REShow: Ryan O’Halloran - Hour 2

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Try Dove Men Plus Care Dry Spray goes on dry clean feel all day. This is the Rich Eisen Show with guest host Ryan Lee. Touchdown Patriots! Do you know what one will call plays when the regular season arrives?

Yeah well don't worry about that we'll work it out. The Rich Eisen Show. The Browns are considering acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo if Deshaun Watson's six game suspension is extended. Earlier on the show, Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun. Coming up, Denver Post Broncos writer Ryan O'Halloran. ESPN NFL reporter Lindsey Theory. Associated Press sports writer Josh DuBose. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Ryan Leaf. Welcome back everybody to the Rich Eisen Show. Ryan Leaf here filling in for Rich Eisen alongside T.J. Jefferson. Hey that's me.

Yes it is. Michael Del Tufo. My Uber for the day.

And Chris Brockman. Mike are you charging him? What's the going rate for an airport run? I just better get five stars. You know what I want? What I want someday is just to maybe take a little take a little trip on that boat. On the boat! You'll be waiting for a while for that Ryan.

Yeah. Both the boat seat. I'm getting a bigger boat right now. I'm looking for a bigger boat.

Well you're gonna need one if my big ass is gonna be on it. So last night we just talked about we saw the Patriots battle the Giants in the first preseason game. And like always I think Bill Belichick is at full season form already. Our little press conference bit here with Bill Belichick check it out.

Today's Bill Belichick press conference moment. Oh we prefer to win. Do you know if one will call plays when the regular season arrives?

Yeah well don't worry about that. So have you decided? We're going through a process just like everything else on this team. What do you need to see to make a final decision? We're going through a process.

Simple as that. Okay it's just a little bit of a an unusual situation for us that have watched you guys before. What do you want me to do? I guess we're just looking for a little clarity as to why we're seeing what we're seeing. Yeah going through a process. Okay. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that.

What is happening? I know it's the first preseason game. But I mean these guys are used to that.

I mean the guys are in that you know they're in that room they are used to this. I mean what do you how about that what do you want from me? Well you're the head coach I want an answer. I'm doing my job here right?

Yeah but it's August 11th yesterday. Yeah Bill's going to give you the entire game plan and what coach is doing what and how they're going to proceed once week one hits. Hey I mean if you want to look at it from a perspective.

That guy knew on the job? Right. If you want to look from a perspective of what do you do with preseason football games? Well first off the Mac Jones wasn't playing. The first team wasn't playing. You were getting your backups ready you know.

Maybe you're just you're getting them both opportunities. You know getting getting your backup ready. Maybe Joe judges the backup this year. Maybe Matt Patricia's the guy but we're giving our backup a little bit. I mean who knows reading into something. I mean you always go out and you hire an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. That's like the biggest thing. Like in college football the the schools that allocate the most money to be able to go and garner the offensive and defensive coordinators are usually the better teams in in college football.

When you don't have enough money on a coaching staff to allocate towards those types of guys. So people have to be concerned and wondering like well you know has Mac Jones even been asked about this conversation? This this piece of info either? Oh I don't know.

If he has I'm sure he hasn't answered it. I mean you know we're just we're running the offense. It's a patriot way. Trying to get better.

Trying to improve every day. Well they've been getting killed like we've been talking about you know. The offense has looked pretty bad and what you know the practice is that people have been reporting and kind of live tweeting. So I know people are just being dragged. People were excited to kind of see what's going on and then you're Mac and everybody's not playing.

So it's like all right we got to wait another week. So what's the what's what's the young rookie quarterback's name? Bailey Zappe? Zappe.

Bailey Zappe. He looked pretty good last night. He looked pretty good. Yeah pretty good. Taequann Thornton caught a touchdown. Like Taequann right? I mean a while ago Tom Curran said he'd be shocked if he caught 30 balls.

I think we're way over that number now. He looks great. I covered him for Baylor last year. Fast. You know watch you know I believe they're going to be able to run the ball well.

I do. They always find a way to run. Yeah they have really good running backs too.

I do think Mac Jones is going to be a good play action quarterback and if that's the case when you have speed like Thornton on the edge that that takes the roof off some of these defenses. It puts them in pressure situations to cover and I think they've thought that Nikhil Harry was going to be that guy because Nikhil was fast, big and physical. He just never he just never you know grew into that. He was injured a little bit too and just couldn't get over it and it you know it didn't work out. He's having some surgery here. He's going to be out you know eight to ten weeks with Chicago but obviously wish him the best but yeah Taequann looks good so far. So you know fingers crossed that we had the Bill and the Pats finally got a wide receiver draft pick right. All right.

It's been a while. All right so having heard all this Chris Brockman what's more likely? Yeah what's more likely? Let's do this Mel. We got so many. What's more likely?

Never say never but never. All right let's get right into it. It's Friday it's what's more likely. We got a bunch here heading into the NFL weekend. A bunch of these kind of focus on the games tonight. We got five NFL preseason games going on but let's talk about New England. Okay Ryan, TJ guys what's more likely a Mac Jones year two regression or the Patriots are back in the playoffs for the second straight year? More likely is the constant. What's it been over the last 20 years? Well it's been Super Bowls.

Right what's more likely that their regression is still the playoffs. Okay. Right so I think Mac Jones takes another step. I'm not reading too much into the just last night for the backups to have the success that they had shows that there's an offensive system in place.

Okay. Right there's an offensive system in place they were able to score 21 points in a game that Justin Tucker and just took over at the end right? You know oh sorry that was in the other game but in the Giants game they went 23-21.

I don't read much into it. I feel like Mac Jones makes that leap. I think he was probably the best rookie quarterback in the mix last year and I don't see why that wouldn't how he wouldn't take a step forward this season. Nice.

Okay let's go on. We saw the Titans last night. No Ryan Tannehill. Malik Willis was 6 of 11 for 107 yards. Did rush for a touchdown.

5 for 38 there. Good all-around game for him. So what's more likely? Ryan Tannehill takes the Titans back to the playoffs this year or he struggles and he struggles and Malik Willis gets multiple starts as a rookie. I mean this is always always an issue once you draft a rookie quarterback when you have a veteran on the you know now they didn't draft him super high right third round so it wasn't like he was a first-round pick a la Kenny Pickett in Pittsburgh. So the pressure on him to play isn't going to be immediate unless Ryan Tannehill struggles out the gate and his team isn't in the form that they were a year ago where they were the number one overall seed in the AFC. So I think a lot goes into what Ryan Tannehill does in this conversation. So until we see something from Tannehill in terms of a true regression or not having the leadership that he's had in that organization for the last few years I don't see Malik Willis getting much run other than maybe some packages put together. All right guys looks like we're going to see Deshaun Watson play football tonight as the Browns out there in the preseason game they're playing in Jacksonville. So what's more likely?

I've just thrown this out there. Jimmy G still doesn't have a team yet. We're still waiting to see what his future is going to be. Quarterback to win more games this year. Jimmy G or Deshaun Watson? Jimmy Garoppolo.

Jimmy Garoppolo. I don't think Deshaun Watson will play a snap this season. Do you think it's a full year for Deshaun? I do think it's going to be a full year and I think it's absolutely asinine that he's going to be playing in a preseason game.

It's crazy. I think Jimmy G whether he's in San Francisco or whether he's somewhere else he gets more wins this year than than Deshaun wants because he's gonna he's gonna he's gonna play at some point this year. He's gonna end up somewhere. Is it Houston? Is it Cleveland? Is it Seattle? Who knows right? But he's gonna be somewhere other than San Francisco we believe right?

We believe. I'm still I still believe there's a chance he could stay in San Francisco. He is I know he wants to play but I we we have to see what Trey Lance can do and that and the organization is flatly behind that. We have to see what he can do and what the next step of of quarterbacking at San Francisco is but I mean what's better than an insurance policy of somebody like Jimmy Garoppolo who's got playoff experience who's played behind Tom Brady everything.

It's an expensive insurance policy. He's gonna give me he's gonna be making so much more money than the current starting quarterback. Right. So that may play into it. We'll see but I I do think that to your original question what's more likely I think it's more likely that Jimmy Garoppolo gets a win as a starting quarterback than Deshaun Watson does this year. We were kind of scratching our heads still kind of wondering what's going on with Tom Brady down there in Tampa so what's more likely here? Tom Brady is distracted or struggles this season or the Bucks make another deep playoff run? I mean you you gotta believe that at some point Father Time has has to catch up with somebody right?

It has happened everywhere else. People say it. Father Time is undefeated. Yeah which is why I want Brady to get out of this one on top so we can stop saying that. I'd like it too but I don't I don't see how this this man who is so committed to being the best possible quarterback being the best possible quarterback he can be in terms of nutrition, physical, mobility, all of those things that he has any sort of downfall. I don't think he's distracted. I think that this is a a scenario where he maybe just wanted some time with his family unless something else comes out that we we don't don't know or fully understand.

It's not his responsibility to tell us either. It's and it's only a week. It's it's it's a week in training camp days is like four years.

It's like dog years. I get it but when you've done it as much as him exactly. If it was if it was if it was his first year with the team would you feel different? If it was Kirk Cousins even though Kirk's been around a long time I think people in Minnesota would be like this is this is a problem right this is the problem and there needs something to change.

That's not going to be the case here. He's going to come in walk right into a season like he always has. I expect him to be the starting quarterback this year and I expect them to make another deep playoff run. I think by week two no one's even going to remember that he took a week off.

Yeah you're probably right. I think by by by next week by week by week one going into the like the rosters and the games and everything like that like walking into Buffalo Los Angeles uh opening night no one's gonna remember that Tom sat out for 10 days. All right guys some questions about teams playing tonight in the in the preseason. How about this who's more likely to be a legit sleeper this year Falcons or Lions?

Ooh I I this is a good one. I thought Detroit improved last year. I really did. I thought they got better. I thought they the emergence of Amun Ross St. Brown at wide receiver. They played hard every game. They played extremely hard uh their coach well they're afraid of Dan Campbell. If there's anything you take away from Dan Campbell and his motivational speeches and the way he goes about things you his players play hard for him. Yes. Okay and that's that's half the battle.

That really is half the battle. They play very hard for him and I thought Arthur Smith's players played hard for him too last year. I thought they were better than people expected but they also had Matt Ryan and if you look in terms of success in this league now don't forget Marcus Marioto is a is a quarterback that took his team to the playoffs got him to Kansas City. You thought he was going to be making in that game against Kansas City where he caught his own touchdown pass if you recall correctly.

He thought he was gonna make the next step but Arthur Smith at the time brought in Ryan Tannehill because he he knew that Marcus couldn't make all the throws in the offensive system he wanted to implement and now he's in Atlanta. The difference maybe Kyle Pitts, Drake London. Right. I mean that's that's a that's a different saying. Big time pass catcher.

Big time pass catcher. So these two could be really competitive. So if you have to make me pick one or the other I'd probably say Detroit because I think that that division may be a little less competitive than maybe the NFC South. You got Tampa, New Orleans, you know Carolina we don't quite know but they're really good defensively. So I'm gonna say Detroit. More likely that Detroit has a better season and is more of a sleeper than let's say the Atlanta Falcons this year. Which of those teams likely to hit their win totals? So Vegas has the Lions at six and a half wins the Falcons at only four and a half. I would say Atlanta has a better chance of hitting the the five wins than then Detroit hitting the seven.

Okay that's fair. All right TJ this is for you because I know you love this question so much. Let me guess who's under more pressure? Yes quarterback. Quarterback under the most pressure this year. These two teams play tonight.

Oh I don't even know I don't know if we'll see either one of them but it's your damn act together. Under more pressure Trey Lance, Aaron Rodgers this season. Well I mean according to Rich Eisen Aaron Rodgers is under no pressure. I mean obviously it's Trey Lance right?

He got what 13, 14, 17 draft picks traded just to get him to to the Niners. He sat out we don't know what this guy's going to bring to the table because none of us say for maybe Ryan Leaf have ever seen Trey Lance play a football game. Ryan have you seen Trey Lance play football? I covered a college game of his. Yeah I figured you did.

I know I never did so I don't know what to expect. It's very obvious though Trey Lance is under more pressure. Trey Lance has attempted less passes than Tom Brady did last year in his career. His entire football career. Since high school. Than Tom Brady last year?

Yes. His entire life. Or at least from high school. What a stat that's amazing. Yeah like I don't know man he's definitely got to be. He only threw 71 passes last year in the NFL in his first year. Yeah and I didn't by the way I didn't see any of those games so I. No of course not.

All guards. There's a couple there's a couple Deebo Samuel passes of like deep balls wide open I mean don't get me they were they were wide open. All righty I was playing golf yesterday with. Well do you agree with that last one Ryan by the way? I Aaron Rodgers won a Super Bowl so I'm off that like. Yeah but he's only won one. I don't care like you've won a Super Bowl Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl right you did it in the biggest moment the biggest game he did it.

Yeah like 12 years ago. Agreed agreed and that was a conversation I had this guy on the golf course yesterday he was you know blah blah blah blah blah about something about Aaron Rodgers and I was like but he hasn't won like he's been the number one seed the last two years. MVP. MVP the last two years and kind of. Looked pretty bad in the playoffs.

Kind of a little bit in those games right? I know it sounds awkward for you guys listening out there or watching watching Ryan Leaf talk about Aaron Rodgers choking but it's let me go ahead and give you just get this out of the way. Leaf was a bust he sucked anyway why does he care he can't say anything about Aaron Rodgers. Keep Aaron Rodgers name out your mouth. Who's Ryan Leaf to say anything about Aaron Rodgers?

There we go we did it for you. I'm just saying this right now he had opportunity the last two years at home and that was one of the bigger complaints all along right I haven't had a chance to host an NFC championship last year they had the opportunity again the year before I would have argued that they had COVID so there was a limited amount of fans at Lambeau but last year was full go and they couldn't even get to the NFC championship after being beaten by the 49ers so yeah I wouldn't say there's more pressure there's more pressure on Troy Lance by far because of the amount of that was given up for him the unknowns all of it so I get you there. Sorry Ryan I just want to thank you Chris for not including Dak in any of that.

No problem TJ. Dak Prescott's got a lot of pressure on him. If you don't know your numbers you don't know your business that's true when your business is growing fast and even more true when there's a lot of uncertainty inflation is running rampant supply chains are clogged and the labor market is tight what does that mean for margins but not every business is in the dark over 31,000 businesses know their numbers because they use NetSuite by Oracle the number one cloud financial system NetSuite gives you visibility and control of your financials planning budgeting and of course inventory so you can manage risk get reliable forecasts and improve margins everything you need all in one place in 2022 profit is the new growth so NetSuite helps you identify rising costs automate your manual business processes and see where to save money know your numbers know your business and get to know how NetSuite can be the source of truth for you your entire company right now NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program head to NetSuite.com rich radio right now NetSuite.com rich radio NetSuite.com dot com slash rich radio all right when we come back Ryan O'Halloran joins us to talk all things Broncos here on the Rich Eisen Show welcome back everybody to the Rich Eisen Show Ryan Leaf here filling in for Rich final day of this week for me alongside TJ Jefferson Michael Del Tufo and Chris Brockman joining the show next is a guy that that covers the Denver Broncos for the Denver Post but has a little bit of news for us I think in in future for him and what he'll be doing next joining the show here Mr. Ryan O'Halloran how we doing Ryan how's things going? Good good Ryan good to join you today. All right so so you know we're breaking news here I know you probably tweeted it but you know tell us tell us what's ahead for you.

Yeah uh I'll use this as a free advertising opportunity uh you know I'm getting off the hamster hamster wheel and I'm going to go start working for the Buffalo News next month with a concentration on some features and some NFL some hockey stuff like that so so excited to go from uh west to east again. Well congratulations uh we wish you the best in that endeavor but what we wanted on the show for and is your expertise is your expertise around around the Denver Broncos and it's been a heck of an off season right for this Broncos team uh they add a uh perennial all-pro Super Bowl champion quarterback they've done that before and it turned into a championship uh talk to us about Russell Wilson his entrance to the Denver community the Denver program and where we are a few weeks into training camp. Yeah and you're you're right this this has been an off season new for the Broncos you know Nathaniel Hackett, Russell Wilson ownership and but Wilson's the big one there and he was acquired from Seattle and you know they gave up a lot but it required a lot to get to get a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback and you know he he jumped in with both feet even before the OTA started had his receivers and tight ends even a center in San Diego for at least two sessions and I think yesterday was a was a good measuring stick granted there's no tackling contact quarterback against Dallas in that joint practice but he just felt like a Christmas of the Bronco offense not a lot of mistakes a couple touchdowns so um I think you know and afterwards Wilson said probably further along than he anticipated but then gave credit to his teammates for putting that time in and I don't expect to see him tomorrow night though.

What's it been like covering him? You know I've spent some time around Russell he sometimes comes off to many people because of how stick it seems and some of the comments he has the way he goes about his business talking about playing 10 to 12 more years you know he lived in the mindset of Trevor Moad of neutral thinking his entire career what's it like covering a guy with that much I would say confidence and unwillingness to see any negative in anything that he's doing or what he's about. It is interesting because when he's at the podium he does have these built-in talking points and he'll answer the question it's a you know very specific question I'll give you something that yesterday I talked about you know Gervonta Williams the running back tight ends yeah he broke those guys down really well so to me it's if you know that's fine if you're winning your teammates follow you which they are on the field it's pretty interesting to watch Russell Wilson because he's always in motion if it's not his rep he's walking around if it's not his drill he's throwing passes on the side he's throwing passes after practice so he is he has that perpetual emotion which sort of fits the personality of what he likes to do in terms of traveling all over the place having all kinds of workouts so it's it's interesting I wasn't here for Peyton Manning but uh the definite is the confident vibe that permeates throughout the whole organization. We had Peyton on the show uh last time I was hosting and he talked about how Russell reached out to him around entering that organization how he can make things more seamless for everybody in the room in the in the facility to make this as seamless as possible for them to vie for a a championship run because they're probably playing in the most difficult and competitive division all football.

Yeah I think DFC West is the best in the NFL and you know one thing that Manning did I was told when he got here is he took ownership of this offense I mean you know you had an offensive coordinator you had a head coach but you know they were doing what Peyton Manning did best now Russell Wilson in a new offense with Nate Hackett I do think he is going to get a lot of ownership in terms of what they do in the game plan what they call on certain situations so I think that's your common theme is this organization was even though coming off a division title in 2011 they're looking to get back to the elite Peyton Manning helped them take their but Peyton Manning was a sheriff he was in charge I think Wilson's the same kind of same kind of mindset hey I waive my no trade I like the skill position talent here but I want to have a little bit more say of what we do on offense. Speaking of that wide receiver talent and skill position talent we're speaking with Ryan O'Halloran here on the Mercedes-Benz van phone line from the Denver Post talk to us a little bit about about that skill position right the wide receivers people really admired I mean there was talk for Aaron Rodgers because of that in the offseason every single year for the last two years you know they've had some injuries but Courtland Sutton you know Judy all of those things talk to us a bit about them. Yeah they're not as deep as they were at the start of camp Tim Patrick, Torres HCL that's a big loss I mean he's never made a pro role but he's just a reliable guy three drops in the last two years combined big red zone threat since he got hurt last week you've seen Courtland Sutton find his group you've seen Jerry, Judy turn it up a notch because they realize it falls on them now because KJ Handler's now practicing their big downfield threat they hope he's ready for week one so that you know they started off with depth it's been tested now they really need Sutton and Judy to to emerge as well as a couple of the tight ends minus Tim Patrick. The joint practices with the Cowboys have seemed spirited have seemed competitive I know I have a fellow co-host here who's really interested to see what the Dallas Cowboys have looked like through this process what are your expectations for this preseason game did you get most of what I think both teams wanted to see in particular from their ones during these joint practices? Yeah yesterday they were going on side-by-side fields Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott both took a ton of reps which as you pointed out probably means you don't see him tomorrow night I thought Dak was lights out for the Cowboys I mean granted the Broncos were down their nickel wasn't planned they're down Ronald Darby the other corner spot but I think as Russell Wilson talked about how his offense was locked in I felt the Cowboys Cowboys were as well but I think from a Broncos defensive perspective which you liked yesterday they're around the football breaking up passes which they haven't been able to do the last couple years and Nick Benito created some pressure the rookie second round pick you know coming off that edge they're going to need that pass rushing depth until Randy Gregory comes back but yeah I think the Broncos got through no injuries yesterday knock on wood that we know of and they got some work in so I think they felt yesterday was a success. I mean this was this was in in the works of course for a while now but you know ownership has finally been been moved from the Boland family now to the Walton family what has been the process there in Denver how have people been in terms of reception of what this new ownership is going to look like after such a long legacy of a great owner and family that have been part of this Broncos organization for so long yeah I think from a fast fast perspective you're glad this debacle is over I mean there are a lot of core briefings a lot of sniping back and forth finally the team was put on put up for sale on February 1st three months later they have a deal with the group led by Rob Walton for 4.65 billion which is a world record for a sports team and if you're a Bronco fan why you why you should like this ownership group is there's not going to be there's not a majority owner than a bunch of other cooks in the kitchen it's going to be really a streamlined decision process and the whole this one group has got cash so yeah they are not going to be cutting corners in terms of facilities they're always going to spend the cap they're always going to try to be a tops and leaking cash spending because Rob Walton took over the team he was officially the richest owner in the NFL so yeah like the Broncos are going to use that wealth to their advantage something something to think about 4.65 billion dollars for a franchise wow I think what's been the the stalwart and the mainstay for this Broncos team over the last few years especially under Vic Fangio has been the defense right now you bring in Nathaniel Hackett an offensive-minded coach and everybody talks about they were a quarterback away from being a contender how important is the defense staying on par because a lot of times when you add an offensive-minded coach things kind of time tend to flip-flop and in this league offense over defense is always a little bit better but but in this scenario if they can get a defensive performance like they've had the last few years and add Russell Wilson to this dynamic this is a this is a team that that really can can make some waves this season yeah I think so and you know defensively last year they did what they're supposed to do against the bad teams which helped pad their numbers but the two things that jumped out against good teams they didn't create takeaways and they stunk on third down so if they can be better in those two areas and how do you get takeaways you have a better offense they give you a lead opponents knew they could just run it against the Broncos in the second half a lot of these games down the stretch because their offense didn't scare them so you know the combination Russell Wilson, Javonte Williams, Cortland Sutton, etc. you know if they can score some points in the first half that's going to allow Bradley Chubb, a healthy Randy Gregory, Pat Sertana, Corner, Justin Simons of safety it's going to create more of those takeaway in those pass rush chances but you know as they point out during the training camp yeah the numbers were good last year they got they got to make more impact plays. We're speaking with Ryan O'Halloran Denver Post Broncos writer about the the upcoming season for this Denver Broncos team okay last question as we get out of here we'd already talked about how you know how competitive this division is you know Russell Wilson makes a makes a choice to come to this division where you have the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr, and Justin Herbert right is is there a fear from from Broncos fans or or people around that they're going to eat their own in this division and and at no point is there going to be a team that that could vie for the first season in in the in the in the playoffs because of who they have to play on a weekly basis twice a year. Yeah a hundred percent and you know that's how you're going to probably see some of the predictions going is Kansas City I think is still going to win the division they should be favored because of Mahomes.

I don't think they're going to get the number one seed because those intra-division games you got to play on the road you got to play them at home so just really you know three teams like the NFC West could make the playoffs this year but they'll each have a hard hard road to get to that Super Bowl because they got to win three games and maybe two maybe one or maybe two on the road so yeah I you know Russell Wilson the division didn't scare him but you know he's maybe the third best quarterback in this division right in the top 10 in the league. Yeah it's it's it's firepower yeah it's going to be a lot of fun. Ryan thanks for taking the time today and filling us in and educating us on what's going on in Denver. Good luck with the new gig. Can't wait to see how it turns out. All right thanks Ryan I appreciate it.

Yes sir. Ryan O'Halloran and everybody from the Denver Post talking all things Broncos. You know I'm with them.

I'm finding it a hard path. I mean if Cincinnati doesn't upset Tennessee a year ago the AFC championship's not in Kansas City last year right so they they lost that game against Cincinnati. In Cincinnati they lost the home field advantage to to Tennessee with that with that loss early in the season. This year's AFC West is going to make it hard for I think one of these teams to be the number one overall seed and host an AFC championship this year.

If that's the case you got to look outside of that. Where else in the AFC could a team step up and make plays right? Is it Buffalo finally? Do they get everybody to come to Orchard Park?

Come to the cold and play out there maybe right? Yeah I think everyone's certainly expecting Buffalo to be that team this year to take over the one seed and and finally get to that Super Bowl that we've been waiting the last couple of seasons but yeah I'm just I'm super like everyone else I'm like super psyched to see how the AFC West plays out it's just like excuse me it's so quarterbacks the teams the the just the rich history of each franchise and and now you throw Russell Wilson in there it's going to be really fun. Not probably a big surprise to most people out there but I I think the Chargers have a real chance at a Super Bowl this year. Yeah there's no doubt about it I mean I think Justin Herbert you know when the season's over like I I his numbers to lead the league league in passing and touchdowns of MVP here and how they bolstered their defense anybody else how they bolstered their defense how they got a corner how they got another pass rusher to compliment Joey Bosa like watch out everybody right I think I have the the Chargers Rams call second to last week of the season and that boy that could be a fun fun matchup with a lot of playoff implications right in week 17 there so excited to see what plays out there in the AFC West I know that TJ is excited to see the Broncos battle the Cowboys here and and see what his Cowboys look like this year. Speaking of TJ every Friday we do a little fun TJ's grab bag and that's going to be next when we come back here on the Rich Eisen Show. I'm Ryan Leaf filling in for Rich we'll be right back. Hey everybody Ryan Leaf here filling in for Rich Eisen we were just talking with TJ during the break about about the movie Vengeance his buddy Ashton Kutcher of course starred in that with BJ Novak who wrote and directed it and really good really good film did now did did did John Mayer play himself in that film or was he playing just like what is he playing himself I think he I don't think it was himself okay no that's a good quote like it was so quick he was in there the whole beginning this whole monologue around you know these guys at a party trying to hook up with girls and just on their on their cell phones the whole time just figuring out things and then and using this line which is used throughout the whole movie like 100% 100% what's the best thing about Whataburger it's everywhere it's everywhere it's always there it's always a Whataburger it's always there it's always there why do you love Whataburger it's always there I will say this when I was down in Tallahassee speaking to Florida State okay after I'm done speaking I'm emotionally exhausted always always emotionally exhausted so I like to eat comfort you know like so I had them run me by Whataburger on the way back to the hotel what did you think I mean I lived in Texas okay so I mean I know what Whataburger is I mean it's it was perfect it fits the line it was there it was always there and I needed I needed 2,500 calories of just like you know their soda was their Dr Pepper was literally 48 ounces I think wow it's a giant I remember I remember when cup Jeff Cooper who's the operations guy there and and FSU he hands me hands me the drink because he was driving me back to the hotel he hands me the drink and I'm like oh my god he's like you you wanted a large and I was like oh and I I drank that whole thing so much soda it is so much soda 48 ounces I don't know if it's 48 ounces I made hyperbole it was big it was huge and then I had a double probably double like bacon burger and then and some of their I mean it was now the question is I'm going to be in Salt Lake City tonight where's going to be my go-to you know you guys have seen me all week coming with my my oh you have my meal preps and yeah this guy's you know I've been on it all week I've been sticking to it but like tonight after I'm done speaking you know I'm gonna I'm gonna chow down on some some comfort food because I'll roll up and do like a little fetal position and watch Ozark or something like that and go I did a good thing today but I feel like crap right and eat some bad food so maybe there's something in Mr. Jefferson's big ass grab bag here for us that can influence this what in the world is in that bag what you got in that bag oh yes it's Friday so you know what that means Mike Del Tufo kaboom guess who stepped in the room TJ here listen in this week's big ass grab bag guys I decided to pay a little bit of a tribute a little homage if you will to our guest host Ryan Leaf right and how am I gonna do that well Ryan what number draft pick were you in the NFL draft I was the number two draft pick in the NFL draft all right so that's what I did fellas I decided to dig into the big ass grab bag this week and I'm gonna give you TJ's top five number two draft picks in the NFL of all time and with all due respect Ryan you know you're my man right I do know I'm your man I think you and I have we've kind of had like a little bit of a bond you know we've become friends I'd say so it's not disrespectfully I don't have you in my top and I just want to get that out there that's messed up I know it's messed up and I'm going to apologize you were close but I mean you just didn't quite I didn't quite have you in the top five another on YouTube and get them back for this one and I hope that that doesn't affect our friendship is all I'm saying all right all right let's hear it now coming in at number five you know we like to kind of consider ourselves kind of you know like historians of the game and we've got younger people watching so we always like to kind of teach them about the old school and at number five I'm gonna give you this guy right the legendary George Papa Bear Howless traveled to Columbia University in New York to watch a player that he believed could become an effective tee formation quarterback this is how long ago this was right and after watching him play he decided that yeah his instincts were right and he convinced the Pittsburgh Pirates later to become the Steelers to draft him at number two and then trade him to the Bears sounds great right the only problem is this player decided he didn't want to play in the NFL he was going to go work for his father-in-law's trucking business so George Howless went to his house had dinner with him and his wife and he handed him a check for five thousand five hundred dollars now in 1939 that's about 105 grand today and let's just say this player decided that the trucking business could wait so coming into number five I've got Sid Luckman the number two pick in the 1939 NFL draft 12 seasons with the Chicago Bears he led them to four NFL championships he was an MVP he was considered the greatest passer of his time he's a pro football hall of famer Sid Luckman was the Tom Brady of his era so I felt it was only right to get him the number five slide but he's only number five he's only number five yeah you know the game changed a lot since that since the 40s right you know you know but I think you'll agree with the rest of these number four two thousand one hundred and five that's a single season NFL rushing benchmark and it belongs to the number four guy here Eric Dickerson it's number two pick in the 1983 draft out of Southern Methodist University just behind John Elway isn't it funny how we had that in there you know Dickerson 13,259 yards rushing 90 touchdowns over his 11 season career that's still ninth all-time with the Rams the Colts and later with the Raiders and the Falcons the goggles the Jerry curl the smooth upright running style Eric Dickerson was just a man and uh he's coming in at number four on my all-time number two draft picks list coming in number three another ram this guy could be could have been number one he was that good the number two pick in the 1994 NFL draft behind damn big daddy Wilkerson who the Bengals tip it's Marshall Flock and he's a favorite of this show in particular Chris Brockman who always raves about just Marshall Fox football mind but what he did on the football field guys 12,279 yards rushing 100 rushing touchdowns now you can you add that to what he did in the passing game Ryan because he kind of took that to another level 767 career catches 6,800 yards and 36 touchdowns receiving he's a hall of famer he's a Super Bowl champion he was the rookie of the year he was the MVP Marshall Flock was the man and Kurt Warner once told me he was the greatest football player that he's ever played with if he's too low on this list I completely understand but I got him at number three coming in at number two this man's nickname was amazing he was called the manster the number two pick in the 1975 NFL draft out of Maryland right after Steve Barkowski Randy White of my Dallas Cowboys you know he was a one-time Super Bowl champion and in that Super Bowl he along with Harvey Martin were the MVPs of the Super Bowl that doesn't happen much the defensive players guys as you know he was a seven-time first team all-pro player nine-time pro bowler all 80s team all 100 team Randy White number 54 the manster he was the man in Dallas the manster the manster half man half monster now coming in at number one this guy the number one number two pick in the history of the NFL guys Bill Belichick right he's widely considered to be the greatest NFL coach ever right wouldn't you say so okay and for two decades he coached a guy who many believe is the greatest NFL player of all time fact okay but the funny thing is when you ask Bill Belichick who the greatest player he ever coached was it's usually not that quarterback it's a linebacker coming in at number one Lawrence Taylor the number two pick out of North Carolina in 1981 behind George Rogers who the Saints picked where do you begin with Lawrence Taylor hall of famer two-time Super Bowl champion eight-time all-pro 10-time pro bowler rookie of the year MVP defensive player of the year three times and also guys more importantly he defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania 11 okay but that's just some of the good of Lawrence Taylor but just like Shawn Michaels and Marty Gennady Lawrence Taylor was a midnight rocker and you hear about all of his extracurricular activities you know the the stories of alcohol and um other substances that he consumed at very high levels and it makes you wonder he was doing all that and still going out and winning MVPs and forcing offenses to completely change their game their game playing to stop him I mean if he was doing all that off of some gin and juice could you imagine if he just went to win two a season sober we're probably lucky he didn't Chris it's probably like the same reason why we're lucky that Shaq couldn't shoot free throws it would have just been too unfair so I've got Lawrence Taylor the greatest number two pick of all time in the NFL and uh that's TJ's top five that's a big ass grab bag let me know what you think I like it I like it I love the the history in it I love the Sid Luckman to the Marshall Falk to uh your Randy White Cowboys and then uh ultimately uh Lawrence Taylor and number seven on the list was Ryan Leaf I'm just gonna I'm just gonna I don't usually go that far but yeah so good to know yeah good to know usually I'm number one but now I'm number seven that's awesome that's awesome um yeah Lawrence Taylor a beast I never got to play against him I got to play against some pretty great defensive players Derek Thomas uh Reggie White Bruce Smith uh those guys who chased me down I you know and you had junior in practice maybe yeah junior in practice and maybe if to your point if Lawrence Taylor uh was a little bit more on the straight and narrow it may have been more of those Joe Theismann situations I mean he he was a big wreck to guys you know end of a guy's career when that in that moment but he is and then you go back to it and you just you watch uh who he is how he plays uh he is arguably one of the greatest to ever wear to ever wear a uniform maybe the best defensive player of all time um and like you said Bill Belichick coached him in New York under Bill Parcells um all right when we come back Lindsey Theory uh ESPN uh writer is going to join us to talk a little bit about the Rams and the Chargers when we come back here on the Rich Eisen Show. All right so uh we had somebody give us a call right we got we got somebody on the line here yeah our man Terzo's been hanging on since the beginning all rise Terzo what's up buddy what's what's up guys hey it's a real pleasure to get to talk to you I like it whenever you uh feel in for rich man your your insight and the way you open up about your experiences man is is awesome it's it's really good to hear from you and all the good work that you're doing right now man it it warms my heart well thank you Terzo I appreciate that it's always it's always humbling to hear something like that so yeah I appreciate the call what's up hey so Ryan whenever you were drafted I actually remember the day whenever I was talking to my dad I was uh I was I was full Ryan Leaf I was like I don't take manning kid I like that I like the big kid at a Washington State um so I've been I've been I've been a fan of yours for years um just uh just wanted to talk a little uh Trey Lance tonight um hopefully you know he gets a couple start or a couple starts with a of a couple series um just like any preseason I just don't want to see any injuries but I'd like to I'd like to see him get out and you know have a couple throws and maybe you know catch up to Tom Brady and his stroke uh throw them out uh throughout his career yeah I'd like to see it too I mean I think most fans out there but of course you know Kyle Shannon's not gonna not gonna put their team in any sort of jeopardy if he's going to be the starting quarterback there she want to get him some reps of course because he's had limited amounts of them but um you know you also want to keep everybody safe and this team is uh as to their point of moving up in the number three spot uh last year two years ago to get him they feel like he can be the difference maker he feel they feel like he's the guy that uh is part of a championship program that can get them over the top that's why they went out and got them and that's why they're moving on from Jimmy Garoppolo so it will be interesting does uh Terzo you think uh you think Jimmy Garoppolo gets any run today or or is he going to be held out for for for a trade aspect I I have to think that he's probably probably not even gonna suit up I'd have to think you know um I'm more curious to be honest with you I'm more curious to see what hat Kyle's hand's gonna be wearing on the sideline yeah that's that's some big news Terzo thanks for the call really appreciate it uh everything um Terzo they're talking a little 49ers uh we'll see how it plays out right we'll see what they do with Trey Lance tonight in the pre-season see if he gets any run but when we come back again we're going to talk about the Rams and the Chargers with Lindsey Theory from ESPN we'll be right back for the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments it's something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson too all-time Hogan opponents Macho Man's got to be in the conversation where's Andre for you I've always said Andre was number one wow because even going back before you know Hulk Hogan was a babyface Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan wherever they went that was an attraction something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard listen wherever you get your podcasts