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Now, on with the show. Mendoza back over the middle and he's picked off. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Mike Garifolo, is there a shot? He's the week one starter.
The communication has been that Kirk Cousins is going to be the week one starter.
However, I've been lied to before. Earlier on the show, NBC Sports Bay Area 49ers reporter Matt Mayoko. Five-time NFL Pro Bowler Teron Armstead. Coming up. Three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schleren.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. Mm-hmm. Show here on our final day of this week in August, getting set. For another full preseason weekend of action, 844-204-H. Number to chat with us.
Phone lines are all lit. Adam's back in his spot to answer phones. We left it so he could come here and air it out. Certainly left it to start with. Jefferson.
GJ ditching Penn State for a pair of free shoes. Oh, my God. Here we go. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. That happened earlier this week.
Are we going to beat this to death for the rest? Just so I can prepare myself for the next. There is a college football season in its entirety. Gotcha, right? In which Oregon is going to be a little bit different.
At least like 17 weeks after football. Yeah. I just want to make, you know, I just want to prepare myself. What happens when you get a pair of free shoes that are worth it to you?
So Yeah. Hey, gotta pay a price sometimes. 844-204-Rich, number to dial right here in the program. First two hours, fun stuff, great stuff. Teron Armstead in the studio, Matt Mayoko, the latest on everything going on with the 49ers.
If you missed it, there's our YouTube channel. There's also Our Disney Plus page. There's our podcast, all three hours, including no contest wrestling yesterday. Great show. Two-hour conversation.
Wednesday. Wednesday? Yeah, very good. That's right. Oh, that's right.
It's Friday. Women sports. It's very likely as well. There's our rich eyesandshop.com. Get yourself some good gear.
All sorts of good stuff. That also includes. Oh. Hats and shirts, rich eyesand shop dot com. Rep the REP, RE show as well.
And so guess what? We've got a new shirt too. Mendoza Mania is available for everybody out there. Let's go. Pop it in there and for the You know?
Pillaging just for fun ban in your life? Go get it right now. Mm. Yes. The autumn wind is a bit.
Mendoza Mania has hit, ladies and gentlemen. Let's go to the phone lines. Aaron in Arizona is joining us here on the program. What's up, Aaron? Aaron.
Hi Ruth, hi guys. What's going on? What's up? What's happening? Just want to do the win-loss for the Steelers?
For the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Okay. You make them the first. In the Valley of the Sun. No, David in Ohio, who's a fan of the program, called in and went 11-6 for the Steelers. But you are Aaron in Arizona, and you have your own thoughts on the matter.
What happens? when uh the Steelers host the Falcons to start week one. We win. Then you visit the Patriots week two. We win again.
That's a 2-0 start home for the Bengals.
Well, close, but we win. That's a 3-0 start at the Browns on a Thursday night to start week four. Big win. That's a 4-0 start. Home for the Colts.
We're going out up for first loss. A first loss?
Okay, that would be surprising. Four and one at the Bucs. That's two loses, two losses in a row. You bring a two-game losing streak into Paris. To take on the saints.
Big stage, Aaron can do it. May we. Five and two. How do you say uh how do you say back back Uh we're back. In France, in French.
I don't, I should know better. My dad was. All right.
Now you are back in the States hosting the Browns. Another big win. That's six and two after the buy at the Bengals. All right, you're splitting now. Six and three at the Eagles.
Another loss. It's another two-game losing streak. 6-4, day after Thanksgiving, home against the Broncos. We win. All right.
Seven and four home for the Texans. Another win. 8 and 4 at the Jaguars on a Monday night. I have a lot. Eight and five, home for the Ravens.
When? 9 and 5 home for the Panthers. Another one. 10 and 5. Two-game roadie to finish it up at Tennessee.
When and at the Ravens. Everyone's high on them and down on us.
So, my fighting words are: we're sweeping them. You're sweeping them. All right.
So, that is. A 12 and 5 record. 12 and 5. Says Aaron. Aaron in Arizona.
That would be a division win, that is for sure. I think so, with your only division loss being to the Bengals in Cincinnati. That would be, that's it. That's five and one in division, twelve and five overall. That's a great start for Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh.
Thanks for the call, Aaron, in Arizona. Nussomme de Rotor. Oh. Oh, good job. Look at you, man.
We're back. Oh. Yeah. Google me. He did.
Google Translate you. Terzo and Iowa all rise. What's up, Terzo? How are you? All right, Terzo.
Hey, I'm. Oh, I didn't. Terzo. Uh-oh. He's here.
Quick. Since you put me in contempt last week, I got to address something real quick. I did. DJ. My man.
You know that I invited you to Taylor Swift prior to Rich ever getting invited to his Taylor Swift shindig. That's even though I might say this real quick: I'm not looking to hang out with Ashton, even though that might be a positive externality. But, bro, we all want to hang out with you guys because the Carls Place people, we see you guys every day, we watch you guys every day. It's more about seeing y'all than seeing Ashton. You got to know that there's no dang, no dang thing that ever needs to be thought of more than that.
We like you guys, no shot, no, no, no dislike for Ashton, but it's about y'all. Listen, Terzo, listen, you served your contempt order, um, and and and you, you, we can expunge the record if that works. I mean, we all thought the same thing, 100% did. Rich, I appreciate, I appreciate the effort, and as always, you guys make me laugh. Um, what I have to say.
though when it comes when it comes down to it is We just got done watching the Iowa team finish up a no-hitter in the Little League World Series. Shout out to them young men. Yep. Nice. And nextly, with that being said, I do have a team that is in and a team that is out of the playoffs this year.
Okay, what do you got? In and out. I'm going to say the team that is going to be in this year that I think is kind of being overlooked is The Vikings. I think Kyler Murray is going to come out. There's going to be some of that magic.
And for some reason, I just got a little itch on the back of my neck that says they might win that division and sneak up on people. And who's out? Secondly. There's going to be a team that is out of the NFC West. And the unfortunate part of it is, I think it's a defendant Super Bowl champ.
So audio TJ. Oh, wow.
So, in other words, Niners stay in. Seattle's out. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Well, that was with the heart there. That was with the heart. What an O. Henry-like twist. Surprise.
Right there. All right.
Terzo and I are right there.
So TJ can come. As long as he brings Wilmer Valderama now. No, I should as long as TJ, as long as TJ comes, bring Adam, like bring Brockman, like any of you guys. You guys would have the most fun if you all came down and enjoyed our fantasy draft, man. I took a mean chili like today.
I took the day off. I got a big old pot of homemade pasta sauce that I got going right now. Watch the game. Great day. And I make a great pasta sauce too, man.
Thank you. That's the Turzo and Iowa. Speaking of one out, one in. Last week he was out.
Now he's back. All right, Terzo and Iowa, everybody. There you go. Which is. Not a fan of chili.
Okay. I don't like beans and chili. What? I don't like chili at all. I'm beans.
My mother used to have to make it without beans. Neither, neither on purpose. I'm not a big dog. Oh, no. I like beans, but not in chili dogs.
I don't like chili dogs. You know, I don't like things that are like chili dogs are amazing. I do. Oh, my God. I gotcha.
I like chili sauce. It's a little bit different. Can I just say this? I guess I can, because you're not sure. Yeah, it's your show.
It's our show.
Well, I mean, sometimes. If Aaron Donald comes back, it's got to happen while we're on the air. Oh, please. Yeah, I mean, sports guy. It's got to happen where it's breaks and you're like, it's just like happened, right?
Okay, yeah. I'll get it Is he back yet? Between 12 and 3 Eastern, but we'll keep it simple. 9 a.m. the noon.
Yeah, because he's on this tithe. Yeah, we're on. 9 a.m. the noon. Because 12 will throw him off.
You're a coach. Yeah. He's ready. All right, I've got my four-down season preview of your Houston Texans. Hit it, hit it.
Four downs with Rich. Here we go. Why did you suck? All right, my four-downs season preview of the Houston Texans, who made it to the playoffs again under D'Amico Ryans, and with C.J. Stroud as the quarterback again and made it to the divisional round again.
And I think.
Sometimes It's best to not overthink it. It's best not to overthink it. Just keep it simple. Stupid, right? That's the way it's that the anachrony is KISS.
Keep it simple, stupid. Stupid, yes.
Well, you know what's stupid is their defense.
So I'm not even going to hit it. Boom. at all. I'm not even sitting here. Is Will Anderson Jr.
gonna prove he's worth 50 million a year? Can their defense be just as good as last year? Not even gonna try it. Not even gonna go there.
So I'm keeping it simple. First down. First down. First down. Who's going to catch it from CJ Stroud?
Who's catching it? They got Nico Collins, and then we're wide open. Open for big open.
Now that Jaden Higgins is out for the year, which is a freaking bomber. Look at their wide receiver room, and there's lots of opportunities, lots of carve-out opportunities here. In that wide receiver room, Xavier Hutchinson, Justin Watson, Tank Dellitz, get you back. Jalen Noelitz, get you back. You got Dalton Schultz, Foster Moreau.
Mm-hmm. Caged over, right? Yeah. Let's go, man. Let's get going.
Houston Texans. It's time to step it up. Who's catching it? From CJ Stroud. Second down.
Second death. Who's gonna protect CJ Stroud? Second down. Remember this was a problem a couple years ago? Yeah.
Okay, seemed like they kind of figured it out. They're hitting that interior offensive line. We're going to figure it out. We got to figure it out. Who's protecting them?
Let's keep him upright. Let's get those holes open for David Montgomery and Woody Marks. Let's go. That offensive line, a little bit of a question mark. Let's keep him healthy.
Who's going to protect CJ Stroud? That's second down. Third down. Third down. Who's gonna pay CJ Stroud?
Picking up what I'm putting down here? See what it's all about? Who's going to pay him? Is it How about this? Is it you, Nick Casario?
You. Or is it you, somebody else? One day, because you're not paying CJ Strat. Is it you, Lieutenant Weinberg? Who is it?
Who's going to pay C.J. Stroud? And they're going to pay him this summer? That'll be Nick Casario. Is there going to be a franchise tag situation at some point?
I don't know who's going to pay them. Who's going to pay?
Well, they don't have a Velcro wallet there. They pay people. They do. They do. They just pay the guy.
Who is going to pay C.J. Stroud? Third down. So first down. was who's gonna catch it from CJ Stroud.
Second down, who's going to protect CJ Stroud? Third down, who's gonna pay CJ Stroud? Fourth down. Fourth down. Who's CJ Stroud gonna be?
Yeah. Who are you gonna be, CJ Stroud? Who are you gonna be? You gonna be that kid that lit it up unicorn style? Rookie season?
Gonna be that guy who kind of struggled a little bit? Last couple of seasons, only to turn it on when it mattered. You know, second year was definitely not the same, but hey. They won and done Jim Harbaugh. CJ Stroud finally beat Jim Harbaugh.
Yeah. Um. And they wanted Dundom. And then I'm sorry, people said. Um, and then CJ Stroud last year.
Uh got hurt, came back. Hardly threw an interception for a good month. He was terrific. Made the playoffs, won another game. Then he showed up in New England and he Flipped a hand grenade up in the air deep in his own end when the Texans defense was poised to just finish the game.
For the Texans. and get him to the AFC Championship game for the first time. Who is CJ Stroud gonna be? Because every regular season It's like first year was like, this kid is generationally great. Last two years, it's been like, okay, he's a serviceable to really good starting quarterback.
Who can win a playoff game for you? He has won a playoff game in each of his first three years.
Okay. But to get to the AFC Championship game, he's got to step it up. Or just don't turn it over. And let the other guys who I didn't even give a down to. Figure it out.
Who's he gonna be? And that's my four downs in the Houston Texans. Yeah, man. Thoughts, comments? It is all about that dude.
It is all about seven. And then there was this meme that is going around right now 'cause the the Monday Night football cameras caught him working on his eyes. Before the game last night. Did you see that? Oh, no.
Yeah, it was looking up looking at both hands like this. Interesting. And then looking at like this. 'Kay. You know, he's working on it.
It's a way to ask eye training. I don't know. This stuff, you see a lot of this stuff now from the quarterbacks. Yeah. I don't know what that is.
Now, creating a meme of myself doing that. The Dak hip thing was big. But we don't need an Adam Gay's taco situation. No, that was not it. I'm worried about that.
That was not. It was clear CJ Stroud was working on his eye level.
Okay. You know, let me look on my eyelid. Let me look at peripheral vision. God bless. Whatever works.
Because he's got the skill set to take it. He's got the skill set. And then just do it, you know, what the Texans really want him to do: lean on his Michigan man. That's all.
Okay. That'll get you through the day. That's what you guys do every single day here, right? I mean, that's true. I mean, you gotta get a point, I guess.
I lean on my Oregon man. What? DJ. That's right. Throw it up.
By the way, Marlon Klein's there too. I didn't even mention him. Throw it up. Michigan national champion, tight end. I tell you what, if we know it.
David Montgomery is going to bring to the table. If Woody Marks is going to run like he ran yesterday, he looks good too. The Texans are going to be. I mean, that opening drive was so good, smooth. They can control the line of scrimmage offensively.
Yeah. Upright C.J. Stroud. Then it really. And then just.
There's s A bunch of receivers that are going to get opportunity knocking, man. Step it up. They've got the coach, too.
So That's my four downs on the Houston Texans. When you run a small business, you don't just do the job. You're also the hiring manager, the payroll department, the benefits team, usually all before lunch. Gusto. is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses to get a few of those off your plate quickly and seamlessly.
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One more time. Gusto.com slash rich. Our friend Mark Schlerith is going to rejoin us here on the Rich Eisen Show coming up on the other side. Uh Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles and sports.
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Pick up select Royal Purple Fuel System additives, buy one, get one free. Plus receive four times O rewards points. Stop by your local O'Reilly Auto Parts store or shop online at O'ReillyAuto dot com. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. All right, Mark, do you think the Raiders should start Cousins or Mendoza?
Your thoughts. Yeah, you know what? I think one, Kirk Cousins has played. Or Clint Kubiak in Minnesota. Understands this offense, has such a great feel for the offense.
I think there is value in watching guys who have done it at a very high level play, how they prepare, how they get ready. And obviously, Mendoza is. A professional. I always said this about. You know, just because you play a pro sport doesn't make you a professional.
I think Mendoza is a professional, but there is value in learning how to prepare week in, week out, what's important. And I know Kirk is such a stickler for having everything. He won't wear a wristband because he wants to be able to regurgitate and memorize everything. Like he is a true pro.
So I think there's some value in that. I think, you know, having Kirk Cousins play the first five or six games of the season, whatever it is, and then moving on to Mendoza, I think that makes sense. I will say, last night watching Mendoza play and early he throws that pick six and then he comes back from that and leads them on a three-point drive and really executes well. That shows me a lot because you can really get down on yourself, especially as a young player. When you make a mistake, they're going to happen.
I was impressed with how he kind of responded to that pick six and responded to that, you know, that big deficit. I think 17, nothing right off the bat. Which team are we not talking about enough, Mark? What do you think? You know, I think there's so.
I think, like, we're always going to talk about the Dallas Cowboys, but I think what they've got on defense. You know what they've done, and they just re-signed, or they just signed, not re-signed, but signed Vaughn Miller. I think Caleb Downs, I was watching him the other day, and even though he didn't compile a statistic, he's one of those guys that can play multiple positions, and you know, that's really become a trend now. A guy that is kind of positionless. I watched him play safety, I watched him play down on a nickel.
I think he could play linebacker kind of like a Derwin James or maybe like a Kyle Hamilton can do everything. And the dude's an absolute piss missile. I mean, this guy just flies around the football field trying to knock people out. Love watching him in college. I think he's going to be one of those dudes that's just really fun to watch.
I think the Cowboys are good. I will tell you this: I don't know what the over-under is on the Giants, but I'll take the over. Big physical. Patrick Picard, 315 playing fullback. And I don't know how long Cam Scadagu's going to play for.
Probably not long because that dude's a battering ram as well. But I love watching him play. I think they're an interesting. team.
So how interesting? Like at the end of the day Knocking a team from last year's playoffs out of this year's playoffs because they're taking a spot. I don't think they're going to take a spot in the playoffs, but I think they're going to be a really tough out. Like watching them the first preseason game, John Harbaugh's fingerprints are all over this team. I mean, they are like big.
Physical the Maui Noah kid they drafted out of Miami is going to fit right into what they want to do. And you can win a lot of games regardless of who your quarterback is, your running backs are, your wide receivers are. If all you do both sides of the ball is control line of scrimmage, you'll win a ton of football games. And I saw them against Minnesota and Minnesota. I don't know when this changed, Richie.
There used to be a time when I was playing where it was all vanilla and we had these side, like these side agreements with the other coaching staff. Like, if we blitz, we're only bringing one linebacker. We're not going to crossdog. We're not going to do this. We're not going to do that.
I'm watching Minnesota play and it's like kitchen sink. It's released everything. Like, here we come. We're going to try to hit your quarterback, which wasn't the way it used to be. But maybe with only three preseason games, you got to work on your stuff.
But like, that was interesting to me to watch Minnesota kind of unveil their whole defense, if you will. Yeah. And then, of course, you've got these joint practices now between the teams before they're actually playing each other. And. In a preseason game, and they act in these joint practices as if they've got pads on sometimes, you know, and fines just got levied on the Saints.
And the Cowboys for fighting. You see all these fights, but we had Robert Sala on earlier on the program just this week or late last week because I can't figure out the times anymore. But he's like, I love these joint practices. This is Saquon Barkley on the subject matter. Hit it.
I'm the wrong guy to ask because I hate joint practice, to be honest. If you do it the right way, there's a lot of good out of it. Going against. Different looks going against different people. It's hard when you got to run the same play over and over against JC and JD.
They're pretty good players, and they get a hint on what you're doing. It's even harder to block. But yeah, when you do it the right way, it's good. But honestly, I'm not really a fan of joint practice. Just, you know, it's just More times than not, nothing good comes out of it.
Like, you get to, when you have the work, it's good, but then you get the push in, the shove-in, and you're someone say this about you, and I'm like, oh no, but I'm not that, you're this, and just like. It's immature when we get to that level. I gotta do a better job too because I'm a little. Yeah. A little troublemaker sometimes, but I was good I was good this week.
What do you think? Hey, listen, we used to do them the whole time. I mean, my working year, we had two joint practices with the Steelers, a joint practice with the Jets. Like, that was part of the deal. Um And it is, it's great work.
You know, but I, you know, everybody's going to talk smack and stuff, but we didn't have a bunch of just flat-out brawls. Every now and again, you get your little pushing match, but I always think it's exceptional work. It's always nice to go against somebody else. And Um And you know, it's it represents the game a lot closer than you just do in practice, so I think there's definite value to it. Um, it is interesting to me in a day and age where we don't play in pads or we don't practice in pads, we don't do that stuff.
Uh, what it feels like there's so many more fights in today's joint practices than we used to have. Maybe it was just because we were joint practicing twice a day, like and we were so beat up going into it. Maybe we just didn't have the energy to fight. You know, it's just like, I just want to get out of here. But I always thought there was value to that stuff.
Okay. So um 'cause that's Thank goodness that conversation is going to be over in short order, you know, because we got actual games.
So you're saying the Giants aren't give me an AFC team that you think we're not talking about enough. Who is it? Oh man. That's a great question. I haven't even thought about AFC teams, we're not talking about enough.
I can run through a few and I'll and I'll I think we're talking about Buffalo enough, but are we talking about New England enough? Or are we feeling like they're. Don't you feel? Does anybody feel like New England might take a little bit of a step back this year?
Well, because they took such a big leap forward last year that it would stand a reason, that maybe. You know, they caught lightning in a bottle. We were talking about their easy schedule so much last year, and then they hit the playoffs, but they did get it all the way to the Super Bowl, man. And even but they didn't get Denver at full strength and things of that nature.
So maybe that's why we're. We're not. Maybe. I think it's going to be, it's really interesting to me, too, because A.J. Brown is like, he's a beast out there on the edge.
He's an X receiver. He's great. But the one guy that was kind of the chain mover, the one guy that was kind of the actuator in the passing game of the offense, if you will, is Stefan Diggs. You know, he had 85 catches for 100 or 1,000 and like 1,000 and whatever, 1,000 and change, 1,015, whatever. like that dude was a third down machine that dude ran all the underneath routes he ran in the middle of the field underneath routes and he just like he was a security blanket and it's it's interesting you know because all they said new england i did several of their games last year rich was oh what a professional he is and how like how great he has been in practice the way he practices and sets the tone and how prepared he's been and then all of a sudden you know you're like oh one year's enough for us see you around good luck to you um it just is interesting to me because that guy was a big part to me of what made them succeed And kept them on the field, kept drives alive.
So it'll be really interesting to see how they replace. That particular dude, because honestly, like you look at AJ Brown, he plays a different position to me. You know, he's not that guy that's going to be in the slot and gonna be running those option routes underneath and all that stuff. We're not talking about the Ravens enough, even though that they're currently what. Are they still the favorites to win the AFC in certain yeah, they were one second?
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it'll be interesting, kind of, you know, change the pace. No more John Harbaugh, Minter over there. Singing Eminem. I don't know if you saw that video that he was.
Dropping bars of Eminem with the rest of the team that was going crazy in a team dinner. Yeah, yeah.
Sometimes the new energy is great. They've got that. Obviously, they still have Lamar. It'll be really interesting to see exactly kind of what they are offensively. They had some injury issues.
So that'll be great. But listen, man, Lamar has just been incredible. Like the transformation from being, you know, a majority runner type of guy to really excelling in a dropback game over the course of his career. And I think he's one of those case studies that you look at. in this league because so much more of this league now is about Guys who are great athletes that they turn into quarterbacks, you know, in high school or in college.
And there's still a lot to be learned over the course of an NFL career. And Lamar, and the way John Harbaugh and that staff did that, leaving him and letting him be the athlete that he has always been, but every year building on that to where he was really, you know, just eviscerating people from the pocket. It's really kind of a case study on how to bring a quarterback along. And it may take you a few years, but it really is a case study. It's really cool to see that.
And we've seen a lot of those, you know, with Baker Mayfield and the success he has had after, I mean, a couple of years ago, he was playing scout team defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. And we see Sam Darnold go from scrap pile to Super Bowl champion.
So really cool to see to see that kind of transformation. Nine Eastern tonight, seven Mountain Local Packers at Broncos on NFL Network, Mark Schleriff. I'm sure you'll be having your eyes peeled there. Bo Nick's going to get some run a little bit tonight, which is good to see. Certainly, since the last time we saw him, we had no idea he had a broken ankle.
Um and Sean Payton's given up the play calling. To Davis Wayne. What do you think about that and how it works into a better Broncos season potentially? I think it's really cool. I think Sean has gotten to the point now in his career where he's like, hey, man, I really like Davis Webb.
I like the rapport he has with the quarterback. And it takes that off my plate. And I want to become more of this CEO and be able to oversee the entirety of the football team. And I think that's part of it. And, you know, even Bo, and I'm here in Denver, so I'm at practice every day.
Even Bo has said, hey, man, it's just a different relationship that's developed between, and I'm paraphrasing, but between he and Sean Payton, where Sean Payton can be a little bit more of a guy that's giving him pointers and talking about, hey, man, think about this. And so there's a little bit of different relationship there. And you know, Davis Webb, man, Davis Webb was playing a few years ago, you know, and now he's a play caller. And I think it's a really cool thing. And I think there are a lot of people, and I understand why, because this defense is so good and everything else that sleep on boneks and the Broncos a little bit.
But this Broncos team, let me just tell you this: this Broncos team, Depth was I think arguably is the best team in football. They have got great offensive line. They've got receivers that can all play. Jalen Waddell's a huge. Um, a huge deal, you know, a huge uh asset that they acquired in the offseason.
I think their running back position with J.K. Dobbins and then bringing in um Jonah Coleman, I think that solidifies them. The only place you would look at, and he's been a you know, Pro Bowl type tight end in the past, but they didn't get a lot of production out of Evan Ingram. And then this defense, I think their secondary is the best in football. I think their D-line, the rotation they have, is exceptional.
This is as deep a football team as you have in the National Football League. You look at their schedule, man, though. Monday night, it starts against the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City. Then their next two home games are against Jacksonville, which put an on last year, and the Rams. on a Sunday night before they visit San Francisco and then the Chargers and then Seattle.
Is Thursday night. That's a six games. You got to get through the gauntlet, man. Right. You got to get through that six games there.
That is like, that's one of those situations where if you go. Three and three, I think, not that you would ever say, ooh, that's great. But if you go three and three out of that game, out of that sixth game, I feel like you've set yourself up pretty well. Even if you go two and four, I think you're okay because the second part of that schedule, but you're right. That is a 14-3 AFC championship game.
Congratulations, here's your schedule. You know, that's your reward. And Sean not having control of the play calls. What do you how do you think that at at some point do you think he's gonna just press a button and And, you know. Over or anything like that?
Rich, I went over there and sat in his office for 45 minutes about six weeks ago.
Okay. And we just like we, like we've been friends for a long time.
So just chop it up. And I asked him about that. And he said, listen, I've given him the play calling duties and I'm not taking them back. And he said he's going to, you know, he's going to learn on the job, and I will always be part of the preparation that goes into it. And, you know, if some things, if he needs some help or there's some things on game day that he'd like me to help him with, I will certainly do that.
And he goes, all the good plays will be his, all the bad plays will be mine. But he goes, I am not, and I repeat, I am not taking play calling duty away from Davis Webb. It won't happen.
So, you know, I mean, obviously, if he needs to be more involved, he'd be more involved. But he, I mean, he was adamant about this is Davis Webb's show. And talking to Davis Webb, I had, I had, you know, just for your information, I had a long conversation with Davis Webb as well. And I love philosophically, like he was talking about identities and saying, hey, man, I want five core or like call them, let's call them North Star plays. I want five North Star plays that we can run against any defense, any look, any whatever, and then create adjunct plays off of that that mirror and marry perfectly with those plays.
And so that we can execute in critical situations. And like, that is how I grew up in the National Football League. Like, we won back-to-back championships in Denver, and we ran six freaking plays. That's what we did. But, you know, I always called it the 10,000-hour rule.
I've done them 10,000 times. You've defended them 200 times. I'm better than you, and I'm going to whip your ass. And that's how we approached the game. And Davis has a lot of that kind of similar philosophical approach to football, which, you know, I'm a big fan of.
I love it. Before I let you go, let's test your growth. Uh is Is it okay if Idaho gives away number sixty to somebody? Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We're good. Is that fine? Wow, that that that has not aged well.
But I tell you what, the internet's on. You, you, you're, you, I'm talking about Jaden. Like, I love, I, and he's the greatest kid ever. Uh, this is one where you need to step in and say, hey, man, we're not going to worry about this. Uh, you know, mom, you're my mom.
You're not like whatever agents, like you work for me, and this is going to end right now. We're not talking about this anymore. But the internet's undefeated. The fact that you can no longer call it, you know, five guys, four guys, or six guys. $4 foot long, you know, like, yeah, sure.
It's been hilarious. I personally love it. And you don't think he's going to hear about it from the moment he steps on the football field? You know, he will. Yeah.
So, out of respect to you, the car goes from zero to 59. Yes, exactly. Yeah. We do not, we go from 59 right to 61. That's it.
Let's be respectful. Good to see you, man. Let's chat again before the season, okay? Think and truth podcast with Mark Schlarth, Fox Sports, right there. Here on the Rich Isen Show.
Okay, so cool. He's cool with his alma mater.
Okay. And the Jets, he's grown. Look at him. Grandpa Mark Schlareth. That's right.
He still tells the stinking truth, but he just does it with a bit more of a smile.
Well, until the season starts.
Well, we'll see. We'll see. It's that time of year. 844-204-Rich will sneak in some phone calls before we get out of Dodge here on this fun Friday. Um Yeah.
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Gregg is calling in, TJ. From Altoona, Pennsylvania. Oh, what's up, Greg? He's been doing it. How are you guys doing today?
How's Altuna for that? TJ's hometown. What's up, Greg? Yeah, it's a nice day out today. I don't know what it was like when he was here, but there's still nothing to do here.
Do you want to do the traffic? Do you want to do the traffic too, Greg? On the eights? Yeah, how's Main Street? Yeah.
All right.
What's on your mind? Yeah, I don't even think they're the Main Street here. Hey, Greg, quick question. Where do you listen to us in Altoona? What do you mean?
Like, where are you listening? Is there a local series? He's outsourcing or he's watching. No, I'm on Syria. Oh, Syria.
Very good. I've always wondered if we have a local, we're on one of the local channels.
Well, you can always ask me that question. We'll go to richeisandshow.com.
Well, it was just Greg was here. What's on your mind, Greg?
So I'm calling because I'm I'm a Chargers fan. And every single year, it seems like it's just an absolute disappointment. I mean, at least for the fi the past, what, five or six years now, You know, last year getting knocked out by the pass, year before the Texans. We don't have to talk about that Jacksonville game or anything. Yeah.
But Um Years ago, I was on the phone with another Sports Talk show host. I'm not going to drop names, but he's on Mad Dog from 9 to 12 every day. And he absolutely ripped me one because I was just being optimistic about it because, you know, it's just a disappointment every year. And I was just wondering, what do you think is going to happen this year? Oh, I think the charges are going to be improved, Greg.
The charges are going to be improved. Just by the fact they've got their all-world left tackle back. And there soon to be, if he's not already there yet, all world right tackle, and an offensive coordinator that is going to have a run scheme that the Chargers have not run before, and that's all going to help Justin Herbert. And uh I I dig it. I dig it and I think you should uh You should just breathe through it.
I understand the chargers leave scars. I get it. But I think you're in good shape. That's Greg and Altoona, Pennsylvania. That's my two cents.
I breathe in that good altoona on that. But isn't it interesting? Mistrust of team. in Altoona, Pennsylvania connected with one another on this program. And that's how we turned to Noah in Portland, Oregon.
Noah. Back on the program. How are you, Noda? Noah, how you been? What's up?
Noah, yes. What's up? Noah. Hey, how are you? Oh, my goodness.
Okay, I'll make this quick. We have a minute for you. Take a breath and come correct, if you don't mind. All right.
Well, I don't know that Oregonians are going to accept the pandemic. For a pair of shoes, I'm not going to go the Judas route, um, but It reminded me of the Chronicles of Narnia when that kid gave up his Give up his crew and his family for a churchish delight. Wow. I don't even want to. It's going to all C.S.
Lewis, right? I didn't see that one coming. A little lion.
So, which one? Which one is TJ? The line?
Well, the order. Penn State Nittany Lion.
Okay. You think Dr. Oz is a doctor? You think Oz Pearlman, pardon me, is a witch. He is, yes.
And the shoes you sold Penn State out for could go in your wardrobe. I ain't sell anybody out, but if that's what you want to do, what does TJ have to do to earn the trust of the duck faithful? Oh, show up. Show up to the Austin Stadium. You know, but don't wear the shoes, I guess.
It's probably a bad idea. I don't know. Maybe a couple jerseys, show your fandom. I don't know. I'm a Beavers fan.
I'm a Beavers fan. Talking about Noah? Go Pound Dirt. I'm an Oregonian. I'm an Oregonian.
I know a lot of dust fans. Like I said, there is some Jabroni on behalf of the rival fan base. That's a tough one. I thought. That's what I'm saying.
He got no dog in this fight. What we have is a macaroni to offer you if you want to be a beavers fan. I mean, I do enjoy macaroni. I don't think it's a mic salad. Thank you.
That's no one Portland right there. A little too honest. A little too honest. Oh, the Beaver fans. Yeah.
I don't think. I don't think people are going to accept you and Wolverine Nation. I'm a I'm a Spartan fan, so I know a lot of people who root for Michigan. See, I I I wouldn't be able to accept that. That was great.
I'm not accepting any of this. When you accepted the shoes. I accepted the shoes. Yeah, you know, I did accept that. You're accepting nothing.
I'm not accepting anything from a bunch of Jabronis on pulling in. All right.
The head coach is the one who said you've got to give something up. It's fine if he wants to have this discussion again, but I'm not listening to people like Adam and Homeboy from the Oregon Beaver here. They got something to say. Oregon State. It's Oregon State.
Yeah, Oregon State. I'm saying he's in Oregon and he's a beaver. There's a lot of them there. It's funny. That was a great finish.
That was great. That was great. I'm a lot nicer to these people.
Somebody from, I thought that was, you know, I see that. Listen, I don't just take phone calls willy-nilly. I see a guy from Altoona says, I don't trust my team. And there's a lot of people who are thinking you from Altoona, Pennsylvania. Should never give up your team, and there's some mistrust in you.
And I thought that would be perfect. If you found this guy from Oregon, to say, Ducks fans need to see something from you. And then he says, Well, actually, I don't know. I don't care what none of you guys have to say. All right.
Yes, you do. I really don't. Yes, you do. You act like you don't. You really don't.
No, but look, I'm looking directly in the camera. I don't. You read the comic. Yeah, you're the king of the comment.
So, what? And you act like you don't, but then you do.
So, what are we going to do? What can we handle it better? Oh, can you? You sure about that? There he is.
That's the old. Oh, there it is. The new one. Do everybody. Look at the mascot.
Let's go, Cowboys. We got Caleb Downs. That's all that matters. We got Caleb Downs. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
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