Eisen:Chris, can you look up, when did they make the Deshaun Watson trade? look that one up for me sure because i'm sure i know it but things just blend together so it was march of 2022 is that right okay formally announced on march 20th okay so um giving up three first round pick from 2020 to 2023 the cleveland browns under kevin Stefanski went 37 and 30 and made the playoffs twice. Won a playoff game, right? It was the highest winning percent. Well, they won the COVID year, as you know. It was the last year that the Steelers won the division, and they were 12 and 4, and Stefanski was in his basement with COVID, and they went ahead and won that football game and then went to Arrowhead and gave the Chiefs a nice run for their money with Baker.

17:22Rich Eisen:And it's the highest winning percentage for the Browns over a four-year span since the 86 to 89 Browns team.

17:33Rich Eisen:So, then Deshaun Watson shows up. And that contract still stands the test of time as one of the worst ever awarded to anyone in the NFL. Now, the results, we're playing it. We're playing it. Because Watson on the field was so dynamite in Houston. I totally understand why people would fall head over heels for the guy on the field. The guy off the field, what was going on then, again, has to play into it. Because he did, you know, miss 11 games one of the seasons. and that contract just still rules over the Cleveland roost. All of it. No question about it. His inability to be available has killed the team.

18:30Rich Eisen:Killed it. He, when available, played well enough, it seemed. And sure enough, the new head coach coming in may have number four is his starting quarterback next year, the final year of his fully guaranteed contract. And I think, just reading tea leaves, the Haslam family's fingerprints on that decision alone, along with last year's draft being chock full of rookies that look great from potentially the defensive rookie of the year. And that's not Mason Graham. I'm talking about Carson Swessinger. and they also Harold Fannin. They had a terrific draft this year. They did, they did. That may be why Andrew Berry's still around.

19:20Rich Eisen:Might not have been his call to give it fully guaranteed. That had to come from the ownership suite. That had to. And that's part of why Stefanski's on the street right now. Who would have thought starting the season with Joe Flacco and two rookies was going to work out in this division? Who thought that? You know? And then you trade Flacco in the division, and you go fully with two rookies. And if you send Pickett to Vegas, and Tyler Huntley winds up winning a game against the Bears and the Packers, he went 2-0 against the NFC North. He was on your team. Who would have thought that was not going to work out?

20:06Rich Eisen:Literally anybody who could fog up a mirror and follows football. So we'll see. The Browns are going to be on their 11th head coach this century when they hire a new one. And if he is hired somewhere else, the rarity of that. There have been four head coaches since 2015 to be fired by one team and then hired by another team in the same offseason. The most recent one was Frank Reich, who didn't last the year in Carolina. before that was the aforementioned ron rivera went from the panthers to washington before that these other two didn't work out chip kelly going from the eagles to the 49ers only to be one and done there and then uh from the dolphins to the jets adam gaze oh then andy reed though andy reed's on that list to go from since 2015.

21:07Rich Eisen:Oh, it was 2015. Sorry. He predates that. He was 2012. The only Browns head coach to get another job in the season after coaching the Browns was Marty. Parted away with the Browns and then wind up with the Chiefs. That's how rare it is. So, but if there's anybody I think in the current coaching cycle that would get another job, it would be Stefanski, who I think is valued by a lot of front offices in this league. And we'll find out just how much. but the Browns are moving on, and whoever takes the job, it's like, hey, you got a bunch of fresh rookies who are just balled out, okay? And the sixth overall pick, and also Deshaun Watson.

21:57Rich Eisen:Don't you think he's starting next year? I do. You'd think so, right? Why wouldn't they give it one last run? 50 something million reasons for all your money that you put in his pocket exactly he's ready to play let's see what you got i mean we've seen rogers at age 42 a year removed from an achilles and we've seen what cousins looks like now a year removed from achilles doing what he did in the last four games just sean watson's a spring chicken compared to those guys

22:32yeah i mean best of luck remember how good deshaun watson was brought yeah he was unstoppable he was unstoppable dude but the guys played in since 2022 he hasn't played over seven games like 20 games total you know like that's the browns right now but they they they keep the gm and they're

22:53Rich Eisen:keeping the GM in Arizona and they fired the lot in, and they're keeping the GM in Vegas and they fired the lot in Atlanta, house clean. And they fired the coach, but kept the GM and reorganized the front office in Tennessee. And they keep the GM in East Rutherford for the Giants. And they keep the coach, but not the GM in Miami. Presently. 844-204-RICH number to dial that's our check of the coaching carousel we talked about Pete Carroll earlier I'm happy to revisit if you want to chat 844-204-RICH number to dial here on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show when we come back there's a new sack record everybody we'll stop the show for it

23:45Rich Eisen:the Rich Eisen Show podcast

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26:33Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. Where are we going to go here? Oh, Al in Dallas. All right, Al. You've got the floor. Happy New Year, brother. Happy New Year. What up, Bill? Happy New Year, gentlemen. And more importantly, congratulations to my brother from another mother, Mr. Chris Brockman. Okay. Fantastic news. I know. The Patriots are in the playoffs. That's true. Looking for a ring. Hey. Yeah, exactly. What's on your mind, Al? Welcome to the party, pal. So how fast should Stefanski have gotten a phone call this morning from, where are they now, East Rutherford?

27:14Rich Eisen:Well, Al, I don't know if you heard the end of my first hour commentary on this program, but I said the Raiders and the Giants and anybody else should just take a YOLO shot at Cignetti. take a shot yes what do you care what do you care i agree you just apologize for disturbing him at his moment of uh of um of being uh the head coach of the biggest bullies on the college football block out of nowhere in indiana um but uh you got to take your you got to shoot your shot just to see if yeah well wouldn't he be perfect for the giants signet you understand these things they don't really go right to the coach they go to his uh you know they go to his representatives and they have a kind of quick conversation and i'm sure i'm sure that's going to be a quick conversation um but yeah i mean you got to give it a shot um i mean the raiders definitely got to give it a shot because they're going to draft the kid you know um and and you know like as far as i'm concerned i mean i'm all in on stefanski so you are yeah i mean the guy is 11 he was 11 games under 500 and went 3-14, whatever he went.