Um Hey, let's chat about choosing the best tool for the job. When the pressure's on, you find out what's really built for the moment. That's true late in the fourth quarter of a big game, and it's true when there's work to get done on a deadline. On the job site, conditions change. The clock keeps moving, and the tools you reach for have to be ready to handle it again and again.
That's why DeWalt tests its tools under real-world conditions that push even the best tools to their limit. Only then does a tool earn the DeWalt badge.
So when the pressure is high and the work needs to get done, DeWalt tools are built to perform, built to last, and built to finish strong. DeWalt, guaranteed tough. Available at the Home Depot. Outdoers get more done. Chronic migraine is 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more.
Botox, onobotulinum toxin A, prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they start. It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month. It prevents on average eight to nine headache days a month versus six to seven for placebo. Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms.
Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection, side pain, fatigue, and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection.
Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Lugerick's disease, myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit BotoxCronicmigraine.com or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to Learn more. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show.
We've got a podcast, so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part: our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com/slash rich eisen show, and you'll never miss a moment.
Now, on with the show. Are you guys starting to bring it up? This is the Rich Eisen Show. It's a separate in the end zone. Holy cats, the third pick of the night.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Let us stop being patient. Today's guests: Senior Writer for the MMQB, Albert Rear, ESPN NFL analyst, Alex Smith, Iowa head coach, Kirk Ference. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on Disney Plus, the ESPN app ESPN Radio Sirius XM Channel 80.
It's noon in Eastern Time Zone in Boston, Massachusetts. It's 9 a.m. In Pacific time zone in Seattle, Washington. It is Two in the morning Melbourne time. Uh tomorrow.
As we are here on a Thursday of the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich is the number to dial here on the program. Albert Breer, first up. Then Alex Smith, then Kirk Ference, and then there's you, as I mentioned, 844-204, Rich. Number to dial. TJ Jefferson, I'm going to start with you.
How are you, sir? Good to see you. Candle's not even lit, because you didn't think I was coming straight to you. With the laggers over there. Hot route.
Hot route. Omaha. I was ready. Here we go. The laggers over there.
TJ Mikey D is indeed nuts. How are you? Football's back, Rich. That's fun. And the Celtic season has begun for my son Cooper.
Yep. And for Chris Brockman, how are you over there, Chris? Guys, I'm excited to watch the game tonight. Really pumped for the season to start on a Thursday. NFL starts week one.
I'm ready to go. Red Sox Yankees are yesterday. Let's go. Let's go. I'm ready to watch the game.
Excited. Was he unaware of last night? Oh, what? Desert starts to good bits. Good bit, everybody.
Good bit. If you're real quiet, if you're real quiet, if you're real quiet, you could hear the screaming and yelling from Boston, Massachusetts. Or from my house. And it did not start that way for the New England Patriots. I'm sitting there watching the game, and I'm watching Sam Darnold run out.
with a banner being revealed. In that awesome stadium in the jewel of a city in the Pacific Northwest of this great country of ours. And I'm watching Sam Darnold now. I'm like, all right, he is one of five quarterbacks starting week one to have won a Super Bowl.
Okay. Pretty cool. It is pretty cool, right? And I'm like, I can't believe, you know. This guy that the Jets trotted out there on a Monday night football in his first game of his career, and he throws a pick six against the Lions, and he's just as resilient as ever.
And I'm thinking to myself. You know, end of story. He is now a Super Bowl champion, and it's great.
Okay. Yeah. And who knew the most jet-like thing was going to happen to him? Because, you know, the last time. Uh a former Jet quarterback ran out as a Jet.
With a with a a flag, and it was all very exciting. He lasted four snaps before being sacked in what appeared to be just any old normal sack. It's not a big deal. Aaron Rodgers goes down, wait a minute, he's not getting up. Uh Sam Darnold had five snaps last night and then he goes down.
Jaden Daniels didn't like that. He goes down. And he gets up and he's limping off. And Tarico's like, yeah, he's limping off. And then all of a sudden, he's blue Tentin.
And then he's now going to the locker room. And then it's just like, wait a minute, what? What's happening? And I'm thinking to myself, is this really happening again? Because as everybody in America knew last year.
Nobody gets to face Their opponents backup quarterback out of the blue. to the benefit of the New England Patriots, quite like the New England Patriots. If your backup quarterback doesn't have a head on his swivel, Uh When the Patriots are coming to town, are you going to them? That's a problem. I mean, we make our own breaks.
Understood. Understood. They did get to Darnold, by the way. And that defense showed up. That defense watched the banner get raised and then sacks Darnold and gets him off the field.
And then Another hallmark of last year's Patriots team: excellent defense. That seemed to be somewhat of a problem was stopping the run. Jadarian Price looked really nice, not rhymes. And um but at the end of the day. While he was Making his well-stated case for most valuable player last year and matriculating his way through the playoffs.
Taking the Patriots on a Super Bowl run, nobody saw coming. Drake may have turnover problems. And Last night This team In New England. Had This stadium Certainly going into half-time. Dead quiet.
And they took a 10-3 lead into the fourth quarter. And Um What ended up happening after all of this is exactly what we'll be talking about. Until Toe meets Ball in Melbourne between the Niners and the 49ers. The Niners and the Rams. And then throughout the rest of week one, we'll watch more games.
But at the end of the day, when the Patriots come back home, to start week two. against the Steelers. And then when the Patriots after that go on the road to Jacksonville. And then Buffalo. This is what we'll be talking about.
Can Drake May hold on to the football and who's he going to throw it to that can catch it? Because as soon as AJ Brown went down with an injury of his own, a high ankle sprain that appears to be who knows how long, It will keep him out. Their prize edition. For their prize quarterback. And Prize edition For their wide receiver room, Romeo Dobbs dropped a Perfectly thrown on the run.
Dotted pass. Perfect touch from Drake May. Wide open, had it in his hands, turned upfield too soon. Incomplete. After that, May's second of three interceptions in the third quarter.
There you go.
So you could pin it on Dobbs, you could pin it on May, you could pin it on the protection, you could pin it on the offensive coordinator and Josh McDaniels, who's getting lit up in Boston today for. a game plan that did not look Um diverse. You could chalk that up to the dark side defense that Seattle uses as its muscle. You could also chalk it up to the backup quarterback and Drew Locke coming in. And after having first half struggles.
Wound up with an excellent night, 16 of 22, 187 yards and a touchdown. And wisely, of his 187 yards, most of them went to the offensive player of the year. In the play of the night. When the Patriots turned over Maybe. In the fourth quarter, handed it back to the 49, to the pardon me, the Seattle Seahawks.
And I'm trying to keep all my games in my head here. Um The First interception. May leading to them at midfield and then a fourth down. and short situation, Throw it to Jackson Smith and Jagba, who runs away from everybody. First electric play of the season.
What a play call. This is dope. Great play call, great decision to go for it from McDonald. Great play call from the new offensive coordinator. And then the offensive player of the year runs away from everybody and just shows you why he is a cut above most everyone else, electrifies the Crowd, suddenly we have a tie game leading to that dropped ball, then the other interception, which led to a field goal after it looked like the Um The Seahawks were about to go up for a touchdown, but their bugaboo last night, other than coming back from an injury suffered by their.
Super Bowl winning quarterback was just the number of penalties that they racked up, but we'll talk about that in a moment. It is all about what happened with Drake May. with three interceptions last night, including The mind-blowing Gutting. Final interception. where it's third down Try to be aggressive and win the game right here.
I get it. If it's not there as the play was breaking down, throw the thing into the Puget Sound for crying out loud. Exactly. Like, you know. Yeah.
Hip, hip. You know, hit Ichiro in the head with it. Hit the Ichiro statue, right? Throw it to Jay Buener. You know what I mean?
And Instead, he puts it up for grabs. And Josh Job Makes a great catch, gets both feet down. By the way, somebody who John Schneider re-signed to a three-year $24 million contract. Awesome. General managing coming home to roost?
And at the end of the day, the Seahawks survive. Drew Locke does what every backup quarterback needs to do. And Sure enough. The game I was referencing where Rodgers goes down. on opening night for the Jets in front of the whole country.
The Jets fell down by 10 points, and the backup quarterback won it against the reigning. AFC East Division Champs in the Bills. The good news for Seattle is it looks like Darnold's coming back, unlike Rogers for the Jets years ago. Sure. and the reigning division champs in the New England Patriots, like, hey, Drake May has got to figure out how to protect the football.
And he knows it, as he said after the game. We had the game under control. You know, I thought we had a good plan to try to start chipping away and be patient. And. Yeah, lost patience and and costed us.
I think it just, um Your decisions that cost us the game, you know, on my part and on my end. And you know, I've allowed myself to be better and realize it's you know, it's a long season, but at the same time, you can't have those. You can't have those, and it's unacceptable. And I know that Everybody back to work. Because you know that wasn't you know, how I play football and and how I rep want to represent um you know, my game and and you know, playing quarterback for the Patriots.
Mike Vrabel's response was predictable as well, which is like we don't like it, but we know who the meal ticket still is. It's a long season. You know what I mean? Like, we're going to hold our head up high and. And we have Nothing but the Utmost confidence in him and everybody on this football team, and he's gonna make a lot of plays for us.
Hey, listen, you know, I I was telling this to my highly despondent fifteen-year-old Cooper who is gonna go off to college one day as a Patriot Celtic Yankee fan, and everyone he goes to college with is gonna be like Who the hell raised you? He's despondent. And I know you're not happy either, Chris. I get it. What's worse?
What's worse? What's worse? Bummer. Having a game in your hands that you could win. In a very tough spot in Seattle, watching a banner get raised, and you lose at the end because your quarterback has protection.
ball protection issues still that can be fixed Or you lose to the Raiders at home like they did last year. And they still made the Super Bowl anyway.
Okay. Oh, the Raiders' loss was much better than this. I guess. I mean, this is year three. He's making rookie mistakes.
I'm more bummed about the coaching decisions and Josh McDaniels really being way too conservative. A.J. Brown doesn't get a target on the opening drive, and then his first target is like a little five-yard out. Like, come on, what are we doing? First play of the game needs to be bombs away.
Let's announce our presence with authority. Drake May under throws the flea flicker. A.J. Brown could have waltzed in, and he just kind of, it was just a touchdown anyway on that because it was, that was right. Tamian Henderson wasn't there either.
Look at me taking the, this is like role reversal here, or you're playing your role. Which is, I shouldn't say that. You're not playing a role. You're speaking from the heart, as every Patriot fan is right now, flipping out. It's thoroughly disappointing.
And if you're asking everyone in New England, I know we got to go. It looks like a 6-11 season incoming right now, unless some major changes are made. A.J. Brown's going to be out at least a month. I believe so.
And so it's now what?
Now you're looking like, man, that Kayshan booty trade looks terrible. And who's going to step up? Romeo Dobbs, I didn't realize they had given him 87 to wear. You have to be a dog to wear 87. That number should be retired to begin with, but if you're going to give that out, come on, man.
Let's go. It was not a great start for him in the New England area where everything gets magnified more than obviously Green Bay, Wisconsin. He's going to get a lesson in what it's like to ply your craft in the Northeast. Yeah, this could be Adrian Gonzalez all over again. Mm-hmm.
Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high-interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an Audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an Audible on your debt today at sofi.com/slash debt play.
Loans originated by SoFi Bank NA, member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply, NMLS 696891. Fast Funds terms apply at sofi.com/slash debt play. Rich Eisen here for Gusto. After all these years talking to athletes, coaches, entertainers, and people at the top of what they do, one thing is pretty clear: success usually depends on getting the details right.
For small business owners, that includes payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, you know, the work that keeps everything moving, even if it's not the reason you started the business in the first place. That's why there's Gusto. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredible. Incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere.
Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits, workers' comp, 401k, you name it. Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget. And it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters, onboarding docs, direct deposit, and more. Plus, you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises.
Try Gusto today at gusto.com/slash rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich. Quick break to tell you some game time tips. When you're hosting during football season, you've got to be ready for every kind of craving.
Somebody wants fresh pizza.
Somebody wants crispy wings.
Somebody's asking if there's sliders. That's when you need more than one call in the playbook. Frigidair offers ranges and wall ovens with over 15 cooking modes so you can tackle hosting with confidence. There's stone-baked pizza for restaurant quality pizza in as little as two minutes. Air fry mode for crispy favorites.
And air sous vide for juicy tender sliders. Plus there's slow cook, no preheat, and more. Stone-baked pizza and air fry, both built right in your oven. That's the Game Time MVP combo.
So when you're hosting before kickoff, Frigidair helps you cover every craving. Available at the Home Depot, outdoers get more done. Only when using Stone Baked Pizza Mode, cooktime requires preheat and reheat and may vary based on ingredients. Dude, it was a disappointing loss. I totally get it, but it is just one game.
That said, I did say that they could start one and three. You said you'd eat Del Tufo's hat. No, I don't really remember that.
Okay. Not disappointed blacked out. I mean, I recorded it with my phone, too. But. Sit back and watch the recriminations come out of the Northeast, and then there's a sigh of relief as Seattle lost Darnold.
They appear haven't lost him for the season. The defense rules the day. Cooper Cup makes some great plays because he's Cooper freaking Cup. And JSN says, guess what? I'm the offensive player of the year.
I'm going to make the first electric play of the season. And then the defense is going to come up with three. takeaways and two sacks in the fourth quarter and wrap it up. And Drew Locke understands what his job is. He even said that.
I think he said it to Melissa Stark after the game, saying, My job's to protect the football. The other kid couldn't get it yet. Or hasn't. We take a break, Albert Breer is going to give us the latest on all the injuries we just mentioned. We're off and running.
The season has begun, and Brockman's pissed already, like it's the postseason. Um The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Rich Eisen Show, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer is here on the Rich Eisen Show on a very busy Thursday. How are you doing, Albert? Good to see you.
Good to see you, Rich. It looks like you are in a Boston Sports Talk Radio environment. Let me, hold on a minute. Let me take an ear out. Hold on a minute so we can.
Yeah, I can hear the yelling and screaming from there. The ceiling isn't falling in my head. Meltdown City? Are we in Meltdown City there in Boston?
So, a little bit of a different tone and tenor to the conversation here than there was 24 hours ago, I'd say.
Okay. Yeah. So, what we saw in the fourth quarter. Yep. is something we we talked about at the top of our program here.
The Drake May turnover problem. And that has been something that actually the Patriots were dealing with while they were making the Super Bowl last year.
So is this sort of their concerns behind the scenes being laid bare out front or just a bad quarter? Auburn I think it's Look, I think it's an acknowledgement that all quarterback development isn't linear. And I think if you talk to people in the organization, Drake's still figuring out how to play quarterback at the NFL level, you know, and he's such a big athletic kid. And I mean, if you want to put it plainly, so many things went according to plan last year because you've got a great offensive coordinator and Josh McDaniels, and nobody has tape of him with a quarterback like Drake May.
So they're able to do all these different things and give all these defenses all these unscouted looks. You know, and then you get to the postseason and now everybody's got a full year of tape. And now you got Jesse Minter scheming it up for the Chargers and their personnel. And you've got Matt Burke and D'Mico Ryans doing it for the Texans and their personnel, Vance Joseph and the Broncos, Mike McDonald and the Seahawks. And I think it's just sort of an acknowledgment that Drake does have a ways to go, you know, and Drake does have development to go.
And that's something that I think actually, like in the long run, Patriot fans can be excited about. But I think the other piece of it that's so interesting to me, Rich, is that I think through the four quarterbacks, the four guys who are right there in the same age group that ascended so quickly, right? Like, so that'd be Mahomes, Burrow. Alan Jackson. I think they fooled us all into thinking quarterback development is just linear.
You know what I mean? Like, it's just those guys got really good really fast and stayed really good. And there weren't a ton of bumps outside of the injuries. You know, a bunch of those guys have had injuries, but those guys have kind of gotten to and maintained an elite level. And, you know, I think we were all sort of spoiled by that, you know, and sometimes there are bumps along the way.
And I think, you know, some of Drake's issues in the playoffs and then the issues last night are proof of it.
Well, I mean, he was also one vote shy of being the most valuable player of the NFL last year. That was voted on before the playoffs, right? Sure. Exactly. And truly, you could also say.
That Seattle's defense is no slouch, and to face them in back-to-back games, very few players are going to look very good to begin with. Not even Stafford's had to play Seattle in back to back games, you know.
So you you you could potentially hang your hat on that. The issue is, moving forward, it looks like AJ Brown's out for a while, correct? Like what what's the latest there?
So he has a high ankle sprain. They're having tests. These are tricky. I mean, I feel like there's a handful of high-profile ones every year. It's unfortunately, it's an unfortunate name for that injury.
It's kind of like turf toe. You know what I mean? Like where you hear it and it's like, oh, it's an ankle sprain. It's like, well, this is actually ligament damage, you know?
So it depends on the grade. It could be a two or three week injury. It could be an eight-week injury. You know, you just don't know until you go through the MRI process. And he's going through that this morning.
You know, we'll see what the results show. But obviously, not great news for the Patriots. All right. What about Sam Darnold's health? What are you hearing about that, Albert?
Well, they feel like they dodged a bullet. IR still on the table there, but obviously the way the rules work now, that can mean as few as four weeks out.
So the sense I get, and they don't have all the answers on this yet, he's another one. He had the CT scan at the hospital yesterday, the X-rays at the stadium. He'll have an MRI today. And, you know, like going through that, of course, like you'll get a better idea of where he's at. But they do, and Mike McDonald said this after the game, feel like they dodged a bullet with the fact that it's not a hip fracture.
Hip injuries can be, you know, they're another one that's kind of tricky.
So we'll see what the timetable is. But the good news is, like, that team really responded, you know, I think, you know, over the course of the game. I mean, I don't know if this was your view of it, but to me, like, you know, a defense that's like just decimated in the secondary, no Eamon worry, no time. Who is Kobe Bryant's replacement? Kobe Bryant's gone to Chicago.
He's obviously hurt now, but he's gone to Chicago. Tariq Willen's gone to Philly. You know, they have all that attrition on defense. They lose their quarterback on offense. And I think this is a real tribute to the staff there.
They got better as the game went on, I thought. You know, like they looked a little out of sorts early. By the third or fourth quarter, they started to look like the Seahawks again, which is really remarkable when you consider all the guys they were missing.
Well, you can't. you know, blame 'em b for for much of the game, they're sitting there thinking, Are we going to see Sam Darnold under center again at all? Right. And so at least they're getting some good news on that front. And I I was sitting there, I was even texting you during the game, like Who would even be available, right?
I mean, just let's put that in the mind's eye of all because there, but for the grace of God, go any 30 of the other NFL teams that are still yet to play based on our. time up we're having this conversation for week one. Like, who would even be available if the Seahawks are? How to go and look in that direction, or anyone else has to. I mean, the one that's kind of obvious to me would be, I mean, because you could look at Brian Flurry and look at San Francisco and like, oh, go trade for Mac Jones.
Like, I don't think the Niners are going to be trading. Right. Like, the one name that's kind of the obvious one for me is Jimmy Garoppolo. Brian Flurry was with him in San Francisco, so there's some carryover with the system. Jimmy's obviously not with the team right now, so he's available.
I just don't know what Jimmy's desire is to go out and play at this point. That's kind of the wild card. But he would be the one name where, if you're looking for a guy who does have experience and background with the coaches on hand, obviously he's got a ton of experience in the division. He's spent the last, what would it be, eight years, I think, right? Nine years in the division, if you include his first year in San Francisco, he knows the teams inside and out.
So he would be an obvious one you would turn to. And I think that would probably be more. Yeah. If this winds up being a longer-term absence for Sam Darnold, Albert Breer here, the MMQB NFL podcast. He's going to be recording that later on today.
And obviously, the must-read every single Monday in Sports Illustrated, the MMQBs. Albert Breer here on The Rich Eisen Show. Where did Brock Bowers' injury come from? Albert. It was, yeah, that's a wear and tear injury.
And Like having him in this like it's I don't want to scare anybody here because it was a trim rather than a repair, which gets them back sooner rather than later. Um, but there was some wear and tear stuff on him coming out of Georgia. And so, like, I like again, no alarm bells here, but you know, the fact that this is because, and that's why you don't see with an injury like this, like these sometimes just pop up rather than like us actually getting to see something happening in a game where something happened at practice where practice was stopped. Like, this is generally one of those things that is something that evolves over time. Ironically enough, it's like the same sort of thing that Max Crosby has.
Now, again, I'm not sounding that alarm because I'm, you know, I'm saying these things that like, you know, probably would make you know Raiders fans recoil to some degree. And so I'm not sounding that alarm yet, but you know, this is the sort of wear and tear thing that you want to take care of. And so they take the more aggressive route and getting him back to the field onto the field and having the trim rather than the repair. But it does, you know, it does, you know, at least. Yeah.
I think, you know, get your attention just as far as the amount of mileage he has just three years into his career.
So trim, repair, like give folks an idea. What are you hearing? The first one was a mistake or two, but I mean, that's a repair would be like potentially season ending. A repair was what like J.J. McCarthy is the one that like recently that I think of.
If you remember, he was hurt in August of 24. And like there was that question, okay, does he need a trim or a repair? He needed a repair. And that wound up taking him out for his entire rookie year.
So, and that was part of like the whole deal with Max last year, too. And, you know, he wound up having the repair after the season ended. And that took, you know, took six months out of his offseason.
So if he did wind up having to have it repaired, it'd probably be season ending. It's a relatively simple one to come back from when you have. trimmed. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show, and Max Crosby. We're expecting to see him out there.
Like, what's the scoop? Yeah, I'm excited to see what he looks like. I know, you know, having talked to him a little bit this summer, um, You know, I feel like he really feels like he's got something to prove now and something to go out and show the world about who he is as a player and all of that. And, you know, I give the Raiders credit in like just. Being careful and prioritizing him over the course of the offseason now.
Is he going to deal with soreness and all of that stuff? Yeah, I think there will probably be some things that he'll deal with over the course of the year. But it seems to me like he's in a really good place to go and have a big year. And again, it's like one of those things where. Um You know, the truth will come out over the next couple of years on whether or not, like, and we've seen these situations before.
I mean, I'll give you this one. We were talking about A.J. Brown a second ago. Like, A.J. Brown's knee was seen as degenerative in 20, what would it have been, 2022?
And that was why the Titans didn't sign him to an extension that year. That was why they traded him to the Eagles. And here we are four years later, and he's been traded for a first-round pick again.
So, like, that one didn't quite work out the way that some of the doctors thought. It's just kind of a moving target. And, you know, until we see the way a guy's career plays out, we won't know. And, you know, so I think with Crosby, that's sort of the situation you're dealing with. Were the Ravens doctors right?
You know, we'll take a year or two to figure that out. Albert Breer here on the program. Tua getting the start because Pennex isn't ready. What's your read of that and how long Tua has to prove himself or not much at all?
So, I think it was August 22nd that Penninex was cleared for 11 on 11.
So, at that point, The doctors have basically given the coaches the okay. If you want to dress them for a game, you can dress them for a game.
Now, the problem was that, like at that point, you are coming down to the cutdown.
So, a lot of your focus is on that. And you've only got a couple of weeks left until a season. And this is his third, you know, this is his third ACL.
Now the other two were to the other knee, but there's a cumulative effect to all of that. And so You know, I think. For the Falcons, a big piece of this was how do we get him in a position where he's ready to roll, like where we're not just throwing him out there.
So, this was not Tua beating out Michael Penix. I think anybody who's looking at that. At it that way, probably doesn't have a great idea how the summer went in Atlanta, and that it didn't look good with Tua at several points. I think I've brought this up to you before, but however, Like he is the guy who worked the most with the first team. And so, for the time being, he's the best answer.
My sense is they're going to try to keep, they're going to keep working on ramping Michael Pennix up. They don't want to get into a situation where they're just throwing him out there, which, if they made him the backup this week, they would be one hit away from doing that. That's why Cooper Rush is there. You know, he's an experienced backup who can at least keep his hands at 10 and 2 if he's got to go on the game. And then you give Pennix the time that he needs to get to a point where, okay, we're going to be able now.
To get a full assessment of him during the 2026 season. Because I do think for Matt Ryan, Ian Cunningham, and Kevin Stefanski coming in. Like that's really, and you're not going to say this to your team, but that's really a big part of what you want to get coming out of this year. The franchise, and it wasn't you personally, but the franchise itself invested the eighth overall pick. You owe it to yourself to figure out whether or not he's the answer before you plan for what you're going to do in 2027 and beyond a quarterback.
All right. Meanwhile, in division, Baker Mayfield says no contract. Um if I don't have one By Starter training camp. Training camp starts. He plants a flag on the organization.
It got a little bit awkward to say the least. Then nobody talks about it. Lo and behold, there are talks being had. And this is the sound bite of the day on Uh, Wednesday for sure, um, about um secret double secret negotiations. Check it out.
It comes to the deadline. I told my agent, listen, I'm I'm done talking about it. Unless something really changes, uh, you can bring that to my attention. If if you think I actually am willing to agree to it, then bring it to my attention. And apparently, they engaged in talks last week that I did not know about until Monday, about 6 p.m.
So that was, it caught both of us off guard when we were at dinner, just sitting down to eat. And the agent said, Hey, I think I need to give you a call. I need to update you on something.
So, yeah. When something like that comes about, you Listen, this is awesome. This is home for me. It's home for us. And really, really thankful.
I assume the we, the us, the dinner mate was his wife Emily, he's referring to there, Albert. Yeah? Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow.
The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need.
Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com/slash Eisen. Terms and conditions apply. Did you know every 36 minutes a child in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer?
Which means some of the bravest warriors you'll ever meet aren't professional athletes or superheroes. They're the kids in this fight. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For the past 28 years, with support from Hyundai, their dealers, and every new Hyundai sold, Hope on Wheels has contributed over $300 million to childhood cancer research, helping save more than 40,000 kids. Join our fight at Hyundai Warriors.com.
Yeah, I mean, Rich, this is my 22nd year covering the league. I've witnessed many a fake deadline, and this was a fake deadline.
So I think the Buccaneers took the approach. And I think Baker set the deadline for a reason, right? Like, so I think Baker genuinely did not want to have to deal with this once he buckled his chin strap at the start of training camp, right? Like he genuinely wanted to focus on the season ahead. And he and his agents looked at the Bucks' recent history and saw, well, they did Tristan Wurfs during training camp.
They did Zion McCollum during training camp. They did Luke DeGadecki during training camp. They have a history of waiting until training camp to do these. They did Bita Vey this year. They have a history of waiting until training camp to do these.
So let's see if we can get this off the table before we start training camp. That didn't work. But last week... Amongst themselves, the Bucks revisited it and talked about it again. And this is something I had in my column on Monday.
They were looking back at the negotiations. We weren't that far off. Like 55 million was always sort of the sweet spot. And that deadline was there. And so, yes, negotiations did stop at the time.
But like the Bucs were always open to doing a deal the same way they did the deals with Wurfs and Gadecki and McCollum and Veya. And so You know, they make the call. Are you open to talking again? I think it was last, it was probably a week ago today, maybe a week ago, Wednesday, whatever. It was Wednesday, Thursday, somewhere in there.
And at that point, it's pretty straightforward. You know, the negotiating. The negotiating leverage on both sides was the franchise tag. Two franchise tags, you know, over the next two years would be $110 million. $110 million divided by two is $55 million a year.
It was always a sweet spot, and that's where they wound up landing.
So, and I do think Baker's also being genuine about wanting to really plan his flag. God, you're going to kill me over that one. It's okay. It's all right. He did it on you.
It's all right. I was like, do I let this go out of my mouth? You know, we won't talk about clocks. How about that? I can make a deal with you.
You don't talk about flags. I'm happy to talk about clocks. There is one second left, and I don't apologize for winning. Anyway, but he's planted his flag in the Tampa area. He's planted his flag in the Tampa area.
And, you know, like, and I think that was evidenced by the fact that previously he and Emily had been based in Austin, Texas. A couple of years ago, they moved their family to Tampa, Florida, as kind of this implicit, this is my team. I'm the guy. That sort of thing. And the contract is obviously an affirmation of that.
But in all seriousness, Albert, just to show you, I don't mind talking about clocks. Any aftermath within the NFL that you're hearing about that the league is reaching out to everybody to make sure everybody's buttoned up on end-of-game clock protocols and how it works and what's plugged into what and what's being seen and what. what's being used. Has that been sort of Rich, you've worked on these broadcasts, so you'd know more about it than me. Like, you know, like in your experience, like the amount of work that the engineers do with the league to try to get all of that stuff synced up and right.
And I think one of the things that came up in conversation that was sort of interesting was the gambling aspect of it, you know? And Like the importance on making sure that nothing looks like there could be any kind of funny business going on, and you know, I think that's sort of where you come back to. I think it was Pereira that said it, I can't remember, but one of the guys said, and it might have been a Joel Clatt, I think it was Pereira who said something along the lines of, like, well, yeah, like we're taught to go with the TV with what everybody's seeing on TV.
Well, why is that? It's like because you don't want to create any impression that you're looking at something different or that there could be any kind of chicanery that happens in the background. And, you know, one of the things that got me about the tape that the Big Ten put out was, why are we getting a different angle? Like the guy, the Western Michigan players' back was was blocking our view of when the ball actually hit his hand. I thought NBC actually had a better angle on it, right?
Like what we all saw on TV was actually a better angle than what the referees were getting. Why is that? And I'm not saying that to think about here, but but. But I think but I think the thing with it though is is like You're just creating a problem for yourself when you do that. You know what I mean?
Like you're creating a public issue for yourself when you do that. And I think the gambling aspect of it adds another layer. where the gambling aspect of it is.
Well, if we're going to be in bed with all the different, you know, all the draft kings and the fan duels and all like the Caesars, all that different stuff. Like, we really have to be diligent of making sure that the public trust is in a really good place. All right, two more for you before turning the page to the rest of week one. First things first. Um, why didn't Aaron Donnell get on the plane to Australia?
Albert. I think All right. Like, I'm going to give you my informed speculation on this. Like, I personally think it's because. in the back of their heads in the back of everybody's head This is really about getting to the finish line.
And this is really about getting to January and February in the best place you possibly can be. And I just think that there's a little bit of a risk-reward thing here. Where do we really want to put him through all of that on the front end of all of this when he's 35 years old and he hasn't played in two years? You know, they've been through this before with him. Um, you know, as I told you a few weeks ago, there's a template in place, right?
Like, which You know, Sean McVay and his staff, Les Need, all those guys went through it with Donald when he was holding out in 2017 and 2018, where he didn't report to camp one year until the end of August, the other year until the day before the season opener. And they had to have a detailed plan on how to get him in a position to play at his very best. And they went to the playoffs in the first of those years for the first time in forever. And they went to the Super Bowl the year after.
So they've got a good idea of what they're doing here. And again, I think this is something they can't say publicly as much, but you do want to get him to January and February because, really, what are we talking about? Isn't that what this is all about?
So I think it's about getting him to that finish line at the most full form you possibly can. And lastly, the week one new edition you're looking forward to seeing the most. You already saw A.J. Brown on Wednesday night, unfortunately, injury curtailed. But who are you looking forward to seeing in a week one game in their new spot to see if they are in fact the uh The difference maker the most.
Albert. Can I give you two? That are along the lines of AJ, like along the lines of A.J. Brown. I, there's two other receivers in the AFC.
You know, it's DJ Moore and Buffalo, and it's more than just DJ Moore. I'm excited to see what that looks like globally. You know, I think there's a parallel with Joe Brady and Sean Payton. Sean Payton. If you remember, you know, as the offensive coordinator in New York had play calling stripped.
And then, and Dallas was dubbed Dennis the Menace by Bill Parcels because of all the crazy ideas he had. And we saw a different Sean Payton. When he was out on his own in New Orleans. Nothing against Jim Fossell, nothing against Bill Parcells. We just saw a different version of him.
And I think nothing against Sean McDermott, who I think has done an unbelievable job there, did an unbelievable job there. But I really look at that like, I think we're going to see something different from Joe Brady in the way that the Bills are operating. And I'm excited to see that, especially when faced with the Houston defense on Sunday. And then I think Jalen Waddell in Denver, I think he's better than people think. You know, I think he's got a chance to have a.
I'm not going to say all pro, but pro-bowl type season for the Broncos. They think really highly of him. And I do wonder. After what we've seen from Tua in Atlanta, Is there some element of we're going to see another level of Jalen Waddell now and Sean Payton's offense? And I think in both cases, the cool part is both the Broncos and Bills have a lot of like really nice.
Complementary weapons, you know, Shakir and Kinkade and James Cook in Buffalo. And then, you know, in Denver, you know, you're talking about, you know, Cortland Sutton, Evan Ingram, Pat Bryant, R.J. Harvey. With a guy who can dictate some coverage coming in, it's probably going to look a little bit different for both teams. And you'll see that right here on the Disney family of networks on Monday night football to wrap up week number one.
Albert, thanks for the time. Have a good podcast recording. Everybody, check out Albert's pod once it's out later on today. And we'll chat again soon. Thanks again, brother.
All right. Thanks, Rich. Appreciate it. The one and only Albert Breer. Check out his stuff and Sports Illustrated right here on the Rich Eisen Show.
And we'll take a quick break because we're up against it. If you will, the it is this commercial break. Oh. Mm. Uh The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast.
Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, everybody, our friends at LinkedIn Hiring Pro would like to let you know hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Get started by posting a free job at linkedin.com. Slash Eisen. Lots to talk about. Alex Smith coming up top of the next hour.
We'll hit on the Seahawks. And there's Josh Jacobs news as well. John in Washington is not only calling in to try to play the Cowboys win-loss game, but he's telling our call screeners, whoever they are, how many times he's attempted. John, how are you, sir? Yeah.
I'm doing good, Rich, and how are you? What number time is uh attempt is this for you right now?
Well, actually, I am The first time yesterday was 41 calls.
Okay. Well, we're up against the time here, so that makes 42 here. 41. John, we need one call.
Okay, here we go. I think we need one more. John in Washington, everybody. Here we go. Let's go fast.
Sunday night football at the Giants. What happens? Cowboys. Yes. Uh what happens when they welcome in the commanders?
Cowboys again. 2-0 in Rio against the Ravens. I think the Ravens will win that one. Two and one now at Houston. I think the defense would be too much for Dak to handle, so I think Houston will win that one, too.
Two and two, the Buccaneers at the Cowboys. I think Dallas will win that one. Three and two at the Packers. Revenge. Dallas will win that one.
4-2 at the Eagles on Monday night football. I'm going to give that to Philly. That's now three. You're four and three. Home for the Cardinals.
Arizona had us last year, but this year Dallas is going to win. Five and three in Indy. Dallas again. Six and three, home for the Niners. Um I'm going to go Dallas.
Seven and three, home for the Titans. Um, Dallas. Eight and three Thanksgiving against the Eagles. They're going to split, so I'm going to go with Dallas on this one. Nine and three at the Seahawks on a Monday night.
I think the Seahawks will win. 9-4 coming off the bye at the Rams. Yeah, I think Garrett and Donald are going to tear Dallas up, so I'm going to go with the Rams on that one. Nine and five home for the Jaguars. I'm going to go with the Jaguars.
I'm sorry, Cowboys.
Okay, 10 and 5. Home for the Giants. Uh Dallas. 11 and 5 at Washington. Um Dallas again.
All right, there you go. Thanks for your patience and your fandom, John. I appreciate it. Oh, no problem. I'm just glad I made it.
I feel like I've just got the. The uh was Never mind. The golden ticket. I just am happy to make it. There you go.
Thank you, John and Washington. Thanks, John. He says the Cowboys are 12 and 5. That's a golden ticket. All right, TJ, 12.
TJ's first crack at it was 14 and 3, and then he says second time around 10 and 7.
So 12 wins. And then Hart Denton, the actor, had him 14 and 3, just like the People Samaritan in Texas and Irv had him 13 and 4. Sunday night football. John Harbaugh's ready for it. We had an interesting exchange with the New York media.
We'll play that for you over the next two hours right here on The Rich Eisen Show, everybody. Uh Thanks for listening to the Rich Eyes and 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. Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today.
Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800 contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast! And breathe. Oh, sorry.
I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800Contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800 CONTACS.
