Joe Hortiz: Jim Harbaugh Loves Coaching

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People who think it's not Tua's world, he's really good. Today's guests, Chargers general manager Joe Ortiz, basketball hall of famer Mike Krzyzewski, co-host of Good Morning Football, Kyle Brand, WWE superstar The Miz. And now, it's Rich Eisen. That's right. That's right. You know what I mean? That's right. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show. Did you forget what you were going to say? No, no, no, no. I'm just excited to be here. I'm just saying that's right. I'm confirming it is The Rich Eisen Show. In my eyes. That's what we're starting. 8 for 4, 2 up for Rich.

Number to dial on this program. And trust me, we'll get to you. We've got a lot going on here today. One of the many reasons I love doing this program is that we just have guests from all over the pop culture landscape. And we just put them in the same blender and serve you a delicious sports and information entertaining smoothie every single day.

And our number three is that perfect example. The Miz in studio and then Coach K by Zoom. How about that? The Miz and Coach K. That's what's up. Kyle Brand is making his way to our studio. He just got freshly finished with Good Morning Football Overtime, which you can see right here every day on the Roku channel. And Kyle is in town in Los Angeles as Good Morning Football has famously moved coasts. He'll be here in studio hour number two.

Our new neighbor from across the street. The general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, Joe Ortiz, just arrived. We're installing him in our green room. We're rolling out the red carpet for him. And we're going to we're going to make him flip tires and move heavy equipment, because that's what you do when you're part of the Los Angeles Chargers organization with Jim Harbaugh in the top down. Right here, coach. Can't wait. He'll be joining us in a matter of moments. And then there's you at eight four four two oh four rich number. It's all good to see you, Chris Brockman.

How are you? You're doing all right, because you were you were you were using the third with the third camera thing. You know what it is? Hotel beds and the pillows just jacked me up. Is that what happened?

And so I'm just kind of still working out some kinks. You're blaming where Bonetta puts you up for a wedding. You know, that was no, no. The wedding before when I was all I see. Wow. Two weeks ago.

I don't know where. But with you. Yeah. Yeah. I know.

Gravy boats for everybody. I'm waiting. OK, good to see you, Mike Del Tufo.

He's dropped crazy. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm done. I'm done. What's going on? How you doing, Rich? Good morning.

T.J. Jefferson. What are you ready to ask them is a question to get us aggregated by the wrestling community? Obviously.

You know, Rich. Yes, sir. What you said about Chris is there's sometimes I do wish the cameras could catch what goes on. Pre show.

No, not at all. I mean, this moment I'm saying when Chris was working out there, a gun on his shoulder, he was making some sounds and you looked up and you said something out loud, man. I can't even hear because I mean, I got like a Model A. Yeah. I think that Sarah got so loud. It does sound like the jackhammering upstairs. You thought they were actually. I did. Well, I'm like, wait a minute. There's going to be some construction going on.

Your response was amazing. We have three in studio guests. We can't have construction going on upstairs. At any rate, we'll have the men's play the win loss game for the Cleveland Browns later on.

That's super necessary. We'll do that before we let him go off into his Los Angeles day. And so once we were done with yesterday's program.

Chris Brockman and I stayed after class, did the latest edition of the overreaction Monday podcast. We haven't done that since the middle of June. I think I think we did it just to celebrate OTAs happening here.

You know, exactly. But now training camps are are fully in full swing. We got teams and pads. We've got a preseason game happening in two nights from now. Fights are happening in camp. Yeah, you're seeing camp fights go and across the way in the new charges facility.

You're seeing Jim Harbaugh being Jim Dragon people around flipping tires. So that's available where you get all your podcasts. So do us a favor. Follow that that stream and RSS feed for overreaction Monday and give us a follow for all three hours of the Rich Eisen show. You can you can catch up on everything that we do. And that's how we're going to start today's program. We've got overreaction Monday on a Tuesday.

And that's how we're going to lead our show. Hit it. That was terrible. That was crap. That was garbage. This place sucks.

Overreaction Mondays, Monday on a Tuesday. All right, Chris, you gave us some good ones for the podcast version. I don't know if there's any that you're you put in the microwave to reheat for this one. I didn't reheat any of this. I'm like the chef, man. I change the menu every day. I like it.

That's a non-negotiable non-negotiable menu every day. Yes. Very good Tuesday. Very good. Yes, sir. Still great. All right. There we go.

He won't be able to hear. Please. No more. A couple of years ago, the Cardinals were the last undefeated team. That was so shocking. I remember that. That's right. That was like seven and over. They were. Well, the Cardinals.

Yes. Guess who's back. Guess who's healthy.

Kyler Murray. The Cardinals are going to be the last undefeated team in the NFC West. In the NFC West.

Let's look at this here. Look at put up the Cardinals schedule in the NFC West. Let's just put up the Cardinals schedule to show how off this guy is. You know, you're going to like because I know what the first game is. You think they're going into western New York and beating the Bills in week one?

Is that a yes? And then they come to Los Angeles. The Rams. The Rams love using them as as like a catnip play toy. That's how they handle the Cardinals in so far.

And then they're going to they're going to put that on the sofa. They got the Rams at home. Then they got the Lions at home. No way. They do have three in a row at home.

That's true. Chris. The bills aren't going to be as good as people think. Let me just say this. I am somebody who put the Cardinals as the lead surprised sleeper team in the NFC. My top five teams in the NFL is sleeper teams. Number one, I put the Titans. Number two, I put the Cardinals.

So I think the Cardinals are the commanders and then the Cardinals. I think they're going to be a sleeper team is what I'm saying. Yeah. No, I'm with you.

Right. I'm with you. And I also said Kyler Murray is the most underrated difference maker. In the NFL this year, because nobody's talking about you should have my back here. But to say that they're going to come on, that they will go, they will last longest with a zero underneath the L column in the division that has the defending NFC champs. Guys, San Francisco might lose week one to the Jets.

OK, the Rams might lose week one against the Lions. All I need. All I need. Oh, my God. Jack Wagner. You're going Jack Wagner?

There's a little Kyler one more time. Oh, the reaction. Onward. Onward. I thought I'd get more out of it. Onward. You are dismissed. Did you see what John Elway said yesterday? What do you say? John Elway said one of his big regrets is, you know, running the Broncos, not taking Josh Allen in 2018.

I know we're playing the results, maybe a little bit, John. Who'd he take instead? He said that to, oh, who'd he take instead? He said that to PFT and Big Cap. If the Broncos had drafted Josh Allen, he'd have a Super Bowl win already.

Look at you, dude. Oh, he took Bradley Chub instead. Yeah, Bradley Chub instead. Yeah, he passed on Josh Allen.

Didn't work out. Wow. For Big John. And what year would they have won the Super Bowl? I don't know. One of them.

OK. One of them. I would I would say that. Holmes would have less than three Super Bowls.

I'll say that's an overreaction. Josh Allen would have one. You could make the case that John Elway might still be in the front office if that's what he really wanted to keep doing. Oh, for sure. I don't think Josh Allen would be a champion. I totally get it that you're regretting that. He would have been a dynamite Bronco.

Oh, my God. Wouldn't have had the bills stink on him. Right. He'd have that Super Bowl legacy of the Broncos right there.

Look at you. He'd have the pedigree behind him. Chris, you realize that the Broncos since then have never had a winning record. Because they didn't have Josh Allen.

But like they weren't even. But Super Bowl? Your point, your point that the bills have disappointed with Josh Allen at the controls and have let him down. Roster wise, I would push back to say, unfortunately for him, you know, Mahomes has drafted the year before and the Chiefs have. And they started they started a quarterback.

They have ascended at the wrong time. Like he's he's the Phil and the Tiger. You know, I get it, which is what I think he will do in Buffalo. I mean, look, this is will be the Broncos sixth starting quarterback. That's what I'm saying. If you're saying John Elway, if you're saying that this John Elway was right, that he laments choosing Bradley Chubb over Josh Allen, not an overreaction. If you're saying the Broncos would have won a Super Bowl with Josh Allen in a way that he did, has been unable to do.

That's what I'm saying. In Buffalo, I will say that's an overreaction. If you're saying you're a Patriots role who's miserable with his own situation, trying to jump on the bills being supposedly vulnerable right now, I'll say that that's not an overreaction.

I think that's Josh Allen's the most underrated quarterback yesterday in the podcast podcast. What else you got? That was yesterday.

What else? Overreaction money on a Tuesday, starting off. Here we go. Here we go. Who's back? Who's back and healthy again? Who's back?

Actually, Cooper Cupp is going to remind everyone who he is. I agree. I'm with you.

And that's why people I think are sleeping on the rams a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. I'm shocked by that, because last year, Rich, Chris thought Cooper Cupp was kind of on the downside. Now you're saying he's going to pick it back up?

Well, guess what? He might actually. He's got some help now. He doesn't have to do everything himself.

I was about to say. And now he's healthy. Cooper might see more single coverage.

Let's put it this way. He will see more exploitable coverage than he's used to, because that other that other kid is going to get better. And Stafford got paid. So now he's happy. And guess what? The running back room is better. Oh, baby. I'm with you.

That's not an overreaction at all. I think that's going to be fun. You take him top top ten in first round of fantasy. No, no, no. Late round pick in fantasy. Late round first round pick in fantasy. You do not.

No, no, no. You pick him up middle of the third. I would say, I don't think you think he's going to be available middle of the third round. Some people look at last year's stats and think maybe he I'm that's what I'm counting on. OK, I wouldn't mind taking him as my first wide receiver after I take a running back or two. I'm just saying you should get my receiver.

Twenty three. You can get him. You can you can wait on Cooper.

So people are sleeping on it. All right. We've been talking so much about what the unknown of the kickoff. We mentioned it on the podcast yesterday. Possible of Debo maybe setting the return touchdown record. Yeah. If you can imagine he returns kicks to the Niners and he finds a crease and it's him one on one with the kicker all the time. Yeah. Let me tell you what's going to happen every time.

A lot of touch. There's a new rule now coming in this year that the kickers are not allowed to place the ball horizontally on the tee. OK. Why? We're going to miss the onside kick this season. Yeah. The onside kick has essentially been eliminated from the NFL rulebook and they haven't they we don't have a fix yet.

Right. In terms of a play a fourth and 15 or what have you. We're going to miss the onside kick this year. Especially since you have to declare if you do the onside kick. That you're going to do it. There's no surprises. Let's not line up on your side of the field.

It's so preposterous. Come on back. We are going to onside kick. Hey, everybody.

There's no surprise factor. The onside kick, even though, you know, when you need to use it, everybody knows you're going to do it. Sure. Why not?

We're going to miss that. Onside recovery rate is five point six percent as of last year because the league has killed it by declaring that you can't load up on one side. How about this? Let me spice it up at some point. Let's spice it up when you're talking onside kick. It's not the spiciest thing here. But we will at some point have the loudest cry yet from either people like me or fans in general like me that it's time to use a fourth and 15 play. Let's figure out what an actual offensive play from your own 30 yard line looks like in lieu of an onside kick. Yeah.

So I bet that gets me. Well, you got one more over there, Chris. We got Joe Ortiz, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers. Baseball real quick. Bobby with Junior.

I cannot get enough of this. Hey, how about George Brett last week saying that he is the best young royal he's ever seen. And he's on fire. George Brett talked him up big time.

So I'll be with Junior's going to win ALMVP. There is a guy with ninety nine runs batted in. And where's number ninety nine? And there's ninety nine problems when he steps into play. Aaron Judge is listen.

Bobby with Junior's terrific. Great. Love it. Two salutes, sir.

And three fifty. And by the way, I think he had some some deep, some short left field deep in the hole. Walk off with that play. Unreal. But Aaron Judge is mashing it right now, like Bonds did. Aaron Judge is potentially having a better year than than the year he hit. And he broke Maris's record. Right.

He's he's unbelievable right now. So I'm just getting back at you. That's a reaction to him yesterday. What else, Chris? That's all.

Last one. Someone from the wild card. They're going to win the World Series. Oh, I don't I don't. I don't think this is going to do it. I like that. I don't think any of that. I don't think any of the current leaders of divisions right now include the Phillies right now.

I've lost, what, seven of my socks off. I'm talking about Yankees, twins, royals, Sox, Braves, Mets, Padres, D-backs. One of those teams is winning. And I say I say this even knowing if you ask this question on tomorrow's show, Yanks might not be a wild card team anymore.

Oh, they'd be in first place. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. No, no, no. I'm with you. Oh, it's all one big mosh pit now. Just make the tournament and catch catch fire like the Diamondbacks. Just like last year. Right.

I like Rangers. All right. Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. Thank you, sir, for that. Everybody, again, check out Overreaction Monday, the podcast. Chris Brockman and I chopped up all sorts of NFL topics.

And it's available wherever you get your podcast, including all three hours of this show. Our number three, the Miz in studio, Coach K on the program. Our number two, Kyle Brandt of Good Morning Football and Good Morning Football Overtime in studio.

He's never been here in person. That'll be a lot of fun. But when we come back, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, our new neighbor across the street here in El Segundo, California. Joe Ortiz is here. That's next.

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And in person, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, Joe Ortiz. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Appreciate you having me.

Thanks for being here. I appreciate you dealing with all of that vaunted El Segundo morning commute traffic. Yeah, a lot of traffic out there today.

About a six-minute drive, Josh and I drove over. And it's awesome. The proximity to here, it's great. I love it. Yeah, it's terrific. But this sounds like that SNL skit, the Californians.

Remember that back? You just go to Nash Street, you hang a left and here you are. Yeah, it's all right down the street. Where are you from originally?

Born in Philly, raised in Delaware, and then obviously spent the past 26 years in Baltimore. So wow. So this is your this is a move for me and the family. Four boys, right? Four boys. They're all here right now.

My oldest will go back to school, finish up his senior year back in Maryland. In high school you're talking about? In high school, yeah.

He's in McDonough, which is right by the old facility where I used to work. But then the other three are out here and excited to be here. That's cool. Well, that's good.

Yeah, because I mean, you know, a lot of folks don't pay attention to that as fans. You've got family and you had one kid basically going into his senior year in high school. You're not just going to move him out here to finish things up. Yeah, no, that was a challenge. You have to weigh all those things. And he goes to the school he goes to, they offer boarding and it's great.

It's a great school. Oh, great. All his friends who had a chance to stay home, give him the option and finish there with his friends. So will he come out for the Har Bowl? Will that happen? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So now that's going to cost me. One, I got to pay for boarding. But two, I'm going to have to pay for all the travel back here.

So it's going to be an expensive year for me. But sure, he'll be out here as often as he can. And he'll be there. You know, he's going to skip a couple of days of school to get here early for the Har Bowl. Just have Jim write him a note.

Yeah, excuse him. Back on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm 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. The general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers, who have moved in their new beautiful facility right across the street from our studios. Joe Ortiz is here in studio. When did you first meet Jim Harbaugh in your life?

In my life? Basically 26 years ago. He was the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. My first year working for the Ravens. And so I got a chance to, you know, engage with him there, both on the practice field, catch some balls from him. And then we'd get in the racquetball court. He'd recruit me in because he knew I played.

And him and Eric Zaira, who was our backup quarterback, they'd have like violent games in there. And they wanted to play cutthroat one day. And so they brought me in and no one I played. And I'm thinking I'm going to show these vets, these pro athletes that I can hang with them. And it was ugly. It was ugly.

They were throwing me out of the way. You know, just I saw his level of competitiveness right then and there. I was like, that's what that's what a pro looks like. He plays racquetball? Yeah, it was. Yeah, he played racquetball then.

OK, that's it. He attacks that like with an enthusiasm as well. Just like everything else.

Unknown to mankind. So you kept in touch with him in certain ways? Yeah, when we hired John in Baltimore. He was, you know, Jim was at Stanford. And so got to know him then, going into the school. Certainly the brothers helped the connection. And, you know, just really professionals knew him from a professional sense. And then obviously when he'd come into town, we'd talk and talk about coaches, you know, as he's looking for coaches in the college level and then would help him. He'd call me about players that were thinking about coming out. So a professional relationship with some, you know, added bonus, you know, with the brothers. And then we got talking as I was getting, you know, some interest in some GM spots.

Talked to him about, you know, working together. And here we are. And here you are.

It's a blessing. It really is amazing because a lot of people we were just I was talking just yesterday on yesterday's program with my colleague, Ian Rappaport at NFL Network, NFL Media Group. And he was saying he was at your facility just two days ago and that there's something about Jim that feels different. And I'm like, I don't I don't know.

Because, again, I I wasn't around him every day in San Francisco and certainly not at Michigan either. I just think the guy looks happy. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that, that he's in a spot where he's back in the NFL coming off of hanging the banner. Mission accomplished in the alma mater. And you guys are working together.

You got Justin Herbert. Yeah, it's at the top, obviously, of a roster that you're generally managing. Is it is it that simple not to psychoanalyze him on live radio?

I don't want to get too deep into that. But, you know, I think Jim's Jim loves the game and loves coaching, loves the players, loves the organization, loves every organization he's ever been a part of. And he pours his passion into it and just has fun doing it. And that's all I've known being around, you know, as as as he was as a player for us in Baltimore that one year when I've seen him at Stanford, at Michigan, when he's over the silly with John. Obviously, I know John really well and John's the same way. I mean, like John's John's like a brother to me working as long as I did with him and the passion they both have for the game of football and the love they have for the players and everyone in the organization.

You just see it out there. And the facility is unbelievable. The Spanos family, Dean, John, AG, what they build out there.

It just you can't help but come in and be excited to get to work every day. GM, Joe Ortiz are the Chargers here on the Rich Eisen Show. And so your first order of business was to make some tough decisions, man, involving some Chargers that had been around for a while, including Keenan Allen. Right. And what do you say to Chargers fans who are wondering why he is no longer with the team and Mike Williams also is now on the Jets. And that's that's what many people associated the previous Chargers regime identity with, certainly on the offensive side of the ball.

How do you address that? You know, going into you knew it was going to be hard. We talked about it. You know, we had four big salaries with four great players. And, you know, and so we knew we were going to have to make hard decisions. You're including Bosa and Mack as the other two? Yeah, Bosa and Mack, Keenan and Mike. And, you know, we were fluid in it and we just talked with all of them and the representation.

They all were great and they all understood it. We all, you know, in all the conversations, everyone involved understood that there was moves that we're going to we were forced to make. And we had to do it to create opportunities for us to get other players, you know, and it was going to be hard and just the way it worked out and excited that we have Khalil and Joey. And I wish Keenan the best. And I know it's hard to take a player that caliber and move on from for the fans. And but we're working to backfill the roster. And that's what we've been doing. You know, we brought in some good players. DJ has looked great out there and obviously getting lad in the draft and Brendan and Cornelius. And then, you know, so we're making the room competitive. Are they the big names that Keenan is and was here?

No, but I have confidence and faith in those guys are going to step up. Well, and in terms of making a roster that that's in Jim's vision, for the lack of a better phrase here. Right. Yeah.

What what do you what how do you go about that? You know, I you come into it and you know, the identity I'm from and what we did in Baltimore physical team. And certainly it matches up with what Jim's done throughout his entire career. So we, you know, you pour your efforts in, you pour your resources in, you know, getting Joe Alton with the first pick. I mean, changes the dynamic of the entire offensive line and and you it sets a tone, physicality. And but we're still going to throw the ball.

And and so you want playmakers outside and you just you just keep trying to collect them. Well, in turn, let's just take it one piece at a time here. Joe Alt right tackle. Yeah, that's not what he thought what he was. Well, that's not why he was the fifth overall pick, right? Like you would normally take that and put that guy left tackle.

You just happen to have an all pro already sitting there. So how is he adjusting to to kind of flipping his style of play? He's been great. He's been great. He's such a good athlete.

So smart, so driven. I mean, honestly, early in OTAs, you just watch him out there and like, man, he's not having any issues with it. He just you really just like switching, you know, switching feet. And but he's just so I think some guys have a little bit of a transition period. And you really haven't seen that with him and his techniques so sound. And again, he's so intelligent and understands how to reverse the technique, so to speak.

And really doesn't look like he's missing a beat being on the right side. And, you know, you watch him, he looks like a veteran out there already. Well, and obviously I don't need to ask you what they can do because, you know, Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, since they were Ravens.

So is it as simple as basically seeing what the Ravens did offensively and obviously knowing what Greg Roman has done offensively with Jim before and saying that's what the charges are going to look like? I think we're going to be a balanced a balanced team in terms of running and passing. I do. We got Justin Herbert back there and that's the hope. That's that's why it's difficult sort of to compute like to have somebody who can push the ball down the field.

Yeah. You know, like him. And that's what charger fans have been waiting to see from this guy with consistency. And now Keenan's gone and likes gone. And those are the guys you might be able to push the field down, push the ball down the field and also spread it out on the field, throwing it. You bring it in these guys to run it. We have we have runners, but we also have. If you look outside, we got guys that can get downfield and they have speed, vertical explosion and suddenness to get open. So, you know, you tried to build a team, a diverse skill set at all positions. I think we have that at wideout.

I really do. And then obviously I and Gus and J.K., two guys I'm very familiar with and Greg's very familiar with. Physical athletic runners, versatile, both of them and come with the right mindset and work ethic and mentality that we want to we want to incorporate here. So the concept of Justin being a 4000 yard passer, we should we slow our roll? Justin's going to throw the ball around. I mean, we're going to throw it. You know, there's going to be some games where we throw more and there's going to be some games where we run it more.

Just the game, the opponent, the way the flow of the game is going to dictate all that. But, you know, Greg's an excellent play caller. I've had a chance to be around him for a long time. Two different stints in Baltimore.

And certainly we've seen what he's done in San Francisco and and all those different stops. So GM, Joe Ortiz here from the Chargers. So what what is your gig about now? Right now, it's just when you get ready for initial cuts, what do you like?

Top of August, what is your gig about? All the scouts came in town at the start of camp and getting the college guys ready to get on the road, prepared to get on the road. The pro guys have been, you know, working our roster all through OTAs. And then now it's time to start paying attention to other teams. We're going to pay attention to our set the 53 man roster. But we're also going to be looking elsewhere outside to see if there's guys that can shake free that can help us out. So kind of looking at looking all around all around the league and then the college guys are getting all prepped. And so.

So your scout, like what you see, you're holding meetings with scouts who are identifying guys who might be cut on other teams. Absolutely. Yeah. There's a process.

Yeah. You go through the fall or the summer and you assign each scout. Lou Clark, who's our director of pro, he signs all the in-house guys, teams. And they're responsible for their teams and they start identifying players on the roster that, hey, they may become available. And then we'll watch them play their preseason games and read up on them in the media and local media and track them and see who's going to be available and if they'll help us. And you meet with Jim every day.

Is this a process also? So, yeah, Jim and I will meet with the whole staff, you know, his coaching staff and the football staff. We have those in the morning and then just have conversations today.

Always stay in communication, always keep each other abreast of what we're thinking. Is it true you used some time at the combine to install offense and stuff like that? They did. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. We in the hotel coaching staff because there is some dead time at the combine. Right. You know, the way it's set up and in the mornings coaching and offense defense coaching staffs were in separate conference rooms working on the install because it's a new staff and guys are arriving at different times, you know. So as the staff got put together, they had a chance to get together and be efficient with that that free time. Yeah, because I did notice Michigan season last a little longer than the most.

Yeah, I noticed that right deep, deep in the deep in the February. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I met Jim for the first time when he was a quarterback as well, but it was at the University of Michigan.

He was my first my freshman year quarterback. Is that right? Yeah. There you go. Nineteen eighty seven. We have in common.

Nineteen eighty six. I will never forget. I'm on State Street. I'm going to the ticket office and out came him and Jumbo Elliott from the same car. And you were a freshman. I was.

I was starstruck. Yeah. On the spot because that's Jim Harbaugh.

That's Mr. Mr. Wolverine. I mean, he's the guy that was guaranteeing stuff against Ohio State pissing off Bo then cashing in with by saying like, you know, we're going to beat Ohio State. Then they did doing it. And then then they did lose the Rose Bowl to Arizona State. But it was the best Michigan loss ever because Ohio State hired their coach, figuring that he could beat Michigan with regularity.

It was John Cooper. There you go. You got to troll all over. But that was that's the first time that one going to college. You know, I know you do. I know you do. And Ohio State sends some great players to the next level for sure. You know, and so obviously these are exciting times in that regard.

I'll take a shot on this one, Joe. Have you watched the hard knocks on the Giants? Have you watched any of that?

A little bit of a little bit of it. I've been at the office a lot, so I haven't watched too much. I've watched more of it, like from a social media aspect. So are you surprised that this stuff, this sort of stuff is is out there for people to hear and see?

It's it's something you're not used to if you've never gone through it. But does it sound familiar, the cadence in these conversations? Certainly. Yeah. Yeah. You know, everyone, they're a little different in every building, but yeah, those conversations are had.

And, you know, that's that's the way we're heading. And, you know, we started in Baltimore in 2001. That was the original one. Were you there? I was there. I was not.

I tried to avoid the camera as much as I could. Were you on the field when when Billick was trying to test the turf in the Veterans Stadium and said, we're not playing? Yeah. Yeah.

I was there on the sideline. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Because I do remember that first hard knocks. There was a big old divot there.

I mean, like the seam. And it was I mean, you literally sunk down, you know. So, yeah, it's it was and you got to get used to, you know, the boom mics will come out of nowhere back then. Right.

And just be careful. But Billick wanted to do it to keep people sharp, right? Like, like when you're coming off the Super Bowl and he's like, we're going to we're going to we're going to get everybody focused.

They locked in. Yeah. And it was and it was a neat story. You know, I mean, it was a great concept and still is, you know, and certainly it's it's attracts the attention of the audience. And again, you know, we've just met and you strike me as a guy doesn't want to pound his chest a little bit here, but I'll give you the opportunity. Somebody that you've scouted in your career that you're like, let's go get this guy. And he turned out to to be who you most proud of, of somebody that you've you pounded a table for. I really in Baltimore, it was it was a collective process.

And but you had to have pounded the table for somebody at some point. We all did. We all did.

We really did. It's a group process with Ozzie at the head of the table. He's at the head, Eric there next to him.

And then Eric shifted to the head. And, you know, there's multiple scouts that look at every player. Same way here in Los Angeles. You know, we do it together. Coaches get involved. We want to find the best players for our organization, best people for our organization who we all like.

You know, you want to find a player that the coaches like the scouts, like there's no one individual driving it. That's the way I was taught. And that's what I believe in. There's an eye on Ortiz. So come on. So there's not one guy in your like where you you're sitting in the stands or like that guy's flashing.

And then you brought him you brought him to the table. There's not one guy. There's not.

Because it really is, Rich. Like in Baltimore, it's a process. Like one scout identifies him, likes him. Maybe another scout likes him more. Maybe one scout looks at him.

Another scout goes and works him out and talks about how great he was. But it's a it's a group process. We do it together. And that's why we're doing it here. And how many times when you were in a meeting with scouts in Baltimore and you liked a guy, but immediately disliked him because Daniel Jeremiah pounded the table.

All the time. You know, that's the guy that drove us, you know, and DJ, he's the best. You know, I tell you what, DJ, the crew he was a part of.

Yes. He wrote some of the best reports. And what do you mean? The summaries, the the creativity in the summaries. Really? His creative writing?

Yeah, it was excellent, you know, and it was like a competition in there. So we didn't know that about DJ. Joe Douglas was in there. Chad Alexander, who's our assistant GM. Andy Waddle, who's the assistant GM of Pittsburgh.

DJ Jeremiah Washburn, who's not coaching with the Eagles. They'd all get in there. And there were some there were some witty reports being read. What's it going to be like before I let you go back across the street? And I greatly appreciate you taking the time during training camp. By the way, you're the first Charger to be here with the Chargers. Now we're neighbors.

So what's it going to be like, do you think, in SoFi? Raiders in the house, week one. And you know, you know, Raiders are from Los Angeles as well, from back in the day.

And fans are crazy for them. But this is a new era, a new look Charger team. Jim back on the sideline.

You know him. His hands are going to be on his khakis knees, right? What's it going to be like? It's going to be exciting.

It really is. I mean, the atmosphere is going to be great. Certainly, I know there's a Raiders presence here from the past. But, man, if you've been out of training camp just to see the fans, the excitement, I'm expecting a great contingent of Chargers fans in there. And we're going to be fired up.

We're going to be ready to go. Is it fair to say as well that, you know, when you're a general manager and you're putting a roster together, you do look at the team that potentially you have to get past? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know the division you're in.

And you have to, you have to, you can't ignore it. You know, they're the teams you got to beat to win the division, to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, right? You win the division, you're guaranteed in. So do you have some Chiefs beaters on your team? You have some Chiefs beaters. You have some Chiefs schemes.

You know, absolutely. Our coaching staff is phenomenal. Jesse on defense, Greg on offense, leading the charge on both sides of the ball, and Fick on special teams.

So they're going to, you know, those guys can develop some schemes and we're going to put our best foot forward. Well, speaking on behalf of a lot of Charger fans, I'll just give you this information. You probably know it already. Number 87 on the Chiefs catches a lot of passes. He does. And he, you know, with all due respect to the Spanos, he can claim ownership of the Chargers in many different ways. I tell you what, I've seen him a lot in a different stadium and with a different team.

Just last year? Yeah, and he's a great player. But you have, you got something?

Well, we don't. You know, you're aware of him, so you do your best to stop him. You know, he's hard to stop though. Listen, I've been on plenty of teams where we've tried to stop him and he's going to get his.

You know, he's a great player. All right, brother. Hey, before I let you go, we're going to debut a new segment with you here, if you don't mind.

All right. Over the years, we've had a segment called the Bill Belichick press conference moment of the day, pretty much. OK, now Bill is, as you know, now a part of the media. He's for the first time in 50 years, not part of a coaching staff. So we have decided to rename the segment, the Jim Harbaugh press conference moment.

OK. It's called the Harbaugh files because, you know, he's he loves to. OK, so we're debuting the very first edition of the Harbaugh files with you here today, if you don't mind. Also talking about the glide approach to training camp. Hit it. This is Jim Rockford at the time. Leave your name and message.

I'll get back to you. Sometimes people that are standing on third base like to hit a triple, but they didn't. The Harbaugh files. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's just the analogy of a rocket taking off, you know, many. Then before you know it, boom, you know, or a plane going down the runway starts at a dead stop and then it builds up. Speed is faster, faster, going so fast that it just has to leave the ground. And then I mean, there's a little bit of a glide that takes place even then.

And then before you know it, you're you're up to thirty thousand feet. The Harbaugh files. Fantastic. There's there's a debut. It resonates. It makes sense. Yeah. I mean, we've all been on that plane, you know, just we've all been there. Yeah. So the rocket ship. Yeah.

Try to be one. By the way, I'm not even going to ask if he does it in the meetings because that's Jim. Yeah, that's 100 percent. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

It is it is the glide effect. I'm speechless. Well, I'm without speech.

This is if we're not going to have the Belichick press conference moment of the day. Yeah. No, that's I mean, it's a no brainer. We're going to we're going to we've got to go to we're pivoting. Yeah.

Well, you know, I mean, listen, I mean, when you sit there and listen to the guy, it makes sense to you, you know, as you're listening. Like, OK, you can you can relate it to how we're going to start camp, you know, and just we're not slingshotting off. We're breaking our time, getting down. It's like a rocket going straight up. Yeah. It doesn't explode up.

It just climbs slowly and then takes off. OK. And so where where are we in that process? Are we are we are we at 10000 feet? Where are we there? We're OK. So the Wi-Fi is working.

The Wi-Fi is working. You know, we've got contact with Houston and, you know, so we're up there, you know, and getting ready to get break the break the atmosphere, Earth's atmosphere. So we look we're above the clouds. Fantastic. Joe Ortiz, thanks for the time. Appreciate your time.

Any time. Listen, tell everybody we say hello. Do you need a housewarming gift? No, I'm good.

I'm good. You know what? I did lose my best dad ever signed in the move. So like, you know, I don't know if that's it, you know, but like it disappeared on me. I've been accused of being sticky fingered with things that I really want. But this this one's mine. Tell me it was a tie. So like now I know. Yeah. Well, actually, I've just got three kids.

So, I mean, if it comes if it comes down to the tiebreaker, I might lose the numbers game to you. Thanks for the time, Joe. The general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers is here.

We're back with more 844204 rich number to dial. This kickoff time and believe podcasts are here to get you ready for the season. He wanted to change the culture and he wanted me to be a part of that with believe you get immediate reactions, gain previews and expert analysis from all 32 teams, plus all of your favorite college teams.

He's just rare in just about everything he does. Sideline to sideline. End zone to end zone. This was good for everybody. Just search.

Believe that's BLEAV podcast wherever you listen. Taking a 747 and driving it into a building. Did you really do that? That actually happened. We did.

We really did it. We looked at doing it with miniatures and CG and set builds and everything. And when you added up all those numbers, it occurred to us that it might actually be cheaper to buy a real plane. Originally, we had our eye on like a 737, something like that.

Yes. And we went we went out to the, you know, the airplane graveyard of, you know, where we could buy an old 737. And while we were looking at the 737, I started looking across the field.

You could see these MD 11 747. And I sort of thought, you know, and I took to the line, please. Well, hang on a second. Why can't we get one of those big ones?

Let's do it. So I actually had the unique experience of impulse buying a 747 and then getting to crash it. Before I let you go, what is your remote drop movie, Christopher?

Wherever you're watching television and you see a film that is a favorite of yours, or you just don't mind binging it, even if it's not yours, obviously. Which one is it? I haven't heard the remote drop as a phrase. That's a fantastic one.

There you go. Yeah, I love it. And there are so many.

I mean, I think by Kubrick, you know, it's a remote drop. Some of the great comedies, too. And I mean, Talladega Nights, I'm never going to be able to switch. Hey, now then. Really? What? The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is Christopher is a Christopher Nolan mic drop movie. Is that what you're saying?

If you ain't first, you're last. You're not wrong, Christopher. You're not wrong. You know, I'm just that's fantastic. That would does Will Ferrell know this? Did you just reveal that? He does now.

Oh, yes. Back on the Rich Eisen Show game time tickets. Make sure that the app is on a mobile device right near you and start buying tickets to anything in your area. You can get sports, music, comedy, any event in your area. Game time is going to be offering you an opportunity to get a seat and not just get a seat, but see the view of the stage or the field from your seat and not just any seat, but get all in pricing for that particular ticket. So you are not surprised whatsoever by the cost of the ticket. That's how you take guesswork completely out of buying any ticket with game time, especially baseball right now that we are heating up on deadline trade day.

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Lowest price guaranteed. Fun chat with Joe Ortiz right there, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers. Guys, they are going to run the ball. And, you know, Austin Eckler could be he kind of gave us a heads up.

Any time he's been interviewed, certainly when he's been on this show, he's on the Washington commanders right now. They basically said to him, you know, he said they said to him, we're going to run it a ton. And he's just not a volume guy. I guess.

Yes. You know, or or the volume guy that they were looking for. Maybe that's a little more accurate. I also think he was just too expensive.

Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins. Let me tell you something. To use the since since Silence of the Lambs is everywhere these days. For crazy reasons.

The line that I always think of from Silence of the Lambs is you covet what you see every day, right? Yeah. Jim Harbaugh had a front row seat to J.K. Dobbins. Yeah, but that J.K. Dobbins was a long time ago. J.K. Dobbins was a long time ago and knee surgeries ago. Yeah, but the J.K. Dobbins I saw when I was in a production meeting two years ago for the Baltimore Ravens coming off of one of the surgeries.

He is a prideful SOB, man. And so Gus may be toting the rock the most and then he comes in for these carries and. It's not going to be on Justin Herbert's shoulders.

Second and three instead of second and seven, third and two instead of third and six. Fourth and an inch instead of fourth and five, and they're going to still go for it regardless of where they are in the field. Everybody's got a plan until they're punched in the face. No doubt about it, brother. They want to be the ones to punch you in the face, though. I love saying that. I love that attitude for them and for Herbert. Because that's a guy who, you know, he takes a lot of crap from people because, you know, he's got an under 500 career record.

What does he really want? They blew that huge lead in the playoff game. He definitely needs some help from the line, from the run game, from the football gods. So I hope they can stick to it. It's just, you know, kind of remains to be seen. I think that's going to be their plan. That's it. And some charger fan, you know, Joe Ortiz is not going to sit here and say, yeah, my quarterback's not going to throw for 4000 yards.

I asked him point blank. We're just going to take the 4000 yard season and throw it out the window. It's like, no, we're going to push it down the field. And, you know, I'm not going to point out to the GM here. You know, we're seeing all these seven on seven, eleven on eleven videos that come out of across the street where Quentin Johnson is dropping the ball.

Yep. I mean, he's trending yesterday because of the drop passes. Listen, that was last year. This is this year. And just because he did it in practice now doesn't mean that's the guy he is. Of course. Because, again, if Jim wants to cover what he sees, he got a pretty damn good front row seat to that kid, too, quite recently.

I did as well in Arizona on that January 1st day, and that sucked December 31st. Pardon me, I got home just in time to watch Georgia beat Ohio State. As the ball dropped. But he got lad.

You know, that's a guy who he saw had a lot of success. So, again, you know, we're just going to have to get used to a different Charger team. And I love it. He's like, yeah, there's a Charger. There'll be a Chiefs scheme and Chiefs players on the Chargers. There damn well better be, right?

Yeah, maybe cover 87. That's why I said. I know, but that dude has destroyed them in the last few years. Annually.

Particularly here in Los Angeles. In that stadium. Three or four touchdowns in that game.

Feels like it. We got one more Jim Harbaugh press conference moment. I guess we're calling it the Harbaugh files.

Got another one. We might have multiple Harbaugh files, Des. I'm glad that this came off the top of my dome yesterday, because there's no more Bill Belichick in the NFL to have press conferences. Right. So there's no more Belichick press conference moments.

I have no explanation for what happened. Well, here we go. This is Jim talking about what's he what are you going to be like, Jim, when we ask you about an injury update? Oh. Rolling. This is Jim Rockford at the tone. Leave your name and message.

I'll get back to you. Sometimes people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple, but they didn't. The Harbaugh files. So for for clarity, whenever I'm asked about anybody's medical condition other than my own, the following will be my best effort to relay information. I am not medically qualified to categorize or speculate as to how someone else is feeling. The best I can do is say that someone is working through something to I get the report from those who are qualified and then follow the instructions.

Three times I look or sound like I am not a medical expert in the field of medicine. Guilty as charged. The Harbaugh files may be better than Belichick, I think. Well, I mean, this is going to be this is going to be this is going to be more wacky.

Well, we'll see what happens during the season right now. It's all this. Come on. You think this up? Yeah. Yeah. If they're winning, if they're seven and two, it's going to be it's going to be as the files will be wackier than ever.

Three and four, three and five. We'll find out. Could be like the X-Files if they're not doing well. Find out. See how he's playing off the files word.

Did you get that one? He's doing his best. He's doing his best.

Just work the faders. That was funny. You can admit it. What? Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit. I tried.

I tried. Kyle Brandt's going to make his way to our studio here from Good Morning Football and Good Morning Football Overtime. He's on both of them, which is good because they're back to back. One of them you can see right here on the Roku channel. He's in studio. The Miz behind him right here on a busy day.

Still here? Yeah, I'm still I'm trying to recover from these Harbaugh files. They're goofy. Plus, I have no frame of reference. I don't know what Rockford files is. So I have. Oh, you don't know the Rockford files? No. So I'm trying to piece it all together. Oh, you never saw the Rockford files?

I'm in my 40s. OK. All right. So we made. So are you telling us we need to revisit the title of of this? I like it.

I like it. I just have some notes. Oh, you're giving the notes.

Give the notes. It's a little while the open is a little long. OK. And like the open shouldn't be longer than the bite. OK.

I mean, well, the bite's pretty long. It's all right. We'll do this offline. Just saying we'll do this offline.

I'm just you know, we'll do this offline over. We're trying to get younger. We're trying to get hipper. We're trying to get cooler. I don't know if we need a what show is that?

What year is that? We're talking about 70s. OK. But the reason why we're doing it is because, you know, his his references, he lives like Jim Rockford. Right. OK. Because he used to live in a trailer. Oh, thank you for finishing the sentence.

I thought he was testing me. I like the name of it. I like the Harbach files as a name. OK. All right. So we'll work on it.

You'd like to. Chris, Chris, we're working. I get it.

We're workshopping. I think it's funny. It's a great segment. We're going to fill a lot of these because he's a weird guy. He's not excuse me. You know, eccentric, eccentric. Thank you.

It's weird. He can coach. He's a hell of a coach. Dude. Holy crap. He's going to plus him up. They're going to get plussed up seven, baby. Just like Niners. So good.

Twelve with chargers. Welcome to talk about all the ultimate small rewatch podcast from season four. I'm glad that it's over. I'm glad that it's over. As as we know now that season five is supposed to be one of our better seasons. Obviously, the tattoo storyline, you know how I feel about that. You hating that storyline brought me a lot of joy because I kept waiting to see how it was going to keep going and then how they would somehow settle it. Binge seasons one through four of talk bill before season five begins wherever you listen.