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Boomer & Gio

Hour 1 - Tomlin's Future, Ravens Owner On Tomlin, Harbaugh

14 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.031 - 18.073 Greg Giannotti

It's the Boomer and Geo podcast from WFAN. And we're coming to you live from the Build Forward Tough studio. Boomer Esiason, Greg Giannotti. It's Boomer and Geo on the fan. Cybercast across the country on CBS Sports Network. And where we are in the free Odyssey app. Good Wednesday morning.

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18.133 - 43.175 Greg Giannotti

The craziest offseason in the history of the NFL when it comes to head coaches gets even crazier as Mike Tomlin yesterday afternoon stepping down as Steelers head coach. That means he's not just available for everybody to interview, so that's why his name isn't attached to every team and you're not seeing teams reach out and schedule interviews, but he is out and obviously John Harbaugh out.

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43.215 - 45.057 Greg Giannotti

Those two going at it for eight

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45.037 - 75.043 Greg Giannotti

years in that division now Zach Taylor is the only one left in that AFC North the Giants continue their press for John Harbaugh and if they miss out on him man I tell you this is going to be a tough one for whoever that second choice is to step in there and every question is going to be how do you feel that the Giants went all out for John Harbaugh didn't get him and then had to turn to you there's second choices and then there's you we'll see if that happens but I still think the Giants are the favorite

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75.023 - 77.725 Greg Giannotti

Good morning, Boomer.

77.745 - 89.977 Boomer Esiason

How are you? Yeah, I'm doing all right, G. And you would think maybe somebody could resign like at 6.30 in the morning, please. Yeah. That would help so we could actually react in real time as opposed to hearing everybody already give their reactions.

89.997 - 93.059 Greg Giannotti

We did get the LeFleur trying to stay news. Yes.

Chapter 2: What led to Mike Tomlin stepping down as Steelers head coach?

93.44 - 94.521 Greg Giannotti

It wasn't like an official.

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94.541 - 113.856 Boomer Esiason

Hopefully that's the case and hopefully he is going to stay. Just to be really totally clear, he was not fired. He stepped down. So that means there is time left on his contract. which means that the Pittsburgh Steelers still do own his rights. And within the NFL, if he wants to go back and coach, there has to be compensation, not financial compensation.

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113.936 - 137.249 Boomer Esiason

It's usually some sort of, you know, draft choices or something kind of like Sean Payton. and the Denver Broncos. So the way that situation unfolded for Denver. So, again, he was not fired. The Roonies were not going to fire him. I think he probably got sick and tired and heard the fans, heard the boos, and probably heard the criticism over the last couple years and is probably exhausted by it.

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137.289 - 139.033 Boomer Esiason

He is a human being, after all.

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139.013 - 158.095 Greg Giannotti

Yeah, I mean, and when you're standing there and it's another playoff loss and you're hearing these fans that have cheered you for so many years saying, fire Tomlin and it's 30-6 and things have gotten out of control and you're thinking, all right, I've got a 42-year-old quarterback and I don't know what the hell is going to happen next year at that position. Yeah, it was time.

158.215 - 166.084 Greg Giannotti

I mean, sometimes those big decisions make themselves. And for Mike Tomlin, it made itself with that loss to the Houston Texans.

166.064 - 185.237 Boomer Esiason

So the amazing thing about what happened in Baltimore and Pittsburgh is the fact that where there was smoke, there was fire. That both of these coaches were being talked about prior to their last game of the season that was going to determine who was going into the playoffs, that the loser was probably going to lose his job. And...

185.217 - 208.278 Boomer Esiason

It turned out that both guys lose their job, and also there were reports that Mike Tomlin was thinking about possibly going into TV, and I'm sure he would be a target for any of the networks that would want to have a personality of his reputation and his background and his resume. They would love to hire a guy like Mike Tomlin. The question is, where do you put him?

208.298 - 218.008 Boomer Esiason

Do you put him in a pregame show, which I think would be a waste, or do you put him on a game? And if you put him on a game, who are you going to pair him with And, you know, everybody thinks doing games are easy.

Chapter 3: What are the implications of Tomlin's resignation for the Steelers and the NFL?

218.208 - 235.591 Boomer Esiason

And I'm sure Mike could do a great job of breaking down the game. And I think if as long as you are Mike Tomlin in the booth, if he could just let it go and just be himself, I think it'd be great. But the question is, you know, you got to pair them with the right guy. It's got to be the right network. It's got to be to me. It's got to be a national stage. It can't be the third pairing.

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236.132 - 248.058 Boomer Esiason

You know, so when you think of the networks, they all have their number one and number two guys. And you're not going to be putting Mike Tomlin, I don't think you're going to be putting him in the number one booth with either Tom Brady, Chris Collinsworth, or Tony Romo.

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248.819 - 269.329 Greg Giannotti

No, and it seems like it's Fox. And Jay Glazer's got a lot of great relationships in the NFL, but him and Mike Tomlin have been close for a very long time. And that's why I think the Fox thing and that connection is probably going to happen. But that one seems like the least... They have, like, eight guys in a pregame show? Yeah, I know. And you think about it.

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269.349 - 287.686 Greg Giannotti

So, you know, Matt Ryan just left, but then you got Cowher and Tomlin there, and I don't think Bill's going anywhere. You know, you hear about Tony Romo and the issues that he's having, and you think that would be a nice little thing if Mike Tomlin was a natural and they tested him out and then throw him in there with Jim Nansen. Boom, the NFL's going to love that, by the way.

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287.766 - 292.47 Greg Giannotti

And, you know, it's always trying to get the rights and keeping the NFL happy. Just everybody's got to calm down.

293.011 - 311.712 Boomer Esiason

Tony Romo's not going anywhere. Not going anywhere. He's got a long-term contract, and as long as CBS Sports has the rights to NFL games, he's the lead analyst. That's what they're paying him for. So I know that everybody has a difference of opinion on different things, and I'm not going to argue with anybody. I'm not going to try to defend anybody.

312.233 - 323.045 Boomer Esiason

I'm just telling you, reality tells me that a contract that long, that expensive, you ain't getting out of it. How many years are left on that contract? It was a long contract.

Chapter 4: How does Mike Tomlin's departure compare to other coaching changes in the NFL?

323.065 - 326.689 Boomer Esiason

I think it was like 10 years, I think. I think it was 10 years, $170 million.

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327.349 - 341.104 Greg Giannotti

Well, I know it was $17 million a year. But, yeah, so I don't know the perfect landing spot. I'll give you another one, but it's not Fox, and everybody keeps saying Fox, Fox, Fox. Get Kirk Herbstreet out of Amazon and get a real NFL guy in there.

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341.124 - 349.835 Boomer Esiason

All right, so that would be a spot. I'm not saying that Kirk should be replaced. placed or anything. I'm just saying. He does a great job with college. Right. That doesn't work. And he does a lot of college. Right.

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350.075 - 355.924 Greg Giannotti

I'm not saying taking him off of that. He does a great job. He's one of the best college analysts there are. Doesn't work on Amazon NFL.

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355.944 - 365.259 Boomer Esiason

All right. So, but what I'm saying is that that's the place where you'd want him. You'd want him somewhere. where he is the star of the night. You know what I mean?

365.279 - 389.564 Boomer Esiason

Like, he's got to be... He can't be on a panel with 14 guys and, you know, he has three or four, you know, comments in a pregame show, two comments at halftime, and one comment postgame, and then they go to whatever they're showing next to Masked Singer. I mean, whatever it is. So, you know... Tomlin's got star power, and TV loves star power, and star power has to be the lead person.

389.984 - 410.458 Boomer Esiason

That's why Tom Brady is there. That's why Tony Romo's there. That's why Chris Collinsworth has lasted so long. Good luck trying to find those replacements, but finding the right spot for Mike Tomlin if he wants to do this. Would be, that's the thing. I mean, I think you'd have to put him there. Burying him on one of these pregame shows is a waste of time.

410.939 - 427.261 Greg Giannotti

Yeah, I mean, especially on Fox where they don't say goodbye to anybody. You know, Jimmy Johnson finally said, all right, enough is enough. I want to go down to Florida and I don't want to do this any longer. But Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw, now Strahan is in there. I mean, Gronk. That's what I'm saying. What are you going to do? Are you going to put him on that desk too?

427.922 - 449.787 Greg Giannotti

You've got Jay Glazer in there. Right, but that's why I think the Glazer-Tomlin ratio. I also think you're right. It's a waste, not just because of the amount of people that are there on that booth, but I want to hear him breaking down games, especially right off the field. I want to hear the things that he is seeing from his point of view. That's the stuff.

Chapter 5: What are the potential next steps for Mike Tomlin after leaving the Steelers?

698.292 - 718.52 Boomer Esiason

You get the quarterback, you get the team built around them, and away you go. That's not the case in Pittsburgh right now. So whoever steps into these shoes may have a losing record for the first time in 19 years. Sure. I mean, and that could be something that, I'm not saying that it would scare potential suitors away.

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718.54 - 733.017 Boomer Esiason

I would just say that in the back of my mind, I would be thinking, so Tomlin replaced a legend and became a legend himself. How many times has that happened? Bill Cowher replaced a legend, became a legend himself. So it doesn't happen a lot.

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733.537 - 743.43 Greg Giannotti

No, I mean, it really doesn't. I mean, if you look at the best coaches in the history of the NFL, and you think a lot of them you can't even name the guy who was there afterwards.

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743.71 - 752.241 Boomer Esiason

How about Jimmy Johnson replacing Tom Landry? Now, that was real. I mean, do you remember? I don't know if you remember how controversial that decision by Jerry Jones was.

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752.261 - 757.208 Greg Giannotti

Sure, yeah, and then the two of those guys couldn't coexist, which was unbelievable with all the success they had.

757.228 - 777.228 Boomer Esiason

They fell apart is basically what happened, and then they had the fortunate, fortunate, bad season that was allowing them to draft Troy Aikman. And then everybody around Troy Aikman and that defense and the way that they built that team, it's got to be one of the greatest teams in NFL history.

777.388 - 790.685 Greg Giannotti

Yeah, great times. So that is one example, Landry and the Jimmy Johnson. But could you say who was the first guy after Don Shuler? Can you even name that? Jimmy Johnson? Right after Don Chula?

790.705 - 791.306 Boomer Esiason

It was.

791.426 - 792.227 Greg Giannotti

Oh, wow.

Chapter 6: How does the coaching landscape in the AFC North change with Tomlin's exit?

1249.193 - 1251.115 Boomer Esiason

Okay, so this is a Peking duck.

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1251.135 - 1251.636 Greg Giannotti

Yeah.

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1252.932 - 1265.796 Boomer Esiason

I'll say about 18 bucks. 29. Wow, the Peking duck. $29. What do you think they get their duck from? You think it's a Long Island duck? Aren't we known for a duck?

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1265.816 - 1268.459 Greg Giannotti

There's a lot of ducks on Long Island, yes. A lot.

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1268.539 - 1270.982 Boomer Esiason

We're not allowed to kill those ducks, though.

1271.082 - 1272.704 Greg Giannotti

There's duck hunting on Long Island, yeah.

1273.065 - 1273.465 Boomer Esiason

Oh, there is?

1273.585 - 1276.609 Greg Giannotti

Yeah. You know who loves a duck hunt is Jordan Davis. Loves a duck hunt.

Chapter 7: What was Steve Bisciotti's reaction to the coaching shakeup?

1276.629 - 1277.93 Boomer Esiason

He loves a duck hunt.

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1278.03 - 1291.485 Greg Giannotti

It's like his favorite thing to do is the duck hunting. Does he have the little quacker? Yeah, he's got everything. I think he can even do it with his own voice. Whatever they do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a good one. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. He should put that in one of his songs.

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1291.705 - 1293.348 Boomer Esiason

I love the duck hunt.

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1293.368 - 1306.009 Greg Giannotti

He probably does. All right, now I feel like I have to just get a couple of the Cheesecake Factory plates, flatbread pizzas, view all categories, small plates, new menu.

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1306.63 - 1311.458 Boomer Esiason

See, the flatbread pizza is a good way to make some money because it doesn't cost that much.

1311.438 - 1338.424 Boomer Esiason

to make yeah let's let's just see what a steak costs at uh because we got what we got like a 22 steak we got a 29 duck yeah peking duck they don't even they don't put the prices on this one have you ever driven through chinatown down here and get the ducks hanging in the windows and stuff yeah i don't know if i could eat i don't where do they where are those ducks coming from i don't know where they're coming from and i don't know if i could eat isn't that how covid started

1339.636 - 1340.537 Boomer Esiason

What, with a duck?

1341.458 - 1346.343 Greg Giannotti

It was a bat, right? Well, I mean, unless it was the lab.

1346.363 - 1349.145 Boomer Esiason

Yeah, but it wasn't here. It was over in China.

Chapter 8: How does the discussion of restaurant preferences relate to the episode's themes?

1814.729 - 1817.271 Greg Giannotti

You walk away from there questioning if you ever want to do this again.

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1817.451 - 1826.941 Boomer Esiason

I think we all understand what attacking downhill means. Well, sure, but not that reporter. Buzzwords when you're talking about linebackers and safeties.

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1827.182 - 1828.423 Greg Giannotti

Short space quicks.

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1828.707 - 1830.97 Boomer Esiason

That kind of crap, yeah.

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1831.011 - 1835.077 Greg Giannotti

Here was Peyton. He wants the fans really to disrupt the bills on Saturday.

1835.197 - 1843.329 Unknown

For years, we were conditioned to raise the noise level when they broke the huddle. The noise level needs to be loudest when they enter the huddle.

1843.59 - 1851.762 Boomer Esiason

So looking for that 12th man on Saturday. Come on, man. Let's go. You should be saying we'll play him anywhere, anytime. No fans, fans, doesn't matter.

1853.092 - 1861.991 Greg Giannotti

Yeah, well, that's what's going to happen. They earned the right to get the one seed in the home field, and they take advantage of that. Earn the right. Earn the right.

1862.071 - 1863.453 Boomer Esiason

They did earn the right. They did.

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