All right. He's a former r pro linebacker, host of The Lights Out podcast, friend of the Show, and former teammate of Philip Rivers who retired today. Sean Merriman, what's Sean, what's up? Fellers? Are you doing? Always like to have you on My man. Before you answer, Chris is gonna ask you a question. Let me ask you, Let me ask the question. I gotta say something before he answers go ahead. I'm I'm. We were just debating, Sean, whether or not Philip Rivers is a Hall of Famer. We're
gonna give you the definitive answer, whatever you say. That's what the Eye Couple answer is was Philip Rivers are Hall of Fame. But Sean, before you answer, I just wanted to make you aware that Philip Rivers have more kids than playoff wins. Okay, so now you got your answer, so so so the quick answer is absolutely thank you that that part of it is not even up for debate, right because look, you know we got the old Sam
men a Lite women lot numbers. Don't you know before before I came on, I heard you guys talk about his numbers. And if you want to go strictly off
the numbers. He's a shoe win for the Hall of Fame. Now, the reason why it's even up for debate, this, this is why the you know, people even fighting this, right because you got the creaming a crop of Tom Brady who's won so many rings, right, uh that now we start to base it off just that, oh he doesn't have and I'm like, hold on, you're talking about his
top five in two or three major categories. You know how hard that is to do in the National Football League over you know, seventeen year career fifteen fifteen while he just started, never even miss one single game. And of course I'm gonna be a little biased because I played with him, but a little bit. Let me, let me, let me put it this way. You know, I'm sitting there. I remember in the two thousand seven championship game against the Patriots, you're talking about somebody who had a c
L scope just to play in it. And we almost you know, we came close to pool and that thing off. And so you see somebody's body of work, right, and if you and if you throw one ring I'm talking about just one ring in it, that everybody will be on the same page and say Philip Rivers is a shoe and everybody won't have, not one single person if he had one ring. Here here's here's my pushback to you. There are five quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame who don't have a Super Bowl win. Okay, but they all
made first team All Pro. Dan Foul's, Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkington. Rivers never made first or second All Pro in his career. That is not a Hall of Famer, and I don't care who else was around. That's how you distinguish yourself as one of the great quarterbacks is that there's a year or two one a f C Championship game in seventeen years, fifteen years as
a starter. Those are not Hall of Fame numbers to me, Sean, whenever you have to debate somebody about a player's ability to be in the Hall of Fame, you're not a Hall of Famer. If I say to you Aaron Rodgers, you're not gonna put up a fight. If I say Damn Marino, You're not gonna no even without that, If I said Warren Moon, I think you would appreciate that Warren Moon was a better play rob there's a debate about Eli Manning. No there is, thinking, Yeah, there is.
He'd ever go to Canton again if Eli is in the Hall of John Sean. Is Eli Manning not a Hall of Famer? In my opinion? Wow, he'd beat the nineteen and old Patriots team. He'd beat Tom Brady and the Patriots twice. Are you kidding me? We beat we beat We beat a team in Indianapolis, coach when they want to defeat it, I believe as well. So in the super Bowl, you beat an undefeated team that beat that average thirty five points a game, and you beat them and for them to have a perfect season. This
is this is my pushback to what you said. I'm gonna tell you the real reason why it's a debate with Philip Rivers. Phil wasn't like over his career because most people thought that he talked a lot of trash. That's why it's a debate because people didn't like him.
And one thing that I appreciate more than anything over these last our year, I would say two years, we're all finally seeing that the Philip Rivers that was talking trash, it is just his competitive side and most of majority of people people who played wasn't and played against him.
Respect him now because he's miked up. We're seeing these videos, these clips or NFL film and you know, the behind the scenes stuff, and you're starting to see a guy who was more competitive talking trash than somebody you hate. And I'm telling you that's the only reason why we're having this debate because some people didn't like Philip Rivers.
It's completely It's a different story now, Sean, what did the play the teammate the other charges thinking him, because like you said, he never missed the start, he played through a tour a c L. I mean, that had to make everybody believe this dude is, you know, one of the toughest dudes in the league. Not only that. Look, when I used to play against Philip Rivers when he was at NC State now was in Maryland. I didn't like him either. I didn't, you know, because I didn't know.
We're sitting there watching watching film, and we watched the film during the week and I see him after the play and you can't see what he's saying, but you always see it heldman jerking back and forth. At the point he's he's super you know, just being a character, and I said, you know what, when he play these when we play these dudes, I'm gonna get him. I'm
gonna get it because I didn't like him. Now when I played with him, I finally understood what everybody and one of his teammates and the NC State was saying, the saying, you're gonna love that dude. You're gonna love him because he's the one. He one of the ones that he didn't talk like that just on the field. He talked like that all day. I don't care if we were playing cards or dominoes in the locker room, if we were sitting at the lunch table to eat,
it didn't matter weight room. He'll walk by you while you're the bench press and say something to you. It was a competitive spirit twenty four hours a day would phil. It never stopped. And and that's why I believe that they'll never They'll never be another fill of Rivers man. He truly is one of the kind. Yeah, here's the other part. He has a dubious distinction, of course, being top ten quarterback in passing yards and touchdowns, not to
make the Super Bowl. He's the only one, and that that that speaks volumes about him not being in the Hall of Fame. You could pile up numbers. Numbers don't always tell you the story. Matthew Stafford. If you just go by numbers, a Sean sham, Matthew Stafford be in the Hall of Fame. His numbers, that's Chris. That's what I was about to say. He didn't win. And so now so this is what rob This is all when
I see all the time. Right, So when somebody's making the point and they want to bring up statatists and statistics, they'll they'll tell you, oh, this this because of this. Right, So now we got staff and statistics, and now people tell you don't listen to him, but don't believe him. So which one is it? That's I'm just trying to think out are we are we going by the numbers? Are we not going by the numbers? Because if we're going about it numbers, he's a shoeing in the Hall
of Fame. He just doesn't stack up with the other guys who were there. And that's the way I look at it. I don't have I don't vote for pro football. I vote for baseball and personalities. Never I voted for Barry Bonds for nine years and he got one more left, and and Barry Bonds was terrible to the media. People didn't like He didn't like the media. People didn't like him. That guy won seven m vps and guess who voted for him, Sean the writers, because he was a great player.
You can't deny that Philip Rivers was a very good player. If I was in that room, I would stand up, do the funky chicken, whatever I could do to delay the vote, to stop them from putting Philip Rivers in the Hall of Fame. I just don't think he's a Hall of Famer. I get it, and I understand why
you're saying that. But at this at the end of the day, at the end of the day, when you stacked up and you talked about top five or top ten across multiple categories, and you want to talk about the numbers, you're gonna have a hard time justifying why Philip is not in there. You can, you can say rings, okay, but other people who didn't win rings. So if you start start talking about the numbers, so that same funky chicken you're doing it there, you have to take you
because those that top five or top seven numbers. He's gonna fall right in the categories. You now, you're gonna have to explain why he's not in there. There. It is the definitive answer from Sean. Like Sean, I still like you. I just disagree with you to the high heavens id I fight with people. I'm gonna fight all the way to the day when he get voted in, and I just know what's gonna happen. Whe it's the first bottle or not. He's definitely gonna get in, all right,
And when he does it, we'll have a conversation. We'll have you back on Sean's alway. Thanks for the spirited debate, my man. Thank you you