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Okay. The news we've been waiting for. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Yes, he's back. The Rich Eisen Show.
Plus, New York. You're a genius, man. Way to sign him. Football's pretty simple. Earlier on the show.
ESPN college football analyst Josh Pate. Coming up. ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh. And now, it's Rich ISEN.
Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio Sirius XM Channel 80. Nice chat in our green room with Seth Wickersham. He is going to come out here. He's got a new book. I mean, how many times does this guy come in with a new book?
You know what I mean?
Okay, fill the whole shelf. Very prolific, man. Jim Harbaugh, hour three, eight four two four rich. Number to dial. Josh Pate, already on the program.
Great college football chat. He thinks Miami's winning it all. Interesting. Miami plays at Stanford Friday night. Rumor has it Michael Irvin's going to be in town and um If that's the case, I'm on the left coast, here in town.
Might have to bring him in tomorrow.
So 844204. That's right. 844204 rich number towel.
So. Yeah. Just when you think everything's so simple. It's not. Honestly, just when you think everything is cut and dried.
It's not. So um The sports world. That's why we turn to the sports world. 'Cause things are cut and they're dried. You know what I mean?
Like, it's simple. The scoreboard, it's not a meritocracy. You know, you're the scorer. You get more points you don't. That's the score.
Right.
So, um,. And and we make fun of sometimes when something seems so certain. And we talk about it as if it is certain before it becomes certain. And That's the sports world in which we live. In the crazy ass world, That the sports world lives in.
Right.
We leave the crazy ass world behind. Go to the sports world because it makes more sense. And just when you think Things are simple, they're not. I mean, Aaron Donald, is he back yet? Lasted a month.
A whole month. Is he back yet? A month. That segment lasted. Because it was a certainty in our minds he's coming back.
And after two weeks, three weeks, we're like... Is he gonna come back? I started wavering. You're gonna go hunt on others, dude. I was not we kept the faith.
No, at the end, you didn't. We kept the faith. He was going to come back. It just was the yet. And guess what happens?
He comes back. Comes back. He's back. He's back. Yes, he holds a press conference and everything.
Me and Del 24 are smiling at the moment. Lesneed Client came on this show yesterday. Like a Cheshire cat. A Cheshire Less. I'm sad.
Up there in Thousand Oaks. And we're talking about it. Having a few laughs out on the coast. Let's go back to the coast. Right?
Yep. And now it's a chance Donald's not playing week one. Come on, what? Trump, if they had this to say. Just yesterday.
Is there a scenario where he wouldn't? Go to Australia if he's not ready to play, that you wouldn't. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That could be a possibility. You know, I wouldn't rule anything out yet.
You know, I think sometimes when you put unnecessary kind of parameters or guidelines on something, it can skew things. But what I think is really good for us is if he's able to go great. If not, that's kind of how we've been operating as is. And guys have done an excellent job of being able to do some really cool stuff in the meantime. And so if he's not ready and that's not what's best for him and for the team, absolutely wouldn't have him play in Australia unnecessarily.
All right, three words. I say respectfully. One of those. What the hell? Yeah.
The segment was called, Is He Back Yet? Yeah, yeah. I'm not ruling anything out yet. Is he half back yet? No!
But he signed the contract, so he's back. I know he is, but he's got to be playing. He said, I'm coming back for all Seventeen. Did he say? Do the bye.
Hook in the back. Give it a shot. That's a long flight. If that's what he needs to get out there in Australia. That's a long flight, Rich.
A long flight. I don't care. I'm gonna binge watch something. He's older. The joints get a little on the phone.
I mean, it's broken. What the hell? Mm-hmm. 16 hour flight. After all this time?
Ah, Listen, I get it. We're marathoning. We're not sprinting. He has been out for two years. They were planning on not having him anyway.
Listen. You know? That's true. Les Need was saying. He didn't think at all during his pursuit of Miles Garrett.
That out of all the benefits of acquiring Miles Garrett. One of them would be. A pilot light going on underneath 99. To warm them up. Heat 'em up.
and serve him up. On the rest of the National Football League. Les said he didn't even think that would be possible. Until Miles Garrett gets acquired. Donald starts popping stuff on the old IG.
And Sean McVay calls him up. Or he says, calls him into the office, right? Come on down here. Hey, hey, Les, come on down. You're the next contestant on Is He Back Yet?
Guess what? And guess what?
So I get it. You know, they were going to go into the season without him anyway. He was going through a process. He was trying out for the team. A couple times.
He told him two weeks ago. According to the NFL. I know he called him two weeks ago. Then he took two weeks to actually make it the yet, right? Also, can we think about this trade for a second?
Jared Verse, a first, second, and third round pick for Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald. Yeah, it is for, and you have to include that in the transaction. Yes, you do. Correct. And of course, Les didn't think that he'd make that happen.
That's like winning the powerball on a Monday, then turning around on Friday and winning Mega. It's a great analogy. Do that. It's a great analogy. Wow.
Same gas station. Or you buy the ticket, same gas station? Right, right. Same gas station. I almost said I almost gave the address, but I don't want to do that.
But it's like 10,000 Oaks. That's where it is. The audacity to win the lottery and then be like, I'm just going to keep playing the lottery. I'm going to play again. Like you win the lottery and you're like, I'm just going to keep playing the lottery.
The audacity. After all this time. And then you won again. We're not getting it. Maybe.
Okay. He didn't say no. More likely to pull, you know what? Never mind. I'm going to hold that for Friday.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay, we um okay we uh okay we'll wait I guess we'll wait we'll wait and the 49ers are like what wait what We don't After all this time, we've been psyching ourselves up, and you're not putting them on the plane. That's mental warfare, right?
I know he's an Avenger anyway. Shouldn't he be able to time teleport or something? Shouldn't he be able to teleport himself to Australia? Technically, there's a few mutants that could get him there.
Okay. And he's a mutant.
So, Overreaction Monday is in your RSS feeds if you want to listen. It's on their YouTube channel, closing on 180,000 views in the first 25 hours of it. I'm so excited. Bananas, man. It is.
We've never had numbers like that on a two weeks before. I said two weeks before the regular season edition, but that's what we got. It's time for Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday here on the Rich Eisen Show. That was terrible. That was crap.
That was garbage. This place sucks. Overreaction. Mondays. Mondays.
On a Tuesday. Hi, Christopher. What do you have over there? Hey, guys. Happy Tuesday, J.
Felly. Great to see you, man. Good to see you. Welcome back to the mix. Here we go.
It's our weekly Disney-mandated daily Rams topic. To get to the to start the show because it's not Disney. What are you talking about? Disney. Oh, you don't read the comments?
Everyone thinks we're being told to talk about the Rams now. No, it's just the story of the year. Right? Get out of here. Like in the NFL, and you know, depending on what they do, they could threaten the Knicks, you know?
True. Right? Or Indiana. I get different emails from the bosses. LeBron.
When I say Indiana, I mean football, but you meant the feet. What are you doing starting with the comments section? You're going to make me overreact. Don't read the comments. Guys, the Rams are going to have multiple end-of-the-year award winners this season.
Um, defensive player of the year and MVP. Coach of the year? Coach of the year. I was thinking, coach, maybe offensive player of the year. I'll tell you one thing: Sean McVay's not going to win.
You don't think if they go 16 and one, he's coach of the year? Dude, it'll be everyone thinks all he does is roll the footballs out the same way that Phil Jackson or Bill never won. Oh, yeah. How many times did your guy win? I know, it's just like, oh, of course, 16-0, Bill.
He's coach of the year. He might, he might, Chris, he may deserve it. He may deserve it. But You know. That that That'll just be a so- By the way, I just I just um You know, did the digital paperwork to get my vote for NFL honors and all-pro.
Oh, I just did that during the commercial break, as a matter of fact. Congrats.
So I'll just piss you off again by voting for Stafford as for MVP over there.
Well, I have a bigger beef with a couple other people, but you're high on the list. Thank you, sir. I don't think this is an overreaction. But coach of the year, it'll be tough, man, because everyone's just going to assume he just rolls the footballs out, even though 99 is there because he has a great relationship with 99. He's already one coach in the year in a way, just for 99 being there.
Right.
Okay. But Jet last night win GM of the year. Yeah, there you go. And I don't think Aaron Donald is actually eligible for Comeback Player of the Year because they want that award to go to people coming back from injury. I know what they do, I know what they want.
But people still vote. I know. Steve people still vote. You win coming back from the couch. Yeah.
Coming back from retirement. I think that's retired. Flat will ruin that for everyone. No? Right.
Coming back from his workout. What else, Chris? This guy is not a sleeper in your drafts anymore based on his preseason, and he's going way too early. But I think he's going to end up being. One of the best players on his team.
Talking about DeJohn Stribbling, he's going to be the best 49ers non-CMC pass catcher this year. Boy, that's quite a subset you got over there.
Well, basically, best wide receiver attempts.
Well, what you're saying is he's going to have a better year than Mike Evans. Or Kittle. And Kittle and Debo. And he's going to be awesome. Listen, I'm happy that the Niners seem to have hit on the pub.
And not just any. Any player, somebody that they were highly criticized. for dropping out of the first round to take instead of A bunch of other On the radar screen receivers, in terms of draft Knicks and fans and things of that nature. You think he's on a better year than Desjean Love, though? Oh, that's true.
Dejan. Is Dajon included in that? It's high up there. He did switch his number to Deja Love's number in case anyone is following this great story. He's got multiple businesses, so is he even going to be able to play this year?
Oh, my God. I'll just call this an overreaction. Love Stribbling.
Okay. Haven't got him in any of my drafts yet. Do you love Dejorch? I drafted Love last night. I didn't see him.
Okay. Hey, I know it was Saturday. I know it was early in the morning, but there was college football week minus one. Is that what you said?
Okay. Is it week zero? Look, look, Tar Bill is back. Tar Bill. Whatever the was it Chapel Bill?
Bill Boche is going to have UNC in a bowl game this season. Yeah, all it's got to do is win six more games, and he's got it. There was four and eight last year.
Well, one down now. They were terrible. I watched the game. I was at Benny Blades getting my beard trimmed up. Here's what we need to speak into existence.
You just gave me this idea. Literally, light bulb just went. I'm here. What would be more... Entertaining.
Okay. American. Delightful. Then Bill Belichick. Having a photograph with a Pop-Tart.
Oh, the Pop-Tar ball. And not just. I don't. There's one bolt. The giant one?
There's one bolt. Six-foot Pop-Tart? Yes. Correct. Taking a bite out of it.
Just one question in a pre-game press conference. Leading up to the game, Bill, your favorite Pop-Tart flavor. Oh, wow. What do you think it would date? Bill.
Cinnamon brown sugar. And also, Bill. Toasted? We're straight out of the box. Oh, man.
What are you? Are you straight out of the box or toasted? No, you're out of the box. Nah, me too. I toast them.
Okay. But listen, there's no wrong answers. There's no wrong answers. There's no wrong answers. There's no wrong answers.
Blueberry. Let's speak it into existence. What, yes or no? A blueberry? No.
Not just any bowl game. It's got to be that one. That's hilarious.
Okay. All right, let's do it. Right? Let's talk this up. Or we could bring back a gate, and it could be a Cheez-It, because that's what they used to do whenever some people started knocking on their doors.
Cheese-It.
Okay. Yeah. These are just, I'm just spitfalling. Watching you work, baby. See what I'm saying?
Watching you. Watching you work. I'm in the zone. What else, Greg? All right, a couple more.
We had our fantasy draft last night for the Dillingham Show League. Yes. In person is the best and only way to do fantasy drafts.
Okay, that's not an overreaction. What else you got over there? Yeah, but you just pound. I mean, it's just like that's sort of like sci-fi. Just glancing up the way.
It's like looking into the sun, if you will. Into the sun.
Okay. All right, last one. Of course, it's the best way to do it. Are you talking about actually the way we got to do it? Exactly.
It was pretty popular. Honestly, we had 90 seconds of clock time. That's good. And if it got halfway through, I started barking about it. You really did.
You did. My man Rick Eisenhower. Only a couple people take down to like under 10 seconds. I know. Smitch was in Norway.
Smitch was in Norway. Yeah, Smitch wasn't. He was from Colleen. Yeah, we don't know where Colleen was. I don't know.
She said she put it on auto-draft for one. She was hanging a screen and took two quarterbacks. Yeah, because they were only quarterbacks in the first two spots. Of uh atop the players available. What else, Chris?
What do you got? Uh, it's it's now time for you, Rich Eisen, to admit that I was right about Otani should never be pitching again. Why would you say such a thing? Because he's been hurt this whole time, and now he's not even now he's not even hitting well. Are you going to be able to do it?
I will never agree to this. The guy loves pitching. When the guy is healthy, he is a dominant pitcher. There's a reason why they paid him $700 million. It's to hit both.
No, it's to do both. The Mets paid somebody $700 million to sit on his ass.
Okay? That's it. Right? So, I'm gonna take your opinion and tell you you're still wrong and use it. To troll on TJ, and he's sitting there saying, Why the hell did I just catch something?
I don't know why, I'm just sitting here minding my own business. All right. I'm just in a mood. Yeah, just one for his last 17. Who cares?
I imagine the people what that means is PCH or MVP. Oh, yeah, he's got a lot of fun. Unless there's a massive falloff. Yeah, he's kind of run away with it. Right.
So. Now if you want to make me angry, you're not going to admit that I was right? Nope. Never. That's proposed.
You're going to make me angry talking about how the Mets just gave away PCA. That's not good either. No. That's not great either. I shouldn't talk baseball anyway because the Yankees played easily their worst game of the year.
And I was thank goodness we did that draft in person last night because that was the game Cooper and I have been identifying to go down to Anaheim to see for months. And I'm like, you know what? We'll just do the draft. And we saw Cam Schlittler starting Wednesday.
So we avoided that 10-1 debacle. The great thing was on the TV right in front of you, so you got to see everything. I know. I know. All right.
Oh, by the way, we thank the pawn shop as well for here in Los Angeles, California. Pawn shopping. Yeah, right around the corner from where my kids went to preschool. I had no idea I'd be years later. At my own drop-off with you guys and Don Bowie wearing a cowboy hat.
Cowboy Don. Cowboy Don showing up last night. Pawn Shop treated us well. They did. And that platter filled with burgers and dogs and whatever, it was really great.
So good. Why Google? Pawn Shop LA. I was having a field day with us. And we'll talk about John Monaco, the man on the right, and the absolute disaster he has created on our text chain.
We will get more into this later. And that later on. What you did was so wrong yesterday. What did I do wrong? You know what you did on the text chain.
What did I do? Does he know, or is he fine? He didn't do anything, actually. Didn't you boot him off the text chain? I did not.
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On That Hill, Stories from the Summits of Sport, a collection of this man's ESPN work is available on Tuesday, September 22nd.
So, three weeks from today, wherever you get your books, is where you can get Seth Wickersham's newest book, Beyond That Hill. And so, you're saying this is just a collection of. Stories from your quarter century of work with ESPN that have not made it in any of your pieces or works, or and you're sort of hoovering up all the good stuff and putting it in a book. It's an essentials. And so, you know, and I think that what you try to do with something like that is.
You know, you're not trying to give the readers You know, your best stories, but You know, you're trying to reflect, you know, how sports and maybe even the country has changed so that the book has a point. And so, you know, there's stories that I've done on people like Kobe Bryan or Tom Brady. There's stories that Don Van Nat and I did in there that, you know, especially our Goodell Jerry Jones story from 2017. I think of all the ones we've done, that one is the one that, you know, I'm proudest of. There's just a ton of.
Great backstory to that one, and um, like what?
Well Remember, so that was the fall of 17, and it was a tough year for the league. Remember, President Trump in his first term was coming after the Kneelers. They were scrambling. You know, Don and I had that piece of reporting from Bob McNair: you can't have the inmates running the prison. I mean, it was a tough fall.
And in the middle of it, Jerry Jones was threatening to sue the NFL to block Rogers' contract extension. And It was a Cold War between two of the most powerful people in sports. And, you know, we felt like we could. Tell a really insider-y story about that one. And we just have a ton of colorful reporting in that story, but I'll never forget the story was about to go to print.
And I was driving from New York to Connecticut, and I got a call from Don, and he said he had just gotten off the phone with a top. With a high an impeccable source, who said at the beginning of the year, there was this phone call with Roger Goodell, Jerry Jones, and Jeff Pash, who was the league's general counsel. And it was about Zeke Elliott when they were going to tell. Jerry that Zeke was suspended. Which Jerry was surprised about, to put it mildly.
He was pissed. I remember that. Right.
And The source said, We're not at liberty to say what happened, but there was some colorful language, and you guys should try to figure out what was said. And so we're both working the phones, and we end up learning that Roger and Jeff tell Jerry about Zeke suspension. Jerry, you know, got very upset and he says, you know, you think Bob Kraft came after you hard. Bob Kraft is blank compared to what I'm going to do to you. And You know, the process of gathering that reporting and getting it into print and showing readers a deeper look at the sport that, you know, look, I think people love football most and know about it the least.
That was our goal with that story and all of our stories, and that was a particularly fun one.
So, out of the names of the Folks that you have in here. My goodness, Mahomes, Brady, Prime, Cody, just the name for. Who was the most fierce competitor? that you've come across, whether it was gleaning something from The interview with him or her, or stories that were told by others about this subject. That's a great thing.
I mean, once you get to a certain level of the Uber competitors, obviously Brady, I think, you know, I first met Tom, you know, so I was hired in 2000. He graduated from Michigan in 2000. Fall of 2001, I'm getting my first kind of shot to go write big feature stories for ESPN. They send me to Foxborough to write about this young guy who's coming on well and playing well in relief of Bledsoe, and then we'll probably go back to the bench. And so I meet with Brady.
This is like October of 2001. He's wearing like a gray sweatsuit and a backpack. He looks like a junior at Michigan. And I'll never forget, he said, you know, football's always come really easy to me. And, you know, at the time, I was, we were both young men kind of getting our career breaks at the same time.
And I didn't have the perspective to understand what he was saying then. But I. I think that like any time he says something like that, He means it to the bottom of his soul. And I think that, like, the intensity. That he the fire within him Compared to other people, I think is pretty unique.
And I mean, that's not like a groundbreaking statement. There's a lot of people who are. I mean, when you're comparing it to somebody like Kobe, though, right? I mean, yeah, Kobe was motivated, but they were Kobe was different, obviously, because he had the spotlight on him being a first-round pick. Um, from the beginning, and so he had something to kind of live up to.
Whereas Brady was under the radar for a bit, and also at Michigan had a shared time with Drill Henson, and he showed up after Greasy won the national championship, so he had those big shoes to fill. And I guess Kobe was a massive prep star in Philadelphia. He was, you know, I think Brady just, you know, the little things he said over the years that you look back on and you think, those were the clues. You know, football's always come easy to me. It doesn't mean that he never had to work at it because he obviously worked his tail off, but I think that like those are the things where he had an innate sense of the game and he kind of took to it in a special way.
That in retrospect, you kind of see those little moments as lore or Little clues. And another one happened like about a decade later. I was in his living room, and he says, You know, my first 10 years in the league have prepared me for my last 10. And I was like, what? Like this dude is just saying he's going to play 20 years?
And You know, I didn't take it very, you know, I took him at his word, but I didn't think he would do it. I thought that was an admirable goal. I think he did okay on that.
Well, and then also, you could make the case his last 10 were better than his first 10. Huge cake. Or at least his last ten will be better than anybody's. Ten. He was a you know, mostly, obviously, mostly.
Yeah. But the way that he finished as a 40-year-old, his stats. I mean, you're seeing Rogers attempt it now. I mean, Breeze barely cracked his 40s before he retired. You know, you're looking at the league right now, and the only comparison you could make is to somebody who is in your book Beyond That Hill and Mahomes.
Because Mahomes has. um in his twenties Surpassed Brady in his 20s.
Now comes the hard part to try and stay with Brady, right? And there's so many things that have to go right. You know, when Brady was in his mid-30s, Belichick, and this is in the book. Belichick presented a study to Kraft that showed how quarterbacks tail off after their mid-30s. And he kind of used it as justification: why we're going to draft Jimmy Garoppolo and we're going to start this transition plan.
And Obviously, Brady outlasted Garoppolo, and the story that's in the book is about the last days of the Patriot Way when Belichick and Kraft finally parted ways. But one of the things that Kraft talked about told a confidant. Because Belichick had obviously opened the door for Brady to leave after the 19th season, and Brady walked right out and goes and wins a Super Bowl. And Kraft says. You know, Bill told me he couldn't play anymore, and then he goes out and wins an effing Super Bowl.
I mean, can you imagine, like, You know, Kraft and Belichick have been through a lot together, but can you imagine, you know? Saying that to your boss and your boss having that Having to watch Tom Brady win a Super Bowl as a Tampa Bay Buck. That's tough, but in retrospect, if you really want to let's be real about it, wouldn't you say Brady had a better chance to win a Super Bowl in Tampa in that one season than staying put with the roster that the Patriots had around him at that point in time? I guess you're also an expert on this subject. 100%, yeah.
Right? Yeah. You know what I mean?
That 2019 Patriots team was not equipped to. To win. Even with Brady playing at the top of his game, I don't. I mean, they lost at home in the wild card. They did.
Yeah, I don't I just don't I d I didn't see it, but But Belichick commissioned a report or it landed on his desk? No, he kind of did it internally and saying, you know, this is why we're going to make this pick. We're looking at a quarterback and we'll look to set up a transition. Uh-huh. Obviously, that all came to a head during the 2017 season, and you know, Jimmy surprised everybody with that trade when he was.
moved to San Francisco. But again, you know, Brady's a fascinating guy because, unlike almost any unique athlete, his body outlasted his will for football, which is. Almost every time it's the other way around. No doubt about it. No doubt about it.
But he's also, you know. Living Living through it, living it on still as a broadcaster, going to the state. And you can hear he gets better every week. I think he's a much better broadcaster now than he was when he first started, and he works at it. You could tell, like, he truly does work at it, which is no surprise based on the work ethic you're describing.
What's your favorite Mahomes story that you've grabbed then? Because, I mean, again, he is set up if he can continue on. And create another dynastic run in Kansas City to try and catch Brady. And the story about Mahomes that's in there, I mean, it's a long story about, you know, how he came to be. And I had like three sentences in there about how he liked to put ketchup on steak, and that took off.
Like, that became the buzzworthy thing for like. I want to say our guy, Peter Schaefer, or Peter Schrager, was talking about it on Good Morning Football. I want to say, like, two weeks after the fact. Right.
Um, I think the most interesting thing about Mahomes is how different he is from Brady in a couple essential ways. Obviously, they have an incredible innate drive where they're running for a finish line that doesn't really exist. I mean, they're competing only against themselves. But Mahomes was under the radar in Texas as a quarterback, and it seems staggeringly. ridiculous to think about right now, but it's true.
And Um You know, they have the Elite 11 regionals, which are like the high school showcase. And then if you do well enough, you go down the road and you're in the Elite 11 Nationals. And he didn't qualify for the Regional. Patrick Mahomes, with that skill set, didn't qualify in Texas. And I asked him about it, wondering if that was.
the cliché chip on his shoulder. You hear with Tom all the time talking about how UCLA pulled their scholarship and USC ended up not wanting him and dropping to the sixth round. And he was so level-headed about it. He goes, No, East Texas isn't really known for quarterbacks, and I was kind of lost. I was more known for baseball, and that was that.
And I thought that was interesting because Where his greatness comes from, and really, you know, the subtext of the book is like. where greatness comes from and what the price of it is. I thought it was so much different than Tom's. I mean, they overlap. The Venn diagrams overlap, but.
The thing that I think Jordan kind of brought to the culture of finding slights and nurturing them and inventing them at times. That was never the case with him. I think that he's someone who's always been running his own race and. Mm-hmm. This year, you want to continue the Brady analogy in terms of a career.
In the middle of his two dynastic runs, Brady blew out his knee. And had to come back from that. And I we'll see if Mahomes has another dynastic run in him, but he's coming back from a knee injury. And, you know, you're hearing how. Um, you know, and Jeremy Fowler's, um, you know, I guess top tens.
based on what everybody else in the league anonymously is thinking. Mahomes isn't number one on that list. Everyone's overlooking the Chiefs potentially, maybe for good reason. But I you don't think he takes in the slights Mahomes? Even Brady, when he was playing, I think kept a little bit of that stuff.
publicly at bay and then Later in life, you see how he was collecting those things. Like he's a little bit more transparent about it. I think Mahomes, I'm sure that stuff helps a little bit, but I just think that he's wired fundamentally different in a way that. You know, look, it's obviously been phenomenally successful for him, but You know, how he gets his greatness. And you know, those, you know, maybe he'll look back on it and he'll say, Yeah, you know, I was looking at all these people talking to Jeremy Fowler about how I wasn't the top one on the list.
I don't know. Maybe that'll be the case later. We'll see. Maybe we'll learn about it. And you've got McVeigh in this book as well.
That's, in my mind, the story of the NFL season: McDonald's coming out with Garrett. They've got. Five times over defensive players of the year added to a roster that almost won the Super Bowl last year, or almost got to the Super Bowl last year. Am I missing any storylines? Do you think that is the storyline of Sean?
I think the most interesting thing, and we'll learn about it later, because when I got with Sean, he had just won the Super Bowl, and I spent a lot of time with him the entire offseason. As he was, remember, he thought about going into broadcasting. Like the stress of it just got to him. The stress of coaching. Everything.
Yeah. And, you know, remember, they were loading up the warheads that year. And so there was a lot of pressure on them from the outside. And What that'll be like the second time around for him, I think, will be really interesting because nobody just cruises through the NFL season. I mean, they're going to hit a rough patch at some point.
And how they all handle that with the expectations of being everyone's super team and how he handles it personally, I think are going to be two really interesting things. I mean, he is someone, you know, he. Is as ambitious as they come. He can go to some dark, dark places, I think. He doesn't talk about it.
I mean, he says it, but then he doesn't give any meat on those bones.
Well, talks about it. They're ugly places, you know. Like any, has he shared that sort of stuff? Yeah, I mean, it's all in there, but like all in the book. Yeah, and I think that like there's people who just aren't at peace personally until they feel like the game plan is at peace.
And what does that look like? Because it's not the perfect play. It's a feeling that they're going for. And how they arrive there over the course of a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday can be really. Straining.
And, but I think that one thing Sean has done is he's figured out ways to balance that stress. With a healthier personal life. And I think that, like, that template for him. Has served him well as a coach. I think it served him well as a person.
And I think it'll be interesting to see how things go this year because obviously, like. The expectations are always high with that team, but It's very high this year. It's very similar to when Stafford traded for him. And they're going to hit rough patches where. Maybe the end looks in doubt.
And how he navigates that, I think, will be interesting. Yeah, and now he's married, father or two, as opposed to the last time they went through it. And the way that you just described it before I let you go here, about Monday through Friday, about the game plan and it's not perfect, and then the pressure of calling the plays on top of it. Is that why you think Sean Payton has stepped away from play calling? Like something like that, right there?
Is that I think there's part of that. You know, he talked about it with me where, you know, sometimes as you get older, you don't like driving at night in the rain. And I think that. You know, he might take play calling over from Davis, you know, once Davis Webb maybe moves on if it works out well. Right.
I don't think it's a forever move, but I think that for this year he knows it's the right thing for that team, and it gives him a chance to focus more on. Those situational football moments that, you know, Brady's so good at illuminating that the Patriots kind of revolutionized football with their. strategy for. I think that like managing a game ultimately will probably help, but we'll see. Seth Wickersham, senior writer of ESPN and now the author of another book.
The bestseller, best-selling author, Seth Wickersham, is now putting out Be On That Hill, stories from the Summits of Sports right here on the Rich Eyes and Show, available Tuesday, September 22nd, wherever you get your books.
So pre-order now or make sure that you go to a bookstore on that day. Great to see you, sir. Great to see you, man. Thank you. Anytime.
I've told you that. Just you let me know you're in L.A. and you got a chair. Thanks, man. Just to tell you.
The iconic chair. I appreciate you calling iconic chair. There's, you know, a hardware that's just been restored. All right. Good to see you, sir.
Good to see you, man. That is Seth Wickersham right here on the Rich Eyes and Show. Jim Harbaugh coming up in hour number three. Your phone calls as well. Taking a quick break to tell you how Saturday's game time can get a little messy.
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I've got a four downs here, and the pressure's on here because the four downs involves your New England Patriots. Oh, boy.
So I didn't ask you. I didn't ask you. Let's go. I didn't ask you, like, hey, what do you think? Or I just came up with this myself.
Sure. All by myself. Thank you. Cooper may have helped. No, I'm just kidding.
Get it. But it's time for a new, pardon me, a Patriots. Defending AFC champion New England Patriots for downseason preview hit it. Four downs with Rich. Here we go.
Why did you suck for me?
Now, I don't know if you remember, a couple years ago, there was a draft where. Three quarterbacks were taken in a row. Right, of course. And to start the draft. And one of them had an up and down first year, and then last year.
Well Through the roof, Caleb Williams. Another one was a unicorn right out of the box. Offensive rookie of the year, hands down, second year. Break down the tools. The third one, he gets drafted.
They decide to, you know, give them a little bit of marinating time and screw it. Just throw them in there.
Okay. But You know, Gerard Mayo was the head coach and The offensive coordinator wasn't You know, Josh McDaniels.
So, okay. In comes Vrabel, in comes McDaniels. Last year, Drake may a total rocket ship. And I don't think there's anybody out there that thinks that's. a one-off, an anomaly, a one-hit wonder, a uh You know, Dexi's Midnight Runners.
Anybody who knows anything. The One Eaters.
Okay. Doesn't think that. Because that thing he does. is something else. And now here comes AJ Brown.
Oh baby.
So first down is: will A.J. Brown have the impact on Drake May as hoped? Right? Yep. Because now A.J.
Brown comes with all due respect to Stefan Diggs and The aforementioned, you know, the artist formerly known as Keyshawn Booty there. Romeo Dobbs has been brought in. The wide receiver room has been improved, to say the least.
So, I can't wait to see what first down. is gonna mean with number one there and AJ Brown wanted to show It ain't me in Philadelphia, everybody. That's first down. Second down. Second down.
This was a massive issue last year. And it got massed by all those winds. And Will Campbell, year two. Any better, or does the turnstile keep on turning? That whole idea of, hey, he's not going to be the left tackler, they're going to kick him inside.
Who's the left tackle on the depth chart as of right now? in New England. That's him. Elijah Veritucker's right next to him, so they have gotten... Better on that left side, and we will see what happens with Will Campbell.
That's because he was beginning. You could see it was messing with what was going on. He was playing okay, then he got hurt and missed some time. Got it. Maybe came back too early or just hopped back because he felt like he needed to, but yeah, he wasn't good in the playoffs.
And then, in between the temples, you could see it was beginning to affect him. Yep. Because if the left side isn't strong enough, Drake May is going to start to speed himself up. And whatever issues he had protecting the football last year could be... Another problem this year.
Third down. Third down. A lot of people don't know. The Patriots had a top-five defense last year. Top five.
They were opportunistic, but they didn't give up points, man. They didn't.
So third down is a simple question. Can the defense stay top five? And obviously, Christian Gonzalez being paid and happy would be a big time. Piece to add to keep this thing rolling top five-ish. We'll see.
Because everyone's talking about Drake Mabe is amazing and Ray Bowles Coach of the Year and yada, yada, yada. Come out to the coast. They didn't have any lefts when they came out to the coast to the Super Bowl, but they made to the Super Bowl because the defense. 1,000% got him there. It wasn't because the offense was lighting it up in the playoffs at all.
Our defense closed the season. and then got them to the Super Bowl. That's a big third down. And then there's this fourth down. You have to mention it.
You have to mention it, and it's a simple one. Does Mike Vrabel's TMZ world? crash in on the locker room in any way, shape, or form. Nobody knows. It's not talked about very much.
I mean, NBC did talk about it at the Hall of Fame game. Yeah, Mike Talum brought it up. Right.
And. You look at their schedule. Obviously, we all know. Isn't this amazing? It's a week from.
It's in eight days from this conversation. At Seattle, home for Pittsburgh, at Jacksonville, at Buffalo. If that's a one and three start or an oh and four start. You know, it's a tough place to play Seattle with a banner raise. And now you go home, and the Steelers.
Come in. And You know, surprise them in their home opener. That happened last year with the Raiders. Yeah, and they lost it. And Steelers beat New England last year.
And then at Jacksonville, at Buffalo. I'm just wondering if it's a slow start, is the locker room buying what the reigning coach of the year is selling? Because they look at him and say, really? I don't know. That thing could be totally put to bed.
I just need to ask this because. I don't think a lot of people are talking about it. And that's my four downs on the New England Patriots upcoming AFC title defense season. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
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