NFL Week 7 ‘Higher Register’ – JJ McCarthy, AJ Brown & NFC East Tepid Takes

Every Thursday, the show goes up an octave. The Higher Register Take of the Week is built on a simple observation Rich has made about human beings: when somebody's voice climbs, they probably don't believe what they're saying.

"Certainly when you're going out and your spouse says to you, 'No, that looks nice,'" Rich said. "You got to change."

Rich thinks the segment started completely organically. One of the crew remembered going higher register once, and the wheels started turning for Rich: this should be a segment. Mike even complimented the room on its demonstration this week. "And Mike, you know what? I appreciate that," Rich said, before adding, "See what I mean?"

Then the takes.

Chris goes all in on AJ Brown

Chris went first, and he went right at Thursday night's game. AJ Brown had taken some slander on the show Monday, and Chris wanted to remind everyone of the résumé. "I think you forget that AJ Brown is a 1,500 yard receiver," he said. "He's a Super Bowl champion. And when he was a young boy wanted to play for the New England Patriots."

His prediction: Brown would remind everybody how good he is. Chris even put a stat line on it, seven catches, 110 yards and a touchdown. "Way to call your shot," Rich told him.

TJ's tepid NFC East take

TJ, who struggles to switch into the register on command, eventually found it. He looked ahead to Monday Night Football, the Cowboys against the Eagles, and delivered the take: "The winner of Monday night's Cowboys Eagles game still probably won the division."

Rich called it a bummer, and said TJ had to go higher register because even he won't believe it. Rich doubted that TJ, even after a Cowboys win, would show up on Tuesday fully dressed with his whiteboard, his flag and his robe. TJ insisted he would "be a problem." Rich wasn't buying it. "See there you go. You don't believe what you say."

Rich on JJ McCarthy and the Texans

Rich saved his for J.J. McCarthy's first start for the Giants, and he came armed with the numbers allowed by the defense McCarthy is about to face.

Josh Allen: 334 yards and two touchdowns. Joe Burrow: 207 yards and two touchdowns. Daniel Jones: a 66% completion percentage, 235 yards and a touchdown. Dak Prescott: 335 yards passing and a touchdown, which Rich called "the last time Gotti looked like Gotti." And most recently, Trevor Lawrence: 306 yards and four touchdowns.

"I'm talking about the vaunted and feared Houston Texans defense," Rich said.

His math gets better. The 207 yards Burrow threw against Houston in a full game, and the 235 Jones threw in all four quarters, were both less than what McCarthy threw in one quarter of action the previous week.

"So I kind of think J.J. McCarthy's going to show up and he's going to run it here and he's going to throw it there and there's Malik Nabers over there and there's Isaiah Likely over there and let's get Cam Skattebo out of the doghouse," Rich said. "I think J.J. McCarthy's going to have a game."

David in Ohio brings a script

A caller, David in Ohio, closed the segment with a take he admitted he wrote out and rehearsed. He warned that the Bears were "looking to put Drake Dismay and the New England Patriots into hibernation," and that Chicago is still a franchise that has spent more time hibernating in January than the Bears do all winter. His pick: the Patriots win Thursday night.

Rich loved the effort. "He's writing copy," he said. The nickname did not land as well on set. "I don't like Drake Dismay."

David also confessed his wife goes higher register at home, telling him to stop listening to Rich. Rich's verdict: if she said it in the higher register, she doesn't mean it.