RE Show: Mark Schlereth - Hour 1 (8-3-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show talking about worse the first live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. AFC Jets 61 percent over the Browns 17 percent Broncos 14 percent. Guess who I voted for in that poll? I mean, you should have voted for the Jets.

I did not. I voted for the Browns. Today's guest, three time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth, University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkeesian, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson, Giants General Manager Joe Shea. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, indeed. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live in Los Angeles, California, on the Roku Channel. This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey. We say hello to our podcast listeners listening whenever they want.

It is your right to do so. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on our program. We've got four guests for you. Joe Shea, the general manager of the New York Football Giants, who, you know, has put together an interesting team. And is at the very is at the very forefront of the whole conversation on the running back front. He is kind enough to take our phone call. And our number three, I would stay tuned for that one. Before that, we've got the head coach of University of Texas football horns up for our friend Steve Sarkeesian back on this program.

Quinn Ewers has no mullet and Arch Manning has a card that will one day give T.J. Jefferson a boat. Do we bring that up with T.J.? Do we bring that up with Sark? What do you think? Yeah, just in case he had any plans to maybe sit in Arch and not give him enough playing time.

I just want him to realize there's a bigger picture. I don't think Arch is playing this year. I don't think that's the plan. I don't think Arch is playing this year. That's a barring injury.

It's Quinn Ewers' show. It's the way it seems like in the final year for the Texas Longhorns in Big 12 football. But the candle's lit and the boat is not yet in the slip for T.J. Jefferson. Good to see you over there. Chris Brockman, good to see you on this very good day. What's up, Rich? And D.J.

Mikey D is in Deez Nuts is waiting for some sort of mini fridge to show to his house. So Jay, Jay Felley, Jason Felley, good to see you here. Good to see you, Rich. You bet. Our first guest is Mark Schlerath, going to be joining us on this show and another offensive lineman, Steve Hutchinson, my Hall of Fame friend from the University of Michigan.

Back in the day, the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings together will be on the show. And I'm basically calling him to see if he has arranged for the party bus that that he put me on last year with his fellow 2020 class of Hall of Famers on that bus. I need to see if he's got that. Basically, this is a social call. Oh, what you need to do, Rich, is make sure you got some security set up for you, because if what happens, what I think is going to happen, you might need some help getting out of OHIO. Well, you know what? I'm I'm expecting some fireworks Friday night when I host the jacket dinner tomorrow night in Ohio.

So lots of lots going on here. Just be safe, bro. Speaking of Canton, Ohio tonight, this football game we played the Jets and the Browns. Let's go.

That's right. Jets and the Browns inside the stadium across the street from the juicer. That's now been a much larger complex, the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So, um, love it. Tom Benson Stadium. Jets versus Browns. Let's go. Let's go. What can we read into it? I mean, well, here's what we're going to read into it.

We're going to read everything into it. It'll be it'll be a camera fixed on Aaron Rodgers. The entire game, according to Rich, the media of ESPN who covers the Jets, said look out for Rodgers to wear a headset tonight. He wants to call plays and it looks like, you know, Nathaniel Hackett's going to say, hey, buddy, thanks for having my back this week. Here's a headset. You want to call plays?

Go for it. It is Aaron Rodgers world and we're all just paying rent as Jets fans and the Jets organization has handed everything off to this guy. Now, there was no list, apparently, of players he wanted to have. Tonight, the Hall of Fame game, I don't think we're going to see many of the guys that came to come play with Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. I would suggest we just let's not see him.

Let's not see him for for another couple of weeks at the very least. There'll be no Garrett Wilson tonight. Speaking of O.H., he will be, no doubt, sitting there and watching. But the conversation will surround Zach Wilson. Deshaun Watson will be there as well. I'm sure there'll be a camera on him. Joe Thomas is going to the Hall of Fame. There'll be Browns fans all over the place.

It'll be a fun night. But really, it's Zach Wilson's first game since the disastrous Thursday night affair against the Jacksonville Jaguars that wrapped up the Amazon Prime season. That was for us Jets fans on Amazon Prime, something that we would return to sender. That box that comes to the house, new house, who dis? Send it back.

Send it back. Don't want to see it anymore. I think I came out on the air and said his time in New York is done. And it was done as a starting quarterback that night until Aaron Rodgers came up on the screen.

And Aaron Rodgers, as we all know, I hear you. I see you on my Twitter feed. All you trolls and haters and those who might be at the 10 o'clock position from my chair as well. Yeah, that's you. You're 10 o'clock. That's two o'clock over there. Two o'clock is you're an underrated troll.

You troll me and say, I'm just a nice guy. No, look, I understand. I'm putting it out there. And I'm not saying this is a Super Bowl season. I'm not saying I'd even say the other day when we had a poll question, the likeliest AFC team going from last place to first. I said it would be the Browns, the team that the Jets are playing tonight. But did you mean it? I did, because I think the Bills are still the AFC East team to beat.

I think they've gotten better. So, yeah, I just wanted to put that out there when I now give you the ultimate best case scenario for my guy Aaron Rodgers for the New York Jets. This is the best case scenario.

OK, here it is. Zach Wilson tonight just shows you all the things, even though he's going against a bunch of guys that might be working at your local supermarket there in Ohio later on in September. He wings it around. He looks great. And then we start thinking about what happens after Rodgers leaves and puts a trophy in the case.

You betcha. Aaron Rodgers already talking that way. He's already envisioning Zach Wilson on the straight and narrow. This is what he had to say about his apprentice, his protege. Yes, his Watson, you know. Here we go.

Check it out. He's played really, really well in camp. You guys have watched it and he's made a number of great throws. He looks confident.

His fundamentals, I think, are improving. He's throwing the ball on time because he's got all the other intangibles. He can run. He can move. He can throw on the move.

He can throw no-look passes. This will be a good reset for him. And I think he'll look back years from now and be really thankful for this time to grow, to reset, to take a breath. And it's going to set him up for a nice, long career in the league. There you go.

Nice, long career in the league. Doing what, exactly? Playing quarterback.

No looking. Hey, look, we all knew. We all knew. Remember that throw he made at his pro day at BYU?

Like I said, the roll-off bomb. Like I said yesterday, you can't take those out of context. He has created a pro day moment that every other quarterback has since tried to replicate. Anthony Richardson literally did it two days ago. Correct. Well, I'm just saying.

Now, here's the thing. You don't want some guy to say, hey, I created the pro day throw. You want him to make that throw on Super Sunday like Jalen Hurts did against the Chiefs.

Rolling one right way and throwing back the other way and putting it where only his Pro Bowl receiver and A.J. Bronco can go get it. True. You know what I'm saying?

I feel you. So this is it. If Aaron Rodgers can come to I'm screwed. I'm going to say if Aaron Rodgers can say, go ahead. You make it so easy for me. It's Hall of Fame Thursday.

It's Hall of Fame Thursday. Football's back and I'm feeling it. Hopping on the sprint. All right. So everybody just back off and let me just do this. I can feel it.

Thank you. Aaron Rodgers can come to New York, win a Super Bowl or two and then say, I'm done. My work is done here. It's Zach Wilson's turn. And they have Zach Wilson on a second contract there that's not going to break the bank at all because Zach Wilson still hasn't proven himself. If he leaves the situation where Zach Wilson now has learned from a guy who can make the off platform throw, the no look throw and be the pro that he can be. If Rodgers is actually now in a situation where he is mentoring a kid that he knows is not really pushing him. He's already there. He went to a spot with the kids already there.

Last spot. He's like, hey, I'm just sitting around in a draft night, sitting around in a pandemic. And all of a sudden my phone rings. Look, what the hell? You know, I'm I'm I'm two fingers into a drink and I'm finding out Jordan loves coming to my spot.

What the hell's going on? This guy is like, I'm happy that the kids here because I'm here. The team wants me here. I want to be here. I've got my guys here.

I feel good to be here. Let me win a couple of Super Bowls, coach him up. And then Zach Wilson looks like the Zach Wilson that the Jets wanted to have. And off we go.

He's on the straight now. And then Zach wins the Super Bowl. That's it. Honestly, like that's the Powerball right there. Right now. The one in right now. Hold on a second.

Right now. Right now, we're holding a ticket. Right now, we're holding a ticket.

Rodgers, we've got one ball, one ball, one ball. Which what, two bucks? I get two bucks? Two bucks for a ticket. There you go.

I got two dollars in my pocket. First half of the season, maybe a couple balls hit. Right. Then two more balls hit. Now we win the Super Bowl.

Powerball. Then Zach Wilson becomes the man because he learns from Rodgers. He's taking a breath. Rodgers is talking about him breathing. Do we have that sound bite too?

Do we have that one? Because Rodgers isn't just teaching him how to throw and how to be a pro. He's teaching him how to breathe.

Don't laugh. That's important. Chris, you try and not breathe properly. Yeah, I guess that's hard to do. Yeah. It's hard. It's difficult. Are you trying to not breathe properly right now? You're just covering your mouth because you can't believe I'm saying these things. Hey, Rodgers, teach him how to breathe.

Go for it. As much as anything, I hope that this time for him is like a deep inhale and exhale. He can really take a breath and pause and sit with the disappointment of last year and the frustration and then channel it. And I feel like he has, but just rechannel it to a positive and focus on the opportunity in front of him to learn with a guy who loves him and cares about him and wants him to be great and wants him to do incredible things every day and to get better.

And then just go be himself and look at this as a chance to reset. Jack Handy! Jack Handy, deep thoughts. Is Rodgers charging Zach Wilson $200 an hour for practice? I don't know.

I think this is free of charge. It's on the arm. Sounds like his therapist. Pal, it's on the arm. You inhale and exhale too much. It's on the arm.

You should be peeing in a cup. What is happening? What I'm saying to you, what I'm saying to you, the ultimate, the ultimate in what this can possibly be. On one hand, Aaron Rodgers pulls the Jets out of the half century of the football gods kicking him in the yards morass. He leads him to the promised land and with the other hand rises up Zach Wilson from his last performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars where he was left for dead by all of us in Jets fandom. Rises him up, teaches him how to breathe and throw and play and be a pro and then Zach wins another one. That starts tonight. It's not a lie.

If you believe it. In Canton, Ohio, Rodgers, you know what you should do on the sideline? Just turn around and look at that building where he's going in. Five years after he decides to leave the Jets with a trophy or two in the case.

And then Zach Wilson, he'll turn around, take a look at that building and go, maybe, just maybe. Because last year, he would need a ticket to get in there. He didn't know how to breathe.

He didn't know how to breathe. Yes. Wow.

That's what we call a show open and it starts tonight. I'm pulling for you. No, you're not. No, you're not. No, you're not.

He really isn't. Somebody's car alarm going off there. Is it off an alarm?

I think it's yours. Let's take it so hot. It started melting. It started melting alarms. Okay.

We'll have to check the structure of this building. First up, let's talk about the Broncos, whose coach elevated Jets at Broncos week five to the Marquis. Let's do it.

As my brother told me, my brother Jeff, lawyer to the stars here in Los Angeles, California, he goes, if that game was a 4.05 Eastern start time, it's now 4.25. Yeah. Push back a little bit.

Don't you think? Hold on a minute. Let me see. Push back. Marquis afternoon game. Let me see.

He's currently slated for a 4.25 start. Oh, they knew. So the rent stays like before on CBS.

Romo and Nance can just set up shop in whatever five-star hotel CBS puts them in. Leave it. Rip the knob off. Mark Schlereth. We've got Steve Hutchinson. Steve Sarkeesian. Two Steves. It's our two Steve. Steve and Steve. Yeah.

And then Joe Shane of the New York Giants. And then in the commercial break, Feli, can you go get the alarm off in your sports car that's going off right now? You know, it sounds like my car.

I was stealing my keys in my pocket. All right. Let's take a break. We'll come back and hope that Jason Feller's car is not broken into. Mark Schlereth when we come back right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Follow this show there. Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

There was a lot of great players on those teams that I was fortunate to be part of. Search BLEAV Podcast wherever you listen. Okay. We're back here. So whose car was it? Huh? Whose car was it? It appeared that it was none of ours. It was on the second or third floor. It was a little higher up in the parking garage.

All right. But the funny thing is I looked out. There was like four people scrambling around making sure it wasn't there. Yeah. A lot of people had our idea.

A whole lot of people started running around. Is it me? Is it me? It's me. All right. It's me.

I'm the problem. What's your best case scenario? For? This football season.

For the Pats? Yeah. Winning it all? No. I don't think that's realistic. I think winning a playoff game is probably the best case scenario.

Okay. Sixth seed? Seventh seed? Fifth seed?

Something like that. Yeah. I mean, maybe win 11 games. Get the fifth seed. Yeah.

And win that first playoff game. I think that's probably best case. Zeke takes over the role of Remondre, who's sitting around wondering why he's not getting reps right now? No. I don't think that's it at all. I don't think that's it at all. Okay.

I think they're a compliment. I think Zeke does get a lot of red zone touches. Okay. There we go. If he gets signed. When does he arrive? I think Juju maybe has about 1,200 yards. Okay. Maybe Guseki has about eight touchdowns.

Something like that. And then Mac Jones is the one who's throwing it? I think Mac Jones is going to have a really good year. You can already see it.

Guys talking. This guy Demario Douglas has been a nice addition in the offense. Maybe Taequann finally gets healthy for a whole season. Why don't the Patriots start winging it around? What if Bill O'Brien comes out of the box and Mac's got a 4,000 yard season in him? I think that's possible. I think he has that in him.

We saw it at Alabama. Just need a quick game going. That's all. I think the quick game is going to be great. I think the defense is going to be top five, maybe top three. It always is. That's always top 10. Defense is really good. It's always good. I mean, Matt Judon had a case for defensive play last year.

He was awesome. Yeah, exactly. All right.

Best case, yeah. 11 wins. Win a playoff game. Okay. Very good. That's on for that. Very good.

Later on, we'll talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Let's go. Because that's what we have to do, right?

I mean, it's mandatory. That's what we have to do. All right. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Back here on the program, our friend from Fox Sports and a multiple Super Bowl champ, none other than Mark Schlerath here on the Rich Eisen Show. How you doing, Mark? I'm doing great, Rich. How are you, buddy? I'm doing great.

So with Sean Payton pissing off Jets fans, I had to go for the Bronco who leads the league in pissing off Jets fans. So I had to call you up, Mark. You know?

I appreciate that. You know what? You and Sean Payton are kindred spirits that way. You know what I mean? Although I haven't seen him actually put his Super Bowl ring on his middle finger and tweet it out.

I haven't seen that one yet. But, you know, maybe you should coach him up, Mark. You know? Yeah, I know. Right?

I can give you some pointers on how to really piss them off. Well, week five, Bronco's Jets really shot up the marquee in the last week, don't you think? In all seriousness?

No. I mean, it's exciting, you know? And I get Sean Payton from the standpoint of, you know, getting a little full of himself and saying some things that probably are all true, but just things you don't normally do. But that's Sean Payton. Like, I think he just gives zero you-know-what about what anybody else thinks. And I think it was a way to support his quarterback and to let people here know that he's got their back. And I think that part I totally understand.

There's probably a better way to do it than the way he did it, but, you know, he doesn't seem to be too upset about it and unapologetic for what he said. So let's dive into the caping for Russ part of this. The three-dimensional chess that we always ascribe to a coach who does mean what he says, but also says something to try and support or talk through the media. What do you think he was doing there with Russ? Yeah, I think there's part of it. You know, here in Denver locally, you know, Russ has obviously taken a beating, and he played absolute garbage football last year. I mean, it was really bad, and I'm not saying that Nathaniel Hackett wasn't a part of that because he was, but there were a lot of other circumstances that were going on. I mean, when you come into an organization and you hire a quarterback and you make that big trade, and then you say, oh, by the way, you get to do whatever it is you want to do.

You get to have your own office. You get to have your own quarterback coach that comes into the facility and sits and studies with you. You have all these other things that are happening that really, to me, put Nathaniel Hackett in an unenviable position. I mean, really, you emasculated the guy before he even had a chance to coach because he truly wasn't in charge.

And I always say this just about organizations in general, Rich. It's one thing to appoint a guy coach. It's another thing to empower a guy coach. And that dude was never empowered to be the head coach. As a matter of fact, I mean, I reached out to him week six and said, hey, listen, man, if you don't get your stuff together, you're going to get fired.

Like this is that bad. And we have that kind of relationship. But yeah, I don't ever think Nathaniel Hackett was truly empowered to coach this team. And you know what?

It just kind of spiraled out of control. So I know one thing about Sean, and I've had a lot of conversations with Sean over the years just about game planning and how you go about doing that and trying to take something from him to use in my own career as a broadcaster. And one of the things he said to me that really resonated just a couple of years ago that we sat down and had this meeting and I said, you know, what is the key to game planning if you're doing what I was doing? And he just said, from my standpoint, there are a lot of young coaches that look at a juicy matchup and they're like, oh, my God, I just got to go after that matchup.

That's a great matchup for us. But in doing that, sometimes you expose your own weaknesses. And he said, my first responsibility as a coach is to mitigate my own weakness. So if I see a juicy matchup, but I know it puts my right tackle in a position that he can't win, I have to get away from that. And a lot of young coaches will like will say, hey, man, we just got to hold up. We just got to hold up. And you know, the third time they try to go after that matchup, it's a strip sack fumble touchdown the other way. And you end up losing by three. And he goes, those are the things that that always entice young coaches, the things you have to learn as a coach is to mitigate your own disaster first.

That's the number one priority. And I think, you know, Nathaniel Hackett, a lot of young coaches get caught up in that. Well, I mean, obviously, if you just want to, you know, D.N., you know, I guess dissect last year, you know, the week one where Russ was actually cooking and we thought, OK, the Russ in Seattle is showing up in Denver and Hackett knows how to dial it up with him.

And then all of a sudden, out comes McManus for a 90 yard field goal. Right. Right.

And then and then red zone turnovers that were not Hackett's fault start coming up a cropper and then their top running back blows out his knee and things start devolving. Right. But the whole the whole the whole, you know, office on the second floor stuff, when I read about that, I was so surprised because Russ should know better. Right. Like if he's going to have a space above the locker room and the Broncos say yes, that creates a hierarchy that blows up chemistry on the spot.

Certainly if you're not going to start winning football games, too. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. It's amazing what you can get away with or what people will put up with when you're winning and how how scrutinized you become when things aren't going your way.

You're not and you're not winning. So, yeah, it's one of those things that everybody kind of just looks side-eyed at and go, really? Like like we're scoring 14 points a game or 13 points a game, you know, we're just kicking field goals. And that's, you know, that's kind of where we are right now. You've got your own office to come up with, you know, losing a game 12 to 9.

No, thank you. Right. Exactly. So I guess the reason why I'm bringing it all up now is because, you know, Sean Payton actually did dredge it up a little bit last week or a considerable amount. So the two questions I have for you, Mark Tularith here on the Rich Eisen Show, is there anything you'd be willing to share about your conversation week six last year with Hackett? How did he respond when you called him up and say, hey, man, this is red alert time? How did he respond? Yeah.

You know, we had we had these conversations. One thing I will say about Nathaniel Hackett and I really like Nathaniel Hackett and I think he's a damn good coach. Last year notwithstanding. One thing that he never did, not one time was put one of his coaches, one of his players. He never he never threw anybody under the bus. He accepted full responsibility for what was going on and and never in all my conversations with him, even here recently, as recently as a couple of days ago, has he ever thrown anybody under the bus?

He has taken full responsibility for everything that went down. And it's one thing I always have appreciated about him. But, you know, we were we had that very honest relationship back and forth. One another about, hey, dude, like like you, you got to take you know, you got to take control like like I always felt like this, Rich, if I was ever coaching, if I was going to get fired or things weren't going well, I was going down swinging.

You know, it's going to go it's it's going to be on me. And at the end of the day, you know, I had the same approach as a player. Hey, man, if I wasn't good enough, then that's one thing. But I was going to control everything that I could control. And it wasn't going to be a lack of effort, lack of preparation, lack of study, lack of anything. It was just going to be that I sucked. And I think I can live with I sucked right. The one thing I didn't want to walk away from the game is going, gosh, I wish I would have like that can honestly sit here and tell you, I could never I couldn't have worked out any harder. I couldn't have studied anymore.

I there's nothing I could do. I was never late to a meeting. I never missed a meeting. I never missed anything. And it was one of those situations is if I wasn't good enough, I can live with that.

But I was never going to cost myself a job based upon work ethic or or, you know, those things. So I want to walk away with a thing with zero regrets and I was able to do that well. And then my second question for you, Mark, is we are obviously in full blown training camp season, which is full blown. We're better than last year. We're going to be better than last year's season. So how about this scenario with Sean Payton and Russ and and and the Denver Broncos for 2023? Well, how how will it be different, do you think?

Well, I think I think the thing that you'll see under Sean is one. And he said this the other day, my quarterback, I'm not going to have him play off the high dive consistently. I mean, we're going to play really good defense. We're going to run the ball. We'll set up a run action play action as well as our play action stuff.

And a lot of those things like you can design a game plan to essentially create, you know, 12, 14, pretty easy, pretty simple completions every single game. If you are on that page and Sean, I think one thing, you know, Sean has always been a really good designer of football players. But the one thing that I've come away with knowing Sean and actually I actually consulted for Sean's staff a couple of years ago on the run game. The one thing I know about Sean is that Sean is going to mitigate your own issue.

Sean is not going to ask you to do things you can't do well. And and he'll devise a game plan that really essentially leans on defense, leans on the running game and opens up that play action stuff for us and and for this offense. So, you know, there's a difference. I always say the difference between calling plays and calling an offense.

And those are two really different things. When you call an offense and you tie everything together and everything looks similar and plays one off the other, then all of a sudden you have a chance to really simplify the game for your players and really help your players have success. And I think Sean is one of the exceptional guys at doing that. I think that's why this team and this organization is going to be a heck of a lot better with his coaching. Mark Schlereth here on the Rich Eisen Show, Fox Sports analyst, game analyst and three-time Super Bowl champion here on the program. I'm sure you are well aware of the conversation about the running back market and what's going on with Jonathan Taylor.

Josh Jacobs still hasn't come in from the cold. Saquon Barkley's general manager, Joe Shane, will be on the program in hour number three. So many people pinpointing your Shanahan teams, brother, as the as the origin of running backs becoming replaceable. And you can just run a thousand yards in any system. And it's now 20 something years later coming home in a ruse for running backs, even though Mike's kid employs the highest paid one currently.

What's your two cents on on the Shanahan offense from back in the day leading to the present situation with the running backs? Yeah, I mean, obviously, Mike, you know, it was Terrell Davis going for eleven hundred and fourteen hundred and seventeen hundred and two thousand getting injured. Alanis Gary coming in and rushing for twelve hundred and the next him getting injured. Mike Anderson coming in and running for fourteen hundred.

You know, the year that Mike Anderson had fourteen hundred, TD would have two thousand. So like there is a difference. There's no question.

But it has become more of, as you know, running back by committee, more of a specialization of that running back position. And frankly, I don't have a lot of sympathy. You know what? You signed the collective bargaining agreement. You gave the franchise tag.

You did. You negotiate things like less practice time. And you know, you negotiate stupid stuff that I mean, hey, I'm part of that. I'm guilty. Right.

I was a player, too. So understand it. You negotiate stupid stuff.

They know you're going to negotiate stupid stuff. It doesn't really matter. And that's your own fault. And as far as, you know, the running backs, you know, having a stupid zoom meeting and all complaining and whining about it. It is what it is. That's the market. And that's how market economics work. So quit complaining about it.

I don't remember any of the star running backs at the time standing up on their podiums complaining about how unfair it is that the fullbacks were becoming extinct as long as they were getting there. So like, I don't really want to hear it. It's the market. Take the money that's available to you.

Go out there and play great. You know, whatever. I just I don't have any sympathy, empathy, any of the any of the fees.

Like none of the fees bother me. Like I don't I don't care. Wow, Mark, I got to tell you, I wasn't expecting that response here.

You know, because you see how important these guys are. You did point out how TD could have run for two thousands when somebody else didn't wasn't wasn't wouldn't have been as productive. But so my pushback there would be you see guys at positions like receiver tight end getting paid better than running backs. They shouldn't try and go out and get theirs.

Mark. Well, of course they should. You should get as much as you can get. But the bottom line is that's what the market is right now. And the one thing that has proven true over the years is that probably the easiest position in football to come out of college transition to the NFL and be great is the running back position. And we've seen it like a guy like what was Pacheco last year, a seventh round pick that usurped the first round pick and became much better. So we've seen this on a consistent basis with guys that are drafting the second, the third, fourth round becoming stars. And so it you know, it's the nature of the position right now. And and the running back position is just not one that that one they value as much because other guys can come in for much cheaper price and have production. And then to the injury issues. You know, even Jonathan Taylor, who's complaining about his salary.

I do remember him being hurt some last year. And it's it is. I mean, I always joke around. I picked up a fumble once as a rookie, you know, that I created after a sack and ran with it and thought I was going to score a touchdown and got snot clobbered by about four guys at once. And you start to realize that that ball attracts a lot of attention. And there's a reason those guys don't last long term. Mark Schlerith here on the Rich Eisen Show, a couple minutes left with with the three-time Super Bowl champ, Joe Thomas, going in this weekend, what's so impressive about his career to you?

Mark? Oh, like the guy was always just a phenomenal player. The knowledge of the game, the way he set people up, the way he took advantage, you know, of his knowledge of the game and the way he played, the importance the game had in his life. And the fact that he did year in and year out at a top level, as good as anybody that's ever done it and played for a team and an organization that just didn't have a lot of success. Like, I understand how much fun the game is. You know, when you're winning, you have a chance to go to the playoffs and you've got a chance to play in Super Bowls and how fortunate I was in my career.

But I also know how miserable it is when you're not winning and you don't have a chance on Sundays to win. And I've been on those teams, too. And to play at the level that he played at over the course of time that he played, I mean, it was 10,000 some odd straight snaps. The guy was phenomenal, just phenomenal. And to do it, you know, when you weren't having a lot of success is a testament just to his not only toughness, but just to his love of the game. So I have a lot of appreciation for Joe Thomas as a player. Who from your teams should be in?

Pound the table that's not in. Oh, Joe Jacoby. Joe Jacoby should be NFL Hall of Famer. He was great. Mike Shanahan should be in.

There's no question in my mind. I mean, a lot of what we see in the NFL today, Rich, the base of what we see in the NFL today with a majority of the teams is really the Mike Shanahan West Coast zone running game that he coupled together. And you see it through McVeigh. You see it through Kyle. You see it through Mike McDaniel's. You see it through Matt LaFleur. You see I mean, there's a bunch of teams that are running those Kevin O'Connell. They're all the root of that, the basic that the basic root of that offense or all those offenses is Mike Shanahan. So it's a it's a huge part of what the NFL is today all these years later.

And he definitely should be in the Hall of Famer. Well, I'd love to see him go in just for the mere fact that the bronze bus would be his actual skin color. You know what I mean? That would be cool. That would be awesome. I got another one for you.

We used to call him the fire marshal bull, rich only behind his back, though. Of course. All right. Very good.

You don't you're playing with fire, obviously, figuratively, literally right there. I got another one. How about Rod Smith? How about him?

He should go in. Yeah. Don't you think? Yeah. Rod.

Yeah. Rod was Rod was incredible. And Rod was one of those guys. And I'll tell you one day about Rod, that dude, like he would throw a block and we come out of film like after a game. So Monday we come out, he could have seven catches for one hundred and twenty two yards and three touchdowns. And he'd be like, did you guys see it? Did you see it?

Did you see me peel back on that nose guard, knock him ass over teakettle? Like that's what Rod would be excited about. He couldn't care less about the touchdowns. And he's such a pivotal part of that running back success that we had all those years on top of being just a top flight player and just a wonderful human being. Undrafted as well. Undrafted.

You know, the hall should put more undrafted players in. So before I let you go, do you have your first assignment? Your week one? Where are you going?

Yeah. I'm really excited. This is going to be great. I've got Arizona at Washington for, you know, the Welcome Back Washington to the National Football League after the turd that is Daniel Snyder got bounced from the league. So I am really excited.

I got people reaching out to me. They are so on the Washington bandwagon right now. Like welcome back to the NFL guys. So is Sam Howell going to start that day? You think you'll be talking about Sam Howell versus Colt McCoy, obviously, and OK.

I do. I do believe that's what's going to go down. OK, very good.

And the will it be an official deterdification moment before the game? I don't know. That's an interesting idea right there.

Mark. Right. Right. I like it. I think that's the way it's going to go. They're going to deterred that place.

He deterred the place. Thanks again for the time, Mark. Let's do this more often. Always enjoy our chats. Have a great week one if I don't speak with you beforehand. Thanks again. Anytime, Rich.

And hey, man, I mean this. I love you, brother. Right back at you. Right back at you.

This is your New York Jet fan favorite right there on The Rich Eisen Show. Wow. Quit crying. Man, he will not be.

Quit crying. Running back Zoom. No, he's not. Let me tell you that. He's not getting that confirmation code. He did not like the Zoom idea. Once again, someone else who agrees with me.

Which is what? Come on, man. Then let's just get rid of the position altogether, then. No, that's not it.

If that's it. Come on. You're just running back. We need to save three, four, five million dollars here. We're just not going to do. We're not paying the kid. Andrew Luck, thanks for the memories.

You know, you're retired. Or pay your quarterbacks accordingly and you have money for running backs. We could take 25 million back from you, but no, you keep it. Do you see he's, I mean, how does Jonathan Taylor feel about the story in the New York Post that apparently Jim Irsay, and by the way, great, I think it's wonderful he wants to take a, do you see that an orca whale that's currently living in Miami trying to take it across the country and release the whale in his native Pacific or her native Pacific Ocean. 20 million bucks he's going to spend on that. That's what Irsay's worried about right now on the... Dude. No, I'm not saying, this could be something that's happening over the last few weeks. But again... Getting back is under contract.

You shouldn't have to worry about him. I get it. I get it.

And it's a brutal world. Even though they're not going to NFI him. There was a deep dive, a little deep dive on this issue on ESPN.com today, maybe we'll talk about it a little later.

Nice. I read that a few minutes before going on the air because I'm a lead pipe wielding professional. He didn't take your advice to like come up lame after he got hit? That's what he's... Ooh, my arm. That's why he hasn't gotten out there yet.

You're so right about that, man. He's still sitting out. He's holding in. They should just trade him. He's not going to play, just trade him. You know what?

To who, the Patriots? Ain't going to happen. No way.

And I'm not... Exclamation point. No way. 844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. We've got two Steves coming up. That's the first, by the way, Mark Schlereth, the first of two guards on the program. Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson, hour number two, Steve Sarkeesian before him as well. 844-204 Rich, number to dial. Joe Shane of the Giants will be joining us in hour number three.

So that's more Justin Sequan going on there, and we'll talk about it with the GM coming up. Where'd the nickname Showtime come from? My godfather, LaTroy Hawkins, him and my dad, but really him, they would watch me play, and I would make the diving plays and stuff like that in baseball, and they just said it was Showtime when I was on the field. And so they always used to call me Showtime, especially my godfather, LaTroy.

LaTroy Hawkins, that is a name I have not heard in a while. Yeah, yeah. Okay, Patrick, look, I appreciate you calling in here greatly, and I appreciate the text exchange that I had with you the other day, where you were gentle in rejecting my suggestion to give you a new nickname of the Patrul. I really appreciate that, Patrick. It was a good idea, I just kind of was playing down the nicknames as much as possible at that point. Okay, great. So you're saying that it's not a judgment on the actual creativity of the nickname, it's just you attempting to be humble, tamping down any of the accolades right now because you're focused on winning.

Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I mean, just for me in general, I mean, it's all about the football, it's all about the team, and so I know that the nicknames are a cool thing to do with social media and everything that's around right now, but for me, it's all about just being a teammate and someone that's just a part of this organization and a part of a team that wants to win. So if you had an ego, let's just, again, let's put it in a box here. You have an ego, you don't care about being humble at all. You're just pounding your chest. Nickname of the Patrul, do you like it? Be honest, be honest.

I don't know. There's been so many nicknames that came out lately, and I'm just going to kind of keep it at just Patrick right now. You're being polite. I like it.

How are you being? Yeah, thank you, though. I appreciate it. Oh, God.

It's not my finest moment, not going to lie. You can push back. You got to move on.

You got to move on. Very good. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show, 844-204-RICH, number to dial here on the show. You know what? You know who needs to be caped for?

I'm here for that. You know what I do? I cape for people.

You do. I'm a professional caper. You're a positive person.

I'm a very glass half full guy. I don't like the Dac hate right now. Not a fan of it. What's going on? Makes no sense. I don't get it.

You know, I'm going to push back. People talk about the man like he's a scrub. I think this is the problem that he has, is that he hasn't... When was the last time? Was it that game when he came back from his broken leg, game one versus the Buccaneers the night they raised the banner to start the 2021 season? Remember that one?

Yep. He came back and he damn near won it himself and looked terrific doing it. Greg Zirline made some kicks, cost us the game.

I'm well aware of that. The Jets took him on after that. He just needs more of them. You look at last season and the team put points on the board.

They put points on the board. It was just those interceptions just kept on cropping up and not all of them were on him. He's not going to come out and say, you know, that one went off the hands of the guy, this one got tipped, this one got this. He just doesn't appear to be that 350, 400-yard guy, three touchdown, okay. What he's got to do is come out and beat the Giants on opening night on Sunday night- Beat the crap out of them. And come out and welcome in Aaron Rodgers and the Jets with the whole country coming in, home opener, 100,000 people in the Jones Mahal and everybody thinking Aaron Rodgers as the Cowboys number and it's like, nuh-uh. I'm Dak freaking Prescott, 300, 350, three touches, no picks.

Pass a rating north of 130. Very doable. 2-0. Then the Cowboys come out after that one, they're at Arizona and just mess with them.

Just mess with them because they can. Then the Cowboys have New England at home. Take care of the Patriots, they're 4-0. Then it's a Sunday night at San Francisco and Dak Prescott shows up and says, I am not only an undefeated quarterback, going at the team that has taken on the last two NFC championship game spots and I'm an MVP. I'm the MVP of the National Football League. I'm Dak freaking Prescott. Dak MVP. I'm just saying that's the sort of stuff he needs to do in any way, shape, or form and then take the Cowboys to the one seed or the two seed and then go ahead and make a deep run.

I'm not saying win it all. And you know though, the guy who, I don't think I just said anything out of the realm, he's got the playmakers on both sides of the ball to support what points he puts on the board. Run it a little bit too. Run it and show like, okay, everybody's talking about Jalen Hurts in this division. Everybody's talking about Lamar Jackson throwing it more than he needs to run it more, but he can do both and Deshaun Watson's coming back with that sort of game and Herbert can throw on the move. You know who can do that? Dak freaking Prescott.

Absolutely. I think Dak is pretty well respected when it comes to the lists and if you look at the odds for MVP, he's tied for ninth. He's pretty, pretty high praise.

Oh, that's a high register. Who's in front of him? I think the guys in front of him are people you would expect. Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Patrick Holmes. Honestly, if I'm sitting there, you're sitting here thinking, what the hell's Lamar Jackson done other than win an MVP before? That kind of dynamic player in the league, whose offense kind of is, he's the team. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to pump him up here. I'm caping guys. He has the same, he has the same odds as Justin Fields and Tua.

And just so he can make diamonds here out of the pressure, his owner's writing checks, not just for him, but with his mouth. We haven't talked about this, Mr. Jones will be showing up with his green, his gold jacket, green jacket, gold jacket, quote, I will say that Philadelphia, and if you will, the Giants and Washington team, they need to be on their game because we are, we're going to be on our game and we will be improved over last year. I like it. Put it out there, man. We won 12 games last year, put it out there. Dak was awesome in 2021.

Yeah. I mean, like 4,400 yards, 37 touchdowns, only the 10 picks. He was dynamite. The guy's got a 61 and 36 record as a starter.

I believe 27 and seven against the NFC East. You know, last year it just went a little sideways. Remember, he was coming off a broken thumb. I don't want to make excuses.

He was still eight and four. Yeah. I mean, look, he, and he did, he threw, there were a lot of some very bad passes that he threw.

But like you said, Rich, and I've said, he got to do it. Sometimes the ball gets tipped. Sometimes receiver doesn't catch it. And I don't want to see the playing down to the competition Cowboys when they're five and one, six and one. I want to see foot on the gas. I want to see that Dak and the Dallas Cowboys show up. I want to see 13 and four. I want to see going for this two seed and one seed and they have the roster to be able to do it.

I want to see them do it. And I want to see them go and beat Philadelphia and cause Dak's going to say, okay, Jalen Hurts is, is, is the it guy now he's paid now I'm 40, my $40 million contract is now, you know, peanuts on, on the dollar here and I know I'm mixing my metaphors. So yeah, that's the Dak I want to see this year because that will shut everyone up.

That's for damn sure. All the Dak, you know, I'm seeing on, on the graphics, on the screen of all the, all the, all of our brethren across the, uh, starting off shows that the sports media world, the most pressure, like, no, stop, Jerry Jones is not going to get rid of him unless it goes really selfish. But if you do a top five, most pressure he's on it. I don't think so.

I don't think so either to Steve Sarkeesian and Hutchinson coming up right here in our number two, who's your, who's your top five under pressure? Dak? Really? Cause he's right. I mean, Tony Romo had that job, like a Supreme court justice and you know, he doesn't get rid of, he doesn't get rid of quarterback. So cause what you're going to do is you're going to start from scratch again.

Yeah. Who are we going to get? Let's just say we, Caleb Williams, you know, we're not going to be bad enough to, to even be able to sniff Caleb Williams. So in no, in no order, five quarterbacks who under a lot of pressure, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Aaron Rogers, Dak Prescott, Tua, Deshaun Watson, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I think pressure is about losing your gig.

No, that's not it. Baker Mayfield is under pressure. No, he's not because no one expects anything from him. Kyler Murray is under pressure. Coming back from an ACL. These are guys with expectations, the Jets win the Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers is under pressure.

If he doesn't perform well, the Jets are going nowhere. That's pressure. First of all, he's breathing.

Okay. In and out. He'll breathe through it. No, honestly though, Baker Mayfield may not have another chance to start in the NFL ever again. That's pressure.

No one's expecting anything from them. When I said Carson Wentz was under pressure, where's Carson Wentz this year? Uh, yeah. ATC.

Selling jewelry in the middle of the mall somewhere maybe? I don't know. He's not in there. That's pressure. I agree with Rachel in this. The Bucks are the last place to win their division. No one's expecting Baker Mayfield to do anything.

Not pressure. Our number two coming up, the two Steves. Head coach of the Texas Longhorns, Steve Sarkisian, when we come back. For over three decades, nobody has had a wrestling career like Arn Anderson.

Conrad Thompson gets all the stories with Arn. After watching AEW's Double or Nothing, Amy wants to know, what does Dinosaur taste like? Um, it ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette, but chewy. Oh, wow. That's disgusting. It sure is. And check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.