NFL's Thrilling Wild Card Weekend, Plus Coaching Carousel Intrigue

15:20Chris Brockman:Beat them in their place and was up 21-0.

15:23Rich Eisen:I got it. I would feel good about that. Oh, you would. You'd rather obviously have a home game than have to go to Denver. Exactly. That's kind of my rationale there. All right. I'd rather have Buffalo again at home. Understood. I don't think this is an overreaction at all. I mean, it's entirely possible that that could happen. The only bummer for the weekend for Bills fans is that the Chargers did not win on Sunday night football, which means they played their last home game in their old stadium. That stadium is now done. So they cannot host an AFC championship game against Jim Harbaugh's Chargers.

16:02Rich Eisen:That said, the whole concept of, okay, no Burrow, no Mahomes, no Lamar, it's Josh Allen's time. It's potentially, you know, C.J. Stroud, Bo Nix, and Drake May standing in his way, as opposed to Lamar, Mahomes, or Burrow. Could be Rodgers. I don't know. Could be. You know, the Bills could wind up going to Pittsburgh for an AFC championship game, which would be wild.

16:36Chris Brockman:Yeah, I'm with you. Anything's possible. I wouldn't. All of it's on the table.

16:39Rich Eisen:I'm not sitting here going, oh, the Patriots aren't beating the winner of Houston and and or Pittsburgh. Or I sit here and go, hey, great job going to Jacksonville. Great job pulling that one out. Right. But going to Denver and one and done in the Broncos. That's not happening. Who could say such a thing? That's kind of off. That would be an overreaction. Yeah, this is prop. This is totally do those Broncos rematch last year's playoffs in Buffalo.

17:07Chris Brockman:All right, Rich, enough with all the fun, mushy, happy, positive stuff. Both the Packers and Eagles should have new coaches next year. Let's just be honest.

17:15Rich Eisen:What are we doing?

17:16Chris Brockman:What are these guys doing?

17:17Rich Eisen:No, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a new offensive coordinator in Philadelphia again, which I you know I totally understand why the Eagles would be betwixt and between to change offensive coordinators again I mean Jalen Hurts it's absurd how Shane Steichen is the only guy who's coached him coordinated an offense for him in back-to-back years since high school and and this guy on the screen I know every single time that he doesn't get the offensive coordinator pick right it lands on his lap he's not going to get fired from philadelphia at what

17:56Chris Brockman:point do you do you just if you're if you're uh he got right do you say the chaos and the commotion and all the drama it's not worth it anymore but it's philadelphia it's so what it

18:08Rich Eisen:doesn't have part of the noise i know it doesn't have to be i mean big dom i think had more catches than aj brown yesterday look at you like what is going on with these guys i i don't know and And obviously when AJ Brown doesn't catch the ball and the head coach goes up to him and starts yelling at him, regardless of if it was, hey, it's time to get off the field. We're trying to punt. Why are you lollygagging off the field? He's got to know. There's 30 million cameras of Fox on him, and it's going to be interpreted that he just barked at his number one receiver for not catching a football. And if you wanted to do that at all, maybe not.

18:44Rich Eisen:It wasn't the one that he didn't grab and led to this moment on the sideline that went viral. It might have been that one over the middle and that final drive in the game that he clearly should have had in his midst and could not. Kind of reeked of the Alshon Jeffrey drop in the playoff game in New Orleans those years ago when they were trying to defend their title and had a chance to do so. Listen, I don't think the Eagles are going to have a new head coach. And I don't think the Packers should either. Really? Oh, my gosh.

19:11Chris Brockman:dude i'll just say here that second and third quarter was a master class of trying not to lose i will and coaching not even conservatively that doesn't even put it well i'm listen i know it it

19:22Rich Eisen:they they could have gotten more points and should have 100 should have but matt lafleur is 47 years old he's also a guy that has institutional knowledge of your building and your fan base and i will just say that plus he's a he's a terrific offensive mind as well as you might sit here and think that it didn't happen well enough there but for anybody that's out there in packer country that's looking at john harbaugh okay and they all should i think let's get him in here all right so let me ask you this question john harbaugh is no longer in baltimore because the offense would frequently disappear.

20:06Rich Eisen:He didn't win it all with his MVP type quarterback. And sometimes there will be head-scratching offensive decisions that come out of nowhere. You want to now switch this guy out for that guy? Really? Because he's new. Just stay the course is all I'm saying on this front. What else you got? All right.

20:27Chris Brockman:You know who it was a really good weekend for, Rich? Mike McDaniel. really great weekend for him i'm with you he's going to be an oc for one of these losing wild

20:37Rich Eisen:card teams in 2026 the issue for that is is mike mcdaniel has every right to go through the head coaching interview process for sure okay so if you are mike mcdaniel why would you jump ship out of that right now to take an offensive coordinator position that's potentially offered to you until that head coaching cycle is complete and some of these head coaching cycles may not be complete until late january early february right so what are you going to do you're going to wait till he gets through his head coaching opportunities and now he's going to reach out and say all right i'm available now for your offensive coordinator position and then you'll fire your offensive coordinator then is that what you're going to do or if you're say philadelphia if you're saying

21:23Chris Brockman:you're the chargers right um those would be two great spots okay then what are you gonna what are you gonna do fire them um and then wait for him the timing is gonna be a little dicey but absolutely

21:36Rich Eisen:if you know you're you're let's just say you're jim harbaugh and you're looking for something a little bit more um uh exotic okay no we're gonna get to that next okay you're looking for something more exotic and you're looking for something that also comes off the run game then he's your guy unless he wants to be head coach somewhere else and you're you're like I don't know if I'm gonna utilize my spot so you can get your head coaching gig and then you're out of here in a year like what's the commitment uh I I it's not as cut and dried is is what I'm saying but I feel that absolutely he's he's the guy that you're you're looking for cliff kingsbury pardon me once he gets through uh everything uh he's he's looking for head coaching jobs i mean all these guys who you'd say he'd be a perfect offensive coordinator think in their minds i and as well they should i'd be a perfect head coaching candidate somewhere so um yeah that's that's makes sense like and and it's not even the wildcard teams.

22:40Rich Eisen:You know, don't you think Dan Campbell would love to snag him for the Detroit Lions? Their offensive coordinator gigs already open. That's that's already done. So yeah, he's a, he's a, he's, he's quite the candidate and I think it makes sense, but he's going to go through his own process first. And that might not sync up well enough for some people.

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23:44Rich Eisen:Who are looking to make an offensive coordinator higher. So it's not as cut and dried as you think, but that makes complete sense to me for sure.

23:51Chris Brockman:Yeah, very good weekend for him. I think his price tag went up a little bit. All right, Rich, let's talk about the Chargers, man. That was not good on Sunday night, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Look, I know they're dealing with some injuries, but they need a new offensive philosophy or risk never winning a playoff game with Justin Herbert.

24:09Rich Eisen:They're never going to get a new offensive philosophy. Their new offensive philosophy is the same old offensive philosophy that's gotten Jim Harbaugh places to win a championship in, at the university of Michigan to take the San Francisco 49ers to the Super bowl. And I know that's the past. And this is now the newfangled future of the national football league, running the football, playing defense and getting some opportunistic splash plays from your terrific quarterback is going to win Super Bowls. It's just that simple. You hold onto the ball, you take the ball away, you get your superhero quarterback protected, off you go.

24:42Rich Eisen:The San Francisco 49ers back in the day took that Jim Harbaugh offense with Colin Kaepernick to the Super Bowl and damn near won the thing. Michigan did it. Stanford turned things around. I mean, it's it's tried and true it's just maybe having a little bit more of a wrinkle um you know that that nobody's expecting and it's fresh set of eyes on the same concept of controlling the line of scrimmage playing defense not turning the ball over that may be what the doctor orders for the for the chargers i i don't know that said having rashaun slater go down without a single snap of football played sucked having joe alt go down come back then go down for the rest of the year as as your left tackle after moving from right tackle sucked their offensive line up front um you could see the pro football focus rankings during the the introductions oh yeah many of them were dfl or close to dfl uh on all of that omarion hampton had an injury marred rookie season let's see what he can do if he's going to come out of the gate nice and healthy.

25:54Rich Eisen:Maybe they do get another offensive weapon outside for Justin Herbert. And a new offensive coordinator, as you know, Greg Groman was with Jim all those years ago in San Francisco. He went to Baltimore for John. Ravens fans were sick and tired of him by the end of his run. And Jim snagged him for the Chargers. And they've won 11 games twice in a row and then got one and done in the playoffs. last year it was a flurry of interceptions four of them and this year was three points one fewer point than interceptions that Herbert threw last year I'm not going to throw this on Herbert that he's a not a big game quarterback really yeah I will really he's not Carson Wentz with a better PR team what about the fact that he wasn't protected Chris he's not protected lots of quarterbacks aren't protected I I get it Drake May hasn't been very protected Caleb Williams you know he needs to be like josh allen i guess yeah you're pointing out um so maybe a different offensive coordinator will be the answer and he's going to be sitting at home uh with you know um getting that that broken left hand all healed up and you know last year he said it was terrible sitting on the four interceptions it's going to just be another long offseason sitting on the three points but you know um if jim says it's his job to get justin herbert to the hall of fame everything I just laid out from get healthy, that should be good enough to at least improve your lot from this year, go in the draft and get some dynamic players, get yourself a dynamic guy who can maybe be the, the joker of the situation, or could be one of those Jameer Gibbs type guys to go with somebody like Omarion Hampton, go ahead and maybe get yourself a new offensive coordinator.

27:43Rich Eisen:that those are things that i think are feasible for the for the chargers um but a new offensive philosophy you're gonna have to get a new head coach for that i think jim might have to reset

27:55Chris Brockman:his dream for herbert let's just win a playoff game i mean and then you can go from then we can build again we can build all right two more rich sure this thing and i'm sure you've noticed and i think you agree with me it's been driving me insane all weekend analytics schmanalytics these Coaches need to kick field goals. Take free points when they're just given to you. I'm glad you said it. Take them.

28:18Rich Eisen:Okay. I got the numbers for you right here. I knew you would. Because I was going to do it for the flagship show. I knew you would. I'll unpack it right here. Teams in the wild card round so far have made half of their fourth down conversions. 26 times they've gone for it on fourth down. They've made half of it. Six conversions on nine attempts in their own territory. When you don't get it in your own territory, it flips the field. I mean, Panthers fans today are like, if we only punted the ball instead of went for it on our first set of downs in our own ends on our own end and then give the Rams a short field and the Rams took advantage of that.

28:52Rich Eisen:And that was points that I'm sure the Panthers would love to take off the three seven points for the Rams 31. Here's the thing, though. It flips momentum when the other team stops you on fourth down. Okay, so you're thinking momentum might be already against you because you're punting. Sure, that makes sense. A defense getting off the field feels good about itself. The offense coming back on feels good about its defense. It's a great team mentality. You don't want to punt. I get it.

29:22Chris Brockman:If you pin them inside the 10, inside the 5, that's a momentum for you as well.

29:26Rich Eisen:And I just understand this analytics, folks. I understand every word out of my mouth right now is like nails on a chalkboard because I don't have the numbers that you say you have in terms of win probability and all that nonsense. All I know, and it is nonsense as far as I'm concerned, to have that be the entirety of your North Star when it's time to win football games in the playoffs, when punting is okay and taking points is even better than okay. You take points, you put them on the board, you begin to amass them. And in the fourth quarter, it gives you an opportunity to make kick a field goal instead of needing a touchdown to win.

30:04Rich Eisen:All right? The number of times that a team did not get their fourth down, okay, is the same number of times as teams that did. 13 times people went for it and got it. 13 times people went for it and didn't get it. That's the math there. That's good. That's 50%. 13, 26, 50%. 31 points were scored off of turnovers on downs. 31. 31. Every single time if you punted and took the points, Do you know how many points they would have gotten? Zero. Zero. They would have gotten zero points on you. Instead, you're giving out 31. Where's that in the metrics? Okay. Buffalo scored a touchdown after the Jaguars went for it deep in Buffalo's end.

30:46Rich Eisen:They've not only flipped the field, they marched down the field and scored. Green Bay, Rams, Carolina, and a field goal by New England were all points scored off of turnovers on downs. That time that New England marched down the field after, Jim didn't take the points. I was stunned. He didn't take the points. But then he did do it the second time. He did do it the second time. Yep. But if they had gone up 3-0, we've scored first in New England. Yep. We have the lead. Go play defense. Yep. Instead, you say, I'm going to go for it. Could have been up 7-0. But instead, it's now no score. And that clearly, you know, did he think that Ramondre Stevenson on one snap would get the ball to midfield?

31:26Rich Eisen:Halffield, yeah. it's the most fourth down attempts and tied for the most conversions in a single playoff round since at least 1991 that's as far back as they have for data take that for data most points off turnovers on downs in a single playoff round since 2000 take the points flip the field play field position amass points rely on your defense I get it there are times when And it makes sense to go for it. You're two yards in and one yard in and you're inches, depending on the field position, depends on the time on the clock. I'm not saying never do it. I understand that there are analytics that say go for it here, and that means you're enhancing your chance to win.

32:16Rich Eisen:But in the playoffs, my North Star would be take the points, flip the field, play the long game. Why are we playing it like you're a 13-year-old hopped up on a bag of Skittles playing video games? I don't understand it. It makes no sense. It makes zero sense. And in the case of Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears, Mr. Good, Better, Best, and making the city feel great, and I totally get what he's doing in terms of the red meat and what he's saying. It's working. but if Caleb didn't pull it out of his own ass, we would be talking about what he did on fourth down. One for five or something to start the game on fourth down?

33:03Rich Eisen:The Bears. Is that what it was? The Bears went two for six overall on going forward on fourth down. And they led the weekend in going forward on fourth down in their own territory. They were two for three in their own territory. And the one time that they weren't led to points for Green Bay. I don't understand it. And it will bite someone in the ass. It will. Do you know the only team that did not go for it on fourth down at all on wildcard weekend was the San Francisco 49ers. Not at all. He was playing. He's taking the points and playing the long game. Yeah. Well, he's learned from his past mistakes.

33:42Rich Eisen:Maybe so. I think. I think it makes for a better coach. Yeah. You got one more?

33:46Chris Brockman:Last one. Last one. We're going to hear a lot about John Harbaugh this week. as well we should maybe terrific coach maybe a new new landing spot for him it seems like it no matter where he ends up rich eyes and john harbaugh will win more games than the ravens next year oh i don't know about that you think if he winds up with the giants he's going to flip

34:06Rich Eisen:the giants around to the point where they're going to win more than the baltimore ravens

34:09Chris Brockman:who almost won their divisions won eight this year i i understand you don't think the giants can win 10 games next year this is the reason why the falcons can win 11 the one of the reasons why

34:18Rich Eisen:the ravens are listen look at every every job that's open is there an mvp quarterback that's sitting there ready to be coached up anybody bueller come on now even if even if the packers

34:29Chris Brockman:do something which i think is insane packers have an mvp quarterback but he didn't win one

34:33Rich Eisen:he didn't win two the eagles have a possible one the eagles aren't firing um their coach well they should think about it dude the ravens are a terrific team with a terrific roster that for various reasons didn't play achieving had didn't and that's part of the reason why john harbaugh is on the street and i totally understand franchises that need somebody as a culture changer adult in the room and a terrific molder of men and a players coach this is your guy the giants would be so fortunate to get this guy it would be off the charts i understand packers fans think that they should fire their guy to get this guy.

35:14Rich Eisen:I already explained to everybody that thinks Matt LaFleur isn't all of that. Every single reason you feel about Matt LaFleur, it dovetails with the reasons why Ravens fans were happy that John Harbaugh is gone. You understand? Like every single thing that John Harbaugh led to drive Ravens fans mad is exactly why Packers fans want Matt LaFleur gone. The Giants have a different story. They need somebody to come in and say, this is the way we're doing it. They need somebody to come in and say, this is the way we're doing it because I've already done it before. They need to have somebody who's like, I've coached in the Super Bowl.

35:52Rich Eisen:I've coached an MVP quarterback twice, damn near a third time. I know how to run the football. I know how to win big football games. I know how to win playoff games. I've done it. Let me just be, you go shop for the groceries. Let me even include me in that process because I know what I'm doing. The Giants would die for this guy. The Falcons, it's another one, right? On and on and on and on and on. But the Ravens are still a terrific football team. And you get the right guy in there with the right offensive coordinator in there and let it go. I mean, again, the reason why you're hearing Cliff Kingsbury is no longer the OC in DC is because one of the things I read, Dan Quinn thought that his offense was too college-type oriented of an offense.

36:39Rich Eisen:Okay? And they want to do more of a pro set type of offense in Washington, D.C.

36:45Chris Brockman:The Ravens might need a little college offense.

36:47Rich Eisen:Bingo. Bingo. You put Cliff Kingsbury in there if he's not an H.C. I think he did interview with them today. But even if he's not their H.C., I'm telling you, this is Jesse Minter's job. Jesse Minter's now free. I'm telling you, this is what it sounds like to me. And I haven't spoken a word to him or the Ravens. It just reeks of Jesse Minter's gig. Okay? or you know it'd be kind of wild i don't think that this would happen anthony weavers the dc in um in miami maybe you bring him up there and uh the guy who was his hc this year you bring him in as the oc i don't know how that dynamic would work but crazier things are happening in the nfl than i've ever seen yeah no doubt no doubt about and would it be wild if the giants turn around or the Falcons turn around or anybody who hires John.

37:37Rich Eisen:If he goes to Tennessee, cause he likes cam Ward a lot and he just wants to live in Nashville with his wife and his family. And he kind of digs maybe moving to Tennessee and he wants to take that job. And it's an AFC South that he feels is more winnable than any other division that he'd be entering. Maybe he does that. The Ravens are going to win more games in the Titans next year, pal. I just don't know if he wants to take on such a reclamation project like that. The Ravens are not rock bottom. Come on, man. No, they're in the middle, which is where you don't want to be. I understand that. Or they're in the middle because you thought that they needed a new voice.

38:08Rich Eisen:And the new voice comes in with a new way of looking at it offensively. And off you go. This is an overreaction. As much as I believe in any hardball, as you know. Okay, Christopher. Oh, yeah. That was crazy.

38:23Chris Brockman:It was crazy, man. It was awesome. Unbelievable. And it's just like, man, what is Monday? I know you might listen to this after the Steelers and Texans game. But what is going to happen in Pittsburgh?

38:32Rich Eisen:Well, most likely it's going to be a one-score game where somebody comes back and wins it in the last three minutes because that's the way every other game in the wildcard round, with the exception of the Patriots win over the Chargers, that's the way the wildcard weekends went. Unreal. So I think we just covered it all. Unreal. From soup to nuts to the way games were won to the fourth down conversions to coaching carousels and so much more. Check out the Rich Eisen Show all week long to get you ready for the divisional playoffs. There's also no contest wrestling wherever you get your podcasts.

39:03Rich Eisen:That's the way we're rolling here on the program. For Chris, I'm Rich. Peace out, everybody.

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