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Now. On with the show. All I give a damn about Dadaboo the Bach. God, I love that guy. This is The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Tom Pellicera, live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Ha has grounds it back to Kirkering. He can't find him. He throws hole. Today's guest, CBS Sports NFL Analyst Jason McCordy, Yahoo Sports College Football Analyst Ross Dellinger. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pellicero.
Welcome to a Rich Isenless edition of the Rich Eisen Show here on a Friday. Tom Pellicero sitting in the chair for Rich. Thrilled to be making my Disney Plus. Debut? Also, on the ESPN app, ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance with my guys.
Chris Brockman is here. Yeah, Tommy Pete, great to see you in person, man. Jason Feller holding it down as usual because Mike Del Tufo is just posting photos of him at a Dua Lipa concert repeatedly for like 72 hours here. Never seems to be around when I'm here. TJ Jefferson.
Who is, I had to say, it seemed like you floated into the studio here today, TJ. It seemed like you slept well. After that game last night, I'm still recording you like. Per usual.
So, guys, hi, Tom. Hey, what's hi? Tom, Crazy, man. Yeah, man. It was an interesting game as a Cowboys fan, those being two of my least favorite teams.
I was really into that game last night at Camp Front. It was a fun watch. We also got Brian Burns, late addition to the guest list. Did not necessarily expect. That I'd be on the stationary bike this morning seeing, like, can we get someone from the Giants on to talk about the biggest win they've had in three years?
It's never a good sign. Was that a workout flex, too, by the way? You know, I keep myself on my own time zone when I come out here. It's never a good sign. When about public perception.
When the network broadcast in your game is promoting a documentary about a guy on the other team. Oh hell. If you're with Prime Video, you're making a calculated bet here that the main audience for that documentary is not going to turn off the game in anger by the start of the fourth quarter. And stick around! to watch the Saquon Barkley documentary.
We'll talk about the Eagles because there's a lot. There is a lot going on with a team that when they were 3-0. When they were four and oh. There were complaints and concerns in the media, from the fans, from the public. about the state of the offense.
Now that they're 4-2. and have stumbled. Over the last couple of games, and did not score a point in the second half last night. Jeez. There's a lot to unpack about.
What direction this thing ends up going in Philadelphia? What they have to do is they go into a mini-buy to get this right. But I want to start by talking about the Giants. A team A front office. That has caught as much flack.
as anybody. Over the last two years. Deservedly so. I mean, proud of that. I mean, about how they handled Saquon, about how they've handled the roster.
About resigning Daniel Jones. About doing a documentary where they explained their reasoning on hard knocks for why they were doing it. And I sat in this chair two summers ago. and said that was the best Behind-the-scenes football show, I had ever seen. Because at minimum You are telling people, this is why we're doing these things.
We don't know if we're right or wrong. We're using our best. Educated response mechanisms here. We are trying to plan. Here's how the cap works.
Here's how money works. This is why we're doing those things. Yep, yep, yep. They had the absolute worst case scenario play out last year, which is not only did the player who they controversially let walk, they didn't trade him, contrary to what you might have heard a couple of times on the broadcast last night, he left in free agency. It was the worst case scenario for that guy to go and not just play well, not just stay healthy, which has been a challenge for Saquon, but run for 2,000 yards and win a Super Bowl.
That is the worst case scenario here. But the reasoning didn't change. Look at what happened last night. And I understand, this is a Thursday night game. Those can be weird.
It is week six of the season. There's still a two-win team that's got a ton that they have to accomplish here to be even relevant when we get to December. But it felt like a moment for them last night. and everything and everyone that contributed last night. It all comes back to the decisions that they made.
over the last two years for what they were going to do with the roster moving forward. Yes, in 2022, coming off of a playoff season where they went and won a playoff game on the road in Minnesota. They wanted to retain their core. They tried to re-sign Saquon to a deal that was... Pretty close to what he ended up taking a year later from the Eagles.
They couldn't get it done. They tag him, they re-signed Daniel Jones. And you spend two years in this kind of purgatory at the quarterback position. Fast forward a year, a couple more attempts to get Saquon done. They decide to let him walk.
It doesn't matter who your running back is if you don't have the quarterback. They used Some of that money. And of course, draft picks to go and trade for Brian Burns, who was everywhere on the field and will be here absolutely. Before the end of this show, he's going to join us live. He's tied for the league league with seven sacks.
He is an absolute monster and a menace. On the field as you saw last night. That is a decision that if you went back in time, they would do. 100 times out of 100. Pay the elite pass rusher.
Not pay the six-year veteran running back. Again, I'm taking nothing away from Saquon. The Eagles won a Super Bowl with him. Saquon Barkley was not going to be the difference between the Giants winning the Super Bowl last year. And not.
That's true. Flat up. It was not going to be the difference.
So what do you do a running back now? You draft Tyrone Tracy at over a thousand yards for scrimmage. As a rookie, and then you draft Cam Scataboo, who might be the most fun story in the NFL right now. I went back this morning. And just watch the sequence about six, seven minutes left in the game.
They're around midfield. And they're just calling inside run after inside run to Cam Scataboo and going, Try to stop us. It's like their equivalent of the Tush Push. He is running into traffic, and you see the entire pile. Move down the field.
And the fans. You know, Eddie from the Bronx, who was probably screaming on the first drive of the game, there's Saquon just running through people. He's on Cam Scataboo's side. Cam Scataboo and Tyrone Tracy throw Devin Singletary in, too. They're making a fraction.
of what Saquon Barkley is. They've had Wide receiver health issues throughout this season. Malik Neighbors out for the season with a torn ACL. They didn't have Darius Slayton last night. They're throwing to Lil Jordan Humphrey, who's not little, by the way.
He's on the practice squad. He's big Jordan. Big guy. But it's jump ball situations, and he's going up and making plays. And you get Jackson Dart.
You can add Joe Carter at the top. You didn't panic and take a quarterback higher than you thought you should take him. But you get, you trade back into the first round and you take Jack Seddart, who again, I understand this is one game. Last night. But if you want to have hope About the Giants moving forward?
It's that maybe, and they certainly think this, they think they've got the quarterback. They think they've got the guy. Jackson Darty, he might have a little fine coming his way for the other part of the Michael Jackson dance that he did last night. You can't. Woo!
You can't actually do that. That's probably gonna be five, ten grand. Exactly. You can't go to that part. And that'll be Jackson's first experience with the NFL fine system.
Doesn't it seem like Jackson Dart and Cam Scatabu both have a little something wrong with them? Yeah. Yeah, but in the best way possible. In a great, great way. They both seem to have a screw-loose.
Cam Scatabu is going on the TNF set post-game and ripping his shirt off, Hulk Hogan style. Like fucking. John Hopey with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Like the whole rug of Ryan Fitzpatrick's chest.
So much. Which, when you're sweaty. When you're a little wet and stinky, that's a bold move because you might be taking some of Ryan Fitzpatrick with you after that. But both of them just seem to be... I hate to do the generational taglines, but they both got this certain Gen Z to them.
Certainly Jackson Dart does. Cam Scataboo just might be nuts. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
He is a different guy. I've interviewed him before on the insiders over on NFL Network. He's just, he's a different type of a guy. He can be just very soft-spoken and straightforward, and then he can go into the absolute. you know, wild man type of mode.
Think of these last two draft classes. For the Giants. Again, these are all things that have taken place. Since they ultimately let Saquon Barkley walk, Again, I will remind people after several attempts over the previous two years. to extend Saquon Barkley.
They drafted Malheet neighbors. Tyler Newbin is starting for him. Drew Phillips, who's been an impact player in the defensive backfield. Theo Johnson was everywhere last night. Yep.
A breaks through type of performance for him, and Tyrone Tracy. This year's draft class starts with Abdul Carter, Jackson Dark, Cam Scataboo. That's your core. That you're trying to build around now. And if you're retaining, say Quan Barkley.
A great player. Who we've seen be one of the best players in the NFL. There are moves you cannot make. You do not have Brian Burns. You're not adding him to a mix that now includes him and Kayvon Thibodeau.
and Abdul Carter. You don't have that guy who's co-leading the NFL in SACS if you're retaining Saquon Barkley. It's a salary gap leak. You don't have. That flexibility.
And then at the quarterback position, yes, you kind of had to try to patch this thing together. and build it around Daniel Jones, because coming off of a playoff year. You don't really want to blow it up at that point and go back to ground zero, but you're tied to somebody who, as well as he's playing right now in Indianapolis, and he certainly is. You probably felt like there's a ceiling. For this guy.
So, what did they do? They didn't go.
Well, we gotta, we're all gonna get fired if Saquon goes to Philly because they knew he was going to Philly. We're all going to get fired if he plays well and they go and make a playoff run and Saquon's a big part of it. You try to do the right thing. And Joe Shane. Brian Dable.
The Mara family. And certainly, John, who's fighting cancer right now, had to be wherever he is, smiling at that game last night. Because there have not been a lot of those types of moments for the Giants over the last three years. Every fan, every media member wanted everybody fired. This is why you do the right thing, even when it's hard.
If you get fired for doing the right thing, You Accept the consequences. doing things because public pressure and let's just give Saquon $16, $17 million, and let's retain them. And no, we're probably not going to be very good. Or do we free up those resources, draft a couple of dudes who are both studs? Tyrone Tracy is a really good player, too, and try to build this thing in the big picture.
I don't know. where the rest of the season goes for the Giants. But for at least one night, When you were winding, go back to hard docs 18 months ago. This is the math problem they were trying to solve. It's a complicated math problem.
It's advanced algebra at the least. Advanced. But it seems like you at least can understand. Why when they graphed this out on the board, they came to the conclusions they did. On the flip side of it, You have an Eagles team.
that when they walked off the field in New Orleans. And it's always hard to project out. What teams are going to be? There's turnover. Guys age at various points.
There's going to be players who suffer injuries. The Eagles have not necessarily had. Those circumstances. They haven't had a devastating injury to one of their core players. It's a lot of the same dudes.
I don't think anybody is aging out. You had, you know, yeah, the likes of, you know, The Brandon Grahams and Fletcher Coxes and Jason Kelseys, who over years have been there. Obviously, some of those guys were not on the team last year, but. You're not having those guys. Like, Saquon is not at an age where he's falling off.
You saw Saquon, he still looks like Saquon last night. AJ Brown, who was banged up in camp, But they got him the football last night. The passing game seemed to be off just in general. There's obviously a pick six in that game. I go back to the miss to Devontae Smith.
Oh, wow. It's a coverage bust. On a night that Shane Bowen's defense was really, really impressive, they completely turned loose Devontae Smith, and Jalen Hurts misses him by a lot. I'm not a quarterback expert. But that is a situation where put some air under the ball and let one of the fastest dudes in the NFL.
Just go and get it. Then postgame Because everything for three days, it's a short week. There have been a lot of discussion, including on the pregame show, about the meeting early in the week. It was reported. Jalen Hurts talked about it.
Saquon Barkley talked about it. AJ Brown was asked about the meeting and he said. This. We had this meeting this past week with eight with Take one in. What was behind that?
Oh, okay. The meeting never worked. I don't know what you're talking about. Those guys said it. It had.
Oh. Oh yeah, you talk to them. You weren't in the meeting? I don't recall. Or are you going to want to just?
I don't recall. He's got a smile on his face, okay? I like A.J. Brown a lot. I've always enjoyed talking with him.
I think he's one of the great tone setters in the league. But that was unusual, was it not? Yeah. Pretty weird. I mean If it if he doesn't recall it.
Maybe it's time for another meeting. A meeting about the meeting. Because the parts still didn't connect the way that the egos want. I don't personally lay this at the feet, I think it's way overly simplistic to lay this at the feet of Kevin Petullo. The new offensive coordinator every year.
There's some level of this with the Eagles, where early in the season, they're trying to figure some things out. Jalen Hurts has had a different play caller. Every year going back to high school. He has never had any consistency. Through Alabama to Oklahoma to obviously the Eagles, whether it was Nick Siriani calling it in his first year, turning it over to Steichen, then Steichen leaves, handed it to Brian Johnson.
That doesn't work out. You go and name a new play caller once again, then he goes in and gets a job. We can tell him more. There's. There's all kinds of circumstances here, but it does not.
It just doesn't look right. And the egos in general. don't quite look right.
Some of the biggest plays in that game just in the fourth quarter. You mishandle a kickoff out of bounds. Yeah you have a critical fumble. And again, the pick six and the miss. Like the o the only thing that goes right in the big picture in that game is yes, the tush bush is still really good.
So good last night, in fact. running it four consecutive times that it does sitting there watching it. Just makes me think they don't have confidence in anything else they're doing. You're paying A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith as two of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL.
You got the highest-paid running back in the world. Can't even get a red zone touch, a red zone opportunity. Like, what is happening? And you've got Jalen Hurts, of course, who is the Super Bowl MVP, and not just because. He can duck his head in behind the guards who may or may not leave a split second early.
I do find the comedy in... After the third and two tush push, and then they cut to Kevin Batullo on the sideline who's going like this: He's got the plate card. What could he be calling? It's fourth and inches. We got to cover that plate.
We know it's the tush push, it's unstoppable. But there's not a lot else. that it seems like the Eagles have a high degree. of confidence in Nick Siriani said it after the game last night. That you got to treat this like a mini buy.
We'll hear from Lane Johnson a little bit later on in the show because he's talking about we're becoming too predictable offensively.
Well, the part that's predictable is the unstoppable part. The unpredictable parts are where you're not executing things. the way that you need to. It was a weird night once again for the Eagles, who, for a 4-2 team that is still on top of the division, is going to face all kinds of questions for the next 10 days. And it was a great night for the New York Giants.
We'll see how the rest of this season goes. But if you want hope. Those two wild man rookies. are a big part of the puzzle. And you hope that's kind of the new definition of what Giants football is.
as you move into the future. Uh Jason McCordy is going to be joining us after this. He was at the game last night. Again, full lines will be open throughout the show: 844-204-RICH. Thanks to those of you who are watching us on Disney Plus, the ESPN app.
Of course, listen to us on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. Let's dive a little deeper into this and the rest. Of an exciting week six ahead when Jason McCordy joins us right on the other side of this break with me, Tom Pellicero, In for Rich on the Rich Eisen Show. This episode is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. Buying a car can be like a long road trip.
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You did not dream that. Last night, even if you might have dozed off at some point in the third, fourth quarter, Giants routed the Eagles. Our next guest. was there. He is a Super Bowl champ.
He's a 13 ti 13 year. NFL veteran, now CBS analyst. You can see basically Jason McCordy. Everywhere. I once, I think most famously, what he's best known for Was releasing a single with me on the acoustic guitar and him singing back during his Good Morning Football Days.
I'm not going to ask you, Jason, to sing today mainly because of how that segment went, but I got to say, in my weird memories of nine years at NFL Network, that one is really high up on the list. Give you credit because you actually have musical talent. Myself, I expose myself to everybody to show how bad of singing, but I got to show how much of a team player I bought into the segment and it was absolutely brutal. But I appreciate you for playing along. You absolutely went for it, which I appreciated.
But the moment you opened your mouth, I was like, oh boy, there's no rhythm, there's no pitch, nothing here. But appreciate you being here today, man. You were at the game. Last night, MetLife Stadium, I saw the photo on social media. You and your son, when you walk through the doors of that stadium, What are the chances in your mind you're going to watch the Giants salting that game away in the fourth quarter?
My son wanted to wear his Jalen Hurts jersey to the game because at this age, he's nine. He just wants to be associated with the winner. He didn't care really which team is going to be, but he was so sure that the Eagles are going to win. I'm like, buddy, like. New Jersey, Northeast, like rolling up with a Jalen Hurst jersey.
I don't want to have to fight anybody.
So let's just go neutral, put on just an NFL jacket. But I didn't expect this. The Giants team we saw a week ago with five straight turnovers with so many young guys playing in their game. And then the Eagles on the other side coming off of a loss to the Denver Broncos where they had a lead in the fourth quarter and kind of gave the game away. You expected the Eagles to be fired up that they didn't have to wait an entire week to play again.
And I expected him to win that game and win it kind of big. And a lot of credit goes to Brian Dable. He's been able to get this team going, even coming off that loss on the roll to come back home. The game plan centered around Jackson Dart and how it was able to kind of show itself throughout the course of that game. They end up going down and continue to fight and really put a butt whooping on the Philadelphia Eagles.
And I think it puts them in a spot where at 4-2, yes, you still feel good if you're an Eagles fan that you are where you are. But it's kind of that teetering point where is this going to be the 2023 Eagles where they were 10 and one and then absolutely collapsed? Or is it going to be more like last year where early on in the season, Hearst had turnovers, they were struggling. They went into their bye week. They came up with some answers and they went on a terrific run to obviously win the Super Bowl.
A lot of question marks surrounding the Eagles right now.
So if you look at this Eagles offense, Jason, you spent a long time in your career, obviously, game planning against and trying to pick things apart. What's going on? They're pretty close to full strength. It sounds like they got injuries all over the place. Why, outside of the tush push?
The tush push, we're calling the tush push fourth and inches. Besides the tush push, why does it seem like nothing else is on time, on tempo, the way that we expect? I think part of it is When you're a really good football team and really good offense, like they were a year ago, each and every year you have to kind of recreate yourself and go back and look at it, what you did well, and how you have to adjust and adapt to whatever the new pieces are on your football team. Last year, they decided after the bye week, you know what? The best attribute of our offense is our line and our running back and Saquon Barkley.
And we're going to fully commit to it because he's picking up three yards before he's even getting touched by a defender. And then he's able to do the rest. You come into this season, they haven't been able to do that. They've tried to line up in the shotgun like they always do and just run the ball at people. And Saquon is getting hit in the backfield damn near every single time.
So you don't have the team to just bully people the way you did last year. We've seen him over the last two weeks try to rely on the passing game a lot more and put the ball in Jalen Hurts' hands. It's too vanilla. And I don't know if when you're looking at the Eagles, if they feel as though, hey, we're doing what Jalen Hurts likes and we're doing the things that work to the best of what his abilities are, or if they just feel like he can't handle more with their offense, more motion, more movement, different things with the wide receivers. You're not seeing that.
A lot of times they're just lining up and they're saying, we're going to beat you one-on-one. And they don't have the ability to do that this year.
So I think when you watch them, to your point, outside of the tush push and the variations that they've done off of the tush push, they're struggling. And you're seeing it on first and second down, which has led to them. We haven't even seen that many tush pushes the last two weeks because they're always in third and six plus because they're not able to pick up the necessary yards on first and second down. This is an offense that has completely lost their identity. And they have a 10-day break now.
So somewhere along the lines, they have to figure out exactly who they are. Flip side of this, I also was struck by how the Eagles didn't seem to have a whole lot of answer. For the things Jackson Dart was doing particularly off schedule. There's kind of this looseness in his game. He's coming out of the pocket.
It looks like a lot of times, I want to call it, you know, not full backyard football. I'm sure they have rules to the scramble drills, but like a lot of their big plays are coming from him either running or just getting outside. If you're scheming this up against him, you watched that tape last night and you're figuring out: okay, how do we not let Cam Scataboo gash us and not let the quarterback run around and make things happen? What do you do against him? I mean, the first thing is you talked about him scrambling in.
You would hate as a defense. The one thing you go into the game, you're saying, Hey, rush lanes. And I promise you, everybody on the Eagles' defensive front probably talked about it going into the game. Guys, we got to stay in our rush lanes. And then his first touchdown, it just parts like the Red Sea.
And he's gone up the middle.
Now it's one-on-one with Zach Bond, and he had no shot. And now it ends up in a touchdown.
So you go in with these rules, and now you have to be disciplined when the lights turn around. I'll also say this for the Eagles' defense: when you don't have Jalen Carter in the front, when Quinyon Mitchell ends up with a hamstring injury and you don't have him on the outside, those are two of your very best players on the defensive side of the ball. And every team loses good players. But when you don't have guys behind it, it fully exposes you. It was one thing when Queen Han Mitchell was in there and they were attacking Keely Ringo.
When he exited the game, now you have two corners in a Dory Jackson and Keely Ringo. Guys aren't pressed up the way Kenya Mitchell does.
Now they're playing off.
Now it's easy access throws for Jackson Dart to be able to get the ball on the outside with no Jayla Carter in the middle.
Now you're running Cam Scatterbool in the first half where it really wasn't making much hay in the run game. But that's the thing. They continued to run the ball and it started to break open in the second half and it became a scatterboo second half where it was a dart first half and they just continued to pound the Eagles. And I think If you're watching that game as an Eagles fan, you're seeing your all-pro linebacker, Zach Bond, get ran over by Scatterboo. You're seeing him getting made a fool of in the middle of the field by Jackson Dart.
You don't know where else to turn on a defense when your offense is struggling as well. There was nothing really clicking for the Eagles last night. Jason McCordy breaking it all down here on the Rich Eisen Show. Tom Pellicero in for Rich. You got a trip to Miami coming up this weekend, Jason.
Chargers at. Dolphins, the Chargers, you talk about teams losing people. I mean, they are gutted. The Dolphins are beat up at this point. If you look at LA, where they've been over these last couple of weeks, where we were talking about them the first few weeks of the season, this might be the team to beat in the AFC West, if not the AFC.
What do you see and how do they get things going back the right direction? A lot of it is, you just said beat up. A lot of it is the injuries on the offensive line. I mean, the first three weeks, Justin Herbert was just balling, being able to get the ball out, putting it wherever he wanted. We saw him creating plays with his legs, doing so much for this offense.
already we knew slater was gone for the season then you lose joel alt in the giants game early on and now you're playing with essentially your third and fourth offensive tackle then makai bechton is banged up on the inside bolzman at the center has really struggled as well so justin herbert went in the first three weeks where i think it was he was averaging like eight yards per attempt to now the last two weeks it's been five yards per attempt so he doesn't have the time that he had in those first three weeks to be able to get the ball down the field and get it in his playmakers hands.
So now he's under pressure constantly. And the amount of hits that he has taken in the last few weeks is not sustainable for this offense.
So they have to try to figure out a way. Amidst all of the injuries and now losing the running back in Amarna Hampton, who kind of has taken off in the last few weeks. How do you still continue to generate explosive plays when you don't have a ton of time? Do you take people out of the routes and leave more guys in the block to give Herbert more time? How are you going to be able to run the ball now with Haskins and Videl in the backfield when you don't have the high traffic and Najee Harris is also on IR?
That's going to be the struggle for this offense to figure out Greg Roman, their coordinator, how he can generate and still be able to do some things so they can put points on the board. The Dolphins lost, I believe, three-fifths of their offensive line by week one. That's created a challenge for a team that already, I've always said Mike McDaniel has one of the hardest jobs in football because every week he's got to come up with a game plan for the quarterback to not get hit because bad things happen when Tua Tonga Valoa gets hit. But when you look at the numbers on Tua, he's not taking a great deal of sacks, but he's one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the NFL. The first three years with McDaniel.
Now, suddenly he's down near the bottom. What do you see? And when you're talking to him, what do you hear about what's going on with Tuo right now?
Well, it's both sides of the line for them. Defensively, they can't stop the run because they're struggling up front in the way they're fitting a lot of their run plays. And then offensively, they from the first game of the season, they were excited that they had James Daniels who brought over from Pittsburgh. Austin Jackson was going to be the blind side of their offensive line, Tua on the right side. Both of those guys end up injured in week one.
So now you're playing with two backups.
Now Cole Strange is playing right guard for them, someone they picked up off of the Browns practice squad.
So they've gone through so many injuries. And then the right guard, Jonas Abanea, he's a rookie. He's still learning on the job.
So for Tua, a lot of it is you got to get the ball out so fast and make a play. And that brings down the efficiency. And yes, he's not getting hit as much, but the offense isn't able to operate the way that we saw it operate in 2022. And now you couple all of that with the fact that Tyreek Hill isn't going to be out there for the remainder of the season for them. Jalen Waddell had one hell of a Game.
So did Darren Waller in the first half, being able to do all of his damage. But now for them, is how do you adjust as the game goes on, as the season goes on? How do you get the run game going to be able to take some of that pressure off of Tua and get Han in space to do some of the things? But for them, very similar to the Chargers on the other side of the ball, this offensive line is so banged up that you're trying to find out ways, McDaniel is, to still get the offense going and getting the ball out of Tua's hands and their playmakers, but you have to do it so fast and do it so efficiently. You course spent a lot of your career with the Tennessee Titans.
You won a Super Bowl with the Patriots. Two teams that they're at different points in the young quarterback development. But what we saw last week, Drake May with kind of a breakthrough type of performance against Buffalo. Cam Ward, albeit with a lot of help from weird stuff happening in Arizona, but he was throwing dots down the stretch in that game to keep admitting. When you look at those two young quarterbacks, what do you see?
But It's a beautiful thing when you can feel like in your locker room, you have the guy that can lead you. And I think last Sunday night when we watched Drake May and we watched the New England Patriots, you saw a team that really believes they have the guy that can lead them to the promised land, that at some point could be hoisting a Lombardi trophy in his career, making clutch plays in the fourth quarter, the moment not being too big. And I remember being out there in the summer and getting a chance to talk to Josh McDaniels, their offensive coordinator, and he just had a big old smile on his face when he talked about Drake May. And it wasn't just the physical tools, but it was also the mental approach. How when they got there, Drake wanted to learn everything about the offense from the foundation on up, setting protections, knowing where the hots are, all of those things.
He wanted to challenge himself to learn them, and he has. And we've seen from weeks one through week six, week five, the improvement of how he's understanding the offense. And then obviously the chemistry that he's being. able to build with Stefan Diggs. I think on the other side, what we're seeing from Cam Ward is we're seeing a young guy being able to thrive through the chaos.
For the Tennessee Titans, their roster starting out this season wasn't going to be a great one that surrounded him. And even early on, drops from a lot of his receivers, including Calvin Ridley. And he's continued, even from the preseason, he's continued to put it all on his shoulders. The leadership qualities that he possesses at such a young age, man, it's exciting to watch. And even in the midst of last week, where you see him going off in the presser, you have a guy that genuinely cares about this team, about the people around him.
You just want to see them start to figure it out and move forward. And to your point, Cam Ward, I think, played awesome a week ago and things had to go in their favor. The ball had to bounce their way, as we like to say, to be able to win that game. I don't know if that's going to continue to happen, but you want to see Cam Ward continue to get better for that offense. I'm glad you brought that up, the press conference the week before.
That's where he was asked about the offense. He said, we ask. That was his answer. I love the honesty. I love the bluntness.
And it fits with. What I see, and I didn't play in the NFL, but even watching the way that Cam Ward commands the huddle. When they were down a couple touchdowns the week before, and it's the fourth quarter, and some guys would come out there, their shoulders are down, they're sulking into the huddle. Cam Ward is coming out there and like letting guys know, like, we are getting this thing going. I imagine there's a unique dynamic anytime you've got a rookie coming in and doing that.
But I also would imagine if the guy is playing like Cam Ward played down the stretch last week, you're like, hell yeah, come and lead us. yeah you you need that at that position and that's the one thing that he has shown since he got there in training camp he got into a tussle with jeffrey simmons on the other side of the ball and your quarterback is out there nose to nose with one of the best defensive tackles in the nfl so that just shows you what he has and what he's made of on the inside i think watching that press conference for me is as frustrating because you have this young guy and i don't know cam ward personally but whenever you watched him since he's come into the nfl even all of the interviews and different things leading up to him being drafted he's one of those guys that when you watch him he always says something wide wise beyond his years he always has the right answer to say he always seemed so calm and collected whenever he's in front of a camera so when you saw him Say those things and show that level of frustration, it was even magnified more in my brain because I'm like, damn, it has to be that bad in Nashville right now for him to respond this way because we haven't seen that side of him. But I think, to your point, there's an appreciation in Nashville for him saying that and him calling out. The guys in the locker room. the coaching staff, the organization, when your quarterback, the guy you drafted first overall is showing that level of frustration.
That early in the season, I feel like it puts everybody on notice. Because if I'm ownership and I'm Amy Adams and I'm watching that, I'm like, well, what the hell is going on there? Like, why is this guy that frustrated after a game? Like, who is doing him a disservice? Because I have to figure this out and get it corrected.
You can see him on the call for Chargers Dolphins Sunday on CBS. Nobody better. One of my favorite people in the business. Jace McCourty, thanks for being here, man. I can't wait to get on a guitar.
You and we knock down a place again. Good to see you, Tom. I'll put together a riff or something. I'll send it to you. You add the vocals, man.
We'll collaborate. Keep this thing rolling. Great to see you, buddy. We'll do this again soon. Dude, he's phenomenal in terms of breaking it down.
I thought it was really interesting, too, the way that he was talking about some of the challenges the Eagles have on both sides of the ball. When you hear from somebody who's seen as much ball and is as smart as Jason McCordy, Eagles have no identity on offense. And that defensively they last night at least, don't have the depth to combat it. Those are things that, if I'm Howie Rosman, who is as active as any GM, on the phones, wants to be in every deal, is always going to be looking to push the envelope and improve the roster. If I'm thinking the same thing.
And I'm Holly Roseman. I'm probably looking at: okay, what, if anything, don't make a trade, don't sign somebody just to make a trade or just to sign somebody, but there may be some things we need to address. To make th sure this thing gets going in the right direction. And I know Jalen Carter was out last night, but the thing that stuck out for me most was the Eagles just got pushed around. On the front and on the line.
And you don't haven't seen that an Eagles team get pushed around like that in the last, what? Two, three years, it seems like. And, you know, that kind of stuck out with me. And then you saw it with The way Scataboo was getting through. Even on the goal line carries, he was just kind of getting through and they were pushing him into the end zone.
You don't see an Eagles team get manhandled like that. The Eagles have been the bully. Right. Since Nick Siriani got there, the Eagles have been the bully. They were the bully in the Super Bowl last year.
Last night they got bullied. And we'll find out 10 days from now exactly how they respond. A lot more to come on this show. We got injury updates, including for a certain quarterback getting back on the field today. We'll discuss that right on the other side of this break.
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To the Rich Eisen Show, Tom Pellisero in for Rich, who is going to join us shortly. From London. Site of Broncos Jets on Sunday. Rich will be on the call for that game early, early Sunday morning on NFL Network. I say early because I'm in makeup at 3:30 a.m.
Look at you. Prior to the 4 a.m. Pacific time. Pre-game show. It'll be uh Be later in London.
We are on ESPN Radio. ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. See why over 43 million drivers trust Progressive to stay protected on the road. See for yourself at progressive.com. A few injury updates with NFL head coaches meeting with the media this morning.
The most substantial one, Tyler Murray is going to be back on the field today. Kylan Murray had a foot, some type of an issue. In the game, he briefly went to the locker room, then he came back out, finished off the game, didn't practice the last two days. Jonathan Gannon told reporters Kyler is going to be out there today, which you would think. Would put him trending toward playing on Sunday.
In what I mean, quite frankly, it's a must-win type of a game against the Colts team that has been. the best positive story maybe in the entire NFL this season. No team in NFL history. Had ever lost three consecutive games on a last-second walk-off field goal. Until the Cardinals.
And anecdotally speaking, I'm pretty sure. No team in NFL history has ever lost any game. The way the Cardinals did last week. With dropping a ball before crossing a goal line, with an interception turn, fumble turn, touchdown. Those are two plays I've seen separately.
I have never seen them in the same game. Much less one that would have been a blowout win for Arizona, if not for that sequence of events transpiring. Bucks not getting a whole lot of help. No Chris Godwin on the field for practice today. Todd Bowles had said he'd need to practice to play.
Still dealing with that fibula injury. Leftover from last year hasn't entirely been, it seems, himself so far this season. Not on the practice field today. They haven't released the injury report, but sounds like no Chris Godwin. Still no Mike Evans.
Still has been no problem to this point for the Buccaneers who find ways to put up points, regardless who's out there, as long as it meets. is out there. They have found ways to put up points so far this season, but no help coming for the wide receiver front. Of course, Bucky Irving remains sideline as well, so probably another week. of Rashad White.
And here's one. We will be tracking throughout this show. No Jamar Chase. On the field. Oh.
Zach Taylor, literally seconds ago. Telling reporters Jamar Chase got sick last night. questionable To play against the Packers. Got sick. With an illness.
You'd say it's probably a lot better than 50-50 that he's going to play. Not a lot of 72-hour illnesses, but. He was watching that Joe Flacco Browns tape. Is this thing on?
Sorry, no, no, we got it. I mean, you would probably have those suspicions a little bit more if you were still watching Jake Browning the last three weeks. And that's nothing against Jake Browning. I don't think that anybody expects. Certainly, Jake Browning didn't expect to play as badly as he has.
so far this season. What struck me watching the game live last week was There's just simple throws that Jake Browning is off on. Forget some of the decision-making things. It's like, how many times is Jamar Chase going to run an outbreaking route and Jake Browning throws it on the inside shoulder for a pick? Those are the things that just happen over and over.
We'll talk more about Flacco. Getting another start against the Packers later on in the show. But my biggest question is just going to be. How quickly Can you microwave the rhythm and timing and tempo on which NFL passing offenses function? As good as Jamar Chase is.
As good as T. Higgins is. As experienced as Joe Flacco is, and he's played in variations of this system multiple times. There are many stops now. In the NFL, including going all the way back to Denver with Rich Gangarello, with the Jets when he was with Mike LaFleur.
It's all part of that Shanahan-McVay tree. But you still gotta have reps with players on the field.
Now Jamar Chase is sick. Should you lose a Friday? Maybe he's out there for the walkthrough tomorrow, but just in terms of getting that rhythm against a really good Packers defense, the coming off the bye. Certainly has gone through, I'm sure, and adjusted certain things. They're really talented.
They're going to be healthier. Micah Parsons is going to be all over the field. I wouldn't think that you're feeling really comfortable with Joe Flacco just standing in there. And going through his progressions. A lot of it's going to have to be: hey, we're on the same page.
I am getting the ball out of my hand to you as quickly as possible. What's that going to look like on Sunday if, in fact, Jamar Chase, who again, questionable because of an illness for that game. What exactly What is that going to look like right out of gates? You're trying to keep your season alive at this point. If you're the Bengals, you're two and three.
I know. The team you're looking up at in the division, it's not the Ravens. No, but we're not writing the Ravens off at 1-4, even though they might have to go into another game with all Lamar. They probably should be writing the Ravens off. If anybody is capable of going on a run, they got the buy next week.
They face the Rams on Sunday. We'll find out. I believe they're on the practice field a little bit here. We'll see if Lamar is doing anything, if not. I mean, at this point, it's already fairly obvious, it seems, that we're not going to have Lamar this week.
Right. But take a look at that. You got the buy, then you got Chicago and Miami. And if you're back healthier, besides Lamar, the fact that basically your whole defense isn't on the field right now. There's a lot of different factors in what's going on with Baltimore.
Ronnie Stanley. There's been practicing more. Should be okay to play this week. We're going to play what's more likely with Rich coming up here soon. But what percentage would you put the AFC North?
at getting two playoff teams at. Based on where they are right now, not a particularly high percentage. Right. But if anybody's going to make a run, it's going to be Baltimore. And if you're the Bengals, you're just hoping we need to do enough.
There's enough pressure on their defense already. We all know that's an offense-driven team. When you pump all your money into the offense, you have to score points. Can they score enough that the defense doesn't get exposed to the degree they have so far? We will find that out.
Starting in a must-watch type of a game. on Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Ridge Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
