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Now. On with the show. How about them Cowboys? Holy crap! This is the Rich Eisen show.
Bucky Irving. Farmer. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests: NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah, WWE superstar Seth Rollins, two-time Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, and now it's Rich Eisen. Hey everybody! Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.
What a Friday we've got in store. Daniel Jeremiah will be first up to talk about everything going on in the National Football League, and this just in: there's a lot that is going on. Seth Rollins is going to stop by, and the Bears fan of note is going to be here, and what a day! Mike Ditka just passed away; was announced within the last half hour, and so obviously we'll we'll talk about the passing of the Super Bowl winning coach. Of the Chicago Bears, the first tight end in the history of the National Football League to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, you know, is a guy that clearly represents Chicago football in so many different ways.
So, Seth Rollins will be here in hour number two, and then in hour number three, in person. The author, if you will, of one hell of a ride, Michael Douglas, who was here on this show a few years ago, he's coming back. We're going to an epic celebrity true or false with him. Or in the case of the fact that all these stories are in the book, it'll be the first time we ever play celebrity. Is this really true?
That'll be later on in this program. Nah, for real. Eight four. Yeah, right. Or oh, wow.
Eight four four two zero four. Rich is the number to dial. Whether Tech fan line. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you?
What's up, man? I'm great. Jason Feller. Hey, what's up? A real, actual Dodger fan sitting in that seat.
Go for that. Oh, is he? Is he at it again? Oh my gosh! And T.J.
Jefferson. Candles lit. Need a hug, bro? And so will this first segment. How about that cowboy?
Oh.
So this show, as you know, I like to do this. This show begins. On the date of October sixth, twenty nineteen. Oh, not so long ago. It's interesting.
Our five. I was in London, England, with Mouch and Kurt, Michael Irvin, Sue's was there. We were all having dinner. Brenda Warner was there. Gail Mariucci was there.
All around this table in an awesome Italian restaurant. Yeah, friends there. Yeah. Susie's best friend Deb was there. Deb, yeah, that sounds so fun.
Yeah, her husband Tom, who's better at me than everything, was there. But it was fine. It was cool because we were watching the Jets play the Cowboys. On Irv's had an had an iPad sitting right there on the table. Oh yeah, and I was ahead of him.
What you know, watching the game on dots with an ESPN app, game cast, and I knew. He was a couple plays behind on his feed. I knew that Sam Darnold had just hit Robbie Chosen, as he would eventually be known, Robbie Anderson at the time. Ninety-two yard touchdown pass, boom! And at that point in time, I was just watching Irv getting ready to watch it, and Irv watched it.
He saw it, and he. Folded up his iPad and left the restaurant. He gone out the gate, just like Robbie Anderson. Gone. He leaves you some little two.
This day, he is still not paid his part of the bill, Irv. Why did I bring it up? Yeah, it's the last time the Dallas Cowboys had lost to a team that entered the game zero and four. Oof! But that was in New Jersey.
We take the Rich Eisen Show Sports DeLorean to October of 1975, October 19th to be exact. Way back when, in the old Texas Stadium. Bart Starr brought his 0 and four Green Bay Packers into that house, and on that day, John Heddle threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and that was the last time the Dallas Cowboys lost at home to a team that had entered 0 and four or worse that day in 1975, and then came last. Night.
Well, that was a long time. When Jalen Daniels, former Rich Eisen show glue guy from Kansas, that's how long he was in college—six years. He was in college, undrafted free agent, became the first undrafted rookie starting quarterback to win a game for a team that entered the game winless in the Super Bowl era. I'm out. There you go.
I have been capping for the Dallas Cowboys since the spring. More than me. I've been talking about how this offense could be pretty damn good. I've been talking about how this defense has got the players. They've added them.
Rashawn Gary sat in this chair. He did. And I saw Rashawn Gary next to Quinn and Williams, or in between the two of them is Kenny Clark, and they drafted my kid Jayshawn Barm and Caleb Downs and Yada and Yada and Yada. And even after they lost on opening night, I'm like, let's see what's going on. And even after, what happened at the end of Rio?
I'm like, let's see what's going on, but I have again two new words in my regards to what I'm feeling about the Dallas Cowboys this year. I'm out. No, I got to turn my back. I don't know. Uh, yep.
I I tried to. I listen. You to let you know. Bucky Irving had not had a hundred yard game since his rookie season. Bucky Sanders, you mean?
One hundred and sixty-five yards of two hundred forty-one on the ground last night, and the ones that really—I mean—at the end of the game, even after it looked like God, he was going to bail him out with Ceedee Lamb having a quad injury after. Todd Bowles turned down the opportunity for a bunny field goal to go up three scores, and instead tried to just put it in the end zone and thinking they have to go ninety nine and a half yards. Ended if I don't get it. Even with that aggressive move. That did not go down.
The Cowboys started coming back, and you're thinking to yourself, "If you go for this, Todd, you're opening up the door." And sure enough, the Cowboys burst the door down and got the ball back, and we're going down the field to win the football game, or at least tie it. Pardon me, because they went for two. We'll talk about that later. I don't get this analytic stuff ever. All right.
You telling? And so, trying to tie it in a. Typical Dallas Cowboy at home in a game that they should win. Foot shoot, ball pops up in the air because it's a little bit off on Ferguson interception. Even with all that, they had three timeouts left to potentially get the ball back in decent position to go for a couple plays in the end zone.
We've seen crazier things happen this year. Look at Miami Mater against Western Michigan. Crazier things have happened. Even with all that. Bucky Irving busts one damn near for the whole damn field.
When you think, okay, we're selling out to stop the run, they couldn't even stop it. Then it's nuts how talented they are and how poor the execution and results are. It's nuts.
So yeah. Offensively, Todd Bowles was blitzing, and it's like, how do you not have a pressure plan to be successful against the most blitz happy guy in the National Football League? First half, you are like, throw it out. Let's see what they can do in the second half. And they made mistakes, and Jalen Daniels, and this offense could not be stopped.
And then the Cowboys put their foot in the ground and make the one last mistake, and then defensively, just crumble again. That is not a recipe for winning a division, let alone snapping the 30-year drought of not making the NFC Championship game. Because if you can't beat an 0-4 team, or you just like listen, it's just the annual clunker. You can even say that. But to again Jerry Jones's credit, he'll still meet with the media afterwards, and he had this to say: "Extraordinarily, extraordinarily disappointed." You really do need to get it done when it's there to take, and they basically were very physical.
I thought both their fronts. I was really surprised at how well they ran the ball, how they ran it between the tackles. That's That was surprising, and we thought if they were going to run it, they'd do it outside. And thought we'd put it on the quarterback shoulders, their staff, their quarterback, all their players. Got a great victory here tonight, and it was a tough loss for us.
Well, there are some categories in which the Cowboys now rank last defensively, which is saying a lot because the Lions have had that thing pretty much locked up over the first four weeks of the season. Because defensively, it just doesn't get better. It doesn't seem to get better. It got worse last night. In a short week, with the other team starting an undrafted rookie free agent, you should be pouncing all over him.
And instead, defensively, they just were ran all over, literally. And so now it's a legitimate question, and it was asked by my colleague Jane Slater. Hit it. Jerry, five games in the season, and I know this might sound a little premature, but we've already seen teams make changes to their play caller and on offense and defense. Is that a premature question for you, or even an option at this point?
Because I know you said you're all in. Yeah, I don't. I don't want to be cued premature. Do you still have confidence that Christian Parker can get this team turned around? I do.
Yes, I do. We certainly—he's sitting there with taking it on the shoulders, which is the goes with the territory. But I feel that he's confident, and the things that he's trying to do. I'm going to say it one more time. The thing that probably bothers me the most tonight is how they ran between the tackles, so to speak, and were able to have that running game up in there with where we have a lot of strength.
And so that's something that we've got to really look at, and we'll. Yeah, you. The guy who's going to look at it is going to be Brian Schottenheimer, and he was asked after the game point blank about Christian Parker because, again. I am not an ageist. I'm somebody who got my gig at Sports Center at age 26.
So the fact that he's 34 and the youngest defensive coordinator in the history of the Dallas Cowboys does not mean anything to me. Take a look at how young Sean McVay was when he got the gig in the Rams, and he is still at it.
Okay, youth is not a problem. Youth can actually be helpful. But results right now, everything about Christian Parker—he's never done it before. He was coming from the Eagles. Is he a Manchurian candidate from the Eagles?
Is that what they did? They got him up and running, so the Cowboys could take him. Fair or not, the results are dreadful, and the head coach is now being asked about Parker. Considering all the changes you've made to this defensive unit, think you're back to square one with it? I don't think so.
I want to watch the tape first before I say that. You know, you certainly can't give up. You know, 242 rushing yards. That's that's not, you know, good enough for sure. But now to say we're back to square one, no.
We can allow you to maybe say I need to make some changes with my staff or anyway, considering where you are. Yeah, I'm going to look at everything. You know, I'll spend. You know, countless hours trying to figure it out, and getting a chance to step back, look at these five games, and see where we need to improve. And you know, again, I I listen to those who come on this show or who I work with at NFL Network.
Gel McCoy knows a thing thing or two about playing defensive line. He basically says these guys being up front are being asked to do things in this scheme that's not their area of comfort or expertise. It's now five weeks going on. If that's still going on right now, how the hell does that happen? I mean, it's just straight up, straight up.
They have the offense to win it all, TJ. They have the offense to win it all. Even on nights like last night, where it's not working, they're still putting up points at the end of the game. And they got a quarterback who can do it. And if their receivers stay healthy, they got receivers who can do it.
They got a running back who can do it. They have a line that can do it. But last night, they didn't seem to have a pressure plan. Which Kurt Warner always tells us on this program: have a pressure plan. And then sometimes the pressure plan was working.
Like Ferguson was wide open at one point in the in the third quarter, and and Dak didn't hit him. On off nights for Dak, on off nights for this offensive line, the defense has got to pick him up, and they didn't. They let him down, straight up. Dak had this to say afterwards. But we're definitely supposed to win this game.
This is a game, you know, that was a game we're supposed to have on paper, or whichever way you want to look at it. And I think Shadi said it best in the locker room. In this league, you've got to win the game. You're supposed to win. And when a winless team comes into your home stadium on a Thursday night primetime game, yeah, we're supposed to win that.
So it sucks, and and right up there, close to embarrassing. But I don't know if I would say that.
Well, you know who would say that. This was something because this made the rounds afterwards. Just to kind of talk about where do we go from here with Dallas, it's figuring out on defense what is up, and if the scheme needs to change, you change it. If the coordinator needs to be changed, you change him too. Because you added Joey Porter Jr., who was sick, and he wasn't even in the game, and it doesn't matter; he wouldn't have been stopping a run either.
That was kind of what I was saying when we got Porter. It's great to have him. That's not addressing the biggest need on this team. I know you say guys' names. Names are great, but they're not.
Doing the job, that's why I said we should have been all in on Max Crosby in this off season because he's a guy who can effect change, and we don't have that person.
Well, the Ravens did the Raiders the best, you know, the the they're you know a big favor by canceling that trade, and Crosby's not going anywhere. I don't think he ever was going anywhere about that, and I don't know who it was. Was it? Was it Marcus Spears who came on here and basically said, "You know, Porter, if he can shut people down, that means there's fewer people that you need on the back end. You could put some people, you know, in the box to try and stop the run, what have you.
But you got to figure that part out, and then you know, look in the mirror. And part of that might be born out of this exchange. wasn't really an exchange. It was a look exchange to." Somebody who was working in the stadium's bowels, if you will.
Somebody, as you know, everybody's always shooting star players coming off the field with their phone and popping it on socials. And I'm always wondering, like, what what does that mean? What are you going to capture?
Somebody who's bummed coming off the field? We see that all the time. Until you hear somebody say the word "embarrassing" to Dak. You said once I looked off, huh? Hmm.
I didn't see the second part of it. I heard it was a cart driver.
Well, apparently it it is a third party contracted worker, and whoever that person is, I'm sure there was a mole hunt that went on, similar to the end of No Way Out. It's an '80s movie. Look it up. Regardless, message sent and received. Zach was asked about it after.
You take it as disrespectful? Was it? Are you agree it was embarrassing? Or I know when he said it, I just happened to look at him, and at that point, you know, he looked away, didn't look, and then when I turned my head back, he said something else, and so that's the part that you know, just as a man or as just a person of, you feel free to speak your mind, just speak it. Don't don't cower away from the reaction that you are going to get, and so.
Yeah, I mean, if you are saying it's embarrassing, say it's embarrassing. If you are saying it to me, then say it to me. Don't you know what I mean? Go back on it.
So that's all that was, and hate it that it's even being talked about. To be honest with you, yeah, because it is disrespectful. It's just like somebody's a third-party contracted worker. You know, if the person does drive the car, should Dax stand there and say that's an embarrassing parking job? You know what I mean?
But he's giving voice to what everybody's. Two eyes, non-lion eyes, saw that was an embarrassing loss. I just told you, there's never been an undrafted free agent rookie who's been winless going into somebody's building and winning in the Super Bowl era. It's first times ever happened. No matter how talented Jalen Daniels is, shouldn't happen.
And so Schottenheimer was asked about this moment. Motivating. Motivating. We believe in what we're doing. We believe that we have good players, good coaches, and we believe the solution is in this room.
And we're going to get back to work. Take that as a disrespect when someone that works for you says this was embarrassing. I didn't say I didn't take it as disrespect. Yeah, I didn't know you said that. I didn't say that.
I said it's motivating. What's people are allowed to say what they want to say? Free country. I think it is embarrassing. It's embarrassing to lose that game yesterday.
You know, we we beat a team with no wins, and it's just like, all right, well, they didn't have any wins. Then we lose to a team with no wins, and we suck. Which, yeah, I mean, it's you're right. There's nothing more to be said. That's embarrassment.
You got the greatest offense there is, and you only put up 16 points. When you should had seventeen, by the way, like you said, the going for the two thing is just mind blowing. But yeah, two and three at the end of the day, and the just real quick, how big is Giants, Washington going to be now?
Well, huge, massive. Um, so, and the Cowboys next up at Green Bay. That never goes Sunday night at Philadelphia Monday night.
So we're going to see. Two more Cowboys standalone games and a lot of cutaway shots to Jerry Jones if it doesn't go well, and then after that, a so-called softening of the schedule. But how many times have they lost to Arizona at home, including last year? I mean, we could be zero and two. Never know, man.
These next two games, never know. But they've gone back and forth. They've traded wins and losses and wins, and they're two and three. Last night, it was embarrassing. Let's take a break.
Daniel Jeremiah next. What's he seeing on film and tape with this Dallas defense, and so much more coming up. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Fans has returned. Daniel Jeremiah is here.
What what's wrong with the Cowboys, Daniel? Um.
Well, I got a full notebook of watching that from from them. I just did. I actually just ripped the video on it because I was like, "All right, I got it." What does this look like? What's the issues here? And I there's a there's a host of them, but the big ones to me, I started first of all.
You know, if you went out to training camp, Rich, and you listen to what coaches say, just any training camp, and it could be college or the NFL. Yes, you're gonna hear a lot of these phrases, right? Yeah, block destruction. Right, we got to destroy blocks, attack blocks. Don't.
And accept blocks. Don't don't don't ole blocks and play over the top of blocks. We're going to attack, attack and destruct blocks. That is not happening with the Dallas Cowboys. It is very finesse.
They are accepting. They are stuck. They're not getting off blocks.
So there is a lack of aggressiveness there. You might go to training camp and hear, "Hey, hats to the ball. We want eleven hats to the ball. We're running the ball with maniacal effort." Don't see that with them. Hey, we got to win our one on ones.
We're going to get some one on one opportunities and pass rush. Not a whole lot going. On there, you could hear "stay off the ground." Like, hey, we got to stay off the ground, guys. Be an athlete. Stay off the ground.
Well, you're seeing explosive pass plays because you you you can't even keep your feet, and that shows up in the tackling department as well. And then, lastly, you hear them screaming "finish!" Like, we got to finish, finish, finish. They don't finish if they're rushing a lot of sacks in this league. If you watched all the sack reels every year, as I do, you'll see a ton of sacks come after your initial rushes stalled and stopped, and then it's an effort to escape. It's an effort to finish, and then and then you get some clean up sacks.
They rush down the middle and they can't get off of a block and they just kind of quit, just stall and quit. Like it's it's bizarre to watch, man.
So you know the next question is how do you fix it? Because the eye in the sky doesn't lie and it won't lie to Brian Schottenheimer for sure. And he's the one who said after the game the typical I need to watch the film. Is it a scheme thing? Because if it is, some of these things that you're saying sounds like guys not playing free.
They're thinking. They're not. They're not playing naturally, Daniel. Because I mean, you can't say Rashawn Gary doesn't have a fire, right? Clark, Quinn, and Williams.
I know he's just been paid, but yeah. What? What? What's the fix? I think some of those guys fit in one category, and some of them fit in the other.
You know, just in this game specifically, Kenny Clark actually did some good things in this game. He showed, you know, some some penetration, some quickness, some explosiveness, some effort. I thought he flashed that way. I thought the rookie Malachi Lawrence, you know, played a little more violent than the rest of those guys and did a good job. Caleb Downs was a little bit of a roller coaster.
You know, like there's some rookie stuff in there, but he still played physical and played hard. Quinnon Williams has got to play better, Rich. I mean, you've seen him at his best, and that's not the way he's playing right now. He's one of the guys when he gets stuck, the play's over. He's got to be much better.
Rashawn Gary coming off the edge has just not been impactful at all. You know, he's he's he's a little bit tight. He's not a real loose athlete, and then he's been getting stuck way too much. And then Deron Bland on the back end has just not been good and can't keep his feet. And has had a lot of issues.
So I think there's some guys that you feel hopeful about. Other guys. Have to play a lot better. I can't say that they're thinking. I don't think anything they're doing is very complicated.
A lot of that game, they're just lining up and rushing four. You know, I don't really see it as as being paralyzed by you know something they're being asked to to think and on the move and do. I just don't think individually they're playing all that great.
So it's the roster and the players. It's not the coordinator.
Well, and and those guys I mentioned have Quentin Williams is better than that. He should be more impactful than that. He's got to play better.
So. I mean, you know, I look. You can you can change out the corners, and and I will say, in the scheme side of things, there's no layups. You know, there's a snap where they decided to bring six, and the Buccaneers, a team who'd given up 16 sacks, most in the league, coming into this game, they picked it up with six. It was all day back there to throw.
So it's not like they're scheming up, you know, free runners and and getting some layups in there.
So that's where I think you could get some criticism on the scheme side of things. But to me, more so than anything else, just watching it. Those individual players have got to play better and be more impactful. Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen show. We finally got the answer to one of the burning questions of the off season: How long will Sean Payton be able to sit there as just an HC and an observer?
And not call the plays. We now have the answer. It's four. I mean, yesterday the report is that he was going to have a more involved role in calling the plays. And then he steps the podium, going, "I'm calling the plays." You're going to see that manifest the first time with your own two eyes because the Broncos are playing the Chargers.
You call the games locally on the radio here. What do you think is going to look like, Daniel?
Well, I mean, to me, that's it's almost more of a mentality thing with the quarterback and and getting Bo Nix to play a little bit more free, a little more aggressive. I don't know if it was you know really a design issue of man, we you know you know Sean Payton's known as kind of a mastermind of being able to scheme things open and get guys free. I think Davis Webb has done that to to a. Decent degree. It's just getting Bo Nix to to kind of get his stinger back and and get him to just let it rip and play more aggressive, and maybe that's just.
As simple as that's the voice, you know that you're getting in your ear throughout the week, and it's a little more, it's a little more ability to kind of land that plane, so to speak, with him. Of just hey, let it go, let it rip, play aggressive. It's going to be there. Trust it. You know, I I came up with the phrase a few years ago when I was watching tape, and it was I don't remember if it was Darnold or one of these guys I was watching.
I'm like, man, he just needs to trust his eyes and trust his guys. Like just just play with conviction. Trust. What you see and let it go, and I don't think that Bo Nix has really been playing that way.
So I think it'll hopefully the impact for the Broncos side of things is just that you see Bo Nix be a little bit more aggressive. If you turn the ball over, you turn it over, but you got to let it rip.
So it's not a play calling thing. It's been the issue. No, I think they got guys open. You can watch the tape, and you are like, "There is guys there." He's not throwing the football.
So that's and again, that's not that's not the play design. It's not the play call. It's not the timing. It's just he's got to be aggressive. Like, I mean, that's the old cheer, right?
Be aggressive. B B aggressive. B E A G R. Yes, I B E aggressive. Yeah, that's that's the that should be.
On his on his phone here, if he wants to put that on his playlist, or I guess you know that's the other one was come on and rotate. Our team will be really great, which is what we used to chant and volleyball and and camp. And they hold on and wait for it. They've rotated in Houston as well as Demiko Ryan's. Says I'm calling the plays on defense.
Is that the fix for the 0-4 Texans, Daniel? That's the biggest surprise to me of anything that's taken place in the NFL this year. Really, and and yeah, just their defense specifically. I think they're giving up 27 points a game, and I thought was the best defense in the NFL with my two eyes last year, and I thought they were going to be even better this year. And you've got Will Anderson still playing at elite elite level, but on the back end.
Man, they have been getting torched. Lassiter's been targeted a bunch. Blankenship's, you know, had some blood on his hands down the field. They just they have not been as good in the back end, and that that is interesting to me. Like after four games, it's I know we're at seventeen game season, but it is still kind of a mile marker.
So it's not surprising to me that after four weeks, it's like okay, there's enough of a sample size here. This isn't good enough. What needs to change?
So we've already seen that in two plays. And the good thing is. If I'm D'Amico Ryan, who's all accounts just an unbelievable guy, unbelievable leader, but man, what a great time to to make a change when the Tennessee Titans are are coming in. Yeah, I know. And then they go to London to take on the Jaguars, who are taking on the Eagles this weekend on our network on on NFL Network.
Daniel, and so I guess to just to tie this all in one neat bow in a sports talk radio question: Eagles offense, Broncos offense. Dallas defense and the Texans defense. Which one do you think has the opportunity with the runway of most of the season still remaining to turn it around? Yeah, I'm. Look, I picked the Texans to win the dang Super Bowl, so I mean, I can't give up hope after four weeks on that group.
So I think there, there's just too much there. There's too much talent there, and you know, D'Amico, you know, taking that over, I think they get right back on track this week, and then they could go on a little bit of a run here. Jacksonville's put themselves in a great position though, the way they're playing in that division going forward.
So I don't know if they're going to hunt them down, but I do think they have a chance to still be a playoff team in Houston and see what. Happens there, the Cowboys. I think there's. I think the Cowboys and the Broncos, to me, are similar in that you know I. I think there's there's more talent there than they're they're getting production out of.
So that gives me some hope there that you'll see those guys you know get better. Those units get better as we go along.
So and the good thing is the Cowboys have their offense, which is kind of a kind of a fluky thing with all the drop passes. I think they'll be fine on that side of the ball, and then. Denver, you know, on the defensive side of the ball, they, you know, I know they're missing missing a key piece there, but they feel like they're going to be able to help that offense out as well. What about the Eagles? The Eagles are a tough one, man.
It's not a good watch, and you know you've got injuries now. And now the Lane Johnson situation. Like, there's not a ton of positives to take out of there right now with what they look like offensively. That might be the one that I'm least confident in of all those things that we just mentioned.
Okay. You know, there's so many different ways I can go about the current state of affairs in Week Five from Week Four leading into Week Six, but I do want to hit you on something that we've been talking about on this show for much of the week here, combining your your talents of talent evaluator as well as current NFL analyst as well, Daniel. Because right now, again, there's a lot of runway, but of the top five. Teams on the clock right now. I understand where I'm at.
What calendar point of the calendar? Oh, I watched the video, Rich.
Okay, cool.
So, you know, just to set it up, you've got of the teams that are top five or at least we're coming into this week. Three of them don't need a quarterback. You know, Baker Mayfield just got signed. Justin Herbert, right across the street here for the Chargers, and the Texans with C.J. Stroud.
You've got the Dolphins and the Tennessee Titans. The Tennessee Titans, you could make the case they've got Cam Ward.
So, what happens if the top five is laden with teams that "quote unquote" don't need quarterbacks in a quarterback-heavy draft with Jeremiah Smith sitting there? Do they take a ransom? From some other team that trades up to go get the quarterback they want, or do they stick and pick with Jeremiah Smith for the quarterback that they clearly are going to go into battle with? Daniel, I find this fascinating. To me, yeah.
You know what's funny is I went through and watched this because you did a great job on it. It was like a 20 minute segment and kind of went through it. I may have watched it 2.0 speed, but it still landed. That's fine. That's still excellent.
Listen, my kids walk around 4.0 speed. I'm like, what? Oh my gosh, what is happening? Wow. First of all, first of all, parents pointing up for premium.
Let's give it up for the parents there. Nicely done. I didn't even know that. Wait a minute, I'm paying extra. I need to look into that.
Oh, you don't get that. That 4.0 don't come free, baby. You're paying a little extra for. That okay. All right, I'm sniffing stuff out.
Thank you for that evaluation, Daniel. Always evaluating. You know, the interesting thing to me is the the other connective piece here is that you've got this you know an elite receiver like that that as talent is as good as we've seen in a very long time, and Jeremiah Smith. But we also have a corner at Notre Dame who's one of the best corners we've seen coming to the NFL in the last five to ten years. That's the other little missing piece.
So it's like okay.
Well, man, I would hate to trade off of the opportunity to select Jeremiah Smith and bring him in for a quarterback that we already have. You talk about a nice Christmas present, but the fallback is not only could you, if somebody's you know really, really, really you know ready to commit a ton of picks to come up for a quarterback, if you're going to slide back, you want to slide back within you know more range. You know, to me, that's where you're you're looking at it, saying I I've got to be able to to get a big time corner. Premium position, so that's where you know that's the other piece of the conversation. I haven't seen through the tape I've seen so far.
I mean, I love Chambliss. Mensa's played great. Arch has not played as well as as maybe we would hope. Like going through this part of the process, Mestamakers put himself on the map, but I haven't seen I haven't seen the one that would just that you might get the you know the Godfather offer for.
So I, me personally, where I am right now, like I'm calling Charger games and watching this team every. It would be hard for me to move off of Jeremiah Smith if that was a possibility, right? I mean, wouldn't you just—that's the guy, right? Because again, I understand so much is focused on McDaniel and the scheme and things like that. I mean, Jim was flat out asked if he's going to make a change on that point.
He initially didn't respond and then made sure he understood the question before, you know, being emphatic, but. Right, like Jeremiah Smith would be a better choice than for them to trade back and give Joe Hortiz all these draft choices. Right? Wouldn't you say? Yeah, I would.
I wouldn't be able to do that. I mean, I would love to have all those you know draft picks, but I just this is it's a need. It's three. It's a need. It's a premium position, and it's an elite player.
So when you check those three boxes, it'd be hard to trade off that.
Okay. Um.
And you want? Let's do this. Let's. Take this before I let you go. The dart throw.
If you're wrong, don't worry. We won't bring it up again. But if you're right, we're going to play it over and over and over again. Here, oh boy, oh here we go. Here we are on this week five Friday.
Who do you think is going to be the first quarterback taken off the board in Washington D.C.
next year, Daniel? Man, where we are right now, I think the most intriguing player, when you put all that stuff together, would would be Messamaker. You know, just off early early season here. Dante Moore is, you know, obviously he's hurt. Hopefully he's okay after that horrendous hit that he took.
But he has not he not played his best ball. I mean, they were on the same field. I watched that tape, and Messamaker was, from an NFL standpoint, was just so much more intriguing with the athleticism. That he has to go along with the other array of skills. I, in an ideal world for him and his development, just more playing time, another year would be great.
But in terms of where we are at this point in the season, Mensa's been outstanding with the decision making and the accuracy. But I think Mesta Maker is a little more toolzy than him. And when we get in draft time, Rich, that's you know that usually is what takes the cake. Dude, what a story that would be because we we chatted with him when he was playing at North Texas because of the story of him being a walk. Didn't start, and he got to start like he was, you know, up chucking into a trash can during the first responder bowl, you know.
And if he goes from that to first overall, like to to win this sweepstakes of the of the quarterback draft, we've been talking about for a long time, that would be unbelievable. Yeah, it would be wow. And I'm a Chambliss guy too. I've been saying that from jump. Like he's my he's my favorite one to watch of all these guys.
Like he's he is so talented and so tough and just such a natural thrower. Like to me, if you said who of all these quarterbacks you've got to win an NFL game tomorrow, like come in and win game one, he's the guy who's most equipped to come in and help you win. You know, he's he's he's ready to go.
Okay. Thanks again, Daniel. Always appreciate the time. Have a great. Yeah.
Burn it when it doesn't happen. Just just delete it from that the internet. Unless unless your son wants to watch it at four point oh speed and all that. I have no idea, man. I got to look into that.
Quite frankly, you know. Do I see you this weekend? We're on it. We're on too early for you. Nah, it's about.
I'm not up that early.
So yeah. Normally, Daniel comes in when he's when there's a Charger game across the street. Yeah, I'm game. Not when. Not when.
Tip is four a four a m Pacific. I get. I'm more of a breakfast guy, not a midnight snack guy. All right. So enjoy eating breakfast, watching me on the air this weekend, Daniel.
Thanks again for the time. Move the sticks. Check out Daniel's podcast every single week. There goes DJ. All right, we got to go take a quick break here.
Four point oh, huh? Got to pay extra for that, huh? I didn't know that. All right, I'm gonna make a call. Be right back.
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It happens in sports quite a bit, and the it is somebody who has a remarkable accomplishment in a big moment gets overshadowed because we're in the sports media focused on something that we think is even bigger. It happens all the time. The NFL draft. Cam Ward has his big moment, right? Right, right.
He's drafted first overall in an NFL draft, and usually that's when we're all going to chop up. What does it mean for him? What does it mean for the team? And his journey and his journey is incredible. What from an incarnate word, crazy journey to first overall pick.
Yep. All right, but unfortunately for him, as he's walking to the stage, the Jacksonville Jaguars trade up for Travis Hunter. With the Browns, who everybody thought was going to take him, and they didn't, so we didn't talk about Cam Ward very much. Jalen Daniels spends the entire draft this year waiting to hear his name after six years at Kansas, and he doesn't hear his name. And yet, he's the first rookie to start a game this year.
He does it last week. Doesn't beat Green Bay, goes to Dallas and wins. Becomes the first. Undrafted rookie free agent quarterback to be winless, and and goes into Dallas and becomes the first one of the Super Bowl era to win a prime time game. Pardon me, he's a first fourth undrafted rookie to win a prime time game since 2000, and he's the first undrafted rookie starting quarterback to win a game for a team that entered winless in the common draft era.
First to do it, and he does it on. Amazon Prime, everybody's watching, and he does it against Dallas, and he was superb. He was superb, and he he he didn't make the mistakes. He almost threw a pick six, which would have been a massive change. Yeah, but he moved the ball.
The running game helped, and his mom. They're showing her. You know, Prime Video is showing. His mom in the stands. We were wondering, sitting there at poker, did somebody call her up and say, "Hey, you're being shown.
Maybe you should put the concessions down for a second." Yeah, I was like, "Kind of weird." Come on, you know what I mean? Why do moms a little bit? Those nachos are delicious. Yeah, they're good. But hey, they were on the whole McCarthy.
They were on the the mouth moving stuff between McCarthy and Rogers last week. But anyway, it was great. They had his mom on the post game show with Vitevea. It was pretty cool. It was cool.
And you know, six years at Kansas, we saw what he was doing. We we gave him a an NIL deal when we were giving out free glue to players. Yeah, um, who we didn't think were getting an NIL deal and deserved it. I completely forgot. That was when he was you know freshman.
That's crazy. Kudos to him. This is what he had to say after the game about winning in Dallas with the whole country watching. Yeah, I mean it means everything. Six months ago, if you would have told me that my first win would have been on a Thursday night prime prime football game, I wouldn't know what I don't know what I would have told you.
So, obviously, take it all in. Like I keep saying, through all the highs, the lows, the bads, the goods, go through every single emotion because at the end of the day, it makes you better and prepares you for any situation that comes down the line. And the team desperately needed it, and that's overstating it. Yeah. By zero percent, that is a massive W for the team, the franchise, the coach, the coaching staff.
The offensive coordinator is being maligned. I mean, goodness gracious! Jalen Daniels to the rescue. Congratulations to him on that big Thursday night victory. Seth Rollins coming up in a moment in person.
Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to three Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Today's forecast: falling leaves, football, and an eighty percent chance you're going to need a few more things for that backyard project. Running low on yard bags?
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