Stephen A. is DISAPPOINTED in the Ravens 🗣️ ‘The Texans are coming!’ | The Rich Eisen Show

Stephen A. is DISAPPOINTED in the Ravens 🗣️ ‘The Texans are coming!’ | The Rich Eisen Show

us off here to kick off the final day here in our uh our our home away from home in New York City in the Disney and ESPN studios. Could not stop by here without asking this man on and kind enough fresh off of us stay in Los Angeles and fresh off the first take set which is right next door. Good to see you buddy. The great Stephen H. How are you? I’m good man. It was 70° in LA yesterday. I get off the plane last night. It’s 25. That’s a that’s by the way that’s that’s a heat wave. Hey, that doesn’t make me happy, but but I’m here. I’m here. Well, I mean, you’re you’re you’re still Hollis Queen’s tough though. Always. You know what I mean? Always. But, you know, when you’re in Los Angeles, uh you can thin out the blood. Great. It’s a little bit different. This this place is incredible. It is. I mean, for for for us to hang out here all week long, get up here, first take there, we’re here when Get Up’s out, and then everybody else around here. Now, I know when you were I saw you on the view the other day, it’s just you’re just walking down the hallway. Unbelievable. 20 ft. 20 ft. Good Morning America is 50 ft. I’m like, this is why they did it. You know what I’m saying? It ain’t hard to get these people on the show. They right here. You got no excuse. Yeah, that’s right. So, uh let’s just jump in because I know you’re you’re heading off to your uh your one of your many other shows. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um the best team in the National Football League in your opinion entering the final four weeks of the season is it’s a tough one. I’m going to go with the Los Angeles Rams. I just think that Matthew Stafford is playing out of his mind. Puka Nakua is big time. Vonte Adams with what he’s doing as a reliable weapon in the in the red zone obviously in, you know, getting touchdowns, closing the deal for you. And that defense um is is is special enough to make that kind of noise. And I think that Shawn McVey is arguably the best coach in all of football. I think uh you know right now coach of the year is between Vrabel and Ben Johnson in my estimation because of what’s been going on in New England and Chicago what the expectations were what they’ve done to exceed them. Uh but Shawn McVey is just a steady hand and I found myself actually fantasizing just like you had Brandon Graham come out of retirement to play for the Philadelphia. What if Aaron Donald had decided to do that for the Los Angeles Rams? I mean it ain’t going to happen in all likelihood but you you watching the Rams play this year seeing how formidable they are. I actually found myself fantasizing about Aaron Donald returning to the Los Angeles Rams because I think they’re a big time team and I think they have a big- time coach. Well, I mean, I can pretty much say with certainty that the Rams have called Aaron Donald about that more times than the Colts have called Philip Rivers. You know, I just don’t think Aaron wants to do it. But it is it it would obviously put the Rams even on a on a different plane. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ve got a uh two 15- win teams from last year. Chiefs a and the Lions on the outside looking in. The Lions have a much better shot to make it than the Chiefs who really need a lot uh to get some help. You’ve got the Vikings 14 wins from last year, definitely not making the playoffs. Commanders, 12 wins from last year. Same thing. It seems to be completely turned upside down. If you had to name the team that’s disappointed you the most this season, I gave you a little bit of a bladder there. I I would say it’s the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, I expected a hell of a lot more from the Baltimore Ravens. I can’t believe what I’m seeing from them. I mean, you’ve got Lamar Jackson, you’ve got Derek Henry, you’ve got Zay Flowers and Baitman and these boys, you’ve got Andrews as a tight end, you’ve got likely, you’re looking at these guys like, what the hell is going on? Where’s the signature defense? Where’s the signature toughness? You always knew it was going to be a war with the Baltimore Ravens and they’d win more than they’d lose. And now you don’t see that. seeing an offensive coordinator that’s forgetting half the time that Derrick Henry’s is running back. Uh you’re looking at Lamar Jackson has been playing with injuries, but even as he’s come back and looked a bit healthier, his game hasn’t been indicative of that because it’s been a bit sluggish compared to what we’re accustomed to seeing from him. They’re not finding ways to win. And then I think about where I think about Baltimore and Buffalo. Baltimore, Buffalo’s not in that category in related relation to your question, of course, but I I think about them in this way. I think the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. Once upon a time, it was Patrick Mahomes. And then we looked at Josh Allen with Lamar Jackson. Who’s going to knock him off his pedestal? Which one of y’all are going to get it done? Because you got to get it done. It was a three- horse race. New England saying, “Nah, it’s a new day.” Denver saying, “Nah, it’s a new Denver’s won 10 straight. They haven’t won. They haven’t lost a home game in 14 months. They’re like, “Nah, it’s a new day.” The Chargers are like, “Nah, it’s a new day. The Texans are coming.” I believe that the Texans are the sleeper to come out of the AFC with their defense, which is ferocious as it gets. I’m just looking at this and I’m saying, “How could Baltimore have fallen like this?” I mean, they still got a chance, but they don’t look good. They just don’t. It’s been difficult for I think a lot of us in the national media to wrap our arms around the idea that it is a new day. Yeah. That there are a lot of teams coming for a new day and um it’s been difficult to watch what the Eagles have gone through over the last three weeks, but the pieces are still there. What the rest of the iceberg looks like. The problem with the Philadelphia Eagles, the offensive coordinator, and the reason I say that, it’s not him like, oh my goodness, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. But here’s the problem. He’s a first time coordinator. And when you look at Kevin Patulo, you must he doesn’t deserve to have his houses his house a we don’t need that kind of belligerance and stuff like that. We get it. But the flip side to it is this. You have the same weapons. AJ Brown is still there. Devonte Smith is still there. You know that offensive line, even though Lane Johnson was out, still there. Jaylen Herz is still there. What’s going on? Right? And the difference is the offensive coordinator. And you know, one minute you’re running the ball more than you’re passing it. another minute. You’re passing the ball 113 times, but over a three game span, we’re only running it 60 times. You look at Saquon Barkley. What the hell has happened to him? I I went into Monday night’s game cuz I was at the Chargers game against the Eagles. And I walked into the game saying there’s an APB out for for for Saquon Buckley. LAPD looking for him. Where you going to find him? And they found him cuz he showed up 122 yards rushing. But they still lost. Uh AJ Brown has been one of the top two receivers in the game over the last three weeks. They still lost. a defense that’s got a 21-point lead on the Dallas Cowboys. They lose the lead. You’re like, “What the hell is going on?” And they just don’t seem to know who they are, what their identity is. And unfortunately, I don’t think it’s something that you could just turn on and turn up. Yeah. Because Seattle’s going to have something to say about it. Uh LA’s going to have something to say about it. And the Detroit Lions showed you, you know, that they’re going to have something to say about it as well. Do you think the Cowboys are going to catch it? No, of course not. Of course not. I mean, you know, I know Michael Irvin’s somewhere watching and I’m laughing. I I just knew it would happen. I told everybody just be patient. Just wait for it. You know, just wait for it. Everybody was excited. You know, even I was excited. I’m like, you know what? I’m like, Jerry’s my buddy. That’s my Libra buddy right there. And I said, you know, damn it. I’m tired of rooting for him to lose. I mean, damn, he’s 83 years old. I want to get something. All right. But when they lost, when they ended up going to Detroit and and getting romped like that, I just laughed at myself because I kept telling everybody be patient. Just wait. I didn’t know it was going to be that game, right? But I just said just when you have expect when you heap expectations on them, they will collapse. They just don’t let me down. It’s been 30 straight years. They haven’t let me down. This is what they do. And so, I mean, I I just laugh about it, but in the same breath, listen, give the credit where credit is due. They have looked formidable. and Jerry Jones and how much he was maligned for letting go of Micah Parsons. We can’t do that now. They have looked like a different team. Yes. Since Williams arrived, they have looked like a different team since Logan Wilson and Overan has come back and Logan Wilson was acquired. They have looked like a different defense and offensively they’ve looked like a juggernaut when you lost to Chicago. CD Lamb got hurt cuz stupidly somebody had him coming out of the backfield running the damn football. That’s what TJ very dumb. Very dumb for them to do. He’s not built to be going up against defensive linemen and linebackers. Yeah, he’s guil he’s built to get into your secondary against safeties and quarterbacks. You can’t put him in that position. So, you got hurt that game and then he got concussed obviously last game or whatever against Detroit. So, all of those things you look at and you just say it’s just not going to happen for the Dallas Cowboys this year, but next year they’ll be ready next year. This is what they’re going to do. They win the Super Bowl next year. This is what we’re going to hear. No, I know you’re you’re I know you’re friendly with Jerry Jones. No, I I I know that. And and I and and one of my favorite moments of the year is when you were sitting with Jerry in that Monday night game in Dallas against Arizona and and when things began to go south, they showed you and at that point in time, you were like, I I got to I got I got to get cuz you know, it’s like it’s not great when you’re around an owner of the NFL and nothing’s going south. I got a lot of love for Jerry Jones. I’ve gotten to know him over the years, you know, through the playmaker and so many others. There’s so much good that he’s done that he doesn’t get recognized for. And I really, really do have a lot of love for him. And I was recently honored by Nancy Lieberman’s foundation and Jerry Jones was a surprise presenter. It was a lifetime achievement award and he did that for me and I had no idea it was going to be him and I was real touched by that as well. So, fast forward to a few weeks later. Yeah. And here we are. We’re doing I’m a part of Monday Night Countdown for that particular week because I do several Monday Night Countdowns a year uh with the NFL now. And so I’m there and Jerry Jones like come on up to the suite. And so I said I got to come up there and see him. He’s invited me. I got to come up there and see him. Yes. So I get up to the suite and then one touchdown gets scored. One turnover happened. And I’m like this I’m going to get on out of here. I’m going to get on out of here man cuz I don’t I don’t want to you know I don’t want to I’m not I’m not a bad guy. I know it’s hard for people to believe, but I’m actually a very nice guy. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to troll you like that to your face. No, not to his face like that in this booth. Now, yeah, I’m here on television. That’s different. I’m doing my radio show. That’s different. I’m sitting there on on on X or something. All right. But damn, in his face and sweet. No, I don’t want to do that. You know, that that’s just classless. I’m not going to do that. When I was up there, I was hoping that the Dallas Cowboys would do well so he’d have a smile on his face sitting next to me. But as I saw it coming, I was like this. Let me get out. Let me let me get on that. Did you say we start scoring once you got to the box? No. No. When I said when they started started scoring when Arizona started Arizona started living up and I saw what was coming and I was like, let me get out. But does he ever say to you, hey, just lay off a never never never ever not one time. He loves it when I talk about the Cowboys because you know a lot of times and there’s and believe it or not there’s a lot of times we have serious discussions off the air where I’m literally giving him my honest heartfelt opinion about what he should do for them to get better and he’s like I ain’t listening to that you know and he said there’s a couple of times he said see I did do it but there are other times where you know 80% of the time like I’m not listening to a damn thing you saying this is what I want to do. I’m like, “Okay, certainly Micah Parsons.” I didn’t want to see Micah Parsons gone. To me, he’s a Dallas Cowboy and he wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. He just wanted his money and Jerry didn’t want to give it to him. Well, my attitude is if you going to move him, move him earlier. Why are you waiting until right before the season begins and trading him for two late first round picks than that and Kenny Clark for Micah Parsons? Yeah. So, a lot of times Jerry’s stubbornness, his procrastination gets in the way. But it it it’s my my vitri I shouldn’t say vitriol, but the way I like to troll Cowboys is because of their fans. It’s not because of Jerry. It’s not It’s not because of Michael Irvin even, you know, it’s not even though when Michael Irvin’s off te I mean when Michael Irvin and I were doing first take together. I remember when they beat Tampa in the playoffs and Tom Brady and they and they spanked him and they had the footage Michael Irvin walking into the suite with Jerry Jones and the family and hugging everybody. I said, “Look at him. He’s so he’s so pathetic.” And and I was like this. I said, “He got me now.” Cuz I knew he was looking forward to coming on the air and getting at me. And I said, “What am I going to say?” And and and my girl asked me, “Well, what you gonna say? What you gonna say?” I said, “Just see. Wait for it. Wait for it.” She said, “Okay.” And we went on TV the next morning. And I said, “You got six days.” Because San Francisco was next. I said, “You got six days, bro.” I said, “So you enjoy this.” And he go, “There you go. There you go.” Michael, there you go. And sure enough, six days later, here he comes. Here he comes. Bam. Just like I said, it makes me sick. It’s like uh you could set your clock to it. Stephen A. Smith, couple minutes left that I have with you here. The story in the NBA is what is it? Oklahoma City maybe 81 and one, you know, like is that I think they’re going to win. Listen, I think they’re on the verge. I walked into this season being very very very excited about the season. I think my Knicks are going to the finals. Um I think they could take the East and and but Detroit is coming and Detroit, you got to pay attention to them. Um they are for real. But then I looked at Oklahoma City and I’m like my god, what can’t they do? Right. And Shay Gil just Alexander. I mean, they’re just they’re walking through the league like it’s nothing. It’s like we’re the champs. We know we’re the champs. We know we’re better than you. And we’re going to show you. Maybe this game will show it in the first quarter. Another game we’ll show it in the third quarter. Another game will show it in the fourth quarter. But make no mistake, by the time we get finished with you, it’ll be very, very clear. They’ve won 16 straight. They’re 24-1. The only loss on their game on their season was to Portland, which was the second game of a back-to back. And by the way, they had played that game without Jaylen Williams, and I forgot who else they were playing the game without. I mean, they are just unreal on both sides of the ball. And so, I look at them as repeating. I don’t see any competition for them right now anyway. I’m hoping Houston steps up. I was hoping the Lakers would step up, but they can’t guard me on the perimeter, and they got a problem with that. So, I mean, you know, when you look at it, all of a sudden, we were raving about Luca being in shape. Now, we looking at him, he doesn’t look to be in the same shape. That level of defensive tenacity we were hoping with a with a send. We haven’t seen that. You you’re seeing people attack the Lakers interior and stuff like that. So, you wonder about that. And then you get reminded say, “Okay, Denver, Denver did take them to seven games. Did take them to seven games last year in the semi-finals. Joic is still Jokic. Murray is still Murray. Porter is gone, but they still got Aaron Gordon, too. Plus, they went younger and they retoled and re and and you know, they they revitalized their bench. So, maybe Denver has a shot. But OKC just looks in a class of their own by themsel and not only a team that’s going to win 73 games, but a win a team that’ll coast to it unless they make it difficult for themselves by taking nights off, which I don’t see happening. Me neither. Me neither. Uh, next time we see you potentially the Super Bowl will be there in Santa Clara watching who are you Rams and someone else or what? I started the season thinking Philly and Baltimore. Let me let me put myself on front street about that. Um, I don’t think that’s going to be the case now. I honestly believe that the Los Angeles Rams are probably going to the Super Bowl, right? I really, really do. I believe as long as they don’t, you can beat Seattle, but you don’t want to have to go to Seattle to do it. You want them to have to come to Sofa. going to Seattle is a different monster altogether. But I’m still picking the Rams to likely come out of the NFC. The AFC is a bit tougher because Denver and New England seem to be the two best teams. I don’t think it’ll be one of them though. Okay. Um I’m high on the Texans. I just think their defense is something to behold with Hunter and Anderson and those boys getting after you. Demo Ryan’s got them boys on another level. But offensively, do they have enough? That’s the question mark. And that’s why it’s tough right now. But I would tell you, if I had to pick anybody, it would probably be the Houston Texans. Texans versus Rams. What a what a Super Bowl that would be with Stafford and Puka and Devonte in that run game. Thanks for coming. You’re the best. Thank you very much. Always appreciate your time. That’s Stephen A. Smith. Tell everyone what you’re going to do. Everyone knows. I’m getting ready to go do my show on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. on from 1 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time every weekday. I love it. Oh, yeah. Right. And of course, First Take

On The Rich Eisen Show, Stephen A. Smith joins the crew to discuss:

0:00 Stephen A. Smith joins the show
1:15 Best team in the NFL
3:02 Most disappointing team in the NFL
6:40 Thoughts on the Dallas Cowboys
8:45 Stephen A.’s comments on Jerry Jones
12:45 Thoughts on the Oklahoma City Thunder
14:55 Super Bowl predictions

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