NFL Week 17: 49ers, Patriots, Lions, Steelers-Ravens Stakes & More

17:48Chris Brockman:buffalo fans are kind of kind of kind of sick of what's going on here i'm they had a five-year window with the patriots being you know a bottom dweller let me tell you what did they get out of it zero super bowl appearances i love you're missing out on josh allen's uh a peak here i am

18:04Rich Eisen:100 % understanding the frustration level for Buffalo

18:10Chris Brockman:Bills fans should be out of their mind frustrated.

18:12Rich Eisen:Let me ask you this question, Chris. You'll be fine with the Bills strolling into New England in the wildcard weekend? Not worried. Okay.

18:20Chris Brockman:Josh Allen is going to be less than. He's injured right now.

18:24Rich Eisen:Well, I'll say this. Maybe they should sit him for this week against the Jets. I would advise that. Because they're in the playoffs and they probably don't need him to beat the jets right now right now i don't think they're concerned about going to new england either because they just went there and i'll just say this one last thing one last thing on this subject matter because you know fingers of blame are going to come out if i'm the pagula family i just keep why would you take a coach out of this mix or the general manager out of this mix that keeps putting a product on the field certainly when you're going into your next stadium that has a chance to win and win the Super Bowl.

19:02Rich Eisen:I understand that the idea is to win the Super Bowl, period, end of story. And in order to do that, I don't think you start from scratch with a new head coach, number one. And then number two, what I would do is, I don't know, because I do love the general manager, can we get Josh Allen some extra help at wide receiver? Can we go ahead and say, you know what, Shakir is good, but as a one, not so much. Can we go ahead and say we're not going to go shopping in the Filene's basement after we take big swings in trade deadline and come up empty because they're too big a swing? And then we're going to go ahead and say Brandon Cooks, who, by the way, still had 100 yards receiving.

19:50Rich Eisen:He had a great game. Hey, Josh, that's your guy.

19:54Chris Brockman:James Cook is going to lead the league in rushing this year. Let's go. Stack the weapons here.

19:58Rich Eisen:Let's get some extra help for Josh Allen. They did well enough to get James Cook under contract. But this season is not over yet. I'll just call this an overreaction for the moment and ask you to move on. Batting a thousand so far.

20:16Chris Brockman:All right, let's have an uncomfortable conversation with Jason. Oh, we haven't had one yet? No, this was just a warm-up for this one. Okay. it did not go well this season for one of well both of your super bowl picks honestly but detroit in particular either goff or campbell have to go for the lions to get over the hump

20:35Rich Eisen:in the nfc you know i'm going to react to these sorts of i do but i want i want the topic out there because it's going to be a conversation this off season so what how about this i the detroit lions need to do two things one of which is out of their control one of which is in their control stay healthy that's the one that's out of their control right they have to go find whatever football god uh had honolulu blue pee in in the cornflakes okay because i've never seen over the last two years a defense certainly on the back end get eviscerated by the injury bug non-stop non-stop and you're you know depth is tested and i understand i'm saying this as something that needs to be fixed for the lions while the 49ers lose bosa and warner and kittle for a quarter of the season and purdy for half the season um just to name four off the top of my head and they're in line to be a one seed having having a um a last place schedule also helps sure um they the lions have got to somehow some way get out of that injury bug vortex again a riptide but the other one that they need to do they got to hit the hell out of that the line play again they got to get better on the offensive line they got to get healthier and better on the offensive line and get healthier and better on the defensive line as well just get and hit the trenches again because that is the way that they can win football games and i don't know in the self-scout, Dan Campbell as the play caller is the answer.

22:18Rich Eisen:And find themselves a guy as close to Ben Johnson as you possibly can get some young, innovative mind that can let Campbell be the CEO of the situation. Again, I'm just sitting here and looking at results. I'm playing results is what I'm doing. And to see how at the end of the day that week 250 burger on Ben Johnson was the, hey, see what we can do around here? We can still score 50 we can still beat teams up including you in your new spot in chicago with your quarterback and your and your your whole you know offensive guru mentality and and also your your uh reputation and then at the end of the day it's like boy do they miss ben johnson yeah so high water mark i i will i will call this an overreaction okay they're gonna go into 2026 with golf 100 % Dan Campbell's going nowhere hit the line and have some sort of a seance to tell the football gods stop taking away our defenders all right three more and we'll finish up this team's

23:18Chris Brockman:not a playoff team but I do want to talk about it because their rookie quarterback is balling Tyler Shuck's gonna win rookie of the year and have the Saints over 500 next year you know what

23:28Rich Eisen:the rookie of the year. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good.

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24:10Rich Eisen:Is 100 % in play. I was talking about this with friends and with Coop, you know, with a bunch of folks because I'm beginning to gather my thoughts. I have to put in my votes for these awards by the end of next week's football, by January 5th, I think. And so I'm looking at an offensive rookie of the year. Emeka Abuka had it wrapped up a third of the way of the season, and then the final two-thirds of the season hit. I think, unfortunately for him, he's out of the running. Ashton Gentry had a highly unsatisfying season.

24:51Chris Brockman:might even though his numbers you know end up being pretty good you just went higher register

24:55Rich Eisen:yeah okay but he's not offensive rookie of the year no he's he is not um you go looking around and saw what jackson dart did to start and now he's having a nice little finish but the middle parts where he got hurt um maybe that's his fault maybe it's not his fault i i don't know if he can be you can look at him and say that's the offensive rookie of the year cam ward had a nice season in basic anonymity. That's true. And you could say the same thing for Tyler Shuck. Not enough people are talking about this right now, what he's been doing.

25:29Chris Brockman:300 yards again on Sunday.

25:30Rich Eisen:So, and, you know, first rookie quarterback in Saints history to have a win. First rookie quarterback in Saints history to have a 300-yard game. First one in Saints rookie quarterback history to do it in back-to-back games. I mean, he is setting a standard for a rookie quarterback in a spot where they've never really seen it. But having him over 500 next season is a tall order. But seeing the worst to first that's happening and seeing how 8-9 might win this division. Right. And also, on top of it, you know, we just talked about the Lions on this pod here. The Lions and the Vikings have the same record right now, 8-8.

26:09Rich Eisen:The Vikings might finish above 500. So I'll say this is not an overreaction right now. Certainly when you could see how Shuck has performed and Kellen Moore in his second year there with Shuck should be able to affect some wins and affect some yards and affect some positive results for the Saints. Olave and the whole business, they could draft a little bit better too. Yeah, I look at this Saints team as having a nice 2026.

26:43Chris Brockman:Yeah, when you think about Saints fans probably didn't want them to spend the draft capital on a quarterback, maybe see what Rattlers got this year. Shucks end up. I'm going to go. I just want to register again. He's been good, man. You know, a veteran quarterback who played a lot of college football comes in and, you know, he's putting up some nice numbers. I got one last one for you. I think he's going to take this down.

27:04Rich Eisen:Three quarterbacks since the merger have had back to back 300 yard or better passing games with no interceptions. their names are joe burrow and dak prescott and now tyler shuck hey man i remember when he zoomed with us prior to the draft he's like because i think he's 26 years old yeah he makes brandon whedon look like a like a young buck sure you know like he he's brandon whedon yeah i just dropped it um he he said i'm i'm the most pro ready quarterback not just in terms of age but in terms of experience i've been hurt i've been bounced around i've i've swapped teams i've different coaches, different coordinators.

27:39Rich Eisen:And that is the experience of a professional player in many different ways. So kudos to him. I think this is definitely on the mark. Saints fans should be excited,

27:48Chris Brockman:and they haven't been able to feel that way for a while. All right, two more. Saturday, Malik Willis came in, did a good job, didn't get the win, but he's playing well. Now so much there's conversations like, oh, should he play over Jordan Love? That's crazy. Let me just say how crazy that is. That is not my overreaction.

28:04Rich Eisen:Backup quarterbacks who do the job are doing their job. That's it. That's really it. I understand we all want to see the replication of Tom Brady where, oh, he comes in, he gets the job, and he becomes an all-time great. I understand that. I mean, look at Brock Purdy, what he's doing right now. When Matt Jones did what he did, it's just like, why do you even need Brock Purdy? Because Purdy can take it to the next level. Jordan Love could potentially do that. Now, Malik Willis might be able to do that in his next spot if that's where you're going right now.

28:38Chris Brockman:Yeah, Rich, he's going to be the next Baker or Darnold.

28:40Rich Eisen:He's going to be starting somewhere next year. I think that's without a doubt. I think he's going to get paid, and I'll tell you one spot that should take him. You want me to tell you right now? Jets. No. Really? The Jets aren't prepared to just go ahead. They're not prepared. They don't have the weapons that Green Bay has. They don't have all those young receivers and an offensive line and a running game, despite Brees Hall having the first 1 ,000-yard rushing season since Chris Ivory. But he's potentially going to walk, too. The Jets have to pay him. They're not equipped. They're in full rebuild mode right now.

29:23Rich Eisen:He's got to go into a spot. If I'm him, I need to find a spot where the coaching staff is going to be there and that the weapons are, you know, there-ish and building and also a spot that I might be potentially familiar with. And I don't know what their plans are going to be after Sunday night if they make the playoffs or not. I think the Steelers should go for Malik Willis. I think the Steelers and Malik Willis in the mesh point run game action and get him there, that would be a – And just finally go and get a young kid and get going with it. Get going. This is no Justin Fields. He can throw it.

30:07Rich Eisen:And he's got a great way about him. Not to say that Justin Fields isn't. I shouldn't, I guess, throw another guy under the bus while I'm praising another. But he's going to have his choices. He made himself some money Saturday night. Sure did. He was terrific. I mean, he was his tight spirals and him running and him, you know, fighting through injury. He showed exactly what a quarterback needs to do in a big time football game that has a lot massive playoff implications for for a lot. So, you know, he he is going to make some coin and he's going to go somewhere else. And I think this is 100 % going to be on the minds of a ton of teams, especially since he's not going to command the 40, 50 million bucks a year either, unless his agent can really strike up the market.

31:00Chris Brockman:No, I mean, that three for 100 that Sam Darnold's on seems pretty good.

31:04Rich Eisen:Why wouldn't another team go ahead and do that? I thought you might say Miami might be a good spot. That's possible. That's a good one, too. Seems like two is. Although Quinn Ewers looked pretty damn good. Got a victory. And he might be the guy coming to New England next to spoil the likable party. Hey. The liking party. I don't know why you're down on them being likable. I'll just send you some heart emojis. He's down. That would be nice. I'm not down on the likable thing. That would be a nice change of pace. Nobody wants to come out and listen to another person talk about how likable their team is.

31:36Rich Eisen:They just don't want to hear it. Or more likable than yours. They're pretty likable. You know what that makes you? Unlikable. Less likable. Just giving you a little life hint and tip here, Chris, as we go out the door. Just saying. You got the last one over there?

31:52Chris Brockman:All right, last one.

31:52Rich Eisen:You saw this team personally play on Saturday.

31:58Chris Brockman:Great job on the call. I appreciate you saying that. Chargers. Not everyone agreed. Don't read the comments. Thank you. Which I'm going to do later to this video. This is not going to go well for you, honestly.

32:10Rich Eisen:It won't. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're touching. They're touching to begin with.

32:14Chris Brockman:I picked them to win the division. I was the only one of the group to pick them to be exactly where they are right now. You know what that makes you? Likeable. More likeable. More likeable. I'm big in Duval. I go to Duval every year. What is going on? The Chargers are the playoff team with the most concerns heading into January.

32:35Rich Eisen:I don't know. I think whoever wins the South and whoever wins the North, I think. NFC South, AFC North. Even though I just named two, yes, AFC North and NFC South.

32:53Rich Eisen:I'm sorry. I didn't give you the conferences because they are the only divisions that are kind of up for grabs. Well, I mean, the West is up for grabs too in the NFC. So let me just. But you're not concerned about. Let me just say, I'm more concerned about the Ravens, Steelers, Bucs, Panthers winning a playoff game, even though they're at home than I am about the Chargers. That's a really, really tough team, the Chargers. The tough thing, though, that is for them to overcome is their lack of a left tackle right now.

33:28Chris Brockman:Herbert's getting his butt kicked every week.

33:30Rich Eisen:Dude, the Chargers started someone in the left tackle on Saturday who hadn't played left tackle in three years, and then they had to bench him for the person that they started him over. They put the benched guy in the game after benching the guy who started in his place because he just wasn't equipped to handle Daniil Hunter and handle Will Anderson. I don't know who is, by the way. I'll be honest with you on that front. All I kept thinking, watching that Chargers team make mistakes, too, They could have won this game after all of it, which is why I'm less concerned about them.

34:05Chris Brockman:Dicker makes the Pro Bowl and then misses two kicks, which he really hasn't done all season.

34:09Rich Eisen:That's correct. Aranda Gadsden, who was a revelatory tight end as a rookie, had one go off his hands for an easy pick, just as the Chargers were trying to change momentum and get the ball to start the second half as well. And after they had that awful pick happen to them in the red zone, they wound up and picked off C.J. Stroud, with only one interception in the previous four games. They picked him off twice. So this Chargers defense is really good. And this offense is really good because that quarterback is incredible. He's unbelievable.

34:41Chris Brockman:He is, but banged up. Questions about the receivers. So, yes, I understand that. I'm saying that I'm watching this game

34:50Rich Eisen:and I was thinking about it afterwards too because, you know, I just can't let go. I can't quit football. what would the Chargers look like if Rashawn Slater was at left tackle and Joe Alt was at right tackle sure sure you could obviously play that game for so many other teams what would the Niners look like if they had Boas in front of Warner right they would still be in line for the one seed or maybe already have it in their back pocket I just keep thinking to myself if this guy's protected with Omari and Hampton and Keenan and Ladidi and Quinton Johnston they they're a Super Bowl team They can't protect Herbert.

35:27Rich Eisen:So, yes, I have concerns for them going into January, big time. I think they're going to wind up maybe being the seventh seed in the AFC, and you're going to see them because I think the Bills, even without Josh Allen, are going to beat the Jets in their final home game. I mean, I know the Bills are going to want to rest Josh Allen, but I don't think they're going to sit Josh Allen and have him have an earbud in in the final home game.

35:54Chris Brockman:And I think Patriots fans, if they don't get the one seed, want to see the Chargers.

35:59Rich Eisen:I would have met. I will just warn you on that. I'll give you a big fat warning on that one. Jim bringing this team east to west.

36:08Chris Brockman:If you're playing, if the options are Houston, Buffalo, or the Chargers.

36:12Rich Eisen:Or you'd rather take on the team that is having trouble protecting the quarterback. Right. but still the quarterback under immense duress has been superb. We zoomed with Jim Harbaugh the Tuesday before the game. Okay. And it was his birthday, by the way, you know, December 23rd, two days before Christmas, we zoomed with him and asked him about Herbert. And of course he, he, he gushed like he, he spoke for 10 straight minutes about Herbert. And so I'm not telling you tales out of school, But within a span of those 10 minutes, a 45-second span, he equated Justin Herbert to Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible about how he does things that only Ethan Hunt can do.

36:58Rich Eisen:And then said that game he just had in Dallas the week before where they had three touchdowns to start the game in three drives. He had 300 yards passing and also ran one in as well. He said that was like Pablo Picasso painting. Oh, wow. And then at one point talking about how with his left hand, he stiff-armed somebody when his hand was broken before in the game in which it was broken right he was stiff-arming somebody with his broken hand he said he was half man half beast and we had a conversation afterwards as a broadcast team yeah so it was ethan hunt picasso half man half beast half beast right so so i said to the production team i said we have to have a graphic of all three on the screen when we talk about Harbaugh's love for Herbert.

37:41Rich Eisen:And the staff chose a minotaur. I would have chosen a centaur. Okay, so what they chose was the beast's head on a man's body. Yeah, I would have went. I would have been man on top. Of the horse. The horse. That's a centaur. Did you know that? Right. Okay, so I'm just teaching all these things in advance of your wildcard playoff game because I think Ethan Hunt, Picasso, centaur. It's coming to Foxboro? I think so.

38:05Chris Brockman:Yeah, it feels like.

38:05Rich Eisen:And if not, it's going to be the Bills.

38:07Chris Brockman:Well, if they beat Denver, then...

38:09Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, we'll see what happens in that game. Because Denver needs to win that in order to get the one seed. So it means something for Denver. And every game means something for the Chargers. It just does. That's just the way Jim coaches. It's the way that they are. I have less concerns about them than I do two teams that are going to have home playoff teams. That's how good the Chargers are. And I'm going to warn you on that front. and warn everybody else looking down the camera of my one shot on the TV version of this pod that you overlook the Chargers at your peril in the wild card round.

38:43Rich Eisen:But, man, do they have a weakness protecting their quarterback right now. Significantly so. So I understand what you're saying. I'm calling that an overreaction to wrap it up. Booyah. Okay. So good stuff, Christopher. Good stuff, man. Thank you so much. Welcome back. Yep. Same to you. Same to you. We're on the air Monday, Tuesday, Friday of New Year's week. We're going to take off New Year's Eve day and New Year's day, and then come back for Friday to set you up for that massive week 18. Love it. Yep. So Kurt Warner's on the Monday flagship show to break down everything from week 17. No contest wrestling comes your way as well next week.

39:19Rich Eisen:So good to see you, Christopher. For Chris, I'm Rich. Overreaction Monday, week 17 version. Peace out.

39:57Chris Brockman:We had a killer amongst us.

39:59Rich Eisen:Murder at the U. Listen now.