DeMeco Ryans and the Texans want to hit the ground running

This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Drop, drop, drop, a beat, a beat, a beat. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Have not heard from Kirk Cousins' sit-down interview yet. Guess who got him?

Bussing with the boys pod. Kirk Cousins, the Falcons, there's no beef involved. No, I don't think there can be.

I don't think it's helpful. Like, we're trying to win a Super Bowl and... Today's guests, Texans head coach, D'Amico Ryans. Legendary Hollywood producer, Jerry Bruckheimer.

From Apple TV's Constellation, actor Numi Rapaz. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Alright everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

We are live in Los Angeles, California. I'm beginning my tour day doing this show for three hours here on the Roku channel. And then heading to NFL Network to reveal the schedule. The NFL schedule piece by piece being revealed slowly but surely. And then hopefully we got a lid on this thing all the way through until the afternoon when I'm sure someone's going to leak it. Hey, listen, we're on the air at 8 Eastern Time no matter what on NFL Network tonight to release the 2024 NFL schedule.

Excited to do that. And then today's program, Numi Rapaz, the actress from the terrific show on Apple Plus, Constellation. She will be here on the program in studio hour number three. And then in hour number two on this program, Jerry Bruckheimer will be here.

Many different ways to talk about all the works that he's done. But I'll just do this. I'll put my glasses on. Thank you so much.

I appreciate that. The old CSI Miami move. We can't wait to talk with him. He's back here in studio after I think the last time we saw him was a year and a half ago. A Young Woman in the Sea is going to be joining is this new movie that he has produced. Daisy Ridley playing the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. So he's back in the world of athletics, sports.

The guy who helped produce Remember the Titans and Glory Road and so much more. And D'Amico Rhines is going to be first up and wonder if he's gotten to take a look at his schedule already. I don't think so. The NFL's really kept a tight lid on this thing. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. What's going on?

Not much, man. Bruins got back in it. Big win last night.

DJ Mikey Diaz. That's good to see you. TJ Jefferson is a candle lit over there.

Not yet, because you just blew my mind. You telling me that D'Amico Rhines, like rookie sensation head coach of the Houston Texans is not a mission critical employee. That is correct.

He is not a mission critical employee when it comes to the schedule release. That is correct. Now I'm going to like the candle now.

Again, I'm telling you that the candles mission. I have been told that the television networks will not be informed of their full entire NFL schedule until the middle of this program. Whoa, whoa. OK, and then we're on the air on NFL Network from this point in time.

And what would you say? I mean, to the man, nine hours. They're keeping a tight lid on this thing. So what are the chances that Woge like leaks out little tweets? Woge. I know Woge. Why not? Woge, he just drops buns everywhere. Why not Woge? I don't think so.

Just randoms? Woge is definitely not going to be in the mission critical for this sort of thing tonight. Woge is just a little more focused, I imagine, on Nicola Jokic rising up like the Undertaker. After he won the MVP award announced when they lost game two. Right? Remember he was just like, hey, I'm the MVP for a third time.

Pew, pew, pew, pew. And then the Nuggets fall into an 0-2 hole. And then all holy heck breaks loose on the Minnesota Timberwolves. I mean, they blew out the Nuggets without Rudy Gobert to go up 2-0. And that's when everybody was saying, hey, look out, it's the Thunder in the Timberwolves' world.

The youth is going to be served. And not so much. Three straight dominating performances for the Nuggets led by the three-time MVP who got his award last night prior to tip-off. Adam Silver was in Denver last night to award him that.

Won 12-97 is the final. He collects his third MVP award and then goes out and drops 40 on the Minnesota Timberwolves with 13 assists, 7 rebounds, no turnovers, 15 of 22 from the field. And the photograph that you see here is him launching one of his eight successful field goal attempts out of nine with Rudy Gobert as his prime defender.

Rudy Gobert was just named Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth time of his career. And Jokic actually went up and dunked the ball and he was doing all his behind the back, no look, one-legged jumper sort of stuff. He was really putting on the absolute Cirque du Soleil type show. And he was in his bag, as the kids say, Rich, he was in his bag after the game as well.

Having quite a bit of fun. Doing Jokic things at the microphone as well, talking about all of his sort of bag. Nicole, in game three you had the dunk over Anthony Edwards, tonight you drove and kind of put it behind your head.

Where's that coming from and is that a product at all of Minnesota's rim protection? Do you feel like you need to finish with more authority when you have the chance? I mean I had an open lane and I just, you know, I'm a freak of nature and why not to show my athleticism? He knows how ridiculous it is as he's saying it. It's great.

I'm a freak of nature. I saw this theory kind of floating around Twitter last night. Do you think it's possible that they just didn't take the Lakers seriously, didn't take the Wolves serious the first two games and now they're like, oh, we need to start playing? I don't know what it is. Maybe it is just the heart of a champion. I don't know. It's a long slog of an 82 game season and they made the playoffs and they needed Murray to beat the Lakers at the buzzer twice.

And just I don't think they didn't take it seriously. I just think maybe they're just like they're in a prize fight where they got hit in the mouth or they're just this is their first ever title defense. They're potentially learning what it takes.

I don't know. But you look at this and you you have to wonder, do your Celtics have enough to beat them without Porzingis? They're going to have to get Porzingis back in order to vanquish this team. And clearly the Nuggets aren't going to be like. In any way, shape or form, spooked by going into TD Garden, where the Celtics are more beatable, it does appear in these playoffs, an average team so far. And whereas the Celtics thought maybe the field was cleared for them by the injury bug of many of their opponents, including one that could be a future opponent for them with the Knicks now one win away from making the Eastern Conference Finals. Or the Timberwolves would clear the field of the Nuggets and they still can. They still can. But the Nuggets are the defending champs.

They're playing like it. And here's a stat about Jokic. This is just saying it all because, again, he's seven foot. Three time MVP center who's throwing in threes and also running breaks, running the offense and not just, you know, from the blocks. He's he's running the offense from the top of the key from the top of the three point arc. OK, nine assists on the season. He has he he's only the second player in playoff history to have 10 or more assists and no turnovers in a playoff game. The other is Chris Paul. Who I'm you know, I can look it up for you, doesn't play center.

You know what I mean? Like Chris Paul is one of the names that mentioned you as naming some of the best point guards of his generation. Go eventually you'll get to Chris Paul. Jokic is in that category. It's crazy.

It's unstoppable. The four time defensive player of the year is getting the clown. So it's the Timberwolves needing to defend their their home court next. And hey, it's on Anthony Edwards, right? Let's see, young squire.

What you got? This is what he had to say about Jokic. I just laugh.

That's all I can do. I mean, I can't I can't be mad because he's just he good, man. I think I said that at the game one when we won in game two, like MVP is best for an NBA.

And he showed it the last three games, three games in a row. And tonight he was special tonight. I got to give him his flowers. It was I mean, I don't know. I don't know what we supposed.

Yeah, he was he was that guy tonight. Gotta get his flowers. That's super honest reaction to what we all want to witness. How do you not laugh when he's doing this stuff?

You're just like, OK, that's just no one else does it. And the Nuggets have him and he's blossomed into it. My favorite soundbite of the night is from Coach Michael Malone, who's talked about his basketball IQ. That he's brilliant. He said he belongs in Mensa. But he probably thinks that Jokic doesn't know what Mensa is.

I would say 100 percent. Is that a type of food I can feed my horses? Like, what is it? So, again, we're not going to treat this like the NFL. We're just not going to do it and say this is over. The series is over. The Nuggets are the winners of the of the NBA finals. That's a big step.

It's a large step. I think either, you know, if they do finish off the Timberwolves, I think, you know, the Thunder or the Mavs would have their hands quite full. And then we'll see who it is in the east.

But that was that was something else, man. And you got to give the Nuggets their flowers just one more time here for the people in the back, just because they're not from a coast, they're not from a big city, just because they don't have a guy who is in a million commercials being the MVP face of this team. I mean, it's it's a guy from Europe and a guy from Canada hooking up with Aaron Gordon. Right. That's basically what you got right now as the big three for this team.

You could say with Gordon's had a great play at another double double last night, 18 and 10 for him. So and just because they're not all over all these commercials doesn't mean that they're not. What, like the new version of the your your warriors from out west? That's what it is right now. They're they're they're putting on a show and they're trying to finish off the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose defense is not enough.

Best defensive team with the four time defensive player of the year is not enough for Jokic. D'Amico Ryan's is about to join us from the Houston Texans, the head coach of this team, finding out who week one is. We thought that it was there was a chance that maybe just maybe the league would throw the Texans in Kansas City for night one, just because I thought that they weren't going to have a piece of filet mignon like the Ravens or the Bengals. And yet those are the first two opponents for the Kansas City Chiefs. And tonight we'll learn who the third opponent is for the Kansas City Chiefs, most likely on the road. We're not going to start them off with three in a row at home.

Right. And we've we've pegged the Carolina Panthers as that team, because that is the easiest road team that's out there for the Kansas City Chiefs. Can't have the champs 0 and 3. I don't know if that's going to happen, because if it's not the Panthers, the next step is a Lulu, because if it's not a division opponent, it's either the Browns, Falcons, Bills or Steelers that they have to go face on the road or the 49ers. I can't imagine they're going to stick the 49ers in week three, because that is a big piece of filet mignon matchup, a Super Bowl rematch. And as you could see on the screen with each announced game of the Chiefs, we are marking it off with a photograph of Taylor Swift, certainly if it's a home game. She will not be on the New Era's tour. Not until mid-October. Until mid-October.

She will be at these games. Yeah, we're good. But the Houston Texans are that team that has a whole bunch of expectations placed upon it.

I understand when you take a look at the AFC East with the Buffalo Bills remaking themselves, thanks to the salary cap. Josh Allen still being there. The Miami Dolphins adding Odell Beckham to their mix. Aaron Rodgers telling Tucker Carlson what he's not watching on his phone. Apparently he wasn't the person who popped off his Bluetooth in Luka's press conference. I don't know if you saw that piece of video from Aaron.

I was trying not to watch any of his videos. But despite all that, I guess he is still focusing on football in the building, because all the stuff that has nothing to do with football needs to be removed. But Rodgers coming back, taking on the 49ers to start off the season. The Steelers with Russell Wilson most likely being up front and Joe Burrow being back healthy. And the Ravens being the one seed from last year. And the Browns opening the season against the Dallas Cowboys. Jim Harbaugh coming back.

What's Denver going to do with Bo Nix? The Raiders have Antonio Pierce now at the helm there. And then you got the Texans, who may just be the one team that can just begin to keep the pedal to the metal. And be the team to tell the two-time defending champs should they meet one another in the playoffs. Not this year. They will face each other in the regular season. We find out tonight when that happens. And how many national television games will the Texans have?

Because I'll tell you what, guys. CJ Stroud is going to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in your fantasy draft. No doubt. And you got a ton of offensive players that are going to be available in your fantasy draft.

You're going to take. And that is a measure of a team's popularity these days. He's got the third best MVP odds right now.

And how do you keep on keeping on on that front? Because you look at that division. Right now, Trevor Lawrence needs to show something.

In order to get that second contract with a five in front of it, as opposed to a four, if that means anything. The Colts have Anthony Richardson coming back from injury. I think he'll do very well.

He looks great in the workout videos. The Titans have completely changed around their organization. I mean, head to toe.

Top to bottom. No Derrick Henry. No Mike Vrabel. New coach. New setup. New everything. New general manager from last year. Fully in charge now. No idea what the Titans are going to look like.

So the Texans not only have an opportunity to put their stamp on their own division, but the conference. Can't wait to talk to the coach. We have not spoken to him since he was the freshly named head coach of the Houston Texans. So we're going to take a break. We'll come back. We'll talk with him. We'll talk about the Knicks going up three games to two and Kaitlyn Clark's debut in the WNBA.

Last night, I've got a power rankings list of my top 10 revenge games. Let's go. And Jerry Bruckheimer making his way to the studio.

D'Amico Ryans when we come back. And it's helpful as a smile on their face and get you back on the road. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online.

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Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. The legendary producer of film and television shows, Jerry Bruckheimer, will be joining us in hour number two. Prior to the production, I'll be part of tonight on NFL Network, the scheduled release show. We have not had this man on since he was named, I think, head coach of the Texans.

He is D'Amico Reins back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to chat with you, coach. How are you? Hey, doing great, Rich. Thanks for having me on.

You bet. Boy, I haven't spoken to you since, I believe, after you took the job. And dare I say, a lot has happened between now and then. How do you view last year's first year for you in Houston, coach?

Last year for us, it was a it was a fun year. Exciting time. It's kind of what we set out to do. Right.

Taking a job here. We wanted to just reestablish a a fun environment where our fans can be proud of what we were doing here in Houston. We wanted our fans to be proud to wear their Texans gear. As I always said, to start off and I, you know, when I look back at our season, I think we accomplished that to see the buzz around the city of Houston to see, you know, if I go anywhere around the city to see how excited.

Right. The fans are about the Texans and how excited they are about the future of the Texans. Like, man, is it's been unmatched. You talk about the passion for the fan base here. It's been fun to be a part of it. And that's what I'm most excited about on last year.

Well, it also helps to suit up a unicorn, you know, and it looks like you do. And I understand and I understand again that he's he's one of 53 and I'm referring to C.J. Stroud coach.

But it just seems like he does everything so well, including wearing it well, you know, personally and personal personably as well. And we just came off a draft where six kids at the position went in the first 12 picks and we're talking about the secret sauce. And how can you see how can you tell having a close front row seat to watching C.J. Stroud's rookie season? What can you impart to everybody here about his abilities and what it is, his personal traits that make him so good that might be translatable for us to see how tough it all is. Coach, I think when you start out as first first things first, right, he has the talent, he has the arm talent. He has everything that a top quarterback in NFL needs to have when it comes to the physical attributes of playing a position.

Right. The accuracy, the arm strength, right. The vision.

He has all of those things. But it's the intangibles that set him apart. It's the connectedness in a locker room. How he gets the guys around him in a locker room to just believe in him. And he's just one of the guys.

He's not off to himself. Right. Just because he's the quarterback. He does a really good job of connecting with everyone on a team, not just offensive players. Right. He does a good job of connecting with the defensive guys and all those guys. They're joking.

They're having fun. Like that's how football should be. And everybody feels that relationship, a close relationship with the quarterback. And that's what sets CJ apart. Right. And everybody knows what he's capable of doing. And the talent, he's continued to get better and better throughout the year.

Right. All our players on our team saw that and they wanted to play for him. They wanted to play with him. They wanted to get it done.

They wanted to be successful. They wanted to do their job better because they knew CJ was going to do his his deal. So you don't want to let a guy who's as capable as he is, you don't want to let him down as a teammate. And so it's just that connectedness, how tight he is with all of his teammates.

That's the thing that set him apart. And that's the thing that allowed us right to jail very quickly in our first year as a team, because when the guy at the top at the quarterback position is as down to earth, as personable, as funny as just relatable to everyone in the locker room, it allows you to connect much quicker as a team and become a tighter team. And that's what we were able to do last year.

Love it. X's and O's wise, though, again, you've spent many a time with a headset on coordinating against an offense prior to taking this job. And you know what it's like to rattle a rookie quarterback or get him to make a mistake or get him to not see something or see ghosts or something like that. So was what moment was it if there was one last year where even you were saying, OK, that's not usual.

That is something that a veteran can do. That's a most valuable player. That's not an offensive rookie of the year that's out there, coach. And for sure. The moment for me was our Tampa Bay game. I mean, we were in a big time shoot out there with the Bucks and Baker Mayfield and the big time shootout.

And for for him. Right. They scored on us late in the late in the late in fourth quarter. They scored on us and we have I think it's under a minute to go down and score and just for to see the poise. Right.

To see the confidence and how he led the offense down on that last drive and hit for him to connect with tank for a touchdown. That man, it was it was that moment where I'll never forget it. Right. That was the the one moment that will always, you know, stand out in my mind forever.

It's like, man, this guy is very special. Right. And most rookies will get flustered in that in their predicament.

They would, you know, try to make something up new or try to force a play. He was just so calm. Right. So confident, trusting in his in the playmakers around him. And he delivered big time. And that was a huge win for us. And that was one of the games that was kind of like our mark on our season. They let us know, OK, we can win any type of game.

It doesn't matter if it's a shootout. Right. We can go win that. Right. We can go score at will. So it was it was a fun game.

One to always remember. Yeah. And you made it to the divisional round, but you technically won two playoff games last year.

Right. I mean, the one to make the playoffs that that started with a throw. Coach Ryan's here from the Texans here on the Rich Eyes joke. That throw that Stroud made to Nikko Collins to start the game in Indianapolis. It looked like one of his throws at the combine. You know, we're honestly like he just stood back there and he looked downfield. He just like it was a perfect dart.

It was a dime. And then. Oh, man. Right.

And then you saw what he did against Cleveland, obviously. So what's what's your two what's what what's your opinion? What what's your vision for year two with him and your team right now, coach? Yeah, for me, as I as I talk to our guys. Right.

That was a fun first year. Right. We had a little success. We're able to make the playoffs and get a win in the playoffs. But we have so many so many things we can get better at.

Right. Including CJ, including myself, our entire team. Like this year, we have to forget about last year and we had to move on. We had to start new. We have a lot of new guys. So we have to rebuild that chemistry amongst this locker room. Twenty, twenty three was different now.

How is how are the twenty, twenty four Texans? How can we gel together? How can we become tight as a team and how can we continue? Right.

Our trek up this mountain. Right. How can we start that off together and stay as tight as possible as a team and continue to weather through?

Right. All the growing pains that have happened throughout the season, like how close can we become to where we hit the ground rolling? And the cool part about this year is it's the second time around for all of our guys hearing, right? Our terminology, things we're asking guys to do offense, defense, special teams.

They've heard it before. So the learning curve, right where we're past that learning curve so we can hit the ground running. We can do a few more things, get more advanced in what we're doing.

Right. So I think that continuity just offensively, defensively, having a continuity really helps our guys with their growth process. It's going to be huge for C.J. and all of our guys to hit the ground running.

They don't have to do a lot of thinking. Now we can do more reacting and growing as a team. D'Amico Ryan's head coach, the Houston Texans here on the Rich Eisen Show on schedule release day. So the schedule comes out. What are you going to look for?

We're going to see. What are you looking for? I'm looking for looking for that bye week. That's it. Yeah.

Right. Make sure we get one. Make sure we get a good bye. You would like it. You know, for me, I would like it kind of in the middle of the season.

OK. So you have a just a good break there. I know it doesn't always work that way, but you have a good break there so you can have a, you know, rest before you hit that home stretch towards the end of the season to make your push for the playoffs.

So that's the first thing I look at. And then, of course, everybody looks for, you know, the primetime games. That's always a big deal. Everyone gets excited about the primetime games. Tell our guys, it doesn't matter where we play or when we play, just be the best team on the field that day. But I know everyone gets excited about those games because everyone in the country will have eyes on you being able to watch. So it's always fun. Those games are fun for our guys.

And of course, everyone gets a little bit more pumped up for the primetime games. Well, I'm imagining your new what your newest wide receiver will be checking to see when the bills are coming into your house. Right, coach. Don't you think? Oh, yeah. OK.

He'll probably have that one circle. I bet. Sure. I bet.

Sure. So what do you what what are you willing to share about your your initial conversation with Stefan Diggs to the fans who, you know, obviously he's incredibly talented. He he's a receiver who wants the ball.

You have already a ton of talented guys who are the same. What what do you can you reveal or willing to reveal about your chats with Stefan Diggs? Yeah, from our from our first conversation, it was just instantly like this guy loves football. He's dedicated to winning. Right. And that's one thing I know the player he is.

You've seen him. Right. He's been a great player as lead for a long time, made a ton of big plays.

Right. Memorable catches throughout his career. But his passion, his passion for the game is what I love to work with. I love guys who have the mindset that he has and he wants to win. He loves to work like and I love to work with guys who have that mindset. So we hit it off instantly right from from our first conversation. And he's just he's a great teammate as well. Right.

I'm happy to work with them. And our guys are fired up to have him here on our team. He's a big time playmaker. And it's no no one else that all the kids around town is more excited about this. Stefan Diggs.

I mean, I can't believe you guys signed Stefan Diggs. So the kids are all fired up, especially my son. He's fired up. Everybody's fired up to see Diggs in a Texas uniform this year.

I love it. And by the way, Daniel Hunter is not a slouch of an acquisition either, coach. I mean, what does he bring to your defense in your estimation?

Yeah. First thing first, man, we get our we get a hometown guy. We get Daniel who's he's from here in Houston and it was very important to him to be able to play in front of his family, play in front of all of his friends like that was important to him because Houston means a lot to him. But the type of player that he is, you talk about a guy who's been a double digit sack guy multiple times in his career. And it was so we have a we tell our guys that pass for us.

We need all the pass thrusters we can get here. So getting to nail and being able to get him here, he's going to be a huge boost for our defense and what we're trying to do, having him opposite Will Anderson. That was a huge get for us. Yeah, I mean, and, you know, Al Shaheer, that guy is all over the field, coach. I mean, honestly, in the games I I called for him, you know, in Tennessee.

I I thought there was two of them. I really did. He's unbelievable. And that's another I mean, I could go on and on about your your your acquisitions on defense.

But I'll let you do that, coach. Right. Aziz is an great, great young man. First and foremost, I had the pleasure of working with him in San Francisco and just seeing where we he was an undrafted free agent that we acquired in San Francisco. And just to see his growth throughout his entire career, working as a backup. And last year there in Tennessee, he was able to prove that he could be a starter. He can play significant amount of time staying healthy and making a ton of plays.

Like you said, Richie's plays sideline to sideline. He plays with relentless motor. He's physical. Right. And he's a great teammate. Right. Aziz is a really great leader. And it's a guy that we need it as that glue in the middle of our defense.

So very excited to work with him again. And before I let you go, a couple more questions here with D'Amico Ryan's head coach, the Houston Texans. Let's talk about the draft.

You know, it took till Friday night to you. You finally chose one. And obviously, you know, your general manager was moving around the draft board. But here we go with Kamari Lassiter. What does he bring to the equation on the back end of your defense?

Kamari, he brings versatility first and foremost. But the second thing that sticks out, he brings he brings a physicality that's unmatched from that corner perspective or nickel perspective. Like this guy's physical. He loves to hit. He loves football. He's dialed in.

Like, man, the tape is just jumps off right there. Not many corners who is as physical as Kamari is. And you talk about a smart guy as guys play multiple zip multiple positions and he doesn't miss a beat. And it's been fun working with him. We've only had him for for about a couple of days now, almost a week. But it's been fun just working with him, just seeing how much he can handle and absorb.

Well, I mean, smart guy. But if you don't mind me saying, I think he needs to hit the books a little bit to get a lesson on his head coach. I love this sound by play it for the coach. Hit it. Hit it.

Brought up a second. The culture that was established in Georgia when the culture here is bald. But to go going to Alabama, you're going to Georgia. What were some similarities that you noticed between coach smart and what they preach?

Coach with them. I know that. Oh, man, that's awesome. I had to tell him, hey, don't hold that against me, man. I went to Bama.

You feel sick. Why are you so shocked that I went to Bama? So, well, come on. That was a funny clip right there.

Let him know. Yeah, I went to Bama right now. I know Georgia is the powerhouse now.

But at one point in time, Bama did run things for a little bit. Yeah. By the way, I just love the look on his face where he just kind of hit him like, wait, did I hear that right? That was hilarious. He was shocked. Oh, that was funny.

I saw that and that made me laugh out loud. But that just shows you he's got tunnel vision. He's just about ball. He's not learning much else other than just life and ball and not learning your history. You know, he's not. Yeah, he's he was all locked in. I joke with him this morning about that clever said, man, I know I've drafted a lot of Alabama guys around here, but I wanted to I wanted to switch it up this year.

I wanted to stay with the SEC, but I'll just bounce over to Georgia and grab a couple prospects. Fair and balanced. Being fair and balanced.

So last one for you. Just the the traditional expectation question. I'm sure you get it already and now you're getting it here and you'll get it throughout your training camp season and leading up to whatever we learn to be on Wednesday night, your your week one game.

How do you how do you answer that question? The expectation reads for me, you know, with our expectations of what I what I ask of our guys is you when the schedule comes out, you can't consume the entire thing. Like no matter how you cook it up, whenever the games are, man is we can only control one day at a time, right? One game at a time. So it's truly our expectations are about focusing on a process and continuing to grow, develop, continue to get better each and every day. If our team right comes together, right, become a very tight team, connect the team and we truly hone in on the small details and fundamentals and techniques and we get better every single day.

You know what? The expectations will be exactly where we're supposed to be, right? Everybody wants to go get it all, but you don't get there overnight. It just takes, right? It take it take dialed in preparation, dialed in, right?

Deliberate work every single day. If we do that, we'll be where we're supposed to be. Also helps to know J.J. Watt can give you snaps if necessary, right? Coach? Come on, JJ. You ready?

Let's go. Did I not hear that? Did I not hear that? He did say that. He said that last year. He said it again this year.

I got to make sure I take him up on that offer this year. But he says it in terms of a rip cord. If you need some sort of like a J.J. Watt rip cord, that's a hell of a rip cord to have at your disposal as a head coach in the NFL.

It is. Only if we have to use it, it will see what he has. J.J., man. Big time player, man. I would love to add him to what we're doing here.

Have he ever if you ever need it, obviously. And if there's one thing I don't have any question about, it's the togetherness of your team, obviously listening to you and talking and talking with you. But also, you're an Alabama guy coaching Georgia guys.

You got an Ohio State quarterback thrown to Michigan wide receiver. If that if you guys can get along and win with that, you're good. You're good.

You know, we'll find a way to make it work for sure. Coach, thanks for the time. Really appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks, Rich. You bet. That's D'Amico Rines joining us here on schedule release day on The Rich Eisen Show.

Another one to root for right there, huh? Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. All right. When we come back, we're going to dive into the phone banks. Eight four four two or four rich number to dial also. We'll dive into your question from yesterday, Chris.

Oh, quarterback under the most pressure. Hey, you like that stuff. I love that stuff. I know it's May, but it's fun. It's fun to talk about and think about. All right.

That's next. This is the schedule release day edition of The Rich Eisen Show. It's that time of year, people. Spring has sprung and that means spring cleaning or at least the partner in your life is demanding that you do it.

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That's I B O T T A in the Google Play or App Store and use my code EISEN. Make smarter choices and build a better life. Afford anything wherever you listen. Back on our program here, Nick in South Carolina is on the horn. Let's take Nick's phone call. What's up, Nicholas?

South Cackalacki. Hey, Rich, how are you guys doing? What's going on? What's up, brother? Before I get to my question, man, I want to congratulate you on your Wolverines getting a championship. I know it's May, but never too late to celebrate. No, May is also the last name of the coach that's about to give us our next championship. But that's OK. Last name of the quarterback is about to bring me another. Well, my coach has spelled the actual name of the month. That's how it's spelled. You have a silent D at the end. But thank you for that, Nick. I will take those. I'm living my best life, so I'll take it any day of the week.

I hear you, man. My hurricanes haven't won since 2000, man, so I get it. But my question for you, sir, is do you think that Tua should be a 50 million dollar quarterback? I know he's up for a big contract. OK, Nick, I would say if he can get it, sure. I bet the the Dolphins are grinding right now.

They're grinding right now. Like the 40 range, maybe 35-ish? No, not 35-ish. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Tua Tungovailoa is definitely going to have a salary that starts with a four. But this is the interesting conversation to have. And thanks for Nick.

Appreciate you opening this can on the program. If you're the Dolphins, you're going to be sitting there saying, all right, Goff just got 50 something annual, you know, salary. Yeah. And he almost made the Super Bowl. You know, Tua just made his first playoff game appearance, its second playoff season.

He was injured for the previous one. OK, and the other 50 million dollar quarterbacks. There's the guy who's made the Super Bowl in Burrow, who's made the Super Bowl in Hertz, who's won two MVPs for Lamar Jackson. And then here's Tua's pushback. I was drafted in front of the guy who just got 52 and a half million dollars. Yeah.

And he has the same number of playoff appearances and wins as I do. I don't know about you, but that looked like money. And so that's the push and pull here. Good argument. Good argument for Tua. No question. Great argument. No doubt about it.

And then you look at the rest of the quarterbacks who are in the 40 million APY club. One of them you just throw out, like if you're the agent for Tua, it's just like, we're not talking about my homies. Exactly.

That is what we call an anomaly. All right. That doesn't count. But is Tua better than Kirk Cousins? And he's in the same category, as far as I'm concerned, as Kyler Murray. I know he didn't win a Heisman Trophy, Tua, but he could have if he didn't hurt his hip. Right.

And Heisman Trophies don't mean Jack right now. But we all agree Josh Allen's better than Tua. I would agree with that. Is Deshaun Watson better than Tua? I think that jury's out.

Yeah, I agree. We haven't seen Deshaun Watson be the Deshaun Watson that earned the $46 million a year, guaranteed fully. We haven't seen him in years. It's been years, by the way, since we've seen that guy. It's been years. Yeah. It's been years. It's a fascinating conversation to be had here about where does Tua get slotted?

And that's a push and pull that's kind of next up, right? Like we talked about this with Tom Pelissero yesterday. He's playing under the fifth year option, right?

Yeah, but you don't play under the fifth year option and not. I mean, when you're somebody like Tua, who has, I think, proven his worth in this offense and has shown he can, you don't think he's proven his worth within this offense, Chris? 100 percent he has.

100 percent he has. I am kind of willing to kind of just throw out the playoff game because it probably shouldn't have been played under those weather conditions. Yeah, like under sub-zero. But if you're Miami. But then again, they wouldn't have been played under those conditions had they actually won their last home game against the Bills. They would have had the Bills back in their house the next week. They wouldn't have been freezing their asses off in Kansas City. They would have had a home date against the Bills. True. And maybe they win that game.

Certainly you're not playing in sub-zero weather. And that's also the point of how the offense is, is it built to win in that sort of conditions, which is another narrative that the Dolphins have heard. And I'm sure Tua would point out, same with the Dolphins, is like the shootout they had in the snow in Buffalo the previous year on a Saturday on NFL Network. And then Tua got hurt the next week, I believe on Christmas Day, against the Packers.

And then that was all she wrote for him for that season. Second concussion of the season. If you're Miami, do you want to see him play out this year? No, you don't.

And have another really successful year franchise and then you can work on an extension after that? No. Do you want to see a fifth year prove it? No. I think he's already proven it. Interesting.

And if I'm him, I'm already saying that as well. But how much? I don't know. That's for these guys to figure out.

And I think it does maybe start with a five. Oh, no. That's the way it works now, brother. Yeah.

I mean, that's what there's... That's the way it works now. We say no now, but in two years, you're going to look at that five when Katz is making sevens and you're going to be like, all right, that's a deal. First $70 million quarterback in the NFL.

It's going to be here before you know it. Is that guy in the NFL right now? No.

Arch Manning, right? Come on, dude. Come on. He's buying me a boat.

He just got my 90s. So you're saying... I'm just throwing the name out. There is a college player who will make $70 million. Do you think so? Is he in high school right now?

The way the needle's moving. I would say he's probably going to be... This is his freshman year. Freshman year? Or sophomore year? There's a kid who just strolled into high school right now who's going to be the first $70 million quarterback in the NFL. A college freshman. He'll be a college freshman.

Yeah. I will tell you... He's playing spring ball right now.

I will tell you, you're all incorrect. Do you think Mahomes is going to get $70 million? Patrick Mahomes. How old is Patrick Mahomes? Is he 28? Do you know how many more contracts Patrick Mahomes is going to sign in the NFL? Well, he has a 10-year deal. I understand that, but at some point he might just say... He'll be 29 on September 17th.

That's insane. Or he might not be because he's already generationally insanely wealthy, and he's going to have to figure out who's going to be his next Kelsey at some point. When Travis retires, he's going to have to figure out and get somebody he's going to get paid. And so keeping his salary where it is, but the cap goes up.

I don't know, man. We got some of these guys, Burrow and Herbert, they're still very young. They're going to be like two, three more contracts to go in their careers if they play till they're 40. Herbert might get 70.

I think the guys in the NFL right now... I want to go back to Tua for a second. He's had one and a half good years, and you want to give him $55 million? Brother, to use your phrase, to use your analogies, to use you over the last two Rich Eisen shows, Burrow's had it.

The same amount. No. Uh... No. No, no, no, no. Excuse me. He was in the Super Bowl, though.

No, no, no, no. Burrow had one season, okay, right, where he was injured. Then he goes to the Super Bowl, right, correct? And then he had half a season last year. He's had a very similar amount of time as the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals to prove. Two full seasons.

Okay. Two full seasons. So it's not that far away. 4,600 yards and 4,500 yards.

Bro. Tua has a season and a half of 35 and 46. I think Joe Burrow's a little more proven than Tua. I would agree with that, but he's not too far off.

He's not too far off based on what you're saying. All right, well, I wouldn't have given Joe Burrow all that money either. No, Tua's going to get paid, and he's going to be the Miami Dolphins quarterback, and everybody's got to get ready for that. I would make him prove it, man. I don't think that's going to happen, sir. He will not be salty. I don't think that will happen.

I will be proven in the end to be correct, and you'll just be an actor. NFL front offices routinely make the poorest decisions. No, they make the decisions that they think are the best bet and hope for the best and believe in their coaching staff.

They're playing Hoper. You know, Rich. You know, interesting. The news that the well, we'll talk about this later on. Jerry Brockheimer is about to join us as well, and we were about to get into the conversation about quarterbacks under the most pressure, and then we didn't do that because our friend from South Carolina threw us in a different direction, but that was a good direction for us to go. It was.

It was. Did you guys happen to see the video over the weekend of Dan Orlovsky and Chase Daniel breaking down the playbook and everything that the quarterback has to know? Like, you have to be so intelligent to play any position in the NFL, really, but especially quarterback. Do you think that that's the reason a lot of these guys you have to pay them? Because to bring another person in and have them learn all of that stuff and then go perform. It's because it's because it's the most difficult position in all of professional team sports. So just to say, OK, somebody else, that's not that easy.

And it's also the least populated with incredibly successful people. Take a look at this league. You can't even get in many ways more than 20 guys who successfully play the position. It's tough.

That's the way it works, and that's why everybody keeps going fishing in the draft and paying guys that show even a spark. John brings his skewed sense of humor. Jeff brings tips to cut strokes off your next round. Together, it's those weekend golf guys.

They'll pay a lot of money to PXG and Tylus and Callaway and da da da da da da. How many yards do you think you're going to pick up with that extra driver? I think I can get an extra five to ten. What if I give you fifteen to twenty? You pay me more. Jeff Smith teaches on a sliding scale. Those weekend golf guys. The podcast part of the Believe Network. Just search BLEAV on YouTube or wherever you listen.