Hour 3: Jordan Love and Jim Harbaugh Pressure, plus Aaron Rai’s Improbable PGA Championship Win

0:00Your summer starts now with Memorial Day deals at The Home Depot. It's time to fire up summer cookouts with the Nexgrill 4-Burner Gas Grill on special buy for only$199. And entertain all season with the Hampton Bay West Grove 7-Piece Outdoor Dining Set for only$499. This Memorial Day, get low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. While supplies last, price invalid May 14th through May 27th. U.S. only exclusions apply. See homedepot.com slash price match for details. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern.

0:43Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But 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. This is The Rich Eisen Show. What was that? The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host Tom Pelissero. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, senior NBA writer for ESPN, Vincent Goodwill. Coming up, NFL Network insider Mike Garofalo. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pelissero.

1:31Tom Pelissero:Welcome back to the Rich Eyes and List show. Tom Pellicero in for Rich. It is the middle of May, so you know we've been talking about Aaron Rodgers showing up for work on the practice field earlier today. Schedule game heating up, but Brockman and TJ still refuse to participate. 844-204-RICH. I'm not sure how this works, Tom. Yeah, I really take umbrage with how this is being phrased. We'll get to the Rams, the 49ers, the Patriots. So both your teams will have had predictions made, just not by you. Well, we shouldn't have taken callers that took our team. That was the first place that we. I think they actually are actively calling in because you won't talk about your teams.

2:12Tom Pelissero:Put your name on something at this particular state. I want to get the lay of the land first. You know what I mean? I want to hear a few other people go, see how they're viewing the season. We've already had people really caught up. I got to say all three that we've done today, Darren, Jason, and Tanner, have all got caught up. That's the thing about playing the win-loss game. We had the 14-3 Vikings. We know this. You kind of get on a roll, and then all of a sudden, like, oh, my team's 10-3 already. I'm going to throw some losses in there. 14-3 Cowboys. Let me ask you this. Let's play a little What's More Likely Monday.

2:4514-3 Cowboys from Darren. 11-6 Titans from Jason and Chattanooga. and Tanner had the Vikings 14-3. Who is more likely to actually have one of these outrageous seasons?

2:59Tom Pelissero:The most shocking one there would be the Titans at 11-6. Even though they spent a ton of money in free agency, they put pieces around Cam Ward, new coaching staff, that still would be a surprising result. Like, the Vikings and Cowboys have plenty of talent. Can they actually do it consistently is the question. Vikings have had two of those types of seasons under Kevin O 'Connell. and Dallas last year couldn't figure out how to play any defense whatsoever until like halfway through the year so Christian Parker new DC in they made moves in the offseason I don't think it's outlandish to say but you're gonna have to have some things fall into place there's no question about that who's more likely to win their division Cowboys Titans or Vikings well I mean I'd say the Cowboys of those three just because you know we'll see what the Eagles look like.

3:46Tom Pelissero:They're obviously overhauling things. A.J. Brown's situation's still not resolved. Mike Garofalo will join us. Talk about that in a little bit. Titans to win that division. I mean, the AFC South has kind of been wide open. Probably depends in part on which C.J. Stroud shows up. And can the Jaguars continue what they did last year, which felt like they got a ton of juice injected with that new staff there. Sometimes there's kind of a regression to the mean in year two. We'll see if that happens. They also won all those games with Travis Hunter, the number two pick, their first round pick last year and this year, not really being a factor and then getting hurt and he'll be back.

4:22Tom Pelissero:We'll get more into that when Mike joins us in just a little bit, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out we have talked more about Aaron Rodgers than Aaron Rye for the first two hours of this show, which seems unfair. One of the more improbable PGA championship winners we've had, Brockman. But give me the frame of reference here. If you're not as familiar with Aaron Rye's game, and all you know about him is he wears two gloves and covers his irons. Right. And I think that's probably before yesterday. That's probably all you really knew about Aaron Rye. And I think one of the cool things about coming out of his PGA Championship win yesterday is that nobody has a bad thing to say about him.

5:01That's what Rory said. Everyone says he's the greatest guy. He's one of the hardest workers. He's the most quiet and humble. I think Xander told, Zernus Shoffley told a great story of a few years ago being at one of the majors, and he thought it would be fun to go out and putt late at night. Not with the daughter of the dean, but putting, putting late at night. And Rye was already out there, but actually grinding, not like night putting, putting at night. And not grinding, I mean, not having fun with his boys, but like grinding and practicing and then went to the gym super late night. This is just who he is, and the fact that he is now a major champion is unbelievable.

5:43He played last week, was a dual week on the PGA Tour with an elevated event, and then kind of, to put it bluntly, an event for everyone else who's not in the elevated events, kind of a scrub event. He was in the scrub event last week in the final group, and then the week before didn't make the cut, and now he's winning the PGA Championship with an unbelievable 31 on the back nine with some heavy, heavy hitters, multiple major winners chasing him. He made a 70-foot putt for Birdie. 78 and a half. And then just kind of reacted like,

6:24Tom Pelissero:yeah, I meant to do that. He looked shocked. Honestly, it was pure shock. It's also one of the only times you see another player who's still in the tournament go over and fist bump him like, what a pot unbelievable he looked stunned but i think if we make something like that we are losing our minds and then immediately rip some shots and he's like i gotta finish this and close out my first major championship and yeah look he wears two gloves because it's comfortable and it's it makes him comfortable out on the out on the course so this teddy bridgewater and gives him a peace of mind and he has iron cover covers on his irons which is you know something you'd see at your local muni but he does it because of the way he was brought up his father they weren't they didn't come from means he's a british kid he his father grinded and saved all this money to buy him his first set of really nice irons and he wants to take care of them because that's what he does and that's what he did growing up his story is phenomenal i couldn't think of a better major champ than aaron rye really happy for i think that there's people who root a lot of people who root for let's see Rory make that run right there at the end right like everyone let's see yeah Scotty the name yeah I think the beauty of this tournament and watching it play out yesterday wherever you know the little score bug in the bottom right hand corner on CBS and it's like everyone was between four and six under for like through 14 holes like ever no one was moving I enjoy that because you watch it and it feels relatable they are missing shots left and right they are missing putts rory's not able to drain a putt people are putting it in the bunker over and over there were several like dead shank drives on the back nine by players in contention which to me says the course is clearly getting to certain people they're trying to do too much trying to cut the ball too much around a corner and all of a sudden you just completely snap hook it i also i don't recall and maybe this is just grown and i hadn't noticed it but it felt like the commentary was especially harsh on some of those it'd be like you know t shot on a par three and they end up on the upper shelf it's like a bizarre shot there it's like well yeah he you know missed misjudgers oh that was that was humiliating right there yeah a lot of conversation about the setup and where the pins are and the way the rough was grown i mean rory had some comments before this week of like look i'm just gonna hit it as far as i can and and figure it out that's my strategy this week whereas you know scotty was like you know trying to be a little more creative and careful but it was firm it was hot uh the pins were in a spot where you know if you wanted to stay in it you kind of had to take your medicine where hit it to the middle of the green and two putt from 30 feet you know but go after it and win it and when guys tried to do that They kind of failed.

9:10And Aaron Rye made eagle on nine. And then you're like, whoa, he can win this. He's now one back. And he went out and took it. He shut the door on every single person, every single big name, future Hall of Famer trying to charge and win another major. And he's like, no, it's my time to win his first. And it was really, really cool.

9:33Tom Pelissero:I didn't think there was anything unfair about the course setup. I didn't think so either. those this is you know the u.s open 15 20 years ago when like they'd grow waist-high grass well and if you're three feet off the fairway you're just you're dead to rights this was just it was a tough golf course yeah but you didn't see you know the greens weren't sloped where it was like oh if you don't land it in this little tiny bit it's rolling off the green like you didn't have that right you just had guys who were having to make tough golf shots yeah and they really struggled which is why you didn't see that run other than rye i mean the guy plays the two best rounds of his life when they put up the graphic about the major best rounds in a major and it was like saturday sunday top two i think he had another one that was 67 but 65 67 it's you posed the question this morning off air of like what is the nfl equivalent yeah of this the the best one i could come up with is is this nick foals is this in that realm where a good player nick foals was a good player long before he won that super bowl with the eagles you remember the seven touchdowns The year that he played with Chip.

10:34Tom Pelissero:Chip Kelly year. He was unbelievable. And then he kind of bounced around. He thought about retirement. He was in some bad places. Comes back. He only gets his opportunity because Carson Wentz gets his knee obliterated when he's an MVP candidate in December. And he puts together those couple of games. Like the putt on 16 or 17 that he makes, the long putt, that was like the Philly special where it was like, this guy's actually going to do this. And no one's more shocked than the guy doing it. Nick Foles is a very confident guy, but just the way that it played out, Tom Brady dropping a pass in that same game.

11:10Tom Pelissero:The best players, the Rorys, the Schefflers are not, they're not delivering in those moments, and Aaron Rye does. To me, that was Nick Foles in that run in January, February 28th. Yeah, and you talk about the Liv guys a lot. Cam Smith had a really nice showing, and he had not been playing very well on the Liv tour or in the majors of late. Jon Rahm has not played well in the majors of late. He was there. It really felt like going into the back nine yesterday. He was going to win this tournament. He was the betting favorite on the live odds. But Aaron Ride just gets it done. Yeah, the Nick Foles thing, that's really good.

11:45This does not happen, what he did. You talked about the 67-65 or the weekend. He got better every round. He shot a 70. Then he shot a 69 on Friday, 67 on Saturday. 65. That's only happened seven times in the history of major championship golf where a player shot better every single day. So what he did is historic and he should be rightly celebrated as a major champion.

12:14Tom Pelissero:Cameron Smith was the one that I as always found myself rooting for when he was like, he kept having opportunities like Cam Smith. You want to talk about relatable. He is in every way he has a bad body he always looks like he just rolled out of bed the hair is everywhere the mustache is just like it looks like an accident and he's never in the fairway everything yesterday was like he's driving it into the rough then he's hitting into the trap that he's he's getting out of the trap and then he's having to make a putt and it happened over and over and over i'm like this is exactly how i play he got up and down from everywhere it's the closest thing to me winning a major would be cameron smith being able to deliver on on that type of a stage yeah it's cool i also laughed again like the announcing like i don't know how they organize it like it's amazing because they'll show like we have 10 people we've got obviously got nance and immelman but then you've got the here's our three whole reporters and then our four on course reporters and here's our interview you get 10 different people right and i feel like they're almost battling at times like as much as yeah some of the comments like oh bizarre shot choice there and boy that was an embarrassing effort but then also they kind of are going at each other a little bit there was one where it was somewhere on the back nine and the on-course reporter's contribution was you know cam smith is lining up like a 12-foot putty i think he's gonna make this there's silence putts and he missed like thanks for that the other one was like oh there's that driving he's gonna get the turbo go well he didn't get the turbo go because he's in the rough there's a lot of there's a there's way more opportunities for just sniping you got 10 people who are all fighting for airtime i enjoy the by play that's good the predictions you know we're getting a little tony robowish like i think he's gonna make the pot okay yeah yeah i'd rather i think guys are gonna make every part i'd rather know how it's sloping what what is the degree where's the where's the grain going is he playing it outside left inside right i think he's gonna make this pot yeah cbs though they they do a great job and yes and the golf was phenomenal and philly is having a sports moment you know hosting a major and the phillies can't lose now tj like i don't know what's going on don mattingly takes over and they're 15 and 4 and you got jeffrey lurie big dom reading intros for the broadcast coverage the big dom-assance let's go i'm here for it i love it let's talk about everything except aj brown did anyone like try to go back and read the first letter in each word that they said in those golf intros to piece it together like a serial killer sending you magazine bits or something.

14:47Or it's like a Beatles album if we play it backwards it says A.J. Brown is traded. A.J. Brown's a Patriot. Not an eagle. Yeah, exactly.

14:53Tom Pelissero:I was looking for little bits and pieces of that. We're like three weeks away from knowing exactly what the final thing. Well, I've been told June 1st by you people the whole time, Tom. Post-June 1. Okay, great. After this, let's bring in a guy who's from Philly, covers the Eagles as closely as anyone has as good a relationships as anybody is on that team. Mike Garofalo, my colleague at the NFL Network. It's been all over A.J. Brown. We'll talk about A.J. We'll talk about the other big storylines left. And, oh, yeah, probably about Aaron Rodgers as well. Imagine that. Let's take a quick break.

15:30Tom Pelissero:Mike Garofalo, NFL Network insider, coming up right after this on The Rich Eisen Show. Tom Pellicero in for Rich.

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17:35Tom Pelissero:Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show. Mike Garofalo is supposed to join us in just a few minutes here. Talk about some of the other major storylines around the NFL. Do we have Mike? We have Mike Del Tufo. We don't have Mike Garofalo. Not Mike G. He's probably getting out of the team. Not Mike G. You know? Yeah. So we'll... That was realistic. You see that last guy? I thought so. That's realistic. That's how you play the game. That's how you play the game. You don't go 14-3 just because you think you're going to go 14-3. We still have an 800 winning percentage across the league. That's what I mean.

18:11Tom Pelissero:Everyone's not going to do that. Let's do another one here. Let's get in Tom in Lafayette, California. He wants to do the 49ers. The Niners. Let's see this one. Tom, you ready to go? Oh, Tom, hang on. Oh, my God. Was that you? No, no. Fat finger Tom? I can't give you dial tone. Did we lose Tom? He dropped. He dropped. Let's go. You want to go? All right. How about Denny in Florida? Patriots. We got Denny. Are you with us? There we go. Tom, call back. I got back from Boston. All right, Denny. Let's do this thing and find the Patriots. Here we go. Week one at Seattle on Wednesday night. Lost. Week two, home against the Steelers.

18:51Win.

18:52Tom Pelissero:Week three at Jacksonville. Win. Week four at Buffalo. Loss. Week five, home against the Raiders. Win. Week six, home against the Jets. Win. Week seven at Chicago on Thursday night. That's fun. Loss. Week eight at Miami. I stink in Miami. That's true. That's true. Weird stuff happens in Miami. We could play quarterback in Miami. they'd lose. I'm going to go with a win. It's going to change. We're able, yeah. It's going to be a long year in Miami. Week 9, home against the Packers. My wife's a Packer fan, so lost. I thought you were going to say, so win. Week 10 against the Lions in Munich. Well, the thing is, everyone I've listened to has had the Lions losing.

19:50I don't know what their thing is, but I think What are we at for a record right now?

19:56Tom Pelissero:You're 5-4 at this point. Oh, God. I think they'll pull that out if they have A.J. Brown. Yeah. All right, 6-4. Week 12 at the Chargers. Oh, they've got to go cross-country. That's a loss. All right, week 13, home against the Bills. They're going to win that one. Week 14, short week Thursday night, home against the Vikings. It's a short week, though. They're going to win that. It's going to be electric there. Week 15 at Kansas City, Monday night football. Massey, that's a loss. Week 16 at the Jets. Win. All right. Week 17, home against the Broncos. Oh, my God. What's up?

20:55Tom Pelissero:Depends on playoff positioning. What is our record right now? Six losses, right? So you're at... Six losses, yeah. Nine and six? Nine and six right now, yes. Loss. Because I know the last game was a game, right? Wow, now this... So now Week 18, home against the Dolphins. This might be to sneak in as a wild card. Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. 10-7. We are given the gauntlet schedule. 10-7 for the Patriots. We're coming back to earth here. Denny, thank you very much. Well, back to earth is... I'm saying from the initial predictions, now we're getting some very straightforward... Yeah, I mean, this is a relatively...

21:33Realistic. Level-headed, well-thought-out, realistic. I mean, that first four games is kind of a gauntlet for New England when I was looking at the schedule over the weekend. coming out of that two and two i think is a must at worse but also very realistic two and two

21:52Tom Pelissero:i mean that's a you look at the early part of the schedule like that is tough that is rough now you then catch the raiders jets week five six we're playing four home four playoff teams from a year ago right three on the road buffalo's got a new stadium that place is going to be rocking got to win you know got to win the home game and got to steal one no I think Denny is kind of on to it at 10 and 7 last year I was a little optimistic when I did it and I said 11 and 6 and you know I never would have imagined that I was underselling them you know three wins but 10 and 7 feels about right I mean I've seen predictions saying New New England's going to miss the playoffs.

22:36I really can't see it. I mean, they're second place in the division at worst. And, you know, just look at some of the other teams across the league. I don't know. They're still very well coached. You've got a quarterback on the rise. You're going to get A.J. Brown. The defense is better through the draft. Offensive line got better through the draft. They're going to be a better team than last year. Collectively, they're just playing a much more difficult schedule. so that's where you're going to see the regression but i still think team wise and skill wise they're

23:09Tom Pelissero:going to be better yeah they're not going to beat themselves that's the biggest thing right that you're going to get from them and drake may should be even better right it's an evolved receiving core you're hoping will camel rebounds the way that they're better receiving room better receiving room aj brown's coming and now romeo dobbs is there that's a good receiving room assuming that aj brown comes you know he's coming i know he's coming aj brown knows he's coming he got married over the weekend. I think he had a Patriot on the inside of his coat. Don't quote me, but I think he was wearing New England socks.

23:41That's a Josh in Wisconsin here.

23:43Tom Pelissero:Bears win-loss game. Josh, you ready to roll? Josh. Let's go. Alright, week one at Carolina. Win. Week two, home against the Vikings. Win. Week three, home against the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Lost. Week four, home against the Jets. Win. Week five at Green Bay. Loss. Week six at Atlanta. I'm going to go loss. Week seven, home against the Patriots, Thursday night football. Short week. That'll be a win. Week eight at Seattle, Monday night football. That's going to be a loss. Week nine, their short week, Sunday home against the Bucs. Win. All right, so we got four and four. Or it should be 5-4 at the bye.

24:34Tom Pelissero:Week 11, come out of it home against the Saints. Also a win. Week 12 at Detroit. That is Thursday game, Thanksgiving. Loss. Week 13, home against the Jaguars. I'm going to give them a win. Week 14 at Miami. Also a win. Week 15 at Buffalo on a Saturday night. Saturday night. That's a loss. Week 16 against the Packers on a Friday, Christmas Day. We're going to play Grinch, Bah humbug to Green Bay, so a win. Week 17, home against the Lions. Win. All right, so 10-6 going into week 18 against the Vikings at Minnesota. You're probably still playing your starters at 10-6 here. What do you got, week 18?

25:31I'm going to go lost.

25:33Tom Pelissero:That is a 10-7 finish. All the breakthrough teams from a year ago, we're getting a little bit of regression. Thank you very much for the call. Josh in Wisconsin, who might have been sandbagging a secret Packers fan given the Bears' schedule. Can't say for sure. We do have Jack in Milwaukee who wants to do the Packers win-loss game, though, so let's keep it rolling, huh? Jack, you ready to rock this thing? Yeah, let's do it. All right. Week one at Minnesota. I'm going to say a loss. Week two at the Jets. Blowout win. Blowout win. That seemed unnecessary. Week three, Thursday night football. Short week against the Falcons.