Tom Pelissero: A Player Being Carted Off Doesn't Mean It's A Serious Injury

14:03Rich Eisen:It's really never that serious. No. It's never that serious. It was a very lighthearted moment, clearly.

14:08Tom Pelissero:And it's just like, oh, another opportunity to pit women against other women. Women and women violence. Come on. We've seen it before. And we'll see it again, probably, unfortunately.

14:18Rich Eisen:Latest episode of Women's Sports Now. Rene Montgomery, Sarah Tiana, Colleen Wolfe, Suze, available right here on Roku, the Roku original series, Women's Sports Now, every single Thursday. So, there's that. And nobody's still, you know, unfortunately, the t-shirts and the actual conversation, the one that's going to linger, the one that's actually going to resonate, the one that's actually going to roost, gets consumed by Kelsey Plum just gave a shot to Kaitlyn Clark. Pay us what you owe us. You guys don't have that t-shirt, right? You're not going to show up to work in that.

15:01Tom Pelissero:No, not yet. Of course not.

15:03Rich Eisen:Maybe in September, you know, we might. What would we need that t-shirt for? Why would you? I don't know. I mean, O'Shea Jackson Jr. is the only one who considers this a hostile work environment, right? By the way, he's going to have some stuff to say on Monday

15:19Tom Pelissero:about the lack of our birthday celebration. I'm just going to warn you. Does he want to call in later to this show?

15:26Rich Eisen:I don't know. You know he don't return text messages. I don't even know how to reach him.

15:31Tom Pelissero:Smoke signals. Smoke signals.

15:34Rich Eisen:I don't even know how to reach him. My brother will chase, man. 2-0 for Rich. Great stuff by Women's Sports Now. Shout out to the stud buds, man. And shout out to the stud buds. I know. You want in on that. I bet. They were fun, man. Look, Rich, they were walking down the street. Kathy Engelbert, the WNBA commissioner, was driving by them randomly and yelled at them to make sure they behave. And they didn't. They didn't behave at all. Well, again, this is the sort of thing that you want to have that cuts through and reaches the demographic where they are. Yeah. Right. Given all this exclusive.

16:08Rich Eisen:Don't you think Major League Baseball would love to have a stud, Buds? They need it. You know what I mean? Like, exactly. Look, we had 45-year-old Rich Hill zooming in instead of like a 22-year-old young star. And the WNBA has it. And that's the sort of stuff you need to have. You've got to get going. They got it. So who would be the stud buds of the Rich Eisen show?

16:29Tom Pelissero:Me and Feli? Probably me and Jason. Yeah, we did go live from the tattoo parlor in Phoenix. I don't mean to do it.

16:36Rich Eisen:When Feli was getting the elf. Excuse me, you're in the Hall of Fame of Ustream. I mean, come on now. You used to have your Friday night music show where you were just getting hammered. Hammered. And playing music. Oh, please. Yeah.

16:49Tom Pelissero:Which is, by the way. He'd get to the point sometimes. I knew when Mike got a little too in. I know. He'd start. I'd have to text him like, Mike.

16:56Rich Eisen:I saw that in Nashville live in a front. It got so bad. I started driving through the marina looking for him to say, hey. Chill. Hey. Hey, you better behave, Mike. But he wasn't there. He was either on Ustream or hand-feeding rodents. Wow. By the way, great album. Hand-feeding rodents. What was that? Was that Toto? Was that Toto? Okay. All right, let's take a break. I don't want to be late for Tom. I need to know about Justin Fields' toe. Well, Tom, wear a hat today. That's the question. He better not. Not with that flow. It's football season. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high-interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan.

17:37Rich Eisen:It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Rich Eisen here for gusto. After all these years talking to athletes, coaches, entertainers, and people at the top of what they do, One thing is pretty clear. Success usually depends on getting the details right. For small business owners, that includes payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, you know, the work that keeps everything moving, even if it's not the reason you started the business in the first place.

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19:40Rich Eisen:Terms and conditions apply. Alright, radio audience is going to rejoin in two minutes, but let's bring Tommy P on. He's not wearing a hat, I don't believe. Not at all. Good to see you, Tom. Good to see you, Rich.

19:51Tom Pelissero:It's up to my boys and students. Hey, Tommy!

19:56Rich Eisen:Something going on with the lid here, Tom. I mean, are you growing? Are those burns? We got sideburns going on here? What do we got here? What's happening? You know, we know we're fixated as ball brotherhood individuals are fixated. What do you have here? What's going on? What do we have?

20:10Tom Pelissero:Your attention to detail is appreciated, Rich. Always impressive. I have my first haircut since before the NFL draft right after this show. Oh, wow. This is the final documentation of this version of the bro flow. cannot necessarily say exactly what the outcome is going to be. He's still in negotiations with my stylist on what we're going to do this afternoon. Stylist. Put it on the other side. It'll be a little more camp.

20:37Rich Eisen:Oh, pardon me. Excuse me. I'm a stylist. I know about that. I got a stylist. I need to see the stylist. I know about that. I need to see the party in the back. I'm a stylist. You don't go to the barber.

20:49Tom Pelissero:You don't go to the barber. I'm with you, Tom.

20:51Rich Eisen:No, no, hold on a minute. I get it. What's the party in the back looking like? Give me the profile. Turn your head. I mean, you can see the floor. Whoa.

20:57Tom Pelissero:Elvis is in the building.

20:59Rich Eisen:Thank you very much.

21:00Tom Pelissero:We've got a lot going on, yeah. A lot up top, a lot up top, just everywhere, Rich. Don't rub it in.

21:07Rich Eisen:Don't rub it in.

21:08Tom Pelissero:So you have not cut your hair since Green Bay, since prior to the draft at all? Correct. I got a haircut sometime probably right before I headed for the week in Green Bay. I thought, I'm on like a once every 10 years switch up to haircut at this point, Rich, and I figured this was a logical summer. just to group it out, see what options we have. I may or may not be right back where I started come week one. We will start to get answers later today.

21:34Rich Eisen:Well, to paraphrase a quote this time here, I'm only talking about the hair that's here. You know what I mean? Not the hair that might come. My hair's in its 15th year of a holdout, right? Don't cut it. Slick it back like Wall Street. Put the plus in NFL plus. Slick it back. Tom Pelissero, everybody here on The Rich Eyes. And Sherry just joined us. The Pelissero Bro Flow might be a great fantasy team name. Not bad. Okay. Not bad.

22:03Tom Pelissero:I knew this morning when after my good morning football hit, I started getting both texts from people in the NFL and various posts on social media asking me about the hair. It's time. So later today we will be taking care of what's going on.

22:18Rich Eisen:And for the radio audience that's rejoined us, Tom has not cut his hair since the draft and is seeing a stylist, Today, a stylist. Ahoy, boy. What the heck is going on here? All right, Tom, tell me about Justin Fields. What happened? How hurt is he? What's the expectation that we know right now, Tom?

22:39Tom Pelissero:Well, first off, Rich, I would say whenever people see the phrase carted off, they have the idea that it's what you see on Sundays and somebody crying into a towel and has to be taken off the field. For a lot of these teams, they cart a guy, meaning who's a cart to get him into the locker room because the practice field is far enough away that you don't have to fireman carry the guy a couple of hundred yards. I mean, it sounds like Justin Fields rode shotgun into the facility here. I talked to people who were there. He got stepped on. I mean, that's exactly what happened. It is a toe injury. My understanding is they examined him x-rays.

23:13Tom Pelissero:There's no fracture. Ian Rappaport had reported to dislocations, the initial diagnosis. He's still undergoing an MRI and further tests here. But certainly relative to what the initial reaction was this morning, Rich, and the questions that it raised, this seems like, again, pending further tests, seems like very good news in a bad situation or could have been a bad situation for Justin Fields and the Jets.

23:34Rich Eisen:Well, obviously there is some sort of, for the lack of a better analogy, PTSD when it comes to Jets quarterbacks and hopes that are put into their baskets and pages that are turned because they've arrived. And the same old Jets situation is going to finally be overcome. And so you could understand the level of concern that can be had from it. so there's no nobody can tell you nobody's been able to tell you ballpark weeks four to six six to eight two to four that's that's precisely why they're doing the additional tests and the mri

24:15Tom Pelissero:because once you rule out you know a broken toe which would be a longer type of a recovery here now you're into that sort of gray area of is it days is it weeks it does not sound like it's going to be months again pending the further tests here it would seem rich like this is something that that Justin Fields is going to be back from pretty quickly here. Doesn't sound like, again, initially the week one is in any doubt as he goes up against the guy who tore his Achilles on the fourth snap a couple of years ago for the Jets here. So we'll see exactly how it plays out. You would expect them to proceed cautiously.

24:46Tom Pelissero:But again, there's not a fracture. It's not some type of major injury. This wasn't an Achilles or anything like that. This is a toe injury, a dislocation, and they'll see, you know, exactly how long it's going to take him to get back. But it's not something it's going to be a great deal of time.

24:59Rich Eisen:So as of right now, I guess, to weave everything together, no hair on fire to the people that you've spoken to in Florham Park, New Jersey right now. Nobody's hair is appearing to be on fire over this.

25:15Tom Pelissero:We're just going to keep doing this, huh? Yes, we are. Notice I said weave as well. I did say weave.

25:20Rich Eisen:Did you notice that, Chris? I mentioned the word weave. But nobody seems to be overly freaked out about this.

25:28Tom Pelissero:No, nobody wants to see it. I mean, you've got coaches, a lot of whom, you know, just got there from different staffs around the league. They've all seen those bad situations on the first day of training camp for the people who are still around that building from the opener a couple of years ago. Absolutely. Everybody's got that initial shock factor. And one of the, you know, frankly, one of the things about the way that the NFL is covered now and on social media, and this is in no way, you know, a critique of the reporters on hand. all you can report is what you saw, which is Justin Fields, the quarterback, just limped off and was taken on a cart into the locker room here until people actually get off the field and the doctors get to examine him.

26:08Tom Pelissero:You're operating in a vacuum of information. So in that hour and a half, they were trading for Kirk Cousins, trading for Kenny Pickett, starting Tyrod Taylor. Now we're back to, in all likelihood, barring something major being revealed in terms of the additional tests and the MRI, Justin Fields still being their starter come week one.

26:25Rich Eisen:Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay, training camp injuries always take precedence over training camp holdouts, but now that we've handled the injury portion of it, let's talk about the hold-in in Dallas. What is your reporting on the Joneses and the Parsonses and whether they've reached out to the agents as Parsons, according to our friend Clarence Hill, asked the Joneses to do, and they still haven't really personally reached out to Micah's agent. How serious is this situation, Tom?

27:01Tom Pelissero:Well, the Cowboys are in a unique setup because normally you wouldn't want the owner to be calling the agent to get a deal done, but Jerry's also the GM. And so it's the logical person. If you're going to finalize a deal, you'd like him to call a very high-profile agent whose name Jerry claimed not to know several months ago. It just sounds like since they had that initial what both sides have described as a handshake type of deal directly between Jerry and Micah several months ago, there just has not been a ton of progress. You know why Jerry decides to go to the podium a few days ago and say, hey, you know, he could get hit by a car.

27:40Tom Pelissero:I honestly don't know. Every year there's about 10 to 12 bites from that press conference talking about mosquitoes or using different analogies, whatever, that you walk away going. I mean, well, that was a strange thing to say in that moment. But that's part of the Cowboys experience. It's part of the Jerry experience. I would say this, Rich. We know exactly where these numbers should come in based upon Miles Garrett's at 40, T.J. Watts at 41. Mike has always been more likely to be above both of those, you know, somewhere in that probably$43 to$45 million per year range. Now it's a matter of what does the structure look like on that deal?

28:17Tom Pelissero:Cowboys historically have done strong upfront cash flow types of deals, but they also like longer deals where they buy up years on the back end. Whenever they get to talking, and I'm sure there are other members of the organization that people actually handle the nitty gritty negotiations have talked to David Muligeta by this point. That's going to be one of the sticking points it has, which is, do you want to have a superstar player sign a five or six year deal and essentially sign away his prime? from the agent and the player's perspective. You'd rather do a shorter-term deal, let's say four years, where you're getting another bite at the apple before you hit age 30.

28:53Tom Pelissero:This should not be in terms of just the raw numbers and what the deal should look like. It shouldn't be a tough deal to get done. We know, even though it took forever on DAC, it took a long time on CD. Ultimately, you got to the logical things, which were large portions guaranteed. They were shorter-term deals. And that's because the players ultimately had the leverage. For Micah, you know, the leverage for the team, if there is any, is, hey, you know, ultimately you have to choose. You're going to play out this year's deal. Then we could franchise tag you next year. We can go franchise tag you again.

29:23Tom Pelissero:We can go three years out on this thing if we really want to, just like we did with that. The problem with that logic is, just like in all these other deals, by waiting, the Cowboys historically have ended up paying more. And while, again, I would maintain that the Micah number really hasn't changed because of recent events, including the T.J. Watt deal, it's still a substantial amount the cap's going to continue to grow and the number's just going

29:44Rich Eisen:to go up and then we're always assuming tom that whoever is holding out or in uh wants to reset the market and that's potentially the reason why that player is not in camp right now is what's your knowledge about what terry mclaurin and trey hendrickson are asking for are they trying to reset the market for those positions?

30:08Tom Pelissero:Neither one are trying to reset the market. They're both trying to get paid fairly relative to their production. And listen, both guys are right around age 30, which for a long time has been a scary number within the NFL. If you go back historically and you actually analyze the data, there are some positions where players can perform really well into their early or even mid-30s. There's other positions where you have kind of a precipitive drop-off. In both cases, you know, it's kind of similar. For Terry McLaurin, he turns 30 years old in September, but he's coming off a five straight 1 ,000-yard season.

30:39Tom Pelissero:If you look at his numbers, his numbers are almost identical the past five years, other than last year he caught a whole boatload of touchdowns. And oh, by the way, this will be the first time, I believe, in his career that he's had the same week one starting quarterback two years in a row because of the constant turn in Washington. Before James Daniels got there, I believe the quarterback who had started the most with Terry McLaurin was Taylor Heineke. So for McLaurin, you're watching all All these other players get these big time types of contracts. DK Metcalf is part of a trade with the Steelers ending up getting a monster type of deal.

31:13Tom Pelissero:Obviously, Jamar Chase reset the top of the market. Terry McLaurin is not trying to get$35,$38,$40 million per year. However, he's doing a little under$20 million this year. And the reality is, if he signed that deal several years ago, the$20 million a year player even three years ago at the receiver position is now a$30 million a year player. And for Terry McLaurin, look at these other deals, you're thinking I should be somewhere in the 30s just to bring it up to snuff. We know that he's in the Virginia area in part because he was snapped in a photo outside of yoga class. That's right. Obviously, he thinks there's a possibility that, hey, something can get done that would get him into the building.

31:51Tom Pelissero:But my understanding has been all options are on the table at this point. He could ultimately end up requesting a trade. He could end up with the team working out a deal. He could even just show up and say, I'm going to play out the last year of my contract or tack on some incentives. We've seen that at other times in recent years and all just come in without a new long-term deal. There's a lot of different buttons that Terry McLaurin and his agent Buddy Baker could push. They've not yet pushed him. So while they're talking, as of this morning, Rich, it did not sound like there was any progress in terms of a long-term deal.

32:22Tom Pelissero:So we'll continue to wait and see how that goes. With Trey Hendrickson, same thing. He's 30 years old. He has been the most productive pass rusher in terms of sacks over the last couple of years. He led the league in 2024. May not have the physical traits of some other guys, but you can't argue with the production. The issue in Cincinnati is not that he's trying to reset the market. He's not trying to get over$40 million per year or 41 to beat T.J. Watt, even though T.J. Watt's basically the same age. He's just trying to get paid in that same range where you look at what Max Crosby got, which was upwards of 35.

32:58Tom Pelissero:Daniel Hunter was in that same range earlier in the offseason. Obviously, Miles is at 40. It's going to be somewhere in that bandwidth. My understanding is when you had Bengals officials on Monday speaking very optimistically, Mike Brown, Duke Tobin, among others, talking about we think we're going to get this done, there was real talk that potentially they could get something done. because in terms of the raw numbers, again, Rich, we know where this is going to land, right? The APY is what always gets the headlines and it's the highest paid or whatever, but it's also about structure. The Bengals are one of only really two teams in the league at this point, along with Green Bay, that don't do future guarantees.

33:37Tom Pelissero:They do the signing bonuses guaranteed and nothing else. Well, whether there was miscommunication or whatever, when ultimately Trey Hendrickson got another offer. It only once again had the first year guaranteed, not 2026, not 2027, only this year. Trey Hendrickson, from the time he showed up to a practice in May in a polo and khakis and said, I'm not playing on this year's deal. Let's make clear. What do you want? I want a multi-year commitment here. I want, you know, to be able to be committed to this team for the next couple of years here. The team has not been willing to do that. So Trey Hendrickson flew back to Florida on Monday night.

34:14Tom Pelissero:We'll see when or if he ends up returning to Cincinnati, but it's a long-winded way of saying, Rich, no, neither of these guys is trying to reset the market, but anytime that you've got players who are as productive as Terry McLaurin and Trey Hendrickson have been, regardless of age, you're going to want to be in that top five, top 10 type of category. Neither player is. Both players are trying to get there. Structure is an issue in the case of Trey Hendrickson. We'll see how long these go on, but I would say, Rich, sometimes as we get closer to the padded practices, that's when a year ago, a couple of quarterback contracts got done.

34:49Tom Pelissero:Sometimes you get closer to those padded practices that can't begin until this weekend. That's where maybe the sense of urgency starts to set in a little bit more for everybody involved.

34:57Rich Eisen:Yeah, you're right. Like we always are trying to glean something from a social media post. And obviously, Trey Hendrickson showing off what it looked like a Florida sunrise or a sunset is a way to glean that and maybe tom maybe this is next level chess uh terry mcloran uh being spotted coming out of a yoga class might be a way for him to communicate that he's flexible what do you think tom yeah i like it thank you sir thank you hot yoga use that with your stylist later on um so what happened with will levis like he gets hurt in september you know and now So, and he goes through OTAs, splitting reps, and then all of a sudden on the eve of training camp, he goes and gets shoulder surgery?

35:45Rich Eisen:Like, did he hurt himself in a spot that we didn't know? Like, what's your reporting on what happened with Will Levis in Tennessee?

35:52Tom Pelissero:We know Will Levis has had that issue with his throwing shoulders since back when he stretched and tried to get the first down, and then he tried to play through it, if you remember, the following week, and he really struggled, and then they finally decided that they were going to have to give him a break. Think about this from Will Levis' perspective, and I don't know 100 % of the ins and outs, but if you're Will Levis, you know, regardless of what the coaching staff or anyone else is saying, Cam Ward is starting week one. There is virtually no scenario in which the number one overall pick is not the starter.

36:22Tom Pelissero:So Will Levis, at best, is competing to be the number two in Tennessee. You've had, let's call it, bumpy tape through the young course of his career. There have been a lot of decision-making issues and turnovers. Now let's say you feel like you are 90 % or 80 % of what you can normally be. That's what then you're putting on tape. That's what's being reported on if you're making mistakes. That's what ends up being on tape in the preseason. And teams that are looking at this for potentially trading for Will Levis during this training camp before the regular season, potentially looking at him beyond 2025, that's going to be what sticks in your head.

37:02Tom Pelissero:Knowing all that, if Will Levis didn't believe that he could be 100%, it makes sense. Take care of your throwing shoulder above all else. Get 100 % healthy and then give this another go in 2026. It's hard to imagine that that would be in Tennessee. I know that the Titans brass has said repeatedly that, you know, they were planning to keep Will Levis on the roster and they wanted to have an opportunity to compete. But again, there are certain things that I think have to be said at times. If you're Will Levis and you know that the deck is stacked against you here and you're not yourself, just go ahead.

37:36Tom Pelissero:Take care of what you have to take care of here. It'll be interesting to see. Will Levis, I mean, he is a talented guy. He did have production in college at Kentucky. He's got a big arm. He's got the physical traits. The decision making has just been all over the place, and that's been the biggest issue. Maybe a fresh start someplace else, wherever that ends up coming next season with a fully healthy shoulder. he could be that next guy, as we've seen a number of other reclamation projects in recent years, who could revive himself and get back on the field somewhere starting next year.

38:04Rich Eisen:Lastly, Tom, soundbite that we're going to play later on in hour number three after we chat with Joe Banner about a lot of what we've just chopped up. Is Kevin Stefanski saying his quarterback plan or his quarterback naming plan or the way to figure out how to map out naming a quarterback is written currently in pencil? What is in pencil, to the best of your knowledge? there, Tom?

38:26Tom Pelissero:My understanding going into the summer, right after they had seen through OTAs and minicamp, they had gotten a taste of all four quarterbacks. They were divvying up the reps. My understanding was there was truly no decisions made and they wanted to do their best to make it a fair opportunity for everybody to show what they can do through the course of training camp here. You've got four players who could not possibly be at more disparate points in their career. You've got 41-year-old Joe Flacco, who won a Super Bowl like 13 years ago and was on the couch until the Browns brought him back and ended up going to the playoffs with him in 2023.

39:03Tom Pelissero:You got Kenny Pickett, who had a lot of injuries. He had concussions. But you can also fairly say that maybe he didn't get the best opportunity to show what he could do in Pittsburgh. And then you got two guys who walked in the door a couple of months ago for the first time in the NFL and have so much to learn. I think that when people think that this is either Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett, that's a pretty good bet, in large part because the hardest thing that the Browns could do here would be roll one of these guys out, the rookies, as a starting quarterback. Dylan Gabriel, you know, yeah, maybe he's, you know, pint-sized Bo Nix from a year ago, coming out of the same offense, and you can get him up to speed.

39:41Tom Pelissero:He's not going to do as much with his legs as Bo Nix did, but maybe he can show you something, but he's still got a growth process. Shadour Sanders has a ton to learn. All the things you saw in college in terms of the decision making and holding on to the football and taking sacks, that takes a while. And he's in an NFL offense for the first time. The logical way to approach this, Rich, I would just think, and I'm not speaking for anybody else here, the logical way to approach this would be you give Joe Flacco a start, you give Kenny pick at a start. You give the two rookies a lot of playing time through those first two preseason games.

40:15Tom Pelissero:And then, as Stefanski said yesterday, you make a decision as soon as possible. Now, having said that, we've all seen it, Rich. We've all seen when you get into the preseason and somebody, it's usually a first-round quarterback, but sometimes a rookie quarterback or young guy will jump off to such a great degree that the coaches involved just have to go, we've got to at least give this guy a shot. Otherwise, you were the Browns a number of years ago when you had Baker Mayfield pretty plainly being ready to roll. And instead, he was informed that, hey, you won the number two job and ended up being on the bench at the start of the season behind Tyrod Taylor.

40:54Tom Pelissero:You've got to play the best guy. The people in the locker room always know you can't fool the other players. And if Dylan Gabriel or Shadrush Sanders is the best option, they'll be out there but it is the hardest outcome for the browns to reach for a variety of different reasons here i do believe we will get through those first at least one probably two preseason games before we have a season in cleveland tom pellicero dispensing information

41:15Rich Eisen:um and uh still uh some blanks to fill in with the top story that we hit at the very beginning of our conversation getting set to cut his hair for the first time since uh the nfl draft and uh Oh, look at that. Now he looks like a beetle. That is unbelievable. Look at this. Emo Tom. Or for you Get Smart fans, the groovy guru. Those who know, know. Yeah, you lost the same. At any rate, I know I did. So with this information that you haven't cut your hair since the draft, Mike Hoskins and the rest of the group, look at that right there on the left. That's the draft, Tom Pellicero. Now look at the current Tom Pellicero.

41:58Rich Eisen:So, you know, very cat-toppy right there, man. The guy on the left, I know that guy. The guy on the right, I don't know who you are anymore, man.

42:07Tom Pelissero:I'll send you a photo. You're on for a little while longer. I'll try to get you a photo, at minimum for tomorrow's show.

42:13Rich Eisen:Do it tomorrow, Tom. I don't want to rush the process, and I don't want your stylist focused on anything but the actual quaffing. Okay? This may be the greatest lump of clay your stylist has ever had. Okay? So I want to see something like out of, you know, what would you say? Out of ghost. You know what I mean? Like something like that. Okay, Tom? Take care of yourself. We can't wait to see the after picture.

42:40Tom Pelissero:Two-week training camp tour coming. I got to get something manageable. Let's do it. Let's do it.

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43:49Rich Eisen:The following is a paid advertisement from the International Brotherhood of Bald People.

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45:14Rich Eisen:How many championships did Jordan win with hair? Zero. How many he went when he was bald? Six. These are stats, baby. Stats and facts. Come on home. It's the Chrome Dome, baby. Shine with me. We got LeBron. Hold on. Keep him on. Just keep him on.

45:28Tom Pelissero:Hello? Hello? Hello? LeBron? We lost him. Three and five in the finals, whatever. Hey, I've got Tiger. Thank you, Bald Brotherhood. Balder is better. I couldn't have done it without you, Bald Brotherhood. Thank you. Less is more. Thank you, Bald Brotherhood. Now I'm fresh and clean. Well, I guess I won't be needing this anymore. Thanks, Bald Brotherhood.

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46:04Rich Eisen:Kentulo on the right produced and written. So good. That goes in the annals of our show history up there with the Price is Right segment of my initial reaction being, I don't want to do it. You did not want to do that. And then being convinced of doing it and it turning out all time great. Hey, listen, best idea wins, right? Sometimes I need to be convinced of it. That's right. But I don't reject it. She said I want to do it. Initially, the thought was like, really?

46:33Tom Pelissero:You thought we weren't going to pay attention. You were like, don't put it on the television.

46:36Rich Eisen:I don't know what that means. What are you talking about? The price is right. Oh, the price is right. No, I just thought we're talking about something that nobody can see on the radio and nobody can see on television. What are we doing? True. Brockman's like, you've got to do it. We have to do it. It's going to be funny. And it turned out to be great. I was shocked that you even questioned. I'm like, we've been hyping this up for a month now. I know that, but to stop the program in the middle to talk about something that people can't see if you're watching or listening, that's kind of very difficult on its face.

47:08Rich Eisen:I had faith in your skills to describe what was going on, and look what happened. It was perfect. We put it on our demo reel, our Emmy reel. And you spent every time we show it back, you're recording us on your phone. Have you ever watched that video back? Oh, yeah. That was a live stream. So I was live streaming on Instagram when that was going on. Got it. Okay. I probably still, this is probably still on my phone. You got ripped off. I am still with this morning. Who's the one that confirmed it? Oh, the Godfather. WWE Hall of Famer, who's a Harley guy. I love it. Boy, there's five win-loss games on the horn right here.

47:41Rich Eisen:Let's go to Jeff in Pasadena, California, right here in Southern California. What's up, Jeffrey?

47:47Tom Pelissero:Hey, Richard. How's it going, brother?

47:49Rich Eisen:What do you want to do, sir?

47:50Tom Pelissero:We're going to win-loss by Rams here because last season I got jobbed because Susie was in the chair, and I was excited. And you know how she has to get to every caller, and we had like 10 seconds.

48:03Rich Eisen:It was brutal. Sorry about that, Jeff. You're going to blame Susie for that? I mean, exactly. But let's give Jeff in Pasadena what he's looking for right here. Give him some time. What happens at New England to start the season? Oh, pardon me. I got the wrong list in front of me. What happens against the Houston Texans at home? What happens?

48:24Tom Pelissero:We lose because we always lose the first few weeks or so because we're never ready because we don't do the preseason. That's now.

48:30Rich Eisen:Okay. That seems like an agenda that just got off the chest there. What happens at the Tennessee Titans next week?

48:36Tom Pelissero:No, I like how Sean gets the team ready. Tennessee is a W, and I'm going to be in there that weekend, but I'm tied up with family. Okay. At Philadelphia, what happens? That's a loss. They're for real.

48:50Rich Eisen:1-2 home for the Colts. W. 2-2 home for the Niners to kick off a Week 5 Amazon Prime video Thursday night. Excited about that one. That's a W. 3-2 at the Ravens. That's a scary game. We lose. Set 3-3 in London at Wembley against Jacksonville.

49:11Tom Pelissero:Excited. I did the first 14 games at Wembley. I love these games. And Jacksonville's for real there. but we got him.

49:18Rich Eisen:Four and three off the bye. Home for the Saints.

49:22Tom Pelissero:Alright. We get that with the rest.

49:24Rich Eisen:Okay. Five and three at the 49ers.

49:28Tom Pelissero:We always lose to those clowns.

49:30Rich Eisen:Five and four. Home for the Seahawks. Cooper Cupps return game.

49:35Tom Pelissero:That's going to be fun. A lot of love there. W.

49:37Rich Eisen:Six and four. Home for the Bucs on a Sunday night.

49:41Tom Pelissero:Sunday night football.

49:43Rich Eisen:Seven and four at the Panthers. That's a W. 8-4 at the Cardinals. W. 9-4 home for the Lions. This is where it gets rough. That's a loss. 9-5 at the Seahawks on a Thursday night. That's a loss. 9-6 at the Falcons on a Monday night. Got them. 10-6 home for the Cardinals. Got them. 11-6 Jeff in Pasadena.

50:13Tom Pelissero:Thank you for giving me the full time. You're welcome, Jeff.

50:17Rich Eisen:We don't want you jobbed by the entire family. Thank you so much, Jeff. In Pasadena, 11-6. That's a lot of bad. That would obviously be a playoff record. Yeah, that's not bad. I don't know about losing to the Lions at home, folks. Every time Stafford's played the Lions, it's there.

50:40Tom Pelissero:Yeah. I kind of feel like he's going to be, if, listen, Stafford's healthy.

50:46Rich Eisen:He's in a frigging zone. In a zone. What type of crowd will be at that game? Well, Del Tufo will, hold on a minute. He will not be at that game because he'll be at Fox, guys. I gave those tickets away. You already gave them away. I did. To a Detroit fan. That works at Fox. Oh, great. What are they doing? To his houses. What are they doing? He bought them from me. Does it matter? I got to pay them off. You are the problem. Once again, you. I work on Sundays. You. He doesn't. Are the problem. He's a kid, though. That's the difference. You are the problem. No, I'm not. You are. No, I'm not. I would go to all the games if I wasn't working.

51:22Rich Eisen:When Stafford is going silent snap count, it's because people like you who get the season tickets give it to the other team. When I retire, Brockman says never. You choose to work on Sunday. I work on Sunday. You are the reason why they feel the need to ask everyone every two seconds whose house it is. It'd be Mike's house. in a few years. I don't know when, but eventually. You're lying. He's never going to give up. Never going to give you up. You're like the Rick Astley with the Fox. You're Del Tufo rolling Fox. No, it's like... Mikey rolling. Okay. Listen, you're a good guy. Oh, man, what's coming next?

52:00Rich Eisen:You are, no, you. That's like solid. I just got solid. That's like building him up to just knock him down. No, I'm not. Oh, that's right. I'm in music. You're hitting music. See, you got me all... I got him all juiced. I got him all juiced.

52:14Tom Pelissero:I was waiting for like a... You're solid, Deltufa. I was all ready. I was like... Do we want to talk about the elf in the room with Tom's hair?

52:22Rich Eisen:Was that a... Dan Patrick uses the phrase a fresh coat of paint. Yeah, I'm thinking he did. For somebody who does something. What color was that? Yeah, I think it's... Yeah. I don't know. Maybe it's the... Chris, I don't know. I know. I've done it, so... I don't know. Because it's been a long time. Does your hair get darker the longer it gets? Mine used to when I had black hair. I don't know.

52:50Tom Pelissero:TJ?

52:51Rich Eisen:No, it's gray.

52:51Tom Pelissero:My hair and your hair is not the same. Maybe it's something he puts in it, too. One of these is not like the other. The gel does make it darker. Having gelled the hair professionally. That did not look like the same color when we did the split screen of the Green Bay shot. It could be the camera. Could be.

53:10Rich Eisen:He was wearing an orange hoodie. Maybe the reflection up a little bit. So you think that Tommy P is putting a fresh coat of paint in his head? I think that looked a little enhanced. Do you think so? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. We shall see.

53:26Tom Pelissero:Curious if we get the new stylist-approved photo. Stylist, by the way. I had a couple hours. I'm a stylist.

53:35Rich Eisen:You're a sound stylist. I'm a stylist. You're a sound stylist. Patty Styles right here. Am I a word stylist? Yeah, for sure. What are you?

53:44Tom Pelissero:I don't know. A positivity stylist?

53:48Rich Eisen:Possibly. I missed that. I'm so mad. I missed that. We gave him the business yesterday. I'm so mad. You're on the day of your birth.

53:57Tom Pelissero:Someone in the comments was like, I didn't realize halfway through this was just going to be a roast. Did they tear you apart? They're trying to trigger me, Mike. See, that's not right. You do that to me all that, but you guys do that to me every day. Thank you.

54:12Rich Eisen:No, it's exactly what should be done. No, that was great. It all started because Rich had to send a text, and in that moment, it just popped into my head. Yeah, two days ago, you're like, I want you to be positive for an hour. And I was like, all right. And then he's like, I want you to do the Dallas Cowboys win-loss game. Yeah, it was pretty funny. TJ, that was a good job, I heard. Well, I mean, because TJ basically decides the Cowboys are going to go 11-6 every year. And that broken clock's going to be right at some point. We've got it signed and notarized. 13 wins one year. You have it signed and notarized.

54:40Tom Pelissero:I did the WLs on here, and I had him sign it. And Jay Felly? And Jay Felly notarized it. He notarized it, yeah. But he's not a notary.

54:46Rich Eisen:Only in Mike's mind is he a notary. For our purposes, he is. And poor Susie once upon a time brought documents in here thinking he's going to notarize. And Jay's like, I'm not a notary. Mike just thinks I am. We're like, damn it.

54:58Tom Pelissero:That's fantastic. That actually happened. I love my brother, Felly. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode available on Plus and Pro plans.