REShow: Joel Klatt - Hour 3

Here's what's coming up. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Nick Turturro here on The Rich Eisen Show. Round of applause for our friend. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. My fanship, they can't lose this guy.

So you know, if you don't sign Judge, I might be done. Where you gonna go? The Rich Eisen Show. Nowhere.

No where. Earlier on the show, UCLA athletic director, Martin Jarman. Pro football hall of famer, Warren Sapp. Still to come, Fox Sports college football analyst, Joel Klatt. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number 3 of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Joel Klatt of Fox Sports gonna join us in about 20 minutes time. It's a huge college football weekend. Huge.

Large and in charge. Because you've got not only Michigan hosting Penn State, you've got Alabama visiting Tennessee. And you've got Syracuse taking on NC State. Big game at the dome this weekend. Yeah. Right? I'm not kidding.

I know. Actually it's a huge game at the dome this weekend. Are you? First top 20 game in a long time.

I think since my freshman year of college. What are you thinking right now? Cause I know my approach to this Michigan season is figure out the starter. Check that box. And then it's just like get the team up to speed before Penn State without losing a game. Check that box.

Nice. And now get past Penn State. Go on a bye week. Eviscerate Michigan State. When I say eviscerate, I mean there's not any all wheels no brakes on the gas. I don't care if they're up by 50.

All of it. Like I don't care if they're up by 50. Michigan puts it on them. And then they stay healthy enough and get ready for Ohio State. And then we'll see what happens from then.

That's my plan. TJ I don't know what your plan for Penn State is. What it was. Just to beat Michigan. Okay. Got it.

I understand. And that's a big game this weekend. What's your plan for Syracuse? Like what are you literally thinking right now about your team right now?

It's weird. I mean this is the best that we've been in a few years. At least four. And I know we've got a great running game. Sean Tucker, awesome running back. One of the best we've had in a long time. But questions coming into this season was just like who is our quarterback? Cause it's been forever since we've had one.

Seemingly since Donovan McNabb. So the guy we got now, Garrett Trader. Really good. Efficient.

Which is great. He runs with the ball. And we have a big play.

Arande Gassen's son is our top wide receiver. I'm not asking you to break down the game. Literally what do you want? You want an ACC Championship game appearance? This is so unexpected.

You're just kind of happy to be in the mix. I'll be very honest with you last year. Wow. We're ranked.

I can't believe that. We've got a really tough stretch coming up with NC State, Pitt, Clemson, Florida State. All in a row. So it's like let's go 500 over this stretch. Let's keep it respectable. You don't want to start out 5-0 and then all of a sudden in a month we're 5-4.

That's kind of brutal. So the fact that we're here is exciting. It's kind of rallied the fan base a little bit and the alumni. Which is awesome.

I think it will be sold out this weekend. Let's just be respectable. Because that's where we're at right now. It's really fun to get the Syracuse chat going with some of my friends.

We all went there because it's been a long time since we had anything to be excited about. Normally right now you're wondering about how the basketball program is going to go. And how I can trash Jim Boeheim publicly more because he should have retired 15 years ago. What coach do you love, Chris, that should not have retired by now? Just out of curiosity. Well, right about now I wish Brad Stevenson stuck around. That's understandable.

That's an interesting question that you just asked. He wants Belichick to retire. He's a legend. He wants Boeheim to retire. No, he doesn't. He doesn't really feel that way about Boeheim.

I do really feel this way about Boeheim though. That is legit. Yeah, I mean you've told me this for a while.

That is legit. Until the matchup zone knocks off three different teams in the NCAA tournament, you suddenly wind up in the Elite Eight again. Which is probably going to happen. We had Mike Hopkins just sitting there like the coach and waiting forever. And then Jim was like, yeah, in three years I'll retire. And then three years came and he's like, you know what, I think I'm going to coach for another decade. It's like, dude, you know how far back you just set our program because of this? Well, you know what this is setting up, right? Your new coach, Buddy Boeheim.

That's where this is going. He's going to hand the reins to Buddy. Buddy, Buddy, I got nicks and chicks and I got a team for you, huh? Buddy, Buddy.

Buddy's trying to make the Pistons right now, but it's fine. I'm excited about the football team. There you go.

All right. Big game this weekend. Big game this weekend indeed. I like it.

Joel Klatt will be joining us. I hope you don't mind. I'm not planning on asking about Syracuse football. It's totally fine.

Don't put the listeners to sleep. Totally good. Well, I hope we just haven't. I mean, we just literally spoke about it, but I'm interested in the fact that your team is up and running. And this is pretty cool about what your expectation level is. It's exciting.

It's been a long time. So it's nice to have some excitement around the football team. You don't really care. You don't care. You don't care. You don't care. Deep down, you don't care. Like if Penn State loses to Michigan this weekend, you're like, yeah, I'm going to watch the varsity on NBC on Sunday night. I got to be honest with you.

I'm at a point in life where like I just football games played by young men who most of all of them aren't able to legally drink. I don't allow it to ruin my week anymore. Like I used to. I just you're right. I do care, but I don't care enough that it's going to ruin my weekend. Say you don't care.

Say you didn't go to the school without saying you didn't go to the school right there. I mean, that's fine. You have to rest for as many people that are like you who are diehards. There's millions more like like me who are just like that. How many people didn't go to college or don't have like relationships with college? People are even more diehard about some of them.

But some of them are also very casual. Del Tufo is not here today. Mr. Notre Dame and Mr. Rudy himself. Get out of everything. Get out of here. Go back. Go root for Seton Hall. But you're right. I definitely Williams. Get the hell out of this.

Nick Williams. It is. Yeah, I definitely tend not to let sports ruin my. And I used to be bad, bro.

I'm sharing. He's a mature. I'm trying to mature. Look at him.

Sure. He's all grown stuff, grown stuff. And he's grown stuff.

All grown stuff. Whatever. Like you're going to be watching the game alone. That's I am. That's a lot much, bro. That's a little.

I kick the kids out. Excuse me for vacay. I did not do anything. It's it's all coincidental. Oh, just by chance.

It's coincidental. OK, now I could. What am I going to seek out? You know, like a Michigan bar in town. Am I going to go call up some Michigan friends that haven't seen in a long time? Because I'd rather not.

I'd rather just sit alone at home. That's it. That's all. And by the way, let me just rephrase. By the way, put my phone away because I know the Big Ten refs are going to suck. And you know, they'll see so hard they're going to want to try and insert themselves in this game like they do. And damn near every single big, Big Ten game there is every single one of them. So I'm going to put the phone away and I'm just going to back off and I'm just going to make sure that I don't tweet anything stupid that I'm going to regret. But I fully admit, I fully admit to you that I do wonder sometimes at age 53 with three kids, you know, nearing 20 years of marriage.

Like three jobs. Having, yes, having a lot going on, a lot of a lot of plates spinning, a lot on the ball and a lot to be proud of that I do lose myself so significantly in a sporting event. But that's why we love it. I mean look, I'll never knock somebody for that. That's why we love it. And I would be, if Michigan loses to Penn State, I shouldn't even say that, I should be positively manifesting.

But it will really affect me. You feel good about the minus seven? I don't know what you're talking about.

You know he doesn't know what those words mean Chris. The temperature's not that cold is it? No. Should I be concerned about the temperature? 52 is.

I don't think the weather's going to be that bad. 52 is the temperature. Is that the temperature? 52? A little windy. Are you asking me if the temperature's going to be above or below 52?

Is that what you're asking me? Well it might be 50 and a half by game time if you're feeling. Celcius?

Yeah I would say that. It would be real hot for Celsius. You're talking Fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit, yeah. Also I'd like to apologize because I made it seem like you. What are you apologizing for? You would tell Susie to leave the house or something when I said you'd get out of here.

And we all know that ain't going to be the case so I apologize because you're not going to just like tell Susie to beat it. Oh Sarah would tell me to leave. Well that's different. Yesterday she was like, thank you for taking Cage outside during the stressful ninth inning of the Braves game yesterday.

And that was during the seventh inning. Nice. Sarah's on the show tomorrow. She's coming in, yeah. Yeah. No game tonight so she'll be stress-free tomorrow. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic.

Because normally with Syracuse it's Georgia football. Was Cage coming with her? That's the question. Definitely not. Oh he'll be in school. Definitely. Are you going to watch him?

Well you know I would put him right here next to me. Oh my goodness gracious. Look, we got a lot of running room around here. Got us up at 4 a.m. this morning.

All right, let me, I'm going to flip the script here. You worried about your Cowboys on Sunday night? No. Why? Because we've got, like I said, you keep saying house money, right? Yes sir. If we were, if our record was different, I'd probably feel differently but like I... You'll happily absorb the loss?

Is that your 80th birthday present to Jerry Jones on the Rich Hazard Show? You'll happily absorb the loss to the Yardbirds but I won't feel as, depends on the outcome to be completely honest with you. If it's a tight game and we play well and we lose, I'm fine. If we get blown out and I can pinpoint one reason, then I'd be upset. But I feel good about where we're at right now.

So no, I don't think I'm going to be too upset, even though I would be upset. Eagles go 6-0 over the 4-2 Cowboys. And let's just throw out there, even though I don't know if this is going to happen, let's say the Ravens beat the Giants. Eagles wake up Monday morning with a two-game lead in division, just six weeks in. I think that's... Is that... Is that a dream scenario they would have signed for in a heartbeat?

Who wouldn't? On Labor Day weekend? Hell yeah. You know the great thing is there's still a lot of football left to be played though.

That's awesome. No, I know that, including an Eagles visit to Dallas and two Eagles-Giants games. Two.

I don't think the Giants are that good. Let's talk about it. Why?

Why? It seems like smoke and mirrors. Is it Daniel Jones? Is that what it is? You just don't believe it?

I think that's it. He hasn't really made a single play. What are you talking about?

What are you talking about? He made a ton of first down runs against Green Bay in London. He continued so many of those drives. Saquon went out of the game and Daniel Jones kept chains moving. They beat two teams we're going to be picking in the top five. They beat the Titans in week one. And then we don't really know who the Titans are. We know who the Titans are.

They're the team that's going to win that division. You and I both know that. We know it.

What do you think? Oh, stop. I know that Jonathan Taylor's back at practice today. Come on. Come on. You really have that much confidence in the Titans? I sure do.

You bet I do. They're on a buy and then they come back home for Indy at Houston. That Kansas City game is going to be something. Home for Denver at Green Bay on a Thursday night. That's going to be dynamite. Cincinnati, they're at Philly too. How great is that game going to be? The Giants could easily lose the next three games.

Dude, come on. You really think the Colts are going to get it together enough? They already won in Indianapolis. And by the way, they're coming off the buy and they could sweep the Colts on the spot. Right coming off the buy and sweep them.

Okay. So back to the Giants. Back to the Giants. Back to the Giants. I mean, sure they lost to Dallas at home.

I get it. But the games that they normally would blow in the past, they're winning. They're winning. The proverbial games they're supposed to win are the games they haven't won in years. They've scored more than 20 points only one time. They scored 20. They can't score.

Well, we're going to see. And they got some tough games coming up at Seattle. At Jacksonville is, you know, Jacksonville's defense gets after it. Weird stuff happens down there, man. I know.

I know. And they got all their division games and they're at Minnesota. So early on when I said playoffs or what on the Giants and I said playoffs? I don't see the Giants. So who else makes it?

From where? The NFC. You taking somebody from the south over the Giants?

You taking someone from the west over the Giants? Because the Packers, I think we're all assuming two are coming from the north and that's it. The Vikings and Packers. Who else? And the Cowboys and Eagles.

That's another one. Who's the third chair occupied by when the music stops in the NFC? You don't like the NFC west. You already think the Rams are out. You think the Cardinals are going to start putting together? Yeah, I think the Cardinals are pretty good. Then over the Giants. And I think the Saints can be pretty good if Jamis is healthy.

Oh boy. I'll take the Giants over those two. I'll take them. I'll take them because, you know, everybody poops on Daniel Jones.

Go for it. And Saquon is no joke. He is back. How many times is he running and breaking runs against these tough defenses like Dallas and Green Bay? He looks great. He looks great.

And I couldn't be more happy for him, but there's not been a lot of evidence lately that he's going to put together a full 17 game season. Well, he's a third of the way through, isn't he? Third of the way through. And who's catching the football? That's a good question. I'm concerned about that. Like, why is Kadarius Toney not playing?

I don't understand. And why can't he stay healthy? Kenny Golladay is... Kenny Golladay needs to be investigated for grand larceny. Well, I'm still taking the Giants and Dayball and the rest of what they're doing.

Love Dayball. I think he... I know you do.

It seems like he has changed the culture. So you're both taking him over Cliff Kingsbury and Dennis Allen. I like the talent more on those two teams.

I don't know how you're talking about the team that is currently seventh on my power rankings like that. How dare you? For what? Yeah.

For what? Nice. Seventh and you don't have the other four win team in your top ten. Okay. Okay. Just pointing out a fact.

I understand what you're pointing out. They're my power rankings. There are many like it.

There are, but this one is mine. Man, like I said, we got Bills and Chiefs that are my power rankings. That's one and three. Eagles and Cowboys, two and five. Let's go. Let's ride.

And six and seven. Ravens, Giants. We're gonna find out if my power rankings are accurate or not. By the way, I say that knowing the winner stays where they are if not moves up and the loser doesn't go too far down. Right. You don't penalize people for winning or losing. That's correct.

Not significantly. What are we doing here? You can listen to the NFL and the NFL app on the Odyssey app on westwoodonesports.com via Westwood One Station streams or just by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports sponsored by AutoZone. When we come back, our friend from Fox Sports, a man who is called the last three Michigan games on the big noon Fox kickoff and is getting set to call a fourth in a row, Joel Klatt calling Michigan and Penn State.

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NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio, NetSuite.com slash Rich Radio. I have enjoyed this man's football calls for years. Not just saying that because I sit next to him on Friday nights of NFL drafts this past year and previous because he joins the NFL Network's draft coverage every Friday night over the last couple of years, as a matter of fact.

I think his first time was the Daniel Jones draft in Nashville. I believe you're correct. That's right. I believe you're right. Because he came on the next day and trashed it.

He did. He and Gus Johnson have the call of yet another Michigan game. Four games in a row for them on Big Fox, their noon kickoff, Michigan and Penn State. Joining us on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line, friend of the program, Joel Klatt, back here from Fox Sports. How you doing, Joel? I'm great. How are you doing, Bud?

I'm doing great. The first time I saw you was in Vegas where we saw people have residencies and casinos across the street and all around us for the NFL draft. Do you feel like, are you the blue man group of Ann Arbor, Michigan right now? Is that what you are? Is that what's going on? Most likely. I just am not compensated as well as the blue man group of Vegas.

I think their residency has been more lucrative than mine. I guess I should have said, I just blew the line. The amazing blue man group. That's what you are. Oh, there you go. Pay now. Yeah.

Now you're working. You have a great appearance for Michigan on the big noon Fox game, and this is the biggest one of the four, without a doubt, clearly. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway. How do you see the Michigan-Penn State matchup going down this week, Joel? I think it is a fabulous matchup.

I think they're very evenly matched. I love the changes that Penn State has made since last year. They struggled last year after starting.

This is the second straight year. We've seen them inside the top ten, five and oh, you know, to begin the year. And last year, they just didn't have the staying power because they didn't have the depth at quarterback. They suffered some injuries on the defensive line. And honestly, you know, their offense never materialized because of their inability to run the ball.

And they've corrected all of those issues. And this is a much better team that I saw in the middle of the year a year ago. They can run the ball really well, Rich, with two young freshmen running backs. Nick Singleton was the number one running back in the country in last year's recruiting cycle. He signs with Penn State and he's really transformed them and their offense. And what he's done is he's allowed a veteran quarterback in Sean Clifford to really be more of a game manager rather than having to be the catalyst as a playmaker in their offense. And he manages the game pre snap now as good as anybody out there and get them into the right play.

And I think that's where he's best and he's flourishing on the other side. What I can't wait to see is is the next gear from Michigan. And this is the problem doing three straight Michigan games. They haven't had to go to even really fourth gear, Rich, you know, even tied at ten at half last week. It was such an emotional experience because of what was happening with their coach, Mike Hart, who is their running back coach. If you don't know, Mike Hart had a seizure last last week on the sidelines in Indiana. And they, you know, they had a hard time getting over that emotionally in the first half.

And rightly so, by the way. But we haven't had to see them as a team really go into that that even fourth gear or certainly the fifth year. And what I can't wait to see is does this team have that gear? Where are the wrinkles?

Where are the little change ups? And you know, we think that J.J. McCarthy, their quarterback, can take them to the next level offensively because of his potential. We just haven't seen it yet. And I think that we'll have to see it this week if they want to win the game. Why haven't we seen it yet, Joel?

Why? I don't think that they've needed to. And you know, I'm sure they're so rich.

You know, we joke about like, oh, you know, I'm taking up residency. These coaches are like, get out of here. They keep getting asked by the media, the local media, about things that I'm saying, you know, and you know, of course, because I question the fact that they have to play callers, you know, and then last week I said, hey, you know, they've got some real tendencies on offense. But the part of that is that they haven't had to break them.

They haven't needed to go there. And so why break them? Why why put things on film that you can save for when you absolutely need them? I think that's a big reason. And then I think also the natural maturation of a young quarterback, J.J. McCarthy is really talented and he is beginning to learn how to be a starting quarterback and not just a spot guy that goes in. Yeah. Everyone tells me, like, well, he's experienced. He played last year.

Yeah. But it's so different when you're the starter. The pressure, the the yoke that you carry of the team is heavy, it's burdensome. And he is learning how to deal with that. More specifically, he's learning how to complete the ball down the field. He got a little better last week, but that's certainly going to have to increase if they want to take the next step, be explosive, be creative and innovative offense, and still have the ability to beat you up in the inside running the football, which they've been able to do very well. Well, you know the drill, Joel Klatt, certainly from the perspective that I have and the rest of the Michigan fan base is every time I watch them, I just look for team speed.

I look for who could replace Hutchinson and Ajabo. And they do have some pass rushers who have shown some significant ability over the past several weeks. And Blake Corum looks fast and the offensive line looks like they can protect. But everything is seen through the prism of whether they can go into the horseshoe in November and shock the world a second time. And I understand this is Penn State is very significant opponent, top 10 and all that.

But what what do you see? I mean, you mentioned Penn State is vastly improved from last year. Would you say the same thing about Michigan, Joel? You know, what's so interesting is, is that both of these teams, that's how their fan base views them.

You know, it's like it's all well and good. All these other games. Yeah.

It's like, but can you beat each other? And that's what's so great about the Big Ten East, because I think that that's the same with Penn State and and and rich candidly, Michigan fans are also sick of me. Why?

Because that's the lens with which I analyze them. So if I'm doing their game against Maryland, let's say a few weeks ago. Yeah. It's like, well, why are you so effusive of your praise in, you know, for Maryland? And you have these small criticisms for Michigan. Well, it's because of the level of expectation I have and we all have of each program.

Maryland is trying to answer some questions and get to a point where they are full eligible eight wins, seven, eight wins. And so when they're making strides in those departments, I see that I see it. And I'm going to say as such, when Michigan has small things that could prevent them from being Ohio State, that's what we're all going to latch on to, because that's the expectation. See, everything is in this sport is is derived. And I'm talking about the college board is derived through the lens of expectation. And that's vastly different than in the NFL, when everybody has the same expectation.

You either go to the playoffs or you don't in the NFL. It's a very different set of expectations for every program based on the vast array of programs and potentials of programs that we have in college football. Having said that, I do think Penn State is much better. I do think Michigan can be better, which which is. It's hard to convince people of that because they lost Hutchinson and a job, though, however, I thought that their offense last year was very good and very sound, but they didn't have the next year to go and compete with a Georgia compete with a playoff team. Now they were able to beat up Ohio State and and more power to them. But what they've done over the last few years, and I think that you would agree with me on this, they have evolved. I think Jim Harbaugh has evolved. What you saw five years ago from Michigan was a very stubborn offense and a specific style of defense, which was going to lead you to nine or 10 wins. But those those schematics and styles were never going to be in the vein that would really threaten Ohio State. Now they got close one year and they had really good players.

But you just got the sense I was doing a game. What was that? 2018 rich in the shoe when Michigan rolls in their favorite, they've won 10 in a row and got absolutely run out of the building because they didn't have the speed necessary to cover Ohio State. They've changed the schematics. They've changed the style of player. This defense is much more suited to play at the top end of college football because of the athleticism and speed that they put on the field, in particular in the back two levels. They've got good edges, maybe not quite as good as they did last year. But Mike Morris, Yabi Oki, these two guys can rush the quarterback.

They're very good. They're big in the middle with Mozzie Smith, over 300 pounds, Mason Graham, a freshman over 300 pounds. They're athletic and versatile at linebacker with a guy like Junior Colson, who I think in two years we're going to be talking about Rich at the desk in God knows where as a first round draft pick potentially as a linebacker. And then they got three safeties that are really versatile players and can tackle in space. So defensively, they're much better.

And then offensively, they at least have the potential to be both explosive and powerful in the run game. Big college football analyst, Joe Klatt from Fox Sports here on the Rich Eisen Show. And I said at the top of my program today, Joel, that this is an incredible football weekend. You've got the Eagles and the Cowboys on Sunday night football, and you've got the Bills and the Chiefs playing right before that. And then the day before you've got five versus 10 in Michigan and Penn State, and you got three versus six with Alabama going to Tennessee. How about the Vols and their ability to maybe just say, hey, you were all talking about Georgia and Alabama and Texas A&M and Alabama and everybody's paying attention to Brian Kelly showing up in LSU. How about us? Do you think Tennessee's got the real stuff here? Joel, what do you think? I mean, I can't believe like you just don't make a living picking or betting against Nick Saban. Right. It's so dumb and all week I've been sitting here, I'm like, what am I doing?

What am I doing? But the bottom line is I think it's a bad matchup for Alabama, Rich, like I can't get it out of my head. Here's the reason why. Okay. It's because even if Bryce Young plays, which I think he's going to, I think it's going to be really important for Alabama to be able to run the ball, to take some of the pressure off of Young as he's coming back from injury.

He can't just be Superman for the entirety of the game. And that's all well and good. And you can say, well, they're dominant in the running game. Look at what they did against Texas A&M a week ago, 51 rushes, five and a half per carry.

Yeah, that's great. Texas A&M is the last ranked rush defense in the SEC. They're about to face the second best rush defense in the SEC. So I think it's going to be much more difficult for them to run the ball, which is going to be more in line with what we saw, you know, for the first three quarters against Texas. They also Alabama, they're not great on the road, which is a bit surprising, but this is now kind of a two year history of this last year and their first road game against Florida. They barely geeked that one out. They lost the Texas A&M went to four overtimes against the Knobberd team that I didn't think was very good this year, that close game, a one point winning against Texas. And really it was Bryce Young and some missed calls that allow them to win that game.

So they're not great on the road. This environment is going to be the toughest of any of those. Newland is going to be on fire. And the last thing would be, if you're going to beat Alabama, you better create some explosive passing plays and opportunities. And there's only one team in the country that is more explosive throwing the ball down the field than Tennessee. Tennessee has the second most 30 yard completions in the country only to Ohio State, who we all know is the best offense in the country. So this is a bad matchup for Alabama.

And even though they're favored by seven and I feel like an absolute crazy person, I think Tennessee wins the game. Joel Klatt, you know what you've just done, Joel? You could say what you've just done is cogent, sound, heartfelt analysis. But what you've just dispensed really is yummy rat poison.

That's what you just did. Yummy rat poison is what you just, you could term it, those three words, yummy rat poison is what Nick Saban might call what you just dispensed. I hear you, but for him, it's like beautiful rat poison because it's headed in the other direction. That's what he calls yummy rat poison. The rat poison he doesn't like is you saying Alabama is going to win this thing by 40 or you know, that sort of, but you just dispensed the yummy rat poison, man. And you're right, you can't make a living betting against or, you know, Nick Saban or saying that Nick's on the wrong end of a good matchup when it's not involving Georgia. But you look at Tennessee and you see them and you're wondering why not? Like this is one of those why not now games. Why not? Why not now?

And I personally think watching Hindon Hooker, I think he's going to be top three or four pick when we're in Kansas City. Rich. All right. Look at you. And before I let you go, let's talk a little bit about drafts and things of that nature and what we've already seen play out, Joel Klatz, since you and I, along with Daniel Jeremiah and the brilliant Charles Davis, who will definitely be having his eyes peeled on what's going on in Tennessee against Alabama. Oh, there's no doubt. So what if I had told what if I told you I said like a 30 for 30. If I told you when we were part in ways that Friday night at the draft in in Vegas, Bailey Zappi is going to throw the first rookie touchdown pass of the NFL season and be the first rookie winning starting quarterback of the season.

How about them apples? Right. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have guessed that you would not have gone to the tables with me. No, no, that's exactly right.

That would pique my interest. I don't think that we could have even gotten odds on that one, Rich. Crazy.

It really is crazy. But we did see Breece Hall. Now, we were talking about him that Friday night and we just saw him with a buck ninety seven of total scrimmage yards. What do you what do you think of the rookie class about what we've seen so far through the first five weeks of the NFL campaign? I think that they've been pretty, pretty darn good. And you could probably say and I know that there's a lot of attention being paid to Aiden Hutchinson and maybe his lack of productivity early. But you know, I thought that, you know, even Thibodeau, he played well last week.

Yes. He's getting his feet wet. And obviously, there was a lot of talk about him leading into last year's draft.

Where does he fall and this or that? But he seems to have assimilated incredibly well into the culture of the NFL and in particular there in New York, Walker's done well. But the guys that that we all kind of pegged as like, oh, yeah, like this is a really good pick. And I and I bring up Breece Hall specifically. This is exactly what we thought he was going to be a back that after he got his feet wet was going to very quickly be a back that could carry the load for for even an NFL team early in his career. And we're seeing that early. I think it's been a pretty good rookie class, to be honest with you. Yeah, I know. And then pick it.

And again, I don't know, you might have been traveling back from Indiana or something like that. But pick it, even though in his first start, the Steelers got waxed by the Bills and just him getting up. And I don't know if you saw that he got in Shaq Lawson's face and the team was shoving everyone else off of him and the offensive line came to his aid on the spot.

I don't know if there's something about this kid that even though he got waxed in his first career start, that there is something there. My two cents seeing that here's what I thought when I when I saw like Pickett versus, you know, Trubisky is that I don't think Pittsburgh's great, first of all. Right. So like if you go from from that starting point, it just looked like with Trubisky, you're just kind of dying a slow death. And with with with Pickett, at least he's swinging while they're going down. Does that make sense?

Yeah. There's some fight there. And yes, you're going to deal with mistakes, but there's just a little bit more fire there than than what the other quarterbacks and I kind of like it.

I kind of love it because this guy is going to battle. And I still think he's pretty dang good. And we'll see, you know, what he can do the rest of the year. And then tonight on Thursday Night Football, Joel, we've got Carson Wentz going for Washington and Ron Rivera, even though he said it was a mea culpa moment and he backtracked or apologized or said, you know, my bad and Mina created distraction when asked the difference between the rest of the NFC East and his team, he said quarterback.

And he stared just like he didn't with a stare like a stutter. And so I'm wondering, Sam Howell, is he a guy that you think we might see here? You think you get a sense of anything? What do you what do you what do you think, Joel?

What do you think? I didn't think Wentz was the problem last week, you know, and, you know, I trust a lot of good people in the NFL and they all told me that, like, hey, Wentz, Wentz was one of their best attributes last week. And granted, I think that turnovers in the time they happen are magnified. And I think that that's absolutely the case. But in a large degree, he was the only reason that they were in that position to begin with.

And so I don't think we're getting close to that. I thought that Ron Rivera was way out of line based on what happened in the game. And, you know, you go from there because he was trying to talk about, oh, they've been established and this and that around the the the other parts of the division. And I'm like, Cooper Rush, you know, I don't know, I kind of felt like I was taking crazy pills.

It's like, am I got you here? Is this Cooper Rush is not like a foundational piece for Dallas, am I wrong? No, you are.

You are correct. And Daniel Jones, you know, you're our guy together when you came on this show after the draft where he was drafted, saying this is going to set the Giants back a few years. And you were right up until Daybell's arrival. Right.

I mean, look at him. Daybell has infused an amazing amount of confidence and, you know, continuity with that offense. And I think that we would be remiss if we didn't say the other biggest part of what's happened offensively is that you've got a creative offensive mind that's given you a really good game plan. And part of that is that their best offensive player and most dynamic player, Saquon Barkley, is healthy.

He's back. And when that happens, boy, it becomes easier to play quarterback. No doubt. Hey, man, enjoy Ann Arbor again. And don't listen to my my friends in the Michigan fan base, man.

Don't listen to them. You and Gus are great. I love it. And even honestly, even watching that Indiana game where it was so damn frustrating watching the mistakes and the Big Ten refs, you were so spot on to call them over their skis during some during some of those calls. And they were flag happy, which is what Gus called him. But even when it's just looking bleak for my team, Gus dropped the line of someone was cool as a fan.

And I just laughed out loud, man. It was just you guys together are a great watch, great listen, and you just keep being you, man. You just go for it. I appreciate that.

Absolutely. We'll have some fun this weekend. It'll be a good one. I can't wait.

Well, I hope to be laughing, to be very honest with you, at the very end. So Joel, fly safe, be well, say hi to Ann Arbor. Oh, by the way, the 97 team is going to be back together to be honored in this game. They got all sorts of stuff going on. It's a maze out.

It's going to be all yellow. I mean, they're throwing the book at Penn State. You know, it's a big one because Michigan doesn't do this a lot like other other schools always do these hyphen fanfare type of things. Michigan doesn't do that a lot.

Why? Because they're Michigan, right? And they're going to get one hundred and ten thousand regardless. But man, they're throwing the book.

They got the 97 team back in the maze out. They're doing a halftime show. So it should be a raucous environment. Enjoy it, Joel. You take care of best to Gus and everybody else on the crew. That's Joel Klatt, lead college football analyst at Joel Klatt on Twitter. I follow him.

You should as well. Right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Oh, yeah. All set for college football this weekend.

No doubt about that. When we come back, Tom Brady had his weekly press availability moments ago. He was asked once again about that roughing the passer call that he was the beneficiary of.

And we set up no, I don't think so. And we set up tomorrow's dynamite program that now has a playoff game being played during it. This NFL season, every Westwood one NFL broadcast streams live for free Mondays, Thursday, Sunday nights, Thanksgiving and Christmas triple headers, the international series and every postseason game. Tom Brady spoke today. Last time we heard from him on the subject matter of Grady Jarrett and being called for roughing him in a game that was going to be particularly dicey for him because it looked like they were about to punt the ball back until Jerome Boger says you're throwing a round of Tom Brady is illegal, sir. And Brady said, I don't throw the flags. He don't. He doesn't. He's correct about that, actually. I've never seen Tom Brady throw one flag. That's true. Yeah. Here's Tom Brady today.

Roll tape. I don't think the referees are robots. I don't think they're trying to get it wrong. I don't think they're always going to get it right. You know, I feel bad for a guy when they get called something that probably shouldn't be that way. And sometimes you just got to shake it off. You know, I've lost Super Bowls because I thought they missed the call, you know, so I don't know. You go, all right, well, you're going to get some.

You're going to not get some. And you hope they don't come up, but they come up. It's sports.

So the fact that everyone wants to talk about it like it's something new, it's always been like that. So you just do the best you could do. You try to keep it in your hands the best way you can.

And if you get an unfortunate thing that happens, it's unfortunate, it really is. And I don't think anyone's trying to scheme anyone out of that or it's just the way sports are. You just, I miss throws, refs miss calls, you know, but we try to do the best we can do. And when they don't go your way, you just complain to the refs like I do.

You know everybody's going to pick up on that last part, too. I've had calls lose me Super Bowls. Just complain to the refs and you get your flag because you're the GOAT.

He's also had calls that helped him win Super Bowls, too. So yeah, but those were correctly interpreted. Oh, okay.

That was the rule. This is so unnecessary. Just review the damn thing.

There are people who are sitting there watching on 4K parsing everything with editing equipment and ability to scrub back and forth. Come on. It's just so unnecessary.

It is so unnecessary. There won't switch it in the middle of the season. So for next season, let's do it.

Get it right. Good Lord. That Chris Jones play? That's ridiculous. And the NFL needs to prepare for this sort of stuff.

They have to. You know why the whole Des Conant controversy happened? It's because the NFL had never seen an individual so incredibly big and tall and physical that you could not only just make a catch, but also gain enough yardage to move a chain for a first down with two strides and then reach for the end zone and the ball comes loose. No one had ever seen the whole process of a catch go over the span of 10 yards before. Nobody's ever thought that somebody 340 or as he then said, 320 pounds could then sack a guy and take a ball away from him in the same process. Who'd ever seen that before? Who'd ever seen anybody do what Chris Jones did before?

Now you got us. Oh yeah. Well, the process of removing the ball from him is akin to the same process of throwing it.

He's technically in a defenseless passing posture as he's face front on the ground because he's been sacked. So stupid. So very unnecessary. All of it. Let's fix it.

Good God. Can we go back and fix the des thing or no? Was that passed? It was by a rule, by interpretation, still the process of the catch, even though he took two strides and it took 10 yards for him to actually get down on the ground and also have the presence of mind and physical prowess to try and reach the ball for the end zone.

I might cry. Facts. But no one ever seen anything like that before, so you couldn't interpret that that was still the process of a catch? Of course it's not. He's actually running with the ball, but he's still in the process of catching it because he had the physical ability to do that and also reach out for the end zone.

No one's really ever seen that before. I played Mike McCarthy for that. Because he threw the flag. He's not your coach. Yeah, he's your current coach. Yeah.

He's savvy enough to throw the flag. You got that. So you got that going for you. Yeah, thanks. You know what we got tomorrow? We got the Yankees versus Guardians right in the middle of the second hour of this program.

No way, really? Yeah. It's 11 p.m. Eastern Time. They canceled tonight's game. Nice. You know what that also means is Shane Bieber will only get one start.

Bieber. Because game five is going to be on Monday, if there is one. So you're not going to go on two days rest, are you? You mean Monday or game five, if there is one?

You mean game five. There will be Monday, hopefully. By the way, if there's a Monday, it's Monday. I would hope there's Monday. Yeah, I'm hoping so. I'm hoping there's Monday. Why? Well, because- That means we made it through the weekend.

Oh, okay. We're still alive like Eddie Vedder. Yeah, I'm hoping there's a Monday. I hope there's a Monday. I do hope there's a Monday.

Like Kyle Shanahan on a game. Yeah, maybe. We could be. We might not, you know. We got two games. We got a game right now in about 35 minutes, Mariners-Astro's.

Mariners-Astro's. Why don't they just push that back to nighttime now? Yeah, tonight. Tonight. Tell Houston folks, smoke them if you got them. We're going to move it back. Take the rest of the day off.

Yeah. Come out to the coast. Enjoy yourself. Can't do that to the people, Houston.

Can't do that. Will there be more than 21 points scored tonight, and will we get a touchdown? How dare you ask me such questions. I'm making fun of last week. Last week was 12-9 with no touchdowns. More importantly, will Scott Service remove his closer to put a starter in today? Geez. That ball's still going. It is.

I think it hit you in the head. That'll wrap it up. Brandon Staley of the Chargers and Sarah Tiana in studio. That's our Friday show.

Back on Roku in a sec. Ross Mathews talks to celebrities, friends, and people with interesting stories to tell. Who's saying, hello, Ross.

This week, Chelsea Handler. I'm not home enough to have a third dog. My housekeeper basically is their parent. I am not going to get another dog so that she has to take care of another dog until one of these dogs exits. It's a good move. I have three rescue dogs and only two hands, and when you're one person, that's too hard to do. I recommend two max. Raise your foot, Ross. Hello, Ross. Available on YouTube or wherever you listen.