The NFL world was left astounded recently when players voted Tyreek Hill as the best NFL player in 2024. The majority couldn’t understand the logic of Patrick Mahomes not being ranked the best player of the year.
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Even legendary broadcaster Rich Eisen was in the same boat till podcast host Taylor Lewan educated him about a key aspect that affects the rankings.
In the latest episode of “Bussin’ With The Boys”, Rich Eisen and the boys [Will Compton and Taylor Lewan] had a jolly good time debating over a variety of topics. While the veteran broadcaster felt Mahomes deserved the first rank for his Super Bowl run, Will and Taylor felt Tua or Lamar Jackson should have been ranked higher than Patrick Mahomes.
This irked Eisen so much that he thought the hosts of the show were joking. When Eisen got to know they weren’t, he asked them the rationale behind their stance.
It is at this moment that Taylor pointed out the key point of the timing of the casting of votes by the players. Lewan stated that NFL stars are asked to vote before the playoffs or at the end of the regular season, so it’s natural to see Mahomes not making it. Eisen upon knowing this acknowledged his ignorance of this rule. “Now it makes sense,” said the broadcaster in agreement.
However, this wasn’t the only major point of contention between Rich and the boys as they had a heated back and forth on whether the NFL is scripted or not.
Rich Eisen Laughs Off Conspiracy Theories Suggesting NFL’s Scripted Nature
Be it the NFL or any other sporting league in the world, the conspiracy theory that the league is scripted or fixed has always floated around. While most don’t believe in it, the NFL conspiracy theorists managed to convince a few thanks to Taylor Swift.
As per Compton and Lewan, the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win was scripted by “them” to cash in on the incredible Taylor Swift hype that the league received. Eisen upon hearing this theory couldn’t believe his eyes and ears that he had two grown men in front of him saying such stupidity out loud. He then confirmed if they were real and the boys agreed in unison that they believed in it.
This agreement was too much for the veteran as he repeatedly asked Will and Taylor who is “them” – the entity behind this scripting.
After relentless back and forth proved that the hosts had no answer to the identity of “them”, Eisen concluded that conspiracy theorists always want people to believe in their theories but never explain how or who is the mastermind in their claims. Despite this, the boys held their end and continued believing in their theory.
While beliefs are subjective, there has to be mental gymnastics of the highest order to believe that teams willingly lose games, right plays and performances to ensure they fit into a “script”.
Spot-fixing might be possible but an entire match being scripted requires every single individual’s cooperation. There are far too many variables to pull this off realistically.
